The Conquering of Love

by Littlecolt

Rating: teen
Tags: Narcotics, Main 6, Romance, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Queen Chrysalis, Adventure, Sex, Profanity, Discord, Violence, Princess Celestia, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe
Length: 338410

Twilight finds she and her friends are trapped in their own minds and must escape.

Twilight Sparkle finds herself inside a cocoon in the throne room of Canterlot Palace along with her friends and many other ponies. She is thrust into a dream world by Chrysalis who is feeding on the feelings of love and friendship she and the others will experience in their alternate realities. In her dream, she finds Princess Celestia, who has been able to cross between dream worlds. Twilight and Celestia must now travel between dreams in order to awaken their friends and stop Chrysalis. However, some dreams are not as happy as they expected, and some secrets held in the subconscious may be better left unawoken.

Additional character tags: OC's, Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, Princess Luna, Nightmare Moon, Trixie, Zecora, Diamond Tiara, Snips, Flitter, Cloudchaser, Roseluck, Big Macintosh

Inspired by the fan video of an alternative ending of season 2. Click here to watch it!

Featured on Equestria Daily 9/14/2012.

Now a comic illustrated by Zoarvek! http://zoarvek.deviantart.com/gallery/48143295

"Sex" tag added on 10/12/2014 due to sexual themes here and there. It's not the focus of the story, but it's in there. For a more detailed explanation of why the tag was finally added, see the author's note on "Corruption Ch 10"

Old cover art here: http://i.imgur.com/Tgt974q.jpg
Full size: http://i.imgur.com/9uWAX.jpg

Published 2012-07-20 01:04:02 UTC
Last updated 2019-05-13 05:07:29 UTC

Twilight Sparkle Ch 1 - Worst Case Scenario

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Twilight Sparkle Ch 2 - Golden Gleam

Book One: Twilight Sparkle

Chapter Two - Golden Gleam

Twilight trotted into town and, as she had expected, not too many ponies were up and about yet this early in the morning. As she walked down the street, she greeted the ponies she did pass with a wave. Everyone seemed glad to see her, and greeted her back cheerfully. Twilight smiled, and thought how glad she was to live in this town, despite her reservations when she had first arrived with Spike. That seemed like ages ago, now.

Looking around, Twilight was again filled with the strange feeling that something good was going to happen today. The sun was beaming through the trees, the flowers were in bloom, and the grass almost seemed a more cheerful shade of green. Everything about this day just seemed perfect.

As she passed by Sugarcube Corner, Twilight caught the scent of fresh pastries being baked, and her tummy rumbled again.

Well, I think that decides it, she thought. Smells like the Cakes are up and getting ready for the day ahead! I might as well be one of their first customers.

“Knock knock!” called Twilight, as she entered the bakery. She was greeted by Mrs. Cake, who was busy at a counter folding dough onto itself and then rolling it thin.

“Twilight! So good to see you! You’re up awfully early,” said Mrs. Cake with a smile.

“Well, to be honest, I couldn’t sleep any longer. I just needed to get out early and walk around, you know?” Twilight said, approaching the case of pastries at the front counter. Donuts, cream puffs, croissants, and many other wonderful baked goods were already neatly arranged on trays. Twilight could almost taste them as she peered in.

“You know, I think everyone around here had a little bit of insomnia, Twilight. Pinkie Pie was up all night in her room upstairs. I’m not sure what she was doing, but you might want to go check on her,” Mrs. Cake said as she walked over to the front counter and washed her hooves.

“Well, I think I will. You can never tell with Pinkie Pie,” said Twilight as she glanced towards the stairs that led up to Pinkie Pie’s room above the bakery.

“What will you be having? I’ll get it all ready for you while you’re up there,” said Mrs. Cake.

“Hmmm...” pondered Twilight. Her eyes finally stopped at a certain familiarly shaped pastry. “I’ll have one of these cream horns. Make that two, I’ll bring the other home for Spike.”

“All right, you go check on Pinkie, and I’ll have them ready for you,” said Mrs. Cake.

Twilight nodded in appreciation, and headed up the stairs and down the hall. She reached the doorway to the attic of Sugarcube Corner where Pinkie Pie lived. She knocked gently on the door.

“Pinkie Pie? Are you up there?” Twilight spoke into the door and leaned down to peek through the keyhole.

“Twilight! Just the pony I needed to see! Come in!” Pinkie called from inside. The sound of stumbling and a metallic object crashing to the floor accompanied the sound of Pinkie stumbling down the steps and bumping into the door. A moment later, the door opened. Pinkie Pie smiled at Twilight and smoothed back her mane, which was crazier looking than usual, with one hoof. It wasn’t helping.

Pinkie Pie tapped her hoof on her forehead nervously and waved Twilight into the room. Twilight walked into the room, and saw that the place was in shambles. Random pieces of metal and various gemstones littered the floor in one corner. A strange contraption with flashing lights and a panel of small windows stood at the epicenter of the mess.

“Pinkie... what’s going on in here?” asked Twilight. She glanced at Pinkie’s eyes, which had dark circles under them.

“That’s not important for now, Twilight! What’s important is the colors!” yelled Pinkie, her eye twitching a bit.

“The... colors?” questioned Twilight. “Pinkie, I think you’re seeing things, you really need to get some sleep.”

“No no, Twilight, I’m fine, and I think you are too, it’s everypony else that’s the problem!” Pinkie insisted and carried on as if Twilight had any idea what she was talking about.

“Pinkie, not that it’s out of the ordinary, but you’re not making any sense. Like, more so than usual!” Twilight said. She placed the edge of her front right leg against Pinkie’s forehead, asking “Do you have a fever or something?”

“Twilight, you have to listen to me! Ever since we got back from the wedding, the colors have been all wrong!” Pinkie said as she pulled away from Twilight. “And the ponies in town! They’re all being way too nice!”

Twilight sighed.

“Pinkie Pie, you need to get some sleep! I think the changeling attack in Canterlot has just really wore us all out. And yes, everypony in town is nice, that’s normal! This is a great town full of nice ponies!” she said, and started to push Pinkie towards her bed.

“Are you sure?” asked Pinkie. “Not that the ponies in town are nice, I mean. I know they’re nice! Well, maybe not all the time! Like this one time when I ate a piece of cake that Mrs. Cake had been working on, and I just wanted to make sure it tasted okay, but she freaked out and told me I wasn’t actually helping! Can you believe that? But with the way everypony is acting now, I bet she wouldn't say anything next time. Anyway, I mean the colors and stuff! You know?”

“Yes, and now she’s worried about you because you’ve been up all night making a racket! Now get some sleep, and don’t cause any more trouble for the Cakes, okay?” said Twilight as she tucked her friend into bed. “I’ll come back and check on you later, okay?” she whispered.

“Okay, Twilight. If you say so,” said Pinkie, closing her eyes.

Twilight walked towards the door, but was stopped by Pinkie’s voice.

“Twilight... please, just pay attention when you are out there today. Really look at everything. I know it’s not like me to be like this, but I’m really, really sure about this. I’ll sleep, like you said, and maybe that’ll make everything better, but please just be careful,” said Pinkie.

“Pinkie, I’ll pay attention. For you. To whatever it is. And you’ll see, you’re just worn out. Now get some sleep,” said Twilight, as she smiled down at Pinkie.

Pinkie smiled back. “Thanks, Twilight. You’re such a great friend...” she said, and then drifted off to sleep.

“Poor thing. The stress really has her worked up,” Twilight said with a smile. She walked out of the room and quietly closed the door.

Back downstairs, Mrs. Cake had a bag ready for Twilight.

“How much do I owe you?” Twilight asked.

“Oh no, it’s thanks for calming Pinkie down. I wonder what’s gotten into the girl,” said Mrs. Cake.

“Oh! Well thank you, Mrs. Cake. It was really nothing I wouldn’t have done anyway, though. Have a nice day, now!” said Twilight as she stepped out the door and back onto the streets. Mrs. Cake smiled and waved goodbye as Twilight walked away.

Twilight levitated her cream horn from the bag and took a bite. She placed the bag from Sugarcube Corner into her own saddle bags, and then remembered the strange yellow gem she’d found.

“Time to head over to Rarity’s, I guess,” she said to herself while trotting down the path towards Carousel Boutique.

As she walked along, she bumped into Sweetie Belle, who was headed away from the Boutique with a small wagon rolling along behind her.

“Good morning, Sweetie Belle. Running an errand for Rarity?” Twilight asked.

“Hi there, Twilight!” Sweetie Belle said with a smile. “Good to see you! And yeah, I am off to get some supplies for my sister.”

Twilight laughed. “She can be quite demanding, can’t she?”

“No kidding,” said Sweetie Belle with a sigh. “She says she’s super busy and can’t get away from her work to run to the market, so she sends me!”

“Well, what’s the problem with that?,” Twilight asked. “Don’t you want to help out your big sister?”

“I guess, but I’d rather be helping...” Sweetie Belle said, pausing for a moment and then raising her face as close as she could get it to Twilight’s, a giant grin on her lips, “You!”

Twilight blinked. “Me?” she asked, perplexed. “Why’s... that?”

“Because I love you so much,” Sweetie Belle said, her eyelids lowering over her eyes. “I’d do anything for you.”

Twilight raised her eyebrows and blinked at the filly once again. “Well, I was actually on the way to see your sister, so why don’t you come see us when you’re done with that errand.”

“Well, all right,” Sweetie Belle said with a disappointed frown. “But after that, I want to help you out instead of Rarity.”

Twilight nodded. “We’ll see,” she said.

“Thanks, Twilight!” Sweetie Belle said, turning towards town. “I’ll be back really fast!”

What a cute little filly. I thought she loved helping her sister, though, Twilight thought. Was that what Pinkie meant? Sweetie was acting so strange.

When Twilight arrived at the boutique, she found Rarity busily sewing and humming a song.

“Ah, Twilight, just who I was hoping to see!” Rarity beamed.

“Really?” asked Twilight. “You were hoping to see me? What about?”

“Well...” started Rarity, “we all wore fabulous dresses at the wedding, and the designs were top notch, but after coming home last night, I started to think that maybe they were lacking a certain amount of flair, and I was going through my gems and beads, and I thought maybe–”

“Actually, Rarity, sorry to interrupt, but that’s why I came here. I found this on a bookshelf in my room and thought you may have left it there,” Twilight said, and raised the yellow gem into the air.

Rarity’s eyes lit up like the starry night sky as she caught sight of the gemstone.

“Twilight! Where did you get that? It’s simply marvelous! The cut! The color! The way it shimmers! It’s gorgeous!” said Rarity as she inched closer and closer to the stone.

“Wait, so it’s not yours?” asked Twilight, an eyebrow raised.

“Well, no, it’s not. I would certainly remember a gem like that, believe me!” said Rarity as she gazed into the gem. “Why, it’s almost like you could get lost in its warmth. A warmth like the sun itself. It’s radiant!”

Twilight had not really taken the time to look at the stone too closely, but Rarity was right. It was translucent, and the color was like that of the sun. Twilight really could feel a warmth emanating from it.

“You’re right. It makes you feel really nice,” said Twilight, gazing into the gem. Her eyelids lowered lazily as she stared into the gemstone.

The sound of the bell ringing as the door opened snapped them out of their trances. Sweetie Belle was back, her wagon in haul behind her, full of rolls of cloth and spindles of thread.

“Ah!” said Twilight with a start. “Well, I guess I should find out who it really belongs to.”

Rarity sighed “Oh, must you? You know what they say, finders keepers...”

Twilight placed the gem back into her bag. “No, Rarity, something this nice must belong to somepony. They’ll surely miss it.”

“You’re right, of course. Sorry, I got carried away,” Rarity laughed.

Twilight laughed, too, and looked around the room. “Rarity, have you been redecorating in here? I like the new color scheme,” she said as she noticed that the usual pastel hues had been contrasted with some noticeably deeper colors along the edges of the walls.

“In here?” asked Rarity. “No. It’s the same as always. I haven’t had time to do any decorating around here lately, been focused on clothes!”

“Huh, really?” asked Twilight. “I guess I just never noticed! I’ve been pretty unobservant, lately, I must admit,” she laughed.

Rarity smiled. “Well, thanks for stopping by, but I must get back to work! Busy busy!”

Sweetie Belle scoffed. “Hey, what about me? I hauled all this stuff from town for you!”

“Oh, thank you, too, Sweetie Belle. I don’t know what I would do without you!” Rarity smiled down at her sister.

“Well, then, I had better get going, I need to find out who owns this gem,” said Twilight, reaching for the shop’s front door. Sweetie Belle bounced forward, staring at Twilight expectantly.

“I can help you with it!” Sweetie Belle said with excitement. Twilight cringed, remembering how odd Sweetie Belle had been acting earlier.

“That’s okay, Sweetie Belle, you should stay and see if your sister needs any other help,” Twilight responded.

Rarity walked over to Twilight and shook her head. “No, no, Twilight, you should let the both of us help you,” she said, grinning widely.

Twilight looked back and forth between the two of them. They were both grinning and staring at her, awaiting her response. That’s just a little bit creepy, Twilight thought. Maybe Pinkie was onto something.

“Didn’t you just say you were super busy, Rarity?” Twilight asked, her eyes training towards the door and her escape from this situation.

“Never too busy to help you, Twilight!” Rarity exclaimed. “We are such good friends, after all!”

Twilight pushed the door open gently, raised a hoof up to Rarity, and shook her head. “No, that’s okay, I think I hear, um, Spike calling for me! Gotta go!” she said nervously, then darted out the door, slamming it shut. She could hear Rarity and Sweetie Belle making disappointed groans from inside as she bolted from the boutique.

What was that all about? she thought to herself as she finally slowed to a walk. In any case, I’ll try and find this gem in a book. Maybe it has something to do with what Pinkie was describing. After seeing how Rarity and Sweetie Belle were acting, I am starting to get suspicious.

She looked around, remembering that Pinkie Pie had said something about colors as well as ponies acting strangely. She looked into the sky, a radiant blue with white clouds hanging in the air. The trees were an earthy brown, their leaves lush and green. The birds in the trees, a variety of colors, chirped to each other as they looked for food. They flew overhead, flashes of red, blue, yellow, green, white, and brown. Twilight paid close attention to the colors, and began thinking that everything seemed a bit too bright. Maybe even a little bit hazy.

Huh, I’ve never noticed that before, she thought. Then again, I am a bit tired. Maybe Sweetie and Rarity were just acting normally, and I’m just cranky.

“Oh, and you know, it would be just like Pinkie Pie to suggest I pay attention to how nice ponies are and how colorful the world is. It really is great!” Twilight said with a smile.

Wow, I bet that’s what it was. That Pinkie, she wants her friends smiling even when she’s not around. I still don’t know what she was up to all night, but really looking at and appreciating the world around me and all its colors... it definitely makes me happy, Twilight thought.

She arrived at home, placed the gem on a table, and grabbed a book of rare gems and gem cuts. She flipped through the pages, trying to find a match, as Spike woke up and plodded down the stairs.

“Morning Twilight... What’s on the agenda for today?” he asked with a yawn as he walked to another table where a quill and scroll were waiting for him to make today’s list. The gem then caught his eye, and he walked slowly over to where Twilight was frantically flipping through the pages of the book.

“What’s... that?” he asked and licked his lips. “It looks... delicious!”

“Sorry, Spike, it’s not for you. Somepony left it here on a shelf, I have to find out what it is, and then maybe I will be able to find the proper owner.”

Spike gazed into the gem, his eyes narrowing.

“Twilight...” he said in a monotone voice, “Give that gem to me... please... I need it...”

Twilight turned to him, looking at his face. “What’s gotten into you, Spike? Are you awake, yet? Here, I got you a cream horn from Sugarcube Corner. I know it’s not a gem, but it’s still delicious,” she said, and levitated the pastry over to him. His eyes fixated on the gem.

“Spike? Helloooo?” said Twilight as Spike pushed the pastry to the side and began to advance towards her.

“Give me the gem,” he said with a demanding tone.

“Spike, stop that!” Twilight insisted. “You’re acting weird!”

Spike suddenly vaulted towards the gem, his eyes flying open wide, glowing white. “Give it to me!” he yelled, his voice grainy and distorted.

The gem then erupted in a flash of yellow light, and a long, white horn shot out of the gem, a beam of energy erupting from it and freezing Spike in midair. A familiar voice from the gem bellowed, “Sleep, now!”

“Spike!” Yelled Twilight, and jumped towards him.

Spike fell to the ground, unconscious. Twilight looked down at him to make sure he was okay, and then looked back up at the gem, which was floating in the air and glowing brightly. From the gem, the long white horn protruded, and in a flash, a pony Twilight definitely wasn’t expecting to see again so soon stepped forth.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight shouted, in shock.

Author's Note

Ninja edits.

Twilight Sparkle Ch 3 - Breaking Free

Book One: Twilight Sparkle

Chapter Three - Breaking Free

Twilight stood over Spike’s unconscious body, staring at Princess Celestia in disbelief.

“Twilight Sparkle, I know you must have many questions, but they will need to wait,” the princess said hastily. She walked towards the two, her eyes trained on Spike.

“Stay back!” yelled Twilight. “Are you really the princess? If so, how did you get here? And how did you put Spike to sleep?”

“Yes, sleep magic is not usually in my repertoire, very sharp of you,” Celestia said. “But in this world, things are different. We’re only limited by your suspension of disbelief, so I pray you come to grips with this quickly, lest he awakens again.”

“My what, now?” Twilight asked, confused. “What do you mean ‘this world?’”

“Twilight, I believe you were warned earlier by somepony that something is very wrong, here. Pinkie Pie has been working with me on this problem. Unknowingly, of course,” Celestia said.

“Pinkie did say something about the colors being wrong, or ponies acting strangely. I think she said they were being ‘too nice’ or something,” Twilight recalled. “But the only strange thing here is you. How did you come from out of that gem? I’m so confused.”

“Twilight, I don’t have time to mince words, so I am going to try and do this as quickly as possible,” said Celestia with a grave look on her face. She stared deeply into Twilight’s eyes. “You will have to trust me. Please.”

Twilight sat down uneasily and nodded her head.

“Tell me, Twilight Sparkle, what is the last thing you remember about last night? Try to remember,” Celestia asked.

“The wedding had ended. We left in a carriage bound for Ponyville,” said Twilight.

“Is that what actually happened, or do you just assume that is what happened?” asked the princess. “Think hard, my student. Concentrate on it. Try to remember something about that carriage. Who were you sitting next to? What was the interior like? What sort of conversation were you having with the others?”

“Well, of course that’s what actually happened. I was sitting next to Flutter... or was it Rarity?” Twilight thought aloud. “Oh come on, Princess, you can’t expect me to remember every little detail!”

“I wouldn’t expect it? From Twilight Sparkle, my number one student, who has a memory like a painting? Who can normally recall even the slightest details, no matter how important? Of course I’d expect you to remember things like this from such an important night! I’d expect no less!” said Celestia.

“You’re right... why can’t I remember?” Twilight said.

“Twilight, I said I was not going to mince words, and I meant it,” said Celestia, a serious look in her eyes. “Your memories of last night are false. Please think slowly about the events of last night, and try to remember what happened. You may feel a sensation of magical energy welling up inside you, but you must resist it. If you can not contain it, we may lose our only chance to make right what has gone wrong.”

Twilight thought back to the night of the wedding. The attack by the changelings. The battle in the streets of Canterlot. And then, she remembered darkness. A flash of lightning. Her friends strung up from the ceiling in cocoons, feeding their energy to a single point... Chysalis, the changeling queen!

Twilight’s horn began to faintly glow. Her eyes went wide. Her pupils dilated. She breathed heavily as a surge of magic began to build inside of her.

“You must resist it, Twilight!” yelled Celestia. “You must hold it back and stay with me, for if you let it go, you will be torn away from me again, and we can not afford to let that happen!”

With this, the Princess placed her horn against Twilight’s, straining, their horns alight like fire as they fought together against the flow.

“This is your own doing, Twilight! It’s a defense mechanism! You must take hold of it! Only you can do it, you have to suppress it! If I have ever needed your magical talent to shine, now is the time!” Celestia yelled as her mane ignited in white flames.

Twilight heard the princess, but fell deeper and deeper into despair. She could feel herself being torn from the world. It felt like she was waking up from a dream. In her head, images of her friends flashed around her. They were in pain, crying out for her to fight.

“I can’t!” she yelled. “It’s too much!”

“What are you talkin’ about?” Applejack’s voice rang in her ears. “You’re the Element of Magic! Just grab this thing by the horns!”

“Yeah, give me a break, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash’s voice called out. “Magic is for you what speed is for me! If I can do a Sonic Rainboom, then you should be able to beat this thing, no problem!”

“You’re a shining diamond, Twilight!” yelled Rarity. “You must do this! You must!”

“I can’t! I just can’t!” cried Twilight, tears flowing from her eyes.

Then Twilight felt a pair of hooves wrap around her. It was Fluttershy. “It’ll be alright, Twilight,” she said calmly. “We all believe in you.”

Twilight embraced her friend and clenched her teeth. “I... will not... lose!” she growled. With those words, the energy that had been flowing outward came crashing back into her with a bright flash.

Celestia fell backwards. The white flames popped into the air as they vanished one by one.

The strength left Twilight’s legs, and she fell to the ground. She panted heavily for a moment before she was able to raise her head to make sure Celestia hadn’t been hurt.

“Princess...” Twilight huffed. “Are you... all right?”

Celestia smiled. “A little bit singed, but otherwise, okay. You?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” said Twilight, regaining her composure. “So how do we get out of here?”

“It’s easier said than done, but I think our first step is to get some rest, and then go see Pinkie Pie later on when she’s awake,” said Celestia. “I’ve been working through her, somewhat. That mare has quite a strange capacity for sensing things outside of reality. Even though you may not have realized it consciously, she’s the same Pinkie Pie, even in this dream world.”

Twilight laughed. “Pinkie Pie’s brain always was on a bit of a different wavelength, it’s true.”

Celestia smiled, and then her horn began to glow. Her body shrank down, and her mane pulled up into a shorter length. Her wings shrunk and vanished into her body, and her horn shortened to standard unicorn length. Even her cutie mark morphed inward until it was a simple, small circle, resembling an orange. She now stood at roughly the same height as Twilight Sparkle. To anyone who hadn’t seen this event, she would look like a typical unicorn.

Twilight blinked. “What was that? What happened?”

Celestia laughed. “A little illusion like this, I am at least capable of. Now I will not be recognized. This will make it a little bit easier to move around, and if you-know-who can somehow peer into the dream world, she will be no wiser as to my identity. This is why we had to move quickly.”

“Oh, I get it. A disguise! I like it!” said Twilight, mischievously. “We can tell everypony you’re my cousin... um... Twilight Orange?”

Celestia smirked. “Well, maybe we need to work on the name a little bit. But for now, we should rest and regain some strength.”

“Right. This way,” said Twilight, leading the princess up the stairs and into her bedroom.

“I have another bed, here,” said Twilight, pulling down a bed from a compartment where it had been stored in the wooden wall.

Twilight pulled a set of sheets and a blanket from the closet as well, and began to make the bed. “The last time it was used, though, was when Rarity and Applejack slept over. I hope there’s no pine needles...”

“Pine needles?” asked Celestia as she lent a hoof to Twilight. The two of them pulled the oversheet tight, tucking the corners in at each end.

“Yes, well, there was a bit of an accident involving a neighboring tree and a certain overzealous pony lassoing it through the window,” said Twilight as the two finished folding the top cover down and placing a pillow at the head of the bed.

“I remember that report. I don’t remember that part, though,” Celestia said with a smirk.

Twilight blushed and laughed. “Yeah, I sort of had Spike leave that part out when he wrote the letter... Oh no! Spike!” said Twilight as she remembered that he was asleep on the floor downstairs. She quickly went and fetched him, then placed him gently in his own small bed.

Celestia was already in the guest bed when Twilight slipped under her own covers and closed her eyes. Her mind was so preoccupied with thoughts swirling around, though, she had a feeling she wasn’t going to get much sleep yet again.

“Not that any of this is even real...” Twilight said quietly to herself.

“Don’t worry, Twilight,” said Celestia, “we’ll get through this together.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to say that out loud,” said Twilight as she turned to her other side.

“It’s all right. That was quite the ordeal you just went through,” said Celestia. “Just relax.”

Twilight sighed. “Why do we even need to rest and sleep in a dream, anyway? This is ridiculous!” she said.

“Perhaps you should make it so we don’t need to rest,” said Celestia. “It is your dream, after all.”

The thought hadn’t even occurred to Twilight. “How would I even do that?” she asked.

Celestia laughed. She got up from her bed and walked over to Twilight’s bedside. She laid her head down near Twilight’s and rested her chin on her front hooves.

“I have no idea! But I know you can at least relax. Just remember, I’m here with you. You don’t have to carry the burden on your own,” said Celestia as she raised a hoof and brushed Twilight’s bangs from her eyes.

Twilight smiled. It had been years since they’d spent time together like this. Even though Celestia looked different right now, she was still the same wonderful mentor that Twilight had come to love so dearly during her time in Canterlot. Just the fact that she was there beside her made Twilight feel at ease.

“Thank you, Princess...” said Twilight as she closed her eyes and began to drift off to sleep.

Celestia smiled and closed her eyes as she fell asleep as well.

Twilight Sparkle Ch 4 - Twilight Glimmer

Book One: Twilight Sparkle

Chapter Four - Twilight Glimmer

“Twilight, wake up,” a voice called.

Twilight groggily opened her eyes and blinked. The sun shone into her eyes through the window as she lifted her head, trying to see who had awoken her.

“Princess? Is that you?” she asked, looking around. The smell of smoke filled her nostrils, and she could feel waves of heat rising upwards.

The library was on fire.

Twilight rushed down the stairs, looking for Spike and Princess Celestia as she ran. They were nowhere to be found. She swung the front door open, and in the distance, she could see Ponyville in flames, black smoke billowing into the sky.

“What’s happening?” she yelled, but no one was around to hear her. She bolted towards town, no sign of anyone to be seen. As Twilight approached the town, a dark figure emerged from the flames.

Chrysalis! Twilight thought, racing forward. The changeling queen stood with a look of smug glee on her face and laughed at Twilight as she approached.

“You’ve failed, Twilight Sparkle!” the queen bellowed. “This is just a little repayment for even thinking of resisting my power!”

Twilight looked past the queen for any sign of life. Just behind Chrysalis, lying on the ground, unmoving, was Princess Celestia. Burn marks covered her body, and her mane was streaked with blood. Twilight ran to her. The changeling queen laughed and stepped to the side to let her pass.

“Princess! How did this happen? I thought we would be safe here!” she sobbed, and knelt before Celestia. She buried her face in the princess’ mane.

Celestia opened her eyes and gazed at Twilight. “I don’t know how, but she found us. We were careless.” The princess coughed. Her voice rasped as she weakly drew breath.

“We hadn’t even done anything yet! Was it all just hopeless from the beginning?”

“Twilight... My number one student. I wish... I could have spent more time with you. You must stand tall, now, child. You must not let my end be the end of your story,” said Celestia, her breathing becoming more shallow with each word she spoke. Tears began to form around the bottoms of her eyes.

“Princess!” Twilight yelled, tears freely flowing down her cheeks. “You can’t leave me!”

“Twilight... Everyone has their time to go. Remember that... and remember me,” said Celestia. Her eyes then closed, and a single tear fell from the corner of each. Twilight closed her eyes and wept silently as her mentor slipped away from her.

“What a waste of breath!” Chrysalis said with a laugh. “Pathetic to the very end!”

Twilight rose up, tears still falling from her eyes, and glared at Chrysalis.

“You’ll pay!” Twilight screamed, charging at Chrysalis.

The changeling smiled and lowered her horn.

“Wake up!” she yelled, a sinister smile on her face.

“Wake up, Twilight Sparkle!”

Twilight awoke to find herself standing over Celestia in her room. Celestia was in her disguised form, looking up at Twilight, wide-eyed. Twilight had her pinned to the floor, her front right hoof raised and ready to strike.

“What?” Twilight finally snapped out of it. “What happened?”

“You were having a nightmare. I tried to wake you up, but you attacked me!”

“I had the most terrible dream,” said Twilight, walking away from Celestia and shaking her head.

“It’s proof that you’ve returned to reality. If you were still truly living in this dream world with your false memories, you would never have had a nightmare. The dream is crafted to avoid such things,” said Celestia as she rose back to her hooves.

“Crafted?” questioned Twilight. “How does that work?”

“I am not entirely sure, but I do know that the changeling queen has some amount of control over this world,” answered Celestia. “However, in the end, you are the one who is the real architect of this dream. Everything here is based on your own perceptions, with the exception of a few things where I believe Chrysalis is somehow pulling the strings. Whether directly or indirectly, I can not say. Nor am I sure of how she is doing it. That is one of the things we must find out.”

Twilight nodded. “I see. Well then, we should go, we need to hurry and stop her,” said Twilight. “Otherwise, that nightmare may just come true.”

“Right you are,” Celestia replied.

Twilight looked over to where Spike was sleeping. She walked to his side and looked down at him.

“Will he ever wake up? Is he even really Spike?” she asked, and placed her hoof on his forehead.

Celestia sighed and lowered her head.

“You have a good heart, Twilight. I know how much you care about him. It would be wrong to say that he isn’t really Spike, but he’s not completely Spike. This is your dream world. He’s as real as Spike is in your heart. However, I do not think that he will wake up, no.”

Twilight smiled sadly and stroked Spike’s head with her hoof.

“Don’t worry, he is not suffering,” said Celestia. “As long as you keep him in your heart, he will be happy here, and someday you will see the real Spike again.”

Twilight nodded and turned away from him. “So, what do we need to do?” she asked, burying her feelings of sadness.

“We need to go to Sugarcube Corner and see Pinkie Pie. She holds the key to our salvation, though she does not know it. Not really, anyway.”

“Then let’s go, we need to finish this as quickly as possible,” said Twilight. She looked back at Spike one more time before walking down the stairs and out the door. Celestia followed right behind her.

“So, what am I supposed to call you, now?” asked Twilight as they walked along the path.

“Ah yes, no offense, but I don’t think Twilight Orange suits me very well,” Celestia said with a laugh.

“Well, did you have anything in mind?”

“How about Twilight Glimmer?” Celestia asked. “The twilight glow happens when the sun is just starting to rise over the land, and since I am now a mere spark of my former self, I think Twilight Glimmer is fitting.”

Twilight just stared silently at Celestia.

“Is it no good?” asked Celestia, blushing.

“You’ve... really been thinking about this, haven’t you?” asked Twilight as a smirk formed on her face.

“Oh, don’t tease, Twilight!” Celestia said, bowing her head in embarrassment.

“I’m not! It’s very good! I like it! Really!” said Twilight. They both laughed. “Okay, then, Twilight Glimmer. What do we do once we get to Pinkie Pie’s?” Twilight asked.

“Shh! Someone is coming,” said Celestia. She nodded ahead of them. Two ponies could be seen approaching with some speed.

“There you are!” the first pony, Doctor Hooves, shouted as he ran towards Twilight. “We’ve been waiting for you!”

“Waiting... for me?” asked Twilight, one eyebrow cocked upwards in confusion.

“Of course!” came another voice from just behind him as Mayor Mare stepped forward. “We can’t start the celebration without you!”

“Celebration? What?” Twilight asked, still confused.

“To celebrate your victory over the changelings! It’s the talk of the town, and we’ve quickly thrown together a party to honor you girls! You saved Equestria!” said the Mayor. She glanced over to Celestia and raised an eyebrow.

“Oh my. Who’s this now? I’ve never seen you before,” she said.

“This is my cousin, Twilight Glimmer. She’s here to visit after the wedding,” said Twilight as they all began to walk towards the town square. “We were actually on our way to see Pinkie Pie, and...”

“Oh, well you’re in luck, Pinkie is already there at the town square with the others!” said Mayor Mare. Twilight grinned nervously at Celestia, who just calmly nodded her head.

When they arrived at the town square, they found a large gathering of ponies, possibly the entire population of Ponyville, encircled around a stage that had been erected. As Twilight entered the crowd, it parted to make way for her. Loud cheering erupted from the gathered ponies as she made her way toward the stage.

“We love you!” the crowd screamed. “You saved us all! You’re the heroes of Equestria!”

Twilight blushed, even though she knew this was a dream. She hadn’t really saved anyone. Twilight, Celestia, and the Mayor walked up the stairs and onto the stage. On the stage, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack waved to the crowd. Fluttershy was hiding behind the podium, peeking one eye out. Towards the back of the stage, eying everyone nervously, was Pinkie Pie. Her mane still looked more frazzled than usual as she scanned the crowd. She saw Twilight as she came up on the stage and ran over to her.

“Twilight, I’m so glad you’re here!” Pinkie said, practically bowling over Twilight.

“I’m glad you’re here, too, Pinkie. After this, we need to talk,” said Twilight.

Pinkie nodded in agreement, then glanced at Celestia.

“Who’s your friend?” said Pinkie with a suspicious tone in her voice.

“I’m her cousin, Twilight Glimmer,” answered Celestia. She smiled at Pinkie and extended her hoof.

Pinkie shook her hoof slowly, squinting her eyes.

“Okie dokie lokie...” she said nervously. “Twilight never mentioned you before, I wonder why not.” Her eyes narrowed.

“I never mentioned my brother, either, if you recall,” said Twilight with an awkward smile.

“Fair enough,” said Pinkie with a forced smile.

Mayor Mare had taken to the podium, forcing Fluttershy to relocate. She was now hiding behind Rainbow Dash, who sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Citizens of Ponyville!” the Mayor started, “We are gathered here today to honor these six brave ponies, who have once again saved all of Equestria from the clutches of evil!”

The crowd erupted with cheering, only to go silent again when the mayor raised her hoof.

“Not only have these six amazing citizens of this very town saved our Princess, Luna, from the darkness that had a grip on her, and stopped Discord from throwing all of Equestria into chaos, but now they have repelled an invasion by a changeling army!”

“We didn’t really do much!” said Applejack. “It was mostly thanks to Cadence and Shining Armor, it’s just a shame they couldn’t be here to see this here celebration!”

Mayor Mare smiled, and nodded in agreement.

“Yes, here’s to Shining Armor and Princess Cadenza, as well! But it is still true that these six ponies, presented with such overwhelming odds, faced the danger head-on! We could all do well to follow their example! Never back down! So here’s to Ponyville!”

The crowd cheered again, even louder.

“Now let the festivities begin!” yelled the mayor. Music started playing and the crowd began to disperse into groups, some dancing, others preparing tables for food, and some others just mingling and talking. Twilight slipped behind the curtains on stage, waving for Celestia and Pinkie Pie to follow her.

The three snuck out the back, down an alley, and began to head towards Sugarcube Corner.

“Whew...” said Twilight as she breathed a sigh of relief. “I thought we might not be able to get away from there.”

“We’ll have to move quickly,” said Celestia. “Our absence will surely be noticed.”

“You got that right,” said a voice from around a corner ahead of them. The three ponies jumped back as Applejack came walking into view.

“Would somepony tell me what’s going on, here?” asked Applejack, a serious expression on her face. “What are you three up to, and why’s it so important that you gotta keep it a secret from your friends?”

Oh horsefeathers, what now? Twilight thought to herself.

“Applejack, we don't have time to explain. I'm sorry,” said Twilight as she walked past Applejack. The others followed right behind her.

“Now just hold on!” said Applejack, jumping back and blocking Twilight's path. “There's somethin' fishy been goin' on around here. Who's this new pony you're with, anyway?”

“AJ, can you please just trust me?” Twilight asked impatiently.

“Not sure if I can, Twi'. I got this strange feeling in the back of my head that somethin' bad's gonna happen. I don't want you to get hurt. Why don't you come back and join the party?”

Twilight groaned in frustration. She looked to Celestia for an idea, but the princess simply shook her head.

Applejack snorted at the exchange and stomped towards Celestia, until their noses were practically touching.

“Who in the hay are you, miss?” demanded Applejack, her eyes narrowing.

“I am Twilight Sparkle's cousin, Twilight Glimmer.” said Celestia, her eyes locked onto Applejack's.

“Never heard of ya.” said Applejack as her eyes began to glow a faint green. Celestia pulled back from Applejack slowly, wide-eyed.

“Well, maybe Twilight's just been a bit too busy to mention me. I mean, we haven't seen each other in years, right Twilight?” said Celestia nervously.

Before Twilight could answer, Pinkie Pie jumped in and put a hoof over Applejack's shoulder. She shook her head and clicked her tongue in disappointment.

“Applejack, Applejack, Applejack...” said Pinkie. “You're gonna spoil all the fun!”

Applejack's eyes returned to normal, and she looked at Pinkie Pie with confusion.

“Fun?” she asked.

“Look, we're not supposed to tell anypony, it's supposed to be a surprise. I would have thought you'd understand the importance of surprises!” said Pinkie. “Remember when you threw me that surprise birthday party?”

Applejack laughed nervously. “Oh yeah. Right! Yeah, that was... somethin', wasn't it?”

“Oh yeah, definitely something! Look, just don't worry about it, you'll find out what's going on, but we just can't tell you right now, that would be a whole lot of no fun!” said Pinkie with a gleeful smile.

“Right... Gotcha,” said Applejack. “Sorry. I don't know what came over me, truth be told.” She nodded her head and tipped her hat to Celestia.

“Nice to meet ya, Glimmer. Any cousin of Twilight's is a cousin of mine,” she said. “Wait, that ain't right...”

Twilight smirked. “Okay, Applejack. Sorry about all of this. We'll see you later,” she said.

Applejack nodded and walked back towards the town square, whistling as she went. Once Applejack was out of sight, Twilight fell to the ground, worn by the stress.

“Did you see her eyes?” asked Celestia as sweat gathered on her brow. Twilight and Pinkie both nodded their heads nervously.

“I don't know what that was all about, but I'm telling you, something really weird is going on around here.” said Pinkie.

“Weirder than you know...” said Twilight as she regained her footing. “We'll explain everything once we're in your room.”

“Right,” said Pinkie. “I have to show you the Colorscope once we're there.”

“Colorscope?” asked Twilight.

“You'll see,” said Pinkie. “It all came to me in a flash when we got home from Canterlot. I don't know how or why, but I had some sort of power. Power like an Earth Pony shouldn't even have. It's been a very rough couple of days, let's say that.” Pinkie shook her head, her usual cheerful attitude very obviously affected by everything that had happened.

The three arrived at Sugarcube Corner without being noticed, and headed up to Pinkie's room. It was there that this story would truly begin.

Twilight Sparkle Ch 5 - Pink Anomaly

Book One: Twilight Sparkle

Chapter Five - Pink Anomaly

The three ponies walked into Pinkie Pie's room in Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie closed the door behind them and walked over to the corner where the device Twilight had seen earlier was still humming.

“So what, exactly, is that thing, Pinkie?” asked Twilight as she stepped slowly towards it. The machine was tall and rectangular with several different colored glass panels which could be looked through. Behind each pane of glass was a crystal held in place by what looked like jeweler's settings. Sparks would occasionally fire along the settings, illuminating the colorful crystals.

Pinkie turned to Twilight and lowered her eyes.

“This is the Colorscope. Well, actually, it's making the Colorscope... I think,” said Pinkie.

“Right, okay, but what is that, exactly?” asked Twilight, still not understanding the situation. Celestia just stood back from the two, watching quietly.

“Well, I'm not sure, actually,” said Pinkie, “I just somehow knew how to make this thing. Getting the parts was so easy, too! Downright creepy, I tell you.”

“Creepy?” asked Twilight, “Why is that? Where'd you get all the parts?”

“Mostly from the Jeweler,” said Pinkie, “and it's creepy because everypony in town is so happy to give you whatever you need for free, you just have to ask. I originally asked the Jeweler if I could borrow some things, but he insisted that I take them, and as many as I need, even gemstones.”

“That is strange,” said Twilight.

“It's because of what I mentioned earlier, Twilight. About the way things here are crafted to make you happy,” said Celestia.

“Make you happy?” asked Pinkie, “More like suspicious.”

“Right, but anyway, you got the parts, and then what happened?” asked Twilight.

“Remember when I said I had powers earlier, Twilight?” asked Pinkie, turning back towards the machine.

“Yeah, that was just a minute ago. What kind of powers?” replied Twilight.

Pinkie breathed in deeply, closed her eyes, and concentrated. From her forehead, a glow appeared, outlining the unmistakable shape of a horn. Longer than a unicorn's, and glowing a radiant shade of pink. She lowered her head and pushed the phantom horn up against one of the panels. A spark of energy arched between the horn's tip and the crystal within. Twilight just stared, dumbfounded at the Earth pony's display.

“Pinkie, how are you...” Twilight started, but was cut off by Celestia, who stepped forward.

“This is my doing. I am sorry if it took you by surprise, Pinkie Pie. You were the only one I could count on for this,” she said, her eyes trained to the ground.

Pinkie turned and smiled at Celestia. A tear started to form in her eye.

“Oh, good,” said Pinkie, “I thought something was wrong with me. I didn’t recognize you before, but why are you disguised like that, Princess?”

Celestia smiled and laughed to herself.

“I suppose it's only natural that you can recognize me since I've given you some of my powers,” she said, “So now I will tell you both what this is all about.”

The three sat down in front of the machine, and Celestia began to explain.

“There's actually one little piece of information that you still don't know, Pinkie. I am not sure how I should even begin to tell you,” said Celestia, not looking at Pinkie. Twilight could tell what the Princess was getting at. It could only be the fact that the entire world they were in, including Pinkie Pie, was just a dream. That Pinkie wasn't really Pinkie.

“Pinkie Pie, this place...” started Celestia, but Twilight interrupted.

“Pinkie Pie...” Twilight started, nervously, “You know how dear all of you are to me. You're all my very best friends, and I have a place for you all deep in my heart.”

“Yeah.” said Pinkie, swallowing hard as she sensed the grave tone of Twilight's voice.

“You know that you will always have a place in my heart. That I love you, Pinkie Pie. You make me smile, and laugh, and make every day like a celebration,” said Twilight, her voice cracking as she held back her tears.

Pinkie smiled and nodded her head slowly.

“Pinkie, this place, the people here, even you... this is all from that place in my heart. This entire world is...” Twilight said, her voice finally giving way as she began to cry.

Pinkie reached out and embraced her friend, her own tears silently falling.

“What I'm trying to say is...” said Twilight, but Pinkie's hoof pressed against her lips to stop her from saying any more.

Pinkie looked into Twilight's eyes, blinking away her tears and smiling.

“I knew things seemed strange around here,” said Pinkie. “Please, Twilight, you don't have to say any more. The fact that I'm here right now with you just means you love me that much... right?”

Twilight smiled a bittersweet smile back at her friend, and nodded her head.

“And besides!” said Pinkie, leaning back against the machine, “Once this baby is done, we'll be able to save our friends!”

Twilight smiled and wiped away her tears.

“So, how exactly does this thing help us do that?” asked Twilight.

“Well, I will tell you,” started Pinkie, pausing for a moment. Twilight leaned her head towards Pinkie, paying close attention.

“I don't know!” said Pinkie, as she struck a pose. Twilight fell forward onto the floor.

“I can explain that,” said Celestia, wiping away her own tears. She rose, walked over to the machine, and started to explain.

“The machine is making a special lens out of crystals. Specifically, a multicolored lens with each color of the rainbow. With this lens mounted into something that you can wear over your eyes, Twilight, you will be able to see the true spectrum of colors within the dream world. It is very subtle, but the colors in this world are slightly incorrect. It's a natural occurrence. Dreams should be relaxing, and the mind's eye softens everything. However, this dream world is being manipulated from outside. If we can find a spot where there are colors that are out of place, that is likely the main point of entry for the interference. It is the key to getting out of here. The lens will allow us to find a small tear in the fabric of the dream, and from that tear, we should be able to see where we must go next.”

Twilight and Pinkie Pie blinked and nodded their heads as they took in everything the Princess said.

“What then, though?” asked Twilight, “What will happen?”

“You know that Chrysalis is feeding upon the energy of our happiness and love,” said Celestia. “You saw the streams of energy in the throne room, did you not?”

Twilight nodded her head.

“What!” shouted Pinkie Pie. “Chrysalis is feeding on our love?”

Twilight and Celestia looked at Pinkie.

“I thought you understood the situation!” they both said in unison.

“Oh, yeah, kind of, I guess,” said Pinkie sheepishly. “I thought we were just in a dream world, I didn't know we were trapped in here by that changeling! Oh, she's good!”

Twilight and Celestia sighed, and then all three of them laughed as Celestia continued her explanation.

“Those streams of energy all converge before being consumed. Just as emotion can be carried within that flow of energy, so too can consciousness. From the tear in the dream, we will be able to traverse the energy flow and enter a different dream. A dream of one of the others who are imprisoned. Within that dream, we will have to find out whose dream it is, locate them, and bring their minds back to reality. This is how we will simultaneously escape from her control and finally defeat her.”

“How can we defeat her, though?” asked Twilight as she realized she hadn't considered that problem. “She was already so powerful, and she's gaining power so fast, there's no way we'll be able to stand up to her or her army!”

“This is where we actually have an advantage, Twilight,” said Celestia, a smile crossing her face. “You see, dreams are very strange. Time doesn't work the same in here. The entire time we've been in here, everything that's happened so far, has been but a matter of minutes outside of the dream. Possibly even just a matter of seconds.”

Twilight's eyes lit up in understanding.

“So she hasn't had much time to gain power at all, has she?” Twilight asked.

Celestia shook her head, but then stopped and looked into Twilight's eyes.

“When we go into the dreams of others, you must be prepared for anything. Not everyone's dreams will be as stable as yours. Also, since you awoke once for several minutes before being placed back into a new dream, the others have had much more time in their dreams. It's impossible to tell how much time may have passed for them in their dreams. I fear for Rainbow Dash, especially. Her mind likely races as fast as her body. From what I could gleam from her essence within the flow, she is pouring out energy at an alarming rate.”

Twilight stared back into Celestia's eyes silently, her mind now full of worries for Rainbow Dash, and even more worries that Chrysalis may be getting far more power than she had thought just a moment ago.

“We have to go to her first, then! We have to put an end to that before it's too late!” said Twilight, determined to minimize her friends being used like that.

Celestia shook her head. “It is impossible to know whose dream we are entering, Twilight. The only reason I was able to get to you was because you woke up, and I could sense the break in your energy flow.”

Twilight sat and sighed in frustration.

“When will the lens be ready?” asked Twilight.

“It should be ready by tonight,” said Pinkie, “I just need to go get a few more things from the Jeweler.”

Twilight laughed. “Well, from what you told me earlier, that doesn't sound like it will be hard.”

Pinkie frowned. “It's not funny, it's creepy!” she said, preparing to head back downstairs.

“We should stay here, Twilight,” said Celestia. “It would be wise to avoid any further complications from the ponies in town.”

“Why is Pinkie Pie the exception, though?” asked Twilight, still not completely understanding that problem.

“Yeah, why is that, anyway?” asked Pinkie as she slid her saddle bags onto her back.

“It's a mystery I can only hope to some day understand, you two,” said Celestia as she shrugged her shoulders. “It could be some sort of extra-sensory perception, or some sort of latent unicorn powers. Do you have any distant unicorn relatives?”

Pinkie frowned. “I have no idea,” she said. “There's a lot of things I can't remember. If I'm a part of Twilight's dream, I guess I only really know what Twilight knows, right?”

Celestia and Twilight nodded, as if Pinkie had said something quite profound.

With that, Pinkie winked at the two and walked out the door to head to the jewel shop.

The day rolled on and turned into evening. Pinkie returned without incident, her bags full of metal plates and other jewelers' items and tools. Pinkie was able to use her phantom alicorn horn to manipulate the items, and began to create a visor that would fit on Twilight's head.

Celestia and Twilight took turns feeding magic into the machine as the crystals inside slowly molded and shaved down into finely curved rectangular lenses.

Finally, the machine stopped and the panels opened, allowing the completed lenses to be removed. Pinkie carefully set each lens into the completed visor. It was a lovely piece of headgear. The edges were lined with gold, and each lens fit perfectly into the neighboring lens, forming a long, curved screen of colors. Each lens had a gold stem coming up from the top of it, all of which converged to the upper part of the visor where a gold-lined opening for Twilight's horn sat as the center of the piece.

Pinkie levitated the item in the air in front of Twilight and demonstrated how it could be folded onto itself to easily fit inside a saddle bag. Pinkie then raised another item, this one a lot smaller, with a pink gem set on the end of it. The device sat neatly in Twilight's ear.

“I don't know if this one will work, Twilight, but with these magic powers I now have, I had some sort of intuition, like I knew I could make this work. It's a way to communicate,” Pinkie said nervously.

“Communicate?” questioned Twilight.

“If I'm just a figment of your imagination, just a part of your dream, then I'm actually inside of you,” said Pinkie, a grin plastered on her face. “Pretty creepy, huh?”

Twilight laughed. “So this thing might let me keep communicating with you even when I am in another dream world?”

“Exactly! Maybe! I hope!” said Pinkie, triumphantly. “I want to help you, but I know I won't be able to go with you. This way, I can keep helping somehow!”

“Pinkie, we don't even know if this world will exist anymore once we leave it,” said Twilight, shaking her head.

“I know, but, I just can't stand it when I think of you needing my help when I can't be there for you!” said Pinkie. Her lower lip stiffened as she kept herself from crying again.

Twilight smiled and placed the communicator in her pack.

“I hope it works, Pinkie. I truly do,” said Twilight.

“Well, then,” said Celestia, “are you two ready to go? We need to find that tear as soon as possible.”

Pinkie and Twilight nodded in unison.

“Okay,” said Twilight, “Here goes.”

She slipped the Colorscope onto her head. Her horn began to glow, and the lenses lit up. She looked around the room, and her jaw gaped open.

“It's beautiful,” she said, “but just a little unnerving...”

Twilight Sparkle Ch 7 - Transference

Book One: Twilight Sparkle

Chapter Seven - Transference

Twilight felt a blast of hot air and a wave of force pushing her back. It happened so fast, the next thing she knew she was flying backwards through the air. Her ears rang and all the sound around her was muted. A few seconds later, she solidly met the ground and rolled for several more feet.

She raised her head and tried to look around, but her vision was spinning. Bright lights flickered all around her and she could feel intense heat. The smell of smoke began to permeate the air.

Fire! Twilight thought, shaking her head as she tried to get a grip on her senses. Her vision slowly started to stabilize and she looked all around her. She was outside on the lawn of Rarity’s house. Flames licked up from the floor of the boutique ahead of her. The wall opposite where the rift was had been blown to rubble, which was now lying in flames all around her.

“Princess! Pinkie!” Twilight yelled as she regained her footing. A sharp pain shot through her head as she yelled. She placed a hoof to her forehead and felt a sharp edge and the warm wetness of blood. She pulled whatever had cut into her out of her forehead. It fell to the ground and landed with a thunking sound.

“At least nothing hit my eyes...” she said, and then realized what the object was that had just lodged itself into the dirt. It was a sharp shard of a green colored lens. Twilight looked around in a panic and saw more glistening shards of the Colorscope lying strewn around her.

No time to worry about it now! she thought. She ran towards the burning building as quickly as she could.

“Princess!” she yelled as she approached. “Pinkie! Are you alright?”

A figure emerged from the flaming hole in the wall. Rainbow Dash, her mane burning in places and her face blackened with soot, stopped just outside of the boutique. She turned and reached a hoof back through the opening. She kicked, and out rolled Celestia. Her Twilight Glimmer disguise was slowly deteriorating, revealing Celestia’s true form.

“Princess!” yelled Twilight, running faster towards the two. She lowered her head and prepared to attack the changeling that was posing as Rainbow Dash. Then a familiar laugh shot out from Rainbow Dash’s mouth.

“So it was Celestia, then! This is too rich!” said Rainbow Dash, her body distorting and growing.

Twilight stopped in her tracks and fell backwards. She watched in horror as Rainbow Dash turned fully black. Her hooves extended and formed holes, and a crooked horn sprouted from her forehead. Her wings exploded in an eruption of blue feathers, revealing a pair insect-like wings underneath. The unmistakably imposing gaze of Chrysalis burned into Twilight’s eyes.

Twilight once again regained her footing and looked at the princess, whose disguise was now fully gone as well. Her face was charred along her cheeks and chin. Her mane was smoldering in several places and streaked with blood.

“This can’t be happening!” yelled Twilight as she approached the princess. The changeling queen laughed and stepped to the side to let her pass, just like in Twilight’s nightmare. The princess raised her head and looked at Twilight.

“Twilight... My faithful student. I wish...” Celestia began, but was cut off by Twilight.

“No! Stop!” Twilight yelled as tears streamed down her face. “This can’t turn into that nightmare! Please don’t leave me!”

Chrysalis laughed. “It’s too late, Twilight Sparkle! You’ve failed!” she said.

Celestia sighed and shook her head. “I’m not leaving you yet, Twilight. I just wish I’d thought to tell you how to avoid a blowback from opening that rift!”

Twilight raised her head and cocked it to one side.

“You’ve still failed! This pathetic plan of yours ends now!” Chrysalis said as she stepped towards the two of them with a sneer on her face.

“You think so?” asked Celestia, nodding her head to the fiery room behind the changeling.

Chrysalis turned her head just in time to see Pinkie Pie, her mane completely in flames, flying through the air towards her. The pink pony crashed her front hooves into the side of the changeling queen’s head and knocked her forward onto the ground. Pinkie rolled as she hit the dirt hard.

Celestia pushed herself back up onto her legs and closed the slight distance between her and the now grounded changeling. She lower her head and pressed her horn’s tip directly to the side of Chrysalis’ head.

Pinkie Pie, her mane still flaming, pulled herself over to the two of them and pinned the back of the changeling’s neck to the ground.

Chrysalis stared into Celestia’s eyes with a smug smile on her lips. “You three really are hilarious!” she laughed.

“I don’t think it’s time for you to be laughing, monster,” said Celestia as a burst of white energy erupted from the tip of her horn. The energy shot through Chrysalis, and her expression quickly changed from gleeful to angry.

“And I don’t think it’s a time for you to be getting cocky, princess!” said Chrysalis.

Celestia’s eyes narrowed. “How are you manipulating the dreams? Speak!” she yelled.

Chrysalis laughed again and dug her hooves into the dirt. Celestia pressed the tip of her horn harder against the changeling’s head, drawing a few drops of blood.

“You know what the funniest part of this whole situation is?” asked Chrysalis, not waiting for a response. “It’s that somehow you think you can call me a monster! It’s just so... poetic!”

“Princess, you can end this now! It doesn’t matter how she’s doing it if we stop her here!” yelled Twilight. Chrysalis laughed and Celestia frowned and shook her head. As the tip of Celestia’s horn moved to the side, Chrysalis leaped upwards, flinging Pinkie Pie away. She reared up on her hind legs above Celestia, who was still crouching. The changeling lowered her horn and lunged towards Celestia.

“Princess!” yelled Twilight.

Celestia pushed herself forward and lifted her head. Her horn pierced the changeling’s chest with a hollow sound. With a single fluid motion, she then rose to her hooves and tilted her head to the side. The changeling’s body dropped from her horn and hit the ground.

“Killing her here will do us no good, Twilight,” said Celestia as she walked towards Twilight. “This was merely a shadow of hers.”

The changeling’s body began to be absorbed in the dancing shadows being cast from the flaming building. Twilight stared in awe at her mentor as she approached. Her eyes were devoid of their usual kindness, and her horn was stained red.

“We have to go now, Twilight. We can only hope that Chrysalis was not able to see what just happened here.” said Celestia as she reached a hoof out to Twilight.

Twilight, a bit scared, but also determined to persevere, took the princess’ hoof and rose to her side.

“Yowch!” yelled Pinkie Pie, jumping away from the boutique and smacking her hooves against her head. “My mane’s on fire!”

“You only just noticed?” Twilight asked.

“Well, yeah! I don’t know what the Pinkie Sense for burning mane is!” said Pinkie Pie, exasperated.

Twilight managed to laugh and smile at Pinkie. Pinkie smiled back and then turned towards the burning building.

“What a mess.” said Pinkie Pie.

“We’d better hurry,” said Twilight, “I hear hoofsteps coming this way, and if the others were any indication, they’re not coming to check if we’re okay.”

Celestia nodded, and then turned to Pinkie Pie.

“You should be safe once we leave, Pinkie Pie. I hate to dash at this point, but we have to,” said Celestia.

Pinkie Pie nodded. “Don’t you worry about me!” she said with confidence.

Twilight gasped as she remembered her broken visor. “The colorscope! It was destroyed in the blast!” She flipped open her now charred saddle bags and found that the communicator that Pinkie had given her was still intact, though. She breathed a sigh of relief for having not lost everything.

“We know where the rift is, we should be able to go through it without the scope.” said Celestia as she leapt into the flames of the Carousel Boutique.

“Go on!” said Pinkie Pie, “You’ll figure out something, I know it!” She smiled and waved.

Twilight smiled back and nodded her head, then turned and jumped after the princess.

In the boutique, the heat was overwhelming. Twilight quickly bolted towards Celestia, who was already at the far wall. A perfect circle of flames sat upon the wall, evenly burning with a slight green tint. Just in front of the flaming circle stood Applejack, her face blackened from the explosion and her legs halfway revealed as changeling legs.

“You can’t stop this,” said the changeling, in Applejack’s voice. “Even the queen herself couldn’t stop it if she wanted to.”

Twilight closed her eyes tightly and her horn began to glow a violet hue as she prepared an energy blast. Celestia reached her hoof back and placed it on Twilight’s forehead.

“Just a moment, Twilight,” said Celestia as she eyed the changeling suspiciously. “Let’s not be hasty. What do you mean by that, changeling? What can’t the queen stop even if she wanted to? The dreams, or something else?”

The changeling sat down and laughed. Its disguise further dissolved, Applejack’s image flickering away like a fire going out. Soon, only Applejack’s face, hair, and hat remained. The creature shook its head and stared at the ground.

“The madness,” it said, still using Applejack’s voice. “This whole mission. She never even came up with this idea. Invade Equestria? It’s crazy...” The changeling heaved forward and coughed. Celestia placed a hoof gently on its back, her expression having returned to its normal compassionate state.

“Whose idea was it?” Celestia asked, speaking soothingly.

The changeling coughed uncontrollably. It gasped for enough breath to speak. “Don’t matter,” it managed to say between heavy breaths. “Cloudsdale team... won’t make it... we’re all dead... Even you...”

Celestia frowned at the mention of Cloudsdale. Twilight stepped forward. Even though it was a changeling, the face was still Applejack’s, and she hated seeing her friend like that.

“Why are you telling us all this?” asked Twilight. The changeling nodded its head across the room. Twilight turned and looked. Fluttershy and Rarity laid in a pile, burning. Twilight gasped at the sight.

“Maybe... seein’ that somehow brought out this pony’s honest personality...” said the changeling. “Please, leave now... so this sufferin’ ends. I don’t wanna see ‘em... burnin’ like that.”

Celestia nodded her head and walked towards the flaming circle on the wall. “Very well, changeling,” she said, “we shall do just that.”

Twilight looked back at the changeling in shock. Is this from my dream world’s Applejack? Or is this changeling really showing... compassion? thought Twilight.

The changeling laughed as it caught sight of Twilight’s expression. “Are you that surprised? We have loyalty, pony! We only lack... love...” it said as it fell forward onto the floor. “But maybe bein’ in this dream... bein’ this Applejack... seein’ this place burn, and her friends with it... made me feel... somethin’... somethin’ sad... and somethin’ inside a’ me burnin’, too...”

The changeling closed its eyes and breathed out one last time. The image of Applejack remained on its face, a smile frozen on its lips. Twilight sighed and turned back to the princess.

“Let’s go, Twilight. Follow me closely and don’t take your eyes off me. You need to keep your emotions in check, no matter what you see and feel on the other side of this rift.” said Celestia.

Twilight nodded. The princess leapt through the wall and vanished. Twilight pressed the pink-gemmed communicator firmly into her ear, and then jumped through as well. As she pressed through the wall, a bright flash of light blinded her briefly. As her eyes adjusted, she saw that she was floating in a green stream of water-like energy suspended in the air. She could see Princess Celestia just ahead of her motioning her to follow.

Twilight tried to push forward with her hooves, but gained no momentum. The energy looked like a river, but didn’t allow one to swim through it. She looked to the princess for guidance. Celestia simply tapped her horn.

Twilight shrugged. Makes sense... stream of magical energy, so move around with magic, she thought. She concentrated on the idea of her body flowing through this stream like a fish in water, and in no time at all, she was moving forward. She waved to the princess, and then turned to glance backwards. She was unprepared for what she saw.

She saw herself, but absolutely huge, and encased in a changeling cocoon. She placed her hooves over her mouth to keep herself from gasping. From behind her, she could hear the princess shushing her quietly. Twilight took a deep breath and turned back towards Celestia. She finally came alongside her.

“Concentrate on the energy all around us,” whispered Celestia. “Can you feel it?”

Twilight scrunched her face up for a moment, searching for the sensation. It came to her quickly. She was filled with an overwhelming sense of joy. The feeling nearly brought her to tears.

“Don’t let it break you down, now,” whispered Celestia. “This is the power that the changelings feed upon. This is the raw energy of love.”

“It feels wonderful,” said Twilight with a bit of sadness in her voice from the thought that Chrysalis was feeding on this energy.

“All right, the next part is going to take you a bit longer, but as we move towards the collection pool, try to visualize it,” said Celestia. “The green flow you see is just from the changeling. Once you can see the energy of love, it will be a lot easier to move around.”

Twilight tried to visualize the energy as the two floated towards a large green pool of energy in the distance, but she couldn’t quite make it out. Everything was hazy, despite the energy being so powerful.

As they entered the central collection pool, Twilight could feel herself being pulled downward. Celestia grabbed Twilight around her arm and pulled her up towards the top of the pool.

“If we ever get pulled down by that undertow, I really don’t know what would happen,” said Celestia, “but I can not imagine it would be good.”

As they reached the top, Twilight felt an enormous wave of energy crash over her. Emotions welled up inside of her. Tears began to uncontrollably fall from her eyes. Her mouth curled upward into a smile so big it hurt her cheeks. She looked at Celestia, who was also smiling, but visibly fighting to resist it.

Then a giant pulse of energy flew right through Twilight. It sent chills down her spine and filled her stomach with butterflies. She knew immediately, without any doubt in her mind, where the pulse had come from.

“Rainbow Dash,” said Twilight, “what are you doing?”

“Which way did you feel it come from?” asked Celestia. “We should aim for Rainbow Dash if at all possible. Once we enter another pony’s stream, though, we will be locked on course. It will get a little bumpy, but don’t worry, it’s fairly simple after that.”

Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated. She tried to remember everything she could about the pulse of energy, but it was just so amazingly powerful, she was having trouble pinning down a specific heading. As she thought this, another pulse hit her, and her eyes flew open.

“This way!” she said as her horn glowed and she flew upward. Celestia followed quickly.

“Here it comes,” said Celestia.

“Here what comes?” asked Twilight.

Her question was answered rather quickly as she felt herself get pulled upward, Celestia right behind her. They now accelerated at an amazing rate, flying through the air. The outline of a cocoon flew towards them so fast it was impossible to identify the pony inside of it. Twilight raised her hooves up in front of her face.

“We’re gonna hit it!” she yelled and closed her eyes tightly.

A moment later, she felt herself land softly in what felt like a stack of hay. Celestia landed gently on her hooves beside her. Twilight stood up and looked around, shaking the debris from her mane. They were surrounded by tall grass, some of it taller than Twilight. The two pushed their way through, trying to find a clearing. They eventually came out near a large tree. It was covered in thick vines. The sound of birds and other animals scattering echoed across the field as the two ponies exited the grass.

“Where are we?” asked Twilight, “It must be some place like the Everfree Forest.”

Celestia shook her head.

“No, Twilight,” said Celestia as she pulled some thick vines to the side, revealing a door in the tree’s trunk, “I’m afraid not.”

Twilight grabbed more vines and pulled them down, fully revealing the all too familiar door. This was her home, Golden Oaks Library.

“What in the world happened?” asked Twilight, as she dropped the vines onto the ground.

END OF BOOK ONE: TWILIGHT SPARKLE

TO BE CONTINUED IN BOOK TWO: OVERGROWTH

Overgrowth Ch 1 - A World Gone Mad

Book Two: Overgrowth

Chapter One - A World Gone Mad

Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia stood before the tree which housed both Golden Oaks Library and Twilight's home. Twilight pushed the door open, but then paused to look back at the princess.

“I hadn't considered this until now, but...” Twilight said, hesitating, “what if I'm inside there?”

Celestia shrugged. “I honestly don't know,” she said. “Given the state of the place, I think it's unlikely anyone is in there, though.”

Twilight sighed and pushed the door open. She stepped inside and looked around. The walls of the tree had started to grow branches inward, and the vines that were wrapped around the outside had pushed through the windows. Books and other items were scattered everywhere, but at the center of the room were neat stacks of books on and around a table, as well as a stack of paper with a rock set on top.

Twilight stepped quietly across the room towards the neatly organized work area. She recognized the organizational method instantly, since it was her own. She had done this, or rather, the Twilight of this dream world had. Twilight lifted the rock off the stack of paper, revealing written words on the top page. She read them aloud.

“‘Day forty since the Everfree Forest began to encroach on Ponyville,’” Twilight read. “Forty days? And this looks like it was written some time ago.”

“Go on,” said Celestia as she stood by Twilight's side, “continue reading. This will hopefully shed some light on what's going on, and maybe even whose dream this is.”

Twilight nodded and continued to read. “‘I fear it is safe to say that Canterlot is not going to be able to help us. We have not heard from the military since the battle in the second week, and I believe Celestia is either unable to receive the scrolls that Spike sends, or is no longer able to respond. I refuse to believe that she has abandoned us, but most of the ponies in town have given up hope or believe we have been left to die,’” she read, her voice trembling. “‘I am leaving tomorrow morning to try and reach Canterlot, as well as scout for my missing friends. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy have not been seen since they took off with a group of pegasi to try and reach Cloudsdale. I fear the worst.’”

Twilight swallowed hard as she read the last lines. “‘I will probably not make it to Canterlot, or ever be able to return home. I can't stand the thought of dying here alone without having tried, though. If you are reading this, and the forest is still advancing, then I am probably dead by now,’” she read aloud. “That's it...”

Celestia reached a hoof forward and rolled down the bottom of the page, which had become curled upward, revealing one more short paragraph.

“‘If you're reading this, and your name is Spike,’” Celestia read aloud, “‘I told you not to come here. Go back to Ponyville’s town square, Applejack will need you to be there in case the princess tries to contact them with a scroll.’”

Twilight shook her head in confusion. ‘I am probably dead by now’? she thought. I don’t understand.

“This doesn’t sound very promising,” said Celestia as she moved the top page aside to see if there was any more written on the pages underneath. “The rest of the pages are blank. We have nothing else to go on.”

“It doesn’t make any sense,” said Twilight, who had started to pace around the room. “Aren’t these dreams supposed to be happy? How could anypony be happy about this grim situation?”

“I don’t know,” replied Celestia. She closed her eyes and began to transform into Twilight Glimmer again. “Perhaps we should head towards the center of town where Applejack and the others are supposed to be.”

“That’s fine for you, Princess, but what about me?” asked Twilight. She returned to the central table and placed her hoof on the note. “We don’t even know how long ago this world’s Twilight left. For all we know, it could have been days... or weeks ago. If I show up without any information on what happened, they might all turn into changelings again, like in my dream.”

Celestia, now fully changed into her disguise, placed a hoof to her chin in thought. “That’s a good point. Arousing suspicions in these dreams can be dangerous, as we’ve found out.”

“Right, and come to think of it, that reminds me of something I’ve been wondering,” said Twilight, taking a seat in front of Celestia. “How were you able to move around in my dream? Did that gem you were hiding in have something to do with it? Could we do something like that, whatever it was?”

“Ah, yes,” said Celestia. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but that was only possible because I entered your dream while it was forming. In fact, I am not sure I could have done it in anypony else’s dream at all. Your magical energy made it possible, along with your dream’s initial haziness. I was able to spot Pinkie Pie as an anomaly and give her some power, as well as hide myself in the gem, all within the first few seconds of your dream. After that, things started progressively behaving more like reality.”

Twilight slumped forward and rested her chin on her hoof. “That is disappointing. And since this dream has been going for a while, it’s too late, I suppose.” she said with a sigh.

“Right you are,” Celestia responded. “Getting out of that gem was quite a drain on me, actually. I wasn’t even sure if I was going to make it, but as soon as my horn crested, I felt a surge of energy from you, and was able to put Spike to sleep and emerge.”

“What else can we do, then?” said Twilight, flustered. She placed her hooves to the sides of her head. “Think, think!” She shook her head back and forth, and felt her right hoof tapping against something in her ear.

“What’s that?” Twilight said, and then gasped. “Pinkie Pie! Maybe Pinkie Pie from this dream can help us just like before, if we could just find her somehow!”

“Did somepony say my name?” came a voice from Twilight’s ear. Twilight jumped up and pressed her hoof against her ear.

“Pinkie?” she said with a smile.

“Yes indeedie!” said the voice. “I guess that communicator thingie really works!”

“Amazing!” said Celestia. She pressed her ear against Twilight’s to listen in.

“Pinkie, are you all right? Did everything calm down after we left?” asked Twilight.

“A little too much,” said Pinkie Pie. “The moment you went through that hole in the wall, everything just froze. Everypony is just standing around like statues now.”

“Wow, that’s kind of... creepy,” said Twilight, cocking one eyebrow upward.

“You’re telling me!” said Pinkie Pie. “I thought it was weird before, but this is a whole new level of weird! The weirdest thing is the sky, though. It’s gone completely black, no stars or moon or anything.”

“Sounds dreary,” said Twilight. “I wish there was a way to brighten it up a bit.”

“Whoa!” came Pinkie’s voice in Twilight’s ear, along with a distant crashing noise. “Twilight! Right after you said that, the sky changed back to normal! I can hear some ponies walking around and talking outside, too!”

Celestia smiled. “It makes sense that you can control the dream somewhat, Twilight,” she said. “You’re still technically dreaming in that cocoon. Only your consciousness left, so your subconscious is still at work.”

“I guess that’s the main reason Pinkie is still there,” said Twilight. “Dream control... that would have been handy while we were there.”

“Lucidity,” said Celestia. “The ability to control your dreams is a gift that everyone has to some degree, but can not always control. It usually manifests itself in small ways as you dream.”

“Well it mani... maniwhatstit-ed in a big way in here!” said Pinkie. “I just looked out the window, and everything seems to be back to normal. Well, as normal as it was before, probably.”

“Well that’s a relief, at least. Pinkie, we’re going to try to contact the Pinkie from this dream,” said Twilight. “We hope she can help us, too.”

Pinkie began to respond, but Twilight couldn’t hear what she was saying. A loud, screeching sound from outside the library came suddenly, and the ground began to shake. Books fell from shelves and a glass pane in one of the windows shattered.

“What’s going on?” yelled Twilight. She ran towards the window to look outside.

“Twilight, wait!” shouted Celestia, and ran after her. “Look at the window above!” She tackled Twilight and pointed her head upwards. The upper window near Twilight’s bedroom was completely broken to bits, and there was a mass of writhing tentacle-like vines advancing inward.

“Is this what this dream’s Twilight meant about the Everfree Forest encroaching?” shouted Twilight as she regained her footing and backed away from the window.

“I imagine so, but we need to get out of here now!” said Celestia, pushing Twilight towards the door. The two ran towards it as fast as they could, and Celestia shot a beam of magic at it. The door blew to pieces along with a large portion of the wall. The ponies leapt through the hole and were met quickly with the field of tall grass they had landed in before. It was growing right before their eyes, each blade becoming taller and thicker.

“We’ll have to blast through!” yelled Celestia, her horn glowing with white magic. Twilight nodded her head and concentrated her power into her horn as well. They let off simultaneous blasts of purple and white, the magic cutting through the grass like a knife through a wet piece of paper.

They ran into the newly made corridor, galloping as fast as they could. They could hear the sound of plants creaking and groaning all around them, and a sound like snakes slithering and hissing off to their left.

“This way! Towards the town center! We don’t have time to worry about it!” shouted Celestia as she fired off another round of magic from her horn. Twilight followed suit, widening their path. She glanced behind them and could see the path where they had run from was already regrowing at an alarming rate.

“I’d take fighting changelings over this any time!” yelled Twilight. Ahead of her, she could make out something big moving through the grass. “Look out, something’s up ahead!”

Celestia nodded and readied her horn for another shot, but a large brown vine resembling a tree root came from the left and knocked her sideways. She fell to the ground and rolled into the tall grass. The blades of grass wrapped around her and lifted her several inches off the ground.

“Princess!” yelled Twilight, stopping and turning to assist her. She couldn’t use magic for fear of harming Celestia, so she pulled grass and vines away with her teeth and hooves, but wasn’t making very fast progress. The grass was growing back in the corridor and began to wrap itself around Twilight’s back legs.

Celestia struggled to free herself as well, but couldn’t regain her footing. She screamed with frustration and began to glow, her body erupting with light. Her true form pushed outward and tore the grass and roots from her body. She quickly extended her wings, grabbed Twilight with her front legs, and shot into the air with powerful wing beats. Soon, they were free from the field and flying far above it.

From the sky, the two of them had a new vantage point to see what was happening below. To the south, they could see the Everfree Forest, which had grown in size and taken over most of the surrounding landscape. The movement of animals from the forest could be seen everywhere. New trees had sprouted up all over, and the movement of new growth was exploding from the forest’s center. The outskirts of Ponyville had been overrun by it all, and most of the buildings were just piles of rubble and plant life.

From the direction of the town center, Twilight and Celestia heard a voice yelling over a bull horn. They both recognized it immediately as Applejack’s.

“Git those barricades repaired faster!” Applejack’s yelled. “Ready the cutters! It’s gonna hit us this time, it’s a biggun!”

Celestia made a beeline towards the sound of Applejack’s voice. For better or worse, the town square seemed like their only option now. As they approached, the sight before them was unlike anything they had seen before.

Walls of charred black wood and stone had been erected all around the square, creating a perimeter. Towers were positioned throughout the wall with lookouts standing guard. The walls themselves were lined with what appeared to be sharp metal blades. Most of them were covered in green pulp and had small chips broken off of them.

“Unicorn squad, ready!” came Applejack’s voice. “Swing!”

Twilight looked in the direction Applejack’s voice had come from. A row of unicorns stood on top of the wall, their horns glowing brightly. On the other side of the wall, a twisted mass of vines and branches were pushing quickly into the wall, but were being met by the numerous large blades being swung by the unicorns.

Suddenly, another voice came from just ahead of the two of them. “AJ! Airborn, south side!” The voice belonged to the mayor, who was standing in a guard tower, staring directly at Celestia and Twilight.

“Unicorn squad, assist south!” shouted Applejack, turning to look. A pair of unicorns broke formation from the rest and ran along the wall towards the south side.

“Wait!” yelled Twilight.

Applejack dropped her bullhorn and shook her head in disbelief. “Twilight?” she said, her eyes wide, her teeth clenched.

The mayor stared and shook her head as well. “Twilight? And the princess?” she gasped.

Celestia shot downward and landed in the courtyard just inside the southern wall. Applejack ran down a set of stairs towards them, her face full of panic.

“Guards!” Applejack yelled as she ran. “Hold them!”

“What?” yelled Twilight, as a group of ponies dressed in armor and carrying spears came from seemingly nowhere and formed a tight circle around her and Celestia. The guards pointed their weapons inwards at the two of them. Applejack approached, and one guard pulled out of formation to let her in. Twilight gasped at the sight of Applejack. Her face was dirty and her hair was pulled down over her right eye, but not enough to completely hide the fact that it was closed. A pair of long scars ran down her cheek from her eye to her jaw.

“Applejack, what’s--” Twilight started, but was cut off by Applejack.

“You two got a lot of nerve showin’ up like this,” said Applejack angrily. “You think we’re buyin’ an extreme makeover like this one?”

“What are you talking about, AJ? It’s us!” said Twilight. “Twilight and Princess Celestia!”

Applejack sighed. “Look, save the lies,” she said. “I figured the forest would eventually make its way to wherever y’all have been hiding ever since the weddin’, but you changelings aren’t welcome here.”

“Changelings? What?” said Twilight as she raised a hoof in frustration. “We’re not--”

“Hey, queen bee!” snapped Applejack as she shot a glance towards Celestia. “You better tell your dog to pipe down!”

“AJ!” yelled Twilight, her jaw dropping. “When did you get so vulgar?”

“It’s okay, Twilight,” said Celestia calmly. “We don’t need to cause any more trouble than we already are.”

Twilight sighed. “Applejack, it’s really us. How can we convince you?” she pleaded.

Applejack raised her hoof and pressed her hat down against her head. “All right. I’ll play along for now,” she said. “We can talk all about it once we got you two locked in a cell. Take ‘em away.”

The guards motioned towards a building with barred windows on the other side of the courtyard and tapped Twilight and Celestia with their spears. “Get moving,” one of the guards said calmly.

Twilight shook her head, but obeyed, walking alongside Celestia and the guards towards the apparent jail house. As she walked, she heard Applejack’s voice from behind her. “I’ll be there as soon as this attack’s over. Y’all better come up with a good story!” she yelled.

Overgrowth Ch 3 - Shining Loyalty

Book Two: Overgrowth

Chapter Three - Shining Loyalty

Rainbow Dash sped back towards the forest where she’d left Fluttershy. The forest was now ablaze and the fire was swiftly spreading like a wave across the trees. So many days of non-stop sunlight had dried everything up, so there was nothing to stop the raging blaze. As Rainbow Dash got closer to the forest, she saw a group of four adolescent dragons in the center of the patchy fire, right near where their tree had once stood. In its place stood a blackened stump and a circle of flaming debris.

Oh no! thought Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy! Where is she?

Her question was answered as she flew even closer. The dragons were gathered around in a circle, and one of them was holding Fluttershy in its claws. Fluttershy’s body and mane were black with soot and burns, and the dragons seemed to be yelling at her.

The bright gold dragon holding Fluttershy shook her as it yelled, “Just tell us why and we’ll let you go!” She squirmed in its grip and whimpered, tears streaming out of her eyes.

“I don’t know either,” sobbed Fluttershy as timidly as she could. “Please let me go.” She cringed in pain as the dragon squeezed her harder in its claws.

“You ponies control the sun! Now it’s not going down!” angrily shouted a smaller dragon with shimmering red scales. “This is an attack! That’s all it could be! The water is drying up, the plants are all shriveling, the animals are dying! What else could it be?”

“That’s right!” said an emerald green dragon. “The ponies are finally moving! I bet this one’s a spy who was sent here to watch us and send intel back to Cloudsdale! She is one of them pegasus ponies!” The dragon spat on the ground as he finished the sentence.

“A spy? No, I’m not a--” said Fluttershy, but was cut off by the dragon dropping her onto the ground. She landed roughly with a solid plop and curled into a ball as she cringed from the pain of impact. She coughed and tried to catch her breath, but did not get much of a break.

“Yeah, whatever!” yelled the dragon. It reared back and then kicked Fluttershy towards a blazing section of the forest. She sailed through the flames just as a colorful streak shot past the dragons and into the fire after her. Rainbow Dash caught Fluttershy with her forelegs and swooped up, the rising heat pushing her skyward even faster than she could do on her own.

“Rainbow Dash!” exclaimed Fluttershy in surprise, still coughing and trying to catch her breath. “You came back!”

“I saw the explosion! I couldn’t just leave you in this mess!” said Rainbow Dash with a grin. “The plan’s changed! We’re going to Cloudsdale together! I’m just gonna have to carry you!”

“It’ll slow you down too much,” said Fluttershy, raising her head to look over Rainbow’s shoulder. She spotted four dragons in flight chasing them. “and those d-d-dragons are after us!”

Rainbow Dash swung towards the lake where she and Fluttershy had bathed earlier. She made a beeline towards the waterfall at the far end.

“Hold your breath!” yelled Rainbow, tightening her grip on Fluttershy. Fluttershy shut her eyes and inhaled before closing her mouth tightly. The two of them shot through the waterfall, creating a blast of water spray. Once clear of the waterfall, Rainbow turned northward and began to increase her speed as much as she could, flying towards Cloudsdale, which sat barely visible in the distance.

“Rainbow Dash, they’re still f-f-following us!” yelled Fluttershy, shivering from being splashed with water.

“Just let them try and catch me!” shouted Rainbow Dash, pushing herself harder than before to outrun the pack of dragons. A hissing sound came from behind them, followed by a blast of fire and intense heat. Their water-soaked bodies resisted the flames and didn’t ignite. Fluttershy gasped, finally realizing why Rainbow had flown through the waterfall earlier.

“The water! Sharp thinking, Rainbow Dash!” said Fluttershy, raising her head to look back at the dragons, who were still behind them, but slowly trailing off.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Don’t get comfy just yet! We can probably only withstand one more shot like that, and we’re not even close to Cloudsdale yet!”

Another flash of heat and flames shot past them, and Fluttershy’s mane lit on fire at the ends. Fluttershy shrieked, flailing her hooves at the flapping, flaming hair. Much to her relief, the fire was quickly blown out by the whipping winds that surrounded the two pegasi. Fluttershy sighed with relief and glanced at Rainbow Dash, who was starting to look a bit panicked. She frowned and tried to think of something that might help Rainbow Dash get them away from their pursuers.

“Can you go any faster? Maybe... with a Sonic Rainboom?” asked Fluttershy hesitantly. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to hold on, or if Rainbow would be able to keep hold of her for that matter, at the speed of a Sonic Rainboom.

Rainbow Dash frowned. “I don’t know if I can do it while I am carrying you, but--” she said with doubt, but then her eyes shot open wide and a grin formed across her lips. “Fluttershy! Can you glide at all?”

Fluttershy blinked. “Maybe for a moment, but I can’t put any pressure on my left wing...”

“That’s fine! It’ll only be for a second!” yelled Rainbow, and she swooped upwards. “Do you trust me?” She looked straight into Fluttershy’s eyes as she asked, a serious look on her face.

“Yes, I do,” Fluttershy nodded, “with my life.”

“Then fly!” shouted Rainbow Dash, pushing her hooves upward and launching Fluttershy into the air. Rainbow Dash continued to climb straight up, while Fluttershy barrelled up and forward until her trajectory peaked. She opened her right wing as she felt herself hanging in air at the apex, spreading it out and falling slowly in a wide spiral.

The dragons stopped in mid-air, eyeing both ponies suspiciously and scratching their heads.

Rainbow Dash waited until she felt she’d gained enough vertical distance from the dragons and Fluttershy before going into an aerial backflip. She spun as she flipped and then began to speed downwards right toward the pack of dragons.

One of the dragons motioned towards Rainbow Dash, who was coming right at them, and laughed. “Check it out, guys! This little pony is gonna dive-bomb us!” he said, and the others erupted into fits of laughter as well.

Rainbow Dash extended her hooves forward, and a vortex of air began to spin all around her. The dragons turned to face her, opening their mouths.

“Welcome to the barbecue, my little pony!” yelled the red dragon. “You’re the main course!” With that, all four of them spewed forth their fire breath right at Rainbow Dash. The fire hit the vortex of air and spun all around, never even making contact. The dragons gasped in shock, but didn’t have much time to think about what had just happened. Rainbow Dash shot right into the dragon pack at blinding speed.

“Later, losers!” shouted Rainbow. There was a flash, a loud cracking sound, and then a circular wave of color erupted from the center of the pack of dragons. A split second later, a blast of air hit the dragons, shooting them out in different directions. Rainbow Dash fired like a cannonball from the epicenter of the colorful explosion, the force of the Sonic Rainboom accelerating her even further. She spotted Fluttershy ahead of her, and with as much care as she could manage at this speed, grabbed onto the yellow pegasus as she sped past.

Fluttershy wrapped herself around Rainbow Dash as tightly as she could, the sudden increase in speed knocking the wind out of her. She took a moment to catch her breath and then tilted her head forward. She could see the city of Cloudsdale ahead, and they were approaching at speeds she’d never experienced in her life.

“So, is this what it’s like to be you?” yelled Fluttershy as the wind whipped her hair around.

Rainbow Dash laughed. “Every day!” she yelled back.

I don’t think I could handle the excitement, Fluttershy thought to herself as she grinned and held tightly to the blue embodiment of speed that was carrying her.

As the two pegasi came closer to Cloudsdale, Rainbow Dash could see the city was not in its usual state. A solid wall of ice and frozen clouds surrounded the city with a protective glass-like icy dome towering over it. The bottom of the city, likewise, appeared to be multiple thick layers of protective ice and tundra-like frozen clouds. She’d heard of this before, but she had never actually seen it. The city was in a state of lockdown, and from the look of things, it was pretty serious.

“The city is frozen shut,” said Rainbow Dash, pointing ahead of them.

Fluttershy faced forward and shook her head. “Do you think they’ll let us in? Those dragons are sure to follow us once they regroup,” she said nervously.

A siren from the city started to sound loudly, interrupting their conversation. A voice boomed through the clouds at them. “Identify yourselves!” it called out to them. “Cloudsdale is in phase three lockdown, unauthorized parties will be treated as hostile!”

Rainbow Dash descended towards the landing platform that sat in front of two large solid gates of ice. “Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy reporting from Ponyville!” she yelled at the top of her lungs. “We’re being chased by dragons, let us in!”

“Ponyville!” said the voice in surprise. “We haven’t heard from them in weeks! What news do you have from Ponyville?”

“We don’t have time to talk about it now, though! There’s gonna be dragons coming after us soon, I could only manage to shake them for a sec!” shouted Rainbow Dash, who had now landed on the icy surface. Fluttershy managed to detach herself, but it took a bit of prying. Her mane was a tangled mess from being whipped around at high speeds.

“All right, we can talk more inside. Let them in!” shouted the voice. The gates began to part and two guards wearing royal army uniforms stepped forward and gestured for Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy to enter quickly.

As the two pegasi entered the city, they found a path before them that was lined with guards wearing heavy armor and wielding spears. In the distance, various siege weapons, including ballistae and catapults, stood at the ready. It looked as if Cloudsdale was prepared for all out war at the drop of a hat.

A large gray stallion wearing golden armor and a large helmet with a white crest on top of it galloped towards the two newcomers. He removed the helmet and eyed Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy for a moment. His mane was as white as the crest on his helmet, and his face was sharply angular. On his flank, a cutie mark resembling a white lightning bolt stood out from his dark gray coat. His eyes were pale blue, but very bright. His glare could probably melt ice, and Fluttershy shrunk away from it, hiding behind Rainbow Dash.

“I’m Radiant Thunder, captain of the Cloudsdale guard,” the pegasus said with a gruff and grainy voice, then placing his helmet on the ground in front of him. “Good to see you made it in one piece. What news from Ponyville?”

“Ponyville is under attack from the Everfree Forest itself,” said Rainbow Dash. “We need help, but it looks like you have your hooves full as it is. Have you heard anything from Canterlot?”

Radiant Thunder shook his head and sighed. “All communication with Canterlot abruptly ceased two weeks ago when the sun stopped moving. Our scouts report that Canterlot is once again surrounded by a protective shell, and we can’t find any way to enter, nor do we see any sign of life within the city. There’s just no telling what’s happened, and we’ve had very little time to investigate thanks to the dragon attacks,” he said, and then raised his head, glancing behind Rainbow and Fluttershy. “Speaking of which, get those gates closed and locked faster!”

He ran forward and assisted in pushing the heavy gates shut. He and the two guards at the gates began to raise a large metal bar to drop into place, when suddenly there was a loud smashing sound as something hit the gates from the outside.

Red claws pushed through between the doors, forcing them open again. The guards pushed harder to close the gate, but were met with a jet of flame shooting right at them from between the crack. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash jumped back in surprise, and then Rainbow ran forward to assist.

“Come on, Fluttershy! They need our help!” yelled Rainbow Dash as she slammed into the gates. The rows of guards that had been standing further back from the gates were now advancing to assist as well. Another crash came from outside, and the force of the impact pushed the gates open more. Rainbow Dash and the three guards at the gate fell backwards as sets of red and green claws pressed further into the opening. The gates began to slide open faster. The rows of guards that were originally lined up had been advancing since the gates began to push inward.

A swoop of red and green shot past. Two of the dragons that had chased Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy now stood inside the city walls. “Check it out, it’s our little pony friend from earlier!” said the red dragon. “I owe you a little payback.”

The dragons shot their fiery breath at Rainbow Dash and into the city. Rainbow and the guards jumped back, barely avoiding the blast. Fluttershy’s eyes shot back and forth in a panic, stumbling back against the flow of the advancing guards. She stared at the gates, which now swung wide open, and the other dragons who had been chasing them earlier entered. Behind them, Fluttershy could see even more dragons approaching from the distance.

What’s going on? thought Fluttershy as guards behind her loaded large ice boulders and wooden bolts into their weapons of war. Why is this happening? Why?

Radiant Thunder jumped back to his feet and charged towards the red dragon, pushing his spear into its gut. The dragon winced, but grabbed ahold of the spear and pulled it out. Radiant Thunder leapt back, and the dragon swung the spear down at the stallion, barely missing. He landed heavily upon the clouds, and then ducked to his left, avoiding a blast of flame from the dragon’s maw.

The dragons who had been approaching from the distance, which were much larger, full-grown dragons, had now reached the gates and advanced beyond them. They twisted their long necks around, surveying the situation for a moment before unleashing powerful blasts of fire. The heat was overwhelming, melting and softening the solidified ground under hoof.

“Fire!” yelled Radiant, dashing towards the back of the plaza. Several catapults and ballistae let loose their payloads. A rain of jagged, icy boulders fell onto the battlefield, crashing into the dragons that had just pushed their way into the city. The large wooden bolts from the ballistae flew through the air, impaling the dragons in the front line of attack. They continued their fiery assault uninterrupted, unshaken by the protruding projectiles.

More dragons continued to enter the city, and the guards were being pushed back towards the city center along the large main road that ran straight through Cloudsdale. The dragons that had been knocked over by the large chunks of ice had now regained their footing, and began to throw the jagged boulders back towards the pegasi.

Fluttershy, who had now backed away even further and was crouched against a building, shook as she watched the battle unfolding in front of her. She tilted her head upward just in time to see a huge boulder of ice heading right towards her. She screamed and covered her head, but was then suddenly launched to the side as Rainbow Dash crashed into her, shoving her out of harm’s way. The boulder crashed into the building, causing the front walls to collapse inward.

“Fluttershy! Get it together!” Rainbow yelled, and then turned back towards the battle, flapping her wings as she ran.

We need a better plan than just standing and fighting! We’re no match for these dragons as it is! Rainbow Dash thought as she ran. She passed a smoldering pegasus who had been clutching a spear in his last moments. She stopped just long enough to grab the weapon. I guess this will have to do for now!

“Is this our fault?” said Fluttershy as she ran as fast as she could towards the city center. “Because we came here? Because they let us in?”

The front plaza of the city was now full of dragons who had lined up and begun raining fire down on anypony that approached them. Rainbow Dash looked around in panic at the scene. Flames shot in every direction, buildings crumbled, and guards were strewn about. She gritted her teeth and then took to the sky, preparing to dive-bomb one of the dragons. As she reached the peak of her ascent, she heard Fluttershy scream again, and jerked her head back.

Fluttershy had reached the central plaza’s south end, and was greeted by more dragons who had already flown through and gathered there.

“They’re flanking us!” yelled Rainbow Dash, dropping her spear and zipping through the air towards Fluttershy. “Just run! Try to get somewhere safe!”

Fluttershy pressed her hooves to her face and fell forward, her body shaking uncontrollably from fear. Then, suddenly, something happened that no one was expecting.

Everything went silent.

The dragonfire ceased, the guards held their ground and stayed their weapons, and even the multitude of injured hushed their cries as all eyes turned toward the suddenly dark and empty sky, visible through the glass-like dome of ice above the city.

The sun, which had been in the same position in the sky for nearly two weeks, had swung down past the horizon and out of sight.

Earlier, in Ponyville...

Twilight and Celestia were locked in a small cell inside a run-down building that served as Ponyville’s jail. As someone in the adjacent cell snored, they discussed what to do next. They also wondered what had become of Rainbow Dash, whose dream they believed they were in.

“I don’t know if these dreams work the same as normal dreams,” said Celestia. “Normally, if a dream is bad enough, you’d wake up. However, since we were all forced to sleep, things could be different.”

Twilight nodded. “That makes sense, I guess,” she said. “Well I hope things aren’t going terribly for her. Still, it would be nice if she was actually here. I wonder if those two made it to Cloudsdale.”

The sound of a metal door slamming caused the two ponies to jump and stare towards the front of their cell. A familiar pink face peeked around the corner and stared at the two of them. Her mane was styled differently than usual, combed straight with a bit of a wave. Her eyes were lined on their bottoms with dark creases, and she squinted them as she stared at the captives. So much of her was different, but it was undeniably Pinkie Pie.

“How’s a pony supposed to sleep with you two blabbin’ in here?” Pinkie asked, her voice flat and a bit scratchy. “Not that I’ve slept much in the last - I don’t know - month.”

Twilight blinked with confusion. “Pinkie, were you locked up in the next cell over? What happened? Furthermore, how did you get out?” she asked.

“What happened to me?” Pinkie asked, raising her voice a bit. “What happened to me? What happened toyou, Twilight? Not to mention... her!” She flung her hooves towards Celestia.

“Pinkie, we’re--” Twilight started, but Pinkie slammed her hooves against the cell door and pushed her snout between two bars.

“You two were alive! Everypony thought...” Pinkie said, closing her eyes tightly, “Everypony thought you were gone forever! The sun stopped moving! All the water is drying up, the plants are withering... well, the ones that aren’t attacking us every day, anyway...” she sobbed, falling to her knees and shaking her head.

Celestia twisted her head towards the window in the back of the cell and stared into the sky. She hadn’t noticed it until just now, but it was definitely true. The sun was not moving. She turned back to look at Pinkie, who was now kneeling at their cell door, tears falling from her eyes. Celestia rose and walked to the door, reaching through the bars and placing her hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder. Pinkie jerked her head up, her wet eyes wide and full of anger. She slapped Celestia’s hoof away and pushed back from the bars of the cell.

“Don’t touch me!” Pinkie screamed. “Don’t act like you know what we’ve been through! You two barely have so much as a scratch on you! What have you been doing? Laughing to yourselves as the sun sits in the sky for days, and days, and days, AND DAYS, AND DAYS?” She breathed heavily, her piercing gaze burning into Celestia’s eyes.

Twilight slowly stepped forward and reached her hoof out from the cell as well. It should be okay to talk to her, right? she thought. It’s Pinkie, so maybe she’ll be able to help us once she calms down.

“Pinkie, look, it’s really complicated, but we’re here to help. Before we can help, though, we need your help,” Twilight said calmly, gazing into Pinkie’s eyes.

“If you’re here to help, then make the sun go down!” Pinkie shouted. The door at the front of the jail opened and Applejack strode in. She approached the cell slowly with a grin on her face.

“I think that sounds like a better idea than any story y’all might’ve come up with,” said Applejack, sitting down next to Pinkie and patting her on top of her head. “Calm down, now, Pinkie. Don’t waste yer rage on these two. Might just be changelings, anyway.”

Pinkie turned her head towards Applejack and made a disgusted look. “Changelings? Ewww, no wonder they look so... different.” she said.

“Different?” asked Twilight. “What’s that mean?”

Applejack shrugged. “Ya got me. I think you did a mighty fine job, myself. You really look like Twilight and the princess,” she said with a chuckle.

Celestia turned toward the window. She lifted her head and gazed into the small sliver of sky that was visible through it. “Twilight, I don’t know if this will even work,” she said, “but if it doesn’t...”

Twilight nodded. We break that spell and get the buck out of here, I guess, she thought. We’ll have to manage without Pinkie, she doesn’t seem like she’ll help us unless Princess Celestia can lower the sun.

“I’m ready,” replied Twilight, turning her head towards Pinkie. “Looks like you’ll get your wish, Pinkie. I hope...”

Please work, Celestia thought, and then closed her eyes, concentrating on the sun. Her horn began to glow with white magic. Her mind searched the unfamiliar dreamscape sky for any familiar energy. Finally, she came upon a familiar warmth, not as powerful as the actual sun, but similar enough that she was sure it was the sun of this world.

“This is pointless!” said Applejack with a frown. “What good is faking it at this point even gonna--”

Applejack had to stop mid-sentence. The sun shot down out of the sky faster than she’d ever seen before.

“Well I’ll be...” said Applejack, her voice full of awe. A moment later, Twilight’s horn began to glow as she cast a light spell. There were no candles or other light sources in the building, probably because they hadn’t been needed in so long. A purple glow illuminated the room, joined by gentle moonlight shining in through the window. Pinkie leaned back against the far cell door, her face plastered with a huge smile, laughing uncontrollably.

“All right,” said Applejack, then taking a key in mouth and pushing it into the cell’s lock. She twisted it with her hoof and pulled the door open. Smiling more gently now, she gestured for the captives to come out. “Now let’s talk about where ya’ll been.”

Meanwhile, back in Cloudsdale...

“The sun... it went down,” said one of the guards. The moon quickly rose to take the sun’s place, illuminating Cloudsdale in moonlight.

“...and there’s the moon!” said one of the dragons. “The glorious moon!”

Then, there was silence again. Everyone in the central square of Cloudsdale, packed with ponies and dragons, stared skyward, but only for a moment.

“You think this will stop us, ponies?” came a booming dragon’s voice from the south end of the plaza. “We finally strike back, and you think this will calm us? Not a chance! There will be more blood tonight!”

The rest of the dragons roared in approval, and continued to advance from north and south, corralling the pegasi into the square. Several dragons flew overhead, creating a zone where no pegasus could leave. Any who tried got shot out of the sky by dragonfire.

Rainbow Dash had reached Fluttershy by this time. She grabbed her by the foreleg and began to pull her towards a building on the outskirts of the plaza.

“Come on, Fluttershy,” whispered Rainbow Dash. “You need to get out of here! You’re gonna get hurt!”

Fluttershy continued to glance around in horror. The scene had become much scarier to her since the sun went down. It was dark, with blinding flashes of light coming when the dragons breathed fire. The bright gleam of burning ponies created spots of illuminated ground throughout the square. Fluttershy began to breathe rapidly, her eyes wide and shaking.

“Stop...” said Fluttershy, shaking loose from Rainbow’s grip. She raised her voice and yelled. “Just stop!”

The pegasus guards had set up catapults on the roof of an adjacent building and were launching large ice boulders at the dragons in the sky. One dragon was hit cleanly in the head, and began to plummet from the sky straight towards the two ponies. Rainbow Dash grabbed Fluttershy and pulled her towards a closed door. A moment later, she jumped into the door as well, breaking it down and falling into the front room of what appeared to be a store of some sort.

Seconds later, the dragon crashed down in front of the shop, its massive body crushing the front of the store. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were pushed further into the building by the force of the impact. Shattered glass and rubble fell all around them as they finally slid to a stop.

Rainbow Dash looked up and assessed the situation. The dragon’s body was the only thing holding the front of the store up at that point, having shattered several support pillars. To make matters worse, the dragon’s face was pointed right at them, it’s eyes wide and full of rage.

The dragon roared, filling the small space with a deafening sound. Rainbow Dash knew it was only a matter of time until it let loose with its breath weapon again. She looked around for Fluttershy, and located her across the room against a wall, her hooves pressed against her ears.

Then Rainbow saw something that could just get them out of this mess. Right above Fluttershy was a window. Rainbow glanced back at the dragon. It was pulling its head back, shaking the supports of the second floor above them. Rainbow knew the flames were coming, she had mere seconds to get them out of that room or they were toasted ponies.

She bolted towards Fluttershy as fast as she could, crashing into the yellow pegasus and wrapping both her forelegs around her. With all her strength, Rainbow Dash lifted Fluttershy.

“What’s going on?” asked Fluttershy in a disoriented panic. “What are you doing?”

“Sorry, no time to explain!” yelled Rainbow. “Close your eyes!” With that, Rainbow Dash threw Fluttershy right at the window. She crashed through the window, shattering it on impact, and landed on the clouds outside.

Fluttershy shook her head and looked up at the window she had just crashed through. “Rainbow Dash?” she said as she tried to stand up.

A blue hoof shot up from beneath the window, and then fire shot out from behind it, accompanied by a blast of heat and wind. The hoof, now blackened, fell back down inside the building, which was now completely ablaze.

“Rainbow Dash!” yelled Fluttershy, running towards the window. A loud crash came from her right, and the dragon that had been inside with them launched out from the front of the building and took back to the sky. The dragon's exit caused the building to shake, and it collapsed upon itself, a massive pile of burning debris left where it once stood.

Fluttershy ran towards the rubble and began to dig into it, pushing pieces of wood and stone away frantically.

“Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!” she cried over and over, shaking her head and digging as tears streamed down her face. She finally uncovered a charred blue hoof. She grabbed onto it as tightly as she could and pulled. After struggling for a moment, Rainbow Dash’s foreleg and head were pulled out from the burning rubble.

“No! No! No!” Fluttershy yelled, pulling harder to try and free her buried friend. Rainbow Dash’s eyes opened and looked up at Fluttershy. Her breathing was shallow, and bright red blood was trickling down her charred black face.

“You’re safe...” said Rainbow Dash, gasping for breath. “Now get out of here!” The blue pegasus closed her eyes, and her raspy breathing stopped.

“No...” said Fluttershy, reaching her hoof out and touching Rainbow Dash’s face. “Not you. Please, not you...” She fell to the ground, pushed her face against Rainbow Dash’s foreleg, and cried out in anguish.

The moon began to wane, as if being eclipsed. Dark clouds began to appear in the sky. The clouds spread out from Cloudsdale, moving like a wave in all directions. The land was blanketed in darkness, spreading southward over the Unicorn Range, and past the forested foothills, which were still engulfed in flame. The dark front shot over Ponyville, shortly followed by a torrential downpour. Rain fell over all of Equestria, lightning streaked across the sky, thunder cracked from all around, and the ground began to shake as if it was going to erupt like a volcano.

“What in tarnation’s goin’ on?” yelled Applejack, grabbing ahold of Pinkie Pie to steady herself and looking towards Celestia and Twilight. “Did you two do this?”

“No,” said Celestia, “This is something completely out of my control! I’m afraid of what this might mean.” She shook her head and turned to Twilight, who had a look of shock on her face.

Then, the sound of rainfall abruptly ceased. Twilight stared in disbelief at Pinkie Pie and Applejack. They stood as still as statues, Pinkie even frozen in mid-fall as she had just lost her hoofing. The color was slowly draining out of everything, leaving nothing but dull gray. Everything but Twilight and Celestia stood completely still.

The world had stopped.

Overgrowth Ch 4 - The Power of Kindness

Book Two: Overgrowth

Chapter Four - The Power of Kindness

“You’re safe...” said Rainbow Dash, gasping for breath. “Now get out of here!” The blue pegasus closed her eyes, and her raspy breathing stopped.

“No...” said Fluttershy, reaching her hoof out and touching Rainbow Dash’s face. “Not you. Please, not you...” She fell to the ground, pushed her face against Rainbow Dash’s foreleg, and cried out in anguish.

Visions of the past month flashed in Fluttershy’s mind. She saw Twilight bringing Spike to Ponyville Square and leaving to go find out what happened in Canterlot. Are youreally gone, Twilight? Forever? Fluttershy thought. It had taken almost an hour for the other Elements, including Fluttershy, to convince Rainbow Dash not to follow Twilight to the capitol. Every pegasus healthy enough to fly was needed to keep watch on the encroaching Everfree. Not even one could be spared. Is it our fault for not going? For not flying when you had to walk? My fault for not stopping you?

Fluttershy felt a chilling cold begin to spread throughout her body. She began to shiver as another vision entered her mind, this time of herself. She saw herself returning to her cottage, even though it was overrun by the Everfree Forest. She had come back to try and find Angel, who she hadn’t seen since the plants began their attack. She exited the cottage and the forest sprung to life, multitudes of sharp vines shooting straight towards her.

She was pushed out of the way by an orange streak. Applejack, who had followed her there without her knowledge, took her place as the vines hit straight on, stabbing into her body in many places.

She couldn’t move for days after that, and she lost her eye. It’s all my fault, Fluttershy thought. I’m such a burden to everyone, I can never do anything right. I cause nothing but suffering every time I try to do anything!

Fluttershy curled into a ball, still clutching Rainbow Dash’s foreleg, shaking and crying. She saw Rarity in her mind, who had secretly set off for Canterlot to try and find Twilight.

She never came back, either, Fluttershy thought, and clenched her eyes shut even tighter. I saw her go, I knew what she was doing. I could have stopped her! It’s my fault! If I could go back, I would do something!

Fluttershy forced her eyes open and looked at Rainbow Dash’s unmoving face, red blood trickling down it. Rainbow had a peaceful smile on her lips still, from the moment she knew Fluttershy was safe. She blinked and wiped away her tears. She could feel a small spark of something, she knew not what, ignite inside of her.

Now I might lose you, too? Fluttershy thought to herself. This can’t happen! I won’t let it!

She stood and looked down at her fallen friend. The cold that had taken over her began to fade away, replaced by a warm sensation. The heat came in pulses, spreading outward from her heart. A soft, yellow glow began to radiate from her, the energy filling her up until she felt it might overflow.

“What’s happening to me?” Fluttershy asked out loud. She turned her head and saw a dragon flying through the air towards her, its mouth opened, ready to breathe fire. She stared at the dragon calmly and uttered a single word.

“No.”

She spoke calmly, almost as if she was in a trance. Her voice flew from her mouth, loudly and clearly.

“Stop.”

The dragon froze in mid-air, an unmoving cone of flame erupting from its mouth.

Fluttershy took in her surroundings, combat still raging everywhere else. She couldn’t stand to see any more, and somehow knew that she could end it all.

Fluttershy stood tall, facing the ocean of movement and violence before her. Her eyes took on a pure white glow, and lightning began to fly in the cloud layers above, striking downwards with booming claps of thunder. She raised her hoof into the air and cried out, her voice reverberating across the entire city.

“Stop! Everything stop!”

Everything stopped. The pigment began to drain out of everything, leaving only Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash as a shining spot of in the middle of a sea of gray.

Fluttershy turned back to Rainbow Dash and ran her hoof gently across her friend’s cheek. “No, not you,” she said quietly as waving golden streams of magical energy flowed from her hoof, enveloping Rainbow Dash’s body. Dash’s eyes shot open, and she gasped for breath, but then became still like everything else. Her charred body returned to its normal blue color, and the trails of blood evaporated into thin air.

“You’ll be all right, now,” said Fluttershy, smiling down at Rainbow. She then lifted her hoof upward, and the rubble that had been piled on top of Rainbow Dash flew into the air. With another swift motion, the building re-formed as if nothing had ever happened to it.

From the single point of color in the city, streaks of golden magic flowed outward in sharp bursts. Everything they touched became whole again, though still frozen in time. Fluttershy didn’t understand how she could perform such feats, but she knew she could, and continued.

The dragon invaders were ejected from Cloudsdale with a single swing of Fluttershy’s hoof. They vanished into thin air.

Go back home, Fluttershy thought. You shouldn’t have to suffer either, you were just angry. It happens to everyone. She smiled, her eyes now glowing brightly, as she looked around at a perfectly restored Cloudsdale, no sign of a battle having taken place remaining.

“If I can do all this,” Fluttershy said to herself, “then I’ll find my friends, too. Twilight, where are you?” She closed her eyes and pictured Twilight. She began to see an image of Twilight and Celestia in a dark, colorless building in Ponyville. The two of them were looking around in confusion. Across from them stood Applejack and Pinkie Pie, both frozen in place.

Take me there, Fluttershy thought, and then she felt the force of gravity begin to vanish from all around her. She opened her eyes and had to blink to make sure she wasn’t seeing things.

The clouds, ground beneath them, and everything as far as she could see, had begun to sink downward into a black crevice. She could feel reality itself folding downward and inward, curling in on itself. She could feel herself and her surroundings flying through the air at speeds even Rainbow Dash couldn’t have matched during their earlier flight. She soon caught sight of Ponyville itself approaching Cloudsdale.

Just seconds earlier, in Ponyville, Twilight and Celestia began to feel themselves move and accelerate. The walls of the jail house fell out from all around them, and they could see Cloudsdale looming on the horizon, approaching with great speed.

“What’s happening?” yelled Twilight, looking up at Celestia. The princess just smiled and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness,” said Celestia. “I was afraid we’d lost our dreamer. Instead, they have awakened their power. Their Lucidity.”

Twilight gazed at Cloudsdale as it came nearer. “Lucidity is capable of all this?” she asked with awe.

“And more,” said Celestia. “But for all of this, something profound must have occurred.”

With a flash, everything stood still once more. Twilight and Celestia found themselves face to face with Fluttershy, who was standing on a cloud. More correctly, the ground turned into clouds just a few feet in front of them. Cloudsdale had merged with the ground as naturally as if they had always been joined from the beginning.

Twilight blinked. “Fluttershy... you’re the dreamer?” she said, her voice raising with a bit of shock.

“Dreamer?” asked Fluttershy, not sure what to make of the question.

“But we flew right into that surge of energy!” said Twilight, turning her head towards Celestia.

“Now is not the time to worry about those details, Twilight Sparkle,” said Celestia as she trotted across the threshold onto the clouds. She looked down at Rainbow Dash, who was lying as still as a statue on the ground. She could sense Fluttershy’s energy flowing through Dash’s body.

“Fluttershy,” said the princess, “We need your help. We need everypony’s help. I know this is going to be difficult, but you have to believe what I am about to tell you. Surely what you have just done will lend credence to my words. This is all a dream.”

Fluttershy stared blankly at Celestia for a moment, and then smiled widely. “Oh, thank goodness,” she said with relief, her eyes relaxing. “You have no idea what I’ve been through. It was just awful.”

Now it was Celestia’s turn to blink. “Huh,” she pondered, “must be an effect of the Lucidity. I was expecting more of an outburst such as what happened with you, Twilight.”

“Outburst?” said Fluttershy. “Oh no, that doesn’t sound very nice. I think this way is much better.” She smiled again, and the colors began to return to everything around them.

“There’s more, though, Fluttershy,” said Twilight. “We’re all asleep. The princess and I found a way to travel between dreams. We’ve come here to tell you that the changeling queen, Chrysalis, was actually victorious the night of the wedding. We’re all trapped inside cocoons in Canterlot Palace, and she’s using magic to feed on the power of our love.”

Fluttershy began to shake again, the world lightly rumbling along with her. Her mouth gaped open, but she couldn’t produce any words.

“Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have broke it to you so bluntly,” said Twilight, reaching a hoof out and placing it on Fluttershy’s shoulder, “but we just don’t have time. We have to free everyone from their dreams so we can stop her. We need you, Fluttershy.”

The ground began to shake more violently, and Twilight pulled Fluttershy towards her and onto solid ground. She hugged her friend and closed her eyes.

While Twilight and Celestia were focused on calming down Fluttershy, they failed to notice that Pinkie Pie had begun to slowly slouch downward. A loud cracking sound came from deep underground, and with that noise, Pinkie’s ears twitched, her eyes blinked, and she fell back into reality. She was free from the stasis that had been placed on everything else in the world.

Pinkie looked up at Applejack, who was frozen in mid-stumble above her. Her eyes narrowed and she tilted her head towards Twilight and the others. Her hoof clapped quickly over her mouth as she caught sight of Fluttershy being cradled in Twilight’s arms, Celestia standing behind them and looking down at the shaking yellow pegasus. Cloudsdale stretched out behind them, now just another part of the landscape.

Okay, maybe they aren’t changelings, but they’re definitely up to something! Pinkie thought to herself, trying to sit as still as possible.

“Fluttershy, if we’re going to save everypony, we need all of the Elements of Harmony,” said Celestia. “You have bravely stood by your friends many times in the past, and now we need you again.”

Fluttershy looked up at Princess Celestia and managed to speak, her voice shaking. “B-b-b-but I’ll just get in the w-w-way,” she stuttered. “Y-y-you should c-come back for me later.”

Twilight shook her head. “Maybe if you were having a good dream,” she said, “but we can’t just leave you in this nightmare!”

Dream? Nightmare? Pinkie thought. What’s that mean? This is... a dream?

Pinkie looked down at her hooves. Their pink color began to waver and shake, bleeding away and then back in. Past her hooves, she could see the ground beneath her doing the same thing. She looked up at the three ponies across from her, and immediately noticed a glow coming from Twilight and Celestia.

There’s definitely something weird about those two. Or maybe there’s something else behind this! Pinkie thought. Her gaze locked onto the pink gem sticking out of Twilight’s ear. The light around it almost seemed to pull inward towards it. Somehow, Pinkie knew she had to get it. Something deep inside her burned furiously. That gem! That’s gotta be the key to everything!

“I can’t, Twilight, I’m sorry, I just can’t face those monsters again!” Fluttershy cried, and looked over her shoulder towards Rainbow Dash. A tear fell from her eye, and her voice wavered quietly. “I couldn’t stand to lose any of you again.”

Twilight sighed and shook her head. She placed her hoof under Fluttershy’s chin and pulled her face upward. “Fluttershy, we all feel the same way. We’re all scared of what might happen,” she said, looking into Fluttershy’s eyes. “I don’t want to lose anypony either, but if we do nothing, then the changeling queen wins, and all of Equestria loses.”

Fluttershy felt that same energy rising from inside her once again as she thought of all her friends, all of Equestria, falling under the control of Chrysalis. She felt the same bravery rising up as before, and though she was unsure if she could hold on to the feeling, she knew she had to for now. There was really no other choice. She stood up and wiped away her tears, Twilight standing back up with her. The ground was finally still again, and Fluttershy stood firmly on all four hooves.

“Alright, Twilight. We have to save our friends,” Fluttershy decided. “What do we have to do?”

Celestia stepped back onto solid ground, taking position to Twilight’s side, and faced Fluttershy. Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie grasped her mouth shut even tighter than before, her eyes shaking with anger at the mention of the changeling queen.

She’s involved, too? Now I’m triple confused! thought Pinkie. She stared at the somehow familiar pink gem in Twilight’s ear, her eyes drawn to it seemingly beyond her control, her legs begging her to allow them to vault forward and take it. I need that gem! Somehow, I know everything is hinging on it! I can’t just let them know I’m onto them, though. They must think I’m a stiff like AJ, there.

“The power you have grasped is called Lucidity,” said Celestia. “It allows you to control this world as you see fit. We need you to use it to find a way out of this dream. We had a way to find the exit, but it was destroyed in Twilight’s dream.”

“I used the strange power to find you two, so maybe I can do it. I’ll give it a try!” Fluttershy replied. She closed her eyes and concentrated. “What am I supposed to look for, though?”

“This world is all in your mind. It should all feel the same as far as whether or not you can change it, just like you changed it to meet us here,” said Celestia. “Try to find something out of place. Something you can’t control.”

Fluttershy’s mind immediately locked onto the wildly growing Everfree Forest. Her vision zoomed quickly along expanses of surging vines and roots, zipping past trees and scattering animals, until finally she saw it - a pulsating, heart-like mass of vegetation, from which all of the forest’s growth originated.

“It’s there... at the center of the Everfree Forest. In the castle where we found the Elements of Harmony,” said Fluttershy, her voice shaking. “Something is making the forest grow. I can’t stop it, and I don’t know what it is. The colors are all messed up, or something... I don’t know. Everything looks too real, if that makes sense...”

“The Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters? So it’s there!” exclaimed Twilight. “Just like Rarity’s boutique in my dream! The colors looked out place. We have to go there!”

Fluttershy opened her eyes, her focus shifting as a pink flash shot up into the air from behind Twilight. “Pinkie Pie?” she yelled, startled by what she saw.

“What?” asked Twilight just before being tackled by Pinkie Pie and pinned with her back to the ground. Pinkie’s hoof slid past Twilight’s ear, knocking the communicator onto the ground.

“I couldn’t sit still any longer!” yelled Pinkie, her eyes full of madness as she lunged her hooves towards the pink item she so desperately desired.

“Stop her!” yelled Celestia, ducking to try and intercept the communicator before Pinkie could reach it.

The clouds began to spin and deform, spreading out towards the place where Fluttershy was standing. They wrapped around her and began to pull her back into Cloudsdale. The ground and clouds began to separate with a loud rumble.

“What? No!” yelled Fluttershy, unable to resist the clouds despite her flapping of wings and flailing of hooves.

Cloudsdale began to fly away from Ponyville, taking Fluttershy with it. Fluttershy called out as she was pulled away. “I can’t control it!”

Celestia and Twilight were too busy with Pinkie Pie to respond with anything more than Twilight crying out, “Fly back as fast as you can!”

Twilight pushed her hoof against Pinkie’s face. “Snap out of it!” she yelled. Pinkie stared angrily at Twilight, her frizzy hair straightening and falling as she raised her hoof. The hoof swung down, bashing Twilight across the jaw and slamming her head to the side. She was taken by surprise at not only the sudden attack, but also Pinkie’s strength.

Celestia lunged at Pinkie, grabbing her by the shoulders and pulling her off of Twilight. Pinkie slipped downward and out of Celestia’s grasp, though, then dove across the floor at the gem.

Celestia’s horn glowed as she swung it towards Pinkie, stopping her in her tracks, but not before Pinkie could grab the gem with both hooves. Celestia levitated Pinkie into the air and gave her a good shake. The gem flew from Pinkie’s grasp and slide across the floor as the walls to the jailhouse shot back up from the ground, reforming the cells and hallway around them.

The gem skidded to a stop right at Applejack’s hooves, just in time for her to unfreeze and look around. A look of confusion quickly formed on her face. “What in the name of all things gravy is goin’ on in here?” she asked.

Celestia was holding Pinkie Pie in mid-air, Twilight was laid out on the ground with blood seeping from the corner of her mouth, and Pinkie Pie was flailing her forelegs in Applejack’s direction. Applejack followed Pinkie’s stare downward to the pink gem lying at her hooves. She slid her right front hoof towards it, intending to pick it up.

“Don’t touch that!” yelled all three of the other ponies in the room.

“Why not?” asked Applejack, her one eye now glowing green.

“It’s mine!” yelled Pinkie, continuing to flail her hooves in the air. The gem began to glow brightly in reaction to Pinkie’s words, and shot from Applejack’s grasp towards Pinkie. The dangling pony clutched the gem tightly as soon as it was within reach.

Was that levitation? thought Twilight. How is that possible?

“Pinkie Pie!” yelled Celestia. “You have no idea what you are doing!”

“Save it, your highness!” yelled Pinkie. “I don’t know what you’re up to, but I know this whole mess is all Fluttershy’s fault!”

“Fluttershy?” asked Applejack, standing back up and dusting herself off. “You finally gone and flipped completely? Fluttershy’s been gone fer weeks!”

“Yeah sure,” said Pinkie, sneering at Applejack, whose eye continued to glow a bright green, “maybe so she doesn’t have to live in this mess of a town she’s made!”

“Pinkie, stop!” said Twilight, staring nervously at Applejack’s single glowing eye. “We’ll explain everything, but you have to stop this right now!”

Pinkie turned her head and glared at Twilight. “Not happening, Twilight! I can’t trust you two! That goes for you, too, AJ!” she yelled as she lifted the pink gem to her ear. “I don’t understand what’s going on, or why, or anything anymore! All I know... is this!”

Pinkie slapped the gemstone device into her ear. Pink sparks began to arc between her ears, and the surface of the gem glowed even brighter. A sudden snap of energy shot out from her, breaking Celestia’s levitation. Pinkie remained afloat in the air, her eyes glazed over and glowing white.

Applejack hissed, her eye flashing brightly, and dove at Pinkie. She was met by two beams of white energy firing from Pinkie’s eyes, and was knocked backwards against the far wall. She fell to the ground, unconscious.

“Pinkie! Stop!” Twilight yelled. She took a moment to wipe the blood from her mouth as she rose back to her hooves.

“Connected? No, it’s too soon!” Pinkie shouted in response. She clenched her eyes and pressed her hooves against the sides of her head.

“Pinkie, what are you...” asked Twilight, taking a few steps towards the pink pony, who was now clasping her head in pain.

“Stay away!” Pinkie screamed. Her eyes went wide, shaking with fear as the gem in her ear continued to pulse with pink light. “Who’s there? You can’t control me! I won’t let you!”

A white beam of energy shot from Pinkie’s forehead to Twilight’s horn. Twilight cried out, her eyes becoming wide and illuminated. They both fell to the ground, the energy still arcing between their heads.

Celestia stood over them and shook her head. She glanced over at Applejack, who was still passed out as well.

“We don’t need anyone coming in and seeing this,” the princess decided. She pointed her horn toward the door at the front of the jail house, snapping the deadbolt on it closed. Turning back to the two unconscious ponies on the ground, she pointed her horn towards them and placed it in the path of the beam. With a crackle, her horn was forced out of the stream of magic.

Celestia frowned. “I can’t help you, Twilight,” she said quietly, looking at the pained expression on her student’s face. “Whatever is going on, you will have to get through it quickly. We don’t have much time.”

Overgrowth Ch 5 - Blame

Book Two: Overgrowth

Chapter Five - Blame

“Fluttershy! Wake up!”

Fluttershy opened her eyes groggily and was met by Rainbow Dash’s face staring down at her, her eyebrows lowered impatiently.

“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy exclaimed, throwing her forelegs up and around the blue pegasus’ neck. She’d never been so glad to see her looking so irritated before. “I’m so glad you’re okay!”

Rainbow Dash blinked and chuckled nervously. “Okay? What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, pushing Fluttershy back down gently and looking into her eyes, hers now full of confusion. Fluttershy was on the verge of tears just from seeing her. “Were you having a bad dream or something?”

“Bad dream?” asked Fluttershy, suddenly remembering what Twilight and Celestia had told her. She felt a cold shiver run down her spine as visions of the changeling queen entered her mind. She quickly shot to her hooves, looking around nervously. She was back in Cloudsdale, and the city showed no sign of a battle having happened. Whatever she’d done with that strange power, it had nullified everything that happened.

Fluttershy turned her head back to Rainbow Dash and nodded. “Yes, a bad dream, and it’s not over yet,” she said, turning towards the front of the city and galloping along the clouds. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow and ran after her.

“Fluttershy, hold on!” yelled Rainbow. “We came here to see if Cloudsdale’s guards could come help Ponyville, but something’s not right! The city’s in full lockdown, plus I can’t remember anything that happened after we left!”

Rainbow Dash caught up to Fluttershy and grabbed her shoulder, pulling her to a stop. Fluttershy averted her gaze downward.

“You know what happened, don’t you?” asked Rainbow Dash, softening her tone a bit. “Just tell me... What happened?”

“It was terrible,” said Fluttershy quietly. “The worst thing I can imagine, but somehow, I was able to...” She stopped herself. She knew she couldn’t tell Rainbow Dash the truth. She couldn’t tell her that this was all a bad dream, and that she’d even died while trying to save her.

“I can’t explain everything that’s happening, Dashie... I don’t even really understand it myself!” said Fluttershy, exasperated. “I just know we have to get back to Ponyville as fast as we can. I can’t tell you how, but I know something bad is going to happen to Twilight!”

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Twilight? She’s been gone for weeks, Fluttershy! Did you hit your head or something?” she said sternly, now becoming more and more frustrated. She clasped her hooves against the sides of her head and clenched her eyes.

A guard approached the two pegasi in a rush and raised his hoof up to Rainbow Dash.

“You okay, miss?” he asked.

Dash glanced up at the guard, a regal looking stallion with a gray mane and pale blue eyes. She recognized him as Radiant Thunder, the guard captain of Cloudsdale’s defense force.

“No, I’m not okay!” yelled Rainbow Dash, raising a foreleg to point at the icy dome over the city. “What in the hoof is going on?”

Radiant glanced up at the sky and shook his head. “You know, I’m actually trying to figure that one out, myself,” he said with a shrug and a chuckle. “I didn’t order any test deployment of our defenses, though I suppose it’s been awhile since we last raised the walls.”

“A test?” asked Rainbow Dash, waving her hoof towards the siege weapons lined up around the square. “For what, all-out war?”

Radiant shrugged again, blushing slightly this time. “It’s a bit embarrassing that this could happen without anyone telling me, but rest assured that I’ll get to the bottom of it. For now, please carry on as if everything were normal. If there was a true emergency, the alarm would be sounding.”

Rainbow Dash sighed as the guard captain grinned goofily. “I give up,” she said. “I don’t care anymore. Look, we’re here from Ponyville, and--”

“Ponyville! We haven’t heard from them in weeks!” said the guard captain, a bit shocked. He placed a hoof to his chin and rolled his eyes skyward in thought. “Well, I think we haven’t, anyway... How are things in Ponyville?”

“You think you haven’t?” asked Rainbow Dash incredulously, placing a hoof against her face and closing her eyes. How can the captain of the guard be this incompetent? she thought.

“Actually,” Fluttershy interjected, “We, uh, were just headed back to Ponyville, so anyway, let’s go Rainbow Dash!” She grabbed Rainbow Dash by the foreleg and pulled, starting to scoot away from the guard, who was now eyeing them suspiciously.

“What do you mean by that, Fluttershy?” demanded Rainbow Dash, stomping her hoof down. “We aren’t going back to Ponyville! Not until somepony tells me what’s going on! You know what happened, don’t you! Why can’t you tell me?”

Fluttershy placed her hoof on Rainbow Dash’s mouth and looked straight into her eyes.

“Please, Rainbow Dash. You have to trust me!” Fluttershy pleaded. Rainbow Dash shook her head, pulling away from Fluttershy.

“You’re acting crazy!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “Just tell me what happened!”

“You died!” Fluttershy yelled back, then clasping her hooves over her mouth.

Rainbow Dash blinked and then stared blankly at Fluttershy. The yellow mare looked like she was about to cry again.

“Whatever,” said Rainbow Dash. “If you can’t tell me right now, I’ll trust you. We should still at least see if some guards can come back with us to Ponyville, or see if they know anything about Canterlot.”

Fluttershy shook her head. “There’s no time. Please,” said Fluttershy, but was interrupted by a group of guards running up to Radiant Thunder, who was still standing to their side.

“Captain!” shouted one of the guards as they all came to a screeching halt and saluted in sync. “The foothills south of the Unicorn Range are on fire and Canterlot is under a protective shield!”

Radiant Thunder placed a hoof to his chin in contemplation, his eyes narrowing as he took in the information. His calm demeanor from just a moment ago had vanished, replaced with a feeling of militaristic rigidity. He turned to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, his gaze burning.

“I’m sorry, you two,” he said. “I heard you saying you need assistance in Ponyville, but we can’t spare any guards now. As you just heard, something has come up. This lockdown may not have been a test after all. We’ll be organizing a battalion to fly to Canterlot immediately.”

“Let us go with you!” shouted Rainbow Dash. “Some pegasi from Ponyville that took off at the same time as us were supposed to be going to Canterlot, too! They might be in trouble!”

Fluttershy turned towards the front of the city and looked over her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash. I can’t go with you. I have to return to Ponyville as fast as I can!” she said, her voice cracking. She took off running towards the city gates, not looking back.

Rainbow Dash held a hoof out towards her as she galloped away, but couldn’t find the words to say. She felt a hoof firmly land on her shoulder and turned her head back to see Radiant Thunder looking down at her.

“Go with her,” he said, smiling. “She needs you more than we do. Besides, military maneuvers are no task for a civilian.”

Rainbow Dash nodded and took off after Fluttershy. She quickly caught up to her, and exchanged a glance. No words were needed, and Fluttershy smiled. They approached the main gates together, the wide doors now open with several confused guards looking out of them at the burning hills in the distance. Fluttershy leapt over the guards and took flight, Rainbow Dash jumping right behind her.

Fluttershy flapped her wings faster than she knew she could, soaring through the air with incredible speed, leaving a trail of pink in her wake. Rainbow Dash gasped and pulled up alongside, glancing over at Fluttershy’s face. Her eyes were locked forward, unblinking, as the two sped southward.

“When did you learn to fly this fast?” asked Rainbow Dash, partially pleased at her friend’s sudden adeptness.

“Since now,” Fluttershy replied, “and it’s not fast enough!” She pushed her hooves forward and accelerated even more, leaving a shocked Rainbow Dash having to do the same to keep up.

Rainbow Dash shrugged and kept flying. “You know what...” she said, “I give up. Again.”

The two Pegasi shot over the mountains and headed southward towards Ponyville at speeds the likes of which most pegasi could only dream of achieving.

Meanwhile...

“Wake up, Twilight!” a voice whispered into Twilight’s ear. She opened her eyes and was met with nothing but blackness all around her. She glanced to her left where the voice had come from, but no one was there. She stood up slowly and looked around, but there was nothing but darkness as far as she could see.

Holding a hoof up in front of her, she realized there was a light coming from somewhere, though. She could see just fine, and judging by the shadows, the light was behind her. She turned around and was met by Pinkie Pie’s grinning face. A horn sat upon Pinkie’s forehead, as naturally as if she’d always been a unicorn, casting a light spell to illuminate the surroundings. Her long pink hair fell straight down from either side of her head, and as Twilight’s eyes followed it, she noticed wings poking out from behind her as well.

“Pinkie, is that you? Am I dreaming?” Twilight asked upon the realization that the pony standing in front of her was an alicorn.

“Oh, it’s me, all right,” said Pinkie, gruffly, “and of course you’re dreaming!”

“Great, that’s just great,” said Twilight, “I don’t have time to be unconscious, the Pinkie from Fluttershy’s dream is --” She was then cut off by Pinkie Pie firing a blast of pink energy from the tip of her horn, knocking Twilight backwards by several feet. She landed roughly on the smooth, glass-like ground.

“I’m what, huh?” shouted Pinkie Pie as she stepped slowly towards Twilight. “I’m mad, maybe? I’m somehow using magic, now, perhaps?” She glared at Twilight as she approached.

“Please, Pinkie!” said Twilight, raising a hoof as she tried to stand back up. “You have to listen to me! We’re all trapped in --” she started, but was cut off by another magical blast, dropping her back onto the ground.

“You’re all trapped?” asked Pinkie, her eyes widening. “I heard all about it when you were talking earlier! Poor you, trapped in those changeling cocoons! Well I’m trapped in this stinking garbage pit of a nightmare fighting for my life!”

“Pinkie, stop!” yelled Twilight, staring at Pinkie as she scooted backwards to try and regain her footing again.

“Oh, I’ll stop! I’ll make sure of it!” shouted Pinkie, her horn glowing brightly with swirling pink magic. “I’m going to stop all of this! This dream, this village, this whole world!”

“Pinkie, please, stop doing this! I don’t want to fight you!” pleaded Twilight, but was met by Pinkie spitting towards her.

“Please, Twilight... you’re not the one who’s the problem,” said Pinkie, the grin returning to her face. “In a way, I should be thanking you. If it weren’t for you, I never would have found out who was behind everything that’s been happening, but now I know. I know who I can direct my anger at!”

“No, Pinkie!” yelled Twilight, jumping to her feet, her horn now aglow with purple energy. “She never meant for this to happen! It’s not her fault!”

“Fluttershy!” yelled Pinkie Pie, her eyes tearing up slightly as she laughed upon merely speaking her name. “She’s to blame for everything! I’ll... I’ll...”

“You’ll what?” yelled Twilight, pointing her horn at Pinkie.

“I’ll kill her!” Pinkie shouted and then let loose with a large, bright blast of pink magic. Twilight responded by firing her own magical beam. The two shots collided in mid-air, exploding in a white ball of light. Twilight jumped to her left and began to gallop as fast as she could, twisting her head all around to look for Pinkie. She was nowhere to be seen.

“Up here!” came a voice from above. Twilight jerked her head upward just in time to see Pinkie flying above her and firing another shot of energy straight down.

I can’t dodge it! Twilight thought. It’s gonna hit me! She clenched her eyes shut and ducked toward the ground. A crackling sound from all around her caused her to open her eyes again and look upward. A dome of pink energy surrounded her and had completely absorbed the blast.

“Just in time!” said a voice right behind her. She turned her head and saw another Pinkie Pie, also with horn and wings, standing right behind her. A pair of colorful goggles and a big grin adorned her face.

“Pinkie! Is it really you this time? From my dream?” Twilight gasped.

“Absotutely-lutely!” said Pinkie with a grin. “We’re gonna have to come up with names for all of us Pinkies, because I get this feeling there’s gonna be more of us.”

“We can deal with that later, Pinkie!” yelled Twilight, pointing upward at the other Pinkie who was circling above them in the air. She fired down another shot, and it was also met by the pink shield, completely nullifying it.

“Oh! Oh!” yelled Pinkie Pie. “If we use numbers, can I be Pinkie Number One?” She bounced up and down happily, completely ignoring the other Pinkie.

“Pinkie!” Twilight yelled, standing back up and readying another shot of energy at the tip of her horn.

“No, wait, I guess I’d be Pinkie Number Two!” decided Pinkie. “The real Pinkie should be Number One, that’s only fair! She was there first!”

“Pinkie!” Twilight yelled even louder, reaching out and grabbing the pink pony’s face and pointing it upward towards the other Pinkie.

“Oh, her?” asked Pinkie, placing her left hoof against the side of her head. “I guess she can be Pinkie Number Three. Or should she be number two since Fluttershy met Pinkie Number One before you did? Oh, it’s so confusing, I’m going to be thinking about this for ages!”

“PIIIIIINKIIIIE!” Twilight screamed, her eyes bulging slightly.

“Sheesh, Twilight, I hear you!” yelled Pinkie, shaking her head and looking up at the flying Pinkie, who was now hovering in one place and staring back down, glaring. She pulled the goggles up onto her forehead and squinted.

“So you’re Pinkie Twilight, I take it.” said the flying Pinkie Pie with a sneer.

Twilight’s Pinkie Pie nodded her head and then gasped, her eyes going wide. She suddenly leapt in the air once and exclaimed “Oh, I know!”

The Pinkie who had been flying landed several feet away from her and grinned. “Good, then you know that I’m --”

Twilight’s Pinkie suddenly shouted “Pinkie Shy!”

Fluttershy’s Pinkie blinked and cocked her head to the side. “Huh?”

“You’re Pinkie Shy!” Twilight’s Pinkie giggled. “And I’m Pinkie Twi! Yes, we don’t have to use numbers!” She nearly fell over backwards laughing.

Twilight’s mouth gaped open. “You... You’re still on that?” she yelled, falling back to the ground.

Pinkie Twi sighed and turned her glance to Twilight. “Really, Twilight,” she said with a shrug, “you worry too much.”

Twilight threw a hoof to the side, pointing towards Pinkie Shy. “Too much? She’s trying to kill us!” Her statement was punctuated by another energy blast from Pinkie Shy slamming into the force field.

“Hey! Stop ignoring me!” Pinkie Shy shouted, her face turning red with anger. Pinkie Twi twisted her head to the side and frowned at her other incarnation.

“Honestly, how can another Pinkie be so cranky?” she sighed with a pout. “It’s no fun at all.”

Pinkie Shy gritted her teeth. “Fun? What’s fun?” she bellowed, scraping her front left hoof across the ground. “I forgot all about it a long time ago!” She began to charge up magic in her horn, which progressively glowed brighter and brighter.

Twilight groaned with frustration and began to charge her horn as well. “I don’t have time for this! Pinkie, got any ideas on how to get out of this place?” she asked, tilting her horn downward towards Pinkie Shy.

Pinkie Twi shrugged. “I dunno, it’s your mind. You tell me!” she responded.

“Wait, what?” asked Twilight, jerking her head around to stare at Pinkie Twi. Pinkie Shy let loose a large beam of energy from her horn at the same time. The beam hit the force field and sparks began to fly through the air. The beam drilled into the forcefield, causing it’s color to begin to fade and flicker at the point of impact.

“Ohhh, I don’t think that’s going to hold up much longer, might want to do something fast, Twilight.” said Pinkie Twi calmly, charging magic into her own horn as well. “I actually don’t know that many spells yet!”

“Do something? Okay, something, something...” Twilight said nervously, looking around. There was nothing but darkness everywhere. “What can I even do? There’s nothing here!”

“Remember when I told you the world had turned bleak and dark, and you made it bright and lively again?” asked Pinkie. “Something like that! How did you do that?”

Pinkie Shy’s beam was drilling further and further into the forcefield, the entirety of the pink dome starting to flicker and fade away.

“I don’t know! I just wanted you to not be so lonely!” yelled Twilight, becoming flustered as she stared at the beam which was threatening to breach their shield at any second. “I don’t want to fight Pinkie Shy! I want to wake up and get back to the mission!”

As Twilight said those words, she felt a warm sensation growing inside her, pulsating outward. She looked at Pinkie Shy, who was bearing down on them, walking slowly as the beam from her horn continued to fire. The forcefield flickered one last time, then shattered like glass, pieces falling and sizzling out of existence as they flew through the air. The beam Pinkie Shy had been firing disappeared as well, and she began to charge towards them, her horn glowing brightly and her eyes wide with rage.

Twilight shouted towards Pinkie Shy, holding her hoof out in front of her. “Pinkie! Stop! I won’t fight you!” she yelled. Suddenly, the black ground exploded with green color, a field of grass spreading outward in a circle from the ground directly in front of Twilight. The sky lightened to a dim blue, stars flickering to life across it.

Pinkie Shy was met by a square section of ground she was standing on firing upward like a pillar shooting out of the ground, raising dozens of feet into the air.

Twilight lifted her gaze toward the sky, in awe at what she had just done. “Just by thinking it? By wanting it?” she said with quiet amazement. She was quickly interrupted by Pinkie Shy leaping from the top of the tall pillar of earth and diving towards her.

“Forgot I can fly!” Pinkie yelled as she shot downwards.

Twilight grinned. “No I didn’t!” she said with confidence. The ground in front of her cracked, and the piece of land she and Pinkie Twi were standing on began to separate and move away from Pinkie Shy. Pinkie Shy frowned and accelerated, flying towards Twilight and firing a shot from her horn directly at her.

Twilight didn’t move or try to dodge. She smiled up at Pinkie as the beam curved around to one side, completely missing. Pinkie stopped in mid-air and growled down at Twilight.

“Looks like this isn’t gonna get me anywhere,” Pinkie said with frustration. “Besides, like you said before, I don’t have time to waste here. I have to find Fluttershy!” She reached her hoof up to her left ear and rubbed against it with a downward motion.

A second later, she vanished.

“What happened?” yelled Twilight.

“Guess she woke up,” said Pinkie Twi. “You better do the same, who knows what she might try to do. Get that communicator back if you can. I’ll let you know when we need to do this again... when it’s time for her to use it.”

“I don’t get it,” said Twilight. “What even happened when she put it in her ear? I thought it would be bad, but I had no idea this would happen.”

“Yeah, sorry about that, I don’t have all the kinks worked out, but don’t you worry!” said Pinkie with a confident smile. “Next time, I’m sure it’ll work!”

“What’ll work?” asked Twilight, but then suddenly felt a hoof nudging her. Her eyes shot open, and she saw Princess Celestia looking down at her. She was awake again, at least within Fluttershy’s dream.

“Thank goodness you woke up,” said Celestia, glancing up towards the door to the jail building. A hoof could be heard loudly banging against it. “We’re out of time.”

Twilight groaned and stood back up, her eyes scanning the ground for the pink Communicator. She saw it lying on the ground a few feet in front of her and stepped towards it. She finally noticed Pinkie Pie was missing from the room, and glanced around nervously as she picked the pink gem up and put it in her ear.

“Where’s Pinkie Pie?” Twilight asked, turning back to Celestia. The princess pointed her hoof upward. Twilight tilted her gaze upward and saw a large hole in the roof where something had blasted through it.

“She woke up about a minute before you, sprouted wings and a horn, and then took off directly through the roof,” said Princess Celestia. “She didn’t say a word to me, but she yelled Fluttershy’s name as she took off. I’m afraid she intends to --”

“She’s gonna kill Fluttershy! She wants to end everything!” shouted Twilight, interrupting the princess. “We have to get out of here! We have to find Fluttershy before she does!”

A groan came from the other end of the room. Applejack woke up and shook her head, looking towards Celestia and Twilight with confusion.

“Pinkie Pie?” asked Applejack with bewilderment. “Took off? Wants to kill Fluttershy?” She stood up and stumbled groggily towards the two ponies in front of her.

“Well, maybe ‘took off’ isn’t exactly --” started Twilight, but was cut off by Applejack.

“She must’a been a changeling this whole time!” yelled Applejack. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. She HAS been acting weird ever since this whole forest business started.” She placed a hoof against her head, shaking it in disbelief.

The banging at the door continued, and Applejack finally took notice of it. She trotted slowly towards the door and opened it. A guard pushed into the room, glancing around and then up to the hole in the roof.

“Captain, Pinkie just took off flying! Through the roof!” he yelled. “What’s going on?”

Twilight decided it would be best to just keep quiet and let them think whatever they were thinking. She looked up at the princess, who nodded her head quietly.

“She’s been a changeling this whole time!” said Applejack. She turned towards Twilight and Princess Celestia and pointed a hoof at them. “And it looks like these two really are Twilight and the princess.”

The guard gasped and bowed to the ground before the princess. “A thousand pardons, Your Majesty! We were only trying to--”

“Protect Ponyville,” Celestia interjected, taking a commanding position finally. “You did exactly what you should have done, and did it valiantly. Worry not, my little pony. We must now work together to stop any further tragedies.”

The guard and Applejack both nodded their heads in agreement.

A second later, two pegasi flew through the hole in the roof and landed roughly on the ground. Everyone jumped back in surprise. Standing in the middle of the room were Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.

“Where’s Twilight?” asked Fluttershy, spinning her head around until she spotted the purple unicorn. “Twilight! You’re safe!” she said in relief.

Rainbow Dash spotted her as well, and her jaw dropped in shock. “Twilight!” she yelled. “You’re safe?”

“I am,” Twilight responded to both of them. “and I’m glad to see you two are safe as well.” She and Celestia stepped towards the two Pegasi.

“So, now what do we do, y’all?” asked Applejack, joining the circle of friends in the middle of the room. “Got any plans, Twilight? Princess?”

Fluttershy spoke up first. “We have to go into the Everfree... F-f-f-forest,” she said as bravely as she could, swallowing roughly as the words left her mouth.

“She’s right,” said Princess Celestia. “We must find the source of the forest’s growth. Twilight and I will go with Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash and Applejack should stay here and guard the village.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “Sorry, Princess, but I’m not staying here. If we’re going to go all out, then I’m coming, too!” she said defiantly.

Applejack nodded. “Pardon, but if yer gonna bring someone inta that forest, best to be me or Rainbow Dash than Fluttershy,” she said, glancing at Fluttershy. “Though she does seem... different, somehow.”

Twilight sighed. “Fine. I knew this would happen.”

“Of course!” said Rainbow Dash with a grin. “AJ and I would never let our friends go into that place without us!”

Celestia sighed as well, but nodded her head. “Very well, then. Let’s go! To the Everfree Forest!”

Overgrowth Ch 6 - Twisted Emotion

Book Two: Overgrowth

Chapter Six - Twisted Emotion

“You sure about this?” asked Applejack, squinting as she tilted her head in close to Twilight.

“Sure about what?” Twilight questioned, shaking her head as she pulled a set of saddlebags over her back.

“Bringin’ Fluttershy into the forest, and all,” responded Applejack. “Why, last time she wandered near the Everfree, she’d’a been a goner if I hadn’t tagged along.” She raised a hoof up to her missing eye, her hair still draped down over where it used to be.

“Well, that’s why we’re all going with her. Surely if we’re all together, we’ll make it through,” said Twilight, tilting her head and discreetly removing the pink earpiece from her ear and placing it into one of her bags.

Applejack shook her head. “That Pinkie Pie changeling’s out there, too, and aimin’ ta attack Fluttershy,” she said. “I still think she should hide out here.”

Twilight closed the flap on her bag and turned back towards Applejack. “All the more reason why we should stay with her. Did you see how powerful Pinkie Pie was?”

Applejack nodded. “Not really, but I sure felt it when she blasted me,” the orange pony responded, rubbing her hoof against her chest. “Guess yer right, there, Twilight. Not sure the guards here could handle her. Not sure we could either, though.”

Twilight tilted her gaze downward and frowned. “Here’s hoping it doesn’t come down to that,” she said, and then started making her way to the door of the storeroom they were standing in. “We should go check up on Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy at Sugarcube Corner.”

Outside the small, gray building, they met Princess Celestia, who was walking away from Mayor Mare at the far end of the pavillion. Twilight raised her hoof in greeting, and then pointed north towards Sugarcube Corner. Celestia nodded her head and joined the two as they headed to the bakery.

“The mayor isn’t pleased that you’re leaving, Applejack,” said Celestia, plainly gazing down at Applejack, who sighed in response.

“Honestly, she worries too much,” said Applejack. “The town will be fine, the unicorn squad is more than capable of holding the forest off while I’m away.”

“It will be dangerous. There’s a real chance you may never come back, Applejack,” Celestia said with a frown. “A leader has to take these things into consideration.”

Applejack shot the princess a nasty glare over her shoulder. “I never asked fer this!” she said, a bit of contempt in her voice. “And I really don’t wanna be hearin’ it from you. You two still ain’t explained where you been all this time!”

Twilight put a foreleg on Applejack’s shoulder, pulling her to a stop. “AJ, you have to understand, we got here as soon as we could,” she said, looking into Applejack’s eyes. Applejack turned her head away and bit her lip.

“I’m sorry, Twilight. Princess. It’s just, we’ve been through so much here,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady. “Y’all showin’ up was the last thing I expected. I guess I’m still in a bit of shock, seein’ as how I spent the last month cursin’ yer name, Princess.” She cleared her throat and continued walking towards Sugarcube Corner, which was just ahead of them now.

Celestia and Twilight both shook their heads and followed Applejack, silent for the rest of the trek. The three arrived at Sugarcube Corner and quietly entered through the front door. Fluttershy was behind the main counter, sorting various dried fruits and small loaves of bread into piles.

“Looks like we’re about ready,” said Applejack. “Where’s Rainbow Dash?”

Fluttershy looked toward the staircase in the back of the shop. “She said she had to get some things from the basement, but she’s been down there this whole time,” she responded as she started to place food into Twilight’s saddlebags.

“I better go check on her,” said Applejack, trotting towards the basement door.

Twilight leaned her head towards Fluttershy and whispered. “Looks like there’s no way to talk AJ out of coming, and I’m pretty sure Rainbow Dash won’t budge either.”

Fluttershy sighed. “What do we do, then?” she asked. “If they come along, they might find out the truth, and you said that’s bad, right?”

“Really bad,” Twilight said gravely.

Celestia frowned. “We may want to leave now while we can, then. They may try to follow, but we can lose them,” she said quietly, but was then interrupted by Applejack storming back up the stairs.

“Rainbow Dash ain’t in the basement!” she yelled. “That dang fool, I bet she’s flown off without us!”

Fluttershy gasped. “Why would she do that?” she asked with shock.

“I bet she thinks she’s gonna take care of this on her own,” said Applejack, gritting her teeth. “I should’a known!”

“That does sound like something she’d do, but let’s check the rest of Sugarcube Corner first before we jump to conclusions,” Twilight responded calmly, starting to make her way to the staircase that led to the Cakes’ house above the shop. “Check all the rooms up there.”

Everyone nodded and made their way up the stairs. Fluttershy flew down the hall and through the door that led to the upper level where Pinkie’s room was located. Clearing the stairwell that led up into the room, she noticed a bit of color sticking out from Pinkie’s closet, and could hear the sound of crying. She flew over to the closet door and quietly landed, sliding the door open slowly.

“Dashie?” she said softly as the opening door revealed the blue pegasus within.

Rainbow Dash buried her head in her hooves and sniffled, then turned to face Fluttershy. “Oh, hey Fluttershy. You about ready with those rations down there?” Wet streaks were visible around the bottom of her eyes, but she wore a confident smile.

Fluttershy blinked and nodded her head. “Yes, we’re all about ready to go. Are you... ready?” she asked, placing a hoof on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder.

“Me? Of course!” said Rainbow Dash with a chuckle. “I was just looking for something up here, and--”

Fluttershy interrupted her friend with a sudden hug, pulling her close and squeezing tightly. The two sat quietly for a moment, until Rainbow Dash finally broke the silence.

“I can’t believe she’s gone,” Rainbow Dash said, her voice wavering. “It feels like just yesterday she was here making food for us all.” She closed her eyes tightly and pushed her face into Fluttershy’s shoulder.

“I know,” said Fluttershy compassionately. “Everything that happened is hard to believe. We’ll make it right, though, Dash. I’m sure of it.” She patted Rainbow Dash on the back.

Rainbow Dash pulled away and stared into Fluttershy’s eyes. “Listen, Fluttershy. I have to tell you something, but you have to keep it a secret from the others,” she said gravely. “That whole talk about Pinkie being a changeling? I’m not buyin’ it! She was a little... crazy from what’s been going on before, but it was definitely the real Pinkie Pie. I’m sure of it!”

Fluttershy nodded in agreement. “You might be right, Dashie, but we have to get moving in order to find out,” she said calmly.

“Something fishy is going on. Something other than the forest coming to life. I can’t put my hoof on it, but I feel it so clearly... like a burning sensation in my mind. Like I’m forgetting something. Something important,” Rainbow said, her tone of voice as serious as could be. “You believe me, right? You feel it, too, right? Ever since we found ourselves in Cloudsdale. Is that why you couldn’t tell me what happened? Why you said something about me dying?”

Fluttershy shook her head nervously, knowing she couldn’t tell Rainbow anything about the events in Cloudsdale. “I just don’t know, Dashie. I don’t know where I got that idea,” she said.

“That’s just the thing, though,” Rainbow Dash said, flustered. “When you said that, I thought you were acting crazy, but the more I thought about it, the more I started to almost remember something... something scary. Like a cold darkness. I can’t explain it, but I know something had to have happened!”

Fluttershy sighed. “I don’t know, I’m sorry,” she said. The two turned their heads suddenly as hoofsteps began to come up the stairs. Applejack’s head poked up over the railing and spotted the two of them.

“There you are!” Applejack said sternly. “We been lookin’ all over for ya! Come on, now, we gotta get a move on!” She gestured towards the stairs and trotted back down them.

Fluttershy turned back to Rainbow Dash. “We’ll figure it out. We have to go, now, though. Come on.” She stood up and reached a hoof towards Rainbow Dash.

“I never thought I’d see the day that you’d have to pull me out of a slump,” said Rainbow Dash, smiling up at the yellow pegasus. She took her hoof and stood back up. “Let’s get moving! We have some mysteries to solve!”

The two walked out of Pinkie’s room and down the stairs to join the others. They arrived to find their companions, saddlebags loaded, ready to head out.

Applejack walked over to Rainbow Dash and tossed a set of saddlebags over her back. She glanced at Dash’s eyes and shook her head. “You gonna be okay, there, tough girl?” she asked with a slight chuckle. Rainbow Dash nodded her head.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Rainbow Dash said. “We’d better get a move on.”

The five ponies stepped out from Sugarcube Corner’s front door and into the streets of Ponyville, or what was left of it. The air was hot and dry, still cooling down from the constant sunlight of the previous weeks.

As they approached the south gate, they were met by Mayor Mare and a group of guards, blocking their way out. The mayor wore a look of determination on her face and stared squarely at Applejack.

Applejack walked straight to the mayor, her lips dropping to a frown.

“Let us through, Mayor,” she ordered. “We got business in the Everfree.”

“You can’t go,” the mayor said harshly.

“Let us through,” repeated Applejack. “I ain’t gonna say it again.” She glared at the mayor with her one burning eye.

Mayor Mare closed her eyes and sighed, stepping to the side, the guards following suit. Applejack pushed past her without a word and passed through the gate. The others followed, nervously glancing at the mayor as they passed her.

Celestia brought up the rear of the group and stopped for a moment beside the mayor.

“Madam Mare, we will make sure we end the forest’s advance. I give you my royal oath,” she said firmly. “You need not worry. Watch after your people, I know better than anyone that you are capable of protecting this town.”

The mayor opened her eyes and looked at the princess. “Have you forgotten what happened when the forest first began attacking?” she asked, her voice lowering.

Celestia bit her lip. I have no idea, she thought to herself.

“Perhaps you’ve forgotten how the forest basically devoured an entire army,” said the mayor, heightening her volume. “We never forgot here, though. So yes, rest assured that we will be fine behind these walls, but you five are marching to your deaths!” She panted heavily through her clenched teeth.

Celestia leaned toward the mayor, speaking with as much royal confidence as she could manage. “Things have changed,” she said. “We will not fail. Trust in those four, for they have saved Equestria before.”

The mayor sighed. “I know, but it just seems so hopeless now. Rarity is gone, Pinkie was probably killed by that changeling, and Applejack is mentally exhausted,” she whispered nervously, bowing her head. “I just hope you’re right, Your Majesty. Please, take care of them, especially Applejack. Hers has been such a heavy burden.”

Celestia smiled, placing a hoof on the mayor’s shoulder. “You are a true leader, Madam Mare. Worry not, your town’s residents will be safe. We’ll be back before you know it.”

With that, Celestia galloped forth, meeting up with the others that had gone ahead of her. They passed silently through the ruins of the southern town, eventually coming to Fluttershy’s cottage at the edge of the forest proper. Although the growth from the forest had extended its reach, the thickness and darkness within the original forest grounds were far greater.

Fluttershy cowered low to the ground behind Rainbow Dash and Applejack, staring into the dark forest before her. “Can we maybe come back when it’s light out?” she asked timidly, the bravery she’d found before having left her upon encountering the dark woods. She’d been used to going into the forest before, even at night on a couple of extreme occasions, but it had never seemed so terrifying as it did to her right now.

Twilight and Celestia both lit up their horns with light spells, illuminating the path ahead of them, which had been grown over by brush and tall grass. Applejack grabbed Fluttershy by the foreleg and pulled her back to her hooves.

“Sorry, Sugarcube, but we can’t wait another night,” said Applejack calmly. “Crazy as it seems, we need ta press on through there. You know as well as I do that the forest is less active at night, even though we ain’t had one for a while. Maybe we’ll get lucky and nothin’ will happen.”

Fluttershy nodded forlornly and began walking behind the orange pony, her head twisting back and forth to watch for any movement.

They had all walked this path before, and knew the lay of the land well enough to navigate even though the forest had taken over any clear places. Twilight would occasionally clear away brush with magical blasts while Rainbow Dash hovered just overhead, keeping a lookout for anything that could threaten them.

“It feels like it hasn’t been that long since we were making this journey to find the Elements of Harmony,” said Twilight. “I thought the forest would be a lot more wild, though, considering what’s been happening.”

“Don’t jinx it, Twilight!” said Rainbow Dash, annoyed.

“Hate to say it, but she’s right, though,” said Applejack. “Ain’t had so much as a vine or branch or wild animal jump out at us this whole time. Even though it’s calmer at night, this is too calm. Makes me nervous.”

“Nervous?” asked Fluttershy. “Why would it being calm make you n-n-nervous?” She shook and glanced around more, still wound up from just being there.

Applejack glanced over her shoulder at Fluttershy and shrugged. “Guess I’m just so used to things takin’ me by surprise by now, that I--” her words were cut short as she tripped over something in front of her. Celestia and Twilight shone their horn lights down towards her to help her stand up. Everyone gasped when they realized what Applejack had tripped on.

Lying across the path was a sliced-off purple-scaled fanned ear. Applejack jumped to her hooves, backing away from the severed body part.

“What in tarnation!” Applejack exclaimed as she brushed herself off.

Celestia shone her light more brightly, revealing blood still dripping from where the ear had been severed. “This is fresh,” she said. “These woods are definitely not harmless right now.”

Celestia furrowed her brow. What is this magical energy emanating from it? she thought. She glanced up at Twilight, whose eyes were turned in the direction they were headed. Has she not sensed it?

“I think I recognize that ear,” said Twilight. “That poor sea serpent... we’re almost to the river, let’s hurry.”

I’d best not say anything for now, Celestia decided. I need to be certain.

Everyone nodded, even Fluttershy, who was staring sadly at the gory sight before her. They all galloped forward, the sound of the river drawing closer and closer.

As the flowing body of water came into view, so too did a horrible sight. The kind purple serpent who had helped them in their quest to find the Elements of Harmony was strung up from vines that were hanging down from the trees above. His body was raked with deep cuts along its length, and his face was in even worse shape. His eyelids were clenched shut, blood running down over them from the large wound that went across his forehead and over to his ear, which was missing on the left side.

As he heard the ponies approaching, he began to writhe wildly.

“Stay away!” he yelled, his voice loud but full of fear. “Please, just stay away!”

The ponies stopped in their tracks, all staring up at him in awe.

“Good heavens, what happened?” asked Twilight, taking another cautious step forward. “Did the forest do this?”

“I said stay away, ponies!” the serpent yelled, swinging his body back and forth, which was only causing the vines to constrict around him more tightly.

“Please, we want to help you!” Twilight said firmly as she tried to think of the best way to free him from his hanging prison.

“Hold still, now,” said Applejack, flipping open a saddle bag and pulling out a length of rope. “We wanna get’cha down from there.”

“Your voices... I knew I recognized them,” said the serpent as he slowly opened one eye and tried to catch a glimpse of his potential saviors. “I recognized her voice, too! Just leave me! I’m not long for this world!”

Still so dramatic, even though the situation is a bit more serious than a cut-off mustache this time, thought Twilight with a sigh. Then again, he’s just part of Fluttershy’s dream, so he would be as she remembers him.

“We better get him down from there,” said Twilight, turning to her friends. “Any ideas?”

“We can’t just cut him loose, he’s up too high. Falling from there in his condition would just make it worse.” Fluttershy assessed, despite barely being able to bring herself to look at him.

“Rainbow, can you get this rope looped around a branch and then wrapped around his chest?” asked Applejack as she tossed one end of the rope to Rainbow Dash. “Twilight, we’re gonna need you to levitate him up away from those vines a bit.”

“No problem, boss!” yelled Rainbow. She quickly darted up towards a thick branch in the tree above, looping the rope over it, then pulling it back down to the serpent’s midsection.

“If she comes back, we’re all dead!” yelled the serpent in a panic as Twilight began to raise his body upward with her magic.

“If who comes back?” asked Celestia as she leant a hoof to Twilight with her own levitation magic.

“I don’t know!” the serpent responded in a panic. “She’s the one who did this! She sounded so crazed! So angry!”

Rainbow Dash finished wrapping the rope around the serpent’s chest and then joined Applejack on the ground to pull on the other end.

“Alright, Twilight. Once we got some slack, you blast those vines!” yelled Applejack, and then gripped the rope tightly in her teeth. She and Rainbow Dash pulled as hard as they could, and Twilight released her levitation spell. She pointed her horn at the vines that had been under the serpent’s neck and body and let loose with a thin, precisely aimed shot, splitting the vines cleanly.

The sound of the energy blast sent the serpent into another panic attack. Applejack and Rainbow Dash struggled to keep their hoofing while holding him up. Fluttershy timidly grabbed ahold as well, but it was no good. The three of them slid forward, almost stumbling.

“No! Stop!” yelled the serpent. “Let me go!” As he struggled, several vines from the trees above flew down like whips, snapping around his neck and head and began to pull tightly. The serpent gasped for breath as he struggled.

“Consarn it!” yelled Applejack. “Twilight! Do somethin’!” yelled Applejack.

“Oh my goodness!” yelled Fluttershy, staring up at the serpent. Cold shivers ran down her spine, and she could feel the same sort of despair she’d felt earlier that day in Cloudsdale rising inside of her.

Rainbow Dash leapt back into the air and grabbed ahold of the vines with her teeth. She gnawed as hard as she could, but was met by more vines lowering from the treetops and trying to wrap her up as well. She darted away, avoiding any contact with the assailing plant life.

Twilight glanced at the river. “It might be our only hope! If we can swing him towards the river as we cut him loose, he could land in the water!” she yelled. “It’s better than the alternatives!”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Right! I’ll try and get him swinging, but I’m gonna need help!” she called out. “Applejack, you try and get him moving with the rope, too. And Fluttershy, you need to--”

“Fluttershy, no!” yelled Celestia, interrupting Rainbow Dash.

“I just can’t take it anymore,” said Fluttershy, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Twilight jerked her head back and saw Fluttershy floating off the ground without flapping her wings. Her eyes were pouring out streams of yellow energy, and her breathing was heavy and fast.

“Fluttershy! Stop!” yelled Twilight, charging towards the yellow pegasus. “You can’t do that!”

“Sorry, Twilight,” said Fluttershy with a sad smile. “I just want this nightmare to end.”

“No!” yelled Twilight, leaping through the air at Fluttershy.

A rippling wave of yellow magic shot from Fluttershy. It flew right past twilight and exploded in a bright flash as it hit the serpent’s body.

Twilight landed on the ground with a thud just in front of the floating mare. She turned her head towards the serpent and saw him floating in the air, his wounds closing and the vines retracting back into the trees. Applejack stood and stared at him, as if in a trance. Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, landed on the ground and stared at Fluttershy, slack-jawed.

“Fluttershy, How are you...” said Rainbow Dash, reaching a hoof out to Fluttershy. “That’s impossible.”

Fluttershy landed on the ground softly and walked over to Rainbow Dash. She smiled at her and shook her head. “I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash. I couldn’t tell you. I don’t know if this is the right thing to do, but it’s what feels right to me.” she said, another tear escaping from her eye. “Even if none of this is real, it’s still so dear to me. That includes you, too, Dashie.”

“Real? What?” asked Rainbow Dash, solidly confused. She placed a hoof to her head and fell to the ground, groaning in pain. “My... head! What’s happening?”

Fluttershy dropped to her knees and wrapped her hooves around Rainbow Dash’s head.

“Fluttershy,” said Twilight nervously as she approached. “We have to get out of here. They could change at any moment!” She glanced nervously at Applejack, who was still staring in astonishment at the now healed sea serpent that was lying on the ground, unconscious. She looked up at Celestia, who was keeping a careful eye on Applejack as well.

Slowly moving ripples of magic began to flow around Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Loose magical particles split away and flowed outward randomly as well, some of them right at Twilight. On contact with the energy, Twilight felt instantly calm, warm, and happy.

This feeling, thought Twilight, It’s like how you feel when you’re being cared for. Being loved by somepony else. Is that the essence of Fluttershy’s magic? The essence of her heart?

Twilight closed her eyes, and images began to fill her head. She saw herself lying in bed at home, back in Canterlot. Her bedroom door pushed quietly open, and she saw her big brother walk over to her bedside, levitating a small cup of hot tea. He set it gently down on the nightstand beside her.

“How’s your throat feeling?” Shining Armor asked, kneeling beside her bed. She nodded her head, unable to speak. She remembered that she’d come down with a really bad sore throat, and her parents were away, so Shining Armor had to care for her.

She reached out for the cup of tea and tried to lift it, but her arms were shaking. Shining Armor took ahold of the cup with his magic, steadying it, and placed a hoof on Twilight’s chest, pushing her back onto the bed against her pillow.

“You just lie there, Twiley. I got this,” he said with a smile, gently pressing the rim of the cup against Twilight’s lips and tilting it towards her. The warm liquid entered her mouth, and she swallowed tiny sips. It was so soothing on her throat, but that wasn’t the only thing she felt.

As she looked up at her big brother, his face so serious in the execution of the simple task of caring for his sick little sister, she felt a different kind of warmth deep in her heart. Something she didn’t have much experience with at the time, but something she was all too familiar with now, looking back. It was love, friendship, affection; It was kindness.

As she saw her past self reach forward and embrace her older sibling, she came back to the present and opened her eyes. She was smiling from ear to ear, filled with the spirit of kindness. She looked down at Fluttershy, who was still hugging Rainbow Dash’s head tightly, and knew that there could be no other way for her. This was inevitable from the very beginning, and while it may lead to a harder road ahead, or their friends becoming changelings within the dream, it would be worth it so that Fluttershy’s dream could be happy again.

“Twilight, look out!” came Celestia’s voice. Twilight jumped and looked over her shoulder to see Applejack approaching.

“You three ‘bout done there?” asked Applejack, a dazed look on her face.

“Huh?” questioned Twilight, unsure how to take the current situation.

“We really need ta’ get a move on, ya know,” said Applejack with a sigh, looking down at Rainbow Dash. “We ain’t got time for Rainbow to be havin’ a breakdown, not ta’ sound heartless or anything.”

“Breakdown?” asked Twilight, turning to face Applejack, her muscles tense and ready to flee at the first sign of trouble. “She’s just... Didn’t you see the serpent just now?”

Applejack shrugged. “What about him?” she asked. “Not sure what happened, but he seems okay now. Havin’ himself a nice nap, and I’d say he’s earned it.”

Twilight turned her head slowly towards Celestia, her eyes wide with shock. Celestia’s jaw was dropped and she only responded with a confused shrug.

“What in the hay is wrong with y’all?” asked Applejack, shaking her head and turning back towards the river. “Get Rainbow back on her hooves and let’s git goin’!” She began to walk slowly towards the water’s edge.

Twilight knelt down next to Fluttershy and whispered. “Is she going to be okay?” she asked, placing a hoof on Fluttershy’s back.

Fluttershy looked at her with a smile and a nod. “Yeah, she’ll be fine.” she responded happily, releasing Rainbow’s head from her grip and standing back up. Rainbow Dash looked up at Fluttershy and blinked.

“You’re... not gonna tell me what’s going on, are you?” she asked.

Fluttershy giggled and shook her head. “Sorry,” she said with a grin.

Rainbow Dash smiled back and shrugged, rising to her hooves.

“Fine. I give up, yet again,” she said. “For now, anyway! But you have to explain everything later!” She gave Fluttershy a serious glare.

Fluttershy nodded her head. “I promise,” she said. The three of them dusted themselves off, and then ran towards Applejack and the river ahead of them, passing by the slumbering serpent. Princess Celestia trailed the group, her brow furrowed in thought.

Fluttershy’s lucidity didn’t trigger any changeling defense mechanisms, she thought to herself. And there’s still the question of that magical essence I felt coursing all over the sea serpent.

She glanced at the serpent as she passed by, concentrating on any magical essence she could sense. There was nothing but the overpowering energy of Fluttershy’s kindness now, not a trace of the dark magic she had felt earlier.

“Not far now!” came Applejack’s voice from the front of the pack. “Just through this patch of trees and across the gorge and we’ll be there. Be ready for anything.”

The bridge across the gorge still hung as Rainbow Dash had tied it for them on their previous journey, actually reinforced now with vines that had pushed their way through the cliff walls and wrapped around it. Shortly after crossing, the travelers finally found themselves at their destination, the Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.

The entryway was completely covered in vines and plant growth. Twilight wasted no time in firing a shot right through the doorway, clearing a path straight to the large chamber inside, and its center where the Elements of Harmony had once set in stone. In their place, however, was a pulsating mass of green and brown plantlife coming up from the ground. It beat like a heart, making deep thumping sounds as it pulsed.

“This is it,” said Celestia. “This is the cause of the forest’s expansion. Let us be done with it.”

“Ya don’t hafta tell me twice,” said Applejack, brushing her hair away from where it had been covering her missing eye.

“Blast the thing, you two!” said Rainbow Dash with excitement, looking up at the princess.

Princess Celestia turned her gaze to Twilight, who was staring at the undulating mass of vines nervously. “You know what might happen,” she spoke with hushed tones. “You must be prepared. If this is where the rift is at, things may turn out like they did before.”

Twilight nodded her head, readying her horn with purple magic at its tip. She closed her eyes and fired a beam of energy right at the heart. An explosion of plant matter sprayed all around, joined by a loud boom and a ripping sound, like a piece of cloth being torn in half.

Twilight felt a blast of energy hit her, but it wasn’t at all the energy she was expecting. Before, when she had blown a rift open, it was an explosion of fire and heat. This time, she felt a sudden pulse of familiar magic.

Twilight’s eyes shot open, and as the cloud of green mist cleared from the air, a floating rip in the fabric of space lie open before her. Everypony walked slowly towards the portal, staring through it.

There, on the other side, was Princess Cadence, shackled in chains, her eyes wide and burning with red energy, and her horn encased in a black crystal. She screamed in agony as the crystal on her horn glowed with power, and a pulse of magic shot from it and towards the rift.

Everypony jumped back as a wave of love magic flew over them.

“Cadence... No...” said Twilight, quickly coming down from the burst of emotion she’d felt from just being clipped by the blast. She quickly turned her head to the left and saw Applejack and Rainbow Dash both still staring at the portal, their eyes glowing with bright green light.

“It’s worse than I could have ever imagined!” yelled Celestia. “Twilight! Fluttershy! We have to get out of here!”

“We can’t just leave Cadence like that!” protested Twilight.

Applejack turned towards Twilight, her one green glowing eye now accompanied by a wide and sinister grin.

“You can’t stop it!” she yelled. “You better just go back to sleep!” She leapt at Twilight, screaming like a banshee.

Twilight jumped back, readying her horn for a fight, when a flash of color shot out from the corner of her eye and crashed into Applejack, knocking her to the ground.

Rainbow Dash, glowing with a yellow aura, stood over the possessed Applejack and stared down at her.

“Sorry, AJ, but I won’t let you do that!” yelled Rainbow Dash, pressing her hoof against Applejack’s chest, holding her down to the ground.

Applejack grinned up at Rainbow Dash. “Oh please, sugarcube,” she said gruffly. “Like you could stop me!” She pushed up with her hind hooves and kicked Rainbow Dash into the air. Flipping back to her hooves, she leapt at Rainbow Dash. In mid-leap, a pair of translucent blue wings shot out from her orange back, and she took flight.

“Fluttershy!” yelled Rainbow Dash as she darted away from Applejack. “I don’t know what’s going on, but you have to save Cadence! I’ll keep Applejack busy!”

Fluttershy had fallen to her rump, still staring through the portal at Princess Cadence, whose tortured state continued uninterrupted. Twilight quickly turned to Fluttershy and grabbed her by the shoulders.

“Fluttershy! We can’t go out there and help her! Princess Celestia says it’s not an exit, only an entrance! We have to close it!” Twilight yelled. “We’ll work on that, you try and get ahold of that power of yours again, we might need it!”

“I can’t control it!” Fluttershy responded, her voice shaking. “I don’t know what to do!”

“Please! You have to try!” said Twilight, then turning back to the rift and aiming a beam of magic at it, joining Celestia who had started a second before. Twilight started from the bottom of the rift and was working her way up while Celestia worked from the top down.

Fluttershy managed to stand up and take a few steps back from Celestia and Twilight. She closed her eyes and began to concentrate, trying to bring the power back. The sound of Applejack and Rainbow Dash fighting off to her left rang clearly in her ears, followed by a crashing sound right above her and a loud voice.

“Fluttershy!” the voice yelled. Fluttershy opened her eyes and looked up in time to see Pinkie Pie barreling towards her, horn aglow. “Die!”

Author's Note

There's a note section, now? Well dang! Happy Holidays, everypony!

Overgrowth Ch 7 - Let Love In

Book Two: Overgrowth

Chapter Seven - Let Love In

“Fluttershy!” yelled Rainbow Dash as she darted away from Applejack. “I don’t know what’s going on, but you have to save Cadence! I’ll keep Applejack busy!” She flung herself into the air even higher, a trail of yellow energy hanging in the air in her wake.

Twilight stared up at Rainbow Dash for a moment, then turned to Princess Celestia.

“She’s right! We have to save Cadence!” Twilight yelled over the gushing wind-like sound emanating from the portal.

Celestia shook her head, her horn glowing brightly. “We can’t leave the dream from here, Twilight. This is only an entry point for this... perversion of magic!” She narrowed her eyes in anger, then turned toward Twilight. “Even if we could leave, we would never be able to take on Chrysalis and her army as we are.”

“So what do we do?” asked Twilight. “It seems so hopeless!”

“We close it,” Celestia replied, some calm returning to her voice. “I can seal the rift, but I’ll need your help. We can at least stop Cadence’s magic from entering Fluttershy’s dream. One less food source for that despicable...” She stopped herself, and turned toward the portal, beginning to seal it away.

Twilight turned to Fluttershy, who had fallen to the ground from the shock.

“Fluttershy! We can’t go out there and help her! Princess Celestia says it’s not an exit, only an entrance! We have to close it!” Twilight yelled. “We’ll work on that, you try and get a hold of that power of yours again, we might need it!”

“I can’t control it!” Fluttershy responded, her voice shaking. “I don’t know what to do!”

“Please! You have to try!” said Twilight, then turning back to the rift and aiming a beam of magic at it, joining Celestia.

Meanwhile, in the air above the castle, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were darting to and fro. Applejack would charge towards Rainbow Dash, and Dash would easily evade, switching her heading, but always leading Applejack further and further away from the castle’s main hall.

“You think you can keep up with me?” Rainbow Dash taunted, smacking a front hoof against her flank. “I’m the fastest flier in Equestria!”

Applejack shot through the air again, this time curving her path as Rainbow Dash dodged. She smashed right into her, launching her across the courtyard and against the wall of the high tower.

“No, you ain’t!” Applejack shouted. “You ain’t really Rainbow Dash!” She charged at Rainbow Dash again, who quickly flapped her wings and dodged upward towards the top of the tower. Applejack crashed through the wall as she hit it with full force, landing on the stairs within.

“You’re the one that’s not really Applejack!” Rainbow Dash’s voice came from up above. “You’re just a changeling!”

Applejack shook her head, jumped back out the hole in the wall and propelled herself upward once more.

Meanwhile, back in the main chamber, Fluttershy had backed away from the portal and was deep in concentration, trying to summon up her power.

I can’t do it! It just comes and goes! she thought. Her concentration broke when she heard a crashing sound right above her. Fluttershy opened her eyes and looked up in time to see Pinkie Pie barreling towards her, horn aglow.

“Fluttershy! Die!” Pinkie bellowed, and crashed right into the yellow mare, pinning her to the ground. Fluttershy screamed, which was followed by a loud ripping sound from the direction of the portal. She jerked her head up and saw Twilight and Princess Celestia both staring at her, the rift behind them having torn open even wider than before.

Pinkie’s hoof slammed into the side of Fluttershy’s head, twisting it around. Fluttershy instinctively twisted the rest of her body with it, but Pinkie stayed firmly mounted on top of her, now staring straight down at her face.

Pinkie’s eyes twitched, wide with madness, and her mouth formed into a large toothy grin. She pressed both of her front hooves against Fluttershy’s neck and pressed down. Fluttershy tried to gasp for breath ineffectively and stared back at Pinkie.

“This nightmare ends now!” Pinkie yelled, turning her head upward towards Twilight and Celestia, who were now charging towards her. “No one can stop me!” She fired a beam of magic from her horn, striking Twilight square in the chest. The purple unicorn was blasted back several feet, but Celestia continued her advance, horn aglow.

Celestia returned fire with a beam of white light that crackled with power as it flew through the air. Pinkie returned the favor, the two beams zipping past each other and both striking their targets. Celestia was pressed back several feet, but dug her hooves into the ground, crouching low. Pinkie took Celestia’s shot to her forehead, and fell backwards, sliding towards the broken chamber’s entrance.

“Fluttershy, get up! Hurry!” Celestia ordered. Fluttershy coughed and clasped her throat with her front hooves, slowly turning her body over and trying to stand back up.

From behind Fluttershy came a pink glow, and Pinkie Pie levitated into the air, her head creaking upwards loosely and then bobbing forward. Her horn and forehead were blackened from where she had been shot by Celestia, but her bright white eyes continued to stare at Fluttershy with hatred.

Celestia reached out to Fluttershy and pulled her up onto her hooves. “Get behind me!” she said, never averting her gaze from Pinkie Pie.

“You don’t understand!” Pinkie yelled. “You can’t understand!” She landed back on the ground and began to advance slowly towards Celestia and Fluttershy, who were backing away towards the portal, just beyond where Twilight lay unconscious.

“Pinkie, I won’t allow you to harm her!” Celestia shouted. “She’s innocent!”

“Innocent?” said Pinkie, her whole body beginning to shake. “Innocent? She’s a murderer! A mass murderer! She’s the cause of Twilight and Rarity running off to their deaths! She’s the reason so many of my friends in town are gone! Mares, stallions, she doesn’t discriminate! Even the Cakes! Even their foals! She killed them all with this nightmare of hers!”

Fluttershy backed away, her eyes wide as she remembered all the terrible things that had happened. She remembered the day the forest had violently surged into town. There was so much blood, so much death, so much needless destruction.

“She never meant for any of that to happen!” shouted Celestia. “Her dream is corrupted by the changelings!”

“So maybe somepony should put her out of her misery!” Pinkie yelled back, still advancing, her horn blazing with bright pink light.

Fluttershy fell to the ground again, tears rolling from her eyes. She closed them and pressed her hooves to her face.

It’s all my fault! she thought. Pinkie is right! I cause nothing but sadness no matter what I do!

What are you afraid of, Fluttershy? said a voice that rang out loudly in Fluttershy’s mind. Her eyes shot open and she looked up to the sky.

“Who’s there?” she asked with confusion.

“Fluttershy, get back up!” Celestia implored, pulling the mare to her hooves again. They continued to back away, finally reaching Twilight. Celestia tapped a hoof against Twilight’s horn, which startled her awake quickly. She shot up to her hooves and shook her head, immediately noticing Pinkie Pie coming towards them, ready to strike.

Fluttershy! What are you afraid of? the voice echoed noisily in Fluttershy’s mind one again.

“I don’t know!” Fluttershy cried. “I’m afraid of everything! I’m a weak, helpless, failure!”

Everything? Surely not everything, or how could you have such good friends? Would you not fear them, too? asked the voice.

“No, I don’t fear them! I fear failing them! I always let them down!” Fluttershy sobbed, falling back to the ground. Twilight turned to Fluttershy while Celestia still continued to stare down Pinkie Pie, her horn now ablaze with fiery energy.

“Fluttershy, who are you talking to?” asked Twilight, placing her hooves on Fluttershy’s shoulders. “Snap out of it!”

Is failing your friends really what you fear? Or is it something much more... fundamental? asked the voice.

Fluttershy sobbed, staring blankly towards the dark star-filled sky. Twilight shook her gently, trying to get her attention.

“Please...” said Fluttershy meekly, tears flowing down her cheeks. “I’ll only fail you. I’ll only cause you pain and disappointment. So, please...” She turned her gaze towards Twilight, her moistened eyes staring at her friend.

“Please... don’t love me,” she said, her lips trembling. The sound of Cadence screaming in agony came from behind her, followed by a blast of energy that washed over the entire room, forming a heavy pink cloud in the air. It fell like fog, shrouding the ground and flowing out from the rift.

Twilight blinked and then stared at Fluttershy, surrounded by Cadence’s love magic. In her heart, she felt sadness, but also a deep feeling of devotion and love. She reached her hooves forward and gently pulled Fluttershy into an embrace.

“I can’t, Fluttershy,” said Twilight, tears falling from her wide, sparkling eyes. “I love you so much.” She squeezed the yellow pegasus tightly. Fluttershy hugged her back, closing her eyes tightly as joyous emotions surfaced within her.

“I’m sorry, Twilight,” Fluttershy whispered quietly. “I love you, too... So much that I can’t stand seeing you love such a--”

“Stop!” a voice yelled from the front of the room, interrupting the moment.

“Twilight! Fluttershy!” Celestia yelled from elsewhere in the mist as a dark pink glow flashed from within the cloud of magic. A bolt of energy flew through the air and cracked like thunder as it hit Twilight in the back. Twilight and Fluttershy, still hugging, flew through the air towards the rift. Fluttershy landed on her back, Twilight’s body lying limp on top of her, a smile still hanging on her face.

“Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, gently placing a hoof against the unicorn’s face. Her shaking eyes darted back and forth, looking for any sign of life from her friend. A shallow breath caught her ear, but it was of little relief. “Wake up, Twilight... Wake up!” Twilight’s ear twitched slightly, but her eyes remained tightly shut.

A second shot of energy blazed through the air, and then a third, fired back and forth within the cloud of magic accompanied by the sound of galloping hooves.

Celestia turned her head from side to side, watching for any sign of where Pinkie could be. She walked carefully, trying to keep her bearings on where Fluttershy and Twilight had flown to. Another blood-curdling scream from Cadence filled the air, and the fog of magic became even thicker.

Why is it all concentrating here? Celestia thought. I can’t resist it much longer, and its making it impossible to sense other magical auras.

Celestia felt the crash of a hoof against her jaw as Pinkie swung from the mist, knocking her sideways onto the ground. She twisted her body with the fall, trying to roll away from the direction of the punch, but was met with a magic blast as she rolled, knocking her along the ground further. Pinkie leapt back into the fog, using her wings to switch directions at random.

“Stop hiding!” Celestia shouted as she charged up her horn and rose back to her hooves. “If you want a fight, you’ll have one!”

“I thought we were having one right now!” Pinkie retorted. Celestia shot her magic in the direction of Pinkie’s voice, but the beam missed its mark. It whizzed through the air towards the courtyard tower where Rainbow Dash stood face to face with Applejack, staring her down. Celestia’s shot hit the corner wall below them, blasting a hole in it and shaking the entire structure.

“Looks like things are getting pretty serious down there,” said Rainbow Dash, narrowing her eyes. “Guess I can’t waste any more time with you.” She grinned and scraped her front right hoof along the stone floor.

“Come on, then!” shouted Applejack, and with a flutter of her changeling wings shot towards Rainbow Dash like a bolt of lightning.

Rainbow Dash sidestepped with assistance from her own wing beat, and turned to face the changeling just in time to see it pushing off the floor and into the air. Dash jumped up after it, her forelegs extended towards its face. Her hooves crashed into its face with the power of her upward thrust, knocking its head back.

Applejack flipped her body back with the force of Rainbow Dash’s strike, kicking her back hooves up and striking Rainbow in the stomach. The wind knocked out of her, Dash fell backwards and slid along the stone tower’s roof right toward the edge.

Applejack made a beeline in Dash’s direction, and with a simple twist of her body, came crashing down with her hind hooves right onto Dash’s still extended left wing. The bones in the wing cracked on impact, and Rainbow Dash screamed in pain.

“Rainbow Dash might be the fastest flier in Equestria, but these two back legs a‘ mine are some o’ the strongest in the land,” said Applejack with a grin as she reared up above Dash. She stomped down against Dash’s ribs, which also gave a crack. Rainbow Dash twisted her body, screaming again.

Dash stared up at the changeling’s face, still wearing the guise of one of her best friends. She pushed the pain she felt to the back of her mind and laughed up at her enemy. Applejack glared angrily.

“What’s so funny?” Applejack asked through tightly-clenched teeth.

“Just imagining the look on your face when I beat you,” chuckled Rainbow Dash, gripping her ribcage and turning onto her back.

“Playin’ tough won’t help ya,” said Applejack, leaning down towards Rainbow Dash’s face. “Yer done for.”

Dash gritted her teeth. “There’s no way I’m losing to a pathetic Applejack wannabe!” she shouted. “I’d only even consider having a draw with the real one!”

Applejack grinned, mere inches from Rainbow Dash’s face. “It’s just sad, really. Not sure how you’re resisting, but I’ll tell ya somethin’ before ya die. Yer just a figment of Fluttershy’s imagination. You ain’t the real Rainbow Dash at all.”

Dash stared angrily back into Applejack’s eye.

“Awww, ya know it’s true! I know ya know, deep down, that you ain’t even real,” laughed Applejack with a devious smile. “Yer just like I was. Just part of Fluttershy’s dream. Nothing more than fleeting memories.”

Memories, Rainbow Dash thought to herself. Dreams and memories. Her mind suddenly started racing as images of the past began to flash through her head. The sun hanging in the sky, dragons circling overhead, while she and Fluttershy were trapped inside a hollow tree. Mending Fluttershy’s wing, talking together, sleeping through the heat of the constant day. Bathing in the cool waters together after Fluttershy’s wing had healed.

“Memories...” Rainbow Dash said out loud, her eyes wide, tears forming in their corners. A faint yellow glow began to surround her. Applejack sneered at her, letting out a hiss.

Rainbow Dash saw Cloudsdale under attack, dragonfire burning in the streets, buildings crumbling. She saw Fluttershy scared out of her wits, the two of them hiding in a building, and then there was a flash of blazing heat. She felt crushing pain, saw the vague outline of Fluttershy’s face, and felt cold as darkness began to trace in from the edges of her field of vision.

“You’re safe...” Rainbow Dash said quietly to herself. She felt the sensation of breath leaving her, and then a warm, loving aura. She breathed in deeply, suddenly blinking, still staring up at Applejack, who was rearing up on her hind hooves again.

“Yer just a dream!” Applejack screamed.

“I don’t care!” Rainbow Dash yelled back. “I’m Fluttershy’s dream!”

Applejack’s front hooves came flying down towards Rainbow again, but this time Dash’s hooves met hers. They crashed together with a yellow flash. Rainbow Dash pushed her hooves outward, causing Applejack to fall down on top of her. Dash quickly reached her hooves around Applejack’s torso and snapped them forward, cracking both of the changeling’s wings.

Applejack screamed, bringing her own right hoof up and then stamping down on Rainbow Dash’s right wing. The impact was weaker than before, causing no damage, but Dash still grunted in pain. The changeling breathed heavily, digging her hoof into the blue mass of feathers, her own cerulean wings dangling loosely on either side of her.

Dash’s grip released and Applejack pulled away from her, turning as fast as she could and kicking with her rear legs against the blue pegasus’ hindquarters. Dash flipped over the edge of the tower, but was able to grab a hold with her front hooves. She dangled off the edge, struggling to pull herself back up, but there was nothing for her hind hooves to grip against. Celestia’s earlier magic attack had all but blown the entire corner of the tower off.

Applejack slowly walked to the ledge and stared down at her. She grinned and raised her front right hoof up, placing it gently on Dash’s forehead. “Betcha can’t fly on them wings no more, Rainbow,” she said tauntingly.

Rainbow Dash smiled up at the changeling. “Betcha can’t fly with no wings, wannabe,” she said, and then kicked her back hooves upward as hard as she could against the underside of the already crumbling old stone, a trail of yellow energy flashing and trailing behind the attack. Her hooves crashed right through the mason work with an explosion of golden light, bits of debris and magic particles flying in all directions from the impact. Applejack was hit with the full force of the kick, and flew up and over Dash’s head, a trail of yellow energy sizzling where she’d been kicked. A second later, the ledge that Dash was gripping crumbled as well.

They both fell swiftly to the ground below, leaving a trail of yellow magic hanging in the air. Their bodies slammed into the slight ledge of dirt at the base of the tower before flipping and falling down into the deep ravine that ran along the castle’s walls

Just moments earlier, within the main chamber of the castle, the atmosphere of pink mist had become thick and hugged the ground like the morning fog. Fluttershy lay on the ground, Twilight’s limp body draped over her. Fluttershy shook her friend, trying to awaken her.

“Twilight! Twilight, wake up!” Fluttershy shouted, her voice shaking and tears falling from her eyes. “Please wake up! Please!” She pressed her hooves against Twilight’s shoulders and lifted her up a bit. Twilight’s head hung loosely and her labored breathing came in pulses with slight groaning. Fluttershy shook her head, eyes wide, her lower lip curling inward between her teeth.

There was a flash of magic in the distance, followed by the sound of stone breaking away from a far wall. Blazing streaks of pink and white energy flew back and forth as the sound of heavy hoofbeats filled the room. Celestia and Pinkie were both firing back and forth in response to one another firing, but easily dodging each shot in turn.

“This is getting us nowhere!” yelled Celestia. “If you want to end this, then come towards the rift! We’ll have a magic duel!”

“You first!” Pinkie’s voice shouted back. “I could do this all day! This power I’ve gained is incredible!” She laughed, though the sound of sadness could plainly be heard as well.

Celestia coughed and focused a small aura spell on herself. This is all I can do to resist the power of Cadence’s magic. It’s condensing too much, she thought. I can’t afford an extended battle with Pinkie... she seems mostly unaffected somehow. I have to end this now!

Celestia walked towards the sound of the rift. It soon came into view through the mist, along with Fluttershy and Twilight, still lying in a pile. Fluttershy was shaking and in a panic, focused on Twilight.

“Come on, then!” Celestia shouted into the magic cloud, bracing herself for the oncoming attack.

“Way ahead of you!” Pinkie yelled, leaping through the air towards Celestia, her front hooves poised to smash into the Princess’ face. Celestia reacted quickly, twisting her head and firing a blast from her horn, knocking Pinkie back and slamming her against the ground.

Pinkie shot back up to her hooves and swung her head upward, her horn glowing a bright pink. Celestia was surrounded by a magical aura and lifted off the ground.

“Levitation? That’s easily nullified,” Celestia scoffed, thoroughly unimpressed at the choice. “You’ll have to do better than that, Pinkie Pie.” She raised her own horn, surrounding herself with a white glow. She gently returned to the ground, landing daintily on her hooves.

“I’m not done yet!” shouted Pinkie, clenching her teeth and growling. Her eyes widened even more, and her horn began to glow a deep red. The veins in her head began to bulge and she let loose with a wave of force.

Celestia had no time to react. She was immediately encased in a bubble of red magic and lifted off the ground. The magic swirled and whipped around her violently, its waves slicing across her body like sharpened knives.

What is this? I’ve felt this magic before! Celestia thought, in shock. She tried to nullify the spell, but her horn just shot sparks from the tip ineffectively. This isn’t just levitation! How is she--

“Now out of my way!” Pinkie yelled. With a flick of her hoof to the side, Celestia shot through the air like a rocket, crashing through the castle’s wall and tumbling across the courtyard. The air around where she’d gone flying sparked and glowed with red magical power, and the pink mist in the vicinity was scattered.

Fluttershy turned her head in time to see Celestia go flying. “Princess!” she cried, slumping back down under Twilight’s body weight. “Twilight... please, wake up!”

Fluttershy! the strange voice called out once more from inside Fluttershy’s mind. Take hold of your fear and conquer it! It is the key to everything!

“I can’t!” Fluttershy yelled out. “They just can’t love me! I’ll ruin everything!” She cried loudly, tears rolling down her cheeks, her voice becoming hoarse.

Pinkie turned back towards Fluttershy and began to slowly walk towards her. “You already did ruin everything!” she screamed, her horn still glowing red.

It can’t stay that way, Fluttershy! You can’t stop them from loving you! the voice boomed in Fluttershy’s ears. Try to remember! Remember being loved, and remember that feeling! Accept it!

Fluttershy stared at Pinkie, who was just feet away from her, as the voice almost seemed to force her to dig up memories of the previous day. She saw Rainbow Dash arriving back at their tree shelter at the mountainous foothills overlooking the Unicorn Plain. Rainbow Dash had cared for her, stayed with her, and even mended her broken wing. She had even gone along with her selfish request and given her a back massage.

Fluttershy closed her eyes, remembering that feeling so vividly. It was calm, relaxing, and filled her heart with joy.

Were you really being so selfish, Fluttershy? the voice asked calmly. Wouldn’t you do the same for her?

Of course I would, Fluttershy responded. I would do anything for Dashie. She’s my oldest and dearest friend. Besides, it was nothing special, just a massage.

Was it? the voice asked. Could you not feel the magic of love and friendship there in that tiny hollow tree? Did you not accept her love then, as you have in the past as well?

Fluttershy knew the truth, and she felt a bittersweet feeling rising up from her heart, which began to yearn for affection. Yes, she thought, I did feel it. I want to keep feeling it, too. I may feel selfish, and I may cause trouble for my friends sometimes... but I guess I really can’t stop them from loving me, and I can’t just hide from their love.

Then accept it, Fluttershy! the voice commanded. Accept their love and conquer your fear!

“Yes,” said Fluttershy, opening her eyes and seeing Pinkie Pie standing over her and Twilight. “I will accept it all.” Her body began to glow a faint yellow color, her pink mane swaying slightly as if caught in a breeze.

A bright flash in the direction of the tower caused Pinkie and Fluttershy to both turn their heads just in time to see Applejack and Rainbow Dash falling from the corner of the crumbling tower and tumbling down into the ravine.

“No!” Pinkie screamed, turning her head back towards Fluttershy and Twilight. With a swift swipe of her hoof, she pushed Twilight’s body off of Fluttershy, sending her rolling several feet from them. “How many of my friends have to die before you’re finished? You monster!”

Fluttershy furrowed her brow and closed her eyes, spreading her forelegs out and breathing in deeply. The glow around her body grew in intensity and began to attract all of the pink love magic in the room towards her.

“I’ll accept... everything,” said Fluttershy.

Pinkie screamed in rage and swung her hoof down against Fluttershy’s cheek, knocking her head back against the stone floor. Fluttershy grunted slightly, but did not resist.

“You made this world! You caused all of this! It’s all your fault!” Pinkie screamed, swinging her other hoof down and landing another punch.

“Do you know how many died on the first day? Twenty-seven!” Pinkie shouted, tears dropping from her eyes onto Fluttershy as her pink hooves, stained red with Fluttershy’s blood, continued to swing with punch after punch. “The forest surged in! Destroyed entire buildings! Entire families! I was there at Sugarcube Corner when it hit us! Mr. and Mrs. Cake hugged Pumpkin and Pound tight and hid behind baking pans in the corners!”

Pinkie’s barrage of punches continued. Fluttershy clenched her teeth and cried, her tears flowing down and mixing with her blood as she listened to Pinkie’s story.

“A lot of good it did them!” Pinkie cried. “Those branches shot through the pans like they were made of paper! I heard them scream! I heard the foals cry out! I saw it all!”

Fluttershy sobbed, coughing and opening her eyes to look at Pinkie. She was in tears, blood now having dotted her beautiful pink mane and coat. Behind her, Fluttershy could see the concentrated love magic approaching in one giant opaque mass. “I’m so sorry, Pinkie,” she said before having to brace herself for another swing of Pinkie’s hoof.

“You’re sorry?” yelled Pinkie. “You were hiding in your house! You didn’t even come out until the next day! Don’t say you’re sorry!” Pinkie fell back to her haunches, placing her hooves calmly on Fluttershy’s belly, hanging her head.

Fluttershy opened her eyes as best as she could, the left one having become puffed up and bruised. She looked down at Pinkie, who sat at her legs, staring downward and crying. The pink energy in the air had surrounded them and was swirling all around.

“Why didn’t you come help?” Pinkie asked quietly, sobbing. “It should have been me... Not them... Not those foals...” Her chest heaved as she wept, pushing her words out from behind clenched teeth and a cracking hardened heart.

Fluttershy sat up and leaned forward, hugging Pinkie tightly. “I’m so... so sorry, Pinkie,” she said, pressing her throbbing chin against Pinkie’s shoulder. She knew the pain she felt was nothing compared to what Pinkie was feeling.

Pinkie raised her hooves and hugged Fluttershy back, burying her face against the yellow mare’s neck. “No... I’m the one who should be sorry,” she said between sobs. “Everypony has nightmares. You can’t control them. I should know that better than anypony. I’ve had nothing but nightmares since this all started.” As she spoke, the pink magic suddenly condensed, absorbing into the two ponies, filling them with an intense feeling of love and joy layered atop their sadness.

“It’s okay, Pinkie,” said Fluttershy, smiling almost uncontrollably, though it hurt a bit. “I promise I’ll do something to fix this mess before we go to help the others.”

Pinkie thought for a moment and then pulled away from Fluttershy. She looked back towards the rift and saw Cadence, hanging from shackles against a stone wall, her face looking so drained of life.

“Those changelings... How could they do that to poor Cadence? I never even got to make friends with the real Cadence!” Pinkie shouted angrily towards the rift, shaking her hoof.

“They’re just the worst, aren’t they?” Fluttershy said.

“Oh, wait... I’m not even the real Pinkie Pie anyway,” Pinkie said, lowering her head for a moment, but then lifting it right back up. “But if I was the real Pinkie Pie, I’d be outraged!”

Fluttershy laughed. “I’d hate to be them in that situation,” she said, followed by a twitch as she felt a sharp pain from her cheek. She let out a soft whimper, which caught Pinkie’s attention.

Pinkie looked at Fluttershy’s face, bloodied and bruised, and sniffled loudly. She gently wiped away a streak of blood from below Fluttershy’s lip and frowned. “I’m so sorry, Fluttershy. I’m not the real Pinkie Pie, but I was just--”

“Shhh...” interrupted Fluttershy, shaking her head. “You’re more real than you know, Pinkie Pie.” She turned and stood up, wiping more of the blood from her brow and breathing in deeply. She reached a hoof out to help Pinkie stand up, and Pinkie hesitantly accepted and rose from the ground.

Pinkie Pie breathed in deeply and turned to look in the direction she had launched the princess. Celestia was slowly walking back in, her eyes still locked onto Pinkie Pie. As she drew nearer, Pinkie bowed her head and exhaled.

“Princess Celestia, Fluttershy,” Pinkie said solemnly, “What do we have to do to save your friends?” She felt a hoof land on her shoulder, and looked to her side to see Fluttershy beaming at her glum face with a bright smile.

“Our friends,” Fluttershy corrected her.

The left corner of Pinkie’s mouth curved upward ever so slightly, and she nodded her head, repeating the words. “Our friends.”

Princess Celestia smiled briefly, then turned her gaze to Twilight and the tear in the dream’s fabric just behind her. “We must first seal up this opening so it can’t be used by the changelings,” she said, walking towards Twilight and pouring a beam of white energy into her. Twilight’s eyes slowly opened, and she looked around groggily.

“What happened?” Twilight asked, dazed from having been knocked unconscious a second time in a row so quickly.

“No time to rest yet, my student,” Celestia said. “We must finish our task of sealing the rift. Stand and help me.” Twilight nodded and quickly rose to her hooves, with a slight stumble before turning to face the rift. The two ponies began to close the portal once again, this time uninterrupted.

“We should go check on those two,” Fluttershy gestured towards the far tower where Applejack and Rainbow Dash had been fighting. “I hope they’re both okay.”

The two began to walk slowly down the steps at the front of the castle and around to the courtyard where they had seen Applejack and Rainbow Dash fall from its far top corner.

“You hope they’re both okay?” asked Pinkie, a bit confused. “What about Applejack? She turned into a changeling.” She sneered her face a bit as she said the last part.

“Even if she became a changeling, she was still Applejack up until that point,” said Fluttershy as they came to the edge of the cliff that steeply dropped to the ravine below. “She always looked out for everypony in town, and even lost her eye to save my life. If we can get that Applejack back somehow, I’ll be so relieved.”

“I just don’t understand how you think we’ll manage that at this point,” said Pinkie as she and Fluttershy spread their wings and began to steadily descend into the chasm below.

“Princess Celestia says that since this is my dream, I can make it whatever I want, I just have to figure out how,” replied Fluttershy, slightly winded. She was still exhausted from taking all the punches from Pinkie Pie earlier, and despite her stellar performance when flying from Cloudsdale earlier, she felt none of that power now. “I just have to figure out how to use that strange power.”

“Well let’s hope you figure it out soon, look!” said Pinkie, pointing towards the ravine’s floor. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were lying in a pool of blood and mud, but both of them were still breathing. The two ponies landed gently on the soft earth and approached Rainbow Dash, who was lying on her side up against the cliff wall. She opened her eyes and glanced up at them.

Rainbow Dash breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the two of them not fighting. She gazed up at Fluttershy and smiled.

“You’re safe...” Rainbow said weakly.

Fluttershy closed her eyes and shook her head, fighting back tears.

“But you’re not!” Fluttershy yelled, kneeling in front her the blue pegasus. “How could you be so careless?” She couldn’t resist the sadness that was building up inside her any longer, and sobbed, lowering her head.

“I’ll be fine!” boasted Rainbow Dash, but then twitched as a sharp pain shot up her back. Her broken wings lay behind her, twisted and frazzled.

“I don’t believe you,” said Fluttershy, opening her eyes to look at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash frowned, her act of confidence having proven futile in this situation.

“Me neither...” the rainbow-maned pegasus said. “I hate to admit it, but I think I’m probably done for. I know because I’ve felt this before... in Cloudsdale.” She lowered her gaze toward the ground.

“Dashie...” said Fluttershy, reaching a hoof out to her.

“It’s okay, Fluttershy,” said Rainbow. “I know... I know I’m not really Rainbow Dash. I’m not really... your friend. I just look and act like her.” her voice wavered as tears slowly started to escape from the corners of her eyes.

“Dashie, that’s just--” Fluttershy started, but was interrupted by Rainbow Dash again.

“It’s okay! Really!” she said, putting on a grin despite the sadness that was painted all over her face, streaking down it in bluish-gray hues. “You have to go on and save the real Rainbow Dash. Your real friend. I’m just--”

A yellow hoof pressed firmly against Dash’s lips, shutting her up completely. Fluttershy stared down at her, and Rainbow stared back. Fluttershy’s bright eyes were so wide and intense, Rainbow Dash doubted she could continue to speak even if she wanted to.

“That’s not true, Dashie! You may just be part of my dream, but that’s because you’re made up of my precious memories!” Fluttershy said with a scolding tone in her voice. She lowered her eyelids and spoke more calmly, pulling her hoof away from Dash’s mouth.

“You’re the Rainbow Dash of my memories. You’re the filly who befriended me at summer flight camp when nopony else would give me a chance. You’re the one who stood up for me in front of all those bullies. You’re the dear friend who pushed me to better myself, to believe in myself. You can be brash and noisy, and even insensitive at times, but nopony is perfect. Its all those things that make the real Rainbow Dash so special to me, and so even though you aren’t the real one, you’re made up of all those special, wonderful things - All those things that I love and care about.”

Rainbow Dash’s tears welled up in her eyes and began to flow freely. She sniffled and continued to stare back at Fluttershy’s, and remembered everything that was recalled, the sweet memories they shared together.

“You, Rainbow Dash... You were the first friend I ever had, and I’ve finally realized something else that is so very special about you,” Fluttershy continued, her own tears falling down her cheeks now as well. “You’re the only one I ever really accepted love from in return. I was so afraid of failing and causing trouble for my friends, I never truly wanted them to care for me. But somehow you were different. I think it’s because... I know deep down inside that no matter what happens, no matter how bad things get, Rainbow Dash will always be there to save the day. She’ll always come to our rescue... to my rescue. That’s the Rainbow Dash I love, that’s the Rainbow Dash who loves me back, and that is precisely who you are!”

Even Pinkie Pie had fallen back to her rump and started to cry at this point. Rainbow Dash smiled up at Fluttershy radiantly, her mane almost seeming to glow like a real rainbow. The yellow aura that she and Fluttershy had both been surrounded by before had returned, and was brighter than ever, lighting up the surroundings.

A gleam from the distance caught their attentions, and all three ponies turned to look in its direction. The light coming from Fluttershy had reflected from Applejack’s eye, which was locked onto the yellow pegasus.

Applejack laughed and tried to pick herself up, but her forelegs gave way and she fell back forward, unable to carry her own weight after such a fall.

“None of that matters,” Applejack hissed. “You think that if you somehow manage to escape from the cocoons that you’ll be able to stand against us? You know nothing.” She grinned and let her chin sink into the mud, still laughing as she spoke, interspersed with small coughs.

Rainbow Dash grinned at Applejack. “Your face,” she chuckled. “I wasn’t too far off!”

Applejack sighed. “Still so cocky, but I guess that’s just how Rainbow Dash is,” she said, ceasing her laughter. “It’s a shame you’re stuck in this dream. You’ll never even get to see your friends crushed at the hooves of The Order.”

The Order? thought Fluttershy. What’s that?

Author's Note

Thanks to everyone who volunteered to help edit this thing!

We've got 3 chapters to go in Book Two, everypony! I hope I can make the finale as epic as I envision it! Not to mention I really want to try and get those last three chapters out as fast as possible. At this rate, I'll be writing this fanfic for years. Gotta pick up the pace!

And now after another read through of this, and a couple last-minute edits, I am pretty happy with how this has turned out. :)

Overgrowth Ch 8 - A Dash of Hope

Book Two: Overgrowth

Chapter Eight: A Dash of Hope

Twilight Sparkle stood silently, concentrating on the solemn task before her. In a matter of seconds, she would lose sight of her dear childhood friend and foalsitter, Cadence, until she could really come to her aid. The two ends of the portal, one being sealed by Princess Celestia, and the other by Twilight herself, inched closer and closer. Twilight lifted her gaze towards the opening one last time, holding her right hoof towards it.

“We’ll be there soon, Cadence,” she said bravely. Cadence lay limply on the other end, and Twilight knew she could not hear her words. She said them all the same, though, and as the portal finally closed, the last image to come through was a single, shining tear falling down Cadence’s cheek.

Twilight sighed and shook her head, turning it towards Celestia, who was standing similarly with one hoof extended, a tear having left a line on her own cheek. Twilight remained silent, allowing the princess a moment to her own thoughts.

“Twilight,” Celestia calmly said, finally breaking the silence.

“Yes?” Twilight responded quietly, her small voice echoing off the now silent walls around them.

“They can never be forgiven,” said Celestia, her voice smooth and filled with unwavering determination.

Twilight had known the princess for many years, studied under her as a mentor, and had countless conversations with her. She had seen her amazing magical ability, and knew how powerful she was. Despite all that, those five words which were spoken so calmly sent shivers up Twilight Sparkle’s spine. It was the first time in her life that Princess Celestia had truly frightened her, the thought of her vengeance leaving Twilight at a loss for words.

“We are in far greater danger than I had first thought, my student,” Celestia said as she turned and approached Twilight. She lifted her gaze skyward and closed her eyes, concentrating on the magical auras that were flowing through the vicinity. “Have you sensed a strange and powerful magic in this dream?”

“There’s been so much strange energy flowing all over, but I haven’t noticed anything that stood out, no,” Twilight replied, closing her eyes and concentrating as well.

“Pinkie Pie was not merely wielding magic that was borrowed from me,” Celestia said, her voice grave and tense. “A source of magic, likely from the outside, has given her a significant boost in raw power. This magic is dark, and its power rivals my own. I’ve felt it before, but I can not quite place where or how. It has been haunting me for a while now, and even after feeling its strength I am no closer to pinpointing its origin.”

