I Am NOT Twilight Sparkle!

Twilight Sparkle sat at the table in the throne room of her castle, looking at the map of Equestria, and has been for hours ever since she woke up this morning.

She’s been waiting for some kind of sign from the map, like a beacon that would show where Zack is. But the table didn’t show the princess of friendship anything. So Twilight tried to use various spells of clairvoyance, scrying, anything that would give Twilight some kind of premonition of where Zack was. But like with the map, none of the spells she used in conjunction with the table told, or showed her anything. It’s been two days since Zack was twisted into a nightmarish version of herself and killed Chrysalis, and as of yet there was no trace, no lead, not even a rumor of a pitch-black alicorn anywhere. Or even seeing a fiery comet crackling with black lightning soaring through the air. There was absolutely nothing! Aside from not knowing where her twisted and hurting doppelganger was, Twilight was also concerned about her two friends Rainbow Dash and Thorax who were still in the hospital, and because of their conflict with Chrysalis, both of them were still in critical conditions.

Rainbow Dash was alive, thank the sun, but nearly eighty percent of her body has second degree burns all over her body, but the greatest injury Rainbow Dash was inflicted was to her wings. The pegasus’s wings were all but useless now. The fire spell that Chrysalis used on Rainbow was used behind her, engulfing her in the flames, thus her wings took the full brunt of the fiery explosion. Nearly all of her feathers were burned away, the skin and muscle were the only places that Rainbow had third degree burns, and were unable to use her wings let alone actually feel them. of course the pegasus was greatly upset, scratch that, the mare was absolutely broken when she heard that she may never fly again. Twilight and the others tried to comfort Rainbow, telling her that the doctors were mostly uncertain if she would be unable to fly, but Rainbow just shut down. Last she heard Rainbow just lays in her hospital bed, staring aimlessly at nothing.

Thorax’s situation wasn’t any better. After Twilight’s visit with Celestia and Luna, and her visit to Rainbow, Twilight decided to check on Thorax as well. The only thing she saw was her changeling friend splayed out on a bed, a large hole in his body, his carapace cracked and jagged with green blood oozing everywhere, while doctors tried to close the hole and heal any damage he sustained. Later in the day Thorax’s brother Pharynx came to the hospital, as he was messaged about his brothers condition, and when Twilight told him everything that happened…he nearly ripped Twilight’s head off! the changeling shouted at the alicorn that if she was all powerful, like the alicorns are supposed to be, then this situation would never have happened. His brother wouldn’t have never been captured, risked his life to save some creature, AGAIN, and end on deaths door.

And at that thought, thinking back to what Pharynx said, saying on how if she and her friends and the princess sent out search parties to find Chrysalis and locked her up, then none of this would’ve happened. And he was right. When Chrysalis fled when everypony was freed, and the changelings revolted against her rule, they could’ve gone after her, they SHOULD’VE gone after her! with Rainbow’s speed, her, Starlight, and even Celestia and Luna freed, they could’ve have stopped her! Right then and there! they could’ve have stopped it right there…and yet…they didn’t. They just, watched Chrysalis just fly away, not even considering going after her, allowing her to plot and scheme her revenge. They let a known dangerous creature just, get away.

“It is all my fault.” Twilight muttered as she slumped over the table, her face buried in her hooves as she starts to sob.

“It’s all my fault. I didn’t do anything to stop all of this, I-I-I didn’t ask for a search p-party, I didn’t have g-guards at my castle to look a-after any pony…and I couldn’t do anything to save my friends…” Twilight was now fully crying as she sat there at the map table as her guilt, and the weight of her inaction to keep her friends safe start to weigh her down.

“Twilight?” the alicorn lifted her head and turned to look behind her and saw Spike standing at the door to the throne room, a worried and dishearten look adoring his face as he starts waddling over to the alicorn. “What’s wrong?”

“Everything Spike.” Twilight blubbered as she tried to wipe her tears away.

“Everything concerning Zack, from her capture and, rape, to her miscarriage, everything Spike.”

“Twilight that’s not true.”

“Yes it is!” Twilight practically screamed which startled Spike and nearly made him fall back on his butt.

“I could’ve stop Chrysalis as she was fleeing, we could’ve put her in prison right there! if I simply acted on that ONE opportunity…then Zack, Thorax, and Rainbow—” Twilight was stopped in mid-rant as Spike tackled into her, wrapping his little arms around her as much as he could, while burying his face into her chest.

“…It’s not all your fault Twilight.” Spike weakly muttered as Twilight felt his grip tighten around her.

“If its anyone’s fault, then its all of ours. We all could’ve done something, but we didn’t, but we were also concerned about Zack's physical and mental health, as well as helping the changelings try to find a better life.” Spike drew his head back and looked up to Twilight, who saw her assistant looking just as sadden as she was.

