Hatred is Magic

by smirker

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Celestia, Death, Main 6, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Changelings, Mystery
Length: 45446

Queen Chrysalis' death leads to an investigation.

Queen Chrysalis is found dead in Canterlot with her being freed from her stone prison, the ponies investigate who was responsible and it leads to surprising discoveries.

Published 2021-11-20 18:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2021-11-20 18:40:01 UTC

Chapter 1

It was a peaceful night in Equestria and everypony was relaxing with all of the threats to their country finally gone, everypony was asleep and there was nopony outside. The statue of Queen Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow stood in Canterlot during the night and a spell was cast on it, a red aura appeared around the stone imprisoning Queen Chrysalis, it broke apart and she fell forward,

"*pant* *pant*, I'm free, I'm free at last!" Queen Chrysalis hollered, she tried to raise her hoofs but panted since she did not have the energy. A magic blast hit her from behind and she screamed and fell over, she tried to move but could not,

"What is this? No, it can't be, hatred, this is poisonous to changelings." Queen Chrysalis stated, she panted as she heard walking behind her, the person went in front of her and she looked at the person,

"Who are you?" Queen Chrysalis asked, she watched the figure walk forward and two swords made out of dark green energy appeared in the figure's front hoofs,

"No. No!" Queen Chrysalis begged, and the figure did a horizontal slash with both swords and Queen Chrysalis screamed.

The next morning came and news about Queen Chrysalis reached throughout all of Equestria,

"Excuse us, make way." Twilight Sparkle said as she and her friends went through the crowd, they gasped when they saw her lifeless body and Princess Celestia standing by it alongside Princess Luna and King Thorax. They went over to them,

"What happened?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"We don't know, we just woke up this morning and she was here like this." Princess Celestia replied,

"We contacted Thorax right away when we discovered this, he's checking her right now." Princess Luna added, King Thorax touched her and he quickly moved his hoof away,

"You okay, Thorax?" Spike asked,

"Yeah, I'm fine." King Thorax responded,

"So, you have any idea what happened?" Applejack questioned,

"Whoever did this to her shot her with a magic spell full of hatred, that emotion is poisonous to a changeling." King Thorax explained,

"What are the symptoms?" Rainbow Dash asked,

"Complete paralysis, and if it's a lot of hatred, the changeling can die." Twilight Sparkle answered,

"We have also noticed slash marks on her throat, I'm sensing hatred from those wounds, too." Princess Celestia spoke, they looked and saw the two slashes on Queen Chrysalis' throat, glowing dark green energy was emitting from them,

"They look like sword wounds." Twilight Sparkle stated,

"They do, but Equestria doesn't have any magic enchanted swords." Princess Celestia responded,

"You think it could be a weapon from ancient Pegasus times?" Rarity questioned,

"I doubt it, we mostly used bows and spears." Rainbow Dash responded,

"We can't enchant weapons with magic, either." Fluttershy added,

"So Ah guess our culprit is a unicorn?" Applejack inquired,

"Unless..." Spike answered as he looked at Pinkie Pie,

"Hey! Don't look at me! I don't have a mean bone in my body." Pinkie Pie hollered,

"Anyway, as for now, we believe our culprit is a unicorn who has hatred inducing spells and used it to take Queen Chrysalis' life." Princess Luna said,

"Male or female?" King Thorax asked,

"We're not sure." Princess Celestia replied,

"I hope you ponies can find the culprit, this hasn't just occurred here." King Thorax stated,

"What?" the ponies and Spike exclaimed,

"It hasn't?" Pinkie Pie asked,

"No, it's been happening all over Equestria, when I became the king, some changelings left the Hive while continuing to pledge loyalty to Queen Chrysalis, somebody's been hunting them down and killing them." King Thorax explained, the ponies and Spike looked at him with horrified expressions,

"They're all the same, too, shot by a hatred filled spell to poison and paralyze the changelings, and then slashed with swords." King Thorax continued,

"Why didn't you bring it up earlier for, Thorax?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"Because all of them took place in the wilderness far from civilization, but now that a changeling has been killed in a city, let alone being Queen Chrysalis herself, I fear that the changelings still in towns and cities that are still loyal to Chrysalis will be targeted next." King Thorax explained,

"Oh, no! Ocellus!" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed,

"Ocellus should be fine, Twilight, the changelings loyal to me haven't been targeted." King Thorax responded,

"Still, Ocellus might be in danger." Twilight Sparkle remarked,

"It's alright, Twilight, she and her family pledged their loyalties to me, I promise you she's safe." Thorax assured with a smile on his face,

"Still, we have no idea who did this, and as you all know, Equestria doesn't approve of learning spells or magic full of hatred, I understand that some ponies might still be angry at the changelings for their constant invasions of us in the past, but to go as far as to hunt them down and take their lives is going too far." Princess Celestia spoke,

"Indeed, if this continues, another war between us ponies and the changelings might begin." Princess Luna added,

"Is it okay if we investigate the crime, Princess Celestia?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"Of course, Luna and I have to go to the Hive and let them know that Equestria had no role in Queen Chrysalis' death, if you don't mind, we have to prepare to go in a few days from now." Princess Celestia answered,

"We wish you good luck, come see us if you all need help." Princess Luna spoke,

"I'll be in the kingdom trying to comfort the kids, come see me if you all need help." King Thorax said,

"Alright, come on, everypony, we've got a crime scene to investigate." Twilight Sparkle spoke confidently,

"*chuckle* I wish you and your friends good luck, Twilight, I'll do some investigating on my part as well, let's go, Luna." Princess Celestia responded, and they and King Thorax parted ways.

Twilight Sparkle and her friends began investigating around the crime scene for any clues, she and Rarity used their magic to sense what other kinds of magic were on Queen Chrysalis' body, Rainbow Dash flew around and looked for hoofprints, Pinkie Pie and Applejack asked the residents if they saw anything, and Fluttershy asked the animals if they saw anything,

"Have you found anything, Twilight, darling?" Rarity asked,

"Well, aside from the hatred I sense inside the magic on Chrysalis' body, I'm sensing anger coming out of it, too." Twilight Sparkle answered,

"Anger? Hmm, I wonder what the spellcaster was angry about." Rarity spoke,

"It's Chrysalis, Rarity, I'm sure the pony had a lot to be angry about against her." Twilight Sparkle replied,

"I'm sure they did, but I don't think that's enough to warrant her death." Rarity stated,

"Me neither, but aside from anger, I'm not sensing any other negative emotion, no sadness, no jealousy, just rage." Twilight Sparkle responded,

"Well, darling, I guess that's all we can do here, I'm going to go ask the citizens if they've seen or heard anything last night." Rarity said,

"Good idea, I'll go ahead and keep investigating here in case I find anything." Twilight Sparkle responded, and Rarity went elsewhere.

Rainbow Dash flew around and looked for any hoofprints in the grass and did not see any,

"Huh, weird, no hoofprints." Rainbow Dash commented, she flew around in every direction and did not find hoofprints anywhere,

"Wha? How can this be?" Rainbow Dash questioned, she flew and saw no signs of where the culprit went, she growled a little and then sighed, she then flew away and out of Canterlot.

Pinkie Pie and Applejack were asking a unicorn stallion about what he saw or heard,

"You think you can lie to me? The best lie detector in all of Equestria?!" Pinkie Pie fumed as she leaned closer towards the stallion while moved back with a fearful expression on his face,

"Pinkie! Ya scaring him." Applejack stated as she grabbed and pulled Pinkie Pie back,

"Sorry, sugar cube, but she's been a bit high strung since she learned about what happened last night." Applejack explained,

"I know you're lying! You know something! Everypony here knows something!" Pinkie Pie shouted,

"Pinkie Pie! Ah'm gonna tie ya with mah lasso if you don't stop!" Applejack snapped, Pinkie Pie became speechless and she backed down,

"A'ight, what did ya see?" Applejack asked,

"Nothing, I was asleep and I was awakened by Queen Chrysalis' screaming." the stallion recalled,

"Ya didn't hear a blast be fired or anythin'?" Applejack inquired,

"Nope." the stallion replied,

"How about footsteps?" Applejack asked,

"Nothing." the stallion answered,

"Hmm." Pinkie Pie hummed as she leaned her head closer to the stallion,

"Pinkie Pie, it's fine, I can tell by his tone and expression he ain't lyin'." Applejack assured, and she backed down while the stallion walked away. The two walked around and asked everypony if they saw or heard anything and they all said they did not see anything and only heard Queen Chrysalis' scream due to it waking them up,

"*growl* Everypony is saying the same thing!" Pinkie Pie hollered,

"Ah know, Pinkie, we're gettin' nowhere fast." Applejack responded,

"Everypony's hiding something, I just know it, I can feel it!" Pinkie Pie fumed,

"Pinkie! Nopony's hidin' anything, they really don't know what happened." Applejack reminded, Pinkie Pie looked at the ponies and saw them all staring at her, she looked at their expressions carefully,

"Okay, I believe you, nopony would hide things from their best friend Pinkie." Pinkie Pie said, the other ponies sighed with relief and continued with their days,

"Well, Pinkie, there ain't much we can do as of now, let's wait for the others to finish and regroup, Ah'll bring Winona here, you go ahead and have fun, Pinkie, Ah'm gonna be gone for a while." Applejack stated, and she headed to the train station and boarded the train to Ponyville while Pinkie Pie hopped around and hummed a tune.

Fluttershy gathered all of the animals in and around Canterlot around and they stood in front of her,

"I need you all to speak one at a time, I have a... scene to investigate, someone did something really bad, and my friends and I have been tasked with catching that person, so please, I need you to tell me what you all saw or heard last night." Fluttershy explained, and the animals took turns making various sounds while she translated them, she realized all of the animals knew Queen Chrysalis has been killed,

"Oh, so you all do know what the bad something is, I need you all to tell me what you saw and heard last night." Fluttershy continued and the animals began letting out various sounds at once,

"One at a time please." Fluttershy ordered, and the birds made noises while she listened. The owls hooted and Fluttershy gasped under her breath,

"You all are saying you all saw a dark green magic blast?" Fluttershy questioned, the owls hooted in agreement but state they saw a total of three dark green magic auras,

"Can you all explain what they looked like?" Fluttershy continued, the owls hooted and explained the first one was just a regular magic blast while the next two took the shape of swords, and the first dark green energy hit Queen Chrysalis from behind while the next two were used to slit her throat,

"Was it before or after she was released from her stone prison?" Fluttershy asked, the owls hooted and said it was after,

"Hmm, so the culprit is someone who channels hatred into magic and knows a spell on freeing people from stone, thank you all, you can go now." Fluttershy stated, and the animals left while she flew back to regroup with her friends.

Rarity walked around and asked the ponies if they saw or heard anything but told her they already told Pinkie Pie and Applejack, she watched the ponies walk around and wondered what she should do next,

"Gather around, friends." Twilight Sparkle hollered out and she flew down while Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity arrived,

"Where's Applejack?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"She left for Ponyville to get Winona here." Pinkie Pie explained,

"Oh, good, we can use a tracker, let's wait until she gets back." Twilight Sparkle instructed, and they waited and Applejack arrived back in about 15 minutes with Winona. She ran to her friends and met with them,

"Sorry Ah took a while, y'all, Ah had to help a little with farmin' the crops." Applejack stated,

"It's alright, Applejack, have Winona lead the way." Twilight Sparkle replied, and she did. They arrived at Queen Chrysalis' body and Winona smelled it, she began running to the north and the six mares followed her. They went out of Canterlot and into the woods, Winona stopped running and barked, the area was completely surrounded with trees,

"So the culprit cast a teleporting spell here." Applejack said,

"Can you track them, Twilight?" Rainbow Dash asked,

"Sorry, but no." Twilight Sparkle replied,

"Well, I guess we're done investigating here." Rarity stated,

"I agree, let's share what we all found." Twilight Sparkle responded,

"Twilight and I only sensed hatred from Chrysalis' body, but Twilight also found anger within the spell, so we're dealing with a pony full of rage here." Rarity stated,

"I mean, considering what Chrysalis has done to us and Equestria in the past, we can't blame her killer for being mad." Rainbow Dash spoke,

"I know the ponies have a lot of reasons to be mad at Chrysalis, but this is still going too far, and while we're at it, Rainbow Dash, why don't you go next?" Twilight Sparkle requested,

"Alright, I looked for hoofprints to try to see where the pony went, but there weren't any." Rainbow Dash responded,

"Well, considering the fact that it's grass everywhere, the other ponies' hoofs must've covered the culprit's, and the pony knows magic, so they probably cast a spell to get rid of their hoofprints here on the dirt." Twilight Sparkle explained,

"Pinkie and I asked around Canterlot if anypony saw or heard anythin' but they didn't, all they said was they were awakened by Queen Chrysalis' scream and... she was already gone when the people checked." Applejack stated,

"Yeah, nopony saw anything, and they all slept through the noises and were woken up by Queen Chrysalis' scream, I don't know how everypony slept through it, some ponies are most awake at night." Pinkie Pie added,

"They were probably at work, Pinkie, we'll ask the ponies here again later if we have to." Twilight Sparkle said, they all looked at Fluttershy next,

"Uh... um..." Fluttershy stuttered,

"It's okay, Fluttershy, just share what you found out." Twilight Sparkle stated,

"Uh... um... I... spoke... to the animals, and... and..." Fluttershy stuttered,

"And what, Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash inquired,

"They said the magic energy they saw used against Chrysalis was dark green." Fluttershy answered, her friends' attentions were caught,

"Dark green magic aura?" Twilight Sparkle questioned, Fluttershy nodded,

"Good job, Fluttershy, that's going to narrow down suspects considerably, not many ponies have a dark green magic aura." Twilight Sparkle stated,

"What do we do now, Twilight?" Applejack questioned,

"Let's go see Princess Celestia." Twilight Sparkle replied, and they headed to her castle.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were in their throne room and Princess Celestia was getting ready to visit the Hive, she stopped for a minute and looked at a picture of three people with herself to the left, Star Swirl the Bearded was in the center, and a male unicorn to the right who was the same height as her, had a black coat, a mane and tail were long but not flowing like hers, they were dark purple, gray, dark red, and dark brown, red eyes, his cutie mark was a red sun with a skull in the center of it, and was wearing silver horseshoes,

"We never found out where he went after he left, did we, sister?" Princess Luna asked,

"No, I've looked for him for years, but still haven't found him." Princess Celestia answered,

"It's been a thousand years since he's left, Tia, he's probably long dead." Princess Luna stated,

"I doubt it, he trained under Star Swirl like how I did, it's likely he knows an immortality spell." Princess Celestia responded, the throne room's doors opened and Twilight Sparkle and her friends ran in,

"Oh, you six are here, I assume your investigations went well?" Princess Celestia stated,

"We found some vital information, Princess Celestia." Twilight Sparkle spoke,

"What is it?" Princess Celestia questioned,

"The culprit's magic aura is dark green." Twilight Sparkle revealed,

"Dark green? There aren't many ponies in Equestria with a dark green magic aura." Princess Luna said,

"Also, nopony in Canterlot saw or heard anything." Twilight Sparkle stated,

"It's weird, the animals said Chrysalis screamed twice." Fluttershy added,

"Did they see who the culprit was?" Princess Luna asked,

"No, they got scared and ran and flew away when Chrysalis screamed the first time." Fluttershy replied,

"It still doesn't explain why the other ponies didn't hear the first scream." Applejack brought up,

"The animals said it wasn't as loud as the second one." Fluttershy answered,

"Still, you all did well, a dark green magic aura is going to narrow down the suspects a lot." Princess Celestia stated, Rainbow Dash looked at the picture Princess Celestia had with her,

"Who is that?" Rainbow Dash asked, the others looked at the photo,

"That's Demonicus, he studied under Star Swirl the Bearded alongside with me." Princess Celestia explained,

"Wait, is he you two's brother?" Pinkie Pie questioned,

"Oh, no, no, Demonicus is completely unrelated to me and Luna." Princess Celestia replied,

"Surely, you have a reason to be looking at that photo." Rarity stated,

"Indeed, this crime reminds us of his beliefs, he believed that things like hatred and anger were as equally powerful as love and friendship, he wanted to invade the countries that were invading us so they would get an idea on how we feel about it, and if we were invaded again like how the changelings invaded us countless times, he wanted to capture and execute them all starting with the leader as a way to get them to stop invading us permanently. My sister and Star Swirl disagreed with his beliefs and he was dismissed." Princess Luna explained,

"Yikes, Equestria sure would've been a lot different if we did things his way." Applejack said,

"True, but Demonicus isn't a bad person, he just wanted to find a way to stop the changelings and other creatures from invading us, obviously, both me and Star Swirl disagreed with him, but for different reasons, mine was it would make us worse than them and they have family and friends, too, Star Swirl's was it would escalate things and make a war or battle worse than it already is." Princess Celestia explained,

"What happened to him after he was dismissed?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"We don't know, we never heard from him again when he left." Princess Celestia replied,

"Ooh, mysterious, I bet he's our culprit." Pinkie Pie suggested,

"No, Pinkie Pie, he isn't, his magic aura's not dark green." Princess Celestia responded,

"What is up with that sun cutie mark of his with the skull replacing the center of it?" Rainbow Dash questioned,

"Demonicus controlled the sun as well, but while I just raised it, Demonicus controlled how hot and strong it would be, he has that skull as his cutie mark because sending creatures into the sun was his preferred method of execution, it also symbolizes his mastery over dark magic." Princess Celestia explained,

"You mean like Sombra's dark magic." Rainbow Dash commented,

"Not just that dark magic, he also practiced necromancy." Princess Celestia responded, the six mares gasped,

"I know, necromancy's illegal in Equestria now, but it wasn't back then, and Demonicus was thinking about using it in order to strengthen our military." Princess Celestia spoke,

"Anyway, if possible, Celestia and I would like to find him since this spellcaster using hate filled magic fits in with his beliefs perfectly." Princess Luna stated,

"When are you leaving for the Hive, Princess Celestia?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"About two days earliest, we're not sure exactly when we're going." Princess Celestia responded,

"Go on, you six, you all did very well today." Princess Luna spoke,

"Come on, girls, let's go home and rest for today." Twilight Sparkle stated, and the six mares left Canterlot, boarded the train to Ponyville, and slept when they got home.

Chapter 2

Twilight Sparkle tossed and turned in her bed as she dreamed about Queen Chrysalis, she had flashbacks of Shining Armor's and Princess Cadence's wedding, her alternate self when Starlight Glimmer changed history, she and her family and friends being held captive by them, and her last invasion of Equestria with Tirek and Cozy Glow. She sprung awake and sat up in her bed while covered in cold sweat, she panted while Spike and Starlight Glimmer went to go see her,

"You okay, Twilight?" Spike asked,

"Yeah, it's just ever since that news yesterday, I've been thinking about Chrysalis a lot recently, I still don't know who her killer is." Twilight Sparkle responded,

"Why even bother looking for her killer? Chrysalis gave us a lot of trouble and rejected friendship." Starlight Glimmer reminded,

"Because if hatred is spread, Equestria's defenses will weaken, we're at risk of the changelings going to war with us as well if this continues." Twilight Sparkle responded,

"Sorry, Twilight, but I'm going to have to side with Starlight on this, she did threaten to rip my wings off, so I think Chrysalis got what she deserved." Spike stated,

"Spike! How can you agree with that? After all of the years of teaching you love and friendship, you agree with someone getting killed?" Twilight Sparkle reprimanded,

"Like I said, Twilight, Chrysalis gave us a lot of trouble, I think it's best that she was gotten rid of that way because there was always a risk of her breaking out of the stone." Spike replied,

"True, Thorax said some of the changelings were still loyal to her and left the Hive, too." Twilight Sparkle recalled,

"Get some rest, Twilight, you can continue investigating tomorrow." Starlight Glimmer said, and she laid back down and slept while Spike and Starlight Glimmer left.

The next morning came and the foals were all murmuring in the school while Cheerilee came in with six new foals. The classmates looked at the foals and saw a unicorn filly who had a light pink coat, long purple and white striped mane and tail with a purple flower in the right side of her mane, blue eyes, and her cutie mark was a white flower with a green stem and two green leaves growing out to the sides. A Pegasus filly who had a light green coat, long white mane and tail, yellow eyes, and her cutie mark was a blacksmith's hammer. An earth pony filly who had a blue coat, long dark blue mane and tail, blue eyes, and her cutie mark was a blueberry. A unicorn colt who had a black coat, short black mane and tail, black eyes, his cutie mark was a black and white checkered racing flag. A Pegasus colt who had a light red coat, short light purple mane and tail, yellow eyes, and his cutie mark was a pink piggy bank. The last pony was an earth pony colt who had a red-orange coat, short yellow mane and tail, orange eyes, and his cutie mark was red broken heart. The foals stood in front of the class and all of them smiled except for the earth pony colt,

"Quiet down, class, I know you're all uneasy after hearing about Queen Chrysalis yesterday, but we all need to focus on class right now, we have six new students today, go on and introduce yourselves." Cheerilee said,

"I'm Tulip, my family and I grow plants and flowers for a living and a hobby." the unicorn filly stated,

"I'm Ornamental Jewelry, I'm a blacksmith in training." the Pegasus filly spoke,

"I'm Blueberry, making blueberry dishes is my specialty." the earth pony filly said,

"I'm Monochrome, racing is my calling." the unicorn colt spoke,

"I'm Banker, I can adapt to the city easily, but finances is my talent." the Pegasus colt said,

"I'm Starburn, I'm talented at getting people out of bad relationships." the earth pony colt spoke,

"Okay, now that you six have introduced yourselves, go ahead and sit at the empty seats of your choosing." Cheerilee instructed and they did. Class went on and Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle focused while Tulip and Monochrome sat close to them, they noticed Ornamental Jewelry and Starburn looking out the window,

"Ornamental Jewelry, Starburn, please focus." Cheerilee reprimanded, and they worked. Recess came and they all played outside, the six new students saw Sandbar, Ocellus, Gallus, Yona, Smolder, and Silverstream walking by, they glared at Ocellus and while they walked by,

"Now, now, you six, I understand you all still have bad memories of the changelings, but remember that not all of them are like that, she's one of them." Cheerilee stated,

"The memories of their invasions are still fresh in my mind." Tulip remarked,

"I understand you all are still mad about it, but you all must remember, she and the other changelings renounced their loyalties from Chrysalis." Cheerilee reminded,

"But did she have a role in the invasions?" Monochrome asked,

"You'll have to ask her after school ends if she's available." Cheerilee replied, and they all went back to recess and played until it was time to go back in. Class resumed while Ornamental Jewelry and Starburn continued to look out the window when Cheerilee had her back turned and writing on the chalkboard, they continued working while the foals noticed Starburn looking at the School of Friendship, he looked back when Cheerilee finished writing and took notes with the rest of the class, the bell rung shortly afterwards,

"See you all tomorrow, everypony." Cheerilee said, and the foals left the classroom.

The foals walked home and the six new students walked separate from one another,

"They're not friends?" Sweetie Belle asked,

"I guess not." Scootaloo answered, and they watched the six new students leave. They exited the school and the six foals went their separate ways, the Cutie Mark Crusaders followed Tulip home and she arrived at a small house with flowers and plants surrounding it,

"Mom, dad, I'm home." Tulip hollered, two adult unicorns walked to her, the stallion had a green coat, short light green mane and tail, green eyes, and his cutie mark was a green stem, the mare had a red coat, long pink mane and tail, red eyes, and her cutie mark was a red rose. The Cutie Mark Crusaders watched them tend to their plants,

"You think one of them could be the culprit?" Scootaloo whispered,

"We won't know until they use their magic. Applejack told me the culprit has a dark green magic aura." Apple Bloom whispered,

"Rarity told me that, too." Sweetie Belle whispered,

"So you two were told the same thing Rainbow Dash told me." Scootaloo whispered, they watched the three and they used their magic to take care of their plants, Tulip had a purple magic aura, her father's magic aura was pale green, and her mother's magic aura was pink,

"Okay, so none of 'em are the culprit." Apple Bloom whispered,

"Come on, let's go check Monochrome." Scootaloo whispered, and they began to walk away,

"Ahem." Tulip cleared her throat and the Cutie Mark Crusaders turned around to face her and her parents,

"Care to explain why you three are here?" Tulip asked,

"We're tryin' to help our sisters and Scootaloo's friend find the culprit to Queen Chrysalis' killer." Apple Bloom explained,

"Well, it's not us, none of us have dark magic auras." Tulip stated,

"Sorry for snooping around, we thought you or your family could've been the culprit due to you disliking changelings, Tulip." Sweetie Belle said,

"We have our reasons for disliking them." Tulip's mother uttered,

"Can y'all tell us why?" Apple Bloom asked,

"Due to the changelings invading us, our plants and flowers have been destroyed by them several times, it's our living, our hobby, selling them is how we make money, and those changelings destroyed our displays and shops!" Tulip's father vented,

"Are y'all famous?" Apple Bloom questioned,

"I'm Rose, and this is my husband, Vine, we ran a flower shop called Equestrian Flora, we sold our flowers and plants outside Equestria, we were pretty well known." Tulip's mother answered,

"Why did you three come here?" Scootaloo asked,

"To set up shop, ever since the School of Friendship has opened, Ponyville has become a tourist attraction for other creatures, now if you three don't mind, I have to start my homework." Tulip replied,

"Okay, sorry for bothering you guys." Sweetie Belle said, and she, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo walked away.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders walked around and looked for Monochrome's home, they listened and heard him counting, they trotted to where they heard him and saw him outside stretching his legs with a unicorn mare watching him, she had a pink coat, long dark red mane and tail, and light pink eyes, her cutie mark was a black frying pan,

"Oh, hey, you three wanna race?" Monochrome asked as he and the mare saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders,

"Sorry, but we don't have the time right now, we're trying to help my and Apple Bloom's sisters and their friends." Sweetie Belle responded,

"Oh, well, in that case." the mare stated, and she used telekinesis alongside Monochrome, the mare had a dark red magic aura while Monochrome had a black magic aura,

"See, we don't have dark green auras." the mare spoke,

"Is it just you two who live here?" Scootaloo asked,

"Yeah, this is my mom, Haute Cuisine, she's a chef." Monochrome responded,

"Where's your dad?" Apple Bloom questioned,

"Dad's... not with me and mom anymore." Monochrome replied as he looked down,

"He was killed by the changelings when they invaded during Shining Armor and Princess Cadence's wedding, we were near Canterlot at that time, Monochrome was about to do his first track racing, too, his father and I were really looking forward to it, but the changelings ruined the event." Haute Cuisine explained,

"Oh, sorry Ah asked." Apple Bloom said,

"No, it's alright." Monochrome replied,

"Go on now, Monochrome has to train." Haute Cuisine spoke, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders left while Monochrome stretched and began running.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders walked around Ponyville while looking for the homes of remaining four new students,

"Okay, so Queen Chrysalis' killer isn't any of them or their guardians." Sweetie Belle stated,

"Which means whoever did the deed ain't in Ponyville." Apple Bloom deducted,

"But who can say that these changeling hating new ponies won't try to attack the remaining ones?" Scootaloo brought up,

"Good point, let's see what they're doin' and learn why they hate the changelings." Apple Bloom responded and they walked more. They walked around Ponyville as they looked for the new students, they heard a hammer hitting metal and looked around,

"Look! There's Ornamental Jewelry!" Sweetie Belle chirped as she pointed at her and they trotted her. Ornamental Jewelry pounded with the hammer while a stallion watched her, she saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders coming and stopped working,

"What are you three doing here?" Ornamental Jewelry questioned,

"We're mostly just greeting the new students." Sweetie Belle responded,

"Oh, well, I'm Ornamental Jewelry, as you know, and this is my dad, Anvil Striker." Ornamental Jewelry introduced,

"Hi there." Anvil Striker said, he had a light gray coat, short black mane and tail and a goatee with the beard and mustache connected to one another, his eyes were blue, and his cutie mark was an anvil and a hammer,

"Where's your mom, Ornamental Jewelry?" Apple Bloom asked, Anvil Striker inhaled and exhaled sharply while glaring,

"Those changelings injured my wife! Who do they think they are?! It's their fault my wife's in the hospital, they attacked us and robbed us of our weapons and armor, and destroyed our shop and supplies afterwards! It's no wonder why Queen Chrysalis was killed!" Anvil Striker ranted, he then hit the anvil with a hammer really hard and sparks flew everywhere. The Cutie Mark Crusaders reeled onto their hind legs' and watched with widened eyes',

"Sorry, ever since mom was sent to the hospital due to the changelings attacking us, bringing them up has been a sore spot for us." Ornamental Jewelry explained,

"How is she?" Scootaloo asked,

"She's recovering, but she won't be out for a while, changelings gave her injuries all over her body." Ornamental Jewelry replied,

"Sorry I acted like that, what happened to my wife still makes me mad, and you three should go on, Ornament here needs to train and we're on a deadline for making our next armor for our current client." Anvil Striker spoke,

"Oh, sorry, come on, you two, let's go." Sweetie Belle responded, and she along with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo walked away.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders walked around Ponyville as they looked for the remaining three new students, they heard Banker's voice and trotted to where they heard him. They arrived at a small home and saw Banker with a stallion, they conversed about money and bank related things that they did not understand, the stallion soon left and Banker turned his attention to them,