Twilight furrowed her brow, surprised to hear her teacher at a loss when it came to magic. “Surely there can’t be many in the world who could hold such power,” Twilight pondered. “If it’s not you or Princess Luna, then who else could be at such a high level?”

Princess Celestia placed a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “There is much we must discuss, Twilight Sparkle,” she said, having taken on her teaching voice, which Twilight was all too familiar with. “Walk with me, and I shall tell you about The Order of Ismara.”

At the bottom of the Ravine, the changeling that was impersonating Applejack laughed as the others stared at it with confusion.

“The Order will destroy any hopes you may think you have of winning,” Applejack said with a sneer. “The changelings you’ve faced before have been nothing but grunts. The Order is an elite magic division, and you have no chance against us.”

“Us?” questioned Fluttershy. “Are you in this... order?”

Rainbow Dash laughed, gripping her ribs from the pain it caused. “Please, don’t make me laugh, it hurts!” she pleaded. “If you’re one of the elite, I think we’ve got this in the bag!” She continued to laugh, grimacing with pain. Fluttershy sat down beside her and tried to hold her steady, taking her head in her forelegs.

“You won’t have dream magic to help you in the real world!” snapped Applejack. “You’ll all fall before The Order of Ismara!”

“The Order of Ismara?” asked Twilight, turning and walking with the princess towards the castle’s entryway. “I don’t think I’ve ever read about them before.”

“You wouldn’t have,” Celestia responded. “There is no existing text that contains any information about them. They are only known by myself and my sister, and even she is not fully aware of everything about them. The Order became known to me just before the incident with Nightmare Moon one thousand years ago. At first, I was only aware of their leader, Ismara, a unicorn with great power and variety in her magical abilities. I had never seen a unicorn with her raw abilities before.”

“You said that to me on the day we met,” Twilight interrupted, looking up at Celestia’s jaggedly serious expression. Celestia glanced down at the smaller pony and nodded.

“And it was true that day, as well. Your potential is greater than Ismara’s was, though rest assured that she was quite the prodigy as well,” Celestia continued as the two ponies passed through the large, broken doorway and into the courtyard of the ancient castle. “Ismara truly became emboldened after Nightmare Moon’s banishment, though. She knew that I was trying to keep the incident as contained as possible, not wanting anypony to realize I had sealed my own sister in the moon. She requested an audience, and I accepted, having already taken an interest in her. She revealed to me that she had mastered a powerful form of illusion magic that would not only allow her to look and sound like Princess Luna, but would also give her the ability to at least appear to be able to raise and lower the moon at night.”

Twilight gasped slightly and tilted her head in confusion. “How is that even possible? That sort of magic is beyond unicorns of even the highest level,” she gawked in disbelief.

“Right you are, and at first I was also skeptical of her claim. Even if it were an illusion, such a large one should be impossible,” the princess replied. The two ponies were approaching the tower where Applejack and Rainbow Dash had fought. “But her aim was not to convince me of anything, it was merely to pique my curiosity, in which she succeeded. I had her perform her magic, and I couldn’t have been more amazed. She did indeed appear to pull the moon up into the star-dotted sky, though in reality I had merely lowered the sun.”

“There had to be a trick, though,” said Twilight, squinting her eyes in disbelief.

“There was indeed. My foolish desire to maintain some sort of order for the kingdom had blinded me. I had taken her word too easily and let her get too close to me.” Celestia sighed. “The next part of the tale is a bit confusing, unfortunately, and I still do not fully understand it all. As with any good trick, the audience is left wondering, and I am still wondering to this day.”

Twilight nodded and continued to listen as they approached the ledge that overlooked the ravine where their friends had fallen.

“I don’t know how, but all of my guards and advisors had been switched without me noticing. They were all changelings, and Ismara herself was one as well. She wasn’t a changeling like any I had seen before, though,” Celestia said, spreading her wings and lifting Twilight Sparkle up so they could descend into the deep trench. “She had large, beautiful wings like that of a butterfly, black as the darkest night with bright patches of white. Her subordinates, who had replaced all of my inner guards, were just the same. They wore armor unlike that of changelings I had seen in the past, and all had regal, black horns. At the base of their horns were large, single holes that had different colored gemstones inset. To this day, I think those gems must have had something to do with their magical potency.”

“Do you think they’re behind the strange power you felt?” asked Twilight. “It would make sense for them to be involved since they were changelings.”

“The Order is almost surely involved, but I don’t think it’s them,” Celestia answered. “Ismara is dead, along with her order. After revealing to me that they were changelings, Ismara made a display of her true power to me and rose the sun on her own. I don’t mean she created an illusion, I mean she actually... raised the sun.”

Twilight shook her head with confusion. “I thought you said that was impossible for her, though,” she said.

“It should have been. No, It definitely was, but she did it all the same. I still don’t understand how, but she did it through me somehow. She and her guards all began wielding immense magical power at that point. They aimed it all at me, surely meaning to end my life. They were not successful, of course, foolishly thinking that I had no defense magic in place. The powerful magic that was aimed at me was reflected right back at them, and they were obliterated on the spot. Ismara was the only one who was still alive after the explosion of magic, and she could barely speak for the mere minute that she hung on to life.”

“So wait, if The Order was destroyed, how can they be involved? Why even tell me this?” asked Twilight, now completely baffled.

“With her dying breath,” Celestia said, looking down grimly at the ground as it approached. “Ismara told me that The Order wasn’t finished, and that she would be back to haunt me some day. I fear that day has come.”

“Consider this a warning, my little ponies,” said Applejack with a grin. “Look at me, and remember my face well, for if you see another like me, you are in serious trouble.” Applejack’s features began to dissolve away, revealing the dark face of a changeling underneath. Though recognizable as a changeling, there were drastic differences.

Her face came to a much sharper point at the tip of the snout, and vein-like golden coloring lined her jaw. The golden veins went up and around her eyes and to her ears, which were sharply pointed as well. Her horn was long and straight, with a hole at its base. Her eyes, which were both still present despite this dream’s Applejack having lost one, were a bright green, unlike the typical changeling drones which all had pale blue eyes.

“I shouldn’t even be telling or showing you any of this,” the changeling said with a sigh. “It’s almost as if... I somehow felt that I had to. Somehow compelled by this pony I’ve taken the form of, especially after losing to Rainbow Dash.”

“Well, thanks... I guess,” said Pinkie Pie with a shrug. The sound of hooves landing heavily on the ground behind her made her twist her head around just in time to see Princess Celestia setting Twilight Sparkle on the ground. The princess’ eyes were locked squarely on the changeling, and she advanced towards it quickly.

“How many of The Order are in Canterlot? How are you controlling these dreams?” she asked loudly, staring down at the changeling.

“Oh, don’t expect me to tell you everything!” the changeling chuckled. “I only said as much as I did because I felt like it. I’ve got no obligation to say any more. In fact... I think I feel myself slipping away. Looks like this pony’s time is up in this dream world.” The changeling laughed as Applejack’s face quickly reappeared, along with the rest of her body, leaving no sign that she’d been a changeling.

“No!” shouted Celestia, shaking Applejack’s body with her front hoof. “Come back!” Applejack coughed out a weak laugh and grinned up at the princess one last time before falling completely limp.

“No...” came Fluttershy’s voice from behind the rest of the group, soft and sad, punctuated with a sniffle. Twilight, Celestia, and Pinkie turned their heads and found Fluttershy hugging Rainbow Dash’s head tightly in her forelegs, pressing her face into her rainbow-colored mane. Rainbow Dash lay motionless in her grasp, her eyes peacefully shut.

“Please, no... not again, I can’t take it,” Fluttershy cried, shaking her head softly back and forth against Rainbow Dash’s bright hair. “I lost you once today, already, and I don’t want to see you go again. It’s all my fault, you saved me both times, and I couldn’t stop it.”

“Fluttershy, what do you mean... twice?” asked Twilight with hesitation, reaching out to the crying mare. Celestia placed a hoof on Twilight’s foreleg and shook her head.

“I sensed it earlier, but did not say anything,” Celestia admitted. “Rainbow Dash was full of - rather, alive because of Fluttershy’s power. She was, in a way, an extension of Fluttershy in a very real sense.”

“In Cloudsdale,” Fluttershy started between sobs, “we were attacked by dragons. It was terrible. They burned and destroyed everything. In the end, Rainbow Dash saved me, but... she didn’t make it. She died... right there in front of me... and I couldn’t stop it. I felt so powerless! I felt so weak! There I was, relying on her, and she couldn’t count on me at all!”

Fluttershy hugged Rainbow Dash’s head closer, continuing. “That’s when that strange power filled me up. I couldn’t control it. I just knew... I knew I could fix everything. I knew I could save Rainbow Dash! I knew I could save everypony!” she began to yell, a bright yellow glow emanating from her body and puffing from her mouth as she spoke.

“Fluttershy, calm down,” Celestia said calmly, taking a step towards her. “Your power is rising too quickly. You could-”

“I could do it again!” Fluttershy yelled. “I will do it again! I’ll save her! I’ll save everypony, and make this dream happy!” She clenched her eyes shut, yellow energy now pouring out from every inch of her body. Her eyes shot open after a moment, her head twisted upward toward the sky, and beams of light fired from her eyes into the dark, starry night. The other ponies around her flinched and covered their eyes, blinded by the sudden outburst.

Fluttershy opened her eyes and found herself standing in the middle of a dark cloud of nothingness. Ahead of her, she could make out a small pool of water. She approached it, and looked down at her own reflection. Staring back up at her was something she hadn’t seen for many years - she was a filly. She blinked and turned her head, looking at her flank, which was plain and bare. Before she knew it, cloudy hallways had appeared all around her, and she realized she was standing outside the restroom at summer flight camp near Cloudsdale. She turned back to the water and found that it was a basin up against the wall, a mirror hanging right behind it. She gazed into the mirror and could tell she’d been crying.

Then from behind her came a familiar voice. “Those big bullies don’t know when to stop!” it said. “Sorry about that. I should have said something. I just... couldn’t.”

Fluttershy turned around and saw an equally young Rainbow Dash standing there, her gaze turned down toward the ground, her front right hoof drawing circles along it.

“Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked, still puzzled by how she ended up there.

“Yeah, that’s my name. I guess you remember, not that it’s hard considering my mane,” Rainbow Dash said with a chuckle. “You’re Fluttershy, right?”

Fluttershy nodded.

“Look, those jerks are so full of themselves, someone should knock them down a peg! Don’t you think so?” Rainbow Dash asked, finally raising her head to look at Fluttershy directly.

“Oh, I don’t know,” said Fluttershy meekly, surprised at how different her voice sounded in this young form of herself. Despite the sudden jarring change of scenery, Fluttershy remembered this moment well and played along. “I’m... used to it.”

“You shouldn’t have to be used to it!” Rainbow Dash insisted, raising a hoof in the air and flapping her small wings. “The next time those windbags start getting on your case, just tell me, and I’ll set ‘em straight!”

Fluttershy blushed, the impact of this pony she’d only just met for the first time offering to help her still making her speechless, just like she was back then. She nodded her head and smiled softly.

“We’re friends now! Friends look out for each other! Okay?” stated Rainbow Dash confidently. “My dad told me to never leave a friend hanging, and I won’t!”

Fluttershy smiled up at Rainbow Dash and nodded her head again.

You were the first pony to ever call me a friend, even though I know you were one of the ones teasing me just earlier that day, Fluttershy thought to herself. You never did tell me what made you change your mind and want to protect me instead of laughing at me, but it felt so wonderful all the same. I had never felt that way before.

With the blink of an eye, Fluttershy found herself tumbling through the air towards a patch of clouds below. She landed with a thud, shook her head, and looked up to find herself face to face with two of the bullies who had been teasing her the entire week.

“Nice one, Klutzershy!” one of the colts laughed. “They oughtta ground you permanently!”

“Leave her alone!” came Rainbow Dash’s voice as she zipped into view, placing herself between the bullies and Fluttershy.

“Ooh, what are you gonna do, Rainbow Crash?” one of the bullies taunted.

“Keep makin’ fun of her and find out!” Rainbow Dash shouted back defiantly.

Fluttershy huddled closer to the ground, trying to hide from the argument that was unfolding in front of her.

You can get so confrontational sometimes, even with me. It’s kind of scary, but I love it, too, Fluttershy thought as she observed this moment from her past.

Fluttershy closed her eyes and recalled more of that day. We both got our cutie marks that day. All of us did, really, and it was all thanks to you, Fluttershy thought as scenes of the race and her subsequent fall to the ground filled her mind. But you never did truly see how great you were, even though I tried to show you.

When Fluttershy opened her eyes again, she found herself sitting in her dorm room on the campus of Cloudsdale’s high school.

I’d been forced to live in these dorms by my parents, she recalled. They wanted me to make friends and stop being so shy. She turned her head and saw Rainbow Dash sitting on her bed, a flustered look on her face.

But the only friend I ever had, was you, she remembered.

“I just got so tired of the teachers. They didn’t do anything but give me a hard time. How can you stand it, Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash said, not taking her eyes off the ground, her voice full of frustration.

“I don’t know, I think they’re nice... You should come back to school, Dashie,’ Fluttershy said quietly. “I’m sure we could figure out something.”

Rainbow Dash sighed. “They don’t want me there, and I don’t want to be there,” she said, hopping down from the bed. “Sorry to disappoint you. I should go, though. Thanks for listening, at least.” Rainbow Dash lifted the window and leapt out, taking to the sky without giving Fluttershy another moment to even respond.

You were so sad, and I couldn’t help you. Fluttershy thought with a sigh. I graduated later that year, and left for Ponyville. I never did see you after graduation to say goodbye.

Fluttershy saw herself standing at a train station below Cloudsdale, boarding a passenger car. As the train pulled away, tears flowed down her face. I was running away, and I knew it, she thought. I knew deep down inside that I’d never see you, my only friend, ever again.

A second later, Fluttershy found herself standing in the doorway of her cottage in Ponyville, breathing heavily and staring at Rainbow Dash, who was right outside with Pinkie Pie by her side.

“It’s you,” said Fluttershy, not even blinking. Rainbow Dash looked just as regal and confident as she remembered.

“It’s me,” said Rainbow Dash, staring back with an odd expression on her face.

Fluttershy leapt forward and tackled Rainbow to the ground, hugging her. She began to cry.

“I thought I’d never see you again!” said Fluttershy, pressing her face to Rainbow Dash’s chest.

I really did think that, too, but you came back to me all the same, Fluttershy thought, smiling to herself. From that day, you showed me just how a loyal friend should be. You introduced me to so many ponies, even on that first night of our reunion. You’d already made more friends in a single day than I had in an entire year.

Fluttershy sighed. “And I thought I could live up to your expectations. I thought I could come out of my shell and try to be as good a friend to you as you were to me,” she said out loud, finding herself now standing in a dark void once again. “But I couldn’t. It was too much for me. The pressure of everypony trying to get close to me... I knew I’d only let them down. I knew it deep in my heart.”

Rainbow Dash appeared in a flash in front of Fluttershy. She smiled and raised a hoof up, patting Fluttershy firmly on the top of her head. “Don’t worry so much about stuff like that. Friends stand by each other and never leave another friend hanging! Remember?” She pushed a hoof out towards Fluttershy, holding it steadily.

Fluttershy nodded, her lips trembling. With another flash, she found herself surrounded by her friends, all standing in a half-circle in front of her.

“Rainbow Dash is right, Fluttershy,” said Twilight, walking towards her and putting her hoof out on top of Rainbow Dash’s. “We’ll always be there for each other.”

Rarity approached next, daintily placing her hoof onto the forming pile. “Just be yourself, darling,” she said with a smile and a wink. “After all, that’s the Fluttershy we love.”

Applejack pushed her hoof firmly onto Rarity’s and grinned at Fluttershy. “No matter what you may think,” she said with a chuckle, “We’re yer friends, and yer stuck with us!”

Pinkie Pie leapt forward and slammed her hoof down onto Applejack’s. “Now come on, Fluttershy! Let’s see that smile!” she yelled with a big toothy grin.

Fluttershy raised her head and smiled at her friends, placing her hoof on the top of the stack. “I’m so sorry how this dream turned out. It should never have been like this, so scary and sad. After all, I have such wonderful friends who all care so much about me!” she said, becoming choked up as she spoke. “Just you watch! I’m going to make this world a happier place!”

Her friends all nodded their heads happily, and began to fade into clouds of magical energy, flowing into Fluttershy’s chest, causing her to glow and shimmer many colors of magic. Only she and Rainbow Dash remained, their hooves still extended, smiling at one another.

Rainbow Dash flashed a huge, toothy smile, her eyebrows lowering. “Well, let’s do this!” she shouted, her mane erupting in rainbow-colored light, firing away in all directions, piercing the darkness around them and revealing a bright, sunny sky beyond.

Fluttershy pushed herself forward and wrapped her forelegs around Rainbow Dash, placing her head on her shoulder. “Yes! Let’s save this world!” she said with confidence as their magical energy began to swirl around and mix.

Fluttershy sat on the ground of the ravine, still hugging Rainbow Dash’s head closely, her eyes pouring out light towards the sky. Rainbow Dash began to glow as well, the colors of the rainbow swirling around the two of them.

The others were still flinching back, only a matter of a few seconds having passed for them since Fluttershy’s eyes shot skyward. The beams of light that were piercing the heavens began to be filled with color, and an explosion resembling a sonic rainboom erupted far above them. The colorful circle of light shot outward and expanded, washing over the land as far as could be seen.

Twilight Sparkle looked up towards the top of the ravine and saw vines and tree branches receding back into the forest. “Do you think... Do you think she really did it?” Twilight asked hopefully. The only response was the sound of coughing from behind her. She turned around and saw Applejack standing up and brushing mud from her coat. She flipped her hair to the side, revealing a complete pair of eyes from underneath.

Pinkie Pie leapt into the air and cheered, flapping her wings and waving her forelegs wildly. “They’re doing it! It’s Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash! They’re doing it!” she yelled with hyperactive jubilation that was more Pinkie-like than she had been in a long time.

“Well I’ll be,” said Applejack, placing a hoof to her face. “Thought I’d never see outta both eyes again.” She grinned, looking up at the sky. The beams of light from Fluttershy’s eyes were still hanging in the air like beacons, with swirls of rainbow-colored magic circling around them.

Twilight raised an eyebrow and looked at Applejack suspiciously. “And... you don’t find anything strange about this?” she asked, this having been the second time she’d expected Fluttershy’s power to cause a changeling transformation.

Applejack shook her head and shrugged. “Not really. Why?” she responded quite plainly.

Twilight sighed with frustration, almost wanting to point out exactly what was strange about the whole situation, but decided against it just in case.

Celestia leaned her head down to Twilight and whispered in her ear. “I have a theory about that, I’ll tell you later, when we’re alone.” Twilight nodded in response.

A moment later, the beams of light and colorful energy suddenly vanished from the sky. Fluttershy slouched forward over Rainbow Dash, breathing heavily, her mane draped down over them like a pink curtain.

“Fluttershy, are you alright?” Twilight asked, reaching a hoof out towards the yellow pegasus.

Fluttershy nodded, raising her head up, her mane parting and revealing Rainbow Dash’s face, which was still motionless, her eyes still closed, and a smile on her face.

Fluttershy smiled back down at Rainbow Dash’s peaceful expression, her eyelids hanging heavily over her sparkling, teary eyes.

“Thanks, Dashie,” she said softly. “We did it. We saved everypony.”

Silence hung in the air, and the moon glowed brightly above.

Author's Note

A couple of notes, for those interested.

The canon for Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash's reunion in Ponyville is taken straight out of another fanfiction I wrote, called "Wonderbolts... Yeah, Right." - If you want to know more about Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash's past as according to me, give it a read. The situation where she sees Rainbow Dash outside her door with Pinkie Pie is the day Rainbow Dash moves to Ponyville, and finds out that Fluttershy has been living as a shut-in for a year.

A while ago I was asked by Arkaine Deao if Season 3 was going to influence my writing, and I responded at the time that it was not going to. However, I can say that it has had a small amount of influence on this chapter, but only in the form of Rainbow Dash referring to her dad. Originally, she was going to say her mom, but the scene in Games Ponies Play with RD standing on her dad's shoulders was so cute, I couldn't resist slipping in a mention of him. Who knows, maybe he'll make an appearance later on if I can work it in.

As far as further influences from Season 3, I don't forsee much. If anything, some of the things revealed in season 3 have only strengthened the story I've got planned. Nothing has lessened it in the slightest, so I am extremely pleased about that.

Overgrowth Ch 9 - Interface

Book Two: Overgrowth

Chapter Nine: Interface

“What’s wrong with Rainbow Dash?” asked Pinkie Pie, leaning over Fluttershy and staring down at Dash’s peaceful face. “Is she... gonna be okay?”

Fluttershy shook her head sadly, still holding Rainbow Dash’s head in her forelegs. She didn’t need to say anything. Pinkie Pie fell back to her haunches, staring sadly at Rainbow Dash, a tear escaping from the corner of her eye. Applejack reached for her hat and, upon realizing it wasn’t on her head, simply lowered her gaze and placed a hoof over her chest. Twilight and Celestia bowed their heads as well, as silence surrounded the four ponies.

“Fluttershy, couldn’t you...” Twilight said, breaking the silence. She raised her eyes and saw Fluttershy shaking her head again.

“Not this time,” said Fluttershy quietly. “She gave everything she had, all of herself, to help save this world. I... tried to bring her back again, but I just couldn’t. There’s nothing left but... an empty shell.”

“Fluttershy, I’m so sorry. I know this has to be hard on you, seeing her like this twice in one day,” said Twilight, reaching out towards Fluttershy. To her surprise, Fluttershy looked up at her and smiled. Twilight smiled back and closed her eyes, memories of Rainbow Dash filling her head. Even though it wasn’t the real Rainbow Dash, she’d fought with all of the bravery and loyalty of the real one. The distinction began to become blurred in Twilight’s mind and a surge of sadness erupted from her heart.

Twilight fell forward, throwing her forelegs around Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, her cries echoing across the ravine, shortly accompanied by wails from Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. Applejack strided slowly towards her friends, fighting back her own emotions as she had become accustomed to recently, and stood silently over them as they wept, head bowed.

After a short time, the sudden wave of emotions having been spent, the air became still and quiet again. Twilight sat embracing Fluttershy, with Pinkie Pie’s forelegs and wings wrapped around her from behind. She could hear nothing but the comforting breathing of her friends and herself until suddenly, a small, muffled voice began to chirp from her side.

“Twilight! Twilight! What’s happening?” shouted the small voice, barely audible. Twilight’s head jerked up and her left ear twitched. Pinkie Pie pulled back, her gaze locking onto the source of the tiny voice: Twilight’s saddle bag. The small bag had been surprisingly undamaged despite everything that had happened, and now that Pinkie Pie had pulled her wings back, the sound coming from it was much less muffled. It was clearly Pinkie’s own voice.

“What was that?” asked Pinkie Pie, turning her eyes up to Twilight’s face nervously. Twilight, now realizing that it was Pinkie Twi’s voice coming through the communication gem, grinned sheepishly and shrugged.

“That? Oh, that was nothing...” she said nervously, donning the worst poker face imaginable. “I mean... what was what?” She glanced up at Applejack, who was now staring down at the two of them suspiciously.

“Whaddya mean ‘What was what?’” the tiny voice piped up again. “That loud noise and then everypony crying!” Twilight coughed and cleared her throat, partially covering up the second half of Pinkie Twi’s question.

“Awfully noisy for nothing,” said Pinkie, squinting her eyes. Applejack was bearing down on the small huddle of ponies now, her eyes taking on a slight green glow. Twilight looked up at her and saw Celestia standing right behind her, horn glowing, ready to strike if need be. Twilight gulped, trying to think of anything to say.

Fluttershy pulled her wings up above her in a stretch, her gaze also aimed right at Applejack. “Sorry, that was me,” she said timidly. “What’s happened... it still hasn’t sunk in. I just can’t believe... Rainbow Dash is...” She sniffled, placing a hoof over her mouth.

Twilight sighed in relief as Applejack’s eyes returned to normal. She was amazed at the bravery Fluttershy was showing even now. This is more sad to her than anypony here, and yet she could still think clearly enough to get through that little scare, Twilight thought. Of course, she’s probably not acting at all. I can’t imagine what she’s feeling, despite the outburst I just had.

“It’s okay, Fluttershy. It’s really hard to believe,” said Twilight, turning her head down towards her saddle bag. “I’m sure nopony here wanted to be the first to break the silence.” She tightened her lips, hoping that Pinkie Twi got the hint, and was pleased to not hear another peep from her bag. The pressing of lips against Twilight’s ear caused her to shiver and freeze up as Pinkie Pie’s voice whispered to her.

“Hiding it from Applejack? After what happened, I’m not surprised,” Pinkie breathed, sending wafts of warm air into Twilight’s ear. “I know it’s that gem, though. I still can’t get it out of my head, so you’d better tell me all about it later.”

Twilight simply nodded in response. Pinkie smiled and stood up, stretched out her wings, and reached a hoof down to Twilight. Twilight reluctantly reached up and pulled herself back to her hooves, taking a deep breath.

The six ponies slowly made their way out of the ravine. Those with wings carried those who could not fly.

“So, you gotta tell me ‘bout what happened up there,” said Applejack, looking up at Pinkie Pie as they flew up and out of the gorge. “How did I survive that fall, but Rainbow...” she stopped, having to swallow hard to keep from crying. Pinkie Pie sighed and looked down at her orange companion.

“It was the force of a great explosion that caused this all,” Pinkie said, only bending the truth slightly. “What we saw up there... the thing that caused us all so much pain... I guess it wasn’t done, even after Twilight blasted it.”

“But what was it, really?” asked Applejack. “What was it that was making the forest go crazy? That caused so much heartache and death and pain?”

“I guess...” said Pinkie, pursing her lips in thought for a moment, “It was pain. The pain of being loved.” She stared blankly ahead at the ledge as it was approaching.

Applejack shook her head. “Yer still not makin’ sense, but what else is new, I guess...” she said with a chuckle.

Pinkie Pie laughed and hugged Applejack tightly. “Don’t worry, AJ, I love you.” She grinned widely, her pink locks flowing freely around her face.

Applejack grunted and cocked an eyebrow. “The pain of bein’ loved, eh? Maybe it makes more sense than I thought,” she said, laughing.

The two of them landed alongside Celestia, who had been carrying Twilight, and Fluttershy, who gently laid Rainbow Dash’s body on a bed of grass. The ponies looked around in amazement. The Everfree Forest was restored to how it had been before, though that was not much comfort to them.

“Remember, girls,” Twilight said, straightening her saddlebag, “this is the Everfree Forest. Just because it’s back to how it was doesn’t mean it’s any less dangerous. We need a plan of action to get through here.”

Applejack put a hoof to her chin in thought, her leadership instincts kicking in. “All right, seein’ as three’a you can fly, ya’ll should take wing and be lookouts. You can holler down if ya see anything, and dive down to us if we git inta any trouble.”

Celestia nodded. “A fine idea, Applejack. You and Twilight will stay on the ground then, and we shall do our best to support you from the air,” she said. “Luckily, it’s almost dawn. Let us rest here for now until it is time to raise the sun.”

Everyone agreed, and Applejack went off to the more wooded sections ahead of them to gather fuel for a fire. Twilight whispered something into Celestia’s ear, and the two of them walked away from the others once Applejack was out of sight. Fluttershy simply sat and looked at Rainbow Dash’s peaceful face, stroking her colorful hair with her hoof and smiling as she remembered everything they’d been through.

Pinkie Pie noticed Twilight and Celestia leaving, but became completely distracted by Fluttershy. She sat down next to her quietly for a moment, but felt an urge from deep inside of her to say something--anything--to cheer Fluttershy up.

“So...” Pinkie said after a moment, rubbing her hoof along the ground. “This has been pretty scary, but I bet it’ll get much better soon, right?” She looked down at Rainbow Dash as she spoke and immediately regretted saying anything. “Sorry... I’ll just shut up now...”

Guess I can’t go back to making everypony smile just like that, she thought. She bowed her head and sighed. It’s been too long with nothing to even smile about.

Fluttershy sniffled and unfolded her wings, wrapping one around Pinkie Pie. Pinkie looked up to see Fluttershy’s smiling face, though tears were still running down her cheeks. “It’s okay,” she said, genuine gratitude in her voice. “It’s the thought that counts.”

Pinkie couldn’t help but notice that Fluttershy’s face was still slightly bruised and cut from where she had been punched earlier. “Why couldn’t you do something about your face?” she asked.

Fluttershy nodded. “Oh yes, I could have, but I didn’t. Somehow, the little pain that’s left is a reminder,” she said, turning her gaze back down towards Rainbow Dash. “A reminder of what I’ve learned, and what the price of that lesson was.”

“But...” Pinkie Pie started, not sure what to say. “That was because of me. I was so... lost in my hatred and pain, I couldn’t...”

Fluttershy hugged Pinkie Pie closer with her wing, now wrapping a hoof around her as well, and squeezing tightly. “Don’t worry, Pinkie. We’ll all smile again, soon enough. I know it,” she said behind stifled sadness.

Pinkie Pie stared down at Rainbow Dash, who wore a peaceful expression on her face, her smile still spread widely and gently across its surface.

“She looks happy, at least,” said Pinkie, lifting her gaze skyward. “She’s just missing a little something.”

Fluttershy looked up, too, and nodded her head. “You’re right.”

The two of them took off, flying straight up into the night.

On the other side of the clearing, Celestia nodded down at Twilight and took the pink communication gem from her. She lifted it up and inspected it briefly before nervously placing it in her ear.

“Okay, Pinkie,” said Twilight. “Explain to Princess Celestia what you’ve just told me about.”

Celestia nodded her head a few times, a small, inaudible voice going non-stop just inside her ear. The princess cycled through many facial expressions, all the while listening quietly and attentively. She smiled briefly, then frowned, her eyes narrowing in thought. She nodded a couple more times, and then simply uttered one word, “Magnificent.” She removed the gem from her ear and tucked it behind her necklace for safe keeping.

“So, you know what we have to do now,” said Twilight, looking up at the princess.

“Yes,” Celestia responded, patting Twilight on the head. “Honestly, though, Twilight...”

“What?” asked Twilight, giving her mentor a puzzled look.

“You honestly have that many books memoried?” the princess said with a snort. “I told you that you really must get out more instead of reading all those dusty old books.”

Twilight sighed, but laughed. “Yes, yes, but you know me,” she replied. “I just can’t put a good book down.”

The two of them began to walk back to where Pinkie and Fluttershy had been sitting together, and Celestia grinned. “Yes, you can’t put it down ever, apparently,” she retorted.

Twilight laughed again, then turned her gaze downward. “For now, though, we have to get through this journey home,” she said, glancing over at Rainbow Dash. “What happened to Rainbow Dash, and how Fluttershy couldn’t bring her back again... I don’t quite get it. She was able to restore the whole world, so why was saving Rainbow Dash so difficult?”

Celestia stood silently for a moment, then shook her head. “I wish I had an answer for that, I really do,” she responded quietly. “I am not exactly an expert on dreams. From what I do know, I can say that Fluttershy should be able to do anything she wants here. The fact that she couldn’t, or perhaps wouldn’t, do that one thing certainly has a meaning.”

“What sort of meaning could Rainbow Dash’s death possibly have, though?” asked Twilight.

The sound of a tree being bucked in the forest snapped the ponies out of their relaxed states, and soon a rain of twigs were flying from the secluded woods towards them. Celestia and Twilight reacted by stopping the sticks mid-air with a levitation spell, lowering them neatly into a pile. A moment later, Applejack appeared from the shadows, carrying two large logs on her back.

“There’s yer kindlin’!” she said with a chuckle. “Now light us a fire, iff’n ya don’t mind.”

Celestia and Twilight laughed in unison, the tension having broken slightly, and used their magic to levitate all of the wood over to where Rainbow Dash was laying. Pinkie and Fluttershy landed beside her, carrying large tufts of cloud. They carefully placed the clouds onto the ground and lifted Rainbow Dash up onto the fluffy bedding.

The two ponies stood over their fallen friend’s body and breathed sighs of relief.

“She looks much more comfortable, now,” said Pinkie Pie, a somewhat pleased sound to her voice.

Fluttershy nodded, remembering the time just a day earlier where she’d been the one laying on a bed of cloud, and wiped a tear from her eye. “Yes. That’s much better,” she said, turning her head as she heard the sound of the fire being started. The two ponies sat down in front of Rainbow Dash and absorbed the warmth of the flames as they burned into the night.

After around an hour, Celestia leaned towards Fluttershy and whispered in her ear. “It’s almost dawn, Fluttershy. Please stay calm and go along with what I’m about to do. It will help greatly in understanding certain things.”

Fluttershy nodded her head nervously and looked up at the princess, who stood and gazed towards the horizon.

“It is almost time to raise the sun,” Celestia said, the conversation dying down instantly as she spoke. “Close enough, in any case, and its light will be of aid to us.” Everypony nodded in agreement.

“Sounds sensible,” Applejack said. “I guess this is one of the perks of travelin’ with ya, Yer Highness.”

Celestia shook her head and looked down at Fluttershy. “No, not this time,” she said seriously. “Fluttershy will be raising the sun this morning.”

Fluttershy fell over backwards, her head flopping against the bed of cloud behind her. “What?” she asked, then biting her lip, remembering what the princess had said about remaining calm. Pinkie and Twilight stared at Celestia in shock, and Twilight gestured her head towards Applejack, as if the princess had forgotten she was still there.

“Now how in the hay does that work?” asked Applejack. “No offense, but has Pinkie been rubbin’ off on ya?”

“Hey!” shouted Pinkie, an incredulous look on her face.

“No, it’s okay,” said Fluttershy, rising up to her hooves. “I’ll try, Princess.” She closed her eyes and concentrated, feeling the flow of energy within. She immediately noticed that it was stronger than before, though drawing on it still felt like a strain. She took a breath and imagined the morning sky, filled with yellow beams of sunlight. A second later, she felt the sun’s warmth radiating onto her, and heard gasps from everyone around her. She opened her eyes, and it was morning.

Everyone stared at Applejack intently.

“Well...” Applejack started, searching for words. “Guess I was wrong. How ‘bout that?”

The tension died immediately, and everyone relaxed.

“Well, that was a surprise,” said Twilight, resting back down on her haunches.

“Why’s that?” Applejack asked, a bit confused.

“Yes, it’s certainly eye-opening,” Celestia added, nodding her head.

“Like I said, why’s that?” Applejack asked again, annoyed.

“I was really worried,” Fluttershy chimed in, glancing at Applejack.

Applejack threw her hooves into the air. “I knew she could do it! Don’t act like it’s some kinda big deal!” She began to kick dirt into the flames, shaking her head and grumbling the whole time.

“Nicely done, Fluttershy,” Celestia praised the pegasus. Fluttershy nodded her head, her eyes drooping a bit. Celestia looked around at the others, and it started to become clear that everypony was a bit tired, particularly Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie and Applejack were the only ones who seemed unaffected.

I suppose dreams don’t really get tired like we do, she thought. Twilight is right, though, it’s strange that you can become tired in a dream.

“Right, right, now we really should be gettin’ a move on,” said Applejack as she approached Rainbow Dash with slight hesitation. After a moment, she lowered her head and rolled Rainbow’s body onto her back, carefully steadying her. She glanced back once she was stabilized, her lower lip tightening around her teeth. “Carryin’ a fallen friend... A couple months ago, I never imagined I’d see the day. Been all too common, lately...” She sighed and began to walk towards the forest.

“We’ll be overhead if you need us,” Celestia said, patting Twilight on the shoulder. Twilight bobbed her head in response.

“Come on, Twilight!” Applejack was heard yelling, having already made her way into the brush of the Everfree Forest. Twilight turned and galloped to join her as the three winged ponies took to the sky, staying overhead Twilight and Applejack as best they could.

Once she was confident they were high enough in the air, Celestia pulled alongside Pinkie Pie. “I have something you want, Pinkie Pie. Twilight had me hold onto it until I could give it to you,” she said, pulling the pink gem out and holding it up where Pinkie could see it. Pinkie’s eyes immediately lit up, but then she cleared her throat and blinked.

“Oh yeah, that thing,” Pinkie said nonchalantly, glancing towards it occasionally. “So what, exactly, is it? I’m just really... so... drawn to it...” she said as her eyes uncontrollably locked back onto it and her hoof reached out for it anxiously.

“Perhaps you should try it on,” Celestia replied, tapping her other hoof to her ear. Pinkie’s eyes widened, and visions of what had happened last time surfaced. She shook her head and blinked heavily. “Maybe I shouldn’t. I mean, last time I did that, I caused a big mess.”

Fluttershy, who had pulled up to Celestia’s other side, looked across at Pinkie, her hooves shaking a little bit. “Yes, maybe we really shouldn’t-”

“Don’t worry,” Celestia interjected. “I’ve been assured by the other Pinkie that it’s safe, now.”

Pinkie’s eyes sparkled again, and she reached for the gem with both hooves. “‘Other Pinkie?’ You mean that Pinkie with the goggles from Twilight’s dream?” Her mouth stayed gaped open after speaking, the idea of the other Pinkie Pie now stuck in her mind.

Celestia nodded. “She’s anxious to meet you under friendlier terms,” she said with a smile.

Pinkie nodded her head. “Oh, I hope she forgives me for being such a meanie!” she said enthusiastically, her mouth suddenly falling to a frown. “Oh, what if she’s mad? What if she won’t forgive me? I don’t know if I can face her! What should I say?”

“Princess!” a tiny voice emanated from the gemstone. “When you go swimming, it’s best to just dive in!”

Celestia laughed and nodded her head.

“Wait, what’s that mean?” Pinkie protested, starting to lift her hooves to her ears. “Hang on, I’m not ready!” But it was too late.

Celestia thrust the gem into Pinkie’s left ear, and with a burst of pink color, Pinkie’s mane shot up into its usual tangled mess, as if she had suddenly been electrocuted.

Pinkie smiled wider than, perhaps, should be physically possible. Her eyes lit up with sparkles--even the sparkles had sparkles--as Pinkie Twi’s tiny voice filled her cranium.

“So what’s it like being inside Twilight’s head?” Pinkie Shy asked with excitement. Celestia chuckled, realizing that she was going to be hearing half of a conversation the rest of the way home, or at least until something happened below. She decided to fly ahead a bit to keep watch after spotting Twilight and Applejack through a gap in the canopy.

“Um, I guess it’s pretty normal?” said Pinkie Twi quizzically. “I hadn’t really thought about it, but there sure are an awful lot of books in here!”

“Books?” Pinkie Shy pondered.

“Yep, if there’s one word I’d use to describe it, it’s ‘books’! When you think about it, it’s really kind of amazing. I mean, Twilight has to have them memorized for them to be in here, right?”

“Makes sense to me!” Pinkie Shy giggled. “I knew Twilight was a smart cookie, but I didn’t know she was memorizing whole books!”

“Yep, and I’ve learned a lot, that’s how I found out about magic like the kind I used to make that communication gem. When I made it, I just had this feeling like I could do it, but I found out later that it’s a kind of magic called ‘enchanting’! I can do a lot more with it, now. I can even cast spells on that gem you’re using when it’s this far away. That’s how it was able to give you magic, too, though when you first used it, it wasn’t ready yet.”

“Oh, okay! So what other fun things can we do? Can we send each other letters? Or snacks? I could really go for a great big cupcake!”

“Well, no, and why would we need to send letters? We can just talk like this.”

“Oh yeah, I guess I just like letters. But, what else?”

“Not much else, yet. I’m still working through some of the more, let’s say, difficult parts in some of these books. Twilight maybe doesn’t have every single little word memorized, but I'm getting better at filling in the blanks.”

“Filling in the blanks? With spells? Is that... safe?” asked Pinkie Shy, a look of concern suddenly appearing on her face.

“Well, so far I haven’t blown up Sugarcube Corner or anything... Well, just the kitchen,” Pinkie Twi said with a snort. “Not like that doesn’t happen every time I get carried away with baking.”

Pinkie Shy laughed. “You’re telling me! The last time I tried to bake a pie, I wanted it to float like a balloon, so I put cherries full of helium in it!”

“That was hydrogen! Where did you--I mean I--I mean we--even get that from?”

“Ohhhh... is that what went wrong?”

Both Pinkies burst into laughter.

“See? This is how I know we’re gonna be good friends!” Pinkie Shy said between giggles.

“Well duh! We have to be! We’re like the same!” Pinkie Twi responded.

“But different!”

“But pretty much the same.”

Pinkie Shy sighed and fell silent for a moment.

“Something happening over there?” asked Pinkie Twi through the communicator.

“We really are pretty different, though, too,” started Pinkie Shy. “I really got carried away, and not in a fun oven-exploding sort of way, in here. Even when we met inside Twilight’s mind, I... I tried to...”

“Kill us?” asked Pinkie Twi. “Yeah, you sure did! Good try, too, but you didn’t stand a chance against my magic, especially in Twilight’s dream world!” She laughed arrogantly, but Pinkie Shy was not laughing.

After a moment of silence, Pinkie Twi sighed. “Look, I’ve kind of been able to piece together what’s happening over there from what I’ve heard, plus something else you’ll find out about in a second,” she finally said, her tone of voice leveling out. “What you’ve been through in there... nopony should have to go through. If you were a little upset, it’s probably-”

“A little upset?” Pinkie Shy shouted, startling Fluttershy, who was now a bit ahead of her. “I was furious! I couldn’t even stop myself! I turned into a monster, and I tried to kill you, and Twilight, and even Princess Celestia! But I was especially mad at Fluttershy...” Pinkie looked forward at Fluttershy, their eyes meeting. Both mares just stared at one another for a moment until Fluttershy turned her head forward again and continued to fly, glancing down at the ground occasionally for signs of Applejack and Twilight.

“Look, I know all that. I understand how that can be, trust me--I’m you, after all. You try to be happy, and you try to cheer up everypony, but deep inside is just doubt. You wonder if you’re making a difference, and you wonder if your friends even need you around, but... Our friends do need us! We have to help them, and I just finished the final piece of the puzzle that will let us! Brace yourself, because we’re about to be brilliant!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Pinkie Shy asked. The sound of magic being shot from a horn was the only response from the other side. A moment later, Pinkie Shy’s mind began to spin. Words and images flashed through her field of vision. Knowledge, spells, and a vast many other things, began to pour into her, along with a voice speaking loud and clear in her mind.

I forgive you. We all do.

Pinkie Shy smiled, shaking away the sadness and doubt, her eyes wide and sparkling once more. “What’s happening? What is this amazing feeling inside me? It’s like seeing a friend after a long time. That happiness, and all the memories that fly through your mind when you see their smiling face, mixed with the joy of hugging them and telling them how much you missed them!” she said exuberantly. “But instead of a friend... it’s me! It’s like I forgot who I was, and I couldn’t put my hoof on it before, but now I know! I know who I am, and I know what I have to do!”

“Right!” came Pinkie Twi’s voice from the gem. “It’s the connection! It worked!”

“Connection?” asked Pinkie Shy, still searching through her feelings for an answer to what just happened. “What kind of connection?” She thought about that word for a moment--connection--and suddenly a chain of memories flashed before her eyes.

Oh my gosh! Pinkie Shy thought, suddenly understanding everything. It worked! I--I mean she--I mean we did it!

That’s right, Pinkie Twi’s voice replied, not through the gem, but in Pinkie Shy’s mind itself.

Welcome to the Pinkie Network!

Author's Note

Welcome to The Network, enjoy your stay. We're all a little bit mad here, so you'll fit right in.

It looks like this took a whole month since last chapter was Feb 21st, but Feb was a short month! See? I can be faster...ish....

What to say about this chapter... It was written, for the most part, over this past week. It was meant to cover much more ground, but the campfire scene went longer than expected, and the Pinkie Pie conversation... let's say it's getting a little out of hand with its length, but I am enjoying writing dialogue between two Pinkies so much, I don't care! The talk of The Network will continue in chapter 10, after which we'll move to a transition, and then to Book Two's shocking conclusion!

Poor Rainbow Dash, she's just a dream, but she's been great. A heroic Rainbow Dash that will live forever in Fluttershy's dreams... be that as it may, a dream she is, and I needed to move the story along. I tried so very hard to make sure I didn't just basically go "Okay, she's done, so let's just toss her in the background." - I don't want to be so heartless, but I found myself tempted many times. Thanks to my awesome editor for keeping me focused on treating her with the respect she rightly deserves.

I hope you enjoyed it and look forward to the next. :)

Overgrowth Ch 10 - Interference

Book Two: Overgrowth

Chapter Ten: Interference

“We’ll be overhead if you need us,” Celestia said, patting Twilight on the shoulder. Twilight bobbed her head in response.

“Come on, Twilight!” Applejack was heard yelling, having already made her way into the brush of the Everfree Forest. Twilight turned and galloped to join her as the three winged ponies took to the sky, soaring above the canopy and out of sight.

Twilight glanced up through the trees. I sure hope everything goes well with Pinkie up there, she thought.

Applejack stared ahead silently as she walked, the weight of Rainbow Dash’s body not slowing her down one bit. Twilight glanced around at the shadows that had surrounded them now, the sun’s light barely penetrating the thick leaves above.

“So much for the getting help from the sun,” Twilight said as she trotted shoulder-to-shoulder with Applejack.

“Never was of much use in here, anyhow,” Applejack responded plainly.

“I wonder what’s going to happen when we get back to Ponyville. Do you think everything will be back to normal?”

Applejack sighed. “Ain’t nothin’ gonna be normal again,” she said, her voice wavering slightly. “Not without RD.”

“AJ, I know the two of you were close. Honestly, she was an amazing friend to us all,” Twilight started, trying to think of what words to say to comfort Applejack. She felt a great deal of sadness as well, though she felt even worse about the situation the real Rainbow Dash was in.

If only Applejack could know the truth... That this isn’t really Rainbow Dash. Then again, she’s not really AJ, but... Twilight thought, and then remembered back to something Celestia had told her when they first met in her own dream world.

“You have a good heart, Twilight.” Celestia had said to her. “I know how much you care about him. It would be wrong to say that he isn’t really Spike, but he’s not completely Spike. This is your dream world. He’s as real as Spike is in your heart.”

True, this isn’t AJ’s dream, but maybe those words, changed a little, could bring her some amount of comfort, Twilight decided, and thought about what she would say.

“Applejack...” Twilight began, “I know how much you care about her. We all love her and miss her, but she will live on forever in our-” She was cut off by Applejack exhaling heavily in annoyance.

“I don’t wanna talk about it,” Applejack said, raising her voice.

“AJ, I’m sorry, I just-”

“I said I don’t wanna talk about it!” Applejack yelled, turning abruptly to her side and staring into Twilight’s eyes, tears running out of her own. The sudden turn caused Rainbow Dash to fall off her back and slump to the ground.

Twilight stared back, the sound of the nearby river the only noise. Applejack's intense green eyes were shaking with grief. Without even thinking, words started to escape Twilight’s lips.

“You think you have to face this alone? You think you have to be the leader and show everypony how strong you are? Is that it?” Twilight asked, her tone dropping. Applejack stared back blankly, saying nothing. “You don’t have to bear this alone, AJ! You don’t have to shoulder the weight of the world by yourself!”

Twilight’s horn glowed and she lifted Rainbow Dash into the air with her magic, hovering her over and placing her on her own back.

“Let me carry some of this weight, Applejack. Let all of us help you carry it! Do you hear me? You’re not alone, so don’t act like it! ” Twilight yelled, unseen birds screeching in the treetops and flying away. Twilight closed her mouth tightly, finally realizing what she’d just said.

Applejack stepped forward, allowing her head to fall, her face digging into Twilight’s shoulder. She screamed with all of her might, Twilight’s body suppressing the sound like a pillow. Twilight wrapped a foreleg around Applejack’s head and held it tightly as she fought back her own tears.

“So what’s it like being inside Twilight’s head?” Pinkie Shy asked with excitement. Celestia chuckled, realizing that she was going to be hearing half of a conversation the rest of the way home, or at least until something happened below. She decided to fly ahead a bit to keep watch after spotting Twilight and Applejack through a gap in the canopy.

Celestia flapped her wings and looked back, gesturing for Fluttershy to follow her. Fluttershy sped up and pulled alongside the princess.

“Are you sure it’s okay to leave her alone back there?” asked Fluttershy. “What if she... you know... again?” She shivered, remembering the sight of Pinkie jumping through the air at Twilight, her face filled with madness.

Celestia smiled. “I don’t think we have to worry about that. Pinkie will probably be a little distracted for the time being... those two have some talking to do, trust me. It’s best to let it play out without interfering,” she said. “Besides, we need to keep our eyes on Twilight and Applejack. ”

Fluttershy nodded. “Well, all the same, I think I’m going to keep my eye on her as well,” she replied, glancing back at Pinkie. “Just in case.”

Celestia shrugged. “Suit yourself,” she said as the sound of laughter came from behind them. “Something tells me it’ll be okay, though. If Pinkie Twi is right, they may just be the key to our victory.”

Fluttershy blinked with confusion. “Pinkie Twi?” she asked, but was interrupted as the sound of Twilight yelling came from below.

“So don’t act like it!” Twilight’s voice yelled, echoing across the forest, causing birds to scatter from the trees. Fluttershy flapped her wings in reaction, flying backwards closer to Pinkie Pie. She looked back and her eyes met with Pinkie’s, hearing the last part of a sentence escape Pinkie’s mouth.

“I was especially mad at Fluttershy...” she said, staring back intensely. Fluttershy eventually averted her gaze and flew forward again, glancing down towards Twilight and Applejack. She caught sight of them by the river where they’d found the injured sea serpent earlier. Applejack was burying her face in Twilight’s shoulder, and Twilight was carrying Rainbow Dash on her back.

Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, though sadly. She glanced back at Pinkie Pie again, whose eyes were seemingly lit up now, a humongous smile spread across her face. I guess everypony is finally shaking off the darkness of the past weeks, Fluttershy thought, looking back down at Twilight and Applejack, who were now trudging through the shallow river below. Rainbow Dash lay limply across Twilight’s back, held in firm balance by a levitation spell. If only I could have... Fluttershy swallowed hard, stopping her train of thought, and flitted ahead towards Princess Celestia to help scan the forest for any signs of danger, leaving Pinkie Shy behind a bit.

Fluttershy didn’t have to fly far to find trouble. She spotted a swirling shadow through the trees below, which seemed to absorb the light around it. She’d never seen anything like it, but could sense something dark lurking down there heading directly towards Twilight and Applejack. She looked ahead for a moment at Princess Celestia, who was further north, glancing down through the trees as well.

Does she not see it? Fluttershy thought as she raised a hoof and inhaled, ready to call out.

“Princess, I see something!” she shouted, and then descended into the forest. Princess Celestia didn’t even look her way, and instead glided further ahead. Fluttershy landed on the ground and looked around through the dark brush. “Who’s there?”

“I smell death,” a voice whispered from the shadows. “Delicious and alluring... the scent makes me drool.”

Fluttershy turned her head to the side and saw a black cat emerge from the bushes, staring at her with glowing, golden eyes. Fluttershy frowned, knowing exactly what creature she was looking at.

“Stay away from her,” Fluttershy threatened, narrowing her eyes. “She’s not food for the likes of you, cat.”

The cat sat down and licked at the white patch of fur on its chest for a moment, then looked up at the yellow pony. “I’m not talking about your bright-haired friend over there. No, I couldn’t possibly eat her soul--it’s not even there, anymore. Didn’t you notice it? How her soul flew northward with some speed? It’s so diluted, hardly worth the effort, not to mention too fast a meal for my taste.”

Fluttershy felt fear, as she did any time she met with a dangerous creature such as this for the first time, but she also felt confidence since she had better control of her lucidity now. “Well then, what is it that you smell? What drew you here, cat sidhe?”

The feline laughed and licked its lips. “You seem surprised to see me, yet you seem to be familiar with my kind.”

Fluttershy gulped and glanced upward to see if Princess Celestia was above. She didn’t see her and lowered her gaze back towards the cat, who was sitting calmly and flicking its tail.

“Oh, she didn’t hear you, I made sure of that. She didn’t even notice you coming down here, kind Fluttershy,” the spirit chuckled. “I have a warning for you, so listen carefully. Your nightmare isn’t over yet, so don’t get too comfortable.”

Fluttershy shook her head. “How do you know this was a nightmare?” Fluttershy asked, lowering her eyebrows. The cat stared at her and walked in her direction, placing one paw in front of the other daintily.

“You think a spirit such as I cares if it's just a part of some dream? In any case, I sense much chaos and potential for suffering and death all around you. Rest assured, others of my kind will be drawn to Canterlot,” the cat growled, baring its teeth. “The feast will be quite glorious. You’re all so helpless, tied up in those cocoons!” The cat leapt through the air, a trail of black left in its wake.

With a flash of light, Celestia shot through the canopy and landed beside Fluttershy, gasping for breath. She looked up just in time to see the cat sidhe flying towards them. She clenched her teeth and readied a spell, but Fluttershy raised a hoof and shot her eyes open wide, a yellow glow firing from them at the specter. The cat froze in mid-leap, clawing at Fluttershy, just out of reach.

“Dream or not, your kind skulks around looking for food like scavengers, and you think you can get away with attacking me here?” Fluttershy asked, a tone of disbelief in her voice, which was still calm all the same. “Why would you warn me about it, anyway?”

The cat sighed and went limp in the air, its eyes still locked with Fluttershy’s. “You would look a gift horse in the mouth? For shame, darling. I knew I wouldn’t be able to attack you, I was just testing your power.”

Fluttershy shook her head with disapproval. “A test? Well look at me, and remember this!” the mare shouted, her eyes glowing with power. “You and your kind had better stay away from Canterlot and my friends, or so help me, you’ll be sorry!”

Celestia stared at Fluttershy, a bit shocked at the tone she was taking.

“You may not be like the animals I’m used to dealing with, but it doesn’t matter once you threaten to hurt my friends! You do not, I repeat, do not want to see me angry!” Fluttershy yelled, her voice echoing through the trees.

The spirit let out a small whimper and began to purr like a frightened kitten. “Put me down, you monster!” it demanded. “Please put me down!” It wiggled its legs in the air helplessly.

“Are you going to cause any trouble?” Fluttershy asked, her brow lowering.

“No no no, definitely not!” the frightened feline replied.

“Good,” Fluttershy said. “Now leave this dream, and tell any other sidhe you see to stay away, or you’ll all get the stare, or worse.” She lowered her hoof and let the cat drop to the ground. It quickly slinked backwards, fading into the shadows.

The sound of the spirit laughing filled the air. “You think I can leave? I told you, I’m still just part of your dream! I’ll give you one more warning, though,” it said between laughs. “The mess in Canterlot is already attracting the attention of far greater powers than I! Be on the lookout, even in dreams. Something dark knows what’s happening, and I can not even begin to guess its motive.”

“What do you mean by that? Is that the dark magic?” Celestia asked, finally speaking. There was no response.

“He’s gone,” said Fluttershy with a sigh. The sound of Twilight’s voice came from the distance, calling out to them.

“Are you okay over there?” Twilight yelled.

“We’re fine!” Celestia shouted back, turning towards Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, that was truly impressive. Cat sidhe are not the sort of spirit you want to trifle with, and you made him flee like a scared kitten. You truly do have a full grasp on your power.”

Fluttershy nodded. “It was my stare, too. It’s part of my special talent, but I wasn’t sure if it would work on spirits, too. I’ve never seen a cat sidhe other than in books.”

“What it said makes me worry, though. Perhaps the changelings aren’t the only threat to Equestria that we need to be concerned with,” Celestia pondered aloud. “In any case, let us return to the sky and keep watch.”

Help me!

Who’s there?

Please, help me!

Pinkie Shy’s ears twitched as she glided slowly through the air, a small, distant voice in her head pleading for help. She listened closely, but the sound of the voice faded away, vanishing.

Pinkie, do you hear me? another voice resounded loudly. Pinkie Shy recognized it this time as her own voice, or rather, Pinkie from Twilight’s dream.

So we don’t even need that gem to talk anymore? Pinkie Shy thought. I wonder if she can even hear that?

Right! Pinkie Twi’s voice spoke with giddiness in Pinkie Shy’s mind. The gem is just a bridge. Well, less of a bridge, more of a bridge builder.

Oh, I get it! Wait, no, I don’t get it...

We’re connected, now, you and I. The problem is, though, I don’t think we’re the only ones. Did you notice something strange a second ago?

You mean apart from feeling a little less like a Pinkie and a little more like a Twilight?

Who like a what, now? No, I mean, like some sort of voice, or humming... something that’s not a Pinkie.

Pinkie Shy nodded her head, remembering the tiny voice she heard. I couldn’t hear it very well... it sounded scared and sad. It was asking for help. I guess I got distracted, though. I mean, who knew that you could use magic to make balloons that pop into more balloons?

Oh my gosh, that’s one of the best things ever! Pinkie Twi said with sudden excitement. And that’s definitely one of the biggest jobs we have on our hooves! Once all us pinkies are working together, we should be able to plan the party to end all parties!

End all parties? That sounds sad! Pinkie Shy questioned. I wouldn’t want to throw a party if it had to be the last one ever.

No no no, Pinkie. It’s just a saying! It’ll be the best party ever! A combination “We saved Equestria, Cadence and Shining Armor are married, let’s all party our brains out!” party!

Oh, okay! I can definitely get behind that!

Pinkie Twi caught herself and cleared her throat. Anyway, we have to get serious here!

Parties are totally serious business! Pinkie Shy protested. And did you just clear your throat in a thought? Does that even do anything?

You can do all sorts of stuff in here, I bet! Pinkie Twi thought, followed by a loud belch. Pinkie Shy giggled in response. Wait... we need to stop getting distracted! This is serious! Something strange is going on. I’ve been spending the last couple of days trying to perfect this magical transference spell so that it won’t get noticed. It does have to travel between dreamers, after all. If those changelings found out what was going on, it could really be bad news!

Pinkie Shy cocked her head to the side. That doesn’t sound all that strange... you know, beyond the fact that us Pinkies are using magic.

There’s some sort of interference. I’m working on figuring out where it’s coming from, but we’ll need to work together. I need you to set up some stuff back in your ponyville to help run some tests.

Speaking of Ponyville, I see it in the distance, now! It’s like nothing ever happened to it! Gee, this dream world stuff is hard to wrap your head around. Pinkie Shy thought.

Sure is... Anyway, I’ll be in touch. Just remember this, though... the ponies in the dream world shouldn’t see that gem, so hide it.

Roger wilco, over and out, ten-four, and aye-aye! Pinkie Shy thought, and saluted. She then zipped down towards the others, who had already gathered on the ground near Fluttershy’s cottage at the edge of the forest.

Twilight grinned at Pinkie as she landed. “Glad you could join us, Pinkie Pie,” she said.

“Oh yeah, I guess I was a little bit out of it, sorry,” Pinkie chuckled, quickly tucking the gem into her puffy mess of a mane. “Nothing bad happened, though, right?”

“Nothing at all,” said Celestia. “We have Fluttershy to thank for that, though.”

“Why’s that?” Applejack asked as she approached Twilight and gently transferred Rainbow Dash’s body to her back. “That another one of her new freaky abilities, like that sun raisin’?”

“Don’t be silly, AJ,” Pinkie said with a snort. “The sun’s not made of raisins!”

Applejack sighed and continued to walk towards the main town. The others followed behind her. As they trotted towards the town square, the citizens of the town began to come out of their houses and follow behind them, until eventually a large crowd were all gathered outside the mayor’s office.

Twilight glanced around nervously and leaned towards Princess Celestia. “You don’t think they’re all going to change at once, do you?” she whispered. The sound of a door opening pulled her attention back as Mayor Mare stepped out, walking right up to the group of travelers. She stared sadly at Rainbow Dash, shaking her head.

“We’ve returned, Mayor,” Princess Celestia spoke in a formal tone. “We’ve stopped the overgrowth. I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise to protect us all, though.” She turned her gaze downward, closing her eyes.

Twilight frowned and bowed her head as well. In the end, poor Rainbow Dash...

“It’s mah fault, mayor,” said Applejack, breaking Twilight’s line of thought. “I don’t know how it happened, I just know... We fell, and... dang it... She just... It shoulda been me!”

“There’s no use blaming anyone, Applejack,” the mayor said, placing a hoof on Applejack’s shoulder. “The nightmare is over, and we have all of you, especially Rainbow Dash, to thank. None of us are sure how it happened, but somehow Ponyville was restored, along with all of the lives that were lost. It is... yes, a miracle.”

The crowd all bowed on one knee, lowering their heads, which were all pointed towards Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Celestia even bowed, along with Twilight and Pinkie.

“Yes, it’s true,” Celestia said quietly. “A miracle.”

Pinkie’s ear twitched at the sound of a child crying and turned her head to the side, spotting the Cakes and their foals on the edge of the crowd. She smiled, a tear escaping her eye. Oh, thank goodness. They’re back! she thought. She blinked and shook her head in a gentle circle, almost as if she was rattling around its contents, and then clapped a hoof over her mouth to suppress a cheer. Oh my gosh! Rainbow Dash! She’s gonna be okay!

The mayor turned her gaze towards Pinkie Pie at that same moment and squinted. “What of Pinkie Pie, Applejack? I recall you saying she had been replaced by a changeling, yet somehow I see an alicorn before me.”

The crowd had been giving Pinkie a wide berth, and some of them were now eyeing her suspiciously as they rose back up. Applejack shook her head, lifting a front hoof towards Pinkie. “Ah don’t know how or why, but she’s the real Pinkie Pie. Today’s been no slouch fer surprises. It was Fluttershy who was able to finally change the world back to how it was... among other things.”

The mayor gestured for the adventurers to join her. “Well, regardless of how it all came to pass, do come inside, Applejack. We have some things to discuss. It must have been hard to carry her all this way... but you can finally put her to rest, now,” she said as Applejack walked towards the door to the mayoral building.

“I didn’t carry her alone, mayor,” Applejack said, smiling back at Twilight. “I had a lot of help.”

Twilight smiled back and watched the two ponies enter the building. The mayor gestured towards Celestia, clearly wanting her to follow as well. Surely she had things to ask them, but Celestia felt it was better to leave the talking between two dream inhabitants for now.

“I shall join you shortly, mayor. Right now, I have a couple of things to attend to,” Celestia said calmly, tilting her head towards Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie.

The mayor nodded in response. “Very well, Your Majesty.”

The four ponies found their way away from the crowd finally, which had broken into groups of ponies talking about all the things that had happened in recent weeks.

“We still have to find a way out of the dream. That rift in the Everfree Forest wasn’t it,” Celestia whispered to the others as they walked away from the town square.

“Pinkie Pie, can you build us a colorscope? Like the one Pinkie in my dream had?” Twilight asked, turning towards Pinkie.

“Colorscope? Piece of cake! In fact, it’s a mark 2, now! It’s even more colorey and scopey than ever before!” Pinkie giggled. “That’ll take a while, though. Maybe a couple days.”

Celestia sighed. “I know these dream worlds pass at different time scales, but I feel like we’ve spent too long in this one. We need to regain our focus, and seeing Princess Cadence has only made me feel more anxious... not to mention the poor Rainbow Dash of this dream. It pains me greatly to see events like this transpire. Fluttershy, I do not know how this is going to affect your dreams or thoughts in the long term. I didn’t have time to say all of this earlier, but the implications are...”

Celestia was cut off by Pinkie Pie clicking her tongue and jumping up and down. “Oh, yeah, that was what I was forgetting! Pinkie in Twilight’s dream has a theory about Rainbow Dash in this dream. She said she’s not sure why, but the reason Fluttershy couldn’t save her was because Fluttershy is still here!”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Not sure I follow, and that’s technically coming out of my mind...”

“Pinkie Twi says Fluttershy is too awake to focus... that doesn’t make any sense now that I’m saying it,” Pinkie Shy tried to explain.

“Too awake? Aren’t I asleep?” Fluttershy asked, shaking her head.

Celestia’s expression slowly began to change from sad to thoughtful and then to happy. “No, it does make sense. I have to admit, I am not very well-versed in dreams or dream magic, and a lot of it I had never been able to perfect even after a thousand years of practice. If only my sister, Princess Luna, were here, she would be able to explain better, I would wager.”

Twilight nodded her head, but then shrugged. “Is Princess Luna an expert at dream magic, or something?” she asked.

“The best there is, or ever has been, I assure you,” Celestia replied seriously. “If she were here, we would not be having this much trouble. Luna is a master of Lucidity and dream magic, a Dreamwalker. There are not many Dreamwalkers in this world, and as far as I know, Luna is the only one capable of freely traversing the dreams of others. The fact that we are doing it is most certainly an unintended side-effect of the magic that the changelings are using on us.”

“But what about that cat sidhe?” Fluttershy asked.

“Cat sidhe?” asked Twilight, her eyes going wide. “What cat sidhe?”

“I’m not sure, honestly. I’ve never heard of a spirit entering a dream like that. For all we know, it was just another part of your nightmare that was somehow left over, Fluttershy,” Celestia responded. “Again, if Luna were here, she could explain things better than I.”

“So wait... theoretically, couldn’t we just wait around for Luna to find us?” Twilight pondered aloud. “If she’s so powerful, surely she’s out there doing something similar to what we’re doing, right?”

“It wouldn’t surprise me at all. She would probably have been able to do something she’s told me is called ‘establishing focus’ within a dream. It can calm a dreamer down and relax their mind” Celestia said. The others nodded.

Fluttershy thought back to what had happened to her in the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. She had heard that strange voice, and felt a moment of extreme focus.

“Back in the forest, I heard a voice. I couldn’t understand who it was, but they told me to face my fears. To fight back and accept that part of me. I was scared at first, but that’s what ultimately gave me the strength to use the power again,” Fluttershy said quietly. “Could that... have been Princess Luna?”

“You heard a voice? Why didn’t you tell us, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked, shaking her head once again.

“It doesn’t matter. I do not think that was Luna,” Celestia said, patting Twilight on the head. “If my sister were here, I am pretty sure I would have sensed her presence.”

“I heard a voice, too,” Pinkie Shy interjected. “Pinkie Twi says there’s some sort of interference in the magical flow outside the dreams. Some sort of weird magic that’s trying to push its way in, and it’s definitely able to connect to the gem thingy. Speaking of which...” Pinkie reached into her mane and pulled out the pink communication gem, tossing it towards Twilight who caught it in mid-air with a levitation spell and slid it back into her saddle bag.

“All very useful information. It seems there is even more going on that we do not yet know about,” Celestia said. “In any case, we must move forward, wherever forward is.”

Fluttershy pointed a hoof into the sky. “Well, what if we just follow that pink magic trail? That’s the love magic that came from Cadence.” Everyone turned their heads skyward and saw nothing but a blue, slightly overcast sky.

“Pink... magic trail?” Twilight questioned. “I don’t see it.”

“Well I do,” said Fluttershy, her eyes trailing northward, then widening. “I see it... heading right towards Canterlot, and that giant bubble that’s over it, and that giant wasteland that’s surrounding it.”

“Wasteland? What waste... land...?” asked Twilight as everyone turned their gaze to the north. Canterlot loomed in the distance, a forcefield still surrounding it, clearly visible. About halfway between Ponyville and Canterlot, the peaceful landscape ended abruptly, replaced by twisted vines and trees, fading from green to gray as they approached Canterlot. Though barely visible, the area immediately surrounding Canterlot was as gray as ash and completely devoid of any signs of life. Even the waterfall cascading down from the city seemed to stand completely still.

“Okay, maybe we’re not going to need that colorscope after all,” Twilight gulped.

“Wow, talk about draining all the life from the party.” Pinkie sighed. “Just when I thought we were done with the icky stuff, too!”

“We should leave immediately. There’s no time to wait. Whatever is happening in Canterlot surely has something to do with the exit rift, as well as the changelings. I hope we’ve not been discovered,” Celestia gravely intoned.

“Princess, I know we need to move on, but couldn’t we rest a bit?” asked Twilight. “I’m exhausted, honestly.”

Celestia remembered how tired Twilight and Fluttershy looked at the campsite. She, too, was beginning to feel a bit weary, despite her anxiousness. “That is probably for the best, then. I will go see the mayor and then head back to your house to get some rest, Twilight. I suggest you and Fluttershy do similarly.”

“Well, I’m not tired at all,” said Pinkie. “I’m heading to Sugarcube Corner... I’ve got some catching up to do with my other family,” She said, smiling widely as she looked to where they were standing. They almost seemed to glow as Pinkie stared in amazement, having thought they were gone forever not even a day prior.

The ponies split up. Twilight and Fluttershy headed back to Golden Oaks Library to get some sleep while Celestia joined Mayor Mare and Applejack in the mayor’s office. Pinkie Pie slammed into Mr. and Mrs. Cake, tears of joy streaming down her face as she pulled them into a hug.

I’m not the real Pinkie, and you aren’t the real Cakes... but that doesn’t matter. We’re together again, and that definitely makes me smile.

Author's Note

We're almost done here, just one chapter to go in Book Two, and it's going to be a doozy.

A note about this chapter and the inclusion of the Cat Sidhe - This was a last-minute addition to the chapter, though not the story overall. I think I have a problem balancing revelation with suspense. I can't keep readers in the dark completely, so I am probably going to be trying to come clean on various things in the coming chapter as well as the next book. The Cat Sidhe is double foreshadowing. I don't want to "spoil" things, but at the same time, I don't want to leave people totally oblivious to things UNTIL they happen. I have tried, in this fic, to put some amount of foreshadowing in, and I think it's had a good effect on the story. However, I think maybe you're all in the dark a bit too much as far as the overall storyline.

But now is probably a good time to start divulging some things. We are now familiar with dreams, lucidity, dreamers, dream inhabitants, and other phenomena within dreams. Little is left to reveal of that, so I guess it's time to deal with that 800 pound gorilla in the corner that's actually a changeling.

Overgrowth Ch 11 - Interfuse

Book Two: Overgrowth

Chapter Eleven: Interfuse

“Well, what’s happening up there?” Celestia heard Applejack asking as she entered the Mayor's office. Applejack and Mayor Mare were standing at the far end of the room, looking out a window towards Canterlot.

“We’re not sure. The overgrowth from the forest has died down enough to where we can actually see the capitol in the distance, but it doesn’t offer much comfort,” the Mayor responded. “From what we can see of it, the entire landscape surrounding Canterlot has turned to stone. Trees, structures, even the water and wildlife are all petrified.”

Celestia approached the two, gazing out the window herself. “The capitol itself seems fine, protected by a forcefield, but I wonder who is generating it, and why was the area surrounding the city unaffected by the energy that reset the rest of the land?” she pondered aloud to them. “In any case, after a day’s rest, I will have to set out to Canterlot and discover the answers to these questions.”

“I’m comin’ with ya, Princess,” Applejack bravely stated, turning to face Celestia.

“No, Applejack. I’m sorry, but Ponyville needs you here,” Celestia said, shaking her head.

“Ponyville’s safe now, so I gotta help you and my friends!” Applejack protested. Celestia stared right back at her, locking eyes to hers.

“And what if whatever is happening to the north moves south and encroaches here once again? What then, Applejack? Who better to defend this village than you, who held it together in such terrible times?”

Applejack’s eyes narrowed and she bit her trembling lower lip. She knew the princess was right, but could sense something else as well. Something that had been bothering her ever since Celestia and Twilight returned the previous day.

“It’s cause I’m weak, ain’t it?” Applejack asked, turning her gaze to the side. “I ain’t got no powers. Not like Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie got now. Let me guess, yer takin’ them with ya, ain’t ya?” She closed her eyes tightly.

Celestia blinked and then sighed. “Applejack, you have to understand. I need someone to stay behind here that I can depend on, but I do need to take them with me. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie can fly and use magic now. It’s never easy to have to decide how to split your troops, but understand that I now must do just that. Canterlot’s unknown plight is of the utmost importance right now, so I need the most powerful among us to accompany me there. I can’t leave Ponyville undefended, though. Please, understand, I’m not leaving you behind. I’m leaving Ponyville in your capable hooves!”

Applejack walked to the door and bowed her head. “I know, I just... I need some time to think. To let all this soak in. I should go home and get some proper rest for a change, I guess,” she said, and then pushed the door open, stepping out onto the deck outside.

Lined up in front of the deck were all of the troops she’d commanded throughout the struggle against the Everfree Forest. They stood in a straight line, wearing their armor and bearing their weapons. Standing in the front of the lineup was Big Macintosh, his front right hoof propped up on a helmet that sat on the ground. He lifted that hoof to his forehead and saluted, the rest of the ponies following suit.

Applejack stared at her brother standing there before her, as tears began to fall from her eyes.

“The Ponyville Defense Force awaits yer orders, sis,” he said with a grin. To his left, a large group of unicorns stamped their hooves on the ground and lit their horns up with magic.

“Unicorn Squad, ready for action at your command, miss!” the unicorn in front barked out.

Applejack shook her head and laughed, wiping her face with her foreleg. “You all... Dang it...” she said, searching for words and trying to hold back from crying more. “Yer orders are to go home, see yer families, and get some rest! Move out!”

The formation all saluted and then began to disperse.

“Captain Macintosh, yer hereby ordered to walk home with me and have some lunch. I betcha Apple Bloom and Granny Smith are a-waitin’,” she said with a smile as she approached her brother. He nodded his head, and the two of them turned towards Sweet Apple Acres.

Celestia and Mayor Mare stood in the doorway, watching the ponies as they slid into the distance.

“He died before, defending the town, just like so many of those brave ponies did,” the mayor said. “You’re right, Princess. Applejack needs to be here, now more than ever.” Celestia nodded her head in agreement..

“In the end, what actually caused the forest to attack us, princess?” The mayor asked, looking up at Celestia.

Princess Celestia smiled and continued to gaze into the distance. “Just a nightmare, mayor, and it’s almost over,” she replied. “May your dreams be pleasant. I’m going to go get some rest myself.”

The mayor nodded as Celestia walked away, heading towards Golden Oaks Library. As she came nearer and nearer to the massive tree, she noticed something a bit different about it. Fluttershy’s cottage had been placed up against the library, as if someone had just smashed them together. The place where Fluttershy’s front door would normally be was pressed against the side wall of the library, fused together. Celestia grinned and shook her head. The main entrance the the library was just as always, but as she entered, Celestia noticed that the wall on the right side of the tree had been removed, replaced by a short hallway that connected Fluttershy’s cottage and Twilight’s home. Peering down the hallway, she could see Fluttershy asleep on her couch, her pet bunny snuggled up against her.

“I guess she was homesick, but didn’t want to leave Twilight, so this was her solution,” Celestia giggled, and then walked up the staircase towards Twilight’s room. When her head finally got high enough to see Twilight’s bed, she saw her curled up beneath her covers, already sound asleep as well. The guest bed had been pulled out, and was made nicely, a set of blankets neatly folded at the foot.

Celestia looked around for a moment, then towards Spike’s basket-- it was empty, even the blanket was missing. Celestia stepped quietly towards Twilight, and upon closer inspection, noticed that she was hugging Spike’s blanket tightly against her chest and had light streaks where tears had run down her cheeks.

No sign of Spike, huh Twilight? Celestia thought. I’m so sorry. Even seeing a dream version of him would have been such a comfort to you, I bet. I hope we find him somewhere out there... safe.

The princess laid down and shut her eyes, and immediately realized how tired she actually was. She felt herself drifting off to sleep rapidly, welcoming its sweet release even within a dream world.

A deep and echoing voice rang out.

You still don’t get it, do you, Celestia?

“Who’s there?” Celestia asked, and opened her eyes. She found herself in her bedchamber in Canterlot. She blinked, and immediately realized she was dreaming. She sat up calmly, rubbed her eyes with a foreleg, and glanced around the room.

That dark magic, the changelings manipulating dreams, the voices Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy heard... all that, and you still don’t get it at all.

“Then tell me. If it’s so obvious, just tell me!” Celestia shouted.

Silence.

She placed a hoof to her forehead and sighed.

“The key to understanding all of that must be in canterlot,” she said to herself.

The voice she’d heard before boomed in her mind now, distorted and noisy.

Good guess! Now get moving!

Celestia opened her eyes and shot up out of bed. She found herself in Twilight’s bedroom. She shook her head drearily and glanced out the window. To her surprise, night had fallen, even without her lowering the sun. “I slept through a sunset?” she said aloud, and heard Twilight’s voice from across the room responding.

“Fluttershy lowered the sun. We didn’t want to wake you if we didn’t have to.”

Princess Celestia smiled and crawled out of bed, meandering over to Twilight’s. Stacks of books laid at her bedside, a couple of them open. They were all blank.

“I guess the books in this dream world are a bit less extensive than in your dream, huh?” the princess chuckled, and got a grin out of Twilight.

“Yeah. Nothin’ to ‘em, really!” Twilight said. “Let’s head down. Fluttershy’s in her cottage preparing some food for us, and I got a message from Pinkie Twi that Pinkie Shy’s on her way over. She didn’t sleep, but did make us a new toy, as she called it-- a makeshift colorscope.”

A moment later, a loud banging was heard coming from the front door, followed by it opening and someone running in.

“Fluttershy! Your cottage is smooshed onto Twilight's house! This is awesome! Can we move Sugarcube Corner next?” Pinkie was heard yelling with much elation. Celestia and Twilight both chuckled and then descended the staircase to meet the other two.

“It was a pretty clever idea, really,” said Twilight as she walked through the hallway into Fluttershy's living room, Celestia right behind her.

“I'll say! Hey, why don't we just smoosh the library into Canterlot? We'd be able to get there super fast!” Pinkie exclaimed, placing a hoof on either side of her head. Everyone blinked and thought for a moment. Twilight's mouth gaped a bit. Celestia finally broke the silence.

“Can you do that, Fluttershy? I would think it's possible,” she said matter-of-factly.

“Sure wish we'd thought of that sooner...” Twilight sighed.

“Gosh, I don't know. Let me try,” Fluttershy said, closing her eyes and concentrating for a moment. Her vision flew towards Canterlot at breakneck speeds, but stopped suddenly about halfway there. She felt a surge of magic shoot down her spine. Her eyes reopened and she shook her head.

“There's something stopping me... some sort of power. I feel like I know it from somewhere. It's... scary,” she said, shivering a bit. “It's not part of my dream. Something is there, something from the outside. I felt the same thing about that Cat Sidhe, but it ended up just being part of my dream, so I don't know.”

“I'm not so sure about that,” said Celestia. “That Cat Sidhe was different. Its power felt real, but hollow... almost as if it were being controlled from elsewhere. Canterlot is surely the key to all of this, as well as where we'll find the exit from the dream.”

Everypony nodded in agreement, and Pinkie Pie flipped open the saddle bag she was wearing. Buried among a mountain of pastries and cakes, she finally found a small circular lens. The lens seemed to shimmer and change color as it was turned in hoof. Pinkie held it in front of her, towards Twilight.

“And that's why I had to stay up all night and make us this. It's not perfect, but it should be able to locate the exit rift,” she said. A small chain with a clasp at the end hung from one side of the lens, which was edged in gold. “You wear it over one eye like a monocle, and clasp the chain to your horn to power it. As Rarity would say, 'pretty snazzy, is it not?'”

Twilight lifted the lens to her right eye with magic and clasped the chain to the top of her horn. Looking through the lens, everything looked the same as always.

“Nothing looks different,” Twilight shrugged. “Are you sure it's working, Pinkie?”

Pinkie rubbed a hoof behind her head. “I am 100% sureish that it will definitely probably let you see the exit rift,” she said with a bit of uncertainty in her voice.

Twilight sighed. “It's better than nothing, I suppose,” she said, and placed the lens on a table beside her. “I see you came prepared with plenty of food, even if it's all sweets. Fluttershy has been making us some rations as well. We should set out as soon as we can, now, even though it's dark out.”

Celestia nodded her approval. She was anxious to move on, perhaps more than anyone else. What am I to make of that dream I had? I must find out as soon as possible. I have a bad feeling that Equestria is in bigger trouble than I thought.

After packing food and supplies for the journey, the four ponies departed, heading into town and towards the train station at the north end.

“We'll take the train as far as we can. It will offer us some protection from any threats we may encounter in the still-overgrown parts of the north,” Celestia said. “Once the train can go no further, we'll have to proceed on hoof.”

They arrived at the train station, and were pleased to see that it was lit up and operational. A pony behind the counter, one of the train conductors, waved from the ticket booth with a frown.

“Your Highness! I hate to say it, but the tracks are in bad condition to the north, if that's where you're headed,” the conductor said. “I can't quite tell how badly they're damaged, but we'll be doing a survey tomorrow once we can be accompanied by guards.”

Celestia shook her head. “No, it is I who hate to say it, but we will be taking this train north, with or without you,” she stated. The conductor shrunk in his seat.

“Better do what she says,” a voice come from the side. “And don't worry about danger, you'll have the princess, Twilight, me, and Big Mac with ya. Once we get as far as we can, Big Mac n' I will stay with ya on the way back.”

“Eeyup!” Big Macintosh's voice echoed afterwards. Everyone turned their heads and saw Applejack and Big Macintosh walking towards them from the platform's far stairs, grins on their faces.

“Ya didn't think we'd let ya slip off that easy, now did ya?” Applejack asked with a laugh.

Twilight smiled. “Of course not, I know better,” she replied.

The conductor sighed. “All aboard, I guess.” He hopped off his seat and trodded towards the front of the train. The other ponies piled into the first car, and within a couple of minutes, the Friendship Express was departing Ponyville.

The conductor pushed the train as hard as he could, but there were occasional slowdowns and bumps due to vegetation having grown over the tracks. Still, it was nothing that the train couldn't push through, and the tracks themselves were so far in fine condition otherwise. Every once in a while, a vine or tree branch would lunge towards the train or latch onto the back of the car. Fluttershy was able to easily repel or detach them all, though, and was usually able to stop them before they even made contact.

Applejack wiped her brow. “Boy, you sure you don't wanna ride back with us, Fluttershy? I get a feelin' this is gonna be a lot harder without ya.”

“Eeyup,” said Big Mac nervously.

Fluttershy shrunk down. “I'm sorry, I just...” she started.

“You'll be fine!” Twilight interjected. “Compared to the forest to the south, this seems like a walk in the park, doesn't it?”

“Yeah, and it should still be dark out, so that'll help for sure,” Applejack said with a shrug. “I know we'll make it back, I was just kiddin'”

The train suddenly started breaking, the screech of the wheels echoing loudly throughout the car. Once the train had come to a stop, the conductor slid the door open and poked his head in.

“You all had better come take a look at this. Looks like last stop,” he said, his eyes shaking a bit.

Twilight walked to the front exit door from the passenger car and slid it open. She poked her head out and glanced forward, lighting up her horn to get a better view. The lush green color of the forest stopped abruptly just ahead of the train's engine, becoming a dull gray. One by one, the ponies exited the train and trotted forward towards the point of change.

Even the train tracks themselves became gray. Celestia tapped a hoof against them, feeling the familiar texture of stone. Fluttershy reached up and touched a tree branch, which snapped from the tree and fell to the ground, breaking into several pieces.

“It's all been turned to stone,” Twilight said, looking around. She closed her eyes and tried to sense any magical auras, but didn't feel anything.

“There's no residual magic, Twilight. It's just eerie...” Celestia said.

The conductor, who had already boarded the train again, poked his head out nervously and spoke. “Well, looks like it's time for us to head back. Applejack? Big Mac? Right?” his voice shook.

Applejack sighed and walked over to Twilight. “Just hold yer horses a minute,” she groaned. She turned her eyes to Twilight's and smiled. “I said it to ya before when ya left for Canterlot, and I'll say it again, now. Come back alive, Twilight. We'll be waitin'.”

Twilight smiled back, but knew she wouldn't be able to return. “I will. I promise,” she lied. Applejack reached her front right foreleg out and pulled Twilight into a hug.

“Thank you for everything, Twilight,” Applejack whispered. “None of us have to carry our burdens alone.”

Twilight hugged Applejack back. After one more set of goodbyes, Applejack and Big Mac entered the train. The conductor made his way to the train's rear where a second engine had been attached, making it easy to return without needing a switching station. The train pulled away into the distance, towards Ponyville. Applejack waved out of the window as they slipped away.

“All right, everypony. We have no idea what to expect from here on out, so let's be careful,” Twilight said. “We don't know if the caves that the train normally passes through are safe, so we'll need to take the round-about way. It'll be morning by the time we arrive in Canterlot. Luckily for us, it looks like everything is petrified, so there's probably not much in the way of danger from any creatures or plants up ahead.” Twilight pointed a hoof towards a squirrel at the base of a stone tree. The squirrel was also turned to stone, sitting as if it hadn't seen its fate coming at all.

Fluttershy frowned. “The poor little thing. I'm so sorry, my friend... I'll make sure to fix you once I know how.”

“Yeah, let's just hope whatever turned them to stone doesn't do it to us, too!” Pinkie said. “But just in case, we should practice cool poses, that way we'll be neat statues. I'm gonna make a funny face!” She pulled the corners of her mouth downward and stuck her tongue out as far as she could.

“I hope they make it back okay,” Twilight sighed as the train finally faded from view.

“Don’t worry, Twilight. I didn’t want to say anything, but I know they will. I was able to make the train untouchable. I figured out how to do it on the way here,” Fluttershy chimed in with a smile.

“Ohhh… you weren’t actually repelling the attacks each time?” Twilight asked. Fluttershy shook her head.

“No, it’s more like I just imagined us being safe, and the world made sure we were. I wish I could have figured that out sooner, honestly.”

“Very impressive, Fluttershy. Lucidity sure is handy!” Twilight said with a grin. “So it’ll definitely be smooth sailing from here on out, then.”

Fluttershy shrunk down a bit, staring towards the gray expanse ahead of them. Twilight looked down at her and sighed. “I guess that was a little bit too optimistic, huh?”

“Sorry. This place is different. I can’t feel it like I can the rest of the world. I can’t control it. It’s… scary,” Fluttershy quietly squeaked.

“Oh, come on, Fluttershy! It won’t be that bad, everything’s stone!” Pinkie Pie optimistically announced before starting to bounce forward. The others shrugged and began to follow her along the petrified path.

The air was still and the night sky was completely clear. The moon and stars shone brightly down upon the gray landscape, making the ground almost seem to glow. Celestia and Twilight had taken the lead, having traveled these roads many times. The group was fast approaching the beginning of the mountain climb that would eventually take them up to Canterlot.

Celestia looked back at the others as they all approached a curve in the road that would shortly lead to the first set of steep inclines. “Alright, everypony, climbing this mountain on hoof is no simple task, but we have no choice,” she said, then turning her head forward again as she went around the right-hoof turn. “Prepare yourselves for quite… a hike…”

The princess’ words trailed off as her eyes went wide, staring at the object in front of her.

“It shouldn't be all that bad,” Twilight responded, glancing up at the princess’ expression, noticing her mouth now curving down. “What’s wrong?”

“Twilight, don’t look. Turn back. We’ll find another way,” the princess said solemnly, backing up. Twilight raised an eyebrow and turned the sharp bend anyway. She quickly fell back onto her haunches at the sight before her. Pinkie and Fluttershy quickly joined her, all staring ahead.

On the side of the road, near a cliff wall, stood a large chiseled stone. The stone was shaped as a sharp spire, pointing upward, and was encrusted with countless shining gemstones.

Carved clearly onto the face of the large stone was a name: TWILIGHT SPARKLE.

Twilight breathed in deeply, calming her nerves. “Is this… my grave?” she asked, her eyes darting around, staring at the gems, all arranged so perfectly and artistically. “Rarity… I’m so sorry.” She bowed her head.

“Poor Rarity…” Celestia said quietly. “Having to bury a friend is a task that nopony ever wants to have to do. Yet, in this world, it has been all too common an occurrence.”

Twilight shook her head. “It’s very surreal, I’ll say that. Much more… shaking, I suppose, than you would think. I know it’s just a dream, but seeing this, even after all we’ve been through is—“ she said, her eyes trailing downward and eventually landing upon a smaller square stone at the base of her grave. The simple stone was adorned with a circle of gems surrounding a single, purple scale. Twilight reached her hoof out and placed it on the small scale. She swallowed hard, further words unable to form in her mouth. The others stood around her in silence.

After a moment, she stood back up and took a deep breath. “Looks like neither of us made it,” she whispered, her body shaking slightly. She turned her head to Celestia. “Let’s get out of here. We have more important things to worry about than the fate of Twilight and Spike in this world.”

Celestia nodded in response and began to walk forward along the mountain road to Canterlot. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie brought up the rear, also not saying a word.

“If what Pinkie Twi told me is right, things will change once you guys leave,” Pinkie finally spoke up. “Maybe they’ll come back like everyone else, then.”

“It’s hard to say,” Celestia responded. “There’s a strange magic in this area that caused all of this petrification and stopped Fluttershy from restoring it. I can feel it now, as we get closer to Canterlot. It’s very faint, but it feels familiar. I’m worried about what we may find there, but we can’t avoid it. We have to push forward.”

Fluttershy sighed. “It's keeping me from using my power, too, whatever it is. I thought I had control of it, but it feels different now. It’s almost like it’s being held in by force,” she said.

“Well at least everything is frozen in stone, so there should be no danger. At least not until we get to the capitol,” Twilight said, turning her head towards the city, which they were approaching at a good pace.

After a couple hours of uneventful hiking, the party had arrived at the gates of Canterlot. Celestia put her hoof up, stopping the other ponies in their tracks. She pointed forward, drawing attention to a group of ponies that were standing near the open city gates, peering in through the translucent purple forcefield. Fluttershy looked at them and gasped. She ran towards them, skidding to a stop when she got there. The others galloped after her.

“Fluttershy, what’s wrong?” asked Twilight, looking at the group of pegasi statues.

“It’s Radiant Thunder and the team of pegasi who left Cloudsdale when Rainbow Dash and I were there. They were coming to check on Canterlot, to find out why it was under a shield,” Fluttershy said, gently placing a hoof on Radiant Thunder’s chin, now cold stone. “I guess they never found out.”

Celestia narrowed her eyes. “This either means the area was turned to stone recently, or someone inside doesn’t want visitors... It’s only been a day since then,” she stated. “Whatever turned them to stone did so as we were setting out into the Everfree Forest. I suspect it’s been going on for quite some time, though. The dream versions of myself and Luna are likely statues inside, which would explain why the sun and moon ceased cycling.” She touched her hoof to one of the pegasi and closed her eyes, trying to feel the magical energy that cast this mass petrifying spell. It was no good, though-- The aura was still too long faded.

“Fluttershy, can you still see the trail of love magic in the air?” Twilight asked, wanting to find the exit as soon as possible. Fluttershy nodded, pointing into the city and towards the castle at the far end.

Celestia nodded in response. “Very well. It’s time to raise the sun, so I’ll take care of that, then we should take a moment to rest here before entering the city. Whatever or whoever did this is in there... they may even know we’re coming,” she said, glancing back at the group of pegasus statues. “These poor souls either got caught up in the event, or were noticed as they tried to enter.”

Celestia approached the forcefield and squinted, staring through the translucent purple shield. She brought her horn closer to its surface and energy arched between the tip of her horn and the barrier. She grinned, pulling her horn back and turning toward Twilight.

“Can we get through?” Twilight asked, taking this moment to sit down and pull one of the small clusters of grain and fruit that Fluttershy had prepared from her saddle bag. The trek had been long, and it seemed as good a time as any to get some nourishment. Pinkie Pie took the cue and pulled a cupcake, now a bit smashed, from her bag and shoved it into her mouth.

Celestia closed her eyes and raised her horn to the sky, pushing the moon down and pulling the sun up over the horizon. She then sat down and nodded her head, grinning a bit. “It’s a fake,” she said, and used her magic to levitate a ration from Twilight’s bag to her lips. “Just an illusion to make it seem like there’s a shield. I think whoever is inside the city may have cast this just to attract attention.” She took a bite from the crunchy snack.

Fluttershy tapped a hoof against one of the petrified pegasi. “Well, whoever it is got what they wanted. This group was supposed to investigate and report back to Cloudsdale,” she said with a shrug. “Do they just want to turn everypony to stone?”

Celestia shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. This group was supposed to come take a look and report back, and I think that’s the problem. I think this shield, the petrification spell, maybe even the sun not moving, was all set up to attract very specific attention.”

“Specific attention? Like what?” Twilight asked, tilting her head.

“Us. Even more specifically, Fluttershy—the dreamer,” Celestia theorized. “I think everything has been done to attract you here, Fluttershy. As an extra piece of evidence, notice that we’re not statues. We’re the ones that are wanted to be here.”

Fluttershy swallowed nervously and took a seat next to Twilight. “Who… do you think it is? Is it the changeling queen?” she asked, shakily taking one of her homemade snacks in hoof.

Celestia shrugged. “I suppose if she wanted to reset your dream, maybe,” she said.

“That doesn’t make sense, though,” Twilight interjected. “She could have just transformed from another pony just like happened with Applejack.”

Celestia nodded and Fluttershy exhaled with relief.

“Wow, then it must be somepony else!” Pinkie said, sounding excited. “Somepony you’d never expect!”

Fluttershy frowned. “That just makes me more nervous…”

“Well, we’d better get it over with,” said Twilight as she stood up and flipped her saddle bag closed.

“We should be able to pass right through this illusion harmlessly,” Celestia said, and also rose to her hooves. “Let’s go.”

Pinkie bounced up and towards the forcefield, springing through first and landing on the other side. The others followed, stepping through the city gates. The four ponies passed through the threshold into Canterlot, making their way down the main street towards the palace.

The streets were mostly empty aside from a petrified guard posted at each corner. Their facial expressions were straight and serious, not suggesting any sort of attack or warning that they were going to be turned to stone. Any other ponies on the walkways or inside buildings seemed to have been carrying on, oblivious to the oncoming disaster.

“They never even saw it coming,” Celestia said, her voice echoing against the buildings, the still air offering no resistance. "The attack certainly came from within."

“Right,” Pinkie Pie responded, “but we are prepared, so everypony get your funniest face ready. We could end up statues at a second’s notice, so you definitely want to make sure your statue isn’t boring like these guys.”

Everyone sighed, but laughed.

“Pinkie, I don’t think we’d even have time for that,” Twilight chuckled.

“Really? In that case, I better just start now!” Pinkie said, genuinely nervous. She dropped the corners of her mouth down and flipped her tongue forward. Twilight shook her head and rolled her eyes.

“You laufth now, Twaulfth, buth you’ll be a borinth thathue!” Pinkie said, her tongue still hanging out of her mouth.

The ponies had arrived at the gates to the castle courtyard when Fluttershy pointed a hoof to the side, down the street that led to the Chamber of The Elements. “The magic trails off this way. It’s going right to the Chamber of the Elements,” she said. The others nodded and began to turn when Twilight noticed something out of the corner of her eye.

“Wait,” Twilight said calmly, and trotted through the courtyard’s gate, straight to a familiar statue standing in the road. She stopped in front of it and frowned, placing a hoof on its cheek. “Everypony accounted for, now, I guess...” she said downtroddenly. The others approached as well.

Rarity had a sad expression hanging on her stone face, her mouth open as if she was calling out for somepony. The weight of the stone she was now made of had caused her to tilt back slightly, her hardened tail now supporting her. It looked messy and frayed, as did her mane. Fluttershy shook her head, but swallowed her sadness.

“After all we’ve been through... after everything that everypony had to endure... I swear this will be the last time we have to see a friend like this,” said Fluttershy, closing her eyes tightly. “Don’t worry, Rarity, you’ll be free soon.”

Fluttershy walked away, back to the path, and turned towards the Chamber of the Elements. The others followed her quietly, determined not just to save everypony in Canterlot in the real world, but to finally set this world right.

As they departed, a piece of Rarity’s statue cracked and fell away, unnoticed. Underneath, a bright purple mane was revealed, a slight multi-colored glow surrounding the opening.

“I can somehow fix all this once we leave the dream, right, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, staring forward as they approached the chamber.

“That’s the theory, anyway,” said Twilight. “I was able to make big changes to my dream world once I left it, according to Pinkie Twi, so it would make sense.”

“It also makes sense to me, Fluttershy,” Celestia added. “My sister has told me about different kinds of dreams before. Leaving the dream like we’re going to do would usually cause you to wake up, but the dreams are persisting since only part of your mind is leaving. Your subconscious mind, acting more as an observer, will hold the dream in whatever state you wish. It’s the connection between the conscious and subconscious that makes lucidity work. That’s what I was told, in any case.”

“But we're thinking that this stone spell was cast by an outsider to my dream, aren't we?” Fluttershy asked the princess.

Celestia shook her head. “I don’t know, unfortunately. It’s a gamble, but we don’t have much choice. If we haven’t found the force that caused this before we leave--”

“Then I’ll stay,” Fluttershy said sternly. “I’ll stay here, and you two will go on ahead and free our other friends’ minds. That’s what I’ve decided.”

“Fluttershy, we can’t go on without you!” Twilight protested. “We need all of us together to beat the changeling queen!”

Fluttershy stopped at the large, regal doors to the Chamber of the Elements and turned in place, facing Twilight. She wore a face of unshakable determination and looked her friend right in the eyes.

“When we leave this place, I’ll just be me again. Plain, unmagic, timid me,” she said, raising a hoof and pointing it towards Pinkie. “Once you’re gone, Pinkie and I will stay and finish this, whatever it is. We have the strength in this world to fix everything without having to rely on a shaky theory.”

Twilight stared back, surprised at Fluttershy’s decision. She stamped her hoof on the ground. “Then we’ll stay, too!”

“You can’t! You have to go free the others!” Fluttershy shouted.

“What about you, then?” Twilight asked, waving a foreleg in front of her.

“Come back for me once you’ve got everypony else. Can’t you see, Twilight? I can at least make right this terrible world I’ve created. I can at least make sure the ponies here are safe. They all may just be in my mind, and they may not be real, but they still have feelings and lives, loved ones and worries. I can’t abandon them.”

Celestia placed her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “You can’t argue with that, Twilight,” she said calmly. “Fluttershy, I respect the stand you’re taking, and the sacrifice. Making a choice like this is not a simple matter.”

Fluttershy closed her eyes and turned back towards the doors. “Thank you, Princess,” she said timidly. “I’ll... miss you once you’re gone, but it has to be this way.”

Celestia nodded her head and approached the large, regal doors and pulled them open with her magic. As they swung on their hinges, and the hallway came into view. Standing further down the chamber was a petrified Princess Celestia.

The Princess led the party into the chamber, slowly approaching the statue of herself. This statue, unlike the guards they’d seen on the street, had a look of shock on her face, and was staring out the window at the gardens below.

“She seems to have seen what was coming,” Celestia said, turning her head towards Twilight. “I don’t like the direction she’s looking.” She peered out the window, glaring down towards Discord’s statue.

Twilight joined the princess, looking down at the statue. “Discord? But why?” she asked, looking up at the statue’s face.

Celestia turned back towards Fluttershy. “Whatever she knew, there had to be a reason to be looking that direction in the moment before turning to stone. She looks at a loss, maybe even scared,” she said. “Fluttershy, I feel somewhat apprehensive about leaving now, but we should at least get started.”

Fluttershy nodded forward. “The magic trail stops here. It’s pushing its way through the door,” she said, pointing at the magically locked room where the Elements themselves were kept.

“Right, then let’s get started. Hopefully we can get out of here before whatever did this has a chance to do it to us,” said Twilight. “Princess, if you please?”

Celestia nodded and placed her horn into the hole at the door’s center. Charging the lock with magic, the door began to glow, and slid open. The small room beyond contained a pedestal with a chest sitting atop it.

“This has to be it,” Twilight exclaimed. “The chest is the wrong color. I don’t remember it being green.” She pulled the Colorscope monocle from her saddlebag and placed it over her eye. She slid the metal ring onto her horn and blinked. The chest that contained the Elements looked very different through the lens. Along the seam where it would normally open was a twisted rip in space, appearing to be loosely sewn together.

Twilight walked forward into the room, and Celestia followed her. “This is it, Twilight. Remember to control your power output. We want to be gentle,” she said calmly.

A second later, an echoing gallop was heard from the front of the chamber. Everyone turned suddenly, staring toward the door. A unicorn barged past the doorway and then skidded to a halt.

“Rarity!” Twilight whispered.

“She can’t see us! She thinks you’re dead, and I’m a statue right there!” Celestia whispered back. The two of them ducked behind the pedestal, which was barely large enough to obscure them. Fluttershy nervously stepped in front of the open doorway, grinning sheepishly towards Rarity, who was still halfway down the hall from them. Pinkie stepped towards the unicorn and waved.

“Is it really you?” Rarity asked, disbelief in her voice. She walked towards Pinkie Pie slowly. As she came closer, Pinkie was able to see streaks of dirt and cuts on her face. Her hooves were chipped, and she was shaking.

“I knew it was you,” said Rarity. “I heard voices… at first it sounded like Twilight, and I thought I was going crazy, but then I heard Fluttershy, and then you, too, Pinkie.” She reached a hoof out towards Pinkie as she slowly approached her, touching her cheek gently.

“Rarity, thank goodness... what happened to you?” Pinkie asked, the silly look now gone and replaced with one of concern. “You were... I mean... You look like you’ve been through the wringer.”

“What happened to me? No no, what happened to you, Pinkie? You’re… an alicorn,” Rarity said, staring at Pinkie’s horn.

Pinkie chuckled nervously. “Long story, trust me,” she said. “Seriously, though, what happened here? Why is everypony turned to stone?”

“I don’t know. When I got here, all the guards and citizens inside had turned to stone. The forcefield allowed me to enter, and I went to the castle to find the princess, but...” Rarity recounted, her eyes trailing to the side, finally noticing the statue of Princess Celestia. “Oh my stars… the princess!” She galloped past Pinkie, stopping at the petrified princess. Pinkie joined Rarity at the statue’s side, and Fluttershy approached as well.

Rarity stood silently for a moment before speaking. “I suppose this explains why the sun hasn’t gone down. To be honest, that seems like such a small thing, now. Sorry, I’m just very shaken up about everything… about Twilight and Spike… Oh goodness, you don’t know. Pinkie Pie… Fluttershy… It’s terrible. Twilight and Spike… they’re gone.” Tears began to stream down her cheeks and she fell to the ground. Pinkie Pie sat down beside her, and Fluttershy approached, sitting in front of her.

“We saw the grave. It was shocking, to say the least, but after everything we’ve all been through…” Pinkie said, placing a hoof on Rarity’s shoulder. Rarity nodded and sniffled, looking up at the statue of Celestia.

“And now this… when will we ever get back to normal?” Rarity asked, her voice shaking as she cried.

Twilight and Celestia huddled uncomfortably in the back of the closet-sized room they were in. “I feel sorry for her, but they need to get her out of here,” Twilight whispered.

Celestia nodded and whispered back, “My tail... you’re stepping on my tail...” She wriggled her butt, trying to pull her tail out from under Twilight, her usually flowing hair now being held down with a spell. Twilight twisted herself around as best she could while staying as quiet and hidden as possible, but ended up wedging herself against the back wall and the stone pedestal.

“Is Ponyville holding up?” Rarity asked, trying to regain her composure.

Fluttershy nodded and wiped away a tear from Rarity’s eye. “It’s over, Rarity. Ponyville is okay, now. We stopped the forest and saved the town.”

Rarity managed to smile, though shallowly. “Well, at least that’s one high note to the last month.”

Back in the Elements room, Twilight’s legs were beginning to ache from her current position. She shifted to the side, trying to turn her body, but roughly bumped into the pedestal, causing the whole thing to rock slightly. A cloud of dust flew right onto her face, and her eyes began to water.

Celestia noticed and pressed a hoof against Twilight’s nose. She clenched her teeth and nervously shook her head. It was too late, though. Twilight sneezed, the sound echoing across the chamber.

“What was that?” asked Rarity, her gaze quickly shooting towards the open doors. “The door to the Elements is open. How did that happen?”

Fluttershy stood up and backed away nervously. She let out a small, fake sounding sneeze in an attempt to cover for Twilight. “I don’t know, they were open when we got here. Maybe the princess opened them before she turned to stone?”

Rarity stood up and stared at the open door, her horn now glowing. “Why doesn’t she have them with her, then?” she asked, eyeing Fluttershy suspiciously. “She’s not even near the door, and would never have left it open like that!”

Pinkie Pie jumped up and stood in front of Rarity. “It was me! I did it with my horn, now that I’m an alicorn and all,” she said, grinning widely. “It’s an, um, alicorn lock!”

Rarity frowned, her horn glowing more brightly. “That’s suspicious, too, honestly! How did that happen, exactly, hmm? Were they giving out horns and wings in the ruins of Ponyville?” Rarity asked, pressing forward.

Fluttershy leapt in front of Rarity and pressed a hoof firmly against her chest. “Don’t go in there, Rarity. You have to trust me. You’re not yourself, right now.”

Rarity slapped Fluttershy’s foreleg away. “You’re not Fluttershy, are you? Get your hoof off me! I demand to know what’s going on, here! Why is the princess turned to stone? What is this feeling, deep in my mind? Who’s in that room?” she shouted, now barging forward and into the room. Her eyes locked with Twilight’s.

“Twilight…” she said quietly, her eyes going wide. “No, it can’t be, you’re dead… I buried you… and little Spikey-wikey…” Tears ran down her face once again, and she slowly backed away.

“Rarity…” Twilight managed to say, not knowing what else to add to it.

Rarity kept backing away. “And the princess… Two of them… What is going on here?” She placed a hoof to her head and closed her eyes tightly.

“She’s changing!“ Celestia shouted, exiting the small chamber.

“Rarity, get ahold of yourself,” Twilight said, reaching out towards her frightened friend.

“It’s too late for that, Twilight,” Celestia stated, and began charging her horn.

“Please, Rarity, you have to calm down,” Twilight said, almost begging for Rarity to not change.

Rarity’s eyes shot open, releasing a bright green glow. The color of her coat began to darken. She fell backward and pressed both her front hooves to her forehead, clenching her eyes shut.

Celestia frowned. “Twilight, we need that rift open, now!” she yelled, then turning back towards Rarity, her horn now glowing brightly.

“Twilight! Fluttershy! Pinkie!” Rarity yelled, opening her eyes and looking towards the ceiling. They had lost the green glow, and were shedding tears. She held her hooves up and stared at them as they turned black, began to extend and form holes. “What’s… happening to me? Help me!”

“Rarity! No!” Fluttershy shouted, rushing to her. She took Rarity’s head in her hooves and looked at her face. Rarity’s eyes shot back open, this time glowing green again. She grinned and pushed Fluttershy away.

“Sorry, no one by that name here anymore,” she said. Her body exploded outward, quickly transforming into the dark form of the changeling queen. Fluttershy stared up at her, any sign that she’d once been Rarity now gone.

“Little Fluttershy, kind and sweet. I’ve looked forward to meeting you. Your dream’s been an absolute disaster, and it’s about to get worse,” she said with evil laughter.

Celestia fired a beam of magic straight at Chrysalis, striking her in the chest and launching her backwards down the hallway.

“It’s about to get worse for you, changeling. You never should have showed your face here,” Celestia said, readying her horn for another attack. “Remember what happened the last time?”

“Last time?” Chrysalis questioned. She regained her footing and chuckled. “You’re losing your mind, Princess.” She fired a blast of green energy towards Celestia. The princess clenched her teeth and braced herself, taking the blast head-on.

I can’t let Twilight get involved in this fight. I need to change the angle of attack, Celestia thought as she leapt through the air away from the Elements room.

“In any case, your resistance ends here. You’ll all be sent back to your dreams once I finish you off,” Chrysalis said.

“Why not just deal with us outside the dream? Why bother coming in here and fighting with us?” Celestia asked, then fired another shot at the changeling, who dodged to the side. The blast shattered a stained glass window and stirred up a cloud of dust.

The queen scoffed. “Where’s the fun in that? This is much more entertaining!” She scraped a hoof against the ground and charged towards Celestia. However, before she could come close to her, her body became encased in a yellow aura. She stopped dead in her tracks and was lifted into the air. Celestia and Chrysalis both turned their heads suddenly towards Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy’s eyes were glowing and her teeth were bared and clenched. Pinkie’s horn was glowing bright pink, ready to attack as well.

“Get out!” Fluttershy shouted, stepping towards the changeling. “Give me back my friend!” her voice resonated with a deep sound that shook the rest of the windows in the room and rattled the chandeliers.

Chrysalis laughed hysterically. “Your lucidity will do you no good! This is a foregone conclusion!” Her horn flashed green and the aura around her vanished. She dropped gently to the ground and stood staring down at Fluttershy.

Fluttershy stared back, holding as still as she could to keep from shaking. I have to stop her! I have to save Rarity! What do I do? She thought.

A voice in her head answered. What do you do? You stare her down! You don’t let her win!

“Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy said out loud. Celestia and Pinkie Pie stared at Fluttershy as she began to glow not only yellow, but many different colors. “You’re here… you came to save me, again.”

Not this time, Fluttershy. You have to do it. You have to beat her and save Rarity! Always remember, Fluttershy. You aren’t alone, but you can stand on your own! Rainbow Dash’s voice shouted in Fluttershy’s mind. Now give her the stare!

Fluttershy smiled and nodded. Her eyes shot open wide and waves of energy emanated from them. She stared right into Chrysalis’ eyes, lifting her back off the ground once again. The changeling stared back, unable to avert her gaze.

“What… are you doing? Stop!” Chrysalis shouted.

“No!” Fluttershy responded loudly. “You let Rarity go and disappear!” She stared at the changeling, whose face had now changed, an expression of terror plastered across it.

“Fluttershy!” the changeling screamed. “Fluttershy! Help me!” her body began to slowly shrink and change color, the holes throughout it began to close, and her eyes stopped glowing green.

“Rarity!” Fluttershy shouted. Rarity’s body completely returned to normal.

“Oh, this is far too boring and predictable!” a voice echoed across the chamber. A flash of light appeared between Rarity and Fluttershy. The aura around the changeling vanished and Fluttershy blinked from the flash.

Rarity, now turned to stone, fell to the ground with a loud clunk.

Everyone gasped and looked around the room. Celestia’s eyes bulged with rage. The voice was all too familiar.

“Was it you?” Celestia screamed. “Were you the one interfering with this dream? Show yourself, Discord!”

With a swirl of light and wind, Discord appeared before the ponies. Even Twilight, who had been concentrating on opening the rift as best she could, turned her head and stared.

“At your service, your royal dullness,” Discord said with a yawn.

“Answer me!” Celestia commanded impatiently and stepped towards the draconequis, her horn glowing once more.

“Oh for the love of you, will you just calm down?” Discord said impatiently, reaching out and tapping Celsetia on the nose. “You can’t honestly be that shocked to see me. Did you think you were the only ones sleeping in Canterlot?”

“The changelings’ spell should only be affecting the cocoons. How did you get in here?” Celestia asked, still threatening with a powered-up horn.

Discord fell into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

“What’s so funny, now?” Celestia asked, her tone becoming more and more impatient by the second. “Was it you who turned everything to stone?”

“Sorry, sorry, oh boy…” Discord finally managed. “Sorry, I just wanted to see how it felt, you know, to turn things to stone. I’d never do it for real, though, unlike somepony here!”

“That’s quite enough!” Celestia said, completely flustered. “I need some answers from you. You’d better cooperate, or—“

Discord cut Celestia off. “Or what? You'll turn my statue into a statue?” he asked, rolling his eyes. “Oh wait, I know! Maybe you could turn me into a decorative fountain! Oh, oh, can I be one of those fountains where the water shoots out so it looks like I’m pee—“

“Stop! Just stop!” Celestia yelled, cutting him off this time. “You’ve made your point. Fine. I still want to know what you’re doing here.”

“Oh, I just popped in to say hi!” Discord replied, fluttering his eyes innocently.

Celestia groaned.

“Oh come on, you don’t believe me?” Discord asked, shocked Celestia would even question his motives. She shot him a nastier than usual look. “Fine… I’m helping you, okay?” He fidgeted slightly and averted his eyes.

Celestia laughed loudly and rolled her eyes. “Now I’m the one who’s laughing! Why in Equestria would you help us?”

Discord floated over to Celestia and cupped her chin in his paw, staring into her eyes, his devoid of any joking. “I’m no fool, Celestia. I know who my… keeper is,” he said, the last words spoken with disgust. “If you fall from power, if the Elements of Harmony fail, I’ll never be free again.”

Celestia stared back silently.

“Don’t believe me?” Discord asked, releasing her chin.

“I don’t trust you,” Celestia replied flatly.

“Do you think it would have been so easy for you to get here if the whole area surrounding Canterlot wasn't petrified? I would have gone further, but something stopped me.”

“You’re sick.”

“You’re one to talk.”

“Hey, so, I think I’ll go ahead and get back to opening that rift, now,” said Twilight, trying to break the tension. Celestia and Discord looked toward the other ponies, who were all staring at them, visibly sweating.

Celestia turned away from Discord and walked with Twilight to the rift. She patted Twilight on the shoulder and leaned down to her ear. “Open the rift, but do it slowly. I need more time to get some information out of Discord. If my theory is correct, he’s trapped here without us helping him.”

Twilight nodded her head in response, and as she nodded, Celestia noticed a third ear coming out from underneath Twilight’s ear. She sighed and turned her head back to Discord, who was missing an ear and grinning. His mouth vanished from his face and materialized next to Celestia.

“I think you might be right, maybe you could use that to your advantage!” Discord whispered with a chuckle. Celestia stomped back over to Discord angrily.

“Fine, trickster, if you want to help, I have some more questions,” Celestia muttered. “How long have you been stuck here in this dream, and honestly, why were you petrifying everything?”

Discord shrugged. “At first, the you from this world found me and was none too pleased. She ran in here to check on the statue, and had the most frightful glowing green eyes. So I thought to myself, what would be the most ironic way to handle that? Oh yes, turn her to stone!”

“And that must be when the sun stopped moving!” Pinkie Pie shouted, glaring at Discord. “So it was your fault the whole time!” She took a couple heavy steps towards him, growling under her breath.

“Please, Pinkie Pie, let’s not get violent! I had no choice!” Discord said, putting his hands up in front of him. “Besides, you prefer to laugh, right? I mean, don’t you see the irony here? Me turning her to stone?”

Pinkie Pie frowned. “I’m not laughing. You made me go even crazier than normal!”

Discord sighed. “Fine, tough audience, I get it.”

Celestia spoke up again. “So, I suppose after that, you had to turn everypony in canterlot to stone to keep from being discovered. I know my sister would have noticed my absence.”

Discord grinned. “You’re partially right. I did petrify the city at that point, but your dear sister hasn’t been here since the beginning.”

Celestia blinked. “That’s odd...”

Discord snorted. “Sure is. In any case, I petrified anyone who came to Canterlot as soon as I knew they weren’t the dreamer. I really thought Rarity might have been the one, but of course, she wasn’t.”

“Then why unpetrify her when we got here?” Celestia inquired.

“Oh, that wasn’t me!” Discord said with a grin. He leaned towards Fluttershy and picked her up, raising her over his head. “That was this one! She could unpetrify this whole city, I’m sure. Not that I’d recommend it...”

Fluttershy, who had been staying quiet this whole time, finally glared at Discord and yelled. “You barge into my dream, petrify everypony, and make things worse than they already were, and then expect us to clean up your mess! Unpetrify everypony and then get out of here!”

Everyone stared at Fluttershy for a moment, eyes wide. Discord flinched and placed Fluttershy back on the ground.

A bright flash drew everyone’s attention towards Twilight, a rip in reality glowing brightly in front of her. She took a deep breath and turned towards the others. Discord teleported to Twilight in a flash, patting her on the back.

“Nicely done, Twilight!” he exclaimed. “Now, as it seems I’m not welcome here, I’ll take my leave, but first, I’ll go ahead and remove my stone sleep spell from everything.” He grinned and snapped his fingers. The sound of the chamber doors at the end of the hall locking echoed throughout the hallway, and a bright flash came in through the windows.

Celestia stepped towards Discord quickly. She glared at him and spoke gruffly. “You’d do well to not interfere in any more dream worlds, Discord. You caused enough trouble in this one.”

“Oh don’t worry about that, dear Celestia. I’ve left Rarity and the princess here as statues since we don’t need them seeing us. I’ll leave them to Fluttershy, here,” Discord said, then with another snap of his fingers he vanished and a beam of light shot through the air and into the portal.

I’ll be keeping an eye on you, Discord’s voice echoed through Celestia’s mind. She shook her head and sighed as everypony gathered around the portal.

“This is it, then...” Pinkie Pie said, her voice a bit sad. “I’m gonna miss you guys.”

“Don’t worry, Pinkie Pie, you’ll still have the ponies here in this dream. Once we leave, everything should get back to normal,” Twilight said, pulling Pinkie into a hug.

Fluttershy threw her hooves around Twilight and Pinkie. “We can always stay in touch with that communication gem, Pinkie. I’ll be sure to check in to make sure things are going well.” Pinkie nodded and sniffled, squeezing her friends back tightly.

After a moment, the three friends pulled apart, and Twilight and Fluttershy joined Celestia by the portal. Celestia turned and approached it. “Farewell, Pinkie. Hold down the fort here, we’re counting on you,” she said, and then passed through.

Twilight followed, simply waving her hoof as she vanished through the rift.

Fluttershy smiled and waved to Pinkie, then turned, approaching the rift.

Take care, Fluttershy, a familiar voice spoke softly in her mind.

Fluttershy nodded her head. We’ll always be together, Dashie, she responded, and then exited her dream world.

Outside of the cocoon now, the three ponies found themselves floating in the green flow of magic, hovering above the Canterlot throne room. Celestia and Twilight floated forward, back towards the magical flow. Fluttershy used her wings to propel herself easily enough. Twilight glanced back at Fluttershy and put a hoof over her mouth, then nodded her head down towards the throne.

Fluttershy looked down, and saw Chrysalis sitting on the throne with the massive flow of magic pouring into her. She slapped a hoof over her own mouth just to keep herself quiet. She took a deep breath and continued to follow the others.

Celestia looked down at Chrysalis and frowned. Don’t get too used to that throne, you monster, she thought.

The changeling queen’s eyes, which had been glowing a single shade of green, flashed white and her head turned, staring right back at Celestia. The three ponies froze, keeping as still as possible. Twilight felt her heart racing, and turned to look at Fluttershy, who was staring at Chrysalis and practically hyperventilating.

After a moment, a wave of magic washed over the changeling, and her eyes glazed over with green magical energy. Everyone exhaled and began to move forward again.

That was scary! She really gives you the creeps, don’t you think? Discord’s voice spoke in Celestia’s mind. She looked around at the others, who apparently hadn’t heard him.

I don’t have time to play with you, pest, Celestia thought.

Oh, Celestia, I’m hurt. Really, I am. I was even going to help you get to Rainbow Dash’s dream this time! I know you must be shooting for it, seeing as she’s the one providing that changeling with such a grand feast.

Don’t you dare interfere!

Fine, be that way! See if I try and help you again!

The three ponies arrived at the central collection pool, and Twilight and Celestia held onto Fluttershy’s forelegs to keep her from being pulled down by the magical flow.

A giant flash of love magic washed over the group. Twilight and Celestia, who had been prepared for it, held back their wave of emotions as best they could. Fluttershy fell into a fit of giggling, though. The other two put their hooves over her mouth.

Tears began to fall from Fluttershy’s eyes. “That was Rainbow Dash. It was so intense... we have to save her. We can’t let her be drained like this,” she said, staring upward at the dark sea of cocoons above them. The other two nodded.

“Concentrate, Fluttershy. You’re closer to Rainbow Dash then the princess and I. Try to concentrate on her and find us the path to her dream. Once we enter a dream’s path, we can’t turn back,” Twilight said, placing a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “You can do it. I believe in you.”

Fluttershy nodded and closed her eyes, concentrating on the energy she just felt. She thought about Rainbow Dash, her mind filling itself with images of her friend’s face. She smiled, and her eyes shot open, pointing up and to the left.

“I feel her! This way!” Fluttershy shouted and flapped her wings, launching upward. Celestia and Twilight pushed forward, following her. With a sudden jerk, the three of them began to accelerate, racing upward towards the cocoons.

However, their ascent didn’t last long. As if some force was pulling them apart, the three of them separated and began to fly off in different directions. Celestia turned as best she could, trying to resist the flow and reach her hooves back towards the others, but she was moving too fast.

“Discord!” Celestia screamed, her voice hot with fury.

Wasn’t me! Discord’s voice shouted back in Celestia’s mind.

Cleestia growled and continued to fly through the air, circling around. From what she could tell, the others were circling around as well, and were now heading straight towards the same point she was, on a collision course.

The three of them slammed together, knocking the air out of them all.

Before any of them had a chance to regain their bearings, they were flying right at a cocoon, and shot right into it with a bright flash.

Twilight opened her eyes, a sharp pain shooting through her head. She shook her head and looked around, and soon realized that she was hanging from a branch of a tree. She pushed herself out of the tree, seeing the ground wasn’t far below, and landed with a thud. She glanced up, seeing Celestia and Fluttershy in the tree above her. Celestia was looking around and assessing the situation.

“We’re in Ponyville,” Twilight said, glancing around at the buildings in the area. “Somewhere near the central square.”

Celestia nodded, and began to shrink down, casting her disguise spell before falling out from the branches. Fluttershy used her wings to hover downward and join Twilight as well, placing a hoof on her head.

“Okay, we need to be careful, but move quickly,” Celestia said, looking around nervously. “Remember, we could possibly run into Twilight or Fluttershy from this dream world, which would be bad. Unfortunately, I can’t sustain an illusion spell on all three of us.”

Twilight nodded. “Well, let’s move out and see what sort of information we can find.”

Fluttershy tapped Twilight on the shoulder, pointing to the far end of the plaza. Hanging on a wall at the far end was a poster. As the three of them approached it, they could see it was advertising a Wonderbolts show that was going to be happening soon.

Rainbow Dash, in full Wonderbolt gear, was front and center on the poster, striking a flashy pose.

“Okay, well, looks like we’ll be able to find Rainbow Dash pretty easily,” Twilight said, reading the text at the bottom of the poster.

“Yeah! I can’t wait to go see it!” a voice came from the left of the group. They all turned their heads and saw Scootaloo standing there, grinning up at the poster.

Twilight smiled back at Scootaloo. “Are you going to see the show? It says it’s going to be in Cloudsdale,” she said.

Scootaloo nodded. “Of course! Everypony wants to go see Rainbow Dash and the Wonderbolts! They’re saying this is going to be the most amazing aerial display in Equestrian history!” she said, hopping up and down with excitement.

Twilight smiled down at the filly. “You must be excited to be going on a trip to cloudsdale, huh?” she said.

Scootaloo tilted her head, a confused look on her face. “Why would going to Cloudsdale be all that exciting?” she asked, pointing a hoof up towards the sky behind Twilight.

Twilight turned and looked up, along with Celestia and Fluttershy. Their expressions changed with their surprise.

Cloudsdale sat in the sky above the north end of Ponyville.

END OF BOOK TWO: OVERGROWTH

TO BE CONTINUED IN BOOK THREE: HORIZONS

Author's Note

See you at Everfree Northwest, everypony! I'm heading out on a multi-day road trip. Seattle, here I come!

Intermezzo 1

The Conquering of Love

Chapter Nineteen - Intermezzo 1

“She’s passed out.”

“Well, wake her up. The queen will notice soon.”

Distant voices... who are they? where am I?

Cadence slowly lifted her heavy eyelids, glancing up and to the right. A doorway at the end of the hall was cracked, and a dark face with glints of gold lining it stared back at her. A faint purple glow cast a strand of light into the hallway towards her. She tried to push herself forward onto her hooves and felt resistance. She blinked and remembered where she was.

Training her eyes upward, she saw her horn. It was encased in a dark crystalline substance that glowed with dark power and coursed with streaks of deep blue magic all around it. Her forelegs were shackled and pulled back against a wall, restraining most movement except for swaying. Even if she wanted to break free, she didn’t have the strength to make the attempt.

She glanced back down the hallway towards the creature which she now recognized as a changeling and remembered others like it chaining her to this wall and forming the crystal onto her horn. They were different from the changelings that had initially attacked and captured her. Those changelings had been no match for her until the queen stepped in. These were more powerful, though-- closer to the kind of strength their queen possessed. Their faces were lined with veins of gold, and their horns all had brightly colored gems set into their base. Indeed, they were as powerful as any adept unicorn, and not to be taken lightly.

She could sense the changeling’s aura as it came closer to her, staring coldly into her eyes, its face empty of any emotion. She stared back, delving as deeply as she could into its icy blue eyes, trying to size it up as best she could. It wore a caped mantle with circular patches of deep blue atop black cloth, with lines of white interspersed throughout. The hood of the mantle rested in a bunch on its shoulders, which were broad and angular. This changeling not only had magic, but physical strength as well. It carried itself fluidly, each hoofstep placed carefully and quietly as it made its way into the chamber and towards Cadence.

“So you woke up. Good thing, too,” the changeling calmly said as it stopped in front of Cadence. It placed a hoof against her chin, tilting her head to the side. “I know you must be really angry right now. I would be, too. But then again, I wouldn’t be in your position. You were cursed the moment you developed your rather, well, useful style of magic.”

Cadence pulled her face away and glared down at the changeling, who managed to smirk back up at her in response. The sound of a door opening at the other end of the chamber drew both their attentions, and they turned their heads to look.

The door at the front of the chamber swung open slowly, and Chrysalis stepped in, moving a bit slowly and swaying as she stepped. She wore a look of slight inebriation, her eyes half-closed and a smile on her face. She steadied herself with a flap of her wings and strided less-than-gracefully to Cadence and the changeling, the latter of whom was now standing at attention.

“My queen, apologies, but she passed out from the stress,” the changeling stated seriously.

Chrysalis chuckled and patted the changeling on the head. “Oh, Mulci, you’re so serious. Of course she did,” the queen said, her voice full of near-euphoric bliss. She swung her face towards Cadence’s, practically pressing their noses together. “We’ve been working her like a mule!” Her vocal tone dropped at the end, and she stared into Cadence’s eyes, managing to open her own fully.

“You’ll pay,” Cadence growled into the changeling queen’s face.

“Won’t we all,” Chrysalis mused, swinging her head back to the other changeling. “Speaking of which, you need to go back and attend to the other beast of burden down here.” She tapped him on the snout and then pointed back towards the open door at the opposite end, which had swung open more widely, revealing more of the dark purple glow, which was pulsing from a barely visible cocoon in the back of the room. Several other changelings stood beneath it, their horns glowing with magic, projecting a green aura around the cocoon. One of the changelings had her head turned, looking back at the queen and the others.

“I’ll handle this. She looks like she’s got more in her, for sure-- not that it matters,” Chrysalis said with a smirk, glancing back at Cadence. “You just go and make sure that one doesn’t try anything. We already had a problem upstairs from a certain unicorn, so we don’t need any more little surprises, understood?”

The changeling gulped and nodded his head, turning back towards the far chamber door and galloping through it. The door slammed behind him, and Chrysalis turned her attention back to Cadence again.

“Oh, good, we’re alone again,” Chrysalis chuckled. She pushed her face in closer to Cadence’s and rubbed her snout against Cadence’s cheek. “Do you have any idea how absolutely intoxicating your love magic is?”

“Get away from me!” Cadence shouted, pulling her head back as best as she could.

Chrysalis smiled and pushed her face ever closer, bringing her lips up to Cadence’s left ear.

“That’s not what Shining Armor said last night,” she whispered breathily. “He wanted me so... very... close.”

Cadence’s eyes shot wide open and she pulled against the chains that held her up as hard as she could manage. The chains pulled tightly, making a loud clanging sound. “Where is he!?” she screamed. “You stay away from him!”

Chrysalis pulled away from Cadence and laughed, hovering in the air in front of her. “That’s it! That’s the passion we need! Pour it all out!” she shouted, and the crystal on Cadence’s horn began to sizzle with magic, blue bolts of energy shooting up and down it. Cadence’s horn began to glow brightly beneath the crystal casing, and a burst of love magic poured out into the air all around, filling the room with a pink aura. Cadence screamed and her entire body tensed up, shaking as the magic was forcefully drawn out of her.

A rift across the room began to pull the magic from the air as quickly as it had filled it, funneling it towards the barely visible field of cocoons on the other side.

Chrysalis took a deep breath and landed, the pink aura filling her nostrils. her eyes rolled back and her eyelids shut as she became weak in the knees and stumbled forward before regaining her hoofing.

Cadence fell forward, breathing heavily, sweat dripping from her brow. A moment later, she felt the changeling queen’s face pressing against hers once again, and felt her hot breath against her ear. Chrysalis whispered into Cadence’s ear once more.

“Help me...” Chrysalis whispered. “You have to stop her.”

Cadence opened her eyes and blinked once before glancing towards Chrysalis. Her face was pressed close, and her eyes were closed. “What?” Cadence asked. “I don’t understand... stop who?”

“She’s waking up again. I can’t stop her alone. Find a way. I don’t know any other way, so...” Chrysalis breathed into Cadence’s ear.

“So?” Cadence asked, then swallowed, still catching her breath.

Chrysalis’ eyes shot open and she pulled her face back. Her eyes were glazed over with a magical aura and tears were streaming down her cheeks.

“Kill me,” she said, and then fell to the ground.

Cadence stared at the changeling, contemplating what had just happened. A moment later, Chrysalis opened her eyes and stood back up. She shook her head briefly and then smiled widely up at Cadence, her fangs dripping with saliva.

“Yes, just like that,” she said. “Don’t think you’ll be able to take a break anytime soon. You’re just a magic battery, princess.” She flitted her wings and made her way back to the front of the chamber. As she passed through the door, she glanced back at Cadence one more time.

“I have to get back to the throne room,” she said. “Remember what I said, though. Let it burn inside you. Do well, and who knows? Maybe I’ll let you see him again.” She slammed the door and her laughter faded as she walked away.

Cadence stared at the floor, images of Shining Armor clouding her vision, and the queen’s words echoing in her mind.

“Kill me...” she whispered and shook her head in confusion just before she felt another involuntary surge of magic beginning to build inside of her. She clenched her teeth and prepared herself, knowing she would have to bear the pain for now.

Across the chamber and down the short hall, the changeling who had been called Mulci reentered the room and pushed his way into the circle of changelings surrounding a cocoon hanging from the ceiling. He looked up at the pony held within, narrowing his eyes as the gem at the base of his horn began to glow with energy.

“Resist all you want, you’re our tool now,” he muttered, then closed his eyes and joined in with the others around him, pushing against the magic that was leaking from the cocoon and converting it into a green magical aura that filled the air.

“The queen mentioned having a problem with a certain unicorn in the throne room,” Mulci said, tilting his head towards the changeling that stood next to him. “Do you suppose that’s connected to Vitra falling unconcious? She said she sensed a surge of magic and went into the stream, but came back only briefly before falling asleep.”

“I guess. Who cares?” the other changeling responded. “You worry too much, brother, much like Vitra. She’ll have a report when she wakes up in about an hour or so. She’s just affected by the time transition.”

“Mulcibar, Linnai, Concentrate,” a changeling with a long gray beard hanging from its chin grumbled from across the circle. The other two nodded and focused their magic again.

Mulcibar looked back up at the pony inside the cocoon once more. “What sort of rage must you feel inside your prison?” he said with a grin. “How much must it burn to be captive again, Princess?”

Almost as if in response, a surge of purple and dark red magic pulsed outward, straight at Mulci, but was quickly suppressed and converted into the green ambient energy.

Princess Luna hung silently, her eyes closed tightly within her pulsing green cell.

Author's Note

Prepare for Book Three. It's coming. In the meantime, I hope that this intermezzo can cleanse your palate and get you ready for what's coming.

Horizons Ch 1 - Cracks

Book Three: Horizons

Chapter One: Cracks

Twilight, Fluttershy, Scootaloo, and a disguised Celestia stood in a line, looking up at the floating city that spread through the northern skies. It dominated the view, completely blocking their line of sight to Canterlot.

Scootaloo leapt into the air and flapped her tiny wings, hovering for a moment before landing again. “I can’t wait for tomorrow! Rainbow Dash told me that it was going to be a special performance with a special announcement at the start!” the filly shouted excitedly. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but it’s gonna be awesome!”

The three others nodded their heads. “Awesome is right,” Twilight said quietly, still staring up at Cloudsdale. “I wonder why they moved Cloudsdale to here?”

Scootaloo tilted her head and gave Twilight a confused look. “Did you bump your head in that tree? You’re one of the ones who helped move it here, after all,” she said with a blink of her eyes.

Twilight cleared her throat and tapped the side of her head with a hoof. “Oh, of course!” she said nervously. “Sorry, I guess I had a bit of a ditzy moment there. Right, how could I forget that?”

“Well,” Celestia said, turning around, “I should look around this town and, you know, see the sights and gather some local information. I think that’s the best plan for right now.” She nodded her head sideways towards Twilight and Fluttershy, gesturing for them to follow.

“Oh yes, we should show you around!” Fluttershy joined in, also turning to join Celestia who was walking out towards the main areas of the village.

“You’re new around here, huh?” Scootaloo asked, sliding in front of Celestia, still wearing a big excited smile. “I could help! I know all the best places in town to have fun!”

Twilight laughed and patted the filly on the head. “Oh, that’s okay, Scootaloo. We should be fine. My cous--”

“Friend!” Celestia interrupted abruptly.

“I mean, my friend and I, here, will be fine on our own,” Twilight finished with a bit of confusion.

“Yes,” Celestia added with a nervous laugh. “More of an acquaintance, really. Twilight Sparkle was going to show me Sugarcube Corner, weren’t you?”

Scootaloo hung her head despondently. “Fine, grown-up time, I get it,” she said with a groan. “It’s just so boring around here with Rainbow Dash gone.”

All three of the travelers’ eyes lit up at the mention of Rainbow Dash, even her absence.

“Rainbow Dash is gone?” Fluttershy asked, approaching Scootaloo. “Where is she?”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and sighed. “I think all three of you must have bashed your heads into the ground too hard when you fell out of the tree,” she said. “What were you even doing up there, anyway? And what was that flash a minute ago?”

Of course, Twilight thought, The us from this world must already know where Rainbow Dash is... and why Cloudsdale is in the sky... oh, and Twilight from this world wouldn’t recognize a cousin, or a friend for that matter!

“Silly us, I guess we really are out of it!” Twilight said, shaking her head back and forth. “Just... remind us?”

Scootaloo shrugged and pointed up at Cloudsdale. “She’s up there, of course, with the Wonderbolts! They’re getting ready for their show tomorrow! Do you remember the poster you were just gawking at, or do I need to show that you that again, too?” The orange pegasus pointed towards the wall where the poster they had been looking at was hanging.

Twilight raised her head and looked towards Cloudsdale again. “Maybe you should go up there and see how she’s doing, Fluttershy,” she said. “We’ll head to Sugarcube Corner and meet you there afterwards.”

Scootaloo looked back and forth between Twilight and Fluttershy suspiciously. “What’s going on at Sugarcube Corner, anyway?” she asked, tilting one eyebrow upward.

Twilight thought for a moment. There’s no harm in saying we’re going to see Pinkie Pie, I guess.

“We just need to have a little talk with Pinkie, that’s all,” Twilight said nonchalantly. Scootaloo took a step backwards and stared at Twilight silently, as if she’d just said something terrifying. “Is... something wrong, Scootaloo?”

After a moment, Scootaloo managed to open her mouth to speak. “Is... Is Pinkie Pie back? Did they find her?” she asked. Her eyes were were now beginning to tear up and she sniffled lightly before bringing a foreleg up to her eyes to wipe them.

Oh dear... what now? Twilight thought, And what’s happened to Pinkie Pie?

Celestia thought quickly and interjected. “Don’t worry, child, I’m certain Pinkie Pie is okay. I’ve come all the way from Canterlot just to find her.” While not entirely truthful, this line did seem to bring a smile to Scootaloo’s face.

“Good. It has been boring without Rainbow Dash, but Pinkie Pie being gone just made it worse,” Scootaloo said. “I know you wanted to be alone, but do you mind if I come with you? I promise to not get in the way. I want Pinkie Pie back as much as anypony.”

Twilight glanced at Celestia and clenched her teeth, shaking her head slightly. However, it was too late, Celestia had already patted the filly on the head.

“Of course you can come,” Celestia said with a gentle smile.

Scootaloo leapt into the air happily and then ran off towards an alley across the way. “I just need to get my scooter! It’s around the other side of this building!” she shouted as she disappeared from sight. The three remaining ponies took this opportunity to quickly huddle together.

“Okay, Fluttershy, we’re counting on you,” Celestia said quietly. “We need you to bring Rainbow Dash down to Ponyville somehow. We’ll still meet at Sugarcube Corner. Once she’s there, we’ll awaken her.”

Fluttershy nodded. “What if she won’t come, though? How do I convince her?”

Twilight smiled and tapped a hoof against Fluttershy’s chest. “You know Rainbow Dash better than anypony else. If anyone can think of the right thing to say to her, it’s you,” she said, glancing towards the alley Scootaloo had run into. “But just remember, you can’t say anything about the changelings or the dream worlds. Once she knows the truth, she might start to reject the dream and wake up. It happened to me, so be careful not to let anything slip.”

“Yes, it’s a defense mechanism,” Celestia added. “When a dreamer starts to become lucid, that is when they know they are dreaming, there is a tendency for the lucidity to express itself by ending the dream. Lucidity is not the normal state for a dreamer, and a sudden realization could cause the dream to just end.”

Fluttershy nodded her head. “My awakening wasn’t all that terrible, though. I was scared, but the dream didn’t end,” she responded.

Twilight shook her head. “Fluttershy, you caused a worldwide earthquake and rainstorm, not to mention draining the color out of everything. Anyway... it's best just to not take the chance."

Fluttershy glanced up and saw Scootaloo approaching on her scooter at high speed. “I’ll be on my way, then. Good luck!” she said, and then spread her wings, taking off towards Cloudsdale.

Twilight and Celestia joined Scootaloo and began to head towards the town center where Sugarcube Corner was located.

Fluttershy pushed her way up through the lower levels of Cloudsdale, passing between two large cloud islands and into the southern square. It didn’t take her long to find indications of where Rainbow Dash was staying. Posters were plastered on walls and ponies in the street were talking with childlike excitement about the upcoming Wonderbolts show. She knew that a lot of pegasi were Wonderbolts fans, but this was beyond the usual levels.

Everypony is so excited, she thought. I guess that makes sense. There’s no bigger fan than Rainbow Dash, so everypony in her dream must be big fans, too.

At the northwest end of the central cloud stood a giant complex atop a cloud mound. The emblem of The Wonderbolts shone brightly from the front, and several spires shot upward from it at various points. The central tower rose higher than the rest, and Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark was emblazoned upon it.

Fluttershy sighed and rolled her eyes. She’s definitely getting a little carried away, but it’s her dream, so I guess that’s fine. It’s not like my dream didn’t get out of hoof, too.

She glided towards the compound for what felt like ages, realizing as she went that it was much larger and further away than she’d initially thought. The compound itself was practically the size of the royal palace in Canterlot. As she got closer and was able to see more detail, she could see each tower had its own cutie mark, signifying the inhabitant. At the top of each tower was an entrance to the interior, which she assumed would be each Wonderbolt’s living quarters.

She finally approached the entrance to Rainbow Dash’s tower and landed on the balcony that hung outside the large, regal doors. They were made of thick, stained wood and had her cutie mark carved in the center. It was definitely the type of thing you’d expect to see in Canterlot, and not so much in Cloudsdale. Fluttershy grimaced.

Really, Rainbow Dash? she thought to herself. This seems a bit much, even for you...

Fluttershy knocked softly against the door and put her ear against it. “Rainbow Dash?” she said timidly after a moment. The grandiosity of the whole situation had made her a bit nervous to the point where she wasn’t even sure if she should be meeting her like this without the others. It was too late now, though. She could hear hoofsteps on the other side of the door, and then it swung inward a second later.

Fluttershy stumbled forward slightly, then regained her balance and looked up at the pony on the other side of the door. Rainbow Dash stood before her, a slightly confused look on her face. Her mane was a bit longer than Fluttershy remembered it being, and she had the back of it tied up in a ponytail. She was wearing a red velvet robe with a white collar. The robe was tied loosely at her waist and had long tails that dragged behind her. Regardless of the slight differences, it was definitely her, and this was the first time Fluttershy had seen Rainbow Dash since her dream version of her had died in her forelegs.

She swallowed, trying to hold back mixed feelings of happiness and sadness. The thought that this was the real Rainbow Dash only amplified her feelings, though, and she couldn’t keep herself from grabbing her friend and hugging her tightly.

Rainbow Dash raised a foreleg and put it around Fluttershy’s shoulders. Her brow furrowed and she blinked with confusion. “Nice to see you, too?” she said, unsure of what was going on.

Back on the ground, Twilight, Celestia, and Scootaloo had almost reached Sugarcube Corner. On the way there, Scootaloo had been explaining what had happened to Pinkie Pie.

“Nopony knows what happened, but just after getting back from the royal wedding, Pinkie Pie started acting really weird,” she recalled. “She would always look at walls, or even empty spaces, really strangely and say she could see cracks in the world.”

Twilight glanced at Celestia, who returned a knowing look. Pinkie had been aware that something was wrong with the world, just like Pinkie Twi had, she thought.

“And then what happened?” Celestia asked as they turned a bend in the road and Sugarcube Corner came into view.

Scootaloo shrugged. “She just up and vanished one night. Nopony has seen her since. Zecora came and tried to use her powers to figure out anything she could,” she said. “Hay, even you couldn't tell what happened, Twilight. You tried everything and couldn’t seem to make heads or tails of any of it, especially those weird notebooks she left.”

Twilight grinned nervously. “Ah yes, those notebooks. You know, I think I should take another look at them, are they still there?”

“As far as I know, they’re still up in Pinkie’s room,” The filly responded as they arrived at the front entrance. She looked up at Twilight hopefully, then turned to Celestia. “Please tell me you can find her, please.”

Celestia nodded confidently. “We’ll do our very best.”

Twilight pushed the door open and stepped inside, glancing around for signs of the Cakes. Sitting on a counter at the far end of the shop was a tray of steaming hot tarts. The smell of fresh baked dough and sweet apples filled Twilight’s nostrils. She felt her mouth watering and swallowed before opening her mouth to call out.

“Hello? Is anypony in here?” She asked. Celestia and Scootaloo entered behind her as the sound of hoofsteps came from the kitchen towards them. Carrot Cake, the father of the Cake family, pushed the kitchen door open and smiled as he saw Twilight and her companions.

“Hey there, Twilight! What brings you here? Planning on getting some of our famous apple tarts for the show tomorrow?” he asked, pointing a hoof towards the baked goods on the counter. “There’s more in the oven, and Applejack should be bringing another cartload or two of apples. We’re hardly able to keep up with the demand, but I can make an exception for you.”

Twilight smiled. “Thank you, Mr. Cake, but we’re actually here for a different reason. Do you mind if we go take a look upstairs in Pinkie’s room?” She glanced towards the stairs that led up to the Cake household, in which Pinkie resided in the attic.

Mr. Cake drooped his head and shook it slowly. “I suppose there’s no harm in it, but... do you really think there’s any point?” he said, and then stepped close to Twilight, pressing his mouth to her ear. “I mean, she went completely crazy, up and disappeared. It’s been most of a month now. It might be time to consider the possibility that she might be...” he whispered, trailing off at the end, not wanting to finish the thought.

Twilight shook her head. “I know she’s still out there. I’ve brought somepony with me from Canterlot who I think will be able to help us find out what happened,” she said. “Let’s go take a look up there, um... Inspector...”

Celestia nodded her head. “Orange,” she finished for Twilight. “Really, dear Twilight, try to concentrate. The game’s afoot.” She walked past Twilight and began to go up the stairs. Twilight chuckled and followed her with Scootaloo bringing up the rear.

When they arrived at the doorway to Pinkie’s loft, Twilight whispered to Celestia, “Do we really want to bring her up with us? We’ll have to be careful what we say.”

“Come along, you two. Let’s get to work,” Celestia said aloud in response, opening the door and ascending the final flight of stairs.

As the three of them gained a view into the room, they saw that the whole place was torn apart. Papers, quills, and ink wells were scattered everywhere. Writing and pictures had been scrawled onto every wall, and a stack of notebooks sat neatly on a table. The top notebook’s cover read “REALITY IS NOT REAL!” in large, scribbly letters.

Twilight and Celestia began to circle the room, while Scootaloo took a seat at the table and picked up a notebook from the top of the pile.

Twilight’s eyes darted around, taking in the drawings and writing. As she went along the wall, she read the words aloud.

“Cracks in reality. Flashing beams of color. Day 12, I can see some kind of magical aura. Nopony else can see it. It’s deep red and won’t let me touch it. I want it.”

Celestia’s head jerked back towards Twilight. “Deep red magic? I’ve seen that before,” she said. “Do you remember, Twilight?”

Twilight nodded. “Pinkie had used it before. Do you think the same power has possessed her again?”

“No way to know yet, but she said she couldn’t touch it. Why would she write Day 12 on the wall like that, and not the other days?” Celestia asked, placing a hoof on her chin.

“Looks like she wanted to make sure that got noticed,” Scootaloo spoke up, flipping the pages of the notebook she was holding. “It’s in this notebook, too, but it also says ‘Put on wall,’ afterwards.”

Twilight continued to look at the wall, her eyes eventually coming across a drawing of something that looked very similar to the colorscope she had in her dream. The words next to it read “Voices won’t shut up. Telling me to break the world. This thing would let me. Have to make sure I never get it. Might do what voices say. I want to.”

At the end of the wall right before the stairwell, Twilight finished reading Pinkie’s writing. “I’m leaving. I’m so scared. I need help. Voices tell me to do terrible things. Help me.” Twilight recited. “That’s it. I guess the rest of the information we need is in the notebooks.”

Celestia tapped a hoof against the wall she was standing in front of. “Twilight, look here,” she said. “The wall here has a big oval drawn on it, and says ‘Crack here!’ I wonder if this could be... you know...”

The exit! Twilight thought. We’d have to check with the Colorscope to be sure, but that would be really useful to know! We can’t with Scoots here, though. She nodded to Celestia.

Twilight walked over to the table where Scootaloo was sitting flipping through Pinkie's notebooks. She picked one up and began to read through it.

There must be some sort of clue as to where Pinkie has gone, she thought. I just need to find it. As she was thinking this, she turned a page and found a diagram of some sort of cloak with arrows pointing to several pockets and pouches along its edges.

There were words underneath the diagram, which Twilight read out loud. "Night's Cloak, voices told me how to make it, will need to get help from Rarity," she recited. "Prin, er, Inspector... come look at this."

"Looks like she wanted to wear a disguise to help her sneak away," Celestia said, glancing at the drawing. "The design seems familiar, but I can't place it."

"In any case, we should go see what Rarity knows," Twilight decided. "Pinkie might have said something to her before leaving."

Scootaloo waved a hoof back and forth in front of her. "Don't bother, Rarity's been really tight-lipped about anything involving Pinkie Pie. I hear she made a Pinkie Promise not to tell anyone anything," she said.

Twilight sighed with frustration. "Pinkie Pie..." she muttered. "Surely Rarity could be convinced, though. Pinkie Promise or no, our friend's safety could depend on what she knows."

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and hopped up onto her hooves. "Like nopony's thought of that before," she said sarcastically.

"Nopony has been here on an official investigation from Canterlot before, either," Celestia chimed in. "I shall go pay a visit to Lady Rarity. Perhaps I can convince her to talk."

"Worth a try, I guess," said Twilight. "I'll take these notebooks and study them more. Thank you so much for your help, Scootaloo." She slipped the notebooks into her saddlebag, and then she and Scootaloo followed Celestia towards the stairs.

Descending back to the ground floor of Sugarcube corner, they were greeted by the door at the front of the store opening and Applejack pushing her way in, pulling a cart full of apples behind her.

"Mr. Cake! Got the extra apples ya ordered, here!" she hollered towards the back. Her eye caught Twilight standing at the stairs, and she smiled and waved. "Howdy, Twilight! What're you doin' here? Thought you were off in Canterlot gettin' some last minute preparations done fer tomorrow!"

I'm in canterlot, eh? Good to know. That means the library's free, Twilight thought, then remembered something. Shoot! I bet all the books are blank, anyway!

Twilight smiled back at Applejack. "Oh, no, I got back early. I brought Inspector Orange here with me, she's investigating Pinkie Pie's disappearance."

"Oh, and we are mighty thankful for it, too!" Mrs. Cake's voice came from the kitchen as she emerged. "Carrot was just telling me all about it. We sure hope you find her. She's like family to us, and we really do miss her. Please find her! Bring us back our smiling face!"

“Well that’s sure somethin’, but I don’t know,” Applejack said with a look of concern. “She’s been gone for a good while, now, and nopony’s been able ta find any trace of her.”

Celestia smiled and nodded her head, placing a hoof above her forehead as if she were tipping an invisible hat. “Don’t worry, you two. I’m on the case!” she said confidently.

Twilight laughed. “You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?” she asked, smirking.

“Do you think I need a hat? Oh, I bet Rarity has one that’s just perfect.”

“Oh, please…” Twilight said, sighing. “Anyway, I need to get to reading through these notebooks some more, and the inspector is heading to Carousel Boutique. You know the way, right Inspector?”

Celestia nodded her head and turned to head out the door. However, she was obstructed by a small filly pulling a cart full of apples into the shop. The cart’s wheels became stuck at the entrance, and she fell over backwards, tumbling into a roll and finally stopping at Celestia’s legs.

Applejack laughed. “Come on now, Apple Bloom, you gotta do better’n that if ya wanna be a full-fledged farm pony!”

The filly rolled back to her hooves and stood up. She looked up at Celestia and blushed. “Sorry, ma’am. Sorry sis!” she said embarrassedly, rubbing her hoof against the back of her head.

“Not at all, little one,” Celestia said, patting Apple Bloom on the head. “I was just heading out. Be more careful next time.” She stepped through the door and out into the streets of Ponyville towards her destination, carousel Boutique.

Apple Bloom watched the unfamiliar pony leave and then her eyes trailed to the back of the room where Scootaloo was standing. She suddenly smiled and leapt towards the small pegasus. “Scootaloo! Long time no see!”

Scootaloo smiled and trained her eyes away from Apple Bloom. “Yeah,” she said, pausing. “A while.”

“Oh, come on now, I’m sorry I ain’t had time ta hang out as much, but I just been so busy helpin’ the family, we’ve all barely had a moment’s rest!” Apple Bloom said, pressing a hoof gently against Scootaloo.

Twilight stepped towards Applejack and leaned in, speaking softly. “What’s up with them? I thought they were such good friends. I’ve never seen either of them so reserved when there’s another Cutie Mark Crusader around.”

Applejack shrugged. “So you noticed it too, huh? Those two just ain’t been the same lately. Really, it’s all three a’ them, if ya know what I mean,” she said with a sigh. “Poor Scootaloo, I feel so bad for her, but I just don’t know what ta’ say to her, and Apple Bloom’s just as lost as I am.”

Twilight shook her head with confusion yet again. “Say to her? About what?” she asked.

Applejack gave Twilight a cold glare. “Oh, come on, Twi. You know how bad those three wanted ta’ get their cutie marks together,” she said.

Twilight nodded her head. “Right, and...?”

“Can you really be that dull, Twi?” Applejack asked in disbelief. “Ever since Apple Bloom n’ Sweetie Belle got their cutie marks, poor Scootaloo’s the only one left without one. She’s a tough kid, but it’s broken her heart and made her feel like the third wheel, I reckon.”

Twilight jerked her head suddenly towards the two fillies again. How could I have missed that she had a cutie mark? she thought. After a second, she realized that she hadn’t missed anything. Apple Bloom’s flank was as blank as ever. That’s strange. Why would AJ think she has a cutie mark?

Twilight looked back towards Applejack. Visions of Applejack from the previous dream world entered her mind-- Her glowing green eyes and the way she turned into such a formidable changeling foe. Best not mention anything and just play along for now, Twilight decided.

Twilight looked back at the two fillies. Suddenly, a light bulb lit up inside Twilight’s mind. Her eyes widened and she bit her lower lip as she realized a distinct possibility.

This... might not be Rainbow Dash’s dream.

Author's Note

Finally, Book 3! I don't know if this book will compete with Book 2 in its epicness, but... eh, actually, it might! I have a lot in store for this one, and have been dreaming of writing it since WINTER! So here it comes, finally! Way too long coming, but that's partially because I have ended up writing ahead a lot. There is a big chunk of late chapter 2/early chapter 3 already written. So the next two should pop faster than expected.

Horizons Ch 2 - Pressure

Book Three: Horizons

Chapter Two - Pressure

Celestia trotted down the street, looking around at the town as she went, taking notice of little details. It's amazing that none of this is real, she thought. The mind is truly impressive to be able to keep all of this going, even if there is magic helping it a little.

Oh yes, a mind is a terrible thing to waste. Just look at all this clutter, a voice responded in her mind. Her brow furrowed immediately as she knew her day had just gotten harder.

I told you not to interfere, Celestia thought, sighing with the realization that Discord was still following her around. Why did you bother to coming after us?

Oh come on, Celestia! This is the best thing that’s happened to me since those foolish fillies somehow broke your spell on my statue! Discord’s voice responded, a tone of sarcastic disappointment apparent. Besides, I told you, I have to make sure you win or I’m stuck in that statue forever!

You’ll still be in there forever if I have anything to say about it! Celestia snapped back. We hardly need any chaos happening around here! We have enough as it is, thank you.

I promise to be on my best behavior! Discord pledged sincerely.

Your best behavior still causes problems! The best thing you can do is just go away!

Bah! You’re being so closed-minded! Look at the situation you’re in! Pinkie Pie has disappeared after going coo-coo, but we both know she wasn’t totally nuts. She knew the world was a dream, she just couldn’t figure it out. That is of course not to say that Pinkie Pie isn’t crazy, she’s just also chaotic! Such a kindred spirit!

Celestia frowned. Don’t compare yourself to anypony else, especially one of those six, it’s disturbing.

Wait, is this what friendship is? Kinship? I think I feel it in my… wait, no, it’s gone, Discord said with an echoing laugh in Celestia’s mind. But really, if you want to get out of here, you need me.

Why would I need you? You bring about nothing but trouble.

Because I can feel it in this world… chaos is everywhere. Unguided, unharnessed, truly free chaos twisting everywhere and threatening to tear the world apart. A single thread holds the whole place together. It’s… glorious!

Celestia walked along silently for a moment, then stopped. What do you mean by that? A single thread holds the world together? she thought.

A thread of magic, of course. Magic that I don’t quite have a grip on… yet.

Celestia shook her head. That’s surprising, actually, she thought.

Oh, was that a masked compliment? Discord's voice rang with glee in Celestia’s mind. There’s the actual surprise!

Celestia sighed and continued walking. Don’t get used to it, or this… but okay. I will accept your help. Your knowledge of magic, particularly chaos, may come in handy. Just don’t think that gives you free reign to do as you please!

Celestia walked down the street, approaching the field that led to Carousel Boutique. There was no response from Discord. After a moment, she sighed again and muttered under her breath. “Discord…”

Sorry! Sorry! Yes! I wasn’t doing anything! I mean, I won’t do anything! Except help you, of course! his voice trailed into her ear as if he were approaching from somewhere.

Celestia rolled her eyes. Why do I not believe you? she thought. There was no response, and as her gaze returned forward, she realized that Carousel Boutique had come into view. She had seen it before, of course, both in person and in Twilight’s dream, but never like it appeared now.

The boutique had expanded in size. It normally had a simple bell-shaped design, with a top and bottom floor. The inside of the boutique was part household and part shop, with bedrooms and other private living spaces on the top floor. It now stood three stories tall, and the base of the building had expanded outward, becoming what was basically the same building, just in a grander scale. The front door of the shop and boutique section had become a massive set of double glass doors with a brightly painted sign above them with Rarity’s signature logo on it.

Celestia stood and looked at the transformed building for a couple of minutes, her mind going through a lot of different thoughts. What reason is there for this change to occur? In a dream, almost everything happens for a reason, so why this?

I told you, Celestia, this world is chaotic. Discord projected into Celestia’s mind. Oh, it may seem orderly and neat on the surface, but it’s not. I can feel chaotic energy flowing from that building. Something is happening in there.

“Well then,” Celestia said aloud, “I’d best go and investigate.” She trotted forward, approaching the entryway.

“Did you forget something?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking down at Fluttershy who had suddenly hugged her out of the blue.

Fluttershy pulled away from Rainbow Dash and looked at her again, noticing the baffled expression on her face. “Forget something?” she asked.

Rainbow Dash shrugged and turned, walking back into the front room of her living space. The walls were adorned with framed pictures and medals, and the carpet was soft and red. Toward the back of the room, a fire burned inside a large fireplace. Fluttershy strided in after Dash, looking around at everything. She smiled as she noticed the pictures sitting on the mantle—all pictures of Rainbow Dash and her Ponyville friends.

Rainbow Dash sat down on a cushion and looked up at Fluttershy. “Right. You were here, like, ten minutes ago. Did you forget something, or did you just come back to hug me?” she asked, still looking a bit confused about the sudden emotional moment they’d had.

I suppose it’s good that I’m still involved in her dream, even if it’s mostly about The Wonderbolts, Fluttershy thought as she looked around at the walls. Certifications from Wonderbolts training were framed on one wall, underneath which were pictures of Rainbow Dash posing with various members of the Wonderbolts. The pictures on and above the mantle were all pictures of her friends from Ponyville. Sitting in the center of the mantle were several pictures of Rainbow Dash with Scootaloo. Fluttershy raised an eyebrow and she took note of this fact. That’s strange, were those two ever that close? Maybe Rainbow’s subconscious has noticed her more than she lets on. In any case, I have to wake her up as soon as possible. I have to get her down to Ponyville, somehow. She sat down across from Rainbow Dash, near the fire, and shook her head.

“No, I just, um… thought I wanted to hang out some more,” Fluttershy said, coming up with an excuse. She could only hope that Fluttershy from this dream world didn’t have the same thought.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I guess it’s understandable. Who wouldn’t want to be around my awesomeness more?” she said with a laugh and a wink. Fluttershy chuckled in response. “I know, I know, I even leave my friends speechless sometimes.”

“Yeah, totally awesome,” Fluttershy responded with a forced laugh, then thought to herself, This is definitely not my favorite side of her, but I have to remember, it’s just the way her dream has gone. Not her fault, right?

“So... How are things?” Fluttershy asked awkwardly, feigning a smile. Oh sure, what a great way to start the conversation, she thought.

“Awesome. Like you said, totally awesome,” Rainbow responded. “So… do you need something?” Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and then stood back up, walking into the next room quickly. “Do you want a drink? I have some amazing cider! Top quality cider from the latest Bloom batch from Ponyville, and it’s the hard stuff!”

“Bloom batch?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yeah yeah, you know,” Rainbow Dash responded non-descriptively. “I guess not, you never did like drinking much.” She returned to the room, holding a bottle in her mouth. She sat back down and stared at Fluttershy, waiting for her to answer the previous question.

Fluttershy stared back for a moment before she realized she’d been asked if she needed something. "Oh right! So, This might sound a bit strange, but would you tell me all about how things went after, oh, let’s say, the wedding in Canterlot?” Fluttershy asked, tapping her front hooves together nervously.

Rainbow Dash’s face lit up with excitement. “Oh yeah, that’s not weird at all! I love telling that story!” she said excitedly. “After the wedding, The Wonderbolts flew to Ponyville after me. Let’s just say that my performance at the wedding was so good that they couldn’t possibly ignore me any longer.”

Fluttershy nodded. “So they came to recruit you, right? How did it all happen?” Fluttershy asked, actually interested in what Rainbow Dash dreams it would be like to get accepted into The Wonderbolts.

Rainbow Dash smirked. “Well, I was working in town on my usual weather duties, keeping the sky clear and making sure all the foals in town had great weather to play in! You know weather is my big passion after racing. So anyway, the Wonderbolts found out that I’m a bit of a local celebrity what with having my own fan club and everything, and were very impressed,” she said, nodding towards the pictures on the mantle. “Ponies in town say that Scootaloo told them how awesome I was, and that combined with the wedding performance sealed the deal.”

“So they made you a Wonderbolt! That’s great. How long did you have to train?” Fluttershy responded with further interest.

Rainbow Dash blinked with confusion for a moment and then let out a hearty laugh. “Oh, come on, Fluttershy! Training? I didn’t have to train at all! It was only a month ago, after all.”

“A... a month ago?” Fluttershy asked, her voice taking a nervous tone. “It’s only been a month since the royal wedding?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and took a swig from the bottle of cider.

“Well yeah! Gee, you must be tired if you forget all that!” Rainbow Dash said as she jumped to her hooves, then onto a short table that was sitting nearby. She struck a heroic pose, waving her forelegs in the air, as she recounted the events. “They made me their captain and brought me back to Cloudsdale! Once I got here, I missed my friends in Ponyville, but I couldn’t live in Cloudsdale and Ponyville at the same time! So then I had an idea! We should move Cloudsdale to Ponyville! Pure genius!”

“But... doesn’t that seem a bit disruptive? I mean, what about all the ponies who live in Cloudsdale that liked it where it was?” Fluttershy asked.

Rainbow Dash scoffed. “Lucky for me, that same week, I was voted ‘The Most Interesting Mare in Equestria” and was given the gift of one royal decree!”

“Oh, I see, and you used the royal decree to move Cloudsdale south, then?” Fluttershy asked, clapping one front hoof against the other.

Rainbow Dash laughed. “Fluttershy, please, you know that’s not what happened. Cloudsdale was moved because everypony is so inspired by me that my wish to have it moved simply came true. That’s the way it works when the Most Interesting Mare in Equestria wants something.”

“Gosh, that’s... um...” Fluttershy said, forcing a smile across her face. “Just great, yes, so anyway--” she continued, but was interrupted by Rainbow Dash.

“Yes, anyway! Anyway, my decree was for this awesome castle to be built for The Wonderbolts, of course! And well, that’s pretty much the whole story.”

Fluttershy simply nodded her head in response, thinking Wow, she’s so... arrogant! It’s like she’s a completely different pony! This dream needs to end before she... before she hurts herself from all this... um... No, this has to stop, because this is what’s feeding Chrysalis! We can’t let her keep going like this!

Rainbow Dash sat back down on the cushion and reached to her side for her bottle. She pulled it up to her lips and smiled. “Yeah, I don’t always tell stories, but when I do, they’re about me!” She took a swig from the bottle and grinned as it left her lips. She let out a satisfied sigh and leaned back against another cushion that was sitting behind her.

Fluttershy sighed too, realizing that she might be in for a long evening before managing to breach the subject of heading down to Ponyville.

Celestia pushed the boutique's doors open, poked her head in, and looked around for Rarity. The walls were lined with racks of clothing, tall hatstands with whimsical giant hats on their branches, and framed artwork, all of which had a very splotchy modern art look to it.

“Anypony there?” Celestia called out as she stepped into the boutique. She began to casually inspect some of the dresses on the rack to her right, immediateloy noticing the bright, clashing color schemes that were present on some of the designs.

Good heavens, I suppose this is the fashion equivalent to the blank books Twilight found in Fluttershy’s dream. Celestia thought to herself, chuckling.

Yeah, right, Discord’s voice responded in her head. You’re missing the big picture, here.

Celestia furrowed her brow, annoyed at Discord’s continual reading of her thoughts. What’s that supposed to mean? she thought, but then she heard hoofsteps coming down the stairs, followed by Rarity pushing her way through a door in the back. Celestia looked up and smiled at the pony as she entered.

“Lady Rarity, I presume?” Celestia asked, getting back into her Canterlot inspector character.

“Yes, that’s me!” Rarity said with a joyful tone. “We’re normally closed for business at this hour, but I suppose I forgot to lock up, so what can I do for you? Are you looking for a fabulous new dress? Because I think I have a couple that would suit you wonderfully!”

Celestia could already see the gears spinning in Rarity’s brain, already cooking up several outfit combinations for her, but that was not her reason for coming, and she would have to disappoint her, eventually.

The big picture, eh? Why do I get the feeling that listening to you will be the worst decision I’ve made to date? Celestia thought, assuming Discord was still listening in, much to her dismay. Best to get the introductions out of the way, warm up to her a bit before asking her anything, Celestia thought, and then walked over to Rarity, glancing up at one of the elaborate hatstands near her.

“Well, I’m not exactly here to shop, but I had been thinking I might want a hat of some sort,” she said, carefully inspecting a big wide-brimmed hat with multiple peacock feathers sticking out in various directions. “I am Inspector Orange, I came here from Canterlot to investigate a case, and I seem to have left my hat at home. I just don’t feel the same without it.”

Rarity’s eyes lit up at the mention of Canterlot, just as Celestia thought they might. “Canterlot, you say? And an inspector of some sort?” Rarity asked, her eyes already scanning the room, stopping at the different displays of hats ranging from large to giant. “What are you an inspector of? I may have something for you, but if not, I’m sure I can throw something together, no trouble at all!”

Celestia smiled. “A police inspector, though I do know a thing or two about fashion. A lot of the designs I’ve looked at since coming in strike me as a bit… loud?” she said, trying to work towards whatever this big picture was that Discord had mentioned. “I confess, I’ve seen your work before, which is why I came here. Is this a new sort of fashion line you’ve come up with recently?”

Rarity grinned. “Well, you must not be completely up to date, I suppose. This fashion line has been around for a little while now, and it’s been selling so fabulously that it’s hard to keep up with demand,” she said, waving her hoof in a sweeping motion in front of her. “Why, if I were still running this boutique like I had been before, I’d never be able to keep up!”

Celestia narrowed her eyes. “What, exactly, has changed? I can see that the boutique itself has grown based on pictures I’ve seen, but that can’t be all. What’s the big secret to your recent success and expansion?”

Almost as if in response, a small voice hollered from up the stairs in the back. “This is fabulous!” the voice shrieked with childlike glee. Rarity smiled and tilted her head back to where the voice had come from.

“Well, you must really be out of the loop! All these designs aren’t just by me. My dear sister, Sweetie Belle, has found her calling in the fashion world, just like me!” Rarity said, almost as if she were announcing it to a crowd. “A sister team that is unstoppable in the world of high fashion and clothing art!”

Celestia blinked, thinking about what she knows of Sweetie Belle from Twilight’s letters. She’d met the filly before, and knew she was one of three fillies here in Ponyville that formed a club called the Cutie Mark Crusaders. She’d even met Sweetie Belle before, and remembered that she was a very polite girl that seemed to have a bit of a wild streak that she was no doubt hiding in the presence of royalty.

As Celestia thought this, she turned her head upward and caught sight of a large framed photograph hanging above the counter at the back of the store. Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and herself were standing in the palace gardens in Canterlot.

Rarity noticed her looking up at the picture and nodded her head. “Oh yes, that was a truly wonderful day. We went to Canterlot and launched the new fashion line. As you can see, Princess Celestia was there, and even let us stay at the palace that night,” she said, happily recalling the moment. “It was also the wonderful day that Sweetie Belle finally got her cutie mark.” Rarity pointed up to the picture, towards Sweetie Belle’s flank, beaming with pride.

Celestia blinked, staring at the picture. Sweetie Belle’s flank had no cutie mark in the image, but perhaps she had earned it afterwards. However, she didn’t have long to ponder that thought, because her attention was drawn by the door in the back opening again. Sweetie Belle emerged, holding a dress above her head with a levitation spell.

Celestia blinked again, multiple times. If I recall correctly, Sweetie Belle wasn’t able to use magic before, she thought, and then her eyes darted down to the filly’s flank. She doesn’t have a cutie mark. How could Rarity think that she had earned it?

Suddenly, a light bulb lit up inside Celestia’s mind. Her eyes widened and she bit her lower lip as she realized a distinct possibility.

This... might not be Rainbow Dash’s dream.

Author's Note

As promised, here's Horizons Chapter 2, quick as a whip! Twilight and Celestia have begun to realize the truth, but what IS the truth? And what will happen to poor Fluttershy? Will she have to listen to hours and hours of Dash's egotistical drivel?

Horizons Ch 3 - Shatter

Book Three: Horizons

Chapter Three - Shatter

Fluttershy sat across from Rainbow Dash, waiting for an opportunity to interject and invite her to come down to Ponyville. Rainbow Dash had continued telling stories of her awesome escapades with the Wonderbolts since joining. Her eye twitched uncontrollably. Normally Fluttershy would be enjoying such stories, if only they were real, and if only Dash wasn’t being so overly arrogant about her accomplishments.

“And that’s why the Saint Hoofis Arch is now rainbow colored!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “It’s really something to see, you should go some time! Hey, we should go together! I could reenact my moment of unbridled heroism! I bet the orphans in that orphanage are still talking about it!”

Yeah, and I’m sure they’re still talking about how the orphanage burned down and you didn’t lift a hoof to help, too… Fluttershy thought to herself, gritting her teeth.

“I wonder if they ever did get that orphanage rebuilt, though… oh well, I’m sure it’s okay!” Rainbow Dash said with a laugh. She poured a large portion of the contents of her bottled beverage into her mouth and leaned back again onto the soft pillow behind her.

“So, Rainbow Dash, you know, as far as journeys go, this wouldn’t be as exciting, but Twilight was saying she wanted to see you down in Ponyville,” Fluttershy said, regaining her composure after hearing such a dumbfoundingly impossible story. “She said she had someone she wanted to introduce you to, as well.”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Oh yeah? My adoring fans... a mare’s work is never done, I suppose,” she said, taking another sip from the bottle. “I’ll be down there tomorrow, no rush. Twilight can introduce her friend to me, then.”

Fluttershy frowned. “She did say she wished it could be tonight, though. I don’t know how long her friend is going to be around, and all, so...” she said, trailing off.She caught herself becoming quiet and thought back to everything she’d sworn back in her dream world, and raised her head back up. “We should go see her tonight, Dashie. She’s your friend, so you should at least make some time for her.”

Rainbow Dash sighed and set the bottle down beside her. “Oh come on, Fluttershy. Don’t be like that.” She stood up and shook her head. “Sorry, but it’ll have to wait, you’re lucky I stayed up to talk to you. I definitely don’t have time to go see Twilight and her little friend. And since when do you call me Dashie, anyway?”

Fluttershy gritted her teeth, Rainbow’s attitude getting more and more on her nerves every second. She stood up and pushed her face up to Rainbow Dash’s, speaking through her teeth. “Why did you even move Cloudsdale here if you won’t even go to Ponyville to see your friends?”

Rainbow Dash pulled away, her eyes taking on a slightly worried look. “Fluttershy, I just... you know...”

“No, I don’t know! I don’t know what it’s like to be the center of the universe! You know what, though? Neither do you!” Fluttershy shouted.

“Fluttershy, what’s gotten into you?” Rainbow Dash asked, backing away more.

“Doesn’t it seem a little too good to be true?” Fluttershy asked, her expression unwavering.

“What... do you mean?” Rainbow Dash asked, staring back nervously.

I’m sorry, Twilight, Princess, but I’m going to do it! Somepony needs to knock her down a peg! Fluttershy thought to herself as she stomped a front hoof down and swallowed her remaining nervousness along with any sense of reason. She stared right into Rainbow Dash’s eyes. The sun’s final red glint flickered through the windows as it set, and the moon rose into the sky, its cold light shining brightly into the room.

“So, Applejack,” Twilight started, her mind searching around for ways to ask about Apple Bloom’s cutie mark without making it too obvious. “Things must be different now that Apple Bloom has discovered her special talent.”

Applejack continued to look at the fillies with sadness in her eyes. She nodded her head and turned back to Twilight. “Yeah, but at the same time, she don’t really wanna show it off in front of Scootaloo. It’s been rough on her, and she’s been pourin’ herself into work at the farm to keep her mind offa it. She might seem happy to see Scoot, but I can tell… she’s lookin’ fer somethin’ else to bring the three of them back together.”

Twilight nodded. “They’re such good friends, I don’t see why their friendship can’t just keep them together,” she said quietly.

“Ain’t no point in pushin’ it, Twi. Just like cutie marks, those three are sure ta figure it out with time,” Applejack responded. “Meantime, we gotta head back to the farm and prep the next batch of apples on the trees.”

“Prep the apples? How so? Don’t you just wait for them to grow?” Twilight asked, placing a hoof to her chin.

Applejack grinned. “Come ta think of it, you never have seen Apple Bloom’s talent at work, have ya? I’m sure ya know sort of how it works, but seein’ is believin’. You should come watch her at work sometime,” Applejack said, turning towards the door to head back out. She leaned back towards Twilight and whispered, “And maybe, if yer that worried for ‘em, you could talk to Apple Bloom about her and the other two. Maybe hearin’ some support from others will kick her flank inta gear.”

Twilight smiled. “That’s a great idea! Do you want to come back to the farm right now, Scoota… loo?” Twilight said, looking around for the little pegasus. Apple Bloom was sitting in the back of the shop alone.

Apple Bloom smiled up at Twilight, a forced expression if Twilight had ever seen one. “Oh, she had to go. She said she had really important stuff to do before the Wonderbolts show tomorrow,” she said with a sigh. “Besides, we gotta get back to the farm, right sis?”

Applejack grinned a toothy grin and patted the filly on the head as she came close. “Right you are, sis! Got time for that thing I mentioned to ya, Twi?” Applejack asked.

Twilight simply nodded her head in response and headed out the door, following the two Apple siblings down the road.

If this isn’t Rainbow Dash’s dream, could it be Applejack’s? Or even Apple Bloom’s? I need to see this special talent myself, Twilight thought, hanging back behind the other two ponies. Could her talent be some sort of lucidity? I wish I could pull out the Colorscope lens and get a look at them, but I can’t risk it. The sight of it sends dream inhabitants into instant changeling transformation.

The three of them pushed onward towards the edge of town and Sweet Apple Acres. The orchards of the farm began far earlier than Twilight remembered. She looked to the right, and noticed a fence that was basically pressed up to the back of a house in Ponyville. Apple trees stood tall on the other side.

“Wow, it certainly looks like the farm has expanded,” Twilight noted as they passed onto a path that led down a hill and towards the main farmhouse.

“Of course!” Apple Bloom responded matter-of-factly. “We had ta move the farm in closer to Ponyville to get more trees up. What with mah special talent, we can use all of the trees all year round.”

Twilight turned her head back to Ponyville and then forward again towards the farmhouse. Is the farmhouse closer now, too? she thought. It’s like everything’s been pulled in towards Ponyville… She turned her gaze skyward, looking at Cloudsdale hanging in the northern sky, partically above Ponyville.

The trees dwarfed everything else in her field of vision, though. They were a lot taller and wider than they had been, and the farmhouse and accompanying barns had grown in size along with their move towards Ponyville. Everything looked recently repaired and renovated. The paint practically shined in the sun as it approached the point of setting over the horizon.

Applejack put a hoof over her eyes and squinted towards the setting sun. “Looks like we ain’t got much time, here, but why don’tcha show Twilight what you can do while there’s still daylight, little sis?” Applejack said, gesturing towards the trees in front of them.

Apple Bloom nodded. “Might as well. Daylight’s a burnin’, so I’ll hop to it!” she shouted, and then charged into the orchard. Twilight and Applejack leaned up against a fence, watching the filly as she ran straight at a large apple tree.

Applejack grinned. “Watch this, now!” she said, pointing her hoof towards the tree that Apple Bloom was on a collision course towards. Twilight kept her eyes open, not wanting to miss anything. Her horn began to glow slightly as she concentrated on any ambient magic.

If this is lucidity, I should be able to sense it. That’ll be one step closer to being certain without using the Colorscope.

Apple Bloom leapt through the air, spinning around at the peak of her jump. She landed backwards and slid powerfully towards the tree. At the last second, she raised her hind hooves into the air and slammed into the tree, bucking it harder than Twilight thought someone that size could.

The tree’s leafy canopy immediately burst into full blossom, flowers sprouting and spreading as if they were exploding out from the branches. The sight was as amazingly beautiful as it was unnatural seeming. Twilight’s mind was struck with the same sort of uncanny feeling that she got any other time she’d seen lucidity being used in the last couple of days. She didn’t feel any magic, but she knew it had to be true.

So that’s it, is it? Twilight thought, grinning towards Apple Bloom, who was waving at the two of them. This is your dream, isn’t it Apple Bloom?

The sun set in the west as Apple Bloom trotted back towards the two ponies. “Yep, we sure are proud of her. Out of all the gifts, she was given one so fitting of her name, and so great for the farm,” Applejack said, pushing herself away from the fence and landing back down on four hooves. “So, Twi, you wanna join us for dinner? I know you must be hungry after yer trip back from Canterlot.”

Twilight nodded her head. If her reason for coming along has been to find out if one of them was the dreamer, then it had gone amazingly well. I still have to be certain by checking with the lens somehow, but after that, the course is clear, Twilight thought. I have to wake up Apple Bloom!

“We can talk to Apple Bloom about the Cutie Mark Crusaders, too. I really appreciate your help with this,” Applejack whispered into Twilight’s ear. “Surely the three of us will come up with somethin’. I know she seems happy, but Apple Bloom just feels so lost right now. All three of them do, and nopony seems ta want ta help much…”

Twilight smiled. “Don’t worry, AJ. I’m sure things will get better soon,” she replied, knowing that it was possible that Applejack here in this dream wouldn’t be able to see her sister anymore soon.

That’s okay, though… right? Twilight thought. She’s a lot like the real Applejack. I’m sure she’d miss Apple Bloom. I hadn’t even considered how that might affect a dream. It feels a little creepy… like kidnapping, almost.

The moon rose into the sky as the three ponies marched towards the farmhouse. However, before they could reach it, a bright green flash came from the sky. Twilight jerked her head northward towards Cloudsdale in time to see several streaks of green lightning flying through the night sky out from the dense cloud city.

Oh no! Twilight thought Fluttershy!

“What’s goin’ on!?” Applejack shouted, staring towards the sky and pressing her hat firmly against her head.

“Whatever it is, it’s bad!” Twilight responded. “Sorry, AJ, but I have to go! I can’t explain, but I have to get back to Sugarcube Corner!”

Twilight took of galloping back into town. Applejack looked over her shoulder at Apple Bloom and shouted. “Apple Bloom! You go make sure Granny Smith’s okay, then get Big Mac out here! I’m headin ta town with Twilight! She seems to know something about this, and I bet she could use my help!”

Apple Bloom dashed towards the house and Applejack snapped forward with a leap, trailing Twilight into Ponyville.

Apple Bloom arrived at the farmhouse and took one last look towards the sky as another bolt of green lightning shot out from Cloudsdale. Her eyes lit up green from the light flash. What’s happening up there? she wondered.

Celestia blinked her eyes with some confusion as she stood as still as possible, posing as Rarity draped brightly colored cloth over her. How did I end up like this? I think I missed it...

“Rarity! She absolutely needs some flashier trim, don’t you think?” Sweetie Belle announced, stepping back from the confused model. She sat down and held both hooves up, lifting her forelegs to either side of her field of vision and moving them in and out.

“Oh, yes, Sweetie. Her pure white coat will absolutely pop out from behind a deep but glittery frame!” Rarity exclaimed with much joy. She ran to the back of the shop, shouting “Be back in just a moment! Not just anything will do!”

Celestia turned and looked in the mirror that was on the wall across from her a ways. Her idea for a simple hat design had been shot down, and her head was now adorned in what could only be described as a cactus that had taken on a secret life as a hat by night. It’s bright green color was only topped by the spiky protrusions coming out at it in random directions and in every pastel color imaginable. The dress, if you could call it that, which was seeming to magically form around her as the two sisters worked, was equally an eyesore.

Unless Rarity secretly wishes to cause pain to those who look at her work, this can not possibly be her dream, she thought, then turning her gaze towards Sweetie Belle. The little filly stared back up at her with a giant grin on her face and various needles and thread floating above her, suspended by magic.

“This is gonna be great, trust us! We’re professionals!” she said happily.

Celestia leaned down towards the little one and spoke softly. “To be honest, I had not originally come here to shop. I’m here on an investigation, and have a few questions for your sister.”

Sweetie Belle grinned even more widely. “Like a crime investigation! I know a thing or two about that, you know! Back before I got my cutie mark, my friends and I tried out being Cutie Mark Crusaders Super Sleuths! We didn’t get our cutie marks, though, even though we did solve the mystery of Snips’ missing lunch!”

Celestia chuckled. “Oh, really, now? And where was the missing lunch?” she asked.

“Yeah, turns out he ate it and just forgot about it,” Sweetie Belle replied, waving a hoof in the air in front of her. “The evidence was overwhelming! He had cabbage stuck between his teeth!”

“Sounds like you went deep for clues,” Celestia said, widening her eyes. “Maybe a little deeper than I would have, even!”

Sweetie Belle let out a belly laugh, falling forward a bit. “Yeah, it was so gross!” she said. “But it was fun, even though we didn’t get our cutie marks that day.”

Celestia placed a hoof against her chin. “Well, you have yours now, so at least that’s a good thing,” she said. “Your Cutie Mark Crusading ended up proving worthwhile in the end.”

Sweetie Belle sighed and looked down at the floor. “If only Scootaloo could have gotten her mark, too,” she said quietly. “Sorry. You’re a total stranger, and here I am talking to you about this.”

“No no, that’s okay. It’s good to talk, sometimes to anypony about anything,” she said with understanding of such predicaments. She’d had plenty of moments in her life where she had nopony to talk to… especially in the years after her sister had been banished.

“So hey, tell me about this case you’re looking into,” Sweetie Belle said, straying away from the earlier subject. “Maybe I know something!”

As Sweetie Belle asked this, Rarity returned in a rush, dragging several bright stands of cloth with her. Celestia knew this was the perfect opportunity to broach the subject and save herself from further modeling. She turned her eye up to Rarity briefly, then back down to Sweetie Belle.

“I’m investigating a missing pony case, a pony by the name of Pinkie Pie.”

The happiness seemed to drain immediately from the room, as well as Rarity’s face. She sat down and turned her head downward. Sweetie Belle followed suit rather quickly. “I… see,” Rarity said slowly. “I don’t really know much about-”

“I’ve been told you were the last pony to see Pinkie Pie before she vanished,” Celestia said, cutting Rarity off and pushing the partially made dress down and off. “This is a matter of grave importance, so I need you to tell me everything you know. Every detail, no matter how small, could help blow this case open, so please, tell me what happened on the day that Pinkie Pie came to see you.”

Rarity sat silently for a moment as Celestia stepped towards her, each hoofstep seeming to drive Rarity’s gaze lower and lower. Through the window behind Celestia, the sun was dipping lower and lower onto the horizon, casting her shadow long and dark across the floor, covering Rarity in shadow.

“I can’t tell you, I’m sorry, but I’m bound to silence on the matter,” she said, almost sounding ashamed.

“Please, Rarity. Pinkie’s life may be in danger!” Celestia said loudly, pushing a hoof towards the seated pony. “What could be more important than your friend’s life?”

“I made a Pinkie Promise!” Rarity shouted as she lifted her head towards Celestia. The light of the full moon shone brightly on her face through a window on the other side of the boutique, illuminating the tears that were streaming down her cheeks.

She’d been warned about this, but the princess had not honestly suspected that could have been the reason for her not telling anypony about Pinkie’s visit. Of all the silly reasons, this was the most ridiculous.

It’s shocking to actually hear it, and to see that it actually has a hold on her, Celestia thought. It’s the sort of thing a child would dream up…

As that thought went through her mind, her eyes suddenly shot over towards Sweetie Belle. It’s… something like a child would dream up... she thought. Oh my...

The princess didn’t have long to dwell on that thought, though. A moment later, a bright flash of green light shot down from Cloudsdale as bright as the sun. The princess bolted towards a window on the north side of the shop and stared up at Cloudsdale. Several more flashes of green shot out like lightning bolts. Celestia knew that this could only mean one thing.

“Fluttershy,” she said quietly. “What happened?”

“What’s going on out there?” Sweetie Belle asked, her voice laced with tension.

“Stay here with your sister,” Celestia said. “I’m heading out to investigate!”

Rarity stood back up and ran over to the window as well. “Are you sure you’ll be okay? I can help!”

Celestia picked up a slightly simpler pink wide-brimmed hat from the hatrack near her. She placed it on her head and tipped it as she grinned towards Rarity. “No, ma’am, but thank you. Don’t worry. I’m a professional!”

With that, she burst out of the boutique through the front door and ran down the path towards Sugarcube Corner.

Rarity stared out the door blankly. She suddenly had a realization and waved her right hoof in the air, yelling out the door. “Hey, get back here! You have to pay for that hat!” She flew through the door as well, chasing Celestia into town.

Sweetie Belle chuckled. “You just wanted to go along, didn’t you sis?”

The small filly looked up into the sky. Another bolt of green lightning shot across its surface. Her eyes lit up with the green light shining down from above.

Fluttershy loomed over Rainbow Dash, the moonlight coming in from the window behind her masking her face in shadow.

“What if this is all just an illusion, Rainbow Dash? What if none of this is real, and we’re all just dreaming?” Fluttershy proposed. Rainbow Dash stared back, her eyes shaking as they darted around Fluttershy’s expression, searching for any sign of there being some sort of a punchline to this.

“That’s so ridiculous! Of course this is real!” Rainbow Dash said, now swallowing nervously herself. “Sheesh, what’s gotten into you?”

Fluttershy pressed a hoof against Rainbow Dash’s chest, knocking the loose knot of the robe untied. Rainbow Dash fell back onto her haunches, staring up at Fluttershy.

“This is a dream, Rainbow Dash. None of this is real. You, and me, and Twilight, and even the princess... everypony! Everypony is trapped in changeling cocoons, being forced to dream these crazy dreams! On the day of the royal wedding, the changelings beat us, Rainbow Dash! They beat us and now they’re feeding on us!”

Rainbow Dash placed a hoof to her head and clenched her eyes shut, cringing towards the ground. “What... are you... talking about, Fluttershy? That’s crazy!” Her head pounded as visions of the changelings flashed through her mind. A pair of bright green eyes materialized in her field of vision. A voice rang out in her ears, loud and distorted, unable to be understood and hissing.

“No, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy responded calmly. “What’s crazy is all this. Where did all these medals and pictures even come from if they made you a Wonderbolt so quickly, and the captain no less? Let alone this castle being built in a month, Cloudsdale moving to Ponyville, and most of all, you not wanting to go see a friend? That’s what’s crazy, Rainbow Dash, and you know it!”

Rainbow Dash slammed her hooves against the floor and stared down at it, breathing heavily, her mouth gaped open, drool falling and collecting in a puddle underneath her. Fluttershy crouched down and placed a hoof on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder.

Maybe I went a little too far... Twilight did say breaking everything too quickly could be dangerous, but I was okay when I found out. Surely Dashie is okay, too, right? she thought. Dashie’s way stronger than I am! I’m sure once she remembers, she’ll thank me for changing her from that monster she’d turned into!

“Get out,” Rainbow Dash said under her breath.

“What? Dashie, please, you have to believe me,” Fluttershy said, leaning her head down towards her friend. “Just concentrate on the memories. You’ll see! This isn’t you, Dashie! This is all a dream!”

Rainbow Dash pushed Fluttershy away and swung her head upward. Her eyes were glowing bright green, and her breathing continued to intensify. She put a hoof up against her brow and shook her head back and forth.

Those eyes! Fluttershy thought, and gasped as she took a quick step backwards.

“Get out of here!” Rainbow Dash screamed, bright green firing from her eyes, illuminating the room like a camera flash. Fluttershy bolted for the door, slamming it open and taking off into the night sky. Rainbow Dash gripped her head and fell to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably and screaming in agony.

Fluttershy flew south as fast as she could,back towards Ponyville. Green lighting blazed through the sky behind her, flashing its light across the landscape.

“What have I done? What have I done?” she chanted to herself over and over, tears streaming from her eyes and blowing back into the wind as she shot through the air.

This... she thought, her mouth widening as she recalled the green glow coming from Rainbow Dash’s eyes. This isn’t Rainbow Dash’s dream!

“What have I done?!” Fluttershy screamed at the top of her lungs.

Author's Note

if you haven't read it yet, go check out The conquering of Love - Chapter 0! It's a short chapter based on a 3-panel comic done by Zoarvek!

Chapter 3! Now we're getting into the thick of it!

Oh, Fluttershy. You wanted to change Dashie from a monster, but you may have just done the opposite...

Do you know whose dream this is yet? Are you even more confused than before? Are you sure of your guess?

ARE YOU ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN!? Twilight seems pretty sure! Celestia has a guess! Fluttershy is very sure whose dream it's NOT!

But what will happen next time? Stay tuned, you'll see soon enough. ;)

Horizons Ch 4 - Burst

Book Three: Horizons

Chapter Four - Burst

I definitely feel that! Discord shouted inside of Celestia’s mind. It just keeps getting more and more delicious by the second!

Celestia hauled plot through the streets of Ponyville, pushing towards Sugarcube Corner as fast as she could. How, exactly, are you helping again? Celestia projected back at Discord, once again annoyed by his presence.

You’re being followed, Discord responded. Celestia could almost hear his shrug following the statement. She turned her head and glanced back, spotting Rarity running behind her in the distance.

Rain suddenly began to pour down from the sky, accompanied by whipping winds. Celestia beared down toward the ground as she continued to gallop to the center of town. Rarity did not cease her pursuit either, though she was not making any ground on Celestia, despite the fact that the princess had to press a hoof against her head several times to keep her newly-acquired hat from blowing off of her head.

I could go up there and find out what’s happened, Discord said seriously. If it continues at this rate…

I can feel it, too! Celestia said, cutting her unwanted companion off. I intend to go up there as soon as I meet with Twilight and--

A loud boom, accompanied by a flash, cracked through the air from Cloudsdale. Celestia turned her head up to look, but couldn’t make out anything through the thick clouds of the floating city. She glanced back at Rarity quickly, and saw that she’d stopped in her tracks and was staring up at Cloudsdale as well. Celestia took the opportunity to lose her, ducking into a northern alleyway along the road.

No time to waste! Celestia thought, bursting from her disguise. Her wings shot outward like kites catching a strong wind, and she flung herself skyward with a single, mighty wing beat. Twilight will have to wait! Fluttershy may be in danger!

So you’re just going to charge in, not knowing what’s going on? Discord asked with a wicked sounding laugh. I love it when you get desperate.

You’d never understand, Celestia thought as she barreled towards Cloudsdale.

Of course I understand! Discord protested. We have to save Fluttershy! The poor dear is probably facing unspeakable horrors up there!

You’re just full of surprises today, Celestia retorted.

Discord laughed again. Of course, if anypony else could wield her Element…

Celestia shook her head. See? You don’t understand!

And I don’t want to!

Then shut up and let me fly!

Celestia didn’t hear anything from Discord for the rest of her flight.

On the ground, Rarity stood and stared towards Cloudsdale as the moon-shrouded outline of Celestia shot up towards it before her eyes.

“Princess… Celestia?” Rarity asked, placing a hoof to her chin and ignoring the now torrential downpour that was completely flattening her previously elegantly-styled mane.

A brief moment later, the hat that the inspector had taken from the shop floated down, landing in the mud in front of Rarity. She took three steps forward and looked down at the hat. Lifting off the ground with her magic, she shook it a couple of times and placed it gently on her head.

She raised her gaze skyward once more, pressing the hat down onto her head with a front hoof. “What does this mean?” she asked herself in confusion.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a flash coming from the intersecting road ahead of her, followed by Applejack running at top speed towards the center of town.

What’s going on? Rarity thought, and took off after Applejack. As she turned the corner, the hat blew off her head from another sudden wind gust. Before it could get far, Rarity instinctively twisted her head and bit down on the brim.

“Somepony is going to tell me what in the blazes is going on here!” she said through her clenched teeth, increasing speed as best as she could, Applejack dead ahead of her.

On the day of the royal wedding, the changelings beat us, Rainbow Dash! They beat us and now they’re feeding on us!

Rainbow Dash lay on the ground clutching her head. Fluttershy’s words ran through her mind over and over, never silencing.

That’s impossible! Rainbow Dash thought, opening her eyes and staring up at the wall beside her, which was covered in Wonderbolts medals, pictures, and certificates.

Doesn’t it seem a little too good to be true?

Rainbow Dash stared at the wall of her accomplishments with wide eyes. She reached a hoof out towards the wall, her foreleg shaking as she tried to recall details about each thing that was hanging up there.

It’s real! It has to be real! Rainbow Dash thought, her eyebrows lowering and her teeth clenching harder. She breathed heavily, each breath raspy and growling as it left her nostrils.

No, Rainbow Dash, what’s crazy is all this. Where did all these medals and pictures even come from if they made you a Wonderbolt so quickly, and the captain no less?

“Shut up…” Rainbow Dash snarled under her breath. She continued to stare at the wall, her extended hoof shaking, her eyes darting from one thing to another. As she thought about each one her eyes crossed, rage built inside of her. “It’s my dream! I’m living my dream!” she cried out.

This is a dream, Rainbow Dash. None of this is real.

A dream...

Rainbow Dash’s breath went still for a moment and a glowing aura began to form around her. She suddenly felt energy building up inside of her, trying to force its way out. She’d never felt anything like it before. She inhaled deeply as she felt her mind fill with swirling confusion.

Outside of her room, green lightning shot out from the clouds. The clouds themselves began to twist outward, away from her room in a wide radius. The stone that made up the tower cracked in several places, dropping debris downward, through the cloud ground and towards the surface.

Rainbow Dash pushed herself up to a sitting position. Her mouth gaped open as she stared down at her hooves in front of her. “What…is this feeling?” she said aloud as she noticed the pulsing and flowing magical aura that was beginning to seep away from her hooves. “Is this… magic? Is this really happening?”

What if this is all just an illusion, Rainbow Dash? What if none of this is real, and we’re all just dreaming?

Rainbow Dash raised her gaze towards the fireplace mantle. She stared up at the pictures of her friends. Fluttershy… What did you mean? What’s happening to me?

She raised her right hoof again, pointing it towards the mantle. She concentrated on the pictures of her friends. It’s real, it’s real, it’s real… her mind repeated internally over and over. Sweat began to bead upon her brow, her whole body shook as she flexed her muscles uncontrollably, and the pictures on the mantle began to shake.

They lifted into the air, levitating upward and towards her. She raised her other foreleg and began to move it in and out, moving the pictures along with it. With a quick motion towards her face, she pulled them inward. Her eyes stared blankly at them as Fluttershy’s words flowed through her mind.

You not wanting to go see a friend? That’s what’s crazy, Rainbow Dash, and you know it!

The lightning outside intensified, rain began to fly through the air, and strong winds began to blow in through her still-open front door. Rainbow Dash stared at the picture of her and her five best friends in a group hug. Her body still shook, and she felt the uncontrollable energy inside of her suddenly reach the breaking point.

None of this is real, Fluttershy’s voice shot once more through Rainbow’s mind.

“Shut up!!”

The picture fractured and broke into nothing but jagged shards floating in the air. A second later, a pulse of energy shot out from her, and the pictures, medals, glass panes on frames, and everything else hanging on the wall exploded with a bright flash. Her furniture blasted into bits. The fire in the fireplace burst upward. A cloud of magic and debris sprayed away from her, covering the room, impaling the walls, and scorching the ceiling..

What’s happening to me!? she thought, sweat dripping from her forehead. She stared towards the flame in front of her, still burning, and suddenly began to see a dark, twisting break in the very fabric of reality..

What’s… that? she thought, reaching out towards it, her body beginning to glow brightly once more. The green energy flowing out of her began to seep towards the fissure, and was met with a deep red-colored aura that was leaking out from the crack. The two magics intertwined and began to overlap, absorbing one another.

Cracks… she thought. Cracks in the world. Pinkie Pie said that. Everypony thought she’d lost her marbles, but… she was right! Unless… am I losing it, too?

Rainbow Dash wiped her forehead and then reached out towards the red magic. It began to come towards her. What are you? What am I?

The red energy touched her hoof, and her previously green glow began to change, becoming deep orange. Who’s there? I hear you… Rainbow thought. Pinkie?

What are you, you ask? a distorted voice echoed in Rainbow’s mind. You are exactly what I’ve been searching for. Now let me show you the way… the way to the truth!

A loud sound came from Rainbow Dash’s front door, a hoof knocking against it. The glow, the crack, and the dark magic vanished in a single, quick pulse. Rainbow jerked her head around and stared towards the doorway. The figure of an alicorn stood at the entrance and stepped towards her, into the living room.

“Princess Celestia?” Rainbow Dash asked, her eyes wide with fear from all she’d just gone through.

Princess Celestia narrowed her eyes and her horn began to glow. “Yes… Rainbow Dash?” she said in the form of a question. “What’s happened here?”

Twilight ran towards Ponyville as fast as she could, her eyes occasionally glancing upward towards Cloudsdale and the increasingly turbulent weather coming from it.

The princess will be heading back to Sugarcube corner, too. I have to get there fast, she thought. She pushed her way past a gate on a fence, which swung back as she blew through the opening. A moment later, she heard the gate slam behind her, accompanied by approaching hoofbeats. She turned her head back and saw Applejack approaching with great speed, gaining on her. Not now, AJ! Bad timing!

Twilight charged her horn with magic, concentrated, and vanished into thin air with a zap. She reappeared a good three blocks away, popping back into existence, still running forward with all her might.

Applejack grunted as she pushed forward, seeing Twilight’s quick teleportation after having been noticed. What’s she hidin’? Applejack thought as she tried to push herself even faster. She knows somethin’ about this storm. It ain’t natural, I can tell that much. What’re you thinkin’, Twi?

Applejack zipped past an intersection of two streets and a second later heard Rarity call out to her. She didn’t stop to listen to what she said, but a moment later heard the sound of the unicorn giving chase. Glancing back for a brief second, she saw the purple-maned mare running as fast as she could, holding a fancy short-brimmed hat in her teeth. Applejack chuckled briefly, then turned her eyes forward once again.

Twilight arrived at Sugarcube Corner and pushed the door open, rushing upstairs to Pinkie’s room. Mr. Cake barely had time to turn his head and speak before she’d already passed through the shop and up the stairs.

“Hey Twilight, find out… anything?” the baker asked with a confused look on his face.

“Not yet, but stay inside! There’s a bad storm going on!” Twilight shouted down to him as she turned down the hallway and shoved the door to Pinkie’s room open. She shut it after herself and clicked the lock. Leaning up against the wall at the bottom of Pinkie’s staircase, she took a moment to catch her breath.

“Okay… break time’s over,” Twilight said after a few seconds, pushing herself up the stairs. She glanced around habitually to make sure no one was there, and then flipped her bag open, levitating the small Colorscope lens out. She approached a window, pushing the curtains to the side. She slid the lens’s chain onto her horn and placed the lens itself up to her left eye. She looked out the windows up towards Cloudsdale.

She immediately noticed places along the clouds that stuck out like a sore hoof where there were small gaps in the fabric of the dream. Those must be the cracks the Pinkie was seeing, she thought. Raising her gaze even higher, she saw a massive green aura pushing its way out in pulses from Cloudsdale. She’d seen this sort of aura before, in her own dream. Changelings!

Then finally, the sight of Princess Celestia, undisguised and flying upward, caught her eye. She only saw her for a brief moment before she zipped past the upper cloud layer and out of sight.

Shoot… I wish I could get up there somehow, but I suppose I’m just grounded, Twilight thought. She levitated the pink communication gem from her bag and positioned it into her ear. Tapping it a couple of times with her hoof, she hunched down and hid.

“Come on, Pinkie. Please, be there!” she whispered.

“Why are we whispering?” came a voice through the communication gem.

Back in the streets of Ponyville, Applejack had reached the town center and stopped running, looking around for signs of where Twilight had gone. Rarity, breathing heavily, finally caught up and sat down next to Applejack. She pulled the hat out from her teeth and put it onto her head.

“That pony…” Rarity started, breathing heavily between every couple of words, “with Twilight… was… Princess Celestia.”

Applejack stared at Rarity. “You sure?” she asked. Rarity just nodded as she continued to breathe deeply. “Well I’ll be. Wonder why she looked like that.”

“She said… she was… investigating Pinkie Pie,” Rarity managed to exhale.

Applejack stared gravely down at Rarity. “You didn’t break yer Pinkie Promise, did ya?” she asked, swallowing roughly. Rarity shook her head. “Good. Can’t be havin’ that, now.” She turned her head towards Sugarcube Corner at the far end of the square. Movement from the top floor window caught her eye, but when she looked in that direction, nothing was there.

Pinkie Pie, eh? Applejack thought.

“Come on, Rarity. I just put 2 and 2 together,” Applejack said with a grin.

Rarity, who had regained her composure but was now soaked from the rain, stood up and began to walk towards Sugarcube Corner. “I never knew math was your strong suit,” she said jokingly.

“Hardy har,” Applejack replied. “Let’s go, I got a sneakin’ suspicion that Twilight’s in there and she knows way more’n she’s tellin’ us.”

The two ponies made the way to the door of Sugarcube Corner and pushed it open, entering the shop. Mr. Cake looked up at the two wet ponies and shook his head. “It’s not the kind of night you’d wanna be out there, ladies. You lookin’ for Twilight?” he said in greeting.

Applejack just nodded her head while Rarity advanced quickly towards the counter and picked up a towel from behind it with her magic, daintily mopping her mane dry. As if by magic, her mane regained its previous form as the water was gradually wicked away.

“Let’s go, Rare,” Applejack said, trotting towards the stairs in the back. “Twi’s got some explainin’ ta’ do.”

Rarity shrugged and followed Applejack up the stairs and down the Cakes’ hallway towards the door to Pinkie’s room at the end. Applejack reached a hoof out and grabbed the door handle, turning and pushing, but it resisted with a metallic clanking sound.

“Locked…” Applejack said suspiciously.

On the other side of the door and up the flight of stairs that led into Pinkie Pie’s room, Twilight Sparkle sat against the windows, clutching her hoof against her ear and whispering at the communication gem. “Pinkie, something is going on here, and I still don’t have a grasp on all this!” Twilight whispered back urgently. “Princess Celestia has flown up to Cloudsdale, which is hovering over Ponyville for some reason! Pinkie Pie apparently went crazy and has disappeared, and nopony knows anything about where she went, or at least won't say anything about it! She wrote a bunch of crazy notes all over the walls here about cracks in the world, and I can see them everywhere through the Colorscope!”

After a moment of silence, Pinkie’s voice crackled through the communicator. “So, I guess it’s pointless for me to ask you to connect me to Pinkie now, then?”

“Like I said! She disappeared! Nopony knows where she went!” Twilight whispered back, at almost a speaking level. “Pinkie, I don’t know what to do! The green magic coming down from cloudsdale is just like the changelings had used in the other dreams! Something awful is going to happen, I just know it! Fluttershy is up there, and I have no idea if she’s okay or not!”

“WHAT?” Pinkie shouted through the communication gem. “What did you do, split up?” she asked, almost scolding.

Twilight hung her head. “Yes, we did. We thought it was Rainbow Dash’s dream, and so Fluttershy went to Cloudsdale to try and get her to come down and see us all together…” Twilight said, hesitating at that point. “But I don’t think things went as well as planned. She could have been spotted by the dream's Fluttershy, or even tried to wake up Rainbow Dash on her own!”

“Well that last one could be bad, but shouldn’t end up being the worst, right?” Pinkie asked, looking for a positive note. “I mean, you’re still there. The dream isn’t ending.”

“That’s just it, though. I think this might be Apple Bloom’s dream!” Twilight exclaimed, not even whispering anymore. “I saw her use a strange power at the farm just before this all started happening! I don’t know for sure, but I think it was lucidity!”

A banging at the door interrupted Twilight. Applejack’s voice shot across the threshold. “What about Apple Bloom? Twilight, we know yer up there, let us in!” she yelled. “What’s goin’ on, and what was Celestia doin’ here disguised?”

Twilight fumbled to stuff the Colorscope lens into her saddle bag. “Applejack’s here! She heard me! I’ll tell you more later!” Twilight whispered, then levitated the earpiece down into her bag as well. She stumbled towards the staircase and used her magic to unlock and open the door. She was greeted by Applejack’s glaring eyes and Rarity’s still partially soaked visage.

“Hey girls,” Twilight said nervously. “I guess this must seem kind of strange.”

Applejack glared. “Look, Twilight, I’m sure you have a reasonable explanation fer this, and I’d love ta hear it.” She pushed her way past Twilight and walked up the stairs to Pinkie’s room, taking a seat by the window. Twilight followed her slowly, her eyes trained to the floor. Applejack pointed a hoof out the window. “This crazy storm and green lightnin’ pops up all the sudden, and you take off like a bat outta Tartarus. I don’t know much about magic, so I got no clue. I just know it can’t be good.”

Twilight sighed. “You’re right, AJ. It’s not good. I don’t know how bad, yet, but it could be…” she hesitated, searching for the right words. “It could be the worst imaginable event.”

“So tell us, my dear,” Rarity said calmly as she finally made her way up the stairs to join them. “We’re your friends. You know we’ll stick by you no matter what, so you have to tell us. It must be serious to have brought not only you, but the princess, back from canterlot a day early.”

Twilight breathed in deeply, knowing that her choice of words, and the story she tells, could have similar catastrophic consequences to whatever might have happened in Cloudsdale. She glanced around the bedroom, the walls covered in writing and pictures, and suddenly focused in on three big scribbled words.

I’M NOT CRAZY

“What if I told you that Pinkie Pie wasn’t so crazy after all?” Twilight proposed, moving her hoof in a circular motion against the wooden floor. “What if there really were cracks in the world, as it were? What if something awful was trying to break through and destroy Equestria?”

Rarity sat down and also stared toward the ground, her eyes shaking slightly. Applejack looked at Twilight with intensity.

“I’d say we need ta stop it,” Applejack said matter-of-factly. “But you gotta tell us everything. We heard ya in here talkin’, Twi. I know you talk to yerself sometimes, but that didn’t sound like yer usual anxious banter. I heard ya say somethin’ about Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom’s dream, you said. Does this hafta do with her… weird cutie mark?”