“I know that may not be a perfect excuses to help you feel better, but I hope it shows you that your not the only one solely responsible for what happened Twilight.” Twilight didn’t immediately perked up, but a small sense of reassurance did come over her as she took in Spike’s words, yet it still didn’t absolve the fact that Twilight knew deep down that she was right about her own hoof in this matter. However Twilight forced a small smile to show Spike that she appreciated his words and comfort.

“Thank you Spike.” Twilight said as she nuzzle the top of the dragon’s head before planting a small kiss on it.

“I’m happy to help Twilight.” Spike said as he let his caretaker go. “Are you hungry? You were gone before I woke up, so I couldn’t have asked you then.”

“I could use a bite.” Twilight said as she rubbed her stomach which gave a weak little grumble. Spike then nodded before waddling out of the throne room as he was off to the kitchen to make some breakfast. As Spike left the room the frown from early returned to Twilight’s face as she looked back at the map.

“One more try.” Twilight muttered as a more determine expression came over her face as she levitated the collection of books in front of her, as she tries again to find out where Zack could be.

~~Ponyville General Hospital~~

A weak rasped groan left Thorax’s muzzle as he very slowly opened his eyes, where he was meet with bright lights and the smell of sterilized air. As he coming to the changelings ears were starting to become filled with a intense high pitch buzzing sound, but it started to fade out and lessen yet in its place Thorax was starting hear voices, very excited voices by the sound of everypony shouting.

“Thorax! THORAX!” a familiar voice called out before Thorax turned his head and found Pharynx looking at him with a worried expression.

“Pharynx?”

“Oh thank the Hive your alive!” the changeling said as tears started to swell in his eyes.

“What happened?”

“You almost got yourself killed you idiot!” Pharynx shouted which caused Thorax to flinch, but then a sharp pain coursed from the pit of his stomach and raced up his entire body. “Thorax?!”

“Mister Pharynx try not to tax your brother.” A stallion said before taking the changeling away from the bed.

“What happened?” Thorax asked as he looked to the stallion.

“You don’t remember what happened?” the stallion asked.

“Happened?” Thorax repeated as he was unsure what the stallion meant, but then memories and images started to flood his mind. Images of Chrysalis, Zack, his friends, fire and then…Thorax then brought a hoof over his chest, where he felt bandages and pads.

“What happened doctor!” a worried tone coated Thorax’s voice as he spoke. “What happened to Zack and my friends?!”

The doctor took a seat next to Thorax’s bed and began telling him what he wanted to know. the changeling was informed that his friends were mostly alright, only baring small scars and bruising, with Rainbow Dash being the only one that was heavily damaged. As for himself the doctor explained that Thorax was on the very edge of living and dying, but with his brothers help in donating blood and aiding in treatment by using special changeling medical attention, Thorax was on the road to recovery, but he is told he would be bed-ridden for at least a few months at best. But what Thorax really wanted to know, and also dread to hear was what happened to Zack. unfortunately, the doctor couldn’t really explain that part of the story, but he’ll send a message to princess Twilight so that she could come and explain things. But for the time being the doctor told Thorax that he needs to rest more, and not to overexert himself. Thorax did as the doctor suggested and went back to sleep, but as he did so his thoughts went back to Zack, and wandering what has happened to her.

~~the Foal Mountain~~

Something strange has been going on in the Foal Mountains. For the past few days ponies that live in the area, and in the sole town that lives at the boarder of the mountain, ponies have noted that over the past few days they noticed strange things going on. For one thing a constant plume of smoke and dark clouds could be seen from town, and the ponies of the town have been wondering on what is causing it. another thing that has been strange was the water that the ponies bottle up, and cart off to cities as fresh water source, was now a black and carried an awful smell. A smell that was like a wet dog and rotten vegetables.

But what the ponies found incredibly concerning when the black waters started to flow, is that whoever drinks it because incredibly sick. Not to the point in where they would die, but the ponies felt incredibly weak and frail, none of them who drank the black water by mistake couldn’t even leave their beds, as well as felt something deep inside them swell up and cause them to cry black tears. Ever sense the black waters started to flow into the town, and into the Water Barons factory, many ponies head up into the mountains to look for the source of the black water. But after that first day, none of the search parties ever came back down from the mountain, yet whenever the ponies sent search parties up into the mountains they could hear screams…and a strange melody. Which was then followed by a series of dull blue lights.

Today the fifth group of ponies, all hearty and well-versed lumberjacks and woodland surveyors, all of which were armed with axes, hatchets, hammers, and torches in case if it got dark out before they returned home. So far the group has searched high and low for the other ponies that came before them, but there was no sign of them. there weren’t even any tracks for them to follow, at least none they could find past the first kilometer into the forest at the foot of the mountain, they couldn’t even find anything that belonged to the ponies before the group.

