Advent of the Black Strain

Chapters

Recon
Introductions
Awakening
Fears
Feelings
Tension
Escalation
Decision
Bloodbath
Fallout
Omen
Lost
Remembrance
Forest
Hunted
Regret
Plans
Revival
Gifted
Turnabout
Duel
Identity
Recovery
Resistance
Reflection
Cadence
Epilogue
Thoughts
Return
Divide

Recon

"Hey... AJ."

"Yeah, RD?"

"...Where the buck are we?"

"Now how in tarnation do ya expect me ta know that, Rainbow?"

The question lingered as the two confused ponies scanned their surroundings. The immediate area around them was scorched black, but other than that, everything was covered in snow.

It was clear they had ended up in some kind of mountainous area. There were a few large rock formations and several large snow covered pine trees nearby. In the distance, they could see a small path and more mountains.

"Applejack! Rainbow Dash!"

The two ponies turned and looked behind them to see Pinkie fretting over their other three unmoving friends. Pinkie looked over to Applejack and Rainbow Dash with a worried expression.

"There's something weird going on with Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy!"

"What?" Rainbow cried as she flew over to where Pinkie was sitting, "lemme see!"

The cyan pegasus looked the three mares over with a concerned frown. She turned Fluttershy around and put an ear to her chest, reeling back in disgust and confusion a moment later.

"What... the buck?"

"I know right?" Pinkie replied as she waved her forelegs frantically, "their insides are making all kinds of weird noises!"

"What're ya'll goin' on about, now?" Applejack asked as she made her way over to the others, "what's goin' on with em'?

"I don't even know," Rainbow answered with a confused shake of her head, "I listened for some kinda heartbeat and... well..." she stepped aside and gestured to the three unconscious mares, "just listen for yourself."

Applejack frowned and leaned down towards Rarity. She lifted her hat and put an ear over her chest. It was faint, but she could hear what sounded like something -- or several somethings -- slithering around just beneath Rarity's skin. Her eyes widened and she quickly stepped away from the white unicorn mare.

"Now that's just plain disturbin'," she muttered.

"Tell me about it," Rainbow agreed with a grimace, "are they still... alive?"

"Ah... ah think so," Applejack replied uncertainly, "ah mean, ah did take a sword to the neck and it didn't bother me none. And ah'm sure they've taken some pretty bad hits and survived."

"Yup," Pinkie added in a matter-of-fact tone, "we're all reeeeaallly hard to kill now. One of those mean griffons stuck me with a super sharp spear that went all the way through me," Pinkie said with a small snort of laughter, "it was like I was some kind of Pinkiekebab!"

Rainbow and Applejack looked at each other with raised eyebrows. Sure, Pinkie casually talking about being impaled should've been extremely unsettling -- and to an extent it certainly was -- but for the most part they just took it in stride as Pinkie being Pinkie.

"Anyway, I'm sure they'll be fine," Pinkie continued, grabbing Rainbow and Applejack in a one legged hug, "they just need some rest is all," her smile faltered for a moment, "wish I could bake them some 'get-well-soon' cupcakes..."

Rainbow Dash winced and patted Pinkie on the back.

"Aw come on, Pinks don't be like that," she said with a reassuring smile, "I'm sure you'll get a chance at some point."

"Yeah, but before that..." Applejack pulled herself out of Pinkie's grip and looked around once more with a bemused frown, "...we gotta find out where the hay Twi sent us."

"Oh! Then why don't we go hiking?" Pinkie asked enthusiastically, "we are on a mountain path after all."

"Ah suppose we'll have to," Applejack replied with a slow thoughtful nod, "ain't like we got much of a choice."

"Pfft, speak for yourself," Rainbow scoffed as she took to the sky, "I've got these babies. There's no way I'm hoofin' it."

Pinkie narrowed her eyes and hummed to herself before letting out a loud gasp. She turned to Applejack with a toothy smile.

"She's right, Applejack!"

"Uh... right about what?" Applejack asked with a confused frown.

"We don't have to hoof it!"

Before Applejack could ask what Pinkie was talking about, the pink mare stuck out her tongue in concentration and shivered slightly. A few seconds and several tendrils later, a fuschia coated pegasus stallion was standing where Pinkie had just been.

He leapt into the air to join a bewildered Rainbow Dash.

"We can just be pegasi!" the stallion cried happily.

"Oh yeah," Rainbow replied flatly, "I forgot about that."

Applejack raised an eyebrow at the cheerful stallion.

"That's all well an' good, Pinkie," she called out, "but some of us are more comfortable on the ground. An' besides, we still need ta carry Twilight, Fluttershy an' Rarity, remember?"

"Eh, I can carry one of em' just fine in the air," Rainbow replied with a dismissive wave of her hoof, "no big deal."

"Fair enough," Applejack said with a nod before turning to the fuschia pegasus, "and you, Pinkie?"

"Hmmm..." Not-Pinkie tapped his chin contemplatively before lowering himself back to the ground with a shrug. She returned to her pink self in a brief flurry of tendrils, "I'll just join you on the ground. Being other ponies is fun, but I'd rather be Pinkie right now."

"Alright then," Applejack responded, "now that that's settled..."

She turned and trotted over to their three unconscious friends. With some effort, she managed to pull Twilight onto her back and turned to the others with a determined nod.

"...each of ya grab a pony and let's get movin'."

Svanhild allowed herself a small smile as she flew across the sparsely forested field of rock and snow. The more she thought about what she might find, the more excited she got.

She didn't know what she would find, but she had a feeling things would get very interesting very quickly. She couldn't remember the last time she had been so eager to do her job.

She shook her head and refocused on the task ahead, scanning the ground below for any sign of what could've caused that bright flash of light. It wasn't long until she spotted something out of the ordinary.

Is... is that a pony?!

She narrowed her eyes as she spotted what looked like an airborne cyan pegasus several meters away and heading in her own direction. It looked like it was carrying another pony -- much to Svanhild's shock.

They are ponies! What in the Emperor's name are ponies doing all the way out here?

From what she could see, it looked like the pegasus hadn't spotted her yet. She dropped back to the ground and moved swiftly into the cover of a nearby tree. She couldn't see the pegasus flying overhead anymore, but if it maintained it's course, it would pass directly overhead and she could follow it.

Svanhild's excitement only grew at this new revelation.

Ponies!

Actual ponies all the way out in the Tassel Mountain Range!

Svanhild had never seen a pony before -- at least not in the flesh -- but she had heard all sorts of stories about them from her granddad who had traveled to Equestria many years ago.

She stood in the shade of the tree grinning from ear to ear as her mind came up with all sorts of reasons why ponies would be flying out here. She was so caught up in her musings that she almost missed the voices coming from further down the trail.

"How much longer do ya think they'll be out?"

"I dunno, but it shouldn't be too much longer!"

"Ah hope yer right about that, Pinkie. I'm startin' ta get mighty worried..."

Svanhild's eyes widened in panicked surprise and she scrambled to reorient herself around the tree as two more ponies crested over a small hill. She peered out from behind the tree curiously.

One pony had a coat and a flat mane and tail that were all different shades of pink and the other had a more mundane looking orange coat and blonde mane and tail -- though the hat was rather odd.

They each appeared to be carrying a pony on their backs -- one pure white and another a bright lavender color. If she remembered they're descriptions correctly, the two ponies trotting down the path were earth ponies, but she couldn't tell the tribe of the unconscious ponies on their backs.

Svanhild ducked out of sight as the ponies passed her by and reappeared again after they moved on. She was able to get a better look at the two unconscious ponies and judging by their horns they had be unicorns.

She couldn't believe her luck!

She had stumbled upon not one, not two, not even three, but six ponies! And what's more, they all looked like they were heading in the direction of Squawken!

She knew she should've flown ahead and let the town guard know, but this was a prime opportunity to--

"Boo."

It would be said by the rest of the Squawken Town Guard much later that Svanhild's screech could be heard for miles.

The startled griffon whipped around to see the cyan pegasus from earlier lying flat on her stomach and pounding the ground with a hoof as she laughed hysterically.

lying on the ground a little ways away was the butter yellow pony she had seen the cyan pegasus carrying before.

"Oh -- oh sweet Celestia that was... that was too good!" the rainbow maned pegasus wheezed, "that scream and... and the look on your f-face! I just... I can't!"

The pegasus mare broke down into another heavy fit of laughter and Svanhild's terror was gradually replaced with indignation.

"You... you!" Svanhild sputtered angrily, "I can't believe you! Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to make that much noise so close to the m--"

"Rainbow!" a voice cried out, "you okay back there? What in the hay was that -- oh..."

Svanhild turned to face the orange earth pony mare making her way over with a bemused frown. She could see the pink pony bringing up the rear and looking just as cheerful as she had seen earlier.

The orange mare looked from the still guffawing pegasus to the uncertain looking griffon standing next to her.

"Can somepony please tell me what in tarnation is going on here?"

Author's Note

And without preamble or fanfare, we begin where we left off originally.

The chapters this time around are going to be a bit shorter than TVoH (about the same size as The Ties that Bind) because I've found a general chapter length that I feel comfortable with and can manage a lot easier.

Introductions

Svanhild Sharp Talon was stuck.

In her excitement she had somehow forgotten to bring her old rifle with her. She hadn't planned on shooting any of these ponies of course, but it would've helped with the intimidation factor.

Now she was here, surrounded by ponies she knew nothing about -- all memories of proper procedure fleeing from her mind in the face of this ridiculous situation. On one claw, she wanted to show that she was no griffon to be messed with, but on the other, she wanted desperately to ask all sorts of questions.

"Um..."

Svanhild faltered and took a step back. The orange pony raised an eyebrow at her reaction.

"Well?" she asked expectantly.

"Well, you see..." Svanhild replied with a weak smile, "I uh..."

She took off.

She didn't know what she was thinking at the moment, but she badly needed some space, and time to think.

How could she have been so stupid?

She wasn't prepared for this situation in the slightest, and to top it all off she was fleeing from ponies. Cute, cuddly, adorable, squishy ponies of all things.

The thought made her stomach turn.

Some griffon she was.

"Hey!"

Svanhild yelped in surprise and screeched to a halt mid flight as she suddenly found herself face-to-face with an irritated looking cyan pegasus.

"What gives?" the pegasus cried in indignation, "you try to spy on us and then just bail without any explanation?" she folded her forelegs and gave the griffon a disapproving frown, "Not. Cool."

"L-Look, I gotta go," Svanhild replied hastily, "I have a job to do and--"

"Nuh-uh!" the rainbow maned pony interjected with a shake of her head, "first you're gonna tell us what the buck you were doing spying on us."

The griffon gave an exasperated groan.

"It's my job," she answered pointing to the patch on the front of her uniform, "I'm part of the guard for the town up ahead."

The cyan pony's eyes lit up at the news.

"There's a town near here? Sweet!" she replied happily, "don't go anywhere, alright?"

Before Svanhild could reply, the rainbow maned pony was speeding towards the ground, leaving a rainbow colored contrail behind her to the griffon's astonishment.

She was told that ponies were capable of all sorts of amazing things, but that was something she hadn't expected to see. She watched from above as the cyan pegasus flew down to converse with the orange and pink ponies -- presumably to tell them about the town.

She clicked her beak nervously, looking from the ponies below to the direction of Squawken. She turned back to the ponies to see with some surprise that the pink one was happily waving to her from the ground.

Svanhild hesitated for another minute before making a decision.

"I really hope I don't regret this..." she muttered.

With a heavy sigh and a shake of her head, she descended back down to where the ponies were still talking. She squawked in surprise as she was suddenly pulled into a very tight hug.

"Ohmygosh you came back!" the pink one cried, "I'm soo~ glad you didn't fly off before we all had a chance to introduce ourselves!"

"So... much... regret..."

The pink pony paid Svanhild's choked words no mind as she pulled the struggling griffon over to the others.

"This here is Applejack and Rainbow Dash!" she said, using a free hoof to point towards the two slightly amused ponies.

"That's... great," Svanhild wheezed, "can... you please--"

"They can't really talk to you right now since they're all conked out from using too much magic," the spastic earth pony continued, pointing to the white mare on the ground near Rainbow Dash, "but the white unicorn is Rarity and the lavender one on AJ's back is Twilight Sparkle!"

"Uh... Pinkie?" Applejack interjected, eyeing the increasingly tired looking griffon with some concern, "ah think maybe you should--"

"That yellow pegasus over there is Fluttershy!" the pink mare went on unabated, "I don't really know why, but she's also out to lunch right now," she finally let go of the griffon and rose up onto her hindlegs, "...and last but definitely not least, I'm Pinkie Pie!"

Pinkie waited for a reaction that never came.

She looked down at the griffon in confusion to see her on the ground and desperately gasping for air.

"Oh..." Pinkie muttered before giving Svanhild a sheepish smile, "guess I kinda got a little carried away... whoopsie."

"Dagnabit, Pinkie," Applejack chided as she tried to help the griffon up, "ah've told ya before, ya can't be yankin' ponies around like that -- especially not now."

"Yeah, Pinks," Rainbow added, flying just overhead, "who knows what those hooves of yours can do to a regular pony -- or griffon if you're not careful."

"Ah think we all know, Rainbow," Applejack answered with a disapproving frown in Rainbow's direction. Rainbow Dash went to retort, but saw the dejected look on Pinkie's face and relented.

"Yeah, I guess you're right, AJ," the cyan pegasus turned to the pink pony as she rubbed the back of her neck, "sorry, Pinkie... I... wasn't thinking."

"It's alright, Dashie," Pinkie replied quietly, "I know you didn't mean it."

Applejack looked between the two before turning her attention back to the griffon.

"Sorry bout' all o' this, sugarcube," she said with an apologetic smile, "Pinkie didn't mean ya any harm, she's just a bit... excitable is all."

"Yeah, I noticed," Svanhild replied with a rapid shake of her head, "I hope all you ponies aren't as crazy as that one."

"Oh, we're not all like that, trust me," Applejack said with a chuckle, "Pinkie's just one of a kind," she backed away and adjusted her stetson before addressing the griffon with a friendly nod, "now that all that's outta the way, ya wouldn't mind tellin' us yer name would ya?"

Svanhild coughed a few times and cleared her throat before answering.

"The name," she rasped before clearing her throat one more time and trying again, "The name's Svanhild Sharp Talon. Like I told your loud and colorful friend over there" -- she pointed to Rainbow Dash who gave her a flat look -- "I'm a member of the Squawken Town Guard."

"The squawkin' town guard?" Pinkie repeated with a confused tilt of her head, "that's just silly. Do they have to squawk all the time or--"

"No, you idiot," Svanhild interrupted with a roll of her eyes, "Squawken is the name of the town," she jerked a thumb over her shoulder, "It's a little hamlet about half a mile north of here."

Svanhild wasn't sure if it was a good idea to tell them where the town was, but she figured it would probably be fine. She needed to report back to the guard and now that she thought about it, they probably wouldn't believe she ran into ponies all the way out here.

Besides, they were heading in that direction already anyway.

She was inwardly thankful that she had finally gotten over her awe at seeing ponies for the first time -- though Pinkie's 'introduction' had gone a long way in curbing her enthusiasm.

"So you know where we are then?" Rainbow asked looking around, "because we have no idea."

Svanhild raised an eyebrow at the pegasus.

"You're in the Tassel Mountain Range," she replied.

Rainbow Dash gave her a blank look.

"About seven hundred fifty miles from the Empire?"

The look didn't change.

"The Griffonian Empire? In Griffonia?"

"Sooo... how far is that from Equestria exactly?"

It was Svanhild's turn to give the rainbow maned pegasus a blank look.

"...You're flocking kidding me, right?"

"Maybe ah should explain," Applejack cut in as she trotted between the two, "we were in a bit of a... bind, ya see," she gestured to the unconscious form of Twilight, "our friend Twilight here teleported all of us out, but we don't know where in Tartarus she sent us all."

"Teleported?" Svanhild repeated, her brows raising in surprise, "wow, I was told unicorns could do that, but..." she frowned thoughtfully, "I guess that might explain that flash of light I saw..."

"Yup!" Pinkie replied from right next to the startled griffon, "things were getting really crazy and then Twilight was like 'I'm getting us out of here girls!' and then her horn was all fwoom and zap and then there was this bright flash, and then we were here!" Pinkie frowned and shrugged, "well that's not exactly what she said, but it was close enough."

"O... kay?" Svanhild replied, uncertain of what to make of Pinkie's statement, "well I don't know exactly where Equestria is, but I do know it's on a completely different continent somewhere."

"A completely different -- are you serious?!" Rainbow yelled incredulously, "getting back to Equestria is gonna take ages!"

As the cyan pegasus griped and groaned, Applejack chose to speak up instead.

"Well that's somethin' we'll have ta deal with later," she said, as she adjusted the pony on her back, "but fer right now, we need ta make sure Twilight, Rarity, an' Fluttershy are okay," she turned back to Svanhild, "ah'd be mighty thankful if ya could show us the way to that town ya were talkin' about before."

Svanhild thought it over.

Most of the folks in town didn't really get out of town much aside from the occasional foraging expeditions on or around the mountains. Svanhild wasn't the only griffon in Squawken who had never actually seen a pony before, and she knew for a fact she wasn't the only one who was curious about them -- far from it.

If anything, the hatchlings would probably get a kick out of their visit.

"...Alright, I can take you all to Squawken," Svanhild finally answered with a nod, "just... be cool, alright? A lot of griffons around here have never even seen a pony before and I don't want them to... freak out or something."

"Bah, no worries!" Rainbow replied as she picked up Fluttershy, "we're the coolest ponies you'll ever see, trust me."

"Oh! Do you have anything I can use to make cakes? Or pies? Or cupcakes? Or tarts? Or--"

"Yes already!" Svanhild interrupted, pushing the excitable pink pony out of her face, "we got all of that, alright?" she turned to who she was beginning to suspect was the only sensible pony out of the three, "Hey, Applejack right? Can you tell the Pink One she's gonna have to cool it around the townsfolk? I don't think they'll take too well to her... insanity."

"Hey! I'm not insane!" Pinkie replied with a small pout, "I'm just..."

Her fake pout turned to a real frown as she trailed off and stared at her hooves. Applejack grimaced and decided to change the subject as she turned to speak to Svanhild.

"Well in any case," she said, giving the griffon a grateful smile, "it's mighty kind o' ya to take us all into town. Like ah said, we gotta make sure our friends are alright and... sort some things out once they wake up," she turned back to the rather melancholy looking pink mare with a gentle smile, "come on, Pinks, grab Rarity so we can get goin'."

"Yeah, okay," Pinkie replied half-heartedly. As she went about lifting the white unicorn onto her back, Rainbow Dash lowered herself enough to give the pink pony a nudge with her shoulder.

"Cheer up, Pinkie," she said with a reassuring grin, "once those griffons experience a classic Pinkie Pie Party, they'll practically be begging to hang out with you!"

It took a moment, but a small smile eventually found it's way to Pinkie's face and she gave a slight chuckle before turning to her cyan pegasus friend.

"Yeah, I don't wanna toot my own flugelhorn," she replied with a genuine smile, "but my parties are the best in Equestria!" she winced slightly and her smile fell a fraction of an inch, "well... normally they are anyway," she shook her head and her smile returned in full, "thanks, Dashie."

"Don't sweat it, Pinkie," Rainbow replied, "seriously, we all hate seeing you sad -- doesn't fit you, y'know?"

"I know," Pinkie replied with a single nod, "I'm... well I'll be a lot better when the others wake up, because then we can have that party I've been meaning to throw! Seriously, it's waaaay overdue."

Svanhild watched the exchange between the two friends with some interest before turning towards the path to Squawken.

She honestly didn't know how the townsfolk would react to these ponies -- especially the pink one -- but something about these colorful equines both warmed her heart... and terrified her at the same time.

It was an incredibly odd feeling, and she didn't know what to make of it, but one thing was for sure.

The more she hung around them, the more she felt like there was something off.

"So are we goin' or what?" Applejack asked, snapping the griffon out of her thoughts, "ah don't mean ta rush ya, but I'm awful worried for mah friends an' I wanna see if we can get em' ta wake up."

"Oh, yeah... sure thing," Svanhild replied distractedly, "like I said, Squawken is just up the path here about a half a mile out. Just follow me."

She turned and began walking up the path to town, Applejack and the others following close behind.

Author's Note

So right after I posted my blog about how I was gonna release this chapter tomorrow morning, I got an opportunity to finish it now, and I had already almost finished it before I left for work this morning soooo.... yeah.

Anyway, there will be a bit more story in between all the action this time around as I plan on making this one a lot longer than The Viruses of Harmony. Don't know how much longer, but it'll definitely be longer.

Awakening

Twilight jolted awake in a panic.

She couldn't feel her magic.

In fact, it was almost as if her mana wellspring was completely missing. There had always been a warmth she could feel from within, a warmth she could feel even with an anti-magic horn ring on. Sure the feeling was muted, but it was still there.

Now it was gone.

She began to hyperventilate -- uncaring of where she was or what was happening around her. Every single ounce of her attention was taken up by the fact that her horn was completely useless.

I need to remain calm.

Twilight's breath caught in her throat and her eyes widened in surprise. Her heartbeat picked up and she began to shiver slightly.

Just stay calm and analyze the situation. There is no heart to pump my blood, and there is no blood to be pumped.

It took a few seconds of panicking, but Twilight's breathing gradually evened out and eventually stopped altogether. She waited for several moments to see if anything would happen.

Nothing did.

There was no building pressure in her lungs, and when Twilight went to check her pulse she instead felt something else. Rather than the rhythmic pulse that indicated a healthy, beating heart, she felt as if something was slowly, but restlessly moving around under her skin.

It was a very slight sensation, but still just enough to be noticeable if she focused on it.

She shivered again, mindful of the implications of what that meant. On top of that, she still couldn't feel her magic at all, and remembering that caused her non-existent heart to start beating rapidly once more.

I am the master of my own physiology.

The thought caused Twilight relax once more.

I control everything within me, not the other way around.

She allowed the heavy thumping in her chest to die down to nothing. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on trying to regain the familiar warmth of her mana wellspring.

She didn't know much time passed, but eventually she felt it.

A spark of warmth ignited within and though it was small, it was still a sign that her magic had not completely left her. Out of pure instinct, she breathed a small sigh of relief. For whatever reason she couldn't summon anymore magic than the tiny bit she had managed to dredge up, but she decided to worry about it later.

Trying to take her mind off of the mystery of what was going on with her magic, she finally took the opportunity to look around. She was lying on a large bed in a rather small and somewhat empty room. The walls were made of a reddish brown wood and there were different instruments hanging from one of them.

She didn't recognize some of them, but one thing did stand out to her. Bolted to one of the walls was a white box with a red plus symbol indicative of some kind of first-aid kit. She frowned and turned her attention to the rest of the room.

Directly across from her was another bed with a dresser and a small stool next to it. Sweeping her gaze to the left, she took note of the other two empty beds -- one to the right of the bed opposite her, and one to her immediate left.

Am I in some kind of hospital room?

Twilight started at the sudden sound of a drawn out groan to her right. She snapped her head around to see a familiar shape stirring in another bed next to her. Her eyes widened in surprise and she felt a mix of relief and worry at the sight of her butter yellow pegasus friend.

"Fluttershy?" Twilight asked tentatively, leaning closer to the bed the yellow pegasus was lying on, "Fluttershy, are you okay?"

Fluttershy rolled onto her back and blinked a few times as she tried to focus on the lavender unicorn next to her.

"Twilight?" she croaked, "W-What happened? I..." she groaned again and shook her head before sitting up, "I don't remember what--"

she suddenly gasped -- her eyes widening in realzation.

"What did I do?" she whispered, "I... I was..." she turned to Twilight with a look of abject horror, "I was a monster... literally," she slowly shook her head and brought her hooves to her face, "I am a monster... I'm a monster, Twilight!"

"Fluttershy--"

Twilight was cut off by a pitiful moan as Fluttershy buried her face in her hooves. She wasn't wasn't full on sobbing, but the soft whimpers and sniffles were getting to the lavender unicorn. She sighed and eased herself off of her own bed.

"I r-remember... I turned into some kind of... feral beast," Fluttered muttered into her hooves, "back... back there... I was -- was just so... angry. I didn't think, I just... acted."

She continued on, even as Twilight pulled her into a comforting hug -- one the yellow pegasus returned eagerly.

"E-Everything hurt so much, a-and then," she sniffed and pulled back to look Twilight in the eyes, "and then things started to turned red. A-After that, all I could think about was h... h-hurting -- killing the thing that was trying to hurt me and my friends."

"It's... it's okay, Fluttershy," Twilight replied, pulling the distraught pegasus back into a hug, "we're all monsters now, but we don't have to let it change who we are completely."

The words rang hollow in Twilight's ears. She didn't know the full extent of the changes they had all gone through, but she knew they weren't who they used to be -- not anymore.

She doubted they ever would be again.

"We may not be able to feel remorse for those we... those we kill," Twilight continued, "but as long as we can at least remember who we are, and as long as we know that it isn't right to do what we did, I think we'll be okay."

"Y-You really think so?" Fluttershy asked as she pulled back again, "I don't want to be a monster, Twilight."

"I do think so," the lavender mare replied with a reassuring smile, "and the fact that you don't want to be a monster is what separates you from the true monsters. Hold onto that feeling, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy wiped her eyes and gave Twilight a small thankful smile before climbing down off the bed.

"Now, what do you say we go find the others?" Twilight suggested, already making her way towards the closed door, "maybe they can tell us where we are."

"That would be... nice," Fluttershy replied as she followed after her friend, "I really want to see if Rainbow is okay."

"Yeah," Twilight agreed, "same h -- whoa!"

The lavender unicorn took a startled step back as the door swung open.

"...has the most adorable little nurses gown I've ever -- oh!"

Twilight and the white unicorn mare stood frozen, eyeing each other in surprise for the briefest of moments before a pink blur shot past the white mare and latched onto Twilight.

"Twilight!" the chipper voice cried, "you're finally awake!"

"P-Pinkie?" the lavender mare gasped, stumbling further back from the force of pink pony's tackle hug. After a minute she smiled and returned the hug with a small chuckle, "it's good to see you're okay, Pinkie."

"We could say the same about you, darling."

Twilight turned to face a relieved looking Rarity as she stepped inside the room.

"Hey, Rarity," Twilight greeted as Pinkie removed herself and yanked a squeaking Fluttershy into a tight embrace, "Fluttershy and I just woke up a little bit ago."

"And I'm glad to hear it," Rarity replied, giving Twilight a quicker and much more gentle hug, "I myself awoke about an hour ago. When Applejack told me what happened, I was worried sick for the two of you, and you can bet the others feel the same."

"I can imagine," Twilight replied, backing out of the hug with a frown, "a lot happened before we... wait," Twilight furrowed her brow in bemusement as she remembered her blind long range Teleportation, "where are we? I didn't have a chance to pinpoint a position when I Teleported us away from the facility."

"Well..." Rarity began somewhat uncomfortably, "I think it'd be best if we gathered everypony together to talk about it, as well as what we're going to do from here."

Twilight wanted to argue, but she knew Rarity had a point. She'd just have to wait and meet up with the other girls, but in the meantime, she had another question for her fellow unicorn.

"Hey... Rarity?"

"Hm?" Rarity replied curiously, "what is it, dear?"

"When you woke up," Twilight began hesitantly, "did you... have problems with your magic? Like you couldn't... feel it anymore?"

Rarity frowned in both confusion and concern.

"I don't believe so," she answered slowly, "when I awoke, I honestly felt rather refreshed. Of course there was that little panic attack I had when I remembered what happened and didn't know where I was, but other than that, I felt fine -- magic and all."

"Oh... alright then."

"Is something wrong, Twilight?" Rarity asked worriedly, "did something happen with your magic?"

"Well..." Twilight hesitated, not sure whether she should tell Rarity or not, but in the end she decided to voice her concerns, "when I woke up, I couldn't feel my magic... at all," she shook her head and shuddered, "it was like I never had any to begin with -- even now I can only feel the barest hint of any magic at all."

"Oh my," Rarity muttered with a frown, "that is rather strange."

"I know," Twilight replied with a worried grimace, "it may have just been all the magic I used in the Teleport on top of keeping that shield up. I'm really hoping it's just temporary."

"Let's hope so," Rarity responded with a nod before turning to the other two conversing ponies, "in the meantime I believe we should all return to where the others are. We do have a lot to catch up on, after all."

"Okey-dokey-loki!" Pinkie replied as she began pushing Fluttershy out the door, "come on, Fluttershy, you've got to try the apple strudels AJ and I made!"

"O-Oh, okay..." Fluttershy answered quietly, "t-that sounds like a wonderful idea, Pinkie."

"I know, right?"

And with that, the two were out the door and trotting down the hallway.

"Oh, that mare," Rarity mused with a small chuckle, "it's good to see her in high spirits again."

"Why? What happened?" Twilight asked, "was she not feeling well?"

"I'm afraid not, Twilight, dear," Rarity answered with a heavy sigh, "it seems Pinkie was feeling rather melancholy while we were unconscious."

"Oh," Twilight responded, "well, we're all awake now at least, and now that we are awake, we can start figuring out what's going on and what happened to Equestria."

"About that, darling..."

Twilight didn't like the tone of Rarity's voice, or the fact that she refused to look her in the eye as she spoke her next words.

"It appears we've, ah... strayed a bit farther from home than we realized."

Despite knowing she probably didn't have one, Twilight felt her heart sink at Rarity's statement.

She didn't want to know, but she had to ask.

"How much farther from Equestria are we, Rarity?"

"Well..." Rarity bit her lip nervously before turning away, "maybe we really should wait until--"

"Rarity," Twilight pressed, frowning as she took a step forward, "how far are we?"

The white mare sighed and looked Twilight in the eye.

"We're on the continent of Griffonia."

Twilight gave a heavy sigh of her own.

She had suspected the Teleportation spell wasn't enough to get them all the way back to Equestria, but to hear it confirmed only served to dampen her mood further.

Still...

"Well, did we at least arrive somewhere near the border?" Twilight asked hopefully, "are we near a place where we could board a ship heading back to Equestria?"

Rarity shook her head sadly.

"Quite the opposite, dear."

"W-What do you mean?" Twilight replied, now afraid of the answer, "where exactly are we?"

"The northeastern edge of Griffonia."

It hurt Rarity to see the defeated look on her lavender friend's face as she fell to her haunches in shock, but she finished her reply nevertheless.

"I'm sorry, darling, but we're the furthest we could possibly be from the Equestrian continent."

Author's Note

Looks like we got ourselves one hell of a Journey to undertake, boys and girls! :rainbowdetermined2:

Fears

It had been roughly a day since the group had arrived in Squawken, and Rainbow Dash was already both sick and bored to death of the place.

Sure, everything had started out well enough -- she, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie had all trotted up to the town gates with Svanhild. Rainbow had gotten a good laugh out of the other town guards when they showed up on the scene, ranting and raving about how ponies were all the way up here in the mountains.

Things quickly got annoying when the citizens of Squawken caught wind of their arrival. Half the town of roughly two hundred and fifty-ish or so griffons started swarming the gates trying to get a look at the odd, out-of-place spectacle that were the six friends, frustrating the cyan pony-turned-virus.

Normally Dash wouldn't have minded the attention -- if anything she would've reveled in it -- but she wanted to make sure Fluttershy, Twilight, and Rarity were okay as soon as possible. The curious griffons however, made the task that much harder.

After promising a 'get-to-know-the-strange-and-mysterious-ponies-from-a-far-away-land' party later, Pinkie had managed to finally get them all into the actual town itself. Thankfully they were lucky enough to find a doctor to take them into what passed for a hospital in Squawken -- which was more or less just a large hut near the center of town.

To Rainbow Dash's further annoyance, the doctor started getting nosy and grabby, talking about how he needed to 'examine' and 'diagnose' the patients to make sure they were okay.

Not only did Rainbow not trust this griffon in the slightest -- and Applejack was quick to back her up on that sentiment -- but she and the others also didn't want to risk the town finding out about who or what they really were.

And so it was that Rainbow Dash was left to keep the doctor himself, and any nosy griffons, from going into the hut and disturbing her friends -- a boring, frustrating, and thankless job all things considered.

It was made worse by the fact that both Pinkie and Applejack got to go out and mingle with the townsfolk. After an intervention by Applejack, the griffons had stopped swarming around them like bees and were now a lot more reasonable.

Now that they weren't all gathering like a bunch of crazy obsessed fans, Rainbow wouldn't have minded hanging out with some of the griffons, but alas here she was, stuck on guard duty.

It hadn't been all bad, though.

At some point, both Applejack and Pinkie had apparently worked together to make strudels for some of the griffon hatchlings and Pinkie had thought to share with the bored pegasus. Svanhild had also come by to see how she was doing, though it was more at Applejack's request.

Things got even better when Rarity finally woke up. After getting her up to speed on the situation, she had offered to take Dash's place and the pegasus was finally free to do whatever she wanted.

As it turned out, 'doing whatever she wanted' meant getting roped into helping prepare the party Pinkie Pie had promised the entire town. It wasn't like she didn't want to help the bouncy pink earth pony, it was just that she would've much rather been doing something else.

Up until a little bit ago, she, Rarity, Pinkie, and Applejack had all been in what Dash assumed was a town hall, working on the party. Both Pinkie and Rarity decided to go check on Twilight and Fluttershy, leaving Rainbow and Applejack to finish the work.

"Are we done yet?" Rainbow whined as she lazily flew about the large hall, "I really need to go out and do... something that isn't this."

Applejack rolled her eyes and continued stacking the tables near the walls with various snacks and desserts for the guests.

"Fer cryin' out loud, Rainbow," the cowpony chided, "a little hard work an' effort won't kill ya."

"A lot of things aren't gonna kill me, AJ," Rainbow shot back, reclining in the air with a smirk, "doesn't mean I wanna spend all day cooped up in this... what is this place anyway?"

"Beats me," Applejack replied with a shrug, "ah just assumed it was some place folks gathered in fer town meetin's an' the like."

"Oh," Rainbow replied dully, "that's... not interesting in the slightest."

"Look, RD, we're almost done," Applejack replied with a shake of her head, "would ya quit yer bellyachin' an' help me finish settin' up these here tables?"

"Ugh... fine."

With an annoyed groan, Rainbow landed and turned her disinterested gaze towards the tables. It looked like the only thing left to do was cover them with tablecloth and set the plates and plastic eating utensils.

The cyan pegasus thought for a moment -- looking from the empty wooden tables, to the folded tablecloths and unplaced utensils, to the hall entrance, and back to the empty tables again.

She grinned impishly.

Applejack's ears perked up as she heard several odd squelching sounds coming from behind her and she turned around curiously. Her eyes widened in surprise and alarm as she jumped out of the way of a stray tendril flying towards the table she was working on.

With one quick deft movement, the tendril -- and several others erupting from Rainbow's body -- started rounding up the tablecloths and utensils.

"Rainbow Dash!" Applejack cried, "what in tarnation do ya think yer doin'?"

"Making things interesting!" Rainbow yelled back as she used countless thin black tendrils to perfectly place the plastic utensils and large cloths on the tables, "seriously, how did I live without these things before? They're awesome!"

"Ya lived without em' just fine," Applejack growled, "now cut that out before somepony comes waltzin' through the--"

"RAINBOW DASH STOP!"

Applejack started and snapped her gaze towards the entrance to see a fearful and irate looking lavender unicorn flanked by three more bemused ponies standing in the doorway.

"Twilight! Fluttershy!" Applejack called out with a relieved smile, "thank Celestia you're both okay!"

Twilight didn't reply as she and the others rushed into the room -- Rarity having enough sense to quickly close and lock the large doors behind them. Rainbow Dash had paused her frantic efforts at the sound of Twilight's shout.

Aside from a slight sway, her tendrils remained stationary in midair -- tablecloth, forks, and plates still wrapped in their grip. She looked at her lavender friend with a sheepish grin as she slowly placed the rest of the items on the ground.

"Heya, Twi," she greeted with a nervous chuckle, "it's uh... it's good to see you awake..."

Twilight glared at Rainbow silently for a moment before turning to the pink earth pony and white unicorn behind her.

"Rarity," she commanded in an urgent tone, "I don't care how you do it, but I need you to take every single tablecloth, fork, spoon, plate, and anything else Rainbow Dash touched with her tendrils, and get rid of them in such a way that the citizens won't be able to get their claws on them... ever."

"I suppose I can do that," Rarity replied with an unsure frown, "but why do you--"

"No time, I'll explain later," Twilight interjected impatiently. She then turned to a curious Pinkie, "Pinkie Pie, I need you to get replacements for the tablecloths and utensils. If anypony asks... I don't know, just make up some kind of excuse and don't tell them about what happened here."

"Okie-dokie-lokie!" Pinkie replied with a mock salute, "you can count on me, Twilight!"

"I know I can, Pinkie," Twilight replied with a grateful smile, "just try to hurry, alright?"

Pinkie Pie nodded and unlocked the double doors before zooming back outside. Twilight watched her go for a moment before turning her attention to Fluttershy and Applejack.

"Applejack, Fluttershy, can you two go out and let the griffons in town know that the party is going to be later than scheduled and to come by in about an hour -- no, make that an hour and a half?"

"Can do, Twi," Applejack replied with a firm nod. She glanced at Rainbow Dash one last time before making her way over to the entrance, "come on, Flutters."

"Oh, um... okay then," Fluttershy replied meekly, looking from Twilight to Rainbow nervously, "I'm... I'm glad to see you're okay, Rainbow."

"Yeah," Rainbow replied with a weak smile, "it's good to see you too, Fluttershy."

The butter yellow pegasus gave Rainbow Dash a small smile before following Applejack out of the building. Rarity meanwhile, had set about gathering up all the supplies in several large trash bags using her magic.

"Now that's interesting," she mused, eyeing the numerous heavy bags held in her slightly transparent black aura with a contemplative frown, "I'm fairly sure I wasn't strong enough to carry even half of these in my magic before... and that's not even mentioning the new and rather dour color."

"Focus, Rarity," Twilight admonished, "those need to be dealt with as quickly and as thoroughly as possible."

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that, dear," Rarity replied with a dismissive wave, "I can take care of it, but if I may ask, why the sudden urgency?"

Twilight sighed heavily and decided it would be best for Rarity to understand the situation.

"You all have to remember that we're not ponies anymore, we're viruses," she gave Rainbow Dash a hard glare and the pegasus flinched slightly as Twilight continued to speak, "and what do viruses do, Rainbow?"

"Um..." Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck and gave the lavender unicorn another sheepish smile, "they uh... make really badflank warriors?"

"They infect!" Twilight cried with an angry stomp of her hoof -- heavily cracking the floor beneath her in the process, "they spread! They multiply! They can -- and usually do -- cause horrible and potentially fatal problems in the body!"

She shook her head and looked between her two friends with a deep frown.

"I know I've said it before," she continued, "but there's still a lot we don't know about our situation. We don't know what kind of effect our tendrils have on others and it'd best not to use them at all if we can help it."

"I understand the need for extreme caution," Rarity responded worriedly after a moment, "but I think it might be a bit too late to worry about that now, dear."

"Yeah, Rares is right," Rainbow Dash added with a shrug, "we already used our tentacle things on like... hundreds of ponies and griffons back at that place we woke up in."

"And some of them may have survived," Rarity finished with a nod and a grimace, "I'm sorry to say this, Twilight, but if what you're saying is true, we may already have an outbreak on our hooves soon enough whether we play it safe or not."

Twilight was momentarily at a loss for words.

She hadn't once taken into consideration the fact that they had left so many ponies and griffons infected in that facility. She still wasn't even sure where that place had been. She didn't know if it was in an isolated area of Griffonia or near some kind of populated town or city.

Twilight stood there in silent horror as she played out several possible worst case scenarios over in her head -- each one more vivid and terrible than the last. Ultimately her thoughts kept coming back to the one thing she feared the most.

She stared at Rainbow Dash and Rarity who both looked back at her with matching frowns of worry and trepidation as she spoke -- her voice coming out in a quiet shaky whisper.

"Girls... we need to find a way to stop this potential outbreak before it reaches Equestria."

Author's Note

Looks like the gang might have to put their journey back home on hold for the time being... and they haven't even started yet. :twilightoops:

Feelings

As the griffons in the town square dispersed, Applejack and Fluttershy began their trot back to what the townsfolk had more or less referred to as the Conference Building. The cowpony would be lying if she said she hadn't been nervous about speaking in front of a large crowd of strangers.