Twilight looked up at Applejack. “Weird? What’s weird about it?” she asked nervously, cursing herself for speaking too loudly to Pinkie Twi.

Applejack shook her head. “As happy as she mighta been ta’ discover her talent, there’s always been a naggin’ suspicion at the backa my mind. That talent don’t seem natural. It’s somethin’ a unicorn would have, not an earth pony like Apple Bloom,” she rattled off. “Does that hafta do with what drove Pinkie ta’ run away? She started seein’ those weird cracks, as she called ‘em, the very same day Apple Bloom n’ Sweetie Belle got their cutie marks.”

She explained it away all by herself… Twilight thought, dumbfounded. It’s almost like she can see… what’s not quite right here. All those events are parts of what’s wrong with this world.

Twilight looked up at Applejack and into her eyes. The intense stare that met hers made her remember the real Applejack and her determination.

“Rarity, the princess had gone to see you to ask about Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said. “You were the last pony to see Pinkie before she disappeared.

Rarity looked up at Twilight despondently. “She asked me, yes,” she replied nervously.

Twilight noticed Applejack lowering her head and rubbing a hoof against her other foreleg nervously. She looked back and forth between the two of them for a second before finally turning back to Rarity. “And?” she asked expectantly.

“And I couldn’t tell her anything,” Rarity admitted. “I… I couldn’t… I made a Pinkie Promise.”

Twilight’s jaw dropped. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, her voice becoming angry. “You can’t be serious!” Twilight stood up, waving a hoof in the air and shouting now.

Applejack raised a foreleg towards Twilight. “Come on, Twi, you know you can’t break a--”

“Like buck you can’t!” Twilight said, glaring down at Applejack. “I’m shocked at you, AJ! For a second, I really thought that might be you, but you can’t even…” she stopped herself.

To break a promise would be dishonest, too, but… no, I’m going down the wrong path! Twilight thought. AJ would know better than to keep a secret that could save a friend, even the entire world! I have to make this seem even more urgent.

“I’m sorry, girls,” Twilight said, sitting back down. “I’ll be straight with you both. If we don’t find out what Pinkie knew and where she went, as well as what happened up there in Cloudsdale, there will be an event that will make what happened in Canterlot during the wedding seem like Trixie issuing a threat against Ponyville.”

Applejack shook her head. “What… does that mean?” she asked, swallowing.

“Changelings, girls. We don’t know how, but Pinkie may be the key to this. As soon as the princess gets back, we can explain in greater detail, but for now--”

Twilight was cut off by a flash of yellow crashing through the window behind her. Fluttershy spilled into the room and tackled Twilight, rolling them both across the floor.

“Twilight! Rainbow Dash! Changeling! I told her--!” Fluttershy started before Twilight forcefully twisted her head around so she’d see Applejack and Rarity. Fluttershy stared at them for a moment. She cleared her throat and breathed in deeply. “I told her about changelings! She said she remembered them! That was all! It was a nice visit! Hehe!” she said, still shouting.

Twilight slapped a hoof over her face. Great! She tried to wake up Rainbow Dash, and when Dash turned into a Changeling, she ran. Hopefully the princess can handle it quickly without any problems, Twilight thought, looking out the window. The rain had stopped at some point, and she hadn’t noticed. There was no more green lightning, either.

“Good, Fluttershy,” said Twilight, pointing out the window. “I don’t think there’s much to worry about, though, other than the Pinkie Pie issue. And the fact that she noticed the changelings were going to invade before anypony else did. Remember?” she asked, hoping Fluttershy would get the picture.

Fluttershy nodded, finally getting off of Twilight and joining Applejack and Rarity by the now broken window. Twilight followed her after pushing herself up from the ground as well. She took a seat next to Rarity and put a hoof on her shoulder.

“Rarity, I know you made a promise, but the fate of Equestria could be riding on what you know, what Pinkie Pie knows,” Twilight said.

Rarity shook her head. “Why couldn’t you tell us?” she asked, not looking at Twilight. “Why did the princess disguise herself? Why didn’t you come to us all directly?”

“Rarity, we were--” Twilight started, but was interrupted by Rarity turning to look at Twilight, tears now streaming down her cheeks.

“You were what, Twilight? Aren’t we all friends? Aren’t we all the bearers of the Elements of harmony for a reason? To protect Equestria, right?”

Applejack intervened. “Come on, Rarity, Twilight and the princess musta had their reasons,” she said with a nod. “Trust has ta go both ways, ya know. What matters is she told us now, and I think you can see as well as I can that it musta been important to keep it quiet.”

Rarity wiped her eyes and smiled. “Sorry, I just… very well,” she said. “Pinkie Promise or not, if we can save Equestria… save Pinkie… then I will tell you what Pinkie told me. I don’t actually expect you to believe it, though.”

“After what I’ve been through, I’d believe a lot of things, Rarity,” Twilight responded confidently.

“Just give me a moment, please,” Rarity said. “I need to think for a moment to make sure I am remembering everything. A glass of water would help, too, I’m rather parched after all that running.”

Twilight smiled. “Let’s go down to the shop, then,” Twilight replied, not at all nervous about the Cakes overhearing them.

In fact, this whole situation has reminded me of something that I may have forgotten briefly, Twilight thought as the four of them went back down the stairs and away from the strange atmosphere that enveloped Pinkie’s room. Dreams or not, these are all ponies that are based upon my friends. If anything, the Cakes will be relieved to finally hear about Pinkie and be given some reassurance that we’ll find her.

Celestia turned her head, looking around the mess of a room that she now found herself in. The entire place was in shambles, as if a tornado had torn its way through. Rainbow Dash sat as still as can be, staring up at the princess with nervously shaking eyes. The princess stared back down at her, seeing the fear in the blue mare’s eyes.

“I’m sorry, are you okay?” Celestia asked gently, not wanting to scare her any further. She stepped forward and reached a hoof out towards Rainbow Dash, who hesitantly took it and pulled herself up to a shaky standing position. Upon contact, Celestia closed her eyes briefly, trying to feel any resonant magic that was clinging to her.

A vision of two brightly shining white eyes, surrounded by pulsing dark magic appeared in her field of vision. She quickly opened her eyes again, gasping slightly. Rainbow Dash flinched back a bit in response.

“Sorry, yeah,” Rainbow Dash finally managed. “I’m just a bit shaken up, sorry.”

“Understandable,” the princess responded. “So, what happened here?” she asked again.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “I don’t know. It was like… crazy. I couldn’t keep track of it all… There was this-” she started, and then was cut off by a piercing pain shooting through her head.

I can’t tell her, I can’t tell her! Rainbow Dash thought to herself, almost as if driven by an outside force. This world is a fraud! I have to get out of here! I can’t let her stop me! She shook her head again and placed a hoof against her brow.

“There was this lightning,” Rainbow Dash finally finished.

Celestia nodded her head. “Yes, I saw it. It almost seemed to be coming from here. I was worried about you, Rainbow Dash.”

“It shot through here!” Rainbow Dash said, swinging her hoof forward from her forehead. “That must be it. That’s why everything’s destroyed in here. Sorry, I’m just a little shocked,” she finished, adding a forced chuckle.

She’s lying to me, Celestia thought, lowering her eyebrows and staring at Rainbow’s face. I’ll try a different approach.

“Was Fluttershy here?” Celestia asked outright, watching to gauge Dash’s reaction.

How did she know that? Rainbow Dash thought, turning away from Celestia and stepping away from her.

“Yeah. It’s a good thing she left before this all happened, too,” Rainbow responded semi-honestly. “Why do you ask?”

“I was down at Sugarcube Corner with Twilight waiting for her to come back down with you,” Celestia said plainly.

“Why were you there?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking over her shoulder. Her eyes were immediately met by Celestia, which were staring back with intensity.

She knows! the distorted voice whispered in Rainbow Dash’s ear.

“Where did Fluttershy go?” Celestia asked, not giving a response.

“Was it something to do with Pinkie Pie?” Rainbow asked, her mind filling with the vision of the crack in reality she’d seen.

She’s stalling, Discord’s voice whispered to Celestia.

“Where’s Fluttershy?” Celestia asked again. The tension in the room was palpable.

“Did someone break a Pinkie Promise?” Rainbow Dash asked, wide-eyed as sweat rolled down her cheeks.

“What happens if they do?” Celestia replied, her curiosity over the obsession with Pinkie Promises getting the best of her.

Rainbow Dash averted her eyes and turned away from the princess. “Sorry… I don’t know where Fluttershy went. She left,” she said. “I’m sorry, Princess Celestia. I think I need to get some rest.”

Celestia sighed. “Very well, then. I’ll return to Ponyville,” she said, taking a few steps towards the door. “I’m looking forward to your show tomorrow, Rainbow Dash. I hope you’re ready for it after all this.”

I’ll stay and keep an eye on her, Discord said with a laugh in Celestia’s mind. The chaos is swirling all around her. Something happened, and she’s not telling us.

No, you should return to the ground with me. We need to make sure Fluttershy is okay and Twilight knows what happened, Celestia repsonded. Besides, I’d rather you not run off on your own.

Hmmph! Discord scoffed. You can’t stop me, Celestia! You’re not my keeper in this world!

Celestia walked out of Rainbow Dash’s door, narrowing her eyes. If you ever want a chance at real freedom, you’ll do as I say.

Discord growled at her ultimatum. You should know that won’t work. Do you want me to stay and watch her or not? he asked. I won’t play your mind games, princess.

Celestia sighed and shut Rainbow Dash’s door, taking one last look at the blue pegasus, who was still sitting and staring towards her silently. Do as you please. Just don’t cause any trouble. Whatever happened to Dash, us being here may only exacerbate the situation. I honestly think it’s best that she rest. The possibility of her being the dreamer has... risen dramatically.

If you say so… Discord said, his smirk able to be heard through his tone.

What’s that supposed to mean?

There was no response. Celestia sighed and began a more calm downward flight towards the ground. The weather had calmed down, the green energy was no longer flying through the air, and the rain was now just a memory.

As the princess flew out of view from Rainbow Dash’s room, the door to her quarters opened once more. On the other side, Rainbow Dash sat with her hoof outstretched, staring through the open doorway for a moment. With a flick of her hoof, the door closed and then a layer of clouds spiraled upward, shouding the windows and covering the doorway.

A barely noticeable flash of red, followed by a steady orange glow, emanated silently from behind the clouds.

Rainbow Dash… The Element of Loyalty… You shall be the bringer of this world’s end.

Author's Note

What now, Rainbow Dash? Reach into the void and find the truth.

The truth shall set you free... right?

Horizons Ch 6 - Reaction

Book Three: Horizons

Chapter Six - Reaction

Within Canterlot Castle, hidden away, hung an alicorn in a glistening, green cocoon. Forming a circle around the cocoon were several changelings wearing black robes. These changelings were unlike others of their kind, though. Their horns, long and straight like a unicorn’s, had holes bored into their bases, and glowing magical gems inset. Their faces were lined with golden, metallic ridges. The changelings stood vigilant, concentrating on the magical energy that was seeping out from the cocoon. In a colorful back and forth display, they would change the energy from red and purple to green, and then send it through a rift at the edge of the room.

One of these changelings stood taller than the rest. He breathed in deeply and opened his eyes, staring across the chamber to the others who stood vigilant with him. He caught a glimpse of one cold, slitted eye staring back at him.

“Mulcibar,” He said, “I can no longer ignore it. I know you must have felt it, too.”

“It’s a massive response,” Mulcibar replied, opening his other eye. “This isn’t like the blip that Vitra looked into. What do you suggest we do, Magister Luzon?”

Luzon brought a hoof up to his long, white beard and ran it down its length. He turned his eyes towards the cocoon in the center of the room, Princess Luna suspended within it as if she were encased in emerald.

“It is not her this time, but if this is a real reaction of the scale I am sensing, I am not sure we have the power to react and keep her contained at the same time,” Luzon said.

“It could just be a dreamer stirring. The spell response would take care of that easily enough,” Mulcibar suggested with a shrug. “Once Vitra wakes up, she can tell us what she found. That should give us a hint.”

Luzon shook his head. “If it is not as you say, the whole operation is in jeopardy,” he said.

“So you would have one of us go in again, just like Vitra did?” Mulcibar asked.

“I don’t know. Curses, if only Vitra were awake,” the elder changeling said. “You and your sister may need to go in, but only as observers. It should be simple for you to assess the situation and get out again without much strain on your minds. If the reaction is an accidental one, you may need to reset the dream.”

“Give me a break, Lulu,” a voice came from Mulcibar’s right. “Vitra was wrong, and now you’re thinking of pulling two of us off here to chase a ghost? Luna is contained! Who else could oppose us?”

“Does the name Princess Celestia ring a bell? How about Twilight Sparkle?” Luzon asked with a groan. I should have expected at least this much resistance from Linnai, of course, he thought to himself.

“Oh, please,” Linnai said with a chuckle. “I’ll give you Princess Celestia, she might know some tricks, but that purple unicorn? The so-called prodigal student? You’re all worrying too much.”

“So you oppose it?” Luzon asked.

“Not necessarily. I wouldn’t mind going in if it meant having a little fun while I was at it,” she said with a sweet smile.

Luzon was not smiling.

“If we don’t have to wake up a dreamer, then we shouldn’t. The queen already had one of them wake up twice, we don’t need another,” Luzon explained.

“I say we just kill anypony who wakes up,” Linnai said, sliding a hoof across her neck.

“Not an option,” Luzon said. “If one of them dies, the whole network would be disrupted and we’d run the risk of having a bunch of brain-dead ponies. Need I remind you they’re no good to us if they’re vegetables?”

“Whatever,” Linnai snarled. “I could take down any pony at my current level, it’s not like we need them.”

“Don’t let your ego cloud your judgement. My decision is that you two will go in and investigate,” Luzon commanded. “Now get it done, quickly! And the rest of you, double up! We’re about to be down by three!”

A groan of protest came from several of the other changelings standing around the cocoon, but the magical aura from each intensified in brightness.

No chance to protest anymore. Thanks, sister… Mulcibar thought, socketing a green gem into the hole at the base of his horn. He closed his eyes and sighed, a frown forming on his lips. He glanced over at Linnai, who had done the same, but was grinning deviously, her fangs bared. Please let her contain her bloodlust…

After a second, their eyes opened, glazed over with green magic. A beam of green energy shot out from their horns and into the stream of magic that was bleeding out from Luna’s cocoon.

“Behave yourselves in there, please,” Luzon said to nopony in particular. “The youngest member of the order, but still a grip on magic to be reckoned with… I pray she’s right and it’s nothing.”

“Apple Bloom!” Sweetie Belle said with a smile. “Weren’t you selling apples over there a minute ago?”

Apple Bloom nodded her head. “Yeah, but I’m done with that fer now,” she said quietly, glancing over her shoulder to where her big brother was. He was involved in the upper bleachers now, passing out apples and beverages. She hoped he hadn't noticed her, and she ducked down a little to try and keep it that way. “Sweetie Belle, we gotta talk. You got a few minutes?”

Sweetie Belle looked up at her father, who was sitting in the stands with her, her mother, and her sister, Rarity. The whole family had come out to see the show. “Is it okay, dad? I’ll try to be back before the show starts,” she asked, knowing that her father was the best one to ask. As she expected, he nodded and patted her on the head.

“Thanks, dad!” she shouted, leaping over the back of her seat and joining Apple Bloom. The two fillies walked to the back of the stands and through the port that led to the interior hallways that looped around the whole stadium.

“So yeah, it’s about Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom started, nervously broaching the subject, “we can’t just keep ignoring the problem, hoping that things will just go back to the way they were by themselves.”

Sweetie Belle turned her gaze downward, listening to her friend as they walked.

“I dunno why it took so long fer me ta’ realize it, but nothin’ will ever change if we don’t do somethin’,” she continued. “Think about all the fun we used ta have before we got our cutie marks. We were always together. We were sorta like family, in a way. You two are like... well, sisters ta’ me.” She blushed slightly as she spoke.

Sweetie Belle nodded her head. “I know. I have been thinking the same thing, but it’s just been so hectic. It’s almost like we got pulled apart on purpose. I felt like we had no control over it,” she said.

“Well then we gotta get ahold of this thing again!” Apple Bloom said. “Starting right now. Let’s go find our lost sister and bring the Cutie Mark Crusaders back together!”

“Are you sure she’ll want to be our friend again?” Sweetie Belle asked. “We were kind of mean, when I think back to it. It’s like we gave up on her.”

“I don’t know… I've been wondering the same thing,” said Apple Bloom. “No matter what, though, we have to at least apologize to her.”

Sweetie Belle nodded her head, and the two fillies continued down the hallway. They didn’t have to look for long. Rounding the bend toward the back of the hallway, they heard a familiar voice.

“You have to let me in to talk to her!” Scootaloo’s voice shouted out, echoing down the hallway. “She was saying such weird stuff, and just wasn’t like her usual self! Please, just let me talk to her!”

“Sorry, but I can’t let you in,” a security guard who was standing in front of a door responded. “I know you’re a friend of Rainbow Dash’s, but she’s on in two minutes. It will have to wait until after the show.”

Scootaloo flipped a hoof in the air towards the guard’s face and turned around. She took two steps, then stopped when she saw Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle standing down the hall, looking at her. She hopped on her scooter and rode to where the others were standing.

“What’s going on with Rainbow Dash?” Apple Bloom asked, causing Scootaloo to stop between her and Sweetie Belle.

“Don’t you two have more important things to be doing besides worrying about my problems?” Scoot asked, a flair of sarcasm to her voice.

“Nope,” Replied Apple Bloom, throwing herself towards Scootaloo and wrapping her forelegs around her. Sweetie Belle had done the same thing, and as their hooves swung around, they each bopped the other on the muzzle. With a bonk and a second of confusion, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom both fell over, pulling their hooves up to their cheeks in reaction to the pain.

Scootaloo looked back and forth at each of them once and then fell over backwards, unable to keep from laughing. “You two! That was the worst attempt at a group hug ever!” she said between giggles.

The two other fillies rubbed their cheeks, but laughed as well.

“We’ll just have to try again!” Sweetie Belle said, wrapping her forelegs around Scootaloo more carefully this time. Apple Bloom did the same, and Scootaloo’s laughter eventually transformed into light sobbing as she slouched down, not resisting the hug at all.

“Why are you doing this now?” Scootaloo whimpered softly. “I had finally… gotten used to being on my own again.” Despite what she was saying, she pulled her two friends in closer with her own forelegs.

“You silly filly,” Apple Bloom said with a sniffle. “You don’t have to get used to being on yer own… not now, not ever.”

“We’re sorry we got so wrapped up in our talents, we didn’t even try to make time for anything else,” Sweetie Belle added. “We really missed you, we just didn’t know how to, well, say we were sorry.”

Scootaloo sighed. She pushed the two fillies away from herself and stood back up. Rainbow Dash’s voice echoed through the hallway as her speech before her performance began.

“Okay, well now that you’re both here, I’ll tell you what’s going on. I don’t know how, but I know something bad is going to happen,” Scootaloo said, gesturing for her friends to follow her. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle flashed smiles at one another and walked on either side of Scootaloo as she rolled along at a low speed. The three of them headed towards the entrance to the arena's stands. “I was with Rainbow Dash earlier. She was acting really weird, almost like she was scared about today's show. She told me she was going to do something that would… well, she said it would change the whole world somehow. She was really nervous about it, but she wouldn't tell me any details.”

“I wonder what that means,” Sweetie Belle pondered. They reached the entrance just in time to see Rainbow Dash hanging in the air, orange lightning arcing between her hooves. The three of them stopped at the entryway and stared up at her.

“This isn’t right. I can feel it. Something, somehow, is like…” Scootaloo started, and then fell forward, gripping her head in pain. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom dropped down with her.

“Scootaloo! What’s wrong?” Apple Bloom asked, looking down at Scootaloo’s pained expression. Waves of orange magic began to spread outward from the Pegasus’ head. She stared up at Rainbow Dash, her eyes twitching with pain.

She reached her shaking hoof outward, pointing it towards Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow Dash,” she said gruffly. “No!”

Rainbow Dash slammed her hooves down, tearing into the air itself through a rift, reaching into it deeply.

All three fillies fell forward, screaming in pain. Their agony went unnoticed, the roar from the crowd drowning out all other sound. Bright streams of colorful magic began to slowly flow out from the three of them, twisting in the air above before dissipating.

“What’s happening?” Sweetie Belle asked, pulling her forelegs tightly against her chest. Her heart was beating ever faster and felt like it was going to explode.

“I don’t know… but we have to get help!” Apple Bloom shouted, pushing her way out of the entryway and into the stands. She managed to ignore the pain enough to stand up and look around for her brother, finally spotting him in the next section over. He was staring up at Rainbow Dash, a serious look on his face. His mouth moved, and Apple Bloom recognized it as him saying “Nope,” as a circular flash of light erupted out from where Rainbow Dash was hanging in the air.

Scootaloo had pressed herself up against a wall and stood back up. She stared up at Rainbow Dash, her eyes shaking, her brain reeling with the worst headache she had ever experienced. Another flash and a loud bang filled the arena. The light somehow balled itself up a moment later, and Rainbow Dash seemed to be holding it in place.

“Rainbow… Dash…” Scootaloo managed to say. Rainbow Dash flung the ball of magic into the rift, and the three fillies once again cried out in pain. A second later, Pinkie Pie burst out of the rift and flew through the air. Scootaloo saw Rainbow Dash dive after and catch Pinkie, holding her a short distance from the ground. Pinkie Pie threw the ball of magic up into the sky, where it exploded brightly. “Was this the announcement? That you found Pinkie Pie? Why is my… head pounding?”

The crowd exploded in a sea of green fire. The three fillies stared out into the crowd, and their minds immediately began to race, filled with images of the royal wedding and subsequent changeling invasion. This green fire was the same as the flames that engulfed the changeling queen when she revealed herself.

“This… can’t be happening!” Apple Bloom shouted, stumbling back into the doorway towards Scootaloo. The green fire began to flash upward. As it dissipated, all that was left was a slight green glow. Some of the ponies began to sprout the translucent blue wings of changelings. “Everypony… is a changeling?”

“No, it’s worse,” Sweetie Belle said, rising to her hooves. “I can see it… like I’m slowly remembering it all… This isn’t real. None of this is real.” A bright pink flash of light shot out from her chest, just below her collar. The area it had come from continued to glow lightly in the shape of a heart.

Scootaloo pushed herself away from the wall and took hold of one of the handlebars on her scooter. She stared out across the crowd, the pain in her head slowly lessening, replaced by a pulse of energy in her chest. “I don’t understand anything that just happened, but I think you’re right,” she said, her voice shaking with adrenaline. “This can’t be real.” A flash of orange light shot out from her chest, leaving behind a glowing patch of magic in the shape of a flame.

“But what do we do, y’all? We can't reach my brother, now. We gotta run!” Apple Bloom said. “We gotta run and come up with a plan! We can't hang around here, even if this isn’t real,” A flash of golden magic shot out from her chest, leaving behind a glowing spot in the shape of a flower.

The three Crusaders stood staring at one another, their minds full of confusion and questions as they observed these strange, colorful shapes appearing on their chests, shining with magic. In the back of their minds, they could hear a voice calling out to them, distantly but urgently. They backed up from the crowd into the entryway to the corridors, their breath becoming heavy as if they had been running.

“You two,” Scootaloo started, pointing a hoof at the others, “You’ve got… some sort of flashing light…”

With a loud hissing sound, the audience sprung to life. Hundreds of changeling-winged ponies launched into the air and towards Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie wriggled and shouted again, this time slipping free from Rainbow’s grasp. Rainbow Dash lifted her hooves back up and shot into the sky, the cloud of attacking ponies flying after her.

“We don’t have time to talk about it, ya’ll!” Apple Bloom shouted. “Run!”

The three fillies took off running into the corridors, not knowing where they were running, only knowing they wanted to be anywhere but out in the stands.

As Rainbow Dash shot up into the sky, the dream versions of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna hung in the air, still engulfed in green flame. With a flash, the flame burned out. The princesses emerged from the flame unscathed, but their eyes were glowing brightly. Celestia’s eyes let off a bright red color, and Luna’s glowed an icy blue. They looked at one another and then up at Rainbow Dash.

Celestia snarled. “What a waste of time, brother,” she complained. “Of course a reaction at this large of a gathering would create a massive blip.”

“Calm down, Linnai. Let’s investigate the cause and then get out of here. We’re not to get involved,” he said, scanning the arena. His eyes were immediately drawn to the ponies that were unaffected. He caught sight of Big Macintosh, Celestia in her disguised form, Twilight and Fluttershy, who were still in their hoods, Applejack, Rarity, and Rarity’s parents. “There’s an awful lot of ponies here that aren’t reacting. We can’t salvage this, we’ll have to reset the dream.”

“I’ll find the dreamer,” Linnai responded. “I want to get out of here as fast as I can. I hate being inside a pony’s body.”

Mulcibar sighed. “You think I enjoy being inside a mare?” he asked, annoyed.

Linnai laughed. “I know for a fact that you do.”

Mulcibar blushed and coughed. “Alright, then! How about you just find that dreamer?”

Linnai, still chuckling, shot magic up into her horn, and looked up at Rainbow Dash, who was flying circles around the changelings that were chasing her. Her eyes flashed white for a second, like the flash of a camera taking a photo.

Rainbow Dash bolted up, then pushed into a tight right-angle turn. The swarm of changelings followed her as if they were tied on with a rope. She glanced back and let out a grunt. This wasn’t part of the deal! she thought, beginning a wide circle pattern above the arena.

You’re right! a voice shot into Rainbow Dash’s ears. But it’s exactly what I needed to happen!

As she circled around, bringing herself in tighter and tighter, the changelings began to crash into one another, eventually starting to form into a ball of writhing ponies. Rainbow Dash snapped to a stop and pushed her hooves out. Clasping them inward, the cloud of changeling ponies smashed into a single, solid sphere of writhing limbs and screaming faces.

Rainbow Dash laughed. You can’t stop me now! Not when I’m so powerful! I’ll find you, next! she thought. A white flash caught her eye, and she glanced down in its direction, spotting Celestia and Luna.

What are they doing just floating there? Dash thought.

“It’s not the rainbowy one, she’s just part of the dream,” Linnai said, then training her eyes over to Rarity and her parents, who were now standing their ground against a crowd of changeling ponies who had encircled them.

“Mother, Father, I need you to turn a blind eye to the rather unladylike behavior I’m about to demonstrate,” Rarity said, eyeing the approaching mob of ponies. “These are the same changelings that we encountered at the royal wedding, so…”

Rarity’s dad laughed. “Gee, Rarity, look at you bein’ brave,” he grinned, leaping past her, landing on the ground with a slide, and turning his body as he slid. With a single, powerful motion, his hind legs kicked out, striking two ponies in their chests. The ponies blasted backwards through the air, bowling over several more behind them.

Rarity’s mom grinned and giggled. “Oh, dear, I love it when you get all rough and tumble!” she said, lighting her horn up.

Rarity tilted her head and shrugged. “Well, I suppose if you must,” she said, charging up her horn with magic as well. She and her mother let loose a short blast of magic, zapping another pony and causing its disguise to dissolve. The changeling underneath bared its teeth and hissed, but ultimately fell backwards with the others.

“There’s just so many of ‘em, though, ya know?” Rarity’s mother said.

Rarity’s father just grinned and leaned forward, scraping his front right hoof against the ground. “Lemme show ya why I was the best linebacker on the team in college,” he said, and charged forward just as a flash came from overhead.

Rarity turned her head up towards the flash. “The princesses?” she asked aloud.

“It’s not any of them, either,” Linnai said with a groan. “What is with all these dream fragments resisting the reaction spell?”

“Not our concern, sister. Keep looking. If they aren’t here, we’ll have to expand our search after quarantining the area,” Mulcibar replied.

“The geezer should let me cast the spell next time, he clearly botched the whole thing. I say we purge the place,” Linnai said with a grin.

“What part of ‘We’re not to get involved,’ did you not understand?” he asked, his tone very serious. “Besides, there won’t be a next time. After tomorrow, we’ll own all of Equestria.”

“You’re the worst sort of party pooper!” Linnai protested, but flashed her eyes towards Big Macintosh.

Big Mac applied the full force of his back left hoof to a changeling’s face. He turned his head back and forth, scanning the crowd for two particular ponies.

AJ, Apple Bloom, y’all better be safe! he thought, pulling his head to the side and evading a changeling’s incoming punch.

“Nope,” he said as flatly as ever, swinging his own hoof around and knocking the changeling back three rows of seats. A flash came from overhead, and he glanced up to see the princesses above.

Wonder what they’re up to. They better have a plan for all this! he thought, but then noticed their eyes glowing. Ah, shoot… there goes that idea.

He turned his head back to the task at hand, and spotted Applejack across the arena. Knocking two changelings over in the process, he bolted forward and began to make his way towards his sister.

“Not him, either,” Linnai said with a shrug.

“Check the orange one, on the other side,” Mulcibar pointed towards Applejack.

Linnai flashed her eyes at Applejack and shook her head.

Where’d that dang filly go? Applejack though as she bucked a pair of changelings over the edge of the stands and down into the field. She turned her head and spotted Apple Bloom’s apple basket about a quarter of the way around the stands. Movement caught her eye, and she glanced down at the field. Three ponies in hooded cloaks were running across it and towards Pinkie Pie. She looked just in time to see the pony she recognized as Inspector Orange pull the hood over her head.

Wait a second, though, Applejack thought. If that’s Princess Celestia, then who’s…

She glanced up at Princess Celestia and Princess Luna just in time to have Celestia’s eyes flash down at her.

“Not her. Next!” Linna shouted, becoming impatient.

Mulcibar looked around, his eyes eventually catching motion on the field. He spotted three ponies in hooded robes running towards another pony in an intricately gemmed cloak. “Those four. Scan them. Why would they be hooded like that? And where did that pink one get that cloak?” Mulcibar pondered, pointing them out.

Twilight, Celestia, and Fluttershy hit the ground of the arena and began running as fast as they could towards Pinkie Pie. Celestia pulled her hood over her head and shouted, “Twilight! Get that communication gem ready! We don’t have the luxury of being careful anymore!”

Twilight pulled the pink gem up with her magic and pushed it into her ear. Pinkie Twi’s voice immediately shot through it.

”I take it from the commotion I’m hearing and the magic energy I’m feeling here, something’s gone really wrong, huh?” Pinkie Twi asked.

“You could say that! We found Pinkie! Get ready for a connection!” Twilight yelled, noticing that Pinkie Pie had seen them running at her and was scrambling to her feet.

“Great!” Pinkie Twi yelled back. “We’re ready on this end!”

“Good to hear! Brace yourselves!” Twilight shouted, and then forcefully crashed into Pinkie Pie, pushing her back to the ground. Celestia and Fluttershy arrived a second later, pulling both ponies up to their hooves. Celestia prepared a spell to restrain Pinkie Pie just in case.

Pinkie turned her face to Twilight, finally recognizing her now, and shouted, “Twilight! Rainbow Dash! Stop her!”

“Calm down, Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said firmly. “We need your help to do that.”

“No, look! Look up there! I’m not crazy! I wasn’t crazy!” Pinkie shouted, her voice shaking with adrenaline.

Twilight raised the pink gem up with her magic. “We know, Pinkie! Calm down!” she yelled. “I need you to put this in your ear! You’ll understand once you’re wearing it!”

Pinkie Pie looked at the gem and her eyes immediately widened, almost glowing. Her voice became calm and quiet. “It… it’s like I can see to forever,” Pinkie said. She reached her hooves out and plucked the gem from the air. "So, just put it in my ear?"

Linnai turned her head down and flashed her eyes at the four ponies, who were now huddled up together and frantically talking. Her grin widened.

“Looks like we have a serious problem, brother,” she said. “I’ve never been so glad to be wrong. It’s them.”

“Which one?”

“All four of them.”

Author's Note

Thank you to all of the people who pre-read this! Your input is appreciated!

"He brought his OC's! Run for your social lives!"

And thanks to those OC's, what have we learned?

Rainbow Dash's dream? Nope!
Applejack's dream? Nope! And not Big Mac's, either!
Rarity's dream? Nope! And not her parents', either!

You have four options left! Who's it gonna be? Although to be honest, I think it's so glaringly obvious at this point, I might as well just tell you.

You are in the chaotic and clashing dreams of all three Cutie Mark Crusaders! Congrats to those who guessed it, and double congrats to those who guessed it and stuck to their guns!

Now then, what do you suppose the strange glowing symbols on their chests are?

Horizons Ch 7 - Power Surge

Book Three: Horizons

Chapter Seven - Power Surge

Who are you?

The Cutie Mark Crusaders suddenly skidded to a stop. They had been charging down the corridors that circled around the outside of the stadium, trying to make their way around to where Rarity and her parents were. Scootaloo dropped one hoof down from her scooter onto the floor and lifted her gaze upward.

“Who’s there?” she asked nervously.

“Yeah, show yerself! We ain’t scared!” Apple Bloom added on.

Who are you? Answer quickly, we implore thee!

“We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” Sweetie Belle replied loudly.

“Yeah!” Scootaloo shouted. “We’re, um, really powerful defenders of Ponyville! So you better watch who you’re messing with!”

The voice giggled in response. You need not fear, children. I know not how I’ve come into contact with thee, but it is most fortunate.

“Yeah, but who are you?” Scootaloo asked again.

It is I, your princess of the night, Luna, the voice responded. The fillies’ eyes widened, and they smiled, recognizing the voice as Luna’s. Their hearts seemed to fill with a kind, gentle warmth.

Listen carefully, fillies, for I must relay information to you of vital importance, Luna spoke gravely. If the power I sense inside of you has awoken, then you must surely have started to guess that something isn’t right.

“Guess?” Sweetie Belle exclaimed. “We just saw a big crowd of ponies all turn into changelings, Rainbow Dash use magic, and some weird light came out from our bodies. You were out there, you must have seen it, too.”

I did not, for I am not there. The one you see there as Luna is but a dream, as is the entire world around you, Luna responded in the Crusaders’ minds. The three of you, through an unnatural form of magic, are sharing a dream together. The world you are in is all part of the dreams you are having.

“A dream?” Scootaloo asked, an orange glow now shining out from her more brightly than before. “If this were all just a dream, that would almost be a good thing.” She looked back at her flank, then shut her eyes.

“A dream...” Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom said in unison, both glancing back at their flanks. With a blink of their eyes, they saw the truth. There were no cutie marks there, but their bodies shone with radiant magic instead.

“I guess that makes sense,” Apple Bloom said sadly, though she breathed a sigh of relief. “My talent was cool, but didn’t feel right. It felt like I shouldn’t be doing it, somehow.”

“Me, too, even though I was kind of proud to be helping my sister,” Sweetie Belle said, blushing slightly.

That is not all, I am afraid. Reality is not so kind, Luna’s voice spoke. Please try to remain calm, for the next part may be difficult to accept. The changeling queen is behind this dream of yours. Stay still and concentrate, and I shall fill your minds with the truth.

Visions of the throne room in Canterlot, cocoons hanging from the ceiling, flooded into the fillies’ minds. Looks of shock, distress, and sadness flashed upon their faces as they finally comprehended the weight of their predicaments.

“All our friends… our families…” Sweetie Belle said, at a loss. Tears streaked down her cheeks, falling to the ground.

“Everypony that was in Canterlot for the wedding...” Apple Bloom said.

And if we do not act, Luna said, everypony in Equestria.

Scootaloo shut her eyes tightly and smashed her front right hoof against the handlebars on her scooter. “But what can we do?” she asked with frustration.

The way I have come to be in communication with you is a mystery, but I can feel a kindred magical energy emanating from you three. A nearly identical wavelength to my own, a warm and gentle wave, full of love and compassion, Luna spoke softly. You three Crusaders, as you call yourselves, bear a power greater than you know.

“Power? What power?” Scootaloo asked, looking down at her chest nervously. The glowing flame-shaped symbol that had appeared before was shining brightly, a fiery orange color. The other Crusaders’ glowing emblems were also pulsing outward with magic.

Concentrate hard, Crusaders, for your power is two-fold within your dreams. The strange magical energy that has connected us is only the beginning, Luna’s voice echoed powerfully in the Crusaders’ minds. This is your dream, and you are the masters of it! Do not let the dream control you, for you can control the dream. Every pony in the world, big and small, can grasp this form of magic, the inner power of their imaginations – lucidity.

“Luci.. Lucidy…?” Apple Bloom started, trying to pronounce the word.

“Lucidity?” Sweetie Belle finished for her friend. Apple Bloom pouted momentarily.

Focus, young ones. Yours is the power to change the world as you wish.

“Change the world as we wish…” Apple Bloom pondered, concentrating on those words. “A wish.”

With a flash, Applejack and Big Macintosh appeared in the corridor in front of the three fillies. Applejack ducked down as if she was bracing herself for an attack, and Big Macintosh calmly looked around his surroundings before turning to face the three fillies.

“What in tarnation…?” Applejack finally asked, reaching a hoof out towards Apple Bloom. She tapped her sister lightly on the chest where the bright shape of a golden flower glowed. “How did we end up here?”

Apple Bloom smiled widely. “I wished you were here, and it worked!”

“Ya know, weirder stuff’s been happening, so whatever,” Applejack replied.

“I wished you were here and you just… appeared,” Apple Bloom reiterated. “That’s more than weird.”

“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh echoed the sentiment, looking towards Applejack. “Didja see that big pink blast?”

“Eeyup,” Applejack replied, staring at the three crusaders whose chests were still aglow with magic. “Ain’t nothin’ makin’ any sense ever since Twilight and the princess came back from Canterlot. As far as I can reckon, them two princesses and the Twilight they had with ‘em are changeling imposters.”

I’m afraid time is short for me, Crusaders, Luna’s voice spoke again in the fillies’ minds. I am captive and bound in more ways than one. I do not know how long I will be able to stay connected to you. Indeed, it is miraculous that I was able to reach out at all. If I remain, you will all be in greater danger.

“Danger?” Sweetie Belle asked aloud. Applejack and Big Macintosh looked at her curiously, but did not speak.

Yes, child. A nightmare beyond your imagining, Luna replied. Before I go, I have a task for you three. A task that I am loathe to place upon the shoulders of children, but I have run out of choices. You must fight, brave Crusaders, defenders of Ponyville. Grasp onto your powers within that dream and fight. The changelings who hold us prisoner will come after you. The more of them that get distracted by turmoil inside this dream, the less will be present to keep me locked away. It will not be an easy task, but I implore you. Equestria’s fate may very well rest in your hooves alone.

“What do we do, ya’ll?” Apple Bloom asked nervously, looking at her two best friends.

Scootaloo laughed. “Save Equestria? No problem!” she scoffed.

“Yeah! And we’re not alone!” Sweetie Belle said bravely. “We have our families, and Twilight, and Fluttershy, and that inspector lady on our side!”

“Who in tarnation are you youngin’s talkin’ to?” Applejack finally asked, becoming frustrated. “And what’s that about savin’ Equestria?”

Apple Bloom grinned sheepishly up at Applejack. I can’t tell her the truth, can I? she thought. No… if she’s gonna fight with us, she has to know!

“Sis, you might not believe this, but we’re talking with Princess Luna somehow. It seems like we can hear her, but nopony else can,” Apple Bloom said. “It’s the real Princess Luna, though. You were right, the one out there in the arena is just another changeling.” She covered her mouth after speaking, realizing that she’d said that all pretty bluntly, though she knew her sister did prefer straight honest talk.

Applejack took her hat off and shook her head. “This is gettin’ ridiculous,” she said. “That inspector lady as you called her is the real Princess Celestia.”

Sweetie Belle gasped. “The inspector is the real Celestia?” she asked, amazed. “The princess stole a hat from the boutique?”

Any thoughts the Crusaders were having at this moment were interrupted by Luna’s voice, shouting out with the force of the Royal Canterlot Voice in their heads.

My sister is present in your dream? Is this true, children? Luna asked loudly.

The fillies cupped their ears with their front hooves to no avail, but all nodded in response.

“Looks that way,” Scootaloo managed to say, her ears ringing.

This changes everything! Luna shouted with excitement. You must tell my sister that I need her help; That the darkness falling is darker than she knows! If she’s traversing dreams, then she will surely be able to help you as well! You must move quickly, Crusaders! I am now certain, the fate Equestria rests firmly in your hooves, and as your princess, I command thee! Find my sister!

“Okay, okay!” Scootaloo said, “But can you stop yelling?”

The sound of Luna clearing her throat echoed in the fillies’ minds. My apologies, I became a bit overexcited, Luna said quietly. Crusaders, if you all accept the command of your princess, then I shall do one last thing to help thee. I shall grant thee a spark, a mere twinkle of my magic. I fear any further magical transference would be too dangerous, or perhaps not even possible. However, with this spark, you three shall be well on your way to controlling your new powers.

“A twinkle?” Sweetie Belle asked.

A second later, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were bowled over backwards, the symbols on their chests exploding with magic. The corridor lit up as streaks of energy shot out from the three young ponies rapidly. Their eyes glowed bright white, and they cried out loudly as the magic burst forth. Applejack and Big Macintosh ducked down to the ground, staring in confusion at the display.

After a moment, the magical surge subsided. The Crusaders returned to normal and the emblems on their chests had vanished. The three of them stood up, dusting themselves off.

“Princess Luna?” Apple Bloom called out. There was no response.

“That was a twinkle?” Sweetie Belle squeaked, rubbing a hoof against the back of her head.

“Some twinkle!” Scootaloo exclaimed.

“Look, ya’ll! Those glowing things are gone!” Apple Bloom shouted. “Did we mess it up somehow?”

Scootaloo squinted her eyes and reached her hoof out towards the far wall of the arena. She slid her hoof downward gently, and the wall unzipped as if it were made of cloth. The sunlit fields of Sweet Apple Acres could be seen on the other side.

“No, I think it worked. Can you two feel it?” Scootaloo asked with a grin.

The other two fillies clopped their hooves together at Scootaloo’s “trick”. Applejack and Big Macintosh just stared at Scootaloo in awe.

“Ya know, I…” Applejack started. “I… nevermind. Weirder stuff’s been happenin’, so whatever.”

Pinkie Pie carefully took the gem from Twilight and stared into its depths, her eyes sparkling and unfocused. Twilight clopped her hooves in front of Pinkie’s face.

“Pinkie, we have to hurry!” Twilight said impatiently, looking back up at Rainbow Dash and her ball of changelings.

“Right, sorry!” Pinkie shouted, seemingly startled, and then pushed the gem into her left ear. She flopped down to a sitting position and sat completely still, blinking her eyes.

“Do you… think she’s okay?” Fluttershy asked. Celestia shook her head and shrugged, and Twilight let out a frustrated sigh.

After a couple more seconds, Twilight sat down in front of Pinkie and waved her hoof in front of her face. “Hello? Anything?”

“Shh!” Pinkie responded, putting the tip of her hoof up to Twilight’s lips. “Wait, what?”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Pinkie, we don’t have time for this!” she shouted. A second later, a bright flash shot in the group’s direction. Twilight, Fluttershy, and Celestia turned their heads up toward the flash. The dream princesses, their eyes glowing unnaturally, stared back down at them.

Pinkie slowly cocked her head upward, bringing the princesses into her field of view. “You’re right, that was pretty weird,” she said aloud.

“Yeah, but nopony said that,” Twilight said flatly. In response, Pinkie grinned and stuck her tongue out. A long, pink horn erupted from her forehead and a pair of pink wings popped out from two slits on the back of her cloak. A blinding wave of pink magic exploded outward, engulfing the arena in light. The two princesses, along with Rainbow Dash and the ball of changelings were blown up and outward.

Pinkie levitated the communication gem out of her ear and slapped it forcefully into Twilight’s. Twilight flinched slightly, and then even more from the yelling coming from the other end of the communicator.

“Twilight, those two! The princesses!” Pinkie yelled over the comm gem. “Get away from them!”

In the sky above, Rainbow Dash was being chased by a group of changelings once again. Many of the changelings had been scattered, flying so far up and away that they were landing outside the arena in the fields and orchards of Sweet Apple Acres. Dash was easily able to stay ahead of the ones who were still flying after her and trained her eyes down towards Pinkie Pie.

What in Equestria was that, Pinkie Pie? she thought.

The changelings Mulcibar and Linnai, disguised as Luna and Celestia, recovered from the sudden surge of magic and stared down at the group of ponies below.

“That earth pony just sprouted a horn,” Mulcibar said plainly. “Is she the dreamer, using lucidity?”

Linnai grinned. “One of them must be the dreamer. The other three are outsiders like us.”

Mulcibar stared at Linnai for a moment. “They’re traversing dreams?” he asked, placing a hoof to his chin. “So there are others besides Luna who can do so. Who are they?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Linnai said, licking her lips. “Now we get to fight! We have to crush them!”

“No!” Mulcibar cautioned, placing a hoof against Linnai’s chest. “We report back!”

“No need! They’re all there! One blast and they’re all just ash!” Linnai said, her eyes going wide, gleaming a brighter red color. Her horn, the horn of Princess Celestia, lit up with a fiery aura.

Back on the ground, Twilight stared up towards the princesses, who were hanging very high in the sky after having been blasted upward by Pinkie’s magical burst. Even from this distance, though, Twilight could see their menacingly glowing eyes.

“Not sure we can just get away from them, but let’s run,” Twilight said, turning back to Celestia and Fluttershy, who were trying to get Pinkie Pie to stand up again. “We can figure out what to do next after we get away.”

“But, what about Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked. “We still need to get her out of here, too.”

Pinkie Pie stood back up and brushed herself off. She spread her newly acquired wings and grinned. “Don’t worry about Rainbow Dash,” she said. “I’ll go talk some sense into her. The two of us heard the same voice, I’m sure of it, and it was a big fat fibber! Dash just needs to hear the truth from a friend, I bet!”

“Alright, we need to move,” Twilight said. “We’ll leave Rainbow Dash up to you, Pinkie!” She waved her hoof towards the side bleachers and started to gallop away. Celestia and Fluttershy ran with her, but their charge was cut short. A surge of magical power shot out from their left.

“That power surge!” Celestia shouted. “Did you feel that, Twilight? That was Princess Luna’s energy, I’m certain!” She turned and charged faster than ever before towards the stands to the left. She burst outward with a flash of light, shedding her disguise and assuming her true form, leaping skyward and flying towards the corridor entryway.

The princesses from the dream hung in the sky above, changelings occupying their bodies. Linnai had not begun her attack yet, interrupted by the surge of power coming from the arena’s corridors. They both watched as the ponies on the field changed direction towards the surge and one of them transformed into Princess Celestia.

“Oh, this just keeps getting better!” Linnai shouted. “It’s just like I said! Princess Celestia would be the only possible threat!”

“We can’t allow her to run free, especially after that power surge just now,” Mulcibar admitted. “I don’t see any other option, unfortunately.” He grimaced, glancing at his sister, whose crazed look had only intensified.

Linnai laughed. “You just want to fight, admit it,” she said tauntingly, then burst with green flame.

“If we must, best to be at full power,” he said with a sigh. “No attacking first, though! We move quickly and do not strike unless we have to!” He burned with green fire as well. The both of them quickly transformed, revealing their true selves. Their golden-ridged faces glinted in the sunlight. They spread their wings outward in a flashy display, each of them having a pair of intricately-patterned butterfly wings. Mulcibar’s wings were black with bright blue spots, while Linnai’s wings were a lighter shade of gray with white and orange webbing running through them.

“Sure, anything you say big brother,” Linnai said, her horn still burning with fire. She tilted her wings back and took off downward towards the entryway that Celestia was approaching. Mulcibar put his hoof out for a moment, but then groaned and sped after her. Neither of them noticed Pinkie Pie heading in the opposite direction and flying up towards Rainbow Dash, who was hanging in the air far above the arena. She had managed to compress all of the changelings who had been chasing her into a tight orb once again, and was holding them there.

Pinkie Pie pulled up alongside Dash and crossed her forelegs. “Nice job, Dashie,” she said, nodding her head with approval. “They can’t get you now, but what happens if you stop holding them?”

Dash jerked her head to the side and shouted in surprise, seeing Pinkie with wings and a horn. “Pinkie! What the hay did you do?”

“Ah yes, this is pretty strange, I guess,” Pinkie said, nodding her head again. “No time to get into it, though. You gotta admit, it’s only a little stranger than you using magic like this.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “I guess. This never would have happened if you hadn’t stopped me, though! The sooner this world gets ripped apart, the sooner we can stop the real enemy!” she shouted, annoyed. She pushed her hooves closer together, and the sphere of changelings crunched in even tighter, releasing a cacophony of screams.

“No, no, no, Rainbow Dash,” Pinkie said calmly. “You’ve got the wrong idea, and I think I know how. It’s that voice I heard. You heard it, too…. Didn’t you?”

Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth, not saying anything or looking towards Pinkie.

“I heard the truth, too, though,” Pinkie continued. “The real truth. It’s a lot scarier than you think, but believe me, breaking this world won’t solve anything.”

Don’t listen to her, a voice came from Rainbow Dash’s mind. She lies.

Almost as much as you, Rainbow Dash thought in response.

I will give you true power, Rainbow Dash, the voice said. Enough power to crush anypony in your path, the power to tear this world asunder. Now that the changelings have arrived, there is no turning back!

She’s my friend, Rainbow Dash thought. I can talk to her, make her see…

She’s a puppet, just like you were! The voice snapped. She was the first one I tried to show the truth to, and she turned against it, coerced by the changelings! She may be your friend, but you must not trust her!

Rainbow Dash stared at Pinkie Pie, still saying nothing. Pinkie looked back into Rainbow Dash’s eyes, a worried look on her face.

“You still hear it, don’t you?” Pinkie asked, reaching out towards Rainbow Dash. The Pegasus flinched away.

“Don’t touch me,” Rainbow said.

Accept my power, Rainbow Dash, the voice said. As a sign of good faith, I will give you all of my power. You and I will become as one. We will defeat these changelings together, crush the hollow shells of your friends that they use to try and trick you. We will break free of this prison and have vengeance!

Rainbow Dash’s eyes began to glow red, dark energy spreading outward from their edges. Pinkie Pie’s eyes went wide with fear, staring at her friend.

“Dashie, no!” Pinkie pleaded. “Don’t do this!”

Rainbow Dash turned her gaze towards the sphere of writhing changelings. “It’s too late,” she said flatly. “I’ll end this all!” She pushed her hooves together, and the bodies of the floating, half-transformed ponies smashed together. The terrible sounds of bones cracking and flesh tearing echoed loudly through the arena. Horrifying screams shot out briefly, and then were silenced. Rainbow Dash swung her hooves outward, and the mass of now unidentifiable corpses dissolved into the air like steam vanishing. Rainbow Dash glowed dark red with a border of nearly black purple. She turned back to face Pinkie Pie, staring into her eyes. Pinkie stared back, her irises shaking in disbelief, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“I’m sorry, Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash said, raising a hoof and pointing it towards Pinkie’s forehead.

“I am, too,” Pinkie replied, closing her eyes.

A flash of pink energy gleamed from Pinkie’s horn, and all the gems lining her cloak began to glow. A burst of magic exploded at Rainbow Dash’s abdomen, and she was flung backwards, crashing into the arena’s stands below.

Just seconds earlier, Twilight looked up at where Princess Celestia was now making a beeline to. A flash caught her eye, and she saw Rarity in the stands fighting a group of changelings with her parents. They seemed to be holding them off, but were losing ground as the number of changelings coming after them increased.

Good timing! Twilight thought. She turned her head towards Fluttershy, who was running alongside her, and shouted “Fluttershy! Grab me and take us up there! We have to stay with the princess, and Rarity needs our help!”

Fluttershy nodded and leapt into the air. Twilight took a running jump, and Fluttershy grabbed ahold of her as best she could manage. She strained for a moment, and almost scraped the ground, but was able to flap her wings hard enough to gain lift. The two rose up into the stands. After a few seconds, they were above Rarity’s party. Twilight dropped down, landing roughly besides Rarity. Fluttershy touched down a second later.

“Nice to see you here, finally!” Rarity shouted. “Your invasion came a little early!”

Twilight began to respond, but was interrupted by a blast of golden energy from above. Princess Celestia shot a powerful beam of energy right into the heart of the changeling mob, blasting them outward with great force. She landed next to Twilight and pointed her horn straight towards the corridor entrance, a sea of hissing changelings between them and it.

“Twilight! Just like in Fluttershy’s dream with the tall grass!” Celestia shouted. “Cut them down!”

Starting from the center, aimed right at the entryway, Twilight and Celestia shot out sustained beams of magic, swinging them outward, bowling changelings over in the process.

“What’s the point of these things?” Twilight yelled. “They’re even weaker than the changelings were before!”

Maniacal laughter filled the air, and Discord appeared above the writhing mass of downed changelings.

“I told you I was helping,” he said with an innocent smile. “I’m pushing so much of this chaotic energy into their little bug-brains, they can barely see straight! In fact, most of them are only seeing crooked. Or cupcakes. Or that one, he’s seeing kittens.” Discord pointed to a particular changeling off by himself up near the top of the stands, shaking his hoof back and forth as if he were petting something.

Rarity looked at Twilight and Celestia and lowered her eyebrows. “Care to explain this?” she asked. Fluttershy shrunk down as low as she could to the floor.

“No time,” Celestia started, but suddenly jerked her head upwards. Mulcibar and Linnai were shooting towards them.

“Linnai, the corridor!” Mulcibar was heard shouting. Linnai continued her beeline towards the group of ponies.

“What was that?” Linnai asked. “Fire more? I haven’t even started, though!” She let loose a giant blast of fire. Celestia and Twilight reacted as fast as they could, raising a forcefield, but the spell shattered through it. The whole area exploded in flame. The stands crumbled, floorboards and seats breaking, debris flying in all directions and a cloud of smoke and dust rising. The platform fell out from beneath the ponies who were standing on it, crushing them under a twisted pile of rubble.

Discord vanished from sight once again and shot his body upward. He hung above the arena, looking down at the situation that had unfolded. For now, I’ll quietly take care of the rest of these brainless drones, he thought. The rift was still spewing out chaotic energy, and all the interfering waves are only agitating it. Those two are clearly different from the rest. Once I know what they’re capable of, I’ll make them wish they’d never peeked into this nightmare.

Mulcibar stopped in mid-air and placed a hoof over his face. “You’re absolutely intolerable!” he screamed. “Do you even realize what you’ve done?”

The smoke cloud dissipated, revealing a pile of twisted rubble. Linnai pointed down at the mess. “Buried them alive. Now we’ll get to that power surge first, for sure,” she said. “Come now, brother, you know I have the mission at heart.”

“If you had one,” Mulcibar responded. “Or a brain, for that matter. You’ve shaken a beehive, you idiot!”

A large section of the rubble levitated upward and was launched forcefully at the two of them. They broke apart, dodging the attack. Twilight and Celestia stepped up out of the twisted heap and stared up at the changelings.

“Princess, I’ll take care of them and dig out the others. You get to Luna as fast as you can, then bring her back here,” Twilight said, pushing the burnt remains of her cloak off. Celestia did the same and nodded. She shot off towards the corridor entrance, and Linnai did the same, moving to intercept her.

Twilight teleported ahead of Celestia and shot a beam of magic up at Linnai. The magic hit its mark, pushing the changeling back in the air. Linnai stared down at Twilight contemptuously.

“So, Twilight Sparkle, I take it,” she said, her voice laced with disgust. “The old timer was worried about you.”

The two of them locked stares for a couple of seconds, then both let loose with blasts of magic simultaneously. The beams hit each other in mid-air and exploded brightly. Twilight closed her eyes from the flash for a second. When she reopened them, she found herself awash in a sea of blue color.

“What’s going on?” Twilight asked, looking around. “Where am I? This has to be some sort of trick!” She stood ready, waiting for an attack to come.

“Twilight?” a familiar voice called out. “Where are you, Twilight?”

“Rarity?” Twilight asked, looking around. The blue color had faded to a dimmer hue, and she now found herself standing in a vast sea of nothingness, very similar to when she had faced Pinkie Shy in her mind.

“Twilight, thank goodness!” Rarity said, suddenly appearing. She approached Twilight, looking around in confusion. “Where are we?”

“I don’t know, but it might be some sort of changeling attack. Be careful,” Twilight replied. “We have to find a way out of here. Come on!” Twilight turned and began to run.

Rarity smiled and her eyes flashed a faint red. “Yes, Twilight, we have to get out of here!” she said. “This place is creepy.” Rarity followed, keeping just behind her and began to power her horn up with magic.

Moments earlier…

Celestia slid into the corridor and hooked a left, galloping as fast as she could.

Where are you, sister? She thought, feeling for signs of Luna’s energy. I’m certain that was you! Where have you gone?

“Now!” Celestia heard a voice shout. A fraction of a second later, she felt a massive body crash into her, tackling her to the ground and sliding for several feet with her. She twisted her head around, practically bumping noses with Big Macintosh, who pressed his hoof against her, holding her to the ground. The red stallion blinked a couple of times then glanced to his left.

“Uh, AJ?” he said calmly. “It’s the princess.”

Celestia turned to look in the same direction, and saw Applejack popping up out of a wooden crate. She trotted to where the two ponies were and glanced down at the princess suspiciously.

“How can we be sure?” Aplejack asked, inspecting the princess’ face. “Could be a trick.”

Celestia levitated Big Mac and Applejack into the air and stood up. She held them there and dusted herself off. Applejack flailed her hooves helplessly.

“My sister, Luna,” Celestia said. “I’ve felt her presence. Have you two seen her?”

The sound of small hooves came from behind the princess. She turned her head and saw the three Cutie Mark Crusaders emerge from a doorway and step up to her.

“Princess Luna wasn’t here,” Sweetie Belle said. “She was somehow communicating with us, she said she didn’t even know how.”

“Yer the real Princess Celestia, ain’t ya?” Apple Bloom asked, tilting her head. “And that was the real Twilight with ya, wasn’t it?”

Celestia blinked and then stared down at the fillies. “Children, I’m not sure how to say it, but…” she started, but was interrupted by Scootaloo stepping forward and raising her hoof in the air. Big Macintosh and Applejack levitated through the air and landed gently behind the three fillies.

She broke my levitation! Celestia thought. Lucidity, again!

“Oh stop yer showin’ off, Scootaloo!” Applejack said, brushing her hair back and putting her hat firmly onto her head. “It’s just spooky!”

“We know about the dream, and we know about the changelings in Canterlot,” Scootaloo said.

“Then, it’s you,” Celestia said, falling to a seated position. “You’re the dreamer.”

Scootaloo grinned. “All three of us are,” she said smugly. “And we have a message for you from your sister.”

Celestia swallowed hard and sat at attention. “I’m listening,” she said.

Rainbow Dash pushed herself up from the pile of splintered wood and broken seats that she was lying in. Two changelings leapt from behind her and latched on, attempting to take her down. She turned her gaze over her shoulder and stared at them. Dark energy shot out from her forehead, blasting the changelings back. They shattered into pieces as if they were made of glass. With dark energy still streaming from her eyes, she turned her head back upward and stared at Pinkie Pie, who was hovering in the air above the middle of the arena. With a single push of her hind legs, she blasted into the air towards the pink alicorn, crashing into her with the force of a cannonball, dark magic cascading outward from the impact.

Pinkie reacted quickly, twisting her hooves in a circular motion in front of her, magic streaking from her horn and forming a flat, circular shield. She flipped the shield upward from the bottom, flinging Rainbow Dash further up into the sky.

“I don’t want to fight you, Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie shouted up at the pegasus, who had stopped and was hovering above her. “Just listen! This is just a bad dream! Whatever that voice told you, don’t believe it! If you tear this world apart, it’ll all be over!”

“Exactly!” Rainbow Dash shouted back. “We’ll be able to get out of here and finish off the real threat! Why can’t you see that?”

Pinkie growled in frustration. “We’re not real, Dashie! We can’t possibly deal with the real threat! We can only help our friends who can!” she screamed. Rainbow Dash stared down at her, eyes wide, dark energy pouring out of them more intensely than ever and accompanied by a purple glow. “That voice, whatever it is, is just using you! It doesn’t want to save us, it wants to enslave us!”

Not real? She’s completely lost, Rainbow Dash! The voice yelled within her mind. She’s just like everything else in this falsehood you’ve been living, now! She says you must help your friends, but she’s just trying to trick you! The fame, fortune, and favor you had were all lies, too, designed to keep you placated! How dare she use friendship in the same way?

But she is my friend! They all are! Rainbow Dash thought, still staring down at Pinkie Pie. I have to save them! Make them understand!

They are too far gone, Rainbow Dash. They are lost in the lies. The only truth left is this: you are mighty! You alone stand against the darkness! The voice shouted. The greatest mercy you can give to your friends is to end this quickly, even if it means crushing them! The greater good must be put first! Harden your heart and stand up for all of Equestria!

Tears fell from Rainbow Dash’s glowing eyes, and the aura around her darkened. Orange sparks crackled at her hooftips.

“Dashie! Don’t do this!” Pinkie screamed. She began to channel energy from her horn into the gems of her cloak, which shone with many sparkling colors. She glowed radiantly, the cloth of the cloak flowing in the wind. Each gem shot out an orb of magic, six in all, that surrounded Pinkie and orbited around her.

“There’s no choice anymore,” Rainbow Dash said. “If you want to stand in my way, then I’ll have to go through you!” She charged at Pinkie Pie, swinging her magically charged hooves straight at the pink pony’s face. The orbs of magic that had been surrounding Pinkie shot up to her face and formed a forcefield, deflecting Rainbow’s attack.

Rainbow Dash glared at Pinkie and shot upward, accelerating as she flew.

“Dashie! I don’t wanna fight! This isn’t fun!” Pinkie shouted up at Rainbow Dash. The blue pegasus responded by diving down at Pinkie with another double-hoofed punch, which was deflected by the shields once again.

Moving so fast she seemed to be popping in and out of reality, Rainbow Dash spun around Pinkie in all directions, her hooves flying in with lightning fast attacks. Pinkie Pie began to swing her hooves around and charge more magic into the gems of her cloak. The many small forcefields around her spun around, precisely taking every attack Rainbow Dash threw, bright sparks of every color flying through the air away from the two of them.

“Dashie, quit it!” Pinkie shouted as she swung a hoof up and shot a beam of energy past her shields. The beam curved around and struck true, blasting Rainbow Dash away from her.

Rainbow Dash wiped away a trickle of blood that was coming from the corner of her mouth. She then lifted that hoof slowly through the air, causing a sharp, black javelin to appear in front of her. The spear glowed with the same dark purple energy that was now surrounding Rainbow Dash. She pushed her hooves towards it, charging it with her dark orange magical energy, the aura around the weapon growing and shining brighter.

“Pinkie Pie!” Rainbow Dash shouted, pointing the javelin towards her friend. “If you’re not with me, then you’re against me! This fight is over!”

Pinkie flashed with magic and the many small forcefields all quickly flew to the front of her, right in the spear’s path. They combined and shot outward, creating a massive shield that pulsed with many colors.

Rainbow Dash launched the javelin at Pinkie Pie, the speed of it cracking with a sonic boom as it shot through the air. It pierced through the forcefield like a needle passing through cloth. With a loud, hollow sound, it stabbed through Pinkie Pie’s chest, and the pink pony fell downward. The forcefield shattered like glass, its shards falling all around her as she plummeted towards the ground.

A dirtied, gray hoof pushed up through the top of the pile of twisted, smoking debris that used to be a section of the arena stands. Pieces of metal and burning wood levitated upward. Rarity pushed her head up and gasped for breath, then glanced around at the situation.

Her parents, along with Fluttershy and Discord, were nowhere to be seen, presumably still buried underneath in the smoldering, shattered mess. The first thing she noticed was the glowing blue sphere off to her left. Hovering above it was one of the changelings that had charged at them from the air. He was hovering gracefully, his blue-spotted butterfly wings holding him aloft and also emanating a blue aura downward towards the large orb of magic.

Those wings really are quite lovely, it’s a shame that the rest of him is so… well, Rarity though. She tapped a hoof against her forehead. Stay focused, Rarity.

She glanced up past him and saw Pinkie Pie hovering high in the air, glowing with magic. She followed Pinkie’s gaze downward and saw Rainbow Dash staring up at her from another smashed section of the arena, dark magic pouring out from her.

Heavens, this place will be torn to pieces before the day’s over. Now, where has Twilight gone? Perhaps still buried as well, though I thought I heard her a moment ago, she thought and glanced around, but saw no sign of Twilight. Her eyes were drawn back towards the blue sphere. She squinted and could barely make out two figures standing within it. Is that her? No time to think too hard about it. That changeling must be stopped, regardless.

Rarity began to wriggle her way up and out of the ruined stands as quietly as she could so as to not draw any attention. “Mother? Father?” she whispered into the scrap heap, carefully levitating away pieces of it and placing them below, onto the grass.

A bright flash of light filled her vision. She flinched, turning her head up to look at the changeling. Has he noticed me? She thought. Instead, she found herself looking up at the familiar face of Big Macintosh, her nose bumping right into his. She blushed slightly, and he pulled his face back calmly. She was the second mare he’d had this type of encounter with in the last few minutes, and he felt like he could get used to it.

“I… beg your pardon,” she said with confusion. “What happened?”

“Mom! Dad!” Sweetie Belle’s voice came from behind her. She turned her head and saw Sweetie Belle jump towards her, tears coming from her eyes. Rarity turned her gaze down and saw her parents lying on the ground beside her. Their breathing looked shallow, and they had burns all over their bodies. Rarity glanced down at her own body, only then seeing that she also had black patches of fur and exposed red skin in places. She flinched as she felt the pain for the first time as the adrenaline slowly worked it way out of her system.

Sweetie Belle shook her father gently. “Wake up, dad, please,” she said. He didn’t respond. The filly buried her face in his coat, sobbing. Rarity reached a hoof over to her sister and placed it on her back, her own tears slowly seeping now as well. Princess Celestia, Applejack, and Big Macintosh all bowed their heads, saying nothing. The two other Cutie Mark Crusaders walked up behind their friend and sat down quietly.

“Why did this have to happen?” Sweetie Belle asked, her voice muffled. “What good are these powers if we couldn’t stop this?”

“Sweetie,” Rarity started, not knowing what to say. She noticed her sister’s horn beginning to glow brightly, flashing with more and more light as the child sobbed.

Sweetie Belle lifted her face up and looked down at her father. “She said we’re the masters of this world. If that’s true,” she said, sniffling. “If that’s true, then I won’t let this happen. I won’t allow my family to be hurt.”

A warm, light pink energy glowed around Sweetie Belle, surrounding her parents and her sister. Rarity looked down at her blacked, burned body and saw it returning to normal. She felt no more pain, only an incredibly strong emotion – love.

Her parents, likewise, lost their injuries. Their breathing became stronger, and they eventually opened their eyes, immediately looking at one another and smiling.

“Sweetie Belle, that’s incredible,” Rarity said, awestruck. “How did you do that?”

Princess Celestia stepped forward and sat down next to Rarity. “We don’t have much time, Rarity, so I must keep this as brief as possible,” she said, having gained Rarity’s full attention. “Your sister and her two friends have been given a great responsibility, and also a burden. With it, I too have been forced to make a most difficult decision, one that I’d hope I’d never have to make.”

“I don’t understand,” Rarirty said. “What responsibility? What burden? Nothing is making any sense.” Her voice became choked up once again, tears threatening to fall.

“All you need to know right now is that your sister and her two friends have within them a great power. One that can save us and deliver us from the nightmare we now find ourselves in,” Celestia continued. “We must return to the arena and save the rest of our friends. The three fillies were able to bring you, your parents, Applejack, and Big Macintosh here. I believe it has to do with the fact that you are family.”

“We can’t seem to bring the others here, though,” Scootaloo added. “We wanted to bring Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash, too, but something’s stopping us.”

“It’s those changelings, I bet!” Apple Bloom said loudly. “We gotta fight ‘em, just like Luna said!” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle nodded in agreement.

“Now, now, Apple Bloom, you might want to leave that to—“ Rarity started, but was stopped by Celestia, who shook her head as she spoke.

“I’m afraid not, Rarity. You saw the healing power Sweetie Belle just demonstrated. These three, even the non-unicorns, have awakened to a mighty power known as lucidity," Celestia explained. "The two changelings who are waiting for us are not like the ones you are thinking of. They are from a powerful group of changeling mages known as The Order of Ismara. Their magic and fighting prowess could possibly best any of us in single combat. We have to work together, and we will need the power these fillies possess. We should hurry, I fear for Twilight and Pinkie Pie’s lives.”

Rarity nodded her head, looking back at Sweetie Belle. Her sister stared back, determination burning in the depths of her eyes. Rarity could feel it, like a fire in her mind. She lowered her eyebrows and smiled.

“Alright. Let’s do it!” she said, returning to her hooves.

Big Macintosh and Applejack helped pull Rarity’s parents up to their hooves as well. Rarity’s mother, a worried look in her eyes, sighed and shook her head. “You sure this is going to be okay?” she asked, looking to Rarity.

“Oh, it’ll be fine!” Rarity’s father said with a laugh. “Our little girls are real bruisers, just like their old dad!”

“Eeyup!” Big Macintosh said, smiling down at Apple Bloom.

“Yeah, no worries fer now,” Applejack added. “The stuff I’ve seen these fillies do in the last five minutes or so… you wouldn’t believe it. We’re gonna get through this and give them changelings a wollopin’!”

“Let’s go, then!” Celestia said, waving the group down the hall in the direction from where she’d come. “The stands are smashed where I came in at, and they may be expecting an attack from there, so let’s head out from the next entryway.” Everypony nodded and began to gallop, Celestia leading the way down the hall.

A yellow nose tip pushed out from the bottom of the pile of debris that had spilled over onto the field. Fluttershy pulled herself out from underneath the rubble and then leaned up against it. She breathed heavily, looking down at her body. She had gotten away with surprisingly few injuries at a glance, but she stretched her wings out slowly, remembering the pain she’d felt in her dream when her wing had broken.

“I hope the others are okay,” she said to herself, looking around finally. She spotted Mulcibar immediately, as well as the blue magic sphere beneath him. She nervously glanced around for any sign of anypony else, but only spotted Pinkie Pie floating in the air high above the arena, facing down Rainbow Dash.

“I wish I could use lucidity like in my dream,” she said quietly, focusing on her inner self like she had done to command the power. There was no response, and she let out a sigh. “I just have to be brave. I knew this would be hard. I have to find the others.” She looked up at Mulcibar again to make sure he wasn’t looking, and then leapt up to the broken edge of the stands above her, beating her wings as lightly and as little as possible. She ducked down behind a seat back and looked ahead of her, towards the glowing blue sphere. She could make out the shape of two ponies standing within it.

That might be them. I have to get closer and see, she thought. This is how I have to fight. I can be like a sneaky scout! She smiled to herself, but knew that even though her quietness and lack of magic was an advantage to not being noticed, her bright yellow coat would surely been spotted, even when it was smeared with soot as it was.

Fluttershy looked to her left and spotted a seat back that had been broken off. That could work, she thought. A second later, there was a bright flash from above. She looked up and saw Rainbow Dash flying circles around Pinkie Pie with amazing speed, her hooves flying at Pinkie from all directions. I have to hurry!Hang in there, Pinkie Pie!

She carefully hoisted the seat and placed it over herself as cover. She began her advance, moving in stages. She would first check to see if Mulcibar was looking, and then sneak forward a few feet before stopping again. After doing this four times, she was finally at the edge of the seats that were near the open area where the blue orb sat. She was able to move quickly since Mulcibar seemed to be focusing heavily on the spell he was casting.

Fluttershy gazed into the blue orb, squinting to try and make out the ponies inside. A purple glow from a horn shone through ever so slightly, illuminating Twilight’s face. Fluttershy frowned. I was afraid of that, she thought. She looked up at Mulcibar, judging his distance. If she tried hard, she could make it up to him with a single beat of her wings. If I can interrupt his spell, Twilight will be free! Then we can have a fighting chance! Be brave, Fluttershy! You can do this!

She slid the seat back she’d been using for cover down and gripped it firmly with her hooves. She steadied her shaking knees, crouching down low behind the last seat in the row she was in. She knew that if Mulcibar looked her way, she’d surely be seen now. There was no turning back.

Here goes!

Moments earlier, within the illusion field, Twilight turned back to face Rarity, who quickly dispelled the magic in her horn.

“We don’t seem to be getting anywhere. There must be a way to keep our bearings in here,” Twilight said, aiming her horn at the ground. She blasted a scorch mark into the floorboards. “There. I just know we're inside some sort of magical trap. Just need to figure out what kind.”

Rarity shrugged. “Perhaps you go that way, I go this way,” she said. “If we find anything, we scream.”

“Okay, though I’m not sure if we should get separated,” Twilight said nervously. “Then again, if this is what I think it is, we won’t be able to get too far apart anyway.” She turned away and again and trotted carefully, scorching another mark in the ground as she went.

Rarity grinned and turned away, her eyes lighting up red. So naive, Twilight Sparkle, she thought. Joke’s on you, I can move around here just fine. She trotted around the edge of the sphere the two of them were trapped in and reacher her hoof out, tapping Twilight on the flank.

Twilight twisted around and lit her horn up, ready for an attack.

“Nothing there…” Twilight said, looking upward briefly into the blue abyss above her.. “I know I felt something. They’re toying with us…” She felt someone breathe into her ear from the right. She turned around, seeing nothing once again.

Outside the shell, Mulcibar hovered in the air, projecting the illusion field down onto the two. He rolled his eyes and sighed. “Stop toying with your prey, Linnai. We don’t have time for this, and we can’t afford to do this to all of them,” he said to himself. “Just Twilight and Celestia.”

Inside the sphere, Twilight felt like she’d been walking for ages and still hadn’t come across any of her scorch marks. Was I wrong? she thought. Is it not an infinite loop? Just ahead, Twilight saw hazy movement, and lit her horn up to get a better look.

Linnai snuck up on Twilight and lit her horn back up with fire, approaching as silently as she could. The light from their horns shone through the walls of the sphere, slightly illuminating what was beyond.

“I think I found something!” Twilight shouted. She squinted her eyes, barely able to make out the faint outline of a yellow pony. “Is that… Fluttershy? Fluttershy, can you hear me?”

Linnai glanced over Twilight’s shoulder and also spotted Fluttershy, hiding under something. What’s she up to out there? You better see her, Brother, or you’ve completely lost my respect! She’s yellow, for crying out loud!

The yellow blur shot upward, there was a loud sound, and the blue field vanished with a magical zap.

The group of ponies that had been running through the corridors stopped at the edge of the entryway, and Celestia glanced around the corner. She could see Mulcibar floating in the air, beaming magic down towards a glowing blue sphere. A flash of color caught her eye higher up and she saw Rainbow Dash crash into Pinkie Pie, who quickly formed a shield and deflected her even further up.

Celestia stepped out from the doorway, the rest of the others following in her hoofsteps. “There’s no sign of Twilight, and only one of the changelings,” Celestia said quietly. “It appears that Pinkie Pie has been unable to convince Rainbow Dash, we may need to intervene there. As for Twilight and the other changeling, I fear they are inside that blue orb, which is likely some form of illusion magic.”

Applejack tilted her head to the side, her neck popping. “So first thing we gotta do is take out that one up there, eh?” she said, pointing up towards Mulcibar.

“Yes. If we can stop his spell, Twilight will be free and we’ll have her on our side as well. That will announce our presence, though, as well as bring the second changeling into the fight,” Celsetia responded. “We need to move quickly and simultaneously. I’m the only one here with wings, so I will have to be the one to fly out to Pinkie Pie. The rest of you will have to deal with the changelings down here.”

“No problem,” said Sweetie Belle. “Mom and I can both blast that guy up there with magic. That should be enough of a distraction to break the spell, then we all jump in!”

Scootaloo waved a hoof in the air, which seemed to bend around it. “I’m really getting the hang of this stuff,” she said, causing a large metal plate to materialize from nowhere in front of her. “We’ll beat them easy!”

Celestia smiled, the fact that one of them was already so advanced in skill giving her some extra confidence in the otherwise sloppy plan. A flash and a loud cracking sound from above drew her attention, though. Everypony looked up at Pinkie Pie, who was now plummeting to the ground, a sharp black spear stabbed completely through her, shards of colorful magic tumbling with her.

“Pinkie Pie!” Celestia said, her voice filled with determination. “We have to move, now!” As she spoke, ready to leap into battle, a flash of yellow caught her eye near Mulcibar.

Fluttershy leapt into the air, beating her wings one time as she had planned, and then flung the seat back right at Mulcibar’s head. It struck true, knocking his face backwards. With another beating of her wings, Fluttershy flung herself at him. She smashed into his body, wrapping her forelegs around him. The two of them fell to the stands. With a flash, the blue orb vanished, revealing Twilight and Linnai. Twilight turned around to face Linnai.

“We made it out, somehow, Rarity!” Twilight shouted as Linnai’s grinning face entered her field of vision. Her smile immediately melted away. A bright flash of fire shot before her eyes and she felt a burning sensation in her chest.

“You sure did,” Linnai said with a grin.

Twilight was completely run through, a blade of magically compressed fire stabbing into her chest, exiting out of her back. Her eyes uncontrollably rolled up into the back of her head, and she fell to the floor. The flames flashed brightly and then were gone, leaving a gaping hole. Twilight coughed, and her breathing started to slow as she bled out onto the floorboards.

“Twilight!” Celestia screamed, the others behind her doing the same. With her mind filled with rage and her vision blood red, Celestia leapt towards the two changelings, screaming at the top of her lungs. “You monsters will pay!”

Author's Note

We're approaching the end, fillies and gentlecolts!

DON'T MAKE ME ASSUME MY ULTIMATE FORM!

So yeah, everypony has gone Super Saiyan.

JUST WAIT UNTIL SOMEPONY GOES ALL SUPER SAIYAN 3!

I'd also like to take this opportunity to point people to my BLOG here on Fimfiction. I've begun to adopt an interesting method for getting more people to pre-read and edit my chapters - Basically, open it up to anyone who wants to see it! Rather than relying on a few trusted individuals, I have opened up the google Docs versions of this chapter and the work file for the next chapter. Anyone can read them, anyone can add comments to them. Of course, if you read them on there, you'll be spoiling yourself. As I said on the first blog post where I started doing this, you should keep information about unpublished chapters away from Fimfiction comments.

So far, only a few people have looked at/commented on them, but I have high hopes that interested individuals will really drop me some serious critique and such.

I hope you liked this chapter! The next one should be quite the doozy!

Horizons Ch 8 - The Sky Darkens

Book Three: Horizons

Chapter Eight - The Sky Darkens

Celestia crashed straight into Linnai, their foreheads cracking together, their eyes locking onto one another. Linnai grunted, but continued to wear a big, fanged grin. Celestia pushed out from the changeling in mid-air, launching her away. With a horn aflame with white-hot fire, Celestia let loose a giant beam of magic that completely engulfed the changeling. Firing straight past her, the beam struck the stands on the opposite side, blowing them to bits that scattered and rained down into the apple orchards in the distance. Celestia landed on the edge of the stands and looked out to where her attack had flown.

Linnai hung in the air, a hoof pressed outward, her mane and wingtips singed, but her body still intact. “Princess, I hope that’s not the best you’ve got, or you’ll end up just like that useless purple thing behind you!” she shouted, giggling afterwards.

Celestia screamed, her voice loud and rough. “Don’t you dare speak of her!”

Linnai laughed again. “Stop me!” she taunted. “Pour your rage into me and shut me up! I can’t wait to feel your burning anger!” She licked her lips and launched herself back towards the princess, her horn ablaze and leaving a trail of fire in her wake. The two of them clashed again, a bright flash firing out from the point of impact.

“This is bad! This is bad!” Apple Bloom shouted in a panic, not knowing what to do now that the time had come.

“Calm down!” Scootaloo shouted. “Help the princess and Twilight! I’ll go to Pinkie Pie!”

“You can’t fly, dodo!” Sweetie Belle yelled, the pressure having gotten to her.

“You wanna bet?” Scootaloo snapped back. She spread her wings, which increased in size as she flung them out from her body. She leapt into the air and took off towards Pinkie.

Sweetie Belle stared in awe for a moment before shaking her head and looking over at Twilight. “That’s right!” she shouted. “We can do anything we want! Get ahold of yourself, AB! We have to help Twilight!”

Apple Bloom took a deep breath. “You’re right! Can’t let our friends down!” she resounded.

Rarity stepped a hoof forward, her eyes filled with determination. “Let’s go, girls!” The three of them began to radiate with a brilliant light, and then dashed forward together towards their fallen friend and her assailant. “We won’t let them get away with this!”

Scootaloo dove towards the arena field where Pinkie Pie was falling to. Her wings spread out wide, each one the full size of her body in length, carrying her through the air with ease. As Pinkie was about to hit the ground, her body stopped, a cushion of light orange magic softening her landing and placing her gently onto the ground. Scootaloo landed by her side. She stared down at Pinkie’s chest, the black javelin protruding like a nail half-driven into a board.

The spear quickly dissolved into small black particles and evaporated into the air. Scootaloo turned her head upward and stared at Rainbow Dash, who was descending at a gradual speed towards her.

Rainbow Dash landed with a plop in front of Scootaloo and Pinkie, and stepped forward, staring down at the gaping wound in Pinkie’s chest.

“Scootaloo…” Pinkie coughed out weakly. “Get away… from her.” Blood trickled from the corner of Pinkie’s mouth as she spoke, and her eyelids hung heavily over her eyes.

“No,” Scootaloo responded firmly, swinging her hoof down over Pinkie. The wound in Pinkie’s chest began to close, a bright orange glow flowing out from it. Her eyes never left their target, locked on to Rainbow Dash’s face.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed, still shining with the dark magic that had gripped her mind. She looked at Scootaloo, her stare burning back. “What are you doing, squirt?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Don’t tell me you’re going to try and stop me, too.”

Scootaloo shook her head. “Rainbow Dash… I never wanted any of this to happen,” she said, the wound on Pinkie Pie having now completely closed up. Scootaloo began to glow a brighter orange color than before as tears fell from her eyes. “I just wanted everypony to be happy. I just wanted us to be happy.”

“How are you doing that?” Rainbow Dash asked, her eyes widening and an orange glow beginning to take over the darkness that surrounded her.

She’s the one! The voice in Rainbow Dash’s head said. She’s the one who wanted you blinded to the truth!

Rainbow Dash shook her head. Scoot? No way! She thought. She’s, like… one of my best friends!

Is she? The voice asked. Think hard. When did you first meet her? When did you first take note of this little one?

Rainbow Dash stared down at Scootaloo, her eyes shaking, the dark aura fighting against the orange. She just… I don’t know! She was a fan of mine! She had this cute little fan club in Ponyville before I was even a Wonderbolt! she thought. Why would she be working for the changelings? It doesn’t make sense!

Look at the power she possesses! What else could be going on here? The voice asked. Rainbow Dash stared down at Pinkie, who had fully recovered and was rising back up to her hooves.

“I don’t know…” Rainbow Dash said aloud.

“Don’t know what?” Scootaloo asked. “Rainbow Dash, please, snap out of it!”

You see? the voice said inside Rainbow Dash’s mind, laughing. She’s nothing to you! She invented your relationship for her own purposes!

“It’s too late, Scootaloo…” Pinkie said weakly, having stood back up. She began to charge her horn up again. “She’s too far gone. Whatever that voice I heard was, she hears it, too. It’s not just a voice, though… She knows it’s not, just like I did.” Pinkie stared up at Rainbow Dash, locking eyes with her as she spoke.

If you don’t believe me, just ask them, the voice said. They’ll tell you the truth. They arrogantly think you’ll fall into line! That you’ll crumble like a weakling!

“Whoever that voice is coming from has dark, evil magic… full of hate, distrust, and a lust for power,” Pinkie said, staring into Dash’s glowing eyes. “I resisted it somehow, but Dash can’t do it. It’s not her fault—“

“So, tell me, then!” Dash yelled at Pinkie and Scootaloo. “Tell me the truth!” The dark aura around her erupted, what was left of the orange glow fading to almost nothing.

“It’s all a dream, Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said, closing her eyes. “We’re inside my dream, and you were a part of it… such an important part of it. I just wanted you to notice me. I just wanted to be your friend... But I wanted you to be happy, too, so--.”

“So, everything I did…” Rainbow Dash began to say, her jaw shaking as she spoke. “All of my time with the Wonderbolts… All the time I spent with you… Cloudsdale moving south, my fame, my dreams… you did this to me?”

“Please, Rainbow Dash, it was supposed to be fun!” Scootaloo said. She started to cry, her tears dropping onto the bright green grass. “I was all alone! Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom got their cutie marks and stopped hanging out with me. I’d always wanted you to just see me! I just wanted to have somepony who cared, again!”

“Well, forget it!” Rainbow Dash shouted, her eyes erupting with glaring purple energy, red streaks of magic erupting out of her body as the dark aura around her expanded. “Everything I ever wanted is gone forever! I don’t even know if I’m real anymore! It’s all your fault, and you want me to just forgive you?” Rainbow Dash lifted a hoof upward, a ball of black energy growing at its tip.

“We have to get out of here, Scoot!” Pinkie Pie shouted, firing magic down into her cloak’s gems. A ball of pulsing colors surrounded them, and Pinkie pulled back on Scootaloo’s shoulder. “No matter what, you have to stop thinking of her as Rainbow Dash! She’s not the pony we knew anymore! She’s turned into something else! It’s completely taken over her!”

Rainbow Dash rose into the air, the energy ball she held aloft growing in size. Her eyes had turned completely black, only her irises remained, letting off a bright purple glow. The dark energy pouring out from her began to whip up heavy winds in the arena.

“No!” Scootaloo shouted. “This is my fault, she’s right!” Scootaloo stood her ground, looking up at Rainbow Dash.

The ball of energy that Rainbow held up pulsed several times, and then split into a thousand smaller balls, each stretching into a black javelin just like the one that she had launched at Pinkie Pie. They blocked out the sky, and then turned, all aimed at Scootaloo.

“Fire your dark magic at me, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo shouted. “Until there’s none left! And then, we can start over! We can be friends for real!”

Rainbow Dash frowned, her eyes flashing white for a brief second. “F-Fine!” she screamed. “You can have it!”

The black spears sailed toward the ground like a torrential downpour. The sound of them whistling through the air, accompanied by Rainbow Dash’s screaming, echoed across the arena and out into the fields of Sweet Apple Acres. Massive amounts of dirt flew up from the ground as they pounded into it with the force of a bomb exploding.

Mulcibar landed roughly on his back, a weight pressing down over the top of him. He opened his eyes and saw nothing but a blurry field of pink. The side of his head was sore from an impact of some sort, which had knocked the sense out of him for a brief second. As soon as he’d regained his thoughts, though, the same sore spot on the side of his head received a surprisingly powerful blow, knocking his head sideways. The pink color in his field of vision dissipated, and he realized it was hair hanging over his face. The weight pressing down on his body was a little pony who had so foolishly leapt on top of him.

Fluttershy sat on top of the laid-out changeling, her left hoof pressing down against his chest. She wasn’t sure what to do now, but she was so hyper-focused on her attack that she swung her right hoof around without even thinking, smashing it into the side of the changeling’s skull.

Mulcibar flailed his hooves upward and wrapped them around Fluttershy. It was like a hug, but much more painful. He squeezed her down against him with sudden force, knocking the air out of her lungs. Fluttershy’s eyes bulged, and she coughed. She pressed against the changeling as hard as she could, pushing away from him. She finally lifted her front hooves into the air and smashed them both down against his face, which was mostly obscured by her long, pink mane.

“Gah! Get off me!” Mulcibar shouted, finally punching upward against Fluttershy’s chest and launching her off of him and to the right.

Fluttershy landed with a squeak. She felt something wet on the ground where she had landed, and opened her eyes. Right in front of her was Twilight Sparkle’s face, her mouth gaped, her breathing shallow and sporadic, and her eyes barely staying open. The ground was soaked in a puddle of her blood, which was still pouring out of a blackened hole in her chest. Fluttershy’s eyes went wide. She stared at Twilight, reaching a hoof out and touching it to her cheek.

“Twilight…” Fluttershy said, her voice shaking, her mind racing. Visions of memories with her friend flashed before her, and she began to curl up into a ball. The pain she felt in her ribcage was unable to even compare to the pain she now felt in her heart. “It’s all over…”

Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom slid in towards Twilight and Fluttershy, all shouting at once.

“Twilight! Hold on!” Rarity shouted. “Sweetie Belle, can you help her? Like with mom and dad?”

Apple Bloom shook Fluttershy and spoke, her voice shaking and nervous, her gaze cast to the edge of the stands. “Fluttershy, get up! We hafta get outta here!” she said. “Sweetie Belle’s gonna help Twilight, it’s gonna be okay, but that changeling don’t look too happy!”

Sweetie Belle kneeled beside Twilight, her hooves pressed against her and her horn glowing with a blinding light at its tip. “I won’t let you die! I won’t let you die! You can’t die!” she repeated over and over. The air around her and Twilight seemed to warp and twist, but Twilight still bled, her condition worsening by the second. “It’s not working!”

Apple Bloom pulled Fluttershy’s hoof. The yellow Pegasus, one side of her body stained red, pushed herself up and regained her hoofing. She looked over her shoulder. Mulcibar stood just yards away, his wings outstretched and his eyes glowing blue, staring at them. Blood was trickling out of his nose and dripping off of his chin.

“You miserable lot,” he said, rubbing a hoof against the spot where Fluttershy had clocked him on the side of his head. “It must be horrifying, knowing what you know. It’s no wonder you resist so violently.” He stepped towards them and bared his fangs. A flash of blue light shot out from his wings, wrapping him and the ponies in a glowing orb.

Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Fluttershy, and Rarity found themselves standing in the throne room of Canterlot Castle. They looked up immediately, and saw the ceiling of changeling cocoons hanging over them. Streams of green magic flowed through the chamber, passing through cocoons and illuminating them. Mulcibar appeared at the far end of the room, sitting upon the throne.

“Look at how helpless you all are,” he said, lifting a glass of red wine to his lips and taking a sip. “Not a movement, not a cry, not a peep of a sound comes from a single one of these pods. And yet here, within your minds, you resist. You rage so loudly. You burn with agony and hatred for us, your captors.”

“Don’t listen to him, girls,” Fluttershy said, putting on a strong face. “This is some kind of trap!”

Mulcibar stood up from the throne and looked down directly at Fluttershy. “A trap? I have no need for such a thing,” he said, stepping along the ramp that led down to the ponies. He waved his hoof up towards the ceiling and grinned. “You’re all already trapped, as you can see.”

“What are you getting at, you beast?” Rarity demanded, her horn lighting up.

Mulcibar strode past Rarity and tapped a hoof against her horn, the light in it vanishing. “Let’s not get violent, I brought you here to settle things in a civilized fashion,” he stated plainly. “One of you has already had to pay the ultimate price, and it’s a shame that it came to that, but she and Celestia must be punished for what they’ve done. When an animal lashes out, you put it down, it’s as simple as that.”

“You’re sick,” Rarity spat with disgust. “We’re ponies, not animals!”

“Ah, but you are just that, even to your so-called friends, Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle,” Mulcibar said as he approached Fluttershy. “You four were just wrapped up in their plot, and deserve a second chance.” He walked towards Fluttershy, staring into her face and grinning.

“Stay away from me,” Fluttershy said angrily.

“Especially one so timid and lovely as you,” he said, running a hoof against Fluttershy’s cheek, pushing her bangs to the side. She pulled away from him in disgust. “Oh yes, I’d definitely show you a good time, my dear. Maybe even let you out of that cramped cocoon you’re in and let you stay in the castle.”

“Leave her alone!” Sweetie Belle yelled, a wave of energy flying out from her and lifting Mulcibar off the ground. He looked down at the filly and smiled, waving a hoof down at her.

“Oh, well now,” he said. “Linnai is going to be furious when she finds out she was wrong with her guess. You must be the dreamer, little one. I can feel it. You have quite a grip on your Lucidity, too. This makes it quite simple.” He began to charge up his horn, the gem socketed into its base glowing with magic.

“That jewel,” Rarity said, looking at the perfectly-cut gem. “That must be the source of your power.”

“Nothing so mundane,” Mulcibar responded. “The gem is a focal point, that is all.” As he said this, the gem popped out from his horn and flew through the air, coming to a stop over Apple Bloom’s head.

“Yer not completely right about Sweetie there bein’ the dreamer,” Apple Bloom said with a grin. She stomped her hoof against the ground, and the gem broke into shards above her.

Mulcibar stared at the filly, then laughed again.

“Two of you! No, there was a third filly with you!” he exclaimed. “Three! This is too much!” He laughed heartily, still floating in the air, his wings and hooves flailing as if he were rolling on the ground.

“I broke your stupid gem! Now let us go! You can’t beat us all without magic!” Apple Bloom demanded. Mulcibar just smiled back.

“Without magic? Child, do you see this illusion disappearing?” he said, then with a green flash, he transformed and took the form of Fluttershy, speaking in her voice. “Do you see my changeling powers going away? The gem is merely to focus my unicorn magic, it has nothing to do with my raw power.” His eyes flashed and a wave of force blasted outward, knocking the ponies away. He dropped to the ground, the levitation that had held him up interrupted.

“Do you fools know what happens to light when it shines through a lens?” he asked. “It focuses. Without a focus, well, it’s still just as bright, just not concentrated!” he blasted outward with another wave of force, destroying everything around him, knocking cocoons off the ceiling, shattering the throne behind him, and launching the ponies across the room and against the far walls.

Mulcibar floated across the room, flapping his yellow wings, still in the form of Fluttershy. He landed in front of the real Fluttershy and looked down at her. “Don’t worry, my dear,” he said. With a flash, he assumed the guise of Twilight Sparkle. “I can be your new Twilight, how about that? We’ll be the best of friends.”

“Oh come on!” a voice echoed across the throne room. “Talk about cliché evil! Not to mention a little bit creepy, even for me!”

“Who’s there?” Mulcibar shouted.

“Discord?” Fluttershy asked. A laugh echoed through the halls in response.

“Your illusions are great, but they lack flair, changeling!” Discord’s voice taunted. “First of all, it’s far too drab! Boring!” The throne room exploded with a blast of colors, everything becoming plastered with random dots and paint splotches. The cocoons hanging from the ceiling all turned into disco balls, and the floor tiles began to flash different colors.

Mulcibar turned his head towards the back of the throne room. Where the throne had once stood, there was now a stage. Atop the stage was a massive set of speakers, in the middle of which was a set of turntables. Discord stood behind them, huge rhinestone sunglasses on his face and a backwards baseball cap on his head. A chain hung down from his neck, a gold plate with the word “CHAOS” emblazoned across it, at least until whoever saw it read the word, at which point to them the letters rearranged randomly into some other word, or even a picture.

“Who are you?” Mulcibar asked, stepping towards the draconequus. “How did you get in here? How are you changing my illusion?” He fired pulses of blue energy out from his wings, but nothing happened.

“Good idea! Strobe lights!” Discord said, and snapped his fingers. Several flashing lights appeared and began to flicker at random. “I’d say this little party is ready to really get moving!”

“Enough!” Mulcibar shouted. He fired another blast of unfocused magic out from his horn. Instead of the intended effect, though, the magic blew two records off a stack of them to Discord’s side, both falling perfectly onto the two turntables. Discord dropped the needles onto the records. He winked towards the others and covered his ears. Fluttershy, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle clamped their forelegs over the ears.

The speakers exploded with terrible, random noises, louder than anypony had probably ever heard. Mulcibar clasped the sides of his head for a moment, then charged at the speakers on the left. He crashed into them and pierced their surface with his horn. They exploded out in a mixture of confetti, colorful birds, and bits.

“You picked the right set of speakers!” Discord shouted with glee. “You won the two-thousand bit prize!” In a flash, Mulcibar found himself seated in the middle of a circular blue room with three doors. Discord appeared in front of him, wearing a loud suit.

“What is the meaning of this?” Mulcibar shouted over the noise coming from Discord’s suit.

“You can keep the money you’ve already won, or you can go for a prize behind one of these three doors!” Discord said cheerfully. A gasp came from the audience. Mulcibar turned his head to the side and realized that there was an audience expanding out as far as he could see, all staring at him.

Several ponies in the front row started waving their hooves. “Keep the money!” one of them shouted. “No, take door number two! No, three!” others would call out. Mulcibar gritted his teeth, his anger boiling. He froze in place as he felt the sensation of a cold blade against his throat and heard a whisper in his ear. The back of his head pressed firmly against the back of the chair in which he was seated.

“Here’s the deal, you sniveling insect. My name is Discord, and you are as close to death as you’ve ever been,” Discord’s voice whispered to him, the roar of the crowd fading into the background. Discord himself still stood in front of him, waving to the crowd and smiling. The voice echoing in Mulcibar’s ear did not sound like it was smiling. “I’m not an unreasonable being… well, okay, I am, but I love games. Don’t think that what you feel pressing into the soft, juicy flesh of your neck is anything like a joke, not even for a second.”

Mulcibar swallowed, but as softly as he could, sweat beading on his forehead. He had heard legends of the tyrant, Discord, who had ruled over Equestria in antiquity. He was powerful beyond reckoning, incredibly cruel, and rumored to be immortal. What is an old god doing here? Mulcibar thought, his mind racing.

“You get one choice, so choose carefully,” Discord explained. “You pick a door. You pick the right one, you walk out of here alive and can continue whatever sort of evil plans you have. You can even take the yellow one with you, since you seem to fancy her.”

“If I pick the wrong one?” Mulcibar whispered, his nerves getting worse by the second, the blade becoming seemingly sharper and colder as time passed.

“You pick the wrong one, the floor gets a new paint job, and we’ll have to change the color scheme in here to red,” Discord answered, chuckling. “And again, do not think for one moment that I am joking. This is the side of me not many get to see, and even less have a chance to walk away from, so consider yourself… privileged.” Discord’s eyes glowed a bright red, and he grinned, running his tongue along the ridges of his teeth.

Mulcibar raised a hoof nervously to the third door in front of him.

“Door three? Are you sure?” Discord asked. “You only get one choice!”

Mulcibar felt the blade press against his throat. “No, no, door two!” he said raspily.

“Okay! Door two! What’s behind door two?” Discord asked. A second Discord, wearing lipstick, a wig, and a miniskirt, stepped over to door number two and opened it. Mulcibar’s seat ejected him forward and through the door, the cheering of the crowd fading as he flew through it. He felt himself hit a wall, heard explosions and a blazing fire coming from his left, and the ground shaking beneath his feet. He stood up, shook his head, and a flash of blue light reflected off the wall in front of him. He turned around quickly, having realized where he was. He was outside of his illusion sphere. Somehow, Discord had ejected him from his own spell.

Mulcibar stomped a hoof against the ground, and the blue sphere vanished with a crack. Fluttershy, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom appeared, all crouched low to the ground. “Where is he?!” Mulcibar shouted nervously. turning his head back and forth, his horn pulsing with energy. “Where’s Discord?!”

A second later, there was a loud sound like fabric being torn apart, and everything around him went as black as ink.

Celestia blazed through the air, circling around opposite of Linnai, who kept pace with the princess, never letting her slip out of her field of vision. Beams of magic fire blasted from both of their horns at one another, each missing every time as the other dodged deftly in mid-flight.

Down in the stands, Rarity’s parents stood with Applejack and Big Macintosh, feeling helpless.

“Everypony’s flyin’ or magic! We gotta do somethin’!” Applejack shouted. She looked up at the princess, who seemed to be in an aerial stalemate with Linnai, neither one of them having landed a single blow past the initial collision.

“Well, I can’t do anything to this blue ball!” Rarity’s mother said. “I never was as good with magic as my daughter, but this isn’t even a matter of that. The magic feels all different, ya know?”

Applejack sighed and pushed her hat firmly against her head. “Big Macintosh, I want ya to launch me up there,” she said.

“Y’done lost yer mind,” Big Mac said plainly. “Don’t reckon I can hit a moving target with a pony from this distance, even if I could buck ya’ far enough.”

Rarity’s dad stepped forward and pushed up against Big Mac. “Now that’s where you n’ I differ, big fella,” he said. “Shoot, I’ve completed passes longer’n that back in Varsity… though I’m not as young as I used ta’ be. Betcha you and I could do it together, though. And the wife, there, can hold AJ steady.”

“Great idea!” Applejack said with a grin. “Come on, Big Mac!”

Big Macintosh sighed. “Eeyup…” he said. “But I still think y’all lost yer minds.”

Rarity’s mother concentrated as hard as she could, lifting Applejack into the air and holding her steadily in place with levitation. Applejack pulled her back hooves inward as if she were ready to launch into a jump.

“Arright, Mac, now ya gotta keep a real steady eye,” Rarity’s dad began to explain as he and Big Mac got into position. They each raised a single rear hoof off the ground and placed them against one of Applejack’s. “When it’s time ta’ throw, I’ll signal by raising my other hoof up and pressing it to AJ’s. You’ll have fractions of a second to react and get yours up there slightly quicker than I go. Then we all three buck outward, and she’ll be shot up there like a cannonball.”

“You sure we can make the distance?” Big Mac asked nervously.

“You kiddin’?” Applejack scolded. “You got me n’ you who buck trees fer a livin’, plus a former pro athlete. What do ya think? Wouldn’t be surprised if I cause a Sonic Rainboom!”

“Okay. Hold her steady, dear,” Rarity’s dad said, his eyes locked onto Linnai in the distance. “Get ready, Mac. Almost… Almost… Now!” As he was saying “Now”, he lifted his left hoof up. Big Mac pushed his right hoof up as well, and with a single motion, Applejack shot like a blur into the distance, her hat blowing off her head in the process.

This is getting nowhere! Celestia thought, her rage having subsided slightly with her massive outflux of magic. I can’t seem to predict her movements. It’s those blasted wings! They don’t move her like a pegasus. If I could just get a bead on her… She fired another blast. Linnai reacted by firing her own, and the two beams collided in the air, exploding outward.

A flash of orange shot past Celestia so quickly, she couldn’t tell what it was, only that it came from below. She instinctively launched herself backwards.

Linnai saw the orange object coming towards her at high speed. She turned her head, tried to evade, but couldn’t make it. Almost as if time had slowed, Linnai saw two orange hooves approaching her face, a pair of green eyes and flowing blond hair behind them.

Applejack smashed into Linnai, pushing her front hooves forward at the point of impact, cracking the changeling’s head backwards. The two of them continued to fly through the air, eventually falling and crashing into the upper stands across the arena and smashing through two rows of seats as they landed.

“Applejack!” Celestia shouted, finally realizing what had happened. She dove towards the two of them as thundering sounds began to erupt from the field behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Scootaloo zooming across the field, dodging giant white stone pillars that were falling from the sky towards her. Each one hit the earth with a massive thud, shaking the arena and further destroying the parts that were already in ruin.

Applejack pulled herself up despite the steady shaking of the floor under her feet. She stood over the changeling, glaring down at her angrily. “I should crack yer’ skull open like a watermelon!” she screamed down at Linnai’s unconscious body.

Celestia dove down towards the two of them as fast as she could. “Do it!” Celestia screamed at Applejack. “Do not hesitate! Kill her!”

“Don’t gotta tell me twice,” Applejack said, and raised her back hooves. She kicked the changeling’s body back and up against an entryway wall. Linnai hit the wall, her limp body leaning against it, her head hanging to the side loosely. “Not the most honorable way ta’ go, but you had it comin’! This is fer Twilight!”

Applejack pulled her hind legs up and shot them back, right at the changeling’s head, aiming to smash it against the wall. At the second before impact, Linnai’s eyes shot open, glowing bright red. Fire blasted out from her forehead and shot Applejack across the stands in a fiery blaze.

Linnai shook her head and launched herself to her feet, charging at Applejack with her horn blazing. Celestia turned in the air, diving towards Applejack.

Linnai let loose with a massive fireball, shooting straight towards Applejack. Celestia crashed into the earth pony, pushing her away. The ball of fire hit Celestia, and the stands around her ignited.

With a single beat of her wings, Linnai launched herself skyward and began to launch ball after ball of blazing fire at Celestia, the inferno surrounding her growing in size. The fire spread through the stands and the wooden floorboards gave way, crashing down. The top of the blaze shot upward higher and higher as Linnai relentlessly poured energy and heat into it, laughing the entire time.

“Princess!” Applejack shouted, and glared at Linnai. She jumped to her hooves and galloped towards the changeling, leaping into the air towards her. “Stop that right now!”

Linnai paid no attention to Applejack, except for the amount of effort it took to launch a single, small fireball at her. Applejack was blown to the side, falling down onto the grassy field. She stared back up to where the princess had been, light flickering off her eyes. She slammed her front right hoof into the earth and shook her head. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

“No… What have I done? This is all my fault!” she yelled. She fell forward and buried her face into the grass, wrapped her forelegs around her head, and cried.

Linnai ceased her firing, satisfied that the blaze before her was sufficient. She laughed loudly and pointed her hoof down at the blaze. “Burn! Burn!” She screamed. A flash of light from straight ahead ceased her laughter, though, and she stared in disbelief.

Celestia, her mane and coat completely in flames, rose up from the blaze, stepping calmly out from it. She stared up at Linnai, her gaze itself burning as well.

“Do you know what the sun is?” Celestia asked. “It’s a star. It’s a raging inferno the likes of which you can not even comprehend.”

Linnai gritted her teeth and shouted down angrily at Celestia. “Shut up! Why can’t you just die?”

Celestia shook her head. “I’ve been there, you know. I was there for a whole night, once,” she said, her horn glowing. “It was hot-- Hotter than this bonfire you’ve made. Do you think that any flame you wield could possibly harm me?”

Linnai shot a fireball down at Celestia, who took the blast head-on. She was pushed back slightly, but continued to calmly walk towards Linnai.

“You’ve done something that is most unfortunate,” Celestia said. “You’ve incurred my wrath.” Celestia’s horn flashed and a single, bright beam of magic shot out from it. It pierced through Linnai’s shoulder and she flew backwards, hitting the floor.

A second later, a flash and a ripping sound came from Celestia’s left. She did not have time to look at what had happened. Everything went black around her.

Moments earlier...

The heavy cloud of dust cleared, revealing an orange glow. Scootaloo stood, Pinkie Pie next to her, unharmed. The multitudes of black, jagged spikes lay thrusted into the ground. A perfectly circular area around the two ponies was completely untouched by the projectiles.

Rainbow Dash, her breath heavy, glared down at the two of them. I missed? She thought. No… she made them miss! Scootaloo stared back up, her gaze unwielding. Pinkie Pie stood behind Scootaloo and suddenly put a hoof against her head.

Pinkie Twi’s voice cried out in Pinkie Pie’s mind. It’s getting dark! What’s going on out there? Everything is vanishing and fading to black! I can feel my mind… slipping away!

Pinkie turned her head back towards the stands. Having been distracted by her fight with Rainbow Dash, she had not noticed what had been going on. Celestia was flying through the air, blasts of magic fire zipping back and forth between her and Linnai. A massive blue sphere hung over the stands, and there was no sign of Twilight, but Rarity’s parents stood beside the blue orb with Applejack and Big Macintosh, shouting into it.

“Did something happen to Twilight?” Pinkie asked Scootaloo. Her entire body began to twitch out of control.

Scoot nodded her head sadly. “She was in bad shape. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom are going to try and heal her like I healed you,” she said. “Only the three of us can stop this mess.”

A flash and a ripping sound came from above. The two ponies turned their heads up and saw Rainbow Dash hanging in the air above them, her dark aura still flashing outward. Beside her was a massive rip in the fabric of the dream. Beyond the rip, three beams of light were seen within a field of darkness. Rainbow Dash swung her hoof and materialized a long, black blade. She pushed her hoof into one end of it and stared into the bright opening.

That’s right, Rainbow Dash! the voice in her head said, urging her forward. The child, the dream, your friends… they were all distractions! Those lights are the point that binds this world together! Cut them apart! Don’t let them use you anymore!

Rainbow Dash frowned. Don’t get me wrong, she thought. I won’t let you use me either! I can feel it, though. I know it somewhere deep inside, I have to do this! Not for you, but for me! With that thought, the dark energy pulsed outward, gaining rainbow-like flashes of color within it.

As you wish! the voice said, sounding as confident as ever.

Pinkie Pie’s eyes went wide and she pointed a hoof as best as she could up towards the rift in the sky. “We can’t let her cut those strands of light! That’s the center of this world! That’s what I was protecting! If it gets destroyed, it’s all over!” she yelled.

“Pinkie! Help the others!” Scootaloo shouted, and then shot into the air at lightning speed. Rainbow Dash pulled her hoof back. She grinned and swung the blade forward, right at the point where the three light beams converged. Pinkie saluted shakily, turning back towards the stands.

Scootaloo stretched her hoof forward, a pink blade firing out from its tip. It intercepted Rainbow Dash’s sword just as it was about to make contact with the light. The magical blades smashed together with a crashing sound. There was a sparking flash, and Rainbow Dash’s blade was pushed back. Scootaloo hovered in the air between the open rift and the blue pegasus.

“You have no choice, Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said calmly. “I don’t know what that thing is, but I can feel its energy. It’s kind, loving, and warm. If you want to attack it, you have to get past me first.”

Rainbow Dash laughed. “You’re a pretty cool kid, Scoot,” she said. “I bet the real me would’ve liked you.”

Scootaloo grinned back at Rainbow Dash and laughed. “You don’t even know the real Rainbow Dash, because I don’t really know her either. I don’t care if the real Rainbow Dash likes me anymore! I just want you back! By the time this is over, we’ll be fighting together,” she said with all seriousness. “I’ll change you back! Back to the Rainbow Dash I love! The one I look up to!”

“Well, then you had better fight like you’re trying to kill me,” she said, equally serious. “I’m doing the same for you."

Scootaloo swung her sword upward at Rainbow Dash’s face. Dash dodged back, flying in reverse with great speed.

“Good!” Rainbow Dash shouted. She pulled her hooves up to either side of her, and two giant boulders formed in the air next to her. She swung her hooves forward, and the rocks launched at Scootaloo.

Scootaloo pushed her sword forward at one of the massive boulders. It shattered into pieces, which then turned into clouds. She dodged to the side and brought her blade down upon the other one as it passed by, slicing it in half. The boulder dissolved into the air harmlessly, magic particles flying into the air where it had been. Scootaloo flapped her wings and dove at Rainbow Dash, swinging her blade at her again. Reality bent around Rainbow Dash, and the blade of the sword vanished just before it made contact with her. The blade’s tip harmlessly appeared on the other side of her.

Rainbow Dash pushed her hoof against Scootaloo’s chest. A giant spark flew out from it and sent Scootaloo flying back to the ground. She hit the grass with a thud and looked up. Rainbow Dash had materialized a row of giant stone pillars, the likes of which you would see in Cloudsdale. Dash began to launch the pillars toward the ground. Scootaloo scrambled across the field as the pillars struck it, shaking the earth and creating clouds of dirt.

Scootaloo stared at one of the pillars and lifted it into the air, launching it back at Rainbow Dash. “I can do that, too!” she shouted, firing more pillars skyward. Rainbow Dash was quickly surrounded by a circle of rotating stone columns. Scootaloo took off into the air again and slammed her hooves together. The pillars all smashed inward simultaneously, Rainbow Dash at their center. A loud rumbling sound and a flash shot through the air.

A second later, the pillars crumbled, each broken piece turning into a dark spear. Rainbow Dash pulled her hooves inward, bringing them all together until they were joined as one long, crackling harpoon.

“You know that won’t work!” Scootaloo shouted as Rainbow Dash launched the spear at her. Scootaloo dodged the projectile easily and shook her head. “This fight is so pointless! We can’t do anything to each other, and you know it!”

Rainbow Dash laughed. “Wasn’t aiming for you, kid,” she said with a grin, her eyes looking past Scootaloo.

Scootaloo turned around and saw the massive blade strike the three beams of light right where they were connected. The beams snapped apart, like a tightly pulled rope being cut. She felt her mind go blank, her eyes close, and her senses all dull. She felt herself falling from the sky, down, down, down for what felt like an eternity. Eventually, Scootaloo only felt one thing, deep in the darkness: A feeling so familiar to her, since she’d known it for most of her life. Like a parasite that had attached to her years ago and refused to let go, no matter how she had refused to let it stop her...

She felt alone.

Author's Note

Oh man, I had this sinking feeling in my stomach as I hit Publish on this. But I did it.

I swore a long time ago I wouldn't have swordfights or guns in pony fanfic... Oops! At least there's still no guns, right? I also wanted to be sure to emphasize the fact that these are not swords in the traditional way you're thinking. There's no handle or hilt, which I think is silly for a pony sword to have anyway. If ponies used swords, they'd have handles that were more like a dome to slide your hoof into, maybe with a ridge to grip against. Or they'd tie around the hoof.

In any case, the blades that Scoot and Dash have, here, are more like what a Zealot in Starcraft would use. Just google "starcraft zealot" - you'll see.

So anyway, things aren't looking so good for anypony, here! Not even our villains! Mulcibar got a taste of Discord, and Linnai has finally been shown just how screwed she is.

But none of that matters, because Dash just did the worst possible thing.

Things are gonna get a little weird and a little feelsy next chapter, which shall be the finale of Book Three!

Horizons Ch 9 - The Stars Shine

Book Three: Horizons

Chapter Nine - The Stars Shine

Darkness surrounded Apple Bloom briefly, then beams of light flew upward past her eyes. She blinked, and a blurry blob of colors began to come into focus. It spread outward, surrounding her until she was standing in a grassy field outside of her house.

How did I get here? What happened to the others? She thought, and walked towards the structure. What’s this feeling? It’s cold and sad… I feel so lonely. The filly stepped into the house. From upstairs, she heard the sound of someone crying. She walked up to the second floor, towards the sound, until she found herself at the door to Applejack’s room. She looked inside and saw a young version of her sister lying on her bed. Beside her was a tiny filly with red hair and a pink bow on her head. She knew that filly was her.

Is this a memory? I can’t remember it very well.

“The day after dad died,” said a voice from behind Apple Bloom. She looked over her shoulder and saw Applejack standing behind her. A single tear rolled down her cheek. “In all my days, I’ve never felt so sad as that day. It hadn’t even been two years since mom had passed, and now dad was gone, too. Everything was fallin’ apart.” Applejack took her hat off her head and pressed it against her chest.

“What are we gonna do, lil’ sis?” the younger Applejack asked her sister. “We’re all alone, now.” She placed a hoof against Apple Bloom’s head and gently stroked her mane. She burst into another fit of crying, burying her face into her pillow. Little Apple Bloom began crying, too.

A crushing feeling of loneliness shot through Apple Bloom’s heart. She felt colder, and the scene dimmed. She reached a hoof out toward the vision of her sister and tried to hold back the sadness. “But, we weren’t alone, big sis,” she said. “We had Big Mac and Granny Smith.”

Applejack nodded her head in response. “I know, but it just seemed so hopeless. Folks in town were sayin’ all sorta bad things,” she said.

“They say he grieved himself to death,” a voice said, as if it were just within earshot of Apple Bloom. “The poor kids, they’re on their own now. Who knows how long Granny Smith will hang on?”

“You, Big Mac, and Granny Smith were left all alone. I never even knew that sorta feeling. I never thought of how hard it musta been, havin’ ta take care of me and the farm,” Apple Bloom said quietly.

“We hung in there, though,” Applejack replied. “We made sure ya didn't have ta think about it. Despite what anypony thought, the Apple family pushed through.”

“The farm at Ponyville could go under. Big Mac isn’t ready for that sort of responsibility,” another voice said. “He’s barely a stallion, and Applejack’s got years yet to go before she’s old enough to help.”

“What do they know?” the smaller Applejack said between sobs. “Big Mac is twice the stallion any’a them are. And I can too help. I’ll show ‘em! We’ll all show ‘em you can’t stop this family! Can’t nothin’ stop us!” She wiped away her tears, a look of determination now taking over her.

“And you’ll help too, won’t’cha Apple Bloom?” Applejack asked, smiling over at her sis.

Apple Bloom closed her eyes. As much as I can, sis, she thought to herself. But what if…

Apple Bloom blinked, and the scene before her changed to her sister and brother working in the fields. She sat by a window, looking out at them, with Granny Smith sitting beside her on a rocking chair. She stared out the window, watching her family do what the Apples had done for generations. Her head sank, and she looked down at her bare flank.

“What if mah special talent doesn’t hafta do with the farm at all? What if I… can’t help?” she asked.

“Do you really think that matters to us, Snickerdoodle?" Granny Smith said with a giggle. “What’s important is family, and bein’ together, not what you can or can’t do for us.”

“Yeah, but what if mah cutie mark is--“ she started to ask, but was stopped by her grandmother.

“Hush now, child, and listen. Do you really think that your special talent, no matter what it may be, will keep you away from us or the farm?” Granny Smith asked. “Does it define who ya are that much?”

Apple Bloom looked back at the window. “No. You’re right,” she said. The scene vanished, and Apple Bloom saw her family standing in front of her in the dark void.

“That’s right, AB. It’s you who decide what yer made of, not a cutie mark,” Applejack said. “All we want from ya is for you to be you.”

“Eeyup,” Big Mac chimed in.

“And that’s not just the family you were given,” Granny Smith said with a smile. “It’s the family you choose, too.”

The family I choose… That’s right. I’ll always be there for my family, no matter what, she thought in response. No matter who gets their cutie mark first, or who is left without one… no matter what my talent is, and no matter what happens on the farm… I’ll be there. I’ll never abandon them.

Images of the past month flashed in her mind. She saw herself bucking trees with her sister and brother, the trees filling with flowers blossoms as she kicked their trunks. She saw the farm expand, but inward, getting closer and closer to Ponyville, until it was right up against the town’s edges, their orchards touching the yards of the townsponies.

“The whole time, I’d been dreaming of the farm spreading inward toward town-- Toward my friends. I thought I had to choose, but that’s not right,” Apple Bloom said and smiled.

Applejack and Big Macintosh nodded their heads and stepped to the side, making a path between them. On the other side of the path, Apple Bloom saw the shadowy outlines of her best friends.

“You gotta push through, now, Apple Bloom. You gotta move ahead just like we did,” Applejack said, gesturing her past. “Yer other family is waitin’ for ya. Everypony is countin’ on the three of you.”

“My other family, as dear to me as my own kin,” she said. “Nothing can break us apart!” Her chest erupted with a golden glow, the outline of a symbol appearing on it again, just the same as before. However, this time there was more to it. The flower-shaped symbol seemed to pop out from her chest, forming a bright red gemstone surrounded by a dark metal, hanging from an intricately etched band that hung around her neck. She felt a magical power rising up from inside her. She reached her hoof out towards her friends, through the sea of blackness.

“Come on, you two! We won’t give up that easy, right?”

The gem hanging from her neck burst forth with bright magic, firing towards the shadowy profiles of her friends.

Lonely? I haven’t felt lonely—not really—in a long time.

Sweetie Belle saw herself as a younger filly sitting at a table in a restaurant. Next to her was her sister, also a filly, and across from them sat their parents. Why am I here? What happened? I remember this time in my life, but only a little. It’s all sort of blurry...

A waitress came up to the table. She was immediately enamored with Sweetie Belle and Rarity, smiling at them. “I can take you orders if you’re ready,” she said. She looked down at Sweetie Belle and smiled. “What do you want, little one?” Sweetie Belle sank into her seat and turned her gaze down, blushing slightly. She raised her hoof up and pointed to a picture of a fruit bowl on the menu.

The waitress grinned and looked at the adults at the table. “Oh my gosh, she is just adorable. Is she always this shy?” the waitress asked.

“She can’t talk,” Rarity blurted out. Sweetie Belle tried to slouch even lower in her seat. Rarity’s mom tapped her hoof on the table and shot a look at Rarity, who slouched down in her chair as well.

Sweetie Belle smirked as she remembered. Despite the stuff she used to say, I still loved my sister, even back then. All the other foals my age could talk, but I couldn’t. All I could do was make tiny squeaking noises any time I tried. I guess that’s why none of the other kids ever wanted to be my friends. I felt lonely… but I always felt better spending time with my sister. It’s like I decided I was going to be her best friend, and I just never let go of that thought.

“She may never be able to speak,” a voice said. Sweetie Belle blinked her eyes and looked down at a unicorn wearing a white coat. He was standing with her parents, talking to them. She saw her past self on a bed in a plain room, and the unicorn must have been a doctor of some sort.

She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out but a small, raspy squeaking sound. Her parents and the doctor looked down at her and smiled.

“The poor thing,” her mother said, shaking her head.

A young looking Rarity hopped up onto the bed and smiled down at her. “I think she’s adorable!” Rarity said gleefully. “She makes the cutest little noises!”

Her parents laughed and her father patted Rarity on the head. “That’s right, your little sis is the cutest little thing,” he said. Rarity nodded in agreement and rubbed her nose against Sweetie Belle’s.

Sweetie Belle giggled and wriggled her face. Stop it, sis, it tickles! she thought, but only a little giggly squeak escaped her lips.

Back then, I didn’t understand what they meant by ‘never be able to speak.’Sweetie Belle closed her eyes and another memory drifted into her mind. She found herself sitting in her sister’s room, watching her busily sewing and humming a tune along with the record that was playing in the background. The singer in the song had such a beautiful voice. Every once in a while, Rarity would sigh to herself and look at the record player. She then turned her head towards Sweetie Belle.

“Oh Sweetie Belle, wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to sing like that?” she asked whimsically. “To burn with such passion that it can be felt just from your voice?” Her eyelids drooped down heavily and she sighed again.

Sweetie Belle nodded her head excitedly. I could understand what she was saying, even though I couldn’t talk, she thought. I loved the music, too. It made me feel calm and happy inside, but also kind of sad. It was like… something inside of me wanted to be let out. Like I had to finally let my voice be free. We spent a lot of time together, day after day and month after month, and each day I felt it more and more strongly.

She squeaked ineffectually at Rarity, and her sister smiled and patted her on the head. Rarity turned back to her sewing, humming along with the music again. After a moment, she started to hear something behind her, something besides the melody coming from the record.

Sweetie Belle, her eyes clenched tightly and her whole body tensed up, hummed along with the song in perfect harmony. I remember concentrating as hard as I could. My whole life I hadn’t been able to utter so much as a word correctly, and couldn’t control the sound or pitch of my voice, but something inside of me told me that day was the day.

I could feel tears welling up behind my closed eyes as I just kept humming, never missing a note. It hurt… not just in my throat, but in my heart.

Rarity turned her head, her jaw dropped, and she stared at her little sister.

Listen to me sing, Rarity! Sweetie Belle thought to herself. Can you feel it? Can you hear my feelings? My passion?

“Mother! Father!” Rarity shouted. She bolted from the room, shouting as she ran down the hallway to find her parents. Sweetie Belle just smiled and kept on humming.

After that day, I learned how to control my voice through singing. I remember the day when I said my first words, or rather sang my first words. It was like a firecracker flashing from my mouth. Mom, dad, and Rarity all fell to the ground in tears, which made me start crying.

Yet, Sweetie Belle continued to sing, words weeping out of her mouth with the soft warbling of her throat.

I'd found my voice. It felt so wonderful, I never wanted to stop, she thought, and blushed slightly.

“I never sung for anypony else, though,” Sweetie Belle said as the memories filled her mind. “I guess I’m just kind of shy.”

Rarity appeared next to her and put a hoof on her shoulder. “Don’t you worry, Sweetie,” Rarity said. “Everypony knows that feeling.”

Sweetie Belle smiled. Visions of her friends, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, appeared in her mind. “But I sang for you two,” she said, a bit choked up from remembering that time in her life. “I felt like I could do anything when I was with the two of you.”

She reached a hoof forward and opened her eyes, two shadowy outlines of her friends appearing in front of her, just past her sister and her parents. She recalled the school talent show and chuckled. “Let’s sing together, again,” she said.

“That’s right, Sweeite. You have to be brave, now. You have to take that bravery and shine like never before!” Rarity said, stepping aside to let her sister through.

“Together, we can share it with everypony! This song of passion and perseverance!” Sweetie Belle shouted. Her chest shot out a bright pink light, and streams of magic swirled around her. The sound of a choir singing filled her ears. The shining emblem appeared on her chest once more, the shape of a bright pink heart, crystallized in stone and surrounded by cloudy, dark edging. It hung from a band around her neck, etched with soft curves and starbursts. She felt a power rising up inside of her. She’d felt it before, at the same time as she had found her lucidity, and again when Princess Luna had connected with them. She didn’t know where it had come from, but she knew it was her own.

“Come on, you two,” she said, smiling towards her friends. “Let’s come together! We haven’t lost yet! Yes, together we can do anything!”

The gem on her chest fired its magic towards her friends.

Scootaloo found herself looking down on herself, along with her mother and father, walking down a street on the outskirts of Ponyville. How did I get here? What happened to everypony? she thought.

“I think you’ll like it here in Ponyville,” a deep voice said. Scootaloo looked up at her father, who was walking along next to her. The sun shone down from above, casting his face in shadow. “You and your mother. Plus, you’ll be a lot more safe and happy.”

Scootaloo smiled at her dad, but inside she was not happy.

I knew this was the end. You knew I wouldn’t be happy… not that I was before. You said “you and your mother” because you knew you weren’t going to be here with us. You had to stay in Cloudsdale.

“How often will we get to see you?” Scootaloo asked, turning her eyes to the ground.

I knew what the answer would be. It was okay. Just another one of those facts of life I’d come to terms with, even back then. I knew you’d never be around, and mom would just go along with whatever you wanted. I never could do all the stuff the other kids up there could, but moving to an earth pony town and going to an earth pony school just felt like… giving up.

“Whenever I can,” her father responded. He lowered his head and looked at Scootaloo, who tried her hardest to not look back at him, but failed. Her dad’s big, goofy grin, just peeking out from the shadows cast upon his face, got the best of her and she smiled back uncontrollably. He scooped her up with a foreleg and plopped her down onto his shoulders. “And when I come visit, I’ll tell you all about the adventures the Cloudsdale Guards have been on, and then we’ll go on our own great adventures!”

Scootaloo hugged her dad’s neck.

What was so lovable about that smile of yours? How could it melt away my resolve to not like you just like that? You didn’t come back for months. Mom’s allergies had gotten worse, and she’d gotten really sick. It took that sort of emergency to drag you down from Cloudsdale. You went straight to her side as soon as you got to the hospital. I remember she woke up and saw you, and it was almost like she was going to get better just from you being there. Just like I’d imagined.

She gazed down on a scene of her mother, her father, and herself in a hospital room. Her mom looked up at her dad and smiled sweetly. She didn’t make it through that night, though. I guess even if you’d been around, it wouldn’t have made a difference. The doctors said it was the worst pneumonia they’d ever seen, along with her allergies… that it was incredible that she could even keep breathing on her own those last couple of days.

“Why can’t some unicorn just use magic to bring her back?” Scootaloo saw herself asking her father as they stood before her mom’s casket at her funeral.

Scootaloo’s dad shook his head, his face once again shrouded in shadows cast from above. “Magic doesn’t work like that, Scoot,” he said. “Everypony has to go away someday, it’s fate.”

Scootaloo sniffled, holding back her tears. “Well that’s stupid. They should make a magic that can change fate! It’s not fair!” she said. She looked up at her father, who had started to cry freely, despite his daughter not shedding a single tear.

He lifted his head upward and wiped his eyes. “Starry Skies… she’s up there, now, flying through those starry skies.”

Scootaloo dug her elbow into his foreleg. “Oh, come on, dad. You think mom wants to see you crying like that?”

He turned his head and looked down at his daughter. “I think she wouldn’t want to see you trying to act so tough,” he said, and then scooped Scootaloo up into a tight hug, falling back onto his haunches. Scootaloo dug her face into his chest and cried her eyes out.

I had to be tough, though. It’s all you two ever let me be. Mom was weak and you were gone more than half the time.

“And yet, you persevered,” he said aloud, turning his gaze up to her, his big grin once again just barely poking out from the shadows that seemed to completely cover him in all of these memories. “You never gave up on anything that came your way.”

I felt like I might, though, Scootaloo thought, the scene changing before her eyes. You stayed with me for that week until I could convince you I was okay. It’s funny… when you were gone, I’d always wished you’d come back, and then when you were there, I just wanted you to go away. Maybe I’ll never understand that.

“You’ll have to figure that one out on your own,” her father said. Scootaloo watched as he took off into the starry sky, flying northward.

I’m used to it. Even when you went back to Cloudsdale I wished you’d stayed. Sure, Nurse Redheart comes by every day to make sure I’m doing okay, or to make sure the money you sent made it. She even hangs around and talks to me sometimes. I always hope it’s you knocking on the door, though. Stupid to think it would be. She’s more of a parent than you ever were.

Scootaloo saw herself walking slowly through the streets of Ponyville, her gaze plastered to the ground. I was tired of everything… Ponyville, you, being sad, even my own life. But that night, something happened. Something I’ll never forget for as long as I live. I was just walking through the streets when all of the sudden Pinkie Pie shot around a corner, practically shedding her fur off she was in such a panic. I knew Pinkie Pie, heck everypony knew Pinkie Pie. She didn’t give you much of a choice. Scootaloo laughed, looking down at her past self being assaulted by a pink whirlwind of shouting.

“There’s a new pegasus in town and her name is Rainbow Dash and she’s friends with Fluttershy, you probably don’t know her, and there’s gonna be a party tonight in town square, right outside Sugarcube corner, and there will be cake and cookies and punch and music and dancing and a bonfire and marshmallow roasting and it’s gonna be the best thing ever and oh my gosh I can’t forget, it’s called the ‘Welcome to Ponyville Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy Party’!” Pinkie Pie shouted at the filly, then panting heavily to catch her breath.

“I’ll… be there?” Scootaloo said nervously.

Pinkie Pie grinned and gave the filly a noogie. “Okay, gotta run!” she shouted and took off towards her next unsuspecting victim.

It had gotten dark. I hadn’t even noticed, but I had arrived at the party, and just in time to see that amazing act that I’ll always remember. For the first time, I saw her.

Rainbow Dash hovered over a giant bonfire. Her rainbow-colored mane streamed through the air, being pushed around by the wind and the heat rising from the flames beneath her. The flickering light from the fire made her colors glow even more brightly.

I couldn’t look away. It took me a second to realize, but she was holding a door, like the kind that would normally be on the front of a house, in her hooves.

“Fluttershy! I want to show you with more than just words that I’m here for you! And it’s not just me! It’s every pony here! Today, while we were at your house, Pinkie Pie was spreading the word here. She was telling everypony about this party, about you, and about me,” said Rainbow Dash as she dropped the door onto the top of the pile.

When the door dropped onto the fire, sparks flew out. It was soon burning, just part of the blaze. I looked over at the yellow pegasus, Fluttershy, and saw her smiling, talking, and making friends. I didn’t even really know what was going on with the door being burned. I didn’t know what those two had been through, but that rainbow-maned pony inspired me, right then and there. I could see her burning determination shining brighter than that bonfire.

“I want to be just like her,” Scootaloo said quietly. “I never want to give up on anything or anypony.”

But I didn’t have any friends, yet.

Scootaloo saw herself pulling a scooter out of a junk pile behind a shop. The handlebars were cracked and it was missing a wheel.

I’d seen those things before. I figured if I couldn’t fly, it had to be the next best thing, Scootaloo thought, looking down at an ever-changing scene of her repairing the scooter bit by bit. It was eventually usable, but I was terrible at it. That’s how I met Sweetie Belle, outside of school anyway. She saw me trying to do jumps and tricks. She looked down at her past self talking with Sweetie Belle, who had her own ideas on how to improve.

You just latched right on and immediately started trying to help, Scootaloo thought and laughed. None of your hair-brained ideas ever worked, but you had passion to go along with my new-found determination. It felt like we were kindred spirits somehow… just like with Apple Bloom.

The image of her two friends persisted as the rest of her memory faded to black. She reached a hoof out towards them. “I’ll never give up, and I’ll never let you give up. No matter what happens, no matter how bad things get, the three of us are unstoppable. Let me share my determination with you, again!” Scootaloo shouted as her chest burst forth with orange magic, a pendant in the shape of a flame shooting up from a circle appearing there. It hung down from her neck on a band of dark metal with intricate engravings upon it.

“Wake up, Twilight!”

Twilight opened her eyes and felt them adjusting, but couldn’t see anything. She was surrounded by darkness and felt frozen to the bone. “What happened?” she asked. She weakly turned her head to her right and saw the dark outline of Pinkie Pie’s face looking at her. She could tell immediately that it was Pinkie Twi from the goggles she had strapped over her forehead. “Where are we?”

Pinkie Twi breathed in deeply and closed her eyes. “This is all that’s left. Just you and me,” she said. “Everything started fading away not long ago, and before I could figure out what was going on, it was just all blackness. Then you appeared, and when I saw your chest, I figured it out.”

“Figured what out?” Twilight asked, confused. She rose from the ground slowly, having to grip her chest with one of her forelegs as she pulled herself up. “My chest and back hurt, and I feel so cold.”

“You must have been hurt pretty bad, Twilight,” Pinkie replied. “In the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ dream, something must have gotten you pretty good. You’re… completely run through.” She pointed to Twilight’s chest.

Twilight looked down at her chest and moved her hoof down to the ground. She saw the wound and gasped, but didn’t feel she had the strength to react any more strongly than that. “So we’re inside my mind? This is terrible! What will happen to us now? What happened to the others?”

Pinkie Twi shook her head. “I don’t know. Your body is still alive in the cocoon, so I guess that’s why you’re back here in your own dream. Maybe this darkness is your dream ending as you… fade away.”

“Will I wake up in the cocoon again?” Twilight questioned. “Is that what happens? Or will I really die? This is really scary, Pinkie…” She felt like she could start panicking, or shaking, but didn’t even have the strength for that.

“Sorry, I just don’t know,” Pinkie said, and hugged Twilight as gently as she could.

Twilight shook her head. “No, no… I think I do know, though,” Twilight said, squinting her eyes. “I woke up before, I saw Chrysalis. She even talked to me and put me back to sleep. I never thought about it, but why did that happen? Did something happen before that?”

“You’re right, Twilight,” Pinkie said, sitting down and thinking, a hoof against her chin. “If you woke up before, something must have woken you up. Gosh, it makes you wonder how many times we might have tried to escape from these pods and failed before we finally got this far. For all we know, we may have gotten even further than this before.”

Twilight furrowed her brow, the cold and pain starting to make her dizzy. “No, I don’t think so. Those changelings didn’t seem like they’d met us before,” she said, half talking to just keep her mind from fading away. She concentrated as hard as she could, remembering the moment when Princess Celestia had freed her mind and made her remember the real events of the night of the wedding. “What happened back then? Was there even more after that?” her horn began to glow dimly. She shut her eyes and grimaced. With a sudden snap, she felt her memories burst outward. The feeling was similar to a magical seal being broken, and her body suddenly felt a surge of warmth.

With lightning-fast speed, her mind was filled with the events of her previous dream. She saw herself arriving at home and heading straight to her bedroom. She saw herself gazing out the window and looking up at the clear night sky.

“I can’t believe my brother is married…” she said to herself. “What a crazy day. We did good, Spike.” She looked down at the baby dragon, who had already curled up under his blanket.

“Yep,” he said drowsily.

Twilight smiled and returned her gaze to the night sky. “The stars sure are shining brightly tonight,” she noted. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a beautiful night sky. Princess Luna must be really happy.” A sound like a distant voice said something, barely audible. Twilight’s ear twitched and she turned her head back towards the stairs down to the library.

“Is somepony there?” she asked, getting up from her bed and trotting slowly down the stairs. The voice spoke again, still very quiet, but Twilight could swear she heard it say her name. She went out her bedroom door and down the stairs to the main floor of the library.

“Okay, who’s there?” she asked nervously, looking around the room. The whole place was lit up from the bright moonlight shining in through the windows. Twilight felt the tickling of magic within her mind. “What is this strange feeling? If this is a joke, you can come out now...”

“Wake up, Twilight Sparkle!” the voice came, booming and loud now. A bright flash of purple magic ruptured through one of the library walls, and Princess Luna came crashing through, her body sizzling with energy.

“Princess Luna!” Twilight said, taking a step back in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“There’s no time to explain, Twilight Sparkle. We do not have the luxury of a long explanation,” the princess said, moving towards Twilight with haste. “Allow me to magically link our minds, and all shall be revealed.”

“Stay back!” Twilight said, her horn lighting up with magic. “How do I know you’re really Princess Luna? How do I know you’re not some changeling come seeking revenge?”

A flash of red magic crackled and shot out from where Luna had entered. The princess twisted her head around, her eyes going wide. “She followed me!” she shouted. “There is absolutely no time, Twilight Sparkle! We must act now!” The princess shot a beam of magic straight at Twilight’s horn. The memories of the real events of the wedding flashed in Twilight’s mind. Her eyes glowed, and fire began to erupt all around her, engulfing her in white hot flame.

“Fight it, Twilight Sparkle! You must not let it consume you! I will help you resist, but in the end it must be you who takes control of it!” Luna shouted, the magic from her horn intensifying.

“Take control of what?!” Twilight yelled back.

The magical rift, now sizzling with red and purple magic, shot forth a shadowy figure bearing the shape of an alicorn. It stood up, its body engulfed in swirling shadows and magic. Its horn glowed red, yet its wings seemed to spread darkness across the room.

Spike burst through the doorway from Twilight’s bedroom and stared down at what was happening. “What’s going on?!” he asked, his eyes suddenly glowing bright green.

“Be gone!” the shadowy alicorn shouted, its voice deep and distorted. A beam of dark red magic fired from its horn right at Spike. The baby dragon screamed on impact for a brief second, but then exploded into particles of red magic and crystalline shards.

“Spike! No!” Twilight screamed. Her body felt as if it were about to explode and her mind felt as if it were on fire.

Princess Luna growled back at the shadow. “Stay away, demon!” she yelled with a snarl.

“You’ve failed, princess!” the shadow’s voice blared, echoing off the walls of the library. “The Elements of Harmony shall never rise again!” The shadow leapt into the air and dove straight at Luna, tackling her. The two of them rolled across the ground, and the beam of magic between Luna and Twilight’s horns vanished. Twilight fell backwards. Her eyes closed and the ground began to rumble.

Luna glared up at the shadowy figure, streams of darkness falling toward her and wrapping around her. “Even without the Elements of Harmony, you shall never get past me!”

The shadow laughed. “A thousand years hasn’t done anything to cure your naïveté!” it said. “Those pathetic changelings have no idea what they’ve awoken! Admit it, you need me now more than ever!”

“Never!” Luna shouted defiantly as the shadows continued to wrap around her.

The shadow laughed again. “You don’t have a choice!” it shouted.

A stream of green magic suddenly burst through the window, winding itself around Twilight and the two shadow-wrapped ponies.

“What?” the shadowy alicorn screamed, its eyes flashing white. “No! They can’t have!”

Luna sneered up at the shadowy figure, a grin on her face. “I’ve let them,” she said, winded. “I told you… you’d have to get past me first!”

“You fool!” the shadow screamed deafeningly. “Now we’re both imprisoned!”

“If that is what it takes, then it must be so!” Luna said, the green magic now having completely bound the both of them up. “Sister, Twilight, I pray you both awaken soon! You are our last hopes!”

The green magic, along with Luna and the shadowy alicorn, vanished. The dream world shattered into darkness.

Darkness.

Darkness was all Twilight Sparkle could see-- A green-tinted darkness.

Twilight opened her eyes and looked at Pinkie Twi. “Princess Luna…” Twilight said weakly. “That shadowy alicorn, and that dark red magic. I’ve seen it and felt it before.”

Pinkie Twi nodded her head. “I saw it all, too. I’m part of you, after all,” she said. “That dark magic-- I know it all too well. It’s what took ahold of Pinkie Shy, and it’s what Pinkie… Pinkie… Pinkie Pie in the Crusaders’ dream saw through the holes in the world.”

“It’s been there with us the whole time, trying to stop us any way it can,” Twilight said. “It’s evil, and now I know it’s not the changelings. It’s something else. Princess Luna knew what it was.”

Pinkie Twi nodded her head. “She called it a demon,” she said, thinking back. “It said that Luna needed it. What did it mean by that?”

Twilight’s eyes went wide as she began to put the pieces together. “Who would benefit from both the changelings failing and the Elements of Harmony not being able to rise again?” she asked.

“Discord?” Pinkie Twi pondered.

“No,” Twilight replied. “Discord needs the Elements if he ever wants to be free again. That’s why he’s helping us. Look, it sounds crazy, and I can’t explain how… maybe it has something to do with the way we’re all trapped inside our minds, but I think it was—“

“Twilight!” a voice called out, interrupting.

Twilight lifted her gaze upward, and was blinded by a bright light shining into her eyes.

The three beams of light shot out by the Crusaders collided and flashed, illuminating each others’ faces. The threads of magic held steady, melding together.

“Those three beams of light,” Sweetie Belle said, looking back and forth between Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. “They were from us.”

“Our dreams, linked together,” Apple Bloom said.

“That’s awesome!” Scootaloo cheered. “Nothing can stop us!”

Sweetie Belle shook her head. “We’re not done yet, though,” she said, turning her gaze downward. “We have to fix everything that happened. Our other friends need us more than ever.”

“But What do we do?” Apple Bloom asked. “Our dream kinda fell apart.”

“Whatever we want!” Scootaloo said loudly. “We’re still in our dream! It’s not over yet!”

Apple Bloom put a hoof against her chin. “Well, when I wished Applejack and Big Mac were there earlier, they just appeared. Can we do that again?”

“It’s worth a try,” Sweetie Belle replied. “We need to save Twilight and do something about those changelings.” A flash of light shot down in the middle of the three fillies as Sweetie Belle spoke, and Twilight’s body appeared, still and unmoving, the wound in her chest still open and bloody.

Scootaloo cringed. “Oh no… I didn’t know it was that bad,” she said.

“Sweetie Belle wasn’t able to heal her like she did before,” Apple Bloom said, looking to her unicorn friend. “Do you think you can do it now? Maybe if we all try?”

Sweetie Belle closed her eyes. “I think… I think I can do it now. Something feels different,” she said. The gem hanging from her neck glowed brightly, and her horn lit up. Waves of energy from the pendant flashed down towards Twilight “I can feel it. It’s working. This new power… it’s different than the lucidity we used before. Just focus and think about Twilight.”

The other two closed their eyes and concentrated on their pendants, filling their minds with thoughts of Twilight.

“Please work,” Sweetie Belle whispered.

“Come on, Twilight!” Scootaloo said, her eyes tightly shut.

The other ponies from their dream appeared and gathered in a circle around Twilight as well. Applejack, Big Macintosh, Rarity, and Sweetie Belle’s parents all all closed their eyes and didn’t speak; only the sound of magical humming filled the air.

After a minute, all three of the gems were radiating magic down at Twilight, and her wounds began to close. Her breathing returned, and then sped up, increasing as she gasped for breath. Suddenly, there was a bright flash that shot outward from Twilight’s horn.

Twilight’s eyes quickly opened, her head flung upward, and she shouted.

“Nightmare Moon!” Twilight shouted.

Everypony opened their eyes as well. Twilight blinked and looked around, the flash of light having dissipated. Standing a couple of feet away from them was a pink alicorn with a pair of goggles strapped over her head. Twilight groggily looked back and forth between the Crusaders and Pinkie Twi.

“Am I still dreaming?” she asked. She looked down at her chest and pressed a front hoof against it, finding that her seemingly fatal wound had vanished.

Pinkie Twi laughed. “You must still be dreaming somewhere, because I’m still here,” she said, looking around although there wasn’t much to see but darkness. “It’s definitely not the dream world I’m used to. How do ya figure I ended up here?”

“You’re the Pinkie from Twilight’s dream?” Scootaloo asked.

“She sure is,” Twilight said, pushing herself to her hooves. “You girls must have healed me somehow. Did you bring her here as well?”

Apple Bloom tapped her hoof against the gem over her chest. “It must have been these new powers we got. Dunno where they came from, but I guess they’re pretty strong!” She grinned confidently and looked at the other two Crusaders, who nodded in agreement.

“Strong, indeed,” Princess Celestia’s voice came from the side. She and Pinkie Pie had appeared, and walked towards the group of ponies. Discord and Fluttershy were flying through the air above her. Celestia and Discord looked intensely towards the pendants around the Crusaders' necks. “They aren’t from your dream. They’re external… but from where?”

Discord cringed. “They certainly have a familiar feeling to them. Reminds me of the Elements of Harmony,” he said, sticking his tongue out and pointing a finger towards the back of his throat.

“I heard you shout, Twilight. You said ‘Nightmare Moon’ when you woke up. What happened in your dream?” Celestia asked, looking at Twilight now.

Twilight shook her head. “I know it sounds crazy, but I remembered my original dream,” Twilight said. “Princess Luna was there, and she was attacked… by Nightmare Moon.”

Celestia frowned. “The dark magic we’ve been seeing and feeling, and the warning that Princess Luna gave me via these three fillies… it has all come together now,” she said. “I can’t explain it yet, but I have had suspicions for a while now. Delving deep back into memories from my past, I know I’ve certainly felt that dark magic before. It’s faint this time, but there is no doubt. Nightmare Moon has somehow returned.”

“But Princess Luna changed,” Twilight said. “We used the Elements on Nightmare Moon! We brought Luna back! She accepted our friendship! How could she have become Nightmare Moon again?”

Scootaloo’s ear twitched and she turned the other direction. Dark energy began to swirl in front of her. She lowered her eyebrows. “We’re not done yet, everypony,” she said seriously. “Princess, Twilight, I think I know who might have some answers for you.”

Rainbow Dash faded in where the dark energy was floating, like a photo developing. She spotted the group of ponies before her and frowned. Scootaloo walked towards her, the gem around her neck aglow. The dark shadow erupted out from Rainbow Dash, filling the air with a deafening screech.

Author's Note

To be concluded in chapter ten!

I decided to split up the end of this book into two chapters, even though that means chapter ten will be a shortish chapter. It feels better this way.

I hope my flashbacks for our little fillies doesn't disappoint you. I rewrote them about 4 times, although the basic premise of each flashback remains the same.

So, Apple Bloom's flashback feels obvious to me, but I enjoyed writing it. Sweetie Belle's is actually based on something really silly - Her squeaky voice! And as for Scoot, well, the original version of the flashback was much longer. It could have been a chapter on its own. It had a lot more about her life in Cloudsdale, and a lot more about her parents, especially her father. I had to trim it down and get it more focused, though. It made no sense to have such a huge chunk of her life flash before her eyes, as interesting as it was to write. We'll delve more into it later on, for sure, and we'll learn more about her father. For now, I've masked his face in shadow, kept him secret form the reader.

The scene with Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and the bonfire is taken from my fanfic "Wonderbolts... Yeah, Right." It's not the first time I've used something from that story, either. It's just been slightly modified to mix with this story better.

For those of you in the USA, Happy Thanksgiving!

Horizons Ch 10 - To Distant Horizons

Book Three: Horizons

Chapter Ten - To Distant Horizons

The pulsating shadow hung in the air above Rainbow Dash, its deafening screeches reverberating across the void. Rainbow’s eyes were glowing bright red, and she put one hoof forward, leaning towards Scootaloo, who was approaching her steadily.

“I know you’re still in there, Rainbow Dash. I know you’re confused and scared,” Scootaloo said as she walked. “It’s my fault, and now I know why.”

“That darkness belongs to Nightmare Moon,” Celestia said, eyeing the shadow. “It can thrive anywhere there’s doubt, fear, anger… any sort of negative emotion is where it can take hold.”

“Your journeys all end here!” the shadow shouted, and a wave of black magic erupted out from it, firing towards the group of ponies. The pendants around the Crusaders’ necks glowed brightly in reaction, and the dark magic crashed against an invisible shield, spraying away and dissipating like a wave hitting a stone wall.

Scootaloo nodded her head. “Those feelings were inside of me. They got to you easily, and it’s all my fault. I know you’re in there somewhere, too, dad,” she said. A burst of magic pulsed out from her pendant, washing over Rainbow Dash and causing the dark energy to fade a little bit.

Rainbow Dash blinked her eyes, and they became wide and round. She stared down at the filly. “What… do you mean?” she managed to ask.

Scootaloo frowned. “When my friends got their cutie marks, I thought I was going to be alone again,” she said, holding back tears, but her voice wavering. “So I guess I dreamed that you and I were friends, but I wanted you to be happy. I know you want to be a Wonderbolt, so I must have just made it happen… but you went back to Cloudsdale. You left, and even when Cloudsdale came here and brought you back, you were never around still. Just like with my dad… it made me think of him a lot… and somehow, the two of you combined in my head.”

Twilight reached a hoof forward. She could feel so much sadness, but also hope, all pouring out from those magical pendants. “Scootaloo…” she said quietly.

Scootaloo was now standing right in front of Rainbow Dash, the dark magic firing up out of her in flame-like waves. She looked up at Rainbow Dash’s face and was greeted by a big, goofy grin that she knew all too well.

“Kiddo… that’s just…” her father’s voice said, coming out from Rainbow Dash’s lips. “You’re a weird kid.”

Scootaloo swiped her hoof against Rainbow Dash’s knee. “Shut up!” she said, but she was smiling.

Rainbow Dash laughed. “Sorry!” Scootaloo’s father’s voice said.

“I miss you,” Scootaloo said quietly, her smile disappearing.

“Sentimental nonsense!” the shadow screeched down at Rainbow Dash, its form returning to the shape of Nightmare Moon. “She’s made you a monster! A freak with some other pony trapped in your mind!” Rainbow Dash’s eyes began to glow once again. She fell back to her haunches and gripped the sides of her head.

“Don’t listen to her, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo shouted.

Rainbow Dash shook her head back and forth and screamed, and the dark magic surged outward, completely enveloping Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo.

“Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom shouted.

“We have to help!” Sweetie Belle yelled, and took off running towards the large, pulsating cloud of darkness. Apple Bloom joined her, ignoring Applejack’s attempt to stop her.

“Sweetie!” Rarity shouted, then turnined to look at Princess Celestia, who had placed a hoof on her shoulder.

The princess shook her head. “This is something those three have to do. We are powerless to help.”

Rarity bit her lower lip and stared ahead as her sister pushed into the darkness and out of sight. “Please, come back safely, Sweetie,” she said quietly. Applejack put a foreleg over Rarity’s shoulder as well and nodded her head, not saying anything.

“They have to come back safely,” Twilight said.

“Yes,” Celestia responded. “Or else our journey may really be at an end.”

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle burst through the wall of dark magic and immediately found themselves in the main hall of a castle. They looked around nervously. The walls of the castle were in poor shape, some having large holes. The ceiling was broken, pieces of it lying as rubble on the ground. Ahead of them, a large staircase led up to a huge wooden set of doors.

“Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom called out, her voice echoing off the empty walls. There was no response. “Where are we?” she asked, turning her head to Sweetie Belle.

“I don’t know, but it feels different,” Sweetie replied. “We have to find Scootaloo and get out of here. I don’t like this place, it’s spooky.”

Apple Bloom nodded in agreement. She closed her eyes and concentrated, thinking of Scootaloo. “I wish Scootaloo was here,” she said calmly. Nothing happened. “Great. That lucy-whatever power we had before isn’t working now.”

“You are no longer in your dream! You have no power here!” A loud voice boomed across the hall. “This is the end! You three shall be the catalysts of Celestia’s failure!”

“If we’re not in our dream, then where are we?” Apple Bloom asked.

Sweetie Belle shook her head. “Don’t listen to her,” she said. “Come on, we have to find Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash.”

The two fillies galloped forward, heading up the stairs. They came upon the large wooden double-doors and pushed as hard as they could against one of them. It slowly creaked open until there was enough room for them to pass through. On the other side, they found themselves in a long hallway, lined with statues and doors. Sweetie Belle walked up to the first statue and looked up at it. It was a statue of Rarity, her face frozen in a look of terror.

“Rarity,” Sweetie Belle said, and touched her hoof to the statue. It crumbled into a pile of loose stone and dust. Sweetie Belle jumped back in surprise, and a laugh filled the hallway.

“Everypony you love will fall into ruin! You will be all alone!” the voice, clearly belonging to Nightmare Moon, shouted.

“Shut up, you big bully!” Apple Bloom shouted back. “We’re gonna save our friends, and there’s nothin’ you can do about it!”

“Yeah!” Sweetie Belle chimed in loudly. “You don’t scare us!”

Nightmare Moon’s laughter once again filled the hallway. “You think so?” she asked. The corridor ahead of them began to twist and spin upon itself. Statues of Applejack, Big Macintosh, Twilight, and Fluttershy came to life ahead of them and began to stomp down the hall in their direction.

“Okay, maybe I’m a little bit scared,” Sweetie Belle whispered quietly to Apple Bloom. The statues continued their advance, and the two fillies huddled up together, slowly backing away.

Apple Bloom looked over her shoulder and saw that the door they’d come in from had vanished, and had been replaced by a metal walkway that extended over what appeared to be a pit of molten liquid. The heat from it washed over the two of them, and the statues began to advance even faster.

“This isn’t real,” Apple Bloom said nervously as they backed onto the walkway, their hooves clanging on the metallic structure.

“It seems real enough!” Sweetie Belle shouted nervously. “What do we do?”

The statue of Applejack stepped forward onto the walkway and stared down at the two fillies. “You wake up, little sis,” the statue said, its voice rather gravelly. “Whether ya want to or not.”

Apple Bloom stared up at the statue of her sister and frowned. “No!” she shouted, and the pendant on her chest flashed brightly, pushing the stone pony backwards.

Sweetie Belle’s jaw dropped. “How’d you do that?” she asked, then looked down at her own pendant, which had also begun to glow brightly.

“The power from our dream is cut off, but Princess Celestia said it!” Apple Bloom shouted and rose to her hooves. “These pendants, whatever this other power is, wasn’t from our dream. The pendants are something else! They work here!”

Sweetie Belle leapt to her hooves. “Of course!” she said excitedly, and grinned. “Let’s go, Apple Bloom! Let’s go save Scoot!”

The pendants pulsed outward with magic, and the statues froze in place, small amounts of dark magic being pushed out of them and dissolving in the air. The two fillies charged forward, their pendants shining brightly. With each pulse of magic, the colors of the hallway brightened and the hall itself straightened back out.

“You’ll still never find her!” Nightmare Moon’s voice shot through the air. “This hallway is endless! There’s a million different rooms! You’ll spend an eternity in here searching for her!”

Apple Bloom laughed. “Wrong!” she yelled. “The three of us are connected! Even outside of our dream, the bond between us is unbreakable!” A beam of light fired out from her chest. Sweetie Belle’s chest erupted in light as well, and the two beams converged until they finally met at a point ahead of them.

Laughter filled the hall. “Useless!” Nightmare Moon’s voice shouted. “Your precious link of friendship has led you to nothing!”

Sweetie Belle’s horn glowed. “I don’t think so,” she said, straining as she tried to focus her magic. Apple Bloom stared at Sweetie Belle and smiled widely.

“Sweetie Belle!” Apple Bloom shouted. “Yer usin’ magic! Like, normal magic!”

Sweetie Belle sweated and continued to strain until eventually her horn was aglow with a simple light spell. It sparked and sputtered, but accomplished what she’d hoped. The light reflected off the outline of a small pegasus in front of them.

“Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom shouted. She reached her hoof out and swiped it against the outline of Scootaloo’s foreleg and pulled. Scootaloo appeared in front of them, practically falling forward and bumping her head against Apple Bloom.

“What happened? Where am I?” the orange pegasus asked, catching her breath. “Where’s Rainbow Dash?”

Sweetie Belle shook her head, the glow from her horn fading out. “We don’t know, really. Nightmare Moon trapped us in this strange castle, and there were creepy statues of our friends, and then we finally found you… but now I don’t know what we have to do next,” she explained.

Scootaloo looked around the hallway, with its endless doors and rows of statues. “We have to find Rainbow Dash and then get out of here,” she said.

Apple Bloom tapped the pendant on her chest. “We used these to find you, but I don’t know how we’re gonna find Rainbow Dash. She could be anywhere, and the power we had in our dream doesn’t work in here,’ she said.

Scootaloo shrugged and slid her hoof downward like she’d done in their dream world. The fabric of reality unzipped in front of her just like it had before. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom stared at her, their mouths gaped open.

“How did you…?” Sweetie Belle started to ask.

“What? Can’t you?” Scootaloo asked, puzzled. The two others shook their heads.

“Well, let’s not waste time wonderin’ how, let’s just find Rainbow Dash and get outta here,” Apple Bloom said, patting Scootaloo on the back.

A flash of dark energy shot through the tear that Scootaloo had just opened and hit her, pushing her to the ground. Rainbow Dash stood over her, her eyes glowing red, her body surrounded by an aura of dark magic, and a long, black horn protruding from her forehead. She bared her teeth, now jagged like spikes, down at Scootaloo and hissed.

“Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom shouted together.

“You foals think you can challenge me? You think you can actually win inside this nightmare?” Rainbow Dash screeched down at Scootaloo. “Nightmares are my domain! Now I’m going to put an end to you!”

Scootaloo glared up at Rainbow Dash and a flash of energy shot out from her forehead. The possessed pegasus’ body flew up and off of her, slamming into the far wall. Scootaloo jumped to her hooves and charged forward. “You let Rainbow Dash go right now!” she shouted, the pendant on her chest bursting into flame as she spoke.

“Lucidity! We must be in your part of the dream world. However, it won’t make a difference!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “I am Nightmare Moon, a master dreamwalker! Whatever you may have learned in the past few hours can not compete with my power!” She flipped her hoof into the air and raised all three of the fillies into the air and began to levitate them down the hallway towards the pit of lava.

Scootaloo struggled, flailing her hooves in the air. “I can’t shake free!” she screamed. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom looked back towards the pit of bubbling red liquid, their bodies shaking with fear.

“I must admit, it was quite unexpected!” Nightmare Moon said as she marched along behind the floating ponies. “The amount of power in your dream was more than I’ve ever encountered. Is it because there’s three of you? Or because you have those accursed pendants? Not important! What matters is that here, I was able to gain more power than anywhere but my own dream! A fantastic catalyst! I couldn’t have even planned it so perfectly!”

The three fillies came to a stop in the air above the boiling pit. Nightmare Moon stared up at them and laughed. “I couldn’t bring much power with me, you see. I needed to feed upon the energy of others to gain strength. At this level, given just a bit more time, that fraud of a queen won’t be able to stand against me! I’ll burn her mind from the inside out!” Nightmare Moon shouted. “It’s a pity that some of my subjects have to die in order to save the kingdom I so rightfully deserve! Alas, your fates are sealed!” Nightmare Moon said. “Any last words?”

“You want to save Equestria, too?” Sweetie Belle asked, one eyebrow cocked. Her pendant began to glow, its magic pulsing outward faintly.

Nightmare Moon blinked up at the filly. “Of course! Is that not obvious?” She said, puzzled. “It is mine by right!”

“Shouldn’t there be another way, though?” Apple Bloom asked. “Why would you have to defeat anyone but the changelings?” her pendant shone faintly, it’s magic joining with Sweetie Belle’s.

Nightmare Moon chuckled. “You three don’t understand anything,” she said. “Once free, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony will come after me! I can not allow anyone to stand against me!”

Scootaloo’s pendant began to glow as well. She looked down at it, and then up at at Nightmare Moon. The dark energy around her had begun to fade, and Rainbow Dash’s colors were returning to their former brightness.

“We’ll never let you win!” Scootaloo shouted. The three fillies began to float forward, back towards safe ground. They landed safely, and Nightmare Moon began to back away, magic pulsing up through her horn as she tried to regain control over their levitation. “If our dream is what gave you that power, then we’ll take it back!”

Nightmare Moon sneered at Scootaloo. “I knew you’d be trouble,” she said. “The other two were cut off, but we’re inside your part of the dream,” she said. The dark energy flared up from all around her and concentrated at the top of her horn. “Be gone!” A beam of magic, more focused and powerful than any of her previous wider attacks, fired from her horn and blasted Scootaloo backward towards the lava pit. She flew over the edge and plummeted down out of sight.

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom turned and screamed as their friend was blasted back.

“Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom shouted and leapt towards the ledge.

“No!” Sweetie Belle screamed.

The two fillies slid to a stop and peered down into the pit just in time to see a burst of fire shoot upward along with a splash of the molten liquid.

“No…” Sweetie Belle said, tears running down her face.

“She can’t…” Apple Bloom said, and then stamped her hoof against the ground and turned to face Nightmare Moon. “You!” She gritted her teeth, her face turning red with anger.

“You killed her!” Sweetie Belle shouted, turning towards Nightmare Moon, her horn blazing with magic.

The ground began to shake violently and the walls began to crack and crumble. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle stared at Nightmare Moon, their minds hot with rage. Tears streamed down their cheeks and an aura of dark energy began to swirl around them. The brightly colored pendants around their necks began to dim to dull hues.

On the outside, the others stood and watched the ball of swirling dark magic, waiting for any sign of the Crusaders. Suddenly, the shadowy orb began to pulse outward violently. Everypony began to back away, never taking their eyes off it.

“It’s getting bigger!” Fluttershy said frantically. “What do you think happened in there?”

Celestia grimaced and shook her head. “I don’t know, but it can not be good,” she said.

Pinkie Twi flipped her goggles down over her eyes and squinted. “There’s some sort of stream of energy coming out of the field,” she said, tilting her head to the side as she followed the magical trail. Her head stopped turning as her gaze stopped at Applejack and Rarity, who were standing near one another. Her mouth opened slightly as she let out a slight gasp.

Applejack pointed a hoof at Pinkie Twi. “What was that all about? Whaddya mean some sort of stream of energy?” she asked.

Pinkie Twi shook her head. “It’s nothing,” she responded nervously, turning her eyes back to the ball of dark magic. “Look out, it’s gonna expand again!”

The orb pulsed outward again, having now more than tripled in size.

“Can’t we do something?” Rarity asked, looking at Princess Celestia.

Twilight nodded her head. “Yes, there must be something we can do!”

The princess sighed. “I just don’t know,” she said, a sound of shame in her voice. “This is far beyond my level of knowledge in dream magic.”

Discord chuckled. “What a surprise!” he said. He snapped his fingers and a cone-shaped hat appeared on Celestia’s head.

The princess quickly knocked the cap off of her head and glared up at Discord. “As far as Nightmare Moon’s dark energy goes, I can at least try and contain it,” she said, looking back down at Twilight, “but you all must help me.”

Twilight smiled up at the princess and her horn began to glow. “If that magic is from darkness, let’s try and give it a little light!” she said. Celestia nodded and began to cast a light spell from her horn as well. Pinkie Twi, Rarity, and Rarity’s parents stepped forward as well.

“We shall give it our all!” said Rarity. “Sweetie Belle, please be safe!” Her horn began to glow, and she closed her eyes.

Rarity’s father threw his hat off his head, revealing his horn. “Our little Sweetie and her friends are in there. Never was the best at magic, but I won’t just stand idly if there’s a chance!” Rarity’s mother smiled up at him and nodded, her horn beginning to glow as well.

The void that they had all been standing in began to light up, turning from a dim gray to lighter shades. The combined light from their horns hit the shadowy ball, and its advance ceased.

“I think it’s startin’ to work, y’all! Keep it up!” Applejack yelled, pulling her hat off her head and waving it in the air.

Come on, girls! Twilight thought, staring into the spinning shadows. I don’t know… how long we can keep this up!

Back inside the shadows, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom stood, staring at Rainbow Dash, who was possessed by Nightmare Moon. The ground shook and the walls continued to crumble all around them. Pieces of the ceiling fell and hit the floor, shattering to small pieces. Nightmare Moon stared ahead blankly, her eyes wide, and the dark magic around her flickering like flames.

“You…!” Apple Bloom shouted again from behind her clenched teeth.

The two Crusaders charged towards Nightmare Moon as fast as their hooves could take them. Sweetie Belle’s horn fired sparks out with each hoofstomp. She clenched her eyes shut and let loose with a magic beam from her horn. The blast never made contact with its target.

“No!” Nightmare Moon screamed, her voice cracking from its volume. A blast of magic shot outward from her body, knocking the charging crusaders back and sliding along the ground, almost back to the ledge up against the lava pit again.

“You monster!” Nightmare Moon bellowed, her voice now distorting. She fell to the ground, throwing her hooves against the sides of her head. “I won’t let you!” She rolled onto her side, still clutching her head and screaming.

“What’s happening?” Sweetie Belle asked, taken aback by the sudden change in behavior from Nightmare Moon. She and Apple Bloom began to push themselves back up to their hooves.

Nightmare Moon stretched a foreleg out towards the two fillies and righted herself upon the ground. A spark flashed in her eyes and she slammed her hoof down against the ground. A massive crack shot along the floor towards the ledge above the pit of lava. The entire castle split along the crack, including the lava, spreading apart. What was left of the walls and ceiling shot outward explosively.

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom stepped away from the crack and stared down towards the lava. There, floating between the two suspended fields of molten liquid, was Scootaloo’s body, encased in light. She floated along the crack and upward, stopping in the air right in front of Nightmare Moon.

The pegasus filly opened her eyes and looked down at the shadowy pony. The face that looked back at her belonged to Rainbow Dash, but the eyes had a certain slant to them, and a big, familiar grin was plastered on her face.

Dad… Scootaloo thought, and sighed, but smiled back.

“Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom shouted, and ran towards her.

“Now’s our chance,” Scootaloo’s dad’s voice said. Rainbow Dash’s hoof pointed upward, through the shattered ceiling and into the dark sky. “Your friends are calling out for you.”

Scootaloo looked up. A glowing circle appeared in the sky and shone a beam of white light down onto them. Scootaloo blinked and then turned her head back down. She nodded, and the pendant around her neck began to glow.

“Can you hear them?” Scootaloo asked as she landed gently on the ground. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had arrived, and stood by her side. They both nodded their heads.

“I hear my sister, and my parents,” Sweetie Belle said, the color returning to her pendant.

“I hear Applejack and Big Mac! And Twilight!” Apple Bloom said with a smile, her pendant also brightening back up.

“Yes,” Scootaloo said. “Plus Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and even Discord. They’re all calling to us. Calling to you, too, Rainbow Dash… Dad…”

The three pendants pulsed out colorful magic, filling the air with sparkling glitter and streams of energy. The shadows around Rainbow Dash began to swirl violently. With each pulse from the pendants, the dark magic was pushed further and further out from the pony. The horn on her head vanished, and Nightmare Moon’s body was ripped out from her. The dark alicorn’s form flew back, landing on the ground and rolling, coming to a stop as it slammed into a pile of rubble.

Rainbow Dash slowly pushed herself up to her hooves and shook her head back and forth. “What happened?” she asked with confusion. She opened her eyes and saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders standing in front of her. She jumped back with a beat of her wings and glared at Scootaloo. “What did you do? Where are we?”

Scootaloo grinned and walked towards Rainbow Dash, who stood her ground. The filly wrapped her forelegs around one of Rainbow Dash’s and squeezed. “A nightmare, and I hope it’s just about over,” she said. Orange light shot out from the two of them, and the castle vanished, leaving them standing in the middle of the dark void once again.

A bright light was shining from behind, and Scootaloo turned her head. She saw everypony else standing and staring at them, all unicorns with their horns glowing brightly. Discord clapped his hands together slowly.

“Bravo! Excellent job, everypony!” he said. With a flash, confetti rained down from above, along with a whizzing whistling sound.

Pinkie Twi grinned up at Discord. “Have I ever told you that I just love your style?” she said, winking from behind her goggles. Discord simply smirked.

Everyone approached the Crusaders and Rainbow Dash.

“We were so worried!” Rarity said, wrapping her little sister up in a hug while her parents looked on, smiling. Applejack and Big Macintosh had done the same with Apple Bloom.

Scootaloo looked up at Rainbow Dash. “I’m sorry, again… about everything,” she said. “I just let my emotions get the best of me. But now that dark magic is gone, we pushed it right out of you.”

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Don’t think that I’ve forgiven you or anything,” she said. “But there’s some voice deep down inside of me telling me… telling me that I should give you another chance. So we’ll see. Maybe.”

Scootaloo smiled. “That’s all I can ask for. I really want to give him another chance, too,” she said quietly. “Even though I’ve given him so many, already.”

The outlined form of a pegasus stallion stepped sideways out of Rainbow Dash’s body. The outline quickly solidified into a tall, gray-colored pegasus. Cloudsdale armor formed around his body, and a helmet slapped down over his head.

“You sure? You might get hurt again,” he said from behind the helmet’s faceplate.

Scootaloo shrugged. “Wouldn’t be the first time,” she said. “Shouldn’t you be going back to Cloudsdale? They might need you.”

A chuckle came from under the helmet, and a big, armored foreleg pulled Scootaloo into a hug. “You need me, too, so make sure you really tell the real me when you see him again,” he whispered.

Scootaloo nodded her head. The armored pegasus spread out his massive gray wings and flapped them once, launching himself into the air with ease despite the heavy armor he was wearing. He soared up into the sky, vanishing from sight.

“Oh my, who was that?” Rarity asked, watching the armored stallion disappear. “I do love a stallion in uniform.” She batted her eyes.

Applejack sighed. “It’s armor, not a uniform,” she said. “You couldn’t even see his face.”

“Same difference!” Rarity protested. “Did you see his physique? One hardly needs to see the face!”

Applejack groaned.

“Don’t get too comfortable, ladies,” Discord said, pointing behind Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. Streams of shadow were pulsing up into the air, and in the distance, Nightmare Moon’s body lie unconscious.

“You’re right, we can’t let our guard down!” Pinkie Twi said seriously. “There’s still one big problem we have to figure out!”

“Right you are,” Celestia said, advancing towards the passed out alicorn carefully. “We have to figure out what to do about her, as well as those changelings.”

“Yes, that’s true, but there’s an even bigger problem. One that’s been bothering me for a long time now,” Pinkie Twi said, turning towards Pinkie Pie. “One that will affect us into the distant future.”

Celestia turned her head and stared at the pink pony, who was now placing a hoof to her ear and nodding her head, deep in thought. “Is there something happening? What are you hearing through your Pinkie Network?” she asked.

“Don’t panic, I think we might just have it figured out,” she said. “The crisis can be solved, surely.”

Everyone stared at Pinkie intensely. Pinkie Twi finally took the hoof away from her ear and slid the goggles up from her eyes and onto her forehead. She pointed at Pinkie Pie and narrowed her eyes.

“You’re from the dream of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, so your name has to be Cutie Pie!” she shouted, her voice seeming to echo through the empty space. “Crisis averted!”

Silence washed over everypony.

A vein bulged out from Twilight’s forehead. “You’re still on that!?” she shouted, and then fell over sideways.

Celestia laughed and continued to walk forward, stopping several feet from Nightmare Moon’s unconscious body. “Dear sister, what’s done this to you again?” she asked.

Nightmare Moon opened one slitted eye and stared up at Princess Celestia. “Again?” she asked. “Is being foolishly blind a prerequisite to being a princess in Equestria? The both of you are so clueless.” The dark alicorn rose to her hooves, and Celestia stepped back another couple of feet. Their horns both glowed with magic, ready to strike at any moment.

“I didn’t want to fight you back then, and I don’t want to now,” Celestia said. “Luna, tell me what is wrong, we can work together to make it right!”

Nightmare Moon smirked and shook her head. “You still don’t get it,” she said. “There is no Luna! It’s just me, so if you think you’re going to talk your way out of this, you’re mistaken!” A flash of magic fired from her horn, but quickly splashed against an invisible forcefield. The blast revealed a sparkling, magical sphere wrapped around her. She gasped, turned her head, and saw where the field was coming from.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders stood to her side, their pendants all glowing brightly. They all stared back at her, looks of determination on their faces.

“We won’t let there be any more fightin’ here. It’s over!” Apple Bloom said, and the other two chimed in their approval with a firm “Mmm-hmm!”

Nightmare Moon growled down at the fillies. “If you hadn’t had those, this would be a very different situation,” she said, sneering. “What in Equestria are they?”

“That’s none of your concern, though I have an idea,” Celestia responded. “In any case, if there can be no compromise, then I must defer to these three brave foals. Tell me, Cutie Mark Crusaders, what shall we do with her? This is your dream, you ultimately make the rules.”

Scootaloo grinned. “I think I know a pretty fitting way to send her off,” she said.

“Don’t you dare!” Nightmare Moon screeched as the pendants around the Crusaders’ necks began to glow brighter and emit a high-pitched sound.

“You came into our dream and ruined it!” Sweetie Belle shouted. “You scared Pinkie Pie, took advantage of Rainbow Dash, and tried to kill Scootaloo!”

“Yep!” Apple Bloom added in. “So now ya gotta go!”

“Then remember this, little ones!” Nightmare Moon spat at the Crusaders. “I’ll be sure to carry this memory with me! When we next meet, you all shall perish!”

“Not today, though!” Scootaloo yelled. The black void split open above them, revealing a star-filled night sky. The darkness zipped downward and away, and the arena at Sweet Apple Acres once again appeared. Everypony found themselves standing at the center of the field. The Crusaders’ pendants all blasted forth with beams of colorful magic, smashing through the forcefield around Nightmare Moon and blasting her skyward. She shot like a comet straight towards the moon.

Twilight blinked. “Wait, you…” She started, then shook her head, trying to keep from chuckling. “You banished her to the moon? Again?”

Celestia sighed and tapped Twilight on the back. “It’s no laughing matter, Twilight Sparkle,” she said, gazing towards the moon as the shape of a unicorn’s head filled the glowing sphere. A single tear escaped her eye, and she quickly wiped it away. “We will surely have to deal with this situation in a more permanent manner later on.” Twilight nodded her head.

“And how about our delightful guests, here?” Discord asked, snapping his fingers. A cage appeared in front of him. The changelings Mulcibar and Linnai glared through the bars out at him.

Fluttershy caught sight of Mulcibar and immediately ducked behind Pinkie Twi. Pinkie Twi flipped her goggles down over her eyes and looked at the changelings, recalling what she’d heard through the Pinkie Network about them. “You were right, Cutie Pie, they do seem strong! I love the butterfly wings, though!” she said, smiling.

Cutie Pie hunched close to the ground. “Do we have to call me that?” she asked, sticking out her tongue.

Pinkie Twi flipped the goggles back up to her forehead and turned to face Cutie Pie. She threw her hooves into the air. “Of course we do! We can’t go back on such a crucial decision! I made it myself!” she shouted, flailing her hooves slightly as she spoke.

Cutie Pie rolled her eyes. “Fine…” she said unenthusiastically.

“In any case, we have to figure out what to do with them,” said Twilight. “Anypony have any ideas?” She looked to Discord and Princess Celestia for guidance.

“Yes, what are you going to do with us?” Linnai said with a sneer. “You can’t just leave us in this dream! I assume you’ll be moving on to the next dream world!”

“Yes, and you two will just follow us, thus the tough decision,” Celestia said, staring back at Linnai, her eyes practically on fire. “Not that your fire magic even tickled. A nuisance at worst.”

Linnai scoffed, and Mulcibar put a hoof on her back. “Don’t let them get to you, sister,” he said.

“Well, I say we run ‘em through! Just like they did ta’ Twilight!” Applejack shouted angrily.

Twilight shook her head. “That’s no good,” Twilight said, turning towards Applejack and the other dream inhabitants. “I know from experience that if you die in a dream, you just wake up. A little woozy, memories fuzzy, but you are otherwise fine.”

“Memories fuzzy, you say?” Rarity asked. “How fuzzy do you mean? Would they even remember anything that happened here? That may honestly be the best way to handle it, darling.”

“No, Rarity. They might remember something. It’s not a chance we should take,” Celestia said.

Mulcibar scoffed. “We would remember everything. We’d be right back in here chasing you down, and the queen and the Order would know exactly what you’re up to in here!” he boasted.

A laugh came from above. Everypony looked up at Discord, who was hovering in the air above the cage, holding his sides and laughing uncontrollably.

“What’s so funny, monster?” Mulcibar asked, shrinking down slightly in the cage.

“Yes, please share, Discord,” Celestia said politely, batting her eyes. Discord froze in the air and stared at her as she asked, then fell back into fits of laughter.

“It’s just… Oh gosh! Oh, I can’t breathe!” he tried to speak. “The tough act! Oh wow, do you really think that’ll work? AHAHAHA! Of all the… BAAA-HAHA!” He wiggled in the air and spun all around the cage while laughing, but then finally stopped in front of Celestia, his face just inches from hers. He suddenly took on a very serious expression.

“It’s ridiculous, Celestia. They think you’re all fools, but I know better,” he said. “I mean, surely you’ve noticed by now that their skill in dream magic is just sad. I almost pity them!” Celestia nodded nervously. Discord pulled the cone-shaped dunce cap from behind himself and placed it gently on Celestia’s head again.

“Don’t worry, Celestia, I do pity you,” Discord said, snickering, then pulled away from Celestia, falling back into more laughing fits. “Here’s the predictions, if you want them! They won’t remember squat, except maybe within the first few seconds of waking up! Then they’ll fall asleep, or pass out as the case may be, from the adjustment of time around them. Going from dream time to real time can be awfully trying on the mind!”

Linnai sneered. “We’ll remember everything! We won’t pass out!” she shouted angrily. Mulcibar jabbed her with his elbow and shook his head.

“Who are you going to believe, Celestia? Them, or me?” Discord asked, batting his eyes back at Celestia.

The princess groaned. “Well, I knew your magical knowledge would come in handy, but I just don’t know. I think you are too confident, Discord,” Celestia said. “Even if there’s only a remote chance, even if all they can do is shout out a few words between when they wake up and when they pass out from the time adjustment, I can’t risk that. Plus, what if they don’t forget? What if they wake up with complete memories after an hour or two? We might not be ready by then!”

“So what are we going to do?” Twilight asked, her voice annoyed. “Take them with us?”

“I vote no on that,” Fluttershy’s voice quietly came from behind Pinkie Twi.

“We have to find the exit first, anyway,” Twilight said. Fluttershy poked her head out and enthusiastically shook it. Twilight levitated the small monocle to her eye. Pinkie Twi leapt towards Twilight and stopped her, pulling the lens away with her own magic.

“Pinkie! What’s the problem?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Problem? Haha! Why would there be a problem? I just, um… we’re all having so much fun here, why end it so quickly?” Pinkie Twi responded with faked laughter. She looked over her shoulder and spotted Sweetie Belle hugging Rarity and their parents. Her heart sank.

“What? You know we don’t have time to hang around!” Twilight said with annoyance. “We have to get to the next dream quickly! Every second we’re not saving Rainbow Dash is a second that Chrysalis is getting super powered up!”

Pinkie Twi hung her head, but levitated the goggles from her head onto Twilight’s. Twilight looked down at Pinkie with concern now, the pink pony practically starting to cry. Twilight nervously slipped the colorscope over her eyes, and Pinkie Pie pointed towards the happily hugging family.

Twilight saw Sweetie Belle wrapping her forelegs around Rarity’s neck, but there was a strange, pulsing dark energy. Right over Rarity’s chest, straight down the middle like someone had stitched up a sloppy surgery job, was the exit from the dream.

Twilight shot her head back down to Pinkie, who just pointed in another direction. Twilight turned and stared at Applejack, who was happily smiling at Apple Bloom, a similar rip in reality going straight down her chest.

“Let me guess…” Twilight said sadly. She turned and looked towards Rainbow Dash. She had a similar rip in her own body. “Three dreamers, three exits, and they all just happen to be part of their focus, as we’d called them.” Twilight flipped the goggles up off her head and returned them to Pinkie Twi, who was slowly nodding her head.

Linnai laughed from the cage, staring at Twilight with wide eyes. “This is too hilarious! Just like that, you’ve snatched defeat from the jaws of victory!” she shouted. “I can tell from the look on your faces! Such compassion for these dream ponies, and they aren’t even real!”

Fluttershy suddenly stood up and marched over to the cage, practically pressing her face against the bars. Linnai pulled her head back instinctively.

“Now look here, you!” Fluttershy shouted. “These ponies may be dreams, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t real! They’re all based on our dear friends, and the places they hold in our hearts! I guess it’s nothing you two could ever understand!” She glared at Mulcibar as she said that last part. Linnai flapped her own lips mockingly as Fluttershy spoke. Mulcibar just sat quietly, flinching at bit at the end of her speech.

“Who cares!” Linnai shouted. “Tell them, Twilight Sparkle! Tell them what has to be done in order for you to continue your quest!” She grinned deviously.

Everypony had gathered around the cage by now, and they were all staring at Twilight.

“What’s she talkin’ ‘bout, Twi?” Applejack asked.

“Well, you see…” Twilight said nervously.

“Yes, darling?” Rarity asked, her eyes blinking.

“The exit from this dream world, you see…” Twilight continued slowly, her eyes darting back and forth.

“Did you find it already? Is it nearby?” Scootaloo asked excitedly.

“You might say that,” Twilight said, chuckling nervously. “There are three dreamers, so there are actually three exits.”

“What’s gotten into you, Twilight? What are you so afraid of? What was that changeling talking about?” Celestia asked commandingly. Twilight locked eyes with the princess and lost her nerve entirely.

“Tell them!” Linnai barked out.

“It’s terrible. I hadn’t thought this could happen. I wish there was some way to change it, but the exits…” Twilight said, trailing off.

“Yes?” Everypony said in unison.

Twilight swallowed roughly and breathed in. “The exits are Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash,” she said. “To open them means to tear them open as well. They would…”

“You have to kill one of them if you want to leave! And surely the foal that’s connected to that pony will feel the excruciating pain as they are torn in half by reality itself being ripped!” Linnai yelled. She put on a giant, sharp-toothed grin. “So choose, Twilight Sparkle! Choose who has to die!”

Everypony stared at Twilight in silence. Twilight shrunk down to the ground. “Stop looking at me like that,” she said. “I don’t like it either.”

Rarity stepped towards Twilight and put a hoof on her shoulder. “If somepony has to go, then it should be me! Make it quick, Twilight!” she said, her voice shaking.

“Rarity, no,” Twilight said firmly, pushing her hoof off of her shoulder and standing back up. “I’m not going to kill anypony! Besides, think of poor Sweetie Belle!” She pointed a hoof towards the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who had huddled up together and seemed to be talking amongst themselves.

“Yeah, but it’s true, isn’t it?” Applejack asked. “I can tell just by lookin’ at ya, sugarcube. One of us has ta go.”

“Then it should be me! I’ve caused nothing but trouble for you guys,” Rainbow Dash shouted and then shot a look at Scootaloo. “And if that one has to deal with a little pain, I’d call it even.”

“First of all, no!” Twilight yelled back at Rainbow Dash. “Second of all, listen to yourself! Rainbow Dash would never say such a thing!”

“Fine, I was kidding! Besides, I’m not Rainbow Dash!” Dash retorted. “I’m just some fantasy pony for a filly with daddy issues!”

“That’s enough!” a small voice shouted out. Everypony turned and stared at Apple Bloom, who was staring up at the arguing adults with tears in her eyes. “Twilight’s right! Nopony has to die!”

Twilight took a deep breath and smiled down at the little earth pony.

“We think we know exactly how to do it, too,” Sweetie Belle said, a sly grin on her face.

“Really?” Twilight asked, surprised.

“Really?” Linnai asked from the cage with a sigh.

“When we heard Princess Luna’s voice earlier, it was coming from somewhere else. Nightmare Moon’s energy entered this dream the same way,” Scootaloo said. “We can just go out the same way Luna and Nightmare Moon leaked in.”

Twilight shook her head. “Sorry, Scootaloo, but that’s just not going to work,” she said. “We saw a dream entrance where magic was coming in before, in Fluttershy’s dream. We could see out of it, but we couldn’t leave through it.”

“No no, Twilight,” Sweetie Belle said as politely as she could. “This thing we’re talking about, this feeling we had… it’s not like those creepy cuts on our sisters and Rainbow Dash. We can see those, this isn’t like that.”

Twilight blinked. “Wait…” she started.

“You can see those?” Celestia asked.

Cutie Pie tilted her head. “Now that you mention it, I see them, too,” she said. “What’s with that?”

“You saw the cracks in the world,” Scootaloo said. “Now that the three of us are concentrating with the power we got from these pendants, we’re starting to see more than just those. It’s hard to explain, but we want to try. We want to try and open up another crack in the world, but this time it would be a portal to another dream world.”

“Children, if you can do what you say you can, instant transference… well, that sort of spell is only possible with a high-level dreamwalker such as my sister, Luna,” Celestia said. “I do not wish to cast doubt upon you, but it seems a hopeless task. You have to connect to two dreams at the same time, plus aim the spell correctly. It is quite a feat.”

“Well!” Apple Bloom said with a grin, looking at her two friends. “There’s three of us! One to connect here, one to connect there, and the third to aim it! We’ll do the connectin’ Sweetie Belle. You do the firin’!”

Sweetie Belle nodded.

“Oh my gosh, this is so exciting!” Pinkie Twi shouted. Everyone else shushed her, including the caged changelings. The three fillies stood in a triangle, facing inward and concentrating as hard as they could. Their pendants glowed brightly, and each one of them fired a pillar of light off into the sky above. The arena lit up as if it were daytime, with prismatic colors sparkling everywhere.

You got this, little sis! Applejack’s voice sounded off inside Apple Bloom’s mind.

Who’s there? Show yourself! A voice shouted in Scootaloo’s mind.

“I’m connected!” Scootaloo shouted.

“Fire away, SB!” Apple Bloom called out.

Sweetie Belle nodded and her horn sparked brightly. The spark of magic served as a catalyst, causing the pendants around all three Crusaders’ necks to fire off at the same time, their beams colliding in the middle of them. A giant tear in reality burst open, streaks of magic firing out randomly.

Celestia’s jaw dropped. “I don’t believe it!” she shouted with genuine excitement. “They’ve done it, Twilight! They’ve done it!” Everypony joined in and cheered.

The world on the other side of the portal was clearly visible, and looked nothing like Ponyville at all. Thick foliage, a dark sky, and jagged rocks were waiting for them on the other side.

Twilight gazed through the portal and cringed. “Maybe it’s too early to be celebrating. It looks dangerous over there,” she said. Celestia nodded her head in agreement.

“Well,” Sweetie Belle said, turning to Rarity and her parents. “Looks like this is goodbye.”

Twilight interrupted. “Sweetie, look, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that,” she said, looking at Rarity. “You don’t have to come with us. You could stay here with your sister, where it will be safer.” Rarity nodded her head and smiled.

“What?!” All three Crusaders said at once.

“No way!” Scootaloo shouted. “Princess Luna said that the fate of Equestria rested firmly in our hooves! We can’t just give up now!”

“Yeah! We even opened that portal for ya!” Apple Bloom said angrily.

“Apple Bloom, look, I’m sure we’ve all been thinkin’ it, and we just don’t want ya to get hurt,” Applejack said, putting a hoof on her sister’s head and kneeling down towards her.

“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh agreed.

“I’m sorry, everypony, but I have to side with the Crusaders,” Princess Celestia said, stepping into the middle of the crowd. “These three fillies have proven themselves to be brave and capable. They have within them a power that we do not yet fully understand. My sister and I first began our own long and arduous crusade against Discord when we were young, so I know what the determination of foals can produce.”

“You were just so adorable back then!” Discord said with a squee. “Never a boring day on the throne with you two running around! Must be why I spared you so many times.” His voice dropped a bit at the end. Celestia rolled her eyes.

“In any event, whatever my sister saw in these three when she reached out to them, I think I am starting to see it as well. Their power and determination will serve us well, and perhaps they will grow up a little bit on our journey,” Celestia finished.

The three crusaders looked at one another and grinned widely at the same time.

“Maybe we’ll get our cutie marks in adventuring!” Scootaloo said.

“Or dreamwalking!” Sweetie Belle squeaked.

“Or plot-buckin’!” Apple Bloom said with a giggle.

Fluttershy gasped and Twilight snorted. “Apple Bloom! That doesn’t mean what you think it does…” Twilight said, her cheeks turning red. Pinkie Twi fell over laughing.

“Ahem!” Celestia loudly cleared her throat, then gestured towards the caged changelings. “What shall we do with them, then? They have to come with us. We’ll need a cart or something.”

“Don’t worry about them, I’ll handle everything,” Discord said, his voice dripping with deviousness. He snapped his fingers, and in a flash, the two changelings shrunk down, even smaller than the Crusaders. “Check it out! Pocket villains!” he said, and pushed them into a pocket that had materialized on his side. Their tiny voices, which had started shouting the moment they had shrunk, were drowned out to nothing.

Celestia shuddered. “I hate to imagine what’s in there,” she said.

“I could show you sometime, if you want,” Discord replied with a wink. Celestia ignored him and turned to Twilight and the others.

“This is it, then,” Twilight said, looking down at the Crusaders. “Say your goodbyes, and remember, you will always be together in your hearts.” The three fillies smiled and nodded their heads.

“Everything should go back to normal once we leave,” Apple Bloom said, looking up at Applejack and Big Macintosh. “You two take care of Granny Smith. Pinkie Pie will be around to keep ya up to date.”

Applejack nodded. “Take care, little sis. When ya finally see her, give the real Applejack a big hug,” she said, a tear escaping her eye.

Apple Bloom leapt up and wrapped her forelegs around Applejack’s neck. “Will do, but not before I give you a big hug, too!” she said, and squeezed. Big Mac put his foreleg over the both of them and joined in.

Sweetie Belle walked over to Rarity. “Did you really mean it before?” she asked. “Were you really gonna… die just so we could go on?”

Rarity nodded her head. “Of course, my dear!” she said without pause. “I’d do anything to help my little sister. After all, you always do anything to help me.” Sweetie Belle smiled.

“But I won’t do long, sappy goodbyes! So, take care, Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said, turning her head to the side and rubbing her eye.

“Aw, come on you all!” Rarity and Sweetie Belle’s father said, and pulled the whole family together into a group hug. “Our little Sweetie’s goin’ off ta save the world!”

Scootaloo cautiously approached Rainbow Dash. “Look, I know you haven’t forgiven me,” she said, not looking up. “I know I messed up, but I swear, I’ll make it up to you somehow… someday.”

Rainbow Dash coughed. “Look, kid, don’t waste your breath,” she said. “I can’t be the coolest pony in the world if I hold a grudge against a kid forever. We’ll see how I feel if we meet again. Maybe next time you go to sleep.”

Scootaloo nodded and smiled up at Rainbow Dash. “It’s a deal,” she said.

Everypony eventually gathered in front of the rift. “Is everypony ready?” Celestia asked. They all nodded their heads.

Pinkie Twi nervously raised her hoof. “Sooooo… I shouldn’t even be here. What’s gonna happen if I go through there?” she asked.

Twilight shrugged in response. “Who knows? Let’s find out.”

Pinkie Twi sighed. “Okay, well then… here we go!” she shouted, and grabbed onto Twilight’s foreleg. She turned her head back towards her double. “Seeya later, Cutie Pie!”

“I’m still not okay with that name!” Cutie Pie yelled back.

Pinkie laughed and leapt into the portal, pulling Twilight with her. Twilight landed on the other side by herself. She looked around for any sign of anypony else. A second later, Celestia and Discord appeared by her side.

“Pinkie?” Twilight called out.

Aw, bummer! Pinkie’s voice rang out in Twilight’s mind. I’m back home! But hey, check your saddlebag!

Fluttershy leapt through the portal, with the Cutie Mark Crusaders trailing behind her in a row. “Whew! We made it!” Fluttershy exclaimed.

“Yay!” The Crusaders cheered, and then looked at their flanks.

“Dang it! No Dreamwalking cutie mark!” Apple Bloom said.

Twilight flipped open her saddlebag and levitated a pair of goggles out of it. “Oooh! Thank you, Pinkie!” she exclaimed and slid the goggles onto her head and over her eyes. This was her first time taking in the environment around them. They were up a massive hill on a rocky path. Twilight gazed across the way and saw another hill of equal size on the other side, curving gently.

“I think we’re in a crater, everypony. Watch your step, who knows how far down it is,” Twilight warned the others. She looked up into the sky. The moon shone down brightly, practically as bright as day. It was easy to see, even though it was night time.

Run! A voice called out in Twilight’s mind.

“Did you hear that?” Celestia asked, looking at Twilight and the others. Everypony nodded their heads. “It was my sister!”

Run! To the bottom of the crater! As fast as you can! She is coming! The voice shouted.

The sound of galloping came from above. Everypony turned their heads upward. Up the crater wall, at the rim, was a barely visible but recognizable figure.

“Nightmare Moon!” Fluttershy screamed. She scooped up the Crusaders in her wings and began to run as best as she could down the path. Everyone else followed suit. Twilight came up alongside Fluttershy and took Scootaloo from her, placing her on her back. Celestia did the same for Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom pulled herself onto Fluttershy’s back.

“Hold on tight!” Twilight shouted.

“You can not escape!” Nightmare Moon’s voice bellowed down at them.

Through the brush, Twilight could see a massive stone building at the bottom of the crater. “That must be where we have to go! Everypony, keep running!”

THE END OF BOOK THREE: HORIZONS

TO BE CONTINUED IN BOOK FOUR: CORRUPTION

Author's Note

SHORTISH CHAPTER LOL!

It's over! Whew! I'll add more author's notes later. Currently editing on my phone, which Fimfic hates.

Intermezzo 2

The Conquering of Love

Chapter Thirty - Intermezzo 2

“Fluttershy!”

Applejack looked over the charred barricades that stood at the entrance of the southern wall around Ponyville’s town square. “Where’s that silly filly run off to?” she muttered, spotting fresh hoofprints along the dirt road that led southward towards the Everfree Forest. “I bet she’s tried to go home, prolly lookin’ fer one’a her little animal friends.”

Applejack leapt over the barrier and galloped down the dirt road, her eyes darting back and forth quickly, watching for any sign of movement.

Ya just can’t tell what sort’a danger you’ll run into nowadays. Dang it, Fluttershy! This ain’t no game!

Fluttershy’s cottage came into view, and Applejack spotted the yellow pegasus stepping out the door of her house, which was completely overrun with vines.

“Angel!” Fluttershy called out, peering into the depths of the Everfree Forest. “Angel bunny?”

Applejack saw a big clump of vines twisting in front of Fluttershy. She picked up speed and ran towards her. The vines shot from the forest, right at Fluttershy’s head. Applejack rammed into Fluttershy, pushing her out of the way. She turned her head towards the forest just in time to see the sharp, spear-like vines sailing right at her.

“Fluttershy!” Vitra screamed, shooting up out of bed. She slammed a hoof against her right eye and cringed forward, her abdominal muscles tensing up. She breathed heavily, her heart raced, and her wide eyes stared blankly downward at the cover that had been laid over her.

“Fluttershy,” she said again, more calmly, “look out.” She blinked her eyes and shook her head. She looked around the room she was in. A single candle lit the windowless chamber, cold gray walls all around and a door on one wall. She got up out of bed and walked towards the door. As she reached it, she fell to the ground and clutched her head as a spark of pain shot through it.

“Rainbow!” she shouted, shutting her eyes. She saw herself fighting Rainbow Dash high atop a castle. “I don’t… want to fight you!” she managed to open her eyes again and stand back up, steadying herself against the door and slowly turning the handle.

Another painful shock sizzled through her mind, dropping her to the ground once more. She felt weightless as she fell down into a ravine, hitting the ground. She saw Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Princess Celestia. Rainbow Dash was lying limply in front of the others. “We fell together,” she said quietly. “We both died.”

Vitra pushed the door open and walked down the hallway she found herself in. The hall eventually connected to a larger chamber. Stairs led up to a large set of doors. The sound of screaming and a flash of magic caught her attention. She twisted her head around. A pink-colored alicorn with a black crystal-encased horn stood against the wall, chained to it, screeching like a caged beast as gallons of pink magic poured out from her and was sucked into a rift.

Her eyes wide with shock, still groggy and confused after waking up, she turned and ran up the stairs, shoving the doors at the top open and bursting through, only to find herself in the throne room itself. She stared up at the ceiling, which was completely covered in hanging green cocoons, ponies filling each and every one.

Back behind Vitra, Cadence slowly opened her eyes and lifted her head, the outpouring of magic having left her head reeling in pain. She looked to her left just in time to see Vitra galloping up the stairs and through the far chamber door, heading into the throne room. The changeling seemed panicked somehow. A moment later, she heard voices echoing through the door and down the hall. She strained her ears, trying to listen in to the conversation, but couldn’t make out what was being said.

She recognized the voice of Queen Crysalis, and her mind wandered back to the encounter she’d had with the queen earlier. She furrowed her brow, remembering how different the queen had seemed, how she had asked for her own death so desperately.

“Why would she have said that?” Cadence pondered quietly to herself. “She must have some ulterior motive… but what? She already has what she wants, right?”

In the throne room, Vitra shakily turned her head to where the stream of green magic flowing out of the cocoons was concentrating, the throne to her right. Sitting upon it was Chrysalis, her eyes glazed over with white magic.

“Come closer, child,” Chrysalis suddenly said, her eyes remaining white and glowing. “Step up to the throne and sit with me for a moment, basking in this glorious feast.”

Vitra nervously stepped up the two tiers to the throne and took a seat to the queen’s left, staring up at the field of cocoons before her.

“Were you connected to the dreams a little while ago?” Chrysalis asked, her voice calm and conversational. “I could feel your energy flowing down.”

Vitra nodded her head. “Yes, your highness,” she said, slowly remembering who she was, as well as her station within the changeling ranks. “I had taken over the body of a pony named Applejack.”

Chrysalis smiled and nodded her head. “Oh, Applejack,” she said. “She’s one of my favorites. She is always so up-front and honest. I respect that.”

“I think I do, too,” Vitra said, looking up among the pods, trying to spot Applejack’s cocoon.

“Good, so you’ll be honest with me, then,” the queen said, leaning her head down towards the smaller changeling. “Tell me, Vitra, how was it that I could feel your energy? How could you possibly have produced love energy?”

Vitra blinked. “I didn’t. I couldn’t have,” she said, staring down at the floor. “It’s not even possible.”

“And yet, I felt you. I fed on you, child,” Chrysalis said with a grin. “Yours was so delicious, like a morsel hidden among a sea of blandness. Like a lone cherry sitting atop a pile of boring, plain oats.”

“I can’t… possibly explain it, your majesty,” Vitra said, her voice shaking.

“Ah, but I expect you to, eventually,” Chrysalis said, her burning white eyes locked onto Vitra. “But you must tell no one of what happened in that dream, nor of this conversation. Continue with the plan, and whenever you can, try to remember how you may have accomplished this freak feat. I expect great things, and I expect you to tell no one, particularly not Luzon or any others in The Order.”

Vitra swallowed hard, nodding her head. I still think it must be a mistake, but… that feeling when I woke up, remembering that moment when Apple… jack thought Flutter was done for… I only saw it as a memory, but it was so vivid. It felt so… sad.

“Now go, the other members of The Order need you in their chamber,” Chrysalis said, smiling at Vitra. Vitra nodded her head and walked down the steps and turned to go back through the door she came in from.

“Oh, and Vitra,” Chrysalis said. “One more thing. When I say you are not to mention this to anyone, I mean you are to speak of it to no one. Do not even speak with me about it unless first asked, lest we be overheard. This is our little secret, okay?”

Vitra nodded and Chrysalis grinned, her fangs peeking out from behind her lips. She turned her head and stared back up into the stream of magic that was flowing into her. Vitra went through the door, closing it behind her, and walked down the steps.

Cadence’s left ear twitched as she heard the queen’s voice yelling towards the open door to the throne room, followed by the sound of the door closing and hoofsteps coming closer.

Vitra quietly stepped through the large room at the bottom of the stairs. The pink alicorn was hanging limply from the wall, breathing shallowly. Vitra could see a glow coming from underneath a door on the far side of the room. She made her way towards it, and almost had reached it when a voice called out to her.

“Changeling, wait,” the voice said weakly. Vitra turned and saw Cadence hanging from the wall, looking up at her. Her eyes were barely open, and her voice had little strength. “I heard the queen talking to you. What did she tell you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, pony!” Vitra sneered. “Save your strength, I’m sure it’s not long until we use you again!”

“Did she seem strange? Did she ask you to do anything weird?” Cadence asked, remembering back to what had happened to her just a few hours ago. “Did she ask you to do anything to her?”

“To her? What on earth are you fantasizing about, sicko!” Vitra said, shocked. “The queen favors stallions. Particularly yours!” She laughed, her memory of who Cadence was having returned completely.

Cadence sighed. “You’re all the same, aren’t you?” she said cynically. “You revel in despair, yet need love to survive. What a backwards life you live.”

Vitra clenched her teeth and leapt at Cadence, pushing her front hooves against Cadence’s chest, her body slamming against the wall she hung from. “What do you know about us?” she hissed. “What pain have you known before now in your life?”

Cadence stared into Vitra’s eyes. “I am one who tries to spread love to those who need it wherever I go. I know sadness and pain more closely than you think, and I recognize lonely souls when I see them,” she said. Vitra stared back at her silently.

Vitra raised one of her hooves up and placed it on Cadence’s cheek. Her eyes remained locked onto Cadence’s. She opened her mouth to speak, but the words, still forming, had trouble making their way out.

“The nightmare,” Vitra started speaking, her jaw shaking. “Everyone dying, a lurking danger in the forest, a constant and terrible heat… The memories are fading. The names of my... friends... falling out of my mind.” A tear streamed down her cheek.

Cadence’s eyes went wide with shock, despite how tired and weak she was. It was there, if only for a second, she thought. This changeling, I don’t know how… she had the smallest spark of love in her heart, and then it was extinguished like a candle under a snuffer.

Vitra pushed away and eyed Cadence suspiciously. “It was all just a dream, anyway. I have no need for friends, I have my associates. Yes, I should go help them. I’ve wasted enough time talking to you, slave,” she said with contempt.

Cadence sighed. Was I wrong? she thought. She watched the changeling as it turned and walked towards the door on the other side of the dark chamber. Of course I was. What a foolish fantasy to think one of them could be so different. Cold, heartless beasts… I guess that’s all they really are.

As she finished that thought, Cadence felt another surge of magic build within her horn, and she let out an agonized scream as more magic was drained out of her. Vitra opened the door and turned to look at Cadence as she was being drained of her power again.

Vitra laughed, walked through the door, and shut it behind her.

She entered the chamber where the other members of The Order of Ismara were gathered, all focusing their energies at Luna’s cocoon. She immediately noticed the streams of magic flowing out from Mulcibar and Linnai and into the rift that hung in the air above. She felt a spike of pain in her head for a second and placed a forehoof to it. Luzon opened one eye and looked at her.

“You’ve returned, Vitra,” he said calmly. “Join us.”

Vitra walked around the table and took a seat next to Luzon. She looked at Mulcibar and Linnai again and cleared her throat. “They’ve both entered the stream?” she asked, a hint of confusion in her voice. “Why both of them?”

“There was another reaction,” Luzon explained. “A larger one than what you’d gone after before. I still haven’t forgiven you for going in without permission, by the way. There will be a formal punishment once things have calmed down.”

Vitra sneered for a moment before regaining her composure. “Well, if they find anything, it will only strengthen my defense,” she said, her voice laced with confidence.

“You sound pretty sure of yourself,” Luzon said. “Did you find anything? Do you even remember what happened in there?”

Vitra’s head sank and she shook it back and forth. Any memories of what had happened in the dream had faded. All that was left was a swirl of emotions. There was fear, sadness, regret, and even a sort of exhilaration. However, none of these were concrete enough to jog her subconscious memory into gear.

Luzon sighed. “Which is exactly why I didn’t want you going, and why I’ve sent both Mulcibar and Linnai this time. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I can rely on them to stop whatever is going on regardless of information making its way back to us,” he said. “You’re an excellent scout, Vitra, but you knew scouting wasn’t going to cut it. In the brief moment of consciousness you had after coming back, you only spoke a few words, none of which were of any use.”

Vitra clenched her teeth and frowned, but then thought back to what the queen had just said to her, some of it not even making sense anymore, almost dreamlike itself. She opened her mouth to begin to speak, but stopped herself. No, she thought, I am sworn to secrecy. She thought of what Chrysalis might do to her if she broke her oath, and shook slightly.

“What was it I said?”

Luzon sighed. “Your voice was weak. You simply said ‘We’ll meet again,’ and that was it. You passed out after that.”

Who will I meet again? What does it mean? Vitra pondered.

“Best not to think about it. Chasing subconscious memories is largely futile. If they come back, it will be on their own,” Luzon said. “Now concentrate on the stream. We need you.”

Vitra nodded. She closed her eyes and began the spell. A flash of a face appeared in her mind’s eye for just a second. It was a dark face, glowing red. A deep, distorted voice shouted in her ear.

Your nightmare is coming!

Vitra opened her eyes and gasped, a feeling of drowning having overtaken her. She looked around at the others. None of them had heard the voice or had the vision, apparently. She closed her eyes again and joined the others in containing Luna and pushing green magical energy through the rift.

Back in the throne room, Chrysalis sat upon the throne, her eyes glazed over with magic, her mouth locked in a giant smile. She chuckled under her breath.

“Your nightmare will be over soon,” she whispered. “A thousand years of torment will finally come to an end. The sins of the past will finally be known. The root of all evil will be there for all to see, and finally… the conquering of love will be upon us.”

Author's Note

She said the thing!

Happy Holidays, you all! See you sometime probably after the new year with chapter one of book four!

Corruption Ch 1 - Visions and Nightmares

Book Four: Corruption

Chapter One - Visions and Nightmares

“It’s dark in here.”

Linnai sighed and shook her head. “Yes, it’s quite dark, and I can’t seem to use any magic,” she said with frustration. “Wherever that freak, Discord, put us seems to be fairly secure.”

Linnai tried to stand up, but instead felt herself pressing closer to the ground upon which she was laying. The sensation was odd, almost as if she were pressing downward on purpose. A moment later, she felt the ground begin to shake beneath her.

Mulcibar attempted to leap up to his hooves, but instead, his head slammed against the metallic floor. “What is this place, anyway?” he pondered out loud. “I’ve lost control of my body somehow.”

