The Simulacrum Realm

by Matthais Unidostres

Rating: teen
Tags: Other, Horror, Violence, Death, Young Six, Drama, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark
Length: 6414

When the Young Six desire more intense stories for their slumber party, the Tree of Harmony is happy to oblige.

The Young Six are in the midst of a slumber party in the Treehouse of Harmony, and have reached the point in the party where scary stories are to be told. However, none of the students seem to be able to come up with good enough stories. In response to this, the Spirit of the Tree of Harmony appears and offers to show each of the young creatures a story that is not just scary, but also brimming with imagination, and the powers of the mind. Stories of shadow and substance, of things and ideas.

Each of the young creatures will be brought into another dimension vast as space and as timeless as infinity, between the pit of fear and the summit of knowledge. The Spirit will be their tour guide in this mysterious realm known as. . . The Simulacrum Realm.

This collection of stories is based on the television series "The Twilight Zone" by Rod Serling.

Published 2020-01-12 20:00:02 UTC
Last updated 2020-03-01 19:25:12 UTC

Prologue

Author's Note

Some of you might recall that I previous wrote a Twilight Zone inspired fanfic on this site a few years ago called "The Twilight Sparkle Zone". A lot of things didn't make sense or work in that one, and I truly felt that it didn't pay enough respect to Rod Serling's original series. Also, the title was so awful and uncreative. I also feel embarrassed about how I forced a punch of gimmicks in each chapter for the sake of gimmicks. I know I can do better. So, I will do better with this one. I hope you enjoy this series far more than my old one.

Prologue

It was around 9:00 pm, and six friends were gathered together in the Treehouse of Harmony. They all sat comfortably on cushions, having already eaten plenty of snacks and played a few games, and were now in the midst of one of the more creative and exciting parts of the average slumber party: telling scary stories.

The room was dark, and Gallus was holding a flashlight under his face, smiling wickedly as he concluded his tale.

"And when they finally pulled the griffon's body. . . out of the crumbled. . . burning. . .house. . ."

Gallus suddenly turned off the flashlight, plunging the room into complete darkness.

"He looked. . .like THIS!"

Gallus gave a piercing shriek as he turned the flashlight back on, revealing his face, now covered with white chalk dust and with his head feathers sticking out wildly.

Ocellus and Silverstream both let out a short cry of fear and immediately leaned close to each other. Yona, Sandbar, and Smolder; however, were completely unfazed.

Gallus looked at his friends, then frowned and said, "Well, 2 out of 5 isn't bad."

As Gallus wiped the while chalk dust off of his face and neatened up his feathers, Ocellus slid away from Silverstream and said, "Actually, 2 out 5 is an F."

Gallus was unconvinced and said, "You mean 'F' for how 'frightened' you and Silver were?"

Ocellus shrugged and said, "I wasn't really afraid of the story. I was just shocked by the end."

Silverstream nodded slowly and said, "Yeah, Ocellus is kinda right. . . Ooh! But the face you did at the end was scary!"

Smolder groaned and said, "This is so laaaaame! Does no one here know how to tell a scary story?"

Yona looked with a frown at Smolder and said, "Smolder not tell good scary story either."

"Ugh! Fine. So I'm better at sad, tragic stories with bad endings," Smolder remarked with irritation in her voice.

"How was mine not scary?" Sandbar remarked, "I mean, think of! A stain that never comes out. . ." Sandbar shuddered and said, "Ugh. . .I'd hate to have to face that. . ."

Gallus frowned bitterly and said, "Yeah, this was a total bust. We're not getting any really scary stories tonight."

There was a sudden flash of light in the midst of a group, and the sparkling, spectral form of Twilight Sparkle appeared.

"Perhaps I might be of some assistance," it said.

Silverstream sat up excitedly, her wings flapping energetically as she said with a smile, "It's the Spirit of the Tree of Harmony!"

Yona looked to the spirit in slight confusion and asked, "Did Tree want to come to slumber party?"

The spirit turned to the yak and said kindly, "Actually, I am always pleasant within this sanctuary." It then addressed the group at large and said, "Be that as it may, I sensed that you had a problem, and I wish to solve that problem."

"Um?" Gallus said, unsure of what the spirit was saying.

