Wearing The Inside Out

Chapters

Upside Down & Inside Out
Speed of Sound
Highway 61 Revisited
Country Song
I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor
A Little Less Conversation
You Really Got Me
Master of Puppets
Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)
It's A Small World (After All)
Do You Believe In Magic
Seriously Mysterious
Don't You Dare
Friend Is A Four Letter Word
El Condor Pasa (Part One of Three)
El Condor Pasa (Part Two of Three)
El Condor Pasa (Part Three of Three)
The Stranger
Rain In Soho: Rusty Cage
Rain In Soho: Morning Has Broken
Rain In Soho: Soul Man
Rain In Soho: Wild Horses
Rain In Soho: Owner of a Lonely Heart
Rain In Soho: Culture Shock
Rain In Soho: Hospital Reaction Shot
Change (In The House of Flies)
Yakety Yak
A Whiter Shade Of Pale: Back In Black
A Whiter Shade of Pale: Chameleon
Mind Transferral
First Day Of My Life
The Flesh Failures (Let The Sunshine In)

Upside Down & Inside Out

Twilight's eye twitched. She had thought of every possibility that any normal experiment could ever hope to produce. She even planned for the chance for the crystal hardware to explode and fuse her friends together. Sure Pinkie Pie came up with that completely ridiculous and non scientific idea, but her wildest hopes and dreams couldn't have expected to have swapped minds.

That was probably one of Celestia's complete banish ponies to Tartarus rules. Sure that hadn't ever come up in the fifteen years of constant training and mentorship, but Celestia had millennia to come up with stupid rules for bad students.

And what about her friends? She thought it was only a normal experiment and now they are sitting there in different bodies and it was all her fault. She paced back and forth thinking of her last will and testament and if she could give Spike her castle.

Pinkie sighed. Looking at the mess that Twilight was currently making herself into just because some experiment went wrong was super silly. If she could count the times she accidentally destroyed the Cakes' kitchen just because of some silly culinary experiment, she'd be counting all day. But here was Twilight being a fuddy duddy goof worrying about the future when she just had to focus on the now. That was Pinkie's way of getting through life, worry about things later and come up with plans to fight those things now. She learned that from the school of hard knocks. Though she only had a focused Ph.D in Twilight Studies with a minor in Partyology, she knew how to calm down at least all of her friends.

Slowly inching up to Twilight while she had her back turned, she waited for her marefriend to turn around to plant a kiss right on her lips. Then she waited until Twilight noticed and started pressing back. The two briefly broke apart and locked eyes as Twilight said Pinkie's now favorite sentence.

"Pinkie, thank you."

Pinkie smiled for she knew exactly what that sentence meant and with their playtime getting interrupted by science. . .

"Don't worry, I know."

Twilight blushed and quickly took hold of the situation. There had to be a reason why the memory transfer machine test failed. They were friends already so was that the variable? Or maybe there was some weird variable like similar memories or closeness or attraction. If only there was a book that outlined emotional variables and if it was written by Starswirl the Bearded, it would be the best thing ever. But there was none. That was why she had cobbled together the machine on a whim- nopony tried touching memories.

And Twilight had got a tad bit curious.

Which was why her two good friends now had their lives ruined.

She turned around ready to apologize profusely to her friends.

And she was met by a little note. Picking it up with her magic, she opened it slowly and read quietly to herself, her eyes quickly scanning the page while a low level migraine began to form right above her eye. Its steady pulse almost soothing her.

"Twilight, yeah. Got bored. Oh and Fluttershy says you two make an ~~ador- adora-~~ cute couple. I can't believe how easily my mouth could say that word. It wasn't awesome. But yeah, Fluttershy has a thing. she'scalling it a spa date, I don't know what that is it sounds too girly, with Rarity she remembered about and since I'm in her body, I guess she might come along. Twilight I'm begging you to fix this. Dash"

Twilight let the note drift to the floor. She quietly locked the castle and slumped down and stared calmly at the purple walls of her castle. Pinkie bounced on over and sat down, laying her pink poof of a head on Twilight's shoulder for a moment while she let her tail slowly tease Twilight.

"So looks like our play time can start again."

Twilight blinked at the party pony, thought about it, and chuckled. "Pinkie, what would I do without you?"

Pinkie hugged her marefriend. "Probably destroy the town, or Equestria, or turn evil and sexy. Or all three." Pinkie ran a hoof through Twilight's hair. "Do you want me to write a letter to the Princesses yet?"

Twilight shook her head no. "Probably need to do that first because after what just happened I really don't feel like doing anything else. Well maybe except you, but you know that's kind of always on."

Pinkie grinned. There were some benefits to being an alicorn, the poniest type of pony that ever ponied. Though Twilight said it sucked that she could no longer fit in her old dresses cause a sknny nerd wasn't princess material and that she was always in some form of heat- Pinkie just thought how cool that was. It wasn't like Twilight could run out of ideas for play time. Pinkie chalked that up to her marefriend being the biggest bookworm ever. She liked teasing her about that, because then Twilight got all flushed and started talking about how she wasn't a repressed nerd.

But that was cute. There were many types of ponies, Pinkie knew, and Twilight was her favorite one. Where else could you find an accident prone, super powerful, alicorn princess? Pinkie wondered if Celestia or Luna were crazy weirdos. Then maybe Twilight wouldn't feel so self conscious about her body and then she might see what Pinkie saw in her.

"Hey Twilight, why did you come up with all your weird inventive ways for your magic to affect body parts? I mean after the first embiggening spell I thought you would be done. And then there is that fun gender swap spell. and the weird tentacle spell, and-"

Twilight blushed a deep red. "I-I mean I get kind of bored just being in this huge castle. It's not like ponies come to see me every day. The map takes care of that."

Pinkie Pie hugged Twilight. "Well I'm here you silly alicorn. Ooh, Twily, I had a perfect idea. Y'know how you only used one spell at a time on me? What if you used all the spells on me at once? What would that do?"

Twilight's wings shot straight out at the sheer possibility. "Pinkie, that'd be unknowably dangerous. Like you could explode or be horribly disfigured or be too big to leave the castle or something."

Pinkie grabbed Twilight and started running towards the largest room in the castle- just in case. "I mean you already did one dangerous thing today, I bet you have ran out of accidents. And if not- well at least we'll remember this one."

Twilight almost said no. But then she thought about all the strange possibilities that mixing spells could do and then she could write Cadance and show off a bit. "Pinkie, you are such an idiot."

"Yeah well, I'm your idiot. Forever."

Twilight groaned. "Well if we are doing this, can we like record this? I mean this could easily be used for research purposes and add a whole other way for ponies to enhance themselves and-"

Pinkie lay a hoof on Twilight's muzzle. "I think that'd be fun."

***

Rainbow Dash trudged into town. Everything was so slow. And everything felt super tiny and it was weird getting used to the new center of gravity. Everything touched while she walked. Walked because when Rainbow tried flying her normal way, she fell straight on her face.

It would almost be funny if Fluttershy wasn't having the biggest time of her life.

"Dash, look I can fly." Dash looked as her own body flopped around like a puppet as Fluttershy tried flying higher than six inches off the ground. Rainbow sighed. Her form was all off, her whole body had to be straight- or close to it, and then her wings were supposed to flap at the correct speed to generate enough lift while not overtaxing her wings or having her body shoot off into space.

Rainbow frowned. Her reaction looked wrong with Fluttershy's face, and she quickly let it pass. "Yeah well, if you are stuck in my body, I'm going to need to teach you how to fly."

Fluttershy squeed and forgetting for a moment how to fly, she flapped her wings too fast and shot off into the sky. A muffled scream echoed down to Dash.

"Yep. She needs flying lessons so bad." Dash plopped down on a nearby bench and waited for Fluttershy to come back. She gently tapped a hoof in anger. Tap, tap, tap, tap. To an outside observer in Ponyville, it just looked like Fluttershy was having a bad day and thinking hard, not because Dash wasn't furious and angry.

Just that Fluttershy's body wasn't used to any bad emotion beyond sadness or light anger.

Dash tapped on the bench. Slowly little cracks began to form as her quick assault brought out a deep flaw in the bench. Most ponies wouldn't focus all their power at one little point, or at least they would realize their own strength. But Dash was in a new body and a much taller one. And while ponies judged Fluttershy to be a dainty specimen of marish beauty and unable to hurt a fly, she was more akin to the strongest pony in terms of natural strength in her friend group.

Wrestling bears and caring for large, dangerous animals in the corner of the most dangerous forest in Equestria tends to do that to the least of ponies.

A large crack broke Dash out of her thoughts as the bench shattered into bits of tiny splinters. Dash feel straight on her borrowed face. Pressing a yellow hoof to her face, she groaned as she dusted herself off.

"Ponyfeathers."

She glanced around and saw nopony. Thank goodness. That would have ruined her cool factor by a lot. She shuffled over to see if Fluttershy had hurt her athletic body in any way. Though she did that slowly now, mainly because she didn't want to break anything else and that she disliked the feeling of feeling every stride rub against the most delicate areas of anatomy.

Dash tried to get in character just in case anypony ran into them. "Dash, are you okay? It looked like you might be in need of some assistance. Like learning how to land or fly."

A soft, muffled moan came from a nearby ditch. "Maybe. Can we get to the spa any faster? I think I almost threw up and landing this way makes me feel pains I didn't know existed. Rarity is probably expecting us."

Dash facehoofed. Oh of course Rarity was expecting them. How could she have forgot? "Fine. Just like climb on my back. I feel like its a better idea than teaching you how to fly in five seconds. But you need to tell me at least some pointers on how to be you. I just shattered a bench and I can't walk without feeling some feelings I don't like."

Fluttershy wheezed out a broken laugh, limped over and stared at Dash. "Deal." Fluttershy climbed upon her own back, that was not going to be a thing either pony was going to get used to anytime soon, and felt a smile creep on her borrowed face. So this was what she felt like to Dash.

Kind of nice.

***

Rarity fidgeted in place. She loved spending time with Fluttershy, since she was her oldest friend, but for some reason she was running so uncharacteristically late. It would be a real tragedy if Fluttershy had somehow become hurt by some horrible beastie in her walk over here. But a lady never presumes the worst.

But she really needed to get clean and relax.

Applejack had teased her about her reliance on cleanliness and sure her general cleanliness had gone from a perfectly normal case of OCD into a more manageable case of perfectionism after their little sessions had kicked in. And if Applejack hadn't teased her collection of erotica and large toys, she wouldn't have needed thirty minutes to fix her mane and coat. She was a businessmare and while she was fine with her kinks, there was a time and place to let them out. Being with Applejack felt normal and after her last few dates with the stallions, she saw them as more business than pleasure. Rarity bemoaned the fact that the whole Blueblood affair did so much damage to her mental image of stallions that of course she had to try the fairer sex.

Though Applejack was more on the built like a brick wall kind of side. Rarity shook her head, getting worked up now would only ruin her coat more.

But it was so not like Fluttershy to be late- out of the last decade of spa dates, the yellow mare had been early every time except in dire emergencies. Tapping a hoof, she would wait as long as possible. It wasn't like she was truly needed at the shop- she had told Coco without a shadow of a doubt to keep her spa days relatively clear. Reason one was that she needed a break every once in a while. A savvy businessmare does not hope to build her fashion empire on constant work, that was ludicrous. And after Sassy and Coco told her to take a few dozen "chill pills" whatever that imperfect lingo was, she agreed.

And maybe having more time with Applejack, was another perk of that.

She heard the most uncharacteristic noises coming from a very familiar pony and her ears perked up at the other voice that normally would stay as far away from one of these establishments.

"Dear Celestia, I think I'm going to die." Fluttershy panted as she slowly climbed up the hill that the spa was unfortunately on.

"Well if you hadn't taken the long way around and walked a bit faster, we wouldn't have kept Rarity waiting. Though we could chalk that up to Twilight. We did take longer than expected there." Dash hopped off of Fluttershy and waved- positively waved- a hello to Rarity.

Rarity blinked. That was preposterous, the pony that would not set foot in her store and also hated being around and talking about the core ideals of fashion sense giving a pony like her the time of day? Rarity chalked it up to either a trick of the eyes or low grade dehydration.

"Well if you hadn't sat on my back the whole way here we might have got to the spa sooner." Fluttershy shook herself off and walked slowly over to Rarity.

Dash walked behind her. "Yeah, well see you needed practice and I thought 'strength training' see because I need to practice my whole trainer routine to help out my Wonderbolt friends. Oh and I totally hurt my wing, see?" Dash grinned at that and waved her wings slowly in Fluttershy's face.

Rarity swore she heard Fluttershy mutter something to herself. Taking the initiative, the white unicorn cleared her throat and hugged Fluttershy close. "Darling, it's felt so long since I last saw you!"

Dash piped up. "It's only been a week, its a perfectly regular thing. You do schedule it."

Rarity raised an eyebrow at Dash. "Yes well, its a figure of speech. Thank you, dear. Now to get down to business, I bet Aloe and Lotus are worried sick about where we are."

Fluttershy, Dash in this case, stiffened at the thought of doing whatever torture session happened at the spa. "O-of course, but, uh, since Rainbow just got here and it would be impolite to leave her here, can't she come along?"

Rarity's mind boggled. Rainbow Dash at the spa? What was Fluttershy thinking? Of course the dear would say-

"Sure, why not?" Dash shrugged. "I mean I totally have nothing better to do and I have this one spot that feels like it should be aligned properly.

Rarity was living in either the best or worst possible world imaginable. She quickly pinched herself to check if Luna was playing a prank on her.

***

"Relax, yah. Fluttershy you are so tense. Do we have to do the more intense massage?"

Dash blushed as she felt Lotus's hooves arc across her back. Well Fluttershy's back, but her mind was riding along in it so it felt weird. She heard Fluttershy stifle a giggle. Fluttershy was enjoying this body mess too dang much for Dash's taste.

"What was that again?"

Lotus had a laugh that reminded Dash of a wave of clouds. Light and airy, with a deep echo that had a strange foreign quality.

"You know, da special package, the pillar special. To help those ponies with their big libidos, I mean you do it every time, yes?"

Dash glanced at Fluttershy who was beet red. Seeing her face with that expression was actually pretty impressive.

"Oh yeah, I really want to do that today." If Dash was going to be stuck in a body, at least she could enjoy turning it back on Fluttershy.

A wooshing sound hinted that Fluttershy got the message. "Rainbow Da-ash, this is a no fly zone, ya, don't make me have to call the muscle."

"Sure, yeah won't happen again."

Rarity felt there was something off. Sure the sexual tension of her friends were so palpable, it could be cut by a spoon on any normal day, but this was a level that made her wonder what exactly happened between the two. She quickly thought to herself to ask later what happened. It was her spa day, she wasn't going to ruin her one day off a week.

Dash was starting to enjoy the massage, her muscles- tensed by worry- started to relax. Short motions around and around with longer focus jabs at tough areas made her get lulled into a nice rhythm. Fluttershy, for her part, was staying silent though Dash wondered why. If Dash was so sensitive now thanks to being stuck in Fluttershy's body, Dash wondered how Shy felt.

She knew her body had to be in knots. Or at least far less pliable and plushy than Fluttershy's stacked like a pillow fort ass.

Dash rubbed her legs together slowly thinking about that. She kept herself to the most aerodynamic and athletic as possible, a low body fat content and being a glorified midget made one lack in the areas that stood out in the dating scene. She had been on dates sure, but like she stopped after stallion upon stallion in her swinging circles thought she was a gay stallion. Which she didn't entirely mind, being a out there super noticeable pony had its perks, but Celestia dammit, she swung both ways and was a mare. Sure she really hadn't tried much with the mares but she wasn't just gay. Not a-

She stopped midthought as her world was split wide apart by the largest dildo she had ever experienced.

"Sorry for the wait, you wanted the special package, ya? Not often do we get to use the breaker model. Takes special pony, yes."

Dash could only nod in rhythm to the incessant pounding that was changing her mind on the butter yellow pegasus. And she cursed herself for actually going through with teasing Fluttershy. She sure was paying for it now.

***

Fluttershy felt a constant blush as she could watch her own body be used and imagine Dash there experiencing it. Sure she wasn't focusing on it in its entirety, though she was trying.

If only she was the one doing the massage.

She snapped back into reality as Aloe cracked her spine back into position. She felt every piece slowly shift in place and Aloe moved slowly down her sides, getting out each and every ingrained knot created by constant practice and general avoidance of every feminine stretch and massage known to ponies.

Which coming from Fluttershy's decade of experience felt like her body went from a dull ache and bruised wing to shards of glass dancing underneath her skin etching their pain onto her very being.

"Dash, you have been a very bad mare. These knots, yes, are some of the most bad I've ever seen." Aloe grunted as she drove another spike of pain deep into Fluttershy's unfortunate mind.

"S-sorry, I-I'll plan on doing this more. Can you slow down, t-this is my first time." Fluttershy stuttered out a response to keep herself conscious.

"Oh you should have said that first, of course I will bring the slow here. You only had to say word."

Fluttershy went from feeling like she was being stabbed to a level reminiscent to getting punched over and over.

Which felt like complete bliss to her now.

***

"Fluttershy are you okay?" Rarity smiled at the continued sexual tension. Whatever happened between the two pegasi, the massage had only made the two more on edge. Rarity thought it was sweet of them, though Applejack had bet her that the pair would never get their feelings out in the open.

Sure Rarity had twenty bits on the line saying otherwise but unlike her more forceful half, she was at least of a mind to just let the natural course of the romance to take root and go down the stream of love. Though there had been a lot of darting glances and muffled whispers between the two after Aloe and Lotus left and let the three be in the fantastic baths.

"Sure Rarity, I am perfectly fine." Fluttershy smiled weakly glancing over to her blue pegasus friend. And Rarity glanced over and saw Rainbow Dash being horribly obscene with her wing display. Sure wingboners were usually involutary but it was crazy how many times Dash did it in this nice, relaxing atmosphere. It was indecent.

Frowning at Dash, Rarity started talking to her best friend about the weekly gossip. It wasn't like she could share the juiciest bits with just anypony, there was an art to gossip. Sure each story was highly unverified and circumspect, but at least it was something to spread around and talk about. And with Fluttershy's dreadful schedule, the butter yellow pegasus never got out enough for Rarity's liking. She had tried to push the mare into modeling to remedy her friend's tendency to be a shut in- but that worked out horribly. So gossip it was.

"So I know you don't get out much. But I just started reading this new wonderful book."

Dash waited for Fluttershy to talk and then realized that she was now Fluttershy. She quietly cursed that massage for scrambling her brain and tried to answer in the most Fluttershy sentence possible.

"Oh, um, well, what's it about Rarity?" She sunk lower in the water to keep a good distance from her body that was glaring daggers into her soul. Oh boy, whatever got Fluttershy into a tizzy was probably her fault.

"Oh my dear, its all about this young mare who gets a job from this handsome stallion. You see he had a terrible past and is trying to overcome it and yet the scars from his previous relationships made him into the stallion he is today. And the main character's love and affection made him change for her. It's called Six Shades of Hay. I thought of you while I was reading it."

Dash shrugged. "Uhm, sure I think that sounds like a wonderful book. Wouldn't you like to read it too, Dash?" Dash turned to see what fantastic antics the mare was getting up to in her body and she just saw little, fast moving bubbles where she should be. Plip, plip, plip, plip, plip.

Dash waited to see what was going on and was met by silence. She waited a few seconds more. And kept waiting. Finally after realizing Fluttershy wasn't coming back up for air, she realized what was happening. That idiot was somehow trying to hide away from something in the worst way how. And Rainbow wasn't having any of that sillyness, that was her body, dammit. If she wanted to drown herself in shame, do it in her own body.

Dash frowned, which meant Rarity saw a frown form on Fluttershy's own face. Rarity would never forget that nightmare inducing face. A frown on a pony that tended to be as nice as possible was a death sentence for the surrounding area.

Dash drove down and grabbed her now tiny feeling actual body and brought it up for air.

"Are you okay, Dash?"

Fluttershy sputtered out a lame, "Just peachy," and laid her head back on the tub.

"Are you sure cause if you need to get medical attention, then we can call off the spa day." Rarity looked worried at the blue pegasus.

"Nope. I'm fine, just forgot how to swim for a moment." Dash raised an eyebrow at that thought. She knew Fluttershy had to be lying because she could easily remember swimming all the time in the summer. She almost said something about it until she saw Fluttershy mouth an answer- 'can we talk later. Play it cool.'

Dash itched her face- well Fluttershy's of course, but Rarity didn't know that.

"Well, um, what about that book?"

Rarity nervously chuckled. "Yes, well if Dash insists she's okay, yes where was I? Oh yes, well its a touching tale and I just love the author's great use of the inner voice of her conscience where she names it her inner princess and her inner monologues explaining each sex scene in detail make it easy for me to follow it and enjoy it."

"Well, that sounds positively nice. Though I haven't heard all that much about it."

Rairty beamed. "Well its all the rage in Canterlot and Manhattan and its as new series of books. Though I wonder who writes it, I would love to meet her. I'm a big fan of that kind of book, but there's no author photo and description."

"Well I'll be sure to check them out."

"Fabulous, well on the gossip front, Applejack said that Big Mac found someone, though she says it was a male friend. Don't you find that positively terrible? That specimen of stallionhood just off the market?" Rarity sighed.

Dash rolled her borrowed eyes. "Sure, Rarity." If she had to torture herself with the parody of mares talking about sex gossip, at least she could be creative. "Oh I just remembered that Twilight showed off her new spell, there could be a way you have your cake and eat it too. I mean you are a unicorn." She could see Fluttershy cross her blue arms and attempting a Stare on her.

"Ooh, darling, tell me more."

***

"Did you have to tell Rarity about Twilight's personal life? Isn't that too much?" Dash saw her own body flapping right in front of her face.

"Shy, if it can get Rarity to get less weirdly hung up about Big Mac fine. You listened to her, she brought him up like a billion times." Dash walked slowly to keep herself at least somewhat focused.

"It was only like three times. It wasn't that bad." Fluttershy ran a hoof through her new hair do.

Dash looked at her and rolled her blue eyes. "Of course she did bring him up three times but then she didn't stop talking about it. Oh Big Mac, how I wonder how large you are because your muscles are so huge. Oh Big Mac might be gay, how horrible. And on and on. I thought maybe we could nab two birds with one stone since Twilight's a big, lonely nerd in a huge castle with no ponies coming to her with their problems and hey I could get a laugh if I saw Applejack of all ponies with a dick." Dash smiled a facsimile of Fluttershy's demure smile.

Dash heard her body flop onto the ground. "Ow, what the hay, not again."

Rainbow glanced back and smiled at Fluttershy's display. "Do you have to get on my back again?" Dash could hear Fluttershy sputter out a stammering response trying to get a coherent thought out. Rainbow chuckled. "Well okay, the offer stands. Any time you know. Totally a safer bet than shooting off into space." She was going to keep walking until she felt a slight tug on her tail, and a muffled sentence in Dash's voice came out.

"I mean that sounds nice."

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Well okay, but you have to tell me why you were so worried about that stupid book Rarity was talking about. I thought it was kind of dumb."

Rainbow felt Fluttershy twitch while sliding up on her back. She knew her own body language, so feeling it be unnaturally like her own yet alien still felt weird. "Well- I might know who the author is."

"Yeah, well who is it? Is it Twilight? Though that would not make you try to drown out of embarrassment. . ."

"I wrote it." Rainbow stopped and turned to stare at Fluttershy. A small attempt at a smile soon faltered as the now blue pegasus lay back and waited for Dash to get mad at her.

Rainbow could just facehoof. Which hurt her far more than it hurt Shy. Cursing her friends ridiculous strength, she shook her head briefly to get rid of the quick forming headache. "I should have guessed. So why didn't you ever try to say 'hey look at me guys, I'm a published author or something like that?"

Rainbow could feel Fluttershy crawl up her back and lay her head on hers. "It made me feel embarrassed. I mean I didn't plan on writing erotic stuff, it just happened naturally. I mean writing feels nice to me and then it kind of just happened. It wasn't like I planned it- I just wanted to be normal and after Rarity pushed me into modeling, I really didn't want to be in the limelight."

Rainbow shrugged. "Come on Shy, I do great in the public eye. I mean ponies do love a Wonderbolt or two."

She heard Fluttershy laugh. "Yes, but what about the whole Mare-Do-Well mess or when you get too competitive, or when Cider Season rolls around?"

Rainbow thought back on that time. "You are really bringing that up? Yeah that was mostly your girls' faults. Sure, I did get too into showboating my skills, but you five ran around in a mask just to teach me a lesson. Don't know how Twilight explained herself in that friendship report without coming off like the bad guy. But if you want to bring up times where we messed up, what about the time you took that assertiveness course and made Rarity and Pinkie break down in tears?"

Fluttershy looked up at the clouds slowly floating by and didn't speak for a while. Rainbow felt a pit form in her stomach as she worried she had gone a bit too far in dredging up a bad memory. Finally after what felt like an eternity, Shy spoke, Rainbow's borrowed voice wavering through Shy's explanation.

"Dash, I mean, I still feel bad about that. I wanted to be more like, well somepony else, and then I got into the mode of feeling good about myself for a short time and I forgot. I forgot that maybe such a drastic switch in assertiveness wasn't like a good thing, you know? Like it came off as mean and cruel instead of empowering. But I just wanted to fit in somewhere and I thought starting to stand up for myself could make it easier, I-" Rainbow could feel tiny rivers of wet spots form on her borrowed body as Fluttershy began to sputter into incoherent quasi-silence. Rainbow saw a nearby bench and praying to Celestia she wouldn't break every bench she sat on now, she sped up a bit faster and as quick as she could, which was a snail's pace still, she slid Fluttershy off of her makeshift ride. She felt awkward and tried inching a hoof towards her friend, noticing how truly small her body was in this moment, Fluttershy had curled up into a fetal position and muffled noises came from her as she worked through her feelings. Dash wondered if Shy had ever said that she was sorry to her friends and actually explained how she felt.

Judging by her emotional state, Rainbow guessed not, letting the thoughts just sit there out of actual mental reach until somepony brought up the events and tore open the wound- fresh and raw. Rainbow did the best thing she could do in this case. Bringing a hoof that would be comically large and imposing on any normal pony, she hugged Fluttershy. It almost looked comical, Dash thought, because it was to the normal pony just Fluttershy comforting the most awesome and least cry prone pony in Ponyville with a hug.

Which was mostly far from the truth. Flip the ponies and actually it was Dash comforting the at least respectable and- well. Dash just stopped the thought as she felt Fluttershy return the hug. It was an upside down world Rainbow mused.

The pair just sat and watched the scenery, strangely their minds adding in sound once they had stopped talking. Bird calls and song surrounded them as the world began to echo with the sounds of a summer day. Out on the horizon, clouds slowly formed hinting to a possible storm that was forming over the Everfree- the one place in Equestria too pure and wild for anypony to do any real weather control. And the sounds of the town enveloped them as ponies went around their day, the Flower ponies shouting in mock horror as their customers gossiped about the next impending threat to Equestria- artificial plants. And they could smell Sugarcube Corner from where they sat, the wind blowing out the aromas of pastries and chocolate throughout the town, lazily drawing customers like a hazy dream. It was almost a perfect day, if only Rainbow hadn't almost ruined it perfectly by teasing Fluttershy too much. She seemed to be handling the switch so well, but maybe she was handling it as badly as Dash was.

Her moment was broken when Fluttershy's mind caught up with Rainbow's mouth and a stream of consciousness style word salad of thoughts poured out of her mouth like rain.

"Dash, are we going to be okay like this? I mean I can't be doing your job. Everything seems to be moving so slow and yet whenever I try to keep up with my mind in here, I fly off and get hurt or my body locks up in fear. And I can't fly well and I don't want to be so bad you lose your job and I can't take care of my animals like this and you are horrible at caring for them, no offense, and then what if my publisher wants to talk about my books and you don't know anything about those and then-"

Rainbow tried to shush the worried pegasus. She opened her mouth and shut it quickly, there was no actual way to put this nicely. She was as equally worried as Fluttershy here. She couldn't hide that.

"Well I am too. I'm worried about all that- and I have no clue if this will wear off or not in time. I guess will just let stuff work out, okay? Though I wonder how I'll get up to check on Tank and everything else in my house? Like I can't get my mail with these wings. I mean they work for you okay, but I can't get enough lift here to go up further than a foot or two. Which I don't like completely mind all the time if its you dealing with that problem, uh, but I want to make sure stuff's fine up there."

Fluttershy started to wipe her tears with a blue hoof and she quietly laughed. "Well can't we go fix that?" Fluttershy pointed at a nearby building and started uncurling herself back to normal.

Glancing around Rainbow noticed that they were right next to the post office. How did that get there? It seemed like she should have seen that walking over here. They both shared a short laugh and Dash began slowly walking towards the doors.

"Hey Shy?"

"Yeah?"

"We'll figure this out okay?"

Fluttershy nuzzled close to Dash. "Okay."

***

The Ponyville Post Office was one of those places that looked like it was ever in a state of chaos. Dash wondered if Discord had ever entered the post office and saw how wonderful organized chaos was. Because as they entered there was a glut of ponies working on sorting the piles of mail into generally easy to carry mail totes, with the large packages being assigned to mail teams and prescribed a perfectly reasonable mail route.

But for the normal pony, the post office was a mess. Thankfully, there wasn't anypony else in line because of the late hour. Well in terms of the post office- a sign said that they closed around four on Saturdays thanks to government regulations and accountant ponies that graphed the peak times post offices were used.

Rainbow only knew of that highly relevant fact because Twilight had once accidentally added in the entire government code of Equestrian Politics for Dummies before she had to study for the Wonderbolt exam. Though Dash had wondered if it was a test secretly done by Twilight to see if Dash's strange automatic learning through flight had an upper limit or extended infinitely into knowing everything there is to know territory.

Shaking her head to stop the boredom she heard a quiet ding that told the pair that they would be next. Trudging up to the desk, she heard the bubbliest mare possible. Her voice lilting in a sing song pattern up and down the register, each word a different note in a strange, almost right meter and melody.

"Hiya, Rainbow Dash, what do I have to do for you today?"

Fluttershy looked at Dash expectantly, her magenta eyes confused since she didn't know what to do in this strange situation. Rainbow Dash mentally facehoofed and turned on her best impression of Fluttershy.

"Um, Ditzy, you see Dash here just remembered she needs a change of address form- not permanent of course- but for like a while. Do you have one of those?"

Ditzy tapped a hoof, her one lazy eye looking at Dash and the other normal one looking at Fluttershy. "Um, well we have something like that, not all the time thing yeah, uh, let's see here-" Ditzy slowly rifled through a large stack of papers slowly, each moment slowly humming some tune she had to have heard on the radio. Her eyes scanned the papers back and sideways, forwards and down, looking for the relevant form. "Here it is, its one we don't really use all that often. See cause we aren't like in those big, scary cities and ponies don't move around all that much here."

Rainbow tried to smile. "Oh yeah, see Rainbow, I told you it would be really easy."

She heard Fluttershy sigh, "Yeah. Let's get this over with, This place isn't all that awesome."

"Um, Dash, can I have your autograph? Cause my little muffin loves watching your Wonderbolts show- I mean I only got to take her once, but she still talks about it and I know this is a weird time but I tried to ask the management here if I could ask for your autograph on my mail route, but they said that'd be 'against protocol' whatever that means and so having you walk in here is great." Ditzy pulled out a lightly worn photograph of her, a stallion, and her daughter- a light gray unicorn filly. "Can you make it out to Dinky?" Ditzy slowly smiled, her eyes focusing intently on Fluttershy.

Fluttershy tried to act cool, nopony had actually asked for her signature before- sure the modeling period happened but that ended too soon before her name and look became synonymous with Equestrian beauty, thank Celestia. And after that heartfelt story by Ditzy, she felt tears beginning to form again in the corner of her eyes. Dash often joked that she could cry at the drop of a hat, but she was just sentimental and emotional. Taking a deep breath, she handed the paper Dash needed to her and flexed a wing tip. Remembering that Dash tended to write her name in a mix of normal letters and cursive, Fluttershy scrawled out a 'To Dinky, my biggest fan- Rainbow Dash' and grinned.

"There you go."

Dash slid back the address change form and let Fluttershy follow her out.

"Well that was surprising, you okay, Shy? I was going to tell you to not write out an autograph."

Fluttershy felt her head swerve as she looked at herself- Dash just shrugged. "It's just easier, Shy. Think about it. You're going to be a celebrity. You can't always write every autograph you get asked for. I learned that after you guys did Mare-Do-Well, a few days later I had to disband my fan club and limit to just Scootaloo. They kept asking me for photographs and to fight my 'supervillain antihero' whatever they meant by that." Dash laughed ran out hollow. "Yeah, maybe with this switch I can relax for once."

"Um well, if you can handle a ton of fans, I guess you won't hate dealing with my animals."

Fluttershy noticed her body slightly slump at that thought, was that a slight shake in her hind legs?

"Dash, you okay?"

"Just peachy. You want a hayburger or something? After that ordeal, I'm strangely starving to death."

Fluttershy could eat.

***

"Welcome to the Hayburger, home of the Hayburger Deluxe, I'm your server- oh Celestia dammit- not you."

Fluttershy stared at the purple unicorn. "Sorry? Did I do something to you?"

"Oh great, you don't remember acting like an idiot in front of me?"

"Stand back, I got this! Don't worry ma'am, I'll open this hard to open jar! And then I'll have you fill out the Rainbow Dash is Awesome survey!"

Fluttershy blushed as a quick memory hit, glancing over to Dash, she noticed that the pegasus remembered her. Seeing her own body twiddle her hooves in worry made her wonder, just for a second, if that's how Dash thought of her. Cause Fluttershy thought back over the day and quickly noticed that she was playing up her own worries. Fluttershy sighed. She wasn't always like that, she had moments where she was assertive and helped her friends and totally wasn't a complete pushover. Though then she realized, she may have been playing up Dash's sense of machismo, bravado and showmanship.

"Ahem, while I absolutely love that you seem to be checking me out, not. I really want to move on with my life and just, I don't know, take your order. Also if you see your princess friend, tell her she's banned from the restaurant. Stupid alicorn biology made her eat through an entire bale of hay, managers are totally pissed. Also I hate her, cause of course Celestia's private student had to take. My. Own. Position. Not like I liked being important and helping Winter Wrap Up."

Fluttershy cringed. Quickly looking at the menu and her server's nametag- mainly because while this pony remembered Dash and Dash remembered her, it wasn't enough to provide her with the most relevant information. That being the actual name of the current winner of the angriest pony in Ponyville award.

"Uh, thanks, Sparkler? I'll tell her that radical thought and we'll both the deluxe-" Fluttershy saw a quick nod to the negative and a hold up of two hooves by Dash, uh, three for her and a, I dunno, a shake."

She saw a quick look of disgust on Sparkler's face and a quick shift into false sincerity as the unicorn smiled. "I have to warn your little mare friend to be careful, we make the deluxes rather large around here. Would you want the shake with one straw or two?"

Fluttershy quickly looked at Dash, a blush forming quickly on her face making it seem like her cheeks were slightly turning purple thanks to the dim light and blue coat. "Uh, two?" Dash hadn't said no.

Sparkler turned and left, her body sashaying with unbridled rage. "Dash, we need to give that pony a good tip when we leave cause I think she wants to murder us. But why are you ordering three of those anyway?"

Dash crossed her now yellow arms and stared at Fluttershy. "I have no idea Shy, its not like we haven't had lunch and it looks like you forgot breakfast. And no offense, but your built like a brick house. I don't know if that should be a compliment or not. After today? I have no clue, feels like absolute torture. And maybe I'm just not used to feeling like my stomach is eating itself. Don't you eat?"

Fluttershy blushed at the thought of Rainbow Dash possibly complimenting her. "Oh I do. But sometimes I forget and then I also use a fair portion of the money I get from my advances from my books to help all my animals. . . so maybe I skip a few meals. But its not like I starve myself, Dash. Pinkie gives me a ton of sweets every time I see her and Rarity helps me shop sometimes."

Dash just stared blankly at Shy. "So you are telling me that you go around just eating free junk food? And you don't eat like anything else? And your still this- um no, this large?" Rainbow Dash slumped in her booth. "Fine. Whatever, but your going to have to eat more often after this. Or at least I can use this time to actually try and get you on a decent diet. And workout regimen- cause why not. It's not like I have anything else to do besides be sure to not mess up your life and take care of animals."

Fluttershy sputtered at the thought. "S-sure, sounds good."

She thought she could see Dash smiling back at her. She must have imagined that.

***

"Shy, ugh, why didn't you tell me to not eat all those burgers?" Dash slowly walked back to Fluttershy's cabin. Shy slowly flew behind her, pushing her friend forward. Fluttershy wondered if she was actually doing anything besides putting her hooves on her own butt, but she let that thought move as far away as possible.

"Dash, I was surprised that you'd even think my body could eat that much. Sparkler had to have doubled the order cause that looked like an amount Pinkie could eat."

"I don't know. You are plushy and all that. I think some ponies would call you stacked- like Rarity, she'd totally call you that. Yes. But next time I'm seeing that Sparkler pony, I'm going to punch her, or at least give her a good talking to."

Fluttershy felt her whole body become flush with heat as she heard that sentence. "You okay, Dash?"

Dash groaned. "I'm good. Though I totally can't fly. Eh, Tank might be fine."

Shy lightly tapped her hooves upon Dash. "Are you sure? I can easily fly up to your house and get your things."

Fluttershy heard her voice tinkle out like a clear bell. "Haha, sure, I just have a few things. Like don't grab my furniture. Twilight can get that stuff, then she can help out somehow. She's got a stupid balloon or something. Oh wait, she can just use her alicorn magic and pick up my entire life of things and drop them off at your house. But, no worries, I just need my pillows, and my bed sheets, and like my turtle, and my toiletries. That's actually about it."

"Cool, I'll get those, Dash, don't worry. Just keep walking. We're almost to my house."

Fluttershy felt Dash stumble over the path as she was walking, the path turning from cobblestones to a dirt path as it entered the outskirts of the town. Trees edged along the path, the darkness now turning a nice path into a dark hole lined by trees. The stars brought the light they could, but they could never give enough light. Living in the country, or at least the edge of town, made light scarce making Fluttershy happy she had walked this path more times than she could count, its curves and hills branded in her memory.

Finally her house appeared, Fluttershy flew up since being in Dash' body, even with her horrible flight skills, at least made her faster than Dash at this time. Turning on her lights, she waited as Dash limped slowly up the hill.

"Shy, I'm so tired. Is there a couch or a bed somewhere?"

Fluttershy blushed maroon as she realized that her date accidentally ended like she had hoped. Well besides the body switching, of course, but Fluttershy had hoped that she could have gotten Dash into her room in some way and it was happening.

"O-o-h yes, well there's a couch but its not really made for ponies to sleep on. I mean I sometimes do, but the best thing is there's a bed upstairs in my room. "

She watched as Dash slowly walked up the stairs, glancing around, Fluttershy quickly picked up and began to pull out all of the food for the animals. It was easier if she did it herself the first night. Then she'd fly up and get Dash's stuff and make Dash happy.

She heard the bedroom door creak shut and she zoomed around her house. Being Dash was really good for her schedule- clean up took only a minute.

"See Dash, this won't be all bad.

***

Dash felt entirely comfy in Fluttershy's bed. Maybe that was the five pillows that surrounded her, or the lavender plants that stayed near the bed, it felt nice. She couldn't remember how long she was in bed, just one moment she was alone and then another moment, she felt the covers slowly creep up and she opened her eye for a moment. She couldn't see anything because of there being no nightlights, and the only light that could be seen was from the moon, which by the direction of Fluttershy's house let it fall in and only cover a corner of her room.

Dash shivered as her fur slowly rose as the cold hit her skin, the warmth that she had gained from being wrapped up in blankets dissipated into the air as she felt a body snuggle up to her. She could smell a fain tinge of sweat as the covers rose over her again.

A mumbled happy noise came from in between the sheets and Dash thought she felt a tiny kiss on her head as she fell back asleep. She flopped her leg over her and held her new bed buddy close. She felt Fluttershy draw into the hug and put her head into Dash's now much larger chest. She felt heat radiating off Fluttershy and she drifted slowly off to sleep.

Dash wouldn't say this out loud, but for a slight moment, she felt mostly good about today.

Speed of Sound

Dash shifted her weight as she blinked herself awake. She could see small pieces of dust illuminated by the slowly rising sun float down and hit the floor, she looked at herself and pulled the covers away to check if yesterday was truly a dream. She blinked as she saw her own body- the blue one of course- lay right beside her, snoring softly.

Great. Looking at her own face still would never get normal- she quickly tried to use the correct thought, training herself that while she was still Dash in her head, nopony knew that. Shaking her limbs and noticing a dull ache from when that spa pony did things- Dash remembered that point and shivered- she waited as she noticed strands of hair out of place on her original body. Brushing a hoof through chromatic locks, she made sure to take care around the ears and bangs, noting that her hair fell naturally like a wave around her head, sure nothing like her current hair do- Dash quietly blamed Fluttershy for preferring her pink hair to be a wild mass of faintly controlled waves crashing across her hairline.

Chalk another thing up on the list of things she'd like to do to Fluttershy's body. No wait, that thought came out wrong, Dash quickly amended that thought into 'Things to make Fluttershy's body better. There, no sexual way that could ever be misconstrued by her friends. Step one, do something about this hair, step two, eat more awesome food, and step three workout.

Noticing a brush on the other end table, she reached for it but her lower body was unresponsive. That shouldn't happen, gritting her teeth, Dash edged over to the other side, gingerly picking up each leg gently over Fluttershy's blue body. Silently wishing that Fluttershy was totally asleep to not have to have her friend notice that she was probably presenting her nether regions by complete and utter coincidence. She looked at her old body, now decidedly Fluttershy's for the foreseeable future and thought blue was not her friend's color. Dash grimaced thinking how weird that sentence was. Shaking her limbs gently, she felt her sensation of numbness start to leave- followed by a sharp, constant feeling of needles underneath the skin, nerves firing on every cylinder as blood and pain came back slowly.

Dash grinned to herself noticing the brush being only a few inches away now, reaching a hoof gently over she grasped it but slowly felt her center mass shift as the bed shifted, her weight now pushing down a new section of it. She tried to hold on, but her footing slipped and she slid out of bed with a thump.

"Ponyfeathers. Fluttershy, help, I can't move my legs."

She heard a rustle as Fluttershy peeked over the bed. "Oh dear, I forgot, that's what tends to happen when I go to the spa." She could see Fluttershy groan, her voice sounding like aged leather as she tried to stretch her small blue wings. Plopping on down, with a gentle tap, Dash looked into her own face and just saw Fluttershy. The caring mare now hijacking her body like an alien.

Dash frowned, the action creasing her face into an attempted Stare, her eyes straining as she tried to act as mad as she could, but only a small headache pulsed behind her eyes. Deciding that the effort was too much, Dash decided to facehoof instead, tapping herself gently because she didn't want to cause herself more pain.

"Fine, just can you help me? Cause this really feels weird."

Dash saw a slight smirk cross over her friend's face. She cringed as she heard a throaty laugh. "Sure, but from up here, you look good to me."

"Just give me the brush, Shy."

"Okay, I was just getting into my role here. I think I maybe was too forward or jokey, I don't want to over correct for all of our friends. . .I mean that can get to be too much sometimes."

Dash rolled her now baby blue eyes and shrugged. "Its fine, just go." She saw her friend zoom off, the rainbow trail lingering in the air for a few seconds, and groaned. Celestia dammit, either Fluttershy was accidentally failing at hitting on her or she was going crazy. She brushed her pink locks and mused that something had to be up with this.

She'd just talk to Twilight later, whatever. She felt a rush of wind as Fluttershy reappeared with a plate of eggs and hay bacon. Dash blinked, she had only been out of the room for like five minutes.

Fluttershy fidgeted and placed the food on the end table and slowly helped Dash up. "See I, uh, thought you might need some food to make up for what I said and then I remembered I totally put some eggs in my fridge and-"

"Thanks." Dash slowly laid back on the bed, feeling her limbs come back to reality. "You didn't have to do this. And you got that impression of me down well." Dash winked.

Fluttershy felt her body run on autopilot as she flopped as fast as she could on her own bed, its size now dwarfing her. She felt her wings shoot straight out in a lewd display and while she was fine with others sexuality, she always felt a tad bit worried about her own sensitive feelings. She knew how things worked, but she hadn't actually been forward enough ever to try something on her own.

"Um, d-do you want the food?"

"I do." Rainbow wiggled her hindquarters, partially because she needed to get comfortable again, partially not. "But I have one little question. . .why do you do that spa routine all the time if it causes your body to act like this all the time? Cause I don't want to call you out or something, but temporary paralysis the next day probably means something bad."

Fluttershy wanted to quickly dash away but her blue wings locked in place causing her to flop from the bed directly into Dash's yellow lap. She felt her cheeks burn hot as she felt a heat that she didn't exactly know what to do with. Well she had ideas, but she kept those in her writing and outside of her actual life.

Dash could only make out the stream of words because of her hearing combined with feeling the vibrations of words echo on her chest.

"It just happened the first time I went. I accidentally asked about the special and Aloe and Lotus were so happy and Rarity was impressed and I didn't want to say no exactly so I didn't. And that's how that happened. Though I wonder if Aloe and Lotus like me somehow cause they kept mentioning how nice I looked all the time and then wondering if I was part Earth Pony, I don't-"

Dash pushed the food away for a moment to get better leverage. She felt so small in this bed, even though it was a good size, she still felt a bit cramped. Drawing herself all the way back, she leaned her head on the headboard and sighed. "Oh of course. I can't even be mad about that, I want to. But I can't. I mean who else would decide 'I don't like this, but everybody else is happy so I can't say no?'" She picked up her friend and flipped her into a sitting position, like she was a stuffed animal that she could hold in her hooves. She slowly picked up the brush and ran it through the hair of her friend, slowly detailing each strand and color with a soothing hum. "You know, you could have always said no, that's probably Aloe and Lotus' whole job, making sure ponies actually feel comfortable in their own bodies. That or they are weirdly Uralpean."

She felt Fluttershy chuckle at that and lean into her brush strokes, "Was that an attempt at a joke?"

"Guity."

Dash could feel Fluttershy cuddle closer, "Well I liked it."

Dash brushed Fluttershy's blue coat, noticing marks of dust and cloud stuff matted into her fur. Digging the brush harder, she began easing the knotted fur apart, each brush stroke earning a slight yelp from Shy. "Sorry, but I have no idea how you got all this stuff in my fur. I mean your fur? This is confusing."

Fluttershy groaned in protest. "I just wanted to have a surprise for you so I got all the stuff you wanted from your place. I just also ran into the ground a few times, and a few dozen clouds, and maybe into a tree or two. It was kind of dark."

Dash noticed small cuts on the wings probably from brambles and tree branches, Fluttershy's borrowed wings were missing feathers and the few that looked okay were covered in a light dusting of grime and sweat. Dash had standards- while some ponies liked the whole cleaning process and getting dirty, it was another thing entirely for her to enjoy the taste of dirt. Sighing, she put down the brush and picked her newest and weirdest trainee in the ways of the Dash ever.

Fluttershy said nothing, her cheeks maroon going towards dark purple in surprise. Dash inwardly sighed. Great. It wasn't like Fluttershy could destroy her with cuteness before. And now she's travel sized and looked like her. A slight tinge of narcissism flared as Dash wondered silently if Fluttershy was down for trading places in the bedroom.

Though the colors would be all wrong. Maybe paint?

Shaking her head, she opened the bathroom door and set Fluttershy down in the tub.

"Dash, what are you doing?"

Dash grabbed a few soaps from the counter, noting that her brands and bottles that she used were there, Dolloping a bit on her yellow hoof, she began to work slowly on Fluttershy.

"Nothing much, cleaning you off, if you don't want me to do this I'll go and let you do this on your own."

Fluttershy blushed. "No I'm okay with this." She laid her head on Dash and smiled.

"Um, well, okay. I'll keep asking you about it, just to be sure cause I probably have to get all over."

Fluttershy felt her blue wings stiffen. "O-o-h. Well, okay. And thanks, Dash."

Dash rubbed a hoof through her now smaller friend's hair. "I also need to teach you to calm down your wings, I think its cute and all, but that's super not the Dash way of things. Plus then I can tease you and nopony needs to know. . ."

Dash booped her friend on the nose and laughed. "I'm just teasing you. But Shy, don't tell anypony I did this for you, it totally hurts my awesome factor. Now turn around cause I need to preen you. You don't just let dirt get everywhere? Where did you learn your cleaning habits, a barn?""

Fluttershy eeped as she felt Dash slowly pick out each feather that was slightly torn or out of alignment, each sharp pull hinting that Dash had found another feather that was not up to snuff. She hadn't realized that there was a thing to preening. Her mother never showed her the ins and outs of the habit.

"Dear, I have told you before. If the kids bully you at school, just let them know that you just have a lot of feathers. And if the school calls about you being dirty, just say our water is off for the moment. You are fine. You don't need preening anyway. Ponies only say you need to, see, that's how they get you. Then you have seven mane conditioners and ten shampoos and feather care treatments. That's how they get you. And I keep telling ponies that its all a government scam, built so you have to spend your money to look nice. So honey, what do we say about the government?" Fluttershy stared at her mother wanting to ask something she couldn't quite place on her tongue. She only got silence in response. She quietly turned and walked back to her room, her mother's cold laughter echoing through the halls as she talked to her friends. Each voice echoed off the walls as she entertained them.

Her mother didn't have friends.

At least tomorrow she'd see if Flight School was okay.

"Dash, I, uh, never learned about that."

Dash just stared at Fluttershy, her borrowed blue orbs tracing her thoughts as she got a fair hint of Fluttershy's memories. Dash stopped preening, and opened her mouth, blue feathers slowly falling like raindrops onto the floor in a localized clump. She saw Dash try and fake a patented Fluttershy smile, the edges of it faltering and wobbling as she tried to hold in a sense of emotion. Dash breathed in and out and just hugged Shy, her body enveloping her friend's.

Fluttershy triend to move, her blue limmbs held fast by Dash. She tried to swirm out as her limbs started to become numb as Dash squeezed her tight. It hurt to breathe and then it stopped. Dash broke the hug and sat there.

"Dash, I'm okay."

"But-"

Fluttershy picked up some soap and began to scrub Dash's now long, pink mane.

"What are you doing, Shy?"

"I mean if you want, you can teach me how to do some of the things I missed out on, and I can teach you what I learned down on the ground. Earth Ponies have some good ways to keep clean. Now can you please get in the tub? I don't want to use that much water to get us both presentable. It might feel nice since you were complaining about your spa trip. . ."

Dash felt her massive yellow wings stiffen at that. Flexing each muscle slowly, she kept Fluttershy from noticing it entirely. "S-sure. Can you move over? I don't think your tub is big enough for the two of us."

The water level rose as Dash entered the tub, her body displacing far more water than she was used to- though she mentally chided herself- of course it did, it was Fluttershy's body of course. She felt Fluttershy swim over to her gently and lay on her stomach. Dash felt a slight blush at that thought. Sharing a tub? That was new to her. Hopefully Shy wouldn't look up.

"Shy, don't we have a party with Twilight later?"

"Mmm, we have a while until then, Pinkie set it for noon."

Dash laid her head back and just relaxed, if they had four hours until then, well that's not bad at all. At least she hoped Fluttershy would decide to get her out in time. If not, well they could always blame Twilight for something.

***

Twilight's eye twitched. "Pinkie, this isn't working." Twilight ran through all the spells she had used in a furious rush, checking off each random spell that she had already cancelled and she was only left with one. Well more than one, but the main problem was that she had no clue how the gender spell worked with all the others and now there was a noticeable matrix of spells feeding onto Pinkie's aura- not deadly, just more self sustaining and decidedly difficult to unmake. Sure the few size increasing spells were mostly all gone, besides in some areas that Pinkie had told her to keep just as a 'fun addition'. Thankfully, Twilight knew an invisibility spell or two to hide Pinkie's currently noticeable Post Office parcel, but at least she had gotten Pinkie back to a relatively normal size.

Cause her friends would most definitely try to hold an intervention if Pinkie remained thirty feet tall.

She didn't have a problem, maybe a small one, but it was all in her Princessly duties- she was the main pony that created spells, so of course there would be catastrophic failures, just she didn't want to have it now be a daily occurrence- weekly she could handle, but misusing spells daily? That had to break like every magical tome's rulebook.

"You aren't making this any easier, Pinkie."

Pinkie lay on the Friendship Table, no saying a word, just suggestively sitting there, no care in the world. She winked at Twilight, her now masculine features and size hiding the graceful pony. A deep baritone started chuckling at just how funny this whole thing was. "But, Twily, look, its like I'm a giant on this tiny map. I can see my parent's house from here." Pinkie waved at the map, "Hi, everypony."

Twilight picked Pinkie up in her purple aura. "No don't even touch that. That's a magical artifact of mostly unknowable power, its not a toy."

"Well that's not what you said during our fun. I liked using my magical artifact to power you up."

Twilight blushed furiously and groaned. "We'll talk about that later, and stop using turns of phrase, I can't get off track with this. And I I already made Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash's lives worse off by doing yesterday's experiment. I can't have you being, well, you right now. Aren't you at least a little bit freaked out? What if I can't fix this and you are stuck like this forever?"

Pinkie poked Twilight on her horn and gently floated down. "Twilight, serious mode Pinkie here. I don't really care if I'm like this, I don't care what gender I am, I could be whatever I feel like and I'm perfectly comfortable with it. It doesn't change who I am in any way besides those parts that ponies take so much stock into, but I'm just me. Like I love parties and sweets and you- and my friends and family. You are currently here-" Pinkie pointed at the ceiling, "and with how much this affects me, you should be down here." Pinkie pointed at Twilight's horn. "You have better things to worry about."

Twilight sputtered, "But what about if your family comes and you are a stallion? Or the Cakes?"

Pinkie laughed, "Well, they already know I tend to get into some weird situations. This is probably only the fifth most interesting thing that's ever happened to me."

Twilight shook her head, "Okay. Well I guess if you are okay with it, I can be about ninety nine point nine percent not okay with it. I still want to get you out of that as soon as possible."

Pinkie patted Twilight on her head. "I don't know Twily, I can find a lot of ways to make you probably be okay with this."

Twilight was going to respond until she heard a distinctive drawling voice.

"I already told ya, Rares, I don't think Twilight really wants us in her castle before the party."

"Oh, don't be a spoil sport dear, I just want to check if Fluttershy was telling the truth about that little information she told me. It just made me stay up all night wondering of the possibilities."

Twilight froze. She was not going to have another repeat of yesterday and her mind boggled with what to do. Finally, after what felt like a frozen eternity, she came up with the best possible solution. "Pinkie, go hide in my closet."

Pinkie cartwheeled away. Twilight rubbed her temple. She may like her marefriend, boyfriend, ponyfriend, whatever but the sheer gall of Pinkie to break all forms of physics and general flexibility still irked her.

She walked towards the arguing pair, Twilight mused that at least her friends annoyed her with freindship issues even if she thought the general populace of Equestria saw her as a completely useless princess. She read the papers. Turning on her smile and stretching her wings, she strode out to meet them.

"-I told ya, I don't feel like having one of them fencediggers on me."

Rarity chuckled, her voice exuding an air of regality, "Oh well that's fine, darling, but I think I remember you saying a few things when we were together, you know, in that place, something about you wanting to be a family mare?"

Applejack pulled her hat off her head and hid her face. "I mean I was just thinking about it is all, not like I planned for this to just pop up in my lap or nothing."

Rarity twined her tail in Applejack's and lifted her hat off. "Now, Applejack, darling, you don't have to be the one that gets Twilight's little spell, if you don't want to, I could easily try the gentlestallion approach and sweep a fair maiden like you off her hooves. I have many a fine novel like that."

Applejack blushed. "Well, that is a mighty fine proposition, but uh, I can always see what Twilight says first. But I'll remember that offer, Rare."

Twilight took that cue to clear her throat and announce to the adoring crowd of nopony that her court was in session. Or at least she imagined that in her head, in reality, it was more of a sputtering cough announcing her presence behind a low curtain that unmasked her. Pulling herself into some semblance of normalcy, she quickly scooted herself out from the curtain and nervously laughed. "Hello, uh, so Rarity and AJ, what brings you two into my ridiculously huge and totally empty castle today?"

Rarity smiled and bowed slightly, while Twilight usually said no to the ins and outs of royal formality, Rarity was more a stickler for each and every Equestrian custom. "Oh we just had a bet between the two of us about a fancy new spell I heard you just made."

Twilight stopped and tilted her head. That was decidedly vague. She was the research arm of the tetrarchy of princesses. Which still felt wrong to Twilight, and her first reaction to every single new spell was borderline mental breakdowns and neurotic behavior. Thankfully Pinkie was her centering light or else Twilight would have burned down at least her own castle, if not the town in one of her paranoid fear of Tartarus spells. Her psychiatrist said she was doing far better now. Or maybe she could pick up alcoholism. Never tried that mess, with how her week was going why not? If social drinking worked for both Dash and Applejack, what the hay, why not start it?

Twilight shook her head and thought hard about which spells she had created recently- matter transference, portable portals that could see infinite bag space be an actual possibility, future prediction, transmutations of elements beyond the known five, and the-

Oh. Buck it to the Moon. She cursed her overactive libido and wished that this wasn't going to become a thing. She was the Princess of Friendship and Magical Research, not the Princess of Inventive Ways to Get Laid. First of all, that was a horrible title and second of all, Twilight wondered if that would invalidate all of her years of researching ways to make Equestria a more advanced and modern place and pushing the limits of what was deemed possible with magic.

"Oh I do hate it when Twilight zones out like this. Equestria to Twilight, if you can hear me, I just want to see if Fluttershy's gossip was correct and, if so, can I use the spell."

Twilight snapped out of the daze, recognizing where exactly the blame for her tightest little secret getting out truly lay. She quietly thought to talk to Rainbow Dash later. This was probably one of her pranks to get back at the alicorn just for switching her body by accident.

"Which spell did she mention?"

Applejack piped up. "Uh, it was the gendery bendery spell."

"Oh yes, dear, I'm simply begging you to show me the ropes, if you will, about that one. It'd be simply marvelous."

Twilight quickly thought up the first excuse.

"Oh its just that I haven't attuned the spell matrices correctly yet, so its an incomplete version."

Rarity laughed, her mirth brightening up the room. "Well Twilight, be glad I'm here then. Gemstone arrays are almost a field of interest of mine. I would call it a hobby, but sadly the business does come first. Now which way to your lab?"

"Second door on the left?"

Rarity cantered over and pulled open the door. "Are you sure dear, because all I see is your bedroom. You should really clean up in here, looks like somepony had a party."

Twilight froze. "No wait, Rarity, that's the wrong room!"

It seemed as if time stopped as Twilight grabbed Applejack's hoof and fired up a teleportation spell, time and space slowly bent around them as Rarity gasped, her voice having a strange downward pitch as the noise hit their ears before the jump, and a upward rise as they exited.

Pinkie waved at Applejack and Twilight as they appeared.

"Twi, why does Pinkie look similar to my brother? Cause I have many questions as to why Pinkie's up in your closet, sure, but that's totally not the first question I have. Why's Pinkie a stallion? That's the main head scratcher, if I am honest."

Twilight nervously shook. "No reason, just the spell did that. Everything's perfectly fine."

Pinkie thought, since she was now a he for the foreseeable future, she switched her mental pronoun into something less confusing for all- he had to do something cause while he loved the alicorn, Twilight tended to be rather stuck in her worries.

"Girls, can we just focus on the party? Its the thing that's far more important." He started bouncing out of the room to get his backup party cannon that he stored in the basement of the castle/ Pinkie always planned for every party eventuality and being stuck in a closet for thirty minutes was not exactly on his list of things he wanted to deal with. There was so many parties and so little time. He sped away as the girls watched.

"Twilight, can I please have that spell? I need to have it for reasons."

Twilight sighed. She was tired and she felt the tinge of a stress headache coming on. "Sure, I give up. Did you girls at least bring the drinks?"

"Sure Twilight, I left 'em outside. You want me to get the cart?' Applejack brought a few casks of cider that the Apples had stored up in preparation for Cider Season. It was great for their taxes to give a few to Twilight, then they could write that off as a princess related tax deduction. It was so much easier dealing with the local economy, and local princess, than hoping for some increased reach into the Canterlot market. She remembered the Gala.

Twilight felt like she was on edge, everything the last two days was getting on her nerves. But she tried breathing in and out, her breathing giving her something to focus on getting her mind away from the stressful situation. Getting her mind off things was a useful tactic, usually it worked. This was not one of those times, not that she tried, but she felt a pressure on her horn as a familiar tickle came through her magical aura.

A dark blue aura began to appear in her vision, as her eyes readjusted to a magical link. She accepted the link to happen- it was far less annoying on her end because the world would stop being colored like dusky nighttime. A tiny scroll slid out of her horn- a new spell Twilight had discovered a year or two back made Princess letters much less difficult and let Spike do other things. Glancing at the archaic prose still littering the page- though, thank Celestia, there was more singular pronouns instead of the royal we than there used to be. Luna seemed to be getting modern dialect better than the last time Twilight had received a letter from her. Scanning the message, she crumpled it in her haste.

"Dear, what does that letter say?" Rarity tried to peek over Twilight's shoulder but she couldn't see the letter in time.

Twilight grumbled and walked off, talking about how much she needed a drink. "Luna's coming to help me with a certain problem."

***

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash quickly hurried to the party. Fluttershy quickly dragged Dash along- to the outside observer it was a strange sight seeing the smaller blue pegasi attempt to drag the larger yellow one along. A foot in the air. But Fluttershy was trying to get to the party as fast as possible- which meant going slow and steady rather than the trademarked Rainbow Dash zoom.

She was working herself up to that.

Dash complained loudly and tried to move around as little as possible. "Shy, at least please dodge the cobblestone street. I don't want to get road rash going four miles an hour." She frowned, her yellow face showing her real emotions. A slight frown, to be sure, but Dash had only so much to work with.

"Sorry. Sorry. I know. I should have been watching the clock more. But the bath was nice."

"I get it Shy, you've only apologized like ten times. Can you just keep me alive and I'll call it even?"

Fluttershy felt herself blush. "Yeah."

Rainbow thought they were making decent time. If only Fluttershy's cottage wasn't minutes away, they'd have been fine. If only there wasn't so much hoof traffic. Sundays were a good day for ponies- stores and businesses stayed open to unload their wares at a slight weekly discount. Which would be perfect if they weren't trying to get anywhere.

Slowly Dash saw the crowd melt away, a throng of ponies walking in the opposite direction, which was odd since there were not stories on the outskirts of the town unless Filthy Rich had some stupid chain store idea. If only Fluttershy trusted herself with her new speed above a foot from the floor. Then Dash could finally stare at what was causing this fortunate parting of the crowd.

Then she began to hear what they were running from. A perfectly excitable Princess Luna.

"That is truly a work of art, dear baker, perfectly serviceable. Back in the more masculine times, this masterpiece of culinary art would allow you to live comfortably in you manse. Be proud for you have a skill that would keep your children alive in times of starvation. How wonderful."

Luna spied the two pegasi and waved. "Hello you two. I was just congratulating this baking stallion about pastries. And I hath discovered that orange tarts are what I would wage war over. Alas, this stallion is wed and therefore I cannot add this male to my harem."

Mr. Cake stood there awkwardly, not moving, fearing that the alicorn would decide to smite him for some unfortunate accident. It was better to not react, he remembered the last time the well known Ponyville destroyer came to town.

"T-thank you, princess." Mr. Cake stuttered out as he quickly backed away.

"You are welcome, fine merchant" Luna turned around and saw the earth pony make a dash for safety. "Good idea, for I do desire to procure more of your sweets. But alas, that may take a while and I have places to be." She chuckled, oblivious of her presence causing mayhem in the street. "Now Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, please walk with me."

Dash turned on her best Fluttershy impression. "Um, well. If you want to."

Luna smiled and patted Dash on the head. "Well thank you, Rainbow. That would be my pleasure."

Rainbow quickly dropped the act and her yellow body twitched in surprise. "How did you-"

Luna laughed, her laugh swallowing up the airy mirth of the town, like an encroaching night or a dangerous nocturnal predator. "Let me assume that Twilight hasn't filled you in on the perks of being a high powered magical being, like the princesses, among other less savory creatures, have. We can see the aura in things. Every thing has a color, slight variations and patterns make it a singularly unique item of rarity. And anyway, your aura, has one of the most recognizable patterns I've seen before. Not every century can you see a rainbow." Luna smiled. "Well I also may have already known there was something amiss, since Twilight did explain to me what was wrong."

Fluttershy dropped Rainbow Dash to focus on what was being said. Also her original body was heavier than she remembered. "Well can you fix it?"

Luna's smile faltered. "Perhaps, though I would have to make sure exactly what spells Twilight dared to use. I have not seen a mind transference spell many times previously, and sadly, I never had the wherewithal to devote myself entirely to the purpose- the last one I saw attempt a spell like this was Sombra, and his was much less potent than this. Thankfully, this looks far more stable than those attempts, so at least you two won't become insane as your minds slowly fall apart."

Dash and Fluttershy nervously laughed at that horrible though. "Oh that's good."

"Oh it truly is, for the legions of ponies that I and my fair sister lost in the camps because of that magical malady would be still here today in spirit through the familial bonds they could have made. But that's what happens when you are invaded by fell beasts- war. And loss." Fluttershy swore she could see a shifting mass of emotions behind Luna's eyes. "But that is a story for another day perhaps, for we are dreadfully late for this engagement."

Luna picked the pair up in her magic, slowly enveloping them both in an inky blackish blue aura. Dash noticed tiny motes of light as she opened her eyes. Each red and blue shifting light shining in relief- keeping the total darkness at bay. Suddenly she felt a sucking pressure as she entered back into space, light bending around her like a living coat of warmth. She felt so infinitesimally small as she stared out into space. She saw starts wink out of existence and a cool heat washed over her.

She opened her eyes. And was greeted by the best sight she could ever hope for. Even though she hated Twilight's castle at least it was better than whatever just happened.

Dash quickly hugged the ground, flopping around to check if she was still in some normal world that made sense- not caring that in this instance she looked like she was having a mental breakdown. Fluttershy just sat there and looked into the sky, her blue wings slowly flapping around to check if air existed.

Luna coughed. "Oh my dearest apologies, Celestia had told me to stop bending the laws of space-time to teleport other ponies. She said something akin to 'these mortals are too weak to see the face of their own existence' or something similar. Probably nicer, Celestia after all these years has softened. Though that new teleportation spell they created during my absence is so much simpler to cast- it just never showed the real majesty of magic in my eyes. Why use a parlor trick when you can awe the crowd with a real experience?"

The two just nodded and followed Luna in silence, her hooves slightly bouncing along in a clopping pattern of joy as she entered her first real party in ages. Luna was having a fantastically great day.

***

Applejack looked as Twilight opened the first cask of cider and grabbed a large mug. She wondered to herself if Twilight had every really drank anything before- guessing that it was highly unlikely. She had never truly seen Twilight drink alcoholic beverages. What cracked the case was that Twilight floated a small straw over in her magic and set it daintily in her drink.

Well that was a first.

"Twilight are you okay?"

"Doing great." Deciding that the straw was just not doing it for her, Twilight quickly crumpled it in her magic and tossed it into a nearby garbage can. She rubbed her temple as she heard the happy glee that was coming to ruin her life. Quickly deciding this conversation would either be far easier at least buzzed or get over with this mess faster, she downed the whole mug in one go, her body swaying as she got up to meet Luna. It was a strange feeling to Twilight; not being used to alcohol so her world felt like it was on the ocean slowly rocking back and forth as the alcohol sped her along.

Twilight quickly saw Luna enter with Dash and Fluttershy in tow. "Hello, dear Twilight, it is perfectly amazing to see what modern amenities you have in this castle. Now I know I should have brought a present because that seems perfectly acceptable to most ponies' sensibilities in this modern age, but I couldn't figure out what was best so I found the best pastry I could find in this locale." Luna floated a box over to Twilight, wrapped hastily with magical speed, the purple bow not matching the red box well.

Twilight pulled the string and noticed a crushed orange tart slowly slide out and fell out on her floor, Twilight tried to grab the tart with her magic and missed. "Well that's a good gift, sure, that's pretty cool. Sorry, Luna, just like go and talk to ponies. Like its great you are here. Have a cup of cider, that's some great stuff."

"Verily, that sounds like a good idea, the chance for a mead or two is something I've missed from the Canterlot crowd." Luna skipped towards the snack table, quickly noticing Pinkie's different look. "Twilight, your spellwork is just a marvel to see in action, reminds me of when I got to meet Starswirl, he knew some fine ways to make me impressed with magic. Hello there, pink one, what are we having today on this fine menu of sweets?"

Twilight could faintly hear Pinkie's rich baritone on the edge of her senses. She felt okay.

"Twilight, are you okay?" She felt a small blue hoof on her head as she looked and saw Dash- mentally she slurred to herself that that was Fluttershy. Oh of course. "

"I'm fantastic, you are fantastic, everything's fantastic." She lightly giggled as she floated her mug over and got another glass and slowly sipped at it, her magic slowly swaying her glass. "Well, buck it to Tartarus, guess the gang's all here, not like I have anything better to do." Twilight laughed silently to herself as she cast a low level amplification spell. Clearing her throat, the echo brought everypony to attention. "I have some news, just a little news, um, I messed up a spell and now Dash and Fluttershy are totally stuck and I just can't fix it and I have no idea what I'm doing and oh gosh here come the tears." Twilight brushed a tear from her face and quickly ported out of the room.

Silence reigned. Nopony spoke until Dash broke the silence. Slipping out of any pretense of acting anything like Fluttershy, she shrugged. "Well I can now see why Twilight doesn't drink. Am I right, girls?"

The party just stared at her as the reality of which pony was which.

Rarity's eye twitched as she pointed in between Fluttershy and Dash, her mind now filling in the strange happenings that she sort of noticed at the spa. "So you two. But that means. And if that means what I think it means. . .oh Celestia, I need a fainting couch as soon as possible."

Applejack just shrugged. This wasn't the absolute strangest thing that Twilight had ever done with magic and after Pinkie's gender swip swop stuff, she stood there unfazed. At least it wasn't some weird spell that made ponies want a creepy doll. That was a real humdinger of a problem. Big Mac still had nightmares about dolls.

Pinkie stared pinpricks into Dash, not caring that it was Fluttershy's body that the pegasi was inhabiting. "Not funny. I'm going to check on Twilight. Seems like she partied too hard." Pinkie pointed a hoof around all the party decor. "Nopony party until I come back, this is party defcon five- an alcoholic mishap. The worst kind of thing. Party's going to have to be rescheduled" Everypony blinked and Pinkie was gone.

"Well it seems like somepony learned her merriment and ruckus having skills from my sister. Celly never was one for the raid and pillage style of things- I, on the other hoof, love what mortals have done to the nightlife." Luna stifled a yawn, the coffee that she had downed to stay up long enough to say hello to the small hamlet of Ponyville wearing off. "Now where is the guest quarters for visiting dignitaries? I need a bit of rest to keep up with you day enjoying lot." Luna hummed a song to herself, the melody echoing off the walls.

Fluttershy just tried to drag Dash out of the castle. Her wings beating fast as she tried to move a slightly movable object. She gave up once Dash dug her yellow hooves in and stopped all forward motion. Dash could only hear the ragged and short angry breaths of Shy. Dash slumped over and lay there, looking at the ceiling.

"Why did you have to joke about Twilight? You know how much she tends to beat herself up about her mistakes."

Dash tried to open her mouth, a slight breath escaped from her lips as she wondered why herself. She felt a memory well up in her own mind and felt a connection to Fluttershy form ever so slightly.

Dash stared up at the one patch of light she knew was her way out. Turning over in her bunk, she heard a snoring noise below her as the sky train slowly snaked its way to the next town. She shivered as she pulled the wool blanket around her.
She slid out of bedmake and followed the dim light to her favorite place. Her steps echoed softly though the train until she saw the one room that she loved. It's painted entrance showed a clown smiling back at the small filly.

Ponyacci's room. She'd never entered, being too new to the circus and just imagining the wonder that awaited her on the other side being almost better than the cold reality of a train moving through the sky, going from town to town. Gently rapping her hoof on the door, she heard a slight groan as a tired pony answered the knock. A older pony, the oldest pony Dash had ever seen for she was seven and the slight lines on the orange earth pony's face made him look ancient to her.

Ponyacci smiled at the small pony. "Well look at who woke me up. You here for some lessons in clowning around, little miss?"

Dash nodded.

"Okay, well lesson one: Laughter is the best medicine, it can bring parties together and ponies closer, and it is the cheapest gift one can give. Also I'm a clown so I might be biased. . ." Ponyacci laughed to himself, noticing that the new filly was not responding. "Tough crowd, huh? Well that's fine. You got anywhere to be, new kid?"

Dash shook her her no.

"Well you'll fit right in, here I'll show you the ropes. . ."

Dash looked at the ceiling again, her voice no longer loud enough to echo through the castle, each word being sucked up into a dark, unknown void. "Shy, its the only way I know how to react to things. Jokes, that's what I got. I just-" Dash let the word hang there open ended and without a real answer.

She felt Fluttershy move closer to her, her friend's now rainbow tail slowly twist around her pink one. Dash fought the urge to pull away as her chest felt heavy, her emotions on the inside wanting to show how she felt. A tear slowly rolled down her cheek before Dash wiped it away.

"Do you want to talk about it, Dash?"

Dash stayed quiet and nodded from side to side, a negative. She opened her mouth to breathe and her borrowed voice, Fluttershy's own, began to crack with emotion. "I- can we get something to eat? It's lunch and I'm a little hungry."

Fluttershy chuckled. "Sure, and if you teach me how to fly with these later, you can get whatever you want. My treat."

Dash quickly picked herself off the floor and weakly smiled. "Sure, you need some practice after all, and who better to teach you than the most awesome pony in Equestria?"

Rainbow didn't pull away when she felt Fluttershy land gently on her back. She must have been imagining things as she left, because for one moment she heard the sound of a crowd cheering her on, an echo from the past, as that exact sound was what kept her going all those years ago. She remembered the years of living and soaking up the spotlight, barely seeing her family, just existing on the fringe of society. That freedom was too confining.

"And now introducing the youngest member of the Sky Circus. the filly of speed herself, the one that outrace the sound barrier, you've heard of her and you love her, Rainbow Dash!"

Highway 61 Revisited

Celestia stared out at the Canterlot skyline, 7 am, the time that was best for the world's clock. She reached out to the sun and it answered back with a steady glow of light that splayed out behind her as the sun begun to rise over Canterlot Mountain. The retreating shadows of night told her that Luna was also on the other end of things bringing her moon back from its place in the sky. Celestia and Luna had a great few moments every day where they were both awake and exerting their magic upon their respective orbs. Sure there was a scheduled eclipse at some point in the next few months. but those were rare thanks to the sisters' own needs. Luna was a night owl and Celestia loved the daytime. They reflected their own orbs- being not just the bringers of the night and day. but following the beauty standards of their own selves.

Luna tended to be the smaller one due to some belief of hers that since Celestia was the older one. she had to show some form of deference. Celestia chalked that up to Luna still following the old ways.

Celestia was broken out of her reveries as she felt a talon on her back tracing her spine. "Hello, Discord. How are you today?'

Celestia heard a snap of his fingers and her appeared, a pot of coffee in his lion paw and wearing a pink bathrobe. "I am just thinking of what mischief I can perform today? I mean I do have my weekly tea with Fluttershy and I can feel that today will be a fun little game." Discord sipped at the coffeepot, the glass slowly disappearing into his mouth like liquid. " Hard not to feel the chaos flowing nicely through the air like a perfume of madness. Though that may be because of our newest princess."

Celestia raised an eyebrow at her guest. "What do you mean?"

Discord laughed, his laugh echoing double out of phase, causing a feeling of discordant music linger in the air. "Oh nothing, dear. Just saying that for one of you types, Twilight does cause a wonderful amount of chaos. Though nothing like you or your sister could. Why I remember when you brought down the sun in our first encounter- Appleloosa's glass fields thank you Celly. I mean for a mare of order, I do so love when you get in one of your moods." Discord snapped his fingers again and he reappeared on Celestia. "But that's my weakness, I may be a spirit of disorder, but order is so much more appealing to me. It's different and exciting. At least the pony that embodies is does have some fine attributes." Discord slid down his favorite slide, Celestia's body providing him with a way to get onto the floor the easiest way.

Celestia shook her tail, her rainbow road shooting Discord into the air. "Discord, be good. I have ways to know when you are not working on constructive chaos like you told me you would do after you were reformed. And do be nice to Twilight, she was a wonderful student, but she does tend to overreact when you reappear in Ponyville."

Discord put an arm around Celestia, back to normal size again, he pulled her close. "So that's why you've never told her about us. I always wondered about that, cause one of her worried freakouts about how I 'mind controlled you' or 'will destroy Equestria' would be a fantastic present. But don't worry, as the only member of my illustrious race of myself, I promise I won't be hounding Twilight about her tasty chaotic ways. Anyway, with how you acted last night, I feel like you already know I don't need order magic to pull off that little trick that put all your subjects into a letter writing frenzy."

Celestia blushed, slight hints of color appearing and disappearing on her cheeks as Discord wiggled an arm at her. Connecting his arm again, he slinked off, backstroking through the air as he went back to bed. "I mean we did have fun yesterday if I remember our little bout of mischief."

Celestia shook her head and chuckled. "Yes, my dear and I know which one of us was the stallion last night." Celestia breathed in and looked into a nearby mirror. Slight muscle contractions showed that she was excited, but to the normal eye it just looked like her normal look of grace. Quickly pulling out some old feathers, she slid into her least favorite outfit. Her golden shoes, ceremonial armor, and crown feeling a little lighter as she walked through the door, seeing that Discord was holding up a paper sign with a large 10 on it.

"Do you want any food, Discord?"

Discord grinned and followed her out, snaking around her. "Well, I could eat. I mean I don't want to impose too much on my dear friend."

***

Fluttershy inched out of bed and quietly walked into her bathroom to take some more of the medicine Dash had got for her yesterday. Thankfully she didn't feel that bad and she stretched her blue wings. She looked in the mirror and saw her friend's face staring back. She glanced at the clock, noticing that her polychromatic hair was out of place. Grabbing a brush, she hummed slowly to herself some Sapphire Shores melody as she slowly swayed her hips as she began getting into the music. She heard a light laugh from behind her and she quickly turned around to see Dash laying on the floor, her forehooves holding her face as she laughed her best Fluttershy laugh as she could.

"Well I didn't expect me to be such a good dancer, Shy. I mean my dance move is standing near a punch bowl and crossing my hooves. Wonder why you don't dance like that outside of this room, I bet you would get all the ponies on the dancefloor." Dash rolled on her back and stared at Fluttershy.

Fluttershy blushed, her wings quickly fluttering. "Oh um, thanks. I mean I took some lessons from Rarity once. I don't think I'm all that good."

Dash rolled back up, her blue orbs staring at Fluttershy. "Well I think you can dance better than me and I think that's pretty awesome. But I was going to come in here to tell you that today you have to deal with some training exercises and later hang out with Scootaloo. Just maybe don't fly then; she idolizes me you know. Maybe later this week pull off something fancy or something- just do something easy and what you'd think I'd do."

Fluttershy smiled. "Well that's adorable."

Dash frowned. "No, I just meant like do something nice for her and later do something cool. I mean its only Tuesday. Like do cool stuff on Thursday or Friday. Like she needs somepony there and all. Totally not because I think she's a decent kid or anything."

Fluttershy stepped over her friend and sat down on her large back. "Well, I won't tell her that you care about her if you deal with Discord today. I usually have tea with him on Tuesdays." She snuggled close to Dash, feeling small and close. "And Dash? Thanks for saying I dance well."

Dash felt her cheeks redden with heat as Fluttershy slid off her back. "Yeah, no problem."

***

Fluttershy looked at her team for the day. Blossomforth lazed about, eyes half open and sweatband akimbo as she stared back at 'Dash'. Flitter and Cloudchaser were surrounding Thunderlane teasing him about his large physique for a pegasus. Fluttershy wondered if that was code for some flirting but she looked around to see Cloudkicker wave back at her, a closed smile on her lips.

"So what do you want to start off with today, Wonderbolt?"

Fluttershy remembered the list of activities and hastily chose one. "Um, let's see I think a quick warm up would be for the best since we all just got here. Don't want to strain anything."

Cloud Kicker pulled an arm around Fluttershy and leaned in close. "Well that's what I was planning on doing. Sounds good. Though I think since you did get that concussion and all, I bet that keeping us two here, right now would be a good idea. I mean us veterans do need to keep some of these ponies in line. And we can talk."

Fluttershy felt the hot breath of her second in command on her neck with that word, blue hairs standing up on end with worry. "Oh, that sounds wonderful. What about?"

Cloud Kicker smiled. "Well I don't know maybe why you've been acting so weird recently. Did you get laid? Cause if I think I know what's been going on between that huge mare and your little self, damn you seem way too friendly with her. I just thought giving you some pointers would be a good idea. Anyway better me than Blossomforth, cause she'd be all about the final act fuck buddy routine, not the romance kind of slow burn screw."

Fluttershy tensed up, feeling like she wanted to escape this kind of talk and also that her wings were aching. She quickly tried to flutter them to keep them from sticking out like two signs that showed how awkward she felt. "Sounds great. Maybe after we start the exercise routine?" Fluttershy quickly hobbled out of there, her legs feeling straight and unbending with nerves.

Cloud Kicker just smiled as she saw the noticeable left right left right of this new mare. If that wasn't Dash, at least she could have fun with teasing her. "Sounds good, yeah I'll just wait right here."

Cloud Kicker was going to get these two pegasi together if it was the last thing she did. At least it made her actual assignment better. Celestia had told her and the other two to keep an eye on the Elements of Harmony as a complete precaution against Celestia level threats. The Elements were powerful, but the ponies that wielded them were not. Or at least that was what Cloud Kicker got from the crap about how Twilight and her friends were special and needed to learn a lesson or two. She ran a hoof through her mane, quickly noticing the unregulated menage a trois between Thunderlane and the twins. Cursing her luck, she wished she could be back in the Solar Guards- at least there you could beat some sense into ponies without being called cruel or mean.

***

Dash quickly ran through the mini checklist Fluttershy had given her- the teapot, the basic technique of pouring tea, uh, the chairs, the-

A door interrupted her thoughts. Not a knock at the door, a floating door- tiny and ornate, floated into view as its design drew her attention. A tiny clawed hand reached out and waved at Dash, her yellow face trying to comprehend the fact that somehow this could be a normal occurrence for Shy. A long form snaked itself out and placed its head upon its shoulders. A grinning draconequus appeared with a bow. "Why hello there, why hello. I thought I was horribly late. See I was in my garden but I could not find the thyme."

Rainbow Dash laughed, her laugh worried and distant as she tried to figure out if that was a joke to keep the mood light or if it flew over her head.

"Oh well, that's not a problem, I just got done with the tea."

Discord smiled and watched her move lazily around the room, tasting the chaos and possibilities like aged fine wine. He was not going to ruin the fun surprise, since Fluttershy looked like a mass of pink and yellow butterflies to him bunching together and falling apart like her emotions changing slowly with the breeze. He knew something had to be up immediately when he saw Rainbow Dash's little signature aura, the rainbow neon lightning bolts dancing around like a hummingbird's wing. He always loved coming to see Fluttershy, the weekly meetings always bringing some kind of chaos, but this kind of chaos deftly spelled by Celly's favorite pony? Why thank you Twilight, how very chaotic of you. He might have to send her a few antimatter bits on her birthday. This just meant he could find a way to see the town a little and Rainbow would just have to go with it. Discord let his mind race, racecars zooming around his mental pathways with the possibilities.

"Not a problem, my friend."

Rainbow nervously began pouring tea, her focus entirely on pouring the tea slow enough to not overfill the cups while pouring fast so as to not burn her hooves accidentally. She tipped it too fast and it began to pool in the cup, then slowly filly the saucer, and then leak onto the table, the light tea smelling of orchids and blueberries as it started to soak into the table.

Discord watched as 'Fluttershy' started blotting the table with a nearby napkin. "Oh, no, sorry Discord. I guess I spilled some of your tea."

Discord feigned worry as he saw the aura of Dash bunch around in worry. He always wondered why ponies thought the world of theirs was a thing of order while their own bodies barely held together with worried chaos. "Oh well, if you haven't been feeling well enough to have our tea time, I can always suggest a different venue. I mean I don't always have to spend time in this cozy little hovel when we have an entire town to explore and food to taste." Discord watched as his idea worked on Dash's brain, the emotions ranging from worry, anger, amusement, and resigned agitation as she realized that there was a time and a place to act like his dear friend and a bad impostor.

"Fine, but don't cause too much of a stir. Ponyville doesn't really like you."

Discord held back a mirthful chuckle. "Why, that's their loss, I don't think they've had enough time to get to know me. I mean every time I get here I get stoned."

Dash groaned with that pun. Before she could respond, Discord grabbed a hold of her and walked right out the door. Rainbow opened her eyes as the idea of normal space folded in on itself, the image she saw was as if the world was a newspaper cartoon folded in and bent into a mobius strip, one area looping in and back on itself into a singular road branching off into different zones. To her left was a white void of nothingness and to her right was a square cube of pulsing color. Blinking again, she came into the world with a pop and was greeted by the ground outside of Sugarcube Corner.

Discord whistled to himself as Dash tried to keep down her breakfast.

"Well, I do love chaos magic, the fun reality warping kind where you guide it just enough to get what you want with a fun joke laid slowly within it like a sponge cake made of sponges." Discord walked into the bakery and Dash lazily followed.

***

Rarity looked over the notes that Twilight gave her about this wonderful new spell that she created. Glancing over the basic view of how she used gemstones to cause the recipient of the spell a gender change was rather exciting and wonderful. Though the bad thing about Twilight's notes was that they were unfinished and in shorthand alchemical notation- the periodic table of science mixing with transmutation circles and hexing with a slow line of scrawled chaos magic mixing the unstable with stable methods- it was impressive to say the least and Twilight's tinkering made the spell able to be used by all unicorns that had a knack with magic. And providing a new, hastily written warning to not mix the barely tested spell with other transformative magics was a nice addition.

Rarity looked over at the ideas that Pinkie's change gave her and wondered if there was a stable body type of males- Pinkie looked like a large impressive stallion, but there were about one or two types of stallions- the large, the medium sized, and the long legged almost feminine model types. The white unicorn may have focused her business acumen and skills in fashion for mares, but her interests in stallions did leave her mind with impressive designs that she never felt comfortable making.

She excitedly bounced in her seat as she fired up her horn. Feeling the magic begin to work, she hurried on over to look at the changes. Looking back was a long haired, and fashionable stallion that was her favorite body type for fashion- the skinny, androgynous type. She looked like her favorite models and that was perfect. Doing a ladylike curtsy, she introduced herself to the male version of her. Glancing under her undercarriage she looked at a respectable looking member of society. She chuckled at the thought, her having one of those. Well that was a normal addition if was was a stallion, she presumed. Or he. Rarity shook his head.

"Well that's going to take some getting used to but if I will need to woo Applejack, I guess I have to act more like the perfect idea of a stallion. Now where is my copy of Six Shades of Hay? I have to at least get into the mood of Speed Dazzler to make this experiment work wonderfully." Rarity laughed, his voice a high pitched tenor almost on the cusp of femininity but just enough to show a form of masculine depth. Rarity would later call it an elegant tone of voice bringing the two worlds between the course stallions she had dated once or twice and the world of mares the voice melding the two into a singing medium.

He walked up the stairs with a light bounce in his step ready to show Applejack a fine time. Working through his favorite part of the book, he thought about page 230 in the book he was searching for. A session of bondage turned sensual as Speed Dazzler tied up his mare in a display of both power and care- the book's scene only telling faint hints of the sexual tryst while spending a few pages talking about how important aftercare and safety words were, both parties spending time outlining what they wanted to happen.

Rarity wondered what excitement Applejack would want today? Perhaps the brocade straps and light exhibitionism? Or the silk gem cuffs? Options, options, options.

***

Fluttershy stared at Cloud Kicker, both expecting the other to talk. Awkward nervousness kept Fluttershy silent, the idea of talking to another pony about her feelings about Dash felt weird expecially when she was stuck in that very same body. Yes I have emotions for Rainbow Dash. 'That's stupid or that's idiotic', Cloud Kicker would curtly reply and then she'd counter with 'what Dash, are you a narcissist?'

Cloud Kicker decided to cut the silence by clearing her throat. This pony was kind of a wimp. And seeing one pony nervously squeeze themselves into a chair was impressive if one was at the circus. Waiting for a pony to talk for fifteen minutes was more infuriating.

"Well, how was your night, Dash? I mean I left you two alone and it didn't seem that you could fly after your little spill. I mean I sat on that pony's couch for like two hours to make sure you weren't dead and that was the worst couch I'd sat on and I went to boot camp where sleeping on rocks and shit like that was the norm. And that bitch is like a mountain for a pegasus like damn what did her family feed her, a bear?" Cloud Kicker watched her captain's features blush heavily at the mention of that. "But I wonder what her name was? Hard to forget a pony that yells at you for five minutes and rushes off to save the Luna damned night." Cloud Kicker glanced over to watch Blossomforth fly into the grass and awkwardly brush herself off. Probably was checking out a pony, the klutz.

"Her name is Fluttershy."

Cloud Kicker smiled. "Man, Dash I thought your name was the gayest accident ever. What were her parents thinking calling that mare Fluttershy? Like did they imagine her as a tiny little thing and puberty hit her like a two ton apple cart?"

Fluttershy blushed. "Well that is one way of putting it."

Cloud Kicker noticed the blush and pushed onward. "Well you two need to get laid. I kept thinking why would Rainbow Dash deal with this wallflower and I came up with the thought that you totally like her. I mean going to her house instead of being a smart pony and going to the hospital? There has to be something up there or else your an idiot."

"Uh well I had a concussion so I thought of the best place I could." Fluttershy pushed a lock of polychromatic hair as she felt sweat begin to form on her brow.

"Well sure that makes sense but I heard some of your cute shit talking you two were doing and I mean if you two want to pussyfoot around your little attraction thing that's all fine and dandy. But if I was you, I'd go seep that mare off her hooves- or maybe she'd pick you up since you're a midget. But get on that ass cause she's just being a hermit on the outskirts of this tiny town. Like she probably has the kinkiest shit ever in her closet."

Fluttershy smiled weakly at Cloud Kicker, the mare staring back with a knowing smile that unnerved her. "I'll get on it."

Cloud Kicker put a hoof on Fluttershy's blue shoulder and smiled. "Well I have an idea to get you two to know each other better- Berry Punch's little dance club has a girl's night in a few days. Get that mare out there and figure out how to get this Fluttershy-" Cloud Kicker quietly laughed to herself. "that pony, out on the dancefloor. Give her a good time. Maybe she'll reward your efforts. I mean if she hasn't already what with you acting uncharacteristically on cloud nine."

Fluttershy awkwardly laughed and didn't respond, her mind racing with worry.

***

Sugarcube Corner was uncharacteristically quiet when Discord burst into the establishment. Mr. Cake worriedly grabbed his wife and ran into the back rooms, worried that something horrible would happen if they stayed. His mind raced with thoughts that it would be worse than yesterday when Luna tried to kidnap him into her harem. At least she couldn't turn him into living desserts- Discord had and could. He didn't want to be a carrot cake again.

Other customers quickly fished out the recommended bits for their food and left as fast as they could. The throng of ponies deciding to give the spirit of chaos and disharmony a wide berth. Everypony that is but Pinkie, who rushed up and squeezed Discord with a large and powerful hug.

"Discord! How are you doing today? Cause I'm doing great, though I did wake up with a hard problem I had to solve before getting to work and then all the mares keep looking at me with really weird looks so that's a bit different than before but its fine since I have told one and all that I'm off the market when they ask and then Twilight's been worried about me but other than those weird things I'm fine. Hi, Fluttershy. You want your normal muffin? Though now since Discord's here I have to come up with a weird one for him." Pinkie knew Dash was there instead of the yellow pegasus but it was easier to keep up appearances for the moment since Pinkie knew when to kept a secret like that. He did create the idea of a Pinkie Pie promise after all; if he began blabbing everypony's secrets, they wouldn't be secrets anymore.

Discord slid out of Pinkie's grasp, his back cracking as he moved and slightly chuckling. "Oh don't worry give me your favorite, I can easily whip up the strange otherworldly flavors I like in a snap. Also you pull off the stallion look better than some. Or at least you react better than most of Celestia's ilk would." Discord snapped his fingers and switched his gender for fun. "I mean for me its so easy it's ridiculous." Discord snapped again and went back to 'normal' which for her or him depended on the mood of the day.

"Ooh that was the neatest thing ever. You mean you can always do that trick?"

Discord slid around and grinned, lazily sharpening a claw. "Well of course. Keeping a static form with a definite gender would be too orderly for the trademarked spirit of chaos and disharmony. Though I tend to stick with one until I get too bored with it."

Dash thanked Celestia when Pinkie gave her a blueberry muffin and Discord a dark chocolate one. "Thanks, Pinkie."

Pinkie happily saluted and began scooping up the bits that everypony left.

Discord wrapped a claw around Dash. "Now Fluttershy tell me about how my tea helped you get with your dear blue friend. Hopefully the aphrodisiacs helped. . ."
***

Fluttershy wondered about what Cloud Kicker had talked about during their workout- it wouldn't hurt to take Dash somewhere to have a sense of normalcy in their lives. They'd only done the required things they had to do to make their lives work. A chance to go out and at like their lives were normal. She'd have to ask Dash if she wanted to go out to the club she guessed but at least it sounded like a way to get their minds off of all this.

She quickly focused on her final task, finding Scootaloo walking out of Ponyville General. The orange filly stayed to one side of the street, looking both ways and inching her way down the road like there was something pressing on her mind. Fluttershy thought of Dash's quick tutorial in 'how not to crash' yesterday and pulled her wings close to her small blue body, searched for a hint of a downdraft and as she reached the point of freefall, she brough her wings out increasing the drag on them and coasting down towards Scootaloo. Step One of not crashing and looking like a fool completed, Fluttershy shifted into Rainbow Dash mode and aped a guess at what Scootaloo expected.

"Hey, squirt, you okay?"

Scootaloo looked up at her idol and honorary sister and ran towards her, Fluttershy noticing a slight limp that she hadn't picked up on before- probably due to her not being with the Cutie Mark Crusaders often enough. That or Scootaloo was good at hiding something wrong with her. Her orange wings buzzed along, barely being able to hold her aloft for more than a few seconds giving the young pegasus this awkward bouncing shuffle.

"I'm better now. So what did you do today?"

Fluttershy smiled and brought herself onto her back hooves, pausing for dramatic effect. "Well I was totally dealing with my team and we had to do a slightly boring but necessary team exercise and I hung out with Fluttershy a little bit but that was mostly cause of an accident."

Scootaloo looked up at her mentor. "You got into an accident? How was that possible, aren't you a Wonderbolt and generally awesome?"

Fluttershy chuckled, the childlike wonder surprising her. "I mean I can't always have a perfect landing."

Scootaloo blinked. "So even Wonderbolts can crash? Like Spitfire and Soarin and all of them?"

"Well I mean yeah, everypony has a bad day."

Scootaloo stayed quiet, her hoofsteps crunching fallen leaves underneath. Finally she spoke, quietly, Fluttershy trained in understanding near silent words picked up on what she was saying. "So Diamond Tiara was wrong."

Fluttershy stopped, unsure of what to do, since pressing the issue would be possibly uncharacteristic of Rainbow's way of doing things and yet her slight curiosity at what the orange filly could mean raced through her mind. And Fluttershy vaguely knew of Diamond Tiara through Applejack's and Rarity's continued mention of how horrible Diamond could be at times.

"What was that, Scoots?"

Scootaloo froze. "Nothing, I mean not much."

Fluttershy did her best impression of her Stare, not working because she was in the wrong body, but the practice of staring down large and intimidating woodland creatures could translate into an impressive look nonetheless. She turned and spoke quietly, loud enough for Scootaloo to hear her, but soft enough to keep things vaguely private. "Scoots, did something happen today? If something did, it would be nice to know so I can awesomely help you with it."

Scootaloo averted her eyes, kicking a hoof in protest as she stared at the ground. "Not really, its not just one thing like that just like a couple things."

Fluttershy walked up and bent down to stare calmly into Scootaloo's face. "Well, squirt, you know I'm here if you want to talk about it." She carefully hugged Scootaloo, gauging how the filly reacted to she if she was taking the idea too far since it wasn't like she had asked 'Dash' to hug her. She felt at least a little better when Scootaloo wordlessly returned the hug, small streaks of wetness pooling on the blue chest of her supposed mentor. She waited for Scootaloo to speak silently hearing the low rumble of the day move on around them, uncaring about this moment.

"I mean Diamond said how could I look up to the Wonderbolts when they are perfect athletes and I'm not anything. I mean I know you told me to not let her get to me, but its hard since words still hurt."

Fluttershy felt so incredibly small as she barely knew what to do. "I mean I think you're the coolest pony I know."

"Yeah but you are just saying that. I mean everypony else is normal and can do what they are supposed to do- sure few in my grade have cutie marks, but that's not the point. I mean what really counts, like flying, I can't fly. I don't know if I can fly and yet even both of the Cake Twins can fly if I can believe what Sweetie Belle tells me."

"What so you want to learn how to fly? I mean if you are coming to the most awesome, high flying pony in all of, at least, Ponyville, if not Equestria, then you've come to the right place."

Scootaloo sniffled. "I know, but what about if I have a problem that I can't actually fix. I mean I went to the hospital to check if I had a problem and they said there could be and handed me a note to hand to my guardians."

Fluttershy wondered where this was going, and then slowly connected the dots in her brain. It was a bit weird that Scootaloo was anywhere near Ponyville General since she didn't seem sick, and yet she had been weirdly limping. Dash hadn't told her what was wrong with Scootaloo just that she was a mentor and that was it.

"Well then we'd just have to work around it. I mean everyone learns how to fly eventually. Some just have some holdups that they have to overcome- like Ditzy or Bulk Biceps, I mean they can fly." Fluttershy's mind raced with possible ways to teach Scootaloo how to fly, with Dash helping on the flight skill and her knowledge in how to help animals recuperate after injuries it could be possible to have some physical therapy session to help Scootaloo fly better, maybe not the best pony ever in the world but at least enough to make this be okay.

"I guess. The doctor in there told me some thing that he wrote down." Scootaloo fished out a note that she handed to Fluttershy. Fluttershy slowly read the barely legible scrawl and got the point.

"Well if I'm reading this right, you have a chance to fly."

Scootaloo breathed in. "Yeah, but there's a chance its not going to work and everypony's going to make fun of me cause I'm a cripple. Like this gives Diamond more ammo to use against me to just bully me about how useless I am. She already calls me a dodo, an ostrich, and a penguin. Like I had to ask Twilight what those were sure, but they can't fly well."

Fluttershy hugged Scootaloo. "You aren't useless. And if you need help I can always ask my friends about this situation. Twilight would love figuring out some eggheaded way to make you fly. Fluttershy knows some physical therapy techniques, Applejack can help you learn how to defend yourself within reason, Rarity can help you figure out how to do some fashion, and Pinkie is Pinkie." Fluttershy didn't know what exactly Pinkie would do, Pinkie was organized chaos.

Scootaloo hugged 'Dash'. "Thanks."

"No problem, kiddo. Hey, you want to go get some doughnuts? Pinkie probably would give you some for free just if I asked nicely."

Scootaloo smiled. "Yeah, I could eat something. Hey, Dash. can I ride on your back? I mean if you don't want to I'm fine with it." Scootaloo stared up and Fluttershy tried to smile like Dash would, bringing her attempt at slight bravado back into focus, drawing her mouth into a slight grin and chuckled.

"Sure."

Fluttershy felt a mix of memories well up in her mind. She brought her wings down and Scootaloo tried to scramble up, her legs working to try to balance herself, a slight wobble accompanying her efforts as her body didn't have a stable hoof to stand on here. Fluttershy felt Scootaloo's smaller hooves wrap around her neck and she adjusted for the new weight and slowly glided into the sky with help from a nearby draft of air. She felt rain coming as she flew on, her vision slightly blurring with the moisture in the air. Or at least Fluttershy guessed that would be how Dash would put this feeling. Rainbow's and her memories mixed into a double memory that had an echo right here on her back.

"Hey, circus freak. How are you doing today?" Rainbow felt the insult and let it slide off her. Repeating words that Posey had told her about. Think of the words as a tightrope, walk one way and you fall into hatred, walk another way and fall into depression. Taking a deep breath, she turned away.

"Yeah leave, you must have learned that from your parents, I mean why else would you be near the circus?"

Rainbow breathed in and walked on. Don't react. She had better things to worry about. Her calm was broken when a sharp rock broke her concentration with a painful snap.

"Look at me, you idiot. What are you stupid?"

She breathed in, feeling her world go to the left into anger as she tried to step back into calm indifference.

"Yeah look at that, you must be stupid cause my mom tells me that ponies who don't answer to their names are mental idiots, see?"

Dash felt a scattered assortment of rocks hit her in the back of the head as she walked on. Ponyacci's rules of engagement sprung to mind. Step One- go about your day, ponies don't get the circus folk all that well. Step Two- if someone confronts you about it, follow Posey's rules of relaxation as long as possible. Step Three- tell them to stop. Step Four- if they persist, throw a fist. We protect our own and we have a reputation.

"Can you please stop?" Dash walked towards the turquoise pegasus, her hooves unsure and voice quavering with some worry. It was her first time dealing with this kind of problem since joining the circus. She felt a wetness start matting her hair and tipping a hoof to the back of her head brought back a small hint of sticky red and a tinge of pain.

The turquoise pegasus laughed, the alleyway bringing the sound echoing back like a multitude of ponies bearing down on Dash. "The idiot can talk. That's probably my favorite trick you have done. The magically appearing voice."

Rainbow felt small pools of tears start cascading down her face as the world became a blur. One moment she was calm and stoic, the next she was racing along the streets in this small town barreling towards a pony she probably would never meet again, ready to throw down with her. She brought her hooves up and used the momentum to strike a few blows. Feeling confident, she then ducked under a jab and was met with a surprise.

She turned into a hoof to the face, a quick jab to her head making her world run red. Her head shook as she tried to right herself as she used her wings to deflect some blows, her attempt at blocking providing more pain that it was worth. Her world slowly became a mess as she could see the turquoise pegasus stand over her- one of the last she could see in her vision. The memory ended as she could just feel hooves rain down upon her in a flurry. For a first fight, it was a good lesson. For Dash, it was more like the worst humiliation possible.

===

Fluttershy entered into the Ponyville Elementary School. Her world had changed ever since she fell towards the earth. Sure Fluttershy was glad that she had her cutie mark. It made her feel at least safe with the world that was so new and different. It was going to be fine. It was only the first day of school; how bad could it be? She breathed in as she saw Rarity quickly wave at her.

"Class, welcome our newest student, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy awkwardly walked up to the front of the room, seeing ponies whisper quietly as she quickly shifted her wings around her. She faked a smile, feeling her hooves slowly start to wobble. She looked up at the teacher, his face smiling. Fluttershy quickly said the sentences that she had rehearsed in front of Rarity's mirror.

"Hello, everypony. My name is Fluttershy. I am from Cloudsdale and I am happy to meet you all." Fluttershy tried to smile.

"Yeah, well where's your family? Aren't you that pony that fell out of the sky two months ago? Are your parent's dead or something cause else you got forgotten about." A voice in the back spoke up and Fluttershy tried to breathe. Her lungs barely bringing her air.

"Spoiled Milk, please be nice to our new student, else I have to send you to detention. . ."

"Fine." The pink earth pony quickly shut up and Fluttershy sat next to Rarity, her white unicorn friend offering a hoof as she stared intently at Spoiled Milk. She breathed in and looked at the clock. Five minutes of school down and many more to go. She could read the lips of her 'new acquaintance' as she glanced backwards. 'See you at recess.' Fluttershy quickly turned and looked back at the front of the class, trying to stay as small as possible.
"

***

Rainbow felt tired after meeting Discord. His kind of excitement wasn't what she liked to always deal with. Sure pranks were here and Pinkie's bread and butter, but he could do anything within limits. And dealing with someone that could pull off the tricks he did on a regular basis would make her ever more tired than normal. She looked into the sky and noticed the setting sun greet her eyes with a bit of glare.

Dash heard a small thump behind her and turned to see Fluttershy land pretty gently. Sure her form was still off, the wings at too harsh an angle to make landings comfortable but she wasn't crashing into the ground at full speed which was at least a blessing.

"So how did you and Scoots do?" Dash asked.

Fluttershy looked down at the ground and stayed quiet fishing out a scrap of paper that Dash barely noticed. Which even for Fluttershy was weird, Dash had a way to get the usually yellow pegasus to at least respond to her questions. Grabbing the random note she read the hasty scrawl.

"Fluttershy, I can't read egghead. Also this pony's hoofwriting is complete garbage. What is this celebration pals? I mean I'd love to go to a party but tell Pinkie to write better cause its impressive she can get ponies to her parties if her hoofwriting is this bad."

"It's Scootaloo's note from the doctor. I might have said we can help her fly. I haven't asked Twilight what exactly it means but I know enough scientific words from helping out my animals that its probably not great."

Dash chuckled. "Fluttershy, this is a good prank. You got me there. How in the world can Scootaloo have a problem? I mean she seems normal enough and like she can't fly well but otherwise she's fine."

Fluttershy kicked a hoof, the dust catching and spreading through the outdoor air. "We had a decently long talk. I think she was surprised I talked to her about her problems."

Rainbow stared at Fluttershy, Rainbow's borrowed yellow face unsure of what to do. "But how did she get that, that thing, like now? Don't hospitals fix ponies up to their best selves? I mean I go to the hospital a lot and I'm fine. And we have magic for the chance things can't be fixed easily. Like how did this happen? I don't think she was born with it and if she was the doctors sure didn't fix it."

"I don't know, Dash. I don't know."

"I mean- why didn't she talk to me about it, Shy, I'm her idol and we've hung out a lot cause I like the kid. I mean she seemd to like all my cool Wonderbolt stories. . ." Fluttershy thought she saw Rainbow's borrowed blue eyes start misting over as Dash was put into silence.

Fluttershy quietly spoke up. "Dash, maybe she didn't tell you about it because she sees you as her hero. She probably just enjoyed hanging out with you and getting away from her own problems. Remmeber when you met A.K. Yearling and how both you and Twilight were so excited about her stories being real? That could be what she sees you as." Fluttershy entwined her tail with Dash and sat there, the stars bringing the darkness over them as they watched the lights in Ponyville begin to turn on, illuminating the town in a dull glow.

"Did she at least enjoy her day?"

Fluttershy leaned on Dash's larger yellow shoulder. "Yes, Rainbow, she did. And she liked my idea for learning how to cope with this."

Dash wiped her face of a wet spot that totally wasn't a tear- just a leak of her awesomeness, that was all, and looked at Fluttershy. "Well, whatever it is, I'm in."

Fluttershy smiled. "I guessed you would be." She quietly informed Dash of the idea, Rainbow slowly shaking her head in agreement as the plan was fleshed out, Dash providing insights on how to possibly teach Scootaloo how to fly. Dash waved her yellow hooves excitedly as she got into the normal mood she had- driven excitement, almost a manic episode making Fluttershy almost want to laugh- seeing her own body act like an excited mess did have its own advantages from this angle.

They swapped stories of the day as they walked to Fluttershy's cottage, the walk seeming shorter than before.

As they entered Fluttershy's house, Dash quickly hugged Fluttershy and held her close for a moment. Fluttershy stood there, her heart exploding with worry as she waited to see what Dash was going to do. She heard a muffled answer from her now larger friend.

"Shy, thanks for being there for Scootaloo today."

Fluttershy felt her cheeks blush maroon. "No problem." Fluttershy felt her blue wings slowly extend from their comfortable folded state to painfully erect in what felt both like five seconds and yet like an eternity.

Dash chuckled, her voice sounding like clear glass. "Well I guess you need a bath. I mean I didn't really notice your smell when we were outside but Shy, you reek of sweat. Come on." Dash carried Fluttershy into the cottage and carefully shut the door with her back hoof. Carefully checking if Fluttershy's problem was gone with a tender touch of a hoof, Dash walked up the stairs into the bathroom and slowly turned on the water.

Fluttershy came back to her sense as she noticed Dash turn on the hot water in her shower. With a little flourish, Dash entered the shower as well making the shower for one normal sized pony feel cramped and almost too claustrophobic making each curve of their bodies accidentally touch.

Fluttershy looked up at a grinning Dash.

"So about that sexy tea you got from Discord. . .you know you didn't need to do that. I mean sure I don't know exactly what this is right now, but I prefer you not having to drug me to get into some situation like this."

Fluttershy tapped her blue hooves together. "Um, that really wasn't a good moment."

Dash raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, a bad moment. A really, really bad moment."

Dash smiled. "Yeah. So don't try that again. Seriously like isn't that some love poison level of bad ideas? Or maybe that got raised to a 'send directly to Tartarus' offence. I think you have to be taught a lesson to keep you from being such a bad pony. . ."

Fluttershy looked up at Dash, as she noticed Dash come closer. "Uh, Dash, this isn't a good time to do what I think your doing. I mean it's only been a few days and I really think we are totally going way too fast here."

Dash poked her in her side, running her hooves under her stomach as she aimed for what she was going for. A tickle spot. Dash knew every single one of her own, and since she knew how her body reacted to them she had the upper hoof.

Fluttershy's borrowed body locked up in a fit of tickles as the water pooled around the two ponies, both getting wet in the small space as Dash tickled Fluttershy. After a few minutes, Dash stopped and chuckled.

"What are you laughing at, Dash?" Fluttershy was on her back, blue legs splayed out, hair soaking wet and hanging loosely near her face, and upper half awkwardly jammed into a corner of her shower.

"Nothing, Shy. Just that you should have switched bodies with a unicorn."

Fluttershy was confused. "Why?"

Dash laughed as she tried to keep her footing in the wet shower. "I mean you do seem to be always horn-y. You'd fit right in with them." Dash booped Fluttershy on the nose and turned the shower off. Fluttershy blushed heavily as she looked at Dash.

"What about the whole cleaning off my workout smell that you were talking about before we got in here?"

Dash turned and smiled her best Fluttershy smile followed by a yawn. "I probably have to clean the sheets tomorrow anyway since we haven't really done any laundry, what's another day?" Dash wiggled her lower half as she walked away and Fluttershy quickly grabbed a nearby towel and dried herself off as fast as she could.

"Oh, um, okay. That's fine too." Fluttershy remembered the talk she had with Cloud Kicker this morning. "Hey Dash, So Cloud Kicker talked to me about this dance that's happening in a few days. . ."

"Shy, I can't dance, especially not in your body."

"I could teach you."

Fluttershy heard a quiet grumble from her bed. "Okay. But come to bed cause then I don't have to yell across the room."

Fluttershy walked on over and pulled her covers, finding a ball of yellow feathers and fur in her spot. "Dash, what are you doing on my side of the bed?"

"It's a small bed, sue your mattress, plus this side is much more comfier."

Fluttershy rolled her eyes, the magenta orbs doing a quick motion as she climbed in the bed. "Okay, move over so I can get in."

Dash moved and quickly fell asleep- Fluttershy's routine being harder than she realized. A large, strong hoof hugged Fluttershy close. Flutttershy wondered how much Dash realized she was doing this unconsciously or if the pegasus was holding her like a stuffed animal on purpose. Fluttershy shrugged, realizing that the problem could be pushed to another day. She shifted a bit and fell asleep as well, wondering how much work teaching Dash how to dance would involve.

Country Song

Rainbow stretched and looked at her list of things to do today. At the top of her list was "Help Applejack For Cider Season." Dash stretched her large yellow wings and sighed. Sure she was planning on helping AJ with the apple haul, but this whole problem with being in a different body? That complicated things. She felt a light hoof on her back as Fluttershy stood on her to look at the mirror. She felt Fluttershy stretch a wing as she wrote quickly on the list- Teach Dash How To Dance. Dash grumbled to herself.

"Dash, you okay?" Fluttershy looked at Dash with magenta orbs and Dash sighed.

"Yeah, just seeing my schedule up here like this puts stuff in perspective. Like how in the world do I have all this free time to do whatever I want? How is that a job?" Dash pointed at the list of things for the next week or so. Her days flipped back and forth between lazing around, helping friends, and work. Work being the least prevalent on the list.

Fluttershy rested her head on Dash's. "Well maybe you do things too fast, miss ten seconds flat." Fluttershy giggled a bit at the little jab at Dash's well known speed.

"Hush you." Dash smiled a bit at the joke, but appearances helped.

Fluttershy ran a wing down Dash's back as she jumped off her makeshift stool and looked up at Dash. "Want to at least get a few dance lessons in before we have to help Applejack? I mean it seems like a decent idea.

Rainbow tried to shrug, but coughed instead, the unexpected touch making her mind not work exactly right at that particular moment. "Uh, sure." She weakly smiled at her friend.

Fluttershy grabbed a hoof of her friend- the blue hoof that she was currently the owner of was dwarfed by Dash's yellow ones. "Oh, well, I think we might have a problem, since I really was the one performing the male lead here in the dance due to the size difference I normally have, but I think I can at least try to guide you here." Fluttershy quickly tried to flip the script of her dance routines she knew upside down.

"Shy, do you even know what type of dancing happens in clubs? I definitely don't think you need to know the steps of a dance. Just like feel the music and jump up and down- that or just be all over a pony." Dash frowned as Fluttershy wasn't exactly listening to the advice she was giving out.

"Dash, its still good to know how to dance. What if you were invited to Canterlot and had to go to some fancy party with a date? You can't just translate something from a club and bring it to a high society ball. . .Rarity would have a fit if she heard you even think about dodging out of this."

"Fine, but this seems really stupid okay? Like when would we even touch a party like that? Aren't we like banned from gala events after our Grand Galloping Goof? Or maybe destroying a priceless statue is what got me almost banned."

Dash felt a boop on her nose. "Rainbow, that was years ago, and anyway I was the one that caused an animal stampede, that probably didn't help. At least you were trying to keep order in a disorderly way. I got too confident in my animal skills and caused outright stress to about five hundred animals. But let's just dance and forget that we've not had the best times in Canterlot, okay?"

"Okay, Shy. But can we like hurry this up cause I want to eat something before we go. I mean since your body takes so much more food than mine." Dash winked and put a hoof out to Fluttershy.

"I mean you just have a higher metabolism and are naturally smaller. You probably eat as much as I do since an athlete has to do so much hard work." Fluttershy stuck out her tongue at Dash and began to hum a nice melody that Dash thought she knew from somewhere- probably some weird pop tune that was all the rage currently. "Dash, since you are the larger pony, you have to lead by example so unlike somepony that can just follow a rhythm and generally get a sway in their hips and go from there, you would also have to make sure we don't have to turn around or run into any other dancers."

"Okay, so like I push and you pull or whatever? Also who taught you how to teach this cause this sounds like the highly stupid way to teach me how to dance cause as long as I get past the whole idea that I have to actually care about how I look on the dancefloor, like can we just show off yet cause like normal dancing already sounds so boring."

Fluttershy smiled, her magenta eyes looking up at Dash's slight blush. "Well, that's for another day, we can't get to the master class without at least a sense of the basics. Blame Rarity if you have to, cause this idea on how to do things the "highly stupid way" is what she came up with. But as I count- one, two, three, four, for example, we'll just do one of the basic steps- that of just moving on each in a square." She lightly began counting as she slid up close to Dash to make sure her form was correct- or at least slightly passable.

Dash heard the slight counting of Shy as she tried matching the movements in her head to the counting, slowly getting the rhythm as she walked back and forth, slowly guiding Fluttershy around her small bathroom. Not the best place to develop your dancing skills, Dash thought to herself, but it worked. She felt Fluttershy edge close to her and stop counting, her breath on her neck due to their new height differences.

"Dash, that was pretty good. I mean you were a bit stiff but I can chalk that up to you being in my body and all, but for your first attempt at dancing, I think we might have something to work with here. Also I think we have to cut this short if you want to get breakfast." Fluttershy turned and hummed to herself, absentmindedly swaying to the beat as she left.

Dash just stared at the sight of Fluttershy moving her body so effortlessly and smoothly. She felt a heat rise as she watched and her borrowed yellow wings rose in protest. She blushed as she tried to hide the feelings that her body showed off. Even if she was in a completely different body than her own, she did still want to keep the cool factor that she had carefully cultivated through a concerted effort of awesomeness- even if that meant hiding that maybe, just maybe, she might like Fluttershy. Just maybe though, not like an outright feeling of emotion. Dash sighed and walked into the other room, her stomach protesting its emptiness.

***

Applejack stretched as she opened her eyes, noticing that she was unusually late for her daily chores- the sun stretching into her room in the Apple Farm through the nearby window. She glanced at her clock and saw that she was four hours late, it being 9:00 am and not the more common before or right before dawn that the Apple Family was known for, Farming was hard work and usually there was no real way to get off that hard schedule.

Well unless somepony was in heat and had a chance at boning a fine specimen of sexual prowess. Or that was what Rarity termed himself after he, not she, appeared yesterday.

Applejack peeled off her bed and sighed, Rarity's dick stood at attention as he lazed about, his attendant face mask showing that yes, while this totally was one of those dudes that Big Mac would be right up next to if he had the choice, it was still Rarity. The prissy voiced stallion acted like Rarity, talked like Rarity, and even showed off like Rarity. Applejack smiled as she held his nose shut and waited.

Applejack was getting the most out of this that she could, and since the sheets were holding all the unmentionable fluids that one of them heating sessions unfortunately made, she did need to get the white unicorn out of the bed. "Come on, Rares, you can't just stay in my bed all the dang day."

Rarity groaned in protest as his eyes opened slowly and the slight effeminate voice laughed. "Why, Applejack that wasn't what you were saying when I came to see you to help you with your little problem. It was more of a "oh my Celestia" followed by a sweet night of tender lovemaking." Rarity waggled an eyebrow at the orange mare.

Applejack blushed heavily, the memories of the previous night rushing back in stereo, lightly surrounding her with sounds that Granny Smith would either call the most natural process in the world or sheer necessity but overall unenjoyable- Applejack was unsure which would be the case cause asking your old grandmother about advice for the birds and the bees led directly to uncomfortable silence and images of a terrible nature.

"Well i was totally not thinking with my noggin you little minx." Applejack kept blushing as she tried to pull off the bedsheets. "I mean you were supposed to come on a weekend, not the middle of the week. It's Cider Season- not the winter. If you wanted to come and say howdy do with your equipment then that's fine. But I have a job to do."

Rarity smiled and slid off the bed, his magic bringing the rest of the bedsheets. "Oh, darling, I know what your job entails. But you know that reminds me of an old Mulish proverb- "all work and no play makes jacks dull mules." How much time off have you had recently, I mean besides our fun little romp in your hayloft a few days ago, it's been a while. And with you being in heat, then what does that make you? I know what. A pent up angry mare and while I enjoy a fair bit of what some call angry sex, I do see the point of letting loose every once in a while." Rarity sided up to Applejack and ran his tail through hers. "And anyway don't you have help on Cider Seasons now?"

Applejack snatched the bedsheets out of Rarity's magic and scowled. "I mean sure, but its not the point. It's the danged nature of the thing. I can't just skip out of family chores to go rolling about in my room, not when I told everypony this would be the best Cider Season ever."

"Which you say every year and barring if Flim and Flam come back for pointless revenge, yes, it will be. You've been working yourself ragged on this. I mean ponies have been wondering where you have been and asking me about it. I would have expected our Fluttershy to be the hermit, not you. Though of course she has a reason now thanks to Twilight. You just have your cute stubbornness to blame. Which I don't mind since I find that to be endearing."

Applejack sighed. "This conversation isn't going nowhere so I'll just stop it before we get into a round of talks again." Applejack lightly kissed Rarity on his cheek. "But I ain't a hermit, okay? Just been focused on the harvest. After this'll be done I'm swearing I won't be taking any other jobs that would be taking up my time."

Rarity smiled. "Oh I can't wait. Maybe then I can talk you into trying this out for yourself. It really does put some perspective after a while."

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Rare, you've been a stallion for like a day, I wouldn't trust your 'perspective' even if I trusted it. And maybe. I won't be putting stock in this whole mess Twilight's been doing for magic as of late, but maybe, just so you can stop begging to see what you keep terming the grain silo of dicks. Which is first of all a bit creepy and secondly just a weird name."

Rarity awkwardly chuckled. "Well it came to me in a flash of inspiration and also there's only so many puns that you can find for stallionhoods. Especially farm related ones that come out so perfectly."

"Was this 'flash of inspiration' one of your sexual fantasies?"

Rarity smiled, his face blushing pink as he tried to demurely look away from Applejack.

"Uh huh, how didn't I figure that out sooner?" Applejack cantered out of her room carrying out the sheets. "Well fine, I promise to at least try out your little fantasy at least one time- but only on your birthday and for as long as you don't get all clingy and weird." Applejack could hear Rarity's voice crack with happiness at the thought and as she walked down the stairs, she wondered if every unicorn was a goofy idiot. A decently okay goofy idiot, but Rarity, underneath the prim and proper demeanor was a big goof. Applejack sighed as she glanced around the corner to the washing machine. Nopony there, thanking Celestia she started a load.

There was only so much awkwardness Applejack could handle in the morning and explaining the birds and the bees to her sister was so far off the list of things that were okay at this time.

***

Fluttershy and Dash walked into Sweet Apple Acres. The October morning was cold enough for them to be close together while awkwardly looking at the ground- their sense of awkward feelings trumping their cold hooves. Dash blushed heavily, her mouth holding one of Pinkie's muffins and she bit into it, thinking quietly to herself.

"Dash, please do try to not eat like you seem to when we are out in public." Fluttershy rolled her eyes at her friend's display.

Dash grinned. "Well if you weren't so big boned, then I wouldn't be as hungry so I think part of this is totally your fault. Plus I told you I'd train your body how to be awesome and what I have to do first is load up on calories and all that,"

"Yes, well at least keep your mouth closed while you eat. Its not a good look, I mean you just eating food without a care in the world, like isn't there a time and a place to do that stuff?"

"Pssh, i'm totally not that bad. But okay, I'll act sort of natural. Anyway lets keep our mouths both shut cause Big Mac looks super pissed right about now."

Big Mac cantered up slowly, a cool frown on his lips as he nodded to Dash and Fluttershy. He slid a cask of cider off his shoulders, the barrel thumping heavily as it landed on the ground. He wiped his brow with a handkerchief and slowly drawled out his hello. "Howdy."

Fluttershy tried her best Dash impression. "Sup. How's this whole farm gig going?" Fluttershy could see Dash's mouth quietly whispering out some comment about her choice of words. Fluttershy expected something like 'I totally don't sound like that' or something similar to be running through Dash's head. But she broke her thoughts when Big Mac spoke, his voice low and measured."

"Would be fine, if my sister hadn't told me that she'd be up doing all of her chores like she said."

"What does that mean?"

"Oh nothing much, just didn't sleep all that well. Wasn't like the walls are mighty thin up in the house. Nope, not my problem when I get to hear something out of a gay bar talking about how he'd do my sister. Totally not a big old problem for me."

The two friends awkwardly shared a look. Dash spoke up first, choosing her words carefully. "I mean it couldn't have been all that bad."

Big Mac stared at 'Fluttershy' and groaned. "It was bad. Thank Celestia that Applebloom was hanging out with her friends else it would be a mite confusing to tell her that her sister wasn't just playing around. Good thing Granny is so hard of hearing else that would have been a fun conversation. If I see Twilight soon, I'll tell her a bit of my mind."

"What was Twilight doing in your house?" Fluttershy stood there puzzled at the idea that Twilight, of all ponies, would be in Applejack's room at night.

Big Mac shook his head and sighed. "No, Dash, I mean that Twilight's the one making that spell of whatever you call it so its her fault Rarity came here in that stallion form of hers, or his, or whatever. This is way above my knowledge of things and the only magic I know how to do is to harvest apples and all that. Like this is weird, not as weird as when Twilight made me fall in love with a doll or my own little sister made me fall in love with her teacher. Which that conversation was fun on me and Cheerilee's end later, what with me having to say that hanging out with Caramel wasn't just a bromance thing. But its just the nature of the thing, its like Rarity was a dude and I'm all confused about what to do about that. Like this makes my whole head spin. I know she's a mare but you know it gets confuddling."

"Uh, well don't worry I think Twilight's over thinking this whole problem too. I mean Pinkie's a dude now so she knows the feeling I guess. Sure Pinkie doesn't care one way or the other but it was Twilight performing the spell. And that's been on her mind for at least a few days." Dash awkwardly tried to make the conversation less weird and not having weird images shot into her head.

Big Mac scratched his head. "Yeah." Big Mac turned and stayed quiet as he saw his sister and Rarity being way too close for comfort for his taste. Not that he was against the whole relationship, for somepony who tended in his circles that would be a bit counterproductive, but Rarity was still a stallion. He tried to not think of how much Rarity reminded him of Caramel and left it there.

"Why hello there all." Rarity smiled, his smile a demure smile as he tried to make the tension he could feel outright at this moment wash away with good intentions. He looked up at Big Mac, realizing that while he was now currently a stallion, he wasn't that much taller than before. That or the Apple family were related to horses. Rarity looked up and saw that Big Mac was quietly watching him, his face cool and distant as he kept his stare towards his sister. Rarity could just look away and cough. "Yes, well. I guess I should probably go check on how Coco is doing with the store. Nice seeing you all."

Rarity shuffled on out of there, his horn lighting up and performing the counterspell for the gender spell. Breathing in and out, it only took a moment as it took effect, the height gained from switching to a stallion being lost and the voice going from a light tenor to a low alto. Breathing out, she and now decidedly a she, smiled and teleported out of the Acres deciding the mood ruined by saying more than the required pleasantries.

Big Mac sighed and turned to Applejack. "Sis, I'm going to go see Caramel. Got the cider barrels for the party tomorrow all sorted out near the front of the barn, the north field is mostly clear and I slept bad yesterday night so I'm calling in a favor."

Applejack looked away, her cheeks blushing as she realized what her brother was saying between the lines. "Sure, thanks for not waking me up earlier."

"I mean I respect your decisions, AJ, but I'm just saying please don't just find one day every two months to go all out. Relationships don't really work that way. Also while I'm not saying much, please tell Rarity to stop acting out her little book fantasy cause I could tell through my wall that you weren't happy with it. Talk to her."

Applejack awkwardly laughed. "I'm fine."

Big Mac raised an eyebrow. "Well, talk to her. Or if you won't do it, I'll invoke big brother privilege and either force you to deal with this problem I've been noticing recently or just talk to her myself. And I think the first option might be better for everypony."

Applejack looked at both Fluttershy and Dash and sighed. "Okay, okay. I'll talk to her about this whole fantasy she got from that silly book."

"Good." Big Mac walked off silently.

"Man, I didn't even know your brother could say that many words." Dash chuckled, her voice light and airy.

Applejack scowled. "Well, uh, let's see, Dash. . .he just doesn't like talking much. But ironically enough put him in a situation he feels comfortable in and he'd talk your ear off. But seriously I totally want Twilight to fix your problem cause I can't keep you two in my head right. Cause you look like each other and act eerily similar to each other when you are in public but then Dash acts like too much like herself and my mind goes back to realizing how messed up this whole what, week or so, has been."

Fluttershy scratched her polychromatic mane. "Yeah, you are telling me."

"So you want to start helping me get some of the fields clear cause with him gone, it'd take me hours without some help."

Dash and Fluttershy chuckled. "Sure."

***

The sun streamed through the window in Twilight's study, making her current situation much harder to focus on. Pens and paper were strewn about in complete disarray as the purple princess tapped a hoof and looked down on her work that she was focused on.

Twilight threw another sheet of paper into her trash. Her mind raced with possible way to get Pinkie back into a stable form. She totally shouldn't have agreed to that enhancement spell Pinkie talked her into. She shook her head with that image of Pinkie smiling on her bed raced through her mind. She had work to do and no impressive dicks would deter her from making her life at least a little easier. Step one: Get Pinkie to normal or at least give her a way to switch between. Maybe an amulet could give her a way to let Rarity have some fun with magic for once. Garments were not Twilight's specialty and Rarity, for all her fashion focus, did give her pointers on how to make more stable spell matrices so as to not have Pinkie stuck in a body that made Twilight's life harder.

Cause while Twilight was currently pacing around like a mental patient, Pinkie was fine with this.

Twilight sighed and wrote a quick response to every one of these news organizations and other random small places that had been sending her hate mail for days. Being a princess sometimes felt like a step above a celebrity to Twilight. Maybe it was the idea of how divine alicorns were. Maybe Twilight was cynical or a realist, but after seeing Celestia eat two cakes in one sitting while Luna timed her for a dare- maybe the veneer of pure infallibility was lost.

Twilight turned to Luna who was currently asleep, the cans upon cans of coffee beans that the lunar princess had been eating to keep herself awake after the session of magical study had worn off and currently the blue princess was kicking a hoof and muttering about some rabbits preparing for a carrot war. Twilight chalked that up to Luna being connected to the entire dreamscape influencing her rambling dreams. That or princesshood brought out hidden mental illnesses.

Twilight had been shelving that academic paper since she had become a princess and realized how crazy they all were.

Twilight yawned and drank a bit of tea. Looking over her hasty scribbles, she ran off to bed. Performing crucial magical research was a long and arduous process and while she wanted Pinkie back to normal as soon as equinely possible, she'd rather cast the spell correctly and not have Pinkie turn into a cosmic horror or something awful out of Luna's nightmares.

Twilight muttered to herself as she stepped off to bed. "Can't do this spell without another alicorn anyway. Stupid alicorn magic being a mess. Nope, can't have just me running this cause if I mess up it'd make it worse true, but also with how I set up the spell its so stable that it needs another hoof or two. Thank goodness I weakened the spell for most ponies else we would have a whole problem of having ponies stuck in the gender they chose, since I built it to make it as stable as possible. Stupid, smart me. Though note to self, check fluid viability tests. If this doesn't work out for everyone then at least I could spin this as a medical spell for families."

Twilight learned that lesson from Celestia and years of magical research. Every spell had its use, but each spell could also be used for multiple unforeseen purposes. Twilight yawned as she thought of how easily she could use white magic to hurt and black magic to save ponies. Quickly sending her letter to Celestia's personal assistant, Raven, she itched her eyes to stay awake. Since she was both so new at her princess duties, she hadn't yet got her own assistant what with Spike currently deciding to open up some way to get Dragon Lord Ember to want to trade with Equestria.

Just another day being a princess, Twilight mused. She loved strategy and all that entailed, but balancing all these missives that people kept sending her about border disputes because that somehow fell into her domain of "friendship" was a bit worrying. Sighing and deciding that worrying about some possible war in some far flung corner of the world was completely pointless, she walked to her bedroom and turned off her lights. If there was some need for a mission involving the Elements of Harmony, that'd be put off until tomorrow anyway.

***

Applejack kicked a tree and apples fell in a giant cascade. Fluttershy carefully flitted around the trees, bringing each fallen apple into her basket, letting the ones that were too bruised to lay on the ground for the birds to pick at. Though the amount of apples in her basket outweighed the ones that stayed where they were. Apples knew how to grow apples, she guessed.

Dash was the one hauling the apple cart, each bucket load that passed inspection went to that cart. Dash was unluckily enough stuck in Fluttershy's body and with Big Mac gone was the only suitable replacement.

"Guys, this work sucks. Why can't I be the one kicking the trees or picking up the apples?" Dash breathed heavily as she tried to find a good footing on the gently rolling hills of the north field of the Acres.

"Dash, come on, if I let you kick a tree you'd probably break it. I mean this isn't very ideal what with you and Flutter here just being all bungled up. I mean I'd have preferred you doing your most Rainbow Dash thing here so I wouldn't have to spend all day here worrying about having to do the rest. But we work with what we got I guess and we are still making good time. And come on that can't be that heavy, you ain't sweating at all." Applejack grinned as she saw Dash's attempt at a scowl.

"Well fine. But if we have probably hours of this mess let's at least do something exciting." Dash yawned as she felt more apples fall into the cart. "Otherwise I feel like I need a nap."

Fluttershy piped up a question. "So Applejack, why were you so late anyway? Don't you have a consistent sleep schedule?"

Applejack blushed. "I mean it wasn't that late."

Dash scoffed. "Yeah, having your brother complain that you were five hours late was totally not late at all."

"Fine. I have been having some of those times where I need a bit of attention." Applejack kicked a hoof.

"So if Rarity was in your room at night and you were keeping your brother awake then-" Fluttershy muttered out.

"Oh I get it, you two were screwing like rabbits." Dash's smile grew wider as she noticed Applejack's blush deepen into a dark red.

"Yeah."

"But AJ, that whole cycle tends to be seasonal. It's October. Most of that stops during the summer so how could you be dealing with a problem like this now?" Fluttershy's basic knowledge of pony issues gained through years of solitude and general boredom welled up in her.

"Yeah, well I guess mine goes with the harvest season. It can't be that uncommon I know a lot of family members with birthdays in July. So its not that weird."

"It's super weird, AJ, come on most pegasi are born in December with that logic. Spring happens and everyone gets busy."

"Dash, be nice, it's at least abnormal to some thanks to each city having different altitudes, weather patterns, and festival dates. Cloudsdale has a mostly winter baby boom, and Ponyville seems to have their kids in the summer, Manehattan has their kids in the spring, et cetera, et cetera."

"AJ, you broke Fluttershy, now she's being a total nerd like Twilight."

Fluttershy set her bucket of apples down and crossed her arms. "Dash, I have my reasons learning about birthdays and I'm not that bad on this front. Pinkie's far more analytical about birthdays."

"Pssh, what reason do you have anyway? It's a birthday. It happens once a year and goes away its not that important."

Fluttershy's eye twitched. "Can we please get back on topic. I mean barring the hour long discussion about the importance of birthdays I don't want to get stuck in, Applejack, if you are on your cycle why would you even chance having an intimate moment with Rarity?"

Applejack chuckled. "Like Rarity told me since she was all switcharoo'd then we could do whatever."

Fluttershy tilted her head at that. "But it's a magic spell."

"Yeah, so? It can't be that bad, right. Twilight wouldn't make a spell that could like have horrible consequences like what you seem to be getting at. That'd be outright idiotic."

Dash chuckled. "Yes, Twilight tends to be an idiot when it comes to magic. I mean sure she waves a magic hoof and things disappear but like it wouldn't be out of character for her to accidentally forget to mention 'Rarity don't fuck Applejack with this spell, it might have nine month consequences.' I mean before Pinkie and her were going out she had to be the most virginest virgin ever cause why else would she be cooped up with boring old books anyway?"

Fluttershy rolled her eyes at that statement. "Dash, you have an entire collection of Daring Do first editions at my house. I don't think calling Twilight out for loving books would be fair."

"Yeah well, those books are cool and are totally rad. Twilight's books suck."

Applejack rubbed her temple. "Can we all get off the book talk. My sweet Celestia everypony has books on the noggin. Rarity's all about this stupid romance book that is kind of garbage and now you two are bickering like an old couple about birthdays and books and all this nonsense and now I'm worried that Rarity should have worn a condom and I really don't want to deal with that idea right now." Applejack breathed in and out, her breaths slightly ragged and hitching as her anxiety about what could be happening right inside her at that very moment hit her like a ton of bricks.

Dash and Fluttershy shared a worried look. Dash tried to lighten the mood first. "I think Twilight totally put a failsafe thing on that spell that makes it totally fine and if not, like its not like its the end of the world like, uh, that'd be nine months away and that's a super damn long time away and think of the bright side. I bet your family would love a new little Apple whatever the crud it is cause your grandmother is as old as dirt."

"I don't think that's really helping Applejack right now, Rainbow. Um, what about that book Rarity has been on about. . ." Fluttershy was pretty sure what book that was- she had wrote it for Celestia's sake, and Rarity hadn't been exactly quiet about her manic love for Six Shades of Hay.

"Just some silly book that Rare is making me have to play act out like a weird fantasy of hers. And its whole thing is kind of dumb- like I get why it could a best seller in one of them large cities. I know what Manehattan's like and it'd fit right in their culture of vapid dumb books, but like its weird. I want to say something to Rarity and I was going to last night but then I started having feelings down there and she came in as a dude and the idea that I might have done some dumb stuff just to get some of that dick keeps going through my head." Applejack sighed, her shoulders slouching as her pent up worry started to leave her once she started talking.

Fluttershy twitched awkwardly as she tried to keep her feelings in check. She knew Rarity had a bit of a problem with collecting romance novels and all that, she had been in the white unicorn's room and that had been littered with trashy romance novels. But hearing that her oldest friend was play acting some of the scenes in the book she wrote put her mind on edge. She knew making Quiet Breeze and Speed Dazzler a unicorn and earth pony respectively was something new in terms of how Equestrian romance novels worked. They used to be hyperfocused on how important having similar interests was- and sadly that also included how important looks were in terms of race.

Her publisher that picked up the book gushed about how fresh and new it was. But now looking back she might have a bit of a problem on her hooves that should be solved for another day. Harshwhinny had been pestering her in her mail recently about some book tour. That thought broke when she felt Dash's hoof on her shoulder.

"Shy, you okay?"

Fluttershy nodded and mouthed the words 'talk later' and turned to Applejack. "Well, uhm, sorry about that little lapse of thought. Was trying to compose myself. Uh, AJ, you should talk to Rarity about your feelings and like maybe don't confront her with all the stuff at once you might be feeling, but if you don't feel exactly comfortable with the whole thing she's been focusing one recently in your relationship, then just tell her. You'd probably feel better about it. Like Big Mac was saying earlier, it would make it easier to know where everypony is coming from."

Applejack sighed. "Well I guess that makes some sense. But what about the whole sex thing like should I be worried about that, Shy?"

"I mean Dash did say that Twilight probably thought of every possibility and made it so that can't happen. And if she somehow didn't then well, pregnancy tends to be like a small possibility with that."

Applejack hugged both her and Dash close. Fluttershy would have felt better at that moment if she didn't feel so small because of being in Dash's body, of course, but the other reason made her feel worse. It wasn't a small possibility. Twilight just hopefully thought of every possibility here cause if not, the chance that Applejack could have a kid from this wasn't small.

It was more like eighty or ninety percent if everything worked right. She knew enough of pony biology that if everything worked perfectly this could be problem. But she didn't want to ruin the moment and Applejack felt better and everything was going to be fine, fine, fine. So why did she feel so bad about a little lie like that? Applejack felt better at least. And if not, she guessed ponies would step up and help. It was Applejack, ponies knew her well enough.

***

Rainbow stared at Fluttershy as they left the Acres, the next few hours had been pretty uneventful so the conversation that had happened hours before still hung unfinished in the air. She waited until they were past the hill that hid the Acres from sight before she started talking, the lights that turned on during the night punctuating her face with light and shadow as she talked.

"So what was that whole birthday thing about, Shy, I didn't expect you knew that much about birthdays- that's Pinkie's department of crazy." Rainbow tried to laugh at her joke but was silenced when Fluttershy looked at her.

"When were you born, Dash?"

Rainbow scratched her pink mane with a large hoof. "Well, I was born like late December. Like Hearthswarming? A lot of my friends were too, that's kind of what school does. Right? Like I didn't know ponies months younger than me in Cloudsdale, had a whole ton of parties in winter. It was kind of a pain, you'd probably get it I guess."

"Yeah. I did. When is my birthday though?"

Dash laughed, this had to be a trick question. Everypony knew each other's birthdays. Applejack's was in July, Pinkie was in September, hers was in December, Twilight was a weird one in February, Fluttershy was in March. Wait. Rainbow tried to work that whole thing in her head. Fluttershy should have been born in Cloudsdale, most pegasi were but March was weird.

Dash tried to smile but was confused, maybe the math was off. Maybe she was older than she realized? Or was born somewhere else. "Is it in March?"

Fluttershy nodded. "It is."

Dash put a hoof on her friend. "So what, you are self conscious about your birthday? At least you don't have to schedule snowstorms on your birthday. December on the ground blows. March is like Winter Wrap Up time, seems like you got a better deal."

Fluttershy floated in the air lost in thought for a moment. "Yeah. I guess its not that big of a deal. You want something to eat, cause we are getting close to Hayburger."

"Only if that pony that hates all of us isn't working, sure." Dash twined her tail in Fluttershy's to make her feel better about something Fluttershy wasn't saying. She felt a tinge of a memory well up and pass as they walked into the Hayburger.

"What do you want Fluttershy?"

"Mom, look! I made a picture of you and your friends, see we have all the kids I know at my school and then their parents and then there's you. And a rainbow, and trees."

"Why aren't I smiling?"

"Cause you are super focused on being my mom."

Fluttershy saw her mom go through a mix of emotions that she didn't understand. Were those tears of happiness. They should be she worked really hard on the picture. Being four was hard, it took a long time to draw the stick figures right and the rainbow took all the crayons in her box to do. She was trying t be good, her teacher told to give ponies gifts when they felt sad and when ever her mom looked at her Fluttershy thought she looked sad about something. Being an adult had to be hard then, if they always looked sad or angry about something.

"Yeah, this is good, I'll put it on the fridge and show your dad the picture, he'll like it."

Dash drifted out of the memory when she was asked what she wanted to eat. Picking a simple burger and fries combo, she turned to Fluttershy who was taking out the bits to pay the bill, and she booped her on the nose once that was all done and finished. She would have done it sooner, but paying for food was more important.

"Sorry, Shy. I forget that other ponies might like birthdays."

"What is this about, cause I thought we were done with the conversation when you got all weirdly quiet." Fluttershy tilted her head in slight confusion, the polychromatic hair Dash was so familiar with falling over Fluttershy's eyes in this uncharacteristic motion.

"I mean I didn't really get what birthdays were when I was growing up, living in the circus makes every day a birthday when you could celebrate going to the next town with a performance or two. Like I never had a birthday before coming to Ponyville, I still kind of get weirded out when Pinkie throws me a party."

"Well she does kind of go all out when a party happens."

"Yeah, but I'm trying to say that maybe I might have been in the wrong for saying you were too nerdy about the thing you were trying to explain to Applejack, I guess I know a bit too much about the Wonderbolts and Daring Do, I mean I can get why you might be so interested in something like birth patterns, I guess you do work with animals."

Fluttershy lightly smiled, her eyes not entirely getting into the emotion. "Yeah, thanks, Rainbow."

They both heard an audible groan behind them. Turning they both saw a familiar purple unicorn that totally hated their guts.

"Get a room you two, if I wanted to be sick I'd do it somewhere that doesn't involve me being near food. Plus didn't I tell you to not come back here?"

Dash piped up, her outside appearance of a quiet mountain hiding her inner fire. "Well, Sparkler, if there wasn't three places to eat in Ponyville and if two stayed open past sundown then we wouldn't be here. But its cheap and quick and relatively painless. Plus I'm still peeved that I almost got sick eating here last time."

Sparkler scoffed. "Yeah, well, like that was your own fault, I gave you some side eye when you totally ate what normally feeds a family of eight. My bad you have a bottomless stomach and that you paid well. I mean six burgers what is that like thirty bits right there?"

Dash fumed. "Yeah well at least I gave you your tip like I totally didn't have to. Like there's a limit I can take for dealing with the worst employee here."

Sparkler laughed and pointed. "Read the Employee of the Month and weep cause look at that wonderful wall of organized perfection."

Dash turned and saw month upon month of awards for 'the best manager ever' awards. And every face besies the few from before Sparkler's new job held a recognizable smug purple unicorn. Dash huffed and turned back, Fluttershy staying quiet, not one for confrontations like this.

"Okay fine, whatever, but why do you dislike us so much?"

Sparkler twirled a pencil and smiled. "I dunno, like I guess I might just be really petty and hold a grudge against a blue pegasus who's Element of Laziness is annoying me and even if, even if, I didn't find your friend there slightly annoying thanks to my immaculate and perfect sense of organization and completely flawless ship here in this Hayburger I get to run, there's Princess Nepotism that totally took my job."

Dash facehoofed. "Yeah, I get it, you pretty much said that the first time but that's it. Like there's no reason outside of you losing your swanky, completely voluntary, glorified figurehead of Winter Wrap Up and that's why every time we come in here you make our lives go to Tartarus? Isn't that tiring and completely pointless?"

Sparkler floated over a nail file and began to do her hooves, slowly inspecting each one as she talked. "Sure, but like I don't care. Like I ran Winter Wrap Up perfectly for years and some silly pony came in and said 'look how completely important I am' and everypony went along with it. What has Twilight done since she took my job? I mean endanger the town and get wings nonwithstanding, by just being near Ponyville doesn't she also endanger the town I live in? Or what about the Elements themselves. Aren't you six idiots holding them protecting us from threats in this nice little town or like are you drawing them to us cause those stupid rocks are extra potent magical artifacts? Just a thought."

Dash tilted her head. "Wha- how did we get on this again cause that has nothing to do with how much of a jerk you've been acting."

Sparkler levitated the burgers that were done and slid them on a tray to 'Dash'. "It has everything to do with it, I lived through both Discord coming here and turning the town into his demented playhouse, then Changelings attacked once or twice, and then Tirek blew up your friend's library and almost murdered all of us cause he ate magic. I'm petty and hate Twilight Sparkle primarily cause she took my job, but she hasn't been running Ponyville great since she did, so maybe I have my reasons to feel something beyond some undying love for a pony that seems to cause way more problems than she fixes. Also here's your stupid food, hope you choke on it and die cause boy do I love talking to you about things I hate."

Dash nodded, her piercing blue eyes staring daggers at the purple unicorn before just sighing and giving up. The Stare was not going to come out to play today. "Fine, but like talk to Twilight cause this is beyond the most stupid and pointless thing ever and I've jumped off cliffs before to teach ponies how to fly. Like just freaking talk to her maybe Twilight might like some criticism every once in a while. That or once this is over like I just want to come in here and not feel like I have to defend myself to get food."

Sparkler smiled. A cold and distant smile. "Whatever, like get out of the Hayburger and I'll think about it."

And so Dash and Fluttershy did; both decided that going out into the night was better than awkwardly sitting there in silence as Sparkler stared at them. They had just wanted to get food to eat.

***

The two of them ate in silence as the day wound down. Dash awkwardly spoke, her voice echoing in the night, hanging pregnant in the air with thoughts unsaid. "So Shy, thanks for teaching me how to dance your way, but like just in case if there isn't some wine and cheese boredom event, how about I teach you how to dance a little bit."

"Dash I already know how to. You don't really need to do that."

Dash smiled. "Well its going to take like no time at all and I can't have you go to a dance and sprain an ankle trying to dance the modern way or something, that'd ruin the mood, right?" Dash prodded Fluttershy in the side to get her to move. "Seriously though this takes like ten seconds."

"You say everything you do takes ten seconds."

"Yeah, well, this is simple. Give me a hoof and I'll show you."

Fluttershy rolled her eyes. "Okay, Dash."

Dash grinned. "Club dancing number one, the general hop around to show you are getting into the music. This one is so simple even your horrible rabbit can do it. Just a bend in your knees leading up to your hips, a little shake to activate the muscles up top and hop."

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? That's it? That's almost criminally too easy."

Rainbow Dash crossed her yellow arms and frowned. "Yeah, its simple, ponies like feeling the music, and this is the easiest thing of all. Also some tend to be on drugs during this whole rave scene so the easier the better."

"Well that sounds not fun at all." Fluttershy's eyes widened at the thought of horrible drugged ponies surrounding her at this dance. Oh she knew that maybe dancing wasn't the best idea. She quickly took deep breaths to keep the thought out of her head.

"Eh, its probably fine. It's Ponyville, I'd be surprised if there wasn't anything harder than Poison Joke in the place. Anyway, since you think the first dance I showed you was so simple let's kick it up a notch or two." Rainbow lifted Fluttershy up and set her down as she centered herself on the hill. This next part took a bit more space than just a few inches. "Now Shy, this might seem a bit weird but we are totally too far apart right now."

Fluttershy looked at how close they were, both of their coats almost touching and she blushed. "Dash, are you sure? Cause this seems way closer than anything I've tried before."

Dash looked up as she inched closer. "Yeah this is going to be totally weird. Uh, Shy, get as close as you can and start rubbing yourself all over me."

Fluttershy stared up at Dash. "What."

Rainbow could feel her voice try and crack with nervousness. Her head started sweating as she tried to explain this the best she could. "Like its a dance and ponies get really, really, really close together and dance this way. Everypony does it, its kind of the way ponies dance now. I mean if you don't want to that's fine, but its going to be all over the place in the club and I just want to make you at least okay with that cause it'd probably be weird. But like why would it be weird, its like a dance and dances aren't all that weird I guess?" Dash's cheeks burned like the sun as she stumbled over her words.

Fluttershy craned her neck and laid her head on Dash's larger shoulder. The height difference between the two of them now was silly at points, she mused, but it felt okay. She fluttered her wings enough to add a bit of a jump and pecked Dash on the cheek with a light kiss. It felt right and it was at least her speed rather than this strange dancing that would probably give Rarity a stroke.

Dash touched her cheek, the yellow hoof laying there for just a moment as she tried to process what just happened, her mind racing at a hundred miles an hour as it ground to a complete stop, her hoof falling to the ground in surprise. She was in shock.

"Oh I shouldn't have done that. I knew I shouldn't have done that. Why did I do that?" Fluttershy curled up her hooves and sat down gingerly on the grass. "I just didn't know what to do and you seemed nervous and I didn't exactly want to do the whole dance you wanted and then I guess I misread the situation and now I feel awful. . ." Fluttershy peered out from polycromatic locks as she looked up at Dash.

"Well, okay, that was. . .unexpected. . .but okay I guess if you don't want to do that dance where we pretty much grind on each other that's okay." Dash felt the yellow wings of hers try to show her emotions at that very moment. "Well that was something. Not entirely bad, but like warn me next time."

Fluttershy peeked out from her hooves. "Next time?" Fluttershy could swear she saw Dash blush crimson when she asked that but she chalked it up to her rushing heart and the surrounding darkness.

"I mean I don't know exactly how I feel about all this, but warn me next time cause I really wasn't expecting that. It felt, well, okay." Dash crouched down and sat near Fluttershy, saying nothing more as both looked up in the night sky.

"Okay." Fluttershy lay her head on Dash's shoulder and sat there, her heart racing as she wondered what exactly the next day would bring.

***

Spitfire rubbed her eyes as she realized what time it was. Glancing at the piles of papers that littered her desk was trying to reconstruct organized chaos so she didn't even try. Grabbing her small notebook of tasks that Soarin' gave her one Hearths Warming as a way to organize her life, she flipped through it and was confronted by a list of ponies that she needed to talk to soon.

The Wonderbolt Fall Practices were coming up, and a few hadn't responded to her summons and so she took the approach she was most known for- tough love. Hitting the buzzer nearby, she signaled to her second in command, Soarin' to come and get ready for a little trip to Ponyville.

Rainbow Dash hadn't been focused on Wonderbolt activities for the past week or so, and Soarin' had been wanting to take a short vacation for fun.

Soarin's head appeared near the door as he came to see what was going on.

"Yes, Spitfire? What's up, Firebird?"

Spitfire rolled her eyes at Soarin's weird pet name for her. "You want to go to Ponyville tomorrow? I have some ponies I need to see there and there's also this weird party flyer I got sent by that famous DJ, I never really enjoy those things by myself so like you want to go as my plus one?"

Soarin's face lit up as he heard the news. "Of course, commander, can we get-"

"Pie? Sure, but I keep telling you to go on a diet or something, you aren't that colt anymore in Wonderbolt Academy that can eat whatever you want. . ."

Soarin' grinned. "Well of course not 'Fire, though you don't really seem to mind all that much."

Spitfire raised an eyebrow. "Well those are during off hours."

Soarin' laughed. "Sure. See you back at your place, I'm getting one of those doughnuts at Pony Joe's place, heard they have a pie doughnut or something equally my kind of dessert. You want me to turn off the lights here before you leave or you got those?"

Spitfire rubbed her chin and thought. "Nah, I got those, see you soon." Spitfire stretched her wings as he left. Sometimes she missed a more active role in the Wonderbolts, but running the whole show and being team leader caused her to have long hours like today. Finding time to have a normal life with Soarin', even if only a few hours each day due to protocol made her relax and stay focused on her tasks. Without him, she'd be a completely disorganized mess.

Spitfire yawned and looked up at Luna's night sky, the Canterlot skyline illuminating too much of the sky to make her feel at home. Felt too distant from the stars that had made her want to learn how to fly. Light muddled the darkness so you couldn't even see the constellations that she used to remember. Small towns had some benefits like that, she mused. The sky looked clearer at night.

I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor

"Dash are you sure we don't have to get dressed up for the party?" Fluttershy craned her neck out of their now shared closet as she tried to see where Dash had run off to.

Dash's voice echoed from a room over in response. "No, Shy, we do not have to dress up for a night out on the town. That'd be super dumb. Like nopony else does it, so like if we walk up to the party dressed up in our Gala dresses, I think the town would look at us weird."

"But Dash, what if they do have a costume party thing and we needed to have dresses to be taken seriously?" Fluttershy scanned over her dresses, the scant pickings of years gone by stashed away in her closet.

Dash walked on over and threw a towel she had been lazily washing the dishes with on the floor near Fluttershy's feet. "Did Cloud Kicker say that costumes or dresses were needed?"

"No."

"Then, Shy, its fine. Just go with the flow. If somehow we needed them, then it would be better than showing up in fancy duds and sticking out like the fanciest idiot in the room. Just like breathe and relax. It's going to be fine."

Fluttershy heard a knocking on her front door and she decided that, at least for the moment, the search for a dress would have to wait. Zooming carefully through her house, she opened the door and was greeted by a bubbly, excitable mare that she had only really talked to a few times. Blossomforth grinned widely as she saw 'Dash' on the other side of the door, her eyes giving her ideas of what the two must have been doing this last week.

"Dashie, why look at you. Positively beaming with that after sex glow. Where's the lucky mare or stallion? Like I'd just say mare or whatever you like but like I've seen you around in my circles. Dude. remember the time you tried to pick up the spa ponies cause you though foreigners were hot? Good fucking times, slut."

Fluttershy tilted her head, her mind stopping for a moment to process the weird idea that Blossomforth of all ponies was at her house and the idea that Dash maybe was a bit into reciprocating feelings. And well the mix of proper language and swearing that Blossomforth tended to do threw her through a loop.

"Like, uh, yeah, totally? Uh, why are you here, Blossom? Did Cloud Kicker put you up to it or something?" Fluttershy tried to expect what Dash would say and went with it.

"Dude like cause Cloud Kicker was like 'Dude Dash is totally shacking up with this mountain bitch' and I was 'Nuh uh, she'd be crushed under the weight of sheer hugeness cause Dash is one of those midgets and totally the worst at relationships so four days of anything is godly cause you love that hit it and quit it kind of thing when you wingman me'. Well okay, I meant that when you, Dash, wingman me- but yeah like you get laid and then you feel awesome about it. I think that psych dude I screwed once called that like a commitment issue. I just call it rad and swinging." Blossomforth smiled and Fluttershy tried to grin sheepishly but she felt like it hurt somewhere.

"Hey, S-Dash, I was talking to you." Rainbow awkwardly entered into the conversation, saw who it was, and she froze. "Hey, uh, you. Welcome to my house and all. Dash didn't tell me that you'd show up."

Blossomforth bounded in past Fluttershy with a leap and bowed to Dash. "Well I guess I owe Kicker some cool fifty bits cause you are like the pinnacle of sheer hugeness like what do you eat like manly stallions for breakfast? But I dunno, you look familiar, but that's like impossible since I only read some of those smut books that get me going and yet you look like one of those rare model types."

Fluttershy felt her cheeks redden at the thought that maybe there could be photos of that very strainge and awkward time she was a model still out there floating around, but she tried to think of happier things.

"You girls want to go to Sugarcube Corner, cause I don't think Fluttershy here planned for another guest so early in the day."

"Dude. you buying cause that'd be good for me. But like I heard Pinkie's been experimenting with pumpkins in food and it is good stuff. Oh I have a great idea, let's race there and the first one there gets their food for free! " With that said, Blossomforth sped off, wanting to keep her bits intact because of her lost bet and also she hated paying for stuff.

Fluttershy turned and faced Dash. "So the whole one night stand thing she mentioned now?"

Dash glanced down at the floor. "Shy, it was a real bad time and Blossom doesn't really take no for an answer. Like I've been in stuff before, but the Blossom stuff? I just dunno. I played up my awesomeness and said I got with all these ponies to fit in her weird clique she has and well, if I'm honest, I never did anything."

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow and tried Staring. It still didn't work. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Like the most I ever did with her playmare hookup ways was just talk to the ponies all night when I got one. Like I felt uncomfortable hitting on ponies, it just doesn't always work and Blossom's really pushy and kind of creepy sometimes so I went with it and that was it."

Fluttershy sighed. "Fine, but remember, we can't pull this messed up switch Twilight's stuck us in if we lie to each other."

"Sure." Fluttershy and Dash quickly and quietly did the Pinkie Pie Swear. They both knew that breaking honesty with one another now would invoke the wrath of Pinkie and both of them were typically scared of the pink pony's infinite rage. They tried to quickly shuffle out of Fluttershy's house to at least make it look like they tried to beat Blossomforth's farce of a race.

***

When the two pegasi got to Sugarcube Corner, they heard a large commotion coming from inside. Blossomforth's wavering high pitched voice echoed out into the street. The icy cold shift from bubbly Blossomforth to anger made the two pegasi try and find a way out of the situation if they really had to.

"What are you two doing here?"

Dash stopped for a second when she recognized the other two voices.

"I wanted pie."

"And I wanted to stop Soarin from raiding the Wonderbolt fridge and besides I have other reasons to be here Blossom. It's a free country and your commander of air flow hasn't been returning my mail or calls and those potions are expensive."

Dash yanked on Fluttershy's tail and jumped firmly into the nearest bush. Sure aiming for anything more comfortable would be both better for their backs and dignity but having Spitfire in Ponyville was the worst possible scenario right now. She never seemed to leave Canterlot if she didn't have to and besides Wonderbolt appearances where she seemed chill and calm, she was the scariest pony Dash had known since childhood and she was raised in a circus with hardcore performers.

"Dash, that really hurt, why are we even in this bush cause I bet this isn't even hiding us from the ponies that have you so spooked."

Dash pulled a broken branch from her pink mane. "Shy, once we get out of this bush I'm getting a better haircut for you cause this sucks but seriously that's Spitfire and Soarin in there and I really doubt you want to be in front of them acting like me. Also maybe I think better in bushes. It gets me in the zone."

Fluttershy laughed at the sheer ridiculousness of Dash. "What are you talking about? Spitfire seemed nice when I met her once or twice. She's probably fine."

Dash stared at Shy. "When did that happen?"

"I was a model, Dash. I met ponies from all over for a bit."

Dash facehoofed. "Sure, whatever you go in there and meet Spitfire. Whatever. But I'm going to warn you that Spitfire loves to mess with ponies. Like she's super hardcore."

Fluttershy picked herself up and dusted herself off, checking for random branches and trotted inside. Dash awkwardly tried to follow and play it cool. It wasn't every day that Fluttershy fell into a bush. She could play it off probably. Dragging her hooves out one by one took some getting used to since her new size left a Fluttershy shaped hole in the middle of the bush. Shaking her head, Dash tiptoed into the Corner and breathed heavily to try and calm down her slightly racing heart. She blinked slowly as she saw a relatively normal scene.

Sure Blossomforth looked a bit miffed about something but it was Blossom. She'd probably forget about the slight in about five seconds after she saw a good looking pony to hit on. Dash heard Fluttershy move through the ins and outs of Canterlot etiquette well in regards to Spitfire: Step One, you suck, and Step Two, Spitfire knows best.

"Sorry about the whole, uh, not getting back to you thing. Guess I threw the mail into a big pile and forgot about it, my bad."

Spitfire smiled. "Oh its not too bad. It's so great to see a little town again like Ponyville. Reminds me of home. But if it happens again, I'm going to make your training sessions a living portal to Tartarus." Spitfire didn't break the smile.

"Fire, that wasn't what you said over here. I thought you said we just wanted to say hi and also party a bit. Why are you acting all tough again-"

A thump could be heard from underneath the table and Soarin' took a bite of his pie to keep generally quiet.

"And also its so nice to see Blossomforth, the best ex-Wonderbolt I know. Well I guess there aren't all that many but its nice to see one of the few celebrities that Ponyville still has."

Dash eyed Blossomforth. The light grey pegasus tapped a hoof as she tried to eat a pumpkin cheesecake muffin. In all the years that Dash knew Blossom, the idea that she was a Wonderbolt at some point surprised her. Usually there was just her insane focus to get laid to talk about and anytime Dash had wanted to know more about her and Cloud Kicker, the pegasus had changed the conversation into yet another wingmare attempt.

"Well I manage, Spitty, what do you do anyway again? I thought the leader of the Wonderbolts was built off backstabbing me. Cause that's what happened. I turned around for one second and there you were telling Celestia how shit I was at my job. Cool to see you too, really makes this awesome muffin taste extra bitter."

Spitfire stretched and laid a hoof over the booth. "I guess being the face of the Wonderbolts sure is awesome, Blossom, when you are the most notorious leader of the team after you've screwed every fan in existence."

