A Time of Twilight

"Chrysalis!" Reef growled as they all turned to see the changeling queen enter, with about ten
of her children, It was hard to get an accurate count as they kept moving over each other as
they approached the ponies.

"Reef, get us out of here!" Twilight yelled.

"Don't worry I'll take care of her, here! just stay out of the way!" He yelled, he reached back
and getting a good grip on his saddlebags, threw them over to Twilight. With that done he
turned a hateful glare on the Queen.

"Oh my, how confidant are we? you really think your a match for me pony?" The Queen said
haughtily, "Get the others! I'll deal with this ungrateful wretch."

As the changelings ran past him, Reef tossed off his cloak and pawing the ground with his
right front hoof, prepared to charge. the queen just smirked at him, daring him to do his best.
His horn glowed and seemed to take on a shiny gleam on its surface, with a yell he dug his
legs in and shot forward. Chrysalis braced herself and prepared to repel him as he came at
her, surprise ran through her as he shot past her to the left and disappeared into a shadow.

Slight movement to her right caught her eye and just in time she backed up and his horn
missed her, but she still took his shoulder to her chest, gasping at the impact. Reef didn't
stop, plowing right ahead to disappear into a shadow again. Now looking a bit nervous, the
queen's eyes darted around the room, trying to find where he'd come out next. From her right
flank he charged and using her wings she dodged out of the way, unfazed he continued on
into another shadow.

"Come now Reef, is this really how you treat the one who saved you?" Chrysalis said, a
slight quiver of unease in her voice.

"Saved me! your the one who did that to me in the first place! did you really think I wouldn't
find out? I already told you at our last meeting, I know all about your little saboteur." His
voice seemed to bounce off the walls, coming from all directions.

"I didn't mean for that to happen, my child was only supposed to cause a slight failure,
nothing major. He disobeyed orders though and took things into his own hands, it wasn't
till much later that I discovered what he had done. As soon as I did though I worked hard
to get to you and undo the wrong." She said in an apologetic tone.

"LIES!" he shouted as he charged her right side, she quickly brought back her head and
lowered her horn to parry his, but he suddenly stopped and swiveled, bringing up his back
legs to buck her hard on the upper side of her back leg. There was a slight cracking sound
and she let out a hiss of pain.

"Your minions would never disobey you! you planned that all along and when you found out
I'd been abandoned you came to retrieve something that you thought might come in handy
later. Well how'd that turn out for you?" He shouted back in a taunting voice as he vanished
again.

Gritting her teeth at the pain in her back leg, she tested it and was relieved to find it still
worked. Glaring around the room, she caught sight of him charging her flank again. Moving
away quick she drew back her legs quick and landed a buck square on his side as he shot
past behind her. He was launched off the ground and fell with a grunt Ignoring the pain, he
got up and slower than before jumped into a shadow.

"You can't keep this up forever, your getting tired already I can tell. You won't last long." The
queen said in a condescending voice.

"Long enough to get you!" He shouted back. He ran at her from the right, only to ignore her
as he ran by, almost instantly coming from the back, another feint. Her head was spinning
as he came at her over and over from all directions, each time, diverting at the last moment
to disappear again.

The slightest sound gave her warning as she quickly dropped and rolled to her right, coming
back up instantly as he fell from above her. His horn went into the ground right where she'd
been a moment ago, He immediately braced his legs to pull it out. Grabbing the opportunity
as soon as it presented itself, she brought down her head and slid her horn into him, just
behind his front leg. Letting out a gasp and jerking back his head from the attack, his horn
came free and he stumbled back. She turned her head twisting her horn inside him as it slid
out and he fell on his untouched left side.

She came to stand over him, blood running down her horn and pooling on her forehead, his
breaths came out in painful gasps. "Fool! did you really put your faith in getting your revenge
in a one on one fight with me?" She said scornfully.

"No," he said, cut off by a coughing fit, blood flecked around his muzzle and stained the
floor in front of him,"I counted on them to finish you!" He laughed past another coughing
fit.

"What!" she said in dawning horror as she turned to see all her changelings lying around
unconscious and Twilight and her friends just finishing putting on the Elements of Harmony.
"No!" she screamed at them.

With a confident smile on her face, Twilight turned to the face the queen, her friends forming
up behind her. As the queen watched in growing horror, the Elements began to glow and pulse
power. As Twilight's eyes became a brilliant shining light, the others moved towards her and
the changeling queen backed up in fear.

"Oops sorry about that, ha how clumsy can I get." Pinkie said as she accidentally tripped
momentarily powering down the Elements.

"Ready now?" Dash exclaimed impatiently as they all looked at Pinkie with a mixture of
exasperated and annoyed looks.

"Yessirree lets do this." She shouted happily and the process resumed.

"Good-" Twilight started to say as they turned back, just in time to see the back of Chrysalis
disappear down the corridor outside the cell.

"Pinkie you let her get away! c'mon we can still catch her!" Dash shouted as she dove for the
open door.

