The Siren

Chapters

Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Interlude 1
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Interlude 2A
Interlude 2B
Interlude 2C
Interlude 2D
Interlude 2E
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Interlude 3
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Epilogue
Credits and Acknowledgements
Chapter 1
Chapter 4
Chapter 13
Chapter 40
Chapter 53

Chapter 2

Ponyville.

“Monster!”

The cry rang out over the Ponyville marketplace, galvanizing the ponies into action. The shopkeepers did their best to protect their wares in the precious seconds afforded them, kicking support poles out of the way to shut storefronts, or at least throw a dirt-colored tarp over their items. They then joined the other ponies in a rapid stream out of the market plaza, before looping around as if to re-enter it. There a ramp led downwards, under the Records Building.

Just as the ponies began to enter the underground space, the gigantic Mexicoltan redknee tarantula, five times the height of a pony, crawled into town. Without hesitation she immediately began tearing down every building she could see. Her blood-red eyes were brimming with rage.

At the back of the stream was Mrs. Lemon Peel, interrupted in her tour of the village. The visitor allowed herself to be pulled along as she looked around her. She was equal parts horrified by the sight of the creature rampaging behind her, and in awe at the determination of the ponies around her. Mrs. Peel had witnessed multiple instances in the past where ponies faced with danger had degenerated into near-suicidal panic. But this group was disciplined. They had a plan in their retreat, and they knew it would work.

“There it is!” cried out a voice in the sky, the voice of the pegasus Rainbow Dash, flying overhead and acting as scout. “Now where’s Pinkie Pie?”

“I got ‘er in my sights!” came the voice of the earth pony Applejack, whirling a lasso over her head with her mouth and somehow managing to speak quite clearly despite that.

A great cheer erupted from the fleeing crowd of ponies.

“Aim for the front-left leg,” directed the voice of the unicorn Twilight Sparkle. The visitor pony had to crane her neck to see her, as she was standing on the roof of the Records Building beside a cowering pegasus. “Fluttershy says that she seems a bit lame in that one.”

By this time Lemon Peel had been swept into the underground structure, so she had to hear rather than see what happened next. The crowd had by this point slowed from a run into a brisk walk, as future obstructions slowed them down.

“Look out!” cried the receding voice of Rainbow Dash.

“There you are!” the extremely close voice of Pinkie Pie cried out. She was right in the visitor’s face, back-pedaling as fast as she was walking.

Peel cried out in shock.

“I’m Pinkie Pie,” she said, ignoring her outburst. Then she reached out and tapped Peel’s muzzle with a hoof. “And you’re Mrs. Peel,” Pinkie said, glancing up at the tip of her own mane. She produced a clipboard from that mane. “First order of business: Are you here for the day or are you moving to Ponyville?”

Peel looked around her wildly, trying in vain to reconcile the current conversation with the current crisis. “I…I’m moving here,” she said. “My husband got a post with the Royal Guard and…”

She was stopped by a pink hoof pressed against her lips. “Normally I’d be all for hearing your complete origin story, Emma, but right now I’m overdue to help my friends take down a nasty critter. Can I put your welcome party down for this Friday?”

Peel looked back over her shoulder at the sounds of scuffling between the pony defenders and the giant spider. “Alright,” she said. “Pardon me for asking, but shouldn’t you be, um…helping?” She looked back to see that Pinkie Pie was nowhere to be seen. Despite the fact that she was an earth pony, Peel craned her neck up to see if she had somehow flown away, as that was the only possible way Pinkie could have left the confines of the narrowing tunnel.

“Cowabunga!” her voice could be distantly heard. It did indeed sound like she was falling from a considerable distance.

“Nice landing!” Rainbow Dash complimented her.

Apparently, Pinkie was now on the tarantula’s head.

“What…but…how?!” Peel demanded of the pony walking beside her, the town’s self-appointed tour guide.

“That’s just Pinkie Pie,” Braeburn said with a sigh. “Ponyville’s one-pony welcoming committee.”

“When did she learn my name? I’ve never seen her before in my life!”

“Remember when she touched your muzzle? It was probably then.”

“What?!”

Braeburn sighed. “Like I said, it’s just Pinkie Pie. I swear, the ponies that haven’t changed their minds ‘bout Ponyville after seeing the monsters, all flee after meetin’ Pinkie Pie. She’s completely harmless though.”

Along the left inside wall of the artificial cavern was a large, opened door, a wooden oval that resembled a bank vault door. Big Mac stood at the ready to swing the door shut at a moment’s notice. Standing beside him was Mayor Mare and her assistant Raven. “Seventy-eight, seventy-nine…,” Raven counted as the visitor and her guide walked past them.

The path ahead split into two narrow passageways, each only wide enough for a single file of ponies. The visitor was jostled towards the left-side passage.

“Mrs. Peel, where’d ya…” Braeburn’s voice called out.

A hoof reached out and yanked the earth pony Lemon Peel rightwards, towards the other passage.

“Sorry about that,” the guide said. “That one’s for unicorns and this one’s for earth ponies.”

“Thank you, Braeburn,” Mrs. Peel said. She looked over at the passage she was no longer headed towards and saw that indeed only unicorns were passing through it. There was a faintly glowing blue substance coating the roof of the hallway, and the horns of the unicorns slid along it. In the passage she was now walking through, the same substance was on the floor instead of the roof, and an odd tingle passed through her hooves as she walked on it.

Braeburn saw where Peel was looking. “Don’t worry about that none,” he assured the visitor. “We’re just giving up a tiny part of our magic to power the defenses.”

“What about the pegasi?” Peel asked, seeing no passage set aside for them.

“The pegasi don’t take to enclosed spaces very well…except Fluttershy,” Braeburn explained. “They’re perching on top of Town Hall right now.”

It was at that moment that Lemon Peel finally emerged into the central cavern, lit by natural sunlight piped down from the surface of the plaza above. There was enough room for all the ponies—including the re-united unicorns—to gather, but the majority of them kept walking, taking numerous curved paths that led up to differently sized smaller caverns. All of the mini caverns looked out over the main cavern, and the acoustics of the place ensured that anypony standing at the central lectern could be heard by all.

Peel stopped for a moment in confused recognition. “Do…do they already know?” she whispered to herself.

Braeburn nudged Peel’s shoulders with his own. “Welcome to the Bunker, the pride and joy of Ponyville!” he exclaimed. “Pokey Oaks built it seventy-five years ago, and Ponyville never would have survived to the present day without it. Ain’t it incredible?”

“That it is,” Peel replied. “How deep does it extend?”

“Oh, this is it,” Braeburn said, suddenly very serious. “That was the number-one rule Pokey laid down: ‘Take the ponies out of natural sunlight’, he said, ‘and they’ll stop caring about whether the surface world lives or dies.’”

And indeed, the entire cavern complex was lit by piped-in sunlight.

Braeburn’s smile returned. “Come on, let me show you around.”

~ ~ ~

Braeburn and Lemon Peel stopped at the entrance of one of the larger caverns, a classroom, with Cheerilee front and center. Pony parents dropped off their children here, in hopes that whatever brief lesson she might improvise might distract the students from the stress of what was going on outside.

"Why do we need class?” Snips whined as he was dropped off. “It’s summer!”

“Hey, look Snips!” his friend Snails said, pointing to the name of the lesson on the board: Monsters.

The pair raced into the classroom after that. Shortly afterwards Cheerilee completed a roll call: “…Sweetie Belle, Truffle and Twist. That’s everyone!

“Now that we’re all here, let’s begin.” She underlined the word “Monsters” on the chalkboard with a piece held in her teeth. “What can you tell me about monsters?”

Braeburn was prepared to continue the tour but stopped on seeing Mrs. Peel watching attentively. “I could use a bit of a lesson myself,” he whispered to his companion.

In the classroom a flurry of hooves popped into the air, and Cheerilee started calling on them.

“They’re big, giant…monsters!” Snips exclaimed.

“They eat ponies for breakfast!” Diamond Tiara exclaimed. Quickly collecting herself she added, “But I’m not scared.”

There was a clamor of other voices. With a frown, Cheerilee stomped her hoof, and the students quieted down.

“Perhaps I need to be more specific. Where do monsters come from? Snails?”

“The Everfree?”

“Yes, most of them do come from the Everfree,” Cheerilee admitted. “But monsters can show up anywhere, at any time. Where, in general, do monsters come from?”

Most of the hooves went down. Twist’s, though, started shaking frantically, accompanied by a quiet “I know! I know!”

Cheerilee smiled indulgently. “Twist?”

“They’re made from exsesss magical energy!” Twist exclaimed with a lisp.

“That’s right!” Cheerilee said, turning to write the words “Rogue Magic” on the chalkboard. “Do you remember last week, when we talked about where ponies get their magic from?”

“Sunlight!” the students chorused.

“Yes, but ponies cannot convert all of the sunlight they absorb into magic. The excess is called…” She waited in vain for an answer, before tapping the words on the chalkboard.

“Rogue magic?” Scootaloo said experimentally.

“Yes, rogue magic,” said Cheerilee. “Rogue magic wanders around, invisible, until eventually enough of it gathers together near some innocent creature. That creature is then transformed into a monster! Today’s monster was just an ordinary spider before rogue magic turned it into a hulking mass of destruction!” She seemed perhaps a little too enthusiastic over the mental image conjured by that last sentence. Seeing the looks on the foals’ faces, she calmed herself down. “Anyway, the vast majority of monsters only have a limited store of rogue magic, and when they use that up they turn right back into the creature they originally were.

“What Applejack and her friends are doing right now is wearing the monster down and trying to keep it from causing too much damage. By doing this for long enough, the problem solves itself, and we can all go back into the daylight! Now, are there any questions?”

A nervous hoof rose into the air.

“Yes, Truffle?”

“Miss Cheerilee, if monsters are innocent creatures before being transformed, why do they all want to hurt us?”

“That’s a very good question, Truffle! The fact is, nopony knows why all monsters want to hurt ponies and destroy the things that ponies built, just that they do.”

Another hoof.

“Yes, Scootaloo?”

“What happens to the monsters that you can’t wear out?”

Cheerlilee frowned a little. “Those monsters eventually get tired of fighting and go back into the Everfree, to come back out and fight another day. And when enough of the same kind of monster get together, they breed and create a whole new race of monsters. That’s why the Everfree is so incredibly dangerous.”

There was a moment of silence as the pony students contemplated all of the horrible breeds of monsters believed to live in the Everfree.

Eventually another hoof rose into the air.

“Yes, Featherweight?”

“Could we make the monsters go away if we used less magic?”

“Hmm…another good question. Mrs. Peel, could you help the class out by answering some questions?”

Lemon Peel, startled to be called out, walked cautiously into the room.

“Class, this is Mrs. Peel, a reporter for a magazine called Mare Trotting Monthly. Her husband, Ragamuffin, is the Princess’ newest royal guard! She told me that she and their son Pipsqueak are moving to Ponyville.”

This earned a round of “oohs” and “aahs” from the class.

“Mrs. Peel and her family are from Trottingham, which was only recently added to Equestria,” Cheerilee explained, using a mouth-held pointer to show where on a world map the city was located. “Trottingham is part of the Griffish Isles, which as the name suggests is mostly populated by Griffons. We’ll cover the history of those islands in a future lesson. Tell me, Mrs. Peel, are there any monsters on the Griffish Isles?”

“Other than the sea monsters?” Mrs. Peel said cheekily. “We have a lot of those.”

“Technically those are sea creatures, not monsters,” Cheerilee corrected.

“Try telling that to them,” Peel joked. “But otherwise, no, we do not have any monsters on the Isles. There isn’t enough magic to sustain them.”

“Any why is that?”

“Not enough ponies, and being so far north, not enough sunlight.”

“And what’s life like in Trottingham?” Cheerilee asked.

“Not very good for ponies,” Peel answered with a frown. “The rocky ground barely yields enough food to live on. The weather is completely uncontrolled, and when we earth ponies get sick, we get really sick.”

“Yes, Sweetie Belle?” Cheerilee said in response to a raised hoof.

“Earth ponies? What about the pegasi and unicorns?”

“Oh, there are none of them in Trottingham. They get sick and have to leave if they stay longer than a month.”

Cheerilee nodded sadly. “That’s why we put up with monsters, class. Because otherwise Ponyville would be just like Trottingham.”

The students nodded silently in agreement that they definitely didn’t want to live in Trottingham.

Lemon Peel realized that her hometown had just been insulted, but just sighed and started walking towards the door.

“Oh wait!” Scootaloo exclaimed, jumping up and waving her hoof in the air.

“Yes, Scootaloo?” Cheerilee asked.

“Is your husband really in the Royal Guard, Mrs. Peel?”

Peel walked back with a proud smile. “That he is, Scootaloo. He is in fact the very first recruit from Trottingham.”

Another hoof. “Yes, Diamond Tiara?”

“Why are you moving to Ponyville? Aren’t the guards supposed to live in Canterlot instead of in this dump?”

“Diamond Tiara! Mrs. Peel, I apologize for my rude student. You don’t have to answer that question.”

“Oh, I don’t mind,” Mrs. Peel said, relaxing a bit. And you’re far from the first to ask, she added mentally. “You see, the royal barracks are for soldiers, not for their families. I looked around Canterlot, but prices there are a bit much, and we would like to save money for our relatives back in Trottingham. So my cousin Applejack recommended Ponyville.”

“Applejack’s your cousin?!”

“Snips! Raise your hoof first.”

Snips raised his hoof.

“Well, we know the question now, so remember that for next time. Mrs. Peel?”

“Well, she’s actually my third cousin. Applejack’s great-grandmother was the sister of my great-grandmother, and she and her family traveled to Equestria to settle in the new town of Ponyville. The Apple clan originally came from Trottingham.”

There were now a lot of eyes eyeing the world map, and some students looking forward to that lesson on the Griffish Isles.

After all, the Apple Clan were Ponyville’s self-appointed Defenders, and every pony in town owed their lives many times over to Applejack and her relatives.

Author's Note

Notes for Chapter 2.

Chapter 3

One of the side caverns of the Bunker was located right under Town Hall. This was the Situation Room. The room lacked the sunlight illumination of the other caverns, but instead the six walls of the room were lit up with images from outside: a set of camera obscuras projected strategic views down a series of mirrors to allow the ponies in the Sit. Room to monitor the monster…and what the ponies on the surface were doing to stop it.

“Thunderlane, could you please move your right rear hoof? You’re blocking the view,” Raven calmly said into a speaking tube leading up to a widow’s walk surrounding Town Hall’s roof.

“Huh? Oh, sorry,” the pegasus could be heard to reply before the obstructed view cleared.

Raven and the Mayor were surveying the situation from just outside the circle that was painted in the center of the room. There were a half-dozen other ponies trying to stay out of the way, all curious as to how the battle outside was progressing.

Inside the circle, taking in all of the views, was a very-frustrated Rarity. “Rainbow Dash!” she exclaimed into a tube in vain—the pegasus could be seen hovering over the battle, shouting warnings to Applejack and Twilight, instead of hovering at her assigned post atop Town Hall. “How can you relay my brilliant plan for tying up the monster with the super thread I invented if you’re not here to receive it?!” With a huff, she turned to the pony standing silently beside her. “Is there anything else they could be doing?”

That pony was Dr. Fauna, the town’s veterinarian. “I keep telling you, I never specialized in invertebrates in college. That colt Snails could probably be more help to you than I am.” At that moment a thick strand of webbing shot out of the tarantula’s abdomen to ensnare Applejack. “I do know that tarantulas are not supposed to be able to shoot webs like that!”

“It’s a monster,” Rarity said with exasperation. “They love breaking the rules. Most of them don’t even respond to Fluttershy’s Stare! But I would like to know what the rules in this case are!”

Dr. Fauna sighed. “All right. A tarantula is an arthropod, with an exoskeleton. That means they are run by hydraulics.”

Rarity hummed in thought.

“I’m sure Fluttershy told your team all this already.”

“Possibly. Now go on.”

Dr. Fauna sighed once again.

Standing in front of one of the panels was Bon-Bon, a severe frown on her face.

A moment later, Lyra turned a corner and spotted her. She then looked around her at the situation room and sighed. It reminded her of other situation rooms from her past—ones that were offensive rather than defensive in nature. Quietly, she walked over so she was standing beside her friend. “Hey, Bons. What’s up?” she asked.

Bon-Bon said nothing.

With a roll of her eyes, Lyra lightly nudged her.

After acknowledging her, Bon-Bon responded by pointing silently at the projected scene before them.

Lyra sat down and looked at the scene for a few seconds, then back over to Bon-Bon to figure out the source of her seething. “Is it Twilight Sparkle?” she ventured at last.

“I just don’t trust that unicorn!” Bon-Bon hissed.

Lyra looked at the screen once again, hesitation showing on her face. So often in the past had she faced screens like this, only to watch helplessly as friends and allies fell before the unstoppable hordes. But not family—that happened during the part of her life when she had no family.

But things were different now. Equestria was different. These ponies would prevail, and afterwards Lyra would be able to return to her new parents, the ponies who had given her back her stolen childhood.

Twilight was now on the ground, having used a spell to rescue Applejack from her confinement. She was now running around the tarantula and blasting it with percussive rays of magic while the earth pony recovered from the contact poison coating the web. At Rainbow’s barely-heard exclamation, Twilight leapt back before one of the monster’s legs could grab her.

“She looks like a great addition to Applejack’s team!” Lyra exclaimed, beaming like a filly. “In fact, wasn’t the monster-fighting team all Apples before Twilight joined? With two unicorns and two pegasi, they are sure to wear any monster down much faster.”

