Drawing closer to the treeline, something begins to scream in the back of my mind. Why am I so willing to go with this strange mare? Most of the time, I don’t trust a pony as far as I can throw them with my magic—which at this point is probably further than I’d like to admit.

Why are her yellow, slit-pupil eyes so entrancing? Since the moment our eyes met, mine don’t want to break contact. Their depth is without measure, and I’m just... lost in them.

“That’s a good filly,” her melodic voice teases. “Come with me and I’ll help you find your mother.”

I don’t know why I feel drawn across the field to this strange mare, but if I had to liken it to anything, I’d say that it’s like I’m hypnotized. It’s the only reasonable explanation. Silver Penny isn’t a stupid mare; she may be irresponsible, dangerous, stupid, unhinged, but she isn’t... okay, so I am stupid, but I still have more sense to just follow a strange mare into the Everfree Forest.

Come to think of it, I don’t think I could stop following her if I wanted to. It’s like one of those found footage movies, showing a person wandering to their clearly marked demise. My body is on rails, and I’m not actually in control anymore.

There’s something about her that is setting off all sorts of warning signs in my head. How was I able to make her out so clearly when she’s at the edge of the forest? Wait... most ponies wouldn’t just loiter around the border of the Everfree anyway, and she’s not dressed like a guard...

Fuuuck, this mare’s pretty huge... The realization strikes me hard as I cover the last bit of ground to the treeline. It’s like walking up to an 18 wheeler; It’d never look particularly big from afar, but as you walk up to it, you realize just how big of a machine it is... and this pony as big as one.

Another thing I begin to notice up close is that there are thin, scaly patches on her forelegs and across her muzzle. I’m not talking about patches of mange in her fur or even just dermatitis; these are literal scales...

Wait wait wait... I remember something in the bestiary about it, but what was it? Was it a naga? No... those were vaguely humanoid fish-snake-men and heavily secretive. Not known for trying to lure a pony foal. Definitely not native to this region.

“Yes, come closer child, soon I will help you find peace,” the giant—holy fuck she is ginormous—mare hisses, sliding backwards into the foliage. Her front hooves never move though. “Soon...”

Yeeeah, there’s no way she’s going to help me ‘Find my mommy’. The moment she lures me far enough into the treeline, she’s probably going to eat me... but I can’t even cast a spell in this state.

Recap. I’m in some kind of hypnotic state. I’m lucid enough to be horrified by what’s happening, but not enough to cast magic. Oh sweet Celestia, I’m going to die for real, and I can’t even fight for my life.

Okay, this is too cruel. I survived a demon and having my soul ripped out of my fucking body. I’ve practically mastered enchanting on my own, and I have a strong foundation for alchemy just sitting neatly in a box in my memory waiting to be unpacked. All of that knowledge—all of this power—going to waste pisses me off!

As these thoughts cross my mind a cold feeling grows in the back of my consciousness. It begins pressing down on me, pushing and struggling for control. But where’s it coming from?

She lures me into a small clearing not far from the border... this might even have been the same clearing Pound Cake was petrified in. Could this be why he came out here, ignoring me when I tried to catch him?

As we enter the clearing, I step through a briar, its thorns raking across my legs and catching the frog of the hoof. Without even thinking, I freeze on the spot, lifting my hoof to gaze at the spot I’d been pricked. Blood wells up in a small bead. Oh, that stings.

Looking up from my hoof, I see the monster mare looming over me, staring at the blood on my hoof. A forked tongue flicks out of her mouth as she looks at me... Just tasting the air as I take in the sight of her body. The front half is definitely ponylike, but beyond that is the long coiled body of some sort of serpent. She’s a lamia: eater of foals and seducer of stallions.

“Oh dear, that looks like it hurts,” she croons. “Maybe I should just eat you now? Your blood smells so, so tasty.”

Oh fuck no! I will not allow this. Even as she coils up like a spring, seemingly ready to launch herself, I’m taking several steps back. Without even considering my actions, I drop into a combat stance. A quick flare of my horn, and I’m surrounded by my gear.

I’m a bit bummed that my mage’s cloak was ruined by the demon blood, but I’m satisfied that all of my magic knives come to me when I call them. Likewise, the spool of steel wire from my pack and Tausend Reue appear at my side.

I barely give thought to floating the weapons around me in a deathly halo. In the short time I’ve been a fighter, it’s become second nature. I don’t know why but I’ve got this creeping feeling that instinct and willpower might be the only thing to save me.

The lamia sniffs at the air and then gazes at my weapons, a wide grin on her face. “Oooh, you even brought appetizers,” she coos in a voice that gives me the shivers. “Such a thoughtful dinner guest.”

She launches herself at me with blinding speed, her maw open wide. I launch myself backwards, and with a telekinetic shove, three of my magical knives shoot down her throat. My retreat doesn’t stop until I have several trees between us

The lamia slams face-first into the ground where I once stood, kicking up a cloud of dirt and snow. When the cloud clears, I see that she’s still lying there, prone and unmoving. Is she dead?