"Is this about us not being able to tell any scary stories?" Smolder asked while peering at the spirit oddly, "'Cause I'm not sure how a spirit of peace, love, and harmony could do anything about that?"

The spirit chuckled soundlessly at this, lifting a forehoof to her mouth as she did this. Then she said, "You are mistaken, Smolder. For you see, Harmony is actually a balance between light and dark, positives and negatives. Consider my attributes. To be Honest, one must tell hurtful truths. To be Kind, one must sometimes be firm with others. Laughter is often a defense mechanism meant to deal with misery. To be Generous, one must first accumulate wealth and possessions to distribute. When one is Loyal, they cannot be loyal to all. That is impossible. To be truly loyal to one's friends, one must be disloyal to others. And Magic is able to both create and destroy, to attack and to defend."

The spirit then bowed elegantly and said, "Therefore, I am more than capable of conjuring up tales they will suit your needs."

Ocellus stared at the spirit with wide eyes and said, "You're here to tell us scary stories?"

The spirit shifted her wings and said, "The stories I have planned for you are far more than simple scary stories." Her gaze hardened slightly as she looked upon the six youngsters. "They consist of light and of shadow, of fear and of knowledge," she continued, "They are stories of not only sight and sound, but of mind. They are wondrous stories of imagination, and I wish to share them with you all."

"Um. . ." Sandbar said nervously, but when Yona moved close to him and smiled warmly at him, his nerves faded, and he smiled and said, "Heh, sounds good to me."

Gallus smiled eagerly and rubbed his talons together, "Aw, yeah! Now this is what I'm talking about!"

Ocellus looked very much intrigued, "If they're something more than just scary stories, then I think we'll all enjoy them a great deal more! Maybe we'll learn something too."

Silverstream was bursting with excitement, and she was finding it hard to sit still, "Oh! My! Gosh! This sounds incredible! Thanks a ton Spirit of the Tree of Harmony! . . Um, that's kinda long. Is it okay if we just call you Harmony for short?"

The spirit nodded and said with a kind smile, "That would suit me just fine."

Smolder, having been left relatively unconvinced and unimpressed by Harmony's speech, sat up from where she had been reclining carelessly on the cushions, and said, "Alright then, Harmony! Time's a wasting and there's still some fun stuff we haven't done yet. I'm dying to have that pillow fight, so bring on the stories! We're all ready for it!"

The other five voiced their agreement, and Harmony simply smiled widely at all of them. She flapped her wings and held her head high as the tip of her horn began to glow.

"To adequate relate these tales to you, I must take you all to another dimension. . . A dimension beyond that which is known to mortal beings. . . It is a dimension as vast as space. . . and as timeless as infinity. . ."

As Harmony's horn glowed brighter, the six creatures suddenly noticed that a strange magical breeze was whirling around the room, and they could feel a strange force slowly making its way within their very beings.

"It is a dimension of imagination. . . It is realm of shadow and of substance. . . of things and ideas. . . of what-ifs and what-could-bes. . .It's only boundaries are that of imagination itself. . ."

Harmony began to float off of the floor, and the six youngsters also began to float as well. All of them, even Smolder, were now staring at Harmony in shock, and even slight fear.

Harmony then close her eyes and said, "Your next stop is. . ." She then opened them, revealing that they were glowing a blinding white, " . . .The Simulacrum Realm."

Then, the spirit, and the six creatures, vanished, leaving only a dark, empty room.

A griffon, a changeling, a hippogriff, a dragon, a yak, and a pony—a collection of possibilities. Six unlikely heroes, each set out into a journey into the unknown. Six tours, each one a cross between dreams and nightmares; in which justice, retribution, and the unexplainable walk hand in hand through the shadows. In a moment, we'll start collecting clues as to the whys, the whats, and the wheres. We will not interfere, we'll only explain —because this is the Simulacrum Realm.

1- Time Isn't Money

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

2- If a Changeling Calls, Hang Up

Ocellus let out a gasp of surprise as she took in her new surroundings. No longer was see in the Treehouse of Harmony. However, she did in fact know her new location quite well.

"I'm back home?" she said as gazed around one of the rooms within the Changeling hive. She turned around, and gasped yet again when she saw that back of King Thorax, who's head was lowered slightly as he stood facing away from her.