Bon-Bon turned angrily on her friend. “And while they are doing that, how much rogue magic are they generating?” she demanded. “Twilight Sparkle wastes magic at a ridiculous rate—” (The unicorn took that moment to loudly teleport a total of two body lengths.) “—See? Like that! And Rainbow Dash is nearly as bad with that Buccaneer Blaze trick of hers.”

Lyra frowned for a moment, being forced to put her adult guise back on. “That isn’t the real reason,” she said. “You don’t believe that she’s reformed.”

This caught the attention of the other ponies in the room.

“What? No! Of course she’s reformed!” Bon-Bon said loudly.

The other ponies turned back to the battle.

Bon-Bon sat down and pulled Lyra in close. “No, I don’t believe it,” she whispered.

“Despite saving the town and, I don’t know, the whole world when she took down Nightmare Moon?” Lyra asked with a smug grin.

“Look, I know her type,” Bon-Bon explained. “The hot-stuff genius who thinks she’s going to change the world and doesn’t really care about any pony other than herself. You were here a few times in the years before the Summer Sun Celebration. You saw what she was like during her visits.”

“Yeah, I saw,” Lyra admitted. She failed to mention that she knew Twilight far before that period as well, and had witnessed her descent into mania. “She was convinced that she could clean out the entire Everfree all by herself, and all she wanted us to do was plan the celebratory party and prepare a pit for the mountain of monster bodies she planned to drag out. If Princess Celestia didn’t keep sending out guards to drag her back to Canterlot, she’d probably be in a pine box by now.”

“Multiple pine boxes,” corrected Bon-Bon. “She says she had a change-of-heart bonding with her new friends in the Everfree, but this was the same mare that tried to hire Applejack, Monster Hunter Supreme, to be her sherpa right after Nightmare Moon went into the Everfree. Her sherpa!” She ducked down when the raised volume once again attracted unwanted attention for a few seconds.

Lyra quietly took in the audience reaction. “I think something happened to her in the Everfree,” she whispered. She changed to a normal tone of voice to declare, “I think she’s changed.” She stared at Bon-Bon, challenging her to call Lyra on that statement.

“And I think, at best, that she’s just exchanged one obsession with another,” Bon-Bon replied.

There was a cheer from the rest of the room. Bon-Bon and Lyra turned to see that Fluttershy was picking up the now normal-sized tarantula to return it to the forest.

“Why don’t you ask her yourself?” Lyra challenged, pointing at the screen. Twilight was headed right for the cavern entrance, Spike running out from his designated hiding spot to join her.

“You know what? I will!” Bon-Bon said with a huff, getting up and walking out.

Lyra continued to watch the image of Twilight. She remembered the sweet little unicorn with rotten people skills that she used to be, before she became consumed by monster hunting. In Lyra’s eyes, it was almost like Twilight had become possessed by a … but those sorts of things didn’t happen in Equestria.

She sighed, remembering the N-Verse, remembering the last time she had stared helplessly at a screen. “I’m sorry I failed you, Rozetri,” she whispered as she turned to leave.

“Did you see that?!” Twilight demanded as she stomped her way to the Bunker to make her report to the Mayor. “Pinkie Pie just dropped out of the sky! How did she do that? Did you see a pegasus drop-lifting her? Because I didn’t see a pegasus drop-lift her!” A few strands of mane popped loose from the side of her head.

Spike shrugged. “Nopony can figure out Pinkie Pie.”

Twilight turned on him. “Who says?”

“Everypony in Ponyville. That’s what I heard.”

“Oh, really? Well mark my words, Spike: by this time next week, I will have completely explained Pinkie D. Pie.”

“Wait, she has a middle initial?” Spike asked.

Twilight ignored him.

“Ah, Twilight Sparkle! Congratulations on vanquishing the monster!” the Mayor cried out. She was standing at the entrance of the Bunker, and was splitting her time between speaking with the unicorn mage and acknowledging each pony as they exited.

“Oh, well the planning as always was Applejack’s,” Twilight said demurely, smoothing down her wild mane.

“And I performed the aerial reconnaissance!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash, flipping into place above them. “In fact, if it wasn’t for me, you would have been toast!”

“Yeah, I saw you!” Spike exclaimed. “How were you able to predict that spider’s movements every time?”

Rainbow spent a moment reviewing the battle in the head, and realized that she had in fact perfectly predicted every one of the monster’s moves a split-second in advance. Even the webbing of Applejack could have gone much worse if she hadn’t been forewarned by Rainbow Dash. And Rainbow had no idea how she had done this.

“Well, she obviously was able to see the tarantula’s tells from the air, which we couldn’t see from the ground,” concluded Twilight. “Right, Rainbow?”

“Err…right.” No one noticed the lack of Rainbow’s trademark enthusiasm in that statement.

“Anyway, you make a great team! Bravo!” exclaimed the Mayor.

“I’ll be sure to let Applejack know.”

Mayor Mare looked around her. “Where is Applejack anyway?”

“She needed to go back to Sweet Apple Acres,” the barely-audible voice of Fluttershy could be heard from behind Twilight’s back. “She’s teaching her sister how to harvest apples today.”

With a nod, the Mayor and her assistant left to make their way back to Town Hall. Fluttershy made her exit at the same time.

Unseen by the others, Mrs. Peel made a beeline for the farm as soon as she learned where her cousin was heading.

“Applejack has a sister?” Spike asked Twilight. “How come we’ve never met her?”

Rarity took that moment to march past them. “I’ll get started on repairs,” she announced. “Again.”

“Wait, I’ll help!” Rainbow Dash declared.

Rarity pointedly ignored her as she continued on into the town, the large spool of unused super thread floating behind her, ready to be deployed in argument against the proud pegasus at the best possible opportunity.

Twilight watched the pair leave with a bemused smile on her face.

Spike tugged on her leg. “I said: How come we’ve never met Applejack’s sister?”

“Oh Apple Bloom?” Twilight replied absently. “She’s being home-schooled by the Apple Clan.”

“OK, but how come she never comes into town? I mean, I don’t think I’ve run into any fillies with Applejack’s accent.”

“It’s a…” Twilight waved a hoof in the air absently. “Some sort of Apple tradition. Or more like, little Apples have to learn all the Apple traditions before they are allowed to be seen in public. Something like that.”

“So when will we see her? When she gets her cutie mark?”

“Ha!” Twilight barked. “According to Applejack, her sister is due to get her mark sometime in the next hundred moons, if she’s lucky. Come on, I want to get repairs finished ASAP, so I can get some time in my booth before sunset.” She marched off towards the market square, without bothering to see if her “number one assistant” was following.

Spike was instead looking around him at all of the ponies of the town, most of them setting up shops of their own. They all looked so confident, guided by their cutie marks in how their lives intersected with the destinies of all ponies. He looked sadly down at his forever-blank flank. “At least she’s gonna get a mark someday,” he mumbled.

Then he noticed that he was alone. “Hey, wait for me!”

Author's Note

(I'm waiting until Chapter 6 to post notes, as there aren't enough for this chapter.)

Chapter 5

A couple of hours later, with Ponyville nearly restored to its pre-monster-rampage state, Twilight was happily occupying her booth at the edge of the marketplace. “Want to join the Pony Preservation Pact? Ask me how!” a banner hanging over the booth read.

Twilight was at the back of the booth, organizing her portable library. Once she had that ordered to her satisfaction she set up a large wooden lectern. With a loud double-BAMF of teleportation, she returned with a large and fragile tome held aloft in a faintly green bubble of protection. Gently, she put the book down on the lectern, enveloping the top of the stand. A touch of her glowing horn made the spell semi-permanent, allowing her to relax.

“It’s a funny thing,” Twilight told Spike. “Just as I was teleporting out of the library, I caught a purple rhododendron bloom outside the window in the corner of my eye, and that made me think of that time on the beach when my sister spilled her bags and her birthday present spilled out, a present with a fresh rhododendron tucked into the bow.”

“Twilight,” Spike said warningly. “That wasn’t your memory.”

“Right, I don’t have a sister,” Twilight said with a blank face. She groaned in frustration. “I don’t want to remember those things, not even the good ones! It’s terribly wrong for me to be witness to so many private moments of Princess Luna. But they just keep spilling into my mind when I dream. I wonder if Celestia or Luna have some sort of spell to stop it?” She pulled out a scroll and quickly wrote out a note, which Spike then sent off to the palace.

“You did what you had to do,” Spike told her afterwards. “Diving through her memories was the only way to defeat Nightmare Moon.”

Twilight knew that far more than “diving” had been done, but she chose to withhold this fact from her assistant.

A reply appeared by dragonfire at that moment, and Spike read it aloud to Twilight. In short, there was no way to remove the memories from Twilight’s brain, not even the buried ones she hadn’t unpacked yet, because it stood a good chance of scrambling those memories into Twilight’s own memories.

Twilight sighed. “I guess I’m stuck with them,” she said wearily.

Spike looked up at the large tome on the lectern, and thought of a way to distract Twilight from her gloomy thoughts. “So what do you want to work on today?” he asked brightly. “The binding artifact, or the very first monster entry?”

“The first monster entry, I think,” Twilight said, firmly banishing her dark thoughts as she prepared herself for her work. Delicately using her telekinesis, she opened the tome to a bookmarked page and began to study the calligraphed words, making notes in a floating notepad with a feather quill.

“Twilight Sparkle!” cried the accusing voice of Bon-Bon.

Twilight scowled for a moment, before replacing that with a bright grin as she turned to face the first visitor to her booth all day. “Bon-Bon! It’s good to see you! Are you here to find out more about Equestria’s premiere monster-hunting organization?”

“You mean the one you founded as a filly?” she asked scornfully.

Twilight put on a confused expression. “Are you trying to put a negative light on a filly’s dream of saving all the ponies in Equestria from the Monster Menace?” she asked.

“Well…no,” Bon-Bon backpedaled. “But ‘premiere’?”

Twilight shrugged. “I did my research, and there are no other monster-hunting societies in Equestria today.”

“No other publicly known monster hunting societies…” Bon-Bon muttered.

“What was that?”

“No, you know what?” Bon-Bon said with a fake grin matching Twilight’s from earlier. “You’re right. The Pony Preservation Pact is the premiere monster-hunting society in Equestria. What precisely are the goals of the PPP?”

Twilight floated over a pamphlet from a neatly aligned stack. “As you can see here, our mission is the study and control of all kinds of monsters, with the goal of eliminating their threat long-term.”

Bon-Bon studied the pamphlet carefully in order to find the passage that Twilight had just quoted, and then produced a near-identical pamphlet from her saddlebags, a copy that made Twilight rather nervous. “It’s a funny thing, because I have your PPP pamphlet from just three months ago, and it says that your goal is to destroy all monsters in Equestria, not control them.”

“Yes, well I was wrong,” Twilight said in a small voice.

“What was that?”

“I said that I was wrong!” Twilight exclaimed. “Applejack was right about how to deal with monsters, and I was wrong. Our time in the Everfree facing Nightmare Moon’s traps, and then curing Princess Luna of her curse, taught me that valuable lesson, as well as the power of friendship. I have admitted those mistakes in public several times, Bon-Bon.”

“Alright, I just wanted to be sure,” Bon-Bon said with a victorious smirk. “So, I might be interested in joining your society.”

“Really?!” an incredulous Twilight asked, leaning forward in anticipation.

“But I want to know that this is a competently run organization. You say you plan to study monsters, to find the best way to ‘control’ them. Where do you have the results of this study documented?”

Before she had even finished the question, Twilight had levitated a whole stack of identical paperback books, sliding one of them over to Bon-Bon for her to inspect.

Bon-Bon spent a few minutes flipping through the book. “Hmm…” she said. “Yup, yup, that one’s right. And this one, and this one, and this whole set here. Hmm…Wait, that’s how you stop a manticore?”

Twilight put on a victorious smirk of her own. “Did I surprise you with that one? You’re not questioning me, are you?”

“Well, it looks reasonable, but I wouldn’t know for sure unless I saw it with my own eyes.”

Instead of being insulted by the rebuke, Twilight grinned again, this time genuinely. “A fan of the scientific method! You would make a fine member of the PPP!”

“I haven’t committed yet!” Bon-Bon snapped.

“But you do know an awful lot about monsters,” Twilight said, leaning in once again. “Some would say a suspiciously large amount of information about monsters.”

“I live in Ponyville,” Bon-Bon quickly replied. “Knowing how to handle monsters is a necessary survival skill.”

“I suppose so,” Twilight said, getting out of Bon-Bon’s muzzle.

“Did you gather all of this knowledge yourself?” the earth pony asked.

“No! I’d have to live a couple of lifetimes to pull that off,” Twilight said with a laugh. “Most of my knowledge is from the founders of the science of monster hunting: Star Swirl the Bearded and his student Princess Luna.” She gestured towards the open tome in its protective bubble, and the library behind it. “I have here the complete set of Star Swirl’s Monster Encyclopedia, and the Miscellanea.” She patted a hoof on the stack of paperbacks she had presented earlier. “I compiled these myself, containing entries on only the monsters which have been spotted in the Everfree,” she explained, “along with anything else likely to spawn from the known animals and plants of that forest.”

“The complete Star Swirl library?” Bon-Bon asked, craning her neck forward to try and take in all of the books. “I haven’t had a chance to read any of those since I moved to Ponyville. Isn’t a complete set expensive?”

“Oh, ridiculously expensive. But Princess Celestia allowed me to charge the set to her personal account, after I convinced her that it was a necessary investment in Ponyville’s future.”

“Is…is there any chance that I might be able to check out a volume or two?” Bon-Bon asked plaintively.

“Well, they’re in the reference section of the Golden Oaks Library,” Twilight explained, eagerly setting her trap, “so you can read them any time you visit and take notes. But I only allow members of the PPP to take them home.”

“Members like me!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, suddenly landing beside Bon-Bon. “I joined on the night we hunted down Nightmare Moon!”

“The night we reformed Princess Luna,” Twilight gently corrected.

“Yeah…that.”

“And while I definitely welcome you as a member, Rainbow, I seriously doubt you’ll be taking home any of the volumes of the Monster Encyclopedia any time soon.”

“What? Is that what you two were talking about? Boring egghead stuff? Forget that! I joined the PPP so I can learn how to kick some monster butt!”

The other two nodded. “It certainly is true that ‘kicking monster butt’ is the best part of the job,” Twilight admitted, before turning to Bon-Bon. “So, are you willing to close the deal and join the Pony Preservation Pact?”

Bon-Bon shifted from one hoof to another, trying to find a way out of getting talked into joining Twilight’s little club. “Wait!” she exclaimed. “That manticore trick—that’s not in the Encyclopedia. Where did you get it?”

“Oh, it was from one of the later monster hunter’s journals,” Twilight answered.

“Which one?” Bon-Bon challenged.

“Well, it wasn’t from the Morari Manuscript…I think it was from Volume 7 of Princess Luna’s Collected Monster Observations.”

“Can I see the relevant passage? Out of academic curiosity.”

“Oh of course,” Twilight said, turning back to her bookcase. “Let’s see…Volume 7…Volume 7. Spike!”

“I’m right here,” Spike said. He had indeed been standing right next to Twilight this entire time.

“Where’s Volume 7 of the CMO? I see 6 and 8, but not 7.”

“Back at the library.”

“Why?!”

“Because it’s by far the biggest one next to the Miscellanea, and we never needed it before now.”

“Well go get it!” Twilight exclaimed.

“What, now?!”

“Yes, now!” Twilight shouted. “I’ve got a recruit on the line.”

“Do you know how big that book is?” Spike replied. “I don’t think I could even pull it on the cart! Why don’t you teleport and get it?”

Twilight got in Spike’s face. “Because I’ve got the pony skills, and you don’t! If I leave you here, I’ll come back to an empty booth!”

“Do you distrust me that much?” Spike said with a pout.

“YES!” Twilight screamed. “Now get going!” She teleported Spike over to the library.

Given the patch of scorched ground left behind, the transport was not a pleasant one.

“Um…” Rainbow said, alerting Twilight that the entire conversation had been overheard.

Twilight looked up in shock, as if her sudden burst of rage had come from some pony other than her. After reviewing her memories for a moment, she said, “Excuse me, I’ve got something much more important to do,” in a tone of complete shame.

Then she teleported out with another scorched patch.

Bon-Bon turned to Rainbow Dash. “What was that?!” she demanded.

“Hey don’t ask me,” Rainbow said. “Spike told me she’s done that a lot in the last couple of years: yell at him and then beg him for forgiveness five seconds later. He says he likes the ‘apology gems’, but the rest of it tires him out. I, uh, didn’t believe him at the time.”

“But…that was horrible!” Bon-Bon replied. “He may only be a dragon, but the Princess herself told us that Twilight Sparkle was in charge of raising Spike like he was her own son.”

Rainbow Dash nodded sadly.

Bon-Bon shook her head. “If this is the way she treats her ‘son’, I shudder to think what serving under her in her club might be like.”

“She never treats us like that.”

“That’s even worse!” She looked over the new pamphlet, and the book of monster-hunting secrets, before putting them both in her saddlebag. “I’ll look these over in the morning, when my head is clear. I’ll try my best to give her an honest answer about joining or not in a day or two, but I can’t guarantee that this frightful display will not have an effect on my opinion.”

Rainbow shrugged as Bon-Bon walked away, then set about shutting down the booth for the night.

“I don’t get it either,” Rainbow said to herself. “Ever since Nightmare Moon, she has tried to be the best friend of every pony in Ponyville. It’s like she’s got a Spike-shaped hole in her heart.