For a full minute longer than necessary, I stare at her, wondering if it had been that easy. The Everfree forest has grown painfully silent. Even the trees have seemingly stopped groaning and swaying, as if they too are watching.

From the spot the lamia lies, a muffled laughter begins filling the area. Slowly, the creature pushes herself up and wipes the dirt from her face. Her eyes are on me immediately.

“You’re good at this game, little one,” she says teasingly. “Have you practiced throwing candy into the mouths of others?”

What in the nine hells? I just fired several knives into her throat! She should be drowning in her own blood, not laughing at me! The fuck is going on!?

I attempt to retrieve my knives with the same summoning spell I’d used before, only to wince as a jolt of pain lances down my horn. That doesn’t make sense, though. The spell should only fail if I use it on an invalid object or something I’m not attuned to!

The lamia surges forward. She clears the distance between us in an instant, giggling maniacally the whole way. Her snake-like tail wraps around the tree I’m using as cover, pinning me to it.

Her lamp-like eyes bore into me as she takes a deep sniff. “Oooh, you do surround yourself with powerful magic users, don’t you?” A thoughtful look crosses her face. “Perhaps I should erode your mind and have you lure them here before I eat you.” Several needle-like teeth become visible through her scaly lips. “I could make you watch as I consume them and their magic. That would really help ripen your fear.”

Tausend Reue slams into the side of her head as I blink out of her grasp. It’s the first time that I’ve willingly translocated myself, and it’s nothing if not well timed. The force of the hammer’s magnified blow knocks her back enough that her tail rips the tree in half.

“What did you do to my knives?” I demand, slamming one into the back of her neck. Blood wells from the cut, but the knife seemingly disintegrates. Much to my horror, the mana particles seep into the wound as it closes over. “What are you!?”

When the lamia rises once more, there’s no hint of amusement on her face. It’s as if it did not like that nasty trick I just played, nor stabbing it in the back of its neck. Her eyes are cold and haunting.

“Child, I am older than this forest I call home,” she replies, rising high over me. “I have learned much over the millenia. Long before the ponies sent him to Tartarus, I learned how to eat magic from Lord Tirek himself.”

At those words, the image from my sudden nightmare with Princess Luna resurfaces. That dark fur, giant horns, and red skin... I’ll never forget it and the way his mere presence made me feel in that dream.

So she can eat magic like he could, to empower herself? Oh hell, what do I do? I can’t lead her into Ponyville, that’s for sure, and I can’t hope to escape her, either. She’s big and terrifyingly fast.

If Tirek is real and supposedly locked away in Tartarus, he’s probably more powerful than her. If that nightmare was some sort of premonition, maybe I’m supposed to fight him or someone like him. If so, I guess this is my last stand. I either die here, or I meet my destiny elsewhere.

Sucking in a deep breath, I begin to channel mana into my horn. Weaving a brand new spell together, I strip all of the stored magic from my knives—all but one—and converting them into kinetic energy to pump into Tausend Reue. I can just make more later.

The hammer hums in my magical grip with such ferocity that it is literally vibrating. In fact, it’s almost too much for me to hold. I’ll probably only get one shot at this!

I focus on how I felt when I blinked out of her grasp, and begin focusing on recreating that effect. No, more than that, I need to focus on directing it. I appear in one place, only to occupy another moments later. It’s all well and good to be able to blink at random, but eventually I’m just going to end up inside a tree.

It’s not just the one blink that needs to be planned and executed, though. I need to be like Aunt Twilight. Dodge, distract, circle around. I need to adapt. Block, parry, riposte. This is what I trained for.

With every move of our deadly dance, a trail of destruction follows in our wake. Trees are shattered and uprooted. Flames blacken and disturbed boulders litter the path as I try to divert and funnel her into just the right position.

Yet I do not go unscathed. More than once, the lamia’s tail lashes out, sending me crashing into a tree or boulder. My ribs re-break, and I’m pretty sure my surgical wounds have started to open up again.

Still, I power on, fighting through the pain. The only options I have are live or die; I don’t have the time to prepare a long-range teleport, even if the principles should be similar.

Once I manage to create a significant smokescreen to obscure myself, I anchor myself and begin drawing in the natural ambient magic of the Everfree. For a while now, I’ve been toying with the idea of a spell to launch an object at high velocities. The whole point was to create a spell that I could use to put down a dangerous magic resistant target at range, in order to augment my own weaknesses.

After the demon, I had more time to myself to work it out. It’s basically an application of portions of the same kinetic amplification system present in Tausend Reue’s enchantment, tweaked to double velocity instead. It creates a plane in the air, and anything that passes through it will have its velocity multiplied.

I call it the railgun spell because it’s intended to be applied in three layers. Problem is that because I haven’t created any safeguards—something I’d hoped to get Twilight’s advice on, the spell’s incomplete. That means it’s dangerous for me to even use. I could put myself into a coma, or worse. I wouldn’t use this if I had no other choice though...

