The Legend of Alicorn

Chapters

The Legend of Escalabray
The Legend of the Mare of the Mere
The Legend of the Dream Scope
The Legend of the Love's Lost Won

The Legend of Escalabray

There have been many myths and tales of ancient times, and many stories of the founding of our great land, but none that can amount to the Legend that is the alicorn. The greatest legend that has long since been whispered and shared over the fields and plains, each version distorting the truth of what it had first meant to be an alicorn, or more commonly known back then as a Half-breed.

Alicorns meant hardly anything to a world full of disputes and misdirections, even if it was them that were born to strike down the evil and control the very things that were foreseen as uncontrollable. But I’m getting ahead of myself, aren’t I? What’s the use of being a storyteller if you tell the end before telling the actual story? With that I take you back to the tale that time forgot: The Legend of Escalabray.

Helios Moon awoke to the sound of hooves banging on the roof above him. Every morning he would go through the same rigmarole: angry ponies would tend to the farmland and he would have to sit and listen to them stomping above his house all day. He supposed that was to be a big downside to living underground in a tiny enclosed space, well that and the fact that this space was so tiny that there was never truly enough space to wander about. But the simple truth is that he had to live away from everypony else, away from those that would only seek to lock him in their powerful magic for eternity.

It had never been seen before: a pegasus child born with the power of a unicorn's horn, or a unicorn child born with the wings of a flier. It was simply unheard of, it was chaos, it was discord. Any creature (such as he) that was born different to the other pony colonies was discord. There could be no other explanation for the matter. And all of those different beasts must be destroyed before they could have the chance to wreak havoc on their land which had not been discovered too long ago. So Helios hid, far away from the prying pony eyes and their deceitful dragon neighbours. He hid, yes, but he never felt like hiding. He knew his destiny was far more than just a giant hole in the ground. The Kingdom could be so much more than just this cynical paradise that he had known for so long.

For even before when he had lived above ground within that small cottage that his Nanny had dared to call ‘home,’ he had felt that something was being hidden from him that could never be told. Having to move under the Earth’s surface only made that feeling strengthen even more so. This life was just not right .This life was wrong no matter what type of creature you were, whether discord or not. His underground hovel could be described as quaint by a mole or a worm; indeed, they would probably relish in the idea of living in such a fine establishment, but Helios was a pony no matter what the other ponies categorised him as. He was a pony and he was proud to be so. And yet here he was living this life under compacted dirt and humus; not a life fit for anypony at all.

The cupboards in his hovel were bare of any food or drink, as they had been for many days now. Helios had not dared to step outside his area and go to find more. Usually he would rely very much on the vegetables that the farmers tended to above him; although he was against to the prospect of thievery and underhand behaviour towards other ponies, it was necessary for him to do this. It was, after all, the only thing he could do to make sure he did not starve. As desperate as he was, he never took more than was needed to satisfy his barest minimal requirements. He took no more and no less food than what was needed for him to survive.

Recently, however, he had not found any opportunity with which to leave in safety, for the ponies had become more wakeful than they had ever been previously in their searches for the food thief. In one of his last expeditions he was in worry that the young filly of the family had spotted him out of her bedroom window and he held onto the fear that one day they may find him in his squalid little lair and get rid of him once and for all. He had managed to gather enough supplies to last a couple of days, but food had fast run out and soon he felt the cravings that came along with these constant hunger pains. Yet he could still only sit and wait until the moment where it would be safe to gather some more, and wait he had to do. It had soon began to to feel like one of the worst decisions he had ever made. He was starving, but he could not leave safely until the Equestrian Search was over.

It had begun a few days hence, this great almighty search of the land. Once the Princess of the Unicorns had passed away and the two remaining leaders had become too weak to carry on negotiating terms on which the land could remain in peace, their chosen heirs had been placed in charge of Equestria. Unfortunately Princess Platinum’s cousin, Evergreen, had taken over the position of the leader of all the Unicorns. Evergreen had always had a problem, in that she had always had a burning hatred of all creatures that were unlike herself: Manticores, Dragons, Cockatrices, Ursa’s, and even ponies like Helios were not suitable to run free in any land that she, Evergreen, herself would reside.

The two other heirs: Eclipse and Torrent, were far too reluctant to rule the land in the first place; neither had the courage or determination to stand up to the prissy Princess and so both became pawns in the dictatorship of this dark mare. The dungeons had become both of their new home, and neither could escape no matter how hard they would try. For that was Evergreen’s greatest weapon against her new subjects, she had a dungeon and she was not afraid to lock you in it until the day you die , and the sad thing is if Evergreen felt you were taking too long to do so she would see to it that they found a way to hasten your eventual demise. Eclipse and Torrent had most likely only a few weeks left before the new Princess would find them extremely indispensable.

The dungeon was the place that Evergreen would deal with the ponies that she most despised, which basically accounted for any of the ponies that she had felt has done wrong to her in anyway; sadly this included her own serving maid who had simply chosen the wrong shade of eyeshadow for ‘her royal lids’. The other creatures, on the other hand, were not even considered good enough to be locked in the dismal cells; a much worse fate was concocted especially for them.
Evergreen had decided that anything that did not meet her new ideal was to be thrown into the deepest depths of the darkest place known to ponykind: the Neverfree Forest. It was said that this forest was the one place in the whole of Equestria where happiness could not be found and dread was the one and only ruler. A perfect place for all monsters like Helios.

Helios shuddered at the thought of the beastly place. He had lived in Equestria for far too long to even consider going inside the Neverfree; which is the reason why he preferred to be hidden rather than to go outside like he often felt he wanted to do. It was too risky, especially now that everypony was searching for the deformed beasts that they had identified him with. Indeed there were many tales that everypony had grown up hearing on dark nights sitting around a campfire. The tale of the Neverfree was far more terrifying than any other tale that had been whispered to young foals and ponies; nopony would even dare to go astray around the entrance of the trees and as far as Helios had ever known: everypony that went in had never come out again.

The hoofbeats started up again on the surface, becoming more and more prominent the more they checked over their property. It was time for them to work on their land as usual and yet still the angry ponies carried on charging over the farmland looking for any sign of discords that could be lurking nearby. The compounded dirt crumbled underneath the force of their hunt sending large clods of earth falling down onto the cave’s carefully carved table and chair, breaking and tarnishing them in the process. More mud toppled down into the tiny room, more mud than Helios had seen previously fall down. He slunk back against the wall trying to avoid gaining any injuries from the mudslide.
He had had mudslides before, he was used to some of the dry earth collapsing in on itself but never to the extent that he felt in fear of being buried alive. He did not enjoy the prospect of dying before his time at all. He hadn’t accomplished anything of what he had hoped. Hopefully the earth would stop falling and he could survive this ordeal; at least that is what he prayed could happen.

Cracks opened along the walls as the thundering hooves above grew louder and louder, feeling closer and closer to his home than ever before. The mud carried on falling down whilst he shaded his eyes from the light that was now flooding into the cave. He had not seen such bright light in such a long time, it was startling to his senses. He stood, blinking back the constant rays hitting his corneas. Even before he had had time to fully adjust to the brightness of the sun's beams, ponies jumped down onto him; knocking him to the floor as they tightened shackles to his front hooves and knocked him over the head with a blunt stick. The room went dark. He had finally been found.

It didn’t seem long before he awoke for the second time that day; still hearing the angry hoof steps of working ponies, except this time they stood around him in a circle rather than above. He stared around at his captors but they would not stare back at him; their gaze fixed blankly on the direction they were walking in. They all looked so dismal, almost like they were the prisoners and not him. If anypony should have looked upset it was the pony they had captured and yet he did not feel sorrow, he just felt sorry for the very ponies that had trapped him and knocked him out.

A large pony at the front pulled at the rope which was dragging the young half-breed along. He grunted at the heavy weight that he had been forced to shift, not enjoying the experience of his day as a pack mule. The red stallion took extreme pride in the way that he looked but now he had completely ruined any sense of style he had once possessed. So much for finally managing to get the mare he loved to marry him, he had no chance with his new bedraggled look.
A mare bounced beside him wearing a strange mystic cloak. She ruffled the stallion's mane, smiling brightly at his dismal countenance. He shrugged and flicked his tail into the young mares face, causing her to flinch and back away slightly; it was quite clear that this young unicorn was not exactly popular with the other workers, and yet they still seemed to acknowledge the lavender unicorn in whatever antic she was doing.She happily ambled around the pack of ponies, not caring much about their obvious annoyance in her presence. This was very boring for her when nopony would talk.

She stared around the large procession, seeking out somepony that she could actually talk to without getting looks of disdain or a flick in the face; her eyes rested on Helios. Helios, without him noticing it, had been spending an awful lot of time staring at this young bouncing mare; so now that he could actually see her moving towards him he quickly changed his gaze onto somepony else.

“You don’t need to do that. I saw you staring at me.” The lavender unicorn stared into the half-breed’s eyes, laughing at his hesitance. “You don’t need to fear prisoner, I’m not here to hurt you.”

Helios turned fully, braving a small glance in the young unicorn’s direction; she smiled and clapped her two front hooves together, proud that she had managed to encourage the colt to look at her. Now that Helios could see her up close she seemed far more powerful than he had thought at first glance. Her cloak was quite clearly one made with the finest threads that could be found in Equestria, and even her hair was styled in the most beautiful way possible. She was indeed a wealthy mare it seemed. He opened his mouth to ask her about her position here but the unicorn beat him to his question.

“I’m Marelin, adviser in training to the new Princess. And you are?”

“Erm...Helios Moon. They call me Helios Moon.”

“That’s a very pretty name.” The unicorn sighed to herself. “I wish that I could be like you, you know?”

Helios stared, puzzled at the mares last statement. He could not see how she would ever want to be like him; he was locked in shackles and being dragged along the floor, and he was a half-breed: the one thing that nopony in their right mind would ever wish to be, a monster. Marelin saw the look on his face.

“I mean that you’re not tied down with having to work with somepony you don’t like. Once you go into the woods then you’re free from anypony like the Princess, and I’m stuck...Stuck as her magical servant forever.”

Again Marelin sighed, Helios could understand how she must feel; she felt trapped within the society, much like he had always felt trapped inside the depths of the underground. It wasn’t nice to feel trapped inside of somewhere with no way out and nowhere to go...no-pony to run to. He supposed that was the way that all creatures had to be, yet he just couldn’t understand why. For as long as he could remember he had been told that the world saw one thing as this, and saw another thing as that; nopony could ever truly decide for themselves what they were born to do, you were born to be afraid of everything. He drifted back to the ancient tales he had heard as a foal.

A sudden jerk on the rope made Helios take notice of his surroundings again. The Neverfree Forest stood in front of them, leering over everypony with weeping trees and painful cries of everypony that had dared wander into the forest before them. It wasn’t called the ‘Neverfree’ for nothing, and Helios was about to learn that the hard way. A large shove came from behind as a guard pushed Helios towards a heavy piece of stone which stuck out at an angle from the ground . The rope was untied by the unruly stallion and an older guard released him from his shackles. The guard then proceeded to kneel over the trapped pony, looking into his terrified eyes as he made a farmhand give him his sword from his armour. Marelin looked on, shocked about what appeared to be happening in front of her. She dashed in front of the half-breed just as the old guard lifted his sword to strike downwards.

“What do you think you are doing?” she yelled into his face. “This wasn’t part of the plan.”

“No missy...Queen gave me direct orders that a half-breed could not be allowed to live anywhere.”

“Well then don’t listen to her. It’s not fair.” Marelin desperately beseeched to the stallion’s good side; hoping that he could reconsider his actions before he did something he may come to regret.

“Rules is rules, and there’s no use fighting against ‘em missy. You could do with learning that ya’ self.” The guard pushed the startled lavender pony away, lifting his sword once more for a swift attack. He stared down onto the rock where his victim had laid just minutes ago but the young colt was gone.The stallion grunted in defeat, the Queen would not be happy about this. Not happy at all.

A shadow ran through the background heading for the centre of the forest; the furthest point from the ponies that had wanted to destroy him once and for all. Helios couldn’t stop running, he couldn’t let himself be caught any more. If he had to go into the forest he had dreaded all of his life, then so be it; anything was better than being killed by an unruly tyrant such as the Princess.That Princess would be the death of him, which is what she wanted anyway.

He galloped round corners trying to find some form of path that he could use to find his way to...somewhere. Anywhere would do if it was far away from the other ponies. He skimmed past a dark willow, charging so fast through the depressed landscape that his eyes missed a large branch which slid on the floor beneath him. He slammed down onto the floor, his breath shooting into his chest and pain searing across the leg that had been struck. Ugh, why did it hurt so badly? Pain, pain, lots of pain flooded across his newly wounded limb.

He turned over onto his back wheezing in agony as he held his bleeding leg to his stomach. A rustle came from the bush nearest to him, a sign of something moving closer and closer to the petrified pony. He tried to stand and run but only managed to move a foot before limping and collapsing onto the floor again. So this was it, he was finally going to lose his life forever; Evergreen was going to manage to get rid of the ugly spec in her beautiful land.

The rustle came again, much closer than before. Helios closed his eyes awaiting the inevitable to happen. A large knock fell onto his side as some sort of creature fell onto the floor beside him; he dared take a look to see a midnight blue colt lying next to him also holding a bleeding leg where a large thorn seemed to have scraped into one of his veins. Helios watched as the blue pegasus ambled onto his feet, bravely trying to ignore the pain he was feeling at the time. The pegasus seemed to blatantly ignore the other pony lying on the ground; in fact Helios wondered if he had even been noticed at all. He hoped not; ponies didn’t like creatures like him usually.
The other colt dragged his bleeding limb to the bush he had just fallen through, peering into the shadows of the darkness that lay on his old path.

“I had to run you know?” The pegasus turned to Helios with a look of dismay scrawled upon his face Helios had no idea whether he was talking to him or himself; hopefully not him. “I had to run to escape the guards.”

Helios opened his mouth to answer but not a word came through into the air; pain shot up from his leg causing him to grope down and hold the cut tighter It hurt so much. Why did it hurt so much? The Pegasus noted the half-breeds face, and pulled some leaves from out of a plant nearby and quickly gave them to Helios to put over the top of the deep cut. Helios looked perplexed. He didn’t know whether he could trust this strange liar, and he didn’t want to end up dead in the gutter from plant poisoning. The pegasus saw the terror written onto the white colt’s face, he smiled despite the pain he too was feeling.

“They’re Medicinal Mayflowers, they help heal cuts and wounds that you have on your body. I use it all the time when I hurt myself in jousts.”

Helios reached down and wrapped the shimmering silver leaf over the small wound, avoiding touching it properly with his hoof; he did not want to encourage more pain to run up over his body. The leaf surrounded his leg with a warm glow, dancing above the surface of the deep gash which burned into his limb; the pegasus was also getting the same show of light where he had placed some of the leaves over his own injury. The two ponies watched the pirouetting shades of colour twirl above them in awe. Warmth spread through their veins, welding the cuts together so that the blood could no longer pour.

Helios looked downwards, watching the path of light flow over him and away into the sun’s beams above. He carefully lifted the leaf off of his side and stared aghast at his newly repaired leg.But he had been injured hadn’t he? What had happened? How did it happen? It was extraordinary. The pegasus grinned at Helios’s amazement and sat down beside him on the floor.

“You’ve never been inside of the Neverfree before, have you?”

Helios shook his head, peering up at the strange pegasus colt. Nopony ever came into the forest, not without willing to become stuck in this horrible place...but...The other pony noticed his look of confusion.

“I’m Lotto Lancer by the way; a knight in the royal Pegasus army. Well at least I will be when I finish my training.” The pegasus shuffled to the left and stared into the dark trees in front of them. “I’ve been coming in here for a while now; I practice my fighting skills in here, you see. I’ve never been in this part of the forest though.” Lotto scratched his forehead trying to see if he could spot where he had entered from. Helios blinked and stared towards the young midnight colt.

“Why did you come this way if you didn’t know the way out?”

Lotto’s eyes swiftly surveyed the surrounding area; he leaned in close to Helios, barely even whispering his answer.

“I felt a presence. Someone or something was following me; I know it. If that stuck up unicorn Princess, or whatever she calls herself now, found me here I wouldn’t be able to carry on with my training. You can never be too careful around Equestria anymore.”

Helios nodded. Every word that Lotto had said had reined true for him as well, nopony was safe in Equestria anymore. Not even the guards and advisors were safe from Evergreen’s rath. She had to control everything, she had to be in charge, and she had to dictate everything that was done in her kingdom. Nopony could argue with her decisions without being locked in the dungeons with everypony else that could get in her way.

Lotto Lancer didn’t seem like the sort of pony who could be controlled, he was free to go wherever he wished; just as the pony Marelin had seemed to be with the guard ponies, and yet here was both of them admitting to feeling trapped within the society that had been created by the new ruler. Helios felt more sorry for them than he had ever felt for himself. Up until now he had always managed to hide away from the control of others, and he had always complained about it, but these ponies were all trapped with nowhere to hide and no option of where they may go next. It must have been an extremely sad time for them when the old Princess had died and Evergreen had been put in her place.

“Still, no use sitting around here is there?” Lotto gracefully pulled himself back onto his hooves “ We won’t find the way out in this spot will we?... erm...”

“Helios. My name’s Helios Moon.”

“Helios? Nice name.” Lotto bowed slightly to the puzzled half-breed, in mock humour. “Well Helios Moon, what do you say?”

“Say to what?”

“Helping me to find the way out of course...and in return I will...erm...I will” Lotto stopped to think. “Erm...What do you want Helios Moon?”

Helios blushed and turned away from the midnight pony. “I want...well...I want to be free.”

“You want to be free from the forest? Well so do I, so I guess we’re both looking for the same thing.” Lotto smiled to the other pony, not realising that he had completely misunderstood what Helios had been trying to say. Helios opened his mouth to correct him but stopped short when he realised that he could not spoil the happy attitude of Lotto with his selfish wishes. He nodded and both trotted off deeper into the depths of the trees.

“That is not what I asked for,” the dark ember pony yelled at the guards that stood below her. The guards trembled at the sound of her earth-shattering voice, knowing that if they were not careful with what they said they would be another one of her victims to become eternally locked inside of her dungeons. The deep, dark dungeons of doomed souls, as they chose to call it.

Evergreen grimaced down from her pedestal at the pathetic excuses she had for soldiers. She had only asked them to do one measly little job by destroying the half-breed that had been spotted over in the distant fields. If they couldn’t even get that right what was the point of them? She had had enough of these moaning peasants that begged her to stop capturing the beasts and locking them up in the Neverfree forest. Well, now she wasn’t locking them up, she was getting rid of the horrid creatures once and for all; this half-breed was only the first test of whether it could be done or no; the most important one that had to be rid of. And now, these useless soldiers had failed that test. She glared down at the shaking ponies, thinking of what way she could possibly make them pay for what they had done.

“Please m’lady,” the old guard in the centre shuddered as her gaze fell onto him. “We was following your orders m’lady, but that young missy got in the way and then the half-breed got away.”

“Missy? What missy?”

“The odd one in the cloak m’lady.” The guard bowed his head, worried about what the Princess may do to him for speaking out of turn. Evergreen walked down the steps of her throne and glided to the door of the room.

“That foalish unicorn which my cousin’s advisor chose as her heir? I knew that she would be trouble if I let her out of the palace.” Evergreen stopped at the door and turned towards the worried guards. “Find her! Find Marelin, bring her back here and lock her in her room until I get around to seeing her. Do you understand that you nitwits?”

The soldiers all nodded, relieved that they had been given a second chance to not become trapped in the prison cells. The eldest guard led the way as they each grabbed their weapons and hastily hurried through the door beside them. They had been given a second chance and they had to abide by it this time, or else. Evergreen chuckled to herself. Finally everything was going to go her way, and nopony could stop her. She was the Princess, and she was going to rule ‘till death did us part.

“I’m sure this must be the right way.” Lotto marched on through the forest with Helios following him close behind. They had been wandering around for quite a while now and they still hadn’t managed to locate the exit to the forest. The Neverfree was living up to its name alright, at this point Helios felt like he was never going to be free from this dank, depressing wood.

“We could go this way,” Lotto mumbled to himself as he searched for a path they could take. “Or maybe this way...but that would probably lead us even further into the woods..erm..” Lotto froze to the spot, leaving Helios to walk straight into him without realising that he had stopped.

“W..w..what?” Helios stuttered. Lotto put his hoof to his lips, signalling his fellow traveller to be quiet. He had heard a very faint sound from not so far away from where he and Helios were standing. Either the Princess had sent some guards into the wood to search for something (which would result in him being found) or some kind of dangerous creature had followed their scent to this spot (which could result in being eaten; a prospect that he did not wish to come true).

A twig cracked at their side and both of the ponies jumped. Helios flinched, worried that the guards could perhaps had come to finish off what they had started with him earlier. Lotto couldn’t just let an innocent pony feel so much fear, and he realised that Helios was very much afraid at that moment. He slowly grabbed a large stone from the ground and lifted it up into the air. Another crunch came on the floor from the opposite direction; then another one cracked at a side parallel to the latter. Lotto tried to follow the sounds but could only just make out one stalking on his left side. Without another thought about it he threw his stone in the direction of where the last sound had come from.

“OW!” a high pitched squeal echoed through the trees. Helios shot behind Lotto, terrified. A violet head peered through the bush, rubbing its mane with its hoof.

“What did you do that for?”

“Marelin?” Helios stepped forwards towards the young mare, stunned at how she had come to be there. Marelin smiled to the recognizable face of the prisoner she had tried so valiantly to save not too long ago. Lotto, realising that this was not a pony who was going to try and hurt them in any way, turned scarlet in embarrassment.

“I’m sorry Miss. I thought that you...well, I thought that you...”

“You thought I was a big scary monster coming to eat you.”

Helios chuckled as Lotto’s cheeks became more and more red. Marelin sure did like to joke around.

“Something like that,” he admitted. Marelin grinned and bounced up to the young pegasus, ruffling his mane with her hoof.

“You don’t need to worry about me. I’m not going to hurt you.”

Lotto’s eyebrow rose as he shook his head in bewilderment. “Well, no, I never expected you would be able to; but you do realise it’s not very nice to circle somepony like they are your prey?”

“Circle? What do you mean? I was only on that side.”

The three ponies stared at each other as the realisation hit them. If Marelin had only been on one side...then who or what had been crunching on the other side? Helios shook as he moved backwards away from the trees, Lotto hastily scanned his eyes over the ground trying to find another rock with which he could throw, and Marelin gathered up as much energy as she could into her horn ready to strike down any creature that would attack her new friends. The trees whispered in the breeze, providing the only sound that could be heard in the silent wood. Lotto gulped and began to move forwards towards the plant life at their side. He separated a bush and stepped inside the thorny branches, carefully pacing himself so that he did not startle the creature.

He stared into the small clearing in front of him, spotting a shadow sitting on a large rock nearby. The shadow quickly turned its head, jumped to its feet, and aimed towards the opposite side of the space; away from Lotto’s search. Lotto ran as fast as he could, following the shadow whatever twists and turns it took. He narrowly avoided trees and stumps that blocked his path, still following this lonely shadow.

The shadow charged through a large crop of flowers, stumbling over a pebble as it did. A steep drop appeared by its side as it ran. Lotto began to run quicker, trying to catch the falling shadow before it tumbled too far off the edge of the drop. Unfortunately he made it there just in time to grab the shadows hoof and fall down the steep incline with it. Hit after hit appeared on Lotto’s side as he fell; each one making him groan in pain more than the last. This was now the second time today that he had somehow managed to injure himself. A very unlucky day for him.

Helios kept his eyes on the bush that Lotto had walked through, crossing his hooves that Lotto was okay. He had only just met this nice trainee, he didn’t want to lose him now. Especially since Lotto seemed like the only pony that had ever been inside the Neverfree before and survived.

A large thud came from a few feet away and a small mare appeared on the floor in a huddle. Helios twisted his head around just in time to see Lotto also shoot downwards and collapse onto the mare's back . The mare screamed and fell flat onto her face. Lotto rolled onto his side, still groaning because of the many bruises he had just gained from the fall.

The mare shook herself and stood up onto the spot, wiping herself down with her front hoof. Her blonde mane fell down around her shoulders as she flicked her fringe away from her large blue eyes. Helios’s jaw dropped. Why she was... she was beautiful. The most beautiful creature that Helios had ever seen in his life, and that was saying something for the underground dweller; he was so used to seeing things with an unappetizing look that you’d have thought that everything would look beautiful to him up here...But she was just amazing.

She gasped as she saw Lotto on the ground next to her.

“Oh my, are you alright?” Her voice soothed Lotto, and his bruises did not seem to cause him as much pain as they had previously. He turned over and shot up to his hooves, bowing to the radiant creature that he had been chasing. He felt so embarrassed about what he had done; he would have never done it if he had realised what a beauty he had been following. The mare smiled at both of the scarlet cheeked colts, giggling at how nervous they seemed to have become in her presence.

“Who are you?” Marelin stepped up to the new earth pony that had fallen before them. She didn’t trust her at all; though she didn’t know why. The blonde mare looked startled at the sudden entrance of another mare; she had not even been aware that there was another female around, let alone one travelling with the blushing colts.

“Are you deaf? Who are you?” Marelin grew agitated at the lack of an answer from the new pony. The earth pony could easily spot the agitation that came from the unicorn’s tone of voice; she had been well used to ponies speaking to her with that tone and she had never liked it, but had dealt with it in a polite manner. She curtsied to the crowd.

“They call me Grain.” She thought for a second. “Grainavere.”

“Grain-avere?” Marelin asked, not believing her for a second. It seemed strange to Grain that this mare could change her emotions so quickly; this was not often done by the ponies that lived down her way. Grain tried to think of the best way she could possibly explain why she was called by such a peculiar name...without being instantly called a liar.