"K-King Thorax! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude! I'm not even sure how I got here. I hope I'm disturbing you to much," Ocellus said both apologetically and rapidly, worried that the Changeling leader would be upset with her like he had been when she had left home after the Tree of Harmony had been destroyed.

However, Thorax didn't react with anger. In fact, he didn't seem to react at all. Rather, he kept his head down, magic flowing from his horns as he continued to work on something Ocellus couldn't see.

Ocellus nervously stood still as she coninuted to stare at Thorax's back, her nerves getting slightly worse as she waited for Thorax to speak to her.

"I. . . I really don't know why I'm here. I swear!" Ocellus said again, her eyes darting around as she spoke, "Please, I didn't mean to upset you again. I just. . ." Ocellus hung her head in shame and said, "Please, I just want to know if you accept my apolo-."

"THORAX!"

Ocellus whirled around fast to see Pharynx grouchily storming into the room, right towards her. Ocellus was to nervous to move, so she ended up shrieking as Pharynx walked right through her, completely unaware of her existence.

Ocellus' breathing was heavy as her mind raced to make sense of what had just happened. "What was-? Am I. . .not really here!?" she gasped out.

Ocellus then looked over to Pharynx and Thorax, the later of which finally looked up from whatever he was working on and turned to his brother.

"Anything wrong?" Thorax asked with a sunny smile.

Pharynx huffed in annoyance and said, "Hmm, let's see. . .how about the fact that you've been working on this contraption of yours all day!"

Thorax held out a forehoof to his brother and said with a still sunny disposition, "Hold it right there, Pharynx. I'm afraid not even you can put a damper on what I'm doing right now. Everyling thought that Chrysalis' long distance communication spell would be lost forever after she ditched the hive, but it turns out that I'm just about to prove them wrong!"

Thorax then motioned to what he was working on. It was a large quartz-shaped crystal, about three feet in height. It's coloration was a mixture of lime green and jet black swirls, and it appeared to hum with latent magical energy.

Pharynx sighed and said, "Brother, look, Chrysalis guarded that spell for who knows how long. It was literally her personal spell. One could say it was part of her. So, the chances of you figuring it out a pretty slim. . .to none."

Thorax shrugged and said, "Sorry, Pharynx, but I honestly don't care what you have to say about this. I'm sure I know what I'm doing. So sure that even hearing you criticize me, as usual, can't get me down. I've already sent smaller receiving crystals to Spike, Ember, Trixie, and Starlight, and once my master crystal is finished by tonight, we'll have our first call."

Pharynx leaned forward and said, "You're going to wind up staying up all night, and tomorrow you'll be tired and cranky on your coro-."

Thorax was barely listening at this point, as he was bubbling over with excitement at this point, then he continued on, "And then, once it's a success, we can make tons more of them, fix is so that any creature can power them, and the whole world will be linked with instant communication! It'll be a breakthrough for friendships everywhere!"

Thorax then promptly turned back to his master crystal and resumed working on it, causing Pharynx to just shake is head and say, "Well, if you want to ignore and mess with Chrysalis' magic. . .fine. Go ahead. Learn the hard way."

Ocellus watched as Pharynx left the room, and then looked back at the determinedly excited looking Thorax. However, a sudden presence nearby caused her to turn her attention away from him, and she then saw Harmony standing by and wearing a smile.

"Changeling King Thorax has always been a Changeling with ideas ahead of his race's time: from the advantages of friendship to the value of sharing love. Yet again, the inexperienced King has another idea with the best of intentions. However, what King Thorax doesn't realize is that his good intentions are paving the way to an experience relayed through a six way conversation routed directly through. . . The Simulacrum Realm."

It was around 7:00 P.M., and Thorax was sitting alone in the room he had closed off for the sole purpose of working on his magical invention, or rather reinvention. He was gleefully smiling with pride, having finished work on it not to long ago.

"Alright, it's time. . .Now for the moment of truth. . ." he said breathlessly, and he carefully lit up his horns to activate the crystal.

The crystal glowed a bright emerald green, and a decent sized flame of the same color appeared over it. The flame hovered there for a moment, and then, all of a sudden, the image of Dragon Lord Ember's face appeared within.

Utterly thrilled, Thorax leaned forward and said loudly, "Ember, can you see me? Can you hear me?!"

Ember blinked owlishly at first, then she smirked and said, "Heh. I gotta be honest here, I thought you were crazy. Fine. I was wrong. It works."