My horn begins to shine brightly as I manage to put together the first layer, arcane patterns twisting into a circle in the air. As the second layer shimmers into existence a moment later. Sweat begins to pour down my forehead as my horn begins to heat up.

“Silly little filly,” the lamia calls out as she slithers up my carefully constructed killing channel. “I told you that I eat magic. There is nothing you can do here that can hurt me.”

As the third plane coalesces, her eyes become visible through the smoke. They’re positively glowing at as I levitate my hammer. Gotta line this up just right, because I have no idea what’s where anymore, so if I have collateral damage, I want to make sure she’s dead too. Would hate to destroy someone’s house and not have a dead lamia to show for it.

Now, to get the kind of damage I wanna inflict, I’m gonna have to accelerate Tausend Reue up to at least 282 meters per second. No, let’s go on the safe side and jack that up to 300 just to be on the safe side. I can’t help but giggle as I begin to charge up a shove that should effectively launch my hammer at mach 7 once it passes through my spell.

Almost immediately after I release the shove, however, something goes terribly, terribly wrong. Instead of passing through the first plane of my railgun spell prototype, it comes to a complete stop. The railgun spell collapses in on itself, and magic surges back into my horn... It’s not merely everything I pumped into the railgun though... This is all the kinetic energy pumped into the hammer... and parts of the enchantment to boot. My last clear thought before a blinding explosion launches me backward into a tree is, “Ain’t spell backlash a bitch?”

~ 17 ~

I’m not sure what finally brings me to my senses. Could be the fact that a snake pony has my midsection wrapped up in her tail, getting ready to eat me? Is it her sibilant laughter? No, wait, it’s the searing pain coming from the base of my horn.

“A valiant effort, child,” the lamia says in that faux-motherly voice she’d first used when luring me. “Truly, I have not been so active in decades.”

She lifts me gingerly with her tail, bringing me face-to-face with her. A bit of blood trickles into my eye. Her tongue flicks out, tasting the air around me. Those massive pupils have gone to slits.

“I shall cherish sucking the magic through your broken horn, little warrior,” she trills as her tongue wraps around my horn. “I do so love the taste of blood and magic as another soul finds eternity.”

I attempt to build the makeshift blink spell-matrix. The moment I try, however, my skull feels like it’s on fire. Sparks explode from my horn and a fresh trickle of blood pours into my eye.

That’s when it finally clicks in. That backlash didn’t just knock me unconscious; it shattered my horn. The source of my power... my hopes, and dreams... gone!

Cold dread and absolute hate is all that drowns out the pain. I hate all the horrible shit that’s happened to me. I loathe that I keep putting myself or ending up in these sorts of situations. The desire to annihilate the lamia.

I have not... come this far... to die now!

Something inside me snaps, and then everything goes green. No longer am I not in control of my own body. In fact, I feel powerful... vengeful. The pain of my injuries fades away as hate overtakes my every thought. I’ll not let you take this from me, you snakey cunt!

I stare up at the lamia’s face as she jerks back in alarm. A small spire of black flame erupts in the top field of my vision, and shards of something... possibly my horn, orbit the inferno.

Lashing out with an uncontrolled burst of uncharacteristically black magic, I create a momentary cloak of flame. I don’t know if it’s hot, cold, or what, but the suddenness of it forces her to drop me. Yes, I feel strong now.

Taking in the burns on her body that aren’t healing, a sadistic sneer spreads across my face. I don’t know what sort of change has come over me, but I can hurt her. No, I can do so much more. I begin to purr—actually purr—at the thought of making her suffer. She wanted to erode my mind and have me lead all of my loved ones to their demise...

A thought occurs to me as I glare at her. The area darkens visibly for a moment before a flame lashes out from my horn, striking her in the forehead. Perhaps I will turn you into a puppet instead, mmm?

The lamia’s eyes widen with sudden fear for a moment before taking on a glazed look, the pupils glowing green. “Tell me, serpent,” I say coldly, “Did you try to lure a cream colored pegasus foal several months ago?”

Her lips turn downward and I see a peek of fang as she scowls. “Yes, I remember the morsel that cockatrice robbed me of,” she snarls in response. “It did not live to repeat the mistake.”

She lured Pound Cake here. She’s the reason he was petrified! Because of her, I went over the edge on my downward spiral and nearly murdered Aunt Twilight! I’m going to make this waste of existence suffer!

“How many ponies have you killed?” I bite down on my lip hard enough to draw blood.

Egged on by the presence of blood, the serpent pony beams. “Dozens, maybe even a hundred,” she says with pride. “Do you want to see my collection?”

Her... collection? Her motherfucking collection!? I scream internally at the thought. Black flame surges about the top edge of my vision, where my horn used to be. I will destroy you!

I suck in a calming breath. No, Penny. If there are bodies, they need to be given to their families so that they can be given proper funerary rites.

Again, I lash out with this new, dark magic. “Take me to them.”

~ 17 ~

It was nigh the appointed time of the Ritual of Sunset. Princess Celestia was thankful for it, as it marked the end of her day, where she could take what little free time her station afforded her. It would be a time for cake, merriment, and an escape from the damnable nobility.