“Just what in the world is going on this mountain?” a large orange coated stallion with a bushy red mane and beard asked as he looked around a small clearing.

“I know. there’s no sign of any pony else being on this mountain.” a slightly skinnier blue coated stallion said as he scratched his tied up mane. “It’s like the ponies just, disappeared.” The two stallions then looked to the rest of the group of nine ponies.

“Let’s keep moving everypony, we still need to find the source of the black water.” The orange stallion said as he starts trotting off into the woods with his party following behind him.

The group trotted through the woods looking for any sign, or clue that they could have missed regarding the missing ponies, but again they still found nothing. Soon though the group came upon one of the rivers that run through the woods, and made their way towards the town and the Water Baron’s factory, and sure enough the water was black and foul smelling. Seeing nothing at their current location that could be the source of the pollution, the group decided to make their way further upstream, hopefully to find the source of this tainted water. but as the group continued to make their way deeper into the woods, one of the pegasi of the group noticed that the sole unicorn colt was constantly looking around, while his ears swiveled around in every direction.

“Flint what’s up? you look like your expecting somepony to jump out of the brush, and scare the horseapples out of you.” the unicorn continued to look around before he responded to the pegasus’s question.

“Has any pony noticed just how quiet it is out here?” the group stopped as they all looked towards Flint.

“I mean just listen…no birds, no small animals scuttling around…nothing. There’s, nothing living in the forest.” all of the other ponies perked their ears up, and it was true, none of them could hear anything animal related. The only noise they could hear was rustling leaves, and bubbling brooks.

“Something very wrong is going on in these woods.” a tall lanky pegasus said as he started to look incredibly nervous.

“As long as we stick together nothing is going to—” the orange stallion stopped in mid-sentence as he, and the other ponies noticed that a strange mist was starting to roll in. “What the?”

“What is this? There wasn’t supposed to be any mist today?” the smaller pegasus said as he watched the mist start to become incredibly more thicker.

“Everypony circle up!”

the large orange earth pony bellowed before grabbing the large hammer from his side satchel, and held it firmly in his mouth. The other ponies gathered around and all huddle up in a circle, each brandishing their desired tools and lighting their torches. Something was not right with this mist, and for some reason all of the ponies knew that it was a sign of danger. But soon enough the entire forest was nothing more than an obscured curtain of greyness, and with the tall trees blocking out most of the sunlight the woods became a more menacing place. Yet for some reason the mist then started to lighten up, which allowed the ponies to be able to see the trees a bit more clearly, but none of the ponies lowered their guard.

And that’s when they all heard something very strange…the voice of a mare singing.

“Whither and decay end this destiny, break these earthly chains, and set the spirit free. The spirit free.”

The group of ponies looked everywhere from where the voice was coming from, but with each note, with every word sung the ponies couldn’t pin the voice down. It was as if it was coming from everywhere! But that wasn’t the only thing that the ponies noticed, they all noticed that the air was changing from a near bone chilling coldness, to a uncomfortable sweltering heat, and then back to normal temperatures before shifting again a minute later. Yet what really caught the ponies attention was the voice itself, it was calm, tranquil, and carried a soothing tone as it continued to sing. However the words that the voice was singing was negating its more soothing tone.

“Life is a lie. There is no joy or peace, there is only pain & strife…but do not fear little ones for you shall be saved.”

“Just who is singing that song?” one of the smaller earth ponies asked as she he held his axe in his mouth, eyes darting all over the place.

“Who are you!” One of the pegasi of the group shouted out, but the voice just continued to sing its morbid notes, while also sounding louder as it continued.

“Whither and decay end this destiny, break these souls vile chains, by setting their spirits free…

“Show yourself!” the leader of the group shouted as loud as he could, his booming voice seemingly silencing the singing voice. With the voice now gone, and the strange temperature shifts stopped, the group visibly relaxed and lowered the guard down just a bit. Then a moment later after a brief period of silence, the voice finished its morbid song.

“From there living cage.”

The ponies all turned in perfect unison to the back of the group, where they all saw Flint laying limp on the ground…while a dark figure stood over his body, staring at them with blank glowing white eyes. Both of which were outlined in sickly green and vile purple flames, as an eerie and twisted smile slowly started to grow on its perfectly smoothed face.

“Who the—”

Before the leader, or any of the ponies could finish saying anything, the woods again filled with mist before the sounds of terrifying cries and wails rung through the trees. Axes clattered, hammer rung, and torches whiffed, one by one every pony of the group vanished and disappeared into the mist. All the while the darken figure could still be seen, as if as a ghost in this thick veil of mist as its eyes, flames, and eerie smiled shined through. until it slowly reseeded into the mist as well, while it sung its disturbing song’s final words.

“From there living cage.”