The Final Choices

Chapters

The First Day
The Second Day
The Third Day
The Fifth Day
The Sixth Day
The Seventh Day
The Eighth Day
The Ninth Day
The Tenth Day
The Final Day
The New Day
Credits
The Last Day
The Fourth Day

The First Day

The exterior was featureless. Floating in an endless void, only the light of distant galaxies gave any indication the object was even there. The closest source of light was millions of light years away, a vaguely purple swirl among the endless black emptiness.

It was as alone as anything could possibly be in the universe.

A lone, drifting globe of metal. No sign of wear - for there were no meteorites to dent it, no cosmic dust to coat it, not even much in the way of radiation to eat away at its atomic structure.

From the outside, it gave off next to nothing nothing. No light besides what it reflected and very little heat. No radio signals and not even a ripple in the magical aether. It was a sealed world with no visible entrances or exits.

And yet, if one were to find a way inside, they would discover the interior was nothing like the cold, lonely surface. After a few miles of solid metal, passageways would begin to open up, revealing the derelict remains of the structure’s inner foundations. This would soon give way to pressurized, warm rock, embedded with pristine, glowing gems. If the hypothetical traveler could withstand the temperatures here, they would find themselves able to walk around. If they were lucky, they would find a cavern that led up, up, up - away from the heat, away from the deep gems, and away from the things that crawled in the depths.

The inner surface was mostly green, with dotted patches of brown and blue, though white was rare, especially on the side currently experiencing day. A day brought about by a small, glowing ball of fire that didn’t quite deserve to be called a star - but sure did the job of any normal planet’s sun. An umbrella-like shell of metal slowly rotated around the sun’s edge, providing the day and night cycle.

The geological shape of the interior had hardly changed at all during its eons of existence. However, that was all changed when something from outside came in.

Further outside than anyone could have ever imagined or planned for.

The roughly triangular conglomeration of rocks had appeared a few meters above the inner surface, crashing down with a shockwave large enough to be called an earthquake and felt by everything for miles around.

Earthquakes never happened here.

And yet, despite the shock of something that should not have been, the shell kept rotating around the sun as it always had, indifferent. From a glance, the interior hardly changed at all - just one speck was slightly out of place.

This was not the reaction of the creatures calling the interior home…

~~~

Twilight looked up at the sun - judging by the speed it was diminishing, she guessed there were two hours of daylight left. She knew she couldn't stand gawking at it forever.

There was work to be done.

With a sigh, she spread her wings. “Let’s see how everything looks.” She took off into the sky, Celestia and Discord following her. She took a breath to prepare herself before looking down.

All the remaining land of Equestria - no, all of Equis - was little more than a triangular sliver in her vision. At the pointed end was the Tree of Harmony’s clearing, devoid of any Tree now, only some protruding Roots that were now hers. Even up here, she could still feel them, connected to her with magic beyond her understanding.

Most of the rest of the triangle was the Everfree Forest. Nothing but a forest filled with magical creatures - many of which were monsters. She could see a hydra stomping around, screaming in rage, confused.

Why were only sapient creatures pulled into the Roots? Was there something about our magical nature that needed help crossing the dimensional divide?

As she continued studying, she saw something that made her light up. “Z-Zecora’s hut! She made it!”

Celestia smiled warmly. “Who knows what other surprise guests might be here with us?”

“Yeah… who knows…” Twilight continued her survey, finally arriving at the two structures that formed the narrow base of the triangle - the School and her Castle.

The School was in shambles - buildings had collapsed in on themselves, the fountain had fallen over, and she couldn’t even make out the dorms. But it was still identifiable. She could even see some of Fluttershy’s woodland critter helpers already starting to clean it up - although they admittedly weren't that effective.

The Castle was mostly unharmed - although the ground it was rooted in had landed awkwardly, tilting it at an ugly angle.

Discord smirked. “I’m generally not one for straightening things, but it seems as though your Castle’s position could use some correction to better suit your tastes.”

“I… I think I can do it myself,” Twilight said, just as surprised at her statement as Discord was.

“Twilight, Please, I’m the Lord of Chaos, I c-”

Twilight tapped into the magic of the Roots - and by extension the magic of the Castle. Rather than her horn lighting up, her eyes did, glowing with a white harmonious energy. A pulse of white energy shot through the entire crystalline structure of the castle, causing it to shake and, with some pushing, pull itself into an upright position.

“It’s a part of me now,” Twilight said, staring at what she’d done in disbelief. “It’s… all part of me.”

Celestia put a hoof on Twilight. “You’ve ascended further than any pony ever has, Twilight. You have been chosen to carry the remnant of Harmony.” She smiled. “I’ve never been so proud.”

Twilight didn’t have a coherent response to this. She simply nodded, gliding down to the Castle itself. The interior was a disheveled mess. Much of Sunset’s equipment was broken or shattered - and the Map itself had crumbled into a few dozen pieces.

The thrones were still there, however, the cutie marks of her and her friends as pristine as the day the chairs had been made.

She alighted on her throne, resonating with Magic as she did so. A small smile came to her face. “I can feel them. In the Roots - and in these walls.” She pressed her hooves into the rests on her throne. “I’m going to bring them back.”

Celestia nodded in her approval - holding up a hoof to keep Discord from shouting something inconsiderate.

Twilight’s eyes burst with harmonious energy once more, connecting to the Roots below. She was able to feel the essences of every pony in there - and the other races as well. She should have given them all a close look, should have appreciated every last person who made it.

But she went right for the five spirits she knew better than any others. With a heave of her body, she sent pulses of light into each of her five friends’ thrones. Slowly but surely, forms of ponies began to take shape - two earth ponies, two pegasi, and a unicorn, each in their respective throne.

Halfway through the process, Twilight let out a gasp of pain.

“Twilight!” Celestia shouted in concern.

“Probably shouldn’t interrupt her midway,” Discord mused. “That would be a particularly nasty… accident for the five of them.”

Celestia clenched her jaw - locking eyes with Twilight. “Be strong.”

Twilight only let out a pained scream as she forced the magic networks to completion, bringing five perfectly healthy ponies into the world. Applejack, Pinkie, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Rarity all blinked rapidly, taking in the sudden feeling of having bodies again.

“G-girls!” Twilight said with a gasp. “I’m so glad to s-see y-” Her eyes rolled into the back of her skull and she passed out on the ground.

“Twilight!” Rainbow shouted, rushing to her. “Twilight, come on, get up!”

Celestia gently nudged Rainbow Dash to the side, touching Twilight with her horn. “...She is fine. She simply overexerted herself bringing you five back all at once - after righting the castle and bringing me back, no less. She… simply needs rest.”

“...But what are we going to do without her here?” Fluttershy asked - already crying.

Celestia smiled sadly. “We prepare for when she does return. The Castle is more or less in working order, but we have no other infrastructure. No food stores came with us, and we cannot rely on the resources of Ponyville. Discord, for the time being, can you create food for us - and any other people Twilight might remove from the Roots?”

Discord snapped his fingers, putting on a chef’s outfit and a twirly mustache. “But of course…” He started snapping his fingers, dropping random food items from the sky onto the plains between the Castle and the School’s wreckage.

“The rest of you should come with me,” Celestia said, spreading her wings. “That School, for better or for worse, has the resources we are going to use to build the New Equestria.”

“...Of course,” Rarity said with a bow. “The School will be remodeled so well you wouldn’t even be able to tell it had been smashed.”

Pinkie sniffed. “G-girls… don’t you think we’re going a little fast?”

“Yep,” Applejack said. “Don’t really have a choice, though. Ah don’t know nothin’ about this place, and the longer we wait to get situated, the more likely somethin’ bad’ll happen. We’ll all talk about what happened… later.”

Rainbow stamped her hoof on the ground, wiping a tear away. “R-right.”

“This is our new home,” Rarity said. “We want to make a good first impression.”

~~~

Fluttershy was overjoyed to see how many animals of hers had been in the school - and the feeling she had when she saw them starting to clean up the place without being told could not be expressed with words.

Through a flood of immense tears and laughter and half-words and hugs she reacquainted herself with all the critters. The only thing that tore her away from them was the rapidly waning crescent of the sun - they would run out of daylight soon, and she didn’t want to make Celestia create spotlights for them.

She pulled back from the animals and gulped. “Everyone, I know it’s hard, and I know we’re all hurting. But we need to get this place organized in case something happens tonight. Every pony, animal, and creature needs to be able to sleep safely in one way or another. Can you all do that?”

The animals nodded profusely, setting back to work.

Behind her, Rarity turned to Princess Celestia. “Princess, what should we start with?”

Celestia pondered this. “...To be honest, I don’t know the layout of this school that well. Perhaps it is best if you took charge of this restoration operation.”

Rarity nodded in understanding. “Applejack, try to find the dorms - if we can’t repair them, move all the sleeping implements somewhere standing. Rainbow, try to clean up the loose debris so it’s easier to walk around. Fluttershy, manage all your animals and find out how many we have to house - and do be sure to warn us if the monsters of the Everfree start acting up. Pinkie, I know you have a party cave on campus, I’m sorry but you’re going to have to loot it.”

The ponies all nodded - though Pinkie nodded with a more dejected demeanor than any of the others. Rarity checked the pink mare’s mane - finding that it was drooping, but not quite flat. She found this mildly surprising, but it also meant she didn’t have to worry about the party pony going off the deep end just yet.

“Celestia, you and I are going to check on the artifacts,” Rarity said.

Celestia nodded, walking with the unicorn to the front entrance of the School. The doors were no longer standing - one was dangling from a single busted hinge, while the other had fallen into the courtyard. The interior was barely recognizable - the ceiling was completely gone, most of the columns were rubble, and the floor was covered with broken glass and marble.

Rarity had a significantly easier time walking through the mess than Celestia did, but she slowed her pace just enough for the Princess to keep up. They made their way down the hall to the headmare’s office, which was miraculously undisturbed beyond a little shake-up. The door worked as always, sliding open in the grip of Rarity’s magic.

“...Rarity…” Celestia said, lighting her horn. “Something’s wrong…”

“What?” Rarity asked, stopping in her tracks in case there were some sort of trap.

“There is no powerful magic in here. Just the normal ambience from a room of pony construction.”

“...But that’s ridiculous,” Rarity said, furrowing her brow. “She keeps all the artifacts in her safe when they’re not being used. There’s enough in there to startle unicorns over a mile away!”

Celestia lifted the safe into the air - and broke it open easily.

Rarity blinked. “That… was a magic safe…”

“It isn’t anymore,” Celestia observed, opening the safe and dropping all the artifacts. Every last one of them were dull and lifeless, and those with magical crystals in them were now covered in shattered fragments. “All powerful magic as been destroyed…”

“My Stars…” Rarity said with a gasp.

“This is why the Tree needed us in its Roots,” Celestia realized. “Any sapient creature automatically has concentrated magic within it, on a level far beyond that of a simple animal. The transition would have been too jarring. Horns would have exploded, wings would have folded in on themselves…”

Rarity didn’t even want to think about what would have happened to an earth pony.

“Rarity, we should be immensely grateful the Tree’s own power was able to overcome this limitation.”

Their conversation didn’t get to continue, for Fluttershy flew in the open door. “R-Rarity! It just happened and I don’t know how and it-”

“Calm down, my little pony,” Celestia said with a soothing tone. “What happened?”

“I… I…” she swallowed hard. “C-chester the chipmunk brought me his wife, s-she had a broken arm and I… I…” sparkling tears fell from her eyes. “I cried and she was better! A-all better! Tears aren’t supposed to do that!”

Celestia looked at her with curiosity - and then lit her horn, performing a quick scanning spell. “...Fluttershy, it… appears as if you have become one with the Element of Kindness. You are overflowing with magic to care for others.”

“I… what?”

“You have been gifted with the power to heal,” Rarity said with a smile. “Now you can help every animal you see.”

Fluttershy paused for a moment - and then smiled softly. “...Y-yeah. This is a good thing, isn’t it? I don’t know why I was so panicked…”

“This is a strenuous time,” Celestia admitted, sighing. “The slightest shock can send us to places we never thought we would go.”

“...So am I Generosity now?” Rarity asked.

Celestia nodded. “And now that I’m looking for it, I can feel all the other Elements around us as well.” A smirk crawled up her face. “The artifacts in that safe may have been destroyed, but we have the strongest magic in the world right here with us.”

Rarity nodded, allowing herself to smile. “Yes… yes, this is good, it means we have a chance.” She straightened herself up. “Let’s go help the others, see what we can do.”

Celestia was able to teleport them out of the school now that she knew the layout.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash were sitting there, waiting with tense looks on their faces.

“Ah just lifted a boulder without breakin’ a sweat,” Applejack said.

“I. Can hear. Everything.” Rainbow Dash put her hooves on her ears. “I could hear your entire conversation like I was part of it! I knew where all of you were the entire time!”

“Oh my,” Rarity said, hoof to her mouth. “That must be disorienting…”

“You think?”

“I’m not any different!” Pinkie shouted from a distance. She followed this up by opening the door to a storage shed, prompting all of her party supplies to erupt out of it like a tidal wave. “Just normal Pinkie stuff over here!” She trotted over to Rarity. “And I got all the party stuff out.”

“Thank you, Pinkie,” Rarity said with an approving smile - not bothering to question if that level of ‘Pinkie antics’ was really normal or not. “It appears we’ve all become one with our Elements.”

“Oh.” Applejack blinked. “Makes sense. So, uh, what can Generosity do?”

Rarity looked at her hoof - not finding any power. “...I guess we’ll just have to find out at a later date. But we can use this to make this go quicker. Rainbow, you’re with me, we can help organize everything. Applejack, you’re on clearing the rubble now, it should go easily. Fluttershy, go see if you can do anything for Twilight. And Pinkie… you and Celestia can go through that party pile, figure out what we can use.”

“Got it!” Pinkie said, saluting and attempting a smile.

Rarity let out a deep breath. “Rainbow, let’s go check the storage room, see how many chemicals we have that survived the transition. You’ll let me know if anything happens.”

“...Sure. Yes.” Rainbow said, shaking her head. “Not like I can ignore it…”

~~~

Discord soon grew bored of his food-producing chore. He turned to seek out other opportunities for entertainment - not that he stopped producing the food. He simply split himself in two and allowed the ‘original’ to sit, mindlessly generating more and more products for consumption.

His other self wanted to go see Fluttershy, but she would probably chide him for dividing his attention, so that was out. He instead went to investigate the caverns beneath the land of Equestria, trailing his claws along the Roots, finding the crystal impossible to scratch.

To think, almost everyone he knew had their spirits locked away in those roots. And those who weren’t…

He purposefully didn’t think about that. Instead, he summoned a chaotic aura around his head and rammed it into the Root, creating a magical interface of sorts between him and what lay inside. There was minimal resistance at first, but he found the harmonious energy of the Roots was no longer quite as toxic to him - it still unnerved him, but it no longer burned.

Soon he was standing in an astral plane of sorts, surrounded by sparks of light and a vague blue ‘ground’.

On top of the ground were over a hundred ponies mixed with a small sampling of other races. Most of them were young, being students of the School of Friendship, but there were a few elders in the group.

What struck Discord the most about these ponies was not their ‘bodies’ - which were nothing more than mental projections that were sometimes inconsistent - but how different they were acting from the ponies he had seen in the real world. Here, everyone was either crying, consoling others, are trying not to break down. They had no work to do, nothing demanding their attention aside from each other, so the pain was coming out in droves. Massive, powerful droves.

“Discord!” Sunset shouted - galloping over to his representation. Running. Galloping. Her representation didn’t seem to have any idea if she was a unicorn or a human, shifting with every few steps. Not that she appeared to notice. “What’s going on? Where did everyone go?”

“Don’t worry, they’re all fine. They’re just cleaning things up out there, which you all clearly need. Badly.”

“But what even is out there!? We can’t see anything but this… astral plane thing!” She waved her hands. “It’s basically a dream-world in here! Nothing’s solid!”

“And you can create anything you want because it’s a dream,” Discord mused, pointing at a cloud house a pegasus student had just dreamed up.

“...This is going to be so chaotic…” Sunset said, jaw dropping. “There’ll be no organization, ponies will just dream up stuff and panic, and… and…”

“I do believe he has no qualm with that,” Zecora said, walking up. “He is well known to wear the chaotic hat.”

Discord chuckled, removing a vibrating technicolor hat that meowed. “I’m glad you noticed.”

Zecora raised an eyebrow before turning to Sunset. “Have faith in your fellow mare, they are still healing from the tear.”

Sunset nodded slowly. “We need to connect with the outside world. We need to see it.” She held out a hand/hoof and felt the magic flow around her. “Discord, if you’re here, there has to be a way to interface… So we can talk to everyone outside.” She glanced into the crowd at Marble Pie - trembling and shaking, shrinking away from anyone who tried to comfort her. “...You should just take us out.”

Discord snapped his fingers - but nothing happened. “Annoyingly, it looks like only Twilight can do that, and she strained herself a bit much taking all her friends out at once. If I’m not mistaken she’s currently passed out on a couch.”

“...You said she was fine!”

“She is. Mostly.” Discord shrugged. “You’re just going to have to live here for a while. And really, is that so bad? Endless chaos, dreams, and you don’t even have to feel pain if you don’t want!”

“The pain we have here is not that kind, I fear,” Zecora said.

“Bah, whatever, fine, Sunset, tell me how to make this interface-thing,” Discord muttered. “I’m bored anyway.”

“I’d need access to the devices I brought over from E-” She choked on the name of the other world. “E-Earth.”

“Busted. Or mostly busted.”

Sunset frowned. “...I can probably tell you how to fix them. You have the power, you just need some… guidance. That will be difficult for me to give without some kind of interface…” She groaned.

“You need the device to fulfill the price,” Zecora added.

“Yeah, sure.” Sunset furrowed her brow. “When Twilight’s feeling better, I’ll need to get out to work on that. Until then…” She turned to the crowd of ponies who were crying - or shouting. “...I’ll try to deal with them.”

“Good luck,” Discord said with a shrug.

“Don’t forget to bring us updates,” Sunset warned him. “We don’t want to be locked in here knowing nothing. It just makes the fear worse.”

“Sure. But no promises as to how often that’ll be. I’ll come when you least expect it!”

And then he pulled himself out of the Roots. He realized with annoyance that while he was in there, his other self had stopped making food.

He cursed the spotty connection before returning to the ever-growing mountain of food.

~~~

Twilight groaned as she heard voices.

“...n’t do anything for her.”

“Can’t?”

“It doesn’t seem to work when you’re not actually injured. She’s just… out of energy.”

“So I suppose we’ll just have to wait for her to wake up then?”

Twilight let out a grunt, letting them to know she was waking up. With immense effort, she dragged her eyelids open. She had been expecting a flood of light to burn her eyes, but instead she was greeted with a soft twilight glow. It was… pleasant.

Rarity and Fluttershy were in the room, standing over her with tense expressions.

“Oh, thank goodness, we were getting quite worried,” Rarity said, helping Twilight up. “You really did a number on yourself…”

“I… I guess I overexerted myself…” Twilight grunted, holding a hoof to her head.

“You’ll have to limit your use of your power,” Rarity said. “We can’t have you passing out every time like that.”

“I don’t intend to try to recreate five ponies at once anytime soon.” She let out a breath. “I… I can’t just leave them in there, though…”

“One a day, dear. One a day.”

Twilight nodded. “I suppose…” She stretched her wings - she had slept on one of them and now the entire limb stung slightly. Noting that she was in her Castle, she walked to the balcony.

It was night - but night here was nothing like night on Equestria. The sun was completely hidden by the dark shell, of course, but it was not dark. The opposite side of the world reflected a copious amount of light back at them, casting a dispersed glow much brighter than that of a full moon, giving the ‘night’ a feeling of dim, eternal twilight. The only dark object was the shell itself, a black dot against the glowing sky. It didn’t seem perfectly circular, but that was something for Twilight to examine at a later time.

Right now she could see mountains, oceans, deserts, and much more beyond that plastered on the sky.

It was one of the most beautiful things she’d ever seen.

“...It is amazing, isn’t it?” Fluttershy asked. Twilight could see there were tears in her eyes - knowing the pegasus, she doubted her eyes had been completely dry all day. “A brand new sky…”

Twilight nodded slowly, not sure what to say to that. “...What happened while I was asleep?”

“We fixed up the School a bit,” Rarity said, pointing at the site in the distance. Artificial magic light made it easy to pick out among the dim scenery. “We now have places for everypony - when you’re ready to get them out. Discord made a mountain of food.” She clicked her tongue distastefully. “Significantly more than we could possibly need…”

“Excess is better than none at all,” Twilight said with a smile.

“We also found that we have the Elements within us,” Fluttershy said. “I can heal now.”

“That’s…” Twilight put a hoof to her chin. “...Good, I think.”

Fluttershy and Rarity nodded in agreement.

“In summary, we’re ready for tomorrow,” Rarity said, stretching her legs. “Most of the others are asleep right now - or trying to sleep. We stayed up to watch you.”

“Thank you,” Twilight said, wiping a tear from her eye. “Not just for that, but for… getting everything ready. You were the right ponies for the job.”

Fluttershy’s tears took over in the middle of her grateful response. She pulled Twilight into a hug, pouring tears down her back. Twilight hugged her close - letting only a few tears out of her own eyes.

She needed to be strong. For all the ponies - ponies like Fluttershy - who wouldn’t be able to.

She needed to turn this tragedy into a new beginning.

A New Equestria.

Author's Note

So, uh, sorry about waiting so long to update this. There was some confusion as to if it was going to be a one-shot or a longer story. But don't worry, it is for sure a longer story now! All the commissioning headaches have been worked out! Just don't expect it to update predictably. Because it won't.

But I hope you enjoy this nonetheless.

-GM, master of bagels.

The Second Day

They had breakfast in the decently rebuilt school cafeteria since the main table in Twilight’s Castle had been well and truly destroyed. It was easier to seat all eight of them here, anyway.

It was the strangest breakfast Twilight had ever been a part of. Usually every meal she’d had would follow some kind of theme - funny, heartwarming, awkward, or sad. This get-together somehow managed to be all of the above at different times; as if switches were flipping on and off in everypony’s mind.

One moment…

“Angel Bunny didn’t make it…” Fluttershy said, not even trying to hold in her tears. “I don’t even know what he was doing when it happened…”

“Fluttershy…” Rarity said, a hoof to her mouth. “I’m… I’m so sorry…”

“So many made it… I should be thankful they’re here… but I…” She broke down, putting her face in her hooves, prompting a few of her friends to come over, hug her, and give whatever assurances they were able to.

And the next…

Applejack punched a hole through her plate and the table. “...Huh.”

“Don’t know your own strength, eh?” Rainbow Dash asked with a sly grin.

“Ah guess not…”

“I wouldn’t be so happy Rainbow Dash,” Discord said, munching on a large wedge of cheese. “You’ll never be able to beat her in an athletic pursuit again.”

Rainbow Dash paled. “Oh no…”

And then there were laughs. Legitimate, real, joyful laughs.

Laughter, crying, and then awkward silence.

The awkward silence wasn’t memorable enough to have a distinct impression in Twilight’s mind. It was a suffocating presence somehow everywhere, but not quite tangible enough to hold on to. Like the soft buzzing of white noise.

Was this normal a few days after a tragedy?

Could anything this soon after a tragedy be considered normal?

Twilight sighed, looking to her side as another plate of food appeared on the table thanks to Discord. For a moment, Twilight stopped short, wondering why that simple motion made her stomach churn so much. It wasn't like Discord had ever fed them like this before, it shouldn’t be triggering any memories…

Spike should be the one bringing in the plates from the kitchen.

Twilight stood up suddenly, pushing her chair back. “I’m bringing Spike out today.”

Celestia blinked. “That seems like a good choice, but you don’t seem to be thinking straight right now.”

“I… he’s one of us, he needs to be here. Today i-”

“No, Twilight!” Pinkie wailed, standing up as well. “Marble needs out! She’s not going to last very long in there! Without me, I… I don’t know what’s going to happen to her!”

Twilight swallowed hard. “I… I…” She let out a deep breath. “You’re right. Spike can take care of himself in there, and we can be strong out here. The ponies who need out should come first…”

“Oh, it appears I forgot to tell you something,” Discord said, scratching his claws. “I visited the Roots yesterday and talked to Sunset. She needs to get out so she can hook up a screen so everyone can see into the Roots.”

“Discord!” Pinkie shouted. “M-marble! I…”

Rarity furrowed her brow. “If Sunset can get such a device working… Marble and all the others in the Roots would be able to talk to us easily. We wouldn’t have to worry about them as much.”

“That could take forever!” Pinkie jumped onto the table. “Girls, Marble’s not…”

“She can’t hurt herself in there, Pinkie,” Celestia said warmly. “It… it may be more dangerous for her out here than in there.”

Pinkie looked at Celestia with miniscule pupils, speechless at the implication. Her mane drooped slightly as the Princess’ words hit home. Tears welled up in her eyes and she sat down, uncharacteristically still.

“Pinkie…” Twilight said.

“Give her a minute,” Fluttershy said, holding up a hoof.

“No… no, we don’t have minutes,” Pinkie said, looking up with a determined - albeit wet - face. “Twilight, get Sunset out and put her to work as fast as you can. Every minute we waste is another minute Marble and the others can’t talk to us. A minute of sadness.”

Twilight looked at her in pity. “Are you sure…?”

“Nope,” Pinkie said, forcing a smile. “But do it anyway. We don’t need an argument.”

Twilight nodded, closing her eyes. Once again, she tapped into the power of the Roots, though she was cautious now. Slowly, a white glow took form to her side; at first a pony, then a human, then two separate bodies in different locations. Twilight twitched - finding it difficult to parse Sunset’s form precisely. She gave herself some extra time and magic to adjust the form, but she soon realized this limbo state wouldn’t be good for Sunset if she kept it up for too long.

Eventually, she released her magic, and Sunset stood before them.

Sunset Shimmer took a minute to examine herself, confused. Looking down, she saw a pair of hands. However, something wasn’t quite right. Not with the hands - they were normal - but with her head. Reaching up, she tapped her soft, rounded ears, the two fuzzy protrusions twitching slightly. Sprouting from her forehead was the hard tip of a horn.

Without thinking she held a hand out to a nearby cup, levitating it right into her fingers. She stared at in in disbelief for a moment - and then grinned. “Yes.”

It was at this point her tail started wagging, much to the surprise of her and everyone else. She pulled her tail up to her face, gawking. “I have a tail!?!”

“Oh, sorry, sorry!” Twilight blushed. “I can fix that, give me a mi-”

“No, no, no, it’s… it’s fine!” Sunset flexed her tail muscles, finding that it didn’t feel quite like a pony tail, not that she knew what other tails felt like. “It’s just… unexpected. Even powered up, this never happened.”

“I… probably just fused your two mental images of yourself together…” Twilight admitted, rubbing the back of her head.

“It works,” Sunset said, examining the back of her skirt, trying to figure out how to keep the fabric down flat with the awkward placement of the tail. “It feels like me, don’t panic.”

“If you say so…”

Pinkie was suddenly in Sunset’s face, ending her tail tinkering. “You need to get those screens set up. As soon as humanly possible!”

Sunset didn’t miss her use of the word ‘humanly’, she just decided not to question it. “Right. Twilight, you have all my broken supplies in storage by now, right?”

Twilight nodded.

“Discord, with me, we’re going to need to take all of those down to the Roots.”

Discord rubbed his hands together. “Mad science time?”

“Of a sort,” Sunset said with a shrug. “Uh… it’s good to see you all again, and I’ll be able to catch up later. Right now, there’s still work to be done.”

“Naturally,” Rarity said. “But first, I need to do something for you.”

“Rarity you don’t have t-”

Rarity quickly used her magic to force a hole in the back of Susnet’s skirt. She tugged the bacon-esque tail through the hole, pulling it tight. “There you go. Really, that was bothering me.”

Sunset rubbed the back of her hips. “Ow…”

“I am sorry, but I needed to work fast so you wouldn’t say no and go around as a crime against human decency.”

“...You’re all ponies.”

Rarity rolled her eyes and fixed Sunset with a level expression.

“Right… Thanks, Rarity.”

“Can we go now?” Discord muttered.

“Ye-”

Discord snapped his fingers and the two of them were gone.

Twilight stood up. “I’m going to check out the Roots for a few minutes, then we can figure out what needs to be done today.”

Celestia nodded. “Understood, Twilight.”

“Pinkie, anything you want to say to Marble?”

Pinkie gulped. “Only that she’s the bestest sister ever and that I’m doing everything I can to see her again. I’m sorry that I have to be out here…”

Twilight nodded, taking a breath and closing her eyes, allowing her consciousness to drift into the Roots below. She easily gained entry to the world within, finding herself face to face with Zecora.

“With Sunset free, does it fall to me?”

“Does what?” Twilight asked.

“Keeping this crowd from getting too loud,” Zecora said, pointing at an imaginary theme park some of the spirits had created - including Smolder, if the statue of the orange dragon on the roller coaster was any indication.

“...Sure,” Twilight said, smiling. “I hereby give you authority over the dreaming Roots, or whatever we’re calling them. Keep everyone in line, okay?”

“I endeavor to fulfill this task, I hope none want to bask.”

Twilight shrugged. “You get used to it.” She let her spirit drift through the Roots, finding Spike easily. “Hey there.”

“Twilight!” Spike said, getting up from his conversation with Smolder. They tried to hug, though Twilight found that her form was intangible to them. “Oh…”

Twilight smiled sadly. “I’ll give you all the hugs you want when I get you out. Sadly, it can’t be today. I need to save my power, and I already got Sunset out to do something with her machines. Until then, think you can help Zecora keep everyone grounded?”

“Oh, uh, sure!” Spike saluted. “You can count on me!”

“That’s my number one assistant!” Twilight nodded. “I really wish I could talk longer, but there’s a lot to do.”

“I understand. See you around!”

Twilight allowed herself to shift through the Roots again, finding a lone gray earth pony staring at nothing, a deep grimace on her face.

“Marble…?”

Marble jumped up and hid behind her tail, shivering in fear.

“Marble, it’s just me, Twilight.”

Marble made no response - she just kept staring at the purple alicorn with wide eyes.

Twilight sighed. “I have a message from Pinkie.” The mare perked up at that. “She says you’re the bestest sister ever and that she’s doing everything she can to see you again. She’s really sorry that she has to be out there - she really wants to be in here with you.”

Marble, ever so slightly, nodded. Twilight noticed she was crying - had she been crying before?

“...Anything you want to tell her?” Twilight asked.

Marble made no response at all. She just kept staring.

With a sad smile, Twilight turned. “...If you ever want to get a message out, just talk to Zecora, okay?”

Did Marble nod at that? Twilight couldn’t tell.

I really should stay longer, give her something more grounded…

Twilight shook her head. With a gulp, she removed her mind from the Roots.

~~~

Discord glanced at Sunset as she dug through a pile of damaged Earth technology that had been recently teleported to the Root caverns. “What exactly am I doing here?”

“Waiting,” Sunset said, pulling a dented metal box out of a console, frowning at the damage.

“The Lord of Chaos does not wait.”

“Unless you know how to safely remove a hard drive and check it for damage, you can’t exactly do anything just yet. Even with your magic, we need the basic code for the operating system or else all of this is basically useless.”

Discord let out an immensely annoyed groan, creating a ping-pong paddle out of nowhere and bouncing it repeatedly. A house of cards began to slowly materialize over his face.

Sunset didn’t mind - as long as he was still there when she did need him. She continued to dig through the technological junk, prying off panels and removing screens. Having a combination of magic and fingers was an immense boon in this endeavor. She was able to hold things and press buttons easily while all screws were removed with a simple rotation spell.

And it just so happened that the panel she opened revealed a computer interior that was relatively undamaged. She clapped her hands. “Yes!” Carefully, she pulled out a silver box - a solid state hard drive filled with all the information required to run a computer. And, just her luck, an undamaged processor chip was nearby, along with a few other computer components. “Found it!” She jumped up to a card table and laid all the components out.

Discord examined the drive and the chips. “And these things are more impressive than me?”

“What’s the square root of thirty-nine million, three-hundred forty thousand, nineteen?”

“...How could I possibly know that?”

Sunset levitated a small calculator out of the technology pile and pressed a few buttons. She held up the screen, displaying 6272.1622. “I couldn’t do that, you couldn’t do that, but this tiny computer could do it in a second.” She pointed at the hard drive and chips. “This is a big computer. I had programs specially designed to analyze magical field shapes in real time. It should be more than capable of analyzing the patterns within the Roots, given some tweaking - and magic from you, of course.”

Discord glared at the calculator, as if he could make it feel ashamed for showing him up. “Bah. It can’t do chaos.”

“True, computers can’t do magic.” Sunset frowned. “Trust me, I’ve tried. Things exploded. There was one time Starlight and I…” She trailed off, a haunted expression crossing her face. “D-discord, I’m going to need you to fix something.”

“Egh, order…” Discord shivered. “Unpleasant.”

Sunset grabbed a monitor with a shattered screen and heavily dented exterior on the table. “This thing. This is the screen in the best condition. We need to get it working. You’ll have to regrow the glass, of course, but the LCD screen behind that needs to be recreated in a very specific manner. Can you see the intricate patterns?”

Discord held a telescope up to his eye and squinted. Sunset knew he was scanning the device with his magic and the telescope was just for show, but she didn’t comment on it. “...This will be child’s play.” With a snap of his fingers, all the cracks and dents were ironed out of the monitor. It looked like it had never been broken.

“Wow.”

Discord smirked. “While I would love to continue basking in such praise, it’s not done. That’s just the shell - the inside will take more time.”

“How long?”

“Few minutes, tops.”

Sunset nodded. “Good. I’ll start wiring up everything else…” She carefully took loose cables from the junk pile and started to wire the chips and hard drive together. It didn’t take long - most of the cables connecting the pieces hadn’t been fried since they were so well protected. The few things she did need to wire, such as power, were augmented with her magic. She touched her finger to the power line and turned the CPU on. Without a monitor she didn’t exactly have a way to tell what it was doing, but it didn’t blow, so that was good.

She only noticed Celestia standing next to her when she finished. “Waugh!” She recoiled, falling onto her butt.

“Oh, sorry!” Celestia called, helping her up. “I didn’t want to interrupt you!”

“It’s… fine…” Sunset said, breathing slowly. “I’m just waiting for Discord, anyway.” She half expected the Lord of Chaos to snort and follow that up with a quip, but he was so focused on the monitor that he didn’t even register that she was talking. “What can I do for you?”

“How are you doing, Sunset?” Celestia asked, concern on her face.

“Pretty good, considering,” Sunset said with a smile. “It looks like we have the start of a pretty powerful computer, and we’ll be able to use that in conjunction with Discord’s magic to make more. Shouldn’t be too long before we have a primitive interface that’ll work as long as the Roots provide magic power.”

“Sunset, you know that’s not what I’m asking about.”

Sunset let her smile drop unceremoniously. “...It’s… hard. Starlight… all the others…”

“Are you not thinking of Earth?”

Sunset looked blankly into the distance. “Earth is fine, Celestia. The Tree severed the connection, remember?”

“But you can’t go back. They may not have lost it, but you lost your home. You lost both of them.”

Sunset gulped, unconsciously grabbing the spot on her neck where her geode should have been hanging. It wasn’t gone - just inside of her, like an Element - but it wasn’t slightly disquieting to not have it physically present. “I… I did. And… and the Mirror’s useless now, can’t even try to reactivate it with the whole magic loss thing.” Tears welled up in her eyes, but she kept a strong face. “I can never go back. But I will remember that world and the people in it. I will be a walking reminder that the destruction didn’t claim everything we knew. There’s a whole world out there, touched by magic, that will remember Equestria. Not just us.”

Celestia’s concern turned into a smile. “...You have hope.”

“I guess.”

Celestia put a hoof on her shoulder. “Sunset, you have hope. In a situation like this, even the strongest of mares will struggle to hold on to something bigger than themselves.”

“...Even you?”

Celestia’s smile faltered. “...Yes. Even me.”

“...I’m sorry. This is the second time you’ve lost her.”

The regal princess nodded slowly, pain evident on her face. “There is no moon on this world, Sunset. I would have liked there to be one. Liked there to be some memory. Something that was… her. Could have been used to remember her.”

“There are pictures of her in the school,” Sunset said. “I know there are.”

“We must not forget…” Celestia said. Unexpectedly, she pulled Sunset into a hug. “And we must not neglect the present by dwelling on the past. We must be there for each other.”

“...I… I can try.”

“Good.” Celestia slowly released her from the embrace. “Sunset, I have something to ask you.”

“Anything.”

“Once, long ago, you were my student.” Celestia’s eyes softened. “Twilight has surpassed me, and I find myself wanting someone to teach once more. I can think of none more qualified than yourself.”

“...You’re asking me back?”

“I would have earlier, but you were so happy in your world. Now that you’re here, y-”

“Yes,” Sunset said, interrupting her. “Yes, I’d love to. I’ll… I’ll learn all I can. Friendship, magic, science, this new world… I’ll do it at your side.”

Celestia beamed. “Thank you, Sunset. You don’t know what this means to me.”

Sunset nodded with a soft chuckle. “Yeah… I think we both need it…”

“DONEAROONI WITH PEPPERONI!” Discord shouted, setting the monitor down on the table. “It’s all yours!”

Sunset leaped to the table with fire in her eyes. She plugged two cables into the back of the monitor and began to run power through the wires. With the push of a button, she turned the computer on.

The monitor lit up, displaying a familiar apple-shaped logo.

“YEAH!” Sunset said, pumping her fist into the air. “We’ve got it!”

A login prompt appeared on the screen.

Sunset glared at it. “...Probably should have thought about needing a keyboard. To the junk pile!” She jumped back from the table and started rummaging around once more.

With a smile on her face, Celestia decided it was best to leave them to their work.

~~~

Twilight stood at the edge of Equestrian soil, looking at the world beyond. It was peculiar, to say the least - this area of the Everfree had been of low elevation, and now all of it was a significant distance above the ground. Only a few of the nearby trees reached to the current height of Twilight, though to be fair most of the trees immediately around the crash zone had been flattened.

Very little moved out there - most likely the larger animals had been scared off by the crash. There’d been a few small mammals, birds, and the like, but nothing larger so far. She could see very far into the distance, but she had a hard time figuring out what the shapes were due to the concave nature of the Sphere.

Not the best name, but it was all they had come up with so far. Maybe they would name the new world something else, later, but for now it was the Sphere.

Twilight opened her wings and glided down to the Sphere’s surface, her hooves touching down on alien soil. She had done this before, but this time she had a purpose in mind. She placed a hoof on the Equestrian soil and focused - promptly causing a new Root to shoot out into the sunlight. Standing next to it, her eyes went white and she shot an immense beam of harmonious energy into the sky.

Nodding to herself, she trotted a few yards away from the Root and tried to do the same thing.

All she produced was a powerful purple laser - her standard alicorn power. Not to mention she also felt sick to her stomach having walked this far. She quickly returned to the Root, breathing a sigh of relief as the energy flooded back into her.

She collected herself and used her magic to extend the Root further, until the crystal tendril reached to where she had been standing a moment before. Once again, she could unleash the harmony blast easily.

Delicately, she ran a hoof across the Root. My power is tied to this physical location… I won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. It was a mildly disappointing realization, but she didn’t let it bother her.

Instead, she wanted to know more.

“Rainbow Dash, would you please come here?” she asked the air, leaning against the Root. A moment later she lit her horn, sending out a magic ping directed at Discord.

Rainbow Dash arrived first, a grumpy expression on her face. “This is going to get old really quickly.”

“Would you have prefered I came and got you in person, wasting a back and forth trip?” Twilight asked. “Regardless, I think you’ll like this.”

“How so?”

“Wait a minute, we still nee-”

“DISCORD!” Discord shouted, appearing in a shower of sparks.

“That was fast,” Twilight observed.

“Psh, moving quickly is no issue to me.”

“Does Sunset even know why you left?”

Discord pondered this. “...Maybe…?”

Twilight facehooved. “Guess we should do this quickly. Discord, I need you to try sending some chaos magic into the forest. Rainbow Dash, you should go flying. Stay low to the ground, but fly out a ways from here and then come back. Got it?”

“Got it!” Rainbow said, saluting. She took off in a gust of wind, leaving the two others in the dust.

Discord chuckled. He snapped his fingers, creating a flying pig and sending it after Rainbow Dash.

After a few seconds, the flying pig vanished into nothing, but Rainbow Dash was still flying strong.

“I’m getting a distinct sense of deja vu,” Discord muttered.

“I think our power - yours and mine - isn’t fully compatible with this world,” Twilight theorized, glancing at the Root at their side. “We need these Roots to access our full potential.”

“That’s going to put a dampener on my worldwide party,” Discord muttered, folding his arms.

“Well, with any luck Pinkie will still be able to throw on-”

A Sonic Rainboom went off over their heads, shaking the world around them. Rainbow Dash promptly landed on the ground before them and grinned coyly. “Pinks is gonna be just fine out there.”

“Rainbow! If your magic had fail-”

“It wasn't gonna fail,” Rainbow said, stretching her legs and wings. “Didn’t even get tired! And I heard your entire conversation, too. And Rarity and Applejack’s conversation. Your magic eggheadery was much more interesting than their drivel, by the way. Oh, Discord? Sunset’s having a conniption.”

“I’m surprised you know that word,” Discord marveled.

“I don’t. She’s using it to describe her own situation. I think she’s a few seconds away from realizing she can just ask me to drag you back.”

Discord grunted. “Back to tech-buzz, I guess… unless a certain princess needs me?”

“No, I got everything I needed,” Twilight said. “Get back to your computers.”

With a scowl, Discord vanished.

“Rainbow, don’t go yet,” Twilight said, holding out a wing. “I’ve got something else for you.”

“Whaaat?”

“How would you like to scout a few miles out from our landing site and see what’s out there? You’re the fastest, and I trust you to handle yourself. Plus, you’ll know instantly if we need you back here.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes lit up. “I would love to do that more than anything in the world.”

“I thought so.” Twilight smiled. “Be back by full nightfall.”

“I won’t let you down!” With a burst of color, Rainbow Dash shot into the air, leaving a rainbow trail of magic behind.

Twilight waved at her as she left. Normally I’d worry about the display drawing attention, but we crashed here and caused an earthquake, anything that cares already knows about us.

~~~

“What’s the problem, Applejack?” Rarity asked as they walked into the earth pony’s ‘farming shed’. It was far too pretty looking to be considered a shed in Rarity’s mind, but Applejack hadn’t come up with anything else to call the place they were keeping most thier plants, seeds, and farming tools.

“There’s some stuff missin’,” Applejack said, walking to a small window-facing shelf lined with potted plants, a few of which were starting to fruit thanks to her earth pony magic. “There was a tomato plant just about ripe in here yesterday, and now it’s gone.”

“Animals?”

“Ah thought so at first, but then Ah wondered why they would take the pot with it. Not to mention none of the other fruits were disturbed at all.”

Rarity pursed her lips. “So it was stolen?”

“Maybe,” Applejack said. “Or maybe it was just Rainbow Dash takin’ it for a snack and not tellin’ me.”

“She can hear you, you know.”

“Ah know.”

Rarity shrugged. “Well, I don’t think it was Rainbow. And if it was, I still think we have a thief. Some of those chemicals I organized yesterday had been shifted around, and one of the peroxide bottles were gone. Maybe others as well - I hadn’t made a full catalog yet.”

“Who’d be takin’ them?” Applejack asked. “We haven’t seen any ponies, dragons, humans, what have ya. Just animals.”

“For all we know, it’s ghosts,” Rarity said, shrugging. “We don’t know anything about this world, maybe there are birds with the instinct to cleverly steal things.”

“Hmm…”

“Just be on your guard. I’ll bring this up with Celestia, see if we can sense something with her magic.” A moment later, she put a hoof on Applejack. “...It must be hard for you, working the farm on your own.”

“Ah won’t be forever,” Applejack said. “Applebloom and Big Mac will be out here soon enough. Ah’ve just got to get it ready for them.”

“Applejack…”

Applejack didn’t miss a beat. “Yes, it’s hard. But this isn’t the first time Ah’ve had to move on, Rarity. Ah know how Ah deal with it.” She looked out the window at the sky. “Ah’ll have my cry, don’t worry. But it’s not gonna come out until there’s time to let it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely,” Applejack said. She cracked a smile. “After all, Ah am known for cryin’ on the inside, right?”

Rarity couldn’t help but laugh. “Yes… I suppose.”

The two bumped hooves and went their separate ways a moment later.

~~~

Fluttershy calmly looked at the hydra.

The hydra glared back.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t have you going on a rampage,” Fluttershy said, shaking her head.

The hydra hissed.

“We have two major buildings, mister hydra. There’s still plenty of Everfree Forest for you to go hunting in, you don’t need to give us trouble.”

The beast growled.

“No! Don’t leave Equestrian soil! I don’t know what’s out there and I don’t want you hurting anyone out there!”

The hydra lowered two of its heads to Fluttershy’s level.

“Don’t you dare…”

Many of the heads considered this and drew back cautiously - leaving only one to keep its gaze on Fluttershy.

Fluttershy sighed. “Look, I’m going to find some local animals today. I’ll probably be able to find you a hunting ground, but you’ll have to wait patiently. Okay?”

The last head seemed to accept this and fell in line with the other heads.

“Now, you can go hunt in the Everfree all you want. Most of the creatures are still in there, aside from the overly magical ones. ...The forest is probably a lot safer now, come to think of it.” She shook her head - something to bring up later. Satisfied that the hydra was no longer going to be a problem, she spread her wings and took to the sky. She wasn’t going very far - just enough to land on one of the trees of the Sphere.

She looked around for a bird of prey, finding an eagle nest within a few minutes. She alighted on the nearby branch, making soothing noises so as not to spook the bird away. Now that she was close and not about to be pecked into oblivion, she was able to examine the bird. It looked a lot like the eagles of her world - specifically the bald eagle - but there were a few minor differences in coloration, feather pattern, and eye placement.

“Hey, I’m Fluttershy. How’s it going here?”

The bird told her that hunting hadn’t quite been as easy since the rocks fell from the sky. He was considering moving, but he would hate to abandon its nest.

“Oh, there are lots of small mammals and birds within the Everfree on top of that rock, if you’re willing to explore a bit.”

The eagle thanked her. He’d have to think about it though - it was dangerous to go someplace new, even if it was in sight range.

“Anyway, I’m from that new rock. I’m trying to figure out what this place is like. I have some friends like you who want to go find new places to hunt. Know of any place?”

The bird ruffled his feathers and gestured toward a large forest in the distance covered in lush green trees. If he was going to abandon this nest, he would go there. Absolutely flourishing with life. There was probably a walking beast in the midst of it.

“A… what?”

The eagle lacked the intelligence to convey an abstract idea to Fluttershy. All she got was that it was big and had something to do with trees. The Eagle just kept getting confused trying to explain it better.

“Okay, I’ll go look myself later, then. Have you seen any… houses? Things that are built by other creatures, like that castle you can see over there?”

Yes, in fact, the eagle had seen such things, built by ponies. The structures weren’t any near here, but if Fluttershy were to travel several miles she would arrive at a village.

“Do any other creatures build things?”

The eagle said no at first - but then he remembered there were odd things the ponies were never around. Not that he knew who built them, or how to describe what the odd things were. That was all Fluttershy was going to get out of him.

“Okay, thanks for your time! If you need any help and don’t want to worry about predators, drop by the small group of buildings over there and ask the other animals for Fluttershy. We call it a school - and it’s a safe zone for animals, which means no hunting there. Got it?”

The eagle didn’t understand why that would be, but he was able to understand the content of the sentence.

Fluttershy smiled, waved goodbye, and set out to find another animal to interview…

~~~

“How much longer?” Pinkie asked, ramming her snout into Sunset’s face.

“I don’t know,” Sunset said, brushing Pinkie off. She and Discord had wrapped one of the Roots in a metallic band criss-crossed with magical focus crystals, each of which were currently being wired together.

“But you’re plugging it into the Roots! It has to be done soon, right?”

Sunset shook her head. “This will not work on the first try. We’ll get a garbled signal I’m going to have to decode into a digital image. That will take up the majority of our time.”

“Majority!? The day’s already more than half over!”

“It’d be cause for celebration if we got it done today,” Sunset pointed out as she wired a few more things together.

Discord groaned. “This is more trouble than it’s worth…”

“Don’t say that!” Pinkie shouted, getting in his face. “Those ponies in there need out! We can’t do that, so they need to be able to see us!”

“They’ll be fine.”

“You don’t know that! You don’t know most the ponies in there! I do! It’s not good for them to be locked up in an eternal dream!”

Discord frowned, giving her no response. He used his magic to weld a few more wires together, infusing them with the own magics he had been using to interface with the Roots. This allowed signals to pass through to the computer - which was now encased in a smooth crystal cover rather than being a loose collection of chips and wires.

Pinkie jumped in front of Sunset again, getting in the way of her wiring. “What can I do to help?”

“...Pinkie, you don’t have an aptitude for electronics. I’m not sure there’s much you can do.”

“I need to be there for Marble.”

“And to do that, you need to leave me to my work,” Sunset pushed her away, plugging two wires together.

“B-but…” Pinkie twitched. “I… I can’t do nothing!”

“I’ll let you know the instant it starts working,” Sunset promised. “But the more I talk to you and fight to focus, the longer it will take.”

Tears welled up in Pinkie’s eyes. “Okay…”

“Pink-”

Pinkie was gone.

With a sigh, Sunset plugged in the last wire. The display program on the computer’s screen went from black nothingness to technicolor static.

“...While delightfully chaotic, I’m not sure if this bodes well or not,” Discord commented.

Sunset shrugged. “I don’t really know, to be honest.” With a sigh, she folded her hands together. “And now comes the part where we throw darts at a wall and see what sticks. Discord, vary the frequency and intensity of your magic. Somewhere, there’s going to be a clearer pattern. Somewhere…”

~~~

Rainbow Dash had discovered the most amazing thing about this world.

There didn’t seem to be an upper limit to how high she could fly.

She’d passed the clouds several minutes ago and she was still going up at a breakneck pace. The air hadn’t gotten too cold or thin - if anything, it had gotten warmer, presumably due to its proximity with the sun. At some point she had realized she didn’t exactly feel like any particular direction was ‘down’ anymore. She knew enough science to know that was because ‘gravity was weird’, but that’s as far as her knowledge went, not that she particularly cared about why. It was pretty cool regardless.

