Pendulum

Our Town

It was gone; her hind leg was gone. Starlight couldn't help but stare at the stump that used to be her right hindleg. The stump had little to no fur, covered in burns, discolored and leaking puss. But it would have been in a far worse state if she didn't cauterize her missing leg. The 'Ponies' she used to lead were nothing more than twisted monsters, and when Glimmer tried reasoning with these monsters, Double Diamond snuck up on her and sliced her leg off. The worse part was that she was the lucky one.

Whatever infected the townsfolk didn't reach the foals who hadn't received their cutie marks. None of these monsters had it, so they took the foals and started torturing them. Once they were finished, they impaled-. Starlight Glimmer Gagged at the memory; she couldn't remember such things now; she had to find a way out of the forest.

After witnessing half of the town burn down, seeing children mutilated, and having her hindleg sliced off, she fleed into the nearby forest. It's been six days since that horrible day, and the unicorn was still stuck hiding in the woods. Every attempt of escape was met with violence; those things would ambush her, and she would be forced to fight back and retreat. The only safe place she could find was a tree, and she currently sat on a tree branch, thinking.

The unicorn was no fool; she couldn't keep this up forever. Her only choices were to give herself up to her captors, die from infection, or find a distraction. The first two choices were out of the question, and the last one had failed multiple times; she needed another Pony. Starlight could always levitate herself out of place, but that carried its own risk, like being chased by the mutated pegasus. "Sweet Celestia! I need a way out of here; anything will do!" Then she heard it, voices, not from those freaks, but normal ponies!"

"Crikey, this place gives me the heebie-jeebies! You sure this is the right place, honey?" Starlight heard a male voice, and it sounded like he was from Horsetrailia.

"Of course, ponies from Manehatten have been talking about a mysterious village near Neighagra falls. If it's true, I can map out a whole location!" The unicorn heard a female voice this time. Slowly and cautiously, Starlight looked down and saw two ponies, one male earth pony and the other a female pegasus. The male's mane and tail were a Dark cerise, while his coat was a grayish gamboge. He wore a white shirt and a digger hat.

The female had a goldish white mane and tail, while her coat was a light tangelo. She wore a green shirt and tied her mane into a ponytail with a red band. Starlight stared at these two unblinking. Two normal ponies that happened to wander into the area, this was her chance! But these two strangers would surely die if she went through with this. But! "My dreams of true equality will die here if I don't escape!" Yes, this is for the greater good! A necessary sacrifice for a better world.

"Yeah, but I want to visit scoots." The Stallion said, sounding a bit uneasy. Something about this place didn't feel right.

"Oh, don't worry, dear. This shouldn't take longer than a day." After waving off her husband's fears, they started to move further into the forest.

Starlight asked Celestia for forgiveness for the act she was about to commit. The two ponies were enveloped in a turquoise aura and flung further into the forest without warning. While at the same time, the unicorn screamed, trying to attract something to the area. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Starlight put everything behind that scream and was rewarded with monstrous screams and the rustling of bushes and grass.

"What in Celestia's slippers was that? Huh? AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! MANE RU-" That's all Starlight could hear from the Stallion as she heard flesh being ripped from bone and that same bone breaking.

"SNAP, NO! GET AWAY FROM HI-" Her voice went silent; only pained gurgling could be heard, most likely having a throat slit. None of it mattered to Starlight. While this was all going down, she jumped from her hiding place and galloped away. Of course, running away was more complicated with only three legs, but the unicorn was alive, which meant her dream could live on. Starlight Glimmer will never forget those two ponies.

Even as she ran, the tears flowed from her eyes, and they wouldn't stop. "For Equality. For Equality. For Equality. For Equality. For Equality. For Equality. For Equality." The unicorn kept telling herself this.

Golden Oak Library

"Twilight, Honey." Twilight Velvet called out

"Twilight, sweetheart," Nightlight called to her through the door.

"Twily, please come out; we just want to talk." Shining tried to reason.

"Twilight, please come out!" Cadance pleads with Twilight. But it didn't work.

Meanwhile, Twilight was still hiding under her bedsheets, becoming more agitated as time went on. Her family wouldn't leave her alone, which was beginning to piss her off. "FOUR BUCKING HOURS AND THEY STILL WON'T LEAVE ME ALONE!" Didn't they know she wanted to be left alone and wallow in her misery. Why do they even care? They all betrayed me once! Especially Celestia!

'A̴t̴ ̶t̷h̸e̴ ̴w̶e̸d̸d̴i̶n̴g̷,̷ ̷t̵h̴e̵y̵ ̵a̵b̶a̶n̸d̴o̴n̶e̸d̴ ̸y̸o̵u̶.̶ ̷'

They did, and they never apologized! Especially stupid shining armor. But Cadance didn't do anything wrong, the same thing with her mom and dad.