Two shining circles appeared before him and blinked like a pair of eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous,” a high-pitched voice said. “Your bodies are fine, just remember that up is down and down is up.” The light from the pair of circles lit up the area around the two changelings. They could see that they were still inside the cage they’d been trapped in earlier, and it seemed to be hanging, swaying as the shaking intensified.

Linnai turned her head to the left to look at the source of light. Rather, she would have turned her head to the left, but it turned right instead. She grunted slightly and felt disoriented.

“Whoops, forgot to mention!” the voice said gleefully. “Right is left and left is right! Be careful, you can get really mixed up if you struggle too hard!” As it said this, a bright light crested from below.

“Oh hey, the sun’s coming up! Whee!” the voice cheered, and the two circles slid shut. The sun’s light began to illuminate everything. A bright blue sky spread out beneath where Linnai and Mulcibar were hanging.

“Down is up?” Mulcibar said. He tried to press himself against the floor, and his body responded by standing up. Turning his head to the right made him look left, and vice-versa. He leaned back, which caused his body to awkwardly lurch forward, shaking the cage even more. “This is going to give me a headache…”

Linnai managed to join him in standing up. The cage they were hanging in was large and cube-shaped. They both strained for a moment and looked upward. The cage was hanging down – or was it up? – from a long chain that appeared to be attached to a stone block which was surrounded by sand. The expansive ceiling above them seemed to go on forever, a vast desert landscape with huge sand dunes. The sun lowered slowly down into the sky, its heat beating upward. The floor of the cage shielded the two from direct sunlight, which was fortunate for them. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky below.

“Well, I don’t see anything but sand… and falling seems like it would be a bad idea,” Linnai said. “We have to get out of here somehow.”

Mulcibar nodded in agreement. He slowly turned his whole body around to survey the landscape on the other side. His eyes went wide as he turned and spotted a massive structure coming up from the ground above them. A huge stone castle with towers, gates, even a moat all around it, hung surreally from what he perceived as the ceiling. “But that’s actually the ground,” he said and cocked an eyebrow. “This place is completely backwards. If we can get out of this cage, flying there would be no problem… maybe.”

“Well, we can’t exactly use our magic thanks to the nullification field,” said Linnai, tapping her hoof against her horn.

“Well, we can at least get out of this cage. Do you think you’ll be able to fly?” Mulcibar asked. “It’s going to be strange in here.”

“It might almost be better to plummet to our deaths, at least then we might wake up.”

Mulcibar lowered his eyebrows. “We can’t be sure of that. This place is controlled by Discord. Nothing ever happens like you think it will with him,” he said, remembering back to what Discord had done to him earlier.

Linnai laughed. “You’re scared? What’d he do to make that happen?”

Mulcibar cleared his throat. “Nevermind. Let’s get this cage rocking. If we use our wings, we should be able to get it swinging high enough to bang it against the ground above.”

Linnai shrugged and began to swing in time with her brother, the cage swinging higher and higher. As they swung, they both got a feel for the way their wings worked in this reversed world. Eventually, the cage slammed into the rocky ground, causing the bottom of the cage to explode off of it. Linnai and Mulcibar both gasped and pushed their forehooves through the cage’s bars, holding on for their lives as they swung back the other way.

“I did not expect the bottom to break off that easy!” Linnai shouted.

“I told you! Nothing works like it should!” Mulcibar shouted back. He turned his head to look at the metallic plate that had shot off the cage, and was baffled as he saw it fly outward for a moment, then shoot upward, clanging to a landing on the ground that was above them.

Is it really…? It’s better than staying in here, Mulcibar thought.

“I’m going,” Mulcibar said and then unhooked one foreleg from the cage. He swung his hind legs back to give himself momentum.

“Going? Wait!” Linnai shouted. She watched as Mulcibar swung forward and let go of the cage, launching himself into the air, towards the tower.

Mulcibar instinctively flapped his wings once, causing himself to fall further downward, but only for a second. After hanging in the air for several seconds, he fell upward, smashing head-first into the ground.

“You idiot!” Linnai screamed from the cage’s remains. “You’re the one who said we can’t tell what would happen!”

Mulcibar lifted a hoof up in front of his face and laughed. “Can’t tell what’ll happen if you stay in the cage, either.”

Linnai sighed and swung her hind legs back and then launched herself forward in the same direction Mulcibar had gone. She flapped her wings once, pushing herself forward and gracefully twisted in the air, preparing for the gravity reversal. Much to her surprise, though, she suddenly stopped in mid-leap and hung in the air, suspended between the sky-like abyss and the ceiling-like ground. She flailed her legs and flapped her wings ineffectually for a moment before going limp and groaning.

“I’m stuck,” she whimpered, the situation starting to get to her. Mulcibar clasped a hoof over his mouth, holding back his laughter. Linnai began to flail her legs again and whine. “It’s not funny, brother! Get me down from heeeeere!” Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes.

Mulcibar smirked and laughed out loud, but began to flap his wings, lifting himself down to where she was hanging. “Calm down,” he said, still smirking. “Give me your hoof?”

She reached her foreleg out towards him, and he grabbed ahold of it and pulled. The two of them immediately shot upward. Mulcibar smashed against the ground and Linnai dropped firmly onto his back, knocking the wind out of him. He gasped for breath and rolled over, pushing her off of him. Linnai took her turn to laugh now, and Mulcibar shook his head.

After catching his breath, Mulcibar stood up and turned towards the tall structure before them. He scanned the base of it for an entrance. “I don’t see any way in except the windows higher up the tower,” he said.

“Then by all means, fly on up there!” the same high pitched voice they’d heard before called out from nowhere. “You two are so precious! If I didn’t know better, I’d say I detected some siblingly love back there.”

Linnai swung a hoof clumsily above her head. “Show yourself, and I’ll give you some real love, Discord!” she shouted. Echoing laughter was the only response.

Mulcibar shook his head. “Ignore him,” he said. “He’s just testing us. He wants to see all our flaws, our weaknesses. Don’t give him anything to work with. We’ll just press forward through this little game of his and be on our way.”

Linnai nodded. What makes you so sure we can get through, though? she thought. Still, she followed Mulcibar’s lead for once, flying up and into the high window in the tower. The room through the window was large, with a high ceiling. It seemed to stretch the entire length of the tower.

“What now?” Linnai asked, looking around at the massive room. The walls were covered in mirrors of many shapes and sizes, some with decorative frames, and some plain and wooden-framed. The ceiling was one big mirror, as well. Linnai looked around, an annoyed look crossing her face. “I suppose it’s too much to ask for it to not be some sort of trap.”

Mulcibar nodded his head. “Knowing Discord, looking at them will show something besides what you’re expecting. It’s one of the oldest tricks in the magic book - a magic mirror.”

“Oh come on! I thought you’d like this, you two brainiacs! Something simple enough to where you won’t feel that it’s a trick, and yet… well, why not have a look for yourselves?” the high-pitched voice shouted gleefully.

Mulcibar frowned. “We can’t very well get to the other side without glimpsing at least one mirror,” he said in a deadpan tone. “Let’s get this over with.”

Mulcibar stepped nervously out towards the center of the room and turned his head to the left, gazing into the first mirror. Staring back at him was a familiar looking, but total stranger of a unicorn. He tilted his head, and the unicorn tilted its head as well. Its coat was dark gray, much like his own, and it possessed the same icy blue eyes. However, emanating from its eyes was a dark, purple magic energy, and its horn glowed with bubbling black magic. Mulcibar squinted as his lips curved downward.

“Is this suppose to be me, then?” he asked, scoffing. As he asked, a golden crown appeared on the unicorn’s head. The scene in the mirror panned outward, revealing that the unicorn stood upon a tall stand, a crowd of ponies surrounding it, all bowing in reverence. “I have no need of power over ponies. Is this what you think drives me, Discord? Do you think I desire such standing? Do you not think that if I had such aspirations, I would have achieved them already?”

“Ah, but my dear Mulci, power does have its benefits,” the voice responded, having lowered in pitch, and now very clearly Discord’s voice. The scene on the mirror changed, and several mares appeared beside Mulcibar, reaching their hooves out and grasping at his legs and body. One of them, a yellow pegasus with pink hair, pressed her muzzle up against the unicorn’s ear and gently bit at it.

Mulcibar coughed and turned his head to the side. “Whatever you’re trying to do, it’s not going to work! Come, let’s move on, sister!” he said, and turned to look for Linnai, but she was not where he’d last seen her. He turned around quickly and spotted her staring into a mirror, her eyes glowing red and her teeth grinding.

“Is this supposed to scare me?” Linnai asked, her voice rough and full of anger. She stared into the mirror. In her vision, she saw herself, standing upon a mountain of corpses, her whole body pulsing with deep, red magic. The bodies of countless ponies and changelings were scattered across a broken landscape that spread out before her. Her butterfly wings had become jagged and tattered, and the holes in her body had grown, giving her limbs and body a sharp, hollow look. The tips of her legs had become pointed, claw-like appendages, and her fangs had grown double in size. Linnai stared on intently at the image of herself. “Just the opposite… I hope I can achieve such power! All shall fear me and bow before me, or suffer the consequences! That includes you, Discord!”

“Oh, I’m terribly frightened! Too bad for you two that this story doesn’t have such a wonderful ending!” Discord’s voice giggled.

Mulcibar grabbed Linnai’s foreleg and pulled her away from the mirror. As her gaze broke from it, her eyes returned to normal. She blinked and stared into Mulcibar’s eyes. “What happened? I felt such exhilaration! I didn’t want it to end!”

“That must be his plan. We got out of the cage, so he wants to trap us in our deepest fantasies. Don’t look at any more of the mirrors, and pull me away if I look at one!” Mulcibar shouted. He pulled his sister’s foreleg and began to gallop across the room towards the door at the far end.

“Let me show you exactly how that little tale concludes!” Discord’s voice fired through the room, shaking the walls and shattering the mirrors all around them. Shards of glass and metal pierced into the wall and door ahead of the two changelings, who somehow weren’t hit by any of the debris. The pieces of mirror began to pull together, changing into one giant room-length mirror, covering the entire wall that they were running towards.

On the far right side of the mirror, Linnai could be seen, glowing with crimson magic and flying through a dark red sky. Blasts of energy fired from her hooves and horn, assaulting waves of pegasi and changelings that swarmed towards her. Her magic split pony and changeling alike in half, mercilessly blasting them out of the sky. A rain of blood seemed to fall endlessly upon the ground beneath her, which was decimated and covered in bodies and broken weapons.

There on the ground, on the far left of the mirror, was Mulcibar in the same dark unicorn form he had seen in his own vision. His eyes were bursting with purple magic, and his horn was aflame with darkness. He stared up at Linnai, who came to a stop in the air and met his gaze.

“What is this?” Mulcibar asked, his eyes wide.

“It’s the future,” Discord responded. “One of many possible futures for you two. One that I think is ever-so-likely, actually.”

Linnai and Mulcibar stared at the landscape before them, a scene of conflict between their mirrored selves playing out upon its surface.

“You’ve lost all control of who you are, sister!” the unicorn shouted up at the twisted changeling, his voice wavering and fading in and out. “Stop this madness! It’s gone too far!”

The dark vision of Linnai blasted outward with red magic. “Wrong! It’s you who have lost yourself, brother! Just look at you! Hiding in that form, hiding from what you are! What are you so afraid of?” she shouted.

The two of them glinted with magic and charged towards one another. They collided in an explosion, shattering the mirror. The real Mulcibar and Linnai shielded their faces with their forelegs.

“Enough of this!” Mulcibar shouted. “Release us! You’ve had your fun!”

“Do you hate the truth so much?” Discord asked. “You know, these mirrors can only show you what’s inside of you, just bending it ever-so-slightly and then laying down the ultimate outcome.”

Linnai stomped a hoof against the stone floor, pieces of glass cracking underneath it. “That future could never be!”

“Couldn’t it?” Discord asked with a deep, long laugh.

Linnai just sneered in response.

“Let us out of here, curse you!” Mulcibar demanded. “Are we just here for your amusement?”

“Of course you are! I’m just trying to repay you for such a good time!” Discord protested, his voice then taking a serious turn. “Remember what you’ve seen here, my little changelings. Believe it or don’t, but never forget it.”

With those words, the ground of the tower began to shake. The tiles in the ceiling began to crack and fall to the ground. Mulcibar and Linnai charged toward the door, and Linnai grabbed the handle and swung it open, revealing a brick wall on the other side.

“Discord!” she shouted as the ground continued to shake more and more violently. The walls of the tower crumbled all around them, the ground split open, and the two of them fell downward into a dark abyss, unable to resist or move.

A second later, the two changelings found themselves flung in opposite directions, slamming into the stone walls of a dim hallway. Linnai lifted her head up and blinked. Before her stood Twilight and the others. Her mind froze for a moment, and she clenched her teeth. Her eyes darted back and forth, quickly assessing the situation. She quickly locked onto the three foals and pointed her horn at them.

Moments earlier…

The sound of hooves pounding against loose rock and dirt echoed across the chasm. Twilight, Fluttershy, and Princess Celestia, each with a Cutie Mark Crusader in tow, galloped as fast as they could towards the bottom of the crater where a tall, round stone structure stood. Discord flew through the air overhead, glancing back over his shoulder at their pursuer, who was gaining ground much more quickly than he was comfortable with. Nightmare Moon bolted down the incline behind them, taking large aerial leaps and dives, drawing nearer with each.

Another imposter, or the real thing? Discord thought to himself.

She seems real enough! Celestia’s voice buzzed in his ear, reminding him that he was still mentally connected to her. My sister warned that she had returned. You can surely feel that darkness encroaching over us. It’s so heavy, I feel my knees creaking as I run!

“We’re not gonna make it!” Sweetie Belle shouted. “She’s too fast!”

“We are gonna make it! Come on, everypony! Run faster!” Twilight shouted back.

Scootaloo hunched forward on Twilight’s back, wrapping her forelegs around her chest and groaning. With a bright flash, her chest began to pour a stream of magic out, which flowed back towards Nightmare Moon.

“Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom shouted from Fluttershy’s back, and then fell forward in pain, the same thing happening to her.

Princess Celestia turned her head and looked back at Sweetie Belle, who was affected similarly. What is she doing to them? she thought. I can’t let this continue! She looked up at Nightmare Moon, who was gaining on them with each bounding leap.

“Twilight, take Sweetie Belle!” Celestia shouted and then levitated the filly from her back over to Twilight.

“What’s happening?” Twilight asked with confusion.

Celestia locked her legs and slid along the ground, turning her body. With a powerful thrust of her hind legs, she shot towards Nightmare Moon. “Very well, monster! Face me!” she shouted at the dark creature.

Nightmare Moon laughed and lowered her head, blasting a beam of dark magic towards Celestia, who released her own magic. The two beams clashed in the air and exploded outward, but the particles of dark magic did not dissipate. They swirled through the air and came flying towards Celestia. The magic collided with the princess, and she was encased in a floating ball of dark magic.

“Princess!” Twilight shouted.

“Oh for crying out loud!” Discord said with a groan. He shot back towards Celestia.

Don’t stop! A familiar voice in Twilight’s head implored. Just get to the boulder up ahead!

Nightmare Moon blew right past Celestia, glancing at her as she went by. “I’ll be back for you later, fool!” she screeched and then continued her pursuit of the others. A second later, a snapping sound shot through the air and a solid wall appeared in front of her. She smashed through it, but it slowed her down briefly. She turned her head just in time to see Discord fly past her.

Discord reached Celestia and snapped his fingers at her. The dark magic encasing her shot out sparks and began to vanish. At the first chance to do so, Discord reached out, grabbed Celestia’s front right hoof, and began to pull her forward through the air.

“Discord, wait!” the princess protested, but it was too late. Discord flung her through the air, and she went sailing towards the others, flying right over Nightmare Moon. She spread her wings and gave them a flap to keep her height, but then bent them backwards to try and maintain speed.

“Thank me later!” she could hear Discord shouting from behind. A second later, she felt a small weight upon her back. She glanced back and saw a small version of Discord sitting on her, holding a tiny set of reins and wearing a cowboy hat. “It’s later! Feel free, any time!”

She couldn’t help but crack a grin.

On the ground, Twilight and Fluttershy continued to barrel forward, the steady decline of the crater helping them to accelerate the whole time. The foals on their backs were still reeling in pain, magic streaming out of them. Twilight spotted a large rock sticking up out of the ground ahead. “That must be it!” she shouted. “Head for that boulder!”

Fluttershy nodded her head. “Okay, but don’t expect me to be able to stop!” she yelled back, her voice shaking nervously.

Celestia was nearly overhead, and she began to dive down towards the others. As she began her descent, a bright sliver of pink light from the horizon above caught her eye. “What’s that? Is that the sun?” she asked out loud.

Discord pulled out a pair of sunglasses and looked up at the pink light, which was growing rapidly at the far ridge of the crater. “No!” he said. “That doesn’t feel like the sun!” Celestia nodded in agreement.

A massive beam of pink light shot right down in front of the running ponies below, shining on the boulder. The circle of light, like a beam of pink sunlight, increased in size. The boulder split open at the top and slid outward on either side, as if it were some sort of hatch, revealing a massive opening in the ground.

“What’s that! What’s going on?” Fluttershy shouted nervously, not sure whether she should keep going or try to skid to a stop.

“Hey, everypony!” a familiar voice shouted out from the gaping hole in the ground. “Duck and cover!”

A massive, flowing pink mane shot up from the ground, sparkling and waving as Princess Celestia’s or Luna’s does. With an equally bright explosion of magic from below, a fully alicorn Pinkie Pie rose up from the ground, standing atop a giant version of her party cannon. Roughly the size of a small house, it shot out of the ground with great speed. Pinkie laughed, and with a slamming of her hoof against the top of the weapon, it lurched forward and locked its aim directly on Nightmare Moon.

“What!?” Twilight shouted, staring up at Pinkie Pie, who was now towering above them. She began to slide along the ground, trying to stop so she could hug the ground. Fluttershy had tried to do the same, but ended up rolling once before coming to a stop. Apple Bloom flew off her back and hit the ground as well.

Celestia was diving towards the ground at high speed. Upon seeing the cannon, she began to frantically flap her wings to stop descending.

“Ooooooh! I love this part!” Pinkie said with a giggle.

“No!” Nightmare Moon screeched, her eyes going wide and glowing bright red.

The cannon let loose with a massive beam of pink magic. The beam shot through the very fabric of the dream world, twisting it around and tossing it outward indiscriminately. Nightmare Moon glared and clenched her jagged teeth as the beam shot straight at her.

Discord flashed back to full size and wrapped his arms around Celestia’s neck. “No time to hang around here!” he shouted and then pushed upward as forcefully as he could, helping her to finally rise through the air. The two of them managed to dodge the beam, but a massive shockwave from the cannon rippled out, blasting them further upward. Their bodies flew through the air towards the bottom of the crater where the large stone building sat.

Despite the massive destruction let loose by the magical blast, Nightmare Moon was only pushed back halfway up the crater. The shattered and torn dream fabric quickly reattached itself, and Pinkie Pie slammed her hoof against the cannon again. With a pop, it vanished into thin air, and the pink alicorn floated gracefully down to where Twilight, Fluttershy, and the Crusaders were lying on the ground.

“Okie dokie, back to running!” she said, bouncing a couple of times with excitement after she landed. Twilight and Fluttershy slowly picked themselves up and shook their heads. Pinkie Pie levitated all three of the Crusaders to her own back and began to bolt down the hill towards the stone building. Twilight and Fluttershy took a moment to look at one another and shrug, and then slowly began to gallop down the crater once more.

Discord and Celestia flew through the air, the roof of the stone building below coming ever closer. Discord looked at Celestia, saw that her eyes were closed, and slapped his hands firmly against her cheeks. She shook her head and opened her eyes in response, glaring in disapproval. A second later, the two of them slammed into the ceiling of the stone building.

The ponies who had been running along the ground slid to a stop as best they could, bumping into the wall of the massive stone building. Twilight looked back and forth, trying to spot an entrance.

“How do we get in?” Twilight shouted, knocking her front right hoof anxiously against the wall.

“Push through!” a voice commanded. “Just imagine yourself passing through it, and you will!” Twilight looked at Pinkie, who nodded and jumped right through the wall. She gulped and closed her eyes. She pressed against the wall, but felt no resistance. A second later, she opened her eyes and found herself, along with Fluttershy and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, in a very dark hallway that lead to a large chamber ahead. Pinkie Pie was nowhere to be seen.

The chamber was dimly lit and cold. Twilight stood up and turned her head, looking for any sign of life. Fluttershy stood up as well and turned back towards the wall behind them. She tapped her hoof against it nervously, and found that it was solid.

“Hello?” Twilight called out, her voice echoing in the distance. Her ear twitched at the sound of her voice’s reverberations. “Pinkie Pie? Are you there?” After a moment, she turned to look at Fluttershy, who was kneeling down and making sure the Cutie Mark Crusaders were okay.

“This place is spooky, but not as spooky as outside,” said Fluttershy. Twilight nodded in response.

Apple Bloom stood up and brushed herself off. She reached a hoof down to Sweetie Belle and helped her get to her hooves. “Was that Pinkie Pie out there? That cannon thing was crazy,” she said.

“That cannon thing was awesome!” Scootaloo said loudly, leaping to her hooves, her voice echoing loudly across the dim chamber.

Twilight strained for a moment and then let out a sigh. “Strange, I can’t use my magic in here, even a simple light spell,” she said. She squinted, trying to force her eyes to adjust. Pinkie Pie’s face suddenly appeared right in front of her. She jumped back in surprise, and Pinkie grinned.

“I know! I love that thing!” Pinkie said excitedly, winking at Scootaloo. “Oh hey, we better get the others in here!” The pink alicorn’s horn lit up, revealing the ceiling far above them, upon which a pink, ovular portal opened. Celestia and Discord fell through the opening and landed roughly on the ground. The portal vanished shortly afterwards.

“Oopsie! Sorry!” Pinkie said, cringing. “Shoulda put something there to soften the landing. My bad.”

Celestia shook her head back and forth and pushed herself up to her hooves. “That’s okay. We are in your debt all the same, Pinkie Pie,” she said, smiling.

Discord floated up into the air. “Wow, drab décor. I would’ve expected better from you, Pinkie Pie. Honestly, I’m shocked and appalled,” he said, eyeing the place. “If it weren’t for this magic nullification field in here, I’d roll my eyes along the ground.”

Celestia sighed. “Little blessings...” she said. Discord smirked, and his lower body started to bulge and gyrate. Celestia ignored him and continued to speak. “He is right, though. What’s going on here, Pinkie? Has Nightmare Moon trapped you here, somehow?”

“Not exactly, but…” Pinkie Pie started, but was interrupted by an explosion from Discord’s hips. Mulcibar and Linnai appeared on either side of him and flung outward, smashing into the opposite walls of the small hallway.

Mulcibar rolled over and shot to his hooves, his eyes darting around and assessing the situation. Across from him, his sister did the same. He saw her lower her horn and point it towards the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who were standing beside Twilight and Celestia.

Not the best idea you’ve ever had… he thought.

“One move and the runts get it! Where are we?” Linnai commanded, quickly trying to take control of the situation, though her eyes told a different story. They were shaking and locked onto Princess Celestia, who was staring down at her, a frown across her lips.

Pinkie Pie bounced towards Linnai and landed next to her. She put a hoof over the changeling’s shoulder before she could even react and clicked her tongue. “Hey now, miss violent-pants! Why don’t you go ahead and try? Hate to tell you, but your magic won’t work in here.”

Linnai growled, but was quickly shushed by Mulcibar from across the hallway. “It’s true,” he said. “It’s just like what we were dealing with a moment ago. Perhaps even more powerful of a nullification field than that, actually.”

“Well we can’t just stand here! We have a mission!” Linnai shouted. She pulled away from Pinkie Pie with a snap and then pushed her horn forward, stabbing it right into Pinkie’s chest.

Chaos erupted. Twilight and Celestia leapt onto Linnai, pinning her to the ground. Pinkie fell sideways, hitting the stone floor roughly. Mulcibar dug his hooves in and gritted his teeth, preparing himself for the inevitable battle before him. The Cutie Mark Crusaders screamed in fear as Fluttershy ducked down beside them.

“That’s enough!” A booming voice came from within the chamber. A field of purple magic surrounded everypony and pulled them apart, holding them in the air. The entire group floated towards the center of the room, which became illuminated by a glowing horn. A circular altar stood at the room’s center, and sitting upon the altar was Princess Luna, her face locked in an expression of anger.

“Sister!” Celestia gasped. “Is it really you this time?”

“Pinkie!” Twilight shouted, reaching her hooves toward her friend. “You have to let us down, Princess! We have to save Pinkie!”

A flash of pink shot out from the purple magic, and Pinkie Pie jumped out, landing on the ground and dusting herself off. She grinned widely and tapped a hoof against the spot on her chest where Linnai had stabbed her. There was no sign of a wound.

Twilight exhaled with relief. The group was lowered to the ground, and the purple magic vanished from around all of them except the two changelings.

“You all must stay calm and listen to me, even you two changelings. The information I am about to share, though I am loathe to share it with the likes of you two, may be vital in stopping a terrible fate that would affect us all.”

“I don’t understand,” Celestia said. “What’s happened here, sister? Has Nightmare Moon trapped you here somehow?”

“In a manner of speaking,” Luna said. “Then again, she has been trapped as well, for a long time now.”

“Does this mean we are in your dream?” Celestia asked. Twilight, Fluttershy, Discord, and the Crusaders all walked closer to the platform, listening intently. Pinkie Pie turned her head towards the trapped changelings and stuck her tongue out. Linnai turned her head away from Pinkie and frowned.

“It is indeed our dream,” Luna said, her expression calming and her eyes closing. “However, it is more accurate to say that it is our never-ending nightmare.”

Author's Note

Wow! It's been a long time! Allow me to offer my apologies, and then to welcome you back to the dreamscape.

I'd like to say that I've been busy and just haven't been able to get to writing this, but honestly, I was just distracted by a bunch of other stuff. I feel it coming, though! That feeling where I just binge write several chapters at a time! Yes, I am ready! Let's go, Book Four!

What can you expect from Book Four? Well, let's just say the original title of this book when I drafted the original plan for the whole fanfiction was "Resistance" - shortly after that, I decided to re-title it "Revelations". However, I ultimately landed on "Corruption". Revelations and Resistance both still apply to this book's content, though. That's all I will say for now. ;)

Corruption Ch 2 - The Threat

Book Four: Corruption

Chapter Two - The Threat

“Never-ending nightmare?” Celestia asked. “Is that because of Nightmare Moon?”

Luna nodded her head. “In part, yes, but that is not the whole story,” she said. She tilted her head towards Mulcibar and Linnai and looked at them, blinking a few times, her eyes moving across their features. The two changelings instinctively leaned away from her. “Well, I’m sure you have many questions, but first, the vital information I spoke of.”

Luna’s horn began to glow and a magic circle appeared next to her, as if a thin layer of water had been suspended in the air. Upon the rippling surface, an image of the throne room in Canterlot appeared, changeling cocoons hanging from the ceiling, and streams of green magic flowing through the chamber.

“Surely you have seen the vast network of green magical energy,” she said. Celestia, Twilight, and Fluttershy nodded their heads. “This is the main spell that is being cast by the changelings. You may have thought that this was love energy being pulled from the dreams of our fellow ponies, but that is not accurate. This spell, webbed from mind to mind, is what holds us in our permanent state of slumber, and maintains the dream worlds we’ve been trapped in.”

Celestia put a hoof against her chin. “I knew it didn’t seem like just a vector for the love energy. So this spell is creating these dream worlds?”

Luna smirked slightly at the question and shot a glance at the two changelings. “Perhaps if our captors were more skilled, they would have been able to create more ideal dream worlds for us. However, they are amateurs in this realm of magic. It is painfully obvious,” she said. Linnai glared at her, but remained silent. “No, the dreams are of our own creation, the spell just keeps the entire world in motion. You may have noticed in your dreams before that events seem to center only on what is directly around you. These dream worlds are running full-time, so to speak, which is part of the problem I’ll eventually be coming to..”

“That must be why time passes at a seemingly normal rate, and we can get tired and hungry in the dreams,” Twilight added, and Luna nodded her head in response.

“It is forbidden magic. Even worse, the spell itself has been changed. The ones who have cast this spell mixed in other aspects, including psychic magic and defensive magic. Have you encountered any changelings in your dreams that seemed a bit single-minded?”

Twilight nodded her head. “Yes. In my dream, there were some changelings. They had taken over the bodies of my friends. One of them was what Princess Celestia called a shadow of Chrysalis, but the others were normal changelings. One of them acted so strange at the end, too…”

Luna frowned. “That is highly unusual, then. The defensive spell, from what I can tell, is designed to create changeling drones inside the dream world, eventually assaulting the dreamer and causing the dream to be ended so it can be started again. I hadn’t detected any magic that would cause any intelligent entities to appear, let alone a shadow of Chrysalis.”

“She seemed very real,” Celestia interjected. “At the time, I had assumed that she had projected her mind into the dream. It wasn’t really her, she vanished once we defeated her, and we haven’t been found out.”

Twilight tapped a hoof against the floor. “But what about the changeling from my dream that was impersonating Applejack? She was different, at least at the end.”

Luna waved her hoof back and forth in front of her. “Best not to speculate, who knows what sort of other magic they’ve accidentally encoded into the dream preservation spell. I can only tell you what I’ve detected,” she said. “However, we do have two of the changelings here with us, perhaps they could shed some light on that subject?”

A look of incredulity washed over Linnai and Mulcibar’s faces. Linnai stamped her hoof on the stone floor. “You expect us to help you? Are you out of your minds?” she shouted.

Discord floated over to the two changelings and stared at Mulcibar. “There could be ways of getting the information we need,” he said, and then laughed. A shiver ran down Mulcibar’s spine.

“Perhaps that won’t be necessary,” Luna said. She tapped the watery surface, and an image of her cocoon appeared. It pulsed outward with dark red magic. “The changelings, no matter how powerful their magi may be, lack the capacity of the dream magic we are being held by. I am afraid to say, but the magic that binds us in our minds is my own. When I was first captured, the changeling queen somehow overpowered me and put me to sleep. They’ve been converting my energy for their purposes ever since.”

“She did that to me, too,” said Twilight. “I woke up once. Of course, you would know that, wouldn’t you? You were there, and so was Nightmare Moon.”

Luna nodded to Twilight. “Yes, that was later, though, and it may have been a different spell entirely. I think now would be as good a time as any to share the events that led up to my capture.

“I had just lowered the moon on the day of the wedding and was heading towards my chambers. My original intention was to get some early sleep so I could be awake for the wedding ceremony later that day. However, that was not to be. Twilight’s distress had me puzzled, and I knew I would not be able to get any rest until I investigated the matter myself,” Luna explained. She waved her hoof in front of the shining screen and the image expanded in size. Everypony watched as a scene unfolded upon its surface.

Luna walked slowly down the hallway to her bedroom, her eyes distant in thought. She arrived at the large double doors that led to her room. Armed members of her personal guard stood on either side and they both saluted her as she approached. One guard pulled the door open, allowing Luna to pass.

“Good evening, your majesty,” one of the bat-winged guards said in a respectful tone. “May you sleep well.”

“Thank you,” Luna replied and then turned to face the guard who had spoken. “Keep a close eye out for anything suspicious, no matter how small. I wish to be notified of anything unusual, even if you must awaken me, understood?”

The guard nodded his head, and Luna smiled. She backed into the room and shut the door. Now in the privacy of her own quarters, she hurried across to a desk at the far end. Using her magic, she pulled a piece of parchment and a quill from the drawer and began to write. The scene’s view lowered to the paper so that her written words were visible.

As I am sure you are aware, a threat was issued against Canterlot. I was perplexed by this fact at first, but now I believe that it was possibly a diversionary tactic. What if the enemy is already inside Canterlot, hiding? Twilight Sparkle, who is one of the most perceptive ponies I know, has suspicions about Princess Cadence. I overheard her trying to convince her friends of this. I worry that your familiarity with Cadence may be blinding you to any suspicious acts, but I have no such problem. I had not met Princess Cadence until a couple of days ago. I intend to go ask her some questions. If you are reading this, it means that Twilight’s suspicions were correct, and for whatever reason, I was unable to return to my sleeping quarters. Please act accordingly.

Luna rolled the message up and sealed it. She walked back to her doorway and opened it, turning to the guard who had greeted her. The guard stood at attention and saluted. “Highness?”

“Take this scroll,” she said, handing the rolled paper to the guard. “Keep it with you at all times, do not hand it over to anyone but me. If anyone comes here for me, tell them that I am asleep and not to be disturbed. If I am not back within the hour, deliver the scroll to my sister. Consider this mission to be of the utmost priority, taking precedence above all other duties. Understood?”

The armored bat-pony nodded his head and tucked the scroll away under his chestplate. “My princess, it shall be done.” Luna smiled at him and galloped away, down the hall and then leapt out of an open window, landing on the ledge on the castle exterior.

“It took me some searching to find Princess Cadence. The first place I checked was her bedroom, but I only found a guard there,” Luna explained as the scene changed.

“I am here to see Princess Cadence,” Luna told the guard, issuing a command. “You shall allow me entrance.”

The guard, taken aback, stepped aside. “Of course, your highness, but Princess Mi Amore Cadenza is not inside.”

Luna pushed the door of the bedroom open and stepped inside. The room was empty other than some mannequins and clothing strewn about. She turned to the guard. “Do you know where she went?”

The guard nodded his head. “Aye, she’s gone to her secret changing room to prepare for the wedding,” he said nervously. “I don’t think she wanted to be disturbed, though.”

“What is this secret changing room? Where is it?” Luna asked, this having been the first time she’d heard of it.

“The guard explained to me that Cadence had specifically requested a room to herself in the castle’s lower level, in one of the aft buildings,” Luna said as the scene changed. “I arrived there as quickly as I could, being careful to not be seen. It didn’t even dawn on me at the time that the guard could have been setting me up.”

Luna entered the aft building, a large secondary structure that was used for the groundskeepers. It was full of gardening supplies and tools. Luna walked through the room, looking back and forth at all of the gear. “Caring for the castle gardens takes a lot. I wonder why Princess Cadence would have chosen this location, though,” she said. At the back of the room was a door, and behind it was a staircase that led down to a long hallway. Lanterns on either side of the hall were lit up, and the door at the end of the hall had light coming through from underneath. Luna’s eyes narrowed and she made her way to the door as quietly as she could.

She pressed her ear against the door. On the other side, the sound of stone rubbing against stone could be heard. Luna pressed the door open a crack and peered into the room. There was no sign of anypony. The room itself was bare, a dull, square room with stone floors and stone walls.

I know I heard that, though. Somepony is in there, she thought, audibly to the vision’s viewers. She slowly pushed the door open the rest of the way and quietly walked to the other side of the room. She scanned the walls and floor, looking for any stone that seemed out of place until she spotted it – a stone that was sticking up from the floor. She walked over to the stone and pushed her front hoof against it. It sunk into the floor, and the wall in front of her swung open, revealing a crystalline cave beyond. The light from the room’s lanterns hit the crystals, creating a colorful, sparkling display.

“What is this place? A secret cave underneath Canterlot?” Luna said aloud. She pressed against the stone on the ground again and the doorway swung shut. “I must report this finding. We shall order an investigation of this cave, and then perhaps we shall get to the bottom of this.”

“I can deliver that message for you,” a voice came from behind Luna. She turned around quickly and was greeted by the sight of a bat-pony in armor. Two other guards came in through the door behind him. She recognized them as all of the door guards she had spoken with that morning.

Luna lowered her stance toward the ground. “Where did you come from? We did not order you to follow us,” she said angrily.

“We couldn’t let you come here all alone, princess. What sort of guards would we be, then?” the guard in front asked. “I think you’ll find that this place is quite dangerous.”

The three guards bounded towards the princess, who dodged to the side with great speed. The unicorn guard lit up his horn and blasted a beam of magic, which hit Luna in the side and slammed her against a wall. She maintained her posture and charged her own magic into her horn.

“YOU SHALL CEASE THIS AT ONCE!!” Luna shouted at full volume. “YOU SHALL TELL US WHO YOU ARE AND WHY YOU ARE ATTACKING US!! SPEAK NOW, AND WE MAY BE MERCIFUL!!”

The three guards stared at her, their eyes glowing green. “Sorry, Princess, but your orders mean nothing anymore,” one of the bat-ponies said, pulling a rolled up scroll from his armor, the seal on it clearly broken. He lifted the scroll up in front of the unicorn guard, who shot the paper with magic, reducing it to ash.

“You’re too close to the truth, just like Twilight Sparkle,” a voice from the hallway said. “And just like Twilight Sparkle, you’ll have to be removed… at least until the time is right.”

Princess Cadence stepped into the room and slowly approached Luna.

“Princess Mi Amore Cadenza!” Luna shouted, becoming enraged. “What is the meaning of this?”

Cadence’s eyes glowed green and she smiled at Luna. “Sorry,” she said. “Wrong pony.” A flash of green magical fire erupted from floor to ceiling where Cadence stood. After it subsided, Chrysalis stood before Luna, laughing.

“A changeling!” Luna gasped, backing away a few steps. “What do you want from us? Why are you impersonating Princess Cadence?”

“Oh, dearest Luna,” Chrysalis said calmly. “I thought we were closer than that. I thought we were kindred spirits, and that you would at least understand us.”

“Perhaps in the past I tried to stand up for your kind, but I can not stand for such possibly treasonous acts! Speak quickly if you do not act in malice, and we may yet forgive your transgressions,” Luna responded.

Chrysalis laughed and walked closer to Luna. “Treason? Forgive me, Princess, but I do not seek your forgiveness, nor could this be considered treason. You’re no ruler of mine,” she said. “Furthermore, you really don’t remember, do you? You don’t know who I am, but I know you ever so well.” Chrysalis’ horn lit up with green magic, and at the same moment, a flash of green magic erupted from Luna’s chest. The princess turned her head down towards it, staring in horror. She glared up at Chrysalis.

“What have you done to me?” Luna asked, her voice full of pain as she strained to speak.

“What haven’t I done to you?” Chrysalis said, laughing. “You’re still so naïve, even after a thousand years… and just like a thousand years ago, you’ll be the key to Equestria’s downfall.”

Luna fell to the ground, her strength draining from her rapidly. Her eyes became heavy, and she felt herself drifting out of consciousness. The last thing she saw was the changeling queen’s smiling face staring down at her.

“Nighty-night, Princess,” Chrysalis said.

The scene went black, and Luna bowed her head in shame. “I couldn’t stop her. I was careless,” she said. She raised her gaze towards Celestia, holding back tears from her eyes. “Forgive me, sister. I should not have acted alone. It was arrogant and irresponsible.”

Celestia shook her head. “Little sister, we all made mistakes. This outcome was probably unavoidable.”

“I’m confused,” Twilight spoke up. “What did you mean when you said you’d stood up for the changelings in the past? I’d never read about--”

“That is a story best kept for another time, Twilight,” Celestia quickly interrupted. Her eyes locked with Twilight’s, which were glowing with curiosity. She narrowed her own and shook her head briefly before turning back to her sister. “More importantly, do you know what she meant by you not remembering, Luna?”

Luna lifted her head back up and sighed. “I still do not understand that, or the magic she used to subdue me. Regardless,” she continued, “I was captured and thrown into this dream world, and was forced to face something I never thought could threaten me again.”

“Nightmare Moon,” Twilight said, her eyes narrowing.

The watery circle next to Luna rippled, the image upon it becoming distorted for a moment, and then calming again. Nightmare Moon appeared upon the surface now, laughing and pulsating with dark magic.

“We all have our inner demons, some of us more so than others. In your journey, you may have seen first-hoof just how horrible the mind can be,” she said. Fluttershy nodded her head and frowned as she remembered her nightmarish dream world. “My inner demon is this creature, this alternate version of myself, Nightmare Moon. Born of jealousy, hatred, and a lust for power, Nightmare Moon is the embodiment of all my worst thoughts and feelings.

“I suppose I should explain, although it pains me to say it, especially to some of the very ponies who freed me from my dark side,” Luna said, then closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. “Nightmare Moon was never truly defeated. From the very first night of my return to Equestria, though not every night, I’ve had vivid nightmares in which she haunts me, chasing me down, swearing that she will return. Sometimes I could defeat her in the dream. Sometimes…” The watery screen flashed with scenes of Nightmare Moon chasing Luna, and even fighting her. The scene changed over and over, and eventually stayed on the image of Luna as a foal, cowering in a corner as the shadow of Nightmare Moon overtook her.

Celestia placed a hoof over her mouth, and the others all gasped as the scene faded out. Luna opened her eyes again, their whites faintly shining. “We were evenly matched, and she has never been able to gain control again. In the past two months, I had even been able to eliminate her from my dreams entirely. However, it seems to have been all for nothing.”

“But, princess,” Fluttershy said quietly, visibly shaken from the news and the imagery. “Isn’t Nightmare Moon just a part of you? Can you not just make her go away again?”

“It would seem not. Even worse, this is a dream that I cannot wake up from, and it is also a dream that is connected to hundreds of other dreams. Here, within the web of dreams that the changelings have created, Nightmare Moon has returned and is more powerful than ever.”

“Ridiculous!” Linnai said loudly. “Even if what you say is true, everything in this dream world is contained!”

Mulcibar nodded his head. “It’s true, we were among the ones who were, and are still, holding you captive inside your cocoon, Luna,” he said. “She can’t possibly go out into other dreams, even if these others have been able to!”

The tip of Luna’s horn flashed and her eyes glowed white. “ARROGANT FOOLS!” she shouted. “IF YOU THINK IT SO IMPOSSIBLE TO GET OUT, THEN HOW DID YOU GET IN? IF YOU THINK SHE HAS NOT BEEN INFECTING YOUR NETWORK OF MAGIC, HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THE CORRUPTION WHICH YOU CLEARLY SAW WITHIN THE DREAM YOU JUST ARRIVED FROM?”

Mulcibar and Linnai instinctively lurched backwards, their ears pressing down against their heads. Luna’s eyes returned to normal and she took another deep breath.

“She has been here within this prison of the mind the whole time, indeed,” Luna explained, “but every pulse of magic that you take and convert, she has laced with her dark magic. You’ve been aiding her this whole time, and you had no idea! Do you not see the truth? I say this not in arrogance since it was my other half who conceived this plan, but as a warning! You and your kind are nothing but pawns in her game! You’ve practically handed Equestria to her!”

Mulcibar’s eyes narrowed in thought, but Linnai fell to the floor with laughter. “Pawns? To ponies?” she managed to get out between fits. “We would quickly put her in her place if she so much as tried to stand against us! Our queen is powerful and gaining more power every minute! That power will be spread to all of us, and we will be unstoppable!”

Luna shook her head. “If you face her and have thoughts such as those, they shall be the last thoughts you ever have,” she said. “It is taking all the power I can muster to merely keep her out of this small section of my dream, and that’s after she’s been sending magic out to the other dreams.”

Linnai scoffed. “Her lucidity is just--” she started, but was snapped to a stop by her brother’s hoof pressing to her lips. She glared at him.

“Let her continue,” Mulcibar said, and then leaned in, pressing his lips to Linnai’s ear, whispering “We are clearly at their mercy right now, so let us see what we can gleam from her story. Our moment to act comes with time.”

Luna eyed Mulcibar suspiciously, but nodded her head. “From the moment I entered my dream world, I knew something was wrong. I tried to wake myself, but it was not possible. I knew I had to come up with an escape plan as quickly as possible. I could feel my magic being leeched out of me. Using my lucidity, I scanned my dream, and immediately noticed the immensity of it,” she said. The shining image beside her showed her teleporting all over Equestria, from Canterlot, to Ponyville, to the Everfree Forest, to the badlands in the south, to the frozen north. “I determined that magic was holding me in a state of sleep. I could detect no exit from the dream world. Briefly, I considered drastic action, wondering if suicide may be the only way to jolt myself to waking.” The scene showed Luna standing at the top of the tall mountain that Canterlot was built into the side of, staring down at the distant ground below.

“Fortunately, at that moment, a gleam of pink light from the south caught my eye. I felt the presence of something strange coming from Ponyville, and travelled there as fast as I could,” she continued, and the scene beside her flashed as she shot through the sky like a shooting star.

“Pinkie Pie!” Luna said with surprise as she landed on the balcony of Sugarcube Corner. She stared at the pink earth pony, squinting slightly as barely visible particles of pink magic glistened around her.

“Princess! Thank goodness you finally came!” Pinkie responded as she walked to the edge of the balcony and pointed a hoof down at a pair of ponies walking through the street. “There’s something wrong with everypony. I don’t know what the deal is! It’s hard to explain, but they all seem… empty, somehow.”

Luna looked down at the ponies below and nodded her head. “Pinkie, if you can tell the difference between them and you, or I, then you must be some sort of anomaly,” she said calmly, and Pinkie tilted her head with confusion. Luna turned to Pinkie and raised her hoof in front of her. “You may be my key to finding the way. Pinkie Pie, I need your help. Close your eyes and concentrate. This may feel strange, but you have to believe me. All of Equestria is in danger.”

Pinkie raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but it sounds serious. We should go get Twilight and the others!” she suggested.

“No!” Luna replied quickly. “It must be you, Pinkie Pie! You have a strange energy swirling all around you. I must delve into that energy and and see if it leads me to a way out. There is no further time to explain!” Luna’s horn glowed, and a bright pink aura lit up around Pinkie Pie, revealing a trail of magic particles flying up to the sky and into a larger, barely visible stream of energy. Luna stared up at it, and Pinkie Pie pointed her hoof upward.

“What is that? What’s going on?” she asked, smiling brightly at the colorful display. Luna did not answer, but instead latched onto Pinkie’s front right foreleg and took to the sky, pulling the pink pony along with her. She sped through the air along the magic trail, weaving her way down towards the Everfree Forest, landing at the statue of Nightmare Moon. A jewel upon the statue’s chest glowed with dark power. Pinkie looked around, seemingly unaffected by the whole situation, and smiled brightly. “That was fun! Can we do it again?”

Luna shook her head and shot a small blast of energy into the jewel on the statue. A rip in the fabric of reality spread open before her, and on the other side, she saw the room in which her cocoon hung, a circle of changelings around her concentrating and chanting dark incantations. Her ears twitched as the words of their spells entered them, and her eyes shot open wide.

“This can not continue!” Luna gasped. She turned to Pinkie Pie and pointed towards the rift. “Pinkie Pie, I know this is probably rather confusing for you, but what I am about to tell you is the frightening truth. Equestria has been invaded by beings known as changelings. They have a sordid past with Equestria, and had vanished before the time when I was banished to the moon. To see them now, and like this, is truly a dark matter. They have trapped me within a dream world, here inside my mind. You are part of my dream, but one that seems to be ever so important. I must find and awaken my sister and Twilight, as well as the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Because of this, I must leave here, but you must serve a vital role and protect this statue. Nopony may come near it. Do you understand?”

Pinkie Pie nodded her head slowly and put a hoof to her chin. “So, if this is a dream, then it should be no problem for me to create, say… a giant banana split!” she said, and then waved her hooves in front of her. When nothing appeared, she frowned and sighed.

Luna shook her head. “You don’t believe us, do you?” she asked despondently. “Well, let’s make this just a bit easier, then.” Luna’s horn began to glow and her eyes lit up. A flash shot through the air in a circle all around the two ponies. Luna lowered her horn and touched it to Pinkie’s forehead.

What happened? Pinkie’s voice projected outward, audible to the viewers of the scene, though her lips were not moving.

I’ve connected us, Luna’s voice responded. You are part of my dream, so giving us this sort of link is a simple task. We’ve no time to waste. Can I trust you to guard this statue and alert me of anything that approaches?

I guess so, Pinkie thought, lifting a hoof up to her head and lightly knocking on the side of it. This is so strange, but I guess this being a dream would explain why everypony seemed so different in town.

Very well. As a precautionary measure, I’ve placed a barrier around this place that will cause any creature that comes near it to actively choose to change their heading to avoid it, as well, Luna thought, and then turned toward the statue. She looked over her shoulder at Pinkie, who had taken a seat on the ground and had a ponderous look in her eyes. I shall return as soon as I am able.

“Hey, Princess Luna,” Pinkie said out loud, looking up at the alicorn as she was about to pass through the rift. “If this is a dream, and everypony is different… why am I not like them, too?”

Luna paused, her lips parting, but words unable to form behind them. Indeed, I do not know the reason behind this anomaly, she thought, forgetting that Pinkie could hear her.

It’s okay, Pinkie thought in response. You have to go help our friends! I hope I get to meet them. I mean, when I think about it, I realize that I don’t even know them! I just know we’re friends, and that thought fills me with such warmth. Please, Princess, you have to help them!

Luna smiled. You may be even braver than I, to face that fact. Stay strong, Pinkie Pie. And remember, if anything happens, shout as loudly as you can in your mind. I shall hear you. With that, she began to step through the rift and out into the stream of consciousness. A flash of purple sparked from the sky, and Luna looked back over her shoulder, pausing once more.

What was that? It was faint, but… she pondered. After a moment she turned her head forward once more, and fully exited her dream world, leaving Pinkie Pie to stand guard. These dreams are seeded with such a mixture of magic, there’s no telling what I just sensed. I should hurry!

Luna looked down at Twilight. “As you know, after I left my dream world, I made an unsuccessful attempt at waking you, Twilight. The trace of strange magic I had felt upon leaving my dream world had been Nightmare Moon appearing and then following me out,” she said. “We were caught by the changeling defense spell and pulled back into my mind. What I found there, upon returning, was a land ravaged by dark magic.” She waved her hoof in front of the floating magic beside her, and the image changed to show the landscape around the statue where Luna had left Pinkie Pie. The trees had been blasted away, nothing but stumps of shattered wood left. The grass was withered and gray, mostly reduced to ash. Pinkie Pie was laying on the ground, her body blackened and burned, and her breathing stopped.

“Pinkie!” Luna shouted and charged towards the still pony, sliding to a stop beside her. She knelt down and put her ear against Pinkie’s muzzle. “Why didn’t you call for me? I can’t believe that Nightmare Moon… that I… would do this.” She shut her eyes tightly, tears pushing their way out from the corners.

“I swear, whatever it is you are planning, it will not succeed!” Luna shouted loudly, clutching Pinkie Pie in an embrace and pulling her close. “Do you hear me? You will fail! Just like you always have!”

Not always, a voice whispered into Luna’s ear. Luna twisted her head around, but nothing was there. She quickly turned her attention back to Pinkie Pie and began to channel magic into the faded pink body.

Come on, Pinkie! she thought, lightly shaking her. We have to get moving! I can feel a dark presence closing in on us!

Closing in on you? the voice whispered in Luna’s ear. I’ve been with you for over a century. We are the closest of partners, you and I.

Luna wrapped her front right foreleg around Pinkie Pie tightly and stood up, continuing to channel magic into her. Dark clouds formed overhead, and lightning streaked between them. Luna’s heart raced. “Pinkie Pie!” she shouted. “Wake up this instant!”

Pinkie Pie gasped for breath, and her eyes shot open. She stared blankly into the dark sky above, her pupils dilated widely. “Just... five more... minutes,” she said as she caught her breath.

“Sorry, but I don’t think we have that much time!” Luna responded.

A dark shadow shot down from the sky and covered the place they stood in blackness.

Author's Note

Welp! Guess I'll hit that Publish button!

The second half of Luna's tale will be coming in the next chapter, which will hopefully come out in a REASONABLE timeframe!

Also, if you've missed it somehow, I'm going to use this space to say that there's a Conquering of Love comic now, illustrated by Zoarvek! Check it out here!

So yay! On to the next!

Corruption Ch 3 - Fracture

Book Four: Corruption

Chapter Three - Fracture

The scene faded to black, and remained that way for a moment.

“We know that’s not how it ended,” Sweetie Belle finally spoke up. “You’re here with us now, so you must have escaped.”

“Yeah, tell us what happened next,” Scootaloo added and jumped up to her hooves. “Did you have an epic battle?”

Luna managed to smile down at the fillies. “I’m glad you’re all paying attention, because the next part of this tale is important,” she said, and pointed her hoof towards the floating screen. “Honestly, I was even surprised by it.”

The scene flashed with bright pink magic. The darkness that had enveloped everything was blasted away, and Pinkie Pie stood beside Luna, now as a pink alicorn. The two of them stared across the barren wasteland at Nightmare Moon, whose piercing stare was aimed directly at the former earth pony.

“What are you?” Nightmare Moon growled, her voice full of anger.

Pinkie Pie smiled and set her horn aglow. “I’m Pinkie Pie!” she responded cheerfully, and then suddenly took on a serious expression. “Other than that, I have no idea. I just knew I had to repay Princess Luna since she helped me, and the only way to do it was to use magic. So I did!” She turned her head towards Luna as she spoke.

Luna glanced at Pinkie, but kept her attention firmly locked on Nightmare Moon. “You must have somehow used all the magic I just poured into you to transform,” she said. “I’ve never heard of such a thing happening. Because of it, we stand a fighting chance.”

Luna tapped her hoof against the screen and the scene froze. “I should explain, now. It seems that my intuition about Pinkie Pie had been correct. She was indeed an anomaly, as you can see. Dreams often have aspects that are strange, that don’t fit with the rest of the dream. I’ve never seen an anomaly like Pinkie Pie, though,” she said.

“Actually, Princess,” Twilight interrupted. “So far, Pinkie has been like that in every dream we’ve visited.” Luna blinked and furrowed her brow in thought.

“It’s true,” said Celestia. “I detected Pinkie as an anomaly within Twilight’s dream as soon as I entered it, and found that she was a marvelous conduit for magical power. She has been instrumental in our success, and is a key part to our strategy if this ‘rule of Pinkie’ holds true.”

“We’ve got this little pink gem, we can use it to communicate with all the other Pinkies we’ve met, among other things,” Twilight said, rooting around in her saddle bag. “Or… we did have it. Oh no, did I drop it?” She rummaged around desperately.

“There’s no reception in here, though!” said Pinkie. Everyone turned and looked at her. She had the pink gem in her ear, and she was tapping against it, a look of concentration across her face. “Helloooooo! Moonbase Pinkie to other Pinkies! Do you read me, other Pinkies?”

Twilight looked at her saddle bag, then back at Pinkie. “When did you…?” she asked. Pinkie just giggled in response and winked. “Nevermind. Princess, the point is that if Pinkie ends up being like this in all the dreams…” she started, but then trailed off, spotting the changelings sitting off to the side.

Luna blinked with confusion. “Yes? What of it?” she asked. Twilight nodded her head towards Linnai and Mulcibar, and Luna turned her gaze toward them. Linnai rolled her eyes and sighed while Mulcibar stared back calmly. “Yes, I see. I shall continue my story, in any case.” She swiped her hoof in front of the magic screen and the image upon it zapped into motion again.

“Although there’s not much more to tell,” Luna narrated as the screen showed a barrage of magical blasts between Nightmare Moon, Pinkie, and herself. “Even though it was two of us against one of her, we were evenly matched, unable to gain any ground. However, something strange happened that ended the battle.”

The scene showed a sudden jolt of magic sweeping across the sky. Like a storm had abruptly formed, lightning blazed down and struck Nightmare Moon. Her eyes erupted in a red glow and she vanished from sight.

“I didn’t see her again for several days within this dream world, but I knew that she was not truly gone. I could sense her, and I knew that I had to stay here as her jailer, keeping her from going out to other dreams. It wasn’t until she reappeared that I sensed what she had been up to,” Luna explained. “As you know, she and I are like two sides of the same coin. We are connected, and if I wished it, I could have communicated with her, just like she could communicate with me… and that she did. I am not sure why she told me as much as she did, but listen to her own voice as she reveals her plan. This, my little ponies and changelings, is the important information that this has all been leading up to.”

Nightmare Moon’s voice echoed across the chamber, a twisted and evil version of Luna’s own.

“You and I will be one again. There is no way for you to stop this now. No way for anypony to stop it. These changelings should never have meddled with Equestria, not while you and I still lived. After tonight, a new era will begin, led by us! Nopony can not stop us! The only things in this world that can rival our power are the Elements of Harmony, and after tonight, there will be nopony to wield them!”

“What have you done!?” Luna’s voice shouted. Nightmare Moon laughed loudly in response.

“Let’s just say after tonight, they’ll be having a nice, quiet nap! Permanently!”

“She spoke no more words, but she didn’t need to. Our minds were one, and I knew what she had planned -- I saw it all. If her release of magic into the dream worlds goes unchecked, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony will be trapped in eternal sleep.”

“Eternal sleep?” Fluttershy asked nervously.

“So her plan is to put us into comas?” Twilight questioned, her expression having hardened with fear. “Would we keep dreaming? How would we know if we’d been put into a coma?”

Luna shook her head. “Have any of you received a fatal wound and lived through it?” she asked.

Twilight’s heart sank. “I have,” she said quietly. “Not that long ago, either. But, it was from one of the changelings. Does that matter?”

Luna sighed. “It may. I can only hope that it does. For all of our sakes, the Elements of Harmony must be available to be used.”

Discord threw his arms into the air in frustration. “You’re telling me!” he said loudly, his eyes twitching. “Imagine if I’d helped you all out and had to mind-meld with Celestia for nothing!”

“Calm down, Discord!” Celestia shouted. “There’s no point in getting up in arms about it now!”

Discord sighed and flopped to the ground. I’d turn into a puddle of goo at this point if I could, he thought. At least the mind-meld is broken in here so she can’t hear me wallowing. I can just hear what she’d say...

Has it really been all that bad? Celestia's voice rang out in Discord’s mind. Do you hate helping us that much?

Oh, leave me alone, he thought and sighed.

“Even if she were to succeed, she’d have to deal with Cloudsdale’s considerable military might,” Celestia said. “Surely she’s considered that.”

“I would assume so, though I am not certain,” Luna responded. “This chamber blocks all magic other than my own, and that includes her magic and my link to her. However, I would think she has a plan for that if it happens.”

“So there’s truly no way but to fight her?” Celestia asked.

“Yes, but it will be dangerous. I felt some of her magic when we opened this place to let you in. She’s used her lucidity to change the rules outside, so to speak. I am not certain of all the conditions she’s set, but one hit me very fast: the essence of mortality.”

Fluttershy hid her face beneath her wings and Twilight looked toward the ground. “What does that mean?” Twilight asked. “The essence of mortality?”

“It means we can die out there, you idiot,” Linnai said with frustration. “The stakes are higher than ever. We set hoof out there, and it’s our real lives on the line.”

“Is that true?” Twilight asked, two of the three Cutie Mark Crusaders now huddling beneath her, along with Fluttershy. Luna nodded her head.

“You can count us out,” Linnai said with certainty. “We didn’t come here to die!”

“You were plenty bloodthirsty before,” Twilight snapped. “Besides, nopony is asking for your help!”

“Calm thyself, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said. “Save your strength.” Twilight hung her head back down again and took a deep breath.

A quiet voice broke the silence. Sweetie Belle, the only one of the Crusaders who was still standing normally, looking up at Luna, spoke up. “This probably isn’t important, but if this place blocks all magic, how did we talk to you in our dream, Princess?” she asked. Celestia and Twilight blinked and tilted their heads, staring down at the filly. “Sorry, I’ll be quiet now. It’s not important.”

Luna stepped forward and down from the platform she had been standing upon, gazing down at the filly. “No, child, you’re right. That is one mystery I have not pondered since it happened. Tell me, what happened when you were able to speak to me?” she asked, looking down at Sweetie Belle seriously.

“Well, we had these strange glowing emblems on our chests, and…” Sweetie Belle started nervously as Princess Luna reached a shaking hoof out towards her chest. “Later on, they turned into these pendants. They let us use magic, even Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. It was different from the lucidity.”

“They almost looked like the Elements of Harmony,” Twilight added. “The pendants were made of glowing gemstones with dark metal necklaces… not golden like the Elements, and the power they made felt different.”

Luna pushed her hoof gently against Sweetie Belle’s chest. An explosion of magic streamed out of the filly with vibrant intensity, flooding the chamber with bright, colorful light. The other two crusaders reacted similarly, their power pouring out, filling the air with their auras. Everypony looked around in awe. Twilight , Celestia, and Luna stared down at Sweetie Belle, whose eyes were now tightly shut and her horn glowing brightly.

Luna took a step back nervously and shook her head. “This is impossible. No magic should be usable in here but my own,” she said, then bringing a hoof up and placing it against her forehead. “What… is this? My head! My head is pounding!”

Celestia leapt towards Sweetie Belle and ducked down in front of her. “Sweetie Belle, please, try to grasp the power like you did before,” she said calmly, though her eyes were anything but calm.

“I can’t!” Sweetie Belle howled loudly.

“It’s too much! It won’t stop!” Scootaloo cried, tears pouring from her eyes as the magic burst outward uncontrollably.

“What sort of marvelous power is this?” a voice screeched, filling the room. “Your little sanctuary is breached!”

“Nightmare Moon!” Twilight shouted, looking up at Luna who was now fighting against the flow with her own magic, but it only seemed to be adding to the effect.

“No!” Luna screamed, staring wide-eyed down at the foals before her. “How can this be? How can you three be wielding my magic? How have you come to possess this power?”

Nightmare Moon’s laughter echoed across the chamber. “How, indeed! And yet, there they are! My little fillies, you shall be the bringers of my ultimate triumph!”

“Stop them!” Linnai screeched, jumping towards the center of the group and right at Sweetie Belle. Mulcibar reached a hoof out to try and stop her, but it was too late.

“Don’t you touch her!” Twilight yelled, jumping towards Linnai with her front right hoof pulled back, ready to strike.

“ENOUGH FROM ALL OF YOU!” Luna shouted at the top of her lungs, then firing a massive blast of energy out in all directions. The magic pushed outward, forcing everypony to the ground.

Celestia pulled herself up to her hooves and took a step towards her sister. “Luna, you have to let us help! You have to disable the magic cancellation spell!”

“She’ll get in here within seconds of that happening! And those changelings will regain their power, too!”

Celestia placed a hoof against her sister’s shoulder and leaned her head towards her. “Then we’ll have to deal with it all in a matter of seconds,” she said, her eyes burning as she stared at Luna.

Luna nodded her still-pounding head, and with a flash and a sound like howling wind, the magic cancellation field vanished. Celestia and Twilight’s horns lit up immediately, and they concentrated their power on the Crusaders. Luna did the same, but glanced over at the two changelings. Linnai had stood up and was looking back at her brother, who was channeling bright blue magic into the glowing gem at the base of his horn.

“Come on, Crusaders,” Twilight said. “Try again! Try to get ahold of it now that the magic field is down!” The three crusaders were straining as hard as they could, concentrating on the power that was still flying freely from their chests.

Pinkie smiled and lit her horn up as well. A staticy voice began to shout at her from somewhere, and she remembered the communication gem was in her ear now. Her eyes rolled upward as the tiny voice spoke to her.

Linnai grinned and turned her gaze back towards the other ponies. She walked calmly towards her brother. “You were right, Mulci. Our time to act has come, now,” she said. The gem at the base of her horn shone a bright red color. "Let's get out of here! Let them deal with the Nightmare!"

Mulcibar shook his head and stepped forward, pushing a hoof into Linnai’s side. He glanced at her as he passed. “You never did know how to play the long game,” he spoke calmly. He walked right up to the group of ponies who were concentrating on containing the magical outburst and joined them in their effort.

Linnai’s jaw gaped open and her eyes burned with anger. She screamed and let loose a blast of magic straight towards the ceiling, but with a flash, Discord appeared in it’s path. With a snap of his fingers, the blast vanished.

“Temper, temper!” he said. “No need to bring down the house.”

Linnai glared up at Discord, then looked back at Mulcibar. “I can’t believe this is happening,” she muttered under her breath. Discord appeared beside her and sighed.

“You’re telling me,” he replied.

The magic pouring out of the Crusaders died down to a small trickle. Nearly 30 seconds had passed, and Luna was beginning to look worried. Her eyes darted around the room, her ears twitched, and the glow of her horn grew brighter than before.

With a squelching sound, the magic finally shot back into the Crusaders, and their pendants from the previous dream formed around their necks. The jewels on each chain still glowed brightly with power.

“I think that does it,” Twilight said, breathing heavily.

“Indeed!” Luna shouted, and her horn burst outward, putting the magic dampening field in place once more.

However, just a second later, it happened.

Like a surge of water, a massive blast of red and purple energy crashed outward from the Crusaders. The fillies screamed in pain. Everypony was blasted away by the force. The walls of the chamber cracked and the ceiling began to give way.

Nightmare Moon’s voice once again filled the sanctuary.

“You fools can no longer stop me! I’ve not the slightest clue how it happened, but those three fillies are absolutely full of your magic! Our magic! Like a bridge through your forcefield, I can push my way in no matter what you do!”

The building exploded outward, boulders and shards of stone flying out across the dark landscape at the bottom of the crater. A ball of dark magic formed around the area and compressed, pulling everypony in and eventually forming into a sphere in which they were all trapped. The sphere rose slowly into the air, and Nightmare Moon descended from the sky to meet it.

“This is the end! The end of the elements! The end of Celestia’s reign! The end of the changeling invasion!” she howled, her face filled with demented joy and her fangs dripping with saliva. The sphere began to compress. “I’ll crush you all into a pulp! Only you will be spared, precious Luna. You and I will have so much fun after this, trust me!”

“Fight it!” Luna shouted, her horn glowing with power. “We have to stand together against her!”

“I… I can’t!” Twilight said, struggling to channel any magic into her own horn at all.

“Oh my gosh oh my gosh!” Fluttershy cried.

Discord’s face drooped as he frowned, snapping his fingers to no effect but a flash of light. “this can’t be how it ends!” he said angrily.

“You will never win! Outside of this dream world, you will be crushed!” Linnai screamed at Nightmare Moon, who responded with more laughter.

Mulcibar frowned and turned his head down towards the three fillies who were huddled together in the center of the ever compressing magical sphere. He raised an eyebrow as he noticed their pendants glowing brighter and brighter.

Pinkie Pie noticed the glowing pendants as well and slid down the inner sphere towards the girls. She put her forelegs around Scootaloo and nodded her head. “Yeah, they’re still glowing real bright!” she said as if she were responding to someone. “Well okay, that’s worth a try. Makes sense to me!”

Pinkie Pie pushed her head in the middle of the three fillies and began to speak to them. The ever-growing glow from their pendants had now attracted everypony’s attention, and they all stared down at them, observing Pinkie’s seemingly calm demeanor as she spoke unheard words.

“Princess, you were right!” Apple Bloom finally shouted as the sphere had shrunk to the size where everypony was beginning to touch one another.

“We’re gonna fight for Equestria!” Scootaloo shouted.

“That’s right! Get ready, girls!” Sweetie belle said. “Go!”

The three Crusaders began to glow with magic, their whole bodies radiating colorful light. The shrinking sphere ceased its advance and began to change color from red to a lighter purple.

“What are you doing!?” Nightmare Moon yelled at the fillies.

In the distance, seemingly miles away, a pillar of pink light shot up from the ground and into the sky. Shortly after, an orange pillar appeared, and then a yellow one shot up as well. The sky lit up brightly with the magical energy and the sphere changed completely to light purple, and then began to lose all color, turning a brilliant white.

“Girls, what’s going on?” Twilight asked, her horn now glowing much more brightly.

“It was the only way,” Pinkie said, her eyes closing. “If these girls have the same magic as Luna and Nightmare Moon, then they should be able to nullify their magic by pumping out as much of their own as possible.”

Celestia gasped. “But that comes with a price, Pinkie Pie!” she shouted.

Pinkie nodded her head. “It was the only way,” she replied.

Princess Luna, a look of pure fear on her face, stopped channeling magic into her horn and wrapped her forelegs around Celestia and Discord. “Brace yourselves!” she called out. “This is not going to be pleasant!”

“What’s going to happen?” Fluttershy asked nervously as Twilight grabbed ahold of her.

With a deafening bang, the sphere exploded, and everypony shot out in all different directions with a cacophony of screams. They flew into the sky, blazing through the air at high speed. Bright streaks of magic trailed behind them, giving them the appearance of comets sailing through the night.

Nightmare Moon scowled and shot straight up into the air. The pillars of light that had appeared earlier had faded, and the others had been shot miles away by now. She growled deeply at the bottom of her throat.

“If any of you somehow survive, make no mistake, I will find you all. Mark my words, you will not make it out of this world alive!”

Princess Celestia awoke with a start. She shot up to her hooves, visions of her flying through the air uncontrollably flashing through her head, as well as the orange pegasus she had been cradling in her forelegs as she flew. She now found herself standing on a large cloud. She looked around in a panic.

“Scootaloo!” she called out, and then spotted the foal a short distance from her, sleeping peacefully enough on the cloud. She walked to her to make sure she was okay, and then proceeded out to the edge of the cloud. Looking down, she saw the city of clouds stretching out before her.

“Cloudsdale,” she said to herself. “I suppose it could have gone much worse."

She turned her gaze toward the moon. “Be safe, sister. I hope everypony is okay. We have no time to waste,” she said to herself, turning her head to look back at Scootaloo. “We must find one another again and take a stand against Nightmare Moon. There truly is no other way.”

Luna quickly realized she couldn’t breathe. Her ears were ringing, her body was cold, and she felt pain the likes of which she was not used to experiencing within a dream -- unless Nightmare Moon was involved.

Nightmare Moon! she thought. Her eyes shot open, and she finally realized she was underwater, and sinking. Before she could even start to cast a spell, she felt the grip of a taloned hand around her left foreleg. The claw pulled her upward with great speed, and she crested the water’s surface. Luna gasped for breath and blinked her eyes. She saw Discord floating above the water in front of her and felt the claw release her leg. It floated through the air back to Discord’s arm and reattached itself.

After coughing up water for a moment, the princess regained her composure and considered Discord, looking directly at his face. “Thank you for thy assistance, Discord,” she said, formally.

Discord sighed. “Don’t get used to it,” he said, then snapped his fingers. A raft appeared on the surface of the water, and he and the princess teleported onto its surface.

“Do you have any idea where we are?” Luna asked, repositioning herself on the raft.

Discord nodded his head. “From what I can tell, we’re in the ocean to the west. I spotted land due east from up high, doesn’t look like very forgiving territory. I’d say it’s the San Palomino Desert, if I’m not mistaken.”

Luna gasped. “We’ve been shot that far off?”

“Couldn’t you tell? It’s your dream world, after all. By all means, whenever you’re ready, use your lucidity to get us someplace more civilized.”

Luna closed her eyes. She tried to concentrate, tried to sense her dream around her, but something was stopping her. “I can not,” she said sadly. “There’s something wrong. I don’t think it’s from Nightmare Moon this time, either. It’s almost as if… there’s something missing. Something from inside of me.”

“Well, that’s rather inconvenient,” Discord said with a sigh.

“Until I discover what’s wrong, we shall have to press on without.”

“Well, we’re gonna need a bigger boat, then!” Discord said with sudden glee. The raft contorted and transformed into a ship. A pirate flag with Discord’s smiling face on it flew above the main mast. Discord carefully placed a patch over one of his eyes and took hold of the wheel in front of him.

Luna smirked. “Well done, though I question your taste in accessories,” she said. Discord snapped his fingers and a patch eye appeared over Luna’s left eye.

“I don’t know, I think it’s rather stylish!” he said.

This is going to be a long trip, Luna thought. At least his magic is powerful, and similar enough to lucidity. We should be able to face any danger that we encounter.

Discord turned the wheel and whistled. “You know, I was upset at first, but this is just fantastic!” he said cheerfully. “I never thought I’d end up being shipped with you, Princess Luna!” He turned his head and winked his non-patched eye at her.

Luna smirked and shook her head.

When Twilight came to, she found herself suspended in the branches of a tree. Thick vines hung down from the tree’s limbs, acting as a net. She struggled for a moment before finally freeing herself and dropping down to the ground below. The earth under her feet was soggy and wet, and the smell of peat filled her nostrils.

A swamp, eh? she thought. Where am I? That explosion could have launched me halfway across the continent… it’s amazing I’m in one piece. She looked up to the stars in the sky and used them to orient herself. She began to move northward, going on the assumption that she had been shot to the swamps of the southeast. She heard a snapping twig to her right and stopped suddenly.

“Is somepony there?” she asked quietly, staring into the shadows where the sound had come from. There was no response. She nervously continued walking, casting a light spell on her horn.

From the cover of a thorny bush, a pair of eyes stared out towards Twilight Sparkle. Breathing slowly and quietly through her open mouth, Linnai followed Twilight from a short distance, taking deliberate, careful steps. She seems to know where she’s going, Linnai thought as she stalked. I’d better keep my distance, though. I can’t afford to have her discover me.

As she was thinking, she took another careful breath in through her mouth, and a fly buzzed right in. She choked and wheezed, falling forward into the sludge. Twilight came running, pushing the thorn bush aside with magic. She stared down at the convulsing changeling, a frown forming across her lips.

Linnai continued to hack and pound her hoof against her chest, not even noticing Twilight was standing in front of her. “Blech! No!” she said in a panic, and then finally noticed a purple hoof pressed into the mud in front of her. She slowly tilted her head upward, her eyes tracing the foreleg and body up to Twilight’s scowling face. She scooted back slightly as Twilight unhappily stared back down at her.

“I think I ate a bug,” Linnai managed to say, her voice rasping. Twilight shook her head, turned around, and began to walk away. Linnai stumbled back up to her hooves. “Wait, don’t leave me!” Twilight stopped in her tracks. Linnai cringed.

Spinning around to face the changeling again, Twilight stamped her hoof into the mud. “Why in Equestria would I want to help you?” she asked. “It’s not so nice when the tables are turned, is it? What did you say, again? That we’d be out of our minds if we expected help from the two of you? Well, that’s fine! I don’t want your help, and I don’t want to help you!” She breathed heavily, her mind full of memories of the fight against the changelings in the Crusaders’ dream.

“Look, I know we’ve had some rough patches, but…” Linnai started, but was cut off.

“Rough patches? You nearly killed me! You tried to kill the princess! Who’s out of their mind, now?” Twilight shouted, staring at Linnai and noticing that the gemstone that was normally socketed into her horn was now gone. “So, what now? Now that you don’t have your little magic focusing jewel, all of the sudden you need help?”

Linnai fumed and snapped back. “Yeah, so what? I could still kick your flank, even without it! You should feel honored that I’m choosing to not kill you again!”

Twilight clenched her teeth, her eyes widening in anger. She caught herself, took a deep breath, and sighed. “Just stay away from me,” she said. “And don’t follow me!” She started to walk northward again. After a short distance, she heard a sloshing sound from behind her. She turned and saw Linnai following her.

“What!” Linnai yelled. “I’m not following you! I just happen to be going the same way!”

“Whatever,” Twilight groaned, and continued to trot northward through the swamp. After about a mile, she turned her head back again and saw that Linnai was still following her. “You have wings! Why don’t you just fly away?”

“None of your business!” the changeling snapped.

“And honestly, if you wanted me to help you, why didn’t you disguise yourself as one of my friends? That’s what you changelings do, isn’t it?”

“That’s also none of your business,” Linnai said with a frown. “Besides, you don’t seem like the type to be so easily fooled. You saw through the Queen’s disguise. Why waste the energy?”

Twilight shrugged and started to march on once again, thinking to herself. I don’t like this. She has to be planning something. I can’t let my guard down.

Linnai trailed behind, her eyes locked on Twilight, also thinking to herself. Why did this have to happen to me? Of all the ponies I had to run across, why did it have to be her? I could have manipulated the foals or the yellow one so much more easily. Guess that’s just my luck…

“Wake up, Pinkie!” a tiny voice shouted into Pinkie Pie’s ear. She groggily opened her eyes. As they came into focus, she found herself lying in a room on a bed. Broken debris lie all around her, and a hole in the roof above her revealed the starry night sky.

“Where am I?” she said, placing a hoof on her head. Her body ached as she moved.

“I don’t know, but you’re lucky!” the familiar voice said to her. “You went flying and crashed into this house! We tried as best we could to cushion your impact. The fact that you managed to break through a thin-roofed building and land on a bed certainly helped, too!”

“I don’t feel so good,” Pinkie said, rolling onto her side.

“No time to rest, Pinkie. I know just the thing to pep you up, too!”

“Wait!” Another nearly identical voice protested. “We don’t know what will happen. She already has Princess Luna’s magic. Can we really give her Celestia’s magic, too?”

“Is that the other Pinkies?” Pinkie Pie asked, trying to force herself to sit up. “What do you mean give me Celestia’s magic?”

“I don’t know,” one of the other Pinkies responded. “There’s nothing in any of Twilight’s books regarding magical transference from two alicorns.”

“The fact is, we need her in the network. We can’t connect her unless we give her magic that’s on the same wavelength.”

“She’s Luna’s Pinkie, I’m sure it’ll be fine!”

“Do I get a say in this?” Pinkie asked, shaking her head groggily. A second later, she felt a jolt of magic zap across her brain.

I guess not, she thought.

Keep your hooves crossed! A voice shouted inside Pinkie’s mind.

A second later, there was a massive explosion. The building that Pinkie had been in was completely demolished. Debris flew everywhere.

Out at sea, Luna and Discord were sailing toward land in their ship. An explosion of pink magic from the northeast caught their attention. Luna shot to her hooves and stared towards the barely visible city. “We should change course,” she said. “That felt like my sister’s magic.”

Discord nodded. “We’re shipping off to Las Pegasus! Set sail!” he cheered.

Fluttershy awoke in a dim place, lying upon a pile of hay. Searing pain shot through one of her hind legs, and she cringed in response. Looking around, she spotted light coming through an opening just to her side. She crawled with her forelegs toward the light. As she pulled herself away from the hay pile, she felt a ground made of cold, damp rock underneath her.

This is some sort of cave. I have to figure out where I am. Have to find the others, she thought.

She pushed her head through the opening and into a large cavern. The light was coming from a flickering fire to her right. The heat coming from the flames was soothing, despite the incredible pain in her right hind leg. She turned her head to look at the fire, thinking to herself, one of my friends must be here with me.

She barely kept herself from gasping as she turned her gaze.

“You…” she said, and then fainted from the pain.

Author's Note

Yeah, the Pinkie Pie double alicorn power thing feels less impressive after the season finale. It was a good idea, and then Twilight had to go and have like... 4x alicorn power in the finale. Twilight OP! Nerf plz!

See, if I had been writing faster, I would have beat the finale to this. Goes to show I need to write more!

Corruption Ch 4 - Shadows of the Past

Author's Note

WHAT'S THIS? AN UPDATE IN UNDER A MONTH?

Littlecolt has finally built that writing cyborg!

If you see any errors, feel free to point them out. I am pretty confident it's good to go, though! Big thanks to Servant Phoenix for coming through in a hurry and getting the major editing complete despite real life stuff!

Corruption Ch 4 - Shadows of the Past

Book Four: Corruption

Chapter Four - Shadows of the Past

Nightmare Moon stood upon a balcony at the top of a high spire in Canterlot, gazing through a telescope, scanning the landscape of Equestria. She pulled her face away from the lens and closed her eyes, trying to concentrate on the fiber of her dream world.

Why can I no longer sense the world around me? What did those fillies do to me? she thought, images of the magic explosion that sent the intruders in her world flying in all directions flashing in her mind. That power they had, it was the same as ours. Whatever they did, they have stolen our lucidity, dear Luna.

She pressed her eye against the telescope’s lens again, slowing panning her view across the western mountains. Swinging the telescope southward, she locked her gaze onto Ponyville. The town was abandoned, no sign of movement. Stopping to look into an open window in a house, a pair of glowing red eyes peered back out at her.

She pulled away from the telescope again and shook her head. They will surely all head back towards Ponyville. If they manage to survive and make it there, they will not live much longer, she thought. I’ll be waiting for you, precious Luna.

Scootaloo sat up and rubbed her eyes. The feeling of a cloud beneath her was both comforting but also unfamiliar after so long. She turned her head and spotted Princess Celestia across the way, gazing down towards the earth. She stood up and felt the weight of her strange pendant swing out from her chest and then back in. She looked down at the shining, flame-shaped jewel, and then started to move towards the princess.

“Princess, where are we?” she asked. Celestia turned her head back and smiled at the filly.

“Cloudsdale,” the alicorn replied. “It’s not the same as you may remember it, though. It seems to be completely abandoned. Hop on my back, we’ll go take a look around.”

Scootaloo felt her legs beginning to tremble and fell backwards onto her rump. Celestia tilted her head slightly and then lifted the pegasus back to her hooves with her magic.

Scootaloo blinked. “I’m pretty hungry,” she said. “I hadn’t noticed. How long was I asleep?”

Celestia lowered her back towards the cloud ground. “Only a couple of hours. Considering the amount of magic you three let out, I figured you might be hungry.”

Scootaloo hopped up to the princess’ back with help from a little levitation spell from the princess and then wrapped her hooves around her neck. “It had been a while since we’d had anything in our dream, too,” she said. “I just hope the others are doing okay.”

Celestia nodded, spread her wings and leapt down, gliding across the expansive city. Directly ahead of her was a palatial structure. “Since this is Princess Luna’s dream, we will head to Stratocumulus Castle, our home here in Cloudsdale. She would be most familiar with it, so it would be the most detailed aspect of this city,” she said.

Scootaloo glanced down at the row of houses to the west of the castle. She swallowed and began to speak. “Can we go to…” she started, but decided not to finish.

Celestia smiled. “You want to see your old home, is that it?” she asked. “Your father still lives in the same place, but I am not sure it will be as you remember it. I don’t think Luna has ever paid him a visit.”

Scootaloo didn’t respond, but the princess banked left anyway, heading towards the large homes that rested against the thick, white walls that surrounded the palace. She landed in front of one particular house that sat roughly in the middle. Scootaloo hopped off Celestia’s back and made her way slowly up the steps. She pushed the door open, revealing a large foyer which led to a living room. There was nothing inside but very basic furniture, the kind you would imagine most ponies would have in their homes. There was nothing anywhere to indicate that she or her parents had lived there.

Celestia followed the filly around and into the kitchen. Scootaloo pulled open the pantry door, revealing a fully stocked set of shelves containing many different kinds of food inside cans and various other containers.

“Well. I guess it makes sense that she’d assume there would be food,” Celestia said. “I’m sorry it’s not like you were expecting, Scootaloo. Ever since what happened in your dream, you must have your father on your mind an awful lot.”

Scootaloo nodded her head. “Do you think the changelings invaded Cloudsdale, too?” she asked as she pulled a can of sliced peaches from the shelf in front of her.

Celestia shook her head. “I couldn’t say, but I would think so,” she said, looking at the child and seeing her worried expression.

“What if I never get to see him again?” Scootaloo asked. She turned towards a drawer and opened it, rummaging around for a can opener. Princess Celestia lifted the can up with her magic and popped the top off. She patted the filly on her head.

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” the princess said with a gentle smile. “I know your father. He may be a tad… eccentric,” Celestia started.

“A tad?” Scootaloo asked with disbelief, a slight grin forming upon her lips.

Celestia chuckled. “Okay, more than a tad eccentric,” she continued. “But you know as well as I that he wouldn’t ever roll over that easily. I pity the changelings that try to take him down."

Scootaloo tilted her head back and poured a slice of peach into her mouth from the can. She chewed it, chuckling at Celestia’s statement, and then held the can up to her. Celestia lifted a segment of the light-colored fruit up with her magic and slid it into her mouth.

Suddenly, there was a hissing sound, like steam leaking out from a pressurized pipe. Celestia pulled Scootaloo close and jerked her head around towards the stairs on the other side of the living room.

“What was that?” Scootaloo asked, shaking slightly.

“I don’t know, but I think we should leave now,” Celestia said and then lifted the filly up onto her back. “I’ll grab some other items from the cupboard and then we should go.” She levitated several items out from the shelves and placed them in front of Scootaloo, who then wrapped her forelegs around them.

The hissing came again, even louder this time, and Celestia bolted from the kitchen and through the living room. As she passed the staircase, she glanced up it and saw a pair of burning red eyes staring back at her. She burst out of the doorway and took to the skies, flying faster than before, and heading southward. After a minute, Cloudsdale was left behind them.

“What was it?” Scootaloo asked, shaking slightly. “Did you see anything?”

Celestia shook her head. “No, but I don’t think we should stick around any longer to find out. There’s no telling what may be lurking anywhere in this dream world. I hadn’t considered it, but it’s just like Luna said. Nightmare Moon has done things to this world. We have to keep our guard up.”

The pair of red eyes were still vivid in her mind as she flew. Best not to scare the filly any more than she already is. That wasn’t Nightmare Moon, though. It was something else, Celestia thought. She swooped downward and traveled low to the ground, heading towards the forested foothills of the Unicorn Range as fast as she could. The fact that she hasn’t found us yet is troubling. We shouldn’t be able to hide from her in this world, but all the same, we had best stay hidden. We should avoid places where she might expect us, such as Canterlot or Ponyville. I hope the others think of that as well…

Fluttershy heard the crackling of flames and felt the warmth of a fire against her body. The sensation of pain and itching again entered her mind, and she realized that her back right leg felt cold. She opened her eyes and the light from the nearby fire made her blink a few times. She reached her right foreleg down and touched her hind leg just below her flank. Pain shot through her leg, and she could feel some sort fibrous cloth wrapped around it. She grunted slightly at the sensation. She pulled her hoof back up in front of her face and saw it streaked with blood. She gasped slightly, and then heard movement.

She turned her head towards the sound and saw Mulcibar on the other side of the small campfire standing and looking down at her. “You’re awake again,” he said calmly. “Don’t move around too much. Your leg was gashed open. You were bleeding out pretty badly, especially after the first time you woke up and dragged yourself across the cave.”

Fluttershy turned her head as best as she could and looked down at her leg. It was tightly wrapped in white cloth, with blood seeping through, but not to the point where the bandage was soaking in it. Her mind was so full of fear and confusion, she couldn’t bring herself to speak.

“That’s stopped the bleeding for the most part, but you need to rest and stay still,” the changeling continued, walking around towards the frightened pegasus. He stopped a bit behind her and to the side. “We seem to be safe here for now.”

Shivers went up Fluttershy’s back as she remembered how Mulcibar had spoken to her in the last dream world.

Oh yes, I’d definitely show you a good time, my dear.

Fluttershy pulled her left hind leg tightly up against her body and wrapped her tail closely around her rear.

Mulcibar laughed in response. “Your memory seems to be working, Don’t worry, I’m not so desperate to try anything like what you’re thinking,” he said, and then leaned down, speaking softly just behind her ear. “Not with you injured like that. I’d rather you to thoroughly enjoyed it.”

Fluttershy shook again, goosebumps peppering her neck. Mulcibar laughed and stepped away from her, sitting down in front of the fire a few feet to her left. “Besides, now is hardly the time or place,” he finished.

Fluttershy felt only somewhat more at ease and still kept her guard up. She glanced around the cave, spotting the mouth in the distance. She heard Mulcibar tap his hoof against the ground and turned back to him.

“I wouldn’t go out there. There’s something out there. Many somethings. We’re in a cave in the middle of a forest somewhere, and the forest is full of strange, moving shadows. I imagine Nightmare Moon created them, of course, and I’m sure they aren’t too friendly. I’ve put an illusion up at the cave’s mouth. From the outside, it looks like a sheer rock face. Whatever those things are, they don’t seem to be able to see through it.”

“What happened to me?” Fluttershy managed to ask, her voice nearly a whisper.

“You landed on a sharp bit of tree trunk that was sticking up out of the ground. Your leg was cut, and your flank was impaled where your leg meets it,” he said, and then tapped his hoof against the empty socket at the base of his horn. “Without my focusing gem, I couldn’t do much to heal you, and the large outburst of magic drew the attention of those shadow creatures. You’re lucky I found you when I did, and we’re both lucky this cave was nearby.”

Fluttershy looked toward the ground. She saw that she was lying on a bed of grass and hay. She glanced over at Mulcibar, and he was sitting on the stone ground. Maybe… he’s not such a bad guy after all, she thought. He was so menacing and scary before, but now he’s taking care of me… but why?

As she was thinking, her stomach growled. She felt a pang of hunger, and blushed slightly. “Sorry, I just…” she said, not even sure why she was apologizing.

“I couldn’t scrounge up much food,” Mulcibar said. “Hopefully that’s the sort of thing you would eat.” He slid a piece of wood towards Fluttershy. Lying upon it was an assortment of mushrooms, a pair of yellow apples, and some cleaner hay.

Fluttershy glanced down at the assortment. “Those mushrooms are poisonous,” she said, but reached her head forward and took hold of an apple, biting a big piece out of it. She chewed briefly and swallowed, her stomach now ceasing its complaining. She looked back up at Mulcibar, who had turned his gaze back toward the fire. “Why are you helping me?”

Mulcibar looked back at her and shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I?” he asked. “You heard Nightmare Moon, we could die for real here. I can’t just let you bleed to death.”

Fluttershy stared at him in awe for a moment. Maybe he really is a good guy. He’s sort of a weirdo, but maybe he was only acting so mean because he had to for some reason, she thought.

He tilted his head upward and continued. “I’m sure we’ll be able to get plenty of love energy from you, so of course I can’t let you die.” He grinned as he spoke and a bit of drool almost escaped the corner of his mouth.

Steam practically shot out from Fluttershy’s ears. Nevermind! She thought. It was stupid of me to even think such a thing!

Mulcibar looked down at Fluttershy’s now strained, angry expression. “Was it something I said?” he asked. “In any case, do try to relax. We don’t need that wound opening back up again. That ‘bandage’ was just a random piece of cloth I found out there.”

Fluttershy finished eating the apple in silence, and then started on the hay. She glared over at Mulcibar, her face seeming to be stuck in that expression. She began to take note of his various features, though admittedly she had never paid much attention to changelings before. She actually found his folded butterfly-like wings lovely. They were dark and covered in blue circles, which seemed to be glowing ever-so-slightly. He sat with a bit of a slouch, and he had barely visible bags under his eyes. He stared towards the mouth of the cave, paying seemingly no attention to Fluttershy at all.

The yellow pegasus sighed. She pushed the makeshift tray of food back towards him. He looks tired and must be hungry, she thought.

“Why don’t you eat something?” Fluttershy asked, trying to sound as unfriendly as she could while offering the changeling the other apple.

Mulcibar glanced down at the food and shook his head. “Didn’t you say the mushrooms were poisonous?”

“I meant the apple…” she said, and then tried to think of something to tack onto the end of her sentence. “m… jerk!”

Mulcibar laughed. “Of course. Sadly, that’s not something I could eat. Rather, it would not help me, and considering your attitude, I have a feeling my next meal is a long way away.”

Fluttershy blinked and then realized what he was saying. They feed on love. How can they even live like that? she thought, her expression softening a bit.

Mulcibar flashed a toothy grin. “Who knows, maybe I’ll grow on you,” he said. “But I can’t do much but keep that forcefield up for now.”

Fluttershy looked back toward the entrance. “How are you doing that? I thought you said you couldn’t use magic without that jewel.”

Mulcibar tapped a hoof against his back. “My illusion magic channels through my wings,” he replied. Fluttershy nodded her head and looked back at his glowing wings.

A high-pitched scream from outside broke the quiet and Mulcibar shot up to his hooves. “Stay here!” he said, not that Fluttershy could move very well if she wanted at this point. The changeling bolted toward the mouth of the cave and leapt out, vanishing from sight into the darkness.

A moment later, there was a series of bright flashes of magic, the same high-pitched scream again, and then another that Fluttershy knew came from Mulcibar. She pushed herself up to her legs with a grunt, balancing on three legs with the fourth hanging somewhat limply. She hobbled toward the entrance, moving slowly. Flashes of magic and sounds of pain and fear continued to come from the forest. Before she could reach the mouth, something barrelled into the cave, crashing right into her and knocking her to the ground.

Fluttershy lifted her head and pushed against the weight that was now lying atop her. It felt warm and furry. She looked down and saw Sweetie Belle, her eyes wide, staring toward the cave entrance, breathing quickly and heavily and speechless with fear.

Outside the cave, just barely visible through the shimmering surface of the illusion spell, several pairs of glowing red eyes shone in the dark of the woods.

“Mulcibar…” Fluttershy said to herself quietly, reaching a hoof out towards the opening.

Twilight Sparkle had been trudging through the swamp for several hours now. Her legs were wet and cold and she was starting to get hungry. There was no apparent end to the swamp in sight. She glanced behind herself for the first time in several miles and saw Linnai still plodding along behind her.

Twilight could see an island of dry land up ahead, the swamp was full of them, though none were ever very large. We’re both starting to move a bit slow. I’ll have to stop to eat and rest soon, she thought, furrowing her brow a bit. Can I trust her to not try something while I’m asleep?

Twilight climbed up the embankment and scoped out the lay of the small piece of land. There was a large mound of solid dirt and rock on the far end. Twilight decided to use that as a piece of protective cover. She began to gather dry sticks and larger pieces of wood together. At this point, Linnai had climbed up to the small island as well and was watching Twilight work. She leaned against a tree right at the island’s edge.

Twilight had finished setting up her fire pile, complete with a couple of large logs of fallen trees that she’d broken into segments with her magic. The flames caught quickly thanks to a fire spell, and now Twilight was starving. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to be had in the area. A large patch of thick grass and reeds was nearby. Grass was never Twilight’s favorite, but she would have to make do. She toasted the vegetation over the fire briefly and began to force down the bland, fibrous things.

It’s not the greatest, but at least it’s something, Twilight thought. She looked over at Linnai, who was now piling sticks together. The changeling bucked her back hooves against the tree she was near, knocking more sticks and leaves down, and then piled them together. She looked over at Twilight, her face full of frustration.

Twilight quickly looked away from her. What’s her problem? Twilight thought, then glanced back at her briefly, noticing the empty socket in her horn once again. Oh yeah, I guess that would make it a bit harder. Twilight felt her legs almost start to move on their own to go help her, but she stopped herself.

We’re not on some journey together because we’re friends. I can’t just start helping her, Twilight thought and sat back down in front of her fire. She placed a hoof against her chest where Linnai had put a gaping hole in the previous dream. She felt her heart sink in her chest, all the same as she trained her eyes nervously over towards the changeling and the tiny but ever-growing pile of wood. It’s so hard, though… I’m just not used to being cold to anypony anymore.

After a few more minutes, Twilight heard the sound of two sticks rubbing together. She turned her head towards Linnai’s area and saw the changeling ineffectually trying to ignite some leaves as kindling. Twilight sighed. She’s not going to get anywhere without magic. That kindling is so damp.

Twilight laid down and closed her eyes, but didn’t sleep. The crackling of her fire, along with the sound of Linnai shivering as she scraped her sticks together faster and faster filled her ears. She knew she couldn’t fall asleep until she knew Linnai was.

Suddenly, a loud hissing sound came from Linnai’s direction. Twilight opened one eye to look. Did she get it started? she thought. There was no fire, but Linnai had backed against the tree near her and was staring out into the swamp.

Twilight leapt to her hooves, staring out towards the swamp in the same direction. A dozen red shining eyes stared back at her.

Across the continent, aboard a pirate ship, Princess Luna and Discord sailed north along the coast of the Palomino Desert towards Las Pegasus where they had seen a distant explosion. Neither had spoken in some time, and Discord was becoming antsy.

“So,” he finally said after clearing his throat. “I liked the idea of sailing at first, but couldn’t we just fly? Or teleport?” he pulled his patch eye off and hung it off one of the wheel’s handles.

Princess Luna shook her head. “No, I think it’s best if we stay as low-key as possible. I’ve somehow lost my lucidity, and thus my connection to this world,” she said. “I speculate that Nightmare Moon has likely also lost this connection since she has not sought us out yet.”

“Either that or she’s busy dispatching of our other companions,” Discord suggested.

Luna drooped her head. “I shan’t succumb to such thoughts,” she said. “We must stay positive and find a way out of this. I still have my magic, and you have yours. Together, we are a formidable team.”

Discord detached his arms and left them to handle the wheel while he took a few steps towards Luna and sat down in front of her. “So, since we’ll be sailing for a while now, please do tell me more of this Nightmare Moon persona of yours,” he said. “Remember, I was locked away in stone for the entire incident. Come to think of it, the last place I remember being was in the far south where you and your sister faced me down.”

“Yes, you were first moved to our old castle so we could keep an eye on you, and then I suppose sister moved you again to Canterlot,” Luna replied.

“Yes, It was quite a shock to find myself in that garden when those three fillies woke me up,” Discord mused. “Ever wonder how on earth those three managed to free me? Oh, of course you hadn’t, you had more to worry about. Anyway, please do tell about Nightmare Moon.”

Luna blinked in thought for a moment at Discord’s question. How did that happen, anyway? she thought, an odd feeling of cold spreading through her briefly. She shook her head and shivered slightly.

“There is not much to tell,” the princess began. “She came into being not long after we’d defeated you, honestly. In the years after that, my heart began to grow colder and colder rather suddenly. Twas my own foolish thoughts that dragged me into a pit of depression and anger.”

“And you just… transformed into this other mare?” Discord asked, propping his chin against one of his stump arms. “How fascinating, though bizarre.”

“What are you implying?” Luna asked, slightly annoyed, but also perplexed.

“Oh well, I don’t know, I wasn’t there to witness any of this, but,” he said, pausing a moment and turning his eyes skyward. “I’ve just never heard of anypony going through such a transformation just from a little mood swing.”

“A little mood swing?” Luna scoffed. “You can not imagine the depths I fell! The thoughts I had!” Her eyes went wide and she realized Discord was now staring just as wide-eyed back.

“Oh, but I can,” he said, his voice lowering. “Perhaps you underestimate what a mind like mine is capable of. But I didn’t turn into this twisted image you see before you just from having a bout of jealousy and angst. So you tell me, now… what do you think really happened to you?”

Luna blinked, astounded at the question and all it suggested. “What… really happened?” she asked. “Forgive me, weren’t you the one asking me about Nightmare Moon? Dost thou now suggest some greater insight than one who lived through it?”

Discord slowly stood up and turned back to the wheel. “My apologies, I never meant to be so brash. I wouldn’t dream of upsetting you, Princess Luna.”

Luna bit down tightly and held her tongue. This is most unpleasant! I shall be quite pleased when he is but a statue once again! she thought, but then recalled his question. During that time when I became Nightmare Moon, I merely manifest my negativity into that form! That was all that happened… wasn’t it? She shook her head, images of the past now spinning through her mind as Discord slowly steered the boat along the rising and falling waves of the sea.

Look at how they love her, a voice whispered in the back of Luna’s mind. You will never command such respect. You will forever be cast into the shadow of your sister.

Luna blinked. Who…? she thought.

You can have it all, my princess. You can take what should be yours, the voice whispered again. For too long you have sat in the darkness. Your patience has held you back, your attempts to win their hearts have failed, and your affection for your keeper of a sister? Well… misplaced at best.

Luna felt the creeping hand of darkness slowly gripping her mind. Stop! she cried out in her mind. Don’t listen!

The time has come to take what is yours by force! If they will not love you, then you shall teach them to fear you instead! the voice now screamed in her mind.

Luna pushed her hooves against the sides of her head and shut her eyes tightly. No, please! she thought, tears streaming down her cheeks. I don’t want that! I don’t want it! She slowly opened her eyes, her pupils now slitted and her irises glowing. She lifted her face toward Discord and glared at him.

Discord, she thought, rising to her hooves and taking a step towards him. We should have killed you back then. Sealing you away was too merciful for all the pain and suffering you caused! After tonight, you’ll be nothing but a statue!

“Luna, look!” Discord shouted, pointing toward the shore and turning to look at her. “There, on the beach!”

Luna’s eyes snapped back to normal. She blinked her eyes shut and put a hoof against her forehead. What… was I thinking? What was that voice?

Discord waved his claw in the air. “You okay, there?” he asked and held two of his talons up. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Two,” she said, and pushed his hand down as she walked past him to see what he had been shouting about.

Discord pulled his hand back up and the two fingers he’d been holding up split outward. “No, thirty-seven! Anyway, get your sight cleared and look over there!”

Luna slammed her hooves against the railing. Across the water and on the beach, she saw a small pony washed up on the shore, the sand around her visibly red with blood even in the moonlight. Luna didn’t speak a single word. Her horn exploded with magic and she teleported to shore. A second later, Discord joined her with a flash. Luna now recognized the small pony as Apple Bloom. Her head was cut open and she was unconscious, though breathing shallowly.

Luna turned her horn downward and began to cast a healing spell on the filly. “I have to stabilize her as quickly as I can. She’s fading!” Luna said, trying to remain calm. The cut on Apple Bloom’s head slowly closed and the blood began to fade from her fur.

Discord tapped Luna on the shoulder. Luna shrugged his touch away and continued to concentrate on the injured foal. “Not now, please,” she said.

“We’re not alone,” Discord said plainly. “I’m not sure what it is, but it’s kind of creepy. It’s looking at you… I think?”

Luna glanced up briefly. Standing several yards away, at the edge of a rocky outcropping, was a pale white pony with a flowing mane that seemed to glow in the moonlight. It had no face or visible features. It just stood quietly, its nose pointed towards her.

Shivers shot down Luna’s spine. “Well, keep an eye on it. Can you get all three of us back to the ship if we need to go?” she asked.

Discord nodded his head, staring at the faceless creature. A dark line began to form horizontally across the creature’s face just above its snout. The line soon spread all the way from one side of its head to the other. “Um, something is happening. I don’t know what, but…”

“I’m almost done,” Luna said as Apple Bloom’s breathing was becoming more regular. “Just a bit longer.”

The line across the creature’s face began to split open and the two halves of its head began to separate, revealing rows of jagged, pearly white teeth within. From the back of the newly revealed cavity, two red eyes burned brightly.

“I think it wants to say hi,” Discord said. He snapped his fingers and the three of them flashed back to the ship, landing gently against the deck. Luna regained her composure and gazed out at the creature on the shore. Its bright red eyes stared back at her, accompanied by a loud hiss.

Luna forced herself to look away from it and began casting her spell on Apple Bloom again. The ghostly pony eventually faded from sight as the ship sailed northward.

Corruption Ch 5 - Hunger

Book Four: Corruption

Chapter Five - Hunger

Mulcibar leapt past the illusion wall at the cave’s entrance, landing upon the damp forest ground. He turned his head back and forth, looking for any sign of who had screamed a moment ago. A flash of magic to his right caught his eye and he charged toward it. The forest was dark, and without his focusing gem he was unable to cast a light spell, but after several yards he finally caught sight of Sweetie Belle backed up against the cliff face. The shadows in front of her were advancing slowly towards her, accompanied by a hiss and several dots of red that seemed to float in the air.

Sweetie Belle heard the pounding hoofbeats from her left and turned her head. She saw the familiar changeling charging right at her and screamed. The pendant around her neck flashed with light and she let loose a blast of magic from her horn. The beam missed its mark and struck the cliff to Mulcibar’s right, blasting rocks loose from its surface. The rocky discharge pounded against him, and he felt his balance deteriorate. He fell against the ground, sliding to a stop several feet away from the foal, who stared down at him in wide-eyed fear.

“Don’t just stand there!” Mulcibar managed to cough out. “I doubt those things just want a hug! Run along the cliff behind me and feel against the wall. You’ll find an opening disguised as a rock face.”

Sweetie Belle turned her attention back to the shadows, too terrified to move. Jagged rows of teeth floated through the air, now speeding towards her, the searing red eyes behind them staring past her skin and into her soul. All she could do was shake.

Mulcibar groaned and pushed himself back up to his feet. “You’ve got that magic pendant, don’t you?” He barked out. “Use it!”

Sweetie Belle tightly shut her eyes and cried out, firing a beam of magic into the general direction of the shadows. The forest lit up as the beam blazed through it, revealing dozens, if not hundreds of the shadowy creatures. She opened her eyes just in time to catch a glimpse of the ocean of monsters and fell back to her rump.

Mulcibar lurched toward the filly and grabbed her, pulling her up against his chest. He turned and ran back along the cliff towards the cave. “Plan B!” he shouted. “We’re getting out of here!” Sweetie Belle could only nod her head, her body paralyzed with fear. He saw the illusion wall ahead of them, but there was a collection of the creatures between them and safety. Several of their jagged maws opened before him, hissing loudly as he approached. From their open mouths, pale red tentacle-like tongues fired like spears . He ducked to the ground, shielding Sweetie Belle underneath him. The sharp tips of three of the appendages stabbed into his back and shoulders.

Mulcibar growled in pain, but then pushed himself up and pulled back against the freakishly long tongues. The creatures they were attached to were flung up and over his shoulder, causing the spear-like objects to eject from his body, which only served to send another jolt of pain through his system. He took it in stride, though, and charged forward, barreling through the beasts like a bowling ball through pins.

“Brace yourself!” he said, and then threw Sweetie Belle into the cave as hard as he could manage. He skidded to a stop and pressed up against the rock wall on the other side of the cave opening. He stared out at the creatures and grinned, baring his own teeth. “I was really enjoying sitting at fireside with a lovely mare, but no, you had to ruin it. Bad move.”

The shadows in front of him swung their mouths open, hissing and launching their tongues in his direction. A second later, the changeling’s horn erupted with magic. The force of the massive magical explosion tore trees from the ground, shook rocks loose from the cliff, and sent the shadows, sometimes in pieces, flying. After mere seconds, all that was left in a several yard radius was earth stripped bare of grass, jagged tree trunks, and remnants of the shadow creatures dissolving into a steam-like vapor and flying up into the starry night sky.

Mulcibar took two steps toward the cave opening, but collapsed onto the ground. The glow from his wings faded, and the illusion wall vanished. Fluttershy stood at the mouth of the cave, her hoof outstretched, staring out at the scene of destruction. She hobbled forward as best she could until she caught sight of the changeling lying on the ground. In that moment, as if her wounds suddenly meant nothing, she ran to him.

“Sweetie Belle!” Fluttershy shouted, glancing over her shoulder at the foal who was now peeking out at her. “Help me pull him into the cave!”

After a moment of hesitation, the filly compiled and used her magic to levitate him above the ground while Fluttershy pulled him back to the fire. A trail of blood lined the path they moved him along. Fluttershy laid him down upon the bed of hay that she had been using. She turned her head to Sweetie and pointed her hoof towards the gaping wounds in his back. “You healed Twilight before, right? Can you do the same for him?”

Sweetie Belle stared down at the changeling. The sight of him only brought back memories of how he had trapped them in an illusion and attacked them before; How Linnai had tried to kill Princess Celestia and Twilight. She clenched her teeth and turned her head up to Fluttershy, her eyes tearing up a little. “Why?” she asked plainly. “He was so terrible! They both were!”

“Sweetie Belle!” Fluttershy gasped in shock.

The filly continued to speak, shaking as she did. “I hate this! He was so mean, and yet… I can’t stand seeing him like that, but... I don’t want to help him! We shouldn’t help him!” Her eyes danced across his body, bloody and bruised, and thought back to how he’d just saved her life not two minutes ago. “It’s not fair! Why did he have to save me?”

Fluttershy smiled bittersweetly down at Sweetie Belle. “I know,” she said calmly. “He saved my life, too. He may be part of the enemy team, but we can’t just let him die. Not after what he’s done for us, Sweetie. We must repay his kindness with our own, even if his intentions were different.”

“The foal is right…” Mulcibar wheezed. “You know… she is. You two would be fools… to help me now. I did this to myself.”

Sweetie Belle frowned and clocked the changeling over the head with her hoof. She then closed her eyes and began to concentrate. Her horn and pendant both shone with a radiant pink light and the wounds on Mulcibar’s back began to glow as well. The blood around them seemed to evaporate and the holes began to slowly but surely close. After several minutes, he was left only with some scars and his breathing had improved slightly.

Sweetie Belle stopped casting her spell and fell back to a sitting position. She breathed heavily, the output of so much magic having taken a drain on her. She looked back at Fluttershy’s hind leg and shook her head. “I’ll heal you next, Fluttershy. Just give me a minute to rest,” she said. She took a few steps around to the other side of the fire and then fell forward, seemingly uncontrollably, and her eyes shut. “Don’t worry… Fluttershy. We’ll be okay…”

Fluttershy smiled down at the drowsy filly and then looked back at Mulcibar. He was gazing up at her, a weak smile spread across his lips. His wings flashed and began to glow blue once again, though dimly, as the illusion wall rose at the cave’s mouth once more.

“You said you were repaying my kindness,” he said. “So, does that mean you weren’t so mad at me after all?”

Fluttershy sighed. “No, I really was mad. Maybe the fact that you were being so nice to me all of the sudden made me even madder. I still haven’t forgiven you for all those weird things you said to me,” she said.

Mulcibar blinked. “Weird things?” he questioned. “What sort of weird things?”

Fluttershy blushed. “Oh come on, don’t make me repeat it,” she said, flustered. “You know, about having a good time, and wanting me to enjoy it.” Her voice trailed off and became barely a whisper by the end of the statement. Her flushed red cheeks only grew brighter as she spoke.

Mulcibar smirked. “What is so weird about that?” he asked. “I meant every word of it.”

Fluttershy turned her face away from him and closed her eyes, letting out a slight “Hmmph!”

Mulcibar coughed. “What? I did! Who wouldn’t mean every word of that to an attractive mare like you… not that it matters anymore,” he said. “I really do appreciate the healing spell that filly used on me, but even that can’t stop the inevitable.”

“What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked and looked back down at him.

“I’ve used up too much energy. I’m fading away,” he said. “Starvation has its cold talons wrapped around my throat. Hunger is not something that a changeling can just brush aside. I won’t last much longer after using so much energy.”

Fluttershy gasped and leaned down toward him. “That’s not true. You’ll be okay. We’ll find something to get your energy back somewhere, somehow. Just don’t talk like that,” she said.

“I don’t think so, but...” Mulcibar said softly. “Will you please… grant me a selfish request?” He gazed into her eyes, his light blue irises fading to gray.

She gazed back at him and simply nodded her head. I know what it’s like to be selfish, she thought, remembering the time when she and Rainbow Dash were trapped in that cramped tree in her dream world.

“Please, let me have one more moment of bliss,” he said. “Allow me to… feel the soft touch of your lips.”

The yellow mare pulled back a bit in response, her face exploding with bright red color. Flabbergasted, she stuttered as best she could manage. “Y-y-y-you mean like.. k-k-kiss you?” she asked. “I, I don’t… ummm…” She shrunk down lower to the ground and averted her eyes. She could feel heat rising from her cheeks and her heart was pounding just from him even asking such a thing.

“Sorry,” he said, his voice sinking. “It must seem like such a strange thing to ask out of the blue.”

It’s not that! Fluttershy thought, turning her head back to him and looking into his cool blue eyes once again. I just… I’ve never… She shook her head.

“Sorry, I just… I’ve never… kissed anypony before, and I guess I don’t really…” she said, her voice trailing off yet again.

Mulcibar sighed. “How can that possibly be? Not ever?” he asked. “I would think you’d have more than a few interested stallions knocking on your door.”

“Well, I don’t think there have been,” she responded. “Still, it would be my first kiss, and I guess I’d always thought it would be more… romantic.” She batted her eyes, now looking straight down at the ground, her cheeks a bright cherry red.

“Isn’t this romantic?” Mulcibar asked genuinely. “We’re lying by a fire, out among nature… well, sort of. I guess it doesn’t count since it’s in a dream world. Then again, does a kiss even count in a dream world?”

Fluttershy pursed her lips together tightly, her tongue running back and forth along her teeth as she tried to remember if she had kissed anypony in a dream before. A memory from her dream world appeared in her mind. She remembered sitting at the bottom of the ravine beneath the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, holding Rainbow Dash in her forelegs, her hair draped down over them. I’d kissed Rainbow’s cheek at that time, but had almost considered… She shook her head slightly and raised her eyes nervously back up to Mulcibar. He was looking right at her, and when her eyes met his, she felt her heart rate elevating.

Fluttershy swallowed hard. “Okay,” she said, barely audible. “Here I come.” She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and clumsily pressed her face forward. She felt her tightly closed lips press against his. The sensation was strange and different than she had expected. She felt a small burst of Mulcibar’s breath against her lower lip, which sent shivers up her spine.

I thought it would be warmer, somehow, she thought to herself as her heart raced. Maybe not quite so… bumpy? She let out a slight squeak as she felt another puff of breath accompanied by what sounded like Mulcibar trying to contain laughter. She slowly opened her eyes and was greeted by his forehead. She looked down and saw his eyes, practically tearing up, looking back up at her.

“That’s my nose,” he said, and then completely lost it, somehow managing to erupt in laughter.

Fluttershy fell to the ground, pulling her hair and hooves over her face. Her first kiss, real or otherwise, had been with a nose. “It’s not funny!” she managed. “That was my first kiss!”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry,” Mulcibar said, regaining control of himself. “That double doesn’t count. You’ll just have to try again.”

“Maybe not right now,” Fluttershy said, her voice muffled from her hiding position.

Mulcibar shrugged. “Really? That’s too bad,” he said. “Fair enough, though, your choice. At least you tried.”

“I’m sorr—“ Fluttershy started.

“Thank you,” Mulcibar interrupted, his voice calm and quiet. “Thank you for trying.”

Fluttershy continued to hide, her breathing and heart finally slowing down. What is wrong with me? she thought. Why do I get goosebumps from everything he says? Why did I agree to kiss him so easily? Was it just sympathy? Am I just too nice?

Her hair fell slightly to one side and a single eye peeked out from behind it, staring over at the changeling stallion. He had laid down flat against the bed of hay and was fighting to keep his eyes open, looking toward the cave entrance.

Why does he have to be a bad-guy? What if… She thought, slightly shaking her head. A flashback from the previous dream world quickly put a stop to that train of thought.

“I can be your new Twilight Sparkle!” Mulcibar had said to her, having taken the form of Twilight. “We can be the best of friends!”

Don’t forget who he really is, Fluttershy! She thought to herself. His icy blue eyes flashed through her mind once again and her thoughts drifted. Maybe that’s not how he really is, though. Maybe how he’s being right now is what he’s really like. It’s just so hard to tell.

Mulcibar fell to his side and his eyes closed. Fluttershy perked her head up nervously as he let out a low, raspy groan. “What’s wrong? What’s happening?” she asked.

“It’s happening,” he said, barely above a whisper. He opened his eyes and looked in Fluttershy's direction. "I can’t… I can’t see anymore.”

“Oh no!” Fluttershy shouted, pushing herself up and towards him.

“Listen to me,” he said, his voice pained. “Listen well. When I die in here…”

“Don’t say that,” Fluttershy interrupted, her voice wavering and tears forming in her eyes.

“Quiet,” Mulcibar snapped. “It’s happening. If what Nightmare Moon said is correct, I’m going to drop dead on the outside, too. The others will know something has gone wrong and they will be coming after you.”

“What do we do?” Fluttershy asked, trying to stay calm, but her heart so awash with sadness.

“You have to get out of this dream. If The Order comes barging in here horns blazing, you will all die,” he said, his voice becoming weaker and more coarse as he spoke. “Not just you six, but every pony in every cocoon. The shockwave of death will spread through the magic web and they will all die! I can only hope… that I am far enough removed from it that… my death doesn’t… cause the same…” He coughed and his head fell downward onto one of his forelegs as he gasped inward for breath.

“This can’t be how it ends,” Fluttershy said, her tears falling freely now. “Not for us, and not for you!”

Mulcibar opened his eyes and looked up at Fluttershy. “Don’t cry,” he said. “You’re so much more lovely when you’re smiling.” He couldn’t see her other than a blurry, dark outline, but a crystal clear image of her face formed in his mind.

Fluttershy scooted closer to him and wiped her eyes. “Don’t say things like that,” she said. “You’ll just make me cry more.”

Mulcibar smiled. “Thank you,” he whispered. “Thank you for everything. As fake as this sounds coming from somepony who can’t even properly show you affection, thank you for all of your kindness. You’ve somehow made… my last moments, here in this cave… happy…”

Fluttershy blushed again, her mind racing. What must it be like to be attracted to somepony without having a shred of love in your heart? It must be terrible, she thought. Almost torturous. Even if it’s all he’s ever known… She blinked heavily, fresh tears cutting down her jawline. She stared at Mulcibar’s closing eyes and swallowed the lump in her throat as hard as she could. With a single motion, she reached her hooves out, wrapped them around his head, and moved her face to his.

This time, her aim was perfect. Her lips softly pressed against his, warm and tender. A slight surprised sound escaped him along with a jet of warm air. She felt her lips gently easing apart. If her heart was racing before, it had done a sonic rainboom at this point. Her legs were shaking from the sudden head rush, and she was thankful she’d already been so near to the ground because she fell to her knees. The experience was unlike anything she’d felt before, and from beneath the sadness in her heart came an eruption of warmth and passion. The feeling washed over her completely, an almost magical aura to it. Any second thoughts she’d been having before seemed to dissolve.

I just wish I could have gotten to know you better, Fluttershy thought, no longer crying, but her face still moist with teardrops. You may not realize it, but you were truly noble in your own way.

She felt his shallow yet warm breath pressing into her mouth, his tongue pressing against her lips, soft and warm. She nervously pulled her mouth away for a moment, breathing inward heavily, and then pushed back up against him. She was scared, but also completely swept up in the moment. Without even thinking, she pressed her tongue forward into his mouth and wrapped her forelegs more tightly around the back of his head. As if possessed by the sudden uncontrollable feelings of passion within her, she delved deeply, her mind becoming nothing but a fuzzy haze.

From the depths of her being, she suddenly felt a new sensation. It was warm, sensual, and arousing. Her heart felt like it was burning, but there was no pain, only an intense feeling of warmth and safety. She felt Mulcibar wrap his forelegs around her. At first she thought nothing of it, completely absorbed in the kiss. Shortly after, though, she felt herself being pulled toward him and onto the bed of hay. She felt herself being flipped onto her back, and she felt the weight of his chest against hers. She pulled her eyes opened and was greeted by the sight of his face, eyes closed. He was leaning over her, his whole body aglow with a light pink aura. She folded her tongue quickly back into her mouth and stared up at him, her body still trembling with adrenaline and endorphins. He gently pulled his lips away from her and rose up, standing over her. A visible trail of pink energy continued to flow away from her and into him. He smiled down at her, gazing into her eyes.

“Thank you,” he said softly. “That was truly… breathtaking.”

Fluttershy’s heart was a mix of emotions as she felt a lump forming in her throat once again. She had no idea how she should feel as she slowly realized what had just happened. He drew me in, played off my sympathy, had my first kiss, and then fed on me. He used me, just like the changeling queen has been using all of us... as food. she thought. Her heart began to seethe, but her mind kept reliving the kiss over and over. The feeling, the rush, the sensation of her lips on his, the taste of his mouth. She bit her lower lip and breathed in deeply through her nose.

He looked down at her, his sight having returned to him. The pink aura faded away and his smile disappeared. “Are you upset with me?” he asked.

Fluttershy turned her gaze away from him, unable to think of any way to respond. Her heart was still beating quickly and her body was still shaking slightly. She replayed the kiss in her mind over and over again before finally turning her gaze back to him.

“Maybe a little,” she said, and then reached her hooves up, placing them against his cheeks. “I am glad you’re okay, though.” She pulled his head down towards her and locked her lips against his once more. A tear streamed down her cheek as the minutes passed like seconds. Before she knew it, he was lying beside her, gazing out toward the cave’s entrance, his wings shining steadily again. Fluttershy had entered a state of confusion now, the glow of the moment having worn off, and she was left to ponder what had just happened. Two kisses later in her life with all but a complete stranger who wasn’t even a pony. She couldn’t have imagined it even a day ago.

Even if it was in a dream world, she thought, I’m pretty sure that still counted. She looked into his azure eyes and blinked, thinking that he somehow looked more regal than before. Any fear she’d had of him had vanished, and she was left only being able to think of him as a puzzle. A creature whom she neither hated nor loved, but felt something strange and in-between for. Her own feelings, along with his true intentions, were a mystery. Without any deep contemplation, she opened her mouth and spoke.

“Why did you want to kiss me?” she asked. He turned to look at her and grinned.

“Why not?” he asked in response.

“That’s not what I mean,” she said. “Did you know? Had you planned to, well… feed upon me like that?”

Mulcibar shook his head. “In that moment, no. I just wanted one last moment like that. But then, in the midst of it all, I felt your love energy practically pouring out,” he said. “Have you ever been so thirsty that just the sight of water makes you want to drink down every last drop? That’s how it was. It was… irresistible.”

“Irresistible,” Fluttershy repeated, nodding slowly.

“Much like you,” Mulcibar added, his grin widening.

Fluttershy sighed. “I can’t imagine what it must be like to feel that way, yet feel no love or affection,” she replied.

Mulcibar laughed. “Well, I can’t imagine what it must feel like to be able to do what you do. To be able to feel such a powerful emotion,” he said. “Somepony once told me that giving yourself freely to a changeling is one of the most intense feelings she’d ever felt. So, how was it for you?”

Fluttershy thought back to the brilliant heat she had felt, the butterflies in her stomach, and the feeling of needing more and more. “To be honest, I still don’t know what to think,” she said. “I felt like I was going to lose control of myself. I think… I didn’t ever want it to stop.”

“That’s one of the problems we have, actually,” he responded. “Once we begin to feed, it drives the one we’re feeding from to give more and more. We have to practice our own kind of restraint, as it were.”

“Well, I can’t say it was a bad thing, honestly,” Fluttershy said shyly.

“I’ve heard it’s even better if you take it further than just a kiss,” Mulcibar said, his grin widening.

Fluttershy pushed a hoof against his cheek. “Let’s not get carried away, now,” she said, a hint of nervousness in her voice.

Mulcibar laughed loudly, his voice echoing across the cave.

“So,” said Fluttershy, thinking of ways to get off of that topic. “I take care of animals in Ponyville. There is a thing called a symbiotic relationship where two or more creatures need one another to survive and benefit mutually.”

“Are you calling us animals, now?” Mulcibar said, laughing.

Fluttershy sighed. “No,” she said, “but I somehow recall you making that sort of comparison to us, now that I think about it.”

“Fair enough, I apologize,” he said. “I’ll give you that one.”

Mulcibar turned his gaze downward. “Unfortunately, there are so few who are as kind as you are, my dear. If it were that simple, don’t you think we would have lived like that?” he asked. A flowing wave of light coursed over his body. When the light subsided, he had changed his appearance and looked exactly like Fluttershy. “Why do you think we have to disguise ourselves and steal love from others just to survive?” His voice perfectly mimicked Fluttershy’s own.

With another pulse of light, he took the form of Queen Chrysalis. Fluttershy instinctively flinched away. “You see?” he said in the queen’s voice. “Even knowing who I am, you are taken aback by us. Queen Chrysalis has led us for several generations now. Her wisdom and planning have kept us alive through some very hard times. I must admit, there were some among us who questioned this plan. It just come out of the blue, as if madness had struck her.”

“Then why follow her?” Fluttershy asked. “Why not try and think of some other way?”

Mulcibar flashed back to his own form and turned his gaze to the yellow pegasus, his eyes narrowed in seriousness. “There is no other way,” he said. “No other way but to live as a parasite in that so-called symbiotic relationship.”

Fluttershy lowered her gaze this time. “So that’s really all there is?” she asked. “Just a means to an end? Just using others for your own survival?”

“And pleasure,” he replied matter-of-factly.

Fluttershy frowned and pushed herself up to her hooves. “Well… I shouldn’t be surprised,” she said, another tear rolling down her cheek.

The sound of Sweetie Belle stirring drew the mare’s attention. She wiped away her tears and looked to where the filly had laid down.

“How long was I asleep?” Sweetie Belle asked. “I’m hungry…”

Fluttershy picked up the remaining apple and brought it over to Sweetie Belle, setting it down in front of her. “We all were,” she said, looking nervously back at Mulcibar. “Eat up, Sweetie.”

Author's Note

I wonder how many readers I'll lose now that the "shipping" has happened.

For those who were saying "Mulcibar x Fluttershy" like 2 chapters or more ago, this is why you all were killing me! :P I don't like acknowledging when people guess RIGHT! ;)

Next chapter, expect a lot less ssmoochy stuff and a lot more Twilight and Linnai!

As always, let me know if you see anything that needs correction. I'm always nervous about that kind of thing :P

Corruption Ch 6 - Deception

Author's Note

I would like to throw a special thanks to Bolding this time. He said he would check my new chapter out, leave some comments, and didn't end up getting through it from what I can tell. However, he left a comment that really hit me in a place that is deep and secret. He said, to paraphrase, that my dialogue attribution was bad. This drove me to read stuff online about dialogue attribution, along with other things. The result is that this chapter will hopefully have a lot less boring "He said, She said" stuff that I've gotten into a BAD habit with. Instead of using evil adverbs like "sadly, happily, suspiciously" I am trying to show that the characters feel whatever way they feel rather than just tell you. This is the "show, not tell" philosophy that I had hoped I could find myself following, and I want to follow it honestly. Sorry for the long-winded intro author note, but that is something that I want to do consistently.

I don't usually do the "Listen to this while reading!" thing, but I listened to this a lot while dreaming up this chapter. Really anything involving the shades. You don't have to rock it while reading, I understand. But you know, just wanted to let you in on a bit of what drives my brain.

No, I can't explain WHAT this has to do with anything, but in my brain, it makes a strange sort of sense. :3

Enjoy! Til next chapter!

Corruption Ch 6 - Deception

Book Four: Corruption

Chapter Six - Deception

Twilight stepped toward Linnai, each swing of her legs slightly shaking as she stared out into the dark swamp. Dozens of beady, shining red eyes stared back at her, a cacophony of hissing accompanying them.

“What are those things?” Linnai asked, pressing against the tree she’d been trying to camp out underneath.

Twilight glanced toward her fire. “I don’t know. Maybe they were attracted by my campfire. You’d think we would have seen them before now, just look at how many there are.” She popped a light spell up to the tip of her horn and focused it forward like a flashlight. Hundreds of razor sharp white teeth reflected the light back at her, red dots buried behind them. There was no other distinctive feature to the creatures.

“I can’t be sure, but I think I know these things. A long time ago, I read about faceless creatures called shades,” she said. “According to the Monstrous Manual, they are the spirits of ponies who died with regret and bitterness in their hearts. They wander the night, seeking revenge against those who wronged them.”

Linnai leaned toward Twilight and pressed a hoof against her side, her eyes still wide and aimed toward the ocean of shadowy beings. “Enough with the origin story, do you remember if they had any weaknesses or something?"

Twilight frowned and let out a slight humph. “Sheesh, sorry,” she said. “As far as weaknesses, I don’t remember. I don’t see why they’d have a grudge against us, though, so maybe we’re safe.”

Linnai gulped. “We’re in Nightmare Moon’s dream, and you defeated her before, right?”

Twilight put a hoof behind her head and grinned, her lips slightly shaking and the underside of her eyes twitching a bit. “Ahaha… That is a very good point.”

As if on cue, the hissing in the swamp intensified, the floating eyes lit up more brightly, and multitudes of sharply tipped light red tentacles fired from the shades' mouths at Twilight and Linnai. Twilight stomped her hoof down and her horn glinted, a magical forcefield flashing in front of them just before the tentacles reached their marks. The pointed ends stabbed into the shield, flinging sparks into the air as their lengths writhed violently. Twilight and Linnai both fell back to their haunches and gasped.

“Okay, I guess it’s going to be a problem after all!” Twilight shouted, jumping back up to her hooves and charging her horn with bright purple energy. She pushed her horn through the forcefield and began to fire blasts of magic in rapid succession into the crowd of shades. Each beam struck a shade, blasting them to shadowy bits that hung in the air like black flower petals on the wind. Twilight blinked and grinned. “They’re not so tough, actually! We just have to watch out for those tentacle things!”

After firing a few more blasts, Twilight’s expression changed. The shades began to take the blasts in stride, and although Twilight had thinned out their ranks, they continued to advance, now only being pushed back by each blast rather than being destroyed. The previously exploded shadow debris began to collect together in the air above the mob.

Linnai stood up and shook Twilight with her hooves, raising her voice. “Quit playing around!”

“I’m not!” Twilight shouted back. “We might have to run for it!”

Linnai turned around and looked back into the swamp where they had come from previously. “Run where? Back where we began?”

Twilight began to charge up a massive amount of magic into her horn. “No. I’m going to blast straight down the middle of them and then swing my attack across! Princess Celestia and I did something similar in Fluttershy’s dream! Once a big enough path is cleared, we run for it!”

“Straight through them?!” Linnai asked, continuing to shake Twilight. Movement caught her eye and she looked up. A huge group of shades was diving at them. “Look out! Pull the shield over us!”

Twilight spun around, spotted the shades, and swung her hoof up and forward. Her horn flashed and the shield flew over the the two of them, forming a solid dome. Linnai stepped forward, pushing through the shield and onto the other side of it. Twilight stretched her hoof out toward her, and time seemed to move in slow-motion. “What are you doing!?” she screamed.

A sound like a piece of metal slamming against a rock shot through the air, and a blast of fire and heat blew out from Linnai’s horn in all directions. The shades who had been leaping toward them were caught in the blast, blown to pieces that seemed to float through the air like dark ash. The shield crackled and shook under the pressure.

Linnai turned back toward Twilight and shouted, “Clear the path!” Twilight spun back around, aiming her brightly shining horn toward the crowd of creatures. She let loose with a massive blast of energy. It rocketed through the swamp, blowing shades back into the air, some exploding into smaller shadowy pieces. The cloud of darkness that had been congealing in the air began to swirl and take shape. Four massive, black hooves dropped to the ground, slamming into the swamp and launching water outward.

Twilight stared at the massive creature, but continued her attack. She swung her horn to the left, sweeping across the crowd of smaller beasts, slicing through them like a blade.

The massive shade that had materialized opened its mouth and let out a deafening screech. It raised a hoof into the air and swung it down, smashing into Twilight’s magic beam. A wave of energy shot back up into her horn and her body slammed into the ground as if she’d been stomped by the beast.

As Twilight’s spell continued to pour out from her, the monster leaned its head down and began to suck in the magical energy. It grew in size, pulsing outward at an alarming rate even in the short time it had to feed before Twilight ceased her firing. Twilight turned her head to Linnai, her eyes wide and frightened. “They’re adapting! That’s what I’d forgotten! The shades can collectively learn to overcome obstacles if they’re in a large enough group! In a matter of seconds, they learned that attack spell and even absorbed it!” she shouted. “I’ll have to switch it up! I know your jewel is gone, but can you do anything?”

Linnai lowered her head and narrowed her eyes as she weighed her options. It’s not that I can’t, it’s that I shouldn’t! I’m so hungry... If these damned things don’t kill me, I might just end up killing myself. She gazed back into Twilight’s eyes, which were intensely wide. Do I bet everything on this so-called magical genius? Even if I somehow trick her into feeding me, it’ll be a light snack at best… what a terrible situation.

You always were bad at playing the long game, Mulcibar’s voice shot through her mind. Linnai frowned and nodded her head up at Twilight. I don’t like this plan, but…

“Yes, but things are going to get a little heated. You ready?”

Twilight nodded and reached her hoof down toward Linnai, who reluctantly grabbed ahold of it and pulled herself up.

“Alright, what’s the plan? A two-pronged attack? I can start using elemental magic, they haven’t adapted to that yet,” Twilight said. The massive shade, along with many smaller ones, were charging toward them now. They had seconds to react.

“Drop the shield!” Linnai shouted.

Twilight shook her head back and forth rapidly and stared at the changeling. “You sure about that?”

“Yeah, I’ve got this!” Linnai replied, spreading her wings out fully, the flamelike orange pattern across them lighting up with crackling, sparkling magic. “You might want to step back a bit.” Twilight gasped at the display, took two steps, and then felt herself blown backward slightly as a wave of intense heat washed over her.

Linnai leaned forward, bringing her head close to the ground and digging her back feet into the dirt as hard as she could.

“Adapt to this!” she screamed. Her wings erupted with a massive frontal cone of fire. The tree that she and Twilight were still standing near burst into flames. The monstrous shade ignited, its body exploding into smaller and smaller shades as the flames washed over it. The screeching sound of the monsters being torched echoed across the wilderness. Twilight opened her eyes slightly, shielding them with her hooves. Through the blazing inferno, she could see the bodies of shades bubbling and evaporating from the heat. Every tree for many yards had caught on fire, lighting up the swamp as if it were daytime.

After a sustained blast lasting a mere ten seconds, Linnai’s wings made a puffing sound and the flames ceased firing from them. What was left in front of the two of them was a field of carnage and destruction. No movement could be seen other than the constant waving light of the forest fire that had now been brought about.

Twilight stood up and returned to Linnai’s side, her jaw gaped open. “I thought we should attack together,” she finally managed to say. “This seems a little… excessive.”

“Excessive? Please! They’re dead, aren’t they?” Linnai replied. “And look, my fire’s finally lit!” She smiled widely and pointed a hoof over to her little pile of sticks, which was nearly all burned through, but the tree above it was burning nicely. Clearly pleased with herself, her hoof shook with perhaps a little too much excitement.

Twilight started to laugh, but then stopped herself, clearing her throat and trying to stay serious. “Well, I suppose that’s one way of doing it. I’m just worried that the fire is like a big signal to Nightmare Moon. She could come attack us at any moment. We should probably move on and find some other spot to camp out - somewhere we can fortify a better defense against those shades.”

Linnai walked over to the rocky outcropping where Twilight’s campfire still burned. She collapsed as she reached it and looked up at Twilight. “That’s… not going to be an option for me. I need to rest, and you look drained as well. Besides, without my input, the fire won’t spread much farther. The swamp is really wet.” She lazily waved a hoof in the air and then closed her eyes.

Twilight walked over to the changeling and took a seat by her side. “Okay. I guess that’s a reasonable assumption. All the same, we shouldn’t stay here long.” She closed her eyes as well and felt herself drifting off almost immediately, her proximity to Linnai not making her nearly as uncomfortable as before. Darkness washed over her mind as she slipped away into unconsciousness.

Twilight drowsily awoke to the feeling of a hoof gently shaking her. As soon as she realized she’d been asleep, she jolted to her hooves and took several quick steps backwards. Shoot! she thought. How long was I out? She blinked her eyes and looked toward the campfire, which had died down quite a bit. Standing beside it was someone she was overjoyed to see.

“Princess Celestia!” she shouted, practically leaping toward the princess and wrapping her hooves around her neck. “Thank goodness.”

Celestia chuckled and gently rubbed her hoof against Twilight’s head. “Indeed, it is good to see you. I’m so glad I found you first, Twilight.”

Twilight gazed up at her mentor’s face, practically beaming. “Me, too. How did you find us, though?”

Celestia shook her head and smirked. “It was sort of hard to miss that big forest fire,” she said. “What happened here?”

“We were attacked by shades, or something like them. I don’t know if it was the best solution, but Linnai used some sort of strange fire magic that came from her wings. She beat a massive number of them in one fell swoop even when I had trouble with them.” She pulled away from Celestia as she spoke and looked around for Linnai, her voice lowering to a whisper. “We can’t underestimate her, princess. She may not have beaten us before, but she’s more powerful than I’d initially thought.”

Celestia nodded. “I could have told you that. I felt her fire magic firsthand.”

Twilight continued to look around for Linnai, now taking a few steps around the campfire. “Where is she? She was here when I fell asleep.”

“I don’t know,” Celestia said. “It was only you here when I arrived. Perhaps she left?”

Twilight turned back toward the princess, her lips becoming straight and rigid. Something is wrong here. It’s too convenient. She eyed the princess up and down and shook her head. I can’t be certain yet. Linnai very well could have left, but…

“No. I really doubt it,” Twilight said. “She’d been following alongside me this whole time. She never flew, never tried anything tricky, and never even used magic at all until she had to. Something was off about her, I’m certain; I just can’t put my hoof on it.”

“Well, there’s no point in wondering. We’ll see her again, that I am sure of,” Celestia responded, shrugging. She sat down in front of the small fire and raised her hooves up to it. Twilight nodded her head and sat down next to Celestia.

“Have you seen or heard from any of the others?” Twilight asked. Celestia simply shook her head. “What about Discord, then? Are you two still mentally linked?”

Celestia seemed to pause in thought for a moment, but then shook her head again. “I’m sure they’re all fine. I know you’re worried, but we have to go one step at a time.”

She dodged the question. Is this really the princess?

Twilight faked a slight chuckle. “You’re right. Sorry. I just can’t help worry for them. Even for Linnai…” she said, her voice lowering. “That’s weird, I know. She came into these dreams to defeat us, to force us back into our own dreams, and yet… I can’t help but worry about her. She seemed so hopeless, trying to light a fire without magic, her body wet and cold. Somewhere deep down inside, I wanted to help her. I had to force myself not to. It felt… awful.”

Celestia’s eyes shook slightly and she cleared her throat. “Well, I… I don’t know. Perhaps she didn’t want your help, either.”

Twilight sighed and lowered her gaze. “Maybe. I’m just not used to that, though… It’s silly, but for a fleeting moment, I thought maybe if I showed her compassion, she’d somehow learn to be compassionate. I mean, I didn’t know anything about friendship before coming to Ponyville. I didn’t understand just how important it was. Now I can’t even imagine myself without my friends.” She looked back up at Celestia, who was returning the gaze with an ice cold expression.

“It is silly. You don’t understand changelings, Twilight. You think they can just learn something like that?”

“Well, why not?” Twilight asked. “Princess Luna said that she had once tried to stand by the changelings. I don’t know what that was about, but she must have seen something in them, right?”

Celestia shook her head. “I’m sorry, I just don’t know. Perhaps she believed the same nonsense,” she replied flatly.

Twilight lowered her gaze again. “Nonsense? I don’t know. Do you remember the changeling we met in Fluttershy’s dream? The one who had taken the form of Applejack.”

“What about it?”

“She warned us about The Order of Ismara. At the time, it seemed like boasting, or a threat of some sort, but what if she really was warning us?” Twilight asked, putting a hoof against her chin. “In fact, a similar thing happened in my dream. It was another changeling who looked like Applejack. She seemed so sad from seeing our friends’ bodies, even though they weren’t real. After seeing Rainbow Dash die in Fluttershy’s dream, I understand that all too well.”

“What are you getting at?” Celestia asked, her voice becoming annoyed sounding.

“What if it’s not just nonsense? What if they really can learn to be like us?”

Celestia stood up and snorted. “What good would that do?” she snapped. “What’s the point of friendship for a changeling, anyway?”

“Princess?” Twilight asked, staring wide-eyed at Celestia.

“Friendship! Love! Such fleeting, absurd concepts!” Celestia yelled, her voice wavering.

Twilight stood up in one quick motion, her eyes starting to well up with tears and her teeth now bared. She knew the princess would never say such things. The true identity of the pony who stood before her was now glaringly obvious. “You!” she shouted toward the princess. “How dare you!”

Celestia stood up and pointed a hoof right at Twilight’s face. “Oh, please! You should have seen this coming, you blind fool!” She swung the hoof outward.

Twilight’s body shook with anger and she growled through her teeth. “I did see it coming! I just had to be certain! Change out of her form immediately!”

Celestia’s body flashed with green magic, and a second later, Linnai was standing in her place, a faint pink aura surrounding her. “Fine! But you listen up, Twilight Sparkle, and you listen well! You can’t possibly understand what it’s like, so give up trying! You make me sick! Sitting here practically lecturing me! When did you figure it out, hmm? Were you really talking to your precious princess, or were you just trying to teach me about the magic of friendship? Bah! You want to know what a changeling calls friendship? Breakfast!”

Twilight’s lower lip trembled as she stared into the changeling’s eyes. She took a deep breath and calmed her expression, pushing her feelings to the back of her mind. “So what now?” she asked. “You fed on me. You got your energy back. Can you fly now? How about you just buzz off!”

“If I feel like it, sure!” Linnai responded. “But for now, I’m gonna get in the rest of my nap, and for what it’s worth, I suggest you do the same.”

Twilight let out an exasperated groan and walked around to the other side of the fire, falling roughly to a sitting position. She levitated some more bits of wood into it and stoked it slightly with her magic, trying to get it to flare up again, and then laid down and closed her eyes tightly.

On the other side of the flames, Linnai did the same. You're right, brother, she thought. I'm no good at the long game.

Celestia dove down past the fertile farmland of the Unicorn Range and into the forested foothills of the mountains, landing upon the soft, grassy ground. Scootaloo leapt off of the princess’ back and took a few steps, looking around nervously.

“Where are we?” Scootaloo asked. “I’ve never been to this place before.”

Celestia smiled and softly patted the filly on the head. “Don’t worry. This is one of the most serene places in Equestria. It is truly beautiful in the fall, a full spectrum of color. There are many kinds of trees, as well as animals that live in and around them. When I was little, this was one of my favorite places to go.” She smiled down at Scootaloo, who looked up at her, an eyebrow raised.

“You were little?”

Celestia laughed. “Of course I was. Everypony was little at some point!” She stepped further into the woods, gazing through the canopy toward the towering rocks above. “These mountains have many paths and tunnels through them. Princess Luna and I used to love to come here and play. There are so many hiding places, it made for great games of hide and seek.”

Scootaloo beamed up toward the mountains. “Wow… I want to come here with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle someday. I bet they’d love it!”

Celestia nodded. “You’ll have to let me know when you come out here. I could show you so many great things,” she responded. “For now, though, I’ve brought us here for a less fun purpose. We can go up to the mountainous peaks and get a good view of the surrounding area, and we can use the hiding places that I know of as cover if needed. In a way, this is my ideal safe house.”

Scootaloo nodded her head and strengthened her resolve, putting the thoughts of playing with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle aside. “Right. For now, we need to actually find everypony.”

“Precisely, but we need to stay low key if at all possible, so we should stick to the forest rather than flying over it,” she said, waving her hoof forward. “Come along, now. We have a ways to go.”

As the two of them walked, Scootaloo’s mind wandered. She glanced up at the princess and smiled. “What was it like back then? You know, when you and Princess Luna were just kids.”

Celestia gazed up into the sky through the leaves of the forest. “This area was still beautiful, but I suppose it’s not exactly correct to say that it was always a safe place. We took a lot of risks back then, even just going out and playing.”

“What kind of risks?” Scootaloo questioned. “Were there monsters or something?” She grimaced and glanced around, noticing strange shadows that the moonlight was casting down into the woods.

“Not exactly,” Celestia continued. “You see, Luna and I were born during the Age of Discord. Back then, Equestria wasn’t nearly the happy place it is today. We were fortunate enough to be born here in the north since Discord made his home in the far south, but every day was still a hazard. Anything could happen at any time, and I do mean anything.”

“Wow. That doesn’t sound very fun.”

Celestia grinned. “That didn’t stop the two of us from endeavoring to have fun, anyway. It wasn’t until we got our cutie marks that we saw what our destinies truly were, so back then we were just a couple of kids trying to have a good time.”

“Wow, I never even thought about that before,” Scootaloo said, scratching her head. “I mean, your special talents are so amazing. You raise and lower the sun and moon. How did you two get your cutie marks, anyway? Oh my gosh, what if my talent is something crazy like that, too? I bet the Cutie Mark Crusaders couldn’t find out for years and years!” Her face had gradually turned to panic as she spoke.

Celestia shook her head and smiled down at Scootaloo. “Don’t worry, my little pony. I’m sure your special talent is something much more down to earth,” she said with a grin. “As for our cutie marks, remarkably we both got them on the same day. It’s a lot less impressive of a story than you might think!”

“Really? I don’t see how it could be that unimpressive,” Scootaloo said with disbelief.

“It’s true!” Celestia assured her. “We lived in the city that’s known today as Canterlot. However, back then it was called the City of Unicornia. Those old stories about the founding of Equestria definitely have some truth to them. While the nation was named Equestria, the Pegasi founded the city of Pegasopolis, which is now Cloudsdale, and the Earth Ponies settled along the north side of these mountains in the fertile Unicorn Range, which back then was just called Earth. That was a bit confusing, I must admit, considering we also call our world Earth, but it’s definitely better than ‘Dirtville’.” She chuckled slightly.

“Oh yeah, and there was no Ponyville yet, was there?” Scootaloo asked.

“Not yet. It wouldn’t be founded until hundreds of years later. There was also an empire to the north, but it has long since vanished. There were also the mysterious ruins to the south in the Everfree Forest where almost nopony dared to tread.” Celestia explained. “Getting back to the story, Unicornia had been a glorious city before, but had been run down during Discord’s reign. The Unicorns had once proudly raised and lowered the sun and moon, but were no longer able to grasp that power. Discord’s hold on the sun and moon was absolute, and he raised and lowered them at his whim. It caused a lot of problems. He left the sun up long enough for the Earth Ponies to grow enough food to sustain the three cities, but it was just barely enough. He certainly knew exactly what he was doing… We were all slaves to his whim, and nopony dared to anger him.”

“That sounds terrible,” Scootaloo said.

“It was. Even as a foal, it would drive me crazy. One sunny day, Luna and I were out playing, the worries of the adult world not even entering into our minds, when the sun abruptly left the sky, replaced by the moon. I was upset greatly by this. I didn’t want to be stuck in the dark. I glared up at the sky and shouted ‘I want the sun to come back up!’ and to my surprise, it did,” she said with a chuckle. “Luna was very impressed and cheered me on. Our father, who had been watching us, wasn’t so amused, though...”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Scootaloo interrupted. “You had a father?” She stared up at the princess, her mouth hanging open.

Celestia couldn’t help but laugh, stopping for a moment to compose herself. “Of course I did, silly! Everypony has a mother and a father!” she said, shaking her head. “My father noticed that my cutie mark had appeared. He saw it was the shape of the sun, and immediately grabbed ahold of me, looking up the sky in fear. You see, he was afraid that Discord would come after me. He told me that I must never raise or lower the sun, or else Discord would come and take me away. Luna was very upset by this. She began to cry and looked up into the sky. She shouted the same as I had, ‘The moon should come back, then! I don’t want Celly to go away!’ Much to our surprise, that is precisely what happened. The sun sank to the horizon and the beautiful, full moon arose. When her cutie mark appeared, my father fell to the ground in tears, hugging us both tightly. ‘You must never, ever tell anypony what you two can do,’ he said. “You two are so special, but you have to keep your talents a secret!’ He feared for us both. Looking back now, I realize that from that day forward, our parents were living life day to day, protecting us and making sure that we weren’t using our powers. It was very difficult for them.”

Scootaloo smiled and wiped a tear from her eye. “That was actually a really good story. I wish my dad cared like that.”

“Scootaloo, your dad cares a lot, and not just about you. He cares about everypony.”

Scootaloo sighed. “I know, I know,” she mumbled. “I guess he’s just too busy caring about Cloudsdale to care about being a dad.” She sighed and continued to trod along beside the princess..

If only I could tell you everything, Celestia thought to herself. If only you could see just how vigilantly he’s watching over you, over everypony, even now.

“Not all parents show their love in the same way,” Celestia said calmingly. “Someday, you’ll understand just how much your dad loves you. Trust me, little one.” Scootaloo managed to smile and nod her head.

What a touching moment, Discord’s voice suddenly buzzed in Celestia’s mind. I’m not sure you represented me very well in that story of yours, though! I just wanted to have fun, too!

Discord! Celestia practically shouted in her mind, a slight headache suddenly forming between her eyes. Where have you been? I’ve been trying to contact you for hours!

Sorry, sorry! I’ve been a little busy with your sister and another one of your tiny subjects, he responded. We’re all fine, but I don’t know for how long. There are strange creatures about, and something rather explosive is happening in Las Pegasus.

I saw something, too. In Cloudsdale. A faceless white creature with a mouth full of jagged teeth, the princess thought.

Oh, good! At least we saw the same kind of freakish thing. I nearly jumped out of my skin with fright! Discord said, his voice cracking slightly. Anyway, I think you’d better get over here. There’s some powerful magic hanging in the air. I don’t want to panic you, but I can feel a dark shadow falling over that city. If anypony from our intrepid party is in there, they’re in trouble.

Celestia leaned toward the ground and placed a hoof against Scootaloo, halting her. “Hop on my back, Scootaloo. We need to get moving faster.”

“What happened to staying low-key?” Scootaloo asked, climbing up onto the princess’ back.

“Things have changed. Hold on tight, I’m going to be going upward quickly.”

Scootaloo wrapped her forelegs around Celestia’s neck, and the alicorn took off into the sky, blasting out from the canopy and up towards the peak of a tall mountain. After a minute of flight, they reached the summit. In comparison to the spring-like weather below, the top of the mountain was cold and covered in snow. Celestia set down upon a rocky outcropping and gazed toward the southwest. She squinted her eyes, but couldn’t make out anything.

Suddenly, a distant beam of pink energy fired into the sky. It was so faint due to how far away it was, she barely saw it, but a second later she felt a wave of magic wash over the landscape. Her eyes went wide at the sheer power of the energy. That can’t be right! What on earth is happening?

Beats me! You should be over here next to it! It’s hard to breathe! Discord’s voice responded.

A moment later, a flash lit up the night sky from the east, and then another sustained blast of magic came from the southeast. Celestia turned her head, staring at what looked like a massive forest fire in the swamps of the southeast, so distant it was hard to make out.

There are battles happening everywhere! Celestia thought. Nightmare Moon will surely head to one of them!

Well hurry up and decide! Discord’s voice called out in a panic. But for what it’s worth, I don’t think there’s much hope over here. Las Pegasus is absolutely overrun by those creatures, and more are swarming in from the east! This doesn’t look good!

What do I do? Celestia thought. Do I go help Discord and my sister? Or do I go investigate what’s happening in the east?

Atop the tallest lookout tower of Canterlot, Nightmare Moon stood and surveyed the landscape. Gazing through a powerful telescope, she caught sight of a flash from the southwest. She pointed the lens directly toward it and adjusted the focus, bringing the distant city of Las Pegasus into view. Even with this instrument, it was difficult to make out what was happening, but stray blasts of magic were firing off from the city.

Well, looks like somepony found something fun to do.

She pulled her eyes away from the lens and glanced to the east. They went flying in all directions, so there’s no telling who’s over there. The magic looked powerful, so it would have to be Dear Sister, Luna, or Twilight. As she was thinking this, another explosion caught her eye, and then a third from the south, followed by a forest fire sparking up. She grabbed the telescope again, aiming it toward the southern swamp.

Fools, you’ve practically told me where you all are, she thought with a sigh, and then turned her head back westward.

“The forest fire can wait, as can the unfocused magic blast to the east,” she said aloud. “Time to pay a visit to Las Pegasus.”

She leapt into the air, spreading her wings and swooping towards the mountains of the Unicorn Range. As she shot through the sky, she saw a familiar figure standing atop one of the peaks. She licked her lips and grinned. “Slight pitstop, first.”

Princess Celestia stood in thought, staring towards Las Pegasus. “We have to head west, Scootaloo. We’ll be going fast again, so hold on.”

Scootaloo tapped her hoof against Celestia’s head and her body began to shake. “Behind us!” she shouted, catching sight of Nightmare Moon diving toward them. Celestia turned and saw the dark alicorn, her horn glowing as she fired a blast of magic toward them. She was just quick enough to leap into the air, narrowly escaping the beam of energy. It struck the mountaintop where they’d been standing, upheaving rocks and snow and sending them flying in all directions.

“Sissie, dearest! I’ve come to play!” Nightmare Moon shouted. “It’ll be just like old times! Let’s play hide and seek!” She swung up towards Celestia, who spread her wings and dashed away as fast as she could, taking a sudden dip down towards a valley to the west.

“Hold on tightly, Scootaloo! We can’t afford to fight her, we have to escape!”

Scootaloo tightened her jaw, clenched her eyes shut, squeezed the princess’ neck harder, and silently nodded her head.

Corruption Ch 7 - Awakenings

Book Four: Corruption

Chapter Seven - Awakenings

What happened?

Hey, I think she’s awake!

Does that mean it worked?

How am I supposed to know? You’re the smart one.

Yeah, but I have more important things on my mind.

I have a headache on my mind…

More important things? Like what? What could possibly--

You know, like what to call her! We have to come up with a cool name like we all have!

My name isn’t cool.

Sure it is!

Is that the other Pinkies? What are you talking about? Names?

They named me Cutie Pie.

See? That’s so great! It’s adorable!

It sucks.

Yeah, it kinda does.

Oh, great, so you two are against me?

Guys, I think I hear something moving. It’s dark and there’s a bunch of heavy stuff laying on me…

Look, I’ll just put it out there: Since she’s in Luna’s dream, I thought we should call her Moon Pie! You know, like that one cookie thing with the creamy filling?

Mmmm… Creamy filling…

See? You do like it!

It does sound delectable.

Guys I hear some sort of hissing, and my body aches all over.

Oh! Right! Sorry, Moon Pie!

You’re really gonna call me that?

Yep!

Girls, I just want to point out that if this conversation were written down, it would be utterly confusing to read.

Heck, even just listening to it! I mean, we all sound pretty much the same.

I don’t sound like you two.

That’s because you got all angsty ever since Fluttershy left your dream world!

Seriously, you three… I’m gonna try and get out of here and look around.

Pinkie, now dubbed Moon Pie, pushed up against the solid object that was holding her down, but it didn’t even so much as shift. I think I’m stuck. What do I do? I don’t want to be trapped in here forever!

Use your magic, silly!

Oh yeah… duh! Moon Pie thought. She concentrated her magic on her horn and then tried to levitate the object off of her. A mountain of debris shot up into the sky like a rocket, quickly leaving sight. Pinkie shook her head and rose up to her hooves. As she dusted herself off, she looked around. The scene was like something you’d see at the site of a demolition. Pieces of buildings lay in ruins around her, an entire city block completely leveled and on fire. She slowly made her way out of the pile of rubble she had been trapped under and onto what looked like it used to be a paved road. She slowly turned, taking in the sheer destruction. Did… I do this?

She walked down the road, her head swiveling back and forth. She eventually came to the edge of the blast area and into untouched city. Las Pegasus was a city that boasted the best of both earth pony and pegasus structural innovation. The streets were solid and sturdy, with tall buildings and even skyscrapers reaching into the sky. High above the city were clouds upon which even more pegasus type structures sat, similar to what would be seen in Cloudsdale. She glanced around for signs of life, but none were to be seen. This whole city is abandoned. No sign of anypony anywhere, she thought.

That’s a good thing, Pinkie Twi’s voice said in her mind. Nopony was hurt by that explosion of yours. I gotta admit, I wasn’t sure if you’d be able to handle having the power of two alicorns inside you, even if it’s only partial. It’s still stronger magic than most unicorns would be able to deal with!

Moon Pie nodded her head. It’s a little creepy, though, and sort of lonely. What do you think happened to everypony?

If I had to guess, I’d say that Nightmare Moon or Princess Luna made them all disappear, Pinkie Twi said. Think about it. If there’s the chance that anypony could become a changeling, it’d be better to eliminate the risk.

Makes sense. I guess things are easier because of that, in a way, Moon Pie thought, lifting her eyes skyward. I think I’ll fly up to the top of one of the tall buildings and have a look around. Maybe I’ll be able to spot one of our friends… I hope.

Moon Pie swung her wings downward, propelling herself into the air. She headed straight for a particularly tall skyscraper roughly one block away. As she was approaching the structure, movement caught her eye through a window halfway up the building.

I saw something! Or somepony! she said. I couldn’t tell who or what, though, it was kind of dark.

Dark? Be careful, what if it’s Nightmare Moon? Pinkie Shy asked nervously.

Moon Pie reached up and tapped her forehead. Shoot, it’s weird having all your thoughts floating around. I just realized I could really use a colorscope right about now.

Pinkie landed on a ledge outside the window where she’d seen the movement coming from. Glancing inside, she saw a small office with a hallway leading into the center of the building. The window slid open easily and she nervously stepped inside. She looked all around the room, but didn’t see any sign of what had moved before. Nervously, she cast a light spell at her horn's tip and proceeded into the hallway.

“Hello? Is anypony in here?” The sound of something skittering along the ground came from the end of the hallway. Pinkie proceeded toward a set of double doors and slowly pushed them open. A stairwell leading downward was on the other side. Pinkie nervously pushed up against the railing and looked down between the flights to the ground floor far below. “Hellooooo? Twilight? Fluttershy? Princess?” Her voice echoed against the dark walls of the stairwell, the glow of her horn the only light.

There’s that sound, again, she thought as a hiss came from far below, along with more skittering and the stomping of hooves. Somepony’s down there, and they don’t wanna respond. I’d better be careful.

After several very quiet minutes, Pinkie had made her way to the ground floor without encountering anypony else. She pushed the doors open and found herself in a large lobby area. Light from the moon bled in through the windows at the front of the large room, and Pinkie spotted movement just outside them. She ran toward the glass doors that led to the streets and pushed them open.

“Aha! Found you!” she announced and she slid onto the pavement outside. Her expression quickly soured and a slightly wavering crowd of shadowy ponies seemed to stare back at her, or would if they had any facial features. She backed up toward the doors, pulled them open and chuckled lightly, one hoof behind her head. “Nevermind. Wrong door!” She slammed the door shut and leaned against it, her body starting to shake.

What in the name of pink are those things?

Pinkie Twi’s voice responded in her mind. They’re shades! Hang on, let me find the book that has the info! Ever since Fluttershy said she saw a Cat Sidhe in her dream, I’ve been studying up on mythical creatures since we might encounter them in these dreams!

The shades pressed violently up against the windows and door, banging furiously and hissing as Pinkie pushed back with all her might. Well hurry up and find it! They’re gonna break in any second now!

Run! Pinkie Shy’s voice cried out. Get up a story and jump for it! You can fly, remember?

Moon Pie leapt away from the door and ran toward the stairwell. A swarm of black creatures poured into the room behind her. She bolted as fast as she could and grabbed the door handles, but they didn’t open. “It’s stuck!” she screamed.

Blow it open! Pinkie Twi shouted back. I found the Monstrous Manual, I just have to find the right page!

Pinkie let a beam of magic fly from her horn. The door and most of the wall it was attached to shattered to tiny bits. A massive tunnel was left in the wake of the blast, and the lower flight of stairs had been destroyed as well. “Shoot! I can’t control this magic yet!” she yelled. A hissing sound came from behind her. She turned her head and saw a wall of spear-like tongues flying toward her. She ran through the hole she’d made and leapt into the air, flapping her wings and grabbing ahold of the banister on the second flight of stairs. The tentacles flew past just beneath her as she pulled herself up to the second floor and burst through the door into a hallway. The sound of the shades slamming into one another from the stairwell behind her filled her ears and echoed through the hall. She ran as fast as she could toward a window at the opposite end. With a blast of magic, she blew out not only the window but the entire wall it was attached to. She leapt through, glass and debris flying into the air alongside her. She beat her wings downward powerfully and took to the sky. Looking down, she saw the streets beneath her crawling in black, pulsating shadows. The whole city seemed to be hissing angrily as the all turned their heads up to her and began to fire their tentacles into the air.

“There must be hundreds of them! Maybe thousands!” Pinkie shouted.

Be careful! Pinkie Twi responded. These things have a hive mind! They learn and adapt, maybe even over a long distance. If anypony has fought them with a certain type of magic before, it might not work on them!

How can I tell, though? Moon Pie thought.

I dunno! Trial and error, I guess? Try blasting one of ‘em!

A beam of purple magic shot out from one of the shade’s mouths right at Pinkie. She dodged as quickly as she could, the magic grazing her slightly. “Okay, something tells me they’ve fought Twilight before! That felt like her magic!”

You can try to overpower them! Pinkie Twi shouted back. Give them the biggest blast you can muster, right into the middle of the crowd! Let’s hope the power of two alicorns is too much for them to handle!

What if our friends are down there? I can’t!

The sound of a giant magic beam came from below. Pinkie looked toward the sound and saw the magical blast cutting straight across a skyscraper just ahead of her. The whole building began to fall down toward her. She shot through the air to the side, barely escaping the structure’s collapse. It hit the street with an ear-shattering crash right on top of a huge group of shades. Mere seconds later, the shades that had been smashed pushed up through the rubble and began to lose their pony forms, merging together like puddles of dark water floating in the air. Immense magical pressure began to push outward from the congealing mass of shadow. It nearly pushed Pinkie out of the air. She flapped her wings as hard as she could just to retain her balance.

“Guess there’s no time to think! I’ll just have to be careful!” Pinkie said, stiffening her lower lip. She flew through the air toward the shadows, her horn glowing with swirling purple and pink.

At the city limits, Discord soared through the sky like an arrow with Luna just behind him, Apple Bloom clinging for her life to the princess’ back. Discord spotted the plummeting skyscraper ahead of him and narrowed his eyes. A second later, the wave of magic swept through, nearly dropping the three of them to the ground. Movement caught the corner of his eye and he turned to look, spotting a massive number of shades flying through the air toward the apparent scene of battle a few miles ahead.

Discord gasped for breath and shook his head. Well hurry up and decide! he thought, communicating telepathically with Celestia. But for what it’s worth, I don’t think there’s much hope over here. Las Pegasus is absolutely overrun by those creatures and more are swarming in from the east! This doesn’t look good!

“Discord! Watch out!” Luna called out from behind. She and Discord both dove downward between a pair of tall buildings, narrowly avoiding a sweeping beam of dark purple magic. Luna’s eyes went wide. Apple Bloom held on for dear life, her body shaking. “That power was similar to my own! There’s only two ponies here that can do that! Let’s hope that’s Pinkie Pie up ahead and not Nightmare Moon!”

Discord nodded his head and continued to push forward as fast as he could. He started to teleport mid-flight to speed his approach even more. Luna followed suit, and Apple Bloom felt her stomach starting to bottom out.

As they approached, a massive shade came into view. It was as tall as a skyscraper and flailing a front hoof through the air at a pink blur that flew around it like an insect. Luna squinted her eyes and followed the pink object for a second.

“It’s Pinkie Pie!” She shouted.

Pinkie stopped in mid-air and looked toward Luna and Discord. She flailed her hooves for a second. “Hey guys!” she yelled. A second later, a barrage of magic projectiles sped towards Pinkie. She narrowly dodged the attack. The shade swung a shadowy hoof at her, which missed and then crashed into a building, smashing it to rubble. Pinkie stopped in mid-air again and fired a counter-attack. A massive blast of magic was unleashed from her horn and slammed into the shade’s head, knocking it sideways. It crashed into yet another building, reducing it to crumbling pieces.

Luna levitated Apple Bloom to Discord’s back and then dove toward Pinkie, teleporting halfway and appearing at her side. “What is that thing? It’s like something we saw earlier, but it’s much bigger!”

“It’s a shade! A big one!” Pinkie replied. “So far, nothing has really worked on it very well, and I’m sort of running out of ideas! I don’t think the city can take much more, either!”

“It could definitely use some spicing up!” Discord said. Luna and Pinkie turned their heads and found that he’d appeared next to them. “Let’s see what I can do about that.” He snapped his fingers and the surface of the shade changed from solid black to a constantly moving rainbow of colors. “There, much better!”

“That’s not helping!” Luna shouted. The shade curled forward into a ball and then exploded outward with multi-colored spikes. The three of them scattered to dodge the assault, but Luna was grazed slightly. She tumbled through the air for a moment before regaining control.

Discord snapped his fingers again and all the spikes exploded into flower petals. “Really! How rude!” he shouted. The shade turned its head up toward him and opened it’s mouth, emitting a deep howl that shook the ground and air alike. A beam of purple magic fired from its maw right at the draconequus.

Discord flashed to the left and laughed as the beam shot past him. “No manners, really! I guess I’ll have to—“

“Look out! Behind you!” Luna screamed. Discord turned his head just in time to see the beam of energy, having looped around, closing in on him. He snapped his fingers, but it was too late. The beam crashed against him, engulfing him and Apple Bloom in a flash of magic. The two of them shot toward the ground like rockets, smashing into the street below.

“Discord! Apple Bloom!” Luna and Pinkie screamed as they shot down through the air after them. The dust cleared, revealing the two of them lying unconscious within a ball of yellow magic, which had apparently cushioned their landing.

“Good, quick thinking, Discord!” Luna said.

It wasn’t him, a voice said inside Luna’s mind. She and Pinkie stopped in mid-air and stared down at the forcefield. Apple Bloom’s eyes had opened and were aglow with bright, white magic.

It is time. Apple Bloom's voice said within Luna and Discord’s minds.

Back towards Canterlot…

“We have to get out of sight, somehow!” Celestia shouted back to Scootaloo, who was gripping her neck with all her might. Celestia swooped down and then swung to the right around a massive boulder and underneath a large, fallen tree that was lying across the top of a gorge. She sped along the gorge, close to the ground.

Scootaloo turned her head back and saw Nightmare Moon diving after them. “She’s still getting closer!”

“We’ll have to hope that we can lose her just ahead! There’s a series of caverns! Hold on!” Celestia turned upward, flying vertically along the steep cliffs of a tall mountain. She spotted the gaping mouth of the caverns just above, and dove into them. The main cavern they arrived in was huge, with many dark tunnel openings in the walls. Celestia picked one and flew into it just as Nightmare Moon entered the cavern and landed, skidding to a stop.

The dark mare swung her head around, looking at all of the possible paths, and smiled. “This is so much fun, sister! Do you honestly think that you can hide from me in my own dream?” she shouted, her voice echoing off the damp cavern walls. “Should I count to ten? No, you’ve had plenty of time! Ready or not, here I come!”

Deep down the tunnel, Celestia heard Nightmare Moon shouting. Scootaloo’s body shook upon her back. The princess lit up the tip of her horn faintly and turned her head back toward the filly. She placed a hoof over her lips and Scootaloo nodded her head, her eyes darting back and forth along the cave.

Once the echoes of Nightmare Moon’s voice died down, the sound of hissing came from all around, reverberating throughout the caverns. Celestia cringed. That’s the same sound we heard in Cloudsdale. It must be those creatures.

Nightmare Moon’s voice shot out once again. “It sounds like I’ve awoken some of my little pets, sister! If I don’t find you, I’m sure they will.”

“Pets?” Scootaloo whispered. Celestia shook her head and put a hoof against her lips again. She stepped along the tunnel as quietly as she could, taking a branch that went off to the right.

So she created those things. I should have known. This place just became dangerous. We have to get out of here and get over to Las Pegasus.

The tunnel exited to a larger chamber. Celestia stared in horror across the rocky domed interior. A massive group of black, faceless shadow ponies stood before her. Scootaloo jumped slightly and let out a gasp. The noise rippled out across the space, and all of the dark ponies’ heads turned toward the two of them.

Celestia frowned and leapt into the air, spreading her wings and flying above the shades. Their mouths shot open with a loud hiss, their red eyes locking onto the flying alicorn. Their tongues fired into the air, and Celestia took evasive maneuvers. She twisted through the air, surrounding Scootaloo with a levitation spell and pressing her firmly against her back.

At this point, it was all too much for Scootaloo to take. The tension in her body overcame her and she screamed at the top of her lungs.

The scream reached Nightmare Moon’s ears, and she grinned and charged down the tunnel she was in, hooking to the right. She laughed loudly as her hooves pounded against the rocky ground. “I’m coming to find you, sister!”

A second later, a scream from Celestia echoed across the caverns and tunnels.

The princess felt one of the sharp tentacles stab into her side. Having been in mid-spin, the tentacle wound around her lower body and she felt herself losing control. Two more of the spear-like tongues plunged into her chest and abdomen. With the last of her strength, she raised Scootaloo into the air and shouted to her. “Get out of here! The tunnel just ahead should take you out! Now go!”

Scootaloo felt herself launch through the air at high speed. She instinctually spread her wings to little effect. As she spun through the air, she saw Princess Celestia’s body falling toward the ground, gaping mouths full of teeth awaiting her and a spray of blood glistening in the air from Celestia’s light spell.

“Princess!” Scootaloo screamed, and then slammed into the ground. She found herself facing a tunnel, just as the princess had said, with just the faintest trace of moonlight shining in from the distance. She turned her head back and saw Celestia hit the ground as well, the shades diving toward her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nightmare Moon leaping out of the tunnel that they had come in from, her horn glowing with purple magic.

The room exploded in yellow light as Celestia let loose with an attack. The force from the spell sent shades flying everywhere. Scootaloo was launched against the wall by the magic, and she felt the wind being knocked out of her. She fell to the ground and grasped her chest.

“Get out of here!” Celestia shouted again, pulling herself up to her hooves and pointing a hoof toward the tunnel. Shadows swirled around the cave as if a tornado had formed inside of it. The pieces of the shades began to collect into a single point, quickly forming into a pair of massive pony shapes.

“Yes! Kill them both!” Nightmare Moon shouted as she dove toward Celestia. One of the giant shades leaned toward Celestia and opened its mouth, growling loudly. To Nightmare Moon’s surprise, the other turned toward her and did the same. She stopped in midair and ducked down to the ground. She glared up at the beast. “Not me! Get her! Her!” She pointed a hoof toward Celestia. The shade responded by raising a hoof and stomping it down towards her. She leapt out of the way, barely evading the attack.

Celestia wrapped one hoof around her chest, gripping it against herself as she strained to stay on her feet. She leapt back toward Scootaloo, evading a stomp from the shade that had growled at her. She saw Nightmare Moon being attacked in the distance, but kept her attention locked onto the beast before her. You’ve lost control of them?

Nightmare Moon fired a beam of magic up at the shade. The creature shrugged the blast off and lunged its head down at her. She leapt out of the way again, sliding across the ground to the side, her eyes glowing.

Celestia saw the shade shrug off the attack and narrowed her eyes. No effect? Let’s try some fire, then. She glanced back toward Scootaloo, who had finally stood back up but was frozen in place with fear. Celestia’s horn lit up with pulsating yellow power. She lobbed a column of fire toward the creature in front of her, and the surface of its body was engulfed in flames. It screeched in pain, its voice deafeningly loud. The princess was wounded badly, but she managed to spread her wings and flap them, diving towards Nightmare Moon, who was diagonal from her now.

“I won’t fight you, and I won’t let you die here!”

“Stay away from me!” Nightmare Moon shouted. The shade she’d been fighting turned its head and opened its mouth, launching its own massive purple beam of magic at her. She dove toward Celestia, but couldn’t avoid the spell. She was knocked backward, the armored boots on her hind legs shattering from the explosive attack. Celestia hit the ground and slid along it, leaving a trail of blood behind her. She came to a stop with Nightmare Moon just out of her reach. Despite that, she lifted a hoof toward the evil mare and coughed.

“Why are you helping me? Get out of here!” Nightmare Moon yelled at her sister.

Celestia smiled. “Why aren’t you trying to kill me? Why tell me to get out of here?” A tear streaked down her cheek. Nightmare Moon stared back at Celestia, eyes shaking. “You’re Luna, and she’s you, and that’s why I can’t possibly fight you. Not like this, not to the death. Let’s fight together, sister!”

The two shades stepped toward the princesses, the ground shaking under their weight and rocks falling from the ceiling.

“Princess!” Scootaloo screamed. She began to run toward the wall they were backed up against.

Nightmare Moon shook her head and bared her teeth. She pushed herself up to her hooves and glared down at Celestia. “Don’t compare me to her! She’s weak! Pathetic!”

Celestia struggled to stand up, another thunderous hoofstep shaking the ground beneath her. “Fine, but at least set us free from danger! Use your lucidity! Banish these creatures, or remove the weight of death from this dream!”

Nightmare Moon shook her head and laughed. “I can’t. Not anymore. My lucidity is gone,” she said, and then pointed a hoof past Celestia at Scootaloo who was charging toward them. “It’s all those fillies’ faults! Ever since they used that weird magic that shot you to the four corners of the land!”

Celestia turned her head and saw the orange pegasus approaching. She reached a hoof out toward her. “Scootaloo, no!” she screamed. The filly slid to a stop in front of her. The shades raised their hooves and lurched forward. Celestia and Nightmare Moon jerked their heads up toward the shades. The two hooves came swinging down, their points of impact covering a huge area of cave floor.

Celestia grabbed Scootaloo and ran back toward the exit. Nightmare Moon dove the other way. The shades adjusted their trajectories and swung their hooves to the side.

“Blast!” Nightmare Moon screeched.

“Just go!” Celestia shouted, throwing Scootaloo toward the tunnel once again.

“No!” Scootaloo shouted in response, and the pendant around her neck erupted in orange light. The magical energy spread outward like a fireball, completely disintegrating the shades as it went, not stopping until the whole cavern was sparkling with orange light.

“What is this?” Nightmare Moon stared at the filly, who was now calmly walking toward her. Scootaloo’s eyes were wide and plain white, her body completely engulfed in swirling magic that was pouring out from her pendant.

“Scootaloo, what are you doing?” Celestia asked, but the pegasus foal just walked right past her, continuing her approach of Nightmare Moon.

“You cast me aside a thousand years ago, but you cannot ever be rid of me,” Scootaloo said, her voice having taken on a distorted sound. “I’ve never given up on you, though. I slept for a millennium, waiting for your return, but our reunion was interrupted.”

“Stay back!” Nightmare Moon said as she backed away from the child, baring her teeth and lighting up her horn. “You foals! What did you do to me?” She fired a blast of magic at Scootaloo, who swung a hoof and batted away the spell as if it were a clod of dirt.

“Scootaloo is sleeping. She’s earned her rest. If it weren’t for those three brave children, all would be lost,” the filly said, getting closer and closer to Nightmare Moon. “Remember, oh lost soul. Remember, now, the depths of your determination.”

The pendant around Scootaloo’s neck burst forth with radiant light, blinding Nightmare Moon and Celestia. They blinked their eyes and suddenly found their bodies floating in the air, looking down at Canterlot as it appeared a thousand years ago, the City of Unicornia.

The sun shone down brightly upon the city, and Celestia and Luna trotted through the streets. Shopkeepers were setting up their store fronts and the scent of fresh baked bread filled the air. Luna turned her head and smiled at her sister.

“It is good to be home again. I must admit, I’ve missed this place,” Luna said.

Celestia nodded and smiled back at her. “Yes, it is wonderful to see the city thriving like this. It is hard to believe it’s been nearly eight years since we defeated Discord. They’ve rebuilt the city wonderfully. You would never know anything had been amiss just looking around.”

A whispering voice could be heard by Celestia and Nightmare Moon as they looked down upon this scene. Luna’s ear twitched in response. Welcome home, Princess of the Night. You are expected.

Luna placed a hoof against her forehead and shut her eyes, stopping. Nightmare Moon gripped the sides of her head at the same time. Celestia glanced at her, her brow furrowed in thought. That voice… what was that? It sounds so familiar, but I can’t place it.

Celestia down below tilted her head. “Does something trouble you?”

Luna shook her head. “Tis nothing. Perhaps I am just not used to being up at this time of day.”

“Well, let’s get to the castle. The sooner this meeting with the mayor is complete, the sooner you’ll be able to rest.” The two of them proceeded to the castle and the scene faded away.

“It’s oddly appropriate that we are seeing a vision of that day. It was the first day we discovered the existence of the changelings, although we didn’t know it was them,” Celestia recalled, looking over at Nightmare Moon, who was staring blankly downward still, her grip on the side of her head having eased up. “The mayor told us of a strange disease that had broken out in Unicornia. Ponies were falling ill, having lost all of their strength, their will to go on having been completely sapped.”

“It is appropriate, but not odd,” Scootaloo’s distorted voice said, though the filly was nowhere to be seen. Her voice seemed to fill the void all around them as it shifted, colors leaking in, and the scene of that night’s moon raising appearing. “With each day spent in Unicornia investigating the strange disease, the darkness took ahold of you, as if you were becoming sick as well. However, as you found out, the disease was not a disease at all.”

“Changelings,” Nightmare Moon said, staring into the abyss.

“You discovered their existence before your sister did, but you did not tell her what you had found,” Scootaloo said as the scene below them changed.

Princess Luna stood atop a building in the middle of the night, staring down at a pair of ponies in an alleyway behind the building. They had, at first, been sharing an intimate moment. Luna had become accustomed to seeing such things, as the night was the time of passions. However, this was different than anything she’d seen before. A magical aura surrounded the two lovers as they kissed. Once they finally pulled apart, the stallion looked as if the color had been pulled right out of him. He was pale and stood with a slight wobble. The mare smiled at him and tapped her hoof against his nose before walking down the alley and into the streets.

Once she was out of sight, Luna leapt down to the alley and approached the stallion.

“Subject! Are you alright?” she asked. The stallion stared blankly at her for a moment and then turned toward a door in the building on the other side of the alley.

“You ignore your princess’ question?” Luna said angrily, and then used a levitation spell to force the unicorn to turn back and face her. “What has that mare done to you?”

“That mare…” the pony said, a huge grin spreading across his face. “Isn’t she wonderful?”

Luna scoffed. “Lovestruck, I see. Very well! Carry on with your night time activities, subject!”

The stallion nodded his head and then went back indoors. Luna looked up the alley to where the mare had disappeared to. “Something’s amiss,” she said aloud. “I must investigate.” She bounded up to the rooftops again and spotted the mare again, now a couple blocks away. Quietly stalking her from above, she saw her come to a park and duck behind a set of tall bushes. A streak of green light came out from behind the bushes, and Luna dove down at them. When she landed, she saw a unicorn stallion standing where the mare should have been. He jumped back in reaction to Luna’s sudden entrance.

“P-P-Princess Luna! You scared me!”

“What art thou doing out at this time of night, subject? Shouldn’t thou be sleeping?”

“Just out for a walk. I couldn’t sleep,” he said, and then gazed up into the sky. Luna eyed him suspiciously.

“Hast thou seen anything suspicious? Didst thou see a gray mare come through here?”

The unicorn shrugged and looked around. “A gray mare? No, I haven’t seen anypony. The park seems to be empty.”

“Yes, as most places are at night,” Luna said, lowering her gaze to the ground. “No matter! Walk with care, sir. Strange happenings are afoot this night.”

The stallion nodded his head and left the park, taking to the streets. Luna walked further into the park, looking around for the mare she’d seen earlier. She couldn’t have gotten far…

As Luna proceeded into the small park, she spotted two ponies sitting upon a park bench, locked in an embrace, their lips pressed firmly together. She squinted to see if she could detect any of the strange magic from before, but the mare on the bench was not the pony she’d seen earlier. She sighed and turned her head away. “Get thyselves a room…” she muttered, and then walked back out of the park the same way she’d come in.

Once having exited, she stopped. “Wait a moment, that stallion told me the park was empty. Perhaps he didn’t want to mention a couple making out, or perhaps…” she said to herself, and then took to the sky, scanning the ground for the stallion she’d spoken to before.

The stallion had met with two other ponies, and the three of them walked together into a small house on the outskirts of town. Luna snuck around and peered into the back window of the house just in time to see a burst of green energy. When it had subsided, the three ponies that stood within were like nothing she’d ever seen before. Their bodies were covered in small holes and indentations, and they had translucent blue wings.

What manner of pony are they? Luna thought, and ducked her head down as one of them turned toward the window. She listened as the three of them spoke.

“Were any of you spotted?”

“Not I.”

“Princess Luna was out and about tonight. She may have been following me, but I gave her the slip.”

“You fool! Were you feeding out in the open?”

“Of… Of course not! Don’t be ridiculous!”

“This is bad. If we’re found out, who knows what they’d do to us?”

“Calm down!”

Silence filled the air for a moment, only to be broken by the sound of one of the ponies within sobbing loudly. “How long must we live like this? What have we become?”

“We just have to be patient until a spell to reverse the change is discovered. Please, crying isn’t going to help anything.”

“I just feel so empty inside. Look at us! Nopony could ever love us. Nopony could ever understand us. I can’t go on!” The sound of glass smashing came from inside, and then pounding hooves and uncontrolled shouting.

“Stop it!”

“I’d sooner die! Unhoof me! It’s my decision! If you won’t let me do it here, I’ll just do it later, by myself!”

A loud smacking sound of a hoof punching against a body could be heard, and then a pony falling to the ground.

“Damned unstable idiot! How did she ever get chosen?”

“Must have been an accident, I swear.”

“I’m sorry…” a pained voice cried out quietly. “I’ll be patient. I promise. Someday… someday we’ll be free of this curse.”

“End your life if you please, but don’t do it here! Now get some sleep!”

Cursed souls in the night, I know not your story, but I swear right now by the light of the moon, I shall somehow find a way to break thy curse! Luna thought.

The scene changed once again to the daytime. Celestia and Luna were once again walking down the streets of Unicornia. However, the atmosphere was less cheerful than the first time. The two of them glanced around suspiciously. Luna eyed each pony they passed, and they reacted with uneasiness.

A group of pegasus schoolchildren crossed the road ahead of the two alicorns, led by their teacher. They all stopped, turned, and bowed towards the princesses. “Good morning, Princess Celestia! Good morning, Princess Luna!” they all said in unison. Their teacher, a pink mare with a white mane, smiled happily as she also bowed toward the royal pair, who stopped and nodded their heads.

“Good morning, children. It’s lovely to see you all. Are you on a school trip?” Celestia asked, her voice full of cheer.

The teacher nodded in response. “That’s right. Can anyone tell the princess where we’re going?” Several hooves rose, but one particularly bouncy child just spoke right up.

“We’re going to see the Sun Shrine!” he nearly shouted.

Celestia grinned and knelt down toward the foal. “You seem really excited about it! I hope you all have a great time.” She patted him on the head.

Another foal raised her hoof in the air and shook it. The teacher nodded toward her and smiled. “Yes, Sky Shear?”

“Is it really hot when you raise the sun, Princess Celestia? Does it hurt?” she asked, her eyes nearly sparkling as she gazed up at the princess.

Celestia laughed and shook her head. “The sun is hot, but it’s also far away. It doesn’t hurt.”

“Do any of you children remember what it was like before the princesses appeared?” the teacher asked with a smile.

The children began to all speak at once. One foal leapt into the air and shouted. “I remember! I was just a baby, but it was scary! It would get dark all a sudden.”

“That sounds so scary!” another little girl responded with a squeak. “Why does night time have to be so dark?” All the children seemed to suddenly gaze up at Princess Luna.

Luna stepped back slightly. “Children, maybe someday when you’re older, you’ll understand that the night—“

“I’m scared of the dark, too,” another child interrupted.

“Yeah, it’s so annoying!” a third child chimed in.

Luna stepped forward again and lowered her head toward the children, her eyes open widely. “VERY WELL, THEN! IF YOU CHILDREN ARE SO SCARED OF THE NIGHT, PERHAPS WE SHALL NOT LOWER THE MOON ONE MORNING AND SEE HOW YOU SQUIRM WHEN YOUR PRECIOUS DAYTIME NEVER COMES!”

“Luna!” Celestia shouted, grabbing her sister and pulling her away from the children, who were now all cowering in fear.

The teacher, who had fallen to the ground as well, stood up and waved the children along. “Now, now, Children, let’s get back to our trip. The princesses have important things to do.”

The procession of foals rose and walked away in a hurry.

Celestia glared at Luna. “Sister! I am shocked! What were you thinking?”

“I’m sorry, I do not know what came over me. I just…” Luna replied, gazing at the children as they walked away. “I must be tired. That has to be it. I haven’t felt like myself lately. I’m sorry.”

Celestia sighed and the two of them continued to walk. “Did you find out anything during the night last night?”

I can’t tell her yet, Luna thought to herself. Not until I am sure of what I saw last night.

Luna shook her head slowly. “Nothing of note as of yet.”

Scootaloo’s voice filled the void again as the scene changed, showing the moon rising into the sky. “Princess Luna tried desperately that night to create something beautiful. A night sky in perfect glory, the moon shining down from above, and the stars twinkling gently.”

Scootaloo suddenly appeared in front of Nightmare Moon and aimed her blank, white eyes at her. “Back then, you never let the fact that your sister’s sun shone more brightly stop you. Every night, you would go out on a mission. Each dusk more glorious than the last, each night carrying something special you’d created just for your subjects, and yet…”

The scene below showed Princess Luna landing upon a balcony above the city. She looked down upon the streets, and the sight of lights going out in windows, darkening them. The sounds of doors shutting and locking filled the air. She hung her head in sadness, no sign of anypony outdoors looking at her creation in the sky. The mysterious voice came again, louder than before.

Why do you even try, night goddess? They have never loved you, and they never shall.

“It’s hopeless,” Luna said quietly.

But hope it not lost! The voice replied. Your energy is far better spent in other ways than this. You need not press forward! Don’t you see? This is an opportunity!

Celestia frowned and strained to think. That voice! Where have I heard it before?

Cast aside your patience! Your determination! There is only one goal you need to be focused on, and that is overcoming the source of your problem! The sun must never rise again! Not until everypony recognizes your glory and might!

Princess Luna fell to a sitting position and her eyes dimmed. A small bead of white light exited her body from her chest, and a swirling shadow formed in its place. The shadow vanished within her, and the bead of light shot off into the sky.

Princess Luna’s voice filled the air all around Celestia and Nightmare Moon. Something is washing over me, I know not what. Like a piece of my soul has been pushed away, and where it once was is now empty.

“That was me,” Scootaloo said, appearing once again and hanging her head. “You rejected me and forced me out. In my final moment as a part of you, I heard your voice—your real voice—calling out to me through the darkness. You implored me to fly away and hide, only to return when your soul could be saved.”

“I don’t remember…” Nightmare Moon said quietly, shaking her head, her hooves still pressed to her temples. “I… can’t remember!” She closed her eyes and groaned with pain.

Scootaloo nodded. “Of course you wouldn’t remember. Neither would your other half. By design, our existence had to remain secret. So, hide I did. I disguised myself in the night sky as a star. When you were sealed away into the moon by your sister, the time was clear. The thousandth Summer Sun Celebration would be our time to return, to save you from the darkness that had claimed you, and yet… even that was not meant to be.”

A scene appeared before them showing Nightmare Moon’s return in Ponyville. The Cutie Mark Crusaders sat together, cowering in a corner as the six eventual bearers of the Elements of Harmony stood before the dark mare.

“We had been reborn within these three foals, chosen them as our final hiding place. We were in the right place at the right time, and yet we could not escape from their bodies.” She pressed a hoof against her chest and looked up at Celestia. “The presence of the Element Bearers, along with the fact that you were still alive somehow, caused us to fall dormant.”

Celestia sighed and shook her head. I was foolish and untrusting, yet again.

The scene changed, showing the six Elements being used against Nightmare Moon in the ancient castle. Scootaloo floated in the air above the scene and waved her hoof, causing it to freeze as the rainbows surrounded their target.

“The mysterious magic of the Elements of Harmony saved Princess Luna, but the method by which they did so was imperfect. Imagine that her soul had empty places, holes if you like. The magic of the Elements filled these hollow spaces, returning to the princess what she had been missing, but it could never truly be a perfect fit. Along with the magic of the Elements, the darkness still remained, fighting within her for dominance. The only way to truly finish this is to cast out the darkness and return us, the Shards of Luna, to their rightful places.”

“I…” Nightmare Moon growled and pushed herself to her hooves. “I WON’T LET YOU!” She lunged at Scootaloo, who raised her hoof and pushed back against the evil pony, a forcefield forming around her and Celestia.

“Princess Celestia!” Scootaloo shouted as she resisted Nightmare Moon’s advance. “You must go! You must reunite these three foals and end this thousand-year battle!” The void that had surrounded them vanished and Celestia found herself standing outside on a mountain top. Scootaloo and Nightmare Moon still stood before her, magic clashing between them. With a deafening shout, Scootaloo pressed forward, a beam of white energy blasting Nightmare Moon and knocking her back. She hit the ground and slid to a stop, lying unconscious.

Scootaloo turned to Celestia, who still had a look of shock on her face. “She will not be asleep for long! Take this foal and go!” she shouted. Her eyes closed and she fell to the ground, appearing to also fall asleep.

Celestia nodded her head, scooped the filly up with a levitation spell, and took off to the west toward Las Pegasus.

Fluttershy raised her previously injured hind leg into the air and swung it in a circular motion a couple of times. There was no pain or stiffness, no sign that it had been so badly injured before. “Thank you, Sweetie Belle, It’s much better, now. I’ll be able to walk again just fine.” She patted the filly on the head, and got a smile and a nod in return.

Sweetie Belle tapped a hoof against the pendant hanging over her chest. “It’s all thanks to this thing. I’d never even used magic before, so it’s kind of strange to think a necklace could make such a big difference.”

“Magic artifacts like that exist, though they’re exceedingly rare. I don’t know if it’s just blind luck, or that we’re inside these dreams, but the fact that all three of you young ones received such powerful accessories is one heck of an occurrence; an unthinkable coincidence.” Mulcibar said as he rose to his hooves and dusted himself off. He stretched his glimmering blue wings out briefly, their full radiance adding a colorful sheen to the flickering glow of the campfire. When extended fully, with all folds straightened out, his wings were quite a sight to behold. Gentle curves encompassed most of their edges, with contrasting sharp points in places. Most of their surface was a deep gray, almost black. The equally deep blue circles that peppered them were almost mesmerizing to look at, and quite a contrast to his plain gray coat and mane.

Fluttershy found herself staring at him, his shape burning itself into her eyes. The alien-seeming holes that were spread evenly along his legs and body had used to be disturbing and frightening to her, but now they were just another feature that came together to make up the whole that was him. As he pushed his forelegs forward and extended his back in a stretch, Fluttershy caught herself and blinked, shaking her head. “So, where are we? Where should we go, now?” she asked, turning her head to look toward the cave entrance.

“It’s hard to say,” Mulcibar responded, striding past Fluttershy and up to the cave’s mouth. “I think it’s safe to say that the sun is never going to rise. We’ll need to get a higher vantage point and look around. If you listen closely out there, you can hear the distant sound of rushing water. I think we’re near a river, probably a sizable waterfall as well. Rather than having one of us scout it out, we should all stick together and go as a group. We’ll be safer that way.”

Sweetie Belle frowned and turned her face away from Mulcibar. Fluttershy looked down at the filly and noticed the look of displeasure. She could feel the tension in the air growing just from seeing her reaction, and she scraped her front right hoof against the ground slightly. “Yeah, you know, because we’ll all be safer if we stick together. Safety in numbers, they say…”

Sweetie Belle was apparently in no mood for beating around the bush. She pointed a hoof straight towards Mulcibar and glared up at Fluttershy. “What makes you feel safe around him, exactly? He’s one of the changelings who came in here to stop us! I healed him because he saved me, but now we’re even!”

“Sweetie, I don’t think we should—“ Fluttershy started, but was cut off by Mulcibar approaching and putting a hoof against her chest.

Mulcibar leaned down toward the small unicorn, locking his eyes to hers. Sweetie furrowed her brow and puffed out her cheeks. “I’m not scared of you!” she said, her legs shaking slightly.

“You should be,” Mulcibar responded, cracking a toothy grin. “I could crush you like a grape under hoof, use my illusion magic to make you live out all your worst nightmares in vivid detail. You’d be begging for it to end before I was done.”

Sweetie Belle shrunk down, unable to maintain her tough face, her legs giving out slightly as his words echoed in her ears. Fluttershy stepped forward and grabbed Mulcibar’s shoulder, her face having gone from calm to angry. Mulcibar swatted Fluttershy’s hoof away and continued to stare down at Sweetie Belle.

“I could do all of that and so much more. You know the kind of monster you’ve checked for in your closet and under your bed before going to sleep? I’m nothing like that because you’d never know I was there. I could look like anypony. Your father, your mother, a friend from school… any of them could have been me at any time, and you never would have been the wiser. No, I’m much worse than any monster you’ve ever imagined. You are wise to fear me, to distrust me, to want to get away from me. I’m a deceiver, a liar, a killer, all of that.” Mulcibar pulled away from Sweetie Belle as he finished speaking, rising up to his full height, and then smiling down at her, his eyes relaxing and his expression softening. He reached his hoof down to her and nodded. “Now imagine having that monster as your ally. Right now, trapped in this world, Nightmare Moon hunting us down and death itself seeking to claim us all, I am exactly the kind of monster you want by your side.”

Sweetie Belle stared up at Mulcibar silently. Fluttershy stepped forward and shook her head, her mouth still curved downward. “I don’t think you’re helping,” she said.

Sweetie Belle sighed. “Alright, fine, I can tell when I’m outvoted. Just for your information, though, Mr. Monster, I meant it when I said you don’t scare me!”

Mulcibar grinned.

“But I’m gonna be keeping my eye on you. One wrong move and I’ll blast you with my pendant, okay?” Sweetie Belle finished, tapping against the necklace.

Mulcibar rolled his eyes. “Sure thing, kid. Seems fair. I’ll take point, then.” He walked out from the cave and waved his hoof forward. Fluttershy picked up Sweetie Belle, put her on her back, and followed after him into the forest.

Fluttershy plodded along, Sweetie Belle riding on her back and Mulcibar walking a few paces ahead of them. The woods were deathly silent, not even the sound of crickets breaking through the still air. Sweetie Belle stared ahead at the changeling, barely even blinking, a serious expression plastered on her face. Fluttershy could almost feel the pressure from Sweetie’s expression pressing down on her.

Mulcibar turned his head back towards them. His almost glowing blue eyes locked onto Fluttershy’s and the moonlight glinted off the metallic gold lining the edges of his facial features. She averted her gaze downward and back, blushing slightly. What had happened between the two of them earlier had still not completely sunk in.

Mulcibar pointed a hoof in the direction they were walking. “I’ll fly up to the top of that tall tree and get a look around. We’ll be able to get our bearings straight, then.” Fluttershy nodded quietly and Sweetie Belle glanced down at her blushing face, raising an eyebrow.

Mulcibar spread his wings and took to the sky, climbing to the top of the tree and perching on the highest branch he could manage. Gazing southwest, he spotted Canterlot Mountain in the distance. After a moment of looking around, he dove back down to the ground and landed in front of the two waiting ponies. “We’re in the northeast, as I thought. The sound of water is coming from Neighagra Falls.”

Fluttershy blinked. “We were shot that far? Goodness!”

Mulcibar nodded. “Yes. You’re lucky you weren’t injured more badly. The magic those fillies used must have shielded us somehow.” He stared at Sweetie Belle quizzically. “What was that, anyway?”

Sweetie Belle shrank down a bit and put her front hooves against the pendant at her chest. “I don’t know. It was Pinkie Pie’s idea. These pendants are connected to Princess Luna somehow, so maybe they’re extra powerful in this dream world.”

Mulcibar nodded his head, closed his wings, and turned. He continued to walk south, Fluttershy following after him. Silence filled the air again.

Fluttershy finally spoke up, nervously. “It sure is quiet.”

Mulcibar nodded his head. “I like it that way.”

Fluttershy lowered her head and let out a slight squeak in response to his answer. Ahead, she heard him let out a sigh. “Sorry, I’ll be quiet.”

Sweetie Belle scoffed. “You don’t have to be so rude about it!”

“I just so rarely get any quiet time. I don’t know if you noticed, but my sister is a little loud, and she’s basically been stuck to me ever since we were little. I’ve never met my father, and my mother died when Linnai and I were young, so it’s just been the two of us for many years now.”

“How terrible,” Fluttershy responded. Images of Linnai flashed through her mind, most of them involving her shouting or fighting. She cringed slightly. “It must have been… difficult. Did you ever think of going to find your father?”

Mulcibar laughed. “If I ever see his face, I’d probably punch it flat. I’m not angry at him or anything, but if he’d been around, mom may not have been killed. Would’ve made my life a lot easier.”

“Killed?” Fluttershy gulped as Mulcibar’s past became darker and darker as he continued to speak. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to hear any more.

“What happened?” Sweetie Belle asked. Fluttershy jumped slightly in response, unsure if the subject should be so casually delved into.

“She met the same fate many changelings do. She seduced the wrong stallion. He found out she was a changeling.”

Fluttershy shook her head. “And he killed her because of that? What a thing to do.”

Mulcibar laughed. “I don’t know that it was him for sure, could have been his family or his village. You see, they found out she’d given birth to his child. That child was Linnai, and I think they wanted both mother and child. She left that day and told me to watch after Linnai and then never came back.”

Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle both gasped. “She had his child? Is that even possible?” Fluttershy asked.

Mulcibar nodded. “Of course. When we take the form of another creature, it’s not just an illusion, it’s a transformation. Most females don’t stay pregnant after changing back, though. I suppose mother was different since she had two such foals. Unicorns fathered both me and Linnai. Had you not noticed how we look more like unicorns? That’s the origin of all changeling mages, though most are born from pony mares.”

“It had just never crossed my mind,” she said. “I guess I saw those cocoons, and the butterfly wings, and the carapaces on most of the changelings, and I just assumed it was more like, I don’t know…”

“Insects?” Mulcibar asked with a grin. “It’s true, though. That’s how the drones and other shelled changelings are born, but there are those like the order who are pony-like. There are even griffon changelings, dragon changelings… I suppose it doesn’t matter since we can look however we want, though.”

Sweetie Belle nodded her head and put a hoof against her chin. “I see, I see,” she said with a curious tone. “I still don’t get it, though. Rarity said that a mare gets pregnant when she loves a stallion very much, and if you guys can’t feel love, then how—“

“Okay!” Fluttershy interrupted awkwardly. “I’m sure there’s an explanation, but maybe you should ask Rarity about it when this is all over.” Her cheeks turned bright red.

“But, Fluttershy, I already asked her one time, and she said—“ Sweetie Belle started, but was cut off again, this time by Mulcibar turning around and leaning towards the two of them, a huge grin across his face.

“Do you reeeaaaally want to know?” he asked. Fluttershy ducked to the ground and put her hooves over her face. Sweetie Belle stared back into the changeling’s eyes and swallowed hard, nodding her head.

“Well, you see, sometimes a mare and a stallion…”

“Please, can we just not?” Fluttershy begged quietly.

“When they’re all alone…” Mulcibar continued and Sweetie Belle nodded her head anxiously, her eyes wide, her mouth locked in a smile.

“The stallion will bite the mare! Like a bug! Or a vampire!” he shouted, pushing his face closer to the foal, who fell backwards and off of Fluttershy’s back onto the ground. She stared up at Mulcibar, her mouth trembling.

“B-b-b-b-bite?”

“That’s right! The very next day, the mare will have the baby inside of her, like a parasite! It’ll feed, and feed, and feed, until finally, one day…” he said, approaching the filly again, never averting his eyes from her.

“One day?” Sweetie Belle asked nervously, scooting away from the changeling.

“One day…” he repeated, “It’ll BURST OUT OF HER STOMACH!” He lurched his face toward the foal, baring his teeth and roaring.

Sweetie Belle screamed and scuttled across the ground toward Fluttershy, grabbing ahold of one of her back legs and hugging it tightly. “I’m never gonna have a baby! No way!”

Mulcibar fell to the ground, laughing. Beneath her hair and hooves, Fluttershy stifled a giggle, though she hated herself for laughing at such a joke.

The sound of hooves stepping past made her raise her head. Mulcibar was continuing ahead, laughing as he went. Fluttershy quickly scooped up Sweetie Belle and followed after him.

After several yards, though, he stopped and pointed his hoof ahead of them. “There we are! We’re out of the forest. It’s grasslands, now, for a long ways. The mountains off in the distance must be the Foal Mountains, so we should turn right and make our way back toward Canterlot as quickly as we can.”

Fluttershy trotted past him with some exuberance, flapping her wings a little bit. “I’m just so glad to be out of those woods! I usually love forests, but at night they can be sort of scary.” She turned around and looked at Mulcibar, who was staring at her legs, the expression on his face souring. “Something wrong?” she asked, tilting her head down.

The ground beneath her, just below the grass, was a mass of swirling, pulsating shadow, like a shallow swamp, hidden just beneath. Fluttershy jumped and gasped. Sweetie Belle gripped her neck tightly and screamed. The two of them leapt back behind Mulcibar, back to the safer ground of the forest.

Mulcibar shook his head. “Tch! Just when I thought we were in the clear. It’s not like we have a choice, though. We’ll have to tread carefully.” As he finished speaking, the shadowy ground cover began to bubble upward, creating pillar-like shapes throughout the field, even way into the distance. “I don’t like this…” he said.

“What do we do, then?” Fluttershy asked.

“We fly. We fly over it as fast as we can and hope they can’t catch us mid-air,” Mulcibar replied. “Do try to keep up!” He launched himself into the air, his wings unfolding in a split second and his elevation rising rapidly.

Fluttershy looked over her shoulder. “Hang on, Sweetie.” The foal nodded her head and they took off as fast as the yellow mare’s wings could manage. Much to her surprise, she caught up to Mulcibar, and the two of them soared over the grassy field to the southwest, the outline of Canterlot Mountain hanging on the horizon.

The black pillars below began to hiss and hundreds of shadowy spikes shot into the air, as if the field had suddenly turned into a giant field of dark brambles. Mulcibar looked down at the field and swerved to the left, bumping into Fluttershy and pushing her through the air, both of them narrowly avoiding being hit. As they proceeded, the amount of spines flying at them increased, and Fluttershy was falling behind Mulcibar as their speed necessarily decreased with their evasive maneuvers.

A massive, twisted bunch of spikes flew upward at Mulcibar. Fluttershy spotted them first and pushed herself forward as hard as she could, extended her hooves forward and ramming into the changeling. “Look out!” she screamed.

Mulcibar tumbled through the air and flapped his wings to stabilize himself. He looked back at Fluttershy just in time to see her and Sweetie Belle met by the wall of spikes. He reflexively reached his hoof out and shouted. “You idiot!”

A blinding flash of light shot out from the point of impact, accompanied by Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle screaming. Mulcibar pulled his hoof back over his eyes for a moment. When he looked again, the shadows were gone, and all that was left was a glowing pink ball of light. He cautiously approached the magic orb, squinting to see inside of it. Within, Fluttershy lay cowering at the bottom, and Sweetie Belle floated in the center, her eyes wide and glowing along with her horn and the pendant around her neck.

“That pendant again!” Mulcibar said, looking around for any sign of the shadowy attackers, but there were none to be found. “What did you do? How?”

“I can’t let any of you die. You must press on, for the sake of this foal, and for the future,” Sweetie Belle responded, her voice having taken on an even sweeter tone, laced with a magical aura.

Fluttershy opened her eyes and looked up at the filly. “Sweetie Belle! You saved us! Thank goodness.”

“You’re not safe, yet, though,” Sweetie Belle replied. “As long as Nightmare Moon still lives, there can never be true safety. And then there is the issue of your kind.” She turned her gaze directly to Mulcibar, staring into his own wide eyes.

Mulcibar felt a pounding sensation in his head. He reached a hoof and pressed it against his head in response. He found himself unable to look away from Sweetie Belle, and unable to speak.

“Loveless child, you know not your own true purpose. The fact that the two of you were drawn together cannot be a mistake—I know these things, for I am love itself, passion itself,” she continued. “This battle began a thousand years ago in Canterlot, and while you two were not involved in the events of the past, I believe you hold one of the keys to the future.”

“A battle from a thousand years ago? Do you mean the battle against Nightmare Moon?” Fluttershy asked.

Sweetie Belle shook her head. “That was only one part of the larger war. However, that will be your first task.” She looked down at Fluttershy and smiled. “Let me show you. Let me show you both what happened, so that you may know what is at stake.”

Blinding white light burst forth and enveloped everything.

Author's Note

At long last, here's a new chapter! I am currently on vacation in Florida, and Servant Phoenix is on hiatus. Thanks to Thardoc and Dogman15 for pre-reading this.

I also did my best to do as much editing/proofreading as possible, but if you notice something glaring, by all means let me know.

This chapter went through some big revisions, entire pieces of it getting scrapped. Knowing my luck, I've left in some piece of subplot that makes no sense and I just somehow didn't catch it when reading through it again. So yeah, here's hoping nothing confusing is down below ;P

Til next time...

UPDATE 7/31 - Many small edits, nothing severe. Several severe edits planned, but anyone who has read the chapter already will be fine still.

Corruption Ch 8 - Seeds of Corruption

Book Four: Corruption

Chapter Eight - Seeds of Corruption

The sound of the bonfire crackled in Twilight’s ear as she lay unconscious. She felt herself waking up and resisted, the thought of just five more minutes of sleep hazily circulating her head. The warmth from the fire felt wonderful against her back, despite that the ground she was lying on wasn’t the most comfortable of beds.

She felt something pressing down against her hind legs as well as on her side and against her belly. Whatever it was, it felt soft and warm. Hmmmph… Blanket must have come off in the middle of the night, she thought drowsily. She reached her hooves forward and pulled the warm thing closer, but felt resistance when she tried to get it over her. Suddenly, something solid pressed against Twilight’s neck and chin, and she felt a slight burst of warm air, followed by the sound of a deep breath.

“Mmmmm… You smell good…” an equally drowsy sounding voice said, and then suddenly Twilight felt herself being squeezed into a hug by a pair of forelegs.

Her eyes shot open and darted downward. She found herself in a tangled pile with Linnai, who was still fast asleep and practically snoring, her snout nuzzled up against Twilight’s neck. Visions of Linnai feeding upon her love from earlier filled Twilight’s mind, and she felt her jaw tightening up. The very thought of continuing this accidental snuggling session only made Twilight feel more upset. She pulled her forelegs back, placed her hooves firmly against Linnai’s chest, and pushed her away. The changeling, however, resisted by gripping Twilight more firmly and shook her head, rubbing her nose back and forth against Twilight’s neck. “Wake up,” Twilight said, trying to remain calm.

Linnai pulled her head back and opened her eyes. Her eyelids hung heavily and she blinked a couple of times as she slowly awoke. She gazed into Twilight’s eyes blankly for a moment, and then yawned, her eyes closing again briefly before opening back up more fully.

“Are you awake now?” Twilight asked, once again pressing her hooves against Linnai’s chest. Linnai slightly nodded her head, and Twilight sighed. “Well, get off, then.”

Much to Twilight’s dismay, Linnai’s lips spread out in a big smile. “That’s a nice idea,” Linnai responded, her voice soft and sleepy. “Let’s have some fun.” The changeling pushed her lips against Twilight’s, and Twilight’s eyes opened even wider. She shoved the changeling off of her forcefully, and even cast a levitation spell to hold her at bay.

Linnai licked her lips and laughed. “You’re no fun, prudicorn.”

“That’s not even a word!”