“At least she knows that there’s something wrong with her.

“Maybe it’s a curse. But does she know that?”

“I swear, I don’t know what comes over me!” Twilight pleaded to Spike, who was sitting atop a whole pile of “apology gems”.

“Doesn’t stop you from doing it again,” Spike said around a mouthful of crystal dust. He wasn’t sad, or angry. It was like he had confided to Rainbow Dash: By this point, he was just tired.

“I’ll do something about it, I swear! I’ll ask the other parents in Ponyville for advice.”

“Why don’t you start with Applejack? Everypony says that she’s practically the mother to every colt and filly in town.”

Twilight nodded eagerly.

“And when you see her, tell me what Apple Bloom looks like. I’m curious.”

Twilight nodded once again.

Spike looked over at the clock. “Now go get that big book before your protection spell expires.”

Twilight looked over at the clock in a sudden panic. “The Miscellanea!” she exclaimed and prepared to teleport.

“Twilight!”

“Yes?”

“Take your time.” Spike pointed at the scorch marks on the floor.

Twilight let out a breath. “Right.”

She came back twenty seconds later instead of the planned two seconds.

After setting the large book up in its permanent position in the library, under the permanent protection spell, she turned sheepishly back to Spike. “So…what would you like to do for the rest of the evening?”

Spike looked down at his gem pile, sighed, and got up and climbed down it. “I’d like to help you with your research. I am your assistant, right?”

Twilight smiled gratefully. “Right. What would I do without you, Spike?”

“Make a big fat mess of things,” Spike replied, in the tone of a frequent answer to a frequent question. “So, the very first monster entry?”

“Yes, the very first monster entry,” Twilight repeated, walking over to the fat tome and pulling her notebook and quill back out. “I’m convinced that this entry is a genuine Star Swirl journal entry, and not a forgery as everypony else thinks. What elements of style can I use to prove that I am right?”

She pointed down at the magically-protected page—the first monster entry. In Twilight’s opinion it was the inspiration for the entire study of monster hunting. The entry was for a long-extinct breed of monster, the Siren. And the woodcut illustration clearly depicted Sonata Dusk.

Author's Note

Is there some kind of rule that says that you have to provide a kick to make the reader want to read the rest of the story at the end of Chapter 5? Because I keep unconsciously writing my stories to keep doing that.

Chapter 6

Canterlot.

Late that evening.

Moon Dancer waited several minutes in hope that the frantic knocking on her door would go away. Why would any pony in their right mind want to talk to her? At this hour?

Unless it was Twilight Sparkle with an apology?

The door was practically ripped off its hinges.

“Twilight?!”

It was not Twilight. It was, in fact, even more unbelievable. Moon Dancer rubbed her eyes several times, looking at the small stallion before her each time to be sure that she wasn’t hallucinating. Finally, she dared to address him: “…Dad?”

The stallion huddling in the shadows coughed piteously. “C…could I come in, Moondancer?”

“Yes…yes, of course!” She stepped back so the stallion could come inside. Here she could finally get a good look at him.

The unicorn stallion looked like a complete mess. Parts of his dark pinkish mane and tail had been shorn away, while his yellowish-gray fetlocks were long. He retained only a single sleeve of his business suit front.

Moon Dancer gasped. “What happened to you?”

The stallion shut the door, ducking down so he wouldn’t be visible from any of the windows. “Monsters,” he declared. “Horrible black monsters. They looked like ponies, but with holes in their legs and manes, insect-like wings, and crooked horns. Like a twisted parody of an alicorn.” He peeked out the window for a second, ducking back down at sight of a moving shadow on the street. “They came out of nowhere. Only a couple dozen members of the Badlands Expedition escaped with our lives.”

“That’s awful!” Moon Dancer exclaimed.

“But that’s not all,” the stallion continued. “The entire way back, we saw shapes in the darkness. Three more of my team were snatched up from their beds, pulled into shadows by those dark hooves, and then never seen again. They could be watching us this very second!”

Moon Dancer, realizing how exposed she was at this moment, used her magic to shut all the curtains in the house and douse most of the lights. “W…what will we do?”

“I need to get help,” Moon Dancer’s father pled to her, holding his forehooves together in supplication. “I’ve got the others staying in a hotel in Canterlot for now, but I can’t be sure they are safe even here. The Princess needs to send troops out to the Badlands, to hunt those monsters down before they take any more innocent ponies.”

Moon Dancer looked away. “Yes, that would be the right thing to do,” she said to herself. “But it’s not going to be easy. Nopony in Canterlot trusts you, or anypony else from OEDC, after the Griffish Isles Scandal.”

“I know,” said Night Lancer, CEO of the Outer Equestria Development Corporation. “The very reason we moved to the Badlands was to get out of the public eye, to get rich enough off of orichalcum mining to buy our way back into power. But this is a threat to all of Equestria. You believe me, don’t you, Daughter?”

Moon Dancer pulled Night Lancer into a tight embrace. “Of course I believe you, Daddy! I’m glad you finally came to me for help. There were times when I thought you might have forgotten you have Morning and I as daughters altogether.” She held her father at hooves’ length, her eyes wet with happy tears. “But you don’t need to worry anymore. As a graduate student of Celestia’s School of Magic, I can get you in touch with Princess Celestia, Princess Cadance, Princess Luna…anypony that you need to convince of your story. In a matter of days everything will be better.”

You see, Moon Dancer had been born Moon Lancer. Her mother had changed all of their names once it became clear that Night loved making money far more than he loved them. But Moon had never stopped loving her absent father.

Night Lancer pulled his daughter back into a hug. “Oh, thank you, Daughter! I love you.”

“And I love you too!” Moon Dancer declared joyfully, her eyes tearing up again.

Unseen by Moon Dancer, Night Lancer opened his eyes, which were now green and vertically slitted. “Yes,” the being actually known as Queen Chrysalis said smugly as she grew stronger on her love, “I know you do.”

Author's Note

Notes for Chapters 3, 4, & 6. (Chapter 5 had no notes.)

Interlude 1

Author's Note

I didn’t want to write the complete tale of the pilot episode in this alternate universe. Because Twilight Sparkle spends most of it as an insufferable jerk, and I simply don’t want to write Twilight like that. So, here’s how it ends.

And here are the notes for the chapter.

Interlude 1

The way to Castle Everfree.

June 21, 1001. The last day of the Princess Era (PE), which preceded the Post-Reconciliation Era. Known somewhat melodramatically to later generations as The Night That Never Ended. “Friendship Is Magic, Part 2”.

Rainbow Dash flew back over the chasm, the end of the rope bridge clutched in her teeth. In a moment she had looped it around the post. “See?” she asked with a cocky grin. “I’d never leave my friends hangin’!”

Twilight Sparkle rushed forward, sending a wave of magic through the pegasus. “That’s impossible! I was nearly blinded by how much mental magic that construct was using against you!”

Rainbow blinked. “I didn’t see any magic. Is that some kind of unicorn thing?” She addressed the last question at Rarity.

“I think it’s a Twilight-and-Princess-Celestia thing,” Rarity speculated.

And Changeling thing, Applejack thought to herself.

“So how did you do it?!” Twilight insisted. “How did you resist? With the magic level I saw, she should have either made you her permanent slave, or turned you into a vegetable!”

Rainbow thought for a moment. “I said ‘no’.”

Twilight hunched over, pulled her mane with her hooves and let out a strangled scream.

“Relax, Twilight!” Applejack said in a soothing voice, running a hoof over Twilight’s withers. “We non-unicorns have quite a few tricks you might not be aware of. Rainbow here just used the purity of her heart to stay true.”

Twilight looked up. “‘Purity of her heart’? That’s a thing?”

“Sure it is,” Applejack said with complete sincerity.

Twilight let in a big breath, then slowly let it out. “Alright. Let’s…let’s go into the castle.” She led the way across the rope bridge.

With a pleasant smile and her eyes fixed on the bridge and its crossing ponies, Applejack reached up and roughly pulled Rainbow Dash to the ground. She waited until the others were out of sight and hearing, before turning on the pegasus. “Seriously now, how did you do that?” she hissed.

Rainbow shrugged. “I just said ‘no’,” she repeated. “Once that ‘Shadowbolt’ got close enough to me, I just knew something was up. I figured you were using one of your granny’s charms to protect us or something.”

“Granny doesn’t have any charms like that.”

“What, really?” Rainbow shuddered. “You mean I was face to face with Nightmare Moon using her ‘unstoppable brainwashing spell’ and I won? What are the odds?!” She then took to the air and flew over the chasm, whistling some Wonderbolts anthem to herself.

Applejack shook her head incredulously and followed after. With nopony watching her, she glanced back in the direction of her farm, and worried for the hundredth time about the state of her little sister. Members of the Apple (and Lemon) clan of changelings are born immature and go through several stages before they are strong enough to metamorphose into their full reformed states. Apple Bloom had formed her cocoon as a result of sharing her love with a terrified Applejack after Nightmare Moon had made her first appearance.

~ ~ ~

Applejack found Twilight surveying the castle, running her magic up and down the walls. She positioned herself right next to the unicorn and waited.

“Well,” Twilight finally announced. “There are no traps, that I can detect. After the things I’ve witnessed tonight, I can no longer be certain of anything.”

“You’ve done great, Twilight,” Applejack said. “You’ve spotted all kinds of traps that would have slowed us down or worse.”

Twilight wordlessly gave a nod of thanks, then walked cautiously into the foyer of the castle, followed by Applejack.

The others hung back for a minute. Applejack gave them an accusing look, and they followed shamefully.

“OK, maybe I was expecting you two to explode or something,” Rainbow Dash admitted. “But in my defense, those traps are vicious.”

“This place is in a state of severe disrepair!” Rarity exclaimed after entering the main room of the castle. And indeed there were numerous holes in the walls and ceiling.

Twilight put her hoof up to the scorch marks at the edge of one such hole. “This is the location where the newly-created Nightmare Moon fought Princess Celestia to a standstill. The Princess was forced to fight down her emotions after witnessing the brutal death of her own sister, Princess Luna.” She turned to the painted wall around the hole, a painting depicting the two sisters walking side by side. The image of Luna was the one that had been nearly obliterated by the hole. “Princess Luna was Star Swirl’s chief student in the art of monster hunting, and the greatest monster hunter of all time following his disappearance. Sadly, this monster was too much for her.”

Suddenly the halls rang out with Nightmare Moon’s tartaric laughter. “Is that the story that ‘Dear Tia’ told to her ‘faithful student’?”

“Nightmare Moon!” Twilight exclaimed, turning to look up at the ceiling.

“Show yourself, Nightmare!” Rainbow cried out. “Or are you scared to face six of us at once!” She raised her front hooves into a fighting stance.

“Insolent foals!” the voice of the Nightmare replied. “I am the very essence of Fear! None of you have a chance of stopping me. Not even you, ‘Monster Hunter’!”

“I have memorized all of the writings of your victim, monster, and I have no doubt that I will vanquish you!” Twilight taunted.

“The ‘greatest monster hunter of all time’?” Nightmare replied mockingly. “I have the complete set of Luna’s posthumously-collected writings before me as I speak. No doubt part of an idiotic ploy by Celestia to ‘cure me’ upon my inevitable return. I see they even misquoted me: ‘The demoness Empusa travels to the surface to seduce unwary travelers. The only way the would-be victims could defend themselves was by slaughtering her.’ Idiots! Empusa was completely invulnerable to physical harm—she could only be banished by slandering her.”

The other ponies started in shock. For the quotation from Luna’s Observations, Nightmare’s voice had reverted to that of an ordinary pony, a voice that Twilight thought bore a strong resemblance to Princess Celestia’s. A horrible suspicion arose in her mind. “How…how did you know that? Scholars have only deduced that correction in my own generation. Did…did you absorb Luna’s mind when you destroyed her?”

Another tartaric laugh. “No, no, Twilight Sparkle! I did not destroy Luna. I am Luna.”

“No!” Twilight exclaimed. “You lie! No pony has ever become a monster!”

“I had no choice!” Nightmare Moon’s voice cried out bitterly. “My cutie mark cursed me to this fate! As Celestia was the Mare of the Sun, I was the Mare of the Moon, and the night! Denied the light magic born of sunlight, I was forced to rely on dark magic to protect the ponies against the monsters.”

“And dark magic corrupts the user,” Twilight said in shock, completing Nightmare’s thought.

“Precisely! The others shunned me for my dark thoughts and appearance, and eventually even my own sister told me she could no longer love the thing I was becoming! Until finally, Luna died to give birth to me! But I possess all of her tortured memories. And I will revenge myself on all ponies for what they did to her, by bringing Eternal Night to Equestria!”

“And eternal night…will inevitably turn all ponies into monsters,” Twilight said in despair.

“Now come upstairs to face me, Twilight Sparkle. Do not bring your companions unless you wish to see them suffer horribly at my hooves. I know it was you who saved each of them when I tried to single them out for conversion or destruction.”

Twilight looked back at the others in confusion. All of them knew that Twilight had failed in every case, that all of the ponies ending with Rainbow Dash had saved themselves.

Applejack sighed. “Another unicorn supremacist,” she muttered under her breath.

“Take as long as you wish,” the Nightmare added in a magnanimous tone. “Or flee back to civilization and allow me my ultimate victory. The choice is up to you.”

“Is…is it true?” Fluttershy asked. “Was Nightmare Moon once a pony?”

“Yes,” Twilight said, her head bowed.

“And you’re going to face her alone?” Rainbow asked incredulously.

Twilight sighed. “You heard what she said. She has tested all of you. Now it’s my turn.”

“But this isn’t a fair fight! Nightmare Moon cheats!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“Well, you did say that you read all of her books, back when she was a pony,” Rarity said slowly. “So in a sense you know how she thinks. Perhaps you can use that against her.”

“Perhaps,” Twilight said listlessly.

Applejack took Twilight aside. “A moment, gals?”

The others walked over to the other side of the room. Pinkie meanwhile had been spending the time drawing mustaches on all of the Lunas painted on the walls. In such a serious situation, she felt that the only thing she could contribute was jokes, and that wasn’t needed right now.

~ ~ ~

Applejack gestured to the ceiling, and Twilight cast a noise- and thought-blocking spell around the two of them.

“It’s hopeless,” Twilight said. “She’s far stronger than I am. And I haven’t memorized Princess Luna’s Collected Observations. It’s too rambling to follow in most cases. I just don’t know what to do.”

“Look, Twilight,” Applejack said, staring straight into the reluctant unicorn’s eyes. “She just admitted that she’s a pony corrupted by dark magic. And you told me earlier that you studied how to counter dark magic. So just suck it all out of her, and our problem’s solved!”

“It’s not that simple,” Twilight explained. “A pony’s personality is formed by three factors: their temperament at birth, the fate imposed upon them by their mark, and the sum total of their experiences. Luna became Nightmare Moon over the course of decades, and every memory shaped by dark magic contributed to her fall. To cure her I’d have to re-write the majority of those memories. Which…let’s not even get into how absolutely wrong it is to basically shove your hoof up their back and turn a pony into your own personal puppet. When it comes down to it, I don’t have the knowledge of those memories…or even the mental capacity to do something like that. It’s impossible.”

“So you’re saving you can’t save her.”

Twilight nodded sadly. “I’m sorry that I can’t carry out your wonderful philosophy.”

“Then destroy her,” Applejack said coldly.

“What?”

“She’s going to overthrow Pony civilization. Where do cutie marks come from?”

“Light magic.”

“Exactly. You were absolutely right when you said that she’ll turn us all into monsters. After a couple generations, there won’t be any pony left with cutie marks. And then, even if by some miracle she’s defeated and light returns to our lives, it will be life without cutie marks. Because the first mark was a fluke, and marks only come from being around ponies with other marks.” Applejack took a deep breath. “Nightmare Moon winning is the end of ponykind. Forever. I hate it, it goes against everything I believe in how monsters should be treated. But Nightmare Moon…has to go. And with Princess Celestia locked in the sun, you are the only pony on the planet who has a chance to defeat her.”

There was a knocking on the sphere that enclosed the two ponies. Pinkie Pie was waving at them and pointing at the Elements of Harmony book she somehow managed to sneak all the way here from the library.

Applejack and Twilight rolled their eyes in unison. “Or we can use the Elements,” they said.

Twilight ascended the stairs and stepped into the throne room. The first thing she saw was five stone spheres on a dais, each marked with a different symbol. There was no sign of Nightmare Moon. Quickly, she lowered each sphere to the ground and put them in a circle around her. She fired up her horn and began to siphon magic into the artifacts. But just then a swirl of magic the color of the night swept the spheres up and over to the empty throne, where Nightmare Moon materialized, laughing.

Angrily, Twilight pawed a hoof, and lowered her head to charge.

“You’re kidding,” the Nightmare said incredulously. “You’re kidding, right?” She stepped forward and braced herself to receive the physical attack.

Twilight charged, Nightmare Moon charged, and at the last moment Twilight used teleportation to bypass the Nightmare entirely and re-unite with the spheres. Once again, she tried to energize the spheres. A crackle of energy ran over them. “Just one spark! Come on, come on…”

“No, no!” Nightmare Moon cried out in fear. She teleported behind the glowing spheres and blasted Twilight into the opposite wall, but the magical reaction continued for a time.

And then it just fizzled out.

Twilight gasped. “But…where’s the sixth Element?”