That was the plan, at any rate. Unfortunately, her many centuries as Princess of Equestria had taught her that things seldom went as planned. If anything, her time with Twilight Sparkle had reinforced that notion. Never rely on plans without also having a contingency plan or twelve.

As she stepped out onto the parapet and looked out over her lands, she was struck with a terrifying sensation: dark magic. Though she was no stranger to its use—she even taught it in order to prepare her guardsponies should they ever encounter it—it alarmed her to feel such a strong surge of it so close to her seat of power. If she didn’t know better, she’d go so far as to estimate it was in the vicinity of Ponyville...

But Twilight knows better than to use dark magic with such wild abandon.

Shortly after the initial explosion, when the feeling did not abate, Luna landed beside her on the balcony. “I know you felt it, sister,” Luna whispered, a slight tremor in her voice. “To feel such strong dark magic when we have not yet confirmed Tirek’s continued imprisonment... Could Sombra have survived the Crystal Heart’s power?”

“It’s possible that he yet lives, Luna, but I do not think that it is King Sombra that we are sensing.” Celestia gestures out towards Ponyville, or rather, to the Everfree Forest, where a blackened spot was growing. “Sombra was prideful, but kept his emotions in check. It feels too primal, too raw. Almost like somepony powerful has lost control.”

“Should we send—” The question froze on Luna’s tongue. Words were manifesting in the skies above the Everfree Forest. “I heard the voice of the felled beast beckon, 'Come and see.' And I looked, and beheld a pale mare: her name was Death, and Hades followed in her advent.”

“There is no time to deploy the Elements of Harmony, nor would I risk them against somepony that has taken the moniker of Death.” Celestia spread her wings, forgoing the lowering of the sun. This was far more important, for if this potential crisis cannot be quelled peaceably, then this self-proclaimed Death will have to be put down.

“I shall fetch my armor and scythe.”

~ 17 ~

Penny was late, Twilight decided as she stared at the clock—a full forty-seven minutes at a minimum. She’d fully expected Evening Script to deliver her adopted niece by now, but so far, there hadn’t been any word. None at all.

Could the young mare have been held over for complications without anypony sending word? No, surely the sergeant would’ve passed on word. After all, Evening Script herself had said, “There’s no way I’m letting that little idiot run free without supervision until I get my next orders. Not after what she’s been through.”

When Twilight looked at how the bat pony cared for Penny, she was reminded of her brother, and how he watched over her as a filly. Did Penny look up to Eve in the same way? Or had Penny’s foal-ish regression caused Eve to want to protect her?

With a sigh, she glanced at the entrance to the small kitchen and called out to Spike. “You might want to hold off on dinner, Spike,” she yelled, making for the door. “Penny isn’t back and I’m getting worried. Something doesn’t feel right. If I’m not back by eight, go to Rarity’s and arrange a search party.”

Throwing a scarf around her neck, she stepped outside the library just in time to see Evening Script touch down in the snow on the lane. Twilight was already smiling in relief at the sight of the mare, but that died away quickly. The absence of Penny on Eve’s back—and the look on her face—worried her.

“‘eya, Twi,” she greeted anxiously. “That wee idjit didn’t show up here on her own, did she?”

Twilight immediately shook her head. “I thought you’d be escorting her back to the library this evening,” Twilight replied. “She left the hospital on her own?”

The bat pony nodded. “Some moron nurse let her check herself out while somepony was double checking my cuts from the glass.” The fur at the base of Eve’s neck bristled. “Damn it, she’s been all withdrawn since that Silver Script passed back into the afterlife.”

This brought a frown to Twilight’s face. She honestly didn’t know what to think about the pegasus spirit or the implication that she was the same base pony as Penny. But if Penny wanted somewhere to think, wouldn’t she have come back to the library?

No. If she wanted to be away from other ponies, she’d have avoided the library. Come to think of it, Penny seldom ventured out when not on patrols or hunts. Most of Ponyville barely knew she was even there these days.

So where would she go? Surely not the park on the Everfree border. Or would she?

“She might have—”

Anything she might have suggested died in her throat. A violent blast of magic shook all of Ponyville, interrupting her. Ponies from nearby houses stood in their doorways, looking out towards the south.

“I heard the voice of the felled beast beckon, 'Come and see.' And I looked, and beheld a pale mare: her name was Death, and Hades followed in her advent,” Evening Script read aloud, looking at the words in the sky. “The fuck’s that mean?”

Wide eyed, Twilight looked from the sky to Eve. “Penny spoke about her faith with me once,” she whispered. “She recited a chapter of the ‘Book of Revelations’ to me... this sounds so much like it.

“And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, ‘Come and see.’ And I looked, and behold a pale horse; and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”

Flaring her wings, Evening readied herself to take to the sky. “Sounds like she’s in trouble,” she said, rocketing up and snagging a mass of cloud before returning to the ground. “I assume you know the cloud walking charm?”

Twilight nodded, casting the spell upon herself and stepping onto the cloud. The bat pony didn’t wait; as soon as her passenger was aboard, she pushed the cloud into the sky and soared south.