Blossomforth slammed a hoof on the table. "It wasn't that bad. It was only like forty ponies or something and anyway I did my stuff after hours and completely consensual. I'm not a monster."

"Yeah, well. It kind of was the whole continuous orgy thing that looked bad. And the drugs and the vacations and all the stuff. But sure at least you have standards. Horrible, terrible standards that made everypony in Canterlot treat us like the biggest inside joke in the world. Like I couldn't go anywhere without a comment of "Wow, there goes another one of Captain Blossomfuck's harem" or something else. You almost ruined the Wonderbolts."

Blossomforth stood up and leaned over the table. "We both know of the kind of shit the past Captains of the 'Bolts did. I've read the histories and you have too, so get off your high horse and realize that maybe I was the one following the example of the greatest Captains in history and then there's just you. My second in command who just likes the rulebook so much she'd rather fuck it then act like a normal pony and actually live a little you straight edge bitch." Blossomforth breathed in and smiled. "Well sorry about that little outburst Sugarcube Corner, guess I have to fill up the swear jar. Nice to see you Dash and really nice to meet you Fluttershy, I like how you fill up the room, haha. But alas and alack, I really need to get some chill pills again and like go zonk out and all that." Blossomforth shuffled out and Fluttershy swore she could see a film of tears on her face as she passed by.

Sugarcube Corner stayed uncomfortably quiet for what felt like an eternity until the light gray pegasus left.

"Sorry folks, nothing to see here." Spitfire grumbled at the eerily silent ponies.

Fluttershy and Dash awkwardly squirmed in their seats, trying to find a comfortable position now that they seemed on edge from the awkward display.

Soarin put down his pie and stared at Spitfire. Spitfire looked back at him and groaned.

"What did I do?"

"You know what you did, Spitty. You said we were off the clock in Wonderbolt time and, you know what, it seemed like we were. And then you see a pony from out of your past and make them blow up for no reason? This sucks cause now I think this awesome pie is ruined cause it just reminds me of now and I don't really like now." He pushed the pie away, partially uneaten and crossed his hooves. "I'm just going to wait right here until you realize how childish you were."

Spitfire looked at both Fluttershy and Dash, trying to play the whole thing off cool. "Well, that's cool. See I still have two ponies that I was actually here for anyway so no biggie. So Dash, you know the whole Wonderbolt Season is coming up and I need to have you come in for routine training and all that jazz."

Fluttershy coughed awkwardly as she tried to put on a Dash smile but she just looked like she was in pain. "Sure, like I'm totally ready for that."

Soarin tapped a hoof on the table. Spitfire scowled at him and continued.

"Good, like can you come out probably like tomorrow cause then we can catch you up on the about, what was it again, four or five days of training you missed out on just by not responding to my messages." Spitfire kicked 'Dash' under the table to make a point.

"Ugh, sure, whatever."

Soarin cleared his throat and laughed. "See, Fire? Only took five minutes and can we now please fix the whole causing my second favorite and only ex-captain I know from running around like a sad pony?"

Spitfire scowled. "Well she did almost ruin the Wonderbolts."

He stared back and booped Spitfire on the nose. "And that was more than five years ago. By this point nopony cares. It's in the past and while I know you can be spiteful and nasty to ponies you don't like, can you please at least grow up and act like the captain I know you are ninety nine point nine percent of the time and like not stoop down to calling her names and all that?"

Spitfire pouted. Dash tried not to laugh but the idea of Spitfire, the most hardcore and terrifying of ponies being talked down to by Soarin, who while she thought he was cool at first, came off as bit of a nerdy egghead that knew way too much about pies, was kind of surreal.

"And what do I get out of this, Soarin?"

"I don't block you from your favorite pastime when on breaks."

Spitfire blushed crimson. "Fine. But this is definitely not going to be fun at all, you idiot."

Soarin grinned and leaned back, gingerly taking a bite of his pie. "Well if it wasn't going to be easy, then it would be your way of doing things. I think I remember a few days in Las Pegasus where we totally had one of these hard times." The light blue pegasus laughed and quickly finished his pie. "Well, if you really want to get going to fix your little mistake, I'm done with my pie now so I'm good here. Guess the taste came back again. You coming or not?"

Spitfire twitched in her seat, thinking of all the possible ways to get out of apologizing to a pony that she really did not care for. Soarin just waited and tapped a hoof. "Fine, okay. I'll go fix this whole thing just so you can stop looking at me like that."

Soarin beamed and chuckled. "Well I do know how to push your buttons. But see you two around cause I don't think you or your friend here, Dash, really wanted to see some old Wonderbolt drama. It really hurts the look Spitty here's been cultivating for a few years of complete infallibility."

The two Wonderbolts left and the two remaining pegasi sat there in silence. Fluttershy tried to speak first but a quiet squeak came out instead.

"Yeah, Shy, I really don't want to follow them or get a muffin. I just want to get out of here as fast as possible and relax. That sound good? How about we hang out with Scootaloo or something way simpler than this?"

Fluttershy nodded.

***

Twilight stretched her wings and looked around expecting Pinkie Pie to burst out at any moment. She had told the pink pony to meet her to fix the whole predicament of Pinkie being a stallion. Cause having one less mess on her hooves made her sleep better at night.

"You know you'll have to do the thing, Twilight." Luna started snickering as the thought passed through her half conscious mind.

Twilight groaned. "Like we haven't tried to figure out like ten different options for that. And anyway stop getting in my dreams, I really find it awkward for you always commenting on my deepest fantasies like that."

Luna blinked herself awake and rolled out of bed, falling face first onto the floor. Shaking herself awake, she looked up at Twilight and smiled. "Well there are always perks about controlling and guiding the dream world. One of those is having a ton of dirt on everypony ever."

Twilight shivered with how easy Luna could destroy Equestria if that was true. "Well, like don't cause the sheer problems I could foresee just by letting that information out is horrible."

Luna chuckled. "It's just your viewpoint, I do believe. Having a bit of fun with one's subjects in jest can be quite invigorating. Or maybe being stuck on the moon for a thousand years makes somepony find small joys like that exciting." Luna sipped a coffee she had floated over to keep her awake out of necessity and smiled.

Twilight heard a clattering of hooves, or most likely the pitter patter clopping of bouncing hooves. That should be Pinkie, Twilihgt surmised, since the bouncing strides that the pink pony did to move around usually went against all forms of normal pony strides. She halked it up to Pinkie either being a secret chaos powered pony or Pinkie being Pinkie.

Pinkie skidded into the room, his stop casually vaulting him into a somersault that Twilight thought should be impossible due to momentum and physics and a dainty bow once his hooves had finally reached the floor again, a perfect display of how strangely athletic and nonchalant Pinkie could be about the weird skill he possessed.

"Hiya, Twilight, sorry for taking so long, I would have come over sooner but there was like a big whole mess at the Corner and some Wonderbolts were super mad at one another and like it really got awkward, and then I realized that you told me to come over and like I did so I'm here now." Pinkie grinned and patiently waited for Twilight to get all the information. Pinkie knew that Twilight took a little while to figure out exactly what he meant. Which was kind of funny to Pinkie, if Twilight was such a smarty pants, it surprised her how easily Pinkie could derail Twilight's thoughts just by speaking.

"That's- thank you Pinkie, that's something. Um, well, okay then, Let's see." Twilight carefully floated over her mathematical diagrams and notes and skimmed them quickly. "Okay, yes, Pinkie you just have to stand right there and let me and Luna get down to business."

Luna giggled to herself. "Well that's the most diplomatic way to put dispelliing a sexual enhancement so entwined with one's own mystical aura to be almost perfectly attuned to one's own self visualization and also I can see what fun enhancements our newest Princess put on it to make a little more fun."

Twilight blushed heavily. "I mean I didn't want to waste the chance and then once I kind of found out that I really could not end the spell cause it mixed too well, then I called you."

Luna floated over a pitcher of coffee and a hair scrunchie, she winked at Twilight as she fired up her horn. Taking a sizable gulp of the hot and so very addictive liquid that Equestria was now so wonderfully blessed with, the blue princess set it back down and turned to Pinkie. "Yes, and I do love seeing what fun shenanigans our sister's most favored student and best success story can get up to while she's playing Starswirl the Bearded's role and its so wonderful. But I do prefer the more direct route to explaining our fun little session here."

Twilight stammered out a hasty rebuttal. "Yes, well I was totally going to get to that and all but it takes time and preparation to get into this spell."

"Yes, and by that time I would have needed another pot of coffee and there's no time like the present. Let's get down to brass tacks because there's only so much time in the day and I have to get ready for both taking a nap and preparing for a party invitation. But no matter-" Luna dispelled the invisibility spell that she had felt when Pinkie had entered the room and the pink monster that Luna surmised Twilight had hidden with such grace and finesse flopped out and greeted her. "it looks like our business is just getting down to the fun part. And also Twilight, I can see why you can remind me so very much of my sister when she was young."

Both Pinkie and Twilight tilted their heads. Pinkie out of actual interest, since it sounded like a setup for a joke; Twilight's movement was because she was confused as to why Celestia had been mentioned. Twilight let out a faint reply as the sheer fact that the idea today of Princess Luna being so strangely normal and in front of her currently male marefriend and the sheer strangeness of her life hit her. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Luna wryly grinned. "Oh just because she was also what these ponies today would call a 'size queen.' Though bravo. That took her like four hundred years of being generally unhappy with the sexual prowess of her attempts at love. It took you like two. Now can we please get down to the fornication because this may be one of the most impressive stallion rods I have seen in many years."

Pinkie awkwardly laughed, the sentence Luna said finally hitting him. His deep baritone sputtering as the idea hit his brain and rattled around there. "Uh, thanks? I guess? I mean Twilight was the one who did the spell and all that. And what was that about sex?"

Twilight facehoofed. Of course the whole spell cancellation test would be a mess. "It's just that the only way the spell seems to work is that we have to shock your system back to normal. And the quickest way is that one."

Luna chuckled. "Well the one which was the least painful. Now let's just see what little Twilight gave you." Luna bent down and stared intently at the whole package deal. A two foot dick stared back with a pair of apple sized balls. Luna coughed. "Well that's truly something. Twilight, you are truly my sister's protege in every silly sense of the word. Cause this is not going to work the normal way."

Pinkie's ears perked at the thought of there being new and exciting ways to spice up the parties the pink pony threw. "Does this mean this is going to be the most fantastically memorable and slightly awkward fun time cause that's what I ten to see at parties. Ponies being horribly, horribly awkward and I guess it makes sense cause y'know like sex is this whole mess and all that and-"

Luna held Pinkie's mouth shut with a bit of magic. She loved seeing the different ways Laughter could be used for the best kind of medicine and she felt a kinship to this pony because of the ways she exuded the Element in her daily life but she needed to not be off track.

"Yes, well, if somepony hadn't been slightly a tad bit reckless with her powers then we wouldn't have this impressively sized problem."

Twilight scoffed. "Yeah, I mean it wasn't like I fixed the main issue of having a thirty foot tall Pinkie Pie with weird tentacles and a stallion. That took some wrangling to figure out."

Luna raised an eyebrow at Twilight's snark and shook her head. It was probably just some reaction to the nearly week long stresses of Princesshood. "Well, let's get down to business to fix this issue so I can take a nap. Twilight, if you please, let's go through the two main plans B and C, since A- the ever so useful oral stimulation route is mostly off the table."

Pinkie sighed. "Well that's unfortunate, Twilight has great oral skills. I mean what with all the big and multisyllablic words she knows, its like a party in her mouth." Pinkie smiled, his beatific visage making Twilight blush furiously.

Luna giggled. "Oh, I like you." Luna and Twilight fired up their horns, as they ran through spell matrices and different forms of magical usage in their heads, their auras shifting between different hues of colors as they both they to create the most stable kind of alicorn magic in this context that they could. Finally, Twilight settled on the one magical thing she had learned about while she was stuck in the human world for a little bit- the hand and its many flexible joints still fascinated her with the possibilities it offered, while Luna set up a spell that Pinkie felt immediately. A creeping sensation of many differently sized tongues wrapped around the affected area and began their ministrations.

Pinkie bucked his hips as the feelings flooded his brain as synapses kept firing through cycles and cycles of pleasure as he realized that maybe being a unicorn had some magical perks in this whole fun thing. "Oh this is a wondiferous thing."

Luna smiled to herself. "Yes, well, I took a bit of inspiration for this little idea from both of your minds. And while I like the feeling of cooperation I have with helping Twilight in this case, I am not Cadance so this is not my speed." Luna's horn flickered as she sent the spell's control to Twilight, the blue aura mixing with Twilight's purple and letting Twilight take this whole situation over. While she doubted Twilight was skilled in the requisite areas of a spell like this, she noticed that the purple alicorn worked off experience and techniques that made her proud of her sister's choice. And while she would love spending time with her subjects in this way, the two ponies here needed time by themselves. "And with that, I bid you adieu, cause I need my beauty rest, else I can't share my time with the nightlife here."

Luna turned and left the lovers in their embrace. And anyway, if she wanted to play around with ponies, it was so much easier to do it in their dreams. She didn't know where to start with real life after just coming back and returning to public life. Glancing back, she saw Twilight's eyes shift to pinpricks as the overload of magic started going under control. Yes, Twilight was a master of magic, true, but there was still some fun ways to tease her. Luna yawned and headed off to bed, since dreamland was far more preferable to late afternoon silliness.

***

Soarin looked through the last possible place that Blossomforth could be- after a long few hours of tracing back the steps of a mare that moved in very strange ways, weaving in between stalls and houses in a beeline of confusion for any pursuers- Soarin could swear that the previous Wonderbolt captain really didn't want to be found.

But she hadn't met his determination of completing this assignment, or the sheer annoyance and intimidation Spitfire could muster when she really wanted to get what she wanted. Soarin wondered if Spitfire should find at least one other hobby than himself, it'd probably make her a more balanced pony. Or at least give him some free time every once in a while.

"Are we done yet? Cause after running into that spa and fending off two rather insistent spa ponies about staying there for some celebrity special, I really think this town is not all what its cracked up to be."

Soarin silently agreed to that fact. Ponyville was anything but normal. "Well, we only have to find Blossom and then we won't have to deal-" Soarin's agreeable response was cut off by the door he was standing next to swinging open with enough force to stun him. Glancing through the spinning birds that were spinning around his head, he looked and saw Cloud Kicker. He groaned out a "We found them." and fell asleep for a bit.

"What the fuck are you two even doing here?" Cloud Kicker spat out.

"Is that the reception I get everywhere I go in this town? I mean there was Blossomforth which is expected and then the nice ponies from the flower stalls and the spa ponies and now I have you berating me for doing my job and accidentally meeting a pony I thought was probably dead or something." Spitfire crossed her forehooves and glared back, undaunted by years of Solar Guard training that Cloud Kicker held in reserve.

"Well maybe if you didn't make my generally fun to be around roommate and whatever else start sobbing like a bitch, then sure I would think the harsh reception would be unwarranted. But nope, you are on my shit list."

"Well can I just come in so I get this over with. Cause while I love to mess with ponies and make their lives a living Tartarus, I don't like when my life is worse than a normal day and this week's been real shitty." Spitfire sighed and waited.

Cloud Kicker narrowed her eyes. "Fine, but if you try any funny business, I have a ton of weapons here. One step out of line and that's it." Cloud Kicker drew a hoof across her own neck to prove a point.

"Loud and clear." Spitifire walked over broken shards of glass and a hole in the roof where light streamed in bringing dute motes and shattered wood into relief like an abstract painting.

"Oh I'm super fucking sorry about the mess, its not like my generally okay on and off girlfriend flew home at two hundred miles an hour. But I guess I could get Lyra and Bon Bon to help me. They owe me after we stopped a Changeling attack here."

Spitfire cocked her head at that. "But there hasn't been Changelings since the wedding."

Cloud Kicker chuckled. "Yeah, that's true. Or at least reported sightings that go beyond a minor foothold- but believe you me, its a real mess out there and one day the Changeling horde will come and try again cause their queen has a grudge against ponies."

Spitfire shrugged. Well if that problem isn't a major one then that's fine. She walked up to the door that had Blossomforth's name splashed on it in neon pink and green paint. Tacky, but Spitifire liked the idea of at least being able to see where she was going in a house that went through a equine disaster. "Quickly poppimg her head in to see a giant mass of blankets and no complete mess of a pony staring back at her, she entered and sat herself down and started talking to a lightly breathing and sobbing blanket fort. Just like awkward and horrible times when Soarin got into his mare flick phase. "So Blossom, we got super on the wrong hoof."

Spitfire could hear a sad muffled whimper from the blankets as she said that and she carefully picked her next words carefully. "Sure, I didn't expect you to be in that decent bakery but not entirely cause I hate you- though I have major issues with you, I mean I still can't deal with pudding the same way after you flooded the whole palace with tapioca pudding, or that time you gave poison joke to kids that was probably a complete felony there. Or when you tried to screw Discord's statue when you were drunk. But I thought you ran the Wonderbolts decently in between the outright haze that you held most days and you made the Wonderbolts the most talked about sports team in the country. Sure that was mainly because we were having scandals so frequently, it sucked to be your number two but I don't know. It's a horrible thing and I hate most of it looking back but its this nostalgic thing I can't just pretend didn't happen."

Spitfire could see movement and she noticed the glint of eyes staring back at her red and bloodshot through an excess of tears and Spitfire shrugged. "I guess seeing you put some things that have been stewing in the back of my mind out in the front. I mean you didn't destroy the Wonderbolts with your antics and here I am maybe wrecking them with mine-" Spitfire breathed in to stop her from becoming a mess like Blossomforth was. "Blossom, I might actually need you to help me deal with the ponies of Canterlot cause I really suck at dealing with others and like I just got a notice that the Wonderbolts- they might be shutting us down."

Blossomforth's head popped out of Fort Cotton and she quickly dried her eyes on one of the structural beams of the plush fort. "Wait, wait, wait, is this a get out of ostracism and complete social inanity free card you are offering? Cause I'd be down for that- well on one condition."

"What's that?"

Blossom's answer was given when she felt her head jolt to the side with one of the strongest backhoofed slaps she had felt since her training. Blinking past her body's natural reaction to start welling up tears and wiping a split lip that started oozing a bit of red blood down her yellow orange coat, she slowly started to laugh. Slowly because her cheek felt like it was on fire and it hurt to move her tongue around in her mouth.

"I deserved that."

Blossomforth sighed. "I-I'm sorry about that. It's just after years of nothing from you and living out here in a town that I truly have grown to like but its no Canterlot, just wondering if I could get the call back from the cold and here you come years later asking for help cause your terrible bedside manner has ruined the one organization I have cared for in my own way it sucks. It does. That's all my anger out there, I know I should be far more angry with the world for throwing me out like last year's fashion but I can't its just not me." Blossomforth giggled. "I mean I don't care about what other ponies think and here you are worrying too much. But seriously don't do this again."

"Sure."

Blossomforth stared at Spitfire dead on, unblinking and serious. "No, I mean don't do this again. Cloud Kicker really doesn't like it when I'm super sad and depressed. Plus she knows how to murder ponies."

Spitfire awkwardly laughed and glanced at Cloud Kicker's unmoving face.

"So uh, like, we are all starting training tomorrow. So are you good skipping out on work for a bit?"

Blossomforth happily chirped at Cloud Kicker. "Hey, CK, is it fine that I can skip out and hang with my old crew here?"

Cloud Kicker nodded. "I guess I could run the ship with four ponies and a few auxiliaries on the team. Plus its not like Dash is gonna worry about this shit. So I'm good with it, go paint Canterlot pink or whatever."

Spitfire wondered if she was going to regret her decision later when she was asleep and thinking rationally.

***

"Hey Dash!" Scootaloo ran up as quick as she could to her favorite blue pegasus. Running face first into her mentor, she looked up to see what exactly would be happening today. 'Dash' smiled at her and tousled her hair as she tried to thik of what to do- with the party only a few hours away, the idea of spending hours with Scootaloo was inconceivable.

Fluttershy glanced over at Rainbow Dash, even though Dash was supposed to be acting like her Fluttershy noticed the pegasus being unusually quiet.

"Well, uh, Scoots, we are going to see Twilight cause she could probably help you with your problem."

Scoots brightened up immediately. "So does that mean magic could like give me a chance to fly?"

Fluttershy tried to put on a brave face for Scootaloo. "Maybe." She completely doubted that was possible, but Twilight did impossible things on a regular enough basis that she was unsure.

The three pegasi began walking towards the library. Fluttershy noticed a line of a few ponies waiting for the doors to be opened- which she thought was weird. With how the sun was positioned in the sky, the time had to be around 3pm which was hours after Twilight usually opened the palace to nopony in particular. Ending up at the back of the line behind, of all ponies, Sparkler and her horrible attitude, Fluttershy tried to smile. In front of them stood both Applejack and Big Mac and they looked peeved about something.

Thankfully before Sparkler could berate her least favorite ponies in the world, the doors slowly opened and Pinkie glanced out. An oddly normal Pinkie. Back to normal mare Pinkie. She quickly pushed down a stuck patch of hair and broadly smiled at the line. "Well isn't this a party? Well I guess I haven't really been doing parties as of the last week cause y'know being a dude and all that but look I'm back to the Pinkie we have come to know and love and generally tolerate if my small list of ponies I don't like can attest."

A loud crash could be heard from the inside as Twilight's muffled pains echoed through the halls into the bring and cheerful day outside. "Pinkie, this is the fifth worst mess I've had to clean up due to a spell and I once turned my kindergarten class into sentient mold. It's all in my hair and everything."

"Twilight, you have visitors, do I have to ask them to come back at a better time or what?" Pinkie yelled back with a sheepish look on her face as multiple ponies rolled their eyes at the weird display of a princess being a normal pony.

More banging and flashes of light later, Twilight sputtered into the daylight, her eyes squinting at the throng of ponies there to meet her. Quickly catching her breath from running the whole length of her oversized castle, she hastily apologized. "Sorry about that, my, uh, super personal appointment at ten went about four hours over schedule."

Pinkie giggled. Twilight glanced at her and sighed.

"Yes, well what wonderful friendship issues can I solve today?" She quickly pointed at the most angry and annoyed pony in the line. Who just so happened to be Sparkler, whose unbridled waves of annoyance made her have a wide berth. "Yes, and what seems to be the problem I can solve like magic for you?"

Sparkler stared at Twilight for a few seconds and spoke. "Yes, well like you stole the Winter Wrap Up Team Manager job from me and I hate you and also I think you and your crazy friends with the stupid baubles of magic are trying to destroy the peace and sanctity of this town. It's a yearly event to get the town destroyed now and its usually your fault."

Twilight stared at the pony seemed so very familiar. "Uh, what's your name again? Amethyst Star? Or was that a random Canterlot pony I knew once?"

Sparkler breathed in and out, trying to find her happy place. "It's Sparkler."

Twilight beamed. "Ah I knew it would come to me once you said it. I mean I probably could give you your favorite job back in theory, since I am a princess now and my powers of state could trump weird red tape- but like go to City Hall for that. I think the Mayor's a better pony to get that sorted out. Aha, I know what might help." Twilight floated over a dusty stamp from her nearby chair, it zooming past her and stopping inches in front of Sparkler's face. "And Pinkie if you can pull out a scrap of paper please. . ." Pinkie dug around in her hair, and while Twilight wondered how Pinkie could house objects on her self so easily without a bag or pockets, she chalked that up to once again Pinkie being Pinkie and moved on. "Good, now if you just hand me that and, hmm, affix the royal seal of friendship and do a bit of magic and here you go."

Twilight floated over a hastily sighed document with her cutie mark and an indentation of her hoof and signature. Twilight awkwardly smiled at the incredulous unicorn. "I know, I know. I should have probably stopped at the royal seal but then I worried that someone as studious with her bureaucratic matters like Mayor Mare, could see it as a forgery so I added in the other things as a greater way to let her know that it is my idea. But with that I bet you'll be able to hold the Winter Set Up and Wrap Up celebrations this year, and with me being a princess and all, I probably can't fit that into my schedule and with how this weeks been going I need something off my mind." Twilight stopped her rambling mid thought and faded into silence. She never was one for royal proclamations.

Sparkler quietly floated the document into her bag. She breathed in and out for a few seconds and wiped a tear from her eye as she realized that she was that much closer to doing her dream hobby once again. Her life had meaning beyond the drudgery that, while she was the best manager ever in Ponyville Hayburger history, it wasn't the job she wanted. She collected her thoughts and turned back to Twilight. "So, uh, about the whole Elements of Harmony being a magical magnet for evil thing?"

Twilight rubbed her chin for a moment. "Well the theoretical possibility of them acting as a point of pure good could be related to how gravity could work in theory upon space time. I mean it could be such a force for good that it draws evil towards itself and unfortunately we all live in Ponyville. But then if that was the case, even if we lived on six different equidistant points in Equestria, then the place evil could appear would be in the center or thereabouts and then I don't know where that would leave us."

Sparkler nodded, maybe understanding a third of that. "So we might be stuck with the threat of unknowable, existential dread and horror either way?"

Twilight cocked her head at the thought. "I mean, I guess so, but its more of this might be the safest way to keep Equestria safer overall. If, and a big if, your hypothesis is true. I mean we could always test that and I don't currently have a pony to really help me in the stranger ideas I come up when I have one of my insomnia nights. And anyway, Pinkie can't keep taking time out of her day to spend time with me."

"But Twily, you don't seem to mind when I do take time out of my day." Pinkie winked at Twilight, who blushed a deep crimson before coughing and moving on.

"Yes, well, I mean after this week of having you with me all the time, I might need a bit of a break."

Pinkie nodded sagely. "That's fair."

Sparkler connected the dots. "So are you giving me a job or not?"

Twilight composed her thoughts. "Well I guess I could see this as a trial period, so yes? But we'd probably have to hash out a contract so this is legit." She awkwardly patted down an out of place part of her mane. "I mean being a princess adds all these layers and paper trails. I can't just expect somepony to come work for me cause I tell them too. Plus it just feels weird. But I guess if you want a bit of tea, I could fit you in like in a few days once you think about it." Twilight smiled her best impression of a Celestia smile. Which given her untrained facial muscles, came out more of a strained grin.

"Uh, cool, I got a lot of business to think about." Sparkler walked off, holding a hoof to her head.

Twilight pointed at Applejack and Big Mac. "Uh, what do I have to do for you two this afternoon?"

Big Mac stared down at the short alicorn. "I reckon you got to explain to at least my sister that she shouldn't be using that gender flippery spell you made cause Rares used it and now I keep worrying the whole world would be topsy turvy and weird again. Also I worry that somehow your spell worked a bit too well and my sisters stuck in the family way."

Applejack punched him in the side. "I told you that in confidence you big idiot and I never said I was. I said I might be. I don't know how magic works, especially all this sex stuff. I didn't even know that was a possible spell or whatever but like I was thinking super hard after I had a wee bit of a freakout and like can your spell you gave Rarity do that?"

Twilight sputtered. "I mean, I think so, but the possibilities, and the, well." Twilight breathed in and out. "I mean sure if you had one of your cycles and also if you two were having a bit of personal time." Twilight tweaked her word choice after she noticed that Scootaloo was in the audience- though she was mainly bored.

Applejack covered her eyes with her hat. "I mean it might have gone that way, ah, maybe once or twice."

Twilight took a measured breath as she tried to think of the most delicate way to put this. "Well AJ, then you are most likely. But we'd have to run tests and everything to make sure if that was the case. I'd say go to Ponyville General and explain to Nurse Redheart your problem and all that and get that checked out first. While I know a fair bit of magic and dabbled in medicine when I was bored out of my mind with Canterlot parties- I don't know what's what with your problem." Twilight turned to Big Mac. "And Mac, I get having a weird time when a sibling gets all in love with somepony. It's weird, horrible, and I still can't entirely look at Cadance or Shining Armor directly at family functions after hearing what went on in their bedroom. While I made the magic, talk to Rarity if you had a problem with her conduct."

Big Mac looked at Twilight with a puzzled expression. "I never said that."

Twilight coughed. "Oh sorry about that, mind reading trick Luna's been teaching me off and on between the whole "my life is a complete dumpster fire and I don't know what to do about it" kind of feeling this last week has been. Sorry. It's just its so handy and I might be completely sleep deprived so as to not question the moral problems of mind reading. But just talk to Rarity. She'd probably be far more open to this than I would be and anyway you have a problem with her and not me." Applejack and Big Mac shared a look and shrugged.

Applejack turned to Twilight and looked her in the eye. "Well sure, but if this comes back all positive or whatever those doctors say in the General, I'm gonna come back up here and drag Rarity with me so as to get all this figured out. Cause it may not 'be your problem' but you did make the magic so I count you as either a godmother or the worst aunt in existence."

Twilight cringed. "Well I don't know, with how often I get to see Flurry Heart, I bet if you have a kid, they'd have to fight for the right to call me the worst aunt ever."

Applejack facehoofed. "Twi, you know what I mean."

"Well I didn't exactly get the nuance there but I'll guess that was me misinterpreting the intent or the tone there. But sure I'll take partial responsibility for a mistake or two."

Applejack rolled her eyes. Sometimes talking to Twilight was more of a hassle than it was worth but she guessed the purple alicorn had her heart in the generally right place. Deciding that any further talking would lead Twilight into weirder tangents and derail the entire conversation enough that the party's supply of cider would never appear, Applejack nudged Big Mac in the side and quickly left without saying much in the ways of goodbyes.

Twilight awkwardly turned and breathed out a sigh of relief. "Well I'm glad that's, uh, put off until another day. Now what can I do with you besides switching your brains back, Dash and Fluttershy?"

"Twilight now what are you talking about cause see we came here for Scootaloo and not whatever problem you dreamed up." Fluttershy spoke up and tried to deflect the big reveal since almost nopony knew about the two pegasi swtiching bodies- especially not the one orange filly that looked up to Dash.

Twilight realized what she said as her stress abated and tried to laugh it off. "See that's why I can't always get one off on you, Dash, you are too fast." Twilight hated that this sounded like an alien possessed her and was failing at talking like a normal pony but she was stressed out.

Dash rolled her blue eyes and took hold of idiot and cuter idiot trying to talk to one another. "Uh, Twilight, Scootaloo has a problem here and she really wants to have you, uh, fix it with magic."

Twilight looked down at the filly and bent down. Breathing past the stress she gained from flubbing a major secret, she looked down at the pegasus. "Is it about flying again?"

Scootaloo nodded and handed her the doctor's note she had got back from the two pegasi while they walked over here. Twilight looked over the note, realized that she could barely read it and quickly performed a silent translation spell to make the point far more legible. She glanced from the note, to Scootaloo, and back to Fluttershy and Dash.

"Oh well that's something. You want me to fix this with magic?" Twilight floated over a collection of medical tomes that she had accrued through her "Welcome to being an Alicorn" country tour. Some of the tomes had been lost outright when Tirek had blown up her treehouse, but most had survived when she put a hasty shield spell on them in the nick of time. Flipping through tomes as fast as she could read, she came upon the one diagnosis that the doctor had written down. "Oh. Well that's. . .something."

Scootaloo's ears perked up at that. "Is that a good thing or not?"

Twilight glanced at Dash. "It's well, its not great. I really, really don't want to touch this with magic what with your age and all that- and really with my track record I'd be worried I'd make this far worse or something."

"So I can't fly at all?"

"No that's definitely not what you mean, see this diagnosis is for cerebral palsy and I'm most definitely not a medical doctor and there's so many differences between each pony diagnosed with this, its- I just can't. But I guess you look far more normal than the worst cases in this book, though that doesn't mean you don't have symptoms of it. And it won't exactly get worse with some help but flying may be possible. It might just be difficult."

Scootaloo looked down and stayed quiet. "So like could it go away after I get my cutie mark and all that?"

Twilight drew in breath and sighed. "No, no it won't and it won't go away when your an adult and depending on how your body will react then, it might be not the, uh, best time. But I could see you maybe having a pretty normal life." Twilight quickly racked her brain for at least one example of a decently okay pony here. "Uh, Ditzy seems completely fine with her disability and lives a normal life." Twilight inched away and floated the books back into her castle.

Dash spoke up. "Well can't we at least make it so she could have a support system besides y'know Lyra and Bon Bon?"

Twilight nodded. "Yeah sure, that could easily be arranged I mean if you have at least a plan of what to do about it I could easily set up any help she needs."

Scootaloo quickly ran up and hugged Twilight. "Thanks. And thank you Dash and Fluttershy."

"Yeah no problem, uh, Twilight can you keep an eye on Scootaloo for us because while we'd love staying and being totally awesome, the time's getting late and I don't want to bring a kid to a party like the one we are probably going to. And anyway then you can start helping her out cause wouldn't this fall under a friendship problem in the most loosest of ways?" Fluttershy was being proactive and since Dash was still being quiet she decided to take the reins on this.

Scootaloo looked up at Twilight and tried bouncing but failed due to overexcitement. "Really? Does this mean a sleepover or something cause that sounds kind of cool and then you can magic up random pranks and everything."

Twilight sighed. "Whatever but don't touch the stuff I tell you to implicitly not touch. I have already too many weird things in my life, I don't need to have a charge of being a danger to children with magic."

Scootaloo walked over quickly to 'Dash' and looked up at her and hugged her. "Thanks, Fluttershy."

Everypony stopped for just a moment. Fluttershy chuckled and tried to push a polychromatic lock of hair out of her eyes, while Dash was trying to curl up into a Fluttershy shaped ball.

"What?" Fluttershy laughed awkwardly as she tousled Scootaloo's hair.

"Well I guessed something was up when Twilight was acting all weird and also I hang out with Dash all the time and she doesn't handle sad or emotional things as well as you have been handling it so I guessed you were. Plus you keep making yourself act too much like Dash so you seem a bit like a cardboard cutout or a board or something. Also Dash is usually all loose and flying around all calm and carefree and I have barely seen you get off the ground." Scootaloo paused. "I may be super bored in class so I keep getting bad grades, but it doesn't mean I don't notice weird stuff."

Dash spoke up first. "Shy, this is the worst kept secret ever."

***

"Welcome you mares and stallions and anything in between to the hippest party in the Ponyville area, because its the only party in the Ponyville area! Put your hooves together for Songbird Serenade!" Vinyl Scratch turned off her microphone as the mega popstar took the stage with a flourish and a bow.

Fluttershy and Dash awkwardly turned back towards the bar. "I knew we shouldn't have come. This is just so much and there's so many ponies and I don't know what I'm doing." Fluttershy twirled her multicolored mane in worry as she looked around the packed bar.

Dash took a drink as confused patrons looked on. Fluttershy was not known for drinking or going to parties. "I dunno Shy, like just do what Twilight does in those moments and find your happy place. Cause while I'd love not being here since everypony's giving me a weird stink eye, I don't want to skip out cause Cloud Kicker will put that on you and I don't want that crud."

Fluttershy took a deep breath and tried to relax as the music switched off and Vinyl turned on her microphone again.

"Well when I sent an invite to this next guest, my roommate told me I was insane but look at me now. Welcome to the stage our favorite princess, Luna!"

Rainbow Dash shrugged and took another pull of her cider. "Well that's something you don't see every day."

"Oh thank you, its so nice to come back from my sister's imposed time out and have a, what's the word, fanbase. I think that's it. But without further dilly dallying I could perform a little song I wrote while being stuck on the moon and its called 'My Hatred Flows Forever Like Your Coal Black Heart.' Now Vinyl if you could be a dear and put the instrumental I sent you, it'd be, um, radical." Luna smiled as Vinyl clicked the track into place and a loud unending wall of sound crashed into the partygoers as they scrambled for cover. Luna took a deep breath as the bassline wrapped itself her and fired up her horn's magic. If Songbird Serenade had stallion back up dancers to accentuate her song, Luna decided to one up her favorite pop star and do literal nightmare back up dancers. Celestia always said she had a flair for the dramatic- weaving each dancer out of dreamstuff, she heard the club grow silent as they were confronted with their own worst fears. And then that was when Luna began growling into the microphone.

"Okay, this is probably the worst thing I have ever seen at one of these and I saw Cheerilee strip tease." Rainbow turned away as her nightmares of cute and fluffy woodland creatures singing about their happy lives surrounded her. She could swear she could heard their jovial song in her head as she stuffed napkins into her ears. She glanced over at Fluttershy as the currently blue pegasus was shaking like a leaf. Deciding that anywhere was better than here, she dragged her date into the safest place she could think of- the nearby bathrooms.

Gliding her way through the floor as she saw smiling cartoon animals dancing on the ceiling and walls, she passed a rather awkward scene of Big Mac and Caramel huddling under a table and seemingly making out. Weird place and time to be doing that, but good of them.

She swerved into the bathroom and closed the door. The sound level automatically went from a soul crushing 100 decibels to a more reasonable 80. Though she felt her ears ringing like crazy and tried to hum them back to normal. When that didn't work she moved on- muffled hearing was better than none. She hugged Shy close, the image of a large yellow pegasus enveloping her blue friend in a hug while death metal electronic music played almost made Dash laugh at how ridiculous it was. "Shy, it's okay."

"But the animals, they were all-"

"It's Luna being, I guess, really edgy? Nightmares. It's nothing real."

Fluttershy breathed in and out. "Well, I don't really want to go out there until that's over then, Can we just sit here?"

Rainbow laughed, her voice like tinkling glass. "I guess, I mean if you like sitting on a dirty bathroom surrounded by stalls that ponies probably have some kind of encounter in. Sure. Not my plan for a date though."

Fluttershy wold have said something but she heard a loud retching from a nearby stall. She turned and a familiar pony shambled out. Blossomforth wiped her mouth and waved at the pair, noticeably swaying as she sashayed over and put her forehooves around them and squeezed them tight.

"Dude, isn't this the best party ever. I mean if it isn't, it's like top three. Oh and sorry for ruining your cute gay moment but I just took some of that Poison Joke laced cocaine and boy now I can see in infrared. Or is it chocolate? I don't know. I think my mind is having a mini stroke and I always hate it when that happens. But like remember bitches like tomorrow's Canterlot day and it's going to be awesome."

A loud banging happened as Cloud Kicker dragged herself in, dragging a chair leg in her teeth as she was covered in little cuts and bruses from traversing the glorified mosh pit of horror. "Well shit, this is going in my fucking report. Dear Celestia, your sister's a crazy bitch that things deploying psychotropic magic on ponies is a damn fine and normal idea. Plus she has a weird obsession with sending you to the sun as payback. Your favorite guard, Cloud Kicker." She blinked and noticed that she wasn't talking to a mirror. "Well look at our merry band of idiots. Blossom I told you to lay off the drugs, I know you like getting in 'the danger zone' but like we need you to be on your best behavior. And you two, well keep being gay, I guess, you just chill here cause out there's the Badlands after Celestia dropped a bit more sun on them. Pretty much it's Tartarus."

"Cool." Fluttershy tried to think of a the best place to relax with the dancefloor being a mess. "Hey you want to all go to Hayburger?"

Dash glanced at Shy and shrugged. "Well I guess I could eat."

Blossomforth giggled to herself. "And I need to get back to normal so like yeah food."

Cloud Kicker sighed. "Whatever. But I'm keeping this chair leg. Might fashion it into a handy bat or something after this. It's seen too much action already."

"Well, Dash, how are we getting out of here since the front door's a no go area?" Rainbow leaned over and raised an eyebrow at Fluttershy.

The currently blue pegasus scratched her borrowed polychromatic mane and came up with an idea. And idea that she didn't particularly like but if it meant not facing down her nightmare of magically induced chimeras that ate ponies- she could handle the issue. She quickly whispered into Dash's ear and outlined the plan.

Dash rolled her eyes and walked to a nearby wall that was facing the outdoors, with one tiny window to let in moonlight and breathed in and out, staring at the tiled wall and glancing back at Fluttershy to see the final signal. She waited and as Fluttershy nodded, Dash wound up and hit the wall straight on as hard as Fluttershy's body could.

Dash felt the tile break under her hoof and wondered how Shy could handle the stress of knowing how easily it could be to break stone with her potential. Sliding her hoof back, she poked the wall again and it came tumbling down with a crash, falling outward and the group awkwardly stepped over concrete blocks and checked for glass as they walked in the night air.

Cloud Kicker whistled and hit Dash squarely on the back. "Man, Fluttershy, I haven't seen that kind of weird and unnatural power except there was this one time there was another quiet mountain. Eh, whatever. Guess ponies can punch through a building and take it down with just brute strength. I'd offer to let you join some Canterlot guards but I'd worry you'd rend them like paper." Cloud Kicker laughed, her laugh echoing through the night.

Blossomforth bounced up and down. "Dude, that was rad and also when I'm at Hayburger, I'm ordering all the stuff on the menu. Cause I dunno, but like the munchies are totally hitting me right now."

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy snickered to each other, the day's insanity finally getting to them.

A Little Less Conversation

Rainbow opened her eyes and stretched her limbs. Blinking again, she looked out the window at the kind of nice trees that sped along the track.

Rainbow stopped for a moment and rolled over, her larger size and weight not being much of a drag anymore but waking up in a generally unfamiliar place when the last memory you had was breaking down a wall and getting burgers, this did not square with the information her eyes were giving her.

Overcorrecting herself, she slid out of the seat and tumbled onto the floor. She jumped up as she felt a tongue in a place that she wasn't used to and quickly rolling before any more horribly life scarring memories would be added thanks to Twilight being a weirdo. Taking a brief sigh of relief and bending herself to see who was unfortunate- or as Pinkie would see it, slightly fortunate- enough to get a face full of all that.

"Rainbow, where are we?" Fluttershy yawned and quickly brushed bits of dust out of her mane, its cascading pile of dust pooling at her hooves. "I don't remember like anything past last night."

"Same." Glancing out the window, Dash saw the ever increasing outline of Canterlot on the horizon and she quickly did the math of where the sun was situated in the sky and adding and subtracting a range of values since trains now threw off her patented time keeping skills. "Looks like we're on the Ponyville to Canterlot train and that it's like six am. Which raises a whole lot of questions. The first one is how did we get let on a train without like passes or something cause I doubt we got some of those."

A muffled chuckle escaped from the next room over. The door slid open and a snickering Blossomforth came in holding an assorted tray of muffins. "Well that's the fun part." Blossomforth paused as she took a bite of a blueberry muffin and frowned. "You know after living in Ponyville for like five years, baked goods now taste like garbage."

Fluttershy and Dash waited for Blossom to keep talking.

"Oh, oh, yes. Where was I? Uhm, you know there's this thing called chloroform and you totally use it to knock ponies out?"

Dash cringed.

"Well I didn't use that. But I kind of hit you over the head with a frying pan when you came to my house to help us clean after the rave and like one thing led to another and bing bang boom we're all on the train to adventure."

Cloud Kicker rolled out of the cot above them and glared at Blossom. "I'm trying to get sleep here and you idiots are ruining my four hours of not wanting to murder something. And also blame Spitfire. She was the one who said to this extra large tongued idiot about how to be creative and bring Dash to Canterlot." Kicker smirked as she knew full well which pony standing below her was Dash. "With that sorted out, I just want to go to bed and dream of demoting ponies."

"Morning and night to you and thanks for calling my tongue extra long, I know how much you like it." Blossomforth winked as Cloud Kicker pulled a pillow over her head and moaned.

Fluttershy and Dash shared a look as they blushed profusely. Grabbing a muffin, the two shuffled over to a nearby small table for the room. Beckoning the ex Wonderbolt over, the pegasus sat down and smiled. Deciding that a quiet whisper was best for all of their prospective lives, the trio sat down to talking.

"So you knocked us out with a frying pan?"

Blossomforth twirled a hoof in her mane. "I mean I knocked you out Dash with a pan, then little miss entire family feast had a wall accidentally fall on her. Then she shook that off which, to be honest, surprised both Cloudy and me, and then I used the chloroform on her cause she was shrugging off hits like an alicorn or something. You sure you don't chug like twenty pounds of protein a day cause that was kind of hot and horrifying."

Dash tried to act cool and respond. "Uh, I work out. A lot. I have a lot of free time in between caring for all my animals so I totally pound all the random and totally huge weights I have in my basement."

"Radical." Blossom's grin widened as she thought about that.

Fluttershy just rubbed her temple at how horribly Dash just bragged about something that didn't exist.

"So, how long until we get to Canterlot cause don't we have a meeting with the Wonderbolts soon?" Shy tried to get the conversation back to something normal. "I mean it has to have been a while since we got on the train, right?"

Blossomforth glanced at the clock that was nearby. "Like thirty minutes? I can't tell with these new machines. Probably soon. If you two want to get your alone time together, I suggest the nearby bathroom. Has a nice atmosphere. Oh and also I didn't knock you out with a frying pan, I wish that happened, but no. Somehow you two are gullible enough to think I dropped a house on one of you and thought that was easier to accept than just thinking maybe you two had a rough night and fell asleep. Dragging Shy here though took all my favors from randos and weirdos cause she's denser than she looks. But yeah let's play some cards or something cause seeing you two spoon each other for hours was sickeningly cute or something." Blossom tapped a hoof and slid a pack of cards out of her pack.

Fluttershy lifted an eyebrow. "So you didn't knock us out?"

Blossom looked offended. "Oh of course not. I thought it would be funny to troll you guy but it seems like spending five years in Ponyville made me grow a sort of conscience. I roped Cloudy here to lie to you by telling her I'd pay her in sexual favors." Cloud Kicker grumbled. "Oh I shouldn't have said that. But uh, yeah I'm not a monster even if the Canterlot press and populace thinks I'm the worst thing since one of the Wonderbolt Captains murdered all those prostitutes like three hundred years ago."

"What?" Dash sputtered out at the thought that a Wonderbolt Captain could be so heinous.

"Just a bit of weird history about the Wonderbolts they keep all hush hush. I wold say that's a skeleton in our closet but the pun it makes brings a bad taste in my mouth thinking about that. But yeah, surprised me too. I guess there's a scale of horribleness and I'm in the top tier of good captains. Guess that's what happens when you mix the cream of the crop of pegasi recruits from the Royal Guard and make them a sports team. But don't worry, bitches. I can save anything from the brink of death."

Cloud Kicker scoffed. "Tell that to the pets and plants that died under your care."

Blossom's smile faltered. "Low blow. But this is a totally inert and not alive thing so I can totally save the bureaucracy of the Wonderbolts. Cross my heart yada yada. First lesson to you two- ponies in Canterlot lie a ton. You have to spot the fake bullshit and call them out on it. Well there's the liars and then there's the gullible rich idiots. Don't be either of those. Now who wants to play Hearts?"

***

Celestia glided down from her room as the day wound up yet again. She groaned as last night's connection to Luna made her still feel a bit awkward. True she turned the mental connection honed by millennia of being a sister to the biggest drama queen in Equestria. And that included Queen Chrysalis. Getting a song made for you was usually an honor- not a headache and her first unofficial proclamation of the day was to send resources to Ponyville to not have fifty angry ponies spread around how Luna was mentally unstable yet again.

Her sister went through adolescent moods. The thing about being an alicorn that really didn't get spread around that much- primarily thanks to Celestia's efforts to keep her rule over the nation as free of bluster and fear as equinely possible- was that alicorns went through a lot of mood swings and weird obsessions.

Hers was cake. And second guessing her choices. Which Discord joked about constantly.

She didn't have a problem with cake, cake was just too tasty to pass up and she was on a strict one cake diet. Okay maybe she did. She shrugged, her face showing the mask of happiness that she had cultivated for centuries, but on the inside she was just tired and down. Luna being moody was something she didn't need right now. Not with the aristocracy jockeying ideas for replacing the Wonderbolts and cutting down on military spending in general.

She glanced down at her hooves to see the one pony that kept the whole ship of state generally going the correct way. Raven, her personal assistant and general confidante outside of those ever so boring meetings and courtly appearances- she did love her subjects, but hearing the same kind of problem not being solved for generations could grate on the nerves of even the most benevolent rulers.

"Princess." Raven floated her clipboard over and bowed.

"I have told you to call me Celestia for the last five years, Raven. It's perfectly fine for someone of your stature to try and bring a bit of levity in the Sun Court."

Raven blushed. "It's still too formal for me to even hope to call you that."

Celestia imperceptibly rolled her eyes. Which to most ponies would classify as a blink. Celestia rolled her eyes a lot at how formal everypony was. One of these days she should just walk out and conduct court without her regalia. Maybe that might bring some barriers down and not cause a riot.

"Yes, well I give you the right to be able to call me that, if that doesn't break the rules of decorum." Celestia mentally kicked herself for setting up those rules to have the ancestors of these pampered nobles to stop trying to bed her in ever more reckless and stupid ways. As she wandered into the Sun Court and took her throne, she wondered about the lineage of some of these nobles and thought how grand it would be to tell each and every one, in graphic detail, the ways their ancestors tried to get into her most secret chamber.

Taking a deep breath and trying not to laugh, she nodded at Raven.

Her assistant fired up her horn and the golden doors swung open. Ponies swarmed in and took their seats, the Wonderbolt team led by Spitfire and Soarin and the aristocrats led by Fancy Pants and Fleur Di Lis.

Raven slowly cleared her throat as the chatter of the room died down. She took another breath, Celestia knew how difficult public speaking tended to be for her, and began. "Welcome to the Sun Court, guests and patrons alike, and today on the bracket- taking up the whole day is the matter of military spending. Please step up to your podiums and deliver your opening statements as to why we should do this. The first to go will be the side in favor of defunding the Wonderbolts. Therefore you may start, Fleur." Raven quickly bowed and cantered out of the way of the long legged and well known fashion model.

Fleur smiled and pulled out her notes. "Yes, quite magnificent crowd we have here. And having most of the Wonderbolts in attendance is simply stunning. But to move onto the main event, I have provided pretty little graphs showing the general decline of enrollment into the Wonderbolt Academy and general apathy that the populace holds for our home team, so they say." She pulled a long sheave of papers out and began constructing her argument. "See, this point here is the time before Spitfire with the spike of general enrollment hitting the peak ten years ago during the disgracefully long tenure of Blossomforth and her loose definition of order." Sliding down the curve, her pointer landed on the first hiccup in enrollment. "And right here is the accession of Spitfire to the leadership position after Blossomforth's hasty exit in disgrace. See the dip here and here and the complete crash of recruit numbers a year later. Going by this projection, we can barely hold onto the air defense section of the Wonderbolts without massive overhauls of the leadership structure."

Celestia mentally yawned. She looked like she was the most prim and proper one there, but discussing the minutiae of a topic tended to get her lost in the weeds. Now if only Discord was here to liven up this debate. She nodded at Raven and the next speaker strode up to the podium. Celestia had instituted a five to ten minute speaking period for each after the Court a few years back where Blueblood filibustered a stipend decrease by reading the last ten years of weather reports with mind numbing accuracy.

"Good morning Princess, and I have to say outright that ever accusation that Fleur has made in the last week and a half are completely false and baseless claims based upon a captain that pulled out all the stops and comparing that to my ship that I run with pinpoint accuracy and decorum. And comparing a boom year of recruits that wouldn't pass the bar any other time to my completely solid team is losing the point of the discussion."

Celestia was worried that the next few hours would be a complete pain until something chaotic happened. A chattering of voices were heard as the doors shifted open and changed the discussion entirely.

Blossomforth entered in with Cloud Kicker, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash behind her. "What'd I miss? Cause I thought I heard my name and I rushed all the way over here to say I'm back everypony and I brought company. Also Celestia you look like you put on weight, I mean like in the nice areas, but like yeah five years has been weirdly okay to you."

Celestia cracked the smallest smile, this time able to be seen on her actual face. "Duly noted, maybe I should tell my head chefs to increase my cake budget."

Blossomforth nodded sagely. "I'd say double that budget cause that'd be great."

The Court went silent. The sheer idea of Celestia ever breaking decorum and answering a pony that had entered the closed chamber and disrepected the monarch in such a way and Celestia offered a joke in response? The horror.

Celestia turned to Dash and Fluttershy and noticed that Discord's and Twilight's missives and gossip about the two were correct since she noticed the auras being completely swapped. She briefly wondered if that would hurt the Elements of Harmony in some way since this kind of mishap had never happened before. Then she mentally chided herself. Of course this never happened before what with her and Luna being the previous users of the Elements. With Twilight taking the reigns, there was always something new to surprise her. Taking the interruption in stride, she formulated a plan to get everypony past this dumb idea and also maybe give some of Discord's personal lessons in applied, but totally safe, chaos a try. She just hated dealing with long and boring speeches.

Celestia slid off her throne and walked the few steps to the podium. "I didn't like showing my hoof too early, but it seems like my two intermediaries into this matter just so happened to walk right in and spoil the surprise."

Blossomforth hugged Cloud Kicker close. "Dude, the smoking hot one is totes talking about us." She bounced up and down in place and waited to be announced as the coolest pony here.

Cloud Kicker scowled. "Blossom, she's not talking about us. It'd be stupid. Like sorry but I hate all these idiots in here and also you have a weird need to forget a mission or bed a pony every time we get groceries or save the day. She wouldn't chose us even if everypony else was dead."

Celestia smiled and moved on, deciding that this was like the first Gala with Twilight and her friends- a glorified and overly complicated mess that should work out in the end. "Yes, well no. I'm talking about the two ponies beside you. And with that I declare this meeting to be ceremoniously ended for the day for my dignitaries to settle into their roles in Canterlot for this matter.

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash stopped and stared at Celestia and tried to hide as hundreds of eyes turned and glared daggers into their backs.

***

Rainbow Dash stared up at Celestia. Now being in Fluttershy's body gave her a new viewpoint of how tall things were to be honest, but standing near the Alicorn Princess to end most Alicorn Princesses still made her be a head or two smaller than Celestia. So she put on her best attempt at a calm face while Fluttershy quickly paced back and forth thinking of every bad possibility that could happen.

Celestia was just smiling about some random unimportant thing while she was messing up what should have been a completely by the book get in and get out Wonderbolts training session into this. Dash still didn't know what the white alicorn was planning but she didn't like it.

"Now Fluttershy please breathe and slowly relax." Celestia picked Fluttershy up with her magic and gently set her down next to Dash. "And yes, I do know Twilight's little mishap. She still does tell me a bit too much about her life for my liking but seeing you two come in gave me a wonderful- or as Discord might say- delightfully chaotic idea. I task you to solve this completely ridiculous complaint Or as I would term it more of a kerfluffle. And I have a wonderful way to get it fixed by using Twilight's mistake to your advantage."

"Oh great what is it now?" Rainbow scoffed and rolled her blue eyes.

Celestia glanced over and smiled. "Well since you two have your own skills and I most definitely know from my collection of friendship letters from Twilight and using that to our advantage- I'll just say for complete fairness tomorrow that you two will switch positions and judge the thing you two know the least about.

Fluttershy noticed a problem in that plan almost immediately as she ran that through her head. "But we're switched around- wouldn't that mean that-"

Celestia lightly laughed. Her angelic voice echoed throughout the hall, lighting it up as she noticed that she had somepony who understood the ruse. "Exactly. With you two switched, the idea that Dash and you have to fix the problem you know the least thing about. . .means that, in fact, you two would be able to put the two factions at ease and trick them into revealing what the problem is." Celestia silently congratulated herself for such a fun plan.

She sometimes got bored doing the same thing over and over and while some ponies might call her past month or two of having some intimate times with Discord and breathing new life into her routine as signs of either a mental break or a midlife crisis, Celestia just thought keeping the aristocracy on their hooves as a good thing when the last shake up in their world was a few hundred years ago with that whole parliamentary reform bill. Those were some strange days to be sure. Celestia blinked and went back to the moment. "So who's up for donuts? I have this place that has good donuts and also ponies don't have the normal Canterlot sense to worry about a Princess entering in their presence like one of them. Which after hundreds of years of trying to stop the rich from having apoplectic fits whenever I eat food, it's refreshing."

***

The donut shop's bell tinkled as the three ponies shuffled into the brightly lit space. The owner, Donut Joe glanced over and shrugged as the most powerful pony walked into his establishment. "Hey, Celly, are you going to pay your sister's tab cause while I like the talk and feel of having Luna in here. . .she hasn't paid her donut tab in weeks."

Celestia smiled and nodded. "Well I wasn't planning on it but I could. Just send the bill to the castle and RAven will take care of the expense. Now if you so mind what is your recommended donut of the day?"

Donut Joe walked over and pulled out a glazed doughnut. "I mean here's a peanut butter jelly doughnut with chocolate cookie bits. Got it from a weird recipe I found from a Abyssinian royal that stopped in for a bite. I can't seem to get the taste down perfectly without some far off spices but my customers don't seem to mind all that much."

Celestia nodded. "Oh well I'll take a dozen of those and did that cat have anything to say of the world beyond?"

Pony Joe nodded. "I guess, like there's this whole Storm King mess out there and I guess that he's not that good of a dude."

Celestia's eye twitched. "Oh I've definitely heard of him. Discord talks about how much fun he had with him oh so long ago. Thanks anyway and please send the whole bill to the palace, I would bring it myself to the attention of the court but I get out so rarely that seeing how Canterlot is doing every once in a while is nice." She levitated the doughnuts over and beckoned her two guests to come on her tour of Canterlot.

She breathed in the air and remembered the beginnings of Canterlot and marveled at how well the city looked to be doing. Sure the Tirek attack was still being dealt with a few construction projects to fix some of the damage and the constant checks of changelings still found nests and survivors of the last few years in the caves below the city, but Celestia knew for the time being that everything seemed okay. Which for her was the best she could hope for in these strange times.

"So how are you two doing with your predicament?"

Fluttershy spoke up. "What was all that about?"

Celestia laughed. "Well I guess I could answer your question if you answer mine first." Celestia offered the two of them a doughnut as they passed through the tight alleyways and streets of the town. Both shook their head as they quietly inched closer to one another as the dark passages in this underused section crept ever closer.

"Well it's a bit weird to get used to, to be honest, and it's gotten better but I still can't fly all that well." Dash offered to let the awkward silence pass.

Celestia glanced over to Dash and smiled. "Well I can't really help you with that. My sister's always been a bit better at diagnosing flight problems but I'd say guessing by how Fluttershy looks to me in my aura when I look at her- I'd say there was a horse or two in her family. Which isn't bad, a lot of the earth pony families had to intermix with horses all so long ago to get the whole inbreeding worry out- but I've not really seen a pegasi strain."

Dash cocked her head. "What does that mean?"

Celestia opened her eyes laughed. "Sorry. Just saying that maybe Fluttershy has never been great at flying because your methods of teaching don't work for her own body."

Fluttershy perked her ears up at that. "But I went to flight school and I thought I was just bad at flying."

Celestia glanced down and sighed. "Yes, well, sometimes the methods of teaching vary between students. What one can term overbearing and wrongheaded can let another thrive in learning. But I'd say you might just have one of the rarer types of wings.While pegasi now tend to have one general type due to breeding and preferring the shape of the normal wing, there's three other types of wings that are a bit of a developmental throwback. I think both of you are special. Don't focus on what you can't do now and learn to work with one another's differences and you'll be fine."

"So your saying both of us might not be normal?" Rainbow's eyes shifted back and forth, making sure she heard the princess correctly.

Celestia smiled. "Well nopony's normal so that is a silly question. With how many different ponies I've seen throughout the years, I'd say there's no truly correct answer there. But alas, what sages have been pondering since I was a young alicorn can't yet be solved in an alleyway. So let's put the philosophizing away and enter into one of my favorite shops. Though do ever be so careful. This place has a lot of magical artifacts. Oh and do not mention Twilight. It makes the visit here a lot less awkward for everypony."

Dash rolled her blue orbs. "Whatever. Can we like get on with this cause I don't know why we've had to walk around Canterlot for a few hours and like this is it. Just a familiar doughnut shop and a magic shop. Big woop."

Fluttershy tilted her head so the polychromatic mane fell over her eyes. She had been slowly growing it out to see if Dash noticed. Or she felt a bit more comfortable in a hairstyle she could quickly hide behind as a safety measure. Rarity had been trying to get the previously yellow pony to get out of her shell and while it was better- it felt safer to have some stability. "Dash, be nice. I bet the princess knows what she's doing."

Celestia laughed. "Oh no, I kind of wanted to get out and walk around but you;d be surprised how quickly word gets around. I'm always one to know everything I can about external threats and, well, the word of your arrival has been quickly running through the streets."

"I haven't heard it." Dash kicked a hoof as dust gathered around her in a cloud.

"Alicorn hearing has some advantages. Though it does have some more intimate downsides."

"TMI, I don't need to know about that." Dash blushed as the thoughts hit her head, the implication Celestia let hang there explain more than she thought was safe.

Celestia shrugged and entered the shop, a light bell announcing their arrival. A wafting smell of incense overpowered the two pegasi as they looked around in the store, their eyes awash in beadwork and new age weirdness that they didn't often see in Ponyville. A quiet yellow unicorn stepped out and adjusted her glasses. "How may I help- oh. . ."

Celestia smiled. She always hated at least a little bit that she could never enter a place without one of her subjects having a mini panic attack due to her being in their immediate presence. It made talking to them that much more difficult. "Yes, hello Moondancer. I would like to see how the collection of magical artifacts is today. You know routine maintenance and all that."

The pony bowed and quickly shuffled out from behind the desk. "Yes, I mean it is rather late and all but I guess we could squeeze you in, um, princess. I mean if you want to. Don't you have to lower the sun at some point?"

Celestia cracked a smile. "Well I bet Luna is enjoying her extended sleeping hours so I don't think she'll mind if the day is a bit longer than normal. If I heard the reports correctly of what my sister has been doing in Ponyville, I bet she's completely asleep with how exciting her day has been."

Fluttershy and Dash cringed silently as they remembered yesterday.

Moondancer's ears perked up at the mention of Ponyville. "So Ponyville- isn't that where that new castle popped up and all and that should be categorized as a magical loci for scientific and magical research? I mean I've heard the reports. I know who is the newest princess and all that." Moondancer briefly picked up a loose scrap of paper she noticed on the floor and quickly balled it up and tossed it hard in the trash. "I mean it's not like I've sent inquiries about categorizing it for about a year and nothing has been sent back."

Celestia tried to change the subject as fast as she could. Not that she was intimidated by the curio collector or her collection. More so that if she didn't change the subject from Twilight immediately, the conversation would get more and more long winded and angry as the unicorn acted out her feelings onto nearby furniture. "So back to the reason why I came here. I just want a quick look over a few new acquisitions. Let's see what I can remember from my assistant. Let's see two staffs?"

Moondancer blinked and shook her head. "Yes, um, well let's see." She quickly flipped through a nearby notebook. "Yes, Meadowbrook's Staff and her seven other artifacts are easily accounted for and that new staff by the legendary Staff of Sacanas wielded by Scorpan during the ages before the founding of Equestria was also recently found near Abyssinia as well. Truly wonderful finds. And I ran the tests you deemed necessary. The findings, in the simplest terms possible, was that the resonance point of the staff and the recorded imagery of the Tirek attack on Equestria show that there might be a lost art of anti magical weaponry lost to the annals of time. Which sounds positively magical."

Rainbow Dash laughed.

Moondancer glanced over and stared at her. "While I don't see the humor about having what amounts to a negative and soul sucking force of magic laying around, I do have to politely ask for you to please enlighten me as to why you think painful and continuous torture is funny, miss."

Fluttershy and Dash awkwardly stood there. Fluttershy more so to lessen her already now much smaller frame from a piercing yet oddly unfocused gaze. And Dash stammered out a reply to get the mood of the room back to normal. "Yeah sorry about that. You just remind me of someone, that's all."

Moondancer rolled her eyes. "Oh how I would have a mountain of bits if I tallied all the times I heard that. But fine I accept that you are what ponies would term "a party ruiner" sure they would use a bit less formal dialogue. I read that in a book somewhere. I've never been to another party ever since that time my party was completely and irreparably ruined. . ."

"Uh, sorry I don't really want to hear your tragic backstory." Dash knew vaguely when one of those were coming. After a few years of fighting awesome threats and also reading all twenty one current Daring Do books and Twilight's collection of Wonderbolt related history tomes due to their content and useful application and description of rarely used and cool moves and maybe their adventure quality- she knew when to dip out of a particularly bad conversation.

"Fine. whatever though if you two get to talk to Twilight, I'd say call her the worst name you could think of for ditching me here and also giving me a broken present. Sure was nice to get a torn up collection of Aristrotle's theories. How great of a present."

"How'd you guess we knew Twilight?" Fluttershy spoke up, deciding that Dash's approach to the conversation was getting them nowhere.

Moondancer smiled awkwardly like she didn't exactly know how that facial expression exactly worked. "It's not difficult. There's only so many choices of Celestia's inner circle. Royal Guards would be the most common choice outside of her personal assistant. Then comparing the average height and weight of the average guard makes both of you outside of the norm. Then referencing the few ancient histories I've memorized, I know that pattern of hair- rainbow's a highly unusual and very insular color type. Then quickly remembering the five years of friendship journals I had to edit to get the morals of the lessons far more general and useful for the common populace and having to decipher Spike's rather atrocious handwriting, I knew who you were. General archetypes of a wallflower and brash loudmouth jock and I therefore welcome you to my establishment and also tell you to get out of my establishment until Twilight comes here and apologizes for ruining my party. So please do exit carefully. I don't want you to touch a cursed object. And Celestia? Have a nice day."

Celestia nodded and smiled and beckoned her two guests to move on. Dash and Fluttershy slid out of the small corner of weirdness that they had so strangely entered and as they step onto the stoop of the building and as they did that, the entire building blinked out of existence and a closed sign fluttered down.

Dash quickly stepped back into the space the building used to occupy and waved a yellow hoof around. "Dude, there was a building right here like five seconds ago. Where did it go?"

Celestia sighed. "Away for now. I thought bringing some new faces might have cheered up my rather reclusive court mage and I may have overstepped my boundaries."

Fluttershy coughed. "Well it went okay. I guess. But, uh, I guess looking back maybe it was a bit weird when she was doing two different ways she was acting."

"Shy, I chalk that up to here being the exact same as Twilight. Y'know. Like a big egghead that is a complete weirdo."

Fluttershy stared at Dash. "Be nice Rainbow."

"I totally am being nice. It's not my fault we brought up Twilight one moment and then she had a mini freakout and then she switched into a cold and humorless jerk." Rainbow crossed her front hooves and pouted.

Celestia looked up at the sky and willed the sun to set slowly as she turned away for a moment. Shadows crept slowly into the dark alley, which made the elongating silence be highlighted. "Well that may have been my fault. Accidentally."

Fluttershy glanced up. "But, um, Celestia, how?"

Celestia took off her regalia and fired up her horn to magic them away to the castle. Turning to the two ponies she looked tired and less composed than they could imagine. She took a deep breath and spoke quickly. "Everypony is affected by their close circle of friends and the actions of others. I sent Twilight away to Ponyville to find the Element of Magic, reform the Elements of Harmony, and also save my sister from the jealousy that tainted her mind and purpose."

"Yeah so what? We know the story and anyway that's a good thing so why Daisy Downer, or whatever her name is, is being a tool to us for nothing is honestly annoying. We saved the day and totally did a good thing and continued with more good things and ugh. Whatever." Dash rolled her eyes and flopped down on the ground.

Celestia's smile faltered. "Yes well, your blunt remarks are true to a point, though name calling a pony that could hex your literally into next week is not something to do lightly. But where was I? Dash, Moondancer- "Daisy Downer's" real name, was one of Twilight's few friends she knew in Canterlot. Boiling down a story into it's most essential parts is that taking away Twilight and bringing her to Ponyville, I inadvertently caused Moondancer to retreat into herself and just stay here. One of the brighter minds of this generation and she's taking care of what could amount to the magic shop at the end of the street. And while I'm glad she is- without her those artifacts would fall into the hands or claws or hooves of every enemy we have. But I really wonder what could have happened if I let somepony else go to Ponyville. Maybe Twilight would be in that spot if I chose Moondancer to go. Or something else could have happened. I am so good at seeing the greater good now with how long I have led Equestria. . .sometimes I forget that my choices have unforeseen and more personal choices."

"Uh, this seems a bit out of nowhere like sure okay I'll say my bad on calling her a name but like can you please tone down the sad stuff cause this kind of blows." Dash turned away and sighed. "Whatever so maybe some ponies hate us and what we do. I mean we've dealt with that. Nothing super new so can't we have some fun cause this isn't what I expect when I get to spend a bit of time in Canterlot."

Celestia breathed in and smiled. "Sure, and I bet Discord would love to see you two. After his last tea time with you, he spent a few hours chuckling to himself when I asked him how his day went."

Dash choked out a small laugh as she remembered how little fun she had with Discord. "Yeah sounds great."

***

Fleur Di Lis stared at herself in the mirror. She carefully looked at the lines in her face and frowned. "Honey, can you believe Celestia decided something as completely reckless as she did today? I mean seriously it worries me that she's losing her touch. I mean I remember when my dear grandmother told me stories of how Celestia invaded the gryphons for fun."

Fancy Pants smiled. "And then Celestia burned down the capital and that was the end of it?"

Fleur rolled her eyes as she took off her makeup. "No, just saying after the changelings and Tirek and Discord- I mean seriously reforming Discord? How naive can you be? I saw him in a meeting and almost died of fright. How can Celestia be comfortable being near something so against the pony way?"

"Now have you been listening to that new maid of ours?"

Fleur chuckled. "No, not really. Just she brings up new points from the frontier. She keeps talking about the town she came from and she's just so real after a while. Though she does have some points to consider. I mean we can't just focus on Canterlot every moment of the day. That would make it seem like we're completely separate from the unwashed masses you talk about so much."

Fancy Pants yawned and set his nearby clock for the morning. "Honeybear just come to bed. Let the help deal with their problems and get some rest for tomorrow."

Fleur blew a kiss to her husband and pulled the string to let the maid know to clear up the dinner and get ready for night. "Fine, but that means to let us sleep, you dog you." Walking over and letting the covers slide to make room, she hugged him close and felt him silently laugh to himself.

"No promises."

The couple heard a faint knock at their chamber door and Fleur beckoned in the maid.

"Sorry mistress for interrupting upon you." A pink unicorn with a purple and blue mane cantered into the room carrying a tray of mail and a bag of garbage to clean up the mess that often accrued in the room. "Oh I shouldn't have decided to clean now, bad me."

Fleur smiled at the naive pony. "It's fine, what was your name again?"

The pony blinked back tears. "It's Starlight Glimmer, ma'am. It's a silly name what with how bland my cutie mark is." She pulled up her maid robes to show an equal sign of gray on her flank. "But I deal with that. I mean I'm the first one of my family to ever be in the city and it's such an interesting time. I mean there's a magic store on every corner. Back where I'm from it's impossible to see magical items outside of the rare trade caravan."

Fancy Pants chuckled. "Well isn't that quaint. I'd love to hear your life story but the hour is getting late and you have so much to do."

Starlight facehoofed. "Oh of course, silly me." She ambled out of the room carrying garbage cans in her aura. "Goodnight you two." With a thud, the chamber door slammed shut and quiet normalcy came back to the room.

"There's something off about that unicorn. And I'm not talking about the purposeless cutie mark she has. Not right I say." Fancy Pants murmured to nopony in particular.

"That's what you say about every new hire, honey." Fleur didn't hear him reply back and as she slid off to sleep, she swore she could hear some form of excited muttering echoing throughout the estate. She chalked that up to an overexcited imagination for tomorrow. She hoped the blue pegasus she'd seen in the court had some reason to be chosen by Celestia. The princess had her reasons. Maybe. She prayed to herself silently that she was right. The other way led to madness.

You Really Got Me

Rainbow Dash rolled out of bed and groaned. She was more used to the strange sense of where her center of gravity was now after about a week of what Rarity would probably call graceful messes or something equally bonkers. She felt every bone in her neck shift as it went back to normal. Glancing at Fluttershy splayed out, her legs up in the air and lightly snoring, she groaned again. She quietly wondered if every one of her friends saw her like that- a pony that could sleep at any moment and anywhere as long as the place she was sitting was at least able to hold her weight. Cause these beds in the castle were hard as rocks and somehow capable to make the simplest motion feel like you were laying on cardboard. Not to mention she had been kept awake by the mission given by Celestia.

Glancing at the mirror she quickly looked at her reflection, the bags under her eyes reflecting her four hours of good sleep and two hours fidgeting as she felt Fluttershy rub herself against her side and mumble about fluffy clouds. Not very awesome to hear her voice say how great a cloud felt besides how large and full of rain and productive it was. She glanced at the nearby clock and she sighed. This would be a rather uncomfortable moment. Reaching a hoof towards Fluttershy, she reached her sides and poked her in the side. Rainbow did not like admitting it but her sides tended to be one of her tickle spots.

"Wha- ha- haha, what are you, ha, doing?" Fluttershy rolled away and rolled off the bed with a thud and a tangle of hooves. "Ouch. Dash, I'm good but ow."

"Uh yeah, sorry, probably should have, uh, thought that through a bit but yeah you want breakfast or at least get out of bed or something?" Rainbow pushed a few loose strands of hair out of her eyes and tried to smile.

Fluttershy nodded and pulled herself up. Quickly dusting herself off, she stretched the blue wings she had now and sighed. "Yeah sounds good." Glancing over to the mass of beauty products, she grinned. She cantered over to the table, glanced back at Dash, and quickly smirked. "Well I guess I should be getting somepony's makeup on."

Dash shuddered. "Don't you dare."

Fluttershy picked up a color palette and began switching between different looks. "Hmm, no. No. No. Maybe? But the hair."

Dash crept over and craned her neck to see the damage to her self esteem. "Do you have to do this like now?"

Fluttershy wryly smiled. "I have to make ponies think you know how to dress yourself and I bet if you walked into a room not looking your best- or at least the best I could make myself look in this situation- then you'd not even be noticed. The lives of the rich and famous are built on spectacle here. Though now I realize that with Blossomforth mentioning she had some racy pictures of me I do wonder what that might mean for my reputation." Fluttershy frowned.

Dash quickly wrapped a large forearm around her friend. "Okay, Rarity, get off your high horse and bring Fluttershy back. But fine. If you think you need to put makeup on me do it. But promise me to never speak of this ever cause this ruins my awesome cred. I'd Pinkie Pie Swear but the last time I did that with Applejack, Pinkie came out of the ground and scared us half to death so I just need to know that you won't like spread the news that I might- just might- be anywhere near okay with dressing up."

Fluttershy laughed, her voice hoarse and scratchy. "Okay."

"But like do this after breakfast cause I can't handle the, what's that word Rarity uses so much, indignation? Indigestion? Well whatever, I won't like it all that much."

Fluttershy grabbed a towel and grabbed a few different bottles that looked to be indistinguishable to Rainbow Dash. Small bottles with liquid that wasn't some form of alcohol that she could drink to lessen the continual mess of revoking more and more of her coolness.

Fluttershy floated up the few inches to her friends back and laid down with her legs splayed out and yawned. "Oh boy that was sure hard work. I guess I should totally take a nap before breakfast. Good thing I have this friend that would love to walk down to breakfast and do all the hard work." Fluttershy closed her eyes and giggled.

Rainbow turned and looked. "I don't sound like that. And come on you'd probably get there faster anyway if you didn't ride around on me. Not like it really matters."

She felt a pressure of hooves climbing up her back and Fluttershy glanced upside down, her now magenta eyes and, to Rainbow, perfectly awesome face making it so awkward. /the two stared at each other for a moment before Fluttershy poked her on the nose. "Dash, you want to talk about it?"

"About what?" Rainbow's cheeks felt hot as she turned to the defensive mode that she often used to get out of situations. Then she took a breath as she glanced up at Fluttershy, her rainbow mane hanging there in the air and intently watching her. "I mean it's like nothing."

Fluttershy smiled. "Nothing is ever truly nothing. For example, with how Twilight talks about science and magic, even when there's 'nothing' as you put it, there's something there taking up some kind of space. How about we share our nothings right now totally free and without any sort of harm involved."

"You sure you won't like laugh at me or something?"

"Well I won't perform a Swear but seriously yes. I won't laugh at you." Fluttershy floated down and pulled up a nearby chair, just in case this talk would turn into a much longer discussion. Her animal friends tended to have slightly easy problems. Ponies were another matter.

Rainbow breathed in and out. "Well first I'm still not entirely happy that this spell hasn't worn off and then I get stuck in this body and you get the one I'm way more comfortable with and now I just kind of thought off the top of my head what if we kind of mess up with this task we got from Celestia and I don't want to have the fault of losing the Wonderbolts just because we mess up and then I'd have that on my head like forever."

Fluttershy smiled and hugged her friend before walking back and looking her in the eyes. "Wow. Well I'm nervous too, Rainbow. Though I know enough on how to get into the good graces of Canterlot, I might be a tad bit rusty. Let's just do the best we can and maybe if we are lucky we will be fine. But we can't ever truly know and so I'd say let's do the best we can. So can we just go downstairs and eat some breakfast cause I'm hungry."

"Yeah." Rainbow felt the room get a little rain as she walked through the door with Fluttershy walking ahead. Maybe her mind was playing tricks on her. Weird spot for a rain cloud to appear.

***

Raven awkwardly glanced between Celestia and Discord while the breakfast spread sat there being uneaten and left to cool. "Princess, you should get going on your day. Already we are two minutes behind schedule and the sheer idea of keeping the Saddle Arabian ambassadors waiting could cause an international incident." She quickly straightened her glasses and tapped on the schedule to prove how dire the situation truly was.

Celestia smiled. "I doubt they'd mind. Now Discord, where were we?"

Discord grinned. "Lesson five: Let chaos guide your hand or hoof. Order and chaos are two sides of the coin and therefore every chaotic action if worked towards completion is just order through another lens."

Celestia nodded sagely. "So if I get what your saying, I just have to continue being okay with the result of actions and everything is mostly okay?"

Discord snapped his fingers and a small chessboard appeared. "In effect, yes. Think of Chaos in this little game as the black and Order as white pieces. White goes first and then black reacts to the new normal. Order often has an advantage- There's six different pieces in chess- King, Queen, Rooks, Bishops, Knights, and Pawns. Six Elements of Harmony. Each has it's role and since magic tends to bring out and amplify the good already within each pony exemplifying it- they work in exact and completely orderly patterns. I've never really tried fighting Twilight and her friends actually. Though if you want to consider what it would have been like for me to embody and work towards chaos instead of Chaos and Disharmony, I'd had amped up the chaos magic- bring out the weaknesses and inner demons of each and every one of them and have them slowly go insane instead of learning some lesson that there's a balance or whatever Twilight got out of fighting me."

Celestia nodded and glanced at Discord. "Well that explains the whole Smarty Pants Incident that Twilight still feels dreadful about."

Discord sighed. "Yes, looking back that wasn't my best current moment. But it was interesting to see a new crop of dark magic being used, if only for a moment. I'd say it was at least creative, though how Twilight got a spell out of the blue like that Postulo Vult spell I taught a few rather persuasive unicorns on a whim. I'd say it was a spark of genius, but you and I know that there's always some deeper purpose to these things." Discord sighed.

The draconequus and alicorn were interrupted by their guests. Fluttershy flapped her blue wings as slowly as possible to keep away from the priceless artifacts that littered the walls while Rainbow was trying to quietly correct her posture as quickly as she could.

"I told you they'd be here and stop keeping your legs splayed out like that. It's not like me and also it's rich jerks. They'd probably not like you walking up to them and pretty much asking for a date with that posture. I just don't want ponies to think I'm completely nuts out there."

Fluttershy eeped. Her tomboyish tone echoing a sense of Rainbow's original bravado left as she realized what Rainbow kept mentioning in her brief asides. She quickly slid down to the floor, her face beet red as she shuffled into the room, her posture stock still and locking her knees together to move around as little as possible. "Dash, I didn't really know about that."

Dash stopped and turned, briefly noticing the three spectators. "How? Like seriously how? " Dash glanced at Fluttershy and noticed a flicker of fear and pain dance across her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she refocused and breathed out. "Okay, not the time or place to wonder why you never asked anyone on how to hold yourself or not blast out a mating call for pegasi. Now that I think about it, it finally clicks." Rainbow laughed.

Fluttershy blinked and stared at Dash. "What?"

Rainbow coughed. "Oh sorry. It just makes sense why every single stallion I talked to in Ponyville thought you were like hot for no explainable reason. I thought they were just garbage at figuring out exactly what they liked besides, you know, the "sexy bits" and now I get it. I thought they were slightly dense. I never expected you to be blaring a sign of continuous rutting."

"-If you put it like that it sounds completely awful." Fluttershy tried to hide behind a shock of polychromatic hair and crouch down to get in her safe spot.

Raven cleared her throat. The discussion was becoming far too uncouth for one such as the Princess and as her formal Royal Adviser- her emphasis- she had a duty to get the topic back on track. The sheer idea that the wheel of power was being upended by a discussion of private matters such as procreation irked the mare. "Princess, I really think we should move this breakfast into some place more befitting of it." She fidgeted a little bit but she tried to hang onto the idea of propriety. Rule number one in the Etiquette of Clover that she followed was 'Be courteous and kind but please manners mind." Which was a nice thought to keep in one's head.

Celestia airily giggled. "I mean aren't we already in our breakfast chamber and anyway for the interruption. . .I do believe that Luna tried to cook an omelet once and accidentally burnt down an entire wing of the kitchens. I think having a lively discussion about these matters is so fascinating and anyway- you do tend to tell me to get more open with ponies."

Raven gawked. Thinking back of the five years of being the Adviser- she did mention that could be a way to help the majesty of the Court reach the pre Nightmare Moon levels again. But she mentioned it in passing and in such brief asides. . .

"Wait, so you listened to me?" Raven awkwardly pushed up her rimmed glasses and stared up at the white alicorn.

Celestia laughed. "Of course I did and anyway if you told those two to leave" Celestia rolled her eyes to glance at Fluttershy and Dash. "You'd also have to kick me and Discord out too. What do you think we use breakfast conversation for? It does tend to be rather invigorating to have a talk to a peer such as him." Celestia winked at Discord.

Discord chuckled. "Well of course, it's our post foreplay- pre work environment."

Silence reigned for a moment. Silence slightly broken by a loud snap as Raven took her clipboard and shattered it under her magic's pressure. This was not a thing Raven had predicted, her magic being generally well equipped to deal with general prediction. But having something so far afield come out like this? The Princess hadn't told her something. "I am going to have to, um, postpone that Saddle Arabian meeting until tomorrow. I guess I came down with something that has made my job performance slightly suffer for the, um, let's see, the day. That sounds good. Excuse me." Raven quickly got up and gathered the shattered pieces of her clipboard and bowed to everypony in attendance.

Celestia's facade broke for a second as the door slammed shut and she turned and smiled directly at the draconequus. "I thought we weren't going to broach that subject before we enacted Anti-Twilight measures."

Discord snapped his fingers and glanced down at his watch that he materialized onto his wrist, it's shape melted and malleable as its second hand dripped down into the bottom of his timepiece. "Gee, look at the time, it's slipping away."

Celestia scowled. She quickly took a breath and quietly composed herself. "Not entirely appropriate. Nice play on words, but no."

Fluttershy trotted up to Celestia and tried to smile. "So, um, congratulations?"

Dash groaned.

***

Dash grimaced as she glanced over to Fluttershy. Seeing her face done up in makeup was something she didn't need in her memory and yet somehow she didn't exactly hate it. Sure, she absolutely did. But like it wasn't Rarity going out on the town level of makeup. Dash thought Rarity just didn't understand restraint when it came to getting laid. Maybe it was the crazy cat mare vibe Rarity gave off when she was on the hunt for a date, but Dash silently thanked Applejack for getting the unicorn far off that market. She shook her head. She wiped her eyes and wondered if the change in location and hard bedding made her think about something sort of pointless flying around in her mind. Maybe it was the nerves. Dash blushed slightly, she felt the wind on her face and shivered. It wasn't like swapping bodies was a common occurrence in Equestria.

She felt a slight hoof on her shoulder and she felt her heart skip a beat. "Dash? You okay?"

"Doing great. Sorry. Just getting used to seeing makeup on my face."

Fluttershy giggled. "Were you worried I'd make you look not awesome?" Dash noticed a hint of a smirk on Fluttershy's smug face.

"No. I'd just expect the Rarity method of applying makeup."

That made Fluttershy stifle a laugh. "Oh I figured. Rarity never was one for subtlety." Pointing at her face, Fluttershy tried to assuage some of Dash's fears. "I chose the more, um, rock look for you. It's hard to truly explain makeup to somepony that either doesn't care or just is unlearned in this kind of stuff. But I tried to highlight your eyes and since your natural colors are a bit much for most makeup techniques- I just went with black. Black eye makeup surrounding your eye? Draws attention and while it also makes you stick out like a sore hoof, it makes sense."

Dash tried to come up with a rebuttal but shut her mouth and sighed. "Fine." She would have dropped it and moved on until she realized that Dash had never truly seen pegasi with makeup. She cocked her head at that thought. "Wait. How'd you get so good with fashion stuff anyway? I thought that was Rarity's whole thing?"

Fluttershy faltered in her steps. "Practice. And I kind of had to. I couldn't fly back up to Cloudsdale. So I kind of had to adapt to just being on the ground and seeing a lot more earth pony habits and unicorn things. You didn't have any makeup in Cloudsdale? That sounds a bit strange and I'd think Rarity would have some sort of conniption fit at that." Fluttershy's laugh rang out hollow and slightly empty at the memories the question brought up.

Rainbow ran a hoof though her hair for a moment. "Yeah, well. I didn't really know of Cloudsdale much since I spent my childhood at the circus, but I saw the faces of every pegasi I ever saw during one of my performances. Twilight calls it something like photographic flight memory or something like that and I never saw much of makeup outside of Canterlot. Entering into Canterlot even know still makes me think of when I saw this town as a weird story book place. Not fully real you know. It still kind of creeps me out."

Fluttershy thought for a moment. "Well maybe it's just a pegasi thing then. I don't know."

Rainbow chuckled. "Yeah maybe. Might just be moisture in the air or pegasi are just too fast for dealing with makeup."

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow and grinned. "If that's a joke on how long it took me to put on makeup, I'm impressed."

Dash rolled her eyes. "Well you took an hour. By this point I'd say we wasted a day looking pretty."

Fluttershy stopped for a moment and turned to look at Dash. Her eyes slightly wide with surprise as what Dash said registered. "Rainbow, you just said I was pretty."

Dash groaned. "No. I said you wasted a day looking pretty. Which is, I guess, a different sentence. Twilight said once that 'A long and hard problem' didn't always mean a dick so I'm totally running with the idea that I said that and meant the completely other thing just so I don't have to worry about thinking that I pretty much said I'd have some alone time with myself."

Fluttershy giggled and flapped her wings, her moments slightly jerky as she was still slightly getting used to flying and consciously attempting to not have random ponies glance up in the sky and see everything. Dash had outlined the general gist to fly, as Rainbow put it, super fast and awesome while not ruining her image. "Okay, Dash, whatever you say."

Dash raced after her and tried to keep up while trying to backpedal on that compliment. "Shy, like come on, that's not the way to take that either." She ran to keep up with Fluttershy- whose laughter echoed through the old and decrepit alleyways that Canterlot was littered with.

***

Easyglider Stadium was slowly filling with spectators as the Wonderbolt Yearly Training Camp was being set up. Pegasi littered the crowds and a gaggle of fillies and colts ran around the stands trying to play their own version of Wonderbolt Academy.

A group of ponies walked into the private box often used for dignitaries or lower ranked nobles.

"Cloudkicker, like seriously where the fuck's those two? Did they fall down a well or something?" Blossomforth lazily drew doodles on her clipboard. She didn't really have talent per se, but it wasn't too hard to accentuate the positive attributes of the surrounding ponies.

Cloudkicker scowled. "Dude, you've been asking that shit for an hour. How should I know where our little lovebirds have ran off to?" She glanced over and noticed what Blossom was drawing. "Seriously? Can't you draw anything more subtle than a massive orgy?"

Blossom winked. "My parents always said focus on what you know. So Spitty, how big's Soarin' cause I know you two got it going on and I can't really figure out the dimensions I need for the masterpiece I'm tentatively calling 'Ten Gun Orgy".

Spitfire groaned and rubbed her temple. "I really wish I could punch the past version of myself for even thinking inviting you here was a good idea."

A airy laugh echoed through the box as Fleur sauntered in with Starlight in tow. "Well I thought I heard some commotion up in here. Though I wonder why this box is being used since there is a perfectly serviceable Wonderbolt location a few hundred feet in that direction." She walked up and gestured to Starlight. "Please can you start dictation now?"

Starlight hummed neatly to herself as she pulled an entire ream of papers out of her bag. "Of course that'd be no real issue since even being here in this splendid arena is just so very interesting. I mean there's hay fries and Yakyakistani food and I don't even know where that is." Starlight beamed.

Fleur breathed in and started. "Let's see. New upholstered seats in the entire stadium. Cost per chair I would estimate at around ten to twenty bits for one chair times ten thousand at the latest figures of this wonderful stadium. I'd say that'd be a range of a hundred to two hundred thousand bits. Upkeep of the stadium? I'd say the general consensus would be more safety and therefore a higher cost. I'd estimate a few million to keep it up to code. Do you want me to go on Spitfire because I could and I have all day." Fleur smiled.

Spitfire silently fumed and tugged at her administrator uniform. A badge was slightly askew with the motion and she straightened it was a quick motion. Taking a deep breath, she smiled. "Fleur, I'm surprised you even came here. I thought you hated sports or am I remembering our times in the Guard Academy wrong?"

The white unicorn waved a hoof. "Oh it wasn't my idea, I've been showing Starlight around the town recently and we've been seeing the sights. Don't you know Meadowbrook's crypt is in the Canterlot Gardens? I'd have never even known that fact if my studious maid hadn't drag me on a wild goose chase. But alas, wrapping up that flight of fancy, I'm just saying I've been noticing a lot of spending on current projects and hearing the plight of the bordertowns and the downtrodden have been rather eye opening for me."

Spitfire held back a laugh. "Sure this is coming from the one voted to be the absolute richest one in the Academy. Like where's this populist message even coming from? Is this a joke or something? Come on am I being punked? Cause Miss Prancy Pants having a change of heart is completely ridiculous."

The rich unicorn smiled. "It has been nearly twenty years. Let bygones be bygones. Anyway. . .coming back on track here. Let's mention that the commander of the air force is a bit hostile to my presence and that the total price of this one stadium was around ten million bits. And don't worry, I checked on that fact since even though I know Blueblood's known as the laughingstock of Canterlot nowadays with his playcolt methods but he's well informed of pecuniary matters. I told him to crunch the numbers and there's some little matter of how there's a deficit in a sector of the economy that rakes in oodles of cash."

Blossom yawned and waved a hoof. "Sorry but like this is boring so like can you get to the point? I'd love trying to parse through your bullshit, but I have not enough time in the day." She smirked and continued with her drawing.

Fleur closed her eyes and smiled daggers into her. "Yes, laypony's terms then. Your little sports show here and it's entire run is completely nonessential. You are the air force of Equestria- not dressed up showmares. That shouldn't be your focus. Act like the ponies you want or I'm slashing your funding and closing every single silly stadium like this for your sport."

Cloudkicker scoffed. "I'm not even a Wonderbolt and that sounds like a super insane overreach of rich bitch powers."

Spitfire sighed. "Can everypony please calm down for one moment?" Spitfire composed herself and looked straight at her old friend and rival in the Academy. "Fine. I'll run with the idea that somehow you got the ten or fifteen noble houses of Canterlot to agree to do something. Bravo. I'm not even sure if some of those ponies know what they do anymore besides party and waste their lives looking down on the poor. Fine. I'll even begrudge that maybe you had a change of heart, but you've been so focused on explaining how terrible I've been at running this ship that I have no clue what you even want to use the money for. So do it or else I'll write my own little report on how you seemingly walked in on a private gathering of Wonderbolt leaders and vaguely threatened us with your tone."

Fleur and Starlight stopped moving for one moment as the full force of her words hit them. The white unicorn and her maid looked at each other for a moment. "You may stop writing, Starlight. I believe Spitfire has got the point of the message. I just want to use the money you all get from the crown for better purposes. I mean there's always the poor and needy and helping them is a fantastic idea. I mean there should be a program for helping those less fortunate than I." The model unicorn smiled and waited patiently for Spitfire to talk.

Spitfire chuckled. "Really? That's it. You want to pretty much audit us for wasting money while you put forward an idea like that? Okay, maybe I was wrong about you changing cause that sounds like you forgot Equestria already has a social program." Spitfire laughed. "I mean with how often my recruits talk about growing up in bad situations, I know we have one of those."

Fleur's eye twitched. "Yes, well, we could always make them better. An influx of money could be useful."

Spitfire sighed. "Cool, I'll mention that to all my new recruits who know what we truly do in the 'nonessential' part of our job. If you read the news every once in a while we do provide a fair portion of our profits to charity- as laid down in the founding charter of the Wonderbolts. Well okay the wording is that we would provide merriment and foodstuffs to all but it was nearly a millennia ago."

"But-"

"And for those who might say that the Wonderbolts don't provide a service in their mission to the corners of Equestria- well patrolling the borders is always important and if we can provide a link to the little ponies in the far off lands that you seem to love so much now- well that's a bonus."

Fleur's eyes twitched and she took a deep breath and smiled. "Fine. Fine. Whatever. I'll just go and you and your friends can just deal with the problem of being a drain on our economy. Toodles." Fleur flipped her mane and strode out with Starlight in tow.

Spitfire sighed and ran a hoof through her hair before she walked back into a chair and stared up at the ceiling. She bounced her leg up and down to relax her nerves. She pressed her earpiece and began talking. "So anypony else got weird vibes about that convo or was that just me?"

A tired voice answered back. "You know I don't hand out my personal number to anypony so I'm surprised you even could get this to connect. But no while you were looking like a fool, I was running the tests that Celestia told me to do to keep the entire city safe. I can rule out changeling influence. Their magic is primarily based on hate. Green and putrid really. I then ran the more uncommon tests. Zebra, griffon, seapony, et cetera. Nothing. No strange xenomagic sources. LEt me pull up my notes on the different types of magic that could be used to alter personality. White sources-"

Spitfire sighed. "Moondancer, I know you have all the time in the world to lecture me on magic sources, but please focus on the important bits. I'm not one of your correspondents and I barely know the technical ways pegasi magic works outside of flying high and fast and knowing how to stop."

Moondancer huffed through the phone. "Fine. Rundown on the spell, seventeen percent white magic based upon muscle control, fifty percent black magic based on a mix of mental coercion and mental connection. That's a new one. And then the final third was some chaos spell. Running through the archives we have on hand thanks to current scholars and-" Moondancer sighed, "the newest princess- we have the most relevant spell as a very highly advanced and modified Want It Need It Spell."

Spitfire swore under her breath. "Great, so should I call the guards and have them surround the estate." Spitfire chuckled at the next thought. "Or maybe I could call the Elements of Harmony and we could blast the whole mansion with a friendship nuke. Worked on the last five or so things that ruined somepony's day."

"Haha. Very funny. But no this spell is an alchemical nightmare so it's horribly unstable. Reading the data I've been trailing for a week, I'm honestly impressed at this mage's work. I don't know how she did it but she somehow made chaos magic be the stabilizer in the spell as a failsafe kill switch. I'd say sit and wait. That would be the last resort even with two of them here in Canterlot- even if one of them's an idiot- getting to Canterlot from Ponyville could take hours. Teleporting that distance is out due to strain even if you plug in the alicorn variable. Do you want the responsibility of having a competent and cornered magic user out and about for hours casting the same spell or some even more unstable variant that could be like a suggestible virus?"

Spitfire sighed. "Fine, Miss Doom and Gloom. I was trying to make light of the situation and seriously lighten up. I got your number from Raven a while back and wanted to see if she wasn't punking me with it. Cool, I'll know who to ask when I need a doomsday weapon. But okay let's all chill and keep the highly trained guard companies on standby while somepony controls others like a puppet. But you know I'm great." The Wonderbolt captain took a moment and chuckled. "Okay, no I'm sorry. I should be at least thanking you for going out of your way and doing this for me."

A bored shrug echoed firmly in Spitfire's head. "Yeah. I used the last of my poison joke and tatzlwurm tongues so I'd say you owe me a lot."

Spitfire quickly racked her brain. "Well after how Raven told me you were doing over a couple drinks, I know this nice curry place that just got set up. Not the nicest place in town but the food's good and I know I could rope a Wonderbolt if I needed to. I mean Surprise really wants to settle down after that tabloid smear campaign messed her up. Or Fire Streak just retired. I bet I could rope him into something."

A small laugh. "Yes, well while I do find it charming you'd set me up on a date- I'd rather not.

"Well okay then. I'll keep the offer open just in case though." Spitfire heard an echoing click and silence as the call dropped. "Shit. Shit. Shit."

Blossom stretched her limbs and tilted her head back to grin at the orange pegasus. "Come on, you didn't expect your date idea to satisfy the biggest hermit in Equestria? I'm shocked that didn't work out. Though I'm more surprised she didn't try teleporting all the way here to smack you silly. Come on it's like once a unicorn is ranked high enough in their magical tests, they all become weirdly too into the abstract ideas of magic and just leave our silly pastel butts out here to deal with reality. Sad though cause she has to be the loneliest pony in Canterlot who never got laid." She finished her sketch and waved it around. "Oh well I've outdone myself today. Look at that masterpiece."

Spitfire would have tried to parse what strange reality she hopped into when Blossomforth had a coherent and smart idea bouncing around in her head. She felt a light but firm hoof and noticed that Cloudkicker was just silently nodding her head. The grey pegasus smiled and began to quietly whisper, so as to not attract any major attention.

"Come on Fire, you have to remember that a clock is, at least, right twice a day. And I know you are a stressed out mess cause you've been fidgeting like crazy ever since your unicorn friend came in but you still owe me a house for the last time Blossom got all really on message. I'm not letting you forget that. So get your guard back up cause you are open and it isn't a good look for you. Be the dick pony that made my mortgage hopefully null and void cause that place was awesome. Totally freaking great." A jolting pain for a second registered on Spitfire's mind. "But you know having your best friend have a mental breakdown and destroy the house you built together thanks to a pony bringing up their past can be fun every once in a while. I mean I loved the chance of redecorating my pad that Blossom crashes at cause you got her all in a huff. But that's the past. I'm good, you're fine, and Blossom's Blossom which for her is as good as it's going to get. And anyway, don't we have to train these little baby Wonderbolts how to beat the sharpest of odds? Let's kick the collective asses of these newbies. But if you need a moment, I was rummaging around the cool couches and found some booze. Hit that and come on down."

Spitfire felt her leg go numb as Cloudkicker turned away. She groaned and flashed back to her own training days in the Guard Academy. She steadied her breathing as she felt the slight pinch of her leg shift back into place. Zebrican Nerve Pinch. Oh how she didn't miss that technique from the Academy. She hobbled on over to the comfiest chair in the room and slumped down. She scrounged around and pulled out a bottle at random. She took a deep swig of the burning stuff and coughed as she tried to keep it cool. "You are a totally awesome captain who totally loves her job. Happy thoughts. Nothing bad will happen. Nothing bad will happen. It isn't like I'm dealing with the two least sane ponies in Canterlot and some spell is turning one of the most headstrong and obnoxious ponies I know into a puppet. Things are super chill." Spitfire took a deep breath and focused. "Game face in three, two, one." She got up and left the room unsure of exactly what to do. Her legs were unsteady and shaking horribly, but she chalked that up to the alcohol and stress. Everything was going to work out and hiding the insecurity that she was feeling in this moment was of prime importance. She needed to put her best hoof forward because that was what all the ponies depended on her for. She felt something. Maybe she wasn't really happy about her situation right now but it was okay.

***

Dash stared up at the stadium, it's size now a bit smaller due to her new perspective and height, but a head or two taller wasn't much when compared to the grandest Wonderbolt stadium in the country. She sighed as she brushed her pink mane. "Yeah this is where we totally split cause I'm not going to let you walk around in my body wearing makeup. I can deal with a lot of things but that was never on my list of things I'm cool with."

Dash felt a small hoof on her shoulder. "Dash, it's okay. I understand. Just don't do anything reckless."

Rainbow blushed. "I mean it's not like Danger is my middle name or something. And I swear that I won't plan on showing off. I mean I broke down a wall and broke a few benches in my time but I've been super careful. Honest."

Fluttershy rolled her magenta orbs and sighed. "That sounds totally honest to me."

Dash grinned. "I don't need sarcasm right now. And with how late it is I'd have thought you'd need to go to some rich fake party where everypony's a jerk."

Fluttershy laughed. "Well I guess that is sort of true. Though with how fast I can go now I thought about finding a high cloud and taking a nap. I'm kidding. I know Canterlot pretty well Rainbow. I mean sure some of the streets are a bit different since time passed and I'd have to check if some others still live where I think they should, but it's fine. Now if nopony talks about the best new book on the shelves, I'd have no problems with this assignment."

Dash leaned in and smirked. "Didn't Rarity say it was the hottest book in the big city. If it was a normal situation, I'd say flaunt the hay out of it and just roll with it. Don't you start having rants about the sequel before you make it though. It did end on a horrible cliffhanger. I mean Speed Dazzler falling out of the sky to his doom as his awesome plane exploded around him. Seriously who writes a climax that doubles as the last ten pages of a book? I mean you could have just ended it a page before where Quiet and him break it off and they go their separate ways. You didn't have to amp up the tension with political intrigue."

Fluttershy blushed. "Well I just thought it worked better that way. I mean I ended it on a super down note and a lot of novels in a series like hyping up the next one."

The two pegasi stopped talking as Cloudkicker's echoing yell reached to where they were. Dash stood straight up to attention and nearly feel over. "Crud. Okay, we'll talk later. See you." Dash learned in and reflexively kissed Fluttershy on the cheek. She then realized what she was actually doing and quickly broke it off. "Oh yeah, well, that was not what I planned." Dash's cheeks burned and felt way too hot as she awkwardly backed away. "Okay, well, see you back at the castle."

Fluttershy blinked and tried to call out to her retreating friend. "Yeah, yeah, yeah." Fluttershy stopped for a moment and realized she was barely off the ground. She quietly clopped her hooves back onto solid ground and sat down on the cobblestone street. "Yeah."

***

"Now you pansies better drop and give me fifty." Cloudkicker yelled at the recruits. Most of the pegasi here were second or third stringers at best and the ones that had promise needed the ego bucked out of them. She spied the one pony that could give Rainbow the award for second worst ego in the Wonderbolts. Kicker sighed. "Now Lightning Dust get your back into this or I'll come up there and teach you the difference between my hoof and a mirror. Hint. It involves pain."

The greenish blue pegasus glanced over the cloud she was resting on and yawned. "Fine, I just needed to rest my eyes since I needed to compare myself to the competition and fell asleep." Lightning Dust stretched and glided down to the stadium, arcs of lightning following her as she descended. "I'll just do half as great as I usually do cause the last time I went all out I got demoted." Lightning Dust opened one eye and stretched her wings.

"Oh yes, I read that in your file. So I won't mind telling you to run around the track fifty times. I mean I can't work with a pony that holds back her true potential just because she's butthurt about being demoted. You got demoted for a reason. Don't just say something fucking dumb like 'oh it's cause I was too cool and nopony could deal with it'. No, what you did- at least from what I could tell from even skimming your scant file- was that you just aren't a team player. Buck up princess, this is the Wonderbolts, not the Equestria Games."

"I-"

"Go now, else I'll have to bring in the real hardcase here."

Lightning Dust zoomed off, her electric trail arcing through the sky at faster and faster intervals as she sped up into a blur.

Cloudkicker whistled low. "Well I'll be slightly impressed. She has the speed but I'd bet somepony'd have to rubberize her suit better just so nopony's in danger. It's like if Dash had a trail that wasn't a giant rainbow." She itched her face quickly to clear her vision of the faint cloud of dust that was still drifting along from Dust's quick and sloppy takeoff. "Speaking of Tirek. . . Yo, 'Shy' what took you so long?"

Dash looked up. "Oh I was helping Rainbow try makeup on and it took way longer than she thought it would."

Cloudkicker smirked at the thought. "Oof, I would have loved to see that. Anyway, I got this teeny tiny- and completely silly idea when you walked in. You see I got this one really hard to train pony here and I would love seeing her get taken down a peg. And I remember that you can somehow break down a fucking wall no sweat so I was just thinking that I'd have you two in a completely safe fight and see who wins."

Dash violently shook her head. She had literally just been told by Shy to not go breaking ponies over the head and hurting herself or showboating. Or she thought that was what Shy had meant. Rainbow had always tried erring on the side of caution when it came to the yellow pegasus. She was so calm and quiet usually that any sense of actual anger creeping up on Shy was kind of terrifying. Not in the Iron Will retraining way- that was a weird time for the pegasus, but the passive aggressive and quiet anger that sometimes slipped out. Rainbow had once asked Fluttershy about her family and it had got a little too uncomfortable for her taste. She didn't even want to test Fluttershy even if she was currently in her own body. She'd just wait while she was asleep or something. Rainbow Dash shivered at the thought. "Not a chance."

"Come on it'd be hilarious. I mean think about it. A gentle giant like you versus someone like Dash. I mean she's brash, doesn't listen to orders, is a complete idiot, and has an ego larger than the sun. It's Dash but somehow worse. At least Dash has a continuous problem of never showing up to work and sleeping all the time. I mean sure she's fast and all but that just has to mean she finishes early-" Cloudkicker waited.

"Fine. I'll do it. But Dash totally isn't bad at her job. I mean she doesn't finish quickly, it's a lot of back and forth to clear the skies of clouds and it's probably a fulfilling experience for her-" Rainbow started walking away until she realized what Cloudkicker was trying to trick her into saying. "Crud."

Cloudkicker burst out laughing.

***

Fluttershy flew through the sky on a few different updrafts and downdrafts, weaving through the sky in a beeline fashion towards the Clover District. She had once been the sort of unfortunate recipient of a Twilight lecture on the multiple districts of Canterlot but she couldn't really figure out the way they were organized. Twilight might have mentioned they changed a lot in between the years before and after Luna's return. She was unsure because while Fluttershy herself was a better listener than most of her friends- even she couldn't keep up with the pile of dates, name lists, maps, population density and whatever else Twilight thought was relevant in the question- "What are the basic things I need to know about Canterlot so I don't look bad". Twilight was really bad at answering simple questions without getting caught up in every detail.

So Fluttershy had needed to find somepony else to teach her the ins and outs of Canterlot social graces. Fleur was at most an acquaintance now- they had periodically exchanged a few letters- but she knew at least the general location where she was. Banking her way past lush parks and a large crowd waving some weird signs with equal signs, she moved on. She felt a downdraft and curved down its edge into a nearby street corner and folded her wings just enough to land well enough. She skidded to a stop and checked her makeup in a nearby window. No big smudges greeted her. A few small streaks around her eye were somewhat noticeable, but she quickly plucked one of her loose feathers and brushed it out back to something close to normal. She couldn't be exactly picky with perfection, but at least it looked presentable again.

"And Dash thought I was lying about water resistant or waterproof mascara." She flicked the blue feather away and slowly walked down the street, the noise from the park echoed ever closer.

Cries of "Cutie Marks are Lies" and "The Princesses are lying about the Storm War" and "We Want Happiness, We Need Freedom" among other things mixed through the tiny street as a throng of ponies began advancing towards Fluttershy again. She quickly ducked into a tight alleyway and quietly thanked that she was currently in Rainbow's body or else the gymnastics required to fit normally would have taken way too long. She peered out behind a trashcan and noticed the large grey equal signs that they held. She had never heard of a protest in Canterlot before. Though she never really paid too much attention to the news. Maybe it was a really common thing. Still she waited until the mass of ponies left and she crawled out of the alleyway and flew as fast as she could to Fleur's house. She felt moisture on her face as she zipped in the sky. Maybe there was going to be rain, maybe not.

***

Starlight laid back in the rich upholstered chair that these aristocrats had. She heard the muffled shouts of the oh so random demonstration that she set up with some of her most loyal followers. She didn't want to enter Canterlot with a retinue of ponies or else she'd have stuck out like a sore thumb- especially since most of her closest ring were just some Manehattan sounding ponies in some tiny little town in the middle of nowhere. But she did enjoy Utopia. Sure it wasn't the original name, but giving the town what they always wanted, a true purpose, and also rebuilding the town to be some fun little science experiment just to test if cutie marks were truly a sham or not was fascinating. It was nice to spend days just telling ponies what to do and seeing progress. Almost felt like home and leaving it now felt weird, but she had things to do. She opened her eyes and sighed. "Oh deary me, if only I knew exactly where to find those artifacts. . ." She unfolded a nearby letter and crumpled it. "Stupid return address. Oh Sunburst if only I knew where you were I wouldn't have to do what I have to do." She got up and stretched. Walking through the door, she put the Want It, Need It spell back on Fleur. She yawned. It was just so easy to twist a pony's mind when she needed that it sadly felt hollow. Unlike her Utopians, this mare just was too simple- everyone was scared of bugs when they should be scared of their neighbors and their best friends. It wasn't exoskeletons ruining the world, it was the few unicorns peeved off with some facet of Equestria. There was a unicorn leading Old Stormy's army and also there was a unicorn across some mirror dimension. The help in the palace were ever so talkative when they couldn't see a pony in the room. Turning her head to ever more pressing things, she noticed the lanky unicorn in a maid's outfit. Starlight grinned at how easily the social order could be flipped with one measly spell. "Now what do we have here?"

"Mistress, what do you want me to do today?" Fleur lazed about with a huge grin on her face as she was hit in waves of pure endorphins shot straight into her brain as the spell provided her eyes a dream world full of everything she ever wanted.

"Oh give me a moment, I'm so exhausted from acting like a country bumpkin." She rubbed her sore throat. "I don't envy actors now for attempting accents." Starlight glanced over at Fleur's slack face. "Can you not look like the dimmest one here. I mean seriously even the lamps look more lively. I mean what would any guest think of you just standing around with such a dopey look. They'd get suspicious."

"So do you want me to become a lamp? I just want to feel love. I need it."

The pink unicorn groaned. "Uh, no. Note to self. Tweak the spell more because while I love a good linguistic kerfluffle, I really didn't plan for turns of phrase to make my spell completely unusable. Fine, whatever do something. I don't know what you aristocrats do? Like go play dress up or just twiddle your hooves around in a pleasing manner. Leave me alone for just a bit."

Fleur glided off, her movements sloppy and unsure but Starlight at least had some peace. Maybe that unicorn would go masturbate for a bit- she didn't care. Her head hurt from the constant casting the spell required every few days. Sure she only had to do a few sessions until Starlight couldn't differentiate between her will and others, but it required a lot of focus. Starlight rubbed her temple. "Really shouldn't have attempted that puppet version of the spell cause all I want now is some aspirin. Stupid magic headaches." She turned and headed away as she could hear muffled noises coming from the bedroom. Starlight shrugged, at least she was out of her mane. After a year or two of controlling a town, she was completely desensitized towards most things.

A knock at the door roused her from her slight melancholy. She quickly cast a muffling spell towards where Fleur walked off to. She wasn't expecting visitors and she didn't need ponies to answer questions. She thought about teleporting to the bottom of the stairs, but decided against it, since she only had so much daily magic reserved to burn through and she had been casting spells willy nilly just to get some ponies to crawl out of the woodwork. She grasped the golden handle of the front door and quickly put on her accent. "Why yes, whatever do you want, miss?"

A blue pegasus with the worst mane color imaginable stared up at her slightly. "Yes, well, I was told by one of my friends to come see Fleur. I mean I was tasked by Celestia to see why they wanted to end the Wonderbolts and so that's why I'm here." The blue pegasus sheepishly grinned. Starlight didn't find it charming.

"Oh darn, I think she just went out. If ya want I can just tell who came in and called and that'd be for the best you hear?" Starlight cast the Want It, Need It spell silently and put the idea out into the ether that this pony should just go as far away as possible.

The blue pegasus did nothing but scratch her head lazily with a hoof. "Oh yeah, just tell her that Rainbow Dash, the greatest current Wonderbolt was here and that Fluttershy really would love to meet up. You know talk about modeling days, maybe go to a party. I dunno. "

Starlight cast the spell again. "Oh I would love to tell her. What was your name again? Rainbow Dash? I'll be sure to remember that for just how striking your hair is. I mean that's a shade I could never see back in my little town."

Rainbow cocked her head. "Well that sounds cool, where are you from?" A happy smile beamed out and Starlight's mouth twitched.

"Oh really just no place. No place at all. It's really so small you could have never heard of it. It's like it's not even on the map. But it's Manehattan area at least."

Fluttershy thought. "Near Manehattan and small? I mean there's not much out there. Might be just Dorbarrow or Irondeer out there. I mean I haven't been there in a few decades really but it isn't like small towns like that change."

Starlight swore in her head. Nobody was supposed to know the exact location of her little Utopia. She chose a town like, yes, that one, Irondeer, for that exact reason. She had to work through a lot of rejection issues and even now she couldn't find peace if some nopony walked up to her and couldn't get the magically induced hint. "Oh Irondeer. Yes. I'm honestly surprised you heard or even went to my town. It's ever so enlightening to find ponies that travel out into the roads less traveled."

Starlight's new favorite and least favorite pony kept rambling on. "Well I do have a friend who likes random history of small towns like yours. Do you still have that memorial statue of in the middle of the town? The one showing the union of the Whitetail tribe with pony settlers? It seemed like such a neat thing."

Starlight vaguely remembered that statue. It was still there but only because she still hadn't figured out ways to get the Utopians to smelt that thing down. Her little town was an ever changing thing and that project had been put on hold when forcing a few of her followers to touch that thing with purpose made them have violent seizures. A few died. It really was a shame. She just decided to rebrand it as "The Coming Era" and just leave it be. Too bad, she had had such a great idea for a statue reusing the jewels and gold from that monument for a truly magnificent statue. "Oh won't you look at the time. I really loved talking to you about my town but you know how these rich ponies can be. If you don't sweep away every speck of dirt then they get all mad at you. Well see you later and I will tell the mistress about you coming." Starlight smiled.

"Cool. Uh I'll see you tomorrow then. Oh yeah, quick question. I saw a mob on the next street over. You know anything about that?"

"Oh deary me. I don't believe so. Maybe it's some new movement. I can't keep track with all these strange things here in the capital." Starlight smiled and slowly closed the door. "See you tomorrow."

The blue pegasus nodded. "Yeah. Also for some reason I keep hearing this weird buzzing noise. Must just be my ears adjusting to silence or something. Well, uh, see you later."

Starlight waited until she couldn't see the new pony through the peephole and she felt a strange emotion come over her. Oh she would remember this Rainbow Dash. Something that was immune to high level mental spells was not completely disheartening. Infuriating, sure. She had gotten used to just waving her hooves and having her townspeople attend to her every want and desire just to fit in and feel loved by her and her society. But it was boring to be unchallenged by life. And a challenge could always give her a reason to create ever more fun spells. Maybe amp up the effect and range and then she could do whatever she wanted to find the two things she needed for her plan. The Meadowbrook artifacts ever so lovingly stolen from the tomb of a Pillar of Equestria and Sunburst's location. With the ever increasing influence Eqestrians had on the world, it was so much harder to find a little known archmage. So she had one plan to mess with ponies and check up on him. She would start tomorrow though. She quietly lifted the spells on Fleur and the mansion. When she came to, she'd just think she was tired and didn't get to do much today. Starlight may have been a complete egomaniac at times, but she had standards. Sunburst or bust.

***

"Now everypony please do be careful with this fight I've been roped into presiding over. No shots below the belt or unfair things that could give somepony like me a few hours of paperwork." Spitfire massaged her head as she just took the day in stride now. Maybe the slight buzz helped, but usually if she saw a fight she'd end that right away. Right now she was on the cusp of ending it, but her lesser judgments let her press on.

Lightning Dust smirked. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is so stupid."

Rainbow Dash stood there thinking of how exactly she'd explain to Fluttershy how she got in a sanctioned fight using the yellow pegasus' body. "Um, can't we like talk this out."

"Kid, I'd love to but I just spent the last five minutes arguing with a clown and a brick wall." Spitfire shrugged. "But I bet if you two give it your all in one shot, I could flub it and you walk away okay. It's really up to Cloudkicker cause she's the one who broke my zen happy place and told me what was going on."

Rainbow groaned. "Fine. Let's get this over with then. Hey, Dust, I'll let you hit me with your full strength and then fight back. Sounds fair?"

Lightning Dust nodded. "Yeah, whatever."

"By the power vested in me and the courage instilled in me from alcohol, I call this fight begun." With a flourish. Spitfire brought down her raised hoof and sat down. Either this was a horrible idea she'd regret or it was a teachable moment. She never really worked out a nice middle ground when it came to teaching.

Lightning Dust zipped off into the sky, her arcing trail flashing in time with the laps she was running through the stadium. As she swerved around the stands, she banked into a large updraft and was swept into the top of the Canterlot skyline. She quickly burst through the cloud layer and swung herself around to face the ground- barely seeing her target from this vantage point. That Fluttershy said anything went. So why not perform a death defying aerial maneuver that could backfire if not pulled off with one hundred percent precision? It made up for getting kicked down a few grades because she 'didn't work well with others.' More like she was too rad to be contained. She felt the freefall hit as the cone of air bent around her. She had tried to emulate that Rainbow Dash's 'signature' move but she still hadn't perfected the exact motions yet. She had spent a lot of time scanning reporter footage of that Sonic Rainboom, but it was just out of her grasp. She felt the pinpoint accuracy shape around her edge as lightning danced through her mane.

'Fluttershy' saw the coming hit from a mile away. "Oh Celestia, I really, really regret doing-"

The hit connected with Rainbow's face at just below mach one.

"Lesson Ten, Blue. Body control." Ponyacci looked down at the young filly. "The boss told me to toughen you up after your fight that you lost. Not really my forte, but move with the punch and use the pony's momentum to your advantage."

Rainbow turned her head to the side to truly see the clown. Her bandages made focusing difficult as she could only see out of her right eye. "When do we start the lesson?'

Ponyacci smiled. "That was the lesson. Roll with the punches."

Rainbow rolled her good eye.

'Fluttershy' moved away from the punch, He body running on pure adrenaline as the punch connected. Her neck braced for some impact and she kept one of her blue orbs on the punch. It felt right to do. She felt the short glimpse into a part of her past that she had taken for granted for years talk back to her in a way. She was part of a few fights when she was younger, to be fair, but it wasn't her forte. She felt the punch connect as she moved her head in the direction of it to lessen some of the impact but she couldn't deflect all of it. She was stronger than she was used to thanks to Fluttershy being absurdly lucky with her genes, but taking a punch at mach one and surviving was completely lucky. Unluckily for Dust, she hadn't worked out the risks correctly either.

Dash felt Lightning Dust's forehoof shatter as bone met face. She thought the sound of bones almost sounded like a carrot being snapped in half- a light crunching noise. That was when Dash opened her eyes again and the world went from sickening slow motion into regular speed. Lightning Dust's wordless scream was given audio as Dash felt her world spin. Dash slowly walked forward and vomited straight into the grass and slumped over. A quiet chuckle almost escaped her lips as she realized she could have actually died from that little stunt Cloudkicker tried to pull. She felt air come into her lungs in short, ragged breaths and she sat there just looking up into the sky.

"Oh my fucking hoof, what the absolute fucking shit. What are you made of, fucking diamond bitch c-"" Dust was hurling out profanity as she was trying to stay awake from the shock of breaking her entire leg.

Spitfire jumped up and took control. Slightly tipsy control but since Cloudkicker was being glared at by every Wonderbolt in the stadium and Blossomforth was ranting about how awesome that stunt was- it fell to the most responsible one there to take charge. And with how much adrenaline she was feeling from this accident, the alcohol really wasn't hindering her. She started yelling at the ponies that didn't look like they were deer in lamplights. "Okay, uh, let's see. One- no possibly two- hurt ponies. Okay. Okay Fleetfoot, call the hospital. I don't want the chance that those medical unicorns can't stitch this bone up. Yes, I know that she's screaming about it being completely broken, I'm saying the wonders of medical magic today might save her if you don't sit around debating moot points. I want a check up on Fluttershy here and maybe I won't have to cite all of you in a special meeting and interrogate you all to death." Spitfire felt a migraine coming on again as she looked out upon the field.

***

Fluttershy felt dizzy as she banked towards the stadium. Without a reason to stay near the aristocratic section of town , she had decided to check up on Dash. It wasn't that she didn't trust her- it was just that Dash tended to get stuck in situations without a great way out. She was almost blasted out of the air when she felt a splitting headache come on. A blaring alarm went off in her head as the now dim light of daytime was too unbearable to look at. The prodding headache was stuck right above her eye as she almost tumbled down to the ground, her hooves skidding the pavement and sending bits of gravel aloft.

"Oh that's new."

She glanced around. A few hundred feet away from the stadium now felt like a few miles but she began trudging her feet through her body's pleading to stop. "Just a bit more. Fluttershy furiously tried to flap her blue wings and she almost crawled her way to the stadium , each wingbeat causing a yard or so to be subtracted from the distance.

It was a struggle, but soon the light of the stadium greeted her and she slunk into the scene. "What's going on-" Fluttershy trailed off as the brunt of her exhaustion finally hit her.

Spitfire spied the blue pegasus out of the corner of her eye. Fluttershy could vaguely hear her voice as she wavered in and out of consciousness. "Shit. Yeah wasn't expecting Rainbow Dash to fall out of the sky. No, she wasn't even on the field. I dunno. How should I know. Maybe it's an Element thing. Okay Fleetfoot, scratch the medics. Just get, I dunno, the Princesses on the case. I don't know who to call first. I'd say Miss Magic herself but she's in Ponyville. Luna? She's still in Ponyville for some forsaken reason. Celestia then. Fine. If anypony needs me, I'm going to be writing the report. Surprise, tell Soarin' to come up and help. It's been a long day."

Master of Puppets

Rainbow's ears felt an annoying buzz as the world reshaped around her. Her body ached, and she flashed back to the most probable cause. She didn't expect to be hit by another Sonic Rainboom, Thunderboom, whatever. It hadn't actually been on her radar and while her whole yellow body ached, she was glad that Lightning Dust hadn't perfected that little trick. If she had, she wondered what would have happened to both the stadium and her head. She blinked awake and the world blurred into focus, shifting from a dull mass of colors into sharp relief as shapes and forms began to be picked out and the loud humming turned to a quiet ache. She tried to roll out of bed, but sensors and an IV drip kept her in place, the feeling of tape tugging at her hair and a tube pumping fluids into her vein coming into her mind and confusing her for just one moment.

Her mouth felt dry as she tried to speak; her body ached as she pulled herself up in a sitting position and a loud, monotonous beep flared off to the right of her. She hated hospitals. It felt like she was in one every few months, and she still hadn't gotten used to the sterile white walls and the pungent smell of disinfectant all over the floor. The harsh lights tried to imitate sunlight, badly if she might add, and the food wasn't much better than the stuff Applejack fed her dog. She gingerly touched her face and shards of pain arced through her mind.

"Great. Now I know what a Rainboom to the face feels like."

She heard movement from her side and she laid there, mostly unable to turn her head correctly due to the heavy bandages keeping her neck stable and the uncomfortable feeling of needles on the cusp of moving out of her skin.

"Dash, you feeling okay?"

She knew that slightly sarcastic voice. "Twilight?" Dash blinked as a haggard looking Twilight edged herself into her view. Honestly, Dash thought she looked worse than she felt, with dark bags under her eyes and an unkempt mane.

"Yeah, it's me, sorry for my- well, look. But I made it as fast as I could with barely any sleep for the last few days. The Cutie Map's been on the fritz. Keeps blaring some worrying light over Canterlot. But that's not important. I mean it is, but having you two out of commission since yesterday put everypony on edge."

Rainbow groaned. "Fine, but how's Shy, I mean I thought I heard her in the stadium."

Twilight floated over some charts and grimaced. "She's fine. I mean falling out of the sky from some- pardon the slip of the tongue- fucking magical blowback I didn't ever think could be possible. I'm just a little shaken is all. Compared to you, her black eye and fragile confidence is what's she's dealing with. I mean she woke up hours ago. I could send-"

Rainbow lifted a forehoof to stop her friend. "Nah, it's cool, just what's the problem cause I feel only slightly like I broke every bone in my face." Rainbow cracked a pained smile.

Twilight sighed. "I mean you should be okay but I had to use a fair bit of magic just so you would heal faster. So I'm sorry for the pain but that's just your previously broken face, misaligned neck, broken rib, and sprained wings all stitching themselves back together. I'd say you take care of your body terribly, but also you did just get hit by a punch that should have killed you."

Rainbow smirked. "Well I guess if I had been in my own body that would have been the case, but I'm not so I guess we can just chalk that up to Fluttershy being all-"

"Anomalous? Outside of parameters? Strange?"

"Well I'd have said something like stronger than she looks, but sure those work too."

Twilight rubbed her eyes and yawned. "Sorry, I'm just a bit testy is all. Just let me bandage you up and we can get this whole mess as far behind us as we can. I've been testing out different hypotheses to get you both back to normal, though with your current aura tests coming back all weird. . .I don't know."

Rainbow cocked her head as far as she could. "Twilight, just stop speaking egghead and talk like a normal pony and I might get what you are saying."

Twilight ran a hoof through her disheveled hair. "I've already ran through this with Fluttershy so at least the awkward bit might be over. But, uh, I was running some tests while you were, well, unconscious and it came back weird." She floated over a large stack of papers and pulled out the one in the middle. Rainbow took one look at the incomprehensible mess and raised her eyebrow.

"Twi, you just repeated yourself and what the hay am I even looking at cause it looks like you got a four year old doodling on your papers again."

The alicorn breathed in and didn't respond to Dash at first. "It's your aura spectra. Had to dust off my spectrometer knowledge, but yours, and Fluttershy's as well, is way out of sync. I mean it's stable six times out of ten and the other four were highly variable. Physical trauma affected both samples in the same exact way. Magic spells affected the samples in extreme ways. Either they worked too well or had zero effect at all. I had to run two tests on how there's love magic in the spell now when I remember the exact formula for my machine and the test having zero love magic. So now I have to account for that possibility that either you two are creating love magic somehow or chaos magic becomes love magic through some sort of magical radiation effect. I actually don't know what's going on and now it's trumped what Pinkie likes calling 'my curiosity factor'. I just want to deal with this and go home."

Rainbow coughed. Her mind was swimming with the idea that even now, Twilight couldn't figure out how to fix this issue. Even if she didn't like to admit it, the purple pony was pretty smart and she usually could solve a problem just by looking at it. Heck, Rainbow wouldn't have even got in the Wonderbolts if Twilight hadn't figured out her memory trick. What was one self created spell but just another problem? "So, uh, where is Fluttershy? And what of Lightning Dust?"

Twilight floated over a cup of black coffee and sighed, quickly draining the cup of its contents. "Fluttershy's out with Rarity. Yes, I know you'd ask 'why' but when you get woken up by a Princess of Dreams yelling about some magical emergency of course she'd wake up the four other ponies that could sort of fix Equestria's problems. And Dust? Look right beside you."

Dash rolled her head slightly to see a silent Dust staring up at the ceiling, unmoving and unblinking. RAinbow felt a chill up her spine as she noticed the metal brace encasing the leg that met her face a few hours or so ago. She didn't even know what time it was and knew the injury still looked rough.

"Sorry about the death glare she's giving off. Celestia and her rather quiet assistant decided to load her up on opium from Saddle Arabia. Wouldn't have been my choice but the little stunt a few ponies performed almost forced an amputation. Celestia dammit, I can see why the princesses are wrecks after this continuous mess. Well at least a future Twilight hasn't come back and cold cocked me for being an idiot. Last time was one time too many."

Rainbow Dash just sat there silently thinking about Twilight's words.

***

"Darling, now where exactly are we going?" Rarity puffed as she climbed up the hill, her mascara slightly running as the unseasonable heat wave that was scheduled to balance the weather patterns made her sweat with the least amount of effort. "I mean you've been really quiet throughout this whole walk and while I do love some sight seeing, it is a bit awkward to be left to your own devices."

Fluttershy glanced back, her makeup heavier than yesterday due to her having to cover up the splotchy black eye that was on its way to a sickly, yellow hue. She sighed. "Sorry, just thinking about things. What do you want to talk about anyway?"

Rarity stopped for a moment and rubbed her chin. "I have absolutely no clue. I mean I can't really ask how you are holding up in this situation because that would be impolite because of the circumstances."

Fluttershy sighed and set down upon the ground, wincing as she did. She couldn't forget yesterday''s blackout crash, so deciding to limit her time on the ground was just something could rely on- and if anypony asked she could just mention that it was for her to learn how to control her new reflexes. Not some anxiety thing of a ever present danger of falling into the ground from stories upon stories up in the air. "So what about you then? I mean if my current situation is off the table."

Rarity stuttered. "I-I didn't. No. I meant its just a really awkward thing to- fine." Rarity rubbed her temple. "What do you want to know?"

Fluttershy smirked the best approximation of Rainbow's smirk and chuckled. "I mean you didn't say your love life was off the table."

The white unicorn rubbed her temple. "Can we at least find someplace to eat first?" Rarity noticed the strange look her earliest friend was giving her. "Shy, I know you want to catch up with little, young me. But it's a bit of a mess all things considered."

Fluttershy's smirk faltered; she never was good at keeping the Rainbow Dash brand of cool on her face, and Rarity saying that Ponyville was 'a bit of a mess' registered high on the Rarity scale of annoyances. Her cat? Fine. Rejection and falling fortunes? Worst possible things imaginable. Fluttershy didn't exactly know what fell in between those extreme cases, but she had went with Rarity to prom before and that was really the last time the words 'its a bit of a mess' came out of Rarity's mouth. "Fine, I thought I saw a curry shop a street back, but once we get there and situated you are going to tell me what exactly is going on with you,"

Rarity and Fluttershy booked it down a small side alley. The town of Canterlot was filled with these forgotten pathways to get around the mountain, passing through a dimly lit walkway into yet another street in the Platinum District. Bright light guided their way as the town around them bustled with life. This semi forgotten corner of Canterlot was home to one little establishment that Fluttershy had heard Dash vaguely talk about once when she asked how Wonderbolt training was going.

The Tasty Treat emanated exotic smells and Fluttershy thought it was like the few times she hung out with Tree Hugger, the smell feeling sort of spicy and all encompassing and yet also welcoming. Fluttershy pushed herself into the small restaurant and Rarity cantered on in behind. A small tinkling bell announced their presence.

"Oh, Father, it looks like some customers are here." A orangish unicorn walked out nervously, her bangles and foreign headwear made Rarity feel some ideas brewing in the back corners of her imaginative mind, and the slight accent told the unicorn definitely did not come from any part of Equestria she knew of.

"Well, let them in,"

"Oh yes, of course, now first question, do you want our vegetarian or meat menu. I don't want to presume anything but since we just got here a few months ago from Zorgarth, far, far away from a land such as this, I don't think you are carnivorous. Though the stories I've heard of Canterlot make me a bit- how do you say- confused." The waitress smiled awkwardly.

Fluttershy spoke up first since she noticed Rarity was in one of her spaced out moods- most likely about meeting somepony of a different style and culture bringing up racks of clothes and fabrics that made the unicorn stop in her tracks dead with ideas. "Well, I'll have a meat option, and knowing my friend here she'd most likely want something vegetarian. Uh, chef's choice because it's our first time here and we really don't know what to order." Fluttershy tried to smile. She never was really good at talking to ponies off hoofedly and so it still felt weird to order food in a restaurant without feeling somewhat awkward.

The orangy unicorn nodded. "Oh, well this will betell m a special occasion. I mean the Kshatriya here usually just order the blandest food and they have no taste of home. Father will so ever be surprised to have ponies such as you." The unicorn sped off between the small tables set up and the two ponies were left alone in a weirdly empty room. No ponies graced the restaurant but themselves- it was almost too quiet to be comfortable. Fluttershy led her oblivious friend to a table and sat down.

"So Rarity, we're here. I ordered for both of us and everything. Can you please focus and tell me what has you so spooked?"

Rarity blinked and refocused, her eyes darting around the colorful restaurant as she was almost faced with too many new designs and fabrics to stay in reality. "Yes, oh, well. That's the rub really. Ponyville's. . .complicated right now."

Fluttershy propped herself up with her hooves and leaned in. "Can you be more specific? Rainbow and I have been gonefor days and you pop back up and mention off hoofedly that 'Ponyville is bad right now' and you don't think that might make me just a tad bit worried?"

Rarity winced. She knew Fluttershy's less quiet moods after years of knowing the pegasi more of like another sister than a close friend, but it still usually surprised her due to the fact that it was difficult to get Fluttershy past the normal quiet state. "Darling, I just mean to say it's a delicate situation that I really don't like bringing up in polite company."

"Rarity, can't you just say it? Sure Applejack's not here and Pinkie isn't either, but unless something's wrong with one of those two I'd have expected them to come running to check if we were okay. I'd have dropped almost anything if they got hurt, I mean after all we've been through, it's almost a given. So what's up?"

Rarity sighed. "Too true. Fine. Remember Twilight's new little spell?"

Fluttershy rolled her magenta orbs. "Which one? The one that inadvertently made Rainbow and I switch bodies or the other one? The Pinkie one?"

Rarity blushed profusely. "The second one, yes."

Fluttershy rubbed her temple, gingerly avoiding her eye as it still hurt. "And?"

Rarity muttered something under her breath quickly.

"What was that?"

Rarity slunk down in the booth. "Applejack is, in that way, you know."

"So is it the time of the month again? I'd doubt it due to- oh." What Rarity was hinting at hit Fluttershy once she realized what would get Rarity so worked up and yet also not gossiping like crazy. "Oh. So she's- wait how did that happen? I remember Applejack worrying about it."

The white unicorn laughed. "Well I was going to surprise her with Twilight's spell. I had asked Twilight the basics and she agreed just fine and dandy, after some begging, to show it off and test it. Though what she failed to mention until the deed was already done was that she made the spell both after that Trixie duel where she wondered about the possibilities of well gender swapping and also the numerous medical uses it has." Rarity laid her head in her hooves.

"Twilight wouldn't just forget a side effect like that. I mean pregnancy should have been right at the top of the list."

Rarity waved her hoof. "Yes it positively should have and Twilight, Applejack, and I had multiple discussions about that fact. Twilight's answer as to why was something to the effect of 'Well, I've been distracted trying to juggle both restoring Pinkie back to normal so as to get my normal schedule back in order' and 'I've been also dealing with bringing our friends back to normal.' Et cetera and the like."

"So how's Applejack holding up?"

Rarity smiled. "As best as she could honestly. She hasn't yet told Granny Smith the news. I don't really blame her since from all that I've heard of her from Applejack is that she's very old fashioned and I don't exactly know what that entails. I'd be perfectly okay helping Applejack move out if it turns out she's extremely old fashioned, but that mare's life is her family and I'd rather not be the straw that strained her relationship with her horde of a family. She's angry at me for even doing what I did. And Twilight got an hour of Applejack just berating her for reckless behavior. So Ponyville's bad, not because it's being attacked by some unspeakable evil or having some magical mishap. No, its just I feel awful for deciding to use a mostly untested spell without asking Twilight if there was major consequences."

Fluttershy reached out a blue hoof and gripped Rarity's. "Would that have registered with Twilight? She's in her own little world sometimes and I'd bet that Twilight's list of problems doesn't include pregnancy." Fluttershy winked.

Rarity didn't immediately get the joke until she noticed Fluttershy's slight smile. "Was that a virginity joke? If so that was terrible."

"Well I am trying to act like Dash and as most ponies seem to tell me I'm completely bad at it."

Rarity coughed. "It's not that you are bad per se, you just don't have the humor necessary to pull off her style."

Fluttershy giggled. "Well that is true." Fluttershy would have said more but they both fell silent as they noticed the smells emanating from the kitchen as their waitress carried their food to the table.

"Sorry for the wait, my father heard of your chef special idea and ran with it." The unicorn levitated the plates of food and the two ponies were shocked to see the smorgasbord of food in front of them. "If it's your first time here I guess I should list the list of things in front of you." She smiled. "Well first you have the naan bread right on your left followed by a tandoori style salmon. We'd have used chicken but you Equestrian pegasi have this need for fish instead of other meats. Then we have a yellow curry and chickpea battered fritters and a side of cilantro yogurt chutney for your friend here. Also since it's your first time here here's two mango lassi drinks on the house. It's like one of your milkshakes- I think. The last customers started talking about those when they came in."

"Well that just sounds positively divine. Even if I don't know half of what you said." Rarity smiled a weak smile.

***

Starlight smiled at the arranged ponies. Each performer was at their place and each pony knew exactly what they wanted to do. She knew what she was doing for just eight little artifacts would be perceived as wrong by the greater Equestrian community, but she had her morals and it wasn't like the rich were using their own selves to better the world. Why not play chess a bit and plan a party. Everypony was here- Sapphire Shores, Fleur, random rich idiots from each section of the town, their maids and butlers. . . all for her little self. It would have blown her young mind if she knew exactly how important somepony such as her could be with just a bit of grease and magical ability.

She stretched her limbs and felt a crackle of red energy arc down her fur as she tried to contain her excitement. "Places everypony, I don't want to disappoint our esteemed guests when they arrive and fortunately I sent a rather competent tracker to search for one rainbow in a rock pile. Or whatever you nobles call it." She smiled serenely as she flitted around the party, her presence causing ponies to defer to her immediately.

"Fleur, please tell the nobles to keep notice for the word I provided you when we woke up today." Fleur bowed and cantered away, her model sensibilities still present in the puppet like jerky movements that peppered her walk.

Starlight grabbed a nearby glass of wine and began to sip it as she walked around the party, her slight nerves being numbed as the alcohol began to work on her system. It provided some confidence. She ran through the plan in her head and if everything went according to plan, she could get in and out of this little party without a hitch.

Sugar Belle would be enough to track one little pegasi in a town like Canterlot. Auras were unique and anyway that pony's hair lit up the room like a disco ball. Starlight leaned back and downed the glass of wine. Everything would be fine and if the plan was not perfect due to possible added ponies, she'd just have to deal with it. She did it before.

***

Rarity felt her taste buds sing as she took another bite of the food in front of her. It was such a magical meal. Though a small part of her brain did say that the feeling of contentment and joy could just be that this food was new to her so the tastes were magnified due to its exotic nature. "I have to say, Flutttershy, this is just so magnificent I'm surprised there aren't more ponies in this restaurant."

"Well it is off the beaten path for Canterlot. If I hadn't heard Rainbow mention it, I really wouldn't have found in between the shops and alleyways and I bet its hard to even see from the sky." Fluttershy took a sip of the cool mango drink in front of her and sighed. "Too bad really because this is a great find. I bet Pinkie would absolutely love it here."

Rarity chuckled. "True, though I'd worry about the owners then. Pinkie's. . .Pinkie. I mean she's a bit hard to get used to."

Fluttershy smiled. "Don't I know it. I mean she came into town on a mission to give everypony smiles at first. Didn't she like try and break down your door when you said you were too busy to party?"

Rarity waved a hoof. "Well she did pay me back after. And honestly you are trying to say I had the worst first introduction to Pinkie? Weren't you the last pony to even get a Pinkie Party just cause that was the year you moved out into your cottage? Pinkie tried to use her cannon to break down your door after she realized she missed one pony."

Fluttershy winced at the thought, the distance in time bringing some humor into a somewhat traumatic event. "I mean I had barricaded myself in my room since I thought it was a robber."

Rarity rolled her eyes. "Oh please, if a robber tried to rob you, I'd think your animal friends and your Stare would take care of them before they even realized what hit them. Not to mention you would have dwarfed most ponies so let's just hypothetically have our little robber versus the statuesque animal caretaker that lived on the edge of the most dangerous and unexplored forest in all of Equestria. Honestly darling, even after so long, I'm positively shocked you aren't just more confident in yourself. I mean who was it who fought a dragon?"

Fluttershy slumped in her seat. "Well it was more of a stern talking to. . ."

"And who was it who stared a cockatrice in the eyes?"

"I mean wouldn't anypony do that? And Sweetie might have embellished the tale when she told you,"

"Do you want me to quote Twilight where she said 'petrification should be categorically impossible to break free of.' or should I mention that Twilight got stoned from the very same thing?"

Fluttershy ran a hoof through her polychromatic hair. "She wasn't an alicorn yet."

Rarity eye twitched. "What I'm saying is that you should be more confident in your abilities. Sure modesty is a good trait in moderation but as my mother always said, 'drinking water is a good thing, but too much leads to drowning' and while I don't get her macabre love for these types of sayings. . .just amp up your confidence level and see the bright side of your little problem. You are in Dash's body, correct?"

Fluttershy looked up at her friend and frowned. "Sure."

"Just imagine this accident as practice for when Twilight brings your body back to normal. Just fake it until you make it. I mean honestly do you think I was born entirely as you see now, full of confidence?"

Fluttershy took a bite of food and sighed, "Rarity, I had to live with you for years. Compared to me, you seemed like a bright light drawing in a moth."

Rarity tapped her hoof on the table. "Well I wasn't. And I've had to learn a sense of purpose. Sure having a Cutie Mark helps in that regard, but I had to figure out what it meant, how to use those skills, and spend years of hard work putting myself out there just schmoozing with everything. And yes I said everything. I'm at least attempting some smaller ventures with other creatures outside of ponies. The world's a big place and while I hate adventure- I do see an opportunity knocking with our little Spiky-Wikey trying to talk to the dragons. Or the gryphons. And I've heard there should be a mission from Yakyakistan any day now. I don't know how those ventures might go, but if I didn't put myself out there confidently I'd have never tried."

Fluttershy pushed her food around, now feeling like she lost her appetite. "And what does that have to do with me exactly?"

Rarity put out her hoof, laying it on her pegasi friend. "I'm just saying I worry about you sometimes just out there in your cottage when I know if you got out of your shell, you could do so much more."

Fluttershy wanted to respond, but the door dinged open first. A silent, pale grey unicorn ambled in. She jerked in front of the two ponies and stopped, staring directly at Fluttershy. "Hello. Rainbow Dash? I have to say. . .you were. . .a hard pony to find. . . for standing out so much. . .I hope you remember the party from yesterday. . .it's today."

Rarity subtly looked at Fluttershy. She really didn't like this. The sheer fact of some random, possibly drugged out pony knowing Fluttershy's 'name' even if it was wrong due to Twilight's magical mishap unnerved her. "Uh, sorry, I don't think we caught your name." Rarity tried to smile, but the noticeable ear to ear grin that the grey pony was sporting was probably once of the most menacing things she'd seen so far. The fact that the pony's eyes were darting around like she was dreaming felt ever more odd.

"I am sorry. . .I forgot protocol for these kinds of situations. . .designation Sugar Belle at your service. . ."

"Well Sugar Belle, I bet my friend, Rainbow, right here would love to go to a party but you know we just got done with our food and I do think splitting and running off without paying first is against my code of conduct as a mare. So if you give us just a moment, I would love to show support for such a wonderful meal." Rarity dug out a purse of bits and laid it gently on the table. "Oh deary me, I seem to have inexact change. Well it was good food."

"Rarity, what are you doing? Are you insane?" Flutttershy whispered to her longest known friend besides Rainbow. "This really seems like a bad idea to go see why this pony wants to see me."

Rarity shot her friend a look. "You don't think I know that? But let's just humor this pony and see what's going on. If I dropped a business proposition because I thought somepony was insane, I'd have no clients in Canterlot." Rarity turned to see this Sugar Belle standing there, still staring blankly. "Sorry for that, my friend and I were having a little argument." Rarity tried to exude some kind of emotion besides fear as she was led out with Fluttershy to parts unknown and unliked. This was why she hated adventures. She was never one for surprises and this coming one felt inauspicious.

***

Twilight leafed through one of the books she got off Celestia's assistant. Six Shades of Hay, while interesting plotwise, held no real substance outside of detailed smut and while Twilight sometimes perused her own restricted section in the castle, the idea that a book like this could catch on so readily still baffled her. While there could be a plot between all these characters, it really felt as if there was no chance for it to progress naturally if the main characters got into a relationship immediately. Twilight yawned and pawed idly at her mane to get some of the unfortunate bedhead that still was present under control. "I don't see what Rarity gets from these books." Rarity had recommended it, and while Twilight had this nagging idea that it seemed too similar to her life- it was fine. Maybe the author was a fan of the friendship journals.

She laid back in her chair and sighed, She placed the novel on the side table next to 'Fluttershy' and stretched her wings. She really only came in here to check on Dash 2.0 or that's what she termed this Lightning Dust. Like if Dash was an even bigger egoist with nothing much to speak for it.

"Fuck am I doing here?" A raspy voice pulled Twilight back from the brink of sleep as she jolted upright. Cantering on over towards where the voice was, she came face to face with this Lightning Dust character Spitfire had lovingly told her about.

"Welcome back to the land of the conscious. I hope Luna provided your overnight stay."

Lightning Dust frowned. "Haha, and who are you? The last clown I'd expect to see before entering Tartarus? Maybe if you can stop being a joke, I can get out of here-" Lightning Dust looked down. "What the absolute bitch is this? What is that?"

Twilight smiled. "Oh yeah, that? That's the leg brace we put on to speed your shattered foreleg. I wouldn't suggest moving around too much though. Never know exactly how these things heal even with magic. I mean I'm surprised you even have a leg, though I did once see the prosthetic wing of the Canterlot hospital and it was just an interesting time."

Lightning Dust glared. "Well that's great. I'm stuck in a bed being lectured to by a weirdo."

"Well, I'm an alicorn. As everypony seems to point out, the 'weirdness' seems to come with the territory. I mean it could just be the absolute power coursing through your veins or maybe it's the responsibility, but I do have one question for you and I'll keep you to your devices. And maybe put in some good words for the doctors to give you a little bit of opium again."

"Great I'm now stuck with a pony who could murder me and get away with it. How reassuring. Let me look around and see if I could ask and see if I'm up for questions." Dust glanced around. "Hmm, well it seems like I'm a captive audience so why not."

Twilight slightly rolled her eyes and pulled up a chair. "I see. Now you somehow nearly pulled off the impossible. I mean for all intents and purposes, your little almost a Rainboom is impressive. Almost breaking the idea that it's a fluke of nature."

Lightning Dust scoffed. "What are you even getting at? Honestly I just worked my plot off and studied everything I could from the pictures and films I could find. It isn't like she's truly special anyway. Sure she lights up a room with her Rainboom garbage, but its not like other ponies can't perform it. I mean its just piercing the sound barrier and once you get past the ingrained fear that pegasi are trained at Flight Camp about safety and the science of flight- throw those out the window and have a bit of a grudge and you can pull off anything."

Twilight blinked. "Interesting. I was running with the theory you could be related to Rainbow Dash or something due to a thing like this. I mean genetically and, honestly, temperamentally you two are nearly identical with your hopes and dreams and your egos. Though the gene side is a fluke as well since the races have all interbred at this point, its even moot if it matters." Twilight leaned forward in her chair. "But I guess I was actually mistaken, I mean if any pegasi could perform the move- I wonder why you'd even attempt it."

"I didn't mean it like that."

"Okay, but realize when you look back at this injury that I hope heals right- I've seen Dash fail at that move and go to the hospital with a broken wing or strained muscles or just a broken nose. Sure you added a punch into this sonic boom attempt so that could have thrown off your aerodynamics enough to break your arm, but maybe the move every pegasi could complete as you say, is actually special to her and her alone. I don't know if its her genetics or her work ethic or the bits and pieces I know of her past. Or its every single one of those things. But try and talk about your differences first."

"Well the Wonderbolt captains told me-"

Twilight rubbed her temple. "And if they told you to jump off a cliff? I mean seriously you can just talk about your little ego problem with a pony who, when I got here, asked me if you were okay because she was impressed you could almost pull off a trick like that."

Lightning Dust looked up at the drab ceiling. "She did?"

"Of course she did. She said something about how you are a Wonderbolt and that you sort of fulfilled the Wonderbolt motto I guess. It's been hours and I'm exhausted so sorry I can't recall the exact words." Twilight could vaguely see Dash stare at her with her blue orbs as she finished. And the alicorn knew exactly why Dash was smiling. She had put words in the pegasi's mouth and 95 percent of what she told Dust was false. Though seeing a medical record of the pegasi brought up an awkward thing she'd talk about later. After today, she wanted one day without drama and stress. That could come later. She floated the novel she had put down and cantered out of the room. If Lightning Dust wanted to talk with 'Fluttershy' that was fine. She shut the door quietly and breathed in. Those intimidation techniques Luna had started to teach her sure came in handy.

***

Fluttershy knew exactly where they were as they walked up to the lavish estate. She noticed Rarity fanning herself with a hoof as they stopped since Sugar Belle had taken some vast liberties with the walk here. They had to sometimes run to keep up with her and had to walk between carts as she sauntered over them, completely focused on some unknown and weird mission. Fluttershy hadn't noticed the complete stop of her new unicorn acquaintance and bumped into her. Sugar Belle did not notice or care. Knocking briefly on the door with a weird tap, she turned away and teleported into the walls.

"I'd say she was rude if I didn't find her to be a terrible messenger. Now dear, I do think this mansion looks familiar, but after that wild goose chase she gave us I'm completely and utterly lost."

Fluttershy ran a hoof through her colorful mane. "This is Fleur's mansion. I was going to check up on her due to some. . .obligations but I couldn't even get past her maid."

The large door creaked open and the white unicorn that owned the mansion stepped out. Her uniform of a frilly black maid outfit did nothing for her figure as it was two sizes too large and baggily hung on her. "Welcome, Rainbow Dash, we have been expecting you."

Fluttershy cocked her head. "Uh, thanks." She was unable to come up with much more, as the image of one of the best known models in Equestria acting like a maid was an image she hadn't expected. It almost felt like life was slightly playing a joke as she walked forward with Rarity right behind. The house was empty save for a few quiet ponies just staring with blank expressions as they passed by. The only sounds besides the faint music playing from somewhere in the backyard most likely were of their muffled hooves as they walked along the carpeted expanse and of the faint breathing of each pony they passed.

"So, uh, Fleur. . .nice costume you have on. It does so much for your figure." Rarity tried to make light of the situation the best way she knew how.

"I wanted to try something different. It fit. Right this way."

The walked into the backyard and Fluttershy tried to keep her eyes on the hedges as they passed since the new scene was abnormal. Ponies that she didn't know lay about on the ground without any thread on them. Which for the very vocal aristocrats felt wrong. She thought she could see Sapphire Shores in the distance surrounded by stallions and from how they were moving, Fluttershy knew exactly what they were doing.

"Shy, I want to leave right now. I just saw like ninety percent of my Canterlot clientele participating in some weird swingers paradise and I really, really want to leave." Rarity almost whimpered as she tried to step over wet or dirty clothes scattered about.

"And you don't think I want the same thing? I told you this would be a bad idea and you didn't do anything to stop it."

She heard Rarity draw in a sharp breath. "Dear, I'm not Twilight. I can be a very detail oriented unicorn and Twilight once compared herself to me. I have knowledge of magic, yes. But I'm not going to go in spells blazing like Twilight. And if we're going to be calling out one another, why didn't you? You could have at least attempted some of Rainbow's speed. You didn't. So while I'd love complaining all day about lost opportunities, that isn't getting us out of this situation."

"I'm. . .sorry."

"I know. And I get it. Just let's focus on right now and see who exactly is in this den of iniquity."

Fluttershy did not feel better as the walk continued, the end point clear as a large seat sat firmly in the middle of the yard. A pink pony sat coolly upon it, a smile gracing her lips as the party came closer. And as Fluttershy came closer, she didn't feel better. For the throne, for lack of a better term, was created not from wood or stone, but from unblinking, happy ponies. The throne perceptively moved as each pony took a breath all at the same time.

Fleur stopped and bowed at the pony sitting atop the most on the nose art piece Shy had ever seen.

"I hope your travel went well., Rainbow Dash. You are just so interesting to me." Starlight eased herself off her chair and daintily walked down the steps. "How did my compatriots treat you?"

Rarity spoke up. "I didn't exactly like your first messenger. And whatever this is, is just so gauche."

Starlight smiled. "Oh, this is just me having a bit of a laugh. I'm surprised you don't seem impressed. Just from the way you hold yourself, you seem so theatrical. Now I believe, you want the adults to talk while you stay silent." Starlight smiled as her horn flickered red. "Now where was I? Oh yes, hello."

Fluttershy shivered. "Why are you doing this anyway?"

Starlight laughed and as she laughed, Fluttershy could hear the yard around her erupt in barking laughter. "Right to the point, a mare right after my own heart. Why am I doing this?" Starlight lifted a hoof to survey her work. "Boredom mostly. Do you even realize how difficult it is to care about things when you find a spell that can give you what you want? Oh but that waver in your your denotes fear so I guess you might be worried about me taking over the country or some silly crap like that."

Fluttershy nodded, her breath ragged as she felt a panic attack want to creep out.

"Well don't you mind that issue. I don't even care about taking over a country. Honestly, think of me as a highly effective mayor more than a queen. I can run one measly little town in the middle of absolute nowhere, but a country? Me? After the years of news I heard? I'd be deposed by Changelings or some smoke monster or what about a magic eating centaur. Maybe you want me playing politics with nations. Saddle Arabia and Yakyakistan? Okay, that could work. But what about the Stormlands? I bet having somepony commit a coup would go over so well. So don't worry your well toned plot, I'm not evil."

"But you are mind controlling others. . ."

"Which is light gray magic at best, dark magic at worst. I know. I know. But come on, who hasn't used dark magic once or twice. Heck, I bet the alicorns all have used worse magic." Starlight put a arm around Fluttershy and ruffled her hair. "Evil is subjective anyway. And am I worse or better than the bad guys Equestria blasts with magic on a fairly regular basis. But I'm falling down a philosophical rabbit hole. Oh, I almost forgot. Your friend here said Sugar Belle gave you some. . .issues?"

Fluttershy nodded. "Well I thought she was a bit weird but its fine."

Starlight floated over a glass of wine. "You sure? Cause she seemed pretty adamant about it. You want any refreshments? I do so ever hate being a terrible party host. I mean even if its not really my party, but you get what I mean."

"No, I'm good. I don't want to mix drinking and flying." Fluttershy felt her wings bristle with worry as Starlight hummed a little ditty to herself.

"Your loss. I have to say for how big these snobs are with the social ladder, they can really choose some good alcohol. But yeah, while I totally believe that you didn't have an issue with my messenger, I also am cautious about you. Fleur, can you be a dear and discipline Sugar Belle?" Starlight glanced at her empty wine glass and tossed it aside, the glass shattering among the flowers.

"But I-"

Starlight inched closer to Fluttershy, staring directly into her magenta orbs. "Don't worry, Fleur just has to reapply the spells that make everypony here happy. And Sugar Belle, unfortunately seems to have some issues we need to iron out. She's going to be all fine and dandy. Think of it like a doctor's appointment."

"Um okay, I don't really want to ask, but can you let my friend go and I won't tell anypony whatever's going on." Fluttershy felt her coat dampen with sweat as she just kept noticing how odd it was that Starlight was completely calm and yet she still felt threatened by this pink unicorn.

Starlight yawned. "I only did that to her just so I could get away from what I perceived as a headache. And don't worry, I'm not rooting around her mind like I could. It's just me and you talking. But sure, I promise that I won't hurt a hair on her rather impressive figure. But on one condition."

"Which is?" Fluttershy could swear she could hear some echoed scream coming from the distance. Maybe it was Sugar Belle, but she didn't want to think about that right now.

"Rainbow Dash, you just have to tell me where the archmage is."

Fluttershy tilted her head at that. "What?"

"Just a hunch, but you at least have to know something. There's no possible way that the Want It, Need It spell I've been trying to cast on you hasn't been working. Compared to these ponies all around me, you are both interesting and infuriating." Starlight's horn crackled with red energy. "But just tell me where the archmage is and I'll let you go, no questions asked."

"So you won't kidnap us and hold us for ransom or something?"

Starlight rubbed her temple. "No, I considered it, but no. I just want to know where she is. She has some things of mine that I really wish I had. You know it's weird how you've been acting like I'm a threat to you these last. . .ten minutes? I honestly don't care about you besides you brought an interesting challenge to crack. I haven't yet, but I might. I also don't care about ruling the world, since it'd just be a hassle, but just tell me where she is."

"I don't."

Starlight's demeanor broke. "You do! You totally do. Or someone you know does. I had you followed after you left this place yesterday just cause I didn't trust you and I saw you and your friend being lifted out by Celestia herself. And then there's the new princess who flew in to help you two, Or what about how I've been here for weeks being followed by the one pony I want to talk to and yet, every time I feel her, she just disappears. I send my best unicorns, they are sent back to me with blase notes. I send earth ponies, they fall out of the sky. Pegasi? Same deal. I just want to know where she is!"

Starlight blasted a bolt of red magic right near Fluttershy's face. The blue pegasus could feel the burning arcs of magic dance across her face as it zoomed past her ear. She could hear the air pressure pop back in as her ears acclimated back to normal. Fluttershy did not look back as a wall of heat enveloped the garden for a moment. Sound came back faintly as she could hear wood start to crack. Glancing for just a few moments behind her, she saw the mansion she had just walked through a while ago with a large hole through the west side of the house, glass shards littered the grass and splinters of wood burned with magical fire.

"Sorry about that. I really should have warned about my little anger problem. It just snaps right out of me something fierce. Now, if you don't mind, can you tell me where to find the this town's friendly archmage? I'd really love not having to escalate my plans but after spending at least a few weeks in one town, I'm just getting so antsy."

Fluttershy vaguely nodded. She guessed that was the best course of action when dealing with a pony who was not all there.

***

"Hey, Yellow."

Dash blinked herself awake, the silence of the last few hours had caused her to slip into a brief slumber, "Yeah?"

Rainbow could here Dust sigh in the next bed over. "I guess I'm sort of sorry for punching you."

"Really?"

"Yeah cause I broke my arm on your face."

Dash rolled her blue eyes. "How nice of you to say."

Dust sputtered out a curt response. "I'm trying to say sorry."

Dash felt an itch form on her nose, but she couldn't reach it. "Fine. I'm sorry too, I guess for being snippy right now, but I wasn't planning on being in the hospital during my sort of relaxing vacation." Dash tried to think of what Fluttershy would say in this case, omitting the rather convoluted sense of confusion that had built around going to Canterlot for a laugh.

"Well that blows. But, uh that really wasn't all my fault. Didn't the captains want to upstage me or something?" Dash heard a pained chuckle from her side.

Dash rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Probably cause you were being a bit of a pain. I mean you did walk in and announce to the whole team of how rad you were."

"Too bad they didn't see my greatness. . .but hey if you are around Manehattan, we could come and hang out sometime."

Dash was taken aback. "Okay, where's this side of you coming from? Cause I literally just met you." Dash fudged a bit there and continued, "I mean we did just try and have a fight. And you don't really seem the type to just let bygones be bygones this quickly."

Dash could here the indecision in the blue green pegasus as she spoke. "I dunno, maybe it's just breaking my arm this badly and being cooped up in the room in some medical coma made me think of some things. Like I'm hot stuff, but this put things into perspective is all."

Rainbow nodded. "Okay, I won't push further. And Dust? I'd love to see Manehattan, though could I bring somepony with me?"

"If you say it's that bitch that almost got me kicked out of the 'Bolts, I'll almost rethink my generous offer."

"Well about that. . ." Dash awkwardly chuckled.

Lightning Dust audibly sighed. "Fine. But tell her to not be a dick. I'm still pissed off I had to spend months being some lowly private after she had her little test of character or whatever."

***

"Why thank you Rainbow Dash. . ." Fluttershy could hear the mocking tone oozing all over Starlight's voice. "See? That wasn't too difficult."

Fluttershy snapped back to reality as the whole idea of selling out somepony felt wrong to her, but her eyes refocused and she gulped yet again. Every unicorn stood around the pair in a circle, holding up knives and, in some cases, sharpened magic auras to each of their throats.

Oh yes, Fluttershy remembered a bit of the last ten minutes. "Now can you please let them all go?"

Starlight yawned and patted a nearby unicorn, dragging her hoof down their necks, she stopped and prodded at the thin red line that trickled blood down and sighed. "Fine, whatever. I'd have expected something more from you. But sure, ruin the theatricality of what I have achieved through the mystical power of magic and worry about a pony you'd never see again. How noble." Starlight motioned for the unicorns all to disperse and each of them lowered their weapons and went back to what they had been performing for hours.

"So will you let Rarity and me go?"

Starlight mused the thought for a bit. "Well you did tell me where our mutual acquaintance was. And I did say that was the bargain. . .so as a pony of my word and deed, I'll let you and our rather fetching unicorn here go." Starlight smiled and turned away.

Fluttershy was going to say something back to Starlight, but she heard Rarity start to stir out of her trance.

"Fluttershy, what time is it and why does my head feel like I had one of Applejack's special cider concoctions?" Rarity shook her head and stumbled towards her friend.

Fluttershy took a foreleg of her friend and started walking away, but as she turned back, she noticed every unicorn casting the same spell. "Uhm, Rarity, I know you just woke up but after the last hour and a half I've had. . .I hope you forgive me what I'm going to do right now."

"Darling I don't under-"

Fluttershy placed a quick jab to Rarity's jaw. She felt her friend grow slack as her brain registered the hit. Fluttershy had some experience with how anatomy worked and hitting around that area on a pony worked in theory- though with how Fluttershy normally was, she had never tested it. She supposed it was the first time for everything, but if she knew what spell that Starlight would try to cast on a large scale- she didn't want to have to calm down or fight Rarity if it was the one she was thinking about.

Fluttershy could see the green mass of magic from the gathered crowd of unicorns hit some invisible barrier and rain back down upon Canterlot. The green rain made Fluttershy feel cold as it hit her fur, soaking her immediately with worry. Slinging Rarity over her back, she quickly cantered out of the garden, gaining speed as she went zooming past ponies in stages of sheer agony as the magic started affecting them.

She averted her eyes and ran, her blue wings soaked to the bone, making her unsure about how great of a flier she was. Sure she was working with Rainbow's body, but she knew the layout of Canterlot enough to make it back. She had to tell somepony something was going on.

She could hear ponies all around her screaming in pain. Then as she went from street to street, it grew quieter and quieter, once she hit the end of the Clover District, the streets were silent.

She slunk around an alleyway and peered out the silent mob forming nearby. The sound of hooves on cobblestones and a unified in and out breathing pattern hinted at these ponies being present in the moment. Fluttershy held her breath as she waited for the street to clear out as they moved in lockstep towards the place she gave out.

Fluttershy chastised herself and tapped herself lightly on her head. "Ugh, why do I have to be so afraid of everything?" She slumped to the ground. Rarity slid off her back and laying silent beside her. "I mean I could have done something. Anything at all besides telling the obviously evil pony where to get the thing she wanted." She let out a cry of emotion as the day's events finally caught up to her. "If only Rainbow Dash had been here maybe this would've gone a different way."

Fluttershy looked over and noticed that she was near a shop window and the pony staring back at her reflected how she felt inside at that moment. Her mane lay in stringy tangles and her coat was covered in mud and grime. She picked out small splinters in her back as she felt a mix of laughter and tears well up inside her. She looked like a mess, her makeup running over her face in wide streaks like a raccoon mask. Her eye, which after what Twilight called 'a magical mishap due to aural entanglement' was truly black and her eyes were puffy from tears welling up and spilling over her face.

She wiped her tears and tried to smile and provide herself a pep talk. "Okay, so what if Canterlot is dealing with a giant brainwashing spell. And Starlight would have got to Moondancer anyway, what with her being persistent. So you're just going to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get to Twilight cause she knows magic." Fluttershy pushed away the thoughts that her words rang hollow. She had a job to do.

***

Twilight felt a massive headache come on as she turned the page in Six Shades of Hay. she begrudged the fact that this author had at least some inkling on how to structure a story, but having sex scenes every twenty pages and later devolving into a plot that revved out of nowhere where after the first hundred pages of sex scenes and everyday fun, the final ten pages turned into a final battle that came out of nowhere and was never even hinted at. Twilight dropped the book and sighed. It had been at least an interesting page turner, even though the character she preferred was almost never focused on. Shadow Star, an earth pony able to cast their own magic through sheer force of will and talent.

She stretched her wings and sighed. She could debate herself all night on the merits of this book, but she needed to check on Dash and Lightning Dust, guessing by their injuries and the amount of magic she had infused into them, by her calculations they should at least be able to leave their rooms and stretch their limbs.

Twilight walked briskly into the room as the outside lit up with a sickly green. She would have chalked it up to some magical experiment on the outskirts of the town, until it hit the magical barrier and her mind went off into panic as she felt the magical signature of a certain spell she now forbid herself to use.

"Oh this is bad." She felt the similarity to what her friends still called the Smarty Pants Incident. She would have had more time to speculate how she felt a spell like it and yet she could feel the, well, artistic liberties taken by a magic user that had more than a passing fancy at experimentation.

That was when Lightning Dust's monitor began blaring and flashing loudly. Twilight could see a faint green glow emanate from the pegasus as she showed symptoms of a seizure as her whole body convulsed and shook with each passing second. And then there was nothing but silence.

"Um, well okay, this is definitely outside of my expertise." Twilight sheepishly laughed.

"Twilight, is she okay?"

Twilight snapped out of her stupor when she heard Dash's voice, and deciding between a responsive friend and a pony that was radiating off a spell signature that reminded her of one of her lowest points. . .she went with the former. She noticed Lightning Dust stumble out of bed, her limbs tangling in themselves as she dragged the metal cage that had kept her leg together. She just kept on going without a complaint or a word.

Twilight just started unhooking Dash from her machine, pulling adhesive off her yellow fur and gingerly trying to pull out IVs and needles quickly without too much blood loss. She quickly grabbed a small towel and waved it in front of Rainbow's face. "Dash, just press this against your forehoof for just a minute. I need to find tape."

Dash glanced over at Lightning Dust who was just pounding listlessly at the glass window. "What about her?"

"Don't go near her. That's the best advice I can up with on the fly. Though now I'm wondering how we are unaffected by an altered Want It, Need It spell." Dash couldn't hear much more of Twilight's mumbling technospeak as the alicorn ran through scenarios in her head. "Aha, I got it."

"The tape?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Now I'd rather not chance our luck." She dragged Dash out of the room with magic and quickly locked the door behind them. "What?"

"I'm just surprised the Princess of Friendship would lock somepony in a room."

Twilight facehoofed. "Rainbow, sometimes you have to do some underhoofed things to get out of situations. So while I definitely don't feel the greatest about leaving her in a locked room, I'd feel like the hospital being empty right now is the main issue right now."

Rainbow cocked her head. "How-"

Twilight flashed her horn's magic. "Quick spell. Nopony's here besides us."

Rainbow ran her hooves through her pink mane and sighed, her hoof felt sore from the IV and she winced before speaking. "So what does that mean? We're in one of those movies Pinkie loves so much?"

"Hardly."

***

Starlight stared at Moondancer's shop and laughed quietly to herself. After all this time and effort, after weeks of just coasting by and trying to find one measly building in a sea of nondescript buildings, she found it. The little shop looked like any other until you touched the charms hiding its presence from most onlookers. Genius work if she had to at least compliment a pony who had been at least a thorn in her side for a month.

She whistled. Her shrill note echoed through the empty streets and as it bounced through the silence, ponies walked out of the shadows. Starlight was done playing nice. She'd tried finesse and subterfuge- she tried destroying the Wonderbolts cause first of all, she was bored and secondly, she'd never really heard of the Wonderbolts. Finesse failed and gave her a larger and more noticeable presence- if having random ponies show up to her door was any indication. Now she'd try the brute force tactic.

She briskly knocked on the door, the charms dissipating at her touch, sending small golden flecks of magic rain down onto the street as she just waited for at least a reply.

"Who's there?" Starlight could sense the faintest hint of a quaver.

"Just the pony who you've been following for a week or so. I really doubt you have many reasons to have a knock at your door at this time of night, though I don't judge. I knew a fair bit of days where it was just me curled up with a book and plotting revenge on ponies that casually offended me in some way."

Starlight put her ear up to the door and waited. After there was no reply, she motioned her unicorns that had cantered in on a want and a whim and pointed toward the door.

"You know I have to commend you on boarding this place up like a mini fortress. Fifteen protective charms, six spells of warding and a hex array that would put many magic scholars into a conniption fit. All in a self sustaining, enclosed magical field." Starlight let out a low whistle. "Too bad I have to warn you about how volatile closed systems can be if you just prod them a little bit and just throw their whole nicely balanced ratios into a fit." Starlight fired up her horn and felt all the emotions she had been trying to bottle up for a month leak out of her and gather around her horn like a bleeding storm cloud. She aimed every unicorn at the wall, moving them like chess pieces, aiming for the webbed connective tissue that made up this spell and fired.

She could see the spells clash for one second, waves of purple light and red burning small dots into her retinas as the light overwhelmed her senses for one moment. The structure warped and bent in on itself, its magic eating at the boards like a disease as it rent large holes into it and shot off loud explosions as sections of the spell imploded in protest.

Starlight blinked, trying to get the floating purples out of her vision and smiled. She never liked really coming in hot, but it was nice to let off some steam and with no consequences since nopony else was around.

She waited for the walls to come crumbling down, the front wall cracked in half as the top of the building lost its supports and crashed into the floor below. Splinters and dust came raining down on the street and Starlight cantered in. "Knock, knock." Starlight stopped when she saw Moondancer.

Moondancer had been very unlucky in the spell's collapse. The cream unicorn had been standing in the spot a wayward beam had come tumbling down and had speared Moondancer through the back legs. Starlight walked forward and touched the one unicorn who could possibly help her in finding Sunburst. Prodding her neck, Starlight could feel a heartbeat fading in and out and Moondancer's eyes opened and stared daggers at her newest guest.

"I told you to leave me alone." Moondancer sputtered out a short reply, her teeth red with blood.

Starlight thought quickly, glancing at a nearby pendant that she had only ever heard of in musty tomes and half heard whispers. She floated over the large red and black amulet and grimaced at what she had to do.

"If only you had talked this out like a normal pony and stood a foot to the right, I wouldn't have to do this." Starlight aimed her magic at Moondancer's neck and fired her horn. The beam cut into Moondancer's neck, bleeding immediately, the red blood pooling at their hooves and spreading across the floorboards in a blotchy stain. Starlight grasped the amulet in her aura and snapped it in half, the decorative alicorn depiction falling to the floor. She carefully pressed the jewel that was actually the source of the amulet's power, some long forgotten cursed object, its history lost to the sands of time, and pressed it into the wound.

Starlight felt anger at having to save the supposedly 'brightest mage in Canterlot' from impalement and certain disability or death, but she had one rule to follow- even after enslaving a town and turning Canterlot into her own pack of hunting dogs for a night. She never was a fan of actually killing ponies. Acting like she would and intimidating ponies since they tended to crack after a few fearful minutes? Sure. Actual death? No.

She found out that limit after some of the residents of Ironhoof had taken her desires too far and pushed back.

Starlight sighed, stitching up her project. Her red anger tainting the fur with red streaks and the alicorn amulet touching that fertile ground with black necrotic looking skin. It wasn't pretty, but she pushed the gem out slightly, to see the massive ruby set directly below her neck. It was definitely not Starlight's best work.

After that difficult work, she cut away the offending spear of wood and angled the piece out, quickly firing up a healing spell and urging Moondancer to at least attempt a healing spell. Even with her anger issues and aptitude with magic, Starlight was still just a unicorn and while she could technically use the battalions of unicorns at her mental whims, this time going in hot was not the best idea. It would be like bringing a boulder to a surgery and expecting to use that to save lives.

While she had to wait to see if the archmage would heal herself, Starlight snapped back to reality and quickly looked around the small shop, stepping over unbroken artifacts since most artifacts were notorious for their invulnerability, the creators of such things were good at what they did. Unless an artifact was an amulet or jewelry, it was usually more work to destroy an artifact than just bury it away in some long forgotten vault.

Jewelry had innate flaws in that the jewels were the things that held magic, not the whole piece. Starlight quietly thanked Sunburst's long and arduous talks about such minute details. Annoying. endearing details.

After a few moments of searching she found the Meadowbrook section, small and out of the way for a pony that was so influential in how spells and potions were used. And an earth pony mage no less. Starlight floated over a knapsack and gathered the eight artifacts that she had been looking for. Putting the dark blue and gold shaman mask on, Starlight walked out with her prize on her back. She picked up Moondancer and floated her out as well.

She glanced back at the remains of the shop and sighed. Not every plan ended in complete perfection. She whistled to her helpers and they brought to her a nondescript and light cart. Starlight knew ponies would be looking for her at some point so dressing down and being frugal helped hide her yet again. She'd of course have to change her accent yet again since the hokey country bumpkin voice would be too suspicious. Maybe a fake Griffonstone accent might work.

Starlight whistled as she cantered away, glancing back at Moondancer, who's closed eyelids leaked red magic. Starlight smiled. Her promise to Sunburst that she would be a pony that didn't kill ponies was still technically okay.

Starlight hummed a tune to herself as she passed through the silent town.

***

Fluttershy had been dragging Rarity for what felt like an eternity. And she had come to the conclusion that maybe knocking her out hadn't been the smartest idea of hers. She huffed and puffed as the hospital came into view. And from the wide open front door and smashed out windows from what she suspected were ponies trying to escape for Starlight's little parade, rubbed her eyes and glanced at the muddy hoof that came back.

She noticed movement from her left and as she glanced around, she saw herself look back.

"Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy waved back at herself. Even after more than a week, the idea of seeing herself like that still was a bit too surreal. "Hey, Rainbow."

"So how'd Rarity get like that?"

Fluttershy blushed. "I'd rather not talk about it."

Twilight stepped out and rubbed her face. "It's nice to see you two acting so chummy, but seriously will nobody explain to me how a mass mind control spell worked on a city the size of Canterlot, and secondly why now? It's not the Changelings for sure since they work on surprise and this doesn't work like their magic besides the emotional pull of hatred woven deep in this spell."

Rainbow rolled her blue eyes and laughed. "Way to ruin the moment, Twi."

Fluttershy rubbed her polychromatic hair and tried to laugh. "Yeah about that. . ."

Rainbow and Twilight stared directly at the blue pegasus. Twilight spoke up first. "What happened?"

"Well it's a long story."

Twilight sat and waited. "Have you looked around? I think we have all the time in the world."

Fluttershy spilled everything that happened that day. From the good, the bad, and the really ugly. When she finished her story, she looked at Twilight. The alicorn had stayed uncomfortably silent once Moondancer's name had come up and had started tapping her hoof on the stones around her as the story continued.

"And that's that." Fluttershy breathed in a sigh of relief, the feeling of telling somepony about how stressful the day had been lifted a huge weight off her shoulders. And she didn't mean Rarity. Fluttershy stood up and walked towards Twilight. "I know I messed up, but it was the only thing I could do in that situation."

"Moondancer was a friend of mine."

Rainbow stared at Twilight. "Well how was she supposed to know that? You didn't ever mention her and you didn't write down a list of ponies to not sell out to creepy cult leaders. And anyway when we met her, she didn't like even mentioning you so sorry maybe Fluttershy thought it was okay to just blab about a pony she thought wasn't essential to her life."

"Dash don't-"

Twilight yelled at the top of her lungs, the Royal Canterlot voice echoing through the town. "Shut up!" In a fit of rage, she walked up to Fluttershy and punched her in the face. Fluttershy could feel blood rush down her face and pool on her top lip before spilling down her fur again. Fluttershy could hear Rainbow Dash yelling as Twilight continued pummeling her.

"Twilight, what the fuck are you doing!"

Twilight sat and looked at her red and bloody hooves. Tears pooled on her face and came spilling down in loud waves as she let her emotions out. "I don't know. I just-"

"I-it's fine, Dash. I deserved some of this."

Rainbow fumed and quickly breathed in and out. "Go wash up, Twilight, can you at least do that before we all fly off the handle again?"

Twilight wiped her eyes and nodded, her body drooping as she got up. She didn't look at Fluttershy at all before she left and Fluttershy could swear the alicorn looked like she was cradling herself in her own purple wings. Though maybe she was wrong, the pooling blood from her face had made it a little harder to focus.

Dash walked up and knelt down to check on her friend. Shy could hear a faint sound of tape peeling off and Dash audibly winced as Fluttershy felt a cloth press gently into her face. "Sorry for the dried blood on it, I had to improvise."

Fluttershy smiled a pained smiled. "It's okay."

"I mean Moondancer has to be okay, right? I didn't really like talking to her, but everything has to be okay. It usually works out that way, right? We fight the bad guys and everything goes back to normal. We'll just find Starlight and do that. It works. It always-"

Fluttershy just stayed silent as she felt tears pool on her chest. She looked up at the twinkling stars that had started to peek out from the dispersing clouds. She just didn't know for sure; all she could do was hope. Sometimes hoping for the best was the best one could do in bad times. Fluttershy quietly spoke up as she wanted the fill the sad silence with something that could lighten the mood, even if just a little.

"Hey Dash, I just realized we've only been in Canterlot three days. . ."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Fluttershy coughed. "I mean its so difficult to contain this much awesome that the whole town went crazy."

Fluttershy could hear Dash quietly chuckling. "That's not even a good joke, Shy."

"I know. And Dash? It's probably going to work out okay." Her words still felt hollow, but she wasn't saying it for herself.

Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)

Twilight fumed as she looked at the vast destruction that was the last known residence of her first and, sadly, least talked about friend. She picked up a sharpened piece of wood in her magic and twirled it around to check for some sort of clue since the trail had gone cold. She just stared at the pile of wood that she had tossed nearby, the picture forming in her mind a bloody mess and sighed.

"Twilight, you okay?"

Twilight turned and felt exhausted. The predawn light told her that Celestia hadn't woken up yet and discovered her town turned into a magical funhouse. She turned and looked at Rainbow Dash.

"No, Dash, I'm not really okay. You kept mentioning that maybe Moondancer was left behind or safe or something and look around us. Her place is destroyed and by the excessive amounts of blood that are on everything, I really doubt that she's okay."

Rainbow bowed her head. "Okay, I get it." Rainbow sighed. "Can you just act like you want to even be near Fluttershy after. . .you know. That?"

Twilight rubbed her forehead. "No, not right now. Maybe after we deal with the crazy pony that did this and find Moondancer, I might. But right now? I'd rather deal with that just because being hyperfocused on one problem makes me not worry about all the other problems I've had to deal with recently."

Rainbow rolled her eyes. If she wanted intense brooding drama, she would have told Rarity about some made up story about coffee disappearing due to Twilight botching a spell. Not Twilight acting like a big drama queen for multiple hours and punching one of her best friends. She was attempting to be supportive but Twi's moodiness and anger at one pony that felt like crap about it already didn't help. She shook her head and looked away.

"Hey, Twi, what's that?"

Twilight groaned. "Dash, if it's another piece of wood-" Twilight turned and noticed what might have caught Dash's eye. A very familiar amulet stared back up at her. "Ponyfeathering-"

"So that's bad right?"

Twilight lit up her horn and grumbled. She didn't like casting a spell so early in the morning, but if the Alicorn Amulet somehow broke, it wasn't going to be a good day for her. Twilight had guessed that it could be possible to break the gem off the setting, but handling magic that dark trumped her curiosity. Even she had standards. Well okay, self imposed standards after causing Ponyville light mental trauma for a hoofmade friendship problem, but who was truly counting? She breathed in and out to focus, since this spell was a type that most ponies hadn't even thought of, not that it was truly difficult per se, but Celestia kept this type of magic under lock and key for a reason.

When Twilight had pressed her, she hadn't mentioned why.

"Cantus Evocatio."

Rainbow took a step back as the air grew thick and heavy as the air pressure rose dramatically. She felt the pressure hit as waves of magic danced around her and lightly pressed against her. Dash quickly closed her eyes before any Twilight lightshow would start since the pegasi knew better. The last time Twilight pulled off some crazy stunt like this unannounced, she ended up being blinded for some long and uncomfortable hours.

With an audible pop, the world went back to normal. Or close to it. When Dash opened her eyes again after shaking off the light headache that was just starting to form above her eye due to the sharp and unexpected difference in air pressure, she looked back and saw a large flaming blue portal that oozed magic as it sputtered to life.

"Okay, while that is probably the most metal thing I've seen in a while, like what are you doing, Egghead?"

Twilight rolled her eyes at Rainbow's remark. "Now if I was correct and the time is right, I should be able to get somepony on this quick connection. Hello? Is anypony there? I know it's super early but hello?"

Rainbow could hear the clopping of hooves on crystal as a bleary eyed purple unicorn came into focus.

"I know you have royal prerogative and all that shit, but can you please cool it on the waking me up before even Celestia deems it to be morning? Like you aren't making it easier on me right now. Anyway, your stupid table keeps blaring at me about Canterlot." Sparkler yawned and glanced over at Dash, the shock of seeing another pony shocked her totally awake. "Wait, Twilight, why are you a giant disembodied head in the middle of your castle again?"

Twilight ran a hoof through her mane. "Not the best time to explain. Now what was that about the Cutie Map?"

***

Fluttershy stared at her face. Well Rainbow's face, but after this long in this predicament it felt easier to drop that and just be fine saying it was her face. At least when Rainbow wasn't in the room- that added another complication on top of that. So she just stared at her current face and sighed, seeing the damage that Twilight had caused put yesterday outside of some weird nightmare her anxious mind was creating once again.

She winced as the bruising still felt raw and painful. The pain of yesterday had made it difficult for her to be truly comfortable since she was super used to snuggling up beneath a giant thing of covers just so she could feel safer. But yesterday night was different since she couldn't rely on that coping mechanism to keep her nice and calm.

Fluttershy sighed, knowing that the idea that she was still terrified of the dark at her age would make most ponies completely scoff at her. Well most did. Her friends had been supportive of her attempts to break all these hangups she had about things. But she still feared that her friends somehow thought that her fear of Nightmare Night was just a silly thing. Those were the moments where she popped back into reality and wondered about things.

"Fluttershy, darling, while I admire your dedication of staring intently into mirrors and practicing cool sensuality, I'd worry that it's four am and a lady deserves her beauty sleep." Rarity strolled in, her frilly pink robe and slippers not matching her unkept hair and baggy eyes.

"Sorry Rarity, I should probably go to sleep." Fluttershy blushed crimson.

The white unicorn yawned and waved a hoof. "No matter, anyway I really couldn't sleep after yesterday. You know big headache and all." Rarity winked. "But honestly it's not that. Even though I did realize that if you knocked me out you had good reason for it, Miss 'I can't hurt a fly- even if it's some horrible acid spitting demon" so I'll just write that one off as a heat of the moment thing. But honestly it wasn't that that kept me up and ruined my sleep schedule."

Fluttershy listened intently at that; she felt only slightly better that Rarity wasn't exactly holding knocking her out against her. At least one friend wasn't peeved at her for yesterday. "So what kept you up exactly?"

Rarity wistfully looked away. "It's just that here," Rarity vaguely motioned towards the walls surrounding the pair. "just feels so hollow now. Like I know I should be happy that my stores are doing great, and I'm going to expand into Manhattan later this year and that was all I had dreamed when I was little. And now I have that and I have Applejack and all that entails. But after Starlight's little spell. . .everything just feels okay."

"Rarity, I don't think your life is boring at all and if you need to talk to a shrink, I know a few good ones in Ponyville."

Rarity smiled and shook her head. "I appreciate it, Fluttershy, and I may take you up on the offer, but that's not what I'm getting at. Starlight's spell was just so vivid. It was like if somepony just gave you a glimpse of what you dreamed of and gave it to you, no strings attached and then when you come back to reality. . .it's not there. I had everything I ever dreamed of and I lived an entire life in there."

"Rarity, I really don't follow."

Rarity stared at the mirror and frowned. "I saw what my life could be with Applejack. And sure Twilight's spell was probably equally as great, but it's like. . .I never got bored in there. I saw the Crusaders all grow up and have kids, I saw Applejack and I have an entire family and my business venture stretching across the globe. I saw Equestria no longer have to have Elements of Harmony. I could live my life anyway I wanted. I got bored and the spell reshaped my world so that I could live my life with them. I would say the Rainbow Dash or the Pinkie life was one of the strangest, but the spell made it so it made complete sense. And that was including Pinkie summoning things from Tartarus to show how much she loved me. Which honestly that should have woke me up right there due to Ponyville burning to the ground and all." Rarity quickly wiped away a tear.

"But Rarity, you are here now. And that was just a strong mental spell placed on the town. It shouldn't mean anything."

Rarity smiled. "Yeah, but my mind still thought it was real enough. And if your mind thinks the illusion is real does it make it an illusion? I don't know. But I wish it was real." Rarity sighed and breathed in. "But what has you in your doom and gloom?"

Fluttershy cocked her head. "Are you sure you don't want to talk about-"

Rarity stared directly at her friend. "About what? The existential dread that a spell somehow showed me multiple versions of my future and weird darkly humorous snippets at that? No. I need something. . .manageable right about now. So let me help you and we can both get something we need out of this- a calming presence for you and a totally normal problem for me to generously solve." Rarity winked.

Fluttershy quietly stared at the unicorn that had to be just barely holding herself together. "It's Twilight. She's mad at something I did yesterday and I really want to fix it and I don't know how."

"So like is she the crazy Twilight or the silently fuming Twilight cause our favorite alicorn princess tends to be either cooly logical or something of a bit of a hothead."

"What does this have to do with anything, Rarity, she's mad at me. I don't really see the significance between her moods."

Rarity quietly laughed to herself. "Darling, it has to do with everything. Now let's put this little temper tantrum into something I know fairly well." Rarity sat down in a nearby chair and kicked her hooves up to get comfortable. "Now where we we? Oh yes, examples. Now let's think of Twilight as a paying customer in one of my boutiques. Now your idea that her anger intensity level doesn't matter can be thought of in this case in two main ways. Well, multiple, but let's just stick to a few due to how important this analogy is."

Fluttershy nodded. "I mean it is way too early for this."

"Thank Twilight for explaining to me that brevity is better than intense and detailed explanations about the fashion industry. But back to Twilight, her anger is like a dress. Either she lets it hug all her curves and keep the dress uncomfortably close to the chest, or she lets out her anger in long and frilly pleats and long open designs." Rarity noticed that Fluttershy might have missed the point. "Well maybe that was a muddled analogy. Okay, next analogy. Color? Well Twilight's anger runs in two shades. Light blue or blood red. Cool versus hot. And my job as a fashion designer is to fulfill the customers every want within their budget. I don't want to be incorrect in my assessment in fixing a friendship issue." Rarity smiled.

"Well okay. I guess she's hot? In her anger I mean."

Rarity thought and thought in complete silence. She ran through the memories she had of Twilight and quickly tried to come up with the best solution she could. "Well I'd say I have two options here. Either you apologize and let her talk about how you hurt her trust or just let her steam and hold a grudge for a while."

Fluttershy sighed. "Thanks Rarity."

***

Celestia felt something amiss as she looked around her dream. Sure, she definitely did not have the knack for surfing around ponies' dreams like her sister did, but she managed usually to carve out a bit of her own little safe place where she could relax and cheat on her diet since it was in her dreams. But something felt off today. Maybe it was the strange flavor of the cakes or maybe the silence that permeated her dream but something felt amiss.

She usually felt her ponies in Canterlot at least on her mental periphery, but there was nopony there. She reached out with a tendril of consciousness and felt nothing as she swam through a river made of liquid chocolate. She felt something bring her out of sleep as shocks danced across her fur.

She was brought back to the waking world with a crash as she blinked awake, her tendency to roll out of bed on full display and she waited for the guards to come rushing to make sure some horrible Changeling wasn't there to murder her or some dark lord of evil wasn't planning to take over the nation again through some lost magical art.

Nopony came.

"Well after a thousand years of quick service, I think I can manage on my own." Celestia dusted herself off and turned, running smack dab into a motionless Raven. "Oh, Raven, you surprised me."

Raven robotically jerked around as she moved out of Celestia's way, her limbs jerking as they motored her around the room. "I'm sorry for being a burden to you, Princess. I should have stood somewhere else. I have hurt the trust and loving relationship that I want to form with you." Raven smiled, her smile reaching far too wide for Celestia to be entirely comfortable with her demeanor.

"That's very, well, interesting to know. I'll remember that." Celestia turned away, ready to raise the sun. She put the methodical clopping and the dead silence that the whole palace had become in a few hours. She quietly wondered to herself if Luna felt this exact emotion when she woke up after Chrysalis' invasion. Somehow even her sister had slept through her capture and had only known something was wrong after Twilight and her friends had fixed the issue. Though Celestia had chalked that accident up to Luna searching for the perfect wedding gift for Cadance and Shining Armor.

She pushed the creepy feeling out of her mind as she reached the balcony she tended to raise the sun from, reaching out with her magic she nudged the sun towards another day, it's power filling her with at least the hint of confidence that she needed. It was her favorite part of the day, even if the conflicting schedules of her and her sister made her wonder if she could somehow make the sun go on it's own volition.

She snapped fully awake though and out of her musings on ways to make her job ever easier when she felt a spell she had created from the Storm King's very own magisters. And unless the Storm King perfected invisible warships, she doubted that he came to party.

"Twilight. . ."

***

"Twilight, I'm sorry but it's six am and you want me to get your little friends over to Canterlot as soon as possible and that's before you just told me Canterlot's in some giant fuckery right now. Seriously?" Sparkler sighed. "Fine, you know what? Okay, but don't come crying to me when you have Canterlot blow up cause the element bearers are in town."

Twilight nodded. "Thanks, Sparkler. And you can take the day off to relax. I cleared my appointments for the next few days just in case."

Sparkler waved a hoof. "I guess I could see my family. But Twilight, get your shit together too, cause while I love being the voice of sanity here, you know you look like absolute garbage."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Thanks?"

Sparkler laughed, her laugh having a delay as the spell took the sound and echoing it due to distance. "That wasn't a compliment but I guess living in near hermit conditions for years would make you terrible in social situations."

Twilight clicked off the spell and Sparkler's voice faded into nothingness.

"Dude, I know it's been four days or whatever, but she's still a bitch. I thought you'd be running a new experiment of 'what happens when a terrible pony gets friends' or something like that." Rainbow rolled her eyes and stretched her wings.

Twilight glanced over and frowned. "Sorry that the magic of friendship can't fix personality quirks in a day. Anyway, if you talked to her for more than four minutes, you would have sort of realized that she was acting far nicer than before."

Rainbow chuckled and glided into the air with Twilight close behind. "You do realize that I've been actively trying to avoid her and yet thanks to Ponyville being a small town, I get to see her every day or so? And it seemed like she was still prime bitch material."

Twilight banked into an updraft, the town from up here was completely silent and lifeless while the sun peeked over the horizon. "You know that maybe you don't come off as nice as you think you are so don't go throwing stones at others."

Dash lazily soared in the sky, which Twilight still found odd. What with Dash looking like Fluttershy, but acting exactly like before. It provided some mental dissonance that let her mind wander away from a malaise of depression edging on from the past few weeks.

"Pssh, like that's even possible. And if it was, it'd mainly be because they don't get how important a daily dose of awesome is. But seriously, egghead, like I get it and all. Still doesn't mean I have to like feeling like I'm being singled out for some act of confidence edging into hubris."

"Who are are you and what have you done with Rainbow Dash? Hubris? Now who's the egghead?"

Dash rolled onto her back and lazily backstroked her way through the air, her years of skilled flying trumping her unfamiliar and weirdly weighted reality. "I read Daring Do and I'm sorry A.K. Yearling likes using a bit of old timey weird words nopony uses anymore."

Twilight smiled. "It's hubris, it's not a rare word. Now if she was using highly specialized medical terminology and archaeological terms in order to give her books-"

"Not the point, Twilight. I'm just saying you shouldn't call me out always for being too confident. Everypony has confidence and all that. Like how I shouldn't call you out for being too into science and not expecting something could go wrong like the forty other times it did or being currently too focused on the big picture of Starlight stealing your one and only friend, I guess, when you have an entire town and at least five other ponies that put up with your stuff."

Twilight froze for a second, her wings faltering and hitching as her brain caught up from the prepared discussion on a nice book series to. . .this. "Can we not?" Twilight had two main moods when it came to this kind of predicament, get livid or get defensive. And since Twilight remembered still how well last night went, she reflexively went with option two.

Rainbow rolled her blue eyes. "No, I'm not going to drop it. It's sunrise right now. I've been awake for hours trying to get the swelling you caused on my face. Sure I'm not in there right now to feel that, but it's not like I shouldn't be somewhat miffed you went all knockdown fight on my face. And anyway Fluttershy felt terrible for hours. That's what's truly important and while I can talk a big game about how you hurt me, you did more damage to Fluttershy."

"Dash can't we just talk about this at another time I mean what even brought this on?"

Dash flew up to Twilight and stared directly in her eyes. Which Twilight wouldn't normally find somewhat intimidating due to their previous, and usual, owner being a giant teddy bear who couldn't hurt a fly. Here was a well trained athlete, with Fluttershy's lesser known strength, and who was mad. At her.

"I don't know Twilight, maybe it's you saying don't throw stones at ponies or maybe it's you talking about how long friendship lessons take or any of the many ways you've been dancing around this issue after you punched the nicest pony I know. What? Fluttershy was a bad friend for protecting Rarity from a crazy cult leader or whatever and sold out the friend I didn't even know you had? Big whoop."

Twilight turned her head so as to not look directly at her. "Okay so maybe I messed up a tiny bit."

"You think? Twilight, you're the princess of friendship and having you fly off the handle for a spur of the moment decision makes me worried. Heck, I haven't talked to Gilda in years because of what happened when she came to Ponyville and you don't see me crying about having to go to Griffonstone to save my friendship and here you are throwing your friend under the cart just cause Moondancer was your first friend. Neat, I met her, she was a bitter, sad pony living in a magical death trap of a place as a magical hermit just cause. Don't know why. She just got weird when you were brought up and all. So be happy, that's who you are putting on some pedestal."

Twilight blinked. "The party."

Dash stopped her rant. "What in the hay are you even talking about. What party?"

Twilight brushed her mane, vowing to take a shower when she got back to the castle, days of grime finally taking her toll on the bramble patch of a mane. "It's a long story but I was going to give Moondancer a present and go to her party when I was dragged off to Ponyville. Maybe she felt a betrayal or something due to me promising to come to her party and retreated back into solitude."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow at that. "I don't follow at all."

"It's what I would have done if I hadn't met you five." '

"Twilight, get out of your daydreams. It's not important right now. Right now, you are going to march yourself to Shy and apologize or I'm going to piledrive you into the ground cause I'm tired, you aren't making sense, and like I want to get past this at least a little bit cause we do have to try and keep our wits together against bad dudes. Like Starlight is still out there and if you want to find Moondancer and fix your weird issues, let's just find her. And Twilight, next time you have some earth shattering reveal like you tend to do, don't freak out and punch your friends. I know you grew up completely focused on books, but reality isn't just punch stuff and sulk while everypony else runs away from you."

Twilight looked down upon Canterlot and sighed. "Sure and I am going to the doctor to fix those problems, Dash."

Dash rolled her eyes. "Well maybe he's not using alicorn strength problem solvers, you dummy cause you are all kinds of messed up. And if Pinkie was here, she'd probably stare at me all weird for even calling you out on your garbage."

***

Pinkie's ear twitched as the two earth ponies zoomed off to Canterlot. She knew that feeling. It wasn't the most common feeling her Pinkie Sense gave her due to how each body twitch or set of twitches created their own feeling, but that one was uncommon by itself. Usually it meant that Dash implied something that she would have taken some offense to. Pinkie scratched her ear. She would usually try and find one of her emergency travel holes somewhere, but it was both too early and not world ending bad enough for her to just up and bend the laws of physics for a joke.

She yawned and looked over to Applejack, who was quietly bouncing her leg up and down in boredom. "Hey. AJ, you ever think that maybe Twilight should just invent like a way to automatically just zip us to her like a spell of sending or whatever. Be so much easier to get around when some random big bad evil pops up and declares it as Saturday and the world will be theirs. I mean I love trains and going on them and getting candy and you know all that- but trains take too long and all. Like what if there was a way to have cannons shoot you places instead?" Pinkie awkwardly grinned.

Applejack leaned against the plush seat and raised an eyebrow at Pinkie. "Now what are you even talking about, Pinks?"

"I just said trains. So trains?"

Applejack facehoofed. "Nah, that's not what I- okay let me start over. What has your tongue and brain tied up tighter than two rattlesnakes doing the do?"

Pinkie cocked her head. "That's a new one." Pinkie giggled. "I just want to know what's been eating you up and all, cause even though we both had all the time in the world to talk these last few days what with Rarity not being here and with Twilight not needing her alicorn daily amount of fun. . .I mean how are you? Cause I know what's on my mind all the time and all and it's currently going between if I could win an eating contest and wondering how long it will take for Twilight to give me a dick again and all that." Pinkie breathed out after completing her thought.

Applejack took off her hat and scratched her head trying to collect her thoughts. "Well since you asked and I know how pushy you can be-"

Pinkie slightly frowned at that. "Twilight calls it my curiosity factor not 'being pushy'."

AJ groaned. "Yes, of course she came up with one of them fancy ways to not call you pushy. Fine. Curious then. Cause I know you good enough, I'm a guessing you ain't going to just let this train ride go on in blissful silence fine. Just been dealing with things that really don't want to deal with right this gosh darn minute."

Pinkie smiled. "You mean the bun in the oven. Or was it buns? I could never exactly predict the amount of foals each pony has during then."

AJ cocked her head. "How did you? Did Rarity tell y'all?"

Pinkie blushed. "Pinkie sense. Got a big rumbly in my tumbly and then it moved lower and just stayed there like a warm spot. So I knew at least one of you were and all. My mom usually flip flops between calling it either the blessing or curse of the family and it really depends if she's in a good mood or not."

Applejack cringed. "Okay, fine. I'll take the you being you answer but if the next words involve the birds or the bees and how you can track that like I don't want to know. But sure it's that in all it's wonderful hoohah and whatever." Applejack ran a hoof through her hair. "But like I dunno. I haven't told a soul so having you know threw me through a loop."

"Not even your family?"

Applejack stared at Pinkie with wide eyes. "Definitely not them. I mean Big Mac knows but like Applebloom's way too young for this and Granny's well. . .Granny. I don't know if she'd kick me out on the sheer principle of the thing or have a stroke due to me breaking her heart or something."

Pinkie stretched, stood up and grabbed a nearby fizzy soda. It was early morning and for her own boundless energy- it did need a pick me up now and again. "Jackie, what if you're overthinking everything? I mean I freak out too over tons of stuff and only Gummy knows how much that is truly, but like chill out and relax."

The orange earth pony crossed her forehooves. "Are you even listening? I'm having one of those Rarity moments and here you are telling me to calm down?"

"I mean you are hinting at somehow hiding a baby for nine months. That's silly. When Ms. Cake had the twins she looked due at any moment for months and you're somehow trusting that your body doesn't blow up like a balloon? I mean I bet that's possible but where's the fun in that? Plus Aj, isn't your family like the biggest in all of Equestria?"

Applejack ran crimson. "I don't see how that's even relevant."

Pinkie took a sip of her drink. "Does it actually have to be related? I'm just saying your family is huge and all. Plus you have all of Ponyville anyway and Rarity. Just stay calm and let life just pull you in the direction your nose is pointing."

"What in the hay does that even mean?"

Pinkie chuckled. "It's an old Granny Pie expression. Whenever she said it, it usually ended with 'cause that's right in front of your eyes and you got to get your doodads in order before sweating the big stuff."

***

Celestia had done some rather heinous things to get out of meeting with ponies through the years, but she usually wasn't trying to get away from her assistant. Sure there had been a few, like Slipstream or Lemon Drop who were way too pushy and unable to take a hint, but they had turned to dust centuries ago, so she couldn't see their rather endearing sense of commitment outside of dusty tomes and her sometimes faulty memories.

And then there was the commitment that bordered on creepy and Celestia had met her match. Sure she now knew that during the time from when she decided to go to bed early for the first time in two years to right this moment- there had been something akin to Twilight's little bout of insanity after Discord came and mucked about with her. And the short, and rather unimpressive to most, pony right in front of her was just one of possibly tens of thousands with this affliction.

She sighed. Celestia never was one for the mental side of things. Sure she was competent with the art due to thousands of years just practicing, but there was a reason why she had won against her sister oh so long ago and why the surrounding and decidedly hostile lands hadn't just invaded. She was the sun. fire, heat, and as Discord knew, at least some passion and fun. Her magic was immense and flashy- not everypony appeared in a giant burst of light- or could send problems to the moon.

She wasn't good at finesse. Sure politics was her forte and that took finesse, but she wasn't Luna who swam in mental metaphors or even Twilight who she could foresee besting her mentor in only a few decades. She didn't feel useless due to that, she was proud at that fact. But being proud didn't fix the fact that the last hour and a half had devolved from creepy stares of loving intent into a mess fit for one of Luna's pranks.

And it came from one deceptively simple question.

"Where is Discord?"

"Who is Discord?"

Celestia imperceptibly twitched. "We have already gone over this ten times. Discord, the spirit of Disharmony and Chaos and also my, well I guess he's not really a pony, so special friend?" Celestia mentally noted to come up with some pet name or something because trying to perform mental gymnastics at this hour was awful. Even though she raised the sun, it didn't mean she was a morning pony. Just dutiful.

"But I am your special friend. You told me I was the best assistant you ever had and then we totally went on a date-" Raven sputtered out some nonsense the spell was regurgitating over and over. Rather cute, if you got past the undertones of obsession oozing all over this. Celestia had started noticing cracks though since the story had morphed from an outright description of Raven's lewd fantasies into a lesser and more realistic first date attempt.

"I think you are adequate at your job." Celestia grimaced. She wasn't like her sister that was for sure. A thousand years of tact had dulled her senses at being out and out mean. "And also our date was subpar and we were both left unfulfilled."

"How? I did everything. I set up the date, and the flowers, and everything."

Celestia smiled serenely. "Because that's just the window dressing. I like you as a pony, but I'm already accounted for and anyway, sometimes even the best laid plans don't work out."

Raven sputtered, her eyes twitching and her legs stamping on the ground as the spell tried to right itself for the eleventh time. But Celestia could feel the magic in the air grow heavy as it leaked out in large, sputtering masses. It would have bben a pretty sight to share if there had been any other ponies who could see it. Blackish purple clouds swirled around and dispersed in cascading flashes of rainbow lights. The light show was disrupted for a second as Celestia heard Raven slump.

"And Luna says I'm completely useless at breaking mental blocks. Who's wrong now?" Celestia looked around and pumped one of her hooves up and down. She faltered once she realized that her triumph was just one out of thousands to break free of this mental knot."Drat." Celestia rubbed her head and breathed in and out.

"Fine. Everything is totally fine."

***

Twilight slumped against the shower. "Everything is fine." She had been berated by both Rainbow and Rarity about this kerfuffle and right now the feeling of the water cascading along her back was the only thing that made her relax. She quietly hummed some Sapphire Shores melody in her head as she lathered up her mane and glanced at herself through the glass.

A very tired and wet alicorn stared back. She had never been obsessed with her beauty. Mainly because there was usually some book or thing to study or friends to help or things in Ponyville to do. But she looked as tired as she felt. Alicorns still needed sleep every once in a while to recharge and while her mind was used to days without sleep, this was a whole other level. Maybe it was the reason why she took Moondancer's disappearance so badly. Twilight sighed. That wasn't the point. Sure that was an issue, but she still chose to punch somepony.

"If only Celestia could see me now." Twilight morosely chuckled, her throat raw with anger at herself. "She'd probably say there was a way to revoke alicorn privileges and go back to a lowly student again. Or she'd banish me to the moon."

Twilight let the words hang in the air. The porcelain tiles lent the room some acoustics so the brief echo rang through hollow and weak. She moved onto lathering the rest of her body, paying special attention to her lower half to feel something outside of guilt.

It didn't help.

She turned off the water and let the drain take the bad feelings away and quietly toweled off. Twilight looked in the mirror and practiced an attempt at smiling. She usually didn't have to, but the rest of the day wasn't going to be fun. Especially with Pinkie here, since Twilight could fake her emotions well enough to get by most ponies.

And then there was Pinkie, who saw through her attempts at masking her real emotions and while Twilight was usually happy, the events had spiraled into a relapse of depression again. Twilight grimaced. She had been doing well enough for Time Turner to suggest moving onto a different and lower treatment.

"Can't win them all." Twilight balled up her damp towel and stepped out into the world, her face smiling while her insides turned with worry. All things considered, it was a normal day.

***

Pinkie and Applejack stepped off the train with little fanfare. The train had slid into the station with a harsh, echoing creak and jolt as the brakes hit their stride, but the two ponies had looked on Canterlot as mute walls bounced the sounds around and around.

"Where is everypony?"

Pinkie squeed with excitement. "Applejack, this is totally neato. It's like one of those zombie movies." Pinkie bounded on down the station, marveling at the reverberations of her hoofsteps. Applejack could swear Pinkie was singing a familiar song about laughing at apparitions.

Applejack shook her head. "Oh, of course Pinkie's a-okay about a thing that rightfully gives me the willies." Applejack hefted her pack and cautiously trudged through the station. Each noise was heightened as she noticed that without ponies around, she could hear her own breathing.

"Hey, Applejack, check it out." The orange earth pony looked around and saw a mass of ponies just sitting. Not moving. Just sitting there, hopefully breathing, and barely moving. Pinkie Pie, for her part was walking around their perimeter and slinking across the ground like a worm.

Applejack sighed, resigned to never truly get Pinkie, even if she might be possibly related to the pink mare. The Apples hadn't yet figured out if the two families were related, though Applejack mused that the Apple Family had been around for generations all over the gosh darned place so having a branch that split off a while back could turn into the Pies. Applejack shook her head, glad that something crossed it besides the worry that somepony would wake up and attack them. Applejack crept closer and began whispering to her companion.

"Pinkie, get away from that mare right now or so help me I'll come over there and pull you back to safety myself."

Pinkie waved a hoof. "Pssh, like there's a chance I could get hurt from this. Anyway, I have Pinkie Sense and it's not going off for this."

Applejack facehoofed, wondering how Twilight of all ponies could find Pinkie reasonable enough to have relations with. "Yeah, well. . .I have apple sense and it's telling me that you should get back here right this minute."

Pinkie heard that and zoomed back. "AJ, we are totally related! Cause if you have Apple Sense and I have Pinkie Sense it has to be related." Pinkie's smile stretched from ear to ear.

"What? No, I made that up." Applejack leaned against a close pillar and as she did that, the entire ring of ponies, seemingly all at once, had the unicorns all fire up their horns and teleport away. The air was rife with the smell of ozone and magic permeated the air, making it feel heavy as the two earth pony mares stared at the place the mass of ponies all had been before and looked at each other.

"AJ, you did it. You said there was something dangerous over there and it happened."

Applejack blinked. "That was just a coincidence."

The pink pony slid up and put a hoof around Applejack. "Maybe, but what if it wasn't? And I'd have totally gotten out of danger with my Pinkie Sense, but you totally have something special."

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Pinkie, stop it. It's just common sense. I felt like the creepy station would be dangerous and it just so happened something weird happened. Nothing more or less. Let's just get off this topic before anypony else shows up and makes it even worse." Applejack huffed and sat down.

"I don't hope I'm interrupting something, darlings." A sing song voice that Applejack hadn't heard in a few days made her mood at least lift a little, even if she was still miffed about Rarity being Rarity. "Now, Applejack, what has you in such a tizzy?" Applejack could hear the playful teasing in Rare's voice and Applejack could feel her cheeks get hot.

"Nothing."

"Are you sure cause I can tell by your body language something's amiss."

Pinkie chimed in before Applejack could prevail with a cooler and more rational answer. "She predicted something bad would happen and something did before even my Pinkie Sense could go off."

"Dear me, that sounds exciting."

"It's just common sense. Nothing special." Applejack got up and trudged off, the pair of ponies following behind as the earth pony tried to get as much distance as she could from the quiet chaos of the day.

Applejack could hear the smugness in Rarity's voice as she bounced puns back and forth with Pinkie. ". . .so your saying Applejack found a core component of this Apple Sense?"

"Well, it's more of a seed, but if she treats it well it might bloom into something special." Applejack could hear light giggling behind her as that continued, the thoroughfares of the town silent and empty contrasting heavily with the light and airy discussion of Pinkie and Rarity.

"Hey, Rarity, where is Twilight and the other girls anyway?"

"They are. . .working through some issues. It's been a tense few days."

***

Twilight knocked on the door that led into the rooms that both Rainbow and Fluttershy were staying in. Some east wing room that Twilight had rarely needed to enter and now that Starlight's spell was still affecting Canterlot, there were no guards around to make sure the castle was safe. She heard rustling from the other side of the door and she knocked harder. "Girls, can we talk?"

"Give us a moment, Twilight!"

Twilight tapped her hoof lazily on the floor waiting as a lock was turned and the pair of pegasi stumbled out of their room.

"Yo, Twi, what's up?" Twi rolled her eyes as she noticed a Fluttershy who still had some form of bedhead and a Rainbow was currently trying to style her longer mane to her liking.

"I guess I should come back later. I mean you two seem indisposed so getting into between that seems wrong." Twilight faked a smile as she tried to step away from the musty room.

"No, Twilight, we just weren't expecting you." Fluttershy crossed her blue arms and tried to apologize profusely. "I mean I just woke up and all."

"Uh huh."

Rainbow took the initiative. "So Twi, what do you want? I mean it's like noon and all and I'd prefer relaxing for like one day before we go punching bad guys."

The purple alicorn sighed and tapped her hooves together, the worry of messing up this apology running through her mind at the speed of light and she felt nerves she didn't even know she had. "Well. You see. . .after Rarity called me out for my behavior and well. . .you did too, Dash, I feel like maybe I sort of messed up." Twilight looked away.

Dash huffed. "That's it? You came all this way and your apology is 'I might have messed up?' That's the biggest understatement I've heard in a while. What's next? Guys, I'm sorry for opening a rift to Tartarus, I might have messed up. Or-" Fluttershy put a small and quick hoof on Dash. "Fine, fine. Just you know Twi, that even if Shy forgives you, I won't. Not at least for like a week or whatever. I'm not the Element of Loyalty for nothing." Rainbow stormed off and laid on the bed with a flop.

Twilight and Fluttershy stared at each other for a moment before Fluttershy awkwardly spoke. "So, uh, I don't forgive you either." Fluttershy could hear the palpable 'I told you so' emanating off of Dash. "I just can't right now. You punched me before I got to explain exactly how I felt and that hurts more than the punch itself." Fluttershy twirled a long polychromatic strand of hair as she gathered her thoughts. "Though we have better things to do than just bicker about this."

Twilight morosely nodded. "I get it. I do. So do you have any idea where Starlight might be? I mean I've been trying to locate her and all but I'm coming up with zilch, and I thought since you were closest to Starlight maybe you heard her slip up and say something."

Rainbow scoffed. "Twi, that's the stupidest idea I've heard."

"Rainbow can you give me a moment?" Flutteshy rubbed her temple gently. "Okay, I might be able to remember and I probably would be figuring out this sooner if somepony hadn't knocked a few brain cells loose." Fluttershy laughed, her voice tired and weak at the failed attempt at a joke. "But okay, she said something I recognized. Irondale? Steelville? Deermount? No. It's something like. . .I got it. Irondeer."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? That's like twenty miles from Manhattan of all places and has historical importance, I'd highly doubt she'd be there. IT'd be the most conspicuous ever. I mean there's an entire Royal Guard contingent right nearby- she'd be found instantly."

Fluttershy shrugged. "Well, she seemed really defensive when I told her I had heard of the town, so she's highly likely to be there. Seemed like whenever something wasn't in her plans, she had a completely terrifying freakout." Fluttershy shivered as she remembered the tone Starlight had taken with her.

Rainbow rolled off the bed. "Cool. Everypony's hunky dory again. Now can we like go get something to eat cause I'm sorry but I haven't had a bite of anything all day and it's the beginning of the afternoon."

Twilight just nodded. Maybe tomorrow was going to be a less contentious day, but she doubted it. She felt better though and while she realized that a friendship issue wasn't one to just be fixed in minutes, it felt like maybe she was back on a track. She just had to hit rock bottom- and another pony- first. She felt an inkling of calm. Not happiness, not yet, but it was a start.

It's A Small World (After All)

Luna sighed as she continued flying across her little space of heaven. Having the realm of dreams all to herself right now was both calming and lonely. She had partially felt the severing of the entire town of Canterlot from true slumber, but she had also felt twinkling lights of consciousness as her sister tried her best to fix the issue without alerting her more competent relation some hint of alarm. Luna rolled her eyes. How very like Celly to brute force something that took finesse and charm.

She swept through the mental wasteland, singing each and every dream to life once again. It led to some very inopportune glimpses into some of her ponies' sexual desires and she smiled usually when there were some that dreamed about her. She took it as a sign that maybe some healing was coming after her return. And then there was the flood of fantasies about her sister- cute, but night after night? Either some of these aristocrats had some repressed feelings or her sister's intense benevolence for a millennia made for a rather awkward morning routine.

She skirted through the dreamscape, each movement bringing the lightshow of emotions back to life, a veritable rainbow of colors, each hue representing a pony at that moment, the lights above her head connecting her closely to their hopes and dreams.

Luna smiled as she untangled the web of magic that this foul denizen of the deepest pits of Tartarus had cast on her ponies. She wasn't lonely. It was the principle of the thing, dreams were sacred to her and gave her some sense of importance here in this place. It was unfortunate that Equestria's enemies loved her sister's time of day. Luna mused that it was just coincidence that the land was invaded primarily when she was asleep. It must be because they were scared of her magical might.

"Or maybe it's because they need to sleep too, sister."

Luna turned and saw her radiant sister giving off light in her darkened and misty realm. "Well it still is a fair question why every time a bad thing attacks Equestria we are unprepared? What of the darker things that touch upon this place or of that Storm King that Discord loves bragging about knowing? What if they attack while we stand unprepared? What may we do while Equestria would burn?"

Celestia briefly frowned, her true emotions on full display. "Lulu, I have been trying to prepare our nation for war if need be for centuries. We had our shared castle in the middle of a dangerous forest, I built a new one. I brought us to ponies that needed us to show order after Discord's reign. I built the Royal Guard and Wonderbolts for protection from the darker sides of harmony. I did this for us. So you could come back and see that Equestria became what we wanted it to be and try and pass on the one burden you never cared for."

Luna's brow furrowed. "So it's the Elements again. It's always those things. Maybe I don't like having the power of judgement over an entire land with a sweep of thought. Maybe it's the nightmare that we aren't being harmonious. Those things came into our lives from that tree and all we got was heartache. You do remember how we found those right?"

Celestia bowed her head, letting out a deep breath as she saw the dreams of her subjects. "I know. That's harmony though. It's funny. I've heard musicians over the centuries debate on what harmony is. Some say it's a completely peaceful melody and yet others say they found melody in dissonance. To me, harmony is neutral. Neither good or bad, sister. Just existence turning through time. I know there were bad times. It's a fact of life. But I choose to look upon the good things and see those as little victories."

Luna rolled her eyes. "Ever the philosopher. Oh how can I debate your methods of peace since I'm just an alicorn out of time and was just stuck on the moon for a thousand years of nothing. I held courts of rocks and dust while I looked down and saw you build my dream. And yet every time we get invaded, I keep seeing ponies start losing faith in you and put their faith in somepony better than you."

Celestia stared into Luna's eyes, her voice like a dwarf star. Hot and biting, but lacking the warmth that her ponies knew. "I could do nothing against Tirek, and Discord is too random to beat in a battle of strength. I would have never hurt you. Is your little tantrums these last few months just because I lost during the Changeling Invasion? I could have used my full power. But you know what that entails, I'd be the avatar of the sun with all the pros and cons that come with it."

Luna rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, the great and terrible Celly watching her loved ones all combust into cinders as their eyes boil from the heat and their blood turns to steam and skin cracks as the city melts away like runny lava down a slope. I've seen you bring the hammer down on Changelings and their like so I know you have no qualms on performing like one of our stature should. But no, now I see a dreamland populated by dreams about Twilight and her exploits with her friends while you wither away into the background. How do you even stand for that?"

Celestia cracked a broken smile. "Because I think she could do better than either of us. Sometimes the ways of intrigue and brute force do not work. And yet here's my former student reforming villains. A third option that in all our years, neither of us had tried."

Luna stamped a hoof. "I don't care about Twilight's skill at reforming villains. Her methods are interesting and her magic is revolutionary at times but Discord is still Discord. And yet here you are trying something terrible. You saw what Cadance did and want that. I see your dreams and your magical aura is eerily similar to Cadance's. Of course I'm worried about you. You've been training ponies as your students as a stand in for what you want." Luna sighed. "I may not like it, but I won't cause a fuss out in your day. And maybe I might like the family you create- one day. But now? No. I know you are head over hooves about Discord, I can see it in your dreams and your sickeningly sweet moments I'm awake. But I don't trust him, he's chaos incarnate and while I know you love finding a fixer upper stallion- he can't change. And yet here you are playing house while you know what he did while he ruled Equestria." Luna shook her head. "See you tomorrow, sister." Luna shot off into the sky leaving a trail of stars in her wake.

Celestia stood there for a moment and felt a hot tear run down her face. "I know you don't trust Discord, Lulu. But Twilight at least brought you back to me. And that's what counts." Celestia breathed in and tried to compose herself. She always wondered if Luna's transformation into Nightmare Moon wasn't partially related to fighting off Discord. Both had been only years apart. It was rather coincidental that she started learning dark magics right after that. Maybe he hadn't done what Luna believed he did. But it didn't really matter. Her corruption happened all the same. Celestia had tried to watch if Twilight had a similar reaction to Discord when the two had first met all those years ago. Just in case. She had then left the Elements with Twilight for months after Discord's reformation just in case he had lied about turning over a new leaf. For all Celestia had taught Twilight, she was too similar to her sister to keep the white alicorn at ease.

***

Twilight rolled out of bed, her dreams last night had been few and far between as her body seemed to reject any form of sleep. She had only been feeling the insomnia really hit these last few weeks and she wondered why. It definitely didn't help her mood any. She turned and blushed as she remembered last night's romp through the sheets. She turned away from Pinkie and his rising attention as she tried to think there wasn't something wrong with turning your friends into stallions the moment you two wanted to have fun. She didn't dare to ask Cadance about that issue. Last time she tried that, the pink alicorn had tried to definite what fetishes were and that was a terrible talk.

Pinkie rolled around and mumbled something in his sleep. His bubbly baritone causing Twilight some thoughts that she had to repress deep within herself to get past the one thing she wanted to do. Moondancer was the main issue and after yesterday- that was what she had to focus on.

Twilight stretched her wings and picked out the old feathers one by one. If she wanted to look like everything wasn't falling down around her, she had to fake it. She stopped once she felt a poke on her backside and turned to see Pinkie winking at her. Twilight rolled her eyes and continued.

"I'm honestly surprised you haven't really turned into a stallion yet. Twily. It's kind of fun. And anyway then you can do puns where you dick is the royal scepter. Think of all the possibilities of that coming up in a conversation."

Twilight turned crimson at the thought. "Pinkie, that's too. . ." Twilight paused, trying to come up with a good retort. "lewd for proper company. The aristocrats would have a fit if I stepped a bit out of place."

Pinkie rolled his eyes and began to tease Twilight in a mock imitation of her voice. "Pinkie, that's too much fun. The rich ponies all need to be gently coddled and kept in nice pens of boring rich pony stuff so they never realize how sad they are."

Twilight grinned. "I do not sound like that. And coddled? Where have you been learning that word?"

Pinkie stretched and laid back on the bed, lazily tracing figure eights in the sheets. "Well with how much time we spend together now, I have been picking up a few words of yours. Though we definitely haven't been spending our time learning words." Pinkie wiggled his eyebrows and giggled.

Twilight frowned and got off the bed.

Pinkie stopped laughing. "Did I say something wrong? Cause by how quiet you are. . .I probably said something wrong."

Twilight ruefully smiled. "It's nothing really."

Pinkie got off the bed, gingerly making sure his new accompaniments weren't in the way. "Twilight, when you say nothing's wrong, something is definitely wrong. It's like your thing." Pinkie edged up to Twilight and lay his head on her shoulder. "So tell your favorite pony what's your problem."

Twilight looked at Pinkie. "I didn't say you were my favorite pony, just one of my favorites."

Pinkie raised an eyebrow. "Sure you didn't say 'oh Celestia your dick is magical' yesterday.

Twilight sputtered. "I didn't. I mean I don't think I did." She looked at Pinkie's wide grin and rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'm just worried about us."

Pinkie cocked his head. "What?"

Twilight stared in the mirror and ran a hoof through her unkempt mane. "I mean all we do now is well. . .fool around. And everytime we do it now you're a stallion and we do it so much. . ."

Pinkie chuckled. "Twilight, for being super duper smart, you sure are dumb." Pinkie rubbed circles in Twilight's back. "I thought that this issue was already done and figured out. I don't care if I'm a mare or a stallion or if you find a way to make me a weird thing in between. I like fun, you tolerate fun, and that works."

"But like it's the only thing we've been doing together for months. Don't you want to like do anything else?"

Pinkie sighed. "Of course I do, Twilight, I don't just do parties all the time. I don't always want to have sex all the time. But your an alicorn and also, in Dashie's terms, a repressed nerd, so I get the hypersexual stuff. And anyway we don't always have fun the same way. I mean there was that time you turned me into a 30 foot tall stallion or when we played dress up."

Twilight frowned. "Don't remind me about that. I still have nightmares of you being stuck that way."

Pinkie booped the purple alicorn on the nose. "But I'm not and I'd say you're lucky you have me. Who else would keep up with your insatiable libido besides a strong earth pony." Pinkie stuck out his tongue and waggled his hips.

"Pinkie, it's not that bad."

Pinkie stretched. "Well it's fun. But Twilight, now I really want to see you as a stallion. Though now I wonder if ascension gave you a few extra inches or gave you a porn star physique."

"Pinkie!"

"What? You didn't figure out this spell before you were a princess. Sorry for me thinking that there has to be perks to being an alicorn besides being a mope sometimes." Pinkie rolled his eyes. "But your my mopey, worried princess and that's what we have to work with. Now let's get with the other girls before they try and walk in on us."

"That only happened once."

Pinkie put an arm around his purple marefriend and whispered in Twilight's ear. "Not from what Dash told me yesterday. She said you almost did it to her."

Twilight felt her cheeks redden as Pinkie walked away chuckling.

***

"Rarity, can you please be quiet?" Rainbow popped her head up from a bench as she tried to lazily sleep off her unbridled annoyance at the last few hours.

"But Rainbow I'm just saying that the two of them should have been here as Twilight said eight o clock sharp to head out. Not five minutes later than that. It's just unbecoming to have to wait for her to appear." Rarity tapped a hoof as she talked. "I mean honestly."

Applejack laid her face over her face and lay against a nearby pole. "She's a new princess. And don't Celestia and Luna show up anytime they right well please anyway? I bet it's one of them royal prerogatives to just come whenever they want."

"But Jackie, I had to pack all this stuff to even hope to come on a completely spur of the moment trip. It took me forever to decide on what outfits to bring." Rarity lay across her four different bags of stuff that she had behind her.

"Rarity, I know you didn't pack that." Fluttershy laughed as she lazed about in the sky, her blue wings drifting her around the meeting place.

Rarity was about to say something when Twilight and Pinkie popped into existence with a faint smell of ozone.

"Sorry girls, we didn't realize it had gotten so late." Twilight sheepishly grinned.

Rainbow glanced over and grinned. "Oh yeah I can see why." Rainbow eyed up Pinkie and demurely smiled.

Twilight glared at Rainbow. "Yes, well, it's not because of that. Now if we all got our little laughs about that out of the way, I hope we have an idea cause while I'd love riding the rails on a hoofcart, the sheer fact is that we just can't spend hours upon hours getting from here to Irondeer. That'd take days."

Pinkie raised his hoof.

"Yes Pinkie?"

"Can we do it anyway?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "No, and no I won't turn myself into a stallion."

Rarity's eyes twinkled at the thought of seeing what Twilight would look like. "Now hold on a minute. I really like where this is going, Twilight. Can't you just. . .model for me. . .just a teeny tiny bit?"

Twilight breathed in and out. "No."

"You know Twi, that the train's running again or did ya forget to look around again?" Applejack smiled as Twilight quieted down.

Twilight tried to clear her throat. "Yes, well, I didn't really notice the train," Twilight looked around, "literally right behind us or expected it to be there. I guess that Luna did it." Twilight awkwardly laughed. "Which I totally planned for. Good job, Luna. Yeah."

Everypony rolled their eyes.

"Whatever floats your boat, darling." Rarity smiled demurely as she floated her luggage aboard the train. "Now Applejack, be careful on the landing here, I don't want you to fall and hurt something."

***

Moondancer breathed in and out, her lungs like liquid fire as she fell forward into the waking world. The world spun as she tried to find her footing as the world felt wrong somehow. The last thing she remembered was being in her shop. And then there was horrible, stabbing pain. And then here. She didn't even know what day it was and why her vision looked all blurry and weird.

A rustling noise from a nearby door drew her attention and she weakly walked towards it, the door plain and wooden denoting nothing but it's function. "Hello? Is anypony or anything there? I just woke up and I really have a bad headache and I don't know where I am. Is anypony there?" Moondancer beat on the door for a few moments until a latch was unlocked and a bright light bled through the tiny eyeslit that some pony looked through.

A monotone voice lazily responded back. "Good, I will go tell the leader that you have awoken." Moondancer heard the stamping of hooves on wood as the pony moved and it felt like ages until a sing song voice came back and the door was swung wide open.

Starlight walked confidently into the room, her presence itself drawing Moondancer's eye. "Sorry for Party Favor, he's just so good at his job that sometimes he has no bedside manners." Starlight smiled as she eyed the room. "Now our little utopia here doesn't usually have guests so I had the other scrounge around for anything they had. Is it to your liking?"

Moondancer looked around and noticed how barren the room was. A chair, a tiny table with some gray cloth on it, a bed that looked uncomfortable, and one tiny handheld mirror was all she had. Add the deadbolted door and uncertain location with unknown parameters on magic suppression and Moondancer didn't know exactly what to do but nod and be polite. "Well, I'm used to my own apartment and all that but this is. . .adequate." Moondancer attempted a smile. She never was good at smiles.

Starlight clapped her hooves together. "Good. I wouldn't want one of my guests to feel out of place. Now I have to warn you, the food choices here are rather one note so if you aren't used to nutritious gruel, corn, and potatoes and maybe for the more adventurous- even fish- I'd warn you about our natural diet. It's probably not like they have in Canterlot." Starlight waved a hoof as she talked. "It's just so nice out here, back in nature."

"Uh, yeah sure."

Starlight smacked her head. "Oh, I nearly forgot. There's one little issue I have to catch you up on. It's not that bad, but some ponies might be surprised at what you look like." Starlight floated over the mirror and gently head it in front of Moondancer's face.

"What are you-" Moondancer stopped as she looked at the reflection. "What in the holy name of Celestia happened to me?" She tentatively traced the gash where a ruby jewel sat in her flesh, the blackened tendrils snaking through her body like veins and she could see her coat turn splotchy where they touched- her coat more like a black spotted cream to her normal look. She noticed what looked like obsidian holding the jewel in place like a necklace and as she touched that spot, her head roiled in pain. It was like little needles stabbing into her brain directly and jumbling her thoughts. She blinked her eyes and tried to use her glasses, but after a few seconds of extremely blurry vision, she decided to toss those aside. She looked further up and saw that her horn was now a deep reddish black and she shivered as she reached out her aura and felt it. It felt tainted and full of dark magic, she felt both better than she had in years and yet terrified that she couldn't find where the end point of her magic was. It was like a bottomless abyss and she couldn't breathe.

Moondancer tried to count to ten and lost her train of thought as she felt a nagging, seething anger deep inside. "I- what happened to me?" She tried to compose her thoughts as well as she could, for even if this transformation probably wasn't complete, she still was currently Canterlot's premier archmage.

Starlight smiled. "Oh you know. The usual. See you were horribly impaled from your shop and I saved you."

Moondancer rubbed her head, the picture of what happened blurry and tinged with pain. "And?"

Starlight chuckled. "See, that's the funny part. I brought you back to life. Just found the Alicorn Amulet laying around and shoved it right up in your open heart cavity. Honestly you should be thanking me from saving you from death's door. Rather messy, but I did keep my promise to never kill anypony. And anyway that's your fault for leaving such an important artifact near where I could get it. It's like you don't expect ponies to come and filch your death lasers or something."

Moondancer rubbed her temple and felt her body seethe in passions she tried to keep hidden. "I was trying to sort the-" Moondancer's eyes bugged as the memories flooded back into her. "That was you. You blew up my shop."

Starlight waved a hoof. "That place was going to fall over anyway. And come on, you were going to live out your days like the hermit you were. I gave you something to aspire to. I mean sure 'possible crazy villain turn' probably wasn't in your plan, but it's better than being impaled by a pole." Starlight saw the unicorn's eyes flash blood red and she smiled. "Also I hope the ring suits you well. I really wanted to match your coat color. Hard to do now what with you looking like an inkblot test. But I'm ever the grateful host."

Moondancer glanced back and saw a small black and white banded ring that she had missed in her quick look at her new reality, situated right at the base of her horn. She knew of the design- a self locking and resizing ring to lock away any hope of escape. Moondancer broiled with liquid rage. She surmised it was the jewel's influence that her emotions were on such a hair trigger, or maybe she was just not used to being outside of her comfort zone. And being locked up and experimented on without her permission was on the short list of things she would murder somepony for. She would rip this bitch's head off- Moondancer shook her head. No, that wasn't what she needed to do. She needed to check if this Starlight was being truthful. Maybe the violent murder would come later. She filed that hope away into the 'never touch' compartment in her head and grit her teeth. She reached out for her magic, felt it's existence just outside of her grasp, and nothing. She tried again with the same results.

Starlight yawned. "Oh dear. You didn't think I'd come in and talk about resurrecting you with an artifact explicitly known to cause intense madness and full villainy without one of the Storm Empire anti magic rings? And then lie about it? What ever do you take me for? Bit of a hard bargain, that one. But I wanted to welcome you and guide you on my ever so special tour. Not murder me and ruin the surprise. Though I did have to say that there's one amiable unicorn in the Storm King's army and we get along like gangbusters. Oh but that's not related to you at all. Sorry."

"Are you going to kill me?" Moondancer was used to the idea that some day she was going to be murdered by something. It kept her focused at night to read the accounts of previous archmages summoning something or going too far in their research and dying horribly. She never expected this, even in her wildest dreams.

Starlight rolled her eyes. "Why does everypony say that? It can't be because I'm intimidating. I'm fucking pink for Celestia's sake, that's the least evil color of all. And I saved you. To great cost to myself since I don't like using a lot of my magic unnecessarily. You think bringing back somepony is easy? No, that's why it doesn't bloody well come up in the old tomes. The mages all were pussies and thought 'well look we can't bring ponies back from the dead, that'd be wrong.' No leaving you to die like a dog would have been even worse. You'd think I'd murder you after that?" Starlight chuckled as she thought of that. She clapped Moondancer on her back. "You're like the best experiment ever." The pink unicorn smiled. "Now come on, I don't want to keep my ponies waiting."

Moondancer felt a harsh tugging on her tail and she glided across the wooden floor as she was yanked out and led outside.

***

"Are you freaking serious?" Twilight stared at the map that she had brought from her room in Canterlot. "Irondeer isn't on the map I got. How is that even possible?"

Rarity rolled her eyes. "Darling, don't get into a tizzy. Maybe it's just that it's a small enough town that it doesn't exist in the map. It has to be in the related nearby town section." Rarity fanned herself with a scrap of paper from her bag since she had been caught unaware by a heat wave that made the white unicorn find herself sticky in very unladylike places.

Twilight huffed. "I checked. It's not there. And it should be because the map has the guard battalion location right there." The alicorn punctuated her annoyance with a purple hoof. "Fluttershy and Dash have both said it should be right there so unless there's some gross mismanagement in the transportation office, it's odd."

Rainbow chuckled and raised a yellow hoof. "Yeah, but like probably nopony cares about some small little town on a stupid map. Calm your tits. Can't we just find a ride there and be cool? Be far easier than you complaining about some stupid map."

Twilight facehoofed. "Fine we'll just take the thirty mile long hike and maybe get there by nightfall. Or if anypony has any other suggestions, I'd be open to anything."]

Pinkie raised his hoof.

"No, Pinkie, I'm not turning into a stallion."

Pinkie giggled. "Silly Twilight, I was going to point out that there's a giant cart right over there."

Twilight glanced over and noticed what Pinkie had been talking about . "How in the world didn't I notice that?" A large cart, big enough for everypony to fit snugly inside if some sat on Rarity's luggage, sat there. Twilight felt it quietly judging her as she reassessed the situation.

Pinkie slid on up to Twilight. "It's almost like reading a map doesn't make up for the memories you can make when you don't have it in front of your face. Also there's cart rentals. But my statement sounds way more magical than 'Silly Twilight, you have to get to the middle of nowhere somehow'." Pinkie rubbed his marefriend's head and winked. "But you know, you always put the horses before the carts."

Twilight cocked her head at the incorrect wording of philosophy that the pink stallion used. She blinked and just took it that Pinkie was just being Pinkie. "Fine. Okay, now who wants to pull the cart cause somepony has to do it."

Rarity shook her head furiously. "Oh heavens no, I'm already hoofing it as it is and I dare you to get me to pull a cart again. I still have nightmares about all the dust and dirt I had when I had those Diamond Dog couple of days. Also I say Applejack is out due to her situation."

Applejack rolled her eyes and shot a dirty look at Rarity. "Now who gave you the right to get me out of hard labor cause I'm in the family way, even barely as it is? And anyway my ma carried me while doing all her chores up til the day I was born so if that isn't good enough for our kid, I'd be surprised."

Rarity poked Applejack in the chest. "While I'd love to hear more of how you were once again about literally born in a barn, I just don't want to see you have issues and honestly blame me for worrying. I got you into this mess and I want to keep you at least okay through the rest of this. And I'll worry about your health every step of the way. And the one thing I learned from my mother is how to be a really overbearing pony."

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Fine, but we're totally going to talk about this, cause I love you but I also love doing hard work and doing something with my day besides wait around for months doing nothing."

Pinkie raised a hoof. "I'll do it, I mean thirty miles? I do that before breakfast, though Mrs. Cake usually calls that a sugar rush. Which must be why I'm so fast."

Twilight's eye twitched. "Pinkie, I- that's not how that works. But any other takers?"

Rainbow rolled her blue eyes. "I'm not. Even if I have Fluttershy's huge body, I'm still peeved at you. So that's a giant no for me."

Twilight looked at Pinkie's rising excitement and grimaced. "Fluttershy, please tell me you want to pull the cart."

Fluttershy twirled her hair awkwardly. "Um, if Rainbow said no, I really can't. No offense, but I'm currently way too small to pull that cart. Also you did punch me in the face so maybe later?"

Rainbow chuckled. "That's true." Then realizing what Fluttershy had said about her very own body, she stopped. "Hey wait, my body's not small."

Fluttershy stammered out a rebuttal. "No, it's not. It's just your fun sized usually and that cart is not fun sized."

Rainbow eyed Fluttershy. "I'm still not sure that if that was a backhoofed compliment about my size or if your trying to say I rock what I got."

Twilight felt her facial muscles droop as she looked at the unbridled excitement that Pinkie had. "Ugh, sometimes I wish that I had stayed in Canterlot and maybe I wouldn't be out here near Manehattan wondering where exactly my life went wrong."

Pinkie squeezed Twilight close rubbing his face against hers. "Of course you don't, Twily. Your life wouldn't nearly be as fun. And even though you hate to admit it, you do love fun. I can just feel the love of fun just pooling off of you."

Twilight huffed. "That's just sweat, Pinkie. And disappointment. Lots of disappointment."

The pink stallion broke the hug. "But, Twilight, you get hot from having fun, so by the process of party elimination, you love fun."

The purple alicorn facehoofed. "I know I've been teaching you logic problems to see how your Pinkie Sense works, but that's horribly faulty logic. Like it's terrible."

Pinkie walked up to the cart and placed the harness on himself and looked expectantly at Twilight. "Well, I get to the better answer through my method." Pinkie feigned hardship for a moment. He couldn't hide his teasing tone as his voice wavered in pitch as he talked. "Twilight, this cart sure is heavy and with everypony going to be on here, it's only going to get heavier. I sure need somepony my size and strength to help me push this heavy cart, it's almost like you need to turn into a stallion to help." Pinkie faked exhaustion as his whole body hung limp.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "You know I could totally just turn you back to normal and get on with our lives just as easily."

Pinkie opened one eye. "But Twilight, then this job would be twice as hard cause then I'll be smaller and have to pull a relatively larger amount of weight."

Twilight never liked arguing with Pinkie, it was like arguing with a pony that liked the little roundabout arguments and also ran on a logic system that only she knew. And Twilight cursed her past self's idea that teaching Pinkie Pie some things just so they could hold a conversation past 'You are hot' and 'Let's have sex' was a good idea. It was a good idea, but this was the result. Intellectual loggerheads with a pony that knew how to push her enough to get what she wanted.

And Twilight kind of loved it. Sometimes. But not in public. "Fine, but if this turns out to be a terrible idea, I blame you." Twilight felt the magic spell slide over her body and felt the changes commence. From a larger barrel to longer legs and the weird feeling of having your whole entire genital structure reformat itself into male analogues felt like she had butterflies in her stomach mixed with a sharp pop as the magic finished the more noticeable work. Twilight blinked, now nearly a foot and a half taller than before as he tested out the first steps the alicorn took as a male. "How do I look, gals?" Twilight noticed the male voice that the spell gave him was way higher in pitch than the rest of his friends- almost on the cusp of femininity. He stretched his limbs and noticed his wings felt huge as he felt them wrap around his body like a cloak while the alicorn's limbs felt awkward and lanky.

Pinkie cocked his head upwards. "Well I wasn't expecting that at all. Not that it's bad. Far, far, from it."

The girls stood there speechless.

Twilight felt a large blush on his cheeks. He had known that whatever this spell had done to the new him, it must be the worst thing imaginable ever. "Okay, I'm going to turn this spell off if nopony talks to me and explains what's got your tongues all in a knot."

Pinkie choked. "Phrasing, Twilight." Pinkie coughed and pointed lower towards where everypony was looking. "Or should I say your royal scepter is way more majestic than what I had hoped for. I guess alicorns have it where it counts." Pinkie snickered.

Twilight looked down. "Royal scepter? Oh come on." Twilight was met with a dick that was three and a half feet long and while Twilight usually knew actual dicks in books, looked five inches thick and had balls the size of melons. Twilight looked at Pinkie's eyebrows just doing a seductive wiggle and blushed heavily."Just know that I hate you all right now with the burning passion of a thousand suns." Twilight quickly took his place next to Pinkie. "And nopony get any ideas, this totally isn't my true form. Just some kink I have to work out cause it totally works weird on alicorns. Yeah."

Twilight felt the silence as the other girls got on. Pinkie quietly whispered something in Twilight's ear that nopony else heard as they started walking towards Ironhoof.

"You know, Twilight, you shouldn't be ashamed of your spell accentuating your alicorn gifts. If that is true. I'm really really stretchy. Though if you ever wanted to work out that spell's kink, you know where to find me." Pinkie Pie giggled as he bounced happily next to Twilight. Pinkie always knew how to get a rise out of Twilight and this time, literally.

Twilight cursed his luck. He liked his friends but the alicorn was still not entirely used to how unlucky he tended to be with his spells. He mentally noted to get back at Pinkie later, even if it tended towards what the pink pony called 'fun' instead of a Dash prank. He was never good with pranking others, so blasting all of them with magic was not worth it. Also with how powerful his magic was now, he wondered if blasting somepony with magic for a prank wasn't a criminal act.

***

Moondancer rolled her eyes as she imagined every possible way to blast this town to smithereens as the few hours of joyful depression that this town peddled was paraded around like a parody of life. Especially their fantastic leader who had been singing some song about how her town was the best town ever. Moondancer shook her head, noticing how little the ponies were. Their ribs stood out in relief as she could see their bodies shrink away in fear as their smiles belied another emotion.

And Starlight either didn't care, didn't notice, or even worse, might relish in the fact that she could walk around openly and spread fear in these ponies.

Starlight stopped her humming as she walked up to the one place that had any ponies around it. Tired ponies gave her a wide berth as she stepped into the least impressive bakery Moondancer had ever seen. A cake that looked made out of chalky fondant sat there and as she looked, she noticed it moving. The splotchy unicorn looked away as she wondered what horrible bakery would allow that to be on display.

A grayish unicorn stepped out and bowed. "I'm glad to see you again, Starlight."

Starlight smiled and bowed as well. "Well, you did just see me recently, Sugar Belle. Now I really do hope you feel better after out re-education session that I had you go through."

Sugar Belle laughed, but as she turned back to the counter, Moondancer could see large gashes and welts that were still healing in blue black blots. The unicorn's smile reached her cold, lifeless eyes as her laugh rang out hollow. "Oh, you know how into re-education I am, I sure love learning how this is true freedom from cutie marks." Sugar Belle flashed her cutie marks, which Moondancer had seen on every other pony. A dull grey equal sign.

Starlight placed a hoof on the counter and smiled. "That's wonderful." Then as quickly as she had placed that overly cheerful voice on, her voice took a darker tone and her eyes focused on the unicorn. "Now I heard something from Double Diamond that our food is disappearing into thin air. Now, I really don't want to blame you, since you are one of my best subjects here. . .but have you heard anything about that. I mean I put you on food detail for a reason. And yet, even months later, there's still food going somewhere."

Moondancer saw the sweat drip down the smiling face of the unicorn. "No, I haven't."

Starlight arched her back and flipped back into the sickeningly sweet voice again. "That's good. Now remember your education and tell everypony to never steal food from others because then they'd be a bad pony and also hurting the productivity of others. Oh and say hello to Moondancer, she's the newest pony of our little community here."

Sugar Belle smiled. "Oh that's great. Can I teach her how to bake our freedom cakes? Please? I swear I won't use more than the recommended amount of food." Sugar Belle groveled at Starlight's feet.

Starlight glanced over to Moondancer and shrugged. "Well she already has a full schedule with the others, but I bet if you be a good pony and wish really hard, I bet she might. Now go have the recommended relaxation time, you earned it."

Starlight led Moondancer out and as Moondancer looked back, she saw Sugar Belle quietly sobbing in the corner and trying to knock her head against the wall, each time getting close enough to touch it, but unable to hurt herself. Over and over again in quick, jerking movements she pulled her head back and attempted to slam it into the wall as fast as she could. But her head jerked to a stop each and every time.

Starlight glanced back and rolled her eyes. "Still trying to get the kinks out of the whole cutie mark spell I'm using. Hard to keep everypony alive and well when they keep attempting suicide." Starlight shook her head. "But that's what happens when you test spells on ponies all willy nilly, as a friend would say, it can get rather messy. It's okay though, I found a work around. I just modified their self preservation drive so they would stop right before they did it. Not to toot my own horn, but it was just a stroke of absolute genius."

Moondancer gritted her teeth as she could feel the corrupting influence of the jewel almost sing at the thought. She tried to think what Twilight would do in this situation. "So what do you want me to do about it? Give you a pat on the back for ruining their free will or something?"

Starlight facehoofed. "I didn't take away their free will, I just gave them a reason to live again. And come on I saw how great Canterlot was for the common pony. Celestia's great. I do have to applaud her for building a society around individuality and all. Everypony's special and let's spread the message of friendship around the world like the good ponies we are. Newsflash, the rest of the world can be a shitty place, but at least other creatures know what friendship is."

Moondancer rubbed her head. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Starlight stopped. "Nothing. Just me being moody." Moondancer saw red lightning dance across Starlight's fur. "Remembering the past. Now do you want lunch cause I'm just famished." Starlight tittered out a nervous laugh.

***

"Are we there yet?"

Twilight wiped his brow. "No, Pinkie, you can obviously see that we aren't."

Pinkie groaned. "Okay, but I'm going to keep my eye on that horizon so it won't pop up and surprise me."

Rarity lifted a bottle of water she had packed in her luggage and wiped her brow. "Well, I hope we'll get there soon, because I'm getting positively icky." She wiped her face and frowned as black mascara came back on her hoof. "Thank goodness I brought spares of my makeup kit just so the horror of me going into a new town without putting the best hoof forward can be averted."

Applejack lifted her hat and looked at Rarity. "I've seen you without makeup and you still look fine to me."

Rarity smiled. "Well thank you for the compliment, but those were private moments and what a lady does in her private moments without expecting a business offer is completely up to her. And honestly, I just don't feel myself without at least a layer of self confidence applied directly to my face."

Rainbow giggled. "Phrasing."

Rarity shot a look at Rainbow. "Quite crass of you, Rainbow. But I guess that would be the charm of you."

Fluttershy popped her head out of Rainbow's lap. "Be nice, Rarity."

The white unicorn feigned outrage. "Well she's the one who hinted at me doing something naughty."

Rainbow stuck out her tongue. "No I didn't. I just said 'phrasing' which says that somepony might see something sexual there. I didn't say you did anything. But if you're going to spill the beans, I'm all ears. And anyway Rarity, we do all have sex."

Rarity's face contorted in anger. "Twilight. When are we going to get off this cart?"

Twilight rolled his eyes. "Rarity, I can handle one pony asking that question. Not two. But if you're asking. Soon and no we aren't there yet."

Rarity crossed her forehooves and looked out on the way they came, the gently sloping hills near Manehattan had turned into steeper hints at mountains as the way narrowed into one wooded path. "This is why I never go out into nature. Too hot, too remote, and nothing to do." Rarity tapped a hoof on the bottom of the cart.

Pinkie chirped up a response immediately. "We could totally play 'I Spy' cause that usually got me through Pie family trips. Oh let me start. Uh, let's see." Pinkie looked around quickly. "I Spy with my Pinkie eye, something that is large."

Twilight rolled his eyes. "Pinkie, don't."

Pinkie giggled. "Score one wrong answer for Twilight. It is not your dick. I have more depth than just wanting that. Like cakes and being good with kids, and also being the best party planner ever. Also being a decent sister or brother, if the case permits. And maybe knowing my way around a dick or two, but that's neither here nor the answer." Pinkie winked.

Fluttershy swept her multicolored mane out of her face. "Well, then it has to be trees. Cause the Manehattan spruce can be up to two hundred feet tall and that has to be large enough for you."

Pinkie looked up to the canopy of trees above them and whistled. "That's one large tree, but even Fluttershy's weird obsession with trees has brought zero correct-a-mundo answers in this search for big stuff." Pinkie's voice echoed as he got into his little game.

Rarity moaned. "Fine, it's the sun. It's huge and making me die."

Pinkie shook his head. "Silly, Rarity. Usually when you ask for I Spy answers, you want things near you. The sun is super far away from us and if it was really close we'd all die. Creative answer, but no. But seriously, I wish Celestia would learn how to keep the heat away from us."

Rainbow thought for a moment. "Well then if it has to be really close to us, it's the cart. Cause it's big and wooden."

Pinkie grinned. "Oh you're so close. Getting warmer and all but no. I definitely wouldn't have said a big, wooden cart. I wasn't the two time champion of Pie Family I Spy for nothing."

Applejack leaned back and stared at Pinkie. "It's friendship. Cause you'd be sappy enough to talk about how far we come as friends and all."

Pinkie held back his tears with short sniffles. "That's. So touching. But also. Wrong!" Pinkie wiped his eyes and bounced along waiting for the question to be asked.

Every pony yelled out the same question. "What is it then?'

Pinkie bounced along with renewed glee. "It's the journey. Cause are we there yet?"

Twilight's color drained out of his face as he realized the joke. "Were you seriously trying to have us spend all that time figuring out that just so you could ask that question?"

Pinkie wiggled his eyebrows. "I saw my chance and knew that you were testy with testosterone so roundabout question it was."

Fluttershy piped up. "So Pinkie, who was it that won all your Pie Family contests? I thought you briefly mentioned you only won it twice."

Pinkie's voice grew quiet. "It was my sister, Marble. She's the real conversationalist in our family." Pinkie shivered. "The few times I won I had to cheat to get past her powers of observation. I knew if I didn't say exactly what I chose as the correct answer and let her move on without grilling me about it, I could eke out a win."

Twilight rolled his eyes. "That sure sounds like the most intense game of I Spy I've ever heard of."

Pinkie Pie stared at Twilight. "When you live on a rock farm without anything to do but stare at rocks and play games, games become serious business." Pinkie's mood brightened back to normal. "Which now come to think of it must be why I'm so good at organizing parties."

Twilight just nodded, quietly thinking that maybe Pinkie was just too. . .Pinkie to understand fully.

***

Moondancer pushed her food around as she felt nervous. She glanced at her arm and noticed that it was becoming harder and harder to find her original creamy coat that she had gotten used to. Now it was just inky black with barely a hint of white. And that was just after hours of being awake, which worried her especially. There wasn't a tome of how to reverse corruptive influences and if there was, she doubted there could be one called 'What to do if you have evil gems in your chest: a handy guide'. Moondancer laughed quietly in her head as she pushed the potatoes and gruel around. There had to be something she could laugh about or else the reality of her situation would be too sad.

"I'm guessing you don't like the food." Starlight smiled as she waved her fork around.

"No, I'm just trying to figure out what's your plan here?" Moondancer took a bite of her gruel and barely was able to swallow the horrible tasting slop.

"If you're talking about you. . .well all I want to know is where I could find my friend Sunburst. Bringing you back to life all evil was an unfortunate circumstance."

Moondancer laughed openly. "You know you could have just walked up into Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns and asked about him, right? He's a public servant and it's public record. Where have you been that attacking a major town and enslaving others is easier than just talking to ponies?"

Starlight glared and Moondancer could felt her breath grow short as mounting pressure closed around her neck. "That's rich coming from you. But if you want to know where I've been for nearly a decade and a half, I've been out there." Starlight motioned around. "And you may call me insane and a bit off kilter, but I've seen things you wouldn't believe. And I know for a fact that ponies don't need a cutie mark to survive out in the wild world of everywhere else."

Moondancer choked out a groan. "Yeah, right. And I'm the pony boning a princess."

Starlight cocked her head and let go. "Odd choice of words, but I swear that I've seen ponies like that. Not what you describe, definitely not. Markless ponies? Sure. You've probably heard of the Storm Empire, yes?"

Moondancer rubbed her neck. "Of course, who hasn't heard of the worst place to live in the world. Heard the dungeons are prime real estate."

"Very funny. But I'd bet the general in charge of the Storm King's armies would torture you to the brink of death before she'd laugh." Starlight lazily looked at her hooves to check for dirt.

"And why's that? She live in the swankiest dungeon ever?" Moondancer rolled her eyes.

"She's a pony without a cutie mark. And there's enclaves of ponies without them all over the place out there. I'm doing this just to see if there's a way to give ponies free will outside of some scam that doesn't need to exist." Starlight's horn glowed red with anger.

Moondancer pushed aside her plate and laid her head down on the table, the wood still warm and comforting. "So what if your conspiracy theory is true? It's still more preferable than whatever you're peddling that makes ponies actively try and kill themselves or break down. I mean if Celestia pulled your kind of attempt here, the nation would be dead in a month."

Starlight opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a harsh banging on the door. Starlight yelled."Yes, what is it?"

A tired looking pegasus stumbled into the room. "You wanted me to warn you before ponies from the outside came. I did what you asked. I did." Night Glider breathed in deep and rolled onto her side, letting Moondancer notice the patter of welts that she had as well. "Did I do good? Please don't send me to the mines, I'll be good. I'll be good." Night Glider groverd at her hooves, grinding herself against Starlight.

Starlight got up and stretched her whole body. "Yes. You did good. And tell Butterscotch or whoever's in the depths to prepare to release the hounds at my signal. Maybe these ponies just want to say hello and thank me for Canterlot." Starlight edged up to Moondancer and whispered into her ear. "Though I bet seeing you, they might just blast you off to the sun or moon and leave you there. I mean I have read my history and it seems like some princesses just love locking away their failures. I do that too, but at least I try to find use for them before that point. Oh no the trustworthy mage turns to darkness, which legend was that again?"

***

Twilight released the spell as they reached the outskirts of Ironhoof. While she grew sort of used to the new height and all, the cons vastly outweighed the pros. And she didn't need more jokes from ponies to feel self conscious about her body. The town was absolutely silent and outside of a few flashes of movements that Twilight swore she saw from the corners of her eyes.

"Girls, be ready for a trap."

Rainbow swept her pink hair out of her face. "You know, after the third or fourth time we've fought bad dudes, I'm actually expecting a trap."

Twilight heard a song echoing through the town, joyous and happy tones just hanging in the air.

Pinkie crept closer to the group. "I usually like singing, but that feels really wrong."

The stomping of hooves could be heard throughout the town as two figures walked out to greet them.

Fluttershy quickly hid behind Rainbow Dash as she tried to use her new found size as a shield against the chance that a very familiar pony might see her. Dash wanted to do the same thing as ponies poured out of each house. She had a quick memory pop up of being young and seeing her first clown cart- the ponies just pouring out of places that seemed too small to contain them.

Starlight raised a hoof and the town became silent again. "Why, hello again. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity. I do hope your trek all they way here from the big city treated you well. Though I thought my spell would have worked a little bit longer than that. It feels like I just got back. I mean honestly, I poured a lot of myself into that spell so it lasting a day or two at most is highly disappointing."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Starlight, as a princess, I have-"

Starlight turned. "No business speaking? I actually don't know you. So unlike your little friends who are far more interesting than you, I don't really care. Probably you're going to say something about how I'm evil and all, but I don't deal in moral absolutism. I mean unlike you, I've done something here. I've brought ponies happiness. My methods are crude, but don't they all look positively happy? Smile, everypony." Every pony surrounding them smiled as wide as they could.

Twilight blinked before continuing, the sheer fact was that those smiles reminded her of how she knew predators looked before circling in for the kill. "Yes, well we can debate that later after you have turned yourself in for crimes against the populace of Equestria and kidnapping one Moondancer, current archmage of Canterlot. And my first friend."

Starlight scratched her head. "Well this is just horribly awkward. Let me see? Moondancer? Where exactly did I put her? I definitely don't know-" Starlight whistled as she cast her aura around Moondancer's hoof. "Oh here she is." She waved it around wildly. "Though I guess the whole surprise is ruined when you can't realize your first friend is right here. Though is that the fault of the magic or are you saying stuff you don't really mean?"

Rarity whispered to Applejack. "I thought that Sombra came back. That can't be who we're looking for right?"

Twilight cocked her head. "That can't be Moondancer. First of all, where would she have the-" Twilight's eyes slid down the inky black body and fixed on the jewel. She knew that one well after Trixie tried taking over Ponyville. "Oh Celestia. what exactly happened to you?"

Moondancer felt burning tears down her face as she tried to talk. She had been practicing this moment for years, but the words just did not come out right. "Hey, Twilight, I guess you got wings a while ago. Um, things sure do happen fast like that. One moment you're a unicorn and then poof?"

Starlight clapped her hooves. "Oh I just love a good reunion. Though I'm sorry for cutting it short as I am a busy mare and I have better things to do. Lemon ripple ice cream sure sounds nice today."

Pinkie cocked his head. "Now what is that supposed to mean?"

Starlight teleported her and Moondancer out of the street and cupped her hooves together. "I called the guard company."

Pinkie shook as his Pinkie Sense ran full force through his whole body. He quaked all over as his body exploded into mini twitches. "Oh crud. Oh this is really, really bad."

A baying noise kicked up as large dark shapes galloped out of the hills. Each thing looked larger than a pony and faster than they looked. They growled and snarled as they bounded through town, not caring about any ponies in their way.

Twilight smiled. "Hey Starlight, I think you forgot one thing. I'm an alicorn and while these things look tough, I bet we can take them."

Starlight sat back on a bench and wrapped a hoof around Moondancer. "Oh I bet this right hoof you won't."

Twilight frowned, and channeled her magic to a rudimentary beam. She felt the magic come into her in one deep breath and as she aimed for the large monkey like creature, she breathed out and for a moment there was blinding light as a pinprick beam arced through the square leaving a trail of ozone in its wake. Twilight opened her eyes.

And saw the creatures still barreling down the street, without a scratch.

Twilight shook her head. That should have worked and without a doubt it had. She channeled the magic, it shouldn't be possible to just walk away from a blast like that.

Twilight dug down deep and tried to remember lessons that Luna taught her. Quickly bending the air around her, she breathed in and out focusing the air on one tiny little point. If beams didn't work, maybe a blade would. Folding air upon itself over and over in seconds wasn't something most mages had to do. She kept putting in her magic until it was densely packed and should take out most sizable threats.

Most mages weren't Twilight Sparkle or had lessons from Luna.

Starlight bet forward to watch the display, mildly curious if Tempest Shadow's reserve troops would come out of it alive. If not, then she wouldn't have to feed them again. If so, then the armor they wore really did work. Either way, Starlight won.

She aimed the shimmering air at the nearest one, only now a few dozen yards away as she breathed out. It zipped across the dirt, leaving a deep gash where it passed over and Twilight saw it hit the creature straight in the chest. Silently cheering she began to cast the spell again, until she saw the shimmering air bend around the creature and dissipate into silent, sparkling rain.

Starlight clapped. "Bravo. That was better than I expected. Now I definitely have to remember your name. Twilight, I have one question, can alicorns heal themselves on the brink of death? I really want to test that experiment, though honestly can you blame me for curiosity's sake?" Starlight whistled to the Storm Beasts. "Hounds, please leave her and her friends alive. But leave her just barely."

Twilight's concentration broke and as she turned, everything slowed down. "What are you-" She felt the first punch connect with her left wing, fracturing the entire structure as she heard it pop like glass. The next hit hit her right in the chest, knocking out her air with a loud whuff. The third and fourth blurred together as she felt her jaw dislocate the same moment as she was picked up and driven directly into the ground again and again. She could felt her ribs breaking, each bone stabbing into her and making her grit her teeth in agony. Twilight could only hear her world in muffled sounds as she noticed Moondancer sobbing and she heard other ponies cry in muffled sobs. Was Pinkie okay? Were the others okay? That was what truly mattered, not her body.

Twilight choked out a sentence before her body blacked out. "I'm okay."

Starlight cupped her hooves. "Anypony else want to show off?" She leaned her head in to listen for a few seconds, only to hear silence. "Okay, no takers?" Starlight whistled her way down the steps. "Hounds, listen closely, the pegasi come with me. The rest go in the mines. Okay?" Starlight gingerly stepped over Twilight and grimaced. "Oof, I sure hope you heal right. And just to think, I might have not called these big thugs if you just didn't interrupt me. I mean I might have anyway, but we were just getting along so well. Though honestly all you had to do was not follow me and we'd all be living in peace. I'd have gotten what I wanted all for the price of one unicorn. Was that too much to ask?"

A Storm Beast picked up Twilight and slung her roughly over its back as other rounded up the other ponies. Pinkie was glaring daggers as her looked ahead, his body and hair limp as he stared back at Starlight. Rarity and Applejack huddled close together as they were pressed forward towards the Crystal Mountains that the town sat next to.

Starlight smiled up at the sky as she looked at a passing cloud. "Oh and welcome to Utopia, everypony. The happiest little town in all of Equestria. Now I hope you enjoy your stay."

Do You Believe In Magic

Pinkie stared blankly at the wall in front of him. He had no real clue where he was and he didn't really care. All he could hear was the labored breathing of Twilight in the next cell and a muffled talking that sounded like Rarity and Applejack. He felt numb as the thought that maybe he could have done something before Twilight had- That he could have done something in the minute before she got stomped into the dirt. He tried to sing or do something since Granny Pie had told everypony the importance of looking on the bright side of life and he tried hard. But it kept coming back to Twilight.

A loud banging woke him up from the bad thoughts.

"Pony, time for work." A large, hunched over diamond dog walked through and unlocked the stall doors. "No ideas cause I know you ponies are smart, but Fluffy is smarter." He growled as he stared directly into Pinkie's eyes.

Pinkie slunk out and looked at Twilight's broken form. "Fine. But please be good to my friend there."

Fluffy cocked his head. "You are very new. You must not realize, when I say no ideas, I mean no talk."

Pinkie felt the color drain from his face as he saw the diamond dog unhook a mace from his belt, it's curved and rusted pole hinting at many beatings that went on just a little bit too long. "Noted. Just going to zip my lip up right now." Pinkie mimed locking his mouth and throwing away the key.

Fluffy grinned, his jagged teeth and rancid breath worrying the pink stallion. "We have a smart pony, yes. The last few ponies that came into my place were not so smart. Now, if you be good all day, I might give hint to the cook that maybe dead pony there be fed. Otherwise, no dice."

Pinkie vaguely nodded. Usually he would be less compliant, but Twilight was the main priority here and while he had to swallow some horrible tasting medicine and take his dignity just a notch, it just might be worth it.

Fluffy coughed, hacking up big hunks of bone. "Sorry, sometimes I do that. Ponies taste ever so good." Pinkie's eyes bugged as she saw the small bits of white bones. "Now, be good. Go mine white rocks for food."

Pinkie nodded. Just imagine it was the rock farm once again. That was easy peasy since he still had dreams where he was stuck on the farm. This time it was real though.

Fluffy's ears twitched, picking up sounds from far away. "Good." Pinkie was ready to leave before the dog reached over and placed a paw on his shoulder. "Let's say hellos again. I am Fluffy, son of Bear of the order of guard dogs." Fluffy scratched his ear and whined. "sorry about mean hello, hard to be nice to ponies when the dark ones come around. Alpha says to act mean cause they get that feeling. But being mean is hard when Fluffy thinks ponies are- what is the word? I want word that means squeeze and hug to death but also not cause that bad. Oh yes, past prisoners called that 'cute'. So Fluffy thinks ponies are cute."

Pinkie cocked his head. "Is this a prank?" Pinkie looked through the bars to see if there was a camera or something. "Cause I, for once, am really, really not in the mood for pranking." Pinkie glared at the much larger dog. Pinkie just had his marefriend thrown in a corner and beat to near death. On the Pinkie Pie list of things that were not okay, that was way on the top of the list. That and breaking promises and not eating things Pinkie made his friends. But Pinkie didn't care about semantics about where that fell, he just wanted Twilight to wake up and stop making Pinkie doubt himself.

"I do not know how to prank. Not dog way. Dogs loyal to alpha and alpha loyal to dogs. Good relationship." Fluffy nodded, his tail wagging at the thought.

Pinkie huffed. "Celestia's mane, fine. I get it, scary monsters are bad and you are acting?" She breathed in. "But it doesn't make it right to just not have some kind of tell so somep- something can get the joke. Else it's not funny. See, not laughing." Pinkie frowned.

Fluffy cocked his head. "Not understand funny, but understand laugh. Laugh is what happens when belly rubs are done." The dog's leg kicked as he thought about the feeling. "Rubs good."

He glanced back at Twilight, silently praying that alicorns could heal themselves. "Yeah, I'm laughing now." He frowned as he was led out by the dog who was happily bouncing around him.

***

Rarity groaned as she lugged carts laden with silver white rocks. She knew enough of gems and precious metals due to her innate ability of gem location and her skills at creating a fashion statement that would turn heads. She grimaced as she lifted the cart with her magic and began sorting the piles into perfectly good facsimiles of order. She tossed the gems she would normally keep for the projects she pined for. Rubies, agates, quartz, diamonds.

Palladium, that was what she was searching for.

As she worked her muscles, she heard happy music being piped in and Starlight's chipper voice echo through the caverns.

"Rule one of mining, follow rules. Rule two: no speaking. Rule Three: Be happy. Rule four. ."

Rarity rolled her eyes. "When I joked about having a bad time with diamond dogs, I didn't expect the whole place to be infested with them."

A deep humming from the bowels of the earth as diamond dogs poured out of the holes surrounding her workstation and loped into other cracks in the stone. Rarity had tried to get the memory of dogs wriggling through the deep and dark earth for years. And yet here she was right in the middle of them once again.

"Pony, you smell familiar." He took a long sniff of her hair as she attempted a smile. "Boss told us of a white unicorn from the time before." He narrowed his eyes. "So every unicorn gets special treatment. Especially ones with rocks on body."

Rarity blinked. "And what pray tell does that mean?" Rarity felt his long and sharp claws dig into her and flip her upside down before carrying her further into the deep and dark mine. Rarity cursed her luck. She kept telling Diamond Dogs were no good and look where that got her. A mine full of them treating her like a piece of meat.

***

Starlight frowned. "Moondancer, we have gone through this over and over and while I love debating you on the ethics of what I'm doing here, it's all for the greater good." She felt pinpricks as a low headache started thrumming in her mind.

Moondancer sat there quietly.

Starlight tapped her hoof. "Stop being catty, so what if I didn't tell you that I work for the Storm King? At least in passing, true, but semantics be right damned. You would be surprised how expensive running the little slice of heaven here is. I mean I can't just run experiments without capital- honestly just think of what I'm doing like a grant. I get bits to do what I want while not focusing on the bad parts. And I'm not a complete monster. But also I'm not the one actually doing the bad stuff, technically. I'm a good pony."

Moondancer turned her head and stared at the pink unicorn. "I keep hearing you say you are a good pony, but usually ponies don't have to repeat themselves so others can hear it. They just know."

Starlight fumed. "I don't have to listen to Celestia's favorite hermit on morality. I know I'm good. And maybe I just like hearing myself talk, you even think about that?"

Moondancer laughed. "I did, but then I imagined you as a hot air balloon. and then a really dark part of me wondered if I had my magic, I could just reach out and touch you and slowly peel off your skin piece by piece while you try and beg me to stop. And I'd say no while breaking every bone in your body while figuring out if you could heal from that. And then I'd snap your neck. But that's just something I have to deal with after you placed this stupid jewel in my chest."

Starlight imperceptibly shivered. "And that's why I decided to not give you back your magic just yet. Cause I feel in your heightened state, you'd do things you'd regret."

Moondancer turned away. "I feel like Twilight might understand. And if she didn't, at least I'd feel better."

Starlight rubbed her head. Everything had been going so well. The town was being run perfectly with palladium shipments and other precious stones being sent out to the Storm King just fine. And honestly, if those bitches and that stallion hadn't come then it'd have been perfectly fine. But no, they came and ruined everything. And it was all their fault. She teleported out of the room, since Moondancer was being unreasonable and tried to fake a smile as she walked towards her two favorite ponies.

"Starlight. . ."

Starlight turned to see Double Diamond bowing. She wasn't in the mood to even hint at being fair. She quickly snapped at him. "What do you fucking want?"

She felt better when she saw him physically react as if she hit him directly in the face. "I just wanted to ask about the money we are getting from. . .places. I thought you said that outside help was illegal."

Starlight's eye twitched as she fired up her magic, it's red aura gripping on his throat as she squeezed his neck, feeling the cords of muscle shift in her grip like putty. "I feel like you might need some retraining in following commands." She fired up her horn again and mentally sighed as she shot her favorite spell directly into his brain. She could see Diamond's eyes glaze over as his body twitched.

"Pathetic." She tossed Diamond aside as he seizured in the corner. She fear a tear roll down her face as she watched him shiver and shake. "Every time I hope somepony would be able to just shrug off my spells, I get horribly disappointed." Starlight yawned. "Oh well, at least I have something interesting to care about." She smiled as she thought of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. "Now those two are so infuriating, but unlike you-" She looked at Double Diamond frothing at the mouth. "at least I care. Just a bit. I mean I try so very hard to keep all of you happy and you just keep annoying me."

Starlight stomped off in tired rage as she tried to calm down. It only had been a few hours since her guests had gotten into town. And it was far easier to attract bees with honey than vinegar.

She psyched herself up and walked into the room she kept her two newest and favorite prisoners.

***

Rarity always hated being kidnapped. She wondered why the world loved just picking her up in its talons and shaking her around. Kidnapping was boring. She mentally ran through the checklist of things they might say to her. First would come the gloating, then the pleading, and then finally the saving portion. She'd read too many romance novels to care about the idea of it. It just didn't make her nethers bloom with arduous passion like some mares.

Light streamed into the room that she was drug into, the walls full of diamonds lighting the room with shining grace. A large stone throne sat with a large diamond dog astride it, almost dwarfing it with his size. Or Rarity mused, maybe the throne was too small and it was a trick being played on her mind.

"Alpha, I have brought the smell to you." The dog heeled as he waited to listen for the diamond dog leader to speak.

"Good, leave us." The hulking diamond dog got up and hunched over immediately, his large upper body slumping him forward and dragging his lower half along. "I remember you, wailing diamond. You hurt my ears before."

Rarity cocked her head. "I haven't seen many of your kind, and I sincerely doubt you know me unless word travels fast about how painful loud noises are." Rarity tried being confident, but she felt she was being more self-depreciating about her voice at that snide remark.

The mastiff bowed his head towards Rarity's face. "Name's Fido, of the Stone Dogs." He breathed hot air on her, his drool pooling below him. "Its been years since I saw the heart of the pony lands, but small whiny pony called her friends."

Rarity's eye twitched. Of course it had to be one of the dogs who had abused her and treated her like an animal for days. What rotten luck. "Oh, I remember you."

Fido smiled. "I was lucky to get out of there with my tail between my legs. For how small and weak ponies look, they have a big punch." He laid down and stretched his back out. "I want to thank you for doing it."

Rarity did a double take. "You want to thank me for what exactly?" Rarity was very confused since she had always feared that the diamond dogs would come back and haunt her for escaping or something mundane. Thanking her was definitely not on the menu.

Fido scratched his ear with his back foot, the display putting Rarity in full view of his equipment down below. "I cursed Wailing Diamond for her voice and driving us out. But that was years ago. Fido has gotten stronger and bigger since then with a big number of bitches at his command. All thanks to you casting us out and fighting for scraps."

Rarity blushed, her mind reeling. "Yes well, this most definitely isn't the reception I expected when I got dragged this deep into the mine.

Fido cocked his head, his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. "Fido does not understand."

Rarity facehoofed. "It's a pony culture thing. You might not understand."

The diamond dog nodded. "Yes, well pony group is weak. Diamond dogs are strong and lean, not fat and pudgy like marshmallow ponies." The dog howled with laughter. "We do not underestimate ponies anymore. Diamond dogs now all over the grasses and mountains. I'm head boss. We do well."

Rarity understood his broken Equestrian. "Um, I might think this is a bit forward, but can you let me and my friends go? I mean if I saved your whole clan or whatever you dogs call it, then by association I bet you could just pull a few strings and let us go so we can. . ." Rarity tapped her hooves together. "go far away from here and never come back."

Fido narrowed his eyes. "Diamond pony makes some sense, but Fido is sorry. Pink pony has us leashed to her through these beasts from across dog bowl of water. Also we hate her very dark grey color. Other ponies say that she is pink, but not understand. Closest thing the smart dogs can say is that pink is a very evil color cause it does not exist in dog brain."

Rarity laughed at the thought that diamond dogs couldn't see pink and wondered how Pinkie would take being the most evil thing in dog eyes. "Oh you have no idea about her. But if you need help to get out of this predicament, then that's easy."

Fido got up and scampered around the room. "How is that easy? Dogs tried to get out of mine but the big things and the ponies pushed us back."

Rarity picked up the large dog in her magic and gently set him near her. "Because we have an alicorn."

***

Twilight swam through the dreamscape, each stroke pushing her past the sea of dreams that caressed her mind and made her glimpse into the deep recesses of ponies thoughts. She could feel the crushing weight of everypony in Equestria dreaming all at once and yet the quasi synchronous echo of ponies all dreaming similar things made her comfortable. Rivers of money pushed her towards where she was seeking. A slight bump told her head that she had reached a more stable part of dreamland.

Twilight pulled herself out, her body vaguely aching as she could still feel her bones and muscles stitching themselves back together in the waking world. But she knew that wasn't where she was supposed to be. A unconscious lump of mangled sinew and bones barely alive and internal ruptures bleeding out. Twilight grimaced as she felt her stomach seal it's punctured lining as ribs shifted back into alignment, creating more internal bleeding as organs were unable to move out of the way.

Twilight never told her friends how unbelievably painful alicorn healing was.

She shook her head and walked down the path in a dark wood, choosing to take the road less traveled. Twilight groaned at the cliche leading her on, but Luna was usually a big stickler for traditional pathways to her inner sanctum. She lit her horn and felt her mind fall into the inky blackness of the void, dragging her hooves through the proto essence of thought, tiny motes of dream clinging on her tufts of fur. She could feel her mind racing through the eddies of worlds not thought about and dreams unrealized while taking a left at the thoughts of futures unattained.

She could hear the laughter of colts and fillies as she passed and she dared not look at the shores of dream, since Luna had told her to never fall too deeply into that daydream for its pleasures could be too much to bear for most souls.

She felt her body gain form and weight again as she blinked and saw a distant light beckoning her towards Luna. That or she was on the cusp of death and it was a mental trick to make her want to go towards the light, but Twilight chose the former choice as she could smell the overwhelming scent of flowers.

She faceplanted in the midst of a tropical garden, full of every flower imaginable in vivid hues rarely seen outside of dreams. Twilight spat out her mouthful of dirt and groaned as her mind filled in the chalky and musty taste of dirt, the grit hurting her teeth. Cursing her imagination gained from reading one too many books about geology, she stretched her body, feeling a wing pop violently in place.

"Luna? I love the garden."

A shimmering mist enveloped Twilight in small halting breaths as Luna slid out of the darkened garden, barely illuminated by the stars in her mane. "Twilight, how odd. Usually I keep my heart locked away from dreamers and yet here you are." Luna cracked a smile. "I really shouldn't have told you about this place."

Twilight laughed, her chest burning as lungs reinflated with air. "You know me. Celestia usually dealt with my curiosity by revoking my restricted section privileges."

Luna's smile faltered for a moment. "Yes, well, while I and my sister see the importance of teaching, I do enjoy a bit of danger in my training sessions. I hope your journey didn't case too much mental strain. The last few imagination reefs I set up to block some things away are rather intricately woven. Wouldn't want our sister's prized student fall prey to thoughts of future bliss." Luna chuckled softly.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Please, like I'd ever deal with kids."

"Well I do keep up with all of you in my own special way. Though Celestia called it 'an invasion of privacy.' I mean all I really did was pay close attention to your dreams and little hints of emotion pop up." Luna picked one of her garden's flowers and briefly stared at it.

"Great now I'll have to ward my dreams just so you don't get any thoughts." Twilight facehoofed.

Luna laughed and quickly picked off the petals of the flower she held, quietly pulling off each and every petal until there was just the stem. "I've already planted your dreams in my garden, so you need not worry about me finding out your favorite flavor of ice cream or your favorite way to get in the mood. And anyway I have to commend modern society for being so bland in their ways of wooing. So do not fret, I'm watching, yes, but I watch over everypony. You aren't the first one to have lewd thoughts about certain parts of anatomy." Luna walked closer to Twilight. "But what I have to ask, is how you got here."

Twilight ran a hoof through her mane. "Well, about that. . ."

***

Starlight smiled as she watched her most interesting experiments stare back at her. "Remember you two rather fun specimens of pegasi, I do keep my promises."

Dash draped a yellow wing over Fluttershy, who curled up next to her as close as possible. Dash could feel Shy's hot breath on her neck as Shy tried to hide from Starlight in this sparsely furnished room. "Yeah, well you sure have a way to freak ponies out while doing it. I mean Canterlot still looked like it was reeling from a massive hangover when we left. And hey at least you won't kill us, but our friends are fair game." Dash glared and wished she could use the Stare on Starlight just so maybe the unicorn could feel a portion of what she dealt out with her mind fuckery.

Starlight sighed. "Oh not you too. I just had to calm down our resident evil overlord in training. While I love that you are so very loyal, I just don't care what friends offer."

Dash clenched her jaw as she could feel her friend shiver at the cadence of the unicorn's voice. "I don't know what you've been smoking in your cult, but I feel like having friends is better than what crap you're selling cause I know what having no friends to speak of is like and it's empty."

Starlight rubbed her temple. "It's not garbage, I'm trying to do something special here. And it's cute you want to extol the merits of friendship, but I also know what being lonely is like and you know what? It wasn't my fault."

Dash rolled her eyes hard at that statement. "Is that your excuse for everything? It's not my fault? Oh look at me, I've never felt like I did something wrong cause everything's fine and dandy. I mean seriously."

Starlight felt red bolts of energy race across her fur as she picked up the bed the two were near and casually flipped it over. "It's not my fault. I just want to get back to being happy with my life and people keep interfering with it!"

Fluttershy mumbled something just audible enough for Dash to snap back at Starlight with. "Well, who went to Canterlot first?"

Starlight grit her teeth. "I did. But it was to look for someone and it wasn't my fault things went out of hoof."

Dash laughed. "I think it was you who cast that spell that turned everypony into zombies. Or am I forgetting a better unicorn that didn't need like fifty others to make a spell work?"

Starlight gripped Dash's throat as she shook the yellow pegasus. "I was looking for my only friend, you pompous ass. And he wasn't fucking there. It wasn't my fault things went to shit cause I wasn't the ones poking around and bugging me with 'I'm new to Canterlot and need some advice' bullshit." Starlight released her grip as she tried to regain composure. "But, uh, I just wanted to check up how you were doing and all. You didn't have to be so. . .moody about my methods." Starlight's fake smile faltered as she said those words.

Dash wheezed and hacked up a lung as she tried to regain air. "Well his dick must be rad if you mind raped a town just to find him." Dash barked out a laugh.

Starlight's calm face contorted in anger as she stormed out, quickly slamming the door and locking it behind her.

Fluttershy popped her head up from Dash's wing. "Dash, I know we are currently in a really bad spot, but I don't think antagonizing the one pony who has us currently locked up is a great idea."

Dash rolled her blue eyes as she crossed her hooves. "Yeah, I guess you are somewhat right. But it did make me feel at least a bit better to say something. Cause look around you right now. I don't see our friends and I sure hope they are fine cause the mine can't be any better than here."

Fluttershy picked up the one nearby brush in her wing and stroked Rainbow's unkempt pink mane. "Well I bet there's one way to get out if you really needed to."

Dash leaned into Fluttershy as she felt the brush untangle knots she didn't even realize she had. "I don't follow. Are you talking about like rushing her and beating her up or-"

Fluttershy frowned. "Dash, sometimes I worry about you. And no, I meant just punch down a wall or pull up some boards. You know, easy stuff?"

***

Applejack felt a warm wetness on her face and neck as she blinked herself awake. She had been trying to buck her way out of here through sheer apple bucking strength and determination. What shed had got though was chipped hooves and bloody nose as she had tried pushing the bars aside with it.

She rolled over and saw light pouring through the cell, the bars wide open and a dog that looked way too familiar leaned over her and wiped off her nose with a brown paw.

"Great, I must've hit my head darned hard if I see my dog."

A husky feminine voice answered back. "Dogs don't usually bond with ponies, too stubborn. Or few dogs, since Roxie knows a few guard dogs love them. Must be respected if dog call you-" the dog spat out the word. "master. Can see why Whiny Diamond thought you were special. Dogs like free and open sky, not chains."

Applejack stared up into the decidedly feminine dog and picked up her hat that had fallen into the corner and placed it on her head. "Uh, well you see, Winona's not like you, I mean she's like a dog dog, not a diamond dog. Though now I really wonder how that must look to y'all. I mean are you related to dogs? Cause that raises a whole barn of questions."

The dog stared at her. "All dogs related to dogs."

Applejack rubbed her temple. "That's not what I meant, but sure that makes sense. Now can you take me out of here cause I really think I did a fair number on this wall and I don't want to have it come and rock my world again."

The dog glanced at the wall and toothily grinned. "Fluffy has an all gray pony that laughs at that small gash. But is impressive for weak, small pony like yourself."

Applejack's eye twitched. "Now listen here, I'm not gonna take that guff from you even if I think I hit my head a bit too hard and am imagining my dog as one of these diamond dogs."

The dog pawed at Applejack's chest and AJ quickly realized her gaffe. "Not fake though. Diamond said you might be a hard rock to break of things. Now what did- ah, yes. Sorry. Guess seeing the alpha bitch of rock dogs too impressive." Roxie smiled and stuck her tongue out. "Though maybe pony thought female dogs too strange since they do not go outside of caverns."

Applejack shook her head. "Now listen here. I just really want to get out of here and all and find my friends cause I'm going to have a stern whooping of those things that threw us in here."

The border collie leaned down and pressed her body on Applejack, who could feel every awkward curve. She quietly cursed in that she'd never look at Winona the same way again. "Roxie likes fire in pony. Rare. Like bismuth or palladium. Most ponies too scared of fighting cause they fat and small. Roxie can see you large and strong like boulder."

Applejack blushed. "I'm not fat, I think? Is that what you are saying?"

The dog pulled back in shock, her ears pressed down on her head. "Roxie says no, you like the scrappy pup that fights with the pack. Or pony version. Roxie can see you be a big wolf leader of clan. Can smell it on you."

Applejack's eyes bugged as she realized what that meant. "Oh Celestia, you can smell that I'm-" She glanced up and saw a wildly grinning border collie.

"Wailing Diamond said to trick you. And while it took Roxie a while to get what she meant, she learned a new trick." The dog winked as she stretched up to her eight foot height and turned, her naked form making Applejack stare at the ceiling or the floor just to make the journey to this Diamond whoever the heck it was.

Roxie led Applejack past dimly lit caverns that narrowed into barely passable places for the diamond dog and turned into a room full of gems. It blinded her as the fires that lit the room made the surrounding gemstones too bright to comfortably look at. She shaded her face with her brimmed hat and scanned the room until she saw one very smug unicorn.

"Rarity? Are you okay?"

Rarity waved a hoof. "Fine darling, though now I really have to reassess how I feel about dogs."

Roxie bowed at both her mate and Rarity. "Alphas, found Wailing Diamond's bitch. Can have reward?"

Applejack stared at the dog that looked way to close to her favorite mutt and back at Rarity's smug face. She quickly connected the dots as she knew far too well her marefriend's proclivities to complaining and- whining. "Don't tell me."

Rarity fired up her horn and smiled. "I would change my honorary name myself, but I guess that is impolite. AJ, be a dear, I really don't know how dogs like to be rewarded. You know. Much more a feline mare myself with all the unfortunate implications that gives off for my later years. So was the preferred spot for dogs the head or chest or maybe some weird lower area? I mean bipedal, intelligent dogs could really make this far more icky than I prefer. So I've been just giving them bones which I feel is just a stopgap measure." Rarity ran her hooves though her mane and sighed.

"Uh, well, I think Winona likes it behind the ears and then a belly rub and all. I'd say just do what the dogs want and that's fine."

Rarity rolled her eyes. "If this gets weird, I'm never letting you live this down. Yes, let's just pet the intelligent talking dogs, of course this won't turn into something out of Rainbow's issues of Playcolt."

The large border collie tilted her head. "So no reward?"

Rarity shook her head. "No, no, just working out how to, how did Twilight put it, work on our 'foreign diplomacy' skills." Rarity smiled as she fired up her horn and felt her connection to her magic come forth, unlike Twilight's flashy and rather large stick approach to magic, she knew finesse. She quickly conjured up a few rudimentary paws, detailing the size and shape of these rather interesting dogs. Testing out the claws in each, she quickly came up with a fun idea and changed the feel, imagining a silky texture. Quickly flexing the paws, she stroked the female dog who leaned into the gesture.

Roxie's tail wagged as she quickly sat down and rolled on her back. "That good spot there. But lower feels better."

Rarity and Applejack shared a look as they looked down and realized what that meant. Any lower and it would turn into a lewd display out of Twilight's stash of science fiction novels.

"The dangerous cave awaits, Applejack. I sure hope we don't get eaten up by its hungry denizens wanting some bone to eat. I really do hope it's a full and filling experience."

Applejack shot Rarity a look. "Hush you. It's not my fault this got weird."

Rarity's face turned crimson. "Whatever do you mean? You were the one who pretty much said do whatever they want. I'm just saying I told you so. I told you so."

Applejack facehooved.

***

Moondancer was filled with unavoidable rage as she stared at the magic cancelling ring in the mirror. Just sitting there like a disgusting piece of garbage right on her horn, it's design being ever more noticeable as the band of white and black now stood out like a gauche light right in her light of sight.

And she couldn't use magic to get it off.

She quietly tried to pry it off, her hooves skittering across the metal contraption. She grimaced as it shook her core as it burrowed deeper into her. She breathed in and out, the pain bringing her clarity, feeling the whispers of darkness in her mind talking to her as she gently rocked the ring back and forth. She had been trying this for hours ever since Starlight had trapped her in a room with nothing to do.

Except placing an unbeatable puzzle right on her head. And the easiest idea had been scrapped hours ago. While Moondancer wanted the ring off, she didn't want her horn to snap off. She had heard of bone fractures like that happening in medical literature and losing a horn, even partially was like losing your soul. Magic made unicorns stand out and without a conduit to connect to the leylines of magic, most cases withered away, went crazy, or committed sucide due to depression. She wanted payback, not a chance to become senile as her mind fractured under the weight of trying to contain her mana without a metaphorical bucket.

So she moved on, deciding that she had one leg up on the ring. From researching the rings, or at least similar magical artifacts discovered in the Abyssinian region, she at least had attempted to theorize a way to get this off. And while Twilight dabbled in every scientific and magical system known to ponykind, Moondancer's forte was in artifact requisition. Or as the laymares called it 'historical archaelogy.'

And while the Storm Empire was full of ingenuity, she prayed that they did not bone up on their magical systems through the dim ages.

Her horn hummed as she tried casting different types of magic spells. She tried at least faking an attempt at each at least, since her specialty was more in applied theory. Twilight had always been the creative one anyway. She could never hope to match the new alicorn at creativity. But she knew the ways other magic systems worked and could approximate the tensile strength of one ring. Moondancer quietly hoped this would work.

She breathed and tried to send mana to her core, her thoughts on the ancient and mostly lost art of hippogriff magic from the few remaining tomes of Novo the Relentless talked about how regulating one's breathing and creating pinpoint focus was able to move the greatest of mountains. And while Moondancer thought it was more hyperbolic than actual magical advice, she slowed her breathing and thought of what she imagined what flight was.

An empty black featureless void of self loathing stared back. Whenever she tried, it came back. Walking on the ground? Fine. Air? Nothing.

"Right, I can't fly. Moonie, you never cease to amaze me with your incompetence. I'm not Twilight Sparkle." She blithely laughed, "Thanks Dancer, though I feel like talking to yourself belies more of a slipping mental state. You should really get going so we can get back at that slut who hurt Twilight." She shook her head, the continuing corruptive influence of the amulet right in her nonexistent heart worrying her. Well she imagined she didn't have a heart anymore. She quietly whispered to herself about how she should get a checkup just in case one day. She how corrupted she was from somepony playing around in her guts all willy nilly.

She mentally crossed off gryphon claw magic and Breezie elemental magic since the tomes by Grendel and Flandersnatch respectively used wings as mana channeling points in some step of the process. Stupid race based magic.

Running though her remaining options, she decided not to do horse magic due to her current situation being not conducive to performing the Pony Sutra or the earth pony related hoof dances that brought out the exotic familiarity of their magic. She never could get the feeling of pins and needles deep in her hooves whenever she tried earth pony magic. Same think with donkey magic, though the hooves were the main focus there. They relied on vibrations in the earth to cast. Not the greatest choice while being stuck in a second floor wooden room. And zebras were out due to being way too similar to earth ponies with the added terrible cost of rhyming, and Moondancer remembered rhyme class in Magic Kindergarten. That was her one and only F. She'd rather die right here than rhyme. And while she would have loved to read about how Crystal Ponies cast magic and if it was marginally different than the Equestrian variant, she hadn't got many replies from the librarians in the Crystal Archives before being so rudely kidnapped.

She tried yak magic next as it's channeling was similar to unicorns, horn based and reliant on charging the particles around them with pride that radiated off them. Exciting the air around her was possible, but soon turned back to reality as she realized in her mind that blasting oneself with any kind of magic was dangerous, especially yak magic since the more daring were known to fire cannons at each other and deflect the speeding balls for fun. High risk, high reward was not on Moondancer's game plan.

Chaos magic was out since it was patently unstable and only Discord in his infinite idiocy could control it. She'd rather not cast a spell and make her head a telephone just because she didn't like the ring's colors.

She finally looked at four remaining options. Seaponies, mermares, changelings, and umbrum.

She glanced at her tail, it's red and purplish streaks feeling like a short comfort as the charred black color of her fur sat there. Just sat there like her ever growing red heart of darkness. She gave it a half-hearted swish as she realized how uncoordinated years of book learning had made her, her hooves stumbling over themselves in a paroxysm of dance moves that was more like a deadly display than a practiced samba. She angrily crossed off the mermares and the seaponies, their magic, more like a swim routine mixed with hyperfocused practice with controlling sea currents. too graceful for her plodding hooves.

"Curses."

She was left with the two most distasteful types of magic known to ponies, the changeling and shadow pony variants. Then remembering how horribly disfigured and how evil she looked she grimaced. "Fine, why in the name of Tartarus not? I mean what else do I have to lose? My horn?"

She channeled her emotions of this moment- fear, fury, sadness, despair into a condensed feeling and breathed it in deeply, it sat right where her heart should be- it's void of emptiness bringing clarity back to her frazzled mind. If she had opened her eyes, she would have seen her horn glow a sickening green hue, the black fur and stony protrusions of what felt like pure obsidian making a casual observer think she might have been some weird Changeling. She felt the ring move for a moment, the pressure of her emotions forcing it to shimmy and shake up her horn slightly, an inch or two at most. Quickly deciding to throw all caution to the wind, Moondancer cast a second spell, this time from first hand accounts of Sombra himself. Umbrum magic relied on the transitive nature of being, their bodies shifting between solids and gases at a whim, the unstable nature of their birth bringing abilities that most ponies should be unable to do.

Moondancer chuckled. Most ponies didn't have the Alicorn Amulet inside their chest. She cast the spell. and felt her body phase out of existence for the briefest of moments, her eyes gassy orbs of purple that floated above the rest of her, with the amulet floating like an atom in an electron cloud. She felt a prevailing sense of vertigo as her body adjusted to seeing itself as a formless cloud of black gas for a moment, quickly phasing back into physical form a second later.

She stumbled a bit, her gait unsteady as she felt like a passenger in her own body, her stomach roiling as it sat there, like a ship on a majestic ocean of vomit. She felt the hot, burning semi solid liquid travel up and out her mouth, pooling at her hooves and providing an acid stench that focused her back to reality.

She stared at the ring. Not on her body. She tilted her head as she marveled at how small it was and how long her mind had spent on possibilities built on enigmas built on riddles just for one tiny band of precious metals and stones. She breathed in and saw the fine crack that ran through it.

She wiped her face and nose and leaned back on the floor for a brief moment.

She stared up at the ceiling and grinned. She floated over the ring and hummed as she passed it through her hooves, trying to figure out ways to ruin Starlight's decidedly perfect plan. For Moondancer guessed the unicorn had a checklist for checklists- and that she planned out everything, for unicorns. She seemed like that- why else would she build a town like a ramshackle machine, parts welded together with magic and intimidation while not realizing she was standing on the shore watching the waves come in.

Quietly resizing the ring, Moondancer slid it back on after she broke the spell dampening charms that were inlaid within. Taking a glance at the mess in her room, she cleaned up her little cage, teleporting the vomit to outside her window and watching it drop slowly to the ground.

She could have just teleported herself to Starlight and had her way with her, but that was the amulet talking again. And while the thought of it excited her, she knew Twilight would think it was wrong. Anyway, messing with Starlight after what felt like the worst day possible? It sounded way more satisfying than just killing her. Then she could watch as Starlight's dumb idea fell apart as she tried to fruitlessly pick up the pieces.

"You really shouldn't have beat up Twilight, cause she's important to me." Moondancer blushed as she wondered if Twilight had a marefriend cause if she saved the day, then it'd be the perfect time to check that out. She hadn't seen any mention of a marefriend in the Friendship Journals, so there was a high chance she was single.

Moondancer smiled at the thought. "That'd be perfect." The Alicorn Amulet glowed with an intense red light as the lewd thoughts of Twilight started coming to the forefront of Moondancer's mind. "Though maybe that's a bit too forward, I mean asking a princess on a date? That'd be ridiculous."

Moondancer blushed at the thought.

"But Twilight's brother married a princess, so it's possible."

***

Starlight downed a bottle of wine as she stared out across her domain. She levitated over her magical staff, which was decidedly a sham, and waved it around. Her magic flicked and shook with red flakes as she felt all the emotions she tried to keep nice and tidy in her head bubble up as she thought of ways to fix everything.

Moondancer acting rowdy and annoying? Check. Those pegasi causing her to just break enough to start slipping into some unforeseen territory? Check. Those other ponies from Canterlot? Check. Her own ponies? Check.

Everything was decidedly not fine. She always had plans on top of plans thought. That's how she got out of the previous failures and this was no exception. If one way to Sunburst closed, she always had ten open. Hard to lose when you don't use all your special toys on the first attempt. Running her hooves through her mane, she groaned, trying to run through the next days in advance.

"You got this Starlight, don't worry. Okay, okay. Just mind control Moondancer. I mean honestly she's functionally an earth pony with that ring on so the whole thing should work. Then just have her cast a spell on the two pegasi so you can finally figure out what's stopping you from doing your magic. Then just wait for the other four ponies get eaten by those mutts and chewed up by the remaining Storm Beasts and you are totally in the clear. Bing, bang, boom." She felt happy for one of the few times in her life- being so close to just fixing everything enough and finishing her work.

She levitated her notes over and ran through her gift she had been writing for years. The gilded leaf cover showing two names. 'Star and Burst's Experiments' Starlight hugged the magic journal close, years of projects sat there written about deep within its faded cover. "So close."

She breathed out, her breath hot and heavy with emotion as she just needed to get through the next few days and then she'd be free of everything. Everything would be finally worth it, the jabs that ponies who didn't understand what she was doing gave her, the years of toil in the Storm Empire, everything.

She rubbed her body against the hard wooden rod that she held lovingly in her hooves. She knew it wasn't Sunburst, but it worked okay for the more difficult days. It almost filled the hole in her heart that made the sunshine gray.

She just needed the next two or three days to work out fine. She was trying to give the Empire what they wanted and sadly the Empire was coming to pick up the final batch of gems for some stupid weapon in two days.

Everything would work out. She stared out out into the moonlight night and saw the stars twinkle to life as the inky blackness winked its lights on. Starlight tossed the empty bottle of wine and heard it roll on the floor. Better than it shattering, she mused. That would be a mess she wouldn't be able to fix all that well.

She laid out the eight artifacts she had taken from Canterlot and laid out a scroll. If the Storm Empire Archives were correct, the Pillars of Equestria and Meadowbrook as the magic theorist of the group, helped Starswirl helped create the most secret spell in all of Equestria.

She slid on the bee mask and saw writing unfold across Meadowbrook's invisibility sash. "Well look at that, I knew there had to be a reason why Sunburst thought you were the best Pillar. Even if I'd expect him to choose a fucking unicorn and not an earth pony but here's good stuff. Sad though that no mages thought 'hey how about mixing artifacts? That sounds fun.' But I guess that'd be dangerous."

Starlight whistled as she unwrapped the next six artifacts to see the spell matrix unfold. She'd never plan on using time spells cause those tended to be dangerous, but if everything fell apart and she was at rock bottom, why not? But that'd never happen cause Sunburst loved her. He told her that before in his letters.

If she pulled off some legendary spell- that had to fill the hole in her heart somehow. Then she'd know Starburst would have to congratulate her for her hard work becoming as good as him. Then they'd live in some little cottage somewhere just teaching others magic. It'd be nice. She quietly hummed to herself some jaunty tune as she transcribed Starswirl's time magic.

She felt something close to happiness as she thought about all the futures she could have with Sunburst.

Seriously Mysterious

Dash stretched her hooves and looked at her work. The wall that had caged them in stood with a large hole that could technically be squeezed through. Technically since she stared down at her yellow body and sighed, mentally chiding herself for eating one too many sweet treats these last few weeks since her hips just barely fit in the hole. Rainbow yawned, her eyes heavy and tired. Glancing out at the rising sun coming up over the Crystal Mountains, she pushed Fluttershy awake with the edge of her hoof and started to arrange her little message to Starlight.

Fluttershy wiped the sleep from her eyes and yawned. "Just a few more minutes."

Dash rolled her eyes. She knew her own body's reaction to sleep but being on the other end felt weird. "Come on, Shy. It's morning. Any longer and Starlight'd be up being all creepy."

Fluttershy rolled over and blew her medium length hair out of her face. "Yeah, but I finally just got to sleep. You know how hard a wooden floor is?"

Dash finished her masterful retort and looked back at Shy. "Yeah. And I"m the one that offered to have you sleep on the bed, but you said it was even worse."

Fluttershy rubbed her neck and stretched out her wings with a sharp pop. "Ow." She rubbed her joints. "At least with the floor I didn't feel like it was going to fall apart at any moment."

Dash looked at the ramshackle bed and cracked a sardonic smile, her tone full of sarcasm. "Starlight's a great host. Really wish the hotel situation here was better though, leaves a bit to be desired. I mean this is so much better than Manehattan and Savoy Row." Dash laughed.

Fluttershy cocked her head. "What?"

Dash blearily looked at her friend. "Just a bad joke I found funny." Dash checked out her yellow hooves, noticing the cracks and red blood staining parts of the floor. Grimly noticing the worn down state of her hooves, she gingerly touched them and felt numb pain as she ran over scabbed sections of it. "I really did a number on your hooves. I mean my hooves?" Dash shook her head."Celestia, I'm exhausted."

Fluttershy's eyes showed concern. "You know we don't have to leave. We could-"

Dash raised a tired and aching hoof. "And what? Tell Starlight we just wanted to open up some air in out room? I mean look at the wall." Dash gestured towards it. "It's not like we can just say 'oops, I broke down a wall and spelled out some mean message to you.' like that's not a fantastic plan."

Fluttershy frowned and stared at the message Dash had carefully laid out in planks of wood on the floor and felt a headache come on. "Dash, I thought we talked about not antagonizing anypony here."

Rainbow blew her long pink mane out of her face. "I remember that, but also I remember the pony we don't want to antagonize messed up Canterlot, intimidated you, and also brutally had Twilight beat up and our friends sent off to that giant mountain right nearby. So sorry I'm acting my least good self right now- but it's not the best time to be nice and wait." Dash breathed and noticed Fluttershy's body language close up as she stopped. "I mean, uh, I personally would say that was a great idea but if you wanted to, I'd be up for it." Dash tried smiling.

Fluttershy shook her head. "I get it, Rainbow."

"I mean you don't sound really convinced."

Fluttershy lay a hoof on Dash's shoulder. "Rainbow, like continue being the pony I know you are and just do what feels right. I'd tell you if I thought you were being an idiot."

Rainbow chuckled. "Shy, you've never called me an idiot."

Fluttershy leaned up and looked Dash in the eye. "Cause you aren't stupid. Now are we going to get out of here or not?"

***

Starlight smiled as she woke up from bed, her notes were all compiled away in her head. She decided to do that just so there wasn't some random pony scrounging around and casting a high level time spell without her permission. The last few days had taught her to be paranoid at that thought. She was slinging around high level magic and having that turn on her in any unforeseen way now made her stay awake that much longer.

Rolling out of bed with a prepared smile and checking if her painted on cutie mark was applied and dry, she winked at herself in the mirror and whistled a tune that Sunburst taught her all those years ago. Something about some old nursery rhyme about a shadow pony or something. She never was too into fairy tales, so the meaning was lost when Sunburst babbled on about it. Easier to see the influences of old artifacts and ponies, not some legend of the Pillars of Equestria fighting a cloud of evil. Sounded too much like some old author thought they were writing about Nightmare Moon or Sombra.

Clearing her head, she quickly teleported to Moondancer's door. She decided to cut out the chance for one of her ponies to ask some silly little question about morality or something. Quickly knocking on the door, she waited for Moondancer to speak.

"Come on in, I guess."

Starlight pressed open the door and noticed Moondancer lazily twirling the small mirror in her room in her hooves. "I see you found the mirror, now can we talk about yesterday?" Starlight had decided that the unicorn should have calmed down from her emotional high.

Moondancer flipped her blood red and deep purple mane with a hoof. "I've been thinking about it a lot and I don't want to murder you. So let's let bygones be bygones and team up."

Starlight cocked her head, believing it just was too good to be true. Sure she had been planning for the last day to have Moondancer help out and experiment on her prisoners, but she planned to use mind control. "But you said before you definitely didn't want to help me. With very strong words and. . ." Starlight let the thought go unfinished. She was too taken aback to put up her normal facade of calm- the boiling confusion trumped reason as she looked at Moondancer just sitting there. Smiling and fully calm.

Moondancer chuckled. "I know what I said before, but with this whole-" She hastily pointed to her chest. "thing right in there down deep, I guess I just had to sit around and be really, really bored and reassess my life." Moondancer set down her mirror and yawned. "Though do you blame me? Having your life flipped upside down like this really does a number on a pony."

Starlight checked if her mind spell still worked, silently casting it and feeling Moondancer's mind pliable. So if the worst came to worst, and with the ring still on the other unicorn's head, she could use her any way she needed. She wasn't scared of Moondancer, no way, just cautious. "Yeah, that makes sense. . .I think." Starlight awkwardly smiled. "I mean nopony's integrated amulets into others before so technically I could see this make all the sense in the world."

Moondancer nodded her head. "Now, you still did some heinous things to get here, but hey, the reasoning is solid. So let's talk about what we can get out of this over breakfast I hope cause oh Celestia am I starving."

Starlight rubbed her eyes. "I. . .hold on a minute." Starlight quickly teleported to the hallway, her mind reeling. Maybe she hadn't had the requisite amount of coffee or the bottles of wine she had drank the night before but it felt like everything was coming up too well. "Okay, just have to check on those two." Starlight booked it over to their room. Space was an a premium and stashing prisoners took time and a lot of security. Starlight quietly opened the door and looked in.

And saw a big gaping hole.

She quickly closed the door, took a moment to breathe, opened the door one more time to check if her eyes didn't deceive her, and screamed.

***

Moondancer smiled as she heard Starlight's high pitched wail. It just sounded so right. While she wasn't the one who caused it at that exact moment, at least the unicorn knew she could make a sound like that. As if each plan slowly unraveled into dust as time moved ever forward.

Moondancer tried on her nice emotion and slunk into the hallway, the sound guiding her each and every move. She noticed a large bolted door as she went through the hallway, the room in this stuffy place far larger than she had expected- she noted that for later. She could always run with plan B or C. She liked those plans- those were the flashy ones.

She breathed and walked into the room that Starlight's voice was coming from. Starlight stood there like a child screaming at somepony who took her ball. How fitting. Moondancer decided that while she loved the sound of Starlight breaking under the slightest of unforeseen circumstances, she'd rather not have little miss unicorn shred her vocal chords over a silly thing. So with all the force she could muster, she decided to smack Starlight as hard as she could.

It would be far more convincing than suddenly sprouting magic powers when you were supposed to be bound and gagged. And Moondancer had to admit, it felt amazing to hit her after the last few annoying and life changing days she had. "Get a hold of yourself."

Starlight's voice cracked as she came back to reality. She coughed violently as air was forced back into her lungs and she stumbled a bit as her body registered a hit that she just now felt. "Ow. Wait. You punched me?"

Moondancer shrugged. "It was all I could think of." She tapped her useless ring. "You know, no magic? Kind of was limited in my options."

Starlight barely nodded. "Of course. Though you could have used less force." The pink unicorn rubbed her face gingerly, the sting of the punch making it hard to feel without a painful sting lighting up the side of her jaw.

Moondancer rolled her red eyes. "I mean what else was I supposed to do? Hit you with a chair? Honestly what has you so worked up-" Moondancer whipped her head around and almost died of laughter when she saw the massive hole in the wall and the message one of the room's occupants left. "Huh, well. I guess 'eat a dick, you crazy bitch' written in. . .yeah that's. . . pieces of the wall would set somepony like you off."

Starlight frowned. "How nice of you to mention that. But seriously, this mucks up all the plans I was going to have."

Moondancer raised an eyebrow. "I know I'm newly minted evil." Moondancer was decidedly not that, but running with the idea had weirdly put Starlight on edge and off kilter enough to make the lie palatable. "But like if you want them back here just use your infinite army of ponies to get them back." Moondancer yawned. "Whatever. Celestia damn it." Moondancer felt the pull of Starlight's magic faintly on her mind and shook her head. Looking down, she noticed a faint red tinge to the jewel. Moondancer chuckled at the thought that the gem that Starlight put in her chest was keeping her lucid, if not sane. She felt the piercing agony of the spell probing her mind and finding it come up short.

"I need somepony to lead them, archmage."

Moondancer mentally rolled her eyes. "Your wish is my command." If she had to act the part of a willing commander why not add in the flair for the dramatic? At least it made her less bored. And it wasn't like she'd follow the directions to the letter anyway. She had better things to do.

***

Pinkie stretched his limbs, the hard work keeping his mind off Twilight, who still hadn't opened her eyes yet. So he sighed and stood behind another cart, his body used to years of doing this work. He took comfort in that; it was easier than the alternative where he let the sad feelings in again. He hadn't stopped working since Fluffy brought him here in this cavernous room full of unrecovered gems. The dog was somewhere, probably sleeping, and Pinkie moved on like a steam train, his body moving robotically as he sped through days of work in hours.

"Darling, I'd say you earned a break." Rarity picked up a ruby in her magic and tossed it around her.

Pinkie frowned. "I'm fine."

Rarity sighed. "Oh I'm sure. But if you need an actual reason besides you haven't slept a wink and look like Tartarus froze over- the dogs said you singlehoofedly caught them up on their order."

Pinkie huffed. "Cool, what else do you want me to do?"

Rarity cocked her head. "Nothing. You don't have to do anything at all."

Pinkie tapped a hoof. "You sure? I mean I could widen some of these passages just so its easier to get around."

"Pinkie, what's wrong."

"Nothing."

Rarity's brow furrowed. "Twilight's not the only one who can cast her spell you know." Rarity's horn flashed and wove the counterspell to Twilight's gender switch spell. With a poof, a decidedly smaller and female Pinkie glowered at her. "Now tell me what's got your body in knots or I'm going to have to bring in the big artillery."

Pinkie crossed her hooves. "Not talking."

Rarity facehooved. "It's Twilight, isn't it? Come on Pinkie, like I'm tired and currently I've been trying to juggle being nice to talking dogs who still have a leader who honestly remembers kidnapping me as the best thing he ever did. I don't need more drama than I already have."

Pinkie whispered something.

"What was that?"

Pinkie groaned. "I said 'I just want Twilight to be okay.'

Rarity walked over and sat next to the dull pink mare. "I know that. We all do. And come on. She's an alicorn, I bet that even that rough. . ." Rarity stopped her train of thought and tried again. "I mean she's going to be okay. Just think of how old the Princesses have to be and they haven't died yet. So Twilight's going to be fine. And I mean Twilight needed a break even though I feel like this wasn't what I envisioned for her."

Pinkie looked up and vaguely nodded. "I guess, though you really suck at cheering somepony up."

Rarity frowned. "Well who has the Element of Laughter here? Decidedly not me. I just try to help so many ponies that I spread myself worryingly thin."

Pinkie rolled her eyes. "You got me there. But you don't have to live with seeing things before they happen and choking right before you could save somepony."

Rarity cocked her head. "Darling, what pray tell are you even talking about?"

Pinkie continued. "The thing I always have. Pinkie Sense or whatever it is. Psychic senses, Twilight called it. I can sense things that happen before they do and yet I didn't do anything. Sure I warned you guys right before things went bad, but I could have tried something. But I just watched Twilight go down. Imagine seeing multiple ways things can happen and being able to do something and the one moment you've expected with how important your marefriend is and your body acts like its made of boulders."

"Pinkie, I think we weren't expecting that outcome at all. And if you are worried about not doing anything, you just said you warned us, so by your own words, you did something."

Pinkie pushed the limp strands of hair out of her eyes and stared at Rarity, the emotionless orbs freaking out the unicorn. "I did, but it wasn't enough. And I tried to move and nothing. I froze. Do you know what freezing is, Rarity? Fear. I could feel the future coming and all I wanted to do was run away from it because it scared me."

Rarity fidgeted as she looked at the ground. "But everything worked out okay. I mean the dogs are nice, I mean sure hearing me say that out loud sounds wrong what with how I expected that to go. But things are looking up." Rarity felt the hollow ring of her words as Pinkie rolled a rock in her hooves.

"What about Dash and Fluttershy then? Like it's so magical we got everything here going flipping amazing, but we still have those two in that. . .in there." Pinkie breathed and slowly got up. "If only I had stood in front of Twilight. Maybe she would have had more time to beat those things. And then we'd have a completely different outcome and maybe we wouldn't be stuck here for days."

Rarity looked up in the distant eyes of her friend. "You'd have been killed though. Twilight's on the brink of death and she's an alicorn. You aren't."

Pinkie Pie walked away, her final bitter sentences echoing through the small passageways. "That'd have been better than beating myself up about it. But yeah, I guess I'll check on Twilight if I have nothing better to do."

***

Rainbow heard Starlight's animalistic scream as they rounded a corner. Rolling to her side, she skidded across the ground, her legs pistoning as fast as she could just to get as much distance when the inevitable horde of ponies came for them. "Shit. Shy, you okay?"

Fluttershy did a hoofs up gesture as she breathed a sigh of relief, the pegasus dropping down the ground, panting heavily. "Doing great. Though I still have to say that I feel like I should at least say I told you so."

Rainbow rolled her blue eyes. "Yeah, yeah, don't be mean to the crazy pony. You've got that idea on lockdown. But look, like we're like a mile away from at least a mine full of terrible shit and maybe I'm a bit worried that we won't make it out in one piece. So I know I messed up doing that, but it made me feel like I could do something besides run away from this."

Fluttershy said nothing and as she was going to open her mouth a familiar unicorn popped into existence.

"Hey, idiots. It sure was difficult tracking two ponies that looked aurally like a putrid rainbow. But boy I sure tried to give you a head start." Moondancer sauntered up and smiled at the two pegasi, almost bouncing with glee as she walked closer. "How are you two doing?"

Dash steadied herself, her stance ready for anything since she had expected something to happen. Though she had to quickly come up with something to fix the plan that had expected an army of crazies and come up with another in a flash to deal with one well trained unicorn with unknown powers. "Great. You?"

Moondancer yawned. "Tired. Had some studying to do. You know, the small stuff of trying to figure out a way to overthrow a pink idiot and destroy a town. Bomb everything. Burn everypony here and figure out a way to rip out my new heart. Normal stuff. Though I guess I'm immune to Little Miss Crazy's spell. So small miracles for this thing in my chest."

Fluttershy's face lit up. "That's fantastic, I mean that means we can all escape and-"

Moondancer shook her head. "Oh I know that'but Starlight's still thinking I'm all fine and on her side. And sure, this sucks for all of us, but be glad I 'went' with her plan of bringing 'everypony' here to capture you and never telling anypony else. It's almost like I talked her out of bringing the hammer down on you. I mean have you seen the streets? It's sure strange and empty out here." Moondancer whistled and picked up a rock in her magic lazily spinning it around her head as she talked. "I mean I really want to have fun and all, but having hundreds of ponies against two? That's unfair."

"So what? You're going to keep us in that room and study us or what?" Dash felt her blood starting to boil as she heard the unicorn talk. "This whole stupid plan was made up by Twilight. To rescue your stupid self. And what now? You're evil or at least helping a pony who's taking control of a town?"

Moondancer opened her eyes, her blood red orbs oozing excitement. "Twilight remembered me? That's wonderful." The black unicorn coughed as she heard silence. "I mean, yes. And I'm not evil. Sure the amulet constantly buzzes evil thoughts in my head and I have to choose to follow through on them or not, but this is just me carrying out a mission so I can save everypony. My way. So come along one of you."

Dash reflexively stood in front of Fluttershy. "And what if we say no?"

Moondancer slowly sharpened her rock, the sparks and scraping noise distracting the two pegasi. "Nothing good. Though I could just have some fun and only take one of you. I mean going by your auras, its pointless to take both of you. I'd say the big one, cause sorry I still remember your attitude in my shop."

Dash tried to laugh. "Come on, that feels like it was a lifetime ago."

Moondancer didn't laugh. "It sure does. Not like I see that in a mirror now. So you can have your little blue friend go as fast as she can cause while I love chatting with you after days of only hearing Starlight blab about how great she is and how amazing her plans are- real pony contact feels nice. But Starlight's Starlight and she thinks she's in control. So very sorry."

Fluttershy's eyes were steel as she spoke. "This isn't happening to anypony."

Moondancer whistled. "Well, this is an impasse."

Dash tried to diffuse the situation as she glanced between the two, both waiting for the other to make the first move, Dash's senses were dulled in Fluttershy's body but she had enough knowledge of anatomy to see the taut emotions underneath the skin of each pony there. "Uh, can I talk to my friend for just one moment?" Moondancer shrugged and Dash quickly pulled Fluttershy aside in a hug. "Shy, I'm supposed to be the crazy one here and while I like you asserting yourself a little bit more, I really think this isn't a great time."

Fluttershy sighed. "I know that."

"And?" Dash could sense something coming up,

"But no. I promised myself to not have something like this happen again. Not after Rarity."

Dash cocked her head, her pink locks spilling over her eyes for a moment. "Flutter, you aren't making sense. Rarity's fine. Well probably fine, but that's Rarity for you, she'd whine herself out of a bad situation. I don't know what's got your body up in knots."

Fluttershy blew the hair out of her face and stared deep into Dash's eyes. "I promised that I wouldn't let Starlight do horrible stuff to any of you. Not after seeing what she could do."

Dash groaned. "That's. . .great to hear. But while I love that you finally got that Iron Will determination class to work right, I'd rather go and get this over with." Dash quickly ruffled Fluttershy's mane. "And anyway, who's going to save the others from the mine and come back and save everypony here?"

"You?" Fluttershy weakly offered.

Dash facehooved. "No, you. I mean I'm currently way too slow. No offense. But you can totally zip over there and come right back way faster without me slowing you down. Just go straight to that giant mountain way over there, pull out that inner fire you seem to be full of right this moment, and follow any big giant monster things. That's it. I mean I have the super hard job anyway. Starlight'd probably talk me to death." Dash quietly laughed to herself.

Fluttershy kicked a hoof and looked down. "But what if I mess up?"

Rainbow rested a hoof on her friend's shoulder. "Shy, even though you are currently in my body, I still think you are one of the most awesome ponies I know. And that's taking out the natural cool points being in my body gives you." Dash winked. "I mean sure, you aren't me. But you are pretty awesome. So let me handle the boring stuff and you go show the stupid monsters how awesome you are. Also say hi to Pinkie, he- or she- I can't really keep up- probably needs some cheering up."

Fluttershy hesitated. "But-"

Rainbow smiled, trying to put the reassuring smile that Fluttershy usually could light up a room with on her face. "Shy, just go. I'm going to be just fine. And if I'm not, well, you can tell me I told you so after we meet up again."

"I don't want to."

Dash almost wanted to laugh at how ridiculous Fluttershy was being. Almost like seeing a quiet mirror of herself with a ember of courage slowly stoking into a blaze. Maybe that was always there, maybe not. She quickly shook her head. "Sorry, Flutters, I need you to do this for me." Dash quickly leaned in and kissed Fluttershy on the mouth.

Dash moved back and saw Fluttershy blush like a cherry as she realized what happened. "Oh." Dash prodded Shy to let her get going. Finally, after what felt like minutes, Fluttershy lifted off into the sky. The rainbow trail showed her path away from town and towards a place that Dash hoped was better.

Moondancer leaned against a wall. "Touching, though I guess you know what's coming up next."

Dash sighed. "Shit." Dash stretched to Fluttershy's full height, the height advantage of what seemed like a foot on the unicorn made Dash a tiny bit hopeful. She cracked her neck. "Shy, you got to go now."

Fluttershy halted for a moment, her mind reeling as she tried to square the promise she made to herself in Canterlot and breaking it by leaving. She felt slight tears form in the corners of her eyes as she quickly nodded to Rainbow. "Dash, be careful." Flutttershy didn't wait to hear Rainbow's answer as she shot off into the sky, her rainbow trail telling the other pegasus all she needed to know.

Rainbow smiled and hunched down. "Ready?"

Moondancer yawned, her eyes glowing blood red as she glanced towards Rainbow. "One step closer to sleep."

Rainbow charged. Her body moved with the precision of a pony who knew how to fight, Rainbow's mind still knew the ideas that she was taught while she was in the circus, but her body still felt unnatural and sluggish since the added size and weight threw her off. Rainbow hoped that would be enough. She picked up as much speed as she could and lunged, aiming the first punch to Moondancer's face. Testing the waters to be sure, but that was all she had at the moment to work off of. Landing the first punch, she could feel the black unicorn's nose snap and a rush of blood mar her hooves.

Moondancer's horn glowed and Rainbow stopped dead in her tracks. "I gave you that punch. While I'd love to fight you, it'd be so weighted in your favor. Sounds totally fair to have a small unicorn like me versus a mountain of a pegasus like you. And I've never liked fighting anyway. Twilight always was the hothead, flashy and fun one. I tended to be the methodical one. Some called that boring, I call it result oriented."

Rainbow's leg twisted violently out of its socket as Moondancer's magical grip tightened on it. She screamed as she looked down and saw her leg bending backwards, the knee overflexing as the leg tried to compensate for it's dislocation. She could hear Moondancer clapping her hooves as she began to talk, her eyes glowing as she spoke.

"Interesting, I tried this once or twice on Changelings to get any information out of them after the wedding fiasco and they usually fainted after this point. Though that was because the drones tend to have low pain tolerance. Did you know that if you provide enough pressure to a Changeling they crack like an egg? I mean technically if I just pressed with enough magical force right near your carotid artery, you could faint or die or if I pressed your head, it'd crack like a walnut. So technically by a simple fact of similar reactions to pain, Changelings and ponies are too close for comfort. Everything has a breaking point and I know I'll find Starlight's cause she's categorically illogical." Moondancer wiped her face and pulled her hoof back, stained red with blood. "Oh that's not good. Seems like you did more damage than I expected. But anyway, you think I'm evil? Starlight's just been ranting about how important you and your blue friend are. Seems like you tend to bring out the absolute best in ponies. And I have a plan. Honestly a rather bloody and painful plan for some, but who's counting if I save the day?"

Rainbow grimaced through the pain as she felt her next leg pop out of it's socket, her mind reeling as she looked again and noticed that Moondancer had found a way to have her legs rotate freely without tearing every muscle there due to stress. It was sickening as she watched Moondancer lazily bat her around like a sock puppet. Her world was pain and stomach sickening movements as the world danced and spun around her. "Screw you."

The midnight black unicorn looked down at her strobing red gem and grimaced as she shook her head. "Bad idea brain. Bad idea. We don't want to cause them to hate us cause then Twilight would be mad." Dash could feel her legs spin back into place, the pain of the preceding minutes being the only thing she could rely on "I really hate this." Moondancer felt the worming influence of the jewel right behind her eyes and it brought things out of her that she didn't like. Quickly deciding that the 'scare and torture a pony' idea the jewel was just ecstatic about wasn't working, she went with the quick and painless solution. Anger always brought out the worst ideas.

Dash felt a feather light press of her main arteries and within a few seconds was out like a light.

***

Twilight jolted awake. Traveling in the world of dreams was highly interesting to her waking mind, but the way out was crushing rapids of decompression as her mind drowned itself awake. Gasping for air, Twilight flailed about as her body acclimated back to normalcy. She rubbed her body down and lightly pinched herself to test if she was awake and shuddered as she sputtered up blood. She quickly wiped her face and breathed in.

Taking a quick look around, she noticed the greyish pink pony that was slumped in the corner. Twilight winced as she wondered how long she had been out, the thought worrying her. Twilight tested out her limbs, the steps feeling heavy and methodical as she quietly walked over and tickled Pinkie's nose.

"Go away." Pinkie mumbled.

Twilight frowned. "Do I have to pull out my Pinkie voice? Cause I can." Twilight's voice rose into a high, bubbly voice, a close rendition of the earth pony's own. "You got to greet the day, Pinkie, you can't just let the sun say hello without being a ray of sunshine."

Pinkie raised her head. "That's kind of unnerving how well you pull off my voice."

Twilight nodded. "Well I have a lot of time to practice. Princessly duties can be long and boring and I have a lot of time alone in my castle on those days. So practicing voices is a hobby. You should see my attempts at imitating the other girls. Those are horrible." Twilight tried to smile as Pinkie slowly nodded. "Sorry for taking so long to get back. Got stuck for a bit trying to untangle myself from some unconscious mental gymnastics. And no Pinkie, it wasn't all that fun."

Pinkie rolled her eyes. "That wasn't the first question I would have asked. Maybe the second or third one."

Twilight sighed. "Pinkie, I tried to get back as fast as possible. Mainly because one of the last things I saw before, you know, was you." Twilight leaned down and stared directly into Pinkie's ice blue eyes. "And I didn't want to leave you too long, I mean you get worried I'll fall down a hole and break a leg walking to Canterlot. I can't imagine how tiring the last few. . .days, probably days due to your ragged look, must have been for you."

Pinkie curled up into a ball and turned away from Twilight.

Twilight frowned. She knew how to have Pinkie open back up to her normal self but it usually took a bit of prodding to get Pinkie to say the problem and work through it. Twilight's mind usually worked on logic and reason. . .usually. She had to concede that the last few weeks had shown that she still ran on emotions and had lapses in cognitive thinking. Twilight had ran tests on Pinkie during one of her depressive phases and found that she could understand the pony. Which was slightly terrifying in a way, Twilight mused, since Pinkie was normally a random machine that worked on whatever Pinkie felt like. A depressed Pinkie had a similar connection to uncertainty, but she could be observed partially. And Twilight had more fun with a excited state Pinkie than this Pinkie that always laid there under the surface of her marefriend. For Pinkie had issues, Twilight knew that for sure after hours long conversations about decidedly deep things that the earth pony talked about in her more low moments.

But Twilight needed Pinkie to be Pinkie, not that she wanted to invalidate any actual hurt that the pink pony was feeling, but because the bubbly pony was their bright light. How could they focus again without laughter? And also sadly there was a time and a place to talk about each others feelings and currently this probably wasn't the best time to psychoanalyze each other.

Twilight sat down on Pinkie, her body covering the medium sized earth pony like a purple feather blanket, her wings curling around the pair. "You want to hear a joke? I mean it won't be as good as your jokes, but it might lighten the weight from your shoulders."

Pinkie groaned. "You can get off then."

Twilight chuckled. "Don't interrupt my joke. Well you see there was a psychoanalyst and her patient and they were doing some ink blot tests and the psychoanalyst kept asking about what her patient saw. Now the tests usually ran fine but this patient wasn't like the others. See the patient usually came up with all these silly ideas for what the inkblots represented. Usually they were some mix of a long descriptive scene painted with words ending with a raunchy sex act. And the psychoanalyst thought that was problematic and told of some deeper psychosis of repressed emotional issues. The cycle continued like that, day in and day out, the patient saying weird things and the psychoanalyst asking probing questions with the test. Years went by, and the psychoanalyst couldn't take it anymore and in the midst of the inkblot tests asked 'Why do you keep coming back here if all your data is completely useless for what I'm testing? You know what the patient said?"