Nightmare Moon laughed in triumph. “You little foal!” she cried. “Thinking you could defeat me?” She raised up her hooves and stomped them down amongst the stones, releasing enough magical energy to pulverize them. The gems that briefly appeared during this process made it clear that yes, these were the Elements of Harmony. Emphasis on the past tense. “Now you will never see your Princess, or your sun! The night will last forever!”

Twilight could now see the full extent of Nightmare Moon’s power. It was the power to move the moon and the entire night’s sky. It was enough power to destroy the whole of the Canterhorn with a single thought. Twilight stood no chance of defeating her.

It was at that moment that the other five ponies burst into the throne room, led by Rainbow Dash. “We don’t care what that monster does to us, Twilight,” she cried. “If this is the end, we’re facing it beside you!” One look at their faces showed that they all shared that sentiment.

Twilight gasped in realization. “You think you can destroy the Elements of Harmony just like that?” she taunted. “Well you’re wrong, because the spirits of the Elements of Harmony are right here!”

“What?” the Nightmare replied.

~ ~ ~

About two minutes later.

Nightmare Moon screamed as the whirlwind of rainbow energy engulfed her.

A beatific Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes, which were a bright glowing white…

Time stopped. Twilight and her newly-realized friends floated in formation. Nightmare Moon reared back in panic, the magical tornado around her frozen in place.

And now the decision had to be made: What was to be done with the monster?

Twilight couldn’t move. But she could think. And she could sense her friends around her with the new senses that the Elements had temporarily bestowed upon her. Not only their serene expressions with the Elements around their necks, but hints of their thoughts and emotions.

So what are you going to do, Twilight? Pinkie Pie’s thoughts addressed her. They were just as happy and bubbly as her speech, perhaps more so. The thoughts of Pinkie Pie resembled the joy of a young filly experiencing the best Hearth’s Warming ever.

I…I feel like anything’s possible in this place, came the thought of Applejack. The thoughts sounded older than the physical earth pony, the voice of a pony who has experienced a lifetime of hardship over a too-brief fillyhood.

Encouraging thoughts and feelings came to Twilight from the others. All of them trusted her to make the right decision in this place. Even Applejack.

I know we’ve fought this entire time, Applejack told her. But I trust you to do the right thing now. Even more than I trust myself.

Yes, show us one of your ‘Trusted Twilight Sparkle Solutions’, Rarity thought at her.

We believe in you, Fluttershy quietly assured her.

We all believe in you, Rainbow Dash chimed in. Think your way through this like you always do.

Twilight mentally nodded. She did think her way through her problems. And for once it appeared that she had an infinite amount of time to do this right. But first, she needed data…

“Show me how Nightmare Moon came to be,” she ordered. She did not move her lips, but somehow the sounds formed anyway.

The Elements responded to her request. Before them appeared a screen showing a very young Luna, then only a unicorn, being bullied by some of the other young ponies in her village. Her normal magic failing her, she drew on another source, and blasted her enemies away, causing them to run away from her in fear. The other ponies of the village would never trust her again.

“Wait!” Twilight commanded. The image of the next memory, one involving a just-cutied Luna, froze in place. “Can I see all of Luna’s memories?” This was, just to be clear, a query as to what was possible, not an order to actually display all memories all at once.

YES. The thought was nearly overwhelming, and seemed to be composed of thousands or even millions of mental voices in unison.

You can do it, Applejack thought in realization. You can reform Luna.

Yes, literally re-form her, Twilight thought bitterly. But it would be the most-horrific personal violation imaginable. Every embarrassing moment imprinted upon my brain so I could never forget it, while Luna’s mind is smoothed out as flat as glass, leaving only the most-basic of memories. I’d save us all, but how could I live with what I would have to do to her!

Do it, a faint thought drifted into their conversation, the voice that Nightmare had imitated earlier. The voice of Princess Luna. End this eternal torment and do it!

Twilight paused, overwhelmed by the weight of her choice. And then… It doesn’t have to be that bad, she thought at the weak fragment of Luna within Nightmare Moon. Not if you help me. We can create your new mind together, then implement it all at once.

I…I do not know if there’s enough of me left to do that. I do not know which memories to keep, and which to wipe away. But…I trust thee, Twilight Sparkle.

I’ll make the best Princess Luna I can. The…the ‘perfect princess’ that Celestia always told me about.

Yes, thought Luna. I would like that.

Twilight began to raise a wall around the two of them.

Wait! Rainbow thought. We want to help.

This act will have a cost, Twilight told them sternly. To my sanity. And even with Luna’s consent, it is a crime, one I alone will answer for. She finished raising the magical wall before the others could stop her. Having named her as their leader within this thought space, she was more powerful than all of them together.

After a subjective period of twenty or more hours for Twilight and Luna, but only a few minutes for the others, time resumed. The glowing lights grew in intensity until they were blinding, and every pony in the room collapsed.

Some period of actual time passed. The others began to revive.

“Ugh, my head!” Rainbow Dash said as she slowly rose to her hooves.

“Everypony okay?” Applejack asked.

Rarity got up, and saw that her severed tail had been restored. “Oh, thank goodness.”

“Why Rarity, it’s so lovely,” Fluttershy commented after getting up.

“I know!” Rarity replied. “I shall never part with it again.”

“No. Your necklace,” Fluttershy corrected. “It looks just like your cutie mark.”

Rarity checked. “What? Ooh. So does yours.”

Fluttershy looked down, and gasped.

“Look at mine! Look at mine!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

“Aw yeah!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed on examining hers.

“Gee, Twilight!” Applejack exclaimed. “I thought you were spoutin’ a lot of hooey at the end there, but I reckon…” She stopped on seeing that Twilight was still unconscious. “Twilight?” She gently shook the unicorn’s shoulder. “Twilight, are you alright?”

“She is quite alright, I assure you,” a new voice addressed the group.

The five awake ponies turned at once and gasped, as a spark from the sun grew and approached until it materialized into the form of Princess Celestia. As the others bowed to her, she walked over and looked down for a moment at the form of Twilight Sparkle. Then with a sigh she lowered her horn and used her magic to revive her.

Twilight gasped loudly as she jumped to her hooves. “Princess Celestia!” she exclaimed. Then she looked over at the small dark form huddled in the corner. “I…I’ve done a horrible thing, Princess,” she said, lowering to the floor and presenting her stretched neck for summary judgment. “I violated the mind of your sister.”

“You saved my sister,” Celestia insisted. “And if you’re wondering how I knew, the Nightmare kept my mind linked to hers, so that I might be forced to witness all of her horrors without being able to do anything about it.”

“But I…”

“You did what I thought was impossible, what I had given up on eighty years ago. You gave me back my sister.”

“But I…”

“I can think of no solution better than the one you came up with, Twilight,” Celestia pronounced with authority.

“But the crime…?”

“We live in an absolute monarchy. Well…diarchy, now.” She looked fondly over at her huddling sister, and beckoned her over.

A gangly and seemingly-adolescent Luna rose to her hooves and ran over to stand before the much-taller Celestia. “I’m so sorry!” she cried. “I missed you so much, big sister, and I did such awful things…I think. The memories are awfully fuzzy. But I know they were unforgivable.”

“Nonsense,” Celestia said sternly. “As I said, this is an absolute diarchy, Twilight Sparkle, and if I decree that you…and my sister…be forgiven for ‘unforgivable crimes’, then you are forgiven. In fact, it will be the condition for the continuance of my reign.”

“That is a gross misuse of power,” commented a voice. It sounded sort of like Pinkie, but that pony couldn’t possibly say anything thing that sarcastic. Also it sounded rather metallic.

Celestia smiled to herself for a moment on hearing it. “Yes it is,” she said smugly. She then looked Luna over critically for a moment. “You reverted her to adolescence,” she noted to Twilight.

Twilight cringed. “Yes, the most painful, embarrassing moment in a mare’s existence.”

“It’s perfect,” Celestia declared. “This adolescence will be nowhere near as awful as the original, and I will ensure that she will grow up into exactly the mare that Luna always wanted to be. It also will be over in months instead of years.” She turned to look down at the small alicorn who was nestled under her wing. “I remember every dream you ever told me, little sister.”

“Even the ones that you ignored at the time?” Luna said in a trembling voice.

“Especially the ones that I ignored at the time. Come on, let’s head home. I’ve missed you terribly, and there’s a whole wing of the palace I built especially for you.”

Pinkie Pie, now restored to her normal self, loudly blew her nose on a materialized hooferchief. “Hey!” she suddenly realized. “You know what this calls for?

“A party!”

Several hours later.

Applejack completed her report to Granny Smith.

“And she doesn’t know?” Granny asked. “Even with all of your minds joined, she doesn’t know what you are?”

“None of them do,” Applejack replied. “It’s as if…the Elements themselves shielded that knowledge from them. It went both ways, of course. I saw far less of their emotions in that space than I do in the real world.”

“All right,” said Granny, stroking her chin in thought.

Big Mac ran into the room. “It’s time,” he told them tersely.

Granny and Applejack quickly followed Big Mac into the barn and down the secret passage into the lair under the barn. A hard-shelled green cocoon tethered to the ceiling was thrashing around.

With three flashes, the three ponies were replaced by three changelings with the same general color schemes. The changelings shared their love with the being inside the cocoon, who was finally able to break free and slide out of the shell. It was a small yellow changeling, with red eyes and belly, and orange wings. As the other changelings continued to feed her love, she rose to her hooves and with a smile gave some of her love back to her family.

“I’m back!” Apple Bloom exclaimed. She put a hoof to her throat. “And my voice sounds like a pony now!” She looked around her. “What did I miss?”

With a whoop of joy, Applejack scooped up Apple Bloom and ran up the stairs to the barn, taking them two at a time and heading from there straight out into the front yard under the setting sun. Big Mac and Granny Smith cried out in alarm, but Applejack paid them no heed.

“Wait, Big Sis,” Bloom exclaimed. “I haven’t put on a…” And that’s when she saw the sun for the first time in her life. “Wow…!” she exclaimed. “I know you told me but…wow!”

“We didn’t think we were getting this back the whole time you were cocooned,” Applejack told her. “I went into the Everfree with the Princess’ apprentice, risked exposure at every turn, because I wanted my sister to see the sun.”

Apple Bloom’s jaw dropped, before she kneeled down to hug her sister.

She didn’t have to tell Applejack how much she loved her, because the changeling could feel every drop of it.

Chapter 7

Ponyville Hospital.

Shortly after midnight. July 14. Wednesday. Six days before “Feeling Pinkie Keen”.

Giving birth to twins is not easy for a mare.

Treated with as many pain-relieving spells and medicines as was safe, Cup Cake finally delivered Pound and Pumpkin after several hours of agony.

Present at the birth were the doctor (Dr. Horse), the nurse (Nurse Redheart), and the birthing unicorn (Amethyst Star). Nopony else was permitted to witness the event, as was traditional for all pony births.

The newborns were cleaned and swaddled. The doctor and nurse left the delivery room. The birthing unicorn took her place beside the mother and waited until she was well enough for the birthing conversation.

As always, the mother, on being presented with the facts, decided to use the services of the birthing unicorn. And so Amethyst Star’s special purpose was called upon yet again.

She never really liked using it.

Only then was Carrot Cake permitted to see his new son and daughter.

(Pinkie Pie meanwhile had been cheering on the birth from the waiting room so enthusiastically that she had passed out.)

The streets of northern Ponyville.

Sunrise.

There had been a thunderstorm overnight, leaving the cobblestones slick with moisture. Lemon Peel made her way carefully down the road, looking for the café that Applejack had recommended to her as a good pony-watching spot. She passed a dozen other ponies setting up their businesses for the day.

“Monster! Help!”

The various ponies looked towards the source of the cry, wondering what to do. “Monster” meant to go southeast to the Bunker. The cry of “Help” came from the north, the direction of the hospital. Somepony should try to rescue that pony, but most monsters were far too powerful for any but the best-trained of ponies to tackle, and then only in a coordinated group.

Lemon Peel spent no time thinking. She just ran into danger. It was what she had been trained to do.

~ ~ ~

Rarity was the first of the Ponyville Rescue Team to arrive. She saw a giant snake attempting to swallow Amethyst Star, just off of her shift at Ponyville Hospital. “Giant” in this case was less threatening than usual: instead of being the expected five or ten times the height of a pony, the rearing snake was only twice a pony’s height. Atop the snake was a pony in a black and white outfit. Her rear legs were locked around the snake’s neck, stopping it from swallowing, and she was pummeling the creature with her forehooves.

Rarity was quite capable of handling any number of minor monsters by herself. A snake was not one of them. The best she could do was try and grip Amethyst with her magic, but the whipping head of the snake made that impossible.

A few seconds later Twilight Sparkle materialized. She looked the situation over, and then immediately cast a spell on the snake to make it sick. As usual for monsters, she had to use far more mana than should have been expected for a creature of its size. “Sorry for being late,” she explained to Rarity as she continued to cast. “Teleportation misfire.”

Rarity looked over her shoulder at the Golden Oaks library. “Try walking next time,” she said with considerable restraint.

There was a loud “poof!” and as Rarity turned her head back to the monster attack, she saw a small garter snake slink away.

“I’m here!” Rainbow Dash cried out as she landed. “Where’s…Did I miss it?”

“Yes,” said Fluttershy, who had also arrived at that moment. She went after the snake to see if it was badly injured.

Rarity smiled with satisfaction as she managed to catch Amethyst and lower her to the ground before she hit the pavement.

“So who takes credit for this one?” Rainbow asked. “Twilight? Rarity?”

“I’d say that this pony should get the lion’s share of the credit,” Rarity said, gesturing to Lemon Peel.

“Oh well, it was nothing,” Mrs. Peel said, smiling modestly. She gave a small regretful look down at her wardrobe.

“Oh! I simply must fix that!” Rarity exclaimed, taking her aside. “Free of charge, of course. We have to express our thanks.”

“I’d pay for it if you didn’t Rarity,” said Amethyst, limping their way. She was dripping with the contents of the former monster's mouth.

Rarity cast a spell on the unicorn, removing most of the serpent saliva.

“We’ll get you to the hospital, Amethyst,” Twilight said. “Can you walk?”

“Not really,” Amethyst said with a wince.

Twilight looked over at the two pegasi, who flew over to pick up Amethyst and carry her…

“…Back to the hospital,” Amethyst noted. “Oh joy.” I should have known better, she told herself. Using my special talent always leads to a monster attack.

Applejack arrived at that moment. She looked around her to see that there was nothing to do, then turned and returned to the stand she was setting up.

(Pinkie Pie was meanwhile still passed out at the hospital. She didn’t crash very often, but when she crashed, she crashed.)

Chapter 8

The two ponies faced each other on the rain-slicked street.

“The name’s Rarity, the local fashion designer,” the white unicorn said to the newcomer, presenting a hoof clad in a yellow rainboot.

“Lemon Peel, medium-term visitor,” the earth pony replied, bumping it with her own forehoof boot.

As she made herself presentable, Rarity took the moment to fully take in what Lemon Peel was wearing: a white beret, a black sleeveless top, a pair of white leggings on the rear legs ending with two black stripes at the cuff, and two pairs of white rain boots with black stripes in front. The top had been stained and scuffed in the battle, the leggings needed to be un-bunched, and the boots only needed polishing. An easy job for Rarity.

(The beret was pristine.)

Lemon Peel walked over to a corner, putting her pannier over her withers. A case the size of her torso was then lightly tossed onto her back. “My portable typewriter,” she explained to Rarity. “I’m a magazine columnist for Mare Trotting Monthly.”

Rarity began to walk towards Carousel Boutique, with Mrs. Peel by her side. “Out of Trottingham?” she guessed.

“Yes. Was it the accent?”

“That, and the ensemble. Eye Bait’s fashions are unmistakable.”

Peel smiled. “I have an exclusive contract to wear his creations for a month before they officially go on the market.”

“Then you are a mare of means, as well of action,” Rarity commented. Having reached her place of business, she proceeded to unlock it, letting Peel inside.

“Action first, before means,” Peel replied. Having reached Rarity’s work area, she stepped behind a screen for a moment, returning with her removed clothing. Rarity meanwhile removed her rain attire and freshened up her mane and tail with a spell.

Rarity then put Peel’s whites in the washer, adding the necessary cleansers. She pressed her horn to the crystal to get it started.

Lemon Peel looked over at a nearby clock. “Do you mind if I get some writing done? I have to get this next article sent off by noon. I have it all in here”—she gestured at her head—“but I need to get it on paper.”

“Oh, go right ahead,” said Rarity. “I have to get the shop opened up anyway.”

As Rarity went around opening windows and setting up ponykins displaying her latest fashions, she cast the occasional glance towards her guest. She saw her set up the typewriter on a desk, put some paper in, and immediately start typing. Line after line of text came out of her like she was some sort of machine, her lips moving silently, her eyes focused intently. When one page was finished, it was deftly pulled out with her mouth and put face down on a stack. Then another page was inserted, and the process continued.

When she finished, Mrs. Peel looked over to see Rarity watching, mesmerized. “I hope I didn’t distract you from anything important,” she said lightly.

“Oh, nothing of the sort!” Rarity replied. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that the washer was finished. Whites went into the dryer, blacks went into the washer, and both machines were soon started up. “So, what have you been writing about?” She leaned over to take a look at the completed manuscripts. She failed to spot a single error in the conversational article.

(She also failed to spot the report that was encoded within the article. Lemon Peel, with her decade of experience as an agent of the Griffon Isles Protectorate, had been sneaking reports into her articles so many times that she could do it on the fly now, with no reduction in her typing speed.)