Sure she had dealt with a few large crowds here and there back in Ponyville, but that was Ponyville. Everypony knew everypony else there. On top of that, she had the nagging fear of having to ouright lie about why they had to delay the party.

Sure enough, some of the more vocal griffons voiced that very question, much to Applejack's consternation. Surprisingly, it was Fluttershy that stepped up and saved the honest earth pony from making a fool out of herself with her terrible lies.

Her answers were quiet, halting, and full of stutters, but in the end, Fluttershy had managed to address all of their concerns and that was that. A lot of the griffons seemed disappointed, but surprisingly understanding about the whole thing.

Applejack merely chalked it up to Fluttershy's natural charm.

Either way, the orange earth pony was proud of her shy pegasus friend. Maybe it had been what they had all gone through, but the yellow pegasus seemed... stronger, more confident. It may not have been too noticeable to anypony who didn't know her personally like Applejack and the rest of their friends, but there had definitely been a change for the better.

If there was one good thing to come out of this mess, Applejack was glad this was it.

But what about the cowpony herself?

What did she gain out of this? What did she lose?

Honestly she didn't really know. When she had woken up in that Tartarus forsaken facility, it was with a great amount of confusion and panic. She woke up shaking and more scared than she'd ever been in her life, and she didn't even know why.

She just knew something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

And she had been right.

Applejack had found herself with far more strength than normal, and she had been plenty strong to begin with. She had all these strange new powers she didn't understand, and the weird tendrils and odd hunger.

Eventually she had found Rarity about to be attacked by griffons of all things. That's when she had actually taken her first life, and she did it like it was nothing. Then she did it again.

And again.

And every time she smashed a pony or a griffon into paste it only made her more aggressive, more determined to finish what she started. She didn't want to fight, but something compelled her to -- something she didn't seem to have any control over.

She could feel it every time she threw a punch or stomped down on a victim or lashed out with her tendrils. Sure, she may have complained, she may have tried to act like everything was okay despite her blood drenched hooves suggesting otherwise, but she didn't stop.

She wanted to stop but she just... didn't. She kept on going, kept on killing, like it was some kind of... obligation. If she had to compare it to something, it was like feeding the restless hens and collecting the eggs back on the farm -- she hated that job, but she did it anyway because she was obligated to as a hardworking member of the Apple Family.

For some reason, this didn't feel any different.

Maybe it was because she knew her friends were going through the same thing?

Well, whatever the case, whether it was physical or emotional damage her friends were suffering, the honest earth pony would be there to suffer it right along with them. She may have been a killer now, but she'd always be there for the girls she'd come to know and love as much as her own family.

Rainbow Dash once again found herself in a situation she very much did not want to be in.

Pinkie had returned at the same time as Rarity, and with a heap of party supplies to boot. She, Rarity, Twilight and Rainbow Dash herself had -- in Rainbow's opinion -- the unenviable task of redecorating the entire building from the ground up, all because Twilight 'didn't think everything was sterile enough'.

Pinkie was happy to do it, and Rarity didn't mind, but Rainbow found it all extremely tedious.

It was important to stress again the fact that no matter how much she griped and groaned, Rainbow Dash was willing to bend over backwards and then some to help her friends, but wow could it be a pain sometimes.

Rainbow wanted to go out and mingle with the griffons in town. She had an interest in them that dated back to when she and Gilda used to hang out. In fact, she would never admit it, but she was almost as curious about the griffons as they were about her.

...Almost.

Indeed, the desire to know more about them, and by extension more about herself, stemmed from a comment Gilda had made about her once long ago. Back when they were just a filly and a hatchling, Rainbow and Gilda would get into intense wrestling matches that would sometimes leave them bruised and hurting for days afterwords.

This went on until an incident happened where Gilda had accidentally cut a deep gash in Rainbow's barrel with her talons. The filly, traumatized by the sight of her own lifeblood spilling out of her, stopped wrestling with Gilda after that.

Rainbow, being who she was, still wanted to be friends despite the situation, and ended up lying about what happened and tried to lie to Gilda about why she didn't want to wrestle anymore, but she knew the griffon wasn't buying it.

Ultimately they both decided to just stop bringing it up altogether.

As a rule, Griffons were generally tougher than ponies in just about every aspect, but through sheer bullheadedness and determination alone, the cyan filly had won her fair share of tussles with the griffon hatchling.

It was after a particular rough bout between the two that Gilda had made the comment. She had told Rainbow that she was far more like a griffon than any lame pony. Rainbow Dash wanted to argue, but for some reason, she didn't.

Instead she became curious, and remained curious even after being clawed open by her griffon friend.

At the time she didn't know much about griffons aside from Gilda herself, but after that comment she'd wanted to learn. Unfortunately she was stopped by a few factors.

There weren't very many ways to learn about griffons in Equestria, Gilda hadn't wanted to go into much detail about it as it would've 'been a major pain', and Rainbow wouldn't have been caught dead reading any kind of book about the subject -- at least, not back then.

So she decided to wait.

She'd wait until she was older and could afford to travel to Griffonia, maybe stay there for awhile and see how they lived, how they behaved as a race and see just exactly how much like them she really was.

She hadn't told her friends about it because by that time, it had completely slipped her mind. She had simply forgotten about her desire to know more about the predatory race.

She had only started to remember during her and her friends' escape from the facility.

Rainbow Dash didn't have time to figure out how she felt about all the murders she had committed. She'd started killing from the moment her eyes opened, and hadn't stopped until she found Twilight strapped to that table.

It was only then that she had a chance to slow down and assess her own feelings on the changes that had taken place.

At first, the speedy pegasus was miserable.

She had seen and done things that would've driven her insane with grief and guilt had she been an ordinary pony, yet she didn't care. The thing is, Rainbow wanted to care. Rainbow was brash and arrogant, but she wasn't a monster.

She hadn't asked for any of this, and at first, she didn't want it.

But then a small voice in her head spoke up and said one thing that changed all of that.

Think about the positives.

Latching onto that one saving lifeline, she did... and she found several positives to be had with her new body and abilities. She was much stronger, much faster, much more awesome than she ever was before.

Before she knew it, she had grown to actually like her new self, and she had been a natural at what she did. It was when she had been impaled in the throat by a stray talon from a griffon that the memories of what Gilda had done came back to her.

That in turn brought back the memory of wanting to know more about herself and the griffons.

Well, she certainly found out more about herself than she ever wanted to. Maybe it was the virus that made her this way, but at some point during the battle on the bridge, she had fully accepted what she had become, and she hadn't even realized it.

Still, though they might have suspected as much, she wouldn't dare tell her friends outright that she was fine with being a monster.

What would they think?

What would Fluttershy think?

By the time Fluttershy and Applejack returned to the Conference Building, the decorations were more or less finished. Twilight looked around the large room and gave a satisfied nod of approval.

"Okay girls, everything looks good," she turned and gave them all a grateful smile, "I think we're ready to introduce ourselves to the local griffons."

"Ugh, finally!" Rainbow cried in exasperation, "that took way longer than it should've."

"Yeah," Applejack muttered, rolling her eyes, "ah wonder why."

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash replied flying up to the annoyed cowpony, "if we had stuck with my idea this place woulda been ready hours ago!"

"And then we'd probably have an infected town on our hooves," Twilight responded, shaking her head slowly, "no, Rainbow, it was better to do it this way, trust me."

Rainbow Dash glared at Applejack for a moment longer before snorting in irritation and backing away with her forelegs crossed.

"Whatever," she muttered, "still think my idea was better..."

"Come on, girls." Pinkie chimed in as she went about deftly tossing all kinds of desserts on the tables, "there's no need to fight! We've got griffons to entertain!"

"Pinkie is right, dears," Rarity added, using her magic to make sure the tablecloths and streamers were placed just so, "apparently, we're the first ponies many of these townsfolk have ever seen. It's important to make a good first impression."

"Yeah, I guess so," Rainbow Dash conceded, "at least I'll finally get a chance to just chill. That Swanhilt chick seems pretty cool once you get to know her."

"Svanhild, Rainbow," Twilight corrected, "at least try to remember their names."

"Yeah, yeah I got it," Rainbow replied dismissively before turning to Applejack and Fluttershy, "so when are they all supposed to be showing up anyway?"

As the five friends bantered on, Twilight took a moment to step back and just watch them all.

She hadn't noticed it before, but now that she had time to relax, she realized just how quickly she had stepped into the role of a leader. She had her worries and fears about what the near future held, about what had happened to Equestria while they were gone, about how they would all get home.

But in the end, she was able to set that all aside with almost no effort at all.

Sure, she panicked a bit, but that only lasted for a good two or three minutes, unheard of for a pony like her. Then she was back to normal, giving out orders to her friends, and just generally moving on with things. Despite the several things she had to worry about, she felt more in control than ever.

She didn't have to wonder why this was, deep down she already knew why.

It was the virus.

It had changed her, both in body and in mind -- especially in mind.

Though she had made sure not to let them catch on, Twilight had been closely observing all of her friends behaviors and making mental notes of the changes that had overcome them all. This was true even when she herself had been... overtaken by her own change.

Unfortunately she wasn't able to glean much just from watching alone. She'd have to wait until she could talk with them all once the party was over and things had settled down.

Still though...

Aside from Fluttershy, she hadn't seen any of her friends change as drastically as she did. She was worried about what that meant and why she and Fluttershy were so different from the others in that regard.

What caused the change?

Why did the virus make them this way? Make any of them this way?

Why did it feel so good to do what she had done to that griffon? She had toyed with him -- strung him along and let him think he had all the power before cutting him to ribbons, and it had felt wonderful.

She shuddered at the memory.

What made it worse was that she remembered it all. It hadn't felt like she had lost control of herself at all -- on the contrary, it felt like everything was dancing to her tune, and she loved it.

Everything she had told Rarity back in the facility was true. The more she thought about what she had said, the more it sounded like she was under the influence of some kind of... dangerous drug.

She frowned at the thought.

Twilight wasn't too familiar with how drugs worked -- at least, the illegal kind -- as they weren't really found in Equestria at all. Princess Celestia had put a strong hoof down on narcotics ages ago, and ponies themselves generally didn't mess with them anyway just out of common sense.

There were exceptions, sure, but they were extremely rare. In any case, the often deadly side effects were enough to keep most ponies away.

And speaking of side effects...

Could this be why her magic was so weak now?

It was true that Twilight had used quite a bit more magic than Rarity had back when she had single-hoofedly brought down that airship, but Twilight had a lot more magic to work with in the first place.

Rarity most likely used all of her magic and then some to hold down the giant magical construct, and she fainted in the process, just like Twilight had later. Unlike Twilight however, Rarity turned out just fine, her magic seemingly unaffected by her exertions.

So was this something unique to just Twilight?

But why?

What made her different?

"They're coming~!" Pinkie suddenly cried, snapping Twilight out of her ruminations. She looked over to see Pinkie sticking her head out the doors, "wowee, I think the whole town is showing up!"

Twilight nodded to Pinkie before turning to the rest of her friends.

"Alright, you all know what to do."

They all nodded in return and took their positions at a long table that had been set up facing the entrance.

"This is weird," Rainbow complained as she leaned back in her chair, "it doesn't feel like a party, it feels like one of those stuffy diplomatic meetings you told us you used to go to with the Princess."

"Um... isn't that more or less what this is?" Fluttershy asked quietly, "I mean... it might not be official, but like Rarity said, they haven't seen ponies before. Shouldn't we try to... y'know... represent how nice ponies are while we're here?"

"Yes we should," Rarity interjected as she sat herself down besides the yellow pegasus, "we don't want them thinking we're some sort of brutes now, do we?"

"Ah mean... ya say that, Rares, but--"

Rarity cut Applejack off with a scathing look and Rainbow snickered behind a hoof.

"They're here!" Pinkie cried, bouncing restlessly in her seat, "oh, this is gonna be great!"

Twilight smiled at the pink mare before turning her attention to the entrance, the double doors opening to reveal several griffons. They all poured in silently, many with grim or worried looks, much to Twilight's confusion and slight trepidation.

If Pinkie noticed, she didn't show it, as the pink party pony bounced right out of her seat and landed in front of the crowd of griffons with a wave of her hooves and a big smile.

"Welcome to Pinkie's Pinktastic Meet n' Greet Party!" she announced, "you like the name? I came up with it just now!"

The tall and powerfully built male griffon Pinkie was bouncing in front of eyed her with distaste before pushing right past her and addressing Twilight.

"You're the... 'leader' of this group, yes?"

The five friends seated at the table all looked at each other in confusion and worry before turning to Twilight. The lavender mare looked back to the griffon with a nervous smile.

"I... suppose so." she replied tentatively, "what can I do for you?"

The griffon didn't answer right away, choosing instead to sweep a critical, thoughful gaze over the decorations. Eventually his sharp grey eyes settled back on the mares in front of him and he spoke once more.

"I am Ingmar Grim Talon, unofficial leader of this hamlet, and I most certainly have a few... questions for you all."

Author's Note

Boy, this was a long one... :twilightoops:

Tension

The griffons had only just arrived and Twilight already didn't like where this situation was going.

She suddenly felt as though she had made a grave mistake in not seeking out the leader of the village first, but it couldn't be helped -- not at the time. She had been worried about her friends after all, and everything else just kind of seemed... not as important.

Nevertheless, Twilight swallowed her nervousness and answered the expectant griffon leader.

"By all means, Mister Grim Talon," Twilight said, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt, "that's what this party was for. If you have any questions about where we came from, or about ponies in general, we'd be happy to answer them for you," she turned to her friends seated next to her, "right, girls?"

They all made various gestures of agreement, including Pinkie who had returned to her seat at some point. Twilight nodded in response and turned back to the griffon with a winning smile.

"So please, ask away and we'll be sure to answer what we can."

Ingmar stared at them with an unreadable expression for a few moments before slowly nodding once.

"Very well then," he finally replied before turning to the crowd of nervous and wary griffons behind him, "Svanhild!"

At his call, the griffon in question pushed through the crowd and stepped forth to stand next to Ingmar. Twilight noticed that the griffon looked rather nervous, shifting her weight from claw to paw and her eyes looking anywhere but at the girls themselves.

"Heya, Svanny!" Pinkie happily cried with a wave, "it's me, Pinkie! Remember? Hey, remember me, Svanny? Hey, Svan--"

"Don't call me that!" Svanhild hissed before sighing and rubbing the back of her neck, "look, I'm sorry, but just... don't alright?"

Pinkie slowly lowered her hoof and frowned slightly before nodding with an understanding smile.

"So what's up, Svan?" Rainbow chimed in with a small smirk. She leaned forward with a hoof on the table in front of her, "you here to find out how awesome ponies are? Or more specifically, how awesome I am?"

Svanhild went to answer when Ingmar cut her off.

"Svanhild would like to know exactly how you came to be here in this rather secluded mountain range," Ingmar said before briefly sweeping his gaze over the crowd, "as would we all I'd imagine."

Ignoring Svanhild's glare, Ingmar stepped forward and narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"from what I know, Equestria is quite a ways away from even the nearest port city in Griffonia."

"Well, it's like ah told Svanhild," Applejack replied before turning to her lavender friend, "Twi here teleported us all to the--"

"Yes, yes I know that already," Ingmar interrupted with an impatient wave of his claw, "what we want to know is why you Teleported here in the first place. Svanhild mentioned that you were in some kind of trouble before you got here," he gave each of them a pointed look, "exactly what kind of trouble were you in?"

That stopped Applejack short and she faltered.

"Ah... uh, well... ya see..."

Applejack felt a hoof rest on her shoulder and she turned to see Rarity giving her a kind smile.

"Allow me, darling," Rarity whispered before turning to the grimacing griffon, "what Applejack means to say is that the events leading up to our arrival in this rather stunning mountain range are a bit of a... sore subject as it were."

"Oh?" Ingmar replied with another raise of his brow, "and you are?"

"Oh! I'm terribly sorry, dear," Rarity replied, rasing her own brows and putting a hoof to her chest, "I am Rarity Belle, Ponyville's premiere fashionista and..." she frowned, "well I was Ponyville's premiere fashionista, but now I wonder if that's still the case..."

Rarity shook her head and her cordial smile returned as she continued.

"My own worries aside, I believe we owe you some kind of explanation for our sudden appearance."

"Indeed you do," Ingmar readily agreed with a nod, "you six may look harmless, but you're still an unknown. I may be a leader in name only, but it's the job of myself and the Town Guard to protect this village from any potential threats.

Ingmar looked back to the crowd of griffons with a hint of pride in his eyes before turning back to the girls at the table.

"With a town so small and out of the way all the way out here in the mountains, we can't very well rely on the aid of the Empire to help us in times of need. We've had to fend for ourselves against wild animals, mountain bandits, and the elements.

"This is something we've managed to do fairly well for generations, and it's made us wary out of necessity, so I hope you understand our caution. You may have your... issues about whatever happened before you came here, but I'm afraid that if you want to continue staying in Squawken, you're going to have to give us something we can work with."

At that, the six mares could see a few griffons in the crowd nodding or murmuring in agreement. Many of the other griffons simply glared or gave them distrustful looks, which did nothing to staunch Twilight's worry.

The mares looked at each other, trying to decide what to say next. Twilight, who had been fidgeting with her hooves, yelped in surprise as Rainbow Dash elbowed her in the side.

She glared at the cyan pegasus who jerked her head towards the waiting griffons.

"You're the egghead leader here," Rainbow whispered, "you say something!"

Twilight went to argue, but stopped and glanced at the tall griffon leader who was now tapping one of his talons on the floor impatiently. Seeing this, Twilight sighed, closed her eyes and rubbed her temples.

Come on, Twilight, you can do this... just... focus.

Focus on the griffon.

Focus on the situation.

Focus on the lie.

She took a deep breath and open her eyes once more before locking eyes with Ingmar. Her friends looked at her with varying expressions of surprise, confusion, worry, and -- in Pinkie's case -- sad understanding.

Twilight ignored all of this as she spoke to the griffon in a calmer and much more collected tone than before -- her gaze even and calculating.

"I apologize for all the secrecy, Ingmar," Twilight explained, "as my friend Rarity said, our prior situation is a rather difficult subject to talk about," she gestured to the other five mares, "you see, a long time ago back in Equestria we were all considered... somewhat famous.

"A vicious group of thugs decided it would be a good idea to take us hostage in exchange for a hefty sum of bits. We were all more or less taken against our will and held in captivity for a prolonged period of time..."

Twilight visibly shuddered and looked away, fresh tears welling up in her eyes as she continued.

"I... won't go into detail, but it... it wasn't a pleasant experience... for any of us."

Catching onto the act, Rarity reached over to comfort Twilight, a few tears rolling down her own face as she looked at the griffon and nodded in agreement. The other played along with their own different reactions save for Rainbow Dash who just looked confused.

"What? What are you all -- oof!"

Rainbow rubbed her hind leg and glared at the cowpony who had just kicked her under the table. Applejack herself showed no sign that she had done anything. After a moment of silence in which some of the griffons suspicious looks turned to looks of pity and understanding, Twilight sniffed and wiped her eyes before addressing Ingmar once more.

"Rainbow Dash managed to break free from our captors and rescue me," Twilight said, nodding in Rainbow's direction with a grateful smile, "together we helped the others, though Rarity was knocked out trying to protect us and Fluttershy fainted from the shock of the situation.

"I myself barely managed to get us all out via a blind Long Range Teleportation spell, and as you could probably tell, the effort left me drained and unconscious. I can't tell you where we were before, as we never found out, but I can tell you that we ended up here by complete chance and nothing more."

Ingmar silently mulled over what Twilight had said and after a moment, turned to Svanhild with a questioning look.

"That... more or less seems to match up with what little the orange and pink one told me back outside the village," Svanhild said with a shrug, "I've got nothing else to add honestly."

This seemed to satisfy the griffon leader and he nodded before turning his attention back to Twilight.

"Very well, I'll take your word for it... for now."

The six mares visibly relaxed and gave each other relieved smiles.

"However..."

Twilight froze and looked back to a frowning Ingmar with an uncertain expression. The griffon turned to the crowd and jerked his head forward, motioning for a younger looking black and silver griffon to step forward.

The small griffon looked from Ingmar to the girls sitting at the table with a nervous expression. Twilight looked at the griffon in confusion and turned to her friends just in time to see Rarity's eyes widen briefly before settling back into a patient frown.

The lavender mare didn't miss the surprise she saw in Rarity's eyes, nor did she miss the small hint of trepidation in her otherwise stoic expression. Ingmar spoke again, drawing Twilight's attention away from Rarity and back to him.

"There is one other question I'd personally like to ask you before we move on to the festivities," he gestured to the uncomfortable young griffon, "this is Om Grim Talon, Squawken Town Guard trainee and my son."

Om, not knowing what else to do, waved at the mares with an awkward smile. The girls waved back just as awkwardly with the exception of Pinkie, who waved at the griffon with her usual brand of enthusiasm.

When Om's eyes met Rarity's the griffon quickly lowered his claw and looked away with a slight wince. Rarity frowned and slowly lowered her hoof in turn, much to the other's confusion.

"Now then," Ingmar continued, addressing the group of mares, "my son here told me about something he had seen earlier while on his way back from patrolling outside the town," he snapped his gaze over to Rarity who leaned back in her seat slightly, "something I find very interesting."

"Rarity..." Twilight whispered in a worried tone, "what's he talking about?"

"I'm so sorry, darling," Rarity whispered back with a resigned sigh, "I think I may have... slipped up during the task you assigned me."

Before Twilight could press any further, Ingmar spoke again -- this time with much more accusation in his voice.

"You see, Om told me he had spotted one of you -- Rarity if I remember correctly -- in a rather inconspicuous spot just outside the village, burning some rather large and heavy looking bags to cinders," he narrowed his eyes at the mare in question, "now what could that have been about?"

"Oh, I know!" Pinkie cried, waving a hoof, "there was this huuuge accident while we were preparing the party and we had to throw a buncha stuff out which was sad because we worked really hard on getting the decorations just right. That's why I had to go back to the store and get more supplies!"

"I see..." Ingmar said shifting his suspicious gaze from Rarity to Pinkie, "it's funny you should mention that store... Pinkie Pie, was it?"

Pinkie nodded, her bright smile slipping a little.

"Yes, very funny indeed," Ingmar continued, taking another step closer to the table, "you know, that shop is one of the only shops in the village that sells anything besides what's absolutely necessary for the town. I'm actually a good friend of the couple that runs the place..."

Ingmar's features suddenly grew cold as he eyed the pink mare.

"...or rather I was."

Pinkie's smile completely disappeared.

"As I said before, we're a very small community," Ingmar continued as he paced back and forth -- never taking his eyes off of Pinkie, "the kind of community where everyone knows everyone else."

Twilight and the others watched with growing dread as Pinkie's expression became unreadable.

"Now normally, in a community as small as this, were one to commit any kind of crime, word would spread quickly and the culprit wouldn't be too hard to find," Ingmar stopped pacing and his frown deepened, "imagine my surprise when one of the townsfolk comes banging on my door saying the kind old couple that run the only miscellaneous supply shop in town has gone missing.

"Generally, the couple that run the shop don't get a lot of customers because most folk around here don't have a use for the things they sell, so as you could imagine it took a bit of time before anyone realized they were both gone."

"Pinkie Pie," Fluttershy whispered, giving the blank faced party pony a horrified look, "please tell me you didn't..."

"At first I didn't think much of it," Ingmar said, his expression growing darker as he spoke, "I thought 'maybe they went out of town to get more supplies... at least, that's what I thought before another griffon showed up not half an hour later saying there was evidence of a struggle in the shop.

"Naturally, I and a few other griffons searched that shop, and sure enough, one of the back rooms were a mess. Boxes and bags of food and other items strewn all over the place, shelves and tables knocked over... and that's to say nothing of all the blood."

"Oh, Pinkie," Twilight quietly groaned in dismay, "why?"

"...I had no money to pay for the party supplies."

"And you couldn't have at least gotten rid of the evidence properly?!"

Twilight winced and held a hoof to her head. She clenched her black eyes shut for a moment and shook her head before opening them again, revealing her normal amethyst colored irises once more.

"I'm sorry, Pinkie, I--"

She snapped her mouth shut at the look her friends were giving her. For a moment, Twilight looked back at them in confusion before it finally dawned on her that she had spoken loud enough for every griffon in the room to hear.

With a look of dread, Twilight slowly turned to the crowd of horrified griffons before her. Her eyes met Svanhild's and she tried to say something, but the terrified griffon slowly shook her head and took a step back.

"By our Great Emperor, you killed them... you really did kill them..."

Author's Note

I am one hundred percent certain everything will be fine.

Escalation

Twilight knew she couldn't diffuse the situation.

She knew it was too late, that the damage had been done. She and Pinkie had revealed the truth of the matter and the griffons in the room weren't happy in the slightest.

Horrified gasps turned into cries of sorrow, which turned into angry murmuring, which themselves quickly turned into outraged shouts and it only got worse from there. The viral lavender unicorn watched it all unfold before her eyes with growing fear.

It wasn't a fear born of enraging the populace, but of what she and her friends might have to do to them all.

What she secretly wanted to do to them all.

"Twilight!"

Twilight snapped out of her ruminations and turned to the orange cowpony who had just shouted.

"This is bad, Twi," Applejack continued in a quick urgent tone, "them griffons are gettin' mighty ornery, an' ah don't think now's the time ta be zonin' out like that."

Twilight shook herself and looked at the increasingly angry crowd of griffons.

"Girls, whatever we're going to do, I think we'd better do it now," Rarity added, eyeing the griffons warily, "it looks like they're about ready to start doing something... unpleasant."

"Seriously, Pinkie, what the buck was that all about?" Rainbow asked, rounding on her pink friend with an accusatory glare, "everything was going great and then you start murdering griffons out of nowhere? Because you didn't have any money?"

"I-I'm sorry, Dashie," Pinkie replied shaking her head and staring at her hooves, "I... I didn't mean to do it... they were really nice and they let me take the party supplies for free at first since it was my first time there and they probably wouldn't be able to sell them anyway.

"But... but then I came back after Twilight told me to get replacements and..." she raised her hooves to her head and shuddered, her breathing picking up, "a-and then... and then they said I had to pay this time -- that they weren't a charity! I didn't know what to do! We needed those party supplies and they were getting angry and suspicious and I panicked and the Voice--"

"Voice?" Rainbow interjected with a confused frown, "what voice?"

"FILTHY MURDERING OUTSIDERS!"

All six mares snapped their attention to the enraged griffon leader, who took an aggressive step forward and gave them a baleful glare.

"We did you the kindness of welcoming you into our town, offered you help when you needed it, a place to stay, and my good friends -- rest their souls -- they even gave you supplies for free out of the goodness in their hearts, and how do you repay us?"

"Girls..." Fluttershy warned, backing away from the slowly advancing crowd, "w-what do we do?"

"By brutally slaughtering two innocent store owners who did nothing but their jobs!" Ingmar continued, stomping towards the mares threateningly, "are all of you ponies this vicious? It was that damned war wasn't it? Turned you ponies insane, lashing out like feral beasts from what I heard!"

Twilight's eyes widened in shock.

"W-What? War? What are you talking about?" she asked, "ponies aren't... we aren't normally like this! Ponies are kind and caring creatures by nature! Many of us wouldn't hurt a fly!" she stared at Ingmar with pleading eyes, willing him to understand, "our circumstances are... different!"

Twilight had remembered that Asger had mentioned something about a war, but hadn't dwelled on it due to everything else that had happened. Even as she tried to make her case, the lavender mare made a mental note to investigate the matter further.

"She's right," Fluttershy added, a quiet conviction behind her scared tone, "please don't blame all ponies for what we do."

"BE SILENT, MURDERER!" Ingmar bellowed, "AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED, NONE OF YOU ARE INNOCENT!"

Fluttershy flinched and took several more steps back in response, causing Rainbow to glare at the griffon dangerously.

"Fluttershy didn't do anything wrong," the cyan pegasus shot back, taking her own threatening step forward, "and if you wanna keep your stupid head attached to that stupid neck, you'd better leave her alone."

"You're not helping Rainbow Dash!" Rarity hissed, never taking her eyes off the crowd that was quickly closing in, "what we need is diplomacy," she gave Twilight a side glance, "do you have any ideas, Twilight?"

Twilight's wide eyes rapidly shifted from griffon to griffon as she furiously thought of a way out of their dire predicament.

"I... I don't--"

"Threats!" Ingmar cried indignantly, "even now, all of you are prepared to kill us in cold blood though we've done nothing to deserve it!" he narrowed his eyes at the six mares, "well... you're certainly free to try, ponies. There are far more of us than there are of you, and many of us here are trained fighters."

The angry cries of the crowd surged at his words, spurring Ingmar on further.

"You can come with us quietly and face your judgement, or we will drag you towards your fate, broken and beaten," the griffon leader gestured grandly towards the crowd, "there are more than enough of us to take you no matter what you plan to do, ponies! So what's it going to be?"

Twilight looked from the expectant griffon, to her friends, silently asking them what they thought the best course of action should be.

"We can take em', Twi," Rainbow replied immediately upon noticing Twilight's questioning gaze, "you know we can take em'."

"Just because we could don't mean it's a good idea, Rainbow," Applejack answered disapprovingly.

"I'm sorry, girls, I'm so sorry," Pinkie whispered, shaking her head as she backed away with the rest of her friends, "It's all my fault. I just wanted to throw a party for all the nice griffons and... and..."

"It's okay, Pinkie," Fluttershy replied, attempting to give the pink mare a reassuring smile, "you... you probably couldn't help it... given what we are now," she turned to Twilight with a sad frown, "I don't want to hurt anypony if we can help it, Twilight."

Twilight grimaced and looked over to Rarity who gave her an encouraging nod.

"I'll leave it up to you, darling," she said with a determined frown, "I trust your judgement, you know that."

Twilight managed a weak but grateful smile before turning back to Ingmar and the rest of the griffons. She took them all in, sweeping her gaze from furious griffon to furious griffon until her eyes stopped on Svanhild.

The griffon in question had the same angry look as the others, but Twilight could see there was more. Behind the anger she saw guilt, hurt, and worst of all... betrayal.

It was at that moment that Twilight made her choice. Without turning from the crowd she spoke her decision aloud to her friends.

"Girls... we're getting out of here."

"What?!" Rainbow Dash cried incredulously, "but, Twi! They--"

"No, Rainbow Dash," Twilight replied, cutting off the cyan mare, "we've... we've done enough damage here, and I don't want to kill anymore innocents. All of this was a terrible mistake, something that shouldn't have happened."

Twilight saw Pinkie wince and quickly made to reassure her.

"I know you didn't mean to do what you did, Pinkie," Twilight said, looking back at her with an understanding smile, "but it's like Fluttershy said, you probably couldn't help it. It's like I said back at the facility, we are what we are, and we can't change that now. The only thing we can do is to try and control ourselves as best we can."

Pinkie gave Twilight a weak but grateful smile to match the one Twilight wore only moments ago.

"Um... I'm all for running away instead of fighting," Fluttershy said quietly, "but... how are we going to escape?"

"Yes, just how are you going to escape, cowards?"

They all turned back to Ingmar, nearly forgetting all about the griffon as they talked amongst themselves. When he had all of their attention, the griffon continued.

"I should have expected you all to flee like the vermin you are," he hissed, "planning on killing our own and running off into the night like some lowlife mountain bandits, is that it?" he shook his head and spat in disgust, "you all sicken me, but it doesn't matter. With our numbers and the exit blocked there's no way any of you will escape."

Rainbow's fur bristled and she stomped a hoof.

"Seriously, pal, I'm about three seconds away from--"

"Would ya knock it off, Rainbow?" Applejack growled, "fightin' ain't the way to go here right now! Let's just do what Twi says an' get the hay outta here."

"A little more urgency would be appreciated, dears," Rarity called out, "I don't think Mister Grim Talon can hold back the other griffons much longer."

Twilight closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath before exhaling and opening her eyes again.

We don't need to be heartless murderers. We still have the power to choose what we want to be, and I choose not to succumb to my urges.

"Applejack, the wall behind us."

Applejack looked behind her and turned back to Twilight a moment later with an understanding nod.

"Can do, sugarcube."

Before any of the griffons could react, the stetson wearing earth pony lifted both her hind legs and bucked out behind her, blasting out the wall with a deafening boom.

Bits of debris flew in every direction along with a small cloud of dust. When all was clear, a large opening could be seen in the wall, leading out into the snowy night.

"RUN FOR IT, GIRLS!"

Needing no further prompting from Twilight, the other mares turned and sped off through the hole, Rainbow giving the outraged griffon leader one last glare before following after her friends.

"AFTER THEM!" Ingmar cried, "I WANT THEM BACK HERE, DEAD OR ALIVE! THEY'LL PAY DEARLY FOR WHAT THEY'VE DONE! JUSTICE WILL BE SERVED!"

With various cries of agreement and anger the crowd of griffons flocked out of the building and started after the fleeing ponies, save for one. Svanhild held back and watched them all chase after the six fugitives with all the fervor of a predator chasing its prey.

Svanhild herself couldn't understand why she was hesitating. She wanted justice and vengeance as much as any of her fellow Squawken townsfolk. In fact, the blame she had heaped upon herself for leading them all here in the first place only made her want to take them down all the more.

But there was something stopping her.

It took her a moment to realize that it was that same odd sense of foreboding she had felt when she first met them all. Her instincts were telling her there was something wrong with them all -- even aside from the sudden murder.

The gut feeling was so strong she wondered how the other griffons hadn't felt it.

In any case, she knew there was more to these ponies than what they had all seen on the surface. She may not have known exactly what this feeling was, but it certainly wasn't anything good, and if her hunch was right, whatever secret those six were hiding was bound to be far worse than just the murder that had taken place.

Still she couldn't just stand around worrying about what may or may not have been the case. Dangerous or no, she was part of the Town Gaurd, and those ponies had committed a grave crime that had affected the entire town.

With a grim frown, Svanhild pushed back her unease and headed back through the front doors of the building. She wasn't going to leave the other griffons to deal with the ponies without her, but she wouldn't ignore her instincts either.

A quick stop back to the barracks to grab her rifle and she'd be back to deal out the punishment those mares deserved. They wouldn't get away with this, not if Svanhild had anything to say about it.

And she had plenty to say.

Author's Note

Like I said, everything will be fine... for now.

But who knows what the future will bring... :trixieshiftright:

Decision

Though the majority of Squawken lie at the base of a large mountain, the far end of the town near the back where the Conference Building was sloped upwards along it.

The fugitive mares had quickly made their way out of the building and charged up the mountainside at a breakneck pace, save for Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, who had opted to fly above them all.

They had all been on the run for several minutes now, soon passing out of the town itself and into the snowy mountain wilderness beyond. In trying to lose their pursuers they had all galloped nonstop, but none of them were any worse for wear because of it.

Twilight and the other ground bound ponies felt like they could've run forever and a day and not gotten tired, and Twilight herself was certain that was a very real possibility. Not only that, but all of them were a lot faster than they used to be.

The normally somewhat sedentary lavender mare found that she could easily match the much more athletic cowpony for speed and endurance -- as could any one of them, and they showed it as they continued their frantic gallop up the mountain past large boulders and thickets of trees.

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash kept pace with the others as they flew overhead -- the cyan pegasus actually having to dial back her speed by quite a bit, much to her frustration.

"I still say we should've stayed and fought em' off, Twi!" Rainbow groused, "we could've taken them all on without breaking a sweat!"

Twilight frowned in annoyance and turned to look up at Rainbow as she continued to gallop forward, her pace and breathing unhampered by the exertion.

"I know that Rainbow Dash!" she called back, "but those griffons didn't do anything wrong! They're just upset about what happened and they have every right to be!"

She turned to Pinkie who had been galloping alongside her and gave her a sympathetic look as she spoke.

"I know Pinkie didn't mean... well didn't want to do it, and I don't blame her for it," she assured the pink mare while still talking to Rainbow, "but that doesn't change the fact that there are consequences."

"I get that, Twi," Rainbow replied with a shake of her head and a look behind her, "but I don't see why we're the ones that have to suffer for it."

"Well it isn't much of a struggle if I'm being completely honest," Rarity chimed in, galloping on Twilight opposite side, "I haven't felt the slightest need to rest since we made our daring escape, and I don't even feel all gross and sweaty!"

"Heads up ya'll!" Applejack cried, turning back to the others from her position at the front of the group, "there's a rock wall further up ahead!"

"A wall?" Twilight replied incredulously. She looked up and sure enough, she could see a large cliff face rising high above the trees in the distance, "we can't get around that! We'll have to change course and--"

"We don't need to change course, silly!" Pinkie interjected, "we can just gallop up the wall, remember?"

"I remember, Pinkie," Twilight replied, "but doing so will leave us exposed and--"

"And what?" Rainbow cut in, "it's not like they can hurt us with anything they've got! We're basically invisible!"

"Invincible," Twilight corrected, "and you don't know that for sure, Rainbow Dash! Remember what happened to Fluttershy when she got captured by that construct?"

"I remember she was really really angry," Rainbow Dash responded, "she looked like she was ready to bust out of that thing's grip on her own when I got there!"

Fluttershy pointedly kept her eyes forward, remaining silent and wearing an uncomfortable expression as she listened to the two talk about her aggressive outburst back at the facility.

Well before you got there, she was--"

Twilight yelped in surprise and stumbled over herself slightly as something whizzed past her cheek. She heard Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash let out similar cries above her and she chanced a glance behind her.

Despite all of their newfound speed and endurance, some of the more well trained griffons of the Town Gaurd were catching up. Twilight could see three or four of them flying overhead a little ways back -- each of them aiming a rifle in their direction and taking shots even as they pursued.

"You've gotta be bucking kidding me!" Rainbow shouted angrily, "when the buck did they have time to grab rifles?!"

"Maybe they brought them to the party?" Pinkie asked looking back behind her in confusion, "but why would you bring something like that to a party? That makes no sense!"

"At this point I don't think it matters, dear," Rarity replied, ducking another shot, "if we're going to escape, I suggest we focus on where we're going."

"Okay you know what? No, I'm done running," Rainbow, replied, shaking her head, before coming to a stop mid air, "this is ridiculous, Twilight, I'm gonna go take these guys out!"

"What?! No!," Twilight yelled, scrambling to a stop and causing everypony else to do the same, "we're trying not to hurt any innocents, Rainbow! Just because we can fight back doesn't mean we should!"

"Well they definitely aren't gonna let up anytime soon," Rainbow replied as she dodged more bullets, "besides, it's not like any of us are gonna feel bad about doing what we gotta do at all."

Twilight gave Rainbow a look of surprise that quickly turned to one of sad realization. Before she could say anything in response, Applejack spoke up.

"We don't gotta do nothin', Rainbow," Applejack responded, glaring at Rainbow and stomping a hoof, "the point Twi's tryin' ta make is that we're supposed to be better than a bunch o' mass murderers!"

"She's right, Rainbow," Fluttershy added, flying closer to the cyan mare, "we don't have to be monsters. We can just--"

"Now's not the time, girls!" Rarity cried.

"Incoming!" Pinkie shouted.

The rest of them whipped around just in time to see four of the Town Guard lower themselves to hover just over the ground behind them, rifles raised and ready to fire.

"Alright that's enough running!" one of them shouted at the mares, "come quietly or die like the vermin you are, your choice!"

For a few seconds, no one moved or said a word, both parties staring each other down with looks of apprehension and anger.

"...oh buck this!"

Black tendrils wrapped themselves around one of Rainbow Dash's hooves, causing each of the griffons eyes to widen in alarm.

"Wh -- ghak!"

Before the griffon who had spoken before could finish speaking again, he was slammed to the ground, a silver hoofblade lodged deep into his skull. In a prismatic blur of motion, Rainbow Dash's hoof had connected with the griffon almost faster than the eye could see.

The other three griffon Guards only had a brief moment to comprehend what had happened before each of their heads were impaled by the black, sharpened tendrils that used to be the feathers in Rainbow's wings.

Within a matter of seconds, all four griffons had died -- three of them left suspended in mid air by tendrils and the fourth lying dead below Rainbow's hooves.