Passing over the park on the south side of town, they both noticed Silver’s saddlebags abandoned on a bench. There was just the thinnest dusting of snow covering it, as well as a set of hoof prints leading into the forest proper. “She came this way... and went into the Everfree.”

They continued out over the forest for a few minutes. At first, they only encountered the usual gnarled, impenetrable treetops of the Everfree’s chaotic wilds, but as they drew closer to the point of origin of the skywriting, the forest began to change. There were signs of a struggle: fires, uprooted trees, and finally a small clearing created by a small explosion. Further in, treetops blackened, lost their foliage, and then the next thing they knew, they were in above a clearing almost four kilometers across.

The ground beneath them was scorched, covered in black ash. Seemingly any stone caught in the blast took on a glassy, almost obsidian appearance, looking more like bloody claws grasping at the sky. At the center of it all was a large, untouched stone mound.

Shortly before they could land near the mound, the couple was passed by a worrisome pair: Princess Celestia and Luna. The former was clad in golden platemail unlike anything Twilight had seen in her life, while the latter wore silver chainmail and a dark robe.

The royal pair touched down on the other side of the mound, forcing Eve to pick up some speed so they could join the princesses.

What they saw upon landing was absolutely disturbing. Princess Celestia was brandishing a flaming greatsword at Silver Penny. Luna, on the other hoof, was levitating the crescent-moon blade of a scythe millimeters from the marechild’s throat.

If Penny noticed, she hid it well. Instead, she just looked up at the pair, a beaming smile on her face, tail wagging. Purple-green flames danced from the corners of her eyes, her horn a pillar of black flame with bits of alicorn orbiting it. All the while, she just smiled up at them, seeming proud of this wanton destruction.

Twilight’s eyes moved past the three ponies to what looked like a long pink sausage with two pony forelegs. It seemed to be breathing, albeit with much labour involved. The very end of the side with the legs seemed to be bleeding slightly.

Dear Celestia no... It’s alive.

“Merciful pony princesses, please save me from this evil... “ the pitiful creature begged. “Grant me release... I’m... sorry.”

The magical flames dancing around Penny’s eyes flared. “You don’t have my permission to die until you help me drag all of your victims back to Ponyville!” she snarled in a two-tone voice, turning her head just far enough to give the creature a sidelong glare.

“Sweet feckin’ stars...” Evening Script whimpered before throwing up beside Twilight. “Her voice... I’d heard that given enough negative emotion, a pony could cause a dark manifestation, but here it is... Penny, what happened to you?”

Twilight just stared at her niece. She’d never taught Penny about dark magic, or even mentioned that it even existed, out of concern that the filly might be swayed by its power. In retrospect, it was a regrettable decision. If she’d at least discussed the risks of it, Penny might have been better prepared to control herself. She’d have been aware of the risks of emotional spellcasting, especially if her horn had been damaged.

Instead, overcome with hatred and Celestia knows what else, Penny’s negative emotions had taken hold of her magic. Empowered by magic, her dark side mutated and overpowered her cognitive thought. What they saw now wasn’t entirely Penny, but a perversion of the filly.

What was worse was that Penny, who’d always showed restraint when not fighting for her life, was probably watching behind her own eyes in horror. After all, the filly had never showed any inclination towards sadism, and yet overcome with darkness, she’d gone and skinned a living being.

“Silver Penny, adopted daughter of Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, if you wish to yet live, you will stand down,” commanded Princess Celestia. It was barely detectable in her voice, but the slight wobble of her sword’s tip betrayed her reluctance. “Come peacefully and we can discuss what has transpired this day.”

“Should you refuse,” Luna added, pressing the blade of her scythe even tighter against the small pony’s neck. “We will have no choice but to take you into custody by force.”

The creepy smile on Penny’s face faded, and her eyes grew cold. “‘If I wish to yet live?’” she parroted. “‘Custody?’ I do Ponyville a favour and rid it of this... this thing, and you want to arrest me?” Her body momentarily became a cloud of smoke as she passed freely through Luna’s scythe blade in order to gesture aggressively at the living lump of flesh. “What the fuck is wrong with you two? You should be thanking me for ridding Equestria of a self-titled disciple of Tirek.”

“Unlicensed use of dark magic is a serious crime, Silver Penny,” Celestia replied darkly. “Now, it is entirely likely that you are not in control, and that you accidentally tapped into such magic, but until you stop using it and learn to resist the pull of it, you will surrender yourself.”

Laughter filled their ears. “Oh, I am most certainly in control,” Penny purred. “And I don’t think I will surrender.” She vanished in a cloud of black smoke.

“I now have the power to protect ponies from all that would wrong them... all that would threaten their happiness and lie to them...” Her voice was all around them. “Anything or anyone that would harm them... I can protect them from it.”

Ash rose and coalesced right in front of Evening Script and Twilight. In a burst of darkness, Silver Penny appeared, but there was something off about her. The sclera of her eyes had gone black, and her irises looked more green than blue. “Even you.”