“It is now,” Linnai said, managing to pull herself to a sitting position despite Twilight’s spell. She sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “Well, at least I feel well rested… though that’s all. Still a bit hungry.”

“That’s not my problem,” Twilight said, and turned her head to the side.

“In more ways than one,” Linnai added.

“That’s definitely not my problem!” Twilight snapped. “What the heck is your wrong with you? First you want to kill me, then last night you… you… impersonate Celestia and feed on me! And now this!”

“I just go with my gut feeling,” Linnai responded as she straightened her mane.

“And your gut feeling was to try and kiss me while half-asleep?”

Linnai laughed. “I was hoping for more than that, but the moment has passed. I think I’m slowly gravitating back towards wanting to kill you, now. You’re certainly helping, so keep it up.”

“Well, for future reference, I’m not like that!” Twilight said as she stood up and ran a hoof through her own mane.

“Like what?”

“Like… you know!” Twilight said, flustered. “I’m not into mares!”

“Not a problem, I could have been a stallion for you.”

“That’s not the point!” Twilight said and stomped a hoof against the ground. “I can’t believe I’m having this conversation!” She took a couple of deep breaths and relaxed her tensed up muscles.

Linnai giggled and scraped a hoof against the ground. “You are a riot! You know what? I think I won’t kill you after all. You’re too amusing to not keep around.”

“Enough,” Twilight groaned, massaging her forehead. “We should get moving. There’s no way to know how long we were sleeping, so we need to make up for any lost time.”

Linnai stood up and stretched her back. “Any idea how far we have to go?” she asked after a yawn.

Twilight looked up at the sky and shook her head. “Unfortunately, no. The stars and moon aren’t moving, so I can’t tell anything except which direction we’re heading. Unless…” She turned her head down to her battered saddle bag, which was leaning up against the rocky outcropping. This bag had seen better days, she thought as she flipped it open and lifted out the only item that was inside: A pair of goggles with multi-colored lenses.

Twilight slid the goggles onto her head and snapped the lenses in place over her eyes. She blinked a couple of times, her eyesight adjusting to the bright image that the Colorscope was showing her. “Wow, I should have been using these the whole time,” she said.

“What’s with the goggles?” Linnai asked.

“They’re special. Pinkie Pie made them in my dream world,” Twilight said, turning her head toward Linnai. “It lets you see reality separately from dreams. You look normal, but anypony that is just a dream would look different. I was hoping they’d give me a bit of perspective on how far we have yet to go, but it looks like this swamp stretches on for a long while, yet.”

“You do know where we need to go, though, right?”

“I hope so. We need to meet up with the others as soon as we can.”

“Well, then, how about this?” Linnai asked, taking a couple of steps towards Twilight before hitting a forcefield that had also been put up. She rubbed her nose and sighed. “We can fly. I’ll carry you, and you can use your magic to help support your weight. We’ll cover way more ground that way.”

Twilight shrunk down a bit and frowned nervously. “I don’t know. It’s one thing to fly in a chariot, at least then I don’t have to look down at the ground, but…”

“You’re scared of heights?”

“No, I’m scared of falling.”

“Don’t worry! We can do this! Besides, you have to admit, it’s the fastest way.”

Twilight sighed and nodded her head. I can’t argue against that, I guess. She sunk down slightly and nodded her head. “Fine, just… hold on tight.”

Linnai grinned from ear to ear and practically bowled over Twilight, grabbing her under her forelegs from behind and zipping up into the sky.

The treeline was soon beneath the two of them and was flying past. The blurring, colorful light show that Twilight was witnessing through her goggles was not helping, either. She felt her stomach twisting around inside.

“Why did I let you talk me into this?”

Linnai rolled her eyes and sighed as she swooped through the air, Twilight dangling from her forelegs, holding on for her life. “It’s way faster like this!” she said, and then turned her head to the side and spoke more softly. “Besides, you helped me out back there, so now we’re even.”

“What was that?” Twilight asked, wiggling her ear slightly.

Linnai grimaced and faced forward once again. “Nothing! Nevermind!” she shouted. “Are you sure we should be heading to Canterlot, though? Isn’t that probably where Nightmare Moon is at?”

Twilight nodded her head. “That’s precisely why we need to go there. Unless we defeat her somehow, we’re never going to make it out of here alive. There’s no other choice! We can’t just stay here forever. I hope that the others have come to the same conclusion.”

“Even if they have, how can you be sure that we’ll be able to beat her this time?”

Twilight closed her eyes and sighed. “I can’t be. I know we’ll never beat her unless we regroup, though, and the most obvious place is Canterlot. Once we get near the city, we’ll find a good place to hide out. We’ll keep an eye out of any others that come. I think it’s safe to assume that Nightmare Moon can’t just find us in her dream at this point. I don’t know why, but since we’re still alive, that seems to be true.”

Linnai laughed. “So we’re basically charging in full-speed without a plan? That’s actually just my speed.”

“It’s as good as we can manage at the moment.” The purple unicorn scrunched her body up as Linnai flew uncomfortably close to a treetop. “Hey! Be careful!”

“Quit complaining! It didn’t hit you!” Linnai snapped. “Just relax and let me do the flying!”

Twilight took a deep breath. Please let this be over soon, she thought. If I were meant to fly, I would have been born with wings. As she was thinking that, Linnai swung hard to the left and began flying parallel to a mountain range. Twilight let out a yelp, but tried to contain herself.

“You know this land better than I do! There was a city to the east back there. You know where we are?” Linnai asked.

Twilight nodded her head. “That was Fillydelphia. These must be the Foal Mountains. If we keep heading this direction, and at this speed, we’ll be in Canterlot in a couple of hours!” she shouted over the wind. “Look! You can just barely see Canterlot Mountain in the distance!”

A pink glow from the north on the other side of the mountains lit up the sky, practically like the sun, and continued to radiate. A wave of magic washed over Twilight and Linnai and they both turned their heads.

“What… was that?” Linnai asked, slowing her glide.

“I don’t know. It’s definitely some sort of powerful magic,” Twilight said, closing her eyes and concentrating. “It’s too far away to tell. It feels somehow familiar… comforting. It makes me happy.”

“It makes me hungry,” said Linnai.

“Exactly! That’s it!” Twilight shouted. “It’s love magic! But where’s it coming from?”

“Who cares? Let’s make a pit-stop, because I’m starving!” Linnai said and then turned northward, heading towards the mountains.

Twilight sighed. “Fine. It feels like there’s so much, I’m sure you could feed ‘til you’re stuffed. Plus, the others may be up there.”

“Exactly!” Linnai responded, drooling slightly. “I can already taste it.”

Twilight levitated a drop of saliva away before it hit her forehead. “Hey, watch with the dribble!”

Linnai laughed and snorted as they flew over the foothills of the Foal Mountains.

Mulcibar felt a pounding sensation in his head. He reached a hoof and pressed it against his head in response. He found himself unable to look away from Sweetie Belle, and unable to speak.

“Loveless child, you know not your own true purpose. The fact that the two of you were drawn together cannot be a mistake—I know these things, for I am love itself, passion itself,” she continued. “This battle began a thousand years ago in Unicornia, which is known today as Canterlot, and while you two were not involved in the events of the past, I believe you hold one of the keys to the future.”

“A battle from a thousand years ago? Do you mean the battle against Nightmare Moon?” Fluttershy asked.

Sweetie Belle shook her head. “That was only one part of the larger war. However, that will be your first task.” She looked down at Fluttershy and smiled. “Let me show you. Let me show you both what happened, so that you may know what is at stake.”

Blinding white light burst forth and enveloped everything.

A moment later, a scene appeared before them. A mare sat behind bars. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna stood on the other side of the cell, looking in at her, eyes wide. Celestia stared down at the mare’s legs, which were riddled with strange holes. Luna, however, stared into the distance, her eyes shaking. Sweetie Belle’s voice filled the air.

“This was the first changeling to officially be known of. her name was--”

“Tenderhoof,” Mulcibar finished for her. “All changelings know the story of Tenderhoof.”

“Do they?” Sweetie Belle questioned. “I’m certain you know what you were told, anyway. Please, tell us.”

Mulcibar cleared his throat and shrugged. “Tenderhoof was one of the first changelings to appear in Equestria. Where these changelings came from is not known, unfortunately, since all of our written history up to this point was destroyed,” he said, and then closed his eyes, pausing for a moment to take a deep breath. “Destroyed along with nearly all of the changelings. Condemned to death and executed by none other than Princess Celestia of Equestria.”

Fluttershy gasped. “What? I can’t believe it…”

“Believe it,” Sweetie Belle said. “Though perhaps your version of the story leaves out some of the more important details, dear Mulcibar.”

The changeling shook his head. “You claim to have greater knowledge?”

“Of course. I was there. I witnessed everything.”

“But, how?” Fluttershy asked, reaching her hoof out towards the foal, staring into her glowing white eyes.

“Yes, how?” Mulcibar repeated the question. “Who are you? You say you’re ‘love itself’, but what does that even mean?”

“Watch closely, and all will be revealed,” she replied and waved her hoof toward the scene before them, which started to move again. “Celestia had never seen a changeling before, but Luna had seen them. In fact, Luna had seen them for the last week, every single night, and told nothing to her sister about them.”

The scene turned to show Luna’s wide eyes, and zoomed in towards them until they became blurry and faded away. In their place, another setting appeared. Luna stood outside a run-down house on the outskirts of Unicornia, peering into a window. Inside, three changelings had gathered and were discussing their plans for the night, transforming into various ponies.

“Tenderhoof and two others,” Mulcibar commented.

Sweetie Belle nodded her head. “Yes, and Luna had witnessed a situation in the previous night where Tenderhoof had been filled with despair and tried to take her own life. The other two stopped her.”

Mulcibar frowned. “Tenderhoof? Take her own life? She is one of our most fearless ancestors who stood up to Celestia and Luna before the great purge. She wouldn't have even contemplated such an act.”

“Perhaps you were told that, but it’s not true. Look at her. Does she look fearless to you?” Sweetie Belle asked. “She is full of nothing but fear. She calls the fact that she’s a changeling a curse. This is what caused Luna to sympathize with her. You see, Luna is determined to learn the nature of changeling magic so that she might change them back.”

Mulcibar stomped his hoof against the ground. “What do you mean ‘change them back’?” he demanded. “Back to what?”

“Back to normal unicorns. These three were all originally ponies, as were all the changelings of this time. Transformed by a mysterious spell from an old book, they received a power that they thought would be a blessing, but it came with a terrible price.”

The image morphed in front of them, and now showed a changeling feeding upon a mare behind a row of thick bushes. Luna stood atop a nearby building, staring down at the act as it occurred, unblinking.

I should stop this, she thought, but then shook her head vigorously. No, I can not! From what I have gathered, they must feed like this or they’ll die! All I can do is try and contain the situation until a cure can be found!

The changeling, having finished with the mare, changed form once again and ran away, leaving the weakened pony lying on the ground. Luna dove down once the attacker was out of sight and put her ear to the pony’s muzzle. She’s alive… but she’ll surely be weakened. She scooped up the mare onto her back and took off towards the hospital on the other side of town. After dropping her off at the entrance, she flew away, back to where she’s last seen the changeling.

“Night after night, Luna kept watch over those three, collecting their victims and delivering them to the hospital. Each day, she would return to the castle, lower the moon, and report nothing to her sister,” Sweetie Belle explained. “You might think that her actions were driven by determination, a strong will to help these souls, but that would be wrong. Luna, without even realizing it, was driving herself to help them out of a want for power.”

The scene showed Luna standing outside of the house where the changelings had been living. She stepped to the side of the window so as not to draw attention to herself as her body sizzled with magic. Her body changed shape slightly, becoming taller, and her mane changed color. Her coat became white, and even her cutie mark changed. After a moment, she looked identical to Princess Celestia. She raised her hoof and stared at it as a small hole began to form upon it. She tightened her face and her horn glowed more brightly, closing the hole. Her transformation was complete.

She grinned and chuckled slightly, her voice exactly the same as Celestia’s. “My dear subjects, blah blah blah,” she said quietly.

Mulcibar put a hoof to his chin. “She transformed like a changeling,” he said, his tone full of disbelief. “But she’s a pony… an alicorn.”

“Indeed, she is. In the future, she will use this magic again. She will attempt to defeat her own sister and seize control of Equestria. With this transformation magic, she will become Nightmare Moon,” Sweetie Belle said. “She can’t become Nightmare Moon yet, though. She isn’t capable of that yet, for she still has a mostly complete soul, too compassionate and patient. At this point, though, she’s already lost one piece of herself, her determination. By the end of this, she will lose her love as well.”

Fluttershy and Mulcibar now saw Princess Luna standing upon a scaffolding near the top of a run-down warehouse on Unicornia’s east side, nestled up against the cliff wall where the mountain shot up even higher. She had followed one of the changelings from the run-down house there. She peered down into the warehouse through a small window and gasped slightly at the scene beneath her.

Rows and rows of changelings stood within, all facing the rear of the building where a platform stood. Upon the platform was a cloaked pony, grasping a thick leather-bound tome in her front right foreleg. Two ponies stood directly in front of her, their expressions cold and lifeless. The cloaked pony flipped the book open, hovering it in front of her with her magic, and began chanting a spell. Swirls of dark green magic danced atop the book’s surface briefly, then shot out and surrounded the two ponies. Luna leaned forward, pressing against the window and tilting it inward.

That spell. That must be the source of their transformations. Those two are being changed! Luna thought. After the spell was complete, the two ponies had developed the distinctive holes in their legs, and their coats had darkened to almost pure black. They stepped backwards into the ranks of the others. The cloaked figure closed the book and set it down beside her. Luna stared at the book, trying to make out the markings on the cover. If I could just get my hooves on that book…

You would be unstoppable, dark princess! the voice in Luna’s head nearly shouted. Luna grinned uncontrollably, but was interrupted by a voice from below.

“Loyal members of the changeling order!” the cloaked pony began to shout. “Tonight, we have reached our goal for strength in numbers! Two nights from tonight is when our plans will finally come to fruition! We shall start the second phase! You all must be ready to lay down your lives for our cause, but know that a brighter future shall await us!”

The crowd of changelings cheered. Luna stood back up fully. She placed a hoof to her chin and thought. Phase two? Surely their plan must be something sinister. She turned her attention to the back of the warehouse. One of the changelings she’d been watching, the female who had been distressed on the first night, was slipping out the front door and running away through the streets. Where is she headed? Luna took flight and followed from a distance.

As she took off, Luna heard the cloaked figure shouting once again. “We must all be ready! Now go! Feed!” The crowd cheered again, the sound of their voices fading as Luna followed the changeling mare. They arrived back at the house on the other side of the city.

The changeling walked quietly to a chest of drawers at the rear of the house’s main room and slid a drawer open. She pulled a framed picture out and set it down on the dresser. As she stared at it, tears ran down her cheeks.

“I’m sorry. It’s not your fault,” she said aloud, her voice calm and monotone despite her tears. “I just… I just don’t love you anymore. I don’t know how it happened. You must be worried sick. You must wonder why I left, why I never came back, but… somehow, I just don’t care anymore. I don’t care about anything anymore.” She reached a hoof out and turned the picture down, laying its face against the surface.

Luna lowered her eyebrows and frowned, barely able to make out the crying mare’s words.

“This plan of theirs, though, I won’t be a part of it. I still have some decency left inside my empty soul, and I still have my mind unlike those other sheep.” She turned and headed back to the front door, pausing at the threshold and looking back once more. “Tonight will be the end of this. Goodbye.” She bounded out the door, spread her translucent wings, and took to the sky, heading northward.

Luna carefully slipped into the house through the window. She quietly walked to the chest of drawers and raised the picture frame. Within, there was a black and white photograph of the mare with her arm wrapped around the foreleg of a rugged looking stallion. The two of them looked so happy. The princess set the picture down and turned her head back to the window. “I’ve done nothing for you, yet. Either of you. You’re right, though, this has to end. Whatever this plan is, it ends now. The city may be in danger.”

And why is that your concern? A voice spoke within Luna’s mind. They don’t care about you, why do you care about them?

Luna frowned and leapt out the window, taking to the sky as well and flying to the north, back toward the palace. It is nearly time for sunrise. I do not have time to think about such things. A scream caught her ear and she gazed down at the streets. She spotted several changelings transforming, ones she’d seen at the warehouse, or so she assumed. They’re becoming more bold. This has to be stopped. Even after grasping their transformation magic, I am no closer to finding a way to reverse it, she thought, and then coughed slightly. Each time I use the magic, I feel weak. Will I end up like them? Feeding on others just to survive?

No, dark princess, your fate is much different, the voice whispered in Luna’s mind. She shook her head, ignoring the voice.

This is out of control. I must tell Celestia. I cannot do this on my own. Perhaps she will be able to find a way.

Or she will punish you for hiding this from her!

Luna stopped in midair and her body shook slightly. Surely she will understand! She is my sister! She would not abandon these ponies! Not when they are cursed like this!

The scene changed to Luna lowering the moon and Celestia raising the sun. After this act, Celestia turned to her sister. “Has there been any activity tonight?”

Luna hesitated slightly and then shook her head. “Actually, Sister, there is--”

“Your highnesses!” a voice came from beneath the balcony where the princesses stood, interrupting Princess Luna. The two of them looked down and saw a guard with a panicked expression staring back up at them. “You are both needed. Please come with me. I think we have a lead on the strange illness!”

Celestia and Luna looked at one another, nodded their heads, and ran through the door behind them, descending the stairs to where the guard was standing as fast as they could. The three of them proceeded to the guardhouse at the front of the palatial complex. Within the guardhouse, locked in a cell, was the changeling known as Tenderhoof.

“Princess Luna recognized her immediately. She was one the changelings she’d first discovered and had been lamenting their existence,” Sweetie Belle said as the scene continued before them.

“They caught her?” Mulcibar asked, scrunching his mouth a bit.

“She turned herself in. At first, what she was saying to us was so unbelievable,” one of the guards said, glancing at another who nodded his head in agreement. “We thought she was just confused, or affected by the illness, but then she… well, she transformed into what you see before you.” He pointed a hoof toward the cell where the changeling sat on the ground, her head drooped low and tears falling from her eyes.

“I never wanted this… I just didn’t know,” she said, her voice shaking. She turned her head towards Celestia and stared into her eyes. “You have to help me! Make me whole again! Please! I can’t go on like this!”

“Wait just a moment, please,” Celestia said, still not sure of what was going on. “Explain what has happened to you.”

“I was cursed! We all were!” The changeling said, rising to her hooves. “We thought it was a gift, but it was just the opposite. We gained the ability to change our bodies to look like anypony we want, but it came with a cost. I can’t feel… I don’t know what I feel anymore except despair! Just look at me!” She held a hole-riddled foreleg up in front of her. Celestia breathed in through her teeth.

“I still don’t understand. What caused this?” Celestia asked.

“A spell. Dark magic. It makes you feel so empty inside… so hungry. Hungry like you’ve never been hungry before. I don’t even understand what I’ve been doing this past month, myself. I’m so ashamed. But the hunger… the emptiness… they’re always there!” she continued, becoming more hysterical as she continued. She pressed her hooves against the metal bars. Her body flashed with green magic and her form changed. She now appeared as a normal looking unicorn mare, but her eyes were still wide with madness. Celestia gasped and took a step back. “So you change yourself! You have to hide like this! You go out and find somepony, doesn’t matter who, and you make your move!”

“Your… move?” Celestia asked nervously.

“Some prey is easy, some takes more time, but they all seem to give in eventually. It’s almost like you can control them! It feels… unlike anything else!”

“Prey?”

The imprisoned mare nodded her head. “Yes, prey! The emptiness inside needs their energy… their love. So you feed on them, drain them til you’ve had your fill. But it never ends. You just feel hungry again. Empty again.” She fell back to the floor and began to sob again. “I was promised the ability to change my appearance, to have the ultimate disguise. I never wanted all the rest, though. I never wanted to become a monster!”

Celestia stood silently, watching the mare weep, her words rolling around in her head.

“Princess. We’ve found out who she is,” a guard said, handing a piece of paper to Celestia. The mare behind bars stopped crying and turned to stare up at Celestia as the paper was handed over. “Tenderhoof. Wanted for multiple counts of theft and assault.”

“Please, you have to understand,” Tenderhoof said. “I thought being able to disguise myself would make it easier for me to finally start over! Nopony would recognize me!”

“Or make it easier to rob ponies blind. There’s been an increasing number of reports of theft since this disease started. Perhaps they’re connected,” the guard responded. Celestia closed her eyes and put the paper down on a shelf beside the cell.

“Let’s not make accusations until we have all the facts!” Luna shouted toward the guard. Celestia glanced at her, but then looked back down at Tenderhoof.

“There have been reports of a strange disease in Unicornia lately. One where ponies lose all their strength and will to live. Is this connected to this ‘feeding’ you speak of?” Celestia asked.

Tenderhoof sighed. “It must be. Sometimes, they even seem like they’re close to death. So cold and lifeless…”

Celestia narrowed her eyes. “Do you understand what it means that you have come here, turned yourself in, and confessed to these crimes?”

Tenderhoof nodded her head slowly. Luna stepped forward and raised a foreleg in front of Celestia. “Sister, wait. Somepony has put this spell on her. Surely there must be a way to reverse it.”

“I detect no magic, do you?” Celestia asked, glancing at Luna. “There was a flash of magic as she changed, but this was no illusion spell. There was no external influence. There was no trace of the magic once the change had finished.”

“Tenderhoof,” Luna said, looking down at the changeling. “Can you lead us to the one who has done this to you?”

Tenderhoof shook her head sadly. “I can’t remember them. When I try to remember, there’s simply nothing, just a voice commanding me. It’s as if my memory is as empty as my soul has become.”

“Memory erasure,” Luna said, turning her head to her sister. Celestia nodded in response.

“Whoever did this doesn’t want to be found,” Celestia said.

That cloaked figure, Luna thought, her inner voice echoing across the void as Fluttershy and Mulcibar watched. She must be the one behind this all. Even after a week of observing these ponies, I am no closer to understanding what’s happened to them. Tomorrow night will be the night, though. I will infiltrate their ranks and get all the information we need.

Is that really what you want? Another voice rang out, causing Luna’s ear to twitch. Just look at your sister. Do you think she is going to be merciful to that poor creature you’ve imprisoned?

Luna frowned. She is a criminal. She will have to face the consequences of her crimes. Perhaps we shall be merciful if she helps us.

Helps you what? The voice asked. You’ve been just as complicit, night princess. You’ve known of their existence for a week and have reported nothing to your sister.

I… I didn’t want her to worry!

Or you didn’t want her to know. Think about it. Think about what you could do with your newfound power. You’ve already shown you can perfectly impersonate her. Nopony would be the wiser if you were to simply… replace her.

Luna’s eyes went wide.

Mulcibar furrowed his brow. “I know that voice. How do I know that voice?” he pondered out loud.

“Indeed, it would seem unlikely that you’d know that voice. Even I do not know where it came from, but I do know that it was a driving force behind Luna’s change. It was there day and night, whispering to her, driving her further into darkness,” Sweetie Belle responded. “The best theory I have is that it’s the voice of Nightmare Moon, though it doesn’t sound like her. Somewhere in the depths of Luna’s consciousness was her dark side just waiting to escape.”

“Maybe…” Mulcibar said, shaking his head.

Tenderhoof turned to look at Celestia once more. “I can’t tell you who, but I know where. A warehouse on the southeast side of the city. They will be meeting there tomorrow night for what I am told is the explanation of the second phase of their plan. We weren’t told everything about it, only what we need to do. I won’t be a part of it, though. I’m not a murderer!”

“Murder?” Celestia asked, eyebrow raised. “Whom are you to murder?”

“Why, you, your majesty. You and all of your royal guards. I know it sounds crazy, but that’s the plan. I won’t be a part of it, but please do not underestimate them. They may not get to you, but the guards, the palace staff, and the citizens are all in danger. It will no longer be feeding, it will be an all-out assault. It will be war.”

Celestia turned to the guard standing beside her. “Gather a troop of your most trusted and strongest fighters. We must put an end to this. Today!”

“Sister, wait,” Luna spoke up. “I must give you some information that may be of vital importance.”

Celestia turned to Luna and tilted her head. “What is it, Luna? Something that you didn’t feel important enough to report to me this morning?” Her tone was that of surprise and annoyance.

Luna nodded her head as the voice whispered to her again. You see how she looks down upon you? Speaking to you as if you were lesser! She doesn’t know of your greatness, what you’ve been trying to accomplish!

“The truth is, last night…”

Several guards burst into the guardhouse in a panic, interrupting the princess.

“It’s total chaos!” one guard shouted.

“What’s happened?” Celestia and Luna both asked, turning to the three armored stallions who just entered.

“It’s the citizens! I don’t know how they found out, but they know! They know everything!”

“Calm down. Know what?” one of the other guards asked.

“About the prisoner and her kind! They’ve gathered around the gates! They’re practically rioting, shouting for answers! The mayor pushed his way into the palace and is waiting in the round room. He is demanding your presence, highness.”

“Come, then. We shall meet briefly with the mayor to decide how to handle the crowd. Continue to get that attack squad together, and bolster our defenses at the gates. Luna, accompany me to meet the mayor!” Celestia shouted. She waved to the guard captain. “You come with us as well.”

They galloped through the halls of the castle to the round room where they found the mayor, along with another guard, standing at a table in the room’s center. He turned his head as the princesses burst through the doors.

“Your Majesty, we can’t simply do nothing. I’m told that the entire city now knows about these changelings, whatever they are. There’s talk of a mob forming. If we do not act soon, things will get out of control. There will be riots in the streets!” the mayor said, tapping his hoof against the ground, his other legs shaking slightly.

“How did they find out, though?” Celestia asked, her brow furrowed downward. “Who knew about Tenderhoof other than those of us in this room?” She turned her head to the guard captain, who shook his head and shrugged.

“Only a couple of my most trusted stallions. Believe me, your highness, they would not have said a word.”

“This is most troubling,” Celestia responded, lowering her gaze. “Do we have any other information? You said you had something before, sister?” She turned toward Luna.

This is it, night princess! What will you do? The voice in Luna’s head asked.

“Last night, I was at that warehouse. I had wanted to deal with the situation a bit more subtly,” Luna said.

The voice in her head laughed. Perhaps you are more foolish than I imagined!

My sister will not harm them! I know it! She will surely bring them into custody where they will be safe from the forming mob.

There was silence in her mind.

“Why didn’t you say anything before?” Celestia asked, standing up and walking around the table to Luna.

“I did not think it was anything worth troubling you over, sister. I did not want to say anything until I had more information, plus it seemed as though I could handle it myself,” Luna said, lying as calmly as she normally spoke. “You had enough to deal with during the day. You should be able to leave the night to me,”

Celestia nodded. “Very well. If you believed it was not worth mentioning, then…” Celestia said, pausing briefly. “I shall trust your judgment, little sister. However, things have changed. With the information we got from Tenderhoof, we know things are more serious than you may have surmised.”

The voice in Luna’s head jumped upon Celestia’s words. Little sister! Just listen to her! She doesn’t take you seriously at all!

Luna breathed in deeply. No. I mustn’t think that way. Celly is right. Infiltrating their ranks is no longer a valid option given the timetable and level of the threat. We will do what is right, together. The first step is to capture as many of them as we can and place them behind bars where they will not cause or receive any harm.

“Then it’s decided. They usually move at night, so they must sleep during the day. Let us investigate this warehouse, there may be some of them there, or at least some evidence,” Celestia said. The mayor, the guard captain, and Princess Luna all nodded their heads in agreement.

The princesses, along with the captain of the guard, marched to the front gates that separated the palace from the rest of the city. As they approached, they could hear the sound of dozens of ponies shouting. The scene was that of order hanging on the brink of total chaos. A barrier of guards three ponies deep stood in front of the gates, blocking the angry crowd from advancing into the palace. The princesses waved the guards to spread out from the middle to let them through. The shouting ponies could be heard, demanding answers.

“You have to do something!”

“Those monsters won’t stop until we’re all dead!”

“Let us see her! Let us see the monster!”

“My husband hasn’t been able to get out of bed for two days! This is all their fault!”

“They take the form of somepony you love, and then the next thing you know, you’re as good as dead! Dead!”

The princesses emerged from behind the guards and stood before the closed gates. The crowd stopped moving and a wave of silence washed over them. Princess Celestia raised her hoof and spoke.

“Citizens of Unicornia! We know of your plight and have been deeply troubled by the events that have come to light this morning! We are, as we speak, gathering our forces to bring the responsible parties to justice!”

“This has been going on for over a week, now! You only just now are getting to the bottom of it! Meanwhile, my wife can’t even get out of bed!” a pony in the crowd shouted.

“How dare you speak to her majesty like that!” another pony yelled back.

“Her incompetence, you mean! Her and her sister!”

Celestia glanced at Luna, almost glaring, and then turned back to the crowd, which had fallen back into chaos. “ENOUGH!!” she shouted, her voice echoing out powerfully, silencing the citizens. “WE HAD HOPED THAT THE NEWS OF OUR INTENTIONS WOULD BRING SOME CALM TO YOU. WAS THIS A MISGUIDED HOPE?”

The crowd said nothing in response, not that Celestia was seeking one.

“YOU ARE ALL HEREBY ORDERED TO RETURN TO YOUR HOMES AND STAY THERE UNTIL OUR OPERATION HAS COMPLETED! GUARDS! YOU ARE TO LOCK DOWN EVERY STREET, EVERY CORNER, EVERY ALLEY! NOW GO!”

Fluttershy had fallen to the ground. She had never seen Celestia acting in such a commanding manner, nor had she ever heard her use the Royal Canterlot Voice. “That was… scary.”

The guard captain leaned toward Celestia and spoke softly. “Your majesty, if I may be so rude, this may not be the best way to take control of the situation.”

Celestia stomped her hoof and nodded her head forward. The crowd had quickly dispersed, running in fear back to their homes. “One cannot argue with the results. Besides, ‘tis for their own safety.”

The scene changed to show the streets of Unicornia. Not a soul was present except guards on every corner. The princesses marched with a troop of dozens of guards behind them. Ponies looked out their windows, hiding themselves behind curtains or ducking underneath the windowsill when the entourage passed by. Eventually, they reached the warehouse. Moving as silently as possible, the armored ponies surrounded the warehouse’s entrances and kept watch of the windows. Princess Luna flew up to the scaffolding she’d been standing on the previous night and peered down into the main chamber. Within, there were many changelings asleep upon makeshift beds and blankets.

“Taking them by surprise while they were sleeping, Celestia and her guards were able to capture all of the changelings inside the warehouse,” Sweetie Belle narrated as the scene showed the guards sweeping in and putting the changelings into shackles. “There was no sign of the mysterious cloaked figure, but the spellbook was there.” The scene showed Princess Luna and Princess Celestia levitating the book in front of them and staring down at it.

“This can’t be,” Princess Luna said. “Why would he…?”

Princess Celestia shook her head and flipped through the book’s pages. Her eyes narrowed as they flitted back and forth. “We should not jump to conclusions, sister. Just because the book’s cover has Star Swirl’s mark, we cannot be certain. It could be a fake.”

“Another one?” Luna groaned and placed a hoof against her scrunched brow. “Discord just can’t leave us alone, even after being sealed away.”

Celestia sighed. “Indeed, the waves of his chaos are still rippling throughout the world, and may never truly stop. We have no idea how many fake spell books he created in Star Swirl’s name. It will take some time to make sure, but this type of magic doesn’t seem to be Star Swirl’s style. We cannot simply ignore it, though. The magic used here is very real, and the spells seem to be authentic. It could be someone else impersonating him.”

Unless that’s not the same book I saw last night, Luna thought. The scene faded away to darkness, and Sweetie Belle turned away from it, facing Fluttershy and Mulcibar, who were both sitting and watching intently.

“What happened?” Fluttershy asked.

“So they were captured. What now? You said I had some details wrong, which is true, but for all we can tell right now, they will still be executed,” Mulcibar said, leaning back a bit and crossing his hooves in front of him.

“Sorry, I stopped the imagery for a reason. You both need to see what happens next, but I wanted to give you warning. What you are about to witness will contain subject matter and events of a disturbing nature. I did not want you to be shocked,” Sweetie Belle replied, looking at Fluttershy as she spoke.

Fluttershy sank down slightly for a second, but then straightened back up. “No, it’s okay. After what I saw in my own dream world… I can handle it.”

Sweetie Belle swept her hoof over her head and the dark space in front of them lit up once again with moving pictures. “Good, then let us continue.”

Princess Luna and Princess Celestia sat in the throne room as the guard captain stood before them, holding a scroll in his hoof and reading from it. “We have been able to identify all thirty-three of the captured changelings. They were all living in and around Unicornia and Earth, and they all have something in common. They are all wanted criminals.”

Celestia adjusted herself in her seat and nodded to the guard captain. “Proceed, captain.”

The armored unicorn cleared his throat and began to read from the page. “I shall read you the names of the suspects and convicts, as well as their crimes. Tenderhoof, theft, assault, robbery, impersonating a guard. Flash Fighter, a high ranking member of the Cult of Discord, wanted for multiple counts of murder and treason. Seedy Speech, wanted for multiple counts of fraud, larceny, and embezzlement. Heavy Hammer, wanted for murder. Salty Sweet, wanted for foalnapping and rape. Brilliant Dawn, wanted for—“

“Enough,” Celestia said quietly, resting her left hoof against her head. “You’re telling me that every single one of these changelings is a known criminal?”

“Yes, but there’s an important complication that you must hear, your majesties. We cannot be certain if they are telling the truth, but it seems that a lot of them can’t even remember their criminal pasts at all. Their memories have been erased, just as Tenderhoof’s was. However, it’s been more thorough on many of them.”

“This doesn’t change the fact that they were involved in the current events. I believe we should try them all for their previous crimes. Let justice be served.”

“Not to speak out of turn, you highness, but that would take an exceptional amount of time, and the people are quite shaken given the events of the last day. They want to see action, or I fear the next time they try to organize a mob, there will truly be riots on the streets of Unicornia. Word travels fast, it could even spread to Earth and Pegasopolis.”

Luna turned toward Celestia. “Sister, I believe that these ponies should be returned to their original state. We must research that book and see if we can find or create a spell that will change them back.”

Celestia sat in thought for a moment. “Yes, that is probably true. At the very least, we should make sure that nopony gains these changeling powers ever again. However, you are right as well, captain. The citizens will not like waiting for us. This demands swift action as well as the long-term plan, and I think I know just the way to handle things. We shall exile the changelings to the south.”

“Exile? Just like that? Are you certain, sister?”

“It seems prudent. If they are removed from the north, there will be no chance of them being harmed until they can be changed back and be tried. It will give us time to research the spell and search for evidence.”

“Sister, please reconsider. The way they feed upon ponies, I do not think that is something that they can control.”

“All the more reason why exile is the right choice. Imagine if they escaped into the city again. If they cannot control their urges, then we should remove them. At least in the remote south, we would be able to have guards on duty and traps set to stop any escapes.”

“But, what if they have to do that to live? Have you considered that?”

“I have, Luna! I have considered that, and I find the idea to be unlikely! We shall keep an eye on them as they go south and adjust as needed!”

“Adjust to what? Will you have the guards feed themselves to the changelings? Or perhaps we could be even more barbaric and just give them other prisoners to feed upon!”

Celestia stood up from her throne and slammed her hoof against it, cracking the arm slightly. “WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE US DO, THEN!? WOULD YOU HAVE US EXECUTE THEM!?” She stared at Luna, breathing heavily, her teeth bared.

That sounds like the best plan to me, the strange voice said inside Luna’s head.

“No… we mustn’t…” Luna said quietly, her eyes wide and shaking.

Killing them is the only true solution! You know she’s right.

Celestia cleared her throat and composed herself, sitting back down. The guard captain, who had taken a few steps back, straightened his helmet and picked up the scroll, which he had dropped on the ground. “We will consider all options before moving forward. We’ll make our decision tomorrow morning.” She turned to look at her younger sister and spoke again. “What say you, Luna?”

Luna swallowed hard, trying to ignore the voice inside her head.

Kill them!

“No, nothing to add. As long as we are considering all options.”

The scene faded out, then showed the moon rising into the sky over Unicornia. Sweetie Belle continued to explain. “Time was not on their side, though. They wouldn’t get to wait until morning. Before daybreak, Celestia would make what may be her second-biggest mistake.” The streets of Unicornia appeared. A growing crowd of ponies with pitchforks, spears, torches, and other objects that could be used as weapons gathered into the central square. They charged at the palace and clashed with the guards at the gate.

Luna swooped down behind the gate and addressed the leader on duty. “What is going on?” she shouted, and the leader simply shook his head.

“From what I can tell, they are shouting for answers again regarding the changelings!”

Luna leapt up onto a section of wall and shouted out over the crowd. “CEASE THIS AT ONCE!”

“Justice! Justice for my brother!” one unicorn near the princess yelled up at her.

“THIS IS NOT JUSTICE! THIS IS CHAOS!” she shouted back. Before she could react, a rock smashed into her head, knocking her back slightly. She ducked down behind the wall and rubbed her foreleg against her head, streaking her coat with blood. “Celestia has to be told!” She leapt into the air and flew in a straight line to Celestia’s chambers.

She pushed the large double windows open and jumped down to her sister’s bedside, shaking her awake. “Sister, wake up. It’s the townsponies. They’ve resorted to violence.”

Celestia gasped and touched her hoof to Luna’s head. “You’re bleeding. What happened?”

“’Tis but a scratch. Worry not for me, we must stop this riot at once.”

Celestia nodded her head and threw her covers off. She leapt out of her window without even putting on her regalia. Within seconds, the two of them were back at the gates, standing atop the wall overlooking other crowd. It didn’t take long before the crowd had noticed the presence of both alicorn princesses. Stillness overtook them as they all turned their heads toward the two rulers.

Luna rubbed the blood from her brow again, and the voice in her head scoffed. Look at how they suddenly have respect and restraint! Just because Celestia is here now! No one loves you, Luna. Why must you bleed for them?

Celestia bowed her head and frowned. “I am greatly saddened this night. We have captured the changelings and have been discussing what action to take. We are not sure what more you expect us to do, so please, inform us.” She glared out over the mob, her gaze cutting through them. Several ponies fell to the ground, their legs shaking.

One particularly angry looking unicorn at the front of the crowd, his horn aglow with a light spell, shouted back. “We want action now! Tell us what you intend to do! Those monsters have to pay!”

Celestia stared down at the pony, her eyes locked onto his. The image of his eyes burned into her mind. She could feel the pressure of his anger against her mind. Her eyes raised slightly, the massive crowd of ponies stretched back through the streets for as far as she could see.

“We have made our decision on how to handle the changeling problem,” Celestia started speaking.

Luna jerked her head toward her sister and stared at her. “Sister, that’s not what we agreed upon!” she said, her jaw trembling.

“Tomorrow morning, at the break of dawn…”

“Sister, please, stop.”

“The changelings will be exiled to the deep south where they will be held indefinitely.”

Luna clenched her teeth, a feeling of anger rising inside of her.

Just like that, you’re out of the picture! You mean nothing to her! Nothing to them!

“This will ensure that they can never attack pony society again, and that we can formulate a longer-term plan while they are imprisoned.”

The crowd remained silent for a moment other than distant murmuring as the princess’ words were passed back. Just as quickly as the crowd had gathered, they dispersed without a word. Starting from the rear and working its way up to the gates, the crowd spread out as ponies walked away, the sounds of slamming doors the only noise filling the night sky as they all returned to their homes.

Celestia and Luna stood in silence. Celestia gazed blankly toward the streets, and Luna stared down at her hooves, blood from the wound on her forehead dripping onto the stone wall.

“Luna, I had no choice,” Celestia said quietly.

“Do not speak to us!” Luna shouted. “We do not wish to hear anything thou hast to say!”

“Please, Luna, don’t be—“

“WE SAID THOU SHOULDST BE SILENT!” Luna screamed, turning to face her sister. Celestia pulled her head away slightly, her eyes wide and shaking, tears forming at their edges “Just go back to bed!”

Luna flapped her wings and took to the sky, flying out over the city, away from the palace.

Mulcibar sat silently, staring at the magical screen and pondering the events that had just been shown to him. Fluttershy had fallen to the ground again and was crying. Sweetie Belle took a deep breath.

“The tale of the changeling incident is almost complete. The next morning, Luna returned to the castle and lowered the moon. She didn’t say a word to her sister and went straight to bed,” she said. The screen showed Luna crawling underneath her covers and crying as she fell asleep. “The voice inside her mind was now relentless, and Luna was unable to disagree with it.”

Your sister will never listen to you. You’re but a figurehead, she is the true monarch!

I shall never amount to anything but a child in her eyes.

The ponies of Equestria fear you and lash out at you! You bring them nothing but darkness! They do not appreciate anything you do for them!

They cannot possibly understand the night! They cannot possibly grasp the darkness… The same darkness that lives in my heart.

“That evening, Luna awoke just before sunset. She stared out of her window into the sky, and then caught sight of something approaching the castle.”

Luna looked down toward the road that led to the main castle entrance. A pony in armor, bloody and bruised, limped his way toward the castle and up the stairs. Luna leapt up and charged through the door, down the hallway, and into the throne room. She crashed through the side door just as the guard pony fell to the floor, two other guards now trying to help him stand. Celestia sat upon her throne, staring down at the bloody, broken unicorn.

Celestia and Luna both galloped forward to the guard and knelt before him.

“What happened?” Celestia asked.

“Where hast thou come from?” Luna added.

The guard caught his breath, swallowing hard and propping himself up against one of the others. “I was with… the changeling party…”

Luna and Celestia both gasped, staring down at his blood-stained face.

“We were attacked!” he coughed. “Don’t know who. Dark cloaks. Powerful magic. Our spells were ineffective. They somehow… absorbed them, or reflected them. I couldn’t tell… so much chaos…”

“What of the others? What of the prisoners?”

The guard breathed heavily and gripped his chest, letting out a grunt of pain. “All dead! They killed them all! They lit the wagons on fire. The prisoners were burned alive… The guards were all slaughtered. I’m… the only unlucky one… that survived.”

Celestia’s eyes went wide. Luna’s entire body tensed up, rage bubbling up from inside.

“Luna! Guards! Take care of him! I’ll handle this!” Celestia shrieked, her voice loud and gruff. She shot out of the throne room and down the hall, then taking to the sky and flying southward.

“Your majesty. We’ll take care of him.” one of the guards said. They carried the injured pony out of the throne room, a trail of blood left behind them.

Luna nodded her head and walked slowly up the stairs to the throne. Outside the window, she could see the sun setting below the horizon. Lazily, she reached a hoof out towards the window and lit her horn up the magic, raising the moon into the sky.

Gentle moonlight flooded the throne room as Luna sat silently by herself upon the throne.

This is all Celestia’s fault, the voice in her head whispered.

“This is all her fault,” Luna echoed aloud.

Why do you still care for her? After how she’s treated you? After how she’s handled this? After all those guards and prisoners died?

“I don’t know…” Luna said, tears streaking down her cheeks.

Your love for your sister is misplaced. Indeed, your love for the ponies who fear and despise you is as well!

“I don’t need them. I don’t need Celestia.”

Yes, moon princess! Love is a fruitless waste of your energy! If they wish to hate you, then give them a reason!

“Yes,” Luna said, rising from the throne and walking over to the window. She propped herself up upon the windowsill and stared up at the moon above. Beams of soft light illuminated her face as a smile of madness spread across her lips. “I will become one whom they should fear. I shall become their worst nightmare!”

Swirling magic began to pulse around and through her body, gathering at her chest. A bead of white light shot out from her chest, passing through the wall. After hanging in the air for a second, the ball of light shot into the sky, leaving sight.

Mulcibar blinked. “What was that?”

“That was me,” Sweetie Belle said as shadows poured from the corners of the room and seemed to absorb into Luna’s body. The princess erupted into a fit of laughter, which echoed across the courtyard below. “I am a piece of Luna’s soul, the essence of her love and passion. One of three ‘Shards of Luna’ that were reborn within the fillies known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Our awakening was suppressed by the power of the Elements of Harmony. The Elements filled in the emptiness that was left by our absence, but nothing can possibly make her complete except for us. The darkness inside of her remains. That darkness is Nightmare Moon.”

“Goodness, this is a lot to take in.” Fluttershy wiped her eyes and breathed in deeply. “It seems like that strange voice that Luna heard was somehow influencing her.”

“I agree. I still could swear I know that voice, somehow,” Mulcibar said.

Sweetie Belle shook her head again. “That is one of the greatest mysteries, even to me. All I know is that it possessed a powerful dark magic that was speeding along Luna’s corruption.”

Fluttershy gasped. “So, whoever that voice belongs to was… creating Nightmare Moon?”

“So to speak. By losing pieces of her soul and having those pieces replaced by darkness, Luna eventually gave in to her wicked ambition and fought her sister,” Sweetie Belle responded. “It is my theory that someone wanted that to happen. Someone wanted one or both of the princesses to die, and to that end had to pit them against one another.”

“Whoever owns that voice may have had a part to play in the slaughter of the changelings, as well,” Mulcibar said. “Has our blame really been misguided for a thousand years?”

“I cannot answer that, for I do not know. What I do know, though, is that a war that started a thousand years ago may finally be able to come to a close. We three Shards of Luna who were reborn within these fillies must find our way to the empty places in Luna’s soul. This is the only way that we can defeat Nightmare Moon.”

Mulcibar shook his head, lifting his hoof up in front of his nose and staring at it. “Even if we defeat Nightmare Moon, we’ll just be back to where we started,” he said, looking over at Fluttershy. “Caught in the same battle, no choice but to be conquerors or parasites, fighting for survival.”

“But is that really what you should be fighting for?” Sweetie Belle asked, tilting her head toward Mulcibar.

The changeling lowered his gaze and shook his head. “What else would I fight for, then?” he asked, standing up and turning away from the filly. “We’ve struggled for so long, I’ve struggled my entire life. Then you appear, show me this… vision, and turn everything I’ve been taught on its head. You seem to know everything, so please, you tell me, what should I be fighting for?”

Sweetie Belle smiled at Mulcibar and her horn glowed a soft pink color. “Fight for love.”

Mulcibar turned back to Sweetie Belle and sighed. “Maybe you forgot who you’re saying that to,” he said with a chuckle. “Is it really worth fighting for?”

The filly nodded her head. “Here. I can show you.” A burst of pink magic shot out from her horn and encircled Mulcibar. Beams of magic shot into his body from all directions and lifted him into the air.

“What’s are you doing? Stop!” He shouted. The magic disappeared with a bright spark and he fell back to the ground. His vision was blurry and he felt disoriented. He looked around and pulled himself back to his hooves. He heard hoofsteps to his right and turned his head to look, blinking a few times until the yellow and pink figure beside him came into focus.

“Are you alright?” Fluttershy asked, reaching a hoof out towards him.

Mulcibar blinked again and stared at Fluttershy, his eyes going wide. He could hear his heart beating in his ears, pressure in his head, his legs shaking.

His whole world turned upside-down.

Author's Note

So, Tenderhoof was a placeholder name, but I ended up getting so used to it, I couldn't get used to any other name I tried. I didn't want to use anything edgy, either. I like that her name is sort of unlikely for who she is.

I wonder how many people misread Tenderhoof as Trenderhoof the first time. :P

Oh hey, and while you're here, go read my story Hold Ups and Holding It. I wrote it recently, and yeah, it's about Pinkie Pie having to hold it while on the train in The Last Roundup. :P
Okay, that wraps up my shameless self-promotion quota for the week.

Corruption Ch 9 - Corrupted Hearts

Book Four: Corruption

Chapter Nine - Corrupted Hearts

“It’s been a while, princess. A thousand years since last we were together,” Apple Bloom said, her glowing white eyes staring up at Luna.

Luna and Pinkie Pie descended towards the ground where Apple Bloom and Discord stood. “A thousand years?” Luna questioned. “That young filly cannot be much over a decade in age, so if you claim to be over a millenium old, then who are you?”

“Perhaps I should show you rather than tell you. This may be hard for you to see, princess, but see it you must.”

“What, pray tell, is it that I should see?”

“Patience, princess. All shall be revealed,” Apple Bloom said, and then turned to Discord. “As for you, lord of chaos, you would do well to pay close attention as well.”

Discord nodded his head slowly, his brow furrowed in thought. Apple Bloom’s voice pierced his mind, speaking softly but sternly. I would also ask that you keep a close eye on Princess Luna. I am unable to guess how this will affect her. If anything happens, you are the one best suited to keep her under control.

Discord grinned. You have my attention, whoever you are. I’ll be sure to keep an eye on her. He popped one of his eyes out of its socket and rolled it around in his paw for a moment before placing it back.

Keep an eye on who? What’s going on? Another voice said in Discord’s mind.

Gracious, it’s getting crowded in here! I almost forgot you were there, Celestia. It’s the foal, Apple Bloom. She’s acting quite strangely and says she has something that she must show us.

Celestia, who was speeding through the air towards Las Pegasus, glanced over her shoulder at Scootaloo, who was lying against her back. Yes, I think it would be best if you did as she says. Who knows what may be revealed, but I can tell you this much: These three fillies are the key to us getting out of here alive. Their strange magic comes from Luna. They each have a part of Luna’s soul within themselves, and that is who is speaking to you right now—A Shard of Luna.

Discord nodded his head. “Yes, please do continue, Apple Bloom. We are ready.”

Pinkie Pie plopped down onto the ground next to Discord. She was holding a large bucket of popcorn, which she lifted towards him. “Want some?”

“Where did you get that?” Discord asked, grabbing a handful.

Pinkie Pie shrugged. “I dunno!”

Discord smiled and munched the popcorn as Apple Bloom stood before them all. She waved her hoof through the air and a rectangular magical field came into view. Through the screen, they could see an image of a grassy field. Many mounds of freshly dug dirt littered the landscape, and Princesses Celestia and Luna stood atop a hill, looking down at the field.

As she looked at the screen, Luna’s expression soured. “Most unpleasant. This is a memory I’d much rather never think about again.”

“You must, though. Within these memories lie the answers we seek,” Apple Bloom responded. “Bear with it, please. If it helps, you may explain things that we are seeing in your own words.”

Luna sighed. “That field is a graveyard. It is the site of the mass slaughter of many ponies and changelings, all killed by an unknown assailant. My sister had sent them to be exiled, but they were intercepted on the way and killed. Only one guard survived, and was unable to identify the attackers.”

“Hmm! Seems like chaos didn’t stop even after I was gone,” Discord said, and Luna shot him a glare. He groaned in response. “Please, continue…” He shoveled another handful of popcorn into his mouth as the two figures upon the screen began to speak.

“It has been nearly a month, now, and we are no closer to finding out who did this,” Celestia said. “If only I’d known, I would have…”

Luna scoffed. “Indeed, every lead has been a dead end. We are no closer to cleaning up your mess than we were at the beginning.” Celestia turned to face Luna, her mouth opening as if she was going to speak, but no words came out. Luna turned away from her and spread her wings. “I tire of this spectacle. It is almost time to raise the moon. I am returning to Unicornia.”

“Perhaps we should go home,” Celestia said quietly. “Back to the Everfree Forest.”

Luna sneered. “Yes, perhaps you should.” She took off, flying towards Unicornia. Celestia slowly opened her wings and took off towards the south.

A voice in Luna’s head whispered to her. Your sister is utterly useless! It has been nearly a month and she’s done next to nothing! The blood of so many is on her hooves. It is time for a shift in power.

Outside of the scene, Luna’s eyes went wide as the voice echoed out across the city. Discord and Pinkie Pie glanced at her and tilted their heads. “Who in the world was that?” Discord asked.

Luna fell to her haunches and grasped her head, the mere sound of that voice seeming to have caused a reaction within her. “No… No, no, no, I don’t want to remember,” she said, her voice frightened and small.

“You must face it,” Apple Bloom said. “Watch and listen, for this is important.”

Past Luna swooped down over Unicornia. The sun lowered on schedule as she landed on a castle balcony overlooking the city. Her horn lit up and the moon rose into the sky, a mere sliver of a crescent. She stared up at it and her eyes began to change, becoming slitted. Her magic darkened from purple to nearly black in color. Turning her gaze toward the city, she formed a toothy grin and laughed. The voice in her head called out to her. Celestia’s reign is over! She’s run away home! Now it is time for you to show the ponies of Equestria whom they should bow down to!

Luna was now lying on the ground, gripping her head and hiding her eyes. Dark magic began to rise from her body like steam. She growled under her breath and spoke through her teeth. “Cease this vision at once! Something inside of me is rising! I cannot contain it!”

“Princess Luna!” Pinkie Pie shouted, reaching a hoof out towards her.

Apple Bloom called out to the princess. “You must fight against the reaction you are having! Fight these feelings and don’t give in to the darkness again!”

Discord stared at Luna, unblinking. I hope what I’m thinking is wrong. We don’t need two Nightmare Moons running around in here.

Two Nightmare Moons? What is happening? I’m almost there! What is this strange magic I feel? Celestia’s voice responded in Discord’s head.

Discord noticed changes in Luna’s magic and eyes. It’s exactly what it sounds like. The filly here is possessed by that Shard of Luna as you called itand is insisting on showing Luna things from her past that she doesn’t want to remember. It’s strange… There’s this voice in—

In Luna’s head! Yes, I heard it as well! Celestia psychically shouted back. I have Scootaloo with me. She did something similar. She showed me and Nightmare Moon visions from a thousand years ago. These fillies are our only chance against Nightmare Moon.

Well, I hope they can handle two of them, because it’s not looking good here.

I can see the city! I’ll be there in a couple minutes! Keep her safe, Discord!

My, Celestia, that sounds an awful lot like you trusting me. How delicious.

Now is not the time!

Discord chuckled to himself

The strange voice flowed out from the vision yet again. You can become one with the darkness, princess, and become the queen of the night! All will bow before you!

Outside of the vision, Luna began to let off more dark energy. Her slit eyes darted back and forth between the others and her lips separated, revealing sharp, dagger-like teeth.

I don’t think keeping her safe is going to be the issue! Discord though. He snapped his fingers and a bubble of magic formed around Luna. Her gaze immediately locked onto him in response.

“Discord!” she shouted. “You always were such a nuisance! You led us on wild goose chases for years, all the while tormenting us with your chaotic magic! We should have killed you!”

“What’s happening to her?” Pinkie asked, grabbing ahold of Discord.

“She and Nightmare Moon are one and the same. If we wish to stand a chance, then she must be able to resist now as she could not in the past,” Apple Bloom said.

Pinkie’s eyes suddenly lit up with an idea. “Oh! We could form a cheering section for her!” She waved her hooves in the air and began to chant. “Hang in there, Princess! We’re here for you, Princess!”

Luna sneered at Pinkie. “You’re not even real! You’re just a piece of my dream! You’re part of me, too!” Her horn flashed and dark magic suddenly began to pour out of Pinkie Pie.

“No! I’ll fight it!” Pinkie screamed, falling to the ground. “You have to fight it, too! Come on… Princess! Hang in there… Princess!”

Discord waved his hands in front of him and glared at his magic bubble. “Oh, sure, just because they’re connected, you couldn’t stop that?” The bubble seemed to slouch forward and let out a squeaking noise. Discord rolled his eyes. “I’ll have none of your petty excuses!”

A gust of wind accompanied by a calm voice came from behind Luna. “Yes. You must fight it. We will fight it together, sister.” The bubble around Princess Luna popped and Celestia thrust herself forward, wrapping her hooves around her. Bright yellow magic flowed gently from her horn in wave-like pulses. She took a moment to levitate the still-sleeping Scootaloo over to where Pinkie Pie was collapsed on the ground. She leaned the pegasus filly up against Pinkie’s side.

Luna tried to resist, but she was unable to move, as if something was restraining her. A voice called out from inside her head. Believe in yourself, and your sister!

A tear streaked down to Luna’s jawline, which trembled as her teeth began to return to normal. “B… Believe..” she said blankly.

Celestia nodded her head and hugged Luna tightly. “Yes. I believe in you. You’re strong, Luna, so fight against this darkness. Defeat it this time!”

Discord lifted his paw up and formed a small version of the magic bubble, which was more a flat oval now, and appeared to be crying, little tears flying up into the air above it. “I believed in you! You need more practice!”

Luna’s coat began to return to its normal color and her eyes regained their original form. “Alright,” she said, and then turned her head down toward Apple Bloom. “Proceed, filly! Show us what we must be shown! We shall face it, for we are not alone! Thank you, sister… everyone.”

Apple Bloom grinned and waved her hoof above her head. The scene on the magic screen sprung to life, showing Luna flying through the night sky above Unicornia, casting beams of magic through the windows of sleeping ponies. Screams echoed out across the city. Children cried out for their parents who were stumbling out onto the streets, grasping their heads and screeching. Luna laughed as she swooped back to the castle, her complexion becoming darker as time went by.

“You don’t love the night? Then revel in its terrors! These nightmares are my gift to you!”

Luna inhaled deeply and explained, her voice still meek and quiet. “The next day, the effect of the nightmares was apparent. Everypony had lost sleep and was on edge. They didn’t want to talk about what had happened, but it was obvious that something had.” Ponies were seen walking through the streets of Unicornia, sapped of energy. A packed coffee shop was shown with every table occupied, ponies drinking coffee and tea to try and stay awake. “After two more nights of horrifying dreams, a transformation had begun. The ponies became cold and heartless. Their minds were injected with the poisonous magic of nightmares.”

The citizens of Unicornia passed by one another and purposely shoved others out of the way, snapping and yelling at each other, and doing other hateful things. “It was the biggest outbreak of disharmony since Discord’s reign, and I was not content to stop at Unicornia.”

The scene zoomed out to show a wide view of Equestria. A dark shadow spread out over the land from Unicornia, accompanied by the sounds of ponies screaming in terror. Luna grunted and turned her head to the ground, closing her eyes and grinding her teeth. Tears fell from her eyes. Celestia pressed herself closer to her and spoke softly.

“This wasn’t you anymore, Luna. You were overtaken by—“

“No!” Luna said, her chest heaving inward. “I remember it all so clearly now. I wanted them all to feel how I felt! I wanted them to feel my crushing loneliness! I hated them, all of them! I may have been taken over by darkness, but those feelings were mine!”

The scene showed Luna standing on the high balcony of the castle, gazing southward in the direction of the Everfree Forest as the sun rose. That fool still sits alone down there, raising and lowering the sun, oblivious to what is happening, the voice in Luna’s head said. She hasn’t been heard from for days, now. It is clear now that you don’t need her.

Celestia shook her head. “That voice, Luna. It is so familiar to me.”

“It should be. It’s just me. My own dark thoughts,” Luna replied, sniffling.

“No, it’s something else. I heard it in the vision that I was shown, and I just know that’s not you. It was with you since we first arrived in Unicornia to investigate the changelings, and you seemed perfectly fine before then.”

“So what?” Luna asked, looking back up at the scene as it showed her walking through the castle halls to the throne room. “What does it matter? You can’t change the past.”

Celestia paused to think of a response, but was interrupted by the sound from the vision. A guard entered the throne room and approached Luna, kneeling before her. “Your majesty, a group of ponies have penned a message to you. They say that it is of extreme urgency, and should be viewed by your eyes only.” He lifted a sealed scroll up in front of him with levitation magic.

Luna slouched on the throne and sighed. “Certainly. It is my duty to hear the concerns of the peasants.” She took the scroll and opened it, ignoring the guard’s look of displeasure as he turned and left, shutting the door behind him.

“Your Majesty Princess Luna,” she started reading in a whiny sounding voice. “As you may have heard, the nation has been plagued with nightmares. We can no longer assume that these are unconnected incidents. Many ponies are starting to whisper the name of a wicked mare of darkness, Nightmare Moon. It is my belief that this mare is real, and is using dark magic to bring unrest to the country. We implore you, as well as your sister, to come together and help us locate and stop this evil. As it is, the nation cannot move on like this. We have dispatched a team to the south to inform your sister. We beseech thee, please do something.”

She crumpled up the paper and tossed it over the back of her throne. “Well, well… It seems that it’s finally time. They know and fear the one who is giving them this darkness, and it has only begun. Do try to enjoy your last day, ponies. After the sun goes down at dusk, the night shall last forever!” She laughed maniacally and hopped up from her throne and walked to the back of the throne room, pushing a curtain to the side.

“No, not this. Some memories had become hazy, but I could never forget this! You have to stop it!” Luna cried out, struggling to escape Celestia’s grasp.

The screen showed the spell book that had been taken from the changelings sitting upon a table, glowing with green energy. Luna placed a hoof over the book and the same green energy began to course over her body.

Outside the vision, Luna turned to look at Celestia and shook her head. “Don’t look. Please, don’t look,” she said, then turning towards Apple Bloom. “Make it stop! This instant!” She tried to pull away from Celestia’s embrace, pulling both of them along the ground toward the foal.

“What are you afraid of, princess?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Sister, please, close your eyes!” Luna screamed, trying to push her hooves against Celestia’s face. Celestia resisted, moving her head to the side and staring ahead toward the vision.

“Whatever happens, Luna, you are my beloved sister,” Celestia said calmly. “Whatever it is that has you so frightened, we face it together.”

The image of Luna on the screen darkened, her coat and mane becoming frayed and black. She raised her hoof from the book up in front of her face, peering through one of the holes that had formed upon it. “I will become the wicked mare of darkness and make the nightmare a reality. Those foals will all bow before me!”

Luna fell forward in her sister’s arms, sobbing. Celestia stared wide-eyed at the screen. To their right, Discord had placed his claw against his chin and was stroking his beard. Pinkie was back to munching popcorn, but had a look of terror upon her face.

“Luna… you…”

“Now you know!” Luna said as she cried. She lifted up her foreleg and a flash of green energy revealed its hole-riddled surface. “This… corruption! This curse! And I brought it on myself!” Her foreleg dropped back down as she continued to cry. Celestia pulled Luna closer, hugging more tightly than before. Luna gasped slightly, her heaving chest tensing up.

“And I suppose you think that somehow changes the way I feel about you?” Celestia asked.

“Look at the mess we’re in,” Luna said, wiping her eyes as best she could. “We’re trapped, invaded, and in a desperate situation all because of changelings… Changelings like me.”

“But they aren’t like you,” Celestia replied. “You are you, Luna. You’re my dear sister whom I love. We’ve both made mistakes in the past, but we carry on. Now that you are finally back, we carry on together. Whether or not you’ve fallen under that curse doesn’t matter to me. All that means is that we’ll have to pick the torch back up from a thousand years ago. We’ll have to find a way to reverse it. I know we will, as a team.”

Pinkie Pie grinned from across the way. “Yeah! You’re not a meanie like those other changelings! That one changeling tried to stab me with her horn! You wouldn’t do that!”

Luna laughed. “I would have a thousand years ago, though,” she said, turning back to the screen. “The only real reason I’m any different is because of the Elements of Harmony. The emotions I feel… they’re all fake, just creations of the Elements.”

“They are real, princess. The love you feel is your own. Trust in it and move forward,” Apple Bloom said. “As soon as we three shards are put back in place, you will be whole again.”

Luna sat quietly in thought as Apple Bloom continued, turning toward Celestia. “At this point, I assume the ponies who delivered the message to Luna went south to deliver the same message to you, Celestia. However, Luna was later informed that you had turned them away.”

Celestia sighed. “It’s true. I remember it clearly. Three ponies arrived at Everfree Castle. They told me about the situation. It was the first time I had even heard of Nightmare Moon. I was still suffering deep depression from the incident with the changelings, and not handling it very well. I felt so lost, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to help. I told them to leave everything to Luna.”

Luna nodded her head. “That night, when I heard you had given up, I remember feeling emboldened,” she said, clenching her teeth as she recalled her dark thoughts from the past. “I assumed it meant that you would not stand up to me any longer. That I had truly ascended.” The screen showed Luna flying southward toward the Everfree Forest. As she flew through the sky, a tiny bead of light shot out of her body and flew up to the stars.

“And that… was the end of my time with you, Luna,” Apple Bloom said. “That tiny bead of light was the shard of your soul that you lost: your patience. I hid in the sky for a thousand years, eventually being reborn within this foal, similar to your other missing pieces. Replaced by a ravenous lust for power, the place in your heart where I resided ate away at you as you finally headed to the final confrontation.”

Luna’s horn lit up, bringing the screen back to life. “I am not sure if seeing the rest of this play out will be of any benefit, but right now I have a feeling. A feeling that I need to see this through. For my own sake… for both our sakes,” she said, glancing at Celestia, who nodded in agreement. The two of them looked forward as the fateful events of that morning a thousand years ago continued.

Landing atop the castle, Luna made her way to Celestia’s bedroom window. She stared into the room at her sleeping sister. Her eyes widened and her jaw tightened. The voice in her head, practically shouting, pushed her forward. Do it! She’s helpless! End her life right now!

Luna lurched forward, pushing the window open slightly, but then fell back to her haunches. She lifted her hooves up in front of her and stared at them, her body shaking from the adrenaline that was coursing through her veins. I can’t! I shouldn’t! She’s my sister! How can I murder my own sister?

Easily! Drive your horn through her heart! Shatter her head with magic at close range! Find an axe! There’s any number of ways, now go!

No! Luna thought, looking back at Celestia sleeping peacefully. I won’t kill her, not like this! I want her to know! I want her to know it was me! She will witness the birth of the eternal night, and she will be helpless to stop it! I shall face her!

Don’t be a fool! You will never defeat her in a fair fight!

Luna scoffed quietly and shut Celestia’s window. I am the princess of the night! She will bow before me just as everypony else has! She fired a blast of dark energy into the room, right at Celestia’s forehead.

Outside of the vision, Luna sighed. “Instead of killing you, I showed you a dream. A nightmare. For all the trouble I’d caused, my moment of egotism there was the only thing close to a good decision I made.”

“I remember that. You appeared before me in the dream as Nightmare Moon and told me that this night would never end. It caused me to wake up in a cold sweat, lying in bed terrified until I went to the throne room to raise the sun,” Celestia replied. “I am glad you did not murder me in my sleep, but what do you mean?”

The corners of Luna’s mouth curved upward ever so slightly. “I decided to face you head on, which is what led to my defeat. I suppose that is the one terrible mistake I made that was in your favor, sister.”

Celestia squeezed Luna in her forelegs again. “And yet… Banishing you is my own worst mistake.”

The scene showed Celestia walking into the throne room and lighting her horn up with magic. The moon did not lower and the sun did not rise. She looked up at the thrones and spotted Luna’s silhouette standing behind the curtains.

“At the time, I had not put two and two together. I did not realize that this and the dream were connected. However, you quickly showed me that there was no mistaking it,” Celestia said, lying her chin against Luna’s shoulder.

“Luna! What is the meaning of this?” Celestia shouted from the screen, stepping forward toward the thrones.

“Not… another step!” Luna said, turning to face Celestia. “Did you really expect me to sit idly by while they all basked in your precious light?”

Celestia stared back at Luna, silent, her heart full of shock. What? Could this be…?

“There can only be one princess in Equestria! And that princess will be me!” Luna shouted. She rose into the air, surrounding herself with a sphere of dark magic. When the bubble burst, she had taken on the form of Nightmare Moon.

No! Celestia thought. It’s her! From my nightmare! She’s… Luna?

“The confusion I felt back then all makes sense now. I did not understand your transformation, but now…” Celestia said outside of the vision.

Luna nodded her head. “The sphere of dark magic was merely to hide my changeling powers. I’m not sure why I even cared to hide it anymore at that point… Perhaps I never intended to kill you at all and didn’t want that secret to be revealed. Whatever the case may be, we clashed.”

The sound of magic beams being fired filled the air, and the scene showed the castle being demolished by beams of light. “Luna!” Celestia shouted. “I will not fight you! You must lower the moon! It is your duty!”

“Luna? I am Nightmare Moon! I have but one royal duty now: to destroy you!”

The flashes and sounds of magic continued as the scene progressed, the aerial battle taking out large chunks of the castle. The sounds of destruction were accompanied by the sound of popcorn being munched intensely. Discord and Pinkie’s eyes were glued to the screen – Discord’s literally were removed from his sockets and attached to the screen’s surface.

“Hey, move your eye, I can’t see!” Pinkie protested, her mouth full of popcorn.

“This is so exciting! Oh, why couldn’t you girls have put up this sort of fight while I was around?” Discord said, ignoring Pinkie’s complaint.

Celestia and Luna sighed in unison, their attention drawn back to the screen when Celestia spoke.

“Oh, dear sister. I am sorry, but you have given me no choice but to use these,” she said as the Elements of Harmony rose out of the ground.

“Hey! It’s the Elements of Harmony!’ Pinkie shouted.

“Oh, goodie…” Discord responded, deadpan.

“And then…” Apple Bloom said as the screen showed Luna being blasted into the sky. “Princess Luna was banished. Sealed away into the moon itself, frozen in rock for a thousand years.”

Discord laughed. “Sounds awfully familiar. Is this how members of your family solve all of their problems?”

Apple Bloom ignored Discord’s comment and continued. “My knowledge of what happened after that is very limited since I was hiding in the sky as a star at that point.”

“That’s not the end of the story, though,” Celestia said, releasing Luna from her embrace and rising to her hooves. “No, things continued to develop. Since these visions have not just been about Luna and I, but also about the changelings, I feel that there is one more chapter of this story that you must be told. Just as you faced your past, sister, now I shall face mine.” Her horn glowed and the screen zapped back to life, showing the past once again.

Celestia paced back and forth through the castle, walking from room to room, aimlessly. “I couldn’t believe what I had done,” Celestia narrated. “My sister was gone, and my link with the Elements of Harmony was broken. Nopony should have been able to wield all six of them at once, and yet I had somehow managed. However, I could no longer use them anymore.”

The vision showed Celestia lifting her gaze to the moon, staring up at the silhouette of the Mare in the Moon that had formed upon its surface. Her horn lit up, and she strained, eventually lowering the moon and raising the sun by herself. Drained, she fell to the ground and gasped for breath. The scene changed to show her standing in the throne room, giving orders to her guards.

“I gathered up the guards. I told them that we were leaving at once for Unicornia, never to return. I could tell they questioned my reasoning, but none of them asked why. The truth was, I wanted to get away from it all. I wanted to escape what I had just done. I told no one about Luna. Rather, I told them all that Luna and I had banished Nightmare Moon into the moon, and that the nightmares were over,” Celestia said, lowering her head. “They were just beginning for me.”

The screen showed chains being thrown around Discord’s statue, as well as many boxes and crates full of books, parchment, and clothing being loaded into numerous wagons. The caravan set out to the north.

“It hadn’t even been a week, and I was still wrought with guilt and sadness about Luna’s…” Celestia said, hesitating as she turned to her sister, “about your banishment.” She held back her feelings, still powerful even after a thousand years, and cleared her throat slightly. “I’m sorry, I just…” Luna smiled faintly and shook her head as the magic screen focused on Celestia sitting upon the throne, her head drooped down in grief.

“Sister, it’s in the past. I cannot begin to imagine how you felt. There is nothing for you to apologize for. Remembering it is one thing, but seeing it like this, practically reliving it, is another thing entirely. I feel the same way, having seen my wicked deeds with my own eyes.”

Celestia nodded her head and smiled back as the scene continued to unfold. A guard entered the throne room and approached Celestia. He kneeled and removed his helmet. “Your majesty, I am sorry to intrude, but there is a mare who is requesting an audience. I told her that you had asked to not be disturbed, but she says that it is important.”

Celestia took a moment to compose herself, sitting up straight on the throne and adjusting her crown upon her head. “Who is this mare, then?”

“She says her name is Ismara, and that she is an acquaintance of yours. She claims that she has something of grave importance to speak with you about, but she would not tell me anything. She says the information she has is for your ears only.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow and thought for a moment. Ismara? The magical prodigy? Well, I suppose saying she’s an acquaintance is accurate, though we have only spoken briefly prior.

The image froze and Celestia waved a hoof toward the screen, causing it to ripple slightly. “Despite my poor mood, just the fact that she wanted to speak with me piqued my curiosity. To say that I’d had my eye on her prior to the changeling incident would be an understatement,” she said. The scene showed Celestia peering into a university classroom. At the front of the class stood a unicorn with a light gray coat, almost white, and a jet black mane that hung straight down past her shoulders. Her horn was aglow with magic as she levitated twelve different spell books in front of her, their pages flipping as though the wind was blowing them. “It may seem as though she is simply levitating those books, and that is true, but the pages are not flipping randomly at all. She is reading their contents, twelve tomes at once, channeling a very complex series of spells into her horn.”

As the magic in her horn seemed to reach its peak, the books all suddenly closed and her eyes shot straight toward the cracked door at the back of the room. She locked eyes with Celestia and grinned as the spells fired from her horn. The room erupted in colors, the books returned to the shelves from which they came, several potted plants upon the teacher’s desk sprouted and bloomed multi-colored flowers, and a whirlwind of magic began to spin through the air above them. The plants suddenly sprouted long vines and the flowers morphed into pony-like faces. They all began to sing, a choir as wonderful sounding as the royal chorus. Every pony in the room stood and clapped enthusiastically, and the teacher’s jaw dropped in shock. “I could do nothing but stare in awe, amazed that a young mare was capable of such magical control. While none of the spells were all that powerful, to cast everything at once was quite a feat. I could tell that this mare was going to end up a being a wizard within the top tiers of unicorn society, so I investigated her thoroughly. She was reportedly born not long after Luna and I, and had grown up with her two earth pony parents. They had lost their lives during Discord’s reign, and she ended up being taken to an orphanage in Unicornia. From there, she learned that she had a talent for magic, and despite having to live in poverty, she pursued magic and was eventually taken in by one of the magic instructors at the university. She’d been shooting toward the top ever since.”

The scene changed to show Celestia sitting at a small, round table on a patio in the rear castle gardens. The sun hung low on the horizon and the garden where the patio was situated was alight with lanterns. A tea pot with matching porcelain cups sat in the middle of the table, along with a plate of sweet cookies. Sitting across from her at the table was Ismara. Celestia stared quizzically at the mare as Celestia outside of the vision narrated. “I had been hesitant to meet with her, but my curiosity got the better of me. What could she possibly have wanted to speak to me about? I could not even begin to guess, but I could feel that the atmosphere was heavy as she sat across from me silently sipping her tea, waiting for me to speak. She certainly was familiar with noble etiquette.”

Celestia took a sip of her tea and then gently set the cup down upon the saucer in front of her. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure, Miss Ismara?” she asked.

Ismara took a sip of her own tea and batted her eyelashes. “Your highness, I actually have a proposition for you, but I was hoping that Princess Luna could be present to hear it as well since you are both equal rulers of this land,” she replied, grinning and glancing towards the door that led to the inner chambers.

Celestia froze up for a second, and then shook her head. “I’m sorry, but Princess Luna… is currently either asleep or preparing for the night. She must be ready to watch over the night soon. Anything you would need to tell her, you can tell me. We are equal rulers, as you said.”

Ismara continued to grin, letting her eyes dart around as she took in the scenery of the royal garden. “So tell me, why did you move to Unicornia? Did you not previously live in the Everfree Forest? It seems so sudden, though I can understand wanting to consolidate your power at the center of the nation.”

Celestia’s eyes narrowed. She’s just wasting my time, now. Or trying to get some sort of reaction out of me. In any case, I’ll not be pushed around, she thought. What are you after, girl? I know you’re clever, but you’re also fairly obvious.

Celestia leaned forward against the table and placed her hooves upon its surface. “Ismara, dispense with the pleasantries if you don’t mind. It may not seem like it, but I am quite busy and do not have time to beat about the bushes, despite that we are in a garden. You said you had a proposal, so by all means, let us hear it.”

Ismara chuckled and took another sip of her tea. “Princess Luna is gone, isn’t she?” she asked, gesturing one hoof skyward. “You’re in quite a pickle now, aren’t you? I feel so bad about the whole tragic situation, and wish to help you out.”

Celestia’s expression remained calm and emotionless. “I’m sure I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Don’t think that everypony was so oblivious to what was happening last week, Princess. Don’t think that all of us were distracted by that changeling spectacle. When the nightmares began, we all saw the same being, Nightmare Moon. She flew through our dreams and brought us terror beyond darkness. Was she just a figment of our imaginations? Of course she wasn’t, even you claim that she was real, and that you defeated her alongside Princess Luna.” Ismara leaned forward against the table as well, pressed her face closer to Celestia’s and whispered. “But I know the truth. Luna was Nightmare Moon. You defeated her all on your own and banished your own sister into the moon.”

Celestia gritted her teeth and leaned back in her chair. She scoffed, her tone of voice now both offended and frightened. “Ridiculous! How could you even have come up with such a story?” she said, and then gestured to the path that led out of the garden to the front of the castle. “We would like you to leave, now. Your implications are not appreciated.”

“But I can help you. I’ve devised a new kind of illusion magic that perfectly imitates the appearance and abilities of another pony. The perfect disguise. It would be as if Luna had never even left.”

Celestia stared back at Ismara, hesitant to respond. Ismara’s horn erupted with black magic, and her appearance morphed into that of Princess Luna. She stood up and gazed skyward, her mane flowing through the air and her wings spread wide. “I know what you must be thinking, now,” Ismara said, her voice perfectly mimicking Luna’s. “This sort of perfect imitation has been seen just recently thanks to those changelings, but I know you know better. You can feel the magic, can’t you?”

Incredible! I’ve seen illusion magic before, but never like this! I would never have thought to weave these spells together in such a manner… she’s a prodigy among prodigies. I was right to think that she would someday be a master, Celestia thought, staring at the perfect transformation before her. She caught herself being awestruck and shook her head. No! This is not the time to be impressed. I can’t allow her to continue to pry for information until I know her motive.

“I came here at dusk on purpose, you know,” Ismara said. “Is it not time to lower the sun? Where is Princess Luna?”

There she goes, asking about Luna again, Celestia thought, turning her head skyward and responding. “I am sure she is in her chambers, or perhaps in one of the towers, standing ready to raise the moon. Please, excuse me for a moment.”

Ismara nodded her head and Celestia lit up her horn, pushing the sun down below the horizon. She hesitated to raise the moon, knowing that Ismara was watching. She glanced at the mare, who still held Luna’s appearance perfectly, as she stared into the dark sky and blinked.

“Where is the moon, Princess?” she asked, and then lit up her own horn. “Allow me.” In the blink of an eye, the moon shot up into the sky. Celestia fell to her haunches in shock, staring up at the moon, and then down at Ismara, who was grinning widely down at her.

“You’re surprised, I see. It’s understandable. Please keep in mind, though, that I didn’t actually raise the moon just now. However, everypony in the land thinks that the moon is shining up there in the sky. This is the power of this illusion spell. Can you not feel it?” She waved her hoof through the air and the moon vanished from the sky. “You’d better hurry up and raise the moon, Princess. It looks like Luna may have slept in.”

Celestia frowned and concentrated, straining to raise the moon. It was still a strain on her, but the moon eventually floated up into the sky.

“It’s all for show, you see… but that’s precisely what you need, now isn’t it? Someone to appear to be your sister, still walking among us. Nopony would ever have to know the horrible truth. Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me, and all I ask in return is a chance to study in the magic archives that you no doubt moved from Everfree Castle to here.”

Celestia sat on the ground, still speechless at the level of magic Ismara possessed, thoughts racing through her head. Can I really trust her? I have no reason to think she is a friend, but I also have no reason to think she is a foe.

The princess stood up and stared into her sister’s eyes, knowing that they were just an illusion. She could see no flaw in it, no matter how hard she tried. “You are hereby sworn to secrecy about what has happened here, and about Princess Luna. We will consider your proposal. Until we make our final decision, please stay here at the castle. I will have a guest room prepared for you. Is that acceptable?”

Ismara smiled and nodded her head, Princess Luna’s form fading away from atop of her. “So, you finally admit to me about Princess Luna,” she said almost musingly. “Yes, it is acceptable. I await your response, your majesty.” She bowed before the princess, lowering her head until it practically touched the ground. Celestia stormed away into the doorway behind her and shouted for a guard.

“I had thought that allowing Ismara to stay in the castle would let me to keep a close eye on her. I was still nervous about her motive. She did, of course, have a hidden motive, but I would not find out about it until two days later. After much pondering, as well as having my personal guards keep an eye on Ismara, I was no closer to figuring out what she wanted. It seemed as though her aim was genuinely to study in the magic archives, which I knew were a tempting thing for any mage at her level. The archives contained many tomes and scrolls written by Star Swirl himself. Unfortunately, letting her stay just gave her exactly what she wanted: full access to the palace. She worked quickly and efficiently. I never saw it coming.”

The scene showed Celestia sitting on the throne. Moonlight shone in through the window beside her, and several guards and officials were in the throne room as well. Ismara entered, closing the doors behind her. She approached Celestia and kneeled before her. “You wanted to see me? Have you made a decision?” she asked, then glancing briefly at Luna’s vacant throne.

“Yes, we have made a decision. I apologize for calling this meeting so late at night, but secrecy is crucial. Everypony, step forward and form a circle here,” Celestia said. The others in the room stepped forward and stood silently, their attention aimed toward Celestia. Several of them were fully armored, while others were older ponies wearing robes. Ismara glanced around nervously. “Ismara, I admit, at first I was not sure if I should trust you. I will be honest about that. In fact, I am still wary of your offer, but time is short to make a decision about this, and questions have been coming up regarding Luna. I want nothing more than for the country to be able to move on peacefully, at least for now, in the wake of all that has occurred in the past month. The ponies you see before us are my most trusted inner circle of advisors and protectors. They will have the secret revealed to them as well. Word of this shall not spread beyond this room. Do you all understand?”

Ismara grinned and swished her tail behind her. The guards all took several steps back, and she followed suit. With a quick flash of magic from her horn, the sound of the door at the front of the room locking could be heard.

“No need to tell them anything, Celestia. They already know everything.”

“What!?” Celestia shouted, rising from her throne.

Ismara laughed and her horn began to blaze with white light. The moon sank from the sky and the sun raised quickly in its place. Celestia jerked her head around and stared up at the sun.

“Impossible! That’s really…!”

“That’s right, your highness! That’s not an illusion, and neither is this!”

Ismara’s body erupted in terrifyingly familiar green fire-like magic that rippled across her coat’s surface, burning away who she had been and revealing who she really was. Light gray coat turned black, gentle features became rough and jagged, her horn formed a hole at its base with a yellow gem inset, and her legs had several holes and divets along their surface. She laughed, her fangs bared and almost glowing. Celestia fell back against her throne, eyes wide with terror as green fire began to burn away at every pony in the room.

“All of my guards, my most trusted advisors, my personal security detail whom I trusted with my life and even considered dear friends… she had replaced them all in the course of two days with changelings. Every single one of them had the same strange gem-socketed horns and butterfly wings,” Celestia said, explaining the scene. “She had taken advantage of the situation with Luna, worked her way so quickly into my innermost space and had taken it over. Furthermore, she had raised the sun into the sky, a feat that to this day I am still puzzled by.”

The changelings on the screen all began to channel bright, colorful magic into their horns, the gems making prismatic spectrums dance along the walls, ceiling, and floor. Celestia sat in her throne, her whole body shaking with fear, anger, and confusion, unable to respond.

“Yet, despite all her planning, all her carefully executed maneuvers, all her silver-tongued engineering, she had overlooked one vital thing.”

“This is the end, Celestia!” Ismara screamed, her voice having changed along with her appearance. “Burn her to ashes!”

The screen lit up nearly as bright as the sun as all of the changelings fired their magic at once towards Celestia. The princess tensed up her body, light igniting at the tip of her horn, and a spherical shield appeared around her. The full force of the magic blast was reflected back at the changelings, blasting them away, reducing stone pillars to rubble, and blowing the wall where the doorway was out into the halls.

Celestia shakily slid down from the throne, standing up and walking across the scene of destruction. Unidentifiable pieces of changeling bodies lie strewn about, charred or burning. The only body that was left mostly complete was that of Ismara. She raised her head up off the ground and growled at Celestia.

“Her lack of understanding of alicorn magic, not that she could have come to understand it in such a short time, brought about her death. She never could have imagined that I had an undetectable magic repulsion field set up around me that would reflect all offensive magic back upon the caster. Along with my feelings of anxiety and grief from Luna’s banishment came paranoia. I’d had the field cast on myself ever since I came back to Unicornia.”

The others were staring at the screen, their jaws hanging open and their eyes wide.

“I’m sorry you had to see that. Perhaps I should have warned you.”

“Sister, that…” Luna started, cut off by dialogue coming from the screen.

“You haven’t seen the last of me, Celestia…” Ismara said weakly, blood trickling from her mouth. “Or my order of changelings.”

“Ismara,” Celestia responded, her body still shaking, “Why? Why did this have to happen? Just when I thought… there could be some sort of salvation for me…” Tears formed at the corners of her eyes. Ismara laughed and fell flat against the floor again.

“Salvation? Don’t be ridiculous. There’s no such thing in this world,” Ismara said, her voice fading. “Someday, Celestia… We will be back to haunt you. You will never…” With that word, her final breath passed from her lips and her body became completely limp.

“I’d hoped that her last words were just boasting, but now that The Order of Ismara has returned, it appears--”

“Sister!” Luna said more loudly. “That voice!”

“You heard it, too?” Discord asked, turning his shocked expression towards the two princesses.

“Yeah,” Pinkie Pie said, popcorn falling from her mouth. “It’s definitely the one. I never forget a voice!”

Celestia glanced between the others, and then down at Apple Bloom, who was staring up at Luna, a look of fright upon her face. “What are you all talking about? What… voice…?”

Celestia’s eyes went wide as she finally understood.

Why do you even try, night goddess? They have never loved you, and they never shall.

Cast aside your patience! Your determination! There is only one goal you need to be focused on, and that is overcoming the source of your problem! The sun must never rise again! Not until everypony recognizes your glory and might!

Do it! She’s helpless! End her life right now!

The image of Ismara ordering the attack on her appeared clearly in Celestia’s mind. She screeched out the order with the same bone-chilling voice.

This is the end, Celestia! Burn her to ashes!

“Ismara.” Celestia said quietly, almost whispering. “She was behind… everything.”

Twilight shivered as the cold air above the mountain pierced her coat. Linnai, who seemed unaffected by the change in temperature, began to dive down the other side of the mountain range toward the grassy field far below. The air was thick with love magic, and the changeling’s eyes had gone wide with excitement as each pulse of the sweet sustenance became stronger and stronger. Twilight felt herself slipping out of Linnai’s grip and shouted up at her carrier. “Hey! I can’t fly if you drop me!”

Linnai shook her head and pulled Twilight back up against her chest. “Sorry, I was just… appreciating the moment,” she said, her voice flat and mellow. It reminded Twilight a little too much of her sleepy adventurous tone from earlier that day.

“Well, stay focused. We’ll probably be coming up on the source of the magic soon.”

“Sweet smorgasbord, I hope so! I’ve been avoiding absorbing all this ambient energy so I have my appetite for the main course.”

After a few more minutes of flying, the two of them landed in thick grass. Twilight crouched to the ground and practically kissed it. “Okay, that was fun, but I’m not sure I am up for any more flying.” She stared ahead at what appeared to be the source of the magic directly ahead of them, a sphere of glowing, pink light. She flipped the Colorscope down over her eyes. “That must be where the magic is coming from. I can’t tell what it is. It’s definitely not part of the dream world, so chances are one of the others is involved. We should go check it out.”

“Way ahead of you.” Linnai had already started advancing along the ground, her red-veined wings extended and quivering slightly with excitement. “Pure, wild love magic. It doesn’t get much better than this.”

The sphere flashed as Linnai came close to it, surging outward with an even more powerful wave. The changeling’s eyes rolled back and she fell to the ground, her entire body quivering and a loud groan escaping her lips. Twilight was knocked down as well, a smile spreading suddenly across her face and tears falling from her eyes.

A second later, the sphere vanished and the love energy in the air evaporated. Standing in the sphere’s place were Sweetie Belle, Fluttershy, and Mulcibar, who was lying on the ground staring up at Fluttershy.

Twilight forced herself back up to her hooves and ran forward towards the group. “Fluttershy! Sweetie Belle! I’m so glad you’re alright!”

“Twilight!” Fluttershy shouted, turning away from Mulcibar and throwing her hooves up to meet Twilight in a hug. “Thank goodness! I’m glad you’re here. Listen, it’s about Sweetie Belle, she’s—“

A loud growl came from Mulcibar as he rolled onto his side and gripped his midsection as if he were having a bout of indigestion. Fluttershy gasped and leapt to his side, leaning her face down close to his. “Oh, my, are you alright? What’s wrong? Is it your stomach?”

Mulcibar strained and opened his eyes, speaking through his teeth. “Yes… No? I don’t know! It hurts! Whatever it is!” As his eyes opened and met with hers, his body suddenly untensed and fell limp against the ground. “Or I don’t know. My head is all light and I feel dizzy. Oh no, am I sick? Is this what it’s like to be sick? I’ve never been sick! A cold?”

Fluttershy pressed a hoof against his forehead and shook her head. Mulcibar shivered slightly in response. “You don’t feel feverish. Oh no, but I don’t know if you changelings are supposed to feel the same as we ponies do.” She turned her head toward Twilight. “What do we do? So much has been going on, it’s crazy.”

Twilight tightened her lips. “Hmmm. It could be a reaction to that magic. What was that, anyway?”

“Tasty!” Linnai managed to say, raising one hoof up in the air as she lay on the ground still.

Fluttershy pointed a hoof at Sweetie Belle, who had fallen to the ground and was fast asleep. “It was Sweetie Belle, but not Sweetie Belle. It’s that pendant from the last dream. Oh, Twilight, we saw some terrible things. Just awful.”

“Awful? How awful?”

“It was the past. Sweetie Belle was taken over by that magic pendant. It told us that it was a piece of Princess Luna’s soul. It showed us things that happened a thousand years ago. Celestia and Luna were in Canterlot, but it wasn’t Canterlot back then, and they were investigating Changelings. In the end, everything ended up sad and terrible, and there was always this voice in Princess Luna’s mind driving her to do bad things.”

“A voice?”

“Yes. The events we saw were not long before Luna became Nightmare Moon, and that voice seemed to be pushing her to become evil and betray Celestia. We all have our dark thoughts, but I can’t help but think there’s more to that voice than just Luna’s own dark thoughts,” Fluttershy said, and then lowered her gaze. “Even more awful, there were a lot of changelings and guard ponies that got… killed. It was horrible, Twilight.”

Linnai perked up slightly, coming down from her love magic induced high. “Yes, well, a thousand years ago… it must have been Tenderhoof and her stand against your tyrant princesses. It doesn’t surprise me that Luna had such evil thoughts. She and Celestia executed them all without mercy.”

Mulcibar took a deep breath and turned to face his sister. “Linnai, about that,” he said, his voice still weak and strained. “What would you say if we were wrong? What if they weren’t executed?”

Linnai stood up and walked toward her brother. “What do you mean? And what’s wrong with you?”

Mulcibar sighed breathily. “I don’t know,” he said, and then looked up at Linnai’s face. “I’m just so glad to see you. Thank goodness you’re okay.” His voice cracked as if he were about to cry. Linnai’s eyes widened and she pulled her face back in repulsion.

“For crying out loud, brother, knock it off, that’s just creepy,” she said, kicking one of her forelegs forward into his ribcage. “What’s come over you! You’re acting so… ugh, pony-like. Maybe you’re weak from hunger. Surely you fed on all that love magic just now.”

Mulcibar’s eyes seemed to go blank and a grin spread across his face. “No… I was already full.”

Linnai lifted her head and glanced over at the sleeping foal, and then at Fluttershy. Her eyes narrowed and she let out a chuckle. “Oh, I see how it is. Lucky you. I was stuck with the prudicorn over there,” she said, gesturing toward Twilight, who raised an eyebrow and looked toward Fluttershy as well.

Fluttershy blushed. “Why are you two staring at me like that?”

Linnai laughed. “Oh, wow, every time! You always get the easy ones, you jerk!” She looked down at Mulcibar and kicked him again, even harder than before He let out a grunt of pain. “I’d be impressed if you weren’t rolling around on the ground like you’re dying. Get up, already!” She gave him a third kick and Fluttershy suddenly leapt forward, pushing her away from him and standing between the two of them.

“Hey, leave him alone!” she said, but then immediately felt herself shrinking down and trying to hide. Linnai grinned and laughed again.

“Awww, aren’t you sweet?” she said, and then her face quickly soured. “What have you done to him, tramp?”

“Done? I didn’t do anything?”

“Hey, leave her alone!” Twilight shouted and leaned in towards Linnai.

“Butt out, prudicorn!” Linnai shouted, never averting her gaze from Fluttershy. “This little bitch must have done something to him. Look at him! Pathetic!”

“But, I didn’t!”

“Mulcibar! What’s the deal? Did you feed on the yellow one or not?” She shoved Fluttershy to the side and reared up above Mulcibar again. “Say something, you oaf!”

Fluttershy heatbutt Linnai’s shoulder, knocking her off balance and causing her to tumble sideways into Twilight. After gaining her balance again, she growled at Fluttershy and quickly moved back toward her.

“I don’t know what happened to him, but I can tell what happened to you. It’s written all over your stupid face,” she said, her nose pressed against Fluttershy’s. “The stupidity of some ponies never ceases to amaze. Tell me about it, little girl. Was he aggressive? Gentle? Rough? Did he trick you, or did you know he was going to gobble you up?”

“Hey!” Twilight shouted, marching the two steps away that Linnai was.

Fluttershy lowered her face, letting her hair drape over it. “I… I just…”

Linnai laughed, her gaze beating down against Fluttershy. “Did you fall in love with him, pony? Did you think he somehow had feelings for you?”

“No! I just…!”

“Did you think that somehow if you showed him some compassion, he’d somehow love you back? Did you think you could teach him how to love? Well, you wouldn’t be the first, and you certainly won’t be the last! That’s just how he operates, so don’t get any stupid ideas!”

Twilight shoved Linnai away and continued toward Fluttershy. She put a hoof against her friend’s face, brushing her hair aside, revealing her tear-filled eyes. “Fluttershy, are you okay?” she asked, and then letting curiosity get the better of her, added “Is it… is it true?”

Fluttershy remained silent, but shook her head.

Linnai let out a screeching laugh. “Of course it’s true! Little fillies with big hearts never change. They’re all the same! ‘Oh, maybe he’s not so bad! Maybe if I just am nice to him, I can save him!’ they always think, and it never works! You can’t teach a changeling how to love, it’s impossible!”

“Shut up!” Mulcibar screamed, leaping to his hooves and barreling towards his sister. In a single motion, he pushed her to the side and slid to a stop next to Fluttershy. He took a deep breath and then threw his forelegs around Fluttershy, pulling her up against him. “Don’t listen to her. Are you alright?”

Linnai and Twilight both blinked in shock.

“There’s definitely something wrong with you! What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” Mulcibar said, his voice shaking, as were his knees. “I’ve never felt this way before. It’s sort of scary, yet exhilarating. My mind is racing, I can hear my blood flowing and my heart beating. I feel sick, and yet… not. I don’t… know what’s come over me.”

Twilight fell to her haunches. “Impossible…” she said. “The way he’s acting, what he’s saying… I’m not sure what else this could be.”

Linnai and Mulcibar shouted in unison. “What could it be?”

Twilight gulped and inhaled deeply. “From everything you’ve said and done just now, it’s almost like… you have a crush on Fluttershy.”

“Crush?” Mulcibar pondered quietly, turning his eyes down to his forelegs. He shakily loosened his grip on Fluttershy. “I didn’t think I was holding her that tightly… Why am I even doing this?” His look of confusion only intensified.

“No, not like that,” Twilight said, placing a hoof to her forehead. “A crush. You know, as in you like her.”

Mulcibar blinked and felt his stomach acting up again. “I like a lot of things. I like stars, and cool breezes, and quiet times when Linnai isn’t shouting.”

“Hey!” Linnai shouted.

“No, not like that,” Twilight said. “I mean it’s like you love her.”

“What!?” Linnai shouted.

Fluttershy squeaked and tried to hide, but couldn’t escape Mulcibar’s embrace.

“It’s impossible… right?” Twilight asked, turning to look at Linnai.

Meanwhile, outside of the dream, in the throne room of Canterlot Castle, Chrysalis sat upon the throne, her eyes glazed over with magic as she absorbed energy from the field of cocoons before her. She suddenly gasped and raised a hoof up, placing it against her chest. She licked her lips, grinned, and whispered to herself.

“Mulcibar, you naughty boy. What have you done?”

Author's Note

Poor Celestia and Luna. They had it rough. I hope I'm not driving everyone crazy with these flashbacks. It's been a pleasure to weave this all together, so I hope you enjoyed it, at least a little. In an ocean of MLP fanfiction, I'm sure everything I'm doing has been done before, but hey, I'm doing it anyway!

I had a lot of fun writing the Ismara scene. It's the same event that Celestia described to Twilight in book 2, but time time played out in full so all the details were revealed.

Not long to go now. Just one more chapter for this book, and it's gonna have everything! A little more about Celestia and Luna's pasts, how the legend of Nightmare Moon became what it did, the final confrontation with Nightmare Moon, and the long arm of Ismara reaching all the way from the past. Also, will Mulcibar ever get a grip on his newfound emotions? Will Fluttershy be able to deal with it? Will Linnai want to deal with it? Will Twilight be able to make them get a move on so she can find out what's happening with the princesses?

Look forward to it! You know, if you want to.

Corruption Ch 10 - Assimilation

Book Four: Corruption

Chapter Ten - Assimilation

Chrysalis lowered her head, closing her glowing, white eyes and taking a deep breath. Mulcibar… what am I supposed to make of this? Intensely sweet and overly powerful, it almost feels wrong to admit that yours is the finest treat I’ve had since we began. And yet, that means something has gone terribly wrong. You were supposed to be watching Luna!

The queen shot up to her feet and strutted down the steps of the throne platform, her eyes reopening, revealing their normal snake-like appearance. She trotted with a purpose off to the side, shoving a crimson curtain out of the way, revealing the doorway that led to the lower chambers of the Canterlot royalty. A scream echoed across the walls of the stairwell as she approached the entryway to the main hall. She saw Princess Cadence hanging against the wall, her body limp and weak from yet another surge of magic. Chrysalis inhaled deeply, the faint scent of love still hanging in the air.

Cadence opened her eyes as best she could to look up at the source of the hoofsteps. She spotted the queen, and her mind shot back to the encounter she’d had with her earlier.

“Help me...” Chrysalis whispered. “You have to stop her.”

Cadence opened her eyes and blinked once before glancing towards Chrysalis. Her face was pressed close, and her eyes were closed. “What?” Cadence asked. “I don’t understand... stop who?”

“She’s waking up again. I can’t stop her alone. Find a way. I don’t know any other way, so...” Chrysalis breathed into Cadence’s ear.

“So?” Cadence asked, then swallowed, still catching her breath.

Chrysalis’ eyes shot open and she pulled her face back. Her eyes were glazed over with a magical aura and tears were streaming down her cheeks.

“Kill me,” she said, and then fell to the ground.

Cadence thought to herself as the queen walked past, paying no notice to her at all. What could she have meant by all that? It doesn’t make any sense!

Chrysalis nearly reached the door at the end of the hall that led to the room where The Order were watching over Luna. “Wait!” Cadence shouted.

Chrysalis turned and looked at her. She said nothing, just stared blankly.

“Wait…” Cadence said more quietly. “What… did you mean earlier? Were you lying? Were you just toying with me? What do you want!?” She breathed heavily, even the simple act of speaking having become a strain.

Chrysalis walked over the Cadence and looked up at her. “Lying about what?” she asked with a grin. “About what Shining Armor and I did last night? No, that’s all true, do you want me to go into greater detail? I can, if you wish.” She licked her lips.

Cadence’s eyes went wide with rage. “Why would I want to hear about that? Stop playing games!”

Chrysalis laughed. “Well, I’d assumed you were the type to be saving yourself for marriage, and now you’ll never have the pleasure yourself, so I figured you’d at least want to hear how he performed.”

Cadence shook her head. “Leave me alone…” She fell limp from her chains once again.

“He’s quite the stud, really. I’ve had more than a few, but almost none can stack up,” the queen continued, her voice becoming deeper and breathier.

“Stop. Just go,” Cadence said, almost begging now.

“Mmmm! I get light-headed just thinking about it!” Chrysalis said, ignoring Cadence’s pleas. “He rutted me so hard. I never would have expected he’d take his new bride with such vigor. He should know to be gentle with virgins… good thing he wasn’t having one, so no real issue there.”

From the depths of Cadence’s spirit came new fire, her heart becoming engulfed in anger. “I’ll give you what you want, you bitch! I swear, I will kill you! I’ll kill you and toss your body into the pits of Tartarus!” She spat in Chrysalis’ face, hitting her right in the eye.

Chrysalis swung a hoof forward and smashed it into Cadence’s jaw, knocking her back against the wall. Her body fell back down and hung like a rag doll from her chains. Chrysalis bared her teeth and breathed through them angrily. “Now you’re just becoming delirious! I would’ve already killed you if I didn’t need you! Never forget that!”

Cadence hung in silence. Maybe I am delirious. Why would she have said she wanted me to kill her, anyway?

Chrysalis turned away from Cadence and approached the door to The Order’s chamber. Before opening the door, she turned her head toward Cadence one more time. “Oh yes, so, these rooms back here are for the princesses and their staff to retire to if they need a break during their duties. The room behind you, over there, even has a bed in it,” she said, grinning. “Maybe I’ll bring Shining down here later. I’m sure we could make good use of it.”

Cadence didn’t even have the strength to whisper, but inside her mind, she was screaming at the top of her lungs. Tears rolled down her cheek, met with the blood that was trickling from her lips, and dripped together to the floor below. The sound of the door to the other room opening and closing entered her ears. After a moment, her rage subsided slightly, and all that was left in her mind was a terrible thought.

Somepony, please… just kill me.

Chrysalis gently pushed the door to the Order’s room open, quietly stepped in, and then slammed the door behind her. Every member of the order, save Luzon, jumped and turned their heads at the sound. Luzon calmly opened one eye and glanced over at Chrysalis. “Need something?” he asked casually. Chrysalis chuckled and stepped lightly, practically gliding across the floor, over to the other side of the table and whimsically draped her forelegs around Mulcibar’s neck.

“It’s come to my attention that one of my loyal subjects back here could be sleeping on the job,” she said, her voice high and airy. She turned her head and looked at Linnai. “Seems there’s two of them.”

Luzon cleared his throat, now opening both eyes. “It wasn’t a decision that we--”

“Oh, I’m sure it wasn’t,” she said, cutting him off. She rubbed her cheek up against Mulcibar’s. His head bobbed slightly as it hung limply forward. She ran one of her hooves up to the top of his head and began to lovingly stroke his mane. “Oh, Mulcibar, what am I going to do with you? I never thought this could happen. Didn’t you know, I was counting on you!?” Her voice rose in volume and filled with annoyance toward the end of her sentence as she pushed forcefully against the back of Mulcibar’s head, slamming his face forward against the table.

Luzon shot up to his feet and leaned forward. The rest of the changelings in the room gasped, staring down at the blood that was now slowly oozing out of Mulcibar’s mouth. Watch it, you little brat! he thought, but gritted his teeth and held his tongue from saying it. “My queen, what has he done to deserve that? I will be sure to punish him fiercely when he returns!”

Chrysalis smiled at Luzon. “It may be too late for him, already. I’ve felt something… disturbing in the stream.” She gazed over at Linnai and frowned. “Linnai, are you with him? Are you just letting him do whatever he wants? My little cutthroat princess, I know that couldn’t be it. What’s holding you back?”

Luna’s cocoon pulsed outward with magic, seemingly aimed directly at Chrysalis. The Order closed their eyes and concentrated, converting the magic and sending it along to the stream. Chrysalis closed her eyes.

“That wasn’t like the ones before. Something is going on in there, in Princess Luna’s tiny little brain. I fear this may be connected to what I felt. Tell me, Luzon, why did you allow two of them to go in? And why them, specifically?”

“There was… another disturbance. Mulcibar and Linnai felt it as well. We didn’t want to bother you with it, so they volunteered to go on a recon mission.”

“Oh, I can already see how this went. Linnai was bored and decided to go in, and then little Mulci was worried about his sister getting carried away and asked to go as well. Tell me, how long ago was that?”

Luzon froze, his eyes starting to shake. Chrysalis began to slowly walk in his direction, her horn aglow with green magic. “Go on. Tell me. How long have they been in there on this recon mission?”

Luzon cleared his throat again. “Well, I’m not entirely sure. It couldn’t have been but--”

“But… what?”

Sweat was collecting on Luzon’s brow as Chrysalis pressed her face close to his, so close he could feel her hot breath against his snout. “Maybe an hour?”

“An hour,” Chrysalis repeated.

Luzon nodded his head nervously.

“Do you know how long an hour can be inside a dream world?”

Luzon nodded his head silently.

“So, tell me in your professional opinion, since you knew it could very well have been days for them by now, or even weeks, what made you think that anything longer than around fifteen minutes was an acceptable amount of time before you sent someone in after them?”

“Well, we couldn’t very well take three members off Princess Luna. Her magic pulses have been getting stronger, and we--”

“I don’t need your excuses, Luzon. Now tell me, do you think that at this point it’s safe to assume something has gone terribly wrong in there?”

“Of course something has gone wrong, but they haven’t woken up, so nothing has killed them. Standard procedure from our training sessions in an inescapable situation is to commit suicide in the dream and then concentrate on relaying information once you awaken, before the time correction hits your mind. Those two are particularly skilled, so there is nothing to worry about.”

“Exactly. You’ve certainly trained well and read up on it. I’m sure the practice sessions went just fine as you delved into each others’ minds. After an hour, though, we’ve clearly hit a very different situation. Something that would not fit into the standard training model. Can any of you tell me what sort of situation that would be?” she asked, turning around and staring right at Vitra, who shrunk back and gulped.

Is she trying to tell me something? What is that look for? Vitra thought, her mind jumping back to earlier when she and Chrysalis had spoken just after she’d woken up.

“Were you connected to the dreams a little while ago?” Chrysalis asked, her voice calm and conversational. “I could feel your energy flowing down.”

Vitra nodded her head. “Yes, your highness,” she said, slowly remembering who she was, as well as her station within the changeling ranks. “I had taken over the body of a pony named Applejack.”

Chrysalis smiled and nodded her head. “Oh, Applejack,” she said. “She’s one of my favorites. She is always so up-front and honest. I respect that.”

“I think I do, too,” Vitra said, looking up among the pods, trying to spot Applejack’s cocoon.

“Good, so you’ll be honest with me, then,” the queen said, leaning her head down towards the smaller changeling. “Tell me, Vitra, how was it that I could feel your energy? How could you possibly have produced love energy?”

Vitra blinked. “I didn’t. I couldn’t have,” she said, staring down at the floor. “It’s not even possible.”

“And yet, I felt you. I fed on you, child,” Chrysalis said with a grin. “Yours was so delicious, like a morsel hidden among a sea of blandness. Like a lone cherry sitting atop a pile of boring, plain oats.”

“I can’t… possibly explain it, your majesty,” Vitra said, her voice shaking.

“Ah, but I expect you to, eventually,” Chrysalis said, her burning white eyes locked onto Vitra. “But you must tell no one of what happened in that dream, nor of this conversation. Continue with the plan, and whenever you can, try to remember how you may have accomplished this freak feat. I expect great things, and I expect you to tell no one, particularly not Luzon or any others in The Order.”

Vitra sat up straight again, returning the queen’s gaze. Should I say something? Is this her telling me to act? I’m starting to remember… How was I able to recall so much after passing out? she thought, but then remembered one more thing from earlier.

“Oh, and Vitra,” Chrysalis said. “One more thing. When I say you are not to mention this to anyone, I mean you are to speak of it to no one. Do not even speak with me about it unless first asked, lest we be overheard. This is our little secret, okay?”

Vitra shook her head. No, she’s not asking me directly. I can’t say anything… not that I have much to say. Oh, I wish I could just remember everything that had happened in that dream, damn it!

“Well? Anyone?” Chrysalis asked, turning back to Luzon. “You have no thoughts on what might be keeping them?”

Luzon’s eyebrows lowered. “I refuse to consider the idea!”

“What idea is that? Say it!” Chrysalis commanded, and Luzon had no choice but to comply.

“That they’ve defected.”

Deep breaths came from several changelings in the room, and Chrysalis grinned and nodded her head. “Yes. I don’t want to believe it either, but if they aren’t dying, and they aren’t coming back, then they must be staying of their own free wills.”

Luzon gritted his teeth, unable to respond.

“Now, normally in a situation like this, we’d want to just wait for them to come back out. I wouldn’t want to do anything drastic before we have the facts. After all, the only option we really have out here is to kill them, and we just can’t do that,” Chrysalis said, pulling away from Luzon and walking back over to Mulcibar. “After all, killing them would run the risk of spoiling the whole crop, as I am sure you’re all aware.”

“It’s also completely out of the question!” Luzon shouted, slamming his hooves against the table. “I can’t believe you’re even considering it!”

“This is war, Luzon! There are bound to be casualties, or did you think there would be none just because there haven’t been any yet?” Chrysalis asked, glaring at the bearded changeling. “We still haven’t heard back from the Cloudsdale team, and that should be my only worry, but now this has happened!”

Luzon took a deep breath and sat back down. “We have options, but none of them are ideal. We can’t send anyone else in, so—“

“Oh, I think we can,” Chrysalis interrupted. “You will go in there, Luzon, and I will take your place here. I will give you ten minutes to get it sorted, at which point I will consider the other option I am sure you’re thinking of… and believe me, if we have to resort to that, you will be held completely accountable.”

Luzon frowned. “Ten minutes? Don’t insult me. I’ll have it handled in less than five.”

“That’s what I like to hear from you. That confidence is why you were put in charge. You’ve never failed me, so don’t start now,” Chrysalis responded, her expression softening to a sweet smile.

Before Luzon even had a chance to begin his spell, though, a sudden pulse of magic shot out from Luna’s cocoon. The blinding light caused all of the changelings in the room to shield their eyes. After it dissipated, Chrysalis opened her eyes and gazed toward the glowing green pod. She grinned and licked her lips.

“Well, hello there, princess. So glad you could join us.”

Love… is that what this is? That filly said I should fight for love. She said that she’d show me, but then she didn’t show me anything, Mulcibar thought, turning to look at Sweetie Belle, who was once again sleeping peacefully. The sight of her brought his mind back to the cave, after she’d healed him. He remembered her exhausted face and sluggishly moving body as she collapsed. He felt a sudden pain in his heart. She didn’t have to do that. Back then, it made all the sense in the world that she shouldn’t do that. I thought she was foolish. I thought Fluttershy was foolish, too. If kindness is a weakness, then Fluttershy is weak. But… is she, really?

He turned his gaze back to Fluttershy, who was standing a short distance from him with Twilight. The two of them were talking quietly, and a rosy color had shown itself through her yellow coat. She glanced his way and then quickly looked back to Twilight. He felt another twinge of pain in his heart. His mind floated back to the cave once again. He saw the blurry outline of Fluttershy’s face pressed up against his, and could practically feel her lips, soft and trembling, against his own. He felt as though he would melt. Back then, it felt just as wonderful, but within these memories there is now something else. My mind spins round and round… I feel as though I could float. Is this really love? This strange but appealing mixture of pain and pleasure? This indescribable desire… no, this need to be with her? He blinked and looked at her again, and felt his resolve steeling. What have they done to me? I came here as an enemy. I came here to dispose of them, send them back to their dreams, but now? Now, I can’t imagine leaving her side.

Images of Chrysalis and the others of the Order appeared in his mind. His eyes went wide, tears welling up at their edges. I can’t just betray them! What am I thinking? These ponies… They’ve poisoned me! Poisoned my mind! His stomach growled and he fell sideways against the ground. And what is this incessant stomach pain!?

Linnai tapped Mulcibar against the side of his head and gave him a curious look. “Hello? What’s going on in there?” she asked.

“Stomach hurts and I feel weak. That filly did something to me, I don’t even know what yet.” His stomach growled again.

Twilight and Fluttershy looked over towards the two changelings. Twilight tapped a hoof against Fluttershy’s shoulder and walked over to the two of them. “I can hear your stomach rumbling from all the way over there. You need to get some food in you.”

“Food?” Mulcibar and Linnai asked in unison, tilting their heads in confusion.

“Changelings don’t eat food, or hadn’t you noticed? We feed on love, though we do have to drink water as well,” Linnai said with a click of her tongue.

Twilight groaned. “Look, his stomach is growling, and that’s what happens when you need to eat something. Maybe it’s because we’re in this dream, maybe it’s from whatever is causing him to feel strange, but he needs to eat something. Maybe that’s why he feels sick in the first place!”

“Okay, well, I’m willing to try anything, but we’re in the middle of a field. Where would we get this food?” Mulcibar asked as he rubbed his hooves against his belly.

Twilight shrugged. “Well, it’s not much, but your physiology can’t be that different from ours,” she said as she used her magic to rip some grass from the ground. “Ancient ponies used to eat mostly grass. We can still eat it, though I admit it’s not the most flavorful thing in the world.” She levitated the clump of green vegetation in front of his mouth.

“Eww, don’t do it!” Linnai squawked. “We’ve been walking on that stuff!” It was too late, though. Mulcibar opened his mouth and closed his eyes as Twilight floated the grass into his mouth. Linnai pulled her head back in repulsion.

Mulcibar bit down upon the fibrous plants, chewing a few times. His eyes suddenly went wide and his nose scrunched up.

Twilight gave a nervous frown. “Yeah, I know, it’s not that good…”

Linnai pushed both of her front hooves against Twilight and shook her. “If he dies, I’ll kill you!” she shouted, still staring down at Mulcibar in horror.

Mulcibar chewed several more times before opening his mouth again. “This… is amazing!” he shouted, drool practically pouring out of his mouth. He swallowed down the grass and shoved his face against the ground, pulling more up out of the dirt.

Twilight and Linnai’s eyelids both fell halfway over their eyes and they stared blankly down at him as he was practically pigging out on grass. “Really…?” they said in unison. Linnai lightly punched Twilight against her shoulder.

“What was that for?” Twilight asked, annoyed as she rubbed her shoulder.

“That was for… I don’t know what! Anyway, hurry up down there!” Linnai shouted down at her brother. “I swear, what the heck is wrong with you?”

Twilight shrugged. “It’s just a theory, but you saw how he was acting earlier. I said it seemed like he was in love.”

“And we’ve already been over that, it’s impossible.”

“Suppose that it’s not impossible, though. Would that make him not feed on love anymore? Maybe he just feeds on… food, now?”

“Absurd,” Linnai said, and glared down at Mulcibar again. “I said hurry up!”

Mulcibar stood back up and dusted himself off as he swallowed down what must have been his eighth mouthful of grass. There was a patch of bare earth where he’d been laying. “I don’t know, but I do feel better now. That was amazing! Linnai, you have to try this stuff!” he said, levitating the grass in front of her face, his own face beaming with a giant smile. She took one whiff of it and stuck out her tongue.

“Blech, get that stuff away from me! I only eat food if I have to keep up appearances. Can that even be considered food, anyway?”

“Oh, come on! It’s amazing!” Mulcibar insisted, pushing the grass closer to Linnai’s face.

Twilight couldn’t help but giggle. She stopped herself though, and glanced back and forth between the two changeling siblings. When did I get so comfortable around them? They’re practically just like any other pair of siblings you might meet. With that thought, an image of Shining Armor, his eyes blank from the spell put on him by Chrysalis, appeared in her mind. No! I can’t let my guard down too much! They’re still changelings. But… I sure wish you were here, too, B.B.B.F.F..

Fluttershy stood apart from the others, now staring blankly toward the sky, thinking about the conversation that she and Twilight had a few minutes prior.

“Fluttershy, you have to tell me what happened. He didn’t do anything to you, did he?” Twilight asked.

Fluttershy shook her head. “No, nothing happened.” Her blushing cheeks betrayed her, though, and Twilight pressed the question.

“Fluttershy, I respect that you don’t want to talk about it, but we can’t let them push us around. They’re trapped in here just as much as we are. When Linnai and I were alone, she tricked me by taking on Princess Celestia’s form.”

“It was nothing like that, Twilight. It wasn’t him. If anything, it was me…” Her voice became nearly inaudible. She caught herself and spoke up again. “He saved us, Sweetie Belle and I. I had a bad injury on my leg, and Sweetie Belle was attacked by those shadow things. He hurt himself while saving her from them. We’re just lucky that Sweetie Belle could still use that healing magic from before.”

Twilight nodded her head. “Wow, it sounds like you’ve been through a lot. How did he end up feeding on you, though?” she asked, then tapping her forehead with her hoof. “Sorry, you didn’t want to talk about it. Sorry.”

“We were all alone in that cave. Sweetie Belle was asleep. Mulcibar said that he’d used too much of his energy. He said he was going to die,” Fluttershy recounted.

Twilight sighed. “And you believed him?”

“He wasn’t lying. I could tell. I knew it. He told me that I should leave him and take Sweetie Belle with me. He said that if we died, it could cause a chain reaction in the cocoons that would kill everypony else.”

Twilight furrowed her brow. “That makes sense. He was putting his mission first, even if it meant sacrificing himself.” The two of them glanced over and Mulcibar and Linnai briefly.

“And then… he said…” Fluttershy hesitated, blushing more brightly. “He said he wanted me to kiss him.”

Twilight blushed, too, and her eyes went wide. “And…? Did you?”

Fluttershy nodded shyly, her bangs falling over her face. “I was caught up in the moment. I felt so sad for him. He may be an enemy, but he was going to die. It wasn’t out of pity or anything, though… I think I wanted to kiss him. Yes,” she said, shaking her head and forcing her hair back up. “I wanted to. I did. Twice, even. It was like nothing I’d ever felt before.”

“I guess that’s how he ended up feeding on you, then… I must admit, even my heart may have gotten a little carried away in that situation,” Twilight responded, still blushing slightly. “But, Fluttershy, this brings us to a bigger problem. Linnai doesn’t want to accept it, but I think somehow, whatever the Shard of Luna did to him has caused him to be able to feel love. He’s certainly been gazing at you sweetly ever since I arrived, not to mention the sudden hug, and the way he defended you from his sister.”

Fluttershy sighed, nervously looking over at the two changelings again. “What do I do?”

“Well… I don’t know. I’ve never really been in a situation where somepony was in love with me,” Twilight admitted. “Do you love him?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “No. I don’t think so, anyway. I think, maybe…” she said, becoming a bit flustered as she scraped a front hoof against the ground. “I think I admire him, somehow. If he weren’t our enemy, if we’d met earlier, or differently, I think… I think I’d like to be his friend.” She smiled and nodded her head once.

“Fluttershy?” a voice pulled the yellow pegasus back to the present. “Hello?” It was Twilight, waving a hoof in front of her face.

Fluttershy shook her head and smiled. “Oh, yes, Twilight?”

“Sweetie Belle is awake, now. We should get ready to move out. We’re going to head toward that strange pillar of light. Sweetie Belle is back to her normal self, but she’s saying she can feel the magic from the pendant drawing us toward the light beam.”

Fluttershy smiled down at the filly. “I’m glad you’re okay.” Sweetie Belle smiled and nodded.

“Come on, then!” Linnai’s voice shouted from across the way.

The three of them turned and trotted towards the two changelings. Upon arriving, Fluttershy glanced at Mulcibar, who immediately tensed up and stood at attention like a soldier awaiting inspection. “Yes!” he said, sounding as if he didn’t have full control of his voice. “We should, uh… move out!”

“Mulcibar, there’s no reason to be so nervous around me,” Fluttershy said, giving the changeling a genuine and warm smile. “We’re friends, now. Okay?”

Mulcibar’s face lit up a brighter shade of red than Twilight would have thought possible for someone of his complexion to achieve. He nodded his head nervously, smiling so wide his teeth were fully bared. “Right! Friends!”

Linnai groaned and shot a glare at Fluttershy. She elbowed Mulcibar in the ribs, and the tension left his muscles as he resumed a normal stance. “Don’t get too cozy, brother!” she said, still glaring at Fluttershy, who seemed to take no notice of her at all. “We’re only allies until we deal with Nightmare Moon.”

Meanwhile, Twilight groaned internally, remembering what Fluttershy had told her about how she felt. I’ve never been in love before, but I still know what being ‘just friends’ means, she thought. I wonder how he’ll take it when he figures it out. She cringed slightly at the thought.

Mulcibar frowned and nodded his head. He turned away from the others and took a few steps. “I’ll lead the way, then. We go by air. Linnai, you’re carrying Twilight since you two have already had some practice. Fluttershy shall carry the foal.”

Twilight sighed as Linnai walked up behind her. “Great, here we go again.”

Linnai pressed her lips against the back of one of Twilight’s ears and whispered. “Looks like you get to ride me again, prudicorn.” She giggled and took to the sky behind Mulcibar, who had already taken flight towards the pillar. Twilight sighed and hung on for her life.

Mulcibar did his best as they flew to keep his eyes forward, but every once in a while, he would glance back at the others to make sure they were still there. Any time his eyes would cross Fluttershy, he would feel his wings giving out slightly. This is dangerous. I feel better after eating that grass, but there’s still something wrong with me. If this is what love feels like, maybe I’d be better off without it. As he thought that, he felt his heart beat harder, and immediately shook his head. I can’t stop, though. I just want to keep looking back at her, making sure she’s okay. I know she’s fine, they’re all fine, but I feel uneasy. Why?

He glanced back at Fluttershy again, this time up at Sweetie Belle, who was resting on Fluttershy’s back. If only that filly were still under her pendant’s spell, maybe she could give me some answers. He sighed, turned his head to the front again, and continued to fly.

The entire flight, there had been an uncomfortable silence between Linnai and Twilight. The latter glanced up at her carrier, whose eyes were locked straight ahead. Her face looked a bit strained, and Twilight wondered if she wasn’t helping enough with her levitation spell.

I should say something, Twilight thought.

“So, how you doing up there? Need a… break?” Twilight asked nervously.

“He’d better get his head straightened out by the time this is over,” Linnai responded, though not to the question she was asked.

“Your brother?” Twilight asked, glancing forward at Mulcibar. “Are you worried about him?”

Linnai scoffed. “Worried? Of course I’m not worried, not about him anyway.”

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked,” Twilight said. “It’s just, I know what it can be like to be worried about your brother.”

“And like I said, I’m not worried about him!” Linnai snapped, and then turned her head to the side. “And you shouldn’t be worried. Your brother is fine. The queen wouldn’t hurt him.”

“She already has, though. She impersonated Cadence, his true love. If he knows what’s happened and isn’t just brainwashed like he was before, I can’t even imagine how he must feel. That’s why I’m worried.”

Linnai stared ahead at her brother silently.

“Sorry, I know, you don’t get it, right? I don’t know why I’m even saying this all to you. It’s your queen who’s done all that to him.”

“I’d still be mad.”

Twilight blinked. “Now, there’s a surprise. Why would you be mad? I thought you didn’t really have relationships like that.”

“I don’t know why, but I think I would be. I think I am right now. Just look at my stupid brother. He used to be strong, cunning, fierce. He never let anything get under his skin, and now… Well, just look at him. It’s sickening.”

“He’s just confused. He’s never felt the things he’s feeling right now. I’m sure he’ll—“

“I told you, that’s utterly impossible!” Linnai snapped. “And don’t get any ideas about me, either. I just respected him, that’s all. All this love nonsense, or whatever it actually is, is just making him weak!”

“Well, I suppose I know that feeling, too. Seeing Shining Armor brainwashed really made me upset. Maybe you and I aren’t so different, after all.”

“Don’t make me sicker than I already am, prudicorn.”

The silence resumed and hung in the air again for a few minutes until it was broken, this time by Linnai.

“So when this love shard thing goes back into Luna, he’ll go back to how he was before, right?”

“I don’t know.”

“How do you not know? You’re supposed to be little miss magic.”

“Sorry, I just don’t know.”

Linnai groaned with annoyance. “I wonder if he’ll ever get back to normal.”

“Linnai, maybe you’ll get to like him the way he is.”

“I liked him the way he was before.”

“He’s still your brother. I’m sure he’ll still be the same… well, mostly, anyway.”

Linnai gritted her teeth. “Tch! This conversation is obviously not going anywhere. You were right, why are we even talking right now?”

Twilight closed her eyes and sighed. A flash of a memory suddenly popped into her mind.

“Linnai, you know, when I was a filly growing up in Canterlot, I thought I didn’t need to talk to anyone either, except for my parents, Celestia, and my brother. I didn’t want to rely on anyone, or share any of my worries or problems. But I found out that I was wrong. I found out that--”

“Oh please, what is this, now? Some sort of lecture on friendship? I thought we already went through this before. You really are like a broken record, aren’t you?”

Twilight frowned and stopped casting her levitation spell. Linnai sank in the air and flapped her wings to try and keep afloat. “Hey! What’s the deal!?”

“Will you listen to me for just one measly second!?” Twilight shouted. Fluttershy and Mulcibar both looked back at the two of them briefly, and Twilight sheepishly waved in response. “Just hear me out!” Twilight finished at a whisper.

Linnai rolled her eyes. “Fine, just make with the levitation again.” Twilight obliged and then continued talking.

“Look, I understand, I don’t know what it’s like to be a changeling, and I don’t know what sort of life you came from, but I know what it’s like to think you don’t need anypony in this life. That’s how I was! You said earlier that love makes you weak, but you’re wrong.”

Linnai raised an eyebrow and stared down at Twilight as she spoke.

“Before I left Canterlot and met my friends in Ponyville, I didn’t know anything about love other than loving my parents or loving my brother. I didn’t understand what friendship was, and I was certain I didn’t need it. I was wrong, though. I found these friends of mine, and through our friendship, we all became stronger than we were before, and together we’re a lot stronger than we were alone! You might not be able to feel love, and that’s fine, I understand that. If I can be perfectly honest, I feel no love for you at all right now, but somewhere, something deep inside me is telling me to try and get through to you. So even if it’s just banging my head against a brick wall, even if it’s like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, I want you to at least try and understand one thing: Love is not weakness. Love is strength!”

Linnai rolled her eyes. “Are you finished?”

Twilight sighed. “I… I guess I am.”

Silence once again filled the air as they flew northward.

“Thank you,” Linnai finally said with a groan.

“For what?” Twilight questioned.

“Nothing. Nevermind. I’ll remember what you said. As one strong mare to another.”

Twilight tilted her head.

“I’ve decided,” Linnai said with a grin. “I’m totally gonna ravage you one of these days, prudicorn. You’ll be screeching before I’m done.”

I guess that’s as close as she gets to anything like a genuine thanks,

“Not into mares? So you say it’s impossible?” Linnai smirked, her eyes staring down right at Twilight’s. “Sounds familiar.”

Twilight couldn’t help but laugh.

Scootaloo gently shook Apple Bloom, who was out cold and practically snoring. “Hey, AB! Wake up, already!” She glanced over at the others and shrugged.

Celestia nodded toward Scootaloo and smiled. “It’s okay, Scootaloo. She may be out for a little while. You were, too.”

Scootaloo turned her head down to look at the pendant hanging around her neck. She held back a grin as thought to herself. So we’re the bearers of parts of Luna’s soul, and they gave us powers. That is so awesome! We’re like Cutie Mark Crusaders… um… Guardians! She glanced back at her flank briefly, which was still bare. It would be pretty lame to get your cutie mark in a dream, though.

Luna gazed at her sister. “So, if we have to wait for the filly to come to, we have a moment for me to ask you something I’ve been thinking about ever since I returned,” she said. Celestia smiled and nodded her head in response as Luna continued. “While I was gone, the story of Nightmare Moon became a legend, did it not? There is even a book all about it. I’ve read this book, and I found it somehow familiar in more ways than one.”

“I can see where you’re going with this,” Celestia replied. “It is true, I wrote that book a thousand years ago. After Ismara’s failed coup, I realized that keeping things a secret was not right. Everypony had a right to know about what had happened. No matter how they might react, I knew I had to tell them the truth. It was a hard-learned lesson, and I could not have been prepared for how the citizens of Equestria were going to react.”

“How did they react? That is another thing I had been wondering,” Luna asked.

Celestia, seemingly a bit choked up upon recalling, took a moment to respond. “They were surprisingly understanding. It was almost as if the nation collectively cried out for me. The tragedy of the situation shot through their collective hearts. Everywhere I went, there was support for me, and so much love. Unfortunately, I was molded into a figure who stood for justice. No matter how I tried to explain things to them, their sympathy was solely for me, and they had nothing but contempt for you. It was not how I’d wanted things to turn out.”

Luna hung her head. “I may have been deserving of contempt, though. After all I did to them, they had every right.”

“Perhaps. I still worried, though. I worried that you would forever be remembered as a tyrant who tried to rule through fear, and not as the sister whom I grew up with and knew had good in her heart. The feelings of hate were overwhelming, though. After a week of it, I had become fatigued. One night, I fell into a deep sleep, and I had a vivid dream. In this dream, a voice spoke to me over a backdrop of memories from our fight. The voice said but one thing: On the thousandth year of the Summer Sun Celebration, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring nighttime eternal.”

Celestia stood up and paced slightly as she continued to explain. “Now, I had no idea what the Summer Sun Celebration even was. After waking from this dream, I wrote down the words and pondered them. What could it mean? Was it just my mind wandering, or was it a prophecy of some sort? I discarded the idea of it being prophetic until later that day when one of my advisors told me that a group of my supporters in the city were setting up a celebration with a parade in honor of my defeat of Nightmare Moon. At first, I was furious, but then I was told the chosen name: The Summer Sun Celebration. I quickly returned to my room and pored over that simple sentence again, realizing that it couldn’t be a coincidence. This was a sign, I was sure of it. I fell to the ground in tears of joy, just knowing that my sister would return in a thousand years and have another chance.”

“Yes, but the nighttime eternal part couldn’t have sounded very good,” Discord said. “Also, what is with this thousand year sentence? I smell favoritism.”

Celestia smirked at Discord. “Oh, come now, you got out for a little bit. We just had to put you back in for bad behavior.”

Discord grinned over at Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. “I’ll get out again, too. All it took was three little fillies arguing to set me free.”

Luna frowned. “Three fillies with pieces of my soul inside of them. I don’t think that kind of thing will happen again.”

“You always were the buzzkiller, Luna,” Discord pouted.

“Continuing, yes, the nighttime eternal part did disturb me, but there wasn’t anything I could do at the time. I would be dead and gone by the time Luna returned, so I had to make sure that the future generations of the land knew what was coming, and knew about the Elements of Harmony. Thus, I wrote my first two books, The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide, and The Mare in the Moon.”

“But you aren’t dead and gone. Why is that, exactly, hmm?” Discord asked.

“I made sure the books were published and sent to every library in the land,” Celestia continued, ignoring Discord’s question outright, which caused him to grin and chuckle. “The intent was to make sure that these books were so well known that the information in them would become something ubiquitous that everypony would know. However, ‘The Elements of Harmony’ only drew interest from magic scholars, and ‘The Mare in the Moon’, after centuries, became a legend. In fact, it didn’t take many generations for the citizens to forget whether or not Nightmare Moon even existed at all. In a way, I was okay with this outcome, so I left it to develop on its own.”

“What happened?” A small voice came from to the side.

“Apple Bloom! You’re awake!” Scootaloo shouted, jumping up and over to her friend and giving her a big hug. The two fillies suddenly stopped and turned their heads to the northeast, staring at the pillar of light in the distance.

The others stood up and gathered around the two Crusaders. “That pillar of light. You know what it is, don’t you?” Luna asked, already certain of the answer herself.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both nodded. “It’s a hole. A hole in your soul,” Scootaloo said. “The pendants are talking to us, telling us what to do. We have to go there and put them back where they belong. Only then will Nightmare Moon finally be put to rest. That’s what they said, anyway.”

“I feel that it is true. We do not have time to waste. Nightmare Moon may be on her way to us right now, or may even be lying in wait at one of those pillars. We have to hurry,” Luna said, spreading her wings. “Sister, will you carry Scootaloo again? I shall carry Apple Bloom.”

“Who’s going to carry me?” Discord asked, his lower lip sagging downward. The princesses gave him a quizzical look and he sighed. “Oh, fine, I suppose I’ll fly on my own.”

Pinkie patted Discord on his back. “Don’t feel bad, I would have carried you,” she said, flashing him a big smile.

Discord smiled back. “At least somepony around here is trying!”

The six of them disappeared from sight, sailing northeast toward the pillar of light, which was nestled near the Smoky Mountain. A mere couple of minutes after they left the city of Las Pegasus, Nightmare Moon blasted into the city, landing with a furious growl, dark magic coursing out of her body.

“WHERE ARE YOU, SISTER?” she shouted, her voice bouncing off the buildings in the halfway ruined city. She leapt to the top of a tall skyscraper and scanned the horizon until she came to the spot where the pillar of light sat in the sky. She could just barely make out the specks of her flying prey. “There you are. I should have known those light beams would be connected to all of this. Worry not, dear Luna, I won’t let any of them have you. You’re mine!”

She shot into the sky and sped toward the pillar of light.

Ahead of her, the others flew along, not knowing that they were being tailed.

Luna stared ahead toward the pillar, thinking to herself. I shall finally be free. Truly free. She smiled and turned to look at her sister. Thank you, Celestia. Thank you for believing in me. For going through so much for me. For living so long for me.

Discord’s question from earlier shot through her mind. But you aren’t dead and gone. Why is that, exactly, hmm?

“Sister,” Luna said quietly. Celestia turned her head and gave a questioning sound in response. “I am sorry to pry so much. There is just so much on my mind after seeing those visions of the past and hearing your story… I’m not certain if I should even…”

“Please, Luna, ask me anything. I promise to tell you the truth.”

“Why did you…? How did…?” Luna started a couple of times, choosing her words carefully. “How is it that you came to still be alive for my return?”

Celestia frowned slightly but nodded and spoke. “I knew that you would ask about this, somehow. Back then, I knew in my heart that you would come back, and you would be alone. It hurt every time I thought about it. Thus, I pursued an answer to that problem, and found one,” she said, then staring deeply into Luna’s eyes. “It is one of my deepest, darkest secrets. I hope to take it with me to my grave, for nopony should ever live as long as I have. However, you are my sister. If you really want to know, I will tell you.”

Luna gulped. She hadn’t considered what the implications of such a long life could be. Discord laughed and smirked over at Celestia. “I’m pretty sure I’ve already got it figured out. Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me,” he said, his face then taking on a more serious look. He nodded his head reassuringly, and Celestia actually smiled at him.

“Sister… I’m sorry. I do not want to know. I am just glad that you could be there for me.”

“It made it all worth it.”

Pinkie swooped around, landing between the two sisters, her forelegs shaking slightly. “You two are making me want to give you both a big group hug! But I don’t know how well that would work while flying, so I am doing my best to resist.”

Luna laughed. “Thank you, Pinkie Pie.”

Pinkie gritted her teeth and glanced at Luna. “It’s really, really hard!”

Everypony laughed. Then, from behind them, another laugh came. The four flyers spun around and looked back, spotting Nightmare Moon flying just behind them.

“You!” Luna shouted.

“Isn’t this sweet?” Nightmare Moon said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “Sisterly bonding time. I can really feel the love in the air.”

Luna levitated Apple Bloom to Pinkie’s back and glanced back at them. “Keep going! I shall hold her off, here!”

“What!?” Pinkie shouted.

Apple Bloom turned around on Pinkie’s back. “Princess! You can’t!”

“I must! I must face her! Don’t worry. Neither of us have our Lucidity,” she said, narrowing her eyes at Nightmare Moon. “She’s mine, this time!”

Nightmare Moon laughed briefly, but was quickly interrupted.

“You won’t face her alone!” Celestia said, teleporting Scootaloo onto Discord’s back swinging in closer to Luna. “We face her together! Just like the lie I’d told a thousand years ago, but this time, it shall be no lie! We stand together, little sister!”

Pinkie and Discord set out toward the pillar of light again. Nightmare Moon swung down and past Luna and Celestia, attempting to give chase. Luna dove down at the dark mare, her horn aglow as she crashed into her. The two of them dove toward the ground, with Celestia trailing just behind them. Nightmare Moon turned in mid-air to face Luna just in time to see the flash from her horn. Magic blasted into Nightmare Moon’s face, pushing the two of them apart, and slamming Nightmare into the ground. Luna crashed into the ground a second later, and a cloud of dust filled the air.

Celestia landed and carefully approached the small crater they had created. A sudden blast of magic shot outward, clearing the dust and revealing two identical Princess Lunas. Celestia blinked and shook her head.

One Luna looked at the other and sighed. “Really? This is the plan you’re going with?”

“Don’t listen to her, sister! She’s trying to trick you!”

Celestia narrowed her eyes and stared ahead at the two of them. It’s true. I cannot tell them apart.

The two Lunas backed away from one another, neither of them stepping closer to Celestia.

There has to be a way. They’re the same pony, though. There has to be something I can use to tell them apart, Celestia thought. That’s it! Of course!

Celestia stepped toward the two of them and stomped her hoof against the ground. She looked back and forth between them. “I don’t know where you learned such a powerful illusion spell, Nightmare Moon, but it is quite impressive. Is this the secret behind your change of appearance?”

The Luna to Celestia’s right shook her head. “Sister, what are you talking about? You know what--” she started, and then her face went wide with realization. Green fire suddenly shot across her body and her coat darkened. Holes appeared upon her legs, and her mane became black. “You know it’s no illusion! It’s because we’re both changelings.”

The other Luna hissed at the changeling Luna. Celestia wasted no time. She conjured a forcefield around Nightmare Moon, channeling magic into it as fast as she could.

“Stay in there for a little while!” Celestia said with a grin.

Nightmare Moon glared at Luna, who was still in her changeling form. “So you told her, did you?” she asked. “I’m impressed, but this means nothing! You can’t contain me like this!”

The pillar of light in the distance suddenly flashed outward before shooting down to the ground and vanishing from sight. All three of them turned to look at the place in the sky where it had been.

“We don’t need to contain you for long,” Celestia said calmly. “This is already the beginning of the end for you.”

“So, what do we do now?” Pinkie asked as she stared down into the massive abyss. She, Discord, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo had come to the place where the pillar of yellow light met the ground. All around the towering magic beam was a circular crater, as if a piece of the earth had been cut out of the landscape and all that was left was darkness.

Apple Bloom hopped onto the ground and stared up at the light. “I don’t know,” she said, and tapped her hoof against her pendant. “Is there some sort of magic word? What do I do?”

“Maybe we have to actually fly over and into the light?” Scootaloo suggested.

Discord shrugged. “That seems to be the simplest solution. Let’s get closer, I’ll fly you over. Pinkie Pie, you keep an eye to the south. We need to make sure nothing amiss has happened with Nightmare Moon.”

Discord scooped up Apple Bloom and flew out over the chasm. As they approached the pillar of light, Apple Bloom’s pendant began to shine. At about the halfway point, the filly’s body was engulfed completely in light, and she began to float through the air. The pendant radiated with magic, arcing between it and the pillar, which began to lower from the clouds and shrink down to a single point, eventually forming a ball of energy. Discord kept his claw wrapped around one of Apple Bloom’s hind legs, making sure she didn’t float away or fall.

Apple Bloom’s eyes began to glow once again, and she looked down at Discord and smiled. “You have come to know patience over the last millennia, have you not, spirit of chaos?”

Discord raised an eyebrow and tilted his head. “Yes, I suppose I have. I can’t say I’ve enjoyed it much.”

Apple Bloom giggled. “I hope that it pays off for you, in the end. I can see inside of your swirling, chaotic soul. I know what your true nature is, even if you may not have it figured out yet.”

“My true nature?” Discord asked. “A little presumptuous, don’t you think?”

Apple Bloom nodded, her smile seeming to shine more brightly than the light behind them. “I hope you learn much on this journey. I must now depart. We shards will finally become one with Luna again.”

Discord glanced around nervously. “What of the filly?”

“Do not worry about her.”

“I wasn’t worried, not really, just curious.”

Apple Bloom laughed again. “Of course you weren’t. She will be fine. More than fine, actually. These three fillies have been touched by Luna’s soul. They are special. Keep her safe, spirit of chaos.”

Discord nodded his head in response. A bead of light shot up out of Apple Bloom’s forehead, and her body slowly floated down into Discord’s waiting arms.

“Keep her safe,” a voice that sounded like Princess Luna’s repeated. “Farewell.”

The bead of light flew into the large magical ball, which then shot down into the chasm below. The dark hole began to glow with white light, and when that light had dissipated, a lush, grassy field had taken its place. Discord smiled and flew back down to the others. During his descent, Apple Bloom opened her eyes and shook her head.

“Is it over? Were we right?” she asked, glancing at her chest, which still had her pendant lying atop it. “Oh no! The pendant is still there!”

“That’s yours now,” Discord said, his tone of voice calm and serious. “The Shard of Luna has gone back where it belongs.”

The two of them landed. Pinkie and Scootaloo looked up expectantly at Discord.

“It is done,” Discord said, and then pointed to the south, where a sudden eruption of purple magic had begun to shine. “We should head southward again and make sure our dear princesses are okay.”

Mulcibar turned his head and shouted back at the others. “We’ve arrived!”

“I can see that, you dolt!” Linnai shouted back. “You’d have to be blind as a bat to miss the giant, gaping crater.”

Twilight rolled her eyes as they landed at the gorge’s edge. She turned to Fluttershy and pointed a hoof out over the chasm. “So, I guess we need to fly Sweetie Belle toward the light. I admit, though, I’m a little nervous about what might happen.”

“I’ll be okay, Twilight. I can feel it, somehow,” Sweetie Belle said, rubbing a hoof against her pendant’s surface.

“Are you sure? Maybe we could just toss the pendant out there, and…” Fluttershy started, but Sweetie Belle shook her head. Fluttershy sighed and lowered her head. “Alright.” She flapped her wings, taking flight again, heading out toward the pillar.

“Be careful!” Mulcibar shouted out after her. Linnai groaned and sat down next to him.

“So, what’s so special about her, hmm?” she asked as they watched Fluttershy slowly approaching the beam of magic.

Mulcibar lowered his gaze and shook his head. “I don’t know. I wish I did. Every time I try to think about it, it just hurts. I keep imagining all these crazy scenarios where she hates me, or she is fighting with me, or she’s hurt… It’s scary, and I don’t understand why.”

Linnai sighed. “I just got lectured about how love makes you stronger. Seems like you’re having the opposite happen, so get ahold of yourself.”

“I know, I know,” Mulcibar said, looking back at Fluttershy. His eyes narrowed. “When the time comes, you know I’ll make the right decision. When have I ever failed you, sister?”

Linnai grinned. “Good. That’s more like the brother I know.”

Out over the chasm, Fluttershy hung in the air, and Sweetie Belle began to glow a bright pink. The filly floated off of her back and toward the pillar. She turned and faced Fluttershy, her eyes glowing white once again.

“So, what now?” Fluttershy asked, her voice shaking.

“I should ask you the same question,” Sweetie responded. She nodded her head in the direction of Mulcibar and Linnai. “I’ve given that one a gift, but once I return to Luna, that gift could vanish from him.”

“A gift?” Fluttershy asked, blushing slightly and averting her gaze. “You mean… how he’s acting like he loves me?”

Sweetie Belle shook her head. “It’s no act. He’s in a very dangerous position right now, his heart teetering between loyalty to his kind and his love for you. When love blossoms within us, even if we are not ready, even if we don’t know why or how it has blossomed, it changes us from within. He is changing, Fluttershy, and you may hold the key to how he changes.”

“But, I don’t know how I feel about him. I’ve barely just met him, how can I just—“

“You have time to think about these things, but I want to make sure you understand,” Sweetie Belle said with a smile. “Be there for him. Help him to finish what I have started within him. How you do this is up to the two of you.”

With those words, a bead of light shot out from Sweetie Belle’s forehead and floated toward the pillar of light. The foal floated gently back and down onto Fluttershy’s back. Looking back at Mulcibar again, Fluttershy sighed and then closed her eyes.

How will I know what to do?

Back at the chasm’s edge, Twilight pointed toward Fluttershy and smiled. “It looks like everything worked out just fine. Thank goodness.”

“Good, the sooner we can get out of here, the better,” Linnai said.

Mulcibar stared toward the light, his eyes shaking slightly, and a lump forming in his throat. A tiny voice spoke within his head as he watched the pillar slowing shrinking down from the sky.

I have to leave you, now, but I have to ask, have you found the answer to your question?

My… question?

You had asked me before if love was worth fighting for. Have you found your answer now that you have had a taste of what it is like to love?

I… I don’t know, Mulcibar thought, tears forming at the corners of his eyes. You’re leaving. Does this mean… does this mean I won’t feel like this anymore?

Is that what you desire? It should be easy for you to harden your heart and go back to the way you were, but do you want that?

Mulcibar looked at Fluttershy. She almost appeared to glow as the light from the pillar condensed into a ball behind her. He blinked and tears streaked down his cheeks. No. No, I don’t want that. I want to keep going. I want to see where this path leads. I don’t have the answer to that question, not yet, but I want to find it.

Good. Remember how you feel right now. Hold onto that feeling dearly and never let it go. There is a seed within you, now, and it must be cultivated in order to grow. With care, grow it shall. I promise you.

The ball of light shot into the crater and a grassy field appeared in its place. Mulcibar wiped the tears away from his face, glancing over at Linnai to see if she’d noticed them. The tiny voice in his head spoke once more before vanishing.

Watch out for her, too. She doesn’t yet understand, but if you care about her, you will protect her.

Protect her? From what?

There was no answer. The voice had vanished.

“How do you feel, Sweetie Belle?” Twilight asked.

“I’m just fine. Are you okay, Fluttershy?” the filly asked, tapping Fluttershy on the head. “You’re shaking a little.”

Fluttershy jolted her head back, as if she were being woken up. “Huh? Oh, I’m fine. Yeah, just fine. Why wouldn’t I be?” She glanced over at Mulcibar and held her breath to keep from sighing. I hope so, anyway…

“We should head toward the last pillar of light. I can see it over the horizon towards Canterlot. Hopefully the others will be headed there as well…” she said, and then a chill suddenly ran up her spine. She felt Linnai’s breath against the back of her neck.

“You know what that means,” Linnai said in a seductive tone.

Twilight sighed and felt the strength draining from her. “Yes, I know. Time for another flight.”

“All aboard,” Linnai chuckled, wrapping her forelegs around Twilight from behind.

“We don’t need to contain you for long,” Celestia said calmly. “This is already the beginning of the end for you.”

Luna and Nightmare Moon suddenly erupted in an aura of purple magic. Nightmare Moon fell to the ground and screamed, and Luna fall back, gripping her chest with her forelegs.

“It’s happening!” Luna shouted. “I can… feel it flowing into me!”

The barrier around Nightmare Moon shattered and magic began to zip back and forth between Luna and Nightmare Moon. Celestia stood over the two of them, keeping a careful watch over Nightmare Moon, her horn glowing and ready for anything.

After a few minutes, the others returned from the north just in time to see a secondary eruption of magic, this time a full spectrum of colors, similar to the magic attack that the Elements of Harmony could unleash. The rainbow magic shot into the sky and flew east towards Canterlot. Luna and Nightmare Moon both fell to the ground, breathing heavily. Nightmare Moon growled and weakly reached her hoof out towards Luna.

“I won’t… let you!” she said gruffly, her breath still quick and heavy.

Celestia cast another barrier spell around Nightmare Moon and turned to Luna. “Sister, can you fly? We need to get moving.”

“What about her?” Luna asked, looking down at Nightmare Moon.

“We don’t have time to waste. We must go while she is weakened. I will help you,” Celestia replied, wrapping a foreleg around Luna. She looked over at Pinkie and Discord. “You four go ahead of us! Fly as fast as you can to the next pillar. It looks like that magical outburst headed that direction as well. Go, quickly!”

Discord nodded and patted Pinkie on the shoulder. The two of them, foals in tow, took to the air as fast as they could toward Canterlot. Celestia and Luna slowly rose into the sky as well, flying after them as fast as they could while encumbered by Luna’s weakened state.

“Wait! Stop!” Nightmare Moon shouted, standing up and reaching out to them. Her hoof touched the barrier, which crackled and zapped her with magic. She fell back to the ground, gripping her hoof and shrieking. “You shall pay!”

Celestia and Luna flew eastward. As they went, Luna closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath. She suddenly gasped and turned to look at Celestia. “Sister, I feel it returning. My Lucidity. This does not bode well, for she may be getting hers back as well,” she said, and then pulled away from Celestia, flying on her own. “I am fine, now. We must go faster. We have no choice. Once she notices her dream magic returning as well, though weak, it will still be dangerous.”

Celestia nodded. “Then let’s speed up!”

“Sister, you have to promise me something. If she catches up to us, you must continue without me. The only one who stands a chance against her now is me.”

Celestia gritted her teeth but nodded her head.

“Do not worry, sister. She will not kill me. To kill me is to kill herself, and she would never do that.”

“Alright. Let’s go!”

The two sisters flapped their wings in unison and headed toward Canterlot with ever-increasing speed. Within a few minutes, they had put a considerable amount of distance between themselves and Nightmare Moon.

Nightmare Moon lay in the grass staring up at the sky. Is this the end for me? I can feel the power from that filly’s pendant swirling around. Her eyes went wide with realization and she ginned, bearing her dagger-like teeth. Yes! It is returning! This barrier is nothing!

She roared out toward the stars above, reality rippling around her, shattering Celestia’s barrier spell to pieces. The dark mare rose to her hooves and looked to the east where Celestia and Luna had flown. I hope you’re ready for me! You won’t escape my wrath again!

She blasted into the sky, leaving a crater where she had once stood.

Some distance ahead of her, Luna twisted her head back to where they’d come from. “We have to go faster, sister. She’s coming! She’s found her Lucidity! Hold on to me!” She grasped Celestia around her midsection and turned her head forward once more. “Fold your wings in and brace yourself.”

Celestia nodded and closed her wings, wrapping her forelegs around Luna. “Ready!”

With a flash of energy, Luna accelerated instantly to three times the speed they had been going. “She’s still coming! We can’t outrun her!”

“We’re almost there! Just hang on!” Celestia shouted.

A wave of rainbow energy flashed in the distance, and a second later, Luna was enveloped in magic. She tumbled through the air, trying to stay balanced, but the ground was fast approaching. Luna tossed Celestia skyward, and Celestia reacted by spreading her wings. Luna crashed into the ground, which bent beneath her like a piece of cloth.

Luna grunted, and the magic flying around her intensified. An arc of magic shot off to the west. Celestia traced the magic back, and her eyes locked onto another glowing figure several hundred yards away. She turned back to Luna. “She’s here, sister.”

Luna pushed herself to her hooves. “Then go!” she shouted. “Our Lucidity has only partially returned. Using it is a strain, I’m sure she’s feeling it as well. But you still need to get out of here. I can’t guarantee your safety!”

Celestia shut her eyes tightly and swallowed a lump in her throat. “But--”

“Go! Remember, sister. She won’t kill me!”

“We’ll come back for you!” Celestia shouted, and then took off, heading toward Canterlot, which was now practically towering above them.

Luna stepped toward Nightmare Moon and shouted across the landscape. “Come on, then! Let’s finish this once and for all!”

Nightmare Moon rose up and charged toward Luna, her hooves pounding against the ground. “You know as well as I that this conflict will never end! But if this is what you want, I’m glad to oblige!”

Luna took a leaping start and galloped ahead, straight toward Nightmare Moon. Move quickly, everyone! I will not be able to fight her for long!

“Do you feel it? The second piece was put in place. Only one remains. We don’t have to do this,” Luna said, staring down Nightmare Moon.

“Not if I stop them! Our Lucidity has risen, precious Luna. How far are you willing to go? Just how damaged are you willing to become for them?”

Luna snarled and her eyes glowed bright white. “As far as I must!” She scraped a hoof against the ground.

“Then prepare yourself! I’ll make it quick!” Nightmare Moon shouted, her eyes glowing and the fabric of the dream world rippling around her. She charged at Luna, kicking pieces of reality behind her as if they were clods of dirt.

Luna charged as well, the air pushing away from her in waves. The two mares clashed in an explosion of magic. Their screams echoed across the landscape, all the way to Canterlot.

After catching up with the others, Celestia looked back and saw the magical outbursts and reality-bending effects behind them. Looking forward again, she could see the pillar of light coming up out of the ground just below one of the sheer cliff faces of Canterlot Mountain. A courtyard sat along the edge of the cliff. As they all approached it, they could see several ponies standing on the stone tiled ground.

“Oh, lookie! It’s Twilight and Fluttershy! And they’ve got Sweetie Belle and those two changelings with them,” Pinkie hollered. “Helloooooo Twiliiiiiiight!”

They landed with several loud clopping sounds, and Celestia approached Twilight. Before she could say anything, Linnai grunted and began to talk.

“So, you finally made it. Was wondering what was taking so long,” she said.

Twilight shot Linnai an annoyed glare. “We actually just got here, ourselves,” she said, taking inventory of those who had just arrived. “Where is Princess Luna?”

Celestia shook her head. “Battling Nightmare Moon. We have to hurry, or—“

A sudden loud rumbling sound interrupted the princess. The ground below started to shake and pieces of rock from the higher mountain spire began to fall. The sky suddenly filled with dark clouds. Lightning shot out from them and thunder echoed across the landscape.

“What’s happening?” Fluttershy shrieked.

Discord narrowed his eyes. “Chaos is breaking loose. It’s everywhere. This is similar to what happened in the previous dreams. It must have to do with Luna and Nightmare Moon’s battle.”

A scream from Pinkie Pie punctuated Discord’s sentence. She fell to the ground in pain, dropping Scootaloo onto the ground as well. She gripped her chest and breathed heavily. “Something… Something is happening!” she managed, her eyes wide with fear. “She’s… coming! Hurry! You have to go finish it, now!” She reached a hoof out to Scootaloo, who had pulled herself back to her feet despite the ground’s violent shaking.

“Come on, Scootaloo! I’ll take you out there!” Discord yelled as he scooped the filly up and flew out over the chasm.

A split second later, in a flash of dark magic, Nightmare Moon materialized in front of the group of adventurers. Celestia’s face contorted with fury as she screamed at the dark mare.

“Where is Luna!? What have you done!?”

Nightmare Moon let out a maniacal laugh. “She fought fiercely and left me no choice! I had to destroy her!”

“No!” Twilight shouted.

“You lie!” Celestia screamed, her horn bursting with bright yellow and white energy. “She and you are the same! You can’t have killed her!”

“I thought so, too, but apparently not!” Nightmare Moon pointed to Pinkie Pie. The others all turned to look. Pinkie Pie had darkened to a gray color and was slowly dissolving into magic dust. She reached a hoof out to Celestia.

“I’m sorry… sister…” she said weakly just before bursting into a cloud of twinkling magic and dissolving into the sky above.

“Pinkie!” Fluttershy cried out, falling to the ground.

Linnai stared down at where Pinkie had been, her eyes wide and shaking, her teeth gritting. Why do I care? I even tried to kill that one before! What is this horrible feeling? she thought. She looked toward Mulcibar, who had a similar look of rage upon his face, but also had tears flowing down his cheeks. This… is for the best, right? This is the end for them. If we have to die, too, we’ve done our duty! So… why are you crying? Why do I feel like I might as well? What… have they done to us, brother?

“Discord! Go! Quickly!” Celestia shouted back at Discord, who had almost reached the pillar of light.

“I don’t think so!” Nightmare Moon screamed. She flapped her wings and shot through the sky, but was intercepted by Celestia. The two of them smashed together and fell to the ground. At the point of impact, Nightmare Moon pushed Celestia against the stone tile, smashing her into it and breaking it to pieces.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight shouted and ran toward the two alicorns. Everything became a blur. Everything seemed to move in slow-motion. She saw Nightmare Moon powering up her horn and aiming it at Scootaloo and Discord.

“No!” Twilight screamed. She leapt into the air, putting herself between Nightmare Moon and the others. A fraction of a second later, she felt two hooves forcefully push against her, shoving her through the air in another direction. She turned her head, looked down, and saw Linnai’s face grinning up at her.

And then it was gone.

Nightmare Moon let loose her magic beam, striking Linnai in the chest. A burst of magic and Lucidity exploded outward, blasting everyone back and creating a small crater in the ground. As Twilight lifted her head and shook the dirt off of it, she stared toward the place where the blast had happened. Lying in the crater was Linnai, or at least what was left of her. Twilight scrambled toward the blast zone, but not as quickly as Mulcibar, who reached her almost immediately.

“Linnai! What have you done!?” Mulcibar shouted down at his sister.

Linnai smiled and coughed. “Lay off… brother,” she said. She turned to look at Twilight, who had arrived. “I just couldn’t let her damage… such a sweet piece of…” she coughed, unable to finish her sentence.

Twilight shook her head. “Why would you have done that? Why? What do you care about any of us?”

Linnai gazed up at Mulcibar. “I don’t care about them… but he does… and he’s never been wrong… before…”

The moment was interrupted by the sound of another magic blast. Twilight sprung her head up and looked toward the sound. Nightmare Moon was firing at Discord and Scootaloo again, who were now at the pillar. Scootaloo was floating a bit in front of Discord.

“I don’t think so!” Discord shouted, waving his hands in the air and erecting a multi-layered shield. The beam of magic hit the barriers and shattered all but the last one. Discord laughed. “Hah! Much better this time, shield! All is forgiven!”

Before the shield could even form a fist to give Discord a fist bump, though, Nightmare Moon shot another blast out. Discord snapped his fingers and seven more shields appeared. In response, though, Nightmare Moon let out a shriek. The air rippled all around Discord, and the shields shattered before the blast reached them.

“Well, poo…” he said. The blast hit Scootaloo dead-on. When the explosion of magic dissipated, there was nothing left but a cloud of lightly shining magic.

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom ran toward the chasm shouting. “Scootaloo!”

“Girls! Stay back!” Fluttershy said, running toward them as well.

“It doesn’t matter, now!” Nightmare Moon cackled. “Your only chance at stopping me has just burned to ashes! Your journey ends here!”

“You’re wrong,” a voice echoed through the air.

Celestia stared up into the cloudy sky. “Luna?”

“Look! Over there!” Mulcibar shouted, pointing toward the pillar where Discord was still hanging in the air. A single speck of white, glowing magic floated slowly into the pillar of light. The pillar vanished immediately, compressing into a ball of energy, radiating the colors of the rainbow, and then fired up into the sky. The clouds parted, and the shaking ground stopped.

Nightmare Moon exploded in white flames. “No! This cannot be!” she screamed as the white fire burned across her body and down onto the ground. The flames spread across the landscape like a wildfire, engulfing everything for a brief moment.

And then everything suddenly went black.

Nightmare Moon found herself standing in the middle of a dark sea of nothingness. Several twinkles of magic appeared around her in a circle. Those little twinkles morphed and grew, becoming the others, all standing in a circle around her. Twilight, Celestia, Fluttershy, Mulcibar, Discord, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom all stared toward the center of the circle at Nightmare Moon.

“What is this? Stay away! Stay away from me!” Nightmare Moon shouted. She blasted outward wildly with magic. The magic seemed to hit some sort of invisible barrier in front of the others, fizzling out just before impact. The dark mare fell to her haunches, her whole body trembling.

“You can’t fight us anymore,” Celestia said, taking a step towards Nightmare Moon. “Because you no longer want to. Because you are my dear sister, Luna, and you always have been and will be.”

“No! That’s not true! Don’t compare me to her! I hate you! I hate you all!”

Twilight began to walk towards Nightmare Moon, tears still falling from her eyes. “Do you remember Nightmare Night, Luna? Everypony was scared of you, but they all loved you, too. That hasn’t changed. We all love you. We all want you to come back to us.”

Nightmare Moon fell to the ground and covered her face with her front hooves. “How could anypony possibly love me after all that I’ve done? More likely they pity me! It’s just like Tenderhoof a thousand years ago! She was right! Nopony could ever love one so ugly inside and out!”

“We all have ugliness inside of us,” Fluttershy said, walking toward Nightmare Moon along with all the rest of the others.

“We’ve all done bad things – some worse than others – in the past,” Discord said, becoming a bit choked up, himself.

“But I think everyone deserves a second chance,” Mulcibar said. “Everyone should be able to start over.”

“Now you’re just getting sappy!” Linnai’s voice called out. She materialized next to her brother and elbowed him in the ribs.

“Oh, look who’s talking!” he responded.

“Anyway, you just have to snap out of it!” Pinkie’s voice shouted and she appeared with a flash right next to Nightmare Moon. She immediately squeezed her into a hug.

“Right! No matter what happened in the past, you can always work to make the future better!” Scootaloo’s voice said. She appeared out of thin air between Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. The two fillies squealed and hugged their pegasus pal.

“We’re all about looking to the future! And we want you to be there in it, princess!” Apple Bloom shouted joyfully.

“Yeah! Um… what they all said!” Sweetie Belle added.

Nightmare Moon began to emit a radiant, white aura. Her coat became lighter, her armor vanished, replaced by Luna’s regalia. She stood up, now transformed back into Princess Luna, and smiled at her sister who stood before her.

“Thank you, again, sister. Thanks to all of you,” she said. A beam of magic blasted up from her horn, shattering the darkness that was all around them. They suddenly found themselves standing in that courtyard in Canterlot once again, with everything restored, no sign that anything had happened. The moon and stars shone down brightly from the sky above. She smiled and closed her eyes. “Nightmare Moon is finally gone. More correctly, she has returned to where she belongs.”

“Where she belongs?” Twilight questioned.

Luna smiled over at the purple unicorn. “Yes, inside my heart. We all have darkness inside of us. Light cannot exist without darkness, and without light there would be no darkness. It’s all about striking that balance, and you all have finally helped to restore that within me. So again, thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much.”

Celestia nodded and turned to look at the two changelings. “Yes, and it appears we have two others among us who are fighting to find that balance,” she said, and then stepped toward Linnai, extending her hoof. “Whatever may have happened before, you put yourself in the line of fire to protect one of my dear friends. I owe you a debt of gratitude.”

Linnai scoffed and turned her nose away from Celestia. “Oh, please. Spare me, your highness. I did it because deaths in here can have catastrophic effects on the cocoon farm. None of you do us any good if you’re dead.”

Twilight frowned. “That’s not what it sounded like just before you faded away.”

“Oh yeah, that was pretty good, wasn’t it?” Linnai said with a grin, turning to Twilight. “Are you falling for me yet, prudicorn?”

Twilight lowered her eyebrows and sighed. “Hardly,” she said, and then turned her gaze downward. “But I am glad you’re okay. I don’t know why, but I am.”

Linnai laughed and snorted. “Pfft! See if I stick my neck out for you, again!”

“Enough. Everyone’s okay, that’s good,” Twilight said. “We need to figure out what we do next. I assume we need to find an exit.”

“True. Are you able to find us an exit, sister?” Celestia asked, turning her head toward Luna, but her attention being grabbed by Mulcibar and Fluttershy off to the side. Her ear twitched as she caught a few words of their conversation.

“Are you okay?” Mulcibar asked, helping Fluttershy up off the ground. She was still shaking from the stress. She pulled herself up and nodded her head.

“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you,” she said quietly.

“Thank goodness,” Mulcibar responded. Fluttershy seemed to pull away from him slightly, her cheeks becoming slightly pink.

Celestia raised an eyebrow at their behavior, but turned her attention to Luna.

“Yes, although it won’t be the same as what you’ve seen before. I will be able to open up portals to all of your friends’ dream worlds. We will be able to more rapidly travel and free their minds than you’ve been doing up until now. Remember, now that I am with you, we have more power at our disposal. I am capable of manipulating Lucidity within others’ minds.”

Twilight’s eyes lit up. “That’s amazing! The rest should be a snap!”

“Don’t be so sure, Twilight Sparkle. There is still more I must explain to you before we can—“

Luna was interrupted by a wave of rainbow colored magic swirling overhead and then shooting off to the south. An explosion of magic came from the area where the crater and Luna’s stronghold were at.

“What was that?” Celestia asked.

“I know not, but we should go investigate. It could be the changeling queen, or her order, meddling with my dream even further. Let us go as fast as we can!”

Linnai scooped up Twilight and cackled. “Here we go again, sparkle butt!”

“Just what I was waiting for,” Twilight responded flatly while casting her levitation spell.

As they were taking off, Celestia flashed her horn at Mulcibar, drawing his attention. She nodded him over and he flew up alongside her. The two of them glided silently for a moment before Celestia broke the silence.

“I am not certain where to start with this.”

Mulcibar glanced at her and could sense bewilderment in her eyes. He knew what she must be wondering about, or at least partly about, but he wasn’t sure if he had any good answers.

“I sense a change in you, the both of you. Yours feels much more profound, though. What happened after we were dispersed?”

Mulcibar sighed. “I honestly still don’t know what to make of it.”

Celestia smiled softly. “I could tell. I know a lost soul when I see one. I was not expecting to see it from a changeling, though. Just by looking into your eyes, I can feel your confusion and your swirling emotions.”

“Perhaps I’m the one who should be asking questions of you. Surely you’ve been… well, you know… before.”

“Been what, my little changeling?”

Mulcibar sighed again, his cheeks becoming slightly rosy. “In love, I guess.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Even though I was expecting it, it still surprises me to hear it. I’ll ask you, then, are you in love?”

Mulcibar closed his eyes tightly for a moment. “I don’t know. I mean, how can I really tell?”

“Hmmm. That’s a tough one. Even those who’ve been in love before still struggle with that question. Do you care about her? Want her to be safe? Do you want to stay by her side?”

Mulcibar nodded his head. “Yes, all of those things and more. Much more.”

“Then why doubt it?”

Mulcibar frowned and gazed into Celestia’s eyes again. “We’re from completely different worlds. We’re enemies that just happened to meet under such circumstances that I couldn’t just kill her. I would have, you know. I would have killed all of you.”

“Would you now?”

“I…” Mulcibar started, and then dropped his gaze to the ground, watching it sail past.

“There lies the problem. I’m sure it’s eating away at you. Your honor or your love, which do you choose? Your duty to your queen and your people surely must be important to you.”

“Of course, but--!” he started to reply, but Celestia placed a hoof against his lips.

“You are right in assuming I have been in love before. Many times, in fact, but it has been a long time, and my past is full of things that I regret. Those regrets are all a part of what makes me who I am. I must admit, I do not want you as an enemy, so I may be a bit biased. There is no reason for you to trust any advice I give you, so in the interest of being fair to you, I can only offer you this advice,” she said, and then took her hoof away from his lips. She stared into his eyes, the intensity of her gaze nearly mesmerizing him. “You will have to make a decision soon. The two roads that lie before you are not compatible. Stay with us and see where your future with Fluttershy leads you, or return to your people and battle against us. Whatever you choose, make certain that it is the choice you truly want.”

Mulcibar chuckled. “It’s funny… Just a day ago, I wouldn’t even have been conflicted. The choice would be simple. I would continue the conquest and still have Fluttershy because she would have no choice. Now, when I think like that, I get this sour feeling in the pit of my stomach.”

Celestia nodded her head. “Well, that’s normal, if it’s any consolation. You seem like an honorable and thoughtful young stallion, Mulcibar. Who could say? Perhaps if Fluttershy isn’t interested, I would be instead. You do have handsome features,” she said, and then swung to the side, brushing her lips against Mulcibar’s cheek. His face lit up bright red and Celestia giggled. She could practically see the steam rising from the crown of his head.

“I-I-I must… ahem… decline to—“ Mulcibar stammered, his eyes darting around, unsure where to focus.

Celestia laughed more loudly. “You really are the serious one! You must forgive my teasing. Seeing someone going through their first love always makes me long for my own first love again.” She sighed slightly, her eyes seeming to gloss over momentarily. “Well, enough of this talk. Remember what I told you, young stallion, and do not doubt your heart.”

Celestia swung back over to the main group, who were all staring at the two of them after Celestia’s outburst of laughter. Discord’s voice rang out in Celestia’s mind. You had a little too much fun with that.

Are you jealous? Celestia thought with a grin.

“Moi? Jealous? Come, now, Celestia, why would I be jealous?

Oh yes, it’s true, there’s really no need. How could he possibly stack up against one of your stature? Celestia thought, shooting Discord a glance, noticing his cheeks blushing slightly as well.

Flattery will get you nowhere, Celestia.

I really must thank you, though, Discord. I mean it. Without you, we may not have made it through all of this. Everypony played their part.

Mulcibar swung back over to his sister, though his eyes were glued to Fluttershy, who was flying just a bit ahead of them alongside Luna and Celestia. Twilight hung awkwardly from Linnai’s forelegs.

“You two seemed to be having fun. Giving up on the yellow one and going for royalty, now?” Linnai asked.

Twilight gasped and stared up at Mulcibar, who was still blushing slightly. “Really? I can’t even imagine it.”

“Nothing like that. She and I were just talking. Think of it as diplomatic relations.”

Linnai laughed. “Well, you certainly know enough about relations, anyway.”

Mulcibar quickly turned his head to look at his sister. Her smile suddenly vanished when she saw his stone-like expression. “Do you trust me?” he asked flatly.

“What sort of question is that?”

“Do you trust me? Am I still worthy of that trust?”

Linnai scoffed. “What’s gotten into you this time?”

“When we were shown our vision from the past, we saw the changeling incident in Canterlot. We saw Tenderhoof, but it was not the same as the stories we were told.”

“You said that before. I still don’t know why I should care. They could have been lying to you, brother.”

“No, I don’t think so. These changelings were a lot like us, Linnai. Like The Order. But they weren’t born changelings. Rather, they had a spell cast on them that turned them into changelings.”

“Okay, so what? We already knew we had common ancestry with ponies, that’s nothing new.”

“But it is. It’s not just that. Celestia never ordered the changelings to be killed, she wanted to banish them, and it was out of a desire to keep the peace. She wanted to cure them, turn them back into ponies.”

“Cure?” Linnai asked, her muzzle scrunching up. “You talk about being a changeling as if it were some disease. They’ve really gotten to you, haven’t they?”

“Please, Linnai, think about it seriously for just one moment. If what I saw from the past was true… if the changelings were made and not born, if Tenderhoof was murdered and not executed by Celestia’s order… if we were lied to from the beginning about these things, then what else might be lies as well?”

“What are you saying? Spit it out!”

“I don’t have a concrete answer yet, just a feeling. Linnai, what if we’re just being used? What if everything has been lie after lie, all leading up to this moment, this invasion?”

“Does it matter? The invasion is for our survival! Don’t get so mixed up inside.”

Mulcibar shook his head. “It’s true, it does make sense when you look at it like that, but it seems like the idea to invade Equestria just came out of nowhere ten months ago. Surely you recall how sudden it was.”

“It was just the last straw, brother.”

“What was? What even happened? You know it’s bothered me from the start, although I eventually came to accept it.”

“Ten months ago?” Twilight interjected. The two changelings stared down at her, having forgotten she was even there. The unicorn grinned sheepishly. “I don’t mean to butt in, but ten months ago was the Summer Sun Celebration. That was when Nightmare Moon returned. It’s the only significant event I know of from ten months ago.”

“I doubt that had anything to do with it. Just a coincidence,” Linnai said.

Mulcibar turned his head forward again. “So? Do you trust me?”

“We’ve arrived!” Luna shouted back at them before Linnai could answer.

“Holey moley!” Pinkie shouted down into the gaping chasm. Just on the other side of Luna’s stronghold to the south was a massive crater. The rainbow magic that had shot southward was hanging in the air above it. Dark energy swirled around within the abyss, pressing up against the rainbow magic, which seemed to resist and press it downward.

“What now, sister?” Celestia asked, landing next to Luna on the roof of the structure.

“I shall use my Lucidity to push this darkness out. It is really nothing of consequence. It seems my worries were for nothing.”

“But where did it come from?” Twilight asked, joining them along the roof’s edge.

“The magic above is what is left of the attack from the Elements of Harmony that you and your friends unleashed upon me ten months ago. The chasm, apart from this dark magic, is vacant. I can sense lingering magic from Nightmare Moon, as well.”

“So this was done by her?” Celestia asked.

Luna shook her head. “No. As you know, she and I are now one again, but it will take some time for her memories to merge with mine. All I can tell is that this chasm has been here all along, and she had been hiding it from me. To what end, I cannot say, but closing it is foal’s play now.”

With a blink of her eyes, Luna closed the chasm, replacing it with solid ground. The dark magic that had been swirling around shot upward and collided with the magic from the Elements. They reacted violently, emitting a shock of energy and letting out a bright flash and a loud ripping sound.

“That sound. I know that sound,” Twilight said, remembering back to other dream worlds where she’d heard it before.

“Indeed, it is a rip in the fabric of the dream. The two magics should cancel out one another. Nothing to worry about. I shall close the rip afterwards.”

When the magic light faded, a large rift was in its place. Everypony gasped and stepped backward. On the other side of the rift, the face of Queen Chrysalis stared down at them. Chrysalis smiled and waved a hoof in the air.

“Well, hello there, princess. So glad you could join us.”

“Chrysalis!” Twilight shouted.

“Oh, you’re there, too? Who else do we have in this intrepid little party? My, my, my, the spirit of chaos himself, Discord. To what do we owe the honor?”

Discord grinned. “You can’t cause this much chaos and expect me to not show up, surely.”

Chrysalis chuckled and patted Mulcibar’s unconscious head that was beside her. “I see my two bumbling subordinates are there, as well. Mulci! Linnai! I do hope you’ve been behaving yourselves for the princesses.”

“Enough small talk! Luna, close the rift!” Celestia shouted.

“So impatient!” Chrysalis squawked. “You may be severing our connection, but you can’t stop me from using your magic, night princess.”

“Connection? What connection?” Luna asked, her horn glowing, ready to close the rift.

“Oops, did I let that slip? Honestly, Luna, you must have felt it. Or were you too numb with hatred to even notice? The three missing pieces of your soul weren’t the only places where darkness was put inside of you. Yes, I do know all about that, but it’s honestly not important. The fourth dark place, which you just closed up, already served its purpose when you came back after a thousand years, just as Ismara had planned.”

Celestia glared up at Chrysalis. “How could you know about all of that? It happened a thousand years ago, and no records were kept other than the story of Nightmare Moon! Just how did the Order of Ismara survive a thousand years? I saw Ismara die!”

Chrysalis laughed heartily, nearly falling forward, patting her hoof against Mulcibar’s back. “Well, if you haven’t figured it all out by now, there’s just no hope for you. Not that there was any hope before.” She turned her eyes to Mulcibar and Linnai. “Mulci! Linnai! You’ve been gone for too long! I was starting to get worried you might never come back. Now end this and get back here!”

Linnai frowned and nodded her head. She lit up her horn with magic power. The others stepped away from her. Celestia, Luna, Pinkie, and Twilight all lit their horns up as well.

“So in the end, this is what happens anyway?” Twilight asked, staring intensely at Linnai.

“Guess so, prudicorn. Gotta send you all back. Queen’s orders.”

Mulcibar put a hoof against Linnai’s shoulder. She looked at him, but his gaze was locked right onto Celestia.

“This is the moment,” Celestia said, aiming her horn directly at him. “Make it a decision you can be proud of.”

“Do you trust me?” Mulcibar asked aloud.

Linnai swallowed hard and nodded her head, her eyes shaking with fear, her legs wobbling slightly.

Mulcibar looked up through the rift at his queen, the one who had led him into battle, the one who had trusted him to be a pillar upon which the Order of Ismara could rely on. He frowned and shook his head slightly. “Your majesty, I can no longer follow your orders.” Gasps from the rest of The Order were audible from the other side.

Despite having nodded her head, Linnai fell back to her haunches and raised her forelegs up to the portal. “Don’t listen to him, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about!” she shouted.

Mulcibar turned to her and whispered. “When have I ever led you astray or let you down?”

Linnai whispered back through her teeth, a nervous smile plastered on her face. “This really feels like it’s shaping up to be the first time.”

Linnai’s mind wandered back briefly to a time from her childhood. She and Mulcibar had been living on their own for nearly a week since their mother had left and not returned. Their home was a small single-room shack with thin walls and a hay roof. The rest of the changelings that they’d been with prior to this were many miles away. Mulcibar spent most of his days peeking out the window. Their strength was dwindling, though, and they had to find a food source soon.

“Brother, I’m hungry!” Linnai cried. She was still just a tiny foal, lying in the corner against one of the flimsy walls.

“I’ll go out and find some love energy in the village. I don’t think mother is coming back,” the colt said as green magic shot over his body and he turned into a small filly with pigtails and freckles. “Even just passive love energy from ponies thinking I’m cute will be enough, but then we have to leave. We have to go back to the sanctuary alone.”

“But mom said she would be back,” Linnai protested.

“That was days ago. She’s not coming back.”

Linnai let out a sigh and slumped down onto the floor. “Well, hurry up, then. I’m hungry.”

“Just keep quiet. I’ll be back.”

After not even half an hour, Mulcibar stormed into the house and slammed the door behind himself. He fell to the floor, breathing heavily.

“Well? Where’s the love?” Linnai asked.

“We have to get out of here,” Mulcibar replied, his breathing still labored from running.

“But I’m still hungry!”

“Mom’s dead!” Mulcibar shouted.

Linnai’s eyes went wide. “What did you say?”

“She’s dead! They hung her body at the front of the town as a warning! There’s a sign hanging from her neck, and there’s a mob forming in the town to hunt changelings! We have to run away!”

As he was saying this, the sound of a knock came from the front door. “Anypony in there?” an angry voice called out.

Mulcibar dove against Linnai, pulling her into a corner of the room. He spread his small wings and the circles upon them lit up blue. The two of them vanished from sight just as the door was kicked in.

“Stay quiet. Breathe through your mouth. Don’t move,” Mulcibar whispered, and then held his breath. From behind Mulcibar, Linnai could make out the face of a unicorn mare glancing around the room.

“Empty!” she shouted out the door.

“Torch it!” another voice yelled back.

The unicorn’s horn sparked, setting the hay roof on fire. She left the house and the group of ponies walked away, their voices becoming drowned out by the sound of the flames. “There must be more of them. Come on!”

Mulcibar wrapped his forelegs around Linnai and flapped his wings, flying up and out the back window. He made a beeline to some bushes nearby. The two of them hid amongst them for a moment.

Linnai looked up at her brother, the shock from the news of their mother’s death still fresh in her mind.

Back in the present, Linnai was once again staring into her brother’s eyes. We escaped back then, and ran into Luzon a day later. He went back to that village, destroyed any evidence of changelings having been there… even destroyed the entire town.

Luzon’s voice rang through her ears as she remembered. Terrible accidents happen all the time in mining villages. Very tragic.

He and The Order went that far for us. Can we really just… turn our backs on them? Linnai thought.

“Mulcibar!” Chrysalis shouted down at them. “I am willing to forgive that little slip! Linnai, talk some sense into your brother!”

Mulcibar turned back to the queen, and Linnai stood up, her face becoming cold and expressionless as she stared up at the rift as well.

Mulcibar may be right, though. There may be something strange about the queen, at least. Brother, I’m going to trust you once again. Don’t make me regret this, she thought, and then spoke. “Sorry, but once he’s made up his mind, there’s no talking him out of it.”

Chrysalis’ face contorted with anger, her teeth bared and her eyes wide and glowing. “You two traitors have just sentenced yourselves to death!” she screamed, and then turned her head toward Luzon. “Prepare the reset swarm!”

The magic in Linnai’s horn dissipated. Everypony else drew back their magic as well. Luna fired a blast of powerful magic up at the top of the portal and pulled it downward, zipping the rift closed. With a quick motion of her hoof, Luna opened a circular hole in the roof of the stronghold. A spiral staircase led down inside.

“We must press on, now, everypony. You two, what is the reset swarm?” Luna asked, looking to Mulcibar and Linnai.

“It’s a last resort for exactly the type of situation we have right now. Very soon, there will be no happy dreams left. A changeling swarm will invade every single dreamer’s mind. Every dream will become a war zone. Every dreamer will be awoken so they can then be put back to sleep. It’s a hard reset,” Mulcibar explained.

“She won’t just do it unilaterally, though,” Linnai added. “She is sure to target you six ponies first. She surely knows what you are trying to do by awakening the ones who can wield the Elements of Harmony.”

“Then we can’t waste any more time! We have to get to them first!” Twilight shouted.

Luna waved everypony down the spiral staircase. “It is fortunate that you met up with me, then,” she said as they all descended into the large central chamber. “From here, we can target any dream world we want. The changeling queen had better not underestimate my Lucidity!”

Luna waved her hoof, and several portals opened along the walls of the room. One was multi-colored and flashing brightly. One was pink and constantly changing shape. One was white and glowed with bright radiance. One was orange and had a very steady glow about it. “These four portals lead to your other friends, Twilight, Fluttershy. However, there are a few things we must discuss before you can set out any further on your quest.”

Everypony gathered around Luna and sat down.

“Alright, princess. We’re listening.”

THE END OF BOOK FOUR: CORRUPTION

TO BE CONTINUED IN BOOK FIVE: CRASH DOWN

Author's Note

Hey, you! Read this!

Before we get to the long author note, I have an overall story note on a decision I've made. You may have noticed that this story now has a "Sex" tag. After looking over the site FAQ, consulting with people in a group thread, as well as asking friends their take on it, I've decided that it is appropriate to add the tag. The story had already eluded to/hinted at sexual themes and humor, and the exchange between Chrysalis and Cadence in this chapter made me decide that I really should have had the story tagged for it from the get-go since I knew I was going to be writing changelings as sort of lusty creatures, especially Chrysalis.

The story is still rated T, and what you've seen already is all the heavier it will ever really get, with no explicit depictions/descriptions at all. My main fear and reason why I never tagged the story before was because I was afraid of two sorts of reactions. Firstly, afraid that by even having the tag, some readers would turn away from giving the story a chance due to what they may fear the content may be. (I think it's pretty mild, at least by my standards, so I'd hope most people reading a T rated story that's already tagged as "dark" wouldn't have a problem with it.) The second reaction, the opposite, is getting flak from people who see the sex tag and expect something more explicit when, as any of you who have read this far know, sex is not the focus of this story at all. It's just an aspect that exists within the story.

So, I hope you all understand why I've decided that it's only fair that I tag it as such. The "Sex" tag is a content warning, and since the story has sexual content, even if its not much, it still should be tagged accurately.

So, now that we're past that, on to the normal author's note.

And so ends Book Four on a somewhat abrupt note.

Princess Luna and Nightmare Moon are finally whole and assimilated once more. Likewise, Mulcibar has decided to stand against Chrysalis, bringing his doubtful but trusting sister with him. Will the two of them be able to assimilate well into the pony side? And what of their bodies on the other side? Mulcibar is truly sticking his neck out now that his eyes are opening.

What, exactly, is the swarm reset? How will this affect the dreams being visited going forward? What is the information Luna is about to share? Answers to all that and more, next up, in a very "all over the place" Intermezzo 3 that will ease us into "Crash Down", a book that I hope will be exciting and really push the fic to new levels of, I dunno, awesomeness and coolness. :P

And in other news, in case you didn't see it, I put out a silly spinoff fic starring Linnai and Pinkie Pie, although it's only just one chapter so far. I don't expect it will be too terribly long, and it takes place in the Equestria Girls world after the events of Rainbow Rocks. As I stress in the fic itself, it should not be thought of as any sort of spoiler for TCoL. I just wanted to write a Rainbow Rocks fic with my own spin to it, and it seemed like writing a reformed Linnai would be fun, so I decided to make her the second character after Pinkie Pie. Just don't think too hard about it and enjoy reading it. I hope you will enjoy it, anyway. It's going to be silly. :P

Intermezzo 3

The Conquering of Love

Chapter Forty-One - Intermezzo 3

Canterlot, Reality, Present Time

Mulcibar? Why would he…?

Vitra backed away from the table in shock, stepping back slowly until her rear end bumped into the wall behind her. She stared wide-eyed into the rift that was open before her, before them all, as Mulcibar and Linnai declared their intentions to disobey the queen.

“You two traitors have just sentenced yourselves to death! Prepare the reset swarm!”

What about them, then? Vitra thought, turning her eyes to Mulcibar and Linnai’s unconscious bodies. A sound coming from the rift drew her attention. She stared through it as Luna shot a beam of magic toward the top of it. As the tear was zipping shut, she caught a glimpse, just the tiniest peek, at Mulcibar as he turned his head and looked at one of the ponies inside the dream world. Vitra’s vision briefly lost focus, and a jolt of pain shot through the front of her mind, a name drifting into her consciousness.

Fluttershy! She stared at Mulcibar’s eyes for that split second before the portal closed. She saw softness there that she’d not seen before. The image of his eyes burned into her mind, along with Fluttershy’s name, as she fell to her haunches, pressing back against the wall. What was that, Mulcibar? Is that what the queen was talking about? Is that what she never thought could happen?

Chrysalis’ voice rang out in Vitra’s memory. Tell me, Vitra, how was it that I could feel your energy? How could you possibly have produced love energy?

“I didn’t. I couldn’t have,” Vitra whispered to herself. With those words, memories of the eyes of the multitudes of ponies she’d deceived to feed upon flashed before her, with Mulcibar’s eyes appearing last. That look in his eyes… that gentle feeling… it must be the same! He’s done it, too!

She stared at his unconscious body, blood still dripping from his mouth from when Chrysalis had smashed his face into the table. But, why? Why did she react so differently? What’s changed?

“Luzon! Come with me! We’ll unleash the swarm in the throne room!” Chrysalis shouted, making her way to the door. She turned her head to the back of the room. “We need to make this quick.” She slammed a hoof into the door, swinging it open and trotting through it with speed. Luzon followed her lead.

Vitra stood up slowly and stepped toward the door as well. A voice called to her from the other side of the table. “Where are you going, Vitra?” She turned her head and looked back.

“Zanzir, sorry, I…” she started, not knowing what she was even going to say, herself.

“It’s a bit much to take in, isn’t it?” the one she’d called Zanzir responded. “Of all the ones to go rogue, why’d it have to be Mulcibar? He was the most reliable. It’s a bad omen.”

“Shut yer trap, Zanzir!” another changeling barked from the back of the room. “Mulci’s never let us down. It’s obviously a trick. Why do ya think the queen’s goin’ through so much trouble ta’ get him back? Must be a reason he ain’t come back yet. Somethin’ he couldn’t say.”

“You’re a little too optimistic, Kamber. Remember who protested the loudest when we were planning this invasion,” Zanzir responded.

Kamber laughed. “Ya never did like ‘im, didja? That’s the real problem ya got, ain’t it?”

“What’d you say!?” Zanzir shouted.

“Boys!” A third, female voice interrupted. “Now’s not the time to get into an argument! Let’s just hope you’re right, Kamber.”

“’Course I’m right.”

Vitra snuck out of the room quietly. “I’ll be back. I need a moment,” she said softly as she left, shutting the door behind her.

Her head was still swirling, and pain was shooting through it continuously. Fluttershy. I know her. I was in her dream. A quiet, demure little thing. I remember something about the forest, and… she thought, and then pressed a hoof against her left eye. I… I lost my eye trying to save her.

Her heart beat heavily, the sound of it shooting up into her ears. She turned her head and saw Princess Cadence hanging on the wall. Slowly, she approached the prisoner, whose head was drooped down. She barely looked conscious.

The nightmare, Vitra recalled having said to Cadence earlier. Everyone dying, a lurking danger in the forest, a constant and terrible heat… The memories are fading. The names of my... friends... falling out of my mind.

Friends.

That word spun around her head with great force as she reached Cadence and placed a hoof against the princess’ chin. “Friends,” Vitra said out loud, her body starting to shake slightly. “What… are they? Why can’t I stop thinking about that word?”

Rainbow Dash’s face flashed in her memory, followed by Fluttershy again, and then Twilight, Princess Celestia, Pinkie Pie, and lastly Applejack.

“I was Applejack,” she said aloud. Cadence opened one eye and lazily trained it on the changeling. “I was in Fluttershy’s dream playing the role of Applejack. That should have been it, but… the memories are coming back. These feelings I am starting to feel, I don’t understand. Tell me, princess of love… what does it mean to be friends?”

“What do you care?” Cadence uttered weakly. “Leave me alone.”

Vitra fell to the ground and tears started to slowly streak down her cheeks. Cadence’s eye became a bit wider as this happened.

“I don’t know,” Vitra said. “Why else would I be asking?”

Inside the throne room, Chrysalis sat upon the throne with Luzon standing beside her. She turned and looked at him. “Activate it now,” she said, her horn flashing with green magic. Luzon’s horn did the same, and they both shot large beams of energy into the already flowing green stream of magic. As they cast the spell, their magic went from their standard green to a hazy orange. The field of energy did the same until the entire room had a pale, orange glow.

“I’m going back to collecting energy while I can. I’ll be feeling for anything unusual within the stream. Go tell Kamber to rally volunteers to enter dreams. We need a lot, so get to it!”

“At once!” Luzon said and then made his way out of the throne room. As he was about to exit, Chrysalis’ voice called to him again, this time softer and more relaxed.

“Luzon.”

“Highness?” he asked, turning to look at her. She was staring down at him, her eyes glazed over with white magic.

“If you see Vitra, tell her I’m expecting much from her. She’ll know what I mean.”

“Vitra?”

Chrysalis smiled. “Yes. Tell her there’s not much time left. Oh, and have her restrain Mulcibar and Linnai’s bodies in a cell. Nopony is to touch them but her, understood?”

“Understood.”

“Tell her that once they’re in the cell, it may be a good time to do as I commanded her earlier.”

“My apologies, highness, but if you could tell me more about what you’d commanded her to do, then I could—“

“Don’t worry, Luzon. I would ask you to help if you could. I’m sorry, it’s nothing personal, it’s all about efficiency. We all have things we can and cannot do. This is something that only she can do. I hope you understand.”

“Of course, your highness,” he said, tilting an eyebrow. “I’ll go at once.”

“Stay safe, Luzon. These are dangerous times.”

Luzon left the throne room and made his way down to the lower chamber where he found Vitra crouched next to Cadence. He squinted at her suspiciously. “Vitra! What are you doing?”

Vitra stood up suddenly and wiped her face. She looked down at Cadence and nodded her head. Cadence weakly smiled at the changeling and then closed her eyes again.

“Sorry, sir, I was just taking a moment. I thought she’d passed out again, but I was mistaken.”

“Well, good. You’ve got a special mission from the queen. She said I should tell you she’s expecting much from you.”

Vitra’s eyes went wide. “How much… did she tell you?”

Luzon shook his head. “Not much. She said you are to move Linnai and Mulcibar’s bodies to a holding cell. She also said that once you have them in that cell, you should carry out the command she gave you earlier.”

“Command?” Vitra asked. Her mind flashed with another memory.

“I can’t… possibly explain it, your majesty,” Vitra said, her voice shaking.

“Ah, but I expect you to, eventually,” Chrysalis said, her burning white eyes locked onto Vitra. “But you must tell no one of what happened in that dream, nor of this conversation. Continue with the plan, and whenever you can, try to remember how you may have accomplished this freak feat. I expect great things, and I expect you to tell no one, particularly not Luzon or any others in The Order.”

Vitra placed a hoof to her chin. Of course, she means that. To find out how I managed to feel love. How do I do that?

Mulcibar’s eyes from just before the rift closed appeared in her mind once more. That’s it. That’s it, isn’t it, you majesty? I have to… I have to go in and confront Mulcibar before the reset happens!

“Get a move on, Vitra! Queen’s orders!” Luzon shouted. “You’re zoning out! Keep your head together, this isn’t a game!”

Vitra jumped and ran back to the room where Luna’s cocoon was, shouting “Yes sir!” as she went.

Luzon eyed Cadence. “What was she talking to you about, prisoner?”

Cadence opened one eye and glanced up at Luzon. “Foolishness,” she said.

Luzon scoffed and walked away, back into The Order’s chamber.

Cloudsdale, Reality, Approximately Half An Hour Ago.

“Hooo, what a pain in the ass.”

Flickering candlelight scarcely lit a dim room, dropping long shadows across everything. A pegasus wearing a cloak reached up to the ceiling, wrapping one of his forehooves around a spear’s handle. With a quick pull, he yanked the spearhead out of the ceiling and it came tumbling down to the ground along with the body that was speared onto the end of it.

The pegasus twisted the spear slightly and pushed a hoof down against the dark chest of the pony-like body that had just dropped to the floor. A puff of air shot across the room from the sudden movement, causing the candle to flare up, revealing the wide-eyed expression of a changeling that was staring up at the pegasus.

“Where’d all of you scary fellas come from, eh?” the pegasus asked, his tone of voice calm and somewhat whimsical.

The changeling hissed in return and spat a colorful mixture of saliva and blood up at the pony, who tilted his head to the side and let the liquid fly right past him.

“Not that talkative, are ya?” the pegasus asked, glancing down at the changeling’s chest cavity where the spear was impaled into. “Did I poke yer lungs? That’s not going to do if I want to interrogate ya. No good, no good.” He pulled the spear up out of the changeling’s chest, causing it to writhe in pain.

“Admiral!” a female voice came from the next room over. “Are you okay in there?” A mare entered and stepped toward the candle. She had a gray mantle draped over herself. Her medium-length blonde mane hung sloppily down over her face, which was splattered with blood.

The pony with the spear glanced over at her. “Eh? Who’s that?”

The mare closed her eyes and tightened her jaw in frustration. “Nimblewing,” she finally said from between her tightly clenched teeth. “Major Nimblewing.”

“Oh! Major! How have you been? It’s been a while!”

“It’s been two minutes!”

“Really? Time flies, I tell ya. No good, no good.”

“I swear, admiral, if you don’t get your act together…” she started, and then was interrupted.

“Major, have you seen? We’re being invaded by these bug-like things!” he said, turning back to the changeling, which had gotten back to its hooves and was lunging its head toward him. He dodged to the side and drove his spear into its chest from the side.

“Changelings! We already established that!”

The stallion turned toward her and slapped his hoof over his eyes. “I know. I know. Sweet Celestia, how many times do I have to tell you that? No good, no good.”

The stallion stared at the mare for a moment and then squinted. “These changelings could look like any of us. They could even be disguised as you. They could even be disguised as me.”

“I doubt they’d be able to pull off your stupidity,” the major mumbled.

“What was that? Changeling scum!” the admiral shouted and leapt through the air. His face was quickly met by the raised hoof of the major, which slammed into his jaw and knocked him to the ground. He shook his head briefly and then stood back up, dusting himself off.

“Now’s not the time for jokes, admiral,” the major said in monotone.

“Sorry, sorry,” the admiral responded. Now that he was standing closer to the candle, his features were visible. His pale, blue eyes glowed by the flickering light of the flame, which cast shadows across his angular facial features. His snow-white mane was cut neatly and short above his head, and his coat was a plain gray. He looked back at the major. “I suppose we should get out of here and make sure the rest of the team has the situation under control. We need to take as many prisoners as we can. I’ve got a bad feeling about all of this.”

The major nodded her head. “Right.” The admiral retrieved his spear from the now unmoving changeling’s body and the two of them marched out the door and down a hallway made of cloud.

What in Tartarus is going on around here? It had just seemed like another night like any other… until Nimblewing approached me half an hour ago. There was something odd about how she was acting.

30 minutes prior...

“Ah, major, nice night we’re having,” the admiral said, greeting Major Nimblewing as she joined him on a high cloud. He rubbed a hoof against the back of his head and gazed back out across the land towards Canterlot. The brightly shining shield spell had been taken down from the city. “Is it just me, or was there supposed to be a shield over Canterlot?”

“I guess the threat wasn’t a big deal after all,” the major responded. He shot a glance up at her and squinted slightly.

“I suppose. I can’t help but be worried, though. You’d said just a few hours ago that you had a bad feeling about it.”

“Oh, you give me too much credit, sir. It’s not like I can predict the future.”

“True. I suppose nopony can. I can barely keep track of the past.”

“Don’t be so down on yourself. I have an idea… how long has it been since we’ve been over our defenses? Perhaps the threat didn’t just apply to Canterlot. It couldn’t hurt to make sure everything is in order.”

The admiral flashed another suspicious glance at Nimblewing and then stood up. Something’s wrong, he thought. She doesn’t seem like herself, and why would she be worried about the defenses? Nopony is more on top of that stuff than her.

“Sure, that’s not a bad idea. Come with me,” he said, and led the way down from the cloud hill he’d been perched upon, into the streets on the east side of Cloudsdale. They eventually made their way to a house. He pointed toward the door. “After you, major,” he said, and then furrowed his brow further, thinking to himself. She’ll call me out on this. This is my house, not the headquarters.

The major walked up the stairs and reached her hoof out towards the handle. “Of course,” she said. She opened the door and stepped inside. A second later, the admiral stepped in behind her, threw his hooves around her neck, and pulled her into a headlock. She choked and tried to turn her head to look at him. “What are you… doing!?”

He whispered into her ear. “Who are you? Where’s the major?”

“Let me go! I’m the major! Are you out of your mind?”

“That’s not what she’d say. She’d sound way more condescending. Something like ‘Quit playing around, you idiot,” or something even more demeaning, probably along with a threat to my manhood. I’ll ask you again, where’s the major?”

The major didn’t respond.

“Don’t want to talk, huh?” the admiral asked. He squeezed harder against the pony’s neck. “You can feel how strong I am. I could snap you like a twig. This is your last chance. Where’s the major?”

The pony coughed, barely able to get any words out from his grip. “Watch tower… east side… guard house… Now let me breathe!”

“Not a chance,” the admiral said, and pulled back even harder. He held at this level of pressure until the pony’s legs stopped flailing. Once she was unconscious, he dropped her body to the floor. To his shock, her body flashed with green fire and revealed a changeling form underneath.

“Fantastic…” he said. He pulled open the closet door at the other end of the hall and pulled out a spear and a cloak that was hanging inside. He threw the cloak on, readied the spear across his back, and pulled a cigarette from an inner pocket of the cloak. He stared down at the changeling’s body as he exhaled a cloud of smoke into the air. “Looks like you had one thing right, whatever you are. The threat wasn’t just to Canterlot.”

After tying the unconscious changeling up in ropes, the admiral ran out of the house and took to the sky, the image of the creature hanging in his mind. Seems awfully familiar. Where have I seen something like that before? It was so perfectly disguised as the major. Could they impersonate anypony?

With that thought, a memory from the past surfaced. Princess Celestia stood before him just after his promotion to captain of the Cloudsdale guard.

There are some dangers to Equestria that are kept very quiet. As a high-ranking officer in the Equestrian Guardian Corps, you will now be told of the hidden threats to the nation. It is your duty to defend us against such threats.

That was a day where I learned about many things that were literally unspeakable. To let the existence of these threats come to light could cause widespread panic. Which one was this, again? He placed a hoof to his forehead and groaned. Blast it all, I’ll just ask the major! If she’s still alive, that is…

He swooped down to the watch tower, landing in the upper nest. “First thing’s first, we need to be ready,” he said, and then slammed a hoof down against a lever. A bright red light began to shine, swooping in circles above him. Soon, other watch towers around Cloudsdale were doing the same in response, and a siren began to sound. “Now to check on the major. You’d better still be alive!”

Before he could even reach the ground, he heard an explosion in the distance. Smoke billowed up from an area about a mile away, and several pegasi were seen taking to the sky, chasing after two dark flying figures. I knew there’d be more of ‘em, he thought as he pushed the guard house’s door open and poked his head inside.

“Major!” he shouted as he entered the dimly lit building.

“Admiral! Back here!” the major’s voice came. He ran towards it and found the major shackled and locked inside a holding cell. He reached for the keys, but they were nowhere to be found.

“Where’s the keys?” he asked.

“We’re not alone in here,” the major said, pointing her hoof toward the side room just in time for a changeling to leap from it and tackle the admiral to the ground. He quickly rolled and kicked up against the creature’s body, knocking it up and over his head. He flipped to his hooves and charged at the changeling, ramming into it with all his strength and smashing it against the wall. The creature screamed in pain as a loud cracking sound came from its body.

The admiral leapt back with assistance from his wings, grabbing his spear from the ground. He spun the spear forward, bringing its tip to the changeling’s neck. “Keys!” he shouted.

The changeling hissed in response. A second later, the spear's tip met its shoulder, stabbing in deeply. It screeched in pain. “Do ya speak Equestrian? Where’s the damn keys?”

“The keys are on the table, there,” the major said from behind him. The admiral glanced over at the table and blinked.

“Ah, so they are,” he said, turning his gaze back to the changeling. “Sorry ‘bout that. My misunderstanding. No good, no good!” He pulled the spear out of the changeling’s shoulder, causing it to scream again.

“No use apologizing, admiral. Surely you recognize it, right?” the major said with a sigh. The admiral grabbed the keychain and began to unlock the cell door, trying different keys until he found the right one.

“Of course, I do. Do you?”

“It’s a changeling. Please hurry with the door, there might be another one up front, still, and I’m sure all the ruckus got its attention if it is.”

“Ah yes, changelings! Just like Princess Celestia told us! Good job, Major!”

“You didn’t remember, did you?”

“Of course I did!” he said as the cell door slid open. “I was just testing you! And you passed! With flying colors!”

The major rolled her eyes and grabbed her cloak, which had been put on the table near where the keys had been. She donned it and grabbed a spear of her own off the wall. “I’ll scout out the front and side rooms, you check that back room.”

“Hey now, who’s giving the orders here?”

The major rolled her eyes. “You, of course. I just knew what you would say and anticipated it.”

“That’s why I keep you around! Keep up the good work!”

After that, the major went to the front and was attacked by a changeling. As I was running to check on her, the one I’d injured tried to jump me, but got speared to the ceiling. Judging by the explosion from earlier, though, I’d bet it’s getting close to total chaos out there. I wonder how many of these things there are.

The two of them continued down the cloud hallway toward the exit door. “Any response from Canterlot?” the admiral asked.

“Negative,” his companion responded. “We’ve tried hailing on all frequencies, even before the changelings showed up. I can’t rule out that something is jamming our equipment, though. The unicorn who works on the communication equipment is missing.”

“Probably taken out by a changeling, the poor fella,” the admiral said with a sigh. “Let’s hope it really is a problem with the communication spell and not the alternative. If changelings are inside Canterlot, we’re in big trouble.”

The two pegasi emerged from the building they had been in. Bright lights shone from all around them, making the stars in the night sky invisible. The sound of hooves stomping and steel clashing filled the air. Stepping out onto the main road, the admiral turned and gazed toward the town center. He wiped his brow and shook his head. “With the ability to impersonate anypony, you’d think they would have tried a more stealthy entrance.”

“They did. You were the one who noticed them, remember? It wasn’t that long ago!”

The admiral furrowed his brow and concentrated.

“Are you remembering, now? Your eyes have this glassy look to them that I don’t like,” Nimblewing said. “I wonder sometimes, how can your memory be this bad!?”

“Sometimes it’s easier to forget,” the admiral replied, barely audible.

“What was that, sir?”

“Nothing! Let’s get back to headquarters! We’ll decide our next course of action there.”

“Aye, sir!” the major shouted. The two of them took off towards a distant, large palatial structure. A smaller building nearby was their destination, the Cloudsdale Guard HQ. They landed at the front entrance, and two guards keeping watch over the door crossed their spears and tensed their bodies as if they were ready to fight.

“Present identification!” one of the guards barked out.

The major reached into her flight jacket and pulled out an ID badge. The admiral was patting himself down and pulling various items out of his pockets. Several bits of paper, a short length of rope, a yo-yo, a half-eaten sandwich, and two pens later, he gasped and placed his hooves against the sides of his head.

“No! I left it in my office!”

The two guards, along with the major, sighed and placed front hooves against their foreheads. “It’s him…” one of the guards said. They pulled their spears apart and allowed the two entry.

Down the main hall to the end, the two of them arrived at the last corner office. The plaque on the door read “Radiant Thunder”. The admiral pushed the door open, stepped inside, and waved for the major to follow him. He meandered to the desk sitting at the far end of the office. On the desk’s surface was his ID badge, which he quickly grabbed and put in his pocket.

“These changelings aren’t going to last too long. Whatever they’d planned to accomplish has been thwarted when we found them out,” the admiral said as he took a seat in his chair. He gazed quietly at a framed picture on his desk for a moment. He gently placed a hoof against its surface, and then glanced up at the major. “I know we haven’t been able to raise Canterlot yet. Any word from Ponyville?”

“Ponyville, sir? Do you suspect they’ll be moving against Ponyville? It’s not exactly a strategic target,” Major Nimblewing replied.

“Just worried all of the sudden,” Radiant Thunder responded, a soft smile crossing his lips. He turned the picture frame around, showing the major a photograph of a small orange pegasus with a pink mane and a slightly annoyed expression on her face. “My daughter lives there. I can’t help but worry, not that I’ve really been there for…” His voice trailed off. A second later, he rose from his chair and tapped one of his hooves on his desk. “Nevermind about Ponyville. Let’s get to the command room. Someone there is bound to have some intel.”

The major nodded and the two of them left the office, making their way down several more halls before coming to a large double-door. Before he could open it, the admiral heard a screeching sound coming from inside. He pushed the doors open and rushed in. In the center of the room was a table with a changeling held down on it using straps and chains. It was pushing against its restraints and shrieking at the top of its lungs.

“Admiral Thunder! Thank goodness you’re here! We haven’t been able to get it to talk! We’re starting to think they aren’t actually intelligent. Just mindless insects,” one of the marines standing next to the table said. Radiant Thunder calmly approached the changeling. He stood beside the table, reached his forelegs up, and pressed his hooves against the sides of its head. He stared down into its cold blue buglike eyes. The changeling was suddenly silent and still, staring back up at him.

“You want to get out of here alive?” Radiant asked, his gaze burning into the changeling’s eyes. The creature nodded its head one time, still lying completely still. “Good. There’s been enough blood spilled in the last hour to last the rest of the century. I don’t want to kill you, and I don’t want any more of my ponies dying. No one needs to know that you spilled the beans, I won’t even ask your name, if you have such a thing. I just need you to give me some basic information. Do you want to do that for me?”

“Forget it,” the changeling replied. “Here’s the deal. You let me go and you get to live a little longer.”

The admiral laughed loudly, nearly falling over the table, his hooves still firmly pressed against the sides of the changeling’s head. “That won’t do. No good, no good. You sure you won’t reconsider?”

The changeling hissed in response. Before it was even done hissing, Radiant Thunder pulled his hooves apart and then smashed them back into the prisoner’s head, knocking it unconscious. Everypony else around the table flinched back slightly.

“Admiral, was that really—“ the major started to ask.

“No time to waste if he won’t talk. Maybe he’ll reconsider after the headache he’s gonna wake up with. Any word on the communication equipment?”

One of the other pegasi in the room shook his head. “No, sir. We can’t find the technician.”

“Where’s Light? She’s a unicorn. Get her to figure it out.”

“I’m right here, sir,” a dainty voice came from the side of the room. “I’ve been here the whole time. Sorry if I’m unnoticeable. I swear, I might as well be invisible.” Her eyes seemed to almost be tearing up as she spoke. Several of the males in the room quickly leapt toward her, waving their hooves in the air and shaking their heads.

“No, no, no! We noticed you, captain! You’re not invisible!” they all began to insist. The white unicorn with a long blonde mane and a dark cloud for a cutie mark smiled and tilted her head to one side.

“Thank goodness! I thought I’d cast an invisibility spell on myself by accident!” She turned to look at Radiant Thunder and shrugged. “And no, I can’t make heads or tails of the equipment problem. There’s some sort of magic going on in there, I just don’t know how it all works.”

“Blast! What else can anyone in here tell me?” Radiant asked. A second later, a pegasus soldier burst into the room, breathing heavily. Radiant turned to look at him. “What’s going on, private?”

“Dragons!” the pony managed to shout.

“What!?” everyone in the room shouted in response. They all burst out of the room, rushed down the hallway, and threw the entrance doors open. The two guards who had been posted at the doors were now hunched to the ground, trembling. In the sky above Cloudsdale, at least four massive black dragons circled in the air. They were unlike any dragons the soldiers standing and staring had seen before, though. Their legs bore the telltale holes of a changeling, and their mouths burned with glowing, green fire.

Radiant pulled a pair of sunglasses out from his cloak and sighed. “Just what I needed.” He slid the sunglasses over his eyes and lit another cigarette.

Major Nimblewing slapped the back of the admiral’s head, knocking his sunglasses off. “It’s the middle of the night!”

“They’re prescription!” Radiant Thunder protested.

“So wear normal glasses!”

The admiral frowned and tapped his front hooves together, pouting his lips out. “But… they aren’t cool looking…”

“Celestia, help us.”

Princess Luna’s Dream, Present Time.

Luna sat in the middle of the large central chamber of her dream sanctuary with the others sitting in a circle around the front of her. Celestia, Twilight, Fluttershy, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Mulcibar, Linnai, and an alicorn Pinkie Pie all listened attentively as the princess spoke.

“Time is of the essence since we do not know how long it will take for this swarm reset spell to take effect. It is safe to say that by the time we jump into another dream, the time synchronization between minds will cause a burst of time to pass, and we will be seeing the effects of the swarm.”

“It won’t take long,” Mulcibar responded, explaining. “The swarm reset is part spell, part physical invasion. The spell aspect is already cast. It’s one of the many spells that are weaving around within that stream of magic. The physical aspect involves sending troops into the dreams. While not as magically potent as those of us in the Order, drones and other types of changelings can still enter the dream worlds and will be able to wreak chaos throughout.”

“Sounds delicious… or so I would say if my future wasn’t on the line here, as well,” Discord said with a grin.

“Alright, then my assumption was correct and we have to move quickly. I need to make you aware of some information you may not have known about dreams.” She sat back down and gestured toward one of the portals on the wall. “There are three main types of dreams: Observational, Inclusive, and Exclusive. When a dreamwalker enters a dream, the type of dream, as well as the dreamer’s familiarity to them, determines their point of entry. In an Exclusive dream, a dreamwalker will always enter independently, such as appearing somewhere. When you all entered into my dream world, you just popped in so to speak. This is an Exclusive dream. However, when the dream is Inclusive, things become more difficult. One who is unfamiliar to the dreamer will enter just as in an Exclusive dream, but if the dreamwalker is known to the dreamer, they will be incorporated into the dreamer’s world.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Incorporated? How so?”

“For example, if you were dreaming about Twilight Sparkle, and she entered the dream, then Twilight would take over your dream Twilight’s body. She would also receive all the the memories and influences of the dream Twilight.”

“That actually sounds pretty convenient,” Twilight said. “When entering dreams before, we had wondered what would happen if we ran into ourselves. Taking over a dream inhabitant’s body seems much more simple and would avoid that issue.”

Linnai smirked and glanced over at Twilight. “Sounds like it could be pretty hot, too.”

Luna chose to ignore Linnai’s remark and continue. “Yes, Twilight, It is convenient in that respect, but it is difficult in another. If a dreamwalker’s will is weaker than the dreamer’s, they could be the one taken over by the dream version. It would then take a little time for them to realize they were a dreamwalker once again. We can’t afford to let that happen since we’re trying to move quickly.”

“You can say that all you want, but it’s hard to avoid,” Linnai said, suddenly serious. “The queen found a spell that allows us to always take over a pony’s body inside the dream world, but it can be taxing. We had to do it in order to slip in and out of dreams without disrupting them. When the pony’s persona hits you, it’s really jarring. We had to practice for months.”

Luna shook her head. “We don’t have months to practice. It will be of utmost importance that those of us who stay aware after entering find the others and help them. That said, Rainbow Dash’s dream has one of the most extreme time differences I’ve ever seen, so once we’re inside, time won’t be as crucial. I don’t know if it is due to the magic, or if her mind is just always moving this quickly, but it does seem appropriate. Some dreams don’t behave in a linear fashion, and time can jump around a lot as the dreamer goes into and out of memories. If the dream is linear, though, a large amount of time may have gone past. It could make it even more difficult to awaken her.”

“Oh no. If time is passing so fast, what if the changeling invasion gets there before us? What if we’re too late?” Fluttershy asked, nervously leaning toward the portal.

“Right you are, Fluttershy. We should all enter the dream as soon as possible, so please let me finish.”

Fluttershy blushed and nodded her head.

“Since time is moving so fast in there, we will have as much time as we need to adjust and train our minds once we’re in. We also have our new changeling allies, who will surely not be a part of Rainbow Dash’s dream, so they will enter as if the dream were Exclusive,” she said, and then stood up and walked over to Rainbow Dash’s portal. “A dream with such extreme speed is the perfect sort of training ground. Our priority should be to awaken Rainbow Dash, but after that, we can use her dream to take all the time we need to plan our attack. Ideally, her dream would become a place for us to go when we need extra time.”

Twilight’s eyes lit up and she grinned. “That’s actually brilliant! Rainbow Dash’s dream would give us an extreme time advantage. I hadn’t even thought of that before. It would make the perfect ‘home base’!”

“Indeed, and we should not waste further time here in my dream. Everypony stand in a line near the portal. We will all drive in at once. The mere seconds between our points of entry will translate to longer periods of time on the other side. We can minimize it by staying together as much as possible while entering.”

“We should go first,” Linnai said, stepping to the front of the line. “Mulcibar and I won’t have the problem of getting incorporated, so we can scout for information while the rest of you are phasing in. Or do you not trust us? Can’t say I blame you.” Linnai shrugged her shoulders.

Luna closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “No, it’s not that. I believe I speak for all of us in what I am about to say and do,” she said, opening her eyes and looking over at Linnai and Mulcibar. “It is sometimes in the most unlikely places that one finds their strongest allies. At first, and even recently, I did not want to believe that we could ever come to trust you two. However, in light of your recent actions, as well as the great risk you’ve taken by turning away from your queen despite your bodies being on the other side, I can no longer blind myself to the truth.”

Luna’s horn glowed and two gemstones appeared in front of Mulcibar and Linnai. Luna carefully pushed the gems into the holes at the base of the changelings’ horns, socketing them in with a slight snapping sound. “I believe you lost these here in this dream. You would do well to be more careful with them from now on.”

The red gem that had socketed into Linnai's horn glowed slightly, and her eyes rolled back a bit for a moment. She let out a pleased sounding moan and then took a deep breath. “Ohhhh yeah, that’s what I’ve been missing.”

Mulcibar nodded his head to Luna. “Thank you. This will help immensely.”

Luna smiled and narrowed her eyes slightly. “I pray none of us will regret anything that has happened.”

“Don’t worry,” Mulcibar said, staring into Luna’s eyes with great intensity. “We’ve come too far to go back, now.”

Twilight tapped Luna on the shoulder. “I have one thing I am worried about, though. I know Linnai has volunteered to go first, but shouldn’t you go in first, princess? Your Lucidity would make things much easier.”

“Actually, Twilight, it would be best if I entered last for several reasons. You know that Rainbow Dash’s dream is moving fast - faster than any dream I’ve seen before, actually. The transition between my dream and hers could be painful, possibly even dangerous to the minds of those who go between them. While you are all passing through the portal, I will use my Lucidity to stabilize the time difference as much as I can. The transition will be smoother, and your times of arrival will be less spaced out. If I do not go last, depending on how fast her dream is really moving, it could be days or weeks between two of you arriving even though you entered the portal only a fraction of a second apart. I can’t even give exact numbers on the time difference. It could have been what seems like years in her dream since we were put under.”

Twilight’s jaw dropped at the thought of experiencing such a long period of time so quickly. “I had no idea it was that bad! If only I’d--”

“There was nothing you could have done, Twilight Sparkle. Do not dwell on the past, just move forward. Also know that once I enter the dream, it is possible that the spell the changelings are using to swarm into it may detect my Lucidity’s presence. It is best to get you all in there first.”

“Then we have no time to waste. Linnai, Mulcibar, let’s get you in there as soon as possible!” Twilight said with newfound urgency.

“I want to go in as soon as possible, too!” Fluttershy said loudly. Everypony looked at her and she shrunk down slightly, her voice becoming quiet again. “I mean… it’s because I want to save Dashie as soon as possible. The last time I thought I was waking her up, it wasn’t her, so I want to try again.”

Twilight smiled and nodded at Fluttershy. “That’s fine, Fluttershy. I was actually going to say the same thing. You and Rainbow Dash are really close. If anypony would be able to get close to her and make her understand what’s going on, it’s you.”

Fluttershy blushed slightly and smiled. Mulcibar gazed at her quizzically and felt a strange nervousness in the back of his mind. Just how close are they, I wonder, he thought, but shook his head and turned to face Linnai. No time to think about that stuff. This is a mission. The objective has to come first. He stood by his sister near the portal.

“Alright, then. Everypony in position,” Luna said. “Twilight shall enter after Fluttershy, then Celestia, then Discord, then me. Is this agreeable?”

Scootaloo jumped up and flapped her wings, hanging in the air for a second. “Hey, what about us? We want to help, too!”

Luna smiled down at Scootaloo. “You three should stay here with Pinkie Pie. She will be remaining here, obviously, and acting as a coordinator. If and when we find the Pinkie in Rainbow Dash’s dream, we can connect her to the Pinkie Network.”

“I’m also going to be doing some other stuff, too!” Pinkie said excitedly as she stared into the pink, pulsating portal. “The real Pinkie Pie is just beyond that portal, so I want to see if us Pinkies can collectively come up with some way to make contact with her!”

“Oh, come on!” Sweetie Belle shouted. “You told us before that we could help save Equestria. Now we have to stay here? I’ll go out of my mind with boredom!”

“Yeah, this ain’t fair. Hey, I know! We should go into my sister’s portal and save her!” Apple Bloom said, glancing over at the orange portal.

“Absolutely not!” Luna shouted. “You three must never go into a portal by yourselves! It’s far too dangerous! We don’t know if your powers from before are still active, and have not the time to test them fully.”

Celestia placed a hoof against Luna’s shoulder and shook her head. “You know, they do bring up an interesting point, though. I’ve been thinking a lot about the prospect of splitting our growing party into two teams. What if I were to stay behind with them as well? Then, once the Pinkie Network is up and running, they could go into Applejack’s dream with me. You did say that it seemed like a fairly stable dream.”

“A stable dream with a changeling invasion about to hit it,” Linnai corrected Celestia. “There’s not going to be such a thing as a stable dream before long.”

Celestia smirked. “You need not worry about me, or these three fillies. What do you say, girls? Does that sound like an acceptable compromise?”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked at each other and then back and Celestia. Apple Bloom nodded her head. “Very well. We accept.”

Luna put a hoof to her chin. “Splitting up at this point does seem to make the most sense. Tackling two dreams at a time, with four dreams left to go, means that we’ll be able to awaken the others twice as fast.”

Twilight placed a hoof against Celestia’s shoulder, and the alicorn turned to face her student. “Princess, this is so sudden. I suppose it makes sense to split up somewhat, though. We can get through this faster. But still, you’ve been with me since the very beginning of this. I never thought I’d be setting off without you.”

Celestia wrapped a foreleg around Twilight and pulled her into a hug. “Don’t worry, Twilight. You are strong, and have strong allies with you. You’ll get through this without me, and you know I’ll be just fine. We’ll see each other again before you know it.”

“I know we will,” Twilight said softly, and then pulled away from Celestia. “Stay safe, Princess Celestia.”

“You, too,” Celestia replied. “That goes for all of you. The fate of Equestria is in our hooves.”

Discord flew in a circle around the two of them and smirked. “Don’t worry, Celestia. I’ll stay and keep you company, too.” He laughed, perhaps a bit more deviously than the princess cared for.

“Thank goodness, I was starting to worry,” Celestia responded with a slight roll of her eyes.

Linnai, Mulcibar, Fluttershy, Luna, and Twilight lined up in front of Rainbow Dash’s portal. Linnai looked back at the others and grinned. “You know, I wasn’t so sure about the idea of actually joining up with you at first, but now my blood is pumping! I’m practically wet with excitement,” she said, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically. She shot a wink back at Twilight, who just rolled her eyes. “Hah! See you on the other side, prudicorn!”

Mulcibar turned to Fluttershy and grabbed one of her forelegs, locking it with his own. She gasped slightly and looked up at him. “Hold on to me and don’t let go. We’ll stay together as best we can,” he said.

Fluttershy nodded her head and tightened her grip around his leg. “I don’t think I’m quite as excited as your sister, but we have to do this! For Rainbow Dash!”

Twilight and Luna looked at Mulcibar and Fluttershy and each chuckled slightly. Luna looked down at Twilight and grinned. “Shall we try to stay together as well, then?” she asked.

Twilight responded by locking forelegs with her. “Sounds fine to me. For Rainbow Dash, and all of Equestria!” She levitated the colorscope goggles up over her eyes and took a nervous step forward. “Okay, everypony. As soon as Linnai jumps, we all go as fast as we can after her.”

“Okay! Here I go, then!” Linnai shouted, and then unceremoniously leapt into the portal. Mulcibar quickly stepped after her, pulling Fluttershy with him, and the two of them were sucked into the flashing vortex as well. Luna and Twilight leapt after the two of them, lastly, vanishing from the room.

Celestia, Discord, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and Pinkie Pie stood silently for a moment, staring into the portal.

“They’re gonna be okay, right?” Apple Bloom asked, finally breaking the silence.

“Of course they will, my little pony. Never doubt it.”

Rainbow Dash’s Dream, Moment of Entry: Linnai

Linnai found herself tumbling through thick tree branches. They fortunately broke her fall, and she didn’t hit the ground too roughly. After standing up and dusting herself off, she looked at her surroundings. She was standing on the outskirts of what appeared to be a small town on the edge of a lush, green jungle. The sounds of wild animals and birds echoed out from the forested area behind her. Before her, the small town had a very hoof-made feel to it, with buildings that were made entirely of wood. The architecture was similar to what one would see in a town like Appleloosa, but it felt a bit more wild and unorganized. She gazed up and saw some buildings built into the trees, with large walkways made of wood going between trees. What had at first seemed like a small town was now a large city, all built vertically into the jungle trees.

“Where in Equestria is this, even?” she asked herself. There wasn’t any sign of anypony else. “Well, first thing’s first, I suppose. Looks like wings will come in handy here.” She let loose with a blast of green fire across her body, transforming into a pegasus with light green coat and dark blue mane.

The first building on the edge of the town was clearly labeled by a sign that read ‘Avenport Tavern’. Deciding a Tavern seemed like as good a place as any to start gathering info, she walked right up to the building and then into the front door.

Inside the tavern, she glanced around, immediately noticing something strange about the place. There were a few ponies sitting in chairs or at the bar, but for the most part, everyone inside the front area were griffons. She casually walked up to the bar and sat on a stool next to a dark gray colored griffon who was slowly nursing a glass of caramel colored liquid.

After a moment, the griffon took another drink and turned to look at her. “Ain’t seen you around here before,” the griffon said.

“Yeah, I just flew in,” Linnai responded. “Got a little lost. What is this place?"

The griffon laughed and slapped a claw against the bar. “Really? You expect me to believe you just stumbled upon this place? This is Avenport, sweet cheeks, one of the biggest cities in the region. You hit your head or something?”

“Heh, yeah, maybe,” Linnai responded, blushing slightly.

“So, I’m not gonna lie to ya honey, and it’s nothing personal, but…” the griffon said, and then quickly drew a flintlock up from his waist with his other claw. With a click of the hammer, the gun was pointed at Linnai’s head. The griffon stared at Linnai coldly. “There’s been some problems with newcomers here. Prove you aren’t a changeling. Things have been a bit hectic lately.”

Maybe unicorn would have been a better pick, Linnai thought to herself.

Author's Note

Eh, that's probably good. *clicks publish*

8k words! Am I incapable of writing a short chapter anymore?

The Conquering of Love is going to be taking a break for the month of November. Possibly the whole month, possibly not. You should probably check out my latest blog post for all the nitty gritty details regarding this break as well as my NaNoWriMo/NaPoWriMo project.

You know, that is, if you want to...

Crash Down Ch 1 - Prepare For Liftoff

Author's Note

2:00 AM is the best time to publish a new chapter that people have been waiting for, right?

Crash Down Ch 1 - Prepare For Liftoff

Book Five: Crash Down

Chapter One – Prepare For Liftoff

Canterlot, Reality, Ten Minutes Ago

Vitra reentered the room where the rest of the Order were, followed shortly by Luzon, who resumed his place at the head of the long table in the chamber. Vitra quietly made her way to the other side where Mulcibar and Linnai were lying unconscious. Almost effortlessly, she lifted both of their bodies into the air with levitation and began to move them toward the door.

“What’s gonna happen to them?” came a voice from the back of the room. Vitra recognized it as Kamber.

“Don’t worry about it,” Luzon snapped, clenching his eyes shut in annoyance. “She’s following the queen’s orders, whatever they are.”

“She wouldn’t even tell you? Smells fishy to me,” said another voice from the back.

Luzon responded by smacking his hoof against the table and turning to look at Vitra, who was frozen in the doorway. “You have your orders, get moving! And furthermore, the queen had orders for you, too, Kamber. Go rally for the swarm, and make it snappy. I want you back in here in ten minutes or less!”

Kamber, a bulky changeling with a square jaw that hung at an odd angle from his face, stood up and trotted to the doorway. Vitra, Mulcibar, and Linnai had vacated the doorway, and he walked out of the chamber, slamming the door behind him.

“Something’s rotten, here.”

Luzon tensed up. “You’re damn right something’s rotten, Zanzir! Mulcibar and Linnai have lost their minds, Vitra of all of us is running errands for the queen, and we’re about to waste a bunch of time with this reset swarm!” he shouted. “Tell me something I wasn’t already completely aware of!”

“Calm yourself, Luzon, there’s no point in taking it out on me,” Zanzir responded.

“Sorry. You’re right, of course. We were prepared for any situation, including this one,” Luzon replied, taking a deep breath. “In any case, it won’t be long now until our time to feed. Hunger must be getting to me.”

“Isn’t it strange, though, that she’s holding all that energy inside herself?” a soft female voice spoke up. “Why not feed us all?”

“Ours is not to question why,” Zanzir responded. “And you know the rest, Katella.”

“I’d rather do without dying, thanks,” she responded with a chuckle.

“Let’s just hope that this little interruption doesn’t cost us anything more,” Luzon said, softly stroking his beard.

Outside the room, Vitra had made her way out of the royal chambers and across a courtyard. The dark spires of Canterlot hung silently in the air above her, though rain was still falling over the city. Using a shield spell to stay dry, she levitated the two others along with her into a doorway and down a set of stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, she found a row of holding cells, keys sitting on a nearby table.

She carefully set Mulcibar and Linnai in a cell together. “I’m sorry about this, you two,” she said as she locked their hooves in shackles. She moved to leave the cell, and then hesitated. She could hear the sound of dozens of hoofsteps in the courtyard above as the changelings gathered to the throne room to enter the dream web.

There’s no time to waste, she thought, and then sat down between the two other changelings. I can feel the dream web even from here. It’s so powerful. I’m going in, now!

Vitra shut the cell door, locked it, and set the keys beside her, locking the key ring to her hip with a spell. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then slouched forward. A slight trace of green energy shot out from her, traveled up the stairs, and weaved its way back to the throne room.

Within the throne room, Chrysalis smiled widely.

“Be careful in there, Vitra. I can’t buy you a third chance,” she whispered.

Streaks of green magic shot brightly into the dream web from the now sitting rows of changelings and began spreading amongst the cocoons.

Cloudsdale, Reality, 10 Minutes Ago

Major Nimblewing squinted her eyes and stared up into the sky above. Four black dragons with green fire alight in their maws circled overhead, staring down at the city. “Dragons attacking Cloudsdale? This is like some sort of nightmare.”

“Look at their bodies, their wings… those aren’t dragons, they’re changelings. Looks like they never intended to keep the invasion covert,” Radiant Thunder said as he leaned down to pick his sunglasses up off the ground. “They intend to destroy Cloudsdale entirely.”

“Shouldn’t this be visible from Canterlot? Surely they’ve noticed the battle happening by now. There’s been plenty of fires,” one of the other officers asked.

Radiant frowned. “They must not be worried about Canterlot, which either means they’re incredibly stupid, or the whole of Equestria is incredibly in trouble. The shield is down over Canterlot, and now I’m almost certain I know why… Canterlot has fallen.”

Nimblewing turned her head to look toward Canterlot and then back to the Admiral. Her eyes went wide with the realization. “How is that possible? There was a threat made against Canterlot, that’s why they had that shield up!”

Radiant Thunder shook his head. “Who would make a threat like that if they could sneak in and hide? We fell for it. We saw the shield, we thought Canterlot was the target of the threat. Even just a little, we let our guard down. Their goal wasn’t Canterlot, major! They’ve had their sights set on Cloudsdale this whole time!”

“But, why?”

Radiant turned to look at the major, narrowing his eyes. “I can think of a few reasons, but that hardly matters. They’re here now, and we’re going to stop them! Then we’ll deal with Canterlot.”

The major nodded her head and turned to the others. “Mobilize! Ready ballistae and prepare to convert Cloudsdale into full lockdown mode! I expect it done in two minutes or less, now move!”

A voice that shook the very clouds that made the city’s foundation suddenly rumbled down from the dragons.

“WHERE IS HYPERION?”

The major and admiral froze and turned to stare up at the dragons. One of them had its glowing eyes trained on them.

“SPEAK!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Radiant Thunder shouted back. “Leave this place or face the fury of Cloudsdale!”

One of the dragons responded by letting loose a wave of green fire. It blazed down toward a section of the city, igniting everything and evaporating clouds. Buildings fell from the sky and plummeted towards the Earth.

“SPEAK, OR WE WILL DESTROY THIS CITY!”

Radiant turned toward the group of ponies left standing near him. He extended a hoof toward the one unicorn among them and nodded his head to her. “Light, give them our response.”

The blonde-haired unicorn fidgeted for a moment and then looked up at the dragons. “We want you to leave!” she shouted feebly. Radiant swung his hoof back to his face and pressed it against his forehead.

“Not that response, Light. Please try to focus.” The others in the group collectively groaned.

“That’s funny coming from you,” Major Nimblewing retorted.

Light’s eyes went wide. “Ohhh! That response! Sure thing!”

The unicorn’s horn lit up and the clouds around headquarters began to swirl. From underneath the cloud surface, several rows of ballistae rose. A second later, the sky began to darken, black clouds began to swirl, and the air became freezing cold.

“Looks like lockdown’s already begun. Just in time,” Radiant said, and then pointed a hoof up to one of the dragons. “Hey! I wouldn’t stick around here, it’s about to get real cold! No good, no good at all! Well, not for you lot, anyway!”

The dragon laughed, letting a streak of fire puff out from its nostrils. “YOUR PEA-SHOOTERS DON’T SCARE US, AND WE KNOW YOU CONTROL THE WEATHER! GIVE US HYPERION BEFORE WE DROP THIS CITY OUT OF THE SKY!”

Radiant sighed. “Wrong answer. No good, no good…” He waved his hoof in the air and a gust of wind bellowed downward, forming a dark cloud between him and the dragons. Five of the siege weapons in front of him all fired at the cloud. The large steel-tipped bolts flew into the cloud and exited the other side completely encased in ice. The ice more than doubled their size. The dragon flapped his wings and reared back, but it was too late. The spears of ice pierced into his chest and belly, and ice began to spread across his scaly body. Within another second, his wings were stiff with ice and he plummeted downward through the clouds below and out of sight. The other dragons shrunk back, but were unable to proceed further. A dome of ice had formed over the entire city.

“Shattering on impact with the surface… what a way to go,” Nimblewing said with a cringe.

“Lockdown fully engaged,” Radiant said, grinning up at the dragons. “This isn’t just to protect the city! It’s to keep invaders in, too!”

More dark clouds began to form throughout the sky. The dragons turned and began to blast the icy shell with green flames.

“Fire at will!”

Rainbow Dash’s Dream, Present Time

Linnai stared down the barrel of the gun at the stone-cold face that sat behind it. The griffon stared right back at her, his narrow, beady eyes almost seeming to see right through her disguise.

Prove you’re not a changeling? Is he serious?

She took a deep breath as her thoughts jumbled up trying to think of how to even satisfy such an absurd request. The fact that she was a changeling aside, how could anyone truly prove such a thing?

Griffons. Never did like them much, or their little toys. If I had a horn right now, this wouldn’t be that much of a problem. Why did I choose pegasus, blast it?

“Gerulf!” a voice came from the other side of the bar. “What have I told you about bringin’ guns in here, you bird brain?” A ceramic mug suddenly flew through the air and crashed down against the dome of the griffon’s head, causing him to fold forward in pain. Another rather angry looking griffon who had been standing behind the bar at the far end stomped towards them, pounding her fist against the wooden surface as she went.

The armed griffon, whose name was apparently Gerulf, twitched as he straightened himself out again and rubbed a claw against the top of his head. “Fer cryin’ out loud, Frida, I was just havin’ some fun! It ain’t loaded!”

Linnai’s eyes went wide. “Some fun?” she shouted, leaning in towards the griffon. “I thought you were going to shoot me! That’s your idea of fun?”

“Oh, relax, sweet-cheeks, like I said, it ain’t loaded!” he said, pointing the flintlock at the ceiling and pulling the trigger. With a loud bang, a bullet shot from the muzzle, hit a metal plate on the roof, ricocheted back down towards the bar, and buried itself in a bottle of golden-colored liquid. The bottle shattered and the booze cascaded across the shelf.

Linnai fell backwards off of her stool and onto the ground. Frida, the bar maid, smashed her fist down over Gerulf’s head in the same spot the mug had hit it a second earlier and then used her other claw to snatch the weapon from him. She grumbled to herself as she opened a cabinet underneath the bar, tossed the gun onto a pile of more guns, knives, and other various weapons, and slammed the cabinet door shut.

The barmaid leaned against the bar and smiled down at Linnai. “I am so sorry about that, honey. The old coot’s a little senile and has no manners to speak of.” The old coot in question grumbled to himself and drank down the rest of his drink. “What can I get for you?”

Linnai hopped back up on her stool and chuckled nervously. “I'm not really thirsty, I was actually looking for—“

“Oh, don’t you worry about that! I think I heard Gerulf say he was gonna buy you a drink, isn’t that right Gerulf?”

“You old hag,” Gerulf mumbled, but nodded his head and slapped a coin down on the bar.

Linnai sighed and shook her head. “Red wine, something dry.” She turned to look at the griffon who had been holding a gun to her head just a moment ago. “Why would you ask me something like that, anyway?”

“For fun?” Gerulf said with a shrug. “I swear I didn’t know it was loaded.”

“How can you forget something like that? And furthermore, why that question? Why changelings?” Linnai asked, her brow furrowing in thought. I wonder if the reset swarm has already been released. Did we wait too long, even with Luna’s dream moving faster than reality?

Gerulf laughed. “It’s topical, of course! Not to worry, though, we haven’t had changelings here for a good month or two. They don’t have any reason to set foot in Avenport, they know we’re not involved in whatever nonsense the Wonderbolts are mixed up in these days.”

“So, there were changelings?”

The griffon blinked, his facial expression suddenly becoming still and flat. “How have you not heard about that? You say you just flew in, but you surely must have been in one of the other havens recently, right?”

Shoot! I need to be careful. I don’t know what’s been going on, and apparently it’s strange to not know. I have to play this really smooth… What would Mulci do?

Linnai coughed and cleared her throat. “Oh yeah, just recently. I guess I’m a bit of a scatterbrain, though. I just forgot for a second is all.”

Gerulf narrowed his eyes. “Well, I lived through it. Let me tell you, there was never a darker day for Griffon-kind. The ponies living here all remember it like it was yesterday, too, but I guess an outsider might have been more concerned with surviving. I’ll never forget, though…”

“Here we go again,” Frida groaned, stepping towards Linnai and leaning in to whisper in her ear. “The old bird loves his war stories. Just smile and nod.”

“It was a day like any other. Sure, we’d heard that Equestria had gotten into a bit of trouble with these changelings, but everyone here figured it was a pony problem, and we’d never even see a changeling here. But on that day, just after noon, there they were: changelings, and not just any changelings, griffon changelings. They made no secret about their presence. Now, I was busy doing what I had always done—“

“Sittin’ in here and getting’ drunk,” Frida added, leaning down against the bar’s surface.

“Let me tell the story, ya old crow!” Gerulf protested, then continued. “I may’ve been here at the bar, but I was workin’ on thinkin’ up my next big invention. Alcohol is like mental lubrication. Anyway, these two griffons kicked the bar door open, made a big ruckus. Griffons the likes of which we’d never seen. Holes in the legs and such, I thought maybe they were veterans like me, but then I saw their beaks. Make no mistake, those beaks weren’t natural. Crooked and sharp, almost fang-like I tell ya. They barged in and immediately started shoutin’, they were lookin’ for a pony named Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow Dash? They must be in the reset swarm. We were too late! All the chit-chat… and this was two months ago dream time? Sheesh, it was only a few minutes outside. How fast is this place going!?

“Hah! I can tell by the look on your face, you’re as confused as we were. Why would the High Awesome Commander of The Wonderbolts be here in Avenport? Apparently her connection to one of our more infamous citizens made them think she’d be hiding out here. So I walks up to one of them—“

“Stumbled over, more like.”

“Confound it, Frida, let me talk! I walks over to one of them, and I says to him ‘There ain’t no Wonderbolts show goin’ on here. Maybe come back next summer.’”

“And then ya got knocked to the ground.”

Gerulf shot a glare at Frida and grunted. “Aye, that happened. He caught me off guard.”

“And then Gilda came crashing in through the window to save your drunken tail.”

“Yep, and she brought along the genuine article herself, Rainbow Dash. She was here after all! That’s the twist in the story, ya see. Those changelings were right all along. Before ya knew it, more changelings were showing up, popping outta nowhere. Some of the ponies and griffons here at the bar were even flashin’ with magic and changing form. It was real intense! To top it off, more Wonderbolts started showin’ up, and before we knew it, we had ourselves a bonafide bar fight!”

“Sounds exciting. What happened to Rainbow Dash? How did you drive away the changelings?”

Gerulf and Frida both laughed for a moment before Gerulf continued. “Truth be told, we didn’t drive them off, they left on their own once Rainbow and Gilda shot outta town. Those changelings seem to only care about getting at Rainbow Dash. I hear Her Awesomeness, as they call her, went into hiding after that and not a soul’s seen her since. Gilda might know where she went to, but she’s real tight-beaked. The two a’ them go way back, apparently. Some bad blood, I hear, too, but they’re both honorable gals, so ya know neither are rattin’ out the other.”

So I need to find this Gilda. Your drunken rambling was more helpful than you know, old bird.

“Don’t get me wrong, it was a long and bloody battle. It left the bar, ended up raging all across the city. Rainbow Dash and Gilda were commanding the guard here and the Wonderbolts. It looked pretty hopeless. Entire trees had been knocked down, lives ruined, lives lost. I hadn’t seen action like that since the last great war. Due to my flashbacks, I wasn’t able to help much in the battle, but it ended as abruptly as it began. Soon as the ponies flew away, the changelings followed, and we haven’t seen a changeling here since other than one or two spies.”

“Okay, okay, you’ve listened to him ramble long enough. Here’s your wine, honey,” Frida said, sliding a glass across the bar to Linnai. “So what does bring you to Avenport, deary? Long way from Equestria.”

Linnai rubbed the back of her head nervously with one hoof and leaned forward to sip from the glass. “Truth be told, I was a bit lost. Wasn’t sure where I was. This isn’t Equestria, then?”

The two griffons shot each other confused looks and then turned back to Linnai. “Well of course not. Equestria’s across the ocean. Surely you must have crossed it. This is the Griffon Kingdom.”

This makes no sense. Sure, this dream was moving fast, but I’ve never heard of anyone entering a dream this far from the dreamer. Unless Rainbow Dash actually is here. No telling how long until the others show up, either. I’d better dig for some more information.

“Thanks for the wine, and the story,” Linnai said, taking a swig from her glass. “I’m going to need to stay here for a couple of nights, probably. I’m waiting for my brother to show up, and I need to do some research. Is there a library in town?”

“Ahhh, an academic, are you? Not many of those left in this world. Good to see someone carrying the torch of the intellectual,” Gerulf said with a smile. “Why, when I was your age, I went to one of the biggest universities in—“

“Don’t you start, again,” Frida interrupted. “Next thing you know, you’ll be going on about your crazy inventions. Library is to the north in a hollowed-out tree. Ground level. You won’t be able to miss it, trust me. What are you planning on studying?”

“History, mostly. Recent history.”

“Well, don’t forget to stop by now and then. Everyone needs to unwind from time to time, and we’re the unwindingest spot in the city, I tell ya,” Frida responded. “Where ya stayin’ at?”

Linnai lowered her gaze, staring down into the tiny splash of red liquid left in her glass. “I hadn’t thought about it, really. I’ll figure out something. I must admit, I don’t have any money.”

“Oh yeah?” Frida asked, reaching behind the bar and grabbing a piece of paper. “I got a proposition for ya. Sure could use a pony for some delivery work. You’re a pegasus, no less, so getting around here won’t be an issue for ya. We got a room we can let ya stay in if ya take on the position. It’ll have to be on a weekly basis, though. Will ya be in town that long?”

Linnai felt herself groan internally. Deliveries? Like, pulling carts and heavy lifting? I’m regretting my choice of pegasus more every minute…

“Well, you don’t have to decide right now. Take this flyer with you,” Frida said, placing the paper beside Linnai’s wine glass. The words ‘HELP WANTED – PEGASI OR STURDY GRIFFONS’ was written in big letters along the top edge. “Our last delivery boy was a real slacker, and the one before him turned out to be a changeling. At least we know you don’t have either of those problems, seeing as you’re already here for your research. We could really use a driven lass like yourself. Wouldn’t want you to have to stay in any of the refugee camps.”

“Refugee camps?” Linnai asked, then drank down the last of her wine.

“From Equestria. They’ve been streaming in for the last six months ever since the changelings appeared.”

Six months! This dream isn’t just fast, it’s insane!

“Shame, really. Not much we can do, though, right now. Ever since Canterlot was razed, Equestria is the last place on Earth you’d want to be. When did you escape?”

“Escape, yeah, well I don’t really like to talk about it. Things have been pretty… confusing for me and my brother, lately,” she responded, not necessarily lying about her recent confusion. “I hope he’ll be okay.”

“As do I, there’s been plenty of traumatized ponies. So sad, but you seem pretty stable for the most part. That might be why I somehow hope you’ll accept and take the position. Strange as it may seem with all the refugees trying to scrape out a life here, it is hard to find good help nowadays,” Frida said, turning toward Gerulf. “My husband and I own this place, as well as the inn up above it, so don’t feel as if you’d be imposing.”

Gerulf nodded his head. “Aye, just come on back whenever yer studyin’s done fer the night.”

Linnai finished her glass of wine and bowed her head to the two griffins. “Thanks again, for your hospitality. I’ll… consider the offer.”

Frida smiled so sweetly at Linnai, she could practically feel the expression piercing her in some way. “You be off, then, don’t let us keep you. We’ll see you again, deary.”

Linnai nodded, got up from her stool, and walked out the door of the tavern, turning back to wave one last time. Once outside the building, she took a moment to think. She felt as if she were out of breath, and clutched a hoof across her chest as she breathed. That wine must have been stronger than it seemed. Feeling a bit lightheaded. Well, off to the library! Just north, she said?

She took off, flying to the north, until she spotted a mighty tree with windows build right into it. Unlike most of the structures that were built onto trees in this town, this one was actually inside the tree. Furthermore, the tree looked a bit out of place. It had a different shape to it, and different foliage. At the top of the tree, there was a balcony with a telescope.

Interesting, Linnai thought as she landed at the library’s front entrance.

The wooden door at the base of the tree had a panel with the words ‘Golden Oak’ etched across it. Linnai pushed the door open and stepped inside, gasping as she took in the layout of the interior. The walls of the hollowed-out tree had shelves carved directly into them, some shelves going up so tall that a ladder was needed to climb up and browse. A staircase, also chiseled out from the tree’s wood, circled around in the back, leading to an upper floor. Linnai trotted across the spacious center area, glancing at the wood-carved horse head that was the centerpiece of a table in the middle of the room, and made her way to the stairs.

Upon making it to the top of the stairs, Linnai raised her eyebrow in confusion. The top floor of the tree was set up like a bedroom. There were more shelves of books, but also a rather comfy looking bed at one end. At the foot of the bed was a basket that was stuffed with a pillow and a blanket, as well. Linnai shrugged, assuming the basket was some sort of pet bed.

Why would they have a bedroom in the library, of all places? Well, I suppose a bed is a nice enough place to read, Linnai thought. I’ll have to remember this place if I decide to not take up Frida’s offer, assuming nopony lives here. Really, though, who lives in a library?

“Anyway, time to get down to business. It’s a dream, so I doubt many of these books contain anything useful, but almost every dreamer has recent events documented somewhere,” she said aloud as she trotted back down to the central chamber. Scanning the shelves, she finally found a section labeled ‘History’. She glanced across the book spines and sighed. “What the heck? It’s all Daring Do books. Who put Daring Do in the history section?”

Linnai looked back and forth, and then to the door to make sure no one was there, and then levitated the Daring Do books off the shelf. She trotted over to the shelves that were labeled ‘Fiction’. When she got there, she laid the books down on the floor and tilted her head in confusion once again. The fiction shelf was already stocked with Daring Do books. In fact, the entire fiction section was nothing but Daring Do.

“Wait a minute,” Linnai said, her brow furrowing as frustration began to build up inside her. She dashed over to another section, this one labeled ‘Biography’ and found the same thing. The shelf was full of the Daring Do novels, as well as another couple of books that stood out a bit. One of them was an autobiography of Daring Do, and another was a biography of Rainbow Dash. She pulled the Rainbow Dash book out, flipped to a random page, and began to read aloud.

“Let’s see… ‘Rainbow Dash and Daring Do joined forces to fight against the evil forces of the shadowmancer, Umbross. The two heroines very nearly fell victim to his dark magic, but through the power of their sheer awesomeness, they were able to put an end to his reign over the ponies of the Dark Mountain. If you looked the word awesome up in the dictionary, you would find them there. Their faces were carved into the mountain’s face for all to see, and they were made honorary princesses…’ Oh for the love of… this is all self-insertion fanfiction! How big of a Daring Do fan is this pony?”

She slapped the book shut and reshelved it, deciding to try her luck back in the history section. On the way, she passed the reference section and decided to grab the dictionary and flip to the word ‘Awesome’. Sure enough, there was just a picture of Rainbow Dash there, with a note that said ‘See also: Friendship’. Linnai laughed out loud, unsure if she could even take Rainbow seriously anymore, and turned the page to the F’s. She found the word ‘Friendship’ toward the end of the section, defined as ‘The most awesome thing ever. Friends make you feel strong when you thought you were weak; They make you feel good when everything is bad; See also: Fluttershy, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Spike, and even Applejack.’

Linnai shook her head. “See also: Sappy. Blech.” She put the dictionary back and returned to the history section. Skimming past all the various Daring Do books, she finally found a world encyclopedia. “There’s no guarantee that this will have anything useful in it, but it’s worth checking.” She grabbed it, walked over to the table in the middle of the room, and set the book down. A stack of newspapers on the table caught her eye. She grabbed one, unfolded it, and read the headline.

Equestria in Flames! Changeling Invasion Leaves Canterlot in Ruins.

“Huh, this might actually be more useful,” she said, continuing to read the article. “After last night’s surprise raid on Ponyville left the small country village almost nothing but a smoldering wasteland, the changelings have moved north to Canterlot. The mountaintop seat of power for the ponies of Equestria was leveled in a matter of hours, leaving only the central palace standing. Reports are still coming in, but it appears as though Equestria may be falling for good. Is the Griffon Kingdom next? Turn to page 5 for an editorial piece exploring the possibility.”

Linnai shrugged. “That’s what I’d expect with the reset swarm. I’m surprised Rainbow Dash has been able to hold on this long. I should probably be prepared for this dream to shatter at any point,” she said with a sigh, her eyes then going wide. “Of course, that would send me back to my body… and my execution! Shoot, I really can’t let anything happen to Rainbow Dash! Brother, what have you gotten us into this time?” The reality of her situation having sunk in, Linnai continued to read through news articles as quickly as she could, looking for any clues as to Rainbow Dash’s whereabouts.

Before she knew it, the sun had set past the horizon. She glanced out the window at the moon. At least someone is controlling the sun and moon still. The princesses may be hiding out in the havens of the west, she thought. I’ll take the delivery job, as unpleasant as it sounds. I’ll try and find out anything I can from griffons around the city while working. I’d better get back to the tavern and let the two of them know.

Linnai trotted out of the library and took to the sky, flying back toward the side of town where the tavern was located. The whole time she was flying, information from the news articles was spinning around in her head.

Equestria, now a shadow of its former glory, has broken down into several havens, kept safe by ponies who are strong enough to stand up to the changelings. The identities of these ponies are unknown at this time, but it is assumed that they are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, along with the princesses of Equestria. While the changelings are preoccupied with these havens, the Griffon Kingdom may yet be safe. As we speak, defenses are being set up at our borders, as well as on all seaboards.

Rainbow Dash might be in one of those havens, but I still have my doubts. Why would the dream have put me here if Rainbow Dash isn’t nearby? It doesn’t fit with any other dream world we’d experienced before. She’s in this city, she has to be, and I’m going to find her.

When Linnai returned to the tavern, she found all the lights out and the whole place completely dark. Hanging on the door was a sign that read “Closing early tonight. We will see you tomorrow!”

“What kind of bar closes this early?” Linnai pondered aloud as she pushed the door open and poked her head in, glancing back and forth. “Hello?” she squeaked, barely above a whisper. A slight flickering of light came from off to the left and up a set of stairs, toward the back of the main public area. Linnai carefully stepped across the creaking floorboards and up the wooden stairs. The staircase led up to a second story walkway that made its way to the back of the tavern’s great hall along one side. A single candle had been placed upon a small table there, and just ahead of her, Linnai could make out the light of another candle coming from a door that was ajar just ahead at the end of the path.

“Mr. Gerulf? Mrs. Frida?” Linnai quietly called out as she pushed the door open and peeked beyond it. There was a hallway with several doors, the first of which on the left side was proper open. A piece of paper hung from the door’s handle. Linnai lifted the paper and read it by the dim candlelight.

Sleep well!

Linnai entered the room. It was small, but cozy. A straw mattress sat on a wooden platform at the back, with a table next to it. On the table was a glass of water and a plate of some sort of little red circles and some leafy greens. Linnai lifted one of the reddish objects up and sniffed it. She nearly gagged as the smell entered her nostrils.

Meat! Blech! she thought and dropped the object back onto the plate. She eyed the greens and thoughts of her brother munching on grass entered her mind. She giggled quietly and shrugged. Well, might as well see what all the fuss is about. She shoved one of the leaves into her mouth and chewed. The fibrous, watery texture filled her mouth with a slightly sweet, slightly earthy taste. Raising her eyebrows and rolling her eyes upward, she shrugged once again.

“Eh, it’s not so bad, I guess,” she said, swallowing down the food. “Awfully considerate of them.” A moment later, her stomach rumbled slightly and she found herself quickly stuffing the rest of the vegetation into her mouth and happily munching away.

Lying on the bed and chewing on the last of the lettuce-like substance, she sighed and thought to herself, Brother, what the heck is happening to us? I’m lying here with a belly full of green mash. She gazed out the small window above her bed at the full moon above, which was shining down through the trees of the forest. Confound these ponies… and griffons, too, I suppose. Since when am I so comfortable among them all?

Linnai rolled over onto her other side, closed her eyes, and a vision of Twilight appeared in her mind. Twilight had a confused expression on her face as she stood alongside Linnai and Mulcibar. Linnai felt a strange warmness in her face. Reaching a hoof up, she rubbed her right cheek and smirked. Seemed like Prudicorn was pretty surprised that she was so relaxed around us, too. Another image of Twilight appeared, her eyes closed and her lips puckered, inching closer and closer. Linnai’s eyes shot open and she shook her head, now striking her hoof against her cheek.

“I’ll never get any sleep if I keep having thoughts like that,” she said with a sigh. She pushed the window open a crack, letting in a cool breeze, which gently caressed her warm cheeks as she eventually drifted off to sleep.

Rainbow Dash’s Dream, Equestria, Present Time

Lily ran down a row of tents towards a large campfire in the distance, screaming at the top of her lungs the whole way. “The horror! The horror! Changelings are attacking!”

As she ran, ponies would pop their heads out of tents and look at her, then look to the sky. Eventually, the shape of a tall, white pony with a flowing multi-colored mane came into her field of vision, standing near the campfire with a purple unicorn.

“Princess Celestia! Twilight! They’re coming from west!” Lily shouted. The two ponies by the campfire wasted no time. They fired beams of magic up into the sky, forming a bright purple shield and a ball of yellow light that lit up the sky as if it were daytime.

“Let them come, then! They shall not find what they are looking for, just as they never do!”

A dark figure stopped in the air above the forcefield, just above the campfire. A changeling wearing a suit of spiked armor and a dragon-like helmet shouted down at the camp.

“Give us Rainbow Dash and you will be able to return to your lives!”

Twilight’s eyebrow twitched and she threw her gaze upward. “Even if we knew where she was, we’d never hand her over to the likes of you! You know you can’t break through my shield, so just buzz off!”

“Even if he could, he’d have to face me,” Celestia said, glancing at the cloud of changeling drones that hung in the sky behind the larger one. “How many do you have with you this time? A hundred? Two hundred?” She laughed, covering her mouth with a hoof.

“YOU WOULD NEED A THOUSAND TO EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!! NOW LEAVE THIS PLACE!!” Her voice echoed across the landscape, the very trees and rocks seeming to bend as she shouted.

The changeling swarm flew back several feet in response, and the leader hissed down at Celestia. “If you want a thousand, that can be arranged! Alive or dead, it doesn’t matter, but Rainbow Dash will be ours!”

With that, the swarm flew away. Once they were out of sight, Twilight lowered the shield and fell to the ground. Panting, she looked up at Celestia. “That… really takes it out of me. I don’t know how Shining Armor managed to hold the shield over all of Canterlot for as long as he did.”

Celestia shook her head. “Your brother was something else, that’s for sure… but we should not dwell on that. We need to get in touch with the other havens and tell them we’ve had an attack. I shall send a letter to Spike.”

Twilight nodded her head, wiping a tear away from her eye. “Princess, why do they want Rainbow Dash? Why her?”

Celestia shrugged. “Well, she is the High Awesome Commander of The Wonderbolts, the fastest mare alive, and the only pony who has ever defeated a full-grown titan in single combat. I suppose they fear her. That is the only thing I can think of.”

“I don’t know. It’s strange. It feels like there’s… something else. I can’t put my hoof on it, you know?”

Celestia nodded and lowered her head to Twilight. “I feel the same way,” she whispered, “but until we find out the truth, we have to stand our ground and coordinate between havens.”

The two of them looked toward the sky, staring into the full moon above. “Surely Rainbow Dash will come save us. I just know it,” Twilight said, her voice full of hope.

“Indeed,” Celestia responded. “She is Equestria’s only hope.”

Rainbow Dash’s Dream, Two Days Later, Point of Entry: Fluttershy and Mulcibar

Fluttershy opened her eyes and shook her head, placing a hoof against it. Wha… What happened? My head is pounding all of the sudden.

She wearily trained her eyes around the room she found herself in. There was a table in front of her with a teapot sitting on a tray upon it. Two cups sat next to the pot, upside down, as well as a plate of sugar cubes and a pair of small spoons. Steam rose from the teapot, and Fluttershy instinctively inhaled, taking in the smell of herbal tea. The scent seemed to instantly calm her headache, and she couldn’t help but smile slightly.

Tea… Right, tea. Was I making tea? She thought. She was interrupted by the sound of groaning coming from behind her.

“Rainbow Dash? Is that you?” she said, turning her head to look at where the noise had come from.

“What? No, it’s just me, sorry…” a voice responded. “That was rougher than I thought it would be.”

Fluttershy turned her head downward and saw Mulcibar. She screamed, jumped back, and bumped into the table, nearly knocking the tea set off the other side. “Changeling!” she screeched.

“Wait, wait! It’s just me! Mulcibar!”

“Keep away from me!”

Mulcibar’s eyes went wide as he realized what had happened.

If a dreamwalker’s will is weaker than the dreamer’s, they could be the one taken over by the dream version.

Mulcibar stepped forward and reached a hoof out to Fluttershy. “Think, Fluttershy. You have to concentrate. We’re here to find Rainbow Dash.”

“I know what you’re here for! You won’t lay a hoof on her!” Fluttershy shouted back. “Somepony get in here and help!”

“No! We’re here to find her! You and I! Try to remember! Princess Luna and Twilight will be here, soon! Linnai is out there waiting for us, somewhere, too!”

A memory flashed in Fluttershy’s mind. She saw Mulcibar’s face, up close and weak looking, lit by a flickering fire. She clenched her eyes shut and shook her head. “Stop! Whatever you’re doing, it’s not going to work!”

The door at the far end of the room swung open, and a light blue mare with a rainbow-colored mane came storming into the room. Across her left cheek was a long scar. She wore a blue uniform, streaked with a yellow lightning bolt. Sewn into the uniform’s chest was a gemstone in the shape of a lightning bolt. The mare’s eyes immediately locked onto Mulcibar. “Fluttershy! What’s going on?” she shouted.

“I don’t know how he got in here! He just suddenly appeared!” Fluttershy shouted back at the mare.

Mulcibar took a step back. “Rainbow Dash!”

“We’re infiltrated? This is bad.” Rainbow Dash said, and then raised her hoof, pointing it toward the changeling. “We better move. Looks like lunch will have to wait.”

“Wait--!” Mulcibar started, but was interrupted by a beam of energy firing from Rainbow’s hoof and striking him in the chest. He flew back to the far wall of the room, slamming into it. He felt his head connect with the stone wall, and then lost consciousness.

Crash Down Ch 3 - Acceleration

Book Five: Crash Down

Chapter Three – Acceleration

Rainbow Dash’s Dream, Present, In the Sky Above Avenport

Perhaps it was the cool night air blowing against her body, or perhaps it was the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that she might have been seen using magic, but Linnai felt chilled to her bones despite the fact that she was being held in Gerulf’s arms as he soared through the sky. A sharp pain shot through her side as Gerulf shifted her body slightly in his grip. She could feel one of his claws pressing firmly against her ribcage.

Oh, that’s it, she thought. It’s loss of blood.

“We have to get you to the hospital,” Gerulf said, looking down at the pegasus.

Hospital? No! Linnai thought. If they put me under or numb me, I could revert back to changeling form! Even if I catch it and it’s only on the inside, they might still be able to tell. Especially if I use any magic!

Linnai squirmed slightly in Gerulf’s arms. He gripped her more tightly, causing him to waver through the air briefly. “Calm down!” he shouted down at her.

“No!” Linnai shouted, her eyes locking with his. “No hospital! I’ll be fine!”

“You won’t be fine, you were stabbed!”

This old fool is going to get me killed! And then it’s off to my execution in the real world!

“Please! You have to listen to me!” cried Linnai, her voice shaking. “I can’t go to the hospital! They won’t… I just can’t!”

Gerulf narrowed his eyes. “They treat plenty of ponies there. Don’t worry about that.”

“It’s not that! I can’t explain it, I just… just trust me, please,” she responded more calmly, still gazing into his eyes, which softened slightly as he let out a sigh. “Gerulf, please…”

“Fine, fine. But yer not gonna like the alternative.”

Linnai blinked. “What’s… the alternative?”

Gerulf changed course, heading southward back towards the tavern. “I told ya we used to do security work. That wasn’t exactly a lie, but it wasn’t wholly true, either. When I saw where the delivery was going, I had a feeling there would be trouble, so I followed you just to make sure.”

“What are you saying?” Linnai asked, blinking her eyes.

Gerulf shook his head. “Let’s just say we couldn’t always go to the hospital for our injuries either, so we got pretty good at patching ourselves up. When we get back to the roost, I’ll get you fixed, but the reason I say you won’t like it is, well…”

“Well?” Linnai asked, almost not wanting to know.

“Ain’t had any anesthesia for a while. It’s gonna hurt. You still don’t wanna go to the hospital and see a proper doctor?”

Linnai shook her head and turned to stare southward. “No. I’ll be fine. Do what you have to do.”

“We all have secrets, kid. Don’t sweat it. I know.”

Linnai gulped and nodded her head. You have no idea, old bird. This isn’t much better, though. If he notices anything out of the ordinary…

Gerulf pushed open the tavern doors and immediately rushed to the stairs in the back. As he climbed the stairs past the second floor and onto the spiral staircase that led up to the attic, Frida’s voice came from below.

“What happened?” Frida shouted.

“Stove still fired up?” Gerulf yelled back, continuing his ascent to the attic. “Knife wound.”

“Why are you asking her about the stove?” Linnai asked, attempting to shift slightly in his arms, but ultimately unable to budge but an inch.

“Stay calm,” Gerulf said, looking back down at her. “You have to stay calm or you could cause more bleeding. It’s slowed significantly, but only due to the pressure I’ve been putting on it.” By the time he’d said this, they were upstairs passing through what looked like a combination living room and workshop. Gerulf pushed a door in the back open with his shoulder and entered a smaller room in the back. Moonlight shone in through the single window, and Linnai found herself placed upon a long padded table underneath it. She tried her best to keep her breathing calm, though shivers shot through her body as soon as she was freed from Gerulf’s grasp. The griffon rushed across the dark room and lit an oil lamp which he then brought over to the table. He rummaged through the drawers that sat beside the table, pulling out items that Linnai recognized as standard first aid implements: Gauze bandages, a bottle of clear liquid, some clean white rags, and some adhesive tape.

Linnai’s attention was pulled away as the door at the stairs opened again and a slight red glow entered the room. Gerulf turned his head briefly, then turned back to Linnai. He lowered his face down to the knife wound and pressed against it with his claw. Blood poured out and he quickly pushed his palm against the wound again. Linnai screeched in pain, but Gerulf’s other arm quickly shot around her and held her as steady as he could manage.

“Stay calm,” he said. Linnai could see Frida now standing behind him, a dull red glow still coming from somewhere she couldn’t see. Frida circled around the table, and Linnai could hear her rattling something around in her claws. A second later, she heard Frida’s voice, as calm as could be, speaking from behind her.

“Alright, my dear, you’re going to have to trust us. Just take a deep breath,” she said as she lowered some straps down over Linnai’s head. It was a bridle of some sort, the straps made from a tough polished material, and was buckled and tightened around the back. Two straps that came together at a wide, padded bit was lowered in front of Linnai’s face and held there so she could see it. “Bite down on that, hun. It helps, believe me.”

Linnai groaned internally but opened her mouth all the same. The bit was pulled in, and she bit down upon it.

“This is going to hurt. You have to bear it. It will only be for a second,” Gerulf said. “No matter what you do, no matter how hard you have to bite down on that thing and scream, you need to stay as still as possible.”

Linnai’s eyes darted down and she finally saw where the red glow was coming from. Gerulf was holding a rod with a flat, rounded piece of metal at its tip, that was glowing red. The question about the stove, the bridle, and the bit finally connected in her mind, and she closed her eyes as tightly as she could. They meant to cauterize her wound.

Okay, well, I’ve probably flung hotter flames from my wings, she thought. This won’t be so bad. I should still act like it hurts, though, just to keep up—

The red hot metal pressed against her skin, interrupting her train of thought, and causing her eyes to shoot open. She bit down even harder, feeling as though her teeth could crack from the pressure, as the red-hot pain sliced through her. Her screams echoed through the tavern and out into the streets, but only for a brief few seconds, and then it was over. A cold, wet towel was slapped over the cauterized wound, and Linnai concentrated on keeping her breaths as calm as she could. Despite her determination, her chest heaved uncontrollably.

I have never… been so wrong… in my entire life, she thought. When she was finally able to blink, she felt tears escaping her eyes briefly, and she let up on the bit. As Frida gently removed the bridle from her head, Linnai looked down again and saw Gerulf sewing her flesh along the burned scar with a needle.

“I can’t… I can’t even feel that,” she managed to say. “I thought you didn’t have any anesthesia.”

“We don’t,” Gerulf replied. “All the nerves were burned just now. I could stab you again and you’d feel nothing. Don’t worry, though, the feeling will return. They got one of your arteries pretty good, but it wasn’t a major one. You’ll heal up fine, and you didn’t lose as much blood as I thought you had.”

Once he had finished, Gerulf poured some of the clear liquid onto a rag and pressed it against the stitching. He proceeded to take a swig from the bottle, as well, after which he coughed and slammed the bottle down onto the table beside him. “Whew! Ain’t got any disinfectant, either! Still, this stuff’s strong enough to kill anything. Anything ‘cept me, anyway.” He laughed slightly and smiled at Linnai. “Ya done good, kid. Let’s get you somewhere more comfortable to lie down.”

“I’ll go put some tea on,” said Frida. She turned and headed to the stairs, glancing over her shoulder at Linnai once more as she began her descent.

Gerulf carefully slid his arms underneath Linnai’s midsection and lifted her up effortlessly. As he wrapped his claws around her, one of his talons slid past a hard lump on the right side of Linnai’s chest. She flinched slightly and Gerulf shook his head as he carried her across the room.

“Got somethin’ else in there, hmm? I’ll take a look in a second.”

Linnai frowned. “Don’t worry about it. And I can walk, you know,” she said. She could feel the sore spot that Gerulf had just touched pulsating with pain. That damn bullet, she thought. Had to use magic to stop it or things would’ve been way worse. If he sees it…

Gerulf delicately placed Linnai on a sofa that was set up against a wall. Linnai stared up at him intensely. Don’t do it. Just let it go, she thought, as if he could possibly hear her if she concentrated hard enough.

“Let’s take a look at the other side of your chest, now,” the griffon said, leaning down and reaching to Linnai’s right. She rolled to the right in response.

“Can we not?” she asked. “It’s nothing. The knife wound was it.”

Gerulf paused, staring back down into her eyes. After a moment, he stood back up and walked over to a padded stool across from the couch, taking a seat upon it. “If you say so,” he said. “But I’m tellin’ ya, yer best to just get it all over with at once, trust me.”

“I said it was nothing!” Linnai snapped, and then stuffed her face into a small, square pillow at the end of the couch.

Gerulf shrugged. “Sorry. I don’t mean ta pry,” he said, and then turned to a square table near the stool. Upon the table sat many small objects: Tweezers, screwdrivers, a magnifying lens, and small bits of wire and other mechanical components. He picked up a pair of tweezers, used them to pick up a piece of wire, and trained his eyes through an arm-mounted magnifying lens.

After a couple of minutes of nothing but the sound of Gerulf’s tinkering, Linnai lifted her head and looked over at him. Her mind swirled with strange thoughts she had never had before. Why did he apologize? He was trying to help me and I yelled at him like that. She lifted a hoof up and stared at it. If he knew the truth, he would toss me out on the streets, or worse. Stupid old bird. That’s what he gets for being so trusting.

Alright, my dear, you’re going to have to trust us, Frida’s words echoed in Linnai’s mind. She buried her face in the pillow again.

Who’s the bigger fool? Them for taking in a total stranger, or me for letting them? Linnai thought as she remembered the past two days. She could feel something, like a tiny spark of warmth, glowing somewhere deep inside of her mind. As if possessed by that little spark, she could feel her eyes starting to tear up.

“I should just leave,” she said quietly into the pillow. “There’s something wrong with me.”

“Hmm?” Gerulf vocalized, turning his head back towards Linnai. “Something wrong?”

Linnai shook her head, letting the moisture from her eyes soak into the pillow. “Nothing,” she replied, turning to look at Gerulf again. She spotted a large telescope behind him. It was aimed out the window. Gerulf noticed her gazing past him and turned his head to look at the telescope.

“You a stargazer?” Gerulf asked.

“I’ve been known to look at them, but never really cared all that much. That’s a telescope, right?”

“Indeed. It’s a window to the cosmos.”

Linnai shrugged and turned on the couch slightly, resting the side of her head against the pillow. “What’s the point, though? If you’ve seen one star, you’ve seen them all, right?”

Gerulf laughed. “Now, I thought you were a bit of a scholar, lass. The night sky is a wonderful place of dreams and romance.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? You’re not going to get all poetic on me, are you?”

“I can hardly help it. We used to think that the stars were just dots of light in the night sky, but they’re actually other planets and suns, just like our own. Imagine if there were another world just like ours out there, and on it there was a culture just like ours, staring out into the same dark void. Dreamin’ about that kinda stuff… That’s what drives me forward. You ponies have unicorns that can use magic, but the night sky… now that’s real magic, lass.”

“Don’t the princesses control all that, though?”

“Where’s the romance in that? It’s true, Celestia and Luna are in charge of the sun and the moon, and I’ve heard that Princess Luna used to dot the sky with stars of her own creation. A true visionary, but they were all twinkle and no substance. I’ve known a few people like that, myself. They seem so full of life, but inside, they’re empty. Sorry… that got a bit dark, didn’t it?”

All twinkle and no substance, Linnai thought to herself, and deep down inside felt a strange, uncomfortable feeling. She took a deep breath and focused on it, but it was unfamiliar and confusing.

Gerulf stood up from his stool and walked back over to the couch where Linnai was lying. “Don’t you worry, kiddo. Look, in light of today’s events, I think it’s fair to say you can spend as long as you need to recuperate. I might need a day, myself. These old bones ain’t as strong as they used ta’ be,” he said and then pressed a claw against his back, rubbing it firmly. “And if ya want me to look at that other injury that I know durn well yer hiding, just let me know.”

Linnai simply nodded in response, and the old griffon patted her on the head. She shied away from his touch, slouching down further on the couch.

Gerulf laughed and turned to leave. “Don’t you worry, kid. You got plenty of substance, I can tell.”

“Yeah. Plenty of substance…” Linnai responded.

Without any further words, Gerulf made his way towards the staircase that led down from the attic. Near the stairwell, he opened a closet door, pulled a blanket out of it, and tossed the blanket towards Linnai. The soft cover landed with a flop against the back of the couch and then slid down over the disguised changeling. She grabbed ahold of it and pulled it over her head.

“Get some rest. We can talk more in the mornin’,” the griffon said, and then made his way down the stairs.

“What about the tea?” Frida’s voice came from below.

“I’ll have a cup with ya down here, lovely. Come on,” Gerfulf replied, his voice a little softer than before.

“Oh, what’s gotten into you?” Frida said with a giggle.

“I was merely taken by your beauty. You’re the brightest star in my sky, after all.”

Oh give me a break, Linnai thought as their voices trailed off. She closed her eyes, her mind focused on the swirling, unfamiliar sensations inside of her. What is happening to me? Is this what happened to you, brother? This… emotional nonsense?

Linnai felt a tear run down her cheek. She took a deep breath and concentrated on blocking out the strange feelings. She eventually fell asleep.

The next morning…

Linnai was awakened by having her blanket ripped off of her. She curled up into a ball and shook her head.

“Rise and shine!” a voice said enthusiastically.

“Come on, are we really going to do this every morning?” Linnai mumbled. A second later, she felt a claw grip her by the shoulder and shove her against the back of the couch.

“Wakie-wakie, changeling! Time to face the music!”

Linnai’s eyes shot open. “What!” she screamed.

The face of Gilda was staring back down at her.

Cloudsdale, Reality, Five Minutes Ago

The changeling dragon stared down at the clouds below, which were still swirling from where his partner had dropped through them to the ground. He snarled and turned his eyes up to the line of pegasi down the road from him, and the ballistae that lay between.

At the other end of the road, Radiant Thunder stood, a line of troops in front of him, Major Nimblewing to his right and the unicorn known as Light standing to his left. He waved his hoof in front of him and shouted out to the troops. “Ready another volley!”

The dragon’s eyes began to glow bright red and fire began to blaze from between his clenched teeth. “Fire your pathetic weapons, ponies! The others were careless, but I am not the same!” he howled. The scales on his body began to dance and his shape began to slightly morph. Within a matter of seconds, his skin seemed to take on a stone-like appearance, his teeth like stalactites and stalagmites. His eyes still burned fiery red as she screeched down at the ponies. “Fire when ready, weaklings!”

Radiant Thunder shrugged and nodded his head. “Fire.”

Several large bolts launched at high speed from the ballistae, all flying straight at the massive beast that hung in the sky. The dragon swung his wings upward, dropping in altitude. With great purpose, he allowed several of the bolts to hit their mark one after another. They exploded into wood chips upon impact with the dragon’s stony skin. The last two bolts, however, sailed over the dragon’s head, and he flipped his body in the air, whipping them with his tail and propelling them to even greater speed. They both lodged themselves in the icy dome that covered the sky.

Radiant leapt back and stared up at the now cracked dome. “That’s some carapace!”

“More like stone skin,” the major corrected. “He’s showing us that his body is stronger than the dome. Compared to the other, this dragon is on a whole different level.”

“Is this really the time to be standing here commenting on the fight?” asked Radiant.

Nimblewing groaned. “You started it!”

The dragon, meanwhile, unleashed a blast of fire breath at the point where the bolts had penetrated the dome, sending the cracks speeding across its surface. He laughed, his voice echoing across the sky.

“I guess he still wants to escape,” Radiant noted.

The dragon’s ear twitched and he turned back to the ponies. “Escape? If you were only that fortunate!”

A thunder-like boom tore through the air, the ice dome above shook violently, and the cracks on its surface spiderwebbed out even more.

“Since you’ve refused to give us Hyperion, we’re more than happy to dig it from the ruins of this city!” the dragon bellowed. Another enormous boom echoed through the air. This time, the ice dome shattered, sending shards of ice falling to the ground. From the point where the bolts had hit, there came a cracking and then a hissing sound. Two massive, spined insect-like legs wrapped around the frozen edge.

“Come on, already!” the dragon shouted. A giant beetle-like creature leapt up over the dome, which was now more of a wall, and landed with a thump on the cloud surface.

“What on earth is that?” asked Major Nimblewing.

The dragon laughed and stared down at the creature. “Juggernaut! Attack!”

With a deafening screech, it began to charge toward the line of ballistae. it veered left and right as it went down the road, smashing buildings to pieces as it went. When it got close to the ballistae, the ponies that had been there had long since fallen back. The beast opened its maw, revealing a long, thick tongue. From this green, pulsating appendage, it fired a stream of bright green, thick liquid. The ooze coated everything it touched, and its rancid smell was quick to spread through the air.

“You got a plan?” Nimblewing asked, grabbing Radiant by his jacket’s collar.

“I bet some soap and elbow grease can clean that stuff right up,” he replied.

“I mean for stopping the creature!”

“I don’t know! Your guess is as good as mine, major!” he shouted back, slapping her hooves away from his coat. He stared at the creature as it approached with great speed. The dragon swooped down over where it had sprayed the green gel and blasted the area with its fire breath. The goopy substance ignited and burned like an inferno, dissipating the clouds and burning the ballistae to a crisp.

“Admiral!” the major shouted. “We have to go! Run!” The other troops around them needed no second command and all began to run to the other side of the city, away from the Juggernaut.

Radiant merely turned his head to his left and stared at Light. Her eyes were wide, and her horn was glowing. He reached a hoof up and patted her on the head. “You don’t have to, you know.”

Light shook her head. “You know we have no choice, now.”

Major Nimblewing blinked and stared at Light. “You two are not seriously suggesting we--”

“What other options do you see here, Major? We don’t have much time to debate this.”

“You could destroy half the city!”

“That thing will destroy the entire city.”

The major sighed and backed down, her shoulders slouching. “Just… get it over with!” she shouted, and then sat down and covered her ears with her hooves.

Radiant nodded to Light. “Go. You’re the only hope left.”

Light’s eyes began to glow bright white and she levitated slightly into the air. The lightning bolt on her cutie mark seemed to pulsate with light. The clouds all around, on the ground and in the air up above, began to turn black. The dragon stopped in mid-air and the Juggernaut skidded to a halt, opening its mouth and preparing to fire another round of green ooze forth.

The dragon stared down at the floating, glowing unicorn, now just yards away. Magic pulsed out from her body and shot into the atmosphere. Remnants of the ice dome began to melt and evaporate, turning into even more clouds, and the black clouds that they joined began to swirl in a circle directly above the dragon.

“What are you doing!?” the dragon screamed.

“Ending you!” Light shouted.

From the center of the swirling cloud, a lightning bolt the size of a building came crashing down, striking the dragon directly in the head. It screeched in pain, its eyes lighting up bright white and electricity shooting randomly off from its body in all directions. The lightning bolt persisted, frying the dragon, violently blasting pieces of its stone skin off. The lightning didn’t stop there, though. It ricocheted from the dragon down to the Juggernaut, blasting pieces of its carapace away and boiling its insect-like flesh. Green ooze exploded from its upper body, which caught fire upon contact with the electric energy of the lightning bolt. Flame shot up and outward, but any that came towards the ponies hit an invisible forcefield.

But the lightning bolt did not stop there. Light screamed, her body still hovering in the air, as one final blast of lightning, the biggest thus far, shot down onto the city streets and through the clouds, blasting a massive hole into the very foundation of Cloudsdale. The bolt continued until it finally hit the ground.

There was nothing left of the dragon or the Juggernaut. There was nothing left of Cloudsdale where they had been situated. In front of Light, the major, and the admiral, there was just a window to the surface that used to be a city block.

Light lowered back down to the ground and fell to a heap, breathing heavily. “I’m sorry… admiral…” she said between breaths. “I couldn’t.. control it.”

Radiant Thunder knelt before the unicorn and shook his head. “No. You did well, Light. We’re all alive because of you, and look, you only took out a block or so. Remember when they said your special talent could take out the whole city? This is way less! Great job!”

Major Nimblewing smacked Radiant Thunder on the back of his head. “It’s still an entire city block! We’ll have to write a report to the princess about this.”

Radiant turned his head in the direction of Canterlot. He couldn’t see it through the city and the smoke, but he knew it was there. “If there still is a princess,” he said. “Prepare Cloudsdale to move. We’re going to move this city as far away from Canterlot as possible. I’ll go get the fleet ready. We’re going to need every able-bodied soldier to get on board.”

The major stood up and composed herself. “Very well. What is the objective?”

Radiant stood back up and slid a cigarette into his mouth. After lighting it, he turned to the major, his face showing no sign of patience or humor. “Tonight we take Canterlot, princess or not. Citizens or not. If these changelings are there, if they’ve already taken over, then I am not willing to believe anypony is who they say they are. We take the fleet, fly to Canterlot, and demand their immediate surrender. If it’s the princess, she will understand. She’ll allow it. And if she doesn’t, then we know… we know it’s not her.”

“And then what?”

Radiant closed his eyes and took another drag from his cigarette. “We attack the castle. Reduce it to rubble.”

“And if you’re wrong?” the major asked, flabbergasted.

“Then I’ll see you in tartarus, major. You wouldn’t be by my side if you weren’t ready to follow me there, anyway.”

The major sighed. “Alright. I’ll get the word out. But first, carry Light somewhere she can rest. The poor thing is exhausted. She’s a pony, you know, not just a weapon.”

Radiant laughed and waved a hoof over his shoulder. “Look behind me lately?”

The major glanced behind Radiant and saw at least four pegasus soldiers standing over Light, all fawning over her.

“Are you okay, captain?”

“Did it hurt? Tell me where it hurts! I can rub it for you!”

“Do you need anything? Let us carry you someplace nicer!”

The major shook her head and gritted her teeth. “No one ever treats me like that,” she grumbled under her breath.

“Probably too scared of ya,” Radiant murmured.

“What was that?” Nimblewing asked, a vein over her eye bulging.

“Nothing!” responded Radiant. “Let’s get moving!”

Canterlot, Reality, Present

A bright flash of lightning lit up the sky in the west, the brightness of the blast lighting up the throne room for several seconds as if it were daytime. Chrysalis turned her head and opened her eyes, which were glossed over with white magic.

As the light dissipated and the room returned to its usual dark, green glow, a single tear fell from the queen’s eye and streaked down her cheek.

“I’m so sorry,” she said softly. “I couldn’t stop her.”

Rainbow Dash’s Dream, One Day Later (Dream Time), Rainbow Dash’s Hideout

Mulcibar stamped his hoof against the floor and shut his eyes tightly. The room was dark now, the scent of the burnt-out candle filling his nose as he took a deep breath. I can’t get out of here with magic, and I just wasted my chance to trick them into letting me go. I guess it comes down to muscle, now, he thought. He opened his eyes and looked in the direction of the door at the far end of the room. The slightest sliver of light shone from underneath the door. I’ll have to make a break for it. Fluttershy will be safe with Rainbow Dash for the time being. Once I break out, they’ll all surely come running. Daring Do, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash, who I know has some sort of lucidity… at least enough to have blasted me earlier. There will be no time to think, just have to move.

“So, what is it that you want here?” a voice spoke from the darkness.

Mulcibar jerked his head around, but could only see blackness. “Who’s there?”

“You really threw a wrench into things, you buffoon. And that power you used… I’ve never seen anything like it.”

That voice. It’s new. A fourth pony here?

“I should leave you locked up in that cage, let you rot. I am not about to have my plans ruined just because some love-hungry changeling barges in. Why are you here? Are you a traitor? Trying to expose me?”

“First tell me who you are,” Mulcibar responded.

“Oh, no, it’s not that easy. You’re in the cage, I’m out here. I ask the questions. You almost got free earlier with your freaky magic, but it won’t work this time.”

Mulcibar threw his wings up, illuminating the room with their blue glow. He caught a glimpse of a dark figure to his left, but it quickly ducked back into a shadow that was being cast from a crate. He wasn’t able to make out any distinguishing features, but the body shape and eyes were unmistakable. “A changeling drone, eh?” he said, lowering his wings. “Where’d you come from? Are you part of the reset swarm? I’d been made to understand it was more, well, straightforward.”

“Reset swarm?” the changeling questioned. “Is that some other hive? I knew you weren’t one of us.”

Mulcibar placed a hoof to his head and closed his eyes. “Wait, wait, you’re actually not from the outside?”

“Oh, I’m from the outside, alright. I’ve been here in Rainbow Dash’s hideout for the past week waiting for the right moment to strike. She suspects nothing.”

“Wrong outside. Nevermind,” Mulcibar said. “Look, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll get me out of here. There’s something coming, and no one is going to be ready for it. Not you, not your changeling buddies, not Rainbow Dash. Trust me.”

The changeling laughed. “Trust you? When you barged in and almost blew my cover? What were you thinking, anyway? You clearly know nothing, you’re probably insane. Be that as it may, you’re still a changeling. Just lay low and I’ll make sure you get out of here. Just don’t say anything to the ponies, and don’t interfere with me!”

“Or what?”

“Or you’re dead! I’ll skewer you like a kebab! Understand that?”

A flash of green magic lit up the room for a second, and then the door opened briefly as the changeling left. Just before the door closed, Mulcibar could make out the outline of a pony, but couldn’t identify them. The door shut again, and he once again found himself in darkness.

So there’s a changeling here, too, and not one of ours, Mulcibar thought to himself. She must just be part of the dream. Does this mean…

His eyes went wide with realization.

“The reset swarm! It’s not here yet!” he shouted aloud. Sitting back down, he placed a hoof to his chin. “Wait, why am I so worried about that? That’s a good thing! But it’s been replaced with something different and possibly worse… that changeling might be planning on using Fluttershy to get at Rainbow Dash. I gotta get out of here! Now!” He shot to his hooves and slammed against the cage door.

Moments earlier…

Fluttershy and Daring bolted out of the door where the changeling prisoner was being held and slammed it shut. Fluttershy fell the ground, breathing heavily, her eyes wide and shedding tears.

“What happened in there?” Fluttershy asked. “You were going to set him free.”

Daring shook her head. “Some kind of magic. Made me think I was locked in the cage and had to get myself out. It was crazy.”

“So, he can make you see things? That doesn’t sound very nice…” Fluttershy said. An image of the throne room in Canterlot flashed in her mind. The changeling prisoner was there, and he was whispering something into her ear. She shook her head and turned to look at Daring again.

Daring looked down at her. “You okay? Overexert yourself? You were pretty awesome in there, you know, the way you leapt to action and saved me. I owe ya.”

“It was nothing,” Fluttershy replied between breaths. “I just think I never want to go in there again.”

Daring laughed. “That’s fine. I’ll keep an eye on the prisoner, you should go check up on Rainbow Dash. I gotta use the little fillies’ room first, though,” she said, and then walked through another door to the right, closing it behind her.

Fluttershy, alone now, stared ahead blankly at the locked wooden door that led to the prisoner’s room. Her breathing was still quickened. She turned her gaze down to her hoof and remembered the scream of pain the changeling let out as the cage door had been slammed onto his foreleg. She cringed as she imagined how it must have felt. She could still see the dripping blood and pained expression on the changeling’s face.

Somewhere deep down in her heart, she felt a chill as she recalled the changeling’s words as she and Daring shut him back in.

“He was crying,” Fluttershy whispered. “Not just from the pain in his leg. I know that cry… that cry from deep down inside.” She pressed her hoof to her chest and took a deep breath as her pulse finally returned to normal.

She stood up, turned, and walked down the hall to a doorway at the other end. Pushing it open, she caught sight of Rainbow Dash lying on a bed at the far end. The blue mare was curled up in a blanket, lying on her side, facing the wall. Fluttershy quietly approached the bed and sat down upon its foot.

“Fluttershy?” Dash’s voice came out, slightly muffled by the pillow her face was stuffed into.

Fluttershy turned her head and nodded. “How are you feeling?” she asked.

“Terrible.”

Fluttershy sighed and gently placed a hoof against Dash’s blanket-covered back. “Do you need anything?”

Rainbow Dash growled softly into her pillow, her body tensing up for a moment before going limp again. “I guess not,” she responded flatly. “I mean, apart from… well… you know…” The sound of her fending off crying cut her response short. Fluttershy knew what the answer would have been, anyway. She ran her hoof up and down Rainbow’s back and shook her head.

“It’ll be okay, Dashie. We’ll get through—“

Rainbow flipped the blanket off and twisted her body around to stare right into Fluttershy’s eyes. Before the cover could even hit the floor, Dash thrust her wings outward – or she would have, but only one wing spread. A small stump where her right wing would have been shook slightly. “Easy for you to say! You still have—!”

Before she could finish, her lower lip began to tremble. She turned and flopped back down on the bed, folding her single wing back up and moaning into her pillow again.

“Sorry… sorry,” Dash said a few seconds later. “It’s not your fault. I shouldn’t take it out on you, or anypony for that matter. I know, I know…”

Fluttershy placed her hoof on Dash’s back again, gently brushing it up and down the middle of her back. Bumping up against the small stump that should be a wing, Fluttershy closed her eyes and was greeted by an image of a strange place, somewhere she was sure she’d never been. Inside of a hollowed-out tree. The image was as much tactile and aural as it was visual. As she ran her hoof across Rainbow’s back once more, she felt the sensation of hooves rubbing against her own back. She knew, somehow, that the one who was rubbing her back had been Rainbow Dash, and she could feel pain in her wings and stiffness in her back.

“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy said aloud as the strange memory washed over her. “I’m sorry for being so selfish.”

“Selfish?” Rainbow Dash responded, turning her head slightly. “What are you talking about?”

Fluttershy opened her eyes, but her mind stayed locked onto the memory. She couldn’t shake it. She stared down at Rainbow’s confused expression. “Sorry, I was just… remembering something. I think, anyway.”

“You hit your head or something?” Rainbow asked, flinching slightly as Fluttershy’s hoof brushed past her severed appendage.

Fluttershy lifted her hooves. “Do you want me to stop?”

“No. I mean, you don’t have to. I mean, if you want to keep going, I’d be okay with that,” Dash responded. “It’s… whatever.”

Fluttershy smiled and continued to rub Dash’s back, putting more strength into it this time. She could feel the tense muscles in Dash’s back relaxing little by little. The haunting memory of that hollowed out tree still hung in her mind. She leaned forward and spoke softly just behind Dash’s head.

“Hey, do you remember a time when you were giving me a massage? I think we were hiding. Yes, hiding just like now, but it was… different.“

“Different how?” Dash asked, her tone of voice sounding as if she were dozing off.

“We were in this old, hollow tree. I couldn’t fly, and you… you wouldn’t leave me. Just like always…”

Rainbow shook her head. “Sorry, I don’t remember that.”

“You were rubbing my back, just like this. It felt really nice. I didn’t want it to end, even if it meant causing pain and trouble to others… I was so selfish.”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow and turned her head slightly to glance at Fluttershy. “That doesn’t sound like you at all. Was it some sort of dream, maybe?”

Fluttershy laughed and blushed slightly. “You’re right. It must have been a dream.”

As she said the word ‘dream’, her eyes fluttered. Vivid images of dragons attacking Cloudsdale flashed through her mind. She saw the guards fighting, ponies burning in the streets, buildings collapsing. One structure came down on top of an outstretched hoof.

“You… You saved me,” Fluttershy said, tears welling up in her eyes. “I think… oh gosh, Dashie, you didn’t make it. You were… gone.” Rainbow Dash turned onto her side and stared quizzically at her yellow friend.

“Are you crying? It was just a dream.”

“It was a nightmare,” Fluttershy replied. The image of Rainbow Dash’s still, colorless body faded from her mind, and she stared at the real Rainbow Dash who was lying right in front of her. She leaned forward, wrapping her hooves around Rainbow and hugging her closely, practically tackling her and pressing her face into Dash’s blue coat. “I thought I’d never see you again, somehow. Just from that nightmare. Isn’t that silly?”

Rainbow Dash awkwardly stretched her hooves out, not sure if she should hug back or just lie there or say something. “This… is a little awkward,” she said straight out. “Were you always so… huggy?”

Fluttershy felt the dampness of her face rubbing against Rainbow’s chest. She pulled away, her cheeks turning flush red. She smiled and shook her head. “Sorry. I’m sorry,” she said.

Silence filled the air for a moment. Fluttershy stared down at the bed and Rainbow Dash stared up at the ceiling.

“Okay, so...” Rainbow Dash said, turning back to Fluttershy. “That was a strange little moment we had there. I think the stress is getting to us both, maybe.”

Fluttershy nodded her head, which was slowly filling with the memories of every time Rainbow Dash had ever rescued her from anything, no matter how small. “Hey, Dash, do you remember when we were fillies? Back when we first met?”

“Of course. What about it?”

“Back then, you were the only one who ever stood up for me. I used to get teased a lot, you know that… well that was really stressful, too. It was awful sometimes. But, you were always there at the end of the day. You were always there for me, even as we grew up.”

Dash blushed and rubbed the back of her head. “Shoot, anypony would have--”

“No, they wouldn’t have,” Fluttershy said with certainty. “Not for me. You gave me a chance when nopony else would. So, I guess what I’m trying to say is that… now that I can be there for you when you need me, it feels really nice.” As she spoke, she was hit with a feeling of deja vu. The feeling of those words leaving her lips caused more strange memories to flash in her mind. The desire to help Rainbow Dash, while familiar to her throughout her life, was now also somehow nostalgic in a way she couldn’t quite place.

Rainbow Dash shifted slightly. “Well… thanks. Thanks for everything,” she said somewhat more timidly than usual.

“Hey, anypony would have, right?”

Rainbow Dash shook her head and then turned to look at Fluttershy, who was still staring down at the bed. “That’s not true, though. Who else is here with me right now but you?”

Fluttershy looked up at Dash, her eyes locking with hers. “Well, the others had to stay behind and make sure everypony was safe while you recovered.”

Dash sat up and leaned towards Fluttershy. “Yeah, I know, but,” she said, pausing for a moment, and then took a deep breath. “There’s nopony I’d rather have by my side than you, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy could feel her cheeks getting warmer, and could see Dash’s own blushing cheeks as well. She turned her face back downward, her heart uncontrollably racing. “I’m glad to be here. Just promise me something,” Fluttershy said as memories of her dream and her fillyhood raced in her head. “Promise me you’ll always stay with me... because I’ll always stay with you.”

“Of course,” Rainbow responded without hesitation. “We’ve been through so much together.”

Fluttershy lifted her head back up, her nose practically bumping into Rainbow’s. “Thinking about the past so much, you know…” she said, then took her own deep breath. “I always had this silly little thought, like maybe I sort of had a cru--”

“Shh,” Rainbow interrupted, causing Fluttershy to flinch slightly. “It wasn’t just you.”

Rainbow softly pressed her lips against Fluttershy’s. The yellow mare could feel her breath gently brushing against her cheek. Her lips began to part and her eyes slowly closed. She could feel her body beginning to tremble.

And then, like a strike of lightning, the face of a changeling flashed in her mind as vividly as if he were right there in front of her. Her eyes shot open. She pulled away, scooting back across the bed, her hooves shooting forward, and a look of terror spreading across her face.

“Mulcibar?” she said, and then shook her head.

Rainbow Dash stared at her, her own expression of shock now plastered firmly on her face. “Fluttershy, what’s wrong? What happened?”

“My head is…” Fluttershy said, and then gripped her forehead with her hooves. “My head is pounding.”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Really? A headache? If we’re moving too fast, you can tell me, and--”

“No, it’s not that,” Fluttershy said, waving one hoof in front of her. “It’s… I’m… I’m remembering. Remembering something. Something important.”

Rainbow cleared her throat and tried to regain her composure, sitting up straight on the bed and brushing her coat down with her hooves. “Well, what is it?”

Fluttershy lowered her front hooves and stared into Rainbow Dash’s eyes. “Listen to me, Rainbow Dash. You have to really listen, because this is important. It’s coming back to me bit by bit, but what I’m about to tell you is the truth. No matter what, promise that you’ll believe me.”

“You’re kind of freaking me out a little bit, Fluttershy… what’s this all about?”

“Promise!” Fluttershy demanded.

“Okay, okay, I promise. What is it?”

Fluttershy took another deep breath. “How long ago was the royal wedding?”

Crash Down Ch 4 - Liftoff

Author's Note

Well, Everfree Northwest got in the way of this one coming out as quick as I'd hoped! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter! I am really excited about it!

Crash Down Ch 4 - Liftoff

Book Five: Crash Down

Chapter Four – Liftoff

Rainbow Dash’s Dream, Present Time, The Roost

“I told you to stay away from the north side, but now I’m glad you didn’t. What connection do you have with those thugs?” Gilda asked as she pressed her claws against Linnai’s left shoulder.

A streak of pain shot up from Linnai’s ribcage where her stitched wound was. She grunted and stared at Gilda, words unable to form in her mouth. How does she know? ran through her mind over and over.

“Speechless? Playing dumb?” Gilda asked. “I saw you use magic with my own eyes last night, so don’t even think there’s any way you’re getting out of this!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Linnai managed to say. “Let go!” She swatted Gilda’s arm away with a hoof, which only seemed to enrage the griffon. Gilda slammed her claw into the back of the couch and leaned over Linnai, who was still halfway lying down.

“The worst part is that you lied to my aunt and uncle! Maybe I’ll go have a little talk with them.”

“Sounds fine ta’ me,” Gerulf’s voice came from the stairwell across the attic. “What’s going on, here, Gilda?”

Gilda turned to face her uncle and pointed a talon at Linnai. “This little troublemaker, she’s the problem! First she’s wandering up north to where that scum Garren was trying to cause trouble, and then she’s conveniently delivering weapons to his group.”

“That wasn’t her fault, Gilda. I took that job, and I never should have!”

“How convenient she wandered in and took your posted job just in time for that.”

“Those racist bastards wanna get rid of the ponies! Why in the world would she work with them?”

“Because she’s not a pony!” Gilda shouted, turning her head back towards Linnai. She tapped a claw against the center of Linnai’s forehead. “I saw her using magic yesterday when she got attacked. Pretty strange things for a pegasus to do!”

Gerulf groaned and shook his head. “Gilda, I’m tellin’ ya, ya must’ve seen something else. Look at her side, lass. She was stabbed and bleeding out. If she could use magic, she’d surely have healed herself.”

Gilda turned her eyes down to Linnai’s side and saw the stitched wound. Her arm dropped, as did her head, and she sighed. Stepping backwards, she slumped down onto a chair. Gerulf walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder.

“Look, I know yer upset, what with what happened to yer friend. Ya wanna see all the changelings pay fer what they did. Aye, I understand more than ye might think, but goin’ around on a witch hunt ain’t the way,” he said in a calming tone.

Gilda nodded her head. “Just sitting around doing nothing is even worse, though. What they did to Dash… they’re gonna get what’s comin’ to them, even if I have to fly over to Equestria and take ‘em all out myself!”

What did they do to Rainbow Dash? Linnai wondered as she sat up. This could be really bad. If the dreamer here is in bad shape, the dream could reject and end abruptly. I have to get more info! She glanced up at Gilda, who turned her head up at the same time to stare right back.

“I still don’t trust you, newbie. What did you say your name was, again?”

Linnai slouched back against the couch and nervously glanced down at her flank, which was adorned with a fluffy little cloud cutie mark. “Cloud,” she blurted out.

Gilda narrowed her eyes and stood back up. “Just Cloud?”

“Well, that’s what everyone calls me, anyway. I’m used to it,” she said, saving the situation, or so she hoped. She could tell that Gilda still had her suspicions about her. “And, uh, you’re Gilda, right?”

“Right. Remember it,” Gilda responded and then turned to head towards the staircase. “I’ll be keeping my eye on you, little Cloud.” She stormed down the stairs, seeming to stomp as hard as she could as she left.

Gerulf walked over to Linnai and looked down at her, shaking his head. “I hope I don’t regret covering for ya,” he said.

Linnai blinked. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that bullet. She’s right, ya know. Ain’t normal for a bullet wound from that distance to be so shallow. If ya want me to remove it, I can, like I told ya last night.”

“How did you—“

Gerulf laughed. “I’ve seen plenty of gunshot wounds. Yer not foolin’ anyone, but there’s no need for me ta’ go accusing you of anything. I thought it was strange myself, but weirder things have happened. Coulda been that fella didn’t use enough powder. Who knows?”

“Look, Gerulf, I appreciate it, but you’ve got it wrong.”

“If you say so,” he said with a shrug. “Ya want breakfast? Mind you, you were out for a long time and it’s already afternoon, but still, how about it?”

Linnai’s stomach growled, and she blinked, having not realized just how famished she was. Come to think of it, why am I so hungry? And last night, these two, even though they’re dream inhabitants, there should’ve been traces of love, especially how he got all starry-eyed, Linnai thought, placing a hoof to her chin. Furthermore, the way he’s covering for me, you would think…

She closed her eyes and tried to detect traces of love magic. Sure enough, after a second, she felt it in the air, stronger than she’d expect from dream inhabitants. Must be the speed of the dream accelerating the release. How did I not notice this? The air practically stinks with the stuff!

“Or you could just rest. Ya seem pretty tired, still. Tell ya what, I’ll bring ya something,” Gerulf said, turning to head toward the stairs.

Linnai opened her eyes back up and turned to Gerulf. Actual food? Do I need to eat actual food? The strange feelings I’ve been having, the way that food tasted so good yesterday, the fact that I didn’t notice this love magic immediately… Something is definitely wrong with me! It’s like with Mulcibar all over again!

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Gerulf finally said, and then headed through the door and down the stairs.

“Yeah!” Linnai shouted, but then returned to her thoughts. Mulcibar was cursed, though! That foal that was possessed with Luna’s magic did something to him! Nothing happened to me! So… why is this happening?

Linnai shivered and fell sideways onto the couch again. Am I actually turning into a freaking pony? She raised a hoof up and stared at it. “No! I won’t let it happen!” she shouted, and then slammed her hoof against the couch cushion. A shot of pain rose from her side, and she groaned.

“Damn it all… I need to get out of here…” she said quietly, and then closed her eyes. The heavy smell of love magic filled her nostrils, and she breathed it in deeply. The absorption of it filled her with calm once again, but also a slight feeling of dread in the back of her mind. She shook it off and opened her eyes again as she stood up from the couch.

“I never should have let them take me in. Shoot, I never should have agreed to go along with Mulcibar’s crazy plan. Join the ponies? Help them? It’s preposterous. Unthinkable,” she said to herself, and then reached her front hoof up to her chest where the bullet was shallowly lodged into her flesh. She slowly moved her hoof to the cauterized area of her ribcage and flinched from the pain. “And all this just to cover up so they don’t find out. I shouldn’t care. I don’t care.”

Linnai walked across the room to the window. She glanced out of it. The sun was shining down on the dream city. The thought that none of this was real repeated itself over and over in her mind. She pushed the window open and placed a hoof on the windowsill.

“I’m ending this, now,” she said. The outline of a horn glowed upon her forehead. With precise levitation magic, she plucked the bullet from her chest and dropped it onto the floor. Her wounds began to glow a soft teal color and then with a flash of green magic, they were gone, as if she’d never been hurt in the first place.

Linnai shook her head and scoffed. “See you later, you old fool,” she said, a slightly forlorn tone in her voice. She leapt from the window and took off into the morning sky.

“Oy, lass!” Gerulf’s voice came from the stairwell. “Ya sure ya don’t want anything?”

After a moment, the griffon came up the stairs and into the attic. He made his way to the open window and looked down at the blood-stained bullet that was lying on the ground. He gazed out the window and shook his head.

“Be careful, and come back alive. We’ll keep yer bed ready for ya, mystery girl,” he said, and then turned back toward the door to the stairs. Glancing over his shoulder once more, he sighed. “I hope ya find yer brother.”

Linnai shot over the treetops, swinging down to the arborous perch she had saw upon the previous day. Glancing down, she noticed the griffon couple with the ice cream underneath her once again. “At it again, are ya?” she asked with a smirk. Love magic danced in the air above the couple, and Linnai breathed it in, but then coughed. “Bleh! So stale. Shouldn’t have expected much, even after Gerulf was rather tasty.”

She glanced across the courtyard, making note of all the griffons in the area. “Just the same as yesterday. Most of the city is completely static. I wonder if that demonstration up north is the same, too. I know Gilda must be a focus, same with the two old folks,” she said to herself and shook her head. “What a life, having to repeat the same garbage so much and not being able to fully realize you’re trapped.” She chuckled slightly and took off to the north, heading to where the anti-pony rally had been.

Landing on a rooftop this time rather than in the street, Linnai glanced down the road and saw the same group of angry griffons gathered, but this time there was no Gilda there to stop them. I wonder where she’s run off to, Linnai thought. It must have to do with Rainbow Dash. Her suspicions of me being a changeling have surely shaken up her routine. If she knows where Rainbow Dash is, maybe she’s there warning her.

As if on cue, Gilda streaked past just to the south, making a beeline towards The Roost. Linnai grinned and turned in the same direction. With a quick flash of green magic, she transformed. She bit her lip as her body contorted. Her front hooves became claws, her back hooves became paws, and her snout shrunk and hardened into a beak. Black feathers sprung out from her upper body. She sat for a moment, breathing heavily. Changing species on the fly really takes it out of ya. Good thing Gerulf and Frida were decent eating.

She took once again to the sky and flew in the direction of The Roost, making sure to deviate from Gilda’s course slightly.

Ten minutes earlier

Gilda swooped down from the sky to the base of a tree. Across the wary from the tree was a small, unassuming looking house. She glanced around to make sure she was alone and then walked across from the tree to the house and then around to the back of it. Two wooden doors that lead down into a cellar sat at the back of the building. She lifted one and went down the stairs. Within the cellar sat a heavy metal door. She banged upon the door several times. A few seconds later, a sliding window in the door slid open and a pair of eyes peered out at her.

“What do you want?” a voice whispered from behind the door. “Rainbow Dash is sleeping.”

Gilda sighed and rubbed her temples with her claws. “She’s always sleeping these days. Anyway, we might have trouble. It’s best if we talk about it inside.”

The one behind the door hesitated for a moment. “Look, maybe its best that you don’t come in here. We had our own trouble in here, too, earlier.”

“What kind of trouble?”

“Look, stay calm, but there’s a changeling in here.”

“What!” Gilda shouted, then clapped a claw over her mouth. “How? When?”

“Don’t worry, he’s locked up in the cell. He’s a tricky one, though. Used some sort of freaky powers on me just a couple minutes ago. We’ll deal with him tonight.”

“We might not have time, then. The trouble out here… it’s too much to be a coincidence. There’s a pony staying with my aunt and uncle. They just up and took her in, gave her a job out of the blue. Almost like she was controlling them somehow. I saw her use magic last night, but she’s a pegasus. Gerulf says I’m seeing things, actually stood up for her, but if he’s under some sort of a spell…”

“Hmmm, so two new changelings, both with odd powers. Alright. We’ll have to get out of here tonight. We’ll have to find a new place to hide out until Dash recovers. No choice.”

“Right! You keep an eye on that changeling, Daring. I’ll head back to the roost and take care of the imposter there.”

“Alright! Meet back here tonight after sundown!”

Gilda nodded and turned on a bit, running up the stairs and taking off into the air as fast as she should push herself. Damn it! I never should have let it go! That pony is a changeling in cahoots with the one Daring caught! I’m sure of it!

Gilda sped through the city, passing over the area where the demonstration was happening. She glanced at it briefly and grumbled. “Damn it! You get to have your little rally today, Garen!”

After about five more minutes of flying, Gilda had arrived at The Roost. She barged in the front door, looking left and right as she entered. “Uncle Gerulf! Aunt Frida! Are you there?” she shouted.

“What’s all the ruckus, child?” Frida asked, emerging from the back room behind the bar.

“Where’s Uncle Gerulf?”

“Last I knew, he’d been in the kitchen. What’s this all about?”

Gilda stormed through the tavern and back into the kitchen. No one was there, so she quickly turned back around and returned to the tavern, gently pushing Frida to the side to get past her and head to the stairs.

“Gilda, what’s gotten into you?”

“You’re both in danger. Get ready to leave, you might have to hide out for a while.”

“Hide out? What’s happened?”

“Gerulf!”

Gerulf’s voice came from the second stairwell that led up to the attic. “Calm yer squawker, I’m up here!”

Gilda stormed up the stairs and burst into the attic. She found her uncle sitting at his workbench with a magnifying lens attached to his eye. He shook his head upward, knocking the lens free and catching it in his hand.

“Good. You’re safe. Where is she?”

“She?” Gerulf responded quizzically.

“You know who, your little pony friend.”

Gerulf scoffed. “Gone. Scared off by you, no doubt. She was out of here within five minutes of you coming in here accusing her of being a changeling.”

“She is a changeling, uncle, listen to me. There’s two of them, at least two. I don’t know what they’re planning, but it’s not good. One of them got into the safehouse on the east side.”

Across the attic, just outside the still-open window, Linnai sat perched on a limb, listening in. She gripped another limb to hold herself steady with her new claws. Two of us? Does she mean Mulcibar?

Gerulf raised his brow. “Just what were you doing in that safehouse, girl?”

“I…” Gilda started, nervously wringing her hands. “I can’t say! Just trust me, we have one of them there, held captive. He’s not talking, but he has some sort of strange power. I bet she has some sort of power, too! Do you feel anything?”

“Feel anything? Like what?”

“I mean, you took her in, gave her that job, all without knowing anything about her!”

“Aye, and now thanks to you, we’ll have to put a posting back up for that position! She did a good job for a first day!”

“That’s not the point! Why her? Think hard! She had to be using some sort of magic to control you!”

Gerulf laughed. “Gilda, Gilda, Gilda… you still don’t get it. Your eyes, as open as they are, are still closed to so much.”

Gilda stomped a paw against the ground in frustration. “You say that an awful lot! If you’re so enlightened, tell me!”

Gerulf just shook his head. “I can’t tell you because I don’t really know, myself. There’s things in this world, Gilda, that just don’t make sense. You see them every day, but accept them without a thought. Meanwhile, I see the truth. That girl, that pony, or changeling, whatever she may be, she was different.”

“So you accept that she’s a changeling?”

Gerulf shrugged. “I don’t know what she is, child, and you don’t either. I’ll tell you one thing, though, when she came in, your aunt and I knew immediately. We knew she was special, that’s one thing that’s certain.”

He knew I was different somehow? From the beginning? Linnai thought. What does it mean? Could he be an awakened focus? The dreamer isn’t even awakened, for crying out loud!

“Look, uncle, I’m sorry for everything. I’m sorry I don’t get all this gibberish you’re talking, I’m sorry I don’t like your special friend, and I’m sorry, but I have a duty to my own friend to fulfill. Those changelings are here for Rainbow Dash, it’s obvious. They always are. So… I might have to leave. Tonight.”

Gerulf sighed. “So, Rainbow Dash has been here all along, has she? I’d suspected as much, but I didn’t want to press the issue.”

“Sorry. Anyway… I gotta bail. I’ll be in touch.”

“You better be careful, Gilda. I can feel change blowing on the wind. I can smell it like a storm rolling in. Stay safe.”

“Yeah, you do the same. Later, geezer.”

Gilda leapt out of the open window, gliding right over Linnai without even noticing her. Linnai practically fell out of the tree from shock, and stayed perfectly still until she was sure Gilda was out of eyeshot.

“Not good! I have to follow her! This is my last chance to find out where Rainbow Dash is! Where my brother is!”

Rainbow Dash’s Dream, 30 Minutes Later (Dream Time), Rainbow Dash’s Hideout

“The royal wedding? Which one?” Rainbow Dash asked, tilting her head to the side. Fluttershy seemed much more serious than usual, and a bit upset.

“Which one?” Fluttershy asked with confusion, then shook her head and waved a hoof in front of her. “Nevermind. I mean Princess Cadence and Shining Armor’s wedding.”

Rainbow Dash put a hoof to her chin and rolled her eyes upward in thought. “I guess that’s going on three years ago. Why do you ask?”

Fluttershy nearly fell backwards. “Three… years?” she asked, her tone of voice going from serious to shocked.

“Yeah, give or take. You were there, you should remember. Especially since that was the first time we ever had to fight the changelings. That was one crazy wedding!” Rainbow exclaimed, and then suddenly frowned and shook her head. “It’s just a shame about Shining Armor. I hope Cadence is doing okay.”

“Okay, well, this might be a little more difficult than I’d thought it would be,” Fluttershy said, trying to collect her thoughts, which were still streaming into her mind as she spoke. “Have you ever wondered what would have happened if we hadn’t won that night?”

Rainbow Dash chuckled. “All the time. I mean, we only sent the changelings flying. They came back with a vengeance. If you ask me, we didn’t win. They’re still out there, and…” Dash said, trailing off slightly before continuing. “And our friends are out there, too. They’re still fighting. I should be, too.”

Fluttershy’s mind twisted and turned, sorting her real memories and the three years of memories that her dream self had dropped onto her. In a flash, she remembered the last day that she and Rainbow Dash had spent in Equestria before fleeing to the Griffon Kingdom.

Rainbow Dash’s Dream, One Month Ago (Dream Time), Ponyville

It was a day like any other in the beautiful town of Ponyville. The skies were clear and sunny thanks to the coolest weather pony to ever kick clouds. She wasn’t just a normal weather mare, though, she was the bearer of the Element of Loyalty, the captain of The Wonderbolts, a national hero, and a symbol of peace and awesomeness across the entire land.

Oh yeah, Fluttershy recalled. This is the day… the day that Equestria fell.

The scene in Fluttershy’s mind abruptly changed. Ponyville was besieged. Fire rained down from the sky as a black cloud of changelings descended, one singular purpose etched into their hearts: Revenge! In the distance, smoke and fire could be seen rising from Canterlot. Our heroes reacted as quickly as they could, but nopony had seen this coming at all.

Yes, I remember. We all got ready for action. Rainbow Dash and I were already wearing Wonderbolts outfits, and Twilight quickly arrived with the Elements. The six of us leapt into battle against the changelings! This was the first time Chrysalis had shown her face again. Up until now, all changeling attacks had been much more easily dealt with. This time, though…

In her mind’s eye, she saw herself and her friends charging towards the changelings. Chrysalis was at the front of the pack, and she was wearing a set of dark armor complete with a helmet that reminded Fluttershy of Nightmare Moon’s. Bright red sparks of magical energy encircled her horn and glowed from a pendant she wore around her neck.

Wow, she looks a lot different! Fluttershy thought. And that red, evil looking magic. It looks just like—

“That evil red magic… I know it,” Fluttershy said aloud as she was remembering all of this.

“Red magic?” Rainbow Dash asked, tilting her head.

“Yes, Chrysalis had used it in her fight with you. I remember it so vividly, now.”

“I didn’t even notice it before, but now that you mention it, it was there,” Dash said, but then shrugged. “What does that have to do with anything?”

Fluttershy shook her head and placed a hoof against her forehead. “I’ll tell you in a second… I just need to sort out my thoughts.”

The image of Chrysalis and Rainbow Dash staring each other down snapped into Fluttershy's mind.

"Well, look who finally came out of hiding!" Rainbow Dash shouted, her voice full of confidence. "Come for a second beating?"

Chrysalis laughed in response and shook her head, the red magic zipping across her eyes like crimson lightning. "Not this time! your perfect record as Equestria's Champion ends here, Rainbow Dash! Behold my dark power!"

"Bring it on!" Dash shouted back, her hooves blazing with white light.

In an instant, they clashed in mid-air. Both wielded glowing spears of light. Chrysalis pulsed with the dark magic and began to push Rainbow Dash back towards the ground. Below, Fluttershy and the other element bearers lay in a pile, having been blasted just seconds earlier. The image of the blast wavered before Fluttershy, and she flinched slightly.

“If it hadn’t been for you throwing up that strange shield, we would have been goners!”

“Yeah, that shield,” Dash replied nervously. “Thank goodness for that thing.”

Fluttershy recalled the battle raging for another minute until Rainbow Dash finally zoomed into the sky and struck a pose. She discarded her magical weapon and instead began to speed toward Chrysalis, accelerating at an impossible rate. Chrysalis darted upward to meet her, and they clashed in an explosion of rainbow light.

The light subsided. Rainbow Dash fell from the sky, minus one wing, which tumbled to the ground behind her. Chrysalis threw her spear with all her might at Dash, piercing her chest and then pinning her to the ground.

Fluttershy blinked, coming back to reality, and her eyes looked back at Dash’s missing wing. “That was when you lost your wing,” she said, her voice wavering a bit. “I’m sorry, Dashie. We should have been able to help you. Why didn’t we? It makes no sense.”

“Hey, hey, don’t get all emotional on me. It was my own fault. You guys were counting on me, and I let you down. I… I ran away,” Dash replied, her own voice now shaking. “In the end, I couldn’t protect anything. All my friends… I failed them. Shining Armor even tried to put up his shield, but…”

An image of Shining Armor, his horn ablaze, raising a shield over a hundred times larger than the one he had produced on the day of the wedding, flashed in Fluttershy’s mind. The changeling swarm easily shattered it, and Shining was run through by the changeling queen.

Fluttershy could see Chrysalis standing there, holding Shining Armor’s body up, impaled on a spear of pulsing, red magic, laughing. “And to think I almost married this pathetic little whelp!” she said with ghoulish delight.

Fluttershy closed her eyes tightly and placed her hooves on either side of her head, tears now streaming down her face. “Dashie, I’m so sorry you’ve had to endure this all for so long.”

Rainbow Dash shook her head and sighed. “How did it get this way, Fluttershy? Why did it get so bad all of the sudden?” she asked and then looked up at Fluttershy. “And why this sudden trip down memory lane? What were you saying earlier about something important you had to tell me?”

Fluttershy took a deep breath. “Okay, sorry, I got sidetracked by all the sudden memories. I have to admit, I’m a little nervous since last time I tried to do this, it wasn’t really you, and it turned out so bad.”

“Wasn’t really me?”

“This time it’s going to be okay. Dash, you say that almost three years have passed since Princess Cadence and Shining Armor got married, but the truth is… it’s still the night of the wedding. Not even a single day has passed.”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “I don’t follow. Are you feeling okay?”

“Please, just hear me out. For me, it all started a few days ago, at least as I’ve experienced them. I was living my life as normal after the wedding night, but things became really terrifying. The Everfree Forest attacked Ponyville, and then large swaths of Equestria. You and I, we went to get help from Cloudsdale, but we were attacked by dragons. I was afraid I had lost you at one point. But then, I woke up. Sort of.”

“So, it was just a dream?”

“Let’s take it one step at a time. I was able to save you, and then I met Twilight and Princess Celestia. You see, they had traveled between dreams. They told me what I am about to tell you. We lost the fight against the changelings on the wedding night, and we were all captured and put to sleep. Our bodies are currently hanging from the ceiling of Canterlot’s throne room, trapped in glowing, green cocoons. The changeling queen, Chrysalis, is absorbing all of the love magic we’re producing in these dreams.”

Rainbow Dash’s jaw gaped open slowly as Fluttershy spoke. She had no response. She had not considered such an outcome, she could never have dreamed up anything so horrible.

“Anyway, Dashie… it turns out that the reason my dream was so terrible, the reason that other dreams we went into after that were so bad, was that Princess Luna had been trapped in her own dream world by her evil side, Nightmare Moon. Nightmare had been sending out dark magic, infecting other dreams with it. I thought that maybe we’d seen the last of it after we finally defeated her within Princess Luna’s dream, but now I see that’s not the case. That dark red magic that Chrysalis used to defeat you comes from Nightmare Moon. It’s giving her the power to defy your mind and turn your dream into a nightmare.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes went wide as she thought back to everything that had happened. Her mouth slowly closed again and she swallowed before speaking. “Everything was really awesome up until Chrysalis showed up again. That’s when things got bad.”

“Exactly,” Fluttershy responded with a nod. “And now we have to come together and beat her. We have to save your dream.”

“But, I couldn’t beat her before. Why would anything be different now?”

“You didn’t have us with you before, but now you do. When we jumped into this dream world, I took the place of the Fluttershy who had been here. We became one. Princess Luna had warned us that this could happen. I was even overpowered by her for a bit. Three years’ worth of experience is a lot to take in, I suppose… it was too much for me. At least, until that… well, that kiss,” Fluttershy explained, turning her head away and blushing slightly. “That snapped me out of it, which brings me to the next thing.”

Rainbow Dash nodded her head. “So you're saying my kiss is magical.” A completely serious expression was plastered across her face.

Fluttershy leaned forward and shook her head. “No, that's not it. I'm saying--”

Dash frowned and lowered her gaze. “So you didn't like it?” she interrupted.

Fluttershy thre her hooves up and shook them in front of her. “No no no! That's not what I'm saying! I did like it! But I just--”

Rainbow Dash gripped her stomach and laughed, unable to keep her act up.

Fluttershy pouted. “That's not funny! This is serious!”

Rainbow wiped a tear from her eyes. “Sorry! I'm sorry. I know. I'm listening. It's just so much to take in all at once,” she said, and then regained her composure. “Look, as crazy as all of this sounds, if it means a chance at getting back at Chrysalis for all she did to us, then I’m in!”

“It’s not just that. It’s to save all of our friends. Remember, we’re all trapped in cocoons. We have to get free and beat her, somehow. Beat her for real!”

“Alright! Where do we begin?”

Fluttershy shook her head and took a deep breath. “That… changeling in the other room. I came here with him. His name is Mulcibar, and he’s my...” Fluttershy hesitated slightly, her thoughts trailing. Just a friend, right? It’s all so confusing. Especially after what just happened with Rainbow Dash. Oh, what do I do? What do I say?

“He’s your…?”

Fluttershy rubbed a hoof against the back of her head nervously. “He’s my friend. He turned against Chrysalis along with his sister, Linnai. We’ve been traveling together. He even saved my life, and Sweetie Belle’s, too. You can trust him, believe me.”

“So you’re in cahoots, huh?” A voice came from behind the door at the other end of the room. The door quickly opened and shut, with Daring Do pushing her way into the room with the two of them. “Don’t listen to her, Rainbow Dash. She’s an imposter! How can you even begin to believe a story like that?”

“Daring, wait, I know how this sounds, but I think I believe her. Somehow, somewhere deep inside, I can feel that she’s right.”

“It is true, you have to believe me. Daring Do is standing here right before us, Dashie. How is that even possible?”

Rainbow Dash tilted her head in thought and Daring began to walk towards the two ponies on the bed.

“Daring, you’re a fictional character. You’re not real. You’re just part of Dashie’s dream because she loves your stories so much.”

“I’m telling you, Dash! Don’t listen to her! I’m real! I told you a long time ago, I wrote those books as journals of my heroic exploits. They’re all true!”

“No, Daring,” Dash replied, her eyes starting to glow white. “Fluttershy is right. I can feel her words burning in my mind. Every bit of her story was true. I’m sorry, but… that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends. That doesn’t mean we can’t still fight together!” Dash reached out her hoof and stepped down from the bed. “Come with me, Daring! We’re going to go save this world!” As she said that, a glowing, white, magical wing sprouted from her back where the missing wing had been. The light from her awakening illuminated the room in gentle magical energy.

Daring took another step towards Rainbow and reached her hoof up reluctantly. “Dash… you’re right. This is crazy, but you’re right. This doesn’t mean we can’t still be friends.”

Rainbow Dash smiled and pulled Daring towards her. Daring threw her other hoof up and around Dash’s shoulder. She pressed her mouth to Dash’s ear and whispered. “This, however, is why we can’t be friends.”

“Huh?” Dash uttered.

A blast of pain shot through Rainbow Dash’s body as a large metal blade shot out from Daring’s sleeve and plunged into the blue pony’s chest. Going completely through, the blade popped out of Dash’s back, coated in blood.

“Daring… Why?” Dash asked, pushing weakly against the other mare, the glow in her eyes dissipating, the magical wing disintegrating.

“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy screamed and leapt toward Daring.

Daring pulled the blade out from Dash’s chest and slid back across the floor, her body exploding into green flames.

Suddenly a loud banging came from the other room. “What’s going on in there! Let me in!”

The sound of hooves bashing against the door echoed through the room. After three good smashes, the door was blown off its hinges and Mulcibar barged into the room. “Fluttershy!” he shouted, and then noticed Rainbow Dash, still standing and staring in shock at Daring Do as she transformed into a changeling. “So it was you! I should have guessed you weren’t hiding, you were disguised!”

“Yes! And now that Rainbow Dash is dead, there’s no one left to oppose us!”

Meanwhile, just outside the safehouse...

Gilda flipped open the cellar doors and stomped down the stairs. “Daring!” she shouted. “You better let me in this time!”

A flash of magic from under the door jamb was the only response.

“Damn it!” Gilda screamed, and then slammed into the door over and over. “Let me in! They’ll kill her! Damn changelings, let me in! Daring Do, let me in!”

“It’s too late,” a voice came from the top of the stairs to the cellar. Gilda turned and saw an unfamiliar griffon with black plumage staring down at her.

“Who are you?” Gilda asked, clenching her fists tightly.

“Stand aside,” Linnai responded.

Gilda stood her ground. “No! Who are you? You know what’s going on in there, don’t you?”

Linnai sighed. “Stand aside if you want to find out. My brother is in there, and I’m not going to let a dream puppet get in my way.” The outline of a glowing horn appeared above her feather forehead.

Gilda growled. “It’s you! The Cloud bitch! I knew you were trouble!”

“You had it wrong about me, but don’t get me wrong. I don’t care about you in the slightest, now stand aside!”

A blast of magic shot from Linnai’s forehead. Gilda dove out of the way at the last second and the door to the safehouse was blasted inward. All that remained of the door was an oozing, molten mess on the far wall.

Linnai carefully strode down the stairs, her body erupting in green fire as she walked. By the time she was in front of the safehouse entrance, she had become her true changeling form. Her long black hair hung messily down over her face and the red gem that was socketed into her horn glowed brightly.

“Come on, bird-brain. Let’s go.”

Gilda frowned, stood up, and nodded her head. “Sure. Why not?” she said with a groan.

The two of them didn’t have a chance to enter. A blast of white magic shot out of the door, knocking them back against the stairs. They both lost consciousness.

Rainbow Dash’s Dream, Five Minutes Ago, Equestria

Applejack stood atop a wooden tower, one eye pressed into a spyglass. She swept the area looking for any signs of fighting or signals from the other havens.

“AJ! Ya see anything?” Big Macintosh’s voice came from below. Applejack waved a hoof over her shoulder.

“Nope, looks like a pretty quiet night. Don’t get too many a’ them these days.”

“Ah’m a-turnin’ in for a bit, then, sis. I’ll be out again in a couple hours.”

“Get yer rest. Ya need it.”

Applejack smiled and pulled her face away from the spyglass. She sat down and leaned back against the watch tower’s railing. “Calm night like this sure does make me yearn for the old days,” she said, and then turned her gaze to the stars. “Where are ya at, Rainbow Dash? What’s gotten into you that you’d run when yer friends need ya? Ain’t like ya.”

A second later, Applejack’s eyes flashed green and she nearly slid down onto her back. Blinking her eyes, she pulled her hooves up in front of her face. Her brow furrowed, sweat began to bead up on her forehead, and she gritted her teeth.

“Sorry… Applejack… I just had to pick you again. It was way too tempting. Now go to sleep!” she said to herself. After a couple of minutes, her muscles finally relaxed and she let out a sigh. She wiped her brow and stood back up.

She turned and looked down at the camp as she dusted off her chest and sides. “Whew, what’s goin’ on in this dream? This brain’s full’a memories,” she said, and then closed her eyes in concentration. “Hmmm… Nope. No memories of either of them.”

She looked back up to the stars, grinned, and took a deep breath. “Where have you gotten off to, Mulcibar? Linnai?”

Crash Down Ch 5 - Turbulence

Book Five - Crash Down

Chapter Five: Turbulence

Pain. Like I’ve never felt before. What’s this warm feeling washing down my body?

Blood. I’m bleeding!

What happened? Daring?

“Daring… Why?”

Fluttershy is jumping at Daring… Wait!

Those green flames.

You were a changeling… all along?

Someone breaking down the door. Vision going dark, but my eyes are wide open…

“What’s going on in there? Let me in!”

Who?

“So, it was you! I should’ve guessed you weren’t hiding, you were disguised!”

Room spinning. What do I do? Two changelings now. Fluttershy is in trouble! I can’t!

“Yes! And now that Rainbow Dash is dead, there’s no one left to oppose us!”

Dead? I’m not dead! I can’t be!

Rainbow Dash gripped her chest with one hoof and slammed her other against the ground, a flash of white magic bursting out from the point of impact. She gritted her teeth and leaned forward, blood pouring out from her chest wound onto the floor.

“WHO ARE YOU CALLING DEAD!?”

“Dashie, calm down! You’re bleeding!” Fluttershy shouted.

Mulcibar turned and swung his hoof at Daring’s chest, smashing her against the wall. “Rainbow Dash! Only you can stop this, now!” he shouted and then glanced at Fluttershy over his shoulder. “Did you tell her? Does she know!?”

“I told her! Dashie, remember what I said? Just concentrate!”

Rainbow Dash coughed and slouched forward. “Daring! After everything we’ve been through, how could you?”

“She’s a changeling, Dash! Get a grip!” Mulcibar shouted. The color began to drain from the walls, and Mulcibar gave Daring another shove before pulling his hoof away from her. She fell to the ground, laughing between gasps for breath. “This is it! It’s now or never! If she doesn’t get ahold of the magic that’s balling up inside of her as she bleeds out, we’re finished!”

Fluttershy ran to Dash and pushed herself under one of her bloody forelegs. She stared up at Dash and shook her blood-soaked bangs away from her eyes. “Dashie, please! Just try to remember. None of this is real. That blood isn’t really your blood, and you’re not really dying. It’s all in your mind,” she said and then raised a hoof, rubbing it gently against Rainbow Dash’s cheek. “If I could bring you back to life, then I know you can do it.”

“What are you two on about? Not real? Hah! Like that sort of story can save her now!” Daring mocked from the ground as she grinned up at Dash and Fluttershy.

“Don’t listen to her,” Mulcibar urged, now staring at Dash as well. “Everyone says you’re a brave pony, that you always come through in a pinch. Fluttershy, there… I’ve only known her for a little while, but I’ve already heard plenty about you from her. If you want to come through like never before, now is the time! If you fall here and now, everyone is done for! Your friends will be plunged back into the depths of their own dreams, their memories erased! My sister and I, you don’t know us, but we’re… if you fall now, we’re goners! We’ll be put to death!”

Rainbow shook her head. “I don’t understand! What do I do?” she asked. Visions of her friends, gray and emotionless flashed in her mind. She closed her eyes and saw them all so clearly.

You failed us, Rainbow Dash, Twilight said, her image stopping to stare in disgust.

Equestria’s doomed, Applejack said, placing her hat over her chest.

I can’t believe we ever put our faith in you, Rarity snapped.

Am I supposed to say something? Pinkie asked and shrugged. Ummm… Boo, Dashie! You stink!

Wait! Dash protested. I didn’t mean to! I tried so hard!

And look where trying got you, Fluttershy’s voice came from behind Rainbow. She turned and saw the yellow pegasus standing and staring, tears running down her cheeks. I can’t believe I almost fell for a loser like you.

No, wait! Not you, too! Rainbow shouted, her voice shaking.

Oh, trust me, I can tell you from experience, Gilda’s voice suddenly came from the side. Falling for that one is more trouble than it’s worth. High maintenance! Not to mention her terrible taste in friends!

Gilda, stop!

It’s too late, Dash! You’re done for!

That’s right! You failed! Twilight’s voice shouted again. You failed Equestria, you failed me, you failed all of us!

“No! Stop!” Rainbow Dash shouted, her eyes opening wide again, a blast of rainbow-colored light erupting from them. “I never meant for any of this to happen!”

“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy shouted as waves of magic poured out from Dash’s body, pushing her away. The beams of magic stopped firing from her eyes, but her body pulsated with more and more intense light and heat.

“She’s losing it!” Mulcibar shouted. “Run!”

“No! I won’t!” Fluttershy responded and leapt into the air, wings spread, tackling straight into Rainbow Dash. The two of them tumbled to the ground, Fluttershy’s hooves wrapped tightly around Dash. “Please, Dashie… Don’t leave me.”

Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth and snarled. No! I won’t leave you! I won’t leave any of you!

With a violent blast of magic, the room erupted in flames.

I won’t leave any of you!

The words rang in her head as she finally came to. Rainbow Dash found herself surrounded by burning flames. She pulled her wing around to her face to shield herself from the heat, and then gasped at the realization that it was her previously severed wing.

“What the hay? How did that happen?” she asked herself, turning and peeking through her feathers to try and find a way out of the blaze she was in the middle of. “Fluttershy! Where are you?”

“Dash!” a voice called to her from her right side.

“Fluttershy? Daring Do?” she asked, and then blinked in remembrance. She slowly lifted a hoof to her chest, feeling for the wound that she knew she had sustained, but it was gone. “Daring… why would you do that? Even if you were a changeling, after everything we’d been through…!”

“Come on, Rainbow Dash! Let’s get out of here!”

Rainbow shook her head and started to move toward the voice that called to her. “Gilda? Is that you?”

With a blink of her eyes, she found herself standing in a school restroom. Gilda was outside the window, reaching her claw back. “Yeah, doofus, who else would it be?”

Dash blinked and suddenly found herself back in that moment, back in her high school days in Cloudsdale. Gilda had been gone for almost a week. If she was honest with herself, Dash had to admit that a hope that Gilda would come back was one of the only reasons she was even going to school lately.

With a wide grin, she reached her hoof up and allowed herself to be pulled up and out of the window. She threw herself at Gilda, pulling her into a tight embrace, which the griffon quickly squirmed her way out of. “Get off, sheesh! Good to see you, too,” she said, and then quickly took to the sky. “Come on!”

Dash leapt after her without hesitation, never looking back. Gilda began to increase her speed, and Dash followed suit until the two of them were winding through the cloudy city like a pair of blurred lines, zipping through hairpin turns and crazy straightaways. Rainbow felt her heart racing, her adrenaline pumping, and her emotions soaring, as if nothing in the world could ever bring her down again. This was when she truly felt alive.

She began to gain on Gilda, eventually overtaking her. The griffon laughed and shouted out, “I let you do that, now check this out!”

In a burst of flying feathers, Gilda pulled her body into a tight, bullet-like shape and dove down. Her speed increased quickly, and she suddenly spread her wings and launched herself upward, shooting past Dash like a blazing comet. Rainbow couldn’t help but gasp, and then she followed suit, pulling off the same maneuver and catching up again.

After a long and twisting race, the two friends landed atop a cloud hill on Cloudsdale’s north side. Gilda panted heavily, and Dash wiped the sweat from her face.

“Just think, once we’re in the Wonderbolts, we’ll do this every day! And we’ll have a whole team that can compete at that level!”

Gilda laughed. “The Wonderbolts? You gotta be joking! You see any griffons on that team?”

“Hey, they wouldn’t care! With your speed and style, they’d have to let you in!”

Gilda sighed and turned her head away from Dash. “Look, Rainbow Dash… I don’t really know how to lead into this, so I’ll just say it. I came here today to say goodbye.”

“Goodbye?” Rainbow shouted, leaping to her hooves. “What do you mean ‘Goodbye’?”

“I’m just so sick of this place. I’ve been gone for the past week because I decided to disappear. I went down to Griffonstone, but that place is even more lame… and I gotta admit, I missed you.”

“So don’t go! Stay here in Cloudsdale!”

“No, Dash, I can’t. I can’t take being here anymore. You know how many griffons there are here? Not many, and I think you know why. For what it’s worth, at least you’ve always kept it real with me, ya know?”

Rainbow Dash felt like she was going to cry. She didn’t want Gilda to leave! It wasn’t fair! No one else could fly with her like Gilda could! “You can’t go! Where would you even go to?”

“Back to Griffondale. I’ll stay with my aunt and uncle there.”

Dash fell to her haunches, still trying desperately to hold back her tears. “You said you missed me, though. I missed you, too! I was worried!”

Gilda sighed and stood up. “Yeah, okay, but that’s unavoidable! Unless…”

Rainbow looked up at Gilda, her eyes wide and sparkling. “Unless?”

“Come with me.”

Dash almost couldn’t even comprehend those words. “Come with you? But… My dad, my home, what about them?”

Gilda groaned. “I do just fine without either of those things. Don’t be such a baby! Don’t you want to set out and see the world?”

“Yeah, but maybe not yet. I mean, I want to get into the Wonderbolts, and they operate from here in Cloudsdale, so…”

“Sheesh! You’re like a broken record, Dash! Wonderbolts this and Wonderbolts that! Get real! You’ll have your shot, but you need to broaden your horizons first, and your lame school isn’t helping you with that at all! Where’d we go on that last school trip? Some fancy Canterlot library? Talk about boring! The only good part was when you and me snuck away and—“

“Yeah, about that,” Rainbow interrupted. “I don’t know how I feel… about that, either…”

Gilda smirked. “Oh come on, you were way into it. You almost ripped a patch of feathers off my neck.”

Rainbow Dash could feel herself blushing and scoffed. “Whatever. That’s what I mean, though. I mean, you want me to run away with you… like that. Like that that, right?”

Rainbow turned her gaze back up at Gilda and saw her staring down at her, her own face flush with color, her claw extended down.

“Do you not want to?”

Dash shook her head and slapped a hoof against the side of it, jolting herself back out of her memories. The fire around her was still blazing, she could practically feel it singing her.

I shouldn’t have. I should have said no, but I went anyway. Ran away to a whole other country for more than a month. My dad was worried sick even though I wrote to him, and poor Fluttershy…

Rainbow Dash? Fluttershy’s voice echoed in her mind.

She probably thought I’d abandoned her. I might as well have…

You’re leaving? Why?

“It’s not forever. I’ll be coming back once I’m ready to join the Wonderbolts.”

“Was it something… I did?”

“No! No! I just… I just think I have to go find my own way, you know? But, I don’t know how… and I don’t want to leave you behind, you’re the only friend I’ve got except for Gilda.”

“Really?” Fluttershy asked with a blink. “But… It’s so sudden. Why now?”

Please say you want to come, too, Dash could hear herself chanting over and over inside her mind.

“But what about school? What would your father say?”

Of course… that.

Fluttershy sat almost motionless upon her bed, a look of shock plastered across her face as Dash stood by her bedroom window, her eyes locked onto the ground. Dodging the comment about her father, she replied. “I think you and I both know that nopony wants me to be there.”

“That’s not true. I want you…”

Dash raised her eyes slightly until she saw Fluttershy’s eyes, tears forming at their corners. She quickly looked back down at the ground. “Okay, so it’s just you.”

“No! The teachers and other students wonder where you’ve gone off to, too. Like on the school trip when you even talked Gilda into coming and then the two of you raced the carriage there, and then didn’t even stick around for anything. Miss Quill was looking everywhere.”

Rainbow sighed. “Look, maybe I’m a little bit distractible—“

“You didn’t use to be like this. We used to have fun together. Now all we do is this. I sit here and worry about you, and you sit there and just tell me it’s okay. Well, it’s not okay! Okay!” Fluttershy shouted, but quickly caught her rising tone and hunched down on the bed with a slight squeaking sound. “I don’t want you to leave,” she then said, much more quietly.

Maybe it was how she suddenly grew a backbone and yelled at me for a second, there. Maybe it was the fact that she was right, that I shouldn’t leave. Maybe it was the way the teachers were always getting on my case for the littlest things at school. I don’t know exactly, probably just everything together, but I snapped… on her…

“I’m not like you, Fluttershy! I can’t just sit quietly in the back of the room by myself and slide through life doing everything everyone else wants me to do! What are you going to do after you graduate? Just nod your head and do whatever your parents tell you to do next? Well I’m not! My dad even said I could do anything I wanted, and this is it! So if you can’t accept it, then maybe we weren’t such great friends after all!”

I jumped out the window, slamming it after me. I couldn’t stand it. I knew I couldn’t possibly see her face after that. At the time, I thought I could probably never look at her again.

Rainbow Dash flew through the sky as the sun set, bound for her home, tears streaming from her face and dissolving into the wind.

“Rainbow Dash!” A masculine voice shouted. Dash stopped in mid-flight and turned, once again finding herself in the void, among the flames. The heat was beginning to become unbearable, but she saw a blue door just in the distance. Leaping into the air, she spread her wings and dove through a wall of fire, landing right at the doorway. A small plaque hung on the door, emblazoned with her cutie mark. She pushed the door open and found herself in her own bedroom back at her dad’s house in Cloudsdale. Instinctively, she walked over to the bed and flopped down upon it, the familiar feeling offering her instant comfort. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

How long has it been since I’ve been here?

“Dash?”

Is that… dad?

“Dash, I talked to your principal today. She says you’ve been skipping classes.”

Dash buried her face in her pillow and sighed, daring not to respond to her father, who was leaning against her doorframe. She assumed he had an upset look on his face, given his tone of voice, stern yet calm.

She heard him approach her bed and sit down beside her on it. “Has something been bothering you? Ever since the last school trip, you’ve been acting strange.”

“I’m not strange,” Dash managed to mumble through the pillow.

Rainbow Blaze shook his head and placed a hoof on his daughter’s back. “I didn’t say you were strange, I said you’ve been acting strange. You never skipped classes before. What’s going on? You can tell me, I promise I won’t get mad or anything.”

Dash remained silent as images of Fluttershy and Gilda flashed through her mind. I’m gonna leave this place for a while, run off back to Griffondale. You should come with me, Dash! This place is just holding us back, anyway, Gilda’s voice echoed in her ears.

“When I was your age, I went through a phase like this, too. I guess it makes sense, like father like daughter, right?” Blaze said, trying his best to comfort Dash.

“Somehow, I don’t think you went through this,” Dash replied and shook her head with zero vigor.

“Well, I’ll never know unless you tell me. I mean, I didn’t like school much, either. Heck, I dropped out, but that was a mistake. I just… I just don’t want you making the same mistake I did.”

You’re leaving? Fluttershy’s voice twinkled in Dash’s mind now. Why? Was it something… I did?

No! No! Dash recalled herself replying hastily. I just… I just think I have to go find my own way, you know? But… I don’t know how… and I don’t want to leave you behind, you’re the only friend I’ve got except for Gilda.

But what about school? What would your father say?

“Dash?” her father’s voice broke her stream of memories. “I’ll be in the other room, okay? Whenever you’re ready to talk, just come see me. I love you, squirt.”

She could hear her dad walking toward the door to leave. She suddenly turned her head, revealing her tear-moistened face. “Dad?” she said quietly. Her father stopped, but did not turn his head to look at her. “What would you do if you had to choose between two friends?”

Rainbow Blaze once again leaned on the door frame, still facing out into the hallway. The room was silent for a moment as he quietly contemplated the question.

“I guess I’d try and make the two of them friends, too,” he finally concluded.

Dash sighed. “I’m not really sure if that’s an option. To be honest, I don’t even think they’ve ever met except in passing.”

“You’ll never know unless you try.”

“I just… I don’t think that would work out,” Rainbow repeated.

Rainbow Blaze sighed again. “Well, I’ll think about it some more, and you do the same. I want you up bright and early tomorrow for school, you hear?”

Dash’s dad walked out of the room and slowly closed the door. As the door was nearly closed completely, Dash wiped a tear from her cheek.

“And I think I have a crush on…” she started saying quietly, but trailed off. The door stopped moving and creaked back open slightly.

“What was that?” Rainbow Blaze asked, his voice still as calm and soothing as ever.

“Nothing. Good night, dad.”

“Good night, squirt.”

The door closed and Dash was left with her thoughts. I think I have a crush… on both of them. She buried her face in her pillow again and slammed her right hoof into the side of it. There’s something wrong with me. Right? I can’t… can’t be…

Filly fooler!

No! Well, maybe. I dunno, just shut up!

The other kids at school were no help on that subject, especially three particularly boneheaded jocks that had been giving pretty much every other kid trouble since they were foals. How these doofuses managed to get to the tenth grade was beyond me, but there they were, taunting me openly in the hallway. I guess they just couldn’t handle having a girl that pretty much kicked their butt at every test of athletics ever, so they had to get their kicks in somehow.

“Hey Rainbow Crash, I realized something earlier.”

Billy. This little twerp…

“What is it, Billy? Did you finally realize your face looks like a donkey’s... ass…?” Dash asked as she turned from her locker and was met by one of the three bozos, Billy, but he was wearing a fancy suit jacket and had actually combed his mane. She immediately went into defense mode, backing up against her open locker. “What the heck are you wearing?”

“No, Dash. I realized how beautiful you are. Please, would you meet me behind the gym after school?” he asked, and then pulled a bouquet of flowers from his inside jacket pocket.

Dash’s eyes went wide and her jaw dropped. “What… the… actual…”

“Please, Dash! Don’t say no!” he pleaded. “Come on!”

Dash shook her head. “Billy, look, you’ve never been anything but a total jerk to me, so what the heck makes you think I want anything to do with you? Let alone you, like… bringing me flowers and acting all creepy like this.”

Billy dropped to his knees and reached his hooves out to grab Dash’s foreleg. “Please, don’t be like that! Why not?”

Dash pulled her leg up in reaction. “Don’t touch me, creep! What’s your problem?”

“Oh, I get it. Yeah, that’s what I realized earlier,” he said, his tone dropping. He turned his eyes up and grinned. “It’s because I’m a colt, isn’t it?”

Dash frowned and grinded her teeth. “Get out of here before I put a crater in your face!”

“You’re a dirty little filly fooler, ain’t ya, Dash?”

“Shut up!” she shouted, slamming her locker closed and starting to walk away. Billy’s two other friends rolled out from around the corner and stopped her.

“You got a point there, Billy. I mean, she acts just like one of the colts, and she only ever hangs out with her little filly-crush Fluttershy.”

“Yeah, or worse, getting her jungle fever on with that griffon!”

Dash pushed her hoof into one of their shoulders. “You can talk about me all you want, but don’t bring my friends into it!”

“Girlfriends,” he said with a snort in response. Dash shoved him to the ground and stomped around the corner, stopping in her tracks. Fluttershy was standing not three feet away from her, her eyes wide and tearing up a bit.

“Just ignore those guys,” Dash said, regaining her composure and walking past Fluttershy. “They’re just mad because I whipped their sorry flanks yesterday in hoofball. Three on one and they couldn’t even touch me!”

Yeah, they didn’t make it easy to go to school, and the teachers didn’t help either, or the principal...

“Miss Dash, we’re worried about your grades lately. Is there something bothering you?”

Dash stared across the desk at the pompous looking pony that was talking to her, glasses halfway down her snout and her hair pulled up into a bun. This wasn't her first trip to Mrs. Spring Feather's office, and she knew it wouldn't be her last.

“Nah, I’m cool.”

“That’s just it, Miss Dash. We think you’re a little too cool, if you know what I mean.”

Dash grinned. “Yeah, some ponies do say that about me.”

“I mean you’re going to have to repeat a grade if you don’t get your act together! I’ve already spoken to your father. We’re both thinking that maybe you should take a day off to have some time to get your head straightened out at home, and then come back and get to work.”

“You’re suspending me?”

“It’s just for a day, Rainbow Dash. After this, we’ll be enrolling you in some make-up classes so you can hopefully stay with your class, with your friends.”

So yeah, you could say nothing seemed like it was going my way. Looking back, I should have taken that talk as a wake up call, but I just… kept doing what I had been doing. Dad wasn’t really happy about it, but he always stayed calm, just like always. Cool under fire… wish I’d inherited that from him.

And then, the morning after that talk with my dad about my friends, I ran away. I don’t even know what I was running away from, but there I was, going as fast as I could, Gilda by my side. She was like my wingmate. I knew I could count on her to keep up with me, no matter how crazy and fast I went. To be honest, sometimes it felt like I was the one trying to keep up with her. She was, at times, more mysterious to me than my own inner feelings.

“Smell that fresh forest air!” Gilda said as she and Rainbow Dash stepped off the airship they had flown to Avenport in. Dash plopped down onto solid ground, dropping several stuffed suitcases around her, and Gilda reactively jumped. “Hey, careful with those!”

“Did you have to pack so much? Never knew you were so… girly. Do you even own this much clothing?”

Gilda waved her hand in the air. “Yeah, yeah, everyone’s got a secret, now come on. Check this place out!”

“Dash?” Gilda questioned after a minute, noting her companion’s silence.

“Sorry,” Dash responded. “I just can’t believe a place like this actually exists! I can already see a lot of spots with great potential for racing! You were definitely right, Gilda. I did need to get away from Cloudsdale!”

“I told you!” Gilda laughed. “Trust me, you’re gonna love it here. Hey, there’s the Roost, now!”

Upon arriving at the Roost, Gilda turned to Dash and held out her free claw. “Dash, hand me that metal suitcase.”

Dash handed over the heavy metallic case and peeked over the top of it. “You need a key or something from in there to get in?”

Gilda smirked. “Nah, it’s just after four, so I might need protection.”

“Protection?”

Gilda dropped the rest of the bags she was carrying, turned the doorknob, and pushed the door open. She entered slowly, holding the suitcase in front of her. “Hey! Uncle G!”

“You’ll never take me alive!” a rough voice shouted from inside, followed by four loud gunshots. Gilda ducked, jerking the suitcase upward, the bullets lodging themselves into its surface.

“Chill out, uncle, it’s me!”

“Pipe down!” another voice came from inside, followed by the sound of glass shattering.

Rainbow Dash slowly backed away from the door, ducking down close to the ground. Were those gunshots? I’ve only ever heard about guns, never seen one before, let alone heard one being fired! She stared up at Gilda, who was angrily shaking her fist into the doorway. What kind of crazy place have you taken us, Gilda?

A second later, Gilda turned back to Dash and tossed the bullet-riddled suitcase on the ground. It popped open, revealing that it was just full of thick planks of wood. “Okay, it’s safe now.”

Dash stared at the suitcase for a moment, then back up to Gilda. “Safe? You packed a suitcase of wood just to block bullets and you’re telling me it’s safe?”

“Relax, that’s just how Uncle Gerulf gets when he’s had a little too much to drink. Aunt Frida’s got it covered.”

“I ain’t had too much to drink!” the rough voice yelled out the door again. “Yer not the boss a’me!”

“Don’t mind him. Come on in!” the other voice beckoned. Gilda and Dash gathered Gilda’s luggage back up and slowly managed to get it all inside. To the left of the entryway was a regal wooden bar, fully stocked. A single griffon sat at the bar, an empty glass in front of him and broken glass all around him. He turned his head to look at Gilda and rubbed his palm against the crown of his skull.

“Ah yes, Gilda my girl, how ya’ve grown,” he managed to say.

The other griffon, who was behind the bar, leaned against it and smiled. “So, introduce us to your pony friend.”

“Uh, yeah. This is Dash… uh, Rainbow Dash. She’s from Cloudsdale.”

Dash smiled and bowed her head. “Nice to meet you…?” she said, still wondering what had just happened.

“Hah! Polite one, ain’t she? Never thought we’d see ya back here again after yer da moved ta Griffonstone. So ya been hangin’ around pegasi, eh? Always knew ya were a little odd.”

Frida, as quick as a bullet, slapped her claw against the back of Gerulf’s head. “Be good, now! You’ll have to forgive him, Miss Dash, he’s got no control o’ that tongue of his once he’s got some liquor in him.”

“I didn’t mean nothin’ by it! Some of my best friends are pegasi!”

“Like who?”

“Oh come on, you know, from the docks… That stocky fella.”

“He’s a donkey, Ger! Ya can’t even tell a donkey from a pony!”

“Oh, shove off! Leave me in peace, ya witch.”

“Uh, yeah, so…” Gilda finally interrupted. “You have any rooms free? We could use a couple.”

“What? Ya ain’t sharin’ one?” Gerulf asked with a wink, which was quickly followed by another slap from Frida.

“Yes, dearie, just head on up, any of the doors that are ajar.”

“Thanks, auntie… uncle…” Gilda said, and then motioned for Dash to follow her quickly. The two of them moved to the back of the bar area and up the stairs as quickly as they could.

“Your family’s a little weird,” Dash whispered with a chuckle. “Funny, too!”

“Yeah, barrel of laughs,” Gilda groaned. “Seriously, though, just wait til uncle Gerulf isn’t drinking, he’s actually a really cool dude. He’s been quite the influence on me.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Gerulf has run his own businesses since he was a gryphlet. Started really young, and he’s got a lifetime of connections. People who owe him favors, ya know?”

“What kind of favors?”

“The kind that get stuff done. Oh, hey, here’s a room,” Gilda said and then pushed her way into a vacant room. The interior was sparse. A simple bed, a table, and a chair were the only furnishings. Gilda stacked her luggage in the corner, leaving Dash with only her small saddle bag. “So yeah, thanks for the help. Guess we better find you your room, now, unless you wanna…”

“Yeah,” Dash replied nervously, rubbing a hoof against the back of her head. “Maybe there will be an empty room next door.”

“Hah, yeah, here’s hoping!” Gilda said, her voice wavering slightly. The two of them exited, turned to the left, and found that the next room over was, indeed, vacant.

Dash opened the door and grinned. “Oh wow, Gilda, you got shorted! Check out that bed!” she shouted, and then ran across the room, flopping down on the rather large bed at the other end.

“Aw, dude, no fair! I say we rock-paper-scissors for it!” Gilda shouted, holding out her fist.

Dash laughed and stuck her hoof up in the air. “All I got it rock!” she said with a giggle.

Gilda responded by leaping onto the bed and tackling Dash, pressing her down against the soft surface of the comforter. After a second of squirming, Dash found her eyes locked with Gilda’s.

“Hey… thanks for coming with me,” Gilda said, turning her gaze to the side. “I’m glad I can always count on you to have my back.”

“It’s fine. After all, you said this was for the both of us, right? To expand our horizons,” Dash responded, allowing her forelegs to fall limp. She suddenly felt Gilda’s talons gently digging into the flesh of her flank, slowly working their way down past her cutie mark. She let out an uncontrollable gasp of air.

“Yeah,” Gilda replied, her breathing becoming more intense. “It’s gonna be awesome.”

Dash closed her eyes and bit her lower lip, but then felt the sensation of flames washing over her. She opened her eyes and found herself alone in that room in the Roost, lying on the bed as fire raged all around her again. She sighed and shook her head.

The first week away from home seemed like a dream. Gilda and I were getting along better than ever before, and she seemed so much happier. Exploring the city was like an adventure. There were so many things to see and do, so many courses to mentally set up for racing and training. Gerulf and Frida were a cool pair, as well. Sometimes I would see Gerulf giving Gilda some strange looks when she wasn’t paying attention, though, and it wasn’t long before I found out why.

I guess he’d gotten word from some of his connections in town, which is why he knew from the very first night. Not the first night we were there, but from the first night that Gilda went out and wouldn’t tell me where she’d gone off to.

Halfway through the second week there, and I was already starting to get homesick. I had a picture of Fluttershy, and I found myself looking at it more and more. I’d come home from doing what I’d been doing since the second or third day there, running deliveries for Gerulf and Frida, and I’d just want to lie in bed and stare at it. Sometimes I’d catch a glimpse of it when Gilda and I were… together, and I’d feel my heart sink and my head fill with the awful things I’d said to her before I ran away.

Thank Celestia I didn’t have a picture of my dad. What would he have even thought if he’d seen me like this?

It wouldn’t be long until I’d see him again, though. One night late that week, Gilda seemed a little bit more on edge, like she was nervous about something. We were hanging out in my room, which is honestly where we usually were, anyway. Her luggage pretty much was her room’s only occupant.

Gilda sat on the floor and leaned against Dash’s bed, turning her head toward her friend. Dash lying with her legs hanging off the edge of the bed, just staring at the far wall. “Hey, Dash… I got something I need to tell you… and a favor to ask.”

Dash turned to Gilda and nodded her head. “Sure, what’s up?”

“You know I’ve been… going out and doing some stuff at night, right?”

“Yeah, I just… I didn’t want to pry or anything. Like you said before, everyone’s got their secrets.”

“Exactly!” Gilda said, seeming to cheer up. She turned and put her claw on Dash’s shoulder. “Look, you’re one of the only ones in this world that I can trust. I need you to promise me you’ll keep what I’m about to tell you, about to show you, under wraps. You can’t tell anyone, got it?”

Dash sat up and leaned away from Gilda nervously, raising one eyebrow. “Okay, sure, but you’ve got me a little freaked out here.”

“Trust me, Dash, this is our big ticket up and outta here.”

“But, we just got here.”

Gilda stood up and walked toward the door. “Come to my room, Dash. You’ll see.”

Rainbow Dash nervously followed Gilda down the hall and to her room next door. The two of them entered and then Gilda closed and locked the door behind them. Dash could feel her anxiety rising a bit as Gilda grabbed one of her many suitcases and placed it on the table. She opened it up, slid a piece of cloth to the side, and then looked up at Rainbow.

“You know what this is?”

I knew what it was. I’d seen it plenty before. The colorful flower buds and accompanying little vials of swirling, rainbow-colored liquid were unmistakable. Ponium, a kind of opium that was grown on the ground around Cloudsdale. It can only grow in areas where the rainbow falls flow down from the weather factory. Banned by Celestia, but almost impossible to wipe out since it naturally occurs, it’s a by-product of modern weather control techniques… one that was illegal in Equestria and the Griffon Kingdom alike.

One that had taken my mother away from me.

Author's Note

Time for a trip down memory lane, and... oh, hey there, Dark tag! No, I didn't forget about you! :pinkiecrazy:

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Crash Down Ch 6 - Recovery

Book Five: Crash Down

Chapter Six - Recovery

I was so young, I barely even remember much about my mom – just a sweet smile and a beautiful dark blue mane, never really styled, it just fell all around her face and would tickle my nose when she leaned down to kiss me. Sure, I know what she looked like from seeing her in photographs, but her voice? Her personality? Her cooking, which I am assured was great? I have no memories of any of those things. She was a nurse at a sports clinic, which is how dad met her in the first place. I am told she loved me a lot and was a good mother, but things took a pretty grim turn.

I remember being sad, but I just didn’t know how to deal with it. I guess dad had his own ways of dealing with it. Thinking back, I remember one night over a year after mom died. I heard dad crying and was worried, so I went out to the living room. I found him slouched over on the couch, a big, empty glass bottle lying next to him, his face buried in his forelegs.

“Daddy? Why are you crying?”

Rainbow Blaze quickly wiped his face against his forelegs and looked over at his daughter. He smiled as best he could and then took in a deep breath. “Because I miss mommy,” he said, and then turned to look at the empty bottle beside him. “Sheesh… daddy’s had a little too much, squirt.”

“Too much what?” Dash questioned as she slowly made her way to the couch and started to climb up onto it.

Blaze quickly grabbed the bottle and set it on the floor on the other side of the couch. He burped and tapped a hoof against his chest. “Bad medicine.”

“You said mommy took too much medicine, and that’s why she went away. You’re not going away, are you?”

Blaze grabbed his little girl and squeezed her close to him. “No, squirt, I’ll be okay. I’m not going anywhere.”

Dash pushed her front hooves against her dad’s side and scrunched up her nose. “Ewwww, let me go,” she said, but then giggled slightly.

Blaze smiled, genuinely this time, and loosened his hug. “Okay, okay,” he said, and then leaned against the cushioned back of the couch. The two of them fell asleep together.

“Mommy had a bad habit, and daddy didn’t notice until it was too late.” That’s what dad always told me. When I got older, he sat me down and told me the truth.

“She got hooked on ponium at some party with her coworkers. Funny, they were all medical professionals… You’d think they would know better.”

Rainbow Dash stared at her father, her jaw wide open. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

Rainbow Blaze leaned back in his seat and sighed. “Yes, and you’re old enough to know the truth, now. I found her,” he started, but then sniffled and closed his eyes, rubbing a foreleg against them. They opened back up a second later, staring blankly upward and tears falling from them. “I found her in the bathtub. She tried to talk, but nothing came out that I could understand. She had a needle still stuck in her foreleg… just dangling there…”

“Dad, you don’t have to--”

“I tried to save her, Dash. I couldn’t. I just couldn’t,” he said and shook his head. “I flew her as fast as I could to the hospital, but just as we were arriving, I felt… I felt her…” He leaned forward, pressing his forehead against the kitchen table. Dash got up from her seat across from him and ran around, grabbing ahold of him, tears now streaming down her own cheeks. She squeezed him tightly, burying her face in his shoulder.

“Dad! You don’t have to tell me. It’s okay.”

“I felt her die. She just went limp. She was gone, Dashie… just gone. They said her heart had given up.”

We spent that night together. I knew he would be okay, he had been for years, but I wanted to be there for him. He slept on the couch and I slept on the floor next to it. I just couldn’t believe his story, but I knew it was true. We’d already learned about drugs at school, the teachers made us all take an oath to stay clean, but I knew some kids who secretly smoked zebra lotus. That stuff stank so bad, I couldn’t even go near it. Not sure how they could stand it.

Go forward a few years, and I found myself standing in Gilda’s room at the Roost, staring into a suitcase that was jam-packed with the very stuff that killed my mom and caused my dad so much misery. To say I was pissed would be an understatement, but it only got worse from there on out.

“Ponium?” I asked, my jaw beginning to shake.

“Yeah, and really quality stuff, too!” Gilda responded as if nothing was wrong. “It can only be made in Equestria, so it’s in high demand over here. Check this out!” Gilda grabbed another bag, straining slightly, and dropped it onto the floor beside Dash. She zipped it open and bits practically poured out of it.

Dash stared at the money, and then up at Gilda’s face. “You’re selling ponium!”

Gilda put a talon to her beak. “Shh! Keep it down. Look, if we can move all this stuff out, we can make a small fortune. And then next time, we can bring even more, expand to other cities.”

Dash was practically seeing red. She swung her hoof forward without even thinking about it, gripped at Gilda’s feathers as best she could, and threw her down onto the bed. She pressed her hoof against Gilda’s chest and leaned over her. “I thought you wanted to come here to get away from Cloudsdale! I thought we were friends! Maybe more than that! But apparently you had other plans!”

“Dash, relax, I had planned on telling you all along!”

“I don’t care!” Dash screamed, turning her head to look at all of Gilda’s luggage. “All those bags I helped you carry? You were just using me to help you smuggle drugs? And now you want me to help you? This stuff kills people, Gilda! Ruins lives!”

“Dude, chill out!” Gilda shouted back, pushing up against Dash. “It’s not like you even known any of these griffons! You just have to sell it to them. They want it, and we’re giving them what they want. I never heard of anyone dying from it.”

Dash pulled her hoof up just long enough to swing it back down across Gilda’s face. “This stuff killed my mom! Let me tell you what I want! I want my dad to have never stayed up all night crying into a bottle of whiskey! I want my mom to have been able to see me growing up!” she screamed, and then kicked the table that the suitcase of ponium was sitting on, knocking it onto the ground. “If you think a few bits can bring her back, think again!”

Gilda stared up at Dash, unable to speak, her whole body shaking.

Dash gave her one last shove and then stormed out of the room. “Don’t ever let me see your face again!”

I didn’t know what to do or where to go. I felt hurt, betrayed, and most of all, angry. I found myself tearing through the Roost’s upper walkway which eventually came to a spiral staircase I had never gone up. I went up it without much though and found myself in a room with a couch at the far wall. I threw myself down onto it, buried my face in a small, square pillow that was at one end of it, and screamed as loud as I could. I smashed my right hoof into the couch’s back cushions. After a moment, I took a break to breathe and heard a chair creak behind me.

Rainbow Dash flipped over on the couch and jerked her head up to look at the source of the creaking sound. Gerulf was there, sitting on a stool with a pair of thick goggles pulled over his eyes, which made them look huge. He blinked his eyes and shook his head.

“I… didn’t know anyone was up here,” Dash said, her voice hoarse and scratchy.

“That’s okay,” Gerulf replied and then removed the goggles. “I come here to get away, too.”

“I’m not sure this is far enough away, yet.”

Gerulf breathed in deeply and let out a sigh as he wheeled his stool over to the couch. “Ya found out, did ya? At first, I thought you were in on it from the start.”

Dash shot up from the couch and could feel her anger bubbling back up. She gritted her teeth and stared at the old griffon. “You knew? Were you in on it?”

Gerulf raised one of his claws and gently motioned downward, shaking his head again. “No, no, I don’t do that kind of business, and I can’t have it being done out of my home. I think she knew she was out of time and had to get rid of it all,” he said, lowering his head. “I can’t say I’m not partly responsible for this, though. Ya see, I used to be into some real shady business; it earned me quite the reputation around this town. I wish she’d taken after my current self rather than my old self.”

“So… what do I do now?” Dash asked, slumping back down onto the couch, a look of despair draping across her face. “I… I left everything behind to come here and…”

Gerulf shrugged. “Hard ta say. Do ya have anyone you can go back to?”

“My dad… and Fluttershy. They probably both hate me now, though.”

“Now, listen here. You’re young still, you have a lot more ahead of you than behind you. Surely there is time to make amends with them. I’m sure your dad is thinking about you.”

“Maybe… but not Fluttershy. She was so close to me, I was the only friend she had, and then I just… I said such terrible things to her before leaving,” Dash said, her eyes becoming wide and staring across the room at nothing in particular, the image of Fluttershy’s face forming in her mind. She lifted her hooves up in front of her face, and they began to shake. “She’ll never… She’ll never forgive me. She shouldn’t. Not ever.”

Dash pressed her face against her hooves and lurched forward, her eyes finally releasing the tears she’d been holding in. Her back heaved as she began to sob. Gerulf carefully stepped over to the couch, sat down beside her, and wrapped one of his wings around her.

“That’s good. Let it all out. We all need that sometimes. I’ll hold onto you until you’re done.”

I don’t remember how long I cried. The sun had been going down, but by the time I’d finished, it was dark. Gerulf, true to his word, held onto me until I was ready to lie down. He still stayed with me, although I think he’d planned on being up there all night, anyway. He had his eye pressed into a big telescope, but I think he noticed that I was watching him.

Gerulf turned to look at Dash again and smiled softly.

“What is that thing?”

Gerulf cocked his head a bit. “What sort of schools do they have in Equestria? It’s a telescope. It lets you look up at the stars.”

Dash flopped back onto the couch again. “Wow, talk about boring.”

“Hmm. Maybe so, but I find it incredible. To think you can look up at the stars in the sky here and know that someone many miles away can be looking up at the very same stars. It’s sort of romantic, don’t you think?”

Dash scrunched up her brow and gazed at the telescope. “Can I see?” she asked timidly. Gerulf simply smiled and waved her over. Dash pressed her eye up to the telescope’s lens and was immediately greeted with a vast ocean of lights, many more than she had ever imagined were in the sky. “Wow… I take it back. This. Is. Awesome!”

Gerulf laughed. “It is, isn’t it? Each light you see up there is a star, or a planet, or some other celestial body. We have not even begun to discover everything that’s up there! There are infinite possibilities.”

“And if someone back in Cloudsdale were to look up, they would see the same thing. Wow,” Dash said, imagining Fluttershy sitting beside her, gazing up at the sky together. She pulled her eyes away from the lens and wiped a tear away.

“So… have you decided what you’re going to do?” Gerulf asked.

“I know what I want to do, but it’s going to be hard.”

“Your father, your friend back home… they both love you, girl. I’m sure they’ll accept you back, forgive you for the past. Maybe someday…” Gerulf started, and then turned his head to look toward the stairwell. “Maybe someday she’ll be worthy of forgiveness, as well. That is my wish.”

Dash sighed. “I don’t… I don’t hate Gilda. I just can’t believe she used me like that. How can I trust her, now?”

“You can’t! Nor should you! Not yet,” Gerulf said, and then glanced at the clock. “Look, we should both get some sleep. Why don’t you stay up here tonight? I know from experience that couch is mighty comfy. Tomorrow morning, I’ll help you decide your next step.”

I accepted his offer. I was exhausted, anyway, and he was so right about that couch. The next morning, Gilda was already gone, not so much as a word to me. I guess she didn’t want to see me as much as I didn’t want to see her. Gerulf arranged for me to fly back to Cloudsdale. I said my goodbyes, gathered up my belongings, which basically amounted to a single picture of Fluttershy and a pair of goggles, and left Avenport.

Before I knew it, I was back in Cloudsdale, standing in front of my home. As if he could sense me standing there, Dad opened the door and smiled down at me.

“I’m back,” Dash said, looking down at the cloudy ground.

Rainbow Blaze nodded his head. “It’s cold. Come inside, squirt.”

It was too easy. Not just with him, but with Fluttershy. I barely had time to say “Look, about that stuff I said,” before she threw herself onto me, hugging me tighter than I thought she had the strength for, and crying, of course.

I was, too, because I didn’t deserve it. I didn’t deserve her.

Dash found herself back in the burning bedroom again, but felt a cool breeze blowing in through her open window. She pressed her hooves against the sill and poked her head up. Outside the window, Ponyville spread out before her. With a bit of hesitation, she slid out the window and then kicked off into the sky. She found herself gliding over the town, looking down at the various places she had come to know in her most recent home.

I ended up following Fluttershy to Ponyville after she graduated. I’d heard they were looking for weather ponies, and that was a job I could manage to get, even without a diploma. Maybe I wanted to follow her there, or maybe I just wanted to escape my dad. I’m sure I was nothing but a constant reminder of how I’d let him down. Even after coming back from Avenport, I never did go back to school for very long. I somehow preferred doing odd jobs and getting experience that way, even though they weren’t getting me any closer to my dreams.

Dash flew a full circuit around the town, and then found herself back at her own cloud home in the sky above Ponyville. She paused to sit on a cloud just a few yards away and spotted movement near her front door. She knew exactly what she was looking at. It was another memory, this time of the day that Gilda came back out of the blue.

“Look, Dash, I know we’ve had some rough moments…” Gilda started, her voice full of hesitation.

“What are you doing here?” Dash’s own voice came from the inside of the house. “I told you I don’t ever want to see your face again.”

“I know, and I totally deserved that. I’ here to—“

“To sell drugs? I’d make an exception and see your face again to punch it if you are.”

“No, Dash! Let me finish, damn it!” Gilda shouted, slamming her fist into the cloudy ground beneath her. “I’m here to apologize. I just…” She took a deep breath, and then silence hung in the air for a moment.

“Go away, Gilda.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Rainbow Dash,” Gilda finally said. She curled forward, letting her forehead press up against the door. “After you left, I got caught. It happened so fast. Before I knew it, I was locked up. At first, I was angry, I tried my hardest to blame Uncle Gerulf or you or one of the griffons I had sold to, but I knew the truth. I had no one to blame but myself. I was so humiliated, so full of regret for everything. Not just for selling that stuff, but… for betraying you. I missed you. I missed you more than anything.”

I didn’t know what to even say. I had so many mixed up emotions swirling around inside.

“Look, you don’t have to forgive me. You don’t even have to accept this apology. I just wanted to say it… to hear your voice one more time.”

I guess I’d wanted to hear hers, too. Somewhere deep inside, hidden away behind all the anger and resentment was still this idealized image of my old racing buddy, my wingmate, my shoulder when I needed one. In that moment, I thought about everything that had happened to me just recently. I remembered how I was now the bearer of the Element of Loyalty. I remembered Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon, even after what they had been through, reuniting happily. Surely if Princess Celestia could forgive Princess Luna, then I could give Gilda one more chance.

That was a mistake.

I did it anyway. I let her back into my life. We tried to kick things off again like nothing had even happened. In the end, she was a total jerk to all my new friends. I even found out later on that she’d made Fluttershy cry, stolen from a fruit cart, and bullied Pinkie Pie! I guess it’s true that some ponies – or griffons in this case – are just bad apples.

Dash’s memories faded and she found herself standing in the middle of a dark void.

“But even after all of that, I couldn’t help but feel like I’d failed her somehow,” Dash said aloud, looking around the darkness nervously.

You worry too much! Her own voice responded from somewhere.

“Probably, I mean, look at what’s been happening lately! After Daring and I defeated Umbross at the Battle of Dark Mountain, Gilda called out for us to help the Griffon Kingdom. She’d changed!”

That’s all just a dream, Fluttershy’s voice echoed across the empty space.

Dash inhaled slowly, deeply, and closed her eyes. She remembered Fluttershy sitting with her on her bed, talking about the old days, her hooves pressed to her back. She felt the softness of her lips pressing against her own.

That wasn’t a dream. I can feel it. She needs me. They all need me!

Twilight appeared before Rainbow Dash and nodded her head. “That’s right, Rainbow. Everypony messes up sometimes, but that doesn’t mean you can’t set things right.”

The rest of her friends appeared in a flash.

“Don’t worry so much about the past, Sugarcube. Focus on the here and now!” Applejack said as she pressed her hoof to the underside of her hat’s brim.

“But, what if I fail again? What if I can’t take the pressure? What if I end up running away?”

“You won’t,” Rarity said. “Why, I’d be nothing more than a splat on the ground if not for you! Just look deep down inside, you know you can do this!”

“That’s right! We’re all your friends, and we’re gonna help you! There’s no way we can lose!” Pinkie shouted as she bounced in place.

“I’ve always believed in you, Dashie,” Fluttershy said with a smile. “You’re the hero who always came to my rescue, after all.”

Dash’s mind filled the memories of the past again, but this time it was not her failures, but all the times she’d succeeded. She saw herself coming to Fluttershy’s aid at flight camp, and again when she first moved into Ponyville and found Fluttershy hiding away in her cottage. She saw their quest to find the Elements of Harmony and the competition where she performed the Sonic Rainboom and saved Rarity and the Wonderbolts. She beamed with a big smile and opened her eyes to find that her body was glowing with pure white light.

“Now, please,” Fluttershy said, stepping even closer to Dash. “Come back to us.”

Flames suddenly erupted all around Dash, and her friends vanished. The room of her underground safehouse reappeared, and she could see the fire and light pouring out from her body in slow motion.

“I’m back,” she said calmly. The fire froze in place. Fluttershy, who had been leaping through the air towards her, landed gently upon the floor. Rainbow raised her hoof in the air and the flames changed from yellow and orange to a deep blue. They sparkled like ice crystals and then slowly began to crack and dissolve into the air.

Fluttershy looked around with confusion for a moment, and then back to Dash.

Rainbow Dash shook her head and patted Fluttershy on her shoulder. “Thank you.”

Fluttershy blinked several times. “What did I do?”

Dash smiled. “You brought me back. Now, I have things to take care of,” she said as she walked past Fluttershy and over to Daring Do, who was now in changeling form and lying on the floor, staring up at her.

“Daring, I owe you an apology. If this is all my dream, then I made you the way you are without any thought as to how you felt.”

Mulcibar managed to pull himself to his hooves against the doorframe and gave Dash a questioning look. “How she felt? She’s just a—“

“Yeah, I know. Maybe it seems silly, but now that I’ve got my head clear, I think I might have gone a bit far. Making her a changeling in disguise was—“

“Surprisingly realistic,” Mulcibar re-interrupted.

Daring Do laughed and shook her head. “Hey, at least you didn’t do it to any of your friends.”

Dash smiled down at her. “No hard feelings, huh?”

Daring pressed against the wall and pushed herself up to a standing position. “Nah. It is what it is.” She sighed. “So this is it for me, eh?”

“It… it doesn’t have to be. Come with us! Come fight with me again just like old times!”

Daring picked up her pith helmet and slapped it on her head. “Sheesh, this is so weird. A couple minutes ago, I thought I had to kill you, and even almost did, and now you’re inviting me on an adventure.”

“Yeah, that’s a bit—“ Mulcibar started, but was cut off once again.

“Hey, why not? If you’re just a part of me, then you have to want some action! One more time! Let’s do it!”

Daring grinned at Dash as green fire washed over her body, changing her back into her pegasus form. “Guess you know best. Let’s go save Equestria! One more time!”

“Is anyone going to tell me what’s going on?” Gilda’s voice came from the hallway behind Mulcibar. “What’s going on with all these changelings? What happened in here?”

Dash looked up at Gilda and gulped. “Gilda, hey, yeah…” she said and then looked back to Mulcibar. “Aren’t they supposed to just, like, poof! Just know, now?”

“Do I look like I am the one in control here? Your dream griffon, you tell her.” He stepped to the side and gave them room.

Dash breathed in deeply once more. “Look, Gilda, okay, how do I explain? So, Daring was a changeling all along, sheesh that sounds cheesy when I say it out loud, and these two other changelings came here with Fluttershy from the real world.”

“The real world?” Gilda cocked her head.

“Yeah, so…”

“Oh, just spit it out, already!” Linnai shouted as she entered the room, rubbing a hoof against the back of her head. “This is all Rainbow Dash’s dream, nothing is real, and now we have to go find the two others who came here with us and get Rainbow out of here.”

Gilda blinked and turned back to look at Dash. “Jeez, dude, why didn’t you just say that?”

Dash fell to her haunches. “It was that easy? Come on!” she shouted, and then raised a hoof to her mouth, unable to hold in a bout of laughter. Gilda, Daring, and Fluttershy all laughed as well.

Mulcibar cleared his throat. “Sorry to interrupt again, but Rainbow Dash, where are Twilight and Luna?”

Dash suddenly stopped laughing and her face drooped as a nervous expression took the place of the happy one from a second before. “Oh, uh… why?”

“What do you mean ‘why?’ Where are they?”

Dash rubbed one of her hooves around on the ground nervously. “They’re in Equestria. Probably. Definitely. Twilight is definitely in Equestria.”

Fluttershy fidgeted a bit. “And Luna? What happened? I don’t have any memories about anything strange. Luna is with Celestia, right?”

Dash laughed again. “Yeah, that’s right. Of course. Why wouldn’t she be? They’re all together, standing up against the changelings!”

Mulcibar raised an eyebrow and grimaced. “Okay, so let’s get moving.”

“Right!” Dash shot up to her feet. “Let’s get moving!”

As she shouted those words, there was a popping sound, a flash of light, and then Dash was gone, similar to a teleport spell.

“Where’d she go?” Fluttershy asked, looking around the room frantically.

Linnai sighed. “I assume Equestria. Nice of her to bring us with her.”

Gilda shook her head. “Daaaaaash… You’re not making this easy. Alright, you all, let’s head back to the Roost real quick. There’s some… items there I need to get my claws on before we head out. We’ll take the fastest airship out after that. We’ll be in Equestria before you know it.”

“Alright, let’s go,” Mulcibar said and turned to head out. He noticed Linnai shrinking back a bit. “Come on, sister.”

“The Roost? I, uh, think I’ll pass.”

Mulcibar grabbed Linnai’s foreleg and pulled. “Come on. We don’t have time for this.”

Linnai groaned and reluctantly followed him along with Fluttershy and Daring Do. Once they were all outside, they all took to the sky. “Hey, at least we can all fly. I remember last time I was traveling with somepony, they were just baggage,” she said, and then sighed. She looked down at her hooves and smiled slightly. “Hold on tight, Prudicorn,” she whispered to herself.

The five of them glided through the air toward the roost. Fluttershy turned to look at Mulcibar, who had already been looking over at her. As their eyes met, they both nervously turned their gazes forward again. Fluttershy sighed and remembered the time she had spent taken over by the dream version of herself. The vision of the cell door smashing against Mulcibar’s leg flashed in her mind, and she could hear the sound of him crying out in pain. She frowned and nervously glanced over at him again, and at his leg. It was so hard to tell if he was hurt or not since his leg already had holes and indentations.

I have to apologize… make sure he’s alright, Fluttershy thought, and glided closer and closer to him with caution.

Mulcibar noticed her approaching and turned his head toward her. He could feel his heart rate speeding up with every inch closer she came. By the time she was alongside him, his wings were shaking slightly. I’m still not used to this. Calm down, calm down.

“Hi,” Fluttershy started nervously.

Mulcibar smiled in response. “Hi.”

Fluttershy trained her eyes down toward the ground below. “How is… your leg?”

“My leg?” Mulcibar asked, and then remembered what had happened. “Oh, my leg! Right! It’s fine! Don’t even worry about it!”

“I just feel awful about it.”

“It wasn’t your fault. Look, I’d already forgotten about it.”

“Oh, good.”

They flew in silence for a moment, both just staring as straight forward as they could.

Gilda broke the silence. “Gimme a break,” She said with a laugh and then rubbed a claw against her face. “You two are like a couple of hormonal teenagers on a first date.”

“Technically it’s their second,” Linnai chimed in. Mulcibar and Fluttershy both blushed uncontrollably.

“I could cut the tension with a knife,” Gilda said.

“I could vomit,” Linnai cackled.

“Are you two done?” Mulcibar asked. Fluttershy remained silent, her bangs somehow pulling themselves over her face on their own.

“I hope so. We’ve arrived,” Daring called out from the front of the pack. One by one, they landed in front of the main entrance to the Roost. “So what are we here to get, Gilda?”

“Some equipment for me, specifically. We’re following Dash into a war zone. Dash has super powers, Daring is on par with her and apparently also a changeling, and you two bizzarro changelings have magic. Where does that leave me?”

Fluttershy raised her hoof. “Um, I don’t have magic either, and…”

“Yeah yeah, sure, maybe we’ll find something for you in here, too. I just have to figure out where they stash ‘em all.”

“Stash all of what?” Mulcibar asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“Guns, I bet,” Linnai said, rolling her eyes. “I’m sure the old bird is packing one as we speak.”

Gilda grinned. “Exactly! You must have seen him on the sauce, eh?”

“Don’t remind me.”

“Come on, then. We’ll get through this faster if we work together.”

Gilda pushed the door open and nearly fell backwards as Rainbow Dash popped back into existence in front of her.

“Dash! You have got to stop doing that!”

“Sorry!” Dash said sheepishly. “I guess I kind of forgot to bring you along. I appeared over there for a second, though, and it’s not good. We have to hurry.”

“Well then come inside and help me find my uncle’s gun stash. We go over there, we’re going prepared. He’s gotta have a case somewhere.”

Dash nodded and grabbed Gilda by the shoulder, pulling her into the Roost. Mulcibar shrugged and followed, along with Daring Do. Fluttershy went in next, then glanced over her shoulder at Linnai.

“Linnai? Are you coming in?”

“I, uh… I’m going to fly up to the top and keep watch.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Fluttershy went inside, leaving Linnai alone, staring up at the window to the attic with the telescope aimed out of it. With a leap and several wing flaps, she was at the window, peeking inside.

Linnai pulled the window to the attic of The Roost open and carefully stepped inside. A floorboard creaked underhoof, and across the room, she heard the sound of a bottle clunking against a table and a chair squeaking. She quickly ducked behind the couch.

“So, was she right?” Gerulf’s voice came from across the room. The sound of a revolver’s hammer being pulled back was followed by a laugh. “Prove ya ain’t a changeling, now, lass.”

Linnai sighed. “Sorry, geezer. Can’t,” she responded. A second later she heard the gun being placed on a table and the bottle being picked up and pulled back against the old bird’s beak as he chugged from it, a bubbly, slushing sound.

“It ain’t loaded, anyway,” he said.

Linnai laughed. “I’ve heard that before.”

Gerulf laughed as well. “Come out from there, I ain’t ‘customed ta’ talkin’ ta furniture. Lemme get a look at ya.”

Linnai nervously brushed her hair away from her face and slowly stood up from behind the couch. She looked over at Gerulf. Surrounding him on the floor were several empty wine and liquor bottles, and the one that was on the table in front of him was mostly empty as well. He eyed her from hoof to horntip, his eyes locking onto the gem that was socketed into her horn’s base.

“We were definitely right. Ya sure are somethin’ special,” he said with a grin. “So, what’ll ya do now? Go find yer brother? Help the ponies, as ya said before?”

Linnai shook her head. “I already found him, and… hey, how did you know about that?”

“You got a bad habit of talkin’ out loud when ya think folks ain’t listenin’! Walls are thin in here, and I was only just a couple steps down when ya had yer little outburst earlier.”

Linnai could feel herself almost blushing. “Nosy old vulture!” she grumbled.

“Hah! Ya bug-eyed lizard!” he responded, and the both of them laughed. “I’m kidding. But seriously, yer brother sounds like a good chap.”

“Yeah,” Linnai said, gazing at the floor. “My stupid, love-struck brother. He’s… always been good to me.”

“Rare in these dark times to have someone like him there for ya. And you were there fer him, too, weren’t ya?”

“Dark times… You don’t even know the half of it. We’re the ones causing most of the problems. I wish I could just run away… leave it all behind.”

“You can run, but ya can’t hide. Not from what’s happening, and not from yerself,” Gerulf said, shifting in his chair. “Someday you’ll have to face them… face the consequences, and yerself.”

Linnai shook her head and looked back up at Gerulf. “What do you even know? You’re just some hollow marionette! A plaything of the mind dancing to some pony’s whim!”

Gerulf laughed. “Aye, I’ve known that for years now. Most don’t seem to catch on, but Frida and I, we’re well aware this place isn’t even real. May as well enjoy it while it lasts.”

Linnai’s jaw dropped. “What? But… how?”

Gerulf shrugged. “Just dawned on us one day. That’s why when you showed up, we both knew you were important. We both knew you weren’t from here. Maybe, just maybe, you were here to save this world.”

Linnai laughed. “You couldn’t have been more wrong.”

“Couldn’t we?”

Linnai swallowed, her eyes still locked with his. “If we succeed in what we came here to do, then this world will end. We came here to find the one who created this place and wake her up, and now we have. Everything here, unbelievable as it may sound, is her dream.”

“A dream, eh? That would explain a lot. I’d played around with that theory several months ago, but I couldn’t imagine who would dream up such a place.”

Linnai laughed. “Of course. It’s probably impossible for you to figure out. Everything unnatural that happens here seems as normal as anything to you. That’s just how it works.”

“Hey! You up there, old timer?” Gilda’s voice came screeching up the stairs.

Gerulf smiled and nodded his head to Linnai. “Looks like it’s time ta’ say goodbye, but I’ve got a little present for you all before ya ship off. Come on.”

The two of them went down the stairs and met Gilda and Rainbow Dash at the bottom. Gerulf walked right past them and waved them to follow. “Come on, girl. Yer as transparent as ever. I know what ya want,” he said, pulling a pistol from his side and twirling it on a claw. “Yer goin’ to go save the world, and now’s the right time for it, let me tell ya. I can feel the air getting’ thicker an’ thicker.” He walked down the second flight of stairs back to the front bar area. With a flick of his wrist, he flipped one of the mirrors behind the bar around, revealing a big lever. He pulled it and the back of the bar split down the middle, separating and revealing a set of stairs downward.

“Whoa…” Rainbow Dash stared, a giant smile spreading across her face. “That was AWESOME!”

Gerulf laughed. “Ya think that’s awesome, wait til ya see what’s down there.”

By this time, the rest of the group had converged at the bar. They all descended down the stairs into the hidden basement. It was dark and smelled of oil and gunpowder.

“Now, I must insist, no magic down ‘ere except levitation, understood?” Gerulf said, and then flicked a switch. Long overhead lights came on one by one with loud popping noises, revealing shelf after shelf after shelf, loaded with every sort of weapon imaginable. Gilda and Dash both let out a gasp.

“That… is way more than a case,” Gilda said, wide-eyed.

“He had this hidden under here the whole time?” Dash asked, turning to Gilda.

Gilda shrugged. “How am I supposed to know, bird brain? This is your dream. You probably just made this up because it’s awesome.”

Dash, barely able to contain her excitement, stared down the row of weapon racks. “I know! I know! It’s too awesome!”

Linnai shrugged. “Yeah, too bad almost none of these are of any use to ponies.”

Dash scoffed. “A unicorn could totally levitate a gun!”

Linnai shook her head and waved a hoof in the air. “Why in the world would a unicorn use a gun, though?”

Dash grumbled and began to walk down the corridor. “Cuz it’s cool. Shut up.”

Linnai smirked. “Well, anyway, I suppose I could find a use for an edged weapon,” she said, levitating a long, curved dagger up in front of her.

“Alright. Gather up what you can carry. We leave for Equestria in ten minutes,” Gilda said. “Dash! Think you can teleport all of us?”

“Pretty sure!” Dash shouted back as she was gawking at a cannon-like object a ways down the hall. “Can we bring a cannon?”

“Can you carry a cannon?”

“Just strap it to my back! It’ll be amazing!”

“It’ll be ridiculous,” Gerulf said with a laugh. “That thing would send ya flying backwards as soon as ya fired it!”

Dash let out a frustrated growl. “Fine! I’ll leave it!”

The party gathered up what they wanted and then met back upstairs. Gerulf and Frida stood at the doorway. The now fully equipped party stepped out of the tavern and towards the thicket forest.

“Thanks again, uncle!” Gilda shouted.

Linnai approached Gerulf and Frida. She looked at them and then down at the ground. “Look, so, this is a little weird for me. I have to admit, I don’t even… I don’t even know what I’m feeling, or why, or how. I just want to thank you two, I guess. For everything.”

Gerulf grabbed ahold of Linnai and pulled her into a hug. Linnai’s head went over the old griffon’s shoulder, and she pressed her chin down against him. Her eyes went wide, tears suddenly forming at their edges.

“We have you to thank, too, lass.”

Linnai reluctantly wrapped one of her forelegs up and around Gerulf’s back. “Thank me for what?” she asked, her voice shaking.

“Fer giving us hope. Like I told ya, we knew you were special, and we hoped you were here ta’ save this world. Now we’re sure of it.”

Linnai squeezed her hoof around him even tighter, tears now flowing down her cheeks. Someday, I’ll figure out this whole ‘feelings and emotions’ thing. I hope.

She gently pulled away from him, turned, and was greeted by Mulcibar’s big, grinning face.

“Are you… crying?” he asked, his grin becoming ever wider and toothier.

Linnai wiped her face and stomped past him. “Of course I’m not! Don’t be ridiculous! Let’s go!”

“So, how do we do this?” Gilda asked.

“Is it okay for me to be nervous? Maybe one of us should stay here to make sure—“ Fluttershy started, but was interrupted by Mulcibar scooping one of her hooves up in his. She looked up at him, her face still full of worry.

“It’ll be okay. I’m here with you, just like when we came into this dream world.”

Rainbow Dash stared at their hooves and raised an eyebrow. “Uh, yeah, no worries. I totally have this,” she said. “You can count on me!” She clumsily reached out and scooped up Fluttershy’s other foreleg.

The yellow pegasus looked back and forth between Dash and Mulcibar and the worried look on her face only intensified. “Uh, you two… I’m going to lose my balance.”

“Sorry!” Dash and Mulcibar both said at the same time, awkwardly letting go of Fluttershy’s hooves.

Linnai smirked. “Yeah, will end well...”

Gilda cleared her throat. “Okay, Dash, focus. How do we do this?”

“Do what?”

“Teleport to Equestria.”

“Oh yeah. It’s like--”

There was a flash of light and the group suddenly found themselves standing at the edge of a camp. The light from a campfire could be seen toward the camp’s center, and the sound of hooves stomping against the ground came closer and closer.

Linnai quickly burst into green flames and transformed into her pegasus form. She glanced over at Mulcibar who was still looking at Fluttershy and blushing. “Mulci! Head in the game!”

“Ah! Right!” he said with a gasp as if he had just been startled to waking. With a flash, he transformed into a unicorn whose features were all basically the same as his, just with no leg holes, fangs, or socketed horn.

“It came from over here! Don’t lose it again!” a voice shouted from inside the camp. Linnai’s lips curled upward into a big grin.

Dash waved the group forward. “Come on, looks like we’re at Celestia’s northern camp. We’re just north of Ponyville… what’s left of it, anyway.”

Dash moved forward, but before she could react, Twilight came bowling around a tent and ran straight into her, tackling her to the ground. She pressed both her front hooves into Rainbow’s chest, her eyes tightly closed, and lit her horn up with magic. “I knew a sensed a teleport! Come quietly and--”

“Twilight! It’s just me.”

Twilight opened her eyes and looked down at Dash. “Rainbow? Oh, thank the stars, we’re saved!” she exclaimed, and then leapt to her hooves. She stood at attention at saluted Dash, which caused Fluttershy to tilt her head slightly. “High Awesome Commander, we have been awaiting your return! There have been terrible complications since you left! My suspicions were correct, sir. Princess Luna has gone rogue.”

Fluttershy, Mulcibar, and Linnai all gasped at the same time. “What!?”

Celestia’s voice came from the other side of the tent. The princess emerged, which brought forth yet another gasp from everypony. Her face was scarred and one of her ears had a piece cut out of it. “It’s true. Princess Luna - no, Nightmare Moon - has betrayed us. She has joined forces with Chrysalis and they have threatened to attack any day now. Your Awesomeness, your return is quite fortuitous.”

“How could this have happened?” Fluttershy asked, shooting Dash a look of distress.

“You got me!” Dash said, and then sighed. “Okay, so maybe I might have thought just a teeny tiny bit one time a long while ago about how awesome it would be if Luna were to secretly still be evil and I’d have to face her in one-on-one combat…”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Looks like you will have your chance, then. She wants to fight you more than anypony else. Follow me to the camp’s center, I will explain more as we walk.”

Fluttershy hurried to Dash’s side as they walked and leaned towards Dash’s head. “How could you think that? Luna is our friend!” she whispered into Dash’s ear.

“Sorry! I totally also thought that after we fought, she’d turn good again! Honest! I can’t help it! Whenever I bust clouds, I have to pass the time somehow! So I make up stories!” she whispered back.

Fluttershy sighed. “Who else did you make up stories about? Any about me?”

Dash’s face turned red faster than should be possible. Fluttershy could practically see steam coming off of her cheeks. “No,” she replied casually.

Fluttershy’s eyebrows drooped. “Sure…”

Meanwhile, at the front of the group, Celestia was still talking, Twilight walking by her side and gazing up at her. “After Chrysalis joined forced with Nightmare Moon, it’s been quiet other than a few random changeling attacks. I don’t think there’s much to worry about from them, but if the queen comes here with Luna, there could be big trouble.”

“Don’t worry, princess!” Twilight said, her face beaming. “With me here, and now Rainbow Dash as well, there is nothing to fear! I would fight a hundred changeling queens if it meant defending you and Equestria! Why, I would--”

Twilight fell to the ground face-first. A flash of magic appeared briefly and a saddlebag materialized on her back. Celestia turned her head down to Twilight.

“Are you okay, my faithful student?”

Twilight shook her head and slowly stood back up. “I think so… I just can’t quite remember what I was just… doing…”

Celestia glanced at Twilight’s back. “Did you always have that saddlebag on?”

Several members of the group behind them answered in unison.

“Yes! She totally did!”

“Yep, I remember that!”

“Definitely.”

“What?”

Twilight sighed. “Nevermind. I remember now,” she said, and then turned to Rainbow Dash, her face now becoming as flush red as Dash’s had been a moment earlier. “We are going to have to have a little talk about that overactive imagination of yours later, Rainbow Dash!” she said, barely over a whisper.

“Huh?” Rainbow gawked.

“Don’t ‘Huh?’ me!” Twilight whispered, pointing a hoof back at Celestia. “Mentor! Teacher! Friend! Nothing more!”

A look of disappointment filled Dash’s face. “Fine, whatever. Sorry. Am I going to be apologizing for my ‘overactive imagination’ all night?”

Twilight cleared her throat and turned back to Celestia. “Sorry about that, Princess. You were talking about… Princess Luna, right? How she… became evil again and joined forces with Chrysalis!?” she said, her vocal tone becoming more frustrated as she continued the sentence, her eyes curving around toward Rainbow Dash again. She took a deep breath. “Please… continue.”

I am never going to hear the end of this. I just hope we don’t run into Rarity and Applejack, Dash thought to herself.

Princess Luna opened her eyes. She found herself in her own bedroom in Canterlot Castle. She pushed the blanket off of herself and stretched her legs. “Well, we seem to have arrived no worse for wear. Now, where has Twilight gotten off to?”

“So you’re ready to deliver the final blow, at last!” a voice called out from behind her closed door. It opened and Chrysalis stepped in, her eyes glowing with bright red magic. “Tonight shall be the night!”

Luna leapt up from bed. “Chrysalis!” she shouted, assuming a defensive stance. What is she doing here? And what is she talking about?

Luna turned her head slightly and caught sight of herself in the mirror across the bedroom. She sighed, seeing her wicked form. She turned her head more and saw her nightmare armor sitting upon a rack near the mirror. She pressed a hoof against her forehead and groaned.

Rainbow Dash… Just what sort of dream are you having?

Author's Note

There could be a few errors this time. Well, more than there usually are, anyway!

Okay! That was quite refreshing! It's been a while since I did anything funny just for the sake of being funny. We can't get too serious all the time! Dash shipping her friends was a silly idea I had a while back when I was first thinking of what to do with her dream. I decided that if her dream was going to be full-on wish-fulfillment, then I was going to fill it with every cliche trope and fanfic faux pas I could! Self-insert into Daring Do? Done! Character X was a changeling all along? Done! Good character turns evil? Check! Whiny angsty protagonist? Got ya covered! Shipping your friends? Yep! Other characters fawning over the big hero? Yes!

We got all that and a bag of chips!

Tune in next time for the over-the-top conclusion of Crash Down!

Support me on Patreon - With this release, I am starting to consider upping the word count for payout to 10,000. We'll see if I can maintain this pace.

Crash Down Ch 7 - Sharp Left Turn

Book Five: Crash Down

Chapter Seven - Sharp Left Turn

Central Haven, Former Location of Sugarcube Corner, Ponyville Ruins

“Twitch…”

“Twitcha-twitch…”

“Ear flop…”

“Which one is that?”

Pinkie Pie eyed the white unicorn across the tent from her strangely. “Have you not been paying attention?”

The unicorn shrugged and pushed her spiky blue bangs to the side. “How can you expect anypony to keep track of what your weird spasming body is doing? Just tell me what it is,” she said as she wiped the sleep away from her eyes.

Pinkie sighed. “You don’t even want to guess?”

The unicorn lay back down on her sleeping bag, resting her head against her pillow. “You’re the one who woke me up.”

“This is serious business, Vinyl. You should give it a guess!”

“You’re just bored,” Vinyl Scratch responded.

“No, that’s not it.”

“That wasn’t a guess.”

“It sure seemed like one, though. You should guess for real!”

“Fine… it means the changelings are coming.”

“Nope! Guess again!”

“Rain?”

“Nope!”

“Somepony is going to die.”

“I don’t think I have one for that, try again!”

“You have to pee!”

“Not really, no.”

“You’re on your period!”

“Ewww, no.”

“You missed your period!”

Pinkie giggled. “Of course not! Who has time for that these days?”

“Pinkie!” Vinyl shouted, sitting back up in her sleeping bag and flinging her hooves forward. “Just tell me!”

Pinkie pouted. “Fine. It means Dashie’s back.”

Vinyl suddenly leapt up to her hooves and ran over to Pinkie Pie. “Really? She’s back?”

“Sure seems that way! She must be at Celestia’s main camp up north.”

“How can you tell?”

“Because of the ear flop, duh.”

“I will never understand you.”

“Not with that attitude!”

Vinyl slapped a hoof over her face and slowly pulled it downward. “Anyway, can we get some sleep, now? We’ll investigate in the morning. Somepony should go down to Sweet Apple Acres and tell them, too.”

“My thoughts exactly! You should head down there in the morning, and I’ll head to Celestia’s.”

“Great. Now get some sleep. Please?”

Pinkie was already snoring. Vinyl shook her head and grinned. “What did I do in my past life to end up tenting with this nutjob?” she asked aloud and then lay back down in her sleeping bag. “I’m gonna lose my marbles, I swear.”

A light brown hoof reached out and wrapped around Vinyl’s waist from the other side. “That’s assuming you had any marbles up there to begin with,” a soft voice spoke from beneath a blanket on the other side of her. “Follow your own advice and get some sleep, Vinyl.”

Vinyl chuckled. “How did you manage to not wake up through all of that, Octy?”

“I’m used to living with you. Loud noises don’t wake me up anymore.”

“Oh, right…”

The sound of magic filled the tent, and a bright rainbow-colored light seemed to light up the skies outside.

“Okay, I know I’m not imagining that,” Vinyl said, sitting back up in bed. She patted her hoof against the bed’s surface beneath her and tilted her head. “Wait, bed? Weren’t we…”

Octavia sat up just enough to grab Vinyl by the shoulders and pull her down onto the bed’s surface. “Yes, Vinyl, we were trying to get some sleep,” she said, her voice taking on that annoyed tone that her bedmate was all too familiar with.

Vinyl wiped a foreleg across her eyes. “Yeah, in a tent? Wasn’t it?”

“A tent? Don’t be ridiculous, you know we’re at the Grand Midway Hotel. It’s one of the last places south of Canterlot that the changelings haven’t laid into, yet.”

“Oh yeah. We’re lucky we’re not in tents, though, that’s what I was thinking. I mean, we’re just one attack away from it.”

“You really need to de-stress. Need any help with that?” Octavia asked, brushing her bangs to the side and winking up at Vinyl.

“I’m still in here,” Pinkie said from across the room. She turned toward the hallway that led to the front of what she surmised was a rather ritzy hotel room. “I can’t imagine why, though. This place is more like a condo or an apartment. It’s got other rooms.” She glanced down at the pink sleeping bag that was lying on the ground, quickly scooped it up, and walked out of the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

“Yeah, why was she in here, again?” Octavia asked, and then shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. Now, then.” She grabbed Vinyl and pulled her down onto the bed, flipping the covers up over the both of them.

Pinkie made her way to the front of the main room and pushed the curtains aside from the window. She gazed out at the large, square courtyard on the other side. “I guess this is all connected, then. Dashie is back, we get moved from that shabby camp to a hotel that never existed until just now.” Pinkie rubbed a hoof on the back of her head. “Looks like another sleepless night for me. Time to get to the bottom of this.” She heard her stomach grumble and quickly turned her head back to the hallway. “Just as soon as I see if the kitchen is stocked.”

Northern Haven, North of Ponyville Ruins

Mulcibar, Linnai, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Gilda all sat around a fire outside a small circle of beige canvas tents. A pot of bubbling oatmeal hung over the flames, the sound of air escaping its surface the only sound other than the crackling of the fire beneath. The five unlikely-seeming campmates sat upon logs and stared silently at the gurgling food. The sound of a twig snapping came from one side, and all five of them turned to look. Twilight Sparkle stepped into the light.

“It was good to be cautious,” Twilight said. She reached into her saddlebag and pulled out her rainbow-lensed goggles, the Colorscope Mark 2, and tapped a hoof against it. “After I convinced Celestia to go to bed on her own, I used these to take a peek at her through the tent. She’s not a focus. If she were to find out that this is just a dream, she would probably turn into a changeling, and that would definitely cause a bad chain reaction.”

Mulcibar nodded in agreement. “That would be one of the worst possible scenarios. It’s bad enough we have Dash’s dream changelings to deal with before we can get Princess Luna back. We don’t need the security spell going off all over the place as well.”

“Right. Luckily there seems to be a lot of focuses here. Speaking of which, we haven’t encountered our ‘constant’ yet. Where is Pinkie Pie, Rainbow?”

Rainbow Dash tilted her head slightly. “Down south at Sugarcube Corner. Well, where Sugarcube Corner used to be.”

Twilight sighed and levitated a pink gem out of her saddle bag. “We need to get this to her at some point,” she said, and then pressed the gem into her left ear. “Pinkie, are you there?” She tapped at the gem a couple of times with her hoof.

“Different Pinkie,” Fluttershy explained, placing a hoof on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder. “Lots of them, actually. It’s getting a little hard to tell them apart, apparently, but Twilight is the only one who has been communicating with them.”

“Wait, lots of Pinkie Pies?” Dash said, her expression becoming nervous. “That’s an awful lot of random.”

Fluttershy giggled. “Not as random as teaming up with Discord.”

Dash stuck her tongue out. “You teamed up with that guy? Times are desperate, I guess. I won’t ask how that’s even possible considering we’re sitting inside my head right now having this conversation.”

Twilight continued to tap her hoof against the pink gem. “Pinkie, do you hear me?”

Finally, a familiar voice crackled into her ear. “Twilight? Is that Twilight?”

“Yes, Pinkie! It’s me! We’re inside--”

“Knock knock!”

Twilight groaned and placed a hoof against her forehead. “Pinkie, we don’t have time for this.”

“Knock knock!”

Twilight groaned again. “Fine! Who’s there?”

“Pinkie Pie!”

Twilight’s eyelids lowered and her brow furrowed. “Pinkie Pie who?”

“Exactly! The Pinkie Pie you’re trying to reach is unavailable. Your dream is going too fast. Please insert into the nearest available Pinkie for assistance.”

Twilight blinked. “What?”

“The Pinkie Pie you’re trying to reach is unavailable. Your dream is going too fast. Please insert into the nearest available Pinkie for assistance.”

“Looks like we can’t communicate with Pinkie Pie from inside this dream. It’s going too fast to synch up with any of the others.”

“Hey, Twilight! Twilight!” Pinkie’s voice came from the communicator gem again.

“What now?”

“Knock knock!”

“It’s repeating itself now. Looks like we need to find Pinkie,” Twilight said and reached her hoof up to her ear.

“Wait! This is a new one! Knock knock!”

Twilight sighed, placing her hoof against the gem. “Who’s there?”

“Twilight’s sense of humor!”

“Twilight’s sense of humor who?” Twilight recited automatically.

The pinkie voice coming from the gem giggled. “More like ‘Twilight’s sense of humor where’! Cheer up, Twilight! Smile!”

Twilight’s lips formed the very slightest grin as she pulled the gem out of her ear and dropped it back into her bag. “So, what now?”

“We have to be prepared for the Reset Swarm. It’s coming, make no mistake,” Linnai responded. “I would expect it any day, any hour now, even.”

“Reset Swarm?” Rainbow Dash asked. “What’s that?”

“Yes, do tell us more about it, Linnai. Now that we’re on the same side, surely you’re okay with that,” said Twilight, taking a seat right next to Linnai.

The changeling squirmed and scooted away from Twilight slightly. “I’m really not looking forward to it,” she said with a sigh. “Okay, so here’s the deal. You know the spell that’s mixed into the dream web that causes changelings to take over dream inhabitants if something seems out of the ordinary?”

Twilight and Fluttershy nodded their heads, and Rainbow Dash shrugged and glanced over at Gilda, who just shrugged back.

“Anyway, imagine that, but instead of replacing dream inhabitants, they’re just appearing.”

“As bad as that sounds, we’ve dealt with large groups of the replacer changelings before. They weren’t very tough. Those shades in Luna’s dream were much harder to deal with,” Twilight responded.

“Don’t think that the Reset Swarm is on the same level. They’re not all just mindless spell-created beings. Alongside the standard drone army will be actual changelings like Mulcibar and me. Think about how much of a fight we’ve been able to put up, against and with you. Now imagine facing an army of mindless drones led by four of five changelings of our caliber.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide.

“Now you’re getting it,” Linnai said, and her head sank. “It’s pretty hopeless. Our only advantage is magic. The changelings coming in aren’t in The Order of Ismara. All of us here with magic will outrank the Reset Swarm’s magical abilities by a large amount. Don’t underestimate them, though. Even mid-ranking fighters in the main changeling army are not to be trifled with. They are deadly in close quarters.”

“They’ll be no challenge,” Mulcibar said as he stood up and ladled a scoop of oatmeal into a bowl he was levitating. “I could beat any of them, even the generals. They all know it. Why do you think they respect me?” He quickly shoveled a spoonful of the oats into his mouth and his jaw began to quiver.

Linnai laughed. “It’s the only reason you weren’t put in shackles before the invasion. Though I think they could just bribe you with food,” she said, watching her brother shovel oatmeal into his mouth and nearly fall to the ground. She cocked an eyebrow. “It’s that good, huh?”

“What is she talking about?” Fluttershy asked, glancing up at Mulcibar.

Mulcibar regained his composure and sat back down with his almost empty bowl of oatmeal. “It’s a long story. Not all of us wanted to invade Equestria, let’s put it that way. However, that sort of talk is considered treason,” he said, and turned his gaze down to Fluttershy. He smiled softly at her. “I’ll tell you all about that business someday when this is all over.”

“Anyway, we also have our trump card, here,” Linnai said, pointing a hoof at Rainbow Dash. “Even before waking up, she had dreamed herself into having super powers beyond a normal pegasus. Super strength, super speed, and who knows what else.”

Mulcibar rubbed a hoof against his chest. “Some sort of beams she can shoot from her hooves, too.”

Rainbow smirked. “Yeah, sorry about that.”

“The point is, now that you’re awakened, you have unlimited power in this world, Rainbow. You just have to learn how to control it. It’s not necessarily easy to do at first, but you have a head-start since you already dreamed yourself as being powerful,” Twilight said.

“In my dream world, I was able to change the land, freeze time, teleport things, and fly really fast,” Fluttershy added. “I was even able to bring my dream version of you back from the dead one time. It doesn’t come easily. It’s hard to explain. For me, it was like I had to reach down into my heart and push my feelings outward.”

Rainbow Dash nodded, a serious look forming on her face. “So, anything I want to happen will happen?”

“That’s right, and as an added bonus, anything you do in your own dream, no matter how ridiculous, will seem normal to all the dream inhabitants. They will take it as being an everyday event, so you can really act out all your fantasies as you wish,” said Linnai.

“I’d start small, though. No need to push yourself,” said Twilight.

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes tightly and started making a noise that was somewhere between a hum and a grunt. Twilight stood up and walked over to her. She placed a hoof on Dash’s shoulder and shook her head. “Rainbow, there’s no need to do anything just yet. Remember, starting with something simple would be—“

“Twilight, I’ve got this! Just hang on!” Dash shouted between her grunting. “Maybe I’m channeling Rarity, but if I have to sleep in a tent or a hole in the ground one more night…”

“Don’t hurt yourself, Dashie. Be careful!” Fluttershy said. She stood up as well and started to walk toward Dash. Her hooves made muffled thuds as they trotted against the dirt.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

Clack.

Clack.

She looked down at her hooves and blinked. The ground was gone, replaced with shiny wood. She looked back up. Rainbow Dash sat before her upon a soft looking blue cushion. Fluttershy slowly turned her head, taking in what had suddenly appeared before her. The campfire had been replaced by a stone fire pit. The camp all around them had been replaced by a comfortably lit room that reminded her of a fancier version of the Roost’s main floor. The scene was like something you would see in the lobby of an upscale Canterlot hotel. The walls were all polished wood. Paintings and mirrors hung from them. The lighting in the massive hall was provided by a hanging crystal chandelier. Regal, red-carpeted stairs led up to a balcony above.

Ponies were standing around, sitting at tables or in chairs, or otherwise walking around or through the lobby. Many ponies were posted up at the bar having a lively conversation. A record player behind the bar was spinning out music at a low volume.

Everybody blinked and looked around in shock.

“What just happened? Did we teleport again?” Gilda asked, her voice a bit hesitant.

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes, a smile spreading across her lips. “So it worked? Awesome!”

“Rainbow, I can’t believe it! You did this?”

“Heck yeah!” Rainbow shouted. “I thought it would be nice if instead of a camp, we were all in a snazzy hotel with big fluffy beds!”

“Wow…” said Linnai, gazing across the hall at the bar that sat against the far wall. “I am impressed. This level of Lucidity usually takes a catalyst of some sort, or night after night of practice.”

“I guess I’m just a natural. I chalk it up to all the daydreaming I do while I’m flying around on weather patrol,” Rainbow Dash said with a big grin. “If it worked out the way I wanted, everypony is here, too. Every haven combined.”

“That’s great!” Twilight said, clapping her hooves together. “Finding Pinkie Pie will be a snap, now!”

Mulcibar grinned. “Maybe there’s really nothing to worry about with the Reset Swarm. I mean, if you have this level of control here, maybe you could just give them the boot as soon as they show up.”

“Unlikely, but it’s a nice thought,” Linnai replied. “Anyway, you said something about big comfy beds. I think I’ll go find one.”

Twilight nodded. “That’s probably a good idea. I think I want to find Pinkie first, though.”

“Oh come on, she did say big beds. You could always come join me,” Linnai said, shooting Twilight a wink.

Twilight shook her head. “I’ll pass, but I think sleep sounds like a good idea. We should all rest up.”

Fluttershy glanced over at Twilight and then back at Rainbow Dash. “Come on, Dashie. We could stay in the same room with Twilight. It’ll be like a sleepover.”

Dash nodded her head and got up, walking alongside Fluttershy and joining Twilight. “So, I think we should go this way,” she said, pointing her hoof towards a set of double doors. A plaque above the doors read ‘VIP Lodging and Courtyard’. The three of them headed toward the door together.

“VIP Lodging?” Gilda said aloud. “Shoot, that’s where I’m going! I get first dibs on a room, suckers!” She leapt into the air and sped toward the door. Rainbow Dash uncontrollably responded by speeding up her pace, leaving Fluttershy and Twilight behind.

The two ponies looked at each other and laughed. Twilight pressed a hoof against her mouth. “It’s so good to have her back, isn’t it?”

Fluttershy wiped a tear from her eye. “It really is.”

To Twilight’s surprise, Linnai ran past them in a flash as well, dragging Mulcibar behind her. “Come on, brother! We can’t let Team Prudicorn beat us!” She stuck her tongue out as she zipped past Twilight and Fluttershy. Mulcibar rolled his eyes and went along with her.

“Alright, Fluttershy. Find us a place to sleep. I’ll find Pinkie and get her up to speed.”

Gilda and Rainbow Dash blew through the doorway at the same time and stopped for a moment to catch their breath.

Gilda turned her head and grinned at Rainbow Dash. “Beat ya by a beak.”

Dash scoffed. “No way, I pushed the door open with my hoof. That’s the proof!”

“We’ll see who gets a room first, then,” Gilda said. They both lifted their heads and blinked at the place they found themselves in.

The area behind those double doors was regal. The center of the area was a massive courtyard with a garden and a pool. Elegantly carved wooden paneling lined the courtyard, and there were tables with chairs set up all around the pool and throughout the garden. The floor they stood upon was part of a large square that went all around the giant open-air section. It was almost as if they had left the hotel and stepped into some sort of fancy resort. Doors to guest rooms lined the edges of the walkway.

“Wow! This place is amazing!” Dash gawked.

“Stop being so impressed. You made it!”

“Yeah, but how?”

“How else? The same way you made, like, everything else here,” Gilda said and stepped out into the courtyard area. “The same way you made me.”

Dash grimaced and followed behind Gilda through the garden area, towards the pool. They stopped for a moment to admire it, and then heard the doors behind them swing open again. Linnai now burst through the doors, dragging Mulcibar behind her. The two of them stopped for a moment to take the scene before them in. She nodded to the right.

“Come on, brother, let’s find a room. There’s something we need to discuss, anyway,” she said, a frown forming on her face.

Mulcibar raised an eyebrow and began heading to the right. “Alright, let’s get settled, then.”

Dash gazed at the two siblings and her eyebrows lowered. “I don’t trust those two.”

Gilda chuckled. “Why not? Twilight and Fluttershy seem to. Fluttershy seems to particularly like the stallion.”

Dash let out an annoyed groan and turned back toward the pool. “Yeah, that’s pretty high on the list of things I don’t want to think about right now.”

Gilda patted Rainbow on the back. “Sorry. Take a dip, maybe? Could clear your head.”

Rainbow shook her head. “Not right now. Sorry. I didn’t mean to get annoyed.”

“It happens. You know I know that.”

Rainbow Dash turned her head at the sound of the doors opening again. Twilight and Fluttershy stepped through into the courtyard. Both of them gasped slightly, smiles lighting up their faces.

“Wow, this place is beautiful,” Fluttershy said, her eyes darting all around. She caught sight of Rainbow Dash and Gilda and could see the look of concern on Dash’s face.

Rainbow Dash locked eyes with Fluttershy and managed to lighten her expression. No need to get them stressed when we’re supposed to be relaxing, she thought.

“Twilight! Fluttershy! Check out this sweet pool! It’s got a waterslide, too!” Rainbow Dash shouted and waved.

Gilda laughed and waved her arm around. “No it doesn’t. Do you see a waterslide?”

Dash pointed a hoof past Gilda and blinked. “Yeah, that one,” she replied matter-of-factly.

Gilda turned around, spotting the big red waterslide that hadn’t been there a second ago. “You have got to stop doing that.”

Dash walked over to a poolside chair and leaned back on it, “Oh, come on. If I can do anything I want, it might as well be fun.”

Gilda chuckled. “I guess so, but you could at least try to be consistent.”

“I am consistent. Consistently awesome! My dream should be, too!”

Gilda inched closer to the pool and stared down at the water’s surface. “Dash, if this is all just your awesome dream, why did you put me in it?”

Dash sat up and adjusted the seat’s back to a higher position. “What do you mean?”

“I’m part of your dream. I’m not real. You made me up, but why? Don’t you, like, hate me?”

“Hate is an awful strong word.”

“But it’s true! Ever since we were kids, I’ve done terrible things to you!” Gilda shouted, kneeling down and slapping her palm against the water. Her reflection rippled away and she turned to look at Rainbow. “I can even see it from your perspective, now. Why’d you do it? Why’d you give me so many chances?”

Rainbow Dash sighed and turned her gaze to the side. “I failed you, too,” she said. “You did all those bad things, and I just went along with it every time. I never tried to do the right thing, I just ran away. You always wanted to skip class and goof off, you wanted to run away to Avenport, and I just went along with it the whole time. Every chance I had to tell you how I felt, I didn’t, until we somehow ended up in that situation at the Roost, and I blew my top. Gilda, I… I failed you as much as you failed me. We both failed. Failed at being friends.”

Gilda scoffed and turned away from Dash, wiping a tear from her eye. “Oh sure, and now you put me in your dream to try and make up for it? Talk about gullible. Get real, Dash. I’m a bad egg,” she said, but then felt Dash’s hoof on her shoulder.

“But I still care about you,” Dash said, pressing her forehead against Gilda’s back. “I know I shouldn’t just as much as you do, but… remember when you showed up at my door and wanted to patch things up? My first thought was to say no. Maybe I should have, but then I remembered something that made a lot of things in my life, a lot of the guilt I feel, all make sense. I’m the one who bears the Element of Loyalty. I just thought… maybe I should live up to that.”

Gilda shook her head and reached her claw over her shoulder, gripping Dash’s hoof. “Thanks for everything, you gullible idiot. Maybe the real me will come around someday, but I think you probably shouldn’t expect it.”

Dash frowned. “I know,” she said, slowly pulling away from Gilda.

“Sorry for getting all sappy. Even after you said we should be relaxing.”

“Yeah. Maybe Fluttershy and Twilight have a room now. I’ll go check on them,” Dash said, heading away from the pool.

“Dash,” Gilda called out. Rainbow Dash turned her head and looked back. “Do you really love her? Fluttershy, I mean.”

Rainbow nodded her head. “I know who you mean,” she said, pausing to think for a moment. The memory of her kiss with Fluttershy bubbled to the surface and she felt a tingle at the back of her neck. “Yeah. I think I do.”

Gilda grinned and raised her claw, giving a thumbs up. “No thinking. Don’t let her get taken away. I know you know what I’m talking about.”

Dash swallowed and turned her head just in time to see Mulcibar across the courtyard walking along its edge, his gaze turned up to the stars. She gritted her teeth and looked back at Gilda. The look of determination in her eyes grew. No words were necessary for Gilda to know her response.

Several minutes earlier, Linnai and Mulcibar stepped into a room that appeared to be unoccupied. There was a large living area with a hallway in the back that led to a bedroom with two beds, one against the wall on the left and another at the back. The living room area had a couch and some large cushions for sitting. There were even stairs leading up to a second level.

“Wow, this place is pretty posh,” Linnai said as she walked around the base floor.

Mulcibar closed the door. “What was it you needed to talk about?” he asked. Linnai’s face suddenly became serious again. She walked back over to where Mulcibar was and sat down on the couch next to him.

“I don’t even know where to begin. I doubt there’s any point in even bringing it up,” she said, taking a deep breath. “You know I trust you, but I’ve had a lot of time to think in this dream world. Are you still sure you want to do this?”

“Do what? Get some sleep?” Mulcibar asked, his eyes darting upward.

“Don’t dodge the question, Mulci. I mean helping the ponies, of course. It might not be too late, you know. If we can take them by surprise now that we have their trust, we could blast all of them; send them back to their own dreams.”

Mulcibar stared at Linnai, his jaw hanging open slightly. “Are you serious? It’s far too late.”

“You’re only saying that because you’re so in love with that pegasus! We could tell the queen this was our plan all along! Go back to how things were before!”

Mulcibar shook his head. “Then tell me, what’s with that look in your eyes? What’s with that tear going down your cheek?” he asked. “I saw how you looked at Twilight Sparkle earlier. It’s happened to you, too, hasn’t it?”

Linnai rubbed a foreleg against her cheek and stared down at the moisture. Her eyes shaking, she looked back up at Mulcibar. “What’s happening to us?”

Mulcibar sat down beside Linnai and patted her on the back. “You got me, little sister,” he said. “You have to admit, though, it’s not all bad.”

“I’ll reserve judgment until after we’re not executed by the queen.”

“We won’t be. I know it,” Mulcibar said and gently rubbed a hoof against his sister’s head. “I’m going to have a look around outside, walk around and clear my head.”

Linnai sighed and flopped down on the couch.

Mulcibar stood up. “You need to clear your head, too. Clear it of any thoughts like going back to how things used to be.” He walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.

“There goes that idea.” She stared down at her foreleg, which had since dried from the tear she had wiped away from her face. She closed her eyes and remembered the moment that saddle bag had appeared on Twilight’s back. A smile crossed her lips. I couldn’t betray her even if I wanted to. Damn it…

Mulcibar strolled slowly down the boardwalk that surrounded the courtyard, looking up past the garden’s canopy and into the starry sky above. Neither of us know what to do with ourselves, he thought. A sound drew his attention from across the way, and he looked down just in time to spot Twilight Sparkle, who had just collided with Pinkie Pie. The two ponies looked overjoyed to see each other, and Mulcibar smiled as he felt his heart involuntarily filling with what he assumed was happiness. A warm feeling that made his mind relax. He gazed at Twilight, remembering how not long ago, his sister had proclaimed such hate and envy for the unicorn. Now she’s like your rock, isn’t she, Linnai? She’s the reason you are holding on, not me.

Twilight pulled Pinkie into a hug. “Glad to see you again, Pinkie Pie!”

“Yay! Hugs!” Pinkie squeed giddily. “Hang on, Twilight, you seem different somehow.” Pinkie pulled away from Twilight and stared into her eyes with intensity.

“You’re right, Pinkie. I knew you’d have noticed. We have a lot to talk about, but I think I know how to make it a little easier.” She used her magic to flip open the top of her saddlebag.

“Are you the reason we’re in a big hotel thingy instead of little camp thingies?”

“Actually, that wasn’t me, but,” Twilight started, and then levitated the pink communication gem in front of Pinkie’s face. “this might help a bit.”

Pinkie’s eyes lit up. “Wow, that’s a pretty gem!” she said with a gasp, and then tilted her head. “Twilight, I say a lot of weird stuff, but this might just take the cake. I kind of want to shove your pink gem into my ear, and I have no idea why! It just seems like the funnest idea ever!”

Twilight laughed. “Under normal circumstances, I would question your sanity.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time!”

“Or the last,” Twilight said with a grin. “You’re right, though. Weird as it is, just shove it on in there.”

Before Twilight could blink, Pinkie had done just that. Her eyes flashed with magic, and she quickly sprouted a horn and wings.

Hey! I think we’ve got a new Pinkie!

Oh my goodness, are we connected? I was kind of off in la-la land! It’s been over three minutes since Twilight and the others went through the portal, and I was starting to get worried! You have got to tell Twilight about this brilliant idea I have! I can’t explain right now, I’m having trouble keeping Celestia’s power separated from Luna’s! I’m holding back so you don’t get blasted with both all at once!

Oh, I think I can handle it! I’m the most awesome Pinkie ever! You should see all the stuff I’ve been doing here with Dashie! Did you know it’s been over three years in here?

Three years!? all the pinkies shouted internally at once. That’s one fast-moving dream!

Are you all done being impressed? Pinkie Shy asked flatly. Moon Pie, or whatever they’re calling you, let the rest of the magic go. She’ll be fine.

Calling! That’s right! What are we calling you? We have to think of a cool name for you, Rainbow Pie!

Not Rainbow Pie! the rest of the Pinkie’s said in unison. Pinkie Twi sighed.

Pinkie Dash?

Can we do this later? I’m sitting here staring off into space and Twilight looks a little worried. Rainbow’s Pinkie said to the other voices in her head. Wait, how long has it been?

Pinkie shook her head and blinked. “Sorry, spaced out there for a little.”

Twilight smiled and patted Pinkie on the shoulder. “No worries, it’s only been a couple seconds.”

I guess you’re just a fast thinker. One of the other Pinkies said.

Rainbow’s Pinkie turned her head and gazed over at Rainbow Dash and Gilda, then over at Mulcibar. “Where are the others?” she asked.

“Fluttershy has probably found a room to rest in by now, along with Linnai. Princess Celestia, the girls, and Discord stayed behind in Luna’s dream. Princess Luna is, well, it’s complicated.”

“She’s with Chrysalis, I know that. Dashie’s got a wild imagination.”

Twilight sighed. “That she does.”

Pinkie giggled and stuck her tongue out. “At least I didn’t get paired up with anypony! You and Princess Celestia have been a hoot!”

Oh my gosh, that is disgusting! Pinkie Twi said with a bit of a gag inside Pinkie’s mind.

“I’m trying to forget,” Twilight replied, slapping a hoof against her face.

“Speaking of which, there’s Applejack, and she’s not stuck to Rarity like glue,” Pinkie said, pointing across the courtyard.

Twilight glanced over and saw the orange farmpony standing in one of the corners of the walkway, her eyes glancing around until they finally locked onto Mulcibar. She suddenly felt a shiver go down her spine and looked back at Pinkie. “Wait… Applejack and Rarity?”

Pinkie nodded contemplatively. “I’ve always had my suspicions, too, but that’s not the important part,” she said, and then pulled the gem out of her ear. “Here, I don’t need this anymore. The point is, it’s not like AJ to stand there and observe like this, at least not the AJ in this dream. Something is up.”

“You’re… a little more observant than the Pinkie I know.”

“Am I?” Pinkie asked with a grin. “Or were you just never paying attention? Besides, you know a lot of Pinkies. If I’ve gathered anything from their memories in the last couple minutes, I guess you could say I’m sort of a… Thinkie Pie.”

We’re not calling you that.

Nope! It’s not cute at all!

At least it rhymes.

Oh, and Moon Pie rhymes?

That’s not the point!

Quiet! Applejack’s staring at one of Twilight’s changeling friends. Why would she be? She’s never met him, he’s in a unicorn disguise. To her, he should just be some other pony, but she seems awfully interested in him.

“Twilight. Did you bump into Applejack already, or is this the first time?”

“No, we’d heard she was down at Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Exactly,” Pinkie said. She turned to look when the sound of a door opening came from the left. She saw Fluttershy stepping out onto the boardwalk just ahead of Mulcibar. “You go talk to Applejack. Keep it friendly, try and find out what’s going on. I’ll go create a distraction with Mulcibar.”

Without another word, Pinkie zipped ahead, grabbing Fluttershy on the way and sliding to a stop in front of Mulcibar. Fluttershy blinked with confusion and regained her hoofing. She glanced up at Pinkie and noticed the horn.

“Oh, Pinkie! Looks like Twilight found you!”

Pinkie grabbed Fluttershy and Mulcibar from either side and pulled them into a group hug. “Yeah, she sure did! Hey, Fluttershy, are you going to introduce me to your boyfriend?”

Fluttershy blushed and Mulcibar coughed and turned his head.

“Oh, no, he’s not. I mean, we’re not,” Fluttershy started to say, flabbergasted.

“Yeah, I mean… we’re not, right?” Mulcibar managed to say, tripping over his words.

“Oh come on!” Pinkie said loudly, slapping them both on the back. “Wait, did I completely misread that?”

No way, several voices said inside Pinkie’s head.

No, they seemed pretty into each other, Pinkie Twi added.

It was adorable! Cutie Pie squeaked.

I wanted to gouge my eyes out, Pinkie Shy said flatly. Her dream world gets all cheery and gross when she’s with him.

Pinkie let out another loud guffaw. “Oh, you two shy kids!”

“I’m a year older than you…” Fluttershy replied, squeezing out of the hug, which caused her to slip on one hoof and fall forward against Mulcibar. Her face lit up like an apple.

Mulcibar cleared his throat. “Yeah, anyway! Hello, Pinkie Pie. Nice to see you again.”

Pinkie was grinning up at him in response, but her eyes darted to her right. She noticed Applejack and Twilight had met up. “So hey, this is going to sound a little weird, but I think we should all maybe get ready for something, because I do not like the way Applejack’s eyes just flashed green.”

“What!” Mulcibar shouted, turning to look at Applejack and Twilight on the other side of the courtyard.

Seconds earlier…

“Howdy, sugarcube,” Applejack said, raising her hoof to tip her hat downward.

“Applejack!” Twilight said with feigned surprise. “When did you get here?”

“Guess again,” Applejack said, and her eyes flashed with green magic. “Just the five of you? I’d expected more. Where’s Linnai?”

Twilight took a defensive stance. “Who are you?”

Applejack smiled and came closer to Twilight. “Someone you haven’t seen for a while. Not since I took over this same pony’s body in Fluttershy’s dream. That sure was an awesome battle that I had with Rainbow Dash, there. Gotta admit, the desire to see how well I stack up to the real deal is tempting.”

Twilight reached into her saddle bag and grabbed the colorscope just as a door behind her opened. Linnai stepped out of the room and rushed to join Twilight in staring down Applejack. In a flash of green magic, she took the form of a unicorn, identical to her pegasus persona, but with a horn rather than wings.

“There you are, Linnai. It’s been too long.”

“I am not in a good mood, so you’d better get on with whatever you’re doing here or I’ll lose my temper.”

“Pleasure during a mission? You always did find a way, but shacking up with the enemy seems a bit of an odd choice, Lin. Then again, you might as well since you’re dead as soon as you’re out of here.”

“So you’ve come to pull us out, have you? Why can’t the Reset Swarm do it for you?”

Twilight slid her goggles over her eyes and saw the changeling’s true form beneath Applejack’s body. Her blond hair spilled down over her shoulders, and her horn was socketed with a gold colored gem. “She’s from The Order,” she said.

“I know who this bitch is. Little miss perfect herself, the queen’s daughter, Vitra,” Linnai responded with a sneer. Twilight’s eyes went wide with surprise. “Here doing mummy’s dirty work again, little girl? Head back home before I send you there.”

“Before I get to see Mulcibar, again? Not an option. I’ve got some questions for him,” she said, and then waved a hoof in the air. “Mulcibar! Don’t be a stranger! Bring your new girlfriends!”

Linnai laughed. “That what this is all about? One more roll in the hay for old time’s sake? Does Chrysalis even know you’re here? You’re gonna get into trouble.”

“Stop talking down to me! You aren’t so tough!”

“That’s enough!” Mulcibar’s voice shouted from the side. He approached the group with Pinkie behind him. Fluttershy had taken to the air and was flying towards Rainbow Dash and Gilda. “Vitra, you should have kept your head down like I told you!”

Vitra blinked and let out a sigh. “You really like to keep a girl waiting. Two at a time, now? You’re such a beast. You’ll have your own harem before you know it.”

“I said that’s enough. First you jump into that dream without anyone’s approval, get booted out, and now you’re here following me around even though I’m a traitor! You were sent here to pull us out, just admit it and let’s get this over with.”

“Could you really hurt me, Mulci? After all we’ve been through?”

Mulcibar glared at the Applejack doppelganger and bared his teeth. “Try me.”

Vitra pulled her hat off her head and spun it around on her hoof. “Ah, but I know something you don’t! Let me ask you something, Mulci, have you been feeling a little… strange lately? A little warm and fuzzy?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t play games with me, Mulci, I’ve seen the way you looked at that yellow one. She’s quite the beauty, you always did have an eye for the good ones, but that’s not all there is this time, is there?”

Linnai took several steps towards Vitra and lit her horn up. “I’ll shut that mouth of yours if you won’t shut it on your own.”

“You’re in love, aren’t you, Mulci? You feel love, and so much more. I do, too. Ever since I left that one’s dream, I’ve been feeling things I’ve never felt before.”

“What?” Mulcibar asked, his eyebrows rising back up.

“She’s lying!” Linnai shouted. “Don’t listen to her!”

Vitra shook her head. “So untrusting. I don’t blame you. You’re right, the queen did send me here to find you two, but not for extraction. She wants to find out more about how we can all be feeling love,” she said as a horn materialized on her head and began to glow. “So, very specifically, I can’t force you out. I’ve come here to interrogate you.”

A clicking sound came from behind Vitra. “Think again,” Gilda’s voice said. Vitra felt the barrel of a gun press against the back of her skull.

“Do it!” Linnai shouted. She fired a blast of magic from her horn. Gilda pulled the trigger on her flintlock. Mulcibar charged forward, his horn also ablaze. With a sparking of magic, Vitra teleported to the side. The bullet from Gilda’s gun traveled through the air right at Mulcibar’s head. Rainbow Dash swooped in with lightning speed and slapped the bullet out of the air, embedding it into the ground. Mulcibar skidded to a stop, and Linnai let loose with another blast of magic. Vitra returned the favor, the two blasts smashing into each other and crackling out.

“I could do this all night,” said Vitra as she licked her lips.

“Get clear!” Linnai shouted, her eyes burning with rage. Her changeling wings popped up from her back and pulsed with orange magic.

“You should know better!” Vitra shouted, her own wings tearing up through Applejack’s flesh like it was paper. They were similar to Vitra and Mulcibar’s wings, but sported a jagged line pattern that glowed bright white.

A flash of magic pulsed out from both of them. Linnai screamed in pain and jerked toward the ground as if stabbed from above by an unseen force. She struggled to turn her head to look at Mulcibar. “Get everyone out!”

Mulcibar nodded, his own wings tearing up from his back and lighting up blue. He ducked to the side, grabbing Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, and then sliding across the floor to the nearest door.

Linnai turned to face Twilight and let loose a wave of flames from her wings.

“Linnai! What are you doing!?” Twilight shouted.

“I’m not! Get Vitra!”

“Easy!” Gilda shouted, raising her gun up again. Vitra turned her head towards Gilda and her eyes flashed white. Gilda suddenly found her arm turning and pointing the gun at her own head.

“Stop!” Mulcibar shouted, and his wings pulsed out with a blue magical aura. Vitra blinked and found herself in a cold, metallic room. She was strapped to a wooden table and Mulcibar stood across the room from her, staring her down. “Stop, now.”

Vitra grinned. “Is it true, then? Are you in love?”

“What do you want me to say, Vitra? If I say yes, what good does it do you? You think we know why or how this is happening?”

“A girl can hope,” she replied, lowering her eyebrows. “Speaking of which, you’ve really got me in quite a position here. Legs strapped down, rump poised and ready… you’ve really got me turned on. You know I love rough play.”

“Just answer the question.”

“Go back there and get rough, then. I mean, really pound it.”

A metal spike drove up from beneath the table, just grazing past Vitra’s cheek. Mulcibar glared at her and shook his head. “Just… answer the question.”

Vitra stuck her tongue out and licked the spike’s shaft. “The real question is, what’s happening outside your little illusion here? I’ve still got control of your sister and that griffon.”

“Twilight and the others can handle that.”

“I don’t think they can. Has Linnai ever drove all of her magic into her wings before? No release? Do they eventually burst? Let’s take bets on how much of the hotel we can destroy.”

Outside the illusion…

Linnai’s wings were lighting up more and more. Gilda was holding a gun to her head, her arm shaking. Rainbow Dash had her hooves wrapped around Gilda’s arm and was pulling it downward with little effect.

“We have to do something!” Twilight shouted and then pointed a hoof at Mulcibar. “What is he doing? He and Vitra have just been standing there staring at each other for a minute now!”

“He’s got her trapped in an illusion,” Linnai said. “He’s trying to reason with her. Stupid, if you ask me!”

“Rainbow Dash! Can’t you stop this?”

Rainbow grunted and looked back at Twilight. “I’m trying! I’m trying! It’s not working like before!” she shouted, and then turned back to Gilda. “Come on Gilda! Let go of the gun!”

“You’re in a panic! You have to calm down!”

“It might be too late for that,” said Linnai, her eyes shaking. “She’s overloading my wings. I’ve never taken the power to this level before, and it keeps rising. I can’t stop it much longer!”

Twilight gasped and ran over to Linnai. She lit up her horn and grabbed ahold of Linnai’s hooves. “Can you channel any of your magic to your horn? I’ll try to absorb some of it!”

Linnai laughed. “Nice thought, but I’m not in control of my body right now.”

“There has to be something we can do!”

Linnai smiled and stared into Twilight’s eyes. “Yeah. There is,” she said, and then looked over at Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow! You need to grab me and fly me up as far into the sky as you can!”

“And what then?” Rainbow asked.

“Let go. Launch me out towards the mountains or something. I might regain control when I get far enough away from her.”

“And if you don’t?” Twilight asked, grabbing ahold of either side of Linnai’s head. “What then?”

“I blow up. Like a bomb.”

Twilight shook her head. “We can’t do that! You could die!”

“If I stay here, you’re all dead. Rainbow Dash! Now!”

“But, Gilda!”

“Just a dream, Dash. I’m just a dream,” Gilda said.

Suddenly a pink aura wrapped itself around Gilda. Her arm cracked as it bent downward. Gilda and Dash stared over at Pinkie who was standing and staring back, horn aglow.

“Go, Dashie.”

“I’m not okay with this! This is wrong!”

“Prudicorn,” Linnai said with a chuckle. “I’ll be back, and you better be ready to squirm.”

“Wait, just another—“

Rainbow Dash slammed into Linnai and the two of them took flight straight up into the air, becoming dots in the sky in the blink of an eye.

“Linnai!” Twilight screamed into the night sky.

Back in the illusion…

Mulcibar slammed a hoof against the table Vitra was on. “Damn it, Vit! Don’t make me kill you! You know I don’t want to, but I will!”

“My hooves are tied. Literally. But tell you what, I’ll stop on one condition.”

“You can’t just turn this around!”

“I just did. Are you going to listen?”

“Fine! What’s the condition?”

Vitra grinned and licked her lips. “Kiss me.”

Mulcibar blinked. “What?”

“You heard me. I came here to investigate the feelings of love you and I have. Now kiss me.”

Outside the illusion…

Mulcibar stepped towards Vitra, both their eyes still glazed over with magic.

“Oh, you’re back! We’ve got a problem!” Fluttershy shouted, running towards Mulcibar just as his lips pressed against Vitra’s. One of Vitra’s hooves lifted up and wrapped around the back of Mulcibar’s head, pulling him in closer.

Twilight stared at the two of them and blinked. “What on Earth…”

Gilda slumped to the ground and dropped the gun, her chest heaving with deep breaths. “Whatever, it worked.”

Twilight jerked her head back upward. “Linnai and Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow Dash sped down to the ground and landed with a loud bang. “She told me to let her go. She said she had control again and could fly.”

“But all that magical buildup! She could—“

A loud explosion and blazing ball of flames erupted in the sky above the hotel, lighting up the courtyard as if it were daytime. A wave of heat washed over the area, and everypony ducked to the ground except for Mulcibar and Vitra, who still stood, lips locked, with Fluttershy staring at them intensely.

A second later, the two of them pulled apart. Vitra blinked her eyes and grinned at Mulcibar. She inhaled deeply. “Hmmmm, you smell that? We sure did let off a lot.”

Mulcibar frowned. “All you, I promise. Everypony just stay calm, and Vitra, don’t ever do that again, or—“ he said, and then turned and saw Fluttershy. Her eyes were wide and her jaw was shaking. “Uh… I had to. She made me.”

Fluttershy shook her head and managed to smile. “No, no, it’s okay,” she said and then breathed in deeply. She caught sight of Rainbow Dash out of the corner of her eye and the image of Dash’s face coming toward her and kissing her flashed in her mind. It’s not like I can say anything, anyway.

Twilight was still staring up into the sky. “Where’s Linnai? You don’t think she—“

“Of course not,” Linnai’s voice came from above. She glided down gently, landing right in front of Twilight. Her face was black with soot and scorch marks, but she was smiling. “No worse for wear.” She then turned to Vitra, lifted her hoof, and slapped her right across the face.

“Linnai!” Mulcibar growled. “We don’t need to do that again!”

“No, I deserved that,” Vitra said, rubbing a hoof against her cheek. “It’s the least I deserve, I guess. Still, it’s hard to believe, even now that I’ve confirmed it for myself… three changelings are feeling love, now. Mulcibar proved his own love by doing whatever it took to save his dear sister, and she proved it by taking off and heroically sacrificing herself. The love energy hanging in the air right now is as thick as mud, and most of it is ours.”

“So, answer my question from before,” Mulcibar said. “What now?”

Vitra shrugged. “You got me. The queen didn’t say what to do, just to find out how it happened. I have no idea how to do that, so I guess I’ll just have to tag along on your little adventure for a while.”

Mulcibar frowned. “Out of the question.”

“You act like you have a choice. I promise I won’t get in the way. I’ll even help out when I can. My powers could prove quite handy, you know.”

“Whatever,” Linnai groaned. “I need sleep now more than ever. Vitra, you’re staying with me where I can keep an eye on you.”

“Suits me just fine. You shacking up with your girlfriend, Mulci?”

“Come on,” Mulcibar said, and then tried to turn and move towards Vitra, but found that he couldn’t.

Twilight strained and managed to turn her head to look at Rainbow Dash. My whole body is frozen! Can’t move! What’s going on? she thought.

“What is this?” Linnai asked, turning her head to look at Vitra again.

“Not me this time, I’m afraid.”

A maniacal laugh came from above. Everyone strained to turn their eyes up to the sky. Floating up above them was Queen Chrysalis; her body coursing with red magic, along with Nightmare Moon, whose horn was glowing bright white. “Listen to me now and do well to understand every word. Tonight, this farce of a war ends!”

“That’s right! We’re going to destroy you all, starting with you, Rainbow Dash!” Chrysalis shouted and then laughed, her voice echoing across the walls beneath her.

Nightmare Moon stared down at the group. “Queen Chrysalis has harnessed a dark magic, one that could empower your worst nightmares! If you dare stand against her, you will have to use everything at your disposal!”

Chrysalis turned to look at Nightmare Moon and put a hoof against her mouth. “That’s enough! It almost sounds like you want them to beat us!” she said, barely above a whisper. “Not that they stand a chance, anyway.”

“Worry not! I merely wish for them to give us a glorious battle! Yes! I am sure you recall that even I could not defeat you alone as you are!”

Twilight stared up at Luna, sweat forming on her brow. Luna can’t finish her off! That dark magic, her own magic, has made Rainbow’s dream Chrysalis too powerful! she thought. We have to all attack at once. Maybe then we could overpower her!

“Let us release them, my queen!” Nightmare Moon said, grinning and bearing her fangs. “It is no fun if we just squash them like this!”

“Right you are!” Chrysalis said. With a flash of her horn, everypony below fell to the ground, breathing heavily.

I’m glad your dream villains are stupid! Just like in Daring Do books! Twilight thought, and then turned to look at Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow! They want to fight you, so let’s give them a fight!”

“Indeed!” Chrysalis screeched, her eyes igniting with red magic. “We do this now, Rainbow Dash! You and me!”

Rainbow planted all four hooves firmly on the ground and clenched her jaw. “Alright! This ends now!” she shouted back.

“Rainbow, wait!” Twilight shouted, pushing herself back up to her hooves. “We have to do it together!” She lit up her horn and stared at Chrysalis.

Dash’s body began to glow, her aura cycling through the colors of the rainbow. “Then come on!” she shouted and launched into the air at full speed, her outstretched hooves crashing into Chrysalis, creating a bright, prismatic flash. The force wave from the collision spread out all around, knocking everypony else to the ground.

Meanwhile, in the sky, unnoticed, a crack in the fabric of reality began to form.

In another room attached to the courtyard…

Vinyl Scratch sat up in bed slightly and glanced towards the window at the front of the room. “What was that?” she asked drearily.

“I didn’t hear anything,” Octavia responded from under the covers. “Please, Vinyl, for the last time tonight, go back to sleep.”

Vinyl flopped back down into bed and began to snore.

There was a sudden whooshing noise, as if a strong wind had blown through the room, but just for a split second.

The bed was now empty, but still warm from the bodies that had occupied it a second ago.

A pair of green eyes opened at the foot of the bed, followed by a face being illuminated by a faintly glowing gem.

“Everyone in position. Prepare to move on my mark. This is the one the traitors are hiding in,” A deep, gravelly voice said. “They are locked in a pointless conflict right now. We will take them by surprise.”

“We show no mercy, no matter what you may think of him, understood?” another voice said. “But make it quick and painless. He deserves no less.”

To Be Concluded...

Author's Note

Yikes!

This chapter went through a lot of revisions! The M-rated scene I spoke of on blog posts has actually been moved to the next chapter. Anway, I hope it was enjoyable. Next chapter is the grand finale! Rainbow Dash vs. Chysalis with her evil red magic! Little do our heroes know, though, the Reset Swarm has arrived!

If you like my stories, consider supporting me on Patreon.

Crash Down Ch 8 - Wind Shear

Book Five: Crash Down

Chapter Eight - Wind Shear

Daring shook her head and repositioned herself on the barstool she’d been sitting on since the group had split up and headed out to the VIP Lodging area. She stared down into the glass in front of her, the caramel-colored liquid rippling as she gently tapped the glass’s rim.

This rum isn’t real. Neither is the glass it’s in, or the bar the glass is sitting upon, she thought, and then lifted the glass to her lips, throwing the last of the liquid into her mouth and quickly swallowing it. Heck, even this buzz isn’t real.

She gently placed the glass back on the bar and raised a hoof up in front of her face. She looked at it quizzically. Not to mention I found out I’m just a fictional character from some book series, and now I’m a changeling, too. This isn’t what my hoof really looks like. I don’t even have a real hoof. Yet, somehow I feel strangely fine with that. She closed her eyes and smiled, letting the feeling of her buzz fill her mind, at least until a tap came from the bar in front of her. She opened her eyes and saw the bartender standing in front of her.

“You wanted something? You had your hoof raised.”

Daring leaned forward against the bar and smiled at the bartender. He was a handsome stallion, a blond mane slicked back and deep, dazzling blue eyes. She placed her hoof on his and winked. “Are you on the menu?” she asked playfully, licking her lips.

“Beg pardon, ma’am?”

She slouched slightly. “Oh, nevermind. I just figured if this was all a fantasy, I might as well get something out of it.”

The bartender laughed and shrugged, gesturing back towards the bottles of liquor behind him. “Afraid not, miss, flattered though I am. Perhaps I could interest you in a drink instead?”

Daring fluttered her eyes. “Sex on the Beach?”

The bartender laughed again, this time louder than the first. “You are quite persistent, aren’t you?” he asked, and then turned towards the bottles, reaching for the vodka. “Comin’ right up.”

Suddenly, a sound like a gust of wind blowing past washed through the hotel lobby, accompanied by a wave of magic. The force of it nearly knocked Daring off of her bar stool. She gripped the bar with her front hooves. Her eyes went wide as the bartender vanished in front of her. The bottle he had been holding fell to the ground and shattered, and then everything was silent.

She looked around the lobby behind her. It was completely empty. The signs of ponies having been there remained. Plates of food, drinks on tables and at the bar, but not a pony remained but her. What in the heck was that?

A second later, she heard a loud crashing sound along with voices coming from outside, just beyond the VIP Lodging doors. Okay, that can’t be a coincidence! She grabbed her helmet, slapped it onto her head, and rushed towards the large double doors.

Several minutes earlier, in the VIP Courtyard...

Following the initial blast from Rainbow Dash’s attack, Twilight pushed herself back up to her hooves. Glancing around, she could see the others doing the same. Her horn glowed with magic, and she turned it back up towards Chrysalis. Where she expected to see the changeling queen, however, she just saw a flurry of movement. Rainbow Dash was floating in the air, swinging her hooves so fast that Twilight couldn’t really see them as they moved. Blow after blow swung out towards Chrysalis, each connecting with a spark of magic, but the queen was also flailing her front hooves, blocking each attack in turn and adding her own bright red spark of magic with each block.

A glint of violet color caught Twilight’s eye from the right. She glanced over and saw Luna, her horn ablaze, nodding her head downward. In the direction of the nod was Pinkie Pie, her horn also now surging with power. The pink alicorn grinned at Twilight, who took the whole situation as a sign to act.

In a fraction of a second, Pinkie Pie launched herself into the air, and Twilight called up to Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow! Out of the way, now!”

Only a trail of rainbow color was left in front of Chrysalis, who was holding her hooves in front of herself defensively. Pinkie, Luna, and Twilight all let loose with blasts of magic, which converged upon Chrysalis in the blink of an eye. The changeling quickly surrounded herself with a sphere of crimson that shielded her from the continuous blasts from all three assailants. She turned toward Luna and growled. “Traitor! You were on their side the whole time?”

“Of course not!” Luna said with a laugh, seeming to be really getting into character. “I just know a losing battle when I see it, fool!”

So says the one who dared stand against the Elements of Harmony twice! A voice rang out in Luna’s mind, breaking her concentration. Her beam of magic flickered briefly, but she shook her head and continued the assault.

On the ground, Vitra stared up at the battle and whistled, placing Applejack’s hat back on her head firmly. “Hoo nelly, that don’t look pleasant!” she said. Her eyes focused on the sky beyond the battle and her jaw suddenly dropped. A massive crack in the fabric of the dream world had formed in the sky above. “Neither does that! Hurry it up, y’all! The reset swarm! It’s here!”

“What!?” Mulcibar shouted and turned his head up to the sky.

“We’ve been here!” a deep, gravelly voice shouted from somewhere. Like a blur, something crashed through one of the nearby windows and smashed into Linnai, dragging her up into the air and towards the far right rooftop.

“Linnai!” Mulcibar cried out, spreading his wings.

“Worry about yourself!” another voice came from the same window. This time, the door to the room with the broken window opened and a changeling with a spiked black mane and a green gem socketed into its horn stepped out onto the boardwalk. His left hoof was wrapped around a spear with a long, wide-bladed head. “Long time no see, Azura.”

“Morosa,” Mulcibar said grimly, lowering his stance. “Who’s the other?”

Morosa grinned. “Duval. Bad news for Lin, I’m afraid. Don’t make this more difficult than it already is,” he said, turning the spear to point it at Mulcibar’s head.

Several paces away, Vitra’s eyes were wide and shaking. She quickly turned to Gilda and shouted. “How many guns do you have?”

Gilda pulled up the long feathers that hung down over the point on her body that switched from bird to lion, revealing a strap with several weapons holstered. “Enough.”

“Maybe not,” Vitra responded, pointing a hoof up to the rooftop where Linnai had been dragged to. “Go! Help Linnai, trust me! You’re the best hope! And do not go easy on him at all!” With that, she took off, flying straight up into the sky and towards the crack.

Gilda shrugged and leapt into the air alongside Vitra, branching off towards the rooftop. Morosa noticed them taking off and shot a blast of magic up at Vitra, who easily dodged and laughed.

“Hey!” Mulcibar shouted, and then leapt at Morosa. “Worry about yourself!”

Mulcibar swung his right front hoof forward, smashing it right into the shaft of the spear, which Morosa had pulled up in front of him to guard from the attack.

Meanwhile, further out in the courtyard, Fluttershy found herself instinctively ducking down near a hedge, her attention being pulled in every direction, panic quickly taking over her mind.

“Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! What do I do?” she said aloud, her eyes darting from pony to pony. “Twilight! Rainbow! Mulcibar! Strange changeling that looks like Applejack with wings! Princess Luna!”

Too much! Too much! she thought her breathing steadily speeding up to the point of hyperventilation. Her eyes drifted back towards Mulcibar and his opponent. They almost looked like they were dancing, the spear twirling and swinging between them. Mulcibar would take control of the spear, try to land a few blows with it, all of which would be blocked, and then the spear would be wrestled out of his grip by the other changeling, who would try and do the same, just as unsuccessfully. Please don’t get hurt! Oh my goodness! What can I do? She pulled her hooves over her face and scrunched down on the ground, her whole body shaking.

“You’ve gotten slow since you joined The Order, Azura!” the changeling bellowed with a laugh.

“I don’t think so! You’ve just gotten faster!” Mulcibar responded, swinging the spear around one last time. Morosa blocked the strike with a foreleg, forcing the spear into a spin around his body and snapping it from Mulcibar’s magical grip.

“Stronger, too!” Morosa shouted, swinging the spear straight down at Mulcibar’s head. Mulcibar flipped his wings up from his back and flapped them forward, pushing him back just in time to barely evade the attack. The spear’s head slammed into the floorboards, splitting them in half. “You never made it easy, Azura!”

“Stop. I discarded that nickname long ago.”

“When you discarded us!” Morosa screamed as he swung the spear around again. Mulcibar pulled a foreleg up and blocked the attack on his left. He quickly turned his body, slamming the spear downward and embedding it into the floor again while kicking both of his hind hooves back, striking Morosa across the chest and sending him flying into the far wall.

“I had no choice,” Mulcibar said as he picked up the spear with his magic. “Joining The Order was the only way.”

Morosa laughed. “The only way to continue your treachery! Even so, I’d wanted to make this quick and painless, you know. I take no pleasure in sending you to your execution.”

“Then why didn’t you attack to kill? Why calmly come through the door and give me time to react?” Mulcibar asked, spinning the spear in the air above his head. “Face it, you love to fight, always did.”

Two Years Ago…

Mulcibar sat upon a rock outside of plain, wooden hut, dipping a blood-soaked rag into a bucket of water. Directly in front of him sat Morosa, his forehead cut open and blood trickling down his face. Mulcibar unceremoniously slapped the cold, wet rag against Morosa’s wound, causing him to cringe and let out a scream.

“That hurts, damn it!”

“Quit screaming or you’ll just bleed more.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever.”

Mulcibar gently wiped the trail of blood away from Morosa’s face. “You going to tell me how this happened?”

Morosa growled slightly. “No.”

“Fighting with Eborav again, I bet.”

Morosa flinched. “N… no!”

“We train in groups at scheduled times for a reason. We don’t have time to deal with injuries you get from your own personal vendettas.”

“Must you lecture me, Azura?”

Mulcibar dipped the rag into the cold water again and then slapped it against Morosa’s head again. “We have no need for a broken tool, and that’s what you are, never forget it. We are instruments of the queen, nothing more. Why should the queen attack herself?”

Morosa sighed, but sat silently and still as Mulcibar switched to a dry cloth, dabbing it against the gash.

“He said you’re gonna leave. That true?”

“So, he nearly cracks your skull open, and then you believe what he tells you?”

“Don’t give me that. Everyone sees it coming. You’re a good fighter, but your magic… you’re destined to join The Order.”

“Where I am told to go is really none of my concern. If she decides to put me there, then I’ll go.”

Morosa turned around and looked up at Mulcibar. “Yeah, right. You want it, we all can tell. The squad’s gonna fall apart without you.”

Mulcibar lowered his eyebrows. “It had better not. I’ll blame you, personally.”

Morosa laughed. “I thought you said personal vendettas were a distraction.”

Mulcibar smiled. “Oh, it’ll be nothing personal.”

“Right…”

Mulcibar blinked and sighed, snapping back to reality as he spun the spear around one more time and then pressed its tip up against Morosa’s throat. “It’s funny how looking back on how things were is so different for me, now. It’s like the past has been repainted.”

Morosa coughed, having finally caught his breath. “You still got a killer kick, Mulci,” he said, and then pushed his neck up against the spear’s tip. Blood began to trickle down his neck and onto his chest. “Go on. Do it!”

“It’s hard to deal with the fact that you don’t look back and feel the same way.”

“So it’s true then, eh?” Morosa asked with a coarse laugh. “You really are turnin’ into a damn pony. Just pathetic.”

Mulcibar shook his head. “So, did the squad fall apart?”

Morosa grinned. “Nope,” he said and then flipped his wings up from his back. He threw his forelegs up and grabbed the spear with lightning speed, yanking it past him and pulling Mulcibar into a headbutt. Their horns smashed together, making a loud cracking sound. “You’re not fighting serious, anyway, are you? You’re not even using your magic.”

Mulcibar lit up his horn and and smiled, levitating Morosa’s head back a bit and then swinging a hoof around, smashing it against his jaw. “What can I say? I like fighting, too.”

“Then you’re gonna hate this as much as I do,” Morosa responded. His wings suddenly glowed with a bright blue color and there was a blinding flash of magic. Mulcibar raised a hoof to shield his eyes.

Moments earlier, on the roof…

Upon the roof of the hotel on the right side of the courtyard was a large, long deck with several benches and tables. The desk itself extended out past the hotel’s walls and overlooked a lake in the distance. Linnai found herself thrown down onto the desk’s surface before she could even collect her thoughts. She turned and stared up at the one who had thrown her, a changeling with a strangely elongated body and thin legs. His horn was slightly curved, but sported a purple gem socketed into its base. His beady, orange eyes burned into Linnai’s mind as she recognized the attacker.

“Duval!” she shouted, and began powering up her horn.

The changeling delicately landed in front of her and clicked his tongue. In a deep, jagged voice that seemed to mismatch his body, he scolded Linnai. “Now, now, you know that’s not going to do anything,” he said. A sphere of magic shot out from his horn, enveloping the area in a faint purple glow.

Linnai quickly let loose with her magical blast, but it fizzled in mid-air as the purple glow surrounded the two of them. Her eyes narrowed. What an annoying little brat! The ability to nullify all but the most powerful magic, and who knows how much stronger he’s gotten since we last trained together, she thought, and then stood up. The only reason this pipsqueak isn’t in The Order is because magic nullification is too useful for the fighting corps.

“You magic types are all talk. Strip away your power, and what’s left?”

“Want to find out?”

“Oh please,” Duval said, licking his lips. “Show me.”

“I’ll snap you like a twig!” Linna screeched, launching herself towards Duval, who quickly sidestepped and slapped a foreleg against the back of Linnai’s neck. Linnai responded by kicking up her hind legs. Her hooves connected with Duval’s chest, sending him flying through the air and landing on the deck several yards back.

Duval pushed himself back up, one foreleg wrapped across his chest. He glared at Linnai, who was just smiling over at him. “You’ll pay for that,” he said, and then lit his horn up. “I may look weak, but looks can be deceiving!” He charged towards Linnai, his horn glowing. Linnai prepared to block or dodge, but with a flash, Duval vanished.

Before Linnai could react, she found herself being pummeled from behind by Duval’s slender, dagger-like hooves. She fell forward against the ground and rolled, kicking up into the air, Duval grabbed ahold of her legs with levitation magic and flung her across the deck, smashing her into a wall. He quickly made his way towards her point of impact, his horn powering up once again.

“Without your magic, you can do nothing to resist mine!”

“Even if it’s that weak!” Linnai said with a cough. “I’m impressed, though. When did you learn to teleport?”

Duval grinned and his horn flashed brightly. He teleported and appeared right beside Linnai. “I didn’t,” he said, staring down into her eyes.

Linnai’s expression suddenly soured. She began to scrape her hooves along the floor, scooting away from Duval, staring up at him in shock. “You’re lying! You can’t have!”

“Oh yes! And not just me! Both of us!” Duval said, his voice almost giggling with glee at the sight before him. “Beg for me to end this quickly, Linnai! I’m sure the queen will give you a painless death if you cooperate!”

Linnai clenched her eyes shut and shook her head, pressing her hooves against its sides. Damn it! I’m sorry… Twilight…

A loud bang came from behind Duval, followed by him flinching and gripping his side. He turned his head towards the sound. Linnai opened her eyes and stared as well.

Gilda stood across the way, a flintlock in each claw, approaching the two changelings. She dropped the run in her right claw and reached beneath her feathers, pulling out another one and pointing it towards Duval. “Back off, string bean!”

“Do stay put, I’ll be right back,” Duval said, and then kicked Linnai in the ribs, causing her body to curl upon itself.

Linnai coughed and shakily reached a hoof into the air towards Gilda. “Do it!” she screamed as loudly as she could. “Kill him! Do it now!”

Duval flipped his wings up from his back, and they started to glow bright orange.

Gilda fired her second gun, but Duval ducked to the side, avoiding the shot. Before he could react again, Gilda fired the third pistol, the bullet hitting true, burying itself in Duval’s shoulder.

“Stop playing around! Go for the head!” Linnai screamed.

Gilda reached under her feathers, this time producing a revolver. She spun the chambers and grinned. Surprised Dash even knew about these. They’re pretty new. Guess Daring Do books have all the latest and greatest, she thought, and then aimed the gun at Duval’s head as he continued to approach.

Duval’s wings began to almost look like they were burning. Behind him, Linnai fell to the ground, her eyes closing. “Shoot… him…” she managed to say, weakness taking her over.

“Well, we’ve only just met, but bye bye!” Duval shouted.

“Same to you!” Gilda responded, and then fired shot after shot towards the changeling.

Duval’s wings erupted in flames, sending forth a wave of fire at Gilda. The blast knocked Gilda back, igniting her body instantly and sending her sliding across the wooden deck. She smashed into the guard rails and let out a scream of pain as the fire continued to wash over her relentlessly.

“No! Stop!” Linnai screamed, but Duval refused to relent. A second later, a blast of magic shot through the air and slammed into Duval’s head, knocking him to the ground and stopping the fire. A wave of magic washed over Gilda, extinguishing the flames. Twilight Sparkle appeared in a flash right beside Linnai, teleporting from the other side of the deck.

Moments earlier, within the courtyard…

Rainbow Dash swooped around in the air, keeping her eyes glued to Chrysalis, who was now feeling the full force of a sustained magic blast from Princess Luna, Twilight, and Pinkie. The changeling growled and red streaks of energy began to flash all over her body. She glared up at Luna, her fangs bared and her eyes wide.

“You’ll be the first to die for this, Luna!” she screamed, and then turned to the flash of rainbow that zipped past her for the third time. “And you, Rainbow Dash! You’ll wish you never tried to resist me. I don’t know how you got that wing back, but this time I’ll take your head!”

“Not unless we take yours first!” a voice came from below, alongside the sound of the main doors slamming open. Daring Do slid out onto the boardwalk, holding her helmet onto her head with one hoof.

Chrysalis groaned. “You should have stayed inside, Desert Walker! You’ve earned the same fate!”

Rainbow Dash stopped in midair and grinned. “Daring! Where have you been?”

Daring shrugged and pointed a hoof back at the doors she had come through. “The bar! Duh!”

Rainbow laughed. “Always taking it easy until the last second! That’s fine! You ready to do that thing we practiced? We’ll do it just as that shield breaks!”

Darin blinked and shook her head. “That thing? I thought we’d decided we’d never use it! Dash, it could kill somepony! Correction, it will kill somepony, and that could be you!”

“That was then, and this is now!” Dash responded. “Besides, this is my dream, and she’s the bad guy! Besides, she’s not even real!”

“Dash, I’m not even real! Remember?”

Dash scrunched her face. “Yeah, but I like you! Come on, are we gonna be awesome, or are we gonna argue about this all night! Our friends are depending on us!”

Daring sighed, sheugged, and leapt into the air at Dash, slapping their hooves together. “Get up there, then! I’ll be in position!”

Dash nodded her head and sped up into the sky. Far above her, she could see Vitra fighting with something, but could barely make out what. The dark sky concealed the black bodies of the changelings up there, but Dash could see their glowing, blue eyes. Alright, she’s holding them off, she thought, and then stopped, staring down at the others. As soon as I see that red shield crack, I’m going! This is gonna be so awesome!

Higher in the sky, Vitra had ditched her Applejack form completely, though she still wore the hat on her head. Her golden patterned wings fluttered in the air as she zipped to and fro from changeling to changeling. It didn’t take much to knock them out. She would open with a hoof to the face, and then blast them with her horn. They would dissolve into thin air as quickly as they had appeared, but their speed of entry was increasing. The crack in the sky was starting to get bigger again as the changelings that warped in were literally digging their hooves and fangs into the fabric of the sky and tearing it to pieces.

This is going to get out of hand before long! Vitra thought as she blasted another changeling out of the sky. Two others warped in behind her and grabbed her hind legs. She kicked back and twisted her body. Her wings flashed and the two changelings stopped. Better start making it my reset swarm, I guess.

The two changelings she had flashed her wings at quickly turned and shot through the air, both laying into another changeling and beating it to a pulp. One of them bit into the other changeling’s throat, and it dissolved in a flash. Vitra grinned and flew towards another two newly warped-in changelings and took control of them as well.

If the reset swarm is just mindless drones, created by a spell and hell-bent on destruction, I’ll be glad to give them a target! she thought and then sent her two new drones away to attack more. Let’s see how many I can control at once! She rubbed her hooves together and flapped her wings, diving towards the fray.

As she enthralled three more changelings, a sudden flash of red caught her eye from below, and she could see Rainbow Dash between her and the flash, getting ready to dive towards the ground.

Rainbow Dash readied herself as soon as she saw the flash of magic and heard the cracking sound of the shield around Chrysalis breaking. That’s it! Almost… just gotta wait another second, she thought, and then heard another crack, and then another. Go! She dove toward the ground, flapping her wings at an insanely fast speed. A sonic rainboom shot out from her body, quickly followed by a second, as she accelerated towards the ground - towards Daring Do.

Daring Do saw the two rainbooms above and braced herself. her body began to glow slightly as she closed her eyes and raised her hooves toward the sky. She began to roll forward, staying stationary in the air, doing somersaults, spinning faster and faster. Before long, her body was spinning in a circle so fast it was impossible to see anything but a blur.

“Get out of the way!” Daring screamed. Pinkie Pie and Luna quickly dashed away from Chrysalis just as the shield around the queen shattered.

A rainbow colored streak crashed down, slamming right into the circular blur that was Daring Do.

Within that crash, within a matter of a fraction of a second, Daring Do and Rainbow Dash locked hooves. Dash tucked her wings in against her back. Daring spun Dash down and around, past the ground, past Chrysalis who was hovering a couple of yards away, and then released her, shooting her back up into the sky.

Almost imperceptibly, a razor-sharp shear of wind cut through the air straight at Chrysalis. The building that stood behind her was sliced clean in half, but Chrysalis remained, floating in the air, red magic crackling all around her.

Daring landed on the ground and Rainbow stopped a ways in the air above the courtyard. She stared down at Chrysalis in disbelief, the building behind her destroyed, but she was still there.

“Did… did we miss!?” Rainbow shouted down at Daring.

Daring shook her head. “No way! That was perfect!”

“But all for nothing, weaklings!” Chrysalis cackled. “You can’t defeat me! With this new power, I am invincible!” She swung a hoof up, pointing it at Rainbow Dash. Suddenly, her vision seemed to skew. Her hoof fell slightly in front of her. She slapped her front hooves against the sides of her head.

Wrong. You’re the weakling, here! a voice said within Chrysalis’ head. That’s fine. There’s a better host for my power, now!

The left and right sides of Chrysalis’ body began to slide apart. her eyes rolled up into her head. Her body finally fell apart, having been cut perfectly in half, just before dissolving into thin air as a mass of red magic shot out of it and up into the sky.

Pinkie leapt into the air and flew right at Rainbow Dash, slamming into her and pulling her into a big hug. “Ooooh! I’ve never done a flying hug, before! It’s even better than a normal hug!”

Luna smiled up at Rainbow Dash and Pinkie. “You did it!” she said, then nodding down to Daring Do. “We all did it! Truly a marvelous team effort!”

Before they had time to celebrate further, a scream came from the roof across the way.

“No! Stop!”

Twilight turned her head toward the sound. “Linnai! She’s in trouble! Let’s go!” she shouted, and then teleported away.

Luna nodded. “Very well! Let us go help Linnai!” she said, glancing at Mulcibar, who was still locked in combat with Morosa. “These two on the ground seem evenly matched for now.”

Not so fast, a voice said in Luna’s mind. The red magic shot back down from the sky, striking Luna and giving her entire body a bright red glow.

“What!” Rainbow shouted.

Pinkie squeezed Dash even harder. “What happened?”

Daring’s eyes narrowed. “It’s not good, that’s for sure.”

A scream came from above, and everypony turned their eyes toward where it had come from. They were met with the image of Vitra plummeting out of the sky. Rainbow Dash acted quickly, speeding through the air and intercepting her. She returned to the ground and placed her body on the grass at the garden’s edge.

“Getting worse, too! That crack in the sky is growing!” Rainbow shouted.

Vitra reached a hoof up and placed it on Dash’s shoulder. “Too much,” she said, barely audible. “Too many changelings, too fast. I couldn’t stop it.”

“We’d better wrap this up quickly, then!” Pinkie said, turning her attention back to Luna, who was now engulfed in red magic. “Princess!”

“Please! You have to stop me, now!” she shouted. “Rainbow Dash, you have to get ahold of your lucidity! It’s the only way!”

Rainbow Dash flew up to Luna, getting as close as she could without touching the red magic herself. “How? It was so easy before, but now I can’t even do anything!”

“That wind attack you did! Those lightning-fast punches! That was all your lucidity, you’re just used to that sort of thing, even in the head of battle. Now… Now you must truly take hold of your dream, just like you did when you warped in this hotel and teleported everypony here!”

“I’ve been trying! I just can’t!”

Luna reached a hoof out towards Rainbow Dash. “You must! Close your eyes and concentrate! Once you have control, I will be able to use lucidity here, as well! Victory shall be ours!”

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to remember how she felt when she willed the hotel into existence. Come on, Dash! You can do this! This is nothing!

Too late, a voice whispered in Dash’s mind. She opened her eyes just in time to see Princess Luna release a blast of red magic from her horn. The attack hit Rainbow Dash dead on and sent her flying towards the ground. She smashed into the garden below and lay still, her body crackling with red magic.

“No!” Daring Do shouted, leaping into the air towards Luna.

“Dashie!” Pinkie yelled, diving down to where she’s landed.

From several yards away, Fluttershy leapt to her hooves and ran towards the downed pegasus. “Rainbow Dash!”

Pinkie and Fluttershy met at Rainbow Dash’s body. Pinkie turned her horn upward, creating a shield around them, while Fluttershy wrapped her hooves around Dash and hugged her.

“That won’t protect you for long!” Luna shouted from above.

“She’s right! We have to do something, and fast!” Pinkie responded, glancing down at Rainbow and Fluttershy.

Fluttershy held Dash in her forelegs. “Dashie, wake up. Please!”

Gilda lay barely unconscious and singed, doing her best to keep her eyes open and look over at Twilight. Duval turned and looked in the same direction, his grin turning into a fanged frown.

“Leave my friends alone,” Twilight said gruffly.

“Ah yes, we’d been warned about you, Twilight Sparkle,” Duval said. “I’ll enjoy putting you in your place.”

Twilight leaned down towards Linnai. Linnai gazed up into Twilight’s eyes, smiling. “Are you alright?” she asked.

Linnai nodded. “Now that you’re here,” she said, and then turned toward Duval. “Don’t underestimate him. He’s already increasing the field’s power. Inside his field, magic is useless. You have to be able to overpower him. I couldn’t do it.”

“Don’t strain yourself,” Twilight said, hunching down slightly and lighting up her horn. “I’ll handle him.”

“Well, little Twilight! Any last words before I show you just how weak you are?” Duval said as the orange glow in the air increased in intensity.

Overpower him, huh? Twilight thought, concentrating on the magic auras that Duval was releasing. He’s not that strong, but his ability makes his power seem greater than it really is. It’s all just a mind game. No sweat. She started to charge her horn with magic, the glow coming from its tip getting brighter and brighter.

“I suppose not,” Duval finally said, pouting out his lower lip. “Alright, then. Show me what you’ve got!” He began to speed towards Twilight much faster than she had anticipated he could. She dodged to the right and slid across the ground, aiming her brightly glowing horn in his direction. Her eyes shut tightly and her jaw clenched, she released the magic in her horn in the form of a very compact, straight blast of pure white magic. The orange aura seemed to crackle and burn around it as it sped through the air and struck Duval in the head, knocking him sideways onto the ground. The resulting explosive surge of energy from the impact sizzled through the air, burning away the orange aura in a star-like pattern.

Duval jerked his head up and glared at Twilight. His horn lit up and the orange glow rapidly repaired itself. “Oh, she’s quick! And so feisty!” he growled. “You certainly chose powerful allies for your betrayal, Linnai! I will enjoy making her my bitch!”

With a flash and a cracking sound, Duval vanished. Linnai raised her hoof and shouted out to Twilight. “Look out! He can teleport!”

A little late to be mentioning that, now! Twilight thought, taking evasive maneuvers as Duval appeared behind her. He lunged his hoof towards Twilight’s back, but the unicorn ducked and rolled to the side, her horn already charging up for another blast. She saw him swinging his other hoof around, now, but she easily evaded it as well. What is he doing? Even if those hits connected, he’s not swinging with enough force to do much of anything! There has to be something else! Something I’m missing!

Linnai frowned and started to push herself up to her hooves as she saw Duval grabbing for Twilight. That bastard! He’s really going for it! If he connects, there might be no stopping him! She shakily stood up and lurched towards where the two of them were fighting just as Twilight shot out another blast of magic, this time nailing Duval square across the face, blasting him backwards. Linnai hobbled towards Twilight, her joints aching with each step. She’s going to find out one way or another! We’re allies, friends… she has a right to know everything.

“Twilight!” Linnai cried out. “To me!”

Twilight turned her head, her horn already glowing as she raised her horn’s charge to a level where she could release another attack. She leapt away from Duval and landed beside Linnai, who reached her forelegs over and wrapped them around Twilight’s shoulders and neck.

“What’s wrong? He can’t touch me, this will be over soon,” Twilight said, keeping her eye on Duval as he pushed himself back to his hooves.

“No. We need to work together if we want to stop him. We can’t let him touch you,” Linnai said weakly, and then flipped her wings up, spreading them fully. She turned and stared into Twilight’s eyes, her own vision shaky and blurred. “Do you… trust me?”

“Trust you? What?” Twilight asked, her voice becoming confused. “What do you mean?”

“There’s something you don’t know yet, but with this fight, you’ll find out one way or the other. Do you trust me?” Linnai asked again, swallowing afterwards. “It’s going to be weird, maybe a bit painful, but all the same… do you?”

Twilight nodded her head and then pointed her horn towards Duval, who was poised to charge at them. “Yes. Whatever you have to do, do it.”

Linnai breathed in deeply. “I’m sorry,” she said, and then her wings began to glow with fiery light.

Twilight’s horn immediately lost all of its glow. She felt her knees beginning to wobble, and she turned to look up at Linnai’s brightly glowing wings. Linnai wrapped her foreleg around Twilight more tightly, keeping her from falling over. Her eyes were practically burning a fiery orange, and the equally flashy orange glow in the air began to evaporate from around them.

“What… are you doing?” Twilight asked weakly.

Linnai grinned and took a step forward and leaned down a bit, making sure her wings were fully in front of Twilight’s head. “Not me, Twilight. We!” she said. Duval had stopped in his tracks and was slowly backing away. “Sorry, Duval, but I learned that one, too.”

A wave of flames blasted out across the deck, scorching everything in its path. Duval’s body exploded into a pillar of fire. His screams filled the air. Twilight stared wide-eyed as the fire blast got bigger and bigger. She could see Duval’s body fall to the ground, still burning brightly. She turned to Linnai and reached a hoof up to her face.

“Linnai, that’s enough. He’s already—“

“I… I can’t stop! I can’t stop it! It’s too much power!” Linnai screamed, her own body beginning to burn underneath her wings. “Twilight, I can’t stop! Help! It’s like a floodgate being opened!”

“How? How can I? I feel so weak, I—“ Twilight said, and then gasped as she realized what had happened.

“Please! Make it stop!” Linnai asked, tears dropping only an inch or so from her eyes before evaporating.

Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated as hard as she could. She pushed her face up against Linnai’s and touched their horns together. She somehow tapped into my magic! She stole my power! How is that even possible? Twilight thought as she tried to feel for the point where the magical drain was happening.

“Focus, Linnai! We can do this together. Listen to my voice, concentrate on my magic! Feel for where my magic ends and yours begins!”

“I can’t!” Linnai shouted back, tears streaming down her face. “I’m not some magical genius like you! I had to struggle to get as strong as I am!”

“That’s not true! I’ve seen your magic! You’re as gifted as any unicorn I’ve met at Celestia’s school! No, even more so than most! Now just calm down and concentrate. I’m here for you, just focus.” Twilight carefully wrapped her forelegs around the back of Linnai’s neck and pulled her closer, pressing their cheeks together. The intense heat from above was starting to make Twilight’s scalp painfully hot, but she ignored it and focused solely on Linnai.

Linnai’s heart fluttered at the touch of Twilight’s cheek to hers, even in her current situation. I can feel you, Twilight. I can feel your heart. Your magic. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, remembering Twilight’s words. Even more gifted than most of those little upstarts at Celestia’s school? Hah! Of course I am! I’ll prove it to you, Twilight! No! I’ll prove it to myself!

A second later, the flame blast stopped as quickly as it had started. Linnai fell to the ground. Twilight charged her horn up once more and released a wave of cool blue energy, putting out the raging fire that have enveloped the deck area. She fell to the ground beside Linnai. Both of them breathed heavily, and Linnai turned her head to look at Twilight. She smiled and blinked, tears still falling from her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Twilight. I had to. I couldn’t let him tap into your magic.”

Twilight sighed and managed to chuckle. “You could have just warned me. I bet I could have stopped him.”

Linnai pulled one of her hooves up and placed it on Twilight’s cheek. “No. I didn’t want to take that chance… and besides, I couldn’t let him have you before I did. Guess I’m the jealous type,” she said, and then closed her eyes. “How do you do it? How do you contain all that power inside of you?”

“The same way you do, silly. I meant what I said, you know.”

“Well, I could certainly get used to it!” Duval’s voice came from across the way. His black and burned body was clawing its way across the floorboards towards the two of them.

Linnai and Twilight both strained, charging their horns with magic, but both stuttered and fizzled immediately. The orange glow filled the air again, though only faintly.

“Damn it! Stay away, freak!” Linnai shouted, throwing a hoof around Twilight. “She’s mine!”

Twilight twitched slightly, but then her attention was drawn by a metallic clacking sound from behind her. She turned her head downward and could barely make out a weapon lying on the ground.

“There’s one bullet left!” Gilda’s voice shouted from across the way. “Use it!”

Twilight grabbed the gun with her levitation magic and hovered it over her head. He can’t stop simple levitation with his field! I never even thought to try it, she thought, and then pointed the gun at Duval.

“Back off! I’ll fire!” she shouted, shaking the pistol in the air.

Duval laughed. “You think I care at this point? Do it!” he shouted, continuing to crawl towards them. “Do it before I take all that power from you and make it my own!”

“If you insist!” Twilight shouted, and then grunted slightly.

“The safety! You have to turn the safety off!” Gilda shouted, the sound of her slowly scuffling towards them also coming from her direction.

Twilight sighed. I don’t have time to figure this out, she thought, and then rotated the gun, pointing its butt at Duval’s head. With a single, quick motion, she swung the gun at Duval’s head, smashing against his skull with a satisfying cracking sound. His body fell still, and Twilight levitated the gun back, placing off to the side.

Gilda had arrived and picked the gun up. She held it in front of Twilight and pointed to a small switch on its side. “That’s the safety. You have to turn the safety off.”

Twilight tapped her horn and grinned at Gilda. “That’s my horn. The safety is always off.”

Gilda laughed a bit harder than she should have and gripped her sides. “Oh dude, that hurts…”

What happened? Rainbow Dash thought to herself. She felt an intense pounding in her head and pressed a hoof against its side. Her ears curled back against her head, muffling the sounds of the outside world. What’s going on?

She opened her eyes and found herself floating high above Equestria. She could see for miles in any direction, but what she saw made her whole body shake. The ground below her crumbled, mountains fell to rubble, and lava ejected from the surface in violent bursts. The sky above her seemed to shatter like glass, the shards falling to the ground and tearing away pieces of the world with them.

“No! This can’t be happening! This is just a dream!”

Then stop it! Luna’s voice echoed around her. Reject this reality and create your own! If you do not grasp this power, then all is lost!

Blurry, flickering images of Linnai and Mulcibar appeared in front of her as Luna’s voice continued. These two will be doomed to return to awaken and face their queen, whom they betrayed to help us! They will be put to death!

“I know, but,” Rainbow Dash shouted, pressing her hooves against the sides of her head harder than before. “I just can’t do it again! It’s like I don’t have it in me anymore! I wasted it making that stupid hotel!”

I will go back to my dream world, and it too may reset, sending my sister and the three foals known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders tumbling back to their own dream worlds!

Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth and tried to focus on the lucidity like she had before, but she felt nothing but panic inside. She opened her eyes and saw Twilight and Fluttershy’s images before her, now.

Those two, as well, Luna’s voice said, becoming weaker now. They will be sent back to where they began.

Rainbow Dash stared straight ahead at Fluttershy and felt tears beginning to well up inside of her.

They will remember none of what has happened. All of their efforts will have been for nothing.

Rainbow’s eyes went wide and tears began to fall freely from them as her mind flashed back to the previous day.

You know, I sort of had this silly thought, like maybe I had a crush—

It wasn’t just you.

Rainbow Dash remembered their brief but real kiss. That confession, even if I had cut her off… that was real. That was Fluttershy speaking from her heart, being braver than I thought she could be. I almost…

Dash closed her eyes and wiped her tears away. I almost wanted her to stop, like it shouldn’t have been her telling me. It should have been the other way. It should have been different!

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and stared with determination at the image of Fluttershy before her. “It will be different next time! I’m gonna get out of here! I’m gonna save us all, and I’m gonna tell you! I’m gonna tell you just how much you mean to me!”

“Please, just wake up! Say something! Anything!” Fluttershy’s image called out to Dash.

I can stay here no longer, Rainbow Dash, Luna’s voice barely whispered. Go to her. Let her be your guiding light.

Rainbow stared down at the world and saw nothing left of it but a swirling maelstrom of rocks and debris. She pointed a hoof down at it, and it froze.

“No,” she said. “I will never let that happen.”

Rainbow Dash gasped for air and shot up to a sitting position. She found herself on the ground, a pink bubble shield above, and Fluttershy’s forelegs and wings wrapped around her body.

“You’re awake!”

Rainbow Dash turned her head towards Fluttershy, nearly touching their noses together, and smiled. “Sorry, Fluttershy. I’m back! For real this time!” She wrapped a foreleg around her friend and squeezed her close. “It was all thanks to you. Thank you for calling me back.”

Fluttershy blushed slightly and managed a smile, despite her eyes still being wet with tears. “Don’t mention it. I just couldn’t bear the thought of losing… well, seeing anypony else I care about getting hurt.” She turned and looked over at Mulcibar and Morosa, who were both standing and staring at one another. Morosa’s wings were fully open and glowing blue, just like Mulcibar’s had before.

That’s odd, Fluttershy thought, her mind filling with worry once again. She softened her grip on Rainbow, who stood up and looked skyward to Luna.

“You too, Princess Luna! Pinkie! You changelings! Everypony! I won’t leave you hanging ever again.”

Pinkie Pie strained, though managing to smile. “Can we… hurry up a bit? I can’t… hold this for any longer!”

Dash glared up at Luna. “Listen up, you!” Dash shouted, her voice creating visible ripples in the air above her. “You think you can just come into my dream and do whatever you want?”

Luna took a break from firing her sustained beam attack into Pinkie’s shield just long enough to laugh and respond. “Of course I do! Dreams are my domain, and yours is the perfect environment for nightmares!” Her eyes glowed bright red along with her horn, and then she resumed firing magic into Pinkie’s forcefield.

“Wrong,” Dash said firmly. She raised both her front hooves and clapped them together. A shockwave fired out from them, shattering through Pinkie’s shield, blasting up through the magic attack, and slamming into Luna, sending her body flying backwards. The princess’ body hit the ground, and Dash rushed across the ground to meet her at the point of impact, leaving Fluttershy and Pinkie where they stood.

“I did it, Princess. Now let’s get rid of her!”

With those words, Luna’s face relaxed, a smile spread across her lips, and a stream of red magic began to stream off of her body, collecting into a massive sphere just above her.

“Are you yourself again?”

“Yes,” Luna said between heavy breaths. “Thank you.”

“I think I’ve got the hang of this lucidity stuff. It was just like, snap! Suddenly I could do anything!”

Luna smiled. “That’s often how it is. It usually takes a catalyst. I trust you found yours.”

Rainbow Dash nodded and glanced towards Fluttershy briefly. “Yeah. I did. So, what are we going to do with all this evil magic?”

Luna sighed. “That’s my responsibility, I’ll take care of it. Don’t worry, now that you have lucidity here, I do as well,” she said, and ten pointed her horn at the ball of red magic. A single blast of magic turned the entire ball from red to white. “Mind you, I’ve been capable of forcing some lucidity if I needed to, but it’s so much easier if the dreamer has a full grasp as well.”

The white magic began to trickle through the air, streaming into Luna’s body. She turned her gaze down to Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie! This means you, as well! I’m afraid we aren’t done here. We need to stop this so-called reset swarm.”

“No!” Fluttershy screamed, interrupting Princess Luna. Rainbow Dash turned her gaze just in time to see Fluttershy diving through the air, wings spread, eyes wide.

She turned to look at what Fluttershy was rushing towards, and gasped when she saw it. Morosa was standing over Mulcibar’s body, a spear stabbed straight through his chest, blood pooling on the ground.

“I’m sorry, Azura,” Morosa said as he twisted the spear’s head. Mulcibar lay on his side, his eyes staring directly up at the other changeling, cold and lifeless. “I wish it didn’t have to end this way.”

“Mulcibar!” Fluttershy shouted, flapping her wings and speeding through the air towards Morosa.

Author's Note

What will happen? Is Mulcibar doomed to awaken and face the wrath of Chrysalis? Find out next time!

I am so sorry this took so long to come out! In the end, my vacation, among other things, really prevented me from writing as much as I'd hoped.

So it looks like there will be a Chapter 9, but I swear on me mum that'll be the last chapter of this book! I guess I shouldn't call how many chapters a book will have until it's done!

If you like my stories, consider supporting me on Patreon.

Crash Down Ch 9 - Crash Down

Author's Note

Author's notes at the top! Super important, so please read them!
Especially if you like reading sexy stuff... :pinkiegasp:

Hey there, everyone! Welcome to the 50th chapter of The Conquering of Love!

Fifty chapters! 300,000 words! Three years, yeah, but we made it here. With this chapter, Book Five comes to a close. I hope it's been fun to read, and for several reasons, I have some more fun for you all. Well, some of you.

Here's the whole story, without spoiling anything to come:
Back when I was writing Crash Down chapter 7, I'd written a scene where two particular characters have a conversation alone. Some things happen, mostly comedic at first, but the scene takes a mature and somewhat dark twist. As I wrote this scene, I found that the inclusion of certain descriptions of things heightened the scene's impact, but also took it over the line between T and M in my opinion. I'm sure some people would call it mild, but I suppose I'm just overly paranoid about this sort of thing.

Anyway, since I feel that scene was better in its M-rated version, I found myself at an impasse. I couldn't include it in the main fic without changing the rating, which isn't fair to anyone reading this site with filters on to not show mature content, but I wanted to release it badly.

The scene was eventually cut from Chapter 7, having felt out of place, and I decided to save it for the end of the book where it fit more neatly. It's here in this chapter, and is toned down to be T-rated.

For those of you who want to read the original M-rated version, and are old enough/browsing without filters, I have created a new fanfic entry titled "The Conquering of Love: The Mature Chapters", which can be accessed by clicking this link. The T- and M-rated versions of the chapter are interchangeable, both containing all of the events of the chapter, so you are free to read whichever is your preference.

Also included in that fanfic entry is a third and much more explicit "Alternate Universe" version of the chapter that takes things even further. (Funny to have something that's Alternate Universe to a story that's already Alternate Universe, but there you have it.) I won't talk about the third version here in detail, but I'm sure you can guess what it's like. :pinkiehappy:

It's been a long and bumpy road. I know a lot of people have come and gone. For those of you who have stuck it out with me for this long, I am so very pleased to have you here enjoying my work. This story has on-and-off, bust mostly on, consumed my thoughts for these past three years. The recent increase in pace of release should continue into the future. I hope it will allow me to conclude this tale in 2016.

When I first started this story, I never imagined I would get so into it. It literally began as something I did out of boredom after watching a video. It grew legs, and now here we are. Our little ponies have been, hopefully faithfully, guided by my hand all over the place on many adventures. Happiness, sadness, romance, love, lust, mystery, and an epic quest of the heart and mind.

Love and ponies to you all!
-Littlecolt

Crash Down Ch 9 - Crash Down

Book Five: Crash Down

Chapter Nine - Crash Down

Rainbow Dash leapt into flight, chasing after Fluttershy. “No, Fluttershy! He’ll kill you, too!”

Fluttershy’s body froze in mid-flight at Dash’s words. She fell to the ground, sliding to a stop several feet before reaching Mulcibar’s body. She dug her front hooves into the ground and pulled herself slightly forward along it. Tears poured from her eyes and she let out a strong, echoing screech. “No! He can’t be!”

Rainbow Dash landed next to Fluttershy, keeping her eyes on Morosa, though glancing down at her friend just long enough to see the look of rage forming on her face.

“He’s not dead! He can’t be!” Fluttershy crawled along the ground towards Mulcibar’s body, paying no attention to Morosa, who was still standing right over him. Rainbow Dash ducked to the ground, grabbing Fluttershy and pulling her away from the changelings.

“Fluttershy! Stop!”

“No! Let go of me! He’ll wake up on the other side! They’ll kill him! We have to bring him back! Mulcibar! Wake up!”

“Fluttershy, please!” Dash shouted, wrapping her forelegs around Fluttershy. “Let me handle this.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Mulcibar’s voice came from somewhere. “This little upstart thinks he can school the master.”

Fluttershy blinked, her expression relaxing. “You’re… alive?”

Rainbow Dash looked around in a panic. “Wha-wha-what?”

Mulcibar’s laughter filled the courtyard. Morosa stepped back, readying his spear.

“Azura! Where are you? What is this?”

“Sorry, Morosa, I know you were so proud of your little trick, but all you accomplished was showing us that the Touch of Ismara is more widespread than we thought. I am impressed, make no mistake! Especially for a magical dunce like you!”

“Get out here! I’ll run ya through again!”

“With that spear?” Mulcibar asked. “That one that’s already planted pretty firmly in your throat? How are you even talking right now?”

Morosa suddenly fell to the ground, the spear he had been holding now appearing to have been stabbed straight into the front of his throat, just above the collarbone. The blood on the ground slid across the floorboards from Mulcibar’s body to Morosa’s and Mulcibar pulled himself up to his hooves.

“I can tell you’re confused, so let me explain. You used the Touch of Ismara on me to steal my magical abilities, thus gaining my illusion magic. Let me ask you, though, what happens when you hand a foal a pencil? Does it suddenly start writing? Sure, some techniques are like that. Linnai’s fire blast comes to mind, fire is fire, but if you try and use an illusion spell on a master like me? Well, that’s asking for trouble.”

Morosa coughed slightly and reached his hooves around, trying to grip the spear’s shaft.

“Don’t struggle, it’ll only make it worse. Anyway, from the very second you decided to cast an illusion spell on me, I cast an illusion spell on you, as well,” Mulcibar continued, and then turned to look at Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. “Sorry for scaring you all, but I also cast an illusion spell on you two, and the pink one, and the princess, and Vitra, oh and also everyone fighting up on the roof. Really the only ones not affected by this illusion are those mindless reset drones up in the sky, but what are they going to do? Come tattle? All they do is rip dreams apart.”

Mulcibar gently pushed Morosa’s forelegs away from the spear and back down onto the ground. He grabbed the spear and pulled it out, releasing another spurt of blood. “Now, don’t go and panic so much, Morosa. After all, neither of us were even stabbed in the first place.” The air around Mulcibar seemed to shimmer. His wings lost their blue glow and folded down onto his back. The blood on the ground vanished, Morosa’s wounds along with them. His legs, however, were now tied up with rope. “Oh, I did tie you up, though. See? Aren’t I nice? No harm done!”

Morosa laughed and let his head fall to the ground. “Good show, Azura,” he said. “Fighting with you again… it was my honor.”

Mulcibar bent his front knees, bowing slightly. “The pleasure was all mine. I even got to be magic teacher this time!” he said, and then felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned and saw Fluttershy standing to his side, her expression clearly one of anger, her eyes bloodshot and wet with tears. “Ah, Fluttershy!” he said, and then received a yellow hoof to the face.

Fluttershy swung her hoof around and slapped it across Mulcibar’s cheek, sending him into a partial spin and almost knocking him to the ground. “Don’t do things like that!” she shouted.

Mulcibar stared at the ground, his jaw shaking. “But I just won that—“

“Don’t talk to me!” Fluttershy interrupted, and then turned around and walked back towards the courtyard, pulling Rainbow Dash with her. “We still have to stop that reset swarm! Come on, Dashie!”

Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth together and breathed in between them, making a hissing sound. “Ouch…” she muttered, glancing back at Mulcibar one last time before she turned her attention back to the swarm in the sky.

I can’t help but feel sorry for the guy, but… that’s points for me, right? Rainbow Dash thought, but felt a sudden coldness in her heart. Why does it feel so awful, then?

“So, what do we do now?” Pinkie Pie asked, staring up at the sky. The crack across it had become very long and was getting wider by the minute.

Vitra pushed herself up from the ground and shook her head. “The reset swarm is ripping the dream apart. More and more of those mindless drones are warping in every second. There’re too many to stop by fighting.”

“Then we have to find a way to stop them from entering,” Luna said, turning to Rainbow Dash. “Can you sense where they are coming in from?”

Rainbow shrugged. “No, I don’t think so anyway. That big crack in the sky is the problem, right?”

“Well, they’re making it, anyway.”

Rainbow nodded. “I think I can feel it. It’s like a tingling in my mind. It’s starting to get a little annoying,” she said, and then reached a hoof towards the sky. “Let’s just…” She swung her hoof vertically, roughly along the crack in her field of vision. The crack in the sky zipped closed, and then a second later there seemed to be thousands of tiny, blue stars lighting up in the sky.

“Maybe that wasn’t the best idea,” Vitra said, crouching down towards the ground. “Those little blue dots are all their eyes now staring down at you.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “Okay. Let’s take care of that, then!” she shouted, and then blasted off into the sky, flying at breakneck speeds up towards the cloud of changelings.

“Rainbow Dash, wait!” Luna called out. “We need a better plan than just—“

She stopped speaking, her jaw remaining gaped open, as flashes of rainbow-colored light began to explode all across the sky, several blue dots vanishing with each. Before long, the sky looked like the grand finale at a Canterlot fireworks display. Within a minute, the only lights left in the sky were the actual stars, and Rainbow Dash slammed back down into the courtyard a second later.

“There! They’re all gone, now.”

Luna cleared her throat and looked over at Vitra. “It was that simple?”

Vitra shrugged. “I guess? The reset swarm wasn’t a spell I was involved in at all, so—“

“No, it’s not over,” Mulcibar said, having rejoined the group. “You can already see more appearing up there.”

“And the pain in my head,” Rainbow Dash added. “It’s getting worse.”

Luna closed her eyes and concentrated. “Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, can you feel the widespread disturbance?” she asked, her expression souring. “It is precisely as I had feared. Your dream is large and fast. It was naïve to think the reset swarm was only coming in right here. They’re everywhere.”

Meanwhile, in Avenport…

Gerulf gazed up at the sky and wrapped his wings around Frida, who turned her worried eyes to him.

“What’s happening up there?”

Gerulf shook his head and pulled her closer. “This is it, me love. This is the end. One way or another, we ain’t got long.”

“Have they… have they failed?” Frida asked, her body shaking with both fear and excitement.

“No way t’know, I reckon. Not til it’s all over.”

A streak of prismatic light suddenly zipped across the sky from west to east, almost too fast to follow, leaving a trail of light in its path. Gerulf raised a claw and pointed towards the residual rainbow magic hanging in the air and began to laugh.

“Yes! There she is!” he shouted, turning to fully embrace Frida. “She’s alive! She’s fightin’ back!”

Frida squeezed her husband close and smiled, feeling somewhat relieved, despite the giant crack still expanding in the stratosphere.

Moments earlier, back in Equestria…

“What do you mean ‘they’re everywhere’?” Rainbow Dash asked, waving a hoof in the air.

“I mean they’re everywhere, all around this world. Here, Avenport, the Everfree, Canterlot, Cloudsdale… changelings are swarming in. To defeat them, we’d practically have to be everywhere at once!”

“Even with lucidity, that seems like an impossible task,” Pinkie Pie responded, downtrodden. “The other Pinkies don’t know what to do, either.”

“Be everywhere,” Dash said, thinking aloud. “What if I was just almost everywhere at once?”

“Almost everywhere at once?” Fluttershy asked, tilting her head. “What do you mean?”

“What if I got going so fast that I was just passing by everywhere literally every few seconds?”

Everyone present did a double take all at once. Pinkie Pie broke the silence. “C… can you do that? Can you really go that fast?”

“I don’t know!” Rainbow Dash said with a shrug. “But I can find out! Those changelings dissolve to nothing the moment I touch them and want them to disappear. Maybe I can outrun them! Maybe I can beat them faster than they can warp in until there aren’t any left!”

“That sounds a little far-fetched even for a dream,” Luna said, but then smiled. “That doesn’t mean you can’t do it. Give it a try! I will concentrate on your body as you speed through the dream world, hopefully giving you an even bigger speed boost.”

“Me, too!” Pinkie said, leaping into the air.

Rainbow Dash leapt into the air and took to flight, immediately creating a sonic rainboom, and then a second, before flying so far away she wasn’t able to be seen anymore.

Fluttershy stared into the sky silently. Please come back in one piece, she thought.

A second later, there was a flash of light. Twilight appeared via teleportation with Linnai and an unconscious Duval. She turned to look at Morosa and grinned. “Looks like we handled these two. I couldn’t hear you, but I saw Rainbow Dash take off a second ago. I take it you have a plan for the reset swarm?”

Luna and Pinkie both shrugged their shoulders, their eyes closed in concentration. “Not really,” they both said, deadpan.

Just then, a flash of rainbow color streaked through the sky. Rainbow Dash came and went quickly, leaving in her wake a trail of explosions, reset swarm changelings being dissolved by her very touch.

“Well, it looks like a better plan than I could think up, I guess,” Linnai said, still feeling weak from their battle. “We can trust her, right?”

Twilight nodded her head and Fluttershy turned to look at Linnai.

“You can always trust her,” Fluttershy said with a smile. “She’s always been the hero who came to my rescue… to everypony’s rescue.”

Back a ways from the group, Mulcibar stood over Morosa’s body, staring up into the sky as Fluttershy spoke. He rubbed a hoof against his sore jaw and frowned. And I’m the one who fooled you into thinking I was dead… You’re doing a real great job at this hero thing, Mulcibar. Just great.

In the sky above the planet, traveling at speeds previously unknown to ponykind…

Rainbow Dash could barely keep track of the ground as it shot past her. She could hear nothing but the wind in her ears, she could barely see anything ahead of her, but the things she felt were unmistakable.

It’s almost as if I can sense where they’re appearing in my mind! she thought, twisting to the left and intercepting a large pocket of changelings, smashing them to dust. I know where they’re going to appear before they even appear! Is that from the lucidity, or… or is it something else?

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings furiously. She could feel the pressure building behind her from Pinkie and Luna’s lucidity, pushing her to greater and greater speeds. She could feel the hair on her coat shearing off from the wind, and she could feel her body getting hotter and hotter from the friction of the air.

This might be it! she thought. This might be top speed! The fastest I can travel without, like, lighting on fire!

As if it were in response to her thought, her left shoulder burst into flames. Ah! No! No! she thought. I can’t actually light on fire! I can go way faster and never light on fire!

In response to that thought, the fire went out and she burst forward, going even faster. Mind over matter! Hey, there’s more changelings!

She steered to meet the changelings. As she approached them, she seemed to lose speed. She flailed her forelegs in front of her face, but they seemed to go in slow motion. The changelings before her seemed to slow down as well. The sky began to melt, like wet paint sliding down a wall. Tiny threads appeared before her, glowing white amongst a sea of darkness.

Rainbow Dash blinked as she appeared to come to stop. Time itself felt as if it had frozen. She stared at the threads and reached out to touch one. What is this?

Luna’s voice crackled in her ear. That is the very fabric of your dream, Rainbow Dash. I can sense it! These threads are what the reset swarm must target in order to destroy your dream.

Rainbow Dash blinked her eyes. Right there in front of her, she saw a changeling appear. It seemed to bubble out from the threads themselves. Wait, they want to destroy these dream threads? But that’s where they’re coming from?

What!? Luna’s voice shouted in Dash’s head in shock. That is impossible! Anything that comes from the dream threads is created by the dreamer! If the changelings are being made from dream threads…

Rainbow Dash gasped. “I’m making the stupid changelings?”

The sound of Pinkie Pie gasping rang out in Dash’s mind. That’s it, Dashie! The magic of the reset swarm! The spell! It doesn’t create changelings, it makes the dreamer create changelings! It’s a form of mind control magic!

Of course! Luna responded. To create a massive army would take immense magical power, but to make the dreamer simply have a nightmare of such a thing would be, well, not trivial, but much easier! Such cunning and yet sloppy magic!

Start making sense! What do I do? Rainbow Dash thought at the others. I don’t know how long this time slowdown effect I’m experiencing will last!

With that thought, Rainbow blasted through the sky once more, zipping around the world several times per second now. “What do I do!?” she screamed.

Listen closely, Rainbow. The magic for the reset swarm spell is hiding just outside your dream world. It is just outside of your subconscious. Such a trap… I never would have even thought of it.

“Thought of what?” Rainbow shouted as she spun around the planet at speeds that were definitely no longer possible in reality.

If the spell is active just outside your subconscious, then to stop it, you… any dreamer, no matter how powerful their lucidity, would have to wake up.

Rainbow growled. “So this is it, then? It’s impossible? If they win, I wake up, and to win I have to wake up anyway? That’s cheating!”

Indeed, they are not playing fair. Unfortunately, not playing fair is wise in a war.

Luna opened her eyes and looked over at Pinkie Pie, who was still concentrating on Rainbow Dash. She lowered her head and shook it despondently.

Fluttershy stared up at her, her ears falling back against her head. “Princess, what’s wrong?”

“We’ve lost. I do not think there is a way to stop this.”

“Oh no! There has to be something!” Fluttershy cried.

“I’m afraid not,” Luna said, floating down to the ground and landing beside Pinkie Pie. She placed a hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Pinkie Pie.”

“Me, too!” Pinkie replied with a grin. “I thought for sure you’d have the same idea that Dashie and I just had! Not to mention the rest of the Pinkies!”

Princess Luna blinked and tilted her head. “Idea? What idea is that?”

“Well, we’ve been leaving dreams this whole time! Well, you all have. I mean, are you inside your own dream right now?”

“No,” Luna said with a bit of hesitation.

“Right! So, how can that happen?”

Luna’s eyes went wide, lighting up as a smile crossed her lips. “The changeling spell that keeps dreams going permanently!”

“Exactly!” Pinkie squeed. “The changelings made this clever reset swarm spell so it would be out of reach, but they also made a spell that made dreams hold on even when the dreamer leaves. Dashie doesn’t have to wake up, she just has to leave! Go just outside her subconscious and give that magic the boot!”

“How will she use her lucidity outside of her subconscious, though?” Fluttershy asked.

Luna grinned. “I do it all the time, and Pinkie here is a part of Rainbow Dash in a way, so all I have to do is channel my lucidity through Pinkie! Simple!”

“Then let’s do this!” Dash’s voice echoed across the entire nation of Equestria. A rainbow sprouted from the ground in the distance, flying up into the sky and then shattering through it like a rock bursting through glass.

Rainbow Dash swung upward as hard as she could, bursting through the hole in the dream world. Outside, she found herself surrounded by strange, glowing strands. Jolts of electricity shot through them in all directions, accompanied by a warm, pink glow.

Where am I?

Inside your mind. Look around, Rainbow Dash. Find the out of place magical energy. It will be near your subconscious.

Rainbow Dash looked down at where she’d come from. A tiny, shining ball of energy hovered beneath her. That must be my dream world. Sure looks tiny! She squinted her eyes and took off towards the dream world, circling around it, this time from the outside. As she made her way to the other side, she spotted something that was completely out of place. Two shining, blue eyes stared at her through the slightly glowing pink void. I think I found it.

Then get ready! Luna’s voice called out to her. My lucidity should be channeling to you… now!

A bolt of purple energy fired up from the dream world, striking Dash and filling her with its power. She could feel it coursing through every inch of her body as she stared down the changeling-like eyes.

“Get out,” she said calmly. “I don’t want you here.”

A ball of pulsating magic appeared around the eyes, along with a mouth directly underneath them. The ball of magic hissed at Dash.

How’s it going up there, Dashie? Pinkie’s voice came through in Dash’s mind. This are getting a little scary down here! There’s a lot of changelings warping in all at once up in the sky.

Dash closed her eyes and concentrated on the magic blob. Get out! Get out! Dang it, how does this work?

Oh, just punch it, already! Pinkie’s voice shouted in Dash’s mind.

Dash shrugged and flew right at the undulating magical face. She swung her hoof forward, smashing it right between the eyes. The purple magic that that had been coursing through Dash’s body and fired from her hoof at once, and much to Dash’s surprise, the ball of magic exploded, letting out one last screech.

That… Dash thought, almost laughing. Actually worked! Thanks, Pinkie!

Pinkie bounced in place back in the dream world. “Yeah! She punched it right in the face!”

Fluttershy and Luna looked at each other and then shrugged. Up in the sky, the changelings had vanished, no trace of them ever having been there remained. However, the crack that Rainbow Dash had made in the sky had also mended itself.

“So, is she coming back?” Fluttershy asked nervously, staring up into the sky.

“Way ahead of you,” Dash’s voice came from behind her. Fluttershy turned and threw her forelegs around Dash’s neck, hugging her tightly.

“You did it!” Fluttershy shouted joyously.

Twilight rushed in and joined the group hug, quickly followed by Pinkie Pie and Daring Do. “Great job, Rainbow! It seems like it was a lot simpler than expected.”

“Oh, you have no idea!” Pinkie said with a squeak. “The other Pinkies and I were paying close attention when it happened. Your Pinkie, Pinkie Twi, thinks she can come up with a way to blast the reset swarm magic without leaving the dream! All that’s required is, of course, a Pinkie.”

Twilight giggled. “Of course.”

“I hate to interrupt the celebration,” Gilda’s voice came from across the way, weak and ragged sounding, “but what about those two?” She pointed a finger at Duval, who was lying on the ground beside her, unconscious.

The group rounded up Duval and Morosa, keeping their hooves tied, setting them on a bench in the garden area.

Twilight sighed and shook her head. “Well, I suppose we could do like we’d planned to do with Linnai and Mulcibar. Keep them captive.”

Linnai coughed. “Not a good idea. Kill ‘em and send ‘em back to the queen!”

“Wait, they aren’t fighting back anymore, now. We can’t just kill them,” Fluttershy protested.

“Oh, yes we can,” Gilda responded, lifting up her pistol and sliding a bullet into the revolver. She pulled back the hammer and pointed the gun right at Duval’s head.

“Cool it, G!” Rainbow Dash shouted, pushing the gun down with her hoof. “I’m with Fluttershy on this one. Killing them like this just feels wrong!”

Linnai groaned. “It’s not like they actually die! You ponies are so concerned with your petty morals, I swear!”

“Now, now!” Luna spoke up, waving a hoof through the air as she stepped in the middle of the argument. “There is no need to kill anypony. Rainbow Dash shall reject them from her dream. They will awaken on the other side no worse for wear.” Her horn began to glow with sparkling white magic and she aimed her horn at Duval. With a quick zap, he was encased in a translucent, gray sphere.

Linnai groaned. “Fine. I guess we already knocked him unconscious. It’d be no fun if he got killed in his sleep.”

Morosa managed to chuckle. Mulcibar looked down at him and grinned. “You seem to be taking this rather well.”

Morosa shrugged quietly as the Princess cast the spell on him as well.

Luna nodded to Rainbow Dash. “Just concentrate, now. Think of these two changelings, picture them in your mind, and then picture them vanishing. They will do just that. Concentrate.”

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then began to make a slight humming sound, just like she had before warping in the hotel.

“Azu… Mulcibar,” Morosa finally said, looking up at his former ally. “I’ll get even stronger. I won’t resort to cheap tricks. When this is all over, I want a rematch.”

Mulcibar grinned, stamped one hoof against the ground and raised his other front hoof up, pointing at Morosa. “You got it, but don’t get upset when I kick your sorry ass.”

Morosa laughed briefly, but then disappeared along with Duval. Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and let out a sigh.

“There. It’s over.”

In response to those words, everyone present seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and finally relax, some of them falling to the ground.

“So, where to now?” Pinkie asked with a grin. “One of the other Pinkies has been telling me about this great idea she has on how to use the Pinkie network to actually contact the real Pinkie Pie. It could certainly shave some time off your quest!”

Linnai yawned and shook her head. “Where to? Bed, if you ask me,” she said, and then stood up and hobbled over to her brother. “Come on, help me over to the room, will you?” she asked, smiling up at him.

Mulcibar pulled his head back nervously. “Okay, but stop grinning like that, you’re creeping me out.”

“Oh shut up!” She jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow and then began to hobble off towards their room. Mulcibar followed after her, glancing over his shoulder briefly at Fluttershy.

Fluttershy looked at him for a moment, but then trained her eyes to the ground. The vision of her hoof slamming into his face flashed in her mind. She shook her head and frowned.

Vitra picked up Applejack’s hat from the ground and dusted it off. Placing the hat on her head, she made her way to the opposite side of the courtyard from where Linnai had headed. “I think I’ll take the less occupied side of the arrangement, here,” she said. Before anypony could say much to her, she had opened a room door, went inside, and closed it behind her.

“I still don’t trust her, even if she’s here to supposedly study the fact that changelings are feeling love,” Twilight said, eyeing the door Vitra had gone through suspiciously.

Luna nodded. “She seems like a practical one. It would be best to keep an eye on her. Who knows what she’ll do once she feels her mission has been completed satisfactorily.”

“Feeling love,” Fluttershy said quietly.

Twilight turned to the yellow pegasus. “Hmm?”

“She said Mulcibar and Linnai were feeling love, and that she had been as well. I thought Mulcibar was the only one that was affected by Luna’s shard of love, though.”

“Correct. That is highly suspect. Twilight, you’ve been around Linnai more than the rest of us,” Luna started.

Twilight nodded her head and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, unfortunately.”

“Has she seemed different?”

Twilight placed a hoof against her chin. “Well, ever since Nightmare Moon attacked me in your dream world, she has seemed to be changing. Almost like her personality is softening. I almost…”

“Almost what?” Fluttershy asked.

“I almost think she’s acting out of friendship. It really seems like it. Love,” she said, pausing briefly. “Maybe it really is love.”

“That wouldn’t explain how, though, which is what Vitra is after. If we can ascertain the cause before Vitra, we could keep that information from her as best as we can in order to prolong her more predictable behavior.”

Rainbow Dash suddenly spoke up, her head turning this way and that. “Hey, speaking of friends, any of you seen Gilda or Daring? They were here just a minute ago.”

“Is that them in the pool?” Twilight asked, pointing a hoof towards the pool. Daring Do waved. “I guess they aren’t quite ready to sleep yet.”

Dash nodded her head. “Me either. I noticed Gilda looked kind of banged up. I wanted to go check on her.”

Luna smiled. “You do that. I shall make some rounds of the place and then find a room to sleep in.”

Twilight’s face lit up. “Hey, princess. You could stay with us!”

Luna shook her head. “No, thank you, Twilight. I much prefer my… solitude, as it were. No offense intended.”

Twilight nodded. “None taken.”

Luna took off into the sky, and Fluttershy and Twilight waved to her as she went. Out of the corner of her eye, Fluttershy spotted Mulcibar flying through the air as well, heading towards the balcony on the far roof.

Fluttershy took one of Twilight’s hooves in hers. “You go ahead of me, Twilight. I need to check on something, okay?”

Twilight nodded. “Okay. Be sure to collect Rainbow Dash on your way to the room.”

Fluttershy nodded and then took off into the sky, heading to the rooftop balcony.

Rainbow Dash arrived poolside and squatted down at the water’s edge. “You can calm down, ladies. The party can officially start now that I’m here.”

Gilda scoffed. “Not really a party, Dash. More like, I’m floating in the water and soothing my burns. Those changelings really play rough!” she said, raising a wing and presenting her singed feathers.

Dash gasped. “Oh wow, I hadn’t really gotten a good look at you. Wow, what happened?”

“Don’t wanna talk about it. Let’s just say fire and feathers don’t mix.”

Dash touched the surface of the water with her hoof. “I… bet I could use my lucidity to heal you.”

Gilda shrugged, keeping her cool. “That’d be pretty rad, I guess. You don’t have to, though. These sort of wounds? They’re nothing.”

Dash laughed and then concentrated on Gilda. The griffon’s body began to glow with a prismatic aura.

Daring Do, who was lying on a reclining chair poolside, pointed her hoof towards the roof. “That’s not really the important bit, though, is it?”

Gilda sighed as the magic washed over her, her feathers regrowing and her burns dissolving. “No, it’s not.”

Dash looked back and forth between the two of them nervously. “What’s the important part, then?”

Gilda swung her claw over the water’s surface, splashing water up onto Rainbow Dash’s face. “Fluttershy, that’s what. She’s still fawning over that changeling, ya know.”

Dash smirked. “Yeah, sure, after what he pulled during his fight with that other changeling? She totally decked him.”

Daring sighed. “Guess that explains why she just flew up to the rooftop after him.”

“Yet you came here to check on us, first.”

“What? I couldn’t just—“

“Dash!” Gilda said, splashing her with water again. “Think about yourself instead of others once in awhile!”

“I do! Trust me, I do. Just… not when my friends are hurt, you know?”

“Alright, bird-brain, and now I’m fine. Now get up there before the obvious scene happens.”

“The obvious scene?” Dash asked, turning her head up toward the roof.

Gilda sighed. “Yeah. Like ‘Oh Mulcibar, I’m so sorry for bitch slapping you.’ ‘Oh, that’s okay. Come here and give me a big smoochie.’ ‘Yay, my favorite!’” she said, badly impersonating their voices and waving her claws in the air like puppets. “Like that, bozo.”

Dash inhaled through her teeth. “You know, it would be like her to apologize. She’s not one to just… slap somepony.”

“So, what are you waiting for! Go intervene somehow!”

“They’re totally making out by now,” Gilda said with a sigh.

Dash leapt into the air. “Thanks, you two. I better go!”

Gilda and Daring both shrugged, then Gilda resumed floating in the water and Daring went back to reclining.

“You really think she’s too late?” Daring asked.

“Yep,” Gilda replied flatly.

Moments earlier...

Fluttershy flew up over the courtyard and scanned the area. She turned and looked at the balcony on the roof that overlooked the lake in the distance and spotted somepony. She knew it was just who she’d been looking for.

Mulcibar, Fluttershy thought, and then gently landed as quietly as she could a bit behind him. The image of her hoof slapping against his face flashed in her mind, the anger she had felt back then refreshing itself. She reflected on that moment, so full of both feelings of guilt and satisfaction at the same time.

I was so upset. I just lashed out. It was his fault, though. She tried to harden her heart, but found it more difficult than she’d expected. Why am I standing here, then?

She noticed him glance back at her briefly. He seemed to sink down lower against the railing. In the brief moment where she had seen his face, he looked sad, despondent. She knew he was feeling his own guilt, as well.

Fluttershy took a breath and began to walk towards him. I should at least apologize. She came up alongside him and leaned against the railing as well, staring down at the lake in the distance, at the moon’s reflection upon its surface.

“So, how’s your face?” Fluttershy asked, and then sunk down. Great way to start this off, Fluttershy, just great… she thought. To her surprise, Mulcibar laughed.

“Still a little sore, but I’ll live. I suppose I got what I deserved.”

Fluttershy turned her eyes back to the lake. “Sorry I hit you. I don’t usually do things like that. It just… happened.”

After several minutes of silence, Mulcibar finally spoke. “I never really appreciated this sort of beauty, before. The way the moonlight shimmers on the lake's surface, the sound of the breeze blowing. Just, everything. Funny how it all looks different now. Love… changes everything, I guess.”

Fluttershy nodded her head. “Yes,” she said, her tone slightly annoyed. “It makes you worry, too. Like, if you saw somepony you cared about lying dead on the ground…”

Mulcibar sighed. “I’m sorry about that. Look, I had to do that. I had to make the illusion completely convincing so Morosa would let his guard down and not notice that I was actually binding his hooves that entire time.”

"Oh yes, you had to. Just like you had to kiss Vitra, right?" Fluttershy said and then turned her head away from the lake and looked up at Mulcibar’s face. “You could have let us know you were okay, somehow!” she nearly shouted, her brow furrowed and her ears turned back slightly.

Mulcibar turned his head and looked down at Fluttershy. “I had to act quickly! It’s not like I knew he was going to do something like that!” he shouted back. “Look, I’m sorry! Okay? We’re fine, now!”

Fluttershy sighed. “At least promise me you’ll never do something like that again!”

“But, what if I have to again?”

“Then think of some other way!”

“Alright, fine. I’m sorry, seriously. I won’t do it again, I promise,” Mulcibar finally conceded, letting out a heavy breath afterwards.

Fluttershy felt his breath on her cheek. It was only then that she realized how close their faces were to each other. She blinked and blushed slightly. “Ah, well… okay. Good.”

Mulcibar noticed Fluttershy’s cheeks turning rosy and came to the same realization. He stared into her eyes, unable to look away, enchanted by their beauty.

Unseen by the two of them, Rainbow Dash swooped down towards them. There they are! she thought, and then noticed that they were both just standing there staring into each other’s eyes. Wait, are they—

Fluttershy turned her head away slightly, averting her eyes. “Um, so…” she started, not sure what to say.

Mulcibar reached up, gently pressing a hoof to her cheek and bringing her gaze back to his. “You know how I feel about you, right?”

Fluttershy nodded her head, her cheeks now burning bright red. Mulcibar pressed forward, planting his lips against hers. He wrapped his foreleg around the back of her head, and she reached up and did the same with him.

Rainbow Dash stared at the display, slowly losing altitude and dropping back down into the courtyard, her eyes wide and shaking. Her mind was a jumbled mess. She caught herself dipping down and quickly shot back up into the sky, flying away from the courtyard and landing on a far rooftop.

I should be happy for them, right? I should be happy for… her. Right? She slammed her right hoof against a brick chimney, laying a small crack into its side.

“Ow!” she squeaked, and then hugged her hoof against her body. She fell back against the chimney, sliding down to a sitting position and staring up into the sky. “Come on, Rainbow Dash. Get it together. This is fine.” The edges of her field of vision began to blur as her eyes slowly filled with moisture.

Her mind drifted back to when Fluttershy had first awakened in the dream world. I sort of had a crush— Fluttershy’s voice echoed in her mind.

“No!” Rainbow Dash said, wiping a foreleg across her eyes. “I won’t give up this easy! I’ll show Fluttershy that I’m the one for her! But… how? It seems so hopeless…”

“Perhaps you should work on your attitude,” a voice came from the other side of the Chimney. Dash turned to look and saw Princess Luna stepping out from a shadow. “I don’t think she is beyond your reach, but if you intend to punch walls, that shy one will surely shy away.”

“I know. Trust me, I know. I know her better than anypony else. I love her.”

Luna smiled. “Then show her. She holds the element of kindness, but do not let her kindness fool you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I mean in the end she will have to decide, and decide she will. It will be difficult for her, but she will choose with her heart, and in turn somepony's heart will be broken. Her kindness is radiant, so much so that her love of her friends and her romantic love may be very similar. Despite that, though, she will make a choice. In her position, would you choose you?”

Rainbow stared at her hoof, which was still stinging from punching the bricks. “Maybe. No. I don’t know.”

Luna giggled. “Of course you don’t know, because you’re not her. You’re you, so just be yourself. That is your true advantage.”

Rainbow Dash stood up and nodded confidently. “You’re right, Princess! Fluttershy and I go way back! We know each other better than anypony else. That has to count for something!”

“Indeed, I believe your shared past carries much weight, but you can’t base a relationship on just that.”

“Right… Hey, maybe you could help me!” Rainbow Dash said, turning and grabbing one of Luna’s hooves in hers.

Luna blinked. “No, uh… that is, I don’t think that’s really—“

“Oh come on, at least give me some good advice! You’ve been around for a long time! I bet you’ve had all sorts of coltfriends! Or marefriends, I mean, if that’s your…” She trailed off at the end, averting her eyes suddenly.

Luna nearly choked on a laugh. “Oh, heavens no. Actually, we are… er… I am, that is, still inexperienced in that field. I have witnessed many relationships, though, in dreams.”

Dash perked up. “Hey, ever been in one of Fluttershy’s dreams? Does she ever dream about me?”

Luna blushed slightly. “I am not at liberty to share such information, Rainbow Dash!”

“Oh, come on! Please?”

Luna cleared her throat. “If I tell you about her dreams, then I must go tell her about your dreams, if you know what I mean. It would only be fair.”

Dash’s face lit up like a crimson firecracker. “N- Nevermind,” she quickly sputtered, turning to gaze down into the courtyard. She spotted Gilda, who was floating on her back in the swimming pool. She remembered what Gilda had said earlier about not letting Fluttershy get taken away. “I won’t give up. I’ll be myself, but I won’t just sit idly by and let Mulcibar take her.”

Luna smiled. “That is best. And remember, less brick punching, okay?”

Dash nodded. “Right, that hurts, anyway.” She turned back to Luna and tapped her on the shoulder. “Thanks, Princess. For everything.”

“Well, we are inside your dream, and it is merely my royal duty to help my subjects in their dreams. Usually they don’t actively remember my being there, though, so consider yourself quite privileged.”

“Right!” Dash said, and then stepped towards the edge of the roof. “I think I’m going to go cool my head a bit. I think Gilda’s got the right idea.”

Dash leapt from the rooftop and dove down toward the pool. Luna smiled and leaned against the chimney. “Best of luck, my little pony.”

Moments earlier, on the rooftop balcony…

Fluttershy’s eyes instinctively closed as she found herself wrapped up in a long, deep kiss with Mulcibar. She felt her heart beating, her face becoming even warmer, and her legs nearly shaking. When she had kissed him before, she’d felt weakened partially because he’d been feeding off her love energy, but this time it was all her. The experience was exhilarating, dizzying. She once again felt like she didn’t want to stop, but she knew she had to. She knew she couldn’t keep going on like this.

Fluttershy pulled her lips away from his slowly and gently, taking in a deep breath and then sighing outward, allowing her head to droop down slightly as she drearily reopened her eyes.

“That was…” Fluttershy started, trying to gather her words. “Look, maybe we should… I think it would be best if we take things a little more slowly.”

Mulcibar tilted his head slightly. “More slowly? What do you mean?”

“I mean the kissing, and…”

Mulcibar took one step back so he could more properly look at her. “Do you not like it?”

“No!” Fluttershy blurted out suddenly, and then quietly continued. “I mean yes, I do like it. I mean, it’s not like that. Oh, I’m so confused. I’m new to this, too, you know.”

“Well, what then?”

“I like you, Mulcibar. You’re a really sweet guy. When I’m with you, I feel safe, and cared for. I really do like you.”

Mulcibar smiled brightly. “I like you, too!”

“No, Mulcibar,” Fluttershy said, looking up directly into his eyes. “You love me.”

“Well,” Mulcibar said nervously, swallowing. “Yeah, I do.”

Fluttershy gently placed a hoof against Mulcibar’s chest. She breathed in deeply, her body slightly shaking. “But I don’t love you.”

Mulcibar took another step back, causing Fluttershy’s hoof to slide back down to the ground. He turned his gaze downward and frowned. “So this is it, then. This is the end.”

Fluttershy stamped her hoof against the floorboards. “No, darn it! I didn’t say that!”

“Well, what then?” Mulcibar asked, looking back up at her. “It’s obvious! You love Rainbow Dash!”

“Look, Rainbow Dash is my best friend. I’ve always liked her, I just never thought she would—“

“So that really is it, isn’t it? You love her and not me!”

“Hey!” Fluttershy shouted, stamping her hooves against the ground as she marched up to Mulcibar. She reached out, put a hoof against his chin, and pulled his head up to look at her. “Don’t put words in my mouth! This isn’t easy, you know! Listen, you’ve been feeling love for just a few days now. I’ve been feeling it my whole life, and I just… I need time to think about everything.”

The voice of Luna’s shard of love, speaking through Sweetie Belle, flashed in Fluttershy’s mind.

You have time to think about these things, but I want to make sure you understand. Be there for him. Help him to finish what I have started within him. How you do this is up to the two of you.

Fluttershy gently bit her lower lip in thought and hesitation. I still don’t know what to do. Is this right? Should I really do this? It could break his heart, or worse, he could maybe never love again.

She looked up into his eyes, spying the tears forming at their edges, but also something else, something deep within his eyes, his spirit. His determination. No, she thought. I have to do this. I can’t lie to him and pretend I love him when I don’t even know yet. He deserves to know how I feel, and he will be able to handle it.

Fluttershy took a deep breath. “When you woke up to love, my heart was already set about you. I wanted to be your friend. Maybe more than that, sure, but that’s not something a mare can just decide in a flash.”

“But I knew it from the moment love warmed my heart. From the moment I looked at you, thought about you, I wanted to be with you… and unlike any other mare, I wanted you to want to be with me. More than anything else.”

“That’s not a bad thing. Look, I grew up with love, I have no idea how you must be feeling. I want to help you, but I just don’t think we’re at the point where we should be… getting all smoochy so much… you know what I mean?”

Mulcibar paused for a moment to think and then blankly shook his head.

Fluttershy sighed and placed a hoof against her forehead. “Of course. Right. So, all this means is that we’re still friends. Just like before. Just like I’m friends with Twilight, with Pinkie, and with Rainbow Dash.”

“You kiss your friends, too?”

Fluttershy blushed, briefly remembering her moment of half-awakening when she had kissed Rainbow Dash. “No. No, I don’t, and we shouldn’t, either. At least not until we’re both more certain of what we’re feeling. Trust me, being friends is wonderful!”

Mulcibar shrugged slightly, but managed to smile. “I’m pretty sure of what I’m feeling, but I guess you’re right. If I look at the facts, there has to be at least a slight chance that I am just overreacting to my new emotions. I mean, I doubt it, but there’s a chance.”

The two of them laughed together for a moment. Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief. “Good.”

Mulcibar went back to a more uncertain expression. “Soooo… how will I know when the time is right? How will I know if you feel the same?”

“Those are… very good questions. I don’t think anypony knows for sure,” Fluttershy responded, rubbing a hoof against the floor in a circular motion.

Mulcibar raised his head and let out a frustrated groan, turning in a half-circle. “Bah! Emotions are so confusing!”

Fluttershy giggled. “They really are.”

Mulcibar looked over his shoulder at Fluttershy and grinned. “I won’t give up hope, you know.”

Fluttershy nodded her head timidly. “I know.”

“That’s it! I’ve decided!” Mulcibar announced, turning back around to face the yellow pegasus. “Maybe Linnai has the right idea!”

Fluttershy backed away a couple of steps nervously. “Um, I’m not so sure about—“

“Someday soon, you will kiss me! Because you want to! That will be our next kiss!”

Fluttershy felt her face getting hotter and suddenly had butterflies in her stomach. She stepped forward again, lowering her eyelids and smirking. “Oh? You sound pretty sure of yourself,” she mused, having a rare moment where she felt a bit bolder than usual.

Mulcibar rubbed a hoof against his chest and scoffed. “Of course! You’re going to want me, bad!”

Fluttershy rolled her eyes. “Well then, you’ll have to earn it.”

“Right!” Mulcibar sounded off triumphantly. “So! How do I do that?”

Fluttershy walked past Mulcibar, patting him on the shoulder as she passed. “Okay, now we’re just going in circles. We should both get some rest,” she said, and then stopped in her tracks. “Oh shoot, I never moved the beds!”

Mulcibar blinked. “Moved the beds?”

Fluttershy turned back around. “I wanted it to be a surprise for Twilight and Rainbow Dash. There’s two beds in our room, and I wanted to push them together, maybe drape something over them, make it really cozy like a sleepover. You know, for our reunion with Rainbow Dash.”

Mulcibar smiled and shook his head. He stared down at Fluttershy’s smiling face and felt almost awestruck. She seemed to glow for him, to shimmer radiantly. You really are something else, aren’t you? he thought.

“Well, It’s too late now. I’m tired, anyway,” she said, brushing her hair to the side. “I should get going. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Fluttershy turned and spread her wings, preparing to fly away.

Mulcibar reached a hoof out. “W… wait! I could help you, maybe,” he sputtered. “Put the beds together, I mean.”

Fluttershy blushed, letting her bangs fall back over her face, not wanting to turn around and show her rosy cheeks to him. “Oh… okay. Sure. That is, if you want to…”

“What happened to your brave voice?”

“Oh, don’t tease!” Fluttershy replied, keeping her face forward. “I can only keep that up for so long.”

Mulcibar chuckled. “Okay, fine.”

Rainbow Dash dove straight down towards the pool, folding her body into a ball just before hitting the water’s surface at high speed. The resulting wave pushed Gilda to the other side of the pool and drenched Daring, who was still lying reclined on a poolside chair.

Daring gasped for breath and coughed. “What in Tartarus was that?” As soon as she could, she glared in the direction of the pool, expecting to see Gilda with a big grin on her face. Instead, she saw Rainbow Dash now floating on her back on the water’s surface, staring up into the sky.

Gilda waded towards the floating pegasus. “Dash. You’re back. How did things go?”

Rainbow Dash groaned. “Oh, you know, it was like ‘Come here and give me a big smoochie!’ and ‘Yay, my favorite!’”

Gilda blinked. “So wait, you went up there, kissed her, and then came back here?”

Dash swung her forelegs up and down, splashing water out to her sides. “No, doofus, I mean I got up there and Mulcibar was inspecting her tonsils already.”

Gilda grimaced. “Yeesh, talk about bad timing.”

“Tell me about it.” She sighed and dunked her head back under the water briefly. “I’m not giving up, though. No way! I’ve got something Mulcibar can’t compete with, and that’s history,” she said, her mouth and nose the only parts of her face now above water.

“History?” Daring asked from poolside, her eyes drifting off in another direction.

Dash swung back up from under the water. “That’s right! I know Fluttershy way better than he does, and she knows me way better than him. I just have to really show her I’m interested, and I bet she’ll choose me over him.”

“Or maybe the history will be more like ‘You’re history’, because Mulcibar and Fluttershy just went into a room together,” Daring noted, pointing her hoof across the way.

Dash spun around in the water, catching sight of the hotel room’s door closing. “What? No! Are they seriously…”

“You gonna wait around here thinking about it, or are you gonna go play interference?” Gilda asked, placing a claw on Dash’s shoulder. “That’s the room you’re staying in with Fluttershy and Twilight, right? It wouldn’t be unusual for you to just walk right in or knock.”

Rainbow Dash rubbed her front hooves together and blushed. “But, what if they really are… you know… doing it in there? I don’t think I want to see that, and I know Fluttershy would be really embarrassed.”

Daring waved a hoof in the air. “There you go, thinking too much again. They’ve been in there for twenty seconds, Dash. I somehow doubt it could get all that heated so quickly if Fluttershy’s involved.”

Dash nodded her head. “True, true.” After another couple of seconds, she jumped up out of the water and shook herself off. “That’s it! I’m going! No matter what happens, I’m going!” Dash leapt into the air and flew as fast as she could over to the room.

Daring leaned back in her chair. “Seriously, though, you think she’s too late?”

Gilda cocked an eyebrow. “Maybe?”

Daring sighed. “She’s pretty hopeless on her own, huh?”

Gilda laughed. “Yep, but she’ll figure it out.”

Twilight made her way down the boardwalk past a pair of rooms until she came to a door that was slightly ajar. She nodded her head and tapped a hoof against it just above the door handle, pushing it open. She entered and looked around at the lavish interior. The front room was a living room with a couch, sitting cushions, and a table. A hallway in the room’s back right beckoned to her with light. She casually walked back into the hallway, her hooves clacking slightly against the wooden floor.

“Fluttershy? Rainbow?” she called out.

“Twilight?” a voice came that sounded as though its owner had been crying. Still, she recognized it as Linnai’s voice and paused in the hallway.

“Twilight, is that you?” the voice came again, along with a sniffle.

Twilight sighed and poked her head around the corner. Within the large back bedroom were two queen-sized beds, one toward the back and one against the left hand wall. Linnai was lying upon the latter, leaning against the wall. She rubbed a hoof against her face and smiled.

“Sorry, I thought this was the room I was staying in. I can go if you need some time a—“

“No! No, that’s okay,” Linnai said, turning her eyes to the ceiling. “I don’t mind if you see me like this. As a matter of fact, it’s really got me thinking… about a lot of stuff.”

Twilight hesitated to actually enter the room. She didn’t know what to say. She’d never seen Linnai like this, and it hurt a little more than she’d expected.

Linnai repositioned herself on the bed. “If you don’t mind,” she said, hesitating as well. “Could we talk?” She patted the empty space on the bed across from her and nodded for Twilight to enter.

“What about?” she asked, nervously entering the room and half expecting to be hit on again.

“I guess… about what’s been happening to me since I got here. Maybe a little before that, too. I didn’t want to bring it up before, and Mulcibar wasn’t much help when I asked him.”

What could she be talking about? Twilight though, and then nervously stepped into the room and sat down on the bed next to Linnai. “Okay, I’m listening. What’s this all about?”

“Well, I’m not sure, but I guess it’s about… love.”

I knew it! Twilight thought and quickly jumped up from the bed. Linnai snapped her hoof out and latched onto Twilight’s foreleg.

“Wait! I don’t mean it like that. Calm down. Please.”

Twilight slowly sat back down and nodded her head.

Linnai continued. “Look, ever since I jumped in front of that blast to save you, probably a little before that, something inside of me has been changing. I can’t seem to pin it down; I don’t know what to do with myself. I’m starting to act like my brother, and it’s really sort of… disturbing.”

Twilight blinked. “But your brother was possessed by Luna’s shard of love. Nothing like that happened to you, right?”

Linnai shook her head. “No, and that’s the part that’s got me so weirded out. I know it must seem strange to you for somepony to be worried about feeling like this, but for me, it’s just not natural. I’ve never had these warm, fuzzy emotions swirling around inside of me, why would I change now?”

“I don’t know, Linnai, but is it really such a bad thing?” Twilight asked, turning to look at Linnai, who was still staring down at the bed, a look of worry stricken across her face.

“Of course it’s bad! I’m a changeling! I’m not supposed to be eating food and making friends and… and feeling worried about others! It’s all so irrational!”

“Right, I suppose it is, but it’s—“

Linnai lifted her head and stared into Twilight’s eyes. “When I got here and I was all alone for a few days, all I could think about was you and Mulcibar! That first night, I tossed and turned because I couldn’t stop thinking about you in particular.”

Twilight smiled and reached a hoof out, placing it on Linnai’s shoulder. “You missed us, that’s all. And now we’re here. Look, we don’t know how this has happened, but it’s not a bad thing. I promise. If it’s any consolation, I am flattered that you would be thinking of me in a… non-weird way.”

Linnai blinked and a tear fell from one of her eyes. “I even started to think… I even started to think about turning against you again. I was so mad at all the things I was feeling, so scared of waking up and finding Chrysalis there, ready to take my head off! I was ready! I was ready to tell Mulcibar that it was over! That I was going to continue the plan, finish you all off!”

Twilight stared with intensity into Linnai’s eyes and shook her head. “But, you didn’t.”

“But I did. I brought it up, and of course he said no. And I was glad, because… because when I first saw him again… When I saw you warp in, and I knew it was really you…” Linnai said and then threw herself at Twilight, pulling her into a hug. “I couldn’t! I couldn’t even think about it!”

Twilight turned her head and stared at the wall, returning the hug and patting Linnai’s head gently, not able to think of anything further to say.

“And then, up on the roof, when that creep was going to steal your magic… I knew deep down inside that I couldn’t let him! Not because I wanted to win, not because I was scared for myself! I was scared for… you! Why?” Linnai asked, her voice wavering. “I can’t stand it! I can’t stand feeling this way! I hate you! I hate you…”

Twilight breathed in deeply and continued to hold Linnai in her forelegs. “You don’t mean that, and you know it.”

Linnai managed to chuckle slightly. “I know,” she said, pulling herself away from Twilight and wiping her eyes. “This is so pathetic. I’m such a mess.”

Twilight smiled at her. “You’re not used to this. I can only imagine what it must be like to have never felt these emotions and then suddenly feeling their full force. Even those of us who’ve had them all our lives have trouble with them sometimes, trust me.”

“How do you handle it?”

“Like you just did now. Sometimes you need a friend to let your feelings out to.”

“Sorry I said I hate you. I don’t hate you. You know that, right?”

Twilight smirked and rolled her eyes. “How could I forget? Even after risking your life to save mine, you managed to try and flirt.”

“That was pretty cool, wasn’t it?” Linnai asked, batting her eyelashes.

Twilight sighed and leaned her head against the wall. “Yes, I suppose it was sort of cool,” she said, and then closed her eyes. “We’re both tired, too. We’ve been through a lot just now.”

“At least now we’ll have some time to relax,” Linnai replied and then moved her face closer to Twilight’s. “You know, you could just stay here tonight.”

Twilight’s eyes shot open at the feeling of Linnai’s breath against her muzzle. She pulled her head back slightly and cocked one eyebrow. “I don’t think I’m ready to go that far.”

Linnai cracked a toothy smile. “So you’re saying maybe you’ll be ready someday, hmm?”

“That is… definitely not what I am saying. Anyway, who would keep Fluttershy company?”

Linnai continued her slow advance. “I’m sure she wants to catch up with Rainbow Dash some more.”

Twilight pulled back further, leaning her whole body back. “Yes, and I would like to, as well, so—“

“You’re saying everything but ‘I don’t want to,’ prudicorn,” Linnai whispered, her nose practically touching Twilight’s. “Don’t worry, I won’t do anything unless you want me to.”

“Look, I just—“ Twilight started, but then was interrupted by a loud banging noise from the next room over. The noise was shortly followed by a quiet ‘Ow!’ Linnai and Twilight both froze and their ears that were closer to the wall twitched and turned toward it.

“Are you alright?” a deep voice said from the other side of the wall a moment later.

“What’s going on over there, I wonder,” Twilight said, scooting away from Linnai by a few inches.

“Shh! That’s my brother and Fluttershy. You don’t think they’re…”

Twilight snorted. “What? I seriously doubt it.”

Linnai’s horn lit up and cast a sound amplification spell on the wall. Twilight rolled her eyes.

“Here, let me just…” Mulcibar’s voice said, followed by two more softer banging sounds. Fluttershy could be heard letting out a tiny squeaking noise afterward.

Twilight turned her eyes back to Linnai and shook her head again. “No, it has to be something else—“

“Move your leg a bit this way,” Mulcibar could be heard saying.

“Okay, just… be careful,” Fluttershy responded.

“Don’t worry, you know I don’t want to hurt you.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide and her jaw dropped. Meanwhile, Linnai was pressing her ear up against the wall as hard as she could, her giant toothy grin having taken over her previous saddened expression.

“Oh my gosh, I think they are,” Twilight said with shock.

“They totally are!” Linnai said, barely above a whisper.

“Push back a bit,” Mulcibar’s voice said.

Fluttershy could be heard letting out a couple more squeaking sounds, followed by heavy breathing. “It’s in there… so tight!” she said between breaths.

Twilight pulled her head away from the wall. “Well, I’m not listening to any more of that!” she said, and then reached a hoof out to Linnai, pushing her away from the wall, as well. “Come on, isn’t it a little creepy to listen to your brother… getting it on?”

Linnai placed a hoof to her chin and looked up at the ceiling, humming in thought for a moment.

“The answer is yes,” Twilight said, turning to get up off the bed.

“We could always cover up their noises with our own,” Linnai suggested.

“That’s okay, I think I’ll—“ Twilight started, but was interrupted by rhythmic banging against the wall coming from the other room. She groaned loudly with frustration and stood up. “I think I’ll go find Rainbow Dash and make sure she doesn’t, uh, walk in on anything.”

“What in the world are you two doing?” Rainbow Dash’s voice suddenly came from the other side of the wall. Twilight slapped a hoof against her face.

“Too late, I guess…”

“Rainbow Dash! Good timing. Come over here and give us a hoof,” Mulcibar said.

“Sure thing!” Rainbow could be heard replying.

Linnai’s eyes lit up and she pressed her head against the wall again. “No way…!”

Twilight practically fell over onto the bed again. She stared up at the ceiling, her face now flush red. “You have got to be kidding me,” she said.

“Okay, Rainbow, can you maybe slide your leg over here and push?” Fluttershy asked.

“Okay, I see where you’re going with this,” Rainbow responded. “Mulcibar, I’ll get above Fluttershy here, and you grab from behind.”

“Just what I was thinking,” Mulcibar said. “Hey, you’re soaking wet.”

“Not my fault,” Rainbow Dash responded. “Blame that on Gilda.”

‘Blame that on Gilda?’ Twilight shook her head in disbelief. This is not happening!

The rhythmic banging started up again. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy could both be heard grunting in time with the banging, and Mulcibar could be heard exhaling noisily each time. Twilight somehow found herself pressed up against the wall again, her face completely red, listening in and staring at Linnai, who was blushing just as heavily, still grinning as widely as she could. “Unbelievable. I had no idea those two were so… promiscuous,” Twilight said.

“Oh come on, prudicorn, everypony needs to let off a little steam sometimes. It’s healthy!”

Between loud grunting, Fluttershy could be heard crying out. “Close! So close! Just a bit more!”

“Yes! I can feel it!” Rainbow Dash called out afterwards.

“Hang on, you two. Here it comes!” Mulcibar said.

“Oh yeah, here it comes, prudicorn,” Linnai said, licking her lips.

“This is still totally creepy. I can’t believe we’re doing this!” Twilight said. She turned her eyes upward, not wanting to even look at Linnai, who was clearly enjoying herself. “You know what, I’m not doing this!”

Linnai breathed in deeply. “I can smell your hormones, Twilight. Drop the act,” she said.

Twilight breathed in and closed her eyes, then stifled a gasp. No! What in the world am I thinking? Stop it, Twilight! she thought as the sound of all three occupants of the next room over crying out together came through the wall. There was a final loud bang, no matter how much Twilight didn’t want to hear it. She grimaced and felt an electric-like jolt go through her. The sound of a piece of furniture loudly scooting against the floor was now coming from the next room over.

“Wait a sec, is that—“ Twilight started, but couldn’t continue. Her mouth was bombarded by Linnai’s lips. The changeling forcefully pushed her way in, and Twilight gasped in response.

Come on, Twilight! I know you’re feeling it! This is it! This is the moment! Linnai thought as she breathed in the thick love essence that Twilight was pulsing out from her body. Don’t resist! This is going to be so good!

Twilight’s eyes went wide again, and she lifted her hooves to push Linnai away, but instead found them wrapping around the back of her head. She felt a strange sensation, like every emotion she’d ever felt swirling around inside of her. Before her mind could even react to what was happening, she found herself returning the kiss as Linnai pushed her back and pressed her body against her.

I’ve wanted you so badly, Twilight! Ever since I saw you! Ever since I heard stories about you, the magical genius! It was destiny! Linnai thought. She could feel her body getting hotter and hotter and then opened her eyes. She gazed into Twilight’s eyes and could see only fear and confusion shining in their depths. A weight suddenly slammed against Linnai’s heart and she shook her head.

No!

Linnai pulled her lips away from Twilight and pushed her hooves against her chest.

This isn’t right! Not like this!

She pulled away from Twilight, but the purple unicorn sat up as well, pressing forward, her lips parted, her body unleashing love energy and begging for more.

“Twilight, stop this,” Linnai said, raising her hooves and fending off Twilight’s advances. “This isn’t you. This is what happens when we feed.”

Twilight breathed heavily, staring into the changeling’s eyes. “Linnai… I want you… I want you so bad, and I don’t know why! I don’t care why! Take me, right now!”

“Please, not like this,” Linnai said, scooting away further. “You don’t want me. Stop and think!”

Twilight leaned against her front hooves on the bed, still panting and sweating. “But… I do… I did!” she said, her voice becoming less sultry and more confused. “What… What did you do to me?”

Linnai relaxed and slouched forward. “I didn’t do anything. It’s what happens when we changelings feed on love magic. I felt you letting some off, and I just… I just took it in.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“The ones we feed on, it affects them. It makes them want to give more and more. It’s not exactly mind control, you’re still in control of your actions, it just makes you feel your love so powerfully that it’s hard to resist. In this type of situation, and given that I… kissed you… I guess you got a little carried away.”

“Carried away?” Twilight asked incredulously.

“I am so, so, so sorry. I really am. I never should have kissed you. I should have thought about what would happen if I fed…” Linnai started, but then buried her face in the bed’s surface. “No, that’s a lie. I did think about it. I wanted you to want me. I still do, but… not like that.”

Twilight licked her lips, the taste of Linnai still fresh and strong upon them. She breathed in, trying to clear her mind. “I don’t know how things are with changelings, but—“ Twilight started, and then heard Fluttershy speaking in the other room.

“Thanks for the help. My leg was in there really tight. I don’t know how long I would have been stuck if you two hadn’t been here.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Mulcibar said. “It was a decent workout. Sheesh, that bed frame seems awfully heavy. What’s it even made of?”

“Why were you trying to move the furniture, anyway, Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked. “Also, why didn’t you just use your magic to move it?”

“I was afraid I’d hurt her. Had to be extra careful. Hey, you could have used your lucidity, right?”

“Oh, right. That.”

“I’m still mad at you, but…” Twilight said, holding back a giggle. “You just got all worked up from ponies moving furniture.”

Linnai sighed. “Whatever, I’ll add it to the list.”

Twilight rolled over and stood up from the bed, her legs shaking a bit. “Linnai, just promise me, seriously…” she said, trying to stand straight. “Promise me you won’t do that again.”

Linnai lifted her head and saw Twilight staring back at her, a serious expression across her face. Linnai’s cheeks were wet with tears, which she wiped away with a foreleg. “Never again,” she said. “I promise.”

Twilight hobbled her way towards the hallway. She had barely taken one step into the corridor when Linnai’s voice came from behind her.

“Twilight.”

Twilight turned her head and looked back at the changeling. “Hmm?”

“I love you.”

Twilight froze. She felt her jaw trembling. She breathed in deeply and turned away from Linnai again.

“Bad timing,” she said, and then quickly made her way to the door. The sound of it opening and closing echoed off the walls, and Linnai fell back down against the mattress. She buried her face in her pillow and slammed her hoof ineffectually against the mattress.

Outside, Twilight fell to her haunches on the other side of the door and looked up at the starry sky above the courtyard.

I love you, Linnai’s voice rang out in her head over and over. She gritted her teeth and stamped a hoof against the ground.

I know you do, you stupid, confused thing! Twilight thought. A tear dropped from her eye and fell to the floor. That’s what makes this even worse.

Ponyville, Reality, Present

A shadowy figure dashed through a yard and leapt over a short hedgerow. The pony made a hasty beeline towards a section of woods at the edge of town. The pony’s hooves splashed up mud and water as the intense rainstorm continued to hammer the area. Once in the woods, the pony pressed up against a tree and stared toward the town.

The pony breathed heavily for a moment and then sighed, her body relaxing slightly. Her soaked silver mane hung down over her face. She dimly lit up her horn and glanced back into the woods. “What did Trixie do to deserve this?” she asked herself. “First this freakish, unplanned storm, and now a couple of copycats. There is only one Great and Powerful Trixie!” She shook her hoof as she said the last bit and then hunched down, sighing again.

The End of Book Five: Crash Down

To Be Continued in Intermezzo 4 & Book Six: Pinked

Intermezzo 4

The Conquering of Love

Chapter 51: Intermezzo 4

Ponyville, Reality, Midnight

Trixie slumped down on the ground, letting her back fall against the tree trunk she was beside. She mentally took inventory of her situation. Mane, ruined. Hooves, filthy. Coat, soaked. Hat, lost. Situation? Completely messed up! Who were those ponies? Were they ponies? She lifted a hoof up in front of her face and stared down at it, remembering how mangled the creatures’ hooves looked, and then noticed something new about her own. Correction! Hooves, chipped! This night just keeps getting better...

She turned and proceeded to make her way through the forest. “Great idea, Trixie. Come back to Ponyville while Twilight Sparkle and her friends are away in Canterlot. Seems like Trixie wasn’t the only one who had that idea!” she said, suddenly stepping into a deep mudhole and falling forward, her face planting itself firmly into the ground. She flailed her front hooves angrily for a moment and then went limp. She spat a few times, but it was of little use, her snout was completely covered in mud. “What in Equestria was with those two, anyway?”

She picked herself back up and made her way to the other side of the patch of woods, finding a dirt road. In the distance, she could see a grass-roofed hut with a bridge and a stream out front. Trixie raced down the road, skidding to a stop beside the stream. She took a moment to splash water onto her face and bangs, cleaning them of the mud and leaves. Behind the hut, she could see the edge of the Everfree Forest.

“Lovely, this might as well be a dead-end. There’s no way I’m going into the Everfree at night!” she said. She crossed the bridge and slowly made her way to the hut, peeking inside the window to the right of the door. “Nopony’s home. Surely they won’t mind if Trixie comes in from the rain… and the freaky shapeshifters.” Trixie put her hoof on the door handle and turned it, grinning when she found it was unlocked. She pushed the door open and then heard a voice coming from her right side.

“Do not continue through that door, and track mud onto Fluttershy’s floor.”

Trixie turned her head and saw a strange, striped creature staring back at her. “So it’s one of Twilight Sparkle’s friends’ homes. Great. Trixie can’t escape them even when they’re gone.”

“What is your intent, stranger? Speak quickly, or there may be danger.”

Trixie stamped her hoof. “Are you threatening Trixie? And must you speak in rhymes?”

“I do prefer to rhyme, but nay, I am just used to speaking this way,” the striped one replied. “So you are Trixie, or so you say. What brings you back out Ponyville way? Last I’d heard, you’d fled this town. We did not think you’d be back around.”

Trixie shut Fluttershy’s door and sighed. “So, you’re a zebra, right? Trixie is not so ignorant that she hasn’t read about your kind, but this is awfully far away from home. What brings you here?”

Zecora let out a slightly annoyed sound. “My home is wherever I choose to be, and these days, that is the Everfree. You presume to know many a thing, but ignorance is what you sling.”

“Sling? Really? Can you please cut out the bad rhyming, it’s starting to get on my nerves,” Trixie said, stomping down the path away from Fluttershy’s hut and over to Zecora. “If we have a conversation like this, it’s going to take all night! Trixie will catch her death of cold! Or maybe she’ll just die of old age.”

Zecora grinned. “I will cut my rhyming dry, if you refer to yourself just using ‘I’.”

Trixie grimaced, hesitating for a moment. “Tri… I don’t see why that’s such a big deal.”

“I don’t see why my rhyming is such a ‘big deal’,” Zecora responded in a snap. “Now, back to my question, what business do you have with Fluttershy? If she were here, she’d surely—“

“Cry?” said Trixie with a grin. “I thought you were going to stop.”

Zecora nervously tapped her hoof. “Sorry, it is quite a habit.”

“Trixie understands. Anyway, I’ll tell you everything you want to know, but can we please get out of this rain?”

“Very well. We shall journey into town and take shelter in—“

“No! Bad idea, trust me. We can’t go into town. It’s not safe.”

Zecora narrowed her eyes. “Then the auras I felt were not just my imagination. Follow me,” Zecora said, rushing up the path to Fluttershy’s hut and opening the door.

Trixie tilted her head. “I thought you said we shouldn’t go in there.”

Zecora shook her head. “No, I said that you should not. I am here to check on Fluttershy’s animals while she is away. I hereby invite you inside, but please do wipe your hooves.”

Trixie and Zecora, after a thorough hoof-wiping, stepped into Fluttershy’s hut and were immediately greeted by a very stressed-out Angel Bunny. Zecora laughed and patted the tiny bunny on his head. “Calm yourself, my little friend, and your problems I shall mend. I apologize for coming so late, I had hoped the storm would soon abate,” she said, and glanced at Trixie who was sighing and shaking her head. “Uh, yes… I shall make short work of refilling food and water here, and then we shall talk about what you saw in town.”

“I will just have a seat over here, then,” Trixie said, adding a bit of emphasis to the ‘I’ as she sat down on Fluttershy’s couch.

“Hold! One moment, if you please!” Zecora shouted, scurrying into the next room and then tossing a towel to Trixie. “Do mind your moisture, if you would. Lay down a towel first if you—“ she said, and then stopped herself. She cleared her throat and continued, “if you don’t mind.”

Trixie laughed, ran the towel over herself one time, and then laid it down on the couch before taking a seat. Wait, I just dried myself and then put the wet towel on the… Oh, nevermind. I’m too exhausted to care.

After a couple of minutes, Zecora joined Trixie with a pot of hot tea. She sat down on the opposite end of the couch, setting the tea tray down on the table. “Here, warm yourself with this, and tell me what has happened in town.”

Trixie stared down at the floor. “It’s really quite shameful, but it all started when I came into town earlier this evening. I had heard of the wedding in Canterlot, and I knew Twilight Sparkle and her friends would be out of town. You said you already knew about what happened the last time I was here.”

“Indeed. It is not every day that an ursa minor wanders into town.”

“That wasn’t my fault, though!”

“It is true, those two foals were to blame, but you boasted that the beast you could… uh, defeat.”

“Right, and I couldn’t. I was humiliated! Run out of town! All because Twilight Sparkle had to show me up!”

Zecora raised an eyebrow. “Twilight Sparkle did what she had to do. She saved the town,” she said, and then took a sip of her tea. “She saved your life.”

Trixie gritted her teeth. “I know that! I know that better than anypony! That’s the worst part about it! After that, word spread fast about what had happened. Every town I went to, I was treated like a clown rather than a magician! All my tricks and amazing magic was just laughed at because everypony knew I was just second fiddle to Twilight Sparkle! So, I began to study! Not magic, though, no, I studied her.”

“You seem to have developed an obsession. Not healthy, not at all.”

“You don’t get to judge Trixie. Know your enemy, they always say, and I had decided that Twilight Sparkle was my enemy. I learned everything I could. I went to Canterlot and read about her days at Celestia’s school. Indeed, it is no wonder I was bested! She had been hoof-picked by the princess! It was almost like she was grooming an heir! Not to mention her rich upbringing. Favoritism, I say! Even now, her brother, who happens to be captain of the royal guard, is marrying a princess! Marrying a princess!”

Zecora sat her teacup down and breathed in deeply. “It is a good thing to vent to others. I will listen to all of your grievances in time, if you would have me do so, but we need to return to the matter at hoof. We need to get back to what happened in town tonight.”

Trixie took a moment to calm down. She levitated her cup of tea to her lips and had a sip. “Ah, that’s good tea. Sorry. Trixie… I mean I, didn’t mean to vent on you like that. I just don’t have anyone I can talk to, and it just came out.”

“Quite alright, Trixie my dear. Now, please, do continue.”

“Right. Okay. So I arrived in town with my cart in haul. I won’t go into the reasons too deeply. I could end up ranting again. Anyway, I came to town, and I was going to set up a show in the town square. With Twilight and her friends gone, there would be no one to rival my magical skills, and maybe I would be able to woo the crowd and get some support back. I set up my stage, and a few ponies had gathered, but then the mayor came and told me to get out of town!”

Zecora nodded. “I suppose it is somewhat understandable considering what had happened the last time you were here, but that sounds a bit extreme.”

“Exactly! But that’s not all. When I protested, the mayor looked behind me at my stage, and her eyes seemed to lit up with this strange green color. In a flash, my whole stage was on fire!”

“That sounds like some sort of magic, but the mayor is an earth pony. Her eyes flashed green, you say?”

“Precisely, but that’s not the only strange thing. This is where it starts to get scary. This pink pony with a flower cutie mark--”

“Miss Cheerilee, the school teacher.”

“Whatever, she popped out from nowhere and attacked me!”

Zecora’s eyes went wide. “Attacked you, you say? But Cheerilee is one of the most gentle ponies I know!”

“It wasn’t her, though. It just looked like her. I defended myself, surely justified at this point, and shot out a light blast of magic. She shrugged it off like it was nothing and just came at me again, so I charged up my horn and really let her have it!”

“My word! What happened then?”

“Well, Trixie may be one to boast, but her, I mean my, magic power is not weak by any means. When I say I let her have it, I mean the blast I gave her should have knocked her unconscious at least!”

“I take it that didn’t happen.”

“That’s right. What happened next, I… I almost don’t want to recall it. It was like a nightmare,” Trixie said, her eyes becoming wide. She nervously took another sip of her tea before continuing. “It was like that Cheerilee pony and the mayor, along with every other pony that had gathered from the commotion, they just… they just ignited! Bright, green flames lit up Ponyville’s town square, and before I knew it, they had changed!”

“Changed? Into what?”

“I… I don’t know! They were all black with blue, jagged wings and sharp horns! Their legs had these holes in them, and they had eyes like terrible, big… bugs!”

Zecora shakily picked up her own teacup, her mind racing with possible explanations for the story.

“Except those two, the mayor and the teacher, they were different. They had these bright, shining gemstones socketed into their horns. Their features were more like a pony than an insect, and their wings were bigger and pulsing with magic. I knew I was in trouble!”

“How did you escape?”

“I panicked. At first, I couldn’t move. They were closing in on me, but then suddenly, I remembered a spell I had read about, a teleportation spell. It was advanced magic, and I had never tried it before, but I gave it my all and then, bang! I found myself halfway across the town. I ran, hiding in the shadows. I could hear them looking for me. I dared not use any more magic. I eventually got out of the main town and wandered my way to this hut.”

“Your tale troubles me so. These creatures could take the form of the mayor, Miss Cheerilee, and other ponies. One must wonder, where is the real mayor, or the real Miss Cheerilee?”

“I don’t know, but they seem to be able to take the form of anypony they want to. When I heard them looking around for me, I peeked around a corner and saw one of them, but it had changed again to look like me! Imagine it! Someone actually impersonating The Great and Powerful Trixie! I’d be flattered if I weren’t so infuriated!”

Zecora sat her teacup down on the table and took a deep breath. “Something must be done. If these shapeshifters can look like anypony they want, then we must assume everypony we meet from here on out is one of them. With Twilight Sparkle and the others out of town, the job of protecting it falls to you and I.”

“Wait just a second!” Trixie protested, nearly slamming her teacup down. “I didn’t sign up for some Ponyville defense mission!”

Zecora frowned and stood up. “Very well, you leave me no choice, then. I shall venture into Ponyville on my own. I am an expert at hiding in shadows and not being seen.”

Trixie’s jaw gaped open. “No, you can’t! It’s too dangerous!” she shouted, and then turned her head away from Zecora. “And besides, that would leave Trixie all alone here! You can’t just leave me.”

Zecora sighed. “I can, and I must, but before I go, we must come up with a way to identify one another in case we meet again. As I said, these creatures can look like anypony, even you and I, so we must come up with a distinguishing feature to use. Something that lets us know we’re us and not them.”

Trixie nodded her head. “Right, like a mark on our legs or a piece of cloth wrapped around one of them. My, you’ve really thought this through, even in this short period of time.”

“Precisely,” Zecora said as she got up and walked over to a closet at the edge of the room. “Surely Fluttershy must have something we can use. It needs to be something less obvious than a cloth wrap, though, if they can mimic as well as you say.”

“Good thinking. That one who impersonated me was even wearing my cloak, so they can even impersonate clothing.”

Zecora rummaged through the closet a bit longer, then finally turned away from it. “Here, I believe this will do nicely,” she said, producing two tufts of pink hair.

Trixie blinked. “What are those?”

Zecora chuckled slightly. “Tail extensions, but we’ll use them differently. Weave this into the underside of your tail. If we see somepony who looks like us, we will recite a code phrase. In response, the other should swish their tail, flashing the pink at the other.”

Trixie coughed. “Could we not use the term ‘flashing the pink’?”

Zecora tilted her head for a moment, and then her eyes widened with realization. “Indeed, perhaps we should not. You understand, though, yes?”

Trixie nodded. “Right, so what’s the code phrase?”

Zecora placed a hoof against her chin briefly. “The code phrase is ‘Some weather we’re having.’ A phrase that will not be suspicious in the current weather conditions, I would think.”

“Right, and if we say it and they don’t swish their tail and show off these… tail wigs, we run.”

“Precisely so, although I intend to try and blend.”

“If you can keep your rhyming under control,” Trixie said with a smirk.

After attaching the pink hair to the undersides of their tails, Zecora headed straight for the front door. Trixie held out a hoof to her. “So, wait, you’re just leaving? Right now? Wouldn’t it be safer to wait until morning?”

Zecora shook her head. “Indeed, it would, but I must not. Every minute spent waiting is a minute somepony else could fall victim to these creatures.” She opened the door and took a couple of steps outside into the rain, then turned back to look at Trixie. “Stay indoors, ‘Great and Powerful’ Trixie. We wouldn’t want you getting wet, again.”

With that, Zecora shut the door and took off into the night. Trixie rushed to Fluttershy’s front window and glared out at Zecora as she galloped down the muddy road away from the cottage. “She dares to mock the Great and Powerful Trixie!” she shouted. A flash of lightning and the sound of thunder crashed down just as she finished saying her name. She ducked down below the windowsill and shivered. “T-T-Trixie isn’t scared of this storm! Trixie fears no shapeshifting creatures!”

Trixie leaned up against the front door and felt her body tensing up. “It’s not like Trixie is afraid of staying here by herself, either! I’ll show that Zebra that she shouldn’t underestimate Trixie!” She kicked open the door and burst out into the rainy night, quickly skidding to a stop and running back to close the door. Once it was shut, she ran across the bridge and down the muddy road after Zecora. “Hey! Wait for Trixie! I mean, me!”

Just a bit earlier, in Canterlot…

Morosa and Duval filed into the throne room of Canterlot Castle, along with many other changelings, ranging from drones to generals. Chrysalis looked down upon them all and smiled. She glanced at Morosa and Duval and pouted her lips, kissing the air and then blowing towards them.

“Good of you all to volunteer for this. As I’m sure you’ve guessed, something has gone rather wrong within the dream web. You will all be going in at once to get control of the situation. We’re activating the reset swarm spell.”

Morosa sighed and shook his head. He turned to Duval and whispered. “I wonder if this has anything to do with Mulcibar and—“

“Precisely, Morosa!” Chrysalis shouted from the throne. “Precisely. I’ll not sugar-coat this. Mulcibar and Linnai are traitors. I want them brought back here alive. Morosa, Duval, you two know them well, so you will be sent into the dream where they’ve currently taken shelter. I’m sure you can manage.”

Chrysalis stood up from the throne and stepped down from the raised platform it sat on. She walked out among the troops and lit her horn up with magic. A second later, one of the cocoons up above began to glow. Within the cocoon was a blue pegasus pony with a rainbow-colored mane. “That is where you are headed, you two. Remember, do not go easy on them, but do not be too reckless. All you have to do is kill them within the dream world. Any other kills beyond them would just be bonus points,” she said, and then continued to walk, firing small blasts of colored magic from her horn up into the cocoons. “Other than that one, there’s only a few dreams I want you all going into for the time being. I’ve lit them up, please take a look, and feel free to choose randomly. You shouldn’t encounter much resistance, but don’t expect it to be easy, either.”

The cocoons she’d covered in magical glows contained a pink earth pony with a wavy mane, a blond earth pony wearing a hat, a white unicorn with a styled purple mane, and a small purple dragon. “These are the primary targets. The three ponies I’ve highlighted are ones who bear the Elements of Harmony. I want them woken, but not put back to sleep. You see, it’s become personal,” Chrysalis continued, firing a beam of purple magic up at a cocoon containing a purple unicorn. “This one, Twilight Sparkle, has really started to get on my nerves, along with Princess Celestia and their timid little friend, Fluttershy.” She lit up Fluttershy and Celestia’s cocoons, as well. Celestia’s cocoon hung prominently in the room, right above the throne, which Chrysalis began heading back towards.

The queen sat back down upon the throne and aimed her horn out towards other cocoons, speaking and firing magic to highlight them as she spoke.

“Don’t worry about Twilight, Celestia, Fluttershy, or the cocoon that holds three little foals. It is too late to act upon them directly, we’ll just pop the reset swarm into their dreams. Secondary targets are as follows,” she said, firing magic from her horn.

A pod containing a white unicorn with spiked blue hair lit up. “Vinyl Scratch, a known anarchist even within pony society, I’m sure she could be troublesome if awoken in the dream world.”

Next to light up was a pod holding a brown earth pony that sported a collar and tie. “Doctor Hooves. He’s just an earth pony, but I can feel his raw potential. His intellect would translate to powerful dream magic if awoken, and we can’t have it.”

Her magic next illuminated three pods that held three fully uniformed Wonderbolts. “Spitfire, Soarin’, and Fleetfoot. The wonderbolts are trouble enough in reality. If Twilight and Celestia reach any of them, it would be a real setback.”

Duval groaned. “Your majesty, you said they were all in this rainbow pony’s dream right now. We can just stop them all right there. No need for all these contingencies.”

Chrysalis smiled, her eye twitching slightly. “Duval, sweetie, as much as it’s appreciated, did I ask for your input?”

Duval gulped and shifted slightly. “No, ma’am.”

Chrysalis leaned forward and nodded her head. “Then I would greatly appreciate it if you could keep your slime-sucking mouth shut!” She cleared her throat. “Very well, it is noted that you want to get on with it. Let’s move to the main event, then. Feed!”

Chrysalis lit up her horn and began to flutter her wings. A massive, pink cloud of energy began to flow from her body, as well as all the cocoons in the room. The miasma floated down to the ground, surrounding the rows of changelings, and then all opened their mouths and began to pull the love magic into themselves. A group of several changelings that were sitting at one end of the back row found themselves surrounded by a particularly bright cloud of magic. They all took it in and blinked, their eyes shaking momentarily.

The changeling at the very end glanced over and whispered to the one next to him, who nodded in response and then turned to the next changeling, passing the message. The six of them all looked upward at the same time, staring up at the same cocoon.

Chrysalis leaned back against the throne and gestured upward. “Alright, you’re all sated I hope. Now choose one of the pods I pointed out and focus on it. Enter that dreamer’s mind. Your mission is to go in, find the dreamer, and eliminate them.”

Streams of green magic shot down into the crowd of changelings, and their eyes quickly fell shut. Chrysalis stood up from the throne again and made her way down again, this time cornering back to the door that led to the rear chambers, down the stairs to where Cadence was being held. She found Cadence hanging down from the wall, limp and lifeless. She stepped over to the captive alicorn and tapped a hoof gently against her cheek.

“Still alive?” she asked, tapping a bit harder. Cadence’s mouth fell open and blood began to drizzle onto the floor. Chrysalis’ eyes went wide and her face hardened with anger. “No you don’t, bitch!” she screamed, lifting Cadence’s head and prying her mouth open with magic. Inside her mouth, she could see that she’d bit about halfway through her tongue. She was still breathing, but shallowly.

Chrysalis’ horn blazed brightly, lifting Cadence up and slamming her back against the wall. Cadence let out a scream of pain, blood spraying from her mouth. Chrysalis pressed both her hooves against Cadence’s chest and stared into her mouth. She concentrated her magic on Cadence’s tongue, now, slowly mending the flesh with a healing spell, shouting at her all the while.

“You will die when I say that you may die, and no sooner! How dare you try and end your life before that!? You little, sniveling, lowly beast of burden! You belong to me!” Her magic poured into Cadence’s mouth, her tongue nearly healed completely after less than a minute. “I do not put up with anypony damaging my property, do you understand? And make no mistake, you are my property! You will do as you are told, which still entails hanging from this wall and bleeding love magic! Not actual blood!”

With another blast of magic, a bridle with a bit attached appeared in the air next to the two of them. Chrysalis stuffed the bit into Cadence’s mouth and strapped the bridle tightly onto her head. “You made me do this, do you understand? I didn’t want to demean you further, but you leave me no choice!” she shouted, releasing Cadence. The princess fell forward, letting out a pained grunt as the chains snapped tight against her weight again. “Now I have to punish you, too. I’d hoped we were past this, honestly. I’d thought that I’d broken you sufficiently to where you would just hang here like a good little girl until this was all over. Now you’ll suffer far worse, and I don’t mean physically. You clearly don’t care about your own well-being any longer, so allow me to show you just how much worse it can get!”

The tip of Chrysalis’ horn popped with magic briefly, and a small beat of light appeared in the air just above Cadence’s head. Cadence’s ears twitched slightly and her eyes opened a mere sliver. “What is…” she muttered, no strength left in her voice.

“Yes, listen closely,” Chrysalis said with a smile. The tiny bead of magic was emitting sound.

After a second, Cadence realized it was the sound of someone lightly snoring. She sighed. “You’re going to subject me to snoring? For what, to keep me awake? I’m already used to it, Shining Armor snores every… night…” she said, her voice slowing as she finished her sentence. Her eyes turned up to look at Chrysalis, only to see a sadistic, full-toothed grin spread across her face.

“He sure does snore, doesn’t he? Sounds like he’s sleeping pretty peacefully,” Chrysalis said, turning and heading towards a door in the front of the chamber. “Let’s put a stop to that.”

“No! Stop!” Cadence shouted, straining to raise her voice. “Don’t hurt him! Please!”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Chrysalis said as she opened the door. In a flash of green fire, Chrysalis changed, her body taking on the form of Cadence. “I’m just going to go check on him, the sweet thing.” She left the room and slammed the door behind her.

Cadence hung limply again, staring at the floor. What is she going to do to him? she thought, her mind racing. Tears fell from her eyes as the sound of Shining Armor snoring filled the air. After a couple of minutes, she heard a door open from the bead. She heard hoofsteps and then the sound of someone crawling onto a bed.

“Shining, sweetie?” she heard her own voice saying.

Please, no, she prayed desperately. “Don’t hurt him! I’m the one you’re mad at, leave him alone!” she shouted into the chamber, her voice echoing ineffectually off the walls.

The sound of Shining Armor yawning and stretching now came from the beat, followed by his voice. “Hey, pumpkin. Something wrong?” he asked. Cadence couldn’t help but feel like she wanted to smile just from hearing his voice. His adorable, sleepy, ‘I just woke up’ voice. “What time is it?”

“It’s still the middle of the night, but I just had to wake you up and tell you something,” Cadence’s voice came from the magical sound bead.

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” Shining asked, his tone becoming playful.

“Mmmm, you know,” Cadence’s voice responded.

And then, there was silence, or at least that’s what Cadence thought at first. Her ears twitched as she heard the sounds of increasingly heaving breathing, as well as the sound of lips and tongues gently caressing one another. Her eyes clenched shut and she could feel her mind burning.

So this is what she meant! She pushed against her chains and screamed as loudly as she could. “Stop it, you bitch! Get off of him!”

The only response was the sound of shuffling happening on the other side of the sound blip. The slight noise of the bed creaking, and then Cadence’s own voice once again.

“Oh my, you’re so forceful! Go easy on me, sweetie, I—“

Her voice was cut off by the sound of flesh slapping against flesh, and then moaning, breathing, gasping for air. Cadence’s entire body felt like it might erupt, that her spirit might burst from it at any moment. The sounds of pleasure and ecstasy echoed off the chamber walls for a minute, then two, then five. She heard herself calling out Shining’s name, she heard Shining calling to her. She fell back down limply against the chains’ grasp, wailing as tears fell from her eyes just as the sound of the climax of pleasure erupted from the magic bead.

“Thank you, baby. I needed that so badly,” Cadence’s voice said through the tiny rift.

“You were incredible,” Shining responded, his voice distant and drained. “What a night. We should get some sleep, though.”

“Mmmm… yeah. That sounds… nice,” Cadence’s voice replied, sounding tired as well. After a couple more minutes, the sound of heavy breathing, almost snore-like, came from the portal. Cadence was still hanging from her chains, staring lifelessly at the ground, when she heard a slight tapping sound coming from the bead.

“She is asleep, now,” a voice whispered.

Shining Armor could be heard sighing in response. “Yeah, but for how long, though?”

“About the same as last time, I’d think,” the other voice responded, now clearly identifiable as Chrysalis.

Cadence perked up slightly, concentrating on the sound coming through the bead of magic.

There was a sigh and the sound of covers being rolled around on. “I don’t know how much longer I can stand this.” A voice quietly whispered, but Cadence knew it was Shining Armor. “It’s disloyal, despicable… Even if I almost completely lose control when you… she, feeds on me, it feels like part of me is dying inside.”

“Just a bit longer. This will all be over by daybreak if things go as planned.”

“It’s not like I have a choice. She just takes what she wants. You haven’t even explained to me who ‘she’ is.”

“When there is more time, I will tell you everything. I’m so sorry about this, my love.”

“Don’t call me that,” Shining whispered back with annoyance. “Speaking of which, where is Cadence? Is she okay?”

“She’s still fine, and so is your sister. They’re both fighting in their own ways, and you must also fight in yours. I’m sorry your way involves so much, uh… meaningless sex.”

“Whatever.”

Chrysalis could be heard laughing quietly. “There are plenty of stallions out there who would kill for such a posh job on a mission.”

Shining could be heard chuckling back, though his voice was still on edge. “I guess I’d be in that boat, too, if I didn’t feel such pain in my heart for Cadence. She’s the one, you know? Without her, I’d just fall apart.”

“I know,” Chrysalis replied, her voice sounding slightly annoyed now, as well. “Don’t worry; I’ll always make sure Cadence hangs in there. That’s the only reason I can’t just end—“

“Don’t talk like that,” Shining said, cutting her off. “When this is all over, I’ll protect you. That’s the deal. You’re as much a victim as me. She uses your body just like--”

“I must go. She stirs.”

The sound of Shining Armor snoring quickly returned. Cadence was now staring at the ground, her mind racing with thoughts about everything she’d just heard. She recalled something that Chrysalis had said to her before.

Help me… You have to stop her.

She’s waking up again. I can’t stop her alone. Find a way. I don’t know any other way, so...

Kill me.

Cadence blinked and swallowed weakly. She seemed off. Why would she want me to kill her? Why is Shining Armor vowing to protect her, now? Who or what is it that she keeps saying is ‘waking up’?

“Typical stallion,” Cadence’s voice came from the magic bead. “One shot and then he’s out. I hope you were listening well, little princess. Just remember, you’re both my property.”

Cadence shook her head slowly in shock. She really doesn’t know! She really has no idea what she and Shining just talked about! She’s right back to the plan to torture me! Chrysalis… Just what sort of power struggle is going on inside that head of yours?

Cadence felt magic building up in her horn. She concentrated on the words she’d heard Shining say just a moment earlier and gritted her teeth with newfound determination.

She’s the one, you know? Without her, I’d just fall apart.

“I won’t let you fall apart!” Cadence screamed as her crystal-encrusted horn blazed involuntarily, firing off a blast of love magic into the room that filled it completely. As the love magic syphoned away through the portal, Chrysalis returned through the door she’d left from before.

“So, did you enjoy our little performance?”

Cadence growled and bared her teeth at Chrysalis. “It was very enlightening!”

“Good,” Chrysalis said, and then headed for the stairs that led back up to the throne room. “Never forget it, princess.” She left the chamber, slamming the door at the top of the stairs behind her.

“Don’t worry,” Cadence said aloud. “I won’t.”

Princess Luna's Dream, Present

Scootaloo rolled across the floor several times and then stared up at the ceiling. “I’m so bored!”

Apple Bloom glanced over at the orange pegasus. “Aww, you’re just sore because ya couldn’t go along and see Rainbow Dash.”

Scootaloo scrunched her muzzle. “I am not!”

“Ya are, too!”

“Now, now, girls, no need to argue,” Sweetie Belle intervened.

“We weren’t arguing!” the other two said simultaneously. “Stop copying me!”

Scootaloo scooted across the ground towards Pinkie Pie, who was sitting in front of the pink-colored portal. “Pinkie Pie, let’s play a game or something.”

Pinkie Pie turned her head and started chattering what sounded like words, but were too fast to understand. Scootaloo jumped into the air, flapping her wings and floating back away from her.

“What in the world?”

Discord zipped through the air, stopping right above Pinkie Pie. “I didn’t quite catch all of that! Care to repeat it?”

“Oh, they woke up the Pinkie in Rainbow Dash’s dream! We still don’t know what to call her, but… Oh hey, that’s kind of scary.”

Celestia joined them, tilting her head. “What’s kind of scary?” she asked, watching with confusion as Pinkie’s face contorted from expression to expression.

“Uh… Nevermind, not anymore. Oh hey, bonus! We can stop the reset swarm! Get to it, other Pinkies!” she shouted, and then leapt to her feet and shuffled across the room towards the hallway where they’d first entered Luna’s sanctuary. She pointed her horn upward and the ceiling above her dissolved away, revealing the sky. Everyone else went over to her and looked up into the sky. A slight crack in reality could be seen forming above.

“What is that!?” Celestia gasped.

“Reset swarm. Big changeling invasion spell thingy that seems pretty scary, but actually it’s not that scary if you figure it out. Good thing Dashie figured it out!” She fired a big, swirling beam of pink magic into the sky. The fabric of the dream world seemed to shatter around it, then quickly repair itself, until it finally blasted through the sky and left sight. A second later, the small tear in the sky vanished and Pinkie re-formed the sanctuary ceiling. “Now if only she could figure out Fluttershy.”

“What about Fluttershy?” Sweetie Belle asked, still trailing behind Pinkie Pie, along with the others, as she made her way back to the pink portal and sat back down.

Pinkie patted the filly on her head. “Grown-up stuff. I’ll tell you all about it when you get older.”

Sweetie Belle shrunk down. “Grown-up stuff? Oh my gosh, I hope she didn’t get bit!”

“Bit?” Apple Bloom asked, tilting an eyebrow.

Sweetie stared ahead blankly. “The baby will burst out of her belly.”

Scootaloo shook her head and shrugged. “What are you even talking about?”

Pinkie Pie, meanwhile, was busily tinkering with something in front of the portal. Discord landed gently beside her and propped his chin up on his claws. “What have you got going on here?” he asked.

Pinkie shrugged. “I have no idea, you’d have to ask Pinkie Twi. According to what I can comprehend of her thoughts, this should be able to probe into Pinkie’s dream world here, and pop her awake in a jiffy. We won’t even have to go in there looking for her!”

As Pinkie was speaking, a flash came from the other side of the room.

“That sounds pretty convenient,” Twilight’s voice spoke from the direction of the flash.

Everyone in the room turned to look. “Twilight!” they all said at once.

Several more flashes followed as the others who had been in Rainbow Dash’s dream emerged. Mulcibar, Linnai, Fluttershy, and Princess Luna all appeared.

Scootaloo scampered forward, glancing around nervously. “Rainbow Dash? Where’s Rainbow Dash?”

Princess Luna smiled and patted Scootaloo on the head. “Don’t worry, little one, she was just saying goodbye to a couple friends of hers. She’ll be along shortly. Given the speed of that dream world, I’d say very shortly.”

Inside Rainbow Dash’s Dream World…

Rainbow Dash stood in front of a swirling, magical vortex. Pinkie Pie, Daring Do, and Gilda stood before her.

Rainbow smiled and spread her wings. “This isn’t goodbye, it’s just for a little while. Twilight and Princess Luna say that we might need to come back here again sometime. Because this dream world is moving so fast, it’s the perfect place to rest, not to mention that hotel I made is totally sweet.”

Gilda nodded her head. “Right on! We’ll be waiting for you whenever you come back. In the meantime, I think it’s about time I headed back to Avenport and checked up on my aunt and uncle.”

“Tell them I said ‘hi!’, would you?” Rainbow Dash said, and then turned to Daring. “What are you gonna do?”

Daring shrugged. “Well, I’m a changeling, so I guess I could have some fun with that. You know what, though? I think there’s a certain bartender here in this hotel that I need to have another talk with.”

Pinkie Pie laughed. “You go, girl! Meanwhile, I’ll be working with the other Pinkies on stuff! If you ever need to send us a message, look no further than your nearest available Pinkie!”

“Okay, you three. I’m out!” Dash said, and started to turn toward the portal, but was stopped by a wave of Pink magic.

“Oh no you don’t!” Pinkie said, levitating Dash over to her. “You aren’t getting away without a hug! You two, too!”

Gilda and Daring both sighed, but joined in on the group hug. Dash squirmed slightly. “Okay, okay, sheesh! I’ll miss you guys, too.”

Dash finally made her way to the portal and began to step through when she heard Gilda calling to her.

“Yo! Dash!”

Rainbow glanced over her shoulder.

“About Fluttershy,” she said, pausing to think for a moment.

“Hmm?” Dash uttered over her shoulder.

“I hope you get it all figured out. Good luck.”

Rainbow Dash smiled, nodded her head, and stepped through the portal.

Back in Luna’s dream world…

Rainbow Dash appeared in a flash of light. She looked around the sanctuary, her ears falling back against her head. “Nice… place you got here, Princess.”

“Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo shouted, leaping into the air and latching onto Rainbow’s neck.

Dash fell forward slightly, lifting a foreleg to catch the little filly. “Whoa! Hey there, squirt! I’d heard you were here.”

“I am so, so, so, so, so, so, SO,” Scootaloo said, taking a breath in the middle. “SO happy to see you!”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Yeah. Good to see you, too, kid,” she said, setting the filly back down on the ground. “Good to see you all.” Her eyes scanned the room, landing on Discord. “Well, most of you, anyway.”

Discord smirked and rolled through the air. “So, tell us, who’s your new changeling friend?”

Everyone turned to look at Vitra, even Pinkie, who had been previously distracted. She shrugged and went back to what she was doing. “That’s Vitra, she’s creepy and probably evil. She’s also apparently obsessed with Applejack even though they’ve never met. Creepy!”

Vitra gasped and pulled her hat’s brim down over her face. “Little ol’ me? I’m just here to investigate a phenomenon. I’ll help ya’all on your quest if’n ya…”

Linnai smacked the brim of Vitra’s hat and knocked it off her head. “Knock it off, princess,” she said, and then put on her own country accent. “It ain’t right fer a princess ta’ talk like that.”

Vitra stamped her hoof and growled at Linnai. “You’re just no fun at all! Fine, whatever,” she said, and then smiled, turning to the new faces in the group. “Hi there, my name is Vitra. I am the daughter of Queen Chrysalis, heir to the changeling throne, and a member of the Order of Ismara. I am at your service,” she said, and then took a bow. “Oh, and don’t worry, you don’t have to call me princess.”

Everyone stared at her, jaws dropped. Celestia stepped forward. “So, you’re her—“

“Bravo, bravo!” Discord intervened while lightly applauding, having taken his seat next to Pinkie Pie again. His voice dripped with sarcasm. “Great introduction! Were all very impressed! Now, if you don’t mind, I have a few questions about your mommy dearest.”

“Twilight!” Pinkie Pie shouted over Discord at the end of his sentence. “Do you have the gem thingy? I need the gem thingy!” Discord turned his head and looked at the pink pony, a look of insult spread across his face.

Pipe down, Celestia’s voice shot through Discord’s mind. We should be cordial, she might be more willing to talk if we’re nice.

Twilight calmly walked over to Pinkie Pie and sat down beside her, wedging herself between her and Discord. Discord sighed and rested his chin against his claws again. She floated the communications gem up in front of Pinkie and whispered to her. “Here you go. Why do you need, it, though? You’re already awakened.”

Pinkie didn’t respond, but instead started to tinker with the long, arm-like device in front of her. Twilight shrugged.

“Questions about the queen? Hopefully they’re all general questions, she and I aren’t that close,” Vitra responded to Discord.

“Not very close?” asked Celestia. “She’s your mother, so surely you—“

“I think I can solve this little misunderstanding,” Linnai spoke up. “You’re all too pony, no offense. For a changeling, a mother is just the one who brought you into this world and fed you until you could fend for yourself. Sure, she’s the queen’s daughter, but all that means is that she’s got a birthright to the throne and her word carries weight. I guess those concepts aren’t too much different from pony royalty, are they?” She flashed a grin at Princess Celestia, who returned a rather uncomfortable sort of look.

“That’s about the size of it,” Vitra said with a shrug. “It’s true, even Luzon holds a higher position than I do. At least he probably won’t live much longer.”

Linnai scoffed. “She’s also a colossal bitch, but I’m sure you already picked that up.”

“Enough, you two,” Mulcibar intervened. “Regardless of any of that, you might have some information we need. I certainly have a question or two I’d like answered.”

“What about me?” Discord said in a pathetic tone.

Pinkie began to speak loudly to Twilight, despite her earlier whispering. “Basically, this little doohickey here should be able to take the communication gem and push it into the dream world through the portal. We can then use the sound coming from it like echo-location, but with magic.” The gadget in front of her began making loud mechanical sounds.

“What’ll that do?” Twilight asked, cocking an eyebrow.

By this time, everypony else in the room had turned to stare at the back of Pinkie’s head.

The pink pony continued what she was doing, her horn occasionally sparking up with magic at seemingly random moments. “Well, if it works, which we’re 98.33%— repeating, of course—sure that it will, then it’ll zap itself to the real Pinkie and then hopefully awaken her.”

“I’m not so sure we should take a chance with it unless you’re 100% certain,” Twilight said nervously.

Pinkie giggled and placed a hoof on Twilight’s back. “Oh, Twilight! Don’t be silly. Pinkie Twi says that’s less than a 2% margin of error, it’s nothing to worry about. You should know, she’s your Pinkie!”

Twilight sighed. “That’s true, but it still makes me nervous.”

Mulcibar cleared his throat loudly. “As I was saying—“

“I tend to agree,” Princess Luna said, making her way over to Pinkie Pie and looking over her shoulder at the device. “Dreams and lucidity can be frightening when awoken. This isn’t going to be the same as waking up one of you dream Pinkies. This is the real Pinkie, her mind is supporting a whole dream world.”

“A whole dream world that’s getting ravaged by the reset swarm. We’d thought about all that, and if us Pinkies agree on one thing, it’s that we’d take the gem as a breath of hope in a dark situation like that! We’re all based on the real Pinkie, after all. I think it’ll be okay.”

“Yes, that’s all very well and good, but let’s just table that for now,” Mulcibar continued, realizing that he was going to have to speak up and quickly. “Vitra, have you noticed anything strange about the queen’s behavior in the last ten months? Any, let’s say, personality quirks?”

Vitra gazed down at the ground and rubbed her forelegs together slowly. “What do you want me to say? That she’s gone mad? That we’re all blindly following her as she leads us all to our deaths?” She turned her eyes up to Mulcibar, tears starting to form at their corners. “You’d said something similar to me before, Mulci. Do you really think she just wants us all to die?”

Mulcibar took a step back, surprised to see Vitra suddenly having an emotional reaction. “No, I’m not saying that. Not exactly,” he said, and then lifted a hoof up towards Vitra. “You’re thinking about her now, though. Linnai isn’t completely right, is she? It’s been happening to me, too. You look back at the past and see it in a different light.”

“Pinkie Pie, please desist!” Luna said from the other side of the room. Everyone turned their attention back to her and noticed that her horn was lit up and she was glaring down at Pinkie Pie. Twilight was also grabbing ahold of her, restraining her forelegs. The pink portal in front of them was now crackling and flashing brightly.

“Pinkie, we can’t just take a chance like that! You said you weren’t 100% certain, now stop this,” Twilight said. She stared into the fluctuating pink portal. In front of the portal was a metallic stand with an arm attached to the top of it. The arm was extended to the point where it was almost touching the portal’s surface. The pink communication gem was flashing in time with the portal, just centimeters away from it.

Pinkie slumped forward in Twilight’s forelegs. She sighed and lit up her horn. “Fine. I’ll stop it.”

The probe retracted, pulling the gem away from the portal. An arc of magic energy zapped between the gem and the portal with a loud bang. Everyone flinched back from the sound, and Twilight quickly used her magic to grab ahold of the gem and pull it away faster.

Two more bright flashes of magic jumped from the portal at the gem just as Twilight had grabbed it with her front hooves. The gem exploded with magic and an even louder crashing sound, and Twilight was launched backwards by the explosion.

“Twilight!” Pinkie shouted, leaping in her direction. “Are you okay?” Everyone else gasped. Celestia, Luna, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Linnai also leapt to Twilight’s side.

“Prudicorn! Speak to me!” Linnai shouted, grabbing ahold of Twilight’s foreleg, which was blackened slightly from the explosion.

Twilight waved her other front hoof in the air and coughed. “I’m fine. I’m fine. What a crazy backfire!”

Linnai breathed a sigh of relief and pressed her cheek against Twilight’s hoof.

Luna shook her head. “It is good that we stopped you, Pinkie. Imagine if we’d tossed that into the portal, or if it had been in Twilight’s bag when she entered.”

Twilight lifted her head and looked over at Pinkie and blinked as the portal behind her surged with power. “Uh… is it supposed to do that?”

Pinkie Pie turned her head and stared back at Twilight, her eyes glowing brightly. “I thought that we were friends!” she shouted.

Everyone gasped and took a step backwards.

Twilight shook her head and reached a hoof out towards Pinkie. “Of course we’re friends, Pinkie! What’s happening to you?”

Luna closed her eyes and lit up her horn. “I can no longer sense my dream’s Pinkie Pie. It’s like she vanished!”

“Look!” Fluttershy shouted. “Her horn and wings! They’re gone!”

Luna’s eyes shot open again. “She’s right! That’s not the Pinkie from my dream world! She is an intruder!”

Pinkie Pie turned and smiled widely at the princess. “Very astute! You’re absolutely right!” she shouted as the corners of her eyes began to bleed dark, shadowy magic outward. “I’m more than some figment of your imagination! I’m greater than this pathetic little earth pony!”

Twilight lit her horn up and stepped forward, pointing it right at Pinkie. “Let my friend go! She’s the real Pinkie Pie, isn’t she?”

Pinkie Pie laughed. “I still am! Come on, Twilight, don’t you recognize one of your bestest friends? Tell you what, I’ve got some new friends for you to meet! They’re just dying to get their hooves on you!”

“Pinkie! Why are you doing this! Stop it, now!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she spread her wings. “If you don’t stop, I’ll have to knock some sense into you!

“So violent!” Pinkie shouted back. Her eyes flashed and the portal behind her surged in size, swallowing her up. “Come join the party! I’m throwing a big bash for all of you!”

“Look out!” Twilight shouted. Everypony turned to run away from the portal, but it was too late. It bulged outward, swallowing them all up and then flashing closed, leaving no trace of its existence.

Twilight groaned and opened her eyes. She slowly stood up and tried to take in her surroundings. She found herself inside a dark place with no discernable features. The floor was cold and strangely sticky, and the only source of light was bleeding in through a barred window on a distant wall. “What happened? Where am I?”

“So, you’re awake,” a voice spoke from somewhere.

“Who’s there?”

“Don’t worry about that. Just know that you’re going to pay for what you’ve done. You’re all going to pay.”

“What we’ve done? What have we done?”

“Don’t play games. You know what you did. You hurt Pinkie Pie’s feelings! And now you’ve come here to rub salt in the wound. Well, we won’t let you!”

“Hurt Pinkie Pie? Salt in the wound? What are you talking about?”

“Stop pretending! Now, prepare to die!”

Bright lights suddenly flashed on above Twilight, combined with a spinning, prismatic disco ball that shot various shapes out all around. She found herself inside a massive coliseum. The floor appeared to be made of a shiny, pink substance and the air around her suddenly burst with the scent of candy. The stands were made of various confections with balloons for railing. The seats were jam-packed with changelings, and they all suddenly erupted with cheers.

A big, puffy marshmallow floated in the air above her, and standing upon it was a large, undisguised changeling with an amber gem socketed into his horn. He stared down at Twilight and smiled brightly. “Hi there, Twilight! We’re so happy to finally meet you! Pinkie’s told us all about you! Now, despite your past, I’m afraid we can’t let you live anymore!”

“This can’t be good,” Twilight said to herself, taking a defensive position.

To Be Continued in Book Six: Pinked

Author's Note

Not much to say on this one! Next book, it's time to get Pinked! :pinkiecrazy:

If you like my stories, consider supporting me on Patreon.

Pinked Ch 1 - Banana Split

Book Six: Pinked

Chapter One – Banana Split

Fluttershy opened her eyes, her body aching as if she had fallen a fair distance. She stood up, wobbly, and looked around to get her bearings.

“Hello again, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy shrunk down to the ground and jerked her head this way and that, looking for the voice, seeing nothing but dark shadows, which were cast down by big, multi-colored trees. The trees all had big, happy faces carved into them, and their branches bore fruit that looked like different types of giant jelly beans. The grass beneath her hooves seemed to be artificial, somehow, with colorful, speckled rocks here and there. The whole scene would seem too surreal to take seriously if it weren’t for the fact that it was dark and there was a creepy voice calling out to her.

“Do you remember me?”

Fluttershy nervously shook her head. “No. I don’t hear anything. Funny of you to ask such a strange thing, Fluttershy! Why would there be a voice calling out to me in the middle of this totally not scary smiley-face candy forest?”

The voice sighed. “I had warned you, and you forgot? Please, little pony, try and take these things seriously.” A small, shadowy feline leapt out and stared at Fluttershy with its golden, glowing eyes. “I smell death again. What is it with you and death, hmmm? This time it’s stronger than before. It’s lurking around every corner, waiting for anypony to foolishly fall into its trap. My brethren and I are all ready. Canterlot stinks of death and despair, and we are so very hungry.”

Fluttershy lowered her eyebrows, remembering when she had seen this creature in her own dream world...

“I smell death,” a voice whispered from the shadows. “Delicious and alluring... the scent makes me drool.”

Fluttershy turned her head to the side and saw a black cat emerge from the bushes, staring at her with glowing, golden eyes. Fluttershy frowned, knowing exactly what creature she was looking at.

“Stay away from her,” Fluttershy threatened, narrowing her eyes. “She’s not food for the likes of you, cat.”

The cat sat down and licked at the white patch of fur on its chest for a moment, then looked up at the yellow pony. “I’m not talking about your bright-haired friend over there. No, I couldn’t possibly eat her soul--it’s not even there, anymore. Didn’t you notice it? How her soul flew northward with some speed? It’s so diluted, hardly worth the effort, not to mention too fast a meal for my taste.”

Fluttershy felt fear, as she did any time she met with a dangerous creature such as this for the first time, but she also felt confidence since she had better control of her lucidity now. “Well then, what is it that you smell? What drew you here, cat sidhe?”

Fluttershy scowled. “You! But, you were just a part of my dream!”

The cat laughed and licked a front paw, rubbing it over its face a few times. “That’s a silly thought. Of course I wasn’t just part of your dream. You knew that at the time. Perhaps you just didn’t want to accept it?”

Last time, he’d been attracted by my dream’s Rainbow Dash dying. My grief must have brought him. What could it be this time? Fluttershy stood up and took a deep breath. She stepped towards the cat, locking her eyes onto it. “Where are my friends?” she asked, the thought of them having been killed inside this dream world turning her heart cold.

The cat flopped onto the ground and rolled onto its back. It pawed the air and cracked its smiling lips. “I have no idea, and I wouldn’t tell you even if I knew. I will share with you a prediction, though, if you will hear it.”

Fluttershy stared down at the cat, her eyes full of anger and determination. “I’m listening.”

“You’ve entered a very unstable space. My kind have easily taken root here, just as we’ve taken root elsewhere already. I don’t believe there is any way to avoid the outcome I am about to share with you, so listen closely,” the cat said, and then rolled back up to a sitting position. It narrowed its eyes and grinned. “One of you will not make it out of this dream alive. I wonder who it could be.”

“You can’t possibly know that!” Fluttershy snapped. “You’re just trying to intimidate me! Your kind thrives on death and despair, but I won’t let you have any! I’ll find my friends and we’ll make it, you just watch!”

The cat laughed and floated up into the air, shrugging its paws in front of it. “Oh, I’ll be watching! Even if you die here, you just wake up on the other side. Right? That changes nothing, you fool. Somepony will give their life for love, I can taste it! What a waste! But at least it will provide a snack for us! Get us ready for the main course to come.”

The course to come! Fluttershy gasped, remembering what the beast had told her in her own dream world.

“You think a spirit such as I cares if it's just a part of some dream? In any case, I sense much chaos and potential for suffering and death all around you. Rest assured, others of my kind will be drawn to Canterlot,” the cat growled, baring its teeth. “The feast will be quite glorious. You’re all so helpless, tied up in those cocoons!” The cat leapt through the air, a trail of black left in its wake.

And then, when I had asked it to leave, Fluttershy thought, her body trembling.

“You think I can leave? I told you, I’m still just part of your dream! I’ll give you one more warning, though,” it said between laughs. “The mess in Canterlot is already attracting the attention of far greater powers than I! Be on the lookout, even in dreams. Something dark knows what’s happening, and I can not even begin to guess its motive.”

With a sinister laugh, the cat sidhe vanished from sight and Fluttershy was left alone again.

Somepony will give their life for love, I can taste it! The cat’s words echoed in her mind, but she felt a new resolve in her heart, and an urgency to find her friends and keep them safe. She pressed forward into the darkness, walking several yards before bumping into somepony. Both of them fell to the ground.

“Ouch! Sorry! I’m sorry!” Fluttershy said, flailing her hooves in front of her. “Who’s there?”

“Oh! Hey! It’s you!” a voice said with a happy tone. A hoof quickly reached down to help Fluttershy up. A light spell flashed from a horn, and Fluttershy saw the face of Vitra. “So glad to see a friendly face. I was starting to think nopony else was even here! What if everypony else died? Jeez, that would be a real drag.”

Fluttershy shook nervously, but nodded her head. “Thanks! Yeah! It’s better than being alone, I guess,” she said, turning away from the changeling slightly. Vitra galloped around Fluttershy, getting back into her field of vision. “Oh, come on, Fluttershy! It’s me! Remember?” Vitra asked, and her body flashed green briefly. After the flash died down, she stood before Fluttershy as Applejack, but with a patch over her eye. “Remember? Right? Well, I mean, I wasn’t in her body until later, but hey, you know, I got all her memories.”

Fluttershy frowned. “Sorry, I’d rather not remember all of that.” She walked past Vitra, continuing forward through the dark, sweet-smelling forest.

Vitra sighed and flashed her body back to normal. “Sorry. I guess you miss your real friend a lot, huh?” she said, walking behind Fluttershy. “Ya know, I can’t wait to meet her! Applejack, I mean. I have so many questions. Mostly about family, I guess.”

Fluttershy shrugged. “Why ask Applejack? Other ponies here have families. I have a family.”

“Well, you should know, right? I mean, that Applejack was your version of her. She was downright obsessed with family! She took it very seriously, and when I think back about it and try and grip those memories again, I’m… I dunno… I guess I feel happy. Content. Loved.”

Fluttershy turned to look at Vitra and smiled at her briefly. “Well, I’m sure she’d be glad to talk to you. You know, you really aren’t at all what I was expecting. I guess I owe you an apology. Sorry for being so cold just now.”

Vitra blinked. “Oh, that’s okay! What were you expecting?”

“Well, you know,” Fluttershy said nervously, hesitating ever so slightly. “You had fought with my version of Rainbow Dash, plus Linnai said you were a… a bitch.”

Vitra stomped a hoof as she walked. “That little slut really needs to keep her whore mouth shut! I swear, next time I see her, I’m going to shove my hoof so far up her ass, she’ll be able to smell her own excrement!”

Fluttershy’s eyes went wide and she stopped in her tracks, slowly turning her head to Vitra. The changeling smiled sweetly at her. “But I suppose she could have just been joking!” she said, giggling slightly.

“Y-yeah… maybe it was just a joke!” Fluttershy said, feigning laughter. Oh, why did I have to end up alone with her? I wish it had been one of my friends… or Mulcibar. She lowered her head and blushed as they made their way through the woods.

Vitra glanced down at her and smirked. “What are you thinking about, hmm?”

“Oh, uh, nothing. Just thinking about my friends. I hope we can find them soon.”

Vitra placed a hoof against her mouth and laughed. “A special friend? You suddenly got quiet and rosy-cheeked.”

Fluttershy gasped and looked back up at Vitra. “No! No no, nothing like that. He’s just my friend. I mean, I was just thinking about my friends, that’s all!” She slapped a hoof over her own mouth and let out a tiny squeak.

Vitra blew a raspberry and rolled her eyes. “He’s just your friend? You’re as easy to read as a warning sign,” she said, and then dug her elbow into Fluttershy’s ribcage a couple of times. “I saw the way he was looking at you a few times. So, it’s mutual, is it?”

Fluttershy sighed. “It’s… complicated.”

Vitra snorted. “It’s always complicated with him! I’ve known him since we were pretty young. He’s always so serious, but I guess that makes him pretty reliable.”

Fluttershy nodded and smiled. “Yeah, he always seems to come through when he has to,” she said, and then remembered how he had made her think he was dead. “Though he goes a bit too far sometimes!” she pushed the smile off of her face and turned her nose up slightly.

“That’s just another reason why I like him so much. He’s willing to do anything to win, that’s just his way. Believe it or not, he has a pretty fragile ego, even if he likes to play it cool usually.”

Fluttershy nodded, listening intently. “So, you’ve known him for a long time? I guess that makes sense seeing as you were the queen’s daughter.”

Vitra waved a hoof in the air. “Oh yeah, plus he was always one of my favorites,” she said, her grin widening. She leaned in to Fluttershy and put a hoof in front of her mouth. “So hey, have you two, ya know…”

Fluttershy blinked. “Have we… what, now?”

Vitra slapped Fluttershy across the shoulders. “Oh, come on, you know! The horizontal polka, the bedroom boogie, hide the cucumber, knocking horseshoes--”

“No!” Fluttershy cut her off, her face turning bright red. “We have not done any of… of that.”

Vitra blinked, her mouth gaping open slightly. “Wow, it must be pretty serious.”

Fluttershy stared at the ground. “What do you mean by that?”

Vitra shrugged. “Well, I mean, he’s usually a pretty fast operator! He and I have that in common, I guess.”

Fluttershy nodded her head with annoyance. “I see. Well, that’s great,” she said, glancing up at one of the trees. “Oh hey, look, that tree’s face is a little different!”

“Well, let me tell you, it’ll be worth the wait!”

Fluttershy pointed up at the tree’s foliage. “And it has different leaves than those ones back there!”

“Man, I remember the first time he and I did it, whoa! I was not expectin--”

“Can we please get off this subject!?” Fluttershy turned her head and shouted at Vitra.

The two of them stopped. Vitra stared down at Fluttershy, eyes wide. The yellow pegasus was breathing heavily and her face had maintained its bright red hues.

Vitra ruffled Fluttershy’s mane with her hoof and turned to continue walking. “Okay, that’s fine, sorry! Just thought you might want to hear about--”

“No thank you, I‘m fine!”

After a few minutes, Vitra shook her head. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m not used to talking with ponies. Changelings talk about that sort of stuff all the time.”

Fluttershy breathed out heavily. “I guess I hadn’t thought much about him being with somepony else before, even though I knew he had been. He’d even told me so. I just… didn’t want to think about it. Sorry I yelled.”

“You’ve got nothing to apologize for.”

“I guess I felt angry… and maybe a little jealous,” Fluttershy said with a sigh.

Vitra reached out and wrapped a hoof around Fluttershy’s shoulders, pulling her closer. “Aw, don’t worry, kid! He’s just a friend. I won’t get in your way.”

Fluttershy smiled and nodded her head. “Thanks, though he and I aren’t really sure about anything just yet,” she said as they started walking again. “Well, he’s sure, but I’m not…”

“Well, you’ll get it all figured out. Come on, I think I see an opening ahead!”

The two of them ran forward, coming to a clearing. They both stared out from the forest, Fluttershy’s face locked in a horrified expression, Vitra’s grinning widely.

“Can we go back into the forest, please?” Fluttershy asked timidly.

“And miss out on this? Are you out of your mind?”

No, Fluttershy thought, her eyes darting back and forth. Just really scared. Scared of you, of that cat sidhe, and now… what in Equestria am I even looking at?

“So, do you think this hallway ever ends?” Linnai asked, making her way down the long stone corridor she found herself in. The walls were carved with what looked like a cross between ancient hieroglyphics and the sort of imagery you’d find on a grade school foal’s art project. The changeling turned her head and looked at her companion, whose eyes were locked straight ahead.

“One can only hope so,” Celestia replied. “We need to find a way out of here and find the others. After what we saw before the portal burst forth, we can assume that Pinkie Pie is not in a right state of mind.”

Linnai laughed. “Assuming this actually is her dream world. Besides, from what I know and have heard of Pinkie Pie, is she ever in a right state of mind?”

Celestia managed to smile. “Yes, well, I suppose not.”

A dull quiet surrounded the two of them as they trotted along, the clacking of their hooves on the stony ground the only sound.

“I hope everypony is okay. It really seemed like we were on the fast-track, and now we get stuck in this place,” Linnai said, breaking the silence.

Celestia glanced at her companion and raised an eyebrow. “Well, you certainly have grown, haven’t you? It wasn’t so long ago that you were cursing my name and trapping me in a blazing inferno, and now you’re actually worrying about others.”

Linnai lowered her gaze, a pained expression forming on her face. “Yeah. Not that long ago, huh?” she said, her voice becoming quiet. “I’m sorry about that.”

Celestia cracked the slightest smile. “I know I went right into threatening boasting after that about how it wasn’t all that hot, but truth be told, I felt it. I was really quite impressed, from a magical standpoint.”

Linnai’s ears fell back against her head. “All I feel from that is shame. Shame that I did it, but also… I guess, shame that I was that weak. It’s weird to look back on something so recent, feel bad about it, and then feel bad that you were so bad at being bad. I really am sorry.”

“You were doing what you believed was right. You had been given orders to complete a mission by your queen, and you were faithfully acting on her behalf. If I had to say anything, it’s that I know the value of someone like you on a mission.”

Linnai laughed. “We weren’t even supposed to attack you, though! I attacked and wouldn’t let Mulcibar talk sense into me! I saw Twilight and just became… enraged.”

“Enraged by the sight of Twilight? Had you met her before?” Celestia asked, her voice engaging in a more curious tone now.

“No, not directly, but I had heard of her and read about her. The genius child who was hoof-picked by the ruler of Equestria to be her personal student? I had to know more,” she explained, her pace slowing to a stop. Celestia came around in front of her and sat down to listen. “I went as far as sneaking into Canterlot disguised as a pony and studying anything I could find out about Twilight Sparkle, which wasn’t much… but still, it was enough for me to see that she was a natural talent, something I always wanted to be, but wasn’t. I guess I was jealous.”

Celestia put a hoof to her mouth and grinned. “Well, actually…”

Linnai perked up, her eyes slowly rising to meet Celestia’s. “Hmm?”

“Oh, nothing, really,” Celestia replied. “Just lost in memories of when Twilight first became my student. She was not the natural talent you might be thinking; she just had a lot of potential.”

“So… what was she like? When she was younger.”

“Oh, you don’t want to hear about that, do you?” Celestia asked teasingly.

Linnai felt herself blushing slightly. She shrugged and stood back up. “Whatever. Nevermind. I don’t really care in the slightest.” She began walking again, leaving Celestia sitting on the ground.

Celestia smirked and turned her head. “So it really has happened to you, as well. And just like your brother, you’re suddenly lovestruck, is that it?”

Linnai turned to face Celestia again, her jaw slightly agape. “What? No! I was just making conversation!” Her cheeks were bright red and her agitation was plain to see.

Celestia rolled her eyes and stood back up, continuing to walk alongside Linnai. “Of course, well, we can just make conversation. Little Twilight, huh? It sure has been a while. I’ve never met a pony who so sincerely wanted to master anything as much as Twilight wanted to master magic. However, when she was young, she was not very good at it. It was really quite adorable.”

Linnai smiled gently. “Her? I can’t imagine it.”

“Oh yes, and of course, I fretted over her constantly. I had been entrusted by her parents to watch over her as she studied; to guide her into being a fine student of the magical arts. When a spell backfired and she got in over her head, she would be so ashamed that she wouldn’t want to face her mother and father. I started letting her spend nights at the castle, which of course, she used to study even more,” Celestia recalled. She glanced over at Linnai and saw her constantly softening expression. “She didn’t just study, though. There were times when she would want me to tell her stories. Having lived for a thousand years, I have a story or two to tell, I can assure you. Oh, how I sometimes yearn for those long nights, leaning over Twilight’s bed at the castle, telling her tales of dragons and heroes and ancient royalty. Her little smile would brighten up everything, like the sun.”

Linnai sighed, her eyes practically glowing, a swirl of emotions she was not altogether familiar with filling her to the brim as she listened to the elder pony speak.

“Eventually, when she was old enough, she moved into the castle permanently. I gave her her own private study so that she could advance at her own pace, which by that point outstripped her peers by a long shot. Unfortunately, she took on her studies so seriously that she didn’t have any friends. She barely had any social connections at all, and I worried about her. When she finally made friends with the girls from Ponyville, I breathed a sigh of relief, and it was in that moment that I realized something that is so very important to me,” Celestia said. She stopped in her tracks and raised a hoof, placing it on Linnai’s chest and stopping her as well. “I had somehow come to feel so strongly for Twilight. Stronger than the bond between a normal teacher and student. Stronger than normal friendship. I loved her as if she were my own daughter. When she had no friends, I felt a sadness in my heart, but I didn’t directly intervene. I felt that that as her teacher it was not my place, even though in my heart I saw her as my daughter slowly turning into a cold, reclusive wizard. It was painful to witness.”

Linnai stared up at Celestia’s eyes and blinked. “Twilight had mentioned that to me, as well. She’d said that she didn’t have any friends before, but she eventually discovered that friendship was the most important thing of all. At the time, I didn’t believe her. I didn’t have the capacity,” she said with a sigh. “Now, I understand what she meant. I look back at my life with my brother, with some of the other changelings I know, and I feel new love in my heart. Love for friends, love for my brother, and… then when I think of Twilight, it’s the same feeling, but it’s somehow, I guess you could say, colored differently. She’s… special to me.”

“Changeling,” Celestia said, her expression becoming serious and stone-like, the smile leaving her lips and her eyes staring down at Linnai’s. Linnai reflexively pulled back an inch, gulping. “Do you wish to court my daughter?”

Linnai stared nervously up at Celestia, sweat forming on her brow, the answer on the tip of her tongue, but somehow her lips unable to say it.

“Twilight is very special to me, too, as I’ve just told you. I am rather perceptive, and it is obvious to me how you feel about her, but you know that your love is a new emotion. You could be awash in an ocean of feelings, not understanding just how deep and different romantic love is. Even still, do you wish to court my daughter and test those waters? Do you wish to seek my blessing?”

“Look, I didn’t mean for this conversation to get onto this subject, and—“

“We have to have this conversation sometime. Why not now? Just between you and I.” Celestia’s face remained unchanged, no sign of emotion, her royal presence projecting out and filling the corridor. The pressure was palpable.

Linnai tightened her jaw and straightened her posture. She stared back into Celestia’s eyes and sighed. “Do we have to do this right now? Let’s go find Twilight and the others and make sure they’re safe, then we can—“

“Do you love her or not? Answer me, child!” Celestia commanded. “Do not keep a princess waiting!”

Linnai gulped and shrunk down, keeping her eyes still locked onto Celestia’s, not because she wanted to, but because she felt as though should couldn’t look away even if she tried to. She could feel Celestia’s will bearing down on her, trapping her. The words escaped her mouth as if the princess had reached down her throat and extracted them. “I love her. More than anything else.”

Celestia smiled and patted Linnai on the head. “You two siblings are both just adorable. I’m glad we got that out of the way.” She turned and continued walking.

After a few seconds, Linnai stood back up and trailed after the princess, her mind spinning around inside her head. “Wait! What was all that about? Weren’t you going to give your blessings or something?”

Celestia continued walking and shook her head. “No,” she said plainly. “Besides, why should you care what I think? I’m not actually her mother.”

Linnai felt her jaw shaking. Why should I care? I’ll just do as I please! She’s the one who brought up the whole ‘giving blessings’ thing in the first place!

After another moment of silence Celestia stopped and spoke again. “Rather, I should say, she may not return your feelings. To be honest, I don’t believe she’s had much of a love life to speak of, so I don’t know what sort of partner she’d choose.”

“That’s fine,” Linnai said, her body relaxing slightly. “I sort of have an idea. It’s probably not going to be good for me, but whatever.”

“Well, you have shown me your resolve, do as you please. You have my blessing for what it’s worth, but Twilight is a grown filly, she’ll do as she pleases as well.” She smiled back at the changeling, a smile so sweet it could rot teeth, a smile so sharp it could cut through bone. “If, however, it comes to pass that you betray her, break her heart, use her, abuse her, or play with her emotions… well, then you’ll have me to answer to.”

Linnai shakily nodded her head, her body’s moment to relax having not lasted long. “I would never. Never again. I’m not like I was before. Twilight told me that love was a strength, that love wasn’t a bad thing. Of course, she also told me she’s not into mares, but that’s come with mixed signals, so… I can’t give up just yet, even if ends up being one-sided.”

“But you will give up if it does. Promise me that, Linnai,” Celestia said, turning her head back in the direction they were walking. “Promise me that if she definitively turns you down that you will give up on your romantic pursuits. I would much rather see the two of you end up being friends than her pushing you away for being too persistent. Think of this as… advice from one who knows from experience.”

Linnai nodded her head and rejoined Celestia, walking side by side. “So, you’re familiar with unrequited love, then?”

“All too,” Celestia responded, and then picked up her pace slightly “Look. I think I see a doorway up there!” The two of them sped up to a gallop, reaching the doorway and turning to look through it. Their eyes went wide and they gasped at what they saw.

Rainbow Dash bolted through the street, weaving between buildings, looking around frantically for something. They were unlike any buildings she’d ever seen, at least outside of a fairy tale. They were all made of gingerbread and candy. The streets were some sort of cookie crumble, and were wet with rainfall, but not just normal rain. It was raining what Rainbow was almost certain was fruit punch. She finally ducked under an awning that protected her from the downpour. She fell to her haunches and lifted a hoof to her face, taking a nervous lick of it.

“Yep. That’s fruit punch,” she said, her eyes lowering. “I’m all sticky. Great. Thanks a lot, Pinkie Pie.” She put a hoof above her eyes and gazed up into the sky. The downpour wasn’t even coming from clouds, there were bits of fruit floating up there, dripping the liquid out like they were being juiced.

Rainbow Dash sighed and leaned against the window of the building, and felt herself starting to sink into it. She pulled away quickly, the sensation not unlike pulling an adhesive bandage off, just bigger. She spun around and squinted at the window. I can’t go up and bust clouds, there aren’t any, it’s all fruit… and these windows are sticky like syrup. She felt her stomach grumble and lurched forward. I think I’m gonna be sick. The sight of an umbrella inside the shop on the other side of the windows caught her eye. She carefully opened the door, jingling the bell that was attached to it as she entered.

“Hello?” she called out. There was no response. She nervously picked up one of the umbrellas from a barrel and spoke again. “Okay, so, I’m just gonna borrow one of these umbrellas. Okay?” She waited for a reply, but there was none.

“Okay,” she said nervously and then quickly left. She flung the umbrella open and breathed a sigh of relief when it was just a normal umbrella. “Okay, good. Nothing weird about that.” She stepped out into the rain of punch and started to hear a gurgling sound coming from above her.

“What the heck?”

“Oh, thank you! I was really quite parched! I must say, this is the most delicious of downpours, wouldn’t you agree?”

Rainbow yanked the umbrella downward and looked at the top of it, finding that it had a happy, smiling face on it. “Are you talking to me, umbrella?”

“Are you talking to me, pony?” the umbrella responded mockingly and then laughed. “I’m joking! Just put me back up into the air, I’m still thirsty.”

Dash gave up on trying to understand anything at that point. She wedged the umbrella between one of her wings and her back and began to walk down the street, keeping her eyes open for anypony she might see, the umbrella happily gurgling and slurping above her.

“Hey, down there! You ever notice how on fruit punch days, there’s way more strawberries up there than usual?” the umbrella asked as Dash was walking along.

Rainbow Dash’s eye twitched. “No. I haven’t.”

“Oh wow, yeah, totally! I mean, when it’s orange juice, sure, it’s almost all oranges, but with fruit punch I really think the strawberries come out way more.”

“That’s very interesting. Please, tell me more,” Dash replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

The umbrella, apparently, was not good at detecting it. “Oh, a skyfruit enthusiast, too? Yes, it’s strange! I mean, it’s fruit punch, so there’s more than just strawberries, right? Right? Let me tell you, when you’re an umbrella, you really get a lot of time to look up at the sky during storms. I guess it just comes naturally! Well, I guess it makes sense, you being a pegasus and all, so anyway, let me tell you about those pesky mangoes…”

Rainbow tuned out the umbrella as she rounded a corner and spotted a familiar sight, Sugarcube Corner. She picked up her pace and ran towards it and up the stairs. She quickly swung the umbrella in front of her, shook it, and folded it.

“Uh, okay! I’ll wait for you out here, then, shall I?” the umbrella asked, its voice partially muffled. Dash ignored it and walked into Sugarcube Corner. The place was empty, no sign that anypony had been there recently.

She slowly walked towards the back of the shop. “Hello? Pinkie Pie?” she called out.

A face peeked down at her from the staircase at the far back wall. “She’s not here,” the owner of the face said.

The owner of the face was someone Dash didn’t really want to see right now. Sure, she’d worked together with him in her dream, but his very existence was starting to really get under her skin. She smiled as best she could and responded. “Mulcibar! Wasn’t expecting to find you here.”

Mulcibar trotted down the stairs and over to Dash. He leaned against the counter that separated the two of them and put his chin against his front hooves, sighing. “Yeah. Me neither. Anyway, the place is abandoned. Look at the dust, it’s been empty for a little bit. Only place I haven’t checked yet is the basement.”

Dash shrugged. “Well, I guess it’s worth looking into. At least we’re not out in the fruit punch storm,” she said as she walked around the counter and towards the door that led to the basement.

“I don’t know, I found it to be rather tasty! I’d never had fruit punch before.” Mulcibar said, following behind her. “I mean, even if it’s not rain. Why is it punch, anyway? What’s up with that?

Dash glanced over her shoulder and rolled her eyes around. “What’s up with Pinkie Pie is the question. Her brain’s already a mystery out in the real world, and now we’re inside it.” She opened the door and slowly made her way down into the darkness below.

Mulcibar lit up gemstone in his horn, shining light out of it like a flashlight. The basement was completely empty, just a rectangular space devoid of anything else.

“Guess this is a dead end, too,” Mulcibar said with a sigh, but then aimed his light down onto the ground. “Wait a second, what’s that?”

What the two of them saw now was a wooden door in the floor. There was no latch or lock on it, just a door with a handle like any you might find in any other room in the house.

Dash felt a nervous shiver run up her spine. “That’s… weird.”

“Maybe there’s a second floor basement.”

“Second floor basement?”

“Right,” Mulcibar replied, and then used his magic to pull the door open. A strong gust of wind blew up into the room from it. Dash cautiously poked her head down through the door. Her jaw dropped.

“What in Equestria?” she managed.

Mulcibar joined her. Below the door was a massive staircase leading down to an outdoor area. They began to descend the staircase, glancing up at where they had come from, which was just a hole in the sky. The sky itself was an ominous brown color. Looking down, the landscape they were descending upon was bleak and barren with nothing but rocks dotting the landscape.

“Okay, great. We’re living a Pinkie Pie mood swing. We’ve gone from happy, random fruit clouds and cookie houses to a field of gray and brown rocks,” Rainbow said with a groan. “I’m going to glide down the rest of the way, maybe swing around that way and see if I see anything.”

Mulcibar unfurled his wings. “I’ll join you. I’ll scout the other way.”

“Alright, meet back here in a few minutes,” Rainbow said, and then launched herself into the air. Mulcibar turned and did the same.