The other mares stared at Rainbow Dash with varying looks of dismay, annoyance, and anger as the cyan pegasus yanked her hoofblade out of the griffon's face with a loud squelch.

"Rainbow!" Twilight shouted in outrage, "you... I... I can't--"

"Sorry, Twi," Rainbow interjected, retracting her wing tendrils and letting the other bodies drop to the ground, "but the situation was already bucked and they were probably just gonna try to kill us if we surrendered anyway," she scoffed, "not that they could've pulled it off."

Twilight went to make an angry retort when Applejack suddenly spoke.

"More of them incoming, Twi!" Applejack cried, her gaze locked on the path behind them all, "an' they don't look too happy to see us!"

They all followed Applejack's gaze and sure enough, several of the townsfolk had almost caught up while they were all distracted.

"The whole town chased after us?" Rarity said, taking a shocked step back, "that's... that's insane!"

"No... it's not," Fluttershy replied, landing on the ground and trotting towards the approaching mob of griffons, "these griffons are a very close knit community, and Pinkie Pie killed one of their own."

She stopped next to one of the bodies and frowned at it, trying to muster up any kind of sympathy or even pity for the dead griffon. Finding that she had none, she sighed and moved on.

"They're going to catch up to us any second and once they do," Fluttershy continued, "they'll see what Rainbow has done and if we choose to fight instead of run, they'll probably fight us down to the last griffon."

She stopped and looked at the mob in the distance before turning back to the other mares with a grave expression.

"It'll be a massacre."

Despite her efforts to keep herself in check, a thrill of excitement shot through Twilight at Fluttershy's last statement. She shivered and bit back a smile with no small amount of effort.

No, that's not me... I'm not... like that! I can fight my urges. I will fight my urges!

She looked out at all the griffons and shivered again, grimacing at the pleasant tingle that shot down her spine. Looking back at the others, she could see they each had their own reactions.

Pinkie Pie's expression remained studiously blank as she fought to keep control over the Voice in her head, which had suddenly grown louder and more insistent. Applejack looked from Fluttershy to the incoming griffons and her expression turned to one of grim resignation.

Rarity put on a show of looking worried, but inwardly remained okay with the idea, if not entirely on board. Rainbow Dash took to the air and stared out at the griffons with a frown.

After a moment she smirked confidently and landed back on the ground before spreading her wings. They stretched and blackened into scythed whips that slowly waved back and forth threateningly.

"If they want a fight to the death, I'm game."

Fluttershy looked at each of them in turn with a stoic expression before letting out a long, disappointed sigh and looking back towards the griffons who were almost upon them.

"We have one last chance to run for it," she turned back to the others again, "do we fight, or should we try to run?"

Twilight frowned and clenched her eyes shut.

I don't want to kill them... but... I do. And that's bad... right?

She thought back to the other times she had felt this way. The talk with Asger and the entire time they had fought with the giant magical construct, she had been different then -- felt different then -- but she knew it was wrong.

In her head she knew toying with the lives of others for her own amusement was wrong. Her friends, even in their own questionable mental states, had been uncomfortable when she let go and gave in to her more sadistic urges.

She looked up and towards Pinkie, who had put a hoof on her shoulder. The pink mare's mouth was set in a thin line, her eyes cold, cruel, and calculating, but beyond that, Twilight could still see a hint of the old cheerful Pinkie deep down.

"We are what we are, Twilight," she said in a quiet monotone, "you're the one that told us that, but you haven't accepted it yourself. If you want control, you need to find a balance. Fighting against yourself will only make things worse for you in the end."

With that said, Pinkie stepped away and trotted towards the mob with a grim purpose. Twilight watched her go as she thought about her words.

She's right. I need to practice what I preach... I need to find a balance.

Twilight closed her eyes and focused.

I can't fully give myself over to my urges, but if I can somehow make it so that it's a matter of give and take...

Then maybe...

Then maybe...

She open her eyes and smiled, her dark purple irises locked firmly on their fast approaching victims.

"Maybe I can make this work after all..."

Author's Note

As far as their mental states go, Twilight and Pinkie aren't out of the woods yet folks. Remember, the story is just beginning...

As for the next chapter... action is coming. :pinkiesmile:

Bloodbath

Pinkie Pie had moved to meet Squawken's vengeful citizens halfway when she was suddenly stopped in her tracks by a lavender coated hoof. The grim faced earth pony turned to see Twilight looking back at her with a small smile.

"Not yet, Pinkie," Twilight said, shaking her head once, "Let them come to us first. Remember that the whole town is coming, and that they will all most likely be fighting to the death."

"I remember, that, Twilight," Pinkie replied with a questioning tilt of her head, "Fluttershy said as much already."

"She did," Twilight replied with an understanding nod, "but remember that the whole town implies that there may be eaglets among that mob of angry griffons."

Pinkie blinked, her stone faced expression not changing in the slightest.

"...And?"

"No Pinkie," Twilight said with a disapproving frown, "what we're about to do is going to be cruel, heinous, sadistic, immoral, evil, and more than a little fun, but we have to draw a line somewhere."

"Why?" Pinkie replied, fully turning her back on the approaching mob to face Twilight, "it's like Dashie said, male or female, young or old, death is death, and we don't care about who dies anymore."

"That might be true, but consider this, Pinkie -- in fact, this goes for all of you," Twilight explained, looking towards all of her other friends, "if we were to start killing indiscriminately, it would make it that much harder for us in the long run."

Rarity frowned and looked over to the approaching griffons. After a moment she nodded slowly, Twilight's words sinking in.

"I believe you're right, darling," she agreed, "I don't believe for even a moment that there won't be more incidents like this one, and when all is said and done, we'll most likely be seen as heartless villains... ruthless murders masquerading as innocent ponies."

"Exactly," Twilight replied, nodding to Rarity in acknowledgment, "it'll be hard enough getting back home without having to face the wrath of every griffon we meet."

"We may not have any remorse for the dead," Fluttershy added solemnly, "but that doesn't mean the knowledge that we killed innocent children won't haunt us in other ways."

"I reckon it'd put a bad taste in mah mouth, that's fer sure," Applejack agreed with a nod, "ah don't think ah'd be able ta look Big Mac, Apple Bloom, or Granny Smith in the eye after that -- hay, ah don't know if ah could even now," Applejack frowned and her gaze drifted to her hooves, "fer more reasons than one..."

"I'm still not seeing why we should hold back," Pinkie replied tonelessly, "if we're already gonna be seen as villains--"

"Pinkie," Twilight interjected with a small frown, "more than anypony else, save for maybe Fluttershy, killing children will probably affect you the most once this is all over and you've had a chance to return to your normal self."

Pinkie went to respond, but Rainbow Dash suddenly cut her off, an air of urgency and irritation in her voice.

"Alright, whatever, we're not gonna kill the kids, great," Rainbow replied impatiently, her eyes locked on the griffons who had just arrived and were staring at both the betentacled cyan pegasus and the corpses of their fellow griffons, "can we actually focus on the griffons now that they're right bucking there?"

Twilight nodded and turned to the shocked and horrified mob of griffons. She cleared her throat and stepped forward, pointedly ignoring the small bounce in her own step as she addressed them all.

"Griffons of Squawken!" she called out, "I'm so sorry it had to come to this, but you can still--"

"Monsters!"

Twilight briefly frowned in annoyance at the random griffon who had shouted out, but her smile quickly returned and she went to speak again. Before she could manage another word however, Ingmar pushed his way to the front of the group and jabbed an accusatory talon in Rainbow's direction.

"You see?!" he cried, his face twisted in a mix of rage and fear, "you see their true nature! These are not ponies! They are demons born from the darkest depths of Tartarus itself!"

"If I could just--"

"Nothing but soulless killers, the lot of them!" Ingmar continued, "demons in pony skin!"

"Excuse me, Mister Grim Talon, but if we're going to do this, I suggest--"

"Silence you vicious abomination!" the crazed griffon snarled, "if you think we'll just roll over and die at your hooves, then you're sorely mistaken!"

Twilight frowned as she scanned the crowd. Ingmar's words seemed to be spurring them all on, drowning out their fear and replacing it with righteous fury. She flicked an ear and turned back to the shouting griffon leader with a patient smile.

She raised a hoof ever so slightly.

"SMALL IN NUMBER WE MAY BE, BUT THERE'S MORE THAN ENOUGH TO HANGgghk--"

Silence reigned in the cool night air for the briefest of moments. All eyes were locked on the dead griffon leader impaled on the large black spike rising out of the ground.

The gaze of many of the remaining griffons slowly drifted to Twilight who's entire foreleg had been covered in thin twisting, undulating black tendrils -- the foreleg itself was firmly embedded into the ground.

Somewhere behind Twilight, Rainbow Dash gave an impressed whistle.

"Now that I have your attention," Twilight exclaimed, "I'd just like to say that if you have any hatchlings, eaglets, or hens carrying eggs, I suggest you leave and return to your town immediately!"

The spike holding Ingmar up sank back into the ground as Twilight pulled her foreleg up and out -- the tendrils around her legs turning to flesh and fur once more.

"We will kill the rest of you should you choose to attack," she continued, shaking her hoof slightly before setting it back on the ground, "it'll be bad enough that the children here will have to grow up without parents! Don't make the mistake of having them see more than they already have!"

Some of the griffons gave each other worried looks, doubt crossing their faces after having seen what the lavender monstrosity was capable of. A few of the griffons did have hatchlings and eaglets they had brought along in their blind anger, and there was indeed a hen carrying an egg.

"Please, for their sake, send them back to town, if you're going to fight," Twilight continued, an edge of impatience creeping into her voice, "We can't guarantee their safety if they stay!"

That seemed to convince the mothers and fathers in the group, and they ushered the scared eaglets to take any siblings and run or fly back to Squawken.

It took some time, but all of the children, some of their parents, and some of the more sensible griffons ultimately fled the scene, leaving the entire Town Gaurd and the more indignant griffons to face the girls alone.

All in all a little over one hundred griffons remained.

Twilight smiled and nodded, simultaneously satisfied and disappointed by the result of her words. She set the odd mix of feelings aside and stepped forward.

"Now then--"

A shot rang out.

Twilight stumbled backwards, her head snapping back from the force of the bullet entering her skull. That was signal for every griffon holding a rifle to fire and the battle began in earnest.

A few more bullets slammed into Twilight before the others leapt into action. Rainbow Dash ducked a bullet aimed at her and rolled to the side to avoid another before righting herself and charging directly for the griffon who had taken the shot, tentacled scythes raised and whipping about.

Twilight had decided she'd had enough.

Tendrils coiled about the lavender mare and she took to the sky a second later as Asger. Using the momentary shock of the other griffons to her advantage, she quickly dove forward and dropped down onto her assailant, causing the griffon to squawk in alarm.

Before the griffon could retaliate or throw the transformed mare off, Twilight used Asger's powerful build and razor sharp talons to slash a line clear across his neck.

A stray bullet whizzed past her cheek and, judging the direction by the trajectory of the shot, she lashed out, one of her arms blackening and stretching into a whip. She grinned wickedly as she heard a surprised screech and felt her whip wrap around something feathery.

She applied more pressure until she heard a snap and yanked the now dead griffon towards her. Both Twilight and the griffon briefly disappeared in a mass of thick tendrils as the disguised unicorn consumed her victim.

That done, she launched off of the dead griffon beneath her and back into the sky to look for her next target.

Applejack rushed into the fray, all four of her legs covered in what looked like thick black metal. The ground beneath her rumbled and cracked under her weight and the closest griffon's eyes widened in fear as the earth pony rapidly closed the distance.

The female griffon tried to fly out of range only to be dragged back down by a tentacle that wrapped around her midsection. Frantic and wide eyed, she looked down to see Rarity pulling her closer.

The white mare stood on her hind legs and as she pulled the griffon down with one hoof, her other hoof -- now a hoofblade with an elegantly curved edge -- dialed back. Once the griffon was close enough, she released the griffon and snapped the blade forward, slicing her clean in two.

Applejack saw none of this as she continued to charge straight into the next griffon in her line of sight. This particular griffon had his back turned trying to avoid one of Rainbow's scythe whips and failed to see the orange mare as she barreled right into, and completely through him.

Her sheer speed, strength and weight alone were enough to break every bone in the poor griffon's body from the impact, and Applejack didn't stop there. Her momentum pushed her through several other griffons unfortunate enough to be in the way and the result was the same if not worse.

Like Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie was a whirlwind of motion, but unlike the cyan pegasus, her movements were measured and methodical. She deftly avoided every shot of a rifle and swipe of a claw aimed at her and retaliated with brutal efficiency.

Her new 'Pinkie Sense' told her when to avoid and where to strike next to do the most damage while inflicting the most amount of pain possible. A severed tendon here, a shattered bone there, and several screams of agony rose up from all around her as she dismantled her opponents using nothing but her own hooves.

The mare hadn't once used her viral born abilities for any of it, save the inherent increase in her speed and strength.

When the battle had first started, Fluttershy found herself unsure of how to proceed. When she had succumb to blind rage it had been easy. Just smash her way through anything and everything.

Now that she wasn't overcome with mindless fury she simply hovered in the air, occasionally avoiding a stray bullet here and there as she observed the ferocious way her friends fought the griffons off.

It was when Rarity had cried out when one griffon had slammed a pike through her side that Fluttershy reacted. As the griffon Guard tried to pull the pike from Rarity, he remained oblivious to the black club-like object that was Fluttershy's foreleg as it smashed into his skull and drove him into the ground.

Rarity opened her mouth to comment, but snapped it shut when she saw the look on the butter yellow mare's face. The pegasus hadn't transformed like she had back at the facility, but Rarity could see that Fluttershy still had a staggering amount of fury in her deep cyan eyes.

The pegasus locked eyes with Rarity for a heartbeat before her gaze drifted over to the pike stuck in her barrel. Rarity followed her gaze and looked back to Fluttershy with an uneasy smile.

"Oh, that? That's nothing. dear, you really don't need to -- gah!"

Rarity yelped in surprised as Fluttershy grabbed the shaft of the pike with her teeth and ripped the whole thing out. She watched Rarity's flesh knit itself together before spitting out the pike and flying off to help the rest of her friends without a word to the stunned white unicorn.

Twilight, meanwhile, had worked her way through several griffons, consuming any she came across and taking their forms. Her plan was to sow more fear and confusion among the ranks of the Town Guard even as she ripped and tore apart every griffon she could get her talons on.

She couldn't be happier with her work.

Terrified and bewildered griffons found themselves fighting back against, and being slaughtered by, friends and acquaintances they had known for years and Twilight couldn't help but revel in the madness and chaos of it all.

Applejack had stopped her charge and was now working in tandem with Rainbow Dash to take out the remaining forces surrounding them. She bucked out with her hind legs and her strength insured that broken griffon corpses were the only things that were sent flying.

Rainbow Dash had forgone her scythe whips in favor of close combat with two hoofblades. She had taken to fly by hit-and-run tactics, swooping down to impale an enemy before launching right back into the sky to repeat the process all over again.

The griffons numbers dwindled down to only a few dozen in a matter of minutes. Those that didn't die immediately saw the ones that did and tried to flee, only to be blindsided by Rainbow Dash diving out of the sky or one of the griffons they thought were allies, only to realize far too late that it was Twilight.

The pristine white snow surrounding the battlefield quickly reddened with the blood of the griffons slain by the six mares. The battle itself began to wind down after what felt like hours, but in reality, only lasted a little over ten minutes or so.

Finally the last griffon, a large black and brown Guard grunted and hacked up a large amount of blood before looking down at the silvery blade that had punched right through his ribcage. He slowly and shakily looked into the eyes of the mare the curved blade was connected to and gave a wry grin.

"Damn... monsters... the lot of you," he coughed again and managed a weak chuckle, "didn't... stand a chance... in Tartarus..."

With those final words, the griffon was wrapped in a flurry of tendrils that pulled his body into the white unicorn mare who had killed him. The body disappeared along with the tendrils and Rarity gave a weary sigh as she reverted her blade back to a hoof and used it to brush her mane out of her eyes.

She turned back to see that the others had finished off the rest already. She huffed and trotted over to where Pinkie stood amidst the bodies they hadn't bothered to consume.

"Is that all of them?" Rarity asked.

Pinkie merely nodded, before turning to the tall and muscled griffon who had just dropped out of the sky. The grinning griffon began to transform into a grinning lavender mare as it walked towards Rarity and Pinkie -- her eyes once again back to her normal amethyst.

"I realize what we did was horrible and will probably come back to bite us later," Twilight began merrily, "but I have to admit, I had fun."

"...way more than that and you know it!"

Twilight, Pinkie, and Rarity turned to see an arguing Rainbow Dash and Applejack closely being followed by a meek looking Fluttershy. Applejack rolled her eyes at Rainbow Dash's comment.

"Fer the last time, Rainbow," Applejack said in exasperation, "it ain't about competin' ta see who can take down the most griffons. We did what we had ta do an' that's all... and even if we were competin' -- which we weren't -- ah would've had ya beat by a country mile."

Rainbow scoffed and crossed her forelegs.

"As if," she retorted before turning to look at Fluttershy with an impressed smile, "but seriously though, Fluttershy, I didn't know you had it in you... y'know, aside from the whole rage thing back then."

"I didn't mean for that to happen, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy replied quietly, "I saw Rarity in trouble and I just... reacted. It felt like I barely had any control at all."

"Yeah well, it was still awesome," Rainbow Dash replied with a shrug, "I was pretty worried you weren't gonna be able to hold your own, y'know? I was... worried about you."

That caused Fluttershy to give Rainbow a small smile of appreciation. The three ponies continued their conversation as they reached the others. Once they had all met up Twilight looked around them with a frown.

"...I think it'd be for the best if we moved on, girls."

"Agreed," Rarity replied, lifting up a hoof and eyeing the blood dripping from it with disgust, "I doubt the remaining citizens will appreciate what we've done here today."

"Alright, I'm down for that," Rainbow added, hovering above the rest of them, "but where are we... gonna... oh..."

Confused, the others fully focused their attention on the cyan pegasus who was staring wide eyed at something in the distance. They followed her gaze and it didn't take long to figure out the cause of her shock.

Svanhild hovered only a few yards away, her rifle clutched tightly in her claws and her own eyes wide and shining with unshed tears. She stared at the bloodstained snow, the mutilated corpses, and the ponies responsible for it all, uttering only one word.

"...Why?"

Author's Note

So here it is, the chapter (I'm assuming) you've all been waiting for. Hopefully I did a good job with the... well it was more of a one sided massacre than a fight scene, but still, hopefully I nailed it.

Also from here on out I will be referring to baby griffons as hatchings and young griffons as eaglets for consistency's sake.

Also, I don't know if 'betentacled' is actually a word, but it amuses me so I don't care, I'm using it anyway.

Fallout

Each of the girls sobered up at the sight of the griffon that had trusted them enough to bring them into her town. Any high they had felt from the previous battle had drained away and been replaced with guilt and regret.

The guilt of having someone they had started to consider a friend see them like this, and the regret of being caught. There was no remorse in any of their eyes for the atrocities they had committed against the town of Squawken.

Svanhild could see this plain as the blood covered snow on the ground.

For several seconds, none of the girls moved or responded to the griffon's single, grief-laden question. Twilight's grin fell into a sad frown and she opened her mouth to say something, only for it to shut as she turned away from Svanhild.

Pinkie's features remained blank, her desire to end the witness warring with the sorrow she felt at seeing the look in Svanhild's eyes. Applejack grimaced and looked away just as Twilight had, adjusting her stetson so that it covered her eyes.

Rarity looked as though she didn't quite know what to do with herself, shifting from hoof to hoof and chewing on her mane nervously. Fluttershy just gave the distraught griffon a sorrowful look.

Rainbow Dash looked the most stricken out of any of the girls. She slowly flew towards Svanhild, her hoof outstretch and a pleading look on her face.

"Look... Svanhild, I--"

Rainbow retracted her hoof and winced as a bullet clipped her cheek, the shallow cut closing in a near instant. She slowly brought the outstretched hoof to her face where the cut had been as she stared at Svanhild.

The griffon had her mother's old rifle trained on the cyan pegasus, her eyes brimming with hate, sorrow, guilt, and tears. She pulled the trigger and released another shot -- one which Rainbow Dash did nothing to avoid as it sank into her chest.

"Why did you kill them?!"

Another shot.

"I trusted you all -- led you here into town like an idiot and now half the flocking town is dead!"

A third shot rang out.

"D-Do you know what they're all gonna do to me?" Svanhild's grip on the rifle loosened as her claws began to shake, "I... I c-can't show my face in this town again..."

Svanhild pulled the trigger one last time before dropping the rifle, the shot going wide. She alighted to the ground unsteadily, never taking her teary eyes away from Rainbow Dash. The look of hate was gone, and in its place was utter despair at what the six had wrought.

"B-Because of what you did..."

Her gaze gradually drifted to the bodies scattered about and her face twisted in pain before her eyes snapped back to Rainbow Dash and the others who now looked just as shocked and hurt as Rainbow did.

Fluttershy suddenly but quietly stepped forward. She froze where she was when Svanhild whipped around to face her -- her gaze furious and full of pain. The yellow pegasus took a step back and sat where she was.

"We're... not normal ponies, Svanhild," Fluttershy swept her eyes across the aftermath of their massacre as she spoke, "something terrible happened to all of us, and we're still trying to cope with the changes... the terrible, terrible changes."

She looked back to Svanhild with a sad expression.

"I'm sorry for what we did, but--"

"DON'T FLOCKING LIE TO ME!"

Fluttershy and the rest of the group flinched at the sound of Svanhild's enraged shout. The griffon stood tall and flared out her wings in indignation as she continued her tirade.

"I knew. I flocking knew there was something off about all of you," she seethed, rounding on Fluttershy, "I knew, and I still let you into Squawken," she barked out a derisive laugh that turned into a single choked sob, "s-some of my friends are here, y'know?"

She pointed a shaky talon to one of the many corpses littering the ground. The girls followed her pointed talon and saw a smallish grey and blue female griffon in a Town Guard uniform split cleanly across the middle -- her face frozen in terror.

"A-Alvilda Bright Beak," she sniffed, "best friend s-since we were eaglets. She... s-she was a bit of a nerd sometimes, but... but she..."

Svanhild trailed off and shook her head before wiping her eyes and walking over to another body -- this one lying next to a discarded pike. She picked up the pike and held it in her claw, staring at it for a moment before looking down at the griffon that had once wielded it.

By this point, Rainbow Dash had landed and now stood by the rest of the girls as they watched the despairing griffon mourn her fallen comrades. Without turning around to face them, Svanhild spoke again in a voice quivering with grief and barely suppressed rage.

"Arvid... Grey Claw," she went quiet for a brief moment before speaking again, "he could be a jerk sometimes... but he always managed to make me laugh... a-always managed..."

Twilight looked back at the others for some kind of help, but none of them knew what to do in this situation. They could try to comfort Svanhild, but it was clear she wasn't looking for sympathy from the ones that had slaughtered her friends and acquaintances.

The six of them all had plenty of experience in comforting sad and downtrodden ponies -- some more than others -- but this was altogether different. They had been the ones to cause the grief, and they all knew a simple apology wasn't going to be enough.

Nothing they did was going to be enough for this.

They knew going in that what they had done was going to be unforgivable, but the aftermath hit them harder than they expected it to -- especially considering their current states of mind.

It was all so confusing.

One moment they were ready to throw all morals to the wind and commit mass murder, and the next, they were back to feeling terrible for the consequences of their actions, if not for the actual murders themselves.

The virus had twisted their minds and bodies in ways they still didn't understand, and most likely wouldn't understand unless they got some answers from those responsible.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of the ones responsible were already dead, and the girls had no way of knowing where the ones that still lived had escaped to -- at least, not at the moment.

When it was clear she would be receiving no help, Twilight sighed and trotted towards Svanhild, who still had her back turned to the mares. She stopped a few yards away and fell to her haunches.

"Svanhild," Twilight paused and waited to see if the griffon would interrupt. When she didn't the mare continued, "there's... there's nothing I... there's nothing any of us could say to make up for what we've done here."

She hung her head a moment before looking around the battlefield with a grimace. A minute later she turned back to see that Svanhild hadn't moved an inch.

"As much as I want to deny it... as much as I tried to deny it and reject it, the fact of the matter... is that we're monsters. We didn't used to be, but... that changed. We were changed, and none of us know why."

"We kinda can't help it," Rainbow Dash added, flying over and landing next to Twilight, "it's just what we are now. Sure, we're not going around killing all the time, but when you put us in a situation like this... well..."

"Things tend to spiral out of control and we lose ourselves in the moment, as it were," came Rarity's voice as she trotted up next to the other two, "this is all still new to us, and at one time, it... it would've been anathema to all we stood for as the Elements of Harmony... but now..."

"Are we really even the Elements of Harmony anymore?"

The other three turned to see a sad looking Pinkie Pie standing a little ways away. She moved to stand beside the rest of her friends as she spoke.

"Do they still exist after all this time? I don't really feel like they do," the pink mare shook her head, "I always felt this... I dunno, this warmth inside me whenever I was around you girls, and now I don't feel that anymore."

"Now that ya mention it, ah felt the same way," Applejack added moving next to the others, "an' now ah don't feel nothin' like that anymore."

"Girls, this isn't about us right now," Fluttershy chided, giving them all a stern glare before turning a sympathetic eye towards the brooding Svanhild, "she's the one suffering right now, and it's our fault."

"Yer right, Flutters," Applejack conceded, turning to address Svanhild, "knowin' what we were, ah never shoulda asked ya ta take us into town," she trotted closer to the silent griffon, "this was all a mistake. We never wanted ta -- ghgak!"

The five other mare reeled in shock at the sight of the pike sticking out of the back of Applejack's neck. The orange earth pony's body twitched once before she staggered backwards and fell to her haunches.

"A mistake?"

Twilight and the others turned to Svanhild, who was visibly shaking with rage as she let go of the pike and stepped around Applejack to face the others.

"You call reducing the population of Squawken down to half a mistake?" she stomped forward, clicking her beak furiously, "YOU'VE RUINED US! WE CAN'T SURVIVE OUT HERE WITH ONLY HALF THE TOWN ALIVE!"

She continued her advance, heedless of the fact that the cowpony she had left behind had stood up, tendrils consuming the pike and causing it to sink further into her body.

"BECAUSE OF ALL OF YOU, I CAN'T GO BACK HOME! THEY'LL KILL ME FOR BRINGING YOU ALL HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE!" more tears streamed down her face as she stopped and sank to the ground, a lost expression on her face and her tirade giving way to a quiet broken whisper, "you might as well have just killed me along with the rest."

"Is that what you really want?"

Svanhild sniffed and looked up to see Twilight standing above her, her expression unreadable as she looked back down at the griffon.

"I told you, Svanhild, we're monsters who have no qualms about killing others," Twilight said, taking a step back, "if you want us to kill you--"

Svanhild didn't know what suddenly came over her.

Maybe it was the guilt, maybe it was the grief, maybe it was the anger, the hate, the regret, the pain. Maybe it was all of those things, but at Twilight's words, she suddenly found that the world had turned red and that she somehow had lost control of her own body.

She was faintly aware of someone screeching incoherently, and whoever they were, they sounded angry... very angry. She had the vague sense that she was moving about, but she didn't really register any of it.

The only thing she knew for sure was that something needed to die, and that she was going to be the one to kill it.

She felt something pierce some part of her body somewhere, but paid it no mind as her body practically moved of its own accord, swiping and slashing and screeching and snapping at anything that moved.

It took her quite some time to come to her senses and realize that she was lying flat on her stomach and unable to move. It took her another moment to realize there was something embedded in her back, and when she finally did, she screamed.

She couldn't see what had impaled her, but whatever it was, was causing her horrible pain that seemed to flood every one of her nerves. Her next scream was cut short by a series of bloody coughs as she felt whatever had stabbed her yank itself out of her back.

At the same time, a weight she hadn't noticed until it shifted, removed itself off her back. She screamed and hacked and wailed from the agony of whatever had happened to her, and through the blurriness the tears had brought to her eyes, she could see five colorful equine shapes a few yards away.

Her vision cleared a second later and she could see five of the mares looking back at her with mixed expressions. Before she could register what had happened, a pair of cyan colored legs stepped in front of her.

She weakly lifted her head to see none other than Rainbow Dash standing above her -- one hoof gone and replaced with a wicked looking silver blade covered in blood.... her blood.

Rainbow Dash looked down at her with a pitying gaze before turning away and trotting over to her other friends -- her hoofblade reverting back to a cyan hoof in a flash of tendrils.

Svanhild coughed again and Rainbow Dash stopped before turning to look at the dying griffon from over her shoulder. The griffon glared at the pegasus, her rage still burning even as her vision began to fade. Rainbow stared back at Svanhild, her face a mix of different emotions. Eventually she settled on a dispassionate frown.

"...I'm sorry, Svanhild."

With that, she and the rest of the girls trotted off to who knows where, leaving Svanhild to die among the bodies of her fellow Squawken Town Guard.

Svanhild stared after the six retreating mares for as long as she could manage, burning the image of them into her mind as her consciousness began to fade. Eventually she became too weak to keep her head up any longer and with another pained groan, she let it fall to the ground.

"F-Flocking... monsters... I'll... I'm g-gonna..."

Everything went black and Svanhild knew no more.

Then something deep within her shifted.

Omen

The doors to the Crystal Castle's throne room opened almost silently as the crystal pony servant pushed it open.

Once opened fully, the servant stepped aside and bowed the 'Queen of the Night' in. 'Queen Luna' dismissed the servant as well as the rest of the Crystal Guard that were currently in the room. She stepped inside, looking for all the world as if this was the last place she wanted to be.

And indeed it was.

The throne room itself looked strikingly similar to the one that had been in Canterlot Castle, the only real obvious differences being that most everything was coated in crystal -- the walls, the pillars, and the back drop of the throne itself.

The lengthy carpet leading from the entrance to the throne, while a different color, was more or less the same if a paler looking red. The placement of the windows, while not filled with the same stained glass of Canterlot's, were of similar make and structure.

One could argue that there were several key differences, but the overall feel of the room was the same for anypony who had been to the throne room of Canterlot's Castle.

Not that anypony could visit Canterlot Castle anymore, Queen Luna's warships had made that an impossibility.

Queen Luna however, had long since grown accustomed to the odd similarities and currently only had disdainful eyes for the shadowy stallion standing on the far end of the throne room.

He sat not on the throne itself, but rather stood in front of one of the windows on the far wall, staring out at his moonlit empire below with a pensive expression.

The bright, multifaceted light coming from the crystals around him threw his dark features and grim countenance into sharp relief. His jet black mane and tail billowed in an unseen wind, much like Celestia's or Luna's had.

The only indication Sombra gave that he had heard Luna's approach was the slight flick of an ear and nothing more. His eyes were trained on the scenery outside, his eyes slightly narrowed and his mouth set in a thin line.

King Sombra was not a happy stallion at the moment.

He had wealth, slaves, an empire and a kingdom under his hoof, the support of the most advanced race when it came to military might, a massive army at his command, and the 'aid' of a certain bug queen and her subjects to seek out any dissenters among his own subjects.

The thought made the corners of the stallion's mouth lift briefly before it quickly settled back into a flat line. He may have had all these things and then some, but Sombra was nevertheless upset.

Something hadn't gone to plan... something vital.

"What is it this time, Sombra?" Luna said, her voice weary with just a hint of annoyance, "I've already had my chil... my subjects, working around the clock, running themselves ragged I might add, trying to root out those--"

"That's not why I called you here, Luna."

Luna frowned and narrowed her eyes slightly as Sombra continued to speak, his eyes never leaving the window.

"I received a... visitor from one of the neighboring countries earlier today," he continued, "a country I haven't thought about in ages," he finally turned to Luna with a scowl, "the visitor was a pony, a rather strikingly tall unicorn mare with a scar and a broken horn."

"A pony from another country?" Luna replied with a raised eyebrow, "that's not so odd, there are other pony ruled nations outside of Equestria, though they're small in number and tend to keep to themselves, have I not already told you of this?"

"You have," Sombra replied before shaking his head, "but that's not what I'm talking about, Luna, this mare wasn't from any pony nation. From what she told me, she was originally from Equestria."

"Oh?" Luna answered, her face lighting up with intrigue, "and where exactly was I when this mare arrived?"

"You were seeing to the interrogation of our special prisoner," Sombra responded, "I decided the visit didn't warrant your attention," before Luna could protest, Sombra returned his gaze to the window and spoke again, "in any case, that's not what's important."

His horn suddenly sparked and bubbled with a violet and black aura, and a scroll appeared before Luna's eyes. Unfazed by now, she simply yanked it out of Sombra's magical grip with her own green aura, shuddering in disgust slightly as her magic briefly intertwined with his.

"That is the real issue at hoof," Sombra continued as Luna read over the scroll, "this new development, as well as another, demand our immediate and urgent attention."

Luna's eyebrows furrowed as she finished reading the scroll. A small, conspicuous smile spread across her muzzle very briefly before she schooled her features once more.

Without a word, she rolled the scroll back up, but before she had a chance to do anything else, the scroll suddenly and violently erupted in a black flame and within mere seconds was reduced to ash.

"Much has changed since I've returned, False Queen," Sombra said as he moved away from the window and trotted back to his throne, "I knew of this country from long ago, but I don't remember it being quite so... militant."

Luna grimaced and one of her eyebrows gave an involuntary twitch at the dark king's insult. He knew how much she despised the title, as well as how technically inaccurate it was.

She was very much a real queen, just not the one she currently portrayed herself to be. She was a queen to be sure, but she was also a mother. Of course, in her blind arrogance and overall foolishness, she had once thought herself a queen first and a mother second.

It wasn't until she had witness her 'subjects' die a slow agonizing death after she and the rest of them had quite literally been launched from Canterlot after her utter defeat at the hooves of that mare and her mate, that she realized her folly.

But all of that was neither here nor there at the moment. Right now, an opportunity had presented itself, and Luna would be damned to Tartarus if she missed it now.

"Nevertheless, this poses a problem," Sombra said, oblivious to Luna's thoughts, "a problem compounded by the latest news I've received from one of the scientists you sent to Sky Talon Labs in Griffonia."

Luna fought hard to suppress the smirk making its way across her muzzle as she replied.

"Really, now? And what sort of news did he bring?" Luna asked before giving a small frown of annoyance, "and why wasn't I informed first?"

"Because, like you, they are mine first and foremost," Sombra replied in a bored tone that spoke of having repeated this conversation countless times in the past, "they answer to me before anyone else, and you know that already, Luna."

Luna just snorted in irritation. Sombra ignore this and continued to speak.

"From what I've heard, there was an... incident at the labs earlier this morning," Sombra idly tapped a hoof on the arm of the throne, a thoughtful frown on his face, "it seems the former Elements of Harmony have finally awakened."

That meant it was time for 'Luna' to put her original plan into action.

"How fortunate," Luna replied with a smirk, "once we get them back here and run a few more tests, you'll have that--"

"No, it's not fortunate," Sombra interjected as he rose from his throne, "it is a disaster waiting to happen, and it needs to be dealt with swiftly."

"What do you mean?" Luna asked innocently, before eyes widened, "surely you're not saying they've..."

"They've gone rogue, False Queen," Sombra finished, casting a suspicious glance Luna's way, "the virus was born of my race's blood and magic, Chrysalis," Sombra hissed, dropping any pretenses in his growing anger, "it was supposed to enforce absolute loyalty to me and nopony else."

"And apparently that's not what happened," Chrysalis responded, dropping her disguise and revealing her weak and withered frame. She raised her head and tapped a hoof to her chin, "I did send a warship, mercenaries, and a golem to detain them in case of such an event."

"And it seems every single one of those measures failed," Sombra replied with an angry snort, "we shouldn't have needed them at all, but..." he trailed off and turned to stare off at something Chrysalis couldn't see, his eyes distant, "maybe they need to be in my presence for the virus to take it's proper effect."

"But then they wouldn't be very effective as bioweapons if that were the case," Chrysalis pointed out, "on top of that, if they really have gone rogue and escaped, there's no telling what kind of damage they may cause."

Sombra was silent as he returned to his throne. He frowned in thought and Chrysalis could practically hear the gears turning in his head. The emaciated queen inwardly grinned at the thought of her plan going without a hitch so far.

Though Sombra had been somewhat of a passenger in Chrysalis' mind for the first few months they had known each other, that's all he was -- a passenger. He couldn't read her mind during that time, and for that she was grateful. It was one of the major reasons she had agreed to aid the stallion in his return.

Unlike Sombra, Chrysalis had known a bit about the Elements of Harmony before, and what she didn't know, she had manged to find out on her own once her mind had been free of Sombra's consciousness.

She had a fairly good idea of what they'd try to do if they'd escaped the facility.

With a simple thought and a small grimace, she reached into the hivemind and contacted the remnants of her hive. She didn't like to reach this far into the hivemind normally, as it was a constant reminder of how much she had lost... and how little she had truly gained.

Everything is almost in place, my children. Be prepared to move her from our current location and back to Equestria within the next week or so, we may not have much time.

She felt a ping of affirmation in response and with that, she quickly retreated out of the hivemind, and refocused her attention on Sombra. Her heart skipped a beat when she realized Sombra had been staring at her with an unreadable expression.

"I-Is something wrong?" Chrysalis asked, trying not to sound as worried as she suddenly felt, "why the look?"

Sombra eyed her for a few more moments before a cruel smile crossed his face. The smile made Chrysalis shudder and avert her gaze. Sombra merely chuckled and when he next spoke, his voice was tinged with a hint of dark amusement.

"I think I may just have a solution to both the problems at hoof."

Author's Note

I'm aware that Sombra and Luna/Chrysalis are technically an Emperor and Empress, but I'm gonna leave it as it is anyway for now. I might go back and change it later but... meh.

Lost

Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated on her wellspring of magic, trying to bring any sort of spell forth, to no avail.

Her magic was still almost nonexistent, much to her growing distress. Whenever she'd try to reach out to it, her magic almost seemed to shrink away, causing no small amount of frustration.

The magic was there, it just wasn't... cooperating. With a sigh, Twilight opened her eyes and looked around her, taking in the many tall snow covered trees surrounding her and her friends.

Her eyes stopped on Rarity, who had been trotting along beside her, and she frowned slightly. The white mare had seemed no worse for wear magically, despite having used almost her entire reservoir of magic during the fight with the golem.

What made them different?

Why was Twilight the only one made to suffer this odd lack of magic?

She didn't know, but she resolved to find out the moment she got a chance. Keeping her own thoughts to herself for the moment, Twilight refocused on the darkened mountain path ahead. It wasn't long after that, that her thoughts about what they'd all do now were interrupted by Applejack.

"Hey... Twi?"

Twilight turned to the cowpony as she trotted up beside her, opposite Rarity. The lavender mare took notice of Applejack's troubled expression and her brow furrowed.

"What is it, Applejack?"

Applejack didn't respond for a moment, looking almost nervous to say what she wanted to say. Eventually however, she finally spoke up, turning to Twilight with a meaningful look.

"Ah've been thinkin'..." she paused another moment, then, "say we get back to Equestria. What in the hay do we do then?" she hung her head slightly, "ah have no earthly idea how long we been gone, but ah get the feelin' it's been a lot longer than we think'."

"It's been about sixteen years."

The group stopped dead and each of the girls turned to Pinkie with shocked expressions, save for Twilight who grimaced as she continued to stare at the path ahead. The pink earth pony looked back at each of them in turn before speaking again, melancholy thick in her usually bubbly voice.

"When we were in the facility, I found this really big science-y looking room with all these weird machines," she brushed a hoof through her flat mane and pulled out several sheets of paper, "I didn't know what they did, but I also found these."

The rest of the girls looked at the papers in bemusement.

"Pinkie, dear," Rarity asked with a raised eyebrow, "why do you have paper in your mane?"

"I had a feeling these were important, so I nabbed them before I ran into all of you," Pinkie replied with a shrug, "I don't really understand all the stuff written here, but there was something about 'violent reactions' and 'unexpected results' and 'an estimate of sixteen years'. I just put some pieces together is all."

"What?!" Twilight cried before frowning at Pinkie, "Pinkie, if you had something like that with you all this time, why didn't you say anything? I've been trying to find answers to what's been going on all this time, and you just had documents relating to the changes we went through?"