"YEEEEESSS!" Thorax shouted as he took off and flew in a loop, "I DID IT! I DID IT! WOO-HOO!"

Ember chuckled a bit and said, "Oh boy, you sure are an excitable guy."

Thorax landed and nodded his head excitedly as he looked at the image of Ember, "This is great. This is so great! This is gonna make everything better for everycreature in the world!"

Ember nodded in a slower, more relaxed manner and said, "Well, yeah, if you say so. But aren't you forgetting one other dragon and two ponies?"

This helped Thorax to regain his focus, and he said quickly, "Oh, yeah, you're right. Okay, I'll call Spike's crystal now."

Thorax activated the crystal again, and Ember's image move to the side to make room for another green flame, this one containing Spike's image.

"Holy guacamole, it works!" Spike said in excitement, and he gave a thumbs up as he said, "Congratulations, Thorax!"

Now on a success fueled adrenaline rush, Thorax grinned and said, "I'm not done yet! Now, two at once!"

The crystal glowed yet again, and now arranged in a two by two square were four images; Ember and Spike on the bottom, and Trixie and Starlight on the top.

Starlight grinned and said, "I had total faith in you, Thorax!"

"Behold! The image of the Great and Powerful Trixie, seen all the way from Manehatten!" Trixie declared grandly.

Starlight eyes were darting around, clearly marveling at the four images she was seeing on her end, and she said, "This truly is amazing. Five locations: the Changeling Hive, the Dragonlands, Ponyville, Manehatten, and the Crystal Empire. All connected!"

Thorax nodded and said, "I know, right? This is the beginning of something truly great, I just know it!" Thorax took a few deep breaths to calm himself.

"Yeah, I gotta admit, this pretty cool," Ember remarked with a sly grin, "This could help me check up on Smolder more often."

Spike looked pretty eager as he asked, "Okay, so what's next?"

Thorax, now a bit calmer after his gleeful react to his triumph, said, "Well, I'd like to test a few things. Let's try disconnecting and reconnecting. To disconnect, just tap the crystal three times. Then I'll call you guys back. Then we can try changing the volume. We do that by sliding your hoof, or claw, down the side of the crystal."

The testing phase went quite smoothly, and quickly. Thorax's friends all disconnected and were reconnected by Thorax with no problem, and adjusting the volume was simple and without issue. Thorax explained that the current set up of a master crystal and several smaller crystals only allowed him to make the calls. However, he had plans to fix the spell so that all creatures could own a master crystal that they could use to contact anyone they wished via a code of some sort. Idea ranging from numbers, to letters, to full names, and even pictures of whoever somecreature wished to call were thrown around. Nevertheless, Thorax was certain that the finer details would work their way out one way or another.

And so, the five friends proceeded to make full use of Thorax's communication device and spend some time socializing.

". . .And I taught that Roc a lesson on why he shouldn't mess with my friends!" Spike finished proudly, pumping his fist for emphasis.

"Good for you, Spike!" Thorax cheered.

"No Ursa Major, but a notable accomplishment, no doubt," Trixie remarked.

"Aw, come on, Trixie," Starlight said teasingly.

"My story is true!" Spike said a sly smirk, which appeared to irk Trixie just a bit.

"Not a bad molt-story, Spike," Ember said with approval, "Not as good as mine, though."

Spike looked super eager at this, and he said, "Oh, I gotta hear this! Tell us, Ember!"

Ember suddenly frowned and looked away, "Well, on second thought, maybe not."

Trixie scoffed and said, "Oh come now, surely the Dragon Lord isn't afraid to tell us of her past deeds."

Starlight rolled her at this, but smiled and said, "Come on, Ember. You've got us all curious now, we have to know. And if it's embarrassing, we'll all Pinkie Promise not to tell anycreature else."

"Hmmm," was Ember's only reply.

Thorax moved closer to the images and said encouragingly, "Come on, Ember. I'd really like to know you better. Please?"

Ember's eyes seemed to meet Thorax's for a briefest of moments, and she appeared slightly flustered for that moment. However, she quickly gained an aloof appearance and said, "Huh. Well, if you guys are gonna keep begging me, fine. I'll tell you. I-."

The conversation was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a fifth flame poofing into existence, hovering above the four images of Thorax's friends.