She sneered at the bat pony, lifting herself with magic so that she was at eye level with Eve. “I’d have been so much more powerful if you’d just let that Mere take me, Evie...” crooned Penny. “I might even have been a match for the princesses... we all could have protected Equestria as gods together... but you stole that from me.”

With a surge of black from her horn, Penny conjured one of her knives. It floated menacingly, the tip mere nanometers from Evening Script’s throat. “What to do, what to do?” she hummed.

“Silver Penny, stand down!” boomed the princesses in unison. They both approached Penny from behind, brandishing their weapons, but a single warning twitch of the dagger was enough to dissuade them. The message was clear: attack me and I might slip.

“What’s gotten into ya, kid?” Evening Script whispered, holding up a hoof to stay the princesses. “Ye were never like this, even when that Mere was putting ya through Tartarus... y’ain’t even had the stink of one ‘round ya in the hospital. I’m your friend, Penny, remember that.”

Penny’s right eye trembled. Even as black veins began to press out through her fur, the darkness in the eye receded—it even began looking blue once more. There was something other than a cold calculating look in that one eye: fear.

Blue light flickered around the small unicorn’s horn, dancing through the black flame, arcing like lightning from each orbiting piece of alicorn. “Please... help me,” came Silver Penny’s whimper from all directions at once. “There’s so much hate... the collective hate of two ponies is too much for me.”

A tear rolled down Penny’s cheek as the knife trembled in the air, withdrawing from Eve’s neck. “Save me, Aunt Twilight,” she said in a strained voice. “I don’t want to hurt anypony. Hit me with the elements if you have to! Please!”

For a moment, the blue magic overpowered the darkness. A cocoon of blue energy wrapped around Evening Script and Twilight Sparkle. At first, Twilight readied herself to break the spell, but then she felt it: a teleportation spell with a feeling of safety built into it. She didn’t know how she knew, but Penny was sending them back to the library.

The knife jerked violently once, twice, and then flew free of the grasp of black magic. Just as Twilight was sent away, the knife found its mark: Penny’s left eye.

The marechild fell to the ground, rolling and screaming in agony as black blood seeped from her wound. “Princesses, now, while it’s overcome with pain!” Penny screamed. “Bind me!”

~ 17 ~

This is really bad...

Deep within my core, I sit before the shelves of my memories, doing everything I can to fight back the darkness. It’s taking all of my willpower just to keep the darkness away from the books.

I don’t know how I know, but if the blackness gets any of my memories, they’re done for... short of purging them entirely, nothing would ever clean them again. They’ll be tainted with this newfound hatred forevermore.

“How did this happen, Book?” I ask, hugging my memory back-up close to my chest. “This feels different from when I broke back then... Back then, I thought I was in control, but now...”

The little anthropomorphic representation of myself cries into my chest, clutching my fur in her tiny hands. “I don’t know,” she whimpers into my chest. “When you were hypnotized by the lamia, something malignant began bubbling up out of the memories Silver Script left behind. I’d already isolated them, but then the backlash...”

I think back to the memories I hadn’t had a chance to go through. So much knowledge that I could’ve put to use, but even if the elements of harmony somehow work, I don’t think I can trust those memories to not react like this some way down the line.

“It reacted to the fear and hate you felt,” she continues, turning her head to stare out toward the wall showing us the outside world. “That absolute terror in dying and the anger at dying so soon, it resounded with the feelings of fear from her memories of Aqua Regia... and when we thought of pound... it got worse!”

So Silver Script was never able to let Pound Cake go. It’s kind of sad, really. I suppose at some point around the time I let the Soren in me die, I just stopped seeing what happened to the little foal as my cross to bear, but I guess he was always at the back of her mind... festering, driving her.

What other hate came embedded in those memories? Did she know it’d be like this? No, she couldn’t have known. Just look at how she died...

But I guess it’s like they say: negative emotions like fear and hate are like diseases—spreading uncontrollably until they overtake all common sense and decency.

What’s going to happen to me, though? I force out another pulse of waning strength. The dark hatred that began to spread through my mind like a cancer is pressing in hard, struggling to consume me. Will the Elements of Harmony really work?

I don’t actually know whether or not they’ll work or not. I only asked so that, in the event that the darkness can somehow overcome the pain of the ruptured eye, Aunt Twilight wouldn’t need to witness me being put down.

Did I make the right choice? If I somehow make it through this... I’m going to be in the hospital again. If I’m lucky, I might get through this without losing vision in my remaining eye, but this is a severely traumatic injury I inflicted upon myself.

This body might be beyond saving anyway.

“Book, listen,” I whisper, hugging her close. “If the opportunity arises, I’m going to do my best to separate us from our body. I have no idea if it’ll work, but we might not die.”

Book pushes herself away and looks pensive. “In that case,” she replies, biting her thumb nail, “there’s one last thing we can do.”

~ 17 ~

“This isn’t good, sister,” Luna murmured as she held the struggling Silver Penny down with her magic. “The darkness within her is growing, and we won’t be able to merely contain her much longer.”