"Sorry, Twilight," Pinkie replied somewhat sheepishly, "with everything that happened, I kinda forgot I had these," she frowned and reached into her mane once more, "I wonder if I left anything else in here..."

Twilight went to grab the sheets of paper in her magic aura, and growled in frustration when nothing happened. She trotted over to where Pinkie stood and snatched the documents from the distracted pink pony before scanning them furiously.

After a minute her brows furrowed and she frowned deeply.

Microbiology wasn't something Twilight was particularly well versed in, and these documents were full of heavy scientific jargon that even she couldn't quite comprehend, some of the terms not being familiar whatsoever.

A lot of what she did understand only confirmed her suspicions.

It turned out Rainbow Dash had been right about their initial deaths. From what Twilight could gather, almost the moment they had been injected, the virus had essentially torn them all apart and completely remade them from scratch.

And Rainbow Dash had seen just how gruesome the process had been for herself.

Twilight briefly flicked her gaze to the cyan pegasus, who looked bored and irritated that they had stopped. Looking at Rainbow now compared to how she was when she had first rescued her, Twilight could see her feelings on what had happened to them all had clearly changed at some point.

Frowning, she turned back to the documents before her.

Twilight had already known from scouring Asger's memory that it had been over sixteen years since they had been dormant in that facility. While that was extremely upsetting, that didn't surprise her. What did surprise her, was the fact that there had been some kind of magic involved in the process -- magic she didn't recognize.

Even more surprising was the mention of Harmony.

One scientist had theorized that the violent and deadly reaction from the injection of the virus was a result of the virus' strange magic coming into contact with the magic of Harmony within each of the girls.

That caused Twilight to think back on what Pinkie had said before about no longer being able to feel that 'warmth' whenever they were all around each other. If this scientist's theory was accurate, and this 'warmth' really was the magic of Harmony...

"So what gives, egghead?"

Twilight blinked and looked over to Rainbow Dash who had moved to hover over Twilight with an impatient scowl on her face. She pointed to the documents as she continued.

"Any of that gonna tell us where to go next?" Rainbow asked, "because I'm pretty sure that's what we should be focusing on right now, Twi."

"Now just a moment, darling," Rarity said, trotting over to the two, "I for one would like to know what those horrid scientists have done to us."

"Ah don't know, Rares," Applejack added, looking around the general area, "ah think Rainbow's got the right idea. We don't know where in the hay we are, an' just standin' around is makin' me a mite antsy."

"Um... if it's all the same, I'd like to keep moving as well," Fluttershy said, pawing at the ground nervously, "I mean, I'm not trying to say this isn't important or anything, it's just that I really want to get back home."

"I know exactly how you feel, Fluttershy," Pinkie agreed, squeezing the pegasus in an impromptu hug, "I wanna make sure everypony in Ponyville is okay," she pulled away and looked back to Twilight with a small frown, "but I also wanna know why we all got funny in the head."

"It... I don't think any of these documents mention anything about the behavioral changes, Pinkie," Twilight replied, shifting between documents and scanning each one, "I can't make sense of a lot of this, but just from what I was able to find out," she looked up at Pinkie with an apologetic frown, "things might be worse than we thought."

"Ya'll don't have to tell me that," Applejack replied with a grimace, "Pinkie said it's been... sixteen years was it?" she looked to Pinkie who nodded solemnly, before looking back to Twilight, "an' there was somethin' about a war--"

"A war that Equestria lost," Twilight finished with a grim look, "a war that Sombra won with the help of Luna."

The rest of the girls fell silent as they let the information sink in, fear and worry of what had happened to their home and loved ones showing clear on their face. Eventually Fluttershy was the one to break the silence.

"How did this even happen?" she asked quietly, speaking to nopony in particular, "what went wrong?"

"We... I failed Equestria, that's what went wrong, Fluttershy," Twilight replied, hanging her head, "I... I don't remember all the details, but... there was some kind of test I was supposed to take, and I'm starting to think stopping Sombra from becoming king had a lot to do with it."

"Oh, that's right," Rainbow Dash replied, rubbing the back of her neck, "we were supposed to do some big important thing in the frozen north."

The other girl's eyes lit up as they remembered what Twilight had told them before all of this had happened.

"Yeah," Applejack began slowly, "now ah remember, we were supposed to do somethin'... what was it?" she rubbed her chin and frowned in thought, "ah think... ah think we were supposed to protect somethin', but ah can't remember what..."

"No, I think we were trying to look for something, dear," Rarity objected, her own brows furrowing in thought, "I feel like I should know what it is, but I can't even remember what this... empire looks like, or even what it was called."

Fluttershy merely stared out at the dark and snowy scenery, looking at nothing in particular as she thought about her animals and the ponies of Ponyville. As the other girls talked amongst themselves, Twilight looked back to the documents, conflicted as to whether or not she should mention what she had read to the others.

As she ruminated on the decision, the documents were suddenly yanked out of her hoof. She looked up in surprise to see Pinkie slipping the papers back in her mane. She went to ask Pinkie what she was doing when the pink mare spoke first in a hushed tone.

"I may not have understood everything written in those papers, and they might say some bad things," Pinkie said before giving Twilight a small smile, "but what I do know, is that we all still have each other, and that's enough for right now, don't you think?"

Twilight blinked.

"But... but didn't you want to know about..."

Twilight trailed off as Pinkie slowly shook her head and looked over to where the others were. Rainbow, Applejack, and Rarity had started bickering over what they remembered at some point while Fluttershy looked on with an unsure expression.

"I want to know what's going on with us as much as you do, Twilight," Pinkie continued, not taking her eyes off the others, "but I think that can wait until we at least find out where to go from here," she finally looked back to Twilight, "sixteen years is a long time to be away from home, and I wanna go back as soon as possible so we can let everypony know we're... well... that we're still around."

Twilight opened her mouth to protest, but found she couldn't. She wanted to go home as well -- to see that her family was okay, and to find Princess Celestia. It looked as thought the others had already forgotten about the documents during their discussion, and aside from the note about Harmony, the documents hadn't really told her anything she didn't already know or suspect anyway.

After a moment of contemplation, she sighed and nodded at Pinkie before trotting over to the others. The mystery of what had been done to them could wait for now. Right now, if this war and its result really was her fault, Twilight had to get back as soon as possible so that she could fix it.

But before anything else, they had to find their way out of this mountain range.

Remembrance

It had begun to shift from late night to early morning by the time the viral mares made their way anywhere near the end of Tassel Mountain range. Rainbow Dash had flown up and ahead to scout out exactly where it was they were headed and where it was they needed to go.

It seemed they still had a ways to go before they reached the end of the mountain range, and according to Rainbow, there was a dense forest waiting for them at the bottom of the last mountain they'd have to cross.

The impatient cyan pegasus had suggested they all just fly over the mountains and all the way to Equestria, but the idea had been vetoed, due to the collective desire not to draw too much attention to themselves.

Rainbow Dash had been grumbling about the decision for the last half hour as the other five made their way down the final mountain. The trek itself had been relatively quiet, with each mare lost in their own thoughts.

There was only the occasional bit of conversation about their current predicament, but for the most part everypony present seemed to want to avoid the many elephants in the room.

Twilight herself had only just remembered that she had no idea what had happened to Spike during the failed attempt to do whatever it was they were supposed to do in the Frozen North, and her visible sag at the thought caught Rarity's attention -- the white mare having been trotting right beside her.

She bit her lip, wondering whether she should ask the mare what the problem was or leave her to her own thoughts just as they had all been up to this point. Eventually she gave a quiet sigh and shook her head.

In the end, she decided this terribly awkward and tense silence had to end at some point. She trotted closer and put a comforting hoof on Twilight's shoulder, making the lavender mare look up in bemusement.

"Darling, I know our situation isn't exactly pleasant," Rarity began with an understanding smile, "but you seem rather distracted at the moment," she furrowed her brow, "tell us what's on your mind, dear. You know we're all here for you?"

Twilight blinked and looked back to her other friends, all of whom had been listening and were nodding emphatically or giving vocal agreements with Rarity. She looked back over to Rarity and the fashionista raised an expectant eyebrow.

"Well?"

Twilight sighed and gave Rarity a small smile before frowning and looking away.

"It's... it's Spike," she began quietly, "I completely forgot about him during all this... insanity, and I feel just awful about it," she looked to the sky, as if trying to spot the little drake above, "I know he was with us when we went to the Frozen North to see this new 'empire', but I can't remember what happened to him."

The others looked at each other a moment before turning back to Twilight.

"Sorry, Twi," Applejack responded with an apologetic frown, "ah don't remember what happened to the little fella neither."

"Yeah, same here," Rainbow Dash added with a shrug, "the last time I remember seeing him was on the train ride, and even then, that ride's still a bit fuzzy."

"Um... I can't remember all the details," Fluttershy said quietly, "but... I think he might've ran ahead when we all got off the train."

"You actually remember getting off the train?" Rarity asked in surprise before giving a small huff, "well, that's more than I can remember at any rate."

"Come on, girls," Pinkie chimed in, grabbing Twilight and pulling her into a reassuring one legged hug, "I'm sure he's okay. He didn't end up with us--" she poked Twilight in the chest before point at herself "--but that doesn't mean he's not alright, and you and I know that dragon is tougher than he looks!"

"Yeah, I... I guess so," Twilight replied as she pulled away from Pinkie. She shook her head, still unconvinced, "we still don't know what happened in that empire, or if we even made it at all before whatever happened... happened."

"Well, there ain't no use worryin' about it now," Applejack exclaimed, pushing past Rarity to nudge Twilight in the side and give her a solemn nod of her own, "if Pinkie's right, it's been over sixteen years since we were in Equestria. Anythin' coulda happened by now, an' dwellin' on what mighta happened is only gonna make us crazier than... well... than we already are I guess."

She frowned and rubbed the back of her neck before looking away, a far off look in her eyes.

"Ah know we've all been thinkin' about everythin' that's been happenin' since we woke up," Applejack said to nopony in particular, "and ah know fer a fact ah've been worried sick fer mah family," she hung her head for a second before looking back to the others with a resolute frown, "but ah'm startin' ta think we need ta focus on what we can do somethin' about."

"I... guess you're right," Twilight conceded, albeit begrudgingly, "I just... really hope he's okay..."

"Eh, like Pinkie said, he's fine. Probably worried sick about us, but probably fine," Rainbow added as she hovered over the other two mares. She crossed her forelegs and gave a pointed look to Twilight, "more importantly right now, we should listen to AJ and focus on getting the buck off this mountain. Seriously, Twilight, why can't we all just fly out of here? It would be way faster and there's not a single griffon around! Who's gonna see--"

"Oi there!" came a deep booming voice from the path further ahead, "good to some fellow mountaineers out so early in the day!"

"You've got to be bucking kidding me," Rainbow muttered as the other girls looked towards the sound of the voice, "no really, what even is that timing?"

Making his way towards the six was a large and rather rotund looking brown and white griffon with a heavy looking pack draped over his back. As he got closer, the girls could make out more of his features.

The griffon looked absolutely delighted to see them, and if he was surprised by the fact that they were all ponies, he didn't show it. They all watched in bemusement as the jolly looking griffon stopped a few hoof-lengths away.

He frowned for a split second before his smile returned and he made the rest of the way towards them.

"So what brings ponies like yourselves all the way out to a place like this?" he asked, stopping in front of Twilight who took a step back in surprise, "I don't see many of your folk out this deep in Griffonia, let alone in an isolated mountain range like this one," he raised a talon, "ah, name's Jeger Sharp Eye by the way."

Twilight looked back at the others, who looked just as confused as she did, before turning back to Jeger. Rather than take the offered claw, she took another step back, an odd feeling making her wary of the griffon.

"It's ah... nice to meet you, Jeger," she replied, giving the griffon an uneasy smile, "my name is Twilight, Twilight Sparkle--" she gestured to each of the other girls in turn "--and these are my friends, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy."

Jeger suddenly reached out and grabbed Twilight's outstretched hoof, causing her to yelp in surprise as the griffon shook the hoof vigorously.

"Pleasure's all mine, little lady!" the griffon replied jovially, "I gotta say, it's a shock to see anyone on these mountains this early, let alone ponies," he gave a boisterous bark of laughter, "the sun isn't even up yet and yet you all don't look the least bit groggy. Real go-getters I take it?"

"I guess ya can say that," Applejack muttered, before shaking her head and eyeing the griffon suspiciously, "listen, it's nice ta meet ya an' all, and ah'm sorry if ah'm comin' off as a mite rude here, but we got places we need ta go."

"Oh?" Jeger asked, releasing Twilight's hoof. He stared at his own claw for a second before giving Twilight an odd look as he spoke, "and where you all headed?" he finally turned to face Applejack, "because from where I'm standing, you all seem a bit lost as to where to go."

"Well, that's..." Twilight trailed off and her eyes widened in sudden realization, "...that's not entirely true, actually," she finished slowly. She turned to the others, giving them a significant look before looking back to Jeger and giving a small nod, "I believe we know exactly where to go."

Jeger eyed them all with that same odd look he had given Twilight before his smile returned once again, albeit a bit more slowly this time.

"Alrighty then," he replied with another laugh, "I suppose I should leave you all to it," he adjusted the large pack on his back and started back up the mountain as he spoke, "be careful out there, ladies. The mountain path can still be pretty dangerous this early out."

He gave one last wave before walking past them and continuing on his way. They all watched him go, and once she was sure the griffon was out of earshot, Applejack frowned and adjusted her stetson.

"Ah don't trust him."

"You said it," Rainbow Dash agreed, narrowing her eyes, "something about that guy just... rubs me the wrong way."

"Yeah," Pinkie added, rubbing her chin, "my Pinkie Sense might be wonky right now, but I don't even need it to tell there was something reeeeaaalllly fishy about that griffon."

Fluttershy merely nodded in agreement and Rarity huffed before turning away.

"Well, hopefully we won't run into him again," she said before turning to Twilight, "moving on from that, what was it you were talking about, Twilight? You said we already knew where to go?"

"I do," Twilight confirmed with a nod, "I hadn't even thought about it until Jeger brought it up, but I already know the way off this mountain -- in fact, I've known ever since we fought off the griffons earlier."

The others looked at Twilight in confusion before Rainbow's face lit up in understanding. She face-hoofed and shook her head, groaning in frustration and a bit of embarrassment.

"The memories," she muttered, "I can't believe we forgot about the memories."

"The..." Rarity's eyes widened, "oh!"

"Right," Twilight replied with a smile, "when we consume others, we gain their memories. The first time Rainbow and I had done it, it was... an intense experience," she looked over to Rainbow Dash, who frowned and looked away. Twilight sighed and continued, "ever since then though, I've mostly been trying to ignore the memories I've been gaining because they come in flashes and can be really disorienting."

"Ah get it," Applejack replied, furrowing her brow, "so when ya ate all those--"

"Consumed," Twilight corrected. Applejack rolled her eyes.

"Consumed all those griffons," the orange mare continued, "ya got ahold o' their memories, and now ya know where ta go?"

"Pretty much," Twilight replied, "I just can't believe I hadn't thought about it until now."

"Well then, what are we waiting for, darling?" Rarity responded, motioning for Twilight to move, "as gorgeous as these mountains are, I'd rather wash my hooves of this place given what we've done here," she raised a hoof and looked at it in disgust, "I'd also like to wash my hooves in a more literal sense as well."

"I'm with Rarity on this one, Twi," Rainbow Dash agreed, "let's hurry up and get the buck off this mountain."

"Right then," Twilight said before turning back into Asger and spreading his wings, "the safest path down the mountain is also the longest, so we'll do what Rainbow Dash suggested and fly the rest of the way. Once we reach the bottom where the forest is though, we're hoofing it again. I don't like the idea of flying over a dense forest when we can't see what's in the trees."

"Thank you!" Rainbow Dash cried, throwing her hooves up in exasperation, "finally, something that actually makes sense!"

As Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie took the proper forms suited for flight -- the orange earth pony now a griffon hen, the fashionista now a pegasus mare, and Pinkie now a thestral mare -- Fluttershy stood a bit away from the others.

She turned and looked back the way they had come, her ears twitching slightly. She frowned in confusion as she tried to place the odd feeling she was getting, but ultimately shook her head and took off after the others, who had just taken flight.

It's probably nothing to worry about, and even if it was, we won't be coming back here again anyway.

Author's Note

There's different themes I wanna focus on during this story. The first was about their twisted and unstable mental states, and the next will focus more on their actual abilities.

Forest

The sun had just peeked over the horizon by the time Twilight and her friends landed near the forest a little ways from the mountain range. Looking at it from above, Twilight could see that the forest was much larger than she had imagined it to be.

None of the memories she had gained prepared her for such a sight. The forest seemed to consist of a healthy mix of pines and larches that all bunched together so as to completely block the view of the ground beneath.

The trees closer to the mountain range were all snowcapped, but the forest became progressively greener further in—and the trees themselves seemed to go on for miles, much to Twilight's astonishment and Rainbow's dismay.

"Wow," Fluttershy breathed, her eyes widening in awe as she alighted on the soft and rather slushy ground, "this might be the biggest forest I've ever seen."

"Ain't this the only other forest you've ever seen aside from the Everfree an' the Whitetail Woods?" Applejack responded, landing much more heavily as she shifted back to her earth pony self, "those are the only places like this near Ponyville, an' ya don't strike me as the travelin' sort, Flutters."

"Oh, that's not true," Fluttershy replied, the lack of a blush doing nothing to diminish her embarrassed expression, "I'm sure we've all been through other forests in our adventures... I think."

"Have we?" Applejack replied, raising a hoof to her chin thoughtfully, "ya know... ah can't seem ta remember whether we did or not."

"Well, I know we've never been through any forest of this magnitude," came Rarity's voice, the viral mare having already landed and reverted back to her snow white unicorn form, "ugh... just thinking about all the dreadful things lurking among those trees makes me shudder."

"Why's that Rarity?" Pinkie asked hopping up next to the mare in question and tilting her head in confusion, "it's not like anything can hurt us, and besides—" she hook a foreleg around Rarity's withers and pulled her into a one legged hug as she gestured to the forest, "—there's probably nothing but furry forest critters in there anyway."

"Oh, I hope so, Fluttershy replied, looking towards the thicket of trees with a small smile, "I'd love to see what kinds of animals inhabit the forests of Griffonia," an ear twitched and her small smile suddenly dropped into a small frown and she focused on the forest. After a moment her eyes widened in surprise, "what... is that?"

Rarity raised an eyebrow and followed Fluttershy's wary gaze to the thick forest before her. When she didn't see anything she turned back to Fluttershy with a bemused look.

"What is what, darling?" she asked, frowning in confusion, "I don't see anything but a bunch of trees."

Fluttershy went to answer, but a loud, raspy, and familiar voice from above cut her off.

"I'm telling you, Twi, we should just—"

"For the last time, no, Rainbow Dash," came a gruff masculine voice, "like I said before, we don't know what—or who—is waiting for us down there, and I'd rather not be caught off guard if it's more of those mercenaries... or worse."

The others watched as Rainbow Dash and a currently disguised Twilight landed further up ahead. Twilight quickly shifted back to her lavender form even as she continued to bicker with the cyan pegasus.

"Twilight, what don't you get about them not being able to hurt us?" Rainbow argued with a roll of her eyes, "even if those mercenaries somehow followed us all the way here—which I highly doubt is the case—we can take whatever they can dish out."

"On the contrary, Rainbow Dash," Twilight rebutted, "they have the means to hurt us, or did you already forget about what the golem did to Fluttershy?" she furrowed her brow, "or my experience with the horn ring?"

Rainbow Dash winced at the memory of both incidents and looked away with a pout.

"Doesn't mean they can kill us," she muttered, "and I still say we should just fly over the whole forest."

"It doesn't matter if they can kill us or not," Twilight replied with a shake of her head, "if they can hurt us, they'll find a way to kill us soon enough if they haven't already, and besides," her stern expression softened, "even being what we are, I still hate seeing you girls hurt."

Rainbow cast a side glance towards Twilight before letting out an aggravated groan.

"Ugh... fine," she cried, "we'll do it your way, but I'm telling you, you're just making things harder for us."

"Noted," Twilight replied, finally turning to face the others. She paused and turned to look at Rainbow from over her shoulder with a smirk, "and besides, if we run into mercenaries or anything else that wants to hurt us, we'll be prepared to deal with them... on our terms."

Rainbow Dash frowned thoughtfully before returning the smirk and trotting up next to Twilight.

"Alright, fair enough," she conceded, "still rather fly though."

"How about this," Twilight offered as the two made their way over to the others, "if we don't get ambushed after spending a few hours in the forest, then we'll try it your way."

"Deal," Rainbow replied with a single nod, "I'm telling you though, Twi, we're not gonna get ambushed all the way out here, why would we? It's only been what, a day since we escaped? Two days? I still say you're just being paranoid."

"Better safe than sorry, Rainbow," Twilight responded solemnly, "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you."

Rainbow Dash merely rolled her eyes once more.

"Um... Rainbow?" Fluttershy began as Twilight and Rainbow arrived, "I think... I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I think Twilight might be onto something."

"Wha—are you serious, Fluttershy?" Rainbow cried in disbelief, "who the buck is gonna be hiding out in some random forest out this far waiting for us? It's been two days at the most!" she shook her head and frowned at the butter yellow pegasus, "how do you even know that anyway?"

"Fluttershy seems to have gained some kind of ability similar to echolocation," Twilight explained in Fluttershy's place, "she can send out a pulse that can sense nearby lifeforms to a certain extent."

"Huh," Rainbow responded, completely forgetting her earlier incredulity and giving Fluttershy an impressed look, "that's actually pretty neat," she turned to Twilight with a raised eyebrow, "can we all do that?"

"I'm not sure," Twilight replied with a shrug, "if we can, I haven't figured out how yet."

"This is fascinatin' an' all," Applejack cut in, "but can we get goin'? If we run into any more o' them varmints, we can just rough em' up an' move on."

Rainbow Dash and Twilight looked from Applejack to each other, and the rainbow maned pony gave a shrug of her own before turning and trotting off towards the forest. Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but closed it a moment later with a sigh and a shake of her head.

She and the rest of the girls followed after the cyan pegasus, and together they all passed through the thick foliage and into the forest proper. It wasn't too far in that Fluttershy began to feel uneasy again.

She tried to distract herself by looking for any critters hiding in the trees or underbrush that the six of them trotted past. Unfortunately the forest seemed to be oddly quiet and devoid of animal life.

There were no small animals flitting in and out of the trees, there were no birds singing a merry tune, there was no indication that anything lived in this forest. Fluttershy shivered—though it wasn't because of the cold air.

Something was clearly wrong here.

Frowning, the yellow pegasus sent out another pulse and waited. The search returned the same result as before, there only seemed to be one lifeform in the area... and the signal of that lifeform was coming through as clear as a bell to her newfound senses.

Not only that, but the lifeform felt... familiar somehow—like she should know who or what this being was, but who did she know all the way out here? As she continued to puzzle what this meant, the others took the time to discuss their next destination.

"I don't think the majority of griffons in Squawken have ever even been out of the mountains before," Twilight was telling Rarity, "I consumed a lot of griffons during that fight, and not a single one of them knew anything about the world outside of the Tessel Mountain range. The furthest any of them had been was this forest, and even then, they didn't go very far in."

"So we essentially have no idea what awaits us past this forest then?" Rarity replied with a frown, "that... isn't very heartening, Twilight dear."

"I know, I know," Twilight sighed, her ears flattening against her head, "I really should've grabbed a map or something before we left. I know we didn't really have much time to get settled, but I feel like that was a massive oversight on my part."

"Now come on, Twi, that ain't fair an' you know it," Applejack said, nudging the grimacing lavender mare, "with all the craziness that's been goin' on, a map was the furthest thing from all of our minds. We don't blame ya one bit fer forgettin' somethin' like that."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Twilight said after a moment. She smiled gratefully at the cowpony, "thanks, Applejack."

"No problem, sugarcu—"

"Here ya go!"

Twilight and Applejack reeled back in surprise as Pinkie shoved a large scroll in front of their face. Twilight looked from the grinning pink pony to the rolled up scroll in her hoof.

"Pinkie?" Twilight asked, taking the scroll, "what is... wait..." she unfurled the scroll to see that it was, in fact, a general map of Griffonia, complete with nearby landmarks. Twilight looked back up at Pinkie with a bewildered expression, "Pinkie... when did you—"

"Picked it up at that store when I first went to get those party supplies," Pinkie replied, her grin dropping a bit, "figured it would come in handy, y'know?"

"Anything else we need to know about?" Twilight replied flatly, "anything like, oh I don't know, a journal detailing what happened before we woke up in the facility? You have one of those to share with us?"

"Nope," Pinkie replied with a simple shrug, "that was the last thing I brought with me."

Twilight facehoofed and was about to turn her attention back to the map, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see Rarity sweeping a worried gaze about the forest around them.

"Pardon me, darling," Rarity said with a troubled frown, "but we seem to be down one mare."

Twilight blinked.

"...What?"

"Twilight!"

Twilight looked to her left to see Rainbow Dash coming out of the trees with a distressed look on her face. She felt an inexplicable dread grip her as Rainbow approached, and sure enough the cyan mare's next words only cemented her worst fears.

"I can't find Fluttershy! She's just... gone!"

Author's Note

Not too much happening in this chapter I know, but the next one will be a bit more exciting.

Hunted

Fluttershy was getting closer, she could feel it.

She didn't know who—or what she would find when she got there, but her curiosity had turned feverish. She was aware that she had left her friends behind, but she rationalized that as long as she didn't stray too far, she could sense where they all were at any given moment.

Even now, she could tell they were all most likely scrambling to search for her, and it did leave her feeling a bit guilty for having abandoned them all, but she had to know what this creature was.

This was another sign that the normally demure pegasus had changed from who she used to be. Normally she would've just mentioned—attempted to mention—that something was wrong and have the others sort it out while she stood in the background until she was needed.

Now she found the thought rather off-putting.

Aside from that, something was telling her it wouldn't be a good idea to bring the others along. So, listening to her gut, she crept away from the girls to search for the mysterious and familiar feeling creature.

Fluttershy cautiously looked about her surroundings as she made her way through the underbrush. She shifted her gaze left and right before coming to a stop and sending out another pulse.

She closed her eyes and waited before snapping them open again and whipping her head to the right at the sound of a branch being crushed underfoot. As it turned out, the pegasus didn't need her senses to find the creature.

The unmistakable sound of heavy, mismatched footfalls made her take a wary step back. The steps grew louder and louder, now accompanied by the sound of splintering wood and the loud intermittent thud of trees being felled.

Something was coming, and it was big.

Fluttershy's wings twitched nervously, but she held her ground, determined to see just what had piqued her curiosity to such a degree. Just when she thought the giant creature would burst out of the trees, the sound suddenly stopped.

Fluttershy's eyes narrowed slightly, twitching this way and that as she searched the area ahead of her for any sign of the creature. A deep, low growl made her eyes widen and she let out a quiet, startled gasp as she took another step back.

One of her back hooves landed on a fallen branch with a snap. Distracted, Fluttershy looked down—a mistake the creature still hidden in the trees was all to eager to take advantage of.

The only warning Fluttershy received was an earthshaking roar.

The mare lifted her head back up just in time to see something lash out—something large, sharp, and heavy. It shone a bright silver that flashed in the sunlight peeking through the trees overhead as it slammed into her chest.

With a cry, the startled pegasus was sent flying backwards through the underbrush she had just come from. The momentum sent her smashing into—and through—a tree before she hit the ground and rolled to a stop.

Disoriented from the surprise attack, Fluttershy tried to rise to her hooves, only to cry out again as she was lifted off the ground and hung upside down in the air by one of her hind legs.

She found herself face-to-face with a pair of pitch black sunken eyes and a snarling lipless snout full of razor sharp teeth. The creature growled deep in it's throat as it eyed the mare. To Fluttershy, the creature seemed almost as curious about her as she had been about it, and realizing this, she calmed down a bit.

She took the opportunity to inspect it while it did the same.

The creature was large—about five or six times as big as Fluttershy—and thickly muscled to a grotesque degree. It was almost completely furless save for a few large and small patches of grey fur here and there, leaving much of the dark pink flesh beneath exposed.

Underneath all the hideous muscle, Fluttershy could see that the creature was largely wolf-like in appearance though there were several things wrong with it. It's bared teeth showed two obscenely pronounced canines and it's paws were slightly elongated to look more like fingers with long silvery claws at the end of each digit.

It growled again and leaned in close to sniff the yellow pegasus who shied away slightly as it came near. It shook it's head and snorted before letting out another roar, causing Fluttershy to clench her eyes shut.

She had no time to react before she was lifted higher and suddenly slammed into the ground once, then twice, then a third time before being thrown into more trees. As she impacted another tree, her eyes opened and this time she caught sight of the wolf creature charging right at her.

Acting on a new instinct, she unfurled her wings and twisted to the side, flapping rapidly to gain momentum. It worked and, rather than slicing into Fluttershy, the creature cut deep furrows into the tree itself.

While it was distracted, Fluttershy used the chance to put more distance between the wolf and herself. She landed a few yards away and gave the wolf a sympathetic look.

The poor creature is hurting... what on Equus happened to it?

She didn't have time to ponder long, as the wolf had regained its bearings and once more rushed Fluttershy with blinding speed. The yellow mare was prepared this time however, and braced herself.

She wouldn't run, and she wouldn't cower. It didn't matter how hideous or monstrous the wolf was, and it didn't matter how violent it had become, as far as Fluttershy was concerned, this was just another wounded animal.

And taking care of animals is what she did best.

With another roar, the wolf lunged, claws outstretched and jaws snapping. Fluttershy shifted her stance slightly as she frowned and narrowed her eyes. At the last second the mare leapt to the side, avoiding the attack altogether.

Not wasting a second, she twisted around, wrapped a hoof in tendrils, and lashed out with her own blackened claws. Her claws caught the wolf by the tail and she snatched the mutated canine out of the air.

With a loud grunt of effort she pulled with all of her newfound might. The wolf gave a yelp of surprise as it was lifted up and over the deceptively dainty mare before being given the same treatment it gave the pegasus.

It hit the ground with a loud and heavy whump, and had no chance to right itself before Fluttershy dropped onto it's stomach... hard. The wolf let out a wheezing bark and glared at the mare.

Fluttershy glared right back, and her glare was much, much more effective.

"That's... enough."

The vicious growls stopped abruptly and the wolf fell silent. A look of abject fear evident in it's black eyes. Fluttershy held her glare for a few moments longer before speaking again in a slow, measured tone that threatened dire retribution if the wolf disobeyed.

"Now then, are you going to behave like the good little wolf I know you are?"

The wolf nodded with a whimper.

"And are you going to be a bad wolf and attack me or anypony else that comes through this forest?"

The wolf shook it's head rapidly.

"Good," Fluttershy replied, her fierce gaze turning gentle and compassionate once more, "that's what I wanted to hear," she lifted a hoof and scratched behind one of the wolf's fleshy ears, making it give a low contented growl, "you're not a bad boy are you? No, you've just had a terrible experience like me, though I do wonder what happened to make you this way..."

She hopped off the wolf and turned to face it as it rolled over onto it's stomach. She tilted her head in confusion as she watched it watch her curiously. It mirrored her movement, tilting it's head before giving a sharp bark.

Fluttershy's eyes widened.

"Y-Your master?"

A low growl.

"So he's... not your master?"

An indignant huff.

"I see..." Fluttershy's eyes narrowed dangerously, "so that's how it is," she turned to leave before stopping and looking at the wolf from over her shoulder, "you wait here, I'm going back to my friends to let them know to watch out for him if he appears again."

The wolf whined and let out another sharp bark.

"No, it's okay," Fluttershy said with a reassuring smile, "I'll be back, so you don't need to worry. Me and my friends will find a way to help you. If he comes back, just make sure to hide and if things get dangerous run away, okay?"

With that, she turned back to the path before her and began trotting away. She didn't get very far before more heavy footfalls caused her to stop and look back. To her surprise the wolf had started following after her. When she stopped, so did the wolf.

It sat on it's haunches and stared back at her expectantly. It barked again before giving another low whimper, and Fluttershy took a shocked step back in response, completely caught off guard.

"A-Alpha?" she squeaked, "oh no. Nonono, I'm n-not—"

Another loud bark.

"I... I'm flattered, really I am," Fluttershy stammered, taking another step back, "b-but I don't think it's a good—"

The wolf growled and barked again before rising to it's feet and moving closer. It stepped up next to Fluttershy and leaned in to sniff her once more and gently nudged her in the barrel, causing her to stumble a bit.

"Oh, dear," she muttered with a small sigh, "I don't know if the others are going to like this..."

She sighed again and rubbed the wolf's neck. After a moment she smiled and nodded once, turning to head back to where her friends were. She trotted away, the wolf panting contentedly as it followed close behind.

It may not have been what she was expecting, and she had several questions, but she decided that it might be safer to take the monstrous wolf with her. She had kept the other girls waiting long enough as it was anyway. And besides that, they needed to know that someway, somehow, there were others out there—others like them.

And they were far closer than any of them realized.

Author's Note

If I haven't driven the point home yet, I'll just come out and say it...

Don't f#%k with Fluttershy guys. Just... don't.

It's not a good idea.

Regret

Shining Armor's ear twitched at the loud, drawn out creak of a heavy wooden door as it opened. Blinded as he was in the near darkness of his cell, he couldn't see who had entered the dungeon, nor could he move to get a better look—the heavy chains firmly holding him in place against the back wall.

It didn't matter if he could see or not though, as he had a fairly good idea of who had entered the dungeon—it was only ever the one creature after all.

Hastened hoofsteps told him she was agitated about something, and he couldn't help but smile vindictively. His smile turned into a grimace as the anti-magic horn ring sent another bolt of pain through his horn, but he didn't cry out... he never cried out, not anymore.

The hurried hoofsteps drew nearer and a moment later, they stopped directly in front of his cell.

"We need to talk."

The battered stallion almost laughed out loud, but managed to reduce his incredulous laugh to a small incredulous snort instead. He looked up to see two predatory emerald eyes that seemed to glow in the dim light of the dungeon.

"Really, Chrysalis?" he replied, his tone dripping with disbelief, "you want to talk? Now?"

"Indeed, Shining Armor," Chrysalis, "there's been a new... development regarding your sister and her friends," she tilted her head and grinned at the suddenly wide eyed stallion, "I imagine that's a subject you'd be more than willing to discuss, no?"

"Twily," he muttered, a flicker of pain crossing his features before quickly changing to one of anger as he eyed the Queen, "what kind of development?"

Chrysalis smiled a toothy smile that would've made the stallion shiver had he not grown used to it by now.

"I promised you your sister was alive, and that you'd eventually get to see her again, did I not?"

"And I took that promise with a grain of salt," Shining retorted, "I don't even know why you bothered to feed me that lie," he sneered, "I know how you work, False Queen. I know what you've done in order to put that monster on my wife's thro—"

A pair of black hole riddled hooves slammed against the diamond bars of the cell, causing Shining to flinch slightly. He waited for the inevitable furious shout that alway arose when he called her by that title, but to his surprise, it never came.

He looked back over to Chrysalis and saw the fury smoldering in her eyes and the angry clench of her teeth, but she held her tongue. Rather, after a moment of silent fuming, she inhaled through her nose and stepped back from the bars as she exhaled through her mouth.

"This is far more important," she muttered to herself before looking back to Shining Armor—her features suddenly businesslike, "I have not told you what's become of the Elements because I felt it wasn't necessary, but things have changed."

Shining Armor furrowed his brows at Chrysalis' sudden change in demeanor, but otherwise said nothing in response, prompting Chrysalis to continue.

"The truth is, your sister and her friends were part of an experiment concocted by Sombra," she explained, "it was carried out by myself and several scientists in secret back when I first began posing as Luna over sixteen years ago."

Shining Armor's eyes widened in shock. Before he could say anything, Chrysalis' raised a hoof, cutting him off sharply.

"I'm not finished, foal," she interjected, "as you probably already guessed, the incident involving the missing Crystal Heart was part of Sombra's plan to take over the Crystal Empire... but what you don't know, is that his victory over you, Cadence, and the Elements was only the first part of another plan."

"And I'm assuming it had something to do with these experiments," Shining surmised, shooting Chrysalis a venomous glare, "am I right?"

"Indeed," Chrysalis confirmed with a nod, "you see, Sombra wasn't satisfied with simply taking over the Crystal Empire, he wanted more. He wanted to cement his power—make sure that no one would be able to oppose him."

She looked away, her eyes narrowing.

"The fool wanted the perfect soldiers," she scoffed, "absolutely unstoppable, infinitely loyal, and brutally proficient in what they were tasked to do. To that end he turned to science of all things to get the job done—though he did add a fair amount of his own dark magic into the mix."

"The perfect soldiers?" Shining asked, his face scrunching up in bewilderment, "what's that have to do... with... wait... no..."

Shining's eyes slowly widened in realization and Chrysalis gave a single grave nod of her head in response.

"He had planned to turn your sister and her friends into mindlessly loyal killing machines," she chuckled humorlessly, "he used a combination of science and dark magic to create a virus that would completely breakdown and remake the Elements into those perfect, unstoppable soldiers."

"And you... you helped him do it?!" Shining growled, "you helped him turn my sister into a monster?!"

"While it's true Sombra came up with the idea, his grasp of modern science is somewhat... lacking," Chrysalis smirked to herself, "so in reality it was actually myself and the scientists I had employed that did more or less all of the work."

Chrysalis' amused smirk became an annoyed frown as she watched Shining Armor struggle against his chains in order to get at her. She sighed and rolled her eyes at the stallion's angry grunts and pointless struggling.

"If it weren't for me, your sister would already be Sombra's little puppet soldier along with the other Elements."

That stopped Shining Armor short and he stared at the changeling queen in confusion and distrust.

"What are you talking about?" Shining asked, "you're telling me you rescued them after what you yourself—"

"I'm telling you," Chrysalis growled impatiently, "that had I not thought ahead and sabotaged Sombra's precious virus, he'd have your sister and her friends in his clutches, and we'd all be powerless to stop him. It was I that tweaked the virus so that they couldn't fall under Sombra's control."

"We'd all... wait," Shining furrowed his brow in confusion, "you're trying to overthrow Sombra?"

"I'm trying to save my children!"

Shining Armor winced, not at the volume of Chrysalis' voice, but at the earnest desperation in her words. It made him stop and really look at his captor. He was once more shocked by what he saw.

Chrysalis was thin and haggard looking—as though she would waste away at any moment. Behind all the arrogance and pride, he saw fear, sorrow, and... regret? But that couldn't have been the case. After all, she had wealth, power and control all the things Chrysalis had wanted in the first place... right?

"You want to know the real reason I came down here to talk to you, Shining Armor?" she growled, propping her hooves up on the bars, "I came down here because I... I need your help. I have a plan, but I can't do it alone, not with Sombra keeping such a close eye on me."

Her hooves slid down the bars and she lowered her gaze.

"I can't let him find out what I'm planning... not with what he's planning to do with what remains of my children."

There was a long moment of tense silence broken only by the steady drip of water falling from rusted old leaky pipes overhead. Shining Armor frowned thoughtfully before raising his head and giving Chrysalis a level stare.

"Why did you do it?" he asked, confusing the haggard queen, "why did you listen to him? Why did you go along with what he wanted if it was going to make you this miserable?"

"...Because I didn't know any better, alright?" Chrysalis admitted begrudgingly, "I thought he'd give me the power I needed to take my revenge on you, Cadence, Celestia, and those wretched Elements."

"But now?"

Chrysalis sighed and stepped away from the cell as she spoke.

"Now I realize the cost of such power wasn't worth it, and I realize just how much of a fool I really am," she replied morosely, "I tried to keep up appearances, tried to be the powerful queen I had always strived to be for my children and the peons I ruled over... but I can't do it anymore."

She lowered herself to the ground and turned to look back over to Shining Armor.

"I'm dying, Shining Armor, and my children will soon follow if I don't get them the love they need."

"You're... but wait," Shining Armor struggled to make sense of the changeling before him—to reconcile this broken creature with the proud, arrogant Queen he had become accustomed to for all these years, "you said you're changelings aren't getting enough love? You're the Queen of both the Crystal Empire and Equestria! Shouldn't you be—"

"Do you know how many changelings I have left, Shining Armor?"