Thorax stepped back from the crystal as he stared up at the fifth flame. "Huh? Where did that come from?"

"A fifth flame?" Starlight said, sounding slightly confused.

"Who'd you call, Thorax?" Spike asked.

"Nocreature! Really!" Thorax said in confusion, "I didn't do anything, it just appeared by itself."

Ember sniffed and said, "Well, it looks like this whole thing still has a few bugs in it. . .Uh, no offense, Thorax."

Thorax frowned as he stared up at the fifth flame. There didn't even seem to be an image within it. All he could see was green flames. "I don't understand what could've gone wrong," he said, sounding frustrated and distressed, a stark contrast to his earlier glee, "Hang on. I'm going to disconnect everyone and see if that fixes it."

"Don't disconnect."

Everycreature quickly looked up, Spike even let out a gasp of fear.

"It-it-it-it talked!" Spike stammered out.

"Everycreature must stay where they are. . .don't any of you dare leave or touch your crystals," the voice said. It was vaguely feminine, yet it was so badly stretched and distorted that it sounded unnatural and all the more terrifying.

"Who are you!?" Ember demanded.

"Thorax will find out soon enough," the voice said harshly, "It doesn't matter if any of you find out or not."

Spike was trembling like a leaf. "I'm scared. I'm scared. I'm so scared!" he said as his eyes widened from his fright.

Concerned for his friend, Thorax extended a hoof in a comforting gesture and said, "Spike, calm down. It'll be alright. There's no danger here." Thorax then put on a comforting smile and said, "A voice can't hurt you, can it? No, of course not. Right?"

Spike blinked, he his trembling ceased as he replied slowly, "Well. . ."

"It most certainly can't!" Trixie cut in, looking very much aggravated by the turn of events, "How dare anyone try to intimidate Trixie!"

"You are the weakest of this group. You would do well to do as you are told."

Trixie gave a hollow laugh and said, "A threatening voice versus the Great and Powerful Trixie! It is to laugh! Ha! Go on, Thorax. Restart these things so we no longer have to listen to whoever this conjurer of cheap tricks is!"

"Do it, and there will be death."

Thorax's eyes widened with fright at this, and he found himself speechless.

"WHAT!?" Ember shouted, eyes widened as she beheld the fifth flame with disbelief.

As Spike began whimpering and trembling, Starlight put on a nervous smile and said, "O-o-okay, let's not lose our cool."

"BAH!" Trixie shouted, "Trixie can't be intimidated so easy. I shall simply set an example of courage for the others."

"TRIXIE, NO!" Starlight cried out desperately as Trixie's image reached forwards. Then, her flame disappeared. "CALL HER BACK IN, QUICK!" Starlight shouted at Thorax, he face frantic.

Although a great deal frightened himself, Thorax immediately complied. However, when Trixie's image returned, Thorax wished he hadn't.

Trixie was screaming in utter terror as a rope in a field of green energy was being tightly wrapped around her neck. Her own magic didn't seem to be working, and her screams reached bloodcurdling levels as the rope around her neck pulled her up off the ground so that he head couldn't be seen in the image. However, the remaining four could see Trixie's body struggling as she hung from the rope, until eventually both her struggles, and he screams, finally ceased.

"NOOOOO!" Starlight screamed out as the others simply stared with wide eyes and open mouths until Trixie's flame vanished yet again.

"Do I have you attention now?"

"HOW?!" Starlight cried out through her tears, "How did you even do that!?"

"That isn't important. What is important is what happens next."

"Please don't kill me!" Spike shouted desperately, getting on his knees and into a begging position, "I don't wanna die!"

Ember suddenly whipped out her Bloodstone Scepter with her right claw and wielded it threateningly as she said, "Listen, you. I don't know who you are or how you're doing this, but if this keeps up, there's gonna be an entire army of dragons looking for you! You got that!"

"I cannot be found. Your dragons cannot got to where I am as they are now."

"What the heck is that supposed to mean!?" Ember demanded, still quite furious.

"Spike, do you want to live?"

"YES!" Spike cried out, "I want to get out of this and never use this crystal or anything like it again! Please don't kill me!"

"Hey! Thorax worked hard on this!" Ember argued.

"Trixie died because of it!" Spike shot back, terror and desperation fueling his rage.