“..Erm...well, I’m a daughter of a famous Lord and Lady.” Yes, that sounded kind of plausible. “They had to call me by something peculiar in order for me to stand out amongst the other upper-class ponies that wandered around the balls and galas.” Her eyes shifted from left to right; Marelin spotted the mare’s obvious lie straight away. She was no fool.

“You’re...”

“Amazing,” the two colts chorused together, finishing Marelin’s sentence with a word that she was not planning to use, though she had plenty of other words she had planned to use instead. The unicorn glared at the two colts, not liking the attention they appeared to be giving this other mare. She had been with them first; so it was only fair that she should not be ignored by her friends.

Grain laughed at the sight of the love struck colts.She loved the attention she was getting.

“Well I guess I’ll be on my way then.”

Lotto snapped out of his daydream and grabbed hold of the blonde mare’s hoof before she could walk away. He couldn’t let her leave and become lost in the wilderness all alone with nopony to protect her; not this innocent little flower. Marelin watched with disdain.

“Wait,” he said gently, “why not come with us? We are searching for a way out and...you’d be a perfect member of our little team here.”

Grain sighed and turned away from him, pulling away her hoof from his caring grasp. Her mind ran back through all of the things she should have been doing, should have done, and should have been there for. It was daunting to think about.

“I couldn’t.” She stepped forward away from the small crowd behind her. Helios followed and moved up to her side; she turned to look at him.

“Please,” he begged. His eyes sparkled through the night and into hers. She stopped and smiled at his eager young face yearning for her to be able to feel that way as well. She couldn’t see how she could go with these ponies, they were so kind and she was..well, that she couldn’t say; she had never known truly what she was, and she had never believed other ponies when they had told her. She was an enigma that would never belong. Yet here this colt was, this half-breed, wanting her by his side. She couldn’t deny the kind pony, she couldn’t deny him his helping her.

“I guess...I may be able to come with you.”

“Great,” Lotto said with a grin, grabbing hold of Grain’s hoof once more and escorting her away from Helios. Grain looked back at the young half-breed, half yearning to go back and walk with him, to talk with him and fall into his dreamy eyes once more, but to her dismay it was Marelin instead that went up to the colt and began strolling along with him. Grain sadly turned away and instead looked up to see the charming smile of Lotto facing her. ‘He is sweet,’ she thought, ‘but almost too good to be true in some way.’ She heeded to his gentle pull as he took her around the bends and turns that they used in order to find their way through the jungle like vegetation.

Helios watched the beautiful pony from behind; only acknowledging what Marelin was saying with a simple nod or a mumble every now and again. Marelin wasn’t stupid, she knew why both the colts were fawning after this other mare. She may like to talk and play about but that didn’t mean she was stupid; in fact far from it. She had been hoof picked by Clover the Clever (student of the great and mighty Starswhirl the Bearded) to be the next Unicorn advisor and this meant that Clover had chosen her because she was the most powerful unicorn outside of the royal family. This was a great honour indeed, and one not bestowed onto many ponies in the kingdom. Clover had trusted her, yet nopony else ever seemed to.

Every other pony Marelin had ever known in her life had resented her for her chatty ways; ignored her when she had tried to cheer them up and overall did everything they could have thought of to avoid her. After many years of this Marelin had quite given up on thinking that she could ever be the right pony to make friends and be a great and powerful unicorn like all of her predecessors. It was clear that she was not right for the job, yet the Princess Evergreen had followed on with what Clover had said and let her carry on being a trainee advisor. Marelin was quite aware that Evergreen had never liked her, like all of the other ponies she had known, so she was extremely suspicious of why she had been kept on to stand by the new rulers’ side.

Helios gazed adoringly to the pony in front of him whilst Marelin watched his face falling deeper and deeper into a dream. He saw her, the beautiful mare, sitting with him in their old age talking about anything that should pop into their head. It didn’t matter what the subject was, all that mattered is that they were together and nopony could ever tear them apart from their lovers hold. She would sit there talking with her sweet singsong voice, and he would listen to every word; adoration being the only thing that he could ever give to their love...They were in love, and they would be for as long as their life would last.

“I can’t do magic.”

Helios’ dream cracked open as he came back to reality to see a tear fall from Marelin’s eye and onto her silver cloak being pulled behind.

“What do you mean? You’re a unicorn.”

“I know. Not only that but I’m meant to be an all powerful advisor someday.” Another tear fell from her eye, following the same path as the other. “I can’t even do the simple spells without messing it up.”

Helios didn’t know what to say. He had never interacted with a crying pony before and by now Marelin’s face had begun to flood with tears. Helios looked towards Grain and Lotto walking up front, and then back to the distraught pony beside him. He bit his lip in thought before dragging the cloaked mare to one side and sitting her down on some small flowers. He sat down next to her and wrapped his hoof around her shoulders, hugging her close to his chest. The two ponies in front did not seem to notice and carried on walking deeper into the forest, leaving the others behind. Helios didn’t like to see them leave but he also didn’t like to not help a pony in need, especially one who had shown him a kindness like Marelin had.

Helios felt the warm tears flow onto his body and held the crying unicorn even closer. The wind whistled through the plant life that lay around the forest floor, playing a soft soothing tune for the two little ponies. Helios rocked the young mare back and forth, joining in with the wind's song using a slow hum. Soon Marelin had stopped crying and had fallen into the joy of listening to the tune. She listened in peace to the calm melody playing in front of her.

“What is that song?” she asked Helios sitting up and looking towards him.

“It’s not really a song.” He stopped his humming and let the trees perform their overture. “It’s the music of the forest.”

“Music of the forest? But plants and stuff don’t play music, it’s not what they‘re for.” Marelin didn’t get it, her books had never told her more than 'this was this' and 'that was that', nothing had ever said anything different to her until now.

“That’s true, it’s not part of what they are meant to be; yet they still do it,” Helios explained. “It doesn’t matter that they are dictated as to only doing one job, if you look you can see that everything...or everypony...doesn’t always act in the way they are meant to.” Helios hummed again, watching the many creatures scuttle around them, each busily doing their jobs. “And even if they do what they are supposed to it doesn’t mean that they can’t sing at the same time. It may not be their choice what they are outside, but inside, anypony can shine like the sun, moon, or stars.”

Marelin brushed her hoof over the tops of the flowers, feeling their leaves dance as she did so. The willows wept around them crying tears of joy, and even some timberwolves from in the distance could be heard cheerily howling towards their beacon of hope. It all looked gorgeous; even when the sky was turning dark the music did not change, did not miss a note or a beat. Marelin looked towards Helios. He seemed so happy sitting out here, so happy and so different from any other pony she had met in her life.

“So,” she began, “it’s like you then?”

Helios twisted his head around to face hers, tilting his head to the side in question.

“I mean that you’re a half-breed and yet you don’t act like the monster the stories about half-breeds’ would make you out to be.”

Helios stopped and stood up off the floor.

“That’s the problem with me, I’m just a story really. I’ve never been anything more than just a story that lulled foals to sleep...That’s my only destiny.”

Helios tilted his head down, upset at the fact that his life was indeed just a story, and this story could never have a happily ever after. Discords like him were never allowed to live happily. This was the way it had been for many years, and it was not about to change for a young half-breeds’ dreaming.

The guards shifted through the leafy foliage of the disgusting forest. Sabres and swords sliced through any branch that may stand in their way, or would offer a threat to them. The same treatment happened to any creature who walked across their path, whether big or small they would find themselves thrown to the ground with a weapon to the heart; lives being ripped apart just so that the guards could find the one thing that would save their own lives from the torture of living in Equestria’s prisons.

“Come on stallions, hurry up!” The elder stallion called desperately as he watched his crew peer into all of the hiding spaces they could find. They had been looking for a few hours now and still they had found nothing; not even a clue as to what direction the pony could have headed. The Captain was becoming very desperate to finish with all of this. He hadn’t signed up as a guard in order for him to hunt down his species; he had done it so that he could protect the land and be a hero to his kind. He could not be a hero if he was forced to spend the rest of his life rotting in a cell in the underground.

“Quickly!” The guards pulled apart weeds and flowers, looked into cracks and crevices, searched high and low, but still they could not find their ‘prey’. A loud humming strummed through the air, finding its way to the soldiers’ ears.

“Do you hear that?” one whispered to another.

“I sure do. It’s coming from that direction.” A young green stallion pointed towards a large bush that stood not too far away. Slowly but surely the Captain crept forward with his guards and peered through the fronds of the large shrub. ‘Ah...there was the half-breed, and look, next to him.’

The Captain signalled for two of his guards to sneak around the other way behind the patch of flowers where the two ponies were sitting. The two guards moved swiftly through the undergrowth and disappeared from the Captain’s view for a short while, until reappearing again in the distance.

The Captain leered behind the bush, spying on the show that was happening in front of him. There was no use grabbing the mare while the half-breed sat there with her, it wouldn’t be worth the hassle, and his orders were to get the unicorn; not the half-breed any longer. A moment of opportunity arrived, the half-breed walked forward not looking about what was happening behind him. The two guards jumped out from behind the willow where they had been hidden, covered the mare’s mouth so she could not scream for any help and dragged her away before she had even had a chance to retaliate against them.

The other guards quickly galloped off to meet their comrades and help them with the captive; the Captain watched as the half-breed turned around and looked on with mere confusion. With a satisfied smirk he stood and went back along the path from whence he came.

Helios was extremely confused. He was sure that Marelin had been sitting right over there; he had not heard her move at all, so where was she now? There didn’t seem to be a soul lying around the area apart from the plants that had to stay rooted to the spot in order to survive.

“Marelin” he cried, hoping to hear a reply come from not too far away. Maybe she had just walked a little further on...to find food perhaps. ‘Oh food sounds nice at the minute. I wonder if she might bring me some as well...No Helios, you’ve got to find her, stop thinking about food.’

“Marelin,” he tried again, only to hear nothing but silence. Even the music that the forest played so happily ceased to exist now. Panic grew inside of his heart. “Marelin...Where are you?”

“Helios.” A call sounded in the distance, and a pounding of running hoof beats could be heard along the floor.

“Marelin, is that you?”

Lotto and Grain ran through into the clearing where the unicorn had been sat before. Helios couldn’t help but look dismayed, even though he should have been happy to see Grain’s starry eyes again.

“What’s wrong Helios? We could hear you calling even from where we were standing.” Lotto moved towards the frightened half-breed, hoping to calm his friend down long enough so that he could explain.

“It’s Marelin.”

“The unicorn?” Grain asked “What about her?”

“She’s gone. She was sat right there and now she’s gone.”

“Well maybe she’s got lost in the trees.” Grain shrugged, half wishing that her idea was true, before vanquishing the mean thought from her body. She wouldn’t wish it on anypony to vanish like that, it’s just cruelty to think it. Lotto immediately tried to take charge of the situation.

“Okay, don’t worry we’ll find her...erm...let’s see,” Lotto pondered for a minute before pointing in a random direction. “I’ll go and look in that direction. Helios you go to the right side and Grain will go to the left. If we split up one of us is bound to find her eventually.”

The other two had no words with which to speak; all they could do was nod before running off in their respective directions to try and find their missing friend.

“Let me go! Let me go!”

The sound of Marelin’s screams could be heard all over the palace as the guards struggled to carry her up the stairs to her room. She kicked out with her foreleg, striking the nearest soldier right on the forehead and causing him to stumble slightly as he moved. They hurried down the corridor and threw her into the room before she could injure them further. The door was slammed shut on the young mare and the Captain worked with his key to lock the door up tight as fast as possible; there was no way she could escape now. The Princess would be pleased with him.

Marelin banged on the other side of the door, yelling at the top of her voice; she was perfectly happy where she had been in the Neverfree Forest, and to be taken from it without her consent was pure and simple injustice in her view. The guards that had carried her heaved a sigh of relief, she had been heavy to carry for such a small mare; she should consider not eating too many daisies at dinner time.

Evergreen trotted down the hallway as elegantly as possible. The guards noticed her coming and got down onto their knees, avoiding the menacing glare of her ember eyes. She came to a halt just in front of the Captain’s head, holding out her front hoof to kiss, he aptly did so.

“I see you have brought our little pony home.” Evergreen stopped to listen to the pounding beat being punched on the opposite side of the door. “Good. You finally proved yourself useful Captain. I shall spare your trip to the dungeon.”

“Oh, thank you m’lady. Thank you, thank you.” The Captain began to kiss his leader’s hoof many times over, praising her for her forgiveness of his mistake earlier. Evergreen swiped her hoof away from his mouth, waving a servant over to clean his saliva off of her perfectly completed hooficure. She grimaced at the old stallion, bearing down on him with green eyes of discontent.

“You may go; before I change my mind. And that means all of you peasants. Now!”

Her bellow sent an alarm out to all of the ponies standing in the area. Every one of them scurried as fast as they could down the stairs, away from the dictation of the angry Princess. She chuckled to herself. Being in control was indeed, fun. A pity that her cousin had never utilised her full power to its best intent, if she had things would have been much more to Evergreen’s liking around here.

Her eyes turned to the door that Marelin had been locked behind. The unicorn had still not relented from her persistent drumming; somehow this amused Evergreen more.

“There’s no point fighting Marelin, you can’t get out,” she sniggered. The banging on the door stopped and Marelin’s pitiful voice could be heard through the thick wall.

“Evergreen, is that you? Can you please let me out? I don’t like being locked in here.”

“It’s a shame you don’t have a choice in the matter then.” Evergreen strode to the edge of the door and whispered into the lock to taunt the young mare on the other side. “At least not until you have been cured.”

“Cured? But I’m not ill.” Marelin banged on the door again, trying to prove that she could still move quite easily and was not ill in any form or way. Evergreen chuckled again.

“No Marelin. You’re mind had been poisoned by that evil creature, that half-breed.” Evergreen spat onto the floor in disgust; hating the taste of the word she had just uttered.

“But Helios is nice. He’s not evil.”

“You only think that because he has used evil magic to make you believe in him. He was trying to use you to get to me. What? Did you think he actually liked you? You know that the only friend you can trust is me Marelin.” Evergreen began to pace away from the door before turning to say one last word of warning. “And don’t you ever forget that again.”

The night poured down onto the trees and bushes that Helios was pushing his way through, frantically shifting through giant mud puddles and thorny branches to find his new friend. He had never considered that he could have a friend before, let alone three. He had always been a half-breed ever since he was born; he could barely even remember what his parents looked like. A Nanny had cared for him when he was a small foal, down in a little house far away from the rest of the pony civilisation. Nanny Natty had died many moons ago, and ever since then Helios had moved and hidden inside of his little underground house, far away from those that would only seek to destroy him.

It was bad luck that he had been found, and it was bad luck that he had become lost in the Neverfree, but it seemed to be good luck that he had met so many ponies that didn’t seem to mind what he looked like.

He peered around his shoulder at his wings, spectating on how he had never even managed to fly a few feet in the air without collapsing down onto the floor. Marelin was not alone with thinking that she was not doing what she had been born to do; if Helios had not been a half-breed then he was not sure that he would be able to be just a powerful unicorn, or just a fast flying pegasus. Then again, he would never be one or the other, so it didn’t really matter if he thought about what it would be like.

An owl hooted in the distance, singing along to the wind’s music that had started once more. The smell of perfumed flowers swam through the air and up into Helios’s nostrils; it smelt beautiful in here. All of these scary tales Nanny Natty had told him about the Neverfree were so far proving to be wrong; the Neverfree felt just like any other wood he had come into, except more magical and free.

Grain sat on the branch of the tree, looking down at the white stallion with his blue flowing mane. He seemed so unsure about everything, so sweet and caring to every living thing around him. So different than every other pony she had ever met in her entire abysmal life. She smiled to herself, contemplating on the dream she had dreamt when she had first looked into his dazzling eyes, first heard his caring lilt, and first held his hoof for that one brief moment. Lotto was an extremely sweet colt as well, but he was so like all of the other stallions she had seen in her life, too unreal for her to actually believe that he was ever being sincere. But this half-breed was unreal in the sense that he was the most realistic thing around here, there was not often a time where Grain had had the pleasure of meeting a pony who had felt so real to her. She sighed and lay her head down on the branch; if only she could get the nerve to admit to more things about herself.

Helios stopped with a start, a noise had been alerted to his ears. The tree above him had...sighed? Could trees even do that? He knew that the Neverfree had contained many wonders, and that the trees could play soft music, but only with the help of some kind of force usually. Two leaves glided down from one of its branches and onto the floor in front of him. The moon, as if to help his predicament, shined its light down onto that very same branch where the leaves had originally grown. He saw Grain laying there, looking as mystical and breathtaking as he had thought she was when they met. He smiled to her.

“Grain. Are you okay up there? What are you doing?” he queried to the mare as she shimmied down the tree trunk to stand next to him.

“I thought that I might be able to spot the unicorn from up in the trees.” Grain tripped over a stone and fell into Helios’s outstretched hooves. Her eyes met his.

“But I couldn’t see her.” Grain became lost in the stars that shone in his iris, and Helios too fell into the deep blue that was the rims of the earth pony’s eyes. They stood like this for a while before either of them noticed that the other was doing it. They both blushed as Helios helped Grain back onto her hooves.

“So...I guess we should keep looking then,” Grain said beginning to walk towards a gap in two bushes.

“Eh..Yes. We should.” Helios pondered the prospect that he should perhaps go in another direction and not seem like he was stalking her in any way; he did not want to do wrong by the gorgeous mare.

“Are you coming?” she called to him. Helios beamed and followed at Grain’s heels, she did want him with her, he had got permission. They wandered on into the starlight in silence.

Lotto briskly walked along the trail where he had found a group of hoof prints leading off to the right of the forest. He would not have found the hoof prints as anything of importance if it had not been for the little piece of silver cape he had found on a thorn near their start. The only pony he had seen wearing a cloak as well crafted as this was the unicorn that he had been travelling with not so long ago. It would be hard to believe that another pony with an identical style of cloak could have somehow wandered into the Neverfree as well.

It seemed like the ponies had known their way around the woods, although it helped that they seemed to have cut a very large line out of the forest that they could walk down. Even if the prints had been lost for a few minutes, Lotto would only need to follow the path of sliced trees and dead creatures to soon find them again.

In no time at all he reached the outskirts of the forest and walked down an extremely long road that led into the royal gardens. ‘That’s strange,’ he thought, ‘why would somepony have taken Marelin to the royal house? She doesn’t seem like a pony who the royals would want anything to do with.”

Lotto hurriedly ducked down behind one of the garden sculptures as a guard marched past where he had been standing. He couldn’t be caught here, only guards that had been chosen by the leaders themselves were allowed in the grounds of the palace, and he was only a trainee. He slowly lifted his head a fraction above the statue’s base, trying to spot where the guard was now. Thankfully he appeared to have only been doing a routine check and had not stayed long in the area. Lotto wiped his brow and tilted his head downwards to the floor.

Why, there were the same hoofsteps he had been following in the Neverfree, and they were leading up to a back door of the palace: the servant’s doorway to be precise. Well if he wanted to find Marelin then that was where he needed to be; he needed to get inside the palace, and quickly to avoid detection. He couldn’t be caught or there would be big trouble.

He hesitated slightly, wondering if he should go back and get Helios and Grain to come as well. ‘No, I shan’t get them into trouble as well. This is up to me now.” So, ducking behind every plant and statue along the way, Lotto sprinted to the palace walls.

Helios and Grain were running. They could have sworn that they had heard a mare’s scream from not too far away, so they had ran; in the hope that it was Marelin and they could save her from whatever trouble she was in. They ran and ran, the mare’s scream getting louder the closer they got to the noise.

They came to an abrupt halt when they found themselves in a nearly bare clearing. The screaming had stopped. Helios scratched his head with his hoof, sure that he had heard the calling from the very place that they now stood, but then how was it that nopony appeared to be anywhere near. Grain too was perplexed about this.

“Maybe...maybe she’s gone into the forest again.” Thinking quickly she ran to a willow and hoisted herself up to the highest branch, trying to spot any sign of pony life; leaving Helios on the ground by himself. He glanced around the area, trying to spot any sign of a pony’s departure through the undergrowth. A stone at the far end of the clearing caught his eye. A sudden bright light filled the small space, emerging from the centre of the large rock, Helios felt drawn towards it and moved without even realising. The bright light rushed over the grass, dying the ground a majestic purple colour and seeped into the pores of Helios’s hooves. He lifted off of the ground, gliding over the newly coloured foliage underneath. The light poured through his body, filling his mind with the great brightness of the sky; his eyes lit up in a white shade and he lifted his head to the power.

Grain watched from the top of the tree, hardly believing what she was seeing. The colt below began to run through the air, quickening his pace so that he could reach the stone from which the power emanated. He reached the top and held out his hooves towards the dancing beams; a handle stuck out of the top of the stone and he took hold of it with his outreached hooves. The light danced around him urging him to pull the handle upwards towards the dark night sky. He did as they wished.

The handle that had seemed so small grew into a mighty blade of steel, submitting to the pull of the young half-breed. Grain covered her eyes to protect herself from the bright flash that commenced afterwards, opening them again to see Helios asleep on the ground. She panicked and jumped out of the tree to go to her friend’s aid, and found that Helios appeared to have gone.

No more was there that same small, white half-breed that she had seen before. Instead a striking young pony slept on the floor, his horn much larger than any other unicorns that she had ever seen, and his wings much larger than any other pegasus she had ever witnessed. The strange stallion opened his eyes and wobbled up onto his feet, blinking rapidly as he took in his surroundings.

“Wha...What happened?” A deep, soothing tone leapt out of his throat, alarming Grain to take a couple of steps backwards. She looked hard at this new pony, her mind taking in everything she saw. His eyes....His eyes contained stars just like...

“Helios? Is that you?” The tall stallion looked down at the mare, scratching his head in puzzlement.

“Well, of course it’s me. Who else would I be?”

“You don’t exactly look like you anymore.” Helios lifted the sword that lay next to his hoof, and looked at himself in the reflection. A startled yell shot through the air.

“What? But how? What am I?”

“It happened when you touched that sword. When the light swept over you.” Helios had no idea what Grain was talking about, he couldn’t remember him touching the sword, nor could he remember anything to do with a bright light. He could remember running. He remembered a lot of that, but everything else was a blur. He shook his head in the hope that his memory would help him recall everything that had just happened in the last few minutes, but he still could not understand why he had awoken as somepony unlike himself.

“Helios, look!” Grain called to the stallion as she bent down in front of the stone “Inscriptions.” The stallion wobbled over to the mare, still trying to get used to his new legs. When he got there he collapsed onto the ground in a heap; Grain smiled and pointed towards the etched writing carved into the brick.

‘Sword of Escalabray:
The Princess dies upon a teary throne,
A tyrant leaves the kingdom torn.
Then comes the light of the true heir;
The son of pegasus and unicorn.’

Grain turned to the stallion kneeling on the floor, her smile grew even larger on her face.

“Don’t you see what this means Helios?”

“No, should I?” Helios said whilst staggering onto his hooves again. Grain hit her head with her hoof, wondering how he could not understand the meaning of everything that had just happened to him. He may be sweet but he was certainly no detective.

“It means that you, Helios; you’re the rightful king.”

“What?” Helios fell flat down onto his face again. He lifted his head, spitting out the multitudes of grass that had amalgamated inside of his mouth. He usually liked the taste of grass but at the moment his taste buds were not in full working order, and he preferred not having food in his mouth during this moment.

“No. I can’t be the King. I’m a half-breed remember. Not a unicorn, not a pegasus. A half-breed.”

“Exactly. You’re both a unicorn and a pegasus. Who better to rule?”

Helios strutted around in a circle, still unsteady on his new hooves. This couldn’t be true, he couldn’t really be the King; how could he be heir to the throne when Evergreen had been picked by the old Princess? Grain noticed the look of fear in his eyes and stood in front of him, grabbing hold of one of his hooves as she did so.

“I believe in you.”

The stallion’s heart beat loudly in his chest as she held his hoof to her body. He gazed into her beautiful soft blue eyes, the dream of them being together flowing through his mind once more. She believed in him...She truly believed in him. Which must mean, she cared for him?

Grain stepped backwards, realising that the horn of the stallion had begun to glow brightly again. Helios looked up towards the light from the top of his head, both confused and startled as to what was going to happen next.

An image flashed up into the sky above them, and both ponies watched the scenes that played. The scenes from the palace.

Lotto dragged his hooves along the floor. There was no use fighting with the other ponies hold; he had been caught and he had to accept that no matter what happened to him. He had been stupid to try sneaking past the door of the soldiers’ weapons room. He should have known that the main place the soldiers would go to hide from the Princess would be inside the one and only room they actually had for themselves in the palace. He had been foalish, far too foalish than a true guard would ever be. Maybe it would be a good thing if he was forced not to become a guard anymore; he clearly would never be able to amount to being good at it.

Evergreen sneered down at the blue Pegasus colt, who had been pushed down onto his knees by the two rough guards that had pulled him in. His head drooped to the floor, ashamed of himself, but Evergreen did not care; she would not give out pity to anypony that chose to break one of her rules. She opened her mouth to speak but wasn’t given a chance due to the abrupt opening of the large front door at the far end of the room.

Marelin strode up to the stairs of the throne holding a piece of paper in one of her hooves, and flung the sheet onto the floor in front of Evergreen.

“What...is...this?” Evergreen glared down at the angry unicorn. Marelin stood, unphased by the Princess’ attitude towards what she had just done. She had something to say and nothing was going to stop her. A young soldier ran in out of breath with gruel all over his front armour; he bowed at the sight of the Princess.

“I’m so sorry m’lady. I took her the food as you requested and she...well she charged past me m’lady.” The young stallion shook in fear, not even daring to see how the Princess had reacted. The Princess showed no emotions to the crowd.

“Take him to the dungeon.”

The guard fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face and his front hooves clasped together in prayer.

“Please...please m’lady. N...n...not that.”

The Princess stared at her hoof, not caring in the slightest about what punishment she had just doled out to the innocent stallion. Two guards rushed from the side of the throne, dragging the crying stallion away from the small procession and through the open door. The door slammed shut.

“Now, what did you wish to say to me Marelin?”

The cloaked unicorn hesitated slightly before continuing with what she had planned to say. She wouldn’t show Evergreen how scared she really felt. She had started and her better judgement told her that she must finish.

“I found these papers under the bed in my room. The room that used to be your room. You hid them so that nopony could ever find out the truth, didn’t you?”

Lotto stared at the lavender pony and then at the papers. If only his front hooves weren’t tied together, he would have reached out and read what they said. Instead all he could do was watch and wonder. He kept a shrewd eye on what the Princess’s reaction was going to be; surely she would not let anypony get away with accusing her of anything. That was definitely troublemaking worthy.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Evergreen looked at her hoof again, trying to avoid the gaze of the young unicorn that had so rudely accused her. Marelin did not take the hint; she had something to say and she was going to say it.

“This is the will of Princess Platinum...the real one, not the fake one that you put in its place.” All the ponies in the room gasped at her accusation and a loud clash echoed through the room as a servant dropped the tray with which she had been carrying the Princess’s cup of tea. Evergreen still did not show any sign of caring about what was happening around her; her hoof was far more important than what any other pony could say or do. Marelin grew angrier at the attitude the Princess seemed to be using over this important matter. It’s true that Marelin loved to mess around and have fun with other ponies, but this was important and every pony should treat it as such.

“Listen to me Evergreen,” she demanded. “The will states that Platinum chose another heir to the throne.” Every pony turned to look at the Princess again.

“Pfft,” the Princess spat. “What other heir? I’m her only relative, remember?”

“No, that’s not true and you know it.” Marelin turned to all of the other ponies. “The will states that the Kingdom would be left to the son of Platinum and...Commander Hurricane.”

Again every pony gasped. A son of the loud, rambunctious pegasus leader and the clean, well bred Princess of the unicorns? It was preposterous, absurd, ridiculous, and yet somewhat romantic in an odd sort of way. The servant that had dropped the tray beforehand clearly could not take any more of the newly released secrets and fainted to the floor. No pony in the room dared go to assist her, all keeping their eyes on their leader on her throne. She had stopped looking at her hoof and her eyes had turned onto Marelin with a fire so intense that the violet unicorn didn’t know how long she could keep looking at the dark mare. The Princess snickered to herself and trotted down the steps, forcing Marelin to take a step backwards in fear.

“So what if there was another heir? He wasn’t here to claim the throne, so rightfully it passed to me.”

“Yes,” Marelin carried on speaking as she backed away slightly, “you made quite sure that he couldn’t show up didn’t you?”

“You have no idea what you are talking about Marelin. You’re just a stupid filly who needs to learn a lesson...once and for all.” Evergreen’s horn lighted up; sparks flew up into the air around her as she prepared to hit Marelin with the most powerful spell in her arsenal.

“She’s right though,” Lotto spoke up from his position. Evergreen shot around to look at the impudent pegasus. Lotto gulped before speaking again. “I mean that the foal was born of two powerful leaders...a unicorn and a pegasus.”

“So?” The Princess bore down onto the tied up colt; her magic becoming even stronger as her anger grew more.

“So,” Marelin put in, “so that’s why you wanted the ‘half-breed’ destroyed more than any other creature in the kingdom. You found out years ago about why this son had not been seen by any other pony.”

“And why would that be? Come on, enlighten me.” Evergreen frowned, her magic still lighting up her horn in anger.

“Because...because Platinum’s child was born a half-breed; she was worried that her subjects wouldn’t accept him as their Prince because of it...so, she hid him away from everypony. That is until you purposely sought to kill him so that you could have the throne instead.”

Marelin and Lotto watched the face of the Princess, expecting that soon they would become even worse off than the guard that had been taken to the dungeon. They both held their breath in worry. The Princess remained silent, every pony in the room felt the uncomfortable stillness as they waited to see what would happen next. Slowly the Princess smiled and began to laugh; her subjects, bewildered about her reaction, also began to chuckle along with her. She waved her hooves in the air, still chuckling; her magic danced red flames across the room, and Marelin and Lotto watched its path as it circled around them.

“You silly foals! Guards!” Evergreen called. “Take him to the deepest cell you can find.” Lotto tried to struggle and kick out at the soldiers who grabbed him, but to no avail. He could not escape the tightness of their hold or slither out of the tightly knotted ropes that held his front hooves together. Marelin could do nothing but stand and listen to his pitiful screams as he was dragged out of the great doors and down into the dungeons. Evergreen now averted her attention onto the petrified young mare that had discovered the truth about her unjust takeover of Equestria. Marelin sought to run but could find no way out of the swirling scarlet magic that had surrounded her. Evergreen’s smile disappeared.

“Now it’s your turn Marelin.”

“What’re you going to do with me? Lock me up in the dungeon with every other pony that stands up to you?” Marelin stared defiantly into the eyes of the tyrant. This only resulted in the Princess chuckling again.

“Silly, silly Marelin. So young and so foalish. She actually thinks that I would destroy her or lock her away. Believe me if I could actually do it I would have done it much longer ago than this; you always did infuriate me more than any other pony.”

The Princess began to circle the young unicorn; her magic swimming in the opposing direction to her passive canter. Marelin opened her mouth to speak but no words would come. Red light clamped down onto her hooves, locking them together so she could not walk. It flew around the rest of her body, welding her mouth together and fixing heavy chains of pure light down onto her limbs. She could not even consider moving or speaking any longer; she was trapped in the dictator’s grasp. She mumbled cries through her fixed gag, but the Princess simply ignored them.

“You know Marelin, out of all the unicorns that Clover could have picked to become the next adviser, I had never once considered it could be you; nopony else had either...but I soon discovered that Clover had been right about you.” Evergreen hastened her trot around the gagged unicorn. “You were much more powerful than even I could have imagined. Thankfully I managed to break your spirit before you had the chance to utilise that power against me.”

Evergreen stopped. Her eyes became dark rubies in her head as the magical chains around Marelin squeezed her tighter and tighter. Marelin tried to scream louder but the immense pressure being forced upon her body and the gag wore upon her mouth ceased any kind of yell she could do. Her breathing rate slowed rapidly; her lungs losing almost every amount of air that they had contained and incapable of getting more in time to stop the inevitable. Marelin collapsed onto the floor; falling into a deep sleep.

The Princess released her magical hold and her eyes turned back to the dark ember they had been before. She beckoned for a guard to come to her immediately.

“I want her locked in her room, and this time you will not let her escape. Do you understand?” The guard nodded, anxious as to not get into trouble himself. “Well then, go you imbecile.”

After a quick salute the stallion hastily picked up the unconscious mare and carried her upon his back to the door and up the stairs. The Princess glared around at every other pony that had witnessed this startling event.

“Anypony else got something they would like to say to me?”

The ponies all shook their heads and a giggle appeared from Evergreen’s throat.

“Yes, I didn’t think so.”

The picture died down, and Grain stared at Helios in bewilderment. That whole scene...it had been real, it had been happening right there in front of them but also far away; it had been so frightening.

“Marelin...Lotto. They’re both in danger.” Helios ambled over to Grain, still trying to get used to the use of his new hooves. “Grain, we have to save them.”

“No.” Grain shook her head, moving away from the stallion. “We can’t...we’re not strong enough. We’re just a mare and a half-breed that can’t even walk properly at the minute. We couldn’t beat that powerful unicorn.”

Helios crept forward, staring into Grain’s terrified eyes as he did.

“Grain, it doesn’t matter if we can, we’ve at least got to try.”

“Why? Why do we have to try?” Grain panicked, her head shifting around to find a place where she could run to. She didn’t want to go, she didn’t want to help; she couldn’t help.

“Because they’re our friends.”

“Helios, we’ve known them for less than a day.”

“So? You’ve known me for less than a day.” Helios stopped and looked pitifully into the blonde mare’s eyes. “Earlier you said that you believed in me, why should you not believe in me anymore?”

“Because...because she’s evil. She’d kill you; I don’t want you to die.”

“I may not,” he pointed out, trying as hard as he could to persuade the upset mare. She was his friend, surely there was no reason she wouldn’t help him save the others.

“I can’t risk losing you,” Grain shouted, tears flowing down her face. “I just don’t want to risk losing you. I love you.” Helios’s jaw dropped down in shock. The mare’s tears dropped slowly down her cheeks and onto the dark ground below her. “I loved you the moment that I looked into your eyes...The moment that you touched my hoof with yours. I loved you, okay, happy?”

Helios was speechless. She would not go because she didn’t want to lose him? She loved him? He searched for words in his mind but couldn’t find the right ones to say to her. Everything he thought of would only make her more upset. There was only one thing he felt he could say: the truth.

“I love you too.”

Grains tears slowed as she gazed upwards at the tall stallion in front of her.

“What?” she wept.

“I love you too. I have done since I saw you. You were so beautiful standing in the light of the sky...You still look beautiful to me now.” Helios moved forward and took hold of the crying mare’s hoof. “But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try and save the kingdom. Even if we don’t succeed; my love will always be there for you.” Grain blinked away the last of the teardrops to fall from her eyes.

“You promise?” she asked him. He stared down at her and rubbed the tears from her cheeks.

“Of course I promise.”

Lotto banged his hoof against the wall, playing a small tune on the brickwork. The dungeon smelt horrible; all of the putrid gases of ancient rotting garbage and sewage leaked up into his cell, tainting his nostrils. He didn’t even want to imagine having to spend the rest of the week in this depressing prison, let alone his whole life. He sighed. Well, at least he had stood up for what he believed in, that had been a milestone worth fighting for. Yet still this did not conceal the fact he was trapped without his permission. He was even more worried about what had happened to the others.

Marelin had seemed so brave when she had stood up to the Princess. Perhaps not too smart standing up to her in the first place, but she had been extremely courageous and had stood up for what she believed was right without backing down. That took guts, more guts than even Lotto possessed. He would never have imagined that a weak pony like Marelin, barely behaving more than a foal at times, could have done something so wonderful. He hummed to himself; the tune he had heard in the forest coming into his memory. A whistle called through the dungeon, seeming to join in with his song. Lotto ceased with his humming and the whistle ceased as well. He shrugged, putting it off as a trick his lonely mind was pulling on him. He began his drumming and humming again.

The whistle echoed through the cavern, louder than last time. Lotto stopped his humming and instead whistled back. An answering whistle, exactly the same tune as his own, swept through to his cell. He repeated his whistle with another tune; again the answer was the exact same as his own, but where was it coming from? He could see nopony else around his cell; and nopony else in the cell next door to his own, so why was there a whistle?

A small clank sounded on the bars of his cage; a key fell onto the floor just inside of his reach. A key? A key? It did not take Lotto much thought to know what this meant. He quickly pushed the key inside of the lock, turned it and the door fell wide open. Glancing around the corner as he did so, he pelted down the corridors and up the stairs to his freedom...Now maybe he could save Marelin. That is, if he could locate where she had been taken.

Evergreen watched as the guards came in one by one. She had called them for a routine check and to give them their next mission. Now that Marelin had been taken care of it was about time that they were told to go and finish their original job of destroying the half-breed. If that half-breed thought that he could simply sneak in here and take over her position as ruler of Equestria, then he was going to get a rude awakening.The position was already hers and she was not going to give it up without a fight; a lot of hard work had been done over the years of constantly having to suck up to her cousin, and she wasn’t going to let that go to waste. The kingdom was hers.

The guards all looked so revolting in their heavily plated armour; if she had actually cared about what they looked like properly then she would have changed their outfits when she had first been put on...oh, silly her...stolen, the throne. However she had to take care of other business before the aesthetics of her army could be changed. She looked down as the leader of the army came sloping in.

‘Oh great,’ she thought, rolling her eyes, ‘it’s that idiot they call a Captain. Well, once my plan is complete, he would be quite indispensable. I mean, nopony would really notice if he simply had a little ‘accident’ that brought upon his death, would they?' She sniggered at the thought of getting rid of the old stallion. Too old in her view; he only spoiled the land she was building; he wasn’t necessary; she could easily be rid of him. Yes, that would please her very much indeed.

Two young guards quickly shifted to the back of the large group, hoping that the Princess would not notice their tardiness and pull them to the front. It was a good thing that the Princess had a very short attention span and had started to look at her hooficure again; otherwise they would have surely been brought forward onto their knees. The great doors were closed behind them and the Princess focused her attention back onto the knights.

“Now blockheads, you’re going to listen to me and obey everything I say.”

“Yes m’lady,” they chorused back.

“You will not fail me like you did last time.”

“No m’lady.” They stared blank faced upwards at her. Emotionless to whatever orders they were given.

“You will go out there, find that horrid monster of a half-breed and destroy him for good ." She gave a satisfied nod and waited for the trained response.

“No m’lady,” two voices shouted before any of the other guards could answer. Evergreen lifted her head higher, looking for the impudent foals who had dared refuse her orders. Nopony had ever dared refuse her, and if they had they were duly punished before they could refuse any further. Her eyes drifted over the top of the procession before her.

“Where are you? Show yourself,” Evergreen sneered. “Or are you too cowardly to admit to your crimes?”

“No,” a tall stallion stepped forward, “I am not afraid of you Evergreen.” The armour the guard had been wearing was ripped off and thrown to the floor, revealing Helios lying underneath. Evergreen gasped and moved backwards a step. This was not possible; he could not be here, not like this.

“But how...How?” she stuttered. “It’s impossible. You can’t look like that...you...you never found the magic sword.”

“You’re right I didn’t.” The guards parted in the middle, making a path for Helios to walk through. “I didn’t, but I have now...and I’m not going to just sit back and watch you hurt innocent creatures anymore.”

“Oh yeah,” Evergreen gloated, her actions betraying her brave front as she stepped backwards on her pedestal. “How? You can’t beat me by yourself.”

“He’s not by himself.” Grain stepped forward, taking off her disguise and standing next to Helios. Evergreen tittered at them.

“Oh look, a scary earth pony. What you going to do darling, plant an apple tree? This is pathetic.”

“I find it quite noble.”

Helios looked around and saw Lotto standing in the servants’ doorway smiling with...Marelin? The cloaked mare and the pegasus strode forward, taking up their positions at the side of their other two friends. Evergreen held her composure the best she could; she couldn’t show her fear of Marelin now being with the team of ponies, that would only show weakness. She laughed but it didn’t sound true to the ponies’ ears, and it certainly didn’t strike anypony as horror inducing.

“So your team consists of: an earth pony mare, a trainee guard, a useless unicorn, and a half-breed. Please, there’s no competition. Or did you forget that I have an entire army at my disposal?”

“Not anymore you don’t.” The Captain stepped forward out of line, clasping his sword on his belt. “I see you managed to find the unicorn like I’d hoped young colt,” he nodded to Lotto. The midnight pony stared back in amazement; so this had been the whistling pony in the cells, the Captain of the guard himself. “Good, she’ll come in mighty useful at beating this ‘ere pretentious princess.”

Evergreen gave another one of her false laughs.

“There’s still only five of you compared to my entire army. You’ll never win.” The guards all looked around at one another and then back at their Captain they had followed so loyally over the years. The older stallion nodded to them. Helios watched as guard after guard walked up and stood by his side, wanting to finally get rid of Evergreen’s power over them and be free. Helios couldn’t help but feel smug about them joining his party.

Evergreen’s composure was losing its strength as she watched her soldiers go over and join her enemies. She stepped backwards, activating her magic and trying to create a shield around herself with it.

“Oh no you don’t,” Marelin cried, concentrating hard on her own horn. A beam of bright purple light swept over her mane and flew in the direction of Evergreen’s own red magic. Evergreen’s shield shattered into a million tiny pieces in front of her. She looked towards the angry crowd that lay before her, opening and closing her mouth like a fish; not able to figure out what she should do next.

“Well...” she uttered “I guess I’ll be going then. Goodbye...” She jumped off the right side of the throne stage, making a hasty retreat towards the open door of the servant’s quarters.

“She’s getting away,” the Captain cried, setting off towards the exit himself. Helios put his hoof in front of him before he could get there, causing the old Captain to halt.

“No. I have to do this myself.” Helios bolted out of the door, spotting the running outline of Evergreen up in front. He had to catch her; he had to stop her from hurting any other pony. His hooves beat upon the cold stone floor and air flooded past him as he ran. His wings outstretched, catching some of the air that drove past him, and lifted him up into the air. Soon he found himself flying higher, nearly up to the roof of the corridor, and there was Evergreen straight in front of him. He soared through the air above, landing just in front of her.

“Give it up Evergreen. It’s over.”

“Never.” She turned and began to run back the way she had come. Helios shook his head before activating his flying ability again. Evergreen kept on running even though Helios was so close to catching her; she couldn’t give up now. She couldn’t let this...eugh...half-breed beat her.

’BANG’

Evergreen tripped over something and crashed into an open door. She moaned and staggered and then fell to the floor: unconscious. Helios landed behind her, confused as what could have happened to stop her. He felt sure that that door had been shut the last time he had flown by. Lotto peered around the outside of the door, grinning at Helios before stepping out into the corridor with him. Marelin and Grain wandered out from the small cracks in the wall they had been hiding in carrying a line of purple glowing rope.

“Well,” Lotto said, “I think that plan went quite nicely. Good rope making Marelin.”

Marelin smiled and zapped the rope with a stream of purple magic, causing it to disappear from both mares’ hooves. Helios looked on, both puzzled and irritated.

“I said that I had to do this myself.”

“Yes,” Grain admitted, “but that didn’t mean that you couldn’t be given a bit of help.”

As angry as Helios was about him not being allowed to catch Evergreen alone, looking around at the happy faces of his three friends eased him. He relented and gave them a smile back. Evergreen lay on the floor: still breathing but not awake. The Captain swung his head around the door.

“Excuse me sir, but should we not take m’lady to the dungeons now sir?”

Helios stared down at the sleeping dark pony. She had made every creature suffer and for that she deserved a punishment far worse than just sitting inside a large cell for the rest of her life. But, yet, Helios did not want to destroy her as she had tried to do to him; he did not want to act or behave in any way that she had ever done. He nodded to the old soldier.

“Yes, that would be best.”

The Captain ducked his head back behind the door and two guards wandered out into the corridor to take Evergreen away where she could no longer upset anypony except for herself. She would not be missed by anypony; that was definitely sure.

For a moment all the friends could do was look at each other and smile; still trying to take in all that had just happened. What with their trip in the Neverfree, the captures of the two ponies, and then the defeat of the dictator of Equestria, they had no idea what felt like dream and what felt like reality. Marelin turned to Lotto and pinched him on the shoulder.

“Ouch! What did you do that for?”

“Just seeing if you were awake or not,” the mare shrugged.

“Well if I’m dreaming, then I never want to wake up.” Helios and Grain stared into each other’s eyes and blushed.

The music struck up in the great hall of the palace. Ponies of all shapes and sizes stood in the congregation patiently awaiting the ceremony to start, with joyous looks spread upon their faces. This was going to be a good day for the land, a good day for everypony, and even a good day for every creature that now resided in the Neverfree Forest. The ponies had considered leading all of the creatures back into Equestria and out of the woods but it seemed that the beasts actually liked their new home and so they were left alone to live quite happily.

Helios too had found that he had not hated the Neverfree as much as he had always thought he would as a foal. In fact far from it. If it hadn’t been for his trip into the Neverfree none of this would have happened; he would not be doing this right now. He was proud to be doing this right now; overjoyed being the only word he could use to describe his feelings. This was such stuff as dreams were made of.

The choir began to sing their cheery melody and the entrance doors swung open. The ponies all turned around to watch the stallion walking up the red carpet to the throne. Helios marched forward, head held high and his teeth shining like the moon when he smiled. A red, flowing cloak fell behind him as he walked; Escalabray gleamed in his jewel encrusted belt, lighting up as much as it had done when he had first discovered it in the stone. He stopped near the front, holding out his hoof to the new knight to have joined his personal army.

Lotto grinned and shook the hoof he had been offered, bowing his head to the soon-to-be ruler of Equestria. Marelin too was offered the young Prince’s hoof, but refused to shake it. She reached out and pulled both Lotto and Helios in for a large group hug. Lotto and Helios coughed and spluttered from the tight grip of Helios’s new personal advisor, and then Marelin stopped and released them both. Helios smiled and moved onto his last friend.

Grain curtseyed to the tall Prince who stood before her. Helios shook his head and grabbed hold of her hoof, staring into her deep blue eyes and reaching out his head and kissing her tenderly on the cheek. She turned red and shyly smiled towards the half-breed.

Helios released her hoof and glided on his hooves up the stairs of the throne It was time.. He turned and faced the procession, bowing to Eclipse and Torrent who stood beside him. They in turn, repeated the process to the young stallion, before handing over their flags to the pony that was leading this procession and taking their step down off of the throne. It had been decided by them that there was only to be one ruler of Equestria; the pony who was a part of every single one of their equine groups: pegasus, earth pony and unicorn. It was about time that the three leaders became one.

The representative leader of the ceremony took hold of the crown that stood by the side of the golden chair. He held it into the air, speaking ancient words to the watching crowd to announce the crowning of the new ruler. He moved the crown closer to Helios’s head as he spoke and then with one last word the crown was atop the head of the new King of all Equestria.

“I dub thee King Alicorn. Everypony will rise for the national anthem of our new ruler.”

The choir struck up again and the audience held their hooves to their chest, singing for him. Helios, now pronounced as Alicorn, held his hoof to his heart too and closed his eyes. He prayed that he would never wake up from this dream, if it was one. At this moment in time everything felt perfect; the destiny he had felt for himself had finally come true. He was to rule over the land that his Father and Mother had helped rule together for so many years. It was perfect.

Helios looked around the small gathering after the ceremony, trying to spot where Grain was so he could ask her a very important question. Lotto and Marelin stood at the feasting table laughing with the elderly ponies that had once been the leaders of the land themselves. Chancellor Pudding Head seemed especially to be enjoying talking with the two young ‘whippersnappers’ as he called them. Even Commander Hurricane had a smile on his face. Helios, Torrent and Eclipse had debated over whether or not the elderly pegasus should be told about the son he’d never known he had, but decided against it. It was best to just let him live the rest of his life without being told the shocking and possibly disturbing news. It was best if he thought that Princess Platinum had had a son with another pegasus she had known.That was the simple and kinder solution.

Helios soon spotted Grain stood on the balcony outside of the room. She looked as beautiful as ever stood there; making what he was about to do even more special to his heart. He wandered over to her and looked out to the surrounding area. The Neverfree stood out in the middle and the mountains at the back outlined the backdrop of the scene.

“Beautiful isn’t it?” he said, startling the mare whom had not seen him coming.

“Oh King Alicorn.” She curtseyed to him. “I didn’t see you coming sire.”

“Please, my name’s Helios,” he shook his head. “I’ve decided that I shall only use the term alicorn to describe what I am. It sounds much nicer than half-breed don’t you think?”

“Yes sire.” Grain turned away and looked at the scenery again. Helios followed her gaze and leaned on the railing of the balcony.

“I’ve also decided to change the name of the woods. There’s no point calling it the Neverfree when we’ve found it to be one of the freest places in Equestria.” Grain nodded, barely even looking at Helios as she did. “I’ve decided to change it to the Everfree Woods. Do you like that name Grain?”

“Yes,” she whispered. Helios beamed, proud. Now was the time where he would ask the most important question of their conversation. He bent down onto one knee, holding a jewel encrusted box aloft. Grain turned to him; her mouth dropped open.

“Grain...I love you so much. Would you do the pleasure of being my Queen?” They each stared into the other’s eyes, waiting for the answer to come. A single tear dropped down Grain’s cheeks and she turned to look in another direction, avoiding Helios’s gaze.

“Helios, I can’t marry you.” The stallion sunk down onto his other knee, distraught at what he had heard. She couldn’t have just said what he thought she had said; no, they loved each other; they wanted to be together right? Grain still refused to turn around and confront Helios face to face.

“I lied to you Helios. I lied to all of you: Lotto and Marelin as well.” She sighed, another tear falling from her eye. “I’m not an upper-class pony like I said, I’m a servant at another house not too far away. And my full name’s not really Grainivere, I made that up so that you wouldn’t have any way to find out the truth about me. And....and, well..” A tear rolled down her cheek as she thought about what to say next. ”I was only in the forest because I wanted to think over some things.”

“What things?” Helios could barely muster enough courage to ask his question. He was so upset at what was happening here.

“You see the Lord's son had just asked me to marry him...and I wanted to think over whether or not I really wanted to.” She paused and turned around to face him. “And then I met you and everything became so complicated. I found myself falling for you the same way I had for him...but then...well...Helios?” She took hold of his hoof, helping him to stand up again. “I do love you...really...but I loved him first. I have to go back to him. You do understand don’t you?”

Helios peered into the eyes of the pony he had loved so much. She was so beautiful...and so free. Helios didn’t want to upset her anymore than she had already seemed to be. He nodded to her, not able to say what he really felt. He couldn’t take away her happiness to comfort his own selfish desires; he loved her far too much to do that. Grain smiled and gave him a large hug, letting go after a minute or so.

“You’re a good stallion Helios. Someday you’ll find a mare that will love you even more than I ever could. I promise.” She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before running off into the room to ask for a carriage ride back to her home. Helios held the cheek where she had left her final mark, the last remnant of the love they had shared together. He watched the scenes from up above as she gave him one last wave before stepping into her carriage and the guards taking her away from him...forever.