The stallion shut his mouth at the look Chrysalis gave him and the changeling queen spoke again.

"One thousand, five-hundred and fifty three spread across the Crystal Empire, Griffonia, and Equestria," she continued, "and I'm far too weak to produce any more than that."

She stood back up and trotted back over to Shining's cell.

"The love that once washed over this place like a thick fog is no more," Chrysalis stared into Shining Armor's eyes, willing him to understand just how grave the situation was, "I may not be behind diamond bars like you, but make no mistake, Shining Armor, I'm just as much a prisoner as you are."

She stepped away and lit her horn.

"The biggest difference here... is that my own prison is slowly killing me."

Shining Armor simply stared at Chrysalis in stunned silence. He didn't even react at the sound of a lock clicking and the barred door of his cell swinging open. He finally came to his senses when the locks to his chains were undone and he fell to the floor.

"You're... you're letting me go?" Shining asked, rising to his hooves unsteadily, "but why? What's your plan?"

Chrysalis brought the key she had used to unlock the door and chains back over to herself. She turned to the side and nodded towards something Shining couldn't see from where he was standing.

He saw a bright flash of green light and two changelings trotted into view carrying an unconscious unicorn stallion in Crystal Guard armor. They quickly and silently brushed past a confused Shining and—using the key Chrysalis floated over to them—went about chaining up the stallion in Shining's place.

A quiet click and a sudden release of pressure in his horn caught Shining's attention. He reach up with a hoof, only to find the ring sealing his magic was gone. He looked over to see Chrysalis floating it onto the guards own horn.

"I don't have much more time to explain, so here's the short story," Chrysalis finally replied, lighting up her horn once again, "shortly after the Crystal Empire fell to Sombra, your sister and her friends were offered another chance to save the Crystal Empire and Equestria."

Shining tried to focus on Chrysalis' words as he watched the unconscious guard—now completely chained up against the wall as he was not too long ago—transformed, becoming an exact copy of Shining himself, right down to the dirty coat and mane, as well as the old bruises he had sustained from past interrogations.

"The guise should hold for at least a week," Chrysalis said, forestalling Shining's questions, "once he wakes up, he'll believe he's you to a fault. This should give us enough time to do what needs to be done."

She eyed the disguised stallion for a moment longer before turning back to Shining Armor.

"As I was saying, the Elements were all taken to Sky Talon Labs located on the Griffonian continent," she continued, "there, they were administered the virus and it's there that they've been kept detained for the last sixteen years... that is, until now."

Shining stepped out of the prison cell as the two changelings closed the cell door and locked it once more. As he watched the two return the key to Chrysalis, he silently took in her words, trying to get a handle on how he felt about the situation.

"Now they've awakened, and have no doubt already escaped the facility," Chrysalis said matter-of-factly, "they're most likely stranded somewhere in Griffonia. I have the changelings I posted in Griffonia searching for them as we speak, but that's not for you to worry about at the moment."

"What the buck do you mean 'that's not for me to worry about'?" Shining growled indignantly, "my sister is out there somewhere and—"

"And she'll be fine... trust me," Chrysalis assured with a knowing smirk, "she and the others can take care of themselves," her smirk fell away and she moved to a far wall in the back of the dungeon, motioning for Shining to follow, "more importantly I need you to do something else."

Shining, curious despite himself, watched as Chrysalis' horn lit up once more. The same green light enveloped a seemingly nondescript piece of the wall and pushed it forward, revealing a small squared tunnel leading to Shining didn't know where.

Chrysalis turned back to the surprised stallion with a grim frown.

"You will accompany these two changelings to a specific rendezvous point just outside the city," she explained, "there you'll meet the contact and discuss the plan I've put into place and how to accomplish it."

At Chrysalis' words, the two changelings saluted and one of them pushed Shining towards the tunnel. Shining stumbled a bit and gave the changeling a look before turning back to Chrysalis with an uncertain expression.

"So... you're really doing this then?" he asked, still somewhat wary, "you're really setting me free and going against Sombra?"

"I wouldn't have gone through all this trouble otherwise," Chrysalis replied impatiently, "I care not what happens to me in the end as long as my children stay safe. They don't need me to flourish. Once I'm gone, a new Queen will take my place."

"What? How?"

"That's not for you to worry about," Chrysalis hissed before pushing Shining into the tunnel—the changelings following in after him, "now go! I'm sure your wife has waited long enough!"

"Wait, what—"

The wall slid shut with a muffled bang.

Plans

Twilight and her friends hadn't made it too far into the forest yet, but their progress had already come to a literal standstill. With the news Fluttershy had brought them, the group had a decision to make.

"On one hoof, we need to get back to Equestria as soon as possible to find out what's been going on since the war started... and ended," Twilight reasoned, pacing back and forth before the others, her head lowered and a troubled frown on her face, "we need to let everypony back home know we're alive... in a sense."

She paused and grimaced a moment before shaking her head and resuming her pacing.

"On the other hoof this new development presents us with a few opportunities," she stopped and looked back at her friends, "we can save the rest of the town from this griffon and actually do some good rather than what we've been doing."

"That does sound nice," Fluttershy muttered, idly scratching behind the ears of a resting Bright Fang, "it probably won't do anything to endear us to the town after what we did, but it'll at least feel good to know we helped stop anymore innocents from dying."

"I'm with Fluttershy on this one, girls," Pinkie agreed, from atop the large wolf's back, "I could reeaaalllly use a good moral boost right about now."

"Wait, you mean morale boost, right?" Twilight asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"Nope."

"Alright then," Twilight continued, "well anyway, the other benefit of going back is that if we can reason with this griffon he might be able to tell us more about what's going on. If he really is like us, then it's a high possibility he was involved with what happened to us back at the facility."

"What? So we beat the answers outta him?" Rainbow surmised, grinning at the thought, "sounds good to me. I don't really wanna go all the way back up the mountain, but I guess we could just fly back there."

"And let's not forget Fluttershy's apparently unique... capabilities," Rarity added, looking towards the yellow pegasus with a smile, "with that, and the fact that we can all fly, it shouldn't be too much of a hassle to find that griffon."

"So we're all in agreement then?" Twilight asked, turning to each of her friends in turn. Her gaze settled on Applejack, who hadn't spoken yet, "Applejack? What do you think?"

Applejack started and looked around, only now noticing that each of the girls were looking at her expectantly. She grimace and rubbed the back of her neck before letting out a sigh.

"Ah'd rather just keep on goin' like we have been if ah'm bein' completely honest," she finally replied, "ah miss mah folks and ah'm worried about Apple Bloom an' Big Mac somethin' fierce... but ah suppose we can't just leave those poor griffons high an' dry, not after what we did."

She lowered her head, a sad frown crossing her muzzle for a brief moment, before raising it again with a firm nod.

"Apple Bloom an' Big Mac are some of the toughest darn earth ponies ah know," she said with a confident smile, "if they've survived this long without me around, ah guess they can survive just a bit longer, but let's not dawdle, alright?"

"Alright, I guess that settles it then," Twilight said with a nod, "we'll make our way back up the mountain, hopefully intercept Jeger before it's too late, and return back here once we're done."

"Wait!" Pinkie cried suddenly, "what about Shiny Fangs? He can't fly like the rest of us," she then gave the large wolf a narrow eyed gaze, "...or can you?"

"Oh you don't need to worry about Bright Fang," Fluttershy said, smiling at the wolf, "he won't have a problem keeping up with us from the ground."

Pinkie eyed the wolf for another moment before shrugging and hopping off Bright Fang's back.

"Eh, if you say so."

"Are you all ready, then?" Twilight asked, receiving various responses of affirmation, "okay, then let's not waste anymore time."

In a flash of tendrils, she stood tall as the dark griffon she had become so used to using by this point, spreading his wings and giving her friends one last look.

"You heard Applejack, let's try to make this quick, girls."

Much further up the mountain, a lone griffon traveled the snow strewn path that led to the quiet town of Squawken. His face was set in a grim frown as he thought about the ponies he had seen on the way up.

Ponies he would've recognized from anywhere.

The encounter had left Jeger completely baffled to say the least. He had been hiding out in that forest for who knows how long now, and had yet to be discovered by anybody save for the rare lost traveler that stumbled upon his den.

Even then, he made sure they didn't live to tell of his whereabouts. He couldn't let anyone find out, at least, not until he was done unlocking the mysteries of his... gift.

Thus was his purpose for his own isolation. The griffon was nothing if not cautious—overly so if his past colleagues were to be believed.

Still, his cautious nature hadn't been enough to save him from the fate that had befallen him only a few years ago. Not wanting to draw any attention to himself after the incident, he fled to the farthest reaches of Griffonia, and found himself in that massive forest.

He had finally escaped.

He had survived.

Now, it was time to learn and adapt.

And that's how he had lived his new life up to this point. It was only recently that he had decided to put what he had learned, along with a few untested theories to practical application.

This is what had led him to seek the small hamlet in the mountains.

But now those mares were here.

Those six mares, the ones he thought he'd never see again, were here of all places, and he didn't understand why or how... but he wouldn't let that stop him, not now.

How they got here was irrelevant, as long as they didn't discover who he really was, and what he was really doing here, it wouldn't affect him.

Even if they did decide to come back up the mountain after him for some reason, they'd have to make it past that wolf, something he was certain they'd have trouble accomplishing.

Still, they did have the feel of the virus about them. It wouldn't do to underestimate the six mares lest his plans come undone.

Jeger stopped suddenly, a troubling thought making its way into his head.

What if they did make it past the wolf and followed after him? It was only now that he realized he didn't have a plan for that.

He needed a plan, and he needed one now. If those mares were more capable than he thought, then he wouldn't stand a chance if they decided to attack him all at once.

He hadn't been part of the project long enough to know what their actual capabilities were, and that was dangerous.

He grit his teeth in frustration, angry at himself for the massive oversight. This wasn't like him, he rarely if ever made mistakes like this.

Maybe he had become complacent in his isolation.

He stood there, rifling through several half formed plans, when he heard a loud, drawn out, blood curdling screech. He head snapped towards the sound.

The screech stopped abruptly and he stepped forward, listening intently. His patience was rewarded with another loud screech that seemed to come from somewhere further up ahead.

His curiosity piqued, he quickly made his way towards the sound. As he got closer to the source, he began to hear other sounds intermingled with the horrible screeches of agony.

The sounds of tearing flesh, snapping bones, loud squelching, sucking, and gurgling filled his ears. The disgusting sounds would've made him sick right then and there once upon a time, but now it just increased his curiosity.

Going slightly off the path, he made his way through a small thicket of trees and into a large clearing. The first thing that hit him was the smell.

It reeked of copper.

That wasn't the only thing he smelled, but as foul as the other odors were, he couldn't exactly place them. As he made his way into the clearing he could see why the smell had been so strong.

Much of the snow covering the ground was soaked dark red with blood. Several griffon corpses littered the area and though the sight was shocking, it ultimately wasn't what held his attention.

What captured Jeger's attention, was the giant mass of black tentacles writhing and flailing about in the middle of the bloody mess.

Amidst the mass of tentacles, he could see glimpses of raw flesh, and viscera being torn apart and mashed back together, only to be ripped asunder once again.

He took a few steps closer, utterly intrigued by the spectacle. He knew what this was, what was happening here in this moment, but he could scarcely believe it.

He had seen this event only one other time, and that had been long ago back when he was still a scientist working on a particular project. Though he didn't remember it, he was certain he himself had also gone through the same thing.

Someone else was being blessed with the gift right before his very eyes.

A smile slowly began to creep across Jeger's beak and he chuckled. He didn't know how long it would take for the process to finish, but if the transformation went anything like his did, it wouldn't be too long.

This was perfect.

He needed a plan to deal with the mares if they showed up to get in his way. He had tried to tame the wolf, but that hadn't worked out and in the end, it fled from him before he could kill it and rid himself of the evidence of his 'tampering'.

He could tell by the earlier screeches that this particular case involved a griffon, and he could work with that. A sapient creature was so much easier to deal with, and taking advantage of the initial confusion that would no doubt arise once the griffon awoke would be a simple enough task.

This new development would set his original plan for the town back, but the results would be worth it. From his own studies, he had deduced that the recovery time for those infected with the virus varied greatly by race.

The griffons that survived to make it to this stage seemed to recover rather quickly. At this point in the restructuring process, it shouldn't have taken more than another hour or so before it was complete.

Jeger made himself comfortable, ruffling his feathers in excitement before sitting down in front of the shifting mass before him.

He smiled, as new ideas and plans whirled about in his mind. The situation with the wolf may not have worked out in his favor, but he had found something far better.

Though he was a cautious individual, he was also stubborn, and wouldn't let a failure stop him in his tracks. He'd turn a failure into another opportunity if given the chance, and here he had found a great opportunity.

All he needed to do now was wait.

Revival

A twitch of a claw, a sudden bodily jerk, a sharp intake of breath, and Svanhild's bright golden eyes snapped open.

She gave a violent shiver before slowly sitting up from where she lay with a groan. She blinked a few times and shook her head rapidly, trying to clear away some of the disorientation.

Svanhild froze at the thick and heavy scent of blood in the air.

lowering her claw back to the ground, she took a moment to scan her surroundings... and she found she didn't quite know how to feel about what she saw. She eyed the large mass of dark red snow before her, taking in the bodies scattered about the wide open field with more confusion than anything else.

What the flock happened here?

She furrowed her brows as she tried to remember just why she had woken up amongst a snowy field of blood and gore. A sudden pain made her bring a claw up to her head and clench her eyes shut with a grunt.

Flashes of memory erupted in her mind.

Images of a snowy mountain path, six colorful equines, a large flock of outraged griffons, strong feelings of betrayal and guilt, the six mares fleeing and the griffons giving chase.

An image of those six mares all standing amidst this very same field of death. One final image dug its way into Svanhild's mind, accompanied by the memory of the worst agony she had ever felt.

A rainbow maned, cyan pegasus mare trotted before her—silvery blade where her hoof should've been, covered in blood... her blood.

The last words that mare spoke before trotting back to her friends, before they all trotted away, leaving her to die in this bloody field.

...I'm sorry, Svanhild.

For a moment, a white hot surge of rage welled up within the confused griffon, but a jovial voice from somewhere behind her quickly brought Svanhild back to her senses.

"Well good afternoon, Sunshine!"

Svanhild whipped around to face the voice, rising to her claws and paws in one fluid motion. She bared her teeth and raised a claw threateningly, causing the other, larger griffon before her to raise his own claws in defense.

"Whoa, peace lady!" the Griffin cried, raising his claws up defensively, "I only wanna talk, alright?"

"Who are you?" Svanhild demanded, refusing to drop her guard for even a moment, "if you don't wanna be sliced to ribbons, I suggest you stay right"—she winced and shook her head—"...r-right where you are!"

"Look, I said I only wanted to talk, okay? And besides," the heavy set griffon chuckled and nodded towards Svanhild, "I'm fairly sure you'd like to know more about what that's all about."

Svanhild furrowed her brows in confusion before turning her attention to her own outstretched claw. She blinked and squawked in both shock and horror at what she thought were her ordinary talons.

What Svanhild saw instead were monstrous black claws—massive, elongated, silver and blade like at the tips, and very much unlike her own.

"W-What the feathering flock is this?!" she cried, waving the claw around in a panic, "get it off! What did you do to me?"

"Now just what are you blaming me for?" The griffon asked with a raised eyebrow, "I didn't turn you into that, but I do know how to make it go away... at least for now."

"If you're gonna do something about it, then hurry it up!" Svanhild shouted, glaring at the griffon with a mix of anger, confusion, and fear, "this is freaking me out!"

"Alright, alright," the large griffon replied raising his claws once more in a placating manner, "just... calm down, and remember your talons as they were, not as they are."

"What? How would that—"

"Just trust me on this one," the griffon said with all the calm he could muster, "you need to calm down and think, think about how you're supposed to look."

Svanhild growled in annoyance, but did as she was told a moment later. She closed her eyes and imagined her own set of talons. A few seconds later she felt something change and opened her eyes.

The monstrous claws vanished in a flurry of black tendrils and were replaced with her normal claws a few seconds later. Svanhild stared at her old talons in utter disbelief for a full minute before turning to the griffon.

"What happened to me?"

"A very good question," the griffon answered with another chuckle, "but first, I believe introductions are in order, yeah?"

He cleared his throat and gestured to himself.

"Name's Jeger, little lady," he exclaimed with a friendly smile, "Jeger Sharp Eye."

"Svanhild Sharp Talon," the griffon hen replied numbly, "please tell me what's going on... I don't... I can't..."

"Now I'm sure you have all sorts of questions, Svanhild," Jeger replied softly. He then swept a claw across the bloody field "but before we get into what happened to your body, why don't you tell me what you remember about what happened to these poor griffons here?"

"What happened to..."

Svanhild follow Jeger's gesture and looked around the area herself. She couldn't remember everything about what had happened, but she certainly remembered who was responsible.

After a minute she clenched her talons into shaking fists and turned back to Jeger with a glare so intense it could melt steel.

"You wanna know what happened here?" the furious griffon hissed, stomping right up to Jeger and jabbing his chest with a talon, "I'll tell you exactly what happened."

"How much farther, Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash asked, flying next to the butter yellow pegasus, "we've been looking for like two or three hours already."

"It's only been about an hour and a half, Rainbow," Twilight corrected in Asger's gravelly voice, "and I'm sure we're close," she turned to Fluttershy with a hopeful look, "right, Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy nodded, a troubled look on her face.

"We're getting close... but..."

"What is it, darling?" a pegasus disguised Rarity asked, flying up to Fluttershy's other side, "don't tell me there's more trouble waiting for us up ahead."

"I'm... not really sure," Fluttershy replied with a shake of her head, "I can sense that Jeger is close by... but, there's also another presence with him."

"Another, presence?" Twilight asked, "what do you mean 'another presence'? Is he talking with somepony else? Did another griffon show up?"

"I don't know, Twilight," the yellow mare replied before turning to the disguised unicorn with a grave look, "but the presence feels exactly like us and Jeger."

"You're telling me there's more of them now?!" Rainbow cried in disbelief, cutting off whatever Twilight was going to say, "this is ridiculous! How are there more?"

"I don't like this," Applejack muttered flapping her griffon wings somewhat ungracefully, "something don't sit right with me about what we're gonna find once we get there."

"I hear ya, Jackie," Pinkie agreed flapping circles around Applejack with her bat-like wings, "Pinkie Sense or no, I got a bad feeling about this."

"You sure have a funny way of showing it," Applejack grumbled in reply as she watched Pinkie do loop-de-loops around her, "seriously, Pinks, would you stop—"

A loud bark from far below caught the group's attention and Fluttershy flew down towards the ground in response. The rest of the mostly disguised girls watched as Fluttershy flew alongside the large wolf that was bounding after them.

Fluttershy hadn't been lying when she said the wolf wouldn't have a problem keeping up. The wolf's land speed would've been a match for Rainbow Dash in the air—at least back before she became whatever she was now.

After a few moments Fluttershy ascended once more back to where the others were, her frown deepening as she spoke.

"Bright Fang says he can smell blood coming from further up ahead... lots of it," she looked to each of the girls in turn, "something terrible might've already happened to the rest of the town already."

"Uh... girls?"

The others turned towards Rainbow Dash, who's eyes were locked on a large clearing about a mile or so ahead of where they were.

"I don't think it's the town we have to worry about," Rainbow Dash continued, "I think we're headed back to the same place we... y'know..."

Twilight flew up next to Rainbow and narrowed her eyes, focusing her powerful griffon vision on the clearing further ahead and frowning in confusion.

After a few seconds her eyes slowly widened in horrified realization and she turned back to the others. Her mouth opened, but no words came, causing the other girls to glance at each other worriedly.

"What?" Pinkie asked, turning back to Twilight with a hint of nervousness in her voice, "what is it? What'd you see out there?"

Twilight swallowed and looked back towards the clearing before answering a moment later.

"Girls... I think we may have made a small mistake..."

Author's Note

Sorry about the shorter than normal chapter guys. I'm sure it goes without saying, but things are about to get intense in the next chapter. :trixieshiftleft:

Gifted

Jeger felt them before he saw them.

A downward twitch of his beak was the only indication he gave that anything was wrong. He had listened to Svanhild's recount of what she knew of the previous altercation that occurred here.

Unfortunately most of the information she had were mere specuations and guesses—in fact, there was only one thing she was sure of in the end.

Whatever had happened here, those mares had been at the center of it.

As he explained the situation Svanhild had now found herself in, he had been sending out viral pulses in short, intermittent bursts.

From the six responses he received back from his viral pulse, he could only surmise that the mares had finally returned for one reason or another.

No, there aren't just six...

Jeger frowned at what he was sensing. There were seven other responses in total, but he had only seen six ponies altogether.

Had he somehow missed another 'gifted' on the way here?

"So I'm some kind of... of... freak now?"

Jeger's frown deepened and he turned his attention back to an increasingly angry and distraught Svanhild. The griffon still didn't comprehend just how lucky she had been to receive such a gift... but she would... eventually.

In fact, she just might get the chance sooner than she realized.

"Oh, I wouldn't say you're a freak, not at all," Jeger replied with a disarming smile, "if anything I'd say you've ascended to become something far greater than you ever were originally."

"Flock that!" Svanhild growled, glaring at her own claws, "I'm nothing but a freak now... they made me this way... made me like them."

Again, Jeger was of the opinion that they had given the ungrateful griffon a blessing. He decided to try a different tack and his smile turned just a touch more sinister.

"Think of it this way, Svanhild," he practically purred, "you unleashed the full and terrible might of a genuine griffon blood rage and you still couldn't even touch them, am I wrong?"

Svanhild's only response was to clench her claws into tight, shaking fists.

"That's what I thought," Jeger replied, casting a discreet glance towards the sky. His smile widened slightly as he spotted the six approaching forms just a little less than a mile out, "there's no chance in Tartarus you could've taken them on before, but now..."

He walked up to Svanhild and rested a claw on her shoulder, a claw which was shrugged off violently. He took a few steps back and raised the claw in surrender as Svanhild glared at him.

"My apologies," he continued, the smile never leaving his face, "I only meant to say if you want to stop monsters like them, you need to become a monster like them."

He turned to face the incoming group while casting Svanhild a side glance.

"You may not think so now, Svanhild," he continued, "but you've been granted a gift by the very ponies you despise. If you don't believe me..."

He gave the sky a significant glance and Svanhild, confused by his actions, tilted her head slightly and followed his gaze.

Her eyes widened, pupils shrinking to pinpricks. Jeger looked back towards the shaking griffon with a small victorious smirk.

"...why not put you're new 'gift' to use and see for yourself?"

"Yup, that's Svanhild alright."

Rainbow Dash squinted at the clearing in the distance. She could clearly see two griffons standing amidst the mess they all had left behind.

And one of those griffons was clearly Svanhild, apparently alive and well... and she didn't look happy.

The cyan pegasus frowned and turned to Twilight with a questioning raise of her brow.

"Okay, I know I killed her before we left," she said, her face scrunching up in confusion, "so what gives?"

"What gives, Rainbow," Twilight replied through clenched teeth, "is that when you stabbed her, you didn't kill her right away, and that's what made all the difference it seems."

"How?" Applejack asked, flying next to Twilight, "I'm pretty sure there have been times where somepony hasn't died right away before."

"Yes," Twilight conceded, "but we've never actually left anypony alive afterwords," she frowned, "...at least, I think we haven't."

"That's not very comforting, darling," Rarity replied with a troubled frown, "I know for certain, that I haven't left anypony alive, and watching Applejack... er... do what she does, I can safely say that anypony she managed to get her hooves on didn't make it."

"And I know for a fact Fluttershy didn't leave any, because she hadn't actually fought anypony until recently," Twilight added, "aside from the golem, I mean, but that doesn't count."

Fluttershy merely looked away in silence.

"I... may have left a couple alive."

Everypony turned to the thestral disguised mare who grinned back sheepishly. At Twilight's glare, Pinkie rubbed the back of her neck and spoke again.

"I didn't know the infection could make them, y'know... like us," she explained, "I just thought it would lead them to a slow agonizing death that none of us would see and that would be it... oopsie?"

Twilight groaned into a claw and turned to face the clearing once more, a worried look on her face.

"This is bad, girls, really bad," she said, her tone grim, "we don't need anymore monsters out there like us. Equestria, Griffonia, Minos, the Dragonlands... all of Equus would suffer, I just know it."

"So what are we supposed to do then?" Fluttershy asked nervously, "if this spreads even more, how are we going to stop it? What can just the six of us do?"

"I say we do what we've always done," Rainbow answered confidently, "we get out there, and we kick some serious—"

"RAINBOW, LOOK OUT!"

Before Rainbow could even blink, a bright green blur shot past her and a sickening squelch followed by a pained feminine grunt made her turn.

Rainbow and the others gave collective cries of alarm. Directly behind where Rainbow had been, Rarity hung in the air, suspended by the elongated tentacle that had stabbed itself into and through her stomach.

She held onto the black appendage, grimacing in pain. As the rest of the girls looked on in horror, her green pegasus guise melted away and she tried to pull herself free.

She turned to the others, opening her mouth to say something, but never got the chance. She reached a hoof out towards a shocked Rainbow Dash a split second before she was ripped out of the air and quickly dragged towards the ground.

"RARITY!"

Fluttershy roared and shot off like a cannon after the white mare, leaving the others behind in a stunned silence.

It lasted for all of a few seconds before Rainbow wordlessly took off after Fluttershy. Twilight shook her head and turned to others, her brow creasing in worry and determination.

"Come on!" she boomed in Asger's gravelly voice, "we need to get down there!"

Neither Pinkie nor Applejack needed to be told twice, and all three of them raced down after Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash.

It wasn't who she was aiming for, but Svanhild grinned maliciously nevertheless as she pulled the white mare out of the sky.

One arm had been stretched into the black whip that had impaled Rarity, and her other had been twisted into the large black and silver claw she had formed earlier.

Jeger stood far off to the side watching and waiting for the inevitable events to play out. As he turned his predatory eyes skyward, he could see the other mares not far behind.

Now it was time to see just what all of these other 'gifted' could really do.

Svanhild screeched in triumph as she dragged Rarity closer. A twitch of her massive black claws and she brought them forward, eager to finish what those mares had started.

So focused on ending Rarity was Svanhild that she didn't register the furious yellow pegasus that shot past the white unicorn mare.

A split second later Svanhild found herself slammed into the ground, her face smashed in by what looked like a blackened metal hoof.

The tentacle that had pierced through Rarity wavered and receded from her middle, dropping her to the ground in a heap.

Rainbow Dash and the other girls were there in a second, all of them reverting back to their original selves.

"Rarity!" Twilight cried, leaning in closed to the other unicorn, "are you okay?"

Rarity groaned and coughed in response before unsteadily rising to her hooves.

"I... I've been better, dear," she replied weakly, "that did not feel pleasant, I can tell you at least that much."

She fell back to her haunches and observed as the hole in her stomach slowly closed on its own. She winced and turned back to Twilight with a strained smile.

"I think I'll be fine, darling," she grimaced and turned to the griffon that was currently being beaten into the ground by an enraged Fluttershy, "it seems we have something else to worry about now."

"What do you—"

Twilight's words were cut off as she heard Fluttershy cry out in surprise. A moment later the pegasus went sailing past her and into the distance, smashing into a tree on the far side of the clearing.

Twilight and the others turned back to Svanhild, eyes wide with shock. The griffon stood on somewhat shaky legs, though her face had been restored, looking no worse for wear after Fluttershy's beating.

She took a deep breath and straightened up, cracking her neck a few times before glaring at each of the mares in turn.

"Thanks for the gift, girls, now let me share it with you... all of you."

Author's Note

Outnumbered? Oh yeah.

Outmatched? Well... we'll just have to find out, won't we? :trixieshiftright:

Turnabout

For a few seconds, there was no movement on either side.

The five mares all stared at Svanhild with varying degrees of shock, and Svanhild eyed them with no small amount of malice and disdain.

It only lasted for a mere moment.

Rainbow Dash turned and charged after Fluttershy, and that's when the spell broke. Svanhild crouched, spread her wings, and shot after Rainbow, intending to cut her off.

"Oh, no you don't!" she cried, pulling back an arm and wrapping into a tendril before lashing out with a blackened whip once more, "you're the first on my list, you piece of—"

The whip made it about halfway to Rainbow before it was halted by an equally black aura mid strike. Confused, Svanhild tried to pull back, only to squawk in surprise as she herself was pulled back.

Looking behind her, she saw that Applejack had lifted herself onto her hind legs and grabbed the griffon by her tail. Applejack grit her teeth and gave a mighty yank.

"Ah, don't think so, sugarcube!" the orange earth pony growled, twisting her body and pulling a squawking Svanhild into an impromtu spin, "ah ain't too comfortable with these odds mahself, but if you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!"

Applejack spun once, twice, three times, and on the fourth spin she released the griffon, flinging her into the trees on the side of the clearing opposite of Fluttershy.

Rarity stepped up next to Applejack as the black glow of her horn died down.

"You do realize that if she's anything like us," Rarity commented, scowling in the direction Svanhild had been thrown, "that's not going to put her down for any amount of time, don't you, darling?"

The cowpony went to answer, but was cut off by an angry shriek as Svanhild burst through the line of trees and made a charge directly for Applejack and Rarity.

Before she could get too far, a pink hoof slammed into her face mid flight and she was sent careening off to her left and back into the trees.

Both Applejack and Rarity blinked in surprise as Pinkie lowered herself back to all fours and leisurely trotted over to where Svanhild had landed, her expression once more as hard as granite.

"You okay, Flutters?"

Applejack and Rarity looked behind them to see both Twilight and Rainbow Dash over by where Fluttershy had crashed.

Fluttershy for her part, had risen to her hooves and was holding a hoof to her head. She shook it a few times before looking back to Rainbow Dash and Twilight with a slightly confused grimace that turned to dismay a moment later.

"O-Oh, I... I did it again," she said worriedly, "I got angry again, didn't I?"

"No, it's cool, Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash replied, turning to glare at the griffon who was currently trying, and failing, to rain down a flurry of vicious swipes on Pinkie with two massive black claws, "that nag deserved every punch you gave her."

"Well I don't know about all of that..."

The three mares turned to see a large griffon casually walking towards them wearing a pleasant smile. Twilight stepped forward to meet the griffon halfway, her eyes growing dark and a smile just as pleasant crossing her face.

"Svanhild and I had a... very informative conversation," Jeger continued, "if the poor dear is to be believed, it was the lot of you who slaughtered half her town and left her for dead."

"To be fair, we did try to make a run for it," Twilight replied, stopping a yard or so away from the heavy griffon, "I didn't want to start a fight, but... well..."

Her smile widened slightly.

"It all came down to self defense in the end."

Jeger barked out a laugh and shook his head, giving the mare a knowing smirk.

"You didn't leave one single griffon alive."

"Also not true," Twilight replied, matching Jeger's smirk, "the entire town chased after us, and we gave them every chance to flee."

"Oh? Did you now?" the griffon asked in genuine surprise before looking over the field, "I suppose there'd be a lot more bodies here if you had killed them all," he cast a side glance back to Twilight, "unless you consumed most of them."

"Oh I consumed plenty of them," Twilight replied without missing a beat, "but that's beside the point. The reason there's still any town left at all is because half the population was actually smart enough to heed my warning. The other half..."

She chuckled and gave Jeger a toothy grin.

"As I said, it all came down to self defense in the end."

Jeger stared at Twilight for a moment, dropping his jovial tone and pleasant smile in favor of a more calculated look.

"It seems the virus had some rather severe adverse effects on your psyche," he observed, before looking past Twilight, and over to the center of the clearing with another smirk, "it seems griffons are a far more suitable host for the virus... as I had surmised all along."

Twilight frowned and was about to respond when Rarity's cry caused her and the other two to turn towards the sound. Both Rainbow's and Fluttershy's eyes widened in horror at what had transpired while they had been distracted.

Rarity and Applejack had jumped back into the fray along with Pinkie, and—while Twilight had not been expecting much trouble due to the odds of six on two—reality, as it turned out, had been very different.

Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy had turned just in time to see Svanhild duck a straight from Pinkie, and side step another before using her momentum to get behind the pink mare in a flash.

Grinning madly, the griffon snapped a claw out and caught the back of Pinkie's head, slamming it into the ground with enough force to leave a small crater.

Applejack, who had suffered a particularly vicious blow to her neck, clenched her teeth in frustration as she tried to rise on shaky hooves, the heavy wound in her neck closing at an agonizingly slow rate.

She winced and glanced over to Rarity, who had three large, deep gashes in her barrel and a gaping hole in the side of her head, had fallen and wasn't getting back up.

The cowpony growled angrily before turning her attention back to Svanhild. The furious glare on her face died out and was replaced by horrified shock.

Holding Pinkie's head against the ground, Svanhild's other claw disappeared in a flurry of tendrils and was soon replaced with a large black serrated blade that she stabbed into the mare's back.

Pinkie screamed.

Applejack cried out the mare's name.

Fluttershy cried out in both rage and sorrow.

Rainbow Dash left a prismatic contrail in her wake as her own hoofblade was driven deep into Svanhild's chest an instant later.

The cyan mare didn't stop as she used her own momentum to knock Svanhild away from Pinkie who cried out again as the serrated blade was ripped from her back.

It was only once Svanhild was well clear of Pinkie that Rainbow Dash relented in her charge. With a grunt, she yanked the blade out of Svanhild and shoved her further away with the other hoof.

The griffon gave a pained grunt of her own as she hit the ground and rolled to a stop just before she hit a nearby tree. Rainbow Dash landed a few yards away, her hoofblade gone and a cyan hoof in its place once more.

Fluttershy, practically shaking with fury, flared out her wings and prepared to charge in after Rainbow, but the cyan mare's voice suddenly rang out and cut through the haze of anger.

"Don't even think about it, Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash called out from across the field, "you stay right there!"

Fluttershy faltered, the fury in her eyes giving way to worry and confusion.

"B-But, Rainbow—"

"Nuh-uh, she's mine, Flutters," Rainbow Dash interjected, giving the recovering griffon hen a caustic glare, "and you stay outta this too, Twilight!"

"Dash, this isn't a good idea!" Twilight called back with a deep frown, her dark violet eyes locked on Svanhild, "the tables have turned. Svanhild's gotten used to her new body, and she's clearly a lot stronger than we gave her credit for! We need to—"

"No!" Rainbow shouted back, not taking her eyes off Svanhild, who now stood facing the mare with a fierce glare of her own, "if we leave, she's just gonna follow us! I'm gonna finish what I started and get some payback for Rares, AJ, Pinkie, and Fluttershy... and then we can get the buck out of here!"

"Rainbow Dash, don't be an idiot!" Twilight growled in response, "She's a superior opponent! You need to back down and at least figure out another way to—"

She cut herself off as Jeger stepped in front of her.

"Why not stay and keep me entertained for awhile?" the large griffon asked, glancing over to the pony and griffon preparing to face off with an amused grin, "after all, I'm sure you have plenty of questions for me, no?"

He turned back to Twilight, his grin still in place, and Twilight's nowhere to be seen.

"You weren't just going to leave without getting any answers, were you?" Jeger asked with a mock frown, "I confess, I had hoped to avoid running into you all again, but as a scientist I have to say, this little exchange we've all had has been very eye opening for me."

"Scientist..." Twilight muttered before her eyes widened, "You... you were one of the scientists that worked on the virus! You do know what happened to us don't you?"

"Guilty as charged," the large griffon replied, raising his claws in surrender, "though I left the project some time ago due to a few... issues that arose between myself and my colleagues... as well as an incident I'd rather not discuss here."

Jeger paused and turned back to face Svanhild and Rainbow Dash before speaking again.

"I wasn't just gloating when I said griffons were a more suitable host for the virus," he said, his tone growing serious, "they don't have the same harmonic energy that flows through the body of a pony, and thus it has no drastic corrupting effect on the mind."

He gave Twilight another side glance.

"The only thing affecting Svanhild here is her complete and utter hatred for all of you. That's what's driving her mad, and unlike the lot of you, a griffon is a much better fighter when driven by anger, hatred and revenge. Not to mention we're naturally superior fighters to begin with, what with our predatory nature and all."

Twilight said nothing in response, instead turning to watch Rainbow Dash and Svanhild stare each other down. She grimaced as she thought on Jeger's words.

She found she couldn't refute his claims.

The evidence was clear in front of them, and as much as she wanted to tear both Jeger and Svanhild limb from limb, her anger and sadism had in no way clouded her judgement.

From what she had seen so far, Svanhild's attacks had been far more effective than anything else they had been subjected to, and she was certain it had something to do with the virus.

"Wondering why Svanhild's attacks hurt so much?"

She glanced at Jeger and again said nothing as she waited for him to continue. Jeger obliged, smirking in Twilight's direction.

"I've discovered that no one infected creature is the same as the other," Jeger explained, "as it changes you, the virus develops it's own unique 'signature'. It's that difference that causes a disruption in the bonds that hold the virus together when one infected attacks another."

"And if one infected endures too much damage from another," Twilight surmised in a grave tone, "those bonds begin to break down and their 'signature' gets overwritten, making it easier to destroy and likely consume the other infected."

"Well you are a smart pony, aren't you?" Jeger replied with a proud smile, "that's precisely what happens," he chuckled and turned to face the other griffon and cyan pegasus, "I don't know about you, but I personally can't wait to see the outcome of this struggle."

Twilight didn't like this.

They had numbers, but were horribly outmatched it seemed. If they all attacked at once, and if it had been just Svanhild alone, then maybe they might've stood a chance.

But the only ones remaining were Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Twilight herself, and despite her newfound power and sadistic streak, Twilight still wasn't a fighter, she was a thinker.

She made plans.

She'd have to come up with a plan of action. The situation wasn't in their favor anymore, and they needed to retreat and regroup... but Rainbow Dash...

If Twilight didn't do something, that mare was going to get them all killed.

Author's Note

Next up, a cocky pegasus vs. a rightfully pissed off griffon. Place your bets now! :yay:

Duel

Bright Fang crouched low, staying out of sight just past the trees beyond the clearing. He growled deep in his throat, trying to resist every instinct that told him to jump in and fight alongside his new pack leader.

The monstrous wolf resisted.

A few years ago, Bright Fang wouldn't have been able to hold himself back like this. Giving into his more feral urges and charging straight into the fray to protect his pack leader would've been the first and only option.

Ever since the black monster had come and killed his old pack, everything had changed... he had changed. Bright Fang had by no means been a stupid wolf—he had been blessed with the name 'Bright Fang' for a reason—but it was only after he had changed that he was able to overcome raw instinct like this.

It was... a strange and unfamiliar thing to experience for the large wolf. He nevertheless welcomed the change, as once he got used to it, it allowed him to hunt far more effectively than he ever could before.

For a long time, he was the alpha of the forest. He was his own pack leader, and for the first time in his life, he relied on his own strength instead of relying on his kin.

At first, it was exhilarating—freeing in a way the wolf didn't know how to express. But over time, something began to eat away at Bright Fang, something he couldn't quite put a beastly paw on.

It wasn't until she came along and overpowered him, that he finally figured out what was missing—what he was missing.

Companionship.

Solidarity

Unity.

Bright Fang missed his pack. He missed being part of a family, part of a cohesive whole. Without realizing it, he found he wanted to be part of a pack again.

Then she had come.

She smelled different than Bright Fang's other prey. She smelled just like the Black Monster did, but... different somehow. The wolf felt as though there was nothing to fear from this one—not like with the Black Monster.

She smelled like kin.

For all his newfound intelligence, Bright Fang could not wrap his mind around what his instinct was telling him. She clearly wasn't a wolf like him, yet she exuded a familiar scent that made Bright Fang want to challenge her for the position of pack leader as though she was.

And so he did.

And he had been thoroughly beaten.

Bright Fang had wanted to start a new pack, and so had searched for more of his kin intending to assert his dominance, but when he stared into her eyes, something changed.

Suddenly, being the alpha of his own pack didn't seem all that important. Suddenly he was looking into the eyes of a true alpha—one who was born to lead a pack.

He had made his decision.

It didn't matter if she had the scent of the Black Monster about her, she was different. She, the rest of her pack, and Bright Fang himself may have had the scent and power of the Black Monster, but they were all worlds apart.