"Would you three like to deposit some bits?" Banker asked,

"Huh?" Apple Bloom asked,

"Wha?" Sweetie Belle asked,

"What are you talking about?" Scootaloo questioned,

"Hmm? You three not here for anything bank related?" Banker asked,

"No." Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle answered together in unison,

"We're here to learn about you." Scootaloo spoke,

"What would you like to know?" Banker asked, the Cutie Mark Crusaders looked around his home,

"Are you livin' by yerself?" Apple Bloom asked,

"Oh, no, no, I live with my aunt. Auntie, we have visitors." Banker called out, and a mare walked out of his home, she had a yellow coat, dark orange mane and tail tied in buns, bright yellow eyes, and her cutie mark was a bit coin,

"This is Bit Counter, she's my mom's younger sister." Banker stated,

"Hello, you three." Bit Counter said,

"Wait, did your parents get killed by the changelings. too?" Sweetie Belle inquired,

"No, no, my parents are away at Saddle Arabia on a business trip." Banker responded,

"Why did you move here for?" Scootaloo asked,

"Because those changelings destroyed my home in my hometown, it was after the invasions of have been stopped and King Thorax became their ruler, but the remaining changelings still loyal to Chrysalis, they destroyed parts of my town in order to make hiding places for themselves, one of them was a room where I stored bits for my customers, because of that, I lost my home and bits for my customers. My parents and I had to issue an apology to our customers while facing their anger at them losing their money, they left for the business trip shortly afterwards to expand their company while I moved here to live with my aunt since the six defenders of Equestria live here, so I hope it's safe here." Banker explained,

"Banker's been trying to start over and redeem himself with finances ever since he came here, Banker's reputation's on the line, too, he's hoping he can make his parents proud when they come back from their business trip." Bit Counter added,

"Well, that's why we came here, we wanted to know why Banker hates the changelings." Apple Bloom stated,

"And I told you, because they destroyed my home and stole my customers' money." Banker replied,

"Well, that's all we wanted to know." Scootaloo spoke,

"Okay then, go on now, I have to get ready for my next customer." Banker stated,

"What about your homework?" Sweetie Belle asked,

"Already finished." Banker answered,

"Oh." Sweetie Belle said,

"Come on, you two, let's meet the last two." Apple Bloom spoke, and they left.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders walked and looked for Blueberry and Starburn, they saw a stream of steam in the air and they smelled it,

"Hmm, something smells good." Sweetie Belle chirped, they followed the scent and arrived at a home, they saw Blueberry baking in the kitchen, she noticed them and spoke to a mare in the kitchen with her, she had a red coat, long green mane and tail, green eyes, and her cutie mark was a strawberry. Blueberry walked outside to go see the Cutie Mark Crusaders,

"Can I help you three?" Blueberry asked,

"We were wondering why you moved here." Scootaloo replied,

"I came here because my family's trying to expand our baking business across Equestria, we don't have a shop here yet, but I'm helping my family with small things on setting it up." Blueberry explained,

"Uh..." the Cutie Mark Crusaders stammered,

"What?" Blueberry questioned,

"You do realize yer gonna have to compete with Pinkie and Sugarcube Corner, right?" Apple Bloom asked,

"Oh, don't worry, Mr. and Mrs. Cake are helping me and my family set up our shop." Blueberry responded,

"Wait, really?" Sweetie Belle asked, Blueberry nodded,

"Is that your mom cooking with you?" Scootaloo questioned,

"No, that's my big sister, Strawberry." Blueberry replied,

"Where are yer parents?" Apple Bloom asked,

"What's with all of the questions?" Blueberry inquired,

"We've been a bit alert ever since what has happened in Canterlot, and we've been wondering why you hate changelings." Sweetie Belle answered,

"I hate them because not only did they destroy bakeries and shops owned by my family, they stole our treats as well, my family and I have been having a hard time rebuilding and opening new shops to replace the destroyed ones, maybe if I have the time, me and Strawberry will show you three our old shops." Blueberry explained, the Cutie Mark Crusaders looked at Strawberry and she waved at them, they waved back at her,

"Well, I have to get back, I have a tart in the oven." Blueberry said,

"Oh, sorry, go on then, Blueberry." Sweetie Belle replied, and she went into her home while they walked away.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders walked and looked for Starburn, he was nowhere to be found, they checked every window of every home until they saw him in a room, he was meditating and floating in midair. They gasped in awe while Starburn opened his eyes and then stood on the floor, he walked out of his home to see the three,

"What brings you three here?" Starburn asked,

"You living on your own?" Sweetie Belle questioned,

"No, I live with my maternal uncle." Starburn replied,

"Can we meet him?" Scootaloo asked,

"Uncle, you have visitors." Starburn called out, they heard walking and a stallion arrived, their attentions were caught when they looked at him, he had a dark yellow coat, moderate yellow eyes, his mane and tail were short and were mostly light orange, with a small moderate yellow streak and a big dark green streak in them, he also had bangs, his eyes were a moderate yellow, and his cutie mark was a black pentagram,

"This is my uncle." Starburn stated,

"Hello." the stallion said,

"What's yer name?" Apple Bloom asked,

"Daylight Dimmer." the stallion responded,

"Where did you two come from?" Apple Bloom inquired,

"I grew up on a farm, Starburn here was abandoned by my sister and brother-in-law, so I adopted him." Daylight Dimmer responded,

"Why did you two come to Ponyville?" Scootaloo asked,

"Uncle and I are travelers, we're exploring Equestria and this place was just the next place for us to visit." Starburn answered,

"You two don't have a permanent residence?" Sweetie Belle questioned, Starburn and Daylight Dimmer shook their heads,

"What do ya do for work, Daylight Dimmer?" Apple Bloom asked,

"Mostly odd jobs, I don't have a permanent job, it's usually manual labor." Daylight Dimmer replied,

"Okay, one more question, why do you two hate changelings?" Scootaloo inquired,

"Because they're constantly causing trouble, invading us, destroying homes, stealing, killing, giving others a hard time, we've had enough problems with the changelings, and the ones who are still loyal to Chrysalis are still out there causing trouble, it's no wonder why ponies hate them." Starburn explained,

"Wow, so they didn't do anything to you two personally?" Sweetie Belle questioned, Daylight Dimmer and Starburn shook their heads,

"Well, we're not sure if they did anything to our family because uncle and I haven't stayed in touch with them." Starburn spoke,

"Oh, wow." Scootaloo exclaimed,

"We have to go back in now, Starburn needs to start his homework." Daylight Dimmer said,

"Alright, see ya at school, Starburn." Apple Bloom stated, and he and Daylight Dimmer went back into their homes while the three fillies walked away.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders walked together,

"Well, look at that, none of the new ponies here are the culprit." Apple Bloom spoke,

"That's good, we can let our sisters and their friends know that the new ponies here are innocent." Sweetie Belle replied,

"Yeah, well, let's go home and start our homework, I'll see you two later." Scootaloo added, and they went their separate ways.

Twilight Sparkle and her friends were in Canterlot and Princess Celestia and Princess Luna walked to them with four unicorns,

"What? This is all of the unicorns in Equestria with a dark green magic aura?" Twilight Sparkle questioned,

"Believe it or not, Twilight, but yes, dark green magic aura is a rarity in Equestria." Princess Celestia responded,

"Alright, guys, state your names in occupations." Twilight Sparkle stated,

"Green Magician, I'm an illusionist." a mare responded, she had a light blue coat, long pale white mane and tail braided into a ponytail, pink eyes, and her cutie mark was a magician's staff,

"Absinthe, I'm a bartender." another mare stated, she had a light green coat, long green mane and tail, dark green eyes, and her cutie mark was a transparent bottle with green liquid in it,

"Ginger Ale, I'm a store clerk." a stallion said, he had a dark yellow coat, short green mane and tail, pale green eyes, and his cutie mark was a green soda can,

"Lemon Lime, I'm a fruit farmer." the other stallion stated, he had a yellow-green coat, slightly long green mane and tail, yellow eyes, and his cutie mark was a lemon slice and a lime slice,

"Alright, come with me, you four." Twilight Sparkle instructed, and they followed her into Canterlot's castle.

Chapter 3

Twilight Sparkle and her friends led the four suspects into Canterlot Castle and to an interrogation room, she stood in there with her friends and the suspects,

"Okay, we'll do this one pony at a time, Green Magician, you're first, the rest of you three, out." Twilight Sparkle stated, and they walked outside. The six mares stood across from Green Magician while she sat,

"Alright, Green Magician, let's start, where were you at the time Queen Chrysalis was murdered?" Twilight Sparkle interrogated,

"I was sleeping in a hotel room in Fillydelphia." Green Magician answered,

"I bet you're lying!" Pinkie Pie protested,

"Pinkie, darling, she doesn't seem to be." Rarity stated,

"Can we see the receipt?" Rainbow Dash asked, Green Magician cast a spell with a dark green magic aura on her horn, the receipt appeared and the six mares examined it,

"It's real." Twilight Sparkle said, and Green Magician put it down,

"What are your thoughts on the changelings, Green Magician?" Fluttershy questioned,

"They're no different from any other customer or person in the audience to me, I perform and entertain for a living, I can't be picky about my audience." Green Magician responded,

"I bet you're lying!" Pinkie Pie blurted as she got into her face and pressed her snout against Green Magician's,

"Pinkie!" Rainbow Dash reprimanded as she pulled her away,

"Sorry, sugar cube, she's been worked up ever since Chrysalis' demise." Applejack said,

"It's fine, I think we've all been a bit anxious after that happened." Green Magician answered,

"So you have nothing against changelings?" Twilight Sparkle questioned,

"Nope, they're just another set of customers and fans to me." Green Magician spoke,

"You sound like you're lying!" Pinkie Pie blurted,

"Pinkie!" Applejack reprimanded,

"It's fine, I understand her reasons for not having a cool head." Green Magician spoke,

"Okay, I don't think she's our culprit, you may leave, Green Magician." Twilight Sparkle said, and she left the room,

"Next." Twilight Sparkle called out, and Absinthe came in and sat,

"Alright, Absinthe, where were you when Chrysalis met her demise?" Twilight Sparkle questioned,

"I was working my night shift and making drinks for customers." Absinthe answered,

"Okay, does your workplace allow changelings in as customers?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"Yes." Absinthe replied,

"Hold on, where do you work, Absinthe?" Rainbow Dash questioned,

"At the bar in the eastern part of Canterlot." Absinthe responded,

"And what kind of drinks are you serving?" Rainbow Dash asked,

"Alcohol." Absinthe replied,

"Do you drink yourself?" Rainbow Dash inquired,

"I do." Absinthe answered,

"No worries, she ain't drunk, Ah can tell easily if someone's drunk or not." Applejack said, Pinkie Pie began smelling her,

"Hmm, you don't reek of alcohol." Pinkie Pie remarked,

"I don't drink often." Absinthe answered,

"When was the last time you had a drink?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"Last week." Absinthe replied,

"What do you think of the changelings personally?" Twilight Sparkle inquired,

"Well, I do get a bit uncomfortable when they come into the bar due to our kind's history with them, I always get uneasy and think they're going to attack us." Absinthe explained while sweating, the six mares raised an eyebrow,

"And how often do you have changelings as customers?" Applejack questioned,

"Not very often." Absinthe spoke,

"Hmm, she doesn't seem to be lyin'." Applejack stated,

"I agree, you may leave, Absinthe." Twilight Sparkle said, and she did,

"Next." Twilight Sparkle called out, and Ginger Ale came in,

"Go ahead and sit, Ginger Ale." Twilight Sparkle said, and he did,

"Where were you at the time when Chrysalis met her demise?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"I was at home sleeping in my bed." Ginger Ale responded,

"That sounds a bit too convenient, sugar cube." Applejack objected, Ginger Ale cast a spell with a dark green aura on his horn and a projector came up. They saw an image of Chrysalis dead at a time at the bottom that said 2:36 a.m.,

"Keep note of the time." Twilight Sparkle reminded herself, Ginger Ale moved the screen to Baltimare and showed the six mares he was sleeping in his apartment at that time, the screen disappeared afterwards,

"See, I was sleeping at the time she was killed." Ginger Ale said,

"How do we know that's not fake?" Applejack questioned,

"Did the time of death on Chrysalis' corpse come in yet?" Ginger Ale asked,

"No, not yet." Twilight Sparkle answered,

"Then we'll have to wait until then." Ginger Ale stated,

"When did you hear about Chrysalis' demise?" Rainbow Dash asked,

"When I went to work the next morning." Ginger Ale replied,

"You're hiding something!" Pinkie Pie blurted as she pressed her snout against his,

"Um... Pinkie, I think you're scaring him." Fluttershy said as she noticed Ginger Ale sweating a lot with a nervous expression on his face,

"Come on, Pinkie, back away a little." Applejack said as she pulled her back,

"What are your views on changelings, Ginger Ale?" Twilight Sparkle inquired,

"I'll admit I get uncomfortable whenever I see them because of how they were in the past, I tend to get a bad feeling that they might attack me or the other ponies whenever I see them on the city's streets or in the store I work at." Ginger Ale replied,

"It is understandable, considering Chrysalis' invasion was recently." Rarity remarked,

"I'm not the only one either, everypony in Baltimare is uncomfortable around changelings." Ginger Ale added,

"Give it time, Ginger Ale, I'm sure we'll warm up eventually, you're free to go." Twilight Sparkle responded while smiling, and he left the room,

"Can the last person come in now please?" Twilight Sparkle asked, and Lemon Lime entered the room,

"Go ahead and sit, Lemon Lime." Twilight Sparkle instructed, and he did,

"Okay, Lemon Lime, where were you at the time of Chrysalis' demise?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"I was sleeping." Lemon Lime replied,

"What town or city were you in?" Twilight Sparkle questioned,

"I live in a small town to the west of Equestria, it's called Citrusville, it's famous for producing citrus fruit." Lemon Lime explained,

"Where do you work?" Rainbow Dash asked,

"My farm's at my home." Lemon Lime responded,

"How often do you get visitors?" Fluttershy inquired,

"Usually one or two days per week when I'm selling my products." Lemon Lime answered,

"How many of them are changelings?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"I don't get changeling visitors often, and whenever I do, there's usually only one in my line of customers." Lemon Lime explained,

"I bet you have a 'no changelings' sign in your yard!" Pinkie Pie fumed,

"Actually, I don't." Lemon Lime replied nervously but calmly,

"I bet you do!" Pinkie Pie retorted,

"Pinkie, darling." Rarity said as she pulled her back,

"Sorry about that, Lemon Lime, moving on, what are your personal thoughts on changelings?" Twilight Sparkle questioned,

"I'm trying my best to accept them, but due to their prior history as invaders, and a lot of my changeling customers being rude, I find myself unable to befriend them, they are always cutting in lines and threatening the other ponies, there are times when I wish they weren't there." Lemon Lime explained,

"Uh-huh! So you do hate the changelings!" Pinkie Pie accused,

"Pinkie! He has legitimate reasons." Applejack reminded,

"Thank you for your time, Lemon Lime." Twilight Sparkle spoke, and he stood up and left the room.

Twilight Sparkle and her friends stood in the room while they heard the four suspects leave,

"So what do ya think, Twilight?" Applejack asked,

"All four of them do seem innocent, but I'm not entirely sure, I'm going to cast a spell when we get home so I can watch them and see if any of them could be the culprit." Twilight Sparkle responded,

"Wouldn't that be stalking?" Rainbow Dash questioned,

"I'm personally not happy about doing this either, but to find the culprit, I feel that we have to." Twilight Sparkle replied,

"So, what do we do now?" Fluttershy asked,

"We wait, let's go back to Ponyville now." Twilight Sparkle responded, and they left Canterlot Castle, boarded the train, and went back to Ponyville.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were getting ready for their trip to the Hive and looked for something to give to the changelings as a gift,

"What should we give them, sis?" Princess Luna asked,

"I don't know, surely, there is something we can give to establish our friendship." Princess Celestia replied,

"Hmm, well, Thorax is trying to adapt to our ways, maybe we should give him a friendship empowered artifact." Princess Luna stated,

"That's a great idea, but I still wonder what that should be." Princess Celestia replied, they getting ready for their trip and went through their things to find something to give as a gift,

"Have you found something yet, sister?" Princess Luna asked,

"Not yet." Princess Celestia replied, a royal guard ran into the room and to the princesses,

"Emergency! Changelings are being attacked to the north of Canterlot!" the royal guard reported as she nearly panicked, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna flew outside and heard screaming to the north of Canterlot, they flew into the woods and looked around, they could not see anything, so they flew down.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna flew into the woods and looked around, they looked on in silence and with dropped jaws when they saw two dead changelings in front of them, they examined them saw dark green auras in the slash wounds on their bodies,

"It's just like Chrysalis' body." Princess Luna spoke,

"It is, they got what appear to be sword wounds as well." Princess Celestia added,

"Come on, sis, let's see if we can find any clues." Princess Luna said, and they began looking around.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders walked around Ponyville since they have finished their homework and waited for Twilight Sparkle and her friends to come back, they saw the new students walking around Ponyville with their families,

"Hey, where's Starburn and Daylight Dimmer?" Scootaloo asked,

"They're probably at home." Sweetie Belle replied, and they soon saw Tulip, Ornamental Jewelry, Blueberry, Monochrome, and Banker and their families watching Ocellus as she walked by, they followed her closely while the Cutie Mark Crusaders trotted after them. They watched Ocellus look back and she began walking faster, so did the ponies following her, she trotted while whimpering and they did, she began to run and the ponies began running after her. Ocellus ran while panting heavily while the ponies chased her,

"Stop, y'all!" Apple Bloom hollered, but the ponies continued chasing Ocellus, the ponies were catching up to her, she changed to a beetle and flew away. Apple Bloom walked in front of the ponies,

"What were y'all doin'?" Apple Bloom inquired,

"She's a changeling, we've had it with them causing problems." Strawberry replied,

"She's one of the good ones." Scootaloo remarked,

"There is no good changeling, all they did is give us trouble, she shouldn't even be allowed to wander around without being watched." Vine retorted,

"Yeah, look at all of the chaos they caused, they killed my dad! Those changelings are better off extinct!" Monochrome added,

"Come on, guys, she's not like the others, we swear." Sweetie Belle spoke,

"How are you sure?" Ornamental Jewelry asked,

"Well, she's helped us in Ponyville a bit, and she's discussed how she's ashamed of her own kind's past." Apple Bloom explained,

"How do you know she's not lying?" Anvil Striker questioned,

"Because she tried to do a project in the School of Friendship shortly before you guys came trying to show that changelings can use their powers for good." Scootaloo answered,

"Does she think that will erase her kind's past actions?" Tulip asked,

"I think she knows it won't, but she wants to make amends." Sweetie Belle responded,

"How? Making amends isn't going to bring our dead relatives back." Ornamental Jewelry snapped,

"Y'all, Ah don't think she was involved in the troubles the other changelings gave y'all." Apple Bloom responded,

"And how are you sure of that?" Monochrome questioned,

"Because all of the changelings we saw cause trouble were adults, she's a teenager." Scootaloo answered,

"What are you three saying?" Blueberry asked,

"Um... instead of you guys targeting changelings, you all should just target the ones responsible for your tragedies." Sweetie Belle explained while sweating,

"About that, we don't know the specific changelings that caused us our tragedies." Rose replied,

"Well, targeting all changelings isn't the right thing to do." Sweetie Belle remarked,

"How do you know she and the others won't target and harm others?" Blueberry asked,

"She's been here long enough for us to know her." Scootaloo answered,

"What about when she's alone?" Vine questioned,

"She's fine when by herself, she doesn't cause anyone trouble here." Apple Bloom responded, the ponies remained silent,

"Don't blame us if she attacks you three." Strawberry commented, and the ponies went back home.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders walked around Ponyville and looked for Ocellus, they saw her walking but stopped when she saw Starburn and Daylight Dimmer in front of her,

"Chrysalis or Thorax?" Starburn asked,

"Huh?" Ocellus muttered,

"Which changeling ruler are you loyal to?" Daylight Dimmer questioned,

"Oh, Thorax." Ocellus answered,

"Come on, Starburn, she's one of the good ones." Daylight Dimmer said, and they walked home while Ocellus looked at them uncomfortably,

"You okay, Ocellus?" Scootaloo asked as she walked to her with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle,

"I'm fine, it's just that I wish all of this hate against my kind would end." Ocellus responded,

"Are you having problems outside Ponyville, Ocellus?" Sweetie Belle questioned,

"Yes, stores won't let me in because I'm a changeling, and now, Chrysalis has been killed, I'm worried that I'll be targeted next." Ocellus replied,

"Don't worry, Ocellus, yer safe here, we along with our sisters and their friends will protect ya from 'em." Apple Bloom declared,

"Thanks, but I'm fine, you three should head home and start your homework now." Ocellus said, and they went home while Ocellus headed back to the School of Friendship.

Twilight Sparkle and her friends arrived back in Ponyville and saw Ocellus walking back to the School of Friendship,

"Wow, it's still afternoon." Fluttershy commented,

"Yeah, it is, we finished that interrogation rather quickly." Applejack replied,

"I still think one of them is guilty." Pinkie Pie said,

"That's why we're going to watch them, Pinkie, come on, to my castle." Twilight Sparkle stated, and they went. They arrived at Twilight Sparkle's castle and Spike and Starlight Glimmer stood by them, Twilight Sparkle cast a spell and they watched the four suspects, they watched Green Magician first and saw her performing for a crowd, she had a dark green aura on her horn, they finished and the crowd cheered, she lined up with her fellow magicians,

"Thank you for coming." Green Magician said as the crowd walked by, there were changelings in the crowd and she bowed and thanked them as she did with the others,

"Okay, I don't think Green Magician's the culprit." Twilight Sparkle stated,

"Me neither, but let's keep watchin'." Applejack responded, and they watched her head home. They saw arrive home and watched Green Magician make tea and sit, she got a newspaper with her telekinesis and read an article on Queen Chrysalis' death, she put the newspaper down after about five minutes and went to go take a shower,

"I'm not seeing anything that says she hates changelings." Rainbow Dash stated,

"Me neither." Fluttershy added, Twilight Sparkle looked around her home for anything that could make her look like a pony who hates changelings but found nothing,

"Nope, I don't see anything, she might be off the hook after all." Twilight Sparkle said,

"Ooh, goodie, we have one pony already that has nothing against changelings." Rarity commented while clapping with her front hoofs,

"That limits our suspects, too, let's check the next one, I hope none of them turn out to be suspicious." Twilight Sparkle stated, and she cast a spell to watch another pony. They watched Absinthe next and saw her putting her makeup on, they watched her walk around her home, they saw nothing in her home that suggested she hated changelings,

"Okay, let's get this day over with." Absinthe said to herself, and she left her home. She walked to the bar she worked at and went behind the counter, she began serving alcoholic drinks to customers while they came and go, some of the male customers flirted with her and commented on her beauty, she smiled and gave them discounts, she served the drinks with no problems until two male changelings came in. Absinthe's muscles tightened up and she sweated while the two loud and boisterous changelings walked to her,

"Hey, baby, make me a drink." one changeling demanded, Rarity exclaimed with disgust,

"Make me a drink, too, sweet cheeks, put a kiss on my glass, too." the other changeling demanded,

"You got the money?" Absinthe asked,

"Letting us kiss you is our way of paying you." the first changeling responded,

"I'm going to have to ask you two to leave." Absinthe said, the changelings glared at her,

"Drink! Now!" the first changeling demanded,

"Out!" Absinthe commanded as she pointed to the exit, the changelings climbed over the counter and tried to take some of the alcohol bottles for themselves. Absinthe and the other unicorns used their telekinesis to hold them up in the air and move them back, the two changelings tried to break free while growling,

"Inform the royal guards." the bar's owner instructed, and two of Absinthe's coworkers left and came back, they escorted the two changelings out,

"My, what rude changelings." Rarity commented,

"I know, right, what makes them think they can act like that?" Rainbow Dash asked,

"I agree, I can see why Absinthe is uneasy around changelings if they act like that every time they come into the bar." Twilight Sparkle added, they watched Absinthe more and saw her have no more problems, she headed home and laid in her bed,

"Okay, I don't think Absinthe is our culprit either, let's go ahead and watch the next person." Twilight Sparkle spoke, and she moved her magic around to the next person. They watched Ginger Ale and saw him working at a store in Baltimare, he was wearing a red apron as his uniform, he helped customers find items and worked the cash register. Everything was going fine until a male changeling came in and everypony looked at him. The changeling walked around and shoved ponies out of his way,

"Sir, I'm going to have to throw you out if you don't stop acting like that." Ginger Ale spoke, the changeling turned his head slowly to Ginger Ale and glared at him, he began taking items off of the shelf and throwing them at him. The six mares gasped while Ginger Ale held the items back with his telekinesis, the other ponies restrained him and the changeling began biting and beating them, the changeling also shoved a Pegasus filly's face into glass and shattered it, the filly screamed in pain while blood dripped on the floor, royal guards soon came into the store and apprehended the changeling and escorted him out. The ponies tended to the crying filly and saw glass shards embedded in her bleeding face,

"I'm getting tired of all of these violent changeling customers." Ginger Ale spoke,

"We all are, they all might as well be deported at this rate." a male coworker responded, and they tended to the filly while her mother came, the day soon ended and Ginger Ale went back to his apartment and laid in his bed while sinking his face into his pillow,

"Wow, Ginger Ale looks exhausted." Fluttershy spoke,

"Ah don't blame him, especially if he gets customers like that almost daily, Ah'd be tired, too." Applejack replied,

"Aside from that, I'm not seeing anything in his apartment that says he hates changelings." Twilight Sparkle said,

"In his case, I can understand, I wouldn't be happy if the changelings acted like that in my shop." Rarity spoke,

"Nope, he seems to be in the clear, that leaves one more person, I hope he ends up being off the hook, too, but that would make our own jobs harder." Twilight Sparkle remarked, and she began to move her magic to the last pony. They watched Lemon Lime and saw him at his home in Citrusville, he was tending to his lemon and lime garden while waiting for customers,

"Nothing seems out of the ordinary." Twilight Sparkle commented, Lemon Lime finished tending to his garden and began swinging two swords around,

"Uh-huh! I knew he was hiding something!" Pinkie Pie declared,

"Pinkie, wait, it might just be his hobby." Twilight Sparkle responded, they watched Lemon Lime swing his two swords around and then had a dark green aura on his horn, dark green auras appeared on the swords' blades. He walked forward in his yard to targets he had set up with pictures of changelings on them, Chrysalis' picture was on the center target, he swung his swords and dark green waves came out of them and flew forward and cut the targets, Lemon Lime continued cutting them to shreds and soon finished,

"I'd kill all of these changelings if I could." Lemon Lime grumbled to himself as he walked into his house and put the swords away, he went out and opened his shop and rung a bell to inform others. A line of customers quickly formed in front of Lemon Lime, he sold fruits, lemonade, and juices made from his lemons and limes, a changeling was next but he quickly used his telekinesis to move her to the very back of the line, he did the same whenever another changeling was in front of him. The ponies left and the changelings walked up to him,

"Oops, sorry, looks like I'm sold out for today, you'll have to come back next time." Lemon Lime said, the changelings began complaining and he cast a spell to turn them into stone, the six mares gasped while Lemon Lime used his telekinesis to get them out of his yard,

"I hate changelings." Lemon Lime grumbled, he then cast a spell to undo the petrification and the changelings continued to complain,

"Y'all, Ah think we have our culprit." Applejack said,

"You mean we do have our culprit." Pinkie Pie replied,

"Hold on, let's see if there's any actual proof that he's a murderer." Twilight Sparkle reminded, and they continued watching. Lemon Lime went back into his home and they saw he had a dartboard on his front door with a picture of a changeling on it, he threw darts into the picture shortly before throwing a knife into the changeling's head. The six mares winced as they continued watching Lemon Lime go through his home. Knocking was heard at the door,

"Spike, Starlight, can you two get that?" Twilight Sparkle requested, and they left while she and her friends continued watching Lemon Lime. They saw many photos on his house's walls of changelings having red circles around their heads and the word 'Die' written on them,

"I'm starting to get convinced he's Chrysalis' killer." Twilight Sparkle said, the other five mares nodded in agreement; Spike and Starlight Glimmer ran into the room with a female Pegasus royal guard,

"Twilight! It's bad news!" Spike exclaimed,

"What is it?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"Two changelings were found dead to the north of Canterlot shortly after you six finished your interrogations, they're just like Chrysalis' wounds, sword slashes with dark green magic in them." Starlight Glimmer explained, the six mares jaws dropped as they looked at Lemon Lime,

"I also brought the time of death on Chrysalis' body, according to our autopsy, Queen Chrysalis' time of death was 2:34 a.m.", the royal guard spoke,

"Looks like Ginger Ale was right after all." Applejack stated,

"I agree. Guard, I would like to warrant an arrest of Lemon Lime on the suspicion that he might be Queen Chrysalis' killer, also, tell Ginger Ale we need him back again for a quick second." Twilight Sparkle ordered,

"Yes, Your Majesty." the royal guard replied as she bowed, she then flew away,

"Well, girls, back to Canterlot." Twilight Sparkle said, and she cast a spell to teleport herself and her friends back to Canterlot's interrogation room.

Chapter 4

Twilight Sparkle and her friends waited in Canterlot's interrogation room for Ginger Ale and Lemon Lime to arrive, Lemon Lime was soon carried into the room by the royal guards,

"What is the meaning of this?" Lemon Lime inquired,

"We found you to be our culprit after seeing how you treat changelings and the fact you use swords, so you're suspected because of that." Twilight Sparkle answered,

"We also got word that two changelings were killed shortly after we finished our interrogation." Applejack added,

"I don't know anything about that!" Lemon Lime fumed,

"Liar!" Pinkie Pie retorted,

"I'm sorry, Lemon Lime, but your use of swords, treatment of changelings, and knowing how to turn creatures into stone and turn them back has convinced us you're Chrysalis' killer." Twilight Sparkle explained,

"Good, the less changelings in this world, the better!" Lemon Lime declared,

"Yer not helpin' yer own case, Lemon Lime." Applejack said, Lemon Lime looked at her in stunned silence,

"Cuff him to the chair, we have a few questions to ask him." Twilight Sparkle instructed and the royal guards did,

"We got some things to ask you, Lemon Lime, what do you know about those changelings killed to the north of Canterlot?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"I don't know anything about that!" Lemon Lime answered,

"Liar! They were reported killed shortly after you left!" Pinkie Pie retorted,

"Killed by what?" Lemon Lime asked,

"Sword wounds with dark green magic in the cuts." Twilight Sparkle replied, Lemon Lime looked at her with stunned silence,

"We also saw you have two swords at home and can enchant them with your magic, which is also dark green, that's another reason why you're suspected." Twilight Sparkle added,

"What? You watched me and the others at home with your magic? That's invading our privacy!" Lemon Lime snapped,

"I'm sorry, Lemon Lime, I really am, I didn't want to do it, either, but in order to catch our culprit, I had to watch you and the others unsupervised so I could get an idea on what your day-to-day routines are like." Twilight Sparkle explained,

"What were the other three like?" Lemon Lime asked,

"Green Magician had no problems, but Absinthe and Ginger Ale had problems with changelings, too, but unlike you, their changelings were rude and violent, the ones you had weren't." Twilight Sparkle stated,

"Problems as in what?" Lemon Lime questioned,

"Absinthe had changelings trying to flirt with her and take drinks from the bar without paying, and Ginger Ale had to deal with a violent changeling that beat up other people in the store, but you didn't have that, your changelings were friendly and just trying to buy something." Twilight Sparkle explained,

"They have my thanks for getting them put in jail." Lemon Lime commented,

"Dude, not cool." Rainbow Dash replied, Lemon Lime glared at her,

"Since we have no witnesses of who killed Chrysalis, we're not certain you're the culprit, that's where Ginger Ale will come in, we're going to see if he can show us who killed her with his magic." Twilight Sparkle said,

"If that person appears, it's not going to be me." Lemon Lime replied,

"We'll see about that." Twilight Sparkle remarked, and they waited for Ginger Ale to arrive.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders watched Ocellus while she walked around Ponyville with her friends, they walked together and stayed around her in case they ran into trouble. They watched them as they surrounded Ocellus and went to go see Tulip and her family to buy flowers,

"What do you guys want?" Tulip asked,

"We'd like to buy some flowers, please." Sandbar answered,

"Wait, is that changeling there with you guys?" Rose questioned,

"She's our friend." Smolder replied,

"Our stuff are not for sale to changeling sympathizers." Vine stated, the six students began complaining,

"It's for Princess Twilight and her school." Gallus said,

"The answer's still no." Tulip replied,

"Yona demand flowers! Yona traveled far to get here!" Yona fumed,

"The School of Friendship isn't far from here." Vine reminded,

"But we still need flowers for Princess Twilight's next activity." Silverstream spoke,

"Oh, great, even Princess Twilight is a changeling sympathizer." Tulip remarked,

"Of course she is, she wants to lay all of our changeling problems to rest and spread peace throughout the land, she wants us to have a new beginning with them now that Thorax is the ruler." Sandbar explained,

"Start over? You really think what they did would be undone so easily?" Rose asked,

"Please, give me time, I can show you we really have reformed." Ocellus pleaded,

"It won't undo the damages and deaths your kind has caused, we're not giving you our flowers, if you six want some, get it from someone else." Rose stated, and six students walked away while looking down. The Cutie Mark Crusaders watched them leave and go elsewhere,

"It's no use, guys, they're going to hate you five for being friends with me." Ocellus spoke,

"Come on, Ocellus, you're our friend, if they're going to discriminate against you, we'll stand by you." Sandbar replied,

"Yeah, ain't no one gonna mess with our friend, come on, let's try and see if those new blacksmiths are willing to lend us some costumes." Silverstream added, and they went. They arrived at Ornamental Jewelry's and Anvil Striker's home,

"What brings you six here?" Anvil Striker asked,

"We need suits of armor made as costumes for an upcoming play at the School of Friendship." Silverstream explained,

"No way." Anvil Striker answered,

"What? Yona demand reason!" Yona fumed as she stomped her front feet on the ground,

"Well, first of all, our armor is for battle, not decoration or costumes for a play, and secondly, we don't accept requests from changeling sympathizers." Ornamental Jewelry explained,

"Oh, come on now, you can't refuse a request from your princess." Smolder said,

"Actually, we can, it's only Princess Celestia and Princess Luna we can't disobey, but we can refuse Princess Twilight's request since she desires to be seen as a regular pony than a princess." Ornamental Jewelry replied,

"She's still your ruler." Smolder brought up,

"But she doesn't have much power or authority when compared to the princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadence." Anvil Striker responded,

"Can you please make an exception this one time?" Ocellus asked,

"Nope." Ornamental Jewelry replied,

"Come on, guys, let's go elsewhere, it's no use." Sandbar spoke, and they walked away.

Ocellus and her friends walked while looking down and the Cutie Mark Crusaders ran to them,

"You six okay?" Scootaloo asked,

"Wait, you guys were there?" Silverstream questioned,

"Yeah, we saw and heard everything." Sweetie Belle said,

"We're fine, but it's unfortunate to meet ponies who hate changelings this much." Sandbar stated,

"Well, if y'all want, we can try to buy 'em." Apple Bloom offered,

"I think you three are too young to buy suits of armor." Gallus remarked,

"But maybe we can buy them flowers and stuff from Blueberry and Strawberry." Apple Bloom stated,

"It's fine, we can buy confectioneries from Sugarcube Corner." Ocellus responded,

"Is there anything else y'all need?" Apple Bloom asked,

"No, just the flowers and armor." Smolder replied,

"Hmm, why don't y'all just buy or make some costumes and props out of cardboard or somethin'?" Apple Bloom asked,

"Because Princess Twilight got criticized for her costumes in our last play, she wants them to look high quality this time." Ocellus explained,

"Do you all have any idea how heavy real armor is when wearing it?" Scootaloo asked,

"Don't worry, Princess Twilight has a spell to make them light." Sandbar answered,

"Well, do you want us to try to get the items you guys need?" Sweetie Belle offered,

"We already got everything else, but we appreciate the offer." Gallus answered,

"Come on then, let's wait for our sisters and their friends to get back and tell 'em what happened." Apple Bloom said, and they walked to the train station.

Twilight Sparkle and her friends waited for Ginger Ale to arrive while Lemon Lime watched angrily, he soon teleported into the room,

"Sorry I'm late, busy at the store today." Ginger Ale said,

"It's alright, sugar cube, better late than never." Applejack commented,

"Ginger Ale, we need that spell of yours again that showed us what you were doing at the time of Queen Chrysalis' death, we need you to go back a little bit so we can see whether or not Lemon Lime really did kill her." Twilight Sparkle explained,

"I didn't kill her!" Lemon Lime protested,

"We'll see when the spell is cast." Rarity replied, and Ginger Ale cast the spell. They watched as Ginger Ale used his magic to rewind time to when he was sleeping, he moved the image to Chrysalis and rewound time until Chrysalis was in her prison of stone. They watched and saw Chrysalis get freed from her prison even though there was no magic aura in the projection,

"Okay, there's the depetrification spell." Twilight Sparkle commented, Lemon Lime began to sweat a bit, they continued to watch and saw a dark green energy blast hit Chrysalis from behind to paralyze her,

"Wait, pause it there." Twilight Sparkle said, and Ginger Ale did. They looked at the dark green energy blast,

"My energy blasts aren't that big." Lemon Lime said,

"Show us." Twilight Sparkle ordered, and he shot a dark green blast out of his horn, it was smaller than the one in the picture,

"What emotions were you feeling at that time?" Rainbow Dash asked,

"What does that have to do with anything?" Lemon Lime inquired,

"We learned through Starlight Glimmer that one's emotions can determine the raw power in one's spell." Twilight Sparkle answered,

"Oh, well, it was just a normal night for me at that time, so I wasn't feeling any anger or irritation." Lemon Lime spoke,

"Fast forward it, Ginger Ale, maybe we can see Chrysalis' killer." Twilight Sparkle stated, Ginger Ale nodded and he did. They watched and saw Queen Chrysalis on the ground, they soon saw hoofprints in the ground,

"Hey, wait a minute!" Rainbow Dash blurted as the Queen Chrysalis' killer did not appear in the screen,

"The culprit's not appearing, your spell is broken!" Pinkie Pie said,

"No, it's likely the culprit cast some kind of spell so we can't see him." Ginger Ale explained,

"It most likely is, Pinkie, Ginger Ale's spell isn't going to show us who the culprit is." Twilight Sparkle added,

"Argh, we were this close to finding out who the killer is!" Rainbow Dash fumed,

"Lemon Lime, do you know that spell?" Fluttershy questioned,

"No." Lemon Lime replied,

"Let's see if you're telling the truth, I'll set up a lie detector." Twilight Sparkle stated, and she cast a spell to set it up. Lemon Lime cast a spell and the lie detector did not go off. Ginger Ale fast forwarded time in his projected screen to now and moved it into the room, Lemon Lime was still present on the screen,

"Nope, he's still present, he doesn't know the spell after all." Ginger Ale stated,

"Okay, do you have any friends that know the spell, Lemon Lime?" Twilight Sparkle questioned,

"No." Lemon Lime responded,

"Hmm, okay, we have our first clue that Lemon Lime may not be the killer, but we're not solid yet." Twilight Sparkle spoke,

"Wait, Twilight, darling, let's try one more time just to be sure." Rarity requested,

"Good idea." Twilight Sparkle responded, and Lemon Lime cast the spell again and the lie detector did not go off,

"Nope, he's still on the screen." Ginger Ale said,

"We'll continue tomorrow, Lemon Lime. Guards, escort him to his holding cell, and thank you, Ginger Ale, you may leave." Twilight Sparkle stated, and Lemon Lime was escorted while Ginger Ale left, Twilight Sparkle and her friends boarded the train and headed to Ponyville.

Twilight Sparkle and her friends arrived in Ponyville when the sun was about to set, they heard their names get called and saw Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Sandbar, Gallus, Ocellus, Smolder, Yona, and Silverstream running to them,

"The new flower shop and armor shop in town wouldn't sell their things to 'em because they're friends with Ocellus." Apple Bloom explained,

"Say what now?" Applejack asked,

"It's true, they called us and you six changeling sympathizers and said they won't sell their stuff to us." Sandbar added,

"Oh, of all the reasons, that is why they refuse." Rarity vented,

"Ornamental Jewelry also said that the armor she and her father make are not for fashion or decoration, but for battle only." Ocellus spoke,

"See, we'd offered to buy the stuff for them, but they don't need anythin' else." Apple Bloom remarked,

"It's alright, guys, I'll go ahead and buy stuff from Roseluck and her friends, as for armor, maybe someone in the Dragon Lands is willing to make some for us." Twilight Sparkle stated,

"There's nopony to make armor in Equestria." Scootaloo asked,

"Well, there is, but there's not many, the closest one is far away, too." Twilight Sparkle replied,

"Farther than the Dragon Lands?" Sweetie Belle asked,

"Well, I think just a little closer, but its quality isn't as good as the armor in the Dragon Lands." Twilight Sparkle responded,

"Can we get it?" Sandbar asked,

"No, the Dragon Lands is dangerous to non-dragons, I'll have Spike get it for you guys." Twilight Sparkle stated,

"Oh, thanks." Sandbar said,

"Go on, guys, we'll try to buy them for our upcoming play tomorrow, we're also going to wait and see if anything happens to the changelings, if so, then that would mean we made a mistake and Lemon Lime is innocent." Twilight Sparkle stated, and they all parted ways.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders walked together but stopped when they saw Starburn on a roof and watching the six students, he focused on Ocellus as she walked with her friends, he jumped onto another roof and soon jumped down. He began sneaking to Ocellus and picked up a rock, he aimed it at the back of Ocellus' head and got ready to throw it,

"Starburn!" Apple Bloom hollered, he got startled while Ocellus and her friends looked back,

"What are ya doin'?" Apple Bloom questioned,

"Nothing." Starburn replied,

"Then why are you holding a rock?" Sweetie Belle asked,

"I was going to practice my throwing skill." Starburn answered,

"By throwing it at Ocellus' head?" Scootaloo questioned,

"I wasn't aiming at her." Starburn replied,

"It looked like you were to us." Sweetie Belle spoke,

"I wasn't." Starburn repeated,

"What were you aiming at then?" Scootaloo inquired, Starburn pointed his hoof forward and at a big rock in front of Ocellus and her friends,

"That's still too close to Ocellus." Sweetie Belle stated,

"Watch." Starburn said, and he threw the small rock. It flew past Ocellus' cheek and a gust of wind blew her mane and tail back, the small rock hit the big rock and put a crater and cracks in it. Ocellus whimpered while everybody looked on in awe at Starburn's strength,

"Wha? How are ya so strong, Starburn?" Apple Bloom asked,

"What do you mean?" Starburn questioned,

"Yer as strong as an adult earth pony." Apple Bloom replied,

"Well, I exercise a lot." Starburn stated,

"What kind of exercise?" Scootaloo questioned,

"Cardio and weight lifting, some practice fighting with my uncle, too." Starburn responded,

"Well, I guess that explains that." Sweetie Belle commented,

"I have to go now, uncle's waiting for me at home." Starburn stated,

"Alright, bye, Starburn." Scootaloo replied, and he walked home,

"Somethin' ain't right about him." Apple Bloom said,

"Yeah, I'm sensing something off about him, too." Scootaloo added,

'Let's just go home and rest, guys, it's been a busy day." Sandbar spoke, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders headed home while Sandbar and his friends went back to the School of Friendship.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were watching Equestria with their magic to see if anymore dead changelings showed up,

"Hmm, I'm not seeing anymore." Princess Celestia stated.

"Neither am I." Princess Luna added, and they stopped watching Equestria,

"What do you think about Lemon Lime being Chrysalis' killer, Tia?" Princess Luna asked,

"Well, it does seem reasonable on Twilight's part, but something seems a bit off." Princess Celestia responded,

"I'm seeing something off as well." Princess Luna said,

"Cadence will be going tomorrow to see if she can sense any hatred in Lemon Lime's magic, the love in her magic will be able to sense any hatred." Princess Celestia stated,

"Ah, that is smart, since they are opposites, Cadence should be able to sense them the most easily, and if it's a small amount, she should be able to destroy it." Princess Luna spoke,

"Still, I'm getting the feeling Lemon Lime is not the culprit, my gut is telling me we're missing something." Princess Celestia stated,

"So is mine, but we'll see whether if we're missing something more or less tomorrow when Cadence senses for any hatred in his magic." Princess Luna responded,

"True, let's hope our gut feelings are right, I'll go ahead and let Twilight know, I'll be heading to bed afterwards." Princess Celestia said,

"Alright, goodnight, Tia." Princess Luna replied, and Princess Celestia walked to her bedroom, wrote and sent a letter to Twilight Sparkle, and then laid in her bed and slept.

Twilight Sparkle was getting ready for bed and Spike burped out a letter, he opened it and read it,

"It's from Princess Celestia, she said Princess Cadence will be with Lemon Lime tomorrow to detect any hatred in his magic." Spike stated,

"Good, her love should be able to react or cancel out any hate in his magic if there is any." Twilight Sparkle replied,

"I'm still not completely familiar with hatred being used for magic." Starlight Glimmer spoke,

"It's possible, Starlight, I have a book on it if you want to read." Twilight Sparkle replied,

"Sure." Starlight Glimmer said, and Twilight Sparkle went through her books and found it,

"Thanks." Starlight Glimmer stated,

"You're welcome, I'll be going to bed now, goodnight, Starlight." Twilight Sparkle stated,

"Goodnight." Starlight Glimmer responded, and Twilight Sparkle went to sleep. Starlight Glimmer sat at a table and flipped through the book's pages, she read about how love and friendship were opposites of hatred, and hatred was as equally powerful as the two, she also read that the Windigos that come to Equestria are powered by hatred, so was dark magic, she also read about how there was love and hatred in everybody, and both emotions can empower or depower artifacts, along with affect a unicorn's raw potential in magic. She browsed through the pages and stopped when she saw something that caught her interest, she read that while Pegasi and earth ponies cannot use or learn magic like how unicorns do, they can learn how to through meditation, and magic powered by hatred was no exception. She put the book down and headed to bed,

"Goodnight, Starlight Glimmer." Spike spoke,

"Night, Spike." Starlight Glimmer responded, and she laid in her bed and slept.

Princess Luna was in the dream realm and watching the foals' dreams,

"Ah, yes, another lovely night." Princess Luna said to herself, she watched but stopped smiling when she watched Tulip's, Ornamental Jewelry's, Blueberry's, Monochrome's, Banker's, and Starburn's dreams,

"What is this?" Princess Luna asked, she saw Tulip selling flowers with Rose and Vine until the changelings ran into their shop and started destroying everything while Queen Chrysalis' laugh echoed. Ornamental Jewelry was making armor with Anvil Striker and her mother until the changelings entered their house and began destroying everything and take her mother away,

"Mommy!" Ornamental Jewelry called out while the changelings carried her away and beat her up, Queen Chrysalis' laughter echoed in her dream as well. She watched Blueberry's dream next and saw her selling baked goods with Strawberry and the rest of her family, they sold their stuff happily until changelings came into the store and began trashing everything, they also stole all of their things and Blueberry and her family were now in poverty while Chrysalis' laughter echoed. She then watched Monochrome's dream next, he was running with his father while Haute Cuisine smiled and watched, it was all happy until the changelings attacked them and Monochrome's father screamed as a green blast hit him from behind,

"Father! No!" Monochrome called out as he fell over and died, the image changed to him and Haute Cuisine crying at his grave while Chrysalis' laughter echoed again. Luna sighed as she watched Banker's dream, she watched him worked at the bank with Bit Counter and his parents, they sorted everypony's money until the changelings broke into their home and began trashing the place and stealing all of the bits, the vision changed to Banker and his family apologizing to the ponies while they complained and insulted them. She then watched Starburn and saw him standing with Daylight Dimmer as they watched the changelings attack other ponies, invade the country, steal valuables, and destroy property,

"Oh, my, this is going to require some hooves-on fixing." Princess Luna said, and she cast a spell to undo the changelings in their dreams. The changelings disappeared and the six foals were now in a new dream with Chrysalis' corpse being hung by a noose and on fire. Princess Luna gasped with her hoof over her agape mouth when they began cheering, she flew into the dream,

"No, no, no, my little foals, celebrating one's death is never right." Princess Luna explained,

"But she caused so much pain and destruction to us." Ornamental Jewelry responded,

"I understand you six are mad about what the changelings did, but hatred is not the answer, it will only make the changelings revert back to their old ways and we'll be forced to fight them once again." Princess Luna spoke,

"So what? I'd be happy if they all went extinct." Banker fumed,

"Everypony, you need to stop being blinded by your hatred and angers, there are some changelings that are actually trying to reform, Ocellus at the School of Friendship is one of them, so is King Thorax, he sent her there in hopes that pony and changeling relations can improve and to put the past when Chrysalis was the ruler behind." Princess Luna explained,

"I doubt that will ever happen." Tulip stated,

"Now, Tulip, we're still new to this, but we and the changelings are trying our very best to leave the past behind." Princess Luna replied,

"I doubt our kind ever will." Monochrome stated,

"About that, look." Princess Luna instructed, and she cast a spell to show Twilight Sparkle in the School of Friendship, she fidgeted a bit while teaching about changelings and had a hard time concealing her anger,

"See, even Twilight is struggling to get over her anger of their past actions, my sister and I are still struggling, too, you six and your families should try to do the same." Princess Luna instructed,

"Considering that the changelings are still unfriendly and violent, and some are still loyal to Chrysalis, it's almost impossible to." Starburn said, the other five foals nodded in agreement,

"I've kept watch, and my sister and I are trying our very best to deport them out of the country, and those still loyal to Chrysalis are hiding in the wilderness, so they're a bit hard for us to find." Princess Luna replied,

"So you want us to forgive them after everything they did?" Blueberry asked,

"Well, Equestria's beliefs on friendship says yes, but you don't have to, I just ask for you six and your families to cooperate with the changelings that are not mean or violent." Princess Luna responded,

"Okay, that sounds better." Banker stated,

"I like that better, too." Ornamental Jewelry added,

"Okay, don't be mean if they're all nice and friendly, those mean no harm, and try to cooperate with Ocellus, okay?" Princess Luna requested, the six foals nodded,

"Good, I know it's hard, and it's hard for me, too, but you have to so we don't end up having another war with them." Princess Luna stated,

"Oh, so that's why you want us to let go." Tulip spoke,

"Yes, and also, holding onto the hatred and anger will lead to health problems, especially heart problems, that's another reason why Equestria teaches friendship and forgiveness." Princess Luna explained,

"Well, let's try." Ornamental Jewelry said,

"Good luck, and you six are still young, so it's okay if you mess up somewhere, I'll be guiding you six onto the right path should you stray." Princess Luna stated, the six foals smiled,

"Good, have a good dream now, and no dreams of Chrysalis being dead." Princess Luna instructed, and she returned them to their dreams and watched the dream realm for the rest of the night.

Chapter 5

The next morning came and Twilight Sparkle headed to the train station and met up with her friends,

"Oh, you five are already here." Twilight Sparkle said with surprise,

"Of course, no way can we rest when we got a case to investigate on our hoofs." Applejack answered,

"Okay, Princess Cadence will be with us today, let's go." Twilight Sparkle stated, and they all got on the train and went to Canterlot.

Twilight Sparkle and her friends arrived in Canterlot and went to the interrogation room where Lemon Lime was already cuffed to the chair,

"Okay, Lemon Lime, we're going to sense your magic today to see if there's any hatred in it." Twilight Sparkle explained,

"Don't get mad if you don't find anything." Lemon Lime replied, and they waited until Princess Cadence arrived. She walked into the room a few minutes later and looked at Lemon Lime,

"Is this him, Twilight?" Princess Cadence asked, Twilight Sparkle nodded,

"Okay, Lemon Lime, I'm going to need you to cast a basic spell." Princess Cadence instructed, and he shot a beam out of his horn and at the wall. A magic aura appeared on Princess Cadence's horn and she sensed the hatred in his magic with her love, the area of the wall that got hit by Lemon Lime's beam glowed a faint light blue,

"Hmm, I am sensing some hatred in his magic, but it's not enough to paralyze or kill a changeling, the amount is enough to make them feel nauseous for only a few hours." Princess Cadence explained,

"Did you intentionally suppress your hatred, Lemon Lime?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"No." Lemon Lime replied, Rarity examined him,

"Hmm, no sweat, muscles relaxed, facial expressions calm, he doesn't seem to be lying." Rarity commented,

"Yeah, I'm not gettin' the feelin' he's lyin', either." Applejack added,

"I would like to examine Chrysalis' body now." Princess Cadence said, and the royal guards left and came back with Chrysalis' corpse several minutes later. She sensed Chrysalis' body and began grunting a little as she became almost overloaded by the amount of hatred that was shot into Chrysalis' body,

"Cadence!" Twilight Sparkle hollered,

"I'm fine, Twilight." Princess Cadence responded, and she finished sensing Chrysalis' body,

"There's a tremendous amount of hatred in her body, both from the blast and the energy that were on the swords, this amount of hatred is enough to kill any changeling, probably several at once." Princess Cadence explained,

"What do you all think?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"Well, I mean, it's hatred right, maybe Lemon Lime's hatred of changelings went up when he saw Chrysalis in his sight." Rainbow Dash deduced,

"Even if it did, I wouldn't kill her with swords, I would've blasted her right there." Lemon Lime responded,

"Actually, Lemon Lime, I learned through Starlight Glimmer that if one is angry enough and has a lot of hatred, their magic can be extremely powerful, there was one time when she got so mad, she shot a beam and obliterated Discord's body." Twilight Sparkle explained,

"Well, I'm not as powerful as her naturally, so I doubt my magic can achieve that." Lemon Lime stated,

"Anyway, the amount of hatred in Lemon Lime's magic and Chrysalis' body is different by a wide margin, it's almost like she was killed by a different person." Princess Cadence stated,

"You mean... Lemon Lime has an accomplice?!" Pinkie Pie inquired,

"I doubt it, Pinkie, he, Green Magician, Absinthe, and Ginger Ale are the only other unicorns in Equestria that have dark green magic." Twilight Sparkle reminded,

"You think another changeling who has gone rogue could've done it?" Fluttershy suggested,

"No, that's out of the question, too, changeling magic is bright green, not dark green." Twilight Sparkle replied,

"Argh, something's not adding up here!" Rainbow Dash fumed,

"Can't you all admit you made a mistake?" Lemon Lime suggested,

"Hold on, Lemon Lime, you ain't off the hook, yet, we still don't know who killed Chrysalis, so if changelings get killed while you're here, we'll know you're innocent." Applejack replied,

"That actually sounds like a good idea." Lemon Lime said,

"I hate to say this, but the more we look into this, the less likely Lemon Lime is to be the culprit." Twilight Sparkle said,

"Then who could it be? There are no other unicorns in Equestria with dark green magic besides him and those other three." Rainbow Dash responded,

"Maybe the culprit used an artifact?" Fluttershy brought up,

"I don't know what kind of artifact would shoot out a beam of hatred." Twilight Sparkle replied,

"The facts still stand, Lemon Lime's hatred doesn't seem to be powerful enough to kill a changeling, and he doesn't seem to have any artifacts to increase his magic, so at this point, he's more than likely innocent of this crime." Princess Cadence said,

"Let's keep him here a little longer and see if any more changelings get killed or not." Twilight Sparkle suggested,

"Sounds good to me." Lemon Lime responded,

"Guards, escort him back to his holding cell, and watch Equestria, report to me or the princesses at once if you find any more changelings killed." Twilight Sparkle ordered, and the royal guards standing outside the room entered and led Lemon Lime back to his holding cell,

"What do we do now, Twilight?" Applejack asked,

"We wait, if any changelings get murdered, Lemon Lime's off the hook for killing changelings, if nothing happens, he'll be suspected of lying." Twilight Sparkle explained,

"So, um..., do we go home now?" Rainbow Dash asked,

"Pretty much, Princess Celestia should be visiting the Hive soon to assure Thorax and the changelings that us ponies don't approve of what this pony did, and we still wish to make amends and be friends despite what has happened." Twilight Sparkle replied,

"Well, let's go home, y'all, we're just gonna have to wait and see what happens, but in the meantime, let's make sure Ocellus is okay." Applejack remarked,

"Indeed, Ocellus must be very uncomfortable, we have to let her feel safe and welcome despite what has been happening recently." Rarity added,

"I'll contact Sunset Shimmer and let her know what's going on, I hope her powers to look into peoples' pasts can help us, but otherwise, let's go." Twilight Sparkle said, and they all left the room and went to the School of Friendship after getting off the train.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders were in class and they noticed Ornamental Jewelry and Starburn staring out the window and at Ocellus,

"Ornamental Jewelry, Starburn, pay attention." Cheerilee instructed, and they did, they almost fell asleep while the others focused just fine. Scootaloo doodled while bored in the classroom, she noticed Tulip, Ornamental Jewelry, Blueberry, Monochrome, and Banker looking uncomfortable in their seats, she wondered what was wrong with them,

"Um, Tulip, Ornamental Jewelry, Blueberry, Monochrome, and Banker, are you five alright?" Cheerilee asked,

"Uh... can we explain after class?" Tulip requested, Ornamental Jewelry, Blueberry, Monochrome, and Banker nodded,

"Very well, but until then, focus." Cheerilee commanded, and they worked. Time went by slowly and the foals worked while bored in the classroom, Cheerilee continued teaching until the bell to go home rung,

"See you tomorrow, class." Cheerilee said, and everypony except Tulip, Ornamental Jewelry, Blueberry, Monochrome, and Banker left the classroom. The foals stood outside and listened while Tulip, Ornamental Jewelry, Blueberry, Monochrome, and Banker walked to Cheerilee,

"Well, what's on your minds?" Cheerilee asked,

"Well... Princess Luna visited us in our dreams last night and wants us to try to have a better relationship with changelings, and she said while Princess Twilight and the others are friendly with them, they're still mad about what they did deep down and sometimes have trouble hiding it." Tulip explained,

"I'll be honest with you five, I'm having trouble with that, too, I may be friendly with changelings on the surface, but deep down, I'm still mad about what they did, I may be cheerful here, but when I'm alone, I'm letting my anger out." Cheerilee explained,

"Do you hate changelings, Cheerilee?" Blueberry asked,

"On a level of their race, yes, but individuals, no, Ocellus and I get along great." Cheerilee replied,

"What do you feel when you're around her?" Blueberry questioned,

"I'm happy, but it wasn't like that at first, I was uncomfortable and nervous over the fact there's a changeling in Ponyville, but after getting to know her, it all went away, and I'm comfortable and happy to see her whenever I do." Cheerilee explained,

"What about other changelings?" Banker asked,

"They make me nervous." Cheerilee replied,

"Wow, I thought we were the only ones." Monochrome said,

"No, of course not, all of us are struggling to accept them, some are just better at hiding it than others." Cheerilee responded,

"Wow, well, thanks for clearing that up with us, Cheerilee, I kind of feel better now." Tulip stated,

"Me too, it's nice to know we're not the only ones, and Princess Luna wants us to make a change." Monochrome added,

"Go on then, and good luck on trying to establish a good relationship with them." Cheerilee replied while smiling, and the five foals left her room. They stepped outside and saw their classmates watching,

"You guys having the same trouble, too?" Banker asked,

"Kind of, yeah." Snips replied,

"I'm not comfortable around changelings, either." Snails added,

"It's definitely hard getting used to changelings being around." Diamond Tiara spoke,

"It really is, it always feels like they're spying on us." Silver Spoon stated, the others nodded while Cheerilee stepped outside her classroom,

"I know you all are uncomfortable, I am too, but we have to get used to it, everypony, the changelings aren't going to be leaving." Cheerilee spoke,

"Are they going to be attending this school?" Sweetie Belle asked,

"Most likely yes, but it's probably going to be after you all become adults and I'm an old mare." Cheerilee responded, the foals sweated nervously,

"Go on home now, everypony, I have to head home now, too." Cheerilee said, and they left together.

The foals arrived outside and Tulip, Ornamental Jewelry, Blueberry, Monochrome, and Banker called out to Ocellus while trotting to her, she turned around and faced them,

"Princess Luna came to our dreams last night and wanted us to try to establish a friendly relationship with you, but before we can do that, we wish to show you why we have a hard time trusting your kind." Tulip explained,

"Please do, I've been trying to make amends for my own kind's actions as well." Ocellus replied,

"Come on then, we'll take you to our homes and the hospital, our families are waiting for you." Ornamental Jewelry remarked,

"Wait, Ocellus is our friend, we go with her, if you guys try anything funny, you'll answer to us." Sandbar warned,

"No funny business, we promise." Banker responded,

"Can we come along, too?" Apple Bloom requested as she walked to them with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle,

"Oh, right, I did say I'd show you three my family's destroyed shops." Blueberry said,

"Let's go, our families are waiting for us." Monochrome instructed,

"You coming along, Starburn?" Sweetie Belle asked,

"Nah, you guys go on without me, I don't have anything in particular that made me hate changelings, my uncle's gone and doing a job right now, too, so I have to watch over the house." Starburn answered as he walked home,

"Well, come on, this way." Tulip instructed, and they went to the train station and saw Rose, Vine, Anvil Striker, Strawberry, Haute Cuisine, and Bit Counter waiting for them. Ocellus' eyes widened and got defensive,

"Relax, we're paid for our tickets to board, come on, we don't have all day." Vine stated, and they all boarded the train.

Everybody rode the train as it passed through Equestria and they looked out the window,

"Are you going to take us to all of your family shops, Blueberry?" Scootaloo asked,

"No, only the main one." Blueberry replied,

"Yeah, it'd take all day to visit every shop." Strawberry added,

"Same with me and my aunt, we're just going to show our main bank." Banker stated,

"You might see our stuff outside the windows during our travel." Bit Counter said, and they watched. They looked out the windows while Blueberry, Strawberry, Banker, and Bit Counter pointed out their destroyed shops and banks,

"Did my kind really cause all of this destruction?" Ocellus questioned,

"Yes, your kind killed several ponies, too." Blueberry responded, Ocellus looked down while her friends comforted her, the train soon came to a stop,

"This way." Rose instructed, and they got off the train and followed her.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders walked with the others and arrived at a destroyed flower shop,

"This is our old shop right here, it was a thriving store until you changelings destroyed it." Vine explained,

"My kind did this?" Ocellus asked,

"Yes, they also took all of our money, we opened shop in Ponyville because it seemed to be the safest place from you destructive changelings in Equestria." Tulip answered, Rose and Vine used their telekinesis to move the rubble and they showed the others all of their destroyed flowers and plants, their destroyed saddlebags, their smashed flower pots, and all of their destroyed pot making tools,

"We had a bag of soil, too, but you changelings stole it." Rose stated,

"Oh, wow, I didn't think it was this bad." Ocellus replied,

"Well, it is, because of you guys, we have to start over, our usual customers have to travel farther, too, and have to pay bits to use the train." Tulip responded,

"When did this happen?" Sandbar asked,

"When Chrysalis invaded Canterlot." Rose revealed,

"Mmm, that would be... about seven or eight years ago." Ocellus remembered,

"This was a home our family has used for generations, too, centuries old pots were destroyed by you guys." Vine said,

"Oh." Ocellus said slowly as she realized how valuable the items were,

"Well, that's everything for us." Tulip stated,

"Can I buy flowers from you three to bring to Mount Aris?" Silverstream asked,

"Sure, but we're not done setting up our shop in Ponyville yet." Rose responded,

"Was this shop the only place here that got destroyed?" Sweetie Belle inquired,

"No, look around you." Tulip responded, and they did, there were destroyed homes everywhere,

"Wow, this place is wrecked." Scootaloo stated,

"See, there you go, that's all there is for us." Tulip responded,

"Come on, we'll go see my mom in the hospital next." Ornamental Jewelry said, and they went to the train station and waited for the train, it arrived and they boarded it.

The train rode around Equestria while Rose, Vine, Tulip, Strawberry, and Blueberry pointed out their shops that have been destroyed by the changelings,

"Guys, I think Ocellus has seen enough." Smolder stated,

"No, it's alright, keep showing." Ocellus replied,

"You sure?" Gallus questioned,

"Hmm-mm." Ocellus said while nodding and the train continued going to its destination. The train continued and everybody looked out the window,

"Ooh, Yona like flowers outside." Yona spoke,

"Well, it is spring, my family and I grew them at our old shop, too." Tulip responded,

"Did you guys have a specialty in flowers or plants?" Sandbar asked,

"It's our names, I was an expert in growing roses, Tulip's great at growing tulips, and Vine is good at growing vine plants." Rose answered,

"Same with me and Blueberry when it comes to making pastries with fruits, our names are the fruits we specialize in." Strawberry stated,

"Oh, wow, I'm sure y'all make some yummy treats." Apple Bloom responded,

"We do, we were popular back at home." Blueberry said,

"Maybe y'all would like the stuff mah family makes." Apple Bloom stated,

"We'll think about visiting you guys." Strawberry responded,

"Okay, we're here, this way." Ornamental Jewelry said, and they got off the train.

Everybody arrived into a town and walked to the hospital,

"Oh, Ornamental Jewelry, Anvil Striker, good to see you two again, who are these people?" the mare at the receptionist desk asked,

"They're visitors we invited, we have something to show them." Anvil Striker answered,

"Okay, but be careful you don't get caught by the staff." the receptionist stated,

"This way, guys." Anvil Striker instructed, and they followed him. Everybody went through the halls and arrived at the room, they saw the patient's name next to the door, it was Alloy Smelter,

"This is the room my mom's in." Ornamental Jewelry said, and they entered. They walked into the room and saw Alloy Smelter in the bed, she had a bright purple coat, long bright yellow mane, and orange eyes, the lower-half of her body was covered by her blanket. She and the other mare with her looked and saw them,

"Mom?" Ornamental Jewelry spoke as she saw her,

"Hey, how's my baby been, come here." Alloy Smelter responded, and Ornamental Jewelry trotted to her and got kissed on her forehead,

"How have you been, darling?" Anvil Striker asked,

"Great, I might be able to leave soon." Alloy Smelter responded,

"Wait, is that...?" Sweetie Belle asked as she looked at the other mare in the room and realized it was Green Magician,

"It is her! It's Green Magician, your and mah sisters interrogated her in Canterlot." Apple Bloom replied,

"Hello, Cutie Mark Crusaders, it's a surprise to see you three here, things have already died down for me since I was proven to be completely innocent." Green Magician remarked,

"What are you doing here?" Scootaloo inquired,

"My troupe and I are performing for the patients, this mare here requested me specifically." Green Magician explained,

"Is everything alright?" Sweetie Belle asked,

"Yeah, I'm fine, but I was a bit worried, if I was accused of being Chrysalis' killer, my career would've ended in no time." Green Magician stated; Alloy Smelter's wife looked and saw Ocellus,

"Is that... a changeling?!" Alloy Smelter thundered, she tried to get up while growling while the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Ocellus' five friends got around her. Alloy Smelter threw her blanket off and everybody saw she had scars all over her body, she tried to stand up but grunted and fell onto the floor. Green Magician quickly used her telekinesis to put Alloy Smelter back in bed,

"Hold on, let me try something." Green Magician stated, and she used her magic to project an image of Chrysalis and her changelings invading and destroying Equestria, Ocellus looked down and away while covering her face with hoofs,

"Okay, she's one of the ones who wishes to put the past behind and is ashamed of what her kind did." Green Magician explained,

"I don't care if she's ashamed, it's her kind's fault why I'm like this." Alloy Smelter responded,

"Can you at least give me and my kind a chance?" Ocellus asked,

"No." Alloy Smelter responded firmly,

"Alloy Smelter, please, we don't want another war with the changelings." Sweetie Belle pleaded,

"War would actually be beneficial for our family business." Alloy Smelter replied,

"As in?" Scootaloo questioned,

"We'd be selling our weapons and armor, there would be high demand for our stuff, too, so a lot of bits for us." Anvil Striker explained,

"Well, we don't want that, we both want a truce so we can stop fightin'." Apple Bloom reminded,

"Pony citizens still won't accept them." Ornamental Jewelry said,

"Well, maybe not yet, but I'm sure they will eventually." Scootaloo responded,

"Even if it does happen, us adult ponies probably won't be alive to see it." Green Magician stated,

"But maybe your spirits will be around and watch us." Sweetie Belle suggested,

"Probably." Green Magician replied,

"You all should go, visiting hour's almost over." Alloy Smelter said, and Anvil Striker kissed her and she and Ornamental Jewelry then hugged one another,

"See you at our new home, mom." Ornamental Jewelry stated,

"I'll be looking forward to it." Alloy Smelter responded, and they all left the room. Everybody walked carefully and avoided the hospital staff, they all arrived outside and waited for the train, they boarded it when it came.

The train rode around Equestria while Rose, Vine, Tulip, Strawberry, and Blueberry pointed out more of their destroyed shops and Banker and Bit Counter pointed out one of their destroyed banks,

"Our hometown is close to here, get ready to expect a lot of backlash, Ocellus." Blueberry stated,

"You were that popular back at home?" Ocellus asked,

"Yes, but you changelings destroyed pretty much every business establishment in our hometown, we're still mad about that because some ponies made a living with them." Strawberry explained,

"Oh. What are they doing now?" Ocellus inquired,

"The other ponies whose businesses weren't destroyed were kind enough to hire them and let them make a living, our family's been thinking about trying to do the same thing." Strawberry answered,

"That's really nice of you guys." Sandbar stated,

"Well, Equestria does teach us to look after one another." Blueberry responded, the train soon stopped,

"Okay, we're here, let's go." Blueberry said, and they got off the train.

Everybody walked together and the ponies of Strawberry's and Blueberry's hometown began insulting and jeering at Ocellus, some of them began throwing trash at her. She screamed as she covered her own head with her front hoofs, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Sandbar, Gallus, Yona, Smolder, and Silverstream quickly got around her to protect her from the trash being thrown at her,

"See, told you guys, this way." Strawberry said, and they walked while the townsponies continued throwing trash at Ocellus. They walked together and Strawberry and Blueberry led them to a destroyed shop while they saw destroyed businesses everywhere,

"This is our main shop here, our family is opening small shops throughout Equestria in hopes of earning enough money to rebuild our old shop." Blueberry explained, Ocellus looked through her friends and saw the entire shop was destroyed and its stove and oven were smashed to pieces, so were their plates, pans, pots, cast irons, and baking tools,

"Wow, I didn't know my kind could do this much destruction." Ocellus remarked,

"Well, you did, your kind burned all of our cookbooks, too." Blueberry responded, the townsponies soon ran out of trash to throw and began throwing rocks at Ocellus,

"Can we leave now?" Ocellus begged,

"Yeah, we should." Smolder responded, and the five foals and their relatives walked back to the train. Ocellus and her five friends and Cutie Mark Crusaders walked together and Sweetie Belle created a shield with her magic to block the rocks being thrown at Ocellus,

"Come on, guys, I won't be able to hold the shield up for long." Sweetie Belle said while straining her voice, and they walked quickly and got on the train while everypony in the town threw rocks at them.

Sweetie Belle put her shield down and sighed with relief,

"Don't expect things to warm up for your kind soon in our town, as of now, no changelings are allowed to set foot in our home." Blueberry stated, Ocellus looked down a little while the train continued to its next destination,

"We're going to be visiting my father's grave next." Monochrome said,

"Be careful when we get there, our home doesn't welcome changelings, either." Haute Cuisine warned,

"How bad is it?" Ocellus asked,

"Might be the same as that town we just left." Haute Cuisine answered,

"I hope not." Ocellus groaned, and the train continued moving and Banker and Bit Counter pointed out another one of their family's destroyed banks, the train soon came to a stop,

"Okay, we're here, this way." Haute Cuisine instructed, and they followed her.

Everybody got off the train and everypony in the town glared at Ocellus as they got on with their days,

"Come on, my dad's grave is this way." Monochrome stated, and they followed him. They arrived at the cemetery and an elderly stallion with a gray coat, purple eyes, short gray mane and tail, and a gray rock as his cutie mark quickly turned to them,

"What is that changeling doing here?" the elderly stallion inquired,

"She's here trying to make up for what her kind did, so we're showing her the damages the changelings did." Monochrome explained,

"You know full well changelings aren't allowed in our cemetery, Monochrome." the elderly stallion stated sternly,

"Funeral Director, please, just this one time, this changeling doesn't know how much damage her kind has done." Monochrome responded,

"Oh, I see, fine, just this once, I hope these graves here will educate her on how many lives those changelings have taken and destroyed." Funeral Director sneered, and he left. Monochrome and Haute Cuisine led the others to a grave, the name on the grave was Workhorse,

"Hey, dad, it's me, your son, I've been working hard on trying to achieve my dream as a professional track runner, and mom's working hard to support me, it's definitely different without you, both at home and in town, everything you did to help us and this town is greatly appreciated, work is harder now, work has slowed down, and we're all getting less done, I wish you were here, dad, here to see me grow and pursue my dream." Monochrome grieved and soon began crying softly. Haute Cuisine walked to him and comforted by touching his back, she began crying as well,

"Go on back without us, we'll catch up soon." Haute Cuisine spoke, and they left. Everybody walked back and the ponies began throwing papers and fruits at Ocellus, she covered herself while she and the others quickly boarded the train, the ponies in the town threw the papers at the train's window where they saw Ocellus, Monochrome and Haute Cuisine soon arrived back and the train left a few minutes afterwards.

The train went around and Equestria and the Cutie Mark Crusaders noticed a familiar looking mare sitting close to them, she noticed and looked at them,

"Hi, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle, I met Applejack and Rarity back in Canterlot a few days ago." the mare spoke, they realized it was Absinthe,

"What are you doing here?" Sweetie Belle asked,

"I was just visiting family and I'm returning home now, what about you three?" Absinthe responded,

"Well, we're traveling with those five families there and they're showin' us the damages the changelings did when Chrysalis still ruled them." Apple Bloom explained,

"Oh, I see, I'm sorry to say this, but a lot of my problem customers at the bar I work at tend to be changelings." Absinthe stated,

"What kind of problems?" Sandbar questioned,

"Trying to get drinks without paying and flirting with me." Absinthe answered,

"What about problem pony customers?" Silverstream asked,

"I get them sometimes, but problem changeling customers are more common for me." Absinthe replied,

"Wow, Yona surprised." Yona remarked,

"It's not surprising for me." Absinthe replied, and the train soon stopped,

"Our main bank is in this town." Bit Counter said, and they got off while Absinthe waved bye at them.

Everybody got off the train and walked to the town,

"Halt! You know the rules, Banker and Bit Counter, no changelings in our town." a stallion with a blue coat, short yellow mane and tail, green eyes, and a six-star badge as his cutie mark reminded,

"Town Sheriff, please, just this one time, this changeling wishes to see the damages her kind has done." Banker pleaded,

"Why?" Town Sheriff inquired,

"So I can try to fix the damages they caused." Ocellus answered,

"Fix the damages? Are you stupid? There is no undoing the deaths you changelings have caused." Town Sheriff snapped,

"I wish to see what they did so I can have an idea on how bad the damages are." Ocellus explained,

"...Very well, but any funny business, and you're dead." Town Sheriff warned and walked away. Everybody walked forward while the ponies in the town glared and turned away from Ocellus,

"This is my home right here." Banker said, and they saw a big hole in the front wall and almost everything inside the home was destroyed, they also saw an empty room in the back,

"What's that empty room back there?" Scootaloo asked,

"That's where we stored our bits when we were running a banking business here, the changelings stole all of the money." Bit Counter revealed,

"Guys, can we leave?" Ocellus begged, they listened and heard the townsponies whispering about hanging Ocellus' body on a noose and setting her on fire,

"Take a look around the town at how much damage your kind has did first." Banker instructed, and she did. Ocellus saw a lot of destroyed homes and businesses and a big graveyard in the back of the town,

"Now you see why you're not welcome here, let's go now." Bit Counter remarked, and Rose, Vine, Tulip, Anvil Striker, Ornamental Jewelry, Strawberry, Blueberry, Haute Cuisine, Monochrome, Bit Counter, and Banker walked back to the train,

"Well, that's all of them." Sandbar remarked,

"You alright, Ocellus?" Sweetie Belle asked,

"I'm fine." Ocellus replied,

"Let's go, y'all, Ah wonder how Starburn's been." Apple Bloom commented, and they all walked to the train while the townsponies told Ocellus to leave and not come back.

The train headed back to Ponyville and a stallion sat in front of them,

"Is that Ginger Ale?" Apple Bloom asked, he looked at her,

"Hey, Cutie Mark Crusaders, I'm just traveling around Equestria and sightseeing since I'm off today." Ginger Ale stated,

"We heard from Apple Bloom's and Sweetie Belle's sisters about you having violent changeling customers at your workplace." Scootaloo said,

"I do, almost on a daily basis, they're also trying to steal from the store I work at; me, my coworkers, and our regular customers are tired of it." Ginger Ale responded,

"How have things been for you after you were done being interrogated by our sisters?" Sweetie Belle questioned,

"Well, I've been appreciated a bit by ponies and changelings alike for trying to find out who Chrysalis' killer is, but for different reasons, for the ponies, it's bringing her killer to justice, for the changelings, it's either they're happy because their tyrant of a queen is gone or they're mad since some changelings are still loyal to her." Ginger Ale answered,

"Wait, what?" Apple Bloom blurted,

"It's true, shortly after Thorax became the new king, not all changelings supported him, some still remained loyal to Chrysalis because they didn't like his ruling style, so they left the Hive to live elsewhere throughout the world, most of them resided in Equestria." Ocellus explained,

"See, there you go, and now, we know someone's killing them, Lemon Lime might be the culprit, but we're still not sure." Ginger Ale stated,

"We'll know when my and Apple Bloom's sisters come home today." Sweetie Belle remarked,

"Well, let's hope he is so this case can be closed quickly." Ginger Ale responded, and the train continued heading to Ponyville.

Princess Luna was watching and flying in the air from afar and watching the train while smiling, she flew back to Canterlot's castle and walked into the throne room and saw Princess Celestia and Princess Cadence there,

"It's a bit rough right now, but I think those new foals in Ponyville are on the path to forgiving the changelings." Princess Luna spoke,

"That's wonderful, that means our citizens are on the way to forgiving, and speaking of changelings, we got a gift from the Crystal Empire to give to them for our trip to their hive tomorrow." Princess Celestia responded,

"This was made with Sunburst's help, this will help the changelings defend their home if anyone attacks, it's powered by love, so when love is a high level in the hive, this crystal will activate an invisible barrier around their home." Princess Cadence explained,

"Ah, 'tis wonderful, I think we are ready for tomorrow." Princess Luna commented,

"I agree, we'll also use that visit to ask Thorax about the other changeling victims and where they were spotted." Princess Celestia responded,

"Sounds good, I'll be going back to the Crystal Empire now, I won't be able to attend since I have to look after Flurry Heart, good luck on your visit." Princess Cadence said, and she flew away,

"I'll be going to bed now, Luna, see you in the morning." Princess Celestia stated,

"Goodnight, Tia." Princess Luna responded, and Princess Celestia walked to her bed while Princess Luna got ready to enter the dream realm.

The train arrived back in Ponyville and everybody got off and went their separate ways,

"Come on, let's see if Starburn's alright." Apple Bloom said, and they walked to his home, they looked through a window and saw him doing push-ups in his home, he did them quickly and flawlessly,

"What are you three doing?" Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle jumped while Daylight Dimmer asked them from behind,

"We were making sure Starburn was okay living by himself." Sweetie Belle explained,

"Thanks, but Starburn can hold his own, you three should head home, it's a bit late." Daylight Dimmer spoke, and he entered his home,

"Oh, shoot, we have homework today." Scootaloo blurted,

"You're right, come on, we have to head home and start." Sweetie Belle replied, and they ran to their homes and started their homework.

Twilight Sparkle stood in her castle and walked back and forth in front of the mirror,

"Come on, Sunset Shimmer, what's taking you so long?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"You think we should wait until tomorrow?" Spike suggested,

"Wait until tomorrow, there's a killer out there, I need Sunset Shimmer's powers now!" Twilight Sparkle fumed,

"Twilight, Sunset Shimmer probably has homework to do, so she's not going to have time to come today, let's try again tomorrow, get some rest, okay?" Starlight Glimmer said,

"Ugh, fine." Twilight Sparkle responded, and they all went to bed and slept.

Chapter 6

The next morning came and Twilight Sparkle's alarm clock went off, she woke up and got out of bed,

"Is Sunset Shimmer here yet?" Twilight Sparkle inquired, Spike and Starlight Glimmer shook their heads,

"Ugh, come on, Sunset Shimmer, what is taking you so long?" Twilight Sparkle complained, the mirror soon flashed a bright light and Sunset Shimmer appeared in her unicorn form,

"Twilight!" Sunset Shimmer hollered elatedly, she exclaimed as she almost fell since she stood upright on her hind legs, Starlight Glimmer caught her and set her down, she then hugged Twilight Sparkle, Spike, and Starlight Glimmer,

"Sorry I took so long, I had a ton of homework to do, and me and the others are busy talking about what to do next since we're going to be graduating soon." Sunset Shimmer explained,

"Wow, I guess you were busy after all." Starlight Glimmer remarked,

"Yeah, I was." Sunset Shimmer commented,

"We've been trying to find out who killed Queen Chrysalis, we have a suspect, but... things are starting to look like we got the wrong guy." Spike explained,

"I read it in Twilight's letter, I'm ready to see his memories and see if he's the culprit or not." Sunset Shimmer responded, Spike then burped out fire and had a letter. He opened the letter and read it,

"It's from Princess Celestia, she and Princess Luna are going to visit the changelings now, they're also going to use that opportunity to ask King Thorax on the other changelings that have been killed just like Chrysalis in order to learn how long this has been going on." Spike explained,

"Oh, good, come on, Sunset, let's go see Lemon Lime." Twilight Sparkle spoke, and she and Sunset Shimmer trotted to the train and met up with her five friends,

"Oh, Sunset, darling, it's nice to finally meet you again." Rarity spoke,

"Hey, guys, I've been busy with school and my future, I still don't know what to do after I graduate." Sunset Shimmer responded,

"You can always come back here and live with us." Rainbow Dash suggested,

"That would be nice, but there are magic problems in the world I'm in, I have friends there, too, I'd miss them as much as they would miss me if I moved back here." Sunset Shimmer replied,

"Ooh, Sunset Shimmer Returns Party!" Pinkie Pie hollered while throwing her front legs up and her party cannon went off with confetti falling everywhere,

"Thanks, but I plan to keep living in the other world." Sunset Shimmer reminded,

"Well, you're always welcome to come here, Sunset, even though we had a rocky start." Applejack said,

"Thanks, and I'm not like that anymore." Sunset Shimmer commented,

"How's Ray doing?" Fluttershy asked,

"He's great, that world's version of yourself is looking after him right now." Sunset Shimmer answered, the train then came,

"Okay, let's go see Lemon Lime." Twilight Sparkle stated, and they boarded the train and went to Canterlot.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna arrived at the Hive and stepped out of their carriages, they walked forward and the changelings stood to the sides with Thorax and Pharynx standing across from them,

"Welcome, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, we have been waiting for your arrivals." King Thorax said,

"Thank you, we would like to apologize for someone of our kind killing your people, Luna and I are here to make amends and let you all know that we and the other ponies do not approve of their behavior." Princess Celestia responded,

"Good, that's a relief to us, the changeling kids were worried that you two supported this pony killing us." King Thorax stated,

"What? Most definitely not, we are a land of friendship and forgiveness, I understand being angry and wishing for retaliation, but this is going too far, we would never approve of murder, let alone of another kind's ruler." Princess Luna answered,

"We'll let our kids know that you all don't approve, but until we do, they think you two and Princess Cadence are supporting this killer and giving him the location of the changelings that went into hiding in Equestria." Pharynx explained,

"What? We certainly aren't doing that, and Princess Cadence would never do that, she's friends with you all alongside Shining Armor and Flurry Heart, she wouldn't support a changeling killer in the slightest." Princess Celestia answered,

"And how do you prove that to the kids that don't believe you?" Pharynx questioned,

"We brought a gift from Equestria as a symbol of our apologies and friendship, our friends in the Crystal Empire made it, this crystal will is empowered by love and will put a defensive barrier around your home to protect you all from invasions as long as there is love in the hive." Princess Celestia explained, and she and Princess Luna used their telekinesis to give it to the changelings. The pink heart-shaped crystal sensed the love in the Hive and it glowed a bright pink, it created a pink barrier around the Hive and it turned invisible,

"There, now your hive has an extra layer of protection." Princess Luna said,

"Thank you, I hope this will be enough to convince the kids." King Thorax replied,

"Wait, Thorax, there's another reason why we're here, Luna and I would like to know about the other changelings that have been killed by this person using hatred as magic and where their bodies were found." Princess Celestia stated,

"Very well, this way." King Thorax responded, and he and Pharynx led Princess Celestia and Princess Luna into the hive.

King Thorax and Pharynx led Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to their quarters and showed them a map that had red circles and dates on them,

"This is where the dead changelings were reported to be found, there's two dates for each one, one's when the body was found, and the other's their estimated time of death according to our doctors." King Thorax explained,

"Let's see here... look, the earliest one reported was shortly after we defended Canterlot, it's in the woods to the north of Canterlot, too." Princess Luna spoke,

"Yes, when we retreated, that's when this first report of this person using hatred in their magic to kill us came in, they were all mostly the same, either blasted with hatred blasts or cut by swords enchanted with hatred magic, the amount of deaths increased after I became king, too." King Thorax explained,

"Have you noticed a pattern in these deaths? Like a certain time or day of the week or year?" Princess Celestia inquired,

"No, each one was killed on a random day of the year, but one thing that caught our attentions was when we looked at the recent deaths, we found these." Pharynx responded, and he got maps with writings on them. The two princesses looked and saw notes on places where Equestria had little to no defense,

"It looks like... they were planning to invade." Princess Celestia stated,

"Yes, but keep looking at the map." Pharynx ordered, and they did. They read the notes and noticed the changelings were planning to free Chrysalis from her stone prison and all of the changelings loyal to Chrysalis were going to march to the Hive and launch an assault and try to overthrow King Thorax, and then lead another invasion to Equestria and overthrow the princesses,

"They... were planning another invasion." Princess Luna said,

"Yes, but they were going to try to take this place over first, after Pharynx and I were overthrown, they were going to go after you guys next." King Thorax replied,

"We think this is why this person is killing our species, but every changeling we have found dead were those who left the Hive and were still loyal to Chrysalis." Pharynx added,

"What about those loyal to you?" Princess Luna inquired,

"They haven't been targeted by the killer." King Thorax answered, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna looked at one another,

"One more thing, this might shock you." Pharynx said, and he left and came back with three changelings. The princess looked at their corpses and saw dark green slash marks on one, but their eyes' widened when they saw the slash marks on the other two corpses were a bright red-orange,

"It's... a different color." Princess Celestia stated,

"Correct, we think there's two killers, this red-orange magic was only found at two other areas." Pharynx responded,

"Not only that, a lot of the dead changelings we found were buried, so we know the killers are moving the bodies from where they killed them." King Thorax said,

"Thank you for letting us know, Thorax, we will head back to Canterlot now and let Twilight know." Princess Celestia stated, and she and Princess Luna walked back. They went back into their carriages and royal guard Pegasi flew to them and landed,

"Your Highness, more dead changelings have been found this morning." a mare reported,

"Where?" Princess Celestia inquired,

"To the easternmost area of Equestria, time of death has been estimated to be yesterday evening." the mare answered, the princess' jaws dropped,

"Get the bodies and bring them here at once." Princess Celestia ordered,

"Yes, Your Highness." the mare responded, and the royal guards flew away while Princess Celestia and Princess Luna entered their carriages and they flew back to Canterlot.

Twilight Sparkle and her friends arrived back into Canterlot and went to the interrogation room, Lemon Lime was brought in by the royal guards and seated,

"Alright, Lemon Lime, this is Sunset Shimmer, she's going to look into your memories today in hopes of uncovering any more mysteries in the deaths of Chrysalis and the changelings." Twilight Sparkle explained,

"You're not going to find anything." Lemon Lime replied,

"We'll see about that." Twilight Sparkle said,

"Okay, Lemon Lime, just relax a little, this shouldn't take long." Sunset Shimmer spoke, and she grabbed Lemon Lime's front leg to see his memories. She watched and saw Lemon Lime as a colt and his parents teaching him to hate changelings, she then saw a vision of him as a teenager teaching himself how to use swords, the vision then changed to him seeing the news on Chrysalis' invasion of Canterlot being thwarted,

"Good, serve those changelings right, my parents were right about them, they really are a bunch of violent, unfriendly, emotion feeding invaders after all." Lemon Lime commented, the vision then changed and he saw changelings in a line and a Pegasus mare who was a royal guard,

"What? I have to serve the changelings the fruits I grow?" Lemon Lime questioned,

"Yes, since Queen Chrysalis has been overthrown and its new ruler is a friend of Princess Twilight, Princess Cadence, and Spike, we are allowing the changelings into Equestria in hopes of establishing a good relationship with them." the mare responded, Lemon Lime growled,

"Lemon Lime, if you do not allow them to buy your fruit, I will have to report you to the law." the mare warned, Lemon Lime let out an annoyed groan while the royal guard flew away, the vision then changed to Lemon Lime reading a newspaper, he saw news about the School of Friendship and noticed Ocellus in the picture, he crumbled up the newspaper and threw it onto the ground. The visions ended and Sunset Shimmer let go of Lemon Lime's hoof, she noticed Twilight Sparkle cast a screen to see what she was seeing,

"Nope, there's no memory of him killing Chrysalis or changelings." Sunset Shimmer stated,

"Is that enough to prove I'm not the killer?" Lemon Lime questioned,

"I say we go into his memories again." Pinkie Pie suggested,

"No, that's not going to work, we just literally saw everything that motivates him, and I didn't see him killing any changelings, so it's likely he's not the culprit." Sunset Shimmer responded,

"See, there you go, now let me free." Lemon Lime ordered,

"Hold on, Lemon Lime, not until we have official confirmation you're not the killer." Twilight Sparkle replied, Lemon Lime let out a groan. Running was heard and two Pegasus royal guard mares entered,

"Princess Twilight, more changelings were found dead earlier this morning to the east of Equestria." one mare reported, everybody became speechless,

"Was it the same as Chrysalis and the changelings killed shortly after her?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"Yes, we have pictures here." the other mare answered and she showed a picture of three dead changelings, Pinkie Pie gasped while Rarity exclaimed when they saw one dead changeling was a child, Fluttershy turned away and cried with her front hoofs over her face. Twilight Sparkle looked and saw dark green slash marks on their bodies,

"Wow, I'm sorry to say this, everypony, but the killer's still out there, this means Lemon Lime's innocent." Twilight Sparkle said,

"Yes! Now let me go." Lemon Lime cheered,

"Lemon Lime, you're still guilty of discrimination on how you treat your changeling customers, you have to serve time for that." one royal guard mare reminded,

"Oh." Lemon Lime said,

"Come on, Lemon Lime, back to your cell, you'll be taken to court tomorrow." the other royal guard mare said, and he was escorted out of the room. Twilight Sparkle and her friends stood in the room and just looked forward,

"So... what do we do now?" Rainbow Dash asked,

"We continue investigating, but if we're lucky, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna will be back soon." Twilight Sparkle responded,

"But Lemon Lime and the other three suspects we interrogated are the only ponies with dark green magic auras, and there ain't any other ponies in Equestria with that color for their magic aura." Applejack reminded,

"I know, but we must be missing something, it's also possible Princess Celestia missed a unicorn with dark green magic." Twilight Sparkle answered,

"Maybe somepony is traveling outside Equestria?" Fluttershy suggested,

"It's possible, and Princess Celestia could've missed that unicorn because of that." Twilight Sparkle answered,

"Well, whatever the reason, Ah think we're done here and we should head back." Applejack said,

"I agree we're done here for now, but let's wait until Princess Celestia and Princess Luna get back." Twilight Sparkle responded, and they all headed outside.

Twilight Sparkle and her friends waited outside and Princess Celestia's and Princess Luna's carriages arrived a few minutes later, they landed and the two got out of their carriages. They walked over to Twilight Sparkle and her friends,

"I assume you all finished interrogating Lemon Lime." Princess Celestia said,

"Yup, turned out he wasn't the culprit, three more changelings were reported dead apparently." Applejack explained,

"So you all have heard already, we also asked King Thorax about the previous cases, what we found out was shocking." Princess Luna stated,

"Like what?" Rainbow Dash inquired,

"Well, firstly, how long this has been going on, it turns out the killings started shortly after we repelled Chrysalis and her changelings at Canterlot." Princess Luna responded, Twilight Sparkle and her friends gasped,

"You mean it's been going on for that long?!" Rainbow Dash asked,

"Yes, we didn't know because the changelings found the bodies and took them back to the Hive before their deaths were even reported." Princess Celestia responded,

"That's not all, King Thorax also showed us that all of the changelings who have been killed were still loyal to Queen Chrysalis, they were all planning to free Chrysalis from her stone prison, then invade and attack the Hive, and then invade our country again after overthrowing Thorax." Princess Luna added,

"Wow, talk about persistent." Sunset Shimmer responded,

"Indeed, it seems the changelings weren't ready to give up yet after all." Rarity commented,

"We have one more thing to show you all, this one is going to shock all of you." Princess Celestia spoke, and she made a screen come up with her magic and the mares looked. They saw pictures of changeling corpses in the hive, they gasped when they saw some of the corpses had bright red-orange slash marks on their bodies while others had the usual dark green slash marks. Princess Celestia stopped casting the spell and the screen disappeared,

"Now you all see, some of the dead changelings have bright red-orange slash marks." Princess Celestia commented,

"You mean... there's two of them?!" Rainbow Dash blurted,

"I hate to say this, but it seems there is." Princess Celestia answered,

"How many ponies in Equestria have a bright reddish orange aura?" Pinkie Pie asked,

"Quite a lot, it'd take a while to round them all up and begin interrogating them." Princess Luna answered,

"I don't think that's a good idea, I say we just focus on finding the culprit with the dark green magic, maybe that person will lead us to one with the bright red-orange magic." Twilight Sparkle suggested,

"I agree, gathering all of the ponies who have bright red-orange magic auras would take days, too, I think Twilight's way would be much faster." Princess Celestia concurred,

"What are you going to do now, Princess Celestia?" Sunset Shimmer asked,

"I'm going to contact Tempest Shadow and other ponies outside Equestria to report any dead changelings with dark green or bright red-orange slash marks on their bodies, we're going to return any dead changelings we find to the Hive." Princess Celestia explained,

"How have you been, Sunset Shimmer?" Princess Luna asked,

"Really busy, I'm about to graduate school and I'm trying to decide my future." Sunset Shimmer answered,

"That's wonderful to hear, I am sure you will grow up to be a great pony." Princess Celestia spoke, Sunset Shimmer smiled,

"You all should head back now, we'll let you all know if we find anything new." Princess Luna said, and Twilight Sparkle and her friends boarded the train and it went to Ponyville.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders worked in class and Ornamental Jewelry and Starburn looked out the window again,

"Ornamental Jewelry, Starburn, please focus." Cheerilee spoke, and they did but worked slowly, classes finished after a while and they all left the classroom. The Cutie Mark Crusaders watched Tulip and Ornamental Jewelry gather flowers and ornamental looking armor and they walked to the School of Friendship to Ocellus and her friends,

"Here you six go, sorry about our behavior from last time." Tulip stated,

"Thanks, why this all of a sudden?" Sandbar questioned,

"Well, it's an apology for rejecting you guys last time for being friends with a changeling." Tulip explained,

"That, and the pony accused of killing Queen Chrysalis turned out to not be the culprit, but he got arrested for discriminating treatment to changelings when selling his products, our families and us two don't want criminal records." Ornamental Jewelry added,

"We heard about that, word spreads quickly in Equestria." Silverstream stated,

"We also heard there's two culprits." Smolder said,

"Did you know about that, Ocellus?" Gallus asked,

"No." Ocellus replied,

"Yona accept apology." Yona stated,

"Me too, we now have everything we need for our upcoming play." Silverstream added,

"Really, thanks, Twilight's going to be pleased, too." Sandbar said, and Tulip and Ornamental Jewelry headed back home. The Cutie Mark Crusaders walked around and noticed Strawberry and Blueberry baking together in their homes, Monochrome was sprinting while Haute Cuisine watched him while smiling and went back to cooking, and Banker and Bit Counter working together to make bank accounts for some of the ponies in Ponyville,

"Where's Starburn and Daylight Dimmer?" Sweetie Belle asked,

"Now that you mention it, yeah, where are they?" Apple Bloom questioned, they looked around for a brief second,

"There's Starburn." Scootaloo said as she pointed to him, and they trotted to him. Starburn walked on his own and looked around Ponyville,

"Starburn." Sweetie Belle called out, he turned around, he saw her coming along with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo,

"Where's yer uncle?" Apple Bloom asked,

"He's doing an odd job out of town right now." Starburn replied,

"What kind of job?" Scootaloo questioned,

"Clearing trees out of forests and woods in order to make paths to travel in them." Starburn answered,

"Wow, your uncle sounds busy." Apple Bloom stated,

"That's odd jobs for you, they're very versatile in what they could be." Starburn stated,

"He doesn't have a permanent job?" Sweetie Belle asked,

"No, we're moving a lot, never stay in one area for long, and speaking of which, he and I are going to be leaving Ponyville soon." Starburn responded,

"Oh, really?" Sweetie Belle questioned, Starburn nodded,

"Where are you two going?" Scootaloo inquired,

"Most likely Appleloosa." Starburn responded,

"Can we visit you or write letters to ya?" Apple Bloom asked,

"No, my uncle and I rather not stay in contact with others." Starburn answered,

"Why not?" Sweetie Belle asked,

"We don't feel like we know you guys enough to stay in contact as friends." Starburn explained,

"Can you two stay here longer then, please?" Sweetie Belle pleaded,

"Sorry, but there's no changing my uncle's mind once when he decides." Starburn replied, the Cutie Mark Crusaders groaned,

"I have to go now, I have to buy meals and drinks for our trip." Starburn said, and he walked away while the Cutie Mark Crusaders watched him.

The train arrived in Ponyville and Twilight Sparkle and her friends got off, Rainbow Dash began letting out short angry grunts,

"What do we do now?! We're back at square one!" Rainbow Dash vented,

"We have to investigate somebody else, we made a mistake and hindered our investigation." Twilight Sparkle replied,

"But where do we start? We don't have any clues on who our culprit could be." Rarity said,

"Well, let's start here, we'll just wait and see if anypony acts suspicious, we now know there's more than one person involved in the changelings' deaths, I'm guessing the culprits are forcing someone against their will to track them down for them, we're going to wait and see if anypony acts suspicious." Twilight Sparkle explained, and they watched. They looked around and saw Starburn doing some shopping, he bought some small snacks and two bottles of water and headed back home, they noticed the Cutie Mark Crusaders watching him, they trotted to them,

"Apple Bloom." Applejack called out,

"Sweetie Belle, darling." Rarity spoke, the three fillies turned around and faced them,

"Why are you three watching him?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"Because we were talking to him earlier and he just said he had to do some shopping." Apple Bloom answered,

"That, and out of the six new students in our school, he's the only one not trying to make amends with the changelings, he didn't come along with us when the others were showing Ocellus why they hate her kind, either." Scootaloo added,

"You think he could be doing something when no one's looking?" Fluttershy asked,

"No, he isn't, if he was, I would've noticed." Pinkie Pie replied,

"That reminds me, you haven't thrown the new foals and their families a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party." Applejack reminded,

"I'll do that after we finish this case." Pinkie Pie answered,

"Well, you better hurry, Daylight Dimmer and Starburn are getting ready to leave for Appleloosa soon." Sweetie Belle said,

"What? Already?" Pinkie Pie blurted, the Cutie Mark Crusaders nodded,

"Starburn." Daylight Dimmer called out, they looked and saw Daylight Dimmer walk to Starburn,

"There's a lot of destroyed trees in the path my coworkers and I just finished clearing up, they need an extra hoof to pick up and clean the mess." Daylight Dimmer explained,

"Okay, I'll move the light and medium sized stuff." Starburn replied,

"Okay, let's go." Daylight Dimmer said, and they trotted out of Ponyville. Twilight Sparkle and the others watched them leave,

"See, there you two go, looks like everything's fine with them after all." Sunset Shimmer stated,

"Yeah, but he's still not trying to make friends with Ocellus." Sweetie Belle reminded,

"He's probably not ready yet, maybe after some time, he will soften up and become friends with them wherever he and his uncle live." Twilight Sparkle stated,

"Come on, Sweetie Belle, darling, let's start on your homework." Rarity said,

"You too, Apple Bloom, let's head home." Applejack added, and they all headed home.

Twilight Sparkle went back to her castle with Sunset Shimmer and they got ready for bed,

"So you ended up getting the wrong guy, huh?" Starlight Glimmer stated,

"Yeah, we were all certain Lemon Lime was the culprit." Twilight Sparkle replied,

"Starlight and I thought that, too, then this next case of deaths came up this morning." Spike said,

"Well, it's probably best you two rest, Spike and I are watching around Ponyville for anyone suspicious." Starlight Glimmer stated,

"Yeah, it's probably best we do, and good luck to you two." Sunset Shimmer replied, and they all got ready to sleep until they heard knocking at the door,

"Princess Twilight, you there? It's urgent." a mare spoke, Twilight Sparkle walked to her front door and opened it, she saw two royal guards at her door,

"More changelings were found dead just now, reported to have been found to the east of Equestria in a forest, all four of them had dark green slash marks on them, the killer buried and tried to hide their bodies, too." the mare explained,

"What is the time of death?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"According to our reports, late afternoon." the mare answered,

"Okay, thank you for letting me know." Twilight Sparkle spoke, and she closed the door. She walked back to the others,

"The killer struck again, he got four changelings this time." Twilight Sparkle stated,

"We need to find this guy fast, if we don't, he and the other killer might make changelings extinct." Sunset Shimmer replied,

"I agree, but let's get some rest for now." Twilight Sparkle suggested, and they all went to bed and slept.

Chapter 7

Twilight Sparkle tossed and turned in her bed as she had a nightmare about the two people killing changelings invading and killing all of them in the Hive, the two were black silhouettes of unicorns armed with swords. The unicorn with the swords with dark green auras around its blades began slashing the changelings while the unicorn with the swords that had bright red-orange auras around its blades attacked King Thorax and Pharynx, they killed every changeling. The dream changed and they chased Ocellus around the School of Friendship, she ran into a dead end and the two proceeded to slash and kill her with their swords while she screamed. Twilight Sparkle woke up in cold sweat and panted heavily,

"Twilight?" Spike asked as he came into her room,

"I had a bad dream." Twilight Sparkle stated,

"What kind of bad dream?" Spike inquired,

"That those two ponies killing changelings invading the Hive and killing Thorax, Pharynx, and everyone else there, I then had a bad dream of them in the School of Friendship and chasing Ocellus, I woke up just before they were about to kill her, but my heart raced so fast, I was so scared." Twilight Sparkle explained,

"Wow, I've been having bad dreams of Thorax getting killed, too, I'd miss him if that happened." Spike responded,

"I'd miss him, too, I think he's great as a ruler, but to be honest, Spike, I'm still not comfortable having changelings as friends." Twilight Sparkle said,

"Yeah, I don't blame you, after everything they did, it'd be hard for ponies to accept them as friends, I still get mad thinking about it sometimes, too." Spike responded,

"Let's try to sleep, Spike, we have to start over with our investigation when the sun rises." Twilight Sparkle spoke, and they went back to bed.

The next morning came and every foal headed to school, the Cutie Mark Crusaders stopped for a second and noticed Starburn leave his home on his own, Daylight Dimmer was absent again, they all went to school and Starburn stood in front of the class,

"I have important news, everypony, today is Starburn's last day here in class with us, let us go ahead and let him have a good day at school today so he can have fond memories of this place in his short time of being here." Cheerilee explained, the foals' jaws dropped,

"I know, I'm surprised, too, and it's only been a few days, but Starburn is moving already." Cheerilee stated,

"Are you going to come back?" Diamond Tiara asked,

"Probably not." Starburn replied,

"Where are you going?" Truffle questioned,

"Appleloosa." Starburn responded,

"Can we write to you?" Snails asked,

"Sorry, but no." Starburn answered,

"Why not?" Snips inquired,

"I don't know you guys well enough to trust you all, so I can't consider you guys friends." Starburn explained, the foals groaned,

"Try to make some friends here today, Starburn, and Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle travel all over Equestria, so I'm sure you'll see those three again." Cheerilee spoke,

"I'm sure I will, too." Starburn responded,

"Well, go ahead and have a seat, Starburn, I have to start class." Cheerilee said, and he did. Class began while Starburn barely focused and looked out the window whenever Cheerilee wasn't looking, he continued working in class until the bell rung,

"Okay, class, let's say goodbye to Starburn." Cheerilee said, and they did and everypony left the school.

Everybody went outside and watched Starburn trot to his home,

"Wait, Starburn." Sandbar called out as he and his five friends trotted to him,

"You still haven't tried to make amends with Ocellus yet." Sandbar stated,

"I don't feel I'm ready for that yet." Starburn replied,

"Well, you can at least try to start." Ocellus spoke,

"How?" Starburn asked,

"Well, you can let Ocellus write to you since you're moving." Silverstream suggested,

"Sorry, but I haven't known you long enough for me to be comfortable with that." Starburn responded,

"You do know that we travel around Equestria, too, right? It's possible you'll see us again." Gallus stated,

"Maybe, I travel a lot, too." Starburn replied,

"Great, maybe we will meet each other again after all." Silverstream said,

"Yona looking forward to seeing Starburn and Daylight Dimmer again." Yona added,

"Same, I think you will like the Dragon Lands." Smolder stated,

"I might go there with my uncle one day, I'll be going now, I have to get packing." Starburn responded, and he trotted home.

Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Starlight Glimmer, and Sunset Shimmer headed outside and watched the ponies in Ponyville,

"Nope, I don't see any ponies acting suspicious right now." Sunset Shimmer stated,

"Yeah, everything looks fine right now." Starlight Glimmer commented,

"I'm still stumped on who our killer could be." Spike said,

"We all are, no matter how we look at it, it doesn't make sense, we already got confirmation none of those unicorns with dark green magic is the culprit, and there's too many unicorns with bright red-orange magic, by the time we find the killer with the bright red-orange magic, the killer with the dark green magic could already be gone or kill all changelings." Twilight Sparkle explained,

"Twilight's right, we learned yesterday evening more changelings were killed, those two are probably out killing more right now." Sunset Shimmer responded,

"That's another thing, we don't know where they're at, and according to the reports, each changeling death reported is very far away from one another." Starlight Glimmer added,

"Ugh! If only there was a pattern, I'd be able to solve this easily!" Twilight Sparkle fumed,

"Why don't we ask the Pegasi to fly around and watch Equestria for anybody attacking and killing changelings?" Spike suggested, Twilight Sparkle looked up at the sky and saw Rainbow Dash, the Wonderbolts, and other Pegasi flying around and watching Equestria,

"They're already doing that, Spike." Twilight Sparkle responded,

"Hey, look." Starlight Glimmer spoke as she pointed her hoof, they looked and saw birds flying around and watching Equestria as well,

"Fluttershy must've ordered them to keep an eye on Equestria." Twilight Sparkle said,

"Well, looks like we got our next destination, let's see how she's doing." Sunset Shimmer suggested, and they headed to her home.

Fluttershy was ordering her birds and other pets that could fly to fly all around Equestria and report to her if they see anybody acting suspicious or trying to attack changelings,

"Check every nook and cranny across the country, the killer can be hiding anywhere, Equestria needs to be checked thoroughly, report to me if you find anything suspicious or dead or injured changelings." Fluttershy ordered, and her birds all flew in different directions. Fluttershy watched as her pet birds began soaring through the skies and watching for anything out of the ordinary, she flew up and began watching with her birds, she saw a rainbow trail flying around and realized Rainbow Dash was checking all of Equestria as fast as she could,

"Nope. Nothing here. No. No. No." Rainbow Dash commented as she checked every area she could, she flew by Fluttershy and she exclaimed as she spun around,

"Sorry, Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash called out as she flew away, she recomposed herself and began looking around. The birds let out various calling sounds and Fluttershy flew to them, she looked and gasped with her front hoofs over her mouth, she saw two dead changelings with dark green slash marks on their throats in the woods to the east of Equestria,

"Fluttershy." she heard her name get called by Twilight Sparkle and Spike and flew back. She arrived home and saw Twilight Sparkle and Spike along with Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer, she landed in front of them,

"Did you find anything?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"Yes, to the east and in the woods, two more dead changelings." Fluttershy responded while almost breaking down in tears,

"What color were the slash marks?" Sunset Shimmer inquired,

"Dark green." Fluttershy answered,

"So our usual culprit struck again." Twilight Sparkle commented,

"My birds and Rainbow Dash are watching out for any pony that could be acting suspicious, the birds found those two changelings." Fluttershy spoke,

"They weren't buried?" Starlight Glimmer asked, Fluttershy shook her head,

"Weird, I wonder why they weren't." Sunset Shimmer stated,

"It's possible someone or one of Fluttershy's pets was nearby and the culprit quickly fled before they could." Twilight Sparkle deduced,

"Still, if our target is a unicorn, they could just teleport the bodies elsewhere." Spike stated,

"True, but that's risky, teleporting them somewhere full of people would incriminate them, same if they appear, our killers are likely not taking that risk." Twilight Sparkle responded,

"Yeah, there's also ponies getting suspicious if they keep appearing and disappearing and changelings are reported missing afterwards, if they disappear to somewhere and reappear back in town and then changelings are reported as missing afterwards, everypony will notice a pattern, and they will be found out quickly." Sunset Shimmer explained,

"That's it, maybe we should watch for patterns in the ponies' daily lives, too." Spike suggested,

"Everything seems mostly ordinary right now, and since our two culprits are covering their tracks, they probably don't have a pattern with their daily routines." Fluttershy responded,

"I can confirm everything's normal right now, only pony missing is Daylight Dimmer, and his nephew always says he's out of town doing odd jobs for a living." Rainbow Dash said from above,

"What kind of odd jobs?" Sunset Shimmer questioned,

"Looks like almost anything, yard work, clearing paths in the wild so ponies can have a trail to towns, lumberjack, farming, you name it, looks like anything that requires manual labor." Rainbow Dash explained,

"I mean, he is an earth pony and almost as muscular and in shape as Big Mac, so I can clearly see him lending a hoof to others in manual labor." Twilight Sparkle stated,

"Aside from him leaving a lot during the days, he doesn't seem to do anything out of the ordinary, he's mostly just home doing exercises or play fighting with his nephew." Fluttershy spoke,

"Yeah, and if he was doing something illegal, Twilight would've known about it almost instantly." Starlight Glimmer added,

"Since we're still stumped, I think it's best to have Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash watch Equestria for now." Sunset Shimmer suggested,

"Pinkie, too, if she's free." Spike added,

"Make yourselves at home, my birds and other flying creatures will come back here and report to me if they find any dead changelings or if they see anypony suspicious looking." Fluttershy stated, and they stayed at her home while she and Rainbow Dash and the other Pegasi watched Equestria closely.

Princess Celestia was standing on the balcony and watching the Pegasi flying around and watching Equestria, she ordered her Pegasi royal guards to join them and help the Wonderbolts and other Pegasi keep an eye on Equestria and went back into her castle. She walked back to her throne room and Princess Luna stood to her left,

"What do you think about what's going on, Tia?" Princess Luna asked,

"I'm a bit nervous to be honest, Luna, now that our own citizens have taken matters into their own hoofs to find the culprits, I can't help but feel things are going to get ugly soon." Princess Celestia replied,

"So, has there been any deaths recently?" Princess Luna inquired,

"Yes, a royal guard just reported to me that some of Fluttershy's birds found more changelings dead in the woods earlier this morning, I'm worried there might be more dead elsewhere in Equestria." Princess Celestia explained while Princess Luna had a shocked expression,

"More? I most definitely hope not, some of the foals are already having nightmares that after all of the changelings are killed, the two are going to target them next." Princess Luna stated,

"I know the ponies are still struggling to befriend changelings, but if we can get our kind to accept them, it would be a big benefit to both of us, our friendship would fuse well with their love, and it would mean no more changeling invasions." Princess Celestia spoke,

"But you saw it with me, those who refused to accept Thorax's ways left and were planning to free Chrysalis and start a revolt, they were planning to overthrow him and invade us again afterwards." Princess Luna reminded,

"I remember, Luna, I still can't believe that, even after Starlight Glimmer proved her to be keeping her subjects starved on purpose, some changelings still support her and follow her ways." Princess Celestia said,

"Maybe they don't know any other way of living." Princess Luna responded,

"Maybe not, but that's still not a reason to free Chrysalis from her prison and have her try to take over the Hive again." Princess Celestia said,

"Well, whatever the reason, we should find our own way of dealing with them, their method is not the way." Princess Luna stated,

"It really isn't, we're risking war with them, we've had enough fighting with them, it's time for us to achieve peace between our kinds." Princess Celestia responded, and the two stood on their thrones.

Rainbow Dash flew around and looked for any more dead changelings, she did not find any, she went back to Ponyville and noticed Daylight Dimmer was still not back. She flew around Equestria as fast as she could and soon found him walking back to Ponyville. She flew past him and looked at where he was coming from, she looked and saw nothing out of the ordinary, she flew farther and still saw nothing out of the ordinary, she flew back to Ponyville and ordered the other Pegasi to come together,

"Have any of you seen anybody acting suspicious?" Rainbow Dash asked, the Pegasi shook their heads,

"What about dead changelings? Did you all find anymore?" Rainbow Dash inquired, they shook their heads again,

"Really? Nopony found anything?" Rainbow Dash questioned, they shook their heads, Rainbow Dash groaned while clutching her head and pulling her own skin,

"Rewatch, and keep watching the country for anything." Rainbow Dash ordered, and she and the other Pegasi began flying around Equestria again.

Applejack was working on her farm with her Big Macintosh and watched the Pegasi fly around and check her home,

"There ain't anyone here besides us and Granny." Applejack hollered,

"Is that true?" a Pegasus stallion questioned,

"Honestly." Applejack assured,

"Eeyup." Big Macintosh added,

"Can we check to make sure?" a Pegasus mare asked,

"There ain't nothin' here we're hidin', everythin' we have in plain sight right now." Granny Smith responded, the Pegasi looked around and saw the farm looked normal,

"We need to see inside your barn and house to be affirmative." another male Pegasus stated,

"Go ahead and take a look, y'all ain't gonna find anythin'." Applejack replied, and they did. The Pegasi flew around Sweet Apple Acres and checked every part of the place,

"Nope, it's clear, there's no one hiding here, let's move on to the next area." a Pegasus mare said, and they flew away. The Apple family continued working while Granny Smith walked to Applejack and Big Macintosh,

"Them ponies sure are gettin' real serious about finding them changeling killers." Granny Smith stated,

"Ah was real serious, too, Granny, they started actin' like this cause we hit a stump in our investigation." Applejack explained,

"Give it time, Applejack, with Equestria actin' like this, Ah'm sure the culprits are going to be unveiled real soon." Granny Smith assured,

"Ah sure hope so, because at this rate, me and the others have no idea where to look now." Applejack responded,

"Why don't y'all two finish yer work on the farm for today and join 'em and findin' the killers, does that sound good to y'all two?" Granny Smith suggested,

"Sounds good, Ah think they can use an extra hoof." Applejack answered,

"Eeyup." Big Macintosh agreed,

"Go on and finish then, Ah think they need all the help they can get." Granny Smith said, and they worked quickly until they were done and headed into Ponyville to help look for the killers.