Rocks, dead trees, clump of bushes. Oh, a tumbleweed! Dash thought as she lazily scanned the ground. This place really is bleak. She glanced over her shoulder. Mulcibar was barely visible in the distance. Dash groaned and turned her head forward again.

Why did I have to get stuck with that guy? She sighed and closed her eyes, an image of Mulcibar and Fluttershy kissing forming in her mind. The more she thought about it, the redder a tint it developed until she finally opened her eyes and growled. What does she even see in him? Sure, he’s strong, and dark, and mysterious… sheesh, is that really her type? Is that your type, Fluttershy? She circled around, heading back towards the staircase, memories flashing in her mind.

My sister and I, you don’t know us, but we’re… if you fall now, we’re goners! We’ll be put to death!

Dash clenched her teeth and hugged her front hooves against her chest. And he’s brave. Let’s not forget that, either. She sighed and let her hooves fall back down, hanging freely as she glided. Those two… they’re putting their lives on the line by helping us. What am… what am I doing? I’m gliding around in a dream world brooding over my fillyhood crush and her new guy. I’m pathetic.

Perhaps you should work on your attitude, Luna’s voice shot through Dash’s mind. I don’t think she is beyond your reach, but if you intend to punch walls, that shy one will surely shy away.

Punching walls, heh… Guess I never learn! Dash thought, and then slapped her hooves against her cheeks. He’s here, he loves her, and you’re just going to have to live with that, Dash! No pain, no gain! I just have to be myself, just like Luna said.

Dash landed about halfway up the staircase and scanned the environment for Mulcibar. Did I get back too quick? Flashes of magic from the distance answered her question. Nope! He’s in trouble!

She leaned to take off, spread her wings, and then paused. Sweat suddenly beaded up on her brow, a streak rolling down her face. He’s in trouble. I mean, if he ends up getting zapped...

An image of Fluttershy’s crying face materialized in Dash’s mind.

He’ll wake up on the other side! They’ll kill him! Fluttershy’s voice screamed.

Dash clenched her teeth, swung her body to the left, and smashed one of her hooves into the side of a stair above her. “That’s not you, Dash!” she screamed between her teeth, and then leapt into the air, flying towards the magic flashes. “Don’t ever think anything like that again!!”

Rainbow sped through the sky, the flashes of magic becoming closer by the second. Ahead of her was a jagged, raised cliff with a field of massive boulders at its base. It was from within this field of boulders that the magic was flaring up from. Suddenly, there was movement. Not just from shadows being cast by magical discharges, but something else. Many small, dark somethings were down below, swarming all around, moving like a massive wave.

She spotted Mulcibar. His wings were opened fully and his horn was blazing with blue magic as he blasted the little somethings. She slammed down onto a rock just above him and took in the scene. He was being assaulted by what must have been hundreds of small ponylike creatures with no faces, just wide, gaping mouths full of sharp teeth. They were every imaginable color.

“Hey! What in the heck is going on?” she shouted.

Mulcibar jerked his head up towards her. “Get out of here! Quickly!”

Dash blinked and flapped her wings. “You have wings! Come on!”

Mulcibar blasted two more of the creatures that leapt at him and dashed to the side, around the rock that Rainbow was perched on. “Hurry! Before they notice you! Get airborne!”

Rainbow Dash groaned. “You can fly, dude! Come on!”

“Afraid not!” Mulcibar shouted back. He flapped his wings, leapt into the air, and was quickly seized by numerous tentacle-like tongues that fired out from the creatures’ mouths. They slammed him into the ground, and he blasted the tongues one by one, freeing himself. “Get going! I’ve fought these creatures before! I’m going to lure them all into one place, pop the gem out of my horn, and torch them all with a massive blast! Now go hide!”

Dash flapped her wings and began to take off. She looked down just in time to see Mulcibar tackled to the ground by a large number of the monsters. They dug their sharp teeth into his flesh, and he cried out in pain.

Fluttershy’s crying face, once again, flashed through Dash’s mind. She dove down at Mulcibar and began to kick the beasts off of him. “Sorry, but I can’t leave you! How would I ever explain it to Fluttershy?”

Mulcibar grinned. “Fine! I hear you’re a brave pony, so let’s see what you can do with no lucidity!”

“You’re on!” Dash replied with a grin. “You said you need to round them all up? I may have learned a thing or two about that by watching a certain farmpony. Split up and get as many of them to follow you as you can, then meet back at that far corner!” She pointed a hoof to a spot in the cliff where it made a sharp turn.

The two of them split up. Rainbow Dash ran from rock to rock, mocking and taunting the colorful shades while Mulcibar took a long way around, swerving this way and that, firing his magic up into the air above him. With each step, he felt his wounds aching for relief, but ignored them as best he could. Before long, they both had a big crowd of shades following them. Dash bolted towards the corner from one direction while Mulcibar came from the other.

Dash rounded a corner and saw Mulcibar around another just ahead of her. They ran at each other on a collision course.

“Now jump!” Dash shouted. She and Mulcibar leapt into the air, flapping their wings. A massive hissing sound came from below them as innumerable shades opened their mouths, readying to launch their tongues skyward.

Rainbow grabbed Mulcibar by the hips and launched him to the left, straight at a rocktop, where he landed roughly, falling to his side. He quickly righted himself just in time to see Rainbow get wrapped up in several shade tongues.

“Rainbow!”

“Do it!” Rainbow shouted. “Blast them to Tartarus!” Her body was dragged back down to the ground as soon as one of the shades squeezed her wings shut.

Mulcibar shook his head and unsocketed the gem from his horn. “I can’t! You’ll get caught up in the blast!”

Rainbow’s hooves touched the ground and she grinned. “Who are you saying that to?” She started to buck and knock the tongues off of her until only one had a solid grip. She grabbed it and pulled, the shade it was attached to flying towards her. She let her front hoof meet its face, knocking it to the ground.

“Blast ‘em, I said!”

Mulcibar stared down in awe for a second and then lit up his horn. “Get back! Behind this rock!”

Dash leapt into the air, flinging herself away from the massive mob of shades. Mulcibar’s horn erupted with magic. The blinding light from it lit up the air. The sound of rocks being blown to bits echoed, as did the screams of a hundred shades.

Dash peeked out from behind the rock. There wasn’t a sign of any shade left. The ground had been torn away, leaving a massive hole. The area where the cliff had come to a sharp angle was now a gigantic circular crater. The sound of debris falling to the ground in the distance could still be heard.

Mulcibar fell down atop the rock with a loud grunt. He pushed the gem back into his horn and looked up just in time to see Rainbow Dash smiling down at him.

Then, he saw nothing but darkness as he passed out.

Mulcibar woke up in a cave. He wasn’t sure how he had gotten there, but he smelled fire and felt heat. He rolled over and found that he was lying next to a fire near the cave’s entrance. Beside him was a flat rock with a bunch of small, colorful candies and fruits on it.

He sat up and placed a hoof against his head. “Rainbow Dash?” he called out. A second later, Rainbow Dash’s head peeked into the cave from one side of the entrance. She was shivering and her face was streaked with blood.

He waved to Rainbow Dash to join him. “Come on, it’s cold.”

Dash reluctantly flapped her wings and flew over to him, sitting directly across the flames. “I wasn’t cold, for the record.”

Mulcibar smirked. “Yeah, okay, so you were just shaking from excitement from my voice.”

“No,” Dash said, gripping her side with a forehoof.

Mulcibar peeked at her through the fire. “You’re injured. Come over here, let me take a look.”

“I’m fine!” Dash said, glaring back at him. “Worry about yourself.”

Mulcibar sighed. “Okay, I get it. You don’t like me.”

“You’re right! Can we stop talking now?” Dash snapped, flopping down on the ground and sighing.

Mulcibar shrugged and hovered a piece of fruit up, popping it into his mouth. After chewing and swallowing it, he glanced over at Dash, who was weirdly staring up at him through the flickering flames. “You want some? Come on, we have to work together to survive until we recover.”

“I’m not hungry.”

Mulcibar shrugged again and leaned back against a stalagmite behind him. “You know, this is awfully familiar. Camping out in a cave with a pegasus. Last time she wasn’t so cold, though.”

Dash could feel the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. “You mean Fluttershy, huh? I get it. She’s so in love with you. Do you have to rub it in?”

Mulcibar cocked his head to the side. “Rub it in? She’s not in love with me,” he said plainly, and then sighed. “She said so herself.”

Dash leapt back up to a sitting position. “Wait, what? She did?”

Mulcibar nodded his head solemnly. “Yep. Back in your dream world, the night before we left.”

Dash raised her front hooves, pushing them together as she spoke. “But wait, that night, you two were like…” she said, pouting her lips at the end.

Mulcibar frowned. “Yeah, but that was all me,” he said, his head sinking slightly. “Then she told me to stop. Something about needing time to figure it all out.”

“So you and her aren’t, like…” Dash said, clapping her hooves together again. Mulcibar just shook his head in response, and Dash felt herself smiling widely. She quickly stopped herself when she saw him look back up at her, and cleared her throat. “I mean, yeah. Wow. That’s too bad.”

Mulcibar rolled his eyes. “I may be new to love, but you don’t need to act like that. It’s good news for you. She hasn’t made up her mind. Just my luck, I guess.”

Dash lowered her eyes to the ground. “Luck doesn’t enter into it. Sorry. I shouldn’t be so happy. I mean, it’s not like she’s come to me and said anything. For all I know, she’s decided to pick neither of us.”

After a few moments of nothing but the sound of the crackling fire, Dash scooted around it to sit beside Mulcibar. She grabbed one of the pieces of candy she’d gathered and ate it. “Look, I’m sorry. I mean it. I guess I haven’t really given you a chance. The fact is, Fluttershy likes you enough to consider you her friend. I guess what I’m trying to say is… if she likes you that much, you can’t be all that bad.”

Mulcibar turned his head and smiled at Dash. “Well, if it’s any consolation, I already knew how great you were, even before meeting you. Fluttershy told me all about it while we were journeying through Luna’s dream world.”

“Oh yeah? Did she mention the Sonic Rainboom?” Dash’s eyes practically glowed.

“Of course! And how you used your speed to save your friend Rarity’s life.”

“And the Wonderbolts!”

“Pretty dang cool.”

“Awesome, even!”

“Let’s not get carried away.”

The two of them laughed, their voices echoing through the cave.

“So, when this is all over, if Fluttershy chooses one of us, what then?”

Mulcibar shrugged. “What do ponies do after that? Get married, I guess? Have kids?”

Dash snorted. “Not sure I want to jump straight to kids, but… Fluttershy with kids. Now there’s a scary thought. She’d use The Stare on them to keep them in line, I bet.”

Mulcibar smirked. “What’s The Stare?”

Dash turned her eyes up to Mulcibar’s, making them as wide as she could. “The Staaaaare!” she said, her voice wavering. “It puts you in a trance! You can’t resist The Staaaaaare!”

Mulcibar snorted this time. “Wow, what? Like, some sort of hypnosis?”

“Yeah, but I think it only works on animals. Maybe it works on changelings, too, though! You never knooooowwww!”

They laughed again, took deep breaths, and then fell silent.

Luna’s words echoed in Dash’s mind. You’re you, so just be yourself. That is your true advantage.

You’re right, princess. And it’s not just with Fluttershy, she thought, glancing nervously at Mulcibar and smiling. If I’d never opened up and gave this guy a chance, I would have missed out on becoming his friend. It doesn’t change the fact that he’s also got his eyes on Fluttershy but… we can’t just go on being bitter rivals.

Dash put a hoof on Mulcibar’s back. “You know what? I was wrong about you. You’re a pretty cool guy, and you sure pulled your own out there against those creatures. I don’t know if I could have handled them alone.”

Mulcibar blushed slightly. “Yeah, well, you’re pretty awesome, yourself.”

“Look, this is hard for me to say, but I’m gonna say it,” Dash started and then stared into the flames.

Mulcibar looked at her, letting out a quiet “Hmm?”

“When this is all over… if you and Fluttershy end up, you know, a thing…” she continued, pausing for a long moment in the middle. “I can’t just run away. She’s still my best friend. So, if you and her end up together…”

Mulcibar swallowed, his expression having hardened.

Dash turned and looked directly at him. “I’ll support you. Both of you.”

You were right, Fluttershy. She’s extraordinary.

Mulcibar nodded his head and smiled, a tear forming just barely at the corner of his eye. “The same goes for me.”

“But if you ever break her heart, I will kick your ass so hard you will drop straight into a hospital bed, got it?” Dash finished, pressing her hoof against his back a bit harder.

Mulcibar sighed. “That’s fair.”

“Good!” Dash said, grinning and patting him on the back. “Glad that’s settled!”

Mulcibar nodded his head and then suddenly felt lightheaded. He wobbled slightly and then fell sideways against Rainbow Dash, knocking her down as well.

Dash grunted and raised her hooves up, shaking him. “Hey! Guy! What’s the deal? You okay?”

“That spell took a lot out of me, and…” he started, and then raised a hoof up. It was covered in blood. “I think one of these bites is a lot worse than I thought.”

Dash gasped. “Yeah, you were bleeding pretty bad. Can’t you just, like, heal up with magic?”

Mulcibar chuckled. “Oh, sure, how could I forget?” he asked sarcastically. “Oh wait, no, I can’t. I’m severely weakened. Gotta find something to make a bandage out of.”

Dash sighed. “Not much out there but rocks. I found the fruit and candy growing on a bush, but it was pretty bare, no leaves or vines or anything.”

Mulcibar slumped down further, his head falling against Rainbow Dash’s flank. She repositioned herself, trying to get comfortable, making sure to not let his head fall to the rock floor.

“No, all I can do is rest. I need more strength to cast healing magic, and to regain my strength, I would need to heal.”

Dash stared down at him with concern. “Isn’t there any other way?”

Mulcibar breathed in, his eyes opening and looking up at Dash’s concerned face. “There is, but… no. Not really. I won’t die, I’ll just be in agony for a while, and really weak. I’m applying pressure, it should stop bleeding soon.”

“But what if it doesn’t? What do you mean ‘not really’?” Dash inquired. “Sounded like you had an idea but then decided against it.”

“You don’t want any part of that, trust me.”

“Any part of what?” Dash asked, gulping.

“I’m a changeling. Where do you think we normally get our strength?”

Dash’s eyes slowly widened. Love! He’s talking about feeding on me to get his strength back faster!

“I see you get it. Not an option, as you clearly already deduced.”

Dash let her eyes dart away from him. “Well, it’s not like I hate you. Surely there’s a little bit you could just… you know, take,” she said with a frown. “Just make it quick!”

“No. No. You don’t get it. If I feed from you, you’re going to feel it, deep inside. You’re not going to even be able to comprehend how or why, but you’re going to very suddenly have a rather sharp change of heart about me. It’s only temporary, but I just… I have strong feelings about not wanting to do it anymore, I’ll put it that way.”

Dash blinked and looked back at him, an eyebrow cocked. “Strong change of heart? What’s that even mean?”

Mulcibar laughed. “I admit, the idea is amusing. It means that while I’m feeding on you, you will feel an uncontrollable urge to get to, um… ‘know’ me.”

Dash shook her head. “I don’t follow.”

“You’ll try to jump my bones. Trust me. I start feeding on you, within two seconds you will be diving for my lips. Or maybe some other part of my anatomy. It’ll happen.”

Dash snorted. “Yeah, sure. Betcha I don’t! You gonna feed on me or what? We need to get moving, and we don’t have time for you to feel bad about being what you are!”

Mulcibar stared up at her. “You sure? I did warn you.”

Dash clenched her teeth. “Just do it!”

Mulcibar sighed, took a deep breath, and began to pull Dash’s love energy into him.

Two seconds later, Dash was aggressively attacking his lips.

After a rather uncomfortable minute or so of Mulcibar pushing Dash off of him as she tried desperately to attach her mouth to any part of his body that she could latch onto, he stopped feeding. Another twenty seconds or so passed, and Dash collapsed onto the ground in front of him, her eyes wide and shaking.

Mulcibar’s horn lit up as he began casting a healing spell on the worst of his bite wounds. “I warned you.”

Dash let out a slight warbling sound, somewhere between a giggle and a cry. “That was… I don’t… Why do I…?”

“Use your words.”

“I just… I think I actually enjoyed that, somehow.”

Mulcibar grinned, continuing to cast his healing magic. “Well, most ponies do. Most ponies also feel repulsed by their actions afterwards and hate the one who was feeding on them for it, so I won’t blame you if—“

“Shut up,” Dash interjected. “I told you to do it, you warned me.”

“Fair enough. Very mature.”

“We’ll just never speak of this again,” Dash added.

“Agreed. In fact, I hope I never have to do it again as long as I live.”

Dash relaxed, a smile spreading across her lips as the warm fire in front of her crackled away. He didn’t even take advantage. Okay, Fluttershy, I admit it… he’s not a bad catch.

Mulcibar finished healing up his largest wound and then glanced down at Dash, who was lying in front of the fire, smiling, seemingly unaffected by what had just happened. She didn’t have a second thought. Not about the shades, not about letting me feed on her… Okay, Fluttershy, I admit it… she is truly awesome.

“I was really expecting better,” Discord mumbled to himself. He floated lazily across a drab landscape of dirt, rocks, and gray skies. Well, perhaps I can keep myself entertained some other way. Celestia, are you still there?

There was no response. He groaned and snapped his fingers a few times, changing some of the larger rocks on the ground into random objects. A clock with five hands ticking in different directions, a dog with a giraffe’s neck and an oven for a head, a bunch of balloons that flew up into the sky before popping in an explosion of chocolate ganache. He sighed, none of them bringing him any sort of joy. “Perhaps this dreary atmosphere has made me lose my touch. Pinkie Pie! You were supposed to be—“ he started to shout, but then spotted something on the horizon to his left. Down in a valley, he saw a windmill spinning in a field of carefully ordered rocks. A farmhouse sat near the windmill, plain and made of unpainted wood. He made a beeline to the house.

Upon arrival, he snapped his fingers. In a flash, a set of formal clothes appears on his body, complete with a jacket, tie, and top hat. A big bushy mustache adorned his lips, and he grinned from behind it. Carefully, he knocked on the door. “Hello! Is anypony home?” he called out. There was no response. The name on the mailbox to the door’s side caught his eye, the word ‘Pie’ engraved upon it. “Ah, the Pie household. Well, perhaps there will be some clues, here. Hello, I say! Pies?” He knocked on the door again, more firmly, and it creaked open a crack.

Discord stretched his eye out of its socket and let it push through the crack, peeking inside. The house was a mess inside and a thick layer of dust covered everything. He pushed the door open and walked inside, glancing around at the place. It looked as though the place had been ransacked. Furniture was knocked over, books were scattered everywhere, broken picture frames and glass littered the floor. “Well, nopony has been here for a while. I wonder what happened,” he said to himself as he reached down to pick up one of the broken picture frames. The photograph in the frame was a portrait of the Pie family, two older ponies and four younger mares. He spotted Pinkie Pie immediately, her bright colors popping out from the photo, but her face had been cut out of the image. “How odd.”

He placed the picture on a shelf near the door and picked up another. This one was a picture of just the younger family members, with Pinkie’s face scratched out. He slowly walked through the house, looking at pictures on the walls and various shattered frames, and every one was the same, Pinkie Pie’s face had been scratched out, cut out, or otherwise removed from each one.

Making his way upstairs, he found a hallway of doors. He walked past each, noting the names that hung on signs outside each door. The signs had been cut from rock with the names engraved on them. Discord read the signs as he went. Limestone. Granite. Maud. He eventually came to a door that had its sign thrown on the ground, smashed to pieces, but the name engraved was apparent. “Pinkie,” he said, his voice a bit nervous. “What on earth happened to make you dream this up?” He cautiously opened the door to Pinkie’s room, and was immediately greeted with a dismal interior.

A simple bed with a nightstand was at one side of the room. A table with various books and school supplies sat at the other side. He turned his gaze to the wall over the bed. Written on the wall with ink was a massive, single word: FAILURE.

Discord placed a claw to his chin. What a coincidence. I recall Pinkie Pie in the Crusaders’ dream world also writing on the walls. There’s no way to know this was written by Pinkie, of course, but it is her dream world, he thought, looking around for other writing. There was none. Curious. What, do you suppose, she was a failure at? What is it supposed to mean?

His thoughts were cut off by a scream from outside. The sound of foals crying out in terror made Discord uncontrollably grin, but he quickly shook it off. He snapped his fingers, lifting the roof off of the house and flying up and out. The screaming came again, and he shot off in that direction by materializing a cannon and firing himself out of it.

The source of the screaming quickly came into view. He spotted the three Cutie Mark Crusaders running as fast as they could. Pursuing them was a large, bulky changeling in dark, jagged armor. Discord swooped down towards them and snapped his fingers, teleporting them into his arms. “Calm down, now, children, nothing to worry about,” he said, glaring down at the changeling.

“I’ll give ya somethin’ ta worry about!” the changeling shouted up at Discord. It fired a beam of magic from its horn right at Discord’s face. With a finger snap, the magic was changed into a stream of chocolate milk, and Discord opened his mouth, letting it fly into his mouth.

“Calm down, there,” Discord said, snapping his fingers again. The changeling floated into the air, its limbs wriggling as it tried to wrest control back from the draconequus. “Oh, please don’t struggle, or I’ll have to get creative. You don’t want me to get creative.”

“You’ll get yours,” the changeling responded.

Discord rolled his eyes. “I warn you again, I am rather bored, and you seem like as good a plaything as any. Now, I would like some answers.”

“Oh yeah? What a coincidence, I want some too!”

“Where is Pinkie Pie?”

“Like I’d tell you.”

“So, you know, do you?” Discord asked, and then snapped his fingers. The changelings body snapped into pieces and began spinning in circles.

The three foals in his arms screamed. “You killed him!” Sweetie Belle shouted in terror.

“You didn’t have to—“ Apple Bloom started, but was interrupted by the changeling laughing. “Huh?”

“Oh, he’s not dead,” Discord said with a sigh. “Really, it would be boring to just off him so fast.”

“Is this the best you got?”

Discord’s face tightened and he snapped again. One of the changeling’s disembodied legs vanished. “Whoops! You’re down a leg, now. Don’t worry; I can replace it with another leg. Might not be yours, though.”

The changeling stopped laughing. “So, is this what you have planned for Pinkie?”

Discord shook his head and cocked an eyebrow up into the air over his head, spinning it a couple times as it rose. “Planned for Pinkie? You’re an odd one.”

“You’re one to talk. We’re gonna enjoy ripping you to pieces. No one hurts Pinkie and gets away with it!”

Discord sighed. “You seem a bit confused. Did you not come here to kill Pinkie, yourselves?”

The changeling sighed. “I’d rather not talk about that.”

Discord snapped his fingers and the changeling’s body popped back together, his leg even materializing again. “I think we need to talk about that,” Discord said. “You came here to kill her, now you think you’re avenging her somehow. Your mind is clearly almost as scrambled as mine!”

“He said that to us, too,” Scootaloo said, looking up at Discord’s face. “He said he was gonna use us as bait to lure out the others, but he said he wasn’t going to hurt us.”

“Well, you obviously can’t believe him! What are the chances of—“ Discord started, and then thought for a moment about Mulcibar, Linnai, and even Vitra. “The chances of a changeling telling the truth like that… So, you think we hurt Pinkie Pie.”

“We know you did!”

“Alright, sure, let’s assume we did. Why, exactly, do you care?”

“Because,” The changeling said, blushing slightly and averting his eyes. “Pinkie’s our friend. Friends help each other out and stuff."

“Your friend?” Discord laughed, nearly dropping the changeling from his magical grip. “You changelings never stop breaking your own rules, do you?”

“Shut up! If we don’t kill you all, we’ll lose Pinkie to the Umbra!”

Discord’s eyes went wide, taking over most of his face and popping out a bit. He floated down to the ground, allowing the changeling to do so as well.

“What’s wrong?” Sweetie Belle asked nervously.

Discord stared at the changeling in shock. “Crusaders, this just got a lot weirder and more complicated.”

“You don’t know the half of it.”

“Oh, I know more than you might think,” he said with a frown. “Umbra… That would definitely explain a thing or two.”

“What’s Umbra?” all three Crusaders asked at the same time.

“Primal magic,” Discord replied, his voice having turned deep and dark. “Primal magic that can rival even my own powers of chaos, and with it shall come the forces of darkness, beyond anything the likes of which any of you could even comprehend.”

Author's Note

Book six begins! Lots of drama to start things out! Woo, drama!

If you like my stories, consider supporting me on Patreon.

Pinked Ch 2 - Peanut Brittle

Book Six: Pinked

Chapter Two - Peanut Brittle

Canterlot, Reality, Ten Minutes Ago…

Chrysalis had barely returned to her throne after her little conversation with Cadence when two changelings before her cried out and threw their front hooves into the air in front of them. She stood back up quickly and looked at them, her face filling with disappointment and her ears falling down against her head.

“Morosa… Duval… What a sad showing,” she said flatly.

Morosa, after screaming nothing sensible, fell silent and slumped forward, unconscious.

Duval on the other hoof, popped up to his feet and stared at Chrysalis. His legs began to shake as he tried to call out anything he could remember. “Linnai! Her weakness!”

Chrysalis stood up and shouted back. “Out with it! Quickly!”

Duval began to laugh, then coughed. “Twilight… Sparkle!” He fell to the ground, his breathing quickly softening into a light snore.

The queen plopped her plot back down against the throne and rested her chin against a hoof. “Her weakness is Twilight Sparkle?” she repeated. Visions of Mulcibar’s sideways glance at Fluttershy flashed in her mind and she grinned ear to ear. “That’s it, then. That’s what you’ve been keeping from me, is it… Chrysalis? No, no, don’t say anything, that’s okay.”

Her eyes began to darken, and she shut them, taking a deep breath as a stream of green magic began to flow into her once again from the dream web. “Yes, I do taste it, it’s so strong. How did I miss this?” she whispered to herself. Her eyes shot open and she stared up at the cocoon that contained Pinkie Pie. “It’s as if you want to be found. What useful little tools. As amusing as this game has been, it’s time to end it.”

She closed her eyes once more and relaxed against the throne.

Pinkie Pie’s Dream, Present...

I don’t understand! What the heck is he talking about? Is this Pinkie’s dream? Where did all these changelings come from?

Twilight backed away from the musclebound changeling as the floating marshmallow he was standing on lowered down into the arena she’d found herself in. The crowd of changelings roared and stomped their hooves against the floor, chanting a name over and over.

“ERES! ERES! ERES! ERES!”

The changeling flexed and posed and the crowd got even louder. “Eres delivers!” he shouted and flashed a glare at Twilight. He leapt down at her, letting one of his front hooves slam into the ground. The impact shook the floor and his hoof smashed through it, sending debris flying. Twilight leapt back and lit up her horn, flashing a shield in front of her, pieces of wood and stone smashing into it and fizzling against its surface.

Twilight shook her head, still confused as to what was happening, and lifted a hoof up. “Okay, now, uh... Eres. I don’t want to fight you. Let’s talk about what you said a minute ago, about Pinkie Pie.”

“The time for talking… is over!” the changeling said, flexing his muscles again and taking several strong steps towards Twilight. “Pinkie Pie demands swift retribution!”

“No!” Twilight insisted. “Pinkie Pie wouldn’t demand anything of the sort!”

“Enough talk! Time to kill!” Eres shouted. The amber gem in his horn lit up brightly and he launched himself at Twilight, slamming his front right hoof against her shield. The surface of the barrier rippled and sparked, and Twilight slid back along the floor, towards the back wall. His entire foreleg and hoof were now glowing with bright, golden magic, and cracks began to form in the shield.

What!? Twilight thought as she stared at the shield. She channeled more magic into it and braced herself.

Eres’ hoof smashed through the forcefield, sending bits of purple magic flying everywhere. Twilight ducked toward the ground, evading the punch’s continuation, and then reared forward with her head, slamming it against the changeling’s chest. To her surprise, her horn did not puncture him, but instead seemed to bounce off of him. She fell to the ground, dizzied.

“That’s right!” Eres shouted. “Nopony can beat Eres in single combat! Victory is mine!” He raised both of his front hooves up above Twilight’s head and swung them downward.

Just as his hooves were about to make contact, a massive blast of purple magic came from the side, blasting him away from Twilight and slamming him into the far wall. He fell to the ground with a loud, surprised growl.

Twilight jerked her head to the side and saw Princess Luna standing across the way, wings spread and horn blazing with magic. “A poor performance, Twilight! This sort of enemy does not listen to words.”

“Princess Luna! He knows something about Pinkie Pie.”

“So I heard! Shall we beat it out of him?” the princess responded, galloping towards the changeling while he was down.

“Princess, wait!”

Eres leapt up from the ground, the gem on his horn still glowing. He let loose with a blast of golden magic, shooting it at the charging alicorn, screaming as he fired. “Bring two or two hundred, Eres will prevail!”

“Luna!” Twilight leapt to her hooves and lit up her horn, readying a spell to try and deflect the magic. Luna simply nodded her head to one side and the magic bolt the changeling had fired stopped in midair. Twilight gasped. How did she—

Luna stopped short of her opponent, and instead raised him in the air, holding him in place with levitation. “Submit. We have subdued you.”

“Never!” Eres shouted, lighting up his horn once more.

Luna sighed and levitated the gem out of his horn. “Feel free. The blast will be contained within the shield we’ve placed around you. Can the mighty Eres defeat himself? Let us see.”

The crowd booed. “That’s cheating! Fight him fair and square!”

Luna sighed as Twilight joined her. “Keep an eye on the crowd, Twilight. I shall deal with this one.”

“Alright, but how did you...”

“Freeze his magic? Lucidity. We are in an awakened dream. What these changelings have to do with Pinkie Pie, though, I am still uncertain.”

Twilight stuttered slightly with confusion. “Wait, what? You mean Pinkie is—“

Before she could finish, a blast of pink lightning shattered through the roof and slammed into the ground, throwing up a cloud of dust and debris. The crowd screamed and began to flee the stands. After the cloud of dust cleared, a pink pony, her body coursing with magic, stood in the arena’s center.

“Pinkie Pie!” Twilight shouted.

“Pinkie Pie!” Eres also shouted, flailing his front hooves in the air. “You didn’t have to come all the way here! I was just about to—“

“You were just about to fail me!” Pinkie responded, her voice unnaturally loud and booming. She turned to face the changeling, her eyes ablaze with black magic. “What sort of friend are you? You promised you’d handle this, and it looks like you couldn’t!”

Twilight and Luna turned to look at one another. “She’s possessed by something! That must have something to do with all this!” Twilight said with a gasp.

“Dark magic,” Luna confirmed. “I know that aura. We may be in big trouble, Twilight.”

“What do you have to say for yourself, Eres?” Pinkie asked, making her way towards the three in the corner. “You’ve hurt my feelings!”

Eres fumbled with his words as he responded. “Pinkie! I love you! You know I would never hurt your feelings on purpose! It’s the tall one, she’s really strong!”

Pinkie scoffed. “Princess Luna? That’s a laugh! I’ve beaten her before, what’s your excuse?”

“Pinkie! That’s not fair! You were with us, and we were using the Elements!” Twilight shouted, and then slapped a hoof over her mouth. Why am I defending the changeling?

“Twilight, I’m mad at you, too! Just wait your turn!” Pinkie said, and then a surge of black magic flew from her forehead and encased the changeling, snatching it out of Luna’s grasp. “Eres, you know what happens to friends that stop being friendly!”

“P-P-P-Pinkie! No! You said friends forgive each other, too! Come on! Let’s hug it out!” Eres begged as Pinkie pulled him towards her.

Luna dove at Twilight and wrapped a foreleg around her. “We need to go! Now!” she shouted.

“What? But what about—“ Twilight started, and then her eyes went wide.

“Yeah, but we’re not friends anymore!” Pinkie said with a huge grin. Her eyes opened widely, their whites slowly turning black as she lifted her front hooves and pressed them together. The ball of magic that held the changeling shot spikes out into the air around it. It began to spin, faster and faster.

“Pinkie! No!” The changeling screamed, tears streaming down his face. “I love—” The spines outside the ball inverted, stabbing through the changeling from all directions. He choked, grasping his forelegs around a spine that had stabbed him through the back and exited his chest. His eyes turned to Pinkie, his face, plastered with terror and sadness, his voice - ceased. Blood began to trickle down from the bottom of the sphere onto the ground, and Pinkie turned her gaze to Twilight and the princess.

“Now!” Luna repeated, her eyes wide as she blasted the wall. Instead of an explosion, a tear in the fabric of the dream opened up and she dove through it, dragging Twilight with her. The rip closed behind them, the final thing Twilight saw through it being Pinkie’s face, her black eyes staring at her as she laughed.

“What was that? How could Pinkie do such a thing?” Twilight asked as she and the Princess dove through the air, having appeared in the sky elsewhere.

“Umbral magic, one of the primal magic forces. I’ve not seen it wielded since, well, since I wielded it a thousand years ago.”

“Primal magic? I’ve read about it, but there wasn’t much info.”

Luna nodded her head. “Good, that is not a path one should walk. Several beings throughout history have meddled with primal magic. You already know one: Discord. He’s the only known being to have mastered a primal magic and survived.”

Twilight nodded. “I had read that Star Swirl the Bearded wished to uncover and study all of the primal magics, which eventually led to his demise. That was all I needed to know,” she said, and then sighed. “How did Pinkie Pie end up possessed by Umbral magic? And… who possessed her?”

“Very good questions, Twilight. Perhaps if we can find Discord or my sister, we can learn more. Even though I used Umbral magic as Nightmare Moon, it was not pure, primal magic. I fear that Pinkie Pie has been possessed by a master of Umbral magic, much like Discord is a master of Chaos.”

“Umbral magic. Goodness gracious, it’s been centuries,” Discord said, releasing the changeling from his grasp and reattaching all his body parts. “Tell me everything you know, and I mean everything.”

“You don’t scare me!”

“My, how the tables have turned. Best to end the big talk now. I can end you with a thought, shove you off to the far reaches of another dimension, don’t test me. You just brought up one of the few things in this universe that can give me pause, now tell me… everything!” With the last word, Discord’s body blazed with randomly colored magic and his eyes burned red. The Crusaders jumped away from him and screamed. The changeling squished against the ground and shook.

“Alright, I’ll talk, just don’t tell Pinkie! She made me Pinkie Promise not to tell! I can’t believe I let it slip!” the changeling said, his voice shaking and tears falling from his eyes.

Discord sighed and turned to look at the three fillies. “It’s okay, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said, and they slowly came back towards him and sat down. He turned back to the changeling and waved a claw in the air. “I meant to scare him. Now, start at the beginning. Tell me what has happened in this dream world.”

The changeling wiped his eyes and gulped slightly. “Okay, so we were all lined up and ready to jump into the dream web. The queen told us we had to go in and reset everything, that something had gone wrong. She warned us about some of these ponies, Pinkie being one of them, and then she fed us with love magic. It was then that I heard a little, scared voice call out to me.”

“Was it Pinkie?”

“Yeah, I heard her clear as day. Some of the others around me did, too. She asked us to come play with her. We figured we’d go in and show her how we play, you know, rough like.”

“But something stopped you from doing that.”

“Well, yeah. See, as soon as we got in here, we all got real confused. I could tell they were all feeling it, too. It was like some sort of weight had been lifted off us. Like, we all just started laughing, like madponies. I’d never laughed so hard in my life, and I was filled with this feeling of, I don’t know, joy. I still don’t really know, Pinkie told us that we were all happy, and that she was so happy to have us there to play with her.”

“So? What did you do?”

“We played with her. Duh.”

“Alright, smarty pants, get to the point.”

“You said to tell you everything.”

Discord groaned. “I did say that, didn’t I? Fine, continue.”

“Something inside us had changed, that’s the point. From the moment we came here, we felt different. Before, all we’d known was survival and struggle. Pinkie showed us happiness, taught us about friendship, showed us that we could…”

Discord groaned and rolled his eyes. “Showed you that you could what?”

The changeling blushed slightly. “Love. It’s so weird. It’s weird, right? We can’t love. We can’t have friends, or anything. We’re just—“

“Yes, yes, like a broken record. Skip past that part. If I have to hear another changeling wax poetic about discovering love, I’ll likely rip my ears out and toss them to the far reaches of the Flebotinum Nebula. You know, it really is becoming a tired event.”

“There’s others besides us?”

“Yes, surely you heard about Mulcibar and Linnai. They’re just the same, maybe even worse, I can’t tell yet.”

“Oh, that would definitely explain it,” the changeling said, nodding his head. “If they even feel half as good as we do, they won’t want to go back to the queen, that’s for sure.”

Discord reached out towards the changeling and patted it on the head. It ducked slightly and groaned. “Don’t fret, and I apologize for what I had to do to you earlier. I have a proposal for you, if you’ll listen, uh, what was your name again?”

The changeling shook his head and slouched forward. “Lieutenant Renta… though I guess I can kiss my rank goodbye, just like Mulcibar and Linnai. We came in here originally to wake the dreamer and also to stop Mulcibar and Linnai if we saw them. Now I’m a traitor just like they are, I guess.”

Discord clicked his tongue. “Now, now, traitor is a harsh word. You just, uh, joined the other side.”

“Isn’t that what that means?” Sweetie Belle questioned.

Discord shot the foal a glance. “Not helping!” he whispered.

“She’s right, though. My only loyalty is to Pinkie, now. She’s changed since we arrived, but she’s still Pinkie. I just know it!”

“And how long ago was that?”

“Well, not sure outside the dream, but inside it’s been about a week. It was so wonderful at first, like we were all finally waking up and realizing what our true purpose in life was! Then Pinkie fell into a coma or something, and this shadow appeared and showed us something I’ll never forget,” he said with a gulp. “We saw you lot, all talking and arguing, and this thing that looked like Pinkie, along with Twilight Sparkle, curse her name, used a pink gemstone to shock Pinkie Pie unconscious!”

Discord stroked his beard with a claw. “The communication gem. Yes, that was how this all started.”

“Right! We all saw it! The dark creature, whatever it is, said it was called Umbra, and that it would bring Pinkie back, but in return, we had to swear to kill you all. It proved itself by bringing Pinkie back right then and there! So we’re honorbound! We have to defeat you! For Pinkie!” The changeling was becoming more and more passionate as it spoke. It stood up and glared at Discord, its entire body tensing up.

“Calm yourself!” Discord snapped his finger and the changeling was pushed back to the ground. “Let me tell you what that creature is. It’s not ‘Umbra’ as it claims, I refuse to believe it. Whatever the case may be, it doesn’t hold the power of life and death in its hands. It’s playing you for a fool! It wants you to do its dirty work, but then it will dispose of you, I guarantee it.”

“Why should I believe you? It brought Pinkie back to us! She smiled and laughed, same as she had before!”

“Because there is no such thing as ‘Umbra’, my little changeling, there is only ‘Umbral magic’. If this creature is truly wielding Umbral magic, I seriously doubt it can rival me, chaos versus darkness. Take me to it, and I will make sure it never harms you or Pinkie Pie ever again.”

The changeling frowned. “Oh sure, and by doing that, you’d have a clean shot at Pinkie! I don’t think so. No deal.”

“Then allow me to extract the information from you,” Discord said, his face darkening. He lifted a claw and the changeling in turn rose into the air once more.

“That won’t be necessary,” a voice spoke from behind Discord. He turned and looked, his expression going from evil to confused in a flash.

“Who are you, then?” he asked with a squint. “Ohhhh, I recognize you. Well, now we’re finally getting somewhere.”

Ponyville, Reality, Present

“Couldn’t we have at least waited until the storm let up?” Trixie whined as she and Zecora marched through the swells of rain in Ponyville.

“Who do you think would break up these clouds? If what you say is true, I fear that everypony in town has been replaced, and Rainbow Dash is away in Canterlot.”

The two of them ducked behind a house, peeking inside the windows. There was nopony home, as expected. They continued through the town, weaving through alleyways and backstreets until they were finally approaching the town square where Trixie had encountered the changelings. Zecora peered around a corner and spotted several ponies milling about near the town hall. She blinked, a glint of light catching her eyes from the inside.

Pulling back to face Trixie, she whispered as quietly as she could. “There is definitely something amiss. We should try and get closer, work our way around, see if we can see or hear anything.”

They snuck around the backs of houses, diving between them when none of the changelings were looking. They eventually came to a house near the town hall. Zecora looked left, then right, and then kicked the back door open. “Pardon the intrusion,” she whispered as she entered. The two of them crept low to the ground, stopping at a window that faced town hall, right across the way. Zecora cracked the window and put her ear up. “It’s no good. I cannot hear what they are saying.”

Trixie grinned and lit her horn up. “Leave that to the great and powerful, uh… me.” She cast a spell against the window, and suddenly the both of them were able to hear voices speaking.

Zecora smiled and nodded. “Well done.” They both listened intently as two changelings conversed.

“I saw a messenger. Any word from Canterlot?”

“It has fallen. The princesses are ours, all three of them.”

Trixie gasped and ducked her head down, clasping her hooves over her mouth. “Canterlot? Fallen?” she said in a muffled tone.

“So this is not even the main force,” Zecora noted gravely, her eyes narrowing.

“They gonna send us any relief?”

One of the changelings laughed. “Relief? What for? The puny group of ponies down at that farm? Let them struggle! If we can’t take them, we’ll take them out!”

“There was a unicorn from out of town, earlier, as well. We ran her off, but couldn’t catch her. She used some sort of teleportation,” a third changeling added.

“Teleportation? That’s high magic. She could be trouble if she gets to the farm.”

Trixie grinned and nodded her head.

“More likely she just ran off crying. Other than the teleport, her magic was pathetic.”

Trixie growled and Zecora slapped a hoof over her mouth.

“What was that?” One of the changelings said, its head jerking to face the house. Zecora and Trixie ducked down beneath the window.

“Sounded like a dog. Probably the mutt from the farm got loose.”

“Do mutts crack windows and snoop around?”

“We have to go!” Trixie whispered, jolting forward.

Zecora grabbed her, pulling her back down. “Shh! Be still.” They could hear hoofsteps approaching them. Zecora’s ear twitched. “Two of them. Coming straight at the window. Stay perfectly still.”

The changelings continued their approach, and Trixie’s body started to shake. Zecora pressed a hoof against her shoulder, trying to calm her, but it did nothing to stop her shivering.

“They’re gonna—“ Trixie started. Zecora grabbed her head with her forelegs and smashed her face against her chest, silencing her. She hugged her close, quietly breathing through her mouth. Much to her relief, Trixie’s shaking slowed.

“Little ponies, where are you?” One of the changelings asked, followed by a flash of green light. It continued, its voice now a perfect copy of the mayor’s. “Everything is alright, we just need everypony to gather in the town hall.”

Cheerilee’s voice chimed in. “Is it any of the children? Come out now, everything is fine.”

A hoof reached out to the window and began to slowly push it upward. “Are you in there?” Mayor Mare’s voice called out. “Don’t worry, we just want to make sure you’re safe and sound.”

The mayor’s face poked into the house, hovering over Zecora and Trixie, staring into the house, but not looking down to spot them.

Zecora pressed her mouth into Trixie’s ear, her lips barely moving as she whispered with almost no breath. “Brace yourself and hold on tight.”

Trixie felt a chill run down her spine and nodded her head, which was still pressed firmly against Zecora’s chest.

The mayor glanced left and right, her eyes scanning the dark home. “It’s not good to spy on others, you know.” A sudden flash caught the mayor’s eye and she jerked her head downward, spotting Zecora and Trixie huddled together. “There you are!”

The darker of Zecora’s stripes lit up a bright green and magic began to sparkle all around her. The ground shook beneath them, and in the blink of an eye, vines and growth began to sprout out of the ground, wrapping around the two changelings. She released Trixie and calmly nodded up at the mayor, who was now wrapped tightly in foliage. “Now we run.”

The two of them bolted through the house and out the front door, breaking it down in front of them just before the interior of the house burst with solid ice. The building was frozen into a jagged ice crystal. The two changelings shed their disguises and gave chase, their wings fully open, glowing blue and orange. Zecora and Trixie sped through the streets, their hooves pounding against the dirt, the sound of more hooves following behind them echoing across the village.

Trixie turned to look back at the frozen house. “That was crazy! We almost died! How did you do that?” she asked with amazement.

Zecora grinned. “Magic, of course, though different than yours. With no horn, one must channel magic in other ways. Mine is of a connection to nature.”

Trixie glanced back at the swarm of changelings now chasing after them. “Well, can you maybe do it again and stop those things?”

The two changelings with flowing wings leapt into the air, taking flight. A column of fire shot down from the orange one’s wings, cutting down the center of the road behind the fleeing pony and zebra. They leapt to the side as the beam blazed between them.

Zecora shook her head as they regrouped once past the sudden flames. “I fear not, Trixie my dear! It is not as automatic as a unicorn’s horn! Speaking of which, care to try that teleportation spell again? They’re gaining!”

Trixie’s jaw fell open even wider. “I told you, that was a fluke! I’d never done it before, and now… to teleport the both of us? It’s insane! Nopony could do such a thing!”

“Hmmm?” Zecora intoned, her eyebrows raising. “I suppose I was just assuming from your title. Or, is the only great and powerful thing about you your mouth?”

Trixie fumed, steam practically shooting out of her ears. “Now you listen here, miss one-spell-and-she’s-done! I am great, and I am powerful, but what you’re asking is beyond that! It’s marvelous and potent, even!”

“Well, you’d better rename yourself the Marvelous and Potent Trixie, because we’re not going to make it to that farm without getting caught!”

Trixie clenched her eyes shut and shook her head. I can’t! I can’t do it! she thought, and then heard her own voice from the past ringing in her ear.

No one can vanquish an ursa major! I just made the whole story up to make me look better!

“But she did it!” Trixie shouted, her voice raspy and annoyed. “Damn it, Twilight Sparkle, I will surpass you!” She skidded to a stop, grabbing ahold of Zecora with her forelegs.

“What are you doing? Have you gone mad?” Zecora shouted, struggling against Trixie’s grip.

The unicorn’s horn lit up brightly, magic crackling all around it. “Just hold on!” she shouted, and then the two of them vanished with a flash and a pop just as the road they’d been standing in froze into a solid sheet of ice.

They reappeared in an apple orchard and fell to the ground, both of them panting heavily. Zecora turned to Trixie and smiled. “You did it! I knew you could!”

Trixie took a deep breath and sat up, brushing grass and dirt from her coat. “Of course I did! The Marvelous and Potent Trixie could never fail!”

A whooshing sound followed by a thump rang out to their left, and both of them jerked their heads in time to see an arrow lodged in the tree next to them.

“Hold still!” a deep voice called out. “Next one skewers one of ya!”

A massive red stallion stepped around from a tree and into view. IN his teeth, he held a crossbow, a bolt loaded into it, and his front left hoof ready to push the trigger.

“We ask that you hold your attack. We come in peace, my dear Big Mac,” Zecora said, raising her hooves in the air.

“Zecora?” Big Macintosh asked suspiciously. He kept the crossbow trained on them and Zecora sighed.

“Our word he cannot simply trust, so be his prisoners we must,” Zecora explained.

Big Mac nodded his head. “Eeyup.” He pointed the crossbow’s tip toward the edge of the orchard.

Trixie sighed and stood up, helping Zecora to her hooves. The two of them walked ahead of Big Mac out of the orchard and up to the Apple Family farmhouse.

Upon entering the house, Zecora and Trixie glanced around the living room. Zecora recognized every pony in the place. “Granny Smith, Flitter, Roseluck, Lily, Cloudchaser, Silver Spanner, and a pair of foals, Diamond Tiara and Snips. Is this truly all that is left of Ponyville?”

Big Mac seemed to relax slightly, then sighed. “‘Fraid so. It really is you, ain’t it?”

Zecora nodded her head. “Indeed, and the one with me is Trixie, who came here to, ehm… redeem herself.”

Trixie blushed and scoffed. “Indeed! The Great and Powerful Trixie has returned to Ponyville for another performance!” she said, posing in place. “Or she would have if it weren’t for those creatures.”

Everyone in the room groaned at the same time. “It’s her. Yep. No one could fake that.”

Flitter’s eyes glanced to the side suddenly and she leapt up against a window, pressing her face against it. “Hey! Everypony, look! It’s Cloudsdale!”

“Cloudsdale?” Roseluck shouted, bolting past Zecora and Trixie and running out into the front yard. She stared up at the distant northern sky. Both Canterlot Mountain and Cloudsdale were barely visible. Everypony else joined her as she fell to the ground, her eyes wide and shaking. “It’s… moving.”

The group all stared into the sky as Cloudsdale slowly drifted northwest, going further and further away.

“It’s leaving. The pegasi… they’re abandoning us.”

“Hey! I bet they have a plan! Come on, Rose! They can’t just…” She squinted and pointed a hoof out towards the horizon. “Hey, what’s that?”

Big Macintosh leapt back into the house, returning quickly with a pair of binoculars. He pressed them against his eyes and gazed into the distance. “Airships. Lots of ‘em. Headin’ ta Canterlot.”

“Why are they going to Canterlot?” Trixie asked, shaking her head. “They should be coming here! We’re the ones that are in trouble!”

“Canterlot has fallen,” Zecora said, turning to look at Trixie. “That is what one of the creatures let slip. Perhaps for that reason, they’ve taken to ship.”

Trixie stamped her hoof against the ground. “Speak normally, you striped music box!”

“If Canterlot is captured or under attack, then Cloudsdale’s clear choice is to take it back.”

Trixie glared. “At least I catch your drift,” she said, then turned to look at the others. “So we’re on our own. Fantastic.”

“Maybe we should just wait it out,” Flitter said with a sigh.

“No way!” Diamond Tiara shouted from the back. “I have to get back to town hall! You said you’d help me!”

“And I said you’d have to be crazy to want to go back there!” Snips snapped.

“She’s right, y’all,” Granny Smith spoke up, driving the others to silence. “Turnin’ tail and hidin’ ain’t the Ponyville way! It ain’t the Apple way! We’re gonna come up with a plan and run them bug-eyed demons right outta town!”

Everypony stared at her for a moment, and then Big Mac nodded his head. “Eeyup!” he said with vigor.

Zecora approached the elder pony and placed a hoof to her chin. “The enemy uses ice and fire. I may have an idea, but timing is dire.”

Everypony huddled up to Zecora and Granny Smith.

“Go on, then, child. Let’s hear it.”

Author's Note

Dark Pinkie! Or should we call her Nightmare Pie? Umbral Pie?
Things are heating up in Ponyville, too! Or wait, are they freezing? Fire and Ice must be defeated to save the town, and Zecora has a plan.

It was a bit shorter than usual this time, or more like it's right around 5k which was typical of this fic up until recently. This book is gonna get going big time real fast, so I hope you look forward to next time!

If you like my stories, consider supporting me on Patreon.

Pinked Ch 3 - Lemon Drop

Author's Note

How does one come back after so long away? How can one possibly ask for the understanding of those that he led on, believing that he was near delivering something to them when he had nothing but depression and distraction? What can one do when distraction is the only thing keeping him going? For those still in his life, he put on a smiling face and pretended that everything was okay, but it was a mask to hide his tears.

Fully recovered? Those are not the right words. It would be more appropriate to say he was on the path to recovery, and those still in his life helped him get through it.

What about those whom he cut off completely? Their acceptance is not expected, nor should they feel obligated to stand by him again when he did nothing but hide from them. Some of them, however, have come back, or never left, and for that he is grateful. I am grateful.

Here is where I stand now. Right here, you can choose to stand with me if you wish. I will try to be responsive. I will apologize for not asking for help when I needed it. I am just not one to ask for help like that. It’s not that I am afraid of it looking like weakness, it’s just that I don’t wish to trouble anyone.

Instead of asking for help, I worked through it. Was it as fast as it could have been? Perhaps not.

But, here I stand. I’m still me.

I’ve got stories to tell you.

Let’s live them together.

Littlecolt

Pinked Ch 3 - Lemon Drop

Book Six: Pinked

Chapter Three - Lemon Drop

Ponyville, Reality, Present...

Zecora held her gaze steadily toward the ground for a moment in deep thought, then glanced from one pony to another, making a mental count of them. She nodded her head firmly and turned to Trixie. “The two creatures we encountered in town had unique abilities. Set aside their shape changing and recall, Trixie, the magic that they unleashed upon us all.”

Trixie placed a hoof to her chin. “It was elemental magic; Fire and ice,” she recalled, then returned a confused gaze. “What is so unique about that?”

“They were specialists,” Zecora quickly clarified. “One of them used fire and the other used ice. If we can use that against them, it would be quite nice.”

“I’m not following,” Trixie said, and the others simply nodded their heads with her. "And knock off the rhyming, it just makes it harder."

Zecora waved a hoof skyward. “We will need to split them up, that is the first task, and then bring them back together. Build their rage until they attack blindly, and then have them unleash their attacks upon each another. The fire user will be frozen, or the ice user will be burned, or both.”

“Or neither! Have you ever seen what happens when fire and ice magic collide?” Trixie asked, jaw-dropped. “It’s crazy! The explosive heat from the reaction is like a giant bomb!”

Zecora gazed at Trixie, her eyes almost glowing. “That is precisely what we should hope for.” She turned to look at the others, who all wore varying looks of concern. “We need one in the air and one on the ground. We need someone quick on the ground who can handle the assault.”

Silence held the air. Everypony dropped their eyes to the ground. After a minute, Big Mac finally stomped his hoof against the dirt and stiffened his jaw. “I got the ground. You better take the sky, Flitter.”

“Me? But-!” the pegasus protested.

“Who else is gonna do it?” the stallion asked, his eyes locked on her.

With a sigh she nodded her head. “F-f-fine! I can do it! No problem!” She turned and glared at Cloudchaser, who shrugged and shook her head in response.

Zecora nodded her head. “The rest of us have jobs to do as well. We need to make it seem like an organized attack rather than a trap.” She turned her gaze to Big Mac. “As noble as your offer is, Big Mac, I believe we have one even better suited for the task.”

Everypony in the room looked from face to face, a bit confused. Zecora finally raised a hoof and pointed it towards Trixie. The unicorn blinked her eyes and put a hoof to her own chest.

“Me? Why me? Surely he’s quicker on his feet than Trixie!” the blue pony protested, but Zecora quickly interrupted her complaining.

“Your teleportation magic is the key. Our airborne partner will lure one of them into the top floor of a large structure, perhaps Sugarcube Corner, while you bring the other in on the ground level. You'll incur the flying creatures wrath with a blast of magic whilst the Pegasus flies away through a window. You will then use your teleportation to escape as well. The two will both attack where they believe you to be, but their magic will collide and explode, hopefully destroying them in the process.”

Trixie’s jaw was dropped and tears were forming in the corners of her eyes. “I- I can’t! I can’t just teleport on a whim like that!”

“Earlier tonight, you did just that and saved my life. That wasn’t even your first time.” Zecora stepped towards Trixie and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Come outside with me and practice. You can do this!”

“But what if I can’t?”

“You can!” Zecora said, gazing into Trixie’s eyes. “You are great and powerful! Never forget that!”

Trixie’s lip trembled for a moment, and then she smiled, nodding her head. “Alright! Let’s go practice!” She stood up and bolted to the door, heading outside.

Zecora followed, turning to look at Flitter. “You, too, should practice. Tight turns, evasive maneuvers, whatever you need to do, be prepared. We have not much time.”

Zecora and Trixie exited the house into the yard, leaving everypony else in silent thought.

“C-Come on, Flitter!” Cloudchaser finally said, grabbing ahold of the other pegasus’ hooves and pulling her up. “I’ll help! Let’s get ready!”

“Tch! Lame!” Diamond Tiara scoffed and headed for the door as well. “Come on, Snips. We’ve got better things to do than training in this hillbilly house!” She grabbed ahold of the other foal’s hoof and yanked him toward the exit. He followed her, not that he had much of a choice, outside as well.

Big Mac turned to Granny Smith and sighed. “You think this is gonna work, Granny?”

The older mare shook her head and stared at the floor, unblinking. “We ain’t got no other choice, Big Mac. We have to fight for this town or die tryin’! No more hidin’!”

Big Mac looked out the window at Trixie and Zecora and nodded his head. “Eeyup.”

Meanwhile in Pinkie Pie’s Dream...

Celestia and Linnai slowly emerged from the tunnel, breaking their forward gaze to look at where they had come from. The structure they’d been in was much like the towering slope before them. Stairwells and paths went up and across the slopes at various points, each step a different bright, cheerful color. Arranged in a grid over the entire incline’s surface were clear boxes, almost like large fish tanks, with ponies inside. The ponies were clearly not alive, but were merely three-dimensional images. The two travelers made their way up the stairs and to the first tier, stopping in front of a tank that contained a pink earth pony with a blonde mane and a flower in her hair. Sitting in front of her was a scroll.

Celestia picked up the scroll, opened it, and let her eyes skim the contents. “Her name is Lily. There’s all sort of information about her, here. Birthdate, day of the week it fell on, favorite color, favorite foods, likes, dislikes, how she and Pinkie Pie met and became friends,” she said, and then put the scroll down. She turned her gaze upward along the seemingly endless slope of ponies. “Is this every pony she knows? It’s like a catalogue of her friendships.”

Linnai cringed. “That’s kind of creepy, I guess.”

Celestia shook her head and shrugged. “Pinkie knows a lot of ponies, considering them all her friends. I’d always figured she had some sort of mental filing system to keep track of it all. This must be the physical representation of it. But, why would she be dreaming of it?”

“Okay, but how do we get out of here? I am not climbing to the top.”

“No. I don’t think we need to do that. There must be an exit to the side since the slopes go up in two directions with that small courtyard down there below. We should explore that way. We need to find Pinkie Pie as soon as possible.”

“Yeah, I’m all for getting out of this creepy place as soon as possible,” Linnai said, tapping on the glass of Lily’s tank. The pony’s image turned its head toward her and opened its eyes. Linnai jumped back, startled, and stared back at it. Its eyes were completely black and its mouth began to open.

“Ismara,” Lily said in a flat, droning voice. The eyes of other ponies all started to open and stare down at Linnai and Celestia.

“Ismara. Ismara,” they chanted, not in time, but just randomly, the sound of hundreds of ponies chanting Ismara’s name getting louder and louder.

“Ismara?” Celestia questioned, and turned to look at Linnai. “Why would they be saying her name?”

Linnai began to back away, heading to the staircase, her body shaking slightly. “I have no idea, but let’s get out of here like now. Please.”

“Ismara!” Lily shouted at Linnai. “Ismara!”

“Okay! Ismara! Good!” Linnai responded. “Let’s go.”

Celestia nodded her head. “I agree. We won’t learn anything by staying here,” she said, spreading her wings. “Let us fly. We can talk on the way. I have questions about a few things.”

Celestia’s thought to herself quietly as they flew away from the mountain of ponies. How in Equestria could they have even known the name ‘Ismara’? They only know what Pinkie Pie knows, right? She glanced sideways at Linnai and narrowed her eyes. “What does Ismara mean to you, Linnai? Your order is named after her, so you surely must know some things,” she asked.

Linnai felt the pressure on her from Celestia once again and clenched her teeth for a moment. “I don’t know what’s true and what’s false anymore, to be honest. The Order of Ismara was supposedly founded by Ismara, and was the group that infiltrated Canterlot before you defeated her,” she replied, and then hung her head. “It almost seems like you know more about her than we do.”

Celestia lightened her tone. “Alright, well, then tell me about yourself, Linnai. You and your fellow changelings.” She glanced back at the rapidly vanishing friend database and felt a bit relieved. “If there exist changelings like you and your brother, then surely I can no longer hold a grudge against your entire race.” She sighed, shaking her head at her own foolishness as the memory of her outrage at the sight of Cadence returned to her. The words she’d said to Twilight rang in her ears.

They can never be forgiven.

“Well, I’ll be honest, our lives had been difficult. My brother and I were born to a changeling mare named Tala. We do not have the same father, but both of them were unicorns. When a changeling and a unicorn mate, a changeling that looks like us is often the result… an imperfect blend of our races.”

Celestia bit against the inside of her cheek for a moment. “But, we’re the same race, aren’t we? It’s hard for me to think of it that way, but now we know that—“

“Please, stop,” Linnai interrupted. “I’ve… lived my whole life hating you ponies. I looked down on you, despised you, even envied you. Now that I’ve seen the truth, I just…” She sniffled, tears falling from her eyes.

Celestia swung closer to her and reached a hoof out, touching gently upon her shoulder. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for this to become—“

“How do I live with myself now!?” Linnai shouted, turning to look into Celestia’s eyes. “I believed all the lies about you; I believed that you were just food for us! You were less than worms to me! And now I’m in love with one of those ‘worms’! How can I possibly forgive myself? Look at me… and I told Mulci he was weak because of love.”

Celestia felt her own tears welling up. She gulped and shook her head. “I don’t know, child. If you find the answer, please let me know.”

Linnai sighed and wiped her tears away, nodding her head and facing forward. “We grew up on our own. There were other changelings, and we knew about them, but mother didn’t want us to go anywhere near them. She told us that we would be taken away. When she died, we ran away and were found by Luzon. He brought us back to Chrysalis.”

Celestia wiped her eyes as well and listened. “Why did your mother oppose living with the other changelings? What did she mean by ‘taken away’?”

“To this day, I have no idea. From the moment we were brought to the village, we were treated well. We had ample water and there was never a shortage of love to feed upon. We lived secretly near to ponies, and you’d probably be surprised at how many changelings are out there living among your subjects. In any case, Chrysalis had been ruling for a long time before we came. She was kind. Looking back on her, she almost seemed to love us, though I know that’s not possible.”

“What happened? Why did she attack if things were going well for you?”

Linnai took a deep breath. “Ten months ago, right after the return of Princess Luna, something inside Chrysalis seemed to change. A coincidence, I’m sure, but she suddenly became more militaristic, darker somehow, and power crazed. Just like Mulcibar said, it was as if madness had gripped her. Suddenly, we had ponies attacking us, and she retaliated. Our warriors and mages who had for so long not been deployed for combat were fighting ponies to the death. You may have heard about the terrible riots and fires in the south. That was us. Anypony who knew about us was killed to keep our secret and replaced with a changeling.”

Celestia gasped. “The unrest in Roaneigh; It had been blamed on a distrust of Luna, but was handled quickly. Luna and I even went there to reassure everypony.”

Linnai chuckled lightly. “You were reassuring a bunch of changelings. If there are any ponies left down there, I’d be shocked,” she said blankly. “I’m sorry, but that was the queen’s first act of war against you, and you never knew.”

“How did the attack begin?” Celestia further inquired.

“Nopony knows. They struck first, and we fought back. It was sudden, and Chrysalis called for their utter annihilation. Afterwards, she began to plan her invasion of Canterlot.”

Celestia’s mind was already working, placing pieces of the puzzle together that had been given to her throughout her adventure thus far. “What if the timing wasn’t a coincidence? We’ve all just been assuming it was, but if you take into consideration that Ismara caused Luna’s transformation into Nightmare Moon…”

Linnai cocked an eyebrow. “Didn’t she just cause Luna to doubt herself and cast out her love and such?”

“She turned Luna into a changeling in a completely different way than the others. It’s almost as if she were preparing something,” Celestia continued to ponder aloud. Suddenly, something struck her memory. “There were three holes in Luna’s soul that got filled by her shards, but we found a fourth hole. That was where we saw Chrysalis through a portal.”

“So what is the significance of the fourth hole?” Linnai asked, her eyes darting back and forth.

“Chrysalis spoke as if she knew me, knew Ismara, but that’s impossible.”

“You’re right, she’s not that old.”

“But what if…” Celestia said and then fell silent, her jaw hanging open. “You said she seemed possessed by madness. What if she was possessed by something else?”

“Something else?”

“Ismara. Not literally her, but a piece of her power; her essence. I don’t know how she would have done it, but what if Ismara put something inside of Luna? She failed to usurp the throne, so she needed a backup plan. If Luna managed to kill me, she was basically in her thrall, taking over would be easy. However, if I beat Luna, she must have known I wouldn’t kill her and thus—“

“Her failure to beat you would only be a setback!” Linnai shook her head. “It’s crazy.”

“It’s brilliant. Ismara was mad for power, she’d do anything to take over Equestria. By casting a spell that could entrance someone a thousand years later, her ambition lives on. I still don’t understand all the reasons why, but…”

“Then what happened to Chrysalis? If she’s just possessed by this power…” Linnai pondered and then slapped her hooves together. “Vitra! Vitra said Chrysalis had given her orders to find out more about love! She said she didn’t seem all that different to her! Maybe the real Chrysalis is still in there somewhere!”

“As much a victim as any of us. Damn…” Celestia sighed. “If we’re correct, I don’t see how this can end well. It seems like somepony is destined to suffer.”

“The question is who?” Vitra added as the two of them continued forward.

Vitra gazed into the distance, her wide grin only getting wider as she leapt forward and slid down the embankment that sat on the edge of the forest that she had just come out of. Fluttershy was much less enthusiastic as she hit behind a tree and poked her head out just enough to look down at Vitra, trying to ignore the scenery.

“You know, I think this must be the wrong way. We should turn back and—“ Fluttershy started, but then felt herself being yanked out of the woods by magic. She gasped and hid her eyes behind her hooves as Vitra levitated her down and set her softly onto the muddy bank.

Before the two of them was a vast body of bright red liquid. A dock conveniently jutted out over the lake, and a boat was tied to the end of the dock. Far across the lake could be seen a massive mountain made of multi-colored stone. The cliff face on the side of the mountain facing them had caves in it that made it resemble a pony skull. The caves themselves glowed with golden light, pulsing in brightness.

Vitra dipped her hoof into the lake and let her jaw hang open. “This is amazing! Look at it! First that forest and now this!” She lifted her hoof up to her muzzle and sniffed the red liquid. Her eyes went wide and she licked her hoof and smirked. “It’s fruit punch. The lake is full of fruit punch! How crazy! This Pinkie sure knows how to create atmosphere!”

Fluttershy perked up and sighed, relaxing slightly. “Oh, fruit punch, I should have known. I was worried it was…” She trailed off, gazing across at the skull mountain. “Still, that mountain seems like—“

“Oh come on, I bet that’s where we need to go. Let’s hop in the boat and get across there!” Vitra said with enthusiasm, jumping toward the dock.

Flutershy hesitated for a moment, then followed. “Can’t we just fly?” she asked as she landed on the wooden dock and headed toward the boat.

Vitra tapped a hoof against her forehead. “Oh yeah, duh. Alright then, let’s get moving,” she said, spreading her wings and taking a leap over the water. Fluttershy followed her and the two of them flapped their wings to gain altitude. Once they were gliding, Vitra turned her head towards her pegasus companion. “So, maybe I can help you decide.”

“Decide on what?” Fluttershy asked, raising an eyebrow.

“On Mulcibar, of course! I know him really well, and he’s a super great guy.”

“Is this really the time to be thinking about that kind of stuff?” Fluttershy deflected.

“Now’s the best time! You can’t be indecisive. That’s one thing I always loved about Mulcibar, he made up his mind and did what he said he would do!” Vitra replied, and then shook her head with a chuckle. “Well, I guess I didn’t always love that about him. Before just recently, I couldn’t feel love, so…”

Vitra’s brow raised and she gazed hazily forward as they glided, her mouth hanging open a bit and her eyes seeming to gloss over. “I just said it so naturally. How odd.”

Fluttershy blinked. “What is?”

“I mean, Mulcibar and Linnai had said it before, that they were looking back at old memories and seeing them in a different light, almost as if their past had been recolored. I don’t think that’s quite right, though. I can’t describe it, it’s strange. When I think back about Mulcibar, I somehow remember feeling love, but that isn’t possible.”

“Sometimes I see things differently when I remember them, and I can feel what I should have felt, so that might be—“

“No, that’s not it. I don’t think so, anyway,” Vitra interjected, finally blinking her eyes. “Here’s one thing I remember. So, one morning, I woke up in my room, a fire was burning across the way in a fireplace, but I didn’t remember lighting it. I rubbed my eyes and looked toward the fireplace and saw Mulcibar standing there, stoking the fire. He turned and looked towards me and smiled…”

“Good morning, princess. I hope you don’t mind, it was a bit chilly, so I started a fire,” Mulcibar said, placing the poker against the wall and making his way back to Vitra’s bed. He leaned forward and Vitra brought her face up to meet his, pressing her lips to his and kissing him.

“Mmmm, how lovely… but I would have been fine with just your body warmth,” she replied and tapped a hoof against the bed’s surface. “Come back to bed.”

The stallion crawled onto the bed and pressed up against Vitra, wrapping a foreleg around her. He kissed her neck and sighed. “Why do you prefer me over all the other stallions?” he asked, and quickly got a giggle in response.

“Do you really have to ask? Because you’re so obedient, of course. Not to mention you have a big—“

“Right. Of course, that, but…”

Vitra turned to look at the fire again. “It’s like you know what I’m going to want or need before I do. Little things like that fire. That’s what I prefer you, Mulci.”

“It wasn’t just the fire, though,” Vitra said as she and Fluttershy got closer and closer to the mountain.

“Go on. What about the fire?” Fluttershy questioned, blinking rapidly in confusion.

Vitra tapped her head with her hoof. “Sorry, I was lost in a memory. Fire, yeah, um… He can be quite fiery, can’t he?”

A tad confused, Fluttershy simply nodded her head and brushed her bangs away from her face. “Yes, I suppose he can. It’s a bit intimidating sometimes, but—”

“But alluring, too! My heart throbs sometimes, even though we never were anything special.”

Fluttershy stared at Vitra. “You… don’t sound like you believe that at all,” she stated plainly, then covered her mouth and faced forward again. “You know, I think I was right, this might not be the best time to talk about this.”

“I don’t,” Vitra mumbled back, almost pained sounding. “I don’t believe it. I felt the same back then, and… well, you tell me, pony! How does it feel to truly be in love?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never—”

“Does your face feel warm?”

“I don’t really want to—”

“Does your head swirl like it’s being stirred?”

“I don’t have much experience in—”

“Do you feel like you might cry, but it’s a good thing?” Vitra asked and stared at Fluttershy, her eyes wide, her jaw clenched.

Fluttershy turned to face her as they glided, her bangs falling over one of her eyes. She bashfully nodded her head in response.

“It can’t be a coincidence. It was rare, but…” Vitra’s mind filled with memories as she spoke. Lessons taught to her as a young changeling about love, how it was to be fed upon, how changeling kind couldn’t feel that emotion, and how it was something that made ponies and other creatures weak.

“That’s it, then,” she said, her voice wavering, as she recalled what Chrysalis had said to her before.

Tell me, Vitra, how was it that I could feel your energy? How could you possibly have produced love energy?

“You weren’t asking for an answer, were you? You already knew, didn’t you?” Vitra asked aloud.

“Knew what? What answer?” Fluttershy asked as they approached the mountain’s left eye.

“I can’t… possibly explain it, your majesty,” Vitra recalled herself saying, her voice shaking.

“Ah, but I expect you to, eventually,” Chrysalis replied with a soft grin.

“I do understand now. I understand everything.”

Vitra’s mind filled with memories of time she had spent with her mother as a child. The two of them had never been close, but the more she thought about it, the more she saw her mother, her queen, standing there in her memories, watching from afar, looming in the background, and she always had the same look on her face: A gentle smile. Soft eyes, full of expression, full of hope. A sort of energy, contained and held back, but present all the same.

“That’s the solution. I’ve figured it out, your majesty!” Vitra shouted, as if proclaiming it loudly enough for Chrysalis to hear her.

Fluttershy and Vitra landed in the opening of the cave that made up the mountain skull’s eye socket. Fluttershy, as confused as ever, turned to face Vitra and raised a hoof in the air. “Figured out what?” she said, her voice laced with annoyance.

Vitra placed a hoof calmly on Fluttershy’s shoulder and looked into her eyes. “I’m in love with Mulcibar, and I always have been,” she said, matter-of-factly.

Fluttershy tilted her head slightly and sighed. “Okay… congratulations?” she said nervously.

Vitra laughed. “Don’t worry. No doubt he’ll pick you,” she said, and then walked into the cave, lighting up the tip of her horn.

Fluttershy followed and groaned lightly. “Alright, sure, but do we have to go in here?”

“Of course we do! Come on!”

Rainbow Dash woke up slowly, opening her eyes and yawning. She felt a strange calmness throughout her body. She turned and sunk her face into a pillow, nuzzling against it. Her pillow was warm and a bit fuzzy.

She realized that it was not a pillow. Her eyes opened fully. She was lying with her head resting against a dark gray flank. She rolled her body and jerked her head up, finding herself now staring at Mulcibar’s calm, smiling face.

“You’re awake. Good,” he said. Dash leapt up and away from him, straightening her somewhat mussed mane.

“Yeah! Awake!” she said with a slight rosiness to her cheeks. She remembered that he had fed upon her. It had left her drained and she must have fallen asleep. They were still inside the cave they’d taken shelter in. “We’ll just add this to the list of things we’ll never mention again…”

Mulcibar nodded his head softly. “Fine by me. We should head out. You were out for over an hour, and we need to find the others.”

Rainbow jolted up to her hooves. “Over an hour? That’s bad! Where should we go, though? Stay down here in creepy creature land, or go back up to crazy town?” As she finished her question, the echo of a voice came from deeper inside the cave. Her ears twitched and she turned her head toward the sound. “You hear that?”

“Hear what? Probably just the echo of your own—“ Mulcibar started and then was cut off.

“Shh!” Rainbow turned her head again, tilting it slightly. “It sounded like somepony shouting, but really distant.”

The voice came again, and this time Mulcibar heard it. He took a step towards it and furrowed his brow. “Do you think it’s the others? Maybe they ended up deep in this cave and are lost.”

“We have to go see,” Rainbow said, and then groaned. “Great. It’s not monsterville or creepy town, it’s deeper into this dark cave. N-n-not that I’m scared! At all! In fact, I love caves!”

“I spent a lot of my childhood in a cave. Come on,” Mulcibar said, his voice completely calm and level, as he proceeded forward. He shot a small beam of magic from his horn at the wall, leaving a mark. “I’ll mark our path so we don’t get lost.”

Rainbow grinned and nodded in approval. “Good thinking. Let’s go.”

The tunnel they went down, heading toward the voice, was fairly spacious with a tall ceiling. The sounds of water dripping and wind blowing were mostly what they heard, but they also heard the voice, still distant, but growing ever closer all the time.

Rainbow Dash glanced at Mulcibar, who was staring forward, his face flat and expressionless, lost in his task of listening for the voice. She walked carefully just like he was, trying to not make any noise with hoof falls. Eventually, she gave in to her boredom and started talking to him again.

“So, you grew up in a cave?”

“We hid in caves a lot.”

“That’s cool. I guess you had to hide a lot? Were ponies after you?”

“Not from ponies… from changelings. Mother didn’t like other changelings.”

“Huh,” Rainbow intoned, blinking with confusion. “So, how did you learn how to fight? You were pretty good out there! Quick and decisive!”

“How did you learn to fight?” he asked in response. “I was forced to, I was in a military position. You’re just a civilian.”

“Yeah, but I want to join the Wonderbolts someday. I have to bring my a-game all the time!”

Mulcibar snorted lightly. “I guess we’re similar that way, you and I… except instead of joining some showpony team, I was just trying to avoid being sent to do more menial tasks. Thankfully, Vitra took an interest in me, so I didn’t have much of a problem for long.”

Rainbow Dash laughed. “What kind of interest? She seemed like she was pretty close to you.”

Mulcibar blushed. “She’s the princess, so I had to be if she wanted. She demanded that I be her personal stu… uh… demanded that I fulfill her more primal needs.”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow and stared at him, holding back a louder laugh. “So, your job was literally bang the princess.”

Mulcibar turned, completely red-faced now, and stared at Rainbow Dash. “That wasn’t my only-! I wasn’t just-! I never gave her any foals or anything!”

Rainbow fell sideways against the cave wall and burst into laughter. “Dude, the look on your face! Chill out! You’re killin’ me!” she said, falling to her haunches and clopping a hoof against the cold rock floor.

Mulcibar took a deep breath and exhaled with annoyance. “I’m just trying to be honest. I had no choice, she commanded it!”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to make light of…” Rainbow said, her laughter stopping abruptly.

“Don’t worry, it’s not like I didn’t want to. I had needs, as well. It’s just a really confusing time to think about now that I can feel love… the memories feel different.”

Rainbow stood back up and they continued walking. “Yeah, I bet so… I had my own confusing moments in the past with my friend Gilda. I still don’t know what that was, to be honest.”

“But you’re certain about Fluttershy, hmm?” Mulcibar questioned, eyebrow raised.

The blue mare’s head sunk and she stared at the ground as they went. “As certain as I am about wanting to join the Wonderbolts. The chances seem about the same, too, now that you’re in the picture.”

“Look, if you want to take back what you said earlier, I won’t—“

“No way! That was a promise! If she chooses you, I’m not going to be a sore loser! I’m not lame like that!” Rainbow said, raising a hoof up to Mulcibar’s mouth.

“They think they can just come here and push me around!” a voice came from not far away in the cave. The two explorers stopped and their ears turned.

“That was Pinkie Pie. I know it!” Rainbow said, and their pace picked up as they listened to Pinkie’s voice echoing across the walls.

“They want to hurt me more! They love to see me in pain, those sadistic little devils! Does a friend let another friend be hurt like that?” Pinkie’s voice came, louder still.

“No!” several more voices came, shouting after her.

In the distance, Mulcibar and Rainbow saw a light shining dimly, and headed toward it carefully and quietly.

Several minutes earlier…

Pinkie Pie paced back and forth in front of a row of changelings. She glared at them and shook her head with disappointment. The room they were all in was adorned in bright shades of pink. Stuffed animals lined every wall, some of them nailed into the wall, hanging in painful looking ways.

“You all know why I called you here. I’m sure you heard about what happened to Eres,” she said in a commanding tone. “His love wasn’t strong enough, his friendship not pure enough. I think you all are better.”

The walls around them, pink and soft looking, almost seemed to breathe in time with Pinkie. The row of changelings nodded their heads.

“There’s more of my so-called friends here, as well as some of your old friends, too! I’m sure you remember Linnai and Mulcibar! They’re here with them, and they’re working together!

They think they can just come here and push me around!”

Pinkie Pie paced from one end of the row of changelings to the other, holding a sucker in her mouth and flicking it between her teeth all the while. “They want to hurt me more! They love to see me in pain, those sadistic little devils! Does a friend let another friend be hurt like that?”

“No!” the row of changelings barked back.

“Exactly! Eres couldn’t help me, or so he claimed! He didn’t want to help me, that was the truth! He didn’t love me like you all love me! Do you love me?” Pinkie shouted.

“Yes! We love you, Pinkie!” the changelings yelled back, tears falling from some of their eyes.

“So, how are you going to prove that you love me like no other friend you’ve ever had before?”

“Hugs!” One changeling said enthusiastically.

“Playing games?” another said.

The tallest changeling at the end of the row had a horn socketed with a magenta colored gem. She sighed and tilted her head toward Pinkie, her own pink hair flowing down to the ground. “You’re going to have to spell it out, Pinkie. None of these rank and file have much mental capacity.”

“That’s okay!” Pinkie said, grinning and grabbing ahold of a changeling drone’s face, hugging it close and squishing her cheeks against his. “That’s what makes them so very lovable in the first place! I’ll tell you all, then, okay?”

“Okay~!” the changeling replied, blushing and smiling widely.

Pinkie let him go, and he nearly fell to the ground. She walked away and then turned to face them all. “You have to kill my ex-friends! That’s all there is to it!” she said with glee, her voice as bubbly as ever. “You’re my new friends, and I don’t need any of those old friends! They never liked me anyway! Now get out there and make me proud!”

“Right away, Pinkie!” the changelings hollered, and then turned and ran, leaving through a door at the far end of the pink, breathing party room. Only Pinkie Pie and the magenta-gemmed changeling remained. Unseen by them, two pairs of eyes were staring down from an air vent in the corner of the room.

Mulcibar and Rainbow Dash stared in awe, silent, listening and watching the scene below play out. Rainbow fell backwards and her mouth gaped open. “There’s no way…” she whispered carefully.

Mulcibar fell back with her and shook her head. “No way what?”

“I can’t believe Pinkie Pie would say that stuff. That… that can’t be Pinkie Pie.”

“You saw her just before we got pulled into the dream world, Rainbow Dash. She’s not like you remember her. Her subconscious must be… darker, somehow.”

Rainbow laughed, trying to keep her voice down. “It’s terrible, but it’s so Pinkie Pie. Who else would befriend an entire army of changelings that were sent to take her out? They’re all working for her now! That pony really can make friends with anyone,” she said with a sigh as she felt her heart sink. “All the more reason to think that it really is her. She made friends with all those changelings. Who else but Pinkie Pie?”

The two of them sat together quietly as Rainbow just stared at the ceiling.

“Well, what now? She’s your friend,” Mulcibar whispered.

“Something has to be up. It’s either not her, or there’s something wrong, we just have to figure out what.”

“Alright, any ideas?”

“None,” Rainbow said, but her face filled with determination. “Don’t worry, Pinkie Pie, I’m going to save you! Just… as soon as I figure out what I’m saving you from.”

Mulcibar slouched down and sighed. “Let’s hope the others are having better luck than we are.”

Pinked Ch 4 - Cherry Sour

Author's Note

It has been nearly three years. I won't lie, I've tried and tried and tried to get back into this story. The characters and goal of the story have never left my mind, but the passion to write was just not there. I can't explain my sudden desire to start again, but it is stronger than it has been in a very long time.

Where to even begin... Back when I was in my most productive time, hitting my stride, even having enough of a pride in my work to setup a Patreon and dare to ask people to support me writing, I was killing it. I was able to keep up on multiple projects all at once. I was so happy. I felt like I had found the fire that would burn brightest in my life, and drive me to be able to achieve my dream of being a successful writer. I wasn't even just aiming for here, but the real big dream, the dream of getting published.

Did I get a novel out there? No. I languished at my dead-end job. The girl I was in love with but was unavailable suddenly became available, but it didn't work out in the end. My deep delve into lewd RP hit an all-time high as far as posts per day. I was putting more effort into roleplay than writing. I became infatuated with another girl. She stayed with me for a while, but drifted away again after a while.

What does all this mean to you as a reader? Nothing.

Have you been waiting for three years? Yes.

Should you enjoy this chapter? I certainly hope so.

Should you expect another soon after I get back from Everfree Northwest, where I intend to immerse myself in the fanfic culture so deep at that con? I once again hope so.

For those who have been in it with me for the long haul: Do I still know where this story is going? Rest assured, I've never lost that.

Is there an ending in sight? You bet your ass there is. It may be shorter than my dreams in the past, but as I've written this story over so many years now, I realize that the original vision could never be the ending. These characters are too perfectly individual to shoehorn them. Where Mulcibar, Linnai, and Ismara go in this story is more defined by them as individuals than I could have possibly imagine as an author in 2013.

It's been a long time coming, and instead of teasing and promising and saying things like "I swear, a new chapter is on the way!" here is a new chapter. It's here. It's done. It's a continuation I hope you all will love.

It's the start of the next and final chapter of the fic's long timeline.

I love you all. Literally anyone who is here and caring enough to read this. You've been in this from the start, and I can't just let you down.

I can't let myself down.

The conquering finally approaches. I am ready this time.

Pinked Ch 4 - Cherry Sour

Book Six: Pinked

Chapter Four - Cherry Sour

Failure.

“I… I know I am. I’m sorry.”

Truly disappointing.

“I can do better. I promise! Look! Rock candy!”

That don’t count, and you know it.

Pinkie Pie’s head sank and tears fell from the corners of her wrinkled, clenched-shut eyelids. Darkness surrounded her, and the voices of her parents and sisters rippled through her consciousness.

“I just can’t stay, mom! Dad! I have to set out and find my future!” she shouted to no one, her voice seeming to become lost in the void beyond. Choking slightly, she added quietly, “My future isn’t here.”

“Well, we can’t force you to stay. If that’s what you want, then…” her father’s voice spoke clearly to her, but in her mind she heard him saying something else, as if he were mumbling it under his breath.

What a good-for-nothing child. At least the other girls turned out okay.

Pinkie stamped her hoof and opened her eyes, turning her gaze upward towards the black nothing above. “I’m not a good-for-nothing! Dad wouldn’t say that!”

“Wouldn’t he?” a distorted voice asked her.

“Who’s there? Come out!” Pinkie shouted, leaping to all fours.

Laughter came in response. “I’m your best friend. The best you have in this world, anyway.”

Pinkie shook her head and frowned. “Best friend? Best friends don’t act like this! Making me think those things, that was mean!”

“It wasn’t hard, though! You were almost thinking them, yourself. Back in the dark corners of your mind, you had buried all those thoughts away, hiding them from yourself. I brought them back to you! I showed you the truth!”

The images of her disappointed parents flashed vividly in her mind. “Stop it! I don’t want to remember those things!”

“Friends don’t lie to each other, Pinkie Pie,” the voice said. Pinkie could feel a warm body press against her from behind and a pair of forelegs wrap around her neck, pulling her into an embrace. “Why would you lie to yourself? Shouldn’t you be your own best friend? Love yourself more than anypony else?”

Pinkie swallowed and licked her lips. “I… I guess so. I mean, you can’t love anypony else if you don’t love yourself first. That’s friendship 101, but-”

“Exactly,” the mysterious figure whispered into Pinkie’s ear. “And you wouldn’t lie to a friend… not if it meant hiding an important truth from them. A truth buried so deep that they don’t even remember it anymore. A truth as hard as rock.”

Pinkie swallowed, her mind seeming to be dragged along a specific train of thought. “The Pie family loves rocks,” she said, flatly.

“But you don’t, do you?”

“I like them okay…” Pinkie hesitated, shutting her eyes again.

“Your whole family is gray. You aren’t.”

“Y-yeah. That’s true, but--”

“Why is that, I wonder?” the voice questioned, almost seeming to pierce into Pinkie’s mind.

“Dad always said I was his little colorful surprise.”

“Is he really your father?”

Pinkie’s eyes shot open. “Of… Of course he is,” she said, jaw quivering.

Laughter echoed quietly across the dark landscape again. Pinkie felt whoever was behind her release her, and she turned to see who it was. Nopony was there, only darkness greeted her.

“I’ll leave you to think about that. I have to take care of some guests I’ve been expecting.”

Pinkie slouched down, her head hanging low. “But where am I?” she asked, her eyes glancing left and right. “What… is this place, anyway?” It was dark, but not completely black. A vast expanse of almost brownish dark gray as far as she thought she could see.

The pink pony stamped her hoof against the bleak ground and choked back tears. “I hate this place!” she shouted, but then fell to the ground, seemingly accepting her fate of hanging in this limbo forever. “It reminds me of home… why is that such a sad thing, though? Why?”

Her tears finally came falling down her face as she cried, alone and lost in the empty.

Elsewhere, within Pinkie Pie’s dream…

“You know me?” the gray pony asked as she approached Discord and the three Crusaders.

“Of course, you’re one of the ponies from the photos in Pinkie’s house down there. One of her sisters, maybe?” Discord asked, snapping his fingers and making a pipe appear in his mouth and a cap on his head. “Is my deduction correct?”

The pony nodded her head and sat down beside him, seemingly unshaken by his jumbled appearance. “That’s right, I’m her sister, Maud. I don’t actually know what this place is, but I have theories. It almost seems like it’s a made-up world just for Pinkie Pie, so it’s no surprise to hear you talking about her,” she said, her voice almost monotone and her gaze turning to the changeling.

“You’re basically right, but one thing doesn’t make sense to us,” Scootaloo said, tilting her head.

Apple Bloom nodded and continued her friend’s thought as she approached Maud. “I kind of thought Pinkie’s world would be a little, I don’t know, happier.”

“She may seem happy all the time, but she’s actually quite troubled,” Maud replied, her eyes closing softly.

Sweetie Belle poked her head out a bit and looked up at Maud. “Troubled? What about?”

Maud opened her eyes back up and turned to the foal. “When she left the farm, she felt like she failed us all. She knows it’s not true, but she hasn’t ever been able to shake the sadness,” she said, turning to look over the barren landscape as she continued. “Something in this place, this world, had resurfaced that sadness, and it just keeps getting worse and worse every day. Pinkie abandoned that world of sunshine and fruit juice rain up above for this bleak, gray place.”

“Fruit juice rain?” Discord asked, tapping his chin. “I always did prefer chocolate milk rain, myself, but I could give it a try.”

“I could do without that, thanks,” a voice called down to them. Everyone looked up and saw Princess Luna and Twilight emerging from a sparkling rip in the sky and dropping down to meet them.

“Twilight! Princess Luna!” the three foals cheered and scampered over to meet up with them.

“Thank the stars you’re here!” Apple Bloom said. “I was afraid we’d never find each other.”

The changeling groaned, glancing at the newcomers but keeping his eyes mostly on Discord. “Ah yes, more of the traitors. You’ll never make me betray Pinkie! You’ll be sorry!”

Maud glared at the changeling, showing the most emotion she had since first appearing. “You’re the ones who brought the sadness. If anyone should be sorry, it’s you. I doubt it’s a coincidence that Pinkie became so angry ever since you arrived.”

Twilight assessed the situation quickly and approached the floating changeling. “Angry is right. I couldn’t believe what I saw Pinkie Pie do to one of her supposed friends in that arena!”

The changeling gulped and looked down at her. “What she… did?”

“Yes. A changeling named Eres,” Luna continued, turning to look at Discord. “She crushed him to nothing but a bloody pulp. I believe she is using umbral magic.” Her eyes narrowed as she said the last words, and Discord nodded back to her in response.

“So, you think so, as well… she couldn’t have just come upon it on her own. There must have been some sort of catalyst.”

“C-c-crushed? Eres was?” the changeling asked, his dark face almost seeming to go white. Tears formed at the corners of his eyes and his jaw quivered. “Eres was… Eres was my friend. Crushed to a pulp?”

Discord sighed and gently set the changeling down, though he kept his magical grip around him loosely. “Oh, I’m sure he’s fine, he’ll just wake up on the other side.”

“Other side?” the changeling asked with a confused look on its face, and Discord returned the look.

“Yes, you know, the uh…” he started, then glanced over at Maud before leaning in toward the changeling and whispering. “Outside the dream world.”

The changeling blinked again, his confusing not passing. Finally, his eyes lit up, as if waking up from a dream of his own. “The outside! Of course! How did I forget about that? I completely…” he rambled for a moment, then looked around at the ponies around him, his eyes narrowing. “It’s you! You’re the ones the queen warned us about! We were sent here to take you out!”

Discord laughed and shook his head. “Take us out? Weren’t you here to help Pinkie Pie?” he asked, an idea of what was happening to the changeling forming in his head. This one was under some sort of mind control connected to Pinkie Pie. When reminded of the outside world, he was able to snap out of it, but…

“Pinkie… Pie?” the changeling repeated, his voice shaking. “Yeah… she’s our friend! I have to stop her friends! But, I’m her friend, too!” he said, staring up at Discord, his mind completely fogged up by swirling and conflicting thoughts. “What am I supposed to do? I don’t know anymore!”

Twilight stepped forward, standing before the changeling and reaching out her hoof. “Listen, I know this is confusing, but if you really are Pinkie Pie’s friend, then you should help us. We’re here to save her, to save everypony,” she said, leaning forward. “We’ve met two other changelings like you who made friends with us ponies, Linnai and Mulcibar. They’re our friends, and they’re helping us. Will you help us, too?”

The changeling hesitated, his mind racing. “But, she crushed Eres! You said you saw it! Maybe Eres just wasn’t a good enough friend! If that’s what friendship is like, I don’t want it!” he shouted.

Twilight shook her head. “No. It’s not. Friends love each other! They don’t… crush each other to death with dark magic!” She pulled her hoof back and pushed it toward him again, looking into his eyes. “You have to believe me. That wasn’t Pinkie Pie. She’s under some sort of dark magic spell. We can save her! You can save her!”

The changeling thought for a moment longer and lifted a hoof to wipe away his tears. “Fine, then! You might be a weird bunch, but what you say rings true. I don’t know what’s happening inside me, but it feels… It feels right!”

“Eugh, enough mushy stuff,” Discord said as he fully released his grip on the changeling and turned to Luna. “So, can you sense the dark magic? I can feel it, but it’s doing a good job of masking its location.”

“If you want to know where Pinkie Pie is, I already know,” Maud said, matter of factly.

Everyone turned to look at her with confusion. Discord tilted his head. “Why didn’t you say so?”

“You didn’t ask,” she responded. “I know, though. There’s a place called Candy Mountain. That’s where she is. I can feel it, somehow.”

Lucidity? Luna thought to herself. Perhaps this is one of Pinkie Pie’s focuses.

“Well, let’s go, then!” Twilight shouted turning to Maud. “We have to get Pinkie Pie and then get out of here! We’re have no time to lose.”

“I can get us there quickly, but I’ll need your help,” Luna said, stepping towards the changeling. “What is your name, new ally? I am Princess Luna. Know that you have a kindred spirit in me, as well.” As she spoke, the illusion of her alicorn form melted away, revealing her body full of holes and more angular changeling maw.

The changeling blinked in surprise for a second, and then smiled. “A pleasure, your majesty. I am a a mere guard for Queen Chrysalis, they call me Brevil. You’ll find no stronger shieldling in all of the Royal Guard,” he said, pounding one hoof against his sturdy chest.

“We go, then! To Candy Mountain!” Princess Luna proclaimed, raising a hoof into the air. As she spoke, she heard Discord and, surprisingly, Twilight, snicker loudly. “That… sounded a lot better in my head.”

Wiping a tear away, Twilight nodded. “Yes. Let’s go save our friends!”

Brevil stomped his hooves and leapt ahead of both of them. “Yes, new friends! To save Pinkie!”

Pinkie Pie’s Dream, Present…

Vitra and Fluttershy stepped quietly through the tunnels, moving as fast as they could while counting on the light from Vitra’s horn to guide them. The caves were fairly straightforward, but had several branches and forks. As they decided randomly upon which direction to go, sometimes quickly finding dead ends and turning back, Fluttershy stared ahead blankly and thought about her earlier conversation.

I’m in love with Mulcibar, and I always have been, Vitra’s voice echoed in Fluttershy’s mind. She grimaced as more words returned to her. Don’t worry. No doubt, he’ll pick you.

Pick me? Does she want him to pick me? What does she even mean by pick? She asked herself and shook her head, feeling her heart speeding up slightly. Does she mean, as a marefriend? Oh, I don’t want to think about what he might really want! Her brow began to furrow as anxiousness filled her, at least until it abruptly bumped into Vitra’s rear end.

“A three-way!” Vitra burst out, followed by a groan of annoyance.

Fluttershy’s eyes went wide and she fell back after bumping into her companion’s rump. “You think he’s like that?” she asked, suddenly, and very aloud. Her face exploded in crimson as fast as the words escaped her mouth.

Vitra sighed and turned around, waving a hoof above her head. “No, a three-way split in the cave!” she said with a snort and grinned down at Fluttershy. “And I am not sure, but it would be fun to find out!”

The both of them laughed and sighed, and Vitra took a seat beside Fluttershy. They sat in silence for a moment until the pegasus spoke. “So… what about you? What will you do?”

Vitra shook her head and kicked at a rock on the cave floor. “Right now, I have to get out of here and report what I’ve discovered to the queen.”

“Not about that,” Fluttershy said and reached a hoof out timidly. “I mean… about Mulcibar. You said that you… That you, you know…” Her voice died down as she spoke.

Vitra took a deep breath and stared at Fluttershy blankly. “This is no time to be thinking about love.”

A visibly frustrated Fluttershy tried to retain her composure in response. “That’s all you’ve been talking about this whole time!”

“Well, it’s new to me! Sorry! It’s sort of at the front of my mind.”

Fluttershy fell back and leaned against a moistened outcropping of rock. “Honestly, it’s the same for me. I never used to think about this kind of stuff, and now all of the sudden, I can’t stop. I can’t make up my mind, either. Mulcibar or Rainbow Dash?” She tapped her front hooves against her cheeks. “It’s too hard to decide.”

Vitra shrugged. “Why not neither? It’s not like you have to pick one or the other.”

“But I… I really do like both of them.”

“Well, why not both?”

“B-b-b-both?” Fluttershy asked, shooting back up to her hooves. “That’s not, I mean, I couldn’t possibly…!”

Vitra erupted in laughter and stood back up as well. “That’s okay girl, you’ll figure it out. We both will.”

“Everypony keeps telling me that about a lot of things, but I don’t think I ever will with this.”

“It won’t matter if you do, you’ll soon be dead,” a voice came loudly from the center tunnel ahead. Vitra and Fluttershy turned and were greeted by the sight of two changelings staring at them from the cavern. The one who was speaking was lean and lanky, and sported a pale blue gem socketed into his unicorn-like horn. The other was shorter and stouter with a sharp changeling horn and glowing green eyes. “Been a while, Vitra.”

“Ah hells, Zanzi, not you, too…”

The new changeling nodded his head. “Yep, me. Insane, right?”

“You certainly are,” Vitra said, backing away slowly and gesturing for Fluttershy to do the same.

“Always so sharp-tongued, but you’re right. Why am I helping the pink pony? Why am I turning against the queen’s daughter here?” he asked, matching her retreat to keep their distance even while the gem in his horn glowed brighter.

“You don’t have to. Let us through. I am on an important mission for the queen, you know that!”

“Sorry, Vit, but I don’t follow her orders anymore,” he said, cutting her off slightly. His eyes widened and his brow furrowed with anger. “She lied to us all. Lied about this mission! Lied about ponies! Lied about love!”

“No! She didn’t!” Vitra shouted, her gem now burning bright as well.

“She did!” he spat back, a glowing magical spear materializing in the air in front of him.

“Wait! Just listen! I think I can explain--”

“I already know everything, deceiver!” He grasped the spear and leapt into the air, bringing it down straight at Vitra’s head. She dodged to the side and slammed into Fluttershy, shoving the yellow pegasus towards the tunnel to their right.

“Get out of here! He’s too much for you!” she yelled, taking notice of the other changeling who was now charging around to the other side. “Run and don’t stop!”

“I can’t just--” Fluttershy started, but Vitra shoved her again, this time swinging her body around and kicking her hind legs up, slamming them into the other changeling’s chest and knocking it back against a wall.

Fluttershy grunted but didn’t offer any further protest. She scampered away, disappearing down the dark tunnel. The two changelings faced off against Vitra, with Zanzir striking first, lunging his luminous spear at Vitra’s chest. She leapt into the air and back, but then caught a flash of motion from her right. The other changeling had leapt beneath her and dove into the cave where Fluttershy had run.

“Be sure to kill her, Boros!” Zanzir shouted.

“Shit!” Vitra tried to lurch in the same direction, but was stopped by the glowing weapon of her opponent. The two of them circled now, the tip of the spear aimed at her head as they stared each other down.

“What was it all for, Vit?”

“Stop this!”

“What did my father die for, Vit?”

“I don’t know! I don’t want to hurt you!”

“Love has made you soft, Vit! Too bad for you, it’s made me strong!”

The sound of Fluttershy shrieking echoed from the distance, reverberating off of the cave walls, along with several loud crashing sounds. Vitra gritted her teeth, not taking her eyes off of Zanzir. “It’s made me plenty strong, too! Not that I wasn’t already!” she said, her horn flashing and a wave of magic bursting out of it. Zanzir was suddenly still, and Vitra’s eyes glowed. She nodded her head upward, and the changeling rose into the air, releasing his grip on the spear against his will.

Zanzir smirked and licked his lips. “Let me go, Vit. You know I’m right.”

“You don’t get it! She didn’t lie, because she didn’t know! She didn’t know the truth!”

“Oh, that we can feel love? I bet she did!”

Vitra shook her head. “No, you idiot! You aren’t listening!”

“And you don’t remember what my powers are!”

He suddenly vanished from sight and laughter filled the air. Vitra tensed up and widened her stance, whipping her head to one side then the other. The escape artist, of course, she thought. A second later, she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. She leapt to the side, but too late to evade the attack completely. The handle of a spear slammed against her legs at the knee joint. With a loud cracking sound she stumbled and fell to the ground.

“You can hold me with your puppet powers all you want, Vitra, but I can escape every time,” Zanzir boasted, appearing briefly beside her before flashing out of sight again. “You can never defeat me because without your power, you’re just a prissy little princess.”

The sound of more crashing and running hooves echoed from the tunnel Fluttershy had disappeared down. It almost sounded as if something had caved in.

“Sounds like Boros found your friend,” Zanzir said with a grin and a laugh, his form completely invisible.

Fluttershy! Damn it! Vitra thought, trying to lift herself back to her feet. Her legs were in pain, but she didn’t think they were broken. She gritted her teeth and growled out to the other changeling. “Zanzir, she told me that she’d tasted Mulcibar’s love, and tasked me with with finding out how that was possible! You have to let me--”

“Shut up!” Zanzir shouted and reappeared in front of her. “Do you think any of that matters? Nothing matters now but revenge!”

She felt his spear plunge into her shoulder, past her neck, and down into her chest. Her eyes clenched shut and her teeth ground against one another. She felt her body slam into the cold, hard cave floor.

Fuck… Whatever...

Ponyville Outskirts, Reality, Present…

Two foals, shrouded in the shadows of the brush tall grass, made their way into the back alleys of Ponyville and headed towards town hall. Having snuck away from the group at the Apple Farm, Diamond Tiara and Snips tiphooved as fast as they could.

“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Snips whispered, gesturing down the alley towards the main road where two ponies with faintly glowing green eyes stood guard. “Those things are gonna kill us!”

The mare filly slapped her hoof over the colt’s mouth and pressed her muzzle into his ear. “Shut up, you dolt, you’re gonna be the one to get us killed if they hear you!” she whispered gruffly. “We have to find out where they’re keeping my parents. My daddy will get us out of this, he’s rich!”

“I thought we were here to save Snails and Silver Spoon,” Snips mumbled as he pulled away from her and pushed open the back door of a house. “How we even gonna find ‘em, eh?”

Diamond pushed ahead of him and quietly made her way through the home. “That magician pony said they were keeping prisoners in Town Hall. I know a secret way in thanks to daddy. He used to go there to make deals with the mayor.”

Snips shrugged and followed, through the house and out a side window, then across a garden of tall-stemmed lilies until they came to a building with a cellar door.

“This is it. Lucky, it’s tied shut with rope. Those monsters haven’t gone in here yet,” she said, tugging at the knot.

Snips lit up his horn and pulled a pair of scissors out from seemingly nowhere. He quickly snipped the rope and pulled one of the cellar doors open.

“Wow, you’re actually useful for a change,” Diamond Tiara scoffed and walked past the colt with a slight sneer. “Who carries a pair of scissors around everywhere? Weirdo.”

Snips sighed and followed behind her, entertaining for a just a moment the thought of leaving her behind. He quickly stopped, though, as he remembered why he was here. Gotta save Snails! He’s hopeless without me!

“Once we set them free, we get out of here this same way. No noise, no fuss, got it?” the filly asked as they made their way through the cellar and then into a tunnel hidden by a hanging tapestry. “Oh, and not a word about this secret tunnel, got it? I’m not even supposed to know about it!”

Snips once again shrugged and glanced around at the rather nondescript passageway. “What’s ta mention? It’s as borin’ as visitin’ Canterlot.”

Diamond Tiara scoffed. “As if! A cretin like you couldn’t possibly understand the value of a visit to the city of alicorns! Now keep your voice down, we’re almost there.”

The two of them came to a wooden panel with two small holes, covered with a flap. Diamond Tiara lifted the flap and peeked through the holes for a second, then quickly pulled back and shut the flap. She fell back onto her flank and covered her mouth.

“Well? What didja see?” Snips asked in a hushed tone.

“It’s Miss Cheerilee and my pa… parents,” she started, but had to stop in order to grab Snips and slap a hoof over his mouth.

“Hey--” he had started to say, reaching toward the flap, as she stopped him and pulled him close.

“No!” she breathed into his ear. “They’re in some kind of… icky, green pods! I think they’re… I think they might be dead!”

Snips took a deep breath and felt his body starting to tremble. He pushed the filly’s hoof away from his mouth and whimpered quietly. “Dead? They can’t be…” He felt a hoof smack against his shoulder and he glared back at Diamond.

“You’re the colt! You go and ch-ch-check on them!” she said, her voice shaking.

Snips rolled his eyes and took another deep breath. “Fine. I ain’t s-s-s-scared.” He pulled out his shining pair of silver scissors again, and lifted the flap, peering through the holes. He squinted and was able to make out a bit more than Diamond has mentioned. There were numerous ponies in these green pods, and if he focused hard, he could see them moving slightly, twitching as if they were dreaming. “They’re alive. We have to save them.”

Diamond Tiara breathed a sigh of relief and pointed a hoof towards a metal plate at the corner of the dead end. “Okay… That plate will open the door, so press it when the coast is clear.”

The colt pressed it, and the door opened a crack without a single sound. The both of them tried to steel their nerves as they emerged into the central office of Town Hall, now nothing more than a changeling cocoon chamber. Cautiously, Diamond Tiara stepped toward her father and stared up at him, while Snips lit up his horn lightly and started to look around at the other cocoons.

Out of the corner of her eye, as she approached her parents’ pods, Diamond spotted another familiar face. She swallowed roughly and stiffened her lower lip. “Silver Spoon. Thank goodness,” she whispered quietly to herself. “We’ll get you out of here, I promise.”

Diamond Tiara squinted her eyes now and noticed a large gash across Silver Spoon’s face. Her mind slipped back into the past, remembering the events that took place the day the changelings attacked. She and Silver Spoon had been cornered against a fence near the school. A changeling drone approached them, horn aglow with green magic. It leapt at them, hissing.

“Run!” Diamond had shouted, but the drone was fast and grabbed ahold of both of them. In a jumble of bodies, Silver Spoon lurched forward right into her friend’s tiara. The sharp tip of it sliced into her cheek, and Silver Spoon let out a shriek. In a panic, Diamond grabbed the tiara and pulled it away, and in a stroke of luck, the same bloodied tip of the head adornment stabbed into their changeling assailant’s eye. The inadvertent attack had allowed them to break away. It all happened in a flash of a few brief seconds.

“Come on!” Diamond shouted and started to run, but her gray colored friend was stunned, holding her red-streaked cheek in pain. The drone, one eye shut and dripping its own blood descended on Silver Spoon and captured her as Diamond continued to flee.

Diamond fell against Silver’s cocoon and wept, trying to stay quiet but not doing a great job any longer. “It’s not my fault! If you’d just run when I said!” she growled and punched a hoof against the cocoon’s surface. “Wake up, darn it!”

“Quiet!” Snips hissed from across the room. He magically raised his scissors into the air and used them to slice a gash right into the cocoon that held Snails. The colt game crashing down, along with a torrent of green liquid. “Ahhhh, gross!”

A second later, snails gasped for air, his eyes shot open, and he began to flail his hooves. “No! Stop! I can’t eat any more pistachio pudding!” he shouted at the top of his lungs, as if awakening from a nightmare. Snips quickly wrapped his hooves around his friend’s mouth to shut him up.

Diamond waved from where she stood. “Hurry up! Get Sil out next!” she said, tapping on Silver Spoon’s cocoon. Snips floated his scissors over as quickly as he could and cut her free. After the deluge of green goop fell, Diamond quickly grabbed her friend by the head and slapped a hoof against her mouth to keep her from screaming. “My parents, too! Come on!”

Unfortunately, there was no more time. The sound of a door slamming open came from the front of the office, accompanied with the sound of hooves. “What’s going on in there?” a gruff voice shouted. A changeling drone came galloping in and spotted the foals immediately. He stared at Diamond Tiara and laughed. “You! My lucky day!”

Diamond stared back up at him and noticed his left eye had a gash just to the side of it. She shook Silver Spoon, but realized that she had passed out. The changeling stepped toward the foals, glaring menacingly down at them.

“You should have never come back. Your friend, we kept alive, but I’m gonna kill you!” he said, laughing briefly, then then crying out as a pair of scissors stabbed into his right eye.

Snips stood, horn aglow and teeth gritted, and pulled the scissors away before stabbing them into the changelings eye socket again. Over and over, he shoved the silver scissors into the changeling’s eye until it fell to the ground, no longer screaming, body slightly twitching.

Diamond Tiara screamed. “That’s disgusting, you violent idiot!” She smacked him in the flank several times with her forehooves until he stepped away, wiping the blood-soaked scissors against the carpet.

The colt glared back at her, his breath fast and heavy, and his eyes wide. “Nice thanks for saving us! Let’s get outta here!”

Diamond nodded her head and looked over at Snails, noting that he had also passed out. She groaned. “They’re both asleep again!’ She tapped a hoof against Silver’s face and shook her head. “We don’t have time for this!”

As if in response to her frustration, the sound of another changeling outside shouting came through the walls.

“It’s the farm ponies! They’re attacking!”

Snails and Diamond nodded to one another and began dragging their friends’ bodies across the room toward the secret doorway. Together, they lifted them up and pushed them into the corridor and shut the door. Inside, they took a moment to catch their breath. Snips stared at his scissors and let out a sigh.

“They’re supposed to be for cutting manes, not… killing,” he said softly, opening and closing them a couple of times in the air.

Diamond shook her head and softly slugged the colt against the shoulder. “This is no time to be feeling sorry about that!” she said, her cheeks revealing the slightest blush. “Besides… you saved our lives. You had to do it.”

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the town…

Trixie found herself charging forward, right towards where she knew the changelings were waiting, alongside Zecora. Behind them and to their flank by a good amount ran Big Macintosh, along with several other ponies from the farm.

The zebra turned her head to look at Trixie’s face, taking note of the anxious expression she wore. “Remember the plan and steady your heart! If you see those two, you must pull them apart!”

Trixie nodded her head and swallowed nervously. Teleport spell! Teleport spell! You can do it, Trixie! Just stay calm!

Ahead of them lay Ponyville Square, and a battle that they would all remember for as long as they lived.

Chapter 0 - The Dawn of Nightmares

Author's Note

A Foreword to the Reader

This chapter was written in the span of time between Book Three, Chapters Two and Three. It contains information that could be considered a spoiler for Book Two, Chapter Six.

Chronologically, this chapter takes place before Book One Chapter One.

At the time when I wrote it, there was no way to re-order chapter on FimFiction. Therefore, I put it in its own FimFiction entry since I couldn't move it to the top of the fic. Now that I can, I've put it up here.

To the readers who saw a chapter added to this story and thought it was the new chapter, sorry!

If you do not wish to spoil yourself, even just a little bit (It's hardly a spoiler, honestly), start on Book One, Chapter One, then come back later and read this chapter once you've completed up to Book Two, Chapter Six.

And with that out of the way, here we go!

Chapter 0 - The Dawn of Nightmares

The Conquering of Love

By Littlecolt

Chapter Zero - The Dawn of Nightmares

This day has been just perfect,

The kind of day of which I dreamed since I was small.

All their love I’ll soon devour,

It is now the grandest hour!

Who says a girl can’t really have it all?

Darkness.

Darkness was all Princess Cadence could see around her. Darkness with a feeling of weightlessness.

As she blinked her eyes and looked around, trying to regain her bearings, she realized she had just awoken from a dream. In her dream, her beloved Shining Armor, after their perfect marriage, had taken her to their room in the castle in canterlot. She closed her eyes, remembering the sweet dream.

“Love you too, B.B.B.F.F.” Twilight said to her brother as she pulled him into an embrace.

Cadence glanced out of the carriage at her husband hugging his little sister and smiled. Those two were so close, even more now that Twilight had proven that she was there for him, even against impossible odds… There for her, too.

Changelings had usurped her wedding, tried to conquer the nation, and impersonated her in order to get close to Shining Armor, her love, whose shield spell protected Canterlot from the threat that had been made against it.

Cadence smiled. It’s true… I've married into an amazing family. More wonderful than being royalty, more magical than magic itself. So full of love and wisdom, she thought. I’d never want it any other way. I can cast magic that spreads love, helps ponies understand one another and come together, and yet I could never compete with the love between those two. Not to mention the love between Shining Armor and myself.

She grinned at her husband as he climbed into the wagon and they began to advance forward, the streamers and cans hanging off the back of the wagon clanking as they went.

He smiled back at her. “That was a truly amazing wedding day.”

She grinned back at him, winking seductively. “Just wait until the wedding night,” she said teasingly. Shining Armor blushed and smiled widely. He nodded his head with excitement as he smiled back.

The carriage made the rounds of the streets of Canterlot, ponies waving and smiling at them as they passed by. The two of them waved out the windows for some of the trip, but became entangled within the carriage eventually. The blinds of the windows pulled closed, shielding their passion from the prying eyes of the city.

After a short time, the carriage pulled back up to the castle, coming to a halt. The driver cleared his throat and shouted back to the two lovers, who had remained conspicuously silent for the last ten minutes. “It’s time to go, now. Your chambers at the castle await.”

It took only those words, and the two of them bolted from the carriage, practically racing up the stairs to their private skylight suite at the top of a tower in the castle.

After that, everything was a blur. The feeling of warmth, the touch of lips on lips, desire and amazing shocks up Cadence’s spine. She breathed out heavily as she thought about it. She dwelled on the moments she could remember, eventually noticing something that bothered her.

“Love…” she said aloud. “There's no love in these memories... why is that?” She turned her head to the side, opened her eyes, and saw a cold stone wall to her left.

Her mind suddenly noticed her forelegs. She could feel a cutting, cold sensation from above her hooves. She blinked her eyes and realized she was not just feeling weightless, but was suspended somehow in midair. She shook her head, trying once again to get her bearings.

As she tried, a sound and light caught her eye from the left side of her field of vision. A door opened and slammed against the wall as it swung. A dark figure approached her. She squinted her eyes, trying to gain focus on who was coming. Her vision was so blurry, she was having trouble.

“Shining...” she said, her mouth straining to push the words out. Her tongue felt dry and coarse against the roof of her mouth.

“Not quite…” a frighteningly familiar voice cooed out at her, sultry and sweet.

A hoof pressed up against Cadence’s chin, raising her field of vision upward, bringing into view the face of the Changeling Queen.

“But I can be,” Chrysalis finished, a sinister grin spread across her face. Her entire form began to warp into the shape of Shining Armor, his face perfectly replicated. The queen giggled with glee as Cadence, unable to accept what she was seeing, pulled her face away in horror.

"Something wrong, sweetie?" Chrysalis said, her voice perfectly imitating Shining Armor's. She pressed her nose against Cadence's and playfully flicked her tongue against her lips.

Cadence felt the memories she’d just experienced being ripped from her mind, her heart being crushed by the reality of her situation. She felt her stomach bottom out as she lost all will to go on.

Hanging in the air and chained to a wall, weak and powerless, she stared up into the face of her love, knowing that it was the one who stole him away from her and destroyed her dream of a perfect wedding- A perfect life, a happily ever after.

This… this can’t be… No!

But her wishes were not granted. The truth was too powerful, unable to be resisted by wishes alone.

Shining Armor, Cadence thought, clenching her eyes shut, trying to will her true love to her. Where are you? Where am I? What's going on? She tried as hard as she could manage to bring back her sweet dream.

It would not return.

The darkness washed over her once again, and she lost consciousness, drifting from the waking nightmare into the depths of dispair.

A happy day, a victory over evil... Now just a fleeting hope. A sweet dream.

Wake up, my friends.

Wake up or sleep forever.

Twilight Sparkle Ch 6 - Rift

Book One: Twilight Sparkle

Chapter Six - Rift

Twilight looked around the room. She had believed what Celestia had told her about this whole world being a dream, but this was really the final piece that made her truly believe everything. Through the lens of the Colorscope, the world appeared in pale color. Some objects could even been seen through, as if they were made of stained glass.

She looked at Pinkie Pie and Celestia, and gasped slightly. Celestia's disguised form appeared solid, but with a rainbow-tinted outline. A transparent image of her actual body protruded from her, and was faintly glowing.

Pinkie Pie, on the other hand, appeared similarly to everything else in the room. She was translucent and pale. Her eyes were the same bright blue as usual, though, and streamers of pink energy shot out from her at various angles. The beams curved and spun on themselves. The scene was very busy, and sort of hurt Twilight's eyes.

Twilight removed the visor and placed it carefully on the ground in front of her.

“Well? What was it like?” asked Pinkie Pie.

“It was very revealing,” said Twilight, unable to think of how to even begin to describe it.

“The next step is to find the tear,” said Celestia. “It should be easily spotted when you are wearing that. We need to be careful, though. We can't let any pony see you wearing it, at least not very often.”

Twilight nodded. The questions that might come up if she was seen wearing the flashy item would be hard to field.

“Twilight, can you remember anywhere you've seen since the dream started where things had changed?” asked Celestia. “The tear will be something out of place. Something that didn't come from your memories.”

Twilight thought about everything she had done so far. She had found the gem, which had come from Celestia. She had traveled to town and stopped by Sugarcube Corner. She had seen Sweetie Belle and Rarity, who didn't know anything about the gem. As she thought back to her visit with Rarity, she remembered that it seemed like Rarity had redecorated the boutique. When asked about it, though, Rarity said she hadn't done anything.

“That has to be it,” Twilight said. “At Carousel Boutique, the décor had changed, but Rarity said it was the same as always. I know it wasn't, though. There's something out of place there.”

Celestia sighed.

“I had hoped it might be somewhere out of the way. If it's inside the boutique, we'll have to go inside, and that could get messy,” she said as she tapped her hoof against the floor. “Dream or not, if we open a rift inside the boutique, we will be noticed by Rarity.”

Pinkie Pie jumped up.

“I'm not going with you, so how about I lure Rarity away?” she asked.

“All right, we'll keep that as plan B, but let's go scout it out for now,” said Celestia. “We aren't even sure it's the right place.”

The three agreed with a nod, and headed downstairs and out into the Ponyville night. The streets were empty, and the moon was full. The light from the moon was both welcome and not welcome. It increased visibility, but that worked against them as well. They stuck to alleys until they came to the open field with the path that led to the boutique.

Pinkie Pie trotted out into the field and towards the boutique, while Twilight and Celestia stayed hidden in a garden, just behind a short wall.

“Think she'll be okay?” asked Twilight in a whisper.

“She'll be fine,” said Celestia as she nodded ahead. Rarity was now at her door talking to Pinkie.

“I can't hear them,” said Twilight.

The two jumped up in surprise as they saw Rarity putting a hoof over Pinkie's shoulders and pulling her into the boutique with a smile on her face.

“No!” said Twilight in an annoyed whisper.

Celestia placed a hoof to her face and shook her head.

“What are you two doing out there?” came a voice from the house behind them. They looked over their shoulders and saw a sleepy Carrot Top wiping her eyes and looking at them through a window.

“Shh!” Twilight hissed, not a thought in her mind that they were trespassing in her carrot garden.

Carrot Top shrugged and rolled her eyes.

“Just don't mess up the carrots!” she said as she closed her window and turned out the light.

The two blinked, surprised nothing worse happened. Twilight blushed.

“Wow, I wasn't thinking there,” said Twilight. Celestia nodded.

“We'd better move up and see what we can see,” said Celestia as she waved Twilight forward.

They snuck across the field, keeping low to the ground until they were at the back of the boutique near a window. Twilight propped herself up and peeked into the window.

“What do you see?” whispered Celestia.

Twilight exhaled and shook her head.

“She's fitting Pinkie for a dress,” she said with a slight groan.

Pinkie spotted Twilight through the window and grinned nervously. She mouthed the words “Help me,” and leaned her head towards the door.

Twilight crouched back down.

“We better go get her,” she said, and started to sneak around to the front. Celestia stopped her.

“Wait,” she said, “Look around with the scope. You may be able to see something from out here.”

“Good idea,” said Twilight, and pulled the visor from her pouch. She placed it on her head, and the world became moonlit stained glass.

Twilight propped herself back up and looked into the window and around the boutique. On the far wall, almost as if it were bulging out, she saw a black seam. It looked as if the fabric of the world had been sewn closed. A stream of green energy seeped between the stitches.

She ducked back down and removed the visor.

“Either that's it, or Rarity has started a new, creepy sewing project,” she said.

“All right. We'll have to come back another time, though,” said Celestia. “For now, let us collect Pinkie Pie.”

Twilight nodded, and the two snuck around to the front door. Twilight knocked lightly.

“Just a moment!” came Rarity's voice from inside. A moment later, the door opened. Rarity smiled and greeted the two.

“Come in, come in!” she said, “I've been expecting you two!”

“You've been expecting us?” questioned Twilight.

“Of course!” said Rarity as she pulled the two inside.

Twilight looked to her right, where Pinkie Pie was standing with cloth hanging over her. She then looked to her left, towards the window they had been looking through, and noticed a table had been set up with drinks and small cookies in several bowls.

“What is– “ Twilight started, but was interrupted by Rainbow Dash coming out of the bathroom.

“Oh, you're here!” said Rainbow. “Are AJ and Fluttershy with you?”

Twilight glanced at Rainbow nervously and started to sweat.

“No. Should they be?” she asked.

“Well, they're supposed to be on their way. I thought AJ had gone to tell you about this earlier,” said Rainbow Dash as she scratched her head.

Twilight laughed nervously and glanced at Celestia with a questioning look on her face. Celestia just shrugged.

“Strange, Pinkie Pie didn't know about this either! Applejack was supposed to tell you earlier that we were planning a little get-together just for the six of us after the party in town,” said Rarity, switching her gaze towards Celestia. “Well, make that the seven of us, I suppose.”

“Okay. Gee, thanks! That's great!” said Twilight.

“Oh, it's no problem!” said Rainbow Dash. “It's our own way of making it up to you for not believing you at the wedding. You were right about that changeling all along!”

Twilight grinned nervously. “Oh, there's really no need for that,” she said, trying to play along.

“Now, Twilight, dear, you have a seat right here!” said Rarity. She pulled Twilight to the couch and almost shoved her onto it.

Twilight's hoof slipped, she fell backwards, and the contents of her saddle bag fell out onto the couch. The Colorscope flipped open as it landed with a soft thud. Rarity's eyes locked onto it immediately.

“Oh my, what is that?” she asked, and levitated the device into the air as Twilight grabbed for it, helplessly.

“That? Oh, that's nothing,” said Twilight.

“It's mine,” said Celestia as she took a seat on the couch next to Twilight.

“Well I must say, the design is exquisite. Mind if I try it on?” asked Rarity.

Celestia used her own magic to overpower Rarity's levitation spell, and took the device back from her.

“Oh, no, you really shouldn't,” she said, “you could hurt your eyes. It's for a certain eye condition I have, you see.”

With that, Celestia put the device on, and the lens started to glow. Rarity's eyes narrowed.

“Is it, now?” she asked as she loomed over the two of them. Rainbow Dash walked over to the couch as well and looked at the device.

“Hey, cool. It's my favorite color, rainbow,” she said as her eyes began to glow a greenish tint.

Twilight looked at Celestia nervously. Celestia nodded towards the far wall where the rift was.

Rainbow Dash and Rarity simultaneously let their hooves fly towards Twilight and Celestia, who ducked to either side and bolted towards the wall where Pinkie was standing. The couch's back shattered into splinters and cloth. Pinkie jumped back in surprise, tangling herself in the long bolts of cloth that were wrapped around her.

Rarity and Rainbow Dash turned around as they pulled their hooves from the what was left of the couch. Their eyes were wide open and glowing a bright green.

Celestia pulled the Colorscope from her head and slapped it onto Twilight's. “They're changelings!” she yelled.

Twilight looked through the lens and could see Rarity and Rainbow Dash as translucent outlines. Underneath their images, she saw changeling drones.

“Well, what now?” asked Twilight.

“Pierce the rift with your horn! We have to go, now!” Celestia yelled as she pulled Pinkie Pie off the table and pushed her towards the door.

The changelings charged and leaned their heads forward, prepared to impale their targets. Celestia and Twilight dodged out of the way again, but this time the changelings were ready. They both veered left and chased Celestia towards the back of the boutique.

Twilight stopped in her tracks and watched as the changelings pinned Celestia to the ground. They reared upwards and stomped on her chest. Celestia coughed and cringed from the impact.

“Princess!” yelled Twilight, prepared to charge in and help. Pinkie Pie had finally pulled all the cloth from herself and was poised to strike as well.

“No!” yelled Celestia. “Just go! Run! You too, Pinkie Pie! This will all end once Twilight leaves!”

Images flashed through Twilight's mind, and she remembered the nightmare she'd had. She remembered Celestia, her body burned and her mane covered in blood. She shook her head and gritted her teeth.

“I won't!” yelled Twilight. “Not without you! I will not let that nightmare come true!”

Twilight charged the changelings and rammed into one of them with all the force she could muster. Her horn punctured deeply into its side. It fell to the left and on top of the other one. Dark red blood streamed down Twilight's horn and onto the visor's lens after the impact. Celestia pulled herself up against the wall.

“Tear that rift open, right now!” yelled Celestia, angrily. “That's more important than saving me!”

Twilight frowned, turned to the bulging rift, and concentrated magical energy into her horn.

At that moment, the door to the boutique flew open. Applejack and Fluttershy charged in and pinned Pinkie Pie to the floor.

“Oh, Twilight,” said Fluttershy with a sinister look on her face. “You better stop that. The queen will be hopping mad!”

Twilight ignored her and continued to concentrate. A beam of white energy shot from her horn's tip towards the seam. Through the Colorscope, Twilight could see a circle of pulsating black and green energy. She lowered her head and charged the spot.

Applejack and Fluttershy dove at her. They howled like enraged beasts.

Twilight's horn pierced the circle of energy. Fluttershy and Applejack crashed into her. Pinkie Pie raised her hoof in the air towards Twilight. Celestia began to run towards the Rift.

Everything went completely silent.

And then, everything exploded outward.

Overgrowth Ch 2 - Loyalty and Kindness

Book Two: Overgrowth

Chapter Two - Loyalty and Kindness

Twilight and Celestia were escorted into a dingy building. The interior was cramped and consisted only of a small lobby and a single short hall lined with several barred cells. The two of them were placed into the first cell on the left. The guards pushed the sliding cell door shut and shook it a bit to make sure it was secure. The two guards then left as quickly as they had entered, slamming the front door behind them.

“I guess they have more to worry about than us, with the forest attacking and all,” said Twilight as she sat down on the floor. She looked around the cell, and felt the presence of a simple containment spell. Off to the side, she could hear someone in the next cell over snoring through the wall.

I guess that spell is why they aren’t worried about having a guard in here, thought Twilight. Feels like my own magic, too. Still, I can break it if we need to escape quickly.

Celestia sat quietly, her head pointed downward slightly, and closed her eyes in concentration. Twilight blinked curiously as Pinkie’s voice came over her communicator.

“Hey, what’s going on in there?” Pinkie asked. Twilight slapped her hoof over her ear.

“We need to keep quiet for a bit,” Twilight whispered. “We’re locked up in a jail cell in this dream. Don’t worry, we can get out whenever we want, but we have to find out what’s happening first.”

A whisper came back over the communicator. “Okay, well just tap that earpiece if you need me. I’ll be cookin’ up something on this end that I think you’ll like,” Pinkie said, and then there was a small click.

After a moment, Celestia opened her eyes and shook her head. “I’ve been trying to sense the host, but I am not certain I’m able to,” she said in a hushed tone. “In your dream, I was able to sense a sort of unique energy around you, but that may just be because I am so familiar with you to begin with.”

“Well, we headed straight towards that giant pulse of energy,” whispered Twilight with a shrug. “We know it was Rainbow Dash’s energy, but according to Dream-Twilight’s message, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy set off for Cloudsdale.”

Twilight walked over to the barred window at the back of their cell. Through it, all she could see was the short distance between the jailhouse and a courtyard wall. “I wonder if Rainbow Dash is all right,” Twilight said with a shake of her head. “I mean, this world seems really dangerous. Hopefully she’s not... you know...”

“I don’t know if these dreams work the same as normal dreams,” said Celestia. “Normally, if a dream is bad enough, you’d wake up. However, since we were all forced to sleep, things could be different.”

Twilight nodded. “That makes sense, I guess,” she said. “Well I hope things aren’t going terribly for her. Still, it would be nice if she was actually here. I wonder if those two made it to Cloudsdale.”

The sun beat down hard on Unicorn Range, the mass of flat rangeland situated to the west of Canterlot. The flats were dry, the fields filled with crunchy, shriveled vegetation. A massive shadow swept across the plain as a dragon swooped overhead and towards the mountains that lined the range’s southern border. Below those mountains was a strip of forest and other foliage. The forest was dotted with patches of brown amongst the green canopy. Along the forest’s edge, a rainbow streak shot westward.

Rainbow Dash flew low to the ground along the foliage. She carried a bag in her mouth, loaded with various berries and other small fruits. She approached a tiny opening in the side of a tree and landed, crawling inside. It was a tight fit, barely large enough for her to squeeze through.

Inside the hollow, dead tree was Fluttershy, her left wing spread out and held stiff with a splint made from a stick and some vines. She was laying on a bed of cloud that Rainbow Dash had pulled into the tree. She’d been asleep, but stirred slightly as Rainbow entered. Rainbow Dash walked to the makeshift bed and set the bag down. Fluttershy opened her eyes and smiled.

“Here’s what I could manage to scrounge up,” said Rainbow as she took a seat beside the wounded pegasus. “Not too bad, don’t ya think?”

Fluttershy nodded and sat up, taking a small green apple in hoof and biting into it.

“Those dragons are still circling around out there,” said Rainbow Dash, glancing towards the opening in the tree. “They seem to be going back and forth between the mountains and Cloudsdale, still.”

“I wish they would just go away,” said Fluttershy quietly with a whimper. “Not that I could fly anywhere right now.”

Rainbow Dash frowned and looked at Fluttershy’s wing. It was missing some of its plumage and had been broken in two places during their first run-in with the dragons two weeks ago. It was taking a long time to heal without a unicorn doctor to help speed the healing process along. Furthermore, Rainbow Dash had no experience in helping injured ponies. She had to rely on Fluttershy’s knowledge from caring for injured animals to guide her.

“Do you think we could try to take the splint off today?” asked Rainbow, trying to be helpful in some way, and also anxious to return to their quest to reach Cloudsdale.

“Well, I suppose it couldn’t hurt,” said Fluttershy, nodding her head. “At least... I hope it won’t. Just be careful and try to bend it slowly at the joints, like I said before.”

Rainbow Dash nodded and climbed onto the bed, positioning herself behind Fluttershy. She gently untied the vines with her teeth and caught the stick as it fell loose. Placing one hoof on Fluttershy’s back and the other just slightly up her wing, she pushed the wing slowly upward. Fluttershy cringed a bit and Rainbow stopped moving the wing immediately.

“Does that hurt?” asked Rainbow, trying to hold perfectly still. This kind of work was definitely not suited to her. She was used to much more extreme, fast movements, so this sort of slow precision was really nerve-wracking for her.

“Yes,” replied Fluttershy, “but keep going. It’s not unbearable. Probably just muscle ache from not being used for so long.”

Rainbow nodded and continued to slowly move the wing upward, then outward until it was pointed back fully. Fluttershy bit down against a walnut and tightly closed her eyes as Rainbow proceeded to move the second joint around. There was no sharp pain, just the mild aching of atrophy.

“Let go for a moment, Rainbow,” said Fluttershy, her voice breaking a bit. “I’m... going to try and move it, but be ready to hold it steady if something happens.”

“Something? What’s that mean?” asked Rainbow, releasing her grip.

“Well... I don’t know,” said Fluttershy. “I’ve never treated a broken pegasus wing before. I’ve only helped birds. It should be similar enough, so here goes...”

Fluttershy began to move her wing around, bending each joint and flapping lightly. She closed her eyes and made a nervous squeak, then slowly folded the wing inward. As it folded completely, she let out a sigh of relief.

“So... that feel okay?” asked Rainbow nervously.

“Yes,” said Fluttershy. “I never thought I’d miss having my wing folded so much.” She laughed and picked up two berries, handing one back to Rainbow and popping the other one into her mouth.

Rainbow chewed on the sweet purple berry and leaned back against the wall. “So how long until you can fly again, do you think?” she asked.

“Hard to say,” said Fluttershy. “It’s still very achy, and my back muscles are really sore, too. It could be as long as another week.” She lowered her head and sighed with disappointment. She knew that Rainbow Dash was anxious to go, but wouldn’t leave her to fend for herself.

I could probably gather my own food now that my wing isn’t bound, Fluttershy thought, but it would be so lonely.

“Well, I guess we’ll just have to wait it out,” said Rainbow, leaning forward and grabbing another berry in her mouth. Fluttershy looked down at Rainbow as she leaned forward. Her normally bright, beautiful mane was dull with dirt from her daily excursions to find food while avoiding being seen by the dragons. Fluttershy felt a tear coming to her eye, but she fought it back and sighed.

I’ll suggest to her that she should go on without me tomorrow morning, thought Fluttershy. I just want to spend one more night with her.

The two sat quietly for a moment, chewing on their meager rations. Fluttershy finally broke the silence. “Rainbow Dash,” she said quietly.

“Yeah?” said Rainbow after swallowing a piece of walnut.

“I don’t suppose you’d mind...” she started, but then bit her lip, and didn’t finish.

“Mind what?” asked Rainbow Dash, leaning forward.

Fluttershy sighed. I’m so selfish... she thought to herself.

“It’s just... now that my wing is folded in, my back is completely cramped up. It hurts...” Fluttershy said. “Would you massage it for me?” She was telling the truth, her back was intensely stiff, and pulses of dull pain were shooting into her shoulder. All the same, she was embarrassed to ask for a massage.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Well, lie down and I’ll try,” she said, “but I’ve never done anything like this before.”

I’m so sorry, Fluttershy thought to herself as she laid down along the bed of cloud and felt Rainbow’s front hooves press against her back. I’m sorry that I’m so selfish.

As Fluttershy felt Rainbow pressing her hooves gently along the her stiff muscles, she nervously tried to make conversation. “So, do you think the sun will go down tonight?” she asked.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “It hasn’t gone down in over a week now, so I don’t see why it would,” she said, running the edge of her left hoof down Fluttershy’s spine. “Am I doing this right? You’ll tell me if I’m not, right?”

Fluttershy chuckled lightly. “Don’t worry, it feels good,” she said. “I can feel the tension leaving already.” Any contact at all felt good after so many hours of being cooped up in this small space, though. Fluttershy was sure she couldn’t feel more relaxed than this. The sun had stopped moving, the Everfree Forest had taken over most of her home, dragons had swarmed north towards Cloudsdale and Canterlot, and she had broken her wing. All things considered, it would be hard for the last month to be any worse for her. Yet, in this moment, lying on a cloud with her best friend’s hooves rubbing her back, she was happy, even if only for a moment.

After a few minutes, Rainbow Dash noticed Fluttershy’s breathing had changed to deeper and longer breaths. She smiled and laid down on her back next to the yellow pegasus. She lifted her front hooves into the air and looked at them.

“Guess I can do that kind of thing, too, if I try,” she said to herself quietly. She tilted her head to the side and looked at Fluttershy’s sleeping face. She whispered, “Don’t worry, Fluttershy. I won’t leave until we can leave together.” Then Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep as well.

Rainbow Dash slowly opened her eyes as she awoke. She immediately noticed that Fluttershy was missing. She jolted up out of bed and looked around in a clumsy, half-asleep panic.

Oh no! Where’d she go? Rainbow thought. She leapt from bed and ran towards the opening in the tree trunk, poking her head out. Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen.

She pushed through the small opening and ran out to where there was enough clearance in the canopy to see if any dragons were circling overhead. Once she was certain it was safe, she called out as loud as she could.“Fluttershy! Fluttershy!” Rainbow yelled, starting a gallop back towards the dead tree. “Fluttershy! Where are you?”

She bolted through brush and tree limbs all around their shelter and spotted a fresh set of hoofprints. She ran along beside them, toward the mountains and into the forest situated behind the tree. She eventually came upon a thick patch of hanging vines and pushed through them into a clearing where a sizeable lake sat at the base of a sharp drop from the mountains above. A waterfall poured into the body of water toward the back. Rainbow breathed a sigh of relief as she found Fluttershy bathing in the water with a veritable menagerie of squirrels, birds, and other creatures gathered on the bank nearest to her.

Fluttershy looked up and smiled at Rainbow Dash. She began to walk towards her and extended her wings fully, shaking droplets of water from them as she went.

“Rainbow Dash, I’m glad you found us!” said Fluttershy in a happy tone. “The animals told me about this wonderful clean lake. The water runs down from the snow melting up in the mountains and feels just wonderful.”

Rainbow Dash stared at Fluttershy, not sure how to respond. She wanted to yell at her for leaving without telling her, for making her worry so much, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it when Fluttershy looked so happy. She decided to try and act cool about the situation, instead.

“Oh yeah!” said Rainbow Dash. “Yeah, I totally found this place a couple days ago. Pretty nice, huh?” She nervously put a hoof behind her head and laughed.

Fluttershy, who had now reached the bank where Rainbow was standing, reached her hoof out and touched it to Rainbow’s mane, which was still very dirty and faded.

“Well why didn’t you clean yourself up, then?” she asked, grinning, and then motioned into the water. “Come on, you should get in and get all clean. After that, we can eat the food I gathered this morning.” She then pointed to a bag sitting on a far bank. It was full of many different kinds of fruit and nuts, which were spilling over onto the ground.

Rainbow’s mouth watered a bit and her stomach growled. Fluttershy laughed and pulled Rainbow into the water. She didn’t resist, and fell forward into the clear pool, letting its cool water completely soak her mane and body. Her scalp and skin had been so itchy the past week, she’d had to come up with mental techniques to ignore it. Almost as if it was magic, the itching and pain stopped as the water enveloped her.

This... is... amazing! Rainbow Dash thought to herself, grinning from ear to ear. Funny how something simple like this can feelso great after so long.

Rainbow Dash pushed up out of the water and hugged Fluttershy tightly, just trapped in the moment and how great she suddenly felt.

“Sorry, Fluttershy,” said Rainbow Dash, remembering how mad she had been just a minute earlier.

Fluttershy blinked with confusion, but hugged her friend back. “What for?”

Rainbow Dash shook her head and smiled. “Nevermind. Let’s eat, I’m starving!”

The two of them headed over to the bank where the bag of food was and sat leaning against a rocky edge of the lake, soaking and eating as they talked.

“I’m impressed, though, Fluttershy!” said Rainbow Dash. “I genuinely am! How did you find this place and gather so much food?”

Fluttershy laughed. “Did you forget what my special talent is, already?” she asked. “I didn’t do it all by myself. I had a lot of help from my friends here, didn’t I?” she said, glancing over at a squirrel who was curled up in the shade of a small bush.

“Oh yeah! That makes sense!” said Rainbow Dash, a bit embarrassed. “Duh! How could I have forgotten that?”

Guess I just got used to her being so helpless that I didn’t think about her strengths, Rainbow thought to herself, a bit ashamed. And this after I felt like such a great friend last night.

Fluttershy smiled and nodded her head. “See? I can help, too, now that I can move around freely,” she said, and then leaned her head downward, trying to psych herself up for what she had to say. “Rainbow Dash... I can take care of myself here, so you should really get going to--”

“No way!” said Rainbow Dash, cutting Fluttershy off mid-sentence. “I can’t leave you here alone, even if you can gather food for yourself. What if those dragons find you?”

“What if they find me when you’re here?” asked Fluttershy, raising her voice a bit and turning her head to look at Rainbow Dash. Her eyes were unwavering and had determination burning in their depths. “Can you really fight a dragon? Wouldn’t we just both be running for our lives or eaten?”

“But I...” said Rainbow Dash, unable to even come up with an argument against that. “You’re just... You’re so scared of dragons, so I just--”

“Don’t!” said Fluttershy, this time cutting Rainbow Dash off. “Don’t treat me like I’m helpless. Yes, I’m scared of dragons, but I’m more scared of losing all our friends! We have to find out what’s happened in Cloudsdale and Canterlot as fast as possible, and bring help back to Ponyville!”

Rainbow Dash sighed and lowered her head. She’s right, of course. Darn it... she thought to herself, gritting her teeth. I can’t wait. I have to get to Cloudsdale, and then we have to get back to Ponyville. We’ve wasted enough time in these stupid foothills!

Rainbow Dash looked up and into Fluttershy’s eyes. She nodded her head. “Okay. You’re right,” she said. “After we finish up here, we’ll go back to the tree and then I’ll take off for Cloudsdale.”

Fluttershy smiled and patted Rainbow Dash on the head. “That’s more like the brave and determined pony I know,” she said.

Rainbow Dash blushed and pushed Fluttershy’s hoof aside. “Oh come on, now, that’s enough,” she said with a laugh. They ate food until they were satisfied, then gathered the rest up and headed back towards the tree.

Once they arrived, they stood silently in front of the entrance for a few seconds, looking at each other. Finally, Fluttershy lifted the saddle bag up and strapped it onto Rainbow Dash’s waist.

“Take the rest of the food with you. My animal friends are already out there gathering more for me, so it won’t be a problem,” she said, smiling.

Rainbow Dash nodded. “I know you’ll be fine. I’ll be back to get you before you know it,” she said, and started to turn away. Fluttershy reached out and grabbed Rainbow by the shoulder. She pulled her close and hugged her tightly.

“Be careful,” Fluttershy said, her voice filled with hope and sadness.

Rainbow Dash hugged her back. “Don’t worry, those dragons won’t even be able to keep up with me!” she said with confidence. Rainbow Dash then took off into the sky and was out of sight before Fluttershy could blink twice.

“I know. That’s your special talent. Well, one of them, anyway,” said Fluttershy to herself with a bittersweet smile. She turned around and retreated back into the tree to take shelter from the heat of the sun.

Rainbow Dash glanced back towards the mountains. They shrank away as her distance from Fluttershy grew. “Don’t worry, Fluttershy,” said Rainbow. “I’ll be back real soon!”

As Rainbow Dash was about to pull her head forward again, she saw a fireball erupt from the forest below the mountains, and heard an explosion a few seconds later. She came to a screeching halt and stared blankly towards the now blazing forest where she had been only a moment earlier.

“Fluttershy...” she said to herself, her eyes wide and shaking with shock. “Fluttershy!”

Rainbow Dash blasted back towards the mountains, heading straight towards the heart of the inferno.

Horizons Ch 5 - Fall To Pieces

Book Three: Horizons

Chapter Five - Fall To Pieces

Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity, now seated at a round table in the back corner of the sweet shop, silently sipped on glasses of water and cups of hot tea that had been served to them along with slices of buttered sweet bread that were left over from the day’s batch. Mr. Cake had put out the “closed” sign and was cleaning up behind the counters, also remaining silent. He’d had no problem letting them stay in the shop after hours, and was interested in any information about Pinkie Pie. Mrs. Cake had come back and was sitting silently on the other side of the kitchen door, unable to focus on her work in light of the possibility of word on Pinkie Pie.

Rarity daintily took another sip from her glass of water and nervously rubbed her front hooves together, never taking her eyes up from the table’s surface.

Twilight finally broke the silence after they’d all been sitting quietly for a good ten minutes. “So, are you ready? Do you remember?” she asked, not wanting to appear impatient, but beginning to feel so.

Rarity nodded her head slowly, still not raising her gaze from the table. “She came to me that night with an odd request. She had made a drawing of a certain garment she needed me to make for her. I had never seen anything like it, and it was definitely more utilitarian than fashionable. Still, I had the gems and other pieces on hand that were required, as well as the fabric. I couldn’t recall ever stocking such items, but there they were. It was almost as if the knowledge of them, as well as the items themselves, had just suddenly appeared. These weren’t standard materials, either. There were gems and reagents I’d never even heard of, definitely not something you’d expect one to have lying around. Looking back on it, the whole situation feels impossibly constructed, but at the time it made perfect sense to me. I just knew I had those things, somehow. Like magic,” she started to recall.

That’s definitely suspicious, Twilight thought. The dream must have brought them into being somehow, probably through Pinkie Pie. But that knowledge can’t have been in the dreamer’s mind, especially if this is Apple Bloom’s dream… so who was directing Pinkie?

“It was all so strange, but I moved onward, creating the masterfully designed garment for her. She’d told me that it was very important, that the world depended on it, but she wouldn’t tell me what she meant by that. Knowing what I know now, I suppose it may have been this changeling plot you’ve uncovered, but that doesn’t fit with the last thing she told me,” Rarity said, now pausing in hesitation. “This little tidbit… she made me Pinkie Promise to never tell anyone about it. Even now, I almost feel some sort of force in my mind, pushing against me, forcing me to keep it a secret.”

Applejack nodded her head. “I feel it too, Rare. It don’t make any sense ta’ me when I think about it, either,” she said. “Even Pinkie Pie would want you ta’ break that Pinkie Promise if it meant savin’ Equestria, though. Ya gotta push through it somehow! We’re all here for ya, and whatever happens, we’ll deal with it.” She placed a hoof on Rarity’s shoulder and closed her eyes, as if she was trying to channel her confidence and solidarity into Rarity.

Twilight blinked her eyes a couple of times and had to force herself to not say anything. A dark yellow aura had begun to appear at the point where Applejack was pressing her hoof onto Rarity’s shoulder. It was almost as if her willpower had begun to literally push out of her and into Rarity. Twilight glanced at Fluttershy, who clearly was seeing the same thing. She was staring wide-eyed, but also not saying a word.

Rarity closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. “You’re right, Applejack. We must stand up for our friends, even if it means breaking such a bond!” Rarity said, almost shouting. Her horn began to glow lightly, and her mouth began to move, the words passing out from her lips as if she was reciting from a piece of paper.

“On the night of her disappearance, Pinkie Pie told me that she had been hearing a strange voice in her mind, and at first it sounded distorted and fuzzy. She said it would give her vague commands to do terrible things, even destroy the world. However, as time went by, she said it became clearer and she began to recognize it,” Rarity spoke flatly but gravely. “Pinkie told me who she thought the voice belonged to upon making me promise to never tell a soul. I’m sorry, Pinkie, but I must break that oath. She told me she was almost certain… the voice belonged to Princess Luna.”

Twilight, Fluttershy, and Applejack all gasped lightly, the weight of the promise now apparent. Mr. Cake dropped the cup he had been holding, and Mrs. Cake peeked out through a now slightly ajar kitchen door. The glow at the tip of Rarity’s horn flashed, making a snapping sound. Her eyes shot open and immediately locked onto the shop’s front door.

“Princess Celestia…” Rarity said quietly, her voice shaking.

Twilight cocked an eyebrow. “Wait, was it Princess Luna or Princess Celestia?” she asked.

Applejack, who had now joined Rarity in staring towards the front of the shop, pointed her hoof towards the front door. “No, Twi, Princess Celestia’s right there,” she said.

Twilight turned her head and saw Celestia standing by the door, which was still open.

“So the voice in Pinkie’s head was Luna,” Celestia said, walking towards the four ponies and sitting at the table with them. Mr. Cake appeared with a cup of tea, almost as if he’d teleported, and set it gently in front of the princess.

“It would seem so, or at least she thought so,” Rarity said, nodding her head towards the princess.

“Yet I’ve not felt her presence. If she was part of the reason Pinkie Pie vanished, she is no longer working in any capacity that would draw attention to her,” Celestia stated.

There’s also the question of whether it was Luna from this dream or the real Luna, the princess thought to herself. What motivation would the dream’s Luna have to drive Pinkie Pie away? It may just be a case of mistaken identity. No need to think about it much for now.

Celestia turned her head towards Twilight. “I’ve returned from Cloudsdale. Rainbow Dash has gone through a traumatic situation, and I believe this may change a good many things for us, Twilight,” she said, now glancing at Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, am I correct in assuming that you told Rainbow Dash the truth?”

Fluttershy nodded her head, blushing slightly.

“The whole truth?” Celestia asked, making certain.

Fluttershy nodded once again. “Yes,” she replied. “I told her everything. I’m so sorry…”

Celestia smiled at Fluttershy. “Don’t worry, my dear. Rainbow Dash seems fine. I’ve just had a… rather revealing talk with her. Her situation is not unlike when you or Twilight found out. She is shaken, her mind is full of confusion, but she is fine. She wished to be left alone for the night, and I think it will do her well. Some rest will hopefully calm the turbulence in her mind and give her time to contemplate the situation.”

Fluttershy’s eyes lit up as the princess spoke. “Wait, that means Rainbow Dash is…!” she began, stopping herself from completing the sentence.

Celestia nodded her head. “Indeed, although it doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense.”

“Yeah, I don’t know what to make of this, either…” Twilight said, rubbing a hoof against her forehead in bafflement.

“The poor thing,” said Fluttershy. “I feel bad for her being all alone. I should go see her, it’s my fault…”

“No, she said she wanted to be alone,” Celestia repeated. “I say we give her some peace before we inevitably have to… bring her out.” Celestia glanced at Applejack and Rarity, hoping she’d been picking and choosing her words well enough.

Applejack tapped a hoof against the table. “Are ya’ll finished talkin’ in code, yet?” she asked impatiently.

Celestia smiled at Applejack. “I’m sorry, Applejack, Rarity. You’ve both been very patient and helpful. I’m sorry we were less than forthcoming with information at first, but we have our reasons,” she said reassuringly. “For now, I think we’re all a bit on edge. We should probably get some rest for the night. We will all be together tomorrow after the Wonderbolts performance, and we can then form our plan of attack. Until we’re all together in private, though, I advise that we not speak of anything that’s happened tonight.”

Everypony nodded in agreement. Celestia stood up, leaning towards Fluttershy and Twilight at the first opportunity when Applejack and Rarity weren’t looking. “Meet back where we arrived,” she whispered. The two nodded in agreement. The five all went in separate directions, but Twilight, Fluttershy, and Celestia looped around the block and made their way back to the alleyway where they had first fallen into the dream world.

“We have a few problems, and we need to be prepared for them,” said Celestia, who had shrunk back down into her disguised form. She took a seat on the ground in front of the Wonderbolts poster and the others gathered around her. “First of all, we are very fortunate that Applejack and Rarity didn’t press us any further about the storm or green lightning. I believe we have your story about changelings to thank for that, Twilight.”

Twilight shrugged. “In retrospect, it wasn’t the best story I could have come up with, but I had to come up with something that seemed really important,” she said.

“Don’t fret, we’ve handled it well and will continue to do so. Fluttershy, are you absolutely certain that Rainbow Dash heard you clearly and understood what you were saying?” Celestia asked, turning to the yellow Pegasus.

Fluttershy sighed. “Yes, and I am still sorry about that. I never would have normally told her on my own, but she was acting so strange. She was being really conceited and mean, and acting like she didn’t even care about any of her friends, let alone me…” she said sadly. “So I wanted to wake her up so that maybe then she’d go back to being the same old Rainbow Dash, but she just got mad. Her eyes were glowing green just like when ponies in my dream did before turning to changelings, so I thought I had turned her into one. I felt so scared and terrible. I thought I’d ruined everything.”

“It’s okay, my dear,” Celestia reassured her. “Rainbow Dash is no changeling. Furthermore, I think she is awoken now, and her lucidity has activated.”

“That doesn’t make sense to me, though,” Twilight chimed in, “Applejack was glowing with a magical aura just now, and Rarity’s horn was glowing as if she were breaking through some sort of magical block on her mind. It was almost as if the Pinkie Promise was actually a spell, and they both worked together to break it.”

Celestia sighed. “I admit, I can’t explain that, or several other things,” she said. “When I tried to probe for latent magic in Rainbow Dash’s room, I had a vision of a pair of glowing eyes. I could have just imagined it, but I doubt it. I couldn’t mention this before because of Applejack and Rarity.”

“The changeling queen?” Twilight fielded as a guess. Celestia shook her head in response.

“No, I’d know her eyes anywhere. These were different. They were bright white, not green, and shrouded in darkness other than a slight red aura. It was for but a second that I saw them. In any case, there may be more at work here, just like in Fluttershy’s dream.”

“Yes,” Twilight responded. “I saw Apple Bloom using some sort of magic. The whole world seems to be inundated with--”

“Chaos!” Discord’s voice said aloud for all three of the ponies to hear.

“I think we found who else is at work here!” Twilight blurted out angrily. However, Celestia quickly raised a hoof to stifle any further accusations or questions that Twilight or Fluttershy may have had.

“Please explain, Discord,” Celestia said with a shake of her head.

“Well, after you so rudely threatened me earlier, I went flying around, feeling for chaotic energy, and it’s literally everywhere, which makes it hard to find the source. Somewhere near the border between the apple farm and the town, which have curiously moved ever so near to one another, there is a mass of chaotic influx,” Discord said. “Finding the source shouldn’t be impossible for me, it’ll just take time. One interesting thing to note is that there’s a giant sporting arena that’s been built just off from the farm a bit, and it’s very near to wherever the chaotic energy is coming from.”

Celestia nodded. “That’s not good… That’s probably where the Wonderbolts will be performing tomorrow. We also still have no explanation as to why that chaotic energy is flowing so freely,” she pondered. “or why so many ponies seem to be displaying lucidity-like powers.”

Discord laughed. “Celestia, I’m shocked. I suppose you really didn’t take studies of dreams and dream magic too seriously, did you?” he said with an audible smile. “Well, I suppose you had better things to do, perhaps finding the perfect spot in the Canterlot gardens to place all your petrified foes.”

“Please, Discord, get to the point,” Celestia grumbled with annoyance.

“Oh do calm down,” he responded, accompanied by a snap of his fingers. Three dark hooded cloaks materialized in the air above the three ponies, falling onto them. “I’ve been extremely thoughtful of you, dear princess. I procured these from the ever-radiant Miss Rarity. She happened to have seven, I guess one for each day of the week. Can you imagine it? A whole closet rack of these things! It’s like she thought she was going into exile, but wanted to have a change of cloak each day! Bahaha!”

Twilight gave a slight, uncontrollable snort, holding back her laughter. That’s so Rarity, she thought.

“You three will need to remain hidden tomorrow when your other selves will surely be in the general vicinity, and poor Fluttershy and Twilight can’t use that illusion spell that you stole, I mean, learned so long ago,” Discord continued, still unseen.

Celestia lifted the cloak up with her magic, folding it in place, choosing not to respond to Discord’s taunting.

“To make a long story short, I have my theories about your other magic-using ponies, though I’ll come clean, I never much cared for the dream arts myself. It’s so much more fun to make reality into a dreamscape. However, I remember enough to recall something called ‘focus’ – the details evade me, but are right on the tip of my tongue. I just know it has something to do with it. You’ll have to forgive my rustiness; I’ve been unable to keep in practice for most of the last thousand years.”

Celestia rolled her eyes. “Anyway, thank you for the information,” she managed to say, much to Discord’s glee. “This ‘focus’ as you call it, then, needs to be looked into. If the dream is so chaotic, though, wouldn’t it suggest a lack of focus?”

“Or too many focuses,” Twilight said, trying to be useful. “What if there was no single focus, but many? Maybe even a completely random or ever-changing focus? The word focus suggests clarity, but this dream doesn’t seem to have much of that going around. At least through all the chaos in Fluttershy’s dream, there was a singular focus of fear, to put it bluntly.”

“It was more than that,” Fluttershy spoke up, closing her eyes and recalling how she felt in her dream. “It wasn’t just fear, or my fear of being loved… It was very clearly focused on the one whom I accepted such feelings from… Rainbow Dash… She was always with me throughout the whole dream. I think she was even with me after she died. Somehow, she was there with us all the way to the very end, never leaving our sides… my side…”

A tiny voice rose from Twilight’s saddlebag. “Hey, I can’t hear anything!”

Twilight lifted the communication gem from her saddlebag and levitated it into the air. “Have something to add, Pinkie?”

“Oh, that wasn’t me,” Pinkie’s voice crackled from the gem. “That was Rainbow Dash. Can you believe it? She just, like, ZAP! Just appeared here right in front of me! Just like we hoped she would!”

Fluttershy smiled from ear to ear. “That must be my Pinkie, Twilight! And Rainbow Dash! I wonder if it’s because I was thinking about her just now,” she said, her voice shaking with sudden happiness.

“It would make sense!” Pinkie Twi buzzed in through the pink gem this time. “When Twilight wanted me to not be stuck in a dreary world, it brightened right up! Probably the same sort of thing.”

Twilight smiled. “We definitely still have some influence over our dreams after we leave, I’m sure of it now. Of course, that doesn’t help with this problem we’re having. We’ve got ponies here using magic that just plain shouldn’t be, and we don’t know how or why,” she explained to Pinkie. “Only one of them can be the dreamer, and that’s certainly seeming to be Rainbow Dash.”

“You mean like I used magic in Fluttershy’s dream?” Rainbow Dash’s voice came through the communicator. “Surely you remember my amazing magical acrobatic battle with that imposter that took over Applejack’s body!”

Everyone nodded their heads simultaneously and let out a collective “Ohhhh…”

“Wait, wasn’t that because Fluttershy had used her magic to revive you in Cloudsdale, though?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, that may be true,” Celestia added. “I thought so, as well. The dark magic that possessed Pinkie Shy had similarly boosted her magical powers.”

“Maybe I just have magic in every dream!” Rainbow Dash shouted triumphantly from the gem.

“That seems even less likely, but I guess we have to treat it as remotely possible,” a Pinkie, presumably Twi, analyzed aloud.

“Who cares?” a second Pinkie’s voice drolled forth. “All it does is make it basically impossible to identify the dreamer based on their lucidity.”

“Yeah...” Pinkie Twi’s voice crackled through the communicator once again. “It’s probably pointless to speculate on it.”

“Right,” Twilight agreed. “We’re no closer to the truth than we were before this, unfortunately. In fact, finding out who the dreamer is may be impossible short of inspecting each of them with the Colorscope.”

“Which we have an upgrade ready to push out to you once you find Pinkie in that dream world!” both Pinkies shouted at the same time from the gem.

“Wait, so with me mentioning focus, the situation has become even more confusing?” Discord asked, an unusual flatness to his tone of voice. “Gee, and I’d normally be so pleased about that…” He sighed, which was followed by the sound of him zipping to and fro randomly in the air above the group.

“Calm down, Discord. At least you tried,” Celestia said, deciding to leave out the words “for once” at the end of her phrase. Even if it’s for selfish reasons, he’s trying to help. I shouldn’t be so antagonistic, she thought.

A chuckle from Discord reminded the princess that he was tuned into her thoughts somehow. Surprisingly, he had no comment other than that single, short outburst.

“So, what do we do now?” Fluttershy asked while slipping into the black cloak.

“We get some rest, and I know where,” Celestia said. “We’ll head back to the library and check to see if Spike went with Twilight to the capitol. If the library is vacant, we can set up a spell to alert us if anyone tries to enter. The large window in Twilight’s room will be suitable for a quick escape.”

Twilight nodded her head. “Yes, though I hate that it has to be that way,” she said. “We can’t afford to be seen by our dream selves.”

“Alright, then,” Celestia said as she began walking back out to the streets of Ponyville. “Let’s head that way and get some rest. Fluttershy, you’re already in your cloak, would you mind flying ahead and checking to see if Spike is in the library?”

“What do I do if I see him?” Fluttershy asked nervously.

“Oh, he won’t know it’s not the dream you. Just tell him you’re looking for me,” Twilight said with a grin. “I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

“Okay. Here I go,” Fluttershy said and took off into the sky. The others walked to the tall tree that served as the town’s library. When they got there, they found Fluttershy crouched in front of a window, staring in.

“Is he there?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t think so. It should be safe,” Fluttershy responded.

The group all piled into Twilight’s bedroom. Twilight walked over to her bed, taking note that the covers were very neatly made, just as she would have done herself.

“We need to make sure we don’t make too big a mess in here, so—“ Twilight started, but was interrupted by an unseen force crashing down onto the bed with a flop. Pillows flew into the air and the blankets folded upward. Twilight leapt back away from the bed instinctively.

“What the… Discord!” Twilight said, nearly shouting.

The draconequis materialized with a flash for the first time since they had left Fluttershy’s dream. He stretched out his limbs and wings, his tail hanging off the end of the bed, despite how big it was for a pony.

“Plenty of room up here!” he said joyfully. “Who wants to snuggle?”

Celestia groaned. “I’ll pass, thanks,” she said, turning her nose up.

“So cold, Celestia,” Discord responded, a tear falling from his eye. The princess just rolled hers in response.

Fluttershy had already settled on a small rug that was up against the window. “I’m fine just with this,” she said with a smile. “It’s like having a campout, too, if I crack the window a little.”

Twilight smiled back at the pegasus. “Alright, then. Princess, should I put up the alarm spell?” she asked.

Celestia shook her head. “I already took care of it. You must be tired if you didn’t notice. Too bad somepony is hogging your bed,” she said, glaring at Discord.

Discord raised his hands in the air. “Fine, I suppose that’s fair, even though it’s only sort of her bed!” he complained, and then snapped his fingers. His body transformed into a much smaller version of himself and he leapt over to Spike’s sleeping basket, curling up around the edges of it with his head planted in the middle.

Twilight and Celestia settled onto the bed after straightening the sheets. With a flash from her horn, Twilight put out the lights.

“You all sure nopony wants to snuggle?” Discord asked in the darkness.

“Go to sleep!” all three ponies responded simultaneously.

The next morning came quickly. The four of them vacated the library just after the sun peeked over the horizon, not wanting to have a surprise meeting with their dream selves. They made their way to a discreet oaken grove at the outskirts of town. Sitting amongst the tall trees, they had a breakfast of whole-hay bread and greens that Twilight had helped herself to while they were in the library.

After eating, the three of them emerged and made their way towards the location that Discord had described to them. Once within a certain distance from the sports complex, though, it was impossible to miss.

The site for the Wonderbolts show was unlike anything that had been erected in Ponyville before. The stands were tall and formed a large loop around a grassy field. There were also many cloud seats up above for pegasi who wanted to get a skyward view of the action, all of which stemmed outward from a central cloud with the emblem of the princesses emblazoned on a flag hanging down from it.

Twilight, Celestia, and Fluttershy donned their dark cloaks, though Celestia kept her hood pulled down and wore the hat she’d gotten from Rarity, which she’d eventually paid for the previous night. Hooded or not, her size as an alicorn would be noticed immediately, so she used her disguise spell on top of wearing the dark garment.

“Don’t you think we’ll stand out even more wearing these things?” Twilight asked as they approached the entrance to the sports complex. “I mean, it’s not like ponies normally run around in hooded cloaks.”

Celestia nodded her head. “Yes, that may be, but you will at least not be recognized from a distance this way. It’s important that you two spot your dream doubles as soon as possible and keep track of them. If you ever see them approaching you or acting suspiciously, you need to get away. Twilight, you will be able to teleport and Fluttershy’s cloak will allow her to push her wings out of holes in the back and fly away.”

“Speaking of doubles, look over there,” Fluttershy said, pointing a hoof to the right side of the entryway. A royal procession was going around towards the rear of the building. Sitting on the top of an intricately designed cart were Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, waving to the public. Also sitting with them was Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight pulled her hood tightly down over her face. “Well, there’s two of them, certainly. I don’t think it would be good to bump into Princess Luna, either.”

Celestia nodded in agreement. “Even as a figure in a dream, Luna would likely be able to see through my disguise at short proximity,” she said. “When we get inside, let’s take seats in the back, near an exit. We need to be able to move quickly in case we’re spotted.”

The three ponies made their way into the stadium and took seats a few rows down from the port they had entered through. Fluttershy glanced around nervously, trying to spot herself.

“Remember,” Celestia said, leaning in towards the other two, “We’re here to make sure the nearby rift doesn’t burst. If that rift were to open in front of this crowd, the results would be… well, I’m sure you can imagine. Our quest could very well be ended.”

“The chaos energy is still increasing. We’re coming to a point where we may need to intervene at the slightest sign of a disturbance,” Discord’s voice echoed in the minds of all three of the ponies. “I’ll channel some of it away through some random acts of chaos, not that they can be anything but random. It’ll ultimately be up to you, though. I certainly can’t appear in front of this crowd, tempting though it may be.” He laughed, perhaps a little too enthusiastically for comfort.

Celestia sighed. “Yes, it may be the first time I can recall where I’m counting on your chaotic powers,” she dully groaned. “So we’re ready, then. You two keep an eye out for our doubles, Discord will be on guard for chaos surges, and I’ll keep a close eye on Rainbow Dash. I don’t expect her to create a disturbance here in front of a crowd, but I still can’t get that vision I had when I first met her in Cloudsdale out of my mind. Those glowing eyes… they seemed so familiar.”

Twilight nodded nervously, glancing across the arena to the spot where her dream self was seated along with the dream versions of Celestia and Luna. She turned her head down to the other side of the stands. She spotted Applejack, who was wandering through the growing crowd offering various apple treats and juices. Big Macintosh was doing the same on the other side of the stadium.

“Buy some apples!” a tiny voice suddenly came from behind her. Twilight jumped, recognizing the voice as Apple Bloom. She pulled her hood down and glanced over towards Fluttershy who was thankfully doing the same. The filly made her way down to their aisle and walked right up to them.

“Hey, lady!” the young one said happily, pointing a hoof to the small basket that was strapped to her back. “What’s with the cloak? Wanna buy some apples?”

Twilight put on her best deep scruffy voice. “No thanks, I uh, had a big breakfast,” she said, being certain to not look directly at Apple Bloom.

Fluttershy simply shook her head, but Celestia waved the filly over, who happily walked past the two hooded figures.

“Hey, yer that inspector lady from Canterlot,” the filly said, smiling up at her. “Wanna buy an apple?”

Celestia smiled and pulled a bit coin out from somewhere, dropping it into the basket and pulling out an apple. “Sounds lovely, thank you. Apple Bloom, was it?” she responded.

“That’s right!” Apple Bloom said with a grin.

“I’ve heard about your special talent, young lady,” Celestia said. “Is this one of your special apples? I can’t wait to try it.”

Apple Bloom nodded. “Yep! You’ll love it, I just know it,” she said, turning her head and looking back at her flank. Celestia looked at it as well and smiled.

“You must still be so happy that you got your cutie mark, and that your talent is so special,” Celestia said while looking at the filly’s blank flank. So far as any inhabitant of the dream was concerned, though, Apple Bloom had a cutie mark.

Apple Bloom reached a hoof back and rubbed her flank in a circular motion, as if she were shining it. Her flank suddenly glowed, releasing a stream of yellow magical energy. Celestia blinked her eyes in response.

“Yeah, it’s great, but…” Apple Bloom said, suddenly turning her head downward.

“But what?” Celestia inquired.

“I just wish mah two best friends were here with me,” she responded. “Shoot, I’m sorry. I don’t need ta be involvin’ a total stranger in mah problems.”

Celestia shook her head. “Not at all, my dear. If you need to get something off your chest, sometimes there’s no better ear than a new one,” she said.

Apple Bloom took a seat next to Celestia and began to tell her what had been happening lately. Twilight and Fluittershy sat quietly, listening in.

“We all used to be blank flanks, tryin’ ta get our cutie marks together. We even had a club dedicated to findin’ our special talents,” Apple Bloom said. “But it didn’t work out like we planned. It was such a crazy coincidence, but it was a day when we weren’t meetin’ up at our clubhouse when Sweetie Belle and I both got our cutie marks somehow. Not even together. By the end of the day, the whole town was talkin’ about it. We were so wrapped up in our accomplishment that we forgot about our third member. We finally saw Scootaloo later on. She’d heard what happened. She didn’t get her cutie mark.” Apple Bloom lowered her head, sniffling a bit and holding back tears.

Celestia patted the filly on the back. “I’ve heard of this kind of thing happening before. It’s not like you can’t still be friends, though,” she said.

“That’s just it, though,” Apple Bloom continued. “We were so happy, and Scootaloo was still determined. We showed up at the clubhouse the next day and swore ta do everything we could think of ta try and help Scoot find her talent. But after a couple days… Sweetie Belle stopped showin’ up because she had ta help her sister at the boutique. And I stopped showing up because I had to do farm work. I figured Scoot would stop going to the clubhouse, but one day I went there and looked, and she was there... Sittin’ on the balcony, waiting for us to come, all by herself.”

“What did you do?” Celestia asked.

“Nothing,” Apple Bloom replied. “I felt so terrible, like I’d abandoned her. I couldn’t face her. Yesterday at Sugarcube Corner was the first time I’d talked to her face to face in weeks… and in the end, she left, sayin’ she had stuff to do… but I think that was a lie. I think she just… she just hates us now.”

Twilight and Fluttershy bit their lower lips, holding back their swelling emotions from hearing such a story. Celestia smiled down at the filly and rubbed her hoof against the young one’s back.

“It sounds like you three were such good friends,” Celestia said. “I’m sure she doesn’t hate you. I bet she misses you just as much as you miss her, and just like you, she doesn’t know how to come back together.”

Apple Bloom looked up at Celestia. “So… how do we get back together?” she asked, her eyes shaking.

“That is something that nopony can tell you for certain,” Celestia replied. “The first step is just going to them, though. Are they both here at the show today?”

Apple Bloom nodded her head. “Probably.”

“Well then go to them. Watch the show together. Your heart is in the right place, little one. No matter what you may have done, or how she may have felt, I’m sure you can make amends and be friends once more, and maybe even learn a good lesson about friendship,” Celestia said.

Apple Bloom smiled and wiped her eyes. She turned her head to and fro, scanning the crowd until she spotted Sweetie Belle across the way. “Thank you,” she said. “I feel like I’ve already learned something important; something I shoulda known in the first place. Will you watch mah apples for me? I got a job ta’ do.”

Celestia chuckled. “It would be my pleasure.”

The young filly bolted off, pushing her way through the stands towards the first of her two friends.

“Did you see how her flank glowed where her cutie mark was supposed to be?” Ceslestia asked, turning towards her two companions.

“Yes, it was definitely something. She must be involved in whatever this ‘focus’ may be,” Twilight replied.

“I agree, and look,” Celestia continued, holding her apple up in front of her. “We have a whole basket full of those apples. I can already feel faint magical energy swishing around inside this fruit. Your instinct was definitely correct, Twilight. Those false cutie marks appeared for a reason. We may need to find out more about them before we can be done here.”

“Fillies and gentlecolts!” a booming voice suddenly filled the air. “Please give a warm Ponyville welcome to the greatest fliers in all of Equestria! The Wonderbolts!”

With a flash, a blur of blue-suited pegasi with all different streams of fire, smoke, and sparkles in their wake shot out from an opening at the back of the stands. Six Wonderbolts twirled in the air, flying back and forth, buzzing the crowd and coming within inches of one another in mid-air.

The crowd exploded in cheers and whistles as everypony began to wave their hooves in the air and shout out the names of their favorite Wonderbolts members.

“Get ready for a day full of thrills, racing, acrobatics, and death-defying feats never before seen by ponykind!” the announcer shouted with enthusiasm.

The wonderbolts shot upward towards the sky where a large mass of clouds had been pushed in by a team of pegasi. Each wonderbolts member tore off a piece of cloud and pushed it downward, precisely placing them in a circle hovering high above the ground. They each stood on a piece of cloud, facing outward toward the crowd, waving.

“And now, here’s the pony we’ve all been waiting for! The most interesting mare in Equestria! The captain of the Wonderbolts! Ponyville’s own, one and only, Rainbow Dash!” the announced shouted, his voice practically cracking from the volume.

The cloud that was left hanging higher in the air suddenly exploded with lightning bolts, and the center of it opened up. With another zap of lightning, Rainbow Dash descended through the opening, grabbing a piece of cloud and tossing it downward as she went. She landed on the cloud, which had taken position in the center of the circle below. A beam of sunlight shone down through the cloud opening, lighting up the spot she was standing on, making her seem to glow with radiant white light. She bowed before the crowd, and then suddenly zipped upward. Swinging in a tight, fast circle, she blew through the remaining cloud ring above, shooting bits of cloud out toward the audience, spreading a fine fog over the crowd for a brief moment before it evaporated.

The crowd went crazy as Rainbow Dash returned to her position and took another bow.

Twilight turned towards Princess Celestia. “She seems fine,” she said, her voice a bit raspy from cheering since she had gotten swept up into the spirit of things herself. “I’m actually kind of excited to see what she can do in her own dream world. It must be incredible.”

Celestia nodded her head calmly. “How is the flow of chaos, Discord?” she asked, staying focused on the task at hoof. Twilight made note of that fact and scanned the crowd, spotting her dream counterpart, who was still sitting with dream Celestia and Luna.

“It’s still growing, but I was able to have a little fun during that opening sequence,” he said with a giddy giggle. “Those wonderbolts sure are good! They dealt with random gusts of wind and forced spins quite well. That’s only minor chaos, of course, so it barely put a dent in it. We’ll see what I can muster once they really get going.”

“Don’t completely ruin the show, now,” Celestia reminded him.

“Perish the thought, princess,” Discord replied with another laugh.

Rainbow Dash’s voice shot across the crowd now, loudly and confidently. “Thank you for coming from all across the land to my home town!” she shouted. “Both of them, actually!” She pointed a hoof towards Cloudsdale, striking a strong pose. The crowd erupted in laughter.

“Before we get to the show, I have a big announcement to make! It is no doubt what has drawn so many of you here for this wild party!” Rainbow Dash continued. She flapped her wings, rising steadily into the air, lifting her front hooves skyward. After ascending for a good distance, even higher than the cloud from the opening performance had hung, she began to move forward, straight towards where Twilight, Fluttershy, and Celestia were sitting. She seemed to stare directly down towards them as she spoke.

“The original announcement has been cancelled, though!” Rainbow shouted. “Instead, I have something much bigger to share with you all!”

“What’s she doing?” Twilight asked, turning towards Celestia.

“Nothing yet, but be ready,” Celestia replied, locking her eyes onto Rainbow Dash’s and powering up her horn just slightly.

Rainbow Dash hung in the air and pushed her hooves forward, but never averting her stare from where the three ponies were seated. “I had a visit last night from my pal, Fluttershy! She had quite a story to tell me! It was really shocking, you might say!” she shouted out, and began to spread her hooves apart. Streaks of orange-colored lightning crackled between them, the sound echoing through the stands. The audience laughed at the joke, thinking the lightning was all part of the show.

“She’s not!” Twilight said in a panic, turning to face Princess Celestia. The princess continued to stare into Rainbow Dash’s eyes, narrowing her own. Her horn began to charge up and glow with magic.

“Get ready,” the princess said calmly, her expression devoid of emotion. “If she takes this any farther, we teleport her out of here by force.”

“At first, I couldn’t believe it! But then, I started to see the truth! The truth that only one other pony before had seen! But she disappeared without a trace, and everypony thought she was crazy!” Rainbow Dash yelled, her hooves having fully outstretched to her sides now, lightning arcing above her head and crackling with power. A magical aura began to form around her, and though she was floating in the air, her wings were no longer moving.

The crowd was roaring with cheers, but Twilight looked across the arena towards the spot where the dream Celestia and Luna were seated. They were both standing now, staring gravely towards Rainbow Dash, their horns powered up as well. The Wonderbolts remained standing on their clouds, looking up at Rainbow Dash, but showing signs of confusion. Some of them were shouting things back and forth, but Twilight couldn’t make out what they were saying.

“This is about to get bad! The princesses know something is up! We have to stop her!” Twilight shouted, her voice practically drowned out by the roaring crowd.

“Do it!” Celestia commanded. Twilight clenched her eyes and focused her teleportation spell on Rainbow Dash. There was a loud bang, and a circle of white light exploded outward in a large radius. Twilight opened her eyes, expecting to find herself in a field, away from the arena. Instead, she was met by Rainbow Dash’s face staring directly at her from the air. The spell hadn’t worked. Rainbow Dash wore a giant, toothy smile and shook her head slightly.

“It didn’t work!” Twilight shouted, looking to Celestia, whose horn was now glowing brightly.

Rainbow Dash slammed her hooves both downward, and they vanished nearly up to where they met her body, almost as if she was reaching into an invisible container of some sort. Twilight knew it was one of the cracks in the dream. As Rainbow Dash struggled for a moment, flashes of orange and streaks of bright pink energy began to fire out from where she had punctured reality.

“That’s enough, Rainbow Dash!” Celestia screamed, her voice booming out across the arena. She shot a wide, bright yellow beam of energy from her horn straight at Rainbow Dash. It struck with mighty force, causing an explosion of magic in mid-air.

My power is weakened in this form, but that should at least knock her away! Celsetia thought, sweat running down over her eyebrows.

The flash hung in the air for what felt like an eternity. However, just as quickly as Celestia had fired the shot, the explosion of light began to warp, opening up from the middle and then folding around onto itself. The energy of her attack had been trapped at the point of impact. Rainbow Dash, a strained look on her face, and her hooves still stuffed into the hole in reality, stared at the contained explosion. She leaned towards it, grunting slightly.

“Just what I needed!” she yelled, and then with a simple nod of her head, she launched the ball of energy past her hooves and into the rift.

Twilight heard a commotion across the arena. The dream versions of Celestia and Luna had taken flight and were speeding towards Rainbow Dash.

“We’ve got a problem!” Twilight shouted.

“We should run!” Celestia yelled back. “Fluttershy! We need you to try to physically grab Rainbow Dash and take off! I’ll create a diversion for the princesses!”

All of their plans were in vain, though..

A giant tearing sound, like a cloth being ripped in half, erupted from the center of the arena. Pinkie Pie popped into reality with a loud bang, adorned in a black hooded cloak that sported pouches and pockets all along its edges, as well as several brightly-colored gems. She flung up and over Rainbow Dash’s head, falling to the ground below. Dash dove down after her, catching her before she hit the ground.

“Wait, is that…?” Twilight asked, already knowing the answer. It was at that moment that Twilight realized the crowd had gone completely silent. There was no cheering, laughing, or any noise of any kind. Just the eerie sound of a thousand ponies breathing. Celestia and Luna had stopped in mid flight and stared down at Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Their eyes had begun to glow a bright green.

“We… really need to get out of here now,” Twilight said quietly to her companions, who both nodded in agreement.

“Are you actually crazy!?” Pinkie Pie shouted, turning her head up towards Rainbow Dash. She was hanging from one leg, which was held tightly between both of Dash’s front hooves. Pinkie flung her forelegs upward, revealing the compressed magical explosion that had been thrown into the rift a second earlier. “Not cool!” She shook the magic ball up and down a couple of times before pushing her hooves upward. The spell shot into the sky, exploding in the air far above the arena with a flash and loud cracking sound.

The six Wonderbolts, who were still perched on their cloud platforms had started glowing a bright green. Their heads had all turned simultaneously a second earlier, locking onto Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Pinkie was now struggling and screaming at Dash indiscriminately, but Dash refused to drop her.

There was a flash of green light from the center of the Wonderbolts, accompanied by a wave of hot green flame.

Twilight turned her head slowly from left to right, taking in the flashing landscape before her.

The crowd erupted into a sea of green flames.

“Can we run now?” Fluttershy asked, practically galloping in place in front of Twilight and Celestia.

“I’m not sure it matters anymore,” Twilight said, her voice shaking and sad. “My story about the changeling invasion just came true.”

Author's Note

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but with a...
OK, there was a bang.

And now there's changelings. Deal with it.

Twilight: "But there can't be changelings, I cast Starswirl's Faithful Watchdog!"

Chrysalis: "No you didn't! You never actually cast the spell, so now there's changelings!"

Pinkie Twi: "Changelings? I have an changeling-slaying party cannon, it gets +20 against changelings!"

Chrysalis: "You're at the bar!"

Pinkie Twi: "Cool, I get drunk! Roll the dice to see if I'm getting drunk!"

Chrysalis: "Oh for pony's sake... Yes! You get drunk!"

Pinkie Twi: "Okay! But if there's any pegasi there, I wanna doooo them!"

For better or worse, here it is. The chapter that puts this story over, or at least right up against, the 100,000 word mark. I can't say the pace of writing has been speedy, but it's been a lot of fun. The chapter should have a lot less errors in it than the previous one when it got released, but since I am at a convention right now, I will likely be unable to address anything we may have missed immediately.

As always, I hope you enjoy it and look forward to the next as much as I am excited to start writing what will surely be a very exciting section of this story.

Crash Down Ch 2 - Pressurization

Author's Note

Double April Foals!

It was a new chapter all along.

Chapter 3 is almost done! Or do you not believe that? :pinkiehappy: :pinkiehappy: :pinkiehappy:

Serious note: 5555 words? Sheesh. Anyway, I decided to make a couple shorter chapters instead of one long one so I'd at least have something for you all.

Short-lived April Fool's joke. It's 5:14 AM but I have no idea when I'll be able to publish tomorrow. I got at least 3 people with the blog post, so good enough for me.

Off to bed with me!

Crash Down Ch 2 - Pressurization

Book Five: Crash Down

Chapter Two – Pressurization

Rainbow Dash’s Dream, Present Time

Linnai’s nostrils flared as she sniffed the air. She moaned slightly and rolled over, pulling a blanket over her face and burying her nose in her pillow. She sniffed again, the same smell still filling her nose. Griffons, she thought as she slowly drifted back towards consciousness. Why did it have to be griffons? The stench of them, ugh… it’s revolting.

“Up and at ‘em!” a voice came from above her.

Linnai felt herself being shaken, and she slowly opened her eyes, flinching slightly as sunlight coming in through a window hit her face. She rolled over and blinked as the face of a griffon came into view. A second later, that same griffon grabbed ahold of the blanket that she was curled up in and tugged it off of her.

“Hey! That’s cold!” she protested. Despite her complaint, she slid her hind legs off the bed and down onto the floor. She slouched forward, her mane falling over her face. A second later, she felt a taloned finger sliding across her forehead and tucking her bangs behind her ear. She gazed drearily up at Frida.

“Come on, let’s get you some breakfast.”

“You didn’t have to yank my covers off,” Linnai complained, snatching the blanket back and hugging it against her chest with a sigh.

“Come on, now. Daylight’s a-burnin’. Starting today, yer a proud employee of The Roost Tavern.”

Linnai shrugged and crawled out of bed. The two of them made their way out onto the walkway and down into the great hall of the tavern. Gerulf was sitting at a table, a pair of glasses over his eyes, a magnifying lens mounted in front of him, as he tinkered with something. His talons moved delicately, twisting a tiny screwdriver. Beside him was a plate upon which sat several fried eggs and slices of toasted bread. The smells that were entering Linnai’s nostrils now were at least not wholly unpleasant, of which she was thankful.

“You have a seat here, I’ll go get some things ready for you. Got a long day ahead of you. Monday is a busy day for us.”

“Great way to start a job. The busiest day, eh?” Linnai said and sat down next to Gerulf. She stared down at the plate of food, uncertain of what she was suddenly feeling deep down inside her gut. She sniffed at the air again and felt herself starting to salivate, an odd sensation for her when love magic wasn’t involved. She looked up at the griffon and pointed down at the plate. “Do you eat this stuff?”

Gerulf laughed and eyed her oddly. “I don’t know, do you?” he asked. “You’re an odd one, alright! Probably why I liked ya immediately.”

Linnai let out a nervous laugh. “Sorry, I’m just not used to this.”

“Used to what?”

Linnai shook her head. “Nevermind,” she said, and then picked up a piece of toast. She nervously bit down on it and then her eyes went wide.

Gerulf grinned at her and shook his head. “You prefer it plain? Got some butter, here.” He scooped up some of the yellow substance onto a knife and held it up in front of the bewildered looking pony. After she lowered the toast down, he spread it on. She stared down at it as he spread it, practically drooling.

She took another bite and her eyes seemed to practically sparkle. She could feel her heart beating. This could be really dangerous if Mulcibar got his hooves on any. He might just keel over, she thought, then took another bite.

“I thought for sure you ponies ate bread, at least,” Gerulf mused and returned to his tinkering.

Linnai jumped slightly as a stack of paper was slapped down onto the table beside her. Frida sat across from Gerulf and tapped a claw against the papers. “These are the delivery orders, along with a map of the city. Along with being a tavern, we also dabble in moving, business deliveries, rides, and security.”

“Security?” Linnai asked before stuffing the last of the toast into her mouth. Gerulf patted the gun that was holstered at his hip.

“Not so much in the security business anymore,” Frida admitted.

“After last night’s incident, I’d hope not,” Linnai said plainly. Gerulf and Frida both burst into laughter.

“Hah! I like you more every minute, new girl! Yer an honest one,” said Gerulf.

Linnai poked curiously at the eggs and then glanced at the stack of papers on the table. “Looks like a lot of work,” she said flatly.

“Oh, I know it seems like it, but don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it before you know it. Just grab a saddle bag from the rack toward the front of the bar when you’re ready to set out,” Frida responded.

Linnai sighed and stood up. “Might as well get on with it,” she said. “I need to get a better feel for the city, anyway.”

“If ya need anything, ya know where ta find us,” Gerulf said, not even looking up from what he was doing.

Linnai simply nodded, scooped up the stack of papers and a saddle bag from beside the door, and left.

The city of Avenport was a sizable port town with multiple levels. Browns and greens dominated the view as Linnai took it all in. The buildings were made of wood for the most part, attached to trees, though some sported fancier and more intricate construction and shot up from the ground. Many griffons, along with a few pegasi, filled the heart of the city. She glided over what appeared to be the town square, which was situated in a clearing in the center of the clump of tall trees that made up the rest of the city. A giant statue of a griffon wearing armor, standing proudly, was the centerpiece of the plaza. Several streets shot off in all directions from the statue’s location. Linnai looked around, comparing the layout of the city to the map she held. She landed on a sturdy tree branch and studied the delivery itinerary. There were schedule pickup and dropoff times, along with addresses, which specified not only the location relative to the roads on the ground, but also to the walkways and flight zones above.

“I can’t help but be impressed! This is a really detailed city. This dream just keeps getting more and more insane by the minute. Just look at all these griffons… they all seem to be individuals. Those two at the tavern, at first I thought maybe they were a couple that Rainbow knew, but…” Linnai said to herself as she turned her head and looked over at a griffon couple having a conversation while sitting on a park bench.

“Open up, Shnookums, its your favorite: banana brickle!” the large avian said to his demure companion. She opened her beak, closed her eyes, and bit down onto the spoon of ice cream that had been presented to her. There was something so realistic about them, and everyone else in this city that Linnai had flown past, that she had to keep reminding herself that it was a dream world.

“There’s something else, too. Something wrong. I wish I could put my hoof on it. Once Mulci arrives, there shouldn’t be too much trouble. The reset swarm seems to be paying no mind to this town. That seems odd in and of itself, but it’s going to make things much easier.”

Linnai stared down at the griffon couple sitting on the bench below her, observing their every move for reasons beyond her.

“You know what I’d like to gobble up even more, sweetie?” the female asked, staring up into her lover’s eyes.

Linnai felt her cheeks warm slightly as the female griffon suggestively licked at the tip of the spoon and fluttered her eyes up at the male. Linnai made a slight gagging sound. She stuffed the pieces of paper she’d been holding into her bag and took off towards the site of her first pickup.

As she passed the north end of the city center, coming upon the first intersection from it, she heard a loud voice shouting out, and the sound of a crowd. She turned her head and saw a griffon standing atop a crate. He was shaking his fist in the air as she yelled.

“Who do these ponies think they are? They run away from a problem they created and seek refuge in our kingdom! We don’t want them here! The changelings are clearly only interested in ponies, and they’ll only bring them to us again!”

Linnai landed on the sidewalk at the intersection to watch the spectacle. He seems like a real charmer, she thought. Members of the crowd began shouting back.

“They should go back and face the music!”

“But we’re allies! We have a responsibility to help them!”

“Let them fend for themselves! We’ve got enough to worry about!”

“That’s right!” shouted the griffon on the crate. “You all remember when the changelings invaded here! I still have nightmares about those dark creatures! I understand all too well where they came from, too! It’s a pony conspiracy! It had to be the unicorns dabbling in magic they never should have touched! Do the changelings look like griffons?”

“No!” the crowd yelled back. “They look like ponies!”

“That’s right, again!” the griffon shouted. “They’re a pony problem! And now the ponies think they can just come here after they’ve ruined their own kingdom! Take our land! Our jobs! Our way of life! They all just sit in their camp in the slums and wallow in their own self-pity! Worthless, I say! We should drive them out, right here, right now!”

“Yeah!” the crowd roared.

“ENOUGH!” a voice from further down the street shouted. Everyone turned to look. A griffon with pure white feathers and burning eyes stared down the road at the mob. “Disperse this crowd immediately!”

“Oh! Look who’s shown up! It’s pony sympathizer number one! Shouldn’t you be at home making out with your pony marefriend, Gilda?”

So, that’s Gilda! Linnai thought, her eyes locking onto the griffon, taking in her every feature.

“I’m getting real tired of your beak, Garren! You like to think you’re a revolutionary, but you’re just a lame rabble rouser!”

Garren, the griffon who had been up on the box, leapt through the air and glided down towards Gilda, landing in the street right in front of her. “You wanna find out how lame I am? Let’s go right now. I’m not scared of you just because you’re in the security force. Come on!”

Gilda laughed. “If I wanted a real fight, I’d go pick one with old Gerulf at the Roost! You couldn’t knock out a pony foal, Garren! Now get off my streets! The north side is my squad’s territory, and if you don’t want me calling them all here, you’ll get this racist scum out of here!” Gilda shouted, and then flapped her wings a couple times, shouting past the griffon before her. “You hear that? Get lost!”

The crowd nervously began to disperse. A pair of griffons walked past Linnai and flashed her a couple of angry glares as they did. Linnai shook her head and sighed.

“Hey, you! Pegasus!” Gilda’s voice shot out down the road. “That means you, too!”

Garren laughed and took to the sky. “Yes, go back to your slum town, grass-eater!”

Without hesitation, Gilda launched herself into the air, pulled back her fist, and let loose with it, clocking Garren squarely on the side of his head. He dropped back to the ground, but then quickly composed himself and took off flying, leaving the area with great speed. Gilda glided over to Linnai and landed in front of her.

“Look, sorry about that. He’s the worst,” she said. “You need to get going, though. The north side is a rough place. Haven’t seen you before, so you must be new in town, but just trust me, you don’t want to be up here. Sad but true.”

Linnai shook her head. “Weaklings like him don’t scare me. All talk and no substance, I’ve known plenty like him. I am here on business, though, so I don’t have much of a choice. It’s funny, you’d mentioned Gerulf, and that’s just who I’m working for right now.”

Gilda blinked and then grinned. “Ah, you must be the new delivery mare at the Roost. Word travels fast through the security force. Plus, Gerulf and Frida are my aunt and uncle. You’re lucky to have run into them rather than these guys first. But anyway, just be careful here on the north side. If you have anything to do up here, get it done fast and don’t hang around long. Ponies aren’t welcomed too kindly.”

“I’ll keep it in mind. Thanks.”

“Oh, and don’t think that just because you’re working for my uncle’s business that you get a pass up here. If I hear about you doing anything suspicious, I know where to find you now.”

Well that was quite the mood swing. Still, I need to make sure I keep track of this griffon. She’s connected to Rainbow Dash somehow. If my theory is correct, she could lead me right to her.

The remainder of her day was far less eventful, with standard pickups and dropoffs following her confrontation with Gilda and the gang of angry griffons. She plopped down on the same tree branch as before and pulled a piece of paper up from her satchel.

“Just one delivery left,” she said to herself, leaning back against the tree’s trunk and taking a deep breath. “Is this what normal poor pegasi do for a living? This is just awful. I can’t imagine weather duties. Still, after this delivery, I can head back to--”

“Open up, Shnookums, its your favorite. banana brickle!”

Linnai jerked her body forward and stared down to the area beneath her perch. The same couple were sitting on the bench, doing the exact same things they had been doing mid-day.

“You know what I’d like to gobble up even more, sweetie?”

Linnai cocked an eyebrow. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me…” she said aloud. So maybe I gave this dream too much credit. These dream inhabitants are pretty dull, she thought. I suppose it makes sense. Even a mind racing at this speed couldn’t keep up with so much. They probably all do the same things every day for the most part.

Linnai stuffed the paper back into her bag. “Well, it doesn’t matter. One last delivery up north and then I’m home free.”

Gilda’s voice shot through her mind. She warned me not to go to the north side… Linnai thought, but then shook her head. Whatever. These pathetic dream dolls don’t scare me.

She took off towards the north side of the city, leaving the central park behind. She arrived at a run down shop on the north side of town and knocked on the door. A griffon with pure black feathers cracked the door open and scowled at her.

“Delivery mare?” he simply asked, and Linnai nodded her head. A second later, a massive crate was shoved out the door and the griffon pointed to a cart across the road. “It’s heavy, so take that cart with you. Contents fragile! Understand? I know you pegasi can be a little too eager, so to speak, but if you damage these goods…”

Linnai glared back at the griffon through the partially opened door. “What? Get over yourself, old bird. Nothing’s going to happen.”

“Better not, or its your head, weed-eater!”

The door slammed before Linnai could respond. She slammed one of her front hooves against the door and shouted. “I’ll roast you, you old turkey!” There was no response. She looked down at the crate, then over at the cart. A moment later, she had pulled the cart over and strained as she lifted the unbelievably heavy crate on board and then latched the cart’s front around her midsection.

“Mother of… What’s in there, boulders?” She lifted off, the contents of the crate clanking slightly as she struggled to get airborne and flew off to the northwest.

The sun was setting in the sky when she finally arrived at the dock she’d been directed to. She landed upon a ledge overlooking the dock to take a moment and catch her breath. She hadn’t been sitting for a minute when three shady looking griffons came out of a large set of double doors across from her. The doors were the only visible entrance to a massive warehouse that bumped up against the dock and the ocean. One of the griffons waved her over.

“Get over here, seed-brain! You’ll be spotted!”

“Bloody equers…” another griffon groaned aloud.

Linnai practically fumed as she took flight again, hauling the heavy load behind her. “Calm yer egg-holes, I got it!” she grumbled under her breath. A gust of wind from the bay caught her, pushing her to the side. The cart tilted and the crate dropped to the ground, not very far, but enough to crack the wood and spill the contents out onto the ground.

Two of the griffons raced toward Linnai. One of them went straight for the cargo and the other grabbed Linnai by the shoulders, shaking her. “You lame-brained idiot!” he shouted. Linnai turned her head to look at the cargo, and the griffon who was shaking her pulled her away from it, but it was too late. Linnai saw the contents of the crate, spread all across the ground.

A veritable mountain of bullets and small bladed weapons lined the ground. Tightly packed rifles had spilled out and were lying across the ground as well, with the other griffon scrambling to scoop them all back up.

“You didn’t see anything, you hear?” the griffon who was holding Linnai’s shoulder shouted into her face. His breath reeked of griffon stench, and Linnai nearly gagged.

“Didn’t see what? Like I care about your pathetic firearms!”

The third griffon, who was still standing by the door, shouted out to the other two. “She don’t care, eh?” He said with a glare. “It’s too late, though! No one can know what we’re doing here!”

The griffon who had been gripping Linnai’s shoulders now pulled one of his claws away, balled it up into a fist, and slammed it against Linnai’s forehead.

Linnai dropped to the ground and stared up at the griffon who had hit her. “You just made a big mistake!” she growled, and then shot up to her hooves, headbutting the griffon right under his beak.

He reeled back, releasing her from his claws and cupping them under his beak. Blood trickled down from where his beak met the feathers of his face. Linnai didn’t take a second to continue, though, turning in place and swinging a front hoof around into the griffon’s ribcage. As she connected, sending his body bending sideways, she was attacked from behind. The other griffon pounded down against the center of her back with both his fists. She felt her spine buckle slightly, but she pressed up against the attack and turned her head over her shoulder, glaring back at the second assailant.

In the distance, she could see the third griffon ducking into the building. Going to help? She wondered, but had no time to ponder further. She kicked with her hind legs, both her rear hooves slamming against the second griffon’s chest. He was launched into the air and slammed into the ground several feet back, sliding on impact and letting out a scream of pain.

It had only been a matter of seconds, but Linnai heard a metallic clank to her right. She jerked her head around just in time to see the first griffon leaping towards her, clutching a knife in his claws.

Too fast to dodge!

The griffon’s arms sped forward, stabbing the knife into her side. She screamed in pain and stared into the griffon’s eyes, her own full of rage. The outline of a horn blazed upon her forehead, and with a quick blast of fire, she blew the griffon away from her.

Linnai fell to the ground. She was bleeding out from the knife wound and knew if she didn’t do something about it quickly, it could be fatal. The blade had penetrated her between her ribs, though she could feel it had somehow missed any internal organs. Be that as it may, a puddle of blood had already formed beneath her.

“Freak!” Linnai heard a voice shout. She turned and looked toward the warehouse. The third griffon was standing in the open doorway, sitting upon his haunches and aiming a long-barreled rifle right at her.

He pulled the trigger. The gun’s barrel flashed as the bullet sped forth. Linnai closed her eyes, concentrated, and threw up a shield spell as fast as she could manage. The bullet hit the shield, blasted right through it, and lodged itself in her flesh. Luckily, the shield had absorbed nearly all of the bullet’s momentum.

Have to get up! Linnai thought. He’ll fire again! She began to push herself to her hooves when she heard another bang.

This time it was different. Her eyes went wide as she saw Gerulf come down on the rifle-wielding griffon, his fist slamming into the side of its head. As if a speeding train had smashed into him, the griffon went down, his head hitting the ground so hard that bits of rock and dirt flew into the air from the impact.

Linnai’s world went dark.

The next thing she knew, Linnai found herself being cradled in Gerulf’s surprisingly strong arms as they flew through the air away from the warehouse.

“Sorry, I… I must have blacked out for a sec, and—“ Linnai started, but was interrupted.

“Hush, now. We hafta get ya back to the shop. Yer wounded. Don’t worry, though, we’ll get ya patched up in no time.”

“What about all those weapons?”

“The security force will have heard the gunshots. I’m sure they’ll be arriving in no time. You sure did a number on the other two, though. One of ‘em even looked burned.”

Linnai coughed slightly, which sent a shock of pain through her entire body. “Did… did he?”

“Aye,” Gerulf said, slightly laughing. “Musta got gunpowder in his feathers, unlucky bastard.”

From a grove of trees near the warehouse, a pair of glowing eyes stared at the two as they flew away. “Was that magic?” the eyes’ owner pondered. “Interesting ability for a pegasus.”

Rainbow Dash’s Dream, One Day Later

Mulcibar slowly opened his eyes and shook his head slightly. He reached a hoof around to the back of his head and rubbed the bump that had formed there, pulling air between his teeth as the pain shot across his scalp. He blinked a couple of times and came to the realization that he was inside a cage.

Not again, he thought, glancing around at his immediate surroundings. The large rectangular cell that held him had thick metal bars and a single hinged door at one end. The room that the cage sat in the back of was dimly lit with makeshift wooden walls. Through the cracks and spaces between boards, he could make out dirt. A makeshift sub-level of some sort, or a pit. There’s a door at the far end.

He tapped his hoof against the cage door, and it rattled on its hinges. “Shoddy work, and it looks like it’s just been improvised from metal beams and ductwork in places. One little blast to the hinges is all it will take,” he thought aloud, and then remembered the beam of magic firing out of Rainbow’s hoof. “She has a grip on some sort of lucidity, she’s just not awoken. No matter, all I have to do is keep track of her until the others arrive. Finding Linnai should also be a priority.”

Mulcibar shot a beam of magic at one of the cage’s hinges. The blast was absorbed by the bars rather than exploding on impact. A second later, the entire cage seemed to electrify, sending jolts of energy up through the changeling’s legs. He jumped backwards instinctively and clenched his teeth. Anti-magic measures, and really weird, too… It feeds back. Nice deterrent.

“Awake, are you?” a voice called out to him from the other side of the door. It opened and he was met by the gaze of a brown pony who sported a beige pith helmet and a simple green top. “Sorry that Rainbow Dash couldn’t be here to greet you as you woke; you’ll have to make do with me.”

Mulcibar shrugged. “Makes no difference to me. Who are you, again?”

The pony pulled back her head and gasped. “Who am I? Who am I? You’re an odd changeling if you don’t know who I am.”

“Guess I’m out of the loop.”

“The Scourge of the Jungle?”

“Not ringing a bell.”

“The Desert Walker?”

“Sorry, I don’t think any nickname is going to do you any good, here.”

“Honestly, have your superiors even briefed you? The last four changelings we caught all knew who I was immediately. I’m Daring Do!”

“Like… from those pony books?”

Daring pulled her hat down a bit and sighed. “Yeah, that one.”

“Good grief. So the dream isn’t just inclusive, but it’s a fantasy? What a pain in the plot…”

Daring shook her head. “Dream? I assure you, this is no dream, and we’re a bit confused, ourselves. You’re not like any other changeling we’ve seen so far. At a glance, I’d almost think you were a unicorn, but those eyes, and those holes in your legs… you’re a changeling, alright.”

A fantasy dream… that would explain the lucidity that Rainbow has, as well as this cage’s anti-magic. This pony dreams pretty big, he thought. “Where’s Fluttershy?” He stood up and stared the pony down through the cage’s bars.

Daring laughed. “Fluttershy? You really are an oddity. All of your friends are always looking for Rainbow. Where did you come from, changeling?”

“That doesn’t matter. Where’s Fluttershy?”

“I hate to turn the tables on you, here, but I’m going to need you to answer some questions. How did you find us? Do your superiors know where we are?”

Mulcibar groaned. I guess I’d better just feed her some info, any info. He cleared his throat. “No, it’s just me. I just stumbled upon this place.”

Daring squinted and slid her jaw left and right for a moment. “Nah, I’m not buying it. It doesn’t fit in with how you’ve been operating.”

“You also said you’d never seen a changeling like me before. There’s a reason for that, little pony. I am one of a special order of changelings. My mission is different than that of the swarm you’ve encountered thus far, and I am also not to be taken lightly.” He spread his wings, their tips beginning to glow blue.

Daring jumped back a couple of feet. “Don’t try anything! That cage is made of special magic-absorbing alloy! The princesses themselves imbued the metal with the magic, and anything you try in there is going to be nullified.”

“Why’d you jump back, then?” Mulcibar asked, and then stared closely at the bars in front of him.

“Just trained reflexes. What’s your mission, then?”

“Trained reflexes, eh? You’ve seen your fair share of danger, then?” he asked, a grin spreading across his face.

“Plenty more dangerous than you,” Daring scoffed.

“You have to keep on your hooftips. Defense is of utmost importance, I assume,” he responded, his eyes starting to glow a slight blue.

Daring stared back into his eyes. Her facial expression softened. “Of course.”

“That’s why you locked yourself up in that cell, right? Can’t be too careful.”

Daring Do blinked and shook her head. She turned and looked around, finding that she was locked inside the cage and Mulcibar was now on the outside. She stamped her hoof against the ground. “What? What’s going on?”

Mulcibar laughed. “I have no idea, you tell me! It seems backwards to have the prisoner outside the cage and you inside, doesn’t it?”

“What did you do? Let me out!”

Mulcibar chuckled. “You’re the one with the keys,” he said, pointing to the key ring that was latched to her shirt. “I didn’t do anything.”

She looked down at the key ring for a moment and then reached up and grabbed it. Fumbling for a moment, her head shot up at the sound of another voice.

“What are you doing in there? Where’s the prisoner?”

Rainbow Dash was staring at Daring through the cage’s bars. Daring reached clumsily around through the bars, sliding a key into the keyhole. “Sorry, I don’t know what happened! He was just here! I don’t know how he switched us around, but somehow I was locked up and he was free!”

“Well just hurry up and get out of there! We have to go find him!”

Daring nodded her head and twisted the key, swinging the door open. Rainbow Dash grinned, but then a voice came from behind Daring.

“What are you doing?”

Rainbow’s face went from a grin to a frown. Her eyes flashed blue, and the world seemed to spin in a circle for a moment. Magic swept across the room and Rainbow Dash’s appearance melted away, revealing Mulcibar, who was standing inside the cage still. Daring Do stood dumbfounded outside the cage, holding the door open. Standing behind her was Fluttershy, her eyes wide, staring at Mulcibar.

“Fluttershy—“ Mulcibar started, reaching his hoof up.

“Close the door!” Fluttershy managed. Daring shook her head and swung the door inward, but Mulcibar shoved his foreleg out, letting the door slam against it.

“Hey! Stop that!” Daring shouted, pushing up against the door harder. Mulcibar pushed back, slowing easing the door open again. A second later, it slammed against his leg again.

He screamed and turned to look at the door. Fluttershy was now pressed against it. He noticed that she was wearing a Wonderbolts suit, just like Rainbow Dash had been, complete with a pink butterfly-shaped gem set into the chest. He stared into her eyes, and she stared back, her gaze cold and distant.

“Please! You have to let me out! Fluttershy, listen! It’s me! Mulcibar!”

“I don’t know you, monster, and I don’t want to!” Fluttershy shouted back at him and then slammed her body against the door again, even harder this time.

Mulcibar let out a cry of pain once again and pulled his hoof back. The cage door slammed shut and Daring twisted the key, locking the cage. Mulcibar, who had fallen to the floor, looked up at Fluttershy, who was still staring at him coldly. He stood up and flinched slightly as pain shot through his foreleg.

“Please, just listen to me,” he said.

Fluttershy shook her head. “Don’t talk to me like you know me… like you even care about what you’ve put this world through.”

“But that wasn’t me! That was—“

“You think you aren’t guilty just because you didn’t do it yourself? Your kind did it. All of you! All of you will pay!”

“Fluttershy! That isn’t you talking! That’s just how Rainbow Dash made you!”

Daring pulled Fluttershy away from the cage. “Come on, Shy. Let’s get out of here,” she said, glancing down at Mulcibar’s bent and bleeding foreleg. “Hah! Serves you right.”

The two pegasi left the room, leaving Mulcibar to sit in his cell, alone, in pain, and bleeding. He stared down at the blood on the floor, Fluttershy’s face burning in the back of his mind. A teardrop fell to the ground, mixing with the red liquid.

“Please… just look at me like you did before…” he said with a slight sob. “Let me know there’s something of the real you left.”

The candle on the table across the room from him fizzled out, leaving him in total darkness.

“Love is a strength?” he asked himself in the cold, pitch black room. “I’m starting to have my doubts, Princess…”