"No Dash! we need to get out of here, we can't risk running into more changelings, than we
can handle." Twilight shouted stopping the pegasus in her tracks, then in a softer voice, "besides
Reef is hurt and needs help."

They all rushed over to the collapsed unicorn, "C'mon hurry, we need to get you out of here."
Twilight said looking down at him in concern.

"Its too late for me, but I have enough strength to open a way out of here for you all." he said
as his voice grew weaker.

"No we're not leaving you!" Twilight shouted, "Dash, help get him on AJ's back, we're all getting
out of this, whether we want to or not!" a small tear ran down her cheek, as she looked down
at him.

He saw a look in her eyes and knew that she had her mind set and nothing would change it, so
he stayed quite, only letting out a gasp of pain as he was lifted onto AJ's back. "Sorry about the
blood," he got past his coughing, as her coat was soon covered in it.

"Don' think nothin of it, I'm just glad I can help." AJ answered in a forced cheerful voice.

Rallying the strength he had, Reef's horn glowed and he nodded at them. Together they stepped
into the shadows and came out under the overhang where they had first hid to observe the hive
before they entered. As they stepped out, AJ stumbled and Reef rolled onto the ground. "Ahm
sorry, are you ok?" AJ asked in a panic as they all hurried over to check on him.

He waved them back with a weak shake of his right hoof, "Its ok, its all gonna be ok." he said as
they looked down at him in concern, coughing again he looked up with a sad smile on his face
looking right at Twilight, "I'm glad I got to see you one last time, Joi."

"Why's he calling you that," Rarity whispered to Twilight.

"Ssh Rarity, he lost a lot of blood, he's hallucinating a bit, we need to get him some help fast."
Twilight explained as she fought back tears, she moved forward but stopped as he spoke again.

"Listen to me Joi, its too late. no don't say anything, this is the way it needs to be. I just want
you to know its not your fault, there is nothing you could have done. Please live your life and
enjoy yourself, don't mourn me and let me hold you back. Always remember I love you and I'll
keep an eye on you, where ever I am, so I'll know if you don't. Good bye, my love." before they
could react, his horn began to glow and with a surge of energy he rolled over and disappeared
into a shadow.

For a few moments they stood stunned, staring at the empty spot, trying to come to grips with
what just happened.

"He's gone." Dash said in disbelief, breaking the silence.

"No! we can find him! we have to help him!" Twilight suddenly shouted, running forward and digging
frantically at the shadow, tears running down her face.

"Sugarcube we can't find him, he could be anywhere and we need to get out of here. The queen
could come after us any minute now." AJ consoled her gently, her own eyes misting up, as she
pulled the lavender unicorn from the spot.

The analytical side of her brain taking over, Twilight managed to pull herself back together, "Your
right AJ, come on girls, we need to let Princess Celestia know we made it."

It was a somber group that made their way out of the badlands, but they'd managed to cheer
each other up a bit by the time they finally made it back to Dodge. As they got onto the train,
Twilight looked back over the horizon and made a promise to live her life to its fullest, even if the
promise was meant for somepony else.

The End

Epilogue (optional)

The six friends looked down at the tombstone marking the empty grave.

"It really does look rather nice, I'm sure he would appreciate it." Rarity said thoughtfully.

"Yeah it is," Twilight agreed absently,"and I know its where he'd want to be."

The others agreed quietly, then Twilight lowered the black saddlebags into the grave and they
all made their way out of the graveyard.

Here lies Reef Ti
From the shadows of history he came
and to the shadows he returned.

Beside the the grave was another

Here lies Joi Rah

Devoted friend

Faithful to the very end
_____________________________________________________________________________

Back in Ponyville the friends went their separate ways after promising to meet up the next day.
Pinkie hopped along happily greeting ponies as she made her way to Sugarcube Corner.

"Hi Mr. and Mrs. Cake." she called happily as she entered through the front.

"Well hi there Pinkie, good to see you back, I trust the trip went well?" Mr. Cake asked.

"Your ok dear right?" Mrs Cake asked after her husband finished.

"Yessirree, everything is great! I just need some rest." Pinkie said excitedly, headed for the stairs.

"Ok dearie, see you in the morning." Mrs Cake called after her.

In her room Pinkie went over to her mirror, a slight glow appeared in her puffy mane and her
reflection started to distort, till it came back into focus. Chrysalis stared out of the mirror at
her.

"Did it work?" she demanded.

"Yes my queen, they have no idea whats going on."

"Good what about the other thing?"

"Yes I felt it, it was working and the power was rushing through me. As long as you control her
I can control the element just as you planned."

"Excellent keep up the good work." Chrysalis said as a wide grin split her face, she shifted a bit
and three slimy green cocoons could be seen hanging behind her with familiar shades of pink, yellow
and white in their murky centers.

To Be Continued?

May write a sequel sometime in the future, lmk if you want me to.

Thanks for reading my story, hope you liked it. My next one is in the works but will be quite awhile
before I'm ready to post the first chapter.