Thorax nodded swiftly and said, "He's right, Ember. It's all my fault! I don't know how or why, but-."

"Exactly!" Ember said as if it were obvious, "You had no idea any of this would happen. Of course you're not to blame. We just gotta get through this and tear apart whoever that voice belongs to."

"Good luck with that," the voice said, now suddenly filled with mirth, as if she found the whole thing funny.

Starlight was sobbing quietly as she pounded on the ground with her forehooves. Trixie. . .she's gone. . .Thorax. . .you idiot."

"Not his fault!" Ember said sternly with all the authority of her position, "Not. His. Fault."

Thorax blinked at the Dragon Lord and said softly, "Ember. . .I . . ."

Starlight was a broken mess, sobbing as she sadly shook her head, "Why, why, why, why, why. . ."

"Continue to suffer, Starlight Glimmer. I'm enjoying it a great deal," the voice said, a strange smugly satisfied edged to her voice, "Now, as for you, Spike. If you want to live, then tell me who you love the most."

Spike blinked and said, "Wait, what?"

"Who do you love the most?"

". . .That's it?" Spike remarked.

"Spike, wait, it's a trap!" Thorax shouted quickly, "If you tell it, it'll probably kill whoever you say!"

"But if he doesn't say, then he'll die!" Ember argued.

Starlight's tearful eyes were wide as she said, "Spike. . . Rarity. . .oh, I don't know!"

Spike looked in slight surprise in the direction of Starlight's flame, "Wait, who? But Starlight I. . . ohhhhh. . ." Spike's eyes were wide, as if he suddenly came to an unexpected realization.

"10. . .9. . ." the voice began.

Spike's face became panic stricken, and he exclaimed, "Wait, what? Seriously?"

"8. . .7. . .6. . ."

Ember gripped her Bloodstone Scepter tightly and shouted, "Say it, Spike! Just say it! You can't die on me!"

"5. . .4. . .3. . ."

"What should we do, Thorax!?" Starlight cried out.

"I don't know!" Thorax shouted back, his face wracked with panic.

". . .2. . ."

"RARITY! I love Rarity!" Spike shouted, breathing heavily as his claws shook like crazy.

"Oh, Spike!" Starlight wailed as she covered her face with her forehooves.

Thorax hung his head and said, "Spike, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"We'll find this creep, Spike. I swear it," Ember said resolutely.

Spike shut his eyes tightly and clenched his fists even tighter, guilt and anguish surging through him.

"You lied."

Spike's eyes snapped open, and everyone looked up at the voice's flame in shock.

"You thought you could fool me. You thought you could save both yourself and Gabby. You thought wrong."

"Gabby?" Starlight echoed in shock.

Frantic yet again, Spike cried out desperately, "Wait, wait! I used to have a crush on Rarity! Doesn't that-" He was promptly cut off when his flame went out.

"Nononono! Bring him back, Thorax!" Ember cried out, reaching forward with her free claw in desperation.

"Please don't," Starlight whimpered.

"DO IT!" Ember roared, a mad gleam in her eyes.

It turned out that Starlight soft whimpering lost to Ember louder exclamation, and Thorax quickly reconnected to Spike's crystal. When Spike's flame reappeared, Starlight was the first to react, letting out a wail of despair as Spike was seen having a jug of bleach shoved into his mouth. The jug was suspended in the same green energy field that held the rope that had hung Trixie, and Spike was helpless to stop the bleach from being poured down his throat. All the while, his eyes showed nothing but pure terror.

"Spike. . .Spike!" Ember shirked out, a mixture of horror and violent rage radiating out from her as she watched the gruesome scene.

Thorax fell to the floor, his entire body shaking as he pressed his forehooves against his head. "Make it stop. Please, just make it stop," he moaned.

The horrible image of Spike suddenly vanished, leading Ember to shake her Bloodstone Scepter violently and scream, "I'LL FIND YOU! I'LL FIND YOU AND KILL YOU! I SWEAR IT! I'LL KILL YOU SLOWLY!"

"Keep telling yourself that," the voice snarked, and Thorax couldn't help but notice how the voice seemed to be gaining more and more personality as this horrible experience went on.

Thorax lifted his tearful eyes up to the voice's flame and said, "You win. . .We'll do anything. Anything. Just please stop this. Anything you want."