"T̴h̷e̴y̶ ̷s̸t̷o̵o̵d̵ ̶t̵h̵e̴r̵e̵ ̷a̸n̷d̸ ̸d̸i̶d̶ ̷n̸o̶t̷h̸i̶n̴g̵,̵ ̸t̴h̴e̷y̶ ̸a̵r̶e̴ ̴a̵t̶ ̷f̴a̶u̶l̴t̴ ̵a̵s̷ ̵w̶e̸l̷l̴.̶"

That was true; they did nothing when-. Twilight stopped her train of thought and slapped herself across the face with a hoof. What was she thinking, are friends and family are waiting for her out there. That bucking voice was trying to turn her against the ones she loves and cares for. Although her feelings for Celestia remained the same, she wanted to punch that bucking horse in the face.

Maybe it was finally time to leave her room? But, her appearance. She looked at her new body again, and it was awful, and it still felt unnatural. She could feel the air passing through her hind legs; her new tail felt like having another limb. Twilight's leathery wings constantly twitched and ached. Her vision was a mess; one eye was excellent, while the other had a blue tint. And worse of all, she had an intense urge to eat meat, love, gem, and mango-flavored ice cream. Twilight hated her new body, and the other would hate it too.

"But I can't hide here forever." What could she do? She didn't dare to leave the safety of her bed, nor the will to call for her friends and family to come in. It was so frustrating; why couldn't she say no to Celestia? If she did, she wouldn't be in this mess right now. Her left ear started to swivel and twitched as she heard something.

"You guys suck at this; let me handle this." That was Rainbow Dash's voice! What could she possibly be up to this time? The cyan pegasus knocked on the door and started talking. "Hey, egg head! If you don't come out right now, I'm gonna rearrange all of your books!" Twilight's head shot up from the covers. "She wouldn't!. Rainbow Dash continued with her threats. "Yup, gonna put the hardcovers with the soft covers." That meathead was going to get it! No she had to remain calm. Even after being warned by Shining Armor, the pegasus kept talking. "And, we're going to add a comic section, and uh, what's it called again?" Spike whispered something to Rainbow. "Yeah, we're going to add a manga section." It was a type of comic book from Trotkyo.

Twilight's breaking point was evident by her horn's black and green energy. The Ponies outside the room saw the energy leaking through.

"Everypony hit the deck!"

Everypony and drake did as they were told and dove out the way, laid on the floor flat on their stomachs. Twilight's room door exploded a few seconds later, becoming nothing more than wood chunks and splinters. The same had dark green mana swirling around her, breaking anything it touched. Somehow, the Horrorcorn used the Alptraum skill she learned without her knowing. But that didn't matter because Twilight was furious.

"COMICS AND MANGA ARE NOT REAL LITERATURE!" Twilight bellowed throughout the library, infuriated by the prospect of somepony tainting her library with such filth. Spike looked hurt and was slightly offended by his mother's statement. After a few seconds, the swirling corruption disappeared, and the Horrorcorn's anger faded. And now she was aware of her surroundings and saw that everypony was looking at her. While her friends looked saddened and hurt, her family was shocked.

Princess Celestia informed the family that Twilight went through some changes because of a magical mishap; they braced for the worse, even if that wasn't enough. Mrs. and Mr. sparkle cringed and backed away slightly; Cadance gasped in shock while Shining stared at her with a blank expression.

"I should have stayed in bed." Twilight thought as she walked down the stairs towards her family. If she was going to show her new body, she might as well play it up. The Horrocorn puts on an insincere smile and slowly walks around her family. "Like the new look? You thank the Princess for that." Twilight's tail whipped around and smacked the nearby wall, leaving a large dent. Some of the ponies flinched as this; if that hit anypony, it would have broken bones or worse.

"I even have a new outlook on life." she gestured at her new eyes. "I can see stuff in blue and see in the dark!" She stopped in front of Cadance and looked her over. The alicorn, in turn, gave Twilight a nervous smile. "Look, Cadance, we match!" Twilight unfolded her wings and pointed her wings. "I got a horn and wings, just like you! We're nearly the same height! Hahaha!" The Horrorcorn forced a laugh out that made Pinkie Pie cringe.

Still, nopony said anything. "Well, say something!" She yelled at them, frustrated at the silent treatment. "All of you spent hours trying to get me out of my room and talk. And now you have nothing to say?!" But Shining Armor didn't need to say anything and brought her sister into a hug. "Hey! Let me go!" The Horrorcorn was in no mood for hugs, especially in this new body.

But the Stallion didn't listen and continued. "I failed you at my wedding, but not this time. It doesn't matter what you look like; you'll always be Twily to me."

Twilight snarled and started thrashing. "Y-you're lying, not just you, all of you!" but her new senses didn't lie to her, she could feel the love emanating from her brother. And not just him, from everypony in the room, as they came closer. "No, stay away!" But none of them listened, and it became a group hug.

"You'll always be our friend, Sugar Cube!"