Peel tapped lightly at the pile of typed pages. “Well, this is my last article on Canterlot, which is where I was first staying before Applejack invited me to stay with her. I could write an article or two about you next.”

“Moi?” Rarity asked, pointing at herself. “What about me interests you?”

“I believe I have you to thank for the sun’s continued operation.”

“I can’t give you an interview on that,” Rarity said curtly. “At least not with just me. Nightmare Moon was a group operation. We have agreed to have all interviews of our experiences that night collectively.” She put on a sympathetic expression. “I hope that doesn’t come across as too demanding. We’ve unfortunately had an experience where our separate recollections did not precisely match, and that fact was used by an unscrupulous source to try and prove that we were a pack of liars.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” said Mrs. Peel. “If you could suggest a time and place, I would be happy to accommodate.”

“I’ll speak with them and let you know,” Rarity said. “Are you still interested in an interview, Lemon, on something other than that?”

"Mrs. Peel,” the disguised changeling said, her lips pursed.

“Beg pardon?” Rarity asked awkwardly.

“Please call me Mrs. Peel. Not Lemon. It’s…it’s probably not as necessary here in Equestria as it was in the Isles,” Mrs. Peel explained. “Things are much more…male-oriented there. If a stallion or tercel, or even a mare, called me ‘Lemon’ instead of ‘Peel’, that tended to mean that I was something less in their eyes. Children and females there are called by their first names, even strangers. Males are always called by their last names, and only they deserved respect. I am Mrs. Peel, and if only because I am married, I am worthy of being considered an equal with any Mister.”

Rarity was taken back by the passion conveyed by the pony before her. “I see,” she said. “Then I will certainly respect your wishes, Mrs. Peel. My question from before still stands: can I assist you with anything other than The Night That Never Ended?”

“There is one thing you might be able to help me explain to my readers, as a ‘pony on the street’.” She reached into her pannier and pulled out a copy of the same poster she had spotted on the train ride from Canterlot:

WANTED

B10,000 REWARD

FOR INFORMATION LEADING TO THE ARREST
OF THE GANG OF PONIES KNOWN AS

“THE MUTES”

ADULT MARES AND STALLIONS OF ALL BREEDS, WEARING TAN CLOAKS
AS WELL AS THEIR LEADER, THE PONY KNOWN AS

“THE BASILISK”

ADULT MARE, PROBABLY A UNICORN, MEDIUM BUILD.

WANTED FOR AT LEAST 56 ARMED ROBBERIES
(IN EVERY STATION ON THE LINE,
INCLUDING MANEHATTAN AND CANTERLOT)
AND FOR 87 COUNTS OF BRAINWASHING
UNARMED, BUT CONSIDERED TO BE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO APPREHEND YOURSELF. CONTACT THE NEAREST RAILWAY OFFICIAL

“My readers were under the impression that crime of any sort was unknown in Equestria. What do you have to say to that?”

Rarity squirmed a bit under the leading question, then saw the glint of a smile in her interviewer’s eye. “Well, I would say that Equestria, while superior in many ways to our neighbors, is not in fact perfect. Criminals such as the ones depicted here are rare, but they are not completely unknown. If I might dare to turn this interview around, what do you think of the poster?”

Taken off guard, Mrs. Peel gave the poster a onceover. “Why? Is this one of your works?”

“Oh no,” Rarity said. “I do hope that my style will shine through in anything I create, in whatever media. I just wanted to know: As somepony who came from a place with more crime than Equestria, what do you think of the poster?”

“Well frankly I think it’s a joke,” Peel replied. “I can understand being vague about members of the gang, as their membership might vary, but to say so little about the ringleader? There is no identifying information given whatsoever! Even her breed is a guess. Why waste the illustration on the pony in the cloak? And finally, I would think that the ‘brainwashing’ charge should receive considerably more attention than the robberies.”

Rarity smiled. “For the most part, those were the same points I brought up with the Equestria Railway officials when they first put up that poster. Despite being one of the Basilisk’s victims, I was ignored.”

“You’ve seen this character?”

“Oh yes,” said Rarity, leaning back. “We had quite a lengthy conversation on the subject of color-matching in fabric before she revealed herself as the infamous ‘Basilisk’.”

“Then you know what she looks like.”

“Oh no, I have no idea what she truly looks like. You see, the actual pony I thought I was conversing with lives far off of the rail lines and has multiple witnesses affirming that she was in her shop the entire day of the robbery.”

“I don’t understand.”

“When she decided to rob the train, she looked different. In fact, she looked identical to me, although her voice didn’t change.” Rarity looked Mrs. Peel straight in the eye, eager to see how she would react to this revelation.

Lemon Peel froze, absolutely paralyzed with fear. “She…she can change her appearance?” she finally whispered. A rogue changeling, she thought, the worst possible thing to happen to us. Why now, of all possible times?

“Oh yes, completely at will,” Rarity said lightly, showing no sign that she took Mrs. Peel’s extreme reaction as anything other than normal. “Quite a useful ‘special talent’ for a pony in the train-robbing business to have, don’t you think?”

“Y…yes. Quite a special talent!”

“The authorities refuse to reveal that fact. Afraid of sparking a panic.”

“Indeed,” said Peel, her nightmare of changelings in Equestria revealed flashing before her eyes.

“Hence the vague illustration.”

“But what about the brainwashing?” Peel asked, desperate to change the topic.

“A complete lie,” Rarity said with a smile. “This ‘Basilisk’ figure is a very compelling speaker—no magic involved there; I can assure you. She has a well-practiced spiel, that I got to hear spoken from my own mouth, about what she’s spending all of the stolen loot on. She’s founded some sort of paradise outside Equestria, a place for every misfit creature in the world to ‘live as themselves, free from all of the lies.’ A couple of ponies took her up on her offer on the robbery I witnessed, escaping with her at the next station. They undoubtedly became ‘Mutes’ for the next robbery. She had some smoke bombs to cover her tracks. Good old, non-magical smoke bombs.”

Peel nodded. “The kind that smells like moldy hay?”

“The same,” said Rarity.

“That’s a Knight Industries product,” Peel said.

“The Canterlot novelty company?”

“No, the Trottingham novelty company of the same name. Founded by my father, Questing Knight. Rather confusing to have the same name for two entirely different things, depending on which part of the world you live in. We get mail misaddressed to the other company constantly. Technically I run the company now, although I do it through proxy. I prefer my current ‘action’ profession to being a CEO.

"So why the charge of ‘brainwashing’? Sensationalism?”

“No, pressure from the families,” Rarity replied. “Many of these volunteers belong to rich families, and they bring a portion of their riches with them when they defect. Now I believe the reason why these individuals are disaffected, the reason why they chose to join the Mutes, is because of their families, if you get my meaning. But the families are certainly not going to admit that when they pony up a substantial part of that 10,000-bit reward to get them back. So Equestrian Rail is forced to add that charge of ‘brainwashing’. In tiny print.”

Peel laughed, somewhat bitterly. “I understand exactly what you’re talking about when it comes to the unfair pressure a wealthy family can put upon you. Thank you, Rarity. I should be able to craft an excellent article from this interview. Now hold on while I finish my notes.”

Rarity finished cleaning the reporter’s clothing while she worked, getting a good look at the mare’s boots. They certainly gave her some ideas for her upcoming winter line.

And after that the pair discussed Trottingham fashions for hours.

As soon as she had the chance, Lemon Peel made her way back to Sweet Apple Acres. She saw Granny Smith napping in the living room, and rocked her gently to wake her.

“Eh, what’s going on?”

“I need to ask you about something, Granny.”

Granny’s eyes focused on Mrs. Peel. “Oh, it’s you. What’s your question?”

“What does the Apple Clan know about The Basilisk?” Peel asked, showing Granny the poster.

“Who?” She put a pair of spectacles on. “Oh…her. I can see why you’d be worried. I had some Apples take a lot of train rides until they were robbed by her. She’s just a pony, not a changeling.”

Peel breathed a sigh of relief, but then thought of something else. “But still—she can change her shape.”

“No, she can’t. It’s some kind of illusion magic. Apple Strudel told me that one of her disguises flickered a bit when the light was really strong.”

Peel nodded. “Alright. Then she’s not a threat to us.”

“Well…she’s the same threat to us as she is to any other pony. Catching her makes for a more-peaceful Equestria. And a peaceful Equestria is a loving Equestria.”

“True. Very true. I wonder why she calls herself ‘The Basilisk’.”

Granny laughed. “Because she’s got a brain in her head, that’s why. She’s not Twilight Sparkle, which means that she probably only has the one magical power. A villain that names themselves after their one and only power is not going to last very long. I guarantee you that the one thing ‘The Basilisk’ absolutely can’t do, is anything that a real basilisk can do.”

“Alright.” She then remembered something that she had forgotten to ask Rarity. “Do you happen to know why her gang are called ‘The Mutes’?”

Granny nodded with a wry smile. “More cleverness. They commit their crimes in complete silence, letting this Basilisk character do all the talking. But not just that. Do you see that vial hanging around the pony’s neck on the poster?”

“Yes?”

“That’s the Basilisk’s insurance policy. You see, a Mute doesn’t have any special tricks to avoid being caught, so the train ponies catch one or two every year. Do you know what happens then?”

“What happens?”

“The Mute breaks that vial. Somehow or other, it contains all of their memories before they joined. All of their memories before they learned any of the Basilisk’s secrets or plans. With the vial broken, the memories of being a Mute are replaced by memories of when they were wanting to be a Mute.”

“Wait…” Peel said as she worked out the consequences of what Granny was saying. “Does that mean that they lost their memories of their past life when they became a Mute? When their vial was created?”

“Maybe. Maybe,” said Granny. “My changelings certainly never saw anything other than absolute loyalty in any Mute they encountered.”

“That’s diabolical!” exclaimed Mrs. Peel. “Rarity was wrong—there certainly is brainwashing going on. It’s just happening after recruitment instead of before.”

Author's Note

Here are the notes for this chapter.

Chapter 9

Ponyville Marketplace.

July 21, the day after “Feeling Pinkie Keen”. Wednesday.

“I don’t get it! I just don’t get it!” Twilight screamed in frustration. “The only place Pinkie could have come from was the mirror! Ponies can’t step out of mirrors!”

“Calm down,” Spike urged her, picking up a forehoof in his claws and massaging it. “Remember your promise to Princess Celestia.”

Twilight looked off into the distance. “Stop obsessing about things I can’t explain. Stop obsessing about things I can’t explain.” Her voice calmed with each repetition, and by the fourth she was back to normal.

Hovering a hand mirror into sight, Twilight smoothed down her mane, and then resumed her position at the front of her “Pony Preservation Pact” booth. “And now I’m ready for more members!”

“Twilight, do you think it’s alright staying away from the library so long during office hours?”

“I left clear instructions by the entrance, so I don’t see anything going wrong.”

“Yeah, but will they be able to find a book?”

“My personally devised filing system is perfect! Ponies can’t help but find whatever book they want!”

Spike shook his head sadly from behind Twilight’s back. “If you say so.”

“I do say so! And look, we have a visitor. Hello, Applejack!”

“Howdy, Twilight,” the cowpony said, leaning against the entrance. “How’s business?”

“Oh, I’m sure it will pick up any day now,” Twilight said with complete confidence.

“Uh-huh,” Applejack said doubtfully. “Twilight, I want you to meet my friend, Ferdinand. Ferdinand here would like to see how the market works, and well, I’ve plum run out of fancy explanations. He just won’t stop asking me questions about economics.”

“Ferdinand?” Twilight asked, opening a little door in the side of the booth in order to meet Applejack’s friend. “That’s a funny name for a…you’re a cow!”

“A bull, actually,” said Ferdinand, who indeed was a full-grown brown bull.

Spike raced out to join Twilight.

“I, um…” Twilight hemmed. “It’s nice to meet you, Ferdinand. You’re very well spoken.”

“Oh, you can thank Applejack for that. She was very patient with my questions, teaching me all about pony customs. Oh! Speaking of which…” He bowed his head. “It’s an honor to make your acquaintance, Countess.”

Twilight waved a panicked hoof, looking around her to see who might have heard that part. “It’s a meaningless title, actually. No land to speak of, and the honors are frankly a pain in the flank. Just ‘Twilight’, or ‘Miss Sparkle’ if you want to be extra polite.”

“Alright, Miss Sparkle.”

“TWILIGHT!” Spike screamed. He had wandered behind Ferdinand to speak with Applejack and was pointing in awe at the bull’s flank.

Twilight shook her head in exasperation. “I’m sorry about my assistant, Ferdinand. He has a bad habit of…BY CELESTIA’S AMPLE FLANK, THAT’S A CUTIE MARK!”

Ferdinand looked back at his symbol of bits being weighed on an assayer’s scale. “Mmm yes, it is. Another gift for which I have Applejack to thank.”

Twilight looked again at that impossible mark, and saw a pony superimposed over that bull with nearly the same mark. Celestia’s first treasurer, Tight Bit. She remembered how Tight would spread lies about her bringing nightmares to the dreams of innocent fillies and colts. How he invented the name of “Nightmare Moon” to mock her behind her back. She remembered the look on his face when the corrupted Twilight Sparkle cornered him in an alley one dark night in his dreams and…

Twilight violently shook herself back to reality. Not me, she told herself. Not my memory. Throw it away!

He never woke up.

Twilight screamed. She looked wildly around her as she recalled where she was and what she was doing. And she looked back at that impossible mark. Twilight teleported a body-length to appear in Applejack’s face. “That’s a cutie mark!” she cried. “A genuine cutie mark, complete with the correct magical signature!” By devoting all of her mental energies to this current mystery, she had managed to banish the unwanted thoughts of Luna from her mind.

“A-yup,” Applejack said with pride, and some degree of confusion. She had seen the emotions washing over Twilight, and they really didn’t make any sense to her.

Twilight took Applejack aside. “Cows don’t get cutie marks!”

“…And how do you know that?” Applejack said with a raised eyebrow.

“Because…because it’s common knowledge! Only ponies have cutie marks.”

“Yup, that’s right,” Applejack said with a nod. “And Ferdinand here is now a pony.”

Spike cautiously inserted himself into the conversation. “He looks like a bull to me.”

“Spike, Twilight! A ‘pony’ is not the same thing as a caballus!” Applejack said with complete certainty.

"What’s a caba… what she said?” asked Spike.

“Equus magicus caballus is the scientific name of a pony,” Twilight explained.

“Of a biological pony,” Applejack emphasized. “While ‘pony’ itself refers to the culture and civilization created by the caballi.”

Twilight was puzzled why Applejack of all ponies was engaged in hair-splitting. “The two are identical.”

“They are not!” Applejack insisted. “The pony culture is available to any creature willing to work to earn it. As for the caballus—the first hooved creatures to walk the plains of this world may have looked like modern ponies, but they weren’t the ponies of today! In fact, they were no better than the monsters we fight on a weekly basis. It was only when these poor creatures learned to commune with the spirit of Harmony from First Mark, to channel that power and work in accord with Her wishes, that they became ponies like she had.”

“I still don’t see the usefulness of the distinction,” Twilight said.

Applejack smiled warmly at the pair. “Look, being a pony’s like joining a religion. The foals don’t understand what they were born into, so they don’t get the symbol. It is only when you accept the yoke of Harmony, and decide to put the needs of the Herd above that of the individual, that you are gifted with a cutie mark, and the special ability that goes with it. Are you following me so far?”

“Well, I guess that’s one way of putting the cutie mark acquisition program. But what about…him?” She looked over at the bull, who was standing patiently beside her booth. “We’ll get back to you in a moment!” she called out.

“Ferdinand?” Applejack asked. “He’s proof that what I’m saying is right. Not the first proof, by a long shot. Any thinking creature can make the same commitment as him, and every one of them will end up with a cutie mark suited to their ability to aid Harmony, and aid the Herd. This mark here,” she added, pointing out her own mark. “Is completely real. Not an illusion in any way. It’s proof that I belong among ponykind. That I am a pony.”

Applejack remembered her shock at seeing those apples on her flank the first time. She was so sure that the other changelings had been lying to her. But she had shifted her form back and forth in front of a mirror. Even spent the night in her changeling form, which she never did. And the mark would not disappear. It was a moment that changed her outlook forever. Before, she was a rebel without a cause, a changeling that saw ponies as her prey, even as a growing pile of evidence and emotions betrayed that cold logic. And after…she was a pony.

Twilight looked at Applejack like she had gone insane. “Of course your mark is legitimate. You’re a pony. And a caballus. While Ferdinand’s mark…” She looked between it and Applejack a couple of times. “Wait, what do you mean ‘not the first’? Are you referring to Zecora? That was a tribal marking.”

“Really? And with those magical senses of yours, what did it feel like?”

“…Exactly like a cutie mark. But the books I read all agreed to call it a ‘tribal marking’, starting with Star Swirl himself!”

Applejack frowned. “Seems to me that they all agreed because none of them dared to contradict that Star Swirl stallion.”

“Perhaps… Star Swirl never visited the Zebra Lands in pony. I have to think about this.”

“I want one,” a tiny voice dared to say.

Twilight looked down at Spike. “What?”

“I want a cutie mark,” he said, his voice trembling like he thought he would be punished for the thought itself. “I want to be part of the Herd.”

Twilight was having trouble even understanding what it was Spike was asking for. “But…but you’re a dragon.”

“Dragons are awful!” Spike exclaimed.

“Yeah, they’re awe-inspiring.”

“No, they’re awful. As in really, really bad.”

“Well maybe we haven’t found the right dragon book yet.”

“No, I think we found enough. You raised me to be a pony, didn’t you?”