He wasn't quite sure how he knew, but he knew they were different, he could feel it.

Now he stood by while his alpha and a few of the other members of her pack fought in the clearing. When he had spotted the Black Monster that had killed his kin, every nerve in Bright Fang's body told him to charge in and tear out its throat.

But he resisted.

When his alpha first fell upon the lion-bird that had attacked her kin, Bright Fang nearly rushed in to join the fray. He resisted, and when his alpha had been thrown aside, his body shook with the effort of holding back.

He held himself back because he knew it wasn't the time to strike... not yet.

He had every confidence that his alpha and the rest of the pack wouldn't fall for good. Something within him told him it was not the time—something that went beyond mere instinct, and so he stood by just out of sight and listened.

He listened.

He watched

He waited.

The cyan pegasus and light grey griffon continued to stare each other down, looking for any weaknesses or openings to exploit.

Svanhild glowered at Rainbow Dash, and Rainbow gave the griffon an intense glare of her own. For what felt like an eternity, neither moved a muscle, nor did they speak a word—their eyes more or less doing the talking for them.

Then Rainbow smirked.

The distance between the two was covered in an instant and Rainbow barely managed to side step the large black claw that shot past her.

Svanhild left the pegasus no time to retaliate, twisting her body around for another strike towards Rainbow's head. Rainbow ducked the blow and launched herself backwards out of the griffon's range.

Svanhild didn't let her get far, dashing forward almost as soon as the pegasus dashed back. Rainbow frowned as she weaved her way through the relentless assault of claws.

All the while the mare continued to backstep, leading the enraged griffon further and further away from the others until the two of them were nearly at the treeline.

"Hold... still!" Svanhild growled as she took another swipe and missed entirely, "let.. me... kill you!"

"Nope," Rainbow replied simply, shifting her hooves, "not happening."

Svanhild growled again and went for a straight lunge that sailed over the cyan mare as she lowered herself to the ground and practically slithered out of the way and completely outof Svanhild's sight.

The griffon's eyes widened and she looked below her, only to squaw in surprise as she was slammed face first into a nearby tree, splintering the wood.

Before she realized what was happening, she was yanked backwards and slammed into the ground instead. An odd yet familiar squelching sound caught her attention, but the sudden piercing agony in her back distracted her from looking up.

Through all of her pained screeches, Svanhild could make out a raspy voice speaking right next to her ear.

"We're right back where we started, Svanhild," came an angry voice from somewhere above the griffon, "but I'm not gonna make the same mistake twice."

At that, the griffon's eyes shrunk to pinpricks and she shook violently as black rage boiled within her. Rainbow Dash, unaware of the exponentially building fury, yanked out her hoofblade and prepared to stab it into the back of Svanhild's head.

She wasn't prepared for the thin, but countless sharp tendrils that pushed their way into both sides of her barrel. Her following scream was cut off as she was lifted into the air and smashed into the ground a short ways away from the griffon.

Choking back another cry of pain as the tendrils ripped themselves out of her, Rainbow looked up just in time to see Svanhild bearing down on her, wings outstretched and transformed into what looked like hundreds of whip-like tendrils.

They were smaller and thinner than the ones Rainbow herself used, but they were far more numerous. With a cry of rage, Svanhild charged the mare, her tendrils lashing out much farther than Rainbow had been expecting,

The cyan mare's eyes widened and she barely managed to throw herself out of the way just as several tendrils impacted, and punched through, the ground where she had been only a second before.

The griffon retracted the tendrils somewhat, and rushed after the retreating pegasus. Rainbow Dash yelped, dodging a few more lashes before taking to the sky.

Seeing this, Svanhild screeched angrily and completely retracted her tendrils before launching herself into the air and after Rainbow.

The pegasus remained where she was, watching the furious griffon approach. She winced from the lingering pain in her barrel, but smirked confidently as Svanhild got closer.

"Now we're on my turf, Svanny."

As she approached, Svanhild pulled back an arm and shot it forward, the limb becoming a black, blade tipped whip. With a twitch of her wings, Rainbow floated to the side, allowing the outstretched whip to pass her by harmlessly.

"What, is that it?" the mare teased, "if that's all you got, this is gonna be a—"

She turned to the side to avoid another whip and in a flash of tendrils, brought a hoofblade down on the limb, severing it completely.

She ignored Svanhild's agonized scream and closed the distance to the griffon in the blink of an eye. Rather than charging straight into Svanhild, Rainbow sliced into the griffon as she passed her by.

Svanhild hissed in pain and turned to face the mare, only to cry out again as a line of pain was drawn across her back, then her chest, then her neck.

Rainbow Dash zipped past Svanhild again and again, ripping into the griffon and picking up more and more speed as she passed. Soon enough, she was nothing more than a deadly prismatic blur, a storm of razors cutting into Svanhild relentlessly.

Then something changed.

Rainbow gagged as a claw snapped out and grabbed her by the neck on her next pass. The mare looked back at Svanhild through wide watery eyes and Svanhild looked back with a manic grin.

The expression was made all the more horrifying by the slowly closing wounds covering her face. Casting a glance to Svanhild's side, Rainbow could see the mare's severed limb slowly regenerating. A tight squeeze on her neck made her eyes snap back to the grinning griffon.

"I can see you, Rainbow Dash."

The bottom dropped out of Rainbow's stomach as Svanhild suddenly sped towards the ground with a beat of her wings. With a mad laugh, Svanhild threw Rainbow forward just before she hit the ground, and with an earthshaking boom, the mare impacted.

Rainbow grunted in pain, her eyes clenching shut instinctively as she hit. Claws still wrapped around Rainbow's throat, Svanhild once more turned her wings into tendrils and stabbed several of them into the mare below her.

With the screaming pegasus pinned to the ground, Svanhild released her grip and took a few steps back. She took a few seconds to get herself under control before smirking down at Rainbow Dash.

"Doesn't feel so good, does it, Rainbow?" she asked with a chuckle, "I'm honestly surprised you fought as well as you did, but I suppose I shouldn't be, should I? I knew there was something different about you from the get go."

"Yeah... just... keep takin', Svanny," Rainbow Dash growled through clenched teeth, "we'll see... who gets to gloat... in the eaaggh!"

"Shut up, Dash!" Svanhild growled furiously as she dug the tendrils deeper into Rainbow's hide, "I swear by the Emperor if you don't shut your flocking mouth—"

A black spike shot out of the ground and impaled Svanhild.

Her eyes widened and as she opened her mouth to scream, five more black spikes rose and buried themselves into her body. For a long moment, there was only silence, save for the strained breathing of Rainbow Dash.

The griffon blinked and looked from Rainbow Dash to the other ponies behind her. At some point during the fight, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie had recovered, and now stood with an angry yet worried looking Fluttershy , a smirking Twilight, and a scowling Jeger.

"Don't look at us," Twilight said, with a chuckle, "I'm not sure if I underestimated Rainbow, overestimated you, or both, but either way, we had nothing to do with that."

The shocked griffon turned back to Rainbow Dash, seeing that the mare was now giving her a smug, if pained grin. Unbidden, Svanhild's tendrils retracted from Rainbow's body and reverted back into regular wings.

No longer pinned to the ground, Rainbow Dash shakily rose to her hooves. It was only as Rainbow was getting up that Svanhild saw that the tips of the cyan mare's wings were buried in the ground.

"...You," Svanhild wheezed, her frame shuddering from the agony of the spikes lodged within her, "you planned—"

"Nope," Rainbow replied, pulling her wings out of the earth, and the spikes with them, "it was a spur of the moment thing. Got the idea from Twi over there."

Svanhild fell to the ground coughing and shuddering as she tried and failed to rise. Rainbow Dash's smirk fell into a grimace of pain as she made her way over to the weakened griffon.

The cyan pegasus wasn't as injured as Svanhild, but she wasn't exactly in good shape either. Svanhild watched the mare approach with a look of utter contempt, her claws clenching into shaking fists and her teeth grinding in fury.

"R-Rainbow Dash..." she muttered, "I'm not... not gonna let it..."

"Oh come on, Svanhild, you lost," Rainbow Dash grumbled before wincing in pain once more, "just face it like a—"

Tendrils upon tendrils lashed out and wrapped around Rainbow, causing her to cry out in alarm as she was suddenly pulled forward. Svanhild's arms and wings were nothing more than a mass of black tendrils, dragging the cyan pegasus towards her.

"W-What the buck?!" Rainbow cried, struggling to pull herself free, "get offa me!"

"I'M NOT GONNA LET YOU KILL ME AGAIN, DASH!" Svanhild shrieked, her eyes wild and furious, "I'M NOT LETTING ANY OF YOU GET AWAY WITH WHAT YOU DID!"

Twilight's eyes widened and she took a step forward before Jeger stepped in front of her once more, his eyes gleaming with amusement as he watched events unfold.

"Nuh-uh, Miss Sparkle," he said in a mock scolding tone, "we must see this all the way to its conclusion. This will be the first time I've gotten to see one infected consume another, and I'm not going to let you ruin that for me."

"Get out of my way, Jeger," Twilight commanded in a low, dangerous tone, "I think we've all humored Rainbow Dash long enough. I'm putting a stop to this idiocy... now."

As if to punctuate her statement, the rest of the girls charged past Twilight and the heavy griffon, making their way towards Rainbow Dash.

Or at least, they tried to.

Faster than any of them could see, four massive tentacles shot towards Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy. With varying cries of shock and pain, the mares were impaled, lifted into the air, and brought back towards Jeger.

The large griffon's tail had expanded and split into the four tentacles that now held Twilight's friends aloft. Through the whole thing, Jeger never took his eyes off of the seething lavender mare in front of him.

"Svanhild will continue to devour the infected pony and I will observe the results as they happen, Twilight Sparkle," he intoned, ignoring the screaming, writhing ponies above him, "there's nothing you can do to stop it now, so just keep quiet and watch."

Twilight said nothing.

As it turned out, she didn't have to.

With a roar the shook the very air itself, a blur shot out of the trees and right past a stunned Jeger and Twilight. Over where Rainbow Dash was still struggling to break free of Svanhild's encroaching tendrils, the griffon laughed victoriously as the pegasus drew ever closer.

"That's right!" she shouted, still giggling like mad, "I'm gonna eat you, then I'm gonna eat your friends, then I'll—gaahh!"

The tendrils pulling Rainbow forward seized up and suddenly unwrapped themselves from the mare. Rainbow blinked in confusion, not sure what she was seeing at first, but a moment later she broke into a wide, yet pained and tired grin.

"Where the buck were you, ya big lummox?" Rainbow laughed weakly, "ah, it doesn't matter, I'm just glad you showed up when you did! Now..." she turned a malicious grin towards the struggling griffon, "...hold her for me, would ya?"

Standing over Svanhild and pinning her to the ground was Bright Fang. The massive mutated wolf raised its head and let out an ear piercing howl.

In his shock, Jeger released his grip on the five mares and they fell in a heap. The large griffon ignored them and grit his teeth in frustration.

"The wolf?!" he hissed angrily, "that was the seventh presence I sensed? I knew it felt familiar... but why? Why is it here? Why now?"

He suddenly launched himself into the sky, avoiding the black spire that shot up beneath where he was. Frowning, he looked over to Twilight, who retracted her hoof out of the ground and looked back up at him with a frosty glare in her dark violet eyes.

He scanned the scene before him.

The other girls were already making another recovery, and the wolf had the other weakened griffon under his paw. It didn't look like Svanhild would be getting out of this alive at this point.

Indeed, Rainbow Dash was slowly making her way towards the pathetically scrambling griffon, her own tendrils coming out to reverse the roles. Bright Fang paid them no attention and instead met Jeger's gaze head on, a low growl escaping the wolf throat.

A growl that promised vengeance.

Jeger made his decision.

"Well, It seems I won't be able to stick around for the results after all," he said, turning to Twilight with an irritated scowl, "a pity, but there'll be other opportunities. We'll probably cross paths again at some point, Twilight Sparkle, but I'll get out of your hair for now... till next time!"

Giving a mock salute, he turned and rocketed off in the direction of the forest below the mountains. Twilight watched him go with a grimace. The griffon was completely out of sight in a matter of moments, leaving Svanhild to her fate at the hooves of her and her friends.

"What a despicable griffon," Twilight replied, her frown lifting into a sadistic grin, "abandon the poor griffon to horrible villains like us."

She turned just in time to see Rainbow Dash completely consume the screaming griffon hen in a mess of black tendrils. She frowned once more, her brow creasing as her eyes brighten to their normal amethyst hue.

"No! NonononoNO!" Svanhild screamed, "I can't.. I didn't avenge them! I didn't... I..." she let out a heavy grunt of effort trying to pull away before screaming out one last time, tears streaming down her face, "DAMN YOU, RAINBOW DASH! DAMN ALL OF YOU TO TARTA—"

The tendrils continued to writhe and flail for another moment longer before vanishing back into Rainbow Dash. The other girls took the opportunity to gallop over to Rainbow Dash, though their concerned words died in their throats as they reached her.

Twilight broke the line of friends and slowly made her way forward, her frown deepening as she looked upon the currently catatonic cyan mare.

Author's Note

Yeesh this was a long one. The fact that I slept in didn't really help matters either. :ajbemused:

Well, in any case, another chapter for your viewing pleasure! :pinkiesmile:

Identity

Narrowing her eyes, Twilight stepped directly in front of Rainbow Dash.

She looked over the cyan pegasus and raised a hoof, waving it back and forth in front of her face. When she got no response she stepped back and sighed before turning back to the other girls.

"I think she's reliving Svanhild's memories," she surmised, "I'm fairly sure the same thing happened to me when I consumed Asger."

"Oh, that's right!" Rarity replied, her eyes widening in understanding before turning to Applejack, "I believe something similar happened to you back at the dreadful lab, did it not?"

"Oh, yeah," Applejack answered with a slight frown, "almost forgot about that. Got a hold o' some crazy pegasus stallion named Wind Tunnel an' saw everythin' about 'im," she shook her head, "wasn't right in the head, that one... even by our standards."

"So, um... what do we do now?" Fluttershy asked, making her way over to Rainbow. She stared at the other pegasus for a moment before looking back to Twilight with a worried expression, "do we just... leave her like this?"

"It should end soon," Twilight replied, "for now we should just wait until she snaps out of it, and then..." she paused briefly before letting out a quiet but heavy sigh, "...I think we should do what Rainbow suggested in the first place and just fly to Equestria."

"Are you sure, darling?" Rarity asked with a concerned frown, "you still don't seem too keen on the idea."

"I'm not," Twilight confirmed with a shake of her head, "something tells me it's a bad idea, but I think we'd have less problems in the air than travelling by hoof at this point."

"Ya got a point," Applejack replied grudgingly, "ya'll already know ah'd much prefer ta use mah own four hooves, but frankly, ah'm getting sick o' this place, an' ah wanna see Big Mac an' Apple Bloom again... assumin' they're still around after the war an' all."

The rest of the girls sat in silence for a few heartbeats, letting it sink in that there had been an actual war, and that each and every one of them had been technically dead for the entirety of it.

And then there was the fact that they had lost the war against Sombra and his forces. Then there was Luna's apparent betrayal, and the fact that Celestia was missing.

What else could've possibly changed in the last sixteen years?

Was Ponyville even still around anymore?

What of their friends and loved ones?

What of Apple Bloom, Big Mac, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, the Cakes, the rest of the Pie Family, Twilight Velvet, Night Light, Shiny, Cadence, Spike, and so many others?

What had they endured during the war? Where they still alive? Did they manage to survive? If so, where were they now?

All these questions and more piled on top of the five mares, and they found themselves momentarily crushed under the weight of their worry.

That was, until Twilight noticed Pinkie staring up at the sky with a puzzled frown.

"Pinkie?" Twilight asked, furrowing her brow, "what is it? What's wrong?"

"I was just wondering," she looked back down towards Twilight, the puzzled look still on her face, "do you think the Princesses still move the sun and moon?"

"Well, that's..." Twilight paused and blinked, her initial response dying on her lips, "...you know what?" she replied slowly, lifting her head to the sky with a thoughtful frown, "I'm not sure. There's still a night and day cycle, so I have to assume so... though I have noticed that the cycle seems to be moving at a much slower pace than normal."

After staring at the sky for another minute, Twilight lowered her head and gave a dejected sigh.

"...I really hope the Princess, my brother, and Cadence are okay," she said quietly, "I wonder if they're looking for us... or if they've already given up. After sixteen years I wouldn't be surp—"

"M-Mine... can't... d-don't take... I'm... I'm n-not..."

In an instant, everypony's gaze snapped towards the previously silent, catatonic cyan mare. Each of them cried out in alarm as they watched Rainbow's face twist and contort into a grimace of pain.

She shuddered violently before raising two shaking hooves to her head and crouching low to the ground. Fluttershy was the first to move, rushing over to Rainbow's side and putting a comforting hoof on her back.

"R-Rainbow Dash? Are you okay?" Flutttershy asked, her face the very picture of worry, "w-what's going on? Can... can you hear me?"

Bright Fang's ears perked up and he suddenly crouched low, growling out a warning as he glared at Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy ignored him.

"Rainbow Dash... please answer me!" Fluttershy tried, turning the cyan mare so that she was facing her, "I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong!"

Rainbow Dash didn't respond to her words, simply shuddering in Fluttershy's grip and mumbling to herself.

"Not... n-not... I'm Rain... not Rainbow... c-can't..."

Dread began to rise within Twilight as she watched Rainbow Dash shiver, shake, and mutter. An inkling of what may have been happening to her rainbow maned friend came to her mind and she took a step back.

"Fluttershy," Twilight said in a rising tone of warning, "I think you should probably get away from Rainbow Dash... something's not right."

"No, she's..." Fluttershy eyed Rainbow for a moment before shaking her head, "I think she's hurting.... we need to help her!"

"Ah think ya should listen ta Twi on this one. Fluttershy," Applejack agreed, not moving from her spot a short ways away, but still giving Rainbow Dash a wary look, "ah got a bad feelin' about all o' this..."

Bright Fang barked out an agreement.

"No!" Fluttershy growled, turning to glare at the slightly shocked cowpony and the whimpering wolf, "I'm not going just sit here and—eep!"

Fluttershy was yanked back by a pair of cyan hooves, and before she realized what was happening, she was face to face with a wide, teary eyed Rainbow Dash.

For a moment, neither mare said a word. The rest of the girls went silent, unsure of what was going to happen next... and then the cyan pegasus spoke.

"F-Fluttershy... h-help me..."

Latching onto Fluttershy for dear life, Rainbow spoke—her voice cracked, pleading, broken, frantic, morose, scared, angry, and most of all... confused and horrified. All of these emotions and more seemed to be conveyed in that one single strangled cry for help.

Fluttershy returned Rainbow's look of horror with one of her own, her gaze never leaving Rainbow as the other pegasus disappeared in a mass of writhing tendrils. Stunned as they were by the sight before them, the others were slow to react, leaving Fluttershy to struggle in a panic.

"RAINBOW DASH!" Fluttershy cried out, trying to pull away, "RAINBOW, WHAT'S Hhgghk!"

A blackened, blade tipped tentacle shoved through the back of Fluttershy's neck cut off any more words and sent the yellow pegasus flying backwards towards the others.

The elongated limb stretched and shot Fluttershy further back past the scrambling mares behind her, finally pinning her to a tree farther back.

Pinkie was the first to recover, scrambling to her hooves and making to charge after Fluttershy. Before she could get too far, she froze and grunted in apparent pain.

DEAL WITH THE THREAT FIRST.

N-No, I... I gotta help, another grunt and Pinkie began to crumple under the strain of fighting against the Voice, p-please! the others can... handle it... need to... make sure—

DEAL WITH THE THREAT FIRST.

No! Dashie... is not... a threat!

LOOK BEHIND US AND TELL US OUR FRIEND IS NOT A THREAT.

Against her better judgement, Pinkie turned and gasped at what she saw, as did Applejack and Rarity, while Twilight kept her eyes on the mare pinned fast to the tree by the blade impaled through her throat.

"What in tarnation?" Apple muttered in horrified disbelief as she stared in Rainbow's direction, "Rainbow Dash?!"

"That... isn't Rainbow Dash, darling," Rarity corrected, taking a few steps back, "in fact I'm not quite sure what to call her at this point."

Bright Fang stood where he was, snarling and snorting in indecision. On one paw, he wanted to charge forward and tear into the one that had attacked his alpha... but on the other... it still smelled like part of the alpha's pack.

She was an enemy... but at the same time, she was not.

Eventually he growled in frustration and followed after Twilight as she made a beeline for the injured butter yellow pegasus.

The black limb holding Fluttershy aloft chose that moment to retract, tearing itself out of Fluttershy's throat through her mouth and snapping back to its owner, reverting back to a flexing yellow claw as it returned.

Without the limb holding her up, Fluttershy slumped to the ground, only to be caught and supported by a pair of lavender hooves.

Behind Twilight and Fluttershy, a low, pained moan could be heard, which gradually rose into a keening wail, then a loud avian screech that devolved into mad high pitched cackles.

Pinkie, Applejack, and Rarity looked on with a mix of utter confusion and boiling anger as the mass of tendrils finally receded, revealing a familiar cackling white and grey griffon.

The laughter died down to dark chuckles as Svanhild got control of herself and stared them all down with a malicious grin.

"Did ya miss me, girls?"

"Svanhild," Applejack growled, shooting the smirking griffon a venomous glare, "what'd you do with Rainbow Dash? Where is she?!"

"Where is she?" Svanhild repeated with a mocking laugh, "technically, you're already talking to her!"

"You. Are. Not. Rainbow Dash!" Rarity hissed, "I can't believe you'd have the gall to claim that you're—"

In a flash of writhing black tendrils, Rainbow Dash stood before them all once again, her characteristic smirk present as she passed her gaze over each of the other mares.

"Would it be easier to believe if I looked like this?" Svanhild sneered, her smirk dropping into a glare, "is this what you wanted to see?" with another flurry of tendrils, she reverted back to her griffon form, "well too flocking bad! I'm Rainbow Dash now, and she's me, so you're just gonna have to—"

"Rarity, my magic still refuses to cooperate, could you please hold her down for me?"

"Gladly."

The griffon had only a very brief moment to let the words sink in before she was slammed to the ground with the weight of what felt like several tons of pressure on her back.

She grunted, groaned, and growled as she struggled to move, but it was to no avail. The black aura surrounding her wouldn't let Svanhild budge even an inch.

She couldn't even speak.

All she could do was glare at the lavender mare that was now leisurely making her way over to where she was being held.

Twilight stopped directly in front of the trapped griffon and eyed her with a look that spoke volumes of what she wanted to do to Svanhild in her most vulnerable moment.

"Remind me again," Twilight asked, not looking away from Svanhild, "why you didn't simply use magic to incapacitate Svanhild in the first place?"

"I don't know, dear," came Rarity's swift reply, "remind me again as to why you didn't remind me."

"Fair point," Twilight replied with a slight smirk that disappeared as quickly as it came as she turned her attention back to Svanhild, "in any case, we are not doing this again, Svanhild."

She leaned in close to the griffon, her dark violet eyes and cold look brimming with the vengeful malice of a madmare who had her friend stolen away from her.

"I thought you were stronger than some worthless no name griffon, Rainbow Dash... but I guess I was wrong."

Author's Note

Wasn't sure if something like this happened in the second Prototype game, but if it didn't, I felt like it should've.

Recovery

Rainbow Dash was trapped.

It had been as jarring as it was sudden, and she had no time to react or recover. The moment the consumption had ended, the memories slammed into her like a freight train.

This wasn't like any of the other times she had absorbed the memories however. No, with these memories came something else, something the cyan pegasus wasn't expecting to be there—something she wasn't prepared for.

A will.

She thought she had worn her down enough so that she couldn't put up a fight, but that seemed to be far from the case. How could she have known it would work this way? The answer was that she couldn't, and due to that lack of foresight, she was overpowered with the memories of the griffon hen she had defeated.

And that griffon hen had used those memories to beat Rainbow's consciousness into submission. She tried to fight back, but it was too late. She had tried to call for help, desperately trying push through the wall of memories in order to reach out to the friend she had been clinging to for dear life.

But it was to no avail.

She could hear Svanhild's voice screaming in her head—hear her furious screams and mocking laughter, feel her bottomless rage and never-ending fury, and through the seemingly endless sea of memories, she could sense her boundless pain, sorrow, and regret as though it were her own.

That had been the last straw.

With the weight of Svanhild's consciousness pressing down on her, combined with these powerful emotions, memories, and her own slippery grasp on what was happening to her, Rainbow Dash's identity was effectively assimilated and pushed back into the subconscious where she wouldn't be a bother to anyone.

She was no longer Rainbow Dash, the brash, confident, and loyal Wonderbolt hopeful. With both her and Svanhild's pasts, experiences, and feelings mixed up like some kind of horrible cocktail of egos, she didn't quite know what she was now.

She knew she was angry, she knew she was hurting, she knew she needed her friends, she knew she hated her friends, she knew she had to be there for them no matter what, she knew she had to end them no matter the cost, she—

I thought you were stronger than some worthless no name griffon, Rainbow Dash... but I guess I was wrong.

Well... she knew she wasn't going to take that lying down.

Fluttershy stirred, the slight pressure against her neck bringing the yellow pegasus back to consciousness. She groaned and blinked several times, trying to rid herself of the bleariness she felt.

Another nudge to her neck made her look over and up to see Bright Fang looming above her. He gave a worried whimper and Fluttershy gave the massive fleshy wolf a warm reassuring smile in turn.

"I'm sorry for causing you and the girls so much trouble, Bright Fang," Fluttershy said, petting the wolf's head as he lowered it to her level, "I'm okay now, so you don't need to worry anymore."

The wolf gave a satisfied bark before growling and casting a significant glance over to where the others were. Fluttershy frowned and followed his gaze to where Twilight was standing over a familiar looking griffon pinned to the ground by a black aura and struggling to break free.

"Is that... Svanhild?" Fluttershy muttered. furrowing her brow, "what's she... wait..."

She rose to her hooves and began trotting over to where her friends were, her eyes narrowing slightly. Rarity stood next to Twilight, her horn aglow with the same black aura that held the griffon down.

The rest of the girls stood to the side watching the scene with various expressions ranging from angry, to worried, to flat out unreadable. As Fluttershy got closer, she could make out what was being said.

She didn't quite catch the last thing Twilight had said, but the resulting cackle from the griffon rang loud and clear in her ears.

"YOU THINK EGGING HER ON IS GONNA WORK?" came the mad screech of Svanhild, "SHE'S GONE! SHE'S A PART OF ME NOW, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND, YOU FLOCKING IDIOT!"

Fluttershy's eyes widened at those words, and suddenly, all the pieces came together. Though she never indicated as much, Fluttershy was not ignorant of the possible consequences of what Rainbow Dash had done.

If Svanhild was here, and Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be seen, Fluttershy knew that could only mean one thing. With Bright Fang following just behind her, the butter yellow pegasus picked up her pace—her jaw tightening and her eyes blazing.

She had a friend to save.

Twilight sighed.

If there was one thing she had been afraid of happening, it was this. This was something she did not need. This was something she did not want, yet here they were.

She hadn't known exactly what was going to happen, but she knew it'd be something along these lines. If she was being completely honest, she was angry at herself.

She should've warned Rainbow Dash of the potential danger of consuming another infected, but she didn't bother due to the fact that she believed Rainbow wouldn't have listened anyway.

So she instead let it happen and hoped for the best... but she got the worst, and inwardly, below the anger, malevolence, and complete desire to tear Svanhild's head from her shoulders in the most literal of ways... she felt regret that she hadn't at least tried to warn Rainbow.

She might've listened, she might not have, but as her friend, she should've at least said something. Now it was too late, and all she could do was be the spark that lit the flame of Dash's resolve.

And now that her job was done, she just needed somepony to stoke that fire...

"Twilight... move... now."

The lavender mare gave the confused and angry griffon one last glare before stepping to the side and smiling sweetly at Fluttershy as she passed.

"She's all yours!" she chirped, "have fun you two!"

"Do be careful not to do anything rash, darling," Rarity added with a small smile of her own, "Svanhild may be a brute, but Rainbow Dash is still in there somewhere."

As Twilight, Rarity and Bright Fang moved to stand next to the others, Fluttershy stepped forward. Svanhild scoffed and shook her head and tried to struggle out of Rarity's magical iron grip once more.

"How many times am I gonna have to tell you ponies, it's useless!" Svanhild growled, glaring up at the pegasus now standing before her, "we're one single creature now, she can't escape me because she... is... me..."

Svanhild's words died out as she looked into Fluttershy's eyes.

She couldn't look away from her. Svanhild had thought she knew anger, thought she knew rage and unfathomable fury. She was convinced she had enough ire to burn away all of Griffonia and then some.

Her fury was a small quiet whisper in the dark before Fluttershy's Glare.

The pegasus didn't say anything... she didn't need to say anything. The look in her eyes said it all, and as much as Svanhild suddenly wanted to run, she couldn't.

Though she had no actual organs to speak of, she swore she could hear her heart pounding in her ears and her blood freezing in her veins.

She shivered.

All the while, Fluttershy continued to Glare at the quaking griffon beneath her. Gone was the kind, compassionate mare. Gone was the big-hearted animal caretaker. Gone was the meek, shy, and introverted pegasus.

In its place was something else... something unrecognizable.

In its place was a creature with a rage dark and terrible enough to make all the demons in Tartarus quiver. And all of that rage was directed at the lone griffon keeping her friend's identity locked away.

Fluttershy narrowed her eyes a small fraction and took another step forward before leaning in close to the griffon. No one—not pony nor griffon—noticed that Rarity had long since released her telekinetic hold on Svanhild.

Still, she didn't move.

She couldn't move.

All she could do was stare into those bottomless pools of unrelenting fury. She didn't even register the growing and insistent presence pushing its way to the forefront of her mind.

Fluttershy finally broke eye contact with Svanhild as she moved past her face to speak directly into her ear. When she finally spoke, it was in a quiet, almost breathy whisper that somehow carried across the entire clearing.

I can sense you, and I don't need to use hooves or monstrous tendrils to break you. I can do it by simply looking at you. So bring my friend back... or I'm going to break you, Svanhild.

Try to take over her again... and I'll break you, Svanhild.

If you so much as whisper in her mind... I... will... break you... do you understand, Svanhild?

Dead silence filled the air as Fluttershy retreated back far enough to stare into Svanhild's eyes. For several long seconds, no one spoke—the girls rendered completely speechless from shock and horror. Twilight had since reverted back to her normal self and stood frozen along with the rest of her friends.

More silence reigned.

Fluttershy stood impassive and expectant as she looked at Svanhild.

Svanhild stared back in mute horror.

More silence reigned.

The griffon suddenly disappeared in a writhing mass of tendrils.

A few seconds passed and a shaking, panting cyan pegasus appeared before the five quiet mares. Rainbow Dash groaned and slowly rose to her hooves before shaking her head.

She blinked a few times and swept her gaze over her surroundings, her eyes finally landing on Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus smiled and pulled a yelping Rainbow Dash into a tight hug.

Feeling somewhat awkward, Rainbow glanced over at the other girls and saw that they were all beaming in her direction. She couldn't help but chuckle as she turned her attention back to Fluttershy.

Her grateful smile lasted only a few moments before she pulled away from Fluttershy's hug and gave the other pegasus one of her signature smirks.

"Heya, Flutters, did ya miss me?"

Author's Note

I love me some Flutter-rage. :twilightsmile:

But yeah, Fluttershy's Glare is super effective on other infected, and well... a lot of things, really—but infected especially.

Resistance

Not much had been said between Shining Armor and the two changelings that had been escorting him to wherever the rendezvous point was. Though it irked him, he understood there reasoning, even if they themselves hadn't explained.

If there really was a rebellion in the works, it wouldn't do to discuss such a thing out in the open—at least while they were still in the city. Shining himself had been trapped down in that dungeon for years, complete unaware of how the world was changing around him.

What he had found strange was that Sombra had only bothered to speak to him only once. The only time Shining had even seen Sombra since his imprisonment, had been when he was first thrown in that dungeon.

He had gloated over his victory, and when Shining had asked what had happened to his wife, his sister, and her friends, he only received mocking laughter in response.

After that, Sombra had apparently been content to let Chrysalis handle him, not that Shining knew it was Chrysalis at first.

Five years.

For five years Chrysalis questioned, tortured, and mocked Shining under the guise of Luna herself. The experience had left him feeling angry, betrayed, scared for his loved ones, and for awhile... completely broken.

He had been separated from the love of his life, he had no idea of what had become of his sister. and the last thing that had sent him over the edge had been the news that his parents had not survived Sombra's siege on Canterlot.

It was when Chrysalis had told him of his parents fate that she had finally revealed herself for who and what she really was. The revelation had been enough to render the stallion completely numb.

But more years passed, and eventually the numbness had given way to bitter resignation. He had all but given up on ever getting out of this place, and indeed wondered why they kept him alive at all.

At that point Sombra had already weeded out any Equestrian dissenters Shining was trying to hide, and the stallion wasn't really needed anymore... or so he believed at any rate.

But then something began to change.

Chrysalis began to change.

It was gradual, but with nothing to do, and really nopony else to talk to, Shining couldn't help but take note. The Bug Queen's demeanor became less arrogant, mocking and cocky.

The venom and scorn was still there, but it was more subdued. Shining noticed there was a sort of forced air about it, and a tiredness in Chrysalis' eyes that hadn't been there before.

She also began to look much worse for wear. It got to the point where it looked as though Chrysalis had been the one trapped and nearly starved for food.

But as beaten down as he was, and as plain as Chrysalis' deteriorating condition was to see, Shining held onto his own hatred and scorn for the Queen.

At one point, Chrysalis had come down to the dungeons, sat down in front of the stallion's cell, and simply stared at him with a contemplative frown.

She sat like that for nearly half an hour and neither she nor Shining said a word—that is, until Chrysalis finally spoke. When she did, it was with a heavy sigh and eyes that showed she carried some kind of immense burden.

She had admitted that his sister had been alive this entire time, and even that he'd get to see her again. So ridiculous was the claim that Shining laughed in her face and continued laughing long after the Queen had left.

She just left without another word.

She hadn't bothered to communicate with the imprisoned stallion since then, only sending down one of her changeling underlings every so often to check up on him.

This went on for several weeks... until she came down and freed him from his cell.

She had said several things that even now Shining was struggling to believe. He had many questions and not enough answers—one of them being how there had been a secret passage within the dungeon and how long it had been there.

Most of his questions however, had to do with what Chrysalis had said about Cadence. He had given up hope of ever seeing her again, and had even assumed she was long since dead by Sombra's hoof.

If Chrysalis was implying what Shining thought she was implying however, then apparently that wasn't the case.

This, and Chrysalis' promise that his sister was alive more than anything else was what kept Shining from simply galloping off into the city to hide away from Sombra.

And so it was that he continued to follow these two changelings further and further towards the eastern edge of the city. Shining himself was somewhat awed by the changes that had taken place over the many years he had been imprisoned.

Much of the city was far more advanced than when he had first arrived. Many of the structures looked similar to those one would see in a city life Manehattan or Detrot.

Though he couldn't help but notice that the citizens—crystal ponies, Equestrians, and even a few griffons here and there—were anything but happy and content.

If anything they looked just as beaten down and broken as Shining himself did. He and the two changelings stayed hidden as they moved for the most part to avoid Sombra's guards patrolling the streets.

During the times they did cross into a crowded street, not a single creature paid them any heed. They didn't bother to look in his direction, simply keeping their heads down and opting to go about their business.

That wasn't to say he didn't get a few conspicuous glances. When he turned to look however, the offender would quickly look away and move on.

This happened despite the heavy cloak he wore—a cloak the changelings had somehow procured for him beforehoof. He decided not to question it, as it was doing a fairly good job of keeping him warm and he'd need it if they were traveling outside of the city.

As they moved, he took the time to mull Chrysalis' words over in his mind... as well, as wonder about Chrysalis herself.

She had come down there to practically beg for his help, and even in his anger and bitterness towards her, Shining could see that she had been the most genuine and sincere he had ever seen her before.

He actually found himself feeling bad for Chrysalis despite everything.

He shook his head and put that out of his mind, focusing more on the hope that he would soon be reunited with his wife—assuming Chrysalis was telling the truth.

Towering diamond walls had been erected around the entirety of the city at some point, and they were regularly patrolled by more of Sombra's guards—something Shining saw for himself as they neared the eastern gate.

He eyed the guards warily and was about to say something to the two changelings—long since disguised as two nondescript crystal ponies—but had no need, as they veered off the main path and into another alleyway.

The narrow passage lie between two buildings that were pressed up against the wall, and led to a dead end a bit further back.

Shining looked to the two changelings, who had reverted back to their blackened hole-ridden insectoid forms and motioned for him to stay where he was.

Shining frowned slightly, but complied with no complaint, sitting himself down behind a large dumpster and away from the prying eyes of those outside the alley.

He looked on curiously as the two changelings trotted up to the back wall and stood there. For a few long moments, nothing happened... then both changelings began making an odd chittering noise and their horns glowed a sickly green.

His eyes widened in surprise as one of the changelings stepped through the wall, causing it to ripple as though it were made of some kind of liquid.

The other changeling looked back to Shining and motioned for him to follow before stepping through himself. Shining shook his head and followed after them, hesitating only a moment before trotting through the wall.

Rather than the biting winds and the heavy crunch of the snow beneath his hooves that he was expecting beyond the wall, he instead had trotted into another dark tunnel.

The tunnel walls were made of stone and were dimly lit by sconces placed at regular intervals on either side. Blinking in confusion, he looked behind him, only to find yet another stone wall.

Furrowing his brow, he placed a hoof on it and raised an eyebrow when he felt nothing but completely solid stone.

"It really is an ingenious bit of magic if I do say so myself," came a feminine voice from somewhere behind him, "tricky to work out, but worth it in the end."

Shining whipped back around to face the sound of the sudden voice, his old instincts as a Guard causing him to crouch into a battle ready stance.

His glare faltered and completely fell away into a look of bewilderment as he saw the pony standing before him.

For a moment, his breath caught and he had to bite back a cry of joy as he saw his sister... but the cry quickly died in his throat when he got a better look at the mare.

Beneath the dark grey cloak was a coat of yellowish grey, not lavender. Though the mane style was completely identical, the color of the mane itself and the highlights were different—almost inverted from his sisters.

Not to mention that Twilight didn't wear thick full rimmed glasses. Her eyebrows weren't nearly as thick either. Now that Shining took a minute to actually look at the mare, he didn't know how he had mistaken her for Twilight at all, really.

"Who are you?" Shining demanded, once more taking a battle stance and lighting his horn, "I'm warning you right now, if this was a trap—"

"Oh come on, Shining, do you seriously not remember me?" the mare said with a huff, "well, I guess it's not that surprising. After all, Twilight and I haven't seen each other in ages, and I never stayed over at your house all that much when we were little anyway."

Shining furrowed his brow, setting his confusion aside to parse the mare's words. For a moment neither of them said anything as his mind worked to put a name to the increasingly familiar face.

The two changelings that had escorted him here stood on either side of the mare and didn't say a word as the mare and stallion stared at each other.

After several seconds Shining's eyes widened in recognition and he took a step back—the aura around his horn fizzling out completely.

"Moon Dancer?"

"Took you long enough," the mare in question replied with a roll of her eyes. She gave the shocked stallion a wry smirk, "I'm the lucky mare sent to officially welcome you to the as-of-yet-to-be-named resistance."

Shining shook his head and took another look around before settling his eyes back on Moon Dancer.

"So this tunnel leads to the resistance then," he surmised, "and you're going to lead me to its leader?"

"That's what I'm here for," Moon Dancer replied as she began trotting the other way, "I imagine you'd like something to eat and a place to sleep after you've been cooped up in your cell for so long."

"Yeah, you're not wrong there," Shining agreed, following after the mare and the two changelings, "really though, you were the last pony I expected to be all the way out here."

"You'd be surprised," the bespectacled mare replied with a nod, "we're not very big yet, but a lot of the ponies here are from all over Equestria," she gave a small chuckle, "who knows, you might just recognize a few of them."

Shining remained quiet at that, frowning slightly as he thought about the two ponies he wanted to see the most.