Pinkie groaned. "What."

"She said, "Why wouldn't I come back here? I get to see you collection of porn and talk to you about my week and we get all the data and dates we need." Twilight didn't hear Pinkie laughing. Quickly deciding that she must have said something wrong since the joke worked perfectly in her own head, she spoiled the joke. "I mean, uh, the joke is that the patient did a play on words since date and data sound similar and then the second interlaced joke is that inkblots sometimes hint at sexual thoughts and like the patient thought it was porn." Twilight nervously smiled.

"Twilight, I don't want to say that you suck at jokes, but that was awful."

Twilight huffed. "I warned you it might be bad."

Pinkie rolled her eyes. "Yeah and I remember you testing my Pinkie Sense."

Twilight laid her head on Pinkie's and grinned. "Was I that transparent?"

The earth pony sighed, slight colors returning to her mane. "I wouldn't have got the massive blinding point unless you botched the joke, which you did, but I guess it helped."

Twilight opened her wings and stepped off of Pinkie. "Well look at that, it's like a weight just got off your shoulders." Twilight winked. "But if you want more enlightening jokes you will have to wait for a little while longer."

Pinkie frowned. "Did you somehow see into my head while you were asleep?"

Twilight cocked her head. "What? No, I'm talking about figuring out how to deal with a hostile town before we have to call in the army or Luna, whatever comes first. What are you talking about?"

Pinkie shook her head. "Nothing, nothing at all. . ." Pinkie yawned. "Actually I might go take a nap cause I'm exhausted. Who knew hauling all the diamond dogs jewels and staying up for two days might be tiring. I sure didn't."

Twilight shook her head. "Sounds like a great idea, Pinkie, though I keep telling you to keep a schedule." Twilight laughed. "But I guess me getting a comeuppance or two might have thrown your sleep schedule through a loop." Twilight rubbed her eyes and sighed. "You know what? If we get out of this and you at least get some sleep right now, I'll let you do whatever you want to me when we get home."

Pinkie's ears pricked up. "Does that mean anything or just a set number of things that cover most everything?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Yes, that even includes your weird ideas of mixing magic with sex. And it includes the really weird ideas within reason of course. Even though I really, really hate saying it. Maybe the weirdness of your silly ideas might numb my mind of the last week. Celestia knows I need something silly and fun after this nightmare."

Pinkie lightly hugged Twilight, her mane smelled of cotton candy and Twilight always liked that smell. "I feel like everypony needs a break after this."

***

Fluttersjy scooped towards the moutain, her wake billowing out behind her. She dug deep into Dash's memories, her memories lacked the experience necessary to pull off some of Rainbow's more death defying tricks. Her mind shook with dread as she stared down at the mine, the fear paralyzing her for a moment as her mind caught up with memories. The wash of new thoughts came in and she hoped that her plan worked.

She hadn't yet figured out exactly how to land.

Pulling her wings close to her body, she dropped and felt the beginnings of free fall make her have the sensation of weightlessness. She counted to five, her body knowing the idea of what came next. Scooping up a small bit of air in her wings, she opened them just a bit to slow her decent and the next step was keeping her eyes open to gauge how close she could be to swoop upwards and into the cave. "Here goes." Fluttershy jerked her wings open with a breath and pulled up, her falling momentum transferring into forward speed as she flew forward.

She hadn't planned out that far once she realized that flying as fast as she could into a presumably tight cave system might have some issues.

It was like her world slowed down as she dodged stalagmites and stalactites with relative ease, her feathers clipping the hard rocks as she performed quick turns that would probably make Dash proud or at least impressed. She had come up with the idea of rushing headlong into the mountain at full speed on the way over as she heard the pained screams of her best friend.

Fluttershy blinked to wipe away the small tears that had followed her. "Not now." She quietly chided herself as she took a turn into a large, open space that gleamed with light. Fluttershy's world went from semidarkness to light and her eyes watered as she tried to close them. Fluttershy skittered across stones as she tried to land. Crashing to the ground in a heap, she moaned as she stared up at the largest diamond she had ever seen. The brightness dimmed as her eyes became used to the room and she lay there for a moment- winded, bruised, and sad.

Fluttershy heard hooves skitter across the rocks, her mind ready for anything. She had to be, it wasn't like she had a choice. Her wings felt like daggers as she moved. Possibly a sprain. Fluttershy groaned as she ran into a rock wall and slumped on her side.

"Shy, what in tarnation are you doing here?" An incredulous Applejack looked down at Fluttershy and shook her head. "I mean seriously like barging in like the Headless Horse was on your heels?" Applejack sighed.

Fluttershy shook her head. "Can I talk to Twilight?"

Applejack winced. "I don't know if she's up yet-"

"Well I really need to see her, it's urgent."

Applejack rubbed her temple. "Of course. Except I don't know the first thing about these tunnels so you might need a guide to get there. They got Twilight holed up in some deep cavern or something."

Fluttershy weakly nodded. "Sure."

Applejack whistled to the darkness and a Diamond Dog stepped out. "Hey, Roxie, want to show my friend around cause I'd love to come with but somepony got my marefriend all emotional and all that. You get that?"

The large border collie nodded. "Yes, Roxie understands. Pack important."

Applejack awkwardly patted the side of the diamond dog and huffed. "Well, I got to go handle our diva cause she's the one who's keeping us here. See ya, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy watched Applejack turn a corner and her footsteps echo into the inky distance as the pegasi awkwardly looked up at the dog who towered over her. At that moment she wished she hadn't mentioned Dash's height so much. It wasn't cute when things were twice your height. It made everything bigger and more intimidating.

"Uhm, hello?" Fluttershy tried to smile, her training as an animal caretaker flashing before her eyes and she tried to think of every weird thing dogs did and translate them into Diamond Dogs, not that that was the correct thing to do. It was because she had no other reference for Diamond Dogs outside of Rarity's little escapade and rescue. And she didn't want to taint the waters more than they already were.

Roxie bowed and licked Fluttershy's face. "Welcome to home. Follow my pads and we'll be in the winghorn's chamber in a few ticks of time."

Fluttershy nodded. "Um, if it's not a problem, I seem to have hurt myself landing so if it's no trouble, I mean, could I ride on you? " Fluttershy felt her cheeks redden at the thought since she didn't know how that might sound to a Diamond Dog. "I just want to get to Twilight as fast as possible."

Roxie bent over and stared at the blue pegasus. "Don't give rides. Not pets for horses." Fluttershy could feel the hot breath run across her face. "But if hurt, then guess the long way could be good." Roxie shook her head and ran a claw through her fur. "Much longer route. More talking and showing off space. Wailing Diamond only saw part of den."

Fluttershy looked at the banded minerals lining the walls as they passed through different corridors, the colors shifting throughout the entire spectrum and it was rather pretty. Sure she had things on her mind and places to be, but the beauty within nature always fascinated her. "So if this is a mine where is everyone?"

Roxie snorted. "Pony smart. Yes, this is mine but the gray pony that runs town outside doesn't know we protect the ponies here. Turn head when we pass this next corner and see them."

Fluttershy turned her head and noticed small holes in the rocks, like windows and as she looked closer, she could see pony snouts poking out of the walls. Fluttershy shivered at the thought. Being cooped up in pens that were smaller than her own bedroom felt wrong to her. Sure she was used to small, cramped spaces and the comfort they could provide in moments of worry, but this felt too claustrophobic for her tastes.

"Are they okay? I mean those look way too small."

The dog shook her head. "Space is important, yes. But keeping hundreds of ponies here for gray one make problems. Best solution is small cells. Still get food and water. And ponies still go in air when shipments go in and out. Not savages."

Fluttershy cocked her head. "I'm not calling you a savage, and I don't know where you are hearing that kind of language, but I was just worried about other ponies. Like you'd probably be worried about dogs."

Roxie sighed. "Understand. Roxie first from the Southland, big word there. Buffalo nice, ponies not."

Fluttershy lay down on the dog's back and ran her face in her fur. She wished there was a way to bridge the barriers of language but the hints of a past eluded her understanding. She did the thing that Dash always joked about her doing. Excessive apologizing. "I'm sorry."

Roxie stopped and turned her head. "You no problem. Other ponies bad. You not treat Roxie like pet. South ponies did. Some ponies nice, birdhorses nice too. Roxie went all around ponyland before coming home. Home nice. Outside sometimes nice."

Fluttershy nodded. "Yeah, home's usually better than a foreign place."

Roxie took a turn into the deep caverns and jumped over a large gap . "Sometimes Roxie want more. You nice, Wailing Diamond okay, orange one strange. Roxie worried home go away. Hear things from gray one. Ponies across bowl with monster army. Think things good here. Next months? Roxie unsure."

Fluttershy nodded. "I'm worried too. And if we get out of this okay, I bet you could see the world and whatever you want to do. Though that's in the future." Fluttershy tried to translate what the dog said in her head. "And if you want to travel the world and see stuff, I bet Canterlot would love to see a Diamond Dog. Though be warned. Canterlot's a bit- uh." Fluttershy tried to come up with a good way to put the mood she felt when in Canterlot while also having a term that might translate over well. "They look down on others if they don't follow certain rules."

Roxie rolled her eyes. "Roxie will think. Give Roxie idea for later."

***

Starlight tapped a hoof on her chair and stared at her cutie mark. The paint was peeling and she rolled her eyes at how dense the ponies were here. Sure she had them under her beck and call mostly, but not noticing a fake cutie mark? How sad.

She stretched herself out, the stress of the week pouring out of her body as she noticed Moondancer struggling to carry the yellow pegasus. Starlight closed her journal and tossed it aside for a moment to come and welcome her newest and sort of loyal friend.

Starlight poofed over and lifted the other side of her newest project. "Moondancer, please provide report."

The pink unicorn could swear she could hear a tinge of sarcasm in Moondancer's voice as she spoke. "Found them, one got away and I brought this one back. In summary, the mission wasn't all that difficult. Except the time it took to get back here."

Starlight nodded and moved on, her mind abuzz with possible tests and force breaking ideas to get at least some data on a spell that could get her into Sunburst's good graces again. She lightly shook her head at the thoughts running though her mind, clouding her thoughts with future hopes. "Yes, well, everything's going to plan. Now if you can drag our little escapee over to the lab, we can finally figure through the wonders of science why these two are immune to my charms."

Moondancer looked down as she violently rolled her eyes. "Yes, mistress." Moondancer faked weakness as she tried to be as nonthreatening as possible. Being a quiet, accommodating pony? Check. Being weak and unable to move the unconscious body of a pony she'd knocked out and did some horrible things to, She'd have to come to terms with her new issues and she wondered how good she was. "Mistress, I'm having some issue with the patient."

Starlight waved a hoof and coated Dash in magic. "Oh of course, silly me. I forgot you can't really use magic. Let's fix that. Though only if you promise to not go attacking me. Can we manage that?" Starlight's voice was sickeningly sweet again in a patronizing manner that annoyed Moondancer to no end.

Moondancer gritted her teeth and nodded. "Okay."

Starlight clapped her hooves together. "Wonderful. That's just what I wanted to hear." Starlight reached a tendril of her aura over and yanked up on the ring that was still on Moondancer's head. "There we go. I would have done that sooner but things got a little bit out of hand." Starlight lazily looked at the ring and tossed it towards a nearby table. "Now be careful. You've not had access to your magic for a few days so if there's any issues I wouldn't cast any high level spells."

Moondancer faked a smile. "Oh that feels weird." She let a weak spell falter and die with a flourish to make the whole charade still work. "Thank you." She hated acting like a weak willed yes pony but it was the only thing she could do right now so her plan of planting one little bomb somewhere could come about.

Starlight hummed a melody to herself and stretched her body out. "Well that's good. Do you want to help me break this stupid magic wall this bitch has? I would greatly appreciate it." Starlight smiled. "I mean with you being totally under my control and all, it'd be just too easy. See cause having one pony cast a spell like this is just fine and dandy. But having two ponies- and one having a priceless artifact in their chest- I'd expect this little wall to break."

Moondancer did not react, even though her heart raced as she realized that maybe her idea of Starlight being clouded by silly ideas was wrong. She breathed for a moment to not let her monotone voice crack. "Yes, of course."

Starlight laughed. "You passed the test." The pink unicorn fired up her magic and sent a long tendril out around Moondancer. "I mean of course you would. It's not like you had a choice. And if you somehow did. . .well I would expect you to have some kind of morals. I bet we're breaking like fifteen laws on torture right now." Starlight giggled. "And anyway, I made the variant of the Want It, Need It spell we're using. I mean if you failed the test and cast it on me, I don't think it would work super well."

"Of course." Moondancer copied the feel of Starlight's spell and prayed to Celestia that after this Twilight might not find her morally reprehensible. Taking aim at the table and the pony on it, she felt bile crawl up her throat as she cast the spell.

The yellow pegasus opened her eyes and started screaming at the top of her lungs while Moondancer saw her muscles start seizing up into locked and twisted positions. Moondancer could see Starlight firing her own spell while almost on the verge of gleeful optimism. The black unicorn wiped away a tear as she saw the aura flicker in and out, twisting between vile blacks and yellows and muted rainbows. She was the good guy and yet this made her feel awful.

She silently moved up her plan to get back at her new least favorite pony. Starlight had planned for Plan A, she couldn't plan for Plans B or C. She glanced at the ring that Starlight had tossed aside and smiled as she formulated a plan.

***

Twilight crossed her hooves as Fluttershy finished her explanation of the last few days. Her head swam with worry as she tried to connect the idea that Moondancer was working fully with Starlight and yet saying yet another thing entirely. Either she had a plan that would work and wouldn't backfire on everypony here, or the amulet was influencing her mind to make her fall down a path Twilight couldn't follow. Either choice wasn't good. "I see, thank you Fluttershy." Twilight breathed out her stress and rubbed her face with her hooves. "Now if anyone has a plan, I'd love to hear it at this moment."

Fluttershy looked up at Roxie and smiled. "I think I have an idea. I mean after speaking with Roxie here, she mentioned that they have all the prisoners that Starlight sent here. What if we give Starlight what she wants. I mean they have a mine for a reason."

Pinkie chirped up realizing the point. "Ooh, and Rarity kept mentioning some scheduled thing while I was working. I mean I wasn't listening all that hard since I was preoccupied with more important worries, but we could use that to get back into town without Starlight noticing."

Fluttershy felt excited for the first time in a while. She almost felt okay and ready to save Dash from whatever Starlight was doing, but as her heart felt light she felt a pang of cold heat emanate from her insides. Her eyes began to have double vision as she began to hear voices nearby.

"Hold it still. We need finesse here, not pure magical strength. Who taught you? An earth pony?"

That was a familiar voice. It was as if Starlight was right next to her, hurling insults at- most likely- Moondancer.

Fluttershy looked around and noticed Dash sitting right nearby, lazing on a rock. She looked faint and almost transparent as she saw Dash float through it and right through the Diamond Dog that was trying to talk to Twilight about a plan. Roxie shivered and looked around as the spirit passed through her, unaware at how unnerving the scene was making Fluttershy. Dash didn't take her eyes off her marefriend, the magenta orbs staring daggers into her soul. Fluttershy felt her blood run cold as she saw Dash's face start to bubble away, small chunks of flesh falling off and pooling at the specter's feet], her wings peeling off feathers like a trail of petals, the smell of burning hair and flesh pooling her senses and almost making her gag. Fluttershy tentatively reached out and poked the ghost, her hoof connecting with its face and an electrical connection passed between the two.

"Fluttershy? Are you okay?"A voice that sounded like Twilight's showed concern and as she turned back to answer, Fluttershy could only see red.

She only realized that her eyes were bleeding when she couldn't focus in the abject silence, the room turning a deep crimson as her body tried to register the massive hemorrhage of blood. All she could taste and smell was iron. "Oh." Fluttershy felt her body slump over as she was hit by the residual blast of magic that she was still connected to, the two lovers souls acting as a magical conduit to pain.

She could feel the hooves of her friends and a pair of paws carry her somewhere safe, the caress of Twilight's magic keeping her stable enough, the voice of the alicorn casting counterspells and attempting to staunch the bleeding with any medical knowledge she had. It only came in faint and distant as she could barely make out the words of worry that echoed through the caverns. But her vision was only full of red afterimages of Dash violently screaming her lungs out, her skin falling off in patches and bleached white bones underneath stuck in a skeleton dance of torture. Her wings frayed and split, blood pouring out of unseen wounds- the spirit floating above her staring down sat there in her vision, unmoving.

Fluttershy could only silently scream in horror.

Don't You Dare

Rainbow felt a breeze on her face as she opened her eyes. She stretched as she looked around. She knew something felt off when she felt a bit weird. She carefully chose her steps as she picked herself up from the dirt and stones and shook off the dust that fell like snow. Blinking to get her bearings straight, she looked around and noticed that somehow she was back in Ponyville.

She didn't remember how she got there and there was a pressing thought that that was wrong somehow. She was about to check if there was something wrong with her memory when she heard Fluttershy's sing song voice echo through the air.

"Dash, where did you go off to?"

Rainbow smiled as she turned away from the bottom of the hill and towards Fluttershy's house, the wind cutting a direct path towards her humble abode as Dash rode the current. The cottage rose up in the distance, seemingly closer than she thought as she saw a wonderful array of animals. She didn't know where Fluttershy was, but she had to be close since it was odd to have the animals running free.

Maybe her head was playing tricks on her.

She set down and carefully crept up on the house, careful not to wake Angel from his sleep. She felt like she should surprise Shy since it just felt right. Everything felt right as she knocked on the door. She expected to see Fluttershy open the door, but she waited and waited. Carefully knocking on the door again, she felt like something was up. Something-

"Hi. I'm Chroma, see I bet you didn't know that. Though if you did, I'd be surprised cause hello."

Dash looked down and saw a foal that looked too familiar to be real. A shock of rainbow hair. Don't think about what that could mean. "Hey. You know where Fluttershy is?" She awkwardly looked around and noticed that the room looked different than she rememebered, the couch being a solid black and there were way too many mirrors to be comfortable- the room stared into infinity as mirrors reflected into other mirrors making the room seem wrong. It didn't look anything like Fluttershy's house and yet the outside was a perfect facsimile of it.

"Momma's sick. I'd bet you'd like to see her but I don't thinlk that's a good idea. But you know maybe if we go get ice cream at Sugarcube Corner, maybe that'd make Momma better. "

Dash rolled her eyes. "You just want ice cream."

The foal pouted and crossed her hooves. "No I don't. It'd just be nice to give Momma something and maybe if you are a nice pony, then I can get an ice cream too."

Dash looked down on the foal and sighed. "Fine."

Dash sighed as she pushed her doughnut around. Sugarcube Corner was rather boring, not that Pinkie wasn't trying to entertain them- the opposite actually. But the Corner felt off, the only ponies there were Pinkie, Dash's little friend, and herself. Which was creepy to her because the normal place was usually packed with noise and ponies jostling amongst each other for Pinkie's newest creation or just a way to talk to other ponies easily. It was the place to meet ponies if you didn't want to got to Hayburger or annoy Twilight of course.

And yet abject silence reigned as she listened to Pinkie talk to her.

"So that's one double fudge ripple for your kid here and that doughnut for you. You sure you don't want a fudge ripple mocha blast cause I remember how much you love a pick me up, Dashie."

Dash ran through what Pinkie said. "Oh, she's not my kid. Just somepony Shy knows I guess. But yeah I'd rather just have a doughnut. Sorry Pinkie." She tried to smile as she pushed her bland tasteless doughnut around. She knew it should taste like chocolate, but it tasted like air and false promises.

Pinkie's eye twitched. "Okie dokie. Though I'm worried for you Dash, it's hard to forget that you came in here yesterday with your kid right here and you totally said that she was your kid. I mean you were really enthusiastic about that. You sure you didn't bump your head, Dash? I mean you just feel-"

Dash took a bite of her doughnut. "I feel fine, Pinkie. Now can you like go make our food cause I bet Chroma here would love to eat something sugary. Kids love that."

Pinkie's odd smile curled around her eyes as she talked. "Dash, you must be going crazy cause I just did that."

Dash looked down and saw the ice cream.

The ice cream she definitely remembered not being there a second before.

"How did you-"

Pinkie patted her friend on her head like a dog. "Silly Dashie, you always forget how fast I am, I mean how'd you expect I do my job as Party Planner Par Excellence? I mean there's a lot of parties and even though this is a slow week, I mean parties are forever."

Chroma frowned and pulled on Dash's leg. "Mom, don't be mean to Auntie Pinkie."

"I'm not. And I don't feel comfortable getting called Mom. . .cause y- I mean cause I feel way too old then. Not cause of any other terrible reason." Dash felt her brow dampen as she waited for her ruse to be found out.

Chroma stared at her, her eyes glancing between her ice cream and around Sugarcube Corner. She smiled as she glanced over at Dash, her magenta eyes looking like dead orbs as she set down her spoon. "That sure was good ice cream, coolerator."

Dash involuntarily tilted her head. "What?"

Chroma pushed the polychromatic hair out of her eyes. "I mean, if you don't want to be called Mom. It's weird. Needs some work."

Dash facehoofed for a second. "That's going to need some work, kid." She could see Chroma's smile through her semi-closed eyes, the jagged attempt felt like a wolf trying to seduce a sheep. "You know what, I just need to go to the. . .restroom for a second. Wash my hands and all that."

Chroma looked at her. "Can I come? Can I?"

Dash quickly shook her head. "Uh, no. It's going to be just a moment."

Chroma put her face on the table. "Okay, Cloudy."

Dash quickly got up to walk to the bathroom, her mind working on overdrive to make sure this place felt okay. If she remembered correctly, the bathroom she wanted was on the left side of the Corner in the far back. Sure it was not placed the best, but Pinkie said it was the original bathroom and that it was always in a state of 'almost being fixed'. She took a hard left and opened the bathroom door, its wooden door creaking as she entered. She cautiously worked her way across the stalls, a loud drip coming from the sinks.

"Hello? Is anypony there?"

She quickly climbed into the nearest stall, her mind checking beneath its neighbors just in case something bad would happen. It'd be stupid if she died in a bathroom. She could see it now her eulogy saying something like 'Her life was shit' or 'Best Wonderbolt flushed it all away' or some equally meaningless pun.

"Focus, Dash. Remember how you got here. Waking up in a field. Bad time. Sure you've totally lost time before, that'd just be called Cider Season." Dash chuckled. "But not remembering having a ten year old? Bad. Pinkie's acting like a wooden board? Really bad."

She heard hoofsteps nearby echoing on the tile.

She shut up, her breath rushing out like long slashes of air, her heart pounding as she waited for something to happen.

She saw pink hooves pass her by, robotic and jerky as she watched Pinkie enter a stall. That was normal. Pinkie had to go to the bathroom, it would be impossible not to. Rainbow waited for the unmistakable sound of Pinkie doing her business.

She waited.

She was almost ready to yell out something along the lines of 'Come on' to get the pink pony moving and her life back on track. Sure it felt like she was in some place that didn't make sense, but that'd be ridiculous.

Then she heard the zipper. And the skittering tic tac noises on the tiles.

Dash's eyes bugged out and she quickly hoofed it out of there, running nicely back into the relative and okay weirdness of the lighted entrance. She didn't trust her brain and whatever it was coming up with in her head was probably worse than what it was. But she knew that Pinkie didn't wear a dress when she saw her only a few minutes before.

She inched her way back to the table once she saw the light. Chroma waved to her and patted the seat. "You look like you saw a ghost, Cloudy."

***

Moondancer stared at the yellow pegasus on the table, moonlight pouring into the room from a small window. She watched the floating colors of soulstuff flit around her like motes of light, the rainbow colors passing through her like intangible breaths.

She quietly crept up to the silently seizing Dash, her body rigid and her eyes flashing open and closed faster than they should. She had crept through the halls, passing the locked door that she was so interested in, and inching towards fixing the problem here. She hadn't slept for the last few hours, her mental Twilight glaring at her like a stone statue unmoving and unfeeling, her mind making the voice in her head silent. And after days of having the voice flit around her head like nopony's business, silence wasn't golden. It was scary.

She pulled out the ring that she had quietly nabbed when Starlight was gloating over breaking this pony- no matter the consequences. The band of black and silver humming with power as she flicked the switch on, the magical field causing her fur to stand on end with its charge.

She cringed as she wondered what could happen to this pony here. Sure the rings were never tested on non unicorns or alicorns- there had been no need. So either she could short circuit this pony's entire brain if the spell reacted to pegasi spell matrices in an incorrect way or the spell could slowly fall apart. Though then she wondered how that could look like on a spell built to foster happiness. She scratched her head. It couldn't be worse than anything Starlight set up since she remembered that moment in the shop a few days back. While she didn't condone suicide, that pony did want to die and if Starlight's spell worked that haphazardly on ponies- barely keeping their subconscious fears or wants in check then why not.

All Moondancer knew was that maybe this pony right here might be having the worst nightmare ever. Or was on the cusp of it anyway.

She gripped the ring in her magic and looked for the smallest portion of the pegasi's wing. Reciting a few spells over the ring to make this work and hopefully remembering her few days researching pegasi mating rituals and their regional differences due to boredom, she cast a intangibility spell, carefully passing the magical item through the wing passing any veins and bone, and placing it right above where the wing met the body. She felt sweat drip on her brow as she carefully let the spell drop, her mind coming up with horrible medical accidents as she watched the ring settle into place.

"Now either this is the most idiotic thing I've ever done or one of the most scientifically stimulating and I can't figure out which." Moondancer watched and waited for the ring to work.

She counted to ten and as she believed the ring was going to be an abject failure, she felt the room hum with magic.

"That's new."

***

Dash blinked as she saw Carousel Boutique. Yet again, she didn't know how she got there and yet by this point she didn't care. Dash felt a tug on her tail as her guide beckoned her to go ever forward into probably worse stuff. She had been pinching herself every time the little foal hadn't been watching and while she guessed she was in a dream, she couldn't get the trick to work. Silently praying to anything out there that could hear her, she walked into the Boutique, a tinkling bell announcing her arrival.

"Why are we here again?" Dash groaned trying to keep herself sane through acting grumpy instead of scared.

Chroma laughed. "Mom, you are being silly. I told you already that we needed to get Momma a present so she'd feel better." The foal flipped her polychromatic hair and shot Dash a look eerily similar to faces she'd pull as a kid. The cockiness and don't give a shit attitude just radiated off this foal like water.

"I thought you wanted to get Fluttershy ice cream or did I forget something?"

Dash could swear that the foal's smile almost faded. "Well, yeah, but they melted cause you took so long in the bathroom so the next best thing is a dress. I bet Auntie Rarity would love to share her generosity with us."

Dash raised an eyebrow. "Sure." Shaking her head, she walked further into the room, the dim light casting shadows on the piles of fabric that littered the space. "Rarity? Are you even in here?" Dash waited for some kind of thing to pop out that looked competently like Rarity but off somehow. She'd seen too many horror movies with Pinkie to take this entirely seriously, even if her head was still fully in it.

Rarity flopped out of a pile and quickly stood up. "Why, darling, I'm truly sorry that I couldn't hear the bell." Rarity laughed as she spoke, slight nerves working her voice like a fiddle. "I just got a huge shipment in from Canterlot and Sassy Saddles had me design the Fall fashion line post haste, so I pulled an all nighter and seemingly fell asleep between the brocade and the batik fabrics."

Dash breathed a sigh of relief. "That's oddly normal for you."

Rarity carefully pulled a comb out of a nearby dress and quickly brushed her hair. "Quite, though sometimes I wonder why I put myself up to such a standard. I mean honestly I could pull a Hoity Toity and just come in and give my designers free reign with some fabrics and stamp my name on everything. Probably would make my home life far easier than it tends to be, but what can you do with children?"

Dash cocked her head. "I didn't think Applejack was even done with her pregnancy."

Rarity waved a hoof. "Honestly Dash, that was years ago. I mean the second pregnancy, which I'm totally going to miss if I don't get this thing planned out and finished. Though I guess I can let it slide that you don't remember Golden Apple's birth. I mean it was right around when Spitfire died and all. Horrible accident, though you got promoted to the top spot in all the Wonderbolts so by Canterlot standards, you did alright there."

Dash eyed Chroma before answering, seeing the worry etched on the foal's face, her eye twitching as she tapped a hoof briskly on the floor. "Yeah, I think I missed a ton of stuff ten years ago."

Rarity nodded. "Life tends to do that. Now, sorry for being rude, but whatever do you want?"

Chroma piped up before Dash could answer, her voice quavering. "A dress, cause Momma's sick and I bet she'd feel better with a new one just so we can show how much we love her and all that."

Rarity chuckled. "Why didn't you say so my dear? That'd be simple. Now if you give me just a moment, I'll just whip up one. Dash, is Fluttershy around the same dress size as before?" Rarity slapped her head. "Sorry, sorry, almost forgot that I just saw her a few days ago for our spa date, silly me."

Dash awkwardly looked around and whistled as Rarity threw fabrics around the store, a cyclone of colors and patterns swirling around them in droves as she performed her dance. Rarity's voice came out lilting and cheerful as she sung herself into the mood for sewing, her ritual built on hyperfocus and habit. Dash inadvertently tapped her hoof to the beat of the sewing machine, the ratatattat of the sound clicking away like a rudimentary beat over which Rarity performed her swaying magic.

"And done."

"Rarity it's been thirty seconds, I'd doubt you-" Dash glanced up in a nearby mirror and noticed something was terribly off about Rarity. "Fuck."

Rarity frowned. "Dash, I keep telling you to watch your language around the children. I mean I don't want them running around like little, uncouth savages swearing up a storm." Rarity's voice was muffled and plush as she talked.

Dash grinned and watched Chroma stare at the scene with a dumbfounded look on her face. "I've tried, but it's so difficult when the dress looks so amazingly stitched together."

Rarity hugged Dash, her fur feeling like corduroy as she roughly held her in her arms. Dash just looked at another mirror as the living doll she thought was Rarity hugged her, her patchwork colors showing wear as she let go. Dash looked into the one good eye that the Doll had, it's button sewn in blue thread stared back unblinking and cold. "Dash, are you okay? I mean I get cotton mouth a lot but you've gotten silent all of a sudden."

Dash smiled. "It's no biggie. The dress looks fantastic. That's it. Just admiring more of the stitches." Dash looked down and stared at the stitching on Rarity's skin, the black thread outlining exactly where she was.

Rarity's smile widened, the mouth flapping open and closed as it tried to show any form of emotion. "Well of course you are, they don't call me the best dressed pony in Ponyville for no reason."

Dash cringed at the thought as to this Rarity's definition of best dressed. The tattered and frayed fabric of her 'skin' and her actual doll like appearance made her mind think Rarity was the biggest hit in Canterlot tea parties. Fake tea parties for foals but she didn't doubt Rarity enjoyed herself. "Yeah. We'll just be taking that and getting out of your hair." Dash looked at the limp strands of string that showed Rarity's mane. Dash quickly pulled Chroma out of the room and decided anyplace else was better than where they were at the moment.

Rarity's voice echoed behind them. "Don't go that way, you'll ruin the surprise."

Dash didn't care, she ran past chairs and tables that at a glance looked like they were made out of plastic. Plastic fruits rolled on the floor, the doll that lived in this corner of the world not caring that they rolled around and sat there, not rotting, just glistening in the harsh lights. She noticed a large door and deciding to run headlong into it, she fell into blackness.

Dash breathed in and out, her mind being unable to register the void of space she was in. She had no frame of reference in that she couldn't see, touch, hear, smell, or taste anything. Like a nonexistent moment. It just stretched on and on, the only feeling she knew was that her ticket out of here was around here somewhere.

She blinked again and again, checking if that had been the trigger for something. She swam in the pool of void, ink dripping at her heels as Chroma floated by. She definitely didn't look cheerful, since she was glaring daggers at Dash.

"What did you do?"

Dash laughed, keeping her head above the void as she talked, worried at what swam beneath them. "You think I have something to do with turning Rarity into a ragged doll? I hate dolls, they have that something that just rubs me the wrong way. I mean sure foals are supposed to love them, I guess and Fluttershy loves dolls. But like they just creep me out. So honestly I can't say I'd scare myself for a laugh."

Chroma rubbed her face, the viscous goo tracking all over and leaving streaks of black on her fur. "Well I've been trying to shoot you full of endorphins to get you to be happy and look we're out here in nothing. Just a black void of nothing."

Dash narrowed her eyes. "So I'm asleep."

Chroma facehoofed and ran her hooves through her hair, the black covering the rainbow streaks. "Woo hoo, you discovered the ruse, I mean what gave it away, the Rarity doll or the meaningless void? I really feel the void gives it away, gives it that homey feel of existential dread."

Dash giggled.

"What's so funny?"

"I mean if we are in a dream world, can't we just go wherever we want to go? It's not like everywhere has to be a horror show. Cause that'd be silly."

Chroma flapped her tiny blue wings to get out of the tar pit of despair they were in. "Fine, but I'm saying I wanted to get back to Momma first and get her the stuff she needs to get better."

Dash ran her hooves through her hair. "Seriously, you are still on the whole Fluttershy and I are your parents thing? Thanks brain, I thought I already talked about this to it. I don't want kids. I mean kids are cool, but like it's not like I'd be a great parent anyway, I mean look at me. Like I'm a mess probably because of my parents, it's not like I'd bring out the best in a kid.

Chroma sighed and waved a hoof, her form melting away to a formless green and black cloud. "I could always change my form to something more suitable to your needs. If you don't like the idea of procreation, then I could be your biggest fan." The spell swirled around and flashed back to show off a perfect facsimile of Scootaloo.

"Change back."

The spell shifted back to normal. A tiny fake version of some hypothetical child that would hopefully never be stared up at Dash. "I felt your body recoil at that. I should not be so forward. Though that usually worked for everypony else. If they got bored, my sisters and I shifted between their loves and hopes. I sense both in you and yet you aren't there for me to comfort." The spell crackled in anguish as it tried to understand a feeling that wasn't pure bliss.

Rainbow tried to collect her thoughts. "I don't want to have some spell parading around like my friends. It's creepy and wrong. Sure if you are somehow some spell in my head and not just my absolute paranoia about slowly losing my mind, then great. I still think whatever's out there is going to get weirder and well I don't want anyone I know to get hurt."

Chroma looked up and smiled. "Well you know me. So you don't want me to be hurt then."

Rainbow groaned and focused her mind on getting out of this nothingness. She felt a pull as her and her wayward spell passenger blinked into existence.

Ponyville. Glancing up at the massive, ornate dark castle ahead, she pushed the granite doors open and beckoned her small pain in the rear inside. Whatever Twilight would be in this confusing mess, she quickly decided that she'd need to talk to Fluttershy about which psychiatrist she saw.

***

Moondancer looked at the locked door that sat between her and knowledge. Starlight had to lock away something magical and decidedly cool since it was the only locked door she had seen, the town weirdly silent and tight lipped about this here door. Moondancer yawned, the moon now fully above in the sky, her mind raced with possibility. And maybe boredom since the pegasus she had so kindly saved was still zonked out of her mind on the table. Moondancer rubbed her temple. The theoretical idea of instantaneous spell disruption was in its infancy, but it should have worked after an hour. Something had to be holding her mind hostage and Moondancer, for all of her oozing piles of altruism, knew that mental projections were highly dangerous.

Sighing loudly about how unfair her life as being, Moondancer teleported to the other side of the door.

She blinked and lightly touched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Moondancer had thought of every magical countermeasure and its possible ways to deflect them for the last few hours and here she was on the other side of a locked door through teleportation. She inwardly laughed as she realized that Starlight in all her infinite wisdom, had thought a locked door was the best line of defense in a town full of unicorns. Sure, mentally scarred and borderline incompetent unicorns that couldn't reach their magic due to a spell blissing them the fuck out, but Starlight hadn't planned for her using magic.

How single minded of her.

Moondancer descended down the crystalline steps, their rainbow hues reminding her of that ridiculous pegasus. She shook her head and focused on a mission that Twilight would be ridiculously proud of. Curiosity for curiosity's sake. And if she could find a place to charge up a magical bomb to kill Starlight- well that would be an added bonus.

She glanced at the walls and noticed stick figure drawings of deer fighting against ponies. Their forms were exaggerated beyond belief, the deer's horns passing forty points and beyond, their eyes glowing with yellows and greens as any ponies that were in scenes were hulking monsters, their horns curved, wings made of glass, and their hooves like shovels. She looked a little bit closer and lit up her horn, the light bathing the ancient stories with light. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed two ponies that she knew well enough , their wings dwarfing the ponies from before, their horns curved to unnatural angles. Celestia and Luna stared down in regal indifference, their eyes glowing with malice and their heavenly bodies right above their heads in stark relief.

Moondancer shivered at the thought of the Princesses showing a glare like that in present company. She dimmed her horn as she walked further, hopefully not disturbing some ancient ghostly deer as she trespassed on some history that either the deer misunderstood, or the Princesses just forgot. She dimmed her horn and walked on, the walls now hinting at stories that she didn't care to interpret.

Walking down steps that became more and more outcroppings of stone, she angled her way through the cavernous hole in the ground that she found herself in.

"Do what Twilight would do, that won't backfire at all. No, going into a creepy, dark hole that's the dangerous part." Moondancer heard her words echo and echo, their syllables fading into the distance like dying screams.

She didn't know how long she walked, her journey could have been minutes or an hour but she finally could hear a faint bubbling noise. Most likely it was some underground stream that had rarely seen the light of day. She blinked as light dimly lit the room, crystal sconces lighting the walls with colors. A monolithic cabinet of curiosities stood in the middle of the room, cutie marks bounced against glass compartments, the whole thing holding hundreds of marks, if not slightly above a thousand, the wall of marks stretching to the ceiling and taking up a large portion of the area she was now in.

Moondancer smiled. "Jackpot."

***

Dash crept through the stone castle, her hoofsteps echoing massively in the huge cathedral like space. Spires and crystals jutted out randomly in walls and the floor, there was seemingly no discernible reason why they were there.

"This wasn't what Twilight's castle should even look like. I mean look at this weird geometry, I'm trying to make a world where things make sense and maximizes your joy and here you are ruining everything ever." Chroma grumbled to herself and muttered other obscene things under her breath.

"And I keep telling you that its not my fault." Dash pushed away a massive cobweb that covered a doorway cut into the obsidian, the edges sharp and tinged with red. Dash carefully walked through, making sure to not touch the sides with her wings wondering what being cut in a dream would even feel like. Would it hurt or would it feel like a numb sense of nothing? Twilight was the pony who was well versed in this crap.

As they walked through the castle, small books began to be littered about. Dash shuffled through a sea of pages, the only things keeping her on the edge of her proverbial seat were hints of Daring Do novels shuffled in through the mess, pages detailing the Ahuizotl adventures, she quietly picked those few scraps of paper and read them, the words seeming close to something she would write in jest or boredom, leaps of logic setting through the pages, things barely held together by plot, and worse, supernatural hijnks that derailed entire chapters. Dash tossed them aside in frustration.

"Hello, Rainbow how may I help you today?"

Dash's ears pricked up as she heard the unmistakable timbre of Twilight's voice but with a bit of echoing buzz to it, like it was both distant and alien. She looked around to see where the voice came from, the walls being so good at providing a resounding echo, that it seemed disorienting. "Twilight, come on, I thought you took care of books better than this. I mean all these loose pages and hole filled books have to be, uh, let's see, a mess to re shelve or something."

A slithering bump rocked a nearby empty bookcase, the act almost felling the great piece of wood. "Oh, it truly is a mess in here but after my whole ascension, things have become rather complicated. It's just so hard to focus, you see." Twilight pulled out of the shadows and Dash stared as she kept coming.

Twilight's head popped out her compound eyes looking directly at her, the lenses glittering in the dim light. Her antenna were spiraling, wide horns glowing faintly with sparkling mana as she searched for a book. Her hooves had become claws as she had changed from a normal and less horrifying form to what she was now, her cutie marks emblazoned her six wings and as she drew closer, Dash looked at the eggshell white fur that covered her body now giving her a fluffy appearance.

"Oh. Yeah, that." Dash's mind wanted her to run away since she had never really liked large bugs, their looks felt too odd and strange and she had this weird need to dart away from anything larger than what she thought was natural. Tiny spiders and flies and all that were a okay. Giant anything? Big no.

Twilight tried to smile, her face not having a well defined mouth and instead having a long tubed proboscis made it nearly impossible, and failed. "Yeah, thanks for your compliment. Not like I've had a fantastic few years adapting to this mess."

Chroma stood there dumbfounded at the weird sight of a normal pony comforting a huge alicorn moth creature. "Dash, I can just set fire to her and she'll be dead but this is wrong on so many levels."

Rainbow glared harshly at her. "Shush." Turning back to Twilight, she tried to diffuse the situation by attempting anything close to normal daily conversation with the normal Twilight. "So, let's get off that horrible thought and get onto something more fun for you. I mean I kept finding all these Daring Do scraps and I want to know what happens at the end." There was no way that sentence could go wrong.

Twilight's compound eyes welled with tears. "I don't remember. I think I ate them first after I became like this and. . .I just keep eating my library and I can't stop cause books taste so good now." Twilight punctuated the sentence by levitating a nearby Equestrian history book and shoving it in her face, the proboscis quickly dissolving the paper with a faint sizzle. "And now I know too much about Chancellor Puddinghead's sexual escapades." Twilight blubbered on as Dash rubbed her temple. She was on her last straw with her mind being way too literal and trolling her. She got the metaphor or simile or whatever it was quick enough. Rainbow called Twilight a 'Egghead' and a 'Bookworm' enough times to make this horrible and slightly annoying version of Twilight a mainly eggshell white moth. How hilarious.

"Twilight, I need to figure out a way to break out of a mind spell trap or whatever you'd call it."

Twilight wiped her eye with a claw. "You mean a transubstantial hexproof mental projection portal?"

Dash silently berated her past self for not paying attention in magic or science class. "Sure, that."

Twilight beamed, her body bristling with excitement, her proboscis wiggling in the air. "Now those are purely theoretical to be sure, but you'd just have to kill the thing you love most, the shock of your action would theoretically jolt your mind into a rejection of the world and you'd probably get out."

Dash shrugged. "Better than being here, am I right?" Dash sighed when she noticed how terrible her joke was. "Yeah, see you around. Hope you figure out your creepy moth thing."

Twilight laughed, the buzzing noise echoing through the dark castle. "Yeah, though I should get back to Pinkie soon. I heard that living as a living pie golem really took a bite out of her."

Dash really hated her brain's sense of humor. "Chroma, burn this memory or whatever this is right now. Cause I'm sorry but I don't want to actually see what my brain comes up with in that case. Thanks. Twilight, or whatever you are. If you're some weird thing my brain cooked up to work through my problems, that's cool. If not, then I have some major issues about puns."

Chroma's eyes lit up as she weaved fire into the world, a thought and her need to give some form of happiness to somepony who was so hard to please at the moment bringing the roaring fire into existence. The fire shone in the darkness as it licked the stones of the floor. Books and manuscripts curled at the heat, the ink drying and flaking as it reacted to the new thing in the world and caught alight.

"Dash, what are you doing?" Twilight's compound eyes darted around the room, her world was stone and flame, her world had no water for her mothlike form had grown beyond a real need for water. Books had provided her sustenance and with how she looked, she had not left her castle in years, the idea of it terrifying her in the moment, her mind wanting to both go towards the light that attracted her and her own mind screaming at her to run away from the fire, the nagging equine heart still reacting to fire like it was danger instead of the most beautiful thing in the world.

Chroma tugged at Rainbow's hoof. "You want to leave now? It's not going to be pretty."

Rainbow shook her head as she noticed the giant moth that was her nightmare version of Twilight catch alight. Her fluffy white body and huge star wings caught like a candle, her form was decidedly not fireproof as Dash walked away, the echoing insectoid chittering screams echoing through the halls, the smell of burning hair and flesh clinging to her hair and the memory she expunged through fire still echoing through her mind in another way- she had watched this version of Twilight's eyes shatter as the heat warped them, the leaking knowledge of an entire living library curling up in smoke as Twilight had babbled her words away growing more incoherent as she slowly roasted and died.

Dash sometimes hated her brain.

***

"Flower spiders everywhere." Fluttershy stared up at the ceiling, her mind on a different plane of existence at the moment, her eyes red and still leaking bloody tears from the corners of her eyes, her body shaking with fear.

Twilight gritted her teeth as she held a complex series of spells and ritual magic to even keep Fluttershy stable. Twilight cursed her luck, her knowledge of magical maladies and odd afflictions were lacking in one particular aspect. Mind swapping. She hypothesized that this had to be some weird side effect of whatever Starlight had to be doing to Rainbow. It had to be the only possible reason for a perfectly healthy pegasus- minus the incorrect body of course- had any hope to cry a river of blood and show symptoms of seizure activity.

"Is pony okay?" Roxie quietly whimpered as the diamond dog wrung her paws which were lightly stained with blood.

Twilight shook her head. "I don't know and with how far away from any hospital that could even hope to keep her medically stable, I'm doing the best I can. Though I hope the spell or whatever is causing this finishes soon because I'm worried it could mutate into some necrotizing agent."

"That bad?"

Twilight groaned, the idea of explaining in proper and understandable terms to a diamond dog on how bad medical cell death was did not excite her like it should have, her mind more on prioritizing the moment and weaving a tapestry of spells that didn't have her friend lose her eyes cause of some unforeseen mess. "Yes, that is one of the really bad scenarios. Now how are the plans coming for the morning?"

Roxie cocked her head, her tongue lolling about. "Plans going well with Grey Wonder and Wailing Diamond carving out the undertunnels to surface. Last heard from Fluffy that would be few hours. Probably near done."

Twilight briefly smiled at the thought that to the dogs, Pinkie was grey, her mind thinking at the irony that Pinkie's least favorite favorite color- though with how she graded the scale, every color was her favorite- that was what the fogs imagined her to be. Stone gray. She quietly hummed as she wondered if there was a way to get Pinkie and her sisters to meet the Diamond Dogs just to see the slight humor that could produce.

Twilight let the thought into the back of her mind. "Good." Turning back, she redoubled her efforts to stabilize FLuttershy who kept muttering about castles on fire and huge moths. Luna always said that the dreamworld never made sense to a waking mind and the sheer fact of the matter was that in the gibberish that Fluttershy was speaking, there were hints of clarity mixed in with the madness.

"Everything's brain matter. Flesh walls and floor. Bone furniture. I'm a spider."

There were also sentences that didn't really fit well with pony sensibilities. That was one of them. Twilight wished she could blot this out with some wine, but the situation was more important than her sometimes necessary coping mechanism. Being a Princess had its downsides.

"Where's Berry Punch when you need her?"

***

Dash pulled her head out of the lake, her wet hair spraying droplets in the sunset light. A sunset that was truly impossible stood in stark relief against the sky, greenish pink clouds with the sky turning shades of dark indigo, orange and reddish yellow beamed down to the two pegasi, one real and one not.

"Mom, we can't stay here forever." Chroma shifted between her put on form and her actual cloud of smoke in exasperation of stopping for so long, the normal day stretching into night. Night wasn't supposed to happen in here. All of her sisters in her interconnected world had found ways to keep their loved ones away from darkness. And yet here she was staring at an impossible sunset in a world where sunsets were supposed to be categorically impossible. How could one pony be happy in the dark? It was where the bad things were. And yet every time she forced the world back to light, it rebelled against her, stinging her with mental slaps as it forced itself back to here and now. Chroma hated sunsets. It meant the fun was close to done, her bedtime close at hoof.

Dash shook her head. "I guess not, but what do you want me to do about it? Rarity's a creepy doll in here and I might have to have some time to come to terms with the whole setting fire to Twilight. Sure she was a mutated moth creature but I had a snap decision and you set fire to her."

Chroma facehoofed. "I did that because I'm programmed to make you happy. You seemed distressed and your brain sent out a fear response, I picked it up and burned it. I'm not excited that I had to use lethal force on nightmares but it's like cutting out cancerous tumors. It was me attacking myself. How would you feel after punching yourself in the face? Not very fantastic." Chroma crossed her hooves and blew a strand of polychromatic hair out of her face, her body grimy with black goo and dirt. It really wasn't the preferred program for happiness.

Dash hummed quietly to herself as she tried to process the information Chroma had just said. "So if we face any more of those nightmare creatures and burn them or whatever, you get hurt right?"

"Well it's killing diseased portions. So really it's stabilizing things back to an extent. Though the simulacrum of Twilight is too corrupted to bring back in any state. So sorry, mom. but Auntie Twilight is dead now."

Dash pinched her nose. "I thought we got the- no I don't care now. Call me mom. It's not like it actually matters anyway, all I'm letting is a spell call me mom. Twilight probably has spells do that all the time. Probably."

"Really?"

Dash hesitated for a moment, the idea scaring her. Then she looked down at what her brain and this fucked up spell created as her kid and she had something well up. An inkling of a feeling that this felt okay, not fantastic due to how wrong it felt and how unearned the emotion was, but she chalked that up to this little blob of possible evil and, thank Celestia nopony was here to actually hear it, cuteness had her pumped full of happy emotional stuff that Twilight would know so very well. And yet she looked down at the kid, her small form smeared with black goo and garbage and saw small hints of tears forming at her magenta eyes.

"Yeah, though we are not going to see Pinkie again. Or Applejack, I honestly wonder how you would have gotten me to go there of all places in your little adventure to save Fluttershy. If she's even here."

Chroma hesitated. "Well, I was making it up as we went along. It's not like I am super great at this, I only was created eleven hours and seven minutes ago. Compared to my sisters, I'm barely past the interface stage, they've had months or years to acclimate hosts. I'm new to this. I have a prime directive of making ponies happy and I just have to let this work out."

Dash placed a hoof on the small foal. "That sounds really dumb. I mean no offense but look at where we are now, a lake in Ponyville and that's after everything. It kind of sounds like you just were left here to clean up a mess." Rainbow ruffled Chroma's hair and sighed. "Well. Whatever. It's not like we can change the past on that. Let's just go home. I'm tired."

"But what if it's a bad place?" Chroma shook.

Dash said nothing.

***

Moondancer smiled up at her handiwork. She quietly tapped on the glass, myriad cutie marks flocking to her sound, beating against the glass like prisoners. She sighed at the sheer wonder of the possibilities and experiments she had to cut short. Images of a world where cutie marks were not important or didn't exist danced through her heard like breezies tumbling against the wind. Interesting though deadly. Moondancer liked the status quo and upturning that was highly dangerous and she couldn't truly trust Starlight's word anyway. She muttered under her breath and closed her eyes. "Fine, I get your point, stupid jewel. It'd be so much easier to just let this town rot and be a complete utter shit hole. I get that. But I still think it's wrong."

She could feel the jewel ache and a dull whine entered her ears.

"I know. But come on, Twilight'd be pissed if we told her that I was down here and didn't destroy this thing. So let's compromise. Bomb this and maybe I might let you do one horrible thing to Starlight. That sounds perfectly reasonable to me."

She didn't hear anything to the contrary, so she pushed past the annoying feelings and inner turmoil and grinned as she looked at the walls. Gemstones shone down in multicolored splendor in ways that she had only heard of in books and the walls and murals of deer lit the room in nightmarish tones. It was rather lovely. If she had to give Starlight one, and only one, compliment- she got her out of her house for the first time in years and she wondered if she could go back to that normal existence when she got back.

Her mind and body were testament to the fact that she had changed, most likely for the worse.

She shook that feeling out of her head and smiled up at the wall of easily made explosives. For one thing that most unicorns didn't know was that in the presence of high concentrations of magic, gemstones could spontaneously erupt. It wasn't common knowledge and the ones who used them most frequently took precautions and it wasn't like they exploded in the presence of air and magic, it really was more technical than that.

Flawed gemstones were the ones that exploded and they needed a nudge.

Moondancer chuckled as she quietly wove in small spells that didn't tire her out at all, each spell black as coal as she channeled her emotions into it, her body waving in and out of corporeality, tendrils of darkness grasping and reaching across the floor as she spoke her little bombs into the flaws of the gems.

She cursed herself as she looked up at the art she could destroy with a thought and wove another spell protecting those. If she was going to deface a possibly sacred mound in search for revenge and to laugh in somepony's face, she wasn't going to be haunted by guilt about it. And as Canterlot's archmage, current status unknown, then she was going to at least not cause some political faux pas because of her mistake. Plus it'd be at least interesting what could happen if a slab of invulnerable stone flew through the air as debris. The jewel brightened and grew hot at the thought.

She finished up her work and wiped her brow, the exertion of the night being almost too exciting for somepony such as herself. Glancing back up at the twinkling jewels, she could see the voids of darkness twinkle back at her, exuding some sort of malice that she found oddly comforting. Probably because it wasn't aimed at her.

She hummed a Countess Coloratura song to herself as she climbed the steps, the melody echoing across the walls. She felt like she accomplished something and she guessed that she should get back as soon as she could. That pegasus would love some company and if their mind hadn't killed itself or cooked itself then she'd love to ask what spell failure felt like on the experiential side. It was only fair for saving that yellow pony's life. She'd love to see Starlight's face as she welcomed the day tomorrow and saw her town crumble at her hooves. And she might be thankful to have Moondancer there at the end.

And she'd laugh cause she was the one that caused it. Moondancer's eyes gleamed red with passion as she prepared herself for the day, hopefully she'd be able to catch a nap for a few hours before everything turned fun. While she could deal with an all-nighter, it was better to sleep even if for only a little bit.

***

Dash opened the cottage door, almost eagerly waiting to see something weird and unexplainable, but she was only greeted by the odd overabundance of mirrors, the mirrors shining green with reflected light, and the black furniture that she had noticed before, or was it black, her mind was too tired to really care by this point and if it didn't come alive and eat her or remind her of her distaste for pie, she was okay with it. She crept inside and waited to see if Fluttershy was just going to come out of the basement or pop out like a giant snake. After the scary but normal-ish looking Pinkie, Rarity as a living doll, and whatever alicorn moth creature Twilight was, she wasn't going to sit down and take this horror show.

"By Happiness, you are an idiot." Chroma walked in, her hooves clacking on the wood. "You don't just barge into houses. And anyway, Momma isn't in this room anyway."

Dash cocked her head. "But it's Fluttershy's house so why would it even matter what room we're in?"

Chroma frowned. "Cause she's sick, it's not like she could easily leave the house. She's just this way." Chroma flitted off upstairs and as Dash followed, she started to feel at ease, the possible seconds or minutes being in here stretched to what felt like days washed over her and her wing ached for some reason, almost as if she had pulled a muscle running away. She let it leave her mind as she got to the second floor and turned.

She stopped as she saw the hallway stretch on for far longer than she remembered, doors and mirrors were all she could see and as she glanced back to see where Fluttershy had her book corner and study, she noticed a blank wall. Dash felt worry creep up as she remembered that this version of Fluttershy's cozy little cottage wasn't all that cozy and warm.

She heard Chroma at the far end of the hall, her form far smaller due to distance and Dash felt sweat start to form on her brow again. She never truly liked buildings, cloud structures were fine, they were made of air currents and cloud dust, that to a pegasus was normal. Wood structures and buildings felt weird. It reminded her of her fillyhood at the circus, not in a good way though. The circus train had laughter and joy between the darkness, this just felt claustrophobic and like the mouth of a waiting timberwolf. Dash gulped as she walked closer.

"Come on, mom, momma's right in here and she sounds so very happy to meet you."

Dash felt like she was springing a trap as she walked closer. Her heart pounded as she noticed something that she really should have noticed sooner- the mahogany door, ornately carved and filled with little spider motifs that glinted deep red and dark brown. Covered in silver and gold chains. Like something was locked in there and she was knocking on it's cave.

"You sure going in there's a good idea?"

Chroma smiled as she yanked on the chains. "It's going to be fine."

Dash waited as the chains fell and thudded onto the floor, the resulting thud being far louder than she expected, her ears lightly rang as they tried to go back to relative silence.

A light skittering noise tapped upon the door, patterns of eight tip tapping circuitous rhythms onto the wood, each set of steps heightening the suspense as Dash waited for something to open the door and eat her. She held her breath as she waited and waited.

The door creaked open and Fluttershy stepped out. A perfectly normal Fluttershy. No horrible mess, no awful transformation, just the oddly normal, if mountainous, pegasus.

Dash felt both relief and disappointment in that a small part of her kind of liked fighting monsters. This nightmare still had its good moments, even if they were rather few and far between or directly tied to horrible things she'd have to repress.

"Dash, it's so good to see you again."

Dash took a step forward and almost ran towards her one guiding focus here in wackyland. Then she heard the door starting to creak shut as she turned and looked at Chroma attempting to keep the door open as it slid ever closer to the door jam, ready to spring closed and lock as Dash could see the chains that had looked so worrying and inert almost slither across the ground like iron snakes.

"Dash, I don't know what's going on." Chroma grunted as she shifted between her void and child forms seeing if she could grip some of the door and force it open, her mind letting little juts of rock shape themselves into existence in a futile attempt at a last ditch effort, her mind running out of ideas quickly due to her age and unformed idea of catastrophic failure.

Dash turned and felt the room tilt as her mind tried to figure out what was going on in the room, her mind noticing that there was an overabundance of mirrors, the walls were mirrors and the floor and ceiling were mirrors as well even as she wondered how she would explain that idea to Twilight if she ever woke up, she noticed something as she pulled her eyes from the normal looking Fluttershy she was used to to the mirrors she saw something that gave her pause.

Where Fluttershy sat almost lazily in the middle of the room. . .there was a massive spider. Made of Rainbow Dash's worst nightmare- living and breathing flowers.

"Oh what the fuck?" Dash stood there and watched as Fluttershy sank into the floor and glided past her without batting an eye. The mirrors showed what was really happening, the sunflower mass staring at her soul as she could read their sunflower seed faces and see what they were singing.

'Rainbow Dash is a cunt, Rainbow Dash has no fun, Rainbow Dash look at us, Rainbow Dash, time is up'

Rainbow could see their lips sing it ad nauseum, and silently as she saw what was going to happen right before she could do anything about it. She tried to cry out as the room slowed down in her perception as she could hear Chroma speak in slow mo, her voice having a lilting nature as she tried to see if she did her job well and if she was a good kid. Fluttershy's voice came out, gently reassuring the kid that 'there was no problem' and 'the door will soon be opened, it must have just been a trick' and all that rot that works well enough for foals. Be sincere in your white lies and they could technically believe anything.

Rainbow Dash tried to look away, the room's mirrors highlighting the scene, a massive floral spider with a fake Fluttershy cribbed onto it, her limbs running like a marionette as she hugged Chroma, her body was worked by armlike vines that snaked underneath her skin, her rotting corpselike body only seen in the mirrors and sadly Chroma had only tried to look ahead no care in the world- resigned to the fate that somehow the doors might open again.

Dash just watched as the massive spider grabbed one leg and snapped it in half, the bone fragments jutting out of her skin as she looked down and screamed her lungs out. That was when Rainbow woke up, amidst the deathrattle screams of a spell that had finally given up the ghost, it's programming corrupted by bad magic, pain, and a twisted purpose.

Dash wondered if Chroma had been happy at that final moment before her mind cannibalized her. Probably. Dash sat there and pinched herself, glancing at the mirror nearby.

She knew she was back once she looked, the yellow coat and blue eyes telling her all she had to know.

A chortle of laughter came from the doorway as Dash turned and saw who it was. Moondancer grinned and waved at the pegasus, her demeanor airy and mostly cheerful. "So how was your nap? You have to tell me everything."

Dash just laid her head back down and cried as she could feel and hear everything that had happened in her mind. It had felt so vivid yet surreal. Her body felt sore and weak as she checked her body for nicks and cuts, her mind almost expecting something there, her hair felt gross as her body came floating back, her mind focusing on how sweaty she felt.

She needed to find something to center her again.

"Equestria to, what was your name again? Breeziesoft? Whatever. So? How was it?"

Dash flipped her off and curled up into a ball, the light from the early morning sun streaming slowly into the room. It streamed down and made her hot, the light caressing her with warmth that she currently lacked as she kept replaying every moment back in her dream over and over.

Moondancer facehoofed and muttered to herself. "Sweet Celestia, this is what I get for coming up with a way to break a highly technical mental spell and you go and flip me off? Fantastic. . .do what Twilight would do. And this is probably why she sounds the way she does in the Friendship Journals." Moondancer walked off and let the yellow pegasus cool off. It would probably be disorienting anyway to be jolted out of a spell like that. Anyway the fun was only just beginning.

***

Grubber ran around the panels of the ship, the steampowered airship's exhaust providing a massive haze on deck as weather spells crafted precisely by the Storm King's magical prisoners let the massive ship stay aloft in a magical display of his power. The small hedgehog creature huffed and puffed as his stubby legs tried to catch up with his commander.

"Wait, Tempest, I have been trying to tell you that we're almost there anyway." Grubber felt the glare of Tempest instinctively, her jet black iron helmet covering her face completely, the blue of her eyes and aura horn the only colors besides her dark purple-black coat.

Her voice was low and quiet, slightly muffled from the helmet. "I do hate waiting. I can feel something deep in my bones that I hate and I only feel it whenever the Storm King sends us to Equestria." Tempest was silent for a moment. "Tell me when we get there then. And Grubber, that does mean no stops for pie. Just a quick final mission and that's it. The last time we stopped for your pie, we had to burn down part of that cat city. All for your love of Cat Paw Tarts."

Grubber still remembered those tarts as he quickly saluted. "Well, I will definitely try to be better then." Grubber scampered off and left Tempest alone, his mind full of ways to maybe scrounge a pie off some unsuspecting Storm Beast.

Tempest stared down at the topography of Equestria and her aura horn crackled with malice. She hated coming back here. It brought back memories and she hated those. Her remnant of horn always gave her trouble in the homeland. She chalked it up to some pony magic and dug down deep to try and let the minor headache pass.

"This isn't what I'd call a work sponsored vacation, you overgrown monkey king."

Friend Is A Four Letter Word

Twilight felt a light tap on her shoulder as she looked up at the coming Manehattan skyline, the sunlight's dusky light lighting up the sky with blues and purples. She glanced up at Moondancer, slightly rubbing her eyes and gently trying to keep Pinkie asleep by slowly moving out of her seat.

The train car was quiet as Twilight and Moondancer passed by each, Applejack and Rarity sleeping on top of one another, Fluttershy and Dash curled up in a corner, and the two Diamond Dogs taking each a seat of their own due to how much larger than the average pony they were.

Sliding open the train car's door and entering into the obligatory Princess car that every train in Equestria had, the two settled down to talk. Twilight personally never liked using that car due to her still getting used to being a pony who could use that privilege. Twilight saw the lines of worry all over her old friend's face, her blood red eyes pools of emotion as they sat there. The alicorn levitated a few glasses and some water over for the pair- her usual distaste for alcohol ever present.

She quietly poured the glasses and leaned back in the heavily cushioned chair and felt like a foal again.

"So Moondancer, what's on your mind?"

Moondancer tapped a hoof on the table and sighed. "A lot. If you don't want to listen I guess it's fine."

Twilight facehoofed ever so slightly. "Moon, you tapped me on the shoulder not two minutes ago, I have a terrible sleep schedule, and we both know that Manehattan is still hours away. So whatever's on your chest, I can probably spare a lot of time. Just think of it as making up for lost time."

Moondancer took a sip of her water and awkwardly shuffled in her chair. "Yeah." Moondancer looked out the window of the passing scenery, unmoving rocks and trees rushing by. They were blurs of colors, barely defined from where she was sitting but each and every one of those things had its place. Moondancer breathed slowly and lightly brushed her chest, her hooves brushing over her scars and the jewel that most likely kept her alive now. Moondancer didn't want to test that hypothesis at all, even if she couldn't completely believe everything Starlight had said "So you and. . .Pinkie. How long's that been going on?"

Twilight cocked her head, the question slightly taking her aback. "Uh, well. Let's see." Twilight brushed her hair out of her face and laid her head back on the chair, looking up at the ornate filigree that ran along the length of the car. "Probably a year? Though with how absolutely oblivious I was in the beginning, I could probably say 'the moment I walked into Ponyville' and Pinkie might agree. I actually don't know. If I had to choose though, I'd say around the time I tested her reaction to stimuli and probability games."

Moondancer smiled. "Well that's one way to get a relationship- through pure luck."

Twilight laughed. "Was that an attempt at a joke? Who are you and what have you done with Moondancer?" Twilight raised a hoof to stop her friend from responding. "I mean it was a bad joke, but as Pinkie would say 'at least there was thought put in it.' No, but seriously, you used to be the serious one in school. What happened?"

Moondancer looked down at her glass and swirled it around with a flick of her magic. " Time. Probably. I don't really get out much. Hard to really want to. I mean there's always another magical artifact to gather and collect before the enemies of Equestria do, or the new threats from outside Equestria. The Changelings. Whatever that ship was. I just don't get out much at all. So color me surprised when Twilight Sparkle comes knocking and saves the day." Moondancer pushed her glass away and rested her head on the table. "I mean you're an alicorn now and I guess I'm now alive thanks to an artifact that infects my mind with evil. It's almost a joke in itself. The whole 'you don't know what you had until it's gone' speech that Celestia gave during our graduation now seems oddly prescient."

Twilight laid a hoof on Moondancer and sighed. "I'm sorry. If this is about not sending a letter for years, I messed up."

The pitch black unicorn rolled her red eyes. "You think? I mean you left on my birthday. I don't want to say it ruined my party, but it kind of did." Moondancer huffed. "Minuette was pissed for weeks, not to mention I haven't talked to the others in far too long because I had one of my fantastic breakdowns when I blew out the candles."

Twilight cringed at the thought. "It couldn't have been that bad."

Moondancer shot her a look. "I wished you were at my party. And then my magic overloaded and took out the entire west wing of my apartment."

The purple alicorn didn't say anything for a while. "Oh." Her mind rang hollow with possible ways the conversation could turn down a better avenue. "Cool." Twilight didn't feel cool or really happy at the moment, but she just tried to fill the awkward silence with something since she really wasn't the best in these situations. Which she often realized was ironic- she was the Princess of Friendship and she was terrible at reading situations. "I mean uh, like cool in a metaphysical sense since it probably brought down the temperature in the room like multiple degrees. I mean Minuette's kind of a frigid personality when she's angry." Twilight tried to smile as she fumbled over her words, hopefully defusing a situation that almost went horrific.

Moondancer stared at Twilight for a few moments and chuckled. "I'm an idiot. I built up this whole idea of things to say to you once we got back here again and I'm lost. I mean it's not you." Moondancer paused. "It's just I made this whole idea of you coming back and being better than you were then- and now I realize how stupid I was. You're both an alicorn now, and still absolutely awful at conversations."

Twilight frowned. "I mean it's been a few years. Outside of gaining a castle and wings, it's not like I changed outright. Hard to change personality traits."

Moondancer sighed. "Yeah, but like I blew up Ironhoof for you."

Twilight stopped. "What was that?"

Moondancer stared at Twilight, realized what she said and quickly tried to shift the conversation back. "I mean I heard that you saw a-" Moondancer realized that she couldn't create some plausible alternative phrase to con Twilight into believing she misheard her. "Fuck."

Twilight breathed in. "Let me run this through my head for a moment, cause unlike my friends and, most especially Pinkie, I have to think really hard on what exactly you just said." Twilight breathed out, her voice calm and soothing, her lessons from Celestia trying to keep her voice as still as possible as she had emotions below the surface roiling like waves. "So you were the one who did all that."

Moondancer languidly nodded.

Twilight breathed in again. "And that probably caused hundreds of deaths, if not more."

Moondancer nodded.

"And you did all that for me?"

Moondancer looked up with bleary eyes.

Twilight tried to keep her emotions still. "Why?"

Moondancer almost blubbered out a halfhearted excuse but was rudely interrupted by the door sliding open and one very tired and annoyed earth pony walking in, her steps not bouncing and cheerful, her hair slightly a mess and partially falling down straight.

Pinkie took one look at the pair and sighed. "Cause she loves you Twilight. Which I had felt when I entered that place, my Pinkie Sense went all haywire for a bit trying to figure out why I felt faint hints of love that weren't the normal kind of thing I get from our friends. I mean I know all of our friends decently well, though your gender spell's been causing me a bit of a confuzzle, so having a new feeling took some getting used to." Pinkie poured herself a drink and downed it, the fruity taste and slight bitterness hinting that it must have been some alcoholic beverage.

Twilight stood stock still as she tried to figure out what exactly to say, her words stumbling over each other as she blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "This totally isn't what it looks like."

The pink earth pony stretched and yawned. "Well that answers a question I both didn't ask or care about, silly. Twily, you know my business of being the most splendiferous party pony of all and that does involve a lot of fuck parties." Pinkie poked Twilight on the nose and winked. "I'm far more surprised I couldn't see this far earlier. I mean honestly Twilight you punched Shy over the whole Moondancer mess and ran halfway across Equestria to save a friend. Now I wouldn't say that you are in a romantic relationship with your evil demon friend here, but you know, crazier things happen all the time."

Moondancer's ears perked up. "You did?"

Pinkie rolled her eyes. "She did. And no, Twilight, that doesn't mean I completely forgive you for that. I get it, but it really hurt us for days and maybe we wouldn't have been captured if you didn't unbalance everypony beforehoof."

Twilight blushed. "I said I was sorry. Multiple times. Anyway that's guessing an alternate scenario based on a completely hypothetical situation."

Pinkie stretched to her full height and looked at Twilight. "And while I definitely don't agree with Moondancer's terrible choice of fashion sense and absolutely terrible decisions, I'm going to at least wait patiently before blowing up at her about her obsessive life choices and horrible town murder. I mean while I could make your life rather uncomfortable for the next few hours, I feel that's a Celestia thing. I mean she's the one who seems the judgy type. I mean she sent her sister to the moon for time out, she probably has to be super judgy. See? Everything's all out and fantastic. So Moondancer, I'm Pinkie and the next few hours are going to be a patented Pinkie Pie welcome party. Cause I've been planning to say hi to you for about seven days give or take a day or two, and I just want to get all this horrible stress out."

Twilight scratched her head. "What?"

Pinkie rolled her eyes. "Seriously, for how smart both of you are, I feel like you didn't get the whole 'Conversation 101' class from the school of hard knocks." Pinkie bounced up and stood precariously on the table. "But if Professor Pinkie has to explain it- Speed dating, Twilight. Well, technically speed fucking, but Moondancer totally wants to bone and you always want to bone now so let's cut out the middlemare and totally bone."

Moondancer looked askance at Twilight. "Is she being serious?"

Twilight frowned. "Pinkie, that isn't how any of this works. I think. I mean I haven't really speed dated or any of that but that just seems wrong to me. And we've talked about this heavily. I mean you nonironically said you were, and I can't believe I'm repeating this-" Twilight sighed heavily as she tried to whisper the word. "Twilightsexual."

Pinkie stretched and lay back on the table, looking up at Twilight. "That does sound like me, yeah. But I guess I have a corollary to that."

Twilight groaned. She really shouldn't have given Pinkie a thesaurus as a gag gift. "And what is that?"

Pinkie smiled. "The Laughter Corollary. See, I know you and I have a great relationship and I get all my fun from you, but honestly you tire me out sometimes." Pinkie placed a hoof on Twilight's mouth before her bookworm could say anything. "I know, completely insane. But it's true." Pinkie wiggled her eyebrows at Twilight. "I mean the amount of mindblowing sex I get from you rivals some of my more insane parties. And I get that every single day. So sharing you with a few others might give me some free time to, I don't know, hang out with the rest of our friends and get back to event planning. I mean honestly, I'm Ponyville's premier party planner and I haven't planned Big Mac's and Caramel's future bachelor party yet. And from what's swimming around in my head and from what I've heard about Canterlot gay clubs, it's going to be so radical. And the girls keep asking me why I haven't hung out with them for a while."

Moondancer awkwardly coughed as she tried to shift into smoke and fly away as far as possible.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Pinkie, be nice to Moondancer. I mean this in the most lovable way, but she's not used to, well, you and I feel like you're coming on a bit too strong."

The earth pony frowned. "Twilight, sometimes you just don't understand foreplay. But sure if you asked so nicely." Pinkie lay back and tried to fake a Rarity impression. "But if you insist, I'm being ever so generous to share a princess. Now as the less refined classes say, let's fuck."

The purple alicorn groaned. "That was terrible and also missed the point."

Pinkie smiled. "Well I imitate Fluttershy way too well and I still don't know exactly what she'd say in that situation so I went with Rarity cause I know she gets laid." With a flourish, Pinkie slid off the table and slunk her way over to Twilight, her hips slightly swaying. "Now, Twilight can you pretty please give me a dick right now. I mean I would if I could but sadly, I am just a lowly earth pony without a horn." Pinkie sat next to Twilight, her body draped over her rather embarrassed marfriend like a shroud.

Moondancer, for her part, was matching and exceeding Twilight's embarrassment, her body shifting in and out of her umbral form unconsciously, her embarrassment etched on her face and gem, a red glow suffusing her body. Moondancer wondered briefly if that was what a blush looked like now. A whole body glow of emotion and she resented that.

Twilight sighed, feeling Pinkie grind her plush self against Twilight, the only thing separating Twilight from losing her cool and giving Pinkie exactly what she wanted was that Twilight was better than that. She had immense mental fortitude, gained from years of reading the most difficult of books and never leaving her room, even for a party. She was not going to just lay down and take Pinkie at her word.

In total, Twilight's reluctance lasted at most twenty seconds.

"Fine. I've been pent up anyway. Not cause of you, just this last week has been such a mess."

Pinkie shot Twilight a knowing look. "Of course."

Moondancer flew up to the ceiling as Pinkie strode on over to the table again and lay herself upon it. She watched with mild curiosity as Twilight started concentrating, Moondancer seeing sigils and runes all over the air as she traced out what the spell could do in her mind. She felt a tinge of excitement and something more when she realized that she could only partially make out what the spell did- her job and general distaste for the outside world made her only partially connected to the magical wing of things. Not that she wasn't deeply attuned to it, just that most of the time the spells that the university created were usually so trite and boring. It was usually more interesting to make your own cavalcade of spells.

Pinkie pointed at Moondancer and grinned. "Hey, Twilight, let's show off for your friend. Add in a typical Tuesday and Wednesday- let's not go too crazy." Twilight groaned at that. "No turning me into a giant blob again. Even though that felt so weird and cool."

Twilight added on another layer, weaving the spells together, her scientific method of magic making it far easier to cast something again the second or third time- hopefully ironing out most of the kinks. Twilight blasted Pinkie with the concoction of spells, her knowledge and Pinkie's sheer enjoyment of being a test subject making her confident in her abilities. Twilight breathed out and used her magic on Pinkie.

In a flash, Moondancer looked down and noticed there were more ponies than there were before- not to mention that all of them were undoubtedly male, their stallionhoods at full mast and far larger than any of Moondancer's hidden sex toys that she was used to. Moondancer blushed furiously as she tried to keep calm, the idea of there being stallions in the same room as her still was a heady prospect.

"Hey, Twilight." One of the Pinkies stretched out his hoof and waved.

"Why are you so cheerful?" The other Pinkie whined.

Moondancer slid down and shifted back to normal, her curiosity outweighing her need to run away, the sheer idea of there being two ponies from one seemed to break all forms of magical laws. Moondancer went into full research mode, quietly humming to herself as she slid up to and poked the two stallions.

"That tickles-" the bubbly pink stallion giggled as he was poked in the chest.

"Cool, didn't ask to be touched but sure let's have Twilight Two rub me down." The languid one sighed as he brushed hair out of his face.

Moondancer blushed as she felt a wetness start to run down her thigh as she tried to keep herself focused, her nose now realizing there was an overwhelming musk coming from these two. Which should have been impossible, since if this was a magical construct- there would have been no smell. Or at least her nightly creations of Twilights usually didn't have this kind of sheer craftsmareship. Moondancer stared at Twilight and stumbled over her hooves as she tried to run as fast to as she could to the alicorn, her mind racing with possibilities. She unfortunately took a wrong step and stumbled into Twilight's lap, her head squarely in it, her rosy blush lighting up her face in shame as she tried to get out of Twilight's crotch. "Uh, oh, okay, Twilight, how did you split Pinkie? How, it's supposed to be impossible for constructs to be so lifelike."

Twilight sighed as she watched the two Pinkies slightly bicker between each other. "Experience with the Moon Pool. And no, I'm not showing you where that thing is." Twilight slid Moondancer out of her lap and shifted, taking a drink from her water glass. "Can't just create things from nothing. Though the Moon Pool works on matter in ways I don't know enough about yet to sketch out how it breaks the conversation of mass while making constructs that think, feel, and exist beyond the life of a simple spell- I used a similar spell to copy them. So welcome to my Tuesday regimen. A therapy session."

Moondancer looked at the two Pinkies who just made faces at one another. "You can't be serious."

"Blame Sunbutt for the idea." The shorter and more curt one spoke. "I mean she did say it was for Twilight's own good. And mine, I guess. Like that isn't the biggest joke ever. Therapy sessions are so obnoxious. Like I know I'm a mess."

The larger and more masculine Pinkie lightly punched the other in the shoulder as he gave him a look. "Hush, Spice. Twilight, can you get to the point. Getting rather bored here just hearing you talk and not get your usual treatment. I mean a few minutes is now your personal record."

Moondancer raised an eyebrow. "Personal record?"

Twilight glared at the pair. "Don't ask. So where was I? Moon Pool? Ah, yes. these two." Twilight hunched over and put her face in her hooves. "Meet Sugar and Spice." Moondancer slightly chuckled at the names. "I mean they are rather silly and on the nose names, but Pinkie didn't want to name these two 'Happiness' and 'Depression'

Spice rolled his eyes and leaned against the wall. "Well I tried to name myself, but this meathead here said all my ideas were too edgy."

"You tried to name yourself 'Lead Balloon' or something related to death." Sugar groaned.

"And you bastard named us for sugar, spice, and everything nice. How did you think I'd take being named like a foal's rhyme on a whim? Like you just go on a lark and just do what you want with no consequences." Spice glared at his very annoying other self.

"Foal games are not larks. They are spendiferous thoughts and excitement."

"My dick's an excitement that makes me feel something besides the sheer existential dread of the void."

"Well I don't have to use crude methods to bring joy to the world."

"Joy is fleeting, Ask our parents that."

Moondancer nudged Twilight. "Are you going to break them up or something cause this is getting nowhere."

Twilight rolled her eyes and sighed. "As I said, there's some kinks with the spell I have to iron out before truly publishing it. And partially that's because I just can't get enough data to just run through all the different stress tests by myself. I mean one Pinkie's hard enough to deal with? Try handling two who butt heads all the time."

Sugar and Spice rolled their eyes and spoke in unison. "We agree on some things. I mean our list is pretty small, but still. Twilight. Parties. The Cakes. Our-"

Spice coughed. "Well three things. One of the four we came up with was a negative agreement. Which still counts but it's not like a positive fun time."

Moondancer stared at Twilight. "Should I go somewhere else cause while I just love seeing magic, I don't really love hearing every single time your marefriend mentions how hot you are. Or how she's a walking mess."

Spice bounced over and poked Moondancer on the nose. "Now we're getting somewhere. Does hearing how awesome Twilight is at sex make you jealous? Cause I have to say yeah. Totally accurate. And if you think that's crazy, you should see Twilight as a stallion." Spice slid himself up and pulled Moondancer in close. "That dick is like a work of art. I mean it brought me feelings I didn't even know I had."

Moondancer blushed profusely, her face aglow with heat. "I'm totally not jealous"

Spice grinned. "Well then I guess then you'd be fine with my rather meaty assistant over there to just plow Twilight."

Twilight facehoofed. "Don't I have a say in this?"

The Pinkies looked at each other and giggled.

Moondancer stared, her emotions all aflutter. "Why are you two laughing Like this is awkward and weird and you're just laughing about nothing."

Sugar and Spice shrugged, speaking in unison. "We aren't going to screw. That's ridiculous for a first meeting. Not that I haven't put out like that before but it takes a special sort to do that. Come on, I keep trying to get you to open up and show some sort of emotion. Annoyance is a start, jealousy is a start. I mean I don't even know anything about you and all I have to go on is 'thinks Twilight is hot' and 'was Twilight's friend'. Well discounting the whole 'probably helped murder a town' and 'is possibly evil now'. I was testing you with my Pinkie Sense and you passed. She's pretty clean, Twilight."

Moondancer stared down at the floor, her mind awash with feelings. "This was all a test? All of that mess? Are you an- no, no, I'm cool." Moondancer breathed in and out, trying desperately to control the jewel's influence. "I mean it's not like you played me to make sure I wasn't evil. That feels fantastic." Moondancer glowered at the pair.

Twilight sighed and ended the test, the two Pinkies merging together in a mass of limbs and heads until a dazed and shook Pinkie stood in front of the two old friends. "I had to test you, Moon. Couldn't keep up the ruse, Twily, it just felt wrong."

Moondancer turned to smoke and surrounded Twilight, her anger and emotions taking the better of her. "Tell me why you thought this was even a good idea."

Twilight coughed. "I told Celestia already. She was the one that suggested this."

Moondancer breathed in and felt a wave of hatred wash over her like saltwater, bitter and drowning, as she looked at Twilight. The jewel whispered so many horrible things it could teach her with an alicorn since they were technically unable to die. She looked at Twilight's wings and imagined twisting them off while she watched. Moondancer breathed out and the jewel went away for the moment. She felt worry deep within her at her anger and she tried to focus on the moment and her feelings, centering herself in the moment just so she wouldn't do anything rash. "You're telling me you decided to test me, your very first friend, to see if I was evil. And Celestia of all ponies was perfectly hunky dory about this?"

Twilight ran her hoof through her mane. "Well it sounds like Canterlot's been rather destabilized from Starlight interacting with the population. The Princess was talking about some new cult popping up and I feel like what happened at Ironhoof, and that includes what you did, won't help things when that gets out."

Moondancer pounded her hoof on the table, the glasses jumping in relief as she glared at Twilight. "I don't care if Canterlot is having a rough time or not. That doesn't make it okay. I mean sure I did horrible and terrible things there but look at me, I have an artifact of dark magic well known to cause psychosis and overall evil placed in me by a crazy pony to keep me alive. It's like she forgot that kind of detail. You don't think I just have to look in the mirror and see how changed I am, Yeah let's just unbalance the pony who is holding unimaginable power and training to be resourceful enough and with gray enough morals to do whatever she tells me to and say 'you passed'.

Twilight looked at Pinkie who said nothing. "I mean I was going to do it when we got to Manehattan, but since you asked to catch up I wanted to-"

"To humiliate me in front of your marefriend? Whoopidy fucking do, Twilight, I'm sure feeling fantastic right now." Moondancer grabbed a nearby wine bottle and popped the top, the pop loud in the silence, and chugged it down. "But cool, I guess if we're on the whole sharing horrible feelings and everypony's here being great, I need to ask, why even do the whole 'let's make up by screwing thing' if you weren't comfortable with that cause what the fuck is that mess?"

Pinkie quietly piped up. "That wasn't my idea really. Pinkie Pie Parties are technically only valid and truthful if everypony in the venue is consenting and depending on the planned party- of age, therefore peer pressure and awkward avoidance would void the offer. The offer stands but I think it's going to be another time for me. The mood of the room is just not a good feeling right now."

Twilight stared at Pinkie. "Why do you sound like a lawyer?"

"What? I have a degree in Partyology, of course I have to keep up to date on consent and laws like that if I host a party. If something went wrong, I'd be technically liable for stuff. I don't do stuff like this in half measures, even if the backend stuff like laws and stuff is so boring." Pinkie sat down and stared demurely at the pitch black unicorn. "So, Moondancer, I'm sorry about that."

Moondancer sighed and tossed the bottle away, the glass bottle rolling down the train car. " Thanks. I'll think about your offer. I mean at least one pony was reasonable. Even if it wasn't the pony I expected it from. Look, Twilight, I'm tired, I just confessed actual feelings for the first time in years, and it seems like I got tricked into a pop quiz of goodness. I'm going to go up to the roof and vent and I won't stop you from coming up and reminiscing- like I wanted." Moondancer opened the window near her just enough so she could fit her gem through and shifted into her umbral form and flew away, the chill October air greeting her cooling emotions.

Pinkie raised an eyebrow.

Twilight facehoofed as she tried to not look at Pinkie. "And this is why you're the party planner and I'm the princess."

Pinkie waved a hoof.

"And next time, don't rope you into things you already said wouldn't work."

Pinkie placed a large hoof on his marefriend. "That's it. And Twilight?"

Twilight's ears perked up.

"If it gets to it somehow, though I highly doubt it, you two can do the fun stuff we were setting up- for real. Cause I wasn't lying, she does have strong feelings about you." Pinkie lightly kissed Twilight. "But I'm not being a part of it unless you two come to an agreement or she comes to it herself. You can't rush these things, Twilight. And you can't use love as a test of goodness."

"Celestia-" Twilight stammered.

Pinkie's eyes grew cross. "Sometimes has really bad ideas. I mean seriously, I don't know how you didn't have red flags going off about her permission when you're a princess and can just say she's under your care or guidance or something. Something better than this." Pinkie shook his head and leaned back on the couch. "I love you, but sometimes you're just too good at following advice."

***

Moondancer breathed in the chilly air, the week away had brought the chill but manageable temperatures of late autumn into the brisk nightly temperatures of early winter, her fur standing on end to keep herself warm after the week in a slightly more southerly, and far more arid place. She sighed inwardly at the thought of seeing what pegasi saw all the time, their connection to the weather and clouds- and wings- giving them an edge on just being able to see the big picture. Or at least a picture that Moondancer wasn't in currently. She rubbed her chest and traced the bump of the jewel, its facets and cuts etched within her skin, scarring lodging it firmly in her chest, the emotional mood swings already telling her of the sheer symbiotic relationship the magic connection had to be brewing deep wg ithin her, the tendrils of dark magic twisting her emotions into a angry stew of reaction and pain.

It wasn't completely unfounded though. She just worried over a lot of things ever since the whole going to die and being kidnapped thing had worn off and while she'd love to continue her duties of being Canterlot's resident archmage, she had reality to contend with. The sheer fact of the matter being that she would be looked at askance by the large portion of Canterlotians as having blood red eyes and a change in fur from creamy yellow white into pitch black would raise red flags. Moondancer could easily see the welcome back party turn into a fearful riot as she took the stage, the screams of terrified ponies echoing through the hall.

It wasn't an odd thing. From what she could remember from the few parties Celestia had ordered her to go to, ponies still looked at the Princess of the Night like Nightmare Moon was a second away from taking over. Then there was the widely talked about report on the Crystal Empire, and sadly the reappearance of the Empire had one conspicuous interloper that looked eerily like Moondancer did now.

Moondancer groaned at the thought of the Canterlot papers just having an absolute field day about her being either related to Sombra or being possessed by him or some other whackadoo idea that she would have to take years to dismantle and dissuade fears about.

"Shit. My life's just going to be absolutely fantastic when I get back."

A chuckle came from her side as hooves touched down on the metal of the train. "Well I can relate."

Moondancer rolled her eyes. "Twilight."

The purple alicorn awkwardly moved, her limbs used to an unmoving surface, or at least being inside a train. Deciding that the best course of action was to just get down and sit then try and talk to Moondancer while worrying about falling off a train, she sat and looked at Moondancer, weighing each possible word she could say to her. "Well I mean I don't know about your situation and how that'd pan out, but seriously for months after I got these wings, every newspaper thought I had died and come back to life through some weird Princess plot. Which sounds completely bonkers."

Moondancer rolled on her side and looked at Twilight. "So did you? Die, I mean."

Twilight shrugged. "I don't think so. Though I got to see my life flash before my eyes as I talked to Celestia about my accomplishments, so if you want to argue semantics over if I died and got my soul placed into a similar looking alicorn body as a prize, we could do that to pass the time."

Moondancer shook her head. "No. I guess I did though. Die. I mean I don't have your fancy story about going to some awesome place and seeing my life and all that, but I remember the moment before I died and the moment after. Add the pain of being impaled through my chest and all I felt was like I woke up from a nap. A decidedly awful nap. So sue me for being rather pissed off about your whole charade back there. Though I guess I shouldn't be surprised, coming from you."

Twilight cringed as she tried to think back on whatever she did in the past just in case. "Why?"

Moondancer coldly laughed. "Nothing. Just surprised you'd save me. I mean you spent years in Ponyville living your best life while you forgot about all of us in Canterlot. I mean you could have seen me any time you wanted whenever you saved the day in the city. Or at least talked to Minuette. I mean she has an entire list of friends in Ponyville and sees you around town and I bet you never spoke to her at all."

Twilight thought back. Maybe Minuette was there. The dentist did look like one of her old friends and she wondered why she never talked to her. If it was who Moondancer was talking about then she saw her yearly for teeth cleanings and yet she just had blocked it out. Her life was just too hectic and possibly things ended too abruptly to even think about her old friends. Twilight groaned at the thought, realizing that the moment she walked into Ponyville she had been inundated by friends and problems for so long that maybe she just let the memory fester away in her mind and die.

"I have no excuse for that. I mean I could say I've saved the world six or seven times but that doesn't mean it was right. And being an alicorn doesn't mean that I can't be called out when I messed up."

Moondancer sulked and said nothing.

Twilight looked up at the moon and sighed. "Being the Princess of Friendship doesn't mean I'm the best friend possible. I probably focused too hard on books and let my friendships wither away, I didn't tell anypony I knew that I was being sent away. And that includes my family cause Cadance told me after the mess of the wedding that she had to ask Celestia about where I was. Even after I got all my new friends, I did things that hurt them. This week and everything that happened with Starlight tells me I have problems I have to work with. Stress. Anger. Fear. Love. Even after years I still see myself as this pony that doesn't understand why others do the things they do." Twilight got up and stretched her wings. "I don't know what your confession of feelings means for us, but it was nice to see you again, Moony, and you gave me things to think about."

Moondancer could hear Twilight's steps start fading away, the hooves on metal clopping into the distance. Moondancer grumbled as she tried to weigh her feelings of betrayal and her feelings for Twilight, her brain awash in conflicting emotion. Taking a deep breath, Moondancer spoke.

"Wait."

***

Applejack heard Twilight somehow outside the window of the train as she stirred awake in the darkness. Her eyes tired and her body cramped in the train seat, pushed to the absolute corner, her face on the window as Rarity stretched out and took the prime real estate that she so desperately wanted. Her body hadn't felt the kicks of a child deep within her but her changed mood and more careful feelings about safety and worry tinged hr mind. She praised Celestia that she hadn't been fully wracked by morning sickness, though the thought of certain foods still kept her on her hooves with the quesy stomach that she had to now contend with every day.

She looked out into the coming darkness, mountains and little hovels passing by like fleeting blades of grass, each moment a snapshot of time that would possibly never come again, her thoughts racing with feelings as she traced Rarity's face with an orange hoof, her touch light enough to have the fashionable unicorn not wake up.

"What will I ever do with you?"

She sighed as she felt conflicting feelings towards the unicorn. Sometimes she could feel the highest of highs with her, the thought of being together in some random hayloft just talking about each other's day each swapping stories of things that kept each other like a coiled rattlesnake, the anger right below the surface, as they talked about an annoying family moment that in hindsight was perfectly okay, or a customer that presumed too much about fashion.

The little things.

Applejack laughed, her chuckle low and husky as she took off her hat and laid it on the unicorn she loved enough to look past most of her issues. The dramatic perfectionist that went into hysterics over a hair being out of place, being so focused on what others think that she couldn't be tethered into reality at times. Applejack remembered a few times when she had to force Rarity to eat to not starve herself during one of her business orders. That didn't happen much anymore, though the expansion of her business made the unicorn have this nervous twitch whenever she thought Applejack wasn't looking.

She was the Element of Honesty- not like she could miss the bags under her marefriend's eyes covered by makeup or Applejack finding her slumped over her desk nowadays.

She kept Rarity focused on reality and sometimes carried her to bed.

Rarity, for her part, never mentioned why she woke up in her bed on those days.

Applejack lightly brushed Rarity's purple locks, feeling knots that usually weren't there, the mare's sheer focus on respectability usually keeping her hair coiffed and pressed just in case there was a business offer.

The orange earth pony sighed as she rubbed her stomach and wondered at the life growing inside her, the idea of there being another Apple growing like a seed because of Rarity. She wondered what she would tell the little one years from now, the idea of even trying to explain how they were created in a fit of passion and coincidence of a lot of things. Twilight's spell, Rarity's rare day off from work, Applejack's need.

She wasn't completely blameless, but she also wasn't completely at fault. Maybe this was what her own mother felt when she learned she'd have Big Mac or maybe she was perfectly happy knowing she'd be a part of the family. Applejack didn't know much about her mother, the rare comment from Granny, an even rarer picture, and whispers of her on the lips of ponies when they talked about how similar Applejack and her mother were in spirit and how proud she'd be of her.

Applejack looked up at the moon and rested her head on the glass, her daily thoughts spilling out in her nightly talk to something ethereal and beyond herself. "Wonder what you think of me. I mean Granny tells me that you're up there looking down, but I don't know. I mean I feel you in the leaves and the sun shining down, but it's not the same as hearing your voice or feeling the touch of a guiding hoof. And I can't just tell Granny about my predicament, that would positively crush her spirit."

Applejack wiped away a tear as she lay back and tried to stretch her limbs, her body heavy and exhausted. "But that's just me. Big Mac and Applebloom are doing well. Even if Big Mac's doing things that Granny probably doesn't like, what with her traditional ways, he's happy and all. Even if I don't really see what he does in that Caramel. And Applebloom's growing like a weed. She's doing fine and looks just like her old man." Applejack caught herself as she felt emotion well up in her. Rarity pushed against her as she tried to get comfortable, the unicorn's head in the crook of her shoulder. Applejack slyly grinned and wished she had a camera or something to remember this moment, the sheer image of Rarity being at rest and not being awakened at the touch of a hoof so rare that she had to pinch herself just to check if she wasn't imagining it.

Applejack lay her head back.Everything wasn't perfect and she'd have a talk with Rarity soon about her overly protective and suffocating nature, but things were okay. Better than they could be and that's all that mattered now. Applejack yawned. "Hope you and dad are doing well up there."

***

The train passed through Manehattan, the wheels clacking in time, constant, never faltering as it swept through small towns that would only wake up for a Wonderbolts performance or some holiday- these towns like Dodge Junction on their own time and speed. Rainbow felt the wind pass through her hair as she stared out the window, unable to truly sleep. Not that she didn't try, far from it. Just that the noise that Twilight had made and the thoughts all still swimming in her head keeping her there in the moment and away from the cozy dreamland.

Though the seats on her borrowed body sure didn't help since Fluttershy's body naturally just took up more of a seat than she was expecting, and the sheer uncomfortable nature of having to deal with the new confines of a surprisingly claustrophobic inducing feeling in her chest while Fluttershy was sitting just fine and dandy on her head. Dash grumbled. "I'm not going to ever joke about how Fluttershy is larger than life ever again cause this is wrecking my back." Dash put a yellow hoof on her spine and eased back gently wishing that there was a pillow of some kind that made her slightly less like she was in a coffin.

She listened to Rarity and Applejack snore and wished that she was just there. Asleep.

She saw the light of the moon drape across her like a blanket as it let its light bathe her in its cool air, the October air prickling the yellow feathers on her wings to stand on end as she lightly preened herself, only grabbing feathers she could reach in this compromising position with her teeth and yanking out the ones that where too damaged or torn. Spitting out each feather quietly kept her mind focused and away from what kept her dreams all confusing and strange.

Every time she closed her eyes now, she could see a faint shadow of the spell Starlight used in her peripheral vision, lanky limbs and multicolored hair, the foal just sitting there staring at her smiling, a sound of bells just there ringing in her ears as she looked and looked, etching the face of nothing.

It wasn't real. The spell told her it wasn't.

She wondered if she was going soft, the idea of lingering on something like that probably told her enough of her mental state. It was just some lingering effects of the spell that would pass and just bring her back to normal, her life resuming like it usually did after one of these things. They saved the day.

And yet as she blinked, she could see the mare the spell and her mind made up. Just there smiling.

Dash took a breath as she tried to put her mind off of it. She tried to psyche herself up as she tried to think of things that would keep her awesome self in check. She quietly repeated them as she tried to keep her eyes wide open. "Daring Do, the Wonderbolts, Rainbooms, strength contests, cider, Tank, Fluttershy" She trailed off as she blinked and saw the image again.

She sighed. She desperately tried to keep her mind away from accepting what she had felt when she was yanked away from the nightmare. She felt two conflicting emotions- happiness due to the fact that the dream was a never ending nightmare, dreams within dreams, each more strange and abstract than the last.

And sadness for being yanked away from a very brief glimpse of what she wanted from the future. It wasn't like she was unhappy about her life, far from it, but the fact of the matter was that she had a great marefriend, her dream, a decent job, a house and pet, friends that cared for her.

And yet she still felt like there was something missing.

She blinked again and heard the faint calliope sounds that rang through her childhood, the melody of the circus burnt ever so deeply in her brain that she could feel her heartbeat provide a rhythmic back beat in her chest. She wondered where the circus was now, the idea of a decade and a half of time blurring her memories ever so slightly. Not enough to let them fade, but the distance of time brought a sheen of nostalgia over her as she breathed in the phantom smells of popcorn and candy, the sounds of animals gathered from around the world and one firm ringleader conducting it all like a well oiled machine.

Dash felt a tiny hoof on hers. She didn't dare look to ruin the moment. She could smell Fluttershy's sweet smell as she turned back to the circus, her attention fully focused on the spectacle of the show.

Dash mumbled about foals in her sleep as she fell asleep, the good dream bringing her peaceful slumber as she swore she could hear the beating of nearby wings, and a quiet laugh as the moon slowly set, the sun beginning to switch places as the train rolled into Canterlot.

***

Twilight wiped away a tear as she saw the sun rise, the rays bathing her in warmth that felt like Celestia was right there looking down on her. She smiled and laid back on the train, her eyelids heavy from days and hours of restless sleep and having a heart to heart with Moondancer. "Looks like we talked the night away."

Moondancer shrugged. "Guess when you put two introverts into a messy situation, they can talk about anything." The umbral unicorn sighed. "Still doesn't mean I forgive you, but if I can be in the same room as you- that is a start."

Twilight gingerly put her hoof out. "Yeah, let's start over." Twilight grinned. "My name's Twilight. Current Princess of Friendship, previous student of Princess Celestia, and a really inconsistent friend."

Moondancer rolled her eyes. "You're actually doing this?" Moondancer groaned. "Fine. My name's Moondancer, current archmage of Canterlot, raging ball of hate, and I hate being outside."

The two stared at each other and laughed.

Twilight got up and flexed her wings. "I'm sorry, Moony. I'd offer you to come visit in Ponyville whenever you want." Twilight paused and thought. "Wait, what day is it?"

Moondancer shrugged. "How should I know? I think it's the 28th, but with how messed up the last week has been, I have no clue anymore."

Twilight's eyes lit up. "You have free time during Nightmare Night? Cause I have a great idea."

Moondancer ran her hooves through her mane. "I really don't know. I mean after the whole Ironhoof mess and what with tonight I really have to think of a few things." Moondancer kicked a hoof. "Mainly that I really hate change and if I decided to leave, I really wouldn't know where I'd stay or do for work. But I could probably take time off for it."

Twilight clapped her hooves together. "Sounds like a plan." Twilight would have said more, but the town of Canterlot came into full view. Twilight briefly hugged Moondancer- who awkwardly wrapped her hooves around the alicorn- and felt the umbral unicorn slip away, the jewel lingering briefly in her left forehoof until distance pulled it away from her. The wisp of black smoke that snaked its way towards Canterlot was the only thing that would have marred the picture of an unusually warm day for the end of October.

As the train finally snaked its way towards the final leg towards Ponyville, she sat and watched that image become smaller and smaller, until Canterlot was just a brief dot on the horizon.

She was just glad that things were going back to normal.

***

"Here's your mail, archmage." The crystal pony mailstallion pulled out a few parcels and a few letters out of his cart, the golden ribbons and gaudy paper telling Sunburst exactly who it was from. The weekly adult letter from his rapidly aging mother- if any of her letters were to be believed.

Though whenever he took a train to Sire's Hollow, she looked to be the epitome of perfect health and usually gave him seven plans to Sunday about his future.

He set down his copy of Clover the Clever's Magical Arcanum, graciously borrowed from the Crystal Empire Library, careful not to crease or damage the book in any way due to it being both an ancient relic out of time and also just a fantastic read. The whole Empire was. Books that were only mentioned in sources were now being found in houses all around- the fact of the matter being that having an entire land pop back into constant talks with Equestria after a thousand years of nothing was just a whole new kind of exciting for a scholar such as himself.

"Thank you." Sunburst awkwardly nodded, his voice high pitched and slightly nervous from just speaking out loud, his usual methods being completely focused on magic and the theoretical applications of it. He didn't really get many visitors. "Here's a few denarii." Sunburst levitated out the Empire's own currency, the silver coins glinting in the sun. He didn't know why the Empire just used the bit system- probably some tradition was keeping them from switching.

The mailstallion bowed and cantered away, carefully balancing the coins on his cap.

Sunburst had a very odd feeling that he just overpaid for mail as he closed the door, the sheer fact of his assignment as the archmage for the Empire being only a few months old by this point, and his overall focus on work made picking up what the difference between the bronze, silver, and gold system that the Empire had for coins as too taxing for his mind.

Though with how the Princess of Love paid him for his magic services for the Royal Family as a whole, it wasn't like losing a few denarii was detrimental in his research.

He shrugged and tossed yet another present from his well meaning but overbearing mother into the pile, his horn lighting up gold as he wrote up a standard letter home. He put in the standard platitudes, with just enough variation and weekly happenings to not make it seem like he was not being a dutiful son. With a light flourish, he signed his name and gently placed his seal onto the paper. He never liked doing that. It felt fraudulent at times since he didn't completely see what Cadance had seen in his thesis and resume to choose him with Celestia's blessing as the first archmage of the Empire. It was a huge job and his nerves sometimes got the best of him.

He finally turned to see what the next letter contained, the idea of their being somepony that would even send him a letter that wasn't his mother was foreign to him.

He carefully scanned it briefly for any hexes, curses, or poisons with a few rudimentary spells that every archmage was supposed to learn due to their higher status and political power within Equestria. A slight hassle to be sure, but he'd rather be alive than dead.

Finding nothing, he opened it, the stationery of Princess Celestia with its gold leaf and red ink stared back at him. Which was strange since he didn't expect the monthly report until next week, but as he saw with his own two bespectacled eyes, it did have Equestria's new royal seal of a lunar eclipse to show the diarchy in shorthoofed language and it also had her personal assistant's writing style and signature beneath.

It was a legitimate letter from Celestia.

He gulped as he tried to straighten his cloak, the idea of Celestia sending a personal letter to him worrying him immensely. He took a breath and slowly read the letter. And then he read it again. And once again just to make sure what he was reading.

Dropping the letter to the floor, he stumbled over to his trunk of personal belongings, the trunk old and worn with time. He slowly opened the chest and pulled out a small golden journal and turned it to the final page.

He looked down and saw the choppy hoofwriting of a filly he used to know very well.

"I promise, Burst, that I will make your dream of a happy Equestria come true. It's such a good dream. When you get your cutie mark, I bet you'll be the best unicorn ever. Your friend, Star.

Starburst looked up at the ceiling and felt ill as he felt butterflies in his stomach as he slowly began to think of how to pack the bare essentials in order to take a journey outside of his doorway. He had to fix whatever was going on.

El Condor Pasa (Part One of Three)

Moondancer knew exactly what she was doing as she strolled through Canterlot. She could feel the stares as she passed from aristocrats and normal ponies alike as she walked towards the palace. She surprisingly hadn't had to face the entire mass of the Equestrian army yet, but she knew she would have the chance to coming up soon if any of her knowledge of how ponies reacted to fear stimuli and she was a walking red flag to their senses.

She almost laughed at the thought of just walking down the street now probably becoming less fun than it was before she had this gem forcefully jammed into her heart. And she remembered the sheer mindnumbing pain that market days tended to be with her dislike of ponies.

She turned onto the road up to the castle and stared at an entire line of guards. She sighed. Predictable to be sure, but she had at least trained them well. Her jewel whispered sweet nothings in her ear as she tried to figure out what to do. Because well she was a mare on a mission.

She waved at the Solar Guard legion that was only a few hundred meters away and quickly performed a wordless amplification spell. Not because she was completely insane, though the glowing gem kept saying otherwise, but because she didn't want to spook the guards into a fight.

She just had stayed up with Twilight, catching up for hours. And before that was Ironhoof and the mess that was. She wasn't at the top of her game, even if she was supposedly the best archmage currently within Equestria, though Twilight technically counted as Ponyville's archmage and from reports on Sunburst, he could probably match her wits.

She didn't want to cause an accidental bloodbath because some greenhorn recruit got spooked from the next umbral herald of darkness or whatever guff the Guard Academy was teaching these newly minted adults.

She waved down the most impressive looking guard there- usually a sign that they were slightly above the normal grunts and cupped her hooves. She hoped to Celestia that this would work.

"I would love to speak to the senior director of either guard company. By the rules of permissive entry, I won't move until either the Solar or Lunar Guard Captain comes out and vouches for my safety."

Moondancer waited to see what the guards would do. Usually the guards acted more civil within the walls of Canterlot. It did help that she had once read the entire history of the guard as something to keep her boredom away. And unless they had updated the odd loophole of "Permission for Entry" in the last hundred years, she'd guess they would look like a chicken had cut their heads off as they performed the mental gymnastics necessary for this gambit.

She didn't have to wait long until the pony in front stepped forward and walked slowly towards her, most likely reading her body language as well.

A raspy female voice answered her. "Solar Guard Captain Mjolna, at your service." The mare took off her helmet and Moondancer saw a pony she didn't know. Not surprising since she had barely ever left her home except for the rare occasion or mandatory meeting that Celestia had ordered her to go to. "Don't try anything or I will execute my authority to the extent of the law. Detail your cause of entry, name, and length of stay.

But she would have remembered an earth pony captain. Those tended to be rather rare. Canterlot loved their unicorns and it took a real special piece of work to be chosen without the requisite horn. Earth ponies easily could cast magic, but Canterlot loved a show of things.

"This is going to sound completely insane, but my name's Moondancer. Canterlot Archmage. You probably haven't heard of me." Moondancer awkwardly stood there as the brown earth pony stared daggers into her soul, and especially lingered on the thing buried in her chest.

Mjolna raised her hoof and with a few hoof signals, let the guards know that the danger had passed. The guard moved quickly once they got the order, ponies walking into connected side streets and the unicorns all teleporting away in a flash.

The mare turned and beckoned her to follow. "The princess has been expecting you." She breathed slowly. "We've already got reports about Ironhoof. Everypony's on edge." Mjolna turned and glanced at Moondancer. "I preferred you in cream. Seemed more fitting. Plus then my new recruits wouldn't have thought Sombra returned for fun. You know how the children are when a war's likely."

***

Griffonstone had seen better days. The golden city that had rivaled Canterlot in wonder now lay in a state of disrepair and isolation from the outside world, most gryphons in a haze of breeding, egg laying, and fighting over the bare scraps of a once glorious empire that had encroached onto Equestrian lands not but three generations ago, two if you counted the now rare elder gryphons.

There weren't gryphons alive now that could remember the day the sun rained down fire and melted their golden city. But stories about Celestia and her anger over sharing the land with anything that she deemed even slightly predatory were bandied about to tell the hatchlings who exactly to distrust. Ponies. Ponies were distrustful, evil things that wanted to weaponize friendship and kill with kindness. Or kill with force when that option didn't work.

Gallant paced around the hatchery as she waited for any news from the Crow's Nest. Her mind raced as her red wings lazily flapped about in a slight nervous tic she had never truly gotten rid of. She had put her name within the bones and prayed to the eagles above that she would be chosen for the next chief of the gryphons. She fulfilled each and every odd restriction, save one, she was of true royal lineage from the first chieftain off her grandmother's side, her father was the previous chief and had a chick or four of her own. Besides the equipment that the gryphon elders decided that gave them their positions, she was willing and able. And from her months of planning coups just in case, she was fully willing to do whatever she needed to do to get in power.

"Whatever you do, I'm just here to support you- not the birdbrained scheme you'd hatched." Gilda rolled her eyes. "Mother, can you please stop?" Gilda lazed about on a rock, carefully preening herself.

Gallant rolled her eyes. "It helps me relax."

"You don't look relaxed."

Gallant glared at her. "Well I'd be so much more relaxed if we weren't dealing with our own problems. Like how those three old birds have been in there for two weeks; that's unheard of. And I hope they choose me for chief, else it will be rather awkward explaining what happened in the Crow's Nest. The whole plan I have going."

Gilda yawned. "Yeah, yeah, Grandpa Grumble kicked the bucket. And you're a bitch. Anyway, wasn't he like eighty billion years old or something?"

Gallant stretched her wings out in offense at the statement. "You take both of those back. He was the best gryphon chief in a hundred years."

"Because we had two in the last hundred years. You've talked my head off every night when I was little about that. Chief Galahad versus the horrible Celestia. We lost. And Grumble took the throne barely out of an egg. I mean I don't like the ponies, but at least they don't have to draw lots for a meaningless position."

Gallant huffed. "I should have never agreed to send you to that infernal place."

Gilda rolled her eyes. "From how you explained it to me, it wasn't even your decision."

As Gallant stared at her least favorite child, she saw white smoke come from the Crow's Nest. The selection process for the newest chieftain was at its end. She saw the curling smoke rise and cut the blue sky in twain as it snaked its way towards the east. She breathed as she saw the wrought iron doors open and looked east again. At least they finally decided, else he plan might cause her death.

It wasn't likely, but nothing ever was.

***

Moondancer stormed into the Sun Court and was barely conscious of the murmur of discontent that rose from the crowd as she entered. She bowed, barely following etiquette and stood there. In the middle of a debate already going.

Blueblood glared at her. "Pardon me, but I had the floor."

Moondancer turned her head and he felt silent as he noticed her blood red eyes. She waited to see if any other smart ponies were going to speak up. Nopony did. She breathed a deep breath and stared up at Celestia, the beatific smile unchanging, not giving any hint of turmoil or worry. "I guess if Blueblood so graciously gave me the floor, I can speak."

Celestia waved a hoof. "It is good to see my archmage yet again. How was Twilight?"

Moondancer stared up at Celestia. "She's great. Though I guess you knew that already. And I want to talk, or else I quit."

Celestia nodded and stared out to her Day Court. "While I would love Prince Blueblood regale me more about the deepening Klugetown situation, I think we may have to reschedule our debriefing. Blueblood, please talk to Raven while you are leaving, she'll move my appointments around so we can truly talk about our outpost there."

Blueblood fumed as he stormed out.

Celestia turned and shook her head. "He sometimes reminds me of his grandfather. Brilliant mind contained within a prideful heart. Now what were you saying about quitting?"

The black unicorn facehoofed. "Let's see, you told Twilight and her marefriend to 'test' if I was a good pony. When I have an amulet shoved in my chest that amplifies my emotional state. How do you think I feel about that."

"Betrayed, most likely."

"Understatement of the damned century there. I've had like four hours to think of all the stuff I would say to you and all I came up with is why? And don't say you did something similar to Princess Luna cause I would so understand why she went all Nightmare on you."

Celestia sighed. "I didn't do it to Luna, no. I just presumed that whatever Twilight came up with would provoke a negative reaction. I've seen artifacts like the one right there-" Celestia tapped a hoof on Moondancer's gem. "become addictive to those that use them and from what Twilight told me about Ironhoof, it made me rather worried I'd have yet another magister of some renown swallowed by darkness." Celestia turned away as she looked up at the stained glass windows. "And like most of those mages- they get wiped from history. I didn't want that to happen."

Moondancer rolled her eyes. "Please stop talking in vagaries, I'm guessing you just didn't want a Stygian situation on your hooves. Or Sombra. Or Nightmare Moon. Or Sunset Shimmer. Actually when I think about it, there's something up with how many ponies around you turn evil or run as far away as possible from you. Either that's a character flaw or you just have really bad luck choosing ponies."

Celestia breathed long and slow as she tried not to be overwhelmed by feelings. "Immortality has its drawbacks."

Moondancer shrugged. "Probably. Still you kind of had a bad call." Moondancer barely smiled. "So let's get this horrible shit behind us and actually act like grown mares. Even though I do have to say that my jewel absolutely hates your guts. And I'm currently out on if I agree with it or not."

Celestia stared at the glowing red gem. "I bet."

"But that can be figured out later, since I'm not done being pissed off about you. Thankfully my job comes first." Moondancer breathed out and looked at Celestia again. "So Mjolna's told me Ironhoof jumpstarted the military again? What do you want me to do? I mean I know you won't let me leave since I have an artifact of unknowable power in me and I'm way too smart to be killed even though I see all your guards readying for something. Please don't tell me you're sending me to Tartarus. Cause that place is awful."

Celestia smiled. "I had a few ideas. Come with me. And guards? I think I can take her, please stand down."

The ten guards that surrounded Celestia during court proceedings, stared at one another as the pair walked away.

***

Gallant stared up at the withered old birds that controlled the selection process, they were older than her by decades if her ability to still lay eggs even a decade after most of her egg group stopped. Her body, even with years of slight decay, her speed wasn't what it used to be, her body slightly pudgier than her prime- she made up for these slights with determination and cunning. Whatever they would say, she wouldn't accept it if they chose another. She had her contacts. She had her own confidants. She had her base and it was stronger than the rest of the nest in loyalty and devotion. She puffed her feathers out as they stared down at her.

Old Garner rose from his chair, his white feathers askew and missing in patches, his head bald with age and his eyes nearly blind from cataracts that gave his stare an unsettling feel to Gallant. He wheezed as he stood up fully and slowly began to talk. "We have come to a decision on who should hold the throne of Griffonstone." He coughed into his hand, his chest rising and falling in quick gasps for air. "While I disagree immensely about my younger and far more radical peers, I was the dissenting voice in this." Garner carefully rose his claw as he tried to point in her direction- missing her entirely due to his blindness- "I'd rather have Galen or his brother Geralt than you on this throne. They understand restraint." He sat down, winded and breathless.

Gallant stared up at the weak old bastard that hung onto life like a dying rat. She bowed, her form stiff and rehearsed. As she felt her head touch the granite floor, she wondered what the old man would sound like as she strangled him to death. It seemed like she was now chieftain. Why not act like it.

Elder Gwyn nodded to the other Elder, Gallant thought that one used to be head of the predator shock troops, Gregos if her memory could be trusted, but she could be mistaken. Old gryphons aged like dirt. In unison, the pair spoke, their warbled tenor voices echoing down at her. "Hail, Chief Gallant the first of her name. May your reign be everlasting."

Gallant smiled, her eyes cold and unyielding as they surveyed the Elders.

She had some plans. Clearing her throat, she politely bowed and flew up to the golden throne, the one thing that had not melted in the heat of the sun a century ago. With a deft touch, she floated down upon it and felt the chair almost mold to her, she knew it was impossible, but she felt the mental switch. She had prayed for this day. She quickly clapped her claws together. "First order of business, since Grumble's death only happened a mere fortnight ago, and you three have been cooped up here debating the ins and outs of succession. . .rather well I might add." Gallant silently chuckled. Usually choosing a chieftain took but a day or two- her addition must have given Garner a stroke. "You missed out on one rather major thing that seems to have happened with the Conquering Sun's territory of Equestria."

The three elders stared at each other unsure of what this would be leading to. Gregos, still a decent specimen for a gryphon despite his age, his black feathers and hawkish look telling all she had to know about the gander. "Usually there is a period of acceptance for the new chief. Wouldn't you want to wait a few days, revel in the festivities, let the birds know you well before declaring" Gregos paused and cracked a claw in annoyance. "a war? A sortie? An expedition? Whatever you would term it?"

Gallant smiled and looked at the large open windows. "I would. I'd love that." Gallant smirked. "From what I hear from the ganders and hens that follow me, there tends to be some who call me an insatiable whore for cock." She lazily looked at her talons. "I'm not. And the less said about what happened to those who said those hurtful things the better. So let's just forego the festivities. Those aren't the festivities I care for."

Garner turned his head, his eyes off focus. "What do you want instead?"

Gallant stretched her red wings and plucked out a few unkempt feathers, lazily tossing them away, their falling forms lazily falling down like droplets of blood. "I want death. I want war. I want pain. And we're going to cripple Equestria until it knows how it feels being useless and lame."

Gwyn shook his head. "While I do admire your resolve and willpower, even Chief Grumble was unable to infringe upon Celestia's domain. The Predators still aren't up to their full potential. The hatcheries say that the heat that Celestia brought down upon us caused the batch then to come out deformed. We are still trying to breed out the beta stock from a century ago."

Gallant rolled her eyes, she knew that the Predators now either came out hulking monstrosities, muscled beasts of gryphons unable to cast magic, pure power- not a lick of a spell within them. Or the weak gryphons- all speed and magic, nothing to speak of in size or strength. Gryphons prided themselves on their size, their power, their apex predator skills honed to a light sheen.

Except that had caused the mess.

Gallant stood up. "I have a few deformed chicks to my name. And they aren't useless."

The trio of old ganders laughed. Gregos wheezed out a response that made Gallant's eye twitch. "What is the world coming to? Back in my day, if a deformed gryphon was born, the parents would just throw the chick off of the highest point of the nest and watch it be broken upon the Valley of Bones below."

Gallant thought of her youngest, Gallus, he was her greatest hope. And yet from the time he had entered the world, the bright blue feathers he sported told her exactly that he was special. Blue was unnatural on gryphons- it was Grendel the Great's royal plumage and he died childless during an invasion of the Stormlands. Blue was special. "Maybe your parents should have thrown you down there."

Gregos clenched his fist and took a deep breath. "It seems our chieftain has a bit of spunk in her. That must be why she has so many chicks."

Gallant rolled her eyes. "Whatever gave you that idea. And if I can get back to what I was saying, I know our eggs are deformed. Unlike you, I keep a ear to the ground and see if there's advantages. Bit of a new field of study, but my far less contentious daughter, Gala, has been trying to see of we can duplicate pony spells with gryphon techniques. And while most are failures, there's a few that can replicate them well enough to make me excited."

Gwyn stared at her. "I've never heard of that. Magic is supposed to be rare for a reason, it's unnatural to use magic outside of maybe speed enhancement or wind manipulation. And I've heard nothing of these experiments."

Gallant smiled. "You thought I put in my name for chieftain without planning out everything first? Gwyn, it seems like the gryphons are being slightly held back by the old ways. Personally, I love adaptation. My father tried to cooperate with the ponies with sending my firstborn to Equestria as a sign of goodwill. I'm not my father. I'm going to kill their children like they did to ours."

Garner stood on shaky legs. "Are you deaf? We don't have an army big enough to fight every pony there. They outnumber us. It's a suicide order to send out the young for a revenge mission- even if I want revenge too."

Gallant stared out the window.

"And that's why I agreed to join the Storm King."

Gregos paled, the large gryphon, honed by decades of battle had heard of the immortal. "You didn't. He's on his way here?"

Gallant laughed. "No, he's not. He sent the Changelings."

The three elders stared out as the sun was blotted out by ten thousand Changelings. The buzzing hum of their wings and their wailing screeches were deafening. Gallant just smiled.

While she hated the idea of cooperating with the Storm King, he at least had results. The Changelings, for their failures, had results.

The gryphons? They had decided to hide for a hundred years, scared of the pony that had melted their golden city until molten gold had run like a boiling river of death. Celestia was far more capable of death than some fuck hungry bugs.

Cooperation was a necessary evil.

***

Celestia led Moondancer down stairs that she had only seen in passing. As the stone steps continued, they became more rudimentary and basic forms of stairs, small, squat things that were more natural than pony made. Suddenly the small narrow cavern that barely fit Celestia within spread out into a massive crystal lined cavern with a massive stone table in the middle of it. Moondancer then realized that logically, that shouldn't have been possible- the table took up much of the space of the room, a logical paradox that couldn't be solved when accounting for the size of the passageway.

She wasn't going to get an explanation any time soon as Celestia fired up her horn. Moondancer felt the air shift as the princess started casting high level magic on a whim. Before she could speak, multiple blue portals opened and ponies she knew tumbled out of them.

Celestia stretched her wings as she walked over to the table and sat down. "I hope I didn't intrude upon your midday festivities, but time is ever of the essence."

Spitfire popped her head out and stared at the princess. "When you sent out a letter warning me about it, sure. Still I might have to tell Soarin' I wasn't swallowed by a portal. At least you didn't take Soarin' too cause those new recruits are hapless idiots without some sort of guidance. Though he's probably having a panic attack right now so it's more like he needs a babysitter."

Blossomforth rolled her eyes as she stood up. "Sup, bitch. At least you got a letter. Still got whiplash from flying directly into one of those things." The former Wonderbolt Captain cracked her neck." Celly, while I love our get together times and winding up in a cave is one of my sexual dreams, I'm not really in the mood- hard to relax when Rainbow's been missing for a fucking week in the ass end of nowhere."

Cloudkicker whacked her companion in the back of the head. "Hush. Not the time."

Bon Bon peeked up from the edge of the table and stared at Celestia. "Does this mean M.A.R.E is back or what?"

Lyra coughed. "Bonny, I hope not, cause I'd rather fight Changelings that the stuff you told me about. What was that about the tatzlwurm nest near Dusky Shades? That sounded like a mess. I get Changelings, bugs and all. Actual monsters? Count me out. I already have enough stuff to worry about with Scoots."

The two captains of the guard stared at one another as they shook themselves off, slightly more used to Celestia's odd penchant of mass teleportation during a political crisis. Mjolna slightly waved at Moondancer as she took a seat in silence, slightly bowing her head as she passed Celestia. Moondancer thought the thestral was named something like Indigo Zap or something like that- she really hadn't left her little slice of Equestria in quite a while and that name kept popping up whenever a invitation to the Night Court passed through her mail. She had tossed those invitations into the garbage. She'd had at least a slight need to sleep every once in a while.

"Is this about Starlight?" Moondancer stared as Sunburst timidly walked out from a nearby pillar. "I mean I was on my way here and all and actually being teleported to here via a summoning spell is quite the experience. But I really don't get exactly why I'm here if that's not the case."

Fleur walked out from behind another pillar and groaned. "I hope not, my husband's still ranting and raving about how he sees the light now. Something about pure happiness. So whatever you have to say about Starlight, little man, I know firsthoof that she's an adder."

Celestia smiled a wry smile at the rag tag group of ponies and beckoned Moondancer to take a seat. Celestia kept her eyes on her archmage as she uncomfortably sat next to Sunburst. Celestia cleared her throat and tried to relax as she worried about how her next few sentences were going to be received. "Due to the fine line balancing act I've been trying to push for a century and the current situations in Klugetown, Ironhoof, and the Stormlands and surrounding lands- we have a coming storm of issues that will compound upon each other. For an eyewitness account on the Starlight question that Starburst had, it seems Moondancer here has had a miraculous recovery."

Moondancer eyed Celestia. Yeah, the princess was toying with her. "Thank you. And while I love debating about my radical change in appearance, I do have to say that was Starlight's idea."

Sunburst piped up as he stared at her gem. "I mean I mentioned to her once or twice that fusing ponies and gems were possible, if highly untested and-"

Moondancer furrowed her brow. "Yes, I'd just love to tell you the logistics of what she did to me personally but I think her attack on Canterlot, destruction of free will, obsession, and treason might be more pressing issues.

Sunburst stayed quiet as Moondancer talked.

Blossomforth chuckled. "And here I thought little Moony went through a goth phase. I'd still hit it."

Cloudkicker whacked her in the back of the head with a hoof.

***

Gallant coolly stared down from her perch as Changelings swarmed Griffonstone, the locust like creatures caterwauling in loud buzzes and hums as they circled the one place that the gryphon chief had told them about. They flew past the town, focused entirely on scent pheromones that the Changelings followed. Towards the only important place in fifty miles.

Gwyn shuddered as the bugs crawled up the stones, jaws unhinging in starts and stops as they stared at food. Food and breeding material for the queen. Mindless, ever crawling movement towards a singular goal. "Call them off."

Gallant stretched her blood red wings. "Can't do that. I'd love it if I could, but I mean they did fly all the way here. Calling it off seems anticlimactic." She lounged back on the throne and stared at the other two. "Only way out is death."

Garner shakily got to his feet and started to hobble over towards the new chieftain. "See. I told all of you that she was a bad choice. I told-" Gallant pointed a claw at the old gryphon.

The changeling horde locked eyes on him and slowly changed direction. Each bug crawled over the next in a wave crashing upon the stones of the Nest itself. Garner himself couldn't see him doom, the old bird nearly blind and now focused on squawking his displeasure about how he was correct, that his choice of other candidates would be better than a traitor. Better than a female with no harem of birds to her name.

Gallant looked away as the Changelings lunged upon the old gryphon, gnashing their fangs in rage and focused pheromonal lust. The lone hen in a room of tough ganders. She looked at the faces of her new subordinates, their faces of horror and shock far better than any gore filled image. She heard Garner's bones snap, the age and disuse of his body making his bones ever more brittle than the average bird. She heard a thump, a crash, and screams of carnal desire and need of meat rise up from the pit.

She raised a full fist of hers and the commotion stopped. Silence reigned as Changelings turned to face the hint of a command. She got off the throne and bowed her head as a lone Changeling buzzed up, the armor it wore showing its rank in the army of similar creatures.

The bug stepped on the raised platform of the Nest and reached out its leg, its black chitin making Gallant slightly dread the touch of the thing. She tentatively reached out with a claw and felt the leg have some pliability to it- like a meat jelly, she thought. The bug opened it's mouth and Chrysalis' voice filtered out, slightly tinny and distant, as sultry as ever Gallant thought. She had been exchanging slight pleasantries with the ruler for a month, as her father died in a slow and painful aged death, she had sent more missives to the queen.

"The Storm King sends his regards. And while I'd love to see you face to face and exchange pleasantries and whatever else we might do, I've been building up an army that can match the ponies and their Elements. Their dreaded alicorns. Each of them has spited me by beating entire hives, their few bug hunters have killed many a new hive deep in their territory. Eggs of mine. Children born from my loins." The speaker stopped for a moment. "Sorry. I get rather heated about it." The changeling sauntered on over and stared at the two gryphons. "Pleased to meet you two."

Gallant rolled her eyes. "You can't fuck them. Even if they wanted to, you'd barely get a snack out of them."

Chrysalis chuckled. "I know that. It's just been so long since I had a chance to play with a gryphon? What's it been a hundred? Two hundred years?" The changeling's voice buzzed with excitement. "I would love to see if my science experiments have been paying off."

Gallant walked towards the two ganders and patted them on the chest. "I bet, but I need some legitimate way to consolidate power and while I know you two are far less loud and messy than that old thing down there was, but I want a clean break from tradition."

Chrysalis' voice echoed. "Your wish is my command."

***

Everypony sat there silent as Moondancer stopped her story, her voice lightly echoing in the cavern, the final syllable dying in the air as she sat there. "So that's it."

Indigo Zap raised her hoof. A tight quiet whisper emanated from the thestral's mouth. "Ironhoof had entire battalions of soldiers camped out there, a Diamond Dog colony, an entire town. Don't you think it odd that Moondancer never mentioned the 9th and 10th Battalions? Eastern incursions from across the sea aimed at Manehattan are supposed to stop there for good reason. Unicorns, Solar and Lunar Guards, not to mention a rudimentary Wonderbolt presence thanks to Manehattan's airspace- it's fortified beyond belief. Where the hell did the ponies I trained actually go cause I doubt they'd go AWOL, I'd take them out myself if that ever happened."

Bon Bon clasped her hooves together. "That's not good. So if Moondancer's report didn't mention them at all, we have what 400 civilians in stasis, an uncountable number of dogs in states of death or near death and nearly 8000 missing soldiers. Near Manehattan. And now we have the Storm King showing dominance. We're actually kind of screwed aren't we?"

Mjolna sighed. "Not very likely. We've had attacks on our borders ever since the Storm King attack. Mainly the southern colonies in the Badlands have gotten it bad since the reptiles have fortified Klugetown again. It's a real mess down there. But not unwinnable- just going to be a lot of dead there as well. Cause knowing the Southern Quadrant, they love holding onto shit territory."

Lyra sighed. "I guess we have Changelings too since Queeny's a bit of an opportunist."

Celestia nodded. "Whatever happens, will happen. But I'm invoking war powers now." Celestia stayed silent for a bit. "So for right now, the army, Wonderbolts, and Royal Guard are all on prospective active duty."

Blossomforth raised her hoof.

Celestia smiled. "That includes ex Wonderbolts and Royal Guard recruits that didn't fit in exactly. So Fleur that includes you and a fair bit of the Canterlot aristocracy. I will leave the task of informing your brunch compatriots about the situation and weed out the pro-Starlight side."

Fleur held her face in her hooves as she stared down at the table. "Great."

Celestia stared up at the crystalline ceiling and sighed. "And if that won't be enough for the coming storm, then every one of my little ponies will have to join the war effort in some way."

Moondancer stared up at the princess. "I'm sorry, what? I mean sorry, but I've read the reports on the military." Moondancer saw the other eight stare at her, mainly because it was slightly in bad taste for an Archmage to focus on matters besides thought experiments. "Yeah, sue me. I was bored and I completed my tasks early. So what if we lose 8000 soldiers? Morale hit to be sure, but we have nearly three hundred other battalions- mostly Royal Guards, then the Wonderbolts, and finally the Mages of any actual power, but we aren't hurting for troops."

Celestia nodded. "True. But all the armies in the world are useless if we have a repeat of the Canterlot Wedding and sadly there's only so much a powerful army can do when split on multiple fronts. So for now, business as usual, my legions and Luna's own will both hold off the waves, while you ten train the new recruits."

Lyra blinked. "Run that by me again, cause I didn't sign up for that. I dropped out of officer school."

Celestia smiled. "I know. I've had a long night reading each and every one of your files- Miss Heartstrings, you and Sweetie Drops are sadly the best and brightest, along with Moondancer here on anti-Changeling strategy."

Lyra stared at her marefriend. Moondancer could almost swear she could hear Lyra's voice whisper to the earth pony mare "Who's Sweetie Drops, Bon?"

Bon Bon stared down at the table shaking her head in slight annoyance. She had killed that part of her identity for a reason. "It's me."

***

Gallant winced as she saw the screaming figures of the two surviving Elders be carried off like the spoils of war. She stretched and groaned at a slight muscle spasm in her neck. She'd gotten damned old. Not like the elders, sure, but she was living and they'd be dust once Chrysalis was done with them. From what the bug told her in passing, she fucked her partners to death.

Gallant chuckled. It was probably a bug thing, though the idea of hot, passionate sex like that slightly excited her. It made her feel twenty years younger- the first time she'd met her mate, eagles rest his bones. She stretched her head and saw Garner's picked corpse smile back up at her, flesh still stuck to bones, the stench of it wafting up and spoiling her meal. "I'm getting sentimental. Bet you'd never expect that Goldwing, you magnificent bastard." She edged her paws over and sat down on the Nest's edge. She could heard the commotion below, the birds squawking in fear as the Changeling horde left as quick as they came, a plague of locusts falling upon an unsuspecting population and disrupting it.

Changing it.

She saw the first Predator Guards walk deftly into the room, their hulking forms slightly exciting parts of her that she neglected. Gallant shook her head and quickly tore out a few of her feathers and scratched a few claw marks over her chest, letting the blood drip down her feathers and staining them a slightly darker red. She had to act the part of weak willed female gryphon in pain. She'd do it. It wasn't her normal demeanor, but she could fake it well enough. She waved and slipped off the Nest itself, her fall into the pit's forward momentum stopped at the last moment, years of practice flying drills in secret and knowing what her body was still capable of after decades shown off in a moment as she bowed. "So glad you are here."

The Predators grunted. They weren't really suited for actual small talk. Their musk and changes in microexpressions telling each bird what the big guards were saying. She would change the structure of the Guards, because while she loved seeing the absolute pinnacle of meat slabs walk around like they owned the place, she was far too old to get just enjoyment out of a one or two night stand. She needed conversation. The monotone voices didn't tell much. "What happened?"

"Yes, well, it seems like due to that unfortunate mess of blood and bones over there, Elder Garner if you were wondering, and Elders Gwyn and Gregos tried to negotiate with what seems like a colony of Changelings on the move. And in the ensuing mayhem, were either killed or dragged off."

The Predators grunted a question. "If so, why are you alive? Changelings are supposed to be one of the deadliest creatures in the world."

"Yes, I know that. I tried to fight off a few Changelings, but I had to hide, you know, female. Not suited to fighting. Right on the cusp of uselessness if you ask me, but before the whole thing went to complete shit, Garner himself said that I was the perfect choice. Something about carrying the will of my father in my eyes or something equally odd. The old bird did tend to be rather senile at times."

Annoyed grunt. "How could you be the perfect choice? Elders are dead and taken, maybe you should have stepped in."

Gallant shrugged and puffed out her feathers in fake surprise. "I know, it hit me as well. Why should I be chieftain? Well besides the family line and all, I have no qualifications. My actions until now have been cowardly, dishonorable, and despicable. But if the Elders in their last act willed it, it must be true."

Accepting grunt. "You don't seem to be lying. Eagles be praised.

Gallant waved as the Predator Guards walked through the doors, she took a breath. She hadn't expected that to be so easy. Sure the Predators were known to be slightly dull and stupid, but most could tell when a lie was being told. Either they were more defective than she thought, or maybe they preferred the lie she told. She would ask Gala later. Her favorite daughter was head of the hatchery, so any defection should be easily discovered. That was for later though.

She walked outside and smiled at the noonday sun. Today was a new day and plans for attacks on Equestria whirled within her head. She saw the gathered crowd of gryphons, a crowd filling in the outer Crow's Nest walls, with the rest of Griffonstone either watching from rooftops and staring down upon her in wonder and fear, unsure of what exactly just happened, or gryphons hovering in the air, waiting with baited breath as the Predators gathered around her.

The hulking gryphons nodded and in one swift, practiced motion, they turned and bowed to their new Chieftain. "Hail Chief Gallant, first of her name."

Gallant smiled as she saw the waves of gryphons bow in stuttered actions, one row starting as one finished, those in the air just bowing their heads, those in buildings touching their heads upon the stone floors. The gryphons moved as one mass again and she loved the feel of it.

She waited until the last gryphon stood up and focused back upon her. As that happened, she thought of what to say, She breathed out and ruffled her blood red feathers in a show of dominance. "Thank you, I know these last few weeks have been difficult for all of us, especially me, with the loss of a great chieftain, a decent father, and a better gander than most gryphons ever hope to be. But today has been challenging, the Changelings may be gone, but their appearance in our skies was a portent of things to come. They moved towards the west, towards the dreaded ponies that have brought our great culture to ruin with a thought. Celestia herself has the power of the sun on her side." Gallant pointed up at the noonday sun. "That thing up there is hers to do with what she likes. But we don't have to say we agree with that. And while I hate the bugs as much as any good gryphon has been taught, my father used to preach about cooperation with the other species. And I have to say, I agree with him. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. So let's take the initiative and fly towards our glory, our lost land." Gallant bowed her head. "While this pains my heart, I say let us prepare for war."

An eruption of squawks and roars met her ears. She would have smiled except she noticed one particular gryphon turn her back and leave as the wave of excitement hit her new army. She had planned that speech for weeks and had tried to get every single thing that her spies told her about- the helplessness of the poor, the want for adventure from the young, the boredom of the rich. Invasion of another land diverted those few woes of her flock into notable action.

Gilda had gotten up and turned away.

Gallant scowled as she saw her distant child turn towards the caves and their personal section. She would discipline her later.

She was just happy that, for once, she could lead the entire race to glory again.

Gala had been planning the next batch of hatchlings for a conquest and they should be hatching anytime soon. The hatcheries and their breeding hens and their mates had been pushed into a breeding frenzy as Gala had pumped in enough Predator hormones to set off all of Griffonstone. They'd been fucking like animals for weeks for this plan. Gallant had seen the orgy once and it was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen, the mass of birds bleeding as love bites became more feral, screaming in a mix of ecstasy and pain as hens had been laying eggs nonstop for weeks, their eyes dull and listless as they had finally gotten all they wanted out of life- giving their all to the war machine that would put Chief Galahad's flying legion of gryphons a hundred years ago to shame. She had her voice projected into that cavern of depravity and told them that their sacrifice was not going to be in vain.

Griffonstone was the liveliest she had ever seen and all it took for a transfer of power was killing the three gryphons that had held it back. Though Gwyn wasn't too bad, she'd miss that elder, he was the one she had hoped would see reason.

Gallant touched her bleeding chest and felt the blood stick to her claws. This was just a flesh wound, that would heal with time. The pain she and her flock would cause as they swept upon an unsuspecting Equestria would be so much greater than a self inflicted wound.

It would be total war.

***

Celestia adjourned the first meeting of the War Council without much issues. The alicorn stretched her wings and let the portals reopen with a quick magic spell, their blue hue wavering slightly as it connected to the other side. "I thank you all for your time and while I would love talking strategy all day, I feel like I can't hold you here due to your lives being equally important. I'll see when our next meeting will fit best into my busy schedule-" Celestia smiled as she saw Blossomforth's hoof raise. "And next time, I'll warn you all."

Lyra crossed her hooves. "Cool. See you next week, And Bonny?" Lyra breathed. "I think we might have to talk about a few things that shouldn't have stayed a secret just so I can get this weird feeling off. Cause I remember meeting you in Vanhoover and hitting it off. Remember what I said to you?"

The earth pony demurely nodded. "Yeah. 'I'll follow you to the ends of the earth as long as you don't keep secrets from me.'"

Lyra sighed. "Yeah, I meant every word. But let's get back home before Scoots worries about us. You know how she gets sometimes and, unlike her, we set our own bedtime." Lyra held out her hoof and entwined hers with Bon Bon's."

The pair went through the portal and it closed with an audible pop.

Spitfire looked at Cloudkicker and Blossomforth and awkwardly placed a hoof on her former captain. "Uh, you want to get something to eat in Canterlot because I think we should catch up for real." She hesitated. "I'll pay for food."

Blossomforth thought for a moment, slightly tapping her hoof as she tried to weigh her options. "Okay, but on two conditions."

Spitfire rolled her eyes. "What are they?"

"I get one of everything I can eat on the menu, and two, I get to be Assistant Captain to the Wonderbolts."

Cloudkicker chuckled. "Blossom, what are you even doing?"

Spitfire paused for one moment and held up a hoof. "Let me check if that's technically possible."

The grayish pegasus lightly tapped hooves with her marefriend. "I dunno, but Dash does stupid shit all the time and calls it power moves so why not do something similar?" She watched as Spitfire walked up to Celestia herself and hashed out the deal, the princess' face hiding what she truly thought at the time. The pegasi both stood there until Spitfire walked back.

"So? What did Celly say?"

Spitfire grimaced. "Technicality. Since the idea of Joint Captains never has been breached before, there's nothing actually stopping us from doing it and it would make it easier to delegate operations and duties with equal partners. In short, I think this is a terrible, awful idea that reeks of the shit you pulled years ago."

Blossomforth hugged Spitfire. "I mean what could go wrong?"

Cloudkicker piped up. "Well besides that whole Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy mess a week or so back? That ring any bells?"

Blossom waved a hoof. "That wasn't so bad. I mean Cloudy you should have seen what I did to build character years ago, it involved a rubber chicken-" The three pegasi walked into Spitfire's portal and the portal closed behind them as well as the connected portals back to Ponyville.

Celestia glanced down at Moondancer. "So Moondancer, what do you say about meeting me and Discord for dinner, I bet he'd love seeing how you are adjusting to your new self."

Moondancer groaned. "Sounds great." She shivered at the last time she had met the chaos serpent, his tail wrapping around her as she had tried to figure out his magic and how it worked. It wasn't a particularly great memory. "I'll put it on my calendar once I figure out a new place to live."

Sunburst coughed. "Yeah. Though palaces are pretty large. What is the dimensions of the castle here? I mean I guessed it is quite large enough to house a few dozen mages here no problem."

Moondancer rolled her eyes. "Princess, you still have Twilight's old room open? Cause Starlight's little buddy and I have to have a chat about her cause I just realized that I just have to vent." She turned her head slowly towards the stallion. "Cause the only thing she ever talked about was you and I don't get why."

Starburst tried to teleport away as he felt the black unicorn's red eyes on him. "Uh, I have a few-" He stayed quiet as Moondacer pulled him upstairs by his cape.

Fleur stretched a hoof towards Celestia as she looked at the quickly disappearing pair of mages. "Well I guess I should go see if my husband is trying to convert his friends to nihilism again." She shook her head. "Honestly, I wish I had never offered to let that mare into my house."

Celestia bent down to stare the model unicorn in her eyes. "We can't fix what already happened. Trust me, I've tried before. That road only ever leads to worse outcomes." She stretched her wings for a moment. "But at least that situation taught me something."

Fleur looked up. "What was that?"

Celestia smiled. "That I was complacent. This last week has taught me that. So don't worry, at least somepony got something out of that. Even if I should have learned that a thousand years ago."

The unicorn vaguely nodded, unsure of what to say next. "Yeah."

Celestia watched the unicorn go, her form shrinking into the darkness. Celestia could have sworn that the mare looked unsure of herself as she left. The alicorn didn't blame her. She felt the same, she just was slightly better at hiding it. She never liked war, that being more Luna's domain, the things she had done centuries ago souring her memories of the past. The deer, the sea serpents, the gryphons. She had brought down her power in anger because of the pain they had caused to her ponies. On reflection, she was not much better than the invading armies. They never were able to handle coming too close to the sun, because it burned everything it touched to ash.

"Princess?"

Celestia blinked and stared down to her two Captains of the Guard. "Yes?"

Indigo Zap bowed quickly. "I was trying to say that while I support this rather forward thinking measure, you seem to have collected a whole mess of fools to lead your army. And I don't want to question your motives, but why?"

Celestia looked up to the crystals above her, their colors shimmering in the near dark. "Creativity. You all are all different, different lives, different ideas, different moods. Without that, we'd have one or two plans while we get attacked on all sides. With this, we have ten."

The alicorn hoped that was enough.

Author's Note

Rest of the chapter will focus on the main characters- just needed to get some of the stuff in the periphery of Twilight and her friends actually going.

El Condor Pasa (Part Two of Three)

"Twilight, what the fuck is this?" Sparkler stared at the two awkward dogs that took up a good portion of the castle floor. She had actually kind of liked the peace and quiet that she had got up to during Twilight's little trip. No horrible invasions, no weird goofy stuff to deal with, nothing of the sort. She even got to hang out with her little sister, Dinky for a bit, which she had been unable to do for a few weeks with work and annoying blue pegasi ruining her work ethic.

But this was ridiculous.

Twilight smiled. "Well, things went rather weird in Canterlot, and then Ironhoof happened, and well the Diamond Dogs were amenable to send a few surviving members of one of the clans and we're here now."

Sparkler squinted her eyes. "There's so many things wrong with that sentence. But sure, let some Diamond Dogs gallivant around like they own the place; that'll make ponies so very trusting."

Roxie perked her ears up. "So that is yes?"

Sparkler cocked her head. "I will love teaching you the definition of sarcasm." The light purple unicorn breathed. "I bet Twilight would just love creating a school of friendship right here and now, but I don't want to run a halfway house for lost animals. That's Fluttershy's job."

Fluttershy's magenta eye twitched at that, her blue wings slightly puffed up at the mention.

Twilight sighed. "You know me too well."

Sparkler rolled her eyes. "I sure hope I do, I haven't spent years of my life thinking of ways trying to discredit you for nothing. While I think you have some misplaced good in your heart, like most alicorns do, I already have Luna giving me trouble, I don't need the menagerie. I mean Luna almost burned down a whole room making toast. Adding pets on top of that, sorry, but no thanks."

Roxie's ears slunk downwards, her muzzle down to the floor. "Roxie sees."

Applejack placed a hoof on the female dog. "Well, even if Sparkler here is a right pain in the way she's speaking to ya'll. I do have some space for at least one dog." Applejack glanced over at the haughty unicorn, who just crossed her hooves.

Pinkie piped up too. "And I bet Mr. and Mrs. Cake will love a dog too, I mean Mr. Cake wanted one for the twins and while I think this really wasn't his idea, I bet he'd be okay with it. I mean as long as you don't eat the twins and all that. Though the arm thing might weird them out a bit, though I could just say I found you at the pound."

Fluffy bent down and patted Pinkie's head. "Dogs no eat ponies. That's snake job. No idea what pound is, sounds like weight."

Sparkler stared up at the ceiling. "Since we've figured out this exciting idea, now Twilight, please tell me why Spike has been sending you letters every day, multiple times a day, ever since you left. I know he's like ten and all, but I don't like when letters just appear out of thin air-" Twilight and Sparkler began walking away lost in thought.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Nice talk everypony." She groaned and glanced over at Fluttershy, who was tapping a blue hoof rythmically on the floor. "What? I'm just saying that while I love prime egghead talk between those two, there's like two dogs and four other ponies in the room. Absolutely love being forgotten about."

Fluttershy curled a wing over Dash's leg. "Be nice." Fluttershy felt Dash lightly loosen her slightly aggressive stance, her wings falling slightly and the muscles the yellow pegasus had toned through years of animal care relaxed to a normal size. She blushed, still slightly unused to being an outsider looking in to herself. She shook her head, thoughts and feelings coming slightly unabated due to a week of horrible, horrible things. She glanced over at Rarity and quickly tried to save her mind from going down paths she usually didn't tread. "I mean this totally gives Rarity and me some time to see how our parents are doing."

Rarity glanced up. "Oh, I bet they'd just love to see us." She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Though I haven't seen them in about a month. Orders and all." Applejack slightly nudged the white unicorn. "Among other reasons. Knowing our mother she'd just love seeing you."

Rainbow facehoofed. "Gag me with a spoon. Rarity, I've met your parents and they're so boring." She glanced over at Fluttershy, who was currently giving her a slight look. She realized her mistake. She backpedaled hard, since even without the Stare, Fluttershy knew exactly where she slept. "I mean, I'd love to see you and Shy's parents'. Not a problem. I'll just wing it- I mean just go on right over.

Pinkie and Applejack looked at each other and shrugged as they saw the rest of their friends walk off, leaving them with two large dogs and themselves to be at peace with, the silence echoing through the castle.

"Good to be home." Applejack said quietly, the words hanging in the air.

***

Pinkie didn't pay much mind to Applejack as they walked, letting her mind wander ever so slightly as she let the sound of a bustling Ponyville wash over her like a crashing wave. She liked the sounds of a town like this, each little nook and cranny of each building was like its own little world, slightly different than the rest. One moment she could talk to Time Turner about how her medicine was working and all about her day, or she could move to Berry Punch's bar for a glass of milk, or just sit there in the middle of the square quickly composing the next party she'd do. Of course on her time off, else she'd feel some kind of way about how nice the Cakes were being.

She breathed.

"Happiness is fleeting, Pinkie. Me and your ma have told you time and time again to get all this party nonsense out of your head. You wasted a decade's worth of good rubber trying to make your balloons." Igneous breathed, silently mouthing the words that he had heard in the pews that Deacon Blues had railed against the opulence of the outside world. He stared down and stared at his best hope for the family. "Sensation staggers the mind, Pinkie."

She blinked, her body used to navigating Ponyville, each step impeccably timed out in a rhythm as she fell back into memories that she had locked away for years.

Pinkie looked up at her stern father, his face stone-like and distant, his eyes a dull yellow. She had just wanted to ask about the colorful circle in the sky. She stared down at her cutie mark, her purpose undecided. "Colors can't hurt you. That's stupid. It's a color. Not anything else."

Igneous shut the door. "Colors fade quickly. Trust in your Sense, existence is a mess of feelings and emotions. It's painful for ponies like you to be out in the world before being taught all about it. You want to jump into that world without tempering your emotions? Why do you think we still follow the traditions? My father used the pairing stone, his father used it, his father did as well. Emotions are temporary. True love is fleeting."

Pinkie yelled through the door. "Well Granny Pie thought I was ready. And you know what? I'm going to find the best, most awesome pony ever and we're going to be super good friends."

Her father didn't respond as he locked the metal latch. She was used to the dingy walls, each stain was a story to her, each small crack a fissure ready to make her fall through the colorless world and go somewhere better.

She quietly said her words to an unknown princess far away in her castle. Granny Pie said it was the prettiest thing in the world, stained glass as far as the eye could see, whatever that was, and marble shaped out of the mountain itself, dwarfing any building ever. And princesses were special. They could fly away and leave if they wanted to.

Pinkie stared at the far wall, barely moving, hearing her sisters all play outside while she sat there, the only sense of time being the slit of light that entered through the slats of the door, the light moving as each day went on. She sat there and slept. During the times she could see, she pawed at the door, wordlessly hoping she could leave. She could smell the hearthfire cooking the meals for the rest of her family, her empty stomach growling at the slightest hint of food.

Three days later, her father finally unlocked the door.

"Pinkie? You okay?"

Pinkie shook her head and smiled. "Of course."

Applejack carefully eyed the pink earth pony. "Really? Cause you've just been sitting there on the front porch of the Corner not moving is all. Seems kind of weird just saying."

Pinkie stared up at Sugarcube Corner and smiled. "Just feels weird being back home."

***

Pinkie waved Applejack goodbye, the orange earth pony and smaller diamond dog shrinking into the distance. Pinkie stared at the door for a few moments, the Cakes normally taking a day or two to close the store for Nightmare Night preparations- the pair of ponies loved baking for holiday events and knowing the pair, they'd be baking up a storm in trying to outdo themselves yet again.

She pushed open the door, the brief tinkle of the bell telling her that she truly was back to the place that made her feel okay. She could smell the chocolate from here and she felt like she was ten again, there in the front room of a place that she would have only thought possible in her dreams.

Pinkie had run away towards the east weeks ago, the small filly had beelined through many a town, barely staying for more than a few days at most. She shivered as she dug into the loamy soil and carefully dug out a hole to sleep in. She had wanted to steal a blanket in Alderdale, the pattern had caught her eye.

She had snuck into a large wooden thing and carefully snuck around using her Sense to know when somepony was nearby. Pinkie had stretched out a hoof to the large yellow blanket, her basic reading skills failing her as it was a mess of words on it. She guessed it had to be since the large colorful flag outside had had the same pattern on it. Her mother had told her of patterns. Things read upon the wind and stones. These ponies had to be strong to weave magic in blankets.

She had ran once the odd music had started and a roar of ponies had started to scream nearby.

She carefully dug herself in, leaving herself space for air and drifted off to sleep. She dreamed of rainbows and colors.

"Hello, welcome to Sugarcube Corner-" Pinkie knew that voice anywhere.

"Hi, Mr. Cake, look what I brought home."

Carrot Cake stared up at the hulking Diamond Dog that hunched down and carefully held out his one remaining paw. "Sweet Celestia." He shakily held out his own hoof and tried not to tremble at the thought of Pinkie bringing home another odd pet like thing. He already had issues with Gummy. A new thing would take some getting used to.

"Do not worry, Fluffy mean no harm."

Carrot Cake internally screamed. This wasn't what he meant when he agreed to let Pinkie choose a family dog. Not at all. "Pleased to, uh, meet you. It's totally great to see Pinkie brought home some new friends." He imperceptibly shook as he took the diamond dog's paw and tentatively shook it, his grip weak out of fear. "Let me just warn my wife about you cause she doesn't like dogs all that much."

Fluffy nodded. "Fluffy sit on floor until you get back."

Pinkie cocked her head as she wondered exactly when Mrs. Cake said that because all she came up with was a complete blank. She felt a slight twitch of her left hoof and realized why- that was a rather rare occurrence.

Mrs. Cake walked in slightly covered in flour and, for a slight moment, very, very annoyed. Once she saw Pinkie sitting there she immediately brightened. With a slightly larger pep in her step she walked over and gave the pink earth pony a large hug. She held it there for a slight moment and let go. "Pinkie, where exactly have you been? I mean I get you and your friends go off on adventures all the time, though I do worry a lot about that, but a week without a letter or one of your care packages made me slightly more worried than normal. You know from a lemon chiffon to a light carrot cake in worry."

Pinkie hesitated for a moment. "Yeah. I would have picked up something better for the twins than a dog but things went all topsy turvy and well that was all I got."

Mrs. Cake stared up at the dog and rolled her eyes. "Carrot-" she breathed. "said you brought like a hound from Tartarus or something that would eat our foals Which going by the look of it was a slight exaggeration."

Fluffy cocked his head. "Why ponies think dogs eat ponies, Fluffy love ponies. They cute and small and colorful, though they have few colors."

Mrs. Cake smiled. "Well I didn't expect Pinkie to bring home something that would hurt the twins- though I think those two would have just liked seeing their Auntie Pinkie more than anything else. I'd wake them up, but they just got to sleep for once."

Pinkie nodded. "For once I agree. And anyway, it'd be better for them to wake up with me at one hundred percent instead of like fifty percent."

The earth pony baker stared at Pinkie, unaccustomed to the quiet and slightly off ball of energy that Pinkie tended to be. It had been a very, very long time since she had seen the party pony be even slightly off- sure the Party Incident was a thing and the whole clone fiasco was another, but those were uncommon. Mrs. Cake could see that something was wrong, Pinkie was barely talking in a conversation that should be a real icebreaker. "Well, sweetie, I'll leave you be for the day if you want. Now, where were we you rather odd dog? Now first things first, a bath is probably best-"

Pinkie pulled out a chair a carefully grabbed a muffin off the counter. She took a bite of it and frowned. It tasted like one of Mrs. Cake's buttermilk cranberry muffins. She knew the taste outright and yet it tasted off. Something was off about it, too much salt or not enough baking powder. Something felt off right here. Which was odd since she normally felt okay in Ponyville, everything was perfect again. Ironhoof was a bad nightmare. Maybe she'd have to talk to her family for the first time in a while, but that was a possibility.

And Pinkie Senses were just certain possibilities. Like a 99 percent chance, able to be wrong, but just barely. She put the muffin aside and stared at the Nightmare Night decorations all around her, spider webs draped on the ceiling, edible eyeball treats, little cakes in scary shapes, and yet she didn't care. She just felt drained and hollow. A week of horrible things hit her mind again. Every time she closed her eyes, she still saw Twilight on the ground, broken and bleeding, staring at her. Talking to her and saying that everything was okay. She still felt the Storm Beast's neck snap whenever she gripped onto something. The feeling of death just hung over her like a cloud. These things all threw her off her sunny state.

She just couldn't completely look at the world the same exact way. Sure she felt death when Granny Pie died, but she had been one pony. One life, not hundreds at once screaming in pain. She died peaceful, a hoof on Pinkie's head. Just serenely staring up at the ceiling, a smile on her face at the end. They didn't. She felt their lives wink out in messy ways. Her Pinkie Sense told her what they died from. And it was far from peaceful.

She felt wetness on her fur as she stared at the muffin.

Pinkie tried to steer her mind away from pain. Her dad had once said to never let her emotions get the best of her, and she kept trying to think of something that made her happy but she kept coming up with Twilight. And that made her mind drift to Moondancer. She tried to breathe in and out and yet she could only think of how her Pinkie Sense reacted to the unicorn. It was a black hole. Nothing was there. Sure she could feel love come from the mare in short bursts that overpowered her senses, but it was only while she was angry or unguarded. Otherwise, it was usually a void of no emotion, no feelings, nothing. Complete silence. She hadn't felt that before.

Pinkie had felt awful about tricking Moondancer. It was against every part of her Party Code, and yet a part of her, a small part, had felt jealous. She didn't want to say it out loud, but she did. Twilight had raced across Equestria to save a friend Pinkie never knew she had. And she felt Moondancer's love for a brief moment.

And Pinkie felt inadequate. She didn't feel that obsessive love for Twilight. Sure, she loved Twilight, but Twilight was sometimes stupid and silly and did dumb things. Or she was too sex obsessed. And sometimes when Pinkie tried to talk to Twilight like a normal pony, the alicorn was surprised she could hold a conversation.

Pinkie stared at the nearby counter, and saw her reflection. And she shivered as she saw herself reflected, smaller and mouthing words a part of her said every night. 'Doesn't it feel nice to be wanted?'

Pinkie carefully got up and blocked out the filly who was staring at her dead eyed in the mirror. She had felt everything in Ironhoof die or partially die and Granny Pie had said her job was hard, but she hadn't expected feeling what death felt like. Cold and clammy, a thousand needles jammed directly into your spine, every bone feeling stiff and stuck firmly in place. She did a bad thing lying to Twilight, and tricking Moondancer.

Emotions caused pain. She had thought her dad was trying to protect her way too hard- that he didn't understand her. And yet she never saw Granny Pie have ponies over. She only let Pinkie in to talk and the dusty room she had died in was bare of anything that told her life story. She pushed the muffin over and sighed.

She had run away from home when she was seven just because she wanted to know what happiness felt like. And look at her now, staring at a half eaten muffin, unsure of what exactly to do. Move and accept some sort of change or drown in helplessness.

She felt muted, and as she looked at her fur she saw the color drain from it. A light touch of her hair felt the bouncy curls straighten to stringy locks. She always hated this. Granny Pie had always said it was one of her least favorite parts of being special and Pinkie agreed. This cold side of her often hurt her friends and surprised them whenever it came out. She could hear the old mare in her head as she sat there, Pinkie's head firmly on a hard wooden table.

Pinkie, do you know what my own grandmare said to me when I was complaining about being a seer? She said, 'Filly, don't you mind what the others say about your moods. Things aren't always saccharine sweet. Sometimes a little bit of bitterness is needed. It refocuses your powers, see? Not every pony can handle whatever our little pink ancestor did with Discord, but I'm not minding." Granny Pie wheezed as she laughed, a low hearty chuckle came from the old mare. "That chaotic thing's gifts tend to be a thing you learn to either deal with and make better or you just go completely crazy. And I've been blessed to know when good things happen: barn raising, foals, weddings, the things your ma just gets all excited about. Though I do hate when a war's on its way. Or a drought. Plagues are bad too. You can feel it in your bones, a great big sheen of pain comes over you and after that kind of feel I get all kinds of down for weeks." Granny Pie gripped onto Pinkie's small hoof. "Don't listen to your father cause my son is silly about killing feelings. What does he want ponies to be? Dead, I say. Be gray if you want, but Pinkie always be true to yourself. The world outside is a scary place. There always has to be somepony protecting it in someway, no matter how small.

Pinkie blinked.

She had forgotten that day, the week after full of sadness and heartbreak, but even a decade after her death, Granny Pie was providing wisdom somewhere up there. She partially smiled and wiped tears from her eyes.

Pinkie got up and stretched. She had felt the big one. Things were going to get worse before they got better. And while she felt the pit of her stomach roil around in nervous waves, she had somewhere better to be. She carefully pushed the long bangs of hair out of her face and frowned. She had tried to act okay with Twilight, though some of the things the alicorn said to her in passing did hurt. She had to get something off her chest and with how messed up her mind was, why not right now.

She carefully pulled out a scrap of paper and scribbled a quick note to the Cakes. Just in case things with Twilight turned, well, bad. Pinkie didn't hear what Moondancer and Twilight had been completely talking about, though her Sense had told her at least the gist of it.

And she had to get this off her chest to focus on the future.

***

Applejack stared at the Acres, the old barn providing her comfort, the rolling hills and semi-bare apple trees telling her that she would have to tip toe around the place for a while due to some rather bad timing with that whole mess. She hunkered down and pulled down Roxie to the grass, hopefully wishing that one rather bad talking to wasn't going to happen.

Roxie whined as she tried to get back up, rApplejack's hoof gently on her head. "What is going on? Roxie senses danger, but there is none here."

Applejack spotted Big Mac and Caramel trotting over to her, her brother's face told her all that she need to know. She carefully rose to her hooves and waved, hoping that her brother wouldn't be too mad about whatever he was glaring about.

"Applejack."

"Hey Mac. Caramel."

Big Mac glanced at Roxie. "So Applejack. How was your week? Mine was fantastic."

Applejack cringed at trying to figure out how to process the last week. "Fine."

Caramel rolled his eyes. While he preferred tall, dark, handsome, and quiet relationships, this was obnoxious. "Maccy. Stop it or else I'm gonna have to get Pinkie to postpone our little fun party until the winter. You ever seen strippers in parkas? Cause I don't want to find that out. Now talk like normal ponies, cause if I wanted to talk to a rock, I'd dig a hole and sit in it."

Applejack raised her eyebrow. "So I didn't talk to Rarity."

Mac closed his eyes. "I told y'all to talk about it. A week and you ain't talked to your marefriend? What were you doing out there?"

Applejack sighed. "I really don't want to talk about it."

Caramel sighed. "Guess that means no hanky panky then. Bummer, weeklong vacations are what my dreams are made of and yet we had a fun time ourselves." Caramel winked at Applejack. "But whatever they did, I guess it was rather important what with Mister Big Talker here talking my ears off about you saving the day over and over. Which for the record is so adorable cause if I had siblings, I'd be the exact same way."

Applejack just looked at Caramel and remembered why she didn't particularly like the stallion. Hard worker sure. Rather nice stallion, yeah. Fine with foals. Probably. But he sucked out air from the room by the sheer number of words that he spewed out once her opened his mouth. To paraphrase a Granny Smith quote, he spoke for two. Which made him a perfect match for Mac.

But he was just too chipper.

"I'll mention it if I have time, Mac, but I just want to relax for one second, get some kind of moment to myself and just take in the sights. And then I'll be back to normal, no problem." Applejack laid a hoof on her brother. "And sorry for skipping out on the harvest, it really wasn't my intention."

Big Mac groaned, "Don't you be going on about your intentions. I mean Granny was all worried sick about y'all and Applebloom wouldn't leave me alone with all her questions." He rubbed his face with a hoof. "It's fine. Nothing I couldn't handle anyway." He sternly looked at his sister. "But don't go running off again. Cause I worried that somehow you'd never come back. Equestria's a huge place and I've been hearing stuff at the bar every once in a while. Farming quotas being ramped up, ponies moving around. And I had you in some remote place of Equestria saving the world or something cause even if you ain't talking 'bout it I know that look."

Applejack nodded. "Yeah, Mac, you got me." She hugged Mac the best she could. "Been a really, really bad week."

Roxie twiddled her paws, looking down at the scene. "So what does Roxie do now? Hug? Belly rub?"

Applejack looked up at the dog. "I didn't forget about you."

Caramel groaned. "AJ, please don't tell me that you brought a diamond dog home. I mean I work near Roseluck and the rest of the girls but they are some conspiracy riddled crazy ponies. Just the other day I heard them rant about how the Diamond Dogs would take over the town if they ever came back."

Applejack facehoofed. "We'll cross that bridge when ponies start causing trouble, but I really don't think the two we brought home will be much trouble, or their pack for all the good that is."

Caramel rolled his eyes. "Those girls just love hearing themselves talk anyway, though Ponyville has a problem about overreacting to things and I'm a terrified example of that. I mean don't get me started about spiders. Or thunderstorms. Or a whole host of things. So tell me why you brought Winona's red maned stepdog to the Acres."

Mac eyed his coltfriend.

Caramel pointed at Roxie. "Don't give me that look, I mean she's a dead ringer for the best collie in the whole area. And I'm not biased at all cause it's not my dog. She's just a cute, fluffy thing and I love cute, fluffy things."

Applejack shrugged. "I don't know why she looks like that. Just give me a place to hide her cause I don't want Granny- or especially Applebloom to find out a mess like this."

Caramel placed a hoof on Applejack's shoulder. "That's the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. This dog-"

Roxie bent down for a moment to scratch her ear. "Roxie's name is Roxie."

Caramel took the hint in stride. "Yes, Roxie here. Cute name. She's like six feet tall and built like a brick house. No offense. I mean I've never even seen a diamond dog before. I don't know how big they are. But even though your Granny is half blind and scraping death's door at times, she's got a mind like a steel trap. A completely bonkers steel trap, but this isn't going to work at all."

Applejack sighed. "I mean don't you have a hole to bury her in or something?"

Roxie chuckled. "Orange one forgets dogs can dig."

Applejack looked at Roxie and realized that the week she had must have drained her common sense. "Of course. The easiest solution stared me right in the face the whole time.

***

Dash groaned as the three mares walked up to the most nondescript house Dash had ever seen. Just a house, white, four walls, an okay garden- it looked like something her mother or father would turn their noses to. Though that was purely a guess what with those two never contacting her again after the Sonic Rainboom. Probably living it up in Manehattan or something, she guessed.

Rarity knocked on the door and waited.

Rainbow tapped a yellow hoof on the ground. She hated waiting.

The door opened and Sweetie Belle stared at the three ponies. "Rarity? Fluttershy? What are you doing here?"

Rarity cocked her head. "Sorry for not coming over a lot, Sweetie, Canterlot took up a lot of time, in more ways than one. Is mother home?"

Sweetie nodded. "Yeah. You want to talk to her or something?"

Rarity nodded. "Just want to say hello."

Sweetie looked at her sister funny. "You wanted to say hi to mom just cause? That's weird. One sec." Sweetie Belle turned and cupped a hoof to her mouth. "Mom, Rarity's home and wants to talk to you about something, Oh and Fluttershy's here too."

"Sweetie, honey, I tell you all the time to not yell in the house, that's unbecoming of a mare." Cookie Crumbles walked out of the kitchen and saw who was at the door. "Dearies come on in, it's felt like literal years since you've come to see me." She smiled as she hugged Rarity and Fluttershy. "I mean honestly, I'm how far away from both of you and it takes Canterlot to be hit by some bad stuff to come see your dear mother? I'd say I'd want more horrible things, but Magnum and I already lived through a war before. It's nothing good."

Rarity raised an eyebrow. "Mother, Fluttershy and I haven't even mentioned that. How in the world do you know about that?"

Cookie laughed. "I had to get creative dear. And like how I try to keep myself tangentially in your sister's life, I keep in touch with yours. Though mostly by accident, Twilight Velvet told me about how Canterlot was doing a few days ago." Cookie levitated a pot of tea over. "Now let's talk about something far less depressing than old age and war. Fluttershy how's the animals doing?"

Fluttershy held up a hoof. "Uh, sorry, but I thought you said Twilight Velvet? Like Twilight's mom?"

Cookie sipped her tea and set the cup down, careful to make sure a saucer was below the cup. She smiled. "Let's see you're one of Rara's friends. . .blue. . .ah, yes, Rainbow." She tapped her head. "Of course I know Velvet. She was slightly older than me in the School for Gifted Unicorns. Honestly, while I like Night Light and all from how she describes him in her little letters, our newest Princess has most of her foibles and push from her. Not the neurotic behavior, that's her dad for sure, but the rest."

Rarity and Fluttershy shared a look. The fashionista had multiple questions on her mind. "You never told us about this. I thought you went to school for baking or something. From how Twilight mentions her schooling- that's a place your have to work to get in. Not just. . .show up and be present."

Their mother sat back and crossed her hooves. "It wasn't the time to mention it. I mean what with raising you and Fluttershy to some vague ideal of mares- I was far too busy raising a family to care about any past fun I had. You'll get that when you have kids. Things fall to the wayside and change." She lazily stirred her tea. "The pony I was twenty years ago isn't exactly what I am now, hints of that pony flare up every now and then, I see her in the mirror sometimes, but I wouldn't change it for the world. Even if your little sister is currently in that teenager stage."

Rarity nodded, slowly trying to realize that maybe her mother was slightly more complex that she had realized. "How is Sweetie? I mean Rainbow here was talking about how Scootaloo was, and Applejack often talks about her sister, but with how busy I am- honestly I just forget she's there." Rarity fidgeted.

Cookie Crumbles stared at her daughters and sighed. "I keep trying to talk about school. What with the whole blank flank problem she thinks she's having, and the bullies, she's been really subdued. And I mean I have been trying to get into the PTA meetings and all that what with Cheerilee mentioning there's a real issue with her grades. Offhoofedly Sweetie's mentioned some fights she's got into." She picked up her cup and wistfully stared at the china's design, little splotches of black and white. "I think back to both of your childhoods and I don't remember you getting into actual fights. Something about Diamond feels off to me- and that's coming from me knowing her mother."

Dash leaned in. "So what do you want us to do about it?"

The older mare wryly smiled. "I don't know, Shy. But I know I don't like Spoiled Rich at all. And I haven't ever since she was young. I always said to let her comments slide off of you two like butter, but I don't know how Sweetie's dealing with that daughter of hers."

Fluttershy shivered at the memories that name brought up when she thought of her, the daily name calling, the kicking, the snide comments about a whole number of things. She stretched a wing out to Dash and quietly entwined a wing her marefriend.

Dash felt her draw close and sighed. "Well if you need anything, you know where to find us."

Cookie nodded.

***

Scootaloo breathed in and out as her muscles felt sore. She had tried to keep up the stretches and things that the doctor told her to do last week, and all the things she felt right now were pain. Dull aches in muscles that she forgot she had and her wings involuntarily twitched as she walked home. She had timed out the walk perfectly to a t, her steps hitching at points, each step slightly off with how her body naturally twisted, favoring her right side. Diamond Tiara had seemed off today, maybe it was the holiday coming up, but she seemed distant. Maybe she was sick or something. She hadn't been around for a few days.

Scootaloo didn't care cause that just meant one less day being bullied about being a 'cripple' or something the filly said. Dodo one day, penguin the next. Ostrich. All things that couldn't fly. She breathed in and out, slowly trying to get Twilight's calming method down, counting to ten.

"I'm only like two blocks away."

Scootaloo stopped as she saw who was standing a few yards away. "Silver Spoon?"

The gray earth filly carefully touched her glasses. "Hey."

Scootaloo carefully looked around. Silver had rarely, if ever said hi to anypony that DT hated, and the orange pegasus was often around the top of that 'do not talk to' list. "Is Diamond around?"

Silver Spoon shook her head back and forth.

"So what do you want to talk about? I mean it's nice seeing you and all and not getting the crap beat out of me for once, but it's odd. Not having that happen."

Silver looked down. "I just want to talk. In private."

Scootaloo waited for a moment and closed her eyes. Nothing came. Opening them again, she saw Silver just standing there waiting. "Fine." She awkwardly stretched out a wing and pointed at Silver. "Didn't have anything better to do.anyway, so when you see Dash- thank her cause I was going to have time with her today but I haven't seen her in a week."

Silver quietly walked behind Scootaloo.

***

Applejack coughed as she carefully walked through the detritus filled old storehouse on the southern edge of Sweet Apple Acres. She carefully ducked under a few loose and broken boards and looked at the small building's ramshackle interior- Granny had packed away so many things in the years since they had stopped using this place. The storeroom was stocked with things she had probably forgotten about- Granny was sadly getting up in years and the small place showed it from a corner dedicated to old family photos, cracked glass cobwebs covering black and white photos of generations of Apples, to old hoofcarts in another corner, too small for Big Mac, too big for AJ's own use. Applejack sighed as she stepped over folders of memories just sitting here gathering dust and slowly crumbling away.

"Mac, your family has a hoarding problem." Caramel waved the air with a hoof.

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Everything here is perfectly still usable."

Caramel demurely smiled as he sat in an old rocking chair and leaned back. "Whatever floats your boat. While I love antiquing as much as any other stallion, this is a bit much and-" Caramel stretched. "-weren't we trying to find a perfectly good doghouse for Winona Two here?"

Roxie bent her head down and peered at the mess. "This is no den but it could work for Roxie." The diamond dog dropped down on all fours and walked briskly into the room, her tail lazily wagging about. She carefully stepped over chairs and gathered a few tattered blankets in her paws. "Feels like Appleloosa. Lived in a few farmhouses, some places like this." She carefully patted down the blankets in the middle of the room and carefully pushed some of the bigger furniture pieces away to give her room to maneuver. With a quick twist of her body, she walked in a circle and laid down on the floor. "Hmm."

Caramel sighed. "Cool, the dog's happy, now can we like talk about anything else? Like how exactly you got a dog cause I'm sorry but stepping around the question by saying 'we'll talk later' is fine and dandy but I'm curious and your killing me with the suspense."

Applejack stretched. She glanced around and sighed as she could see faded pictures of her mom and dad staring back at her- waiting for her to speak. "Fine. But it's going to be a long story."

Big Mac sat down carefully on a rocking chair and carefully rocked back and forth, the old chair creaking under his weight. "Well, Caramel and me finished the harvest, so we don't have to worry 'bout any of that. So I got all day."

Caramel stretched. "And anyway, with Nightmare Night coming up, I can just say I was preparing for the holiday. All my customers know how. . .extra I can be." He sat down in front of Big Mac's chair and laughed as he saw the farmer linger a little bit too long on his back. "So while I'd prefer getting some popcorn or something to prepare for whatever you're going to tell us, I guess I'll just wait."

Applejack groaned. "Okay. So I have to start all the way back with how we got to Canterlot-"

***

Scootaloo carefully opened the door to her house, taking the key from under the welcome mat and carefully holding it in her wing and pushed the door open. She sighed as she saw the pile of laundry that was near the door, probably Lyra had been focused on her work or something. She stepped over the mess and let Silver inside. "Sorry, I don't often get to have friends over."

Silver awkwardly smiled. "You should see what my parents have for messes. I used to have white fur before my dad let charcoal dust all over our house." She looked at the pegasus, who just shrugged. "I mean it's a joke. My family's weaponsmiths- so chaotic mess is comforting."

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. "Huh, never would have guessed. From your cutie mark, I thought you were something else."

Silver looked down at her cutie mark and carefully traced it with her hoof. "I like making jewelry, though that's more for unicorns. Magic helps a lot when you're working with smaller materials."

Scootaloo just nodded and tried not to have her body involuntarily twitch as she moved. She could hear her parents argue loudly through the wall about something, but she didn't really care. Sometimes they argued about work, sometimes Lyra said something. Sometimes it was Bon Bon, she was used to something being odd. It was better than any orphanage she knew and anyway, it wasn't too common.

"Bon Bon, you should have told me-"

Scootaloo sighed. "So you want to go upstairs to talk about DT or what? Probably be a little quieter."

Silver nodded. The pair walked upstairs and quickly opened the door to Scootaloo's room, the walls plastered with Wonderbolts memorabilia and pictures of Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo laid down on her bed and stretched herself out. Silver just took a bean bag chair and squished herself on it.

"So DT's been acting weird."

"Yeah."

Scootaloo facehoofed. "I'm saying can you explain cause I don't have all day. Cheerilee did give us some homework and honestly I'm terrible at math."

"Quadratic equations aren't that hard. I could show you if you want once we're done." Silver straightened her glasses and carefully took them off her face, checking the glass for any smudges. "But DT's been distant. More so than usual."

"How so? I mean she seems perfectly snotty still. Quieter sure, but she's still a perfect ray of sunshine when she wants to be. And I can see by your face- that was completely sarcastic."

Silver coughed. "Yeah. I guessed. But I mean I haven't been able to come over to her house anymore. At all. She says I didn't do anything and I keep replaying stuff I might have said to set her off and nothing. Just we separate once school ends and I only get within like a few houses radius to her mansion."

Scootaloo sighed. "Sounds like you could just be in a rough patch or something."

Silver laid her head back and sighed. "She tells me everything. About her crazy aunt. About her family problems. About her dad's business. I think she's lonely and getting even more remote and distant isn't helping. You know what crazy stuff we did when she said she was finally an adult? We did things. Did a whole lot. And maybe I'm crazy, but you don't just ghost out on somepony without a reason."

Scootaloo groaned. "Fine. So when did this actually start?"

Silver leaned forward. "Her mom got back from Canterlot a week or so ago. I mean I'm unsure exactly when, but she had a big showing of her jewelry collection and her creations. Diamond told me that her mom had been obsessing over pleasing the rich in Canterlot for weeks. I knew that because that makes her come over to my place more- what with her dad being busy with his land and stores and her mom becoming like, uh, SB's sister when she's preparing for a show."

"So she got back and what?"

"Diamond didn't tell me much before she got quiet but it sounds like she's gone next level crazy."

***

Spoiled Rich breathed in an out as she carefully stared at each and every piece of jewelry she had made with her own hooves. Each brooch, each necklace, each cuff link. Not to mention all the other things the rich and famous had ordered from her in twenty years of just being the pony that had a way in the tight circles of Canterlot. She had filed away the Ponyville twang that she used to have to get in there- showing off barely competent wares in the beginning. Then the Blueblood line had seen a faint glimmer of something and she had been in.

And all of that now was meaniningless. A fancy foible that blemished her, her perfectionism ruined by that mare.

She felt her hooves tremble as she tried to repeat her mantra. "I'm rich and full of poise, I am better than those below me. I have a perfect life. Everything I want is mine to take."

She breathed, the words feeling hollow.

She had been in Canterlot one day. One day and then she woke up to pure bliss, the dream she had was so realistic, the idea of freedom so true. And then she woke up.

Her jewelry she had been holding, a ruby necklace, slipped from her hooves. She swore under her breath. "Damn."

"Mom, are you okay?"

Spoiled Rich turned and saw her greatest failure. "Yeah, sweetie."

Diamond carefully chose her words. "I mean, when I was at school you were looking at that. And you're still looking at that. It's been eight hours mom."

Spoiled Rich's eye slightly twitched. "I did other things. You see this mess in here? That's because I've been organizing it. Not just whatever you think I'm doing. Maybe your friends have parents that get obsessed about things, but not me, I'm better than that- far better than that."

Diamond halfheartedly nodded. "Sure."

"And anyway, if I was somehow here for hours, I'm surprised that nopony called on somepony as wonderful as me to have a chat about something. I know Hoity Toity well enough to get in his shows with my creations, that has to mean something."

Diamond sighed. "Yes, mom."

Spoiled Rich cocked her head. She looked down at Diamond and glanced around her, unable to truly look her in the eye. Not because she was an abject failure, she was a pony in her mother's mold to be sure, but she remembered her dream. And Diamond wasn't part of it at all. She had no children in that world, that brilliant wonderful world, a shimmering wonder of freedom and complete joy. Sure it was a complete dream but children were terrible things when you came down to it, giving up decades of your life just trying to see how they turn out? She breathed as she stared at Diamond, the imperfections in her so apparent. She was a jeweler, she knew imperfections. She stared down at her hoof and clenched it. "It means something, it does, it does, it does."

Diamond stared up at her mom and saw the beginnings of another bad time. She reminded her of Aunt Screwball, the one her mother never talked about. The glassy stare and odd twitching telling her all she needed to know. She had lost her mind in Canterlot, whatever happened broke her mom and she didn't know how to fix it.

"Okay, I really should have just not said anything. If you need me, I'm going to go to Silver's place and study. Big test coming up. Or something." Diamond tried to run. She failed as Spoiled Rich grabbed on to her back leg and pulled.

"I keep telling you no running in the house. That's not proper behavior from somepony of your stature, quick trot, light canter, those are fine, but a brisk walk is the best to keep poise. You don't see me running. I'm here holding down the fort for you and your father while he lusts after mares younger than me." Spoiled Rich spat out her words. "But I'm not complaining, he has to pay them while I know exactly who he slept with. They look at me like I'm a failure, but who's laughing now. I'm at least well cared for and I don't have to sleep with that stallion."

Diamond shivered as she felt her back leg shift as her mom's rant reached its climax, the natural strength of an earth pony easily breaking a few bones when necessary. She felt her bone snap, the shooting pain in her leg almost making her pass out. She whinnied in pain as she rolled away from her mom, the action causing her to land back on the broken side and dragging the pain into a new round of agony.

Spoiled Rich stared down at her filly and felt nothing. "Sorry." Hollow apology. Like her own mother used to make.

Diamond looked up at her and tried to inch away slowly, not breaking eye contact. Through gritted teeth, she tried to talk through the pain. "You broke my leg. I asked if you were okay and you broke my leg."

Spoiled Rich sighed. "I've had a lot of things on my mind; I didn't mean to. I mean earth pony strength can be messy sometimes and I've been under a lot of stress."

"You broke. My leg."

"We'll get that zebra to fix it. From what I've heard she's rather discreet about these things. Though I really wonder if that zebra can speak Equestrian- that's a real thought."

"I don't care if you get Zecora or not, I'm telling daddy."

Spoiled Rich turned and glared at her daughter. She was so much like her at her age. Headstrong. Passionate. Childish. "And what? Tell dad that I broke your leg? That's rich. Foals fall down the stairs all the time. You fell down the stairs. Stairs can be so dangerous sometimes. Big house, lots of stairs."

Diamond stared at her mother. "What are you saying?"

"That it was an accident. Accidents happen. I'm sorry." Spoiled Rich patted Diamond Tiara's head. 'I never wanted kids at all. It was Filthy's idea. Legacy, more like a waste of time and money.' echoed through Spoiled Rich's brain, lightly congratulating her for her good deed. She didn't have to care for Diamond, it was so much easier to let her fend for herself. The world was a scary place. You never knew who to trust. "I love you, sweetie, now let's get you ready for dinner. After the day I've had, I'm starving."

Diamond nodded, unable to move much as she tried to get on three legs, her center of gravity shot and her leg screaming as it tried to find purchase on the marble tiles of the mansion. Wheezing in pain, she nodded. "Yeah."

Her mom whistled down the hallway.

Tiara felt tears come to her eyes as she stared at her mom in the distance. She breathed heavily as she hobbled to dinner, trying to smile through the pain.

She had tried to be understanding. Maybe her mom was tired. Trips were tiring. Yeah. But this was something different. An unraveling of things. She hobbled to the door and carefully tried to get her hoof on the door, awkwardly trying to balance herself on two good legs while her back leg hung at an unnatural angle. "Drat." Then she realized that because of Nightmare Night coming up, she had two days alone with her mother.

Completely and utterly alone with her. She could hear her mother singing some fun little tune. For a moment, she felt okay, normal even. Normalcy that the last week had taking away. Her mom had just been running on autopilot for that whole time, not saying much, not moving much. This was new.

And in the pit of her stomach, Diamond Tiara could feel fear build up, her body sending out signals to run with every step closer to her mother she took. She quietly wondered about her options. She had no idea what her mom was actually doing in the kitchen right at this moment. She could be dosing her food with like rat poison or something. Applebloom was always talking about how her stupid family was using it to kill things. She tried to breathe slowly. She had to figure out something soon or else she'd be in unimaginable danger.

"Yeah." Diamond grimaced as she looked at her leg. She had to get out of the house if it killed her. "I'll be right there."

***

Fluttershy and Dash walked slowly up the walkway to their shared abode. Neither had said much on the way back once they had said goodbye to Rarity, the white unicorn talking about all the ideas for Nightmare Night- something about her needing to have an all nighter just to get the yearly friendship costumes out of the way. Dash would have preferred to just reuse her Wonderbolts costume, but with the whole mindswitch happening, she wouldn't dare shove Fluttershy's mass into any of her costumes.

So Dash begrudgingly rolled her eyes as Rarity patted her on the flank and winked, hastily mentioning how 'unless somepony had been snacking a bit too much, she already had correct measurements.'

"You okay?"

Dash looked up to see Fluttershy perched on her back, staring upside down at her, magenta orbs looking directly into her eyes. "Yeah, why are you asking?"

Fluttershy draped her blue wings over her marefriend. "We've been standing in front of our house for five minutes and you haven't opened the door."

Dash sighed. "You know, it's technically your house so you can open the door."

Fluttershy paused. "Yes, but it's been a week since I stepped in there. It. . .feels odd. I mean what did my animals do for like an entire week? I keep them in cages for a reason sometimes, what with there being a whole natural order of things. And while Harry is a mighty good bear, he can get rather excitable about food."

Dash rolled her eyes. "We've been gone for a week. I bet they've been either living it up or Angel has caused a mutiny."

Fluttershy gasped. "He wouldn't."

Dash raised an eyebrow. "Shy, last month he led a charge on Caramel's food stand for carrots. Either you named him ironically or he's just always been a pain."
"
Fluttershy rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I think I remember a certain pony in flight school cause a riot or two."

Dash sighed. "I wasn't that bad. And anyway, I was talking about your rabbit, so I don't know why you'd bring me up. And besides, that wasn't me doing those riots- that was Gilda. I just got dragged along for the ride."

Fluttershy opened her door. "I know that, I was just saying that's where I got the idea for the name from. And it's nice to remember something a little less complex than the things we just went through. A simpler time where things weren't always so bad. I mean things were terrible then too, but we didn't know."

Dash tried to grin at that thought. "Yeah, I was a circus performer while you were down here."

Fluttershy silently nodded, looking at the mess that she might have to clean up later- Angel had gotten into the carrots and left them all over the floor, the rabbit lazily on top of his hoard snoring away like he had not a care in the world. She smiled as she picked him up and placed him on his actual bed, a small fluffy pad that was far more suited to him than a pile of carrots. She carefully checked to see if he was okay and turned back to Dash.

"It wasn't sunshine and rainbows for me, Rainbow, I spent years trying to understand why my parents never looked for me. I mean it has been more than a decade since I fell down here and they've never sent a letter to Celestia about wanting to meet me somewhere."

Dash shrugged. "They could just be like my parents."

Fluttershy looked down at the floor. "Yeah."

Dash slid up to Fluttershy and touched her wingtip to her marefriend. "You want to talk about it?"

The polychromatic mane shake told her all she needed to know. "No, just after Ironhoof, I guess things were on my mind."

Dash felt Shy's head press underneath her own. She guessed this was what Shy felt most times. Protective and caring. Or maybe just not really made for a world a head shorter than her. It felt weird comforting Fluttershy- the last week had the usually yellow pegasus doing her best to make Dash's life better.

"I know. Starlight did some terrible things to a whole lot of ponies and diamond dogs."

Fluttershy looked up. "And you."

Dash paused, thinking of her short time under that spell, the memories that never happened still fresh in her mind. Possibilities of horror just there on the periphery, a small pegasus out there in her dreams, half formed and quiet. "

Dash rubbed a hoof in her hair. "Well it wasn't too bad."

Fluttershy frowned. "Not too bad? I saw your ghost melt before my eyes screaming in agony because of it, I saw each and every odd place you went too, all the stuff you did to get out of there and I don't call that a good time." Dash saw Fluttershy's eyes fill with tears as she spoke, "I saw everything and I was blinded by fear."

Dash tried to lighten the mood. "Is that an unfortunate joke cause Twilight told me you went blind for a little bit."

Fluttershy shook her head. "I bled from my eyes because of whatever Starlight did to you." Fluttershy rubbed her face carefully tracing the blood pools in her mind. She'd have nightmares for weeks after that image was burned into her memory. The bloodstains weren't there anymore, but she had to check. "I hated watching that."

Dash carefully hugged Fluttershy, resting her head carefully on the smaller mare. She felt the fear that her marefriend gave off, the trembling. "Bad joke." Dash breathed and slowly began trying to relax Fluttershy the only way she knew how- preening. She carefully pulled feathers that were loose and matted in weird tangles after the rush back home. "Shy, I wished you hadn't been there, well not there, but like not connected. That spell was. . .intense." Dash tossed feathers to the side and felt Shy push closer towards her.

"I was terrified you wouldn't come back. You're always rushing off somewhere being a superhero."

Dash grinned as she detangled her lover's mane. "Looks like Scoots isn't the only member of my fan club."

Fluttershy groaned. "Dash, be serious. I was meaning that Ironhoof wasn't like our other times. Twilight knew what to do on most of those- she saved Luna because she knew what was going on, she helped stop the Changelings-"

Dash interjected. "That one was Cadance and Twilight's brother, not exactly her."

"and she stopped Sombra.

"Spike saved the day on that one. Which makes me wonder how Spike would be treated there. Probably be drowning in gemstones."

Fluttershy laid back and looked at Dash. "What I'm saying is, Ironhoof wasn't normal. You have barely even said two words about what happened while you were under Starlight's spell and Pinkie still seems off. Not to mention the unknown ship that destroyed the town- that might come back later."

Dash patted Fluttershy's head. "If it does, then we'll just find a way to beat it. I mean look at the bright side- we got out of there. And that's with them surprising us- now we know there's something out there with whatever that crap was and we'll be ready."

Fluttershy's ear twitched with worry. "What if whatever coming comes here? Ironhoof was remote, there's Manehattan or any number of towns things could hit next and we'd-"

Dash flicked Fluttershy's nose. "And Twilight said I was the neurotic one- Shy, just relax. I'm worried too, but I can't fix what happened or worry about the future until it happens. I'm not Pinkie, I can't see the future, and honestly, I wouldn't care to. You want something to eat cause that usually gets my mind off things. Though I don't know what's in the fridge what with us being gone the last week." Rainbow rubbed a hoof through her pink mane trying to remember what was in that stupid thing.

"Yeah. And I don't feel like hayburgers."

Rainbow cringed, thinking back on the last time she had a couple too many. "Why did you have to mention hayburgers? I meant like fish or something."

Fluttershy tapped her hooves together. "I don't really eat fish all that often."

Dash groaned. "Okay, I'll try and think up something else. I think one of the Wonderbolts was talking about being a vegetarian, though that's not really my cooking specialty, quick and simple or seafood dishes. Not vegetarian stuff. That reminds me a bit too much of the terrible fitness smoothies Spitfire was always trying to give us for 'training purposes'" Rainbow shuddered. "But compromising isn't too bad. You could almost call it a date."

"A date?"

Rainbow realized what she'd said. "Uh, I meant-" She sighed, unsure of what else to call it. "Sure. A date. Though don't be telling ponies I can cook. It really hampers my cool points when they know that."

Fluttershy smiled. "Whatever you say. Rainbow, but I think you knowing something about cooking is fun."

Rainbow groaned. "I only learned how cause I didn't want to starve to death eating junk food while training. Nothing more."

"You don't have to try to explain yourself to me, Dash."

Dash blushed crimson. "I wasn't. I mean, I didn't mean to. But okay." She breathed out. "And that goes for you too."

Fluttershy nodded, her mane slightly covering her eyes. "Thanks. But can we try and talk to Twilight soon? I just don't want something like this happening again."

Dash smiled. "What gave you the idea I want more mental trauma?" Dash chuckled. "We can talk to her tomorrow."

Fluttershy carefully got on Dash's broad back and laid down, nuzzling into the pegasus' neck. "Okay."

***

The Southern Equestrian border was something Sour Sweet hated managing. She often bitched about her command structure to anypony that listened, usually Indigo Zap over drinks while she was on leave. Usually it boiled down to there being no action in the south. Klugetown was a colony of ponies set deep within Reptilian territory, gained only because the last snake had tried bringing back some ancient race memory and had crashed upon Celestia's shores, drowning in death and dismemberment like so many others. Frankly, it was supposed to be the easiest current mission. It wasn't facing Changelings, or the Northern Wastes, it wasn't protecting Manehattan. It was a warm climate, hot as Tartarus, and boring.

So why in Celestia's name was she looking at what she was looking at.

"Sugarcoat, tell me that isn't what I fear it is."

Sugarcoat groaned, her gray coat stained with dust. "Looks like we've lost Klugetown. "

The pegasus commander sighed. "You had one job." She put up the binoculars to her face and stared at the heaping piles of bodies stacked like firewood, each pony staring up at the sky motionless, their coats run red with dried blood. She could see the bodies varied in size from the largest adult to the smallest child. "Fuck." She felt slightly queasy, the idea of total extermination wasn't something that the corps of the army really talked about. It was supposed to be the worst case scenario.

"So what do you want me to tell the troops?" Sugarcoat lazily traced a hoof.

Sour Sweet sighed. "Bomb the thing. I don't want the snakes to see this as a victory. Raze the thing to the ground. If you can kill that cat in whatever armor that was, do it."

Sugarcoat nodded. "As you wish." The unicorn stretched and did a quick amplification of her voice. She began to whistle, first low and slow and began speeding up as she tried to tell each and every unicorn the plan. If the reptiles were sending a message, so would they.

With one final long whistle, Sugarcoat clocked the direction and timing. She turned to face Sour Sweet, who was still staring at the burning bodies, tendrils of black smoke slowly rising in the sky, ashes of ponies she used to know just lazing about in the breeze. "While I would love to sit and watch the explosions, we have far better things to do, Commander."

"I'll just be a moment."

The sky lit up as a number of juryrigged spells began falling down on the town, first a few basic fireballs, the scorching flames starting to light up the wooden frames of the houses, the town beginning to turn into a cacophonous mess as unsuspecting reptiles were caught in the blaze. Wordless screams and non-Equestrian shouts were on the air for a few minutes, small masses of flame ran about as unfortunate creatures lit up like candles.

Then the firework spells came in.

Sour Sweet watched as the town crumbled into dust.

And waited to see what would come out of it. She guessed the lucky reptiles were just underground. The thing she learned about the desert was that there was always some place to hide, right under your hooves. Dusty, dirty places.

Though the flames, she saw one lithe armored creature walk out and wave. She pulled up her binoculars and stared as the thing removed its helmet.

A cat smiled back and sat down on the sands. Just sat there basking in the heat of the flames, staring up at the sky. She could almost swear it was crying, though she didn't know why. The cat got up and began trudging towards them.

"Should we kill it?" That one cat took out a hundred soldiers by itself."

Sour Sweet lowered her binoculars. "It doesn't look like he's going to murder us."

"That's what those soldiers said. You know before they were murdered."

"Sugar, he's like totally fine. And if that's an ambush, it's garbage. Plus he's got intel on the place so going by Celestia's rules of war, that trumps like seven other for self preservation."

The unicorn rolled her eyes. "Yes, well I have been trying to amend that terrible edict of hers by constantly writing to both the Magisterium and Celestia herself. Wars aren't won by being nice."

Sour Sweet didn't care. She carefully felt the ground, her earth pony magic feeling slightly dull in the shifting sands of Klugetown. Ponies weren't really meant for these climates- sure there were southern breeds, but those tended to be isolationist. The main stock of earth ponies were rather focused on harder dirt. So she carefully felt around for any sharp protrusions or large things underhoof- the things that weren't normally in the sand. She didn't feel any hint of an ambush so she carefully cantered down the sand dune, sideways, trying to get any kind of purchase on the soft sands.

"Hey, buddy, while I feel absolutely fantastic about you slaughtering enough troops of mine to be classified as an unidentified lethal object, I'd rather have us talk like civilized things. Cat to pony. Like average, normal creatures. Also just in case, I have my unicorn assistant pointing like seven different spells at your head."

The cat leaned back, his armored suit looking rather unlike any armor Sour had seen before. Maybe Abyssinia had some great magitech smiths or something, but it looked too well done. "Fantastic. I'm rather sorry about my kind of off the handle way of introducing myself." The cat laid back on a nearby rock. "Name's Capper. Though I doubt you have heard of the best cat burglar in the whole wide world. Though I don't seem to have my papers to show off that fact."

Sour Sweet thought the name sounded familiar. "Well, I'm Sour Sweet, Commander of the Southern Equestrian Border, and that dour unicorn over there is my second in command, Sugarcoat Spoon. I'm the good pony, she's the bad one. Now can you try and tell me how you got that rather impressive suit of armor? And why you seemed to be helping the rebellion."

Capper stretched and carefully licked his paw. "These rags? Well that's a rather long story, but to shorten it, let's just say that I'm in debt to a rather important creature who has me deeply in the red. And rebellion? Honestly, these snakes hate your guts, all talking about eating your bones and all that jazz." He moved his paw in a circular motion. "Really, Ziggy's the craziest snake I've met and I've met a few."

Sour Sweet and Sugarcoat shared a look. They had assumed that this cat had been the leader all along.

"Who's Ziggy?"

Capper got up slowly. "I'm glad you asked." He cupped his paws. "Hey Ziggy, the ponies want to meet you now."

The ground moved. And as both ponies stared, they realized they had a problem on their hooves. "I'm Ziggy, how nice to meet you both." Sour Sweet stared at the largest reptile she had ever seen in her life, a hulking creature with a tail as long as he was tall, black as pitch and with deep, dark yellow eyes. He opened his mouth and his rows of teeth showed that he meant business. She had never seen a komodo dragon before. Those were supposed to be wiped out. They had been wiped out. They had been.

The last leader of the reptiles had been one.

"Capper, you were good bait." The komodo dragon clapped a huge clawed hand around the cat. "The Storm King is a good partner."

The cat groaned in pain. "Yeah, yeah curiosity kills a cat."

Sour Sweet looked at her army in the distance and saw the sand moving. She glanced at Sugarcoat and nodded. They weer going to get out of here alive. And save as many ponies as they could while doing it. "Now." The earth pony channeled most of her magic, shaping the sand into hard spikes aimed directly at the reptile- she didn't care about the cat, just getting away from the apex predator of the sands was necessary, survival instincts kicked in.

Sugarcoat matched her movements, years of training giving her motion a practiced dance, swerving past the spikes, summoning her sword and blocking the large reptile's first swing, the power pushing her back. "I told you so."

Sour Sweet groaned. "Give it a rest already- you can bitch and moan all you want when we get out alive. And drinks on me."

"Fine." Sugarcoat closed her eyes and focused, dragging the mana in the surrounding area around her and using the spell she had mastered years ago. With all her power, she began to teleport the both of them. Mostly cause Sour never paid for drinks.

"Oh no you don't." Ziggy opened his mouth and spat in the unicorn's face.

Sugarcoat screamed as the acid ate into her face, She grimaced through the pain and screamed as the effort took a lot out of her. With a pop, both ponies appeared on the top of the hill.

Sour Sweet pushed her companion. "You did it. You did it."

Sugarcoat's voice came out hoarse and pained. "Yeah."

Sour Sweet turned her friend over and retched as she saw Sugarcoat's face. Her glasses had saved most of her face, the glass running down her skin like water, the acid had ate away her eyes, the fluid running down, blood bleeding down her face. Bits of her mouth had been hit as well, muscle and bone sloughing off.

"I can't see."

Sour Sweet picked up her second in command and slung the unicorn over her shoulder. She could see the reptilian horde slaughtering her men, bits of resistance fighting back in an unwinnable situation. She felt tears on the corners of her eyes as she watched. "Sugarcoat, sound the retreat."

Sugarcoat amplified her voice. Whistling high pitched repeatedly, over and over gave the order she needed.

Full retreat.

Sour Sweet hated retreating but it was a rout, and while she knew the old heads at the guards would laugh about her not holding up the ideal stand to the last pony, she knew that was a tactic that led to defeat. Pure defeat you could never come back from. And she had unwittingly hurt her second in command. Things were more important than following the rules of war so completely. "Sugarcoat, drinks are totally on me. Forever."

The southern border of Equestria retreated northwards, leaving Klugetown to the reptiles for the first time in decades. In one day, they had lost entire generations of stability. Sour Sweet looked at the cloud of smoke as she ran northward, the embers of fires built on the bones and sinew of once living ponies telling her all she needed to know. Blackness went north and marred the sky as a message. The desert wasn't safe. And it wouldn't be for the foreseeable future.

"I shouldn't have said the South was boring." She cursed her luck, focusing on her footing through the sandy terrain, leading a band of her remaining army. "We only have a few days until we get back Sugarcoat, you'll be okay."

Author's Note

This took longer than expected

El Condor Pasa (Part Three of Three)

Twilight stared at the pile of letters that covered her desk. Parchment on top of parchment, letters scratched with some kind of message she couldn't see until she could get closer. From here it looked like pure chaos stacked into the briefest sense of order. She turned and looked at her miffed assistant who was currently tapping her hoof in sheer annoyance. "When did this start happening?"

Sparkler tapped a hoof to her chin and shrugged. "Few days ago? Probably right around the time you went silent. Guess either something happened in the Dragon Lands or your little dragon got homesick. Personally, I'm going with the second option cause that makes sense to me. But hey, whatever floats your boat. I'm just the pony who has kept Ponyville safe for a week while you blew up a town and all that. Who's counting?" Sparkler awkwardly laughed."

"Right. Well, that's why I offered you the job as my research assistant." Twilight looked back at the pile of letters. "If you don't mind, I'll just close the castle for the night and read this mess. You can stay or go if you want to."

"Okay." Sparkler shrugged and fired up her horn, winking at Twilight. "You know where to find me if you almost destroy the town again."

"I'm just reading letters, Sparkler."

"Could be a trap. Or you run off to save the day again cause of something you are unable to change. Letters can be dangerous, oh so very humble Princess." Sparkler laughed and waved as she left the building.

Twilight shook her head. That pony was both the best non-dragon assistant she had ever had- though that didn't amount to much- and a slight headache all rolled into one tight package. Twilight looked up at the crystalline ceiling of her castle and sighed. Closing her eyes for a moment, she could feel Luna on her periphery, doing whatever the Princess did during her free time. She shook her head and picked up a random letter, skipping the first paragraph or two and all the little pleasantries that Spike's letters usually carried.

Twilight, I hope you are doing well. It's been nearly a month since I last wrote you- sorry for that. To make up for it. I wrote a bundle of letters-"

Twilight stared down at the mess and wiped off most of it from her desk. She would read those later. She didn't know why he just hadn't sent her the letters since she had given him the frequency of her spell, or why he'd send an entire mess of letters all at once. She had measured his magical output a while back and she had found that smaller packages were less tiring for him to send.

She had told him to never send more than he could handle- unless there was an emergency.

She looked for anything out of the ordinary. Papers that were frayed and torn, different materials, anything out of the ordinary and she started organizing by topic and material. Normal daily occurrences to the left, weird stuff to the right.

She glanced up as the moon rose, the light edging into the room. A large amount of time had passed in what felt like an instant due to her focus. She rubbed her eyes and stretched her limbs, carefully lighting a candle and placing it out of reach of her paper stacks.

She carefully stared at the mass of stacks organized by her rudimentary sorting system- foregoing her normal system by taking out all the fluff and complexity of a normal system and just focusing on the facts. And she carefully rose the one thing that stood out in this whole system and stared at it.

A chunk of a tree with just the words "Send help" carved into it. She traced it with her hoof and wondered what had happened.

"Twilight?"

Twilight screamed, not expecting anypony to be near her at this time of night and what with the mystery of Spike's letters cluttering her mind for that same length of time. She felt her chair tip backwards in protest of the quick motion and her wings tensed as she crashed to the floor in a heap of limbs and pain. Twilight groggily stared up at whoever or whatever had broken her concentration and saw a slightly concerned pink pony staring back at her. "Pinkie? It's like-" Twilight paused, unsure of what time it actually was at the moment. "-late. What are you even doing here? I mean aren't you always telling me of how early you have to get up to bake?"

Pinkie awkwardly fidgeted. "Yeah. Sorry about scaring you. I mean I didn't mean to do that of course, and I know you told me not to creep up behind you cause you get all jumpy and all that but like I saw you had a window open and I could feel that you were up and all. And I just couldn't sleep what with the last few days weighting on my mind."

Twilight rubbed her aching head. "I told Sparkler to close up. I doubt she forgot a window."

Pinkie rolled her eyes. "She didn't. The second floor window."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Pinkie, you know that's my bedroom. And that's a balcony window forty feet up with sheer walls, I doubt even you could get up there if you wanted to." Twilight carefully picked herself off the floor and looked at the oddly quiet mare. "And that's for emergencies."

Pinkie sighed. "I have ways of getting up there. And you know I wouldn't come barging in here at this time of night if I didn't think it was important. I mean seriously, I may be known as somepony that might take a joke a little too far every once in a while, but I know when it's too important not to say something." She carefully sat down on her haunches and stared at Twilight.

Twilight looked back at the piles of letters and sighed. Those would come later. "I'll get a pot of coffee on then. You want sugar?" Twilight shook her head. Of course she wanted sugar, this was Pinkie she taking about, the mare lived-

"I'm fine with black coffee."

Twilight cringed. That was definitely not a good sign.

***

Rainbow Dash stared at the selection of the market and groaned. She knew she could have just splurged and got Hayburger yet again but she felt like something felt off about that. Less meaningful as it was, and they had to get food since Dash had glanced into Shy's fridge and had been greeted by culinary monstrosities that even she would balk at. She shook her head and felt Fluttershy's hooves on her back. "You know we'd probably be home by now if you walked too."

Shy smiled and dug a hoof into spots that she knew far too well. "I know, but why make things go faster than they have to? I mean what else do you even have to get?" She motioned at the bags that Dash had draped over her large yellow wings since Fluttershy took up the next best place to rest that load.

Dash groaned. "The meat. I mean if I'm-" she carefully glanced around to check if there were any ponies nearby listening. "-cooking a seafood dish, I need that. And I'm sorry but I'm not choosing a fish from your collection of happy animal friends cause that just seems wrong."

Fluttershy rolled her eyes. "You know you don't have to use fish. There's perfectly serviceable soups using lentils or barley or whatever you like that has protein in it."

Dash stretched her wings. "I know that, but I already have most of the stuff anyway for the thing I'm making, so let's just compromise and say you can cook whatever you want another day." Dash stopped and looked back at Fluttershy who was quiet. "I mean- uh, shoot. I didn't mean to snap at you but I just wanted to cook something special for us. Just the two of us to like not think about whatever the last week was. That's it."

Fluttershy quietly nodded and laid back on Dash.

Rainbow swore in her mind as she walked up to the final booth. She never liked dealing with the market ponies. Mainly because they tended to be hooffuls of joy, and with Shy now fully in silence, it was just not a fun time. "Lily, where's Caramel?"

Lily Valley shrugged. "Fluttershy, do I look like his mother? How the buck should I know?"

Dash rolled her eyes, inwardly hating that she had to mentally switch into nice mode just because she looked like the buttery yellow pegasus. This was why she both loved and hated that more ponies knew that the pair was switched- cause at least she didn't have to act like a ray of sunshine every moment of the day. Dash smiled, corners of her mouth twitching. "I just need a few pounds of fish for a stew I'm making for Rainbow here. She had a terrible day and she wants some soup. And I have a recipe I found in an old cookbook that I think she might like."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Wonderful. Just like drop the bits down and take his stuff then. He usually doesn't take his stall home until sundown. Probably cause he takes so many breaks. Haven't you heard? Caramel's the gayest little stallion in all of Ponyville. Roseluck told me that Daisy told her that she saw Cara deepthroat the whole thing of Mac's pole and like I was like no way-"

Dash cut her off. "Fascinating. I bet she has some proof of that, cause the last time she said something, it involved how Zecora was working for Tirek, which I asked Twilight about and the princess laughed at me."

Lily shrugged. "If a princess doesn't believe my sources, that's too bad. You can't fix indoctrination. One day, I'm going to tell you guys that I was right about the whole world being built on the ruins of some greater thing and I'll be the one laughing the way to the bank when some horrible thing happens."

Dash smiled. "I'll be waiting." Dash pulled out some bits and plopped them down, carefully picking up the bag of fish and checking the brown package and making sure it felt heavy enough for the soup she was going to try and make. "See you later, I guess."

Lily shrugged. "Whatever." Lily quietly looked around and leaned into Dash, her voice switching slightly from the gruff demeanor she normally had into a soft whisper. "Hey, tell Roseluck to get off her sorry flank and come work the stall again. I keep telling her customers that I haven't seen her for a bit. They aren't super happy about that." Lily looked at the Everfree and looked down at the ground. "I mean if you want to or not, it doesn't really matter to me since I usually just get my stock from the surrounding area. But like Rosie is the adventurous one and she was talking about some deer tracks in the Everfree and I said that'd be absolutely idiotic. But she went in there like a day ago looking for an Iridium Rose and she hasn't come back out and like it sucks. . ." Lily breathed out. She looked around and fell back into rhythm. "But like whatever. Come again or not. Like I care."

Dash looked back at Fluttershy who just shrugged. Turning back to Lily, the pegasus faked a smile and said the first thing that came to her mind. "Roseluck's probably fine. And if not, well, I'll bring it up to Twilight cause Rainbow Dash and I have a few questions to ask her about some personal stuff."

Lily nodded. "Something personal?"

Dash nodded.

Lily grinned. "I knew it. You two would be great parents."

Dash and Fluttershy stared at her, Fluttershy turning around and standing up to see over Dash's head. "What was that?"

Lily stared at the pair. "So you aren't going to go see if you can get one of you turned into a stallion? I mean what with you two moving in together and being nearly inseparable the last few weeks, the whole town's waiting for you to bang."

Fluttershy carefully stepped off her perch and blew the long strands of rainbow hair out of her face, carefully leaning on Lily's stand, the now blue mare tried to act cool. Dash just thought it looked silly. Fluttershy cleared her throat and smiled at the businesspony. "Lily, where did you hear that was happening cause I just moved in cause some stuff was happening in my personal life. . .not relationship drama. That isn't really my thing. I mean do you see me having kids and all that being a Wonderbolt? Like nine months of terrible stuff just for that?"

Lily shrugged. "Wonderbolt's have kids all the time. Plus there's two of you. While the town's placing bets on how Shy here would look as a stallion, you do know you can be one Dash. Totally would fit your personality. Plus you wouldn't come off as the resident pride flag of the gays. No offence, but like you stick out like a sore hoof on that front."

Dash smiled and pulled Fluttershy away since they got what they came for. With a curt nod, she thanked the pink earth pony with a quick "Thanks for the input" and left. She looked up at the sky and saw clouds quickly forming as they walked in relative silence. It fit her mood so well. She looked at Shy who was glaring at the ever shrinking Lily and absentmindedly touching a lock of the prismatic hair that was starting to dampen with the cold drops of rain that started pouring down in ever increasing quantities.

She barely heard Shy's mumbled question as they dashed through the fields and shut down streets of Ponyville, the coming storm of rain making the sleepy town into a dreary place, color draining from the town as clouds darkened the pastel walls into shades of grayish colors, reality creeping in as Dash's thoughts made her realize that maybe things weren't great in this town. Sure, she got a few comments every once in a while, a mare with her coloration, mood, and orientation got a few. It wasn't that.

It was the comment about them being a couple, about Twilight, about wanting a kid. . .

She breathed. She felt flashes of her mind light up with false memories of happy moments turned sour, of a library burning because of what was in it, and flowers twisted into an approximation of a spider. She blinked as the rain made it hard to see, bleary eyes covered in misting rain. It felt like stinging tears, but it wasn't. It was just the rain. Nothing more.

She looked at the bag of fish, the paper bag wet and limp with water from the now pouring rain. She just wanted to cook something and get her mind off of all the terrible things that happened. Maybe for the last time. That ship was out there somewhere. It wasn't going to be used once.

She could barely hear Fluttershy yelling at her as she ran as fast as her legs could take her, almost mechanically through the road that connected Fluttershy's small house to civilization, windows barely lit with the waning light of the day mixed with a few candles safely covered in case of fire. She saw that stupid rabbit in a window, staring down at the two now soaked ponies. She looked out at the Everfree as she turned the final corner and she would swear she was seeing things. The branches of the trees just curved like horns. It was just her state of mind, things coming up from Lily, it wasn't a deer staring at them, the beady eyes glaring at them. It was just the rain, a light and maybe an animal. Not deer.

She opened the door and Fluttershy followed her in, the pair drenched to the bone as the rain pattered down in gouts of water, drip dripping in a rhythmic dance of nature. Water pooled on the hard wooden floor and Fluttershy carefully said nothing. The small blue pegasus said all she had to in the sad magenta orbs of hers, the emotion not something that Dash usually saw on her own face. She was too cool to show emotion. She was just a Wonderbolt, she was special.

Dash trudged to the carpet and sat down on it, slumping her shoulders, letting the package of fish and shrimp she had so purposely bought sit there unopened next to her. She stared up at the ceiling and sat there tracing each line of the wood for a minute or two, barely noticing the small pegasus that crept up next to her and lay her head on her chest, Rainbow feeling each and every curve of her body, the soaked coat of hers leaving not much to her imagination.

"Dash?"

"Yeah?"

"You want to make dinner yet?"

Dash sighed, looking at the soaking wet package of food. "Nah, I just want to lay here a bit. Anyway, Pinkie told me there's like an amount of time that food's okay to keep out. Four hours? Something like that."

Fluttershy rolled her eyes. "It's more like two."

Dash scoffed. "Either way, it's not like I ever tested out that rule since somepony told me to slow down while eating."

Fluttershy prodded Dash's side. "You're still the one who ate six burgers almost two weeks ago."

Dash grinned. "Well somepony doesn't feed her body well so I took it upon myself to fix that."

Fluttershy playfully swatted Dash. "More like you wanted to pig out and relax."

"No comment."

The pair giggled and stared up at the ceiling.

Shy breathed out and carefully looked at Rainbow. She could trace the tension that the pegasus was hiding in the way she held herself. The wings curled up around her like a blanket, the slight rock back and forth as she silently stared up, the fetal like position she had. "Dash, you want to talk about why you ran away just now? Knowing you, you don't just fly off the handle like that. You usually have a reason." Fluttershy pushed the issue gently. "Was it what Lily said?"

Rainbow sighed and stretched out her hooves, carefully looking at the grime and muck that was now staining the yellow coat she was trapped in now. "Yeah."

Fluttershy rolled her eyes. "That's not the Rainbow I know so well. Why would the most awesome pony care about anything she said. I mean you heard her, she's all about saying random stuff that she heard some other pony say. That's like two levels removed from her experience and so I'd take whatever she said as something to look at with some skepticism."

Dash laughed. "Yeah, but we are in a relationship, so like not everything was false. So what does that mean about the rest of the stuff she said? Cause look at me right now, I'm stuck in your body. Right here. And yet she said we'd be okay parents. Like how does that even work?"

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. "If you're telling me that somehow you don't know how sex works, I'll be extremely worried. I mean didn't Blossomforth call you her wingmare? Plus you give Rarity a ton of flak about her attitude towards it."

Dash chuckled. "Somepony has been paying attention to me."

Fluttershy smirked. "I'm your marefriend. Somepony has to or else you'd run off and kill yourself over something extremely heroic and silly."

"Ouch, but point taken. And no, I know what sex is. "

Fluttershy brushed loose strands of pink out of Rainbow's face and stared closely at her marefriend, her hot breath sending tingles of heat into her thighs. "Then what's the issue?"

"I don't know how good I'd be at parenting,. I mean I had that dream and nightmare vision of some fake version of our kid, but like that's fake. Whatever my mind makes up for a future kid would probably be some ideal kid. Twilight would explain it better, but like what if I messed up and did something horrible. I mean my parents sold me off to the circus for money."

Fluttershy rested her head on Dash's chest and whispered. "Yeah. And my mom wasn't much better."

Dash froze. "Shy, I didn't mean it like that. I mean like I'd be worried I wouldn't know how to react to kids."

Fluttershy poked Dash in the chest with a hoof. "Scootaloo would beg to differ. I mean I look at your memories of her and its full of random nice things you do for her. And you were all gung ho about helping her with her problems fitting in once I came up with the idea so either you are really good with foals and don't see it or there's some other deeper thing I don't even know about that you are trying to make up for."

Dash sighed. "I don't know. Foals are weird. Like I get Scoots, she's like ten or whatever. Ponyfeathers, Pinkie would know more about foals that I do. The Cake Twins are the only ones I know at all young enough to be like babies and I'm terrible around those two. I don't know what to do since the Cakes banned me from teaching Pound all my cool tricks. What else do I have besides that? Oh sure, I'm a Wonderbolt. That's great. But like I don't know what to do when it doesn't involve flight or fighting or acrobatic stunts. It's just not there."

Fluttershy rolled her eyes. "Nopony knows what to do with foals. And I don't fare much better with those two."

Dash scoffed. "I doubt that."

The blue pegasus got up and shook herself off briefly, the dampness sticking to her, causing her coat and mane to become a frizzed out mess of hair. She inwardly noted that she would need to brush before bed or else she'd get rather terrible tangles of fur in the morning and continued sorting her thoughts. "It's true. Babies set off my anxiety so terribly. I want to protect them from all the terrible things I know are out there and keep them safe. But then I get in my head. Every scenario plays out so vividly and I can't get away from it. And I just start having panic attacks, constantly. Fight or flight and you know which one I choose to take when that pops up." Fluttershy awkwardly tangled and untangled a lock of her hair as she looked down towards the floor.

Dash stretched and gently pulled some feathers off Fluttershy, letting them drift slowly to the ground. "You aren't that cowardly, Shy, I mean you've faced down dragons and cockatrices and like a whole menagerie of animals. That has to count for something."

Fluttershy nuzzled into Dash's chest. "If you say so. But I'd think we'd be good parents, Rainbow. I mean if you wanted to."

Dash blushed crimson and looked away briefly from the small pegasus who was radiating off levels of cuteness that just was melting her awesome factor. Not that she wanted to mention it. But she felt a twinge of heat travel up her spine as she felt something come over her and as she stared, she carefully leaned down and kissed her on the lips, the touch electrifying her body as she held the kiss, tongue darting into Shy's open and waiting mouth, the faint taste of honey and clover on her lips. She breathed through her nose as she didn't want the kiss to end, She felt Fluttershy run her hoovex over her wings, the mare trapped in a body foreign to her, hooves tingling pleasure spots so normal to the mare that it felt like she was playing an instrument- a touch of a wingtip, dragging the hoof over a ridge of nerve endings so connected to her core that Dash involuntarily moaned into Shy's mouth, the vibration letting her her marefriend redoubled her ministrations. She touched her sides, hooves dancing up and down in a pattern of lust as the pair danced in unpracticed motions, the food on the food forgotten for the moment.

Dash broke the kiss and breathed out, face flushed and cheeks burning hot. Fluttershy's mane was glistening with a sheen of sweat, the sexual pheromones now coating the room with unspoken words.

"Wow."

Fluttershy demurely smiled and awkwardly picked up the wet groceries in her hooves and slowly trotted over to her kitchen, Dash keeping an eye on her backside as she swayed into the cozy kitchen. Dash gulped as thoughts swam in her head. Maybe she took things too fast. She was unsure. Glancing quickly at the clock, the pair had been lip locked for a few minutes at most. That had to be a good sign, but maybe she was too forward. She didn't know. It wasn't like she had so much experience that it was a natural thing. Just running on instinct and she didn't know what else to do.

"Are you coming?" Fluttershy popped her head out.

Rainbow raised a hoof. "Yeah."

"Good, because I'm not too sure how to clean the meat. I mean I can eat it if I have to, but it feels weird to do. So, um, do you want to show me?"

Rainbow nodded. This was going to be awkward.

***

The Speaker of the Hive felt the Queen speak through it, her words echoing through each and every connected brain of the collective. Her words were honey to them, each mental image a promise to a full course meal. She outlined the Stormed One's plan, ideas forming on the wing as the Celestial Sea's vast expanse shrank with distance, each changeling slightly unused to the lengths of leagues instead of a few miles between hives. Each partial collective was a section of the whole, when smaller bugs grew tired, those in the adult stages of life held them up in spun hammocks of threads.

Chrysalis' voice echoed through the hive. "Phase Two commencing now." Flashes of the plan formed in the hivemind, plans gained from some rather talkative dragons giving them a slight advantage. As the Speaker said those vocalized words, he fired up his magic, shifting the world for a second into a green hue, limbs shifting and reforming in a facsimile of scales and hide. He took a few flaps of his wings and took a deep breath as they curved slightly southward to conform to the normal route of the dragon migration, each changeling a slight imitation of a drake or wyvern. The plan was based on falsity. Ponies were trusting of the truth and bending it slightly was ever so useful.

The dragon migration was not supposed to happen twice a year, but ten thousand dragons were far more palatable to Manehattan's defenses than ten thousand Changelings. Dragon migrations happened regularly- Changeling invasions did not.

The disguised changelings opened their wings, their new forms letting them carry far more cargo than before. Small squads of gryphons landed and perched upon the dragons, each squad led by a small cadre of mages, their bright plumage a mark of distinction- some barely old enough to be called adults. Their plumage was spotted and new in their haste to create a quick and unexpected army of soldiers. Gala of the Eyrie had implanted them with their devotion to her and her family, the one small gander led the Manehattan attack, his blue plumage so vibrant compared to the muted colors of his lesser peers.

Gallus groaned as he glanced at the ground, great gouts of green waves just passing him by. He flexed his wings, letting the mana encompass him for a moment, feeling the air surround him in waves of comfort. He loved his mother, her gruff demeanor slightly off putting to some, but he knew she was okay. Gilda had tried to talk to him before he left about something, but she was cagey about it, she talked about weird riddles and Equestria in passing, barely mentioning the attack.

He felt his anger change the spell, his wings shifting the calming air to heat radiating off of him like a blazing fire. He opened his eyes and saw the gout of flame just inches from his face. He breathed out, the mana calming, shifting the color of the flame to green until it condensed itself into a small focused ball of heat. He carefully cast it down towards the sea, sure not to cross any of the gryphon troops or changelings. Gallus stared at the mote of flame until it hit the water, the heat coming off the fire vaporized a portion of the sea for a moment.

He watched droplets of water condense and fall back towards the roiling sea.

It was slightly beautiful, if chaotic. He silently stared at his troops. He had protested, ever briefly, not to be on the march. His sisters were older and wiser than him. Gallant had sequestered him away for years and so he had no idea what was in store. And he was only about 14 summers old. He had brought up all of these facts to her and she had whisked them away in a moment.

"My father had sent me on my first mission before the age of twelve. If I came out of it fine, you should too."

He was unsure. He stared up at the giant moon that gave the army a path through rather boring expanses of water and air. The blue gryphon lay back on the fake dragon and pulled out one of his feathers, quickly grabbing a piece of parchment and hastily jotting a note and a very quick sketch of the landscape, tracing the rocky outcroppings of uninhabited islands dotting the Celestial Sea, briefly wondering where Chief Galahad had ended up during his very own invasion of Equestria a hundred years ago, imagining a gryphon that looked like Gallus striding through the sea foam and staring up at the white cliffs of the Equestrian East, confident in his decision.

He traced the moon and stars, making sure to outline the constellations that they held within them, the Tambelonian constellations coming to mind- the Bell Constellation right in his sights, the curve of the cracked bell pouring out a fount of stars. He quickly drew his perspective above, the hint of a 'dragon's' wing, his bag, a darkly shaded wing that hinted of its color. He blinked and the photo in his mind was traced onto the page, a hint of a smile brightened his features for a moment, and he scribbled a signature to his favorite sister. Gilda.

He let his magic surround the letter in magical flame and as he watched, the letter smoldered and burned, each word floating off the page, the picture burning slowly as it was transferred to pure mana for the briefest of moments, ready to reform into a message on the other side of the sea in her chambers.

He quickly fluffed his feathers and drew his bag close and closed his eyes to rest. The next few days were going to be painful. Sleep was a necessity.

***

Twilight breathed out as she stared at Pinkie. "So what has you all in a twist?"

Pinkie gripped her coffee as she felt the hint of rain right near the top of her head. She turned her head and watched the rain patter on the window and sighed. "Pinkie Sense."

Twilight shrugged. "If you want me to run diagnostic tests on whatever you are going to mention, I can, but after my first look at you, honestly I don't know how much help I'd be. Unless I bring Discord into the experiment, I can't disentangle the mana- the sheer observation of the phenomena makes the test change without massive influence from an opposite but relative force. Therefore, I can't just know what's up. It's like reading the past and future concurrently and not knowing which is which. Completely fascinating and interesting idea for a paper, but useless in trying to parse what you mean."

Pinkie rolled her eyes. "Twi, you're doing it again. The thing."

The alicorn blushed. "Sorry. Will try to limit my scientific tangents as much as possible. But still, it's like trying to figure out a foreign language. I just don't get the whole thing and here you are perfectly fine bending the rules of most of the magic laws I know just on a whim. Color me surprised you of all ponies have an issue with your Sense." Twilight tapped a hoof in thought and starting pulling out Pinkie's previous test results, glancing at the raw data that she had gathered through years of study. "Your vitals look good, your brain isn't throwing off more mana than normal, your system itself isn't in some kind of organ failure or loss due to your diet- though I'm shocked that you aren't diabetic. . ."

Pinkie frowned, too used to Twilight's aside comments. "What if I told you there's something I can't see with it?""

Twilight straightened. "Entirely possible, though highly improbable. We ran all the tests. I remember testing your limits. Magical and otherwise. If there's some loophole, I should have found it. Thorough study of natural phenomena in every foreseen eventuality was kind of my deal in my magical thesis." Twilight tapped on the table slightly harder, a mental tic slowly unwrapping itself as she tried to play back every single moment of her life and figure out if she had been bested by Pinkie's magic once again. She inwardly counted to ten and looked up at the pink earth pony in barely contained worry.

"We didn't try dark magic."

Twilight stood up abruptly, knocking her coffee cup to the ground, the glass shattering in uncountable pieces. "We didn't try it for a reason. I told you this a thousand times. Dark magic is forbidden for a reason. Only used in extreme cases and highly unstable in living matter. We aren't going to do it. Especially after what we've seen dark magic can do when used in conjunction with a will able to break moral laws for fun."

Pinkie sighed. "Yeah, I would be worried about Moondancer too."

Twilight rubbed her head. "I wasn't talking about Moondancer. I was talking about Starlight. Moondancer's told me she's fine. A bit unstable, but having a gem in your chest can't be good for anypony, and anyway it's not like I can check user manuals on living tissue and gem maintenance. There's one case of it and her name is Moondancer."

Pinkie rolled her eyes. "Well I can't sense her with Pinkie Sense. At all."

Twilight stared at Pinkie. "You told me that she was perfectly fine. I remember you saying on the train, that she was fine. Multiple times." Twilight breathed out. "Pardon my language, but what the fuck do you mean she's the one thing you can't sense with your magic?"

Pinkie bristled at the harsh words, unaccustomed to Twilight's outburst. "I don't know, that's why I'm asking you. You did all those tests on me and I guess I should have just said no if you don't have a clue. I have other ways to figure out stuff."

Twilight shrugged. "Like what? I'm sorry but I don't see other ponies with your gift anywhere and you told me your family's like on the other side of Equestria, which I'm sorry to say, but that takes a week to get there on a good trip. So unless you break time and space, I doubt you could even do it."

Pinkie grimaced. "Well I totally could go to them, but I wanted to tell you that I don't trust your 'best and oldest friend'" Pinkie detected a bit of sarcasm in her voice, but she didn't care. Twilight took the conversation to a whole other level. "Sorry, but I'd think your whole deal of forbidden dark magic thing you keep harping on might trump that. Or maybe your whole battle with Sombra and Tirek. They used dark magic and you weren't all buddy buddy with them."

Twilight facehoofed. "It's different."

"No it's not. You can't just decide when it's different. Starlight did a bad thing that hurt your friend. Still your morals should be on top of that. It's the principle of the thing. You said you'd trust me."

"Well I can't now. You lied."

Pinkie slammed her hoof down in mild frustration. "Yeah. I did. But I felt terrible about it for the last two days. I decided to talk to you because I felt conflicted and not doing something about it would just make the future worse."

Twilight scoffed. "Yeah like try to get me to say 'Hey Moondancer, you know that invitation for Nightmare Night. My marefriend says you're a danger to society and need to go to Tartarus.'" Twilight frowned. "Cause that would go so well. I just rekindled a friendship on a tentative basis and ghosting her because of some Pinkie Sense thing- that's fantastic."

Pinkie felt her blood boil. She coldly whispered out her reply to Twilight. "Have I ever been wrong?"

Twilight shook her head in the negative. "Not yet. But you just said you can't read her. So she's an unknown factor."

Pinkie groaned. "She blew up Ironhoof because she loved you. I feel like you're forgetting that. That's a pretty good reason to keep her as far away from anything. In a world of black and white, she's grey."

Twilight sighed. "I'd do something similar if you were in danger."

Pinkie facehoofed in sheer annoyance. "You'd blow up a town. . .for me. Yeah, let's just not go there ever again. Princess Celestia wouldn't like having her prized student and newest alicorn talking about how pony towns could just be wiped off the map if I was in danger. That'd be a fantastic thing for the news to get out. Princess Twilight, the upjumped alicorn that's morally grey and destroyed the concept of gender. Oh and Princess of Friendship. I forgot cause you ran across Equestria for a friend that I didn't know or trust and now you're all gung ho about bringing her here."

Twilight smacked the table, deep fissures erupting in the hard wood from her strength. "Take that back."

Pinkie felt tears in the corners of her eyes. "That won't fix the issue. So I won't. And I got those insults from somewhere. Ask around Ponyville. Being the number one party pony and your marefriend is exhausting."

Twilight breathed out and coldly stared at Pinkie. "Get out."

Pinkie silently nodded and quietly moved past Twilight. She didn't say anything, the words left unsaid enough as the pink pony left the castle, Twilight closing the door behind her and locking it. She also remembered Pinkie's way in, and quickly teleported to her room, locking the balcony window just so she couldn't come back in again.

Twilight looked at her room, memories welling up of Pinkie, places where they had spent the briefest of times together and she quickly teleported out, the feelings making her chest hurt with regret. She sat back down at her desk and stared at the wicked crack in it.

She breathed out and tried to meditate.

Dost thou want to talk about why I can feel your anger permeate my realm?

Twilight broke her concentration. Her body floated down from its perch in the middle of the room with a slight bump. Twilight rubbed her head and mildly amplified her voice. "No, Luna. I'd rather not."

Twilight tapped a hoof quickly on her desk, her mind full of questions. Spike, Pinkie, Ironhoof, Dash and Fluttershy. There was just so much on her plate now and part of it was her fault. Maybe she was too harsh with Pinkie. But she couldn't fix it right now- that was too soon, too raw, too recent. Plus Pinkie might just think she was trying to fix the fight right away. She grumbled as she quickly got up and stretched, the room now too uncomfortable to be in.

She walked into the library and pulled books off the shelves, trying to sort the books by as many ways as she could think up- the Canter Method, Saddle Arabian, Manusian. She even threw in sorting by Abysinnian and Yak methods just for a change of pace, the probability of her reading books sorted by page length, copyright, and color all followed suit.

She heard a quiet sigh as she continued sorting. Looking back, she saw Luna peeking her head in the library. The Princess of the Night had a grasp on an entire pot of coffee and she carefully walked over piles of philosophy books, self help tomes, and romance novels as she entered the room. Carefully placing the coffee on one of the few remaining empty tables, she dragged over a chair and sat down. "I always wondered what foibles you gained from Celestia's tutelage. Perfectionism, order, manic episodes? A mix of all three? Or something entirely of your own making?" Luna crossed her hooves and stared at the little alicorn, who was stone faced. "I have all night. It's not like preparing for Nightmare Night is hard for somepony like me- a little suggestion there, a mention of ingredients here, decoration preparation, weather management. Difficult to most, sure, but when you can enter the dreams of your subjects, you can sort of plan out small events like this in an hour or two." Luna felt the eyeroll come from Twilight. Luna shrugged. "Okay, more like two or three days of planning, but that just means I can take the night off."

"Go away."

Luna groaned. "So very much like my sister. The posture, the roiling emotions beneath." Luna walked forward and placed a firm hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "You are not my sister, more a student of mine in practice, but still she's the original and you are the sequel. Better in some things, worse in others. Equally valid, equally special." Luna carefully brushed Twilight's hair with her magic, quietly straightening her mane into something far more presentable than the current unkempt, busy hair that was on her head. She could see the unicorn covered in a light sheen of sweat. Luna pried into Twilight's mana reserves, checking the mana level, seeing that well was running dry.

Luna breathed out and hugged Twilight, the action slightly awkward to the older alicorn, trying not to put all of her strength into an emotional gesture felt odd to her. "Whatever it is, it's going to be okay."

Twilight let her magic stop, entire shelves of books falling from her aura. She looked up at Luna and blushed at the odd closeness the usually aloof mare was showing her. She could smell the scent of lavender on the alicorn and she sat there in Luna' embrace for a moment. She felt exhausted, her head aching as she had been trying to sort an uncountable number of books just to be rid of feelings now oddly on her mind. Her body ached as she felt the blowback of using too much magic at once hit her, her legs shaking with added effort as she just felt so much heavier. Twilight leaned into Luna's larger body and felt her emotions well up.

Luna awkwardly patted Twilight's head. She didn't know what else to do- the steps she was following was from Celestia's own advice on how to connect with their shared subjects. The pamphlet was sort of helpful in theory on how to make friends. "There, there. Let it all out."

Twilight cried into Luna's coat, wetting the fur and letting the emotions she had kept in the last week or two out. The rain outside felt like her emotions made manifest, the happy town drenched in a monsoon of cold rain. Her happy or barely stable exterior hiding a mess of tangled emotions and fears. She was just a normal pony elevated to the highest position in the land, she was not perfect. She got angry, she got sad, she messed up and said the wrong things. And here she was in her castle, surrounded by books, unable to stop crying because she wanted Pinkie back. Everything had been fine and then it wasn't and she didn't know how to fix it, she was a failure of a princess and didn't deserve to be happy.

Luna sat there, letting the smaller princess let out her feelings, staring out at the rain, at a quickly shrinking pink pony. She had planned to try and mend fences with her sister after Nightmare Night, but this seemed far more worthy of her time. Her sister had all the time in the world, Ponyville itself was the present.

"It's going to be okay."

***

Pinkie didn't feel the rain on her coat, the cold feeling enveloping her in its embrace. She kept replaying the conversation in her head, the attempts at defusing the conversation into a more manageable talk had all failed. She had guessed that was going to be the case, but she wasn't one that believed that the future was completely set in stone. She had decided to run away from home because of a better chance at seeing the world, the attempt making her feel emotions beyond what her sisters usually had felt in their slice of the world. She could say that Canterlot was as pretty as what her Granny had described. She saw Sonic Rainbooms so often that the trick should have lost its wonder. But it didn't. Everytime she saw it, she was pulled back to her childhood, the feeling of seeing the world outside invade upon her quiet paradise, the chance of more wonder tainting her view of the farm.

She felt tears run down her cheeks as she looked back at the one light in the castle slowly wink out. Pinkie felt soaked to the bone, but she was staying in the moment, smelling the hint of ozone in the air, the smell of Sugarcube Corner, the smell of her own wet coat. She thought of taking Gummy with her, but she decided against it. He'd be sad without all the friends he made here- not to mention the lack of a place to swim in and have the best time ever just lazing about with all his pet friends.

She choked up at the thought of leaving. She had guessed this day was coming- she had felt something off about Equestria for a little while- and she had been stuck here for a bit, unsure of what exactly to do. And she had tried to find a way where she could be useful and yet still here, in Ponyville, totally fine.

She stared at the town, lights blinking on and off as ponies prepared for yet another day. The Cakes would be fine. She brushed a hoof on Sugarcube Corner as she passed by, lingering on it as long as she could. It had been her home for so long that leaving it felt wrong and yet she knew that she had to, each possible good future hinging on certain actions that she knew, others she couldn't read at all. She only guessed that black cloud of nothing was Moondancer, just hovering around each future, making her Pinkie Sense close to useless in practice. The future was obscured and that terrified her.

She walked to one of her ways out of town, a nondescript bush just sitting in the middle of town, close by so much action. She had placed this one so long ago, the magic she used tinged with chaos magic, sealed with her own aura for so long that the circles her own family had tried to teach her were mostly grown over with weeds and brambles. It was the perfect hiding spot for a Seer Seal, the portal home drawing on potential magic from the surrounding area, enhancing the place instead of draining it. Seals like this brightened the place it was placed near- Granny Pie said Seers were sometimes a focus of joy and Pinkie had tried her best here in Ponyville. Planning out so many parties, baby showers, et cetera. And yet, here she was standing in the rain looking at the earth- her best way home to Rockville. Pinkie dug in the earth, carefully picking up a dirty sack of supplies and hoisting it over her back, she stared at Ponyville one last time. She made a Pinkie Promise to herself, the Seer magic binding her promise to an unbreakable vow. She wasn't going to see Ponyville again for a long while, the promise to finish her aborted training was stuck firmly in her mind.

She quietly let the innate chaos magic she had, twist the Seal to Rockville's location, the effort making her break out in a sweat as she hadn't used this part of her magic in months. She hadn't seen the use for it for a while. Things had been good, life had been normal. She began to run through the old dances her Granny had taught her, steps dormant in her memory as she sunk more and more chaos magic into the spell, her eyes shifting to yellowish red as the tinge of chaos called to her, the plants snaking up her legs, calling her home.

She breathed out. In a flash of pink, the earth pony felt the world reshape around her like taffy, elongating and turning on itself in a recursive manner. She blinked and stared at herself, reflections of clones between worlds staring back, some still in Equestria itself- a glimmer of recognition telling her that one still was okay. She blinked again and the world melted away, the moon physically moving in her view as she moved across Equestria.

Pinkie felt her body slow and stop as she popped out of the Seer Seal on the other side, the desolate atmosphere of Rockville staring back at her, a dusty path barely holding onto civilization welcoming her back to her childhood home. She slumped over, the ordeal of sending herself home taking out most of her magic. She wheezed out a laugh as she rolled over to her side, seeing a small house across the way, a grain silo she knew far too well sitting next to it.

She waited. Pinkie knew they'd have felt her come home. She stared as her very own family came out to meet her, most of them at least. Three earth ponies carefully ran across the dirt, their hooves kicking up a fine mist of dust as they came to Pinkie's side.

Pinkie couldn't see what the three were doing, but as she drifted off to unconsciousness, she could hear them,

"Gloat all you want Marble, I wasn't saying you'd be wrong. I said our sister would be stupid coming back here from whatever shithole place she was living at."

"Limestone, we have better things to worry about. Boulder's telling me that Pinkie probably needs help."

"Fine, but I'm not fucking done bitching about our fantastic sister coming back home like come on Maud, Daddy told us not to talk to her. Cause fuck-"

Pinkie didn't hear any more, her body too tired to focus on anything but sleep.

***

Diamond Tiara hobbled along on three legs as she tried to weigh her options. She quietly stared out her door's minuscule peephole, carefully eyeing where her mother was standing quietly. Just staring at her door.

The filly carefully weighed her options, silently cursing that her room was on the second floor of her house. She had stared at the cold, hard ground that awaited her fall if she tried to escape that way. And yet there wasn't much choice if she wanted to. She stared out again as her mother paced in front of her room, quietly muttering to herself things the filly couldn't exactly hear with the rain muffling the sound outside her door a little bit. The rain storm made her slightly nervous as she tried to think. She tried to lock the door as quietly as possible, teetering on two hooves as she tried to slowly push the lock slowly enough so she wouldn't alert her own mother to what she was doing.

Diamond breathed slowly as the lock bolted itself in place. She waited, breath held in rapt attention as she listened outside her door, her ear pressed up to the peephole, eyes carefully looking at the light streaming in from the hallway- making sure that no shadow came near. She waited for what felt like minutes.

She backed away from the door, carefully weighing her options. She looked at the mess of covers on her bed. Linens from the finest stores in Canterlot were piled on it haphazardly, her life before her mother's slight break from reality so far away. She sighed and laid down on her bed.

Diamond stared at her broken leg. Carefully prodding it caused her to wince in agony as she tried to figure out if it was worse that she realized. She gingerly touched it again with a hoof, feeling the blackened area where it hurt the worst as a cold mass of pain. The only thing she knew was that the coloration of her leg was completely different than the rest of her- it being multiple shades darker throughout, and the point of where she thought the break was being black and green. She didn't know what that meant for her, but she guessed that without attention, it would be bad. She tried to remember what Miss Cheerilee said during first aid and came up with a garbled mess. She cursed her luck. She forgot that she had cheated on that pop quiz with Silver's answers; she had been far more focused at laughing at Twist's questions, the lisp of the foal so hilarious at the time.

She beat her head against her pillows. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

She ran her hooves against the fabric, the bunching material too heavy and awkward to tie up in knots. She barely knew how to even tie knots anyway- it had been Silver who was the Filly Guide, not her. She didn't know her specific knots- just the basic one.

"What would Silver do?" Diamond stared up at the ceiling, trying to imagine what her best fried would say. She imagined the earth pony carefully brushing her hair as she regaled her about some fact about weapons or jewelry- the odd idea that a pony like her could even be friends with one of the lower class always had brought her grief from her mother.

Diamond Tiara rolled over to her side and stared at her closet door.

A closet filled with clothes her mother had bought just to parade her around like a doll.

Diamond Tiara's eyes lit up as she got the most devilish idea for an escape plan.

***

Applejack walked through the puddles pooling in the Ponyville streets, her hooves now caked with mud. She pulled her hat down on her head, the wide brim of her hat protecting her face from the rain only slightly as she could barely make out the lights she was looking for. Carousel Boutique's welcoming bluish light a beacon for her. She hoped that the lights being on at this hour was a hint that the unicorn she wanted to see would be in- not Coco. While she liked that quiet mare and her more accommodating personality, she wasn't coming to see Coco.

She looked up and saw glimpses of a few pegasi from the weather team finishing their jobs stabilizing the cloud cover near the Everfree. She wished she was like them right now- either working in the fields or home caring for her family. Something that felt like a normal routine job- not out in the middle of a storm worrying about what she would say if Rarity wasn't there, what'd she say if she was, what she feared it would devolve into.

Applejack carefully walked towards the side of Carousel Boutique, the friend entrance covered by a nice awning that directed water away from the stoop of the building. She rapped on the door a few times, checking her hooves before knocking and quickly deciding which one to knock with in a split second. Rarity was a bit of a neat freak and even with a tacit understanding that her marefriend in Rarity's own words 'rolled around in dirt and muck all day long', it wasn't enough to keep every odd habit of the unicorn in check.

A clicking sound stopped and hooves quietly stepped across the wood floor. Applejack knocked again and as she was planning to leave, the bolts on the entrance slid back with multiple clicks and the door opened, the difference in light causing Applejack to shield her eyes with a hoof as she tried to look away from the entrance.

"Jackie? Darling, I wasn't expecting you this time of night in this dreadful weather. What in the name of Celestia brings you here?"

Rarity's bright voice was a salve to Applejack's building anxiety. "I just wanna talk. Got stuff on my mind about, y'know, the thing." Applejack glanced around carefully. "Can we talk privately about that?"

Rarity smiled. "Of course, I mean what kind of pony would I be to say no? But first, let's clean you up a little, because you may have been raised on a barn where its perfectly fine to track mud in, but I don't want to have Coco have any more work than necessary. And with how the weather is-" Rarity carefully leaned in, whispering the latter part of her sentence. "I doubt you will be going home." Rarity pulled back, carefully scanning Applejack's red face. "But you might have to share a bed with me, since Sweetie's currently staying over. Weekly obligations being missed and all since our little excursion took longer than expected."

Applejack nodded. It wouldn't be that hard to stay quiet. It was just going to be a talk. Nothing more.

"But first we need to give you a bath."

Applejack froze as Rarity's aura surrounded her and pulled the earth pony into her house.

***

Dash tried to focus as she cut the vegetables. Her ear twitched as a rush of heat ran up and down her spine- not because she was sick or anything, far from it. It was just that she had Fluttershy draped over her trying to see what she was doing and maybe it was the rain clouding her judgement or the feeling of being in a comfortable place, but she could feel the body she was stuck in react to the touch of the other pegasus.

She hoped it wasn't estrus or something. Dash hated that time of the year. She stammered out her final bits of her recipe as she felt Fluttershy's hooves accidentally brush her wings, rubbing on the most sensitive part for longer than she expected, her legs slightly buckling under the heady pleasure of being touched in a place she normally couldn't reach.

"J-just need to add the shrimp now, and then that's it."

Fluttershy stepped off the spot and flitted over to grab a few bowls. "I would have expected that to take far longer than twenty minutes. I mean when I was little Rarity's family had soup days and those well all day affairs."

Dash sighed, feeling the pulsing feeling of nerves wanting another round of touching. "That's it. I said I liked cooking fast meals, not difficult ones. If you want those, ask Pinkie. She's the culinary crazy mare. I have better things to do than just watch pots boil." She placed the heavy soup pot on the table and ladled a few scoops of the soup into each bowl, the whitish broth a nice welcoming color that reminded her of days spent in her house, carefully keeping warm as winter raged below her.

Fluttershy popped her head out and stared at Dash. "You know that's a myth, right? I mean I get what you mean, but-"

Dash groaned. "As Twilight says, blah, blah, blah. I get impatient, that's all."

The quiet pegasus smiled. "Don't we all. So where did you learn this recipe cause Ponyville isn't the most meat friendly place. I mean it's food is all about grasses and daisies and all the flowers of the fields- friendly to every lower animal." Fluttershy shook her head. "Though I wonder sometimes since that's kind of a mean thing to say. I've had wonderful conversations with all of my animals, even the ones that some ponies say aren't sentient creatures." Fluttershy looked out at the rain. "Though maybe it's just cause I listen."

Dash awkwardly sat down, not expecting the mood to shift so suddenly. "You okay?"

Fluttershy slid back into reality. "Sorry, it's just that I was distracted. I'm listening."

Rainbow tried to think as she tried to remember where she learned it from. "Probably Posey taught it to me, when I was little. Can't honestly remember. Been a while since I had somepony ask about my cooking. If I had to say, it was her."

Fluttershy smiled. "I get it. So what was she like?"

Dash shrugged. "Harsh, fair, kind of a strong pony, weird stare, decent cook."

Shy rolled her eyes. "Be serious, Dash, are you describing her or me?"

Rainbow looked at Fluttershy. "What? I was talking about. . ." Dash thought back to what Posey looked like, a decade or more of old memories forming on top of Fluttershy's features. She stopped and placed her spoon down. "She totally looked like you. And I guess acted like you. You sure your mom-"

"That's not really possible, I mean I knew my mom. She didn't look like me at all and she hated me for some reason. But that's how Juniper Wing was to my dad as well, so I think that was just her mood."

"Okay. Sorry, but weird coincidence then. But, yeah, I learned it from her. From Posey. Not your mom."

Fluttershy carefully took a bit of soup and tasted it. "Well, it tastes amazing. . .so whoever taught you wasn't half bad at it." Shy quietly put her spoon down and placed a hoof in Dash's larger yellow one. "Thanks."

Rainbow glanced down and stared at the development. "No problem."

Rainbow carefully cleaned up the mess in the kitchen, placing each dirty dish in the soapy water and letting the mess soak in it for a few minutes, she gingerly dipped her hooves in and out of the water as quickly as she could since she put it on the highest heat possible to clean it fast- she touched the scalding water and winced. Perfect heat for cleaning.

She quickly finished her cleaning and stretched her wings, her back slightly popping as she turned to get ready for bed.

"Dash?" Fluttershy peeked her head from the stairwell, toothbrush firmly in her mouth.

"Yeah?" Dash looked at the clock and rubbed her eyes.

"I'm glad we're home."

"Mmm-hmm, me too." Rainbow slid up to Fluttershy and kissed her cheek, the feeling of being close to her a nice feeling. She could finally relax.

Fluttershy smiled and flew over to the kitchen sink and spit out her toothpaste. She turned on the water for a few seconds and watched the mess slowly go down the drain. "Ready for bed?"

"Yeah."

The pair walked up the creaky stairs together, Dash draping a wing over her smaller bodied marefriend. Fluttershy leaned in close and nuzzled the underside of her lover's wing as they reached the top of the stairs, her touch lingering as she could smell something that smelled oddly familiar, yet foreign to her senses. She thought about where she had smelled that similar scent before and she blushed as she got the hint from her memory. She glanced down and saw the wet, winking lips from Dash's body. Which was her original body, which was so weird to think about. Fluttershy blushed and rubbed her legs together as she got up and walked into bed, the covers slightly mussed from a week of low use. Fluttershy yawned. "Night, Dash."

Fluttershy crawled into bed and felt the entire bed shift as Dash climbed in beside her. "Night, Dash."

"Night, Shy."

Both sat there in silence, looking up at the ceiling. Dash sighed. "Actually. . ."

Fluttershy rolled her eyes. "Yes, Rainbow?"

"I was thinking. . .since we almost died and all. . .I mean if you want to. . ."

"You want to have sex?"

Dash stammered. "I mean we're here, and like I saw you and we were wet and I thought I felt you react to me as well, and I tried to be all nice and cook you some stuff, but we don't have to. If you don't want. I could just go in the bathroom and deal with some feelings or like go outside. Probably a good cloud or two to deal with this. I mean it just rained and nopony would see me."

Fluttershy rolled over to look at her marefriend. "Didn't Twilight say that was illegal once or twice?"

Dash shrugged. "Maybe. But I can't remember. Plus it's so much easier to just do it on a cloud. I mean sure it's not the more hygienic thing, but it just makes more clouds and rain so like its not a terrible idea. I mean I catch Thunderlane doing it with Flitter and Cloudchaser all the time."

Fluttershy frowned. "Fantastic. What if somepony sees you? Ponies would talk about Fluttershy, the exhibitionist."

Dash slyly smiled. "I don't think most of the town would mind that. I mean you could probably turn most of the town straight or gay if that started happening more often.

Fluttershy frown lessened for a moment and the pegasus gently prodded her in the side. "Yeah, still not a great idea.."

"I was mainly joking, Shy, I wouldn't just flaunt all the nice bits you got. Element of Loyalty, remember? I might joke about doing that, but it's awkward finding a spot out in the outdoors. I mean the CMC are curious all the time, not to mention all the town gossips." Dash leaned back and stared at the ceiling. "I dunno, it's just like, with this-" Dash pointed down at her large yellow body. "-I mean it's weird to get urges about stuff cause like you're stuck in my body and I'm stuck in yours. What's even sex at that point? Like if we do it together, is it masturbation or not? Cause I don't want to really know, and I can't ask Twilight. I mean she'd just pull out some dictionaries or something and lecture me about words and their meanings. I don't want a sex ed class taught by Twilight. It'd be so boring and that's like what sex isn't. Or at least I don't think it should be boring. I mean all I hear my coworkers talk about is like getting laid and it sounds fun and all, but I dunno." She trailed off.

Fluttershy placed a hoof on Dash's chest and rubbed her softly. "It's okay, Dash."

Rainbow felt choked up as she felt Fluttershy try to comfort her. "Is it? I mean it's weird and I have feelings and your cute, but you look like me and I don't know. That's like weird, right? You're in my body and I find you attractive and I haven't been needing to really think about that because of all this shit that's been going on. I mean we almost died. I almost died. It's. . .heavy." Rainbow wiped a tear from her eye. "But yeah, stuff's just on my mind is all."

Fluttershy pulled a few unkempt feathers from Dash's wings and smoothed some of her coat down with her tongue, the mix of sweat and must covering her in its heady smell. She stopped her ministrations and stared down at Rainbow. "We could totally have a kid, you know."

Dash laughed. "Yeah let's totally be parents." Dash rolled back and stared at the other wall.

"I saw Chroma too, Dash. Whatever you saw wasn't fantastic, but I saw her too." Fluttershy didn't hear Dash and she just laid there in silence.

"Okay." Dash rolled back. "Twilight will be super pissed off though."

Fluttershy smiled. "We could always ask Rarity if need be. There's more than one unicorn that can do the spell. Or Luna. We do have multiple options if we actually wanted to do something like this and be serious about it."

Rainbow leaned in to kiss Fluttershy. "Sure." She paused for a moment. "So about the getting laid bit? I mean I love having a talk and everything but like, y'know, pent up and sitting here talking about sex is getting me all hot and bothered is all."

Fluttershy rolled her eyes. "Fine." The small blue pegasus pulled back the covers and turned on the lamp, the light casting the room in a bright glow for a moment until their eyes both adjusted.

"Shy, we could totally do this in the dark. It'd be like easier."

Fluttershy slid down the bed covers. She would have to wash the bed in the morning if they did this, but she didn't want to do all the linens, that would take a few hours out of her day. She awkwardly looked down at what she was working with. Dash wasn't wrong, a part of her mind thought this was odd, masturbatory, and a little confusing. Fluttershy pushed those thoughts away and looked at what was usually her own body- the ability to see her own body like this oddly satisfying in a way. She slowly cupped the pendulous breasts, testing their weight. She sighed as she felt them. They felt much heavier than before. Dash must have been packing away the food, since she also looked at a slight pudge on the pegasus's yellow belly, a sign that somepony had been packing away the calories. It wasn't noticeable to most, but to Fluttershy, she could remember what she looked like before. And gaining what looked like five to ten pounds in a few weeks was noticeable to somepony like her raised in the ways of dieting and living with a unicorn like Rarity for more than a month.

Fluttershy rolled her eyes as she looked at Dash, her hooves in a come hither position, sitting patiently on her back, body arching into her touch. The blue pegasus demurely smiled as she began her work, her tongue starting from above her marefriend's stomach, letting her tongue drag slowly down the expanse of her body, slowly inching her way down to right above her grapefruit sized breasts and nuzzling into the spots that she knew so well.

Rainbow sucked in breath as she felt pleasure arch up her spine. "What are you doing, Shy?"

Fluttershy winked. "You said you wondered if sex between us was masturbation or not? Well. I know almost each and every inch of that body you're currently stuck in." Fluttershy stuck out her tongue in jest. "So I think you'll like this." Fluttershy dove into the pink cavern that welcomed her touch, the walls opening as she poked her muzzle into that very familiar vagina. Fluttershy heard Dash cry out and she could feel her buck her hips into her face as she kept going, Dash's actions pushing her muzzle deeper into her, the walls inside trying to grasp her and massage her in response to the feeling of being entered.

Fluttershy pulled back for air for a moment and breathed, her blue face smeared with the love nectar of her marefriend. "You want to keep going?"

Rainbow vigorously nodded.

***

Roseluck carefully trotted through the woods, her steps carefully plotting each and every problematic area of the Everfree, the wet ground squelching underhoof, her search for the Iridium Rose she needed for her order always over the next hill in her mind.

The sounds of timberwolves made her pick up her pace. She normally would have come during the day, but with the client that she was trying to cater towards, she had little choice. They gave her a ton of money upfront and wanted a rose to highlight their next performance. She usually found the plant most of her customers wanted, but somehow, even after a day of searching, she couldn't find one of these roses. She was unsure who would use one of those plants for a musical performance, since it was more medicinal curative than just a pretty rainbow. She heard it was some Manehattan singer, though she wasn't hip to the new music that was coming from there. She was just happy to just focus on her flowers and live her life in Ponyville. Things were simpler when you just focused on the ground beneath your feet.

She hummed one of her little tunes, the sound echoing softly in the dark, each note coming back to her.

Roseluck stopped as she heard an echo. A low hum of her tune. She knew it should be an echo, since that's how sound worked. But then she heard her song repeat back to her seconds later, lower, more ominous, and most definitely not an echo.

"Hello?"

Roseluck felt her breath catch in her throat as she thought she saw the trees move.

"Hello? Very funny, Lily, nice joke, now can we just go home cause I'd rather not be out here having a laugh."

A deep voice answered her. "We don't find breaking the treaty very funny, little one."

Roseluck screamed as she saw figures in the trees, horns of uncountable measure in the darkness, hints of eyes staring at her. She ran as hard as she could, eyes straight ahead, scrambling over rocks and barely making it over holes that almost tripped her, her pure adrenaline fueling her dash back to safety. her screams waking up the forest in a flash.

That's what would have happened if she had slowed down. She would never make it back to Ponyville as she took a step too far and tumbled over the side of a ravine, her body tumbling into the dark water below. Her voice screamed for a moment and was stifled as she hit the rocks below, the fall breaking her spine and blood began pooling in her mouth as her ribs shattered into shards. Roseluck's last moments were painful as she tried to move, her back broken, slowly choking on blood, eyes quickly flittering about as she tried to move something, anything at all. She could only silently cry as she could see an Iridium Rose, right near her. Right outside of her grasp on the other side of the river. She breathed out, her sad soul leaving her body in a languid motion, slowly rising up to the rose and touching it gently. Roseluck died, unfulfilled and unable to get the thing she came into the Everfree Forest. Like so many other creatures before her, she was going to join the cacophony of life and death within the borders of the forest.

Nothing moved for a long time. Silence reigned for minutes on end until a party of deer walked out of the deep forest. A huge, white deer led the group and as he looked down into the bubbling waters below, he bowed his head for a moment and sang a song for the forest, his low wail, a plaintive call for the rest of the deer of the Thicket.

"King Aspen, what should we do with the body?" A brownish deer with armor stared down at the body on the rocks below, her body floundering as the tide tried to take her out to sea.

Aspen ruefully sighed. "I can see her lamenting ghost on the other side." Aspen pointed at the ball of light that wavered on the river's edge. "The timberwolves will find her. They will recognize her as one of their own, lost souls burdened by regrets. Take the body when they come. She won't be needing it anymore. And the alicorns in Ponyville shall be grateful to us. We will treat their property and lives better than they treated our homeland."

Blackthorn nodded and bowed down to the King of the Everfree Forest.

The Stranger

Rarity stretched out on her fainting couch and stared at her country marefriend. She lingered on the curve of the orange backside as Applejack toweled herself off, the quick shower to fix her muddy hooves a very important thing to the unicorn. Mainly because she did love keeping a split between business and pleasure- or at least clean living within a space so nearly on the verge of collapse whenever an order came in.

And a rather uncouth part of her admitted in the silence that she just adored how Applejack's form looked while positively wet. This was a fantasy of hers. Bringing the mare into the spa and just letting Aloe and Lotus having their way with her. Possibly bring her rough and tumble beauty out of the headstrong mare. No real changes. Nothing major. Rarity had gotten that extremely harsh mindset out of her when she had tried to seduce Svengallop, that writer. She had failed so terribly, so completely, so easily when compared to the sheer wonder of what most stallions called AJ's 'birthing hips'. She sighed. The sight of Applejack's heavily muscled body, almost hard to the point of stone, her flank so wonderful that most of her average measuring tapes slightly too inadequate to comprehend the shape of that fine derriere. So-

"Rarity, are you even listening to me?"

Rarity blushed profusely and lightly coughed. "Sorry, please run that by me again. The lateness of the hour mixed with your rather impressive look right this moment sent my mind into a rather awkward fantasy."

Applejack raised an eyebrow and continued. "Well, as I was saying, I can totally handle myself. So whatever you got planned when I get all, y'know, whatever is coming in a few months, I'm perfectly fine. Apples are perfectly able to handle themselves. "

Rarity rolled her eyes. "AJ, stubbornness is endearing, but I thought we fixed this issue. See, I would take care of you and you'd be pampered and all that just because I feel bad for coming onto you in a time you were rather, well, indisposed."

Applejack facehoofed. "Yeah, but I didn't like being sent to the sidelines while you were out in dangerous situations while we were in Ironhoof. Just because of my condition. It's been two weeks. If I stayed on the sidelines for nine months, I'd go plum crazy waiting for something exciting to happen."

The white unicorn sighed. "Fine, though it really does put a damper in my plans. I mean I could totally be stalwart that you can't ever leave the house because the outside world is far too dangerous. And we could spend literal hours, days, and months debating the exact definition of our little agreement, but I have far better things to do and focus on than some relationship issue that is practically an immovable object meeting an unstoppable force."

Applejack blinked. "Are you sure you aren't pulling my leg none or something cause that was far too easy."

Rarity shook her head. "No, let's just say our little adventure was rather chilling for certain reasons. Though it gave me a myriad number of designs to play with in my head, it was more akin to a mess. Fun for a time, but dangerous in practice." Rarity levitated over a cup of tea and quickly drained the cup. "And I partially did hear some of what you said on the train, dear."

Applejack blushed. "That was a private moment."

"Of course, but it's not like you were all that quiet about your thoughts. And I sleep dreadfully on trains. And somepony talks in their sleep. Adorable at points, but harsh when it's all about me. 'Rarity, stop being this. Stop being that. Stop. Stop. Stop.' I got the message." Rarity was quiet for a time, her breaths ragged as she tried to stay composed. "It's fine. I mean, sure, I wasn't expecting you at all until Nightmare Night. And I have so many projects to do. So I'm just focusing on that. Not my 'fantasy that is choking you' or whatever you said. I mean that'd be ridiculous. That'd be just so silly." Rarity turned away, but as Applejack stared she could see the unicorn's mascara start to run, black leaking onto her white coat, leaving smudges and stains as she turned away.

"I didn't want to hurt you. I just think that sometimes relationships aren't like you read in books."

Rarity breathed. "I know that. But it felt nice. To be something else. Maybe my fantasy of being a stallion was rather too forward at points, but it's hard being so open when the sheer fact of my business is built upon intrigue and deception."

"Okay, Rare, it's clothes. Seriously, I get you are a drama queen, but you work in fashion, not a spy thing or whatever fancy thing you are thinking about."

Rarity groaned. "Point taken, but when you have a small, yet loyal fanbase and a few stores, Canterlot loves sending ponies to sabotage you. Hoity Toity's brand deals and his influence overall pull a lot of the media away from a launch by his competitors- and if you haven't noticed, I'm one of those. Rarity's je ne sais quioi, that undefinable intelligence and wit, that ability to make something out of nothing and make it great. That's what I have and they see that and they hate that. Most brands have multiple designers, which makes the original creator more a figurehead than a real pusher of the trends of fashion. I don't get that. I'm creator, designer, and figurehead all in one. It's exhausting. I'm always on. So maybe I got way too carried away in my little fantasy, but it's not like I had anything better to do. It's relaxing."

Applejack stared at her marefriend. "Relaxing? Going to the spa is relaxing. Having a picnic is relaxing. Reading a book is relaxing. Turning into a stallion and having sex, while interesting and probably a level of messed up that brings me some questions on things I ddn't want to think about isn't relaxing. If you don't remember, I'm pregnant now with our foal and it's not like I can take that back. It happened and now I have to worry about a whole lot more than just what your hoity toity ponies talk about fashion."

Rarity shrugged. "I guess that's true. Though Twilight's spell did give me ideas for stallions and I don't have to look for male models anymore to design my wares so there's something more than just the miracle of life to look forward to."

"Rare. . ."

Rarity awkwardly chuckled. "Sorry, sorry. Sometimes good ideas are so very elusive that even I get lost when a whole bunch come at once and our little princess accidentally let me have so many that it's kind of hard to focus on things that aren't one upping my competition."

Applejack groaned. "Glad you care about my pregnancy enough to really hear what I'm saying then. Or do I have to somehow get into your fashion world to even get you to understand what I'm trying to say."

Rarity's eyes lit up for a moment. "AJ, dearie, you know that's wonderful. I've never really got into maternity dresses before-"

Applejack's eye twitched as she got up and walked slowly towards her marefriend.

"What are you-"

Applejack slapped the unicorn across the face. The earth pony didn't use her whole strength, unsure of where exactly the hit would go, if it would actually connect or not, and if the unicorn would still be awake after the first hit. Applejack wasn't Fluttershy and her weird magical feats of strength, but years of sheer hard work and dedication towards apple bucking left the earth pony mare, as Twilight would say, near the top percentile of earth pony females in terms of muscle tone and strength. So she put just a little force into the smack and watched her marefriend sail back into her couch, the force tilting the furniture itself for a brief moment before it rocked back and crashed loudly on the floor.

Rarity blinked and wiped a drop of blood off of her face. "Honey, what was that for?"

Applejack leaned back and sat on her haunches, staring firmly at her marefriend. "I don't want to model for you. I don't want to be stuck in whatever frilly set up you have in your head if what we have here goes bad and my family finds out I've become in the family way cause that will happen, sooner or later. I have a life outside of you and while I love you, you can be the most obtuse mare I have ever seen. I don't care if your business was stressing you the buck out, you did what you did and whatever ideas you got thanks to Twily's stupid spell are less important than the kid we got now. So act like a perfectly okay pony and just let us have a moment together without all the stress of the last week or my family and you and whatever." Applejack huffed out, her breaths heavy and tired. "Actually, I don't care, my whole mind kind of went blank for a moment."

Rarity massaged her swelling cheek with a dainty touch. "Point made. Though you didn't have to hit me that hard."

Applejack looked up. "You should see when I get going then."

Rarity uncomfortably laughed. "I'd rather not. Though on another note, I'm having trouble with the girls' costumes. What with Dash and Shy's predicament and, ahem, our fun together, it caused a lot of my last few months of planning to really go out the window. Not to mention with a chance of their being two different costumes. I mean, hypothetically of course, if I wanted to be my stallion persona and enjoy myself around the town, I wouldn't want to wear a dress. Not because it's too effeminate, of course not. It's just that male fashion highlights far different curves than the fashion I'm used to. Less hips, more groin per se."

"Rare, I didn't need that image in my noggin, but it's there now."

The white unicorn shrugged. "Sorry, but I had to figure out what made a stallion a stallion. Well, besides the insatiable libido and rather impressive packages at points. And darling, I thought you already had gotten past that part of the relationship."

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Fine, I can probably help you. And Rarity, that was a low blow. I guess. But there has to be rules."

Rarity uncomfortably grinned. "Wonderful. I was thinking we could have two costumes for Pinkie, and possibly switch my idea for Fluttershy and Dash into complementary patterns that hide the reality of their situation while making it rather blatant to those who know. Mainly because I rather like a challenge."

Applejack nodded as she continued to listen. "Up to you, but first rule. Stop doing your weird roleplay. It makes me really uncomfortable acting out something and not just being ourselves."

Rarity sat there for a moment, twiddling her hooves. "What about like a trade off. One day of that."

Applejack's voice grew stern. "It's final."

"Fine, but I need to see you in a dress. Or as a stallion. Can't figure out which is more alluring for ideas."

Applejack loudly sighed. "We can debate on that stuff later, now let's get you cleaned up before you bleed everywhere."

Sweetie, who had been listening to the entire conversation from upstairs once the talking had woken her, slipped uncomfortably to bed, things on her mind as she went. The sheer idea of Applejack and her sister, together, having a kid? It broke like seven rules that Cheerilee said in biology class. And anyway, she couldn't just hide that big secret. It's not everyday that one of your best friends had a chance of becoming a part of your family.

She lightly squeed at the thought of telling Applebloom. She hoped she would be able to sleep, thoughts dancing in her head.

***

Sour Sweet felt exhausted as she stumbled through the desert sands. She had counted her surviving troops and while she didn't know the exact number due to constant marching and losing a few to the last few reptiles that had followed them all the way out here, her troops didn't number more than a hundred. Maybe low seventies at best- which was a problem when she had begun the fight against Klugetown with thousands. She stared at the distance, Celestia's sun finally coming up, bringing them a sense of comfort in the rays that poured down from above, and hardship since the desert heat would soon be too hot for most ponies- even with the fact that a Southern pony was usually chosen via breeding stock, short haired ponies fared better there for reasons that were little more than coat deep. Sour Sweet grabbed her last bit of water and stared at it, the level far too low for her liking. It was all she had and going by Luna's star map and following up north then veering west should get them to the only remaining stronghold of ponies in fifty miles. Starsea.

"Sugarcoat, it's morning. You want a drink or not?"

The unicorn lazed her head over her captain's shoulder and groaned in pain. She breathed in and out, trying to speak, lips parched without water, skin cracked and bubbling from the acid. "Yes." She breathed out, quietly, without much of a hiss of recognition. Sour Sweet had heard of ponies in the desert heat going crazy. She had read the reports, ponies barely alive, stumbling around in a stupor.

"Okay, I'm going to hold the water bottle in my left wing, Remember left? When I say so, grab on to it with your magic and take a drink. It's open and just like guide it to your mouth." She tried to run through every military manual she remembered half skimming, barely cognizant of the importance of survival tactics against foes that ponies hadn't fought in centuries. If Lightning Zap had been the one leading the South, they wouldn't be here. Though she was a thestral so like 24 hour deployment would have made her so angry. But no, they chose the one who was the best at athletics, not strategy, not some special bat pony, her. "Okay, three, two, one."

Sugarcoat weakly cupped the bottle in her aura, the shimmering magic winking halfheartedly as her mind tried to deal with the pain. It took what felt like an eternity, but finally the flask tipped and aimed mostly in the unicorn's mouth, Most did that, but as the magic weakened, some drops ended up on her face and sunken eye sockets, the tepid water causing the unicorn to scream out in pain as receptors fired in response.

Sour Sweet winced and tried to blot out her friend lightly cursing her out. "Sorry."

Sugarcoat sighed, her voice hoarse and cracked with pain. "Fine, it's fine. Also I think I hear something."

The pegasus looked around. She squinted as she saw something glinting in the distance. "What in the actual name of Tartarus is that? And how did you know?"

Sugarcoat chuckled. "I can't see. But I can still hear. Plus what else do I have to focus on except pain and protecting the one pony carrying me for the last forty miles? I set up a perimeter spell tied to your mana. It wasn't difficult, but I'd rather not be ambushed without knowing about it first."

"That's- well, something." Sour Sweet sighed. Even when she was trying to be cool and save the day, her second in command was still saving her athletic ass.

She saw who had been following them. A lithe suit of armor, by itself, clanked along, somehow almost coasting above the sand dunes, each step a pirouette of grace and focused movement. She could hear the baritone humming of the feline and knew exactly who it was.

"How did he even follow us? I took the quickest route and even tried to cover my tracks." Sour Sweet cursed to the highest order as she watched the cat come closer.

"You didn't read the manual. Abyssinians are good at tracking. Good eyesight, night vision, and predatory senses mixed with a preternatural sense of luck makes them rather great assassins, traders, or thieves. Griffonstone once was destabilized by a small cadre of cats hundreds of-"

"Sugarcoat, not the time or place." Sour Sweet sighed and opened her rucksack. "Can you help me suit up? Now I'd rather take up a better position, but with Starsea a few miles away and the terrain looking like the best ambush point for the reptiles, I have my wing blades. You still know how to manifest some weapons cause I don't think we can get out of this without a fight."

"Sweet, he took out most of our troops."

"And?"

Sugarcoat groaned. "You aren't going to run?"

Sour Sweet grinned. "I will, but like what's the fun in doing that without seeing what these fucking magitech fuckers can do?"

"You're an idiot."

The pegasus grinned, feeling the wing blades slide gently on her wing tips, Sugarcoat's light touch and years of practice trumping her new blindness. "And who's tied to my back?"

"I'm going to regret this." Light blue blades appeared on each side of Sour Sweet. "Can't see, so it falls to you what I do with these. What method you want to use?"

"Like we did in the academy. Remember the training field exercise against the earth pony guards. Similar idea. He's mostly ground based and since you're blind, think of clock positioning and do what I tell you to do."

Sugarcoat laid on her old friend's back and laughed. "Like old times, then?"

"Yeah." The pegasus smiled as she felt the magical swords whirl around her. She quickly turned to her soldiers who looked to her for guidance and cleared her throat. "Sugar, would you do the honors?"

The unicorn would have rolled her eyes if she was still able. A brief hint of magic encased Sour Sweet.

The pegasus grinned. She tested out her newly amplified voice. "Troops, sorry to disappoint, but it seems like we have a certain feline following us. Sugarcoat and I would love to see what Starsea is like this time of year. Heard the prostitutes are fantastic. But alas, I have to keep you lot alive and kicking so somepony knows what stupid mess we have. So, let's see, five miles from here should be the peninsula of Luna Bay if I haven't got us lost. So run and don't look back." A mare raised her hoof. "No. I won't accept help." The small mare lowered her hoof. "Any other questions." Sour Sweet tapped a hoof. "Seeing none, I'll see you in Canterlot. Dismissed."

Sour Sweet stared out as she watched the straggling mass of her troops pick up their bags and with a quick salute, they all turned and began a quick jog towards Starsea.

She turned back to the cat who was starting to crest the hill, his armor glinting in the sun. She was going to enjoy this.

***

Twilight stretched as the alicorn woke up surrounded by the remnants of last night. Desks stood in disarray, notes covered the floor in a haphazard mess and a mirror stood nearby, crooked, half shattered, and telling the alicorn all he had to know. Twilight had used the spell and didn't know why. Strwtching his wings, the knew height still a bit awkward to get used to, the alicorn felt brief flashes of the night. Memories of Pinkie, memories of the life he had come to know so well the last year flashing pinpricks of pain as the memory of Pinkie was now a sore spot. Twilight's head throbbed in protest as he straightened the room, feeling the last vestiges of a temporal spell fix itself back to the set point in time. Twilight rarely used the spell, learning firsthoof that continuous prodding at the time stream often bent things in unnatural ways. Even though his friends no longer could remember being in the Canterlot Archives and creating a stable time loop that one time- he did. Fixed points in time were easier than direct change. And so, he watched as hours of alicorn level rage unwound itself in reverse. The mirror fixed itself in stages, each hoof sized hit telling the alicorn what he had done, the desk built itself upwards, the mahogany boards reforming themselves.

Within a few minutes, everything was back to normal.

Everything except himself. Twilight. Sighing, he saw the last few bottles of cider he must have brought up from the cellar of the castle, and deciding today was worse than yesterday and that life was decidedly colder than before, the alicorn prince took a long swig of the alcoholic beverage and sighed. It took the pain away slightly, but it was still there, A Pinkie sized hole in his heart. And that wasn't getting fixed. He could break all laws of physics, and tell his past self to listen. To do something. He had already done something like that before years ago.

And yet, it was completely meaningless. It'd just make things worse or unstable. Time was fickle.

"Damn." Twilight sighed. He awkwardly stumbled into the next room, his new encumbrance swinging awkwardly between his legs. The purple alicorn sighed. He had wanted to celebrate with Pinkie. Set up a date, enjoy their time together- even use this form and do whatever the pink pony wanted.

Twilight shook his head and opened the front door to the castle. He didn't want to change back. Not yet. Yesterday was coming back fully in his mind and the feelings he felt in his gut made the decision for the alicorn. It didn't feel right. Twilight knew how simple it was- run the correct set of runes with the right intention and anything was technically possible- and he knew the spell best of all.

He let the doors open and was greeted by two rather flushed pegasi.

"Twilight?" Fluttershy looked up and down at the alicorn's new body.

"Yeah." Twilight's tired, clipped voice greeted the yellow pegasus. "What's up?"

Dash cut in, slightly expecting the odd occurrence to have completely thrown off Shy's train of thought. "Just a thing. So like if somepony was gonna flip genders and bone like how certain is it to get pregnant?"

Twilight narrowed her eyes. She may be slightly intoxicated from her being a 'lightweight' as Dash often called her and emotionally unstable thanks to last night. But she wasn't born yesterday. "Nope, I'm not helping you."

Dash pulled a yellow hoof around Twilight, the motion slightly awkward with the alicorn's larger height. "See, Shy and I had a fun night yesterday and we both agree that maybe we could try out what Rarity and AJ have and it's going to work out okay."

Shy blushed. "Well, those weren't the exact words-"

Twilight groaned. "Fine. Come on in, but know that I really think this is a terrible idea." Twilight briefly remembered the sex sessions with Pinkie where the pair of them got a little too creative with magic. Those days felt so long ago. "I mean what with your situation. Which I'm still trying to fix." Twilight sighed. "I mean we haven't really tried out mixing two separate spells of this magnitude yet. I mean it could bring out dormant characteristics or enhance certain attributes. Honestly, I should just have shut the door in your face with the day I've been having." Twilight turned to look at Dash, who was trying not to mess with multiple experiments as the trio passed by them. "But I know at least one of you can't leave well enough alone."

Dash rolled her eyes. "Come on, I don't mess up your experiments too much. Plus I bet if stuff does go wrong like it normally does, then just write to Celestia or something or make a paper or whatever you Eggheads do."

Twilight rolled his eyes, his voice raising in pitch as he became slightly exasperated with Dash. "I don't always write down everything I do. And I'm just saying that I don't want to be toying with spells when we still don't know all the kinks in them."

"It's not a problem. I was telling Dash that maybe this wouldn't work. I mean it's not like we have to start planning stuff out right now." Fluttershy awkwardly tapped her blue hooves together. Twilight still thought seeing Shy's mannerisms in the lens of Dash's body as a slight oddity, but he moved on.

"I-"

"Come on Shy, we still have Rarity to bug about this if the alicorn prince or whatever won't let us test out the spell."

"I would but like-"

Dash sighed. "Guess Twilight wants to keep the freaky spells between Pinkie and him." Dash was used to needling Twilight. The act of joking around and pushing the egghead's buttons while keeping abreast from actual harm was simple. Annoy the mare, mess with her experiments and bring up Pinkie as a slight joke since the two were practically inseparable.

"Dash, shut the fuck up before I kick at least one of you out." Twilight fumed. Her eye twitched as she carefully tried to think of ways to just maybe not have to deal with today. He tried to breath out and relax, but Dash pushed one too many buttons, the fun game that could have lasted for hours shortened to a few minutes thanks to circumstances outside of the pegasus' control.

Dash was taken aback. "Okay, that's new. Guess you and Pinkie had a bad time or something."

Twilight levitated over a bottle of cider and swigged it. "She's gone."

"Twilight, I don't think you should be drinking that. I mean you aren't the best with alcohol." Fluttershy tried to defuse the situation. "Don't want another Hearth's Warming incident."

Dash ran the words Twilight said in her head. "What does that even mean? Pinkie doesn't just up and leave places. She plans out things to a ridiculous extent. And anyway, she didn't give out gift boxes like she did that one time she went to Canterlot. So like what's really going on?"

Twilight tossed the bottle aside. "I told you. She's gone. We had a fight and she just left."

Dash rubbed her head as she looked at Twilight. "Twi, dude. it's Pinkie. Shit, like she's unable to leave without doing something. So she has to be still in Ponyville. Else she just left without saying goodbye to anypony but you."

Twilight stared at Dash and stomped his hoof. "I keep telling you. She didn't really say goodbye to me. She didn't really say anything to me after I called her crazy."

Fluttershy gasped. "You didn't."

Twilight sat down and stared at the floor. "I did. I mean I didn't mean to. It just. . .slipped out. I mean she'd been acting weird since we got back so I thought it was fine. And then she came yesterday ranting about how Moondancer was evil and she couldn't read her- which is categorically impossible. I tested like every possible eventuality with her Pinkie Sense and that's not a thing that exists. So like we got at it and-" Twilight grabbed another bottle of cider and downed it in a gulp. "And she left and I want to die. But I'm an alicorn. I can't do that. I have a job to do. Plus, I already tried once. And that didn't fucking work at all." Twilight tossed the bottle aside and heard the glass shatter.

Fluttershy carefully walked past the mess and placed a small hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "What was that?"

"Immortal. I'm immortal and I found out how permanent that is when I tried becoming a unicorn again. It didn't work and then I tried everything to get the feeling of uselessness to stop. I tried. I-" Twilight curled into a ball and started sobbing.

Dash stood there uncomfortably. "Shy. Why did you even talk to her?"

Shy rolled her magenta eyes. "I thought it would help."

"Yeah, having an alicorn turn into a pile of mush is a perfectly good idea and totally helps."

"Kindness usually is a good thing."

"It is. But you know what is also a good thing? Leaving when things get way too emotional. And Twilight runs on an emotional mess level of like a seven or eight on a good day."

Fluttershy facehoofed. "That doesn't mean we just leave Twilight here on the floor. That's not very loyal."

Dash narrowed her eyes. "Low blow, but noted." Dash looked at Twilight and cringed at the next thought she had. "Shy, you might not like this idea, but we need a way for this alicorn prince to chill."

"Don't say the bar. I don't even want to go back there after what you did to that wall."

Dash shrugged. "That was your idea, remember? And I wasn't going to say the bar. I mean he's already drank who knows how much cider. It'd be reckless to leave him near more alcohol. He'd probably burn down the town or turn evil or something. It's Twilight. His worst enemy is the pony sobbing on the floor right now. I was thinking somewhere far more relaxing- and I only mention bringing him somewhere nice cause I don't do well with sad drunks. Fun drunks, yeah. Sad ones just bum me out."

***

Diamond Tiara grimaced as she hit the ground. Her leg ached in agony as she tried to walk slowly and carefully through the dried, dead grass of the October morning. She didn't look back,fearing the worst as she could feel her mind conjure up ideas of her mother entering the room and becoming even more unhinged than whatever was happening to her. She carefully walked up the hill, her three legged gait awkward and uncomfortable, her broken leg covered in black splotches that worried her slightly. She didn't want to stop as she feared stopping would make it impossible to walk again- she had been up for hours tying a rope together with all of her discarded old clothes and her jaw hurt with how much effort that took.

She quietly walked into town, hoping nopony would hear her.

"Hey, DT, you getting practice with your Nightmare Night costume?"

Diamond looked around and saw Twist walking up, a smile on her face. "Yeah, it's really hard walking with this. Needed some air to see how it worked." Diamond felt beads of sweat come from her as she waited for something to happen. A scream from her house, an angry mother, anything really.

"Cool, I'm going as a piece of candy. What with my cutie mark, it's a great idea."

Diamond weakly picked up her hoof and nodded. "That's fantastic." She wanted to run away from Twist.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool. My aunt's gonna help me with it. Though I guess you'll probably win the contest. I mean how'd you even get your leg to bend like that? It looks so real, which it totally can't be cause that'd be ridiculous. I mean I could almost touch-"

"Do not touch it!" Silence reigned for a moment. "I mean. . .thanks. But, my dad got the costume for me from. . .Canterlot, yeah. And it's expensive and fragile so I. . .appreciate the compliment, but I got to be going now."

Twist nodded and sighed. "I guess. Though I was gonna ask you if I could hang out. I mean I got my cutie mark and you have one and Silver has one and we can have a fun picnic and talk about friend stuff. Whatever really. I mean, it might be nice. And I could bring the sweets. Auntie Bon Bon has been teaching me some stuff."

Diamond nodded. "Maybe when Nightmare Night blows over. Cause my mom's really gotten into the spirit of the season and all." Diamond walked slowly, her leg in pain. She looked back a moment to see Twist sadly looking back at her for a moment. Sighing the earth pony filly turned back, careful to not favor her bad leg. "Hey, Twist. How about in a few days? I bet Silver would love it."

Twist brightened up. "Okay, that gives me time to make a lot of sweets. What do you like?"

Diamond shrugged, slightly unsure why she was even giving the time of day to this classmate of hers. Maybe it was just the sheer inanity of it- talking normally to a pony after the week she had. "I like pies. I don't really have a favorite."

Twist faltered for a moment. "That's really vague."

"Sorry, it's all I have. My family doesn't really spend time cooking."

Twist nodded. "Well I'll figure something out. Maybe I'll ask the Cakes for some advice."

Diamond slightly smiled as she trudged to the last place her mother would ever look for her. The mare knew how much Applebloom and Diamond disliked each other, the fillies acting like oil and water whenever they met. But it was her last choice. Her mom would look for her in common places- Silver's, Twists, Rumble's even. She needed a place to hide and see what was wrong with her leg cause each moment spread the black pain up and down the leg.

She grimaced as she saw the Apple Farm a few miles away.

***

"Three for the best spa treatment. Whatever that is." Dash tapped a hoof on the counter of the Ponyville Spa as she watched Twilight stay in an unfocused state, barely staring at anything but the floor. Fluttershy stood next to the magically turned stallion doing what she did best. She had a hoof around the stallion and carefully whispered in the purple alicorn's ear. Dash didn't know what she was saying, or if it was really working. She just knew trying to get the stupid dolt to the spa without going near Sugarcube Corner had been a hassle that had been only manageable thanks to Shy's weird freak strength that her body had. That Dash now borrowed thanks to the spell that had trapped them here. Thanks to Twilight who started blubbering like a foal whenever Pinkie was mentioned.

Aloe walked on out from the back of the spa and her face lit up with a smile. "Ah, how is my favorite customer? I'm surprised that Madame Rarity is not with you. . .three?" Aloe stopped as she saw Twilight. "So the rumors are true? I mean we had heard about the spell and-"

Dash rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Now let's focus, Aloe, even though I do have to agree that Twilight is a perfect specimen of nature-" Dash groaned at attempting to sound anything like Shy. "Our friend here is going through some. . .issues in their relationship. So I thought we could bring him here and get his mind off of it." She whispered into the unicorn's ear. "And that means no mention of Pinkie."

"That is a very odd request, but I think me and my sister might manage. If you know any way to get Twilight to talk about how all her or his new changes came about." Aloe winked.

"It was magic. Powerful alicorn magic. Magic you can't have." Dash groaned. "But whatever. Ask Rarity for a weaker version if you have to. It's not the time or place to get Twilight any more frazzled than he is right now."

"Fine. But only cause I like you. Now do you want your special or not?"

Dash pushed the mare away quickly. "No, no, no, no." The memory of what Fluttershy's special still was clear in her mind. "That's definitely not a thing I need now. I mean I found a special somepony and that need is perfectly being met."

Aloe nodded. "You deserve that. Hopefully he has a big cock to match your big self."

Dash furiously blushed, cursing the foreign mares. "You could say that. They are rather full of themselves."

Aloe coyly smiled. "Most stallions are."

Twilight fidgeted as he tried to relax. He carefully lifted the cucumber slices over his eyes and stared at the pair of pegasi. "This is nice and all, better than what I was doing, but I could be trying to cure you or something. Just something. Not sitting here getting my nails filed and sitting in a spa or whatever royal treatment those mares were whispering about."

Dash rolled her eyes. "Twilight, take a break. Wasn't it you who said a certain alicorn had been having a bad few weeks? It's like when my team gets me to go for drinks to loosen me up. I mean I don't want to be there all the time, but they are paying so it's not too bad."

Shy groaned. "You definitely need better friends. Dash, a few months ago, you took out one of my chicken coops when you ran into it."

Dash shrugged. "I apologized for that. And you probably didn't mind me sleeping in your bed."

Fluttershy blushed crimson. "Still. I had to spend an unforeseen amount of bits to fix that. Plus, it was you who kind of made us barge into Twilight's castle just because you 'wanted to compare sizes' and that 'your work buddies would freak out.'

Dash waved a hoof. "Okay, I can see your point, but I'm not on trial here. Twilight is. And who is currently been sobbing about not wanting to change back or whatever the prince here was babbling about?" Dash pointed a hoof at Twilight.

Twilight frowned. "Thanks, that got my mind off Pinkie." He slumped and bit into the cucumber and tossed the other one aside, his eyes red and bloodshot. "It's not like I lost the only pony who got me." Twilight leaned back. "Sorry."

Fluttershy and Dash looked at one another, and Dash deferred her advice when she stared at the other pegasus. Fluttershy stared at Twilight and tried Staring at her. It didn't work, but Twilight paid attention to her anyway. "Twilight. You are surrounded by ponies that care about you and, while I can't say why exactly Pinkie left and what she was planning, I bet she'll come back at some point. And relationships are difficult. Look at me. I have to deal with that every day."

Dash rolled her eyes. "You don't seem to mind at all."

Fluttershy shushed her, knowing that she was primarily using her own relationship as a way to get Twilight to focus. But, she had to admit that for every flaw that Dash had, she wouldn't have her any other way. "Yes, well, you are a very special case that tends to annoy others besides me. But back to the point, she's going to come back. Maybe she left in a bad mood, maybe you both said things you regret, but she's going to come back."

Twilight stared down and buried his face in his hooves. "Yeah."

Fluttershy noticed Dash mouthing words to her. She tried to read the lips of her marefriend the best she could.'So you are saying that she is coming back right? Cause I can't handle a sad Twilight. Mad Twilight, yeah. Not moody.

Fluttershy could only shrug, unsure of what the future would bring.

***

Pinkie twitched herself awake, the feeling of Twilight's absolutely horrible mood finally getting to her Sense, shaking her awake and causing parts of her to ache. She felt sick as she rolled out of bed, her first home's wooden beams standing proud above her as she tried to get her bearings. She glanced over to the still vaguely damp pack of necessities she had brought from Ponyville- emergency supplies. She ran through the list of things that she stuffed in there. Limited party supplies, fire kit, food, a makeshift robe made out of a white sheet.

Things her father would most likely want her to bring for training. If he even let her train.

Pinkie heard hoofsteps from outside her door, great angry ones. She felt a twinge of familiarity as she realized who was probably on the other side of the door.

Limestone barged in, her anger faltering as she saw Pinkie just sitting there, unsaid thoughts swirling in both of their heads.

"Hey."

"Pinkie."

Both breathed out and sighed.

"You just had to wake up the moment I got calm, didn't you? You fall out of the sky, pretty much, and just expect me to not react badly? You know what happened after you left? Nothing. Dad just up and cut you out of the conversation. I could feel you out in that fucking piece of shit town you were doing stupid shit, yukking it up with every pony ever. Maud got into university- getting her rocktorate. And Marble became mute after you left. You broke us, Pinkie, and you expect things to go well?"

Pinkie stretched. "Not really, I. . .hoped it would, but I was guessing something would happen."

"Then why did you, cause Dad's sitting downstairs, quietly staring at his rock soup, just being his normal self, righteous anger and full on rage boiling below the surface while we just sit there. So tell me why in the name of Tartarus did you come back cause once a Pie leaves, you aren't supposed to come back."

"I felt a Sundering happen." Pinkie let her hooves dangle, the motion slightly calming her as she tried to gather her thoughts. "Pie Promise."

Limestone shivered. "That's impossible."

Pinkie stretched, recalling Granny trying to explain a Sundering in ways that made Pinkie tremble. Stories passed down from mother to mother of so many evildoers trying to push the boundaries of magic. Sunderings were the death of magic, of possibility, and of real joy. Pinkie wondered what was truly real in those stories or if, as Twilight sometimes said, that the retellings and garbled thoughts of past tellers had made the stories split into a different myth.

"It felt like thousands of ponies screaming in freefall and never hitting the ground, the shock of feeling so much magic in one place explode in fury knocked the wind out of me and almost killed most of my friends." Pinkie stared at her sister. "I may be a well known joke teller, but I am being completely serious."

Limestone sighed. and turned away. "You got that Marble? Maud? She felt a Sundering. Guess we have to take her back or something."

Maud and Marble peeked their heads out and nodded.

"Good." Limestone stretched. "Celestia damned stress is killing me. And Pinkie, you check out. I mean we felt whatever you did, so while I love the theatrics and your hair finally looking like normal again, Daddy already knows how bad you fucked up. What was the first rule of being a Sage? Inaction. Complete inaction- each singular motion you do outside of that causes probably shuffles throughout everything. Chaos through action, really." Limestone stretched. "But you knew that already. Honestly, I am surprised that you didn't just jump off a cliff when you were chosen as one of the Sages. I would have. Then I'd have climbed up that hill and like burned down the farmhouse in sheer anger." Limestone smiled at the thought, her lips pursed and tight as she waited to see what exactly her sister would do.

Pinkie cocked her head. "Are you saying what I think you are saying?" Confusion went across her face in a quick motion, her thoughts running through her mind as she looked at her sisters.

The tension broke as Limestone giggled, waving a hoof. "I can't. I mean seriously, your face is. . .priceless. Maud. Marble, somepony, I can't take seriously a pony who thought I would do something like that, I'd be honestly brain dead if I did." Limestone breathed out, wiping a tear from her eye. "I mean come on, I haven't seen a sister of mine in a decade and the first thing you think I'd do is like beat you to death or something ludicrous like that. . .is that really all you think of me?"

Pinkie pinched herself, just making sure she was still awake. "Uh, maybe? Though all the memories I have of you are terrible. I mean you made me try and find the biggest diamond in the farm and bring it back as a dare."

Limestone giggled. "And?"

Pinkie facehoofed. "I got attacked by rock trolls in search of said diamonds."

Limestone smiled. "Good times. Anyway, dinner's ready. I'd say that we've had a very fun and exciting day, but you know how the farm is. Rocks, rocks, and more rocks. But at least you never go hungry. I hope you like the taste of rock soup cause unlike your prissy town life, that's all we got, except maybe the few crickets or worms, though I don't think you'd like the taste. Bit crunchy and slimy at times. Oh and I'm totally going to punch you for all the stupid stuff you did, but that's for later. Where's the fun in having you get punched straightaway? I mean I see the point, get it done and over with, but the creeping and horrible fear of me actually fighting you will just eat you up." Limestone stretched and smiled at her sister, carefully patting her on the shoulder with just enough force to not break bones, but to get the message across. "Maud, Marble. Let's go. Can't have Daddy waiting."

Pinkie sighed. She didn't laugh at Limestone's jokes. Actually, thinking back on her fillyhood, the mare was so deadpan and angry that Pinkie's own memories never had the mare smiling. Scowling and leering at her, yes. Actually, smiling, no. She sighed. She worried that she was out of her league. Oddly enough, she was closest to these ponies in a sense- blood being thicker than water, as her father often said in hushed and somber tones, but she felt like an outsider looking in. Time had dulled her already dull memories of her past, just being here. But she needed to be here.

That's what she thought anyway. She felt Twilight's anguish yet again in a twinge of her senses and she groaned in protest. Being so far away from the objects of her twitches didn't mean they didn't happen. It just hurt that she could do nothing about it. Breathing heavily, she took first of many steps down to the first floor of her family's very humble abode. The well worn wood whispering all of its own history as she traced her hooves over the railing. Generations of ponies in one house, uncountable lives in one area spreading out like a cobweb of intention and yet she was trapped in it. If she wanted answers, she needed to come back.

Even if her Senses told her all the pain she caused Twilight, the aches, the hurt, the change in mood, even the change in gender- all were there in the back of her mind. It weighed heavy on her heart as she heard the gruff tones of her father from below. Marble's head popped out and looked up, eyebrow raised in a slight wonder as to what her sister was doing. Mom always said that Pinkie talked enough for the both of them, and yet here she was barely able to speak. She nodded to her twin and put her own smile back on, tight and forced, but still better than showing how unsure she was.

***

Capper danced around the spinning magical blades of his rather impressively focused foes, the two of them giving him a run for his meager stipend of bits that he had be so ever accustomed to. Humming gently, he swiped under the pegasus mare and ducked under the swirling blades trying ever so desperately to get him. Noble effort, but if he was actually fighting, he would have found so many ways to deal with the pair that it was just unsporting- the unicorn was rather good at following directions, but there was a delay between action and reaction, split seconds a more dangerous foe would use to spear her through the head and deal with that threat. Though a blind, howling mare was barely one. The pegasus was another story- tired determined, and packed to the wingtips with wing blades that were rather close to getting him a few times when he misjudged his natural luck and dexterity. One slip up and she'd get him, though after two hours of this rather impressive dance, he tired of this display of stubbornness.

And besides, he had barely touched them. A few light cuts were all they sported. Stretching. Capper held up his paws and bowed to the pair, he felt the swords falter for a moment as the pegasus probably tried to get what was truly happening. Capper tried again, bowing further, adding in the barest hint of contempt at doing something a second time. He was just following his nature- Cats disliked being misunderstood. Groveling was far more a Diamond Dog thing.

Capper rolled his eyes and tried to bring on his most charming smile. "Ladies, ladies, while I think I would love to see who can touch my sorry fur and mar it's perfection, I'd much rather lay aside our differences and talk, cat and ponies, creature to creature."

The pegasus growled at him. How rather nice. "You think I want to even talk to something like you. If you haven't counted, I lost thousands of my troops and the one town I was supposed to hold. And your friend burned my friend's eyes out."

Capper groaned. Ziggy was not one for tact. "Take that up with the reptilian army. If I remember from my perfunctory knowledge of this little slice of heaven most would call the complete middle of nowhere on a good day, you lot invaded first. So let's just focus on the real important bits. Things that really involve me."

The pegasus fumed, but he could see that his words were getting through to the real power behind the figurehead. The blind unicorn's face lit up with dim interest. He would have stood there all day, in the rather nice sun, basking in the heat as that unicorn wheeled through questions in her mind. Finally, what felt like an eternity of the angry little one glaring up at him broke as the unicorn spoke, in halted, pained tones.

"Who are you and why's a cat in the middle of Equestria?"

Capper smiled and bowed. "Funny story that. . .with current events in Abyssinia, I could be a King. So honestly, I wonder that sometimes myself."

"That's impossible, the King and Queen are-"

Capper stretched. "-both dead. And my poor mother, Catrina Dapperpaws is the last cat there on the list of relatives. It's a real mess trying to sort through seven lines of descent with how much the royal family likes keeping it in the family. But coming here? That's a short story-"

***

Lightning Dust stretched and stared down from her Manehattan apartment. Her leg ached from where it had mostly healed, the ache telling her that the last week existed. She had woken up locked in a Canterlot hospital room with the last moments she remembered a mix of talking to the newest little princess and falling out of bed. That purple bitch had some fire in her. She laid back and drank a bit of whiskey as she read the letters from her mother.

Juniper Wing was a fantastic mother, if being a fly on a wall was what you wanted. She just never left her and Zephyr Breeze alone. Messages about her day and the smallest problem in her life clogged the ,mail system. Usually she just ignored it or let Zephyr reply in his weird rhyming poet thing he never grew out of. At least he was in a job now, even if living with him and acting as his adult coach was weird.

She toasted the skyline. "Here's to you, you piece of shit city. At least you aren't as bad as Canterlot. Got some fight in you instead of those pussies." She drank the whiskey down and got up, a light, almost unnoticeable limp as she walked to her bedroom.

She heard a light snoring come from her guest room and stared at her little brother. She didn't turn on the light and grimaced as she smelled the tinge of sweat that Zephyr had in his room. She sighed. Even after a month, it felt like the stallion just didn't get what cleaning was, preferring to just toss old clothes everywhere.

At least he wasn't home being coddled by mother. She was terrible.

"Good night, bro. Have a good time being an idiot. Just know, it was you who thought getting out of the house and joining the guards as a great idea. I mean I wonder why you chose this, but it's Manehattan, nothing happens besides some fucking drunks fighting and dragons running around stealing shit. It's easier than the borders. So dream like whatever messed up shit you do and get up early cause you're gonna need it."

She shut the door and headed off to bed, her leg hurting slightly. Her mom would say it was because of rain. She didn't know if it was true. She was just pissed that yellow bitch broke her damn leg. She only laughed, wondering where the pegasus was.

"It doesn't matter anyway. That was probably my last chance being in the Wonderbolts." Lightning Dust stared at the fading lights of Manehattan.

Unseen to her, and to anypony else, the army of Changelings and Gyphons were only a few hours away- the Storm King wanted to bring a message to the door of Celestia's kingdom, and hitting the biggest town would be truly a message. Not just a test, like Ironhoof, a real message.

Rain In Soho: Rusty Cage

The Thicket was abuzz with excitement as shamans and warriors skirted along the edges of the densely packed, deep wood of what the ponies called the Everfree. Deer called it the Thicket, for it was the Thicket. It just was- the wood stretched past time immemorial as the drawings on the walls of the few fur lined long houses told of the past. Aspen breathed out, his extremely pointed horns telling each deer under him that he was the most attuned to the wood- magic came from the points in one's horns, and each year he was alive let the bone bloom in a twisted crown. Like his sire before him and the countless sires and does in his tangle of a family, they had been close to magic. Magic ran through all deer, unlike the ponies that split themselves off from the natural bleed of magic and splintered into factions and back biting groups, like his scouts told him, deer were strong in their resolve.

Aspen sighed as he finished whispering to the Celtii, the spirits of the long departed chiefs surrounding in their pillars of bone that made his hut. It was comforting to cradle the held of his own father, for example, in the temple to the chiefs- the smooth, whitened bone whispering to him its secrets and love for him.

He stretched calmly as he picked up the bag of herbs that he tied around his neck to hasten his entrance into the world of the Celtii, beyond the walls of sleep and death, everlasting in the glimmering twilight of the hunt. He lit the bundle, and the acrid smoke reached his nostrils, accustomed to the black tang of fire, he breathed in and entered gladly the world beyond.

He let the pungent smoke envelop his senses, the moments stretching into an eternity as his body connected with the other end of the Chieftain's Lodge. He never spoke his memories of this place to a soul, the first time he had entered as a buck still somewhere deep below his mask of lithe grace, his forty winters as King of the Forest nothing compared to the reality of the world. He breathed long and low as he felt the faint touch of hooves upon his back- not the full pounding of strong hooves on him in the lock and tumble of the mating dances and his spats with his brother. No, this was the comforting embrace of a long lost friend coming through the forest floor deep in a spar of two of brief acceptance. Deer passing by like manticores in the night. Silent, unbidden, and just the hintest touch of danger. Hooves cracking branches underhoof as each spoke wistfully about the past and ears akimbo as they took in each deer in stride- the smell of musk, the slope of back, the tender taps of hooves.

Aspen's eyes faintly gleamed blue as he conferred with the history of the wood itself.

***

Tempest walked primly through the Imperial Grounds, barely casting a glance at her little hedgehog companion who was barely keeping up with her long strides. She stared at the dark blue and black insignia and felt far better here than Equestria. It was calmer here, even with the torture chambers, than that place. She ran through her mental list of what the Storm King wanted to know about Equestria and wrote a short description of each place she could remember in her head- woefully that was years out of date with her fillyhood being tragically cut short- but it was better than going in completely blind. She disliked using the hedgehog as anything more than a bare boned attempt at a conversation, even if he was functionally little better than the lumbering beasts that wandered the halls of the palace, unblinking, barely there. She grit her teeth and didn't look back as she spoke, disdainfully, towards her associate.

"Grubber, do remind me of where I left off on my report?"

Grubber huffed an answer, barely able to string a sentence together as he was more focused on not being crushed by the large Storm Beasts and imprisoned dragons that littered the courtyard. "Let's see." He carefully ducked under a particularly large tail of a dragon, who tried to bat away the small mammal. "You were speaking about the seasonal differences of Equestria. . .though I don't know why that's even important. I mean-"

Tempest glowered, unwilling to even rebut that thought, but she soldiered on and answered it, full of scorn for such a stupid question. "The Changelings and Gryphons? Yes, well, I think of every single thing that could give us an advantage and I know from personal experience how. . .backward, traditional, and trusting they are. I also know how cruel they can be." Tempest's horn throbbed in pain as she opened the door to the palace and started to head up the imposing stairway to her cramped and sparse quarters. "The attack on Manehattan would never cripple them. It's more apt to say that we would cut off their best and most prosperous industrial center, but Celestia is far too cunning to get the nation out from her sole hooves."

Grubber looked up from the parchment and cocked his head for a brief moment. "I mean no disrespect, but, uh, can you like say that without all those words? Common tongue is hard."

Tempest rubbed her temple, wishing that the brandy she had stashed away in her quarters, no matter how small and insignificant it was in quantity, was still there. The sheer annoyance at parsing through three different tongues in thoughts was a pain- Grubber knew how to write competently enough- the other choice of writer was a small pony she had found on the wild end of the Storm Lands after she had been hunting for rebels and the last vestiges of the Abyssinian resistance- a lone filly surrounded by what Tempest assumed were the remains of her parents.

She wouldn't subject Cozy to be her writer, not since she was such a good mole in the jails. Unassuming, charming, and overall what constituted a perfect image of what a pony should be in theory, but somehow the wires had been crossed somewhere and the ten year old had a mind built for subterfuge, deception, and lies that Tempest would have killed for at her own age. It would have made her years of wandering slightly easier. And, anyway, Cozy was currently interrogating some of the more difficult prisoners.

She rubbed her eyes and groaned. "We win this, Grubber, and it weakens them. That's what counts."

Grubber bit the quill and sucked on the ink for a moment, then his eyes lit up as he got the message. "Oh, why didn't you start it there."

Tempest's eye slightly twitched as she looked down at her little companion. "What is the hedgehog word for idiot cause you are that thing- undoubtedly the worst example of a hedgehog I've ever seen in my life and unfit to be even associated with the Storm King."

Grubber hummed to himself, trying to figure out how best to respond. "But you've only met one hedgehog."

Tempest teleported. Uncaring about splinching or any undue effects of a broken horn, she flashed out of the room in a bang, her unstable magic showing her emotions far too much for her own liking. A whiff of smoke was left in her hurried wake, and as Grubber sniffed the air he was briefly reminded of pie. Sure, it was more an acrid and burnt smell than the things he had become accustomed to- but he still loved pie enough to eat even the failed attempts of fine dining and just enjoy a slice. He quietly sighed. While it was difficult to get past the rough exterior of Tempest, he could almost see a faint glimmer of something still there. Or maybe he was just tired ferreting all these reports she bade him to write over and over.

He lazily scampered off, parchment in tow. He would send the latest batch of intel that Tempest cobbled together in the tubes. The pneumatic system extended throughout the castle, metal trumping magic as it was important to be on schedule without a hint of delay. Something the Storm King hated. Grubber pulled out a ratty timepiece and, looking at the time, put it back and ran off down a hall towards the kitchens. It was close enough to the start of breakfast, he might be able to scrounge the barest hint of food from the Reptilian chefs.

***

Spike woke up in a cramped cell of indeterminate cleanliness, the broad wall sconces bringing only the dimmest of lights to see from, even with his enhanced sight, it was nearly pitch black. He tried to find something, anything to latch onto as memories of the last few weeks welled up in his memories. He blinked and could smell the sweet tang of blood on his mind as he tried to orient himself against the pain. His side itched fiercely, and as he rubbed that particular scratch, he could feel the divots of rent flesh knitting itself together. He took a few paced and was dragged back at the far side of the room, unable to touch the bars on the other side, to know that he wasn't dreaming something wrong and twisted as he fell outside the realms of Luna's domain.

He walked back and touched the wicked silver chain that kept him here. It's crafting had to be something special. He weakly tried to let out a gout of flame to break or melt it, but even when he did, it just ran around the metal like water on stones. It touched it but it did nothing.

He sighed and turned to the door again carefully trying to keep abreast of the distance between the chain and himself as he looked to see what greeted him in the darkness. With a tentative shout, he cried out a brief "Hello, anything there?"

A hum answered him in response.

He tried again. "Hello?"

He suddenly felt self conscious sitting there in the near dark, hoping for a sound. Twilight would probably laugh at him or something. She was always trying to be supportive of his more childish habits, the fear of the dark was not particularly one she was fond of- though it wasn't all of his fault. He just was not a big fan of it, and the few times he had went camping with the others, he had stayed up enough and acted brave enough to listen to ghost stories, the tales giving him nightmares and enough material to conjure up his own ghosts.

So seeing a lithe shadow coming near enough to him, that he could see the yellow of their eyes made him squeal in a decidedly undrakelike fashion. Thank Celestia that Ember wasn't there. Or he didn't think she was there. She would never let him live it down.

The voice laughed as it drew closer, barely being able to touch the bars, the paws curling around one bar in disdain as the cat thing stared at him. "How very peculiar, I thought you were some kind of Kirin, not a dragon, purebred through and through. How very interesting. I can smell your aura, tinges of dragon magic intertwined with a rather strong whiff of pony. How and why that is. . .that's slightly making my rather horrible confines slightly less like a torture." The cat rose and stretched herself down, her voice husky and deep with a knowing lilt of amusement as she watched Spike pace back and forth.

"Uh, thanks?" Spike shook his head. "But where are we. One moment I was in the dragon territories. I think I was running, and then I fell and things went dark and now I'm here."

The cat picked at her paw, a large ring stuck on her digit seemingly annoying her. "I've smelt you for quite a while, whelpling. It's been a few days since the Storm Beasts threw you and your rather imposing mate in here. Though time really drags on and on in the darkness. Could be a week or more. It doesn't truly matter." The feline grabbed out a paw and felt around, gripping a bundle of indeterminate things by her side. She tossed one in her mouth and bit down, the crunch unnerving Spike. "Where are my manners?" The cat cupped her paws and tossed the bundle to Spike, the package sailing through the bars and landing at his feet. "I think you might be hungry, I sure was when the Storm King gave me this blasted ring and stuck me. . .me, of all cats, down here." The cat shook her head, yellow eyes glinting with cool anger.

Spike cautiously toed the bundle and slowly opened it. He shivered as he looked down to see a slowly decaying rat, staring up at him, eye unblinking. He felt bile crawl up his throat as the smell hit him, sweet, slightly spicy, scent of decay hitting his senses. He stared at the cat in a mix of horror and worry. "Thanks, but I'll pass."

The cat shrugged. "Offer stands. It isn't like I'm hurting for food here. Rats crawl all over this place. Probably eat the dead prisoners, the forgotten things that old Stormy tosses down here." The cat grinned, her teeth shimmering white against her lips. "Sometimes I wonder what their spirits feel when the rats pick out their eyes. Probably makes any kind of hell they go too feel like the most forgiving heaven." The cat leaned back and scratched her ear. "Tell me, drake, do you believe in an afterlife?"

Spike sat down, the chain clinking in protest. "Maybe? I mean Equestria has Tartarus and by how Twilight speaks of it, it seems like some kind of prison, afterlife? Maybe it isn't. I don't know."

The cat smiled. "I don't know either, though I hope so. Else my brother and his wife will be rotting away to nothing- like that rat there- having their eyes being eaten in some unkind way while I sit here without my magic and witchweed potions, my family scattered on the four winds- all because some tyrant wanted powers beyond his knowledge."

Spike shivered. "I'm sorry. I probably shouldn't have said anything."

The cat smiled, her golden eyes glinting in the light. "I am angry at things beyond you, little one, not you exactly. My anger is focused on being unable to stop what I could see forming in my homeland. My anger is of the imprisoned. And anyway, you remind me of my own dragon. . ."

Spike perked up at that, unaccustomed to hearing of other dragons in the world. "Really. What is he like?"

She quieted at that. "He was rather a good one."

Spike wanted to reach out and comfort the cat, but the chain prevented him from doing so, the burnished chain choking him slightly as he did so. So he just leaned back, hearing the chain clank on the floor and put his claws in his lap. He waited to see what the feline would do and finally broke the near silence with his voice. "I'd like to hear about it. If you want to. And, if you don't want to say anything about it, I can try and pass the time with a story of my own."

The cat's ear twitched. Her voice, quiet and on the verge of breaking with emotion, was still powerful enough to be heard.
"He always did like telling stories. He said dragons were the best at stories. Mainly because they lived so long."

Spike shrugged. "Stories help pass the time." He cocked his head for a moment, trying to recall something simple. He didn't have Twilight's memory for stories, he rather liked listening to them. The tales of knights and superheroes were things he remembered well enough, though he thought that the cat he was stuck with might be a little too old for those kinds of stories- or at least not in the mood. Those had kings and queens, brave heroes, things that might remind her of her imprisonment in some way. He sighed and came up with the best thing he could do- it would still be adjacent to those kinds of stories, but at least it was drawing from real life events.

"Before I start, what is your name anyway, mine is Spike. I mean I can totally start a story without knowing a name, but it helps with the telling of it. Or at least one of my friends says so." He could almost hear Applejack's drawl as he said that, her words sticking in his mind like that particular day- quiet, relaxed, and comforting in the current situation.

The feline smiled and did a small bow with her head. "Your friend sounds rather like some of our Howlers, the speakers of the old ways, traditions, and riddles. They speak of the wonder of words, the strength of syllables, the roundness of rhymes. I personally don't jive with their belief system, but it sounds similar enough." The cat smiled weakly, "My name is Catrina."

Spike thought that name sounded familiar, but put it away for later. "Well Catrina, my story starts in the land of Equestria. Once upon a time, there was a pony called Twilight Sparkle. . ."

***

Tempest clopped through the halls, carefully trying to get her composure back as she looked at the lists of prisoners- most were relegated within certain circles of influence: kings, queens, royal members and the like, dignitaries, even a few that were trying to build republics out in the hinterlands of the new territories gobbled up by the expansionary policies of the Kingdom itself. Cute political back and forth, in her opinion. It really didn't matter to her who ran the world as long as she got what she wanted out of it.

She followed the paths in the castle up towards her least favorite place, the tangles of machinery, stairs, and bridges keeping her focused on the here and now. She was far too busy navigating the labyrinthine path than feeling the hints of memories in her mind. She put those down as she entered the torture chambers, inwardly remembering the pain the machines here had caused to her when she had first arrived there. She felt each whip mark and now healed bone in the center of her being. She could still feel the pain of her flesh being torn and blood running down her back and pooling around her hooves, making the ground sticky with red. . .and then she was back here. In the present.

Tempest steeled herself as she heard two voices chatting, one female voice, slightly deep and resonant with a sense of new power, still unbowed and unbroken. And the other a small filly, both sweet and calculating, her voice rising and falling with intent as she spoke.

Tempest turned into the furthest pit of torture, the heat of the steam engines that powered the place washing over her and giving her coat a sticky moistness that she still had never gotten used to. She blinked as the steam cleared and saw that right in the center of the room sat two chairs, one tiny and one large- housing Cozy Glow and the new dragon. Cozy had leashed the dragon to the table, the golden chain denoting true importance in rank and the piece that wrapped around her neck was full of anti magic items- rings, hexes, arrays.

The blue dragon glowered at her, red eyes fully on the pony as Cozy poured both of them a cup of tea. Tempest had entered in the midst of a discussion, so the sound that had been muffled by the hum and hiss of machinery now hit her ears.

"-fuck you."

Cozy smiled. "Ember, for a Dragon Lord, you seem to have a mouth on you. Especially since I'm in the room. Now when Tempest gets here you can say all the mean, horrible words you want since she has quite a mouth on her. You'd probably get along swimmingly." The pink filly smiled and drank a sip of the tea.

"I've told you all I want to. Now get me out of here or else I'll get really fucking angry."

Cozy put down her cup and crossed her hooves, gingerly swishing her tail, blue strands swaying in excitement. "And what you do to me. Because, to me, you have no magic, you're chained to a desk, and I don't see any lawyers or attorneys here to take your case. So tell me again. What. Exactly. Are. You. Going. To. Do. To. Me?" Cozy's final sentence was punctuated by her lazily tapping the table with a hoof.

Ember spat out her response, face flushed purple with rage. "I'd first rip your wings off and feed them to you and then I'd bleed you out very slowly and you'd die in agony as I would flay the skin from your bones and you'd die so slowly that you'd watch as I plucked out your heart and ate it."

Cozy didn't break a sweat. "How barbaric. And here I thought you'd say give me a hug and a kiss. I mean I'm a filly and you are a big, strong, scary dragon." The filly turned and saw Tempest. "Oh, Tempy, I didn't know you were going to be back so soon. I thought I would have to listen to all the ways she was going to kill me before that. Though I did pick up most of the swear words. I do have to say some of the terms would be useless since I can't do the bad things with my parents." Cozy leaned back in her chair. "Finally, the investigation is in order."

Ember looked at the filly. "I thought I was been questioned."

Cozy giggled. "That's just silly. You'd think I'd bring tea to an interrogation? That's just so very unsanitary. I mean what with how some of my interrogations go, I'd think the chance of blood contamination is vastly higher than normal. And I don't want to worry about any of those horrible diseases. I heard swamp fever is particularly terrible." The filly stretched her limbs and winked at her prisoner.

Ember stared at the filly, her jaw clenched in pure, livid anger. "I've been here for nearly a day hearing you speak and you are telling me that you are just starting now?"

Cozy sighed. "Well, yeah. I can't do my Good Interrogator, Bad Interrogator technique without another pony. You'd think I'd do it with these functionally dead Storm Beasts? That's preposterous." Cozy stepped out of her chair and pulled off a tiny hammer from the wall, black metal faintly shimmering in the red lights of the torture chamber, and set it down in front of her. "Tempy, what exactly does Chryssy want to know about Ember exactly?"

She bristled at the pet names that the little filly gave each of her acquaintances- not friends. It was almost demeaning hearing her name in that way- Cozy had no real like for decorum or rank, making the sheer fact that she called the Changeling Queen that name more an odd quirk of her character than anything else- though particularly she never spoke the name towards her face. She at least had a brain on her, even if it was sickeningly sweet. Tempest racked her brain, faintly remembering a few calls from the bug monarch and trying to get the most important information. "Probably the safe word for Manehattan, any pertinent background info if guards ask, ways to blend Changeling armor into the correct shades of dragon scales, vocal tone and timber. The normal things she talks about in infiltration missions."

Cozy smiled. "Well then. Question one: what exact measures are in place for a dragon migration? Are there any ways to tell guards that the way is safe, any measures agreed upon in an attack, and any ways into Manehattan's Dragon Sanctum without alerting a million souls?"

Ember huffed. "Ain't telling you."

Cozy picked up the hammer. "Would you do the honors, Tempy? I would, but by cruel fate I can't just use unicorn magic."

Tempest flared her horn up, feeling another hint of a migraine coming on. With a start, her aura enveloped Ember's claws, carefully forcing them apart and laying them fully flat on the table. With effort, Tempest could feel the female dragon pull against her bonds trying to struggle as the reality of what was going to happen next set in.

Cozy lifted the small hammer and swung it down with enough force so the sound of a large snap in protest rang out. Ember screamed in pain as she saw the finger's bone jut out of her hand in an unnatural angle, bones gleaming pinkish white with the blood that began to pool within Tempest's aura, the blood turning her bluish aura purple.

Cozy patted Ember on the hand. "You know, dragons are rather interesting creatures. I'm told by our archmages and mage techs that they are innately magical, attuned to the slightest change of mana. Supposedly, there's some studies on breeding habits and magic density. Not really my thing, mostly Tempest's area here-" Cozy tapped the chain and collar around Ember's neck. "-but what's really important is finding ways to weaken dragon magic. Not enough to kill. That isn't fun. But enough to hurt, and that little contraption there, makes you feel things that you shouldn't feel. Like breaking claws. So I'll ask again, what do you know about Manehattan? We can literally do this all day. . .what with Tempy here, she can heal your claws up and we do this over and over and over again until you tell me what I, and the Storm King, want to know.

Cozy's sweet smile lengthened into a wide grin.

***

Aspen breathed out and felt himself in the Helvyr, the wood of woods, as his hooves touched down on the brown leaves that covered the ground, his hooves felt wet as he walked through the first grove of trees, white aspens- the trees that his own father named him after, beckoned him further through the gate beyond. He could the ghosts of the Cernii on the periphery of his vision as he walked, a white deer through a not yet dead wood. Things in Helvyr were both dead and not, able to interact with the living world through the powers of deer like him and the bonesingers, ghosts reaching out and teaching the world the old ways. Things that were long forgotten, stories of the past. And that was what Aspen was here for. If he was going to attempt to avenge the loss of what ponies called Irondeer, he had to know the reality of that time. The smells of the blood, the heat that washed over the plains as the Sunbringer unleashed her power, the anguish of the troops that met their own worst nightmares. He had to know, because his father had only spoke of those times while in a bit of drink, his eyes bleary with half memory, half story, as he told of things that Aspen was too young to fully comprehend.

"Aspen, the things I know because of the old magic, it haunts me."

The King of the Forest never forgot that. Even when his father died of an unforeseen accident, his eyes were sunken and hollow from years of things being too hard to handle. Things that burdened the chief weren't normally worn on the face so readily. Weakness of character was not a desired trait and being the son of a failed leader was hard. Aspen breathed through his nose, the sweet smell of death was welcoming and yet foreign to him- maybe the look in his father's eyes at the end was resignation. Resigned to die before his time and not live out his life in Helvyr, forced to wander the world as a creature between life and death- timberwolves were just a taste of some of the more creative ways the forest reused living matter and wandering spirits in wooden glens was an old deer story. The father who meets their son years later in the wood, eyes of stone staring at blue orbs. Aspen wondered if his father was out there in the wood.

He shook his head and went on. Staying too long in Helvyr was a death sentence.

He looked up and saw the black sun of morning and soldiered through his thoughts. He took a look down and saw his destination, inky black pools and white trees telling him where the chieftains of old lay. The songs spoke of a land between ghost trees and rivers of deep black. He hadn't actually gone this far since the way Helvyr worked was like the rings on a tree, each longhouse of bones held a few leaders of the past and the further you went, the older they got.

He glided down the hill, his strides carrying him far and true through some of the inky pools, hooves gliding over the abyssal waters as he used his magic to guide him through. He had to speak with the first chiefs, those who fought the alicorns for dominance and failed, the Elders of the Woods and he picked out their longhouse. It was a short, squat hovel of a building, built more of rocks and mud than some of the more pompous jeweled ones. Either they knew the materials that held up best in the land of the dead or they just knew their worth better than their descendants, he did not know. Aspen lit down on the muddy track that was the entrance and gingerly knocked upon the brass door that was the only metal thing in the whole building. He waited for a minute and saw the door creak open an a skeletal head pop out, its eyesockets staring at him darkly and its exposed skull grinning messily at him. Aspen could see each chipped and broken tooth in the mouth as it stared unblinking.

The skeleton beckoned him in with a nod.

***

Tempest sighed as she stared down at the broken claws of the dragon, the digits mangled beyond recognition and she cringed as she reset them. The dragon moaned in agony as bones and muscle slid against each other. Tempest always knew her healing spells were extra painful since she had little control on her spells- the broken horn of hers had lost all sense of control years ago.

That was something she had had to adjust to. She wiped her brow as the spell finished. "Done."

Cozy smiled like a cherub at Tempest's work. "Amazing. The idea that horns still retain magic while broken sounds super interesting. Unlike wings, which if you cut them off, are just inert lumps of flesh. Horns are the only things that retain magic." She pressed a button and heard the Storm Beasts walk in. "I checked. The experiment was messy, but the prisoners aren't complaining now." Cozy stretched her wings and preened herself, clearing herself of some of the more egregious bloody stains that marred her pink coat and blue, curly mane. "You want lunch cause I'm starving. You have no idea how tiring thirteen hours messing with a prisoner can be. They are just so mouthy. All about 'let me go' and 'ponies are nice.' and, my favorite, 'how old are you?" Cozy spat out a bit of blood. "Yeah, tell that to my parents. Tell that to all the ponies I saw selling slaves near Mount Aris. You and I get what ponies are. Friendship sounds nice as a weapon. Think about it. You can control anything you want if you just give them what they think they need." Cozy wiped down her mane and stretched. "Give dragons gold and they love you. Give Diamond Dogs gems and they become loyal. Gryphons want land. Anything else can be bargained with, cajoled, or tortured." Cozy's eyes narrowed as she patted the limp body of her prisoner. "Like her."

Tempest quickly cantered away as soon as she could. While she liked talking to the pegasus, there was just something off about the filly. Something was broken inside the pegasus. She acted far older than her ten years of age, the cool eyes staring deep past anything as they sized things up and down. She often wondered if she was the same. Unicorns with broken horns usually were outcasts or became beggars without good magical control. She had heard the stories of lame unicorns just throwing themselves off cliffs just to die with dignity. And yet she was still here. Promoted into an army that didn't care about her disability, just results.

Tempest shivered at the thought of the little pegasus and opened the doors to the call center. She waded through the guards, spears at the ready, with a quick nod of her head and the machines around her checked her aura and markings to make sure it wasn't some illusionary tactic. She waded into the blue pool of faintly electrified magic and whispered gently to herself her mantra over and over, the "I am a rock" line echoing faintly in the cavelike atmosphere of the room. Tempest fired up her magic and attuned the liquid to the Manhattan troops.

She blinked to see a rather stunning look out at the sea, the rocky shore of Eastern Equestria being viewed from above. She winced a little at the thought, weakness for sure. "Hello?"

A blue gryphon woke up, and looked back into the magic on his end. "Oh, uh, hello, uh, let's see. . .mother said you were the General, so. . .Good morning, Tempest."

Tempest narrowed her eyes. Gallant sending one of her flock, her own brood to deal with the most important mission in the first battle of the war was disheartening. She had thought the old bird was more gung ho about winning. . ." Tempest shook her head. She tried remembering the sheer amount of G names that gryphons were used to- the language itself was focused more on getting the point across and lessening the amount of work speaking with beaks caused. That caused a lot of mess trying to remember similar sounding names. Tempest cracked a false smile. "Gallus, was it? How is your mother?"

Gallus put a claw through his feathers. "Good, though she says she won't leave Griffonstone for a time. Death of grandpa and all." He looked pensive for a moment and went on. "Anyway. . .if you are calling you must have something important to say."

Tempest inwardly rolled her blue eyes. "Yes. Well, the Changelings wanted information about the dragons and I got it. Though it did take some. . .light cooperation with the prisoner."

Gallus silently nodded, knowing full well what that might mean. "So what is it?"

Tempest smiled.

***

Aspen was in the center of the dead longhouse and he smelled the faint rot of the tobacco and flesh that tinged the bones. He laid one living hoof on the construction, feeling the bones pulse back with life at his touch. He turned and stared at the collection of chiefs and warriors in the longhouse, their black holes boring into his soul, a few of those who still had rotting tongues sang quietly of things which would come, did come, and would never be, and it was a mad deer who tried to disentangle the tangled web of knowledge. He shivered as he passed by, his gleaming white coat not fitting in the crowd of limber skeletons, bones white and yellowed with age.

The First Chief stared at him, his rainbow feathered headdress resplendent in the mottled browns and blacks, whites and yellows, gray and red of the crowd. He locked his eternal view on his descendant and began to speak in raspy, otherworldly tones, his voice oddly resonant without lungs and skin to house it, his croaking rasp entering Aspen as he was part of the old magic, words forming his mind and the experience of the First Chief, nameless as he became, entered into his mind.

Aspen, Chief of the Deer, King of the Forest, current of his name, we have felt the destruction of what you living call Irondeer, the name you forgot translating ever so roughly to "Rivers of Gems, First Breath, though the tongue loses its meaning in speaking it. The ghosts of my longhouse felt the explosion of it and we cried out in shared torment, the loss of thousands of years of history in one moment, a pain in Helvyr. We have long memories, us dead, and what happened long ago is like a moment away. We are but dust to the Gods of the ponies, their ways long and deceptive. So while this pain is new and fresh, it is just a repeating drumbeat of war to them."

Aspen breathed as he saw uncountable masses of deer stare back at him, their pelts a mass of color as they stared unblinking. He blinked first and saw them in a funeral pyre, their flesh melting on their bones as the ponies' white horse stared at them, her colorful mane swaying in the nonexistent breeze, its pastel pinks and greens and blues flickering on her like the sun's tail of light that trailed it, her body adorned in golden armor. He breathed in the smell of blood and steel, he could see the earth magic of the wilderness be tamed by ponies, their magic orderly and controlled to deer magic. He felt sick as he could hear the earth scream as they tilled its bounty, the machinery and knowledge of ponies bleeding the earth dry. He blinked again and he could see Irondeer as it had been, a last gasp of deer sovereignty in a land washed over with the outlanders, their colors unsuited to the forests, their pelts standing out like a rainbow serpent, its fangs sunk deep in the jugular vein of the deer.

"Daybreaker and Moonshadow, their combined might too much for most of our bands. They corral the natural order of the world and bend it to their will, Aspen. Not live in harmony and reuse its bounty as needed. I, First Chief, entreated them to leave in peace and they conferred with their broods. A great rending of hair and gnashing of teeth like beasts did happen. The parties came back and disagreed."

Aspen saw the banners of the armies of the Sun and Moon resplendent, the glint of metal in the lines showed in their battalions as small bands of deer walked out of the forest, their faces painted red and black in war paint coloration. The braves and shamans of the King of the Deer sat in front, their antlers shining in the sun with ancient magic holding the outlanders at bay, the feathered headdresses and bones, the only colors that separated themselves. Reindeer fought alongside mule deer, white tailed with black. The clans of the field were a united bunch before the battle. He could hear the chants of a thousand bands sing on the field, their songs unknown to the ponies. Aspen thought the sound was close to what he had read in one of the ponies' books once- like the souls in Tartarus danced upon the fields- and he smiled at the thought. He had but a brief talk with the reindeer and much of the mule and black deer had been slaughtered in raids after this battle. Treaties signed were easily broken. The Thicket now was the last bastion of the deer and that had only been hiding so deep, so far below in places ponies dared not to go, that the old ways survived.

First Chief sighed. "I know not what caused Daybreaker to send the sun upon us, but it was but a moment after our braves returned to talk to the rest of us that the world became rife with light and fire."

Aspen stared up at the sky and watched as the clouds evaporated into steam, their wisps boiling away as light filtered down. The Sun Resplendent, staring down at the hordes of deer, their eyes fixed up to her in wonder and fear at their impending death, watching as brothers and fathers turned to dust, the beam of death leaving a trail of glass in its wake as it cut a swath through the enemy lines. The Shamans of the Herd were weaving their songs and screaming at the tops of their lungs as their barriers broke and shattered under the onslaught of heat, some of them starting to boil from the inside out as the heat drew closer. Aspen could see their eyeballs pop and run down their burning flesh in gooey rivulets. He turned towards the sun and saw the horde of ponies descend on the massively weakened Herd and, using lances and axes, hacked the remaining braves to pieces, tinting the grass red.

First Chief sighed and let memory fall. "The past is both unchangeable and, yet, revered. The loss of our original homeland needs to be revenged in some way- a message to not think deer are gone from the world." First Chief gripped his wooden staff, and getting to his hooves, touched Aspen on the shoulder. Aspen could feel the rot and death that permeated the living skeleton here in Helvyr, the old chief the last remnant of a forgotten age, the last one who was of the line of Cerununnos. "There are two unicorns you need to kill to bring our tribe to justice. One black as pitch, red eyes blazing with hate, and the other pink and with the blackest heart of all. Now, grandbuck, go to the living and tell them our message."

Aspen felt the vision of Helvyr lessen and, his soul was forced back into his body.

Aspen breathed in the air of the Thicket, the living smells of the place making him sure that he wasn't stuck in Helvyr. He sat up and got to his hooves, his white coat gleaming as the sun lightly began to rise, the colors of the day starting to permeate the deepest layers of the wood itself. He could feel a connection to every living thing here, from the rabbits that scurried through the undergrowith, to the timberwolves and eyespiders that were the remnants of the dead. He strode out of the longhouse and stared at his herd, shamans chanting the war songs of eons past, their rhythms comforting and yet worrying in turn because of the danger of calling the ancestors. Once called, they demanded a price or war to be held. Yet the bonesingers and fatetellers all said something was coming- storm in the east, a very bad portent to be sure. He strode through the glade, his bells gently ringing as he moved his head and ducked into the halls of the dead, the cold and clammy depths close to the heart of the forest. He ran a hoof against the earth and felt the pulse from the crystal tree, it's clarion call foreign yet close. The heart of the forest had moved towards the pony settlement, but the roots were deep and spread throughout the forest. The tree was the heart of his deer. An ancestor had helped Starswirl tend the shoot and so he felt a protectiveness towards the tree as he thought about it.

"Brother, the funerary rites are completed. Though, I still don't get why you want to give the body back." Blackthorn stared at Aspen, his dark coat and suit of bone armor hugging his muscled frame. His tail swished in slight annoyance. Father always said the two of them were sides of the same tree. His brother the bark, tough, wiry and warlike- Aspen was the thinker, the chief in name and aspect, magical. His brother's practicality oozed out as he kept speaking. "I'd burn it and be done with it."

Aspen grinned imperceptibly at his brother's bristling attitude. "Did the wolf take the offered tongue?"

Blackthorn led him into the halls of death and pointed at the body, the limp form of this pony hastily stitched up by the tenders of the dead, their stitching of the broken bones and flesh a real art to behold in motion, their antlers gleaming white as the death songs all were sung over each dead body. Aspen carefully touched the stitching of the breastbone and ran his hooves over the coat. He hummed lightly to himself as he ran his hooves upward to the face, the red mane falling down in plaits and tied in a ceremonial death shroud of flowers, their yellows and purples bringing the barest hint of life in the dead form. He saw the sunken form of the mouth as he nudged at it, feeling the empty cavity were the tongue had been before the wolf had taken it.

Everything was in order.

"I presume you have been training our braves well, dear brother." Aspen moved his head up to stare into the dark brown eyes of his war leader and smiled. "While I think running a death march through the wood for one such as this." The word went unsaid, but each knew that he meant the outsider. The pony. "We have a talk with the two alicorns in Ponyville. With both Moonshadow and Daybreaker there, we will be able to renegotiate any. . .slight that was done to us. With the Fall Equinoxal in effect, the old ways of deferring to the alicorn of that time is in play."

Blackthorn laughed, the corners of his eyes creasing in joy. "You think I'm lazy? I've killed Ursa Majors, I've worn the bones of my enemies as my armor. . .I am the most active brave around here."

Aspen smiled demurely. "Good, that's what we need. A diplomacy session with all the hooting and hollering that that requires."

***

Starsea was a bustling town on the Lunar Sea. Built during the heyday of the diarchy in the beginning of the alicorn sisters reigns, it had kept its odd nomenclature even after Luna's banishment, an oddity in Celestia's attempted wipe of history. It currently was one of the few ports that suffered the trips to Klugetown and the Badlands and some of the Zebrican Coast, and, Sour Sweet mused, the last stronghold of ponykind after Klugetown's capture.

She headed down a side street and walked past shops of ill repute, the normal seller of partially magical items- some not so magical- a brothel, and an alehouse that served the docks. Really, the only two businesses that did well in port towns were bars and whorehouses, or at least that was what her father once said when she had accidentally led her family down a wrong turn and walked into the Canterlot red light district. Candles and torches were the main light at this time of night, the dawn still a good hour away. She was still sour and in pain from marching her way here. Yet she was glad for the pain because that told her she was still alive. Sour Sweet carefully walked over the beggars and opened the doors to the bar. As she did, a wafting stench of hops and vodka hit her nose which made her draw back like she had been slapped from the reek of vomit and a faint smell of urine. She gagged a little as she hadn't touched the stuff in a while and had forgot the smells of some of the dirtier establishments. She slid up to the bar in a huff. "Barkeep, you know any good ships coming into Equestria? Any fast ones?"

The barkeep, a small, squat earth pony stared at her. "Info costs a drink."

Sour Sweet grumbled and pulled out her last few bits, scrounged up from the remnants of her saddlebags- Capper had forced them to give up most of their possessions in order to "play the part" and she had obliged the feline, smearing blood over the bag to make the fucking lizard who melted her friend's eyes get the picture. She still didn't trust the cat a lick, but he hadn't knifed them in the back as they had turned away which had counted for something. A slight sense of honor, perhaps. The pegasus chuckled quietly. Probably just had liked stretching his limbs for once.

She clanked down the few bits and grimaced, her cuts no longer bleeding, but the movement making her overworked muscles sore. "Talk."

The barkeep slid the money over, and grabbing one coin, bit into the gold. After a moment, and presumably passing the real bit test, he opened his eyes to stare at her. "Let's see, the Parroteer is in dock, but that's going to the Storm Lands, loaded with perishable cargo. Celaeno doesn't really turn her ship around for anything. It'd take a real coffer of gold to get her to-"

Sour Sweet shook her head. Too noticeable, too expensive. "Anything else?"

The earth pony shrugged. "Depends. There's a lack of ships this kind of year. Northern trips are difficult in the winter. Something about the gusts. Personally, I just think the captains are lazybones. But there's possibly a few ships, smaller ones, more compact." He pulled out a bit of paper and glanced at it, the ratted edges old and crumbling. "Hmm, let's see. . ." He lighted on the list of ships and scanned them. "The Dasher's in port. Family venture, I'm told, or at least I suspect. Not many married couples out here in the Outlands. 'Specially middle age ones. Small, and depending on where you want to go, could get to Equestria in a few hours. Something about pegasus magic versus gryphon wingpower. Or that's what the boaster of the bunch says when he gets into his cups."

Sour Sweet sighed. She had stashed Sugarcoat in a nearby inn at extreme cost to their remaining pocketbook, and she had to get back to her as soon as she could. While she liked how talkative some barkeeps were, it was a rather important mission. "Fine. Tell me who to talk to and where they are."

"Dock seven, ask for Windy Whistles or Bow Hothoof. Either run the ship and you won't miss them. The mare's loud in speaking, the stallion's loud in color. Honestly, she wears the socks in the relationship."

Sour Sweet sighed and thanked the barkeep, carefully walking out the door as she didn't want to be jumped for the last bits on her and walked briskly to the Harried Mare, the inn she stashed Sugarcoat. Hopefully the blind mare would be okay, though if she had to chose a pony who'd be fine without sight, it was her second in command. The mare could stare down any kind of magical creature and live. And with the loss of her sight, she could make a cockatrice turn to stone.

"It'll be a cold day in Tartarus when I break my promises. And I said I'd take you home, Sugarcoat."

Rain In Soho: Morning Has Broken

Manehattan

Starlight carefully chewed a piece of rock candy as she stared at the parade that was currently winding its way down the streets of the Rockhoof District, the gaggle of dragons breathing out a multitude of flaming trails as they tried to highlight their cultural heritage. She stared at the display rather apathetically, her face unmoving as she pulled up her ratty shawl to keep out the freezing cold that was permeating through the city. With Manehattan so close to the sea winds, it usually was hit harder by pegasus magic and so the hint of cold usually meant snow was somewhere close behind. She turned into a side street and pulled out her bag of trinkets. The weight of the little bag of artifacts was comforting to her. She had almost wanted to hide away at home and try to live out some modicum of peace and privacy when she had failed her mission- but fortunately she had groveled and begged the Storm King into one final attempt at redemption. It had been completely and utterly humiliating and a stain on her honor, but it reforged some frigid drive in her and she had risen reborn with a purpose of actually putting her spell to some fun little trickery of her very own.

She stared at the mass of dragons and lit her horn, the green glow enveloping it in a fine mist of ichor as she focused her "Want It Need It" spell towards the largest mass of dragons she could find.

"Hey, Newbie!"

The shout roused Zephyr from half lidded near slumber as he felt a bright thump on his back, his saber glinting rather menacingly in the early dawn light of Manehattan, the heady cheers of double celebration on the winds- the Dragon Festival and the Nightmare Night preparations. He silently threw a few choice words to his overbearing sister. She had been slightly the one who had set him up during this week for the training. If it was his choice he would have chosen early summer or late winter. Celebrations were less common during those times.

"What's up, buttercup?" He turned to see a slight framed unicorn mare in resplendent attire stare at him. He inwardly cringed at the stupid rhyming, slightly worrying about why exactly his mother had signed him up for speech classes to fix a rather bad case of stuttering, the sheer problems of synthetic meters and ending feet running through his head as he stared at the Commander of Manehattan, Sunny Flare, her light blue coat winking in the fall sun.

"Get to the post else you get two demerits. And chop chop, I'm running a ship here full of tightly wound cogs. If Princess Luna or Celestia pop up in Manehattan and see you drunken gay lot carousing around like mares in heat, I'd be on the hook. So go with the-" she tapped a hoof in thought- "the 57th and check on the dragons. They tend to get rather rowdy during their celebrations. We don't want any fires starting."

Zephyr gulped and hoofed it, his stuttering mind briefly trying to come up with any rhyme in time to find the most sublime comeback in halftime, but he couldn't. He just twirled his saber clumsily and hugged his bag of wing blades close to his chest. He had had the barest minimum of training with them the day before, but he was unsure what to do in a real scuffle.

"Go, else I tan your hide."

He ran faster, hearing the shouts of his no nonsense commander fade into the distance.

The Speaker of the Changelings, a Thorax by designation, ran through his mental checklist of what the designated helpers had gleaned from the dragons. He quickly ran through this Lord Ember's designation- tall, lanky blue scales, red eyes, a demeanor of terse coolness. Slight anger issues- play those up. And a mouth on the female. He sighed. He always grew a distaste for changing into certain things. Chrysalis, dear mother of all, had said it might be a slight aberration in his coding, a slight weakness gleaned from her attempts at fusing cell matter of every race with her own shadow self in breeding. He had a way with languages though, picked up in grubhood, and while he couldn't hold the female form for long- his reproductive glands being hard to change, he was a changeling in aspect, if not in perfection.

He felt the shift as his magic activated, the heat of envy encapsulating his form and shifting it into what his hive mind's eye desired. He stepped out of the green fire a few seconds later and stretched his limbs. He breathed out and let the air hit his face and let the syllables of the draconic tongue rush through his head, eyes shifting from compound eyes into the liquid type of most vertibrates he had studied. He ran a tongue through the teeth and smiled seeing his egg sibling, Pharynx, transform into the smaller purple dragon in similar terms.

He called out, his voice the timber of this Ember's vocal records. He didn't think he would have to know what her screams of pain were, but the little pink grub one was a thorough taskmaster for a pony. "Egg sibling, Spike, I mean, let us get ready to lead our dragons into Manehattan.

Pharynx nodded, his eyes cold and distant. Mother said that Thorax took his voice. Oddly, she kept even the most defective ones of hers in chance they helped all her brood. She was merciful in her way and he silently thanked her for it.

***

Ponyville

Fluttershy stared out at the vista of her house, the sweep of hill and river, the cascade of clouds that were gathering. She didn't think Dash had mentioned a Nightmare Night snowstorm, but each day was a strange blessing in disguise and sometimes the nights involved some things that were better left unwritten in her book. She stared down at the manuscript, the sequel to her little book of wonders only a third of the way finished, plot threads slightly brought together in a weave of characteristic delight and whimsy, the sex scenes lightly sprinkled in when she decided they were best suited to the story, the love story slightly had evolved in her mind, pulling the plot threads from her breakout novel and darkening the plot itself, a weird reflection of her own life at the moment. Fluttershy mused on how she would even try to explain the insanity of the last few weeks of her life-

She heard a loud knock on the door.

Fluttershy put down her quill and got up, pushing the bedhead of her polychromatic mane as she went, carefully stepping over leaves and folios of her ideas and clopped down the stairs, her hooves echoing faintly on the wood as she crept into the downstairs of her small house, ever smaller with Tank's things in the corner of the downstairs, her little Angel's stash of carrots hoarding space in the pantry, and Dash's things flung haphazardly through the room like a hurricane had deposited them in some sense of abandon.

She opened the door carefully, noting the date as a day she'd rather be at home- far, far away from anypony who could even try to scare her- and she kept her eyes open just a crack to see the things that had broken into her faint sense of domesticity.

A large Diamond Dog peered down at her, bristling ever so slightly as he had two rather odd packages strapped to his chest. Fluttershy looked up and saw the gray eyes and recognized him at once. Even with the odd addition of the Cake Twins strapped firmly to his chest, there was only two Diamond Dogs she knew in Ponyville.

"H-hello, Fluffy." Her voice trembled as she was not too sure on how nice he was, what with Pumpkin pulling his fur and Pound trying to stick a large claw in his mouth, looking far too content for the dog's liking.

"Yes, hello. Glad Gray is gone. Fluffy no like small ones that much but with Gray One's family with special baking, Fluffy sit babies." He awkwardly paced on his padded feet as he looked at the small pony.

"That's. . .nice." Fluttershy didn't have a clue on what to say to that. It brought up the slight hurt of the last few days- the whole Twilight and Pinkie breakup issue was so fresh in her mind that she hadn't really processed how it affected other things. The Cakes, the town, all that.

"Is different than what dogs told me about ponies. Ponies no just start at big destructive forces that are cute." He smiled, a hint of a sharp tooth showing at his slight joke lost in translation. "But there are even smaller ponies that other ponies find cute. But strange looks are given when Fluffy walk around with them." He stretched out a claw and gently pulled free of Pound's grasp, the dog hastily offering a scrap of paper in response to the hint of tears in the pegasus foal's eyes. "Much ponies see dogs as scary. Big monster say they, but Fluffy no monster- no dragon, no tatzlwurm, no bear. Those monsters. Monsters are bad things from earth stuck with bad magic from deep. Fluffy seen things." The dog looked away into the distance, almost in a trance as he sculpted some hidden memory in his mind. "Things in deep bad." His mood shifted momentarily as he remembered what he was actually doing at Fluttershy's cabin all the way out in the far reaches of Ponyville. "Yes, Gray One supposed to give flyeers. . .flyairs. . .paper. . ." The dog shook his head at the unfamiliar word. "This is it."

Fluttershy was thrust a piece of paper- the colorful printing a hint of Pinkie's flair at designing the most rambunctious way to announce something loud. Fluttershy smiled as she could almost hear the last time Pinkie had sent her a friendiversary gift, the singed grass at the end of her lawn when the cannons and fireworks had shifted ever so slightly in the wind still were slightly visible if you knew where to look at. Pinkie had just shrugged and said something to the effect of 'permanent present' and Fluttershy had almost fumed at that. Almost. A leaf in the wind was more like it- a weak, impotent anger that had passed quickly when she knew the earth pony hadn't meant anything by it.

And here was Pinkie's scrawled hand, loopity looping through her mind as she read the letter.

"If you are reading this, I'm not here. I have a lot to say, but not a lot of time to say it in so I'll just say thanks for everything. I'm coming back. . .sometime. Don't know when but my Sense doesn't tell me I'm going to die. Isn't that funny? Granny said death was like a blanket, comforting. But whatever. Let's see. Shy, take care of Gummy, I'd have the Cakes do it, but Gummy got all philosophical about it and said Angel was a good friend. Whatever that meant. But see you around.

-P

Fluttershy stared down at the letter and felt something between sadness and joy and didn't know what exactly to do with that emotional mess.

"So where you want snake with legs and teeth?" Fluffy held out Gummy in a claw. The gator was silently licking his own eye as he stared blankly into the distance. Fluttershy sighed and pointed. An animal caretaker's job was never done.

***

"This is a bad idea."

Moondancer rolled her eyes, the jewel embedded in her chest whispering sweet nothings of murder to the nuisance that was Sunburst, worrisome and highly annoying stallion that he was. It whispered ways to lord over the pony that hurt her, made her this way, this completely ruined pony non grata that even the most interested archmages and researchers would shy away from. "We went through this. You know where Starlight is. I bring you to the most welcoming of ponies and you two get to talk about any number of things. I mean there's like three ponies interested in your work in the whole world and sadly one of them turned me into this mess."

Sunburst winced as he took stock of his companion. He had stared blankly out the window on the train ride here, trying not to see what his theories about gems and prosthetic magitechnology might be used for. Gems used as a power source that could interface with living tissue. The sheer idea of his own theories in living flesh right in front of him gave a slight pep to his step that he found distasteful.

The first rule of archmages was to limit the harm spells caused. Running through seven different failsafes, ten backup plans, and two lists of problems with said plans was what made archmages the first line of defense in any kind of magical attack. He stared at Moondancer and didn't see the black unicorn that she now was, but the second best archmage in current society- her theorems on Changelings were revolutionary, the failsafes against Canterlotian invasion a master class in strategic aims and-

"We're here."

Sunburst shook his head and coughed. "Yes, well. Uh, how should we do this? I mean do you want to knock in regards to rank or by-"

Moondancer stared at the stallion, her cheeks hot with annoyance. "Just knock. You are surprisingly worse than Twilight at coming up with a decision."

"Coming from a pony who is now tainted with dark magic. Is it the gem saying it, or you?"

Moondancer fumed. The pair of unicorns had come in hopes of explaining to Twilight Celestia's plans in a way that didn't cause the mare to hyperventilate herself to death by the appearance of one motherly alicorn to her door. Hopefully, Moondancer mused, her old friend wouldn't shoot the messengers. "Me. I take counsel from the gem, not outright actions."

Sunburst sighed. "Well, I had to be sure since a parasitic dependence on gemstones was part of my research and the few test subjects I could find were usually unstable within months of acceptance. Possible mental anguish mixed with dual mana sources- a mind splitting in twain as the new-"

"Which I won't do cause that'd be ridiculous. I am not the archmage for Canterlot for nothing. I have every eventuality planned out and with Twilight's help we could probably be fine."

Sunburst shrugged. "I just don't want you causing havoc in the midst of a battle. When that comes, I mean. If it comes. Didn't Celestia say she tried to send messages through the usual channels?"

"Fat lot that will do." Moondancer stretched and knocked on the crystalline doors of Twilight's palace, her hooves dark and full of purpose as she tapped a series of knocks on the door, some more forceful than others."

The pair of unicorns heard a groan come from inside and a series of spells unlocking the door, the increase of mana in the general area as the spells were let go and the world accepted the net gain with a pop as the pair watched the doors creak open and a bass tinged voice come from inside.

"Who is it? Rarity? Is that you? I told you to not come until noon, I-"

A purple wing popped out. A decidedly masculine purple wing.

"Oh."

Moondancer stood looking at a version of Twilight that had only been stuck in her mind, a masculine ideal of a stallion, large muscles tempered by a bookworm's innate want to read instead of work out, lines and curves all aflutter, wings large and prominent, and Moondancer's mind edited out the stallionhood that she saw in a brief glance. She swallowed. "T-twilight, how. . .very nice to see you. This. . .is Sunburst."

Sunburst waved, his oblivious nature not noticing the sexual tension that Moondancer's jewel was giving off, her mind full of lewd ideas on how to show her oldest friend parts of her that she never showed anypony.

"Moondancer, is today Nightmare Night? What with all the things I had to deal with, it must have slipped my mind. I would invite you in, but it's rather a bit too formal for me. How about. . .no." Twilight shook his head. "Hayburger's too informal and Sugarcube Corner's too. . .busy, how about, what was it called. . .Aroma Palace? Spike took me there a few times. We can talk about. . .this."

"Okay."

***

Diamond Tiara stumbled through the Acres, her leg aching in pain as she tried to hide in plain view. She crept through as quietly as she could due to the niggling idea that if she was out here in what was Applebloom's house, even if she was hiding from whatever her mom was right now, it might cause a bit of an uproar.

As she was trying to compose herself and figure out what to do next, she held the dulcet tones of Sweetie and the rougher voice of Applebloom in the distance. Diamond Tiara awkwardly fell into a nearby hay bale, stifling her cry of pain as she landed badly on her leg.

"Sweetie, I'm a telling you, my sister ain't pregnant. Like I get how that could work with animals cause it's just sticking the dick into the vagina thing that Big Mac had to tell me about so I'd stop telling all of his friends about sexual things when I was like six- but they are both mares, it's functionally impossible."

"AB, and I'm saying that hearing what I did, it's kind of hard to say that she isn't. I mean I don't know how it would even work. Cheerilee's Sex ED class definitely didn't go beyond that weird rubbing stuff that two mares did- and that was only because she knew some of the fillies were already trying that out. I don't know, magic. They are friends with Twilight, it's not like she's found a magical law she hasn't broken yet."

Applebloom shook her head and sighed. "Mac's absolutely terrified of Twilight. Don't blame him really. But like it's a dick. That doesn't just pop outta nowhere."

Sweetie stretched and hummed to herself some tune that she was creating in her mind. "Yeah, but wouldn't it be cool to have like a family member? That's like related to both of us in some weird magical way?"

Applebloom rolled her eyes. "I got like a hundred cousins- it'd be cool, I guess, but just cause it's supposed to be impossible. Plus taking care of the foal might be our job, so like it's not a completely fun thing. Foals are work."

They went behind a tree, and the drifting conversation was lost in the ever increasing distance.

Diamond Tiara popped her head out of the hay bale and groaned as she extricated herself from it. She looked around gently and tried to find the best spot she could so she could finally rest her tired legs since she hadn't really slept in two days due to the mess she was thrown into. "Think, think, think." She tapped her head gently as she felt her filthy mane, the feel of it disgusted her a bit as she was used to cleaning it daily and combing it enough so it would keep its natural luster.

She eyed a rundown shack nearby. Quickly running down the ideas of hiding in it- desolate, out of the way, could fall down and nopony would even notice or care about it- she came to the conclusion to throw caution to the winds and walk right into it. It was far better than being out in the open.

***

Spoiled Rich opened her daughter's room, pillow in hoof as she walked in. She carefully had chosen the rattiest and filthiest pillow in the house just so when she would need to smother her daughter, she could throw out the evidence and blame some odd happenstance malady- asthma, heart problems, something- on her dead daughter. And then she would go through the grieving process and then she could move on with her life and just focus on living it.

Ponies wouldn't think bad of her if she lived her life then. They would just assume it was a parent in grief trying to think of better things, fill a hole that could never truly be filled. And then Spoiled Rich would be there- able to live her fantasy life that her horrible daughter stopped her from living. Getting railed by stallions every night, eating lavish foods, getting jewel encrusted gifts, flying all over the world. A real life. Not here in Ponyville in a failed marriage with money but no time to use it except on Diamond.

She crept to the bed and pulled the covers and immediately screamed in absolute rage as she saw a stack of pillows in the shape of her daughter and a rope made out of all the fantastically expensive clothes- how truly awful- that she had bought for her spawn.

She swore heavily as she looked at the trampled mud near the window and tossed the pillow aside. She no longer needed it for its purpose. Because once she found little Diamond, she'd take matters into her own hooves. Violently. Purposefully. Because she wanted to be happy. She kept being told that Diamond was keeping her from being happy. She needed to be happy at any cost.

***

Dash stretched and walked out of the bedroom, idly smoothing the plaits of hair that she had become slightly more used to. Mind she was still trying to beg Fluttershy to let her just cut her hair so the locks wouldn't keep blinding her awkwardly as she moved, but she just grinned and bore it slightly. She carefully sat down at the table and glanced around to see if there's any sense of food around.

She blinked.

Gummy blinked.

Fluttershy set down her pruning shears and stretched. Harry the Bear loved seeing his trees that he marked were well taken care of and while some of her friends would think it would be useless or strange, the maples had a secondary use as homes for birds and rodents that tried to survive in the harsh outside world.

A high pitched scream came from inside.

Fluttershy felt her heart drop in her chest and quickly chucking the pruning shears, carefully so as to not harm any creatures nearby for the moment, she zipped to the front of her house and as she opened the door, she saw Dash holding Gummy at broom length carefully balanced on the table, staring at the alligator with a certain sense of apprehension.

"Dash, what are you doing?"

"I was trying to eat breakfast and I wasn't. . .definitely wasn't expecting to get a face full of alligator at seven in the morning. Plus why is he here anyway? Wouldn't the Cakes be better equipped to handle Gummy?"

Fluttershy smiled and carefully took the defenseless alligator who was currently shaking like a leaf from her marefriend's terrified grasp. "I didn't expect you of all ponies to be scared of an alligator. Didn't you read that Daring Do story where she wrestled an alligator to a standstill? Plus Mr. Cake's worried Gummy would eat his foals. For some reason."

Rainbow blushed furiously at that. "Yeah, I wouldn't but being half awake and all makes my defenses all wonky. Totally technical term. I mean I pinched myself and everything just to make sure I wouldn't have those nightmares of Angel's head on Gummy's body or Opalescence's claws at my throat. I've had too many cider benders where those dreams happen. I'm fine, fine." Rainbow carefully stepped off the table and looked askance at the alligator as she passed. "I woke up and it's still too early to deal with this just to get breakfast."

"We could just go to Sugarcube Corner, I mean we were invited."

"Fantastic. Cause I think I just threw all of the breakfast I was planning on eating on the floor. So let me just. . .clean up the mess and I'll be out."

Fluttershy didn't mention that she could hear Dash throw some choice expletives towards the alligator as she went to grab the broom. She sometimes thought the hot tempered mare was rather cute in that way, able to speak her mind at the drop of a hat, while she usually had to guard some of her more choice words. She wondered if it was just an aftereffect of living far too long with Rarity's family when she came down to Ponyville- the Belles were not entirely free of such complaints and moods, but they were slightly dulled and refocused, or if she just was too much of a pony pleaser. She didn't let the dark worry come too heavily in her mind that she got that way because of her early foalhood. Being terrified that your mother would say some choice things about you in a slightly unsure way if she would back up her threats or not. . .she let that thought free as she watched Dash wipe up the mess expertly.

***

"Darling, please, tell me how I look." Rarity spun around on his hooves, the fashion designer coquettishly winking at his unprepossessing assistant.

"Rare, you look fine. Now stop being so frou frou about your look and get back to normal. Cause it's already sun up and I'm actually kind of tired. Plus, I can see your equipment downstairs getting some odd enjoyment out of this." Applejack rolled her eyes as she stared at her mare/stallion. It was rather hard sometimes to keep Rarity to not just flit back and forth between the two states to show off.

Rarity slid up and laid his head on his mare. "If only I could just make you into a stallion. Just this once. I mean I know we talked about it, but the idea of your coloring in a body shape that is just a complete unknown? The sheer possibilities of it are just making me die of anticipation."

"And you can keep drooling over that cause I ain't chancing the baby, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Even if Twilight might say it could be safe or not."

Rarity smiled. "A stallion can only dream. But back on topic. With that last creative push, we're done. That's two possible outfits for Pinkie at major cost to myself with the idea that two different costumes would be preferable in order to highlight the best features of both sexes. One for Twilight in order to highlight her Princess stature and newfound grace. One for me since I want to show off Twilight's little spell during the one night that flights of fancy are allowed, one for you. Oh, and decidedly switched costumes for Dash and Shy to mess with most ponies- and to accommodate their switch in personality and taste. Even if a small part of me would just figuratively kill to see Rainbow Dash in frilly pinks and borderline pastel colors."

Applejack stretched her limbs and shook her head. "And it only took like ten hours. That I could have slept. Let's just call this a 'you owe me thing' and be done with it. 'Specially cause I'd rather just not argue and go to sleep."

Rarity mock bowed at Applejack and beamed at the earth pony. "Of course, mademoiselle. I'll write down that in my book and just let you choose any number of our next dates. . .barring it doesn't have mud, or bugs, or. . ."

Applejack raised an eyebrow.

Rarity waved his hoof. "Fine. A complete free pass. For all the next dates for. . .a month?"

Applejack nodded. "Sounds like a deal. Now I'm just going to head on upstairs and sleep. And don't you be getting any ideas about nothing either while I'm up there cause I'm not in the mood right now. Would be, but I'm totally exhausted what with you and all my family hounding me about the last week and where I've been without scaring them half to death."

Rarity smiled as he saw Applejack leave. He let his horn glow and he dropped the spell, his body turning feminine once again. Rarity breathed, letting the feeling of having all her faculties not completely engulfed by a rather lewd part of her stretched and hummed gently to herself. Applejack drove a hard bargain. Though it helped when Rarity, for her part, didn't mind all that much. The orange mare helped ground her and keep her focused on the bigger picture of everything, and while she would have to steel herself for the worst kind of dates that Applejack could come up with, the reality of finishing costumes in time was more important.

For Rarity hadn't mentioned to the farm pony that while creating all these little costumes for her friends pro bono was rather fun and let her creative muscles flex without fear of a customer reneging on their payment due to disapproval. . .it would have taken multiple days to make it by herself.

She was just one mare and she knew exactly how generous Applejack had been. Of course she would do anything for her. Rarity stopped humming as she felt her mind conjure up her worst fears of what Applejack would do. Camping, roughing it, crawling in bug filled areas, mud. She shook her head. Well almost anything. And on the things she would absolutely despise, she would act with complete honor and do her duty to make Applejack happy. For that was what one did when dating a mare so unlike oneself.

Try to compromise.

***

Moondancer stared at the food in front of her and groaned. Not because she hated Prench cooking, no the aromas and the textures of the food were to her liking, just Twilight was being a complete idiot. She knew the Princess could be an idiot. Sure, any pony could be an idiot- she had a few moments she could chalk up to a lapse in judgement, but Twilight was undiluted in her idiocy right now.

"Wait, so you are all 'Twilight the mare Princess is fucking dead because you got sad that your marefriend left you? Did you lose your mind?"

"Now Moondancer, can we please hear what Twilight has to say? I mean her. . .his predicament does sound rather logical in a sense. I mean high stress levels and everything might cause a dissociation within the personal core of his ego."

Moondancer glared at Sunburst and his smiling face, his stupid cheerful manner, and growled."Let the mares talk, Sunny, else I'm going to tie you up again and torture out more information about your psycho ex and last time I was nice." She turned back to Twilight and set her with her best red eyed glare. "Change back."

Twilight set down his spoon and set aside his onion soup to stare at Moondancer as well, his purple orbs keeping pace with the red fired ones in the black unicorn's face. Cool and dispassionate ones- for he had time to think on things. The hurt was fresh and raw and way too painful just to flip a switch just to come back to herself as before. Pinkie had been part of his worldview for multiple years, he had shared secrets and dreams with Pinkie about his past and what he wanted to do in the future.

"I'm not going to do that. Sorry, Moondancer.

Moondancer set her face in her hooves and stared at Twilight, red eyes glittering with barely contained anger. "I would love to be able to just flick a switch on and off to change back from this. . ." Moondancer briefly paused to let that hang in the air. "but I can't. You can. So just. Do it."

Sunburst carefully set down his fork and pushed aside his plate of asparagus and eggplant quiche with a brief knowing glance between the two ponies. "So, to cut this horribly dreadful problem betwixt you two, let's push this little spat sometime else. I have a fantastic idea. . .well, acceptable idea. Cobbled together through so many different classes on how to interact better with ones' peers. Let's go around the table and say our favorite subject in Celestia's School. I'll start. Applied Thermoneutics and Theories of Explosives. Particularly the theory bit."

Moondancer and Twilight shared an odd look.

"Interrogation Tactics."

"History of Magic."

Moondancer laughed. "I so hated History of Magic. I mean Studied Practice and his lectures were terrible."

Twilight sighed. "But the sheer fact of learning about the Paradise Valley Civilizations and the fall of Tambelon was rather interesting to me."

"Yeah if you liked reading fragments of fragments of fragments of information. It's more fantasy than reality at that point. Just Stele 19 said, "Tambelon fell" and Grogar this and that."

Twilight grinned. "Coming from the mare who holds a bank of magical Tambelonian artifacts. World ending ones, you said."

Moondancer swiped a hoof. "That's concrete evidence. . ."

Sunburst smiled as he watched the pair bicker nicely to one another. Cadance had told him about Twilight. Not her life story, but hints of things, a broad strokes picture that was rather unlike reality. Though nothing was like reality. Moondancer for one. He let out a small probing mana touch and felt the seething rage underneath her facade of nonchalance and strength, the boiling rage that was only held back by willpower. He had actually coasted through most of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns- except for Applied Thermoneutics and Theoretical Explosions. He just didn't have the knack for destruction magics that some of his peers had.

He stared at the red jewel that was pulsing with life in Moondancer's scarred chest. The sheer fact of being within seven feet of both a corruption of his values of do no harm and, yet a working prototype for prosthetic limbs and artificial hearts made his own heart flutter. Though the fact of it being implanted in haste caused some issues. Corruption being one of them- his Mana Sight picking up spikes of Umbral energy radiating from Moondancer like a mini sun. It hurt to look at when you knew where and how to look.

"Sunburst? What is your opinion on mind control? Since your girlfriend did it."

Sunburst's heart went cold at that.

"Uh, the conventional wisdom is that it-"

Moondancer's eyes stared at him. "Real opinion, not some book's opinion. Not the Magical Warfare Act,"

"Don't like it. Feels wrong. And if I was here, would you think I'd agree with Starlight?"

Moondancer's eyes narrowed. "Dunno. What with my knowledge of Changelings and magical illusions, I could say you could do a lot worse? And with Celestia mentioning that all able-bodied ponies- or at least all militarily focused ones- will be called to serve. . . I just wanted to know that you wouldn't stab me in the back without telling me first."

Twilight's face paled as she caught that news. "Celestia said what?"

"I mean shit's bad in the East." Moondancer sighed and rubbed her face with her hooves and stretched out to her full length as she tried to think what to say. "Everyone's pitching in. That means all mage units. All Wonderbolts. All Guards."

Twilight's face blanked as the realization of full and complete mobilization. "But that means most of my friends would be. . ."

Sunburst sighed. "The Elements fall under what most would term a military weapon. Even if your friends aren't in the military- they count as a military force. You've saved the world far too many times to just sit this one out. Though Celestia did try and plead your case in the War Council. It came down to a rather split decision. Sorry."

Twilight looked down at the food she had in front of her. The beautiful greens and yellows of his salad didn't interest her anymore, the sense of hunger he had felt at that moment dissipated as a dense sense of dread slowly sunk into his stomach.

Twilight turned and saw Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy in the distance, happily talking to one another as they passed him by, barely taking notice of her. Fluttershy bobbed her head in recognition, the prismatic colors of her mane hitting Twilight as something oddly beautiful at that moment. He could hear the hustle and bustle of the town- busier than usual due to the festive nature of the day, and he felt the wood grain of the table, whorls of solidness under his hooves as he rubbed it in thought.

Twilight swore, not caring about who heard him.

***

Manehattan

Lightning Dust sighed and pushed a mojito across the bar towards yet another customer. She really didn't like being a bartender, but it paid the bills and after her little outbursts with the Wonderbolts, she didn't dare to apply to most jobs that involved anything to do with the weather teams or anything. She was possibly a third stringer, fourth more likely with how she still limped after that fight.

The bar itself was an okay place- being in the best place in the city, the worst bar was still a three-star establishment. Better than the other boroughs, she mused. Hooflyn was okay, if a bit run down. The Bronco District was a bit shady. Royal was growing but separate from most of the other districts. And finally, the Narrows were just there. Five districts, five different tones of the city, all vaguely combined under "Manehattan" proper.

"What are you looking at, Dusty?"

Lightning Dust looked over to see the quiet performer staring at her. She had some R name, something repetitive, but with how she worried ever so much about her brother fucking up his first day, the name escaped her. "Nothing much, just thinking that I love watching most of the ponies here drink their cares away."

The earth pony shrugged. "They want to relax. Plus, pot meet kettle. Don't you drink more than most of the customers or have I misheard Cherry J complaining about her stock. There's not many mares with that name."

"Shove it, Rara, I don't pay you to give me advice."

The unicorn giggled. "You don't pay me, but I definitely don't need the money. Practice, yes. Money, no."

Lightning rolled her eyes at the enigmatic unicorn. She got ponies into the bar, to be sure, but she was sometimes a little opaque on what she did outside of the bar. Something with music probably with how her cutie mark looked, but Dust wasn't all that into music. She placed the glass she was cleaning down and almost replied back, when she heard the first screams from nearby.

The Dragon Festival was going rather swimmingly, all things considered. For a first day it wasn't all that bad. Zephyr scooted through the throngs of ponies, careful to not poke an errant passerby with his blades or take up too much space in the cramped streets of the old section of Manehattan. The narrow corridors of the old and decrepit section were perfect for dragons, the tight caverns almost a similar feel to the dragon lands, he thought. If that was so, and if Blue Moon hadn't been pulling his leg, he thought he would hate going there. Possibly he was claustrophobic.

Zephyr sighed and turned through the parade, seeing fire jugglers play with dragon fire, and dragon food stalls on every block. The smells of cooked meat hit his nose, a strong pungent smell that almost made him gag on principle. He tried to breathe through his nose as he turned down his final route, making sure that Sunny Flare's directions were correct and circumspect.

"It's not like something bad-"

A quiet pop from behind him stopped him from speaking, a faint repetitive popping noise filled the air as he turned. He tried to run through the guard manual in his head in iambic pentameter. He gave it up as he turned into the road and saw the chaos in front of him.

"Svent wer jiviri!" A medium sized dragoness was screaming to the rest of the dragons, a faint green mist enveloping her as she spoke. "jaseve thric survivors nomeno ui hesi charric" He didn't know draconic but the tone itself showed menace. The blue dragoness' claws showed more- they dripped crimson with blood and the stench of corpses hit his nostrils. He quietly tried to leave; his guard duties be sent to Tartarus. It was supposed to be an easy job. No worries. Not a thing.

He stepped back and slid on the slick cobblestones, his footing betrayed him, and he fell hard on the street and bumped into a burned husk.

It screamed in agony, a rattling death scream as the charred flesh tore away, blood welling through the blistered mass. He gagged. It smelled like meat. Cooked meat. He shivered as a part of him briefly wondered if the meat smell he had smelled earlier was just meat or if, he felt bile rise in his throat, if it was the beginning scent of this.

He threw up his breakfast.

A throng of dragons turned their eyes glowing green with malice and determination on Zephyr. He shivered and turned away, his body acting on sheer impulse as he shunted every thought away as he became pure instinct. The only thoughts that hit him, as he shot off into the sky was that he dropped his weapon and that he felt wetness as he lifted off, a sent of fear hitting him in the nose, pungent and worried.

He turned to look and saw that Manehattan was already starting to catch fire, each block a mess as he could see different troops fighting what looked like a menagerie of things. Tatzlewurms swam up and down side streets, hippogriffs fought against unicorns, even a few ursa minors. And the reek of burning hit his nose.

He had to be dreaming.

Rain In Soho: Soul Man

Rockville

Pinkie sat on top on the barn's roof, carefullly staring east towards Ponyville. Things were moving fast there, she could tell. Vague senses of dread and pain enveloped her as she felt her Sense ding with broad information on things. Everypony was fine for now, but she knew vaguely what the clouds of death felt like now, and what war should feel like. Granny Pie had told her and that inner turmoil that was like if butterflies died in your stomach and sat there molding away was there.

"Hey idiot. What the everloving fuck are you doing up there? I have been looking for you all the live long day and you're on the barn. Of course, look for the random one at the last place I'd ever look."

Pinkie glanced down to see Limestone waving at her, stamping her hooves and she smiled briefly. Just a bit, because while the farm was different- Limestone was still vaguely the same. Her father said each was special in their own way, Pinkie with joy, Limestone with anger, Marble was calm, and Maud had courage. It was a bit one note, looking back, and she scoffed at the simplicity of it, but she still held it within her somewhat.

Because having the Sense was supposed to be a one time thing. And, for some reason, chaos wise or other, each had the Sense. Different Senses.

"I was just looking at the farm, silly. And it's only like ten am, it's fine. It isn't like rocks have a set time for coming out of the ground."

Limestone rolled her eyes. "Funny, I was thinking we could try and get you to some sort of Seer before some stupid thing happens. Cause I dunno, but Marble says today's going to be bad. Don't know what she means since the last time something was 'bad' I got barely a bloody nose.

Pinkie slid down the barn's roof, gingerly landing in a hay pile and stood up, shaking the strands of hay that clung to her. "Okie dokie."

Limestone sighed. "I forgot how oddly malleable you seem to make every single moment." She stretched out a hoof and handed Pinkie a lump of bread. "Probably not up to snuff for the city slicker shit you got where you came from, but bread is bread and Maud said it wasn't hard as a rock."

Pinkie shrugged. "I've had worse than that. I should tell you about the time one of my friends sister's almost burned water. Don't ask me how that was possible. Probably a magic thing."

Limestone stared at Pinkie for a moment and shook her head, her hair falling in wet plaits as the hot day started to take its early toll. "Whatever." She tapped a hoof on her chin as she looked at Pinkie. "Now, Daddy said I and the rest of us were going to go in the northernmost rock field cause its cleared and have a little contest. Something about tests and everything. Big scary war coming. Blah blah blah."

Pinkie nodded. She didn't mention that she really didn't think that a war was coming, but that it already came quietly. She tried to push Ironhoof's memories away, but she smelled the faintest hint of blood on the wind and the outcrops of stone in the far fields, for a moment, were not dead stone, but stilled flesh.

She imperceptibly shivered. "Right."

"Thank obsidian you didn't come during a big harvest time, else we'd have to really pull your fat ass together. Sorry about that. Just I remember you being skinny and not fat."

Pinkie sighed. "That was a decade ago."

Limestone shrugged. "Hey, I didn't mean it anyway. Plus, if I didn't somewhat like messing slightly with you, I'd have killed you. Or just got a spirit to haunt you. Lots of dead spirits in these rocks." She clapped Pinkie on the back and with a wave towards Marble and Maud who came into view carrying buckets, they headed off to the north field.

***

Ponyville

"Shy, the line's like around the block. Can't we just go eat someplace else?" Rainbow stared at the line that was in front of the bakery and groaned, rubbing her mane as she watched a horde of ponies waiting for Nightmare Night themed treats- cookies in the shape of bats, cakes shaped like wisps of smoke with a tiny Nightmare Moon as a cake topper, and pies with colored pudding filled with gummy worms- among myriad other sweet treats that beckoned the hungry denizens of the town.

"Patience, Dash-"

Before Fluttershy could scold her marefriend more- since they had just recently stood in line to enter, ponies were cautiously moving further away from the front of the store.

"Belay your worries, subjects. While this celebration of candy and decadent pastries is quite a fun affair, I won't lay a tax upon thy waiting horde of sweets. Nightmare Night is for one and all, and I decree that Nightmare Moon is no more. Thanks be to Sir Carrot of the Cakes, for he has sated my hunger for sweets."

Dash scoffed. "Can she just declare that? If so, I have to get on the good side of Luna cause being knighted would be super rad."

"I'd have to ask Twilight, but I would expect that to be hyperbole."

Mr Cake shivered in fear as he carefully pulled out a "Be Right Back" sign and shut the door hastily. Luna walked through the sea of slightly miffed ponies, carefully passing out a bevy of sweets to anypony who asked.

"Oh hello there, Fluttershy and Dash. How are you two today?"

Fluttershy carefully bowed. "Perfectly fine, Luna. Whatsoever has you in such a mood today. Well besides the holiday? I would have thought you would have been asleep this morning."

Luna nodded at Dash's nonchalant wave. "'Tis true, but Twilight had shown me the wonders of the current era and it's coffee and let me stay at her castle while I kind of figure some personal matters out. And with recent events impacting Twilight herself, I just thought that perhaps drowning one's sorrows in desserts would help her. It seems to do wonders for Celestia."

Dash sniggered.

Fluttershy shot her a knowing look and walked on as she followed the Princess of the Night on her merry way. "How nice. I guess he would like to share some sweets."

Luna turned for a moment. "He? Last time I saw Twilight, she was most definitely a mare. I think. Though maybe I have been slightly focused upon this holiday so that the foals do not have a terrible holiday. And then sending out letters to each of the towns, telling them of our wishes and thanks for their acceptance of my different style of rulership. I do hope I hadn't said anything out of place in regards to Twilight 'Tis nice to see some appreciative ponies of how wonderful the night is."

"That's wonderful, but Twilight most definitely isn't a-"

"Yeah, he's got a dick."

"Dash!"

"What, Shy? I mean come on, I know you were building up to the reveal, but you tend to be too demure about it."

Luna stopped for a moment, pastries floating above her head like a halo and breathed for a moment. "Well. That's quite all right, Rainbow Dash."

Fluttershy looked up, brushing strands of hair out of her eyes. "You okay, Princess."

Luna smiled, a faint heat around her cheeks as she walked on. "Just got a little tired there. Nothing a good pot of coffee can't fix. A real bit of work that Mayor Mare trying to say things about forms and procedures. I said to her what sort of Princess would I be in letting simple procedures stop me from having the best celebration of things. Ever. And then she talked about Twilight, which brought me slightly back to Equestria."

"Are you okay, Luna?"

"Splendid, not thinking about Twilight and his. . .procedural proceedings." Luna blinked as they passed Aroma Palace, carefully avoiding Twilight's eyes as they passed, the alicorn quietly taking in the sculpted jawline and decidedly not bookish physique of the purple alicorn. She felt things deep in her core as she watched Twilight finish his food and walk towards them.

Luna swore heartily in her mind coming up with as many bad words as she could, centuries of filth danced in her mind as she watched Twilight scowl ever so nicely in her direction.

Luna swooned.

Twilight stared intently at the two pegasi- and Luna- as he finished his food. He had told the other two to meet up at the castle in an hour or two. Let them see the sights of Ponyville- whatever that truly turned out to be- and quietly leave him alone to think of the conversation that he just had. He had to talk to Celestia very soon, especially with all the things that had happened recently. He wanted to fix Fluttershy and Rainbow's problem, have time for Rarity and Applejack's kid situation.

And yet he had no time to deal with either. Love magic, or the weird decay of the magical signature that Dash and Shy gave off was a very odd predicament- he didn't know exactly how to disentangle their lifelines without causing irreparable harm, so either the spell would wear off or he had to stumble into a solution. Possibly Zecora could help on that front since he had talked briefly about love spells with the zebra, and Zebrican culture used love potions and charms on an equal footing with Middle Equestrian history of the third and fourth centuries. If there was something there, he could find it. The baby situation could be remedied by growth spells, but those were dangerous and- He cut that horror show of gore out of his mind as he walked towards his friends.

Luna looked odd. But Twilight surmised that due to the day and her nocturnal nature- and coffee dependency- that she was fine enough for now. He could always talk to her later. She tended to like late night study sessions and he needed to apologize for how horrible his mood swings had been for the last few days due to the schism between him and Pinkie. And she had been a good shoulder to lean on during all that.

But that was later. He had to talk to Dash and Shy about some things. All of his friends, really.

"Hey, so about the next few days. . .I have some bad news."

***

Skies Above Equestria

The Dasher crested through the cloud cover, its small wooden frame cutting through the clouds, leaving a rime of ice upon the wood. It would be a rather beautiful sight, Sour Sweet thought, if her eyelids weren't almost plastered shut from the quick drop in temperature. She wiped her face with a hoof and walked towards the sunniest spot on the bow, walking around crates and barrels full of flotsam and jetsam.

"Are we about there yet?"

Bow Hothoof popped his head up. "I'm pushing her the best I can. Our Dasher here might be the fastest ship in the Equestrian borders, but she's only a mortal ship." He stretched out his wings as he left the confines of the engine room, sweat sticking his rainbow hair in streaks across his coat. "Any faster and I'd break a new ship speed record. Which I don't want to do cause the last time that happened, I almost died."

"Like you did any of the work. . ." Windy Whistles, the captain of the ship, carefully turned an eye on her husband and winked at Sour Sweet. "I remember that time too, and I think that writer would disagree. Heard she's made a book about our little adventure. Though I don't read that stuff. Something about some amulet or something. Real life is more exciting than books anyway."

"Who was it?" Sour Sweet hated asking, but she felt the camaraderie slightly warm her core as she huddled beneath the blanket that the pair of pegasi had scrounged up from the back of the ship.

Windy laughed, her brash peals of laughter echoed briefly on the wind. "She said she was Daring Do. Though a lot of ponies say they are Daring Do. Bit of a big trade of ponies wanting to follow in the literary accomplishments of their fictional idol and die out in the back end of nowhere. As I said, real life is far better than books. And it is safer if you know what you are doing."

Bow rolled his eyes. "Says you. All our routes have been even more dangerous as of late due to the Storm stuff. All these new ships and things, like that's any 'safer'.

Windy narrowed her eyes at her husband. "A ship bedecked in seven layers of offense versus the Dasher here, especially when I'm steering it? No contest. I will live another day. The other ship will too, but that's not important. And anyway, I don't often hear you complaining when we are in private. . ."

Sour coughed. "While I would just love to see where that train of thought is going, I want to say that as a representative of the Equestrian military, I, and the Princesses, do salute your wherewithal to let us get to Ponyville."

Windy rolled her eyes. "The Princesses can eat me for all I care. I just saw a little mare holding a bit of a charity case."

Bow dug out a flask and sipped it carefully. "What my wife is saying is that she tends to have a bit of a streak, say we say, of helping ponies without benefit."

"But this time I was right."

"So is a broken clock, but I wouldn't be still married to you for the last twenty years if I didn't see something there."

Windy sighed as she looked out at the landscape, small towns and hamlets passing by lazily as their speed matched the air currents, the ship buffeted by stray cross currents and weather anomalies. Up above the clouds, weather was slightly unnatural since most pegasi were unable to fly up this high without the aid of magical help or natural aptitude. "Yeah and we have done some stupid things together. And I wouldn't regret most of it. Some stuff, sure. Not you." She stretched and Sour could see the barest hint of sadness in her eyes as she looked back at Bow. "We're going to be there in, let's see, five, six hours. After moonrise at least. So go down and warm yourself up, unicorn, cause you look like Tartarus warmed over. I'll get the lunkhead over here to get you when we get close. Go see how the eyeless wonder feels."

Sour Sweet nodded.

***

The Narrows

Manehattan was chaos. Gallus felt the heat of the burning buildings as he led the gryphons into the city. The plan was perfect in execution- chaos, disorder, and pure cut off from the mainland were the three main focuses of the attack. Sure, some ponies would get out- swimming through the Hooflyn River or a pegasi mass exodus. Word would get out. But from how mother explained it, the Changelings wanted a stronghold in Equestria, a Hive to outstrip all others, a massive place for the queen to constantly, well, experiment on herself of the others.

He felt a blast of magic whiz past his face. Heat blossomed in the air for a moment and the world became a flash of colors as he felt his feathers almost catch fire. He shook his head and banked into the wind, letting his magic envelop him in a ball of high pressure. He felt that heat surround him, this time not hot and burning like that nameless pony's attack, for any of the hundreds of thousands of ponies could have done it, and aimed at the target he needed to focus on. They couldn't cut all of Manehattan off- the Narrows was the weak point, being connected to the Equestrian mainland by actual land. But that was what the gryphons were for.

His mother had allowed a complete and total wipe of this district.

Absolutely no survivors.

He felt bile rise in his throat at the thought, but let it down and breathed, opening his eyes for a brief moment, seeing the magic he had within him dance and sway with the wind, each blue feather of his sparkling in the noonday sun. He smiled for a brief moment, and the sound came back in his mind.

Screams and whinnies of ponies being burnt alive. He dodged a collapsing building, the large statue of a huge golden pony cutting through the ground and, for a moment, the world went white as ash and dust enveloped the world.

He pulled up and twisted his body towards the final guard post, his aerial maneuvers keeping his trail indistinct and hard to follow. Gilda had taught him how to hunt, how to kill, and he had tried to follow his sister's rules. Make it easy for you to get the first strike and don't get hit.

As he came closer to the guard post, he could see Predators fall by the wayside, the hulking gryphons taking tens of ponies with them, some with spears stuck in their chests and squawking their war cries as they beat ponies heads in with their talons. He could see his legions arrayed out in front of him, almost cheering him on as he dodged blasts from unicorns, rock barrages from earth legions, and pony on gryphon warfare in the skies.

He had to look for what his sister called the gem arrays. The things that kept guard towers stocked with magic. And also the most explosive bit of it's defenses- often covered in anti magic fields and armor that would make it difficult to enter.

A suicide mission usually.

He found it after a quick scan and dropped out of the sky, rolling unto the hard stones of the tower's top. He limped for a moment as the world reformed around him. His ears hurt and his eyes were filled with smoke as fires were breaking out below, the mind controlled dragons and changelings burning all in their wake.

He walked carefully, unable to fully hear. "Talon protect me." He whispered the prayer as he walked over bodies of gryphons, the odd changeling half transformed, the bodies of ponies of all races. He felt unnerved at the sight. Some looked almost peaceful in death, while some looked like they came to meet death and ran headlong screaming into death. He walked up the stairs as quietly as he could, following his senses as he felt the mana density of the surrounding area change vaguely, into blues and greens into deep dark reds and purples as he walked up further.

He entered the top of the guards tower and stopped as he felt something amiss.

He counted his blessings as a blade almost nicked him in the wing.

A big, hulking pegasus lumbered in, his coat spattered with blood and gore, some his, as Gallus observed a large gash in the stallion's barrel. "Fucking gryphons. Fucking changelings, fucking dragons." The stallion huffed and puffed as he worked his wing blades out of the stones, the golden tipped blades glinting in the firelight up here. "They didn't say you fuckers had magic. I saw my entire regiment wiped out because of you pastel fucking cunts."

Gallus smiled as he noticed the color of the stallion's coat as he moved. Bright orange. He almost wanted to laugh at how ridiculous it was having a pony complain about the colors of his eggmates- ponies were far more colorful than gryphons.

The orange stallion charged at Gallus, letting his weight barrel into the smaller gryphon. Gallus was pushed into the back wall and he could feel the hot breath of his enemy on the nape of his neck. He could feel his claws bury into the belly of his attacker, his heavy musk and anger making the small room feel claustrophobic.

He panicked as he felt the crushing weight of the burly stallion start making his wing feel uncomfortable. Gryphons weren't usually built for one on one fights with larger opponents. Predator gryphons were the aberration- the large things used to this. He wasn't. He felt his wing shift. He feared that his first real fight would end in his death and for a brief moment, he feared that his wings would break- the hollow bones easy to shatter into unusable pieces.

Gallus screamed at his orange behemoth of a pony, and dug into the stallion's stomach, not caring what he was aiming for. He felt the pony's skin tear, a claw slipped on the pony's thing and he felt a chunk of it get stuck in his talons. He kept screaming as he felt the blood and intestines wrap around his talons.

He breathed out.

He didn't know how long he had been standing there, ripping and tearing out the pony's entrails, but he came back to himself covered in the blood of the pony, the ribcage of his opponent fully open and the stallion's face showed how painful it was being disemboweled from throat to privates.

Gallus limped as he walked. His wing hurt, a sprain? A break? He didn't know. He just stared at the glowing mass of gems in the room and set the explosives. He breathed out and thought of where he wanted to be, letting the mana collect around him as the sounds of battle went on outside. He didn't have time to think of the dead stallion and as he breathed out, his view of the world shifted and blinking his eyes open, he fell into the sky, letting his wings catch on the wind now enveloping him like a comforting hug.

He would have to tell Gilda or Gala how teleporting felt. Like flying, but freer somehow.

Posey stared out at the burning skyline of Manehattan and sighed. The idea that she would see a day where Manehattan was on fire shocked her for a moment. She carefully stretched her wings. Sometimes age got to her and they didn't work as well as they used to. Age did that.

"What do you want to do?"

Posey turned her head and smiled briefly as her right hand clown stepped into the room. "If I was twenty years younger and in the prime of life? Go out there and take as many creatures with me as I could." Posey smiled at the thought, turning her green eyes on the burning city. "But now? Just move on. I mean I wholeheartedly believe in our little circus, but I'd rather not lose my performers in rampant acts of buffoonery, chicanery, and japery." Posey hummed to herself as she thought. "There's always a better way to serve. And this Captain Mjolna keeps sending me of all ponies letters." She sighed as she pointed towards a haphazard pile of half read letters, some partially crumpled.

Ponyacci picked up one and carefully skimmed it. He noticed the clipped writing style of the response, a rather impressive cursive for what he assumed to be an earth pony- he noticed the blocky mouthwriting- the letters big and loopy, partially illegible where the author had to apply ink on their quill as they lost concentration. He placed it back carefully and sat down next to Posey, carefully studying her own face. "So somepony looked up your old records. Not very odd. It's odd to be recalled so late in one's career, but it isn't-"

Posey looked out the window. "I thought I told Lavender Meadow to burn everything related to me. . ."

"What was that?"

Posey shook her head and rubbed her desk carefully. "Nothing much. Just surprised somepony found my records is all. So on a different matter," Posey waved away the burning city. "Last Laugh said you had something to tell me about Rainbow."

Ponyacci smiled carefully and pulled out a large file nearby Posey's desk. "I had sent it in a few days ago. Looks like somepony didn't read it."

Posey rolled her emerald eyes. "As Grandmaster of the Sky Circus, I respectfully defer any such matters of importance to my second in command. Or third or fourth. Depends on my mood. And honestly, after the last week in Manehattan dealing with the crowds that didn't want to see our greatest tricks and clown skills all because some Coloratura was in town? Yeah, didn't want to spoil my mood."

Ponyacci laughed. "We had fantastic shows."

"Says you. Last year was twice as lucrative."

"Well we live in interesting times, to be sure."

Posey smiled. "My mother said that to me a lot. Said she got it from a Kirin traveler. You do know that's less a compliment and more of a curse, right? Peace is far better to live in than wartime." Posey shook her head. "Just ask Manehattan right now. But tell me how is our little Rainbow doing?"

Ponyacci cleared his throat and began to read Rainbow's accomplishments. Posey listened attentively and smiled as he finished.

"Seems like our little prodigal has done some rather good things for the country. I guess I owe you twenty bits."

"Rara, get back here!" Dust coughed as the smoke began to get to her. The bar had become an untenable position as the entire street was covered in a squirming tatzlewurm, the pink body crushing a wall of where she worked and she and Rara had ran once the strange beady eyes turned on them and smiled.

She didn't think those could smile.

The middle of Manehattan was a burning mass of houses- the Clydesdale Building had partially collapsed, letting burning slag pelt the corner of Manehattan in hot ash and death. Dust coughed for air, feeling her throat grow raspy as the particles of whatever building gathered around her. She tried to move the air around, tried to keep air currents open, fearing for the moment on how to escape with the air a mess of changelings, gryphons, and dragons. She felt the air currents above her and cringed at their complete disarray- the pegasi weather teams had expected snow or rain or something and planned accordingly. With the heat from the burning buildings and dust, she could feel the shifting walls of air.

Rara's blue head popped out nearby. "I knew it!"

"What?"

Rara smiled. "Well, you know how there's the subway system of Manehattan? Great place to hold a few impromptu gigs and parties. Well, with how you've been freaking out and how up there looks. . ." Rara pointed up as a huge dragon bit a pegasi in half, the legs tumbling down and crashing nearby, still twitching. Rara blanched and coughed. "Well that. I thought going down might be better. Not perfect and I would dodge the entire middle of the city, we could take the system out, maybe. Walking, but its a way."

"If this kills us, I am haunting your corpse."

Rara laughed and smiled the macabre half joke lightening her spirits for a brief moment. "If it does, it's better than staying here."

***

Rockville

Limestone stretched her limbs and stared at Pinkie, Maud, and Marble. "Ready?"

"Not really. . ." Pinkie tried to raise her hand as Limestone was speaking. She really didn't want to fight her sisters. Especially since Limestone had kept ribbing her, testing her limits, and generally not being super nice. Pinkie had guess her reappearance in the lives of ponies she had run away from in haste and fear might have caused some reluctance in their sheer emotional levels. . .but Limestone had taken something personally.

Maud sighed. "You know Father doesn't want us to fight. This is all some hardheaded thing you got to one up Pinkie."

Marble nodded.

Limestone closed her eyes and stared at her sisters. "Don't you want some kind of. . .revenge or something on her? I mean we kept the world turning as best we could while our sister was an unknown factor in a world that doesn't want us. So what if we didn't have a Sense of our own until she left. Daddy made us who we are and we have to just keep doing our jobs. Haven't you felt the sheer decay of the world? Every time Pinkie moves, her motions cause ripple effects."

Maud rolled her eyes. "You talk too much. Why is Pinkie important? If she causes things to happen, why not every single pony?"

"Because I know it to be true!"

Marble sighed and pushed aside Maud, carefully pacing back and forth between her three sisters as she tried to get enough courage to speak or act. After a few minutes, she stared at Limestone and Pinkie felt the temperature shift down multiple degrees as she stared at the gray earth pony.

No, you don't, Lime. I keep telling you to stop talking to the ghosts.

Limestone stared at Marble. "You absolute cold hearted bitch. . .the one fucking moment Pinkie comes back, the one damn moment, you use your Sense on me and it's fucking hilarious that it's mind talking cause you've been mute since Daddy tried to give you Pinkie's sense and I thought you were. . .stupid. But I guess no-" Limestone stopped and turned to the east. "What in the-"

Lime, your nose.

Limestone wiped at her nose and came back with a red blotch. She stared at it, laughed once, and fell over, screaming in a bevy of languages as her eyes glowed green, her mouth spewing black ichor and bile as she convulsed on the ground. Marble started to run over to check on her sister, but the psychic shockwave of Manehattan hit and she fell over wordlessly screaming, her mind sending out keening high pitched notes that made Maud and Pinkie flinch as they were assaulted by the sounds of Marble's brain in anguish as the sense of death washed over the farm.

Maud turned to Pinkie and smiled. "Don't worry about Lime. Her sense is all about dead things." Maud grit her teeth as she stared at Pinkie. "Lot of death there." Maud lay down and stared impassively at the east, her eyes showing emotion as her senses were assailed by tens of thousands of screaming, dying things.

Pinkie stood there, completely unfazed as her sisters writhed around in agony. She closed her eyes, waiting for the sense of death wash over her. And she felt it. But unlike her sisters, she just felt it. She felt tears wash down her face as she felt the miasma of death hit her, the smell of burning, the crunch of bones, the wetness of blood. And yet, she just stood there, not in pain, not seizing on the ground puking up black goo and ectoplasm, not staring out impassively. Just there in the moment, breathing in and out in regular motions.

She was fine. Oddly, she felt okay. Maybe a bit numb to it, but who wouldn't be numb?

***

Ponyville

"Darling, stop fidgeting." Rarity stretched out her neck to pull a few more pins out of the costume and groaned as Rainbow Dash fumed, wiping her long pink hair out of her eyes and raving about how positively dreadful Twilight had been.

"Rarity, are you even listening to me? I keep saying 'we all are in the military now' and you aren't pissed off about that?"

Rarity stared at Fluttershy who quietly stood there with a deep frown on her face. "Oh of course I'm surprised by the turn of events, anypony would be, but we are vital to the health of the nation. . .even if I would much rather create every dress within my head and do that for the rest of my life in a simple yearly routine. But after Ironhoof, I assumed something like this would happen." Rarity shrugged and carefully stepped back. "Seriously though, I can't figure out why I have this imperfect view of you right at this moment. Like I made the costume for you- or at least an idea of a Fluttershy ensemble, and yet you are right here- yet nothing. No c'est magnifique, not a lick of perfection, just you in a Wonderbolt outfit. How odd."

Rainbow rolled her blue eyes. "It's a costume, I doubt ponies would even care. I've seen foals in capes and kitchenware, I doubt having an accurate Wonderbolt dress uniform at this moment would be rather appropriate. Not with how I feel at the moment."

Rarity huffed. "Spoilsport." The white unicorn straightened her work glasses and rubbed her temple with a hoof. "And this is why I don't often ask you to be a model for me. I have all these ideas to bring out your natural beauty and figure and here you come barging in saying that the most unbecoming dress or completely gauche design will suit you. You try accentuating rainbow hair with current fashion and see how difficult it is. Thank Celestia, Dash, that you are in Fluttershy's body because I know what works with her complexion and how she carries herself. You just seem more like a stallion than a mare sometimes."

Rainbow almost was ready to respond until the words hit her mind. She slowly got a really neat idea. A decidedly fun and far more exciting idea. An idea that didn't even deal with the Wonderbolts or the frilly pink thing that Rarity wanted Shy to wear- the ugliest thing ever cause it totally would kill her cool points with the rest of the town, but this idea made her smile whenever she had a devious prank. "What was that?"

"Hmm? Oh yes, you seem so very much like one of the stallions, all bravado, no tact."

"That's a perfect Nightmare Night costume!"

Rarity stopped and stared at Fluttershy and Dash. "Oh no, nope. Not doing it."

"Come on, Rarity, I bet you'd love to see what Shy and I look like as stallions. Think of the possibilities." Dash slid up to the unicorn and put a hoof around her shoulders.

"I am, and it's not particularly a good idea. Twilight said not to make you two stallions. What with all the magic-"

Dash waved a hoof at the unicorn. "Twilight breaks all her own rules anyway. Plus Shy totally wants to be a stallion, right?"

Fluttershy blinked. "I never said that. I mean sure, it might be fun, but if I had to choose what I truly wanted to be, I'd be a tree. I mean the sheer peace of sitting in a forest surrounded by all my animal friends and having them be happy while I give them shade and oxygen. . ." Shy smiled at the thought.

Dash shook her head. "Well whatever, that's almost a stallion. I mean wood and morning wood is similar enough, I guess. So why do you say? Yes, or yes?"

Rarity sighed. "No. Plus Shy doesn't even want to be a stallion, no matter how odd your dream is to be a tree, sorry Fluttershy, but that isn't the sheer ideal of a stallion- the broad chest, the hooves that are the size of dinner plates, and muscles all well defined. No." Rarity shook her head.

"Come on."

"Nope."

"I'll totally be a model for the. . .next seven odd ideas you have. Cart before the horse, no worries."

Rarity wavered. "That would be carte blanche."

Dash rolled her eyes. "That's totally what I said. But okay, ten."

Rarity tried to look at Shy who just shrugged when she locked eyes with the polychromatic mare. "Seriously?"

Fluttershy put down the issue of Mare's World and stretched her wings as she got up. "Dash has been persistent all day to try out Twilight's spell. It really isn't my idea, especially with us being in different bodies, but without me she would have busted in here at five am just to see what it would be like."

Rarity looked up at the sky and silently prayed for some higher power to wake her up from this nightmare. She breathed out and set her jaw in a fake smile as she tried to think of how she got into this predicament. "Fine. Fine. But if something goes horribly wrong and I, um, fuse you into some horrible beast or something, don't come crying to me."

"Gosh, Rarity, it's only a spell."

Rarity rubbed her forehead, feeling a massive headache coming on as she tried not to slam her head into her workstation. "It's a Twilight made spell. While I may have become. . .used to using the spell, per se, it's still a weird feeling having a penis blossom between your legs and have thoughts and feelings intrude upon your dainty thoughts."

"Says the pony who knocked up Applejack." Rainbow giggled. "Also blossom isn't the first word I'd use for a dick."

Rarity shot the yellow pegasus a look, and sighed as she saw Fluttershy's features have Rainbow's jovial jesting and overall painful teasing, and groaned. "Yes, well, I have accepted my part in that. Also the uncouth teasing is just adding on further modeling options for you. Do you like neon pink or chartreuse?" Rarity shot a brief look to the stairs as she thought of Applejack sleeping easily in her upstairs bed and the unicorn briefly wanted to be there instead of having Rainbow push her into whatever prank or mischief she wanted.

Rainbow huffed. "Whatever just give me and the Shy the goods so we can finally get it over with. You know a one time thing."

Rarity briefly smiled. "Knowing you, you'll be taking that promise back once you become a stallion. But okay. Whatever to get you out of my shop any quicker- though I will have to change your costumes to highlight or hinder your maleness. I may sometimes play with the idea of sex- I don't run a brothel." Rarity rolled her eyes and quickly ran through the preparations in her head, pulling mana towards herself and out towards the pair of pegasi. It now was far easier to pull off due to constant gender switching, but she still ran the slower version of the spell just in case something would go wrong. She kept her eyes shut as she cast the spell in case Dash was going to turn into a goo monster or have two heads or something.

Two male voices screamed as Rarity opened her eyes. A deep bass voice from her left, almost definitely Rainbow due to Rarity remembering the Flutterguy incident, the rich voice almost melodic in its yell. And a middle tenor voice, almost fully masculine, yelled back.

Rarity stared up at Dash. She blanched in fear as she realized that the large pegasus was far more intimidating than she would have realized. An eight and a half foot horse stared down at her, muscles fully defined like the most wonderful bodybuilding model, and a, well, a pillar of masculine virility that equaled Twilight's own in some aspects, the length at 3 and a half feet, and surpassed in others- balls the size of grapefruits, made the now tiny unicorn tremble in places she really didn't want to think about at the moment. She ran her head up and felt her neck oddly bend to even get a glimpse of Rainbow's face, the idea of a pony being near or equal or possibly even taller than Celestia was odd and painful to look at. Rarity's cheeks bloomed red at the possibilities for modeling, the face staring back in abject horror being Fluttershy, but male- and with how Fluttershy was the epitome of a model, demure, svelte, and ever so helpful with her suggestions, thoughts ran roughshod over her.

She looked away and gulped as she saw what Dash would be. Well what Dash was with Fluttershy currently hyperventilating over the situation, her muscles trembling as the perfect athlete stared in horror, trim muscles flexing, the legs on her dancing in a quick step of nerves, and the two foot dick swinging ever so gently near a respectable apple sized sack.

"Can somepony pinch me?" Rarity giggled and goggled as she was surrounded by male perfection.

"Rarity, what the fuck is this?" Dash bellowed at the small mare, carefully trying to keep his voice down as the shock was hitting him. "Why am I a literal horse? Shy's a pegasus for fucks sake, not Celestia damned huge, like I like dicks but this is ridiculous. What am I supposed to do with this? Commit murder?"

"Rarity" Fluttershy's voice cracked, going up and down octaves as she tried to find a comfortable range for her voice. "Uh, something went wrong. Totally wrong."

"I mean I had warned you, but did you listen?" Rarity stopped. "Well okay, did Rainbow listen? No. And honestly I might just have to sit down. Is it just me or is it getting a tad hot in here."

"Not the time, Rare, it's like totally, uh, impetuous, imperial, whatever, that you turn us back now. I can't just walk around like this. It feels too open and drafty and I feel like I'd poke someone's eye out with this thing." Rainbow carefully tried to walk around in the room, casually bumping into walls and furniture as the new vantage point and increased size and weight threw him off. "Like something has to be wrong cause while Shy's a mare mountain, no offense Shy since I do kind of. . .like that from you. . .but like Twilight's spell went wrong. She's a pony, not a horse. And like I'm now a tall horse. Something's off."

Rarity put her face in her hooves and sat down on the floor, awkwardly trying to get away from any situations that might get her in a compromising situation. "So ask Twilight. I mean I didn't make the spell. She did."

"Oh yeah, walk up to the one pony I'm kind of pissed at for the moment and say 'sorry, I guess I was wrong about wanting a dick, please change us back.' She'll be so happy changing us back."

"Dash." Fluttershy put his blue hoof on Dash's barrel, since the height difference was a matter of feet instead of a head or two. "It's far easier to have her, er, him, do it. Plus Rarity looks exhausted."

Rarity smiled. "Oh you have no idea."

Fluttershy nodded. "Well while, uh, this has been a. . .very odd experience, I guess we can get this figured out. Plus I doubt Dash could fit into any new costumes you could make. You know, due to the two feet of height."

Rarity just nodded.

"We aren't done here." Dash sputtered out his response carefully eying the smaller stallion. Odd, he looked familiar somehow. Then it hit him. "Celestia fucking damn it."

"Dash you okay? Sure you didn't. . .break anything or hit your head or something." Fluttershy carefully flitted around Dash carefully staring at a body he was vaguely familiar with, pulling up the hooves with some difficulty, averting his eyes with a faint blush as he looked underneath.

Dash shook his head, long pink mane swishing around his face as he grumbled. "No, I just haven't thought of. . .my dad in years. And the stupid spell makes me look enough like him,"

Rarity sighed. "Great now Twilight has to teach you how genetics works. That would be a right mess and I would pay two legs to see that."

Dash just closed his eyes and breathed out for a moment. "Yeah. Shy, let's go get this over with. Cause I'm not staying like this all day. I'm already getting a bit of vertigo from this. And I don't know how that's possible since I thought pegasi couldn't get that." Dash stomped out, not looking back, his shoulders straight.

"Uhm, well thanks again, Rarity. I do always love spending time with you. Say hi to Sweetie for me, if I don't see her due to, you know, this."

Rarity waved a hoof. "Nothing too major, darling, but I'd rather not do this again. I have things I can't get out of my brain and things I never would have expected to see." Rarity shivered for a moment, thinking back on what her friends looked as stallions. "But honestly, are you sure you aren't somehow related to Saddle Arabian horses, because our rather angry friend looks exactly like one. Though I've never seen one with wings before."

Fluttershy shrugged. "How should I know."

***

Diamond Tiara shivered as she walked into this unused section of the Acres. She almost wanted to laugh- the idea that mere days ago she would ever wish to hide out here was absurd. But so was her mother. She shivered at the thought of her mother finding her right now. She lay against a dusty couch and winced as she touched the black mass of her leg.

"Roxy thought she smelled a pony."

Diamond recoiled back as a huge dog ambled out of the floor, her brown spotted coat dusty with dirt and grime.

The dog sniffed the air again. "You smell of death. Odd smell." The dog leaned down and gingerly put Diamond's leg in her paws. "Roxy has seen things like this before. This extent? Rarely. But the black rot? That's death for most." The dog looked sad for a moment.

Diamond Tiara tried to wriggle out of the claws of the Diamond Dog. She had heard enough from her mother on the barbarous nature of the things and didn't want to test exactly what was true or false firsthoof. "I am sorry for coming here. I was trying to find help for this."

The dog sat down next to Diamond, the couch creaking as the weight of the dog met the cushions. "Help would be lose the leg or else die. Though the winged one might help. Winged ones seem to know lot of magic. But dog way of doing things pray to the pack and cut off limb."

Diamond gulped in air at that thought. "I definitely don't want that to happen."

Roxie stretched back and picked up a bit of wood, carefully scraping bits and pieces off. "Roxie says that a lot. Things happen as they must. Though you may stay here and talk about things while I work. If you start fever, Roxie send you to winged ones."

Diamond nodded. She hadn't slept at all for what felt like days and even a moment of rest would feel nice.

Spoiled Rich sighed as she stared out at the rows and rows of houses that might hold her daughter. And while she had time to kill, she would rather want to do anything else than walking up and down Ponyville needing, yes, needing to ask where her daughter was. She sighed thinking of all the nice things she could do once she would deal with this issue. Laying around, being sad for reasons, things normal ponies did. But what she wanted was just to get a modicum of peace- not having to make sure her daughter did her best at school, not celebrate her parties with ungrateful little brats, not have to split Filthy's attention between the both of them. The sheer idea of possibly becoming close again to him made her quicken her step.

She didn't see where she was going and knocked into one of the dumb classmates of Diamond's.

"Sorry mith. . .Thpoiled. . .uh, Diamond'th mom."

Oh yes, the absolutely worst one. The one who's stupid parents didn't get her lisp fixed. Either a cute fascination with muddled vowels and consonants or their poor selves couldn't dare try to find a way to fix this cross eyed mess of a foal. Whatever it was, Spoiled breathed in, thought of her impending future, and tried to act sweet to a pony who didn't deserve it. Most didn't. Cause they weren't good earth ponies. Maybe this one had a bad family tree. Why else would she not enunciate her words correctly? Though possibly she was related to those inbred Apples. They couldn't string a sentence together if their lives depended on it.

"Oh if it isn't. . ." Spoiled tried to come up with a name. As the best and leading member of the Ponyville Parents Association, she tried to think of some name. "Uhm, Twit?"

The little pony shook her head. "Twist."

Spoiled waved a hoof. "Oh you know me, forgetting names. Twist. I guess I was distracted."

Twist nodded. "From trying to find Diamond?"

Spoiled Rich quietly cheered and put this pony slightly higher on her intelligence list. From a negative one to a zero. "Why yes, I mean we have been trying to play a. . .game. A game for bonding. Don't ask me why, but Diamond just wanted to try some fun things this Nightmare Night."

"I do hath to say that cothume of herth is pretty cool."

"She did take a lot of time putting it together. Now, I am most sorry, but where exactly did you see her go off to?"

Twist carefully pointed at the stupid farm on the hill. The farm that Filthy should have bought. The farm the worst family in the entire town lived. Sweet Apple Acres. Spoiled screamed on the inside. Of course, she would have never looked there, what with her daughter being smart and teaching those three little bitches what was what.

"Thank you, I know Diamond will just be so pleased to see me."

Rain In Soho: Wild Horses

Rockville

Cheese Sandwich stared at the desolate town in front of him and carefully made sure he had the right location. "How very, very odd. Why in the wide world of Equestria would my Cheese Sense send me out here of all things? Unless this dilapidated town is in need of some rather impromptu cheering up in form of a musical number. Though I really can't just come up with music on the spot. When I do that, it usually relates to food. . .and after what happened in the Equestrian Bake Off, I'd rather not summon something accidentally." He carefully skipped down the hill into town, absentmindedly waved at the four ponies nearby and walked onward.

Until he didn't. His Cheese Sense turned him right around and he found himself staring in the eyes of a pony he really didn't expect. A certain pink pony that stood out like a sore hoof or a how a bad joke echoed in a bad theater. Waiting for comment, waiting for something to pick him up and say that he really wasn't staring into Pinkie's face. Cause Ponyville and this place were so different that it could be seen as a weird joke.

"Pinkie? Or are you Pinkie cause you sure look like her, and while I don't really believe in clones cause the sheer impractical nature of how things are, I mean clones could be a possibility. . ."

Pinkie shrugged. "Clones aren't too bad. Though it really did a number on me that one time. Though I think we have more pressing issues." Pinkie pointed at her sisters, who were starting to come out of their collective stupors. "I mean this isn't really a party, but I would probably like some help getting my sisters back home."

Cheese stared at the decidedly quiet toned ponies and put his eyes back on Pinkie. "How does that even work? I mean I was thinking if you had sisters, they'd be like you but different colors, periwinkle, mauve, maybe polka dotted- though I wonder how that could work- but like grey, grey, and more grey? I mean if this isn't the most disappointing surprise ever. Though a surprise is a surprise." Cheese wrapped a hoof around one of Pinkie's sisters and let another carefully balance on his back. Thank goodness he had a few gymnastics lessons under his proverbial belt- a party pony must be elastic, bombastic, and fantastic, but still he really wasn't the whole lead a horse to water type. The humor in that kind of act was just C level material. Sure way to get kicked out of real parties.

Pinkie nodded, oddly tired herself from the day. "Granny Pie always did say I did brighten up the room. Though I don't know if she meant that literally or figuratively."

Cheese shrugged. "Why not both? I always did like a good turn of phrase myself. See there was this one time in New Mexicolt, I was trying to cheer up a Calavera, a rather odd undead customer, and the rest of this little town and well one thing led to another. . ."

***

Manehattan

Sunny Flare cursed to every demon in Tartarus as she thought of every single thing that the other commanders of the army would say about her as she regaled them on how she fucking lost Manehattan. The Celestia damned hub of trading and whatever the fuck was entertainment in that Broadway things her recruits ate up. She groaned thinking of some particular barb Lemon Zest and her little vampire nest might cook up. She seethed as she walked up to a dragon. She could feel the fucking unicorn magic from here. She wasn't born yesterday and she scanned the horizon for the signals of a particularly special unicorn. Something like a prodigy, like that little princess type one. Whatever her name was- she wasn't one for names. "I see you, bitch."

She breathed out and gripped the dragon with her magic, quickly snapping its neck to get the unicorn's attention. Results were key and, well, she had seen some things she wasn't proud of in the far North, and this spell has a similar taste to it. Dark, brewing, bitter. Like coffee but unpalatable. She quickly threw up a spell shield as she ducked behind a overturned cart, quickly scanning the horizon for any backup, hopefully she had a few still around.

Though with how she had been running a half full ship with a scattering of new recruits, she wasn't too hopeful. She tried to make light of her situation. At least she was close to Manehattan's Square Garden. The idea of that place being on fire made her laugh- chaos magic grew the place. They'd probably lap the heat up like it was a cool summer rain. She grinned as she thought of that. At least something might survive this bloodbath.

She popped her head out carefully, trying to see what the unicorn looked like. She tried to pull out any last idea of training in situations like this. She quickly lit up her horn and started amplifying her voice- at least if she did that, she limited her size and kept behind cover. "So mind magic, huh? What kind of unicorn uses that stuff anyway?"

A clipped clacking of hooves kicked up the cobblestones as the unicorn walked into range, her own amplification spell matching Sunny's own. "A pragmatist." Sunny could hear almost a hint of sadness in the voice. How odd. "Like so many others. It's rather strange seeing Celestia's own powerful army reduced to bumbling small ants against something as simple as these gryphons."

Sunny grimaced. She tried to focus as she didn't want to stop and mourn the dead soldiers under her. She had walked the streets of the city, not caring about the danger lurking within the hearts of the assorted crowds. One wrong move and she had watched a few new recruits run away as the madness started. They had splinched themselves into a nearby tree. It was messy and it had only gotten worse as the crowds had come once the first fires started burning. Sunny shook her head. She slid up against the cart and tried to focus. If only she could figure out the mare's trajectory, some kind of hint of where she was, it would bring her some kind of focus. "Sounds like somepony's jealous. Sure we aren't doing too hot, but would you and your little plan work if you were in our place. Try fighting against three ponies in a fight. Its untenable, unless you split them up, play off their weaknesses, try to goad them into something. And here you are trying to say the Princesses suck. Who's been leading the country for a thousand years? Not fucking you."

Sunny felt the unicorn's magic charge and almost blast her position. As she felt the air shift and crackle as a coming storm of emotion washed over the cart, she teleported away. She'd rather live another day than run headlong into a fight against an unknown factor. And unicorns were unknown factors- enough so that she heard whispers of how each was profiled by some small group of ponies. She thought that was just a conspiracy theory, but she was on the receiving end of that unicorn, and she was pissed off about something enough to perform black magic.

She quickly hid as she felt dragons land nearby. She didn't dare peek out or breathe as the pony quietly mounted the huge beast and speared off into the sky. "Fuck."

Zephyr put his rudimentary Wonderbolt training to use- rudimentary as in that his own sister taught him a few moves, badly, on a drunken night in Las Pegasus- though that hardly mattered since he was a terrible flyer. He didn't really care as he saw a giant dragon nearby shooting gouts of flame, the sight almost pretty in that it shimmered with a myriad rainbow of colors, blues and purples, greens and golds, as the heat of the dragon's breath interacted with Manehattan's latent weather magic. He barely dodged a Changeling's jaws as he marveled at the sight, twisting away at the last minute as it tried to grasp onto his neck. He rhythmically swore, his cadences rolling up and down as he ran into cloudbanks and heat sinks, blindly dodging attacks as the rising black smoke blinded him through and through. He could hear the screams and shouts of dying things- unsure if the shouts were genuine or not he didn't dare to stop and check.

He barreled through the clouds and saw the collapsing mass of hundreds of buildings, their massive stone edifices falling into one another like dominoes. He dodged and swerved the best he could, but he felt pain shoot through him as a large piece of rock sheared off and hit his side. He felt his world spin as the air was forced out of him in a large whoosh as he somersaulted through the air for a few seconds, the world turning topsy turvy as he tried to right himself.

He breathed again in blinding hot stabs of pain and tumbled through the air, running smack dab through a clot of Changelings- luckily fast enough to be only bruised and battered, not eaten. And he fell further through the clouds, now in a spiraling sense of doom as he carefully touched his wing quickly to see what was wrong and came back with a sticky glob of blood.

"Oh."

He gulped air as quickly as he could as he crashed into the water, skidding like a stone as his momentum bounced him around enough to rattle his bones. He silently thanked Celestia that pegasi magic usually held strong in a crash, else he would have been a casualty as his body ran face first into a brick wall.

Zephyr popped his head above water and paddled through the pain as he watched Manehattan slowly get smaller. He smiled faintly as he climbed onto the far shore and gingerly walked through a pile of washed up corpses. He stared at the cold, lifeless eyes and said a quick prayer for them as he walked towards a nearby rocky outcrop. He hated camping with a passion, but at that moment, any kind of possible shelter was better than nothing. He scooped up a bundle of dried driftwood as he walked the beach of death and hoped he remembered enough from training to build a fire.

He wheezed through his mouth, flecks of red staining his lips as he walked. "Great first day. Sis told me it would be a bundle of fun. Mom would just be right as rain to see me now."

Dust ran. She felt her legs trip faintly over bits of rubble as she ran through the underground of Manehattan. Rara followed close behind, only keeping up from being full of stamina thanks to her being an earth pony. Dust could hear the faint wheezing as she banked a corner, seeing flashes of green as she ran away from the building horde of Changelings that had now holed into the mess of Manehattan. One lunged towards her, its fangs sharp and glinting in the faint sunlight creeping in from above. Chitinous armor glinted black, spittle flying from its jaws. She would stopped right then and there. Dead in a corner below some Celestia fucked place in Manehattan.

She quietly wished she was somwhere else. Acacolto or maybe the Isle of Mare. Somewhere far away from whatever mess that this was.

She blinked once, waiting for the feel of her last breaths as the jaws of some nameless 'ling crushed her through and drank her blood. She waited.

"Come on, come on. You can't be failing on me now."

Dust opened her eyes to see Rara covered in dust and greenish blood, smiling ever so faintly as she shook her hoof free of all the ichor and grime that covered it. Dust looked down to see the head of the Changeling pounded into mush, its brains splattered over the paving stones of the subway, a part of its compound eye staring up at her, slowing running out in a river of slime and blood. Dust felt sick for a moment, but kept it down as she had better things to do.

"Equestria to Dust."

Lightning Dust breathed out. "Yeah?"

Rara pointed towards a map of the subway, tracing the route out of here with a hoof, carefully delineating what routes were busted up- crossing out the entire middle of the city on principle- and pointing where they were at the moment. "Okay, so maybe I messed up a bit. You may sue me for. . .let's say a million bits. Svengy won't like that, but on sheer principle, I think having an alive me and not a dead me is better for business."

"Ha ha, very funny. Coming from the pony who doesn't pay her tab. Where would you get that kind of money."

Rara smiled and went on. "Well, we'll burn with that bridge when we get to it. But let's see. Main line's a no go. So cross out any lines connecting to it on principle what with the worry that everything fell down. That leaves the ways out of town with the. . .northeastern. . .and south line? Dust, heads or tails?"

Dust groaned, her body hurt from running through miles of track, and she breathed heavily now that she had a moment to compose herself. She brought a hoof up to show Rara that she was listening and she counted to ten to steady her breathing. She glanced at Rara again and tried to put on a courageous face as she spoke. "Heads."

Rara traced the map and hummed quietly to herself as she worked out their destination. "Okay, south it is."

Lightning Dust cocked her head. "Woudn't we go the other way?"

The blue earth pony chuckled. "No, I was deciding on what way to definitely not go- you chose northeast. So I decided to go south. Just call it an artistic hunch. A great trembling of cowardice, a miasma of death. I just want to go near water and what's the closest line? South."

Lightning Dust groaned in protest as Rara pointed the way out of the subways.

***

Ponyville

Dash walked carefully as he tried to keep away from the weird thoughts clogging his brain. Rarity had mentioned some of the odd feelings being a stallion, but she hadn't been totally true with some of it. The dick for one. He gritted his teeth as he carefully walked through the town, trying to avoid main streets and all kinds of important areas just in case some awkward think might happen.

"Dash, you know we could just walk on up to Twilight, say what was up, and he'd fix us right? Because I am totally for any odd plan you have, but we've spent five minutes trying to get past Quills and Sofas."

Dash rolled his eyes, careful to keep his deep voice quiet. It still freaked him out to speak in what everypony called the Flutterguy voice, but it didn't freak him out more than the odd copy of his dad staring back at him. He had kept any memory of his parents to the one moment- their idea of selling him to the circus. Not thought of them at all since then- well besides the few times it was brought up, or in times of decidedly uncool, but totally acceptable, moments. But here was Fluttershy. "I keep saying that we'll move when we're ready. It's not my fault that Bon Bon is taking way too long buying a quill."

"So just walk out there and nobody will care. It's Ponyville. If we say Twilight's spell messed up, they won't mind at all. I mean she did cause a riot with her Want It, Need It spell."

Dash shot Fluttershy a quick look. "I know that. But you aren't like three heads taller than anypony else. It feels weird."

Fluttershy sighed and climbed up on Dash's back, feeling slightly bigger than the last few weeks with the new stallion body, but still small enough to fit snugly on Dash. "Whatever. But I feel like hiding in a bush isn't a great idea then. I mean most ponies can see you anyway." Fluttershy lazily waved at a passing Sparkler who just rubbed her head in sheer annoyance as she passed them, her eyes bugging out slightly as she took in the two of them. "But do what you want to do. I'm taking a nap."

Dash groaned, feeling the odd weight of Fluttershy on her. Feeling certain parts that weren't there before. He shook his head. "Fine, fine. I'll just go on out and deal with it. But I'm not going to like it." He carefully eased his way out of the bush, not caring that he left a sizable hole in the middle of it and walked firmly into the street. Right into a pony he disliked meeting.

"Watch where the fuck you are going- Fluttershy?" Spoiled Rich grimaced and put herself together as she looked up at the rather intimidating form of what she assumed was a stallion Fluttershy. "Just the one pony I wanted to see." Spoiled Rich's eye twitched as she noticed Dash on the back. "Amended. The two ponies I wanted to see."

Dash groaned. "I didn't want to see you either. Plus don't you like sell jewelry? What keeps you from that?"

Spoiled Rich carefully smiled and wiped her face. "I'll have you know that I would be working on a few things for the elite of Canterlot, like I do every single day, but it seems like my sweet daughter has gone missing. I was just talking to one of her classmates, you know the one with the speech impediment, and she said she was this way."

Dash shrugged. "Haven't seen her at all. Are you sure she isn't like at Silver Spoon's house. Or maybe she just wants to be alone. Like how you were with Filthy when you were younger."

Spoiled's face twisted into a rictus smile as she carefully chose her words. "Whatever I did in foalish folly, I'd rather not have my daughter repeat. Especially what I did with Filthy. There is a time and a place where sharing deep emotional thoughts and feelings are totally fine. She's hardly old enough to care for herself. Which is why I'm so worried about her. She could fall into a hole and break her leg. I mean this isn't Canterlot, or Appleloosa with the dirty buffalo, but she could be dying and I don't know it. Or she was foalnapped."

Dash chuckled. "Well if she was foalnapped, I bet she's fine. Probably would be dropped off without a ransom because she's so talkative."

Dash could feel Fluttershy's stifled laughter as he talked more and more to the worst pony in Ponyville. After a few more minutes, Spoiled left and the pair of pegasi were alone in the middle of the street. "Celestia damn it, I dislike her."

Fluttershy nodded. "I know. And she seemed off."

Dash's eyebrow raised. "Like how? Cause all I saw was her normal prickly self."

Fluttershy shrugged and rolled over carefully, laying his nose in Dash's mane. "I don't know, but she just felt like wrong somehow. Less kind."

Dash sighed and stretched his wings. "That's a real feat. But whatever. Probably just some family stuff. Or not. Don't really care. Cause I'm sorry, but I'm keeping anypony like her at hoof's length. Cause I still remember the few. . .memories you have up in here." Dash tapped his temple and shook his head. "So she could drop dead and I won't feel all too bad about it."

"I would."

Dash chuckled, deep and dark. "Well that's partially one of the reasons I keep you around. You keep me grounded. Now let's just get this over with before I have to deal with somepony like Scootaloo seeing us like this. Cause I will not be the one teaching the birds and the bees to foals because Twilight thought a spell like this would be okay."

Fluttershy poked Dash in the ribs, knowing full well where the most discomforting spot to prod to produce a reaction. "It's been like half an hour. It's not that bad."

"Coming from the pony that looks like my dad."

Fluttershy stopped. "Wait, what?"

Dash swore quietly.

***

Roxie carefully set the little pony near her as she tried not the think of the pain the little one was experiencing. She cautiously set the grey pony on the dusty couch in the middle of the room. Stacks of old things cluttered the space and she hadn't dared to touch anything of importance. Wailing Diamond's mate lived on this land and hurting any sense of that kindness freely given- that was not something she would do. Not after being run out of Appleloosa due to some misunderstandings about ponies and things. She shivered slightly as the breeze hit from the open door, fur rising on her neck as she felt feelings she had tried to not think about. Home. Death. She rose on her haunches and stalked carefully around the room, making sure that they were alone. "Sorry for mess. New in town."

The small pony grimaced and laughed. "It's just nice to relax. After all of. . .this." She focused on her leg, silently running her eyes up and down the spreading blackness.

"Roxie agrees. But black rot is rare in Diamond Dogs. Big for warriors, cold dogs, hunting packs. Not for pups."

The pony grew silent.

Roxie's ears drew back on her head. "You no need to speak."

"No, it's fine. It was my mom, she just snapped. One day she was fine, complimenting me about getting the best in class for a project I did about how the Rich family came to Ponyville, and the next she's acting strange. Staring too long at things. Talking to herself. Then something happened and she-" The small pony's voice waivered, unable to directly continue. "But she probably had it in there. Probably. My aunt's in the Ponyville Hospital after Discord. So I don't know. Maybe it was always there."

Roxie felt awkward as she sat down and beckoned the little one to her side, holding out a paw for the small gray pony to hold onto as she scrabbled to her hooves, and placed her right in her lap. "Roxie doubt that. This seems magic. Smell it on you. Like home, but twisted a way towards not. Smells like the gray pony that held Roxie and her kind prisoner in the caves. Magic bring out things unseen in the heart, change it, add to it. But smell of leg and smell of this place feels off. Good, but there something there."

"That's Ponyville. It's weird. I wished we could have gone to Canterlot. I heard it was rather nice, and the few times my dad brought me on trips around Equestria- that place kept me happy. Just all the shops and everything was all new, but maybe it was just because I wasn't around Ponyville with its small town stuff. It's okay, just not exciting."

Roxie raised a careful eyebrow, glancing at the filly. "This is exciting for you."

"No! I mean, yes. But it felt nice to be in Canterlot without. . ."

A knock on the door broke the thought.

***

Dash knocked firmly on the castle door, his hooves tapping in sheer annoyance. "Come on, come on, come on." She glanced back to see the lowering sun on the horizon, the beginnings of dusk now creeping slowly through the town. "Twilight has to hear me. What in the name of Tartarus is he doing in there?"

Fluttershy shrugged. "Probably something important."

Dash rolled his eyes at that comment. "Well, we're dealing with some major stuff."

"Well more like a minor problem. We aren't dealing with a stampede of wild animals or the end of the world."

Dash stopped knocking for a moment and rubbed his head. "Those scenarios aren't even comparable."

His blue companion stretched out a hoof and contemplated it. "Then you've never seen a truly horrible meal or two. I still remember when a part of the Everfree burned down cause of some unknown burning. For two weeks, I was the single owner of nearly a thousand animal families and had to come up with the time and money to scrounge up food. Rarity had to help me with costs then."

Dash sighed, her curiosity only so slightly piqued. Not enough to stop fidgeting- far from it. But enough to stop her from putting a hole in Twilight's door. "Fine. I guess not. But you had to learn who started the fire? I mean fires don't just start by themselves usually. Though it is the Everfree so I guess they could. But I mean out here, with pegasi, controlled burning is a thing. And a pegasi weather team member wouldn't just start a fire. That's like the first rule with lightning."

Fluttershy turned her head and looked at Dash carefully. "And who was the one that dragged a cloud around to scare ponies with lightning last Nightmare Night?"

Dash groaned. "Okay, so like that was a prank and I was totally using like low level lightning. Not the big ones. Those only cause like mild irritation and slight damage to non pegasi. For lightning, that's like completely harmless. What I'm saying is lightning, the big ones, are usually regulated for major storm events. The tornadoes, the monsoons, hurricanes, and the like. Nopony just burns part of a forest."

Fluttershy slid off Dash's broad back and walked carefully to the door and politely knocked. Turning his head to Dash, his eyes partially covered by a long polychromatic fringe of mane, he sighed. "I've lived out near that forest for years. I don't know everything that's in there. And the things I know make me nervous to step in that tangle without proper planning. Honestly, it could have been anything that set it off. But one thing that the animals kept saying over and over again was that some kind of deer set it off."

Dash laughed. "Deer? That's. . ."

Fluttershy nodded. "Ridiculous I know. But after Ironhoof? I don't know."

The door opened, a slightly miffed Twilight at the doorway, his mane disheveled and a coffee cup in his purple aura. "What do you-" He stopped looking up- his mind skipping a beat as he tried to contemplate that possibility- at Dash. He had slightly expected Dash to not heed his warnings about mixing magic, about how not to do a thing. The pegasus was known far and wide as either a contrarian or a bit obtuse when it came to prime directives. But Twilight had not expected seeing a horse standing in his doorway to his castle. Even if Fluttershy's medical records hinted. Horse hybrids were rare due to the impracticability of, well, equipment. Twilight carefully counted the prime numbers to 73 in his head and quietly calmed down his racing mind. He composed himself again and tried to be civil. "Who was it?"

Dash looked down confused. "What?"

"Who was it who turned you into. . .stallions. I have to know because the counterspells are slightly different- alicorn magic is a pain to untangle. Celestia said it's something about how it's both the most stable and powerful of pony magic. I wouldn't bore you with the details, but lets just say that she's probably right when it comes to pony magic. Unicorn magic, though, is less complex when compared to alicorn weaves. So who was it? Cause I doubt you walked into the Everfree and got Zecora to fix you a potion. There'd be a completely different signature."

Dash ran his hoof across his face slowly in sheer boredom. "Geez, Twi, you don't have to lecture me about it. I know I did a bad thing. Let me just go through the spiel: 'Dash, you shouldn't have. And why did you have Shy turn too? Something about magic and stable stuff and blah blah blah, whatever. I just want you to fix this so I don't have to feel the sheer oddness happening between my legs. Like it's a pain to walk cause its unwieldy." Dash slightly blushed as he moved.

Twilight looked down and quickly looked back up, the sight burned directly into his retinas. "Well that's a thought and image I never needed to know about, but no, Dash, it's not a problem with your magic. Or the interplay between the spell I've been working my plot off trying to fix with this. This just confirms my hypothesis about Fluttershy."

Fluttershy's ears perked up. "What are you talking about. Twilight. Cause I know I'm rather, um, well, large, but not to that extent. I think, maybe. Though I don't know."

Twilight smiled briefly at Fluttershy, his annoyance firmly planted on Dash's shoulders. "Well I wanted to break the news in any other way than having you stroll up like this, but you remember being in the hospital in Canterlot?"

Dash rolled his blue eyes. "Vaguely. There was a lot going on then, so I might be hazy about it. What with a near concussion and Starlight and all that mess. But sure, I remember being in an uncomfortable bed."

Twilight huffed. "Yes, well, I did some tests for the baseline way to fix you two. And some other tests to sate my curiosity, but. . .well, I'll just come out and say it- Fluttershy is about twenty percent a Saddle Arabian horse instead of a pony. Now genetics and percentages can vary, but. . ."

Fluttershy stopped her. "Twilight, I can't be that. I might be wrong, but I would think I would have heard about a horse being in my family tree. Especially in Cloudsdale. They can't fly. They don't have pegasi."

Twilight shrugged. "I tested all of you. You, Dash, and Lightning Dust, just to be sure. And well, Saddle Arabian genetics kind of stand out- what with their slightly isolationist history and. . ."

"But my mom wouldn't have just-"

Twilight really didn't like where this was going, but he decided to just rip off the bandaid. "And that's the thing. Pony and Horse hybridization only works when it's a female horse and a male pony. I had to check Meadowbrook's and Gallop's tomes on medicine and anatomy. It wasn't helpful, but there was cases of that working. The other way was deadly for both the mother and foal."

Dash could feel the waves of emotion radiating off Shy. She would have said she hid it well, but she could sense the slight twitch of Shy's eye, the grit of her teeth, and a slight loss of vocal tone that tipped her off. Or Dash just knew her own body well enough to know when her own voice sounded wrong. Even if it was currently a stallion.

Fluttershy breathed out. "So I guess my mom isn't my mom. Which puts a lot of things in context."

Twilight smiled and cautiously breathed out his held breath. "Well looks like you took that well, now there was a second thing. . ."

Dash cringed as she realized that Twilight, for being so smart, was absolutely terrible at reading the room.

"What?"

Twilight continued. "Let's see, when I was fixing your scuffle with Lightning Dust, I had to set up some rather hard spells to knit bones and things together and. . .well, I came up with some weird, but interesting data."

Fluttershy coolly nodded, quiet and barely moving as Twilight spoke.

"She's, um, well, how do I put this? Your half sister."

Dash whipped his head around as that news broke. "Twilight, what the fuck? That's kind of big news to sit on. Like the both of those. Are you sure?"

Twilight recoiled back as Dash stalked forward, his wings full on display as the pegasus walked in front of Shy. "I mean. . .like pretty sure. The thing about certain genetic markers is that they are rather rare and auras tend to match in families. Then similar facial features, and then I had the Canterlot Archives expedite me a few files of yours and hers. I didn't get all of those due to how medical systems work in Equestria, but. . .same parents. But that would be impossible since she's full blooded pegasi and you. . .well aren't."

Fluttershy stared blankly at Twilight and breathed out, his chest heaving with emotion as the news broke to him. His head hung down as he could hear Twilight almost mumbling to himself. Or he thought he was. It was just that he had other things on his mind at the moment. He blinked and could see each moment of his life from beginning to now, just there in his vision and he snatched out the snippets of memory of his. . .'mother'. The late nights, the glances, the almost disdain she had for him. Never picking him up from Ponyville. He had compartmentalized that hurt just fine for years. Maybe she just thought he died. It was a long fall from Cloudsdale to the ground. Or they were still looking. Or she was dead. But the news of having a half sister. A sister he never had. Never mentioned. Didn't exist.

"They replaced me."

Dash's blood ran cold. "Shy, they didn't."

"Actually, with how the dates match and how she wasn't. . ."

Dash glared at Twilight. "Shut up before I make you."

"They replaced me. They thought I died and they replaced me. Right away." Fluttershy's eyes went down to pinpricks as he turned away and began to run. With a running start, he shot off into the sky, a rainbow trail highlighting his mad dash away from reality. A broken squiggle of a line, but still a complete thought of one.

Dash stood there for a moment, his breath hitching as he tried to focus. Then turning on his hooves, he peered down at the smaller alicorn with controlled anger in his blue orbs. With great restraint, he picked up the purple prince and slammed him into the doorway once, dragging him up to eye level. Twilight's hooves dangled in the air as he fought for a lungful of air. Dash spoke slowly and with purpose as he stared directly into the alicorn's eyes. "Twilight, you just hurt the kindest fucking pony in all of Equestria. I'm going to try to fix your stupid mistake. But just know that you did a number on. . .him. And the next time, I'm not pulling my punches. Cause for some fucking reason you keep being unable to read the room. So stop it. Just fucking stop." Rainbow dropped the alicorn, who stared up at him coughing as he tried to get lungfuls of air. Dash turned away and headed towards the place that Fluttershy's trail stopped. Rainbow Falls.

Fluttershy tried to fly through a mask of tears as he angled his way towards the furthest point from civilization he could think of at the moment. Rainbow Falls. Not the Everfree. Each had their own memories. Rainbow Falls was near where he landed after falling from Cloudsdale, the prettiest place in his young mind, the falls falling from the sky, in a cavalcade of hues and colors. All of that surrounded by a flurry of birds and butterflies. He hadn't come back here often. Sometimes yearly, sometimes not. Sometimes with the girls. Sometimes not. But that day, watching the sky fall down around him, each hurried wingbeat, each moment the ground coming ever closer and yet here he was.

He laid back on the grass, the weeds and sharp points of the foliage slightly hurting his back and wings but he didn't care. He felt alive. He scrunched up into a fetal position and rocked back and forth as he tried to get the echoes of Twilight's words out of his head. Fluttershy breathed in and out as he tried not to think at all. It was better that way. He could enjoy the feeling of small bugs crawling over him in search for food, the wind through the trees, the crunch of leaves beneath his body as he rolled back and forth. The moment was utterly stark and wonderful.

And yet he couldn't enjoy it.

He stared up at the stars above, traced entire constellations in his mind. The Bell, the Draconequus, Ursas Major and Minor. He breathed out, his eyes taking in the vast expanse of near emptiness, the meaninglessness of everything, the realization of a single spark within darkness. . .he felt oddly small in a world where he had grown accustomed to being oversized and too big for things.

Then he looked at his blue forehoof and laughed in the cool twilight hours of the night. He remembered that he was trapped in a body he didn't want to be in just because of Twilight. That silly, stupid test caused everything to go out of whack. If he hadn't said yes that one moment, he wouldn't have had the last few weeks of his life.

He would have lived calmly near the Everfree Forest, slowly writing his novel, and staying deeply in line with everything.

Fluttershy laid back and felt numb as he sat there, uncaring about the world. A world where a pony he thought was his mother abused him for years because she knew, she knew that she wasn't related at all to the little daughter she had in her house. Just there stewing in so many emotions.

That didn't make it right. The abandonment, the abuse, all of that. Fluttershy had rebuilt her life and she had been perfectly fine. Perfectly fine. He slammed his hoof in the dirt again and again, not caring that he felt a slight bruise forming or that sharp sticks jabbed into the sides of his hoof. He stared at the drips of red near him as he turned, the maroon blood telling him all he needed to know.

Genetics. A series of choices done by his parents, his real parents- half known and half not, and here he was sitting in the most wonderful place unable to get over his world crumbling within a brief moment.

"Beautiful night out here. I can see why you got all the way out here to mope. Wilderness above and below. Stars cutting off the sky. Beats any kind of place I could dare dream up to mope. Usually I just go to the bar and buy enough booze to forget what I came in there for."

Fluttershy could feel a large, warm presence beside him. He didn't dare to look. He didn't have to. The deep bass voice stood out enough to him to know that Dash had sped up here in record time. "Leave me alone, Dash."

"No can do. Can't just leave my best buddy and. . .whatever gender friend to go and mope. Plus you are in my body during this and I'd much rather have that wonderful piece of work in one piece when Twilight fixes us."

Fluttershy scoffed. "Twilight can go eat a dick."

Rainbow stopped for a moment. Then what Shy said hit him all at once. He broke out laughing in great peals of laughter, each bout punctuated by a long gasp of air as he tried to calm himself down. He sat there giggling for a few minutes, barely able to speak, only able to say brief syllables of assent as he stared at Shy. He breathed out and smiled at the blue pegasus. "Yeah, Twilight can have a whole bag of those after what he, she, whatever said. I'd have been here sooner, but I had to have a harsh talking to with our least favorite princess. Or prince. Whatever. This gender spell shit gets confusing. I'm here. You can talk. You don't have to. We could fuck."

Fluttershy cocked an eyebrow at this. "That came out of nowhere."

Dash shrugged. "I had like twenty minutes to run through this huge speech about how you are beautiful and the best friend I ever had. With examples. But then I realized most of that had Twilight as a character in a lot of those shared memories. Then I tossed that cause that sounded gay."

Fluttershy rolled his eyes. "Dash we are gay."

Rainbow got up and stretched, carefully preening a few yellow feathers that became askew on the mad dash to here. "I mean technically. But I've seen dicks. There's something there. So like yes, but no? I think? Twilight's better with the semantics. But I tossed that speech and I thought 'What would Blossomforth do?' Cause she and Cloudkicker argue all the time and they never have issues like this."

Fluttershy rolled over. "You don't know that. I bet they do. Probably have a ton of issues."

Dash carefully rubbed Shy's back, rolling his hooves into some rather hard places. He could feel the tension stringing through his mare, er, stallionfriend. "I bet. But they stay relatively okay. That's the thing. They fuck all the time. And then they talk about it."

Fluttershy leaned into the brief touches of Dash's hooves, still angry at the world. "That's kind of gross."

Dash facehooved. "No, I mean they screw. And then they talk about their problems after that."

"Eh, I don't think that'd work."

Dash shrugged. "It's either do that or yell 'Fuck Twilight' at the top of our lungs for the next few hours and I bet the girls would hate that. I'd love to stick it to Twilight, but plans and all. Plus Rarity wouldn't be able to show off her costume design. She'd be pissed off. At us. Y'know, instead of Twilight."

"Still. . ."

Dash sighed. "Fine, fine, we don't have to do any of that. Just sit right here, cuddle, and do nothing else. But if that is the case, you tell nopony cause this would make me go into negative cool points."

Fluttershy smiled. "I'd like that a lot."

Dash sighed and pulled his smaller date in close, pressing the two tightly together as he wrapped him up near him. He could feel the warmth radiating off Shy like a little sun, waves of heat buffeting him with comfort as they nuzzled together. Shy pulled close, pushing his rear into some rather unfortunate places, rubbing up gently against his lover's dick. "Uh. Shy. I really don't think this will work."

Fluttershy looked back and blushed profusely as he felt Dash's length harden at his touch. "Oh my." His voice cracked as he tried to angle himself away from the hardening rod, his legs scrambling for purchase as he crept his body ever so slowly away from Dash. "It was so much easier when we didn't have to deal with these."

Rainbow bent up to stare at Fluttershy, her own cheeks beet red as she stammered out a reply. "I'm sorry we got into this mess. Really should have thought things through, y'know, besides the whole stallion thing. Celestia, I'm such an idiot sometimes."

Shy waved a hoof. "Sometimes. But I think I have some blame in this problem. I mean, I did agree to this."

Rainbow laughed. "Not really, I was the one who pushed us into this. I do kind of rush into things without thinking. I got that all the time when I was little. 'Why don't you think about the consequences?' and the like. I mean, sure, this is fun and all, but I'm currently like nine feet tall with a ridiculous dick. You just look like a younger version of my dad. On who got the shorter stick it's me."

Fluttershy rolled his eyes. "Doesn't look that way to me from where I'm standing."

Dash cocked his head and leaned gently against a rock. "Wha- oh. That was a joke. Odd. Weird timing. But nice. If Pinkie was here, I'd say you'd need a bit of work. Still we have to fix these. Cause I don't know the whole danger of magical dicks but it's been like a few hours. I would have guessed they would have gone down by now."

Fluttershy tapped his chin in thought. "I mean we could ask Rarity or Twilight. Scratch that, probably just Rarity."

Dash groaned as he paced back and forth, his wings on proud display as he tried to think of every possibility. "Yes, ask the one pony who knocked up Applejack using this spell. Bet she'd love being asked 'so do these dangerous weapons go down on their own?' Though I doubt she noticed or cared."

Fluttershy smiled at the thought. "I doubt it. With how she was in school, she planned out every single thing to a T. She even kept a notebook of how to maximize the number of dates she had in a summer. She probably noticed."

Dash grimaced. "Okay, put that on the list of things I didn't need to know about her. Seriously? A fuck book?"

Fluttershy shrugged. "More like a daily planner, and I was the one keeping things on schedule. Else she would have-"

Dash raised a hoof. "Fine. Whatever, Rarity likes dicks and whatever else. Back to the problem." He pointed directly at the rather large elephant in the room. "And no, I'm not doing whatever you think with this thing. Cause I'd rip you in half."

Now it was Fluttershy's turn to cock his head. "What? That's not how this works. I don't have to take all of that. Where in the world did you think that was a safe idea?"

Rainbow glanced around. "I will not say it was porn, but I won't say it wasn't porn."

Fluttershy groaned.

"Shy, I feel stupid." Dash looked down at Fluttershy.

"Well I think this should work. Though my sexual education ended with Cookie Crumbles talking for hours about everything she every knew about sex. It wasn't the most fun sister bonding experience, but Rarity and I still mention it and laugh a little about it. Oh, and I've seen countless animals do it. And I don't like tooting my own horn, but I am a well liked erotica author. So who's more practiced in this?"

Dash shrugged. "Probably still me. Though I never thought I was attracted to a bookworm. But fine, I'll do what I have to do. But okay, just be Daring Do in the Temple of Ahuizotl. Focused on the mission." Dash leaned down and nibbled on Shy's ear, the soft texture odd to him as he let his tongue trace circles around the smaller stallion's ear, hearing the hints of moans and whimpers as he began. Dash smiled as he never thought he would be using his ticklish nature as a weapon.

Dash let go for a moment and whispered into the blue stallion's ear. "We're just getting started." He stretched his wings and let his larger body cover Shy in warmth as the night started to turn cold, the heat radiating off of the two of them. Dash bent down and kissed Shy on the lips, letting his tongue dance furtively into Shy's mouth as he pushed into the kiss, sending a real message and trying to let Shy enjoy something tonight. Since Twilight had ruined her life story in minutes, he wanted to build up Shy's confidence one lick and tender touch at a time.

He laughed as he could feel Shy bend into the kiss, letting his kiss settle on Dash's own lips as they sat there for a moment, letting there existence boil down to that. One kiss beneath the stars between ponies that understood enough about each other to let their hurt out and let it heal.

Dash broke the kiss for air and grinned devilishly at his lover. "So I guess that means phase two can start? Cause foreplay is fun and all, but I'm more of a take charge kind of pony. Plus the time is getting short." Dash motioned to the moon who stood halfway to the night sky. "Tight schedule."

Fluttershy rolled his eyes and blushed as he rolled over. "Be gentle."

Rainbow patted Shy's head and chuckled. "I will. Slow isn't my usual thing, but this isn't really a thing I expected."

Dash slowly stood, feeling the power held in his borrowed body as he did so, and leaned over his little stallion, careful to take in the shape of everything- a possible version of himself staring up at him. He shook that creepy image away and licked a hoof in preparation. "This might fucking hurt, Shy. If it does, tell me and I'll stop cause-"

Fluttershy smiled, his hair slightly a mess with grass and twigs curling in his mane like he was truly a part of nature and Dash brushed a wingtip against Shy's nose as he moved, the motion making his partner laugh as he tried to move slightly away. The small, blue pegasus looked up, slightly afraid, slightly aroused, and to Dash, it was truly the most beautiful sight in all of Equestria- this moment. The sky full of stars, the night atmosphere, being in nature with a pony he loved, staring down in a protective way as they probed deep into one another with their eyes. "It's okay, Dash, go on ahead."

Rainbow let his damp hoof fall gently onto Shy's back, his back in a way, but this was the first time he truly took in his own self without use of a mirror, this alternate stallion version with similar enough features, yet coolly different. He traced circles in the athletic back, the muscles flexing as he massaged the worry out of his little stallion, the dancing hoof pounding out a brief rhythm as he could hear Fluttershy's coos and moans of pleasure. He traced lower still, tracing the oddly feminine ass that he would have had if he was a stallion- firmly packed with muscle from years, if not a decade of squats, and yet he felt the last mote of flab, the fat outer layer inviting him in as he stared into the place that Fluttershy told him to go.

He placed his damp hoof on the tight center and pressed, the hole slightly giving as his spit wet hoof parted the twin cheeks, Shy gasping as the slight pressure surprised him. He felt a corner of his hoof enter deeper and the lewd kiss Shy's insides gave him as he pulled back ever so gently. "Oh Celestia, this is the oddest thing, I've ever done."

Fluttershy laughed. "How do you think it feels from my end?"

Dash blushed as he bent his knees ever so slightly and angled his dick towards its destination. He bit his lip as he bumped into Shy, the feeling of touch there being odd, but not unwelcome. He rubbed up gently against his lover and pushed inside. He could feel Shy tense as the unfamiliar feeling of being filled hit the smaller pegasus and he grunted as he tried to move, the tightness of his smaller lover sucking on him greedily as he tried to pull back. Time slowed to a standstill as sensation hit his brain and he couldn't take the feelings anymore. His brain shut off and his vision almost turned white as he came, the warmth of that filling Shy and he could vaguely hear Shy's own release and moans as the pair just let themselves be free in the moment.

Dash brushed Fluttershy's mane dry with his wings, letting the feathers tickle his lover's scalp as he whistled a song he heard from Applejack, some country ditty about some mare taking a stallion from another pony. Nice little melody there and he kept thinking how rather odd it was. Sitting there at the bottom of Rainbow Falls, cleaning off the smell of a lovemaking session, carefully trying to pick out the pieces of nature that clung so fiercely to Shy's mane. It was almost idyllic, besides the stallion part, Twilight being a dick, and being probably fashionably late, as Rarity would put it, to any sort of Nightmare Night festivities.

Dash hugged Shy close and held him there, breathing slowly as he felt the warmth of his little stallion in his hooves. "Whatever happens, Flutter, I'm here for you. Anything."

"Thanks."

Dash rolled his eyes. "I'm serious. If we like meet your mom. Either of them- I guess- I'll have some rather nice words to say to at least one of them. Dunno what your actual mom has been doing for like twenty years, but fuck that bitch who raised you."

"I don't really-"

Dash held up a hoof quickly. "Sorry, I'm just. . .well, mad about it. I'm just. . .I would have liked something normal. I was raised in a circus, and here you are almost having a normal life. Or you should have. You should have been treated better than you were cause-"

Shy leaned in and rested his head on Dash's yellow chest. "Don't worry, Dashie, I get it. Everything you are trying to say, and I did have a mostly normal life. Just not exactly. Rarity's family took me in and showed me what it was like to be loved. Would I be happier if my life turned out differently? Maybe. But falling from Cloudsdale really started my life. And if I didn't have that happen to me, I might have never met you again."

Dash blushed. "Well, still. I'll put in a few choice words with whoever I have to."

Fluttershy smiled and nuzzled Dash's cheek, quickly planting a kiss on the larger stallion's lips. "I know, Dash. I know. Now let's get back to Ponyville, before Rarity has a conniption fit." Fluttershy laughed, his voice high and reedy as he shook his coat dry. "And Dash, I'll return the favor if I ever meet your parents."

"I guess fair's fair. Though don't scare them too much. You tend to get really intimidating when you're angry."

Shy groaned. "I'll try. And the Gala was only one time."

"And then there was that whole thing with Iron Will, and you staring cockatrices down for fun, taming a dragon. . .I could go on. Sometimes I think I'm dating one of those characters in the comics Spike reads."

Shy scoffed. "I'm nowhere close to a supermare, or stallion."

"You are to me. But don't tell anypony, cause I felt my cool points lessen just by admitting that." Dash playfully shivered and winked. "I could stay up here all night, but I guess if you have to pull my leg, we can go back to town."

"I-" Shy's response got cut off as he was swept off his hooves by Dash, the pegasus using Twilight's mishap to carry his lover in his hooves.

"But I'm going to take the scenic route. From what I can see of the moon-" Dash motioned towards the large full moon that illuminated the water, making the pools shimmer and glisten with moonlight as he twirled on his hooves. "I'm taking the scenic route. Sometimes being late to a party is better than being early. And we can just say I accidentally fell asleep. The girls would totally believe that." Dash launched him and his lover up into the sky, his large borrowed wings turning towards home. Shy felt safe in Dash's embrace and snuggled into the crook of Dash's shoulder, face aglow with both worry about what Twilight said, and hope for the future.

Rain In Soho: Owner of a Lonely Heart

Luna stared down at the mass of ponies gathered in front of her, smiling and expectant faces beaming as she walked slowly onto the stage, her mind racing with thoughts and feelings. She could see Twilight in the front row, his sculpted jaw and wonderful eyes staring at her. Causing her legs to turn to jelly as she slowly approached the podium. Making her far more nervous than a basic speech normally did. She tried to slowly recite the Equestrian Postal Service's fantastic rules and regulations to calm down, but she stumbled on the difference between sleet and snow and how that impacted the delivery of mail. She slightly blushed, imperceptible to all except a few knowing ponies. Luna hopefully wished Twilight didn't know.

She cleared her throat and smiled at the crowd. "Wonderful subjects, confidants, and creatures of all shapes and size, I, Princess Luna, Princess of the Night sometimes wonder how I was remembered after my banishment due to some. . .improprieties during a rather difficult time in my life. Imagine my shock and wonder to see ponies celebrate me in a way. Nightmare Moon." Luna shivered at the thought, focusing her eyes on Twilight. She had practiced a vague recitation of this speech with the purple alicorn and so letting her mind think of ways to let go of every eye but those- she'd be far more relaxed. "Yes. Well, I have come to terms with that in my own way due to a few special allies of mine, and this new world I have been privileged to see." Luna smiled. "Let us have Nightmare Night, be not a terrifying night built upon a very real threat, since that time has passed, but a holiday where scares and candy can be enjoyed in peace-"

Luna smiled as she heard the resounding applause for her speech as she wrapped up her little introduction to the event. She had learned through many a diplomatic mission the essential value of brevity. And Twilight had excised an entire recounting of the founding of Equestria, her fall, and redemption. Luna had seen that as a necessary evil. Even if the cathartic sense of writing that life story down and seeing it laid out in writing was nice. It brought up a few nice memories. Of the Pillars. Of Somnambula. Of many things. But three hours was a tad bit too long.

Luna bowed and cantered down the steps. passing foals and numerous well wishers as she stared directly into Twilight's eyes. "Thank you, Mayor Mare, I will be talking to mine sister about your tax plans and how they impact the greater Canterlot metropolitan area. . ." She nodded and let the lifelong bureaucrat walk away.

"Luna, that was wonderful." Twilight smiled as he carefully waded through the foals and well wishers, the purple alicorn's beaming smile making Luna's heart flutter as she felt his wings encapsulate her in a brief hug. "Oh, right, right. This is Moondancer and Sunburst." Twilight turned and pointed vaguely in the direction of two ponies that, at the moment, Luna could not care less about.

"Charmed." Sunburst quickly bowed, his quick costume of a fourth century philosopher with long colorful swaths of fabric to highlight the gleaming glass beads caught her eye for a moment as she tried to place the face of the stallion. "Princess Cadance sends her warmest regards. I always did want to see if the legends were true about certain ponies of the neoclassical era-"

"Shut it, Sunny." A dark unicorn, eyes blood red and gleaming with some sense of annoyance dressing a quick facsimile of King Sombra's battle armor, cape, and pauldrons, stared at her intently. "Moondancer, at your service." She quickly bowed, observing all manner of Canterlotian decorum in short order, and stepped back. Luna quickly placed the two ponies in her mind- once the shock of seeing a gender bent version of King Sombra wore off of course.

"I have not seen an umbral pony in some time, I might like to hear of how you were formed, since those weren't really born, but made." Luna tried to smile sweetly, hoping that her training in the arts of being far more approachable would pay off."

Moondancer nodded. "If you so wish. And Celestia does send her regards. She said she would have been here if not for her looking after the training regimen for Canterlot. Amid other things." Moondancer shot the Princess a knowing glance, and smiled. "But I wanted to have one night off. It's just so hard running Canterlot's magical defenses."

Luna bowed. "Wonderful. I would not wish to have you tarry on your quest for candy. I will talk to you both later- now I want to talk to Twilight about something."

Moondancer shrugged. "Fair enough. Come on Sunburst, keep up."

"Cadence help me." The quiet stallion slunk off, sheepishly following Moondancer.

***

Aspen walked into the clearing outside Ponyville, the little hamlet's twinkling lights showing him and his deer the exact way towards their destination. He shook his head, his headdress tinkling with bits of bone and bells hitting his antlers. He could feel the dead all around him as he walked forward, the ghosts of ponies long gone staring blankly at his legions of fur coated deer, their hollow, dead eyes questioning his entrance into the realm between the Thicket and pony lands.

"Brother, do you think this is even wise?" Blackthorn grumbled, his polished armor red as blood and hard as bone as he glared into the distance. "We have the advantage."

Aspen nodded. "We do, but this isn't a battle. This is a message. There are procedures for each possibility. The bones speak of good fortune, if mixed, and so I don't want to hurt our chances for a meeting. The alicorns all know of our ways, our treaties, our talks. Celestia and Luna know the Cerni ways well enough."

Blackthorn rolled his eyes. "They also massacred most of the deer long ago, so I don't trust their benevolent ways. We are a curiosity to them. I've seen their kind walk through the forest, not giving the spirits their due, walk through entire fields of poison joke unaided by the walk of chaos, the steps of the ancestors, and the few ponies that stumbled upon our parties were too naive of the real world."

Aspen nodded. "True, but it could be said of our own selves. But if you want to keep the watch, I won't doubt your judgment in the matter. Now let us return this little pony to her flock." Aspen bowed to his brother and glanced back at the coffin being carried on staves by a selection of his bravest warriors, their face paint striking in the darkness, reds and greens and yellows in stark contrast to the colors of the forest's edge. The King of the Forest walked into the darkness, his whistles and clicks telling his warriors on what he wanted them to do.

The deers' horns glowed with magic and they faded into the darkness, cloaking spells hiding them from all but the most powerful of mages. The archers and bonesingers slunk off into their places, slowly encircling the town like a snake, trapping those who might see this as a threat. Deer did things differently than ponies, pooling their bands into one, sitting and waiting for a peace treaty.

That had its drawbacks.

Aspen sighed as he looked at the dirt, memories of his quick trip into Helvyr swirling in his head. He nodded at his brother and the two lifted the coffin in their magic, slowly approaching the little hamlet of Ponyville, their ceremonial dresses sparkling in the moonlight. This was Luna's time. The midsummer moon glinted at them in welcome and Aspen felt the weight of centuries on his back as he walked forward.

***

Roxie opened the door a crack, vaguely seeing the gray pony that stared back at her, the smell of her was familiar. Woody, tangy, a bit stale, and the mare radiated a fake smile that put the dog's hackles on edge as she tried to be as nice as possible. "Hello?"

"Hello, I wasn't expecting one of your kind." The smile faltered for a moment. "I'm just so sorry to ask, but have you seen a little filly around? About this high?" The mare put a hoof up to her neck and smiled sweetly. "It's just that you are the last. . .thing I saw around here and a friend of my daughter said she went this way."

Diamond Tiara huddled in the corner, old blankets covering her head as she head the speech from her mother. She was so close to her at the moment, only a few feet away and hopefully she would just leave. She breathed heavily, trying to move as little as possible, her leg aching in pain as she prayed that her mother would just leave.

Roxie tried to smile, her jaws unused to that motion making her grin filled with teeth as she tried to stay calm. "Roxie has not seen little one. Besides little one on farm. But she left. Something about sweets and all that."

Spoiled Rich breathed in and nodded. "Yes, well it is Nightmare Night. You do have that where you are from? I am just wondering cause you are a dog and I don't think you can eat sweets. Though that's my husband who says that." Spoiled Rich chuckled, her voice dead and hollow.

Roxie nodded, eager to get the conversation over and done with since she saw the pony's tensing muscles, her set jaw, and her impatient stance as she kept the door as closed as she could. "No, dogs sometimes eat sweets."

"I'll just have to inform him when I see him again." Spoiled Rich leaned against the door for a moment. "But let's go back to the real thing. Where's my daughter. Cause the forest is back that way. My house is back that way. My fantastically smart daughter would just run to the last place I looked. And I looked everywhere else."

"She not here."

Spoiled Rich smiled a huge smile, her teeth showing as she spoke calmly to the dog that was keeping her daughter away from her. "I saw you talking to her."

Diamond's heart dropped at that sentence. The fear she felt at that moment eclipsed her aching pain and all she wanted to do was wake up from this nightmare and go to her mom and be okay. She breathed slowly, so as to not be overheard by her mom. This was her reality now, hiding in a corner waiting for the moment her mom would bust in there and-

"That was little Apple. Not her." Roxie tried to shut the door in this pony's face. As she began to shut it, the mare slid a hoof into the crack. Roxie pushed more and more on the door, but the new appendage made it not want to close. She huffed out and growled at the pony, her mind made up to not let this pony in, even if the pony is the bitch of little grey one. She was used to protecting the little pups of her tribe and she had failed them. She wouldn't let something happen to this crowned one, she had lost so much and holding onto something was better than nothing. She prayed to the earth to give her strength as she shut the door on this pony's leg.

A resounding snap broke the silence as she closed the door. Spoiled screamed in both rage and slight pain. She felt stabbing shocks as she stepped on the broken limb, but she moved forward. Her need to get a better life for her at any cost kept her standing, adrenaline pumping as she beat on the door, howling in rage as she swore to the sky that she wasn't going to stop.

Diamond Tiara backed away from the door, her legs scrabbling against the wood planks as she hobbled through the old building. "Oh Celestia, oh Luna, oh Twilight." She crawled into the hole that was in the middle of the room, still hearing the shrieks of her mother, the blows of her hooves slamming against the doorway. "We're so dead. I mean I thought she was crazy before, but that sounded like her leg. You broke her leg and that made her mad."

Roxie sighed. "Roxie knew she smelled familiar. She like Grey One's ponies. The ones she played with. This a problem."

Diamond Tiara shivered. "How exactly is this a problem? I mean you're a dog, and huge, and kind of scary looking. Can't you just make her go away or catch her and give her to the Princesses to fix cause they fix everything. I mean I don't really like Twilight cause she hangs out with Applebloom and her friends, but she beat like Discord, and all those monsters that my teacher talks about. This is just like a friendship problem. Just my mom wants to kill me for no good reason and she's at the door. But it's fine. All fine."

Roxie bent down and patted the little pony's head. "Problem is that Gr- Starlight, pony who made Roxie's world break, made the spell. She sent so many ponies to dogs. So many. The ones she could not use were sent, the broken ones. They like pony out there. Completely focused on goal, no sense of hurt, no talking to. Just nothing."

Diamond Tiara swallowed. "But that's cause you didn't have the princesses. Now you do. We can. . .fix this. I mean its okay."

Roxie sighed, hearing the banging from outside. She saw the hurt in the little one's face and she wanted to be anywhere but here, at home, with her pack. But she wasn't and she was here now. She leaned down, letting the noise from outside fade away as she stared in Diamond's eyes. "Would hurt go away if winged ones fix this? Magic fix everything but the inside." She tapped on Diamond's chest. "The past not change. If fixed, you have to live with knowing that mother no like you, hate you, want to kill you maybe, and just be fine with. Would you?"

Diamond faltered. "Yes? No? Maybe? I mean we can figure that out later."

Silence reigned for a moment.

Pure silence, no banging, no screaming, no gnashing of teeth. Silence. Silence that unnerved Roxie since she never liked silence in these types of moments. Predators were silent when closing in for the kill. She smelled a hint of ozone in the air as she thought about that and she felt a feeling that something was wrong. She followed her gut feeling as she crouched into the hole in the center of the room, her attempt at a den, and kept Diamond close.

The door, and most of the front wall, bent inwards as a hail of stones were thrown at it. Some rolled off the wall, barely able to dent the strong wood. Some left small holes as the odd pair watched Spoiled grunt in pain as she sent another volley of stones, her leg bent at an angle, crunching violently as broken bone hit rock, her leg flailing about in near uselessness.

Roxie winced at the thought, her mind running wild with memories of Starlight's ponies running into brick walls over and over, trying to get out until they were bleeding out from blood loss. Some ran off of cliffs trying to run away. Some ripped out their tongues and ate them to not talk about the village and how to help. The spell she used stripped them of personality and self preservation.

"Give. Me. Back. My. Daughter. You. Bitch." Spoiled sent a rock the size of a cart towards the shed, her leg snapping in the effort, it hanging by shreds of skin and muscle, bleeding slowly as she screaming in both real agony and frustration.

The rock slowly came up and arced in a parabola, gaining momentum as it fell. Roxie curled up with Diamond as she waited, hoping that Diamond Dog endurance might keep her safe. The boulder smashed through the little shed, shaking the foundations as it bounced once and smashed through entire shelves of old Apple family detritus- rolls of births, deaths, and marriages, pictures, old furniture, everything that was held in the shed as an afterthought- was shattered in a few moments, the boulder rolling to a stop at the edge of the hole, inches from Roxie's face. She closed her eyes, feeling the hard stone bump into her gently. Thousands of pounds of weight a hair's breath away from the pony she wanted to protect.

Spoiled Rich stared down at the pony that stood behind the dead carcass of the large diamond dog. She had come here looking for her daughter, trying to fix her life.
'
Trying to kill. help, her daughter cause her husband was putting all these ideas about her in her head. Just that your mother is crazy cause your aunt broke cause it ran in her family. And he didn't see what she saw, a sister in a mental institution because of Discord. That thing that only called herself Screwball, how great.

She was trying to fix her life. Just fine. The big dog was death with. The small female pony, what did Filthy see in these fucking sluts anyway, a slit to be inside, she thought, just some nameless, classless whore he controlled cause of his money, a series of lays to get what he wanted. But Spoiled didn't give into him, she was free and she'd drink all the alcohol and bang all the hot-

She'd have all the kids. None of the kids. She'd be free, trapped, broken, loved.

She wanted so many things.

Spoiled Rich screamed incoherently as she beat down on Roxie, her fury unabated. She said only brief snippets of words as she hit her over and over again, as hard as she could. She kept on hitting until she heard the crunch of bone and she grinned, placing a hoof gingerly on the ground, staring at all the blood surrounding her, all the red all around her and she looked pleased with herself as she carefully stroked Diamond's face.

"Is beating over? You hit like new pup. Less than. Cause Roxie might get hurt with them, too nimble, too jumpy." Roxie spat out a bit of blood as she rolled over, wincing slightly as she felt the bruises and the pain radiate through her body, She slightly grinned as she began to stand, swaying back and forth as she looked at Spoiled Rich's broken hooves.

Spoiled growled and set down her hoof, her body lurching as more tendons tore in her leg. She fell forward into the rubble of the house, her body screaming in agony as she tried to stand, back legs trying to push her up as far as she could, She stared at her daughter, eyes boring holes into her as she tried to crawl. She kept trying to move, her body tearing itself apart as the magic she had been exposed to tore away any restraint she had on using her magic. She kept staring, unable to break her want to be free of the child that had trapped her in a loveless marriage and just kept her chained towards any hope of responsibility. She nosed her way forward, inch by inch, towards Diamond unable to stop as she felt splinters of wood bury into her face, letting blood fall from her face as she just kept on going. She looked at the pony that had taken her blows and felt a blurring of reality as the dog that she had killed just recently with the boulder rise from the ground and loom over her, just staring with its beady little eyes. The shock frightened her, the spell wavering between reality and not, truth and fiction started backfiring.

And then her heart gave out due to the strain.

Spoiled smiled as she looked down at her child, the happy family of three now okay. She had gotten through the difficult pregnancy with Filthy's help and she felt tired as she sat there in the afterglow of birth. She nuzzled her husband and heard his commanding voice as she almost dozed off to sleep.

"Spoiled, she looks just like you, what do you want to name her?"

Spoiled Rich twitched a moment, her legs digging futilely in the dirt staring blankly at her daughter, a moment of clarity given to her briefly before she fully passed, tears streaming down her face in sadness at the look that Diamond gave back to her- full of fear and confusion- and she blinked once and Spoiled Rich was gone.

Diamond looked at the broken body of her mother, almost surprised at how quick that had happened, she had ran for hours away from her and yet here she was small and quiet, alone in the semi wilderness of the Apple Farm, dead eyes unblinking. Diamond crept out of the hole, and sat down gingerly, her leg in pain. She felt blindingly hot and distant as she sat there in the pretty twilight night of this moment, stars swirling around her as she almost laughed at how pitifully strange it was. She had thought so little of what would happen after she had dealt with this, that she sat here now completely dumbfounded. She turned to Roxie and smiled briefly. "Well, that was easier than expected."

Then her word went to black as her body's flight response shut down.

***

Rockville

"And that's how I figured out my favorite dish of Mexicolt, the Taco Grande." Cheese Sandwich smiled at the end of his story, the remembrance of how he stopped the Calavera with just a bit of hoof grease and a good dynamic view of how parties worked kept his spirits slightly up. "Though I do have to say that I couldn't look at a cucumber the same way after that."

Pinkie slightly smiled. "I bet."

Limestone scoffed. "While I'd love not, I dunno, ruining whatever this is- I want to remind you two that we've been listening to you talk about Mexicolt for an hour. It's not like we live on a treadmill. Fifteen minutes is all it is from the field to home."

Cheese grinned. "Well, I would have done a far shorter tale, but my Cheese Sense wasn't telling me to speed it up and anyway you four seemed to need some kind of thing to get your mind off whatever sent me here. Cause you are all tense, and Pinkie's Pinkie, which still surprises me seeing her here, but then there's the whole whatever caused you all to get sick and-"

"Fine. Fuck. Whatever. Just can we get home?"

"Sure, but I would think you would have noticed your own house. . ."

Limestone looked up and blinked. She hadn't felt any kind of Sense or things moving around them as they walked, but they stood right in front of the Pie family house, it's dilapidated, yet solid outside making her kind of uneasy since she knew that a minute ago they were nowhere near the house. Or else she wouldn't have mentioned it. "What?"

Cheese lifted the gate latch and led the three hurt Pie sisters inside, carefully helped by Pinkie as he whistled a faint tune. He carefully latched the gate back up and knocked faintly on the door, rummaging faintly in his bag as he went, silently sorting through a mess of a collection of things. "Let's see. . .chicken check. Balloons. Streamers. Party essentials and yet all I'm getting is a weird talk feeling here. I don't usually feel those unless I have to give a speech and I am just so bad at those."

The door opened and Igneous Pie stared out at the assorted mess on his porch. "I knew I felt something off. I may not have my mother's Sense, but I felt some indigestion and I hadn't felt something that strong since Discord came back. Come on in I guess, but this is gonna make my training you fall to the wayside. I had all these. . .no matter. My mother always said she did better out in the world, even if I thought she came back from that circus a changed mare." He stepped aside and sighed as he saw his daughters stumble into the house, followed closely by a pony that felt familiar, yet not.

***

Manehattan

Starlight banked the dragon she was riding to the edge of the city and aimed for the last vestiges of buildings near the water. She felt the wind on her face as they descended, and braced for a bumpy impact as she noticed rocky outcroppings and piles of bodies near the water's edge. She would have felt sad, possibly, if she could. But she had lost one small town by no fault of her own and she wondered what the rest of Equestria would do now. The word would get out- especially since the Storm King saw this more as a spectacle than a complete win. She shrugged. Whatever that thing wanted to do was not her problem. She just wanted to see what Sunburst would do.

She carefully jumped off the dragon and looked up at the moon.

"Let's see. . .what was the Changeling plan again? How did the speaker. . .Thorax. . .whatever that thing was. Can't tell them apart anyway." She tapped a hoof on the sand as she thought, leaving hoofprints in the soft ground as she paced back and forth. "Ah, yes. The dragons aren't truly important."

She stared at the large purple black dragon. He almost was a decent specimen for dissection. No outside blemishes for his age, striped patterns barely telling her that he was even there. A night predator, she guessed, if she ever saw one. Two rather impressive sized appendages for mating. Wings that spread out multiple feet in both directions. She didn't care about dragons since they were not even smart enough to really do much of anything. She had read somewhere about dragon culture being advanced so long ago, but she was in the now and it didn't matter if Discord, or any number of evil creatures made them stupid and completely in tune with their baser desires.

"This hurts me far more than it hurts you." Starlight sighed as she raised her hoof, the dragon, and countless others doing the same in that moment. She drew the hoof across her neck, her own skin gently rubbed by her hoof, not hurting, but more of an odd feeling of something slightly wrong. It was a very odd thing to touch her own neck, the gesture far more of a curiosity with how uncommon it was to do such a thing. She hummed slightly as she pressed down hard enough on her throat followed by her jugular vein to cause only slight discomfort,

She glanced up to see a slight red line on the dragon's throat. It spread out more and more as his claws dug deeper and deeper into one of his weak points. She stared clinically as blood started to seep onto the ground, large red drops lit my the cold moon sinking and staining the pristine beach.

As she watched, she could see blobs of black fall lazily out of the sky.

Zephyr heard a train between the screams and the darkness. He had started a fire, just barely, and huddled around it, his wet feathers shivering in the October cold. He swore as a loud thundering crash from Manehattan surprised his addled mind. He watched in silence, the fading sounds of Manehattan fires starting to be put out. He blinked and put out his tongue.

A small white crystal hit it dead center. Snow was beginning to fall in Manehattan.

"That's impossible."

A train whistle hit his ears and a voice hit his senses. "Seems like impossible is the new norm."

Glancing up, Zephyr took in a large yellow pony walking up to him. She had green eyes that spoke to her age, lines on her face showing him that she was most likely his mother's age. She had a coat of light green, lined with red, and she carefully walked through the piles of bodies that had washed up on shore, their blackened, bloated faces staring up in wonder to the black, uncaring sky.

"Stay back. I'm. . .warning you." Zephyr felt unsure about this pony, and after the day he had, bruised, bloodied, and battered, he was really not liking these odds. His legs quivered as he tried to puff out his chest and fluff his feathers.

The pony laughed. "Cute. Though I wouldn't think a green recruit like you would even try to attack something." The mare nodded. "I know you're new. You have that feeling about you." She lifted her hooves and showed each slowly. "If I wanted you dead, I'd have like seven openings here. Not to mention you have terrible peripherals since I doubt you saw multiple ponies flank you."

Zephyr looked back to see a cadre of smiling ponies on the sand, waving gaily at him. "How?"

The mare smiled. "Doesn't particularly matter. Though I've trained my band of clowns to be rather good outside of the circus. But maybe if you meant why am I here? Look around you. Manehattan's on fire, the Changelings are around, there's gryphons everywhere and dragons for some reason. And yet there was a single, solitary fire on this side. You. I didn't come for you because you are special. No. I came cause you seem to be alive and out of this mess. And I think we might need ponies that know what happened here, even if just a little recruit on a bad day."

***

Twilight carefully set down on a cloud, careful to make sure his distance from Ponyville was enough to keep some sense of privacy for whatever topic Luna had wanted to broach to him. She had looked oddly pensive about it, almost unable to make up her mind for a brief moment, though Twilight chalked that up to a lot of things. Stress for one. Luna had poured her soul into the festivities down there and it showed, ponies could be seen racing between hay mazes and haunted houses, statues of both Luna and Nightmare Moon, and a mess of sweets that rivaled the most decadent parties in Canterlot. He was actually impressed.

Luna set down on the cloud as well, tucking her wings in as she landed and bounced carefully on the surface of the poofy cotton candy like cloud that Twilight had chosen. She didn't stare at Twilight as she walked forward, stealing little glances of him as she approached, letting her mind race with exactly how she wanted to proceed. She had mentioned it in passing to Cadance- not the particulars of the situation, just hypothetical thoughts, dreams and irrealities, and the alicorn of love had said that direct messaging was the best. It showed a willingness of spirit, or something, Luna didn't care at that moment what Cadance had said since the actual thing on her mid was that she could feel every awkward step forward, her body lurching through the motions as she approached the point of no return.

Twilight stretched his wings. "So Luna, what's so important that you-"

Luna blushed purple as she spoke. "Twilight, I like you."

"And? I mean I like you too. I mean hanging out is fun and showing you science-"

Luna stared at Twilight for a moment. "I meant like as more than a friend."

The purple alicorn sat and said nothing for a moment. "I am flattered, I really am, but I just was with Pinkie and I don't really know what to make of just falling into another thing like this."

Luna cautiously sat down on the cloud, her wings folding over herself. "I know. But I've been. . .with these kinds of. . .feelings for a while. And I know it's probably a bad time. But I just. . ." Luna hesitated for a second. "-just see you as this whole new alicorn. And that made me hopeful about something I had been dreaming about for a while. I mean I haven't been completely celibate in my time as the Princess of the Night, no matter what my sister's cult like church says. But it was difficult."

Twilight leaned in close. "I appreciate you saying this, but if you don't want to, you don't have to."

Luna sighed. "I appreciate that, I do, but it gets to the crux of the matter. I have this moral conundrum here. I know that Pinkie and you were a thing, are a thing, maybe, but there's just this feeling of being okay in your presence."

Twilight looked away, bashfully unable to take a compliment of that magnitude. "Luna-"

The alicorn of night stretched out a wing and laid it softly on Twilight's face. "Let me finish my story. I just like being around you. You aren't those aristocrats that Celestia has bred to become sycophantic and pompous. Born within a city where I would have expected you to be just like that. But either through some kind of drawing away or just a personality quirk, you became down to the level of normal ponies."

Twilight rolled his eyes. "I think my psychologist would have a mountain of notes to share about that statement and refute that. Antisocial personality traits and a keen sense of failure would probably be his way of wording the main problems. Controlling maybe." Twilight awkwardly chuckled, well aware of some of the more pointed and painful sessions.

Luna sighed. "Twisting my words doesn't make them any less true. You still are standing in front of me, a paragon of change, a mortal turned immortal-"

"I'm immortal. I can't believe that was even possible due to how I became an alicorn."

Luna shook her head. "I have some ways of knowing things. Dreams for one. Being a new alicorn causes some issues and yes, I know exactly all your fears about it. And you radiate a similar wavelength there as all alicorns seem to. I can't yet completely say that you have all the traits, but healing from what should have been a mortal wound in Ironhoof sure lends credence to that hypothesis, if I may use a term learned from you."

Twilight blanched. "That totally wasn't mortal, I healed from it. Magic has a definite property of healing and I just rerouted certain things to give me some sense of being okay. It's just an offshoot of Mage Meadowbrook's Tenets of Healing Magic. Any advanced enough archmage could do what I do, slightly with some alteration due to alicorn magic, but it's completely possible. Extremely, horribly painful. But possible."

Luna nodded. "Possible, but improbable. But let's get back to the task at hoof. I had all these reasons to like you. Smart, charming, magically inclined, interested in a historical period I lived, approachable, and a problem solver. You're not perfect. . .I've read the reports. But neither am I." Luna gazed down at the statues of herself, both versions of her, the good and the evil, and sighed. "You get me more than most of these ponies. I'm a mare out of time and place. Sure, I am as immortal as my sister, but she's had a thousand years to sand off the rough edges of her conduct, lose the conqueror and build a persona of a caring and benevolent princess. To me, that was a few years ago. Fighting Sombra. The Pony of Shadows. A whole number of now forgotten beasts and nameless evils and yet here you are trying to connect with a pony that had brought eternal night once, and tried to do so again. Most other ponies would have just turned me to stone. But you didn't."

Twilight cocked his head. "That was the Elements. I didn't even do anything."

Luna shrugged. "The Bearers are the Elements. The Elements are the Bearers in a way. You chose not to petrify me and look where I am now. Able to walk around in a world I could have only dreamed of with acquaintances and friends. All thanks to you, and that's why a part of me loves you." Luna looked away for a moment at the little town she had come to appreciate, if not exactly love, and sighed. "I could have sat right in the middle of this little town, alive and unmoving, watching entire seasons pass, things dying and being born anew, and never age. Never touch anything besides the ivy climbing up my stone exterior, an interested colt or filly's hoof, a bird on the wing. And yet I'm here interacting with all of you. Not well. But I'm here. All because a few mares decided not to freeze a danger to society." Luna smiled. "You did what even Celestia deemed improbable. Turning evil to, if not good, at least a neutral actor. And no matter what you say about yourself, the doubting, the calls of nepotism that I have heard spoken on the lips of many an aristocrat, the fear of failure, I know that you'll find a way through so many difficult situations and choose a third option."

Twilight almost choked up for a moment. "Luna, I don't know what to say." He blinked for a moment, and opened his eyes to speak.

Luna shrugged. "Say nothing then, actions speak louder than words. And-" Luna's ear twitched. "And if you don't want a relationship, maybe 'tis too soon, I understand. But I just wanted-"

A loud series of thunks echoed through the quiet night.

A splash of wetness hit his face as he glanced back at Luna. Twilight's mind raced as the reality of what he was seeing at that moment hit his brain. Arrows stuck out of the blue alicorn like a pincushion, her wings with ripped flesh as red streaks of blood ran down her sides. An arrow stuck out of Luna's eye, blood running down like tears as she turned, unable to fully speak as another arrow had pierced her throat. Luna's magic faltered for a moment, her body sinking through the cloud like a stone, tumbling to the ground as Twilight watched.

***

Blackthorn growled at his cadre of deer archers. The normal way of entering into a pony stronghold like this little hamlet during one of the largest festivals of theirs was to keep both sides at parity. And keeping his brother's advice of sending a message through the ranks in mind, he killed two birds with one stone. The stories of deer told of ways to incapacitate, not kill, immortals. He held up a hoof for the archers and sighed. The mistletoe arrows made them semi-mortal. Loss of magic, excruciating pain, sensory overload. He didn't like using them since arrows could be broken, overshot, or lost, but for a surprise message it was normally effective.

"You missed one." Aspen smiled faintly as he needled his brother. "I told you it wouldn't work."

Blackthorn facehoofed. "That just means when Celestia gets down here, we'll explain ourselves and it will be okay. She'll understand since going by the treaty, we are totally in our rights for that. Celestia knows the procedure. Even if we took a rather harsh version of things. It's for-"

"I know what its for. This just feels like it will go slightly askew." Aspen hummed quietly as he watched Luna hit the ground in a sprawling heap. He would have been interested in that, if there wasn't something slightly off with the mana signature of this other alicorn. He waited to see if the world would become noon, because an angry Celestia tended towards a dramatic entrance, but the night obscured what was happening.

***

Twilight felt his wings ache as he banked towards the ground, angling his body so that he had the smallest surface area he could, pointing directly at the spot Luna fell. He blinked as he fell, running through any plans he had. Arrows meant an attack. Though it was odd, Changelings didn't use arrows. Neither did a whole lot of races- most used magic to bring down large targets or, like the mentions of reptiles in the south, other factors that they were given. Arrows were odd. He turned on his mana sight with a thought and almost screamed as his world lit up with so many unknown sources of magic that he was unprepared for. Similar sources, so a large, unseen force. He ran through every single spell he knew, and some he had created, in order of lethality.

Twilight hit the ground and rolled, careful to tuck his wings in so there was a limited chance of sprains or breaks. As the dust cleared, he blinked and turned. He stared in shock as he looked at what he had only thought were a mythological or dead species. Twilight dropped every single spell he had ready and stared up at the largest, and one of now a few, deer he knew. He only knew of them from books, dusty, ancient books. Not out in the world. In the middle of Ponyville. That was like Grogar stepping out of the pages of a foal's tale and speaking about current events. It shouldn't happen.

The large white deer bowed and smiled, elbowing the other armored deer in the side as he did so. "It looks like we might have to do some rather quick explaining or else an alicorn that isn't Celestia might kill us all, brother. Things seem to have changed in Equestria." He laughed as he raised a hoof, letting the other deer know to drop any sort of pretense of hiding. "There's a few things we need to talk about. The situation of Ironhoof and the two unicorns that destroyed it for one thing. A new agreement between our two races for another."

Rain In Soho: Culture Shock

Twilight sat uncomfortably on the street, staring at the mass of deer. "What?"

Aspen politely smiled and bowed his head. "We only come in peace, mostly. My dear brother took a precautionary measure with Luna here." Aspen nodded at Luna who groaned in pain as deer pulled delicately on each arrow. "I mean we have to be careful. What with there only being two races of deer. Halved right down the middle because of some rather bad expectations of fairness expounded on by ponies such as your princesses." Aspen sighed, knowing far too well the tales he had been told about by his father, his grandfather, and all the spirits of Helvyr that had a say in the matter. A lot did. "So we can do this the easy way or the hard way."

Twilight cocked his head. "If this is a treaty or an amendment process, by the standards of Equestrian Treaty Law, subsection 2, rule 3, sub-subsection F, I have to ask exactly what those two choices are- in full- and then choose the path forward given to me as a representative of the Equestrian Crown, and as a fellow princess. . ."

Blackthorn scoffed. "Is princess a royal title because you sure don't look-"

Twilight rolled his eyes and sighed, letting the magic holding his male form together drop away. Twilight stretched and let the new, yet familiar height of herself become normal once again. Twilight smiled, only briefly as she saw the brash deer, mentally cataloging his name as 'Blackthorn' for later reference, sputter quietly as she sauntered up to the large white deer that had been talking directly to her. "As I was saying, by my title as a Princess, I have to know exactly what you plan to do with these ponies you are searching for."

Aspen stared coldly at Twilight, his bells tinkling softly in the light breeze as he spoke. "Death by fatal walk."

Luna gasped in pain as an arrow was pulled out by a small deer. She grimaced at Twilight and tried to smile as she tried to think of ways to deal with this problem. She could think of none so far- except talk at a disadvantage. She stared at the mass of deer, faces painted with red, blue, and black. Eyes staring not at Twilight, but at her. She hated knowing that they knew of her, probably through stories of her past exploits. The destroyer, she guessed. "Twilight, that is a death sentence. A very painful, long winded death sentence."

Aspen sighed. "I shall not lie to you. Pulling out the intestines and then forcing them to walk around a tree until death is gruesome to some, but it's a fair trade. We felt the death of our culture twice over. Once when Sunbringer burned it to a desert, and again when it was sundered. It's painful, you know, hearing the dead blink out of existence. Screaming bloody murder as their ectoplasm gets ripped to shreds thanks to the last bits of their magic goes up in smoke." Aspen shivered as he had walked the quiet halls of Helvyr after that, rows of longhouses empty and alone, the wind in the dead trees not welcoming, but cutting and biting at his hooves like glass.

Twilight calmly stared up at the deer and ran calculations in her head. Putting on a facsimile of the Royal Canterlot Voice, barring the royal proclivity to break every window in a mile radius, she thought of what Celestia herself would say and tried to mold some of her mannerisms that way. Act the part of a sure princess, not let the real worries of being in Ponyville, near ninety percent of her friends and staring down an unknown, angry group of deer holding rather fair criticism. "I cannot let you do that. Under. . .royal. . .sense. . .of duty. . ." Twilight stumbled over her words for a moment as she tried to cobble together the most obscene abomination of haphazard, barely used laws in the Equestrian Legal Code just so she could continue this farce. "Yes, under royal duties, subsection 9, paragraph 3, I cannot let any of my. . .subjects be subjected to a foreign power- since we have given you treaties before, that gives you the sense of a past ally/ enemy/ neutral state- so therefore in cases that this happens, I can step forward and take their place as the defendant in this. . .by trial of combat."

Luna stared at Twilight and hissed at her. "Twilight, what in the nine levels of Tartarus are you doing?"

Twilight smiled and winked at Luna, carefully mouthing, "I know what I'm doing."

Aspen pulled over his brother and deliberated for a few minutes, the air taut with worry as deer paced back and forth, and the town of Ponyville grew restless as ponies started noticing a few too many odd newcomers for their tastes. The two deer huddled together and whispered cautiously to one another, each glancing at Twilight before coming back to their talk. Finally, after what felt like ten minutes, they broke apart and walked towards the two alicorns.

Aspen bent his head and stared directly into Twilight's eyes, his blue eyes gleaming green as he spoke, like two deep pools of water. "We accept. We have one additional thing to add though. My brother wants to fight as well. To make it not an unfair fight, we'll let you heal the dark one."

Twilight stared at Luna for a moment, unsure of what to do. She hadn't expected them to even take the ridiculous bet. "Uh, sure."

***

Dash carried Shy over the Everfree, quietly wondering what to do next. He hadn't expected, well, that. He blushed, carefully cataloging each and every moment between the two of them, their bodies intertwined in pleasure as-

"Dashie, you're kind of holding onto me a bit tightly."

Dash blushed. "Sorry, sorry. Just thinking. Lot of things on my mind."

Fluttershy looked up, saying nothing for a moment. "I mean it Dash. Whatever happens, I'm here for you."

Dash smiled. "Thanks-" Rainbow caressed his stallion, a weird thought, with a yellow hoof and would have said anything if he didn't see something odd. "Uh, Shy?"

Fluttershy cocked his head. "What?"

"As the resident weird tree expert, are trees supposed to move?"

Fluttershy laughed. "Of course not, there's no known ways for trees to move. I mean besides magic. Though maybe Discord had forgot a patch of plunder vines. . ." Shy shivered as he thought of that possibility, the mindless crawling of the vines, their continuing march towards a complete and total destruction of natural ecosystems due to a rather messy combination of chaos magic influencing an invasive species. Some of his animals still talked about how they had nightmares of that day, reliving memories of their young being consumed before they knew what was upon them. "If that's the case, I'd say we'd have to tell the. . .well, Twilight? And Luna? Cause I'm not reliving that."

Dash carefully caressed the shock of rainbow hair, feeling Shy slightly tremble with anger. "No, no, I'd know that. I mean the trees are moving." Dash pointed at a nearby tree, leaves twitching in spasms as they looked, parts of the wood creaking and groaning as the pair watched.

Suddenly a flash of light blinded them for a second, the action throwing Dash off balance and letting her grip on Shy almost falter. The world was a bright blank as her eyes refocused, head spinning in agony as she tried to get back her normal vision. Blinking, Dash looked again and saw a mass of animals marching towards Ponyville. Horses, but not, antlered horses. Chanting low and slow, almost speaking Equestrian, but not; long, guttural consonants, short vowels. All gibberish to Dash, though Twilight would say that the pegasus had a basic, if tenuous, grasp of Equestrian herself.

"What in the name of Tartarus is going on?"

"I don't know."

Dash frowned. "Not a good enough answer. I'm going to find out cause this is Ponyville. We can't just have a random series of animals just living right nearby. That's impossible. The Everfree's big, but not 'Daring Do finds an ancient civilization big'." Dash angled his way towards the heart of Ponyville and sped off as fast as his borrowed wings would let him.

***

Moondancer dragged Sunburst down a side street, her cape trailing behind her as she ran away. She cursed her luck as she passed ponies that looked dumbfounded at this random situation. Most would. Having a random patrol of what she assumed was deer walk straight into the midst of town would make most ponies quiver in fear as their happy go lucky lives shatter into unknowable questions and worse answers. She yanked Sunburst to the side as a patrol of deer popped out of the shadows and walked past them, their painted faces glowing in the Nightmare Night lights. "Drat, drat, drat."

Sunburst heaved a major sigh as air was forced back into his lungs- he rubbed gingerly at his throat, slight bruising from Moondancer's quick thinking faintly apparent. He coughed and sputtered as he brought his eyes towards the black unicorn. "You know you could have said something. Cause while I have prepared for most eventualities, I definitely don't have a streak of whatever that was."

Moon rolled her eyes at him. "Shut it, if I didn't think quickly we'd probably be captured by pissed off deer and may I remind you. I blew up a town they liked. It can't be just sheer coincidence that the largest band of deer I've heard of in five hundred years showed up the moment we walked in here. Also I've tied you up before, or have you forgotten our first meeting? I mean you seemed into it."

Sunburst blushed. "I have tried to forget that in every single sense of the word and I said I was sorry about that." He shook his head and looked away as he threw up a few spells just in case some nosy deer walked near them. "And I was going to say that we have been here all day. I doubt they even knew you, or I for that matter, were even here."

Moondancer grimaced. "Yeah, but with how big this party is, I bet they took all day to get here."

***

"What in the name of the Elements were you thinking?" Luna sighed as she looked down at Twilight who was pacing back and forth in worry. "While I commend your wiles in bureaucratic obfuscation and legalese, may I remind you that the last time I've seen a fight to the death, it didn't end well for either party?"

Twilight stared up at Luna, her wings fluttering in reflex as she wanted to fly away and never come back. "I've read some of Starswirl's journals."

Luna sighed. "Well, I've lived them. Flash Magnus would be so proud that somepony, especially a non pegasi, would dare to take up his example of foolhardy behavior. Or should I try to quote Starswirl directly? "And so, with a heavy heart, and a worse disposition, Flash Magnus took revenge on the deer that slaughtered his brethren of the Royal Canterlot Battalion. He won, but sustained nearly grievous wounds that took the combined efforts of all of us to revert. I do not recommend any creature to resort to something as boneheaded as this without consulting reason. . ." Luna carefully walked up to Twilight and bent down to her level and ran her wing across the smaller alicorn's back. "But you already ran every possibility through your mind, didn't you?"

Twilight sighed. "I can't just let them kill Moondancer. Even if I think they might be justified."

"For the loss of their origins, you mean?"

Twilight nodded, her breath quiet and stilted. "I mean we beat Starlight, for now, but lost Ironhoof, and now we have deer in Ponyville because of that. I can't even imagine what might come up next. I can't just let them kill her. She's my friend and she's also a good archmage, and I'm-"

Luna laid her head quietly on Twilight's shoulder. "An alicorn's job is never easy. And your wavering in your conviction, the gray areas in your logic, the just injustice that you are grappling with- that's what a ruler has to deal with every single day. The hard questions of right and wrong. Have a friend die because of something she did in the heat of a moment that impacted future events, or keep her alive due to friendship and later use? A conundrum that I've grappled with myself." Luna sighed. "I don't know what to do about this, but I support your foolhardy decision. Because that's what I have done so many times before." Luna looked up at the moon and sighed. "Just don't let your emotions run your decisions too much, that can be disastrous for anypony."

Twilight nodded. "So what do we even do?"

Luna shrugged. "Well I will fight with you, though I doubt I will even be useful in this." Luna runned her shoulder with a hoof, carefully avoiding the large gashes of torn flesh that were slowly, almost imperceptibly knitting back together. "I hate it so much when mistletoe's involved. I can never heal exactly right when it counts." Luna fluttered her wings, huge holes in the muscle between her bones open and exposed to air. She cringed in pain as a particularly broken piece of bone shifted in the healing process. "But I have one good hit left in me before I'm completely useless." Luna smiled through the pain as she tried to reassure Twilight."

"So you'll die if you get hit again?" Twilight's eyes went wide as she worried about that possibility. The fear of losing Luna and having to explain in gruesome detail to a livid and disconsolate Celestia exactly how her sister died ran through her head. For a moment, Twilight felt bile tickle the back of her throat as she wondered was was worse than retaking Magical Kindergarten again. Possibly sent to the moon or turned to stone as Celestia dealt with a student that killed her sister because she had a stupid decision. Twilight fer herself begin to hyperventilate in fear as her world closed in.

"I'd just become smaller again, not perish. I just hate how everypony treats me when I'm shrunken into a regressive state. You have no idea how humiliating it was to adjust to modern life when every aristocrat treated me like a foal."

"That's. . .reassuring. . ." Twilight sighed as she tried to relax.

"It does still hurt. A lot."

***

Aspen carefully took off his headwear, letting the pristine bones and bells float carefully down to the ground. He could name each and every one of his ancestors on that headdress, their bones showing the exact weight of leadership, of following tradition. Of his duties. He carefully levitated over the box of paints and stared at it. He rarely wore paint due to his abnormal white coat that stained whenever a harsh dye touched it, but staring down at the black and red of battle, he carefully dipped a hoof into the paint and swept it over his cheeks and snout, letting drops fall like blood over his lips.

Ritual battles were carefully prescribed affairs and he was quietly surprised that that alicorn ever dared to touch this sacred ceremony. Ponies rarely did- he had to trawl through the memories of Helvyr to even find one 'recent' example, and that was ancient.

He turned to his brother and nodded as he took the ritual blade from him, carefully pricking his side with it. He felt the blood on his coat drip down into the earth and hummed as he ran through his prayer cycle to Cerunninos, the Horned One, he whispered quietly, letting his voice travel on the wind as he spoke. He could hear the leaves rustling in the trees and the myriad mass of life that surrounded him. He looked up at the stars and prayed to each and every one of his tribal ancestors- the Mule Deer, the White Tails. the ancient Moose, the Reindeer from up North. He stretched his neck out and bellowed as loud as he could, letting his deer know that the time of the ritual was begun. A chorus of honks and bellows rocked the town in echo as he walked forward, blood staining his coat, blue eyes straight ahead as he took stock of the rather interesting alicorn, the immortal who felt not, and the Mare of the Moon.

He bowed as he reached them, his smile welcoming but not entirely so. "Let us begin."

***

Rockville

Igneous sighed as he led his daughters and the odd stallion into his parlor, carefully avoiding the squeaky floorboards as he went, his story beginning as he walked. "I've been rather foolish these last few years." He stared back at his daughters, each impacted by his own actions, each dealing with them in their own ways. "And its all because I, unlike your grandmare, took some solace in these old books." He stopped and groaned as he flipped carefully through the old book he kept in his coat, the worn, tattered pages like an old friend as he skimmed through them. "'Woe unto Tambelon, the haven of monsters, as they performed the abominable rite of sundering. They fell beneath the waves of the Eastern Sea for their meddling in the affairs of nature and the perfect age of immortals passed into the fallible age of mortality. . .'" Igneous stretched his hoof out in a final motion and laid it down. "My mother was far less. . .apocalyptic."

Cheese nodded. "While I think this is interesting and all, I mean this is a bit awkward. Can we get to the point, I always was rather bad with attention spans."

Igneous turned his eye to the yellow stallion. "I'm getting to the point, son. What I was saying was that my mother Honey Pie, Celestia rest her restless soul, thought most of that was absolute hooey. Going on about how fate is both important and mostly immutable, how action was better than isolation. She was better than I, though I think I got my stubborn streak from my father Obsidian, a rather quiet stallion. Black as night and moody as sin." Igneous sardonically laughed. "Their marriage was. . .difficult. She was a ray of sunshine and he was her opposite. Balanced, yet chaotic. He never. . .well. . .it never got bad, but she left a lot. She would often laugh about it. Say it was her duty to bring happiness as a Seer, to spread the word of balanced harmony, a tad bit of chaos, and order in equal measure." He stared up at a tiny black and white photo- a family portrait of the three of them, a tiny foal and his parents. "She probably never realized that she should have just stayed."

Pinkie carefully let her sisters down and walked firmly to her father. "I think she probably knew what she was doing. I mean I feel. . ." Pinkie twinged as she felt Twilight. And Luna. Her heart hurt for a moment and she moved on, letting the bad feelings down into a place she didn't have to think about and she took a quick breath. "I feel a lot of things from all over. She probably knew."

Her father took off his hat. "I know, but she always came back with stories. Her travels always amazed me, and yet she never took me with her away to see the circus she created. I just stayed here while she got to ride the sky with her circus and not have to deal with- things. So it festered into a rather bad case of throwing away anything she believed in and doing what I thought was right. The ends justify the means if the end of the world was happening ever so slowly. Even if some of my methods were. . . extreme."

Pinkie stared at her father, her eyes focusing on his dumping shoulders and overly quiet tone. "What exactly did you do?"

Igneous stared into Pinkie's eyes. "You always were too much like your Grandmare Honey. I kept trying to beat that streak out of you, kept trying to drill obedience to the Seer code of objectivity, of just not feeling. And then, just like she did, you ran away. I had read about how during the Tambelonian Era, there was more magic in the air, some more refined mana, so Seers were all over the place and I took that and ran with it."

Pinkie blanched as she connected enough of the dots. She had wondered why her sisters were different than she remembered. Why their Sense was odd to her. "You didn't. . ."

Limestone coughed. "Daddy had to do it Pinkie. You left and we can't just let the end of the world happen while you dance around and do fuck all."

Igneous sighed and picked up a small bottle of whisky, draining it in a gulp. "Growing rocks is harder now, what with the magic so much worse out here. But four Seers is much better than one powerful, if headstrong one. Though focusing the nascent magic of the land into my daughters was exceedingly risky. I took years off my own life just to do that."

Pinkie shivered. "That's. . ." She tried to come up with some response, landing on a memory of Twilight explaining the ages before modern Equestria. Before magic was a scientific series of boring, if important, rules. And number one was to not just mess with ponies in testing. Magic was weird like that. Twilight turned her parents into plants, she wouldn't just . . . "That breaks like seven different rules for the Canterlotian Convention of Magical Ethics, as one of my best friends would say. That's horrible."

Igneous nodded. "It was necessary."

Pinkie snapped, her eye twitching as she tried to see her father's point. "No. It. Wasn't. You could have just sent something to me. Its not just like I cut myself entirely off from you- I could feel you all the way in Ponyville, all the while wondering what my sisters were doing while I was trying to make something of myself. If I knew. . ."

Limestone laughed. "If you knew what? That Daddy was forcing magic into us? We weren't even supposed to be like you. How do you think we felt, you. . .we felt you the same way, except while we were here, we felt your joy and your excitement for life while we had to bust rocks to even survive and run an inn in the midst of fuck all Equestria cause somepony ran off to be a whiny bitch."

Cheese cautiously walked in between the two mares to dissolve the situation. "I think this place is amazing, I mean sure it's quiet, but you three spent all your lives in an earth pony paradise. It's amazing if you take out the slightly depressing bits of it." He tried to smile as he held back Pinkie. "Though I think I would look terrible in black. But plain and simple living is nice? I think? Ah, I just got an idea for a song. . ."

Pinkie glanced at Cheese and smiled. "Tell me later, but fine. I'll take the criticism my sisters have."

Igneous firmly glared at Limestone. "Lime, please keep your thoughts about your wayward sister to yourself for the moment. Cause I was wrong to do what I did. Perhaps it will be needed, but I think keeping you all here won't keep you safe."

Limestone turned to her father. "Daddy, what are you-"

Igneous raised a firm, if shaky hoof. "Everything's planned out in this little book." He flipped through the little text and sighed as he reached the final few pages. "'The storm shall fall upon the few and it will tear them all to shreds without a passing thought.' I felt Manehattan just now." He hesitated. "It's here. And I'm forcing you three to leave and try to change it. For a old stallion that maybe was wrong. . ."

Limestone's eye twitched in barely concealed rage as what her father said hit her.

***

Twilight ducked, quickly sidestepping both of the deer's blades, the flashes of metal glinting from the crowd's magical auras. Antlers and horns alike were flashing as ponies and deer tried to figure out exactly what was going on. Twilight pulled up quickly, running through non lethal possibilities of defense. Quickly pulling up a shield, she deflected one blade and let the other miss her wing by inches. Breathing heavily, she teleported to the edge of the arena, its area delineated perfectly by a network of spell matrices woven by the deer shamans. It was something she would have loved to actually study if she wasn't hanging on by a thread. "Luna, please help me."

Luna grunted, wiggling out slowly from a tangle of vines that Aspen grew in a brief couple of seconds. "You try being tied up and see how you like it. Hold out for a bit longer, I almost have this spell deciphered."

The purple alicorn shivered as she looked at the two deer. "Fine." She tried to psyche herself up. Shining had told her once that that tactic sometimes worked. "You got this Sparkle, it's just two deer. Two very competent deer." Twilight's wings shot out in fear as she realized that while she had some knowledge of magical duels- Trixie, Starlight, Moondancer even- she was far better in theory than practice. And she was woefully out of shape. "No pressure." Twilight focused her magic and felt a quick heat envelop her as she aimed a quick fire spell towards Luna.

The vines surrounding her friend in hooves were disintegrated and Luna appeared out of a cloud of smoke, coughing heavily. "Twilight, may I remind you that I almost had that. And I understand about performance anxiety, but next time you almost put too much magic into a spell too quickly, please warn me." Luna let a quick smile reassure the smaller alicorn. "Though I suspect Celestia might be slightly proud that her best student is so adept in causing widespread property damage."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Funny." Twilight breathed out, letting her mana form the air into a sharp, hard point. She flexed a tentative wing towards the hard air construct and pricked the spear, letting a faint drop of blood stain the spear a light pink. "I hate making these."

Luna whistled, slightly impressed at the complexity of the spell. "You shouldn't, weapon creation is a rather impressive talent. I haven't seen one of those since Mistmane. Though I did miss a thousand years of magical theory, so I have to say my personal-" Luna ducked under Blackthorn's axe, letting the blade swing harmlessly around her swirling mass of hair. "One moment." Luna blasted the axe away with a quick beam of energy. She hadn't felt this alive in ages. The modern era had so little time for duel etiquette.

Twilight let her spear catch Aspen's blade, the strike causing sparks to fly between the two of them. She breathed slowly as she slid under, letting her weapon fall. She grimaced as she punched into the white deer's leg with her hoof, letting her strength out. She could feel a crack as the deer fell on top of her, his unbroken limbs hitting her face and back as he tried to gain balance on three limbs. Twilight rolled, feeling her face swell with bruises as she shakily rose to her hooves, she spat out a tooth that had come loose from the barrage of Aspen's hooves. "I'm going to have to praise Dash for teaching me how to fight dirty."

***

Manehattan

"Run!" Lightning Dust screamed as she dodged a mass of Changelings. She could barely see in the murky blackness ahead, quietly praying to something as she dodged by reflex pillars and the charred bodies of ponies. She saw a huge rent in the earth and pointed at it, carefully trying to let Rara know that she had found a way out. She zoomed through the tunnel, her lightning trail faintly lighting the writhing mass of chitinous carnage that trailed behind her. She felt the air shift and roil as the cool air of night hit the edge of the smoldering ruin of Manehattan. "Fuck, fuck, fuck." she cursed as she felt her grasp on the air current slip due to her tired body reaching its limit. Her wing buckled and as she watched, in what felt like slow motion, the world spun. With a loud slam, she hit the ground and bounced on the hard, broken concrete.

Lightning Dust coughed up blood as she rose, her teeth red with the stuff, and she looked up.

A dragon fell near her, ragdolling through the air as the mess of air currents hit it. It arced, hit a nearby building and slid down the jagged window, impaling itself on broken glass. Another cartwheeled through the air, plowing into the mass of Changelings as it fell. She glanced back to see it begin to be ripped apart by the feasting horde of bugs, the flesh audibly being torn as she watched. She would have felt sick if she wasn't just so tired.

As she watched more and more dragons hit the earth.

Gallus stared out at the devastation of Manehattan and was speechless. He felt older than his age as he looked at the mess of bodies, their eyes glassy and distant, yet imperceptibly staring at him. Through him. He retched as he felt a pulse of magic that felt wrong echo through Manehattan. It dizzied him as he swung through a neighborhood of Hooflyn, broken, burned out rows of tenement houses silent and dead, He let his wings lead him to nowhere, alighting on a nearby burned out church and he sat down on the one remaining wall, a stained glass window depicting some pony victory staring back at him. Clean, concise, not messy. He ran a claw through his blue plumage and plucked out the feathers stained with blood. He twitched as he thought of that pony he disemboweled. He couldn't tell mother.

She had told him of every single battle she had ever had, every being she had killed. He was supposed to feel joy in revenging the ponies for what happened to Galahad, to the whole Gryphon race. And yet as he stared out at the burned out husk of Manehattan, he felt hollow.

He levitated out his potion and charged the blue liquid. As he waited for the Storm Lands to pick up his call, he scratched his name into the granite of the church. A buzzing sound told him that he had the line and he turned to see the Storm King carefully perched upon his throne.

"It's done."

The Storm King straightened up, his face full of glee as he twitched slowly, his body like the storm itself, full of energy and purpose, the lanky satyr smiling as he took a drink of his tea. "That's absolutely fantastic. Now let's see, who are you?" The Storm King riddled off connections off his paws. "Not Gigi, not Gilda, not Gallant, Gallus? Yes. So hard to keep you gryphons in my head. What with you all looking the same. You should really try to stand out more. I mean look at me, a real salessatyr of a creature, able to stand out as much as I need in the moment. But no matter, how is our little foray into a hostile takeover going?"

Gallus shrugged. "It's done."

The satyr laughed. "My dear bird, the Manehattan project is not done. Have you ever heard of a project like conquering done once the battle is over? No, that's preposterous. And if you dare suggest that again, I'll come and roast you alive while discussing the finer points of my business model." The Storm King smiled. "Now we go into phase two. Cause I think my stormfront property here in my castle is oh so swanky, but the logistics of running a battle across the sea is so hard. Landing troops on a hostile shore is so terrible. And even though I've got word from my other agents, it seems like Manehattan's the best place to anchor us."

"So what?"

The Storm King laughed. "That just means that you have the task of pacifying any and all resistance in Manehattan and hold our hold on this little town cause I have a real hard time seeing that little Equestria as anything but a career goal of mine. Tirek and Grogar laughed at me when I bet them that I would conquer the world and look where that got them. . ."

***

Twilight huffed, her wings full of shallow cuts. She shook the mane out of her eyes, the last ten minutes of this causing her to work up a sweat and it distracted her. Trying to breathe through a mass of worry, she aimed her spear at the pair of deer- both panting as they stared at her, waiting for the best opportunity to strike. Aspen's leg bent at an angle and he favored his left side as he swayed about, letting Twilight see the dried blood on his side as he stumbled towards her.

Blackthorn wiped a shallow cut on his brow, letting blood smear over his cheeks. He smiled, not like his brother's serene smile, but of a warrior who had finally met his match and wanted to overcome a daunting challenge. He swung his axes in sweeping arcs as he walked forward. Twilight eyed him carefully- she had seen Aspen's skill with magic outlined as she had dodged a multitude of vines and creatures that he summoned in the battle. She had little intel on this deer. Besides his skill with a blade, she had zero idea of what he had behind his armor.

She twitched, ready for anything. The mana around the field was running out, causing her to pull too much out of her own stores of mana, and she had either deal with this fight in her own way- a draw- or figure out a better option. She blinked, and as she did that, she felt a massive shock of mana near her and as she opened her eyes, she stared at Blackthorn, his armor discarded in haste and she could see the crisscross pattern of scars that covered his body under the armor. Large rents and tears patched up and healed and as she blinked to take in that new information, she barely dodged an axe that was aimed directly at her face.

Twilight skidded, unsure of where that came from, since she had Blackthorn in her sights the entire time.

A deep chortle came from her left and as she looked she saw Blackthorn teleport away in a blink of an eye. "I rarely have to use the trickery of magic to beat something, but it is so much fun to have a real challenge." Blackthorn tossed another few axes, aiming them at her in arcs that overlapped in sequence, making Twilight's analytical mind get confused for a moment as she tried to run through possibilities.

Twilight blocked one and briefly dodged the other, letting it nick her leg in passing. Pain shot up her leg as she tried to think of less painful activities- reading a book. Taking a vacation. Really anything. She turned away in reflex and directly into the path of Blackthorn's feint, his hoof connecting with her jaw. The world became a mass of stars as she flopped on the ground.

The world was a mess as Twilight tried to get on her hooves, scrambling to get any kind of shield up. She lamely couldn't as she felt her mind blank for a moment, unable to focus as she had reached her limit. She would have laughed, if it wasn't so sad. Celestia's best student unable to last in a mage contest of any real merit. She looked up to see Luna.

Luna looked like her salvation, carefully dancing around the deer.

Then Twilight saw Blackthorn appear behind the blue alicorn. She would have screamed something, anything, to warn Luna. But her mind was foggy and voice was hoarse from overexertion. She could only watch as Luna was nearly beheaded as Blackthorn's axe was forcibly lodged in the alicorn's neck, blood spurting in rainbow arcs in reddish black.

***

Equestrian Skies- Outside Ponyville

Windy carefully tied down the cargo as the descent towards land was rather imminent, with the lights of Ponyville carefully twinkling in the distance. The Dasher was a rather quick ship, but temperamental, with her descent sometimes bumpy if she hit a bad squall or there were unforeseen circumstances. Windy shivered as she remembered a few close calls. She shook her head as she had better things to worry about than past mistakes and gaffes, but she still felt odd about this. Especially since the pair of ponies in the bottom of the ship were hard to read. Sour Sweet was all emotion and drive, while Sugarcoat was silent and dour. Though Windy expected that. It would take a whole lot out of a pony to survive an acid attack that blinded them. Reptiles were some real scum sometimes and she knew firsthoof since they were such good smugglers. She stretched her wings and got up, quietly whistling a shanty to herself as she passed the quarters for the two odd ducks. Shrugging, since it really didn't affect her in any way, she took the ladder two rungs at a time and bounced onto deck, her no good husband hunched over the wheel, cradling a mug of ale in his hooves and staring into the night.

"How you doing, Bow?"

"Fine. Cold, tired, and kind of hungry, but fine. How's our passengers?"

Windy shrugged, her mane falling into her eyes as she did so. "They aren't complaining. So either they are both dead, or they just are being sad sacks about the journey."

Bow smiled. "Probably cause the gray one has no eyes, you mean? I saw what that can do to ponies. The Buffalo Wars really did a number on some of the Cloudsdale veterans when I was little. Saw the old Wonderbolt legions come back without limbs, or wings, or sometimes they came back fine, but just rattled. War is like that. And here we are on the fringes taking advantage of that."

Windy slapped him on the back. "You old dolt, you're twenty years too old to do anything but carry me off to bed. Though I'd pay real good money to see you fill out a uniform."

Bow shot his wife a glance and rolled his eyes. "You'd just be beside yourself with laughter." The stallion glanced at the angle and descent gauges and spun the wheel to better the descent into Ponyville. "We'll continue our bickering over this later. Tell the pair we are in the final descent."

***

Twilight didn't know exactly what was happening. One moment she was staring at Luna's body. The next minute she was all rage and pure emotion as she just rushed over to the alicorn, her body not caring about the pain as she had better things to worry about. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She just cursed herself for doing something like this, trying to make a third option when that caused harm like this. She was not even reacting when she kicked Blackthorn in the chest, feeling her leg snap and twist as she put all the force she could into the strike. She felt some quick shields he put up break underneath her rage as she let out a scream of emotion she had been holding in for a long time. She had been okay. Just letting it fester through the weeks, letting only a portion out with Moondancer's loss and retrieval, fucking up Rainbow and Shy enough that she honestly didn't know what to do, Starlight, and Canterlot, and just everything out. The final straw was her being a complete and utter moron to have Luna get hurt again. She should have just let it go, or maybe had a two on one fight. Anything.

She stared up at the sky cursing silently as she tried to pump magic into the blue alicorn, not even caring about the fight as she threw up wards and spells as fast as she could to assuage some of the bleeding, stitch up some of the wounds, anything. She struck the earth in anger as she thought of any spells she knew of Meadowbrook's or Starswirl's, running through medical charts that she memorized in haste, or stitching together a basic map of a theoretical inside of an alicorn. Medical magic was based on the three races. Alicorn biology was just a theoretical aspect. Nopony expected the princesses to get grievously wounded, hurt or killed even. They were immortal beings tied to the aspects of the world, a thing that should not die, and if they did- it said more about the health of the world then the health of the alicorn. Or that was what Mannus wrote in his treatises. Twilight checked Luna's breathing.

Finding nothing at the moment, she started panicking, trying to count to 100 as she performed CPR, pressing carefully down on Luna's chest and breathing her own breath into Luna's lungs. Her horn glowed deep purple as she connected her magic to the blue alicorn, trying to shock her. Twilight stared down at the hole where the heart should be, seeing blood pool around her as the body cavity lost fluid and she sat there silent feeling tears run down her snout as she tried to push the pieces of Luna back together. Laying on her side, watching Aspen shake his head and Blackthorn slamming his hooves against her barrier. . .Twilight just felt empty.

"You should see how I feel."

Twilight turned her head slowly, imagining that she was slightly hallucinating Luna's voice. Through the slight tears that were clouding her vision, she saw a small, blue hoof in her periphery. Wiping her face, the purple alicorn sniffled and tried to focus on things, and as she did she saw Luna.

A smaller Luna.

Luna stretched her wings and turned, carefully preening and straightening out new feathers that had grown in again. Her mane didn't shine with the light of a thousand stars- it just sat limply on her head like so many other normal manes, it's blue coloration the only real hint of something else with it shifting from light to dark blue as she moved. The blue alicorn popped her neck, the crack jolting Twilight to reality. This was odd, real, but odd. Luna cupped her hooves and breathed out a quiet, if forceful version of her Canterlot Voice. "With how both of you look, I verily call this a draw, else my compatriot here might get rather unstable. So let us have bygones be relative bygones. While I cannot bring the dead back to life, I can say that thine enemy is not us. Else you'd be totally dead."

Twilight cocked her head. "Luna, I doubt this is the time for boasting. Cause I don't think you've seen yourself, but you are a head shorter than me. . ."

Luna shrugged. "Twas worth a shot. Especially since the rainbow one's bravado is a right majesty to behold. All that spunk and grandiosity in her abilities and yet she is deficient in what was seen as a lucrative asset in the past."

Twilight facehoofed. "This is not the time to debate the merits of modern health and Dash isn't spunky cause she's short. It's cause that's who she is. That's a personality trait. We've talked about this. . ."

Luna rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, be nice to thine friends. Though I was attempting to modify my behavior by the slight reflection of one of your friend's attributes. It is what Celestia would term a compliment of the highest order."

Twilight's eye twitched. "We will talk about this. Later." Twilight carefully let her magic drop, the shimmering brilliance of her shield dissipating like smoke as she walked forward, carefully avoiding direct eye contact with Blackthorn who was currently climbing up her list of annoyances, stopping ever so slightly in front of Aspen who stared blankly up at the sky. Twilight waited for a response, lightly tapping her hoof, and whistled as she just stood there. She waved her hoof in Aspen's face, careful to not step on his hoof, and spoke loud enough to be heard. "Huh, guess they weren't expecting-"

She turned to see what everypony was looking at, glancing up as a ship hit the deer's shield full on.

***

Sour Sweet's legs gave out as the ship hit something huge and unexpected, the glancing blow rocking the ship as it tried to stay together. She never was one for ships, rather liking the freedom of her own wings than a coffin with aerodynamic capabilities. She cringed as Sugarcoat glanced around in a haze, her senses dulled without her eyes.

"What's going-"

The ship rocked, chairs clattering on their sides as they bounced and rattled from another grinding strike.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out. Be back as soon as I can." Sour Sweet hoped she would. She carefully opened her wings and glided through the air since she trusted her own power than this rickety ship and gingerly opened the door. She gasped as she watched what she assumed to be the ship's own anchor drag through the ship's floor. Large gashes and bowing in the planks told her all she needed to know about the problem- that it was probably rather bad. A hatch nearby opened and Windy walked out covered in soot and grime, coughing as she pulled herself up the ladder. Sour Sweet touched down briefly and helped her up, dusting the middle aged pegasus off. "What's going on?"

Windy sputtered. "Damned if I know. But I'm going to be giving a piece of my mind to Bow about watching where he's going next time."

The ship rumbled and shook all of a sudden from below.

"Oh Tartarus." Windy spat as she looked down, "that had to be the engines. Tried to turn them off before they became too overloaded, but I guess I was a little too late."

Sour cursed being in a mechanical deathtrap and tried not to think of all the horror stories she heard in the Guard, of ponies sitting in the bottom of a ship while a magical overload occurred, pure mana burning like fire as themagic grew out of control, untamed spellwork causing unknown effects and killing some ponies outright as their lungs turned to jelly from the chaotic nature of a overflow. "I'll get Sugarcoat."

The older pegasus nodded. "I'll get my idiot husband. Cause all he's probably doing is making this worse."

Sour Sweet dashed to the room she left her second in command in, the floor tilting dangerously as the engines gave out. Opening the door, she saw Sugarcoat huddled in the far end of the room, the bed and chairs scattered around her as she had felt the blast from below and acted on instinct, her horn reacting with a shield as she felt the world tilt sideways. Sour let her hooves touch the floor carefully and rushed to her friend's side. "Sugar, drop the shield."

"Rather not. Can't see what's going on."

Sour frowned. "I get it, but the ship's going to be a fireball soon so unless you'd want to reenact a bonfire, I'd rather we both get out of here. I think your family would want you in a relatively complete set than a pile of ashes."

"Fine." The shield dropped and shattered furniture hit the deck around the pair. Sugarcoat held out a shaky hoof and the pegasus took it, opening her wings as she did and zoomed out of the lower level, keeping both of them low so the billowing smoke didn't affect them as much. The pair shot out into the cool, crisp air of the top deck and tumbled as they tried to refocus.

"Fuck, Bow, just turn the ship towards water fast cause she's gonna blow up soon."

Bow grimaced as he held onto the wheel, his fur wet with sweat as he felt the pressure rise. "Don't I know it. Now can you get a reading on a good place to crash land cause I wanted off this ride yesterday."

Windy huffed and stomped away from her husband, careful to dodge the new holes that were popping up all over the ship. She noticed Sour Sweet from the edge of her peripheral vision and shouted quickly at her to get her attention. "Hey, which one's the Ponyville native cause I need a place to drop this else we'll do major damage to a town and I don't think the princesses will look favorably on that even if I was dropping you two off as a favor."

Sugarcoat spoke up, unsteady on her hooves and unable to pinpoint exactly where Windy was due to her recent blindness. "That was me. I think there's a lake outside of town, due east. Give or take a bit. Gray Pond? Something like that. I only went to it a few times when I was pulled there due to some of the more rambunctious foals in my class when I was little. Probably big enough to contain any messes without annihilating the environment."

Windy shrugged. "You heard the mare, Bow, east and aim for the lake. Double time it cause time is of the essence."

Bow saluted his wife and pulled the wheel as hard as he could, the ship protesting with screams as it angled due east. Sour Sweet watched the world below change from the middle of town to the outskirts, and then to the barely civilized wood paths that crisscrossed the forests around Ponyville. She could have stared at that for hours, the world passing her by as she hurdled towards a destination that she barely knew. Ponyville was just a barely there backwater propped up by Canterlot's outskirts and the new princess. It used to be quaint and backwards. Old. She shook her thoughts away as she saw the lake come up as if in a dream, shimmering, calm waters in the nighttime gloom beckoning their landing like a beacon as they zommed towards their final destination.

"Everypony get ready to jump out." Bow bellowed over the dying engines and angled the ship downwards towards the shore.

***

Rainbow grimaced as the resounding crash echoed through miles of the countryside. He hadn't seen the crash, but judging by the sound alone it had been substantial enough. Any crash was a bad one- Rainbow shivered at memories of taking turns too quick and plowing headfirst into hills, waking up at the hospital days later. He grumbled as Shy awkwardly held him in a bridal carry, the small form of his original body wholly inadequate to do so, but time was not at their side. Most of Ponyville was shock right now. Twilight and Luna. Deer. It looked like one of the Diamond Dogs was carrying a bundle of something or another. They would have figured out what that was about, but Twilight had yelled at them to be the first responders there. Most pegasi didn't match Dash's speed- even if Shy was not fantastic at replicating it. "Come on, Shy. Almost there. Just drop me down near the lake and we'll be good."

"Y-you aren't doing a-all the work." Shy huffed, his wings taxed and tired from carrying Dash.

"Well, I'll make it up to you later. Whatever you want to do, no questions and we'll call it even."

Shy nodded and sped up faster, his blue wings like a hummingbird's as he zipped towards the lake, dropping Dash off at the water's edge. "Deal, and I'll hold you to that."

"-you idiot. We just lost our ship. Which I have to remind you was plumb full of some good wares for the Storm Lands. And they hate losing out on cargo. So while I love being a bleeding heart nice pony, we can't go back to the South. Probably have that black general everything's talking about searching for us. Shut it, Bow. You-"

Dash's wings stiffened as he recognized the voice. It was older, more gruff, and slightly angrier than she remembered. But as she watched the four ponies wade out of the lake by the light of the exploded and burning husk of their ship, he could see the rainbow shock of hair that looked so familiar to him when he woke up every morning. He was staring at his parents.

"Mom? Dad?"

Bow and Windy looked up at Dash, confused at the yellow stallion that spoke to them. "Who are you?"

Dash shook his head, forgetting about Twilight's spell for a moment. "I mean. . .he's. . ." Dash pointed at Shy for emphasis. "Your son. Er, daughter. Long story."

Windy and Bow stared at one another. Bow spoke up first as he glanced up and down at the unexpected pony. He had never thought he would see his daughter again in all the years he would be alive. He stepped forward and hugged Dash. "Finally."

Dash stood there, mouth agape as he watched his parents break down in tears as they hugged his body. Shy looked wholly uncomfortable due to the contact and Dash's mind boggled since he had spent years running through scenarios about how this moment would go. How he would tell them off about all the years of everything and here they were. Crying. It didn't feel real or right. He stared down at his hooves and contemplated the moments that he had crystallized in his memory. The circus, the years of loneliness. . .and he couldn't come up with anything.

"Can you help us?"

Dash turned and recoiled back as he took in the bloody eyesockets of the pony who asked the question. He felt his feathers ruffle in defense and breathed out, attempting not to focus on the oozing, black eye holes. "Hospital's that way. You won't miss it."

The pair of what Dash suspected were guards nodded and started walking towards town. Dash felt unsure on what to do. He just laid back on the shoreline, ears ringing with the blubbering tears of his parents who were doting over Shy, and watched the ship burn in the distance, the waves lapping at the vortex of magic that used to be the engine, swirling electric sparks dancing on the water.

He felt oddly hollow.

Rain In Soho: Hospital Reaction Shot

The Moon

Death is a powerful thing.

At the same moment that the spear entered Luna's heart, at that exact moment, a crack in the moon appeared. A small one at first, but the interconnected weave of mana that connected all living things to natural forces was strong here in the silence that was the moon. It had to be, for imprisoning any foe for a thousand years imbued the place with real magic, old magic that seeped into the dead bones of the dust and grew roots that ran deep. A matrix of blood like mana bridges ran throughout the entire moon, each a living thing, in a sense. Not in the usual way, since it took real fortutude, or alicorn immortality, to truly live on the moon itself, the barren landscape a harsh mistress to all but the stupid and the brave. But it was alive in another way.

For Starswirl had found ways to teach the alicorns the ways of magic, of connecting themselves to living things, concepts, and the forces of nature. Gods of the Old Equestria. He had hoped that it would run smoothly, as any hypothetical experiment would run, X leading to Y, therefore Z is the result. Cold, calculating, exact.

But living beings are malleable, unpredictable, and, most of all, emotional. And connecting one's mortality to an object, no matter how large or small causes issues for the host. Immortality, like the light of the sun, casts a shadow large on the landscape its tied to, shifting and changing the concept itself.

As Luna felt the spear pierce her chest, she watched Twilight in slow motion, the odd beauty of the small alicorn oddly enchanting in an exotic way. Her bloodstained body, red purple, was not particularly attractive to modern eyes, but the fact that she was stained in her blood, Luna's, and the sheer despair that Twilight had on her face would make the most wondrous of bards to quiver in sheer anticipation of the songs and soliloquies that would be written of this moment.

She glanced up to look at the moon. She could swear, though she doubted it, that for a brief moment it looked like a spear had pierced her own moon, the semi pristine surface being pocked and marked with flecks of black as she fell over writhing in pain. Death hurt, even to immortals, and it never was a pleasant experience, be it death of the psyche, ego death or change, or semi permanent death. Luna could trace the moon's topography like it was the back of her hoof, each runnel and mountain on its surface a life event of some sort, from her first sexual encounter with Somnambula, to falling within the whispers and lies of dark magics held out to her, a promise of equal, if not greater, power than her sister. To be wanted beyond just an afterthought of the crown's power. The dark inner voice had ruined much of her moon's beauty. It had worked its way between the cracks, spun its wicked web and caused earthquakes that had destabilized entire regions of the moon.

In effect, her emotional instability had cracked part of the moon, a large gash in the southern hemisphere, right near where she had been imprisoned, a large canyon that still was semi active in pushing hot, boiling lava to the surface to cool into twisted mountains and low valleys.

She grimaced in pain as Blackthorn twisted the spear, her heart still beating for a moment as he pushed it out of her body and held it up. She watched Twilight wail and scream as she could do nothing.

She died. Died without much of a word. Dying was easy. It was the coming back that defined her- she had not particularly died in a while. If she was a pony who squabbled over such trivialities like 'death' and 'life' and 'change'- then she did die when Twilight had turned the Elements of Harmony on her, had suffered the cleaving in twain of the Luna that had been trapped within the shell of Nightmare Moon. But she didn't die then. She could argue and argue, but in her heart, she felt like she didn't die. The moon held her scars, one by one, and in that state of being in between, she had felt the bright white and rainbow light wash over her and had felt peace for a moment. The briefest of seconds and, yet, an eternity in which she could watch her night be changed to day. And felt the deep scar of Celestia's decision to banish her to the moon, that large dark plain that looked so menacing- the traces of her evil, not go away entirely, for their always would be traces of that, but change to something new.

This death hurt.

She was dead, only hearing the world in passing, muffled screaming, muffled feeling. Dead was boring in a way, like silence. Then she felt the stirrings of change as Twilight's lips met hers. Felt the air being forcibly blown into her lungs, the pain of feeling her ribs crack under Twilight's harsh ministrations and she felt the weirdest emotion as Twilight's tongue briefly entwined with hers, the sensation something she hadn't felt in forever, intimate and intoxicating as she had a point to focus on, a sensation that beat her numbed feelings into a fine point and intensified the flame of passion that she had left somewhat hidden, in brief glances, long nights studying with the purple alicorn, of long talks of this newfangled thing called science, of staring at the alicorn's deepest fears in dreams. In finding somepony so close to her, yet at times so muchlike her sister. A synthesis of two disparate ways of being, of passion and restraint tied so elegantly within one rather tight package. Twilight.

Her passion exploded as she woke up, that one moment enshrined on the moon's surface as a large piece of the moon broke off and glistened with potential energy for a long time, spinning like a top in zero gravity as it sloughed off hunks and pieces of itself, refining the image that Luna had in her mind in that one moment.

In space, sound has no meaning. As the stars shone down on the night, a new formation was formed on the moon's equator, large shifts in the tectonic plates of the celestial being shot up six pointed stars surrounding one large, pure purple star. An imperfect view of one Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark etched upon her moon.

Luna woke up screaming in agony as her moon accepted the new stain on her heart. A reminder to her most of all, that she owed more to that one pony than most realized. Saving her from the nightmare, befriending one who was shunned due to past actions, and showing that a third option existed between life and death.

Change. Friendship. Magic.

Also pain, lots and lots of pain, but Starswirl always said that pain was something not to be feared, but to be accepted and overcome by endurance.

The thing about declarations of love so intense, was that anything could see it writ large upon the billboard of the moon.

***

Ponyville Hospital

"That's gangrene. How in the name of Celestia did a filly get gangrene. . .that's both impressive and horrific." Sunburst peered at the pink filly, slightly taken aback by the advanced case of medical neglect that was staring him right in the face. While he had limited practice in the feel of surgery, he had entire diagrams stacked in his head, humming softly as he flipped through them, too graphic, too safe, too deadly, et cetera, and he settled on one as he stared at his two patients.

Both impressive cases of medical records. And while he hated getting his hooves dirty, he didn't have much to do about it. It wasn't like either of them were the pinnacle of pony health, what with pus and ooze from one, and dried, clotted blood where eyesockets should be and a burned lower jaw on the other.

Moondancer groaned. "Don't you dare look at me."

Sunburst looked around at the other surgeons, most shades of green or in various states of distress as they had found two cases of something that didn't happen often. Sunburst had done his thesis on medical applications for prosthetics and how mana within a pony's body worked for that reason. Well, besides the sheer fact that it looked rather impressive when others asked. But the main fact was that doctors were adept, if not masterful, at repairing damage when treatment was administered quickly. Less common were doctors who could stare at a rotting stump, realize that it was a lost cause and treat the disease accordingly.

"Moony, I would normally do this myself, but with two ponies, and with no help, its not like I have a choice."

Moondancer rolled her eyes, blood red orbs flashing with unamusement as she picked up a scalpel. "You could have asked Twilight, or Luna, or any number of ponies. You just had to choose me."

Sunburst shrugged. "Twilight seemed kind of out of it. Luna can't pick up a scalpel with magic right now after her fight with whatever those things are. Not to mention that you and I both know that Luna's reference point on 'wound care' would leave a lot to be desired. I'd rather not have medieval healthcare in a modern setting. While very informative, it would be a mess. I mean would she bring out leeches or not?"

Moondancer sighed and picked up the round egg like amethysts and sighed again. "You fucking owe me big time for this."

Sunburst nodded and tied his mane back, letting his horn flash as he ran through a list of disinfectant spells, air quality checks, and protection charms as he dipped his instruments in boiling water and pulled up a graciously donated mask over his snout. While the hospital didn't boast the technical marvels of Canterlot, or the mystical bent of Crystal Medicine, as a representative of an alicorn, and an all around caregiver to another, he knew his way around medicine.

While this was a critical procedure, he didn't have to come up with an unknown alicorn sickness in an unforeseen alicorn foal. He grimaced as he cut into the dead flesh, carefully casting a stasis spell as he did so to lessen the bleeding. The smell hit him immediately and he gagged as the putrefaction filled the room.

***

Silver Spoon let her hooves dangle off the chair as she stared at the clock. It was late and she should probably be asleep, but she couldn't worry about that. Not with Diamond. Not with her sister. She wrapped her hooves around her and leaned back, the antiseptic smell of Ponyville General not comforting at all.

"-Rarity, I get woken up by some loud explosion and you're telling me to stay calm? Roxie told me what happened on my family's farm. How in tarnation do you think I feel. I hated Spoiled Rich, most of us did, and Diamond was a terrible pony to my sister, but it's not like I wanted this to happen."

Silver shivered. She had thought something was up with Diamond last week. And now here she was on the brink of. . .she whispered the worst word she knew and leaned back. If only she had done something beyond just telling Scootaloo about her worries. Had told Twilight. Or Cheerilee. Or some adult. Something at all.

"Yeah, I'm right pissed off. You know exactly what us Apples kept in that shed. I'm not saying that we shouldn't have let the dogs in our houses. Don't you say that. I'm just saying I'm going to have to first wake up Granny, if she hasn't like had a heart attack from being woken up late at night and then tell her the southern shed's been wrecked. That held all my parents' things we couldn't fit in the house and old documents from the family. I'm pissed cause whatever Diamond's shit mother just did, Celestia rest her soul, I guess, wrecked all that."

Silver shrunk away as Applejack stormed out of the waiting room, mixed emotions on her face, anger, sadness, worry, and the farmer glanced at Silver, both of their eyes meeting for a second until they broke away as Applejack walked down the hallway, her hoofsteps echoing in the quiet hospital.

Rarity walked out next and stopped. sighing softly as she picked out a few loose strands of her mane and straightened them. She turned and saw Silver sitting on the chairs and frowned. "Silver, you want to get something to eat? Or drink? While I think hospital food is positively dreadful, I think we could coerce some ponies for something."

Silver nodded and got up from the chair. At least it would give her something to do.

***

Canterlot

Celestia rather disliked being up past the sun, but the day's events had kept her up. She had barely even thought of going to bed- even if Discord was there- with the haphazard reports of Manehattan and Klugetown. Or at least the spotty reports of Manehattan and the deafening silence from Klugetown. She sat back and stared at the walls of her war room, the sparkling crystal caverns serving a dual purpose- protection and, in the case of invasion, defense.

She wiped her eyes as she wrote her signature on the paper in front of her. In billowy prose and cursive loopholes, she set up a series of defensive measures. Armies. Training. Food rationing. And the most difficult one there- natural weather phenomena. A way to keep the borders semi safe for a few months as the weather went into overdrive to reverse millennia of magical alterations, spell matrices, and layers of tradition passed down by the ponies that lived during the Paradise Valley Civilization and the Tambelonian Exile.

"Dear me. I could just sense the sheer worry oozing off you. That and the rather tasty morsels of chaos that were stored on this paper." Celestia stared down to see the words rearrange themselves, their cursive hoofwriting morphing into an ink facsimile of Discord, his words appearing off his lips like little thought bubbles.

"Discord."

Discord smiled, his inky grin black with hints of other inks, reds, blues, and purples as he stepped daintily over the prose trapped on the page. "Sorry. Sorry. Trying to be a rather good draconequus is so rather hard. What with there being so many new things to just revel in. Like how you are tied to the sun, I'm unfortunately tied to chaos and its been a right messy few days. And most of it is tied to one rather order filled alicorn."

Celestia usually loved Discord's more riddle filled talks, but she sadly wasn't in the mood. "And?"

Discord smiled and conjured up a little figure of ink, purple and black. He smiled as he shifted the tone of his voice in a bad imitation of Twilight, the vocal tones shifting up and down quickly as he tried to make his voice more feminine. "I, the humble and weak Twilight Sparkle, have touched so many threads of fate that this mess revolves around me." Discord grinned as he looked up to see Celestia frowning as he pulled out a tiny spyglass. "I mean who else has had their cutie mark burned on the moon? That's so rather humbling. I should write about all my normal adventures and talk about the magic of friendship and probably bone Celly's sister while I'm at it."

Celestia raised an eyebrow at that. "Really? Twilight and Luna? That's ridiculous."

Discord shrugged. "True. But you should know the heart wants what it wants." Discord winked as he stared up at his currently larger marefriend. "And well, Luna hasn't really been forthcoming with her feelings for, what, years? Months? And I just feel a nugget of chaos right around my paw. While I can't deal with love like your niece, who just swims in it like butter, I have a feeling for chaos. And Twilight, for how ordered she is on some things, secretly loves chaos."

Celestia laughed. "Discord, Twilight hates anything chaotic. I spent years with her, training her in the ways of magic and I saw firsthoof that she hated being out of control. Which now considering her reaction to her numerous failed experiments and this current headache of a body switch. . ."

Discord laughed and flicked a piece of ink on the desk. "Pure chaos. Though that did give me a headache trying to differentiate between the rather buffoonish Dash and the calming influence of Fluttershy."

Celestia grinned as she fired up her horn and copied the order to the numerous pegasi that handled the weather, letting her magic send each copy to the requisite head pony in each weather team. "Calming influence? On my own personal lord of chaos? I'd never think I'd hear the day when Discord, the mighty spirit of disharmony and who holds a doctorate in chaos would ever say he of all beings liked calming influences." Celestia sunk down to Discord's level and winked.

The ink blushed red as Discord stammered out a slight response. "Did that slip out? I meant just that it felt rather nice not being the center of attention and sadly I stand out like a sore paw when I'm in public."

Celestia tapped her hoof gently. "Well there was that one proposal I offered. I could always try to change you into a stallion of some noble standing for a couple days. Though I wonder what you would even look like if that happened. I mean corralling chaos into order is difficult. And you have rather unique markings. . ."

Discord rolled his eyes and snapped his finger, letting the ink wash off of him as he popped back to normal size, curling around Celestia like a large snake. Laying his head on her ethereal mane, he grumbled. "I'll think about it. But back on tangent, your student marked the moon. Seems like your mostly booksexual student has a way with words. What with Pinkie, and now your sister. Which I feel slightly miffed about. Pinkie was just the right level of chaos. And I could tell since she had that little spark of mine for chaos, like so few ponies do."

Celestia sighed. "Twilight's problem is her own."

Discord slithered his body over Celestia, his tail tickling her gently as he looked at his mare, upside down. "You know Twilight's problems tend to get rather large, dear. Else how would she be so competent at saving the world? I mean she did mess with time once. And the situation I so humbly have been apologizing for. . .let's see. . .about a few years give or take a couple months and some days."

Celestia raised an eyebrow. "Twilight has never messed with time. As far as I know. She would have mentioned it."

Discord laughed. "She has. The hard thing with paradoxes and time corollaries is that there is both one time that she did and one where she didn't. Remember that time she had that rather goofy looking manestyle? That time? The week where she didn't have a friendship problem?"

Celestia narrowed her eyes. "I do. It was oddly out of character for her. But what does it have to do with anything?"

Discord shrugged. "Like a cat in a box, our Twilight is just so good at making things so much more difficult for herself and others. Her actions are like a stone, cast in water, each ripple a multitude of possibilities. In one area, she was never born. That was a real bad timeline. In another, she fused with the Nightmare. Another bad one. And in another, she takes your spot as ruler of Equestria. Rather interesting there, though unlike you, she wears the whole super alicorn body terribly. Looks awkward in it. Though that is deceptively on brand for Twilight. But, in effect, Twilight's little actions, and honestly, all six mares that hold our little Elements are little pools in a larger stream. And time likes stasis. The world in general likes to stay the exact same- barring handsome spirits of chaos- evil versus good. Good versus evil. Light, dark, opposites attract their opposite and in the meeting create something ever so new. So I'm rather miffed that Pinkie is in another orbit to Twilight- complementary, but separate. That was a rather nice timeline. But there was a timeline where things got worse. And that ended so badly, and now we have a chance." Discord touched is chin. "A bad one cause our dear friend the Storm King is a right terrible idiot focused on an ideal. So cliche. But we have one. Just because that little moon up there is new. Very new and full of possibilities. That didn't happen before."

Celestia rolled her eyes. "I appreciate your confidence, even if I don't fully get all the time stuff. Now if you could magic up trained troops, I'd be far more interested in that than your waxing metaphysical. Luna was more of the prophecy type, I liked results far better. . ." Celestia stared out the window towards Canterlot and sighed. After the day she and the nation had, she wanted to rest for a few days. "Now if you could find a few battalions and some help with this problem, I'd be glad."

A tiny lightbulb appeared above Discord's head. "Why not have a mission for the six most important mares in Equestria? I mean, just have Twilight do all the work. She is the Princess of Friendship after all."

Celestia's eyes narrowed. "I don't think that's a good idea. And I could do a ton of things to help out."

Discord smiled. "Of course. But you have leading to do, training, and like boring bureaucratic stuff. Oh and raising the sun so ponies don't die of frost or whatever. And Twilight hasn't failed yet. I mean she's gotten rather close, but due to her continued sense of self righteous order and goodness, I guess it works out. That or the Elements of Harmony like to cheat evil into keeping the status quo. Plus you could call this a 'training experiment' or whatever you did to Twilight in the first place."

Celestia felt a headache coming on as she stared at her smug draconequus. "That was mainly to get her out of Canterlot and have her gain confidence and friends."

Discord shrugged. "A ripple in a pool. Your one rather good natured choice made everything go. Else you'd have a genius unicorn sitting in her tower, bored out of her mind. And you know what that can lead to. Especially with your hoofs on teaching style."

Celestia thought of her past students and sighed. "Fine. I guess I could coax my war council into possibly allowing a winter mission. Though I can't say that you of all things came up with it. I've already had discussions with the Guard about you."

Discord smiled and coiled around Celestia, winking as he did so. "I wouldn't have it any other way." Discord's words appeared in front of the pair and he took a letter or two and bit into them, carefully digesting that sentence and sighed. "A dreadfully half baked idea, but an interesting flavor." He offered a few letters to Celestia who shook her head imperceptibly and Discord shrugged. "More for me then. But Celly, you do have to do something about those mares. We can't just have six angsty mares cooped up when they could be doing good. As a decent test case for your little reformation project, I give it three and a half stars. Needs work, but effective." Discord snapped his fingers and a few stars started floating around his head. "Night, don't stay up too late. You know how you get when you don't get your beauty sleep."

Celestia tried not to smile as she could hear Discord's off rhythm laughs echo through the hallway. She turned back to the pile of papers and sighed, deftly picking up her quill in her magic and pulling out her own personal gold tinted ink for a few special, and rather difficult messages. "So if I move around the planned battalions and add different ponies from around the nation and make up for certain chaotic imperfections, I think I could word these well enough. Though Spitfire has been rather insistent about having a few experienced pegasi, and Pinkie could have been good for morale, and Twilight. . ." Her sentence trailed off as she began to write some of the letters, and magicking up a revised draft of the Element Plan, nixing the use of certain advantages that they had, and creating a rather cunning alternate plan. Celestia smile broadened as she realized the best leader she could think of. Well co-leaders. The white alicorn laughed quietly as she thought of how Luna would take the news of a political mission. "I will have to let the Guard train them though, since I can't just let them go out and run headlong into danger."

***

Dash bristled as his parents hugged Fluttershy, their voices not soothing at all as Dash glared at them.

"Honey, while I don't really get why you turned into a stallion, I think its fine. Weird but fine." Windy leaned against a wall carefully on her hooves, head wrapped in bandages and gauze as a dim eye turned to her lost foal. or stallion.

Bow waved a hoof. "That doesn't matter at all. I mean look at them. I told you that she'd be fine.Or is it he now? Whatever. You were all 'my heart is in pain', which mine hurt a little too. Not to lie, but I mean she'd have become like a lowly weather pony and not a Wonderbolt without that."

Dash's eye twitched.

Fluttershy tried to push away the conversation from herself as she had noticed rather early on that Dash was definitely not in the mood to even hear the voices of his parents. The brief glimpses of the memories she had and the years of hearing snippets of Dash's life confirmed it. "Well, I am still a weather lead, so its still not a full time thing yet. But less about me. I mean I haven't seen you in like twenty years. Hey, Shy, how long has it been?"

Dash spoke through gritted teeth. "About twenty years, yeah."

Windy stole a glance at the rather protective stallion that Dash had near him all the time. Seemed familiar to her. Almost too uncanny, though she doubted the mare had a family. And Equestria was full of doppelgangers when it came to ponies. Almost like there was a slight joke to genetics sometimes. "I mean, its a long story. But the short answer is, well, we got held up at Appleloosa. I mean Posey was supposed to wait until we came, it was in the contract and everything. Or at least I think it was. It's been too long and I can't remember if that was in there or not. But when we came to Canterlot, which was a journey in itself, you were gone and Posey left no whereabouts for the train. So we just felt bad for a while and, one thing led to another, and boom, we're the best pony merchants in the South. Though with your father's steering and whatever this sleepy town has been dealing with, I doubt that's going to be useful. You know how expensive a ship is? And we were trying to ship stuff for the Storm King. . ."

Dash's eyelid twitched. "You what?"

Bow raised a hoof at the large, rather miffed, and kind of intimidating yellow stallion. "It's no big deal. We did what we had to do and, well, once the Abyssinian trade route dried up and a new power rose up to meet the border, we weren't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Money is money and. . ."

"And nothing! I just had to see an entire town wiped off the map because of his forces, so I can't believe. . ."

Fluttershy elbowed Dash in the ribs and smiled. "I can't believe we haven't eaten today. Who's hungry? I mean we're all on edge, which like I get, but I always work better after I had something to eat. Helps get the edge off." Fluttershy arched an eyebrow at Dash who was scowling at her parents, her borrowed blue eyes glaring daggers into their souls. "Yeah, so where exactly were we in the catching you two up on me? Cause I just love talking about me. Especially when nervous. . .but, uh, let's see pets, and Wonderbolts, and. . .

***

Rockville

Pinkie stared up at the moon and sighed. She could hear her sisters fighting in the next room as they bickered over what exactly to do. Pinkie had left awhile ago just to get space and some sense of quiet before she had to choose. She had stared up at the ceiling and tried to follow the grain of the wood and she would have actually completed her first board when she felt like she was going to be sick. Which was rather odd since she had rarely been sick before- she could count on her hooves each time and yet this felt slightly different. It wasn't food poisoning or an illness. It was like her Sense was reacting to something so badly that she was ill.

And then she had looked up and realized why.

Pinkie would have normally felt sad or angry or hopeless seeing Twilight's mark on the moon. But she had had such a bad day that she just felt burnt out and tired. Maybe she would feel something tomorrow or the next day. Maybe not. She just wanted to be done with all this. All the lies and half truths and all the things she had read in the little book that her grandmother had wrote from oral legends of the past. She flipped through the tome and sighed, tracing the cursive mouthwriting and trying to figure out all the odd information in the book about anti magic and the end of the world and the whole mess about a whole lot of creatures that she and the girls fought against.

A knock on the door broke her sad reverie. Pinkie turned to see Cheese Sandwich grinning sheepishly in the light of the hallway. She nodded as he walked in and sat down next to her. She didn't say anything as her mind was racing with questions a mile a minute and so silence reigned until he spoke.

"So what are we going to do?"

Pinkie shrugged, laughed a little, and laid back on her bed. "I don't know. And we? I thought this was just a one time thing that your Cheese Sense dragged you out here to do, for whatever reason."

Cheese nodded. "It was. And it usually is. But it's not every day that I get to meet you again. I mean I was going to set up a joke factory nearby, but then poof. Cheese Sense emergency out in the supposed middle of nowhere. Then you appeared out of a dream."

Pinkie shook her head. "More like a nightmare."

Cheese shrugged. "Nightmares are just bad dreams. And those usually turn out okay in the end. Or you wake up. Either way, they don't last forever."

Pinkie sighed and looked at the moon. "Maybe. Maybe not. I don't know where to go now though. This turned out to be a waste of time. I shouldn't have left Ponyville. Maybe my dad and sisters were right."

Cheese laughed. "That's a bad joke. Pinkie. Have you seen your sisters? And no, that's a rhetorical question- you are related, but still. They don't have that spark you have. Whatever Sense you have, whatever that makes you, well, you. . .they don't have that. And if you just existing causes issues, there's at least one pony who is grateful for that."

Pinkie sighed. "From the moon, I guess its not Twilight."

Cheese cocked an eyebrow. "Who's. . .ah, yeah. The princess. Nope, wasn't talking about her. I'm grateful for you deciding to not be out here in this weird, but totally appropriate, compound of boredom. Cause without you showing me how to be the second best party pony in Equestria, I wouldn't be here today. I'd be living a whole other life."

Pinkie smiled. "Are you hitting on me?"

"No, I'm just trying to tell somepony who seems a bit down about themselves that they matter."

Pinkie leaned back and stared up at the ceiling, now uninterested in counting the lines up above her. "Thanks."

***

Klugetown

Capper slunk through the burned out husk of Klugetown. The cinders had fallen back down to the ground and, to him, it looked like gray snow covering what felt like miles in the now cold desert. He pulled his cape around him and thanked whatever magitech designer had designed his armor, the sleek metal conforming to his body, and with just a flick of his wrist, a bit of magic surged out of his claws. He felt much warmer as the battery amplified his mana. He looked up at the stars and wondered exactly what he was doing here. Surrounded by reptiles who were as varied as the cats back home in some ways- some extremely spiny, some long and without limbs, some wet, some poisonous. Ziggy had tried to introduce him to each of the clans in some kind of ritualistic greeting, the large komodo dragon towering over most of his subjects. Capper had tried to keep up but once the talk about what differentiates talking snakes, and frogs, and whatever dregs of society the desert clans were, the feline had just wanted to bask in the sun and sleep. Unlike his mother, he just didn't care about the social norms of a place. He was more of a city cat, slinking up and down the alleys of northern Abyssinia, the capital of Panthera with its multileveled houses and tight squeezes, the labyrinthine walkways and deceptive dead ends a better challenge than this overfilled litter box of a place. He had liked Klugetown for what it was. He sat down and looked at the stars, carefully tracing the Minx, the Panther, and the Leopard as he did.

He heard the claws behind him and he stared up to Ziggy, who got on all fours and walked around him, his black tail dragging in the now cooler sand. His voice was a low growl as he spoke. "Cat, you don't want to stay out here too long. Night hunters love the cold desert and with the moon so high in the sky, its almost early morning."

Capper flicked a paw. "No worries. I'm turning in soon. And seriously, cats love sleep. Just today was. . .something else."

Ziggy narrowed his eyes as he tried to think. "We won. No reason to feel bad. Especially with the ponies."

Capper rolled his eyes. He had wished he had been sent to Mount Aris or anywhere else, since here he was debating ethics with a komodo dragon, possibly last of his kind, and trying to say that maybe he felt some kind of guilt over this wreck of burnt homes, burnt bodies, burnt sand. "Yeah. Give me five minutes. Be in soon."

Ziggy nodded and left, sinking into the black night. Capper sat and waited trying to tell when the large lizard had left. He counted down from sixty, letting the numbers ooze out into the night and surround him a sort of mewling mantra, letting his mind slip into a trance as he did so. He purred softly as he sat on his sand dune, letting the world go around him, little spiders and salamanders crawling nearby. He let the world rush by, centering himself in the near silence and let his situation assail him slightly, letting the weeks of just being here, nowhere, and stuck in the now instead of the past.

He clenched his paws as he saw his old friend Chummer, the grayish black stripes mixing with the soot and smoke in the boiler room of the little Abyssinian ship. The paws running over the dials and switches. His own trying to. . .he blinked as he felt slight wet patches on his fur. Well he was here now and his mother was likely nowhere to be seen. Chummer was probably dead or something. And here he was just sitting on a rock, trying desperately to recall his mother's teachings about magical cats and how rather important disguising yourself was. Names were power and he was just here lying to one and all about his motives. A traitor in the midst of what seemed like a rebellion.

A mammal in a den of snakes.

He prayed softly to Bast for his mother's safety and stalked back into Klugetown, the bombed out town hiding a bustling and thriving series of burrows and dens and mud tunnels stretching miles and miles.

For all the things that changed, at least he felt most at home in the tunnels.

***

Griffonstone

Gilda walked through the gloomy halls of the Eyrie, the hard stone walls muffling her steps, the dim torches lighting her way to her sister's lab. She hated going near her sister, the years of training under Gustave Le Grand giving her sister Gabrielle, or Gigi as some gryphons called her, a distinct Prench affectation to her way of speech and manner. Gilda pushed open the doors and was met by a wave of light as Gabrielle sat lounging on a chair, her paws folded as she plucked out a pinkish feather and stared at it. She clicked her tongue and tossed the offending feather, suddenly seeing Gilda in the midst of the room and smiling a catty smile as she stood up, her height slightly intimidating to Gilda as she had to look up at her older sister.

"Ah, c'est magnifique, Gilda, I was just thinking about you."

Gilda shrugged, acting cool to hide her slight worry. She had too many bad memories of being Gigi's pet hamster, testing out her sister's newest idea for a laugh and a few scraps of food. "I hope it was a good thought."

Gabrielle nodded, twirling a talon in Gilda's direction, letting a bit of magic twine a few pieces of paper off her desk. "Well, it doesn't involve a test or two on your part, though that just gives me the heartache, yes? I mean you were such a good partner, but alas, my ideas, and mother's necessities, have outstripped your testing ability. But I have a real conundrum on my claws and I'd like to see if you have an idea on how to fix my oopsie." Gabrielle floated over her diagrams and Gilda took a quick look and wanted to vomit as she realized what was sketched in the margins in her sister's notes.

"Looks nice." Gilda cringed as she closed her eyes, the image of a perfectly vivisected dead gryphon, it's sexual organs on full display, its eggs malformed and broken, half baked young twisted and multilimbed, some with two heads, three eyes, hearts on the outside, numerous malformations and birth defects in subject after subject.

Gabrielle shrugged. "A pity. I've been trying to get mother's plans out of the nest so to speak and pumping in a mix of pheromones and magic enhancers has caused some unforeseen difficulties as of late. I mean, I like a good rut or two in the Prench way, but the feral mating, the enlarged eggs, the overbreeding, and worst of all, the cannibalism. It's just so wasteful." Gabrielle shook her head and sharpened a talon.

"They are eating the young?"

Gabrielle hummed to herself a little ditty and looked at her sister. "The young, the old, the weak. It's inefficient. Effective, but inefficient. It's stabilized, but you should have seen the first few hours after my idea came to fruition. Birds were bursting from strain, eating each other. A feeding frenzy to create the perfect hunters. Weed out the poison that Celestia infected us with by cooking our eggs so long ago. Streamline the next generation."

"That's wonderful." Gilda deadpanned as she looked into the cold eyes of her sister.

Gigi shrugged. "Planning to work out the kinks by. . .snowfall? Few months, maybe." She swirled her tea and smiled, unflinching as she took in Gilda. "Oh, I think you should know. We got Manehattan."

Gilda cocked her head. "You sure? Cause I've been in Manehattan and that place is like a fortress. A pastel, plush fortress, but still, a fortress."

Her sister smiled. "Would our brother lie?" She gripped a piece of parchment and tossed it to Gilda.

Gilda skimmed the letter, seeing the trademark doodles and sketches that usually dotted Gallus' letters. She could pick out little in the mass of doodles, some running on others, through others, a mishmash of thoughts and feelings. So very unlike her usual letters from the blue gryphon. So she knew something was wrong- not physically, since he mentioned near the bottom that he was fine, but mentally. "Looks like he's fine," she mumbled.

Gabrielle shrugged. "He's fine. But mother wanted him to test himself, to get some of the weak imperfections she could see in his personality ironed out. As she did with herself, as grandfather did, as great-grandfather." She curled a talon and dug it into the nearby stone, scratching into the rock ever so slightly as she spoke. "He has to start somewhere. Unlike your failed venture. How is the cunt who so destroyed your will to live?"

Gilda shivered, thinking of Dash at that moment. "She's fine. Haven't talked to her in a while. Probably just busy."

The pink gryphon clicked her tongue and shook her head. "Shame. If only you had been more forceful in, what what it? The undefinable nature of "friendship" the je ne sais quoi of togetherness. All because you snapped and had that little tantrum because some pastel pony was teasing you. It's almost like Celestia never taught you shit. Almost like grandfather filled your head of your importance and the ponies never saw you as one of them. The pitiful one."

Gilda bristled. "That's not. . ." She remembered Dash at Flight School, the one pony who had tried to connect with her, the brash pegasus walking in and not caring that she had a target on her back. Not caring that she was a pastel nightmare with every color of the rainbow as a mane. Not caring about the new bird who just wanted to fit in somewhere, the quiet whispers of distant foals tinged with words like birdbrain, dodo, and half breed. Rainbow had been the one friend that she had ever had in Equestria. And she had messed it up by walking into that little hamlet. Discovering that Dash had moved on, built a life for herself, while she had stagnated. Gilda yelled at her sister, screeching bloody murder as she tried to relax, the months of cruel, little torments like pinpricks on her heart. Gilda leapt at her pompous sister.

Gabrielle flicked her claw, firing up a neat little levitation spell and rose from her chair. She walked ever so slowly, slinking around cattily as she ran a claw over Gilda. "Seems like somebird doesn't like what I said. Did I hurt your little feelings by bringing up a sore spot? Or did you want to screw the little pony instead of hunt it like a real gryphon?" Gabrielle slid her face close to Gilda, her breath cloyingly sweet as she stood there. "Interesting. Maybe, when we win, I can get mother to keep that one alive. Wouldn't that be just wonderful? A little fucktoy for my magicless baby sister. Don't say that I am heartless, no?" Gabrielle whistled as she left the room, letting the spell wink out once she was out of range of Gilda's rage.

***

Twilight awkwardly stared at the gathered mass of creatures that were packed into her castle. Deer rubbed the crystal walls and clacked through the halls, their mud leaving tracks in the pristine floor. Twilight cringed as she thought of the work she would have to do, the cleaning, the disinfecting, the reorganizing of things touched. Luna sighed as she watched the festivities, quietly locking the door to the outside.

"I think we have some explanations in order, especially why you have brought a dead subject into the midst of a town full of our loyal subjects. And with those. . .how did you explain them, Twilight? Flower ponies, knocking upon thine palace walls crying out for justice, I think, Aspen why?"

Aspen clicked his hooves on the table, quietly studying the map of Equestria, pulling in and out of focus as he brought Ironhoof into view. "Well, this Roseluck ran away from us. Into a stream. And to show a modicum of faith in these proceedings, I brought her to you. A bargaining chip to show our willingness to treat you better than you treated our homeland." Aspen touched the hole that was Ironhoof, his hoof clacking on the table as the hologram blinked for a moment.

Twilight fiddled in the seat. "Well, I appreciate it. We'll bury her in the morning. After all today's madness is sorted through."

Blackthorn rolled his eyes, his helmet glinting in the torchlight. "Wonderful, more ceremonies, more tricks."

Luna glared at him for a moment. "Your deer shot me full of arrows and you stabbed me in the chest."

Blackthorn shrugged. "You got better, it seems. Only damaged your pride. And your height." He laughed and patted Luna's mane. "And the moon. Never thought that was possible."

Twilight glanced at Luna and took a blue hoof in hers. "Well, we'll figure that out. But let's get one thing straight. Moondancer didn't destroy the town, not exactly. Long story, but I guess we have all night. I'll put the coffee on. Or tea? What do you deer drink. There isn't a lot on your race."

Blackthorn grinned. "The blood of our enemies."

Aspen closed his eyes and rubbed his face, his bells tinkling as he did so. "Thorny, please be civil. Tea is fine. Alcohol is fine for my bucks as well."

Twilight stared at the gathered mass of deer. "I think I still have some cider from the Apples. I'd have to check due to some recent situations and all."

***

The stench of death permeated the surgery area and all Sunburst could do was to breath through his mouth and almost gag at the unforeseen difficulties of a surgery like this. Sunburst looked at Moondancer who was holding up, he thought, rather well. Or her black coat hid some of the green that colored his own. Picking up a foreceps, he dug around and picked out fragments of bone, partially eaten, from the filly's leg. Looking at the devastation that an untreated medical emergency wrought on her body, he wracked his brain for alternatives. The bones were too rotten, too nonexistent to foster an easy bone growth spell. Those needed a bit of health, a root, to attach to, and after an hour of grueling and focused work, he had found no takers. The knee was bent the opposite way, so he had needed to twist it carefully in place, sure not to tear tendons any more than they already were. He could save that. But then that made him worry about aftercare- he knew far too well the dangers of infection and disease and then the prosthesis industry was a fledgling one due to infrequent wars.

He deftly cut a flap of skin to wrap around the knee joint and, in a flash, stanched the bleeding and stitched up the wound. He stood back to admire his gruesome work and turned to Moondancer who was sickened but curious at the results.

"Next patient. And Moondancer, I'm surprised you've been so quiet. What was the whole 'I torture Changelings for breakfast' routine. Is the archmage of Canterlot a bit squeamish about blood?"

Moondancer glowered. "No, just hits a little too close to home." Her hoof flitted over her crimson gem heart. "No matter how impressive you are at this, and I have to begrudgingly respect you for that, I still can't get over the violation that Starlight did to me. I died. You ever know what death feels like? It felt like nothing. One moment I was in a huge dark wood, unfamiliar and foreign, and then your crazy bitch of a friend drags me back to the living and I don't know which was worse. At least dead felt nicer. Cause I don't have to deal with ponies thinking I'm a monster."

Starburst stepped back. "Uh, thanks. And on the Starlight question, we'll reach that hill when we get there or whatever. Just know that I'd expect the royals to use the full extent of the myriad laws of both the Crystal Empire and Equestria to punish her accordingly. Since all this," he gestured at the patients and their surrounding space. "all this was kind of her fault or my fault. And I am trying to deal with that by, you know, helping here." Starburst coughed. "But, yeah next patient. Ocular implants are rather difficult to perform, especially with how bad the acid burns are. Skin grafts, all that. So I'm just going to say, after this, first round of drinks are on me. Maybe two or three. But first, fix the problem here."

Moondancer nodded.

***

Rarity looked over the filly that was currently trying to stomach any kind of slop that the hospital had at this dreadful hour. She wrinkled her nose at the options presented- a cobbler, half burnt and hours old; a pudding cup, and a bag of chips. Rarity shook her head and thanked Celestia that due to her exhaustive health regimen and impeccably timed doctor visits, that she was a pinnacle of health. Because, if not, she would waste away to nothing in this food desert that was a hospital. She gripped the chips and gracefully opened them with her magic, passing them to Silver with nary a second thought. She tried to figure out what even to say in this situation, the dire oddness, and her inability to talk to foals mixing into a melange of sheer ineptitude in matters of this kind of thing. "Diamond Tiara is going to be fine. Or mostly fine. And your sister? Didn't even know you had one, though I think that was more a mix of Sweetie not liking you all that much and me just being rather busy. She'll be fine too."

Silver sighed and ate a couple chips, the crunch breaking the silence of the dead hospital. "I guess, though I thought it looked like that doctor didn't look hopeful. Aren't doctors supposed to fix everything?"

Rarity daintily moved her shoulders in response. "I'd think it depends on the situation. And well, this is rather new to probably a lot of ponies. I mean I could list every time Rainbow Dash was here and even then she was able to get back up due to immediate treatment."

Silver slumped. "So they aren't going to be fixed."

The white unicorn cursed her wording, trying to come up with alternatives. "I mean they will be fixed, just not in the way I'd think ponies would normally think of as fixing. They'll be alive and that's what counts."

Silver nodded, slightly out of it. "But not more than that. So everypony will hate them then."

Rarity didn't exactly know where this was going. "Uh, what? I mean, to be honest, Diamond hasn't done much favors for herself in that regard. Though that might have been. . ." Rarity stopped as she completed the sentence in her head, putting most of the blame of Diamond's rather abrasive and horrid personality on Spoiled Rich. Rarity felt her hair rise at the thought that she was dead. "Its, well, going to be okay."

Silver silently rocked back and forth. "No its not, my dad tells me all the time about the disabled ponies he saw in the mines before he got his own shop. He doesn't go into much detail, but have you ever seen a pony with a problem?"

Rarity was stumped for a moment. It was rather a peculiar happenstance of events that brought a disabled pony into the world. Twilight once said it was a roll of the dice sometimes with birth defects and the like. And with magic fixing most of the sprains and breaks, toothaches, and other maladies, she hadn't put much thought into seeing a pony like that. Canterlot didn't have a big population of those types. And the ones that did, didn't tend to go into her shop or where she tended to hang out. Ponyville was smaller so she could probably pick out a few. . .like possibly Scootaloo, who had some issues. "Can't count many ponies like that. Though that's probably just cause Celestia has made Equestria so peaceful."

Silver looked down at the floor. "Dad said lame miners were sent to the glue factory. To make glue. And that they never left."

Rarity wanted to almost laugh at the sheer childlike fear of that kind of thing. "Darling, they aren't going to make glue. And if somepony comes, I guess we'll just have to stand around the pair of them and wait until they leave. Cause even if there's a problem with Diamond and your sister, I doubt Twilight would allow that."

Silver somewhat relaxed. "Good, cause he also said a few towns killed them if they got to be a drain on society. I didn't get most of that and I didn't want to ask Miss Cheerilee about that in case it was really bad, but I don't want that to happen. And I know Diamond and I did some bad things, but I don't want Diamond run out of town cause of something she didn't do."

Rarity tried to lighten the mood. "Well, I'm glad you'd only let her be run out of town for the right reasons." She didn't hear Silver laugh, so she moved on. Comedy wasn't her strong suit. That was Pinkie's domain and she was currently Celestia knew where. "But I doubt Ponyville would ostracize a pony just because of this."

***

Shy cautiously opened the door to the little cottage that housed both her and Dash. The walk from the hospital had been relatively silent, with Dash barely speaking as her parents ogled the town, their excitement all over them. The dinner hadn't been much better, with Dash playing more with her food as she glared daggers at them, running them through with her stare, her body taught with anger and rage, and her hoof tapping offbeat as she ate.

Fluttershy closed the door, silently, so as to not wake up her two guests and turned to the perturbed mare. "Dash."

Rainbow looked up at Fluttershy, her blue eyes distant and cold in the motes of light that were leaking in through the blinds. "What?"

"I can read what you are thinking on your face. Hard to hide when I know my own face rather well." Shy crept up and ran a blue hoof over Dash's mouth, letting it sculpt each hill and valley that emotions tended to settle in. "And if I was blind, I could read you like a book. I mean you don't usually clam up like this."

Dash leaned into the brief touch and sighed. "I know, but Tartarus damn it. I've spent years building up my parents. Over and over, I made them these cold, emotionless things. They tossed me aside for, what, fame, money? And then they appear now, of all times, so. . ." Dash groped for the words. "normal. Too supportive. It just throws me off. And here I am, unable to say anything cause they think you are me."

Fluttershy quietly laughed at the predicament. "I can see the problem there."

Dash stroked her pink mane. "Right? I can't just come out and say that they messed up my life. . ." Dash hesitated. "I mean, uh, no offense, Shy, because I wouldn't have been where I am now, with you here and all, but. . ."

Fluttershy raised a hoof. "I understand."

Dash blushed. "Yeah, but like a 'you ruined my life' kind of way. Abandoning me to fend for myself with money. Having a life on the outskirts of Equestria, something I'd dreamed of in the few books Twilight gave me. They got to live their life to the fullest while I was just. . .floundering and trying to make sense of why. Just why." Dash felt tears form silently on her coat and she quickly wiped them away.

Fluttershy wrapped her small blue hooves around her marefriend's neck and hugged her close. "Ssh, it's okay. Let it out if you need to. And I don't feel like sleeping anyway, so if you want, I could stay up and listen to you."

Dash leaned his head down and nodded slowly, letting his head rest on top of his stallion's. "I'd like that."

***

Twilight stared up at the moon, her mind wandering with the possibilities. She cantered through the halls, careful not to step on any deer, since they were strewn about like confetti after a party, all over the few bits of furniture, some lounging on the Crystal Map, some on top of a chandelier or two- though she had no clue how that was possible. She shook a slight buzz from her mind- alicorn physiology made it rather difficult for them to get fully drunk, and walked into her bedchamber.

Luna picked her head up and closed the novel she was reading, carefully marking the spot with a tiny crease. "Interesting literature, Twilight, I'd have never expected you to be into erotica. Though my sister usually says it is the quiet ones that have the most intense passions. Which led me to conducting my own research into the lands of dream. I spent months trying to decipher dreams of all kinds and I just didn't find enough reason to say one way or the other if it was a true statement. Though they are rather up there in depravity. Seems like with the peaceful times, the unbridled passions had to have an outlet." She smiled as she crossed her hooves and waited.

Twilight groaned as she saw the book Luna was reading. Six Shades of Hay. "It's nothing. Rarity mentioned it and I had to check out if it fit better in the restricted section. What I really have to ask you is why my cutie mark is on the moon."

Luna blushed. "'Tis not thine."

Twilight drew her lips together and frowned. "Luna, you are speaking in Mid Canterlotian dialect, which is kind of your tell. I know today has been rather. . ." Twilight stumbled over what exactly to term the day. Catastrophic? Horrible? Interesting? "-a day. And I'm tired. Too tired to perform mental gymnastics to figure out a hypothesis of how my cutie mark. Cause it is my cutie mark. Hard to not know that with it being on my own body and all. Even if I think I could have some improvements here and there."

Luna blushed harder. "Thy body is immaculate."

Twilight pointed at the blue alicorn. "Aha, I was ri- wait what?" Twilight stopped, trying to compute the idea that Luna complemented her on a non-academic front. "Luna, are you hitting on me?"

Luna, realizing what she had said, hid her face in the blankets of Twilight's bed, quickly hating that decision as she could smell the faint scent of the purple alicorn on the sheets. She wished she could have been not so exposed, without her full alicorn powers she felt small and oddly outmatched when she looked at Twilight. The purple alicorn stood there watching her, her head half cocked, her mind turning, and all Luna could see, in all the slight imperfections, was a rather cute pony wrapped in a soft and welcoming exterior. "Oh aether. No? I promise, Twilight, that I am definitely not, not at all, hitting on you."

Twilight stopped, tried to parse that sentence and sighed. "Luna, I don't know if you used a double negative or not, but it sure sounded like it. And by how you are currently wrapped up in my blankets, I'm highly suspect that you might have a feeling." Twilight bent down and pressed a hoof on the bed, which made Luna's tail tremble as she felt imminent heat and pressure right near her head. "I'm way too tired for this." Twilight yawned and carefully unwrapped the other alicorn from her blankets with a flick of her magic. Luna, for her part, tried to latch onto a corner of the bedding, but due to her lack of magic and now smaller size, she was horribly outmatched. Twilight fluffed one of her pillows and covered herself in her blankets, letting her wings push out to their full extent, feeling the purple feathers brush against Luna's side.

Luna's eyes bugged out in wonder and fear as she felt that, almost jumping out of Twilight's bed out of sheer principle. "Twilight, what are you doing?"

Twilight yawned. "Going to bed. This is my bedroom."

Luna blanched at that. "But I'm currently in here too."

Twilight shrugged. "I'm tired. It's after midnight, I've been up all day, and the town almost exploded cause stuff always happens at the worst times. I don't care if you are in here or not. And judging by the moon, you don't either."

"But aren't you in a relationship with Pinkie?"

Twilight didn't answer for what felt like a minute. "Maybe. Maybe not. But for right now, I seem to have a pony that almost died today. And she's currently far closer than wherever Pinkie is. Luna, either go to bed or do whatever you want. I'm emotionally drained, sore, and had to set like five broken bones with my magic. The moon has my cutie mark which, by all accounts, has never happened before. And I know how alicorns kind of work, being one and all. A bad one, but one."

Luna sat there, unsure of what to do. She tried to come up with reasons to leave, to run away, and just compartmentalize this as a nightmare or a dream or something she could just write off as a fantasy. Then she felt a light hoof wrap around her own and she knew that it was real.

Luna felt her heart leap out of her chest as she snuggled closer to Twilight, the now larger mare letting her sink into her side. The blue alicorn shivered, unsure of what this meant, uncovering feelings that she hadn't felt since Somnambula. She popped her head out of her cove of Twilight scented blankets and said the first thing on her mind. "So are we a pair?"

Twilight popped open an eye and, in the darkness, stared up at the ceiling, her voice coming out slow and lethargic as she was on the cusp of sleep. "I don't know. We'll talk about this in the morning. I'm too tired to actually freak out over the sheer horror of this or not." Twilight rolled over, her breathing slowing as she fell fully into sleep.

Checking that all was okay, Luna ran a hoof over the purple fur of Twilight, feeling the heat radiate off of the mare. She carefully dodged any rather intimate areas, the principle of it just seeming wrong to take advantage of this. Luna quietly pinched herself to make sure that she was awake, carefully checking under the bed for any Tantabi, and, finding none, breathed a sigh of relief. Luna snuggled closer to Twilight, letting a purple wing drape over her as she drifted off to sleep. She promised, to herself, that she would try and keep Twilight's own dreams free of any nightmares that might creep upon the edges of the purple alicorn's mind. And with a blink, she was into the lands of dream, letting the flights of fancy swoop her into the dreams of Equestria, a small corner of it, now far less gloomy than it had been before.

Author's Note

End Act 1: Bad Moon Rising

Change (In The House of Flies)

Canterlot

Blossomforth carefully pinned her old medals on her new uniform, careful not to get the pin in her coat. She worried that she would- draw blood, she thought- because her hooves shook with nerves. She had played this moment in her dreams, coming back to Canterlot, semi-redeemed, not a laughingstock for being a 'terrible' Wonderbolt Captain. She brushed and tied her pink and green hair back in a slight cleaning up of her act- a fixing of the mask she had put on. She felt uncomfortable and wanted to run out the door as she ran through her list on the Wonderbolts. Check how they ran drills, worked under pressure, fighting practice- air and land.

"Blossom, you look insane." Cloudkicker strolled in, a box of papers in her hooves, and laid them out on the table nearby. "Calm down. You seem like a different pony, and I'd rather not fuck you if you asked right now. Feel like I'd be cheating on the pony I actually like. Even if I like you in uniform."

The cream colored pegasus sighed. "But I'll be going to the Wonderbolts, and its been. . .years. I'd take one step in, swear like a sailor and then they'd probably toss me out immediately. You don't know the bureaucracy and sheer rigidity that they have."

Cloudkicker rolled her eyes. "Coming from the pony who bedded both their mares and stallions so often? Their rigidity is like a pool noodle. Floppy and useless unless wet."

Blossomforth chuckled softly. "Never expected you to crack that kind of a joke."

The light pegasus shrugged. "Guess being roommates for years taught me a few things. Now kill them like I know you will."

Ponyville

"-today is a sad day. The loss of two ponies, both from circumstances outside of their control, and leaving friends and family behind to grieve while they are here in the embrace of the sun, their sins and behaviors of the flesh burned away and all that is left is the pristine white soul. . ." the priest droned on as snowflakes fell from the sky. It was unseasonably cold, bitingly so, and Sunburst pulled his cloak around him. He would have complained, ever so nicely, to whoever might have listened, if it truly mattered. But with the little bit of paper that was tucked away in his cloak, it didn't. It outlined the war plan for the coming few months and step one was a complete and total shut down of pegasi weather controls- letting nature take back what magic wrest from its control.

He sighed and turned his attention back to the priest.

". . .in the name of the sun, the stars, and the moon, I send both Spoiled Rich and Roseluck to a better place."

With that, it was done. Just two ponies whose life was technically over, though the deer said otherwise about that Roseluck pony. Sunburst didn't exactly know since the metaphysics of death and what happens afterwards hadn't been on his priority list. He walked calmly out of the graveyard, quietly noting to check up on his patients, and listened to groups of ponies talk amongst themselves, their low voices hard to pick out, but the sentiment was palpable. The loss of two, or at least one, well liked pony in circumstances that made the new army of deer look particularly bad? That was awful.

"What are you thinking about?"

Sunburst turned and saw Moondancer, her black coat dark as coal, and the red lines of her gem making her stand out like a sore hoof, her presence was a deterrent to most, the crowd parting like it was in the midst of a plague. Sunburst smiled briefly as she had tried to make herself slightly more presentable than usual, trimming her mane short in a pixie cut and attempting to put on makeup- though her coat color didn't do her any favors. "Just how odd it is to see snow this time of year."

Moondancer shrugged. "Yeah, but its fitting right? Everything's just fucked and I can't just see a funeral not work in the warmth of the sun. Even if the priest was running his mouth about it."

Sunburst rolled his eyes. "Guess I'll have to label you a heathen in the Church of the Sun's eyes."

Moondancer shrugged. "I'll just ask Celestia to pardon me. Hard to take seriously a religion like that when I know Celestia's main hopes and fears thanks to Raven. Have you heard from Mjolna about if we should meet and discuss plans?"

Sunburst sighed and fished the parchment out of his cloak, letting Mooondancer's magic grasp it as she read it. It took a few moments, and he could see her face react to each distasteful part of the plan, weather, drafting, food supply- all the banal things that were important in fighting a long battle. And one particularly thorny subject.

"Celestia's doing what with the Element Bearers?"

***

Luna sat watching Twilight's breathing, the deep up and down of her chest giving her a sign that the mare was asleep for the moment. The midnight blue alicorn sat there watching, her mind's worry not writ large on her face. She had slept terribly for an alicorn, because she didn't always need sleep. Not with the modern miracle of coffee, but the potion had only dulled her anxiety, her fears of being so close to Twilight. She had consoled her over Pinkie leaving, sure, she had done myriad experiments on how best to fix Dash and Shy's predicament, yes, problem still pending for a cure- but she hadn't expected to be inches near Twilight's self.

And with Luna herself still being stuck in a diminutive stature thanks to dying and reforming? Every little beautiful thing on the purple mare seemed larger, more full with life and heft. The smell of her, the smell of heady lilacs in summer mixed with a hint of rose, just something she had smelled all of last night. Then the tossing and turning of the mare, her small and bookish form hiding beneath it a strong sense of power bestowed on her by being an alicorn.

Luna had felt like she was at sea, drowning while being lured to her death by a Siren or other foul temptress. She had not dared to deal with these feelings so long ago, thinking that her attraction to mares was a failure of her soul, her sin of calling down the Nightmare, just for one night with Somnambula again, and she had repressed those feelings for so long.

Being near a physical presence such as Twilight, not just a perfect representation of her desire, her want in a mate the ability to be challenged mentally and be enriched by knowing her, the touch of her lips, a faint hope, soft and velvet like in her mind, just a sheer tower to beauty in all its forms.

And Luna had not slept a wink. Tormented by images not of her own making, not exactly, her hopes writ large in her reveries, her feelings of repressing something she rarely. . .

Twilight moved and the ranting nature of her thoughts paused and she beheld Twilight's eyes open, her orbs staring up at her.

"Luna, have you been watching me sleep?"

Luna lied. "No, not for long." For in her mind, there was no way to spent too long to stare.

"Good, my head is killing me. I didn't expect to drink yesterday and I rarely did before being a princess, being focused on my studies, so count me lucky that peace treaties end with what Rainbow once called, 'a massive rager'. The purple princess smoothed out her mane, out of place and tangled slightly by going to bed unwashed and hungover. "What time is it anyway?"

Luna stared intently at the nearby clock, the mechanical wonder still surprising her. "Nine in the morning. I would have woke you for the dual funeral, but with the last day everypony had, I guessed it was better for you to not go."

Twilight sat there silent. "Yeah. Wonder how Diamond is."

***

Diamond opened her eyes and blinked as the lights hit her face and blinded her for a moment. "Ugh."

Diamond felt terrible and dizzy for some reason. Sluggish. She turned over in the bed. Sterile room. All white, cold linen, bright magelights that buzzed and hummed an annoying degree. She wiggled her legs and felt something off. She still felt normal, but one of her legs, while still feeling there- wasn't.

She lifted her blanket, quietly hoping that it wasn't true.

What she saw was a wrapped bandage. And a stump of a leg.

Then the wooziness of the day clicked into place, hospital, last few days. Her mom. Diamond shivered at the thought, everything seeming foreign and odd.

She relaxed a bit, only a bit, when she noticed Silver Spoon, curled up and asleep on a nearby chair.

"Silver." The word came out in a rasp, barely audible. "Silver?" Nothing. Diamond was not really patient with these kinds of things. And with her having one less leg to stand on, she was rather not in the mood for waiting nicely. She glanced around the room, prioritizing what was in hoof's length and grabbed a few pencils. Diamond scrunched her eyes partially shut to concentrate and started lobbing pencils at her friend.

After a moment or two, the grey earth pony woke up. "Huh?" She was confused by the pencils surrounding her until she saw that Diamond was moving. Awake and alert. Better than the horror show that she had been, hooked up to wires and IV drips and barely conscious. Silver dodged a pencil that aimed at her head and it clattered to the ground uselessly.

"You're awake."

Silver smiled as she could almost hear the slight annoyance, the better than you attitude that Diamond had- a nugget of normalcy in this new situation of- Diamond shuddered and faked a smile. "Yep. You need anything?"

Diamond looked out the window and sighed. "Not really."

Silver carefully looked at her best friend and waffled about what she should say next. The silence was palpable and the gray earth pony shifted in her seat, unsure of what to do. She breathed out and threw her cares to the wind as she blurted out what was on her mind. "I can make a prosthetic for you. I mean its not technically hard. With my family, I mean. Like I can ask my dad what to do on the joints and everything and you'll be back to normal. Relatively speaking."

Diamond nodded. She didn't want to say that she was never going to be truly normal again. Not after losing her leg. And her mother. Nothing was going to be exactly the same and she wondered if Silver knew that. Her eyes told Diamond all she needed to know. "Thanks, I love that. But just make it something I'd like."

Silver nodded. "I wouldn't dream of making it plain and boring."

Klugetown

Capper breathed in the hot air of Klugetown and grimaced as he smelled burning flesh. The pyres burning all the unlucky dead ponies had worked overtime and yet there was still a few that the lizards had found squirreled away in enclaves and holes that the scared ponies had dug in fear. They wanted to survive and sadly Ziggy wasn't the most welcoming of hosts. He sighed, worried that his mother was in some kind of trouble, unsure of what to exactly do. "Be cool." He heard a commotion nearby and his ears perked up as he heard a decidedly non reptilian scream, more emotive and less raspy. In the desert of lizards, a voice like that sounded foreign now. He quickly rose to his paws and walked with purpose through the encampment, bones and meat scattered around him as he walked.

"This is a small one it is. Call Ziggy on what to do with pony. He not have enough meat on bones, but he is fighter, yes." A snake hissed, his jaw flexing as he stared at the morsel that he could swallow whole.

Capper ran up and smacked the unruly snake with a paw, without claws- blood would rile up the reptiles. "Well he's out talking to the rest of the clans, idiot. You get me instead."

The snake hissed in pain and grumbled as he waved his tail at Capper, a sign of what most civilized creatures called 'fuck you' in common parlance.

Capper shrugged and pulled the heavily traumatized colt to him, trying desperately to come up with some bad reason why he wasn't going to be swallowed whole and used as a meal. He stared down at the terrified colt and thought of the dumbest reason he could- he was of a long line of magical cats and while he had no powers to speak of due to the females getting the cool shit, he knew how to dissuade some idiots. "You magnificent snake. Don't you see that this earth pony has the look of a sick pony? I mean sure, his breeding is important, a highland pony, a noble breed of hardy stock and so useful as a hostage." He was really getting going now, he felt it in his paws and he grinned as he came up with the dumbest disease he could- for reptiles were slaughtering ponies out of rage and anger, not true knowledge of their species. He could say he was infected with a made up disease and no normal reptile would eat him. "But sadly, I see the beginnings of a dastardly disease, a disease so terrible, so wonderfully evil that if I don't take him under my indifferent paws, this whole camp will be infected by. . .toxoponytosis-itis. Or his infected flesh will turn all of you into brainless husks and then set you on fire."

The gathered reptiles hissed at the small pony and pointed at him in anger. But while they were rather angry about the loss of a sumptuous morsel due to disease, they ran as fast as they could to the winds- probably to spread the word to stay as far away from the dangerous and deadly pony for as long as possible.

Capper shook his head, praising Bast that cats were just good at lying and turned to his new charge. He wasn't going to let a. . .teenager. . .he guessed, to wander around this kind of place. Though he was always unsure about pony ages- what with them not howling up a storm while mating or just having their own social cues that he could pick up on easily this 'kid' could be like six or twenty two. "They are gone now. And they shouldn't be messing with you."

The pony looked up at Capper, his green orbs watery and sad as he climbed out of the hole that he had dug himself. Capper waited to see the damage on the male since he looked okay, but with how Klugetown burned down, he wasn't ruling out smoke damage or burns. The pony nodded and croaked out his response, his voice raspy and broken due to smoke and, probably, dehydration. "I thought I'd die. I mean my whole family. . ."

Capper nodded. "Yeah. Sorry about that. I'd rather not have these snakes eat a helpless pony. Dead? Sadly I'd say yeah. But not living ones. I have some kind of decency. Now if you stay close and don't look in their eyes, I might be able to get you something to eat and drink. Or I could leave you here and you'll slowly go mad with water lust. Whatever sounds better. But I'm going on patrol anyway and need to get supplies."

The male nodded. "Can I find my family's bodies first?"

Capper sighed. "Look. . .uh, pony. . ."

"Sandbar."

"Right, right. We just burned hundreds of corpses. The ones who aren't burned unrecognizable husks, sure. Or black soot staining the sand, but that's a far less common occurrence. And these idiots' meat stores got restocked. So sure, but its highly unlikely. And the views from here aren't pretty."

Sandbar looked through Capper. "It's fine. I've seen enough anyway. I know they aren't coming back."

***

Canterlot

Celestia bemoaned the Sun Court now. The mass of confused ponies that glutted the hall about any news about Manehattan was rather troubling. She had tried to calm the tides but some rather messy nobles were caterwauling about the right thing to do and how about their estates and the taxes and the stuff that was important, truly, but not enough than the loss of life and the need to rehome so many ponies. Not to mention the rather angry families of the guards of Manehattan. She had batted away most with money and a bit of tact, but there was one that was as obnoxious as a minotaur and as exact as a gryphon about where her particular son was. Like Celestia could move the earth and the political situation to save one stallion.

Even a goddess of the sun had her limits.

"Where exactly is my son, Celestia? I've been standing here for four hours, trying desperately to get any answer on my son."

Celestia stared down at the pegasus mare, her purplish mane and creamy yellow coat not adequate for the rage and hurt that was reflected in her eyes. The mare had quietly replaced her rimmed glasses with a wing as she paced back and forth like a lion.

"I'm rather sorry. I've kept my pulse on the reports and all I can tell you is that this, Zephyr Breeze, was it, he was stationed in an area that was razed to the ground by the few reports on the ground and the few reserve Wonderbolts I've been able to let into that particular airspace. We can hope he's okay. . ."

Juniper Wing stared daggers into Celestia and turned away. "I hear exactly what you are telling me but that's not enough. He just enlisted, to my displeasure, and you are telling me he's likely dead. My one good child."

Celestia groaned. "Yes, while I feel for you, I can't give you preferential treatment. Since I don't even know who you are."

Juniper grimaced. "Well this isn't over. Not until I get my son back."

Blueblood was not having a particularly great day. His usual day, when relaxing, was drinking a good stiff drink and travel into the velvet rooms and parlors of Canterlot, the feminine wiles and sexual immediacy of the place so enticing. He rarely did much of anything, more used to getting one of the mares for the night and use them less as a thing to be lusted after and more a shoulder to lean on and talk to, less an active participant in these matters. Unlike his father, Blueblood had at least some modicum of tact and decency when it came to prostitutes.

That was a normal day off.

He didn't expect that he'd get one in a while.

Blueblood knew exactly his view in the media- a prince quick to anger and one that had a string of debaucheries that trailed him like little stars, the scandal of his few attempted romances, the mass of mail for Canterlot's most desirable stallion that was tangentially in the royal line. Though, he mused, a step down than before. Twilight Sparkle, that genius mare, the number one pony in their Canterlot classes, the commoner that rose up to an alicorn, an impossibility, due to her perseverance. Blueblood chuckled. How very 'Twilight'.

He leaned in and moved the piles of pecuniary bills that scattered his desk. He never particularly enjoyed his job- financing the country by stringing along certain duties and cajoling businesses, aiding countries in their own existence. But being finance minister in effect was rather exciting in its own way. Even if Celestia and Luna probably saw him as a weak link. Blueblood sighed and ran a hoof through his mane, golden locks, so like his father's, shone in the dim light.

They probably saw him as too much like his father, Celestia's memory of the familial line going so far into the past that she could bring up stories about a lesser noble of his line so clearly that it felt like she was talking about yesterday, not 500 years in the past. And it was intimidating- being measured every day, thinking every outburst or any slip up might be forever remembered strained him.

"Not like it matters."

Blueblood grimaced as the memory of the Gala welled up, a particularly barbed memory that Celestia loved teasing him about. He blushed in remembrance, the thought of that commoner that had equaled, nay, surpassed the nobility and the aristocrats in her poise. He had walked up and expected her to come drooling all over his hoof like a common strumpet, stories of his sire had swirled in his head, thoughts of it being his debut in polite society had raised him up to the pinnacle of high society.

And she had cut him down like a practiced fencer, her words completely disarming him since he, as a newly minted member of the nobility, had not wanted to spoil his night. And he had so carelessly spoiled hers.

"And like Father, I'm stuck here dealing with a situation of my own making. Almost like a curse." Blueblood yawned and read through the reports of Manehattan, yet again, sadly comforted by his Gala blunder, as he read though the losses. The sheer restructuring of the tax plan, the bits lost in this one attack, the lives lost and the payouts of life insurance. It would be a hit to the coffers, but since he had been saving for rainy days, the hit should be manageable.

"Wonder what that mare is doing now anyway."

Blueblood knew of the exact mare that he had so grievously hurt and had followed her career in secret- donating to her causes in anonymous tips, being near to her in spirit. He had even attempted to come up and apologize profusely during one rather nice party held by Fancy Pants, but he had chickened out and sat at the bar, drowning his sorrows in Mexicolt mojitos and Yakyakistani vodka like a chump.

Blueblood picked up a paper and stared at the type, gold ink telling him that it was truly important. Celestia's own personal color and signature telling him a way to possibly see Lady Rarity again with a reason that covered his wounded pride.

"Elements of Harmony Task Force? What pray tell, are you planning Auntie?"

***

The Hive, Formerly Manehattan

Pharynx stared out at the wonderful sights of this burned out husk of a town. The walls of the hive were coming in nicely thanks to the work of the hierarchy- the drones did what they needed to do, the workers listened, and his fellow higher ups worked together like the tastiest royal jelly- light and sweet with just a bit of rage and a faint hint of melancholy. In effect, fantastic. He buzzed carefully though the street and laid out the royal rooms and antechambers of the hive in his head- very little truly interested him besides protecting and expanding the hive and that worked wonders for him. As Chrysalis planned out how each Changeling worked in the hive, birthing certain ones more or less thanks to her knowledge of genetics, he let the world spin around him as he focused intently on his work.

He buzzed through the halls of what Thorax called 'library' and he picked up the scribble things that the ponies had. Inefficient things these word collections were. He would rather not filthy his mind with unimportant words. He did not have to know how magic worked or what was the best way to unlock a door. Simplicity and, therefore, efficiency ruled his mind. If mother wanted him to torture the prisoners, he would do it. If she desired him to die, he would. He was unlike his brother in that way. Thorax was all about cooperation and alternatives, the bigger picture, the future. Pharynx was in effect, the speaker of the Now, writ large. Thorax was the designer. Ocellus was Mother's favorite.

As it should be.

Pharynx walked over the dead husks, the useless, lifeless, not food of ponies, and stared at the prisoners that had burst out so oddly into the sunlight of the Hive. For this city was now the Hive and will forever be the Hive because Pharynx couldn't fathom a return to pre-Hive. The shells of the ponies were toppled. The dead littered the streets. Gryphons, regrettably, flew through the air. Mother had them in truce, yes, but that could be re-arranged. Not his job, though. That was Thorax.

He stared at the green pony. The golden hair was not pretty. Ocellus and Thorax knew the concept, pretty. He didn't. So she wasn't pretty to him.

The thing spoke words that he recognized, he tasted the fear. He wanted so much to feed off the wonderful emotion.

He stared at the other creature, what Thorax called, a 'dragon'. Pharynx felt a buzz in his throat at that thought. The good pink pony had supposedly killed each and every dragon in Manehattan and yet one lived. Well, technically, he thought. It's shell was crisp and damaged. It had damage to the neck area- totally understandable- but the claws had not finished the job.

Pharynx shrugged. The wound had closed and scarred shut. It was alive thanks to the orange runt's own flames. They had spurted out in great gouts as it screamed in howling pain. And cauterized the wound.

If Pharynx had his way, he would have fed off the delectable pain that lingered in the emotions. But brother said to be nice, so here he was guarding the prisoners. Like a good Changeling. Staring into their eyes and wondering what they were thinking.

All in all. it was a wonderful day in the Hive.

***

The Storm Lands

Cozy Glow hummed softly as she walked though the hallways of the bleak castle, the clanking of machinery a nice and calming backbeat to her mind as she thought of what next to do. The information that Spike had leaked to the cat bitch was so enlightening in its own way. For one, it was so nice to have the prisons bugged. It made her life so much easier. Not that she didn't relish the look of a creature's face when she sussed out information that she shouldn't know. Couldn't know. The look of confusion and fear was just so interesting. Boring, expected, normal. But still after so long in this mortal coil she still got a bit of enjoyment out of teasing creatures.

Tempest's familiar rushed past her, his stumpy legs pitter pattering on the floor. So odd, she thought, a creature that was the last of his race, an anomaly to the world being so happy. Adorable.

"Hey, Grubber, what's the rush?"

The hedgehog turned and looked at the earth pony, his eyes quickly turning down as he realized who it was that was speaking to him. "Oh, uh, nothing much. Just going about my day. And I mean, Tempest is going on a mission."

Cozy Glow smiled. A fake smile, her lips turning up at the edges just enough to put the little hedgehog in his place. "Really? Where? I mean its just so hard with me being here. Alone. Well, not alone, but Stormy isn't a great conversationalist."

Grubber stepped back ever so slightly from the foal. "I mean its nothing too special. Just flying over the area. Might stop over at Mount Aris."

Cozy Glow remembered well Mount Aris. The seaponies were just so interesting to play with. Their song and dance numbers, their absolutely wonderful scales, the little jewel they had. It was so tantalizing to just fish for one of them. Cause the last time she had actually seen one was so long ago- so, so long ago. Same thing for the little cabals of smugglers, rapists, and horrible creatures that lived around there. She couldn't think of a good time in her recent lifespan that she actually visited that place. Sure, her parents had lost their lives there. But that was a thousand years ago. Or so it felt.

"You know. I just remembered something."

"What?"

Cozy Glow smiled. "I read in a book that the seaponies we have now aren't the seaponies of the past. An aberration of magic, one might say. Now I got some juicy information from the prisoners and I thought, since we are such good friends-" Cozy Glow hated that word. The last friend she had was nonexistent, and the closest confidants were in Tartarus or dead in the ground. "- I thought that we'd do a good trade. I get to go outside and see the fun stuff around Mount Aris and I get to share my info."

Grubber ran a hand through his hair. " I dunno. Tempest said that I shouldn't agree to stuff. Something about me being too trusting for a minion."

Cozy Glow sighed. "Okay, but she'd be out of a nice information dump. I mean she's all about ways to win against the other side."

"Okay, okay." Grubber grimaced, worried that Tempest would cut his pie rations in anger. "but don't be too sure on coming with us, its not up to me. You'd have to ask Tempest first."

Cozy Glow smiled sweetly. "Of course. Now have you ever heard of one alicorn by the name of Twilight Sparkle?"

Yakety Yak

Yakyakistan

Rutherford was not like his father, blessed be his soul of few words and great temper Rutherford was a great fighter true, but quieter, more bookish for a yak. Ivan, his father, was the warrior king of all warrior kings, blasting himself full of electrical current and rushing headlong off cliffs to test his might.

And here Rutherford was. In charge due to a freak accident of his father throwing himself off too high of a mountain while drunk off of the clearest and most potent batch of vodka. He was sent a heroes welcome into the next life, but he left a big red stain on the rocks and a massive crater when the magical charge dissipated outwards as his spine folded like an accordion.

It was a way to go and bards would sing on Ivan the Foolhardy for generations, but the funeral was a tight lipped affair. Closed cairns weren't the most common of yak burial methods.

"What is clouding face?"

Rutherford sighed and looked down at his cousin Yona, her braids newly tied in the tradition of yaks, each telling of the life of said female yak. "Nothing, Yona, and that is Tsar to you. Keep telling you that court is looking at you funny."

Yona rolled her eyes. "Well, is not like Yona has to deal with all the yaks anyway." She stretched and yawned in thought. "So bandits? Heard there was bandits in the north."

Rutherford sighed. "Denied. You aren't going to go anywhere near a camp. Especially since I've tried to teach you how to speak Common."

Yona sat down and crossed her hooves. "Words hard. It much easier to know what others say from smell and how big and how easily they smash stuff."

Rutherford groaned. He knew well enough his cousin, the young yak was a headstrong and traditional female. Though she always had a bit of curiosity, luckily enough for him cause the rest of his relatives were super content singing yak songs and smashing stuff since that was tradition. Backwards tradition in a way, with the rumblings in the East about the Storm King and whatever mess that the moon had etched upon it. He would have talked to the moon horse if his astrologers weren't bellowing in fear about the end of the world. Being Tsar was hard. "Yona, listen. I like smashing stuff almost as much as any yak, but the world is far bigger than that. I had talked to a few rulers about a program sending a yak away to learn but I can't just send any old yak away."

Yona's ears perked up, though her hooves were still stolidly crossed in anger.

Rutherford sighed. "Think if I sent Yazmin or Reuben, they'd be no use with their youth. They'd trample all over wherever I'd send them like a yak in a tea shop. No tact to temper their age. I send a yak too old and it'd be like trying to draw water from a stone. Impossible without the right method. You, on the other hoof, have the best middle ground."

Yona huffed. "Guess so. Still want to go smash stuff. But maybe learning isn't so bad. Especially if friend can be made."

Rutherford nodded, thankful that he had talked to Celestia in passing during the last Royal Gathering. She had a few ideas on how to wrangle a student in some way and he had used that to his advantage. If only he had seen Twilight Sparkle in action, he could have fully agreed to her plans but that was months away anyway.

***

Pinkie felt the heat of Cheese in the blankets, his lanky and fun form a nice respite from her sadness. She popped her head out of the small tent and looked up at the dawn, the broken moon telling her all she had to know. It had been three weeksand she still felt twinges of pain when she remembered the twitches that told her that part of her heart was closed off. The feel of Twilight's wings, her mouth teasing her to an explosive end, the feeling of parties with their friends. Some things were done and over with, but the memories remained. She glanced at her sisters' tents, each having their own to sleep in, and Pinkie smiled slightly.

She heard Cheese hum in his sleep and she smiled sweetly, the relationship the pair had was odd. But nice. She had thrown herself into his hooves, slowly letting herself open up again, taking weeks to know the touch of another. He had sat there telling her of his colthood, their meeting, and his dreams. And she had listened and felt okay. Not fantastic, not fully complete due to her pain, but better.

And then one night they had made love and it was magical, and good and different from Twilight. It was primarily focused on her. Meaning that while she totally did get a spray of funfetti from his party cannon, there was a bit more fun to be had. Inflatable genitals wasn't something she expected another pony to have but Cheese did and she had a fun time fitting all that rubberized chicken into her vagina. Pinkie put all of her weight onto his lower regions and she could feel Cheese waking up ever so slightly. "Good morning."

Cheese Sandwich opened a eye and grinned. "So you liked my accordion playing last night?"

Pinkie giggled. "Among other things. But while I'd love to see how many more musical notes your dick can play, I think you should wake up. I mean we have places to be and things to see here in Yak Country."

Cheese stretched and yawned. "Well its not yaks. Have you figured out why they keep running away from us? I mean I thought I knew all the different sounds a large animal could make but a high pitched scream coming from a yak? That was a new one."

Pinkie shook her head, not knowing how exactly to respond. She hadn't done a ton of non pony parties- mules and that one failed Gilda party excepted, so she couldn't tell why yaks were skittish and it wasn't like. . .Twilight had spent much time talking about yaks besides in passing.

Limestone stuck her head in and grimaced at the pair. "Good, I thought Marble was pulling my leg when she said she felt you two were up, but guess she was right. Can you two stop screwing and making all the rest of us uncomfortable for two seconds and help me read the map. I can't read all these weird yak signs with non Equestrian letters so the map's gibberish. Maud says we are on the direct path to Ivargrad just by the difference in soil, but besides that I'm lost."

***

Tempest stared daggers into her prisoner's grinning face. She had expected Mount Aris to be a quick and easy jaunt, a simple smash and grab of any sort of important items for the Storm, almost a vacation away from mindless Storm Beasts. But she had one small problem. The seapony in front of her, sitting in an impromptu washbasin, her yellow and blue coloration and bubbly attitude in the face of imminent, and, so far, completely useless torture a reminder that there were still holdouts from the Storm.

"So Skystar, can you please tell me anything about your home? Any artifacts or special defensive measures that we should know about? Sea currents, degpth, rock formations? Anything. Besides your rather inane life."

The seapony grinned and lazed back. "Nope, I mean I don't get told anything really about anything. Something about 'talking too much. Hey, on that note, can I talk to the pegasus again? I thought I was getting close to explaining the ins and outs of how exactly fun being friends with shells is."

Tempest groaned, remembering far too well Cozy's far away look of sheer disappointment that she held for days after that attempt at torture. "No, I don't think Cozy Glow would like that right now. Though I could get my unwilling assistant to at least attempt some kind of. . .talk with you if you prefer?" Tempest hated that she had to play this idiot's game to get any kind of information. It was like pulling teeth, if teeth had a dull, annoying and completely inane sense of the outside world. "Back to it then, you were saying things about Queen Novo."

Skystar rolled her eyes. "Yes, mother is all you ponies want to talk about. Something about her being a genius with magic and all that jazz, but you know that we didn't even find that pearl anyway, originally I mean. I heard it was something of a war gift from us winning a war against the sea serpents. I mean really, who's afraid of a sea serpent. All the ones I've seen are perfectly harmless. Though I've only seen one or two. Kind of rare things those are."

Tempest's eye twitched. It had taken three weeks of uncharacteristic hospitality from her and, only now, did she get information that this complete waste of space was a princess. An actual hostage. Bait. She inwardly screamed that that could have been done sooner so she wouldn't have heard about hours and hours about this Skystar's day. Her wants and dreams, her poems about shells.

She noted that her and Grubber would get along swimmingly. They were thorns in her side that complicated things. At least Grubber knew when to be quiet.

***

Moondancer stared out at the collected might of magic users in Canterlot, so dutifully arranged by Fleur, the aristocrats that were truly useful divided from the chaff of Starlight's accidental sycophants. "Good job, I guess."

Fleur looked up and smiled ever so briefly. "Is that a compliment from the least complementary Archmage I know? Shocking." The lanky unicorn got up and stretched. "Now if you are done complimenting me about the one main job I had from Celestia- a rather difficult one since trying to corral the rich into anything close to a battle ready regiment is like herding cats as one of my Appleloosan modeling jobs once so nicely told me. Wonderful turn of phrase that. Coffee?" The white unicorn floated over a pot of coffee and stared out at the Canterlot morning, wild and untamed weather a new and exciting predicament with Celestia's proclamation.

"No, don't like the taste and what with me having this thing in my chest-" Moondancer grimaced in pain as she touched the skin overlapping part of the red jewel that now comprised her heart. "I'd rather not test the hypothesis of added sugar on a corruptive magical device."

Fleur shrugged. "Your loss. Anyway, I'm on my way to check up on our little friends in Ponyville. You want me to say anything to Twilight before heading off to see our resident monster hunters?"

Moondancer rolled her red eyes. "Sweetie Drops and Lyra? Not really. I've read the files on the pair enough to know that outside of maybe a nice conversation on how to deal with Changelings and how to tell magical creatures apart. . .I could just read a book and be done with it."

"And that's why Sunburst is my favorite in this division. At least friendly banter is a possibility."

"Don't you start on that. I have better things to do than to talk to ponies. And anyway its not like my current image helps any."

Fleur nodded as she walked out the makeshift Magic Division Headquarters- previously Twilight's old quarters- and with a quick flourish closed the door of Moondancer's room. "Sunburst. Going out. Anything you'd like from Ponyville?"

Sunburst's head popped out of a stack of books, the bespectacled stallion fixing his glasses ever so slightly as he thought. "I mean you could always go to the castle to pick up some books. Twilight's collection is rather well thought out and holds some rather interesting tomes on magical warfare in the restricted sections, if the quarterly reports of book collections hold any merit."

Fleur shook her head. "I meant like other things. Books aren't on that list usually since can't she just zap some books to you?"

Sunburst's eyes shrank to pinpricks as Fleur said that. "Oh Celestia no. I mean sure, some of the restricted section's books might be able to due to age, but its not like every book there is restricted due to content. I mean have you ever held a book written by the Founders of Equestria or fragments of the Paradise Valley Civilization. And I don't mean facsimiles of the words on the page, but true and honest to goodness first copies. Some of those are just-"

Fleur held up a hoof. "I get the idea. Bad times."

Sunburst nodded. "Good." He breathed out. "And on a different note, I haven't heard much on Starlight. Thought you'd like to know, since you-"

The white unicorn frowned, not needing to be reminded of Starlight's probing of her mind. The hazy memory of being forced to wear a maid outfit and sit until needed. It was degrading and she was still finding some rather unfortunate things in her mansion- not to forget the gaping hole that the pink mare had torn through her garden wall in rage. She did not have to be reminded of Starlight, because the mare still almost felt like she existed in Canterlot. "Yeah. Well, keep it up and send news about that to Spitfire as well, just to keep us all in the loop when you do."

***

Ponyville

Twilight walked through her castle, now slightly less remote and quiet than she remembered. She quickly passed by Sparkler who was arguing profusely with Blackthorn about some magical theorem about the Elements. Something that was more and more common since the deer had mentioned that the Tree of Harmony was a rather interesting loci for magic and how talkative it could be if ponies could just hear it speak.

"-you are shitting me. The Tree talks to you? I mean its not like its a living breathing creature, sure it is still a tree but I'm not debating about the sentience of corn."

Blackthorn laughed, low and quiet. "Actually it's more my brother's area of expertise, but the tree is a great fount of knowledge- especially of the times before the alicorns. And the history of the first nations of ponies and what they had to fight against. The Smooze, Lavan, Hydia and her brood of witches. Among other things."

Sparkler scoffed. "The Smooze? I think Twilight said it was buddies with Discord or something. Like that's truly dangerous, its just a blob."

Twilight shook her head and walked into Luna's wing of her castle, the blue alicorn a nice respite from the town's madness. "Luna? You said you wanted to see me about something?"

Luna smiled as she poured herself a cup of coffee. "Yes, well I wanted to see you before you met up with Aspen and the other deer." She carefully got onto a smaller chair since she was still stuck as a small alicorn. "I mean just because they are working with us and slightly ironed out some of the issues they had with us doesn't mean that I like sending you deep into the Everfree Forest with them.

Twilight shook her head. "I'm going to be fine. They weren't expecting other alicorns and I think that helped us when we had to discuss terms. Though that makes me wonder how they would react to Cadance and Flurry. Seemed like they only knew of Celestia and you. And they still hate you."

Luna sighed. "Don't remind me. Luckily for you, you were born after we had made space for ponies. From what Starswirl said when I asked him why we had to fight the deer, he just looked sad and said something about the Sundering of Paradise Valley. Though from what it sounded like, that was way before him and way before us. So no Twilight, I can't answer your questions about first hoof experience with that. Immortals are still bound to when they were born or made- and even though I would love to use a time spell or two to see myself- that would just cause ripples far too numerous to count. Though I think you know that yourself."

Twilight sighed. "You know its hard to keep things private when you enter into my dreams."

Luna shrugged. "I found out that particular odd dream of yours before we were together. And I thought it was a nightmare at first until I checked the archives. Though I have to say you did look good in black spandex. Though your mane style was rather unique."

Twilight rubbed her face in annoyance. "Great, I'll keep that in mind. Anything else you'd like to embarrass me with?"

The small blue alicorn giggled. "I have ideas, but those can wait."

***

Canterlot

"Again. And with more feeling this time. I know you pansies are still in the idea that the Wonderbolts are just some glorified sports team, but no, we are something better. A glorified sports team with dangerous weapons." Blossomforth tapped her clipboard and pointed directly at Dash and Fluttershy. "I mean if we have the Elements here, even if only two, I guess that means we are a great and-"

Spitfire groaned. She knew exactly that Blossomforth ran on sheer caffeine, cocaine, and bombast, but she was laying it on slightly too thick. "What my loud co-captain means is that Fire Streak and Surprise, for example, though I really don't want you to be singled out, your form is off. The wing blades are a new and rarely used addition for our team, but after Manehattan, we kind of need to learn how to fight competently." Spitfire, through years of leading, noticed a white hoof raise in a questioning manner. "Yes, High Winds?"

The usually quiet female Wonderbolt looked at Fluttershy. "So I get why Dash is here. Makes total sense, but like why is she here?"

Blossomforth and Spitfire shared a knowing look at each other and the cream colored party pegasus coughed before she spoke. "Celestia said so. Definitely not my or Spitty's idea but we work with what you get. Though Fluttershy here is less of a hindrance that she appears. I mean I only know of like maybe two ponies that can punch holes in walls easily and this mare of slightly deceptive looks could tear your head off without breaking a sweat."

High Winds took a now very worried look at the butter yellow pegasus and scooted ever so much closer towards her teammates.

"Blossomforth, what the heck was that?" Dash grimaced as she carefully preened a yellow feather from her wing. She didn't mind being in Fluttershy's body since she had had time to kind of adjust- but having one of the first training sessions be so strained and awkward with multiple ponies just staring at her like she had a second head? That sucked. The only thing that might have made up for that was that every Wonderbolt was staying clear and so she could ream the small captain of the new 'Bolts a new one.

"Dash, come on. You and I both know that our fantastic Wondies just love bombast and stallion like attempts at bonding. The non-gay kind. So what if I might have said that you'd rip a pony's head off? That was an exaggeration. Plus, I'm not completely doing bad at my new position. I mean I cut the tension, right?"

Dash sighed and turned on the shower, the water running down her borrowed yellow coat. "Shy, can you at least talk sense to our oh so wonderful second captain? Please?"

Fluttershy walked up behind Dash and traced a wing over her. "I was just about to ask why there were whispers that I had relations with said scariest pony on the team? Cause Fire Streak, I think, and Surprise were talking about it."

Blossomforth rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue. "That wasn't me. Sure, I have a big mouth and say a lot of inane shit, but Thunderlane and Flitter and Cloudchaser exist too. And with Celestia's decree its not like they had a choice not being recruited 'Bolts."

Dash stared at the cream" colored pegasus with a critical eye and sighed. "Fine. Still weird to hear about it. So can you like talk to them and try and-"

Blossomforth shook her head in the negative. "Dash, you don't know how to bury a bad story. Take it from me, if you fight the rumor, it just makes it worse. So while I now don't like being known as the partiest Wonderbolt Captain who ever captained, it has its upsides. And anyway, you two are fucking cause you said so."

Dash blushed crimson. "Yes, well, its still odd and like I'd rather focus on the thing we're here for. Training."

Blossomforth laughed. "Yeah, well you're going to miss this when you have to actually use those wing blades."

***

Posey and Zephyr Breeze walked through the door to Canterlot Castle. The yellow pegasus nodded to each soldier as she passed, a hint of her Solar Guard training buried by years of circus living creeping out. She didn't recognize any of them, since it had been decades since she was stuck in a regimented structure, but some looked familiar- probably related to ponies she used to know from the Buffalo Wars but she was unsure. She glanced over and saw Zephyr shaking in fear. She chalked it up to actually seeing the Princesses, the recruit mindset of actually being in the presence of royalty always there until it was dulled by time or accidental effort. "Calm down, you wallflower."

Zephyr carefully brushed his mane out of his eyes, the run from Manehattan and meandering way the circus train had winded its way to Canterlot giving him no time to preen or be okay with his appearance. "But its the Princesses. I've heard stories about them being the highest and best kind of-"

Posey rolled her eyes. "Let me stop you right there. I once saw Celestia eat eight cakes in a single setting just because she could. And she once tried to make every guard have to wear silly hats. So like if you say they want decorum and all that rot, I have to horribly disappoint you."

Zephyr Breeze sat there silent and wanted to respond, but the large ornate doors of the Sun Court opened slightly and a head of a bespectacled mare glanced out and levitated a clipboard, quickly reading Celestia's meeting schedule and nodding. "So you're the noon meeting. Thought you'd be more intimidating and anyway, you look familiar. Like really annoyingly familiar."

Posey smiled ever so briefly. "I get that a lot. Anyway. While I'd love to say pleasantries and all that, my little acquaintance here would just love to provide a first hoof account of Manehattan."

Raven shrugged. "We've already had a few of those. But since you filed the requisite paperwork and forms, and that once I informed the Princess about your coming, she looked slightly surprised, I guess it would be okay. Follow me please." The unicorn opened the large doors wider and walked through the silent court- the normal patterns of petitioners and daily weather reports put to the wayside due to present circumstances. "Princess, they are here."

Celestia's voice wafted through the air and the pair were let in.

***

Klugetown

Sandbar carefully wound through the dark undertunnels of what he used to know as Klugetown. Not much told him about the town now, what with weeks of building an underground burrow of snakes and adders and blasting the ruins of the town itself to high heaven. He breathed in the rank of the reptiles here, still slightly unused to the smell of the creatures. And he wasn't going to be comfortable until he went somewhere else since a good many of them still looked at him as a piece of meat. He carefully walked over bones of the dead ponies that told him all too well of that fact. "Capper? You here? I have a message from the Storm King."

Capper popped his head out his makeshift cat house and sighed, letting the small pony slide up and take off his saddlebags. The brown tomcat yawned and dug through the proffered bags. "What does Mr. Blue have to tell me now? 'Thanks for the very large and useful prodding at the Equestrian Border, but we are sending you back as a political prisoner.' or 'Actually you are a hindrance and so I'm sending cyanide to you.'" Capper slid a claw through the stack of letters, smelling the faint hint of magic residue, telling him that it was magically sent. "At least he could have used a potion or something. I still have a few of those."

Sandbar shrugged and dug into his rations- the barest hint of care that the lizards gave him and that was after Capper had raised all kinds of Tartarus about him almost starving to death and how it would look bad. He inspected the grains for any rot since the earth pony still thought that even after three weeks, the reptiles were feeding him Klugetown's grain stores. "Seemed important and Ziggy was pissed since it was labeled for your eyes only. And well the Storm King didn't even mention the King of the South or whatever thing that komodo dragon is calling himself today."

Capper laughed, "It's something like the Lizard King. How basic." The cat stretched out and sighed, carefully reading the missive. "Well I'm annoyed. You ever been to Manehattan?"

Sandbar shook his head. "No, my dad wanted to tough it out here and build a name for himself being the best known builder in all of the South. Look where that got him. He said we were going to have a vacation to Manehattan cause we had some family there after things got easier. . ." The young earth pony shivered remembering the chaos of the last few weeks.

Capper grimaced. "Well, seems like that city's pretty much wiped off the map and doubly so cause the stupid changelings and gryphons took it over. Probably covered in garbage now. Sad cause my aunt loved that place. Though she said it was a loci for magic and had ruins of previous eras." Capper groaned as he felt his back adjust. "Which now makes me wonder how she got her magical trinkets and doodads. . ."

"You're saying the great and powerful future king of Abyssinia is related to a grave robber?" Sandbar giggled.

"No, I'm just wondering what the point of Changelings staying in Manehattan is. Cause they hate being in one place. Something about putting all their eggs in one basket."

***

The Hive

Gallus carefully walked through the vaulted ceilings of the Changeling's base of operations. He gagged as he passed fetid pools of some kind of rancid garbage that the Changelings seemed to delight in. He nodded cautiously to each and every creature that he could see as this Thorax carefully spoke a bastardized gryphonic kind of common tongue, the changeling halting on each and every guttural word, letting the young gryphon stare as bugs crawled out of walls and looked at him with compound eyes. It unnerved him, the low moaning of each barely conscious worker, the idea that in each of them Chrysalis could see him.

"And here we are. The lowest part of the superhive. After digging out, we found a few artifacts of note that can be turned into pure magical essence. Though these Mighty Helm warriors seemed rather pointless." Thorax levitated over a huge broadsword, rusted and bejeweled. "No unicorn magic or enchantments. Odd for ponies."

Gallus shrugged. "Artifacts. What can you do with them? I mean there's some cool stuff in Griffonstone, but they are all under lock and key. So uh, why did you bring me down here, Thorax, or is it Chrysalis now cause you have that odd ability to creepily speak with her voice."

Thorax laughed. "No matter, I brought you down here because I have been seeing you around the hive and we haven't talked much, you and I, creature to creature. Especially since we are the same, or similar, you and I. Stand ins for our leaders back home. Chrysalis is busy in the Storm Lands right now else she'd be here and your mother Gallant sees us as a means to an end to power."

Gallus trembled slightly, knowing full well that the Changelings around him could literally smell fear. "Are you threatening me?" He ran through every kind of spell that he could shape on the fly, from teleportation to offensive bolts. And he came up lacking since he didn't know exactly where he was with the long winding path down here and the numerous uncountable and mindless Changelings that stood between him and the surface.

Thorax laughed, a buzzing sound that vibrated through the hive. Unnatural to hear a changeling laugh. Their vocal membranes were not really built for it. "No, no. What I am saying is that we need forge bonds that last beyond them. Precautions for eventualities, one might say. The numerous spies in Griffonstone tell us how easy one might snuff out a bird or two in haste and just destabilize the government. For that's what your mother did. And we can't have that." Thorax breathed out. "Let's just say that if your mother tries any of her funny business thinking we are just mindless drones. . .then she will be sorely mistaken."

"Uh, thanks, I'll let my mom know that in a letter. Not like she actually reads them,"

Thorax nodded. "Missives are so pointless to ones like us. Easier to send out thoughts and scent emotions out to all in quick and complex packets of information. But back to this 'jolly' co-operation thing you want. We saw you near the second queen and while I would love seeing you talk to Ocellus on the regular, mother says that is highly unwise what with our 'sister' you might say being packed with genetic material from an uncountable number of sources for the best and most useful hive for emergencies- a spy network so vast that we could just topple a nation without a single thought. Because our mother gave her a taste of what the ponies call emotions and love and friendship."

Gallus walked back a few steps. "Okay, message received, no more random talking to changelings and its not my fault entirely since I thought she was a normal changeling. It's not like you guys have very different colors or things."

Thorax nodded. "That's true. Though the evolutionary use of pigmentation might be useful, I could bring that up with the Queen. But what I was saying is that while Chrysalis wants to keep her safe, I think that is patently unwise since Ocellus is a ticking time bomb of curiosity and tempered with the most dangerous tinge of friendship- the most dangerous weapon known to us after our numerous failures at conquest, So Gallus, would you like to be Ocellus' first friend?"

Gallus wanted to cry as he had spent the last ten minutes being scared out of his mind. "Sure."

Thorax nodded. "Now I just want to warn you, do not 'fuck' Ocellus, by the parlance of these ponies, that would be a very bad thing. And if that happened I think as a protective member of the hive, we would have to kill each and every gryphon in retaliation."

Gallus nodded. "Yep, that wasn't on my mind and it is now the furthest possible thing ever. Now where is my newest friend so I can take a breath of fresh air?"

***

The Storm Lands

The Storm King stared at his carefully prepared map of the world and frowned. He had a process to conquering honed by hundreds of years doing the work. Creatures far and wide spoke of him with consequential dread and dismay, his branding honed to a pure sheen of brilliance that any of those marketing geniuses would marvel at. And here he was staring at a country with a chokehold on every dastardly magical item and world ending device that he wanted and their magnanimous leader shut the country. The Storm King ran a hand over the magical wintry barrier that Celestia caused, the white sheen on this magical world map writ large. And it wasn't like he hadn't thrown things at that arctic barrier in the last few weeks. Ge had. And all he learned was that the alicorn had him forcibly unable to penetrate that barrier. "And here I thought invading a land full of pastel colored ponies would be easy. I mean I invaded and conquered lands with more terrifying things." He gripped his throne with a hand and dug his fingers into the granite as hard as he could in frustration.

He had plans upon plans that were complex and living things. He couldn't just say to this army in, for example, the deepest reaches of the Bitter Caves of Unspeakable Torment to just up and invade Yakyakistan from the east- that was statistically and geographically impossible. He was playing chess while others were playing with balls and sticks.

And so he was positively livid that he had had to shift some armies around, especially since most of the ever so helpful evil masses were conniving, petty things with him trying to herd, what was to him, an army of cats with evil plans on top of his much eviler and more exciting plans. He shifted the world map and laid his delicately sculpted chess pieces out on its surface, moving each carefully and with purpose and anticipating moves that Celestia would do.

He had thrown out invading the Eastern Seaboard with that glut of ice and snow that stopping thousands of years of carefully crafted magic does on the ecosystem. He had planned for everything. The fear, the pain, the death that losing a critical city would to any well oiled civilized machine. But he hadn't expected the ponies to just accept that and move on.

He touched the ornate chess pieces that represented his loyal minions- Tempest and her shattered horn, so unique and special she was, near Mount Aris. Capper and his dolt of a lizard king in the south, and masses of creatures all around the world that he had some knowledge of. Because Celestia had taken his prize of a quick and relatively painless invasion, he was going to play hardball now. And he always won.

And all he had wanted was a measly staff that Starlight had scoped out. Its not everyday you find a magical artifact like the Staff of Sacanas. He had done his homework on the history. It was all over ancient records. Hydia had used it to summon the Smooze and destroy Flutter Valley, the first of the pony civilizations. Tirek held it for a time before his fall. Scorpan tossed it into the sea. And yet it came back by those sea serpents and their unfortunate last leader of their culture. And it had been passed through many a hand, hoof, or claw. He could see the power of the staff writ large on history and he wanted a taste of it. And yet Celestia had the staff and didn't even truly want it.]

He pressed a nearby button that connected to the mass of wires and tubes that gave him the ability to speak throughout his castle. He carefully tapped it a few times to set up who exactly he wanted to speak to, and waited for the sound telling him that they were listening- a tiny bell sound that he wished was a little more intimidating. "Yes, Starlight, while I know that I just haven't been the most hospitable since you got back in my presence, I have another idea. What was that thing about that silly time spell you had? That sounds rather promising."

A Whiter Shade Of Pale: Back In Black

Diamond Tiara had slowly adjusted to her new life. Things had gotten better, or at least had changed, at home. No mom to needle her anymore and a dad that had become even more protective of her. It was rather nice in theory, but the stump that her right back leg was now, and her mom being dead, and everypony in town pitying her for what happened- those were all downsides to this. That was infuriating and so very annoying to handle.

She carefully slipped on the sock that let her strap on her prosthetic. The glinting pink gemstones and silver metal actually was sort of fashionable for one of these things and, even if she didn't completely want to admit it, Silver Spoon and her family did a great job on her new leg. It was more of a fashion statement than the basic horrors that the doctors had shown her- vague scraps of metal that accentuated every hint of 'I don't have a leg' or whatever sad story she didn't want to be seen as. It didn't look like somepony had just thrown together a hunk of junk. It flowed from her, and she could actually feel some sense of touch off of it. Silver had mentioned one day that Sweetie's sister and Twilight had looked at it to do some weird magic stuff to it, and the feel of it definitely hinted at their deft touch.

She took a few tentative steps and winced slightly since she was still getting used to not having one of her legs. Sometimes it felt like it was still there in the corner of her mind, all normal and perfect compared to what it was. Sometimes she felt a phantom itch that she couldn't scratch. And other times she just wanted to be normal in the full-length mirror that she stared at each day.

She put her books carefully in her bag and hobbled herself to her door. She had spent the last month in the hospital under a regimen of physical therapy that she wouldn't wish of other ponies. She felt exhausted each day after she made incremental hard-won progress, and now she could get back to her regular life and while she had practiced walking with the leg a few times, there was a sense of unfamiliarity that permeated her walk. It made her feel slightly exposed and worried about how everypony would react to her.

That was one niggling though that gave her pause. Her past actions making fun of ponies that didn't fit her perfect view of the world- the slightest imperfection, the stutter in words, the inability to fly. Things that could be fixed with effort, or not, were mocked and ridiculed mercilessly each and every chance she had. And if Diamond met that past version of herself, she would also now be mocked for something that she had had no choice in.

She breathed out, careful to not have her first day back be completely ruined by that thought.

She hobbled her way through her house, careful to slow down on the stairs as she hadn't completely got the hang of stairs yet with her new addition. She got it in theory, but practice with her three hooves she had all her life and the shiny metallic one that felt like it had a mind of its own when she let it work on autopilot, that was going to take time and effort.

She silently cheered as she reached the bottom of her house with no real issues. Slow and steady progress was still progress. She walked to the kitchen and threw some snack bars in her bag. Her mother never was one for breakfast and even with her gone, Diamond followed in her hoofsteps- though she wanted to be as dissimilar as what her mother became in the end. Twilight had told her explicitly that that hadn't been her mother, not exactly, explaining in excruciating school-like detail in the spell used, its effects, and all that mess. Still Diamond didn't want to ever be like her mother in that moment, the cruel eyes that had stared at her full of hatred, the robotic need for something unknown. And yet, she worried in the deepest part of herself that maybe she could fall into that. Aunt Screwball had been changed once Discord came to town by no fault of her own. She shivered and let that thought die by furiously shaking her head. She had been left with her thoughts too long.

Glancing at the clock on the wall, Diamond hurried out of there. She knew that Silver was used to waiting for her. She had replayed a lot of the interactions of her best friend in her head. It gave her something to do in recovery, and she discovered she had taken her friendship for granted.

No longer, this was a new and slightly improved Diamond.

***

Rarity stared up at the myriad different spell matrices hanging in the air, letting each tapestry of magic fill her senses with its woven sense of purpose. She had slowly acclimated to Canterlot in fits and spurts. Especially in the beginning when Twilight dropped the whole 'going to war' mess and she was formally and forcefully invited. Those had been a fraught few days with every single mess upending her life had caused. She had gotten more used to the odd unicorn shut in though, each mage in their own way unique and almost similar to one of her own customers in their odd foibles and oddities. While this was no soiree or garden party, the magical wing of magisters was rather erudite and nice to be around- except for one loud and uncomfortable exception.

Moondancer had taken some getting used to, her focused red eyes staring directly into Rarity's being and the red gem pulsing in time with the black unicorn's heart. Garish design of a coat, though Rarity had to let that sense of fashion go with how it was forced on her by Starlight. Absolutely atrocious choice that was if any picture of the mare that Twilight had had anything to go by. At least her mane looked nice, dark red and purple stripes worked with most coats.

"What are you thinking about, Rarity?" Moondancer's voice echoed through the Canterlot Archives, the old stonework giving her cold voice a natural amplification as she spoke.

"Nothing. Just trying to figure out why I'm still here. Nothing much a dressmaker can do in wartime if I can be truly honest."

Moondancer smiled ever so briefly. "Don't sell yourself short. You have a good reputation with the rich, or at least a decent one compared to me." Moondancer laughed, she had hated going to any party that interrupted her research and actively played the hermit when parties were forced on her. The hurt of Twilight skipping out on her friendship party had stung for years and she hadn't dared to replicate the experience. "And you are smart with applied gem theory and magic weaving if any of the samples of your work told me anything of true importance. You also forget about your little escapade in Ironhoof, the reports do tell of you being rather capable with diamonds."

Rarity stammered in confusion. "W-well that doesn't mean I'm able to become. . .what did you call it. . .a battle mage or whatever nonsense you thought of. That's preposterous. I'm a dressmaker, not a fighter."

Moondancer stared coolly at Twilight's friend, careful to trace every line and curve of her in her mind. She was right, she wasn't a mage worth speaking of, but there was a quality of her magic, not quantity. She was no Twilight, that was for sure, her magical aptitude skewed more into creative application and simple, quick solutions, not large-scale laser beams or high tier spells. Though, Moondancer chuckled to herself, she was comparing Twilight to this Rarity. Apples to oranges- a genius, young alicorn with potential and an above average unicorn with barely any magical training outside of the basics of levitation and a few other spells she knew.

"True, but you do have potential. And anyway, if you somehow fail this training session, I guess we can just use your genius designs for armor and the like. So, you actually don't lose out. You lose a few pounds of weight in my carefully crafted training program with Fleur and I, or you make armor. Win-win."

Moondancer waited. She had read copious reports on Twilight's friends. She had carefully edited the Friendship Journal into a best-selling book in Equestria. She knew most of the odd foibles and slanted views of these ponies in theory. Putting it into practice though was so much more difficult, craftier, and annoying to do. If there wasn't a time limit they were fighting against, she might have been nice about it. And Rarity seemed to have one foible about her looks and how fashionable she was.

"Fine." Rarity gritted her teeth and sighed. Hopefully Applejack was having more fun that her right now.

***

Applejack felt airsick. She was an earth pony and she rather liked the ground. It rarely moved. Maybe it was her pregnancy or some other unknown reason, but she stared down at the fast-moving ground from aboard the Dasher and felt a headache coming on. She pulled back from the edge of the deck and sat down, staring at the wood planks that kept her from falling to her death. "Are we there yet?"

Bon Bon and Lyra popped their heads out of the nearby cabin, the pair staring at the airsick pony. Lyra piped up first as they walked out the door. "I mean it's going to take a while to get to Silver Shoals. Maybe an hour or two."

Applejack groaned in protest as she stared up at the sky. "Why am I even here? I ain't a monster hunter anyway. Celestia, this is stupid."

Bon Bon stared out at the land of Equestria as she walked carefully on the deck. She wasn't used to airships either, and M.A.R.E had been a rather secretive organization with monster hunting so it was odd being so open and free with the mission. She stared out at the wall of white snow and ice on the corners of Equestria, a near impenetrable barrier of ancient magic that Celestia had let loose. The weather hadn't turned fully to winter yet due to generations of slight touches of pegasi magic, but she could see the broiling rage of the winter on the horizon. "Celestia thought it best for you to be somewhere out of the way. Monster hunting was an afterthought. Though I could teach you a few tricks of the trade, defensive measures, slight moves that make your condition less of a burden. How to handle a firearm."

Applejack glared at Bon Bon for a moment. "Not a burden. Just sick of boats. So, this varco-whatever why are you wanting it?"

Bon Bon uncomfortably fidgeted. "Varcolac. Large wolf like demons originally from the plains of Tartarus. I want a few of them because if we have to fight against the masses of the Storm King, having some unknown factors would be nice. So I've come up with a list of magical creatures to gather- mostly from the old M.A.R.E database of dangerous creatures and came up with the easy list of 'dangerous, but trainable ones'. I mean I'm not going to get the death worms of the steppes or anything like that. Just completely manageable ones like rocs, werewolves, bone spiders, elementals, and the like. Simple ones."

Lyra smiled as she listened to Bon Bon's carefully reasoned plan. "And we get to punch them and gather them up. Certified monster hunters."

Bon Bon rolled her eyes. "Minimal punching please, some of these creatures are very hard to take down the brute force way, Lyra. Which is why we had to seal some of them away in Tartarus. Would have worked if Tirek hadn't broken the doors off the place and trashed Equestria that one time. Made M.A.R.E look incompetent when we had demonic creatures eating towns for fun. Paperwork nightmare. I mean on top of the loss of life thing, but triplicate filing is terrible."

Applejack grimaced as she tried not to be sick at the thought.

***

Twilight carefully ran through the checklist of things to smooth over this odd time in the Everfree. Celestia had given her a quick idea of what to expect from the deer after Nightmare Night's fiasco of an introduction and she was sweating bullets at the thought of that repeating. Aspen had been at least somewhat receptive in trying to fight on the same side once the complete story had been unraveled and unfurled. Though he was definitely frosty towards Moondancer- which was to be expected- and Ponyville had acclimated to having an entire race of odd magical deer about as well as she had hoped. Which was not well, but at least tacit acceptance was almost easier to handle than Ponyville's worrying animosity towards outsiders at times.

Twilight carefully did her breathing exercises, years of practice helped calm her nerves just a little. It had been a tense few weeks and just now did the political turmoil of it all cool enough for a diplomatic mission. At least Luna was here to guide her through some of the odder things that could happen.

The still small blue alicorn walked out of the dense forest with Aspen right on her heels. "Ready, Twilight?"

Twilight was born ready. She had dreamed of finding a civilization and doing some first contact type research in theory- the idea of papers being formed and slowly written as she documented the customs of the deer fascinated her. The reality that they were living breathing creatures instead of some old mare's tale or ancient footnote in Starswirl's texts was just so tantalizing to her. "Ready."

Twilight cantered through the thicket of trees that hid the deer village from most of the Everfree, she was assailed by the myriad colors of the leaves in the trees, the feeling of powerful magic wafting through the air, the sounds of deer just living their lives. It was a mess of emotions the young alicorn felt- she felt like she was a foal in a candy store.

"So, we have a few things to talk about, you two." Aspen walked regally through the Thicket, his white coat standing out in the noonday light that was filtering through the canopy of trees. Twilight almost saw him as a ghost with how he slid through the bustling and active deer haven, his steps focused on the destination ahead.

Luna quickly poked Twilight in the side. She knew the look the purple mare had, and she had better things to do than rehash some rather painful memories of the past. "Such as?"

Aspen glanced over at Twilight and grinned ever so briefly. It had been a while since ponies were let in the heart of the Everfree- most of the ones that had tried before had walked into a trap or were turned around by the spells of the bonesingers, their magic casting a wide net of confusion around the Thicket to deter visitors. "This whole adding our braves into your fighting force. Seems a bit odd to me and some of the elders aren't very. . .receptive towards such a plan. Hard to link up with an enemy that has done unclean dealings with us in the distant past."

Luna knew this might be a problem. "Well, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Or whatever that little maxim Celestia goes on about says. Do you need reaffirmation that we aren't going to burn down the forest? Or something to that effect. Because my dear sister would love to link up and strengthen our bonds of fellowship."

"Friendship. She said friendship, but the point still stands." Twilight had broken out of her highly focused stupor of looking at everything the town had to offer and spoke up for a moment. "Similar in tone and feeling but going by the treaty definition it sounds far less forceful and more collaborative."

Luna loved Twilight's odd foibles, but the modern world was so passively forceful in wordings that she tended to get annoyed just trying to buy clothing when necessary. "Friendship, and I can at least vouch that there is something freeing in that, else I would be more of the pony that your songs probably sing about in hushed tones instead of the pony standing here today." Luna tried to act tough, but the aftermath of Nightmare Night had not yet worn off and so she was still a head shorter than the white furred deer she was talking to.

"Quite. Else we wouldn't have let you in. Blackthorn was rather loud and focused on that." Aspen shook his head, the light sounds of bells in his headdress lightly clinking as he did so. "Fine. Though this will be at most a. . .how did your treaty put it- a proprietary offer in troops. Though we can still trade ideas, if you'd like."

Twilight's eyes lit up. "Are you sure? Cause I mean I've only written like a few questions on how deer magic works. And then the history and-" Twilight rattled off far more than just a few questions as she followed the deer into the longhouse that housed his living quarters.

Aspen laughed. "I would say many of those questions involve deer far more focused than I. Though I could introduce you to a few bonesingers that share at least a bit of your curiosity. For one, my primary bonesinger can't get enough of the possibilities of this treaty of yours. She just wouldn't stop talking my ear off all day yesterday."

"Who is it?" Twilight was rather interested now.

"My wife. And unlike my brother, she was a rather loud and active voice for cooperation."

Twilight and Luna blinked for a moment. "You're married?"

Aspen turned back to his guests, slightly unsure of what pony taboo he had touched so strongly. "I'm a chief of the deer. It would be more surprising if I wasn't married to some deer. Aren't you Princesses all married in some way or did I misinterpret exactly what the immortal leaders actually did with their time leading a country? With how you two fought in our duel, I thought you two had to be as well."

Twilight and Luna blushed heavily and didn't answer him.

***

"Bon Bon, you said this would be an easy mission." Applejack whispered as they walked towards the large demon wolf that was their target. She would normally be happy that they were in the woods. A part of her liked nature and relaxing under a tree when necessary. That was a nice way to relax. Not whatever this monster hunting excursion was.

"Do you want to stay with Dash's parents in the ship? Cause you can do that." Bon Bon rifled through her bag, searching through what looked like ten pounds of refuse and trash in Applejack's eyes. "Sleep darts, poison, magical explosives, nail file." Bon Bon pulled that out and looked at it for a minute. "I was looking for that for ages. Lyra, I told you to keep an eye on that."

Lyra's head popped out, her eyes glowing with glee as she slid on a few layers of light body armor. "I told you that it was in your gun pouch. It's your fault you didn't believe me." The unicorn stretched her body as she limbered herself up for her favorite type of animal hunting. The dangerous kind. "So, go full magic blades or what?"

Bon Bon nodded. "Magical blades would work- you could go with blunt instruments, but this isn't a creature vaguely related to breezies and the like. No silver or iron. Though be careful getting up close, these things have more teeth than you realize probably thanks to evolving for the plains of Tartarus. That place is awful."

Applejack rolled her eyes as the two crazy ponies that thought dragging her out here bickered and bantered amongst each other like a ten-foot demon wolf with blazing eyes wasn't just fifty yards away. "So, what do I do, exactly. I mean if I wanted to stay here."

Bon Bon clapped her hooves together. "You get the easy job." She pulled out a little box with a small button from her bag. "You get to cast the net. See this button here?" The cream-colored earth pony tapped the top of the box. "Touch here when I tell you and poof, one high tech magical net to catch even the hardiest monsters."

Applejack raised an eyebrow at that. "It's a box."

"Which is a net. I'd have Lyra cast a similar spell, but she will be indisposed during the capture attempt. And this little box is M.A.R.E.'s patented very own magical net for those ponies that don't have a horn." Bon Bon rolled her eyes. "Magical items, if you will."

Applejack sighed. This was going to be a mess.

Bon Bon stared at Applejack and Lyra- they had talked long enough about the plan. Now it was time to put it into practice. She nodded at Lyra who slunk off towards the wild beast. The cream-colored earth pony knew that while her marefriend was a hot-headed unicorn with something like a death wish at how often she put her life in danger, she knew how to generally follow a plan when it came to wrestling monsters into cages.

Applejack was something of an enigma to her. Element Bearer, sense of stability when it came to emotional things, family oriented. Sometimes good in a fight or two. Never really saw her fight an actual monster that was really all that intimidating. Bugbears were a nuisance, true, and every monster wrangler for M.A.R.E had fought timberwolves, but the really fringe stuff that Bon Bon had planned to grab for this coming conflict were a breed apart- usually thanks to magic or curses or just how things evolved slowly through time.

"Stick to the plan. And when I say press the button, press it and throw it towards the monster. Got it?"

Applejack nodded.

"Good, now if you don't mind me, I have a wolf to hunt." Bon Bon walked towards the large demonic wolf in the midst of the clearing, quickly reloading her guns, practiced motions gained from years of training making the motions look simple. "Hey dumb wolf, look at me."

The varcolac turned its head, spiny fur standing on edge as it smelled and saw a possible prey, its claws burning with the heat of a normal day in Tartarus. It growled as it looked up and down the pony, small and weak in its eyes. Easy prey. It's jaw opened up like a flower petal, rows an rows of teeth surrounding an empty black hole of a gullet as it bent down, ready to pounce.

Bon Bon smiled. With one practiced twirl, she raised her rifle and aimed it right at the wolf, quickly firing a few pot shots at the center of mass to annoy it. First rule of monster hunting- annoy the monsters for an opening. Second rule, don't hunt alone. She whistled to Lyra, who ran out from behind a nearby rock with blades swinging.

Lyra slid underneath the reddish wolf, her blades nicking the hide slightly as she twirled underneath while Bon Bon shot more rounds near the mouth of the beast. It was the largest part of her target and she didn't want to let up putting on the heat.

Applejack just stood there slightly confused. The pair of them looked capable, dancing in a mass of death as the large lupine creature huffed in pain as its idea of a quick, simple meal was now hampered by hurt. Lyra twisted onto the creatures back, careful not to stay in one spot for too long since its snapping jaws curled and twisted trying to get her. Bon Bon zipped between the large trees in the clearing, her gun firing as fast as she could reload.

"AJ, now, toss the box."

Applejack blinked, focusing on the cool metallic box in her hooves. She fumbled momentarily with the button, her hooves slipping on the surface until she pressed down hard on it and tossed it as hard as she could into the clearing. The three ponies sat there waiting for a moment for the mechanism inside the box to start and it erupted with a larger blue net the wrapped itself around the paw of the beast, snaking its way up the hulking wolf and muzzling the beast in what felt like the longest minute of Applejack's life.

The beast fumbled on its paws and laid down hard on the grass, a resounding thump echoing through the clearing as it pawed desperately at the ground to escape.

Lyra slid carefully to the ground, quickly rolling as to not fall on her face, and grinned at the pair of earth ponies staring at the wolf. "Easy peasy."

"Easy only because we stopped it before it would have split into smaller wolves."

Applejack laughed for a moment because that sounded ridiculous. "You're kidding."

Bon Bon shook her head. "No, this "wolf" right here is a nice pack of wolves nesting inside it. The thing looks bigger from predators and so it's what M.A.R.E. liked to call a 'nesting doll full of wolves'. And no, Applejack, while I can see your face, you don't want to meet the creatures that hunt this for food. Tartarus is the least favorite spot for work for a good reason." She stretched her limbs and smiled. "Now who wants to call the Dasher so we can get out of here?"

***

Yakyakistan

Pinkie popped her head out of the treeline and dug through her bag. Binoculars had to be there somewhere. She had told Cheese to put them in her bag for a reason. Pinkie breathed out slowly as she crawled towards the road, quickly sliding behind a tree stump that kept her from view. At least the guards weren't all that attentive- the huge yaks that were standing around the entrance to the town. Pinkie squinted trying to read the weird script that the yaks used, what looked like 'Ivanburg' if Maud had translated the town's name correctly. Boring name. Pinkie would have called it Snowville or Winterton or Iceburg. There was so much possibility than just naming it after someone.

She swiveled her head and aimed the binoculars that she had just found in her bag after a minute of coming up with better names for the town. She looked for any big, awesome buildings or tents. If they were going to introduce themselves to the head honcho of the yaks, then they should at least attempt to be right. It would be awkward if the yak they thought was a king or prince was just a baron or knight. Pinkie yawned, feeling tired just from remembering Rarity's weird rant about nobility ranks. She had done that before the Gala and look where that had gotten them. One ruined Gala, that's what. Pinkie felt a pang of guilt at remembering the fun times she had with her friends, with Twilight in particular. She shook her head and beckoned her sisters and Cheese over.

The four other ponies scrambled out of the woods. They had been fortunate that the yaks they had seen hadn't seen them so far. They had overheard things in small camps and guard posts while they had run through the countryside. New management for yaks, talks of the Storm King, something about a tournament coming up soon. It didn't take a genius to see an opportunity to get some yaks on their side.

"How many guards?" Maud plopped herself down on the snow and stared at the town.

Pinkie shrugged. "I see twenty or so. But I doubt we can take them. Not everyone is like you." Pinkie sighed and put back her binoculars. "Sneaky time. I mean Lime and you would probably love some kind of big blowout fight, but that's huge and we already stick out like sore hooves."

Limestone rolled her eyes and crossed her hooves. "I mean yeah after the last few days we had, of course I'd rather blow off steam by punching stuff."

Marble shrugged and pointed at a nearby old, dilapidated tower that connected to the eastern wall. Maybe it was an old expansion of the walls or some useless entrance never blocked up. Either way, the outside showed very few guards and a possible way over the walls without much hassle. "Could use that to get in."

Pinkie nodded. "Sure, that's an easy way in."

Limestone grimaced. "Still pissed that it took Pinkie to come back to make Marble a chatterbox again. I wasn't great at charades and playing it for a decade to communicate was just wonderful." She shook her head. "Whatever, I got shit to do anyway." She breathed out and let her Sense go, the connection with the dead making her glow with a greenish hue. "Be quick you guys, I can only comfortably hold this for ten minutes max. Else it starts getting weird." She stomped off to the town gates, her steps leaving a faint glowing goo.

The remaining ponies waited for a minute for the screams to start attracting all the other guards around the walls before running as fast as they could to the tower.

Yona hummed to herself as she carefully swept up the dust in the ancient tower that her ancestors built. Rutheford said they had used it for a library once, which might explain some of the books that didn't involve smashing stuff or singing yak songs- one held something about diplomacy that she found to be too stuffy and full of words that she didn't know all that well. She used this place for a nice hideaway when she needed time to think and while it had held a belfry of bats and a few skeletons that she really hated finding at first, it had grown into a nice home like place with a few chairs and a small bed for when she really just didn't want to deal with other yaks. Yaks were great until the tournaments happened and then every yak only thought of smashing stuff and nothing else. She liked smashing stuff, but there had to be more to life than just smashing things and remaking those things to smash. Some unknown word that she would figure out one day. She turned around, stuck on the word and bellowed a great mighty scream of terror when she saw things that weren't supposed to be there.

Ponies.

Cute, not yak ponies.

She screamed as loud as she could and ran behind a nearby chair. She hoped they didn't see her behind the chair, since it had been quite a long time since she could hide behind a small chair and not be seen by anything, but she prayed that she was invisible.

"Pinkie, I thought you said there was no guards. That's a yak right there."

"Does that look like a guard to you? I don't see swords or anything dangerous. And they are behind a chair."

Yona grimaced. She had been seen and her cover was blown. She carefully opened an eye and stared up at the pink pony who was sitting ever so calmly on the chair she was trying to hide behind. Yona blinked, unsure of what to do. Yaks had stories of ponies being slightly more dangerous than most creatures and here she was looking at a nomal, if oddly colored pony. "Huh, Yona is confused."

Pinkie smiled. "See guys, not dangerous, now let's get through the tower and leave this yak alone. I mean we're on a schedule to go see the yakkiest yak of them all and we have a whole town to go through. Prince of yaks here we come."

The three other ponies, all different colors and moods, stared at their leader, Yona presumed they were the leader- they had the brightest coat and talked the most which was kind of how yaks worked. Besides the bright coats. Yaks didn't have those. But the most talkative yak was the most important and Rutheford never was fully silent in his ways of rule. Writing down things, speaking to yaks, singing yak songs. He was a real leader of a yak.

"Well, we have to go fast. It's been like three minutes." The dark gray pony slowly spoke, their words all methodical and very understandable for a yak. They had only so many words to say and the ones they chose were important.

They turned, leaving Yona to her own thoughts. They didn't seem evil, not like the stories of the old yak songs where ponies took what they wanted and left yaks with nothing, they seemed completely oblivious to all the important writings that Yona had in this old library. She eyed them trying to search for a ladder, their voices wavering as they only came up with more books. She had sorted them this morning and while she didn't like some of them were more hoofs on with tossing aside books, they were better than yaks in that regard. If she wanted a non-smash focused time, she had to hide the books from yaks. She stood up carefully and tip toed to the middle of the room, her nerves almost getting the better of her. She breathed out and counted quickly to ten to relax herself. "Yona could help you find important yak."

The pink one turned and smiled. "Neat. Always wanted to talk to an actual yak. I mean we've tried the last few days, but most have been either terrified of us or wanted to, how did they put it, 'smash us to bits' which really was a problem. I'm Pinkie, and over there is Cheese Sandwich and there's Marble and Maud, my sisters. I'd introduce you to Limestone, as well but she's kind of near the front gate doing. . .something."

A loud scream came from the front gate as Pinkie explained the situation.

"Uh, so what's the plan, Yona?"

***

Fluttershy groaned as she walked up the stairs of the Wonderbolt practice grounds. She and Dash had moved most of their things into Canterlot in the last month. She had to tell each and every one of her animal friends the bad news about her extended leave from Ponyville and that had been a few awful days with Harry and the rest of her animal friends crying about a thing that she wanted desperately not to do.

She blinked as she tried to keep that bottle of emotions away from her face. Dash wouldn't like every pegasi to think that she was a major crier, but the pain of it, while dulled after a month, still hurt.

She had said a few choice words to Twilight about that.

"Twilight, you can't just tell every single one of your friends to uproot our lives to move to Canterlot. That's. . .horrible." Fluttershy would have said harsher words, but she was not really a fan of swearing. She was mightly peeved though, the pacing back and forth and widened stance of her borrowed blue body told Twilight enough.

Twilight frowned. "I know that, I've tried to explain to each and every bureaucratic organization I could that we shouldn't just do that, written in triplicate and holding references to certain events that we helped out on. That hasn't worked." She fumbled through her desk, spilling inkwells and parchment all over her floor as she tried to explain the situation. The talk hadn't gone well with anypony- Fluttershy, for how mad she was, hadn't held a candle to Rarity or Applejack. "I mean it's a few months at most. One? Two? Not that long."

Fluttershy opened the door to the barracks, waving at a few pegasi she noticed from flying practice. Thunderlane and Flitter were the most recognizable, though Dash had listed every single current Wonderbolt that was also in their surrounding rooms and it was a mess to keep track of- Fire Streak, Surprise, even Spitfire and Soarin' had a room somewhere in this long hall. It had been the Canterlot Flight School a few weeks ago and it felt like it. The rooms were cramped and small and if Dash and her weren't in a relationship, the factor of bunking two to a room would have been rather awkward.

She groaned as she felt a muscle twinge in pain. She may be occupying Dash's limber and lithe body that was used to active flight, but she was the one controlling it and flying was tiring. She had had a few months to get used to the basics, but everypony expected her to fly like a genius- and she was lacking in that kind of skills. The only way for her to keep up with the others was after hours training from Blossomforth and she had just finished a lengthy and painful lesson on how to corkscrew during flight. It was a major headache.