Lotto and Marelin appeared by his side, patting him on either shoulder to show that they were there for him and that they were sorry he had not got what he wanted. Lotto looked wistfully after where the carriage had exited, he too knowing that he had missed his chance with the beautiful earth pony. But that didn’t matter anymore to any of the ponies; even Helios couldn’t help but smile at his two friends. They gazed towards the back of the view, the mountains standing high, and were glad that soon they would be living up there watching from above.

Beforehand Helios had gathered some builder ponies and had sent them to the tallest mountain to begin construction of their new town. He had hoped that Grain and he could have lived up there together, but at least he’d still have his new town; his ‘Canterlot’ as he had decided to call it. It was to be a city of hopes and dreams, where nopony would ever feel like nothing, everyone could be happy and joyous. It was his, and it was where he belonged.

Helios beamed his magic up into the sky and the three friends stood together watching as the sun fell over Equestria and the moon lifted up into the night sky. Everything was as it should be he supposed. The Legend of Alicorn and Escalabray had been born.

NEXT TIME: The Legend of the Mare in the Mere.

Author's Note

IMPORTANT: IF YOU WISH TO KNOW HOW THIS LINKS TO ARTHURIAN LEGENDS, OR LOOK INTO THE MIND OF THE LUNATIC WRITING THESE SAGAS THEN COME READ THE LINKS FOUND IN THE STORIES.

'Episode' links to MLP:

Introduction of key element to the story, the first Alicorn Helios who the story is based on.
Introduction of key characters that influence the future of Equestria, which we know as the present MLP Universe.
First use of the original Element of Harmony.

'Episode' links to the Arthurian Legend:

The Legend of Escalabur is a very famous story of Arthur, and is one of the most well known. It is said that this sword was created in a dragon's fire and has the ability of being able to not only kill living beings with one blow, but also is able to kill dead or immortal creatures as well. This sword was used during one battle and then supposedly given to the Lady of the Lake before it was needed again. This sword fits very well until the story of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, because through it we can see a link to The Elements of Harmony that are used by Twilight and her friends, and were previosuly used by Princess Celestia and Luna. In some ways we can still look towards the origins of how the sword ended up in the stone, but it may be good to leave that up to the imaginations of all the people who read this story.
Merlin was the number one wizard and personal advisor to King Arthur. I chose to make him a young purple mare, as a reference to who's ancestor she may be in the future, 'hint hint'. The youngest I know Merlin being depicted as was in the Legend of how Wales came to have a Red Dragon on it's flag, when a young boy (later the Wizard we know and love) was saved from being sacrificed by telling the present King about the Welsh dragon fighting against the English dragon underneath the hill they were building. With this in mind I decided to make Marelin a young mare who behaved much like a foal would, because of a lack of being able to make friends growing up. Marelin is in many respects the opposite of Twilight Sparkle, as she loves to ignore work whilst Twilight works too hard.
Lancelot was by far and away Arthur's best friend and loyalist knight despite the future problems their friendship would face. You will see quite a lot of the way through this specific Legend I refer to him and make him sound somewhat perfect, and that's because throughout the real Legend he's described both by his friends and enemies as being 'perfect'. He was a brilliant soldier and also a very just and loyal person, as much so that if he were ever to meet anyone like Evergreen he wouldn't be happy with their dictatorship over the land.
So, if anyone marginally knows a little bit about the Legend of Arthur they'll know that his wife was Guinivere, who's Grain's namesake in the story (despite the bad nicknaming); and anyone who does know this is probably confused as to why she left him at the end and didn't marry him like she did in the real story. The answer to that is that, according to long details of the real story, there wasn't just one Guin that he married in the end. Arthur was actually noted as dating three women with the same name. Following this I decided to go down the path that the original went down, so no Grain isn't marrying Helios 'yet'. Who knows in the future they may wed, and she may be the real Guinivere. We'll just have to wait and see on that one. Both Lotto and Helios show that they have feelings for this mare, and why'd I do this? Was I just trying to trick you into thinking she was the real Guin? Nah...I thought it'd be good to show from the first point that the two 'colts' both tend to like the same mares and struggle with this.
Evergreen? Evergreen? Now how could somepony like Evergreen ever be related to the Arthurian Legend? The answer to that, she can't properly and for that I'm sorry. You could say that she's very loosely based on the previous King, Arthur's Father, Uther Pendragon. In much the same way as Evergreen, Uther didn't appreciate magic or magical creatures, fearing they were more powerful than him, and so he did all he could to get rid of them. Other than that there was no real method to her being there other than she was a good villain, and a *could* good ruler. I said it...Please don't hurt me Your Majesty, I said it for you.
Arthur, Helios. Helios, Arthur. How do those two link? Actually Helios only truly becomes Arthur at the end, when he becomes King Alicorn. Believe it or not Arthur was never seen as weak or silly; he was a strong Knight and was always the Prince of the Kingdom under his Father. He lived in a palace as a child and had servants. So Helios is a tad different at the beginning to the real Arthur, but in my defence Your Honour, this isn't just a story based on Arthur, it's to look into the past of My Little Pony as well. I rest my case.

That ends this edition of 'Links' and all we have to say now is, *hands over a book*, 'Helios, this is the start of your life.'

Thanks for reading everypony.

The Legend of the Mare of the Mere

A chorus of cheers set out along the dirt roads as the embezzled carriage glided into the view of the waiting ponies. A mad scramble from the front of the crowd ensued, not even the small foals being exempt from the amount of pushing they did to get their dream of seeing their King up close. The carriage trundled on, coming closer and closer to the madness. The pony hoofman looked on at the surging with discontent. He did not approve of his having to steer through these large hordes to ensure that the ruler was safe. Sticking his head through the window of the carriage he whispered to the pony that sat inside.

“Your Highness, there seems to be a rabble on this road. Do you want us to take you and your friend another way?”

A white snout shifted outwards and moved closer to the window; it peered around and grinned to see the gathering ponies pushing on the road. Helios shifted back and whispered something to his friend in the side of the carriage with him. The friend smiled in the shadows and whispered something back, to which Helios let out a laugh. He turned back to the hoofman, who waited patiently for his answer.

“No it’s alright Emblem. If the ponies wish to see us then we’ll see them,” he informed the disgruntled stallion worker. The stallion, although annoyed, nodded to his King and shuffled back onto his seat at the front of the carriage. Helios beamed. He was so happy today; it was his first day outside of Canterlot in a couple of weeks and he had never been happier to leave his perfect house and enter back into the world he had once known. The land had always been his home; though underground the majority of time, he still loved the farms and fields as much as an average earth pony would.

Lotto glanced at his young friend from the other side of the carriage. He was glad to see him looking okay again; the white half-breed had been looking so lost and forlorn in the last few days. Lotto knew that King Alicorn, as he was now formally called, was deeply upset still about his loss of the pony he had loved. He too, missed Grain a lot, as he also had affection for the young mare, but he did not show it.

He had been extremely proud when Helios had made him Captain of the royal guard; he had trained all of his life to do this and was pleased that he was good enough to have become a leader so quickly. Though some would argue that he was only given the position because he had made friends with the young ruler, he knew that Helios had only given him the position because he trusted him entirely. Why, if it hadn’t been for Lotto and a few others then Helios would not have gained his position of rightful heir back from the clutches of the tyrant Evergreen.

Evergreen had been a nasty piece of work alright. Ruled the kingdom with an iron hoof, she did. When Helios took over, he vowed that it would never be like that again. He was a fair and just King and Lotto firmly believed he always would be. Lotto sighed. It was nice to be travelling with his friend, and it was nice that he was now a Knight, but he supposed that in the back of his mind he was thinking the same as Helios: ‘Why can’t I find my true love?’ Lotto would have loved a mare he could count on and protect; it was his greatest wish after becoming Captain. Helios too was having the same thought about a mare he could find.

There was one mare that they were both fond of and that was Marelin. Marelin was the sorceress and royal advisor to Helios, and had been one of the ponies that had helped him gain his royal title; both cared for Marelin a lot, but neither could see Marelin as more than just a friend. She was sweet and nice and brave and loyal, but she wasn’t what they would call a true love. When they had first met she had behaved not much more than a foal would, and even though she had begun to grow up being in her position of authority, she was still that same friendly foal at heart. Not that they would want her to change--they liked her the way she was, but still they would never consider marrying her.
It was a shame that Marelin could have not come with them on their journey to Zebrica; they could have had fun together. Unfortunately Marelin had had to go away on her own mission and could not accompany them after all. Zebrica was to be their stop, and was in fact a long journey. They had been offered the chance for a Pegasus team to fly them there but Helios had instantly denied and said he would set off earlier and go by land. He wished to see the land his ponies lived on and see if there was anything that he could help fix in any way. He wanted his land to be as pleasant a place to live as possible. Soon in Zebrica a peace treaty would be signed between the two lands, and harmony could reign over their two kingdoms.

Helios stopped thinking and tapped on the top of the carriage, a signal for the driver to slow down and pull over. Lotto watched as the half-breed clambered down the steps and trotted into the surging crowd. He shook hooves with ponies of all ages, chattered amiably to old mares and stallions, and even handed over a hanky to a sick little filly with a cold and a crutch by her side. The ponies could not be more joyous; their new King really seemed to care for each and every one of them: old and young, rich and poor, in health and in sickness. Lotto beamed with pride at his friend’s attention to the crowds but did not attempt to follow him out of the carriage. Helios could do fine all by himself.

The hoofman and other guards watched from close-by, anxious as to whether their King would be injured by the overly eager crowd. They stood weapons ready, just in case. Helios seemed to be a long time in his endeavours but other than having to wipe his hoof that a foal had sneezed on, he received no injuries of any kind, much to his workers’ relief. He climbed back into his carriage and shut the door; giving the ponies a final wave before Lotto signalled for the carriage to start up again. They couldn’t do this too often or they would never stay on schedule.

The next length of the journey would be under the cover of the Everfree forest, as named by Helios himself. Lotto and Helios had no fears of the forest at all, though Helios was always a bit wary of discovering any dangerous creatures that had been moved there during Evergreen’s reign. Lotto, however, most certainly never showed any fear of the forest. Helios admired this. The fact that Lotto had managed to go into the dark place and train to be a soldier, whilst other ponies were terrified of even stepping near the foliage in front of the trees, was a marvel to him. Where he had gained his courage had always been a mystery to him. They had known each other a short while now and yet; still Helios did not feel that he knew everything about the blue pegasus. He knew enough to consider him his friend but that was all.

Lotto noticed the white stallion’s stare at him and grinned to him from his seat. Helios returned the favour. It was hard to not like Lotto; he was such a cheerful pony-- perhaps not as cheerful as Marelin was sometimes-- but a more controlled, sensible type of happy instead. Yes, Helios was content with the ponies he had in his life, even if he sometimes felt lonely without Grain there in the collection with them. Grain had been such a good character and Helios had done her a kind and generous favour when he agreed that she should go back and marry the stallion who she had loved before him; even if her leaving made Helios rather lost in the love department.

Helios had never understood love, nor had he ever really understood the constant obsession with ponies of the opposite gender. He had spent one half of his life living far away from other ponies in a small cottage with only an elderly Nanny to look after him (hardly a choice when considering true romance) and the other half he had spent underground all alone. There had been no opportunity for him to ever speak to a mare properly; most would have run at the sight of what they believed to be a scary story monster told at foals’ bedtimes. He wasn’t real to them, and they could never have been real to him. That was until he met Grain and Marelin, both of which didn’t think of him as deformed in any way.

He sighed as the carriage slowly began to trundle through into the darkness of the weeping willows and oaks. This was going to be a long trip, and he should make the most of every minute of freedom. He put his head back and shut his eyes, yawning. It had been a long day; he really needed to relax and get some rest if he wanted to be awake for the summit when he got there. Lotto moved over and watched the foliage skim past his view…This is what he loved; his Everfree was as beautiful as he remembered.

The hoofman shot his glances over the dark grass; taking in all that was going on around him. The Knights too, walking by the side of the vehicle, also kept a keen eye on any trouble that may befall them. They didn’t expect any trouble to come but it was always good to be vigilant in case the time was needed when they had to bear arms and defend themselves. The driver kept his eyes on the road in front of him, quite enjoying his long expedition over the newly dug dirt roads. It was a breath of fresh air considering the period beforehand when no work was coming his way from the palace.

The Hoofman turned to the driver and whispered into his ear. The driver nodded and pointed with a hoof towards the front of the car.

“Ah I see,” the hoofman said, “So, there is no chance that they can fall off without the ponies pulling the carriage deciding to do it themselves?”

“Not technically true sir,” the driver muttered while gazing into the road once more, narrowly avoiding a large pot hole. The hoofman looked surprised. He had never ridden much on a carriage beforehand; indeed, he had only begun employment at the palace a few days ago. He was the new colt of the large family, and he was intent on doing his best. Sadly he had not yet begun to understand too much about his job fully, so he was learning on the go.

“Then another pony could take them off and the carriage could stop abruptly?” he asked inquisitively. The driver looked slightly exasperated with all of the questions he was being asked. He was an old stallion, rather set in his ways, and was not entirely good at dealing with any requests of youngsters. He lifted a hoof and brushed back his comb-over so that his bald patch would be covered up again; he was very particular that he should always look his absolute best when escorting the royal family places, Princess Platinum had always admired him for his dedication to his looks.

“No, nopony would be able to make the carriage stop.” He muttered rather than spoke his words and he avoided eye contact as much as he could. “Only me or the stallions dragging the car along can stop it.”

“But you said….”

“I know what I said,” the old stallion snapped. The young hoofman immediately became quiet and left the driver alone in peace. The driver was happy. There was a reason he had never wanted foals.

The foot soldiers carried on picking their way through the flora on the edge of the path, following the tracks of the carriage they were escorting. They had to do their duty and stick by the King’s side no matter what were to happen. For this trip there was a whole herd of knights accompanying the wealthy travellers. Not only was there Lotto inside of the carriage and the two knights pulling the car along, but there was also twelve knights surrounding the front and back. They had to make sure that nothing could get the nobles, as was in their job description.

The two knights at the very back of the crowd were even more wary than the ones up front. It was always bad to be at the very hind of the crew, it meant that they were more susceptible to being attacked from behind and getting knocked down. This horrible job was usually given to the more experienced knights, and today was no exception. Golden Blade and Mighty Joe had been with the knights for a decade or so now, and had even survived working for the old queen Evergreen. They were both loyal to whoever had been put in charge, and never expressed their feelings against the rules that any of the Majesties created. They were puppets under the control of their rulers and nothing more. They had trained to be ruthless and obey, that was all.

However just because they had been trained to follow orders did not mean that they were brainless, and even though they were being watchful over the area it did not stop them talking about what had happened in their lives recently.

“Yes,” Blade told his friend, “Little Dumpling took her first steps the other day; her Mother and I were right proud.” He flinched and pointed his sword towards a bush at the side.

“Oh, I remember when my Shortcake took his first steps. A few years ago now though. They grow up so fast you know.” Blade nodded to his friend and lowered his sword, perfectly confident that there were no dangers lurking in that particular area.

“How is Shortcake? Still having that bed-wetting problem he had last time we spoke?”

“That’s the strange thing; no. Took him to that new healer in the village; you know that Le Neigh mare, she did him wonders she did, not had a wet dream for weeks now.” Joe looked pleased at his son's’ progress, and he was proud of it. It had taken the young colt a long time to get over the problem that had been embarrassing him for years. It was Joe’s turn to flinch as he poked at a large plant next to him. It was clear.

“Shortcake’s such a good colt. I just wish the other foals at his school could see it you know?”

“Yeah I get it mate. I’d want the same for my son, if I had one.” Blaze stopped, occupied with checking another bush that loomed into view. “Though,” he carried on, “My oldest, Glimmer, she was one of those popular foals when she was their age. Nowadays she never seems to act her age.” He sighed and bent down to look under a stone on the floor. They could leave nothing unchecked. Music flew through the breeze nearby him. “I don’t know. She’s not old enough to leave home yet but she acts as if she’s all grown up.” A twig beside him cracked and he shot sideward into it, looking for any interloper if there was one. Thankfully it seemed as if it was the fault of a bird, not a monster, which had broken it. He wandered out of the area and back to where the carriage had carried on going.

“Yeah; the teen years sure are harder than they tell you. Not sure if you can cope when Shortcake starts to…” He jumped and looked around the area. It was empty, aside from the other ponies walking far ahead of him. Joe had gone. No matter where he searched he could not see his friend anywhere. He called to him, thinking he may have gone through the trees slightly after a noise, but Joe did not return his call. Blade skimmed his eyes over the ground. He couldn’t go in search of his friend, not while he still had his duty to see to. The music played a soothing tune into his ears, whispering soft notes to him, telling him that Joe would be alright; he’d be back in a few minutes. They would be together again shortly.

His mind grew cloudy and then he moved and wandered far into the woods… all by himself.

The carriage carried on into the forest; the driver and the hoofman both sitting on the edge of their seats to avoid the other stallion. They were not so happy in one another’s company, and the hoofman felt quite offended by the older pony’s tone of speech towards an innocent new worker. He muttered to himself; cursing under his breath so that nopony else could hear his anger. He was only a young stallion and he believed that since he now worked in the palace he deserved some respect. Sadly he had not yet discovered that none of the palace workers treated any of the other workers differently to the way they had been treated, and if any new ponies came to work they would be as gruff as possible with them to knock them down off their high horse. The hoofman would come to learn this and then the driver would be a lot friendlier with him.

Helios and Lotto appeared content within the cabin. The young King was half asleep and looked more at peace then he had ever been in his life before, and Lotto seemed happy enough watching the world fly by outside the window. Overall they were pleasantly fatigued both of them and thought they deserved a bit of rest on this journey.

Everything seemed to be working like clockwork so far. They had greeted ponies as they had planned, stopped off at shops and farms on the way to their destination as they had planned, and gone in the right direction to Zebrica which was the key element to their plan. Nothing had disturbed them or worried them in any way and although some of the journey took place in dangerous places they didn’t appear to be too worried about it.

Lotto knew the Everfree like the back of his hoof; he had spent a considerable time of his life in there. He couldn’t see why other ponies appeared to fear something that he saw as quite beautiful and majestic, perhaps they just feared it because they didn’t know anything about it; he would have to rectify that. He watched as the world flew by beside him, moving so fast he felt his view could never quite catch up with it. Because that was the truth of the matter, he thought, his life had seemed to go quite fast what with signing up to join the knights, then the whole trouble with Alicorn, and then now his job as Captain of the guard. True the old Captain had given him some pointers on how the job had to be done but somehow, even though it was his foalhood choice of occupation, he still felt like it had been given to him incorrectly no matter how ready he was for it.

A song lilted through the breeze and into the window. Lotto listened patiently, transfixed by the wonderful melody that swam freely in the air. This song was wonderful; he genuinely loved the natural beauty of the notes, as he had always done. The young King’s ear twitched as the harmony rattled into his eardrums. ‘Lovely’, his mind screamed to him. ‘So lovely.’

His dreams took in all of the sound and pitch, creating them into something new and extraordinary. Look, there was he, Helios, with a mare by his side; a mare that he loved very dearly. Marelin? Certainly not, Marelin was a good friend and nothing more. Grain? No, Grain had left him for another so it could not be her. He pondered in his subconscious but could not think of any other mares he knew well enough and would consider a suitable partner for his wedding day.

It was definitely his wedding day though. There was he with a stunning suit on, his sky locks flowing behind him as he smiled and lifted a tiara into the air, ready to place it on his new Bride’s head and proclaim her Queen. She was turning. He was going to see her face for the first time? An arranged marriage perhaps? Would he ever allow an arranged marriage to occur? He hoped not. However this new bride was certainly one he had never met before. He felt the hesitance coming from the character portraying him; he saw the anguish and the fear of the unknown. He supposed in some ways, he saw that he was a big chicken.

The band struck up a peaceful tune, readying his view upon the face of his new beloved. Here it comes, he’s going to see. Pearly white teeth shine, green hair falls to her shoulders, innocent emerald eyes stare up into his face, and there she is…there is the wonderful…

Emblem?

“Your majesty.” Helios awoke with a start and looked up towards the hoofman peering through his window. The carriage appeared to have stopped moving, and Lotto looked as confused as he did. What was going on here? Emblem looked down on him with his flowing purple mane and waited for his King’s reply. Helios shook himself to wake up.

“Yes,” he asked the hoofman, groggily,“What’s wrong?”

“It’s the work ponies at the front Sir.” Emblem pointed with his hoof to the front of the carriage. Both Lotto and Helios leaned their heads out of the window to take a look. Unfortunately the front of the carriage blocked their view.

“Yes?” Helios asked sharply, “What’s wrong with them? Are they tired?”

“Well, no Sir,” Emblem answered, tugging on his tie with nervousness. “They’re gone Sir.”

Helios stared in amazement at the startling white colt. Gone? How could they have just gone? That was impossible. Had they not been under constant watch from the ponies around them; why even the driver and the hoofman ought to have been able to keep an eye on them. Surely nothing could have sneaked up and taken them without anypony else being able to see them. It was – It was absolutely absurd. Lotto pondered to himself for a couple of minutes; the same thoughts in Helios’s head running through his own, though in a much more logical ‘anything can happen’ sort of way. He beseeched to the young colt leaning through the paneless window.

“Open the door! I want to look at this.” Emblem nodded his head to the midnight stallion, shaking in worry as he clasped his hooves around the door handle and pulled it open. Lotto stood and wandered through onto the damp floor of the forest, the leaves rustled a hello to their old friend but he paid no attention to them. He trotted up to the front of the carriage and surveyed over the empty stirrups that lay before him. The driver stood, as perplexed as an old pony could ever be in such a strange situation. This had never happened in his life before, nor had he ever really wanted it to.

Helios nimbly joined the confused crowd up front, being as cautious as to look around him a few times to make sure it was all clear. He didn’t want to be caught and be the next one on the missing ponies list. At least by Lotto he knew he would be safe from harm.

Lotto tugged and pulled, peered and leered, sniffed and licked (though this seemed highly strange to the other ponies standing around). In the end he could only come to one conclusion.

“Sire,” he said, “These stallions walked off.”

As much as they would have liked to have said that this solved the confusion illuminating in their minds, they were all still drawing a blank. Why would the stallions have just wandered off into the Everfree? Nopony except Helios and his friends could feel even vaguely safe in the dark wonderland, so the idea that two young stallions could have had the bravery to wander off into the unknown seemed startling. That and the fact that they were supposed to say with the royals and protect them at all times, and clearly hadn’t done; the old Captain would have had them punished for breaking their vow of service. Lotto didn’t know what he was to do, he just wanted to find them first.

He stood and shuffled to the carriage door again. From under his seat he pulled out a fine sword and shield, made specifically for him when he was leaving to become a knight by his guardian. A crest of blue and green waves rested on the front; his lucky charm. Comfortable with the way he had positioned them in his armour he called to the watching ponies.

“I’m going to go scout around,” he cried, “See if I can see any signs of them and bring them back.”

Helios didn’t know why but when Lotto left he felt a large chill run up his spine. He felt lost…and alone without his friend. It seemed silly that a powerful stallion like him, who could control the sun and the moon all by himself, should feel nervous when a simple pegasus was not by his side. But he was scared, even if he wouldn’t admit it to his servants.

Emblem’s teeth chattered together. It was freezing, absolutely freezing, and he didn’t like the atmosphere that was gathering around them. He could sense danger, a lot of danger. His horn froze inside, beckoning him to leave and walk away, this was not the life he had needed, this is not what his special talent was. He was a collector of geodes and stones, a keen geologist, not a target for any creature that decided he looked tasty all of a sudden. He had only really joined the palace crew because he needed the money; his Mother needed healing of a terrible terminal affliction; if he saved enough money he could take her to see Le Neigh and everything would be alright again. He needed his Mother by his side; she was too young to leave him already.

The driver was having different thought processes entirely. He kept looking over the bridles and pieces of wood in pure astonishment. Why, never in his whole career had anything like this happened; it seemed strange that it was only when a new ruler were put in charge and opened up the ‘evil’ forest that this should’ve happened. It was happening all right, but why had it happened? He didn’t get it at all. He had been here for far too long, in this job. He was hastily looking forward to retiring in a couple of weeks’ time and then he could be free from all of this stuff: the rules and regulations, the Knights and their constant surveillance over him, the mare that eyed him up every time he went to collect his pay cheque, and these pestering youngsters who didn’t do anything but stand there and shudder in their horseshoes. No complications, no worries, just pure and utter bliss.

The Knights surrounded the area, keeping an eye out for any interlopers to come by. They had seen Lotto go off and had known that when he left it meant that it was entirely up to them to ensure His Majesties safety. They would do this with the utmost diligence just as they had been trained to do. Lotto knew that he could trust the guards he had left in charge, he had hoof-picked them himself to go on this mission. He had been sure that they could accomplish their job and trusted them entirely.

Sometimes Beech Wood wondered why he had been trusted so much at this time; he had never been counted of as anything special by the last Captain, in fact Evergreen had gone so far as to call him a lily-livered coward many times. Beech Wood hadn’t liked Evergreen, he hadn’t minded his old Captain too much, he was only following orders, but Evergreen hadn’t been told to be that harsh to everypony. He had done everything she had told him to do, and it had only taken one incident of letting that young unicorn escape from her room when he had taken her dinner, to get him sent down into the pit of the dungeons.

He didn’t even want to consider how he and his family would have felt if he had stayed down there forever. He would have never seen his wife again that was for sure, and they hadn’t even been married too long. He would have never seen his foal have his first steps; he loved little Dewdrop more than anything in the whole of Equestria…besides his wife of course. He was glad that he had been there for Dewdrop’s first words as well, he might have missed that if he were still down in the prison cells, and he was doubly happy because he had been the one to spark off his first word. Beech Wood remembered that day, the day when he first came home late because of being thrown to the dark ponies below. Dewdrop had been so excited to see him again; very excited indeed. He had opened his mouth very wide, held out his arms for a hug and cried ‘Beech’ right into the face of his tired Mother. While Beech wasn’t so sure he wanted his son calling him by his first name he was still extremely proud of his little colt.

Beech sighed and looked around the area. He wished he were with his wife and son now; nothing or nopony could make him as happy as he was when around them. He loved them so much; there would never be another for him. He surveyed the rest of the guards around him, hoping upon hope that they hadn’t seen any danger coming. He didn’t know how he’d cope in proper dangerous situations.

He turned to two of the guards to his left; his good friends, Charm Bells and Ring Master, stood smiling into the air. Beech grinned to see them, he couldn’t help it, they looked so funny just standing there with that over joyous smile. What was there to be happy about? He couldn’t see anything to be so excited over, just bushes and trees and the overwhelming fear of being struck down at any minute. Nothing to smile about in his view; yet they still smiled.

He ambled over to them slowly, waiting to knock them out of their stolid position. Perhaps if he crept silently enough he could startle them out of their sundered grins; that would be a good joke that would. Silently he pattered up to them before jumping out in front and staring right into their eyes. His heart went cold. They stared back at him with the same smiles, not moving from their constant facial expressions. Their eyes…Their eyes…They were completely white. There was no other colour in the area where their blue and purple rims once covered, no iris with which to see out of…It was – It was horrible.

Beech stuck a hoof backwards in horror. What was this? What was going on? What was wrong with his friends? The forest sang to his worried mind, urging him to realise that his friends were still there, they were still with him. But they weren’t. He could see they weren’t. They couldn’t even seem to realise that he existed at all, nor could they acknowledge the job they were supposed to be doing. The music sounded louder, praying that he would listen and obey it, but Beech would not listen; he did not need a bunch of trees to comfort him. He needed – He needed his wife…and Dewdrop. Now. He needed to be home with them where it was safe.

He kicked his foot back slightly more and felt the sharp stick of a rock poking him from behind. He was too close to the trees; he was being stung from behind his back. His friends, the two glassy-eyed guards moved closer to him, putting one hoof in front of the other as quickly as a tortoise would move. This was not good – Whatever had possessed them was coming to get him. He was going to be killed by his two best friends. He would never get to see Dewdrops first day of school.

He closed his eyes, praying to the ancient royalty that he would be protected from these monsters. He couldn’t die now, he was far too young to die. He had his whole life ahead of him. He heard a rustle from the side of his hooves. ‘This is it’, he thought, ‘I’m going. My life has finally caught up with me.’ He flinched, waiting for the pain to descend upon him…but nothing happened. Nopony came and struck him down with force. He could still breathe and move and feel. He was alive.

He opened his eyes to the world around him again. Charm Bells and Ring Master were gone. Neither of the zombified ponies seemed to be lurking around now. They had disappeared somewhere into the forest. Beech couldn’t help but feel relieved. He had survived that ordeal well enough. He looked over the land in front of him and realised something. Thinking quickly he hobbled over to where the carriage stood.

Helios, Emblem and the driver looked up as a clattering of hooves charged towards them. Could it be an attacker? Was this the end?

“Your majesty,” Beech panted to the King. “The guards sire – The guards.”

“What about them?” Helios barely even dared to ask, somehow he felt he knew what the answer would be. And he didn’t want to hear it because that would make what was happening here too real.

“The guards,” Beech stuttered in fright, “They’re all gone sire. Every last one of them except me sire.”

The darkness flooded over the top of the four stallions. This was serious and each of them knew it.

Lotto carried on moving through the undergrowth. He had found some hoof prints a while back and had decided that following them would be the best chance to see what was going on here. It had been at least an hour, if not more, and he still hadn’t seen hide nor hair of the two missing guards who were pulling the carriage. It was almost as if they had vanished into thin air.

Lotto knew these woods, especially this part, so he had no worries about finding his way back to the dirt road track where the others were. He just prayed that the other guards were keeping a good look out and protecting his good friend Helios. Helios was strong in certain ways such as in being fair and just, but not in other things like fighting down and protecting himself from big monsters and demons. It just was not his way to fight, unlike Lotto who had grown up being able to stand up for himself against dangers.

His guardian had made sure that Lotto had stuck to what she considered his true calling; to protect mares and stallions in the land. She had been very proud when he had announced that he had begun to train to be a Knight, and she would be even more proud when she’d found out that he, Lotto Lancer, was now Captain of the royal guard.

He had not seen his Mother in a while now, his precious guardian that had guarded him his whole life. He could always trust her, despite her little ways she sometimes had. The forest had been one place where he and her could connect and act as one joint family. Together with his two brothers, he had cared for her as she had for him. If ever a teardrop fell down from her eye, one of her small colts would be by her side ready to wipe the sadness away with their hoof.

Mother did not like stallions to come around. She hated what they made her behave like. But she loved her little colts, Lotto and his brothers, and they loved her too, more than anything. He remembered this part of the trees; the fun times they all had together there. That one time when a young mare had walked through into the woods and Mother had done her very worst into making sure that the mare never disturbed them again. Lotto did not like his Mother in that state; she used to frighten all of them when it happened. Thankfully she never acted like that to them when they were together.

He trundled on following the prints on the floor. ‘Strange, they seem to be going into that cave.’ Lotto knew this cave. This was the ‘Trouble cave’, named because if they even dared to wander near it when they were younger their Mother would be extremely harsh with their punishment. Lotto felt slightly nervous about staring into the mouth that had amazed and frightened him so much as a foal. He breathed in and filled out his chest. ‘Well, if the prints go in here, then I must go in here too,’ he thought. ‘For Helios.’

Lotto wandered through into the darkness. Music lifted through the outside air from the forest, the rocks beat along with the tune. It was loud outside, but inside Lotto could hear none of this wondrous melody. The last he saw of the outside world was the blowing breeze before a large rock sounded a loud percussion and landed right in front of the mouth of the cave. Lotto looked on in fright. He couldn’t believe it. He was locked into the very cave that he feared most.

Helios was not enjoying his time in the forest. Then again, neither were the other three ponies with him and they were exactly the few ponies that didn’t enjoy the jobs they had been given within the palace walls. All three of them wanted to escape to another life and they just prayed that they got the chance before perhaps becoming ‘prey’ to something themselves. None of them wanted their lives to come to an abrupt halt; they all had something to go back for, and they didn’t want to lose now.

Beech Wood was still shook up from seeing his friends in the state they were. What was wrong with them? Their eyes were so horrifying and disturbing, their corneas and iris’s non-existent. It was absolutely horrible. He had known Charm and Ring Master for a couple of years now, they were very good friends, and the idea that they could just be taken like that. They were far too brave and valiant to be so easily defeated; they had been two of the top students in the training academy, whereas he – he had always been closer to bottom in the line-up.

It’s not that Beech was stupid, far from it. Beech just didn’t enjoy fighting as much as some of the other Knights, and he found easy tears coming to his eyes whenever he was in some form of danger. The problem was, despite the insults and the turmoil thrown his way about the crying he partook in a bit of the time, he was indeed a good soldier. Lotto wouldn’t have picked him to come on this journey if he wasn’t. Unless – Unless he was doing it out of pity? Well, if this was a pity job then it wasn’t very nice, there were far too many dangers around in the Everfree Forest. Beech didn’t like to think of all the scary aspects of the jungle-like growth but he found himself with these being his only thoughts. He shook himself, trying to focus on another factor of his life – like Dewdrop; he would focus on Dewdrop – his lovely son.

Emblem too was having a hard time focusing, but on a completely different matter. He was worried. Not worried about all of the dangers, though he admitted they were there, but worried about the lifespan of this job. He couldn’t stay in here forever, he had a job to do, and he needed to do it because he needed the money. Money was important right now, extremely important, and eventually he would do anything in order to get it. He didn’t want to stoop to crime, the idea made him cry, but he felt that he may have to if he lost his job in the palace. He had already been turned down by many other shops and retailers who didn’t like Emblem because of the reputation of his family.

Emblem didn’t care what they said; his family was good, very good. Emblem shifted his eyes to the young King who stood around looking off in a daze. Even if Emblem thought his family was good he would still never tell His Majesty the truth about them, he would be sure to lose his job if he did say anything. He couldn’t afford to lose the job right now. He just couldn’t do it.

Helios had no ideas as to what could possibly be their next plan of action. True, Lotto had gone in search for the soldiers but what if his efforts come up fruitless? Even worse, what if Lotto himself never came back? Surely he would, he would defend himself with his life, Helios knew. Yet these doubts rang through his mind like a large gong knocking into his senses. They needed an idea of what to do next, they needed a plan, and he supposed since he was King it was his duty to come up with an idea. It was as much his job to protect them as they considered it their job to protect him.

The faces of the other ponies around him looked so anxious and weary, it seemed strange for Helios to remember that two of these stallions weren’t as old as their weary faces made them look at this moment. That poor little purple-maned colt, the hoofman for this journey, being under all of this stress on his first day of work; it didn’t seem fair. And Beech Wood, one of the victims of Evergreen that Helios himself had witnessed being dragged away to the dungeons, now stuck in an even bigger mess than he had previously been in. The driver, he knew, had only a few months left before he became officially retired from this job; he knew because he himself had signed the papers and made it so. But now all three of these ponies were troubled, and it just wasn’t fair in Helios’s eyes.

Helios gazed around into the bushes before turning back to look at the colt and stallions. He wouldn’t be able to do this without help; he just couldn’t do it alone.

“So…” Helios’s voice shattered the silence in the area, his soft gentle tones forcing the other ponies to listen. “We need to find our way out of here, quickly.” Beech Wood looked towards the young King with trusting eyes, he wanted to get out of here more than anything. He would do anything just so that he could go home, and the King wanted to go too. He could go home. Unfortunately Emblem had other ideas.

“But sire, what about all of the other ponies? We can’t just leave them.” Emblem barely dared look and see what the ruler thought of his outburst. Never before had Emblem had the nerve to speak up for something, he had never even tried because he knew that nopony would listen. He needn’t have worried, Helios listened to him.

“I know the others need finding, and I will find them. But it’s not fair that any of you should suffer through this torture with me.” Helios trotted to the bushes and peered through. “We just need an idea of how to do this.”

Beech Wood stood. He knew how to get out of sticky situations like this, it was relatively easy. But he didn’t dare speak up. Helios looked around the disgruntled faces. His soft gaze fell onto Beech and did not let go. Beech knew something, he could tell, and he was too scared to say it. Helios did not like the idea that somepony would fear him in any way, he was doing all he could to get rid of the rift between the rulers and their ponies. Beech tried to avoid the young stallions gaze, glancing over the King’s shoulder so that he couldn’t be penetrated and forced to speak. Helios did not like this one bit.

“Beech,” he lulled in a soothing voice. “Please, if you have something to say feel free to say it.”

Beech thought. Should he do it or not? Technically he had been given permission by the King but also if he said something wrong he may get into trouble for it. This white half-breed did not seem as terrifying or uncaring as Evergreen had been, but Beech felt he had to be cautious just in case he was wrong. Helios’s eyes did not leave Beech for one second, and now Beech could feel the burning stare of both other ponies as well. Three ponies staring at him? This was not such a nice feeling. His saliva bubbled up, the words forming on his tongue; his lips tried to stay closed and not say what the tongue was trying to make it.

“You could follow the dirt road back.” Alas, even if his opinion was wrong he had to say it, it was not his choice. Helios smiled; of course, why had he not thought of it before? He felt like such a foal.

“Well sir,” the old driver said, “We could do that, if it wasn’t for the fact the road seems to have completely disappeared.” The smile fell from the half-breeds face. All four ponies peered around to the place behind them, from the direction they had come. The road had gone. Only trees and bushes seemed to leer next to them now. There was no way out and now it appeared there was no way in for anypony who could have perhaps saved them.

At that moment Beech really began to panic. Nervous sweat dripped down his forehead in torrents of painstaking nervousness and his lips quivered in pure and utter terror. Tears gathered on his eyelids. This was wrong; this was horrible, this couldn’t be happening to him. His hooves began to shuffle on the ground in agony. Helios looked on in fear. What was happening to this young Knight? Had he gone utterly barmy?

“Are you okay?” he asked concerned. Beech didn’t answer, his lips sealed tight as the salty glue stuck his mouth together so that no words could be spoken. His hooves pattered on the floor and eventually…He ran away from the gathering. Through the woods and bushes he ran, voices calling after him every second, the other ponies hurriedly following him to make sure he didn’t do anything catastrophically wrong. He ran, and ran, and ran. He was not going to stop running, not until he was safe back home with his wonderful, wonderful wife and foal.

They were waiting, hooves outstretched, ready to welcome him back. He would sit down on the ancestral couch given to him by his Grandfather, and he would sit through the night with his wife snuggled up on his shoulder and his young foal asleep on his knees. Soon they could have another foal, if they so wanted. And they did want it. A new foal; a girl perhaps, with the same bright blue eyes as her Mother had. Beech could see her now as he ran forward. He could see her wavy blonde locks following past her shoulders. Her orange fur covering the rest of her body in a beautiful shade, for she was beautiful, and she was his. She would always be his; always.

Helios stopped next to a tree. Emblem and the old Driver had disappeared from sight after the long run they had partaken in. He had tried so hard to catch up to the startled soldier who had ran but he had not prevailed. In fact, quite the opposite, he had failed. Failed badly. The wind whispered soft comforting words to him; it eased his troubled mind slightly. His mind began to drift off into a dream. The trees ushered him further into his mind, persuading him that now was the time to go; it was time to leave them.

A scream sounded above the horizons, drowning out the foliage’s constant calling. Helios jumped, his wings opened outwards and he took to the sky. He shook his head, dazed as to where he was. He was—He was in the sky? How’d he get up here? He peered down underneath his hooves to the ground far below. He had managed to get very high very quickly. The scream sounded again from down below. A scream? Where was it coming from?

A shimmer appeared on the floor as an almighty Mere appeared in his view. The large expanse of water seemed to cover at least an eighth of the forest, which was strange because Helios was fairly sure that on the original plans for the road there had been no sign of any Mere’s anywhere. There was movement on the Water’s edge; a large bolt of lightning struck upwards without Helios realising. Before he had even had time to think his wings had wrapped around his body and he had begun falling to the earth floor.

He landed with a splash into the crisp cool water. His hooves fluttered wildly, trying to keep his body afloat, he was barely managing it. Faces appeared in the areas around him, ghostly shadows with mouths wide open circling around him like predators. Translucent hooves from underneath grabbed at his hind legs and tugged fiercely. He lifted his head above the water level for one second, managing to take a quick breath, before being pulled under once again. He couldn’t hold his breath for much longer; he was going to drown if he didn’t get out. The stallion souls clung to his torso, pulling with all of their might and holding on with their clammy grasp. He found himself going deeper and deeper, until his eyes closed shut and the darkness swallowed him whole.

Lotto tugged on the heavy rock face. He had to move these rocks and escape, he needed to make sure that Helios was safe; it was his job both as his Captain and as his friend to make sure he wasn’t hurt. Every now and again he would move one rock away, only creating another rock slide that laid more rocks over the hole he had just uncovered.

It was tiring work and thus far it was getting the young midnight colt nowhere. But he couldn‘t give up just yet. If he didn’t escape soon something dreadful could happen. He had no idea why his Mother had never wanted him to go inside this cave but he knew she must’ve had a good reason; his Mother didn’t say anything unless it was completely necessary.

He dug in desperation, ignoring all of the cuts and bruises he was being given by the sharp and blunt parts of the rocks. Light came through every now and again before being crushed by yet another stone to fall down from the roof above. Dust scattered over the pegasus, getting into his lungs and choking him. This was not a nice job to be doing. In fact, it was horrible. And yet he carried on digging furiously at the blocked entrance.

Rock after rock fell down in clumps, narrowly avoiding hitting the midnight colt. He still wasn’t anywhere close to getting out, and he didn’t know what else he could do. A large stone flew down from the top of the cave, knocking onto the ponies head with a large bump. Lotto fell to the floor, his breathing going steady and he slept, dust lying all around him. He was out cold.

Helios awoke spluttering, trying desperately to get all of the water out of his lungs. He was safe? He opened his eyes slowly, pain ringing as he looked into the bright light left by the moon and stars. His view was shaded, he couldn’t seem to see anything but faded images in front of him, which would have startled him had it not been for the fact that his mind was still trying to get to grips with reality. His ears unclogged and heavy panting could be heard next to him. Something was beside him.

Helios rolled over onto his side, peering at the bedraggled figure next to him. Emblem lay near him, dripping with water and trying desperately to catch his breath. The energy in his body seemed to have vanished, his youthful spirit seemed deflated slightly. The young King’s eyesight slowly went back to normal and he reached out a hoof to pat Emblem on the back. The white unicorn looked up at the half-breed still gasping ferociously. He was so—so tired. Helios gave a cough, getting the last of the thick liquid out of his throat.

“You…” he stuttered, trying to get his voice working again. “You saved me.”

Emblem nodded. He had heard the scream and come running to the Mere just as Helios had been flying through the air. When he had finally managed to get there he was shocked to see a body kicking wildly in the large expanse of water and struggling to escape the pull of the ripples, so he had quickly jumped into the water and splashed forward to pull the body out before it was too late. Admittedly Emblem had not known that he had been saving the life of the most important pony in Equestria, but he did not think about whom it was at the time, he just knew that they needed help and he had to do something.

Helios looked at the hoofman with admiration. He could have been killed trying to save him like that and yet he had still done it. It was so brave and courageous; even Helios himself had to admit that he would have not had the courage to jump into the deep pool to save another pony from drowning. Emblem was far more than he seemed.

“Thank you so much.” Helios tilted his head to the wheezing colt, bowing to his saviour. Emblem could only reply with a slight nod back. His breathing seemed to be going back to normal now, though his heart rate still seemed far too quick. He took in a few large breaths of air to combat the speed of his pulse. It appeared to help a bit.

Helios ambled back onto his hooves, wobbling slightly at his lack of energy. Those things in the mere…. The souls that tried to pull him down. He was sure he had seen their faces somewhere before. But he didn’t want to know where they had been; he feared what the answer may be.

The breeze brushed over the water creating small tides on the top to swallow some of the foliage at the edge of the mere. Helios spotted a figure in the distance walking slowly towards the waves, with no hesitation in his footwork. He needed to see what was going on; he needed to understand what was happening here. But he couldn’t just leave Emblem alone, it would be cruel and wrong, and the unicorn was certainly in no state to move himself.

Helios bent down and lifted the smaller colt onto his back. It was a good thing the half-breed was so tall and strong now; otherwise he was sure that he would not even be able to move an inch without dropping to the floor in agony. The hoofman was by no means heavy though, if anything he was far lighter than any other pony Helios had ever met before. How a small pony like him had managed to save a tall stallion was mystifying.

Quickly Helios took them to the area where he had seen the figure and set Emblem on the floor hidden by a bush or two. He should be safe there for a while. He could still see the moving pony in front of him, he clearly was not a fast walker or he would have made it into the mere by now. Helios edged closer to the stallion in front of him, being careful to not be spotted by anypony. What he saw puzzled him. The driver of his carriage was walking with a broad grin on his face and his eyes – if you could call them eyes anymore, were pale white. It was impossible that he could even see where he was going without walking into something. Yet he walked as though he knew exactly what he was doing.

A glowing figure shot out of the water and into the air. A pale pink face stared down at the pony below her, humming a tune that the driver really seemed to love. He swayed his head along with her song, enjoying every moment of her company. She was so—pretty—pretty. The mare reached out her hoof and her voice sang out louder, the wind joining in with her song. Her smile grew wider as she floated down towards the old stallion below her. Her eyes glowed purple, sending sparks of violet down onto the ground surrounding the zombified pony. She bent down, almost touching his face, and opened her mouth wider. Her song grew more and more powerful. The driver looked straight into her eyes with the greatest of pleasure. Her eyes were so—pretty – pretty.

A glow surrounded his hooves and vanished underneath him, leaving his form to be swallowed by the air. His eyes danced in his sockets and faded from his head. A ghostly figure appeared where the stallion had been standing mere moments ago. A scream echoed over the land almost deafening the watching half-breed. It was so loud. It was just horrible. The scream vanished as the translucent creature flew down into the water, joining all of his old companions. Helios watched in terror.

The mare turned to follow the soul but stopped. She could feel somepony’s aura nearby; another stallion who dared enter into her forest without permission. Her eyes flashed red. Helios jumped, realising that she was searching for him, he crawled as carefully as possible to climb over the earth back to where he had left Emblem. If he could only get back there, he could hide and maybe neither of them would be found. The mare was far smarter than he had realised. She glided around the bushes before stopping again.

The wind whistled through the trees, she lifted her arms and sang along with it. The song played softly through the air, dancing through Helios’ mind like a symphony of strings. So—pretty—pretty. His eyes fell to blank, his mind drifted onto his dreams. She was there again, his true love, the one that he would spend the rest of his life with. She was so beautiful. So—pretty—pretty.

The mare watched as Helios moved forwards towards her, just like all of her other victims before him. Ponies just couldn’t wander into this part of the forest without realising that there would be some kind of repercussions for doing so. She opened her mouth wide once more, making sure that her song could be heard loud and clear. It was time for the intruder to go. Helios smiled with joy.

A shadow ran from behind, grabbing hold of the mare’s hooves and cutting off her song. Beech hung onto her legs as hard as possible. She kicked her legs, trying to get him off, but he would not let go. Helios snapped out of his trance and shook his head in confusion. Beech? How did he get here? The mare grew annoyed with the stallion hanging onto her hooves but she could not get him off, no matter how hard she tried.

“You.” Beech could barely talk through his anger. “You locked me in here. You kept me away from my family.” The mare gasped in fright, the stallion seemed so furious, and this was only making his grip tighter. “Now,” he shouted at her “if you want to keep me and my friends here, then you might as well go down with us.” Beech gave a sharp tug on her hoof and she let out a small whimper. They both went down slightly, the water coming closer to their hooves. Beech gave another tug every few seconds, trying to get the mare to come down with him.

The souls in the water reached out, grabbing hold of Beech as they did. Beech found himself being pulled down into the water by the lifeless spirits of his old comrades; the mare came down with him, crying out for the winds to save her, but they wouldn’t listen. Clammy hooves held onto Beech’s torso and his head went down under the cool liquid. The mare set out a shrill scream and vanished under the waves of the mere along with him. Helios stared at the now calm mere. The sky became clear and the woods separated out to become a lot less cramped inside.

Emblem walked over to him, rubbing his head.

“What… What happened?” he asked. Helios didn’t know what he should tell him. He could barely believe it himself. Beech had sacrificed himself for him, he had died so that they could be free. And he had so badly wanted to see his family again. Beech had been happy with all he had at home, more so than many other ponies, and yet he had given all of that up for the good of the kingdom.

“A brave stallion. That’s what happened.” The King stared towards the mere, looking at the calm ripples on the top before walking away back into the forest. Emblem looked towards the lake, confused as to what the older stallion had meant, before following the King through the forest and back to the road where they had started their journey.

The wind played a mournful tune as a smiling stallion beamed down onto Equestria from the sky.

Lotto coughed as he climbed through the long tunnel and into the light of day. A small stream of water stood in front of him, trickling down through the woods and into the great expanse of water below. This was better. Lotto knew this part of the woods. Now if only he could find Helios and the others then everything would be okay again. A feminine voice whispered in the winds, calling to the young midnight colt.

“Mother?” Lotto peered around and trotted into the stream beside him, splashing around in it as he stared downwards. He was sure he had heard that voice. The voice he knew so well. Where was she?

“Lotto?” A glowing mare appeared next to him, smiling a casual smile as she stared at the beautiful colt she loved so much. He was just as wonderful now as he was on the day he’d left.

“Mother. It is you. I thought I heard your voice.” Lotto beamed. He loved his Mother so much; he was so happy to see her again. She had always been brilliant. She had been so caring towards him and his brothers, especially considering they had not even been her real foals at all. His Mother had found all three of them in the forest and had taken them in herself to care for. Lotto respected his Mother so much for what she had done for him, despite what other ponies ever said about her.

For many years he and his brothers had been oblivious to the truth about their caregiver, the fact that she had been cursed centuries ago and had been made to protect this part of the forest with a ruthless hoof. The same song that she used as her lullaby was the song that made many stallions meet their doom when they wandered too close to the mere where she resided. It was horrible what she had been made to do, when inside she was far too caring to be so cruel.

“Mother,” Lotto looked at her tear-stained face in despair “what happened? Who made you upset?”

“Nopony made me upset Lotto. I am free, and I am happy.”

Lotto looked at his Mother with confusion. He had not seen her like this in years, she was only ever this happy when it was one of their birthdays. Lotto could still recall the party he had been given when he was getting to the age where he could join the army training academy. If it hadn’t been for his Mother he wouldn’t have got in in the first place. And now he was Captain.

“Mother? How many were lost?” he beseeched to her. She let out a tear across her cheek and it rolled onto the floor.

“A few Lotto. But one of them, one of them was brave. He found a way to release me; he saved the last two stallions and me.” Lotto stared up at her, taking hold of one of her hooves. He was glad that she had been freed, but not glad that the brave soldiers, his friends, had perished beneath her hoof. It was upsetting to think of.

“Who were the two that survived? Do you know?”

“A white unicorn and a half-breed, the new King.”

‘Emblem and Helios are alive’ mumbled Lotto excited. Good. He was glad that at least some had survived. Helios had survived, his friend was alive and for that Lotto was eternally grateful. He nodded to his Mother and moved closer towards her, splashing through the water as he did.

“So you’ll be all right now? You’re free?”

“Yes,” she said cheerfully “I am free. And now I many live in the mere in peace. That is good Lotto, yes?”