"Buck, yeah! Even if you stay like that, I'll teach you all I know about flying!"

"You'll always be Twilight to us, darling."

"I'm so sorry, Twilight!"

"BEST FRIENDS FOREVER!"

"I think you look awesome!"

"Oh sweetie, forgive us. The Princess didn't give us enough details."

"That's right, and we'll have a very long conversation with her."

"I need to have a few words with aunt Celestia."

Twilight wanted to yell, bite, and call all of them liars, but she couldn't; their feelings were true. With no other choice, she embraced them back. After six days of nothing but misery and self-loathing, this felt amazing. She felt foolish thinking her friends and family would abandon her like that. Friendship is truly magic.

The group held each other for a few minutes until Spike pulled out of the group hug. "uh, hey, Twilight. I had an idea." Twilight raised an eyebrow, pulled out the group hug, and looked at the young drake. "Since the elements of harmony caused this, couldn't they reverse it?"

That wasn't a bad idea, but the Horrocorn was skeptical, considering what they had done to her already. "Spike, I don't know, i-" But Spike already ran off to grab her tiara, causing Twilight to sigh internally; some things never change. The drake returned with the Twilight's tiara and held it out for her.

Twilight picked up the element of magic with her hoof and felt a jolt of energy run up her foreleg. "It's rejecting me?!" It tried to reject the Horrocorn but couldn't, so a compromise had to be made, lest the tree of harmony becomes corrupted. The piece of jewelry started shifting and changing its shape to its new role.

The element of magic was no longer a tiara but a golden pendulum with the element itself floating in its middle. Everypony looked at it in awe, and without warning, a giant purple scythe materialized from the new accessory. Twilight drops the pendulum and jumps back out of fear. The scythe disappears as soon as the accessory hits the floor.

"Ich wette, es läuft nach zwei Wochen ab!" Pinkie pie said out of nowhere, in a weird language. Twilight had no time for pinkie’s silliness.

The Horrocorn stepped forward and touched the element with her hoof. "A pendulum?"

Mushrump

The Black Crows sat around a bonfire and watched the sunset and the moon rise. Raven found the process unnatural; the sun and moon moved far too fast. He could accept the moon moving at such speeds, but not the sun; unless it was very close, but the sun would burn the planet to a crisp. The sun had to be extremely small for that to work, but it wasn't possible either. If it weren't for the fact he woke up in a nasod facility, the man would have guessed he was on another planet.
"What happened to the original Sun and Moon?"

His sad thoughts were cut off by the approach of Queen Ambrosia and five of her drones; the drones were aiding their Queen’s walking. Some parts of Ambrosia's chitin looked cracked, but she still had that childish look on her face; This frustrated Raven to no end. The small group sat down by the fire, and the drones started glaring at the Human, but he paid them no mind. "Geez, you hit hard; most creatures wouldn't even dream about hitting A Changeling Queen."

Raven snorted angrily at her, seeing that she doesn't even look guilty for pulling such a stunt. "Considering what you did, I should have hit you harder." Ambrosia's drones hissed at the Human for his insolence, but one glare from the man reminded them who they were dealing with; they went silent and backed away slightly. "Doesn't matter who you are as well; mess with them or me." Raven gestures towards his charges with a thumb. "You're getting a beat down." The Cyborg received 'Aws' from the foals, causing him to blush slightly.

Ambrosia found this adorable; the big bad killing machine was embarrassed, and she even tasted the love Raven was giving off. But the flavor was very different; the best way she could describe it was as if somepony took a cupcake and pickled it for fifteen years, then decided to put hot sauce on it. Raven's love was very filling, even with just a taste, but it was mixed in with anger and sorrow. While she didn't mind the taste too much, a girl got to eat; the drones couldn't eat this; the negative emotions would make them sick. This made her wonder, what could push a creature to such a state? "Hey, Raven, what happened to you?"

"Ah." Raven looked at the curious changeling Queen and wondered if he should tell her. He decided to give her a small run-down of how he ended up here. Also, this gave him the chance to finish his story on Lu and Ciel. "Many things, but one of the most significant contributors would be me being the last of my species. Long ago, there were millions of Humans. "

footnote:

Twilight

NEW ITEM ACQUIRED

Element of Magic(pendulum) - - Due to Twilight's corruption, she has been rejected by harmony. But due to her attunement with the element, connections with her friends, and outside influence; the element of magic has taken a new form! The pendulum, no horns required! This allows Twilight to switch between creation and cycle magic.

Bearers of the elements

Active skill - -

Friendship blast- - DISABLED

NEW ACTIVE SKILL (BYPASS)

Ende der Welt - - Power comes at a heavy price.

(Twilight's new weapon would look something like this)

Author's Note

Alright! Got another chapter out! I thought about destroying or corrupting the elements of harmony, but that wouldn’t be fun, so I came up with something else. Enjoy!