She eventually brought herself to a stop and looked down. She was so high up she almost couldn’t see the sliver of New Equestria among the greens of the forest. Not that she was in any danger of losing it - she was still distinctly aware of everything her friends were doing. Even Sunset. Already she’d learned to push a lot of that into the background, but she still found herself annoyed that she couldn’t fully enjoy the silence anymore.

Falling asleep had been a nightmare. She’d needed to ask Twilight for a sleep spell.

With a shake of her head, Rainbow returned her focus to the present, looking down at the ground. From this high up, she could spot several things. Many, many miles away from New Equestria were towns, roads, and even a few cities. For a moment, she considered flying to them - but she reasoned that was probably a dumb idea. Better wait until she had Celestia or Rarity to open contact with a new people. Normally Pinkie would be on that list too, but at the moment she wasn't doing too hot.

“I have my reasons!” Pinkie blurted as she walked through the Root caverns.

“Wh - can you hear my thoughts!?” Rainbow shouted at the air.

“No. Yes. It depends, really.” Pinkie sighed. “Pinkie Sense is stronger, let’s go with that.”

“...Sure…” Rainbow shook her head. “Any suggestions?”

Pinkie shook her head and continued on her way - either ignoring Rainbow or no longer hearing her.

Rainbow furrowed her brow. Weird… She looked back down at the ground, taking it all in.

Then a forest close to New Equestria moved. The entire thing, like it was an animal of some kind.

Rainbow took a second to process this before flying at the ground as fast as she could - unleashing a Sonic Rainboom in the process. She’d been doing a lot of those lately, and she hadn’t even felt all that tired. Maybe she was in better shape than she thought, or perhaps the Element of Loyalty provided her with some extra strength.

It didn’t really matter; she was sailing down toward the moving forest faster than the sound trailing behind her. She flared her wings, bringing herself to a stop as the sonic energy passed her by, shaking the trees beneath her and scaring off several birds from the back of the forest.

The back of the forest.

Rainbow gawked at a mile-wide creature with eight lumpy, bulbous legs atop feet larger than most towns. It had no head or eye, but each of the eight feet had a large bluish crystal embedded at the base that shimmered with power. It was impossible to see much of the creature’s actual skin, since virtually every square foot of the beast was covered in thick, rich soil on top of which an entire forest grew. The trees were notably of a different color than the greenery the behemoth was walking through. Occasionally, Rainbow would see one of the gems flash for a moment, and a tree would teleport off the creature’s back and appear in the ground below.

“How could this get any weirder…?”

Rainbow noticed there were smaller versions of the creature on its back, each with their own unique arrangements of plants upon them. They ranged from the size of a small house to monstrosities that would make dragons look pathetic - and all of them paled in comparison to the living forest they all walked on.

She decided she needed a closer look. She flew in, finding the trundling forest to be filled with the normal wildlife… and metal birds with a crystal in their forehead instead of eyes. The metal birds were about half her size, but were extremely menacing simply because they stared at her whenever she got close.

She got the impression she was an unwelcome intruder and backed away from the birds - the forest was clearly theirs. As fast as she was, she didn’t want to take a risk against a flock of metallic angry birds. Taking a moment to collect herself, she looked at the sun; it was in its crescent phase right now, heralding the coming of night. She spread her wings, preparing to head back.

And then she noticed smoke. A thin trail heading into the air, likely from an artificial campfire rather than a natural forest blaze. She didn’t even stop to think - she took off toward it. She’d need to hurry to get back in time, so she was going to forego stealth.

Let’s hope they’re friendly…

Rainbow Dash landed powerfully in a small clearing, in the center of which was a small fire and a few bedrolls. Three earth ponies looked at her with hanging jaws.

“Heh. You all look like you’ve never seen a pegasus before,” Rainbow said, striking a pose.

“W-we haven’t!” the lead - a soft red mare - said, sputtering. “I… I’ve never seen anything fly quite like that!”

“You’ve been puttin’ on quite the color show for a while now,” a brown stallion said. Rainbow noticed with curiosity that none of them were multicolored - their manes were just darker or lighter shades of their coats, and their eyes all matched as well. They also lacked cutie marks, but Rainbow decided not to comment on that.

“Glad to know I’ve had an audience. The name’s Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty and Wonderbolt.”

“Are you from the sky rock?” A small yellow mare asked, eyes wide.

“Yep! We call it New Equestria - and that’s a big story I don’t have time to get into, unfortunately. I have to be back there before night falls.”

“But that’s several hours away, at least!” the red mare noted.

“Not by flying!” Rainbow smirked. “Though I’ll have to push it.”

The red mare nodded. “We shouldn’t keep you - we’ll see you tomorrow, most likely. We are heading toward the sky ro- New Equestria.”

“Oh, good!” Rainbow clapped her hooves - an action that confused the ponies. “Everypony will be really interested in meeting our new neighbors. Word of warning, Pinkie’s probably going to throw some kind of party for you when you arrive, so prepare for sudden inexplicable festivities.”

The ponies blinked, clearly not sure what to make of this.

“It’ll be fun, trust me.”

“We’ll… see.” The red mare shook her head. “I am Red Fox, this is my husband Chestnut Beaver, and our daughter Yellow Eagle.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Rainbow said with a bow. “See you tomorrow!” She took off in a burst of color, leaving them behind with their camp.

“Until then, Dash,” Chestnut Beaver called. He frowned, uncertainty plain on his face.

~~~

Night had fallen a couple hours ago.

And still, Sunset worked. Discord may not have felt the exhaustion from a lack of sleep - but she certainly did.

But she wasn’t going to be one to give up. Not when she knew she was close. They had made immense progress, far easier than she would have expected. As time went on, what had started as a simple technological chore had become like… instinct to her. She could feel the power of the Geode coursing through her in more ways than simple empathy. It was as if she could feel and understand the very cables she was working with. They had no minds, they had no emotion, but they had a purpose, and that purpose had become plain to her.

It was a very subtle ability, one that had taken her a while to notice, but it was certainly a useful one. Complex systems simplified before her eyes, falling into place like pieces of a puzzle.

With a burst of magic, she encased her hands in a powerful, glowing light. Her eyes lit up with the intensity of a sun, making Discord flinch. She touched one of her fingers to Discord, one to the Roots, and a toe to the mechanisms of the computer. A burst of solar power emanated from her, creating a flow of magic from Discord to the Root to the computer and back to Discord. The cycle allowed all the magics to work in a conjunction of harmony, chaos, and rigid technological order.

The garbled technicolor static of the computer’s display program jumped into clear focus, displaying an image of Zecora talking to Spike about ‘Derpy’s house of horror’.

“I think it’s fine,” Spike said, leaning on the door. “Nobody’s going into the funhouse unless they want to.”

“Seeing a blade go through one’s chest is, for our mental states, not the best.”

“Tell that to Smold- SUNSET!?”

“Hey guys!” Sunset said, tapping the screen. “Can you hear me?”

“We hear you!” Spike said, shaking his head. “Just… why are you a floating square?”

“I’m displaying this on a computer screen,” Sunset explained. “You know, like the devices Starlight and I were using?” She grimaced as she used the unicorn’s name, but she tried her best to move past it.

“...Maybe?” Spike said with a shrug.

“Anyway, first thing’s first. Discord, find Pinkie; Spike, find Marble. I-”

Pinkie appeared without Discord so much as lifting a finger, pressing her face into the screen. “MARBLE! Where are you!?”

Marble didn’t need to be called either - she calmly walked in front of the screen, a smile on her face. She put a hoof to her side of the screen. Pinkie did the same.

“I’m so sorry I can’t come in there and I’m so sorry I couldn't be there and i’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry…”

Marble let out a choking ‘mhm’ noise and pressed both hooves to the screen, crying profusely. Pinkie did the same, her tears choking out her words. For once, the pink pony was at a loss for words.

Discord snapped his fingers, taking Sunset and himself away from the confrontation. They appeared in Twilight’s room, startling her awake.

“A little privacy?” Twilight muttered, rubbing her head.

“...I was planning on telling you in the morning…” Sunset said, glaring at Discord. “But we got the interface working. Pinkie’s talking to Marble right now.”

Twilight’s annoyed expression was replaced with relief. “That’s good. I was getting worried about them - about both of them.”

“I think they’ll be fine. With time,” Sunset said.

“And now Pinkie can create an actual party for our guests tomorrow!” Discord said, rubbing his hands together. “I can’t wait to blow their little minds.”

“Discord, we don’t want to scare them away,” Twilight said with a huff. “We need friends in this new world, not enemies. We should tread carefully.”

“Fine…” Discord grumbled. “You’ve all been cramping my style a lot lately…”

“This is a very serious situation,” Sunset said, pressing her hands together, ears twitching. “So much has been lost, and there’s so few of us that another disaster could spell the end of everything…”

Twilight looked to her. “...How are you holding up?”

“Exhausted, haven’t been allowing myself to think because of the work, that sort of thing.” She smiled. “But we’re standing, and we’re going to keep standing. We’ll face any obstacles or disasters in the future with a smile on our faces and determination in our hearts.”

“I like your spirit!” Discord laughed. “We’ll show them all what it means to be us!”

“For all we know, this world needs harmony,” Twilight said, looking out her window at the brilliant night sky. “We may have a greater purpose than simple survival. With the Tree gone, we are the Tree. We will take up its mantle and spread Harmony far and wide, in remembrance of what it has done for us.”

“The students of the School are already talking about making a memorial when they get out,” Sunset said, smirking. “We’re definitely ready to carry on its legacy.”

Discord groaned. “Ugh, fine, spread harmony and cheer. But I will also be spreading delightful chaos.”

Twilight smiled at him. “It is part of what we are. Crazy, crazy friends who will stick with each other until the end.”

“You mean past the end,” Sunset pointed out.

Twilight let out a small chuckle. “Yeah… yeah, I guess so!”

The Third Day

With the new dawn came a new friend.

Twilight spread her wings and focused her magic in front of her, drawing yet another from the mysterious dream-world of the Roots. It did not take long to coalesce all the atoms together into a small purple reptile within the School’s meeting hall.

Spike’s first action in his newly reformed body was to burp loudly.

Twilight laughed, pulling Spike into a hug. “Welcome back, Spike.”

“It’s good to be back!” he said, blushing self-consciously from his involuntary outburst. He stretched his arms, legs, and wings out before lifting himself into the air. Satisfied, he turned to a screen on a nearby wall - currently showing Zecora. “Well, sorry Zecora, looks like it’s up to you to handle things in there now!”

“Do not worry about me, I shall work without ere - for free!”

Twilight nodded. “Thank you Zecora, you’re a life saver.”

“It is the least I can do to repay you.” With a nod, she walked away, presumably to deal with something else in the dreamscape.

Sunset took out a remote and shut off the screen. “Glad to have you back, Spike.”

“You have no idea how much Twilight’s needed you,” Fluttershy said with a soft smile. “She’ had no number one assistant to keep her grounded.”

“No surprise there,” Spike smirked.

Twilight pretended to look aghast - but there were happy tears in her eyes. “I was fine!” She pulled Spike into another hug. “...Think you’re up for a meeting?”

“The worst danger is dying of boredom, so… sure!”

Twilight nodded. “So… today we’re going to have to get ready for our visitors. Sooner rather than later.”

Everyone at the table nodded in agreement.

“Rainbow, do you know how far out they are?”

Rainbow shook her head. “They were a few hours away by hoof, but I have no idea if they’ve even woken up yet or not. I can’t see them like I can see you guys.”

“So we’ll assume sooner rather than later.”

“We’ll need to get this place looking presentable…” Rarity said, putting a hoof to her chin. “And we most certainly need to make some sort of rig that can be used to climb the rock face.”

Applejack nodded. “Agreed.”

“I think most of us should work on preparing for our visitors,” Celestia said. “However, we shouldn’t completely devote our resources to such a singular goal. What else needs to be done?”

“Get some crops growin’,” Applejack said.

“Exploration,” Twilight added. “Something more in-depth and comprehensive than what we already have. RD found some amazing things, and Fluttershy’s animals have given us some hints, but we still have very little idea what the world is actually like.”

“Can’t we learn that from our visitors?” Rarity asked.

“Maybe…” Twilight said, frowning. “But we can’t just trust everything they say for sure.”

Pinkie nodded sadly “Yeah… but let’s try to give them the benefit of the doubt anyway!”

“Naturally,” Celestia said. “I will handle exploration.”

Twilight blinked. “But, Princess! The visitors…”

“Can be handled perfectly well by the rest of you. If they have never seen a pegasus before, what if they have never seen an alicorn either? Or a being of my size? Even you, Twilight, might be intimidating.”

“...Good point,” Twilight admitted. “But are you really fit for exploration? You’re a Princess!”

“As are you,” Celestia reminded her with a smirk. “And unlike you and Discord, my magic does not dissipate when I leave New Equestria. I will have full control over the situation should anything go dire - not to mention our little blue alarm system.”

“Ha-ha,” Rainbow Dash grunted.

Twilight nodded slowly. “Right. Yeah, you’re right, you should do exploration.”

Celestia smiled. “In that case, I’ll be off and let you return to your planning. Sunset, would you, by chance, want to accompany me?”

“I still have a lot of work to do on the machines, sorry Princess,” Sunset answered. “Maybe another time?”

The disappointment in Celestia’s face was almost imperceptible. Only Twilight noticed it. “That is important work, of course you should return to it. Twilight, I leave our new friends in your hooves.”

“You can count on us!” Twilight said, beaming.

With a flash of solar light, Celestia was gone. Applejack and Sunset returned to their duties, while everyone else crowded around Rarity and Pinkie.

“Okay!” Rarity said, clapping her hooves together. “We don’t want to overwhelm them and we want to make a good impression. So, Pinkie, I need you to go all out but also keep a visual restraint. Don’t over-excite them.”

“A challenge…” Pinkie said, scratching her chin. “...I think I can do it.”

“Good. Spike, darling, take a note - we’re going to need to turn this place into a reception fit for royalty…”

~~~

It turned out that, no matter how much tragedy was hanging over the heads of the ponies of Ponyville, they still knew how to throw a welcome party. Rarity and Pinkie worked wonders turning the ramshackle constructions into welcoming pillars - all with a select few colorful banners courtesy of Twilight’s magic. Fluttershy had the animals clear up all the trash and Rainbow Dash set the weather to clear.

Discord even chipped in, snapping his fingers and creating an escalator at the edge of New Equestria to make it a simple matter of standing and waiting to arrive at the proper altitude. The escalator itself led right to the front area of the school.

Pinkie rummaged through Discord’s mountain of food and began creating the feast. Naturally she had dozens of sugary sweet desserts, but she was smart enough to include some healthier salads, sandwiches, and even some giant fruit. It was all set up on a large table out in the open air. There were far too many food items on the table for even a few dozen ponies to eat, much less the number they were expecting to arrive.

Twilight stared at one plate in particular.

“Pinkie, is that bacon?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, it is!” Pinkie nodded vigorously. “You never know, they may eat meat.”

“Or they may be horrified that we even consider the consumption of animals a valid source of food!”

“Do we?”

“I don’t know!” Twilight admitted. “I know Sunset does.”

“I do…” Spike said, licking his lips, wondering if he should ask for a piece of the bacon.

“I do too,” Rainbow called from the sky. “Gilda gave me some of her jerky one day. Lemme tell you, Griffin-made jerky is amazing.”

“Have you even had any other jerky?” Twilight asked.

“Eh, dragon, I guess…” Rainbow’s expression turned from thoughtful to dour. “Man, Gallus is the only griffon here… no Gilda… no Gabby…”

Rarity sighed. “...Unless we find some griffons here…”

“Fluttershy’s animals are only aware of ponies,” Twilight said with a frown. “No matter how many she asks, the ponies are the only race of ours they’ll identify. She’s been trying to figure out if the ‘things around the structures’ are another race or just a strange kind of animal, but it’s hard since we don’t know how to communicate concepts we don’t know ourselves.”

“Could you, like, do some magic mumbo-jumbo stuff?” Rainbow asked.

Twilight shook her head. “I can’t create life from nothing, and even if I transformed someone else into a griffon or something, transformation spells don’t actually alter your DNA.”

“There’s gotta be something…”

Twilight sighed. “I’m sorry everyone, but there’s no breeding pairs for griffons. Or seaponies. Or yaks. Or zebras… Just us, dragons, and I think the changelings.”

“Dragons?” Spike asked. “It’s just me and Smolder tho-” Spike stopped talking.

Rarity laughed nervously. “Let’s not worry about any of that right now, we have visitors coming. Rainbow, why don’t you go and check to see how they’re coming along?”

“On it!” Rainbow zoomed away. She was back in less than a second - keeping Spike from starting the conversation up again. “Uh, they’re here.”

“Oh, goodness! The food’s still warm, perfect timing!” Rarity clapped her hooves.

“One problem.”

“What’s that?”

“They’re scared of the escalator. They’re cowering at the base, looking at it like it’s some kind of monster.”

Twilight sighed. “Go find Fluttershy and tell her she needs to hide Discord somewhere. Rarity, Pinkie, with me. Spike, can you manage the kitchen?”

“Huh? Oh, sure! Can-do Twilight!” With a smile on his face he ran off to tend to all the dishes Pinkie was leaving unattended. It took all of two minutes for one of the souffle surprises to explode in his face.

Meanwhile, Twilight, Pinkie, and Rarity walked to the top of the escalator. The design wasn’t chaotic in any way - sleek, smooth, and almost silent, it looked like something from the Manehattan mall. Currently, the stairs were slowly moving in the upward direction in hopes of carrying the visitors up to their level.

Instead, the brown, yellow, and red forms of Chestnut Beaver, Yellow Eagle, and Red Fox were still at the base of the stairs. From this distance it appeared that Red Fox was… hissing at the mobile stairs?

“Hey!” Twilight called down, waving with a hoof. “It’s okay, it’s safe! You can stand on it and it’ll take you up to us!”

“What!?” Chestnut Beaver shouted back at her.

“It’s called an escalator! It’s like moving stairs! You get on at the bottom and it takes you up here!”

“That’s crazy!” Red Fox shouted before saying something to her husband Twilight couldn’t hear.

“I’ll show you!” Twilight called. She pulled a lever at the top end of the escalator, stopping it. Then she put it in the other direction, sending the escalator down. She stepped on it and slowly slid down to meet them, Rarity and Pinkie following close behind.

When they reached the bottom, Twilight pulled the lower lever and brought the escalator to a stop. “See?”

It was impossible to read Chestnut Beaver’s expression, but Yellow Eagle and Red Fox were staring at them in disbelief. For a moment, Twilight thought she saw something shift around Red Fox’s face, but upon closer scrutiny her face appeared as normal as any other pony’s.

Twilight decided to bow. “Greetings, I am Princess Twilight Sparkle of New Equestria. I welcome you with open hooves.”

“And a feast!” Pinkie said, barely able to contain herself - finally having a reason to be happy. “We made it just for you!”

“...Beaver, when was the last time we actually had a feast?” Red Fox asked.

“I do not remember the day,” Chestnut Beaver replied. “Sparkle, we would love some food. It has been a long journey.”

“I’ll eat anything…” Yellow Eagle said, slackjawed.

“Come on up the escalator and we can get to that,” Twilight said, pushing the lever into the ‘up’ direction.

Carefully, Red Fox stepped onto the moving stairs. She looked ready to bolt at a moments notice, but after a few seconds of nothing happening she allowed herself to relax. “The escalator is… fine.”

Yellow Eagle jumped on without missing a beat while Chestnut Beaver took his sweet time, ending up in the back of the line.

“See? Nothing to worry about,” Twilight said with a smile. “These are my friends - Pinkie Pie and Rarity.”

Yellow Eagle cocked her head at Pinkie. “What kind of creature is a Pie?”

“It’s not a creature!” Pinkie giggled. “It’s a pastry!”

“...What.”

“Not all ponies follow the same naming conventions, Eagle,” Red Fox reminded her daughter. “Sparkle doesn’t really fit, and Rarity definitely doesn't.”

“Why not?” Rarity asked.

“You only have one name,” Chestnut Beaver explained simply.

Rarity nodded. “Oh. I do suppose you’re right, that is somewhat unusual, even back home.”

“I’ve noticed something else too,” Twilight said. “You all refer to each other by last name. But ponies here go by their first. I’m Twilight first and foremost, Pinkie Pie is Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash is Rainbow.”

“...Not the strangest thing I’ve heard,” Fox admitted, tossing her mane back.

“There was that blairne’s,” Eagle commented. “He was, uh, Blifflesimmif or something.”

“That definitely wasn’t it.”

“It was weird though!”

Twilight was chuckling when they arrived at the top of the escalator where Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were waiting for them.

“Hey, looks like you made it!” Rainbow said with a wave. “Welcome to New Equestria!”

The family of three couldn’t respond - they were all staring at the new world around them. Eagle and Fox couldn’t take her eyes of the prepared food while Beaver found his inscrutable gaze focused on Twilight’s castle.

“Yeah. We tend to have that effect on ponies,” Rainbow said with a cocky smirk.

“Come on, eat!” Pinkie encouraged. “You can take your pick of anything here! We’ve got deserts, pastries - including pie - salads, sandwiches, spagh-”

A change came over Fox. Suddenly, the pupils in her eyes reduced to vertical slits and her head shifted, sharpening the snout and elongating her fur. She opened her mouth wide - revealing predatory teeth that hadn’t been there a moment earlier. Before anyone knew what was happening, she’d already devoured the entire plate of bacon.

Twilight and all her friends (save Pinkie) stared at Fox in shock.

“...It’s like y’all have never seen a predatory shaper indulge themselves,” Beaver commented.

“W-we haven’t…” Twilight said, shaking her head. “That’s… a normal thing for ponies to do here?”

“For shapers, yeah,” Beaver said - shifting his tail into that of a beaver’s to demonstrate. “I guess we haven’t seen pegasi or whatever else y’alls are, and you haven’t seen shapers.”

“Wait, Pinkie’s not a shaper?” Eagle gasped. “But… how!?”

“I dunno, but her eyes don’t match her coat…”

Pinkie giggled. “I’m an earth pony! I can’t do weird animal stuff. But I do have a connection to the earth and the plants around me!”

“Never heard o’ earth ponies,” Beaver admitted. “It’s just shapers, blairne, and wraiths here.”

“Earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns,” Rarity said, tapping her horn. “Twilight here is a bit special, being a combination of all three of our races.”

“Is that right…” Beaver said. His emotion was impossible to read - but it was clear that idea disgusted Eagle.

Twilight frowned. “You don’t have anything like me here?”

Beaver shook his head. “Not at all. I don’t think a ‘hybrid’ like yourself would be taken kindly to either, even if such a thing were possible.”

“...In that case, I thank you for your understanding and patience with us.” She bowed again. “I can only hope you’ll be willing to tell us what the customs of your world are.”

“Oh, sure, no problem,” Eagle said. “Soon as I eat. And soon as mom finishes gorging herself.”

Fox seemed to sense she was the butt of an insult. The foxy-features vanished from her face and she realized she had messes of fruit, meat, and pastries all over her. “Ugh! Beaver, it happened again!”

“I know dear.”

Fox grunted as her daughter sat down next to her, neatly eating a salad.

“Just you wait Eagle, one of these days that bird essence in you is gonna rise up and POW, to the crazy town!”

“If that was going to happen it would have happened already.”

“...So how exactly does this animal essence thing work?” Fluttershy asked.

Beaver shrugged, sitting down at the table. “Not sure. All shapers are born with an animal essence within them, and it is the source of our second names. Some can practice to channel other animals, but most of us go through life with just one. You just… think, and it happens.” Beaver shifted his teeth to a shape worthy of devouring wood and proceeded to eat an entire salad - bowl included.

“Amazing…” Fluttershy admitted. “All pegasi can do is fly.”

“Bah, we can do more than that!” Rainbow announced with a grin. “The very clouds are ours! Watch this!” She swooped up and dragged a cloud down to the ground. She proceeded to stand on it like a giant pillow. “Bam!”

Eagle saw what she was doing and grinned. “I didn’t know we could do that!”

“You probably ca-”

Too late - Eagle had already formed her wings and taken off into the sky. She promptly got her wings tied up and fell into Rainbow’s cloud - falling right through it. “...Ow…”

There were chuckles all around.

“I will fly one day!” Eagle assured them.

“You need some flying lessons,” Rainbow said. “Your form is all wrong and you’re trying too hard.”

“What would you know?”

Rainbow lifted one of her wings and raised an eyebrow.

“...Oh. Right.”

Twilight turned to Beaver once more. “You mentioned blairne and wraiths before. What are they like?”

Red laughed. “Stuck up arrogant pricks and no-good conniving thieves,” she took a sip from a punch glass.

“...I meant physically.”

Beaver furrowed his brow. “Well, I’ve never seen a wraith… but I can tell you the blairne are ponies with-”

“-a bone to pick with interloping shapers attempting to drag our reputation through the dirt!” a haughty male voice declared.

Everyone turned to look at the top of the escalator. Standing there was a tall, lanky, amber pony. HIs eyes were glowing with a mixture of blue and red swirling colors while a blade-like protrusion stuck out of his forehead, quite unlike any horn Twilight had ever seen.

Eagle screamed, hiding behind Fox in fear. Fox, to her credit, took a defensive stance, but was clearly just as terrified as Eagle was. Beaver stood up, glaring directly at what Twilight could only assume was a blairne.

Beaver furrowed his brow. “I see your eyes. Agent of the Impervious Leader?”

“You wish,” the blairne scoffed. “Our glorious nation would have no need to waste so much potential.”

“Ah, so you’re a deserter then.”

The stallion stuttered. “I-I am no deserter! I…”

“There ain’t no way you’re allowed out here, like that, without bein’ an agent or deserter, boy.”

“What did you just call me?”

“Your youth does not look good on you.”

“I am a million times better than your nature-loving squabble could ever be!”

“STOP IT!” Fluttershy shouted, inserting herself into the shouting match. “You two are guests here and if you insist on behaving like bickering children I will kick you out!”

For once, Beaver’s expression was readable - shock. The blairne wore a similar, but heavily exaggerated, expression.

Fluttershy folded up her wings, returning to her normal meek-looking self. “Now… I don’t know why you hate each other, but it can’t be so important that you have to keep shouting. We - the ponies of New Equestria - know nothing about your respective peoples. Maybe you can tell us a bit more?”

Beaver nodded. “Telling a story would be preferable.”

The blairne growled. “...Fine.”

“Good. Now, mister blairne… what’s your name?”

The blairne’s grimace was quickly replaced with a cocky grin. With a flash of his eyes, a shard of ice appeared in the air alongside a fireball roughly the size of his eye. “You may call me… Frostfire.”

~~~

What happened next should, by all laws of probability and statistics, not have happened.

Applejack opened the door to the shed and caught the thief.

There were an absurd number of things that had to go just right (or just wrong, depending on your point of view) for this to occur.

First of all, the thief had to be in the shed, which was a slim-to-none chance in the first place.

Second, the thief needed to be oblivious to Applejack approaching the shed. Given how excellent their hearing was, it was amazing they didn’t pick out the hoofsteps of the obscenely strong earth pony.

Third, the thief needed to currently be standing in front of the door with their head at a forty-seven degree angle, exposing the backside of their skull.

Fourth, the thief needed to be tangible at the moment. The fact that they weren't was a huge oversight on their part they would be kicking themselves over for weeks.

Fifth, Applejack had to open the door with enough force to knock the thief out.

Granted, this last one wasn’t too difficult given her Element’s nature, but the other four points were more than enough to make the odds of all this happening astronomical.

Not that Applejack knew this. She saw the thief laying on the ground, out cold, and smirked. “Got’im.”

The thief was a pony - mare, if Applejack had to guess, though it was a bit hard to tell. She was rather small, though if her toned muscles were anything to go by she certainly wasn’t a filly. She had a pair of wings on her back, but they weren’t feathered - rahter leathery, although upon closer inspection they were revealed to have the consistency of smoke, allowing Applejack’s hoof right through. Usually, ponies were brightly colored, but this mare was nothing but dark grays and muted blues - even her tail, which looked more like that of a scorpion than any pony Applejack had ever seen.

“Huh.” Applejack said. And then promptly got some rope and tied her up. She set the dark mare up on a little stool at the edge of the field, checked to make sure she was secured, and then got back to work planting things.

As she worked, Applejack was sure to keep a constant eye on the mare. The moment she got any indication her guest was about to wake up, she jumped to the stool and stared the strange mare in the eyes.

When the mare opened her eyes, they weren’t what Applejack was expecting. She’d figured they’d be batpony - thestral? - eyes. But they were normal, albeit dark in coloration.

“Howdy,” Applejack said, tipping her hat. “And who might you be?”

“...Ichor,” she said with a voice far too high pitched for a creature of darkness. She glared at the sky as if it were at fault for being so bright.

“Well, nice t’ meetcha, Ichor. Mind tellin’ me what you were doin’ stealin’ my stuff?”

“I was hungry. It’s how I eat.”

“There are other ways to get food y’know.”

Ichor chuckled. “Yeah, like farming. That’s lame, definitely not the way of wraiths.”

“Call yourself a wraith do you?”

“Yes. And I’ve been hanging here long enough to know how clueless you are.”

Applejack tensed. “How so?”

“Rule one about dealing with wraiths - if you don’t kill us we’re just going to escape.”

“Ichor, Ah’d never kill anypony. Ah’ve seen too much death.”

“Then I’ll be sure to let the entire family know this place is ripe for the pillaging!”

And then she walked out of her constraints as if they weren’t there. The ropes phased right through her and fell to the ground.

“...Huh,” Applejack said, biting her lip. “We have other tricks y’know.”

“Oh yes, I’ve seen your fancy magic. Which you don’t have. You’re just strong.” She spread her smoky wings and took to the sky. “Smell you later - when we sack this entire pla-”

Rainbow Dash came flying out of nowhere and hit Ichor dead on.

“WHAT!?” Ichor shouted, twisting out of Rainbow’s grasp. “You can’t touch me!”

“You’re just a dark, slightly fuzzy cloud,” Rainbow said with a smirk. “Now get back here before I make you.”

Ichor’s confident smile was gone. With a high-pitched skree noise she took off into the sky.

“Bad move,” Rainbow said, shaking her head.

“...Aren’t you gonna go get her?” Applejack asked.

“I could. But I think she needs to learn a little bit more than that.”

“Don’t tell me Discord…”

“What? Oh, no, Twilight.”

Twilight teleported right in front of Ichor. “Don’t make me hurt you.”

“Idiot,” Ichor growled, slicing her tail right at Twilight. Twilight caught the tail with her magic, corking an eyebrow to show just how effortless the action was.

“Wh… Gh…” ichor couldn’t phase out of the alicorn’s grasp. “RAAAAAAA! SKREEEE!” She began to fail wilder and wilder, until she started crying from the strain she was putting herself under.

“Shhhh…” Twilight said, slowly taking the two of them back to the ground. “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you…”

“IDIOT!” Ichor screamed through her tears - still trying to run away.

“You really are being an idiot,” Frostfire said, walking up to them. “Wraiths are terrible creatures that know nothing but theft. They cannot be contained. They must be killed.”

“That is not how we do things here,” Fluttershy hissed, looking like she wanted to slap the blairne.

“How do you survive?” Eagle asked, jaw hanging open.

“By showing kindness and gaining their trust,” Fluttershy asserted, slamming her hoof down. “If you’ve got a problem with that, well, you’re just going to have to deal with it.”

“How improper…” Frostfire said, disgusted. “I had hoped you would show some merit, but your ideas are below that of even shapers!”

“You wanna say that to my face!?” Fox spat.

“I just did.”

“WHY ARE YOU ARGUING AGAIN!?” Fluttershy shouted, shutting the two of them right up.

Beaver sighed, walking up to Fluttershy and Twilight. “As regrettable as it is, they are right.”

Fluttershy and Twilight looked at Beaver in shock. “Wh…” Twilight breathed.

“There probably are good wraiths here and there,” Beaver said. “And I’d even be willing to admit this particular one is just a scared child that could use some guidance. But she knows other wraiths. Her kind can’t be contained, and if you show mercy… they will take everything you have. I’ve seen entire villages decimated by their thievery.”

“So you’re saying… if she is released, her people will think we’re soft and target us?” Rainbow asked. “That’s stupid.”

“And tragic,” Beaver admitted. “But it is how things are.”

“Then we just never let her go back to her people,” Twilight affirmed.

Beaver raised an eyebrow, curious to see what she would do next.

Twilight’s eyes went white - scaring Eagle considerably, but drawing the rapt attention of Frostfire. Rings of magic appeared around Ichor’s neck and hooves, coalescing into thin crystal bands with glowing purple runes.

Twilight released Ichor from her telekinesis. The mare was still a crying wreck. She tried to phase away - but she tripped on a rock. “Wh… what?”

“You won’t be phasing again until I take those off,” Twilight said, sadness in her eyes. “You’re staying here with us. I… I didn’t want to do this, but I have to protect my ponies, at least until we know more about this world.”

“Y… wh… gh…” Ichor clearly couldn’t handle this. She put her hooves on her head and curled up into a ball.

“Fluttershy… keep watch over her,” Twilight said with a sigh.

Fluttershy nodded, sitting down next to the trembling wraith. She might stay there for hours, as far as anyone knew.

Twilight took in a deep breath and returned her gaze to Frostfire and the other visitors. “I’d like some explanations about the dynamics between your races.”

“Here’s the short version,” Eagle said, clearing her throat. “It’s screwed up!”

~~~

Celestia landed on top of the moving forest, alighting in a tree larger than Canterlot Castle had been. The metallic birds stared at her as she landed, sizing her up, but apparently decided she wasn’t a threat.

She had determined very quickly that while magic was common in the Sphere, use of magic was rare. Virtually every animal she’d come across had been completely mundane - without enchantment of any sort. The exceptions were few and far between. So far she had found three distinct species capable of using magic. The walking forest she was sitting on now, the metallic birds, and a strange floating blimp creature with three eyes. There was one running theme between the creatures - their magics were all focused through a crystal. In the case of the living forest, it was in its feet. The birds’ crystals weren’t obvious - but she could occasionally catch a glint of red in their chest while they were in flight. And the blimps, well…

The one she was looking at right now was about the size of her, and there was an immense topaz-colored crystal right in the middle of its three eyes.

It seemed confused at her existence.

She found it likely that it was searching for a crystal within her and finding nothing.

Celestia lit her horn, attempting to communicate with it, but only got garbled static in return. It wasn’t like an animal’s mind - too simple to carry a conversation - it was just too messy in there.

Clearly the magical beings of this world were of a different sort than the rest of the wildlife.

Celestia found herself considering the wisdom of obtaining a sample of one of these magical creatures. She was hesitant to do anything to the forested monstrosity since it was probably key to the ecosystem, and she suspected if she tried to take one bird all of them would go after her. And…

Well, if she was being honest with herself, the blimp thing was filling her with unease.

“Don’t you have anything better to do?” she asked, knowing full well that it had no idea what she was saying. With a sigh, she spread her wings and took off into the sky.

Enough looking at wildlife - they had done that plenty already. It was time for her to find a town, disguise herself as a local, and gather some information about the culture of this world. It was a strategy she had used often in her youth to keep from being noticed. She actually remembered using it two months ago to attend a play she’d wanted to see, knowing the performers would lose their minds if they knew she was in the audience…

Unfortunately for Celestia, she was not going to get to wander among the ponies of this world quite yet.

Because the most terrifying kind of monster to walk the surface of the Sphere had locked on to her. Before she knew what was happening, a yellow-green telekinetic aura surrounded her and smashed her into the ground faster than terminal velocity. She was more than able to take the hit - even without raising a magical shield - but she was still beyond surprised. Anything with that much force…

She immediately activated her defensive spells, creating a coat-fitting magical sheen and raising the temperature around her significantly. She didn’t actively light anything on fire, but she did evaporate all the water for several meters, creating a dry blemish on the Sphere’s greenery.

It was not effected.

It was a creature twice as tall as she was, though it seemed stuck in a permanent hunched posture, allowing its head to be eye level with her own. Its body was a thick black rope riddled with knobs like the trunk of a tree. Four pointed legs moved it toward her, puncturing the ground with every step, while an equal number of arms ended in three-tipped pincers.

Almost every inch of this monster’s body was covered with yellow-green gemstones.

A thought occurred to Celestia.

I wonder if it can use all of those at once.

When the being cast a thousand elemental bullet spells at the same exact moment, Celestia had her answer. She reared back, activating one of Luna’s signature spells - the two-tier shield. The first shield was normal and would block any standard projectiles, while the secondary was weaker but specifically designed to intercept teleporting, phasing, or other exotic projectiles. It worked like a charm, managing to block all of the beast’s various spells.

The beast was not deterred by this, for it just kept casting. It reasoned that Celestia’s shield would fail eventually.

Naturally, it would be right, but Celestia had a lot more magic at her disposal. She was able to cast another spell, setting off an explosion of fire in the center of the monstrosity’s body. It shattered in two, falling to the ground in pieces.

Celestia was not one to celebrate early, and the creature didn’t give her more than a couple seconds to think she had won. Several of the crystals near the explosion flashed brightly, regrowing the black tissue holding them together with rapid ease.

It tried something new - teleporting around Celestia so fast it looked like there were several of it.

Celestia was having none of this. She sent out a ring of intense fire, intending to melt the thing into slag.

It took the hit. Much of its flesh burned away, but the crystals grew it back.

She noticed for the first time since the battle began that the blimp-thing was watching the two of them, glancing back and forth as if it wasn’t sure which side it was supposed to take.

Good. At least I’ll have an audience. Celestia teleported a few meters away from the gemstone creature, only for it to teleport right next to her. She tried to grab it in her telekinesis, but similar to her own defensive spells, the beast had a coat that shrugged it off.

She considered running, but there was no guarantee this thing couldn’t follower her back to New Equestria.

In that case… time for something a little drastic…

She summoned her lens spell. It created a clear, nearly invisible construct in the air between the sun and the creature. The might of the sun hit the lens construct and focused onto a single point - lighting the monster’s flesh on fire. Its crystals were more than enough to regenerate the flesh, but now it was slowed.

So Celestia increased the size of the lens. Soon, the entire body of the beast was under constant solar bombardment, eternally burning. And yet the crystals were powerful enough to keep its body held together and moving despite endless destruction and rebirth of every cell within the thing’s body.

Celestia, face impassioned, exaggerated the curvature on the lens. The temperature of the attack increased - and increased… and increased… the very ground beneath the monster began to burn. But still the creature would not relent.

Why are you so determined? She asked it mentally. She wasn’t expecting a response.

She got one. Intruder. Intruder. Intruder. Intruder.

Those were not the thoughts of a person or an animal. Those were the thoughts of one of Sunset’s toys - except unimaginably more complex. It wasn’t coming from the monster’s flesh, it was coming from the crystals.

We don’t have to do this.

Intruder. Intruder. Intruder.

She could hear the same static she’d heard in the blimp now. She didn’t know what it meant, but she figured this thing wasn’t going to listen to reason.

So she lifted the lens directly above the creature and let it burn. She added her own spell to the mix - a dark magic she wished she didn’t know. For a moment, her eyes flashed dark, and the burning monstrosity was cursed with a disease that shredded its organic molecules on the atomic level.

And this, at long last, did the creature in. With an immense psychic howl, the creature fell apart. It was no longer able to regenerate. All that remained were crystal shards.

Breathing heavily, Celestia dispelled the lens and walked up to the crystals. They were dormant now - shattered in multiple places, and one of them looked like it was melting.

She pocketed a few of the shards. Looks like I have a sample, at least… she looked at the devastation around her. Where there had one been a lake, there was now an empty crater. The corpses of trees had turned to ash seconds after the fight had begun. Some areas of the ground had been heated into glasses.

If it took this much of my power… how do the ponies of this world survive?

Going to check out the villages would have to wait. She needed to get the crystals back to Twilight.

~~~

Twilight had managed to get everyone sitting down at the table, though there were significantly less smiles now that the whole ordeal with Ichor had blown everything up. Aside from Eagle and Pinkie - though unlike Pinkie’s legitimate smile, Eagle’s was of a more perverse sort. She clearly enjoyed watching everyone else awkwardly dance around each other.

Ichor had chosen to sit right between Twilight and Fluttershy - as far away from the other natives of the Sphere as possible. She hadn’t said anything since her intangibility had been sealed, but she didn’t need to. It wasn’t hard to see she was deathly terrified of the other ponies.

“Boo,” Eagle said, making Ichor jump - spilling the tea she had been sipping all over the table.

“Eagle…” Beaver chided.

“She has the right idea,” Frostfire grunted.

“...Egh,” Eagle shivered, hating even the idea of being complimented by somepony like him.

Frostfire glowered. “Princess, I tire of these frivolities. You have business to discuss. We know things you want to know.”

“I don’t want this to be an interrogation!” Twilight blurted.

“It won’t be,” Fox said. “I know you’re not out to get us, or even to hurt us. You’re just a little misguided and, well, lost. I’ll tell you anything you want. Don’t even need anything in return.”

“Liars,” Frostfire muttered under his breath.

Fox swiveled her ears at him. “You’re one to talk…”

“I make no false claims.”

“You…”

“Stop…” Fluttershy cautioned, eye twitching. She was quickly losing patience with all of them.

Fox made a clear effort to calm herself down. Frostfire simply sneered.

“We are not lyin’,” Beaver told Twilight. “But we haven’t been entirely honest either.”

Fox winced. “Dear…”

“They have been so open to us despite our strife, Fox. We need to give them the same courtesy.” Beaver swallowed. “We are outcasts. Exiles.”

Rarity put a hoof to her mouth. “Exiles? As in, banished, run out?”

Beaver nodded slowly.

“That doesn’t change anything,” Twilight said dismissively. “A pony is more than their mistakes. If you don’t have anywhere to go you can just stay here.” She turned to Frostfire. “The same goes to you.”

Frostfire sputtered. “I have no need for protection, I am simply here out of idle curiosity.”

“I don’t even need Applejack here to know that’s a load of hogwash,” Rarity commented.

“Are you calling me a liar!?”

“Yes,” Rarity deadpanned. “Please stop digging yourself deeper in that hole. It’s unbecoming for someone of your stature.”

Frostfire stared at her in disbelief. “How in…”

“I know what high society is like, darling. You were clearly raised among those who perceive that they have class, placed in a position above all others.” She gingerly sipped her tea. “You would not be out here alone unless you had no choice. I had thought, for a moment, you might be one of those grand adventuring types, but you just don’t have the spirit for it.”

Frostfire narrowed his eyes at her. “I can see you come from nobility as well.”

Rarity laughed. “The only pony in this room who was born in nobility is Twilight! And she was a low noble.” She smiled contemptuously. “I chose to act like this because I respected the high society. I have since lost most of those disillusions but why would I ever stop?”

“Rarity I think you might be going a bit hard on him,” Fluttershy said.

Rarity frowned, nodding slowly. “Yes… yes, I suppose you are right. My apologies, Frostfire, I got caught up in the moment.”

Twilight caught a look of… respect? Maybe. Or maybe he was just recognizing Rarity as a threat.

Frostfire cleared his throat. “It is true. But I was not banished, I fled for my life. You see, any blairne that manifests multiple elements is sent to the Impervious Leader for personal training. I am not, and never have been fit to be part of an army, but the law of the land is not an optional one. My family hid me for many years, but the Agents eventually caught word. Knowing I would die in training as so many do, I fled here.”

“Thank you for being upfront,” Rarity said, smiling slightly. “Naturally, you can stay here regardless.”

“I will say you might not be safe, though,” Twilight admitted. “If your government comes looking for you, I may not have any choice but to hand you over.”

“An understandable caveat,” Frostfire admitted. “I shall make myself scarce when the dignitaries arrive.”

“...When?” Rarity asked.

“Oh yes. The Impervious Leader would not ignore a rock falling from the sky. A team will be sent. I was just lucky to already be nearby.”

“Oh dear…” Fox said, a hoof on her chin.

“Relax. They aren’t after you,” Frostfire said, picking up one of the leftover pastries and nibbling on it. “They aren’t even after me, they’ll be after whatever secrets this… rock that fell from the sky has.”

Twilight nodded. “Clearly we’ll have to be careful. Fox, Beaver, what of your people?”

Beaver shrugged. “I s’ppose the shaper kingdoms will send some ponies. Dunno what to tell you, we ain’t exactly in the know-how about the politics of the kingdoms. They won’t be as angry as the blairne, I can tell you that.”

“We are not angry,” Frostfire counterd.

“If you say so.”

For once, a shouting match didn’t break out between the two races.

“...And what of the wraiths?” Twilight asked. “Are there any leaders I could contact?”

“...I have no idea,” Fox admitted.

Frostfire furrowed his brow, racking his memory for the correct information. “They don’t engage in… politics or negotiation except on extremely small scales. They have to have some sort of organization though, since they all identify as family…”

“...No…” Ichor said, quietly.

The shapers and blairne stared at her in shock.

Fluttershy held up a wing, blocking their steely gazes. “Don’t worry about them - just tell us what you want to.” Twilight levitated a fresh teacup to Ichor, which she took gladly. After a few sips, she spoke again, almost with a whisper.

“We have no leaders,” she said, simply. “We have no fathers or mothers. We are are sisters. We are all brothers. We have no home, so our home is each other. We have no things, so the things of others become ours. We…” she fell silent. “The way of the wraith is sacred and cannot be broken.”

“...Why?” Fluttershy asked.

“...It just is…” Ichor breathed.

Fluttershy stroked Ichor’s mane. The wraith didn’t flinch away, instead making a noise vaguely like purring.

Twilight looked up from Ichor and took a breath. “And now… since you’ve all been so helpful, it’s time for us to tell our story.”

“Ooh!” Eagle perked up. “This is going to be good, isn’t it?”

Twilight sighed. “It is a tragedy…”

So she told them everything. From the moment she walked in to see Starlight and Sunset panicking, to the destruction of their world, to the choice the six of them made, to the rebuilding they had started. In the process, she learned some things - the moving forests were called roothers and their birds harvesters - but for the most part she told the story was told uninterrupted. When she finished she folded her hooves, a tear dripping down her face. “And… here we are.”

Ichor and Fox were crying. Beaver looked as though he was on the verge of doing the same. Frostfire wasn’t sure what to think, and Eagle looked scared.

“And, uh, yeah, Discord I guess you can come out now.”

Discord poked his head out from behind Twilight. “Finally, I was getting so bored I thought I was going to suffocate from a lack of chaotic air!”

Pinkie giggled. Eagle shrunk into her chair while her mother gripped her tightly.

“A spirit of chaos…” Beaver said, nodding slowly to himself. “We don’t have anything like you on this world.”

“The Impervious Ruler,” Frostfire said, looking at Discord in awe. “You… you are like him. I am sure of it.”

“I’m going to go out on a limb and say you’ve never seen this Imperivous Ruler, hmm?”

“...I have not,” Frostfire admitted.

“Oh, how I wish I could go meet him and give him some delightful torment,” Discord said wistfully. “Alas, I am restricted to this sliver of space until Twilight starts growing into his territory.”

“I’m not going to invade his territory!” Twilight said, aghast. “Are you crazy!?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

Twilight facehooved. “Discord, our guests. Guests, Discord. All that’s left is Princess Celestia… Whenever she gets back.”

“She’s heading back!” Rainbow Dash called from outside.

“Guess you’ll get to meet her soon.”

“Princess Twilight…” Frostfire said, looking away from Discord for a moment.

“Hmm?”

“A word of warning.” He leaned in, his red-blue glowing eyes shifting nebulously. “Before I thought you would be of no consequence to the Impervious Ruler; just a curiosity and, if you played your cards right, you could have been considered the ally you so desperately want to be. But you have too much power here.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning it’s very likely he will see you as a threat.”

“...Joy,” Twilight muttered. This universe just wasn’t going to give her a break.

~~~

“...so yeah, that’s what’s been happening out here,” Pinkie told the dream-world from the screen.

“...Wow,” Zephyr Breeze said. “You, uh, let the Princess know that I’m A-ok stayin’ in here, aight?”

Pinkie rolled her eyes. “Yes, Zephyr, you can stay.”

“You would definitely not be the Princess’ first pick,” Spitfire pointed out.

“Hey, a stallion can dream.”

“Mhm,” Marble ‘said.’

“Eeyep,” Big Mac added.

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes. “I’d like to get out a soon as possible. I know Twilight probably doesn’t have any use for me, but I want to explore.”

“Yeah!” Scootaloo added. “Cutie Mark Crusaders interdimensional explorers yay!”

“We already have our cutie marks, scoots,” Apple Bloom muttered - her voice carrying a hollow, almost disinterested tone.

“Eh, we can still crusade.”

Pinkie gave everyone in the dream-world a wink. “I’ll pass it along. Has anything weird happened in there?”

“I think the amusement park has achieved self-awareness and is trying to eat everyone,” Zephyr said, shivering.

Spitfire facehooved. “Uuuuuugh…”

“What? It is!”

“That’s just Smolder and you know it. Plus, it’s not like getting eaten actually does anything to you here!”

Zephyr’s lower lip quivered. “Psychological damage!”

“Oh grow up,” Apple Bloom grunted. “Ah was eaten, Ah was fine.”

“...Even I think this is a weird conversation,” Pinkie observed.

“...That’s terrifying,” Sweetie admitted.

Pinkie giggled. “And amazing! You all have fun in there. Marble, I love you, bye!”

And the dreams were left alone again.

The ferris wheel exploded, cutting off Zephyr’s head.