Both of them knew this to be a gross understatement. Even as the young mare thrashed about beneath ensorcelled chains and a gravity spell, they could see the taint of dark magic spreading across her body. The formerly silver parts of her mane had gone jet black, and her coat too was beginning to darken. Even if her mind had somehow not fully been corrupted, as her earlier attempt to protect her friend indicated, her body would likely be forever altered by the events.

At this point, neither princess was sure that the Elements of Harmony would be able to do much for Penny. It might come to be that the only thing they would be able to do is grant a more merciful ending than either princess could yield.

After a time, Silver Penny ceased her struggles, instead turning her head to regard them both with her remaining eye. The darkness in her sclera had faded, and her blue eye shone with something. Sadness. “Princesses, listen... I don’t have much time left, so there’s something I need to tell you both,” she said between labored breaths. “The Cake foal can be saved... all the petrified ponies can... any cockatrice will do, just wear polarized lenses to protect yourself... get Flutters to ask nicely...”

The small pony coughed and shuddered. Once again, she began to struggle against her bonds. She was now practically foaming at the mouth, screaming incoherently. Some of it sounded to be threats, while others sounded more like a childish tantrum. Was she breaking down?

“We understand, Penny,” Celestia replied softly, wishing to comfort the small pony but knowing better. Tears began to seep from the corners of her eyes, and when she looked to her sister, she too was teary-eyed. “We’ll make sure those ponies are all helped.”

For a moment, Silver Penny seemed to rest once more. “Tell Dad and Mom that... I’m sorry I didn’t get to spend any time with them.”

The finality of those words shook the princesses to their core. Had she given up? Or was she aware of how far gone she was? It seemed almost cruel, but both princesses were reminded that fate was a fickle mistress.

Both princesses watched over Penny until Twilight’s return with the Elements of Harmony. Although she had a few more moments of lucidity, some of her babbling seemed almost nonsensical.

“Princess Luna, will I dream?” she asked during another moment of lucidity.

“I don’t know, Penny,” Luna replied in earnest. “I don’t know what awaits you.”

It was another ten minutes before Twilight Sparkle returned with her friends and Evening Script in tow. There was no butchered lamia for the more sensitive of the group to witness when they arrived, however; Celestia and Luna granted the monster mercy shortly after Penny sent Twilight away.

Still, none of the Element Bearers were particularly enthused to see Penny on the ground, bound in ensorcelled chains and a knife jutting from her eye. Even as Twilight and Eve explained the situation, they had to actively hold back Fluttershy, who evidently wanted nothing more than to help the hurt filly.

“Penny, are you sure you want to be hit with the Elements of Harmony?” Twilight pleaded, adjusting the Element of Magic upon her head. “We have no idea what will happen to you.”

Against all odds, Penny struggled to her hooves, smiling. She wrenched the knife from her eye, and held the handle in her mouth. Despite the gravity field weighing her down and the chains binding her magic, she stood tall and proud. “Do it.” Raising one hoof in salute, she grunted at the bat pony, “Take care of everypony, Evie.”

Begrudgingly, the Element Bearers gathered behind Twilight. Their individual Elements began to glow, and the six close friends began to levitate. White light collected around them. The moment the light reached its brightest, a rainbow arced into the air before slamming down into Silver Penny.

When the light faded, a stone statue sat where the filly once stood. Nopony moved or said anything for a time. They all just gawked, surprised that the Elements hadn’t purified her.

“What the hell?” Evening Script finally shouted, storming up to the statue. She stared into the stone eye in disbelief. “This is a joke, right? Shouldn’t she have just had that darkness stripped from her like it did the Princess Luna?” To everypony’s surprise, the guardsmare began to openly cry. “Was she really beyond help?”

Everypony in the clearing gathered around her, unsure of what to do or say. It just wasn’t fair. Penny had been through so much, and done so much for the ponies of ponyville that most would likely never even know. She protected the borders from monsters, had faced down a demon that would likely have passed through or near the town. She even found the remains of several missing ponies and rid Ponyville of a lamia they hadn’t even known was a problem.

“The Elements of Harmony aren’t perfect, Sergeant Script,” Princess Celestia said softly, wrapping a wing around the bat pony. “We don’t know what was happening behind the scenes. The darkness within her might have spread too far. If that’s the case, containment would be the only option...”

Evening Script shrugged free of Princess Celestia’s feathery embrace and wrapped her forelimbs around the statue. As the shock wore off for Twilight, she too embraced the statue.

“We should have been there for you, Penny,” Twilight whimpered. “We failed you as your friends, family and mentors...”

Much to everypony’s horror, the statue began to crumble in upon itself. It was not as if it had been dealt any significant damage however; it simply could not stand up on its own with the hollow void contained within. The statue that the Elements of Harmony had made of Silver Penny was naught but a hollow shell.

~ 17 ~

Consciousness doesn’t come easily to me. Occasionally, I’ll get a glimpse of something... some starry, gaseous void, but it’s fleeting. I’m too tired.

Every time I get a glimpse of this place, a dark and dreamless sleep rises up to take me. It’s just so hard to stay awake...

Sometimes, I hear whispers—indistinct voices half-imagined at the back of my mind, talking about me in hushed tones. Other times, I swear I hear ponies. I know the voices, but the names elude me.

The next time consciousness visits, I hear a voice. It’s somepony I know. “Hello?” it echoes as if from afar. “Where am I? What is this place?”

“Congratulations, Twilight!” another familiar voice replies. Why is it they feel so close to me? “I knew you could do it!”

“Princess, I don’t understand,” the first voice says in an unsure voice. “What did I do?”

I don’t get to hear any more of the conversation, however. The warm embrace of the void takes me once more. I don’t want to go... let me stay and listen! I beg myself internally, but whatever force sustaining me doesn’t seem inclined to listen.

How long have I been in this state? This enchanted dreamless sleep?

Wait, I think I hear voices again.

“And that’s why I’ve asked you here,” the voice from before says, somehow sounding even farther away. She sounds so familiar, and somehow really compassionate... “If you’re willing to learn, I’m willing to teach you what I know, so you can learn from my mistakes.” She pauses before adding in a wistful tone, “You’ll have the power to make Equestria an even better place, just like she would have.”

“She?” the other pony murmurs. This one I don’t recognize, but there’s something about the way her voice feels... She’s not a bad pony. “Oh... so that was her, huh?” With a shaky breath, she asks, “So how do I start?”

“Starting is easy,” the first voice replies. There’s so much pride in that voice, and I too cannot help but feel proud. “All you have to do is make a friend, and you’ve got seven of them right here!”

It doesn’t surprise me when the voices fade and I’m once again alone in the void. It’s just so strange here, and I don’t know what is happening... It’s like I’m losing great periods of time, but at the same time, no time at all has passed.

Come to think of it... how did I even get here? What is the last thing I remember?

“Take care of everyone, Evie...”

“Tell Dad and Mom that... I’m sorry I didn’t get to spend more time with them.”

Oh, right. Some of Silver Script’s residual trauma and hatred resonated with my magic, and I was overtaken with dark magic. I requested Aunt Twilight hit me with the Elements of Harmony.

Is this what it was like when Discord was a statue? Is that what’s happened to me? No... this feels different. Like I’m somewhere I shouldn’t be.

“I’m telling you, sister,” comes another familiar voice. “There’s something here. Some sort of half-presence. Even Twilight and Cadance have felt the pull to the astral plane, but have found nopony there to ascend.”

“Luna, relax!” comes a reply. “We’re retired now... leave this sort of thing to Twilight to figure out.”

I... what? Luna’s retired? Since when?

Oh... I get it. I’m dreaming! That’s the only way any of this makes sense. That’s all I ever seem to do. I get hurt, and I end up unconscious in the hospital... but now that I know I’m dreaming, I should be waking up any moment... right?

“Hello? I know that somepony is here,” comes that familiar voice yet again. I know it... it’s Twilight! “You don’t need to be afraid to show yourself.”

“That’s right! You’re safe here,” says... Mom!? Mom and Aunt Twilight are here? “Everything will be alright!”

My eyes snap open, both of them, and I find myself in the starry void, fully awake once more. I look down at myself, only to find my body in some weird state of flux. It flickers occasionally, reminding me of Missingno or some sort of visual glitch in a video game.

My perspective seems to jump between two separate heights. Sometimes I’m bipedal with hands... sometimes I’m just a small filly-sized mare. Always, I’m furry and adorable and me.

For once in who knows how long, my mind is clear. There’s a small voice in the back of my head saying not everything is alright, but she’s glad she pulled me together enough to make contact, whatever that means.

“Hello?” I call out. “Mom? Aunt Twilight? Where are you?”

Two motes of bright light appear before me, and in a flash, two alicorns stand before me. At first I’m confused, because they both look so much like Princess Celestia... They’re both tall, broad-winged, with long, ethereal manes... and yet the colors are wrong. One pony’s pink and the other’s purple.

“That voice,” the pink one says thoughtfully. She brushes her wavy pink gold and purple locks out of her face as she looks down at me. “There’s no way it could be...”

I look up into the purple eyes of the pink alicorn, confused. I look to the purple one, and blink. “Mom, Aunt Twilight? Is that you?”

“Silver Penny! It is you!” As my body settles in a momentarily bipedal state, two sets of hooves wrap around me in a hug. “You’re alive!”

The purple one, Aunt Twilight, sobbed into my neck. “I thought we’d killed you,” she murmurs. When she pulls back, she’s teary-eyed and I can see the timeworn look in her eyes. “I thought I’d failed you as a mentor and friend.”

I shake my head and carefully run my fingers through her mane. It’s so soft and real... “You’d never fail me, Aunt Twilight,” I answer, unable to withhold tears of joy as I wrap my arms around their necks. “I just got misplaced is all.”

Author's Note

No, we aren’t getting Alicorn Silver. We will get Silver Mk 2 though.

The interlude will be coming either tomorrow or the day after.