Rarity was standing outside Carousel Boutique with ponies looking the changeling killers demanding to search her home,

"Darlings, one at a time, please." Rarity spoke,

"We would like to search your home and make sure you're not hiding anyone." a unicorn mare explained,

"Do you have any search warrants?" Rarity questioned, the unicorns and earth ponies looked at one another,

"Unless you all have search warrants, I can't let any of you in." Rarity stated, the ponies began complaining and accusing her of hiding the culprits in her home,

"*gasp* I most certainly am not." Rarity exclaimed, the ponies then demanded to let them check her home. A royal guard Pegasus mare flew down a few seconds afterwards,

"Excuse me." the mare said, everypony looked at her and she showed Rarity a search warrant,

"Is that a real one or forged?" Rarity questioned,

"Real, signed by Princess Celestia herself." the mare answered, Rarity used her telekinesis to put her glasses on, she looked at the signature and saw it was Princess Celestia's writing,

"Okay, you may check, but be careful not to knock down anything." Rarity warned,

"Understood." the royal guard answered, and she flew into Carousel Boutique. Everypony gathered around the entrance and watched as the royal guard checked Rarity's home, she moved everything slowly and carefully and finished the first floor, she flew upstairs while the other ponies tried to enter Carousel Boutique,

"No, no, no, she will answer when she finishes." Rarity said, and they waited. The royal guard came out a few minutes afterwards,

"It's clear." the royal guard said,

"Is that the truth?" an earth pony stallion questioned,

"It is, I promise you all I'm not lying." the royal guard answered,

"How do we know you're not in league with the killers?" a unicorn mare asked,

"I've been investigating places all around Equestria, and if I found one, I wouldn't be here searching, I'd be putting them in jail in Canterlot." the royal guard responded,

"You all are around my home, too, and it has windows, you all could see her clearly in every room if you looked through them." Rarity added, the ponies around her home became speechless, they then looked through her windows and saw every room clearly,

"It's clear, sorry to bother you." a unicorn stallion said, and they all left. Rarity sighed with relief while the royal guard stood by her,

"Thank you, dear, I was at my wit's end with them." Rarity said,

"I only checked your home because they were all around your home, so I thought you could've at least known something." the royal guard answered,

"Well, thank you regardless, I understand everypony is rifled up right now, but they still have to respect the law and boundaries, me and the others have tried, and if there was only some clue, we could get back to investigating." Rarity vented,

"We're all kind of desperate right now, but since the citizens have decided to take it upon themselves to find the killers, Princess Celestia has given us royal guards search warrants to search every home and business." the royal guard replied,

"I see, Twilight and I are watching for anypony acting suspicious, we haven't found anyone, yet." Rarity stated,

"Of course not, since everypony's looking, the culprits are going to try act like regular ponies now, they're likely going to stop their killing spree for now until things die down." the royal guard explained,

"They might at least slip up and give us a clue." Rarity suggested,

"Maybe, I'll go check the other places now, good luck on your own investigation." the royal guard said, and she flew away while Rarity went back into Carousel Boutique and continued sewing.

Pinkie Pie was letting ponies into Sugarcube Corner to investigate while Mr. and Mrs. Cake stood behind her and held Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake, everypony checked every cupboard and cabinet while Pinkie Pie told them what was in each one,

"This place is clear." a Pegasus stallion stated,

"Thanks for cooperating with us, Pinkie." a unicorn mare said,

"You're welcome." Pinkie Pie replied, and the ponies left,

"Phew, they're finally gone." Mr. Cake spoke,

"Thank you as always, Pinkie, we would've been overwhelmed if not for you." Mrs. Cake commented,

"Don't mention it, it was easy." Pinkie Pie responded,

"Well, Pinkie, it looks like we're not going to have customers for a while, why don't you join the ponies and help them find the culprits?" Mrs. Cake suggested,

"I would, but my Pinkie Sense isn't picking up anything, it's almost like the culprits are immune to it." Pinkie Pie responded,

"Well, can you at least give it a try, Pinkie?" Mr. Cake asked,

"Okie dokie loki." Pinkie Pie responded, and she dashed away with a pink trail behind herself and soon began appearing behind rocks and trees as she searched for the killers.

Twilight Sparkle checked with the ponies and royal guards to look for the killers,

"We're making no progress at this rate." Spike said,

"We just started, Spike, we have to keep investigating, it's the only way now, we have no clues as of now, so let's check every home." Twilight Sparkle responded, and she continued. She went into Rose's, Vine's, and Tulip's home and found nothing, she exited and saw Rainbow Dash checking Anvil Striker's and Ornamental Jewelry's home while Pinkie Pie checked Strawberry's and Blueberry's homes,

"This one's clear." Rainbow Dash said,

"There's nothing funny in this one, either." Pinkie Pie responded,

"What about that house, Twilight?" Rainbow Dash asked,

"It's clear." Twilight Sparkle answered,

"Alright, onto the next houses." Rainbow Dash stated, and they went to them. Rainbow Dash checked Haute Cuisine's and Monochrome's house while Pinkie Pie checked Bit Counter's and Banker's house and Twilight Sparkle checked Daylight Dimmer's and Starburn's house. They did not see anything out of the ordinary and the only thing that caught Twilight Sparkle's attention was a map of Equestria on the wall that Starburn and Daylight Dimmer used for their travels. They exited the houses and walked to one another,

"Nothing suspicious in that house." Rainbow Dash said,

"The one I checked was clear, too." Twilight Sparkle replied,

"One I went into has nothing suspicious looking in it." Pinkie Pie reported,

"Ugh! We're still running into dead ends!" Twilight Sparkle thundered,

"I know, right, it's like wherever we check, there's no clue." Rainbow Dash vented,

"My Pinkie Sense isn't picking up anything, either, no matter where I go, I can't sense who the culprit is." Pinkie Pie stated,

"Your Pinkie Sense can actually do that?" Twilight Sparkle inquired,

"Uh-huh." Pinkie Pie answered while nodding,

"Well, let's keep looking, there has to be a clue somewhere." Twilight Sparkle suggested, and they continued checking Ponyville.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders checked their tree house to make sure the culprits were not hiding there, there was no one inside, so they locked it and headed to the School of Friendship to help the students check the school, they checked the classrooms with the students and other foals from their schools helped them investigate the school. They finished after several minutes and met up with Sandbar and his friends,

"The area we checked is clear." Sandbar reported,

"So is where we checked." Sweetie Belle answered,

"Um, guys, I don't think our culprits would hide in this school, there's too many people here for them to hide anywhere." Ocellus suggested,

"We still had to make sure." Sandbar responded,

"Yeah, they can be hiding anywhere." Scootaloo added,

"This may be far-fetched, but what if our changeling killers are outside Equestria?" Smolder suggested,

"I doubt it, only ponies can cast the kind of magic found on the dead changelings, if they were in our countries, they would've been found out easily." Gallus responded,

"Maybe so, but what if they kill a changeling far away from where they're at?" Silverstream questioned,

"Yona think they will still be found out easily after death is reported." Yona replied,

"Yeah, the time of death is usually put in the newspaper, and if the ponies were gone at the time that's mentioned, the people will put two and two together quickly." Ocellus added,

"But what if they turn out to be innocent?" Apple Bloom objected, the students became speechless,

"Well... there's nothing that can be done about that." Ocellus stated,

"Come on, let's go let Twilight know the school's cleared." Sandbar suggested, they nodded and ran. They arrived in Ponyville and Sandbar called out to Twilight, she faced them as they arrived and stopped running,

"We just finished checking the school, it's clear." Sandbar reported,

"I don't think the School of Friendship would be where our culprits would hide." Twilight Sparkle replied,

"Well, we still checked just to make sure." Sandbar spoke,

"Well, thanks." Twilight Sparkle said, the Cutie Mark Crusaders and six students smiled. Everybody finished checking Ponyville and everybody was clear, nothing suspicious was found in any home or business, the town calmed down and everybody got on with their days.

Chapter 8

Everybody in Ponyville got on with their days and conversed about where the killers could be hiding,

"It looks like our culprits aren't in Ponyville." Sunset Shimmer stated,

"My best guess is they're in one of the cities." Twilight Sparkle commented,

"Do you think they could be outside of Equestria?" Starlight Glimmer asked,

"I don't think so, but I think it's worth checking, hold on, I'm going to check and see if Tempest Shadow has seen anything." Twilight Sparkle replied, and she flew up high in the sky to look for her ship. She looked around and saw the Storm King's ship flying to the northeast near Bug Bear Territory, she cast a spell and teleported.

Tempest Shadow was sitting in a chair and commanding the Storm King's former guards while Grubber stood to her right, a Storm Guard walked to her and got on his knees,

"Captain, Princess Twilight Sparkle has teleported onto the ship and wishes to see you." the guard reported,

"Let her here." Tempest Shadow responded, and the guard stood up and walked away. Tempest Shadow turned around and walked forward while Twilight Sparkle got escorted to the room where she was in, they stopped walking and faced one another,

"What brings you here, Twilight?" Tempest Shadow questioned,

"Hello, Tempest, I assume you've heard about the recent changeling deaths in Equestria." Twilight Sparkle spoke,

"Yes, I have." Tempest Shadow answered,

"I wanted to ask you if you've found any dead changelings outside of Equestria." Twilight Sparkle explained,

"No, I've been keeping an eye out for them, too, but no dead changelings with sword slashes on them have been found outside Equestria, yet." Tempest Shadow answered,

"What about suspicious looking or acting ponies, have you seen any?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"No, there's almost no ponies outside of Equestria, and the ones that are are on business trips or visiting as tourists, there's rarely any ponies who travel out of Equestria." Tempest Shadow replied,

"Same with the other creatures, almost none of them leave their home country." Grubber added,

"I'll let you and Princess Celestia know if I find anything, but until then, there's been no dead changelings found, and no ponies acting suspicious." Tempest Shadow spoke,

"Okay, I just wanted to make sure, thanks for telling me, Tempest." Twilight Sparkle replied, and Tempest Shadow smiled while Twilight Sparkle cast a spell and teleported.

Twilight Sparkle appeared back in Ponyville,

"Well?" Spike asked,

"Nope, Tempest Shadow said she's seen nothing suspicious has been seen outside of Equestria." Twilight Sparkle answered,

"Okay, so our culprits are in Equestria." Sunset Shimmer stated,

"But where are we supposed to look next?" Twilight Sparkle questioned,

"Maybe the nearest city." Starlight Glimmer suggested,

"I guess, but another time, me and the others have to teach at the School of Friendship today." Twilight Sparkle stated, and they headed there.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders walked around and noticed their classmates getting on with their days, they watched the ponies mostly get on with their days while the parents comforted their foals,

"Wow, it's almost like it didn't happen." Scootaloo stated,

"Yeah, everybody's getting on with their days like normal." Sweetie Belle responded,

"Ah'm still stumped though, everypony's now takin' everythin' into their own hoofs, we might get investigated again for all Ah know." Apple Bloom stated,

"Well, I guess we can still look around, just don't bother anyone." Scootaloo suggested, and they walked together. They looked around and saw everything go on as a normal day,

"You're leaving again, uncle?" Starburn asked,

"Yeah, don't worry, Starburn, it's just a really quick odd job, I just have to clean up some trash littering in a small area, I'll be back real quick." Daylight Dimmer explained, Starburn nodded while smiling and Daylight Dimmer ran out of town while the Cutie Mark Crusaders watched him,

"There goes Daylight Dimmer leaving again." Scootaloo commented,

"Yeah, he's a lot busier than I thought." Sweetie Belle responded,

"Let's see how long he's gone." Apple Bloom spoke, and they watched, Daylight Dimmer came back after about eight minutes,

"Okay, Starburn, I'm done, let's get ready to go to Appleloosa." Daylight Dimmer stated,

"I'd like to see the Everfree Forest." Starburn said, the Cutie Mark Crusaders' eyes' widened,

"Oh, right, I did promise to take you there, only the entrance, Starburn, it's dangerous to go farther in." Daylight Dimmer spoke,

"Yes, uncle." Starburn answered, and they headed to the Everfree Forest. The Cutie Mark Crusaders continued walking around and checking if everybody was alright, they finished and went back to their tree house,

"Okay, as y'all two know, the killers ain't in Ponyville, so let's try to guess where they could be." Apple Bloom instructed,

"That's going to be hard." Sweetie Belle said,

"Ah know, but it's better than nothin'." Apple Bloom answered,

"We don't have any clues on where they could be, and even if we did, we don't know if they're still there or not." Scootaloo objected,

"Yeah, this is going to go nowhere, Apple Bloom." Sweetie Belle added,

"Y'all right, but Ah thought maybe we could at least try to guess which city they'd be in." Apple Bloom lamented while looking down,

"Well, I'm not really sure they'd be in a city, news spreads quicker in those areas than a small town like here." Scootaloo responded,

"They would've been caught by now if they were in those areas." Sweetie Belle spoke,

"Well, Ah guess we're better off leaving this to our sisters and their friends then, Ah thought maybe we could've helped a bit in some way." Apple Bloom explained,

"Maybe later if more clues are found, but until then, we're stumped like how they are." Sweetie Belle spoke,

"Yeah, we should wait, Apple Bloom, let's let the others find stuff first and we'll work from there." Scootaloo suggested, Apple Bloom smiled and they left the tree house and walked together to see how the others in Ponyville were doing. They continued watching everybody and saw Daylight Dimmer and Starburn coming back already,

"I'll go ahead and get our tickets for Appleloosa." Daylight Dimmer stated,

"Okay, I'll go ahead and pack everything." Starburn responded, and Daylight Dimmer left while Starburn went back into their home. The Cutie Mark Crusaders watched Daylight Dimmer walk out of sight as he headed to the train station while they heard Starburn start packing, he soon finished and came out of his house and began looking around Ponyville,

"Come on, let's see how the others are doing." Scootaloo said, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle nodded and they walked elsewhere together.

Twilight Sparkle and her friends were teaching in the School of Friendship and they all took the students outside for an activity,

"I understand you all are nervous and uncomfortable after that thorough investigation, and I know you all are worried about your families back home, but I'm going to restore trust starting here, you all are to work together and trust your partners in building the stuff you all destroyed while checking the school for the changeling killers." Twilight Sparkle explained, and everybody started. Everybody began rebuilding the school while Twilight Sparkle and her friends watched,

"I am so glad that little investigation is over." Rarity spoke,

"For now, it might start again and be more thorough." Twilight Sparkle replied,

"It kind of scared me." Fluttershy said,

"Really? I thought it was fun." Pinkie Pie responded,

"I'll reorganize another search team when we find another clue, those killers can't hide and evade forever." Rainbow Dash spoke,

"Yeah, and we'll catch 'em eventually, the ponies might be able to recognize them if they ever return to a place they've been to before." Applejack added,

"Well, until then, let's focus on teaching our school and making everybody trust one another again." Twilight Sparkle responded, and they watched the students work together. Sandbar and his friends glued together broke vases and pots that decorated the school,

"There, that's the last one." Sandbar spoke,

"Wow, we finished quicker than we thought." Smolder stated,

"I mean, we are only putting damaged pottery back together, so we didn't have much to do to begin with." Sandbar reminded,

"Yona still wanna know why Ocellus did not help." Yona demanded,

"I... I'm not comfortable now that all of Equestria is acting the way they are now, all of that investigation stuff made me scared." Ocellus explained,

"Try to relax, Ocellus, they're doing it to look for the people killing your kind." Silverstream spoke,

"I know, but still." Ocellus replied,

"Don't you want to help them?" Gallus questioned,

"No." Ocellus responded,

"Gallus, remember, ponies haven't accepted changelings, yet, if they're like the ponies in some of the towns those new ponies are from, they're likely going to turn on Ocellus and kill her before going back to investigating." Sandbar explained,

"And if that happens, another war between ponies and changelings will break out." Ocellus added,

"Dragons might also get involved due to Spike being close to the rulers of Equestria." Smolder reminded,

"Yona now understand why Ocellus is uneasy, Yona apologize." Yona said,

"It's okay." Ocellus responded,

"Come on, let's go help the others." Silverstream instructed, and they walked together to go help the other students. Twilight Sparkle and her friends smiled while they watched the students work together and fix the school with no problems, they saw almost everything was done being fixed and everything being put back to where they once were,

"Nicely done, everybody, I think you all are in for a treat." Twilight Sparkle stated, the students cheered,

"Hold on, everybody, I'm going to get the snacks and drinks ready soon." Pinkie Pie spoke, and everybody continued working. Two royal guard Pegasi flew to the School of Friendship and went to Twilight Sparkle,

"Princess Twilight." the mare called out as she and the stallion landed, everybody stopped working and looked at her,

"More changelings were found dead to the southeast of Equestria just now, they have dark green sword slashes on them, too, time of death looked like it was about 10 minutes ago." the mare reported, everybody started with their jaws' dropped,

"There's more, the two dead changelings we found were buried, the killer moved their bodies from where they were originally killed." the mare added,

"Where were they killed?" Twilight Sparkle questioned,

"We don't know yet." the mare answered,

"Thank you for letting me know, send the changeling bodies back to the Hive." Twilight Sparkle ordered,

"Yes, Your Highness." the mare stated, and she and the stallion flew away. Everybody saw Ocellus looking away with her front hoofs over her own face,

"When is this going to end?" Ocellus asked,

"Give it time, sugar cube, we're gonna try to catch 'em soon." Applejack responded, and everybody got around her and began to comfort her.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders and everybody else in Ponyville watched the two royal guards fly back to Canterlot, they overheard the report of the dead changelings, they saw Daylight Dimmer walking back to Starburn,

"Okay, Starburn, everything's ready, be at the train station in about 15 minutes." Daylight Dimmer stated,

"Okay, I'll go ahead and take one last look around town in the meantime." Starburn replied,

"Okay, I'll be at the train station if you need anything." Daylight Dimmer said, and they went their separate ways. The Cutie Mark Crusaders walked together and the sun began to set,

"Look at that, they got more changelings." Scootaloo spoke,

"Yeah, and the time between these deaths and the last deaths were short." Sweetie Belle added,

"No kiddin', it's like them killings are speedin' up." Apple Bloom stated,

"Sooner or later, Ocellus might be targeted." Scootaloo said,

"Ah know, we have to get 'em 'fore they get to her." Apple Bloom stated,

"We still have no clues on who's doing it." Sweetie Belle reminded,

"Yeah, everything's normal, all that really happens is Daylight Dimmer just leaves for whatever odd job he's doing." Scootaloo said,

"Hmm-mm." Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle responded while nodding,

"Wait a minute!" Apple Bloom blurted out as she recalled what Scootaloo just said. She, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle had flashbacks of when each changeling death was announced, Daylight Dimmer was not present before and after every death that has been reported, the three looked at one another with shocked expressions and ran to the train station, Daylight Dimmer was not there, so they looked for Starburn and saw him going into the Everfree Forest, they ran after him.

Starburn stood in the Everfree Forest and admired the view, he heard running behind him and it stopped,

"Starburn! We got questions for your uncle. Where is he?" Sweetie Belle inquired,

"He should be at the train station." Starburn answered,

"He ain't there." Apple Bloom revealed, Starburn turned around and faced them,

"Why do you three wish to see my uncle?" Starburn questioned,

"Every time a changeling is killed and it's announced, your uncle's not in town, we think he has some form of involvement in the killings." Scootaloo explained,

"My uncle being gone when the deaths of changelings are announced is coincidence." Starburn answered,

"Gone during every single death? Coincidence, I think not." Sweetie Belle responded,

"Combined with the fact he comes back shortly after the deaths are announced every time as well." Apple Boom added,

"With all of those facts combined, Starburn, we think your uncle is involved in the killings." Scootaloo accused,

"Now, where is he?" Apple Bloom questioned, Starburn glared a little and remained silent for a few seconds,

"I didn't want it to come to this." Starburn said, the Cutie Mark Crusaders eyes' widened while Starburn reeled up on his hind legs. He swung his front legs out to the sides and swords made of bright red-orange energy formed in his hoofs, the Cutie Mark Crusaders gasped,

"But you three now give me no choice." Starburn spoke, and he got ready to attack them while the Cutie Mark Crusaders looked on nervously.

Starburn began spinning his swords around and circular projectiles made of bright red-orange energy began flying towards them,

"Look out!" Apple Bloom hollered, and they rolled to the sides and Starburn then began sending out waves of bright red-orange energy with each swing of his two swords, he slid forward towards Apple Bloom and then jumped up while doing upwards slashes with his swords, she got on the ground to avoid it while the two energy waves cut the grass and disappeared when they touched the trees with the two trees splitting in half. Sweetie Belle watched Starburn closely and noticed he was having some trouble performing his attacks, she sneaked behind him and got ready to tackle him down, she lunged at him but he turned into bright red-orange mist and floated up,

"Huh? What the?" Sweetie Belle asked as Starburn floated through the air, he floated back down and reformed into his pony self. Starburn changed his swords to a bow and arrow, he began shot an arrow and it divided into three arrows while it was in midair, they homed on the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Sweetie Belle quickly put up a shield around Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and herself to block the arrows, they exploded and the Cutie Mark Crusaders shrieked as the explosions knocked them back and they fell. They got back up while Sweetie Belle's shield disappeared,

"Come on, we gotta let the others know." Apple Bloom stated, and they began to run away to inform Twilight Sparkle, Starburn punched his front hoofs onto the ground and vines made of bright red-orange energy burst out of the ground and wrapped around the Cutie Mark Crusaders, they exclaimed as they got restrained and tied to the ground. Starburn walked to them while the three fillies tried to break free,

"Now, if you three stay quiet, I can let this go, but if you three still plan on telling, I'll have to kill you three, and I'd rather not kill a fellow pony." Starburn bargained, the Cutie Mark Crusaders scowled at him,

"I'll take that as a 'no', so be it." Starburn spoke, and he made his two bright red-orange swords reappear and got ready to do a downwards slash on Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom pulled her legs and head back and broke the vines restraining her while Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle struggled but could not break their restraints. Starburn held his front legs out and his two swords changed into vines and homed on Apple Bloom, she shrieked as she ran around and the vines chased her, more grew out of the ground and pulled her down. Starburn changed into mist and floated to Apple Bloom, he got ready to stab one of his swords into Apple Bloom's cheek to cut her tongue out. The birds flew down and began pecking and kicking Starburn, he grunted as he waved his front hoofs around, Apple Bloom broke free of her restraints and then pulled and broke the restraints on Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle,

"Come on, let's inform the others." Apple Bloom instructed, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders ran while the birds continued to distract Starburn.

Twilight Sparkle and her friends watched the students in the school work together and have fun while they smiled at seeing their progress,

"Twilight!" Apple Bloom called out, she and her friends turned around and saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders running to them, they arrived and panted a little,

"We found out who the killer is." Sweetie Belle reported, everybody stopped what they were doing and looked at them,

"What?" Rarity exclaimed,

"Who is it?" Applejack asked,

"It's Daylight Dimmer." Scootaloo answered,

"Daylight Dimmer? How did you three come to that conclusion?" Twilight Sparkle questioned,

"Well..." Apple Bloom said shortly before bright red-orange vines burst out of the ground and wrapped around the Cutie Mark Crusaders, they shrieked as they got tied up. Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Starlight Glimmer, and Sunset Shimmer quickly cast spells to destroy the vines, they stood up and saw the birds at Fluttershy's sanctuary being thrown around in midair while Fluttershy gasped, bright red-orange mist appeared in the sky and the two swords reappeared,

"*gasp* Look!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, the others did and gasped when they saw the two swords were made of bright red-orange energy, the swords were swung left and right many times and waves of bright red-orange energy flew forward towards the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack grabbed them put them behind themselves while Twilight Sparkle put up a shield to block the oncoming energy waves, she exclaimed when the waves knocked her back and destroyed her shield,

"Twilight!" Pinkie Pie hollered,

"I can sense it... these energy waves are full of hatred, just one of them is enough to kill a changeling." Twilight Sparkle commented, Starburn pointed his front hoofs forward and two bright red-orange blasts out of the tips of his swords and they homed to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. They ran while screaming and Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer shot zaps at them and canceled out the blasts while Rarity put Sweetie Belle behind herself. Twilight Sparkle cast a spell to undo the mist and Starburn reformed and began to fall onto the ground, he landed on his hind hoofs, everybody gasped when they saw him,

"Starburn?!" Rarity exclaimed,

"We couldn't believe it, either, but he's one of the killers." Apple Bloom responded,

"A foal?" Twilight Sparkle stated as she tried to process a foal killing people. Starburn stood up and swung his swords around to send out more energy waves,

"Twilight!" Spike hollered, she got startled and saw the energy waves coming, she shot zaps at them and canceled them out. Applejack ran to Starburn with her lasso and threw it, she began to tie him up and he turned into mist and floated out of it, Twilight Sparkle cast a spell to change him back to normal and then held him in place with her telekinesis, he pointed his front right hoof at her and shot an energy blast out of his hoof, she shrieked as ducked and lost her grip on him. Rarity, Starlight Glimmer, and Sunset Shimmer held him in place and Applejack tied him up with her lasso, Twilight Sparkle then enchanted the rope with a spell and it glowed light pink, Starburn tried to break free but could not, he then tried to turn into mist but the spell countered it and he was stuck,

"There, we got a lot of questions for you, Starburn." Applejack stated, Starburn growled,

'Still, to think, out of all of the possible culprits, one of them is a foal." Twilight Sparkle commented,

"I have my reasons." Starburn responded,

"Why, Starburn?" Fluttershy inquired,

"The changelings have been invading us countless times, my uncle and I began hunting them down at the time you guys dealt with them in Canterlot." Starburn answered,

"Wait, Canterlot?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"Yes, why do you think you guys were able to hold them off?" Starburn inquired,

"Wait, don't tell me..." Applejack stated,

"My uncle and I killed several of them before they made it to Canterlot." Starburn revealed,

"But we didn't find their bodies." Twilight Sparkle said,

"Of course not, we buried them in the wilderness and hid their graves with the local plants, we didn't do that with our recent victims since you guys are more alert now." Starburn explained,

"You still haven't fully explained why you kill changelings, Starburn." Fluttershy said,

"Because of their invasions and attacks on Equestria, you all saw the stuff my uncle and I found, the changelings we go after were planning to free Chrysalis, attack Thorax, and then invade us again with Chrysalis as the leader if they overthrew him, we're sick and tired of their constant attacks." Starburn explained,

"I did try to offer Chrysalis my friendship, Starburn." Starlight Glimmer stated,

"I know, my uncle and I tried to let them change their ways, but once when Chrysalis rejected your friendship, that was when we decided to go into full throttle with killing them all." Starburn responded,

"Starburn, don't you realize what you could've done?" Twilight Sparkle inquired,

"I'm well aware my actions risked us going to war with them." Starburn answered,

"Not just that, you also risked weakening Equestria's defenses by embracing hatred instead of friendship, if we get too much hatred in this land, the windigos will return." Twilight Sparkle explained, Starburn's eyes widened,

"Can you guys carry him away? I'm not comfortable with him near me." Ocellus spoke,

"Don't worry, Ocellus, my uncle and I are only after the changelings still loyal Chrysalis, those who have defected to serving Thorax like how you did will be spared." Starburn replied,

"Starburn, those changelings are still their family and relatives." Rarity said,

"Good luck explaining that to them, the ones still loyal to Chrysalis that my uncle caught talked about how cutting ties with their families was worth the risk to remain loyal to her." Starburn replied,

"What?" Rarity exclaimed,

"You're lying!" Ocellus blurted,

"If I can touch Daylight Dimmer and see his memories, we will know for sure, but I really hope that's not true." Sunset Shimmer said,

"What do we do with him?" Rainbow Dash asked,

"I'll keep him tied up and in my castle, I'm sure Daylight Dimmer will come for him eventually." Twilight Sparkle answered,

"Not going to hand me to the authorities?" Starburn asked,

"You're still a child, Starburn, you're too young, and I also hope you're just misguided and can change your ways." Twilight Sparkle responded,

"You guys put Cozy Glow in Tartarus." Starburn stated,

"That was because Cozy Glow threatened Equestria, you didn't, you didn't drain Equestria of magic like how she did, either." Twilight Sparkle explained,

"You better not view friendship as power, Starburn." Pinkie Pie brought up,

"No, friends are nice to have, there are some ponies who do agree with what we do." Starburn answered,

"Well, we don't, and you really should be ashamed of yourself, using hatred as magic instead of friendship." Twilight Sparkle said,

"How did you find out how to use hatred as magic, Starburn?" Sweetie Belle questioned,

"My uncle's the one who discovered it, you'll have to ask him." Starburn answered,

"Get on with your days, everybody, I'll go ahead and take him to my castle." Twilight Sparkle spoke, and she carried Starburn with her telekinesis and went to Ponyville.

Chapter 9

Twilight Sparkle carried Starburn into town and everypony looked on while some gasped,

"Starburn." Cheerilee said as she walked over to him,

"This whole time, you were one of the culprits." Cheerilee stated,

"I have my reasons." Starburn responded,

"I am not without sympathy over your motives, Starburn, all of us are sick and tired of the changelings attacking and invading us, too, but resorting to killing them is not the answer." Cheerilee explained,

"What is the answer then?" Starburn questioned,

"I... I don't know, we've been trying to find alternatives, but we now have to rethink solutions again now that you and your uncle showed us that they were planning another invasion." Cheerilee answered,

"It looks like killing them all is the best solution right now." Starburn responded,

"No, Starburn, it isn't, maybe from your perspective, it is, but look at it from the changelings' perspective, you have taken away a family member or a friend, that can't be undone, you and Daylight Dimmer have more than likely left a lot of grieving changelings in your killing sprees." Cheerilee explained,

"They will have to deal with that on their own." Starburn answered,

"Starburn! You don't care about the grief you might cause them?!" Twilight Sparkle inquired,

"They should've thought about that before invading our country." Starburn replied,

"Come on, Starburn, you have a lot to think about." Twilight Sparkle spoke, and she walked away. She kept walking to her castle and saw his classmates up ahead,

"Wow, this whole time, you were one of the killers." Tulip spoke,

"You got a problem with it?" Starburn asked,

"It's not that, we hate changelings, too, and we do support killing them since they're still troublemakers, but risking making the Windigos come is the problem we have." Ornamental Jewelry answered,

"Wait, you guys don't care that he destroyed families with his actions?" Twilight Sparkle inquired,

"Starburn's got a point, they should've thought about that beforehoof." Monochrome responded,

"That, and the changelings didn't care about the families in our country that they destroyed." Blueberry added,

"That doesn't mean you guys can be like that, too." Twilight Sparkle explained,

"Why not? They were like that with us." Banker replied,

"It will make us no better than them, and it will give the other countries a negative impression of us." Twilight Sparkle said,

"Do they have the full story?" Monochrome asked,

"Well, usually, no, they just look and assume instantly that we're the bad guys." Pipsqueak answered,

"See, that's why we have to have a positive image, other countries will think we're unforgiving if we decide to kill all changelings like how Starburn and Daylight Dimmer did." Twilight Sparkle explained,

"Only those loyal to Chrysalis." Starburn reminded,

"You're still painting a bad image of us." Twilight Sparkle spoke,

"Why didn't you just put them in jail for, Starburn?" Diamond Tiara asked,

"Because they would've broken out, those changelings my uncle and I went after were very determined to free her." Starburn responded,

"We'll see about that after we get him and Sunset Shimmer looks into his memories, but until then, you're going to be staying in my castle." Twilight Sparkle stated, and she headed to her castle.

Twilight Sparkle tied Starburn to a chair with the enchanted rope while Spike watched him,

"Okay, Starburn, now think about your actions, not only for the changeling families you destroyed, but also the fact that you and your uncle almost got a pony accused of crimes he didn't commit." Twilight Sparkle said,

"You guys were the ones who thought Lemon Lime was the culprit." Starburn reminded,

"But it was you and your uncle that got him accused in the first place." Twilight Sparkle responded,

"You going to kill me, Twilight Sparkle?" Starburn asked,

"What? No! I can never do something like that, and since you're still a foal, you still have a chance to learn the errors of your ways." Twilight Sparkle replied,

"You still think I'm wrong?" Starburn questioned,

"Yes, I do, you're lucky it's us ponies and not the changelings dealing with you, I doubt they'd be forgiving for what you did." Twilight Sparkle said, Starburn remained silent,

"I'll be going now, Spike, keep an eye on him and send a letter to Princess Celestia that we found out Daylight Dimmer is the killer." Twilight Sparkle stated,

"You got it." Spike answered, and he wrote a letter and sent it to Princess Celestia and then kept an eye on Starburn while Twilight Sparkle left.

Twilight Sparkle walked around town and was heading back to school when she saw royal guard Pegasi flying in the school and searching all of Equestria,

"Search the entire country, board all of Equestria's borders, Daylight Dimmer must not leave the country, do not rest until he is found and apprehended." Princess Celestia ordered, she flew to Ponyville and landed in front of Twilight Sparkle,

"What's going on?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"Luna, Cadence, and I have ordered a countrywide ponyhunt for Daylight Dimmer, a lot of the other ponies all around Equestria have volunteered to help the royal guards look for him, we already closed off all of Equestria's borders, too, we have to make sure he doesn't get away." Princess Celestia explained,

"I'll help later, I have to finish teaching at the School of Friendship." Twilight Sparkle said,

"Thank you, I will be partaking in the ponyhunt as well." Princess Celestia replied, and she flew away while Twilight Sparkle walked back to school.

Twilight Sparkle arrived back at the School of Friendship and saw everybody taking a break,

"How's Ocellus doing?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"She's trying to keep it together right now, but you can tell she's uncomfortable." Fluttershy replied, she looked and saw Ocellus was sweating a lot and trying to stay calm and relaxed,

"Try to stay calm, Ocellus, it will all be over soon." Sandbar stated,

"Still, Equestria's borders are closed off now and we now know who's behind the killings of my people, I'm scared of being in this country." Ocellus responded,

"There, there, Ocellus, I remember when the Storm King took over our territory, we had to close our borders, too, I was scared as well." Silverstream spoke,

"But this is different, you guys were just hiding, mine right now is so a killer doesn't leave the country, I can't even go home right now." Ocellus lamented,

"Well, try to have fun, Ocellus, I'm sure this will be over soon." Sandbar reminded, and he and the others continued trying to comfort Ocellus,

"Girls, I need you all to help me look for Daylight Dimmer after school ends, Spike is back at the castle watching Starburn." Twilight Sparkle stated,

"Still, I can't believe it, our culprit's an earth pony." Rainbow Dash commented,

"Yeah, when you look at ponies and using magic, it doesn't make any sense." Applejack added,

"Actually, I read in one of Twilight's books that Pegasi and earth ponies can learn magic, they just learn differently from unicorns, they can learn magic through meditation and enlightening their mind, that allows them to manipulate the magic energy all around us in Equestria and shoot magic with their hoofs." Starlight Glimmer explained,

"Oh, right, I did have a book on that, it's still surprising to see it in person." Twilight Sparkle stated,

"I mean, I can do some magic." Pinkie Pie commented,

"Yours is different, Pinkie." Twilight Sparkle remarked,

"Still, of all the emotions they could've chosen to empower themselves, they had to choose hatred and anger." Rarity said,

"Well, I hope we can teach them to use friendship instead." Twilight Sparkle remarked, the bell rung afterwards,

"Have a good day, everyone, stay safe." Twilight Sparkle said, and everybody either went home or into their dorms,

"Come on, let's look for Daylight Dimmer." Twilight Sparkle instructed, and they all began.

Twilight Sparkle and her friends walked into Ponyville and saw everybody cooperating with the royal guards,

"I think it'll be best to wait for Daylight Dimmer to come for Starburn." Sunset Shimmer suggested,

"I agree, but I don't know when he will come." Twilight Sparkle responded,

"Don't forget that we don't know where he's right now, either." Starlight Glimmer reminded,

"Right, come on, y'all, let's get searchin'." Applejack instructed, and she began searching Ponyville with Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity. Twilight Sparkle walked with Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer while they watched Ponyville,

"Should we check inside your castle?" Starlight Glimmer asked,

"It's fine, Spike should've checked already." Twilight Sparkle remarked,

"You sure about that?" Sunset Shimmer questioned,

"100% positive." Twilight Sparkle assured,

"So what do you want to do then?" Starlight Glimmer inquired,

"Let's go check on Spike and Starburn, I sure hope he hasn't tried to escape." Twilight Sparkle responded, and they entered her castle.

Twilight Sparkle, Starlight Glimmer, and Sunset Shimmer entered Twilight Sparkle's castle and saw Spike was watching Starburn, he was still tied to the chair,

"Has he tried anything?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"Nope, he's just been sitting there doing nothing, he's been completely silent, too." Spike answered,

"Good, I think he's thinking about his actions and realizing the errors of his ways." Twilight Sparkle spoke,

"No, I'm just thinking about my family." Starburn answered,

"Do you have parents, Starburn?" Twilight Sparkle questioned,

"I hate mom and dad." Starburn grumbled,

"Well, I guess we now know where the hatred to fuel his magic comes from." Sunset Shimmer commented,

"Not just them, I hate grandmom and granddad, too, uncle is the only relative in my family who loves me." Starburn answered,

"What are their names?" Starlight Glimmer asked,

"My mom is Sunburn, my dad's Volcano, grandmom is Bright Sky, granddad is Daylight Sunshine." Starburn answered,

"What else do you hate, Starburn?" Spike asked,

"I hate school, but not enough to power my magic, I hate changelings, too, because of their constant invasions and attacks, I also hate most dragons and griffons because of their nasty attitudes and greediness." Starburn responded,

"Well... can't argue there." Spike commented,

"How long do you think your uncle will take to come for you?" Sunset Shimmer questioned,

"Soon, he would never leave me behind." Starburn answered,

"Good, that means he should be coming here anytime now." Starlight Glimmer responded, they soon heard loud cawing from the birds and they ran outside.

Twilight Sparkle ran to Fluttershy's cottage with Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer,

"What's going on?" Twilight Sparkle inquired,

"They're all saying they spotted Daylight Dimmer in the Everfree Forest." Fluttershy reported,

"Let's go." Twilight Sparkle said, and they ran into the forest. Daylight Dimmer was running through the forest and heading to Ponyville to rescue Starburn, he saw the birds watching him and they cawed loudly, Twilight Sparkle flew and spotted him,

"There he is!" Twilight Sparkle blurted, and she teleported, she appeared in front of him and he stopped running,

"I'm over here!" Twilight Sparkle hollered, and Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer teleported and appeared behind Daylight Dimmer,

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way, Daylight Dimmer, the choice is yours." Twilight Sparkle stated, Daylight Dimmer reeled up on his hind legs and stood upright, dark green energy appeared on his front hoofs and formed into two swords,

"Hard way, it is." Twilight Sparkle commented, and Daylight Dimmer got ready to fight them.

Daylight Dimmer stood on his hind legs and walked forward while holding his swords out to his sides, Twilight Sparkle, Starlight Glimmer, and Sunset Shimmer shot blasts out of their horns at him and they took the form of chains and wrapped around him. Daylight Dimmer glared and his swords floated out of his hoofs and into the air, their tips touched the magic chains and the hatred in his magic began to turn them dark green and overpower theirs, they shrieked as they stopped casting their spell and the three dark green blasts homed on them. They ran around and shot beams at the three homing dark green projectiles while Daylight Dimmer swung his two swords around and sent waves of dark green energy at them,

"Look out!" Twilight Sparkle hollered as she saw the energy waves from Daylight Dimmer's swords homing on her and her two allies. Starlight Glimmer teleported around while a dark green blast and a few energy projectiles homed on her, she teleported far away and shot zaps out of her horn and canceled out the blast, she then saw Daylight Dimmer sliding towards her with one of his swords pointed forward, he had afterimages and dark green flames behind himself. She quickly put up a shield to block Daylight Dimmer's sword from stabbing her, she got pushed back by him and he shot another dark green blast out of the sword's tip and she yelped as she quickly teleported and reappeared farther away from him, the dark green blast hit a tree branch and destroyed it and fell onto the ground. Sunset Shimmer shot a beam at Daylight Dimmer from behind, he heard her shoot the zap and he quickly turned around and deflected it with one of his swords, it hit another tree branch and it fell.

Daylight Dimmer watched his three opponents carefully and he saw Twilight Sparkle shoot a beam at him, he blocked it with one of his swords and it got deflected, Sunset Shimmer yelled as she quickly put up a shield to block the beam as it came near her. The three mares watched closely and shot beams at him together, he turned into dark green mist and floated up while Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer exclaimed as their beams went to one another, they teleported while Twilight Sparkle's beam hit a tree. Daylight Dimmer's front legs came out of his mist form and he began swinging them horizontally, his two swords shot out waves of dark green energy, the three mares ran to behind the trees while the waves cut everything they touched, the fauna in the forest ran away. Daylight Dimmer began spinning around and sending circular energy projectiles all around the forest, Twilight Sparkle cast a spell and changed him back to normal and he began to fall, he landed on his hind legs and stabbed his two swords into the ground. Green electricity engulfed the forest's ground and also electrified the trees, the three mares quickly put up shields to block them but they yelped as the magic pushed them back.

The electricity disappeared and Daylight Dimmer could not find Twilight Sparkle, Starlight Glimmer, or Sunset Shimmer anywhere, they began coming out from behind the trees and shooting zaps at him, he grunted and stumbled a little as he got hit by each zap, he changed his swords to a bow and arrows after he got hit by the fifth zap. He shot an arrow and another one formed on his front left hoof, he shot two more and they went after the three mares. The arrows homed on them and they quickly shot them with their zaps, but the hatred in the magic overwhelmed the emotions in theirs and absorbed their magic and got bigger. They continued to home on them and Daylight Dimmer saw Twilight Sparkle come out of hiding while she ran away from the arrow homing on her. He made his bow and arrow disappear and cupped the back of his front hoofs together, he held his front legs out and shot out a big dark green energy blast out of his front hoofs, she saw the big dark green blast coming and she quickly teleported while the dark green blast hit a few trees and they exploded.

Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer ran around while the arrows homed on them, they came out of the woods and were behind Daylight Dimmer, they shot a beam at him at the same time and both hit him in his back, he grunted and quickly turned around and shot two dark green energy blasts from his front hoofs, the two ran behind the trees while the two blasts hit other trees and they exploded. Twilight Sparkle flew above Daylight Dimmer and watched the homing dark green arrows, she shot big blasts out of her horn at the three arrows and destroyed them. She flew down and towards Daylight Dimmer in an attempt to restrain him, she got close to him and Daylight Dimmer made spears made of dark energy grow out of his back and point upwards, Twilight Sparkle shrieked as she stopped flying towards sharply while quickly putting a shield up. Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer charged to him while he made the spears disappear and they jumped onto him, he swung around and threw Starlight Glimmer off of himself, she screamed as she flew through the air and her back hit a tree, it put a crater in it and she fell while Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer looked on in shock.

Daylight Dimmer made his two swords reappear and stabbed them into the ground, the entire Everfree Forest's ground became electrified with dark green sword blades growing out of the ground, Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer quickly put up shields and used their magic to float into the air. Twilight Sparkle cast a spell to make rope appear and magically enchanted it, she flew down and began tying Daylight Dimmer the same way Applejack tied Starburn, she smiled while Daylight Dimmer was restrained and his magic was canceled out by the rope's magic enchantment, but she quickly stopped smiling once when Daylight Dimmer stretched his legs and neck out and broke the rope. Daylight Dimmer turned into mist and flew up while his front legs remained normal and he began swinging his swords around and sending energy waves everywhere again. Twilight Sparkle, Starlight Glimmer, and Sunset Shimmer looked at one another and nodded, Twilight Sparkle cast a spell to change Daylight Dimmer back to normal, he fell to the ground and stabbed his swords into the ground again, but a big dark green explosion happened this time instead of electrifying the ground, the three mares screamed as they put up shields. The explosion went down and the three mares cast a spell together to make long chains that were the same colors as their magic auras appear and they connected together, they flew down and tied Daylight Dimmer down and restrained him, the love and friendship magic in the chains canceled out Daylight Dimmer's hatred and all of the dark green energy disappeared, he tried to break free but could not while the three mares panted,

"Okay, let's take him to my castle." Twilight Sparkle said, and they carried him to her castle as the sun began to set.

The three mares carried Daylight Dimmer across Ponyville while the citizens looked on, they arrived at her castle and saw Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were there as well,

"What are you all doing here?" Starlight Glimmer asked,

"We were waiting for y'all." Applejack responded,

"Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and I were called by Spike to help him watch Starburn." Sweetie Belle answered,

"Yeah, his eyes were getting tired and he needed a break." Scootaloo added,

"Oh, well, thank you, head on home, you three." Twilight Sparkle stated,

"Are y'all gonna be alright?" Apple Bloom questioned,

"We'll be just fine, Apple Bloom, y'all three head on home, we'll be home with y'all soon." Applejack answered, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders left while looking at Daylight Dimmer. Twilight Sparkle used her magic to move Daylight Dimmer onto another chair and tied him to it with the chain to Starburn's right,

"You alright, uncle?" Starburn asked,

"I'm fine." Daylight Dimmer responded,

"Okay, Daylight Dimmer, let's look into your memories and see how you learned to use hatred as magic." Sunset Shimmer stated, and she touched Daylight Dimmer's shoulder while Twilight Sparkle put up a screen so she and the others could see his memories.

Daylight Dimmer was from a poor family of farmers, his mother was Bright Sky, his father was Daylight Sunshine, and his older sister was Sunburn, they all fought and argued daily, he had a foalsitter named Volcano while his family was away. Daylight Sunshine was a lazy and filthy stallion, he did not do any work on the farm, Bright Sky was a stay-at-home pony and cared more about running the farm than attending her family, Volcano did not pay attention to Daylight Dimmer and only started foalsitting him to get close to Sunburn, and Sunburn eventually formed her band of thieves in an attempt to live in luxury and left with Volcano shortly after they got married. Daylight Sunshine had a dark orange coat, an even darker orange mane and tail, and purple eyes, his cutie mark was two small suns, he looked just like Daylight Dimmer. Bright Sky had a red coat, an orange and yellow striped mane and tail, and green eyes, her cutie mark was three white clouds. Sunburn had a light yellow coat, a red, orange, and yellow mane and tail, and bright orange eyes, her cutie mark was a sword with fire behind it. Volcano had an orange coat, a gray mane and tail, and his cutie mark was an erupting volcano.

The vision changed and Sunset Shimmer saw that Daylight Dimmer also did bad in school and his teachers and classmates were mean to him, his teachers only cared about the money they were making from their jobs, he was also the only pony in the class with no friends or did any extracurricular activities. Daylight Dimmer also had the lowest grade on every assignment, he hated reading and could not stand books since it made him bored and having to look down to read hurt the back of his neck. He struggled to get through life while his family, teachers, and classmates made fun of him and insulted him over everything.

The vision changed and there was news all over Equestria that Princess Celestia was looking for a pony to be her protégé, he wanted to be her protégé but his parents refused, he soon overheard from two passerby ponies say that Princess Celestia was only accepting unicorns to be her protégé. Daylight Dimmer soon began growling and screamed in rage, he began running around his family farm and destroying everything, he also went into Sunburn's room and destroyed everything in there since she already left home to start her life of crime, he then went outside and began punching and kicking the fences until his parents restrained him, he panted heavily and calmed down, he left when his parents pointed to the farm's exit.

Daylight Dimmer wandered through the desert around his home, it was very hot, he sat down and sighed, he looked behind himself for a while but there was no one and nothing there,

"Who are you?" Daylight Dimmer asked, the other mares became alert when they heard him ask the question,

"Wait, you know Celestia?" Daylight Dimmer asked,

"But I don't have a horn." Daylight Dimmer stated, his expression then changed to a surprised one,

"Sure, I don't have anywhere to go anyway." Daylight Dimmer spoke,

"Daylight Dimmer." Daylight Dimmer said,

"Understood." Daylight Dimmer stated, and he began walking.

The vision changed and Daylight Dimmer was now in an underground cave, it lit up and he saw there was a magical reflection in the water on the ground,

"What's with the water?" Daylight Dimmer questioned, he went silent for a while and soon looked at the water, he saw Princess Celestia and he began to glare and grit his teeth,

"I wanted to be her protégé, but not only did my parents refuse, but she wouldn't accept me anyway because she's only taking in unicorns to be her student." Daylight Dimmer explained,

"How do they learn magic?" Daylight Dimmer asked,

"What did you mean by I have potential?" Daylight Dimmer questioned,

"Wait, just one thing, Master, I hate reading, and don't like books." Daylight Dimmer stated, the mares exclaimed and gasped,

"Master?!" Rarity blurted out as they continued watching his memories,

"Yes." Daylight Dimmer chirped as he pumped his front left hoof, and he soon began training, he began doing cardio exercises, weight lifting, learning and discussing military tactics, and watching the wars Equestria has been in through a screen his unseen master was projecting, he also had a strict diet of hay, fruits, vegetables, and water and six small meals per day, he also meditated but he growled and got angry as he remembered his past.

The vision changed and Daylight Dimmer was still training, the water glowed white and he walked to it, and he watched the reflection, they saw Princess Celestia with Sunset Shimmer, she nearly got distracted at seeing herself, she was a filly while Daylight Dimmer was a teenager. The vision changed and Daylight Dimmer was practicing martial arts, he had an angry expression on his face,

"Why?! Why can't I land a hit on you?!" Daylight Dimmer fumed, it went silent for a short while,

"But that's dishonorable." Daylight Dimmer exclaimed, it was silent for about a minute and he soon walked into the shadows. He sneaked around and bucked something invisible with his hind legs,

"Yes! I got you!" Daylight Dimmer cheered, he soon grunted when he got hit by an invisible force and fell, he was silent for a while,

"Understood, Master." Daylight Dimmer commented, and he continued training. The vision changed and Daylight Dimmer was meditating, he growled and dark green aura began to form around his hoofs and floated off of the ground, he opened his eyes and looked at himself, he floated down and walked forward while a wooden target appeared in front of him. he focused and screamed with rage while holding his front hoofs out and shot a big dark green energy blast out of his front hoofs and destroyed the wooden target,

"Whoa!" Daylight Dimmer exclaimed as his cutie mark appeared on his flank,

"Whoa, wait, now using hatred to hurt, I understand, but I don't get how it can be used for defensive reasons." Daylight Dimmer said to his unseen master,

"Oh, so that's how that works." Daylight Dimmer remarked, and he trained even more. The vision changed and Daylight Dimmer watched the water again and Sunset Shimmer go through the mirror to the other world. The vision changed and Daylight Dimmer was an adult, he watched the water again and saw Twilight Sparkle become Princess Celestia's new protégé,

"No kidding, plus, look, she's only a foal, I'm already an adult." Daylight Dimmer commented, and the vision changed to brief appearances of him watching Equestria, Sunset Shimmer and the others saw Nightmare Moon, and Discord. The vision changed and Daylight Dimmer was in a town and a stallion ran to him and told him his sister wanted to see him back on the family farm, so he left. He arrived at the farm and saw Sunburn and Volcano had a baby with them,

"What took you so long, abomination?" Sunburn asked,

"I was just taking my time, hoping you would leave." Daylight Dimmer replied,

"Rhetorical question, numbskull." Volcano remarked,

"So why am I here?" Daylight Dimmer asked,

"Just wait, you idiot, mom and dad aren't here yet." Sunburn responded, and they waited. Daylight Sunshine and Bright Sky walked out and saw them,

"Why are you three still here?" Daylight Sunshine asked,

"I have something to show you three." Sunburn answered,

"We wasted our time waiting for you guys to leave, so make it quick." Bright Sky demanded,

"Okay, family, say hello to my son: Starburn." Sunburn stated, and she moved the blanket off, revealing an earth pony baby, who had a red-orange coat, a yellow mane, and orange eyes. Daylight Sunshine and Bright Sky looked at it with disgust,

"What is this abomination?!" Daylight Sunshine asked angrily,

"It's your grandson!" Sunburn fumed,

"Grandson?! You just had to marry into our family!" Bright Sky thundered,

"Hey! It's not my fault your daughter's beautiful!" Volcano retorted,

"And it's not my fault that he's rich!" Sunburn added, the four kept arguing and Starburn began to cry, Daylight Dimmer watched with a shocked expression and picked up the baby,

"If you guys aren't going to accept it as family, then I'll raise it!" Daylight Dimmer declared angrily,

"Good! Volcano and I only brought him here so somepony else would adopt him!" Sunburn revealed,

"You weren't planning on raising him?!" Daylight Dimmer asked angrily,

"Having him was an accident, we never meant to have a baby." Volcano responded,

"Fine, I'm raising the baby." Daylight Dimmer remarked,

"Good, because there is no way I'm keeping that annoying noise maker in the house." Daylight Sunshine remarked,

"Well, now that's settled, our goals are done, we're leaving now." Sunburn spoke, and she and Volcano left together, Daylight Dimmer left with Starburn shortly afterwards. The vision changed and Starburn was already a colt, they saw Daylight Dimmer and Starburn honing their skills by hunting down and killing changelings before and after they invaded Canterlot. The vision changed and there were four injured changelings on the ground, the two already had their swords with them,

"Normally, I'd let you guys go, but since this is the second time you four have caused problems, you die this time." Daylight Dimmer remarked,

"No! Please! We still have to report back to Chrysalis on how you all are doing!" a male changeling begged,

"Should've thought about that earlier." Starburn remarked,

"No! Please! Chrysalis is waiting for us!" a female changeling begged, and Daylight Dimmer and Starburn slashed and killed them while the mares looked away,

"Okay, let's go ahead and bury them, Starburn." Daylight Dimmer stated, and they did. The vision changed and the two were in the cave and watched Starlight Glimmer offer Chrysalis friendship and rejected it, the vision then changed to them watching the changelings who were still loyal to Chrysalis argue about Thorax with the others and they left the Hive,

"Master, some of the changelings are still loyal to Chrysalis." Daylight Dimmer spoke, it went silent for a minute,

"Yes, Master." Daylight Dimmer and Starburn stated together, and the vision changed. Daylight Dimmer and Starburn had their swords again and a changeling couple on the ground with hatred magic shot into them to paralyze them, their daughter was covered in bruises and crying while she was behind the two,

"What gives you two the right to beat your daughter?" Starburn questioned,

"She's a Thorax sympathizer, he's a weak ruler, we want Chrysalis back, back when we were feared and conquered other countries." the father explained,

"Can't you two accept her for who she is?" Daylight Dimmer asked,

"No, she supports Thorax, he's a weak and pathetic ruler, there will be no Thorax supporters in our family, any of our relatives that support him have to die." the mother answered,

"She's your daughter!" Starburn fumed,

"So what?! We can just have another child to replace her!" the father responded, the daughter began to cry, Daylight Dimmer and Starburn slashed them with their swords and killed them, they buried the bodies and the vision changed. Daylight Dimmer and Starburn shot changelings in the back of their heads to paralyze them and they screamed, they walked up to them,

"We finally caught you guys." Starburn stated,

"We didn't do anything wrong!" a male changeling protested, Daylight Dimmer directed their attentions to a graveyard,

"Then what do you call that? All of those ponies in this town you all have killed?" Daylight Dimmer asked,

"It was justice! You ponies usurped our great ruler Chrysalis, it is punishable by death!" a female changeling answered,

"Starburn, check their home." Daylight Dimmer spoke, and he ran into it. Starburn came out and he put three dead changelings on the ground,

"Care to explain?" Daylight Dimmer inquired,

"They thought about coming with us to live and we could've been happy, but no, they had to support Thorax just like our other relatives we cut contact with, there will be no Thorax supporters in our family, their deaths are justified." another female changeling explained,

"You would kill your own family members for simply supporting Thorax instead of Chrysalis?" Starburn asked,

"Yes, we would, it also grants glory to Queen Chrysalis' name." the male changeling answered, Daylight Dimmer and Starburn glared at them and slashed them with their swords and killed them,

"Uncle, you might wanna see this." Starburn spoke, and he led him into the house. Daylight Dimmer entered their house and saw a map with marks on it, they looked and saw it marked the locations of other changelings loyal to Chrysalis, they saw the lines all led to a petrified Chrysalis who was circled on the map, the words 'Free Chrysalis' were written above her, they followed the next arrow and it led to the Hive, the words 'Overthrow Thorax' were written there, they followed the next line and it stopped at Equestria's border, the words 'Invade and destroy Equestria' were written there,

"This isn't good, Starburn, the changelings still loyal to Chrysalis are planning another invasion, you go ahead and rest, Master and I will come up with something." Daylight Dimmer stated, Starburn left while Daylight Dimmer continued to look at the map. The vision changed and Daylight Dimmer and Starburn were in the cave,

"What's the plan, Master?" Starburn questioned, it was silent for a minute,

"I agree, since they plan to free Chrysalis, we should kill her to throw their plans into turmoil, but someone will have to undo the petrifying spell on her." Daylight Dimmer spoke, it went silent for a short time,

"Okay, Master, that sounds good to me." Daylight Dimmer stated, and the vision changed. Daylight Dimmer and Starburn were in Canterlot at night while everypony was sleeping,

"You ready, uncle?" Starburn questioned,

"Of course, and remember, Starburn, you're my backup if Chrysalis puts up a resistance, so go hide now, and remember, if both of us have trouble, Master himself will interfere." Daylight Dimmer responded,

"Okay." Starburn said,

"Get into position now, Starburn, Master will undo her petrification when you do." Daylight Dimmer stated, and Starburn jumped into a tree and hid in it. Daylight Dimmer watched and a red aura appeared around the stone imprisoning Queen Chrysalis and it broke apart and she fell forward,

"*pant* *pant*, I'm free, I'm free at last!" Queen Chrysalis hollered, she tried to raise her hoofs but panted since she did not have the energy. Daylight Dimmer shot a big blast out of his front hoofs and it hit her from behind and she screamed and fell over, she tried to move but could not,

"What is this? No, it can't be, hatred, this is poisonous to changelings." Queen Chrysalis stated, she panted as she heard walking behind her, Daylight Dimmer went in front of her and she looked at him,

"Who are you?" Queen Chrysalis asked as Daylight Dimmer was concealed in the dark, she watched Daylight Dimmer walk forward and his two dark green swords manifested,

"No. No!" Queen Chrysalis begged, and Daylight Dimmer did a horizontal slash with both swords and Queen Chrysalis screamed as he cut her throat and killed her, he then ran out of Canterlot's city area as quickly as he could and turned into green mist and floated elsewhere with Starburn. The vision changed and Daylight Dimmer and Starburn were in Baltimare,

"I think this area's cleared of changelings still loyal to Chrysalis, uncle." Starburn said,

"I agree, but people are getting suspicious here, it's time for us to move." Daylight Dimmer answered,

"Where to now?" Starburn questioned,

"Ponyville, there's a changeling named Ocellus in the School of Friendship, let's check her and make sure she's not loyal to Chrysalis, we'll have to kill her if she is." Daylight Dimmer responded,

"Okay, let's go, uncle." Starburn spoke, and they walked. The vision changed and the two were in the Everfree Forest,

"We have to leave soon, Starburn, Master has noticed that the ponies here are getting a bit suspicious of us." Daylight Dimmer stated,

"Where to now?" Starburn asked,

"Appleloosa, we'll lay low there for now, and since we're nearly out of places to blend into in Equestria, we'll have to lay low at the cave if they get onto us as well." Daylight Dimmer answered,

"Okay." Starburn stated,

"You go ahead and pack up, I have a few more changelings still loyal to Chrysalis to hunt down and kill before we leave, I'll lie and say I'll be waiting to board the train so no one gets suspicious." Daylight Dimmer spoke,

"Okay, uncle." Starburn replied, and they headed back to Ponyville and the visions of Daylight Dimmer's memories ended.

Sunset Shimmer let go of Daylight Dimmer while Starburn watched him,

"Send a letter about there being a third culprit, Spike." Twilight Sparkle ordered, and he did,

"Look at that, a third culprit." Applejack commented,

"But who is it?" Rainbow Dash asked,

"I don't know, it's almost like he's cast some spell so he doesn't appear and his voice can't be heard when I look into his memories." Sunset Shimmer remarked,

"Well, Daylight Dimmer, who is it?" Twilight Sparkle questioned, Daylight Dimmer remained silent,

"Who are you working for?" Twilight Sparkle asked, Daylight Dimmer did not respond,

"Who is your master?!" Twilight Sparkle inquired, Daylight Dimmer still remained quiet,

"Answer me!" Twilight Sparkle demanded,

"Twilight." Princess Celestia called out, she and her friends turned around and saw her,

"It's alright, I think I know exactly who his master is." Princess Celestia stated,

"You do?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"Yes, but I need to make 100% sure, we'll look into it tomorrow since it's night time, go ahead and get some sleep, everybody, and Starburn, Daylight Dimmer, we won't try anything, so you two can sleep peacefully tonight." Princess Celestia responded,

"Yeah, we should get some rest." Applejack stated,

"Alright then, let's sleep, we'll look into this tomorrow." Twilight Sparkle responded, and they all went to their homes and to bed and slept while Starburn and Daylight Dimmer also fell asleep.

Chapter 10

The next morning came and Twilight Sparkle woke up from her bed, she walked to Starburn and Daylight Dimmer and saw they were awake and being watched by Starlight Glimmer and Spike,

"How have they been?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"Completely quiet." Starlight Glimmer replied,

"Yeah, no resistance or anything, they're just sitting there." Spike added, Sunset Shimmer walked and entered the room,

"I couldn't sleep, I was dreaming about Daylight Dimmer being Princess Celestia's pupil." Sunset Shimmer said,

"It would've made my life a whole lot better if she did accept Pegasi and earth ponies as well." Daylight Dimmer commented,

"You saw that Princess Celestia and I had a falling out, though." Sunset Shimmer reminded,

"True, I think the same would've happened between me and her, I just wanted to be her pupil to escape the life I hated, but I'm still glad I met Master, he and I never had a falling out." Daylight Dimmer commented,

"And now he has two pupils." Starlight Glimmer said,

"No, uncle took me in because the other members of my family didn't want to raise me, I just live in that cave because that's where uncle lived with his master, I may be trained and learned how to use hatred as magic, but I'm not at my uncle's level, I'm mainly a scout and backup whenever uncle has trouble." Starburn revealed,

"And your master?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"Last resort." Daylight Dimmer answered, Spike burped and a letter came out, he opened it and read it,

"Princess Celestia wants us all at Canterlot now, we are to bring Starburn and Daylight Dimmer with us as well." Spike stated,

"Alright, let's go then." Twilight Sparkle remarked, and they headed outside with Spike carrying the chair Starburn was tied to while Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer used telekinesis to move the chair Daylight Dimmer was tied to. They headed outside and saw everybody in town around them,

"Is it over?" Ocellus asked,

"I'm sorry, Ocellus, but apparently, there's a third culprit." Twilight Sparkle answered, Ocellus groaned and clutched her head,

"Ocellus, if what we found out is right, then this third culprit is more than likely the last one." Twilight Sparkle stated,

"Really?" Ocellus asked,

"Really, this person we believe to be the last culprit is Daylight Dimmer's master, he's the one that freed Chrysalis from her prison and trained Daylight Dimmer, we're taking them to Princess Celestia to look into his memories again and undo a spell since he's not appearing in Daylight Dimmer's memories when Sunset Shimmer looks into them, we can't hear what he's saying, either." Twilight Sparkle explained,

"Twilight, Princess Celestia wants Ocellus and her friends to come along, too." Spike spoke,

"We're coming regardless." Sandbar responded,

"So are we." Apple Bloom added, Twilight Sparkle looked back and saw her with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, they held the chair Starburn was tied to since Spike was getting tired,

"Our sisters are already at the train stop with their friends." Sweetie Belle said,

"Okay, and thanks, I think Spike could use some help carrying Starburn." Twilight Sparkle responded, and they went. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack stood at the train stop and heard walking, they saw Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Starlight Glimmer, Sunset Shimmer, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Sandbar, Gallus, Ocellus, Smolder, Yona, and Silverstream coming,

"There y'all are, the train should be here any minute now." Applejack stated,

"They're late again?" Scootaloo asked,

"Yeah, train's kind of slow today." Rainbow Dash replied,

"So, do any of you have an idea on who Daylight Dimmer's master is?" Sweetie Belle questioned,

"Sorry, Sweetie Belle, we don't have a clue." Rarity responded,

"How did you three find out about them being involved in the killings?" Smolder asked,

"We realized during every changeling death, Daylight Dimmer wasn't in town around the time the time of the deaths were announced." Apple Bloom answered,

"Yeah, I noticed that, too." Twilight Sparkle spoke,

"Still, we just thought Daylight Dimmer was the tracker, we didn't think he was the killer." Apple Bloom remarked,

"I mean, from basic logic, it wouldn't make sense since they're earth ponies." Silverstream commented,

"What about Pinkie Pie? How do you explain her then?" Scootaloo asked,

"Hyper senses that run in my family." Pinkie Pie answered,

"Oh, the train's coming, everybody." Fluttershy stated, and they saw it,

"What are you going to do with these two?" Gallus asked,

"Princess Celestia will decide." Twilight Sparkle replied,

"Yona say hand them over to changelings." Yona suggested,

"We might do that." Twilight Sparkle answered, and the train came, they all carried Daylight Dimmer and Starburn into it and boarded it.

The train arrived in Canterlot and Twilight Sparkle and the others headed to Canterlot Castle's throne room,

"We've brought them, Princess Celestia." Twilight Sparkle spoke,

"Thank you, we will decide their sentences shortly, but before we do, Twilight, did you record the memories with your magic?" Princess Celestia questioned,

"Yes, I did." Twilight Sparkle answered,

"Good, now Sunset won't have to review them again, play the part where you first noticed something strange, Luna and I will see if we can undo the spell." Princess Celestia instructed,

"Let's just try to replay for now, if Daylight Dimmer's master is who we think it is, we'll be able to recognize him by just his voice." Princess Luna added,

"Go ahead and play it now, Twilight." Princess Celestia instructed, and she did. A white sphere floated in the air and to the princesses, their magic auras appeared on their horns as they heard Daylight Dimmer destroying everything, they soon heard him walking and stop and sigh, they then heard walking in the sphere,

"I saw your fit of rage back there, I think you may have potential." a stallion said in a deep voice, everybody except the princesses gasped while they made the orb disappear,

"There's no doubt about it." Princess Luna stated, everybody present except for Princess Celestia exclaimed with shock,

"It's Demonicus." Princess Luna revealed, the six mares' jaws dropped while the others looked on confused,

"Who's Demonicus?" Sandbar asked,

"This is Demonicus, he's the black unicorn in the picture." Princess Celestia answered as she used her magic to bring forth a picture of him, herself, and Star Swirl the Bearded,

"Tia and Demonicus were students under Star Swirl, Demonicus was dismissed in his desire to use hatred as magic and wanting to invade countries that were constantly attacking us." Princess Luna explained,

"And he was right, he showed us that hatred is magic." Starburn remarked,

"Well, one form of magic, but all forms of emotions are magic, Starburn." Princess Celestia responded,

"I could've been one of your students, Celestia." Daylight Dimmer spoke, everybody present gasped,

"Did he just... call her Celestia instead of Princess Celestia?" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed,

"It's okay, Twilight, it's just a title, and Daylight Dimmer, I wasn't looking for a pupil to have a happier life, I was looking for one to develop friendship, I really am sorry about the environment you grew up in." Princess Celestia responded,

"I still wish you took in Pegasi and earth ponies." Daylight Dimmer lamented,

"I didn't know at the time that they could learn magic through meditation and shoot blasts out of their hoofs, but now that I do, I kind of wish I did." Princess Celestia replied,

"So what do we do with them?" Ocellus asked,

"I'll have them put in holding cells for now, I'll decide their sentence after I get Demonicus." Princess Celestia answered,

"My friends and I are ready to track him down, Princess Celestia." Twilight Sparkle declared,

"No, I'll get him, you all have done enough, you all have my thanks for catching the killer and his backup." Princess Celestia replied,

"So, we just leave now?" Sweetie Belle questioned,

"You may, just try to have fun and relax today, and Ocellus, try to be comfortable." Princess Celestia said,

"I'll try." Ocellus spoke,

"Good, go on now, I'll start looking for Demonicus now." Princess Celestia stated, and they all left while the royal guards took Daylight Dimmer and Starburn to their holding cells. Princess Celestia looked at the letter Spike sent,

"Okay, Luna, Spike wrote that Daylight Dimmer is from a farm in a desert." Princess Celestia said,

"He would be from around Appleloosa and Dodge Town then, he must be from the San Palomino Desert." Princess Luna answered,

"That would make sense, there's forest to the south of it, the cave he's staying at might be there." Princess Celestia stated,

"I agree, maybe Demonicus is in that forest." Princess Luna added,

"Alright, I'll go check now." Princess Celestia spoke,

"Okay, be careful sister." Princess Luna responded, and Princess Celestia flew out of Canterlot and headed to the forest.

Twilight Sparkle and the others arrived back at Ponyville and got off the train,

"So, what do we do now?" Smolder asked,

"I guess all we can do is continue rehearsing for the play we're planning to put on." Twilight Sparkle stated,

"I'm still not comfortable in acting knowing there's still someone out there killing my kind." Ocellus spoke,

"Have some faith in Princess Celestia, Ocellus, her magic is a lot more powerful than Twilight's." Applejack assured,

"Yeah, but that must also mean Demonicus is terrifyingly strong, especially since he also learned under Star Swirl the Bearded, he must be very powerful." Sandbar remarked,

"I'm confident Princess Celestia got this, come on now, let's rehearse our play." Twilight Sparkle assured, and they all headed to the School of Friendship.

Princess Celestia walked into the forest south of San Palomino Desert and looked for any caves, she found one and looked into it, there was nothing inside, she walked a little deeper into the forest and saw another cave, she walked into it and saw a small puddle of water on the ground, she looked into it and saw Daylight Dimmer and Starburn in their holding cells in its reflections. Her attention got caught and she quickly looked up, she saw Demonicus sitting in front of her, he looked exactly the same as he did a thousand years go,

"It's been a long time, Celestia." Demonicus said,

"Indeed it has, Luna and I thought you were dead." Princess Celestia replied,

"I've just been hiding ever since Star Swirl dismissed me, protecting Equestria from the shadows." Demonicus answered,

"Protecting? Haven't you learned anything about forgiveness and friendship?" Princess Celestia inquired,

"I did, I taught Daylight Dimmer to give people like those changelings second chances, but if they cause trouble a second time, they die." Demonicus responded,

"You risked the changelings declaring war on us, Demonicus." Princess Celestia reminded,

"That would've just meant making their kind extinct then." Demonicus retorted,

"You may have Equestria's protection in mind, but your methods are unacceptable, I am here to arrest you." Princess Celestia declared,

"I'm not coming quietly." Demonicus answered, and they got ready to fight one another.

Princess Celestia watched Demonicus closely and he just stood there, she shot chains made of yellow magic out of her horn in an attempt to tie him up but a red aura appeared on his horn and he disappeared, he reappeared behind her and shot a big red blast out of his horn, Princess Celestia quickly put up a shield to block it. She turned around and shot yellow blasts out of her horn at him, he cast a spell and made the blasts turn red and go after Princess Celestia, she absorbed the blasts into her horn's magic aura and shot out a big yellow blast while Demonicus teleported. Demonicus appeared to Princess Celestia's right blind spot and bucked her with his hind legs, she shrieked while she fell and her horn stabbed into the wall, Demonicus then began shooting red blasts at her while Princess Celestia shrieked at getting hit by his beams, she put a shield up around herself and teleported. Demonicus closed his eyes and meditated, he sensed where Princess Celestia was going to appear, he turned his head to his left and Princess Celestia appeared, he quickly shot a red zap out of his horn and Princess Celestia shrieked as she got knocked down.

Princess Celestia got back up and Demonicus quickly shot a big red blast out of his horn, she shot a big yellow blast out of her horn and the two entered a deadlock, the two focused and Princess Celestia began to overpower Demonicus slowly, he reeled up on his hind legs and shot two big red blasts at her, one from each front hoof, Princess Celestia quickly cast a spell to absorb the blasts into her own magic and they turned yellow, she then shot a yellow blast four times bigger than her usual blast and blasted Demonicus into the wall behind him. She looked and saw smoke on Demonicus' body, he began running to her at lightning speed and she desperately shot zaps at him but he sidestepped left and right and dodged each zap with an afterimage behind himself, he began getting closer to Princess Celestia and was in front of her, he tried to stab his horn into her heart but she quickly jumped back. Princess Celestia began to pant and got ready to cast a healing spell on herself but stopped when she saw Demonicus' eyes turn green with purple mists around them and a purple haze engulf his horn, she realized he was casting dark magic. Black crystals came out of the ground and Demonicus cast a spell to make the crystals break into shards and float around him, he pointed his horn at Princess Celestia and the dark crystal shards flew to her, she shot zaps at the crystals and destroyed them and continued to focus on Demonicus.

Princess Celestia saw Demonicus cast another dark magic spell and he began shooting dark crystal shards out of his horn, she flew around to dodge them and shot a big beam out of her horn at him, he grunted as he staggered back a little. She shot more zaps out of her horn at him, he sidestepped and dodged them all easily, Princess Celestia shot a beam at the ground in front of Demonicus' front hoofs and it exploded, he jumped over it while doing a somersault and landed on the ground with his front hoofs and did a hoofstand, he propelled himself into the air and did another somersault, he got ready to kick Princess Celestia with the back of his hind right hoof and she quickly flew back to dodge him. Demonicus stood upright and he jumped while spinning in midair, he did several kicks with his hind legs as he went up in the air and a red blast came out of his hind hoofs with each kick he did, Princess Celestia put up a shield and each blast exploded on impact, she screamed as she got pushed back by them. She quickly put her shield down while Demonicus landed and she shot big blasts at him that were too big for him to dodge by sidestepping, he put up a shield with his magic that blocked her blasts and they began to change color, they became orange at first and then red, they then turned around and shot at Princess Celestia, she exclaimed loudly as she flew down to dodge the blasts, she looked on in shock while Demonicus had a stoic expression.

Demonicus noticed Princess Celestia getting tired and he shot a big red blast out of his horn at her, she teleported and appeared behind him, she shot him in the back of his neck and he grunted. She began to pant and decided to start teleporting around and shot Demonicus with her magic blasts from his blind spots, he put up a shield after the fourth hit and Princess Celestia's blast turned orange and then red and went back to her, she teleported away while the blast hit a wall and it exploded. Princess Celestia appeared behind him and panted while he kept his shield up, he turned around and just looked at her, her eyes widened as she thought she has lost while Demonicus waited for her to make her next move, she thought of something and flew to him, she touched his shield but screamed when she got electrocuted and it shot her back. She stood up and panted while trying to think of something, she looked up at the stalactites on the ceiling and got an idea, she shot a blast at them and they fell on Demonicus, the rest began to fall and she flew out of the cave.

Princess Celestia arrived outside and looked at the cave, it was now barricaded, her eyes widened with horror since Demonicus did not come out, she flew down and walked to the entrance, a red explosion came out of the cave and she screamed as it pushed her back. She looked forward and saw dark crystals form out of the ground, Demonicus slid out of the cave and he was now in a shadow form like King Sombra, his face came out of the shadow. Princess Celestia stood up and saw Demonicus coming towards her with spears made of red energy coming out of his body, she quickly shot beams at him and he slithered around to dodge them, he then shot a red blast out of his horn and Princess Celestia flew back to dodge it, the red blast hit the ground and exploded. Demonicus cast another dark magic spell and two skeletal ponies came out of the ground to his sides, Princess Celestia's eyes widened when she saw Demonicus was casting necromancy, the two ponies charged at her and she quickly shot them apart with her magic and the bones got absorbed into Demonicus' shadow body.

Demonicus cast necromancy again and more skeletal fauna and ponies appeared, Princess Celestia shot blasts at all of them to destroy them and Demonicus continued to absorb the bones into himself, he soon stopped and he began shooting the spears made of red energy and bones out of his body while parts of his shadow body were on them. Princess Celestia quickly put up a shield and teleported around until Demonicus' shadow body was gone, the spears and bones all glowed and she realized what was going to happen, she flew away and they exploded, everybody in Equestria looked and saw the big red explosion. Princess Celestia reappeared and saw the shadow parts forming together, they gathered together and formed into Demonicus, he stood upright on his hind legs and had swords made of red energy in his front hoofs. Demonicus swung his two swords around and sent waves of red energy forward, Princess Celestia flew around to dodge them and Demonicus then spun his swords around and then did a horizontal slash, a vertical slash, and two diagonal slashes, the energy waves formed two red circles with eight pointed stars in them, they soon overlapped and Princess Celestia flew over them to dodge them.

Demonicus stabbed his two swords into the ground, a red pillar of fire made from his hatred magic engulfed the entire forest and went into the sky, Princess Celestia put up her shield to block it since it was too big for her to dodge by teleporting. The pillar of fire went down and Princess Celestia exclaimed and quickly flew to the side when she saw Demonicus was below her and about to stab one of his swords into her abdomen, she panted when she dodged his attack and he noticed it. Demonicus pointed his two swords forward and shot red blasts out of them and then a third red blast out of his horn, he combined them together into one big blast while Princess Celestia shot a yellow blast out of her horn and they entered a deadlock. Princess Celestia noticed her beam was three times smaller than Demonicus' and he began to overpower her easily, she focused and gathered energy from the sun, her blast got bigger and began to push Demonicus' beam back, he cast a spell and made the sun brighter and hotter; Princess Celestia panted but she focused, she began to overpower him and was about to blast him away, but Demonicus put up his shield and her blast turned orange and then red and deflected to her, Princess Celestia yelped and quickly flew up while the blast hit a tree and everything in the direction the blast went exploded and got destroyed.

Princess Celestia looked and saw the blast destroyed every plant life there was in the direction it went, it also put a crater in the ground that went all the way to the ocean. She heard energy waves coming and saw Demonicus swinging his swords again, she teleported to behind him and made a rope appear, she enchanted it with love and friendship magic and then proceeded to wrap and tie Demonicus with it, his swords disappeared and he fell, but he stretched his limbs out and broke the rope easily. Princess Celestia quickly cast a spell to make a chain appear and enchanted it while panting, she wrapped it around Demonicus and he stretched his limbs out and broke the chains easily. Princess Celestia desperately cast duct tape around Demonicus' hoofs and enchanted it, he stretched his legs out and broke out of both of his restraints, Princess Celestia then cast a spell to put duct tape around his hoofs again and then tied him up with rope and chains and enchanted them to cancel out of his magic, he tried to break free but could not.

Princess Celestia panted and sighed with relief, but she soon yelped when Demonicus shot a red blast out of his horn at her, she quickly cast a spell on his horn to prevent him from casting and yellow chains appeared around it,

"*pant* *pant* There... I... *pant* finally... caught you." Princess Celestia said while exhausted and she fell onto the ground,

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight Sparkle called out,

"Tia!" Princess Luna called out, and Twilight Sparkle and her friends and Princess Luna hurried to her,

"It's alright *pant* I just need to rest a little." Princess Celestia stated,

"I guess we're stuck here for now." Demonicus remarked,

"What the?" Twilight Sparkle blurted as she looked at him,

"You look... almost just like Princess Celestia." Twilight Sparkle commented,

"It's coincidence, I have no relation to her or Luna." Demonicus answered,

"Why did you get a student for, Demonicus?" Sunset Shimmer questioned,

"It was to one-up Celestia, and since Daylight Dimmer and I never had a falling out while Celestia had to start over, I think that proves I'm the better mentor." Demonicus explained,

"What you taught wasn't right, Demonicus." Princess Luna stated,

"Typical Celestia and Luna, always only seeing how love and friendship can be used as magic while ignoring hatred is as equally powerful and can be used as a force for good." Demonicus remarked,

"A force for good? I don't see how." Rarity spoke,

"Hatred as magic has proven to be good for offensive spells, we could've used it to fend off our invaders, both, the changelings, and when Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow attacked the country." Demonicus explained,

"Maybe so, I still find killing them to be a bit excessive." Princess Luna stated,

"Only Chrysalis and Tirek would've been killed." Demonicus responded, Princess Celestia recovered and stood back up,

"Okay, my energy's back, let's take him to Canterlot." Princess Celestia said, and they did.

Princess Celestia and the others escorted Demonicus into Canterlot Castle and she ordered the royal guards to bring Daylight Dimmer and Starburn, they arrived shortly afterwards, the two now had magic enchanted cuffs on their hoofs to cancel out their magic,

"Master!" Daylight Dimmer exclaimed,

"Sir!" Starburn called out,

"Turns out they got me too." Demonicus stated, they heard walking and Star Swirl the Bearded walked to him,

"I am very disappointed with you, Demonicus, all of these years, you still couldn't stop suggesting using hatred as magic nor find an alternate to dealing with threats besides killing them, you should also be ashamed over the fact that you corrupted two ponies' minds and taught them hatred is magic instead of friendship." Star Swirl the Bearded spoke,

"I thought I'd be able to wear him down and then arrest him after he was exhausted, but I couldn't, he's physically fit like before, I was the one who got worn out." Princess Celestia commented,

"Looks like your diet of cakes, cupcakes, and pancakes have finally caught up to you, Celestia." Demonicus remarked, Princess Celestia's jaw dropped while she blushed,

"So I see that's the same as well." Star Swirl the Bearded remarked,

"What?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"When these two were my students, Celestia was the better of the two when it came to magic while Demonicus excelled at physical training and melee combat." Star Swirl the Bearded explained, the others had surprised expressions while Princess Celestia hid her face,

"We have failed you, Master." Daylight Dimmer stated,

"No, it's okay, Daylight Dimmer, I lost, too." Demonicus responded,

"Let's start their trials now, King Thorax and the changelings from the Hive will be there, too." Princess Celestia stated, and they were escorted.

The trial began and many people attended, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Spike, Starlight Glimmer, Sunset Shimmer, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Sandbar, Gallus, Ocellus, Smolder, Yona, Silverstream, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, and Sunburst were all present, King Thorax, Pharynx, and the changelings from the Hive were there as well, Green Magician, Absinthe, and Ginger Ale also attended while Lemon Lime was brought in by the royal guards to watch the trial. The judge decided that King Thorax and the changelings decide their sentences, the other changelings began chanting to sentence the three to death,

"That will not do." King Thorax remarked, the changelings exclaimed with confusion,

"I understand you all are angry at them, the changelings they killed may have been loyal to Queen Chrysalis and were planning to invade and overthrow us, alongside cutting ties with us, but they were still our family and former friends, I understand why you all want them killed, but killing them will not bring back our family members and former friends that they have killed, and as you saw in Daylight Dimmer's memories, they even saved some of our fellow changelings who supported me from being beaten or even killed by their family members who remained loyal to Chrysalis, and they even said those loyal to me will be spared, so therefore, I think the best sentence for these three is servitude to us." King Thorax spoke, the changelings began complaining angrily. Pharynx stood up and raised his front legs and they got quiet,

"I get why you all want them dead, but it won't change anything, the deaths they caused cannot be undone, and while they did murder our kind, they had their own country's protection in mind. It is true we have invaded their country and destroyed property and killed ponies when Chrysalis was our ruler, we're not innocent either, and they have stated if we didn't invade their country, they wouldn't have hunted us down, so in a way, it is Chrysalis' fault on why they hunted us, if we haven't attacked or invaded them, they would've left us be." Pharynx explained, the changelings became silent and looked at one another,

"I think the best sentence is have Starburn, Daylight Dimmer, and Demonicus serve us and try to have us and them understand one another, so something like this doesn't happen ever again in our lifetime or future generations." King Thorax explained,

"How long?" Starburn asked,

"Until we come to an understanding, and after that, have you three sent back here and taught about the magic of friendship." King Thorax replied, the ponies agreed,

"I believe Demonicus should serve some time in jail, while Daylight Dimmer and Starburn shall learn the errors of their ways." Princess Celestia suggested, everybody agreed,

"Very well, you three are to learn the ways and cultures of Thorax and his changelings, and after that, Demonicus, you will serve time in jail, Daylight Dimmer, you will be learning under the guidance of Princess Celestia, Starburn, you will attend the School of Friendship, you three will still have full contact with one another." the judge declared, he hit his gavel while everybody smiled,

"Come on, you three." King Thorax stated, and everybody left the courtroom.

The weeks passed and everybody in Ponyville began helping the School of Friendship get everything together for their upcoming play,

"It's finally over." Ocellus stated,

"It is, Ocellus, I hope these killings of your kind never happen again." Twilight Sparkle replied,

"Hey, um... do you think Demonicus and the others are going to try to kill Tirek?" Rainbow Dash asked,

"It's possible, but I don't think it's necessary as of now, Princess Celestia cast a spell on him and Cozy Glow to make their stone prisons harder to undo." Twilight Sparkle responded,

"That's good, I hope it's enough, too, come on, everypony, let's rehearse." Fluttershy spoke, and they did. A week passed and Starburn walked to the School of Friendship with Daylight Dimmer,

"You ready, Starburn?" Daylight Dimmer asked,

"Yes, uncle." Starburn replied,

"Okay, see you later." Daylight Dimmer stated,

"Bye, uncle." Starburn responded, and Daylight Dimmer headed to Canterlot. Starburn walked forward and Twilight Sparkle was waiting for him,

"Hello, Starburn, just settle in for today, you'll begin learning about friendship starting tomorrow." Twilight Sparkle spoke,

"I'm not sure if I'll learn anything." Starburn remarked,

"I hope you do, come on, I'll give you a tour." Twilight Sparkle replied, and she did, she showed him the school and he then sat on the bed in his dorm,

"What are those?" Twilight Sparkle asked as she pointed to his letters,

"Master's been writing to me and uncle on how he's been in prison." Starburn answered,

"How is he?" Twilight Sparkle asked,

"He's fine." Starburn replied,

"That's good, we're going to be doing a play soon, you're welcome to come and watch." Twilight Sparkle spoke, and she left. Starburn settled down and set his letters aside, he decided to go watch the play since he had nothing to unpack.

Starburn went outside and saw the stage, he trotted there and saw Vine, Rose, Tulip, Anvil Striker, Ornamental Jewelry, Strawberry, Blueberry, Haute Cuisine, Monochrome, Bit Counter, and Banker were all still in the town, he looked and saw Alloy Smelter was also there and has fully recovered, he went to go sit with them and they smiled at him. He began to watch the play and saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders in the crowd, Green Magician, Absinthe, and Ginger Ale were also present,

"Hello, everybody, thank you for coming to our play, it took us a lot longer than we thought it would to start it, but let's begin, our play is a story between star-crossed lovers and two feuding families." Twilight Sparkle spoke through a megaphone, and everybody cheered. Starburn thought about his life in the School of Friendship and Daylight Dimmer learning under Princess Celestia, he smiled at the thought of he and Daylight Dimmer making new friends and the play began, he went to bed in his dorm after it finished. The next morning came and Starburn went out of his dorm,

"You're up already, this way, Starburn, I'm about to start a lecture." Twilight Sparkle said, and they trotted to where she taught, he sat beside Ocellus while Twilight Sparkle began teaching and began his new life at the School of Friendship.

Daylight Dimmer arrived in Canterlot and saw Princess Celestia waiting for him,

"Welcome, Daylight Dimmer, I assume you know why you're going to be taught under me." Princess Celestia spoke,

"You're taking me in as your new pupil?" Daylight Dimmer asked,

"No, it is since you have been taught by Demonicus longer than Starburn, teaching you the magic of friendship is going to be harder than teaching it to him, I don't think Twilight's teachings will be enough to sway or convince you, there's also the fact you're already an adult while Starburn is still a foal." Princess Celestia explained,

"I understand." Daylight Dimmer stated,

"Good, this way now, let's begin teaching you how love and friendship is better to use as magic than hatred." Princess Celestia said, and he followed her into the castle.

Demonicus was meditating in his cell and watching Daylight Dimmer and Starburn, he opened his eyes when his cell door was opened,

"It's manual labor time, Demonicus." the stallion who opened his cell said, Demonicus stood up and looked back, he smiled at the fact that Daylight Dimmer and Starburn were alright and followed the guard. He arrived outside and Lemon Lime and the other prisoners greeted him warmly, he waved at them while smiling and began doing manual labor with them.