She opened the door to her and Dash's room and laid down on the bed and shut her eyes. She heard the shower going ever so quietly through the bathroom door and sighed. She had to take a shower at some point and, knowing Dash, she probably wouldn't mind her barging in and taking a spot next to her in the shower. The first day of training had devolved into something more sensual after it had ended, and Fluttershy had been horribly sore.

She got up and brushed herself off and opened the door to the bathroom. "Dash, I'm back."

Fluttershy heard a scrambling of hooves, odd because Dash wasn't known for being surprised with ponies entering a bathroom. She'd usually be. . .down for that, if Fluttershy had the exact wording that Dash used. She shrugged and pulled back the curtain- she was tired and needed a bath.

Fluttershy pulled it back and was greeted by a sheepishly grinning Dash with something that wasn't there the last time she had seen them. Two things actually- an odd amulet that gleamed with a faint silver glow. That was definitely new. And secondly, Dash was male again. There wasn't much to hide it, since the form Dash had been graced with during Nightmare Night a month ago took up most of the whole shower. And well, he couldn't hide the pole that jutted out so obscenely as that one, its mottled yellow and brown length drawing most ponies' eyes. "Dash, please explain how in the name of all that is good in the world why you are back again as a male. I'd guess it wasn't Twilight because she was especially insistent that having you run around as a stallion would be an 'indecent proposition.'"

Dash breathed out, his very masculine voice a honey to Fluttershy's ears. It definitely sounded different than she was used to- Twilight had once mentioned how voices sound different to the pony speaking and hearing them. Still sounded nice and bass filled- she at least could like it now with distance from the Flutterguy incident. "I can explain. I thought you'd come back from practice later, and I could surprise you with this handy amulet Rarity enchanted." He quickly pointed at the amulet.

Fluttershy frowned. "Rarity enchanted an amulet so you can turn into a male? That at least sounds like something she might do. It definitely looks like her work in a way. All built on swirls and gems and all that stuff I usually tuned her out for. Not that I was being mean, I just could handle so much explaining of 'how gem matrices influence jewelry design.'

Dash flinched, ready for the rare Fluttershy freakout lecture because he did something silly. It was rare and, compared to most ponies, not all that angry, just having one of the nicest ponies be disappointed in something Dash had done felt awful. Normally, Shy pulled them out when he got a little too close to the edge of death with some death defying stunt gone wrong. Not that he minded, sometimes it was hot, and Dash had become rather good at riding the line between general cuts and bruises and the hospital, so he could show up at Fluttershy's house and get a stern talking to, some food, and maybe a cuddle or two away from judging eyes once the bandages were set. But he waited for the tonal switch, the sweet yet tough bedside manner and nothing came. Dash opened his eyes to see Fluttershy standing there in the shower, the two of them saying nothing. The water being the only sound for a good minute running over the both of them and going into the drain.

Dash broke the silence first. "So, you're not mad? I can take it off. Rarity made it so it isn't a permanent thing. She thought it'd be easier than the whole mess of asking a unicorn all the time to change us back and forth. She said it would have tons of possibilities for 'business' whatever that means." Dash cringed at the thought. "I hope I didn't help her make a sex club."

Fluttershy sighed and grabbed the soap, scrubbing the blue coat and wings she had grown slightly accustomed to in the last few months. "I'm thinking. And no, she doesn't mean a sex club. Though ponies might use it for that. I'm trying to figure out if I'm too tired to try something." Fluttershy stretched the blue wings out. "Care to preen me? I got some rather bad feathers in the back I noticed earlier today, and I can't reach them."

"Sure." Dash breathed out a slight sigh of relief. He carefully tried to inch closer to Fluttershy, who turned and opened her back up to Dash. The action of letting another pegasi preen you was an intimate act that few pegasi let others do. It was an act of trust and close friendship, if not more than that. He angled his neck downwards, the normal pony sized shower cramped by the size of him. He knew he should have put on the amulet outside of the shower, but curiosity had gotten the best of him- Dash wanted to see what all the stallions talked about with the whole alone time in the shower bit they mentioned. It was nice but left something to be desired. Dash finally got a good angle and leaned fully down, getting the blue feathers that looked askew and barely hanging on to the blue wings in his sights. He knew exactly what he was looking for, his original body a canvas of hard work and dedication to flight. Plucking the few offending feathers he spat them out onto the bathroom floor. Not ideal but they needed to dry since the water from the shower head rained down on both of them.

"That's better." Fluttershy moaned as she felt her back pop with a long stretch, her muscles easing up under the warm water that cascaded down her back and pooling around the two ponies' hooves. She turned back to Dash looking at the chiseled jaw of yellow that she had only seen once, part of her slightly glad that she had been born female because she had had so many issues growing up as a larger mare. She couldn't imagine being even larger as a stallion. She eyed the large yellow pole in front of her and sighed. Dash had always had a bit of a hair trigger, and even in a different body that hadn't changed at all. "Dash, do I need to give you a hoof to fix that?" Fluttershy rolled her eyes playfully, a smirk dancing upon her lips as she looked at Dash. She could see Dash's face slightly, a sense of confusion. She was rather annoyed that Dash had done something without at least warning her about it, thought the possibilities of what they could do did excite her. She may be a bit of a shut in, but it didn't mean she wasn't a mare with needs.

Dash blushed crimson. "Uh, no? I'm, uh, going to take off the amulet."

Fluttershy sighed. "And lose out on what you were planning on doing anyway? Because I know you Dashie-" Fluttershy used the pet name she called Rainbow to get their full attention. "and you wouldn't get Rarity to make you a piece of jewelry for any reason. You hate wearing jewelry. So there had to be another reason." Fluttershy looked at Dash who was nervously trying to look away from the much smaller mare. "And it's been a whole month where we've focused on so many different things." Fluttershy slid down the tub part of the shower, feeling the cool porcelain on her back and stared up at the large member that was taking up most of her view. She could separate herself from the moment and appeciate the heft of the whole thing, the pendulous balls, the thick shaft that might just get some of the frustrations she had pent up for the whole month out.

"Shy, what are you doing?" Dash was nervous. Sure, Fluttershy sometimes got freaky when they had time alone together. But it was usually Dash who took the initiative, not the shy, timid mare. Even if she had a rather impressive collection of toys that she brought out sometimes.

Fluttershy flapped her blue wings ever so slightly to get air and gripped tightly onto the huge yellow stallion's barrel to get the angle correct. She had an entire month's flight practice under her belt and even if she was exhausted, she wasn't so tired that this was truly difficult. She breathed out, listening to the rhythm of Dash's beating heart and impaled herself on the pole with a rising squeak as she did so. She felt the medial ring slide in and stretch her to a slightly uncomfortable degree, the feeling of it slowly filling her insides was odd- pleasure mixed with a hint of pain. Not especially fun, if she had to say so herself. And staring at the foot and a half of penis that was in front of her still, that was definitely not going to fit anywhere in the body she was currently occupying. It was a bridge too far.

Dash grunted as the feeling of having your marefriend pretty much impaled on your dick was overwhelming and relatively new. A part of him worried that he was hurting her to an unreasonable degree. It had been only the month before when he joked that it was a deadly weapon, but the last time they had tried out a dick, it was slightly on more equal terms. He could feel Fluttershy use the body he was so used to- what used to be his own- and flap her wings up and down, trying to get a rhythm that let her go up and down the pole at a speed that was reasonable. Slow and methodical she went up and down, letting her lapses of pleasure to break the rhythmic humping that was going on. He felt the shower run hot water down his wings and back and he tried to carefully lean on the wall of the shower. "Ngh, I really hope you know what you are doing."

Fluttershy's voice came back in between gasps and slight moans. "You wanted to try this out and we are doing this and it gets my mind off the terrible month I've had."

Dash grimaced. He had seen and felt the aftermath of Twilight breaking the news to all of them. He had felt conflicted- he was a Wonderbolt at heart and so he was used to the iea that he could be called up for emergencies all the time. It didn't happen often due to his other important duties but being a Wonderbolt was both about being a performer and a first responder in equal measure. Fluttershy had no sense of that with her job. She took care of wounded animals, some from birth and just letting them all fend for themselves because she had no time to spare between Canterlot and Ponyville had hurt her. Not that they hadn't tried to pawn off a few animals- birds, fish, rodents, any number of creatures- to Ponyville and some had found some nice homes in the few days between the news and departure. But some hadn't and those were in a limbo- the world outside her cottage was the Everfree and that place was a mess. Fluttershy had even broke down and begged some of them to find the deer and try living there. Dash couldn't imagine the emotions that Fluttershy had had- she could only see the few times they had broken through her attempts at a steely demeanor, and those had been heart wrenching to see.

They still had Angel and he was off somewhere in Canterlot currently, probably right now living it up stealing from food stalls like he did in Ponyville and just causing havoc- but that was one rabbit out of probably a good hundred or so animals.

Fluttershy was a mess of emotions. She had gotten used to the overall size of Dash's male member and had been slowly picking up speed for the last few minutes, her mind awash with all the exhausting things she did every day. Acting like Rainbow Dash to those who didn't know about the magical mishap that had trapped her in the blue body she was in was mentally tiring. Always acting like an imitation of Rainbow, the cool bravado, the brashness, the awesomeness. All covering the inner turmoil of wondering if she might ever get back to normal. Not that she minded at points- the longing and flurry of emotions that she had for Dash previously had bloomed into something more, but she'd love to be in her original body at times. She had grown used to seeing Dash's eyes and face stare back at her in the mirror. Didn't mean that she had grown to completely accept it as her reality forever.

"I'm close." Dash leaned further onto the wall, his legs almost like jelly as the orgasm hit in waves. He closed his eyes and rode the blissful release as he hoped Shy had gotten off in time. They didn't need other problems like this especially right now.

Fluttershy tried to flap her wings and couldn't. The day had been tiring and she had misjudged how much energy she had left. She paled as she realized she was stuck. "Take off the amulet, Dash. I'm stuck."

Dash blinked and fumbled for a moment, unable to find a good grip on the amulet so fast with how it had become wet and lay flat against his chest. "Uh, we have a-" Dash couldn't finish the sentence as Fluttershy slid down his mighty pillar and caused him to lose control and he bellowed out a rather loud yell that, knowing the rest of the pegasi that surrounded them, would be the talk of the entire block of rooms for the next week. "I'm cumming. oh Celestia, I'm cumming."

Fluttershy felt the first waves of the orgasm hit her like a fire hose and she groaned as her body tried to contain it all and failed miserably one she was overfull of the white stuff, the rest leaking out and making a messy mix of water and cum as the two ponies rode the emotional high that they had.

They both froze for a moment, unsure of what to do. This definitely had been a possibility of course, they would have been stupid to not recognize the risks, but they both sat in silence, unsure of what to say.

Dash hummed to himself and grabbed the amulet and pulled it over his head, letting the spell drop and Dash went back to normal. Well, as normal as being in Fluttershy's body could be, but she leaned down and picked up the smaller blue pegasus and did the most natural thing she could think of in the moment. She kissed Fluttershy as long and hard as she could. Breaking the kiss, Dash let Fluttershy lean into her chest and she hugged her close, letting the small pegasi sit there and let her emotions out. She felt her chest dampen with tears and she was partially glad that she could blame the wetness on the shower and not her beautiful and strong marefriend finally letting out the pain she had kept in.

She did it for Dash so well- being the beacon of silent strength that Dash could depend on. She could do it for her, even if it made her slightly uncool in the eyes of some ponies. "I love you, Fluttershy and whatever happens, I'm going to be here for you."

Dash let the water run over them and grinned to herself since she realized that they'd have to take another shower.

Author's Note

Back to regularly scheduled chapters.

A Whiter Shade of Pale: Chameleon

The Hive

Gallus carefully walked through the layers of the hive, looking at the rows of emotional tanks that held so many ponies, each an individual creature that was being emotionally mined for Changeling food. It was something that he had slowly grown, if not comfortable with, at least used to. The rows of cells, if he could term them that, had come up in the few weeks after the conquering of Manehattan.

He normally wouldn't go near the things since they were so creepy to him. And yet, his one "friend" here was flitting among the cells, checking each for food contents and making sure, as she put it, that there was maybe a symbiotic relationship between Changelings and their sources of food.

Ocellus, while being a creepy black bug that looked like so many other creepy black bugs to him, at least had a heart that was a little more open. At least he wasn't worried that she'd drop him off the hive and watch him tumble into the abyss. Those were her "brothers" and future subjects that watched him like a hawk, ready to punish anything deemed too forward or too friendly. She was Chrysalis' "daughter" and successor, her lithe and dainty form telling him that she was a future Queen since Changelings tended to go for function- workers, soldiers, administration, a Queen. A rigid class system from birth with very little in terms of change.

Probably why his mother and Chrysalis got along so well. They had similar moral codes.

"Interesting. I knew that Mother's idea for this town was like this-" Ocellus flit around the room, her hooves rubbing against the walls of the cells that held the ponies of Manehattan that hadn't gotten away from the horde of Changelings and walls of fire in near inanimate slumber, a hoof here and there kicking as wonderful dreams were pumped into their brains. Concentrated joy shot into a pony's brain, converted into love, need, want, desire even and then pumped right into the Hive foodstores. A closed system perfectly done. "The plans were a marvel, genius even, but seeing this all in motion is just another level. Wonderful, just wish there was a more symbiotic approach." Ocellus frowned. At least Gallus thought she did. It was hard to tell since Changelings usually had so few outward emotions- besides anger and fear. So finding a Changeling that could speak common tongue was a bit of a shock.

Moreso that she didn't rip off his head and feast on his entrails.

"You want a symbiotic relationship with ponies? That's not a very Chrysalis approved idea." Gallus ran a claw through his feathers. He hoped his little joke was okay. It kind of slipped out since he was nervous. Here he was a representative of his mother, attempting not to mess up a brittle cooperative effort and he was joking with Chrysalis' future replacement. She may not be her mother, but he thought Thorax was going to be nice and chill, and then he was terrifying.

Ocellus cocked her head and thought briefly before speaking. "I'm not my mother. At least not exactly. She had tried pure cloning methods before. Didn't work out. But I wish we could talk to ponies without them fearing us. Mother says that will be impossible. We are too different- with us feeding on emotions and looking like we do, the ponies all run away in fear. Too bad, because the few books I had read from them were just so fascinating."

"Books?"

Ocellus sighed. "Yes. Books. Does your culture not have books? Mother wasn't very helpful on things like that." She carefully buzzed through the air and pulled a book out of a nearby hole in the wall. Gallus had passed so many holes like that- he hadn't really paid attention to just one more. Ocellus turned the pages with a sense of reverence, each flip of a page slow and methodical, as she tried to find the correct spot. "Let's see, let's see. Ah, here we go. I rather like this part of the book. All about Changelings you see. 'Changelings are a buglike species that feeds off love.' Ocellus sighed. "Well partially true. The whole wedding thing makes these ponies think we just feed off love. Sure it tastes the best, but any emotion can do." Ocellus continued reading, 'yet also repelled by true love, the spell done by my brother and Cadance repelled them into the wilds on the outskirts of Equestria. I have a few spells planned to test for Changelings just in case they come back.' Ocellus smiled a tooth filled grin. "There's more, but then it starts getting a little morbid with dissection and the like. Seems like two authors at points with one being far more welcoming in tone and the other more clinical. Either way it's completely fascinating to see them talk about us."

Gallus nodded, the last few minutes a little too much information for him to truly handle. And the whole scientific thing? He could barely pay attention in flight school; he had no hope to truly get the ins and outs of that rubbish. "Neat, I guess."

Ocellus nodded, completely oblivious that her first friend didn't really think it was neat. She was still unused in reading non Changelings so the emotional nuance of others that didn't use pheromones to communicate fully partially eluded her. "I know, I have to say that if I ever met this Twilight Sparkle, I don't know what I'd do. Still don't know why Mother told me to study this just for enemy intelligence. It's far too interesting to just write it off as that alone."

***

"Yona doesn't like this one bit." Yona carefully walked through the streets of Ivanburg, her steps faster than the normal, unthinking and plodding steps that she took when she was lost in thought. She was rather worried since she kept her eyes straight ahead to not see the patrols of yaks that usually greeted her as a member of the Prince's family. They talked to themselves about the scary new pony that spewed out black goo and spoke in Old Yak tongues. An odd happening of great import to most, but it really worried Yona.

Mostly because she was pulling an old, rickety cart that she had found in the tower. And it was full of that demonic presence's family and friends. Which painted her with a target on her back if she wasn't trying to be the sneakiest yak to ever exist. She carefully walked through the square, careful to pass the statue of her ancestor, Ivan, staring down at her from on high, his stone eyes casting judgement upon this very not-yak action. She shivered and walked through listening to the cheers and jeers of the yaks in the square staring at this Pinkie's sister, bound and gagged, eyes blazing with rage.

"Here we are, ponies." She stared up at the tent the housed her uncle. She looked from side to side, careful not to alert any yaks and walked into the tent. Rutheford was reading a treaty of some kind, his face etched with worry.

"Hello, how are you doing today?" Yona felt her speech come off stilted cause of her nerves.

Rutheford sighed and put the treaty aside. "Fine. Just the intruding pony has the whole town riled up and the Storm King 'treaty' is more a list of demands for tribute and not much else."

"Interesting. Now just a yak question, is the pony in the square going to get bad treatment? Heard she did something bad while Yona was walking through town."

The Prince sighed. "She's a necromancer, I think. Don't know how since that's a unicorn line of magic most of the time. Didn't even know earth ponies could talk to the dead. Though its not like my books talk about earth mages. My guards sure want her dead and gone. Or at least gone. Why do you ask since you're usually not a yak that pays attention to that stuff."

Yona laughed and waved a hoof at her uncle. She lightly tapped a hoof to get the few ponies in the cart's attention. This was going to be a rather long and arduous talk since she couldn't come up with the words in yak speak to explain this mess. "No reason, just when I was in the tower some ponies came up to me and were talking. . ."

Rutheford raised an eyebrow and he was ready to have a stern, yet firm talk with his niece about coming up with stories.

"Hello, Prince, I am a self-appointed ambassador to the yaks from Equestria, Princess Twilight says hello." Pinkie walked into the tent, ready to smooze with the high and mighty yak Prince. Twilight had told her how to ingratiate herself with most cultures. And step one was acting like you knew what was going on and being super confident. Or that was her explaining the failures of diplomacy. There was something about diplomacy in there.

"Pinkie, you can't just do that." Cheese Sandwich slid into the tent, careful to keep his back to the wall in case things got rather bad.

Rutheford blinked as a few more ponies walked in, and he breathed out slowly. They were lucky he was not his father. "Greetings, and before I call every guard in town, please explain what is going on?"

***

Canterlot

Blueblood carefully ran through his itinerary for the day- as the pony behind most of the financial decisions for the war he had to juggle so many responsibilities that it was rather hard to manage without an impeccable mindset that usually served him well. Usually. He still had that slight during the Gala, an ever so black mark on Canterlot's gossip circle that while he was technically Equestria's hottest bachelor that he knew of- though the dating pool of available stallions he knew personally were just some that did not swing that way- that of marriage. And sure, there were probably some country bumpkins that were a nine in looks, but he had the whole package.

And yet he paused. He had been running through the financial tax burden on Equestria as a whole, the percentage that most households could reasonably provide in war time, factoring in the loss of productivity with the shift of drafting much of the populace in some fashion and adding in the loss of both the Southern Reaches beyond Starsea and the loss of Manehattan. He had crunched the numbers numerous times, a coping mechanism learned from his father, how to compartmentalize even the cost of a life- an average mean cost. And yet, he was distracted. The number tables were not adding up exactly into the clean rows of variables and factors that he liked.

He breathed out, careful to keep his mental ledger ever so neat and tidy.

He knew in his heart that it was illogical. He had read her name in the file provided by his Aunt- the one he knew well enough, not Aunt Luna. Definitely not her. He still walked on eggshells around Aunt Luna- there was not enough ways for Blueblood to like her. Not on her part. He just felt uncomfortable around a pony that might wish Eternal Night and want to chew his face off if she got angry enough.

He had read her name in the file. Rarity. A pony that he had rather mixed feelings for. For one, she was a perfectly beddable mare in the most noble of senses. Besides the lowborn birth, she had rather impeccable tastes, manners, and speech if he took all the rumors of her business acumen into account.

And yet, she was one of the most confusing mares he had the pleasure of meeting. Shallow at first glance, she acted like all the two bit mares that he had no want of knowing- fawning over him like everypony else, waiting for him to act like the Prince his rank and title of nobility had raised him to be. A tiring facade of his- he liked the trappings of nobility, sure, the riches and the like, but he'd rather be focused on doing work behind the scenes. He had even gone to the Gala that year just to get Aunt Celestia off his back about dating.

And then when he was playing the part of the Prince he had been taught to be for most of his life- an aloof, slightly interested, rich stallion who at least tried to play the aristocratic games of others in Canterlot- she had thrown an entire cake in his perfectly coiffed mane and ruined his night.

Well not really- he had a few months where he was the talk of the town, an almost laughingstock that had bruised the ego, the pride that had been meticulously won from duels of the mind and body- noble versus noble- and she had shattered it one cake filled, rage fueled rant that had won his heart.

He carefully stopped in front of the door to the Canterlot Archives, ready to cross reference some prices for food supplies and inflation rates compared to the past. He had this whirlwind of emotions that lay under the surface of his silent and cool demeanor and he would have kept his cool normally.

He strode into the Archives, ready to start his day on the right hoof and bumped right into a pony that did not look where they were going.

He grimaced as he sprawled on the marble floor of the Archives, books and manuscripts scattered around him. He shook his head blanking out on what he would say to the pony. He looked up and the words died on his tongue as he saw the pony that he had been too afraid to talk to for a few years stare back at him. Her mane was perfect, her makeup tasteful, and her voice like honey compared to the abrasive, yet erotic, tones that had run in his head for the last two years.

"Blueblood? What are you doing here."

He wanted to scream an expletive laded string of words that his nobility forbade him to say. He wanted to explain that it was perfectly sane that he was in Canterlot. But he didn't. He just shook his head and carefully got to his hooves. "Rarity, I could say the same thing. Especially why you are carrying so many of these. . ." he stopped for a moment, unsure of the word, "scrolls without help. Would you want some?"

Rarity blinked. "I wouldn't mind it, no."

***

The Thicket

Twilight carefully levitated a few plants and herbs that she had little knowledge of as she passed the shelves of the bonesinger's lab. Aspen had so carefully cut out of the walk down to the inner sanctum of the creature, somedeer?, she mused on the term for another creature of similar rank to ponies. A knowledgeable pursuit in theory, giving credence to sentience throughout so many different races of being. She had a niggling thought that, while improbable, even a Changeling could be seen as equal to her- then she stopped the flight of fancy and remembered that Chrysalis was still the head Changeling in charge.

She sighed and turned to Luna, who was carefully lounging on a stool, her legs rocking back and forth as she looked intently towards a complete deer skeleton. Twilight had totally noticed that macabre sight as they entered, she just chose not to fixate on it like her alicorn friend. Or something more, if the month of sharing each other's bed had anything to say about that. She blushed as she remembered Luna showing her a particular trick of the tongue that made discussions rather hard to do in certain situations.

Twilight thankfully was cut from reminiscing about the curves and valleys of certain alicorn phenomena as she heard the door at the back of the room open. She turned to see a plume of smoke billow out and a lithe and small deer walk ever so carefully out of the back room, her purple eyes staring directly at her guests as she strode forward.

"I'm rather sorry about the. . .lateness of our meeting. There was a bit more soothing of Helvyr I had to do this morning with the spirits. There's only so much I can prepare for when they disagree so heartly in letting one of their greatest enemies right into the heart of our home." The doe smirked as she talked. "Sounded like Blackthorn's rambling thoughts on this meeting all over again. Bucks are, if not consistent, completely understandable in their feelings." She carefully levitated her bone headdress, two sets of horns making a wreath around her head, and set it carefully on a nearby table.

Twilight had focused on the things she could see at first glance, her eyes, her dress, her size. She hadn't noticed her blood red coloring that was completely apparent when she turned and looked up at Twilight.

The deer sighed and shook her head. "Figures. You met my stag first, so you expect a similar in size hind for him. The wonderful thing about our males, is that two feet of their height is all horn. Though I feel like that could be said for your "stallions" was it?"

Twilight blinked. "I thought you hadn't left your home?"

The deer smiled. "This one's perceptive, name's Oleander. May I ask the great and powerful alicorn in front of me how I, a lowly deer could learn so much about your culture if I never left right here?" She closed her eyes and waited for an answer.

Luna piped up since she was used to the roundabout way deer did things. A question for a question, an answer for an answer. "Dream magic, I felt it as we walked through the woods. I would have thought your kind would have stayed away from it ever since I sent my Tantabus to frighten you."

Oleander laughed, her sickly sweet chuckle dark and throaty as she stared at Luna. "And our texts say your sister is the scary one. Guessing she had all the brawn and you had the brains. Or something to that effect. It's hard to compete with a mare who can turn a section of desert into dunes of glass, slag, and molten metal with just a thought. But you work like a rather snakelike creature. If I wasn't so interested in our purple pal right here, I might just pick your brain on how the dreamlands work."

Twilight felt like she was in the middle of a silent argument as she saw Luna tense up and slowly relax as she stared intently at Oleander, her blood red coat keeping Twilight on edge. She hadn't seen many deer with that coat color, though to be fair she hadn't seen many albino coats like Aspen's. Like attracts like in a way, she mused.

"What do you mean? I had asked your. . .husband, if I might learn more of the deer. I hadn't expected anything more."

The red deer nodded. "Humble too. One Twilight Sparkle, rather neurotic if any of your dreams, memories, and thoughts are to be believed. Entangled with one Princess of the Moon if your tattoo upon its rocky surface is anything to be believed. I'd usually not let just anyone into the most sacred halls of Helvyr and learning how to channel magic the deer way- but you are a special case. And at least you two have a leg up to most ponies that stumble or fall into the Thicket and want to figure out how we work. You just have to pass the test that is so simple."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. There had to be a catch. "Which is?"

The deer beamed. "The bonesingers use magic like your. . .mages, equivalent exchange of goods and services. We call upon the dead like your necromancers. But unlike your bastardized version of our magic, we understand that death and life are two sides of the same coin. And to even be allowed to learn you have to do the first test."

Twilight really did not like where this was going. She wasn't stupid and the ideas of what was the inverse of death gave her enough of a clue. "Oh no."

"Yep, like I did before with Aspen to join our ranks, you have to channel mana while having hot, passionate sex."

Luna shrugged. While it wasn't disagreeable at all, since Twilight was everything she wanted in a mate, the scintillating conversation, a mind built for learning, and enough weird kinky ideas for her to never get bored. And she was hot. At least it wasn't like the past. She had been more worried she was going to participate in sacrifices. She missed those days where a good sacrifice and some heads on a platter solved so many diplomatic problems.

Oleander looked at the two alicorns and laughed. "Oh and every spirit of the deer is going to try and either kill you or drive you mad. I mean I had some deer that trained with me explode into a fine red mist because they weren't built for the pleasure mixing with pain."

Twilight and Luna shared a worried look. This was going to be slightly less easy.

***

Ocellus buzzed through the prison quarters of the hive, a small and focused area controlled by Pharynx. It could be small because most of the space contained in the Hive itself was a maze of hallways and drops that made any non Changeling confused in entering- made it simple to defend in that way- and Changelings followed pheromone cues so readily that the Hive was easy to read. The rest of the space that wasn't Changeling housing, or food storage, was left aside for the few proud and safe non food guests. They weren't ponies so Chrysalis afforded them some safe passage in the maze, and with her new treaties with friendly nations it was a mess of 'who exactly was food'.

Ocellus nodded at the jailer of the one current prisoner of the Hive and walked through the dingy halls to the cell. A small orange dragon stared out at both Gallus, who had followed Ocellus through the dizzying maze of the Hive, and Ocellus who tried out smiling at the now mute dragon. Mute because of the wicked gash that ran across her throat, the act causing most of the dragons in Manehattan to die that night it was magically forced upon them,

Oellus tried not to focus on the wicked scar that caught her compound eyes and quietly shifted to a form that better suited her jailed "friend" or "acquaintance". The writings of the ponies had so many words for that concept that was utterly foreign to Changelings- they were used to being spies for the Queen, to surviving on the scraps of others, an invasive, parasitic culture that built hoofholds in so many places, a spy network of cells that worked within other nations. Working with others as equals, or as equal as Chrysalis could want was a new development. Ocellus felt the painful shift as she changed into her dragon form, her bones snapping and reforming into a bipedal state her horned amber colored form taller than what she was used to gave her a headache whenever she shifted.

"How is this?" Ocellus' voice growled out as she felt her vocal cords shift ever so slightly, the buzzing of Changeling speech based upon bug vocalizations shifting to the low, guttural growls of more reptilian language bases. It was ever so fascinating to her in a clinical sense. "I could either talk to you as what you know me as, or this. Whatever you prefer."

The dragon shook her head and sighed.

Ocellus knew that interrogation of this female dragon had stalled. It wasn't like Pharynx to truly know how to work with a deft and careful hoof in regards with interrogation. His methods were of pain and torture, long and hard efforts that worked wonders when the tortured party had a voice to use. He wasn't used to the more careful touch of mental efforts, the mind melding of magical interrogation worked wonders for. Two minds entwining as the interrogator got to see the whole mental picture of questioning, each sense activating as they ran through the gamut of questions they had.

Ocellus carefully unlocked the cell door and opened it slowly and entered the cramped place, the small cell only fit for one, so she was inches from the dragon, her eyes sparkling in the low light, breath hot and ragged from the high temperature of the Hive. "I was sent to talk to you one on one in a different way, more personal, no torture so that isn't on the table. Magical means so when I light up my horns in this form, that's what for, nothing more. Is that okay?"

The dragon nodded.

Ocellus breathed out and leaned towards the small dragon, her head laying directly on hers, and started the mind connection.

***

Klugetown

Sandbar walked briskly through the burrows and holes of Klugetown, his steps focused and calm even though he knew that the surrounding snakes and reptiles would eat him without a second thought if Capper hadn't vouched for him. He felt the cool December air- not as blisteringly hot as the summer, but having a slight chill that made him almost want to cover up. He sighed, wishing that his family was still alive. He guessed they weren't. Well, he definitely knew his parents weren't. He had seen a lizard cut them down and slowly carve them into bite sized morsels for himself. He had barely got out of there before the army had started shelling the town. It had been chaos.

Though was this occupation of Klugetown any better? Probably not for him at least. He was the last remaining pony in town and the glares and quick glances kept him knowing that fact. He breathed out slowly recalling the quick teachings of Capper who had taken pity on him. Maybe he saw something that reminded the cat of himself, but he slowly recalled the few paw strikes and leaping pounces that Capper had adapted for him, the pony unable to pull off some of the more insane acrobatic stunts that cats could.

He slid through the town, careful to not focus on the meat market that took up most of it. He didn't want to think that maybe his parents, or at least their cut-up corpses were there waiting to be devoured. Morbid thought aside, he walked up the stairs to the Royal Quarter and rifled through his saddlebag. He had a pass attached to Capper's name that got him in the King's presence.

He was Capper's message pony and while it wasn't glamorous, it gave him a reason to be near the komodo dragon.

He trotted up to the outside of the 'castle' which was a warehouse that had survived the magical shelling and subsequent fire. Sandbar didn't want to laugh at the supposedly scary reptiles since they could gut him like a fish, but there was something humorous in that they were squatting in one of the least impressive buildings he had seen in Klugetown and calling it their palace. If they thought that place was grand, they should have seen the courthouse or military barracks.

"What are you doing here, little one?"

Sandbar looked up and groaned. He knew he would have to deal with his least favorite reptile if he wanted to give a message to the king, but he had hoped that Bowie had taken a lunch break.

The frilled lizard smiled, his frills pulsating with his breaths as he sized up the young colt. "Message for Ziggy, you have? As the guard and court retainer for his Majesty the King, I have to read the missive."

Sandbar rolled his eyes. The frilled lizard, while technically the court vizier, or whatever odd name he gave himself at that moment, was important- he was only important because no other lizard had wanted to take the highly volatile position. Ziggy himself was a rather capricious king, swinging from near silence into a violent rage at the drop of a hat.

Sandbar had heard of at least five different right-claw reptiles near Ziggy to end up decapitated and their heads stuck on pikes whenever the mood struck him. Tom, Duke, Mercury, even Hollow who Sandbar thought had been the kindest reptile here had ended up on the pike. So while the colt despised the frilled lizard, there was a high chance that he'd end up like all the others. "My master says that this message is for the King's eyes only. And unless you have wax and the exact stamp that Capper does, I think Ziggy will know that you opened this letter. And no, he didn't tell me what it was for so you can't get the information you want out of me."

The brown frilled lizard grimaced and waved a claw, letting the doors open with his motion. "Go on in, runt."

Sandbar smiled and walked into the small palace.

***

Limestone rolled her eyes at the jeering crowd of yaks that assembled at the pillory she had been unceremoniously thrown into, her neck and hooves stuck fast as they tossed rotten fruit at her. Or what she had mockingly termed in her head "comedy" because she had been trying to shift the pillory ever so slightly for the last hour and it wasn't too difficult to get some slack in the structure when it was stuck fast in the earth.

She had paid attention to her father's teachings of magic at least a little bit. Marble was the creative one though. Limestone just wanted to beat some yaks to death just because the act of standing in one spot for the last five hours gave her a cramp.

She looked straight ahead and waited. Her sister wasn't a complete idiot. Now her and that stallion together made a whole idiot. But her sister was only a half idiot and had some bright moments. But the "you have ten minutes until I get tired and caught" was five hours ago. She was rather miffed and had some choice words saved for her sisters if they wouldn't hurry up.

She saw a rather important young yak out of the corner of her eye, his large and imposing presence making the rest of the jeering and annoying crowd go silent as he walked ever so carefully up the few steps of the pillory.

He turned and bowed to the assorted yaks and spoke slowly, his voice echoing through the square. "Fellow yaks, I have some disappointing news. This pony here isn't an evil portent of the end of the world, though the Old Yak she spoke did translate to that, but of change."

Limestone groaned. Whenever she was a nice and normal medium for spirits for a laugh, she had to get the real bastards and weirdos that ruined her day. Like the dragon spirit she found on the farm that one time that tried to make her the Avatar of the Apocalypse. Or the time she went to Appleloosa and found an alpaca ghost. She had needed to spent weeks explaining that popping into the nearby saloon and proclaiming the "Alpaca-lypse" was a prank. Whatever fate bullshit these fucking ghosts were doing to her was the worst shit ever. It was at least highly inconvenient to start saying creepy bullshit every time a ghost wanted to hijack your body. Mainly because she didn't get a crash course in languages whenever a ghost did that. For all she knew, she could be reciting limericks and the weekly news of 500 years ago, but no, always the end of the world. One of these days, she just wanted a ghost to start ranting about the proper way to make pies or something equally banal.

A light and discontented grumbled erupted from the crowd.

"Call it a cultural error, but this pony here had misunderstood what the mission from Equestria had meant when their Princesses said to 'make an impression.'

Limestone sat there fuming since this explaination sounded like Appleloosa all over again. And that excuse had been dreamed up by Marble. The cunning, quiet bitch did it again.

"What say you, pony?" The yak stared back and quietly mouthed that he knew what was going on.

Glorious, this yak wasn't a box of rocks. She hammed up her speech as best she could. If she was on the line for punishment, she could at least have fun with it. "Oh, yes, I had gone out to talk to some nearby yaks to spread the message of friendship and love and peace and I seem to be afflicted with some magical curse when I was a small child and I usually keep it at bay, but all the new cultures and climate made me accidentally summon a powerful spirit. I am so very sorry, I am a great and powerful channeler that just caused an incident, that won't happen again."

A quiet yak raised his hoof and quickly blurted out a question that probably a whole ton of yaks had on their minds. "So, no throwing pony off cliff? I like the capital punishment part."

The important yak shook his head. "Sadly no, but it doesn't mean the great feast is cancelled. Just it's a slightly different feast that celebrates our new pony guests, no change in food choices for those wondering."

There was a smattering of slightly more excited yaks.

Limestone groaned. "Can some yak please get me out of this thing? I love that everyone is buddy buddy now, but I want to have feeling in my legs again."

Mind Transferral

Rainbow Dash felt the air around her shift as she banked into a turn. Hitting the wind correctly and knowing the temperature of the air precisely was a thing she knew by heart after years of training. Or as precise as you could be with air- the air could always be a fickle thing as she often hit patches of air that made her crash into the earth at Mach 1 or higher.

Flying was a hazardous thing that even the most veteran pegasi had to contend with. Ponies on the ground though that Pegasi were these kind of weather wizards that just told the weather what they wanted. Rainbow Dash couldn't remember how many times Applejack came barging in on her free time and waking her up yelling about how Ponyville was in a drought and that those Cloudsdale ponies needed to fix their water rations.

Weather wasn't like that- you didn't have an infinite amount of water. It was tightly scheduled and there were always consequences- Ponyville could have all the water it needed, but what about Manehattan or Appleloosa? They'd have droughts too and the cycle would continue.

Rainbow frowned. She looked at the position of the sun on the ground and realized that she needed to quicken her pace and get the clouds all figured out or else Fluttershy would be mad that she was late to their girl time.

Well the yellow pegasus would try to be mad. She would end up more cute than angry. Quickly blushing at that though Rainbow sped up to a blur and quickly arced across the sky, her rainbow colors quickly adding a rainbow above Ponyville.

***

Fluttershy quietly ran through the checklist in her head. Party supplies, check. Cleaned dishes, check. Gave food to each and every one of her animals according to medical needs and correct times for both diurnal and nocturnal animals, check. Made sure her letters were all postmarked and ready for Derpy to pick up, check. Wrote a bit, check. Maybe cleaned up for Dash, check.

She blushed at that thought running quickly across her mind.

She glanced at the clock and noticed that her chores- of course minus the chores that had to be on a schedule- she was all caught up for the day and it only took her five hours. Glancing at the clock, she winced.

Ten am. Most of her friends would dislike her schedule. But Pinkie and Applejack might be okay with it- they both came from farms and Pinkie was a baker. They might not care all that much. But Dash? Fluttershy thought of her waking up at four am. She couldn't. It seemed too alien for her little pegasus snuggle partner.

She glanced outside to see the day unfolding in Ponyville and smiled. Looking up into the sky, she could track Rainbow Dash, as her rainbow trail lit up the sky. She hummed to herself as she turned away to tidy up the rest of her abode and get her get together with Dash all good and ready.

She felt happy.

***

Dash glided across Sweet Apple Acres as she finished her rounds and glided across fields and hills as she saw the town of Ponyville Seeing the bustling business at Rarity's now after she got that new place up and running took some getting used to. Pinkie didn't care, she saw it as a way to introduce ponies to the Cakes' baked goods. Rainbow just thought Ponyville lost some of its charm. The quiet, little town got a bit louder and harder to sleep in.

Of course she would never tell Rarity that.

Then there was Twilight's castle. Rainbow Dash didn't like its look all that much. It screamed look how huge and important I am while Twilight was the nerdiest, eggheaded, weirdo. Not some princess. She like loved pancakes and Daring Do. Rainbow Dash couldn't imagine the other Princesses loving that stuff.

Gliding further to the edge of Ponyville, she saw the edge give way to forest and she knew that she was just that much closer to Fluttershy's. It was rather nice out here. The trees stretched lazily through the air and there was always some kind of calming noises that made her feel welcomed in this place. Now having Fluttershy out here didn't hurt either, but she liked being out and surrounded by nature in some way. Rainbow thought maybe that was the reason why she liked her job so much.

Freedom.

Gliding on down, she touched the grass and walked through the yard dodging rabbits and the borrowing holes of amny different animals that Fluttershy cared for. She would have went faster if she didn't feel an angry paw yanking on her polychromatic tail.

"Ow, come on. Is that you Angel? I got to get going to see Shy."

Rainbow felt the rabbit bound up her back and bounce right on her head. His foot beating 5/4 time on her skull as her peered over and stared at her.

"What?"

He started working in some weird charades and pointing at his wrist. Time? Rainbow Dash was terrible at charades. Well her friends would also say she could also be a bit oblivious. She just liked being direct sometimes.

"What? Am I late or something?"

Angel frowned and nodded.

Rainbow sighed and walked slowly to the door. She felt the little rabbit laying on her back. Somehow she knew he was grinning in some weird joke he had against her.

Before she could knock, the door to Fluttershy's cottage opened and Rainbow Dash looked up and smiled. Fluttershy was one of her tallest friends- though Rainbow did tend to be on the small pegasus side. That or Fluttershy's parents were giant pegasi. That always had the strange effect of ponies expecting the yellow pegasi to be a commanding model or some kind of sex symbol.

Rainbow Dash laughed at that idea. She was just a big, sweet pony.

"Hi, Dash." Fluttershy's voice was like a crystal clear bell. It rang out and caught Dash's attention, yet it was quiet and warm. There was a little bit of a joking manner. Rainbow wondered why. She was only going to get tea with her closest friend.

"Hey. Sorry for being late. There was a lot of turbulence around the Everfree so it took me a little bit longer."

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow at this. "Really? I wouldn't think you'd be slowed down that much. I mean you do tend to break the sound barrier all the time."

"Well there was a totally radical super wall of wind and so I totally had to fight it off to save the town."

Fluttershy laughed at that. "Well that had to be a really hard thing to do. I really thought I felt some blast of wind a few minutes ago. It must have been you."

"Oh yeah. Well let's get this party started."

***

Fluttershy slowly brough the tea over her cup and poured as Dash continued to talk about her day.

"-well that was when Cloudchaser and Thunderlane really got mad at each other."

It was hard to concentrate completely on her task of pouring her tea and Rainbow's since Discord told her that the best way to pour gilded lily tea was as slow and carefully as possible so as to not break the golden aura. He gave it to her as a gift for their friendiversary. She wanted to put her best hoof forward to make her date with Dash the best she could.

She was right in the middle of pouring the next cup of tea when a quick rapping at her door startled her enough to almost drop the tea. Fluttershy winced, waiting for the sound of shattering glass, but there was nothing. Opening her eyes, she saw Rainbow's magenta orbs staring back at her blue eyes, inches apart. Quickly turning beet red, Fluttershy felt her wings want to show her feelings, but thinking fast she flexed her wings just enough to make them stay down.

"Oh I-I'll be right back." Fluttershy blushed and walked as fast as she could.

She fumbled for the door and as she opened it, she was blinded for a second by her eyes adjusting to the sun. Blinking quickly, she was greeted by a big mass of pink hair.

"Hi, Fluttershy, how are you doing today? Cause I'm doing fantastic but y'know, like maybe I am not doing so great cause Twilight told me to get two friends that would work super well for an experiment and I tried to ask Rarity and Applejack. But I went to the Boutique and Rarity's helper, Coco, said she was out. And I asked the Apples where Applejack was and they said the barn, but when I went to the barn it sure sounded like Applejack and somepony else were super duper busy so I went here. I would have asked Twily if we could do the experiment, but after the last time, where she accidentally turned me into a guy, I guessed that would totally be a bad idea."

Fluttershy just imagined Pinkie Pie as a stallion and only came up with a pink Big Mac in her head and she wished that hadn't been the case.

"Uh, that sounds like you two had fun."

"Oh yeah, Twilight sure had a good time. We totally hung out and she got all wet from swimming in a lake and all."

"Oh, well if you don't need me, I'm going to go see if Rainbow needs anything cause you sure surprised us."

Pinkie smiled. "Oh so that's where Dash was. I was looking for her and everypony saw her go this way."

"Yes." Fluttershy tried to keep her smile up but she really wanted to go show Rainbow Dash her bedroom and accidentally make the date more awesome. First idea, start with tea, then go from there. That's what her confidence books all told her to do. Pinkie sure was making her date a bit more awkward than she had hoped for. "Um, so what do you want Pinkie?"

Pinkie put a hoof up to her chin and thought. After a few seconds her face lit up with a perfectly okay idea. "Aha, I got it. See Twilight only needs you two for a little bit and not for all day, so you can put your date on hold and help Twilight and go back to your date. No problemo."

Fluttershy tilted her head at that. "How did you know it was a date?"

Pinkie laughed and hopped in place. "Well let's see Dash and you are in your house, and I can smell tea. You don't offer ponies tea all that often- at least you don't cause that's just you, like you're always so busy. But this is special. Like show somepony your room special. And running by your body language, you have been tapping your hoof impatiently, your wings are in full display. Which by the way, you totally have a great wingspan, totally equal to Twily's impressive pair, but no matter, and you have a fake smile at the corners of your mouth."

"What how did you- I didn't mean, Pinkie." Fluttershy felt her blood slowly draining from her face and wings.

Pinkie smiled. "Oh sorry, photographic memory. Pretty much impossible to turn off. Sorry, Twilight's been telling me to dial it back outside of our study sessions and you did ask. It's not like I'm Ponyville's premier party pony for nothing. And that includes all parties- though ponies do have to convince me to do non family friendly parties. It's always easier to let everypony in. Though you would be surprised what ponies do behind closed doors. It's just the most boggling thing ever."

"Oh, so does Twilight want us now or later?" Fluttershy thought to herself how much easier it would be to just get this over with and not keep thinking all these thoughts that Pinkie, in her infinite pseudo naivete, kept giving her.

"Probably now would be the best, see you soon, but not too soon. I really want to say hi again to Twily and tell her that I totally found two ponies that might be okay with her experimenting on them." Pinkie bounded away happily singing to herself.

Fluttershy turned to tell Dash the strange news, but realized that in all of Pinkie's wisdom, she didn't know what exactly Twilight had in store for them. Turning back to yell at Pinkie, she noticed that the pink pony had completely disappeared.

***

Rainbow flew as quick as she felt like it. She didn't want to ruin the moment of carrying Fluttershy cause the yellow pegasi was completely inadequate for Rainbow Dash speeds.

And maybe it felt nice having her hold onto her.

But mainly it was because Shy was so slow.

"So tell me again why I have to do this. Like do I have to?"

Fluttershy's voice came from below Dash in a slight echo because of the speed. "I mean we just have to see what's going on with Twilight and see if its safe or not."

Dash rolled her eyes. "Oh of course, not like she's caused the town to fall in love with dolls or become an alicorn by messing with our destiny. Or any of the other weird friendship experiments she gets up to on a daily basis. I'll be hopefully optimistic she's not going to cause us complete harm. Just painful, friendship lesson harm."

Dash looked down and saw Fluttershy using a low level form of the Stare on her.

Well okay, more like angry, not the Stare, but totally painful disappointment eyes. Totally 110 percent fatal to all comers. Though it could just be that Dash had a thing with a cute face. Or guilt. Or just Fluttershy was totally heavy and her arms were getting tired and the ground near Twilight's Eyesore Castle was super close.

Totally option three.

Folding her wings up, she slowed her descent enough for Fluttershy to land softly on the ground. Score one for good landings.

"Well I hope this won't take too long. You kind of had some radical tea."

"What was that, Dash?"

"Uh, this I hope this won't be boring me."

"Probably not."

***

Fluttershy heard what Dash had said. She cheered quietly in her head. She felt Dash slowly creep up beside her. The thing about Twilight's castle was that it was ridiculously huge. And echoed like crazy. Which normally would be a good thing if you needed to know exactly where Twilight was. Which coming from the noises coming from the air and the male voice that accompanied it, the pair definitely didn't want to find them.

"Arr, Princess Twilight I'll be coming for that booty."

"Please, I have given you my ransom and that means you have to give me a boat or at least keep me pure."

"Yarr, with how you be acting I believe you would prefer walking my plank, I made it extra wide for you."

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy quickly shared a look, both blushing profusely.

"Pinkie stay in character please. This is important."

The male voice chuckled deeply. "Oh of course Twily, though didn't you something super important like I don't know like an experiment you had to plan for?"

"Later. Come back to bed just for a little bit. You know how hard being a Princess can be."

Fluttershy and Dash turned into Twilight's quarters as Pinkie and Twilight came out of Twilight's room. The two pairs stopped and stared. Twilight said nothing as her home made princess outfit felt oddly wrong in this case. And nopony said anything about Pinkie. A period accurate pirate costume hung tightly across Pinkie. A decidedly male Pinkie. Dash looked down and then up at the perfect specimen of maleness that had the color scheme of her pranking buddy. Fluttershy noted to herself how similar Big Mac and Pinkie looked in this case and chalked it up to recessive Apple Family genes on the Pie side. Pinkie just blushed, his mizzen mast in full display. Pinkie talked first, a deep baritone echoing through the halls.

"I told you guys to give me a few moments to say hi to Twilight."

***

"The less said about the last five minutes the better." Twilight had a slightly crazed look in her eye as she whisked around the room, readying the experiment."

Rainbow chuckled. "I mean it would be hard to forget."

Twilight glared at Dash.

Pinkie chimed in, now completely female. "Twilight does this mean no more Party Cannon?"

Rainbow laughed harder. "Wait, Pinkie, you call your dick that? Isn't that your name for your actual cannon?"

"Yeah, but it works the exact same way. Pull it out and ponies get a good time."

"Pinkie! Can we please stop the innuendo and get on with this? I mean Fluttershy's here and I bet she doesn't want to hear this." Twilight groaned as she finished the setting up of her machine, waiting for the jokes and 'witty banter' to die down before firing up her newest test.

"Don't worry Twilight, I am okay with your completely natural responses to pheromones. I do work with animals.Nature's kind of a completely natural thing." Fluttershy offered weakly, trying not to smile.

"And come on Twilight, you just keep coming up with perfect jokes. Innuendo? What is that a sex position?" Dash and Pinkie both fell on the floor giggling.

"I am surrounded by ponyfeathering idiots. Well now that we have all got our little laughs for the day at my expense, here's what I actually called you for."

Twilight quickly lit up the machine to get everypony's attention. It was a large machine with two helmets at two separate ends with two comfy chairs. The wires of the helmets met in the middle and tied around a large crystal.

"Ooh, shiny." Pinkie oohed and aahed at the machine for dramatic effect.

"Yes, well. I came up with this idea after re-purposing my little Pinkie experiment. I gave up trying to figure out Pinkie Sense and thought if I could use the basic mainframe of that and figure out how ponies could get closer together if they share their memories, it could be interesting."

Dash quickly raised her hand.

"Yes, Dash?"

"So if I'm getting this right, you made a relationship machine? Isn't that like Cadance's whole deal?"

Fluttershy twitched in her seat. That sounded rather exciting, if true. She could finally tell Dash exactly how she felt and didn't have to worry about being unheard by Dash's patented powers of completely missing the point.

"Uh, well I hope not. Though I mean friendship could be seen as a possible way to love. Pinkie Pie remember to tell me that later."

Pinkie saluted. "I always do."

"But back to the machine, you two sit on both sides and share memories. There is literally not a chance there could be anything wrong there. I planned for every possible eventuality."

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy shared a quick look.

Twilight frowned. "Okay every eventuality that was most statistically likely in regards to a test that will last a few minutes."

"Fine. Not like we have much to lose anyway. I mean your tea has to be getting cold by now and I'm totally getting bored by Egghead's talking." Rainbow Dash quickly took a seat and Fluttershy slowly walked to hers.

Twilight facehoofed. "Oh of course, Dash, I'll speed up my highly unsafe test that needs to be properly calibrated to work." Twilight shook her head and ran through the safety checks. Finally, after minutes of tightening straps and making sure the crystal was properly placed, she gave the go ahead and Pinkie pressed the button.

***

Fluttershy blinked. She felt woozy as the machine started working.

"Honey we need to drop you off at camp, cause you need to learn how to fly. I love you and your dad loves you but you need to learn. I can't have ponies wondering if I somehow got a weird hybrid kid. Oh don't worry. You'll get that when you are older. Love you..

Haha, if it isn't the freak. What did your parents leave you here?

She swam in her memories. Each one coming faster and faster.

Come on Rainbow Dash, can we leave the poser behind? She's just going to slow us down.

And faster

One moment Fluttershy was on the safety of a cloud. The next, she was hurtling down towards the earth a resounding cheer in her ears and a giant rainbow. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. She felt happy and as the smile stayed on her face, her descent slowed to a stop. Opening her eyes, she was greeted by Ponyville. That was the beginning of her new life. She hadn't seen her family since. They forgot to look for her.

So she holed up in Ponyville, Rarity's family helping her learn her gift and providing her money to buy a house that was just on the edge of the Everfree Forest. All she wanted was acceptance.

Dash's head hurt as the memories flooded her.

Miss, your kid is a flying prodigy. But there's some tests we need to do. Just in case.

Hey, my name's Gilda. What's yours?"

Come on Rainbow Dash, can we leave the poser behind? She's just going to slow us down. Rainbow Dash hesitated. But she left.

Dash felt sadness deep in her chest. She forgot that happened. How could she forget that happened it wasn't like Flight Camp wasn't the most important moment in her life before becoming an Element of Harmony.

Rainbow Dash felt pure joy as she felt her purpose in life. The trail of rainbow arced across the sky as the first recorded Sonic Rainboom was felt across Equestria. In the corner of her eye, she could see a falling yellow blur.

Dash, honey, we need your talent. We have all the possible talent scouts knocking down our door. They want you, you can be a prodigy. You can be special. We need you.

Please honey, just one more time. See, we have so much riding on this. Don't mess this up for us.

She wanted to curl up into a ball.

Where are you going, Dash? Look at me. You can't just leave. We are your parents. Ponies love you, they love watching you be above them, performing your little Rainboom act. Ponies will pay for that. You'll be their nice little hero.

She had said no and ran. Ran to the furthest place she could think of being raised as a circus sideshow, barely seeing the world outside of a circus. Someplace quiet and calm and where ponies didn't know her. Ponyville.

She felt calm. Entirely calm. Reliving memories that she pushed back in her head, and having them pop back up like little skeletons in her closet. Everything was simple flashes. Memories condensing into basic sentences, those sentences blurring the actual memory into sound bites, each bite hurting a little more. That was all that memories were, things that could be either good or bad and just popped up quietly reminding Dash of what she wanted. Freedom.

There was a quick feeling of pain and the machine stopped.

***

Rainbow Dash blinked and felt horribly groggy. Brushing her hair gently, she felt weird. Where there should be spiky, awesomeness, she only felt flowing locks. And shaking her head, she started to notice everything looked smaller.

Oh and that she was hayfeathering yellow.

She spoke aloud and only heard Fluttershy's voice- and thinking to herself she felt both her own memories and Shy's.

She heard her tomboyish, leather treated voice. Smooth, yet grainy, and Dash thought to herself, maybe affected by multiple seasons of cider. It was weird hearing her own voice when she knew it wasn't actually her. Also hearing her own voice felt wrong, like it didn't sound like she remembered- it felt higher pitched and almost empty of feeling.

"Twilight, I think we have a problem. Cause I'm Fluttershy and this isn't my body."

Twilight swore.

First Day Of My Life

Fluttershy twitched as she looked around the room of weather control ponies, she knew the names of a few since Dash had began to quiz her through her day schedules. Blossomforth, the resident pony that hit on anything with a pulse; Cloudchaser and Flitter, the twins- Cloudchaser having a more out there mane and personality, Flitter being more soft spoken and focused; Thunderlane, the big one with a heart of gold; and Cloud Kicker, Dash's second in command.

Oh and Dash's main job? Make sure this team didn't fall apart or mess up too bad so that the Cloudsdale Weather Team didn't have to come in and audit their usefulness. Fluttershy felt a tremble in her legs start moving towards her brain as she realized she might have to lead ponies for the foreseeable future.

She quietly counted to ten and stepped up to the podium that was at the front of the room and quickly put on her best impression of confidence. Which was a tempered Dash bluster, work with what you know Fluttershy always said. "Today we have a thunderstorm planned so we need everypony on deck for this one. Flitter and Cloudchaser, I want you to go gather the required air currents from the Everfree zone, Thunderlane and Blossomforth, you need to form the clouds, and Cloud Kicker and I will be keeping the temperature at least high enough in the storm zone so we won't have a repeat of the storm of '64. Okay, everyone suit up cause we have a lot of work to do today."

Fluttershy relaxed as she saw the others salute back and quickly gather up their things.

Cloud Kicker sauntered up and congratulated Dash, "Well that went better than expected, captain. Though I have to ask one little question. Why are you a part of the teams anyway?"

Fluttershy tipped her blue head at that. "I beg your pardon?"

"I mean you do complete your day of tasks twice as fast. And then you lounge around and sleep all day and I have to pick up all the slack. What happened over the weekend to switch your work ethic so much? What are you, a different pony or something? Or did you get laid so you have some actual vigor and want to do your job?" Cloud Kicker laughed to herself.

Fluttershy felt sweat form on her brow. "Uh well, I almost hurt my wing over the weekend so I think taking it slow for a while might be a good idea."

Cloud Kicker shrugged and looked closely at Dash, something didn't feel right and yet it was Rainbow staring her in the face. Usually her intuition was right and Dash had been walking unnaturally all day. Usually Dash led with her right side and had little amount of hip sway, her training that she explained to Cloud Kicker over tequila shots making her highly focused. This gait led with the left and their was so much sway that it was in comparison a sex show. Cloud Kicker wondered if Dash got laid, that'd account for some weird tics being off. She'd keep an eye on her. "Eh, whatever. Glad to have you on the team for once. Nice to see you try and turn a few years of slacking around." Cloud Kicker hit Fluttershy on the back and hugged her close.

Fluttershy nodded. She waited for Cloud Kicker to leave before she sat down on a nearby chair and relaxed. Note to self, ask Dash about how well she got along with her team. Looking at the clock, she figured she had to start her day. Running the locker combo through her head, she trudged off to get Dash's uniform. She wondered how Dash was doing.

***

Dash was having a terrible day. And it was because of one awful rabbit.

"Angel, eat the food." Angel stared down at his caretaker and shook his head. He was a principled bunny of the highest wild pedigree, he wasn't going to eat some weird gruel for breakfast. Only the finest salad sated his hunger, and that was not a salad.

Dash facehoofed, it was only ten am and already she had tried to give every animal their food. Most begrudgingly took it after a quick negotiation- the bear wanted honey in the next week, the birds wanted to fly more, et cetera. Pretty easy all things considered. Dash wondered what was so hard with caring for animals- it wasn't like they were smarter than her.

"Angel, just come down and eat this. I promise that I'll get you something later, but this is all I have right now."

Fluttershy hadn't told Dash how to make a salad. Well she couldn't blame her for everything, the late night training session ran later than even Dash expected. And possibly turned into something a bit more, but that wasn't planned.

Angel glared at this strange new, lazier Fluttershy her body language telling him that there was something wrong. Deciding that a raid on nearby fields of carrots were far more preferable to that inedible slop, he decided to hop away. He was going to gather the bunny horde that he had created during one of his master's vacations with her friends. He had an army and standards- there was no farm that would keep him from a carrot.

"Okay, well, if you want the food it'll be here." Dash shrugged and moved on. If Shy's demon bunny left, it was no big deal to her. At least he was the last animal she had to feed. Glancing at the clock, she noticed it was only ten fifteen. Flexing her muscles, she sighed and slid up the stairs. Each step shot a dull ache as she walked up the stairs. She was ready for a nap or two, but as she walked towards the bedroom, she noticed a door was left slightly ajar.

Shrugging to herself, she gently opened it and slid on in. If she was done for a few hours, at least she could see what was up with Fluttershy's house. A desk sat by the corner of this new room, stacked heavily with manuscript pages and the far wall was covered in pins and twine connecting a strange mess of pages that Dash quickly glanced at. The words 'Cast' and 'General Plot' stared back at her. She quickly read the list of names and chapter plots and noticed a weird pattern.

Speed Dazzler, Quiet Breeze, Fuschia Cake, Precious Shine, Buckwheat, Shadow Star. Going to parties, learning lessons about relationships- primarily about BDSM, and fighting world ending threats with the power of love. And sending a letter to a prince of the land while they did it.

Her head turned and turned realizing what this room was. She chided herself thinking back to the spa visit, connecting the dots as to why Fluttershy was so truly nervous about the book.

She was writing about the magical adventures of her very own friends. Sure, not like super noticeable to the most part, Fluttershy made sure of that with changing the order of events and where the action happened, but Dash wondered if Rarity caught the similar happenings. If not, Rainbow wondered if Rarity was all that smart, or maybe the main focus for her white unicorn friend was the sex. Rainbow rubbed her temple and sat down to read. It wasn't like she had anything better to do. Flipping through the first few pages quickly, she began to read.

Quiet Breeze felt the restraints tighten as Speed slid himself over her, bringing his porn star sized member into her virgin self as he set a rhythm of quick in and out thrusting, her insides turning to instant mush as her body felt both pain and pleasure. Her inner princess was rolling around on the mental couch that was her own mind as each orgasm slowly rocked her body.

A deep chuckle came from the large earth pony stallion, he was the richest bachelor in all of Equestria and his athletic prowess made Quiet wonder what he saw in her. She was just his secretary, a small thing, barely out of school and her grades in Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns was nothing special.

Rainbow Dash sat there, realization slowly dawning on her face, flipping through the rest of the book quickly seeing page upon page of recognizable locations and events and seeing sex scene upon sex scene where Quiet Breeze and Speed Dazzler had crazy sex all the time. It was a story held together by sex- a plot barely forming in five days. Business meetings, parties, sex dungeons, et cetera, all focused on her feelings and almost humiliation as their relationship formed at a breakneck pace that defied explanation.

Rainbow scratched her long, pink mane and began reading again.

***

Fluttershy remembered the quick lessons Dash gave her yesterday on how to shape clouds. Drawing on her innate pegasi magic, she shifted a nearby cold spot into a localized temperature sink- bringing the temperature into okay levels, she brought out her thoughts into the world and felt the hints of raindrops start bunching on her fur. She noticed light start bending around her as droplets pulled the light around her into mini rainbows. She put out her legs as the water pooled around her and felt electricity dance on her fur, tickling her insides.

"Dash, if you can stop having your orgasm, please help me over here." Fluttershy opened her eyes and saw Cloud Kicker trying to push a thundercloud into position.

"Oh sorry." Fluttershy blushed, her face turning maroon as she flew towards a cloud and pushed it into Kicker's medium cloud.

"Come on, we need to keep moving, captain. We got a schedule and Ponyville airspace is huge as shit." Cloud Kicker smiled and turned, her wings grasping onto a updraft and raising into the sky like a kite, banking towards Sweet Apple Acres. "Last one there buys drinks after work." Fluttershy flexed her blue wings and felt a connection to the air, shaping her draft around her like an armor as she tried to catch up with her second in command.

She glanced down and saw the town of Ponyville move around this bird's eye view- Pinkie was bouncing along and ponies were being generally okay with the new way he looked. She noticed Rarity carrying reams of cloth in her magic as she waved Pinkie goodbye, her magic cradling the reams of cloth as she shut her door and moved the sign from open to closed.

Fluttershy pulled up in the draft and sped further away towards the Acres, the wind starting to bite as she began to gain altitude, noticing Cloud Kicker slowing down, confident in her victory, Fluttershy pulled a Dash move, pulling her wings in close and bringing her body as straight as possible to bring herself into a smaller target, beginning to feel the waves of speed gather around her in bunches, she began her dive and as she fell she noticed a light shimmer around her just out of her reach and she felt her body skirt around Mach One, missing the speed necessary to Rainboom, but still feeling a rainbow trail form around her flanks.

She smiled as she zoomed past Cloud Kicker, her second in command's face a mix of surprise and worry as Fluttershy tried to slow down. She tried to bank into an updraft, hopefully the drag on her wings would slow her down, but after she flew through one unfazed she tried the next best thing, Dash's warnings ringing through her ears. "Don't overdo the showing off stuff, that's totally my job, but if you can't pull out of a speed boost, do what I do. Aim for the softest thing you can find and hit that. Do not aim for a lake cause hitting those things at the speed I can go can break your wings, aim for like a hay bale or something. Just breathe and flap your wings in reverse, the drag might hurt but the landing won't crack your skull open.

Fluttershy aimed for the softest place she could- a haystack that was in the east field and hoped for the best.

***

Dash twitched, her large yellow wings needing to stretch and move as they had become locked in the sitting position, the chair in Fluttershy's den being barely large enough to be comfortable. She heard a doorbell ring and she trudged on down to get it, slightly marking her spot with a bent page. Opening the door to go downstairs she wondered why it was so quiet in the house, each step showing another board that creaked and the light barely being good enough for her borrowed blue eyes. Glancing at a nearby clock, she figured out quick why she felt a slight pain in her back, it was almost 2 pm.

Hurrying on down, she noticed a batch of mail that was on the table looking important and all addressed to Shy. Shaking her head to focus, Dash walked to the door and opened it, the light equalizing her eyesight and greeting the day with blindness. "Hello?"

She heard a voice that seemed so foreign now. Cloud Kicker's gruff and low voice reaching her ears. "Yeah, Fluttershy, Dash here took a tumble like a right bitch and then she started ranting about how she didn't really want to go to the hospital, like the idiot she is, and then she dragged me here."

Dash felt her eyes adjusting and saw Kicker carrying her own body- with Fluttershy inside of course, and she quickly welcomed both inside, putting on her best Flutterrshy concern and worry.

"Oh my, well, uh, it wouldn't be too much of a problem if you bring her in. I just got done tending my animals so it doesn't make me have to change my schedule."

"Well that's swell, hey Dash, I'm totally going to put you on this couch. If you can hear me, nod your gay ass head."

"I'm fine. I'm good, see?" Fluttershy flapped her blue wings and tried to smile a cool smile.

Dash glanced quickly at each muscle she could poke and prod, going from the wingtips to the shoulders and from the top of the head to the hooves, a quick diagnostic of her own body was simple, she knew exactly what to look for, what past mistakes threw off her own clean bill of health, and if Fluttershy got any actual lasting damage. Remembering what she learned during Wonderbolt Training, she rain through the general basic ideas for what could go wrong. She knew her own face better than she cared to admit, but she knew it in its normal, pain free state. Glancing at Fluttershy's eyes told a different story, the pupils in her eye were taking time to react to light, each taking in different amounts at different times. Possible sign of a concussion? Dash looked at the way Fluttershy was standing, usually ponies were able to stand unaided just fine but a slanted awkward gait showed possible signs of a balance issue. She didn't want to chance it.

"I don't have the needed medicine here for what she has, sorry" Dash shushed Cloud Kicker's angry protest with a look. "But I know somepony who does. Though I don't like going their uninvited."

"What do I have to do here? Babysit the idiot? Like we have a thunderstorm we need to get done." Cloud Kicker frowned.

Dash rubbed her temple and pushed a pink lock of hair out of her eyes and looked straight at her, not pulling out the actually useful Stare since Fluttershy just said it was more of a tickle kind of feeling instead of a real easy skill to pull off, if other ponies even could do a true Stare. So Dash pulled out her best impression of Spitfire instead. "What was that? I am telling you something to do that isn't all that hard and you are here wasting my time. I have the hard job cause I need to go into the Everfree, so if you want to go in there and walk to Zecora and say 'yes well, I'm awfully sorry, but I don't know which herbal remedies might fix the best pegasus on the weather team. I should have asked and listened to the one pony who knows what to do.' Everypony else has the rain on lockdown, just stay in h- my house and take care of Dash, okay?"

Cloud Kicker crossed her arms and grinned. "I imagined you as this huge mare that was just a chicken who liked being out here cause its such a scary place outside these walls. But I guess you might had a bit of fire in you. I'll have to take you off my list of ponies I wished I trained in the Solar Guards so I could give you a backbone and put you into the ranks of the ponies I'd attempt to respect after a campaign or two. Fine I'll stay here with the idiot while you go out into the bramble patch of Equestria." Dash though she could a faint smile on Cloud Kicker's face as she walked out the door.

Turning towards the road that led into the forest, Dash felt rain start forming on her fur. She started on her way to the weirdest place in Equestria- the Everfree Forest. Dash hated the place because it didn't work like the rest of the world, unnaturally the weather did what it liked and the plant life was unlike anything she could reference in the glimmers of insight that Fluttershy's memories provided. Using those as a guide, she stepped over certain patches of grass that hid large underground dens of giant spiders in the undergrowth. She shivered at the thought and moved on.

Moving towards the east, she began the trek to Zecora's. Scanning Fluttershy's memory, she knew that barring any strange occurrences, she could get the round trip done in an hour. Though she had to go into the Castle of the Pony Sisters since that was right next to Zecora's hut. She sighed as she started the trek.

***

Twilight rolled out of bed, her clock telling her it was nearly five pm. She stretched her wings as she moved, feeling each muscle react with joy as they began to move again. She blinked, the lights flickering her mind with pain as the world felt louder and more horrible than she remembered. Pulling herself out of bed, she noticed that Luna lay nearby eyes closed and asleep. Twilight stumbled, her legs feeling like wet noodles as she walked over to prod Luna awake. Twilight reached out a hoof and poked Luna's horn.

"Wha- oh hello there, Twilight. you seem to be fine. Though, verily, you did have a terrible night though Pinkie did show some gentlestallion honor by helping you get well. He even held your hair back as you voided your stomach contents."

Twilight blinked. Her mind slowly processing that and deciding that that didn't really matter enough to get angry at. Her head hurt too much. "That's cool, you have any hangover cures that you learned over the centuries cause I can't focus."

Luna laughed. "Now that is truly funny. A hangover cure? Princesses learn hold to hold their liquor and mead, not be weak and puny in their ways. Though it brought me some true merriment when you started sending letters about your fantastic magical accomplishments to every major printing press that gives modern ponies their news."

Twilight nervously laughed. "Oh that'd be a good joke. Good thing that could never happen."

Luna stared at Twilight. "I do not understand. That did happen. I keep getting mail from the Canterlot and Manehattan presses about your gender spells. Canterlot loves the idea. Manehattan thinks its a terrible affront to nature. I have kept up with this new medium of entertainment and its almost as fun as watching war games. There's as many opinions as ways to wage war."

Twilight felt her letter spell activate as her world went purple. The mail spell usually never had too many uses- between princess mail, of course, and letters to the press and usually that never happened too much because the princesses didn't do anything that ponies thought was too risque or weird. And then there was today.

It felt like a hot poker was being driven into her eye and tossed around in her brain as her magic continuously fired up as letter upon letter flashed into existence and quickly scattered across her floor. Scanning the letters became a bit worrying as each letter got weirder and weirder from the normal 'Princess Twilight, please answer about this gender spell rumor' from the more respectable news organizations to 'Princess, you are against Celestia's wisdom in giving ponies their assigned gender' from the Church of Celestial Wisdom, then there was an outpouring of letters from ponies that wanted to use that spell to feel right about themselves, and Twilight's least favorite reply was from Playcolt and Playmare about wanting to use the spell to get two models for the price of one and them begging for an interview written up by a Trenderhoof, whoever that was. And that involved a in depth description of how she'd be a centerfold feature in the next issue with them begging to see a prince version of her. Wearing armor and socks and all the weird fetishes that ponies had with clothing.

She sighed and rubbed her head. "Luna, I'm going out. Just don't burn down the castle. I just need to eat something and not want to crawl in a hole and die from my life turning into a mess."

Luna smiled. "Well at least you haven't been sent into exile. That's always Celestia's final solution to her problems."

Twilight cringed. "Yeah, I'll not go that far, Luna."

"That's truly unfortunate. While I hated being on the moon, I had a few decent moments of sleep in between the existential dread, self loathing, and multiple voices in my head. It was a decent vacation."

Twilight just stared at Luna.

***

Fluttershy twitched as she looked around her house, Cloud Kicker sat there unmoving and stoic. Fluttershy wondered if she was seething in anger or just bored. She felt a crushing pain in her head as she moved, her head pulsing with localized pain as she was brought into focus.

She shivered as her borrowed body ached and a memory skirted across her mind.

Rainbow shivered as she felt the blistering winds of winter wrap around her body. She brought her wings around her as she crawled out of her bed. She breathed in and out, short wracking breaths bringing pain into her mind. She pushed past her pain and began working on her strength training exercises. She tried a wing pushup for a second, pushing down and up quickly as her body tried to correct for bad technique.

"Again."

Rainbow groaned as she felt a slight pressure of magic on her limbs. A nearby unicorn, a Ponyacci helper had their horn arc with magic. The Grandmaster was not a unicorn, but that did not mean she didn't have some magic in her. Ponies flocked to her voice and demeanor. Ponies whispered something about a persuasive look. Rainbow thought it was the stupidest thing she'd ever heard. Grandmaster Posey, an earth pony with magic? What was this one of Ponyacci's jokes? At least those made her laugh. It had to be a lie and just some ponies blowing up her persuasive anger.

"But I have been working on this for hours, can I take a break?"

The Grandmaster of the Circus stared back at her, her piercing green eyes staring back at her. "Have you broken your wings while you touched the sky, Speedy? You come back to me when you can pull off your little trick again, and again, and again.
On command. Every time. I see you, you have a skill just outside of your reach and I want to bring it out of you, but here you are failing every time you get nervous. You need to get past your failings and believe in yourself. At least you haven't broken a wing- that'd lay you out for a long while."

"But I don't really want to be here. I thought if I did that one show I'd get to go back home."

Posey stared at Dash and Dash shivered. "You need to pull your weight around here kid. It's not my fault your parents weren't in the last town. I don't like cheating somepony out of a deal- you asked and I mailed a few letters. They didn't come, okay. That's on them. Just one more wing up and we can get out of the cold. I'll give you a treat after you get done."

"Fine."

Posey stared down at the hills of Canterlot as the snow fell harder. Light twinkled as the town worked through the snow and a faint hint of cinnamon ran through the air. She sighed as she saw the little one roll over. "You did good kid. You want to got get a donut? Heard there's a new place around here that's decent."

Fluttershy shook her head unsure about what that memory even meant. Though she thought that not every memory could be useful at that moment or time and she just had a hard crash into the ground recently. Maybe it was just a weird coincidence that she felt she knew that pony from somewhere. The wide world of Equestria was large and recolored ponies were known of with similar looks. She wondered if any pony had ever studied that weird coincidence of nature or if Discord knew anything about that. Sliding back, she began to groan.

"Well look at who's up." Cloud Kicker lazily stirred a spoon through tea. This Fluttershy had a ridiculous amount of tea in this cottage. No alcohol though.

"Yeah." Fluttershy pushed a few locks of polychromatic hair out of her eyes. "What about the job. Don't we have to get out there and finish it."

Cloud Kicker sighed and looked out the window. Raindrops pooled around the window as the pitter patter of rain hit the windows. "Well looks like the rest of the team did okay. I guess. But your friend's been out there a while in this weather."

Fluttershy sweated nervously. "Yeah, she'll probably be fine."

***

Dash glanced into Zecora's hut. She didn't want to come here but Zecora knew how to make medicine that made her heal faster and also at least limit the effects of a concussion. She didn't know if that was real medicine or some shaman mumbo jumbo that Twilight would love studying. Glancing into the room, she smelled some horrible stench coming from a pot and she turned away quickly to get normal air into her lungs.

She coughed out a question to the empty air. "Hey, Zecora? Are you here? Cause, uh, I need some medicine for Rainbow Dash."

She heard a rhythmic hoofstep behind her and slight accented Equestrian. "How odd, I see that you are in a different bod."

Dash rubbed her head awkwardly, moving strands of pink hair out of her face and shrugged. Of course Zecora randomly knew. "Uh, yeah. Well I'm just blaming Twilight for that mix up."

Zecora chuckled. "Well that may be true, you don't seem too worried about not being blue. Though about your problem I do not know much, I feel there will be something you will need to touch."

Rainbow Dash just looked at Zecora confused. This was why Dash hated going out here for any time longer than necessary- Zecora began to get cryptic and weird.

"Cool. I'll remember that totally."

Zecora shook her head and walked over to her shelf of remedies. "Yes, you should. Now what is her malady so I can fix her up something good."

"Concussion most likely."

Zecora grabbed a few herbs and passed it to Dash. "Mix dragonwort and thistleseed, that is the cure that you need. Use this every four to six hours and she will be at full power."

Rainbow translated that rhyme in her head and figured that was the thing she needed.

"Thanks Zecora. Nice doing business with you."

Zecora smiled and turned away, the silence saying all that needed to be said. Zecora never was one for words. Dash wondered if that was just to make her job easier, rhyming had to be difficult.

Dash looked as the sun started to set, the shadows beginning to lengthen as she remembered that the Everfree was definitely not a place for most ponies after dark. That was when the manticores, timberwolves, and owlbears came out to play. She tried to walk as fast as she could, her borrowed muscles starting to burn from the strange feeling of speed. She started pushing her wings as fast as she could, cause at least outside of the forest, the world made some sense. She could hear a low howl begin to echo through the forest as she tried to zoom away. She may be in Fluttershy's body, but she wasn't the yellow pegasus.

***

Fluttershy looked out at the storm, the wind lashing her cottage with gusts that brushed dust through her yard. She wondered if her animals were okay. Sure most of them were wild, but it was still a worry. She had raised a few of them since they were little so they were almost her family in a strange way. She glanced at Cloud Kicker, fast asleep on a nearby chair, her head lulled back and snoring. She groaned as she pulled herself out of her chair, her muscles feeling all woozy and strange and her head still dull and achy.

She heard the door slightly shut as she walked over. She put her head out slightly, she knew enough horror movies thanks to Dash's weird obsession that she didn't want to move closer. She felt a light touch on her shoulder and she jumped.

"Shy, I got you some medicine." Fluttershy looked up to see herself- Dash's pink mane matted with water and mud and hanging limply on her face, her wings sticking straight out but twitching, her legs wobbling. Dash pulled out Zecora's remedy and handed it to Fluttershy. "You know what to do, right? Cause I know sort of how to do it. But you probably know Zecora's remedies a bit better."

Fluttershy tip toed over, her muscles tense from being scared as her heart raced back down to normal. "Dash, are you okay. You don't look so hot."

Dash wobbled, an attempt of Fluttershy's smile not locking into place, water dripping slowly on the floor creating a small puddle around her feet. "Yeah, just had some problems getting back. If I don't ever see another Timberwolf, it'll be too soon."

Fluttershy quickly moved, dragging a chair that she brought over from the kitchen and beckoned her friend over. "Dash, those are things even I don't like dealing with. They barely fall into my expertise, probably more Luna or Twilight territory since those things are trapped, wandering souls that are nearly impossible to take out. Why in the world did you ever hope to stop one or a pack of those things?"

Dash laughed, a tinkling bell kind of laugh coming out of her lips. "Fluttershy, come on. It's not too bad. See all that happened was that I got wet. And fought a pack of timberwolves by running away mostly. Anyway they really wanted your medicine so I decided to take them on for a little bit. Cloud Kicker still here?"

"Yeah. She's asleep, but she hasn't left. Surprising since I think she hates me- or you- I don't know."

Rainbow shrugged. "That's just who she is. She just appeared one day talking about the royal guards and all that. I don't know if she made it up or not- never had time to check out if she was ever part of them. She just knows how to lead a team and let's me sleep when I'm done with my work."

"But Dash she seemed mad when I said I'd be part of the team today."

Dash put a hoof of yellow on Fluttershy's back, its size dwarfing her. "Well that's just how she is. Probably was more mad that you ruined her day leading her team. She usually is the one leading anyway- the second in command and captain thing just being a thing we have to do cause protocol demands it. Doesn't really matter in my eyes. Like sure she's tough and almost always angry, cold and hard. . .but she is a good drinking buddy and she's pretty cool. Like I'm more worried that you tried pulling off a trick so soon after me teaching you to get off the ground and basic foal techniques than anything Cloud Kicker does or says to you."

"I mean I just liked flying. It felt nice." Fluttershy blushed maroon as she tried to look away. "I mean it has been a while since I really learned how to fly, so I've just been working with the basics. Yet with me in here," Fluttershy flexed her blue wings a bit, "its like I can do anything."

Dash blushed. "Well okay then, just work up to races and like don't do too many crazy stunts. I mean it is my body and all that, if we get out of this just for me to end up in a cast cause you fell onto the ground at full speed I'd be so peeved about it. So, you know, angry. I mean I'll blame Twilight first for putting us in this situation, but still."

Fluttershy lay her head on her friend's shoulder. "Well okay. I will try, Dash."

Dash felt her tail get wrapped up by Fluttershy's polychromatic tail. She nudged herself closer. "Yeah. But first, can we get you your medicine and then a bath cause I don't want to keep tracking in mud in your house."

Fluttershy giggled and then groaned, forgetting that her head was still on fire. "Yeah let's do that."

The two ponies walked off and Cloud Kicker slowly opened her eyes. "Knew Dash was acting weird." Shrugging she pushed herself into a better position. "Eh, whatever. I'll chalk it up to some stupid magic shit. Probably Twilight, its like that mare causes all the problems here in this tiny place. At least this didn't cause an international incident like some of the other princesses. And at least my reassignment is less boring this way." Cloud Kicker picked herself up and walked quietly out the door. She wouldn't get in the way of two ponies being idiots and needing to get laid so hard. Maybe she could give 'Rainbow' some pointers. Better her than her roommate, Blossomforth. That'd be a bad, bad idea.

***

Rainbow lay down in the tub, her body staining the water brown with mud. As she moved, the water rippled and swam around her aching form. She glanced over at Fluttershy drinking a glass of water to make Zecora's remedy go down to help her concussion. She felt nice, like if Dash had spent her days in her own house it would be quiet at night. Just being the only friend that flew as high as she did made some issues apparent. Sure Twilight had wings now but she seemed to have a fear of heights outside of her magical balloon trips. Fluttershy, well, she never flew until now. Like she didn't feel lonely at night, but having somepony there to talk to besides your handy turtle could be nice. And less borderline crazy. She felt a soft hoof on her chest and looked down, Fluttershy's blue body holding a sponge in her hooves.

"I don't want to go too far, Dash, I mean this mud is all over the place and then that'd be bad if I did cause then I'd feel awful and then you'd be mad at me and then I don't know."

"I wouldn't be mad at you, Shy. Don't worry, though do be careful, we don't want a repeat of what happens on page 132 of Six Shades of Hay. You know the shower head scene." Dash wiggled her lower half at Fluttershy to prove that little point.

Fluttershy stayed quiet, furiously blushing at the thought of her friend knowing enough of her book to reference it as a little joke. Fluttershy took the bait, she didn't know exactly how others did in social situations like this so she did the first thing she could.

She tried to kiss Dash on the cheek, but her wings splayed out and betrayed her making her trajectory fall into a quick kiss on the cheek followed by a slip into the tub.

"Oh my, Fluttershy, you do seem to have a concussion." Fluttershy could hear a quiet laugh as Dash helped her up. "Now let's make these wings act better. We can't have you lose your target just because a little accident threw you off- that wouldn't be the patented Rainbow Dash way of doing things." Fluttershy knew that Dash was teasing her once she felt her borrowed tongue lazily lick up and down each part of Fluttershy's now small blue wings.

"O-oh."

"What was that part in the book again? 'Speed Dazzler used his tongue to lick every inch of Quiet Breeze?' That sure would take some time for one of them. I mean even if one wasn't the specimen of awesomeness he tends to be. And Quiet Breeze was the smaller pony. Just think if there was a reverse there." Fluttershy could hear the laugh in the up down rhythm of her own voice. Rainbow was making use of the situation well. Fluttershy cursed herself for leaving out her manuscripts. She could feel the humming pleasure shoot up and down her spine at the idea that Rainbow was so close to her and that it wasn't a dream.

Fluttershy stammered out responses as quick as she could, her voice a mix between her normal mannerisms and Rainbow's tomboyish voice. "I-I mean o-of course, I just wanted to make it good enough for my readers. And stallions tend to be large and in charge in the romance novels I read."

Rainbow laughed, her sounds echoing through Fluttershy's blue body shaking her to her core. "I may not like reading stuff outside of Daring Do, but I've tried writing a fanfic or two, and I know when I see one. Did you send your fantasies to a publisher by accident?"

Fluttershy squirmed as Rainbow reached the base of her wing- Rainbow knew the spots that felt nice on her own body and that had to be cheating. "Maybe." She left that word hang in the air, as Rainbow continued her work on her friend, going towards her neck now, brushing her friend with her tongue just near her neck, pausing just above her shoulder and quickly moving on, the touch being enough to get Fluttershy ever closer to something more.

Rainbow sighed and stopped for a moment, laying back her head, pink locks wet and mostly free of mud. "I get it, Shy. That's what you see on the outside. You see me as this awesome looking pony that's the greatest pony ever in your eyes and there's you. Just you. And its hard to see how anypony could ever love you because trying to find some comfort in your safe spaces and working on your own things to see if you could be special. I get it. Maybe you wrote this whole story as a fantasy that somehow gained a life of its own once it got published." Rainbow turned, blue orbs glancing at the magenta orbs of Fluttershy- each seeing a slight reflection of them in each other.

Fluttershy wanted to say what was on her mind, but she decided a slight hug worked better, her borrowed hooves wrapping around Dash, not reaching around her friend now but just laying there in an embrace. She rested her head on her friend and sighed, smelling a mix between sweat and need on her friend's fur.

"I shouldn't have teased you right now like maybe that wasn't a great idea." Rainbow blushed heavily, her voice sounding remorseful and awkward, the bath not covering up the excitement.

Fluttershy lay on her friend, the water rippling as she moved. "Dash, I-" Fluttershy thought of her words carefully. "I didn't mind it. And I think you are pretty awesome. We don't have to work on whatever this is this quickly, let's just focus on the now. And thanks for going into the Everfree for me." Fluttershy turned up and kissed her friend lightly on the cheek, pushing the boundaries of how close they were just a bit. The walls between them felt closer as they sat there, the only sounds being the water as each moved around to get the space they felt comfortable with, coming closer than before, each feeling hot and awkward as they looked at their own face staring back telling each what they might feel on the inside. Dash felt her cheeks burn like the sun as her brain recognized the sense of romance.

They felt something stir within them as they noticed the time and dragged themselves out of the bath, each worried that they would present each other their inner walls and that it would move past that into something more. They awkwardly stared at the ceiling while they each shared a towel, pastel green wrapping around them as the water soaked into it. They awkwardly passed the towel back and forth between them, breaking the contact as each had to clean their parts unknown to each other- the idea of the towel sharing that contact making both blush furiously at the thought.

They both quickly got into bed, the bed itself feeling smaller than before and silence reigned until Fluttershy broke the silence. "Goodnight, Dash."

"Yeah."

Dash didn't say anything else, just sitting there in bed hearing each creak in the old house now unbearably loud in her ears. The movement of her friend, her own body just there in stillness and quick breaths telling Dash that Fluttershy must be dreaming something. She awkwardly brushed a polychromatic lock of hair out of her friend's face and inched closer. She hoped it was something nice, seeing that there was a smile on her lips.

She lay a large yellow leg over her friend and sat there. She held her close until Dash felt Fluttershy inch closer, their closeness measured in inches instead of the more comfortable and normal foot or two. And yet this somehow felt nice, as she drifted off into dreamland, Dash swore she could hear Luna giggling outside Fluttershy's window. Eh, probably just her imagination.

She heard a word from Fluttershy that made her heart skip a beat as she went back into comfort.

"Dash-"

Flutter leaned into Dash with that and it was like Dash could feel every curve and she felt uncomfortably warm as she drifted off to sleep.

The Flesh Failures (Let The Sunshine In)

Starlight quietly gathered her belongings into a pile and stared down at the meager assortment of objects. She didn't have much from her hometown- not after her falling out with her family and having a particularly cringeworthy phase with her teen years, but the sort of cracked mirror and bits and baubles and the one notebook that stared up at her showed that she had put all her eggs in one basket and if this didn't pan out. . .well that would have been all for naught. Gathering up her few artifacts she had rightfully acquired in Canterlot, she tossed them in a bag and slung it over her shoulder.

She quietly applied her paint to her cutie marks and sighed. Sometimes being at the top of the ladder didn't feel great. She stared into the mirror and psyched herself up, the thought of seeing Tempest again weighing heavily on her mind. "You got this. You are doing this for Sunburst, even if somehow everything goes wrong and this falls apart in the most beautiful mess. At least losing an Equestrian town should get Sunburst to notice me. Though that would be ridiculous that'd come to that cause I've planned for everything and I'd think I'd notice a rebellion."

She giggled at the thought as she got up and opened her window, quietly staring down on her town. It was a mostly well running machine, barring the uncommon times the spells started to break. If she had to think up a success rate, ninety seven percent for satisfied and compliant ponies? How exciting.

She heard the baying of the Diamond Dogs, a reminder and weird custom that the savage imbeciles had to highlight their approach. She quietly brushed her hair and teleported out to greet them. Dusting off her coat and checking her paint marks, she cantered on over to the meeting grounds.

"Hey, wait up."

Starlight glanced back to see Moondancer struggle to keep up, her eyes baggy and dark with circles. Starlight groaned as Moondancer huffed her way towards her, her jet black exterior hiding a vastly out of shape nerd underneath. "I would have expected you to look presentable for something like this." Starlight clicked her tongue as she glanced up and down the unicorn.

Moondancer rolled her eyes. "First of all, I'm your troop leader. Not a mind reader. I can't just wake up two minutes before a thing you barely, if at all, ever mentioned and also while I don't do makeup- your beds are woefully inadequate to sleep in when your science project was moaning in her sleep." Moondancer rolled her eyes.

Starlight barely was able to collate the new information in her mind when she saw the pack of dogs roll in, their howling deafening her mind from thinking too hard about calibration errors and possible failures. A dog that she remembered led the pack today- not Fido or whatever his name was. One of his wives. Some supposedly nice looking dog, if a bit dim. Though Starlight had rarely seen her, she'd thought she wasn't terrible for a dog. She was leading the caravan of ponies like a slave driver as she and her pack corralled their pack animals into a general mob of riches. Starlight begrudgingly thought that at least she could give one concession to a lesser race of beings- the dogs knew how to control crowds of ponies. Even if the ponies were functionally zombies- at least they could eke out something from her failures and her disloyal ponies better than she could.

The dog cupped her paws together as the group approached and her voice echoed through the silent town. "Here jewels for your Clap Of Thunder. Hope it good."

Starlight tried to smile as she hated trying to decipher dogspeak. It was some guttural half Equestrian that wasn't pleasant on her ears. "May the Storm King be ever so forceful in his ways." Starlight cantered up and inspected the carts, each full of palladium and gold. She didn't know exactly what the stuff was being used for since Tempest was super tight lipped about what she needed rare earth minerals for in the Storm Lands, but Starlight hadn't complained. She was just the middlemare.

She saw the tall and lean caravan leader slide off her cart and amble towards her. Her gait was sure and steady and as the border collie approached, she felt the eyes of every dog turn on her. The female dog lifted her paw and every mutt there fell deathly silent. "If gems good, then talk payment." The dog sat on her haunches and looked down at the unicorn, barely even registering Moondancer.

Starlight glanced around, noticing the tension and silently thanking her luck in having Moondancer here. "Okay, so I don't want to be pushy, but I have to know how many of you are even in your mountain." Starlight sighed. "This would be so much easier if your leader was even here. What even is your name? I mean probably like how you dogs can't tell ponies apart, I can't really keep all of you apart."

The dogs growled. The dog leaned over and stared into Starlight's face, her breath reeking of meat. "Name Roxie, and Roxie knows good and bad ponies, Little Grey One."

Starlight coughed. "Yes, well, Roxie. . .going by the terms of the treaty it's more like we give you what we can generously provide and you give us what we can't produce. So that would be twenty thousand pounds of meat from the Storm Lands at a fair trade of one seventh the value." Starlight didn't say who was getting the worse end of the deal.

Roxie scratched her muzzle with a paw and grinned. "Sounds bad. Deal off."

Starlight sputtered staring at the mountain of gems that she sat right in front of. "You can't do that. That's not how any of this works. I can't renege on the treaty you signed, that's not even in my job description. And it's not like you and your brood haven't been fine and dandy cogs in the well oiled machine so I think reneging on your deal would be in bad taste."

Roxie placed a firm paw on Starlight's shoulder and pressed down hard. "Roxie knows. But pony friends think you bad. Plus you grey, grey is bad color. Now where yellow pony?"

That was when Starlight started to feel the ground beneath her hooves start to move. She looked up to see the dogs all with large predatory smiles on their faces. She inwardly screamed and sent out orders to the town as she forced each and every one of her paranoid protocols into jarring motion. She was a locus for her town and she'd protect herself. Even if a part of her begrudgingly liked her successful ponies- though more for selfish reasons than not, since she still wanted to parade a small contingent of her ponies to Sunburst to show off her own studies.

But that was for another time now.

***

Pinkie breathed out and focused on the earth in front of her, her hooves pistoning through the ground like a jackhammmer, her thoughts focusing on one thing. She could feel the motions of the carts start to slow and stop as the howling cries of the dogs above were signals to follow, the baying and lowing an undulating mass of sound she knew well.

She could feel Fluffy besides her pushing her excess dirt away from her, the gruff and mean dog begrudging her some respect for her speed. She grinned as that reminded her of Rockville. She hummed lightly to herself as she thought of what she would do once she breached the surface.

"Pinkie, I hope you don't overshoot the mark." Rarity's singsong voice echoed softly through the tunnel. Rarity quietly followed, her dainty hoofsteps muffled through layers of dirt and grime that she gingerly stepped through, her face contorted in a mix of disgust and agony as the muddy earth stained her coat.

Pinkie rolled her eyes. "Of course, Rarity. Why do you think I've been slowly angling our way up? I mean it would be fun to punch through feet of earth and rock above us, but I don't think that would be super duper awesome if we got flattened or all that junk from a wrong move. The clay and rock mix here is stable unless I hit a sandstone portion and we fall into a sandstone cave. There's some rather nice ones around here, if Maud told me correctly."

Rarity almost did a double take. "Oh. . .that's right, I sometimes forget you know rocks almost as well as I know gems. Silly me."

Pinkie sighed. "That's years of daily rock farming for you. I can list every type of rock and its facts necessary for farming, the ways to mine them, and how to grow rocks the easy way. It's what I did. It's not like I did something super memorable. Everything kind of blurs together sometimes and with Ponyville, I have good memories there. Memories that stand out more at least"

Rarity wanted to facehoof. "I didn't mean that. It's just that I forget about what you did before Ponyville. Not because it's unimportant. That's hardly relevant. But it's more like I barely remember your first day there. Honestly, it took a while for you to warm up to everypony."

Pinkie laughed. "Well I was like ten and ran somewhere to find myself. I remember that day like it was yesterday. Getting off the train felt like I was entering a dream world. Rockville's tiny compared to Ponyville and I was just intimidated. Then I found the Cakes and, well, that's it." Pinkie's voice wavered. "I don't know why I'm talking about this."

Rarity walked closer, dodging clumps of dirt and rock and laid a hoof on Pinkie. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up bad memories. After all you mentioned how you felt when Twilight was indisposed."

Pinkie glanced back and wistfully smiled. "No worries. I mean I wouldn't change anything that has happened to me. I mean Twilight often talks about how 'changing one variable' would change the past so I wouldn't change anything. Even the bad parts."

Fluffy growled, his body slouching in the small confines of the hole. "Ponies too soft."

Pinkie teased him. "Well let's have our own opinions since I think some diamond dogs are cute and all."

Rarity rolled her eyes. "Oh please, I had to deal with these fine hounds for days and you don't see me sing their praises all too often."

Pinkie shot her unicorn friend a look. "Well looks like they changed and come on 'Wailing Diamond' I feel like they feel something towards you. Oh Fluffy, I just thought of something. Now what if we get out of this all fine and dandy and then we celebrate with a party." Pinkie thought about the ideas swirling around in her head. "Now let's see, I want ponies to be able to eat cakes, but I think dogs can't eat sugary sweet foods? Or was it cats? Oh well. I could try a meat pie idea though I would have to use fish."

Fluffy pricked his ears up at the thought of meat pies. "Now pony, why no other meat? Fish not common dog food."

Pinkie groaned. "Well I'm not going to feed you ponies for very obvious reasons. And pigs and cows are out. I mean cows speak all the time to Applejack. That'd be cruel."

Rarity felt queasy as the two debated the party's logistics. She turned her body away as she tried not to gag. She heard a low baying howl as she turned and she remembered Twilight and Roxie's plan. "Pinkie, that's the signal."

Pinkie pushed her semi curly hair out of her face and grinned. "Ready Fluffy?"

The male dog had a hint of a smile as he looked at the pony he had grown to at least tolerate. He, like all dogs, understood the idea of treats. "Sure."

The pair began digging up, their motions in sync and as Rarity watched the earth move, she wondered how many dogs were out there doing the same exact thing they were at that moment. Digging up and ever forward into a town they probably didn't care for.

All because they thought what she said was important. Rarity's eyes cast down into the dirt as she thought about that. Fashion she could understand easily yet here she felt like a fraud as she tried to balance her distaste for the dogs, her memories clouding her mind, and the dogs themselves. She couldn't figure out how to reconcile that.

She levitated herself out of the hole and saw the sun creep into it. She hadn't seen the sun shine that bright in a long while.

***

Eyelids crashed open as the mental cry to arms flipped every switch Starlight's little play army had in their head. Bodies stumbled out of their beds, their limbs on overdrive as they ran through the buildings each dead eyed pony shambling about. A stampede of hooves crashed onto the wind as their movements were in lockstep, a clipped succinctness to it, almost mechanical as they wanted to complete what their mental fog told them to do.

Be happy and do what their leader wanted, no questions asked, without a peep of discontent.

They breathed as one, chests rising and falling in motion, unicorns letting their mental blocks unstiffen, horns glowing for the first time in either months or years, atrophied mana reserves screaming bloody murder as they reached out and felt a connection to something in the fog of war. Earth ponies drew on the earth for the first time and felt their limbs strengthen immediately and pegasi whose wings were stilled by just a word from Starlight took off into the air again, their wings light. Not because of natural give and take, but because Starlight told them not to fly unless she let them.

And she usually didn't. All in the name of capital E Equality.

Ponies streamed out of their homes, barely caring on where they were going, moving in a mass of limbs one pony ending where another began, a chain of thought so focused they were silent but from the humming of magic in the air, wings, and hooves on dry dirt that crunched underneath.

It was primordial movement.

The dogs watched the horde of ponies, unflinching as the ground shook and trembled as two forces met in the middle.

"Dogs, sit. Ponies magic strong but heart of dog is stronger. " Roxie barked out, her low voice echoing through the quiet town as dogs grasped onto sharpened obsidian weapons, the ceremonial daggers and spears sharp and black in the early morning sun. Some gripped onto jeweled weapons that they had carried across Equestria, amethyst blades and ruby weapons, peridot bracers adding color to a sea of black. Silence reigned as the two breathed as one.

Moondancer grinned as she saw Starlight arch her back in faux triumph. The jet black unicorn felt nothing as she marveled at the image forming so nicely in her brain, the idea of an explosion so late in the game to hint of treachery just sitting there and ruminating in her jeweled heart. She felt a connection to the bombs far underneath, just in the corner of her mind and she smiled. She breathed in slowly and sidled up to Starlight. "So what now?"

Starlight looked at her with just a faint gleam of fear, Moondancer saw it flit around the corners of her blue eyes, and she wistfully smiled. Moondancer heard Starlight whisper back. "Fight back and win.Murder everyone here if I have to." Starlight laughed a tired laugh, her throat clenching up at the end. "At least I get what I want out of this. I mean just think of it here. Celestia loses a town because of me. You think I'm coming out of this clean? Fuck no, and Sunburst would finally hear how important I am. I won't have to even come to him, he'll come to me. And it's not like the Storm King would take me back anyway. I'd lose years of research and be in debt to his regime for decades."

Moondancer did a quick double take. "Okay, so I'll just go all the way over there," Moondancer vaguely pointed at a moving clump of dirt that she picked at random. "and be focusing on that. I think you got the fort here." Moondancer shambled off as quick as she could, her body evaporating as she shifted into her umbral form.

Starlight hummed to herself as she saw her leave, her mind running through thoughts of Sunburst as she let her aura caress the book in her bag, the gilt cover and childish writing inside calming her and bringing a quiet fury in her eyes. She whistled long and low, her legion of ponies forming up behind her. "Sunburst, this one's for you."

Hell broke loose as she let her ragtag army loose, her mind barely registering the Storm Beasts that some forward thinking pony had loosed, their blue, soulless eyes staring forward at all the new meat they could have. The gibbering hulks ran towards the line and broke like waves upon rocks, dogs barely holding them back with pointed spears.

Starlight felt pure anger and annoyance at whatever these supposedly rational dogs were doing just because they thought they could get out of a deal because of some notion of friendship. Which that wasn't legally binding in the slightest. Red energy danced across her fur as she approached the center, magically amplifying her voice to be heard over the deafening give and take of the waves of each side. She walked past bodies of ponies she barely knew in her town- not because she forgot their names since she knew their faces well enough, but that she just thought of them, in effect, like rotting bags of meat that she could just not care about since everypony there was disposable. She did this for Sunburst- he told her when he was a child that he wanted to create a perfect world once. One where everypony was judged on their own merit instead of a cutie mark. That's what was truly important to her. The idea. Not the ponies. Everything was a means to an end and she looked to the wagons of jewels pulled by even less remembered ponies that she threw away was a statement of that fact.

Ideas were everlasting.

She didn't have friends. Friendship was a completely useless concept since every time Starlight had ever reached a hoof out to somepony they came back and hurt her. Friendship was childish and painful. Equality though had the idea of making everything an equal playing field where finally ponies could be on the same level. And without a cutie mark, ponies could finally be free of ridicule and everything like that- she was trying to build a perfect world and it was falling apart around her.

By the time she reached the front lines, her anger was coming off of her like waves, it's recoil reaching out and carelessly grabbing anything nearby and killing it. She left a swath of destruction in her wake as she looked back, blood pooling around her hooves, her body vaguely covered in a red mist, the ground beneath her sticky and clotted with intent as she let go her emotions fully for the first time in years.

And it felt cathartic as the emotional bomb exploded outwards, a primal scream of pain rising up as dogs were impaled by their own spears in the red hurricane. Starlight watched coolly as Storm Beasts withstood the assault of magic and were treated like literal pincushions as bladed rain fell upon the center mass.

She felt nothing as she surveyed the bloody ground. If only the dogs had waited one more day like civilized idiots. Then maybe she wouldn't have needed to loose her anger.

***

Roxie breathed in hot air as she picked out shards of sharp obsidian out of her fur. She could see the dogs from below crawl out of their holes in her peripheral vision. They did not act like warrior dogs and she wanted to loudly berate their bitch mothers for raising dogs with no backbones. She felt like she should, but she couldn't, the barking tone came out. Only a small whine as she looked down and saw dogs that she had raised as pups in the communal nursery laying motionless at her paws. She reached down and grabbed a nearby broken sword, its owner staring blank at the sky. She pitied the dead dog. Diamond Dogs weren't supposed to die staring up at the shapeless sky; they were supposed to be facing the earth with its horde of jewels, the dead ones spending time in the earth ever mining and collecting wealth for their descendants.

And yet here were dogs barely out of their pup growths, never with a bitch to continue their pedigree.

Roxie growled as she looked at a nearby Storm Beast that was casually stripping dogs of their jewelry, the lumbering beast having some sentience but Roxie didn't care. She strapped the broken weapons scattered all around her to empty holsters and straps she had on her and dipped her paws in the slowly congealing blood of her tribe. Wiping the blood over her muzzle, she growled and leap towards the Storm Beast, an unfortunate thing in her way.

Roxie breathed in and gripped a broken sword, its jagged edge sharp to the touch, and held it fast as she stabbed the creature, looking at a moment just so she wouldn't get a gout of blood in her eyes. She wanted to stab all the big burly creatures she could see, months of being stuck and working for a faceless evil just to survive weighing her whole tribe down.

The ponies gave her tribe a chance again. The shamanic dogs told of Wailing Diamond coming back, and she did.

She felt the Storm Beast lose its footing in the red stained dirt, its eyes pale blue and unfocused. With one swift motion, she brought up another sword and cut the beast's throat, red waterfalls staining fur white as snow, its magical armor Twilight had warned every dog about in passing doing nothing against cold stone.

"Become like rock. Cold, grey, lifeless." She huffed as she moved on, looking at the horde of ponies ahead of her and the lagging wounded dogs that straggled on behind her clutching bloody stumps and weapons. Fido told her to be like the birds of the sky, quiet and aloof, and yet she played her paws too early or untrained pups dug too loudly and this bloodbath was the result.

She had to move on and deal with that thought as she howled, her strained voice echoing through the hills, small clumps of dogs answering back and forth. They would mourn their hounds later, after the rending and gnashing of teeth was over. Dogs would remember this day.

***

Moondancer grimaced as she counted down the minutes until she could explode her payload. Too soon and it would look like some kind of betrayal in the eyes of a pony who just blew up a whole lot of dogs, and honestly Moondancer couldn't always rely on these new smoke powers, she still had a red jewel in her body like a giant target. So she had started to count the seconds in her head and somehow it had only been ten minutes. Ten minutes of things just dying without a thought. Her mind was conflicted since she could easily turn the tide of battle in the favor of Twilight and her friends and her mind came up with many a sexy idea as to why that would be a fantastic idea, but her jewel whispered ways to rout the dogs and listen to the lamentations of their bitches. Which also sounded just a little bit appealing to her.

She slunk into the shack that she had holed that Fluttershy or whatever Twilight had called her. She didn't really care what their name was exactly when the whole town was having the most violent dick measuring contest she could think of. She said the first sentence that came to her mind as she poked her head around. "Hey, you done being all mopey about pointless shit?"

Rainbow turned her head, her glassy blue eyes telling the void black unicorn all she needed to know.

"So no then. Great. I told you the whole mental stuff was a fake thing anyway, so while I think your blubbering is adorable and all that, we have far more important things to do."

Rainbow Dash turned away, her eyes still red from emotion. "Okay."

Moondancer pulled Dash out the door, her lethargy annoying the black mare. Things were falling apart and having Starlight one shotting most of the army wasn't something Moondancer had planned for.

Though honestly Moondancer hadn't expected a Diamond Dog army to raise up and start revolting.

Must have been Twilight and her friends' reckless idealism pushing them to idiotic murder sprees. She had read enough of the Friendship Journal in order to edit it down to a more palatable size and fit a general audience. Twilight could get blood out of stones. Fucking literally if Fluttershy teaching Discord of all things about friendship was to be believed and it wasn't some weird reality ploy that Discord cooked up. Moondancer rubbed her head in remembering the absolute mess Canterlot was when Discord got out of his prison. She still couldn't drink chocolate milk due to the sheer amount that flooded Canterlot during that time.

Moondancer pulled the lethargic pegasus out of the shack she hid her in. Moondancer breathed in the blood fumed air and almost gagged at the smell. For all her experience with dealing with bloody situations, she primarily had focused upon the Changeling solution so green ichor was what she was used to, That smelled like you were entombed in a swamp; this smelled like iron and dust, its smell blinding her. Her body worked on autopilot as she tossed the yellow pegasus out to the wolves.

"Hey dogs, look here's the pony you wolf types wanted, right?" Moondancer bluffed her way through most of her life at times, she had to admit, but when a world full of pastel ponies worked on sheer force of will alone, she had to work her damnedest to not flub everything every moment of the day.

It wasn't the easiest decision, but at least some dogs should survive rampant magic blasts. She was one pony and while she was now stronger and far more cunning than usual thanks to her jeweled heart, she was also a realist.

And separating herself from a pony who wasn't even supposed to be conscious added some plausible deniability. She waved the pack away as a sign of goodwill. At least she hoped she did. She was notoriously terrible at sign language. Or was it charades? Moondancer pondered the thought as she shifted into her umbral form, its tendrils of darkness curling and twisting in thought as she let waves of dogs try to mow her down.

They were unsuccessful, of course. Though she did like the rush of air as blades tried to cut her, the feeling of tickling as they cut her smoky form in half, her blood red eyes scaring the cowardly dogs as she blasted magical beams that looked dangerous. She missed each shot, but it looked convincing and if she had to play act to make a crazy bitch think she was on her side, she'd do it.

She did worse things for less. She breathed in and felt the magic bomb far below the ground, on her periphery, and she smiled a devious smile as she knew exactly when she'd let those explode.

***

Tempest Shadow stared down upon the world and frowned. For a pony such as herself, she knew that by Equestria's logic, she should be horrified at what she was planning to do to cut ties with yet another loose end. She rubbed her scar and felt her horn crackle with emotion as she though back on where she was before meeting the Storm King. And maybe she'd be labeled a war criminal by alicorn standards, but the world was ever so much more grand than the center of the world. She knew of things that ponies would tremble at in trepidation, letting their dignity dribble out and pool around them as they looked at the lost cities around the globe, failed empires that rose and fell before the dawn of time and yet here was Equestria equivocating themselves. Saying they were the important ones, saying that everypony had friends and were treated the best they could be. Hiding the dark underbelly of what she had to go through just because she defended some of her friends from a monster. Losing the thing that made her what she was. She rubbed her aura horn and felt the jagged bits of her horn remind her of her past.

"Uh, Tempest? You wanted me to tell you when we were close to the mountain. or was it the town?" Grubber awkwardly tried to laugh as he thought about what Tempest said. "I mean either way their like right next to each other so like its fine, but I really wanted to give you a heads up before you stepped on the ground again. And I mean I would totally be worried too if I came back to my home and all my hedgehog buddies were there. I mean hypothetically of course. I'm not complaining but the Storm King really likes making examples of towns doesn't he?" Grubber rubbed his hands together.

Tempest shrugged. "Personally, if the Storm King killed all of Equestria to prove a point, I wouldn't be hemming and hawing about it." Tempest eyed the creature and sighed. "But since you're a weak and defenseless specimen, that doesn't apply to you at all."

Grubber sighed. "Thanks for the compliment. I think."

The broken unicorn had a slight hint of a smile. "You'd know if I was actually reprimanding you." Tempest picked up the hedgehog in her wavering magic and looked him in the eyes. "I mean I was joking. If I was reprimanding you, I'd have tossed you out of the ship and watched you fall screaming until you became a tiny speck and then I might have caught you with my magic. Or I might not. It really doesn't matter. Except I'd lose the last sapient thing on this ship that brings some kind of conversation during these forays into distant places. So thanks to every soldier on this ship being functionally loyal and brain dead, you do your job perfectly. But you still annoy me."

Grubber beamed. "That's both the longest time you've talked to me and the nicest thing you've said. Are you sure going to Equestria won't make you-" Grubber's voice stopped as he felt a cold pressure around his neck.

Tempest turned away. "No, I can feel hints of what you were going to say next. That the trip would make me a big softie and weak?" Tempest laughed. "Hardly. It's just that I've been thinking about the past, and realizing that I have something here that I would never have got elsewhere. If that made me wax poetic about a dust mite like you, so be it. I want to be crystal clear. What I will do once we reach this Ironhoof will be a declaration of war. And I am okay with that. I've made my peace. Got it?"

"Got it." Grubber choked out the sentence and then was slammed to the ground as Tempest sat back down.

"Prepare the petrification cannon. Now."

Grubber scampered off, his feet pattering on the steel floor of the airship.

Tempest looked at the noonday sun and sighed. "Stupid. I should have, no. Think of the mission and excise all worries." Tempest breathed in, focusing on her center and breathing out. In, out. She felt the stress and anxiety leave her body as she watched the mountain ahead of her come ever closer. She didn't want to admit it, but a tiny, and long forgotten filly found the sight breathtaking.

And then she squashed the feeling and felt calm again. She quietly repeated her mantra over and over. "I am a rock. Cold, hard, and emotionless. . ." She whispered the mantra over and over. She had to lie to herself to keep herself sane.

***

Rarity dodged behind a wall as she weaved between magical blasts, silently thanking that she had taken dance lessons during her fillyhood, the quick thinking on her hooves built on years of focused steps. Though she had to laugh to herself in the chaos since this was the most literal way to interpret dance. Weaponized steps building to an inevitable climax full of passion and love for the art. She saw Pinkie in the corner of her eye mirroring her movements, slightly sloppier due to less muscle memory, but the pink pony was adding her own flair to the dance. Rarity inwardly sighed. Pinkie was Pinkie.

Rarity cringed as she used her gem location spell and found the weapons she was looking for.

Twilight had obliquely mentioned before she sent them out on this reconnaissance mission that, no matter what, they might have to do some things that were distasteful. Rarity grimaced as she looked down and saw the tiny diamonds hovering in her magic, like tiny decorative arrowheads, swirling around her in defensive patterns that reflected back magic and cut a swathe through more stubborn ponies.

Not by murdering- far from it. That would be far too barbaric for a refined lady such as herself. It would look bad on the branding if she'd do something so rash and abrupt. So whenever necessary she interpreted the vague order as 'incapacitate' not 'murder'. That was her true dance, pacifism by a thousand cuts instead of one decisive blow.

She learned the trick building up her business, her mind wandering as she drew inward and didn't focus on the carnage and pain she was causing, thinking of how she built up her business with just a few bits and word of mouth. Then she slowly grew her business into a slightly recognizable name for outsiders- posh but middle class Canterlotians had her name on their lips. They went to her first, draining the businesses in Canterlot from their business model they had relied upon until the societal pressure and lowered business made Hoity Toity and the fashion industry in general take a side eyed glance at her. Then she opened her first stores outside of Ponyville and the rest was future history.

Rarity wiped a spray of blood off her coat, slightly worried about how blood would be ever so difficult to get out of it. She muttered to herself as she watched Pinkie pirouette past a Storm Beast. "I told Twilight I was a fashion designer, not a strategist." Rarity felt spells run past her face, the heat singeing her coat. She winced and sent the diamonds away, their shimmering magnificence bringing up ideas for dresses in her mind. She quickly filed them away past the locked door of bad ideas.

"I'd rather not commit fashion homicide for commemorating a battle. That just seems too gauche. Though there has to be a market for that somewhere. Possibly Griffonstone. Rainbow mentioned how much griffons love the hint of a good battle." Rarity strolled through the battle, her mind lost in thought as she wondered who would buy a dress with bloodstained diamonds. Even the idea of opening up a possible Griffonstone location felt wrong somehow. "Maybe that's a little too on the nose."

***

Fluttershy opened her eyes and rolled out of bed, her eyes were unfocused and blurry with a massive headache that was pulsing through her mind like a jackhammer on her brain. She wiped her eyes and leaned heavily on the makeshift pallet she had been laying on, her legs weak and heavy with unnatural movements. She could hear things shuffle around in the vague darkness and she stumbled towards any hint of light, a hoof up on a wall tracing the way out, running over rocks and gems alike. Fluttershy breathed in slow as she tried to see.

Then she took a wrong step and the world tumbled out from beneath her. Her side scraped the rocks and as she felt the air get knocked out of her in a huff, she laid there and coughed up a day of phlegm and her body retched and heaved as it wanted to vomit out nonexistent food.

She lay there in the darkness and tried to call out for help, her cries of "Help" echoing through the cavernous space.

It couldn't have been more than a minute, but it felt like aeons as two ponies she knew the voices of picked her up and mumbled among themselves.

She could hear Twilight, but not see her clearly as it was like the world was currently in grayscale due to the darkness. "Fluttershy, don't move. Applejack, hold her steady. Not there, under her forehooves."

"I told you, Twi, that we should have moved her outside. No sense having her in darkness when she can't see nothing clearly. I mean would you like being stuck in a cave in darkness, I reckon not."

Twilight huffed. "I didn't expect her to move so sue me on expecting a bloody rambling mess, no offense Fluttershy, to get up and walk around. But I hoped it might happen. Maybe that means that Rainbow's okay?"

Applejack helped Fluttershy back on the pallet and stretched, Fluttershy feeling the side she was holding onto move as the orange pony's muscles reacted. "And I keep telling you that sure, she might be awake, but we can't do nothing about it. I mean you're connected to Pinkie through that mental hoodoo you got going on."

Fluttershy was lost, her mind reeling with questions. She didn't want to pipe up and be a bother, but she needed to figure out what was happening. "Um, I'm really sorry, but I don't know what's going on."

Twilight's exasperated sigh came as a response. "It's not going well outside. And that's after I planned for things, I mean the dogs told me about how many ponies should be in Ironhoof and I helped them figure out possible ways to circumvent antimagic armor. Though Applejack did give the final solution."

Applejack's voice rose and fell in hearing that faint praise. "I mean it was nothing really, just if Twilight couldn't break their powers or whatever, I just said to brute force it with weapons. I mean sure it's not what I expected to use my knowledge of farming for, but you don't use a fancy solution to a problem when a quick and simple one does it in a quarter of the time."

Twilight cleared her throat and continued. "Yes, well, I was thinking of how antimagic fields could even work in the context of leylines since everything has magic. It's like antigravity spells. While they seem simple to cast, there are usually some problems in flagrantly waving away laws of physics."

Applejack's voice told Fluttershy all she had to know- she could see the farmer roll her eyes in her head as the sarcasm dripped off her like honey. "Yeah well you also broke time once and we're still here. And I've seen you break gravity so unless you got some dangerous world ending things we don't know about stashed away in your noggin, I think we're fine. I mean Discord breaks all kinds of natural laws and we haven't turned into weird abominations of nature."

Fluttershy piped up. "Well Discord is a special case."

Applejack laughed. "Oh he's special all right. But yeah Twilight said we should push up some rebellion stuff up cause you got all bleeding from the eyes and look where that's got us. Got Twilight saying Pinkie's seeing some horrible garbage and we're stuck in a cave caring for you cause I'm indisposed and Rarity told me in no uncertain terms that if I step out of this here cave, she'd keep me locked up in my own house for the next eight months and Twilight's here keeping you from going blind."

Twilight's voice fell. "Well, I mean it's unprecedented so I don't think I did it perfectly, but if there's any hiccups in your sight, Fluttershy, just tell me and I'd have Celestia and Luna check you out. I mean of course once this is over, but I mean I feel like I kind of caused this to happen so. . ." Twilight's voice trailed off.

Fluttershy didn't want to try and reach out, not that she was angry or anything, she just was unsure on where exactly Twilight was now standing due to the darkness. "It's fine." Fluttershy awkwardly got up and stretched her blue wings. "I mean I can probably help."

She could hear them vaguely start to say stuff as their brains caught up with what Fluttershy of all ponies just said.

Fluttershy walked out and felt her way towards the beginning of the cave. "I can't hear you girls. I'm-" Fluttershy's eyes blinked as light filtered through, a white disc of shocking light that her eyes were now unaccustomed to. She shimmed her way to the cave's mouth and stepped out, the air murky and smelling rancid with a smell she was used to in small quantities. "Oh."

It was blood. And she could only see red as far as she could see. It was like looking at a bleeding cut that had to be stitched up, the oozing lifeblood pooling and clotting as fast as it could to save somepony's life. And yet she knew that this was futile, the howls and muffled screams on the air showing that this wasn't going to end perfectly tied up in a knot.

Fluttershy frowned and took off into the air, her borrowed wings shooting as fast as she could towards a town that was on the verge of collapse.

***

Starlight fumed as she ran through each possibility in her head. She had the artifacts of the Pillars of Equestria stashed away in her bag so if things went any further in Tartarus she could slink away with her tail between her legs like a good pony. Or she could drop the few actually dangerous relics and murder everyone here. She was walking the tightrope of morality now and she could honestly go either way. She aimed a crimson red beam at a Diamond Dog and watched the sad little thing explode in a rain of gore. How pathetic of all these dogs expecting some mercy when they came in her house and trashed a deal she couldn't change. She muttered to herself, "I was going to be so very merciful if they had turned around and left me alone."

She felt a whoosh of air and glanced over to see the one ray of light in her world at the moment, Moondancer, reforming into a full pony, wisps of smoke trailing her like a long, black cloak. "So how is the battle going?"

Starlight rolled her eyes. "Worse than expected if I am brutally honest. I didn't expect a full fledged war in my town, so anything of the sort is the worst possible scenario. Though if I take my disappointment with a grain of salt, then perfectly fine. These Diamond Dogs have no magic to speak of and so it's like fighting a defenseless infant. Or is that too harsh? What do you think Moondancer?"

Moondancer shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe? Though I don't really think this is the time for debating if you're being too harsh on the dogs. I mean look around you, isn't this turning into a bloodbath?" Moondancer sighed and tossed aside a charging poodle, his paws flailing in the air. Things were just too obnoxious and stupid now. "But I mean if you want to argue semantics, I feel like I just saw some dogs kidnap your yellow pegasus bitch or whatever."

Starlight stopped and turned slowly towards her black unicorn acquaintance. "What was that?" Red energy crackled around her fur as she spoke coldly and as slow as she could to keep her cool.

Moondancer vaguely pointed at the mountain in the distance, knowing full well that getting Starlight unbalanced was the best course of action. Hitting her brain with enough bad situations or keeping her off balance enough, if she remembered the last few days correctly, brought out the best and worst characteristics in Starlight. Extreme mood swings and wanting to keep control at any cost, and also a loss of focus and a slow descent into paranoia.

Moondancer had to almost laugh as she almost reminded her for one moment like the way Twilight described herself in the Friendship Journal, her failures and mistakes being a result of her own curiosity and a slowly devolving situation.

Or maybe unicorns were just fucking insane.

Starlight stamped her hoof on the ground and facehoofed. "Fine. What the fuck ever. But if I have to clear out the whole damn nest to get her back, I'll do it. I mean honestly, you'd do that too."

Moondancer cocked her head. "I don't think committing an act of genocide would be on my list of things to do."

Starlight drew Moondancer in close, her eyes distant and wide. "Of course you would. I mean come on, what about all those insects I heard about? I'm honestly surprised you haven't made a bug spray to air out those exoskeletons and clear the air with them. It's not like Celestia or Luna probably haven't murdered hordes of unwilling things through the years. Just follow their example and murder the shit out of fucking every piece of refuse you see." Starlight smiled. "It'd make you feel better. I mean if I didn't focus on that, I'd have probably aimed my horn at a nearby mirror and lobotomized myself just cause my whole dream of a perfectly running society is in the fucking shitter and Celestia damn it I'm doing gangbusters." Moondancer glanced over and saw Starlight's insane twitching eyes and rictus grin told Moondancer all she needed to know. And while she hated to admit it, at least going with the crazy unicorn might give her an out.

Cause who can blame you if the town explodes when you aren't even there?

"Sure, why not?" Moondancer tried to hide her excitement as they went off to a mountain that didn't have the pony Starlight was looking for.

***

Pinkie danced around the unicorn magic, their heat singing her fur as the spells ricocheted off walls and doors, her body trusting in her Pinkie Sense as much as she could. She'd probably expect Rarity to explain her extrasensory perception as some sort of dance routine or something equally silly. Pinkie giggled to herself for one moment, the levity of the thought blotting out the horrible thoughts coming in from all around her, her mind providing her with new twitchy twitches that she had to figure out on the fly as it relegated new information into her brain at a rapid pace.

Pinkie took it in stride, but she secretly worried that it would be a bit too much to handle, as the twitches she felt everyday were almost another language she was fluent in. She had had years of practice discerning exactly what constituted a 'heavy falling object imminent' or 'you almost added too much sugar'. The twitches weren't always easy to figure out. They could be anywhere from a slight tickle to feeling like your bones were going to snap right out of their sockets and use you like a puppet. Those were weird and bad, but manageable. Mainly cause Equestria wasn't the big, bad outside. Even Ponyville, for all it's raucous charm, wasn't the Everfree Forest. That place and other places like it set her off like a firecracker, the danger signs everywhere and coming in hot. So overall, Pinkie Sense was just something she had to deal with and was a part of her life that she counted primarily as a blessing at times. Almost losing Twilight? That was a medium to high danger one. She still felt pangs of void emotions as she felt the recent memory well up. That was bad. But there were far worse Pinkie Sense feelings. Death for one felt like she was having an out of body experience for a second while she watched her body have almost like a constant seizure as it tried to parse death signals.

Pinkie grimaced at the thought. She had very few of those catastrophic Pinkie Senses. And now surrounded by death and dying dogs barking out and whimpering in pain, she realized something.

There could always be a worse and far more painful Pinkie Sensation.

She rolled out of her hidey hole and slunk around the back of the house she had taken some quick shelter in, her vision cloudy with emotions welling in from Twilight and she whisked them away, locking her marefriend's connection to her mind away for a moment to focus in on taking out a Storm Beast yet again, her mind partially focusing on payback for the day or two of Pinkamena feelings she had to feel again.

Popping out like she was surprising a foal, she quickly dodged the fists of the creature, the hot breath and blue eyes being the only things she could see for a moment in her vision, her body twisting and turning as it naturally bent itself into a shape that kept her out of its reach.

Pinkie didn't feel anything, her mind thinking of her childhood pulling rocks from the ground, her body moving as fast as she could in time with her family, their speed outmatching her in every way as she just tried to keep her head above the water as rocks popped out of the ground fully formed and ridiculously heavy.

She felt the same feeling she did so long ago, her body remembering how it felt hoisting a heavy rock, picking it up in her hooves and twisting it just slightly to get a better grip, pulling on it just enough so it would pop with a slight bang or rolling stop and she'd move on to the next one, the constant motion keeping her body from rebelling and feeling tired and in constant aching pain. It was just pulling rocks from the ground during the fall, winter being a terrible time to grow rocks, the snow and ice breaking rocks into unusable pieces. Doing that for years from before the sun was up to when the sun went down every day that they could just to survive and get enough to pay rent was back breaking labor. She barely had a childhood to speak of and here she was thinking back on those times with some sort of nostalgia. And yet she loved her family that was true, but she still had trouble connecting with her parents.

She rolled off the body, the creature's limp form going to the floor as she tossed aside the helmet.

She mentally told herself that what was inside the helmet was a rock. It made her feel better. She silently thanked Celestia that she was bright pink for a moment cause it was far easier to not realize that she was turning into a darker shade of pink, red running up her hooves as she continued her focus.

"Darling? Are you okay?" Rarity's voice slightly trembled as she looked upon the scene, her hooves had followed the commotion and Fluffy's nose had followed Pinkie's scent through the blood clotted air.

Fluffy hunched down and looked at the corpse that was on the floor, slightly sniffing the air as he pushed the headless body around and looked back at Pinkie. "Pony strong, good pony and Fluffy are on same tribe side now. Grey One stronger than fat look seems."

Pinkie rolled her eyes. " I'm not fat." Pinkie tried to smile for a moment. "I'm fine, Rarity. Just the situation hitting me hard again. I sure hate doing this because this really isn't my favorite thing to do. I mean I'm Laughter for crying out loud and I didn't want to be good at that-" She turned away and pointed around the mayhem in the house, "but I am I guess. I don't know. I just want to make ponies happy with parties and be happy and yet I'm doing neither of those right now. And yet I'm still here and we're still here and I want to throw up and all that but I really haven't eaten anything and I can't just close my eyes and wake up from the nightmare I'm in right now and I want this to go back to something so much easier and it-" Pinkie breathed. "it just can't cause I feel like I'm going to close my eyes and know I'm good at this. And I'm scared about that." Pinkie's eyes welled with tears as she slumped to the floor.

Rarity and Fluffy shared a quick look. The hulking dog spoke up first, his words shaky with weird pony emotions confusing him. "Fluffy gets point. Go be sure no stupid ponies ruin weak moment." The dog stretched out to his far taller position, his head scraping the short ceiling. "And Grey One, be safe. You came to mountain loud, sad, gray thing. You left mountain warrior." Rarity could swear her mind was playing tricks on her as she thought she saw the gruff male dog almost crack a smile at the compliment. "You relax while Fluffy deals with the problem, Grey One just try to make plan for feast good." Before Rarity could thank the dog, he rushed out, charging through the wall in one fell swoop.

Rarity huffed. "Do I have to outline exactly what doors are to these dogs?"

Pinkie lay back and stared up at the ceiling. "Maybe."

***

Rainbow felt like she was in a dream. She looked down and saw red blood all over the place and she couldn't understand it. She had to still be in the dream somehow because the idea of violence on this scale didn't mesh with her mind as it tried to keep up with reality, the false memories still there in her head crawling around like toxic roaches.

She glanced up at the wide open sky and wondered if it was going to change to some nightmare again as she tried to come up with a question that could try and tell her exactly if she was awake or not. If only Fluttershy was here she could come up with some question. She was the one that was good at asking them anyway. Rainbow remembered a joke Fluttershy came up with once about themselves. The way Fluttershy told it, Dash liked to hit and run in situations, while Fluttershy liked to just stay there and try to relax.

Rainbow remembered bringing up that she definitely remembered multiple times that Fluttershy was a mess too.

That had been an awkward conversation and a bone of contention for a while.

At least Rainbow had learned that Fluttershy was absolutely terrible at humor. Or at least she didn't get her humor. Even after an hour of explaining the joke she had meant, Fluttershy still wasn't able to realize that she didn't tell a joke. Just a weird observation and nothing more.

"Why do I even remember that? That's not even important." She rolled her eyes at her addled mind and looked down, her mind now registering that somehow she hadn't realized that she was being carried by a pack of dogs.

Yep this had to be a dream.

"Great, what now? Is everything here going to die or something cause this is getting ridiculous." Dash noticed that the pack was slowing as they came to an important looking dog that oddly looked like Applejack's border collie. Dash chalked it up to some random feeling she had or something.

"Halt." The female dog wiped blood from her face and sniffed the air, her body losing her tension as she came closer to the pack, her head bowing as she walked around them marking her dominance. She smelled Dash, her breath hot and stale with blood that made the pony gag quietly with dread. "Smell like pony who bled from eyes." The dog picked herself up and stretched her limbs, only moving as much as she needed. "Twilight mentioned to look for you." The dog grinned. "Roxie thought battle necessary. Roxie wrong."

Dash nodded, her mind expecting something extra horrible to happen. She gingerly bumped her hoof to the diamond dog's paw and slightly recoiled as she waited for the earth shattering kaboom or something. "Uh, yeah. I guess you were?" Rainbow's voice trilled upwards in slight confusion as she tried to understand how exactly some random dog knew Twilight. Or if it was some weird dog name for like the moon or something. Fluttershy was the one who liked animals. "Can we like get out of town cause I've spent like four days here and I hate it."

Roxie laughed. her husky chuckle resounding through the raucous town. "Roxie like joke."

Dash would have laughed at the deadpan delivery, but her feathers stood on end as she felt the temperature drop enough to tell her immediately that a cold front was coming in. She looked to the sky and looked around and she could see on the edge of her sight that there was one lonely black cloud in the sky.

Which never happened in non-Everfree locations so that raised a red flag. Dash took a breath and just prepared for the worst. "Yeah can we leave now? I really don't like here at all."

Roxie rolled her eyes. "Ponies always worried about small stuff. Look around, this big picture."

Dash looked and thought that it really wasn't a fun time. She kept trying to figure out if she was truly awake and the image of bloody bodies laying on the sands reminded her too much like the worst images the spell gave her. And yet she hadn't found an exact reason why she was still awake. And that made it somehow worse cause while the last few memories she had before today were tinged with horror, at least she told herself that she would go away from most of that in time. This? This wasn't Celestia's plan at all.

If Twilight was near her at the moment, Dash knew instructively that the alicorn would explain the exact date and time that Equestria last had a battle close to this caliber.

"Yeah. Big picture. More like bloodbath. Got it. Can we go inside a place and hold out for a while cause while I love a good brawl against stuff, I feel like something bad's going to happen."

Roxie waved her dogs away, her paws telling of secret signs that the dogs understood while to Dash they were an incomprehensible language only A.K. Yearling would put in an appendix to flesh out her Daring Do adventures. The female dog bent down and patted Dash on the head like a foal. "If pony says weather bad, we go then. Ponies seem to know the sky above all better than dogs. But dogs know earth better." Roxie wiped her bloody paws and sighed. "Dogs know earth better."

Dash didn't ask.

***

Moondancer's life was ruined when she saw who was only yards away. Fucking Twilight. She cursed under her breath as she tried to play it cool. It wasn't like she was standing right next to the bad guy of the week while being decidedly helpful to said bad guy while Twilight was sitting their being stupidly hot or anything at all. No, it was perfectly fine that this was going to go south immediately as soon as the whole world went to Tartarus. She quickly threw out the jewel's insistence on snapping Starlight's neck and tossing her down the nearest canyon. That would be slightly evil. And while Twilight might understand, what with all she had to deal with, Moondancer knew her old friend well and Twilight was a goody two shoes through and through. So armed with a list of curse words a gryphon sailor would find excessive, she pulled Starlight behind a wall of rocks and shut her mouth just in case.

"Shut up. Looks like we might have to get creative here."

She could feel Starlight staring holes in her head. Moondancer slowly let go of the little tyrant's mouth. Starlight took a long deep breath and rubbed her mouth. "What gave you the idea to just pull me behind some stupid rocks?"

Moondancer sighed and pointed. "You know sometimes I wonder how you ran the town before everything turned to shit. Probably fantastic."

Starlight glowered at the pitch black unicorn. "I managed." Starlight poked her head out for a brief second and popped her head back behind the rock. "By Storm, this blows."

Moondancer tried to think of a plan but she kept coming back to the whole idea of explaining everything to Twilight. "You have any idea how to deal with them?"

Starlight sighed. "Just one." The pink unicorn got up and stretched her limbs, carefully keeping the three ponies sight as she did so. "Cover me."

"Wait, no. Don't-"

Starlight got up on the rocks and cupped her hooves together. "Hey, alicorn bitch, how'd your nap feel?"

Moondancer screamed inwardly. Starlight kept finding new ways of beidng a pompous idiot.

Twilight and Applejack looked at Starlight for a moment in silence. As the awkward silence reigned for a moment, Fluttershy lightly set down onto the ground as well. Twilight spoke up first once the shock of being called out for no real reason passed. "What? I can't hear you."

Moondancer facehoofed hard.

Starlight's horn glowed red as she cast a quick spell to get her point across. Clearing her throat, she cupped her hooves again and yelled as loud as her newly amplified voice could go. "I said you ruined my town and I totally want to punch your stupid face and ruin your life, you stupid dolt."

Moondancer rubbed her temple and decided to take matters into her own hooves. Things were getting rather obnoxious and Starlight was being a literal child now."Fuck it." She felt her magical bombs in her mind, miles below her and pressed her mental trigger. She felt the first one go and she smiled as she waited to see the mess that freeing a town full of controlled ponies would look like. If Starlight thought her plans were ruined now, just wait.

Her gloating was short lived.

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Now wait a cotton picking minute, we barely even were in your town."

Starlight pointed back at her town and was going to respond until the world exploded behind her.

Moondancer was thrown off her feet as the distant shockwave hit, the multiple magical bombs she had placed below the earth acting as one explosion building off of itself until it couldn't anymore. She felt dazed and confused as her head connected with the rocks, her world going white for a moment.

Starlight stood there mouth agape as her town reeled and rocked like a sinking ship, massive boulders shooting up into the sky and falling down on everyone like the angry wrath of an ancient god. "What the fuck did you do? I get out of my town for two seconds and it blows itself to smithereens." Starlight's eye twitched, her emotions fully out of whack, red energy cascading off of her in powerful waves. She turned her head, her eyes blood red from the bleedback of her own emotions. "That's it."

***

Pinkie's body shook violently as she felt the largest Pinkie Sense shock she'd felt in a long while, her teeth chattering as she tried to speak. Her voice didn't come out, as she worked on autopilot, her body picking up the slack as she gripped tight to Rarity as she tried to figure out where the most imminent dangers were coming from.

"Darling, are you okay?"

Pinkie shook her head, trying to be calm as the first shake hit, the earth below them roiling with untapped potential as an earthquake like feeling shook the house they were in. She could hear dogs of all stripes and sounds barking and wailing as they tried to react to new sensations and feelings.

"Where's Fluffy?" Pinkie spat out through clenched teeth. Her head was on fire as the world was blaring at her, screaming bloody murder about danger and she wanted to be proactive. Even if she couldn't save Twilight once, she could try and save a few from danger.

Rarity tried to hold on to the door jam and pointed outside. "He hasn't come back from out there."

Pinkie's teeth rattled as the ground opened up and exploded. The only thing she noticed beyond the pandemonium and mayhem all around her was that she could hear new voices add into the mix of despair and pain around them.

Pony voices. Screaming.

***

Fluffy breathed in the putrid air as he tried to relax from the day's events. As he scavenged the deserted town for anything to help the good gray pony in her strange pony ways, he saw friends splayed out like leftovers, their eyes looking at nothing and everything all at once. Fluffy didn't like death, it felt like a battle one could always lose. He didn't care for battles like that. Where was the sport in that? If two forces met and fought a great and mighty battle, one should enjoy the spoils. Not death, death wins every time and there was no way for dogs to survive. Yet death was a natural part of battle.

He was in a field of death and it was the main thing on his mind, besides the thoughts of parties that the grey one could give him, images of meat pies both exciting and disgusting him as he trudged through the village of death.

"Stupid pony leader ruin meat pies for Fluffy. That impossible, meat is meat." He huffed as he moved through the street.

He felt the ground tremble slightly, his senses honed by years of knowing the feeling of dirt between his paws, his body used to swimming through layers of rock. Unlike most soft, squishy ponies he knew exactly what a tremor to an earthquake felt like and this wasn't it. He barely paid it attention as he saw a pack of ponies looking around for straggling dogs.

He smiled a toothy grin and rose up on his back paws, he felt like this might be fun. He had been holding back for the ponies- only knocking out the creatures he saw, their cold dead eyes staring back like winter, hard and cold with biting intentions.

Fluffy rolled on the ground, trying to keep abreast of the ponies, the ground providing any sense of unrest in these trying times. "Come to Fluffy," he growled.

That was when the world turned crazy as he saw a flicker of life within the group of ponies. Their faces turned from slack jawed, crazy zombies into the faintest glimmer of life within their ranks. The purple one, a unicorn, Fluffy didn't care for names, the ponies all having cute names that were meaningless. Fluffy was Fluffy because his sire and bitch thought he was the fluffy one in his litter. He wore that name with pride, even when larger dogs made fun of him. But Fluffy had the last laugh as he was one of the biggest and strongest dogs in the tribe.

His name had meaning, unlike. . . Fluffy tried to think of the cutest name he could, his mind unaccustomed to the task. "Bone Steak." He grinned at the thought of a pony having that name, the idea of that amusing him as that would be the most adorable thing to his standards.

He was surprised when he looked up to see the ponies awkwardly staring at the carnage, their eyes blinking with recognition at the horror surrounding them.

"Oh Celestia." The unicorn breathily spoke, their words muffled behind the hints of tears welling up in their eyes.

"Where's Starlight? We have to find Starlight, everything has to make sense. This doesn't make sense, I was just in Canterlot and now I'm here. Why am I here?" An earth pony, short and green tried to hold their world together as they almost hyperventilated themselves into a stupor.

Fluffy almost wanted to laugh at the ponies, but he remembered Gray One and her strong outside and soft, chewy inside of emotions. He took a breath and was going to try and show some hint that he wasn't going to skewer their heads and hear the lamentations of their bitches. Or something like that. But the world turned completely topsy turvy as he felt the earth give way and he rolled to the side as a giant hole rent through the ground.

He blinked and saw the green pony for a second, their face streaked with dirt and confusion as the village rent itself in two with new screams piercing his senses. Everything was so loud. He took a quick step, looked up and saw a sight he would never forget.

He saw whole rocks lift up and over arcing through the sky, their momentum making them fly through the air with magnificent speed and grace, hundreds of thousands of tons of rock upending itself through the air and raining down like they were pebbles.

He almost wanted to bark out to say something to the ponies around, the two in particular that seemed to be freaking out just standing there, their voices barely being heard over the explosions and death all around He could hear the faint mumbling of a prayer on their lips as he watched a boulder careen into them, thousands of pounds of rock briefly being slowed by a magical aura trying to surround it, its speed too great and the unicorn's magic too weak from disuse and malnutrition that he only watched as the pair was made into a fine red paste that misted over him. The last thing he saw of the ponies before they had turned into gore was their bodies compressing down into their component parts, bones shooting through skin and flesh, brains and eyes exploding with the sheer force of weight and a unicorn fountaining blood as her magic tried to hold up an unstoppable force for the final death rattle, her neck snapping backwards under the strain. Looking straight at the diamond dog, her eyes having a hint of fear as the tomb closed above them, only Fluffy knowing what he saw and what that particular rock held beneath.

The sickening splorch of that sound echoing through the town heralded things like that happening over and over.

Fluffy wiped his face and felt hot acidic bile tickle the back of his throat.

***

Dash cursed her luck as she tried to hold onto something as the shockwave of explosions hit her. She tried to flap her yellow wings, scowling as she remembered that Fluttershy's body wasn't like hers at all. Too large and unused to flying made her wingpower woefully inadequate when it was truly needed. "Come on you piece of garbage; I just need to get out of here. Nothing much." She felt her borrowed body flag as she got to the door, it's porthole to the world listing at a 180 degree angle, showing her the sky instead of the much more comforting ground.

She felt Roxie inch her way up her body, her paws reaching some rather inappropriate places as her paws tried to grab hold of something close to stable.

"Roxie not want to look down." The dog whined, her tail inbetween her legs as she looked down into the black maw of emptiness below, the sinkhole that had been created a endless void below.

Dash huffed as she reached out a hoof to grab onto the door jam, praying that the wood could hold a heavy pegasus and a fully grown diamond dog for a brief moment. "Yeah well I'm trying and if you got your paws off the merchandise, I might be able to get out of this death trap." Rainbow felt like she was almost back to normal. Sure, she still felt like there were parts of her missing and she still felt off, but the adrenaline that had hit once the building faltered had brought her partially back to reality.

Even if it reminded her far too much of her nightmare.

She felt the wood start to buckle under their combined weight. "You aren't going to like this."

Roxie's ears perked up at the words. "What?"

Dash partially let go of the door and held onto it with one hoof. Thanking that Fluttershy had a hidden reservoir of strength that she usually kept hidden behind good intentions and introversion, she quickly rocked back and forth. She breathed in and out and she heard Roxie whimper below her, her nails digging ever so slightly into her coat. She unfurled her yellow wings as far as they could go, hoping beyond hope that the added wind resistance and time might arc the move she was planning on doing just enough so they wouldn't plunge into the abyss below. She let her training as a Wonderbolt and weather pegasus take hold and hope that all the training she had got in flight school was enough. She let go and dropped into the hole, hoping that she timed it right. Either she misread the situation and there wasn't going to be a drastic rise in air pressure as the underground air rose up to meet the hot outside or it was and they would be saved.

She closed her eyes and let her wings out enough, hopefully enough to clear the door without shattering every bone in her wing structure for her daring trick. She had done that particular hospital stay far too many times to want to do it again.

She felt the air envelop her and her cargo, the pressurized air working overtime, its surface broiling with purpose as it hit her like a ton of bricks, the falling momentum transferring into the rising airstream, her wings trying to cup the air under her as much as she could. She couldn't hear Roxie over her ears popping from the drastic change in pressure and she didn't care. She didn't care if the dog was screaming or if she was laughing cause the only thing that mattered was riding the wave of air and laughing like a maniac as she and the dog blasted out through the doorway, the entire house they were in finally giving up the ghost and falling to its doom.

The air felt magical, the one cloud in the sky predicted rain with its dark and foreboding appearance but she didn't care.

She had pulled off a trick in Fluttershy's body. That had to count for something. Her jubilation was short lived as she turned and saw the massive devastation that the town was in, the chunks of rock and the stupid statue that Starlight hated for some reason standing as the only things recognizable in a landscape full of half destroyed houses and mayhem all over.

Ponies were awake now, the view from up here making them out like ants, their pastel colors being the only things that told them apart in the dust and haze of the explosion or something that had rendered a town into a crater. She could hear faint screams and she felt a pang of guilt in her chest. Only one thing was on her mind. And one unicorn in particular in that case.

"Moondancer, you planned for this to happen?"

***

Moondancer did not expect for Starlight to fully have a mental breakdown. But the pony sure was having something close to it as she became clouded with rage. The black unicorn had to say that Starlight's strategy was now completely thrown out the window.

Sad really.

Starlight's body glowed a faint crimson as her emotions overtook her, casting everything she was touching in a red glow of righteous fury. "You destroy my town I've spent years cultivating in a matter of days and you cause it to fall into a massive hole and saw that it's somehow not your stupid fault?" Starlight grit her teeth and blasted a rock that Twilight was currently behind.

Twilight rolled to the side as the boulder disintegrated under the magical force. "You attacked Canterlot. Of course I'd come and try to investigate why and anyway you seem to be using a spell I used before in order to get what you want." Twilight quickly set up a shield spell as heat blasted her again. "I didn't expect all this to happen and I'm sorry but I didn't blow up your town. As a Princess of Equestria, I don't really do that."

Starlight rolled her eyes. "Eat me. You probably had one of your five friends do it for a laugh and do some weird plausible deniability shit. I mean all the power you have as an alicorn and you haven't overthrown a nation yet? I thought you fuckers needed a kingdom to lord over or do I somehow forget about Equestrian history?" Starlight dodged Fluttershy's clumsy attempt at a punch, quietly deciding to switch targets and bringing up a magical shield of her own.

Applejack poked her head from behind a rock, deciding to get as far from the impromptu battle as possible. Not because she didn't enjoy a good tussle every now and then, but she remembered Rarity's very impassioned plea of not fighting. She rather liked being outside and being cooped up in Rarity's frou frou boutique for months on end sounded like mental torture. "Well I don't know about Equestrian history all that much, but I feel like that ain't really a good point since you took over a small town." Applejack ducked as a large boulder was tossed her way.

"You think I wanted to control a town for the hell of it? I had my reasons. And you know how expensive running a town cut off from the rest of the country is in a long term experiment? It's not bloody cheap, I'll tell you. And some stupid idiot ruined all of my research by blowing up my town and probably killing every citizen there."

Twilight groaned. "Well I don't perform that kind of experiment, but I get the feeling." Twilight reached out and thought of ways to physically incapacitate Starlight without long term damage, her mind coming up with multiple ways, but she picked one at random and cast a binding spell, the purple aura acting like ropes as it tightened itself around the unicorn, Starlight's struggling only tightening the aura around her.

Starlight's rage faltered. "I give up. You win, Twilight." Starlight spat out Twilight's name. "The lowly unicorns here just can't compete against your mighty plans." Starlight turned away, her biting sarcasm sharpening her tongue as she watched the fire spread through her town, the mix of dogs and ponies confused and painful cries on the silent wind. "I did this all for one reason and look where that got me."

Twilight looked at her friends and mouthed to them to stay back. "I know how you feel, I've lost months of my life wasting time on a project. And I bet Moondancer has lost. . ." Twilight saw Moondancer violently shaking her head no. "Well, she's lost a lot of time doing stuff like this."

Starlight looked up and let the rage leave her for a slight moment. "Well at least everything here is going to die. Too bad. If only you didn't have the diamond dogs riot, I could have given the Storm King what he wanted from me. And now. . ." Starlight paused. "I don't know. Wonder where all the palladium they mined is now. Probably the huge hole." Starlight sighed, looked up at the one cloud in the sky and laughed. "Hey Twilight, have you ever heard of the story of Somnambula?"

Twilight grimaced as she tried to keep her focus. "Every Equestrian scholar knows of the Pillars of Old Equestria."

Starlight grinned. "Then I won't have to feel bad when I say that our mutual friend here has been rather stingy with her use of the artifacts they use. Like her glowpaz stone necklace given to her by Prince Hisan. What do you think would happen if I just use it?" Starlight's horn lit up, her bag glowing with her intent as it opened with a necklace snaking its way out of it.

Moondancer tried to shift into her umbral form, shadow tentacles trying to grip onto Starlight before she could do anything stupid. Like getting away. The necklace glowed as it reflected the sunlight, the artifact amplifying a source of magic by factors of ten- Celestia's own connection to the sun used as a weapon to get out of a bad situation. Twilight dropped the spell she had been trying to hold Starlight, her need and curiosity on why the unicorn did what she did overriding her sensible action of just wrapping up her horn as well.

Starlight looked and wryly laughed. "Guess even when you try and make good help, you can't." Her horn lit up and the world turned white as she blinded everypony there. Moondancer felt a hoof on her shoulder as her senses screamed at her. Starlight's voice whispered in her ear, words echoing in Moondancer's head as there was a slight pressure in her head, images of the Crystal Empire dancing through her head as her memories reacted to the name that Starlight said.

"Sunburst."

Moondancer tried to bring up her mental defenses to keep the images within her, but the light and the sound and her stress kept her mind open like a boring book.

"Thank you." Starlight's voice echoed on the wind as she teleported away.

Twilight shook her eyes, blinking heavily as she looked around for her two friends. "Girls? Are you all okay?"

Fluttershy nodded, her polychromatic hair in her face. "I guess so. Though I wonder what she meant by what she said."

Applejack scoffed. "I'm more against the underhoofed trick she did. I mean we had her on the ropes. I think?"

Twilight looked up at the sky and shuddered as she switched her vision to see if there was anything in the air that could get Starlight from visibly angry to afraid in a matter of minutes. She scanned the sky and saw what she was probably noticing. Her fur stood on end as she noticed a massive ship being cloaked by some sort of unknown technology. "Oh Celestia. Okay while we could have done everything here far better, I feel like Starlight is the least of our priorities right now."

Applejack's eyebrows raised. "Now wait just a cottonpicking second, Starlight's the main reason we got here, how in the blazes of Tartarus is she less important now?"

Twilight just pointed to the sky as the cloaking device on Tempest's ship was lowered, bringing a massive battleship into view above an already battered town.

"That's why."

***

Tempest Shadow stared at the devastation below her, remembering the myriad times that Starlight had briefly mentioned the jewel in the Equestrian East. She looked at the town incredulously, trying to figure out what exactly had happened between then and now. Sad really. There was just so much potential in having ponies be free of cutie marks. Even if the methods were invariably flawed.

She sighed and held her face in her hooves, her horn fizzling with annoyance. "Let's get this over with. Grubber, send the order to fire on Ironhoof. The Storm King has a schedule to keep."

Grubber slightly hesitated. "Are you sure? I mean it looks like the town's been-"

Tempest shot him a look. "I know that. But he said that no matter what, we have to test out the weapon's viability. So you get on the intercom and tell the idiots to fire on the town or so help me, I'll do it myself."

Grubber stayed quiet as he picked up the microphone connected to the ship's systems. "This is Grubber speaking, to all Storm Creatures on the ship, we will be firing the cannon once this message is over." Grubber hovered his hand over the console that controlled the ship's guns and hovered over the one that he was apprehensive about testing. Closing his eyes, he pressed down on the button.

The world below lit up green as the petrification magitech laser was aimed directly at the center of Ironhoof. Tempest watched as the town slowed down, her mind imagining every living thing having problems moving as they reacted to pure arcane magic set to affect every living thing if they touched an affected creature.

The Storm King's scientists had called it a magical virus that spread through normal decency. The only problem was that pure magic had a radically short shelf life once used, minutes to an hour after it became completely inert. But the army ran on the element of surprise so hitting any town could be feasibly possible.

Tempest looked coldly on the devastation. She felt her chest burn heavy as she tried to keep the decent part of her down. Even after a decade being in the Storm Lands, she still had issues of being too forgiving. "Grubber, tell me exactly when the petrification effect is done. I'm going down there once it's safe."

"Won't that be a really bad idea?"

"We need to collect data and find the materials Starlight procured for us. Else this mission is a complete failure."

***

Dash rolled to the side as the ship opened fire, its magical beam being far too close for her comfort. She felt unwieldy as she tried to balance herself on wings unaccustomed to the strain of long term flight. She wanted to set down and relax, her yellow wings screaming at her as she flapped them as hard as she could, the new silence of the world now unsettling as the town quieted to a whisper. "I knew something had to be up. There was no way a stray thundercloud should be traveling when the situation didn't make one. Equestrian magic is too damn consistent about that."

Roxie growled as she felt the cold fire almost touch her. "Can talk later. Metal thing causing pain now."

Dash didn't want to say anything as she tried to find a good place to land now that a massive ship was in the area. She really was flying by the skin of her teeth at this since her Wonderbolt training didn't involve hypothetical live fire situations. The Wonderbolts were used for morale and sometimes some state of emergency things- like when Spike rampaged Ponyville. The Royal Guards were the ones that dealt with things like this.

She noticed a barely standing house and aiming directly at it, she let both her and her cargo down hard. It wasn't her fault exactly since she was working with unforeseen variables, but it still hurt to bounce on wood with a heavy diamond dog in tow. Shaking her pink hair out of her face, she now could see the devastation on the ground far better than any bird's eye view could. Things really hadn't changed a lot since she looked down last time- ponies and diamond dogs still horribly dead, but she soon saw what the weapon was capable of.

Because the ground was littered with lifelike statues at the point of the laser, with more coming out in concentric rings around it. But as she looked, she noticed that as she traced her eyes around the mess more and more statues were in states of semi movement, the angles of the statues being far more pained and horror stricken as living creatures became statues.

Roxie brushed herself off, a slight limp in her step from the awkward fall, and looked as well. She didn't say anything as she watched. She just stood there and watched her tribe be turned into stone.

"New plan. Same as the old plan. Let's get out of town."

Roxie just nodded, her eyes somber and grey with emotion.

***

Fluffy gripped a obsidian dagger as he scrambled across the stony ground. He had tried to dodge the walking death that was this thing that came from the sky. Old shamans said of dangers that came from the air and Fluffy had taken their warnings to heed, trusting flying things as far as her could throw them.

Which since he couldn't fly wasn't far at all.

He watched sandstone ponies, part flesh and bone, part stone, amble down the street. Their faces in agony as their insides hardened and their joints became fused together. Fluffy looked away as he realized that there might be an uncountable number of things worse than death.

He kept up his guard as he knew the stragglers of the town could still be alive somewhere, this plague spreading quickly and without restraint. It was like the end of the world as he looked around and could now no longer smell blood.

A clotting smell just disappeared on the wind.

He slunk behind a rock, carefully checking if it wasn't something her knew. He could no longer trust if the rocks were just that. With all the strange things going on, a chance of respite could be a trap. Fluffy huffed in air as he tried to stay calm.

"Uggh." A feral howl broke his concentration as he looked to the east.

Fluffy turned and saw a Diamond Dog, loping towards him, half rock, his front half frozen in metamorphic rock, barely able to stand as it stood there almost blind as rock outcrops of congealed blood exited its own eyeholes. It lumbered over and as Fluffy looked down, he decided that if he had to- obsidian should beat any type of stone it was made of now, its eyes barely recognizable as he wondered what turning to stone would do to the soul.

Fluffy huddled down and charged, bringing the dagger towards the dog's face, it's hollow eye holes staring back at him, its mouth flecking with basalt spit as it clenched its teeth. With one fell swoop, what felt like an eternity, but was only a second, Fluffy brought the dagger to hilt directly in the dog's head.

He did it. AS he was almost ready to celebrate though, the dog had one final death throw and reached out and touched Fluffy, its stone hand brushing his just briefly. With a final slump, the feral dog looked up at the sky and stood still, his body contorted into a death rattle, his teeth bared and his chest rising with an incomplete breath.

Fluffy briefly nodded and then looked down at his hand.

The hand up to the wrist was now obsidian. The fur texture still existed, but Fluffy wondered how it would feel to the touch, imagining it as sharp knives that bristled with pain. He looked back down at the feral dog and glanced at his obsidian dagger. He grimaced at the thought of what his mind knew what he had to do, but to possibly get out of this mostly intact, he had to have the heart of the warrior like every Diamond Dog and cheat death for another time.

Gripping the dagger, he began his messy work.

***

Pinkie felt the sensation of what Fluffy was doing as he did it. She shivered at the thought, her mind on autopilot as she carried Rarity away from the town, her self preservation and guilt over not saving her friends before weighing heavily on her mind. And anyway, the dog was resourceful. Pinkie hopped from safe place to safe place, her body pirouetting past the straggling horde of walking stones, her connection to Twilight providing a beacon of where to go.

Pinkie never thought she'd hate rocks. Sure, she didn't like rocks all the time, but whatever this weapon was, was completely wrong. She felt the magic of the earth cry out in pain as the light had hit it, twisting it into something that Twilight would just love to study. And while Pinkie loved her marefriend's insatiable curiosity, she didn't care for this. This was what her family would call a sundering, earth pony texts barely referencing a possible overflow of magic in an area- one that overpowered the earth's magic and just used it all at once.

There were few places that acted out of sync with the world and she felt this might become one, her parent's strange religious fear over what that could mean silently echoing in her ears.

She wondered what they had meant before of stone hearts, but whatever that ship used reminded her far too much of her father's apocalyptic warnings. Pinkie felt her hair straighten at the thought of having to talk to her parents again. She really hadn't talked to them in a very long time. Not since Pinkamena was her norm. And that was years ago.

Pinkie sighed. At least she could talk to her sisters about a visit sometime. She at least wanted to see if Maud was doing okay.

She was lost in thought as her body bounded out of danger and back into a normal world.

***

Tempest slid on her armor, her black chest plate emblazoned with the light blue Storm King symbol that she had become so very used to, she carefully connected her helmet, its massive horns curving around her. She remembered the one and only time she mentioned a costume change a brief few years ago due to how heavy and ugly it was. She remembered the bright tone the Storm King had at that moment souring. Tempest breathed in as her memory flooded back, his angry, malicious expression staring daggers into her soul. He said one sentence that had stuck with her. "The look isn't for you; it's for the things your be killing- the idea of fear is something to use."

Fear. Her greatest asset. She fired up her horn, her armor attuned to her, siphoned off a fraction of it to create a self sustaining shield that could take a few hits. It glowed blue for a second and dissipated, its mana suffusing itself to her like a comforting blanket made of metal. She quietly whispered her mantra. "I am a rock. Cold, hard, emotionless." to herself, the slight modulation in her helmet dropping her voice down an octave, its sonorous tone fitting more with stallions or the grunts of her lackeys.

She stared at the closed bay doors that could open to the outside world and nodded to Grubber, her hedgehog helper pressing the button open them as he quickly held onto the nearby straps that kept him from flying out of the airship.

The deafening sound of air entering, the woosh of excitement that she lived for, made her body drop the stress she had been wrestling with and brought clarity to her actions. She stared down at the broken town and smiled to herself as she stepped out into the air. Her inability to fly letting her drop like a stone. She had heard of there being possible spells that could technically make her fly, but that was not her style. She had given up the idea that she could be a mage worth her salt- the horn being her very own reminder of her disability. She could use magic, but it was volatile and dangerous.

Like herself. Years of training, years of working out solutions for her capabilities made her the sharpest knife in the Storm King's arsenal for a reason and that was because she would get the job done. No matter what cost.

She hit the ground like a bullet, her momentum stopping as fast as it could, her shields flickering dangerously close to critical for a moment as they took the brunt of the hit, her body instinctively rolling to cushion the rest of her fall. She breathed in, her armor filtering out any form of dangerous magic or unforeseen dust with a heavy breath. Letting it out, she quietly pulled out her tools and got to work.

The landscape of blood and gore made it feel so very much like the Storm Lands and she reveled in it.

"Now if I was some gems, where would I be?" She powered up the rudimentary gem spell she had learned in jest once in a bar's back room while drunk. She hated using long term magic like this, the constant headache even the easiest locator magic gave her wasn't usually worth it.

But the Storm King wanted a new ship. Tempest sighed as she stared down the hole and gently changed the frequency of her spell to focus in on the palladium. She breathed a sigh of both agony and relief, her teeth gritted in defiance as her brain tried to rebel against her usage of magic. The strobing pain got worse and worse as she got closer to the hole. Turning it off, she talked to Grubber through the magical communication link in her armor.

"Found it. Send down the Storm Beasts cause these ponies and Diamond Dogs aren't worth shit to us now." Stared out into the most beautiful sight she had seen in years, the ponies and Diamond Dogs frozen in wordless agony, their limbs bent in unnatural angles and the few she could see were partially alive after the laser's potency wore off were on their way out, their bodies barely conscious as their organs went through stages of organ failure as flesh and stone were antithetical to one another in one body.

It was like seeing a glimpse of what Tartarus' sculpture garden could be like.

Today was a good day.

***

The friends all straggled in one by one, each giving quiet and unsure looks of what to say. Pinkie held Twilight tight as she finally felt the Pinkie Sense feelings end, her body slumping in exhaustion as she lost all her adrenaline that had fueled her for the last few hours. Moondancer awkwardly stood in the back as she stared at the pair's emotional reunion, her face a mask of emotion as she looked back at the town she had helped destroy, her reasons for doing so now muddled and lost in the shuffle of time.

Roxie and Fluffy sat apart from the rest, Roxie bandaging Fluffy's stump of an arm with cloth Rarity had scrounged from the dresses she had brought on a whim, blood seeping through them and ruining their complex patterns and light colors with splotches of red. Rarity didn't care about that once Pinkie had shushed her.

Rarity laid her head in Applejack's lap and looked up in the sky. Applejack slowly ran her hooves through Rarity's mane, untangling the mess her purple mane had become. They just sat there in their embrace and let their tired emotions wash over them in the moment.

Dash draped a wing over Fluttershy as the six took their first collective breath in a week. As she gathered her thoughts, Dash drew ever closer to Fluttershy, almost being on top of her as she looked at Twilight for an answer. "Did we actually do anything here? I mean look at us and that town. That has to be a loss, right?"

Twilight looked down sheepishly. "I don't know." She stood there holding Pinkie. "But once we are back in Manehattan, I'm going to tell the Princesses all about this. Starlight, the town, the ship- everything." Twilight sighed. "It's not going to be a fun time." Twilight looked at the sun's shadow on the ground and groaned. "We should probably start heading out cause it'll be getting dark in a few hours."

Everyone nodded, too dazed to worry about the miles of walking they would now have to do.