“It’s great Mother.” He smiled to her again, his pearly white teeth reflecting the sun onto her face. Everything was so much better. She could be happy again; she could be herself and not a monster. A call came from not too far away; Lotto immediately recognised Helios’ voice. He had to go, he had to get them out of this forest before more dangers came their way without them having any army to protect them. But he didn’t want to leave his Mother alone; she was not good all alone. The mare saw his hesitance.

“Go Lotto.” She told him. “Go and do what you love to do.”

He nodded and wrapped his front legs around her in a hug. She hugged him back, squeezing her lovely colt to her chest. Lotto released his grip and ran to where his friends were stood. The winds whispered through to him from afar.

‘I love you my little Lotto.’

NEXT TIME: The Legend of the Dream Scope

Author's Note

IMPORTANT: I WELCOME YOU TO READ THE INSANE RAMBLINGS OF THE LUNATIC WRITING AND LEARN THE LINKS TO ARTHURIAN LEGEND AND MLP WITHIN THIS STORY.

'Episode' links to MLP:

Other key characters that influenced Equestria as we know today are within this story. Not naming any names I'm afraid.
We've definitely proved Grain isn't the Mother of Celestia and Luna... Or have we? Mwha ha ha.
There has now been an established link to where the 'swamp' in our MLP actually came from, sort of.
The cave with which Lotto gets trapped inside is, in fact. the very cave the Ursa Major and Minor live; thus the reason his Mother had told him it was dangerous, because it was the home or the Ursa's.
The dirt track we sometimes see the ponies wander through in modern Equestria has now been built right through the Everfree forest. Not only that but it has been firmly established that it IS now called the Everfree, rather than the Neverfree.

'Episode' links to Arthurian Legends:

The Lady of the Lake was, believe it or not, a Lady that was cursed to protect a lake. The Mare of the Mere, believe it or not, is a Mare cursed to protect a Mere (a man-made Lake). She has had many names throughout all of the stories, but is always depicted as The Lady of the Lake no matter which story she is in.
WARNING:IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE LAST PART OF MARE OF THE MERE THIS IS A BIG SPOILER- When Lancelot was a baby his Mother, tending to his Father's battle wounds, he was taken and raised by the Lady of the Lake-- Thus the reason why Lotto called the cursed mare, Mother. The Lady of the Lake after a few years of looking after Lancelot adopted two more young boys, in fact Lance's cousins, who had run away from their gurdians.
It is not proven that the Lady of the Lake had any powers that made men fall in love with her, but it is shown throughout whatever story she is in that Merlin loved her dearly, and even when he knew what she was going to do to him (trap him forever) he still carried on doing as she told him. In this respect I decided to make the Mare of the Mere somewhat of a Siren that could sing a song, make stallions fall for her and then drown them.
There is a Knight of the Round table, actually listed on the 'list', called Sir Ellion. He was brave, corageous...and I believe him to be shorter than the other Knights. Thus Emblem was born.

And I think that's all for this show. Join us next time when a very, special Marelin centred Episode hits the headlights on 'The Weakest Links'. Goodnight *winks*.

The Legend of the Dream Scope

The sun set over the dark mountains at the edge of the great city of Canterlot. A small figure cantered on the long winding paths, enjoying every moment of the great views surrounding her. Marelin was very pleased that the time had come when she would complete the journey to decide her destiny. She had been told as a foal that this day was going to come eventually and she was glad that she needn’t have to wait any longer. She was as much impatient about some things as she was patient about others. It would have been much more long and arduous to her had she been older and more prone to complaining when having to walk anywhere hard.

At the moment Marelin couldn’t be stopped. She had always been such a happy, free-spirited young mare; even when she had been trapped living and working under the hoof of the tyrant Evergreen. To her, being upset was an unnecessary task. It was better to be optimistic than to walk around with tears in her eyes all of the time, and considering what she’d been through recently it was good to have this point of view. There was nothing more harmonious than being happy and caring to all ponies and creatures-- even if she didn’t understand anything about them most of the time. She was hoping to rectify that. This young mare was much happier learning new things than every other narcissistic pony might be, and although ponies might try to hide it from the view of others, they all had narcissistic tendencies. Even King Alicorn found affection for himself when he consoled his feelings about losing somepony he wanted for his own.

Marelin sighed. She felt somewhat responsible for the King’s dissolution about Grain, the young earth pony both he and Lotto had given their heart unto. She had known something was different about her; she had sensed the lies she had been telling but hadn’t even told Helios what she suspected. Perhaps she had been a little bit too foalish in her actions by merely glaring at her whenever she spoke. Maybe she should have told the colts that she had doubts about young Grain’s intentions.

Actually, it was probably good that she hadn’t said anything. It wasn’t as if she’d had proof beyond a feeling. These feelings weren’t enough to say that her innocence was definitely false.

Marelin stopped.

What was it that Clover had always told her? ‘Trust your feelings Marelin. As a Royal Unicorn you have to believe in your instincts.’ Well, she’d believed her instincts when she made friends with Helios and chose to follow him; she'd made the right choice then, hadn’t she? Perhaps her feelings were important to her. Clover had never been wrong before. Right now, Marelin needed to heed to Clover’s words more than ever; her feelings were the map to the destination she was heading. And where she was going she hadn’t a clue. She merely knew that it was time and that her magic would guide her to wherever it was she needed to be.

Why did magic have to be so complicated? If only it came without all of the complications and misunderstandings, then magic could be a tool used perfectly by the good-- and used for evil by the bad. Marelin shuddered. She’d suffered through enough bad ponies to last her a lifetime now. Hopefully she wouldn’t run into any more on this journey.

The sky above looked clear and bright. A good day to climb and walk, that was certainly true. The unicorn couldn’t help but feel sorry for her two friends who had to suffer hours travelling in a carriage before they could even think of getting out. And even when they got to Zebrica nothing exciting was bound to happen; all they were doing was signing a piece of paper. She was lucky. She got to go on an adventure whilst her friends had to suffer through the boredom of mundane leadership duties. Unfortunate for them, but great for her.

A whistle came from her throat; a cheerful ditty to match her pleasant feelings on her walk. Trees appeared at her side, blocking her view slightly. A path in front split into two directions. The unicorn stopped, wondering where to go next. What had Clover said about this? What could she remember?

”Marelin, would you please stand still for one second?”

Clover stood over a crowd of young foals and spoke to the smallest one sternly. The filly stopped bouncing and smiled happily. Clover nodded to her and walked up and down the line of foals with their proud parents watching from the sidelines. Marelin’s Father waved at her from where the other parents stood, a nervous countenance covering his whole expression. Marelin merely grinned and waved back; no sign of fear at all.

Princess Platinum, Commander Hurricane and Chancellor Pudding-Head watched with their second-in-commands, waiting to see which one fate would decide was ‘the one’: the next unicorn with the ability to help guide the kingdom. Clover could feel the memories of when she was chosen by her own teacher, Starswhirl, coming back to her. All of the eagerness, all of the nervousness flooded back into her mind.

In front of her stood the six candidates. They had sat through all tests but one, and now was the time to complete the process. She told the first young foal to step forward; an extremely serious colt by the name of Firefly. He puffed out his chest and cantered over to the table in the middle of the room. His parents looked on earnestly as his horn lighted up, a red stream of magic swarming around it. He focused hard on the rocks in front of him and they shuffled slightly. Screwing his eyes closed he kept his mind firmly on what he was doing. Sweat began to drip down his brow as the rocks jiggled on the table. After a few seconds Clover noticed the look of exhaustion wiping through the auburn face of the young colt. She lifted up her hoof and a guard in the corner blew his whistle. Firefly heard this and collapsed backwards onto the floor.

Quickly, two healer ponies rushed up to pull him away and see to any injuries and exhaustion. His parents groaned and followed their son to the room where he was to be laid. Each of the next four also tried the same method as Firefly, but all four, Teal, Manticore, Checkers, and the aptly named Wizard, failed just as the previous. Each of the four were carried off by the healer’s to rest, with their parents in close pursuit-- all apart from Wizard’s Father who, annoyed at his son’s failure, stalked off by himself into the gardens to grumble to the rose bushes growing there.

A presence showed up behind Clover and she turned to see her five friends stood behind appearing anxious. The same thought going through their mind was also going through hers. Unless this next candidate did well then there would be no future royal unicorn advisor for the Princess and her descendants.

“Okay then, Marelin, it’s your turn now,” she told the last foal, who appeared to have become very interested in the light bouncing from a guard’s helmet and onto the floor. The foal stopped and smiled, giving her Dad a cheery wave as she walked over to the table. Her Father smiled and waved back, trying to give her every encouragement though he didn’t feel positive about what the results of this would be.

Clover could hear Commander Hurricane grumbling behind her but chose to ignore him. She knew he was simply moaning for the sake of moaning; anything to hide what he was really scared of at that moment. Marelin stood next to the pile of rocks on the low table and appeared to put on her concentration face-- which looked very much as if she had just eaten a sour lemon straight from the tree. A purple aura covered the lavender unicorn’s horn and she cleared her mind of all thoughts. A bright light appeared around her and she fell into a dream like state.

There she stood for five minutes, the aura not leaving her side, and her apparently being oblivious to all that was going on around her. In her mind she pictured the way this was supposed to be done, her magic guiding her through all of the path she was meant to take.

Platinum sighed and turned to her friend and helper. It was quite clear to the older ponies that this was not the pony they were looking for. She opened her mouth to give her friend her condolences for how upset she must be feeling, but soon realised that Clover’s eyes were still transfixed on the small filly standing as still as a statue.

Clover, by far the most clever of all the ponies there, had noticed something that intrigued her. This filly, despite not getting anywhere with the rocks, had not fainted as the others had. The fact she had been able to garner this much magic around her and had not become in any way overwhelmed with exhaustion was impressive, especially for one so small. Unlike her friends Clover could easily see what was happening in the young filly’s mind-- her imagination was running wild, and it was working. Despite knowing nothing of the magical forms, she was able to do so much more than those who had trained their whole lives to be this powerful.

So when, much to the other’s surprise, the rocks began to lift up through the air Clover remained steady, not at all shocked that this had happened. The rocks waltzed in the air as magic wrapped around them and whittled them away until all number of different objects appeared in their place. They danced around in front of the ponies faces, whilst their mistress remained a statue in the midst. Her father watched with an open mouth. Clover could barely smother her laughter when she saw him.

Carefully she walked up to the filly and placed her hoof on her back, shaking her awake. The rocks fell back to the floor with a crash, startling the lavender foal who hadn’t witnessed their flying manoeuvres. Clover smiled to her. Marelin beamed back happily, not sure why her elder was so joyous at this moment. Still she took any excuse to smile; she liked the way it felt.

“Marelin, how do you feel?” the smart unicorn asked of the foal.

“Bouncy,” came the reply.

Clover nodded.

“Follow your feelings, Marelin. That shall be your first lesson.”

And with that the six powerful ponies took the young filly and her father through the door and down the hallway. The healer ponies let out a sigh of relief and rushed away to see if the five failures had awoken.

Faced with the two alternate paths Marelin tried to remember what she’d been told. Following her feelings had been one of Clover’s main teachings throughout her training, and her imagination had been a great help throughout all of this. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, the same smile spreading over her face that used to as a foal. A picture of the area came through her mind and drew a visual map inside her head. It twisted and turned, showing at the end a cavern with glittering jewels hanging on the outside. It came backwards towards her and turned down the left path to meet up with her own hooves.

Her hooves moved of their own accord and turned down the left path. Her cheerful whistling started up again. After a while she saw the sun coming down under the mountain she was climbing. Helios had managed to turn the sky to night wherever he was. She sighed with relief. That meant that he must have made it to Zebrica unharmed. Good. Now she only had herself to worry about.

She looked about at the surroundings and sauntered on through the trees again. Eventually she reached a clearing she considered perfect for resting. A stream could be heard trickling down the cliffside not far off and heather covered the ground. Bracken grew not too far away. Marelin considered this a blessing. There was nothing better than dry bracken to make an outside bed feel comfortable; heather was nice, but it did have a tendency to lose its softness by morning. Her horn glowed purple and the bracken in a small area crumbled beneath its force; all of the water rushing from it and into the atmosphere surrounding. She picked it up in her hooves and put it on top of a patch of heather just big enough for her to sleep on.

Her bag slid off her back and dropped to the floor. She stretched her muscles and looked around at the empty darkness of the woodland. It seemed strange to think that there were no ponies here. Even when she’d gone inside the Neverfree she had met many different friends, but out here there was nopony. Quite upsetting really; Marelin liked to have ample opportunities to make friends.

She pulled a small sack of oats out of the purple pack and ate it hungrily. She only just managed to stop herself eating it all, remembering that this one bag of oats had to last her at least a quarter of the journey. How long the journey was going to last was still under debate. She yawned and looked downwards at her comfortable dry bedding. Tomorrow would be a new day, but for now Marelin really felt she must sleep or she wouldn’t be able to go on. Although she had more energy than any other pony in Equestria she still felt like she must be sensible enough to realise that sleep was one of those ‘necessary’ boring jobs she had to do to be considered a sensible adult by the kingdom. Everypony always used to criticize her as a foal for not being sensible enough-- she'd started to begin to prove them wrong now as she went about her daily routine.

Another yawn came out of her mouth and she laid back on the flooring. Her eyes closed and she drifted into the land of her dreams. Shadows stalked around her campsite but Marelin didn’t notice. Then again, she was never much good at noticing anything around her.

Clover tutted as she watched her student running around in circles on the training floor. Her friends sat up at the top window looking down on the two unicorns with doubt in their minds. So far in one year of training Marelin hadn’t quite taken to getting work done or being serious about any of her important activities. This Clover didn’t mind as she knew her potential, but the others couldn’t see any hope for the little filly. She was a nobody, and they’d already started to consider that there had been some sort of cheating that had occurred on the test. It wasn’t too late to get in contact with one of the failures to try again. Perhaps Firefly or Wizard were meant to be the true chosen one.

Platinum was impressed that her advisor had stayed loyal to her young student. She knew how much it meant to her and for it all to seem to go wrong must have hurt considerably. But Clover remained firm and determined about her choice. It wasn’t even that she was trying to delude herself because she wanted it so much to be right, she had a firm belief in the little foal that she had come to love. Marelin had become a part of her just as she had with Starswhirl. In some ways she owed it not just to herself and Marelin, but her own teacher, to persevere when times looked hopeless.

“Marelin, could you focus please!” she snapped. Marelin stopped still and looked towards her teacher. She smiled and nodded her small head.

“I can try.”

“Good.” Clover let out a sharp breath and moved towards the centre of the room. “Now let’s try this again. What is this?” she questioned pointing to the object floating above them. Marelin looked at its curves and points, trying to put all of her energy into answering the question.

“Something... er... something... shiny.”

Hurricane buried his face in his hoof, grumbling like normal.

“Something... er... something... new.”

Pudding-Head let out a round of applause before subsiding when seeing his advisors facial expression.

“A dragon!”

The six older ponies stared at the rock and sighed. How anypony could mistake the stone for a dragon nopony knew. Clover ruffled her mane in annoyance; Marelin had grown bored and had begun to run in circles once more. Perhaps, she thought, it was time to rest for the day. She walked over to Marelin.

“You can go now, little one. Study begins in two moves of the sun.”

Marelin laughed and ran through the large doors. Clover followed further behind, ignoring her friends anxious chatter about her position in the palace. The doors closed shut. A large light shone out of the object in the middle of the floor and dispersed just before an attendant came to collect it. What he saw startled him. A young ruby dragon slept peacefully on the floor, sucking its tail in between its empty mouthed smile. It grizzled sleepily as it lay there.

The attendant crept out slowly, shutting the door quietly behind him, and ran to find the Princess and Clover as fast as possible.

A noise woke Marelin up in the middle of the night. The darkness surrounding her seemed to envelope everything so that nothing new or different to the area could be seen. She let out a deep breath and smiled through the black. She was much too awake to fall back to sleep now, so she may as well carry on with her journey. But still she wondered, as she grabbed her bags and placed them on her back, what had managed to wake her so easily.

There didn’t seem to be anything around so she passed it off as the wind playing its nasty tricks again. The wind had always been her main competitor as a foal, and things still hadn’t changed. Not once did she consider that there may be more out in these lonely woods than she could ever imagine. And neither did she notice the host of shadows protruding from the trees with its master in the ranks. That tree’s shadow-- if indeed it was a tree-- would have been speculated by all of the knights, had they been with her, for its shape and size. It was certainly the most pony shaped tree you could have ever seen... and that Marelin never saw.

The shadow moved as she moved and followed closely behind, their eyes peeping through the hollows and the splinters, watching the wandering mare as a hunter watched its prey. The eyes never faltered from what it was watching and by the silence of its hoofbeats you would assume they were nothing more than a ghost or spirit. This, and the fact Marelin’s perceptiveness had never been great, added to her unusual cheerful countenance as she was hastily followed up the dark lunar hill.

Once in awhile she stopped to pause and they stopped as well, keeping distance behind her. Until that is a noise, so mellow and sorrowful that it would make even the hardest of souls repel in horror, came upon the mountain side. The shadow flickered their eyelids and ran up through the trees, forgetting about the young mare altogether.

Marelin, after hearing the noise, could draw no conclusions on what it could be. Her imagination ran wild, but she knew it wasn’t going to give her the right answer this time. Still she didn’t fear the call; why should she need to fear? Even the scariest of monsters wouldn’t want to do her any harm-- at least, being locked in a palace most of her life, that’s what she assumed. She had no idea of the real dangers out in Equestria and beyond; something Clover had always been very sorry of during her training sessions.

”It’s not healthy for a young filly like her to not know of the real world. One day she’ll be the one serving and protecting it. How can she do that if she doesn’t know what it’s like?” Clover beseeched her oldest friend.

“Maybe she can imagine it,” her friend sniggered. Clover raised an eyebrow and Platinum sighed.

“Oh do please cheer up, Clover. After all,” she said, looking down at the fruit in the bowl by the side of her, “Marelin shall only be an advisor, not a royal.”

Clover shook her head and stared defiantly at the regal unicorn.

“And what about all of that? Have you decided yet whether--” A look from the white pony broke her into a whisper, “-- whether the half-breed shall be next on the throne?” She raised her voice again. “Technically he is the next true heir by birth right, as Marelin is the next advisor.”

“I know--” came Platinum’s weary voice.

Clover looked to her and sighed. She could see the sadness in the unicorn’s eyes as she thought of the problem that had arisen a few years back-- that same problem she knew she loved more than anypony else, but couldn’t say it. Even Commander Hurricane had great care in his heart for the ‘problem’; some could say they both had more care for him than their own true families-- if you could call them that.

The Commander barely ever saw his family, and even when he did see his wife and child he never really saw anything but disdain and duty. Secretly he had always wanted to marry Platinum, Clover knew, as did the rest of her friends, but duty detailed he marry a pegasus and so that was what he’d done. And through this his own daughter, a pegasus, could carry on his lineage.

If all worked out well that is. Platinum, however, had a past with many fiances and courters, but she had loved and rejected them all. And once her colt came around she gave up altogether on finding a special somepony of her own. She had-- as Clover put it-- given up on hope to accept the reality of her mistake.

Clover as royal advisor should have told her to move on and find somepony more unicorn to provide an heir, but she had done no such thing. Platinum was her friend first and the Princess second; it was the way they worked best and both agreed to it. Even if they hadn't been friends, it wasn’t in Clover to tell her to find somepony to provide a true heir. To her, half-breed or not, the colt deserved a chance. He was not only Hurricane and Platinum’s son but also the Kingdom’s Prince, and it was their responsibility to prepare him for his duties no matter the reality of his outer appearance.

“Unless of course you wish for Evergreen to take over,” she suggested. The look of repulsion on the other pony’s face answered the question. Clover smirked. She could already sense what was going to be said next.

“Are you kidding?” Platinum sneered. “Who in their right mind would give all that power to that stuck-up, tyrant of a cousin of mine? There’s no telling what horrible things she would do with it.”

“Yes, but you didn’t exactly help the situation, did you, Princess?”

Her friend appeared to reflect for a moment and then gave a sigh.

“I suppose not. But still even if I may have provoked her transformation from shy to nasty-- the fact remains that she’s still nasty and doesn’t deserve my throne.” She paused. “Also, I’m not the only one who said things back then, remember.”

“I remember.” Clover shuddered.

“Anyway, we were talking about your student, not my problems.”

“Yes, your highness.” She bowed. “Well, it just seems that Marelin could do with a bit of time outside, with real citizens of Equestria. It would have helped me a lot had Starswhirl let me out when I was a foal.”

“Fine.”

Clover prepared herself to argue more but stopped mid-flow.

“Fine?”

“You may take her on one small trip. But nowhere expensive-- and nowhere dangerous.”

The advisor nodded her head and began to walk out of the room. As she left she heard Platinum’s voice raised so she could be heard through the door.

“And don’t take her near Stormy Peak either!”

Clover gave a last sigh of pity before heading left down the corridor to Marelin’s chambers.

The walking Marelin had to do now seemed endless in her boredom. Nothing exciting or different had happened since the morning when she had started off, and she was finding the journey tedious and dull. By now she was seriously regretting her decision to come, and was thinking that she may have been wrong about her dream being a sign of the future. Maybe the dream was just what it was-- a dream, that her imagination had conjured up. Still, she carried on walking. If there was anything she had been taught by Clover it was to be persistent and not give up. She couldn’t forget that teaching.

A mountain came into view in the distance and Marelin gave a smile. She remembered that peak from when she was very young. Stormy Peak, as it was then named, was the only place she’d ever properly gone as a foal. Clover had taken her on a daytrip outside and they had stopped there for a short while whilst the stallions mended a wheel on their carriage. Clover had told her to stay where she was, but Marelin, being Marelin, wandered off on her own to follow a swarm of honey-bees on the way to their hive.

It was then that she saw it. A small house built into the side of the mountain; a path cut through the undergrowth, with daisies marking its way. Nopony had been around, so Marelin, full of excitement, had crept closer to the windows to take a peek inside. Her excitement had grown even more upon realising the door had been left open. She couldn't resist going inside.

She could never remember much of what she saw that day. A few belongings were strewn over the floor, but not much else. She remembered playing with toys; there had been a crate full of them in the corner. There was one particular doll she had taken a fancy too; a teddy of a grey foal in blue trousers, white spots adorning the clothing. In its hoof it held a quill and pad, a stupid accessory to an otherwise perfect toy.

Sadly she didn’t have long to play with it before she heard somepony shouting for her. In fear of Clover chastising her for leaving, and going inside a strangers house, she had run out of the building and back to the carriage. Now she was older, she thought about that house again, and she wished she could've know who’d lived there. The foal in the house could have made a good friend had she met him. But still, that couldn’t be, now.

Her hooves rubbed against the rocky cliff-face, but she didn’t feel much pain. Though her life had been sheltered, she was not afraid of doing hard work, as long as that hard work didn’t involve her doing something she considered unfun. This was shaping out to be that way, but she couldn’t give up now.

A stream could be heard trickling nearby, and Marelin stopped. A small murmuring voice came through the noise of the water. “Don’t worry,” it said, “I can help you.”

It was a colt, there was no doubt about that. He sounded young, even younger than she was, and his voice appeared soft and kind. The roar she had heard previously in another part of the forest joined in his talk; it was much closer than it had been before. Marelin followed the noises and came upon the small stream. There she saw the scene.

A pale yellow colt, a green mane highlighting his emerald eyes, stood next to a brown bear and washed its pelt. Blood oozed out of a fresh wound on the bear’s side, but the colt didn’t flinch. He gently rubbed the cut and muttered to the bear as he did. Marelin stepped closer to him and he looked up.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you,” she said, smiling. “I heard your voice and wanted to know who it was. I didn’t think anypony was up on this mountain.”

The colt remained quiet, and the bear gave a tiny whimper. He hastily set up his work again, and continued to rub the pelt. Marelin stared at him for a while and coughed.

“I could help you with that, you know? I think I know a spell that would work.” She lighted her horn and lavender sparkles began to dance through the air. The bear gave a loud, and fearful roar.

“Don’t,” the colt said, lifting a hoof. Marelin stopped and stared at him.

“I was only trying to help.”

He gave her a smile. “It’s not necessary. Bearbert’s already better.” He picked up a leaf next to his side and wrapped it around the bears waist. “This should help with the pain. You can go now.”

Bearbert snuggled his nose into the colt’s chest and then stumbled back into the trees. The colt washed his hooves in the stream, wiping away all of the blood that had gathered on them.

“I’m Marelin,” the mare said. The colt appeared not to listen. “Who’re you?”

“Leafy Pines,” he said, standing up and grabbing a handful of leaves from the forest edge. “You’ve been walking up the mountain for a while,” he continued, focusing on the leaves. “I’m not used to seeing too many ponies on this mountain.” He looked at her and walked closer to where she stood. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have followed you for all that time. It’s just-- ponies who come here usually aren’t after anything good.”

It was when he got closer Marelin could really see how short this colt really was. By the looks of things he was barely more than a foal, yet he had an air of adulthood about him-- a complete contrast to Marelin’s foalish demeanour. “It’s okay, I don’t mind,” she told him. He appeared to relax slightly. “You live up here then?” she asked.

He nodded his head. “Me and my mother, yes.”

“You have a house up here?”

Again he nodded. “Me and my mother, yes.”

“Is it nice?”

“My Mother likes it, yes.”

“Do you like it?”

He shrugged, and remained silent. Marelin shuffled on the spot, nervously, not quite sure how to handle such a quiet pony as he was. She was far too bouncy and lively for a young colt of his nature, and for once in her life she actually stopped to consider her own actions before carrying on with her long stream of conversation. She took in the wayward, tired eyes of the colt, the way in which he slouched when he remained silent but became rigid when anypony was talking. She considered and considered, before stepping back slightly to account for his weariness as she had tried to step closer.

“Do you know this hill well, then?” she asked.

He nodded. “I’ve lived here for most of my life.”

“Is there anything special about this place? Something a unicorn may have been told to go and find?” It took all of her energy to make her voice more serious, and less silly. He didn’t appear to notice a difference, and looked at her quizzically for a moment. She tried to expand on what she meant but couldn’t think of anything else to say. Marelin had never been speechless before; not even for a second.

“The cave’s are different,” he said, after a while had passed. Marelin looked at him in eager anticipation, trying to get him to explain further without speech. “They’re just at the top of the hill. Filled to the brim with gems, they are. That’s what most of the bad ponies come looking for.” Leafy shrugged. “Kind of stupid really. Those who go in, know they’ll never come out again.”

“Why?” Marelin asked.

“Nature’s payback for trying to mess with it. I’ve never actually been in myself.” He shuddered at the thought. “Nature has a way of rewarding and punishing whoever needs it.”

She nodded, and gave him a slight smile. It was getting even harder to hold in her excitement, but as an adult mare, well technically an adult, she had to be responsible and know what was best to do... at least when in the company of Leafy Pines. She patted him on the back, and he flinched, but her smile comforted him a bit.

“Thanks for telling me. That sounds the perfect place for me to go.” She smiled again, and then turned and began walking away. Inside her heart she knew she’d rather stay with Leafy and find something more entertaining to do, rather than just going to sit in a dank, dark smelly cave for a while. It might not even be where her dreams had told her to be. Unfortunately, she couldn’t escape the feeling that, if she did avoid doing her work, Clover would be really disappointed in her. Although when somepony died, they were gone, unicorns sometimes had a weird way of leaving some magic behind to spy on ponies. For all Marelin knew, every shadow in Equestria could’ve been Clover in disguise.

She whistled as she walked, and as she was almost up to the path she just about heard the sound of hoofsteps following her. Leafy came to her side at a fast pace.

“Wait,” he said, looking down to the floor, and then flinching his head up to hers. “Let me go with you. It’s too dangerous if you don’t know the way.”

Marelin gave a huge grin and Leafy managed to give one back. They got onto the path, and trotted down it, Leafy leading the way. What could be waiting at the caves, Marelin didn’t know, but she couldn’t wait to find out. Especially since now she could play some games with her new friend along the way.

Clover looked down onto the young foals and attempted a smile. Their parents were nowhere to be seen, and Clover couldn’t understand where they could have come from. As far as she knew the palace was well guarded. How had these two managed to sneak in undetected?

“You’ve got to teach us though, miss,” Wizard begged, his eyes widening to enhance his cuteness. Clover wasn’t going to fall for that; it was the oldest trick in the book, but it was worth a try.

“I’m sorry, colts. You weren’t chosen, so I can’t teach you,” she told them both.

Firefly stared at her obstinately, and pushed Wizard on the side roughly. “But you’ve got to. We’ve got to learn more powerful magic. It’s our destiny. My cutie mark is magic.”

She looked down at his flank and recognised the wizards hat and magic wand. It was more of a cutie mark she’d associate with a show-pony’s magic, rather than a real unicorn, but she didn’t say anything to him. After all, some show-ponies were almost as good at fake magic as she was at real magic, so she couldn’t judge.

Wizard didn’t seem very happy with this talk of cutie marks; most likely to do with the fact he didn’t have one yet. It was an obvious embarrassment to the young foal, and Clover couldn’t help but think that his parents insistence on living up to his name had something to do with that.

“My dad really wants me to do this,” Wizard begged. Clover noticed him placing a hoof to the cut on his lip. He took it away when he saw her staring. She felt she really must enquire into the colt’s family and possible cruelty to their foal-- it was a serious issue. Firefly didn’t seem the same as his friend. He appeared more concerned about his own future, than what his parents wanted him to do. Clover shook her head to them again.

“I’m sorry, colts. Marelin’s the chosen one. I can’t change destiny.”

“Please,” Wizard begged.

“I’m sorry.” She tapped her hoof and two guards came over. Firefly pouted as one took hold of his shoulder and attempted to pull him away from the advisor.

“Look, we need this. The least you could do is help,” he yelled. Clover, by this time, had begun to walk away. The guards dragged the two colts towards the gates. Wizard gave one last call before he left, “Tell Marelin about us. Tell her we need her help.”

Clover took one last pitiful look backwards before closing the doors of the palace and disappearing inside.

Marelin and Leafy stared into the mouth of the cave. All that could really be seen was an overhanging cloud of darkness. Leafy shook slightly, but Marelin didn’t even notice. She’d never seen a cave before, and it was fairly thrilling to not have to read about it in a book. Instead she actually got to witness it for herself. Finally, she could see so much of what she’d never been allowed to.

“Are you sure you want to go in there?” Leafy asked, hoping her answer would be no. “It could be dangerous.”

“It’ll be fine,” she answered. “Come on.” In her determination to go inside she didn’t even seem to care that Leafy looked less than willing to go with her. His eyes shifted left and right as they walked through the darkness. Marelin’s horn lit up and they used it as a torch to see where they were going. Unfortunately it also meant they could see things Leafy didn’t want to see.

Shadows loomed on the walls. Smoke and smog came down one corridor. Marelin stopped. “That’s strange. Where’s the smoke coming from?”

Leafy didn’t answer, but built up his courage and carried on following her down the path. He’d only been with the mare for a short amount of time, but he was already impressed at how brave she seemed in a crisis. Until today he thought he was fairly brave, dealing with bad ponies whilst laying in the shadows, and helping nature carry on, but Marelin was on a whole other level. It was like she didn’t even know that fear even existed.

They came to a clearing, brightly lit up by magic of some kind. In the middle, a large pile of jewels laid, seemingly owned by nopony. Marelin moved forward and tugged on some of them.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” a voice said inside the darkness. Leafy jumped, flapped his wings, and crashed into the roof. He shook his head fiercely. His head really hurt because of that scare. Marelin, however, wasn’t disturbed by the creepy voice, and merely turned around to look. A very familiar looking stallion appeared from the side of the cave. He wore a red cape around his shoulders, and stared innocently at the young mare. Bruises and cuts covered his whole body-- including a very deep one on his top lip. From behind him, came another stallion with angry, dominating eyes.

“They belong to the dragon that lives here,” the angry one said. Marelin placed the jewel back on the ground.

“What’re you doing here?” she asked.

“Waiting for somepony to come help us,” the first one answered. “Waiting for you to help us, like I’d asked all those years ago.”

Marelin was none the wiser. She didn’t know either of them. Nor did she remember ever offering to help anypony in the past-- Clover would never have let her do that.

“Don’t you remember us?” the angry one asked. Marelin shook her head. Leafy, by this point, had shuffled behind her, ready to fight if anything happened, but not ready to start a riot if it wasn’t needed.

“Bit rude not to, don’t you think? We went against you in the chosen one competition. We could have been you,” the angry one continued, annoyed by her refusal to answer properly.

“That’d be fun,” Marelin said, with a smile. “Sorry, I don’t remember you. Clover always said my memory was terrible.”

“It’s us. Wizard and Firefly. We asked you for your help,” Wizard told her. Marelin shrugged. “We told Clover to tell you.”

Marelin shook her head. “She never did.”

“Figures,” Firefly said, his angry eyes deepening. Wizard placed a hoof on his shoulder and he calmed down slightly.

“You live in this cave?” Marelin asked them. They both nodded. Firefly looked down at the floor.

“We couldn’t get our destinies. Nopony would help us. Leaving was our only option,” Wizard told her.

Marelin opened her mouth to ask another question, but was quickly stopped by the noticeable presence of hot steam blowing in her direction. They all turned their heads and noticed, with almost disbelief, that a giant ruby dragon was staring at them from one of the tunnels leading off. And he didn’t appear happy with having so many visitors either.

He shuffled his claws closer into the cave. Firefly and Wizard quickly retreated backwards into the darkness from where they’d arrived. For once, it was only Leafy that seemed undisturbed by the creature. He walked towards the dragon and, to Marelin’s surprise, the dragon very hastily retreated backwards.

“How’d you do that?” she said, mostly to herself. Leafy shrugged off her question.

“It doesn’t hold long. We have to go, now.”

He wasn’t wrong. Not long after he and Marelin followed Firefly and Wizard out, the dragon could be heard bellowing and smashing his body against the sides of the cave. Rocks and dust fell down off the ceiling, almost crushing Marelin a few times. Thankfully she just managed to to dodge them, and those that she didn’t she managed to catch with her magic. Leafy ran beside her, fast on his small legs.

Eventually they stopped for a breath. The dragon couldn’t be heard anymore, and the rumbling had stopped. It was also noticeable that the two colts they’d met inside the cave had completely disappeared from sight. Neither Leafy nor Marelin knew in which direction they should be heading, or what they could do about finding out. It seemed as if they were stuck.

A glimmer of a rainbow came to Marelin’s eye, and she saw a small cave leading off from the tunnel she was in. Without even stopping to tell Leafy where she was going, she wandered inside, something seeming to pull her in the direction. Jewels and precious stones of all shapes, sizes and colours sat in the walls and floor, capturing the imagination of the small filly. Everything was so bright and dazzling. She wasn’t scared of it. It was a good feeling. A sense of serenity and calm washed through her mind. She outstretched her hooves and the familiar feeling of magic crept from her horn, down through the rest of her body. Her eyes glowed with white light, and she vanished from the cave.

Down, down, down she went, crashing on the floor with a thud. Nearby to her stood two young foals, downcast and sad. The past was replaying all over again.

Firefly stood next to Wizard, deeply disturbed by what was going on. His friend was crying, and it was taking all of his strength to try and stop him.

“It’s not fair. I don’t want to,” Wizard cried. “I don’t want to.”

“Well, it’s either that or your dad. What do you want?” Firefly yelled. This only made Wizard cry harder. Firefly, realising his mistake, reached out his hoof and placed it on the colt’s shoulder. “The caves will be safe for us. Ponies say that there’s magic there, beyond anything ever seen. We just take the magic, and Clover will be too awestruck to deny us entering the program.”

Wizard sobbed, and rubbed his eyes clear of his tears. “But... it’s... it’s dangerous. Nopony’s ever come out from them.”

“Well,” Firefly said, releasing his hoof from the other colt. “We’re not noponies, we’re someponies.”

Wizard stared at him confusedly. Firefly backtracked his sentence.

“We go in, we come out. That’s the end of that. We have to.”

Wizard shook his head, and didn’t even attempt to stop the tears flooding down his cheeks anymore. He carefully touched his cut lip and shuddered at the memory.

“We can’t rely on Marelin to save us. She barely knows us,” Firefly told him.

“But, she’s nice. She’d try,” Wizard argued.

“So can we. This cave-- it’s a way of trying. A way of gaining the ultimate power.”

Firefly continued to stare at his friend until Wizard gave way. Wizard genuinely thought that Marelin would come through for him. That she, the future advisor to the royals, could help them out of their problem. But could he wait that long for some help? Who knows how quickly Marelin could actually come to their rescue; especially considering Clover wouldn’t. Wizard needed help now, not later. He was beyond desperation at this point. He didn’t want to have to suffer at home anymore. He had to make his mom and dad proud-- if not for their sake, but for his own well being.

Reluctantly he nodded, and they began to walk in the direction of the mountains.

Marelin followed these younger versions of the ponies she’d only just met. She’d already tried speaking to them, but they couldn’t seem to hear or see her. It reminded her of the sense of feeling she’d had once when Clover had made her drink a really horrible potion, in order to experience something Starswhirl and her had once done. She felt like a ghost, not exactly alive. Her ability to make friends had gone; it was like everything had gone back to the days when she wasn’t allowed outside of the castle. She hated those days.

The vision swiftly changed, and now, instead of two colts stood before her, there was the stallions she’d seen earlier. The older versions of Firefly and Wizard were back, cuts and bruises and all. They seemed stable and motionless. Then again, so did the land around them. Other ponies were with them, each one with the same bruises and cuts as each other. Each pony was identical with painful scars, but seemed to feel no sense of pain at all. In fact, Marelin could almost believe that they were at peace-- more so than they had been in the previous vision. They didn’t need saving or helping, that was for sure. They were happy, and Marelin was happy about that. Almost happy enough to bounce up and down with glee, but she didn’t. Not because she didn’t want to, but because the vision swiftly changed onto something new.

She’d entered the palace again. Helios and Lotto were stood in front of her. Lotto looked concerned, and not sure what to do with himself. There were chains on the front of his hooves, locking them in place. Helios didn’t seem concerned about this at all. The only pony he had eyes for was a dark, black mare stood beside him. Her wings were sticky and green, her eyes perfectly matched her wings. She was terrifying.

A deep laugh came from her throat. Helios fell down onto his knees, choking and gasping, but Marelin couldn’t move from the spot she was stood. Her hooves were stuck onto the ground. Lotto didn’t make an attempt to help, and neither did his fellow guards. It was like a dream-- a nightmare-- But it wasn’t. Marelin didn’t feel like she was dreaming. She felt as if this made her journey whole. That this was the end of what she’d been dreaming the night before. But it was real.

Leafy tapped on her shoulder and her eyes gradually adapted to the poor lighting of the cave. She shook her head, fiercely, trying to rid herself of the thought.

“Are you okay?” Leafy asked. Marelin didn’t answer. Just behind Leafy’s head, she noticed an engraving sketched onto the wall. The words written were:

All mighty Alicorn, that you were
high on your pedestal.
Your love and lust shall be your end,
and with that kingdom fall.

Marelin’s smile faded. Her happiness grew dim. And all that way back home, after escaping the cave, she hurried as fast as she could possibly go. The laugh still ingrained in her memory.

The Legend of the Love's Lost Won

Helios had been walking around with his head to the ground these past two weeks. Marelin and Lotto weren’t sure what to do or what was best to advise him. They’d both heard of the wedding between Grain and Sir La Loo and they knew how much it must have hurt Helios to receive the invitation. In truth it had hurt Lotto somewhat as well. He had fallen for the mare just as quickly as Helios had. The only difference is that, in the end, he hadn’t been the colt to win her heart. Although, to be fair, Lotto knew that if a mare had a choice between the rugged forest colt or the sweet stallion king that they’d choose Helios every time. One of the worst things about being handsome in Lotto’s view was that though he could charm the mares, he could never keep them. They saw him as just a thing to be thrown aside when a long term relationship came along.

It was this thinking that made Lotto the more suitable of the two friends to understand what Helios was going through. He would set his knights same training exercises and then wander into the palace to find the young king. He tried to spend as much time as possible with Helios but, unfortunately, it wasn’t always possible. His job as the Captain of the royal guard often got in the way as his duties as a friend. It was at these points that Marelin had to step in.

Lotto would have been lying if he’d said that Marelin advising Helios wasn’t worrying. In the short time he’d known her he’d found her to be young, silly and prone to losing attention at the most inopportune moments. It wasn’t that he didn’t like her; in fact it was because of these very things that he did like her, but they weren’t the good qualities of a royal advisor. She wasn’t Clover the Clever, and that worried Lotto.

Marelin didn’t know anything of his worries though. She’d been more subdued of late, though she’d tried to hide it. She walked to Helios’ throne room with the same spring in her step that she always had.

“Hel—lo, Hel—ios,” she said, bounding up to him with a grin.

The young stallion looked up, sadly and took the papers that she offered him. Nopony else was in the room. Lotto and Marelin made sure that Helios had some time to relax by himself without having to put on the airs and graces of a king.

“Well, what’re you doing today? Do you want to do a puzzle?” Marelin said, jumping up the steps and sitting down on the floor next to his throne.

“Not today, thank you, Marelin,” Helios said. He sighed and looked down at the floor.

Marelin lent on his arm rest and sighed as well. “You royals, you’re all no fun. Somepony’s going to have to teach you a lesson about partying and playing. Maybe that’ll put a smile back on your face.”

“I don’t need a smile right now, Marelin.” Helios sighed again and his lower lip dropped into a pout. He was picturing Grain in her wedding gown.

“Well, what do you need then?” Marelin asked.

Helios shrugged. “I don’t know.” He did know, and Marelin knew he knew, but neither of them were going to say what he most wanted out loud. It was an impossible task.

“I’m going to go and get one of my puzzles anyway. They’re too much fun to pass up.” Marelin got up and bounced to the door. It took all of her energy to keep this positivity going. “I’ll be back soon, Helios.”

She didn’t hear anything but a sigh in reply.

Lotto was busy training a new knight on the lawn. Emblem had originally been a hoofpony for the royal carriage but whilst on a visit to Zebrica he had proven his worth and Helios had arranged that he should be trained to serve in the army. Emblem was overjoyed about this. Not only was it work he had dreamed of doing but, as well as this, he was paid better and his family name was finally being wiped out of existence. Over the years his family had always been looked down upon as thieves, murders and swindlers—and the majority of his close family had gone on to prove this description as true—but Emblem had promised his mother at a very young age that he would be different. He was the youngest in his family and the only one left out of his brothers and sisters. His immediate family were either dead, killed or in jail. All accept his mother but he worried every day that he might lose her as well. Now, with the money that he made at work, he could afford the very best healthcare. He would do whatever Lotto told him as long as he could keep the money coming.

Lotto found him a diligent worker. He was one of the bravest colts he’d ever had the pleasure of meeting, and that was saying something for Lotto was always given the emblem of bravery when it came down to it. He saw something in Emblem he’d once seen in somepony else he loved—his younger brother was a tiny bit like the white unicorn and he liked him because of it.

“Come on, get your hooves up,” he barked at Emblem. Emblem was getting tired. He’d been working at gaining strength ever since he’d started training but thus far he couldn’t compare to the other knights.

“Unless you want Private. Winter to come over here, I suggest you move, move, move,” Lotto bellowed. Emblem sped up. He hated Private. Winter. He was one of the cruellest ponies around and always reminded Emblem how weak he was with a kick to the stomach.

Somepony sidled up to Lotto and he looked around. His mouth fell open. A beautiful mare was staring at him with a smirk. She had light pink skin and a mane striped pink, purple and yellow. Her eyes were like sapphires shining in deep, dark pools. Lotto stared, mesmerised.

“He’s a small one, isn’t he?” the mare said. Her voice was soft and sweet, but also strong. She had Lotto in the palm of her hoof. Emblem sensed that Lotto had stopped watching him and collapsed to the ground, exhausted. He pulled himself up and was about to say something to Lotto—and then he saw the mare. He was awestruck immediately. The white unicorn blushed and smiled goofily at the mare.

The mare laughed. “You’re both very quiet all of a sudden. Anypony would think you hadn’t seen a damsel in distress before.”

Lotto snapped out of his trance and gulped. “You—You’re in distress?” he asked.

“At the minute, I am, I’m afraid. I came here for an audience with the King but I lost my way to the hall.” She paused for a few seconds, letting the colts have time to take in what she’d said. They were barely listening to her voice. Her voice was all the same to them. “I don’t suppose one of you kind stallions would show me the way?” She batted her eyelids.

Emblem stepped forwards and offered and extended hoof but Lotto quickly pushed him away. “I can take you. I’m a close personal friend of the King.”

“Really? You must be a very important pony then.” She took hold of his hoof and they left Emblem behind on the lawn. He grumbled but he couldn’t see anything else to do. He didn’t want to lose his job over a mare—even if she was the prettiest thing he’d ever seen.

“The name’s Lotto Lancer,” Lotto told her. “Captain Lotto Lancer, to be exact.”

The mare laughed and patted his red cheeks. “A very important pony indeed. It’s a great pleasure to meet the Captain of the Royal Guard.”

“Well, hopefully this won’t be the first time we meet—err...”

“Of course, I wouldn’t dream of hiding away from you.” She didn’t seem to realise what Lotto was asking for. “I believe you and I would be great friends. I’m very interested in the knights of Canterlot. You could say I love them, even.”

“Are you planning to stay long, then?” Lotto asked. He could see the door to the throne room coming closer and he was upset. He tried to slow down his pace but she continued to walk at the same speed.

“Oh yes, I’m here for an extended stay.” She smiled at him. There was just something about that smile. “I’ve been planning this visit for months—years even. My mother always told me that one day I’d visit the palace, though I didn’t believe her at first, of course.”

“Of course.” Lotto nodded and pointed sadly at the door. “Well, this is the throne room. King Alicorn will be inside. Do you want me to announce you?”

“No, it’s fine,” she said. “I think it will be a nice surprise, don’t you?”

“Yes, yes it will,” Lotto said, cheerily. Secretly he was disappointed. He was hoping that if she wanted to announce him he would finally discover her name. It was easier to woo a mare if you knew their name.

“Thank you, Captain Lotto Lancer. You have been most helpful,” she said. He opened the door for her slightly and she walked inside. Lotto stared at the door and rubbed his hoof through his mane. What a strange but lovely mare, he thought. Maybe she’s come to give some news about Grain’s wedding. There was one thing for sure though, as soon as she came out, name or not, he was going to ask her out on a date. You couldn’t let a mare like that escape from you once you found her. She was Lotto’s soul mate. He could feel it.

Marelin had been a long time in finding a puzzle. She’d wanted just the right one, and she didn’t want it to be one of the educational ones Clover had given her for her birthdays. Unfortunately all of the good ones had been buried deep in the educational ones and no amount of magic had moved them fast enough.

She was excited to think about cheering Helios up. She practically ran back to the throne room, the game held in her magic, and stormed through the doors. Inside she found a puzzling scene. Helios had left his throne and in his place a mare was sat. She was talking to him and whispering to him and he was grinning in reply. Marelin didn’t know whether to be puzzled or relieved. She thought she’d be the one to cheer him up, not this stranger, and it seemed unfair that she hadn’t had the chance to go first—cheering up a pony was what a friend did, and she wanted to be that friend.

But there was another reason she didn’t like this scene. She didn’t like the look of the mare. She was eerily familiar and just her smile made Marelin’s spine tingle. She had a bad feeling and if there was one thing she knew it was that she had to trust her feelings. If she hadn’t followed them before she wouldn’t be where she was now, and neither would her new friends.

“Helios?” she asked, trotting up to the stallion and mare.

Helios turned around and beamed at her. He ran to her and swept her up in a hug. Usually Marelin would have joined in instantly, but this time the hug felt suffocating. It didn’t feel natural. “Oh, Marelin, isn’t it wonderful?”

She stared at him, confused. “Isn’t what wonderful?” The mare on top of the throne was smirking. Marelin hated smirking. Helios didn’t appear to notice and dragged her up the steps towards the mare.

“I can hardly believe it, Marelin. This is the happiest day of my life.”

“Why? What’s happened? Come on, Helios, don’t keep it from me.” His happiness was oddly catching. She couldn’t help but mimic his excitement.

“Well, don’t you know, Marelin, don’t you know. I’m getting married.” The king grinned foolishly at her. Marelin stopped in shock.

“Married?” She stared at the mare. Her spine shuddered. “Married to who?”

“Well, to Nimhay of course. Have you ever seen anypony so perfect?”

“Nimhay?”

The mare grabbed hold of Marelin’s hoof and shook it fiercely. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, my Best Mare.”

Marelin stopped, doubly shocked, though she wasn’t sure you could be doubly shocked. What in the hay was going on? Helios kissed Nimhay on the cheek and Marelin retched. Whatever was happening she’d have to put a stop to it.

Everything seemed to go by so fast in the palace. Before Marelin had even had a chance to breathe the wedding was put into place and Helios was standing at the altar waiting for his bride. Lotto was standing beside him. He’d been the only colt that Helios had chosen to be in his immediate wedding party. Emblem was the second closest and he was acting as usher for the guests.

The wedding was large, as permitting to Nimhay’s instructions. She’d said that she’d always dreamed that everypony would be there to give her well wishings and see her in her hoof-stitched dress. Her family had sent over her dress for her. Marelin had tried to intercept the parcel when it had arrived but had failed miserably. As far as she could tell it hadn’t been delivered by any of the ordinary mail-ponies or guards. It had seemingly come out of nowhere, much like the mare herself.

She barely spoke about her family beyond a sentence or two and there was no point asking her. She had the amazing ability to defer the question onto something else so she didn’t have to tell ponies anything but what she actually wanted them to know. Marelin wondered what she could’ve been hiding, but it was too late to find out. Nimhay had walked up to Helios, her bridesmaids smirking just as much as her, and the ceremony began.

It got to the section of the ceremony where the pony in charge asked if there was anypony that didn’t agree to this wedding. Both Marelin and Lotto almost stepped forward. Lotto was still sore at the whole thing. In his eyes Nimhay was supposed to be his mare, but he couldn’t help feeling happy that Helios had finally gained his old smile again. It seemed he’d almost forgotten about Grain. He’d already missed her wedding to organise his. No, Lotto couldn’t ruin this day. He was far too loyal to the king to do that.

Marelin didn’t have any of these feelings. She just felt uneasy about the whole thing. She noticed how the stallions and colts stared at the mare, how she smiled at them in that menacing way and how her eyes glowed green whenever she used her magic. Marelin remembered Clover telling her that green magic was never a good sign, but she still wanted to give Nimhay the benefit of the doubt. She didn’t like judging ponies on first meeting. It didn’t help your chances of making friends, and Marelin loved making new friends. But her spine still tingled and shuddered when she saw Nimhay. No, she told herself, she couldn’t ruin Helios’ happiness. Clover would have never done that to Sapphire.

The ceremony was quickly over and Helios happily kissed his new wife. They held a party in the great hall with all of their close friends and family. Helios hadn’t wanted to invite all of the guests because he felt it would be better for his intimate relations to get to know Nimhay. She was, after all, their new friend and queen.

“This is the happiest day of my life,” Helios told Lotto. Lotto grumbled slightly but quickly cut himself off. He hated that he was feeling this way. Loyalty was sometimes a hard thing to keep up, especially where mares were concerned. First he’d lost Grain to Helios and now Nimhay. Half-breed’s had all the luck.

“Congratulations, your highness,” he mumbled. “I should go and check on the guards.” He walked away and Helios turned to Marelin. She’d been quieter in these last few days then he’d ever known her to be before. She seemed to be thinking about something but Helios was too wrapped up in his marriage to care that much about it.

“Why don’t you go and talk to Nimhay, Marelin?” Helios suggested. “I know she wants to get to know you better.”

“She does?” Marelin cast a suspicious eye to his new bride.

“Of course she does. Why shouldn’t she want to get to know my advisor? You’re going to be her advisor now too, you know.” Helios was grinning ear to ear but Marelin didn’t like it. He didn’t look natural.

“Helios,” she said. “Are you sure this wedding was the right thing to do? It’s just that—well, I’m not sure Clover would’ve advice Platinum to do this sort of thing.”

“Who cares what they did in the past?” Helios snorted. “Equestria’s mine now, right? Well, then we’ll do what I and Nimhay want. Now, go and talk to her.” He shooed her in the direction of his wife. Marelin dragged her hooves as she walked over. Nimhay was talking to a pack of mares and stallions that had gathered around her. She was certainly popular. Too popular, Marelin thought.

Nimhay saw her coming up and Marelin could swear she’d seen a frown come over her face. She’d quickly changed it to a smile by the time she’d arrived in the crowds.

“Hello, Nimhay,” Marelin said. “I’m Marelin.” She put her hoof out to shake, trying to be friendly, but Nimhay looked down her nose at it.

“You can call me your majesty,” she told her. “And you’re supposed to curtsey to your queen.”

The crowds around her nodded in agreement and looked at Marelin, disgusted. Marelin was baffled and slightly annoyed. She knew well enough how you were supposed to act with royalty. She’d spent most of her life with them and the fact that Nimhay had the audacity to suggest she didn’t aggravated her. Nevertheless she did as she’d said.

Nimhay seemed satisfied. “Very well, you may go now.” She flicked her hooves and the crowd around her dispersed. Marelin remained where she was. She wasn’t going to let this prissy pony order her around. She’d had enough of being bullied with the former queen, Evergreen.

“I’m your royal advisor, your majesty,” she said, curtseying again. “I advise you on stuff.”

“Stuff? You’re going to have to be a bit more specific than that.” Nimhay sneered. “And I thought I told you you could leave.”

“Well, you didn’t really say it to anypony in particular,” Marelin pointed out, “and I’m supposed to talk to you. Helios asked me to.”

Nimhay was frowning now and looking down at her hoof in boredom. “Very well, you’ve talked to me. I don’t see that we have anymore business to discuss.”

Marelin stumbled over her words, opening and shutting her mouth, but she couldn’t think of anything to say. She mumbled a thank you and left Nimhay to her hoof-staring. Nimhay didn’t even say goodbye. In fact, she glared at her as the young unicorn walked to the doors and left the party. She couldn’t stay in the room any longer. She’d always dreamed of what parties would be like, but she knew that that wasn’t what she’d imagined. For the life of her she couldn’t imagine what Nimhay seemed to have against her. Nor did she understand what Helios or anypony else could see in her.

Helios was escorting his bride to their bedchambers. The party had been tiring but satisfying and he was looking forward to spending some time alone with his new wife. He’d barely had a chance to spend any time with her since the ceremony and he regretted it. Even with only close relatives and friends he’d struggled to speak to her. He was smiling stupidly, thinking all of the lovely thoughts that befit a stallion in love. Nimhay seemed to be thinking something herself.

“What are you thinking of, my dear?” he asked. If Marelin had been around she would have gagged. Helios never spoke like this.

Nimhay looked sadly down at the floor. “I was thinking—well, it’s best you don’t know.”

“Come on, you can tell me anything. I’m your husband,” he said.

She chuckled. “Yes, you are, aren’t you?” She looked up into his kind eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m just not sure everypony is happy about our arrangements.”

“What do you mean?” Helios stroked his through her mane. It was the softest mane he’d ever felt.

“I’m afraid there are mares in here that may offer me some competition,” she said sadly. “Mares that believe they love you more than I do. Mares that would hurt me to get to you.”

“Nonsense. I’d never leave you.” He snorted and stroked her mane again. He liked the way it felt.

“But, you wouldn’t have any choice. They’d do things to me to make sure we wouldn’t get our happily ever after.”

Helios thought for a second. They were nearly to their bedroom door. “Would it help,” he asked, “if they didn’t have the chance? What about if they no longer worked here?”

Nimhay’s eyes lit up. “Aw, Alicorn, you’d do that for me?”

He nodded and stood up proudly. “A king must always protect his queen. You just tell the head of staff who needs to go and they’re gone. It’s as simple as that.”

“Thank you, Alicorn. That’s—well, that’s one of the kindest things anypony’s ever done for me.” There didn’t seem to be a smile when she could smile normally. She always smirked just as she did now. They’d made it to the door. She grabbed hold of the front of his royal-emblem. “Now, I believe we have some business to attend to.”

Helios blushed and grinned. She pulled him inside the room with a soft tug. He followed happily.

The guards were smiling to. It wouldn’t be long, they thought, before they’d be able to brag about being the personal guards to a royal princess or prince. They couldn’t wait for it.

Marelin was staring down at the notice in her hoof in disbelief. She couldn’t believe it. They were firing her? Her? But, it didn’t make any sense. She’d been hoofpicked as a foal to be the royal advisor. It hadn’t been an occupation, it had been her destiny. And if she wasn’t the advisor what was she? Just a bumbling mare with magic, that’s all. She could barely be classed as anything.

The head of staff was staring at her from the door. He was with two beefy guards who were waiting patiently in case they needed to intervene. They’d been given the orders that the mares on the queen’s list must be escorted out of the palace immediately. The guards were actually quite disappointed and not just a little surprised. They had both been working at the palace since Marelin had been a filly. It was upsetting to see the fun-loving mare leave.

“I don’t get it,” she said. “Helios wouldn’t fire me. He can’t fire me.”

“Well, he has,” the head of staff said sternly. There was a tear coming into his eye but he quickly blinked it away. “You must leave immediately. This room is to be used as the queen’s backup bedchambers, for when the king is busy in his own room.”

Marelin looked sadly around the room she’d spent most of her foalhood. To think it was going to be used by that horrible mare. It was too much. She burst into tears. “B-but what about all my s-stuff?” she stuttered.

“All property of the king,” the head of staff said. He took pity on her and rubbed her on the back. He too had known Marelin since she was a filly. “We’ll keep it safe for you, I promise.”

Marelin coughed, choked and spluttered as she gathered a few of her more personal belongings: a painting of her father, a painting of her mentor and a more recent painting of her and her two friends. One of the knights tucked them up into a sheet for her and tied a handle onto it. She thanked him and swaddled him in a hug. He stroked her mane glumly. The other knight and the head of staff didn’t try to stop him. If they’d have had the chance they’d have done the same.

She followed them out of the door and walked past crowds of servants staring at her from their work-spaces. Some of them had only arrived recently, others had been there since long before she’d arrived, but all were sad to see her leaving. Marelin might not have been the most sensible of ponies but she added a spirit to the palace that was going to be missed when she left. They knew it would never be the same without her.

Marelin had her head up high. She’d stopped crying and was putting on as brave a face as she could muster. Her hoofsteps were soft. She didn’t feel in the mood to try and add any bounce to them. This was her entire life disappearing before her. It would be hard for anypony who had to go through the same thing. There wasn’t one pony who didn’t pity her.

Helios didn’t show up to see her go. In truth he wasn’t even aware she was leaving. He’d been otherwise engaged with Nimhay since his wedding the day before. The only time he’d been away from her is when she’d gone to speak to the head of staff about some dinner and the staffing situation. She’d got her dinner and her way, in the end. The head of staff had almost had his head bitten off when he’d suggested she should reconsider some of her actions.

Emblem was by the gates as Marelin walked up. He pulled them open and bowed to her. He’d never really had the chance to know her very well but he knew how loved she was in the palace. He couldn’t feel sad that she was leaving, he didn’t have the experience for that, but he could feel sorry for the mare. He knew well how it felt to lose a job and felt like you’d lost all hope. He gave her a whisper of encouragement as she walked out and he shut the gate behind her. She thanked him as well. She thanked everypony she passed. If it wasn’t for them her time in the palace would have been akin to being stuck in Tartarus.

There were guards saluting and playing a farewell tune on their trumpets everywhere. Lotto was startled. He had been picking herbs, as far away from the happy couple as he could get without failing at his job, and hadn’t known anything was going on. He came up now and saw Marelin’s disappearing figure on the other side of the gate. He ran up to Emblem.

“What’s going on? Where’ Marelin going?” he said, panicking.

Emblem’s ears drooped. “She’s gone. She’s been fired.”

“What!” Lotto stared in shock. Marelin had disappeared completely now. “By who’s orders? She has a birth right to be here.”

The head of staff stepped forward. “The new queen, sir. It was the new queen’s orders.”

Lotto frowned. He couldn’t believe it. “Not if I have anything to say about it,” he muttered. He yelled at his guards and told them to get back to work, promising them that he would resolve the matter post-haste. They didn’t need to worry about Marelin any longer.

As soon as the crowds had dispersed he ran inside. Just wait until I find Helios, he thought, gritting his teeth. Mare or no mare, this has gone way too far.

He found Helios sitting on the end of his bed. His face was one of bliss and peace. He’d never felt so happy in his life. Lotto barged in and looked around.

“Is Nimhay in here?” he asked.

Helios frowned and glared at the Pegasus. “You know, you’re not meant to barge into a king’s bedchambers like that. King’s deserve privacy and respect.”

“Did she tell you that?” Lotto scoffed. “Did she also tell you why she felt she could go around firing whoever she wanted?”

Helios stood up and walked over to his mirror. He played with his mane, brushing it back into place. It had been quite ruffled before. “That’s easy. I told her she could.”

Lotto gasped. “You did what? Helios, how could you?”

Helios shrugged. “She’s my queen, what she wants she gets. She felt that some of the servants were going to cause problems so I told her she could get rid of them. It’s no big deal.” He was rubbing his tongue over his teeth. He hadn’t had time to brush his teeth the night before.

He felt hooves grasp him tightly and fling him against the wall. Lotto was holding him firmly and shooting him daggers with his eyes. Although Helios was a stallion and Lotto only a colt, Lotto had been trained to fight bigger monsters than a half-breed.

“No, it’s a big problem. Do you know who your precious wife has fired, Helios? She’s fired Marelin! Marelin of all ponies!”

Helios had been struggling underneath his hooves up until when he’d mentioned Marelin. Lotto wasn’t surprised that Helios hadn’t known.

“What? No—No, she wouldn’t. She’d never fire Marelin.”

“Well, she did. She’s gone, Helios. She’s gone out into the world and who knows what could happen to that gullible little foal out there.” He let the half-breed go and Helios stumbled forward, half in a dream. The room was silent for a minute and then Helios regained in composure.

“Well, what does it matter,” he said. “If Nimhay doesn’t think I need Marelin, then I don’t need Marelin. I have Nimhay now, after all. She’s as great—no, a greater advisor than Marelin would ever be. After all, you yourself said she was silly and gullible.”

“Yes, I did,” Lotto said. “But that’s exactly the reason I think she’s a good match for you—for us. She keeps you humble and judging from how you’re acting towards me, Nimhay does not.”

Helios snorted. He was gaining quite a collection of them by this point. This only aggravated Lotto more.

“What do you really want, Helios?” he asked. “Do you want a mare you’ve only just met, a mare that might have more up her sleeves than you’ve imagined in that dreamy little head of yours—or do you want our very real friend? That same friend who stood up to Evergreen for you—Evergreen, Helios. Somepony that nopony would ever dare go against, let alone Marelin. I doubt Nimhay would do that for you.”

Lotto stormed out of the door, leaving Helios all alone. Helios collapsed on the bed. Honestly, he didn’t know the answer to Lotto’s question. He couldn’t help it. Nimhay made him feel the way that Grain had made him feel. When he’d been with Nimhay last night he’d finally felt like he’d regained the happiness he’d felt when he’d asked Grain to marry him. This time he’d won. But was it worth it, winning without Marelin there? After all, she’d been the pony to stand by his side when Grain had left. She was the mare that had given him his first smile. Usually the ponies that had seen a half-breed like him would have attacked him or chased him but Marelin had been different.

He just couldn’t figure out what to do. Who should he be loyal to? There was only one real answer.

“Nimhay,” Helios said, walking into Marelin’s old room. Nimhay was busy measuring the walls and windows. She turned when she heard him come in.

“Ah, Alicorn, what do you think?” she asked, pointing at the window. “This will be perfect for a stain-glass portrait of me, won’t it?”

Helios nodded and then shook his head. “Nimhay,” he said, “is it true that you had them get rid of Marelin today?”

“Yes, I did, but I told you I needed to get rid of the mares that would want to hurt me.” She was wrapping the measuring tape around her hooves. “Marelin was one of those.”

“Marelin?” Helios stepped towards her. “Marelin wouldn’t have hurt you. She wouldn’t hurt anypony. She’s one of the sweetest ponies around.” He leaned against the window and looked out at the dark night. He thought of Marelin, out there somewhere, sleeping in the cold, dark streets. He shuddered. “And she was one of my best friends,” he said, sadly.

Nimhay grabbed hold of his hoof and spun him round so that he was facing her. “But you have me now. You don’t need her anymore.”

He sighed. He wanted to believe she was right. He’d told Lotto the exact same thing not too long ago, but he’d known, even when he’d said it, that he was lying to himself. “No, you’re wrong. I need Marelin just as much as you. I might not love her the way I love you, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love her. I need her in my life.”

Nimhay frowned and pulled away from him. She hit out at the cabinet fiercely and knocked a portrait of Marelin to the floor. She pretended to trip and put one hoof through the paper, ripping the picture and tearing Marelin’s head in half. Helios watched in horror as she grabbed hold of the frame and encased it in magic flames. Her eyes glowed bright green.

“Oh, dear, how unfortunate,” she said, mock-sympathetically. She spat at him. “Now, you just remember this, you are my husband. You’re going to be the father of my children and the king of my subjects. You don’t need another mare—especially this one—in your life.”

Helios nodded, smiling foolishly. His eyes were tinted a light green. Nimhay smirked.

“Now, who put such a silly idea in your head?” she asked.

“Lot—to said, you not to be trusted. Marelin—needs to come back. Marelin must come back.”

She patted his mane with her hoof. For a second a flash of black, holey skin appeared before turning back into its usual pink.

“Well then, we’ll just have to deal with the good Captain now, won’t we? We can’t have him ruining our happily ever after.”

Helios nodded slowly and Nimhay chuckled to herself.

“I’ll meet you in the bedchambers in twenty minutes, my little Alicorn,” she said, sidling out of the door. “I just have some business to take care of first.”

Lotto and Emblem were jousting on the lawn. Lotto felt that jousting was the perfect way to teach new knights combat. It was all about precision and timing, something that any good knight has to learn in order to succeed. So far Emblem had proven poor at it but Lotto wasn’t going to give up on him just yet. Somewhere inside of him Lotto knew that Emblem had the makings of a great knight. He just had to get to it.

“Come on, you were really close that time,” he said as Emblem tumbled past him having missed be a mere inch.

Emblem was panting. He hated jousting. It was his least favourite thing about training and it was the only thing that made him doubt that he needed the money as much as he did. He was thankful when he saw Nimhay storming up to them. Lotto would have to take a break to talk to the queen, he thought.

Lotto saw her coming too, and he frowned. The charms he’d originally seen in the mare had all but gone. Instead he could see all of the faults that Marelin had seen previously and he hated her for them. Lotto was nothing if he was not loyal to his friends and family.

“Can I help you?” he hissed at Nimhay, his nose scrunched up as if he had smelt a bad smell.

“Yes, I just wanted to apologise,” Nimhay said, bowing her head. “I didn’t realise how important that young mare was to the house. I—I guess I was just jealous of how close you and Alicorn were to her. I shouldn’t have been jealous and I know that now.”

Lotto smiled. He was always ready to forgive. “So, you’re going to bring Marelin back then?”

Nimhay shook her head. “If only I could. I’m afraid that we’d never find her now.”

Lotto’s smile had vanished as quickly as it had come. He looked at the mare suspiciously. Somehow he didn’t think she was telling the truth. “I could easily send a search party to find her. My knights are some of the best in the kingdom.”

“There’s no use doing that.” Nimhay was batting her eyelids and, although it appeared to be working on Emblem (who sat there, gormless) it didn’t have any effect on Lotto. He’d had enough experience with sirens to fall for the tricks she was using. He’d used them himself in the past. “I’m telling you. You’d never find her.” She sighed. “I’m afraid she’s all but lost to us now.”

He raised an eyebrow. “No, really, it’s no trouble. I’d be more than happy to find her. She’s my friend too, you know.”

“And I quite understand that,” she was getting annoyed now, “but there’s just no use. I keep saying that there’s no use.” No amount of tricks she tried, not even her magic, seemed to be working on the black Pegasus. She was focusing so hard that she didn’t even appear to notice that her disguise was slowly falling apart.

Lotto looked in shock as her pink skin slowly melted away leaving a dark black in its place. She was even darker than him, and even if they had been the exact same colour, he didn’t have holes in his legs like she had in hers. She was gruesome looking. Her teeth were pointing, her eyes large and green, and her hair—it reminded him of an insect, somewhat. And more to the point, he realised, she had wings. In her pony form she’d only had the horn usually associated with the unicorns.

Emblem fell over. She grunted in anger. She’d been trying so hard to win over the Captain she hadn’t realised her spell over his trainee had slowly fallen off. Lotto jabbed at her with his lance before she had time to put the spell back on.

“Emblem, quick, go and get help,” Lotto yelled. Emblem stumbled backwards and obeyed orders. He was happy to get away. He’d never seen anything as horrific looking as the queen. Her wings were buzzing fiercely and it reminded him of the horrible camping trips he’d had to go on as a foal. There were always creatures on those trips to sting and bite him.

“Who are you? What do you want here?” Lotto screamed.

Nimhay laughed loudly. She didn’t feel the need to disguise her voice or her body anymore. It wasn’t as if Lotto was going to get away from this meeting unscathed. She had a way with ponies that meant that they would always believe her—even if it had failed her with the Captain it would easily betwixt his lessers.

“Why, Captain, don’t you recognize me,” she said. “It’s me, Nimhay—your true love, remember?”

Lotto gritted his teeth and thrust his lance at her stomach. She dodged it and giggled.
“Now, now, none of that. You can’t hurt a queen,” she said.

“You’re not a queen, Nimhay. I know what you are.”

“Oh yes? Do enlighten me.” She was actually quite amused by the colt. He provided some kind of entertainment for her. Lotto didn’t like it.

“My mother used to tell me stories about you—about your changelings. As I remember you weren’t exactly the brightest bunch in the world.” Lotto threw his lance again but she just moved to the side. If only he had more than just the tools for jousting this might’ve been a lot easier. He hoped Emblem would hurry up. “Didn’t your last queen get caught in a unicorn’s bug-zapper?” He smirked. “That must’ve been humiliating.”

“Hence why I decided to take over the hive. It was about time we had a ruler with a bit of sense.”

“Too bad you still don’t have one.” Lotto had seen a shadow sneaking up behind Nimhay and prayed for the best. He hoped it was somepony coming to help him and not her. He didn’t want to imagine what would happen if it was a minion of hers. Where was Emblem already?

“Oh, you’ll see, Captain. You’ll see just how clever I can be,” Nimhay scoffed. She lifted up her horn and shot a green beam at Lotto. He flew into the air just in time for her to miss him. She hissed and took another shot. A beam hit him in the side as he tried to dodge and he could feel pain shooting through his left wing. The shadow was closer now. He had once choice.

He dived forward as she shot another beam and let himself fall onto her back and neck. He took hold of her head in his hooves and held on tightly. She tried to shake him off but he wouldn’t let her go. He shut his eyes, wishing more than anything that his wild ride could be over. He was starting to feel sick.

The shadow ran over and struck out at Nimhay’s legs. She collapsed to the floor. Lotto fell off her back and rolled onto the lawn. There came a tap on his shoulder and he looked up to see the head of staff standing above him.

“Are you okay, sir? I was doing some work nearby and I saw her attack you.”

Lotto nodded and pulled himself to his hooves. Helios and Emblem were running over to him, followed by an entire army of knights.

“Looks like your just the same as your previous queen, Nimhay,” he said. He looked down at the ground where Nimhay should have been but she wasn’t there. There was a buzzing from the sky and Lotto gazed upwards to see the changeling queen flying away. He readied his wings to follow her but they cracked when he tried. He pulled a face. There’s no way he would ever catch up to her with them this way.

“Pegasus guards,” he yelled at the knights that had arrived. “Follow her, bring her back here.” The knights obeyed. Helios didn’t go with them. He was red in the face, just as he had been when Emblem had come and found him in his bedchambers. He hadn’t even remembered going in there in the first place.

Lotto patted him on the shoulders. “They’ll catch her. I’m sure of it.”

Helios nodded but he wasn’t sure. He couldn’t believe how foolish he’d been. He’d been blinded by love. How could he have been so blinded by love?

“I’m never doing that again, Lotto, I promise,” he said. “Love—Mares, they just aren’t worth it.” He smiled at the black colt and he swung his front leg over his back. “I’d choose friends any day.”

“Don’t give up on love, Helios,” Lotto told him. “Or one day you might just have to eat your words.”

Helios walked into the house. It was a large house, just about half the size of the palace, and grandly decorated. Lotto was with him, dressed in full formal attire. Helios had made sure that both of them had been suited well-enough for such an auspicious occasion. They were led by a servant into the best room, reserved for meetings as special as this one.

The lord of the house was waiting for them. He bowed to the king and captain and kissed Helios’ hoof.

“It’s an honour to have you here, your majesty,” Sir La Loo said.

“We should have come a lot sooner,” Helios said.

Two mares come in through the open door and Lotto and Helios ran forward. Marelin ran forward too, the bounce back in her step. Helios had missed that bounce. They gathered round, hugging each other tightly. None of them wanted to be the first to let go.

Sir La Loo coughed and the three friends blushed. They apologised and walked over to the couch and sat down. The couch was big enough to hold all three of them thankfully. Sir La Loo and his wife had sat down on the couch opposite.

Helios tugged on his collar, nervously. Servants were setting out tea and biscuits—about twenty-five different types of biscuits—on the table in front of him. He didn’t know whether he should take one or not. Shouldn’t the hosts go first? Marelin solved his problem by instantly diving in and shoving three biscuits into her mouth at once. Sir La Loo’s wife laughed. Marelin grinned, her teeth spattered with biscuit crumbs.

“I’ve got to say,” Lotto said, “thank you—thank you for looking after her. We were really worried when we heard she’d been sent away.”

Grain smiled at him. She was just as beautiful, if not more, than the day that she’d left Canterlot to come home to her fiancé. Sir La Loo knew that she’d met the king before but he wasn’t aware that there’d ever been any feelings between them. Marelin certainly hadn’t told him.

“I’m just glad Marelin came here,” Grain admitted. “I always believed that she didn’t like me very much.”

Marelin shrugged. She had grabbed six more biscuits from the plates. “It’s not that I didn’t like you. It’s that I didn’t trust you. I do now.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear that,” Grain said. She was feeling reluctant to take any biscuits herself just in case her hoof should meet Helios’s. She knew that her old feelings for him hadn’t left, even though she knew how much she loved her husband.

“I’m really sorry to hear of your troubles, your highness,” Sir La Loo said. He was pouring cups of tea for him and his visitors. “That must have been a horrible experience.”

Helios nodded. He still hadn’t quite managed to get over the shock of discovering he had been tricked into marriage by a changeling. His nanny had always warned him against them growing up.

“And you say she managed to escape?” Sir La Loo asked.

“Unfortunately she obviously had some hidden passages to go through. My knights didn’t stand a chance,” Lotto said. “And, you know, we couldn’t go into the changeling hive. That would be an act of war.”

“We don’t want war in Equestria,” Helios told them. He smiled round at the little group. “I’d rather have peace--- friendship. If there’s anything I’ve learned recently it’s that friends are more special than any magic or spell.”

Marelin hadn’t been listening. She’d been too busy with the biscuits. She’d misheard what Helios had said. “Friendship’s magic?” she asked. “I don’t remember Clover telling me that.”

Lotto laughed. “No, Marelin, that’s not what he meant.”

“I don’t know,” Sir La Loo said, “I think it might just be about the best idea in the world.”

Helios grinned at Grain and she smiled back. “Friendship is magic,” he said. “Yes, that sounds about right.”

THE END

Author's Note

The links are back. I repeat the links are back.

LINKS TO MLP:
1. Changelings, changelings and all the changelings. And no, Nimhay is not meant to be a distant relation to Chrysalis. The reference to how stupid the queens have been in the changeling world, however, was a reference to Queen Chrysalis's plan in A Canterlot Wedding.
2. Yes, if you're wondering, Nimhay's disguise is essentially Cadence but as a unicorn.
3. You know, the more I write this, the more I see Marelin has her own character. She's obviously a descendant of Twilight but-- man, I love Marelin. She's like a strange mixture of Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Twilight.

LINKS TO ARTHURIAN LEGENDS:
1. Nimhay-- Nimueh, otherwise known as the Lady of the Lake, is the person who trapped Marelin in a rock (where he, supposedly, still is today).
2. There were reportedly three Guinevere's in Arthur's life (all of which he fell in love with at some point). Nimhay is Helios's second Guinevere (the first also making an appearance in the form of Grain).
3. Anybody notice Lotto talks a lot about loyalty? Well, yeah, he's Lancelot so that's both a jab and also correct.

There's probably a few more but I'll leave you to have fun finding them. I hope you enjoy (and sorry for
how rushed it may seem. I felt bad that I've not written it for a while so I wrote this in two sittings).

Thank you and join us next time for: The Legend of Le Neigh.