"Hey... Moon Dancer," he began, "I was told that... well, it was implied that Cadence was part of the resistance... is that true?"

Moon Dancer slowed her pace and turned to look back at the stallion. She thought about being coy and dancing around the question, but ultimately decided against it.

The sheer worry and earnest hope in his eyes made her reconsider and she turned her attention back to the path ahead as she answered—her voice soft and reassuring.

"She's here, Shining... and she can't wait to see you again."

Author's Note

Shining chapter ahoy!

...You know, it's only now that I realize I have three separate stories that have specific chapters that, every so often, revolve around Shining Armor in some way. :rainbowhuh:

Reflection

Flight.

Simple, pure, uninterrupted flight.

This is what Rainbow Dash had wanted all along, and despite the events that transpired recently the trip she and the rest of the girls were now making over the vast forest instead of through it brought a small smile to her face.

Even more interesting was the fact that Twilight had worked out how to adapt larger griffon wings to be suitable with her smaller pony frame. Having done that, she was now sporting lavender wings that were only slightly larger than the wings of the average pegasi.

It wasn't completely ideal, and she'd had to consume an actual pegasus for it to work properly, but it was good enough for now.

She had tried to explain the process to Rarity, Pinkie, and Applejack with... mixed results. Rarity got the hang of things for the most part and managed to create her own snow white pegasus wings, having consumed actual pegasi already.

Pinkie had somehow managed to turn herself into a thestral version of... well... herself—her only explanation being that the look had 'grown on her' and 'she thought it'd be neato'.

Applejack had the most trouble adapting, as she hadn't consumed nearly as much as the others during any of her battles—the only other one of them having consumed less being Fluttershy, who hadn't consumed anypony at all.

In the end, she had to once again become a griffon to maintain any kind of flight, and somewhat begrudgingly decided to consume more often than she had initially been.

They had been flying for quite some time. Morning had long since given way to late afternoon and they were still no closer to the southwestern edge of the forest.

Becoming somewhat bored, Rainbow Dash lazily flew over to Twilight, an amused grin plastered on her face.

"Sooo... I guess the new wings on top of the horn make you and Rarity alicorns now," she observed with a snicker, "do we have our new Princess of Books? Oh!" she turned back to see Rarity raising an eyebrow in her direction, "or how about the Princess of Fashion?"

"The Princess... of Fashion?" Rarity replied, flying over to the other two. Her bemused look turned thoughtful, "well... I must admit, that does sound like a rather attractive idea.... Rarity Belle, the Princess of Fashion," she waved a hoof dramatically, her eyes practically sparkling, "helping ponies all over Equestria look absolutely fabulous!"

Twilight, for her part, rolled her eyes at Rarity's squeal of excitement.

"We're not real alicorns, Rainbow Dash," she explained in a flat tone, "if I had to put a name to what we actually are, it'd be something closer to pegacorns, as we lack any earth pony traits."

She paused and frowned contemplatively.

"Although," she continued slowly, "since Rarity's consumed earth ponies, I suppose she could find a way to inherit all three traits and become a kind of false alicorn... in fact, you and Pinkie should also be able to do the same, assuming you knew how."

"Seriously? Sweet!" Rainbow cried in excitement. Her glee didn't last long and she frowned before narrowing her eyes at Twilight, "wait... what do you mean 'false alicorn'? If we got all three types of pony in us, then we should be real alicorns, right?"

"Simply having the traits of all three tribes isn't enough, Rainbow," Twilight corrected with a shake of her head, "what makes a true alicorn is their 'aspect'—what they as a magical creature embody above all else."

"So?" Rainbow replied, raising an eyebrow, "like I said, you'd be the Princess of Books, and Rarity would be—"

"That's not how it works, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight growled in irritation before faltering and letting out a sigh, "alright, well that's kind of how it works, but there's more to it than that," she added quickly, "while it has a lot to do with a pony's special talent, there are other forces at work that would need to come into play to become an alicorn."

"Like what, darling?" Rarity asked curiously, "if such a thing as an alicorn ascension truly exists, what would one need to do to accomplish the feat?"

"I... don't know," Twilight admitted hesitantly, "I don't even know if it is truly possible, this is just my theory based on a few things the Princess told me about alicorns when I was younger. But I'm certain it has at least something to do with a pony's talent.

"For example," Twilight explained, turning to her cyan friend, "I wouldn't be the 'Princess of Books'. If I were to become any kind of alicorn, I'd be something like the 'Princess of Magic', and Rarity would be... uh..."

Both Rainbow and Twilight turned to Rarity with questioning looks, their eyes glancing over her cutie mark. Rarity looked between the two with a confused expression before following their gazes to her flank and rolling her eyes.

"Oh, for Celestia's sake," she muttered in exasperation, before speaking in a normal, albeit slightly annoyed tone, "while I consider myself adept at dressmaking, my actual talent lies in sensing, locating, working with, and—if I were so inclined—crafting gems. So if I were to hazard a guess, I'd most likely be the 'Princess of Gems'."

Her irritated scowl once more turned thoughtful.

"You know what?" she mused, "that actually doesn't sound all that bad now that I'm thinking about it..."

"And I can be the Princess of Parties!" came the cheery voice of Pinkie as she dropped in between the other three, "I mean, I know the last couple of parties I've tried to throw have been real stinkers... but I'm not gonna let my mistakes keep me down!"

Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow all glanced at each other worriedly. Pinkie tried to hide it, and she did a decent job, but her friends knew the pink party mare better than that.

Despite the outward appearance of determination on her face, she was hurting. If Pinkie had been her normal self in this situation, she would've more than made those parties work, they still would've been fantastic... but she wasn't her normal self... not anymore.

Her friends knew it, and so did she.

Something had changed, and it was more than just her body.

It made the others wonder if their talents had been affected in a similar fashion.

Twilight absently rubbed a hoof along her horn, frowning worriedly as she thought about how she still couldn't feel the vast majority of her magic.

It was still there, and it seemed to have increased, but only by a small fraction. She tried to channel the mana from her wellspring into her horn and only received a few pitiful sparks that fizzled out almost instantly in return.

She sighed morosely, wondering just what in Tartarus was going on and why she still couldn't use any magic. She was snapped out of her funk when Rarity flew up and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Twilight, dear, are you alright?" the other pegacorn asked with a concerned frown, "is it your magic? It's still not returned?"

"No, it hasn't Rarity," Twilight replied with a single shake of her head, "it's increased a small bit, but it's still largely inactive, and I'm getting really worried about what this means."

"Ah, I see," Rarity replied with a sympathetic smile, "well... it is increasing, if only slightly at the very least. Chin up, darling, you'll get the rest of it back eventually, I'm certain of it."

Rarity's words didn't do much to ease Twilight's worry, but she appreciated them all the same. She gave her friend a weak smile that quickly fell away into a small, sad sigh as she looked away and towards the horizon.

"Thanks, Rarity," she finally said in a low voice, "I guess I'll just have to bear with it for now and hope I can find out the solution soon."

Rarity's reassuring smile dropped into an unsure grimace as she observed her sullen lavender friend, but she didn't push the issue and instead flew over to Applejack and Fluttershy—both of whom hadn't said much since the flight started.

"And how are the two of you holding up?" she asked,slowing down to match their rather languid pace, "I know you aren't terribly keen on flying, Applejack."

"I'm fine," the disguised cowpony grunted somewhat sourly, "once we get back on the ground I'll be a lot more fine, but I can deal with it for now."

Rarity opened her mouth to respond, before closing it and turning to Fluttershy who was eyeing Applejack with something close to pity.

When she noticed Rarity looking at her, she smiled sadly.

"I'm alright, Rarity," she replied softly, "to be honest, I kind of agree with Applejack though. I'd rather be closer to the ground," her sad smile fell, along with her gaze as she looked down at the passing trees below, "I was kind of hoping to spend some more time in the forest."

"You're worried about the creatures that live there," Rarity guessed, nodding in understanding, "I don't blame you, dear. Even I found the lack of any wildlife rather unnerving."

"So you noticed too?" Fluttershy asked in surprise. She winced and smiled apologetically, "not that I meant you weren't observant or anything... it's just... I..."

Rarity giggled lightly and shook her head.

"Think nothing of it, darling," she said with a kind smile, "I take no offense, but remember, I do have an eye for detail, and not even these horrid events have taken that away from me."

She followed Fluttershy's gaze to the sweeping forest of trees and sighed.

"As you know, I'm normally not exactly an outdoor kind of pony, but I at least know that forests aren't supposed to be that quiet, Fluttershy."

A solemn nod was Fluttershy's only response.

"Speaking of wildlife though," Rarity said, frowning as she scanned the forest, "where's Bright Fang? I'm afraid I missed the dear as we we departed for the skies."

"Oh, he's following after us from below," Fluttershy answered, a small smile crossing her face, "since we decided to fly over the forest instead, he offered to keep an eye out for anything suspicious."

"I... see," Rarity replied with an impressed raise of her brows, "I must say, he's more... dashing than his appearance would suggest."

"He's just looking out for his pack," Fluttershy replied with a smile, "or at least, that's how he sees it."

"Well," Rarity began, not knowing how to respond to that, "all the same, he's earned my respect, and as monstrous as he may seem, I'm glad he's decided to join our little band of... vicious murderers."

She finished with a self-deprecating chuckle that died quickly. Fluttershy scowled in concern as Rarity looked away and hummed to herself quietly—a troubled expression making its way onto her face.

While Fluttershy appreciated the fact that Rarity of all ponies had accepted Bright Fang for who and what he was, she couldn't help but feel that there had been something bothering the white mare.

She didn't think the others had noticed much, if at all, but Fluttershy had noticed that every so often, Rarity would stare off into the distance with a half thoughtful, half troubled look on her face.

This was most often the case whenever the subject of fighting and killing came up. The yellow pegasus wondered if all of it was bothering Rarity more than she was letting on.

Did the others secretly feel the same way?

Fluttershy took a moment to observe each of her friends as they flew. From Applejack's silent stoicism, to Pinkie's exuberant chatter, to Rainbow's exasperation in response to said chatter, and finally to Twilight's sullen silence.

And then there was Fluttershy herself and her... anger issues.

Each of the girls had changed, and not for the better. It was more than just a simple shift in attitude, it was more than this horrid willingness to kill anypony—or griffon—that stood in their way.

Not even the fact that all of them had technically died was all that important compared to real issue at hoof. The fact of the matter was that they were all unstable—mentally and emotionally broken and twisted into something unrecognizable.

It was blatantly obvious that they weren't the same mares that they used to be, and no amount of friendship was going to fix that.

But even then...

Twilight had said they needed to survive and adapt. They were surviving well enough... but were they really adapting like they should be?

Fluttershy wasn't so sure, and it had been one of the things bothering her since the events in Squawken. If they were all going to make it back home without losing themselves completely, they needed to truly adapt to their circumstances.

They needed to find some stability—some solid ground to stand upon. They needed to find a way to resist the pull of their new instincts... but how?

Unbeknownst to Fluttershy, both Twilight and Pinkie had been thinking along those very same lines, and like Fluttershy, they were no closer to the answer than she herself was.

Pinkie had told Twilight that she needed to find a balance between who she was now, who she had been before all of this happened, but the pink mare wasn't even sure if that had worked.

She could still hear the Voice, always whispering—pushing her to commit more atrocities, and no amount of balance had changed that.

Twilight had tried to come to terms with her more sadistic side, but now that she had some time to really think on it, she had to wonder.

Had she really struck some kind of balance like Pinkie had suggested, or had she just completely given in? Whenever that side of her came out she felt like had some control now, but for the most part it still felt the same as it did back at the facility.

And what of Applejack?

It had been hard to gauge the mare's feelings on the matter. On the surface, she seemed the same as she always did—same old honest, dependable Applejack.

But what lay beneath?

None of the other girls knew, and Applejack never talked about it. Since she seemed to be the most unaffected by it all, none of them had bothered to ask.

The truth, of course, was very different, and Applejack was as much of a slave to these changes as the rest of them. The problem was that the way the virus affected the orange mare made it harder to tell that anything had changed at all.

Rarity was much the same, but again, there were indeed changes. The changes in both mares were far more subtle—much less drastic than Fluttershy's, Twilight's, or Pinkie Pie's.

Whatever the case was, each mare had been affected in their own unique way, and as they all made their way deeper into griffon territory, they could only hope that things would get better.

Even if they and the world around them would never be the same as it was before.

Author's Note

A bit of a breather chapter as the six mares (and Bright Fang) finally make their way out of that area and into... somewhere else. We'll see, I haven't decided yet.

Anyway, apologies for the late update, wanted to finish it last night, but things didn't go quite to plan.

Cadence

As he, Moon Dancer, and the two changelings quietly trotted down the dimly lit stone corridors, Shining took a few minutes to look around him.

He wasn't sure where he had ended up, but he had the feeling they were all somewhere below ground. It wasn't nearly as cold as it should've been if they were still anywhere in the Frozen North, and that made him wonder just where they were.

"Hey, Moon Dancer." Shining asked, still observing the stone pathway, "are we still in the Frozen North? It... doesn't really feel like we are."

"Oh, we're still in the Frozen North," Moon Dancer replied casually, not looking back at the stallion, "though I guess technically it's more like we're below the Frozen North. About a mile below to be precise."

Shining turned back to the mare, his brow raised in surprise. As it turned out, he'd been more right than he knew. Moon Dancer noticed his gaze and chuckled lightly as they all turned a corner and continued down another corridor.

"It's not like we built this place," Moon Dancer continued, "believe it or not, it was Cadence that stumbled upon the entrance. She and a few of the original Crystal Guards that managed to get away when Sombra and Chrysalis attacked, found it during their escape."

"Where exactly is the entrance?" Shining asked, "I've never seen anything out in the Frozen North that would indicate there was a hidden passage into a large network of tunnels below ground."

"I'll let Cadence tell you when we get back to the base," Moon Dancer replied, "we're not too far from there now, and she'll explain everything once we're there."

"Cadence," Shining muttered, a small worried frown crossing his face, "I still can't believe she managed to make it out of that nightmare."

"From what she told me, you were the one that gave her a chance to escape," Moon Dancer said with a small smile, "according to her, she never would've made it if you hadn't drawn the Bug Queen's attention back then."

"Yeah well," Shining sighed heavily, "I'm just glad I'll get to see her again. Then maybe we can talk about... well... everything."

He went quiet and Moon Dancer eyed him with a curious and slightly pitying expression. Shining noticed, but didn't say anything about it.

Instead, he decided to ask another question that had been on his mind since Chrysalis smuggled him out of the dungeons.

"So... Chrysalis," he began, resuming his inspection of the surroundings, "how long has she been a part of this resistance?" he turned back to Moon Dancer, his eyes slightly narrowed, "and how do you know you can trust her for sure?"

"She broke you out of jail, didn't she?" Moon Dancer asked with a raised eyebrow, "I'd think that'd be enough proof that she's on the level, especially since it was right under Sombra's muzzle, wouldn't you?"

"Maybe," Shining conceded with a nod, "and I am grateful that she busted me out, don't get me wrong, but... well... I don't know. It's... difficult, with everything she put me through."

He shrugged helplessly and looked away.

"When she broke me out of prison, she told me she was dying, and that she was doing all this to save her children," he said before looking back to the yellowish grey mare, "she sounded sincere then, and with the way she looked..."

He shook his head as he and the others passed through an opening and into a larger circular room that was empty save for a winding stone staircase that led up.

Shining paused in his explanation and glanced upwards. Though the walls were dotted with more sconces, he still couldn't see above a certain point.

There was a point where the light of the sconces stopped and the staircase itself blocked out the rest of his view. Not seeing anything else of note, he continued to follow after Moon Dancer and the two silent changelings up the steps.

"Honestly, I think she was telling the truth," Shining said, picking back up from where he left off, "but even if she's working to protect her children, that's still working in her own interests, and if she deems working with the resistance to be a threat to her children..."

"I know what you mean," Moon Dancer replied quietly, glancing back at the two changelings who remained silent, "and to be honest, I'm worried about that too."

She fell silent for a moment before speaking again, her voice a bit more confident.

"But you have to understand, Shining," she argued, "we actually owe a lot to Chrysalis. Cadence may have found the entrance to these tunnels, but even if she was acting in her own interests, it was ultimately Chrysalis that gave us the means to survive down here."

"What do you mean?" Shining asked with a tilt of his head, "what happened?"

"We... when Cadence first found this place, it was just her and a few Guards," Moon Dancer explained, "they discovered that these underground tunnels led all the way out of the Frozen North and south into Equestria."

"They really go that far," Shining said in disbelief, "I had no idea... where's the entrance in Equestria?"

"Like I said, I'll let Cadence explain that one," Moon Dancer answered impatiently, "now, like I was saying, they explored the tunnels as best they could, but this place turned out to be a lot bigger, and far more complex than they thought."

Shining thought for a moment, and realization dawned on him.

"They were still on the run... they didn't have enough supplies for a full expedition," he surmised with a grim expression, "they wouldn't have been able to survive down there for very long."

Moon Dancer nodded gravely.

The staircase evened out as they reached another circular room. The room itself was smaller, but was far from empty, as several crates—both large and small—were stacked atop each other near the walls.

A single stallion sitting slumped over in a chair next to a small and rather nondescript looking wooden door caught Shining's attention and his eyes widened.

The stallion looked to be an earth pony, and had a light cobalt coat with a darker cobalt mane and tail. At first glance, Shining thought the stallion was dead, but was quickly proven wrong as the stallion gave a loud snort followed by a gentle, lengthy snore.

Moon Dancer just groaned in annoyance in response to the sight.

"Moon Dancer, who—"

The mare raised a hoof to silence the bemused unicorn stallion. She signaled for him and the changelings to stay put before briskly trotting over to the sleeping pony.

She stopped in front of the stallion and did nothing for a moment. Curious, Shining took a tentative step forward to get a better look at what Moon Dancer was doing.

A sudden dull thud followed by a pained grunt made Shining wince slightly, and he frowned in concern as the stallion hunched over and fell out of his chair holding his stomach.

"Gah! Holy buck, Moon Dancer!" the stallion gasped in pain, glaring at the pitiless mare, "there's better, more normal ways to wake a guy up!"

"Yes, there are," Moon Dancer replied casually, shaking her hoof lightly before setting it back on the ground, "but I did tell you I'd sock you in the gut if I caught you sleeping on the job again, Noteworthy."

"I thought you were joking, you crazy nag," Noteworthy muttered, grimacing as he rose back onto his seat. As he repositioned himself, he finally caught sight of Shining Armor, "hm? Who the..." his eyes narrowed before widening suddenly, "wait... isn't he the—"

"Don't worry about it," Moon Dancer interjected, motioning for Shining and the changelings to follow, "just give the signal so we can go through."

Noteworthy looked between an impatient Moon Dancer and a confused Shining Armor in bewilderment before shaking his head and leaning over to knock on the door.

He knocked twice in quick succession, and for a few seconds, nothing happened. Then Shining saw the door light up, a large sigil etched itself into the door.

The surprised unicorn stallion watched as glowing cyan lines and runes traced complex patterns in the wood before making a complete circle about half as big as the door itself was.

Then the sigil flashed once and the simple wooden door vanished, leaving an opening unblocked and the party unhindered.

Shining had heard about runic magic, but he had never actually seen it up until now. He eyed the earth pony stallion as he and the rest of the small group passed through the doorway.

Noteworthy stared right back with a look somewhere between wariness and curiosity. After a second Shining looked away, only to be greeted by the surprised looks of several ponies in the much wider stone hallway he now trotted down.

He blinked and looked around at the unfamiliar faces. There weren't that many ponies around, but it was still more than he was actually expecting.

As he observed the others, he realized what he thought was a larger hallway was actually just a room much longer than it was wide.

There were five doors—two on either side of him—and a larger set of double doors just further up ahead.

Like the rest of the tunnels he'd seen, the room was made of stone on all sides and was completely bare bones aside from a few more stacked wooden boxes covered by beige tarps.

Many of the ponies that moved in and out of the side doors regularly paid him no heed, but many others stopped and stared with varying looks of surprise, fear, and suspicion.

Moon Dancer ignored them all as she made her way directly towards the double doors. She spoke again, and it took Shining a moment to realize she was picking up from where she left off.

"You guessed right," the mare continued, "they could only take what they could carry on their backs, and it wasn't much at the time."

The door creaked and groaned as Moon Dancer pushed them open. She stepped inside and into a narrower hallway. Shining could see another staircase further up ahead, but couldn't see beyond it.

He idly glanced behind him as he followed Moon Dancer, and couldn't help but notice the changelings weren't following.

In fact, they had vanished altogether at some point when he wasn't looking.

He frowned as he scanned the area behind him, but Moon Dancer's voice soon pulled him out of his thoughts.

"It was the changelings that first spotted Cadence and her team wandering around the tunnels," Moon Dancer said before hanging her head somewhat, "from what I understand, there was some sort of... misunderstanding and a fight broke out."

"Not surprising," Shining replied with a knowing nod, "Chrysalis had only just attacked the Crystal Empire after all."

Moon Dancer nodded in return.

"Thankfully nopony was seriously injured," she said as they began trotting up the steps, "Cadence saw that the changelings weren't actually attacking, and she stopped the fighting."

"They didn't attack?" Shining asked incredulously, "wait... so if they weren't trying to attack Cadence, then what did they want? How did they even know she was there?"

"We never found out how she knew, and Chrysalis never said, but after some convincing, the changelings led them to the place we now use as a base of operations... and speaking of which..."

They reached the top of the steps and the hallway widened out slightly before coming to an abrupt stop.

Another set of double doors blocked their way—these ones large and ornate, with an image of what looked like two alicorns rising up onto their hindlegs on either side.

Moon Dancer stopped before the doors and turned back to Shining Armor, her expression serious.

"I don't know how long they were down there before the changelings came," she continued, as though they hadn't stopped trotting, "but by the time they found them, Cadence and the others had long since run out of supplies and were practically starving."

"So.... the changelings saved my wife and her group by leading them to this place," Shining Armor guessed, flicking his gaze behind the mare, "and I take it that leads to your 'base of operations'?"

"You're right on both accounts," Moon Dancer replied with a nod, "but I wanted to make something clear before we head inside."

Shining furrowed his brow curiously and motioned for her to continue. She glanced behind her before looking back at Shining Armor.

"Cadence... didn't make it out of the Crystal Empire unscathed," Moon Dancer said hesitantly, "Some of the Umbrum tracked her team down and... well..."

"She suffered an injury," Shining nodded, "as long as she's alive and no longer in danger, that's all that matters to me."

He gave Moon Dancer a level stare.

"Let me see my wife, Moon Dancer," he practically intoned, "I'll let her explain the rest."

Moon Dancer bit her lip and nodded.

"Alright, I just wanted to make sure you knew so you weren't... you know, shocked or anything—"

She yelped in surprise as the doors behind her suddenly creaked open of their own accord. She whipped around and saw that the door was bathed in a bright cyan glow.

"If I know my Shiny," came a familiar voice, "I don't think he'll mind a scar or two."

Shining's ears perked up and his jaw dropped open as the doors were pulled back far enough to see behind.

Behind the door was a cavern so large that Shining couldn't see the back, nor could he see the ceiling, just a dark empty space above.

It was as though the ponies here had built another Crystal City below ground. Looking further back, Shining could see all manner of crystal made structures, as well as the crystal ponies that most likely built them.

It wasn't just crystal ponies, or even ponies in general either.

There were a surprising amount of diamond dogs milling about as well, though given how deep beneath the surface they were, it wasn't all that surprising.

What was surprising, were the few griffons he could see through the doorway. He thought he even spotted a few adolescent dragons somewhere further back.

It wasn't exactly an orderly looking settlement. It was as though the buildings were set up wherever the builder felt like setting it up.

There had clearly been no planning behind the structure, but none of the buildings seemed to get in the way of each other and there was plenty of room to trotted or walk about.

From where he was standing, he couldn't see too much, but it was enough to know that this was more than the small base he had been expecting... much more.

This was a new home away from home.

Shining took all of this in in almost an instant, but he pushed all this new information to the back of his mind for later.

Right now all of his attention was on the pink mare standing before him. His eyes were wide and tears threatened to spill down his cheeks as the mare smiled at him.

He stepped past Moon Dancer and through the doorway, completely ignoring the two mares in crystal armor on either side of her.

He ignored the stares he got from passing ponies, he ignored their mutters and whispers, and he ignored the angry red criss-crossing scars that covered most of the pink alicorn's chest.

In that moment, nothing mattered except the fact that Cadence was alive and well, standing here to greet him.

Though he couldn't help but set a small thought aside for the much shorter cut violet, rose, and gold mane that fell across one side of her face.

"Hello, Shiny."

Two words from the mare.

"Cadence..."

A single, strained utterance from the stallion.

It could only be called an exchange by the simplest of terms, but the love in each word was clear for everypony there to see.

It was there, and it was strong, even after all these years.

Shining stopped in front of his wife, causing the two mares on either side to back away. He looked into her eyes and she looked back.

Bright purple met brilliant cerulean, and the rest of the world was forgotten as they embrace for the first time in ages.

The crowd went unheeded as their lips met, and any more thoughts about what Chrysalis or even Sombra was up to, were pushed aside for the time being.

It ended all too soon and Cadence pulled back with a happy smile and eyes glossy with tears.

"I missed you... so much," she whispered, "I would've stormed the Crystal Palace myself and taken on Sombra if I had the strength, but... I'm not very good at fighting just yet so there wasn't much I could do."

"Didn't stop you from trying," came a hushed voice from behind and to the left of Cadence, "had to stop you from galloping off after him more than once..."

"Fer Celestia's sake, shut it, Scoots!" hissed another voice from directly behind the pink alicorn, "this is supposed ta be a heart warmin' reunion, so don't ruin it!"

"I'm just saying," the other voice muttered, fluffing her wings petulantly, "coulda made our jobs a bit easier on us if she wasn't trying to go out there and—ow! Alright, I'm shutting up, sheesh..."

The orange pegasus mare rubbed her foreleg, the spot beneath the armor sore from where the yellow earth pony mare struck her.

They glared at each other for a moment before noticing that the exchange between Shining and Cadence had stopped.

Their ears folded back as they turned back to the two lovebirds with sheepish chuckles.

Despite the yellow earth mare's best efforts, the mood had been completely ruined, and both Cadence and Shining Armor turned their attention to the two of them—Shining looking on in bemusement, and Cadence in amusement.

"Cadence?" Shining asked with a raised eyebrow, "who are these two?"

"I'm sorry, Shining," Cadence replied with a giggle, "these are my two personal Crystal Guards, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, and yes, they're right... I've caused them a bit of trouble in the past with my... ah... antics."

"Darn right you have," muttered Scootaloo, "nearly cost me a wing trying to sneak into the city the last time."

"Scootaloo!" Apple Bloom growled before turning back to Shining with an apologetic smile, "you're Cadence's husband, Shinin' Armor, right? Ah'm Apple Bloom, and this here's Scootaloo. It's nice ta meetcha."

"Likewise," Shining replied with a friendly smile, regaining his bearings after the emotional whiplash, "I see you've been doing my job for me while I was away."

"You don't know the half of it," Scootaloo replied with a roll of her eyes, "it wasn't easy, but we manage to pull it off somehow."

Cadence laughed and shook her head before turning back to her husband.

"Don't let them fool you," Cadence said with a smirk, "they're even more reckless than I am."

Shining frowned.

"Cady—"

"I know that tone," Cadence interjected with a serious frown of her own, "and don't worry, Shiny. Despite what these two say, I know when to pull out of a dangerous situation, and they're a lot more capable than they look, trust me."

"But you shouldn't even be in any dangerous situations in the first place," he argued, taking a step forward, "I didn't fight Chrysalis off and get thrown into a cell for sixteen years just so you could suffer the same fate."

He winced at Cadence's guilty expression.

"...I'm sorry, Cadence," he finally said with a heavy sigh, "I'm... I'm just worried about you. I haven't seen you in ages and... and for the longest time I thought you'd died."

He hung his head, but a pink hoof quickly reached beneath his chin and pushed it back up. Cadence searched his eyes for a moment before giving him a warm, understanding smile.

"I know it hasn't been easy for you, Shining, believe me," she said quietly, "I've been worried sick for so many years myself, wondering if they'd finally decided that... that you weren't worth keeping alive."

She released him and stepped back.

"But none of that matters now," she said in a louder, more encouraging tone, "we're both here and alive. We have each other now... we have the rebellion. We'll take back the Crystal Empire and Equestria from Sombra."

"How?" Shining asked, before looking around, "Cadence, where even is this? What even is this?"

Cadence's smile faded and she followed Shining's gaze, looking at all the creatures going about their business.

With a sigh she turned back to Shining Armor, her countenance grim.

"These are all the crystal ponies we've managed to rescue from Sombra's clutches, along with some allies we've picked up over the years. The diamond dogs in particular have been a big help in maintaining this place."

"I see," Shining replied, turning his questioning gaze back to Cadence, "and what about this whole deal with Chrysalis and her changelings?"

Cadence chuckled and Shining raised an eyebrow.

Rather than answer right away, the pink alicorn turned on the spot and started trotting away deeper into the city—Scootaloo and Apple Bloom moving to follow behind her.

She stopped and turned to look at Shining over her shoulder.

"I think you and Moon Dancer should follow me... we have a lot to talk about, Shiny."

Author's Note

I was gonna wait until I finished the epilogue to post this, but it ended up taking way longer than it should've so I'm releasing this now and the epilogue later today.

Epilogue

Night had fallen in the Crystal Empire and all was quiet.

Standing on a balcony overlooking the city was Chrysalis, donning her disguise as Queen Luna. While the city slept, Chrysalis did not—her mind too preoccupied with both events that had long since past, and events that had yet to come.

As the disguised Changeling Queen looked out over the shining city, she frowned. She had only freed Shining Armor recently, and already she feared Sombra might be on to her, but she had no choice but to act when she did.

She had been told of Sombra's plan for her and her changelings, and horrified though she was, she no longer had the power to stop him on her own.

Chrysalis had given the resistance everything they needed to fend for themselves. She'd given them the means to grow—planted the seed that would sprout and bloom into a force powerful enough to take out Sombra.

Sombra.

Even in her most foolish moments, she was no fool. Shining's attempt to buy time for his precious wife, while admirable, would've ultimately been pointless had Chrysalis herself been so inclined to go after the mare.

Sombra was busy elsewhere, and Chrysalis was in the perfect position to take out Cadence, but she didn't. She let the weakened alicorn go as she thoroughly trounced her husband.

It wasn't out of compassion, nor was it out of pity or even arrogance. Just like her interference with Sombra's little pet project, her actions were measured and would benefit her in the end, even if she were to die.

It was another failsafe.

Foolish though she was to do so in the end, she trusted Sombra a great deal... but that was only so far as a changeling could trust.

She, by her very nature, was a creature of deceit and manipulation, and that hadn't changed, not even with her devotion to the shadowy stallion.

With Cadence free, she knew the defeated Princess would rally eventually and come back to save her precious Shiny.

She was the one that made sure the Princess got out of the city and made it to the underground tunnels below the Frozen North.

She was the one who brought them to the safe haven they now called home. She had been the one to give them the supplies they needed to survive for so long.

It was not Cadence, but Chrysalis herself that built the rebellion into what it was today, all as a failsafe in case Sombra ever betrayed her.

If it turned out that Sombra was true to his every word—fulfilled his promises as he said he would—then all Chrysalis would have to do is say the word, and the Princess's little resistance would crumble in an instant.

She had worked tirelessly to gain Cadence's trust, and by extension, the trust of all of her followers. It was a grueling, frustrating task, but she did it all the same, and it seemed her efforts had paid off.

She held off and held out for as long as she could, hoping, wishing, praying that Sombra would give her the one thing she craved above all else... but it was all for naught, and Chrysalis was done.

This insane plan of his was the final straw.

Chrysalis closed her eyes and shuddered in disgust and silent rage as she recalled Sombra's words. She had succeeded in her plan to undermine his virus... but he hadn't given up.

With the new threat Abyssinia and this 'Storm King' posed, he had revived his perfect soldier project, and this time, Chrysalis would not be a part of it.

At least, not in the way she was before.

She manage to erase any and all evidence of her tampering when the project was brought back up, but that wasn't the problem.

The problem was that Sombra's team of scientist had found the wrench Chrysalis had thrown into the cogs of Sombra's viral machine and removed it.

The virus was back to working order and almost ready to be used the way it was originally meant to be. When he next used the virus, the victim would be nothing more than Sombra's puppet soldier, just as he had intended all along.

The victims in question this time around, however... would be Chrysalis and her changelings.

The tests had already been done with changeling cells. As it turned out, changelings made the perfect host—far more effective than even griffons did.

Stability and obedience were all but assured.

Chrysalis let out a shaky sigh, the breath she released misting slightly in the cool night air. She was far too weak to stop what was coming.

She was too weak to fight, there was nowhere she could run where Sombra couldn't find her, and the stallion had his own methods of weeding her and her kind out of hiding.

His own horrible, horrible methods.

She could do little to stop what was to come, but not all was lost. Sombra thought that those infected by the virus were completely invulnerable, invincible, and untouchable... but he was wrong.

There were indeed weaknesses that could be exploited, and she had managed to keep that bit of information to herself. That... and the knowledge of the rebellion she had fostered in secret for so many years.

Now that it had come to this... she'd take both those secrets to her grave... where Sombra was concerned at any rate.

The resistance itself however...

Chrysalis's ear twitched at the sudden quiet hum of a spell being released somewhere close behind her. She smiled, but didn't turn around.

"I trust you were able to make it here without incident, Miss Belle?"

Chrysalis's tone was quiet and measured, Luna's voice giving it a more authoritative flair. The pony that had faded into existence behind her gave a sharp salute before responding just as quietly.

"Yes, Ma'am," the white unicorn mare replied, "made it here without a hitch. Nopony saw me, and I didn't even have to take anypony out this time."

"Good," Chrysalis replied, finally turning to face the mare, "if you had screwed this up, everything I've worked for up to this point would be ruined."

Before the Queen stood none other than Sweetie Belle, dressed in standard full-body 'liquid armor', the same shade of dark blue as the coat Chrysalis was currently 'wearing'.

The armor—made of an alloy whose name the designer refused to share—was smooth, seamless, quiet, and reflected no light. It had been one of Coco's greatest works, though Sweetie herself still felt her sister could've done better if she were here.

Still, it got the job done.

Chrysalis took a moment to observe the mare standing rigidly before her. She had no recollection of ever meeting the pony before the resistance, but now knew the mare to be the sister of one of the Elements of Harmony.

Sweetie Belle was still just a filly when the resistance was formed, but when it came to what remained of Ponyville to recruit members, she and her friends had caught wind of it and snuck their way into the group that had opted to join.

Chrysalis herself hadn't personally been there when they were recruited, but from what she had heard, Sweetie was surprisingly talented when it came to espionage and infiltration.

The Queen hadn't known how that even came about, but with the training she and her friends had done under Sweetie Drops, she had become a force to be reckoned with—they all had as the years went by.

But then there was the matter of their sisters.

They had asked, constantly, but Chrysalis never gave them a straight answer regarding those six mares. Eventually they gave up, coming to the conclusion that Chrysalis really didn't know anything... or so she made them believe.

She had decided to play dumb regarding the Elements up until now, but that would soon change once Shining Armor decided to bring it up.

It no longer mattered, really, and she had far more pressing things to worry about anyway. They could figure out what to do with the information on their own.

There were however, some things that needed to be said and done now, because once Sombra got his hooves on Chrysalis and her changelings, it would be far too late.

Chrysalis put the dark thoughts out of her mind for the moment and put on a regal, confident mask as she spoke.

"I wouldn't have called you out here unless it was of grave importance," Chrysalis continued after a long moment, "I have news for you and the rest... and you won't like it."

Sweetie's stoic frown faltered slightly, but she quickly recovered and nodded.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure we can deal with it," she replied confidently, "we've managed to survive this long, and now that you've broken Shining out of jail, things are—"

"Only going to get harder for you," Chrysalis interjected, "I'm sorry Sweetie Belle, but this isn't something to take quite so lightly," she sighed and turned away from the bemused mare, looking back out towards the city once more, "I... what I'm about to tell you is going to be... difficult, but please understand that I have no choice."

Sweetie didn't reply, but a growing sense of dread began to well up within her. She swallowed and took a step forward, waiting for Chrysalis to continue with nervous anticipation.

After another moment of silent contemplation, Chrysalis continued.

"In a few days time, I and the rest of my changelings are going to become not just your enemy, but the enemy of Equus as a whole," she turned back to Sweetie with a grave expression, "we're going to become Sombra's puppet soldiers... and we're going to be nearly unstoppable."

"M-Ma'am?" Sweetie Belle replied, taking a shocked step back, "but... but what are you... what do you mean? Sombra's puppet? Why? How?"

"He's going to turn us into something horrible, something powerful, and something completely under his control," Chrysalis replied, fighting to keep her voice steady, "and there's nothing I can do to stop him."

"But... Ma'am I," Sweetie Belle paused and looked away for a few seconds her ears folding back and her face downcast. Her face then hardened and she looked back, "very well, Ma'am. I take it I'm suppose to relay your final message back to Cadence and the others?"

"Indeed," Chrysalis confirmed with a nod, "you are to deliver this..." with a bright green flash of her horn, Chrysalis produced a large manila folder out of thin air, "Cadence is to know everything contained within this folder. It contains everything you need to know about what's to come and what to do about it."

She floated the folder over to Sweetie, who took it in her own magic and eyed it with no small amount of curiosity. She returned her attention back to Chrysalis when she spoke again, worried by the sudden softness of her next words.

"There's more," Chrysalis continued, her gaze back on the city below, "Cadence might run the resistance publicly, but I control it behind the scenes, as she, yourself, and a few others know."

Sweetie Belle nodded uncertainly.

"With as much as you've done for us, I don't see how more ponies haven't figured it out yet," she replied with a weak chuckle, "AB and Scoots didn't realize it until I told them directly."

"Something I warned you against in the past if you recall," Chrysalis replied wryly, "I didn't want word getting out to everyone, remember?"

"Er... right," Sweetie muttered, shifting her hooves silently and awkwardly, "I forgot about that... sorry."

"It doesn't matter," Chrysalis replied with a slow shake of her head, "what matters now is that I will no longer be able to lead you from the shadows, and that I have knowledge."

She fully turned to face Sweetie Belle now, focusing all her attention on the mare in order to get across just how important her next words were.

"I have knowledge that Sombra will want, knowledge that he may already suspect I have... do you understand what I'm saying?"

Sweetie Belle gave a slow nod of her own, the dread from earlier rising higher in her chest.

"Once he... does whatever he's going to do to you... he'll probably try to get information on us," she surmised, "you know everything about the resistance, and if he gets his hooves on you—"

"Then you're all done for," Chrysalis finished, "most likely none of you will survive to oppose Sombra ever again, and you'll all probably die by my hoof... unless steps are taken."

"What do you propose we do?" Sweetie asked worriedly, "it's been years since the rebellion started, but we're only just now getting into a position where we can start taking on Sombra in earnest."

"It's not what you're going to do to maintain the secret," Chrysalis answered with a heavy sigh of resignation, "it's what I'm going to do to myself and my changelings before Sombra turns us to his side."

"A-And what's that?" Sweetie asked, not really wanting to hear the answer, "what are you gonna do?"

For the first time since Sweetie Belle had first met her, Chrysalis gave Sweetie Belle a genuine smile. It was full of sadness and regret, but it was no less sincere for it.

"I'm going to wipe mine and my children's minds clean of the knowledge of the rebellion's existence."

The unicorn was silent for a minute, her own mind working through what Chrysalis was suggesting. Given the circumstances, it was a perfectly logical thing to do, but this was Chrysalis.

She and her changelings were masters of disguise, trickery, and infiltration. Sweetie Belle would know, she took personal lessons from some of Chrysalis's own changelings themselves.

Even if Chrysalis were to go through with such a plan, Sweetie was sure, she'd just find them again in no time, but other than that, there wasn't really much she could do.

Sombra was too powerful now—too well prepared to defend himself for any kind of sneak attack. All they had at this point was subterfuge and deceit.

The thought occurred to her that Chrysalis could simply end her own life and not give Sombra the chance, but that thought was quickly and mercilessly stomped out.