“OH COME ON! AGAIN!?” he shouted.

~~~

Celestia returned. The reactions of the native ponies was… mixed, as with most things. Frostfire bowed in reference, Fox and Eagle couldn’t stop staring, Beaver was once again impossible to read, and Ichor latched herself to Twilight’s leg as if it were her only safe haven from the white monster that would surely expunge her from existence.

Celestia smiled warmly at Ichor. “Hello, my little pony. Welcome to New Equestria. I hope it’s to your liking.”

Ichor shivered in fear, refusing to respond.

“The situation with Ichor is… complicated,” Twilight said. “But first, what did you find?”

“Magical creatures in this world all use magic through crystals. Everything else is mundane.” She took the gems of the monstrosity out of her magic pocket and laid them on the ground. “I managed to get a sample.”

“HOW IN THE NAME OF THE LEADER!?” Frostfire gasped.

“I take it you know what creature this is from?” Celestia asked.

“An arthon mage! Only the most terrifying and… and… and…” He put a hoof to his head. “I… well clearly, you beat it, so you don’t need my help…” mumbling to himself and chuckling nervously, he walked away.

“...He seems stable,” Celestia observed.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Right.”

“Regardless, I’m sure Sunset will make good use of these gems,” Celestia said. “Perhaps we can understand how magic in this world works. With luck we could get you and Discord untethered.”

Discord clapped his hands. “And then I can show that Impervious Leader what’s really up!”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “I take it you learned a lot?”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah.” She absent mindedly pet Ichor with her wing.

Celestia smiled. “Oh, Twilight. I just noticed something.”

“Hmm?”

“I was reporting to you.”

Twilight blinked. And then her jaw dropped. “Wh…”

“Whatever apology you were about to unleash, don’t,” Celestia said, holding up a hoof. “Twilight, I am perfectly content passing the baton off to you.”

“But I… I…” She wanted to say she wasn't ready, but she looked around. She saw what she and her friends had already done, and how she’d been handling everything with the native ponies. All she’d been through in this short time, and she was still standing...

With a shake of her head and a shallow laugh, she looked Celestia in the eyes. “All right. I guess I am ready.”

“You have been for some time,” Celestia said.

“So does this mean Twilight gets a cool new title?” Rainbow asked as she landed between them. “Oh! Oh! Do you get to be a Queen?”

“...I don’t know, it feels… off,” Twilight admitted.

“You totally should!” Eagle called over. “Princesses don’t rule countries!”

“Ah,” Twilight said, blinking. “I guess that means it’s simply a practical thing to do then…”

“Then I hereby declare you to be Queen Twilight Sparkle of New Equestria,” Celestia said. Then, with a cocky smile on her face, she bowed.

“...Celestia, get up.”

“...You know what, I’ve been so used to other ponies bowing to me, I kind of forgot what this motion felt like. Hmm, good for the back, I think I’ll stay like this for a while…”

“CELESTIA!” Twilight shouted, startling Ichor.

Celestia stood up and laughed, pulling Twilight into a hug - careful not to disturb Ichor’s latch on her. “Lead us well, Twilight.”

“I’m sure going to try. But you better not be going anywhere.”

“I have no intentions of leaving my little ponies.”

The Fifth Day

“There is no creature luckier than you, for Twilight Sparkle’s gaze has fallen true.”

Ocellus the changeling looked up from the notebook she was writing in. “...What, Zecora?”

Zecora smiled warmly. “Twilight has chosen you, changeling, because of the skills you may bring.”

Ocellus’ eyes widened. “I… I’ve been chosen? W-why me? Why not you? Or Gallus? Or Kevin? Kevin’s a changeling too!”

“It was not for me to decide, but I believe you’ll enjoy the ride.”

Ocellus pondered this, looking back at the dream-world theme-park that Smolder exploded every few hours. “...All right. I guess… I guess I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”

Zecora nodded - and at that very moment, Ocellus felt it. Her soul was torn sideways, and everything she had seen previously went black. For a single, horrible second, she had no sensations whatsoever. Her fears were alleviated when she felt a slight buzzing sensation that started as nothing more than a spark but quickly spread out to her default changeling body. The buzzing solidified, becoming her nerves, carapace, and muscles.

When the buzzing was gone, she opened her eyes, looking right into the amethyst glow of Twilight’s horn.

“Welcome back, Ocellus,” Twilight said with a smile. Spike was nearby scribbling on a scroll. “How’s it feel to have legs again?”

“About the same as in there, really,” Ocellus said. “...Except they’re sore right now.”

“When in the dream realm people forget about the fatigue they are supposed to be experiencing.” Twilight smiled warmly. “I have a reason for calling you here.”

“What is it?”

“Changelings are the most like the shapers, able to transform yourselves into anything. Their dignitaries are coming today, and I figured you could help show them we understand them. I’ll be introducing you to Fox, Beaver, and Eagle shortly. Walk with me.”

They strode out of Twilight Castle and walked along the path to the School.

“Anything else?” Ocellus asked.

“As a changeling, you have many unique abilities that will be very helpful,” Twilight admitted. “And you have a great heart. No offense to Kevin, but I’m not precisely sure where his morality lies.”

“I see.”

“You may be asked to do espionage in the future,” Twilight said, grimacing as she admitted it. “I don’t like it, and I’d avoid doing it if I could, but I expect I won’t.”

Ocellus was silent for a moment. “...I’m okay with that.”

“Thank you. It won’t be today, that’s for certain, today we need to make a good impression.” Twilight’s smile returned. “And you can do whatever you want otherwise. Even check out your old room, if you want. It’s still yours, although I do think we had to clear a lot of the stuff out.”

“Thanks, Twilight.”

“Don’t mention it. Now, Fox and Beaver should be somewhere in the Sch-”

Eagle crashed out of the sky in front of Ocellus, making the small changeling jump in surprise. “Ugh…” Eagle muttered, rubbing her beaked face and stretching her wings. Soon, her wings retreated into her body and the beak became a muzzle once more. “Dash! That didn’t work!”

“That’s because you’re too reckless,” Rainbow commented, landing at her side.

“You calling someone else reckless?” Twilight asked, raising an incredulous eyebrow.

“Shush, I’m in teacher mode Twi, gotta give Eagle the wings.”

“I already have wings!” Eagle objected, summoning her wings.

“You looked kinda like a griffon,” Ocellus pointed out.

“A what now?”

Ocellus transformed into her friend Gallus, but kept her voice. “This is a griffon.”

Eagle’s jaw dropped. “I thought you guys didn’t have shapers?”

Ocellus transformed back into her default form. “Oh, no, I’m not a shaper, I’m a changeling. I can transform into almost anything I can imagine.” She transformed into an eagle. “See?”

“Anything? Won’t you forget your true form?”

Ocellus shook her head, transforming back to her regular self. “We have to think at least a little bit to be anything other than our default forms. Anytime enough of our magic is drained, we return to our carapace-covered selves.”

“Wow… Do something else! Do… do a beaver!”

Ocellus transformed into a beaver. Twilight summoned a log with a smirk on her face, giving it to Ocellus. The changeling shrugged and devoured the log quickly.

“Do a… a… snake!”

Ocellus transformed into a snake and hissed, flaring her hood.

“Do something big!”

Ocellus transformed into a bugbear.

“AUGH!”

Ocellus returned to her default. “Oh, I’m sorry! Did I scare you?”

“N-no…” Eagle lied.

“Eagle what happened!?” Fox shouted, running out of the School, her motherly instincts kicking in.

“Nothing mom!” Eagle called. “ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!”

“Hi!” Ocellus waved. “Fox, right?”

“...Yes?” Fox said, eying the strange creature before her warily.

“This is Ocellus,” Twilight explained, a hoof on Ocellus’ shoulder. “She’s a changeling and will be helping us with the shaper dignitaries today.”

“...Ah…” Fox said, pensive.

Beaver walked past his wife and shook Ocellus’ hoof. “Pleasure to meet you, Ocellus. ‘Scuse us for out odd looks, you just ain’t like anythin’ we’ve ever seen.”

“I’ve never seen a pony become half-eagle before either,” Ocellus admitted. “So I bet we have a lot to learn from each other!”

“Good attitude for life,” Beaver admitted. “You may want to choose a single other form as your ‘primary’ one, if you wanna make a good impression.”

“Hmm…” Ocellus transformed into a breezie. “How’s this?”

“...Cute,” Fox observed. “And different. Might work.”

“I could squish you by sneezing,” Eagle said.

“Please don’t,” Ocellus cautioned.

“I’ll leave you to that,” Twilight said, turning. “I’ll have Rainbow get you when they arrive.”

“Yes, Twilight.” Ocellus paused. “...Should I be saying ‘your majesty’?”

“Only when in the presence of the dignitaries, just call me Twilight otherwise. Okay?”

“Got it!”

~~~

Silicate had been offered a deal - the collar wouldn’t be put on him, so long as he allowed a tracker spell to be implanted on him. It would let Twilight know immediately if he ever left New Equestria. He had agreed to the terms and hadn’t tried to escape during the night, so the ponies trusted him at least somewhat.

Ichor had been offered the same deal - and she had agreed wholeheartedly. Got the tracker installed and everything. She was slightly more confident than she had been before, but she didn’t try to run or anything.

She did try to avoid Silicate, however.

This didn’t work so well.

“I’m telling you, their coming is a sign of the end times!”

Ichor groaned as she phased through the ground, coming out in one of the Roots’ caverns. This did not deter him from following. “You’re just being paranoid, as always.”

“I’m serious! They’re invaders!”

“There’s not enough of them to be invaders.”

“You’ve seen what that Discord guy can do! They don’t need an army!”

“He can’t leave the Roots,” Ichor retorted, walking right through a root.

“Celestia took out an arthon mage on her own! Those things are even more deadly than the other tribes!”

“Yeah, but she’s one of the nicest mares out there. If a bit… imposing.” Ichor shivered.

“See? You’re scared! You should listen to that, fear is nature’s way of telling us when something’s wrong.”

“I’ve been so scared they would try to eat me or kill me or something…” Ichor floated into the air, half-phased through the ceiling. “But they didn’t. They didn’t even want to. They cared for me, Ichor, and I only felt right when I stopped being afraid.”

“You’ve only been here a few days and already they’ve brainwashed you with their crazy magic!”

“They probably could have if they wanted… But they didn’t. I did this myself.”

“What would the others think!?”

“They’d probably disagree with both of us. Given your track record with crazy ‘conspiracy theories’...”

“What of the sacred way of the wraith?”

Ichor froze for a moment.

“We may have to defend it.”

“Silicate, get your head out of the cave wall before you do something stupid.” Ichor spread her smoky wings and took off through the ceiling. Silicate was no doubt still following her, but she wanted the conversation to be over, so she found Fluttershy and let herself appear visible next to her. “Hi!”

Fluttershy was not used to her just appearing, so she jumped up considerably when Ichor appeared. “Ichor! I… You scared me!”

Ichor smiled. “That’s kind of what I do. That and steal stuff. So if I don’t do one, I still have to do the other…” She smiled meekly, as if asking permission. “...Right?”

Fluttershy smiled. “Harmless pranks are all in good fun, Ichor. It’s fine. Just don’t overdo it - you can talk to Rainbow about what overdoing it looks like.”

“Oh, thanks!” Ichor had no intention of following the advice, Rainbow freaked her out. Though, of course, Rainbow knew she was supposed to ask now… darnit.

“How’s Silicate adjusting?” Fluttershy asked.

Ichor let out a groan. “He… is.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, not well,” Ichor sighed. “I’m not sure he can understand. He sees danger in everything. Everypony tolerates him back home. I’m going to bet you haven’t seen him since Twilight tagged him?”

Fluttershy shook her head.

“He’s staying invisible almost all the time. Even though that doesn’t stop Pinkie…”

“Did someone mention stopping me?” Pinkie asked, appearing from seemingly nowhere in a shower of confetti. “Hi!”

Ichor looked at her, eyes wide in terror at her sudden appearance.

“It’s all in good fun!” Pinkie said, patting Ichor on the back. “I’m going to get better at scaring ponies than you Ichor, that’s a challenge!”

Ichor’s fear was overcome instantly by her pride. “There’s no way. You’re too cute and innocent looking.”

“I can change that in an instant with the right tools.”

“And by then I’ll have scared more than half of New Equestria.”

“You’re on!”

“Ahem!” Twilight called before either of them could go running. “While I do encourage fun and games, I would appreciate it if you made sure to regulate your game to when the dignitaries aren't here, okay? Rainbow has spotted them already, they’ll be here in a few hours.”

“Then we’ve got a timer…” Pinkie said, rubbing her hooves together.

“And I’d like to talk to Ichor before you go play, if you don’t mind,” Twilight said.

Pinkie nodded. “I’ll be over by that tree when you’re ready!”

As she trotted away, Ichor turned to Twilight and gulped. “What is it, your highness?”

“I’m forming relations with the blairne and shapers of this world. I would like to at least meet with a group of wraith so we can let them know it’s possible to live in peace with us - no constant ransacking.”

“That’ll be hard,” Ichor said. “It-”

“I understand the way is sacred. But… you’ve come to change, and rather quickly I might add.”

Ichor nodded slowly.

“May I ask what you think of the sacred way of the wraith now?”

“That you fall outside it. Haven’t really worked out the rest.”

Twilight nodded. “When you do… come talk to me. If possible, I’d like to send you out to spread work about our acceptance of wraiths to your various groups.”

“R-really?”

Twilight nodded. “Really. It probably won’t be for a while yet, but Fluttershy and Pinkie have already vouched for your progress. So you might want to think about what you’re going to tell your extended family.”

Ichor gulped. “Y-yeah I probably should…”

“Good. No rush, of course. Go have fun with Pinkie.”

“Yes, your highness.”

“That wasn’t an order.”

“No, your highness.”

Twilight twitched. “I swear Celestia gave me this title just to drive me crazy…”

“Yes, your highness.”

Twilight teleported away, leaving Ichor to snicker to herself. She spread her smoky wings and flew to Pinkie. “Let’s do this.”

~~~

“Okay Discord, let ‘er rip!” Sunset called, hands pressed on a pair of noise-blocking headphones decorated to look like hamburger buns.

“The GONK is ready! FIRING!” Discord pulled back the trigger on the black gun rimmed with neon blue highlights, unleashing a ripple of sound at a remnant of the arthon mage’s crystal. The crystal responded to the sound instantly, rising up from the table and shaking violently.

Otherwise, nothing happened. The ‘GONK’ ran out of energy, dropped the sound wave, and the crystal fell to the ground.

“We’ll need to find the exact resonance frequency,” Sunset mused, chewing one of her pens. “That might take some time. And might be different for every arthon mage…”

“Perhaps add some sort of adjustable knob?” Frostfire asked from his position in the audience - an audience that consisted of just himself and Celestia. “Allow you to hone in on the frequency manually.”

“That might work,” Sunset admitted. “But how would you know you hit the right one? The fracturing won’t happen immediately.”

Frostfire shrugged. “You’re the gadget monkey. You tell me.”

“They’ll probably react to the pain differently,” Celestia theorized. “Though it already seems scarily effective as a sonic weapon.”

Discord hefted the GONK into the air and smirked. “Scared I’ll use it on you?”

“Scared somepony will use it on somepony who isn’t a mindless monster. This world is filled with division. All three races would love weapons that give them an edge over the others.”

Frostfire nodded. “The Impervious Ruler would pay handsomely for that gun as it is now. Or anything else in this room, for that matter.”

“There’s a reason we keep all the tech in the basement,” Sunset said. “Don’t want any incidents over it… Though we’ll have to take this out once it’s effective enough.”

“Speaking of out…” Celestia stood up. “I’m afraid today is the day I go out and actually interact with some locals. I don’t expect to return early, even if I am assaulted by another Arthon mage. I shall tell you how sound spells work on them if I do encounter one. Take care, my student.”

Sunset nodded. “See ya soon!”

Celestia smiled. “And do keep Frostfire out of trouble.”

Frostfire huffed. “I basically live down here now. The less ponies who know I exist, the better.”

“Perhaps… but that may change one day,” Celestia said with a wink. “Farewell.” She spread her wings and teleported away.

“You basically live down here?” Sunset said, raising an eyebrow.

“This is the most interesting place in all of New Equestria that’s safe. Why wouldn’t I be here?”

“I don’t know. Because I’m…” Sunset hunched over and scratched her side. “The gadget monkey?”

“...What are you doing?”

“...Doing a monkey impression?”

“Oh. A joke.” Frostfire paused. “Is it?”

Discord started laughing while Sunset’s cheeky grin turned into a frown. “Sunset, Sunset, your joke was just thrown into the river and spontaneously lit on fire! Like this!” He created the word joke out of paper and threw it into a bucket of water. It lit on fire. “BEAUTIFUL!”

Sunset facepalmed. “Oh for the…” she tapped her foot. “New topic, we’re talking about science.”

“Charging up the GONK…” Discord declared.

“I think I want a break from the… I guess we really are calling it the GONK.”

“Can you hear it?”

“What?”

“The caps lock.”

“...What?”

Discord chuckled. “I guess I’ll just need to find Pinkie later…”

“Actually, go do that now, I’m going to show Frostfire some SCIENCE!”

Discord nodded and vanished in a puff of light.

“Wait, what?” Frostfire blinked. “You are?”

“You’re here and you’re interested, might as well,” Sunset said, pulling up one of the many computer duplicates they had. “I’m going to break this thing open and tell you exactly how it works. This will take a while. And you’ll have to take a lot of what I say without second-guessing me because I’m a talking monkey. Got it?”

Frostfire looked from her, to the computer, to her. In the end his distaste for non-ponies was beaten into the dust by his absolute fascination with technology. “Tell me more…”

“Good, so first, this is a screen…”

“BOO!” Ichor shouted.

“AUUUUUGH!”

“Ha! I win! Wait until I tell Pinkie!” She vanished into nothing, leaving a terrified gadget monkey and blairne clinging to each other like starfish.

~~~

The shaper dignitaries actually bothered to smile when Twilight welcomed them at the top of the escalator, so that was a point in their favor. The first to arrive was the Kingdom of Grass - though before they had even sat down, the Tree Kingdom had shown up and… well, that about described how the day went. Conversations would begin, half-start, there might be some shouting and/or laughing, but then another set of dignitaries would arrive from a different kingdom and interrupt the flow of everything.

Once the fifth kingdom arrived, Twilight came to an annoying conclusion: she and New Equestria had suddenly become secondary to the dignitaries. Their first concern?

Each other.

“Ambassador Crane, may I remind you of the Flower Kingdom’s latest assault on our territory?”

“Our treaty does not make us babysitters.”

“The Algae Kingdom is beyond such frivolous? Do tell.”

“Y’all are tootin’ up a storm without sayin’ nuttin.”

“You have no right to speak, Gourdian.”

Five kingdoms. Six, if they were to count the Shroom Kingdom, but they stayed in their underground caves and never bothered anypony. Grass, Trees, Flowers, Algae, and… Gourds. Twilight really didn’t like judging, but the Gourds seemed kinda stupid. There had been a few moments of shocking clarity, but for the most part nothing but non-sequiturs and talk of farming.

“Ah don’t get them either,” Applejack had admitted five minutes into a conversation with one. “Ah’m actually thinkin’ they might be putting on an act, but Ah can’t say for sure.”

Twilight was having a very hard time keeping track of them all, even with Rarity’s help. Each kingdom had five or so dignitaries, each of which had their own political parties. It was very difficult to piece together a political picture of the shaper kingdoms. She was pretty sure the other four hated the Gourds with disdain, but she never caught wind of a single historic war between the Gourds and any other kingdom besides the Blairne Empire.

Conversely, all four of the others - Grass, Trees, Flowers, and Algae - had fought each other numerous times in recent memory. They had a habit of mentioning past alliances and wars as if they were still happening, so Twilight had no idea if Grass and Trees were currently raiding each other or had formed a strong defensive perimeter against the Flowers.

One thing she was able to figure out, the kingdoms took names after plants common in their area. Trees had a lot of forests, Grass had grasslands, Flowers had more grasslands but didn’t want to be a copy of Grass, Algae had a lot of shoreline territory, and Gourds…

...She still hadn’t figured that one out. And it was bothering her. Not that asking a Gourd to explain it went well.

“Hey, Copper Mole? Why does your nation call itself the Kingdom of Gourds?”

“‘Cuz Gourds.”

“But why Gourds?”

“Gourds.”

“I like these guys,” Discord said, chuckling. “Have all the gourds you want, Gourd!”

“Gourds are gourd.”

If there was one good thing to come of this, the dignitaries didn’t seem to care about the mixed pony population of New Equestria after the initial shock. Their own politics were much more important.

“I admit, I didn’t think they’d go an’ focus on each other…” Beaver admitted to Twilight.

“It’s a little ridiculous,” Twilight admitted. “I feel like I’m watching a fiasco…”

“They could stand to learn some friendship,” Ocellus pointed out.

“No, really?” Rarity deadpanned. “It’s not like they’re arguing endlessly or anything.”

“At least they aren't arrogant,” Twilight said.

Rarity fixed her with an incredulous eyebrow.

“As arrogant as the blairne.”

“That’s not hard,” Ichor commented.

Ichor’s presence had been met with initial shock and screams, but after they’d explained what was going on the shapers seemed to think that New Equestria was practical in their decision, even if a bit unorthodox. There were even a few shapers who had thanked Twilight for being so open and started conversations about wraith-trapping magic.

Not that those conversations ever finished.

“Okay, Rarity, help me here…” Twilight said, pacing. “What is the difference between Grass and Flowers?”

“Grass is closer, dear.”

“Anything else?”

“I’m sure their kings are different, but I haven’t caught any of their names.”

“And yet they hate each other?”

“Currently? I have no idea. I’ve heard at least three different accusations of war and two mentions of alliance.”

“Uuuuuuuugh…”

So, in the end, all the problems they had been anticipating because of the power of their magic, their acceptance of everypony, and the existence of Discord… had been overshadowed by the shapers’ own self-fixation. One-track minds…

Twilight eventually realized it was getting a little late. The sun was still decently full, but she suspected the dignitaries would be talking late into the night if they had their way.

“Excuse me!” Twilight called, getting no response. She tried again. “EXCUSE ME!”

All eyes turned to her.

“Thank you. You are all, of course, welcome to use my hall for whatever you wish, and if you need a neutral ground by which to discuss your treaties, I will be more than happy to provide the location. That said… it is getting late, and I’d like to know where New Equestria stands with each of the shaper nations before we end discourse for the day. You may not cease the politics, but some of us enjoy sleep and managing other aspects of the kingdom.”

“Yes, yes, of course,” a Tree shaper spoke up - Green Squirrel, if Twilight remembered correctly. He pulled a scroll out of his saddlebags. “I wrote this up in between the rants of my compatriots.”

“I came with mine pre-prepared!” a Flower shaper shouted, pulling out a scroll.

“How could you have possibly known what you response would have been?” a Grass shaper demanded.

“It just was.”

“Well, mine was altered last minute! Ha!”

Twilight blinked. “Did you all have those ready?”

“Yep,” a Gourd responded. “And the real kicker? They all say just about the same thing.”

Twilight grabbed all five scrolls and held them side by side. To her immense fury, the Gourd was right - they all basically amounted to New Equestrians are allowed within our borders so long as we are allowed within New Equestria to establish an embassy. Don’t trust the other Kingdoms, but we’re not going to declare war over talking to the others. Trade is encouraged and we have many things to give you should you desire.

“...This is… acceptable…” Twilight said, trying not to burn the pages up in her magic. “Do you wish for accomodations for the night?”

“That would be great!” an Algae shaper shouted, letting out an excited ribbit.

“Rarity, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course not,” Rarity said. “Right this way, we have plenty of open space in the School…”

~~~

Celestia had chosen to call herself White Swan. Reasonable shaper name that allowed her to have large, graceful wings. It was a little odd to have no cutie mark to speak of, but she wasn’t vain enough to let that bother her. Red Fox had pointed her in the direction of the closest settlement she knew of, in the Kingdom of Grass. It would be too far to fly to quickly… but Celestia had access to teleportation. She could have been there in under an hour if she wanted.

But she took it slower - teleporting only occasionally, otherwise relying on her swan wings to cover distance. It gave her a general view of the land: grassy. Which was to be expected from the Kingdom of Grass.

When she was still a fair way from the settlement, she spotted something she had not expected - a large caravan of ponies moving through the grasslands in the direction of New Equestria. She decided to pay a visit, swooping down from the air and landing just to the side of the caravan. There were six separate carriages filled with changer mares, stallions, and foals running around.

When she approached, the adults visibly tensed. She held up a calming hoof. “Don’t worry!”

“...You are a Nomad?” a blue mare asked.

“Nomad…?”

“From which Kingdom do you hail?”

“None, I come from that direction,” Celestia said, pointing toward New Equestria.

“Ah.” The blue mare relaxed considerably. “A Nomad who does not know of Nomads. Welcome, distant sister. What is your name?”

“White Swan.”

It was apparently believable, since nopony reacted to it. “I am Cyan Shark. I was once part of the Kingdom of Algae. This is my caravan of Nomads. We head for distant lands so we can be free of those who settle.”

“You will find welcoming ponies that direction,” Celestia said with a smile.

“The lands are already settled?” Shark said, looking disappointed.

“Only a small area, atop an impressive climb. You have nothing to fear from them.”

Shark furrowed her brow. “They aren't… shaper, are they?”

“Neither are they blairne or wraith,” Celestia said with a coy smile. “They are… otherly.”

The fishy shaper turned away, trying to figure out how to process the information. “I…”

“Trust me.”

“I just met you!”

“True,” Celestia admitted. “And there are numerous other reasons you really shouldn’t trust me, but I’m asking you to anyway.” She gestured with one of her wings and smiled. “You won’t regret it. When you see the mare with the rainbow mane, you know you’re close. She’s a friend.” Got that, Rainbow Dash?

Celestia knew Rainbow couldn’t read her mind, but she did know Rainbow was letting out an annoyed grunt back at New Equestria. Because she knew her little ponies.

“Will you come with us?”

Celestia shook her head. “Not now. I expect to return there before you arrive, but I cannot guarantee I will fly over your path on my return journey.”

“You head to the Kingdom of Grass?”

Celestia nodded. “I have… business, there.”

Shark nodded. “Be careful. There’s an arthon mage there. Hasn’t attacked anypony yet, but you never know what’ll set one of them off.”

“Thanks for the advice, Shark.” Celestia spread her wings. “I’ll see you soon enough.” She took to the air, leaving the caravan of Nomads behind…

~~~

The Pinkie Sense was stronger.

Much stronger.

The Element of Laughter seemed to feed right into it, allowing her to see more, feel more, be more. It was a little creepy at first, but Pinkie had concerned herself with that for all of ten minutes. The Pinkie Sense had been a little creepy before but she hadn’t let it bother her, why would increasing its power concern her now?

Plus, it could be very useful. She was pretty sure the accentuations the Element of Laughter gave her were the most versatile of all the Elemental Bonuses, aside from Magic itself. She could catch glimpses of other places, like a weaker Loyalty, while getting inklings of things nopony saw… Her strength could be as inconsistent as she wanted… She couldn’t heal, but she had all the smiles available… and Rarity’s power, well that wa-

...was a secret!

Pinkie giggled, jumping off the edge of New Equestria. She landed on the ground with a splat, popping back up completely unharmed. With a coy smirk on her face, she transformed her mane into a drill and pointed it at the ground.

Not here…

HERE!

She plowed into the ground, pushing vast quantities of dirt and roots out into the air. It did not take long for her to reach her destination - a natural cavern system of the Sphere. She went splat again, though this time she took a little longer to peel her face off the ground.

There were several dozen wraiths in the cave, looking right at her in alarm. Naturally, they were all invisible since they had heard her coming, and it would be better if they had no idea she could sense them.

“Well. This totally wasn't part of the plan…” she lied, scratching her chin. “I wonder where I am! Hellooooooooo!” She waved at an area of the wall that didn’t have a wraith on it. “Anypony down here!?”

The wraiths looked unsure of what to do. Some of them were terrified, while others had faces twisted in rage.

Pinkie walked right through one, careful to keep her eyes focused in the distance so she wouldn’t lock eyes with them. The wraith shivered. Pinkie found this amusing - usually it was the pony the ghost walked through that got the chills!

But enough fun. She was here to get information. She did allow herself to look at objects that weren’t invisible, such as a carefully enclosed fire pit upon which meat had recently been cooking. “Huh. Almost looks tasty.”

She prodded it with her hoof, but found nothing interesting about the wraith snacks. She moved along the caverns until she came to an area with a chair-like impression carved into the wall. There was a wraith sitting in it, so it was really hard not to look at him while looking at the chair, but she managed.

With a giggle, she jumped up and sat in the chair, phasing right into the wraith sitting there. “Ah…”

“The heathen sits in the-”

“SHH!”

Pinkie allowed her ears to perk up at the shushing noise. “Hello? Anypony down here?”

The wraith she was sitting on carefully extracted himself from the chair and drifted to the other side of the cavern.

Pinkie jumped out of the chair and looked around. “I wonder which way is out…”

One of the wraith mares pointed. She looked in the direction indicated, thankful.

And then Pinkie realized what she’d just fallen for.

“...Ponyfeathers.”

“SHE CAN SEE US!” The mare shouted, flaring her wings and angling her tail.

“No I can’t!” Pinkie declared, laughing nervously. “Okay, that’s a lie, I totally can. Buuuuut we don’t have t- YIPES!” She narrowly ducked out of the way of a wraith attacking with his scorpion-esque tail. The others tried the same, finding Pinkie decidedly difficult to hit. “Little help!?” Pinkie called.

Nopony came. Pinkie groaned, pulling out her party cannon and launching it at the wraiths.

Good news: it surprised them.

Bad news: half of them phased right through it.

“Well. Days I wish I was a pegasus…” She pushed herself into the party cannon and launched into the ‘escape’ cavern that had been indicated previous, but the clever mare who had fooled Pinkie was waiting for her. Pinkie had to grab hold of her tail to twist around, and this motion was interrupted when the mare went intangible. “Ow…”

The biggest wraith stallion in the room jumped on her and pinned her to the ground, driving his tail right into her leg. He found her limb to be the consistency of rubber, resisting his sharp blade considerably.

“Ha! You can’t hu-”

He pushed harder still, overcoming the power of Laughter with pure, raw strength. Pinkie’s skin was punctured, drawing blood.

Pinkie laughed weakly. “W-well then, guess I was wrong…”

And then a brilliant crystalline Root appeared in the cavern. The instant it was visible, both Twilight and Discord appeared next to it. Twilight raised a barrier that trapped all wraiths in the cave while Discord systematically restricted their phasing ability by summoning silly hats on their heads.

“Pinkie! Are you okay!?” Twilight called.

“I… Will be. Just get me to Fluttershy.” Pinkie shivered. “Oooooooooh that’s a nasty poison… Get Ichor in here.”

“She’s no-”

“She’s the only chance we’ve got,” Pinkie insisted, fixing Twilight with a deadly serious glare. Her body started seizing immediately after.

Twilight teleported Pinkie to Fluttershy. “Rainbow, would you mind placing Ichor where the Map used to be? Thanks.”

A minute later, Twilight had one confident wraith with her and a few dozen terrified wraiths.

“I-ichor?” a dull red wraith said, confused.

“Yes, Rime, it’s me, Ichor.” She smiled. “Bet you’re surprised to see me, huh?”

“We thought you had be-”

“Both Silicate and I are alive. Though we did get captured by these ponies. Strange, everypony always said getting captured was nothing but a minor inconvenience, but with all this fancy magic I haven’t been able to escape. Strange…”

Discord made all the wraiths’ hats sing a little ditty centered around the word “strange.” Some of the wraiths started crying.

“Discord, stop it, we don’t want to scar them.”

“Too late,” Ichor pointed out.

Twilight sighed. “...Fine. Discord, I can keep them here, remove the hats.”

Discord groaned. “No fun…” He snapped his fingers, removing all the hats, giving all wraith freedom of motion. “There you go, free.”

The mare who had tricked Pinkie walked to the front of the wraith prisoners. She was a dull white, with dead eyes. Blind. “I am Ebony. Why have you not killed us?”

“Because killing is not something New Equestria does,” Ichor explained. “They would have let me and Silicate go if they thought they could trust us.”

“If they trusted you they were fools.”

“I can’t say I trust Ichor,” Twilight admitted. “But I do respect her. She’s told us much about your people. No, she did not betray you, merely told us of your customs. I have no idea how Pinkie found you.”

“She saw things, it is to be expected.” Ebony paused. “So if you are not going to kill us, what are you going to do to us?”

Ichor blinked. “Huh. What are you going to do. Imprison them all?”

Twilight shook her head. “I’m going to give your people two options. The first is to leave the lands around New Equestria and never come back - and if you do come back, we will use our power to punish you as the other races do. I… would rather not, but if you won’t respect an agreement, we can’t afford to imprison and watch thirty-odd ponies.”

“The other option?” Ebony asked.

“Stay here as friends. I won’t hold you for what you did to Pinkie - she invaded your home, and Fluttershy will be able to heal her as new without a problem. But I can’t have you stealing stuff from us, as is your lifestyle.”

“We can’t survive withou-”

“We can give you food,” Twilight pointed out. “We have plenty. Discord here can just make it.”

Discord snapped his fingers, producing several gourds. It took all of Twilight’s willpower not to smash one.

“We can give you resources. All we ask in return if you’re living here is that you help us rebuild. It won’t be hard work, since we have a lot of magic to do most of the heavy lifting, but we do need to have better patrols and lookouts. Since you can be invisible, the ponies who visit wouldn’t have to see you. And you wouldn’t have to hide in this cavern all the time.”

Ebony looked at Twilight carefully. “Ichor?”

“I… I’m surprised, but I think she means it.”

Ebony nodded. “Brothers, sisters… we must each decide. Who leaves and who goes?” Upon saying this, Ebony walked over to Ichor, standing next to her.

Most of the other wraiths followed Ebony, but around a dozen of them hung back, refusing to follow.

“Then leave and never return,” Ebony said, simply. “Tell the rest of the family of this place. Does the invitation extend to them?”

“It does,” Twilight said with a nod. “Either come to live in peace… or stay away.” She released her hold on the magic bubble. “Go.”

The wraiths that had opted to leave phased through a wall, gone.

Ebony turned to Twilight. “You insult the sacred way of the wraith with your suggestions.”

“I am aware. I don’t have much respect for a system based on exploiting others.”

“They treat us like the dung of the earth.”

“Well, we won’t,” Twilight said, smiling. “You’re just like any of the other ponies here. You are free to go where you wish in New Equestria… or even leave. But return to your old ways and we will have a problem.”

“The terms are simple and easy to understand.” Ebony turned to the other wraith. “Do as you will.”

“I would suggest avoiding the shaper dignitaries while they’re visiting,” Twilight added. “They accepted Ichor as a prisoner. Now that I have developed an understanding, there is no further need for prisoners. Just potential friends.”

Ebony didn’t respond to that. “Food?”

Discord snapped his fingers, creating a cake larger than any of the wraiths. “There you go.”

They dug in ravenously.

~~~

Pinkie was easy healed. The wraiths had been offered places to sleep, but they were creatures that loved the night and so few of them felt the need to sleep, and those that did wanted to stay in the caverns.

Twilight looked at her bed, a frown on her face.

Can I really sleep tonight? I just took a gamble with the wraiths. They may try to slit our throats in our sleep…

She shook her head, banishing the thought. I need to keep the olive branch extended. If this is to work, I can’t take it back all of a sudden.

She was just going to have to… sleep.

Which would be easier if someone weren’t knocking on her door.

“Come in.”

Ocellus walked in.

“Ah, Ocellus, what i-”

“I want to reopen the School of Friendship,” the changeling stated without waiting for Twilight.

Twilight blinked. “It’s a little early for that…”

“The ponies of this world need to understand friendship. The wraith are untrusting and brutal, the shapers are creepily attached to their arguments, and I hear the blairne were even worse. They need to know friendship.”

“I agree,” Twilight said. “But we are short hooved…”

“I’ll do it,” Ocellus offered. “I… I may not be able to operate a full curriculum on my own, but I can do something. Like a study session. The sooner I get started, the better. This world needs our School.”

Twilight paused, considering this. Reaching a conclusion, she smiled. “You are welcome to try, Ocellus, though don’t work yourself too hard.”

“Thank you, Headma- Princ- Quee- Twilight.”

Twilight chuckled. “I would tell you to get sleep, but I get the distinct impression you won’t listen to me.”

“Good guess.”

“Try to at least get enough so you’ll be able to speak coherently tomorrow.”

Ocellus nodded. “I’ll try.” She turned and left the office without another word.

The Sixth Day

“Ready?” Twilight asked.

Rarity nodded. “Ready.”

Twilight took a breath and focused on bringing another person back to the world. This time, it was somepony small and white. When the magical aura dissipated, one young mare with an innocent smile greeted the world. “Hi!” Sweetie Belle greeted.

Rarity tried to restrain herself, tried to act professional, tried to keep herself from breaking down - but she couldn’t. She let out a bawl and pulled her little sister close to her chest, unable to say anything.

For once, Sweetie didn’t recoil in the slightest. She smiled happily, tears in her own eyes. “I missed you too.”

Twilight wiped a speck out of her eye and beamed - it was just so precious.

Eventually, the sisterly embrace ended, and the fourth person in the room made herself known with a cough. “Glad to have you on board,” Ocellus said, extending a hoof to Sweetie.

Sweetie clapped her hooves. “Glad to be on board! We are gonna make the best introductory friendship studies session ever! Have the notes!”

“Yep!”

“...Notes?” Twilight said, cocking her head.

Ocellus rubbed the back of her head. “I may have talked and coordinated with Sweetie for half the night… I did get sleep though!”

“We already know what we’re going to do!” Sweetie declared. “One pony from each of the three races in the first session.”

“That’d be Frostfire…” Twilight said. “And Ichor for the wraith, definitely. But we have a lot of shapers here now, with all the dignitaries…” They still hadn’t left. And rarely did any of them come to Twilight to actually talk about anything. It all felt so… pointless.

“Eagle,” Ocellus said. “She’s responded most favorably.”

“Really? I would have said Beaver…”

“Beaver’s a good pony,” Ocellus admitted. “But he’s got an... unwavering attitude. We’re honestly just lucky he happens to agree with us on many major points. He wouldn’t take to being taught very well. At least not at first - kinda like Gallus, really.”

“I see,” Rarity admitted. “It sounds like you have it well in hoof! Now, Sweetie, I’m sorry, even if you get done with work I’m probably going to be too busy to…”

“Rarity,” Sweetie said. “It’s okay. I can survive one more day without my sister fussing over me. Don’t worry, we got this.”

“...Oh no,” Rarity paled.

“Did somepony say the forbidden phrase!?” Pinkie said, appearing out of nowhere.

Sweetie facehooved. “Shush, you, that doesn’t mean anything.”

“You never know, we live right in the middle of a lot of harmony magic…” Twilight rubbed her chin. “Who knows the levels of fate in play here?”

“You’re the Tree now, you tell me,” Sweetie said.

Twilight blinked. “Huh… I… Huh.” She shook her head. “I guess in theory I would have the ability to see and alter fate, now… that’s mildly concerning.”

Discord appeared next to her in a flash of light. “Fate! Yes, finally, the last tether keeping me to order!”

“You can’t cast magic outside of New Equestria.”

“Fine, the second to last tether.” He pointed at Twilight. “I humbly request that you place me outside fate! Imagine the power of true chaos…!”

“Even if I knew how, I don’t think I would. Fate is our friend, Discord. Got you reformed, after all. Partly, anyway. ...You know what I mean.”

“I do, but who cares about that? You’re stumbling over your words my dear Twi-twi, how quaint.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Sweetie, run before he traps you in jello or something.”

“Yes, my Queen!” She and Ocellus skittered away.

Twilight frowned.

“You’ll get used to it one day,” Rarity said.

“Meh.”

~~~

Sunset had a goal: find Rainbow Dash. Since the pegasus mare took exception to ponies looking at the sky and shouting “RAINBOW DASH” for anything less than an emergency, she was walking about New Equestria.

In broad daylight.

Naturally, this drew more than a few dropping jaws from the lingering shaper dignitaries.

Sunset casually wondered if she should have asked Twilight about this before heading out. Nah, if I needed to stay hidden, she would have told me to sit tight.

“Hey!” she waved at an orange shaper, a grin on her face. “Seen Rainbow, by chance?”

“I… Uh…”

A green shaper interrupted. “What my Tree-induced friend meant to say wa-”

“If you so much as finish that sentence Grass-root I wil-”

“Drive my face into the earth? Please, you wouldn’t da-”

“My darings are none of y-”

“Stop this incess-”

Sunset took a few steps back. “Wowkay…”

“Let em be,” a rugged brown shaper said, walking up to her. “They cannot gourd.”

“...Gourd?”

“Gourd.”

“...Clearly, I’ve been hanging out in my lab too much.”

“Gourd.”

“I’m just…” she turned around, finding her path blocked by a pale white wraith. “...Hi.”

“I am Ebony,” the mare said, the lack of focus in her eyes unnerving Sunset. “You?”

“Sunset. Sunset Shimmer.” She awkwardly extended a hand.

Ebony had to process this for a moment before shaking it herself. “Aside from the monstrosity that is Discord, you are the strangest creature I have seen.”

“I’m going to take that as a compliment.”

“It was not.”

“...Oh.”

Ebony cocked her head. “I wish to know what you are.”

“I’m what happens when a pony spends a few years in another universe as a primate and is sucked into a mental construct for a while, coming out as a mixture of said pony and primate because her mind doesn’t have any idea which body is the right one.”

“I understood none of that.”

“Due to magic weirdness that was pretty much out of my control, I’m a mixture of a unicorn pony and what’s known as a human.”

“Interesting. You are non-standard. How does one hybridize naturally?”

“Hybridize naturally?”

“Twilight.”

“Oh, that’s magic too, though more intentional.”

Ebony nodded slowly. “There are no natural hybrids, then?”

“I mean, Celestia’s natural, but I don’t exactly know how she was born…”

“Strange. I had taken you to be the smart one.”

Sunset gawked. “I am! I run all the machines in the basement and monkey with all the gadgets! I invented a sound gun yesterday to deal with arthon mages!”

“Insecure.”

“What th-” Sunset fumed. “You’re just messing with me.”

“I rarely get to talk with other beings without them attempting to kill me. It is an experience I am rather starved of. Your reactions and answers have been very interesting. Goodbye, Sunset Shimmer.”

Ebony vanished.

Sunset ground her teeth.

“You know, I was going to yell at you for saying you were looking for me aloud, but that was so entertaining you get a pass.”

Sunset put on a smile. “Ah, Rainbow! There you are!”

“Just gonna pretend like you didn’t spend an entire conversation getting owned by a blind mare?”

“Yep!”

“Nice.” Rainbow dash ruffled her wings. “So, watcha want?”

“How’s Celestia doing?”

“Well, she made contact with the Kingdom of Grass… Grass Kingdom? I don’t even know. She made contact, went off without a hitch. She attempted to cross the blairne border and that did not go well. Now she’s following a rumor about a peaceful arthon mage, then she’ll be heading back.”

“I meant how’s she doing, Rainbow.”

“Oh. Fine. Maybe she’s a bit lonely? She starts talking to me every now and then, which would be odd if I couldn’t hear her.” Rainbow paused. “Was this what it was like to be her and get letters every week?”

Sunset shrugged. “I wasn't really a part of the whole ‘letters to Celestia’ thing, I couldn’t say.”

“Well, that’s how she’s doing. Anything else?”

“Not particularly, no.”

“Then I’ve got to go, I left Eagle on a cloud.”

“...What? How? They can’t cloudwalk!”

“Very carefully.” Rainbow took off into the sky.

Sunset frowned. She decided she might as well return to her lab…

“Gourds for gourd, if you want.”

Sunset stuck her fingers in hear ears. “LALALALALALALA!”

~~~

Celestia found what she was looking for on top of a medium-sized roother. The moving forest was covered in tremendous fungus rather than the normal vegetation, and it was moving along at a brisk pace for its kind. Which was to say a human jogging could easily outrun the thing.

Atop the largest mushroom on the center of the behemoth’s back sat an arthon mage. It looked almost exactly the same as the one Celestia had destroyed earlier - a black rope with eight limbs equally divided between arms and legs absolutely covered in gemstones. Notably, the color of the gems in this case was a soft blue rather than a yellow-green, and the beast itself hadn’t taken an aggressive posture.

Instead, it had folded its legs and arms together, almost as if it were meditating.

Celestia landed on the mushroom. The harvester birds reacted to her presence, at first staring at her with aggression but quickly lowering their metallic wings. They returned to tending their mushrooms, allowing Celestia to walk toward the arthon mage.

“Greetings,” Celestia said.

The arthon mage gave her no response. It sat, perfectly still, staring off in the direction the roother was leaving.

The direction of the blairne border. Celestia had just come from there. It had been… well, she hadn’t even gotten to speak, she had gotten shot at, both as White Swan and as her full regal self. She would have needed to use force to get any of them to listen to her, and that was politically unadvisable.

Whatever the arthon mage was looking at - if anything - Celestia would not be able to see it herself. Not without taking risks simple curiosity didn’t mandate taking.

“Why are you here?” She asked. The arthon mage gave no indication it even knew she was there.

Hello, she thought forcefully.

Harmless. Came the response.

Me?

Harmless.

The roother?

Functional.

That was interesting. The harvester birds?

Functional. Functional. Functional. Functional… It thought the word once for every harvester bird on the roother, which was a significant number. Celestia lost count after a hundred.

What you’re looking at?

Too dangerous to purge.

Celestia really didn’t like the sounds of that.

What are you looking at?

Primary target. Too dangerous to purge.

Primary target?

Too dangerous to purge.

Celestia furrowed her brow. This thing didn’t think like she did, or like animals did. It had a purpose - a list of sorts where it categorized things. She could read how it was processing that list, but there wasn’t going to be a conversation here.

That didn’t mean she couldn’t get information from it.

The sun?

Functional.

The Sphere?

Partially functional. Outside operational scope.

So something was off with the Sphere, but the arthon mage didn’t think it needed to do anything about it.

New Equestria?

Unknown.

Arthon mages?

Effective.

She had no idea what that meant. Blairne?

Vague.

...The Impervious Leader?

Too dangerous to purge.

“...Oh,” Celestia said. She followed the arthon mage’s gaze to the horizon, grimacing. No doubt the Impervious Ruler’s palace lay in that direction…

The primary target of a peaceful arthon mage that found her harmless.

She hoped the beast’s mind was broken. Otherwise…

That didn’t bear thinking about.

~~~

“I’m glad you all decided to join us today,” Sweetie said, sitting at the front of one of the School of Friendship’s many classrooms. “I am Sweetie Belle, Cutie Mark Crusader, and I am a certified friendship tutor!”

“This sounds… really, really dumb,” Frostfire grunted from his seat.

“Yeah!” Eagle laughed. “Who needs to learn about friendship, I mean really?”

Ichor glared at them. “...Me.”

“Obviously,” Frostfire said dismissively. “Given your heritage…”

Ichor hissed. “Don’t insult my heritage!”

“Or what? We both know you and your people are living on the kindness of Twilight. The moment you step out of line…”

“Ahem,” Sweetie called. “Eagle, have they answered your question for you?”

Eagle nodded slowly. “...Doesn’t tell me why I need to l-”

“Because your mother said so,” Ocellus called from the back of the room, making a note in a large book she had open on her lap.

“Ugh,” Eagle groaned, slumping forward in the chair. “You guys were cool, and now we’re learning.”

Sweetie smirked. “Do you want to go back to Rainbow Dash’s sky palace?”

“NO!” Eagle shouted, standing bolt upright. “NOPE! I’M GOOD! ANYTHING without… clouds…”

“Good.” Sweetie pointed a baton at the projector screen while Ocellus loaded a slide displaying the Elements of Harmony. “There are many aspects of friendship and every relationship is unique, but for the sake of the course we divide studies up into six sections based upon the Elements of Harmony: Kindness, Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, Laughter, and what we generally call Magic, and I’ll get to the nuance in that term in a minute.”

“Terminology is… always a pain,” Frostfire commented.

Sweetie pointed at an Element. “Honesty is often the bedrock of friendship, focused around telling the truth. It goes beyond a simple refusal to lie when used properly, going all the way to saying things your friends might not want to hear if it would be better for them. For example, say one of your friends is very very happy with somepony else in their lives, but you know for a fact that the other pony is just using them. Honesty would go through the heartbreak and tell your friend what they needed to know, even if they would respond negatively at first. Honesty is also associated with strength, integrity, and resolve.” She lowered her baton. “How have you used Honesty in your friendships?”

Ichor looked down at the floor, ashamed. Eagle looked bored. Frostfire held a contemptuous smile on his face.

“Frostfire?”

“Naturally, I am the only one who would have an example… I had few friends due to my necessary isolated lifestyle, but I did have family. I made absolutely sure they always knew how I felt.”

“How so?”

“Oh, say they were in danger of forgetting my birthday, I’d let them know exactly when it was going to be. Or when they weren’t paying attention… saying stupid things…”

“While that’s honest, that’s also pretty selfish and petty.”

Frostfire stared at her. “Ex-CUSE me?”

Sweetie smirked. “I just demonstrated Honesty. Said something you needed to hear, but would definitely respond unfavorably to. It illustrates a point: that you can’t rely on just Honesty, and all Elements will, if left unchecked, turn a relationship sour.”

“Oooooh you just got served, spike boy!” Eagle laughed.

“That wasn’t very kind, Eagle,” Sweetie said, frowning.

“...So?”

“Kindness is an Element of Harmony.”

Eagle blinked. “Uh…”

“Tell me, would you be friends with anypony who wasn't nice to you?”

“...No?”

“Then why would you expect Frostfire to be your friend if you treat him like that?”

“Because… because that’s how he treats the rest of us!”

Sweetie smiled softly. “The truest expressions of kindness are to those who will never return it. A truly selfless act that expects nothing in return. You’ve all met Fluttershy, you know what true selfless Kindness is like.”

Ichor smiled warmly. “Yeah…”

Eagle flushed. “S-sorry Belle.”

“Just Sweeite is fine, Eagle. And it’s not me you should apologize too.”

Eagle muttered something in Frostfire’s direction and Sweetie decided not to push it.

“Next, we have Generosity, the Element of my sister, Rarity.” Sweetie smiled. “Naturally, it’s a favorite of mine, all about giving to others, often at your own expense. And it doesn’t have to be physical things - you can give somepony your ear, your patience, or your time.”

“...We’re all living off Generosity,” Ichor said. “I… I like this one.”

Sweetie smiled. “Ichor is right, the situation of her people is a pure act of Generosity. They are being given a chance to be something other than what they’ve been their entire lives, even if the safest thing to do would be to run them out. Friendship is more important than your own personal safety.”

“Is it though?” Frostfire asked. “Being this devoted, you’ll end up giving yourself away!”

“In certain cases, probably,” Sweetie admitted. “But if you’re truly Honest, Kind, and Generous, you’ll have a hard time coming away without Loyalty, the next element. Loyalty… is all about being there for each other no matter what. Even if your friend is doing something you object to, you stand by them, even if it’s hard. Naturally, you tell them if you have any problems, but you don’t check out just because it’s getting difficult. And Loyalty, when used properly, ensures that when you are Generous and Kind, those you form bonds with will be Kind and Generous in return. Proper Friendship is a cycle, a two-way street if you will.”

“So it’s not like the loyalty to the Impervious King?”

Sweetie shook her head. “It’s… much closer to the way of the wraith, actually. You are loyal to the King because he is in charge, not because of any sort of bond between you. But wraiths are loyal to each other because they all view each other as one large family and they’ve been through thick and thin together.” Sweetie smiled in Ichor’s direction. “Don’t ever think your way is pointless, Ichor.”

“T-thanks.”

“Right, right, I think we get it,” Eagle commented. “Basically it’s all about being nice so everypony’s nice to each other and nobody gets angry. Right?”

Sweetie smirked. “That sounds very practical and businesslike.”

“Duh. That’s how it works. It’s more beneficial to be this way.”

“Without Laughter, maybe.” Sweetie tapped the fifth Element. “Laughter has no direct purpose. It’s there to be fun, to bring smiles. Alone, Laughter doesn’t care how it gets its laughs and smiles, even at the expenses of others, which is a terrible thing. But with the other Elements, it only seeks to strengthen relationships through something truly frivolous and amazing: fun. Sure, all the others are great and effective at bringing ponies closer together, but where’s the joy in it? The life? That’s where Laughter comes in.”

“That’s definitely Pinkie,” Eagle said.

“This… this makes sense,” Ichor said. “All of these aspects work together to forge a relationship!”

“But what of Magic?” Frostifre asked.

“You don’t realize it, but we’ve been talking about Magic all this time,” Sweetie said. “Does anypony want to guess what Magic is all about?”

There was silence in the classroom. Sweetie, mildly disappointed, opened her mouth to explain.

“It’s… the connection, isn’t it?”

Sweeite turned to Eagle, stunned. She’d half expected Frostfire to figure it out from his intellect alone, and she’d wanted Ichor to empathically key into it. But Eagle figuring it out…? “Care to explain, Eagle?”

“Like… all the Elements, alone, don’t seem to work. Just Honesty is kinda lame, Kindness drains ponies, and Laughter doesn’t care. They all work off each other in some kind of system… thingy. That’s what Magic is, isn’t it? I mean, it is in the center, and all.”

Sweetie laughed. “That’s… that’s exactly right! Magic is the connection, the spark, the lattice between the Elements that draws them together into a brilliant united whole. Without the connection between the Elements, each one would go off on its own and be… well, corrupted. Magic is the eternal balance, the leader. Good job Eagle!”

Eagle sat up, proud.

“Why call it Magic?” Frostfire asked. “Connection or Balance would be better.”

Sweetie raised her eyebrow. “Because whenever friendship is properly balanced magic spells get stronger? That may not be the case in this world, but it was in ours, so we called it Magic.”

Frostfire blinked. “...Huh.”

Sweetie nodded. “And that was our crash-course in the Elements of Harmony. Any questions before we move onto Ocellus’ Friendship Test? Don’t worry, it won’t have a score, it’s just to figure out what Elements you’re best at.”

Ichor raised a hoof.

“Yes, Ichor?”

~~~

“Heeeeeeeeeey Ebony!” Pinkie called, appearing in front of the wraith.

“Hello, Pinkie. What is your purpose here?”

“Just coming by to say hi!” Pinkie said, gesturing at the wraith caverns - which were now outfitted with a few artificial lights and stacks of food. Discord’s ‘cracker stack’ was currently infested with wraith fighting each other over the delectable snacks.

“Hmm…” Ebony said, looking Pinkie up and down. “No thoughts of revenge?”

“What? Revenge? Psh, I’m the mare who broke into your cave! You got me fair and square!”

“True. But fairness means little in the dance of revenge.”

“I don’t exactly… do revenge, Ebony, kay?”

“If you insist.”

“I am curious how you wraiths are doing! Good, I assume?”

“Depends on your definition,” Ebony said. “Good, we are alive. Not good, half of us don’t trust you enough to go check out the beds you offered. Half will probably sleep on the ground instead of the dorms. It is creating a divide within us.”

“I thought they all went home…”

“There are some who leave even now. I am not one of them, but others might be. I am surprised Silicate is still around.”

Pinkie shrugged. “Maybe he likes us more than he’s willing to admit.”

“He does not.”

“...Riiiiight…” Pinkie said, scratching the back of her head. “Soooo… anything else new?”

“Ichor came back from that ‘study session’ of yours and won’t shut up.”

“That’s great news! It means it worked!”

“She’s being annoying.”

“Oh come on, it can’t be that bad.”

“She’s not as bad as you, true.”

Pinkie frowned. “Hey. That wasn’t nice.”

Ebony shrugged, trotting away without another word.

“Geez… tough crowd.” Pinkie rubbed the back of her head. “How am I gonna befriend her…? A challenge, to be sure.”

“Oooh! Oooh!” Ichor ran up to her. “We could try making her laugh!”

“Yeah! What a great idea! Did you test high in laughter?”

“...Eeeeeh…” Ichor tilted her hoof back and forth. “The only Element I was really high in was Loyalty. At least I had a high Element, Frostfire was pretty abysmal in all of them. Eagle got high Magic though! Can you believe it?”

“Can I?”

“Can you?”

“I think so!”

The two of them devolved into giggles.

“So, you know Ebony, what sort of things does she like?”

“Uh…” Ichor furrowed her brow. “She likes thinking. But I never see her smile about it, she just… does it. Makes strange word puzzles and stuff.”

“Oh… think she’d like a tongue twister?”

“Too silly.” Ichor frowned. “...I’m not sure we can make her smile even with something she likes…”

“Some ponies don’t smile very often,” Pinkie said, smiling sadly. “I had a sister, Maud. She went around with a straight, bleeeeh look on her face all the time. But I know that, deep down, she was smiling all the time. She was even a pretty good comedian, believe it or not! Never laughed. Kept her face straight the entire time. She’d say the craziest things and pretend like it was completely serious…” Pinkie wiped a tear from her eye, though she was giggling. “She was… she was the best.”

“Maybe we could turn Ebony into a comedian?”

Pinkie burst into crazed laughter. “Let’s… let’s try something simpler first. And less absurd.”

Ichor rolled her eyes. “Fine. Simpler. What do you have in mind?”

“Twilight’s library is filled with brain teasers and ancient riddles. Let’s find one and give it to her!”

“Generosity?”

“All the Elements work together, Ichor!”

“Oh, right!”

It was not hard to find the puzzle section of Twilight’s library - Spike led them to it in less than a minute. “So, what’re you girls looking for specifically?”

“Something that’d burn your brain, but not like in a mathy sorta way. Also, needs to have one of those ‘blind can read’ enchantments,” Pinkie said.

“Mind games, puzzles… clever little sayings, I don’t know.” Ichor shrugged.

“Got it, brainteasers.” Spike pulled a book out of the shelf - Cerebral Entrapments - and handed it to them. “What’s this for?”

“Ebony,” Pinkie said. “That mare needs to smile on the inside.”

“Good luck. You’ll need it…”

They returned to Ebony, giving her the book.

“...What?”

“Just open it and try it out!” Ichor encouraged.

Ebony flipped it open and selected something random with her hoof - very surprised that the words seemed to jump to her hoof as hse traced over them. “...You’re standing in a hallway with three light switches on the wall, each of which turns on a different lamp inside a closed room. You can’t see inside the room, and you can’t open the door except to enter the room. You can enter the room only once, and when you do, all the lamps must be turned off. How can you tell which switch turns on which lamp?”

“See, it’s just like the puzzles you make!” Ichor said.

“So it is…” Ebony said, narrowing her eyes.

“The answers are in the back of the book!” Pinkie said.

Ebony went to the back of the book and tore out the entire answers section, handing it back to Pinkie. “I shall not be tempted.” She held the book close and vanished.

“...That’s a good sign, right?” Pinkie asked.

“Oh yeah,” Ichor chuckled.

~~~

“AHA!”

Twilight looked sharply to her left, more than a little surprised to see Ebony flicking a school lightswitch on and off.

“Ebony…?”

Ebony looked at Twilight with a perfectly straight expression. “The answer lies in the difference in temperature over time.” She vanished.

Twilight blinked. “Okaaaaay…”

“...I know you said you had wraiths here that didn’t want to eat you, but that was weirder than I was expecting.”

Twilight turned to the shaper she had invited to New Equestria less than half an hour ago - Cyan Shark, head of a caravan of Shaper Nomads. They would be staying in New Equestria at least for a little while.

“What were you expecting?” Twilight asked.

“A bunch of creepy ponies hissing at everypony who passed by?”

“You might get that if you go to their caves…” Twilight admitted. “But they’re acclimating pretty well. They like food that comes without the danger of being attacked.”

“I’d imagine so… You’re lucky you have an endless supply.”

Twilight nodded. “We are blessed with magic… but cursed with a small number of people. Even all of those still trapped within the roots… less than a hundred.”

“Well, you have the Nomads, for now at least.”

“You’re willing to put up with the dignitaries?”

Shark laughed. “They at least have the dignity not to attack those without a Kingdom…”

Twilight frowned. “Why… why is being without a kingdom so bad?”

Shark shrugged. “I’m not sure. It just… is. Like the blairne are just ‘superior’ and wraiths are just ‘thieves’. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were here to change all that.”

“For all I know, we are…” Twilight said. They walked outside the school and looked up at the slowly vanishing sun. “Or maybe we’re just here to learn to appreciate the beauty hidden in this world.”

“I dunno. I’m just Shark. Heh.”

“And ten years ago I was a bookish shut in unicorn who didn’t see the point in other ponies.”

“You win.”

Twilight smirked playfully. “It’s hard to beat me at this game. Don’t feel bad.”

“Hey, winning the game might not be a good thing.”

“Maybe…”

Celestia appeared before them in a flash of white magic. “I have returned!”

“Princess!” Twilight had to force herself not to bow out of instinct. “Glad to see you back!”

“I’m glad to be back,” Celestia said, bowing. “Shark, I see you’ve been properly taken care of?”

Shark stared at her in shock. “...W-white Swan!?”

“Well, sometimes, not today. Today I’m Celestia.” She leaned down so she was eye level with the shaper. “I hope you do not find my appearance alarming?”

“...Just unexpected.”

“It would have terrified you had I walked into your caravan like this.”

“...Nah, we’re not that skittish.”

Celestia smirked knowingly.

“...Get out of my head.”

“I’m not in your head.”

“There’s that blue bird flying around that’s in everypony’s head! You can’t tell me you can’t get in my head!”

“Oh, she can,” Rainbow said, flying by. “She just doesn’t because it’s rude.”

“Then why are you everywhere!?” Shark demanded.

“I don’t have a choice. I - PINKIE SHUT UP! - sorry about that, she was singing ‘bottles of cider’. I think. I only heard the first few opening notes, I didn’t want to chance it.”

“...You’re all weird,” Shark muttered.

“Methinks you’ve jumped into a frying pan, lass,” a Gourd said, walking by.

“Nevermind, Gourds are weird. You don’t quite make it all the way to their level.”

“Do you know what their deal is?” Twilight asked Shark.

Shark blinked. “Deal?”

“Yeah. Why are they the… way they are?”

“Every pony who’s tried to answer that question has become a Gourd. I’d give up and run while you still can.”

Twilight stared blankly at her. “...Okay…”

Shark yawned. “Anyway, I’m going to turn in. Have fun with your Gourdish philosophy.”

“Goldfish,” the Gourd said.

“You don’t get to talk to me like you’re making sense,” Shark snapped.

Soon, Celestia and Twilight were alone.

“...Perhaps we should go somewhere more private?” Celestia suggested.

Twilight nodded, teleporting them room that had held the Map. “Find anything?”

Celestia frowned. “Not much, admittedly. An arthon mage that’s normally peaceful wants to kill the Impervious Leader, but thinks it’s too dangerous to do so.”

Twilight nodded. “Well, they affix on things more or less randomly… and it’d have to be hard to get to him with all his sound blairne around.”

Celestia nodded. “True enough… at least in some senses. I worry that it might be more, but there’s nothing we can do about it now.”

Twilight nodded. “...Things are finally looking up, Celestia.”

“Finally?”

“Well, they’ve been looking up for a while… but the wraiths are no longer an immense, direct issue. I - oh! You don’t know about that, do you? We made peace with a nest of wraiths in a cave near here thanks to Pinkie.”

“I did see a few walking around without inhibition. I figured as much.”

“Yeah, and the shaper dignitaries - while freaking annoying - are at least open to discussion, and thanks to you we have a group of Nomads here! We’re making friends left and right and showing them there’s a better way! I… well, I feel like I’m not in danger of having something fall out from under me anymore. I…” She smiled. “It feels like everything’s going to be fine. Like… it really, truly is.”

Celestia smiled. “I’m glad. Faith in the future is something hard to come by in days like this.”

“We’re going to do what we’ve always done,” Twilight asserted. “Change the world.” She touched the walls of her castle, closing her eyes. “I… I can feel them, you know.”

“Hmm?”

“Everybody here… everyone from Equestria is connected to the Roots, except Discord… But then there’s all the ponies of this world. They aren’t connected, but I still feel them. They’re there. Living their lives… and… I don’t really know how to describe it. It’s like their life is part of me, even though it isn’t. If that makes sense.”

“It does, though even if it didn’t I’d still be happy for you.” Celestia pulled her into a hug. “You’ve built a world here, Twilight. You should be proud.”

“Heh… heh…” Twilight’s smile slowly faded. “...But it’s not the same.”

“Hmm?”

“It’s… it’s great. It’s amazing. But it…” She took in a deep breath. “It… it doesn’t have…”

“Twilight…”

Twilight was already crying. She knew she wasn’t going to be able to stop it. She had let herself feel safe… that she could afford to relax. And now, nothing was going to keep it back. “They’re gone! All gone! I… I don’t even remember what the last conversation I had with my mother was Celestia! I don’t even remember! I saw her last month! What did we talk about? Did we enjoy each other’s company? Did I seem dismissive?”

Celestia said nothing, only pulling Twilight in for a deeper embrace.

“I… everypony in Ponyville… Shining Armor… Ca-” She buried her head in Celestia’s coat. “What was the reason?”

“It was a mistake. And it wasn’t a mistake you made.”

“H-how could one mistake do… do so much?” Twilight wailed. “So the Tree miscalculated! Why… why should that destroy everything? Why!?”

“The Tree was the source of our fate, Twilight. There… may have been no reason.”

“No reason? NO REASON!?” Twilight’s anger shot out of her like a deflated balloon. “No reason…”

“Tragedies happen, my little pony. Sometimes there’s nothing to learn from them - except how to be stronger.”

“I don’t want to be strong right now…” Twilight blubbered. “I just… I wanna go to bed, wake up, and this will have all been a dream. I’d go downstairs and Spike would be arguing with STarlight about somet…” Twilight swallowed. “Starlight…”

“She did wha-”

“If she were here… she’d never be able to forgive herself.” Twilight broke off the hug, a haunted look on her face.

“Don’t go there. Trust me, down that path… only lies confusion and questions with answers you don’t want.”

“She… she had so much potential…” Twilight sniffed. “She could have been like us. She… she could have changed the world. Should have changed the world. She was going to lead them, Celestia. She wasn’t ready yet… but she would have been.”

“I’ve lost students before,” Celestia said.

“You got Sunset back.”

Celestia tried not to look hurt. “There have been many students, Twilight.”

“I… I know. I’m sorry I ju-”

“You’re in mourning. It’s okay. It’s all okay.”

“It’s not okay.”

“No, it’s not. But it is.” Celestia wiped a tear from her eye. “It’s the paradox of surviving. It’s okay. But it isn’t.”

Twilight blinked, saying nothing. “She… I… you…” she couldn’t take it anymore. She let out a deep, horrendous sob and buried herself in Celestia’s wing once again.

She let it all out.

Crying until she was so exhausted she passed out.

Gently, Celestia laid Twilight on her bed and tucked her in. Then Celestia, Princess of the Sun, teleported to the castle balcony and looked up to the sky of night within the Sphere.

Twilight was right. Things were finally coming together. The sword that had been hanging over them… was being lifted.

But there was nopony to hold Celestia, now that Twilight was out cold.

She had to mourn her sister alone, crying out into the night a call of pained, desperate anguish…

The irony was not lost on her, for this was how Luna had wept many a time when they were young.

~~~

“They’re destroying our ways,” Silicate said, plainly. “And they must be stopped.”

And, exactly as he had expected, there was only one objecting voice. “Silicate!” Ichor shouted. “You can’t say that!”

Just her. Silicate said, smiling inwardly. JUST her. All the others are in the beds… or Ebony. At first, he’d been unsure he’d be able to distract Ebony long enough to pull this off, but that book that lit up her hooves had made it a million times easier. Just give her the hardest puzzle and challenge her to complete it before morning. Spike was such a useful source of that sort of information.

“Why not?” Silicate asked. “The way of the wraith is sacred. And those of us who are sleeping above in beds of fluff rather than the rock of our ancestors are dishonoring our ways! It will not be long before we are not wraith, but some poor shadow that lives among ponies.”

“M-maybe there are other sacred ways?” Ichor suggested.

Wrong crowd… The other wraith let out displeased shouts and grunts. Ichor cowered in fear, backing away from Silicate.

“I say we can’t wait for our brothers and sisters to be so far from us they cannot return!” Silicate said, raising a hoof. “Who’s with me?”

“Nopony will listen to you, fool,” a large wraith said, walking up to Silicate. Ridge. “You have garnered no respect from us with your fickle ways and your endless fear.”

Silicate blinked. “But I-”

“Just because you are right does not mean you are worthy,” Ridge said. “You are a disgrace, and you have left out many wraiths from this conversation.”

“They are under their spell!”

“You did not make that known upfront to us.” Ridge grabbed Silicate by the shoulder and threw him to the ground. “You claim to know the place of wraiths, but you do not know your own.” Ridge turned back to the gathered wraiths, ignoring the sputtering Silicate. “He speaks the truth. Our brothers and sisters are being taken from us. Are we going to do something about it?”

There were several nods.

“No! They’ll kill us!” Ichor wailed.

“They are low in number,” Ridge retorted. “Take out a few key ponies… and the entire thing will collapse and the bounty of New Equestria will be ours. We will take it. We will use it. And we will leave nothing.”

“This is the only chance we’re going to get to do it another way! If you do anything… even if you win, we’ll lose this opportunity. We’re talking to shapers, blairne, and the other ponies! They aren’t trying to kill us!”

“And we are losing what makes us wraith.” Ridge stamped his hoof. “Are there any objections besides Ichor?”

Ichor let out a wince when there were none.

“Taking into account that Ebony would no doubt object as well, there is still a clear majority,” Ridge declared. “So we will act.” He turned to Ichor.

“W-what do you want?”

“You have been going on and on and on about Loyalty today.” He pointed one of his cloudy wings accusingly at her. “It is time to prove your Loyalty to your brothers and sisters.”

“P-please… no…” Ichor breathed, tears running down her cheeks.

The Seventh Day

The night was nearing its end. The sun had not started to peek out from behind the shell quite yet, but the sky had a sharp gradient across it that said it would not be long before day dawned.

You must go to Twilight, Ichor.

Ichor was invisible and flying through the different floors of the castle, aiming for one of the highest rooms.

She trusts you.

Ichor rose through the final floor, setting her hooves down in front of the door to Twilight’s room. There were no guards, but Ichor knew better. Spike would be on the other side, no doubt fast asleep, but she’d have to be careful.

That is her mistake.

Ichor phased through the wall rather than the door, reasoning that there may be enchantments on the standard entrances. She passed right through without a problem. Spike was fast asleep in his corner of the room while Twilight laid on her bed, motionless, her head turned away from Ichor.

She might be able to sense you.

Ichor was surprised that Twilight didn’t respond at all to her entrance. She could sense wraiths. Pretty easily… maybe she had to be looking for them.

You are to calm her down by saying you just wanted to talk to her.

Ichor almost wished that was the case. It would have been much better than… this.

She’ll listen to everything you say.

With shivering legs, she drifted over to Twilight’s bed. Without a noise, she laid her hooves on the floor and solidified herself.

And when you’re close…

Ichor looked down at Twilight’s sleeping form. Despite her power in the day, the purple mare looked so… small. The darkness of night surrounded her, making her brilliant purple coat muted. The back of her neck was exposed; so vulnerable.

...strike the moment you get the chance.

She lifted her tail, poised to strike right at the base of the neck. The poison would go right into the nervous system, preventing complex magic from taking shape. It was how wraiths took out blairne. It was a maneuver Ichor herself had done dozens of times before.

She hesitated.

She couldn’t. Could she? This mare who had shown her such kindness and undeserved trust and chances and… and so many other things. A mare who was trying to show them a different way.

But that was the problem, wasn’t it? She was challenging them with a different way. A way wraiths could not accept, for it was wrong. Even Ichor knew it wasn’t right. Or so she thought…

Realistically, though, what choice did she have? It was her family asking for this. She couldn’t choose not to. That would be a betrayal of her entire life and all the ponies she had ever grown up with. The entire society of wraiths… if she didn’t follow through… She was supposed to be Loyal. That was her thing, right?

Any Element alone can be taken too far.

What she was doing… it wasn’t very Honest, Generous, Kind, or full of Laughter. She was only doing it because it was what every wraith was telling her to do. It was deceptive, murderous… and thievery. The way of all wraith.

Until now, that was how she thought everything was. The shapers and the blairne claimed to be better, but really, they fought, killed, lied, and did everything more or less the same as wraiths did. They were just worse for hating their fellow shapers, fellow blairne. Wraiths were a family. Wraiths stood together.

Everypony could stand together.

But not if she killed Twilight Sparkle.

Ichor lowered her tail. She reached out with a hoof and touched Twilight’s shoulder. “Hey, Twilight…?”

“I’m already awake,” Twilight said without a hint of grogginess.

“O-oh…”

Twilight rolled over, turning her face to Ichor, revealing eyes filled with tears. Without warning, she pulled Ichor into a hug. “T-thank you for stopping.”

“I… I…”

“I would have had to kill you all if you didn’t...”

Ichor froze. She hadn’t really thought about what would have happened if she failed.

“You saved your race by stopping yourself. Y-”

Ichor gulped. “Twilight?”

Twilight’s hug became stiff. “...What?”

“They’re going after Celestia and Rarity too. W-we should proba-”

Twilight stood bolt upright and teleported them both away.

~~~

Rainbow slept, somehow. But these days her dreams were not her own. The awareness of others was shunted directly into her perceptions, giving her dreams of what others were experiencing. Usually, that was just the dreams of others, though Sunset was up late enough occasionally to have her actual projects feature in Rainbow’s dreams.

Tonight, though, there was no loud sound-gun testing in her dreams. Just the normal dreams of everypony she was connected to. Which, unfortunately, did include Discord. It was about a fifty-fifty chance his dreams were funny or nightmarish.

It was amazing how fast she’d gotten used to it all…

Currently, she was sitting down at a tea party with Pinkie. This was a little awkward - because Pinkie was definitely a lucid dreamer, but Rainbow generally wasn’t.

So Pinkie currently had Rainbow trapped in a dream about eating pies that she actually enjoyed. The existential crisis it was causing dream-Rainbow was hilarious.

“But I don’t like pie!”

“You do now!”

Rainbow grabbed her head. “I… I…”

Pinkie was about to further the dream joke, but something went twitch in her mind. “Uh-oh.”

“Uh-oh? It’s just p-”

“Rainbow, you’re dreaming, and I think you’re going to need to be on your hooves soon.”

She was right. A searing pain shot through Rainbow’s mind a short while after Pinkie had spoken, shooting her awake in an instant. She was alone in her room, but one of her friends weren’t. She saw through Rarity’s eyes a large wraith she didn’t recognize - his tail dripping with blood.

It was poised to strike again.

Rainbow burst out of her room, tearing the recently-repaired door of the school off its hinges. Rarity slept at the head of the hall, so all she had to do was take a sharp left and break that door down too.

Rarity was writhing on her bed, two tremendous puncture wounds reddening her white coat. One was at the base of her neck, the other in her chest. The wraith vanished the moment Rainbow bashed the door down, but she was a pegasus. Even if she couldn’t see him, he was like a cloud, he could be touched. She performed a quick spin-kick - and her leg was caught in his invisible wing. “Wha-”

He threw her into Rarity, who managed to let out a cry of pain.

“Sorry!” Rainbow shouted, panicked. “I…”

And then she felt it - the Element of Generosity. Activating. Rarity’s hooves were glowing, shooting a small burst of energy into Rainbow.

There was a rush of power through every nerve in Rainbow’s body.

Rainbow lost all perception of where she was, for she could see everything. The outside of the Sphere and the galaxies spinning in the far distance… Rainbow looked around, confused, disoriented; for she didn’t have a body, just the collective perceptions of… she didn’t even know what.

Compensating…

What? Who said that? Rainbow thought.

With a shark jerk of her mind, the outside of the Sphere was locked away from her. She was left with the interior… and it was so full of life. Everything was laid out to her…

I need to find Rarity. Or myself! Knowing where I am would be good!

She was able to pick up on something familiar, so she descended her consciousness. Her level of awareness tapered off, restricting to a single continent, then down a little further, until she could sense things like the shaper kingdoms and the blairne empire.

Suddenly there was darkness. She could still feel other things, but something had dominated her view.

Look, I have better things to do right now than deal with whatever this is!

Two eyes opened in the darkness, swirling with so many colors Rainbow couldn’t pick any particular one out. However, unlike light, which would mix together to make white, the colors mixed together into black where the density was strong enough. “What are you?”

Rainbow Dash, now can you stop? My friend’s life is in danger and you’re interfering with my head!

“It is you who invaded mine…”

Completely unintentional, sorry.

“I must understand how.”

What part of ‘my friend’s life is in danger’ do you not understand!? UGH!

“Your ‘friend’ can wait.”

YOU CAN WAIT!

Rainbow’s mind shot back into her body - she could still feel her friends, but nothing beyond that. The wraith had just stabbed her in the chest and was retracting his tail. Despite the immeasurable burning pain in her body she shoved her legs forward and locked herself to his tail. “You’re not going anywhere!”

She twisted her body around his tail, pegasus magic allowing her to coil the otherwise intangible tail around herself. The wraith only gave up when she threatened to tear his tail right off.

“HELP! FLUTTERSHY! PINKIE! TWILIGHT!” Rainbow shouted at the top of her lungs. “WE NEED - gehakhkkk - HELP!”

Twilight teleported into the room with Ichor the same instant Pinkie dragged a very tired and groggy Fluttershy into the room. Despite her weary eyes, Fluttershy jumped into action immediately, healing Rainbow’s wound.

“Rarity!” Rainbow shouted, pointing while Twilight canceled the wraith’s intangibility.

Fluttershy flew over and held her wings over the white unicorn.

Rarity didn’t move.

“I… I…”

Rainbow turned to Twilight, wincing slightly - the pain wasn't completely gone. “The Element of Generosity it… supercharged me. Take it out of her, use i-”

“It’s not in her anymore…” Twilight said, haunted. “There’s… nothing there…”

Fluttershy laid her wings over Rarity’s body and focused - but nothing happened. “No.”

“Flutt-” Rainbow began.

“I SAID NO!” Fluttershy jumped off Rarity and pummeled the wraith into the ground, breaking one of his ribs. “You’re going to fix this!”

“If you cannot fix it… none can.”

Fluttershy grabbed his neck with her wings. “Then y-”

“Fluttershy!” Twilight teleported her away from the wraith. “He may have just been manipulated into doing it!”

“No…” Ichor said. “That’s Ridge. He and Silicate were the ringleaders…”

Twilight locked eyes with Ridge. Her face was devoid of all emotion. “Ridge. Why did you do this?”

“Pressure of the socie-”

“LIAR!” Ichor shouted.

“Traitor,” Ridge growled.

“You made me choose between two types of trechary!”

“You should have known where your loyalties lied before coming here.”

“ENOUGH!” Twilight shouted, shaking the earth around them. “I don’t care about the stupid little ‘purity’ of your wraith society. You have commited a murder on my turf. You are hereby found guilty and sentenced to immediate execution.”

Ridge stared at her in shock. “But you’re soft!”

“You misjudged us.” Twilight engulfed Ridge in an intense blue flame. There was no time for him to scream of even react - he was nothing but glowing ashes a second later.

“T-Twili-” Fluttershy began.

“I… I’m glad I stopped you…” Twilight breathed. “...That was horrible…”

“Celesita,” Ichor said. “Celestia!”

“RIGHT!” Twilight, in a panic, teleported Rainbow, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Ichor to Celesita’s room.

The alicorn was sitting on her bed calmly drinking tea while a dozen wraith were tied up in the corner of the room, bound, gagged, and each one given an adorable stuffed animal enchanted never to leave them.

“Oh, hello Twilight, it seems some ponies attempted to assassinate me. You too, I assume?”

Twilight nodded breathlessly.

Celesita’s smile vanished. “...No… they couldn’t have gotten anypony. You, me, Discord, we-”

“Rarity,” Twilight said, finally feeling the tears rush to her eyes. “They went after Rarity.”

Celestia stood bolt upright. “Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, we are going to round up every single wraith in New Equestria. Now.”

Ichor winced.

Celestia sighed. “I am sorry, my child, but your ponies have crossed a line. We must take swift, immediate action.” She pulled Twilight close. “I can handle it, you sp-”

“I’m handling it,” Twilight growled, narrowing her eyes. “They betrayed me, not you. They are going to answer to me.”

~~~

The sun lit up the world with the morning.

In New Equestria, it was a morning without smiles. There were only frowns… or livid scowls.

Every single wraith that wasn’t Ichor had been caught, bound, and set in the middle of New Equestria’s plaza, just outside the School. Twilight stood above them on a pillar of marble she had created just a few minutes prior. She had her wings splayed to their fullest, casting the wraiths in shadow. They could only see her gleaming eyes.

Ponies of all kinds had taken up a crowd around the wraiths, composed out of roughly half shapers and half Equestrians.

When Twilight was satisfied that enough ponies were here, she levitated Ebony and Silicate out from the rest of the group, setting them before her. Ichor and Celestia sat facing them while Discord was coiled around the marble pillar, glaring at them with malevolent eyes.

Silicate was crying and shaking uncontrollably. Ebony was perfectly calm and level - and she still had the book of mindbenders clutched in her wing. She spoke without bothering to lift her head. “What is the meaning of this?”

“Ridge assassinated Chancellor Rarity this morning,” Twilight breathed - though her magic carried the almost whisper into everyone’s ears nonetheless. “He was executed for his crime. There were also attempts on my life and Celestia’s, though these were not successful. Ebony, what do you say?”

“I was unaware of such things.”

Twilight nodded. “Ichor corroborates your story. But as for Silicate…” Twilight focused her steely gaze upon the trembling wraith. “You and Ridge were the ringleaders.”

“D-don’t kill me…” Silicate whined.

“Why shouldn’t I?” Twilight asked, holding her head high. “It’s the ‘proper way’ of this world, and you tried to kill us to protect that ‘proper way’. All of you should be ground to dust if we went with the ‘proper way’.”

Most of the wraiths twitched in fear. However, a disturbing number of them were nodding in agreement.

“I have yet to decide what I am going to do with you,” Twilight said. “A pony has been killed. The most generous, intelligent, unders-” she took a moment to collect herself. “Rarity is no more. You all saw her. She helped you. She was the Element of Generosity. You know, the thing where we gave you a place to stay, food, and didn’t judge you the moment you walked in the door!?”

“I’m sorry!” Silicate shouted,

“YOU ARE NOT!” Twilight boomed. “ICHOR WAS SORRY! ICHOR BACKED OFF! NONE OF THE REST OF YOU HESITATED! MORE THAN HALF OF YOU WERE INVOLVED!”

“But isn’t that the righ-”

“I don’t give a flying feather what you think the right response is.” She levitated Silicate into the air until his eyes were level with her own. “I care about your motives, your reasons, your soul. You, Silicate, lived among us for a few days. You knew we meant you no harm. We went above and beyond to protect you.”

Silicate whimpered, tears falling down his face.

“Why would you put you and all your ponies in danger like this?”

He couldn’t respond.

“ANSWER ME!”

“T-the way of t-h-”

“-e wraith is sacred,” Twilight finished for him, voice once again barely more than a whisper. She dropped him unceremoniously, turning to Ebony. “Your way is evil.”

Most wraiths gasped at this statement.

Ebony nodded. “I agree.”

All the wraiths grasped at this.

Twilight frowned. “What do you think I should do?”

“Kill us all. I had hoped we would be able to change our ways. It appears not.”

“E-ebony…” Silicate shivered.

“You can’t be serious…” Ichor said, hoof to her mouth.

“Ichor, sister…” Ebony sighed. “You almost killed simply because your family asked, and you are the best among us. I would have been a voice of opposition. But I would have gone with the will of the wraith.” She directed her empty gaze to Twilight. “It may be easy for me to see how wrong the others were now that I am here, but I will not fool myself. I would have joined them had they not kept me out of the discussion.”

Twilight nodded to herself. “What say the rest of you?” she asked the crowd.

The shapers were the loudest. “Death to them all!” “Enslave them, like the blairne do to us!” “Make them kill each other…”

The Equestrians weren’t much better. “I can trap them all in an eternity of torment,” Discord offered, while Sunset declared “executions for those who were involved, heavy observations for those who weren't.” Celestia came up with the least aggressive option. “Banish them all and let them spread word of their failure here. Let their entire extended family know they have made a horrible enemy in New Equestria and that no wraith will be allowed here ever again.” This idea seemed to catch on for most of the Equestrians, who weren’t about to endorse mass killing.

Twilight nodded to Celestia. “That seems adequate. Ebony, if I give you a choice?”

“I will go with them anyway to spread the word.”

Twilight nodded slowly. “The rest of you will be banished… except you, Silicate.”

Silicate whimpered as he felt the magic coil around him.

“You stirred them up. You, after living among us, specifically chose to rile wraiths against us and attempt to destroy us. We lived alongside you, worked with you, laughed with you when you would let us. You deserve much, much worse than banishment.”

Silicate couldn’t respond.

“Discord? I give him to you.” She tossed him to the ground. “Do as you wish.”

Discord didn’t even say ‘with pleasure’ like Twilight was expecting. He slithered down from the marble and stood directly in front of Silicate. “I was a monstrous demon who wanted to rule the world, once.” Discord put his finger on Silicate’s forehead. “Not even I killed ponies for it.”

Four grotesque limbs appeared behind Discord - one of bone, one of shadow, one of glitches akin to what was seen on Sunset’s computer screens, and one of fire. They grew far too long for what they were, reaching around Discord the long way until they hovered around Silicate.

“And you won’t die today, Silicate. You will become locked in your own mind, trapped in an eternal nightmare of your own worst fears until your body wastes away. There will be nothing funny about it.” The four hands opened wide. “You w-”

“STOP!”

Discord retracted the limbs instantly, turning his head with everyone else to see Sweetie Belle running through the crowd, Eagle at her heels. The two scrambled to where Silicate was sitting, bawling his eyes out.

Twilight looked down at Sweetie. “Sweetie, maybe you sh-”

“WE CAN’T LET THEM CORRUPT US LIKE THIS!” Sweetie shouted at Twilight, holding out a desperate hoof that was dripping with her tears. “Look around, Twilight! This… this isn’t Equestria! This is this world! This is not what we would do!”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “No…”

“They… they did something horrible! They took my sister!”

Anyone who didn’t know Sweetie was Rarity's sister knew now, and they were understandably shocked. For the first time, Ebony wore an expression of utter disbelief.

“But they are confused and… and don’t know any other way!” Sweetie held a hoof, pointing toward the wraith. “They’ve lived… all their lives like this. All the ponies of this world have. They don’t know better. How… how would you have felt if… if Celestia had turned into a monster when you were still in the School for Gifted Unicorns, Twilight? Would you have followed her?”

Twilight stared at Sweetie, haunted. “...Yes. Yes, I would have.”

Sweetie nodded. “How can you expect them to do anything different?”

“I… I cannot,” Twilight said, letting a tear fall down her cheek. “But Sweetie, they…”

“He,” Sweetie said, pointing at Silicate. “Just he. Just Ridge. He…” she couldn’t finish the sentence.

Eagle groaned. “What Sweetie is trying to say is that you need to be careful with the wraiths, but that sending them away won’t get them to learn jack squat about friendship. It’ll make you an enemy.” She looked to Twilight. “Magic to Magic: get off your high horse and remember what you’re the Element of.”

Twilight obliged, destroying the marble pillar and folding her wings. She was crying profusely. “Sweetie… Sweetie, it hurts so much. I…”

“I k-know,” Sweetie gagged. “But w-we need to save this world from itself. W-we are Harmony. We have to teach them, even if they wrong us.”

Twilight took a sharp breath in. “...There will be no banishments.”

There was silence from the crowd.

“Instead, all wraiths in New Equestria will have a tracker spell put on them. It will monitor everything they do and everywhere they go. It will keep them from becoming completely invisible.” She turned to Silicate. “And you…” She frowned. “What should we do with you?”

“We shouldn’t decide,” Sweetie said. “I-it’s too personal.”

“Who then? Ebony?”

Sweetie shook her head. “Ichor?”

Twilight looked to Ichor - and nodded her approval.

Ichor took in a sharp breath. “Silicate… I tried to help you. I tried to get you to change. And you… you spat in my face as well as theirs. If you don’t care about them, at least care about what you did to your sister.” Ichor frowned. “Silicate, you will never phase again. All your wraith attributes will be removed. Permanently, if possible.”

“No!” Silicate wailed. “No, I nee-”

“You’ll live in New Equestria the rest of your days, and nopony will be able to trust you. You will get to see the world you wanted to destroy grow around you.” Ichor glared at him. “And I will be there every step of the way.”

She turned to the other wraith. “I understand that I am no longer wraith to you. I am a traitor. I…” She wiped her face. “I am no longer your sister.” She broke down - that was all she could take.

Twilight put a wing around her. “Ichor…” She paused. “Eagle… Sweetie… I’m proud of you all.” She held her head high, not afraid to show her vulnerability or sorrow. “Rarity would have given everypony a second chance…”

“HEY! HEY! EVERYONE!”

“Frostfire!?” Sunset shouted, panicked. “You need to stay hid-”

“GET TO THE LABS NOW!” he shouted - not caring in the slightest that dozens of shaper dignitaries were staring slack-jawed at a two-element blairne that clearly wasn’t an Empire agent.

Twilight heard the urgency in his voice, though, and understood that they needed to come now. Everyone that could teleport did, and the entire crowd surged forth behind them - including the wraiths. There was not enough space for everyone in the lab, but several dozen people still managed to push and shove their way through to the room.

Sunset had to put protection enchantments on all her experiments. She only completed half of the spells she wanted to before she was stunned into silence. “No way…”

The main screen that constantly showed the interior deam-space of the Roots showed Zecora… and another pony. A white, elegant unicorn with a look of desperation on her face.

“I’m fine!” Rarity called, waving her hoof. “I am fine! Don’t go do anything drastic! Please!”

Twilight’s face couldn’t decide if it wanted to grin in elation or frown in confusion. “R-rarity? H-how…?”

“I don’t know, dear, these are your roots, you tell me.”

Twilight didn't wait any longer. She lit her horn and reconstructed Rarity from nothing, building her a new body right then and there. A body shining with the light of Generosity.

“...I have no idea how this is possible,” Twilight said, pulling Rarity into a hug. “And I don’t care.”

“You? Not caring about how something happened? Give yourself a few hours, dear, you’ll be Twilighting over it.”

“Probably,” Twilight chuckled, releasing her - allowing Sweetie to tackle her.

“S-Sweetie! Oh, my Stars, I’m sorry I scared you like that…”

“It’s not your fault,” Sweetie said, burying her face in Rarity’s coat. “I’m just glad you’re back…”

“I am too. That poison was dreadfully painful. Wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”

“I got to feel it twice!” Rainbow called.

“Terrifying…”

Twilight tousled Sweetie’s mane. “Sweetie here was amazing. She’s the one that kept us from doing anything we’d regret.”

“I don’t know what it is but I’m already proud of you,” Rarity said.

“Ahem,” a shaper dignitary said - an Algae if Twilight remembered correctly. “I do hate to interrupt. But do you care to explain… this and this?” She gestured at Frostifre and then to the whole room they were in.

“I…”

“I shall explain,” Celestia said. “And I shall take care of the wraiths. Queen Twilight, you’ve cared about your appearance enough today. You need to spend time with Rarity.”

Twilight blinked - then smiled. “Thank you, Princess.”

“I live to serve, your highness.”

Twilight managed to stifle a giggle before teleporting herself and her closest friends away.

“So,” Celestia summoned a chair and a teacup, sitting down. “Who wants to ask the first question?”

Sunset raised her. “Can I get to work on the Roots?”

“No, my student, you will assist me in answering questions pertaining to the many, many unusual devices you have littered around.”

~~~

Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Sweetie, and Rarity stood in Rarity’s room, looking at Rarity’s body.

Rarity poked it.

There was a weird mixture of gasps, grunts, giggles, and hums from her friends.

“I do suppose we must do something with it…”

“Holding a funeral would just be weird,” Rainbow said. “So... do we just bury it and forget about it?”

“I wonder what happens if we try necromancy…” Pinkie said, scratching her head.

“Pinkie!” Twilight shouted, aghast. “We wouldn’t dare indulge in such dark arts! No matter how unusual it is to have a body… and a spirit elsewhere…” She furrowed her brow. “What would happen? There’s no soul to return to it…”

“Uh, Twilight?” Applejack nudged her. “Might wanna get out of that before you go too far.”

“Oh.” Twilight shook her head. “Right.”

“A unicorn’s horn is filled with many rare minerals and medicinal properties,” Fluttershy said.

“...And I thought I was the overly practical one,” Rarity mused. “I could stuff it…”

“Why?” Sweetie asked.

“I have no idea, it just occurred to me as a thing I could do. Probably get some fine quality leather too, complete with cutie mark.”

“We ain’t doing cupcakes on this,” Pinkie said.

“What?” Sweetie said, cocking her head.

Pinkie rolled her eyes. “Rarity, do you want your body around?”

“Well, no, but…”

“Then just burn it. The horn’s not even useful, Twilight can just make a unicorn horn.”

“Oh. I can.” Twilight’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks. “Which means it is now perfectly ethical to see what the Brew of Shattered Hopes and Dreams actually does!”

“I don’t want to know…” Applejack shivered.

Rarity examined the wounds where Ridge’s tail struck her. “Pinkie’s got the right idea. Burn it. Twilight, do you mind?”

Twilight closed her eyes and vaporized the body in much the same way she had vaporized Ridge’s - only this time she put the ashes in an ornate jar. “Want me to fully disintegrate it?”

Rarity shrugged. “I don’t care as long as I don’t see it anymore.”

Twilight teleported it away, to where Rarity didn’t know or care.

“So,” Rarity held up her hoof, crossing her eyes to fixate on it. “I know what Generosity does now.”

“Overloads your system…” Rainbow muttered, rubbing her head.

“It makes sense, doesn’t it, that the bearer of Generosity can bestow power?” Rarity smirked. “I suppose some testing is in order.”

Discord appeared in a flash of light. “Do me do me do me.”

“Heavens no!” Rarity declared. “You don’t need a power boost!”

Discord snapped his fingers. “Awww, man! Well, it was worth a shot!” He teleported away.

Rarity rolled her eyes. “So, I already did Rainbow, and she could see everything. Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy nodded. “Go ahead.”

Rarity touched her hoof to Fluttershy and focused, endowing her with some of her power.

A sunflower erupted from the floor of Rarity’s room, breaking through the concrete with impressive force.

“Right. Create life from… nothing, or make it extremely hardy. Probably could have revived me with that.”

Fluttershy smiled warmly. “Rainbow thought of that. But we’d lost the essence of Generosity.”

“Quick thinking.”

Rainbow saluted. “It’s what I do.”

“Okay… Applejack?”

Applejack smirked. “Ah have a distinct feelin’ we should do mine outside.”

Twilight teleported them to the Everfree forest. Rarity gave her some power.

Applejack gingerly touched the ground with her hoof and caused an earthquake.

“Yep. Just as Ah thought. Please take it back.”

Rarity blinked. “Can I do that? I don’t think so…”

Applejack focused and pushed the energy out of her. “Nevermind. Got it myself.”

“Me! Me! Me!” Pinkie said, shoving her face into Rarity’s.

“Should I? You are rather like Discord at times…”

“Oh come on, you trust me, right?”

Rarity smiled. “Of course, dear.” She pushed energy into Pinkie.

Pinkie’s eyes went white and she fell backward, staring at the sky.

Rainbow’s jaw dropped. “I just lost her in my senses. Completely lost her.”

Twilight scanned Pinkie with her magic. “She’s fine. Just… her awareness is elsewhere.”

“I saw the entire freaking planet when I was charged!” Rainbow said. “Where is she?”

“The Field of Can’-Ka No Rey,” Pinkie muttered, sitting up and rubbing her head. “That was a lot of pointy roses…”

“What happened?” Rarity asked.

“I saw so far I left context behind,” Pinkie chuckled. “Saw a lot of very interesting stuff! That, uh, doesn’t matter at all to what we’re doing right now. It’d be like trying to screw in a lightbulb using a map of the solar system as a reference.”

Twilight nodded slowly. “If I understand you right, can you help Su-”

“No,” Pinkie said, shaking her head. “Too big for that too.”

“...Geez.”

“Yeah. I’m surprised my mind hasn’t exploded!” Pinkie giggled.

Rarity turned to Twilight. “Your turn, I suppose…”

Twilight held up a hoof. “I am basically the Tree of Harmony. I don’t need it.”

“Okay then. Sweetie?”

Sweetie trotted up to her sister. “Yep?”

“Let’s see what this does with a non-Element…”

She pushed power into Sweetie. Sweetie’s cutie mark flashed - and she gasped. “Woah…”

“What?” Rarity asked, excited.

“All of you are surrounded by strange colored things! Like… an aura!”

“Ooh, what do they look like?” Pinkie asked.

“Yours doesn’t keep the shame shape. The rest of yours are pretty stationary… Rarity, you don’t look so good.”

“I do believe I just had a death experience, a little upset in the soul is to be expected.”

Sweetie hugged her. “I’m here.”

“I know.”

Twilight nodded. “I think it tapped into her destiny finding talent. She helps those with troubled spirits find what they need… so, when empowered, she can see those spirits.”

“Cool!” Sweetie said, grinning.

Rainbow rubbed her hooves together. “Let’s try some other ponies…”

Rarity nodded. “We should figure out the extent o-”

“Nonono!” Sweetie shook her head. “You lose energy when you give it! You need a rest. I can see it.”

“No I-” Rarity yawned. “-do not.”

Sweetie raised an incredulous eyebrow.

“Okay, fine.”

~~~

Celestia thought that had all gone pretty well. The shapers were all on board keeping Frostfire’s existence a secret - the idea of showing up the Empire in anything made them giddy. A few had expressed concerns about the whole wraith incident, but those who did were sushed by their companions for being insensitive. Everypony had at least some sense that the event had gone the way it needed to, and questioning it was just offensive.

Celestia was actually glad to see actual political complaints filed against Ebony, accusing her of slandering the way of the shapers. It was a step up from wraiths being too low to even consider talking to.

They just flat-out didn’t understand the technology. The few who could get some idea got understandably terrified of what New Equestria could do even without magic. They, naturally, asked for the trade of technological secrets. Celestia agreed to go over agreements of that sort on a later date - they still hadn’t heard back from the blairne Empire after all, didn’t want to upset them by establishing too much with the shapers first. The Gourds accepted this, the others did not, but their squabbles were small and insignificant, as were most of the things they said.

Celestia had organized the wraith tracking spells. She offered Ebony a pass, but Ebony took it to be one with the family. Ichor had been there at the start but had vanished after a Silicate’s powers had been completely sealed.

Things had calmed down, and Celestia eventually returned to the lab where Sunset and Frostfire were hard at work.

“My secret will get out,” Frostfire said without glancing back. “No matter how much they wish to look down on the Empire, they will discover I am here.”

“And we will protect you,” Celestia said simply. “You risked yourself today, coming out with urgent news. While perhaps not the smartest thing, it proves you have a great heart within you.”

“Bah,” Frostfire muttered.

“You’re progressing nicely,” Sunset chuckled, connecting two wires together. “I think I figured out what happened to Rarity, Celestia.”

“Oh?”

Sunset nodded. “It’s not the Element that did it - it was the Roots. Her soul is still connected to them since she came out. I think if anyone who was in the Roots before is killed, their spirit will just appear in it again.”

“Is there a range to this effect?”

“Yep,” Sunset said with a smirk. “Three times the diameter of the Sphere.”

“Ah. I suppose we are all immortals, then.” Celestia furrowed her brow. “I am not sure if this is a blessing or a curse…”

“Discord and Twilight aren’t keyed to it. If either of them…”

“Discord would never be so careless,” Celestia smirked. “And Twilight…” her smirk vanished.

“Let me spell it out for you,” Frostfire said, tapping a table with a broken computer on it. “The Empire is going to figure out that, if Twilight dies, this entire magic powerhouse of yours will come crashing down. You should guard her like a hawk.”

Celestia nodded. “She will never leave New Equestria given her connection to the Roots. And I believe she will be finding herself a new bodyguard soon…”

~~~

Twilight found Ichor sitting at the very tip of Friendship Castle, like a bird. Twilight landed next to her.

“...Today’s a lot to take in,” Twilight said.

Ichor nodded. “I feel… small. Like a kid.”

“Well, you are still coming into your own. If ponies in this world got cutie marks, that display down there might have earned you one.”

“Yeah. ...Wait, don’t kids get cutie marks in your world?”

Twilight smirked. “Yeah, you are a little old to be getting one. ...I guess I have no reference to how old you are. The calendar wouldn't work in different worlds and such.”

Ichor shrugged. “We don’t keep track of time that well. You’re an adult when you either look or act like it. Was that wrong too?”

Twilight shook her head. “Not everything your people did was wrong. They had a lot of things right. The importance of family, for one.”

“And I don’t have that anymore…” Ichor said, staring at the ground.

“I’m sure they’ll come around.”

“No, you don’t understand.” Ichor shook her head. “I betrayed the family, so I’m outside it now. Even if they respect what I did, they won’t call me sister again. Those who come after won’t have to be traitors to be here… but I will.”

Twilight smiled sadly. “...Then why not join our family?” She held out a wing.

“Oh, that’s right, you do have a family!”

Twilight shook her head. “Me? ...Yes. Spike. My number one assistant - brother too.”

“...He’s a dragon.”

“My family adopted him after I hatched his egg with my magic. He grew up with me and Shining Armor.” She frowned. “He’s all I have left of that, now.”

Ichor tossed her mane back and set her jaw. “That settles it. Twilight Sparkle… can I be part of your family?”

Twilight chuckled. “Of course, Ichor.”

Ichor beamed. “Yes!” She pulled Twilight into a hug. “Thank you thank you thank you! Si - wait, no, you have different terms in your families.”

Twilight looked at her. “...What?”

Ichor beamed brightly. “Thanks, mom!”

Twilight’s brain stopped working.

Ichor clapped her hooves together. “Oooh, I’m going to go tell everyone this is so exciting see you later ahahaha!” She took off, laughing in glee.

Rainbow Dash landed where she had been sitting a moment ago. “Did you just adopt a wraith?”

“I… I…” Twilight smacked herself in the side of the head. “I… think so?”

“Huh. Out of all of us, I never thought it would have been Twilight Sparkle who’d get a kid first.” Rainbow chuckled. “Little old to be called a kid though.”

“Rainbow, I think I need a moment to process.”

“Why? You’re smiling like a big idiot. Pretty sure that’s all the processing you need to do.”

Twilight realized Rainbow was right - she was smiling like an idiot. “Oh. Well then. ...Maybe you’re right.”

“Does this make her a Princess? You gonna give her a horn or something?”

“One thing at a time, Rainbow.”

“I don’t get that luxury these days. Suffer as I have suffered.” Rainbow smirked.

Twilight couldn’t help but laugh.

~~~

“So…” Sweetie began, looking at her three students. “Eagle? Frostfire? Princess Ichor?”

Ichor giggled at the title.

“How about we start today with everypony saying what they learned about friendship today?”

Eagle raised her hoof.

Sweetie rolled her eyes. “Yes, Eagle, you can go first.”

“I learned that not even the Princess of Friendship herself fully understands what Friendship is and that we all have something to learn from everypony else!” She clapped her hooves, rather pleased with herself.

“You rehearsed that with Pinkie didn’t you?”

“N-no…”

Frostfire coughed. “Honesty.”

Eagle sighed. “Okay, fine, I asked her for some tutoring and she helped me put that into words. I really did learn that though! Honest!”

Sweetie smiled brightly. “Of that, I have no doubt. Frostfire, since you were so talkative, what did you learn today?”

Frostfire sat back in his chair and furrowed his brow. “Doing stupid things for the sake of friendship feels stupidly good. I’m probably seven flavors of screwed right now but I don’t particularly care. It’s strange.”

“I say you might be getting a core of Generosity in there somewhere.” Sweetie smirked. “Isn’t that curious?”

Frostfire rolled his multicolored eyes. “Whatever you say. Hey, what do you score on the Element test? You never told us!”

“I’m Generosity,” Ocellus said from the back of the room.

“I mostly have Kindness,” Sweetie said. “But on the scale you took I’m significantly more balanced.”

“Who scores the best?” Frostfire asked.

“I think we’re getting off topic…” Eagle muttered.

Sweetie nodded. “Eagle is right, we are. But to answer Frostfire’s question, the ‘best’ score, that is the most balanced, was Celestia. The runner up was Fluttershy. But remember, everypony is different, and they all have something to contribute. Discord, for instance, is virtually all Laughter. And if he wasn't, he just wouldn’t be the same person, would he?”

There were several head shakes.

“And now… Ichor, what did you learn today?”

“I learned… that Loyalty is complicated.” Ichor let out a soft sigh. “You can have Loyalty to where you came from, Loyalty to a cause, and Loyalty to your friends. None of these things is wrong, and even when they come into conflict it can seem like both are right. You can’t live life by your loyalties alone, no matter how much they mean to you, because nopony is perfect. You can’t follow anything blindly - not even Friendship.”

“Well said,” Sweetie said.

“I also learned that family doesn't have to be blood relations or even the ponies you grew up with! It can just be the ponies in the place you call home!” She smiled widely, quite pleased with herself.

“I’m glad to hear it, Ichor. You’ve come a long way in just a week. Started stealing from us… and now look at you. Got yourself into the royal family and everything. Saved the day. You need a trophy or something.”

“I do?”

Sweetie shrugged. “Need is such a strong word.”

“She wants it though,” Frostfire said.

“I want it too!” Eagle butted in. “I helped!”

“If I’m not mistaken, all friends should share the credit…” Frostfire said with a smirk.

“Hey! Some ponies do more than others!”

“I’m fine sharing the credit,” Ichor said, waving a hoof. “I… I’m just happy to be here. Alive. Not living… like I used to.” She looked out a window at the sky that was quickly approaching night. “I can look to the future, now.”

The Eighth Day

Queen Twilight walked into the main hall, rubbing her eyes. She had really needed some sleep after the events of yesterday, and she’d received exactly what she needed. Spike would probably be making breakfast (if by ‘making breakfast’ she meant ‘carving a bagel out of Discord’s food mountain’) and she should get a new pony out of the Roots slightly before that. ...She hadn’t gotten anypony new out of the Roots yesterday, just Rarity. Maybe she sh-

“Hi, mom!” Princess Ichor said, tackle-hugging Twilight to the ground.

Twilight yelled in surprise, quickly following it up with a laugh. “Good morning, Ichor! ...I see you’ve found my old dresses.”

Ichor struck a pose, phasing her wings through the dress since they lacked the holes. “Like it?”

“Rarity will probably gasp and call it a crime against fashion to wear something of hers that old, but I like it.” She nuzzled Ichor. “Spike making breakfast?”

“I think so.”

“Think you can go get Sweetie? Don’t want to load too much on him.”

Ichor nodded eagerly, phasing out of the dress and the castle walls.

A few minutes later Spike returned with a bunch of giggling pancakes.

“...Couldn’t find any normal ones?”

Spike snorted. “I swear Discord watches me whenever I go breakfast hunting.”

“You could ask Rainbow, see if he does.”

“Maybe later. I’ll turn these into something edible, give me a few minutes. Who’re you bringing out today?”

“You’ll see,” Twilight grinned coyly.

“‘Kay.”

Three seconds after he left, Ichor returned, holding Sweetie in her hooves.

“...We could have walked, you know,” Sweetie commented.

“Walk? Who needs to walk when you’ve got wings like these?” With a smirk, Ichor showed off her misty limbs.

“I think she’s finally comfortable here,” Sweetie said, shaking her mane as she landed on the ground. “So, what’s up?”

Twilight smiled warmly. “Just… watch.” She lit her horn, creating two bright lights of Harmonious energy in front of her. Quickly, the two lights shifted into the form of mares, a pegasus and an earth pony.

Sweetie’s jaw dropped. “Applebloom? Scootaloo!?”

Scootaloo and Applebloom looked at each other. “Both at once!?”

Twilight shrugged. “I don’t think Rarity really counted yesterday, and I can affor-” She stopped explaining when she realized they weren't listening. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had rushed each other into a three-way-hug, laughing and crying, all three trying to talk at the same time and not caring that everyone was talking over everyone else.

“Sweetie’s talked about them,” Ichor said, looking to Twilight. “She’s… talked about them a lot.”

“They’ve been friends since they were little,” Twilight explained. “And… well, I can’t help but think of them as children, but in many ways, they’re already grown up. Faster and better than many ponies. Ironic, considering how hard it was for them to do in the first place.”

“Hard?”

“Before they got their cutie marks they were… well, that’s a story you should ask them about sometime.”

Ichor nodded, turning her attention back to the CMC.

“So, do you girls know what I’m doing?” Sweetie asked once their rushed talking died down.

“Yeah!” Scootaloo grinned. “You’re the new Headmare of the School of Friendship, right?”

“W-well, it’s not that official, but I do run it, and Ocellus helps. She’s really good with paper and notes and stuff.”

“Ah bet,” Apple Bloom said.

“And we’re gonna help too!” Scootaloo grinned.

Apple Bloom grinned. “Well, duh, but maybe we can get used to livin’ again first, hmm? Applejack’s probably gonna be a bit upset she’s not here to see me.”

“And Rainbo-”

“ALREADY KNOWS SQUIRT!” Rainbow called from a nearby window. “I’ll know when you wanna find me!”

“Where’s Applejack?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Barn. Doing barn things.” Rainbow took off.

Sweetie grinned. “Then that’s where we’re going next. I’ll introduce you to the students later - though that’s Princess Ichor right there.”

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo whirled to look at her. “Princess?” Scootaoo asked.

“Yeah!” Ichor latched onto Twilight and grinned.

Apple Bloom shook her head. “...Ah say we ask about that later, Ah wanna see Applejack. Nice meetin’ ya!”

“Same! See you at School!” Ichor waved.

The CMC ran out of the castle - right into Applejack.

Sweetie blinked. “But Rainbow Dash said…”

Applejack pointed at the barn just a short distance away.

“Oh.”

Apple Bloom pulled her sister into a hug, squeezing tight.

Applejack chuckled. “Welcome home.”

“H-home?”

“Yep. Home.”

~~~

Sweetie led the other Crusaders into the wraith cavern. Immediately roughly half of the wraith turned to bow to Sweetie in respect.

“Wow. What did you do?” Scootaloo asked. “They’re treating you like a princess!”

“I kept them alive,” Sweetie said. “I already told you this, remember? Rarity was with you and everything.”

“Well, yeah, but…” Scootaloo looked down at a bowing wraith. “...Nevermind, I could get used to this.”

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “‘Course you would.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, Rainbow’s ego tends to rub off on you, just sayin’.”

“W-well, I guess…”

Sweetie rolled her eyes, walking ahead of her playfully bickering friends. “Hey, Ebony!”

Ebony pointed her face in Sweetie’s direction, though she kept tracing her hoof across her book. “Hello, Sweetie. What brings you here?”

“Just checking in on the wraiths. Seeing how things are going.”

“They’re bowing.”

“That doesn’t really tell me how well it’s going. They could be complying out of fear for all I know.”

Ebony nodded slowly. “I do not think they will refuse your help now that you made your gesture. ...And Twilight proved she was willing to do whatever it took.”

Sweetie frowned. “That sounds like fear to me.”

“Fear is a part of us. In most cases, it keeps us alive. In Silicate’s case…” She pointed with a wing at the corner Silicate sat in. He looked straight ahead into nothingness, his face red from constant crying. He wanted nothing more than to be invisible, but he could not.

He looked pathetic, really. Sweetie had to remind herself forcefully that yes, he did deserve this, and while feeling pity for him was good and all, giving him his powers back would probably just be spat upon.

Terrible truth, really. She didn’t think she could befriend him even if she devoted all her resources to it. The wraith was untrusting, broken, and scared of everything. He had acted because he was afraid…

“You okay Sweetie?” Scootaloo asked.

“Not… really,” Sweetie admitted. “We can talk about it later.”

“I take it you are here for a reason?” Ebony asked.

Sweetie nodded. “I’m here to introduce my fellow Crusaders, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. We’re going to be expanding the School of Friendship and are looking for more students. Already got some shapers. We wondered if any wraiths would be interested?”

“Probably most of them.” Ebony furrowed her brow.

“Can you or Ichor personally select a few?”

Ebony nodded. “I’ll send some over tonight. Hope you’re ready for them, they’ll be… rowdy.”

“It’s okay. If it’s too much of a problem we can just get Twilight to bring Smolder out. She can handle the rowdy.”

“Good. Anything else?”

“Unless you have something.”

Ebony shook her head - but then thought of something. “Actually, this riddle confuses me. It is of a pony trying to poison another. He dissolves a noxious gas and an explosive metal into a cocktail, and the pony drinks it and somehow survives. I do not know how this occurred.”

Scootaloo turned to Apple Bloom - she shrugged.

“Oh, I think I get it,” Sweetie said, rubbing the back of her head. “You probably wouldn’t have been able to get it, it assumes you know basic Chemistry.”

“Hm?”

“When you mix the gas - chlorine - and the ‘explosive metal’ - sodium - together, you get salt. It’s something all of us are taught in grade school. The writer of the book probably never thought it’d be read by a wraith from another universe.”

“Oh.” Ebony blinked. “Understood. ...Have any books on this ‘chemistry’?”

“The school teaches more than just Friendship, it is a University, technically.” Scootaloo smirked. “You can find any sort of egghead book in there. Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie have all taught Chemistry, you could ask them about it too.”

“According to Ocellus, Pinkie teaches it the best,” Sweetie said.

Ebony nodded. “Thank you. I will seek them out at an appropriate time.” She returned to her book, moving on to another riddle.

~~~

Twilight was talking to a Gourd when she felt the lowest parts of the Roots tingle slightly. She had been looking for an excuse to quit talking about… the ‘Turnip of Existence’ or whatever it was the Gourd was on about, and this was good enough for her.

“Excuse me, some of my magic senses have detected an anomaly.”

“Ain’t that the thing, hmm?”

“I… yes. Yes it is.”

“No, it ain’t.”

Twilight twitched. “I just… I’m going to go check on it. I’m sure Chancellor Rarity will be able to take your complaint.”

“Complaint?”

Twilight teleported to the deepest part of the Roots, where the newest section had just uncovered a new system of tunnels. There was only a small tip of Root when Twilight arrived, but she quickly expanded it so her magic wouldn’t vanish the moment she walked a few feet away.

She moved down the tunnel, lit only by the blue glow of the Root growing alongside her. She followed the anomalous magic signature down for about a minute when she finally found it - a pillar of silver metal engraved with soft blue lines of energy. Twilight knew enough about technology to identify patterns of circuitry, though they seemed a bit large and exposed to be just that.

The pillar had a flat top as if it were a column holding up the ceiling, even though the top of the cavern was far above the top. The base surrounded by a rocky outcropping, embedded deep into the ground. Casting some analysis spells, Twilight determined that the pillar actually went far deeper into the earth, possibly all the way to the outside of the Sphere.

Maybe it was an access point? The Sphere was most likely artificial. If this were some kind of control station…

The pillar reacted to the magic of the Root suddenly, flashing a bright blue. Instantly Twilight felt herself invigorated with a seemingly endless source of magical energy - as if she had turned on a water faucet and the pressure was far too high.

However, aside from a blue glow in the circuit-like patterns, there was no visible indication of the magic power.

“Weird…” Twilight said. Instead of poking it further, she teleported into Sunset’s lab, where she was currently talking to Frostfire.

“And this is a resistor. Keeps electrical flow under control in a basic sense. But there are a bunch of creative applications for this little guy…”

“Hey, you two,” Twilight said, coughing. “I need you to come look at something I found.”

Frostfire raised an eyebrow. “What would I know?”

“You are the foremost expert on this world’s magic, you might know what it is.”

Frostfire shrugged. “Eh, sure, why not.”

Twilight teleported them all down to the deepest cavern, gesturing to the pillar with her hoof. “What is this?”

Sunset’s jaw dropped. “I’ve never seen such an immense magical power source…”

Frostfire gaped. “A-a mana fount?”

“Ah, you do know what it is!” Twilight grinned. “...What exactly is a mana fount?”

“Ancient structures that provide magic power. They…” He shook his head. “They are some of the most sought after relics in the world. And you found one that was already active! That’s… I have no idea who would have abandoned one…”

“It wasn’t active when I found it,” Twilight said. “It had to interact with the Root.”

Frostfire stared at her in shock. “You can just… activate them by getting a Root in there?”

“That’s not how it goes, is it?”

“No! There’s a month-long ritual required to activate one of these things! Blairne and shapers have fought decades-long wars over control over mana founts! Even today there are some that never see peace long enough to activate!”

“And I can just… do it.” Twilight pursed her lips. “That’s not going to make me popular, is it?”

“What do you think?”

“Yeah, thought so.” Twilight turned to Sunset. “Got anything?”

Sunset had her hand pressed to the pillar, her eyes closed. “It connects to the Sphere, all right… but there are other things connected, making everything muddled. Probably other mana founts, if I had to guess.”

“What can we do with it?”

“Immense magic boost. ...And the locations of other mana founts.”

Frostfire gawked at her.

“Let me guess, you can’t do that either?” Sunset asked.

“I… there’s rumors the Impervious Ruler himself can…”

“We really do need to talk to this ruler of yours,” Twilight sighed. “It shouldn’t take much longer for word to get to him, right?”

“Probably already has. They’re likely coming back now.”

“They have to have a better way to communicate,” Sunset muttered.

Frostfire shrugged.

“Anyway…” Twilight looked at the mana fount. “I’m not in danger of running short on magic, now. We still need to keep this a secret. I won’t be getting a ton of ponies out of the roots, and neither of you two are going to tell anyone that doesn’t need to know.”

“Celestia?” Sunset asked.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Of course she can know. In fact, why don’t you see if you can find another fount with her? You two haven’t gone out together yet.”

Sunset grinned. “Sure thing. Frostfire, you’ll be in charge of the lab.”

Frostfire rolled his eyes. “...The lab where I can’t touch anything.”

“Yep! That’s the one!” Sunset winked. “You can use the smaller computer. Pretty sure it has snake on it or something.”

“Yipee,” Frostfire deadpanned.

~~~

Frostfire sat alone in the lab, pressing an oversized keyboard with his hoof. A white snake dashed across a gray screen, slowly approaching a red pixel. It ate the pixel, got a little longer, and kept moving.

Frostfire was already addicted. Can’t go back onto the path. Have to prepare for the dot to appear at all possible points. Precision movement is key. Fill the entire screen.

I will be the best snake.

The BEST snake.

The screen affixed to the roots was filled with the faces of people watching him. At first there had only been a few, but eventually more and more had come. At first they laughed, but Frostfire was not one to be discouraged by a little laughter. He had gotten better quickly, and already he had started filling half the screen in his games. They were now cheering him on, hoping that he would reach the end of the game.

Clearly, he had spent far, far too long on this, but who really cared? He didn’t. He was alone in a lab for the day, might as well, right?

Three left.

“Frostfire.”

Frostfire jumped, crashing the snake into its body. The screen of the Roots let out a dramatic ‘awwww’ of disdain. Frostfire fixed his guests with a glare. “This is the la-”

“We wanted to talk with you, this is where you are,” Ebony said. The pony next to her was a Gourd named… Frostfire had no idea. He wasn’t even entirely sure all the Gourds had names, and given the odd way they talked several of them probably never introduced themselves and just kept talking because they could.

Gourds…

“What do you want with me?” Frostfire grunted.

“He has to ask,” the Gourd chuckled, tossing his mane back. “Really, he does?”

Ebony ignored him. “We are here to ask about the blairne. Shapers and wraith have actively interacted with New Equestria. The blairne have, but they left. What do you expect the result will be of relations?”

Frostfire leaned back, turning off the feed to the Roots for this conversation. “Honestly, I’m expecting some kind of trade ‘war’ where my ponies will try to manipulate New Equestria into giving up their magic and secrets.”

“Foolish,” the Gourd said. “Like Pappy McGee always said.”

“And if this fails?” Ebony asked.

“They may try to attack,” Frostfire admitted. “You’ve seen Discord though, right?”

Ebony pointed at her eyes.

“You know what I mean.”

“I am aware of his power, yes.”

“Yeah. They can defend themselves.”

“From the entire blairne army?”

“There’s no way the Impervious Ruler sends the whole army to this little settlement.” ...Unless he finds out about the mana fount, but we’re going to work on the assumption he won’t.

The Gourd got in Frostfire’s face and sniffed.

“What in th-”

“You smell funny.”

“A- what?” Frostfire stared at him in disbelief. “...You really are a bunch of hicks…”

“Eh, probably,” the Gourd admitted.

Ebony narrowed her eyes. “Are you hiding something, Frostfire?”

“What? N-” Frostfire paused. “Okay, fine, yes, I guess, honesty and all that.” He folded his hooves. “Can’t tell you by order of Twilight, though.”

Ebony blinked. “Curious.”

“True,” the Gourd added.

“True?”

“Apricots in June, I suppose.”

Ebony decided it was best to ignore him. “Are you certain we are safe?”

Frostfire laughed. “We are as safe as we can be. And may I remind mister Gourd here that his ponies can just go back to their Kingdoms at any time. And your ponies, Ebony, are hunted everywhere else. Even if there is a war you might find that staying here is better for your wraiths anyway.”

“Perhaps.”

“Now get out of the lab, don’t break anything.”

The Gourd bumped into a countertop and knocked a flask onto the ground, shattering it.

“OUT!”

~~~

Rarity sat in the little office Twilight had given her in the Castle of Friendship. She was Chancellor, after all, might as well have an office.

Currently, nobody was there to see her. Technically speaking she probably should have gone out and examined how the work on the barn was going, but she really didn’t feel like that.

She just felt like… sitting.

Alone.

In an office she barely knew.

Rarity looked at the ground, silent.

There was a knock at the door. Quickly composing herself, Rarity fixed the door with a smile. “Come in!”

Sweetie trotted in, smiling softly. “Hey, Rarity. How are you doing in here?”

“Oh, you know, fine, fine.” She tossed her mane back. “Probably should go out and get to work…”

“But?”

“Don’t feel like it,” Rarity admitted, leaning back. “Must not be anything urgent, so…” She paused. “Unless you have something.”

Sweetie shook her head. “I just wanted to say hi!” She trotted to the side of the desk and hugged Rarity.

“Well you seem happy.”

Sweetie chuckled. “Twilight brought both Scootaloo and Applebloom out to make up for not doing anything yesterday. Apparently, she told herself she didn’t have to count you as an expenditure of power.”

“Am I going to have to have a word with her about taking it easy?”

“Probably!”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Oh, Twilight, Twilight, Twilight… what are we going to do with you?”

“Listen to her? She is the Queen.”

Rarity chuckled. “But we’re also her friends so we can jump on her case all we want.”

“Really?” Sweetie asked in mock shock.

Rarity folded her hooves. “Perhaps not! Perhaps she will throw us in the dungeon of the Roots, never to see the light of life again!”

Sweetie’s smile vanished.

“...Ah.” Rarity let out a sigh and leaned forward, resting her head on her chin. She said nothing.

After a while, Sweetie spoke up. “...What was it like?”

“What?”

“You know what.”

“Dying?” Rarity frowned. “Painful for the first moment, but then… nothing, really. Though that was probably because the venom had a numbing agent or something. Then I… well, to be honest, it’s all a bit of a blur after I gave Rainbow the…” She frowned. “It was dark.”

“Dark?”

“Dark as in nothing. A… lack of sensation. Wasn’t very long, and just when I felt like I might be seeing something… I was in the Roots.”

“Something?”

“Yes. Something. Can’t describe it.” Rarity shrugged. “It… I don’t know, maybe I was hallucinating. But there was nothing, and then there maybe wasn’t?” She looked at the table. “It…”

“Bothers you?”

“Yes. Yes it does.” She pulled Sweetie close. “How little we know…”

Sweetie didn’t have a response to this, so she just hugged her sister back. Rarity did not mind in the slightest.

~~~

It did not take long for Sunset to track down the nearest mana fount using the one in the Roots’ “basement”. A little bit of an empathic connection and a boost from Rarity and she was golden.

She had also been on fire in addition, so they had to create an impromptu vent to get the smoke out of the mana fount’s cavern. Now she could be boosted and touch the fount whenever she wanted without fear of suffocating herself and everyone else down there.

But that was neither here nor there at the moment. Currently, she was riding on Celestia’s back as they flew through the sky, away from both the Shaper Kingdoms and Blairne Empire: the wilderness.

“Now, I’m pretty sure we can’t just activate the fount without Twilight’s Roots present,” Sunset said. “But let’s be careful just in case. I’m not going to touch it, and you’re not going to try to scan it.”

Celestia nodded. “Reasonable. Can I trust you not to go sun-crazed over it?”

“What? Yes, you can trust me!” Sunset folded her arms. “I’m not a little filly anymore.”

“I don’t know, Twilight never grew out of Twily-nanas.”

“Yeah, well, in the words of Rainbow Dash, she’s a huge nerd.”

“Sunset, you are literally creating computers from scratch in her basement.”

Sunset chuckled. “Fine, fine, you win, you win a- I think I see it!”

She pointed at a hill covered in white grass, at the top of which sat a mana fount much like the one under New Equestria, except this one wasn’t glowing with magic power.

Furthermore, it was surrounded by four creatures that weren’t biological in nature, but rather pure magic constructs. All of them were eerily smooth, blue, and had eight limbs equally divided between arms and legs. There was no face to be seen on them, though a brightly glowing core may have been the equivalent of a head. The four of them patrolled around the mana fount in perfect timed motions.

“Guardians,” Sunset said. “Frostfire was right.”

“Wonder why there weren’t any protecting ours.”

“It was a little deep in the ground, maybe that had something to do with it?”

Celestia furrowed her brow, nodding. “There, another creature.”

A being of blue magical essence scurried between the guardians - this one with six legs and six arms, though it was of a much smaller size. It was picking up rocks and making piles out of them. Sunset could see dozens of these piles stretching out along the edge of the hill.

“Tender,” Sunset said. “If Frostfire’s right, they’re harmless.”

Celestia focused on a guardian. “I’m going to try to communicate.”

“Careful.”

Celestia focused her magic onto one of the guardians. Hello.

Greeting accepted. Password?

I have no password, I simply seek information. What is this place?

This is a restricted area, please remove yourself from the premises or you will be removed by force.

Very well, we shall leave. Where may we go to get information?

Central data management.

Directions?

Query process: error.

How can we find central data management?

Query process: error. Compliance delay detected. Please remove yourself from the premises or you will be removed by force.

Celestia sighed. “Come, Sunset, we are not wanted here.”

“Did you get anything?”

“We should go to ‘central data management’. But they have no idea where that is.”

“...Did you try the tender?”

“Actually, no. Teleport us if the guardians start attacking.”

Celestia focused on the tender. Hello.

Richnepilleanewalknkedniiiir.

That… made absolutely no sense. Excuse me?

Rimpillsrocksrockseattinbriskinfiroon.

“I believe it is mad,” Celestia said. “It app-”

A guardian pointed its hand at them and fired a laser. Sunset teleported them away.

“Well. That went well,” Celestia said, frowning. “If we need to, we can claim the mana fount by force. I see no reason to do so now, though.”

Sunset nodded. “Let’s work with the one we have for now.”

They turned around and flew back to New Equestria.

The Ninth Day

Twilight tapped into the energy of the Roots - her Roots - and brought out two people. She had survived the strain yesterday just fine, and with the mana fount she could probably bring out many more… but it was best not to draw attention.

First, now that things had calmed down and she had no more urgent need to get certain individuals out of the Roots. She could finally give Pinkie her sister back. Marble appeared in a cowering position, looking up at Twilight with fear - but also hope.

Pinkie appeared out of nowhere and tackled her to the ground. “Marble! Oh Marblemarblemarblemarblemarble!” The pink pony’s hug was strong enough to make Marble squeak like a dog toy. “I’msogladyou’rehere!”

“M...hm…” Marble mumbled through her vain attempts to breathe.

Twilight allowed the sisters to reunite while focusing on the second soul she was released from the roots: a young orange dragon by the name of Smolder. Twilight had chosen her for several reasons: Spitfire had been asking for another suitable soldier, Ocellus had been asking for one of her friends, and Smolder’s boredom in the Roots had been causing a fair bit of chaos. Might as well get her out, since it would be better for everyone involved.

“Huh. Guess it’s finally my turn. Sweet.” Smolder folded her arms and grinned. “So, Queen Headmare-”

“Not the Headmare anymore, that’s Sweetie,” Twilight corrected automatically.

Smolder rolled her eyes. “Right, right. Lemme guess, trembling paperweight over there doesn’t have a job?”

“Hey!” Pinkie blurted. “You be nice to Marble, she’s just as important as anypony else!”

“Right…” Smolder said. “So she does nothing, what do I do?”

“Wh- hey! I’m not finished with you!”

“Calm down, Pinkie,” Twilight said, turning to Smolder. “You’ll no doubt want to check in with Ocellus, and then I think Spitfire has some defenses she’d like to go over with you. I know you’ve been trying to turn away from the ways of the Dragon Tribes, but…”

“Yeah yeah, I know, only dragon who really knows how to fight,” Smolder smiled. “I’ll burn our enemies to a crisp, you can count on me!”

“I know I can.”

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a small bug-horse I need to get acquainted with…” She spread her wings, only to stop short when Spike entered the room.

“Hey, I’ve got blueberry muffins!” Spike declared. “Who want…” He froze when his gaze fell upon Smolder.

An awkward silence fell across the room. Neither was sure what to say to the other, if anything even could be said.

Ichor ran to the rescue, sliding in front of Spike. “Hey, Uncle Spike, how about we go help Discord with those games he was setting up today? And by help, I mean make sure he doesn’t blow everything up. Sound fun?”

“S-sure…”

Ichor corralled Spike out of the Castle and toward Discord’s food mountain.

Smolder sighed. “Meh…”

“You know, you don’t have to worry about it right now,” Twilight said. “Dragons live a really long ti-”

“Tell that to my brain.” Smolder tapped herself in the head. “It ain’t gonna stop, Twilight.”

“...I’m always here to talk.”

“Yeah. I know.” Smolder flapped her wings and took off toward the School.

Twilight sighed. “I thought…”

“Hey, turn that frown upside-down!” Pinkie ordered, getting in Twilight’s face. “Nothing is trying to kill us, diplomatic relations are going well, and Marble’s back! Of course there’s going to be some drama, there’s now room for it!” Pinkie patted Twilight on the head. “Everything’s fine, don’t worry. They’ll resolve it somehow. And if they come to you for help just do what you’ve always done!”

“Improvise?”

“Yep!” Pinkie said at the same time as Marble’s “mhm!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Right, right, right… heh. Guess I do have a pretty good track record. Anyway… that shaper trade deal is today, I need to prepare for that. See you later.”

~~~

“...And then there was this whole thing with Rarity powering everypony up…” Pinkie went on.

“Mhm,” Marble commented.

“...and it was so awesome I got to see a lot of weird stuff that didn’t matter and Dashie got to see a lot of weird stuff that did matter…”

“Mhm?” Marble asked.

“...see it was all about how our Elements and super-cool-awesome abilities interacted with the world, mine were a little more far reaching but less useful…”

“...Mhm.”

“...I’m serious, Marble, it’s like a stack of pancakes versus a nice brilliant velvet cake! The pancakes are just too much and are gonna fall over at any moment while the cake is just the perfect slice of what you need, even though it’s a little sweet…”

“Mhm!”

“Wha? Scandalous!” Pinkie giggled. Suddenly, she pulled Marble into a tight, tense hug. “...I’m glad you’re out.”

“Mhm.”

“Are you glad to be here?”

Marble fixed Pinkie with her soft, knowing eyes. She made no noise - she only nodded, tightening her hold on Pinkie.

“Ow! That’s pretty ti-”

Marble squeezed harder.

“This is revenge, is it? A war of hugtrition it is then!”

Marble let out a soft giggle, squeezing Pinkie until she squeaked.

“No fair!”

“Mhm!”

“Aaaaaaaaa!”

Red Fox fell out of the sky, wearing a comically oversized samurai outfit. The two Pie sisters were split apart as the fox-faced shaper drew her sword and pointed it at her opponent. “Begone!”

Ichor - dressed up like some kind of viking - landed on her back hooves and twirled her dual axes. “I shall never begone! I shall… be here!”

“Boo! Lame!” Eagle called from the sky.

“I’d like to see you come up with a better one-liner!”

Spike dropped from the sky, riding what appeared to be a cardboard pony skeleton. “Looks like it’s time to take out the trash.”

“Eep!” Fox screeched, backing away from the draconic cavalry. “C-can we talk about this, fair knight?”

“Beat him up, mom!” Eagle called down.

“B-but isn’t the skeleton pony really strong?”

Discord appeared next to her. “I mean, only if you try to hit it with a sword.”

“My weapon is a sword!”

“Oooh, sucks to be you.”

“Discord!”

“Hey!” Pinkie said, waving. “You guys look like you’re having fun!”

“Wanna play?” Spike asked. “There’s always room for more party members?”

“Nah, I’m hanging out with Marble tod-”

Marble took a step in front of Pinkie and nodded.

Pinkie gasped. “M-marble! You sure? This is a game of adventure, combat, high stakes, magic, and…”

“Mhm!” Marble looked nervously to Discord.

“Well well well… the meek Pie sister wants to be an adventurer?” Discord slithered up to her and looked her in the eyes. She flinched back from him. “Geez, I won’t bite. A lot of things in this game will, though…”

Marble shook her head, pointing at herself and the others.

“If you insist. I’ll make you…” Discord scratched his chin. “Geomancer!” Suddenly Marble was in a green mage’s robe with a pom-pom on her pointed hat.

“I’m pretty sure that’s not the standard geomancer getup,” Spike said.

“Shush, it’s comfortable, and I think she likes it.”

“Mhm!” Marble agreed.

“Now, you arrive on the scene with a samurai, a dread knight, and a skiving - you have no idea what is going on. Have fun!”

“And your sister the bard is here too!” Pinkie transformed into her usual adventuring getup. “Let’s go! Treasure awaits!”

~~~

Smolder looked out the window of the School at Spike and Pinkie battling a cardboard hydra. She sighed.

“Why don’t you go out and have fun with them?” Sweetie asked. “It’s not like we have any classes right now, and Spitfire doesn’t need you quite yet.”

Smolder turned to glare at the unicorn.

“W-what did I say?”

Ocellus, the last creature in the room, sighed. “Nothing wrong, you just didn’t know.”

“Know what?”

“She and Spike are the last dragons in existence. It’s… awkward.”

“Why would it b-” Sweetie turned beet red. “...Oh.”

“Yes. Oh.” Smolder folded her arms and glared out the window. “And now that’s gonna be on our minds every time we see each other.”

“You could just not deal with i-”

“Already heard that from Twilight.”

Sweetie turned to Ocellus, begging for help.

Ocellus frowned. “So, Smolder, what do you think your options are?”

“Aren’t any. Dragon race is more important than personal feelings. He’s the only option. At least you have options.”

Ocellus frowned. “If I am to be the new queen it’s just something I’ll have to do.”

“How can you be so… so calm!?”

“I grew up a changeling in Chrysalis’ hive. I suspect I have a bit of a mental block. I’ve already decided Kevin’s a pretty good option. Been talking to him.”

“...Kevin? That loser?”

“Well, it was either him or Nuddles.”

“Nuddles?” Sweetie asked.

“Changeling of the Everfree. Don’t worry, he’s harmless, though a bit crazy.”

Smolder frowned. “You always were able to get so… dispassionate about things.”

“I mean, I was a little uneasy at first, but it has to be done, so…” Ocellus shrugged. “I like Kevin well enough, I’m sure it’ll work out fine.”

Smolder stared at her like she was an idiot.

“What?”

“You’re just… sure? But… but…”

“It’s not like it requires love, th-”

Sweetie coughed. “Maybe we don’t have to go there? Twilight can probably cook up some genetic modification spells or something. Just make new dragons from you two without any pressure on you two.”

“...We’d still have to raise them,” Smolder muttered, folding her arms.

“...Is that what you’re afraid of?” Ocellus asked.

“Me? Afraid? Hah! Hah…”

Sweetie smiled sadly. “If Spike’s any indication, Twilight can raise dragons just fine.”

“Spike won’t be able to keep his claws off them, and he’ll drag me in somehow like he always does…” Smolder grunted. “This sucks! I don’t want any of this!”

“I am serious, you can wait until you’re older,” Sweetie said.

“I already said I can’t sto-”

“Then go talk to Spike about it and make a decision!” Sweetie blurted.

Smolder and Ocellus stared at her.

“S-sorry.” Sweetie calmed herself down. “I just… if it’s bothering you that much, you should find a way to resolve it. Make a plan. Okay?”

Smolder was beginning to sweat. “W-well, you know what, I think I can wait, just fine, you know? No issu-”

Ocellus raised an eyebrow. “Smolder?”

Smolder rubbed the back of her head. “Not buying it?”

“No,” Sweetie and Ocellus said at once.

“Right, fine, I’ll go talk to him at… some point today. Some. When I’m ready.”

“I will have Pinkie hunt you down at nightfall if you haven't done it already,” Sweetie said.

Smolder fumed, followed quickly by a sigh. “No way out, huh?”

“Welcome to Advanced Friendship Studies: Life,” Ocellus deadpanned.

“Yipee.”

~~~

“So, here it is,” Twilight said, laying a metallic, purple box with a circular depression in it on the ground. The shaper dignitaries from all the Kingdoms - and the Nomads - looked at it with curiosity.

“Uh, what is it?” the Gourd asked.

Twilight sighed, turning to Sunset. Sunset coughed. “This is a simple magic-to-electricity generator. Put magic in the hole here, and electricity comes out through the different ports in the back. Twilight, care to demonstrate?”

Twilight nodded, placing a lamp next to the box. She plugged it into the box and tapped the box with her horn, prompting the lamp to light up with a blue tint.

Sunset continued. “This box can provide power to just about anything. Lights and heating elements are some of the easiest to work with, but computers, toasters, refrigerators, and communicators can all feed off the power of the box. All you do is stick magic in the hole.”

“And what does this have to do with us?” a Flower mare asked.

“You all said you wanted trade? This is where we start with trade,” Twilight explained. “You all have magic of some sort, somewhere. The crystals from the creatures of the Sphere can be used, your own shifting powers, or anything else you may think of.”

“Mana founts,” a Gourd said.

“Shhhh!” a Grass hissed.

Twilight smirked. “Yes, a ‘fountain of magic’ would be great for this, I assume. Do you mind explaining what they are?”

Everypony but the Gourd shifted uncomfortably. “Uh… no.”

“Perhaps in time, then,” Twilight said, returning to the box. “Each of your kingdoms will get one of these boxes to do whatever you wish with. It will come with a lamp, a heating element, and a radio antenna; along with a book on how the first two items function so you can make more of your own.”

“Why not the radio antennae?”

“You can take a book out of the library while you’re here if you want, but uh… it’s a little more complicated to make. Translating electricity to waves to electricity again to sound is… a lot more involved than heating a filament.”

“You have no idea how long it took me to explain it to her,” Sunset snickered.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Regardless, this thing should be able to manage enough electricity to power lights for a city block, so long as you provide it with enough magic energy.”

“And what is the price?” the Tree asked.

“Nothing physical, just a future agreement of more trade. Consider this a starting gift. Now, if you want appliances like a toaster or something, that will cost you. Resources, knowledge, or even your local currency. The intention, however, is that this is the start of a long, mutually beneficial relationship.”

The various shapers all nodded in agreement, though they glared at each other untrustingly.

“Good! I can’t wait to hear what you do with them!”

~~~

The ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters. Mostly destroyed in the rough landing, but a few bits still stood a short distance from where the Tree of Harmony had once been.

A few slabs of rock and tapestries remained, a reminder of a time long past.

Celestia walked through the rubble, picking up slabs with her magic and examining them closely. Occasionally she would find a tapestry depicting her or Luna, and she would smile or frown. Her mood shifted so much here it was hard to tell why she was doing either.

She had avoided coming here, though she found it difficult to admit it to herself. She had already mourned, right? That was all that needed to be done…

Right?

No… No, she was not done mourning. Not entirely. Even if the worst was behind her, it was not done, and would not for a long, long time. And even then, just mourning was not enough.

It would never be enough.

So she did more.

She took as many slabs of castle stone as she could and fused them together into one large obelisk. Carefully, she encased it with her magic and began to chisel away. The sharp, angular form soon became smooth, eventually taking the shape of a large pony. Two soft, comforting wings sprouted out of the back, a pristine horn poked out of the forehead, and a swirling mane twirled off behind the form.

Celestia depicted the alicorn with closed eyes and a serene smile, that of one watching over the dreams of all. Celestia opted not to put any regalia on the statue, allowing the alicorn to stand beautiful all on her own.

When the statue was carved, Celestia still wasn’t done. She went through the wreckage of the Tree of harmony, picking up shards of crystal and pulverizing them into dust. She adhered the dust to the statue’s mane and tail, giving them the appearance of stars.

Finally done, Celestia stood back and admired what she had created. A statue of Luna - calm, serene, cosmic. Specifically made to be true to the Princess of the Night, with one minor detail changed.

She was taller than Celestia.

“They will remember you, my sister,” Celestia said, bowing to the statue. “I will make sure of it.”

The statue’s smile seemed to be satisfied.

“Woah. Sweet statue,” Rainbow Dash said, landing at Celestia’s side. “Where are you gonna put it?”

“Right here,” Celestia said. “Over the castle she grew up in.”

“Nopony’s gonna see it…”

“This is the edge of our land. There can be a staircase off the edge. Discord could make another escalator. On Nightmare Night, we will celebrate her. A new tradition…”

“Sounds great,” Rainbow admitted. “...Man, you’re a pretty good artist.”

“I suppose my lack of talent in acting means I have superb taste in aesthetics.”

“...What?”

Celestia smiled warmly. “Oh, my little pony… it was a joke.”

“I don’t get it.”

Celestia chuckled.

“Aaaaaand now you’re laughing at me, I’m out.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “I’ll get the others here to look at Luna’s thing.”

“Thank you, Rainbow Dash.”

“Don’t mention it.”

~~~

Smolder was flying alongside Spitfire.

“Now, I know you know how to fight,” Spitfire was saying. “But you’re gonna need to be a bit more organized in any sort of large-scale conflict.”

“Mhm…” Smolder grunted.

“So, there’s a few things you’ll need to know. First, always get yourself a wingpony - or wingcreature, I guess - that can watch your back.”

“Mmm…”

“Second, you may have a lot of power, but if you’re burning your home you aren’t doing anybody any favors.”

“Mmm…”

“Third: focus. This means pay attention to what’s going on, what’s happening around you, and dealing with personal problems before you head into a life-or-death confrontation.”

“Mmm…”

“Hey look, there’s one now!”

“Mh- AUGH!” Spitfire grabbed Smolder by the back and drove her into the ground, creating a small crater right in front of a particular small, purple dragon.

“Uh…” Spike said, blinking.

“Thank me later,” Spitfire said, taking off into the air.

“I am not going to thank you, featherbrain!” Smolder shouted after her, waving her fist in anger. “Did Sweetie put you up to this? Hey! Get back here!”

“...I don’t think she’s coming back,” Spike observed.

Smolder stared at Spike. “Uh. Yeah. Good observation.”

“Thanks.”

There was an awkward silence.

Spike rubbed the back of his head. “So… why did Spitfire crash you right in front of me?”

Smolder folded her arms. “Because I wasn't paying attention, can you believe it?”

“With Spitfire involved? Totally believable.”

“Yeah! She’s got a stick up her plot or something! I don’t have to learn about fighting, I’m a dragon, I was just there out of courtesy! I could take a dragon on just fine. Not my fault I was preoccupied.”

“Preoccupied?”

“N-nothing important.”

Spike raised an eyebrow.

Smoke began to rise out of Smolder’s nostrils. “F-fine.” She sat down on a nearby rock and crossed her arms. “We need to talk, Spike.”

Spike sighed, sitting down on the grass. “This is about the whole ‘last dragons in Equestria’ thing, right?”

“Yep. Captain awkward-central-o’clock.”

Spike cocked his head in confusion.

“Don’t judge my mixed metaphors.”

“I’m not sure that w-”

“Moving on!” Smolder declared, clapping her claws together. “We have to figure this out.”

“Really?” Spike frowned. “I talked to my friends a while ago… they said I could just want and see, you know? Bigger things to deal with.”

“What I wouldn’t give to have your nice, innocent little brain,” Smolder muttered, flopping back and letting out a deep groan. “It won’t leave my head. Can’t stop stressing over it.”

Spike sighed. “You must be really stressed if you’re admitting it.”

“No, really!?” Smolder laughed, covering her eyes with her claws. “Aaaaaaagh…”

“Look, calm down…” Spike rubbed the back of his head.

“Calm down!”

“I don’t think we can, uh, work this out with you yelling and groaning and… this-ing.”

Smolder sat up, blinking. “...Why do you have to be so reasonable all the time?”

“Raised as a pony!”

“Yeah. Right. Forgot.” Smolder stretched her wings and looked at his face. “Okay. We need a plan.”

Spike frowned. “A plan?”

“Yes. A plan. As in a-plan-so-I-can-know-where-my-life-is-going.”

“Well, after everything settles, uh…” Spike began to sweat. “There’s the normal way, and there’s Twilight figuring out genetic whatever magic. A-”

“That… isn’t the problem,” Smolder sighed, frowning. “I… think I could… uh… you. Eventually.”

Spike flushed. “R-really?”

“Not exactly a lot of eligible bachelors around.”

“W-well, I’d need to get a date set up first a-”

Smolder sighed. “Sure, consider it accepted, and all that junk. Woo me over candles and tea parties and…”

“...frilly dresses?”

Smolder flushed. “Uh… yes.”

“Yes!” Spike laughed nervously.

Smolder shook her head. “But! But! I wasn’t done with my rant!”

“A-oh.”

“I just… I saw Ember with the hatchlings. And…” Smolder folded her arms. “I…”

“...You’re scared?”

“We’re the only dragons on this rock!” Smolder shouted. “No matter what, genetic magic or not, they’ll look to us on how to be dragons! Do you think either of us really know how to do all that? You’ve only had those wings for a year and I never got to experience any of the things the elders would tell us about! How do they deal with their hordes? Is there etiquette for being big? How do you control the greed?” She pulled on her ears. “Neither of us know those things! We’ll teach them wrong because we won’t know better!”

Spike frowned. “Maybe they’ll be fine with being raised like a pony?”

“Spike, you’re one of the mildest-mannered dragons in existence and even you got obsessed with being a dragon more than once. I read the Friendship Journal.”

“Oh. Good point.” Spike frowned. “Wait, hold up.”

“What?”

“Why are we sure the older dragons knew what to do? You met Torch! He barely knew about friendship!”

“I’m not talking culture, Spike, I mean physical things. We go through more changes than the molt, and I’m not sure I know all of them! And there’s nobody here who would!”

“Even Celestia doesn’t know much…” Spike frowned. “...Maybe Discord…”

“Big fat lot of help he’ll be.”

Spike scratched his chin. “Maybe we don’t need to know.”

“...Come again?”

“Maybe we don’t need to know! We’ll just figure it out as we go along with our friends at our side. No matter what insanity getting big throws at us, we can figure it out!”

“And what about all those dragons who’ll follow us and mess up just as badly?”

“I… don’t think that’s how it works,” Spike said. “I’ve been around Celestia a lot, and I’ve seen a few things. I know she’s made mistakes in the past, and she knows it. So she makes sure her ponies don’t make those same mistakes. If we screw up we can help the rest by telling them ‘yeah, this thing? That didn’t work, don’t do that.’ See?”

Smolder frowned. “Again, you’re way too reasonable.”

“I do my best!”

“So, what, the plan is just ‘figure it out as we go along’?”

Spike smiled nervously. “P-pretty much!”

“...I can respect that.”

“Heh.”

Silence fell over them again.

“S-so am I still, uh, taking you out on…?”

Smolder rolled her eyes. “Yes. There better be some real fancy tea though.”

“Of course!”

~~~

Rarity let out a happy, satisfied sigh.

“You look happy,” Fluttershy observed.

“Oh, I am.”

“Can I ask why?”

“Little Spikey-wikey’s finally growing up!” She clapped her hooves together excitedly.

“I thought he got the wing-”

“He and Smolder are going out on a date and it’s the most adorable thing ever!”

Fluttershy frowned. “...I hope they weren’t pressured into that…”

“Rainbow says she doesn’t think so.”

“...I hope they don’t realize Rainbow is always watching.”

“Yes, well, let’s just ignore that for now, why don’t we?” Rarity pulled her mane back and beamed. “I’m just happy that he’s finally found someone.”

Fluttershy cocked her head.

“Don’t give me that look.”

“Rarity, I know you know he had the biggest crush on you. Everypony knew it.”

“Yes… and, admittedly, I did not treat him particularly well in that regard…” Rarity frowned. “I should apologize for taking advantage of him all those times.”

“Yeah.”

“But it was never something I really wanted, and he was a dragon - I said don’t give me that look - and, well… he was young. Honestly, there were a few times where I thought of suggesting Sweetie Belle should try to woo him.”

Fluttershy stared at Rarity in shock.

“I didn’t!”

“You thought about it.”

“What can I say? I’m a hopeless romantic.” Rarity giggled. “And now there are two dragons sitting at a table. I expect I will need to make a very frilly wedding dress…”

Fluttershy facehooved. “Jumping ahead, are we?”

“A mare can dream.”

“You’re not even the… nevermind.” Fluttershy rolled her eyes. “I am happy for him too, for what it’s worth.”

“I bet we all are! ...Except possibly Rainbow, since she has to sit through the whole thing.”

“I CAN HEAR YOU GOSSIPING!” Rainbow shouted from overhead.

“I know~!” Rarity called.

Rainbow facehooved. “Ugh, look, let’s ju-” she stopped mid sentence. “Uh-oh.”

“Uh-oh?” Rarity said, confused.

“Uh-oh,” Rainbow confirmed. “...Twilight just found a pony hair in the, uh, secret cave. One that wasn’t supposed to be there.”

“Oh my…”

Twilight appeared in front of Rarity with a teleport. “Somepony’s been in the mana fount room. It wasn’t any of us.”

“Who was it then?”

Twilight held up a small, black hair. “It’s not anypony we know. I scanned the magic on this thing. It’s got the blairne magic signature.”

Fluttershy gasped. “They’re… here?”

“They shouldn’t be bu-”

Rainbow gasped. “I… I see a blairne group coming from the east!”

Twilight bit her lip. “...Prepare for guests. But also prepare for… the unexpected.”

~~~

The Blairne that arrived were the exact same ponies as last time. The fiery Ashen and the blank Nirix were easily identifiable. Verberate was nowhere to be seen.

Twilight fixed her gaze on Nirix. The dark hair she had found in the mana fount room was distinctly similar to her coat’s coloration. Mystery solved, most likely. Though how did she get here without us noticing?

Twilight, Rarity, and Celestia were all there to meet them. All the non-ponies and wraiths had been ordered to hide, though the shaper dignitaries had been allowed to remain.

Twilight forced a smile despite her unease. “Welcome back, Ambassador Ashen and Agent Nirix. Do you bring word from the Impervious Ruler?”

“Yes,” Ashen said, smiling. This was not a good sign. “First of all, congratulations, the Impervious Ruler has declared the position of your races on the hierarchy.”

“And what is that?” Rarity asked, tense.

“Earth ponies lie at the bottom,” Ashen began. “Followed by pegasi, wraiths, shapers, and…” his smile faltered. “Blairne.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Ah. So we’re at the top then?”

“Blairne,” Ashen hissed. “Unicorn… and then alicorn.” He turned to Celestia and bowed his head. “It is an honor to be before such a creature.”

Celestia nodded but frowned. “I appreciate the gesture, though I am but one alicorn here, Ambassador.”

Ashen’s smile returned. “And that brings us to the second thing… you.” He pointed a hoof at Twilight. “You are an abomination against nature. The races are not meant to be changed. Allowing such a creature to become… ruler is disgustingly blasphemous. You are a unicorn, Twilight Sparkle. To pretend to be anything else is outright evil.”

Twilight frowned. I am a being of pure Harmonious energy at this point… “And what does that mean for relations with the blairne?”

“It means you must be eradicated,” Nirix said, emotionless. “This is a formal declaration of war.”

Twilight paled. “W-w-wait! Can’t we… come to an agreement?”

“Surrender?”

“W-what if I rescinded my wings?” Twilight sputtered. “There’s probably a magic that can return me to a unicorn, and Celestia c-”

“That would be acceptable,” Nirix admitted. “Would.”

Twilight frowned. “But?”

Ashen snered. “We know about Discord. Sunset. The changelings. Your nation is a cesspool of unnatural beings!”

Discord appeared behind them. “My my, what good little spies!” He levitated the two of them into the air. “Stupid, though. Declaring war on me? Ohohohoh…”

Ashen hurled when he saw Discord. “You… digsuting…”

Discord snapped his fingers, cleaning himself up and zipping Ashen’s mouth shut. “Yep. Idiots.”

“You do not have the might of the blairne,” Nirix said, looking to Twilight. “You will fall to the army. Your magic will do nothing.”

“How did you spy on us?” Twilight asked.

Nirix said nothing.

“I said how did you spy on us!?” Twilight roared, eyes going white. She surrounded Nirix’s mind with an aura of magic, attempting to break into it.

She couldn’t.

There was a spell blocking the way.

Twilight frowned. “So… you do have access to spellcraft.”

Nirix stared at her - not with worry, but with surprise.

“Don’t worry, the spell kept me out of your mind. Whatever secrets are in there are safe. But the fact that I couldn’t get in let me find the spell.” She frowned. “Blairne blade-horns cannot do spellcraft. Frostfire would have told me if he knew of spellcraft. You must keep the art a secret…”

“Frostfire?” Nirix said.

“I thought I was supposed to stay hidden!” Frostfire shouted from inside the castle.

“I don’t think that matters anymore,” Twilight said, frowning. “Come on out.”

Frostfire walked out, glancing nervously at Nirix.

“COWARD!” Nirix shouted.

“Yeah, well, uh…” Frostfire wiped his forehead down. “I’m out here facing you, aren’t I?”

Nirix charged, only to be completely encased in Celestia’s magic.

Twilight stared at Nirix. “...I’m placing you and Ashen in magic isolation. If you want to tell me any pertinent information, just shout. I’ll notice. Otherwise, you are now considered prisoners of war.”

Ashen, despite having a zippered mouth, still managed to look smug.

She teleported both of them into confinement.

Then she allowed herself to panic.

“OKAY!” Twilight put a hoof to the side of her face. “We’re at war, apparently! Frostfire, I hate to say it, but you were ri-”

“I was wrong,” Frostfire said. “Well, I was right, but for the wrong reason. He wouldn't dare declare war this quickly unless he saw an active threat.”

“...The mana fount?” Twilight asked. “Why w-” Her pupils shrunk to pinpricks. “The mana fount… and the spellcraft. Or some combination of the two.”

Frostfire nodded. “I… I am sorry, I did not know enough. I…” He frowned.

Twilight turned to the shaper dignitaries. “Return to your nations. This will get ugly and you should not be here when it does.”

The shapers looked a little nervous, but none of them argued.

“Ebony!” Twilight called, teleporting the wraith out of her hiding spot in the castle. “You should leave too.”

“I believe we will stay,” Ebony said matter-of-factly. “I cannot speak for the full family…”

“Make your decision quickly, whatever you decide. Sunset!”

“Yes?” Sunset said, poking her head out of the castle too.

“I am going to tap into the mana fount and get as many ponies as I can out of the roots. Are we sure it’s safe?”

“Absolutely!”

“Good. Everyone, prepare for a flood!” Twilight spread her wings, feeling with the Roots the energy of the mana fount. All of it surged into her and several lights began to appear around her. Gallus. Silverstream. Yona. Sandbar. Kevin. Zecora… Everyone she could think of as being helpful or supportive in a conflict.

“Rainbow Dash, catch them up on what’s going on,” Twilight ordered. “Discord, Celestia, Rarity, Sunset, with me - we need to make a plan.”

~~~

It was quickly decided they needed to try something to gather more information before actually beginning a plan. After ensuring that the blairne armies were not going to reach them today, they set to work.

Rainbow Dash sat in the middle of a magic circle, eyes closed. “Okay… we sure this is going to work?”

“Not at all,” Sunset admitted, flipping a switch Discord had graciously offered her. “But we’re going to try.”

“Here’s to hoping he’s still paying attention…”

“I’ll make him pay attention…” Discord growled.

“Everyone, calm down,” Twilight said, holding up a hoof. “Discord, you and I are not joining them.”

“Wh- why? I want to show him a piece of my m-”

“We are the ones that insult him. We’re just here in case something goes wrong. Celestia goes with them. He placed her at the top, that must mean something.”

Celestia nodded. “It would be best to make a good impression when meeting the Impervious Ruler.”

“I still am not clear on how we’re doing that,” Discord said with folded arms.

“Simple,” Sunset said, walking up to Rainbow. “Rainbow already contacted the Impervious Ruler when Rarity supercharged her last time. I will piggyback with my empathy, taking Celestia with us. With Rarity present, we should be able to keep the connection up as long as we need. We’ll have a nice… talk.”

Celestia set her jaw. “Yes… talk.”

“What are we waiting for?” Rainbow called. “Let’s do the thing!”

Rarity turned to Sunset. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

Rarity trotted up to Rainbow and touched her hoof to the pegasus’ shoulder.

Rainbow could see the entire Sphere again. This time, however, she knew how to focus. She pointed her attention into the sphere, toward the Blairne Empire.

“Here,” Sunset said, echoing in Rainbow’s mind.

“Here,” Celestia added a second later. “Lead us, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow obliged, looking for the presence she had encountered last time.

She found him the same time he found her.

Hey.

The eyes of every color looked upon her with curiosity. “I take it my contingent arrived.”

You could say that. Name’s Rainbow Dash, and I’m going to stop talking before I get yelled at. The mare you really want to talk to…

Greetings, Celestia said, pushing her mind in front of Rainbow's. I am Princess Celestia of New Equestria.

“I see you elected not to send the mutant Queen.”

She was my student, your Highness. I would appreciate it if you spoke of her with more respect.

“As you wish, Princess. My advisors found it hard to believe a being such as you would engage in such unnatural practices.”

And you?

“You are from a different world. I cannot expect the hierarchy to extend there. In truth, you may be right, the hierarchy may not exist at all.” The eyes focused intently on her. “Not that I would ever admit to such publicly.”

Why not? I ruled Equestria for well over a thousand years. I know that nations can change.

“It is useful. It makes ruling more efficient.”

I disagree, but I am not here to condemn your practices. I am here to plea for peace. Anything for the sake of my ponies.

“How do you control the mana founts?”

Our magic is uniquely attuned to it, as it turns out. There was no need to mention Twilight specifically.

“Then the resolution for peace is simple: give me this magic.”

Difficult. It is tied to our land.

“Then I will accept turning over all your land as terms for peace.”

Celestia grimaced inwardly. Twilight and Discord were keyed to the Roots, as were all the people and ponies left inside. They could, with time, release themselves from the Roots and presumably give Discord and Twilight normal bodies, but…

But then the Impervious Ruler would have control over the Roots of Harmony. Unless… Unless they could drain the magic.

Yes. Drain the magic, discard it. Save all the ponies, leave the land, and the Impervious Ruler would have completely useless Roots left behind. They would have to run, to rebuild, but the Impervious Ruler would have nothing.

They would have nothing, too.

But they would survive.

I accept those terms. Give us time to move out.

“My armies will arrive tomorrow. They will receive word of your surrender and oversee the preparations.”

That did not give them much time. Thank you, your Highness, for listening to us.

“I thank you for being reasonable. But, I warn you, if you have some sort of ploy… I will hunt you to the ends of the Sphere and beyond for your treachery.”

Understood.

They were thrown back to their normal sense of reality.

“Wh- what was that, Princess!?” Rainbow shouted. “You jus-”

“I do, in fact, have a ploy,” Celestia said, interrupting her. “Twilight… we are going to have to work exceedingly quickly.”

The Tenth Day

It was technically tomorrow. The night was half over, and by their new clocks that meant it was just after midnight.

No one had gotten any sleep. New Equestria was abustle with near-panicked activity. Every light was on, magic was flashing everywhere, and Twilight was straining herself to her limit.

Her goal?

Empty the Roots entirely. Nobody left behind.

Even with the endless supply of power from the mana fount, this was still excruciatingly taxing. The mana fount would never run out, but it could only give her so much magic at once. And if she was going to get over a hundred individuals out of the Roots… she had to be careful not to burn herself out and not to bring anyone back wrong.

She had been at it for several hours at this point. She realized she would have been done by now had she not spent all that time arguing with Celestia…

(“You did what!?” Twilight shouted at Celestia.

“I did the only thing that would get him to stand down! He wanted the land, I gave it to him. The ponies are more important.”

“Yes! They are! And this is their home - this is all that remains of their home!”)

Twilight focused on bringing the last few ponies out of the roots. Most of them were ponies she couldn't remember the names of off the top of her head, but she brought them out anyway. Spike was there, directing them wherever they needed to go for the evacuation. There were a lot of panicked shouts Twilight couldn’t afford to listen to right now. They were on a very tight schedule, and they needed to get out of here before sunrise if at all possible.

(“Twilight, you are the Queen, you can overrule me. I will not fight it and I will squelch any dissidence against you.”

Twilight gaped at Celestia. “I… I’m not going to do that?”

“Then you agree with my plan?”

“...You’re a manipulative little alicorn, you know that?”

Celestia nodded sagely. “It is one of my talents, yes.”)

Twilight took out Zephyr Breeze.

“Well, Twi-twi, nice to see you again,” Zephyr said with a smile.

“Uh-huh,” Twilight said, catching her breath. “You’re the last one.”

Zephyr’s smile vanished. “Wait. Last?”

Twilight normally would have tried to ease him down, but she had no patience at the moment. Shouting with Celestia for an hour took a lot out of her. “Yes, I specifically left you in there until last. No, I don’t have any patience to deal with you. Fluttershy is over there, she’ll help you. I apologize in advance for when I inevitably feel terrible about brushing you off like a breadcrumb.”

Zephyr stared at her in disbelief. She teleported him over to Fluttershy.

(“This is crazy!” Twilight shouted.

“We do this, or we fight. Even with Discord’s power, he will get some of us. This wa-”

“He’ll hunt us down, Celestia! We don’t know his capabilities, what his armies can do, wh…” She shook her head. “There has to be another option besides FIGHT and RUN.”)

Twilight looked up to where most everyone was being evacuated too. The pegasi had been gathering clouds together for the last few hours and Discord had been enchanting stone slabs to be affixed to the clouds, creating a miniature cloud-city. It wasn’t large enough to hold everyone yet, but it would be soon. It was taking the shape of a large blimp, the hollow exterior holding most the people.

(“Neither is a permanent solution,” Twilight muttered. “Fight, and he’ll keep sending more and more at us. Run, and he’ll probably keep chasing us unless we actually give him what he wants.”

“And we can’t do that.”

“Of course not! I don’t want to know what giving this… this monster absolute control of the Sphere will do!”

“Do you have a better idea?”

Twilight fixed Celestia with a steeled glare. “Yes. I think I do.”)

With the removal of everyone from the roots, it was time to move to her part of the plan. “Rainbow, get our friends, Celestia, and Sunset. It’s time.”

They arrived in a series of teleports, rushes of wind, and in one case excited bounces.

Twilight looked at the seven of them and smiled. “It’s time,” she said.

“Are you sure about this?” Sunset asked. “There’s a lot we don’t know.”

“We have to try. We can’t war - it isn’t our way. But running from threats isn’t our way either. We are going to deal with him our way.” She focused her magic and tore out a part of her soul that coalesced into a sharp, six-pointed purple spark. The Element of Magic. She floated the energy over to Sunset.

“I…”

“You deserve it, Sunset,” Twilight said, smiling warmly. “You’re a friend just as much as the rest of us. You’re just as magical as me. You can carry the Element.”

Sunset swallowed. “T-thank you, Twilight.” She grasped the energy in her hands and was overcome with emotion as the Element absorbed into her body. Twilight enveloped her into a hug.

“You’ll do great.”

They released the hug and Twilight turned to them all. “You seven are going to go to the Impervious Ruler’s power and show him how we deal with threats of war and world destruction.”

“The Orbital Friendship Cannon?” Pinkie suggested.

“...I was thinking more Rainbow Death Laser,” Rainbow said.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Either will do. The point is we have the power of Friendship, and that is how we work. We do not flee, we do not war. We fight with Friendship.” She smiled warmly. “You are going to go take him out. If he has a dark entity in him, purge it. If he is corrupt, imprison him. If there is no hope…” She steeled her eyes. “Destroy him.”

They all nodded.

“Celestia, they are under your protection.” Twilight looked to her with pleading eyes. “Get… get them all home safe.”

“Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a cupcake in my eye,” Celestia said.

Everyone knew what the word substitution in the Pinkie Promise meant. She would lay down her life to fulfill it. They were her little ponies.

Twilight nodded, wiping a tear from her face. “I wish I could go with you…”

Fluttershy hugged her. “We know you’re needed here. Don’t worry.”

“We can take care of ourselves,” Applejack said with a smirk.

Twilight chuckled. “If any ponies could… it’s you.” She turned to Rarity. “Are you ready?”

Rarity shivered. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“All right.” She turned to the cloud structure above them. It looked complete, and there were very few ponies still on the ground. “Discord!”

Discord appeared on the ground. “Yes?”

“It is time.” She pointed at Rarity. “You know what to do.”

Rarity walked up to Discord. “...You will need to control yourself, Discord.”

Discord folded his arms. “Please, I have enough willpower to keep everything organized.”

Rarity nodded, touching him and giving him some of her power. Discord turned into pure light, losing all physical form. He jumped to the cloud structure and enveloped it, mutating the clouds into cotton candy. Large jelly donuts appeared in the back, brimming with chaotic energy. Ice cream guns appeared on the bottom, and fractal patterns billowed off the edges of the craft.

“All aboard the S. S. Discordia!” Discord shouted - for he was the cloud ship now. Attuned to it in every way.

“Everyone on board!” Spitfire shouted. “NOW!”

“Oh, they don’t have to do that!” Discord chuckled, shaking the ship with his laughter. “Beaming you all up!”

Everyone except The Elements, Twilight, and Celestia were teleported into the Discordia.

“One last part to the plan…” Twilight breathed.

(“Twilight… are you certain?” Celestia asked.

“Absolutely.”

“If we cut them off, there’s no guarantee we can restore the Roots afterward.”

“We lived without them before we came here, we can live without them later.”)

Twilight focused her magic into a metaphysical blade, pointing it at the magical aura of the roots.

First, she severed Discord from the Roots.

“That tickles!” he chuckled from above.

“Still the ship?”

“Still the ship. See you later!” He activated his ship-chaos powers and teleported the entire ship elsewhere.

“Good…” Twilight severed the Elements next - all six of them, giving them wholly and completely to their bearers. All six of them shuddered - even Sunset.

“Are we… separate?” Fluttershy asked.

Twilight nodded. “You are all free from the Roots. Be careful.”

“And you…?” Applejack asked.

Twilight focused on herself - she was the Roots, in a way. But now… now she couldn’t be. She needed to remove herself, and in a very particular manner at that. She forced all but the smallest amount of harmony magic out of her system, keeping only the tiny nugget and her own natural alicorn magic. She angled the blade at the massive tether connecting her to the Roots, begging her to allow the magic back into her system. To be one with the roots again.

She swung.

It was like cutting off a leg.

She screamed as the tether was severed completely, tearing away her awareness, her magic, her harmony. Her heart skipped a beat and she collapsed to the ground.

“Twilight!” Everypony called.

She allowed them to crowd around her and help her back to her hooves. “I… I’m fine. I did it… I… I…” She felt so empty. “It’s done.”

“Twi…” Applejack said, frowning.

“Go,” Twilight said, lifting her head high. “Go, end the Impervious Ruler. I will protect our people.”

They all pulled her into a hug.

Celestia put her mouth next to Twilight’s ear. “I’m sorry.”

Twilight looked right at her. “It’s okay.”

The two alicorns embraced. When they stepped away, Celestia bowed to Twilight. This time… it was not a mocking gesture. Celestia meant it.

“Rise,” Twilight ordered. Celestia did so. “You made me into the mare I am today, Celestia. I have to thank you for everything.”

“You also need to thank yourself.”

Twilight smiled. “...Yes, I do, don’t I?” She laughed. “Celestia, now it’s my turn to protect the ponies, and your turn to face the evil. Make me proud. But also… make yourself proud.”

Celestia put a hoof to Twilight’s face. “I will, my friend.”

Twilight closed her eyes, squeezing out a tear - but she was smiling.

“Thank you, Twilight, for being the mare you are.” Celestia spread her wings and teleported them all away.

Twilight was alone on New Equestria.

She levitated her throne out of her castle and set it in the grass. She teleported one of Discord’s donuts to her and started munching on it.

The sun began to peek out from behind the shadow in the sky, heralding the start of day.

Now, she had to wait.

~~~

The blairne army did not stop marching. They had been told New Equestria had issued a surrender, but the Impervious Ruler ordered them to keep going just in case. Everypony certainly hoped they wouldn’t have to fight in the middle of the wilderness up a cliff face but the Empire had received the false white flag before.

An air-element blairne by the mane of Hopps was in charge of ‘relations’. Which meant he was being sent up the mysterious ‘escalator’ thing, alone, while general Sparkwheel organized the army for a possible assault.

Hopps carefully set his hooves on the moving stairs, sure to keep his fear buried deep within. It would not do to give off an air of weakness for the Impervious Ruler. Hopps was the representative, after all, and he would do his job proud.

Which meant putting on a menacing snarl and cruel eyes. This was always the worst part of his job but he understood why it was necessary. Give them no quarter.

He arrived at the top of the escalator to find a mostly abandoned square in front of what he assumed was the School. Sitting in the middle was none other than Queen Twilight Sparkle, with bound and gagged Ashen and Nirix at her hooves.

“I am Ambassador Hopps,” Hopps declared, striding forward. “Why are my fellow blairne imprisoned?”

“They’re not, you can take them right now,” Twilight said without a hint of emotion. “I simply did not trust them to behave.”

“Hmph.” Hopps began to walk around her. “And where is everypony else?”

“Gone. We didn’t exactly trust you not to burn this place to the ground.”

“Rest assured, we will respect our agreement so long as you hold up your end of the bargain.”

Twilight nodded. “The land is yours.” She pulled a disc-shape device out of her mane and gave it to Hopps. “This contains a mental recording of how the mana fount was activated. We do not understand why it reacted to the harmony magics the way it did, but I have severed myself from the Roots so you will have all the tools we had at your disposal.”

Hopps nodded, placing the disc into his pocket.

“The green button plays the recording, by the way.”

Hopps narrowed his eyes - he knew when he was being talked down to.

“Goodbye, Ambassador Hopps. We will not be seeing each other again.” She lit her horn and teleported away in a flash of purple.

Hopps nodded, untying Ashen and Nirix. “Do you know anything pertinent?” he asked them.

Ashen immediately started yelling swears, so Hopps took that as a no. Nirix, on the other hand, frowned. “Do we know the recording has what she said it has?”

Hopps pressed the button, playing back the moment Twilight found the mana fount and activated it by getting the Root near it. It contained magical scanning data as well.

“This seems wrong,” Nirix advised. “She would not do that. I know there was much shouting with her and Princess Celestia. Analysis indicates the deal should have changed.”

“I will keep that in mind.” Hopps walked back to the top of the escalator and called down. “Did you get all that, Qw?”

Qw appeared behind him in a flash of dark red energy. She was a blairne filly, so small that some dogs would eclipse her size. She wore a long, flowing red robe that paired well with her fiery mane. Arcane designs were imprinted into the fabric with gold leaf and she held a wand of pure sapphire in her front hoof. “Yes. I got that,” she spoke in a high-pitched but deadly serious tone.

“Can you confirm it?”

Qw tapped her wand into the ground. “On the surface, everything seems as advertised. I will need to work to craft spells to control the Roots and analyze them further. It will take time. Where are all the ponies?”

“They fled somewhere,” Hopps said with a shrug.

“Suspicious. I recommend finding them quickly. And you?”

Ashen stared at her in disbelief. “Are you… a child?”

“Yes. And you, unfortunately, do not have a clearance high enough to know of my existence.” A sharp white spark shot out of her wand and hit Ashen in the head. He fell to the ground without so much as a squeak, dead.

Hopps shivered.

Qw turned to Nirix. “Go, take control of the army, occupy this place. Find anything they may have left behind and put my colleagues on the task of locating the otherworlders.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Hopps shook his head - why did he have to be so good at his job? He didn’t want this clearance or all this death…

~~~

Twilight appeared in a flash of purple on the Discordia. “Now, Discord!”

Discord obliged. His essence within the ship grabbed hold of every little bit of it, teleporting them clear across the Sphere. They appeared overtop a large, icy mountain. Here, it was the middle of the night.

“And now they’ll never find us!” Discord laughed from all around.

“And it’ll take them far too long to realize what we’ve done.” Twilight spread her wings, flying through the cotton-candy cloud interior of the Discordia until she arrived at the very center. There, fused together from numerous small crystals, was a chunk of the Roots larger than Twilight. It was weak, pitiful, and had basically no power.

But it was where Discord himself was affixed to.

And it contained the magic signature that allowed the Roots to access the mana founts.

The Blairne Empire had a source of harmony magic, this was true. But it didn’t have the Elements and it couldn’t activate the mana founts. All it really had was a currently-empty dreamscape that wasn’t connected to anything.

Twilight had every intention of reactivating the dreamscape… but that depended on Celestia and the Elements, not her. Twilight just had to be here to guide her people and make them feel safe.

And protect them in the case of being attacked. They were so far from the Blairne Empire they didn’t need to worry about them, but who knew what the other side of the world contained?

She looked around the interior of the Discordia. Ponies that had been stuck in the Roots so long were celebrating despite the tense nature of their situation. To Twilight’s surprise, the wraiths were getting along with everyone just fine, almost like they were part of the community.

Twilight teleported herself to the top of the Discordia. Looking at the sky, she could make out the shape of the continent they had been on. The Blairne Empire was there, the shaper kingdoms… and the wilderness. The triangle of New Equestria was too small to see, but she knew exactly where it was. Right next to that forest…

Ichor phased through the cotton candy Twilight was sitting on and sat next to her. “Geez, cold out here.”

“We are on top of an ice mountain,” Twilight admitted. “...Hmm. Mountains are closer to the sun, shouldn’t they be warmer? The atmosphere doesn’t work the same here…”

“Mom?”

Twilight put a wing around Ichor. “Yes?”

“Is everything going to be fine?”

Twilight smirked. “Yes. The plan will work.”

“I… I mean between you and Celestia. That was… a lot of shouting last night.”

Twilight frowned. “I understood why she did it. Why she had to work quickly. In truth, she did leave the option of war open to me…”

“Would you have taken it had she not done what she did?”

Twilight didn’t have the answer to that question.

Ichor looked at the ground. “I don’t even know what I’m saying. It just… I want to say you’re right, but Celestia also knows a lot, and the argument…”

Twilight smiled sadly. “Ichor, friends argue. Even really close friends, like Celestia and me. We are fine, Ichor. Even if I am a little miffed, she’s also stressed out. It’ll all work out, we’ll meet up, and then everything will go back to the way they were.”

Ichor frowned. She didn’t vocalize any thoughts about what if it doesn’t work out?

Well, that just didn’t bear thinking about, now did it?

~~~

Celestia and the Elements stood at the edge of the Gourd kingdom that faced the Blairne Empire.

There was a large wall here made out of tall, blue gourds.

There were six shaper dignitaries behind them - including one from the ever-so-elusive Shroom Kingdom.

“Are you absolutely certain?” the Shroom asked, her voice raspy. “If you are willing to storm the Impervious Ruler’s stronghold… we would pledge our army to the cause... I am not alone in this, I am sure...”

The other dignitaries nodded.

“An excellent chance to rid ourselves of the Blairne Empire’s scourge,” the Flower said.

“You could keep that magic of theirs, do whatever you want, we’d even let you decide what happens to those captured,” the Grass added.

“The Empire would fall like apples,” the Gourd said.

“I thank you for the offer,” Celestia said, ruffling her wings. “But we do not make war. I am truly proud that you are willing to put aside your differences for the greater good, but we will not.” She turned to them. “If it goes wrong, retake the Roots.”

Rarity gasped. “Celestia!”

“It never hurts to plan for the worst possible outcome,” Celestia said. “Do you understand?”

The shaper dignitaries nodded in unison.

“Then go, and prepare, praying you do not have to use the armies you prepare.”

The six of them gave Celestia their farewells and wishes of luck before galloping off.

Celestia turned to the fence of gourds. “I will cast an invisibility spell and then teleport us to the other side. We will be in enemy territory. We will not interact with any of them, and we will spend most of our time teleporting. We will spend some time getting the lay of the land and gathering information. I expect to arrive at the capital in the morning.”

Rainbow Dash raised a hoof. “Are we gonna get to sleep? Nopony slept last night.”

The comment brought a warm smile to Celestia’s face. “Yes, Rainbow, we will take a rest for a the night. I already planned for that. Teleporting means we can cross the Empire rather quickly. We could arrive today, if we wanted, but that struck me as… ill-advised.”

“Well, this is your plan,” Applejack said.

Celestia shook her head. “This part… this is all Twilight. My plan was… rash, hasty, and caused a bit more panic than I would have liked. It was a mistake to unleash it so quickly, though I am not certain exactly what else I could have done…” Celestia frowned.

“Don’t worry,” Fluttershy said, putting a gentle wing on Celestia’s leg. “The plan is here, we just have to do it. Everything’s fine.”

“Yeah!” Pinkie shouted, sending confetti everywhere. “We’re going to beat the bad guy! Woo!”

Rarity smirked. “It has been a while since we wielded the Elements, hasn’t it?”

Celestia nodded. “It has. But I know every last one of you are still up to it.” She turned to Sunset. “Even you.”

Sunset looked at Celestia with a sad smile. “Don’t forget about yourself, Princess.”

Celestia let out a soft chuckle. “I won’t, my faithful student.” She placed her hoof in Sunset’s hands. “I won’t.”

There was a brilliant flash of light blue energy, depositing the massive, bony girth of an arthon mage directly in front of them. The Elements took up a fighting stance, ready to face whatever was ambushing them before they even identified it as an arthon mage.

The arthon mage didn’t attack. It simply looked at Celestia.

“...I think I know this one…” Celestia said, furrowing her brow. The Impervious Ruler?

Too dangerous to purge - alone.

“Yes, it’s the one I met,” Celestia said. “Stand down everyone.”

Everyone but Rainbow Dash left their fighting stances.

You wish to join us?

Strength. Harmless.

You mean harmless to the Sphere?

Vague.

Celestia frowned. “I believe it wishes to assist us.”

Sunset blinked. “Really? ...The Impervious Ruler is its primary target, perhaps it would have sensed our power.”

You may join us, Celestia thought to it.

Purpose gained. Follow designation Celestia. Lead.

Celestia nodded. “It really does wish to assist us. It is now following me.” She lit her horn. “Looks like we have a new ally.”

“Ooh! Ooh! We should name him something!” Pinkie bounced up and down. “What about… Bubbles? I like Bubbles!”

“Pinkie, that’s ridiculous.”

“If somepony’s got a better name they better tell me soon!”

With a smile, Celestia made all of them (including the arthon mage) invisible to the outside world. It was an easy matter of teleporting to the other side of the gourd wall.

After that… all they had to do was move.

~~~

Spike and Smolder sat on the back of one of Discordia’s donut-engines.

“Some date that was,” Spike yawned. “Just gotten to the gems when BWAAAP BWAAAAP DANGER DANGER EVACUATE NEW EQUESTRIA!”

Smolder chuckled dryly. “Yeah.”

“And when I went back it was all gone!”

“Er… yep. Definitely didn’t go back and eat them all earlier.” Smolder coughed.

Spike raised an eyebrow. “Wow. Low blow.”

“I was hungry and tired!”

“You said that two minutes ago.”

“The sun is rising again, Spike,” Smolder said, holding out a claw. “It’s been a day.”

“Oh. Oh.” Spike shook his head. “No wonder I feel so tired…”

“No kidding.” Smolder sat back, watching as the snow blowing from the mountain collected on the edges of the Discordia’s cotton candy.

“...I’ll go get us something to eat.”

“Spike…”

“You’re not in your fancy dress, this doesn’t mean anything.”

“Oh boy, the dress has meaning now, does it?”

Spike scratched the back of his head. “Uh…”

Smolder grinned. “Gotcha.”

Spike rolled his eyes. “Heh. ...Gems?”

“Gems. Got it.” He turned back to the cotton candy of the Discordia preparing to swim through and gather some gemstone treats.

“...I hope they don’t find us and interrupt us again,” Smolder muttered.

“...I hope so too.”

Spike dove into the cotton candy.

~~~

“They’re on the other side of the Sphere.” in a cloud fortress.”

Qw blinked. “Impressive, but not unexpected.” She tapped the tip of the Root with her wand, encouraging it to grow faster. Currently, she was out in the wilderness in the middle of the night, the Root tying her back to New Equestria so she could keep track of what was happening back there. “Have we uncovered anything else?” she asked.

The response came through the Roots. “Nothing. They cleaned out everything. The libraries are empty, the laboratory is bare. All we found was a statue of an unidentified alicorn in the forest.”

“Hmm…” Qw frowned. “Why would they leave that behind…?”

She had to push that thought out of her mind - she was nearing the unclaimed mana fount. Naturally, it was protected by four of the hard-light guardians. Not a surprise at all, anything this far out would still have its protectors. Normally the blairne would spend a few days plotting an attack, setting up armaments, and then engage in an hour-long battle to ensure the guardians were defeated and the mana fount freed.

Today was a special circumstance. She was here. An enchanter - the furthest an enchanter had ever been from the blairne seat of power. Any ponies who saw her who weren't meant to were marked for death. Usually by her hoof.

The guardians, in her mind, could be counted as a pony.

She crawled up the hill, standing tall on the root.

Her wand resonated with the message of the guardians. “Leave.”

She responded with a dual spell. The first spell was a simple response: “No.”

The second was a massive neon-red explosion that shaved off the top part of the hill, leaving only the mana fount standing.

If only enchanters were viable options for claiming the mana founts of the shaper kingdoms… but no, that would be too messy. Too obvious. Already New Equestria had no doubt deduced the existence of enchanters and possibly let the shapers know. That was unacceptable. For them to know an enchanter’s capabilities?

An unthinkable atrocity on the highest level.

She trotted up to the mana fount, ordering the Root to grow up with her. She knew the ritual to claim the mana fount, yes, but she wasn't here to test that old bore. She was here for instant, harmonious gratification. Power given to her for free.

She touched the root to the mana fount. Nothing happened.

No matter, the circumstances may have been unique in the cave. Emulating…

Closing her eyes, she waved her wand around and touched it to the air, mimicking the magical signatures the recording had told her about.

Nothing happened. The mana fount remained dormant.

Qw scowled. “They’ve done something,” she said. “Lied on the recording or did something to the roots.” Looking up to the other side of the Sphere, she wondered which one of the distant clouds was them. “The fools think they can run away. They know nothing of true enchantments…”

The Final Day

Qw looked around at her fellow enchanters. All of them had different colored gemstone wand, and all of them were older than her - and yet all of the robed blairne looked to her with respect and no small amount of fear.

“This is their exact location?” Qw asked, touching her sapphire wand to the citrine of a stallion enchanter.

“Updating in real-time,” the stallion responded.

“This is risky,” Qw reminded them. “If I do not return, remember, Ny takes my place.”

The enchanters all nodded in her direction.

Qw focused her thoughts into her wand, holding it up high with her hoof. It sparkled with blue energy. She waved it through the air in a circle, etching the pattern into the air. With a determined glare, she drew a zig-zagging pattern within the circle, completing the spell. She loaded the coordinates she had just received into the ethereal symbols and was teleported to them in a flash of blue.

She stood on top of a large stone brick embedded in the cotton-candy clouds. It was easy for her to make out ponies of all shapes and sizes along with a small orange dragon flying through the air. But this all meant nothing to her - she saw what she wanted. The bright blue crystal floating in the middle of the cloud fortress. It was not a single chunk of crystal but rather assembled from over a hundred separate shards. That explained why she hadn’t noticed anything physically missing: there were small shards laying everywhere due to natural wear and tear, they could have picked up ten times more than this and there would be no unusual pattern.

That crystal had what she needed. So she would take it. She raised her wand…

...and Discord appeared right in front of her, shaking his finger. “Ah, ah, ah…! You can’t be doing that!”

“You have no power now.” Qw pointed at him and unleashed a beam of neon-red energy right at him. He snapped his fingers, reducing the beam to chocolate chips.

“Maybe not as much,” Discord admitted with a grin. “But I am fused to this ship. Everything in it… is me!” A licorice tentacle erupted from the cotton candy ground and wrapped around Qw, knocking her wand out of her hoof. “Gotcha!”

“Monster…” Qw growled. To Discord’s surprise, her wand automatically returned to her hoof.

“We can’t have th-”

Qw initiated a recall, appearing back with her fellow enchanters. She glared at them all. “The Discord abomination still has power. They did something we didn’t think possible.”

“Did you learn what they did to the mana fount magic?”

“They collected Root shards and fused them together into a small core of magic. It’s in there, I’m sure of it.” Qw twitched. “We will get it even if we have to kill them all. Send word to the Empire. We may need their assistance in this endeavor.”

~~~

Celestia woke with the sun. She lifted her head out of the sleeping bag she had conjured for herself and looked up, more than a little pleased to see there were still trees above her head and not some kind of dungeon.

She lifted herself onto her legs and spread her wings, performing a quick check to make sure everyone was there. Five ponies and a horned human, all sleeping peacefully - even Rarity, despite having little more than a sleeping bag on the ground to rest her head. The arthon mage was sitting on a nearby rock, meditating.

Celestia decided to let them sleep a few more minutes while she checked on a few things. She spread her wings and flew to the edge of the forest, finding herself at the edge of the massive roother they were riding. The eight-legged monstrosity held mostly trees with a smattering of orange flowers here and there. They were surrounded mostly by wilderness.

However, unlike yesterday, she could make out the tip of a bronze spire in the distance. The palace, no doubt. She tried to make out any details of the structure, but it was simply too far away.

It was, however, close enough to teleport too… but that was ill-advised.

“Is that it?” Rarity asked, trotting up to Celestia.

The alicorn nodded. “Sleep well?”

“Enough.” Rarity held a hoof to her eyes and squinted. “I’m still surprised it was so easy to get here…”

“They have no way to detect us while invisible. They should have no idea we’re even here.”

Rarity nodded slowly. “...I can’t say this trip was anything like I expected.”

“How so?”

“I was expecting to see more evidence of these ponies being brutes. But… we haven’t seen many slaves. Or much of anything, really. Just ponies living in towns. Going about their lives.” She frowned. “What will happen to them after we’re done?”

“They’ll keep living,” Celestia said. “Either the Impervious Ruler will be redeemed or… whoever is next in line for the throne will rise.”

“Hopefully they will get the message.”

Celestia furrowed her brow as she strained her eyes to focus on the bronze spire. There was a soft rumbling as the roother below them completed a step. “Today is going to be difficult.”

Rarity let out a nervous laugh. “No kidding…”

“We should check on the others. Prepare as much as we are able.”

When the two of them returned, they found that everyone else was already awake. Rainbow was doing her stretches, Fluttershy was talking to some local animals, Pinkie was cooking breakfast with Applejack, and Sunset was messing with her sound gun. The arthon mage hadn’t moved.

“We’ll be heading out soon,” Celestia said. “The palace is visible. There will be many guards and defenses we know nothing about. We will go invisible and remain hidden as long as possible. If everything goes perfectly, we will be able to activate the Elements in the presence of the Impervious Ruler without raising any alarms.”

“Good plan and all, but…” Rainbow tapped a hoof to her chin. “Where’s the contingency? I mean, come on, we’ve gotta have some backup plan if we’re found early.”

“Supercharge celestia, sun nuke,” Pinkie offered.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Sounds unreliable. Why not have… I don’t know, a distraction? We could send arthon here in and watch him blow some stuff up! They won’t even be looking for us!”

“They know how to kill arthon,” Fluttershy reminded her. “We can’t put him in danger like that.”

“Fine, I guess we go in without any real backup then.”

“I could try t-” Sunset’s sentence caught in her throat. “Celestia? Arthon is doing something.”

The arthon mage had stood up and was looking directly at Celestia.

What is it? Celestia asked.

Distraction.

You’ve thought of a distraction?

Affirmative.

What’s the distraction?

Roother.

At first, Celestia wasn’t sure what he meant. Then, slowly, an amused grin came to her face.

“Fluttershy, I must warn you, I don’t think you’ll like his idea…”

Fluttershy sighed. “...Let’s hear it…”

~~~

The Discordia teleported to another section of the Sphere, dodging an immense magic laser shooting at them from the other side of the world.

“And you said it was a filly that showed up?” Twilight said, gawking at the magic readings she had gotten from the passing laser. She was sitting on top of the Discordia, using her horn to keep tabs on all the magic happenings.

“Absolutely!” Discord answered through a face made of cotton candy. “Child. Younger than Sweetie was when I was first released. Didn’t act like a kid though.”

“Probably brainwashed like Nirix,” Twilight said, frowning. “A child.”

“I’m surprised you’re more concerned about her well-being than fascinated by her wand. You’re growing, good for you!” A trophy appeared in front of her, filled to the brim with ice-cream.

She absent-mindedly took a bite, pondering. “She keeps shooting at us from afar, probably with some ground based station. Moving behind the sun didn’t work, she just attacked from another location… One of those attacks will hit eventually.”

“Pshaw, I’ve got enough power to teleport us in half a second! Nothing will faze me!”

A red laser fired, singing the edge of the Discordia.

“...Why didn’t I see that coming…?” Discord wondered.

“She’s getting smarter. Working around our defenses. Can you keep teleporting and raise a chaos shield?”

“Can? Yes. Will? On one condition.” He snapped his fingers, creating a sphere of pizza slices around the Discordia. “This is the shield I use.”

“I need to be able to see outside, Discord.”

“They’ll be invisible when you look at them! Geez, what do you think I am, an ameteur?”

Twilight smirked. “Yep!”

“Oh for the…” He teleported the Discordia to avoid another beam of energy. “This is already annoying.”

“We just have to last until Celestia gets to the Impervious Ruler,” Twilight said. “Which she will know because RAINBOW DASH IS PAYING ATTENTION!”

“I’m sure Blue Fast appreciates what you’re doing. After all, hearing the same urgent message four times? Great for focus and patience. A+, Queenie.”

A laser hit the pizza shield, sending bits of cheese and pepperoni flying. The shield held, though.

Discord frowned. “Why don’t they come up here and fight?”

“From our perspective, they’re ‘up’, Discord.”

“Gah. I wish the reflective spell still worked…” He teleported them. “Got any other ideas?”

“Besides RAINBOW DASH, nothing really… I guess I’ll try Frostfire again. Can you handle it up here?”

A cloud appeared above her head and started raining door handles.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” She teleported to Frostfire, who was sitting with Eagle, Ichor, and Sweetie near the large crystal. “Frostfire. I know I asked this before, but… do you know anything about your race’s enchanters?”

Frostfire sighed. “No. I thought they were just rumors…”

“What’s in the rumors?”

Frostfire frowned. “Nothing about weaknesses. Just, occasionally, I would hear whispers of young ponies that slaughtered their entire families and vanished, becoming terrible monsters. I… I suspect it was the government that slaughtered the families. Took the kids because they were valuable for some reason, however enchanting talent works.” He scowled. “I wouldn’t know their capabilities either. The rumors just say ‘run or die’. The ‘how’ is conspicuously absent.”

“Don’t know if that helps, but thanks regardless.” Twilight glanced to Ichor and Eagle. “You two?”

They both shook their heads.

“Great. Sweetie, find Spitfire, tell her if push comes to shove we might need to send a strike team down there. Until then I’ll be dreaming up ways to keep them from shooting at us…”

~~~

The Blairne Empire’s Capital was a wonderfully beautiful city made largely of bronze. It had been founded on top of a mine with a seemingly endless supply of copper and other precious metals, making it somewhat easy to make the city primarily out of the simple alloy. Here, in this city, there were only blairne of the highest caliber. Nobles, warriors, agents - and enchanters, though even here they stayed out of sight.

Here, in the safety of the capital, most blairne lived their entire lives without hearing anything from the other races. Many didn’t even know wraiths existed. They were a largely happy, if completely oblivious, people. They had a streak of pride that ran deep but rarely caused problems because everypony they came across was part of the same beautiful capital city at the hooves of the illustrious Impervious Ruler.

It had barely been an hour since the sun rose when the first guard saw the roother coming.

“Is that…?”

“Is that what?” his partner asked.

“Is that a roother?”

“A roother? Coming to us? They avoid the larger cities, come o-” his jaw dropped. “What the…?”

“I’m calling it in.”

“What’s the signal for ‘incoming roother’?”

“Ring the bell a lot of times randomly?”

They both shrugged and started tugging on the bell randomly. The guards mobilized to the city outskirts and took in the incoming roother. It wasn’t the largest one in existence, but it was the largest one any of them had ever seen.

The captain scratched her chin. “Get the Agents on it. They’ll know how to take out a roother.”

The Agents of the Impervious Ruler arrived a few minutes later.

Arix, a fire-ice-electric blairne, looked at the incoming roother. “You do not take out roothers. You divert their course.”

The captain glared at him. “Then do that!”

“The city is supposed to do that by existing.”

“Oh for the - it’s coming right here and we don’t have a ton of time! Do something! That’s your job!”

Arix nodded. “I will. Agents! Scramble defenses, call for a 442. Captain, arrange the guards in a wall formation. Steer clear of its crystal feet, you don’t want to be around it when we initiate. Go!”

The blairne forces scrambled, forming a wall of ponies between the roother and the city. Shields were raised, armor equipped, and the Agents took position in the front. The normal blairne would be of absolutely no use in this encounter, but Arix had given the Captain something to do so they didn’t feel completely useless. Stand there and try to look menacing cowering behind their shields.

They were fortunate the roother was incapable of finding their attempts at menacing faces amusing.

Blairne with sound-elements present in their magic charged forward, focusing all their energy together onto a single point on one of the roother’s eight legs. This one’s purple crystal shook and shivered as it was subject to a terrible high-pitched frequency.

It took two minutes of constant bombardment, but eventually the roother’s foot exploded in a shower of crystals and disgusting blue fluids.

The captain whooped. “Yeah!”

“Roothers have eight legs, captain,” Arix reminded her. “I’ve seen one stand on as few as three.”

The roother took a trundling step forward.

“Oh for the…” the captain sighed. “Do we have this under control?”

“Yes. It will just take time and resources.”

Which was exactly what Celestia and the Elements needed to sneak into the palace with their roother friend. They teleported across the city proper and appeared right in front of the palace gates: large, wiry things made out of a bronze wire mesh that pointed directly toward the sun. The armored guards saw the flash of light, but they didn’t know what at teleport looked like - they didn’t know to look for invisible arrivals.

Celestia teleported everyone to the other side of the gates, a wing to her mouth indicating they should all be quiet.

Rainbow pointed at her head, once again complaining that Twilight was shouting right in her ear. With a raised eyebrow, Fluttershy told Rainbow to just deal with it. Rainbow fumed silently.

In the sky, they saw a red beam of light cross to the other side of the Sphere. The Discordia was still being shot at. They could not see where the beam was coming from, but it was nearby.

Celestia teleported them through a window, appearing in a grand hall. Guards were standing there, naturally, but they didn’t suspect a thing. The eight of them were able to walk, unhindered, right to the main doors that led to what she presumed was the throne room.

Then, at long last, they came across a problem.

The doors were enchanted. Celestia couldn’t teleport through them. Which meant it was time for Celestia to stop carrying the team - they had the Element of Magic with them after all.

With a tense breath, Sunset moved forward and placed her hand on the door. It creaked from the pressure she exerted on it, causing the guards to look their way. Seeing nothing, they didn’t think to raise the alarm.

Sunset tapped into the Element of Magic, finding the enchantment easily. With a flick of her wrist, she removed it. The door instantly locked in seven different ways and started blaring with a very annoying siren. There must have been some kind of physical failsafe they couldn't see.

No matter. The spell was gone and the guards were confused - there was no one at the door. She teleported them to the other side and Sunset put the sealing spell back, ending the alarm.

They had to duck to the side as a white stallion holding a wand in his hoof appeared in a flash of white. He pointed his wand at a patch of empty air, scanning. He was no doubt one of their enchanters, and if he found them…

Applejack didn’t wait to see what would happen. She gently smacked him upside the head - given her strength, this was more than enough force to knock him right out.

They were now inside a large, circular room without any ponies besides them and the enchanter. There was a mana fount in the center, surrounded by a visually pleasing fountain. Behind that, there was another set of ornate double doors. Perhaps these led to the actual throne room?

Celestia was surprised to find these doors didn’t have any sort of magical lock on them whatsoever. She teleported everyone to the other side.

The room on the other side was so dark none of them could see anything - anything but a pair of eyes flashing dark with every color of the rainbow.

“...It seems you have bested my security with ease…” the Impervious Ruler said. A wand of pure diamond appeared, casting a simple dispel that made all of them visible - though they still had a hard time seeing him in the darkness. “It is a pleasure to meet you in person.”

~~~

“We could teleport out into space,” Twilight said.

Discord and Sweetie stared at her like she was crazy.

“Think about it. We have enough magic power to keep an enclosed atmosphere around us while we’re out there. There’s no way they can shoot at us outside the Sphere!”

Discord scratched his beard. “Hmm… Can I make the air smell like cherry bombs?”

“Anything, if you can get us out there, away from being shot at!”

The Discordia shook as Discord’s pizza shield took another hit.

Discord rubbed his hands together. “Might as well try!”

“No wai-” Sweetie began.

But Discord had already snapped his fingers.

Nothing happened.

“...What? Seriously!?” Discord teleported the Discordia somewhere random. “The Sphere's shell is teleport-proof, I guess.”

“Right, new plan…” Twilight tapped her chin. “Maybe somewhere underground?”

“We’d need a honkin’ big cave,” Discord pointed out.

“Probably can find one in a canyon, or maybe make one…”

“Or… we could use the sun,” Sweetie said.

“Already tried hiding behind the sun, they found us.”

Sweetie shook her head. “I don’t mean behind the sun. I mean… here, uh… can you give me a piece of paper and a pen?”

Twilight nodded, providing both. Sweetie levitated them and drew a circle in the center of the paper. “This is the sun, okay?” Seeing that they were both nodding, sweetie drew a half-circle around the sun. “This is what everyone thinks the shell looks like, a smooth covering for the sun to separate night from day. But that isn’t what it looks like.” She erased the half circle and replaced it with a ‘V’ shape that had a rounded tip. “This allows only half of the Sphere to see light at any given time. It’s an ingenious design, really. And it provides us with a place to hide.” She placed a dot between the sun and the bottom of the ‘V’. “It extends out, leaving a hole here. We could go there.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Sweetie, that’s… amazing work! Discord, keep the sun from melting us, we’re hiding behind the shell!”

Discord grinned. “Through the fire and flames we go!” He clapped this time, teleporting them to the backside of the shell. Their sky was now dominated by an immense ball of flame that blotted out all else. Everything else was the pure, matte black of the shell’s interior. Everything that came here burned.

Except one cloud fortress protected by a pizza shield.

“I’d like to see them shoot at us now,” Discord laughed - and then wheezed. “Ponyfeathers, it takes a lot of effort to keep you all from frying…”

“With any luck that’s all you’ll have to do,” Twilight said. “I’ll tell everyone to be on guard regardless.”

~~~

“I understand,” the Impervious Ruler began. “I see wh-”

“I know you understand us, we do not make a habit of making our motives secret,” Celestia interrupted. “You know what we want. I want to understand you.”

The dark eyes of the Impervious ruler shifted, favoring purple over the other colors for a moment. “The Sphere must be completed.” Seeing their confusion, he continued. “Eons ago, the Creators built the Sphere and created numerous crystal-based creatures to do the finer details of the work for them. Roothers manage biological diversity and arthon mages…” he carefully examined the arthon mage in the room with him. “...were the defenders. Every other creature had its own purpose to building the Sphere, but they could not do it alone. The Creators needed to guide them. The Creators are not here to guide them anymore, so the Sphere never reached what it was meant to be.”

“Which was?” Rarity asked.

The Impervious Ruler looked right at her. “I do not know. All I know is that it must be done.”

“Why? Why must?” Celestia asked, holding up a wing to keep Sunset from rushing forward.

“Because it must. I cannot ignore the calling.”

“Then why not do it peacefully?” Fluttershy asked. “We’d be willing to help fix everything…”

“I attempted peace at first. Logically speaking, working as one should expedite the process. This proved to be pointless. I attempted to unite the ponies when I was first given the calling, and the other races betrayed me in the end. I devoted myself to my race afterward… and I have successfully claimed more mana founts through war, conquest, and power than I ever did with peace. In the end, the Blairne Empire will own every mana fount in the world, and the Sphere will reveal its final plans to me. On that day - that final day - everything will be right.”

“We would have been willing to help you!” Rainbow shouted, aghast. “All you had to do was ask! We wanna know more about this Sphere too!”

“And it would have taken months for you to give me full access to the Roots. It hasn’t even been two weeks since you’ve arrived and already I’ve taken most of your power. I will take the rest.” His eyes shifted forward, indicating that he was leaning in. “And I warned you that I would hunt you to the ends of the Sphere if you had a ploy.”

“You won’t have to hunt,” Applejack said. “We’re right here.”

“So you are…” He lifted his wand. “Celestia will remain. As the only alicorn in existence it would be a blasphemy to destroy her lineage. The rest of you will die.”

Celestia smirked. “They’ll be harder to kill than me.”

“...What secret do you have?”

“Light him up, girls!” Pinkie shouted.

Sunset pointed her hand into the air, surrounding it with an aura of purple energy. Her eyes went white as Rainbow, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Applejack, and Rarity floated around her glowing limb. Glowing beams of light unleashed from all six of their chests, coalescing into a rainbow ball.

The Impervious Ruler flexed his wand, casting a dart spell that bounced harmlessly off the Harmonious energy. “What magic is this?”

“The Elements of Harmony!” Sunset shouted at the top of her lungs. “The power of Friendship - the strongest of all Equestrian magic!” She pointed at the Impervious Ruler with her other hand. “And you’re going to feel the burning light like so many villains before you. Including myself.”

The swirling Rainbow unleashed from the sphere, lighting up the Impervious Ruler for the first time. He was a black stallion half the size of Celestia with a larger-than-average horn compared to the other blairne. Multiple metallic rods intersected his body from many angles, all with dull crystals sticking out at the ends. One of these rods went right through his skull - no doubt infecting his brain with whatever was contained within the ancient rods.

“No,” he ordered, pointing his wand at the rainbow burst. A shield went up that stopped the Elements for all of a second before shattering. His eyes opened wide in shock before the rainbows completely enveloped him.

Celestia allowed herself to smile. He hadn’t been prepared for this. So few villains were.

Her smile vanished the moment she sensed the mana fount providing the Impervious Ruler with power. For a moment, the rainbows were pushed back - but even the energy of the Fount was purged with Harmony. The Elements were more than capable of convincing the magic of the fount to join them in friendship.

Then the Impervious Ruler’s connection to all the other mana founts in his Empire activated. Magic flowed through complex leyline enchantments that had been carefully laid in fear of a moment exactly like this - when all the magic would need to be called upon at once.

The rainbow of Harmony was pushed back again.

“Now!” Celestia shouted, unleashing her magic against the Impervious Ruler. The arthon mage did the same, adding a beam of his own magic. The impact all this magical power together caused a shockwave that tore the roof off the palace, allowing the light of the sun to enter the room and glint off the Impervious Ruler’s crystals.

“I…” he began.

“KEEP PUSHING!” Sunset shouted, casting some magic of her own in addition to the Elements.

“Am…”

“Duck, Rainbow!” Pinkie shouted.

“IMPERVIOUS!” The Elements of Harmony finally gave out - they had unleashed as much magic as they could at one time. The ground beneath them cracked in multiple places from the sudden change in air pressure. With a pained yell, the Impervious Ruler pointed his wand at Rainbow Dash.

She ducked, but the Impervious Ruler had heard Pinkie’s warming. He aimed lower.

Rainbow Dash’s head exploded.

“You won’t… be doing… that again…” the Impervious Ruler breathed.

“RAINBOW DASH!”

~~~

“They moved where?!” Qw demanded, voice squeaking from the strain.

A blue enchanter lifted her wand, tracing a representation of the sun and it’s shell in the air - a circle with a ‘V’ around it. She pointed the wand in the small space between the sun and the bottom point of the shell’s ‘V’. “Right here.”

“They’re insane.”

“-ly brilliant,” the blue mare continued. “They have enough magic to survive there. We can’t attack that location from long range.”

“They can’t stay there forever.” Qw furrowed her brow. “...Which means they’re waiting for something.”

“We recently detected the mana founts of the Empire activating. All of them.”

Qw twitched. “We do not have the luxury of time.” She lifted her wand. “I am teleporting there. If I do not teleport right back, it means the Discord abomination is too busy with the sun to deal with us, and we must attack with everything we have. We will take them out from the inside. Most likely we will be consumed by the sun upon destroying the Discordia, but we must do all we can for our Impervious Ruler.” She waved her wand in the air, tracing out the teleport spell. The pizza shield was intended to be teleport-proof, but what kind of enchanter would she be if she couldn’t surpass a lock like that on the fly? Not the best, that’s what.

She appeared inside the Discordia, holding her wand up high to allow her fellow enchanters to follow through. There were seven of them in addition to her.

“Ponies and others of New Equestria!” Qw called. “You have something that belongs to the Impervious Ruler! Deliver o-”

Seventeen pegasi barreled into the enchanters at the same time.

“Not gonna sneak up on us!” Spitfire said with a laugh.

“Definitely not!” Ocellus said, transforming into Qw. She unleashed a burst of fire magic at the filly, knocking her off balance.

“Mhm!” Marble hefted a huge rock over her head and threw it, hitting several of the enchanters. She seemed shocked that she had even thought of doing such a thing, much less actually did it.

“Nice one Marbs!” Zephyr called, smirking. “Now watch this!” He dove from the sky and hit a blue mage in the side. He got a lightning bolt to the face for his efforts. “Ow…”

“We must repel the attack!” Zecora called, hefting a red magma-like potion in her hoof. “The enchanters will fall back!” She threw the potion, encasing several enchanters in noxious smoke that made them cough uncontrollably.

This is ridiculous, Qw thought, lifting her wand. “FOR THE IMPERVIOUS RULER!” She unleashed a beam of red energy… that was completely absorbed by a purple magic shield. “...No…”

“Yes,” Twilight sparkle said, alighting in front of Qw. The concerned look on the Queen’s face made Qw absolutely livid. How dare this mutation of the natural order feel pity for her?

Qw pointed her wand at Twilight and cast the beam spell - to hit the Queen from behind. Twilight caught it with ease - but then Qw tapped into her natural blairne magic, unleashing a burst of fire into Twilight’s chest. The Queen was tossed back.

But it was only for a moment. She teleported behind Qw and pinned her to the ground with her telekinesis. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“...You’re a fool,” Qw muttered, summoning her wand to her hoof and tracing the teleport spell. She jumped about a yard away and fired a beam of energy directly at a group of defenseless ponies.

~~~

“Rarity!” Celestia called as she dodged the Impervious Ruler’s torrent of electric fire infused with steam. “Here!”

Rarity jumped away from what remained of Rainbow, tears streaking down her face. Celestia’s stomach sank as she realized Rarity wasn’t going toward her - but toward the Impervious Ruler out of pure, uncontrolled rage.

The Impervious Ruler swung his wand around to attack her.

Celestia intercepted the attack herself. She was far taller than Rarity, so the Impervious Ruler’s aim wasn’t dead on her head; instead, her shoulder exploded. The excruciating pain sent her perceptions into a tailspin - her eyes showed her nothing but sparkling white energy for a few seconds.

Despite this, she managed to fire off a beam spell to where the Impervious Ruler had been all of a second ago. She heard him grunt, followed quickly by a yell of pain. As her eyes readjusted, she noticed the arthon mage and Applejack were both on him; the mage unleashing hundreds of magic bullets while the immensely strong earth pony simply punched him in the side. Pinkie appeared out of nowhere and stuck a stick of dynamite in the Impervious Ruler’s face, plastering soot all over his already black face. He whirled to point his wand at her, but Sunset encased him in a magic bubble.

Fluttershy was on Celestia. “D-d-don’t worry, I’ve got y-you…” She waved her wings over Celestia, restoring her.

“Rai-”

Fluttershy choked at the first syllable, telling Celestia it was a bad idea to speak the full name.

“I… I’m sorry Princess…” Rarity said, laying her hoof on Celestia. “I failed you… have it.”

Celestia felt a surge of energy flow into her. Everything became heat. She felt as though flames licked up her legs and lava was churning in her stomach. Her eyes lit up with the orange might of a forgotten sun, her mane and tail becoming intense flames of power.

The first thing she did with her newfound power was grab the Impervious Ruler’s wand with her telekinesis… and grind it to dust. It had a number of enchantments that would have made that action impossible to all unicorns.

Celestia wasn’t a unicorn.

“I thought you were impervious?”

“As if I need a wand…” Using his elemental aspect of sound, he rammed a hoof into the ground. An earthquake rung out, collapsing the rest of the palace and much of the inner city. Everyone who wasn’t Celestia or the arthon mage fell over from the tremors.

The arthon mage charged, only for the Impervious Ruler to ram a sound-infused hoof directly into its body, vibrating the crystals of the beast at the perfect frequency to get them to shatter. The arthon mage fell to pieces before the Impervious Ruler.

“You gain ground and you lose it,” the Impervious Ruler declared.

Celestia sneered. “I need no help… I am the SUN, what are you before the might of its fire?”

~~~

Twilight teleported in front of Qw, preventing her attack from reaching the innocent ponies.

This was exactly what Qw wanted. In truth, it wasn’t even an attack - it was an overload spell. It absorbed directly into Twilight’s shield, driving all the magic used to cast it back into Twilight’s horn. Twilight fell back with a scream, unable to decipher what had just happened to her.

This was all according to Qw’s plan. She waved her wand, casting the spell she needed to hit Twilight - a well known but difficult spell known as Silence. Very rarely useful, since blairne enchanters were all in the employ of the Impervious Ruler, but it was a good tool for training and earning respect. Few enchanters could cast it, fewer still could do it on an unwilling target.

Twilight fell back, the light in her horn fizzling to nothing.

“Die, queen,” Qw stated, pointing her wand. A beam of red energy came out. To Qw’s annoyance, Twilight demonstrated a proficiency with pegasus magic and diverted the beam with an unnatural burst of wind. “...Persistent.”

“My special talent is magic,” Twilight admitted. “All magic.” She drove her hooves into the stone slab embedded in the cloudy ground, driving a crack through it all the way to Qw.

Qw sneered, teleporting to a separate slab. Instead of resorting to magic lasers once again, she tried something else: restraints. A series of magical ropes appeared in the air and flew at Twilight. She was able to deflect many of them with her wings, but not all of them. When one of the ropes hit her, her hooves were forced together with such force that some of her skin was burned off. Other ropes arrived now that she was not so agile, taking her down to the ground.

Qw tapped her wand in the air three times, creating three knife-like missiles in the air. She decided not to say anything. The blasphemous Twilight didn’t deserve a final word. The knives flew.

“Gotcha, mom!” Ichor shouted, picking Twilight up and flying her out of the way of the knives.

Qw twitched. Right. Their pet wraith. She wasn’t durable. A simple phasing bolt would take her out…

Eagle came out of nowhere and drove her beak into Qw’s back. Shrieking, Qw created a minor explosion that sent Eagle flying.

“GET YOUR HOOVES OF MY DAUGHTER!” Fox said, transforming fully into a bright red fox. She lunged, embedding her teeth upon Qw’s back leg.

Insolent whelp! Qw lifted her wand, preparing a spell to turn Fox’s bones to jelly.

Frostfire jumped over her head, grabbing the wand. “Got it!”

“Not for long, traitor,” Qw growled, asking for her wand to return.

It stayed in Frostfire’s hooves.

But that’s impossible. The only one who can prevent a blairne’s wand from returning is… another enchanter.

“I wonder what this thing does…?” Frostfire said, looking at the tip of the sapphire rod. “Can I make it shoot?”

Qw wasn’t going to give him the chance. She sent fire down her back leg to get Fox off, burning her own limb in the process. Qw didn’t care. She was going to get that wand back at all costs. She lunged, swirling fire around her body.

Frostfire shot a block of ice into her face, knocking her back. “And I don’t need a wand t-”

Qw twisted around the block of ice and lit the ground under Frostfire on fire. She reached out to the flames with her natural blairne magic and invigorated them, burning Frostfire from multiple sides. He shouted, dropping the wand and stumbling out of the fire.

Perfect. Qw reached forward…

Ichor wrapped her tail around the enchanter’s neck. “Ah, ah, ah! Don’t move!”

“...Why haven’t you stung me?”

“That’s not how we work here.”

“Your mistake.” Qw summoned her wand back to her hoof and pointed it at the crystal. It was clear at this point the enchanters alone couldn’t take the Discordia - they really needed the entire army here to win this.

But she would be satisfied with a draw.

She unleashed a spell of destruction directly on the central crystal of Discordia, ready to destroy it and, by extension, everyone in the cloud fortress.

Twilight intercepted it. There was no teleport, no shield… just a purple alicorn taking a destructive spell head-on. She held out a hoof that was completely consumed in the resulting explosion. She fell to the ground, unmoving.

Ichor tightened the grip of her tail around Qw’s neck until she passed out.

She had been the last enchanter standing in Discordia.

She was briefly aware of Discord shouting. “We need to get out of here! Something’s happening to the sun!”

~~~

The enchanters in the capital finally managed to get enough of their act together to realize they were nothing compared to the flaming monstrosity that was currently dueling their Impervious Ruler in the midst of the ruins of the royal palace. The moment they could give assistance they realized it would be pointless. One tried to throw a wand to their sovereign. Celestia reduced it to dust without so much as a thought.

Celestia’s solar beams impacted the Impervious Ruler’s walls of ice with great intensity.

“You’re straining!” Celestia cackled.

“I am the center of the mana founts,” the Impervious Ruler breathed, the magic of the founts still fueling the durability of his form. “Their endless power is mine.”

“Then I am the emissary of the sun. Its endless power is mine!” With a twisted grin, she felt the Sun in the sky. Currently, it was half-covered by its shell. Why not fix that? With a tilt of her head, she turned back the day until the shell was completely hidden behind the sun’s powerful glare. A beam of pure solar plasma shot from on high, impacting the ground around the Impervious Ruler and reducing it to glass.

The Impervious Ruler remained in the midst of the sunlight. Unable to speak, unable to move… but unable to die.

Celestia snarled. She couldn’t do any more than this. She had called heaven itself down upon this pony… and he was still here. Staring her down. Rarity’s supercharge wouldn’t last forever… There had to be something else.

The others thought this as well. Rarity and Fluttershy looked around desperately. Applejack was visibly considering jumping into the light just to get a punch off. Pinkie had her party cannon aimed. And Sunset…

Sunset had taken out her sound cannon. She hefted the metallic device in her arms and took aim. Pressing a few buttons with her magic, she sent a pulse of sound into the Impervious Ruler.

The gems in his metallic rods began to crack.

“NO!” He roared, somehow audible over the raging plasma. “IT MUST BE COMPLETED!”

Sunset used her magic to increase the volume on the sound cannon, cracking the gems further.

“THE SPHERE HAS A GRAND PURPOSE OF EONS! YOU DEFY IT!”

“It no longer knows what its purpose is!” Rarity shouted. “How could you?”

“I-”

The rods shattered from the strain, leaving behind a larger-than-average blairne fed by the mana founts of the Empire.

“It… it’s gone…” the Impervious Ruler said. “All gone…” A smile broke out on his face. “Thank you.”

Celestia tried to end her spell, but it was too late. The Impervious Ruler, freed from the wedge in his brain, chose to reject the power of the mana founts. Instantly, the heat of the plasma vaporized every atom in his body.

There were no more screams.

Celestia’s mane returned to its normal pastel colors. Her confident smirk was replaced with a grimace of horror. “...He was still in there… if… if only the Elements could have worked on him…”

She turned her gaze to the edge of the battlefield where the enchanters and Agents of the Blairne Empire stood.

“Your Impervious Ruler is dead,” Celestia declared. “Send word to the armies. New Equestria is to be abandoned. After this is done, you may appoint whoever is heir to the throne. Do not threaten us ever again or we will bring the might you saw this day to bear upon you.”

An enchanter in a white robe held an onyx wand tightly in her hooves. “...I am Princess Aegis. I accept your terms.”

“Good,” Celestia said. Her gaze softened considerably. “...I am sorry I could not save him.”

The Agents and the enchanters gasped in horror - but Princess Aegis did not. She merely wiped her eyes and nodded in understanding. “Ul, send word to Qw, get them to abandon New Equestria. Everypony else, make sure the citizens are okay.”

They left, leaving only Princess Aegis with Celestia and the others.

Celestia turned to Rarity. “Fluttershy.”

Rarity nodded, touching the pegasus and endowing her with immense energy. The buttery pegasus exhaled, spreading her wings. Grass and flowers sprouted up all around. “I… I cannot find him…”

Aegis nodded. “He was free in the end…”

Fluttershy’s wings focused on Rainbow Dash’s headless body. “I can find her.” She pushed her wings into Rainbow, flooding it with life. All six limbs extended to full, and with a swirling aura of green light, Rainbow’s head regenerated.

She opened her eyes. “Ugh… I’ve got the worst headache…”

Fluttershy pulled her into a hug. “Rainbow!”

“Wh- what? Wait, did I-”

Pinkie, Rarity, Sunset, and Applejack piled on - the last one squeezing Rainbow a bit too hard.

“AUGH! MY RIB!”

“Sorry!” Applejack blurted.

“Let me fix that…” Fluttershy said.

Celestia smiled sadly. “...You should return to your ponies, Aegis.”

Aegis looked to the alicorn. “As should you.”

Celestia spread her wings and enveloped her five precious little ponies and her faithful student… and teleported away.

Aegis looked down at the shards of diamond at her hooves.

“Is this what you would have wanted, Scimitar?”

She received no answer.

~~~

“Mom!” Ichor called, running to Twilight. The alicorn had seen better days - her entire lower half was missing, and one of her front legs had been burned to a stump. “Mom, I…”

“Ichor…” Twilight said, smiling softly. “I… I’m sorry…”

“D-don’t be, you saved everyone, there… nobody’s dead! Nobody at all! We beat them!”

“But I… I was the keystone of the Roots…” Twilight coughed up some unnaturally dark bile. “I… I failed the Tree of Harmony… My plan…”

“Screw the Tree of Harmony, you saved us!” Ichor spread her wings. “All of us are alive! ALL of us!” She tucked her hooves around Twilight’s head. “We won!”

Twilight’s eyes lazily drifted to the crystal. “Discord… will have to see what he can do…” her eyes started to grow dim.

“No… No! Mom, no! Discord, get out here and do something!”

Discord appeared - at about the size of a pea. “I… I’m spent. I had to get us away from the sun.”

“Screw the sun!” Ichor cried. “Screw the Tree, the sun, the magic, the…”

“Ichor… I’m so proud of you,” Twilight said with a sad smile. “Tell my friends I’m proud of them too. They did just as much as I did…” she coughed. “Tell Celestia I forgive her… and that I love them. All of them…”

“M-mom…” Ichor sputtered, eyes welling up with tears. “I didn’t get to…”

“Go to Celestia…” Twilight encouraged, caressing Ichor’s face with her one remaining hoof. “And… be the Princess you know you are…”

“I… I…”

“Spike…” Twilight called, sensing her number one assistant was nearby. “Be happy.”

Spike couldn’t make a verbal response.

Twilight sparkle looked up. “I wish… I wish I could have seen the stars one last time…”

“We can do that!” Ichor shouted. “S-someone open up the clouds, let’s start breaking through the Sphere’s barrier a-” She looked down. “M-mom?” She shook Twilight slightly.

There was no response.

“N-no…”

For the longest time, there was nothing but silence in the Discordia. No one did more than breathe. No one thought anything else could be done. Should be done.

Their Queen was no more. Their only loss in the entire fight.

“No.”

Everyone was more than a little shocked to hear the voice of Pinkie Pie.

“There will not be an arbitrary tragedy today.” Pinkie stood up on her hind legs, smiling so large her teeth took up most of her face. “We started with a tragedy. We will end in triumph.”

She stepped to the side, revealing a supercharged Fluttershy.

“Today… we live. We all live.”

The New Day

The New Day

Twilight woke up with the morning, a stupid grin on her face.

She felt the Harmony of the Roots flowing in her once again. She could feel the spirits of her ponies, the magic of the world… Everything was as it should be.

Ichor noticed she was awake. “Good morning!”

Twilight chuckled, getting out of bed and stretching her wings. “Morning, Ichor. Did anything explode in the night?”

“Nope! Everything went smoothly. The shaper dignitaries came back, there’s been no sign of a blairne assault, and Discord fixed the food mountain! Everything’s… great!” She rushed Twilight into a hug. “And now it’s better because you’re awake!”

Twilight stroked Ichor’s mane. “That’s good to hear. Is the picnic still on?”

“Duh, of course it is! I even packed everything for you!” She pulled a picnic basket out from behind the bed, giving it to Twilight. “Spike, uh, helped.”

Twilight chuckled, kissing Ichor on the forehead. “He is the number one assistant for everyone, isn’t he?”

“Yep! Now go, shoo, enjoy the picnic with your friends, I can pretend to be regal long enough to keep everyone happy.”

Twilight laughed, trotting out of her bedroom. She passed by Spike and Smolder sitting in the main hall.

“Question,” Spike said. “How do we teach them dragonball if I’ve never played and you need at least four dragons to work it?”

Smolder scratched her chin. “I think Seabreeze and Gallus might be able to work. Wings and claws are all you really need.”

“Fire?”

“Just ask Discord. Actually, Discord could turn ponies into dragons temporarily!”

“Careful relying on Discord,” Twilight suggested as she passed.

Spike rolled his eyes. “We know!”

“...So, it sounds like you two have worked things out remarkably quickly.” She smirked. “Should I tell Rarity to start designing the dress?”

Smolder facepalmed. “Give it time, sparklebutt.”

“I will,” Twilight giggled, winking at Spike before continuing on her way. She found Sunset and Celestia standing at the front doors of the castle, looking at the sun through a window.

“You sure you set it back on the right rhythm?” Sunset asked, squinting her eyes. “I feel like it should be earlier in the day…”

Celestia rolled her eyes. “Trust me, I set it back exactly as it was, and I did account for the few minutes it was offset. I raised the sun for over a millennium, I know how to fix it if it goes off course.”

“Just sayin’, those shaper dignitaries are gonna accuse you of messing stuff up.”

“And they’ll be wrong.”

“Right.” Sunset noticed Twilight coming. “Ah, Twilight! I was going to talk to you about something. Since we can connect mana founts together and we don’t have to bother with the ritual, I was thinking, we could use that magic for something.”

“Such as…?” Twilight asked.

“Well, this is just a crazy theory, bu-”

Celestia held up a wing. “I think we shouldn’t keep Twilight from the picnic. She needs to unwind before her mind spirals off into intellectual pursuits.”

“Oh. Right.” Sunset rubbed the back of her head. “Talk to you later, Twilight.”

Twilight smiled. “I’m already intrigued and I have no idea what your plan is!” She giggled, turning to Celestia.

Twilight decided to hug the Princess. “We’re good, Celestia. Don’t worry.”

Celestia enclosed her wings around her once-student. “You shouldn’t either.”

The two broke off the Embrace. Twilight pushed the front doors open and entered New Equestria. For the first time since they had arrived, New Equestria looked populated. Dozens of ponies of all shapes and sizes walked alongside each other - earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns, wraiths, shapers, and even a few changelings. There were only two blairne, though - Frostfire and the Empire’s new dignitary, Verberate. She had arrived just before Twilight went to sleep last night, and she had been welcomed relatively easily. After all, the sound blairne was a familiar face who had tried to understand them the last time she was here. Currently, Ebony and that Gourd Twilight could never remember the name of were talking to her.

“A book the blind can read…?” Verberate asked, looking at Ebony like she was crazy.

“They have many odd magical marvels,” Ebony said, holding up her book of riddles.

Verberate was hesitant to get that close to an object a wraith had touched, but her curiosity pushed her past it, allowing her to rub her hoof across some words and gain understanding about a number puzzle. “Everything adds up to twenty-seven? A simple matter of math!”

“That’s what they all say,” Ebony deadpanned.

“And the seeds of change are sown,” the Gourd said with an air of poetic charm. He turned to Twilight. “There’s a long road ahead of us.”

Twilight nodded in his direction. “And we’ll be with you if you’ll let us.”

The Gourd grinned. “You understand. Good.”

I haven’t the foggiest, but all right. She nodded curtly to the Gourd and continued on her way, purposefully seeking Frostfire out.

“That was some nice work with your jaw,” Frostfire was telling Red Fox.

“I was trained as a hunter,” Fox said, waving a dismissive hoof.

“You were awesome!” Eagle cheered. “Dad, why can’t you do stuff like that?”

“Because I’m Beaver,” Beaver said. “If felling a tree would save the day, I’d do it. Otherwise… well, toss a wand to Frostfire and hope it works.”

“Alas, I will never know what I could do with the wand…” Frostfire put a hoof to his forehead. “The secrets to creating them are probably locked away in some long-forgotten chest beneath the palace rubble.”

“I can probably make you one,” Twilight said, walking up to Frostfire. “...I owe you much more than that, but it’s the least I can do.”

“Owe me?”

“Out of all the ponies who stayed by us, you were the one who had the least reason to. We were fighting your people, we had not saved you from any sort of danger, and we didn’t really show you anything all that new. You just… stayed.” She put a comforting hoof on his back. “I think you’re more generous than you realize.”

Frostfire broke out into a smile. “About time somepony recognized my greatness.”

Eagle facehooved. “Oh boy…”

“You still have a long way to go… but I’ll see about making that wand. Still, though, I wanted to thank you.” She turned to Fox and her family. “All of you, for standing by us.”

“Don’t mention it,” Beaver said. “It just… seemed like the right thing to do.”

Twilight beamed. “You have no idea how great that makes me feel.” One at a time, she shook their hooves before continuing on her way. Her plan was to go right to the picnic after this, but Discord’s little game interrupted her.

“The demogorgon cometh!” Discord declared. Twilight looked up, seeing him and his group of ‘adventurers’ descend from the overhead Discordia. He lifted up a cardboard cutout of a humanoid creature with a bunch of toothy petals for a head. “This is the monster that has been terrorizing the village for years… finally in a place where you can see it clearly. What do you do?”

Big Mac looked to his adventuring companions. Scootaloo was frantically trying to pull out the right arrow for the occasion, Zephyr had already been knocked out by a previous trap, and Marble…

...was confidently strutting up toward the monster?

“Mhm!” Marble declared, ramming her hoof into the ground. Using the geomancer class’ ability, her magic became one with the earth. A crevasse opened up in the earth, swallowing the demogorgon. However, it wasn’t quite done. It managed to hold onto the edge of the crevasse, lunging at Marble.

She pulled out her geomancer’s scepter and thwacked it in the head. The cardboard cutout disintegrated from the critical hit.

“Mhm!” Marble grinned, planting her staff in the ground like some kind of flag.

Everyone was staring at her in surprise. When she realized this, her smile vanished and she shrunk back.

Until they started clapping.

“Those were some pretty good moves!” Spitfire said.

“Awesome!” Scootaloo added.

“I believe it could be true, a master of the earth are you,” Zecora suggested.

Marble allowed herself to smile.

“Huh. And here I was thinking I’d have to write a whole new curriculum for her,” Sweetie said, letting Twilight know she was at her side.

“Headmare Belle, huh?” Twilight asked with a smirk.

“Yep! That’s what it’s looking like!” Sweetie stretched her legs and excitedly tapped the ground. “I am stealing your jooooob!”

Twilight chuckled. “I don’t mind. It’s nice to have one less thing to worry about. I’m sure you’ll do great.”

Sweetie saluted. “Now go get to your picnic.”

Twilight rubbed the back of her head. “Right, right… wouldn't want to be late!” She decided it was probably a good idea to teleport, so she wouldn’t get stopped again.

Even with this jump, she was the last to appear on the red-and-white checkered blanket. Her five closest friends were already there, having brought their own baskets of food to share in the shadow of Princess Luna’s statue. Twilight set her basket down and grinned. “Sorry girls, got stopped a lot.”

“You stopped yourself on Frostfire,” Rainbow jabbed, though she was grinning.

“Fair, fair…” She sat down on the blanket and opened up her basket, pulling out a few sandwiches and a salad. She looked up at the statue of Luna - and smiled.

“...Finally, we can just have… a picnic,” Rarity said with a sigh of relief. “No army threatening us, no panic, no worry about the ponies in the Roots… everyone’s here.”

“Everyone,” Pinkie said, turning to Twilight. “Even you.”

“Thank you all,” Twilight said. “For saving me, yes, but also… for being friends. For being there for each other. For being strong enough to survive the destruction of almost everything.” She glanced at Luna’s statue. “Our world was destroyed… and we lost, so, so much.”

“But we’ve gained somethin’ here, haven’t we?” Applejack said.

“A new life… a new way…” Fluttershy smiled. “We’ve brought friendship to this confused, angry world.”

“Dear, we haven't done that yet,” Rarity said. “We barely got them to stop attacking us! The blairne aren’t exactly thrilled at our actions, and the shapers will probably be at each others’ throats soon.”

“Give it time,” Pinkie said. “We’ve planted the seeds…”

“The Gourd was saying something similar,” Twilight recalled.

“I swear, they speak in metaphors have the time,” Rainbow grunted. “And the other half they don’t even try to make sense.”

Pinkie shrugged. “Close enough!”

Twilight took a deep breath, allowing the air of New Equestria to fill her. It no longer felt alien to her, the air of the Sphere. It felt… warm. Comforting. Fresh.

It felt like home, finally.

With a stupid grin on her face, she took a bite of her sandwich and felt alive.

Credits

Credits

THE FINAL CHOICES

THE END

By G. M. Blackjack

Commissioned by Nightsclaw

Starring

Twilight Sparkle as The Queen!

Rarity as The Unexpected Chancellor

Starlight Glimmer as The Tragic Loss

Rainbow Dash as Big Sister is Watching

Fluttershy as Portable Potion Pony

Pinkie Pie as Bouncing Awareness

Applejack as Serious Punch

Celestia as The SUN

Sunset Shimmer as The Gadget Monkey

Spike as Romantically Confused Assistant

Discord as “Welcome to Discordia, How May I Take Your Order?”

Sweetie Belle as The Headmare

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo as Those Other Crusaders

Spitfire as The General

Marble as Hidden Awesomeness

Big Mac and Zephyr as the Rescued That Didn’t Do Much

Smolder as The Dragoness

Ocellus as “Wait, was I Supposed to be Spying?”

Red Fox as Motherly Instinct

Chestnut Beaver as Slightly Too Reasonable

Yellow Eagle as MAGIC! MAGIC! AAAH!

Frostfire as The Heart of Gold and Arrogance

Ichor as Instant Princess

That Gourd as That Gourd

Silicate as That Guy Who Sucks

Ebony as Blind Puzzler

Ridge as Good Riddance

Verberate as Can You Hear Me Now?

Ashen as BURN THE HERETICS

Nirix as Boring McAgent

Qw as Child Sorcerer

The Arthon Mage as He Who Purged That Which Could not be Purged

Scimitar as The Impervious Ruler

Aegis as The Convenient Princess

??? as The Biology Teacher

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic belongs to Hasbro.

Any other franchises referenced belong to their respective owners.

Special thanks to the commenters, as always, including FanOfMosteverything, Venerable Ro, Silvadel, and Lexiebommel10

Commissions are a little hard to think about. I’ve had both good and bad experiences, and the experiences of writing something someone else wants is very different than writing something for yourself. Some stories that I enjoyed writing may still have felt like a drag. For the most part, The Final Choices did not feel like I drag. I thought, at first, that it might have been too tragic… but you know what? I think it works like this. Let’s reverse the standard tragedy formula. Begin with the worst of the worst and end… with the best.

-GM, master of Choice

~~~

Many years later…

“Mana fount cohesion is optimal!” Queen Aegis shouted. “Everything’s lining up!”

“Lock the final sequence!” Queen Twilight ordered.

Sunset obliged, taking hold of the crystal lever with her hand and pulling down.

The entirety of the Roots pulsed with bright blue energy, lighting up a spider’s web of crystal structures in the night sky of the other half of the sphere. The Roots had spread far and wide to connect as many mana founts together as possible. It had taken many years and a lot of hard work, but they finally had enough. An entire continent of mana founts… channeled into this single point.

The energy coalesced into a shimmering ball of white power, equidistant between Aegis and Twilight. Twilight lit her horn and Aegis pointed her black wand at the object. They both shunted their magic into it, using the differential between their spells to rip reality apart.

A hole tore through the air, revealing a circular window to a classroom. Inside, there was a fully-grown human Fluttershy lecturing high school students on biology. “Now, can anyone tell me what this stage of cell division is called?”

“FLUTTERSHY!” Sunset shouted, running through the portal.

“Ye- SUNSET!?” Fluttershy dropped her chalk instantly and pulled Sunset into a desperate hug. “T-Twilight said everything was gone…”

“It was. But… but I made it out.” She put her hands on Fluttershy’s shoulders, tears falling down her face. “And now I’ve made it back.”

“I’ll go tell the girls!”

“I’m coming with you!” Sunset turned to the portal. “Open it again in an hour, use the radio spell.”

Twilight and Aegis nodded.

“And Aegis…? Thank you.”

Aegis smiled sadly. “You’re welcome, Sunset Shimmer.” She pointed her wand at the portal and it closed with a pop, leaving Sunset to reunite with her long lost friends…

The Last Day

Princess Twilight Sparkle woke with the sun. She liked it this way – the first things she saw every morning was Celestia’s fire rising overtop a brilliant Equestrian landscape. The birds were chirping, and the crystalline walls of her castle reflected the beams to cast a rainbow over her bed sheets.

If only she actually felt like getting up today.

“Uuuugh…” she groaned, putting a pillow over top of her face to drown out the beautiful light of the outside world. Unfortunately, her alarm was set to five minutes after sunrise specifically because she knew she had a tendency to ignore the morning light.

She was her own worst enemy.

With an exasperated moan, she pulled herself out of bed. She righted herself onto all four hooves and walked to her mirror where she quickly got the early morning stuff out of the way. Mane: combed. Wings: stretched. Horn: checked. For all the pain she went through in refusing to get up, she was fully awake remarkably quickly.

With her newfound awareness of her surroundings came the pangs of hunger. Twilight was ready for breakfast.

She trotted down the stairs toward the map room, expecting Spike to already have breakfast set out. Instead, she found him standing in the doorway, staring into the room.

“Huh? Spike, what are you doing?”

“Trying to figure out what all this is.”

Twilight looked into the chamber that held the map-table. On a normal day, it would be filled with the smells of breakfast, or just be empty if Spike was running late. Today it was completely filled with high-end scientific equipment, most of which Twilight didn’t recognize right away.

“How’re the magic levels?” Starlight asked, staring intently at a sheet of paper one of the computer boxes were printing out. “I… think this data is inconclusive.”

To Twilight’s surprise, none other than Sunset Shimmer trotted over, levitating the data to her eyes with her magic. “Magic levels are highly variable and unpredictable at the moment… aha, here, here, and here we have critical points, a possible pattern could emerge from those!”

“…You just pointed at three random spots.”

“How has Twilight not made you learn calculus?”

“…That’s the math thing, right?”

Sunset put on an awkward smile. “Yes. Yes it is.” She trotted over to a tall device clearly designed to be operated with hands given the keyboard on the front of it, but Sunset managed with magic alone. It was one of the few devices with an actual screen rather than a paper readout, though it was only black and green. As Sunset typed, mathematical curves appeared on the screen, all coalescing at one point. “Aha! It did converge!”

“…That looks explosive,” Starlight commented.

“Which is why we need to stop it!”

“Stop what!?”” Twilight asked, grabbing both of the unicorns’ attention.

“Magic anomaly,” Starlight said, thinking this was explanation enough.

Sunset rolled her eyes. “The Mirror Portal was flashing in and out of stability, lighting a few things on fire at Canterlot High. You were asleep when I came in but Starlight was up doing… something.”

“I was trying to figure out why my magic had been acting up all day.”

“Right. That. Anyway, we decided to figure out what was going on with the Mirror Portal and discovered that it was related to Starlight’s magic. So I started bringing in some equipment and Starlight brought out your ancient computers and here we are.”

“…You didn’t explain what the problem actually is,” Spike said.

“Ah. Right. Uh… it’s complicated.”

Starlight snickered. “The winds of magic have been coalescing at a single point - this map – and the density is getting just a little too large for the fabric of reality.”

“Oh…” Twilight said.

“…Why is that bad?” Spike asked.

“Think ‘boom’,” Sunset said.

“More like ‘explode twice’,” Twilight added. “That’s it, make room, I’m going to make some magic circles…”

“Bringing out the big spells?” Starlight smirked. “Nice.”

“Bringing out the ‘fine-tuned’, spells. If it was just a case of having strong magic you would have figured this out already between the two of you.” Twilight focused magic into her horn and began to trace a simple circle around the table. “Spike, send a note to Rarity, have her take over my classes for the morning.”

“Gotcha covered!” Spike dashed out of the room, message in mind. The three remaining ponies continued at their work, slowly integrating together human technology, magical power, and intricate spells to gain a greater understanding about what was happening.

Twilight was easily able to confirm that there was magic focusing above the table, but why was another question entirely. At first they thought it might just be the Tree of Harmony trying to do something, or a problem with the table itself, but after an hour of tests they were able to determine the magic wasn’t exclusively coming from there.

“This doesn’t make sense!” Twilight said, pointing at the screen with her hoof. “I’ve determined exactly how much magic it’s drawing in from the surroundings, and it’s not enough for the rate at which it’s growing! Where is all the excess coming from?”

“Teleportation?” Sunset asked. “Or perhaps it’s something intradimensional, given the Mirror Portal’s behavior.”

Starlight pointed at one of the papers. “Uh, didn’t we just say this thing isn’t detecting any problems on the other side? The natural magic there is just fine, it’s only the Portal that’s freaking out.”

“So whatever it is, it’s localized here…” Twilight put a hoof to her chin. She got an idea – she teleported into her office in the School, grabbed one of her magical recording crystals, and returned to her castle. “Let’s see… This has been sitting in the School and – yep, it’s detecting a magic imbalance. Not as bad as here, but there’s definitely something.”

Starlight levitated the crystal with her magic. “Huh… Something feels wrong about it.”

“It gave the readout just fine.”

“Just because it looks like it’s working doesn’t mean it is.” Starlight narrowed her eyes, turning the crystal over and over. “…Twilight, feel how its counting time.”

“Time? The timekeeping spell is j-“

“Just check it.”

Twilight touched the crystal with her horn – and furrowed her brow. “…It’s five minutes behind.”

“So what? Things go out of time all the time,” Sunset said.

“None of my instruments would be that far off. I set them regularly. I notice when it hits two minutes. It couldn’t have drifted that far in just one night…”

“So, might it be time related?” Starlight asked.

Sunset blinked. “I don’t even know how to test for that.”

“I can try,” Twilight said, tracing another magic circle in the ground, this one with four smaller circles for her hooves. She flared her wings and touched the magical fabric around her, the Element that defined her granting access no simple unicorn had – much to Starlight’s chagrin.

Time, she thought, and the realm of magic opened itself up to her. She couldn’t get anything specific, but she was able to see more than she had before. She could observe herself in multiple frames of reference at once, seeing the relative density of time and space.

It took some focusing, but she found it. A gradient. Time was flowing differently around the magical focal point than the room around them. It was flowing much faster.

“It’s… compounding energy faster than normal time will allow, so it’s accelerating time!” Twilight said.

“…That doesn’t make any sense,” Sunset said. “Really, think, accelerating time around one area doesn’t mean you’re getting more energy.”

“Unless you’re condensing every time at that point,” Starlight countered. “…Like a sandwich.”

“Right… so let’s take that as a theory, and say time is being ‘condensed’ around this magical focal point, drawing energy from… other time? Sure, why not. What’s causing it, and how do we stop it?”

“No idea.”

“We can take some measurements,” Twilight said, holding up her recording crystal. “We can use a timekeeping spell to measure the rate of time’s changing. Sunset, get ready with some number crunching, time to deal with relativity.”

Sunset nodded, putting her magic on the keyboard. “Ready.”

Twilight ran the recording crystal through the area of magic focus several dozen times, resetting the clock each time. Occasionally the magic pathways would fry due to oversaturation, but they were still able to get enough data points to create a graph.

Sunset traced her hoof across the screen. “Let’s see… at the rate of temporal change here, it began… about three years ago, local timeframe. Anything particular happen then?”

“Nothing specific,” Twilight said. “Lots of weird stuff happens here.”

“I’ve only been around about three years, probably couldn’t tell you,” Starlight added.

Twilight and Sunset slowly turned to stare at her with blank expressions.

“Oh. It’s me isn’t it? …Ponyfeathers.”

“Time related… about three years ago…” Twilight put a hoof to her chin. “It makes sense. If we didn’t really fix the whole time spell, it could have been slowly compounding over time until it reached this.”

“Wouldn’t we have noticed it? I mean look at that graph, it looks like it’s rising quickly!”

“Doubling a millionth only gives you two millionths,” Sunset said. “It hasn’t been noticeable until now.”

“…Right, so, now we know what it is.” Starlight shook her head. “Now I need to figure out how to stop it. Because apparently this is still all my fault.”

“You couldn’t have known.”

“And I’ve changed, I know, I can still feel a little annoyed about it.” She lit her horn. “I could try shunting it all into a time-bowl… Even without the scroll, I think I can do it.”

“But we don’t know how to deal with time,” Twilight admitted. “If we made this mistake last time… Who knows what other tricks could remain?”

“Do we know anyone who actually knows about time spells?”

“Hm… Starswirl.”

“His spell made this mess!”

“Doesn’t Discord know some?” Sunset asked. “Actually, he could probably just fix it with the snap of his fingers, keep the castle from exploding.”

“I would like to keep my castle…” Twilight admitted.

“I’ll call him.” Starlight lit her horn and sent out a pulse of blue energy. With a flash of white, Discord appeared between the three of them.

“Well well well, it appears we’ve got a ‘HELP US DISCORD’ spell.” He took off a pair of shades he hadn’t had on when he arrived and grinned. “What do you need me to do that your little horns can’t do themselves?”

Twilight cleared her throat. “Discord, we have a major temporal anomaly forming on top of the map here, threatening to consume magic from across time and explode rather violently, perhaps twice. This came about th-“

Starlight let out a groan of exasperation. “Discord. Fix the time above the table before it explodes.”

“Sometimes the simple answer is best, Twi,” Discord said. Twilight grumbled in annoyance.

With much bravado and stretching of his muscles, Discord extended a hand toward the table. The coalescing magic was no longer invisible, but existed as a faint white light hovering motionless in the air. “BEGONE, DOT!”

The dot did not listen to him.

Discord blinked. “Well, I, hrm… That should have worked.”

“Maybe it did…” Sunset said. “The readings are changing slightly – there’s a little less temporal difference outside.”

“I didn’t act outside though.” He glared untrustingly at the dot. “Are you future me playing a joke?”

“I don’t think so…” Sunset said, scrolling through the data. “I… I think this point is draining magic from all space and time simultaneously. It’s not just a ‘local’ thing; it’s a function that extends forever in all directions and times. Endless spider web.”

“…You can’t affect all of space and time, can you?” Twilight asked Discord.

“Uh… no.”

“Can anything?” Starlight asked.

“You did, somehow…” Twilight said, beginning to pace. “Maybe the Tree can. I’ll need some time to analyze that though…”

“We don’t have that,” Sunset said, paling as she extrapolated the graph’s data. “If it’s acting out across all time and space… It’s not just the castle that’ll explode twice. It’s everything. I’m not sure how long we have, but it isn’t much.”

“Right. Discord, I need you to work fast. I need all six of the Elements of Harmony at the Tree of Harmony pronto, as well as both Princesses and Pillars. We’re going to try to p-“

The table cracked in six different places, prompting the dot to flare in size. Outside, things began to hazy like a hot summer day, even though it was early spring.

“…I don’t think we have time for whatever you were going to try…” Starlight said.

Twilight stared at the dot in horror. “No…”

She felt everything start to bend and twist like it were made of rubber, slowly at first, but ramping up far too quickly to be anything other than a herald of destruction.

“DO WHAT YOU CAN!” Starlight shouted, jumping toward the dot with her horn lit with three layers of magical aura. She struck the spark as if her horn were a sword, creating a bowl of time around it, - a series of magic gears freezing her in place next to the instability.

The world stopped warping – finding a stable position.

“…Her spell will last minutes, tops…” Sunset said.

“Sunset, watch her,” Twilight said, forcing her panic into the back of her mind. “Discord, with me.”

Discord, for once in his life, didn’t let out a wisecrack. He accepted Twilight’s teleport wordlessly.

The two of them appeared in the caverns beneath the Everfree, where the roots of the Tree of Harmony spread all the way to Twilight’s Castle and the School of Friendship.

“Discord, your essence is tied to the nature of reality itself. I’m going to have to use you as a conduit for order and stability, and it will be painful. I also need it to be willing or this isn’t going to work.”

Discord closed his eyes, feeling the strain on reality. “Do what you need to.”

“It is an impossible choice, but the only option,” a new voice said.

Twilight looked up from the Tree of Harmony’s roots to see herself standing there – though it was only an sparkling projection that took her form. “The… the Tree?”

“Yes. Harmony. Given voice at last, only for a tragedy.” She turned to Discord. “You and I will know pain unlike anything we’ve experienced before. We cannot hesitate. Magic, create the link. Now.”

Twilight wasted no more time. She touched her horn to Discord, and then to the roots of the Tree of Harmony, linking them through her magic. Then she forced Discord’s mastery over reality onto the entire Tree of Harmony’s system. Chaos met Harmony, prompting the first to scream, and the latter to screech like strained glass. Discord crumbled to the ground and the Tree of Harmony’s avatar vanished into nothing.

And then Twilight’s horn exploded.

~~~

Every facet in the crystalline roots began to glow a bright purple from Twilight’s energy. The last-ditch effort coursed through the physical essence of Harmony itself, bringing a light of hope to all near it.

The Tree of Harmony itself received the boon first, becoming a shining beacon of lavender power deep within the Everfree Forest, surrounding both itself and the Castle of the Two Sisters in an arcane aura.

The roots, as well, provided their protection, reaching up to the ground itself and holding on for dear life – protecting every tree, animal, or pony it came across.

Zecora poked her head out of her hut, unsure what to make of the energy surrounding her home.

The roots went all the way to the School of Friendship, encasing the entire grounds in a similar warm grip.

“My Stars…” Rarity said, looking around the Headmare’s office. “…Twilight’s problem was bigger than she thought, wasn’t it?”

“…Looks that way,” Spike said.

Rarity put her hoof on the school intercom. “Everycreature remain calm! Twilight has everything under control!”

“I get the feeling she doesn’t really.”

“They don’t have to know that.”

Lastly, the energy arrived at the castle itself, the largest object the Tree of Harmony ever created. Every single wall was given the power, all the way up to the map room. Sunset’s machines started exploding from the strain. She had no idea how to figure out what was going on.

The best she could do was look at Starlight. In her frozen time, the energy could not reach the powerful unicorn.

“Starlight! Twilight’s doing it! You can stop now!”

Starlight could not hear her – no sound could pierce the bubble.

Sunset knew better than to try to do anything physical to Starlight – she could get stuck in there as well pretty easily.

So Sunset sat on the ground, feeling helpless.

And then Starlight’s spell gave out. The dot caught up with all the time it had been robbed of, exploding in a shower of violent reality-bending light that engulfed the entire castle and continued to spread, consuming the land itself. Grass was vaporized, earth became dust, and the air burned to nothing.

There was no time to scream or even know what was happening, for the explosion itself was time. Ponies were able to feel the world twisting and warping around them for a few seconds, and then there was nothing. While it seemed as if Equestria fell first, in reality it all happened at once throughout all time and space, merely choosing an uneven point for time to end. Nations were no more, the moon and sun were erased, and even the godlike Stars themselves were powerless.

All that remained was void.

And a chunk of earth protected by a veil of lavender energy; a triangle from the school, to the Tree, to the castle.

The Tree itself began to flash rapidly, each of the six Elements of Harmony beginning to shine like miniature stars in their own right. All six of them flew out across the remaining reality of the void, eager to find those to whom they belonged most.

A little beacon of hope in the darkness.

~~~

Honesty awoke first. The tangerine glow hit Applejack like one of her own apple tree bucks, shaking her into awareness.

She tried to open her eyes, but realized that she could already see. And didn’t have eyes. Didn’t have much of a body, either. She was just drifting in the nothingness.

What in tarnation…?

She tried to trace back her steps. She had woken up, done some of the basic farm chores, and then walked to the School with Apple Bloom for a day of good ol’ education. She had started her first class, then everything had gotten all purple, and then…

She felt the destruction. Everything…

No, everything wasn’t gone. She was here. Wherever here was.

The moment she asked the question, she was blessed with the knowledge. She was in the nothingness that remained, gifted a moment to think and understand by the Element of Honesty within her. So she could understand her choice.

What choice?

The Element of Honesty told her it had enough power within itself to save one more.

Only one.

Applejack instantly thought of Apple Bloom – without any thought put into it. She was allowed to see the School: it and everyone in it had already been saved by Twilight’s actions, Apple Bloom included. Applejack didn’t have to worry about her sister.

But what about the rest of her family? Big Mac and Granny Smith were still at the farm…

Instantly, she saw the two of them, drifting in the nothingness, frozen, mostly transparent. Nothing more than essences, essences that were fading around the edges.

If Applejack had been granted eyes, she would have cried. Had she a voice, she would have screamed. But she could not do either.

She could only see the two of them, knowing only one could come with her.

What would they say? They would both want her to take the other. Big Mac would say Granny was the head of the family, and Granny would say she was getting old anyway. Then she’d order Applejack to do it, on authority as the head of the Apples.

But she was Honesty. And this was her choice.

And the Honest choice – the True one to herself and to them and the family – was clear.

I’m sorry Granny. She reached out for Big Mac, taking his essence into herself

~~~

Laughter awoke second, ever-so-slightly before her Element actually hit her. Pinkie caught it in her nonexistent hooves and took everything in. She didn’t need time to process her new situation; she knew exactly what it was already.

She knew her closest friends were safe in the School.

So she went for her sisters, bringing the essences of all three of them up before her. Marble looked terrified, Limestone looked like she was trying to yell at existence, and Maud was impassive as always, the slightest shift in her pupil size the only indication she had felt anything as the world crumbled.

It was at this point Pinkie’s knowledge of the situation stopped helping her move forward. She had three sisters, and she could only pick one. Just one.

There’s gotta be some way to pick more than one…

No.

Maybe if I give myself up…?

No.

What kind of arbitrary tragedy is this?

Make the choice.

I’m not gonna.

Then stay frozen here for eternity. They suffer as they’re held in their spiritual state.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa FINE! Let’s see, well, uh… Think, Pinkie, think. Limestone, you… you’d be angry no matter what happens. That’s… that’s not good. Marble, I… I’m not sure you could handle living through this. You… She turned away from Marble. And Maud. Strong, powerful, funny, steadfast… you would be able to make it. You would take this and stay yourself, able to hold everypony else up like the amazing rock you are. Stable. A foundation…

She reached out her nonexistent hoof, but paused just before touching Maud. She found her gaze drawn to Marble. A mare with so much pain, so much sadness, so much potential that Pinkie had never seen come out. They were twins, the two of them, and shared a bond the others didn’t have. Something unspoken.

Pinkie could feel the tragedy coming off the meek mare. A pony who’d never really gotten the chance to live. Limestone had, in her own way, as had Maud. Through the farm or through research… but not Marble. She was a mare who had rarely experienced happiness.

Maybe she could be given another shot at life…

It makes absolutely no sense and saving her will break her, Pinkie’s mind told her. Pinkie proceeded to slap her mind upside the ‘head’ and tell it to shut up. Marble needed a chance.

Pinkie took Marble’s essence into herself and began to giggle in a metaphysical sense.

~~~

Kindness awoke third, feeling as though she was crying even though that was impossible in the new void. Fluttershy drifted for a while, allowing spirits to float past her unnoticed. She didn’t want to choose. She never wanted to choose. Whatever she chose would have just been cruel to someone else who hadn’t been chosen.

But she soon came to know that not choosing would be even more cruel, keeping all these souls in their suffering in-between state…

With an internal sigh mixed with a whimper, she looked for Discord, finding him already part of the saved locations. …Except he was suffering a very exotic and deep kind of pain Fluttershy couldn’t hope to comprehend. She touched him and sent some of her spirit’s warmth into him, not that he was consciously aware of it in his state.

She also saw Twilight, head aflame, trying to absorb the Element of Magic in a torrent of fire. There was nothing Fluttershy could do for her here.

Fluttershy’s mind wandered, thinking of those she’d want to save. The animals… They were not an option for her. Even then it would have been cruel to choose an animal over a pony… But who did she know that wasn’t already saved? Her friends… her students…

Her family.

Her parents appeared before her, eyes full of fear. She reached for them.

One.

She retracted instinctually. She could only take one, not both… and how cruel would it be to take one away from the other? It would be best if she let them both go… a dark Kindness, but one nonetheless.

Which left… her brother. Zephyr. A stallion that had only just come into his own, discovering how he was going to make his way in the world. It would be a tragedy to leave him behind. Sure, he was annoying, overbearing, and Rainbow Dash was probably going to balk, but he deserved more.

Fluttershy wanted to hug her parents one last time, but that was not possible in this space. Instead, she just touched them with her essence – the best apology she could manage. Then she pulled Zephyr into herself and completed Kindness’ quest.

~~~

Loyalty awoke fourth. By the nature of the Element, Rainbow Dash’s choice was to be the most difficult.

For she had to answer one question:

Who was she the most Loyal to?

Twilight, but she was already safe. Most of the others she spent her day-to-day time with were protected as well, Scootaloo included.

Her parents… were an impossible question, and she knew it. She couldn’t just save one. …Could she?

She took a moment to look from her father to her mother. Bow Hot Hoof was strong, understanding, and supportive. Windy Whistles was excitable, energetic, and also supportive. Both were great ponies. And if she was honest with herself, they were both strong enough to go on without the other…

This is stupid! Rainbow Dash screamed. This is just stupid! How can they expect me to choose! Might as well flip a coin! And…

Who was she the most Loyal to?

Who deserved her respect, her admiration, and her saving hoof?

She allowed her parents to drift out of her sight. They were amazing… but deep down; Rainbow Dash knew there were others. It was a painful truth to admit, but she had pushed her parents away. Even if things were fine between them…

Rainbow Dash shook her head, forcing those thoughts out of her mind. She had a decision to make. Who would she give her life for, if she could?

Too many ponies. Way too many ponies… Dozens of ponies flashed by her vision, and even a few non-ponies.

Who would she listen to above all others?

The pony spirits dissipated, leaving behind only a handful. Celestia and Luna were obvious, but there was also Spitfire, Ember, Flash Magnus, Starswirl, anda few others…

Who would actually want to come?

Celestia, Luna, Flash, and most the others fell back. There were still a handful of spirits remaining, but Rainbow Dash knew the one she respected most. A mare with a fiery mane, a commanding demeanor, and a deep burning desire for life to throw something interesting at her again.

Spitfire, ma’am… looks like you’re coming with me.

She touched Spitfire and absorbed her essence, bringing another Element’s choice to completion.

~~~

Generosity awoke fifth. While others had tried to let out cries of pain, cursed the heavens, or just worked as quickly as they possibly could, Rarity froze in place.

One.

She only had one to give, one life to bestow.

Once her mind processed this, her emotions kicked in. Sweetie Belle came to her mind first, but of course she found her safe. The same went for her close friends, her students… but not her extended family, and not her connections in the fashion business.

The representations of her parents, Coco, Sassy, and many others flowed before her eyes, a mixture of sad, desperate, and begging faces. Most of the high and mighty she had known in her life were reduced to quivering cowards in the face of the end. Fancy Pants was a notable exception. He looked… dignified.

She knew she could only choose one of them, so she started crossing names off her mental checklist, each removal tearing away at a part of her soul. The celebrities and most of the fashion designers went first. She took a moment to look at Fancy, and decided he needed to be left. She didn’t have the heart to separate him and Fleur.

With rising panic she knew this meant she had to ignore her parents. She tried not to look as she dismissed them, but in the metaphysical void she was forced to see their representations dissipate.

She took a few moments to regain her composure.

Turning to the two remaining – Coco and Sassy – Rarity thought she had decided. She reached out to Coco.

What am I doing?

She pulled back, a feeling of guilt washing over her.

I’m thinking about who’s close to me… I need to think of who would be best for others.

Images of leaders popped into her mind – Thorax, Rutherford, Ember, Celestia, Starswirl, Mistmane, Meadowbrook, and others. The ponies would already have Twilight to lead them, so she dismissed Celestia… Twilight also provided magic… The other Elements did what the Pillars would do…

What of the leaders of the other races? What would they even do? Thorax would only have Ocellus, Rutherford only Yona. In fact, aside from ponies, only the dragons currently even had a true breeding pair…

…Poor Spike.

Ember… she was a possibility. Three dragons was better than two. But would she really be good for everypony? No… No, Rarity would only be helping the dragons, ignoring the ponies in her choice.

Rarity turned her focus to the only Element still left – Twilight. Straining herself so hard for all of them…

She will not get a choice.

Rarity took this new information, knowing what she had to do. She thought of who was important to Twilight – her brother, Cadence, her parents… separating any of them would be cruel. Flurry… Too young, too destructive.

You’re condemning a child to death, she thought. …Any choice condemns.

But there was one remaining light Rarity couldn’t just dismiss. A mare who had been like a second mother to Twilight, a powerful mentor, and a beacon of hope for all in Equestria – and beyond.

Celestia herself. Dismissed earlier as being redundant to Twilight… but whom would Twilight look to for support without the Princess of the Sun? Would she be able to handle what was to come without her mentor?

Rarity didn’t know.

And that’s why she took the burning essence of Celestia into herself – giving away her choice for the sake of the rest.

~~~

Magic couldn’t awaken like the others, for she was stuck between the energies of chaos and Harmony in an endless game of back and forth. Twilight’s horn had exploded long ago from her mental perspective, yet her body hadn’t quite caught up with it yet.

“The fact that you still have a body is remarkable.”

Twilight managed to open her eyes, despite the fact that her legs wouldn’t move at all. She could still see the roots of the Tree of Harmony around her, as well as the cavern walls. Discord was floating slightly behind her, while the Tree of Harmony’s projection was sitting comfortably on the ceiling.

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked the Tree.

The Tree sighed. “...The amount of trauma your body has gone through was more than it should have been able to survive, even as a physical representation of magic itself. I should be talking to Discord right now about what to do next. But you were not consumed.”

“…I expected I would be…”

“The noble sacrifice of a hero is not lessened by survival. You had the same intentions. You will just get to move on.”

“Move on to what? All I saved was a bunch of rocks… there’s not enough space here to support all of us!”

“This is why we must move on to another world.”

Twilight got an idea. “The Mirror Portal. We still have it…”

“And the human world would suffer immense imbalance if we were to take that option. Already we are taxing the balance with our continued proximity to them – we will have to sever the connection.”

“Sunset’s home…”

The Tree gave her a sorrowful expression. “One of many endless tragedies caught up in this failure of mine.”

Twilight couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Failure? You!?”

“I’ve got to hear this…” Discord muttered, coming to and discovering his body was just as frozen as Twilight’s.

“I failed,” the Tree reiterated. “I allowed Starlight to assail time, knowing she would be reformed and be used to save our world time and time again afterward. I did not predict the long-term effects. I tried to end it – by choosing your successors earlier than planned – but it was already cascading out of control.”

“…I don’t follow,” Twilight admitted.

The Tree shook her head ever so slightly. “…I have been around far, far longer than you realize, Twilight of Magic. I was born with this universe, and my six essences have been spread throughout for eternity. They always take different forms. At first, they were just impersonal forces. But as time went on and the races developed, they took on concepts. Bearers would come, take the mantle of the Elements, and then leave, allowing a new set of Bearers to rise up. Every time they restored Harmony and Balance to the world, in both literal and personal ways. As they gathered new experiences, I developed into what you see now. And I tried to use my newfound will to shape the world closer.

“And that was my mistake. It has led to the downfall of my entire world.”

Twilight stared at her. “You… you were only trying to help…”

“The more power one has, the more care is required. I simply did not have enough.” She shook her head. “And now we must move somewhere new.”

Discord grunted. “Where do you expect us to go? Earth’s about ready to explode and I don’t exactly know of any other realms besides Limbo!”

“Ah, Discord… At least you weren’t a mistake.” She smiled warmly. “My desire to bring even that which is antithetical to my nature into Harmony… I am sorry this is to be our first and last real conversation.” Her expression suddenly shifted to a blank one. “We are out of time. The second explosion is about to commence. We must ride it.”

“Ride it?” Twilight asked.

“I will do everything,” the Tree said, unblinking. “I will have to give myself to complete the transition to the new world. The Elements are yours, now. It will be you who decide when to give them to the successors, not me.”

“We need you!”

“You are all suffering because of me. You’ll be better off on your own.”

“HARMONY! NO!”

The Tree of Harmony smiled and shook her head. “It is my final choice.” The projection dissipated into nothing, leaving Discord and Twilight alone.

“Still thinks she’s better than us…” Discord muttered.

“You were a part of her, once.”

“Puh-leaze, do you expect me to believe that hors-“

Reality exploded the second time. The area of the dot became a vortex of nothingness, trying to suck everything that remained in like a vacuum. The Tree of Harmony wasn’t having any of that – it tapped into the released energy with the walls of Twilight’s castle itself. As the energy spread out, the matter it touched was translocated to another realm entirely.

Twilight felt the magic within her lurch dramatically as a random direction was chosen. The Tree was still affixed to her – and it couldn’t hide what it was doing. “You don’t even know where we’re going! Hey!”

The Tree ignored her – understanding why she was afraid, but knowing Twilight’s panic and fear could not interfere with what needed to be done. Everything had to be moved, or else all was lost. There was no other option.

The Tree of Harmony severed the Mirror Portal’s connection the old fashioned way – breaking it in half. All it took was one burst of magic from a displaced root and the ancient artifact shattered into a thousand fragmented pieces.

Everything else moved as smoothly as butter, vanishing from the void and appearing in the sky of a new world. The triangular chunk of earth shined bright under the light of a new sun, hovering in midair for but a moment.

Go, make your own destiny.

And with that, the Tree of Harmony’s core split down the middle, ending its consciousness. The roots remained, surging with more energy than they ever had before.

Without an active will holding everything up, the remnant of Equestria fell out of the sky. Twilight barely had time to realize they were falling before they crashed, splitting the remnant earth up into several pieces. The Everfree forest divided, the School of Friendship collapsed, and the castle tilted sideways.

Within the caves, Twilight was pressed to the ceiling and then rammed into the floor hard enough to break some of her ribs, knocking the wind out of her.

The world was calm again. She could feel her body, and move it as she always could. Magic felt… different from normal, but not preparing to explode at a moment’s notice.

Even with her broken ribs, she could stand up and stretch her wings. Discord saw her in pain, snapping his fingers to mend the bones and fix her horn.

Neither of them said a word for the longest time. The sudden change from absolute peril to… quiet was too jarring.

Eventually, Twilight decided to send out a simple ‘ping’ spell to see how everything was doing. While the earth had shattered in numerous places, the remaining roots still tied everything together. The now-dead clearing of the Tree of Harmony, the collapsed school, and the castle.

Panic began to rise in her. “I… I don’t feel any ponies!”

Discord pressed his fingers together and snapped, performing his own Ping. “…By Entropy’s end…”

“No! We worked so hard to save them! It can’t be just us!” She spread her wings wide and screamed. “They were safe! I protected them! All of them! I felt them in the void! You felt them!”

“Yes.”

“THEN WHERE THE BUCK ARE THEY!?” Twilight slammed her hoof onto the nearest Harmony root.

You’re not alone.

Twilight stared down at the root in disbelief. “I… I thought you were gone!”

I am not the Tree of Harmony, Twilight. Look closer.

She did as requested, tapping into the root with her magic – and she gasped. A projection of the sun appeared in the cavern, floating just in front of them. The sun slowly became a tall, white pony with a mane of majestic pastel colors and large, wise eyes.

“Celestia! But… You were…”

“Rarity is a very generous mare, Twilight,” Celestia said with a sorrowful smile. “She could save one. She chose me for your sake.”

“I… I…” Twilight had no words - she just pulled Celestia into a hug. It only took a bit more magic to make Celestia a fully physical form. “I don’t know what to do… what’s going on… or anything…”

“I don’t either,” Celestia said, laying one of her hooves on top of the root of harmony. “But you saved so many, Twilight. All of them – every last one of them – is contained in these crystal roots.”

Twilight laid her hoof next to Celestia’s and felt them. Her friends, the students of the school, and the Element’s choices… All of them were in there. She even found Sunset… but not Starlight. She had been too close to the danger to be protected.

She got to make her sacrifice.

Twilight bit back tears and laughed at the same time. “Girls… You’re here.”

Y’all better get us out of here soon, Ah don’t quite know what to make of this place…

“Soon, Applejack, soon,” Twilight said, stroking the root gently. “There’s no way it will be much longer now…”

“We need to know where we are first,” Celestia said. “We must understand our situation.”

“By all means…” Discord put on a smile and readied his fingers for a snap.

“…Let’s walk outside, not teleport,” Twilight said, stopping him.

“Why?”

“It’ll feel right.” Twilight set off through the caverns, following the roots dutifully. Discord shrugged, following with Celestia.

Twilight kept her hoof on the root the entire time, letting everyone know that it would be okay, that she was here… That she would get them out. That they would all be safe. She was not able to comfort those grieving. She was not able to comfort herself… but she could put on a façade for at least a little longer.

It did not take long for them to find a section of earth that had broken, allowing them to step out into the light of the new sun. Instead of an orb of fire, it appeared as a crescent, the band of light narrowing as the local equivalent of ‘night’ approached.

All around, they could see the land sloping up around them, rising into the sky until no more details could be seen. Twilight could see clouds both above them, and affixed to the land far, far above them.

“We’re on the interior of a sphere…” Twilight said, jaw dropping.

“Half day, half night,” Celestia said, lighting her horn. “The sun does not respond to my power.”

“I don’t think it moves,” Twilight continued. “I… It just sits there, in the middle. With all this stuff around it.”

“…Not enough chaos,” Discord observed. “Where’s the fun if you can’t move the sun and moon? …There’s not even a moon, is there?”

Twilight looked up at the sky. She had just walked through one of the worst tragedies imaginable – the loss of her entire world. Hundreds of ponies she had known and cared about were gone, gashes of grief in her heart. The only same thing to do was scream and cry. And yet, here she was, looking at this new beautiful world they had been placed in.

She found herself smiling.

The Fourth Day

Twilight chose Spitfire next. The moment the sun shifted into visibility, heralding the day, Twilight summoned her power and brought Spitfire to the main hall of her castle.

Spitfire took a few seconds to look around before bowing. “Queen Sparkle, I am at your service.”

“Rise,” Twilight said. “Normally I would tell you not to bother bowing or addressing me by title, but unfortunately we need to keep up appearances right now. Know that you do have that right, we just have to ignore it for now.”

Spitfire nodded. “Understood!”

“I brought you out because you are one of our sharpest military minds. I need you to examine our situation in person and report our defense capabilities. I hope Frostfire’s just paranoid and there’s nothing to worry about, but there’s a chance we have to defend ourselves soon.”

“I’ll take a cursory fly around. Be back in a couple minutes.”

Rainbow Dash flew in through the doors. “Ma’am!”

“Crash!” Spitfire called. The two saluted each other with their wings. “You’re runnin’ a pretty tight ship up here.”

“We’re managing,” Rainbow said. “...Strange. Twilight, I can’t see through her eyes.”

“Maybe the Element of Loyalty can only act on so many at once?” Twilight suggested. “There’s the five of us, Sunset, Spike, Celesita, and Discord. With you that makes ten.”

“Ten sets of eyes…” Rainbow thought about this for a moment. “It’s really weird that I’m getting used to seeing that many things at once…”

“Never took you for a multitasker,” Spitfire said, raising an eyebrow. “Thanks for gettin’ me out of there, by the way.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Spitfire nodded. “Back in a bit!” She spread her wings and took off, leaving the castle to get the lay of the land.

“Spike!” Twilight called. “When she gets back I’ll need you to write down everything she says!”

“Right!” Spike responded. Less than a minute later he scrambled down the stairs, notebook and pen in hand. He clicked the back of the pen several times, enjoying the sensation. “I love human pens…”

“Yeah, yeah, mock me for not inventing the ballpoint,” Twilight said with a roll of her eyes.

“...You think we’re actually gonna have to fight, Twilight?” Rainbow asked.

Twilight furrowed her brow. “I think so. But I also doubt they have the resources to take Discord on directly. ...I also hope we won’t have to fight much.”

Rainbow sighed. “I just… I kinda wanted all the pain to be over, y’know? ...I don’t think it’s caught up to me yet. Pinkie and Fluttershy have gone through their… things, I think. No one else has, really.”

Twilight sighed. “I know. We… we need a break, but we aren’t getting one.”

“You aren’t. I think AJ’s setting up a little get-together tonight, though, for those of us who have time.”

Twilight nodded. “That’ll be good for you.”

“Yeah…”

An awkward silence fell over the hall. Spike stopped clicking his pen.

Eventually, Twilight grew tired of the awkward stares. She opened her mouth.

“Ready to report, your highness!” Spitfire called, bowing. “We’ve got good news and bad news.”

“Good news?” Twilight asked, recovering quickly.

“We’ve only got two major structures, close enough together we could easily defend them.”

“Bad news?”

“We’ve only got two major structures, close enough to be wiped off the map with one big bomb.”

“Ah. Anything more in depth?”

Spitfire nodded. “From a defense standpoint, our elevation is an amazing asset. We’re a fair distance above the natural ground of this world and the only easy way up is that escalator, which can always be set to down to really mess with any ‘invaders’ dumb enough to try that. Attackers would have to fly, and only those wraiths show the ability to fly. The Everfree forest is both a blessing and a curse. If ponies want to attack from that side, they have to go through it. But if they can survive the nasties within, it gives them a lot of good cover on the same level as the Castle and School of New Equestria. Nominally, this entire situation could be solved with a few patrols of guards, but we don’t have enough ponies for that. ...Can you make Captain Armor’s shield, highness?”

Twilight started at the mention of her brother. “Y-yes I believe I can. Haven’t exactly tried…”

“Might want to figure it out soon so you can raise it in case of an emergency. We may not have enough ponies to work patrol, but I can circle the area for as long as you need, ma’am. Only problem is that we’re defenseless at night.”

“...Talk to Fluttershy. I think she can get the animals set up as lookouts, if nothing else.”

Spitfire saluted. “Right away!” She spread her wings and took off once again.

“...You made a good choice, Rainbow,” Twilight said. “We need somepony like her.”

Rainbow attempted to smile, but she couldn’t remove the pained grimace from her face. “Thanks…”

Twilight hugged her. “I know it was hard to choose.”

Rainbow didn’t say anything. She just ground her teeth, trying not to cry at the memory.

~~~

“So, tell me, what did I fight out there?” Celestia asked her student.

Sunset held the chunk of yellow-green crystal in her hands, squinting. “An arthon mage.”

Celestia smiled warmly. “That’s what Frostfire told us. What else have you found?”

“That this crystal is basically a saturated, fractured unicorn horn. Highly complex networks. I’d almost say artificial, but I know lots of creatures on this world have these crystals. I’d say it’s pretty obvious they’re the way creatures use magic in this world. Doesn’t explain the magic of the pony races here, though.”

Celestia nodded. “Are there any… weaknesses?”

“Like a unicorn horn I bet you could overload it by pumping enough magic into it. That wouldn’t work on a creature literally covered with these things, though. If one blows up you’re not really going to reduce its effectiveness…” She folded her hands together and frowned. “I’m trying to figure out why it would attack you, but I only have guesses.”

“Why not ask somepony who would know?” Frostfire asked, descending into Sunset’s laboratory. “I happen to know much about the monsters of the world and whahuhwh…” He stopped talking, staring slack-jawed at the screens Sunset had set up around the lab. Lights, wires, blackboards with endless equations and designs scribbled on then, and numerous computers duplicated courtesy of Discord.

“Welcome to technology central,” Sunset said, extending a hand. “I’m Sunset Shimmer. I monkey with the gadgets.”

Frostfire didn’t shake her hand - he seemed to think it was a snake and was about to bite him.

Sunset rolled her eyes, retracting her hand. “Take your time. I’ll wait for your brain to catch up.”

“I… I thought I had seen amazing devices in the thunder blairne warehouses. This is… something else entirely.”

“It’s just what happens when you’re a century or so ahead in technology.” Sunset blinked. “Actually, that was Earth compared to Equestria, I have no idea what this world’s technology base is.”

Frostfire shook his head, turning to Celestia. “I would be in your debt if you instructed me in the ways of these devices.”

Celestia smiled sadly. “I am afraid you’d have to talk to my student here, Frostfire. I know very little of high technology. Twilight knows some, but Sunset here is the only one with the knowledge, intelligence, and hands to use the things.”

Sunset waved her fingers, the action making Frostfire twitch. “...Surely you have monkeys in this world.”

“Yes. They don’t talk.”

“Did he react like this with Spike?” Sunset asked Celestia.

Celestia shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. I was out fighting for my life, remember?”

“Right. Speaking of - Frostfire, you are the local expert on arthon mages. Why did it attack Celestia?”

Frostfire collected himself. “Arthon mages are the most brutal of all thaumic creatures - what the simple pony calls a monster. They have, by far, the highest cyrstal-to-organic ratio of all of them, and their purpose appears to be that of a warrior. While the roothers - the moving forests - seek to expand biodiversity, the harvesters - the metal birds - seek to assist the roothers, and icossa - that blimp thing you encountered - seek to protect anything with magic, the arthon mage will attack.”

“Anything?”

“Depends on the arthon mage in question,” Frostfire admitted. “Some of them have never been observed to attack anything. Others have attacked every living thing they have seen until they were forcibly put down. They only have two settings: don’t attack, and kill. Each one seems to have a different set of priorities for what ends up on the ‘kill’ list, and you’ll forgive the best blairne scientists for not performing much in-field research on the specifics of the matter.”

Sunset nodded. “If it gave Celestia trouble, I can’t blame you. I’m surprised you’re able to put them down.”

“In older times the arrival of an arthon mage was the doom of a town. It still is, but trained agents of the Impervious Leader are given special training to incapacitate them.”

“How?”

Frostfire shrugged. “I never trained. Apparently sound blairne are the best for it, though.”

“So instead of ice or fire, like you, they use sound?” Sunset smiled, lighting her horn to call Discord.

“What?” Discord muttered, pretending like he had just been taking a shower by summoning dripping water and suds.

“We’re going to make a sound gun.”

Discord’s annoyed expression vanished in an instant. “Oh, that sounds… delightful…”

Frostfire didn’t even attempt to hide the disgust on his features. “I… shall be going.”

“Wait, one question,” Sunset said, holding up a hand. “All creatures on this world use magic through crystals - except ponies. Do you know why that is?”

“We have crystal powder in our veins,” Frostfire reported. “This has mixed results. Occasionally thaumic creatures will identify us as one of them, sometimes not. We’re borderline. And your assumption is wrong, there are some beings that don’t use crystals.”

“Us?” Sunset asked.

“Well, yes, but there are three others. Oozes, sunblinks, and crangs. Admittedly I know nothing of crangs aside from their habitat deep beneath the earth. Sunblinks are little puffs of fire that the sun ejects every so often, and oozes are stupid conglomerations of acid that I’m sure are physical manifestations of magic directly, but it’s hard to prove when everything you stick into them dissolves.”

Sunset pondered this. “Smooze?”

Celestia shrugged. “I am not certain.”

Frostfire was already more than done with the conversation. He walked all the way up and out of the lab.

“All right, Discord…” Sunset rubbed her hands together. “I am going to need a micro speaker and magic amplifier… we’re going to make a weapon.”

Celestia furrowed her brow. “Do we really need one?”

“If my idea on how the sound blairne defeat the arthon mages is right, it should be able to crack their crystals from a distance. And if not, well, I can always turn down the settings on this thing and make a non-lethal weapon that works at range.”

“Be careful.”

“I’ll be careful. Discord on the other hand…”

Discord hit his head with a gong. “Wow, sound really is powerful!”

Celestia facehooved.

~~~

“...What’s it like?” Rarity asked.

Fox and Beaver looked up from their lunch with quizzical expressions.

“Being a shaper,” Rarity clarified. “Always knowing that, at any moment, you could change yourself to be… something else.”

“It’s not something else,” Fox said. “It’s also you.”

“Didn’t you say somethin’ about some bugs that could turn into anythin’?” Beaver asked.

Rarity nodded slowly. “Yes, changelings can take the shape of most anything. But they never… well, identify it as them. I’m not sure why, but I’m just sure it’s different.”

“Can’t really tell you without a changeling here, can we?” Fox said with a chuckle.

Rarity nodded. “We have some in the roots. You’ll get to see them, eventually.”

“That’d be interestin’,” Beaver admitted. “A creature not limited by any being at all…”

“Can you imagine not knowing what you were?” Fox asked her husband.

“Nope. But Ah remember the story of the mad shaper.”

“That’s just a little filly’s tale.”

“Probably. But maybe it is based in truth…”

“What is this story?” Rarity asked.

Beaver cleared his throat. “There was a shaper that could turn into any animal he had ever seen. So adept was he at this that he could spend all his time as any animal he wished. He was a lover of fun, games, and secrets. He would spend months at a time flying in the sky, living life simply. One day, he spent multiple years out in the world as several different beings… and when he tried to return to society, he had forgotten how to be a pony.”

“Why could he not just take the form of a pony next to him? If he was so skilled of a mage, surely…”

“We aren’t animals,” Fox answered. “Just like how monsters aren’t animals.”

“I did hear about that one mare who managed to become part ooze...” Beaver mused.

“Tall tale.”

“...I would very much like to meet an experienced shaper,” Rarity admitted. “See if our animals qualify or not. We have a pretty monstrous Hydra wandering around.”

“What’s a hydra?” Fox asked.

Rarity coughed. “Rainbow, do you mind grabbing a-”

Rainbow flew in, dropping the massive Equestrian Bestiary down on their table. “Was already grabbing it before you said my name.” Rainbow winked and took off elsewhere.

“She really can see everything…” Fox muttered.

“Our Elements have done strange things, yes,” Rarity admitted.

“What’s yours do?”

“I don’t know yet.” Rarity turned to the hydra entry and showed them the illustration of the many-headed reptilian monstrosity.

Fox gawked. “I… have never seen anything like that. Are you saying there’s one here!?”

Rarity nodded. “Though Fluttershy directed it to an uninhabited forest to do its hunting. It won’t be bothering us.”

“What other things do you have in that forest?”

Rarity flipped through the book a few more times - finding manticores, cragadiles, viper’s maw plants, and a few more. She stopped at timberwolves. “You know, given the shake up of magic when we passed through, I doubt the timberwolves survived.”

“Wolves made of wood,” Fox deadpanned. “Now I’ve seen everything.”

“I doubt it,” Rarity said with a smirk. “There are many legendary creatures that didn’t come here with us. Like… let’s see…” She flipped through the pages of a book. “Ah, here’s a good horror story. Wendigoes.”

“Skip,” Fox said.

“Heh.” Rarity flipped through a few more pages. “What about something a little nicer…? Ah, a mistform!” She turned the book over to them, showing an ethereal illustration of a vaguely pony-like creature.

“...A ghost?” Beaver asked.

“Not so much, no. These are beings of pure magic. Sometimes summoned to guard placed, and other times just manifesting through natural causes. They are quite elegant.”

“I wish we had a book like this with us,” Fox admitted. “Then we could talk about our monsters.”

“Ah can talk about the vespina.” Beaver said. “Snakelike creatures of the night with a crystal between their eyes, they are rumored to be the beings who taught the wraith how to steal effectively. But the vespina always return what they steal, as if it is some kind of game to them. The wraith never do.”

“Do these vespina… talk?”

Beaver shook his head. “Just monsters. They like to protect other monsters from attack, like the icossa do during the day.”

“The blimp creature Celestia encountered?”

“Yep,” Fox said. “Icossa aren’t exactly common, but there’s enough of them. You can’t exactly miss a floating balloon thing staring at you for an hour.”

“Your world is certainly an interesting place,” Rarity admitted.

“Yours too. ...You must miss it.”

Rarity felt her emotions threaten to overwhelm her with an immense floodgate of tears. She bit back her outburst - but couldn't stop a few tears from seeping out. She swallowed, breathing heavily.

Beaver detected it was time to change the topic. “So. Fox and I met when she was traveling to sell her radish seeds…”

~~~

Rainbow Dash had seen them coming from miles away. The blairne dignitaries certainly didn’t waste any time - they had a large carriage and several soldiers carving their way through the sparse forest. She reported back a few things - the carriage seemed to have some sort of shock absorbers, one of the blairne was one of those multi-faceted types like Frostfire, and that they had shaper ponies hitched up to pull the carriage.

“Oh, they’re slaves,” Fox had said when questioned.

“Well then…” Twilight commented, ruffling her feathers. “Looks like things just got infinitely more complicated…”

She had decided it was probably a bad idea to talk to Frostfire about that. She did not want to blow a hole in a wall and try to explain it to the dignitaries.

She stood at the top of the escalator, Rarity at her side. Celestia was watching from a distance, while Discord and Frostfire were ‘hiding’ in the laboratory with Sunset.

Rainbow Dash was at the bottom of the escalator with them. “Now, we just had this installed recently, but it’s perfectly safe. Anyone who wants up, just step on like so and… viola!”

The lead blaine had only one elemental attribute - sound, if Twilight had to guess from the way her mane vibrated. Her coloration was a pale green, almost teal, and her eyes shone with a similarly colored light. Unlike Frostfire, her eyes didn’t continually shift and flash with conflicting colors, she was consistent.

“Why would you need this device? You can fly.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “I don’t need it, but it’s not like all of us have wings, Verberate.”

Twilight couldn’t read Verberate’s response to this, but she suspected it was negative.

Rainbow led Verberate and a half-dozen other ponies in the contingent onto the escalator - leaving the shackled and downtrodden shapers hooked up to the carriage. To put it mildly, the sight made Twilight want to smite them all with harmonious fire. She managed to restrain herself, putting on a small, slightly contemptuous, smile.

“Welcome to New Equestria,” Twilight said, bowing as Verberate made it all the way up. “I am Queen Twilight Sparkle, and this is Rarity.”

“And what is her station?” Verberate asked, as if annoyed Twilight hadn’t already informed her.

Twilight fumbled for a minute. “E… Chancellor! Chancellor Rarity!”

“Yes, of course,” Rarity said, realizing she’d just been promoted on the spot to a position that hadn’t existed a minute ago. “Charmed.”

Verberate nodded curtly. “I am Ambassador Verberate. To my left is Ambassador Ashen, and to my right is Agent Nirix.”

Ashen was a fire-blairne, his mane eternally ablaze with the flames of his power. Nirix was… a combination that was hard to look at. Her mane was a mixture of dusty particles and sharp blue sparks, while her eyes were a mixture of three different colors warring for attention: pale blue, yellow, and orange. Unlike Verberate and Ashen, who wore visible emotions on their faces, Nirix was even faced and expressionless.

“We represent the interests of our Impervious Ruler.”

“Pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Twilight said, gesturing with her wing to the table they had prepared behind them. “We had food prepared the moment we knew you were coming. I hope this is acceptable?”

“Definitely,” Ashen said, drooling.

Verberate nodded curtly. The three of them - and their entourage who apparently weren’t even important enough to be named - sat down one one side of the table, while Twilight and Rarity sat on the other side.

“Surely you have more ponies,” Verberate commented.

“We do,” Twilight admitted. “Most are off working or coming to terms with the fallout of our arrival. Our coming to your world was not a pleasant thing.”

“Then we should start there. Explain why and how you are here.”

Twilight did. She left out a lot of details - things about non-pony races, Discord, the technology they had, Frostfire - but otherwise she was honest with what happened, why they were here, and that they had no home to go back to.

“Are you certain you cannot leave?”

Twilight was vaguely insulted by the insinuation. “If we could go home, we would have.”

“I me-”

“I know what you meant. We have not been able to access any other worlds, though forgive me if survival took precedence over finding another world to crash into.”

Verberate seemed annoyed by the sense in that statement. “It is unavoidable then.”

“If we are in your territory we can, with effort, move our land elsewhere.”

“You are just beyond our official borders, within the wilds. It is unnecessary.”

“Then why would we need to leave?” Rarity asked.

“You complicate the balance of this world with your addition of new ponies.” She took a sip of her tea. “I am frankly unsure how we will classify your races in our hierarchy.”

“Hierarchy?” Twilight asked, pretending Frostfire hadn’t already told her about it.

“The pony races follow a strict hierarchy. The blairne rise to the top, followed by the shapers, and then the despicable wraiths. Surely you have a similar system?”

“There was such a thing in antiquity,” Rarity commented. “Unicorns were the nobles, pegasi formed the middle class and military, while earth ponies were the farmers and low workers. This was done away with centuries ago, now all three races are treated with equality.”

“The only thing remotely like what you’re describing is me,” Twilight said, pointing at herself. “I am an alicorn, fused of the three magics of all tribes. Alicorns are rarely born, and are generally made whenever a pony of one of the three tribes demonstrates the capacity to rule. I used to be a unicorn, myself.”

Verberate seemed to be processing this for a while.

“Do you have a naturally born alicorn?” Ashen asked. Twilight sensed the answer to the question was important.

“Yes,” Twilight answered, truthfully. “Princess Celestia, my old mentor. She was a ruler of Old Equestria, but passed the rite on to me for New Equestria. She is the only other alicorn we have.”

“Any other pony races we should know of?”

“No.” Technically the truth…

Verberate nodded slowly. “Tell me of your races, what your capabilities are, your magic, etcetera.”

Twilight nodded. “If you wish to know more biological details, my good friend Fluttershy is a better source than I. She’s a pegasus, if that matters.”

“It does not matter yet.”

I don’t like that ‘yet’. Rainbow Dash flew away, grabbed Fluttershy, and returned.

“Hello,” Fluttershy said with a bow. “How can I help?”

The next few minutes were occupied by Fluttershy explaining the capabilities and differences between the three pony races. Verberate wanted details - more details than Twilight was able to provide herself - but Fluttershy was more than capable.

When Fluttershy was describing the absolute mastery of magic given to the unicorns, Twilight could tell blairne was uncomfortable. What, does that make unicorns higher up the social ladder than the blairne? How are you going to redefine it to make sure you’re still on top?

“I will have to bring this back to the Impervious Ruler,” Verberate noted. “I do not have the authority to make declarations on the nature of your races. Before we continue, I do believe I should warn you of the wraith…”

“We already received our warning,” Twilight said, waving a hoof.

“From who?”

“A couple of friendly shapers who wandered by yesterday.”

Verberate narrowed her eyes. “The shaper kingdoms got here before we did?”

“They’re not dignitaries, they’re just normal ponies. They’re still here, though I think you can see why they’d want to avoid you.”

“Naturally,” Verberate agreed. “Do you have any others we would want to be aware of?”

Let’s see: don’t reveal Frostfire, but also don’t lie to them. “We have an imprisoned wraith.”

“IMPRISONED!?” Agent Nirix shouted, her mane bouncing around with energy. “YOU FOOL!”

Twilight twitched. “Our magic keeps her from phasing through anything. I can bring her to you, if you want.”

“DO THAT,” Nirix shouted. Twilight wondered if she even had a quiet voice.

“Fluttershy, can you get Ichor?” Twilight asked. “Let her know what’s going on.” And also that we’ll protect her.

Fluttershy nodded, flying away.

Ashen blinked. “You… can keep them from phasing?”

Twilight nodded. “Granted, my special talent is magic.” She gestured at the mark on her flank.

“So those are indicative of your purpose in society?” Verberate asked.

“Yes. Though since you don’t have them, I suppose you think they’re decorative? They aren’t. They manifest during puberty through magic. The exact mechanism behind the acquisition of a ‘cutie mark’ isn’t well understood, and I am unsure if they will manifest in this new world or not. But I got mine in magic itself. Rarity’s here represents a more abstract concept - an eye for details and beauty.”

Verberate nodded slowly. She was clearly listening - but she no doubt cared much more about Ichor.

Fluttershy brought Ichor out, whispering words of encouragement in her ear. Verberate was surprised by the meek appearance of the wraith. She paid special attention to the links on her hooves and neck, glowing with magic.

“...Would you be willing to give us those… restraints?”

“It is an option in trade if we establish an official relation,” Twilight agreed. “Which is, coincidentally, what New Equestria wants.” She smiled. “We believe in the ideal of harmony, that all ponies should live together as friends. Now that we are here, we want nothing more than to establish friendly relations with all the nations of the world. We can offer you strange magics and stories from another world, all we ask in return is that you help us understand this new world we find ourselves in.”

“I do not have the authority to establish official relations with a new nation. I can accept gifts and declare the will spoken by our Impervious Leader. But he will have to make the final decision about what to do with you.”

“And how long will that take?” Twilight gestured to Fluttershy, indicating she could take Ichor away. The wraith was more than happy to get out of there.

“We must return to him personally and give our reports, so a week or so.” Verberate said. “I ask for books of your history, ruling class, and other records that we may return to our libraries.”

“Done,” Twilight said, realizing that they would find out about the other races from those books. She wondered how badly that would go if she wasn’t there to talk about it. She had no doubt these dignitaries would go ballistic in their racism if given any opportunity to… hopefully this Impervious Ruler was smart enough to realize that an alliance was benneficial, no matter how distasteful the two parties found the other’s practices. “Anything else?”

“At this moment, no. We shall return in time.”

“If you need faster travel, we know teleport spells,” Twilight offered. “Princess Celestia could escort you anywhere within the Sphere in a day or so. Just point her in the right direction.”

The idea seemed to terrify Verberate. “No! That… won’t be necessary! We’ll just be on our way after we get those records!” She shook her head, realizing she had something else to say. “Actually… ...it would be best if you re-examined your policy of making ‘friends’ with all the nations. The shapers aren’t worth your time. The blairne Empire is the only unified front.”

“...I’ll keep that in mind.” Twilight summoned a scroll and a quill to her. “Rarity, write a letter to their Impervious Ruler while I show them the library. Okay?”

“Of course,” Rarity said, taking the scroll and beginning to scribble down an eloquent letter.

“Right this way,” Twilight said, leading them to her castle.

~~~

When they left, they didn’t wave back.

Twilight increased the velocity of her farewell wave just to spite them. Even though they didn’t know that was what it meant. There was no way they could.

“Dear, calm down.”

Twilight spoke through gritted teeth. “Rarity, I need to exert this bent up anger somehow or I will smite them.”

“Oh. Was it really that bad?”

“Slaving, arrogant racists that are ‘withholding judgment’ to see if they’ll treat us with respect or disdain that make me constantly hide behind a veil of sorta-lies?”

“...Okay I see the point.” Rarity turned her away from the receding dignitaries. “But at least they don’t want to kill us!”

“As far as we know,” Twilight muttered.

“...True.”

“I can confirm that the Ashen guy wants us dead,” Discord said, revealing his presence at the table, eating some pumpkin pie.

“Wh… DISCORD!” Twilight shouted. “Were you reading his mind!?”

“No. He was just one of those types. You could see it in his eyes.”

“I agree with Discord,” Rarity said. “Verberate was religiously trying not to jump to conclusions and I don’t think the Agent is allowed to have opinions. But Ashen… he wants us to burn.”

“Any idea why?” Twilight asked.

“I think the worst one was the fact that you’re a combination of three races. Probably a religious taboo or something similar.”

“Joy. Still, can’t exactly refuse to let the dignitaries meet the Queen.”

“...How are we going to handle the shaper kingdoms?” Rarity asked.

“I’m done lying. Or omitting. Or whatever it was I was doing over there. It felt wrong.”

“Necessary?”

“Maybe. But it wasn’t harmonious.” She walked into the school, finding Fox and Beaver’s room. She knocked. “Hello?”

Beaver poked his head out. “Hmm?”

“How bad do you think it’ll be if I were completely honest with the shaper dignitaries?”

“Bad,” Beaver admitted. “Not as bad as the blairne though. No shaper is going to declare war on you just for being different, they don’t have to be ‘the best’ at everything. You’d just be odd.”

“Well, better than being attacked…”

Beaver nodded. “We also respect honesty and loyalty. Showing them everything might earn you some points.”

“Dear, they’re not shapers, nopony is going to trust them no matter what,” Fox commented from somewhere within the room. “The races are separated. That’s how everypony thinks it is.” She shoved Beaver out of the way and poked her own head out. “You’re gonna have trouble, Twilight. This ‘harmony’ of yours sounds nice, but it doesn't exist here. Ponies aren’t going to just accept it.”

“We aren't segregating ourselves,” Twilight said, flatly.

“I know. And I’m not a politician so I have noooooooo idea what you’re going to do. But hey, Beaver is right, at least the shapers won’t try to blow you up! Isn’t that nice?” She closed the door in their faces.

“Fox, that was rude,” they heard from the other side.

“What? The conversation was over!

Twilight rolled her eyes, walking away. “So, Rarity, ideas?”

Rarity smiled awkwardly. “Be honest, dote over them, and complain about the blairne?”

“Lovely…”

~~~

“So…” Applejack said, looking up. “Thank y’all for comin’.”

Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Spike all nodded.

“Rainbow Dash wants you to know she’s here in spirit,” Pinkie said.

Applejack sighed. “That’s… fine.” She adjusted her hat and looked up. “Everyone… Our home is dead.”

That was all Fluttershy needed to start crying.

Applejack continued on. “Almost everypony we ever knew is gone. And now we’re here, bein’ asked to stand up and build a new nation while a tragedy is looming over our heads.” She gulped. “Ah’m surprised we haven’t cracked yet.”

“We haven’t cracked because we can’t,” Pinkie said, solemnly. “If we do… If one of us goes all the way to la-la land, it’ll break most the others. And we can’t survive like that. ...I almost went there...”

Applejack nodded. “Which is why we’re here. We… we gotta figure out how we feel about all this. We can be open, say anythin’ we want. We’re all among friends here. Good friends. We… we can work through it.”

“They’re all dead…” Fluttershy wailed. “Angel… Harry… Beatrice… all of them… They were in my house! Just… living like they always did. Carefree.”

“Angel. Carefree?” Spike said with a sad smile.

Fluttershy let out an ugly snot-filled laugh-snort hybrid. “He… he probably tried to punch it when it came. Heheh… always ready…”

“Maud would have just stared blankly at it and went ‘huh’,” Pinkie giggled, the waterworks coming down her eyes now. “And Limestone would have joined forces with Angel and tried to punch the stupid thing!”

“Heh,” Applejack said, lowering her hat. “Assumin’ Granny didn’t sleep through the whole thing, she woulda joined them.”

“All of Equestria standing up and punching it!” Pinkie shouted, putting a boxing glove on her hoof. “TAKE THIS, ARBITRARY TRAGEDY! HIIII-YA!” She drove her boxing glove into a wall, the rebound hitting her in the face.

Fluttershy giggled. “My parents… they would have held each other. Tight.”

“Mine would have probably let out a sigh of annoyance,” Pinkie shrugged. “Like ‘well, there it goes, looks like we won’t get to harvest the rocks this year. How unfortunate’.”

“I’m the only dragon guy in the entire universe and in order to save my species I’m going to have to marry Smolder and I have no idea how to feel about that!” Spike shouted.

Everyone turned to stare at him, stunned.

“I… I just…” He pulled his legs to his chest and started rocking back and forth. “I’m just barely old enough… these wings are new…”

Fluttershy smiled at Spike. “I… I don’t have an answer for you Spike. But I can help you through this.”

“Ah’m sure Smolder’s having a similar crisis too,” Applejack added. “You gotta know, it’s not just on you, it’s on her too.”

“And maybe you could do what the changeling hives do!” Pinkie suggested. “Just get a queen a-”

“Ew,” Spike shivered.

“What? You’re the only two dragons, it wouldn’t be weird!”

“It’d be weird!”

Fluttershy spoke up. “It’s, um, probably a little weird for him to be talking about this with a bunch of mares.”

“Oh.” Applejack blushed. “Sorry Spike, Ah was just…”

“I needed to talk to someone. I still need to.” Spike shivered. “I… I don’t even know what I’m going to do, if I should try to do anything, and I don’t even think a stallion would be very helpful because they’re not one of the last dragons in the world!”

“Spike… here’s a thought,” Pinkie said. “You are both young. You’ve just barely got those wings, and Smolder’s not much older! Dragons live hundreds of years! You can just figure it out later, and I’m sure Twilight will have worked out cloning or something by then.”

“How does clonin-”

“Shh,” Pinkie sad, ramming her snout into Spike’s noise. “Doesn't matter. What matters is that you have time. Don’t worry about tomorrow, we’ve got enough problems today and tears from yesterday. Think you can do that?”

“I can try…”

Pinkie pulled him into a hug and gave him a noogie. “That’s a good dragon.” Her ears perked up, sensing something. She turned to look at the entrance to their little meeting room - seeing Ichor standing there, in the shadow. “Hey, Ichor.”

Ichor eeped, realizing she definitely wasn't invisible or stealthy anymore.

“Wait! Don’t go!” Pinkie called, waving her back. “You can come sit with us, it’s okay! We don’t mind!”

Ichor stopped trying to flee, but she still looked uncertain.

“If you have anythin’ you wanna say, we’re open to it,” Applejack said. “We’re not the only ones with problems, y’know.”

Ichor hesitated. Then, with a deep breath, she took a step forward. “...I lost my brother last week.”

Fluttershy put a hoof to her mouth. “Ichor…”

“I’ve lost many brothers…” Ichor said, sitting down next to Fluttershy. “Lots and… lots. But Tar... he was closer than the others. We grew up together. Perhaps we would have been joined, given time. But he got caught by the shapers and killed with… a spear.” She slammed her hoof on the ground. “A simple spear! He could have just went intangible! He could have…”

“...That’s terrible,” Fluttershy said.

“It’s the way things are and always have been,” Ichor breathed. “It is the end of every wraith, eventually… to get caught.”

“Well then the way things are is horrible,” Applejack declared, opting not to put a hoof on Ichor since it would likely send her into a mild panic.

Ichor looked at her. “Wh…”

“You heard me. You shouldn’t have to live that way.”

Ichor… smiled. “...That’s crazy.”

“Sometimes it takes a crazy idea to do things right.”

Pinkie coughed, interrupting the moment. “Sorry, but uh, we’re being watched.” She pointed at the halway. “Right there.”

“...Ah don’t see anythin’, Pinkie.”

“It’s a wraith,” Pinkie said, surprising Ichor immensely. “Fluttershy, can you?”

Fluttershy nodded, wiping her face and spreading her wings. She jumped right where Pinkie was pointing.

“Okay, okay!” the wraith hiding in plain sight revealed himself. He had the same smoky, leathery wings of Ichor and the scorpion-like tail. His color was a dark, dull yellow. “Geez, you guys really are dangerous…”

“Don’t run,” Fluttershy warned.

“I’m getting the distinct impression that would be a bad idea,” the wraith said, coughing. “I, er, well, I’m Silicate. If I don’t run can you not put the magic choker on me?”

“...We’ll see what Twilight has to say,” Applejack said.

“Geez…” Silicate rubbed the back of her head. “Ichor, you’ve gone and found something screwy, huh?”

Ichor suddenly had her indignant fire that she had been displaying when Applejack first caught her. “You’re on to talk, bud! I seem to recall you getting stuck in the orange storage shed for weeks! Because you were scared of the ‘magic’ dogs!”

“That was legitimate!”

“They were ordinary dogs! I walked right through seven of them!”

“You just got lucky.”

Fluttershy blinked. “...Well you two are certainly different.”

“He’s a self-absorbed lunatic with irrational fears of everything!” Ichor shouted.

“And she’s, let me see… too brash and crazy for her own good.” Silicate retorted.

“Hoo boy…” Applejack said.