"YOU GET NOTHING FROM ME! EXCEPT A LONG SLOW DEATH!" Ember continued wrathfully.

"I want to know who Starlight Glimmer loves the most!" the voice said in a sing song voice.

"Not answering," Starlight muttered, her head lowered and her eyes sunken in and empty.

"Starlight, please!" Thorax pleaded, "I don't want to lose anycreature else!"

"Don't care. Not answering," Starlight muttered in that same, cold, distant voice.

The voice sighed in what sounded like great disappointment, "Oh dear, she's broken already? This is no fun. I suppose I should've gone slower. I suppose there's no point in dragging it out then. I really should have been more careful. Curses to wasted opportunities. . . Oh well. At least I have my other target!"

BANG!

Ember jumped, while Thorax actually screamed when Starlight's horn suddenly exploded in a burst of green magic. The unicorn screamed in intense agony as the explosion ruptured her skull and threw her backwards several meters. The image hung on Starlight's body for a few seconds before finally disappearing.

Now Thorax sat facing two large flames, one depicting Ember, the other revealing nothing and belonging to the voice.

"I. Will. Kill you," Ember said, her eyes filled with enough hate and loathing to cause even the mightiest of yaks to cower.

"Is there nothing else you can think of saying?" the voice said in annoyance, "Never mind. It's time to discuss your feeling for each other."

Thorax's eyes widened. "WHAT!?"

"Thorax loves you Ember. Its aroma. . . its flavor. .. Oooh, it is oh sooooo intoxicating."

Ember simply stared at Thorax in disbelief, her mouth hanging open in shock.

"Now then, Dragon Lord Ember, what is your response?"

Thorax gazed at Ember's face, his eyes seemingly gaining a will of their own as they drunk in every aspect of the dragoness before him. Ember's eyes, meanwhile, were simply darting around wildly as her mouth opened and closed as if trying to find the right words to say. Then she snarled and said, "Darn it! Dragons stink at talking about feelings!"

Thorax gulped. Everything that had happened tonight had been draining to him, and this was just making everything worse. The only things keeping him awake right now were terror and anticipation.

"Thorax," Ember finally said, averting her eyes from his gaze, "That talk we had by the lake, where we first met, one of the best days ever for both of us, I'm sure. Yeah. . ." She then gulped audibly, and continued, "And sure, I think you're a really swell guy and all, but I just can't see us being. . .together. . ."

Thorax clenched his teeth as he himself had to turn away. "I. . .understand Ember. I-."

"Auuuuuuughack!"

Thorax quickly looked back at the flame containing Ember's image, and saw to his horror that the sharp end of the Bloodstone Scepter had been driven right into her heart. The green magic had seized control of Ember's arms, preventing her from doing anything about it. The wide eyed dragoness slumped forward a bit, and then the flame image vanished without a trace.

Now Thorax was left alone with the voice.

"She really should've learned from Spike what the price of lying was."

Thorax's heart lurched uncomfortably, and for a brief moment he actually felt like laughing, making him fear for his own sanity. "She. . . she loved me. . ." he said brokenly, tears dripping from his face.

"Yes. . .How sad. . ." the voice said with false pity, "Now then. . .do you know who I am, Thorax?"

Thorax stared into the voice's flame, his mind working hard is it forced it's way through the painful recent memories of this horrible night. Before long, the clues began to slid into place and click together, and Thorax spoke a name in a terrified whisper: "Chrysalis."

As if summoned forth by the name, the image of the former Changeling Queen appeared within the flame, a wicked smile on her face. "I knew you'd figure out eventually, oh King!" she said, her voice clear and no longer distorted.

"H. . .H . . .How!? You're a statue," Thorax said, still in that hushed whisper of terror.

Chrysalis chuckled and said, "Oh Thorax. You really shouldn't have tried messing with my spells. They were a part of me, and I am a part of them. Such an action on your part was bound to. . .backfire."

Thorax felt as though he was condemned eternally to deepest pit of despair as he said, "It's my fault. . .all my fault."

"It certainly is!" Chrysalis said with a triumphant grin, "I really do appreciate the way you allowed me to get my revenge. So, it's only fair to reward you! You get 20 more seconds to live!"

Thorax's heart began to pound as he began to feebly plead, "No. . .no, please. . ."

A look of vile anticipation was on Chrysalis' face as she leaned forward and began to gleefully count down, "20. ..19. . .18. . .17. . ."

"Please, just hear me out! It doesn't have to be this way!"

"16. . .15. . .14. . .13. . .12. . . "

"I never wanted you to be turned to stone! I wanted you back! We all wanted you back!"

"11. . .10. . .9. . .8. . ."

"We all hoped you would change! We wanted you to be our mother again!"

"7. . .6. . .5. . ."

"PLEASE, MOM! PLEASE!"

"4. . .3. . "

Thorax let out a cry of anguish and rage as he charged up magic in his antler and fired it at his now hated creation.

"2. . ."

SMASH!

Shard of the crystal were scattered all over the room, a black mark on the floor marking where it once stood. No more flames, no more voices, only silence. However, the silence was broken by the sound of Thorax throwing himself flat onto the floor and loudly sobbing his heart out. This went on until Thorax finally used up the last of his strength, and mercifully passed out.

Knock-knock-knock!

The knocking caused the Changeling King to awaken, his heart pounding as he gazed about the room. The shards of crystal only reminded him of the ordeal he had been to, which then caused his pounding to heart to ache with a dull, throbbing pain.

"Thorax? Wake up in there! You're needed out here," barked the sharp voice of his brother.

Thorax let out a soft, whimpering sigh, and he slowly got up onto his hooves. In spite of a full night's sleep, he felt exhausted. He was drained emotionally and physically, and it seemed to take longer than ever for him to make his way over to the door and open it.

"SURPRISE!"

Thorax's mouth and eyes were wide open as he beheld a huge gathering before him. All of the Changeling were smiling and applauding, even Pharynx. But what truly caught Thorax's attention were four familiar faces.

"HAPPY CORONATION DAY, THORAX!" declared Trixie, Ember, Spike, and Starlight.

Thorax's mind was reeling as he beheld his four friends, unable to take their eyes off of them, even as the rest of the Changelings were cheering for him.

Starlight approached the Changeling King and said, "When your communication crystal didn't work out last night, we figured that we could cheer you up by paying you a visit on your Coronation Day celebration."

This statement finally caused Thorax to find his voice. "Didn't. . .work. . .?" he stammered out.

Spike flew over to Thorax and said with a wry grin, "Yeah. It cut out and went dead right before Ember was about to tell us her molt story! What a bummer."

Thorax blinked his eyes slowly and echoed, "Before. . .her. . .molt story. . .?"

Ember shrugged and said, "Yeah. And, I guess if you want to hear it that badly, I'll tell you it later, if ya want."

Trixie bowed elegantly and said, "Surely such a tale may. . .come close to the entertainment that The Great and Powerful Trixie will provide for this event."

Ember smirked and said, "Heh. Okay, I'll admit it. The magician is starting to grow on me."

Starlight turned to the still shell shocked looking Changeling King and said, "Well, Thorax. You feeling pretty good, now?"

Thorax stood still and was in a deep daze. However, his state of shock was suddenly shattered as he used his magic to pull his four friends into a tight hug. He squeezed them all as tight as he good, tears running down his face as he wept uncontrollably and shamelessly, all the while unable to form coherent sentences.

While the other three were silently confused, Ember blushed a bit and remarked, "Heh. Talk about emotional. . .But I can't help but kinda like it. . ."

Ocellus watched the scene, visibly and deeply relieved by what she was seeing. She let out longest sigh of relief as she sunk down to her knees. "Oh thank goodness. Thank goodness," she said in a shaky whisper. Then, the voice of Harmony spoke to her:

"Witness if you will, the morning after a nightmare. The calm after the storm. An unforeseen consequence having run it's course. Luckily for Thorax, he was able to learn a few lessons without any lasting side effects. One of those lessons being that the best solution to a problem is also the easiest. So the next time you receive a call you neither expected nor wanted, the best course of action would be to hang up. Occam's Razor is as sharp as ever. . .in the Simulacrum Realm."

Author's Note

Now, before any of you complain that the Tree of Harmony wouldn't show stuff like this, keep in mind that this is the same entity that made Gallus think he was going to be crushed to death, psychologically tormented Ocellus by turning her into Equestria's version of Hitler/Stalin/Kony, and triggered Silverstream's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

So yeah, I think the Tree would have no problem coming up with this kind of stuff.