Besides that, Sweetie knew the Queen would never go for it as it was.

If she went that route, she'd have to kill all of her children, and there was no way she was going to do that, no matter how dire the situation, and this was indeed a very dire situation.

Chrysalis chuckled at the conflicted expression on Sweetie Belle's face. For some reason Chrysalis could not fathom, Sweetie had taken a liking to her. She never said as much, but the Changeling Queen could feel her affection clear as day.

Chrysalis could tell that what she had planned to do, and this whole situation in general, was getting to the mare much more than she let on.

After what felt like an eternity however, Sweetie Belle finally managed to look the disguised Changeling Queen in the eyes with a small nod of acceptance.

"I understand, Ma'am," Sweetie finally replied, "but I would like to ask you one thing before you do this. Cadence doesn't know, and I haven't told her."

Chrysalis winced inwardly, at the sudden coldness in Sweetie's eyes. She had a feeling she knew where this conversation was headed, and she didn't like it one bit.

"Very well," Chrsalis replied neutrally, "ask your question then."

"If you've been on our side this whole time, why'd you do all those terrible things to Shining Armor?" Sweetie asked, her voice low and accusatory, "I snuck into the Palace once on an intel mission, and I heard a scream... and when I followed it to it's source... there you were, laughing like a maniac while you shocked Shining with some kind of horrible green lightning."

"...I see," Chrysalis replied somberly. She sighed and hung her head slightly, "and you didn't tell anyone? Not even Cadence?"

"I...." Sweetie's cold glare faltered and she looked away and her next words were whispered and hurt, "how could I? It would've broken Cadence's heart to know what you were doing to her husband. And besides that, I..."

She shook her head rapidly before glaring at Chrysalis again.

"Why?" she repeated more forcefully, "why did you do it?"

Chrysalis remained silent for a moment before speaking again, her own voice quiet and remorseful.

"To tell you the truth, Sweetie Belle, when I first helped create the resistance, I had an ulterior motive," she confessed, "I didn't really care about any of you, I just want insurance in case Sombra betrayed me.

"Shining Armor meant nothing to me, Cadence meant nothing to me, none of you meant anything more to me than pawns to be used at my disposal."

Chrysalis sighed again as she sensed the hurt coming off of the mare in waves.

"I know this isn't what you wanted to hear, but over time, I did realize how important the resistance was, and I... while I was... ingratiating myself to you all and Cadence, I..."

Chrysalis turned her back to Sweetie Belle and hung her head lower. When she spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper.

"I'm sorry, Sweetie," she said softly, "I know it hurts to hear, but you have to believe me when I say that I've since changed for the better in recent years. I care about what happens to all of you... and I want to take down Sombra just as much as any of you."

"Then say that to my face."

Chrysalis turned to see a stern faced Sweetie staring back at her expectantly.

"Say it to my face," Sweetie repeated, "I want to see your eyes when you say that, then I'll know if your telling the truth or not."

Chrysalis stared back at Sweetie in dumbfounded silence for a few moments before letting out a strange mix between a bark of laughter and a choked sob.

She regained control of herself and looked the mare dead in the eye.

"I've changed Sweetie Belle," Chrysalis intoned, "I'm no longer the evil Bug Queen I once was, now I just want to protect my children... and if I can't do that... I want to destroy the one who took them away from me."

They stared at each other for a full minute before Sweetie Belle smiled and nodded in satisfaction, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.

"I believe you, Ma'am," she whispered, "and I'm sorry."

"No, Sweetie," Chrysalis responded with a shake of her head, "I'm the one that needs to apologize. But time grows short, and I need to get back to my own chambers. That means you need to leave, and quickly."

"Understood," Sweetie replied, snapping another salute and raising the folder in the air, "I'll deliver this straight to Cadence... and... Ma'am?"

"Chrysalis raised an eyebrow expectantly at Sweetie's sudden hesitation. After a moment of awkward shuffling, the mare spoke again.

"I... I'm gonna miss you."

The disguised changeling let out a humorless chuckle in response.

"Trust me, Sweetie Belle," she said with a bitter smile, "when Sombra's done with me, you'll wish I was dead and gone. Now then... goodbye Sweetie Belle, and good luck to you and the others."

Before Sweetie could protest Chrysalis rose from where she had been sitting near the rail of the balcony and trotted past her. She stopped when she was back inside the hallway and looked back to Sweetie Belle over her shoulder.

"Ah... and, Sweetie Belle?"

The mare looked back at her with a question gaze that belied a vast mix of emotions.Chrysalis gave her one last sad, sincere smile and said only one thing more before trotting away.

"Tell Shining Armor and Cadence, that I'm sorry... for everything."

Author's Note

Welp, that's it. I am officially done with what I guess it Part Two of this series. I have a few sequels in mind that I'm planning on working on and I have yet to decide which one will come first, but this one and the others will be released sometime before the year is out, that's the most I can promise at the moment.

Aside from that however, there's going to be a lot going on in the next story. I'll try to keep it to a trilogy, but I make no promises. I actually wouldn't mind having mulitple books for this story if I'm being completely honest though.

Anyway, thanks as alway for the support and I'll see you all in the next book! :twilightsmile:

Thoughts

"Nervous, sugarcube?"

Rather than answer Applejack right away, Fluttershy looked around her, observing the griffons as they walked past. Some kept to their own business, but many others stopped and stared in wonder. There were hushed whispers, concerned and excited mutters, and distrustful gazes all around the two ponies.

Yet Fluttershy still observed.

That was the key action that stood out to the normally cripplingly shy pony -- she observed, unabashed and unafraid. She didn't try to shrink in on herself like she normally did in public or when surrounded by strangers, nor did she try to hide behind her mane and avoid any eye contact.

If a griffon stared at her, she stared back -- not out of defiance of course, but more out of honest curiosity. She did feel a pang of guilt and hurt whenever a griffon would wince or shiver before quickly turning away.

Still, Fluttershy hadn't felt this confident since she had first started taking lessons from Iron Will -- except it wasn't quite like that. This was a much more familiar feeling, something she dealt with everyday back in her little cottage on the outskirts of Ponyville.

Being around all these griffons -- these complete strangers -- was like being surrounded by animals. It was less that she thought they were adorable or had a desire to help them, and more that she knew they wouldn't and couldn't hurt her -- that she felt at ease knowing she could handle them if they got too rowdy.

She was the one in control of the situation, not them.

She was the strong and powerful predator, they were the weak and defenseless prey.

Her newfound confidence on top of her current... circumstances, brought back shameful and painful memories of when she had taken Iron Will's lessons too far, and the thought made her uncomfortable despite her lack of fear and shyness.

Were these feelings carried over from when she had transformed into that... thing?

To her slight disturbance, she found she couldn't answer her own question.

"Fluttershy?"

The pegasus in question snapped out of her musings and turned to see Applejack giving her a concerned frown. The cowpony rested a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder, her frown switching to a reassuring smile.

"If yer not feelin' up to it, ya'll can go back," she offered, "ah can take care of this on mah own."

"No, that's not it," Fluttershy replied with a single shake of her head, "I just... I'm just feeling a bit... strange after waking up is all."

"Ah can understand that," Applejack replied, taking a step back before she and Fluttershy continued their trot forward, "things sure have gone to Tartarus in a hoofbasket I tell ya."

Fluttershy nodded silently and looked over to the large statue of a burly looking griffon in military attire that decorated the center of town. As the two viral ponies made their way closer to the town square, Applejack leaned in close to her pegasus friend.

"Let me do the talkin'," she muttered, "we'll let em' know what's what an' head back ta town hall in a jiffy, sound good?"

"That sounds perfect, Applejack," Fluttershy replied with another nod, "it feels like ages since I've spent anytime with you all, and to be honest..." she looked around at the curious griffons who were already starting to gather around them, and whispered to Applejack, "...I'd rather not be a spectacle if I can help it."

Applejack chuckled and shook her head as she too looked around at the griffons.

"Looks like yer gonna halfta deal with it, Flutters," the cowpony replied, "that's more or less what this shindig Pinkie and the rest of us are puttin' together is all about."

"Oh... right," Fluttershy murmured unhappily, "Pinkie did mention something like that..."

Fluttershy may not have been afraid or shy about being around such a crowd anymore, but whatever changes had befallen her hadn't completely stripped her of her introverted nature.

"It'll be alright, Fluttershy," Applejack assured as she stepped up in front of the statue, "we just gotta get through this party an' then we can all sit down an' have a nice long chat."

"I know," Fluttershy replied with a grateful smile, "thanks, Applejack."

"Not a problem, sugarcube," Applejack responded with a smile of her own.

She turned to the gathering griffons and cleared her throat before speaking in a louder voice.

"HEY YA'LL! IF AH COULD GET YER ATTENTION FER A MOMENT..."

Pinkie trotted along the dirt road to one of the few stores they had here in Squawken. Looking around the rather old fashioned hamlet, she was surprised they had the kind of party supplies she'd been looking for at all, but she wasn't complaining.

She was genuinely happy that she was able to reunite with her friends, and as she had hoped, having them around quelled the Voice in her head to the point where it was almost nonexistent.

While she still couldn't feel true remorse for the slaughter she had partaken in, she could at least feel sympathy for her fellow ponies-turned-viruses. Rainbow had been mistaken in thinking she felt bad about her actions before.

What had truly bothered the pink mare, was being reminded that nothing would be the same as it was before. They couldn't go back to the way things were -- not after what happened in that facility. Even if they somehow returned to their normal pony selves, the guilt and self-loathing would most likely crush them all.

It was a lose-lose situation, and that's what bothered Pinkie the most, and if that wasn't enough, the Voice was back. Without her friends around, it clawed its way back into her mind, pressing upon her like a lead weight.

Traveling the small hamlet by herself, she could hear it loud and clear -- whispering to her, putting cruel and terrible ideas into her head as she observed the griffons walking by. She managed to ignore it, giving the griffons a strained smile or a shaky wave before quickly moving on.

It wasn't like she was on the knife edge of slaughtering anypony. It was more that she was desperately trying not to give in to the cold indifference that threatened to overwhelm her cheerful disposition.

She knew she'd always care about her friends and would do anything to make them happy -- Voice or no -- but she also wanted to make everypony else happy too. She couldn't do that if she was stuck as some kind of emotionless killing machine -- a mere puppet dancing on the strings of that Tartarus forsaken Voice.

If she let the Voice control her, that's exactly what she would become.

She also had a strong feeling Twilight was going through something similar, if not worse. She hadn't said anything at the time, but when she saw her lavender friend back in the hallway of that facility, she knew something was very wrong -- even beyond the evil looking black eyes.

Pinkie had had years of experience repressing her more negative thoughts and emotions to the point where it was as easy as breathing. She highly doubted Twilight had any such experience, and that worried the pink mare.

In fact, Pinkie was almost certain Twilight's often obsessive compulsive personality made her even more susceptible to whatever had overtaken her. From what little she had seen of Twilight in that state, she had noticed traces of the lavender unicorn's more negative traits twisted into a sadistic form.

She didn't like it.

When they all had a chance to finally sit down and talk about what happened, Pinkie promised herself she would talk to Twilight about her condition and maybe together they could work out how to deal with both their issues together.

She would've talked to Fluttershy as well, but it seemed the yellow pegasus and Twilight had already had a heart-to-heart after they had woken up. With a plan in place, Pinkie set her face in a determined smile and trotted the rest of the way to the shop with a bit more bounce in her step.

As long as she had her friends, everything would turn out okay in the end... somehow.

After Twilight's surprisingly brief freakout regarding a potential outbreak befalling Equestria, Rarity had left her two friends to take care of the remaining setup while she dealt with the 'contaminated material'.

Twilight's magic was too weak to cast any kind of spells at the moment, so she gave Rarity a quick rundown of how to cast an Incineration spell. It was rather difficult to understand, but Rarity more or less got the gist of it.

Now she was making her way outside of town where she could rid herself of the bags without making a scene.

As she traveled the snowy path with the heavy bags in tow, her gaze idly drifted towards the setting sun as it lowered itself below the high peaks of the other snowcapped mountains in the area.

It really is a beautiful sight, Rarity thought with a sigh, if it weren't for our unfortunate circumstances, this hamlet would make a nice little vacationing spot.

The white mare frowned slightly.

She felt as though she should be more worried, but ever since Rarity had woken up in that strange facility, she had taken everything surprisingly well.. too well she realized. She told Twilight that she had suffered some anguish of her own during their escape, but in truth that had been a complete lie.

Up to that point she hadn't panicked about her situation even once, at least not beyond what was normal for the six of them whenever they went on an adventure or fought against villains together.

She had initially felt well rested and refreshed upon waking and hadn't run into any kind of trouble until she stumbled into an ambush and was rescued by a confused and panicked Applejack. Yes there had been some fighting and she had gotten her own hooves dirty, but through it all she hadn't even felt an ounce of regret, remorse, or guilt.

The only real regret she had felt was having to admit her dark deeds to Fluttershy. Other than that she felt no worse for her crimes.

On the contrary, the feeling she got when smashing her hooves into those nasty mercenaries had been akin to the satisfaction she received from finishing a particularly spectacular dress.

The feeling wasn't anywhere near what Twilight had described when she had talked about killing that griffon, but still, Rarity had opted to leave out that little tidbit when she and the lavender mare had had their talk. She had seen how drastically these changes had affected her friends, and she couldn't help but wonder...

Why did she herself feel so... normal about the whole thing?

She didn't feel like she had changed in the slightest. She certainly felt bad for how distraught her friends must be about all of this, but she herself felt strangely... disconnected from it all. She obviously knew something had changed because she never would've done the things she did to those ponies and griffons before this mess started...

....or would she?

Rarity stopped in her tracks -- her thoughts completely derailed by that one single question. She suddenly realized she had never given any thought to such a thing before. Not once did she ever even consider the idea of killing a pony before any of this started.

How could she say with absolute certainty that she would never do it?

If asked outright if she would be willing to kill a pony for any reason... what would she say? The obvious answer would be of course not, and she was certain that would've been the answer she gave before.

But now...

Now she was beginning to wonder if she would've truly meant it. What did it mean to feel completely normal in this absolutely abnormal and frankly morbid situation? Was this 'virus' affecting her mind so thoroughly that she didn't even register the change in her psyche, or had she just always been this way and never even realized it until now?

After a moment of silent rumination Rarity scoffed and shook her head.

"Oh come now, Rarity, you're overthinking things," she muttered to herself, "me? Some kind of... of... natural born killer? Such a thing is absurd," she held her head up high with a determined frown, "I am a lady, and as a lady, I would've never committed such a vile act as murder... at least, not before all this..."

She bit her lip uncertainly and gave another quick shake of her head before starting down the snow covered path once more, bags pulled along by her blackened aura.

Author's Note

The next chapter will be in the same vein as this one, but focusing more on Twilight, AJ, and Rainbow.

Return

It had been a little over an hour since Fluttershy disappeared, and the rest of the girls were getting rather nervous all things considered. It was true that Fluttershy could probably hold her own—especially now, given their unique circumstances.

Still, the normally timid yellow pegasus had yet to be seen anywhere, and Rainbow Dash in particular wasn't taking it too well. The rainbow maned pegasus had gone so far as to blame Twilight for the situation.

"Oh, let's go through the super thick forest instead of just flying past this mess like sensible ponies!" Rainbow mocked before finishing with a growl, "seriously, Twilight, I knew something like this was gonna happen, and now we can't find Fluttershy... anywhere!"

"Now calm down, Rainbow," Applejack cut in, pushing the angry pegasus out of Twilight's face, "it ain't no time ta be fightin' amongst ourselves, ya hear?" she fully stepped in front of Rainbow and jerked her head towards the forest around them, "we got more important things ta do right now, if ya wanna blame, Twilight, do it after we find Fluttershy, got it?"

Rainbow Dash glared at Applejack for a moment before looking back to a grimacing Twilight. Rainbow knew Applejack was right, but she also knew she was right to be mad at Twilight. This all could've been easily avoided if—

A low growl was the only warning Rainbow got before she found herself suddenly pinned to the ground. She clenched her eyes shut reflexively as something above her growled, and snorted, and sniffed at her.

When she realized she wasn't being eaten alive, she slowly cracked one eye open, then both went wide as she stared up at the massive fleshy wolf creature's snout. The wolf was sniffing her as though searching for something in her scent.

"WHAT THE BUCK?!" Rainbow Dash squirmed fiercely until one of her hooves were free, "GET... THE BUCK... OFFA ME!"

With that shout of indignation, she smashed her free hoof into the wolf's snout, sending it reeling backwards and off of her and causing it to yelp loudly. As it shook its head trying to regain its bearings, the others snapped out of their shock and leapt into action.

"What in tarnation," Applejack muttered in bemusement before shaking her head and furrowing her brow. She adjusted her stetson and lowered her stance, "don't matter none, RD's in trouble an' ah ain't doin' her a lick o' good just standin' here with mah mouth hangin' open."

"Right," Twilight agreed as she stood next to the farm pony, "I don't know what this thing is or where it came from, but now's not the time to study it," beneath the solemn expression, Applejack could see an all too familiar gleam in Twilight's eye "...that comes later."

Applejack rolled her eyes and refocused on her cyan friend. Rainbow Dash had already recovered and was getting ready to go on the offensive. The rest of the girls were set to follow suit and the massive wolf creature was ready to respond in kind—its head lowered and its mouth set in a ferocious snarl as it growled and snapped at the others.

"Everypony STOP!"

At the sound of the familiar voice coming from just beyond the trees, every one—including the wolf—stopped and snapped their gazes in that direction. Coming from out of the brush and glaring at each one of them, was none other than the yellow pegasus herself.

The wolf whimpered slightly and lowered its fleshy ears in shame as it noticed the glare that was directed at it. The others merely looked from the wolf to Fluttershy in complete confusion.

"You promised me you were going to behave," Fluttershy scolded, "I told you I didn't need you to scout ahead, and now you've gone and attacked my friends. What do you have to say for yourself?"

The wolf gave a single bark before whining again.

"It doesn't matter how suspicious they looked," Fluttershy replied with a shake of her head and a stern frown, "that's no excuse to just attack them out of the blue like that."

An indignant bark.

"That wouldn't have happened if you'd decided not to go running off on your own."

A low growl and a glare in Rainbow Dash's direction—the action causing the cyan pegasus to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"Yes, I know," Fluttershy replied, taking a step forward and rubbing a reassuring hoof along the wolf's neck, "she is very strong... we all are. But that doesn't mean they're going to hurt you... if you give them no reason to, that is."

The other girls flinched as they suddenly found themselves under the intense scrutiny of Fluttershy's Glare.

"Isn't that right, girls?"

She got a round of rapid nods in response and smile warmly as she turned back to the bulky wolf.

"See? They won't hurt you if you don't try to hurt them, okay?"

The wolf was silent a moment, turning to stare at each of the girls in turn as if sizing them up. Eventually it turned back to Fluttershy and gave a satisfied bark before moving to stand besides the butter yellow mare.

"Um... Fluttershy, darling," Rarity began tentatively, never taking her eyes off of the wolf, "what exactly happened after you disappeared?"

Fluttershy's eyes widened as she remembered that she had indeed abandoned the others in her curiosity. She looked away with a guilty frown and scuffed at the dirt beneath her hooves for a moment before speaking.

"I'm sorry, girls," she said quietly, "I just... I could feel that there was something strange out there and I couldn't help but try to find out what it was. I got the feeling it would've been a bad idea to bring you all along, so... I went alone," she cringed slightly, "...I'm sorry."

"All is forgiven, as long as you're safe and sound, dear," Rarity replied with a wave of her hoof and a warm smile. The smile was soon replaced with a bemused frown as she looked back at the wolf, "and I suppose this... creature is what drew your attention?"

"Oh yes," Fluttershy replied, perking up at the mention of the wolf. She turned and smiled at the massive canine, "he might not look it, but he really is a big softy... just a little territorial and protective is all—kind of like Harry if he were a bit more serious."

"That's all well an' good, Flutters," Applejack responded stepping closer to the wolf with a frown, "but what in the hay is this... and why is it so... uh..." she tilted her head and her frown deepened, "aw shoot, I don't know how ta put it in words... it's like... it's like it's part o' the family or somethin'."

"I do feel an odd sort of kinship with it," Twilight observed, stepping right up to the wary canine and inspecting it from all sides, "but where did it come from? Was it originally a normal wolf? If so, what caused this change?"

"This is pretty neat!" Pinkie exclaimed from atop the wolf's back. The creature started in surprise before twisting its neck to look at the pink pony, but Pinkie merely hugged it around said neck, "it's like I suddenly found a brother I've never had!"

"It is a rather odd thing if I'm being honest," Rarity added, eyeing the wolf uncertainly before turning back to Fluttershy, "would you care to explain, Fluttershy?"

"Yeah, what the hay happened out there?" Rainbow Dash asked before glaring at the wolf, "did that thing hurt you? If it did I'm gonna—"

"Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow winced and turned back to a stern looking Fluttershy. She gestured back to the wolf as she spoke.

"You look at that wolf... look into its eyes and tell me what you see."

"But..."

Fluttershy gestured again and Rainbow sighed before turning to stare at the wolf. It seemed to sense her gaze and with a flick of its ear it turned to look right back at her. For a few moments, they both stood there, staring each other down.

Then Rainbow Dash snorted and smiled before flying over and playfully hitting it in the shoulder.

"You know what? Me and the big guy aren't so different!" she exclaimed, "I like him!"

"I knew you would, Rainbow," Fluttershy replied with a small smile, "you just needed to look a little deeper, that's all."

"Now that those two have become... acquainted," Rarity continued, trotting up next to Fluttershy, "perhaps you wouldn't mind filling the rest of us in on what's happened in your absence?"

"I don't mind," Fluttershy replied with a nod with a solemn expression, "in fact, I need to tell you all something important."

"What is it, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked as she and the others gathered around the yellow pegasus curiously, "from your look, it doesn't sound like good news."

"It's not," Fluttershy confirmed, "from what Mister Wolf—"

A loud bark rang out, startling both Pinkie and Rainbow.

"—I'm sorry... from what Bright Fang tells me," Fluttershy corrected, "he was just a normal wolf until about three or four years ago. Then a large griffon came, turned into some kind of black monster and killed his entire pack."

"What? Not cool!" Rainbow cried indignantly from over by where she was petting the wolf, "what kind of jerk just shows up and kills off a pack of wolves for no reason?"

"Probably the same kind of jerks who show up to a town and slaughter half their population for no reason," Pinkie replied quietly.

"...Oh, right," Rainbow Dash muttered, flattening her ears against her skull, "I guess we kinda did do that... and I guess it was kinda my fault..."

"No more than mine," Pinkie replied, "if I hadn't lost control like that—"

"Now ain't the time ta beat yerselves up over what already happened," Applejack cut in, frowning at the two, "we all played our part in that debacle, an' frettin' over it now ain't gonna do us any good."

"Applejack's right," Twilight agreed with a nod before looking back to Fluttershy, "and besides, I'm more worried about this griffon. You said he turned into some kind of black monster?"

Fluttershy nodded gravely.

"From what Bright Fang told me," she continued, "the griffon used black whips and silver metal to kill the rest of his pack. Bright Fang himself managed to escape, but not before being wounded by the griffon."

"That... don't sound good," Applejack muttered, "that don't sound good at all."

"I don't like the implications either," Rarity agreed, "if what you're saying is true, then—"

"Then that wolf was infected," Twilight interjected, furrowing her brow in thought, "and rather than killing it, it caused it to mutate... which means..." her frown deepened and she looked back to Fluttershy and the others, "...there's more like us out there."

"What?!" Rainbow Dash shouted, flying over to where the others were, "but... but how? How is that even possible? And how did they get all the way out here?"

"I don't know, Rainbow," Fluttershy replied, shaking her head sadly, "but there's more."

"I was afraid of that," Rarity muttered, "what else could there possibly be?"

Fluttershy turned and looked Rarity in the eye as she spoke.

"The griffon that killed Bright Fang's pack? It was the same griffon we ran into on the mountain trail earlier... and it sounds like he's heading to Squawken to finish what we started."

Divide

The forest had been much larger than Twilight originally thought, and by the time they reached the southwestern edge, the late afternoon had turned to dusk—the sky now painted in vivid hues of yellow, orange, and red.

The girls had all long since fallen into their own contemplative silences, for better or for worse. Rainbow had opted to take the lead, and it was her that called out to the others when they finally made it past the treeline.

Even then, not much was said as thick forest gave way to miles and miles of lush green wide open fields, and a dirt path could be seen coming from out of the forest.

In the far distance, they could just barely make out a thick haze of smoke lazily drifting upwards from over the horizon, though they were still too far away to see the source.

At Fluttershy's request, Twilight and the others all landed just outside the forest. Once they we're all back on solid earth, the yellow pegasus galloped a little ways back into the forest to meet with Bright Fang.

They had all wondered what the wolf would do, or if it was even a good idea to bring him with them at all. According to Fluttershy, Bright Fang's mutation wasn't quite the same as theirs.

His physiology wasn't malleable like the six mares, and he couldn't disguise himself if they had to go into another town. He would most certainly cause a panic if anyone saw him, but all the same, Fluttershy didn't want to leave him.

In the end, Bright Fang had made the decision for himself. With a few whines and barks aimed at Fluttershy, he nodded towards the others before turning around and running back into the forest.

When asked to elaborate, Fluttershy had mentioned that while Bright Fang wouldn't be traveling with them, he'd 'still find a way to be there when they needed him'.

There was nothing more beyond those cryptic words, so after a brief bout of confusion, the girls once more took to the sky, making their way towards their next destination.

There was some debate over whether or not it was a good idea to head in the direction of the smoke, and cases were made between each of the mares.

"The smoke isn't thick or dark, so I don't think it's because of a raging fire or anything like that," Twilight was saying with a thoughtful look, "it might be the smoke from some kind of... industrial facility."

"If I never see another big fancy facility again, that'd be just fine and dandy," Applejack muttered, flying alongside the others in her griffon disguise, "If you all want my opinion, I say we just move on."

"But what if somepony... ah, somegriffon is hurt or needs our help?" Fluttershy argued, "what if that's only the start of some terrible fire that's only going to get worse and—"

"It's a giant metal city."

Fluttershy blinked at Rainbow's blunt statement. She looked over to the the cyan mare to see that she was staring ahead with wide-eyed disbelief.

She and the other girls followed her gaze. As they passed over the edge of the horizon, they could indeed see what was for all intents and purposes, a massive city made of metal in the far distance.

Even in the waning light of dusk, they could see the glint of tall silver, grey, and bronze structures. One particularly large rectangular building with three tall cylindrical concrete chimneys was to blame for all the smoke.

Unfortunately the girls couldn't make out much more than that in the growing darkness. Still, what they had seen had given them more than a small amount of pause.

"Wow," Pinkie cried with a hint of excitement, "you don't see cities like that in Equestria! Not even places like Manehattan or Detrot are that big and... clunky? Clanky? Metal-y?"

"Industrialized," Twilight replied flatly, "the word you're looking for is 'industrialized'."

"I don't know if I'd even like to see cities like that in Equestria to be honest," Rarity replied, eyeing the city with distaste, "all that smoke and metal... and don't even get me started on the horrid structure of the city itself. Such a dreadful mishmash of garish architecture offends my delicate sensibilities."

She finished her rant with a haughty huff before turning to the others. She blinked and furrowed her brows at the looks she received.

"...What?"

"Geez, Rares," Applejack replied, shaking her head in bemusement, "are you a seamstress or an architect?"

"Oh please, darling," Rarity sniffed, "a true lady strives to find beauty in all things, and even from this distance and in this darkness, I can tell for certain that... that... travesty of a city is in no way beautiful."

"It's no Canterlot, I'll give you that much," Twilight agreed, turning back to the distant city, "but at the same time this might be what a lot of other big cities look like now."

"Riiiight, the whole 'dead for sixteen years' thing," Rainbow replied with a nod, before frowning, "now I'm kind of wondering what Cloudsdale looks like."

"If it's even around anymore," Fluttershy add quietly, "a lot of things can change in sixteen years, especially after a war."

"Ah geez, Fluttershy," Rainbow whined, "why'd you have to go and say something like that?"

Fluttershy winced and looked away.

"I'm sorry, Rainbow," she replied, "I didn't mean to ruin the mood, I'm just worried about what we'll find when we return home."

"No," Rainbow sighed, "no, you're right Fluttershy. We can't expect everything to be cool once we get back."

"Actually," Twilight began hesitantly, "I've... I've been thinking... and... well..."

"Well what?" Pinkie asked, flying next to Twilight and tilting her head curiously, "what'cha thinking about, Twi?"

Twilight looked over to Pinkie, then swept her gaze over all the others and saw that she had gained their attention as well. She bit her lip and looked away before speaking again—her voice low and unsure.

"Well... it's just that," she shook her head and looked back at the others, "should we really just leave Griffonia as it is now?"

"What are you talking about, Twilight?" Applejack asked warily, "we need to get back to Equestria and make sure our friends and family are okay... and if they're not... we need to at least see what happened to our home."

"I know that, Applejack," Twilight replied carefully, "I know getting back is important... but is it as important as making sure this virus doesn't spread anymore than it most likely already has?"

That caused all the other mares to slow to a stop mid flight.

"So... what," Rainbow asked slowly, "are you saying we should... stay here and... do something about it?" she shook her head and frowned at the winged lavender mare, "Twilight, what the hay can we do about it?"

"Rainbow's right, dear," Rarity agreed, "we hardly know a thing about this virus, let alone how to stop it from spreading."

"Frankly, I don't think the six of us alone can do much anyhow," Applejack added, "we'd have to go back to that facility for starters, and I don't wanna do that. Besides, we don't even know where it is."

Twilight wanted to argue against them. She wanted to go home just as much as any of them, but the more she thought about the consequences of leaving the problem alone, the more she wanted to stop it.

At the same time, she knew her friends had all made good points. The virus needed to be stopped, but for all their power, they had no plausible way of doing so.

"I think it's worth trying."

Each of the other girls turned to Fluttershy, who turned to face Twilight with an encouraging smile. She nodded once and turned back to the others, her voice quiet, but full of conviction.

"I don't like what I... what we've become... I hate it," Fluttershy said with a slow shake of her head, "and I don't want anypony or anygriffon else to suffer the same thing."

"I dunno, Flutters," Rainbow replied, rubbing the back of her neck, "we're not exactly suffering here. If anything we're the ones causing the suffering."

"And that's better?!" Fluttershy growled, her glare making Rainbow Dash flinch, "I don't want to hurt or kill ponies, Rainbow Dash, and don't you tell me we aren't suffering!"

Rainbow opened her mouth to respond, only to snap it shut as the irate yellow pegasus shoved her face right in front of her.

"Did you already forget that we almost lost you?" she cried angrily, "Svanhild almost took over and I could've... I might never have seen you again..."

Rainbow stared at the other pegasus.

She saw Fluttershy's expression go from furious to miserable in an instant. All the fight left the mare and she turned away from her cyan friend.

"Fluttershy, I... I didn't—"

"Whatever you all decide to do, I'm siding with Twilight on this," Fluttershy muttered without turning back around. Her expression hardened as she looked at Twilight, "even if you decide to go back to Equestria... I'm... I'm staying here... and I'm going to find a way to stop the virus."

The rest of the mares went silent, completely stunned at what Fluttershy was saying and unsure how to respond. After a long moment, it was Pinkie that finally broke the tense silence.

"If Fluttershy's staying... then I'm gonna stay too."

Applejack gave Pinkie an incredulous look.

"Wha—Pinkie, you can't be serious?" she cried, "Fluttershy staying here is already crazy enough, but you... don't you wanna see if everypony in Ponyville is okay? What about your family on the rock farm? What about the Cakes?"

"I'm sorry Applejack," Pinkie replied with an apologetic smile, "I really, really, really wanna see them all again, but if we don't do something about this nasty virus, they're gonna suffer too eventually."

"But they might already be suffering!" Applejack argued, "who knows what this war's done to them? Who knows what it's done to the rest of the town?" she grit her teeth and looked away, "...I wanna know what happened to my family."

"I know you do, AJ," Pinkie replied calmly as she flew over to Twilight and Fluttershy, "but you don't need me there to do that."

"But... I... you..." Applejack sputtered indignantly before turning a pleading gaze in Rarity's direction, "Rares, you agree with me right? We both got sisters we need to look after!"

"That... that's true," Rarity relied, casting an uneasy glance in Twilight's direction, "I do miss Sweetie Belle terribly, and... and I've tried not to think about it... but..." she clenched her eyes shut and shook her head, "I can't... I need to know if Sweetie's okay. I'm sorry, Twilight."

Twilight had been silently watching her friends take sides up to this point, and if she was being completely honest, she wasn't sure how to feel about it.

She had been touched that Fluttershy had agreed with her, but to actually decide to stay in Griffonia on her own rather than go back to Equestria?

Twilight was both shocked and proud of the mare.

Twilight herself had been ready to give in and head straight back to Equestria with the rest of her friends, but if Fluttershy was willing to stay here, and if Pinkie was willing to join her, then she couldn't very well back down now.

Did she miss Spike? Her parents and brother? Celestia? Cadence? Horribly so, but at the same time, if they were all okay, she didn't want to see the virus spread and infect them either.

There was no guarantee they'd survive the process, and even if they did, Twilight didn't want this for them—just like Fluttershy and Pinkie, she didn't want this for any of them.

But maybe it was actually better this way.

If Rarity and Applejack at least decided to go back, they'd be able to find out more. If Spike, Celestia, and her family were all alive, they'd be in a better position to find out. They'd also possibly be in a better position to find out more about Sombra and Luna.

"You know what?" Twilight replied, giving both Rarity and Applejack an understanding smile, "it's alright, Rarity... and Applejack?" she turned to the disguised mare in question, "I think it might actually be in our best interest to split up for now."

"What?!" Applejack shouted in disbelief, "Twilight have you spit your bit? We can't split up now!"

"Sure we can," Twilight replied, "Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and I will stay here in Griffonia and try to find a way to stop the virus, and you, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash can head back to Equestria to find out what happened and if everypony is okay."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Rainbow Dash interjected, waving her hooves, "I didn't agree to any of this!"

"Go with them, Rainbow," Fluttershy said, giving Rainbow Dash a warm smile, "I know you're more worried about what happened to our home than you let on."

"Well, yeah... of course I am," Rainbow conceded, "but... but what about you? What about all of you? Do you even have a plan? What about me? Fluttershy, weren't you worried about Svanhild? What if she tries to take over again?"

"I don't think she will, Rainbow, at least, not for a long time," Fluttershy replied with a shake of her head, "I can sense that she's still there, but it's like she's gone... dormant. I don't think you'll have to worry about her for now."

"For now?" Rainbow cried, "but what about—"

"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy said sternly, "I know you're stronger than this—stronger than Svanhild. I fully believe that the only reason was able to take over at all was because she caught you off guard."

"But... but I..."

Rainbow Dash struggled with herself for a moment. It wasn't like her to be so scared, and she had indeed tried not to think about what had happened with Svanhild, but just the idea that Fluttershy wouldn't be there to keep Svanhild at bay was making her fall apart.

It was pathetic.

Fluttershy was right, she was stronger than this. She knew Svanhild was here now, and she already had each and every one of Svanhild's memories.

She didn't doubt for a second that Svanhild would stay asleep in her brain forever, but even if she did wake up and try to take over again, she had nothing else to distract Rainbow with and as long as Rainbow kept a figurative eye on the griffon in her head, she could push her back down.

She couldn't just rely on Fluttershy. It was her decision to do what she did to Svanhild, and she had to be the one to step up and take responsibility. She was Rainbow Dash, and she wasn't going to let some angry griffon get the better of her... not ever again.

With this in mind, Rainbow's fearful expression turned solemn and determined as she looked back at Fluttershy.

"You're right, Flutters," she finally replied, "I know what's up now, and if Svanny tries to control me again, she's gonna find out I don't go down so easy when I'm prepared."

Even with her newfound conviction, there was still some lingering doubt, but she had decided that she'd cross that bridge when she came to it, and if Fluttershy had faith in her then she'd do everything she could not to let her friend down.

Still...

"That doesn't mean that you still won't need me, though," Rainbow pressed, "what if something happens to you and I'm not there to pull you guys out of the fire? What if that Jeger jerk comes back? What are you gonna do then?"

"Aw shucks, Dashie!" Pinkie replied before Fluttershy could respond. She flew over and gave Rainbow what would've literally been a bone crushing hug to anypony else, "we got Twilight! She'll think of something! And if she can't, then I will!"

"But... I don't know," Rainbow Dash replied, looking back towards Applejack and Rarity with an unsure frown, "I don't wanna leave you guys hanging... but... gah! Come on, don't make me do this!"

"Just go with Applejack and Rarity, Rainbow Dash," Twilight pushed, "we'll be fine. We'll look out for each other, just like I know you will for those two."

"But..."

Rainbow Dash snapped her desperate gaze towards Rarity, who had placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder. The white pegacorn gave Rainbow a tight smile and a nod.

"Come on, darling," she said in a soft, reassuring voice, "I think it's best we leave them to it. They can take care of themselves, I know that, Applejack knows that, and I know you do too."

Rainbow Dash looked at Rarity for a moment longer before turning to Applejack. Applejack caught her look and sighed before shaking her head. She looked back up at the conflicted cyan pegasus with a weary smile.

"Frankly, I'd rather we all go back together, but it looks like those three are gonna be as bull headed about staying as... well... as bull headed as I am about going."

Her smile fell and was replaced with a serious frown.

"I know having to choose is tearing you up something fierce, RD," she continued more quietly, "but trust me when I say we'll see them again. This ain't the end, this ain't goodbye. This is just us doing what we gotta do... and Rares and I could really use your help."

Rainbow opened her mouth, closed it and looked back over to where Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were to see them all smiling and nodding encouragingly.

She grit her teeth and fumed silently for a moment before letting out a loud angry groan and jabbing a hoof in Twilight's direction—glaring at the mare with all the fury of a worried mother.

"You better keep Fluttershy safe you hear me?" she growled, "and don't think I'll forgive any of you if something happens and you all can't make it back!"

"We'll be fine, Rainbow," Fluttershy assured once again, "we'll be careful not to get caught up in anything too big, alright?"

"Pinkie Promise me!"

"You know I can't do that with the way things are right now, Rainbow," Fluttershy replied, her smile turning sad, "I wish I could... but it's not possible."

Rainbow wanted to be mad—even more mad than she was right now, but she knew deep down that it was pointless. Fluttershy's inner strength had shone through, and now there was nothing she could do to convince her long time friend to change her mind.

"...Alright then," Rainbow finally said, her shoulders slumping in defeat, "just... please be careful you guys. I know we're tough to kill, but... we could still be... if you have to fight another infected like us..."

"We know, Rainbow," Pinkie finished, "now go on. We all got things to do, and the sooner you all get back, the sooner we'll know if everypony's okay!"

Twilight turned to look at the city as she spoke.

"We'll lay low and start our search for answers in that city," she turned back to Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow, "once we're done here in Griffonia we'll head back to Equestria and use Fluttershy's ability to find you all. Try not to draw too much attention to yourselves as you go, alright?"

She paused for a moment before speaking again—her ears folding back and her voice quiet and melancholy.

"And... if you find Princess Celestia, Spike, or my brother... tell them I'm okay... and that I miss them all. I don't know if they or my parent are okay, but if they are..."

"I understand, and of course we will, Twi," Applejack replied, giving Twilight a warm, reassuring smile as she tried to adjust a stetson that wasn't there. She frowned in annoyance before turning southward, "now come on, Rares, RD... let's get a move on."

The two mares in question gave Twilight, Pinkie, and Fluttershy one last worried look before following after Applejack. The three remaining mares watched them go until they were dark specks in the distance.

"Do you really think this was a good idea, Twilight?" Pinkie asked quietly as she stared in the direction her friends had gone, "I mean, I know we're doing the right thing by trying to stop the virus, but we really don't have any idea how to do that."

Twilight didn't answer right away. Instead she frowned and turned back to the city of metal and smoke and steam and concrete. When she next spoke, it was with equal parts trepidation and determination.

"I don't know how we're going to do it, Pinkie... but we need to stop it here, and we need to stop it now."

Author's Note

I wonder if any of you saw this coming. I sure as hell didn't, lemme tell ya. :rainbowderp: