The old sting of defeat flared up once more upon laying his dark eyes on his old foe. Frail wings wreathed in stitches, a decorative ring around her horn. She had grown significantly in just two years. Just how much has changed on the surface then?

“Good evening, Princess Twilight Sparkle.” Tirek bowed slightly, refusing to break eye contact, carefully enunciating his words to maintain the appearance of calm. “How might I assist you?” Careful steps up the entry stairway, and a pair of spears were pointed at him. His advance stopped, but it was close enough. Enough to see the Night Princess alongside her. “It must be a fateful encounter that I should cross paths with two of my old foes.”

Luna’s eyes held nothing but disdain for the centaur. “Tirek, do you have some time to answer some questions?” Twilight asked, receiving a snort from said giant.

“I won’t be leaving anytime soon, so I have plenty of time. Ask.” Anger was building behind calm words. Past failures leapt to the front of his mind, and their conflict and subsequent defeat began to burn in the back. Deep breaths. This can be beneficial.

Luna stepped forward alongside Twilight, putting her wing over her. “Can we assume you will tell us the truth?” Her teal eyes glared down at him.

Tirek glared back with his own golden eyes. “You can.”

“What do you know of bipedal creatures? Most species are quadrupeds, with few exceptions, and those are very well documented.” Twilight asked, earning a hearty, hateful laugh from Tirek. “What? What seems so funny?”

“You won’t be getting any information about those from me.” His nostrils flared as his teeth ground and clenched. “Maybe you should join us down here instead. I might be more inclined to talk then.” Tirek turned and began down the stairs.

“So you do know something, but refuse to tell your queens? Shameful and selfish.” Luna called out, before Tirek turned and charged, slamming the shield with his fists. Twilight screamed and fell back, as spears pressed against The centaur’s shoulders. “Angry we are correct?”

Tirek locked eyes with the lunar queen. “I deserve to be down here.” He retreated from the shield, staring Luna down. “But she didn’t. Now she’s a monster, like us.”

“Then how is it down there, surrounded by others like you? Monsters who deserve this fate?” Luna interrogated, flaring her wings and shielding Twilight from his sight. A cruel smile formed on her lips, as she got close enough to whisper. “Do you still think Scorpan was wrong?”
“Don’t bring my brother into this. He has no bearing here.” Tirek growled. “Your sister had more tact than you.”

“So it seems we are at an impasse then.” Luna mused, her magic gently placing Twilight back on her hooves. She pulled back, her wing once more covering Twilight.

“No. We aren’t. You have nothing I want.” Tirek turned and galloped off, harder and faster than before. If they want to know about her, they will have to come into the hell they created. He silently thought, continuing his laps once more.

Groans of the inmates below his track groaned at the noise, but he did not care. His thunderous hooves pounded the earth and his indignant anger in kind, pushing him ever onward. I can’t let them take her.

Luna sighed as Tirek left, folding her wings in. “I believe it is time to go. Twilight?”

Twilight echoed her lover, her head low. “Is it wrong I was hopeful that he’d be at least somewhat helpful?”

Luna set her jaw slightly, thinking. “I don’t think you were wrong love. However, I can tell he’s still bitter.”

“Is there a way we can try and reach out to him? Maybe one of the other prisoners?”

“Twilight, what are you seeking from them?”

“Considering how ancient some of them are, I wanted to see if they might have answers to what the creature from the trial was. Most of the records from that entire trial and investigation are destroyed or irreparably altered.” Twilight groaned, sitting momentarily to rest her face in her hooves.

“You know as well as I that the only ones that had any hoof in those investigations were Celestia and those she could intrinsically trust. Unfortunately, the two of us were left outside of that.” Twilight leaned on Luna, her tears threatening to blind her in the dark. Luna put her wing around her once more, nestling Twilight’s head underneath hers.“When we get back, do you want to recompile the reports, and see if we can find anything?”

“That sounds good. It will keep me busy.” Twilight replied, her tone low and quiet, threatening to break.

“Spears at the ready, a dragon is approaching the shield! Possible false repentant!” one of the spotters shouted from the peak of the dome. All the guards currently patrolling congregated into five pony squads, holding their spears in alternating angles to catch the aforementioned dragon.

“My queens, I suggest you take a step back. Or perhaps 6.” Ligios said calmly, His own halberds manifesting beside him.

A strange bronze shape leapt from the main stairway, over Ligios and before the two queens. However, it wasn’t a dragon. It wore a bloody skin of a dragon over its emaciated form, with a stained leather shirt. A pair of mismatched horns were clutched in its hands. Pink strands of hair escaped from under its dragon skull hood, with dull, purple eyes staring into the eyes of the lavender queen. It’s flat face tilted, knocking its hood off proper. “... Pony?”

Innocence’s head snapped up at the sound of the scream. The tail in her hands oozed grease and blood, pooling in the gaps left behind from her consumption. Her eyes were wide, flicking back and forth between the makeshift doorway to her domain, and the skull of Cozy Glow. “Did you hear that...?” She said, curiosity running rampant in her shattered mind.

She hung the tail by the bone over the fire, just as Tirek had taught her, keeping it warm. She took an old bronzy dragon pelt, and slipped into it like a pair of pajamas, tucking her hair back into the skin suit. Hair gets me caught. No hair, no caught. Oh.. I have claws now… Her mind drifted as she flexed her fingers inside the dead dragon’s, admiring the black instruments of death. Flipping the hood up, she growled playfully to the skull of her tasty friend. “I’ll be back later, Cozy Glow.”

She carefully slid the crate lid to the side and slipped into the darkness. Her eyes adjusted quickly, bringing definition to the shadows that crawled the lowest layer. She counted only a scarce few. No Ahgg. Her fingers gripped the long horns, and kept listening. The sounds of eating were the only noses she could make out from the forced commune. Everyone’s eating. What screamed?

Choosing to climb the stairs, her eyes watched as a pair of silhouettes spoke. One she recognized. Tirek, not-food. Help make good foods. The other looked strange with wings and horn. Angry. Angry. Hate. Hunt.

Innocence watched the guards path carefully. The guards didn’t like her, so they always put their long claws pointed at her. Her eyes looked over the faint blue barrier, and pouted. Run? Jump? Run-Jump.

Tirek stomped off, his heavy hooves always making the dirt shake slightly. Innocence smiled, before running up the stairs, taking almost two steps at a time. One of the guards yelled. The other guards grouped up.

She pushed hard at the last moment. Sailing through the tickly blue bubble, she landed before the strange winged and horned beings. Her eyes locked with a lavender one, with dark purple hair. She was wide eyed, flinching. Scared… ”...pony?” Innocence’s soft voice asked, tilting her head, the heavy bone in the hood falling off her head and revealing her tender features.

The halberds belonging to Ligios slammed into the center of her back, splaying out the human. “Bucking creature, you never learn, do you?”

Innocence coughed and pushed back up, her once curious eyes turned hateful. “Hunt.”

Luna’s horn flared for only a moment. A wisp of magic caressed her mind, lulling the suddenly hostile Innocence to sleep. Her eyes carried disgust and fury as her eyes drifted from the human to the head guard. “Captain Ligios. What is this?” Luna carefully enunciated, eyes locked on the object of her annoyance. Twilight carefully approached the soundly sleeping human.

“This creature is Celestia’s last prisoner, and our biggest security challenge.” Ligios lifted her up, horns and all, and casually tossed her back down the stairs into the abyss. “Tirek will more than likely pick her up and return her to her den.”

“When can I expect the report from you about this creature and her time here?” Luna queried. Her eyes refused to break away from Ligios.

“I can get it to you by the end of the day, my Queen.”

“Good. Twilight, we need to return to the castle. I think we may have discovered a loose thread in the tale of Daybreaker.”

It’s dark. Where am I? Hello?

The landscape was darker than the caverns she lived in, but the sun rose over the horizon, fiery wings and a wickedly pointed horn. With it, a sinister gaze bore down on her. “Monster.” The figure spoke, echoing across the landscape. Pink wings and strips of flesh were scattered around her, bones embedded into the ground and pointed towards her. Yellow, purple, and magenta hair intertwined with it all.

A weak voice, below her, cried out. “N-No. It wasn’t me. I’m not a monster.” It looked like a young girl, just like her, but she was bleeding, broken, and chopped into pieces, but still curled in a fetal position. Blood pooled around her, both hers and the victims.

“Murderer.” A masculine voice called from the opposite side, a bulky shadow who’s blue eyes burned with hatred. Menacingly advancing on the young girl below Innocence, smoke could be seen coming from the two silhouettes’ forms. The smoke swirled around the broken girl, sucking Innocence towards her.

“You will be the destruction of the Equestrian Empire, and I shall revel in it’s chaos.” a booming voice said, bringing the two as one.

Pain. Fear. Hurt. Sadness. Stop. Stop… STOP! Innocence cried out, becoming a passenger in a body torn apart. She reached out, but her arm fell off, rotting away into maggots and shards. Pushing up with her legs resulted in the same maggoty disintegration.

The ethereal voices started soft.
“Murderer.”
“Monster.”

Malice. Hatred. The shadowy shapes' voices grew louder, as they advanced upon her.
“Irredeemable.”
“Forsaken.”

Anguish. Innocence tried to curl up as the sensation of blood coated her skin, her eyes looking at the torn stumps laying just out of reach. Nerves, sinew and muscle twitched as she began to panic, her eyes dancing frantically looking for any possibility of escape.
“How could you?!”
"Why did it have to be her?!"

The echoing accusations boomed in her ears, all the while a fanged maw opened up in the sky, pulling her into the rows of razor sharp teeth, the wind carrying her up.

No.. No! NOO--

Crunch.

“NO!” The scream ripped from her throat, as she sprang up, retreating into the corner, wide eyes streaked with tears, white knuckles gripping her horn weapons. Tirek jumped up and immediately pulled her into a tight embrace, binding her to his chest. She began biting at his chest, screaming and squirming, futilely trying to escape the embrace. Run. Run. Run. Fear. Scared. Dying.

Chrysalis, having been woken by the scream, looked around to see Innocence in Tirek’s grasp. Chrysalis whirled on Grogar, her eyes glowing with annoyance. “Grogar, you were keeping watch!”

“Dammit, eat her emotions you useless changeling! This is not the time!” Grogar yelled. His hooves were quickly stirring something in a stone carved bowl, his frantic mixing occupying his focus. “Now!”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes and approached the struggling human, her eyes faintly glittering with her horn, pulling the emotional peaks from the human. Chrysalis’ eyes went wide. It’s so bitter. Acrid. Never have I tasted such.. intense fear. Chrysalis hacked at the taste, almost retching up the emotion as slime. However, Chrysalis continued to consume the overwhelming emotions, slowly calming the frantic Innocence. Her rapid gasps were slowing down as she broke down crying, quivering in Tirek’s arms as she nuzzled into the fresh marks she gave him.

“.... I think that’s the fastest we’ve ever broken her fear response.” Tirek gently stroked her hair as she wailed, propping her up in his other arm. Chrysalis rolled her eyes.

“Of course it is, I was here. Now, what do I get in return?” Chrysalis received a pair of glares from the older villains.

“You can get fed to her, that’s what you can get in return you ungrateful bug.” Grogar hobbled over to Tirek with the bowl, and coaxed Innocence to take a hold of the bowl. “C’mon girly, drink up… Thatagirl.” Grogar stroked the dirty pink mess on her head, humming gently to the distraught human. Innocence through the involuntary sniffles forced the drink down, before curling up into Tirek’s arm, her wails descending to quiet cries.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I thought she was a huge threat to life here in the Pit!” Chrysalis hissed at Grogar. “But, from what I see, she’s just a child!” Chrysalis launched an orb of black swirled with rust onto the floor, grimacing. "She has nothing of value within her! Just fear and hunger!"

“Chrysalis, I told you, she’s broken. Mentally, spiritually, broken. The only reason we even put ourselves at stake is we can deal with her. Otherwise, she may have killed you just out of fear just now.” Grogar growled back, his stare boring into her skull. "Clean that up. Toss it into the fire if you have to."

“I do appreciate you acting as quickly as you did though.” Tirek whispered as to not rile Innocence again. Despite her newfound silence, her eyes were wide open, constantly flicking to invisible movement. “She’s still too scared to sleep. Chrysalis, can you take more of her fear?”

“What can you provide me besides this intensely bitter vomit, hm? As it stands, I’m already quite nauseous from the first time.” Despite queasiness still plaguing her, her eyes were slit with confidence as a sneering grin crept onto her face.

Grogar’s eyes narrowed further, his scowl deepening before Tirek raised a hand. “I will help Innocence identify you as a friend if you can help with this.” Tirek proposed.

The smile fell from the changeling queens face. “Are you assuming that ‘being my friend’ will work this time, Tirek?” Her eyes glazed over with disinterest near immediately. “I would rather face Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon simultaneously than fall into that trap once more.”

The cantankerous goat growled. “Fine. We’ll take care of this ourselves. Leave our den.” Grogar snarled, lowering his horns.

“Oh, really? You just love to resort to violence, don’t you?” Chrysalis’ horn flickered to life for a bare moment, before going dull once more. “What?” Tirek’s own horns framed a orb of red flame, becoming tinged with green from the fragment he siphoned from her. “How dare you take my magic!”

The centaur looked over at the smaller goat, who simply nodded with trained understanding. Grogar moved over to the thick bedding, made from a foreign silk and leathers, nestling down. Tirek followed suit, and gently set Innocence down beside the blue goat. Immediately, she latched onto him, allowing Tirek to turn and face Chrysalis.

“Last warning, Chrysalis. Leave.”

Author's Note

Edited and Proofread by Timeless Lord Slayer. Without his help, I would not have gotten this chapter published today.

For those curious, I do offer a challenge for you all, if you're interested.
Private message me or leave a comment of what time period in relation to the show canon you believe Anri first appeared. This can't be as broad as "During X Season." You must cut it down to as close to an episode as possible.

The Reward?
Should even one person get it correct, I will post "The Daybreaker Incident" as a self contained chapter, with the next chapter upload after the correct guess.

This will be ongoing until completed. Good Luck, and thank you for reading.