“That’s only because I didn’t know how to raise you to be a dragon!”

“No, I like it! I’m happy thinking like a pony!” Spike explained, desperately. “Ponies are happy…sometimes. I don’t think dragons are ever happy. Unless it’s at somepony’s expense. And I don’t want to be happy in that way. I’m your assistant. And when I grow up, I want to do the same thing for Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna, and for all of the other ponies. And I don’t want ponies to be scared because I’m a big scary dragon. Because I’ll have a cutie mark! And ponies will know that I’m one of them!”

Twilight was flabbergasted. “I…I…I have no idea how to help you to do that.”

Spike turned to the other pony in the conversation. “What about you, Applejack? Can you teach me how to get my cutie mark?”

“Well, I don’t know…” Applejack said cautiously. “That sort of thing is a parent’s job, not mine.”

“Well if that is all it takes, I’ll call you ‘Mother’,” Spike said gleefully.

“NO!” Twilight snarled, wrapping a hoof tightly around Spike.

“Can’t…breathe!”

“Mine!” Twilight screamed, before teleporting the two of them away, presumably back to the library.

Ferdinand gently walked up to Applejack. “Am I going to be able to ask Miss Sparkle about the difference between perfectly elastic demand, and perfectly inelastic demand?” he asked.

Applejack put a hoof to her temple. “Why do all of the unicorns have to be so crazy?” she asked herself, before looking up at the bull. “Ferdinand, could you stay here for a moment? I’ll go get Twilight from the library, and then you can ask her yourself.”

Author's Note

(Notes for this chapter are with Chapter 11.)

Chapter 10

“I’m so sorry!” Twilight wailed a few moments later, crying into Applejack’s withers.

“There, there,” Applejack said, patting her back with a hoof. “Let it all out.”

“I don’t know what came over me!”

“Uh huh,” said Applejack. She opened her mouth for a moment as if to say something based on the emotions—or lack thereof—that she read when she saw Twilight look at Spike but thought better of it and shut her mouth instead.

It’s not like she knew the first thing about lifting this particular curse, if that’s what Twilight was suffering from. Perhaps Zecora could help. But she’d better ask the zebra before saying anything to the emotional mess in her hooves right now.

“Hey Twilight!” Rainbow Dash called out as she dove into an uncertain landing in front of the door to the library.

While she was doing this, Applejack pushed the sobbing Twilight partway into the library and partially closed the door, so Rainbow wouldn’t see the librarian in her current state. “Twilight’s a little busy.”

“Well, she’s about to be a whole lot busier. The Princess is on her way. …Princess Celestia. I forget sometimes that we’ve got two now. …Or three? Anyway. She’s on her way. Princess Celestia. With a spare chariot for taking somepony back to Canterlot with her.” Rainbow then winced at her rotten delivery.

“Princess Celestia? Coming here?!” There was a flash of magic, and Twilight walked out of the library, looking none the worse for wear. “Is she going to give me a pop quiz on monster hunting? Or friendship??” A strand of mane popped up with an audible “sproing!”

Spike walked around the pair to walk outside and scan the sky for a royal chariot. “Well, there goes the composure spell,” he quipped.

Twilight joined him in looking up. “There she is!” she exclaimed. There was a flash of magic over her eyes. “And yes, that is definitely Princess Celestia. But she’s not landing here.”

“What about the spare chariot?” Rainbow whispered to Applejack.

“Ixnay on the ariotchay,” Applejack hissed back.

Twilight and Spike took a moment to relax.

Rainbow gave Applejack a look, then turned back to Twilight. “Oh, I already knew that she wasn’t landing here,” Rainbow declared. “She’s headed for the Everfree.”

“What?!” three ponies and one dragon exclaimed as one. (The extra pony was Rarity, who had wandered over on seeing so many of her friends gathered together in the same place.)

The group then all ran as one towards the edge of the Everfree Forest, to the very point where six ponies had entered the wood during the endlessly-delayed Summer Sun Celebration to confront the monster Nightmare Moon—four of them were begrudging friends, and two of them were bitter enemies. They had emerged as the six best friends Equestria had ever known, along with Princess Celestia and the miraculously recovered Princess Luna.

The group stopped at that entrance and watched as the chariot continued onward.

Rainbow Dash flew up into the sky. “I’ll see where she’s going,” she told the others.

“Don’t bother,” Pinkie Pie told them. “She’s headed for the crumbling castle where we turned Princess Luna’s monster switch off.”

“What are you doing here Pinkie?” Twilight asked.

“What, do you think I’m going to miss out on this? No way, José.”

“How did you know that’s where she was headed?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Well, her trajectory makes that pretty obvious,” Pinkie Pie said off-hoofedly, pretending to buff the edge of one hoof. “And it was stated upfront in the flight itinerary, but you didn’t hear that from me.”

The others chose to interpret that last statement as a joke.

“What could she possibly want with the old castle?” Spike asked. “Didn’t you tell me that the place was empty?”

“Maybe she’s gone to collect what’s left of Nightmare Moon after we blasted her out of Princess Luna,” Rainbow Dash speculated.

“Wouldn’t she need, like, a jar for that or something?” Applejack replied.

“She could have one in the spare chariot,” said Pinkie Pie. “But it would slide all over the place. Ooh! She probably has it strapped in really tight—did anypony see the end of a strap flapping around in the breeze when they flew overhead?”

~ ~ ~

Nearly a half hour passed. Rainbow Dash had confirmed that Celestia—and the pegasi pulling the two chariots—had indeed landed at the old castle. After that, Celestia had then gone in alone—but not before making eye contact with Rainbow.

Rainbow’s reaction had been to go get Fluttershy and drag her over to the clearing where the other Bearers were waiting.

“And why did you feel the need to drag Fluttershy into this?” Applejack demanded. “She doesn’t need this kind of stress.”

“Well…just in case. There’s all six of us together and…”

“And…what?” Twilight asked incredulously, “Are you envisioning a scenario where we have to blast Princess Celestia WITH THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY?!!” All of her mane went haywire after that.

“Um…maybe?”

Twilight looked around like the world had just gone mad. “I…how…”

Applejack calmly put a hoof on Twilight’s withers. “Could I butt in?”

Twilight nodded eagerly.

“Rainbow Dash.”

“Yes?”

“If I’m understanding you correctly, you think Princess Celestia deliberately went to the Everfree castle to infect herself with the Nightmare.”

“Or she’s infected already!” Rainbow exclaimed, launching herself into the air. “It could have happened when we were celebrating, or when you were bawling your eyes out, Twilight.”

Twilight gave Rainbow a look that could melt steel.

Rainbow winced. “Right. ‘Never talk about this again.’ But you get my point.”

Rarity put a hoof on Twilight’s withers. “If I might tag in?”

“Go right ahead!” Twilight declared with enthusiasm.

“If all that was true, and the now-evil Princess Celestia knows where we are, shouldn’t we need to be wearing, I don’t know, the ACTUAL Elements in order to do any good?”

Rainbow looked down. “Wait, they don’t just materialize when we need them?”

Twilight rubbed her forehead with a hoof. “That was a one-time thing, Rainbow. The Princess has them now.”

“The Princess?” Rainbow asked, pointing towards the castle. “Welp, we’re bucked.”

It was at that moment that the pair of chariots flew overhead. They did not stop at the clearing, but instead headed straight for Ponyville. Princess Celestia was clearly in the lead chariot, while the following chariot appeared to contain a tall figure covered with a tarp, which was now strapped around said figure.

“There was a folded-up tarp in the second chariot!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “That would have been my second guess after the Nightmare jar. And that would mean it was a rope end I saw instead of a strap end.” She then realized that Twilight (with Spike on her back), Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Applejack had all run into town to follow the chariots. She turned to Fluttershy. “I guess we should follow them,” she said.

Fluttershy sighed. A moment later both ponies were running after their friends.

Chapter 11

The chariots landed in front of the Golden Oaks Library. Princess Celestia had time to step down and inspect the covered figure before four galloping ponies skidded to a stop before her. They all dropped into a bow.

“Rise, my little ponies,” Celestia said.

“Can I help you, Princess?” Twilight asked. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Pinkie trying to lift up a corner of the tarp, and she gave the earth pony a clear nonverbal signal to quit it. She merely rolled her eyes over the fact that Pinkie had approached the group from the complete opposite direction than everypony else—a logistical impossibility.

“Twilight, I believe you have the only surviving copy of Star Swirl’s Miscellanea,” said Celestia.

Twilight broke out into a sweat. “I can explain why it’s not in the Royal Archives,” she began.

“You needn’t bother,” Celestia said calmly. “There’s nopony I would trust more than you to take good care of a delicate book like that.”

“Yes!” Twilight exclaimed. “I’ve been taking good care of it, and I hope to have a full paper put together by the end of the year, re-evaluating which excerpts are genuine Star Swirl works, and which are not.” She thought for a moment before making a quick addition: “Studies that in no way are interrupting my friendship studies.”

“Very good, my Most-Faithful Student. Have no fear that I will be confiscating the Miscellanea. I merely wish to consult it, in relation to…this item I have retrieved from the basement of the Castle in the Everfree.”

The seven friends looked at each other in confusion (including Fluttershy, who had just rejoined the others). “We weren’t aware that there was a basement, Your Royal Highness,” Rarity said for the group.

“Luna and I grew up in that castle,” Celestia explained. “There were many secret passages that we knew about and many secret areas that were normally impossible to access. The basement was one of these. Luna spent a great deal of time there in the final years…before her fall.” She looked down sadly for a few moments, and the others remained quiet as well until she chose to speak. “I have a task for you, Twilight, one I hope you can accomplish on top of all of your other responsibilities.”

“A task from you?” Twilight asked.

“Well, more like a task from Luna. Can you show me a place where we can discuss certain entries from the Miscellanea out of the public eye?” She glanced over at the crowd that had gathered at a respectful distance, a crowd that included the mayor and her assistant.

“Of course, Princess!” Twilight exclaimed. “Follow me!”

“In a moment,” the Princess said, then walked over to the mayor.

(Applejack took the moment to find Ferdinand, apologize for the delay, and send him back to his home on Sweet Apple Acres.)

“Do you want us to leave while you talk with the Princess?” Fluttershy asked Twilight.

“No,” said Twilight. “I’m never turning away my friends again. Whatever she wants to talk to me about, and whatever task she gives me, I would like you to be there. If you’re interested...Rainbow, you don’t have to stick around. It’s bound to be boring.”

“I don’t think so,” Rainbow replied. “Boring or not, it’s obviously important. I’m sticking around for you. And for Princess Luna.”

Applejack sighed as she returned to the group. “We’re right at the start of harvest season, Twilight. I’ll help you any way I can, but it’s likely to be mostly emotional support, and not anything like researching that would really make a difference.”

“Emotional support definitely counts as making a difference,” said Spike, taking the words out of Twilight’s mouth. She smiled and ruffled his head scales.

Celestia finished calming down the spectator ponies, who disbursed as she walked up to Twilight and her friends. She spent a moment eyeing the tall tarp-covered figure, and then the smaller front door. “Guards, I will be teleporting the cargo to my location in a few moments. I will return within the hour. Until then, guard the door.”

The pegasi guards saluted her in response.

“Don’t worry, I have the perfect place to study securely,” Twilight told her.

Celestia turned to her personal student and smiled. “Please, lead the way.”

~ ~ ~

Celestia looked around the basement laboratory, taking in the equipment used to study Pinkie Pie mentioned in Twilight’s latest report.

Twilight looked as well and saw that many of those pieces could have been used to restrain a pony against their will—well, any pony other than Pinkie. She looked quite guilty as a result.

Pinkie by contrast was at least appearing to be oblivious.

And the other ponies didn’t know what they were looking at.

“This place needs a thorough cleaning,” Rarity declared, wiping some dust off of a chair arm. “And it needs better lighting. Even a utilitarian needs light to see by.”

Once the others had found places to sit on the ground, Twilight went up and carefully levitated the Miscellanea down the stairs to another lectern, where another semi-permanent protection spell was applied.

Celestia then teleported the covered figure to a spot beside her, minus the cords which had been used to tie the tarp down.

Pinkie Pie reached out a curious hoof towards the figure.

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “I think you’ll need some context before I’m prepared to uncover this object.”

“You don’t mind that they’re here?” Spike asked, just to be sure.

“You are all heroes of Equestria,” Celestia explained. “The experiences you have shared have proven your worthiness to learn and keep the secrets that will be discussed in this room.”

“Including me?” Spike asked. “I slept through the whole thing.”

Celestia walked up and ruffled Spike’s head scales in a manner similar to Twilight. “Spike, you have earned my trust many times over in the past few years.”

Spike smiled gratefully.

“Now then,” said Celestia walking over to the book and producing a notepad of her own. “Let me put together some notes, and then we’ll begin.”

Applejack looked over at Twilight. “Twilight, if those Star Swirl encyclopedias were mass produced, why is there only one copy of that Miscellanea book?”

“Well as you can see the Miscellanea is quite big, fully two-thirds of the length of the rest of the encyclopedia put together,” Twilight explained. “So, when the University of Fillydelphia published the set, they released the Miscellanea separately. And nopony wanted to buy that big book of ‘not-very good articles that might not even be by Star Swirl’. There was quite a smear campaign at the time saying that the book was a complete rip-off. I’ve no idea where that came from.”

Applejack glanced over at Celestia and saw her flinch. She decided to keep an eye on the Princess as Twilight continued.

“They caught on fire a lot. Something bad about the bindings. Some of them fell out of carriages during moves and sank into swamps. And then there was that one night in 874 when all but one of the remaining copies just disappeared, all at once!” (Celestia sank deeper and deeper into the book she was supposedly copying from.) “Nopony knows why.”

“But I’m sure you have a theory,” Applejack said, still watching Celestia.

Twilight, completely failing to notice what was going on, kept talking. “Well, I think there was something in there that some powerful wizard didn’t want anypony reading, and so got rid of them. But that’s just a wild guess on my part.”

“Uh huh,” said Applejack. She saw that Celestia had worked her way nearly to the back of the book, and her notes now consisted of random drawings of very shifty-looking sunflowers.

Celestia reached the end, and then frowned. She flipped back a few pages, and then forward a few pages. She spread open the binding and saw that the last few pages had been torn out of the book. And her eyes nearly popped out of her head. She looked nervously over at Twilight. “Have you read the whole book?”

“No,” said Twilight. “Mostly, I’ve been reading it in order. I’m only on page 1273.”

Celestia sighed with relief. “Well, I shouldn’t be surprised,” she muttered under her breath.“The whole world would know if you read that part.”

“What was that?” Twilight asked.

“I said I’m ready to tell you about your assignment.”

As the others gathered around her, Celestia used her magic to flip the book to a page with a woodcut illustration of an ornamental necklace affixed around the neck of a ponykin. The necklace resembled most of the current Elements of Harmony, but was oval shaped like the large gem in its center instead of being cutie-mark-shaped. “This item, the ‘Suppressor’, was designed by Starswirl to keep dangerous monsters in line.” She tapped the illustration with a hoof. “Once attached, it can only be removed by its creator.”

“Wh…what does it do?” Fluttershy asked fearfully.

“Tap on it, and the subject will turn to stone,” Celestia said flatly.

The others gasped. “That’s pretty harsh,” Rarity commented.

“Oh you won’t feel anything when this artifact turns you to stone,” Celestia explained. “If anypony taps it again in the stone form, the spell will reverse and the subject will be back to normal, with no memories of its time spent in statue form. At least, that was Starswirl’s intention.

“Soon after creating it, he and his team of heroes captured a particularly dangerous monster.” Celestia flipped the pages to the Siren entry. “They had defeated a trio of these dangerous creatures and succeeded in banishing two of them to another dimension, but he kept this one for study. That was the story that she told me.”

“You met her?” Twilight asked incredulously. “You met Sonata Dusk?”

Pinkie meanwhile had connected the dots and had peaked under the sheet. “Yup, thought so,” she said to herself.

“Things went rather badly after that. Sirens are known for—”

“Excuse me,” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “Not to be rude, but I’m pretty sure Sirens are extinct, and have been for a really long time.”

“Yes, yes,” Celestia said with a smile and a nod. “I forget sometimes how old I really am. Sirens were a major threat to ponies at one time. They had the power with their songs to get ponies to fight one another and would then feed on the hatred they expressed.”

Twilight stepped in at this point. “Starswirl realized that Sirens and other monsters that fed on and manipulated emotions had the potential to become the greatest threat to ponykind since the Hearth’s Warming Miracle, able to possibly drive ponies back into the deadly inter-breed wars of the Before Times. As such, he organized their systematic extermination. The pod that included Sonata consisted of the most dangerous Sirens to ever live, as they alone had learned how to combine their powers to create songs that were almost completely irresistible.”

“All of the Sirens that Star Swirl had fought before this point had let themselves dissolve into magic rather than let him study them,” Celestia said.

“You see, Sirens are something between spirit and matter,” Twilight explained. “They have an appetite and have to feed to live, but they reproduce by forming the hate energy they cannot absorb into new sirens. Because their minds are obsessed with hate and other negative emotions, and because their offspring are literally formed from their excrement, Sirens are incapable of loving their parents. Or…their children.” Twilight suddenly got very quiet, and she and Spike shared a long look at each other.

“Eww gross,” Rainbow Dash commented, sticking out her tongue.

“Yes. Definitely TMI,” added Rarity.

“Get back to the story!” Pinkie playfully commanded. “Something about things going badly…”

Celestia, who had been looking with worry at Twilight, turned back to the others. “Yes. Things went badly, at least that was what Sonata told us afterwards. She’s not the most reliable of narrators. According to her, her emotion-manipulation abilities accidentally turned Star Swirl’s assistant into a monster and in the ensuing battle between him and Star Swirl and his champions, she was turned to stone by a stray hoof. She was therefore unable to tell us the cause of their mysterious disappearance shortly afterwards.

“She had many adventures in the following centuries, being revivified and later re-petrified by several interesting figures, including Discord during his reign of terror.”

Twilight made a note to herself to ask the Princess about Discord at a later date.

“Finally, she was revived by a cruel dictator named Sombra. Sombra made her into the means by which he attained absolute power.

“Sombra’s dark powers let him absorb magic from other ponies. But this was a very inefficient process, and he would hardly be any stronger after reducing multiple ponies into powerless wrecks. But he was very good at inducing fear and rage in his thousands of slaves. Sonata could feed off of those negative emotions, converting them into massive amounts of magic, and Sombra could absorb that magic from Sonata. This process generated so much magic that Sonata was never weakened by the process and so the pair of them could feed off the slaves for months before destroying them.”

“That’s…awful!” Fluttershy exclaimed.

“Yes,” Celestia said sadly. “Sombra’s horrible deeds were too awful to be allowed to continue, despite being the ruler of an independent nation, but by the time Luna and I discovered what he was doing, he was already too powerful for us. We decided to face him anyway and brought along the Elements of Harmony just in case. They hadn’t worked once since we had used them to stop Discord—”

(Another Discord reference! thought Twilight.)

“—But maybe they would decide to work this time, especially after it was discovered that Sombra was working on turning his slaves into an army enslaved to his will. But in the end, it was Sonata who was key to defeating the tyrant. Somehow, Luna managed to convince the siren to change sides.”

“Through the Power of Friendship?” Twilight guessed.

Celestia nodded. “Through the Power of Friendship.

“In the years following, the two of them became best friends—”

“—And as she became increasingly isolated from her fellow ponies, Luna turned more and more to her only remaining friend, Sonata,” Twilight said, her eyes unfocused.

“Um, yes,” Celestia said, unnerved.

Pinkie Pie waved a hoof in front of Twilight’s eyes.

And then Spike stepped forward and poked her with the point of a claw.

“Yowch!” Twilight cried. Then she looked down at Spike. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” Spike said coolly.

“Yes, they were close,” Celestia continued with a frown, “and after Luna…turned…I was convinced that Sonata was the one who was responsible. In the wake of Nightmare Moon’s banishment, I tried to hunt her down, to get my…revenge. I’m sorry, my little ponies, I was weak…and angry. At the time, I was unable to find her, and I assumed that the magic of Nightmare Moon’s creation had destroyed her.

“But last night Luna regained some of her memories of Sonata…” She looked over at Twilight with an unspoken question.

“Yes,” Twilight said with a nod. “The old Luna and I agreed that some memories should be released into the new Luna’s consciousness only when she was ready to face them. Since my recollection of her memories appears to be completely random, I couldn’t have told you before now that Sonata was one of those memories.”

“She wants to see her,” Celestia told the others with some steel in her voice. “And she told me how to get into the secret basement lab that the two of them spent most of their time in, the place where Luna died to become Nightmare Moon.” She spent a moment seething at the thought—a terrifying degree of anger that the other ponies had never witnessed before—before she calmed herself. “I wasn’t sure what I was going to do when I found her, but then…” She gestured towards the statue and used her magic to remove the tarp.

The ponies gasped in shock. What was depicted in stone was indeed a monster, a hybrid of sea creature and pony, with long snout, pointed fangs, a spiky fin instead of a mane and slitted pupils. It was balanced on its tail upon a stone wave and was stretched up bipedally. Its forehooves were wrapped around its chest.

But then Fluttershy flew up to get a closer look and gasped in a different way. “Girls, look at her face!”

Rainbow Dash flew up, got one look at the creature’s face, and then picked up a complaining Applejack to see for herself. Celestia used her magic to gently lift up Twilight, Spike and Rarity, so that all might look upon the creature’s expression.

That expression was one of pure horror.

“This, this isn’t a monster,” Fluttershy said with conviction. “Maybe she did accidentally push Luna into becoming Nightmare Moon…”

“…But she really wishes she hadn’t,” said Rainbow Dash.

The ponies who weren’t pegasi were returned to the ground and Fluttershy lowered herself back to her hooves.

Twilight, seeing the Suppressor artifact between the siren’s hooves, used her magic to try to press it and thereby return the creature to flesh. But nothing happened.

“That is the problem I need you to solve,” Celestia told them. “For some reason the Suppressor is refusing to work.”

Pinkie Pie had a quiet revelation. But rather than say it out loud, she gestured to Rainbow Dash to come down so she could whisper in her ear.

“She doesn’t want to turn back?” Rainbow Dash said in reply to the whisper.

It was then clear to all of them: Sonata had pressed that gem herself.

“She couldn’t handle what she had done,” Fluttershy said, then flew up and hugged the statue tightly. “It’s alright, Sonata! Princess Luna is happy now, and she wants to be your friend again. Everything is going to be better.” She reached between the statue’s hooves and tapped the stone.

Nothing happened.

“I don’t think she can hear you,” said Rainbow Dash sadly.

Twilight looked up at the sad statue with growing resolve. “I will get right on this,” she told the Princess. She then turned and started using her magic to flip between pages in the Miscellanea, taking notes as she went.

“Maybe you should send your sister over to help,” Spike suggested.

Celestia nodded. “I will do so, as soon as she feels comfortable doing it.”

Author's Note

Notes for this chapter.

Chapter 12

Princess Celestia looked around with satisfaction at the faces of the other ponies and dragon in the basement, all of them committed to getting Luna and Sonata re-united.

“I’ll leave you to it, then,” she said. “Let me know if there’s any other way to help. And keep that book for as long as you need.” She suddenly looked uncertain, remembering her recent discovery. “I’ll go back to the Archives to look for the missing section.”

“Oh, you mean this?” Twilight asked absently, telekinetically removing a carefully wrapped packet from a drawer without looking. She looked over at the Princess with an almost disappointed expression. “That big warning note you pasted onto the front weighed down the pages so much that it was inevitable that they would fall out eventually.”

Celestia picked up the packet, which like the book was wrapped in a long-term preservation spell, this one tied to its bindings instead of to a lectern. “You, uh…didn’t read it, did you?” she asked with a hint of fear.

“Only far enough to confirm that your warning was legitimate,” Twilight said simply.

“What is it?” Rarity asked, almost afraid to learn the answer.

“It’s an ascension spell,” said Spike. “Cast it, and you turn into a princess.”

This elicited a unified “WHAT!?” from five ponies.

“Well, it’s not like it will actually work in its original form,” Twilight explained. “Casting it in its current form will have calamitous effects on not only the caster, but also everypony they know or love. That’s why I never cast it. You didn’t actually think that just because it was the ‘legendary lost last spell of Starswirl the Bearded’ that I wouldn’t be able to resist casting it?”

Celestia gave a sheepish shrug.

Spike on the other hoof gave Twilight a withering stare. “You totally would have cast it without Celestia’s warning.”

Twilight wavered for a bit before giving in. “Yeah…I probably would have cast it.”

Applejack looked carefully between Twilight and Celestia before settling on the latter. “But you do want her to fix it and cast it one day, right?”

The others, especially Twilight, looked with surprise at Applejack.

“Yes,” Celestia said in a small voice. Which surprised the others even more.

“How did you guess that?!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Twilight’s her student. They get along really well. And Princess Celestia’s really lonely.”

“You’d probably get along well with Luna when she grows up as well,” Celestia admitted.

“You…you want me to be immortal? To have near-limitless power? To rule beside you?!” Twilight became more and more incredulous with each question. She dropped down into a sitting position to try and process all of this.

“Well, I didn’t want any of that right now,” Celestia said. “Not while you’re so young. You should have time to enjoy your life, before I would ever ask you to make such a choice.” She looked pointedly over at Applejack. “Which is why I was hoping to delay this conversation for a much later date.”

“Oof,” Pinkie commented.

“I…This is so far away from anything I imagined for myself,” Twilight said, her voice distant. “At first, I just wanted to know everything. And then, as your student, I dreamed that one day I might become your Chief Wizard.” She looked over at the others to see their incomprehension, and then added, “that’s a pony who is the Princess’ magic expert, and the one who comes up with new spells and coordinates magical attacks any time that Equestria is faced with a magical foe. The position hadn’t been filled for several hundred years, or else that would have been the pony who would have been sent in to face Nightmare Moon.” She looked up at Celestia. “And of course, there’s the PPP and the monster-hunting thing. That’s what I dream of for myself. Or…did, before I discovered friendship. But now? I just want to live and be happy with my friends.” She frowned as she worked through the implications. “Friends who would wither and die of old age if I became a princess. Also, I don’t know the first thing about ruling a country!

“I always avoided the politics when I was growing up. The ‘Countess of the Upper Reaches’ title refers to the nearly vertical side of the Canterhorn, where nopony can live. Six different ponies who were all younger than me and in excellent health would have to die before I inherited any land that actually mattered, or included any ponies that I would be responsible for. So why learn how to govern?” She looked once again into the eyes of Princess Celestia. “So, if you asked me today, if you told me right out how to fix the spell and become an alicorn, I would have to say: No. I don’t want the responsibility. I hope I’m not disappointing you.”

Celestia nodded graciously. “Not at all,” she said. “This is absolutely your choice and considering that it’s irreversible, not one that I would ever expect you to make on such short notice.”

“I don’t think I’m ever going to say ‘Yes’,” Twilight said quickly.

“I respect that,” Celestia said. “And that being said, I am overdue to start the Night Court at the Palace. I am trying to set up affairs for Luna’s eventual return to power at my side. Goodnight, everypony!”

Twilight and Spike ran up for a quick hug, before Celestia teleported back to her carriage and then her departure for Canterlot.

Applejack looked around her. “I see that she somehow failed to take the ascension spell with her,” she commented acidly.

Interlude 2A

A cave in the hills overlooking the village of Hollow Shades.

April 11, Year 23 of the Classical Era (CE), which preceded the Princess Era. More than twelve hundred years ago. Monday.

The first time that Sonata had ever experienced sadness was at that moment. In that cage. Alone.

The two gray ponies were arguing. For once, the siren was not responsible.

“I had matters under control, Stygian!” the older of the two ponies shouted.

“Yes, I know I failed you once again, Star Swirl. But don’t you see the opportunity?”

(A third, blue pony stood at the cave entrance, fuming. She was even angrier than the two arguers.)

Sonata didn’t care much what the two ponies were arguing about. What she cared about was being alone.

Adagio and Aria were gone. Forever. Through some magical hole that the bearded pony over there had summoned into existence. There was nothing Sonata could do about that. Nothing she could do to get her two sisters back. This “sadness” was a useless emotion. So why did she feel it?

When Adagio had called her useless, she hadn’t felt sad. She had felt empty. That seemed right. Emptiness was the lack of anger. Those two states seemed to be the only right emotions for a siren to feel.

“You! Siren!”

Sonata looked up. The two ponies from before were in front of her cage, looking down at her. The bearded one was still angry, and he was the one talking. The younger one was watching, a bit afraid. Afraid of which one of us? Sonata wondered.

“Siren!” he repeated.

Adagio would have said “What do you want?” With a sneer. Oh, how Sonata missed that sneer!

She on the other hoof could only summon up a tired and somewhat whiny “Whaat?”

“Why do you still exist?”

This brought confusion to Sonata. Ah, Confusion. A weak pony emotion, as Aria always told her. Sonata experienced Confusion a lot. “Huh?” she asked.

“The only other sirens we captured turned into sea spray when they realized they couldn’t escape,” the younger pony explained.

“Huh,” said Sonata, thinking this over. “That makes sense.” She could do that? Will herself into non-existence? Sure, she could do that—what else was there to live for? But no. Finally, she told them, “I’m scared of the dark.” She was very grateful at that moment for the roaring fire located at the back of the cave—more for the light than the heat, though. It was sweltering in here.

She cringed, expecting the blow on the head that would have come if Adagio and Aria were here.

“We could study it,” the younger pony suggested, meekly.

“Study it?” the other pony asked.

“Yes!” the first pony said, gaining confidence. “I’ve read tales about other creatures that feed on emotions. Fear, love, maybe even happiness. Perhaps we can learn techniques from this Siren that would work against those creatures as well?” He looked down at Sonata. “This is what you do, isn’t it?” he asked. “Feed on our anger. Convert it into magic. What a fascinating process!”

The elder pony glared down at the younger. He was going to shout the other pony down, Sonata knew. The younger, weaker pony would let him, and then the elder would kill her.

The younger pony was interested in her. In. Her. Out of all of the sirens and other creatures that Sonata had encountered in her hundred years of life thus far, only Adagio had any interest in whether Sonata lived or died. Although she usually tried to hide it. The others only wanted her dead. And now this one.

She wanted to know more about this pony…Stygian, Sonata believed his name was? So, she looked at the angry pony and drained his anger from him. Not in the usual way, not so that he would collapse to the ground into a coma, but enough to change his mind, Sonata hoped.

The elder dropped his glare and stroked his beard in thought. “Yes, I see some merit in your proposal. Let’s draw up a plan of study and begin experimentation tomorrow.”

(Later when she was alone the blue pony walked up to the cage. Looked down at her with cold eyes. “You’re going to wish you took the easy way out soon enough,” she whispered before walking away.)

And so that was how Sonata Dusk set the terms of her imprisonment.

Author's Note

The notes for all parts of Interlude 2 will appear together.

Interlude 2B

Late that night, Sonata awoke in a panic. A translucent sphere of magic surrounded her head and neck, blocking out all air. While she choked, the cage was opened, and several ponies ran in and restrained her.

A very regretful Stygian then put a large necklace on her, right before she passed out.

~ ~ ~

She awoke with a painful headache.

“Siren! Your attention!” the bearded pony ordered her.

Sonata sluggishly levitated herself upright. “Whaaat?” she whined.

“I have placed a Suppressor around your neck,” the pony wizard told her. He gestured behind him, to another pony. This one also had a beard but wore dirty rags for clothes that were once white. Around his neck was another necklace like the one she wore. “If you try to cross us,” the wizard warned her, “this is what will happen to you.” He reached out a hoof and tapped the gem in the center of the necklace, which began to glow.

The ragged pony gasped in horror, looking down at his hooves, which had turned to stone. In a matter of seconds, the effect had washed over his body, turning him completely into a statue. The light of the gem faded as the necklace too turned to stone.

The wizard grimaced. “That one was the prototype,” he explained. “Yours will work instantly. I am not a sadist.” He tapped the ragged pony’s necklace a second time, and the statue turned back into a pony—thankfully, much faster than the original process. The wizard then reached behind the ragged pony’s neck and removed the necklace. The ragged pony backed away from it in fear.

Sonata was equally terrified. She tried to remove her necklace but found she could not.

“Don’t bother,” the wizard told her. “The Suppressor is enchanted so it can only be removed by me, the pony who put it on you. But anypony can activate the primary enchantment.” He turned to a waiting Stygian. “You may begin studying it,” he instructed. “Do not hesitate to petrify it for any infraction. The rest of us will work on re-building the town.” He turned to the other pony as he made his way out of the cave. “With me, Raggedy.”

Sonata saw that the pony named “Raggedy” had his hooves shackled and in chains. A chain symbol was also branded just above the pony’s left rear hock. The chains reminded her of the symbols she saw on ponies after she, Adagio and Aria had bent them to their will. “Is that your slave?” she asked Stygian.

Stygian was about to answer, but was interrupted by the wizard, who had heard the question and who stomped back to the cage. “Don’t you get judgmental with us,” he warned darkly.

Sonata waved her hooves in front of her. “I’m not judgmental! Slaves are useful. …How do you treat them?” The question was asked purely out of curiosity, not malice.

The wizard narrowed his eyes. “We treat them like they deserve, like the criminals that they are. Remember that Siren: as our prisoner, you are a slave as well.”

“I know, I know.” She looked over at Raggedy, standing patiently at the cave entrance. “You can go ahead and get back to fixing the town. I won’t hurt Stygian, I promise.”

The wizard looked suspiciously between Sonata and a tired Stygian. “Very well,” he said at last. He stared at Sonata for a few moments longer before finally leaving the cave with Raggedy in tow.

Sonata then looked over at Stygian, who was looking out at where the wizard had once been. He had a pained look on his face. “Like we deserve,” he said under his breath. He looked back at her. “Like he said. Slaves do all the physical labor for ponies, and a lot of the paperwork. They aren’t…treated that bad.” He closed his eyes, trying to suppress memories he did not want to recall. “I’ve seen worse.”

“I thought only we did that to you ponies,” Sonata said. She floated over to a bucket of water so she could examine the necklace in her reflection. The gem had the same color as her eyes.

“No,” Stygian said wearily. “Slaves are too useful to ponies. Our economy would collapse without them. Now let me collect my materials.” He turned to walk over to a crude desk that he had dragged into the cave from the town.

Sonata studied Stygian’s cutie mark—Adagio had told her she could learn a lot about a pony from its cutie mark. Stygian’s was a small black-on-gray flame surrounded by a number of black stars. So not very interesting. More interesting was the brand of a chain above his left rear hock. “You’re a slave!” she exclaimed.

With a frown, Stygian grabbed a tan cloak from a hook and threw it on, covering both cutie mark and slave mark. “I was a slave,” he said curtly. “Star Swirl bought my freedom.”

“What did you do to become a slave?” Sonata asked.

“I failed to pay my rent,” Stygian said. “It was actually my fault—I was too intent in my studies of marine life to keep up with the odd jobs that formed my income.” He looked off in the distance. “I probably would have been enslaved by you three if I hadn’t been shackled and dragged out of town the night before. Our caravan was attacked by lumber bears a few days later, which was when I made my escape. I discovered the state of the town, sought out the greatest heroes of the land, we worked out a way to defeat you and…we did.”

He looked back at her. “Star Swirl is a visionary. He used the most-powerful spell ever known to travel here from the distant past! He told us he came to our time because he couldn’t stand the way that ponies in his day treated each other. He and the rest of the Pillars believe that any pony can rise to greatness, regardless of birth. That is why he freed me, because he believed my intellect was unworthy of slavery.”

Stygian smiled at Sonata. “Look at me—I’ve been doing all of the talking,” he said. He levitated over a cushion to sit on and a writing set to take down notes. “Now then, what is your name? I think just calling you ‘Siren’ all the time will get tiring.”

The Siren looked around, then levitated herself over the bucket so she could be sitting as well. “I’m Sonata Dusk,” she told him, and watched as he wrote that down.

“And where did you come from, Sonata?” Stygian asked.

“I don’t remember,” Sonata said. “I just opened my eyes one day, and there was Adagio. Aria showed up a little later.”

“‘Adagio’ and ‘Aria’,” Stygian said as he wrote those names down. “…Those were your…?”

“Sisters,” said Sonata. “Adagio told me that sirens were born from the misery of ponies. When I asked which miseries in particular, she told me a story. Now I don’t remember any of this personally, so she might have been making it up—she did that a lot.

“There were once a pair of ponies that the others in town made fun of because they were stupid. Since they were mocked equally, they eventually came to love each other and got married, and then they had a daughter who wasn’t dumb like they were. The father was dumb and angry all the time, and the mother was dumb and sad all the time. The daughter was angry, because her parents were dumb and didn’t understand her, and she made fun of them behind their backs in ways that they were too dumb to figure out. The father also had a sister who wasn’t dumb. She hated everybody and every time she said anything, everybody hated her. Eventually she fell in love with the others, but not before it was too late.

“The family was poor because they were dumb—except the daughter, but she was too young to work, and the aunt, who was still too angry then to help—so the father did some bad things to keep them in their nice house. One of those things made some scary ponies really angry at them, so angry that they rushed into that house and tried to kill everybody. A fire broke out, and only the scary ponies survived. And we were born out of that hate.” She stopped and waited as Stygian wrote all of that down. “Did you get all of that?”

“Yes.”

“You’re a good writer,” she said. “What else do you want to know?”

Interlude 2C

“How does your magic work?” Stygian asked Sonata.

“We sing,” Sonata said simply. “The music makes ponies hate each other. They fight. The music also turns some of their anger into a kind of magic that we can eat. That makes us more powerful, so we can sing songs that affect more ponies.

“Adagio saw that ponies’ lives were getting better as the years went by. That they weren’t mad at each other all of the time, so a single siren’s song didn’t work anymore. So she made new songs for all three of us to sing, and that was enough to enslave this entire town. This was our first big project, and it worked great—until you heroes came along.”

“I’m no hero,” Stygian said. He said the phrase like it was something he said a lot—perhaps mostly to himself.

Sonata shrugged. “If you say so.”

“And the ponies become your slaves after you feed on them?” Stygian asked.

“Yes,” said Sonata, “but only so long as we keep singing. I think it takes a day after we stop for them to snap out of it.”

Stygian took some more notes. “You’re telling me an awful lot about your powers. Don’t you know that we’ll use this information against other Sirens?”

“What do I care?” Sonata asked scornfully. “All of the other sirens hate me. They hate each other, too. In fact, that’s all sirens do or want to do—hate. Not hating is not natural for sirens.”

Stygian looked up from his notes. “You don’t seem to be hating very much.”

Sonata scowled and looked away. “There. I’m hating now. And I told you—they hate me extra hard.”

“Alright,” said Stygian quietly.

"I’m ready to see a demonstration,” the bearded pony—Star Swirl—said sometime after sunset. He was standing with Stygian and the rest of his “Pillars” on one side of the cave, away from the cage. On the other side, right next to the cage, were Raggedy and another slave pony. This one was named Shapeless, because of how his face looked after a lifetime of losing fights.

Neither one of the slaves had the names that they were born with, Sonata realized. She guessed that slaves lost their names along with their freedom.

“You said you can control who your magic affects,” Star Swirl said. “If you’re lying there will be consequences. Just to be safe I’ll cast a sound-proof spell around the six of us. Stygian, you will be our control. If the Siren tricks us and enslaves you, I will avenge you.”

“Um…alright,” said Stygian. “G…go ahead, Sonata.”

Star Swirl raised an eyebrow at the use of a name for the Siren, then created the bubble around the six of them. (The blue one’s suspicious eyes never left hers.)

Sonata wondered if this spell excluded air like the one he had cast on her. After a few seconds she decided that it was a different spell. She then began to sing.

The two heavyset earth pony slaves looked at each other, then shook their heads trying to resist.

Stygian tilted his head, trying to analyze the song. As he watched, Sonata shifted her key. (Or some other musical change, Stygian thought. This was not one of the areas that he was an expert on.) There was something undefinable in the wordless music now, something that told Stygian that the song was about the pain of being a slave.

The resistance of the two test subjects crumbled, and they started fighting each other, trying to bash each other’s heads in with their hooves.

Star Swirl, seeing that Stygian was not angered—although he did look a bit entranced—took a chance and put himself outside of the sound bubble. He made sure to stabilize the spell first, so it would keep going even if he did fall under the Siren’s spell. After all, he had instructed the other Pillars on how the Stabilizer worked. He then cast an analysis spell on Sonata and the battling slaves, allowing him to see the magic in her music, and the energy that she was then feeding on.

“That is enough,” he said after he was sure of his data.

Sonata stopped singing as soon as she was instructed to do so. She too was satisfied by this session. Not only had she been well fed, but she had had a chance to work on her accuracy and control. She had seen the look of dismay on the faces of some of the Pillars and had inflected her magic to make the ponies start pulling their punches, only thinking they were grievously harming one another.

Star Swirl looked back at the bubble, and on seeing the ponies inside signaling to be released from its effects, poked the bubble with his horn and so caused it to pop.

“That was awful,” said the frail unicorn.

“Most distressing,” said the pinkish pegasus with a far-off accent.

The others nodded in agreement.

“A necessary price to pay for the safety of all ponies,” Star Swirl said sternly.

The yellow pegasus with armor walked up to the two still slaves and looked into their swirling eyes. “She’s enslaved them!” he exclaimed.

“Oh!” Sonata replied. “That’s automatic. I can let them go—”

“Not just yet,” Star Swirl said as he approached. “I want to see if I can do it first.” He walked around the pair, firing off several spells in quick succession. None of them appeared to have an effect.

While he was doing this, Stygian walked up to the cage. “I saw what you were doing with the spell at the end there,” he said to her in a low voice. “If you have that much control, what were you making them think? What did each subject see in the other?”

Sonata beckoned Stygian to bring his ear right up to the cage. “I made each of them see the other as Star Swirl, with one of those magic-stopping rings on his horn,” she whispered to him.

Stygian backed up with a hoof over his mouth, trying to suppress a laugh. Then he stopped himself and put on a stern look. “That wasn’t very nice.”

Sonata looked confused. “You weren’t asking me to be nice!”

“Alright,” Star Swirl said, defeated. “I have the analysis spell back in place. Release them.”

Sonata nodded. And then she stared at the pair of ponies and blinked. At least, that was what most of the Pillars saw.

The two ponies shook their heads once again as they were free of the spell. They looked at each other’s battered expressions, and then looked nervously over at Star Swirl, but he was too busy thinking over what his spell had told him to notice.

“Very interesting,” Star Swirl said. “I may have to see you cast that a few more times on some different subjects to be sure I understand how best to convert what I saw into a unicorn spell.”

“Oh dear, I hope not,” said the pink pegasus. “That didn’t look fun at all.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Star Swirl assured the others. “You won’t have to watch.”

That seemed to be enough to mollify them.

The wizard then strode over to Stygian, looking suspiciously at his proximity to the cage. “I noticed you weren’t casting Analysis this whole time,” he said, his eyes narrowed.

“Oh. Sorry,” said Stygian. “I was too caught up in the novelty of the magic I was seeing.” He levitated over his writing set. “I can take down your notes?”

“Hmm…Alright.” And then Star Swirl started dictating, which Sonata tuned out entirely.

She looked at Stygian curiously. She couldn’t be sure because he was in her peripheral vision, but she could have sworn that Stygian had in fact been casting the Analysis spell this whole time. It was a passive ability, like her control over her slaves.

Perhaps the wizard couldn’t see that.

Interlude 2D

The next day, with repairs to the town completed, the Pillars and Stygian set out on their way. Stygian pulled the cage—it had been equipped with wheels and a harness and covered with a strapped-down tarp.

Sonata couldn’t find any comfortable position in the cage while they traveled. If she tried to levitate, then inertia would cause her to keep bumping against the bars at the back of the cage. If she tried to just rest on the bottom she would slide around, so she was forced to hook her hooves around the front bars and hold on for dear life. The unexpected advantage of this was that she could see a great deal of the road as the corners of the tarp blew around. Stygian seemed to be quite concerned that she might be spotted by the public, but the inside of the cage was shaded enough on this bright day to keep her obscured.

The Pillars spent the time walking—or flying—finding ways to insert tales of their exploits into observations of the weather or the local plant life. Sonata liked Somnambula’s stories of Southern Equestria the best, but the few times that Mistmane spoke up she always paid attention, because those were sure to be the wisest and most inspiring. (The blue pony, the healer Meadowbrook, almost never talked of her past.)

The seven slaves the Pillars kept were probably back behind the cage, but Sonata never bothered to look. Nopony talked to them, and they weren’t allowed to speak among themselves—just like her—so she didn’t really think about them.

The wizard said nothing during their trek. Sonata saw him peer in at her several times, and stare suspiciously at Stygian a lot more times. So she knew better than to try to talk to Stygian, or anyone else. At least until after the lunch break—that was when she drained some more anger out of the wizard. He started telling stories after that, which meant he was far enough away from the cage for Sonata to speak up.

“Where are we going?” she asked in a low voice, pulling the tarp just slightly aside so she could see the back of his head.

Stygian turned his head slightly, so he could look at her with one eye. With an amused smile he said, “A colt from the next town told us that his town had been eaten by the forest, so we’re going to take a look. We’re sort of heroes for hire now.”

Sonata nodded to herself and smiled. She had thought that she would be spending the rest of her life in that cave. This was much better. She moved the tarp just a little bit more so she could see the skipping green earth pony who was leading the group, then quickly pulled it back before his turning head could spot her.

~ ~ ~

It turned out that there was a monster plant named Tiger Lilly who had gained the ability to think, had taken control of the forest, and was setting out to wipe out the whole of ponykind, all by herself.

She really was rather pathetic when it came down to it—any one of the Pillars could have stopped her alone, and all six of them completely humiliated her. But Sonata admired her ambition anyway. She didn’t have any abilities that the wizard didn’t know about, so she didn’t end up in a cage.

And after the repairs to the town were completed by the Pillar’s slaves, the group set out once again.

And so it went.

Time passed. The Pillars traveled from one end of Equestria to another, saving town after town from monsters. Stygian was key in planning how to handle the more difficult threats. But he was useless when it came down to action—“I’m no hero,” as he would say. So, he and Sonata would talk.

And when Stygian was busy, Sonata created songs. Adagio had taught her how to create pony songs and she was good at it. Maybe even better than Adagio, although the head siren would never have admitted it. She made a song about the Pillars’ latest triumph based on Stygian’s account and sang it back to him. Later, he convinced the Pillars themselves to listen. The wizard was ready with his spells to protect them, but Sonata was perfectly capable of singing a song without using her magic, and the Pillars (minus Meadowbrook) loved it. This feat kept Sonata useful to the Pillars, even as Stygian’s research into Siren abilities gradually dried up.

~ ~ ~

(“Why do you hate me so much?” Sonata asked Meadowbrook one day when the two of them were alone.

“One of you killed my mother,” the blue pony said without emotion. “She came to our cottage seeking shelter from the rain. She sang a song that got my mother and I to fight, and she drained our magic until Mamma collapsed. She never woke up.”

Meadowbrook poked Sonata’s chest through the bars of the cage. “No race that needs hatred to live deserves to survive,” she told the siren. “I love every creature on the planet. But I will not rest until every Siren in Equestria has turned to mist.”

“Including me?” Sonata asked playfully.

“Stygian cannot protect you forever. Star Swirl will tire of studying you. And then you will be mine.” This last statement was coupled by a blood-curdling smile.

Sonata did her best to stay away from the healer pony after that.)

~ ~ ~

I said that time passed. The problem for Sonata was that she could not tell how long. It might have been a few months. It might have been longer than she had been alive as a Dazzling. Sonata really couldn’t tell.

The problem was that either the wizard or the healer kept turning her to stone for no reason. The first time had been at night, when the tarp was off the cage and Stygian was trying to work out how she managed to breathe so well both normally and underwater. A mare ran up to the camp to tell them about the next monster she wanted them to fight and pointed in fear at Sonata. “It’s one of them!” she screamed.

Sonata opened her mouth to say something, but then she saw a magical beam fly from the wizard’s beam right for her necklace.

Something happened.

And then she could move again. They were somewhere different, it was morning, and the tarp was back over the cage, lifted up at one corner.

Through that corner, the wizard was staring at her in a cold rage. Like it was her fault that she had been seen. “That was necessary to prevent a panic,” he told her. “I reserve the right to do so again.” He softened, almost imperceptibly. “Was that painful?”

Sonata thought for a bit. “No,” she said.

“Alright.”

Sonata spent the day thinking about that something between when the necklace had been activated and when it had been inactivated. It wasn’t nothing. It was in fact a whole mixed-up jumble. Sonata couldn’t pull any individual moments out of it, except for a pale orange siren exploding into sea mist all over her.

Sonata blinked in shock as that realization washed over her. She looked down, but she was now dry. It took a little searching before she found a corner with a wet spot on it that smelled like the sea.

One time when the wizard unfroze her, he told her that it was “once again necessary.” He also mentioned that he had left her in stone for eight months, “to see if the stone would degrade.” The eight months coincided with Stygian leaving the group for a time so he could collate his notes into a book on Sirens. He hoped to have copies of it made, for distribution at the noble courts.

The wizard seemed to expect some sort of reaction from her at this revelation. Instead, she smiled innocently at him. “That’s alright. I’m your slave. You could do far worse.” She was quoting Stygian. She spent a lot of time thinking about the eight months of something she now had stuck in her head.

The next day when she had Stygian to herself, she asked him what he had done during her “vacation”. “Books are important to ponies, right?” she asked after he had told her.

"Very important. It’s our way of becoming immortal.”

“‘Immortal’,” Sonata repeated quietly. “That’s the difference between you and I. Between everything else and ponies.

“Monsters are terrified of eternity, just like animals are. Like any same being should be. How can anything last forever? Keep some important part of itself still?

“We tried to enslave the Princesses once.”

“What?” Stygian asked in utter disbelief. He was completely unable to follow the Siren’s change of subject.

“It was right after Adagio had written her first song, which seemed to work on any pony we tried it on. We were near this battlefield, and the Princesses were there, so we crept up on them.

“But when we looked at them, we saw their immortality, and we fled in a panic. Well, I was the only one willing to admit that I was scared, so I guess Adagio and Aria made a ‘strategic retreat’.”

There was a silence, as a stunned Stygian tried to imagine the consequences if the Dazzlings had succeeded, and Sonata tried to organize her scattered thoughts.

“I never thought I’d ever want anything to do with immortality again. Until I had it forced on me.

“I was immortal while you were gone.”

“What does that mean, you ‘were’ immortal? It can’t be immortality if it ends.”

“I know the words don’t make sense, but it felt real. Star Swirl turned me to stone, and then later he turned me back. And in between, I was immortal.”

She looked up, pointing at the stars of the night sky. “I felt like those. I felt like I had been around forever and would keep being around. I could look at what you ponies were doing. And I knew that some of those things happened because of things that I had done. I see it now.” She looked back, looked intently into Stygian’s eyes. “I understand why ponies want to be immortal. I wonder: is that all it takes? Am I a pony now?” She looked so desperate to Stygian.

“I, uh…don’t think that’s how it works,” Stygian said, trying to bring the monster back to reality.

“Your books,” Sonata said. “Reading them made you who you are. The ponies who wrote those books might be long dead, but they had a hoof in who you are now. This book that you wrote about me—it might do the same for you!”

“I…guess,” Stygian stammered. “Assuming that anypony ever finds it useful. Could…could we change the subject?” He turned to organize his portable library.

Sonata was quiet for a while as she tried to think of something else to ask about. Eventually she asked Stygian how many books he had read in his life, and he told her.

“That’s so many!” she exclaimed. “How do you keep all the facts and stories from all of those books straight?”

“Oh, you just have to organize them,” the unicorn told her. “Pony brains are not made to hold collections of abstract facts. You make a little house in your head, and you attach the facts to pieces of furniture that work for you. Or maybe places on a map of Equestria, like I have been doing. I guess you could convert them into song lyrics.”

“Yes!” Sonata exclaimed, attracting the attention of a couple of guard slaves. (They were a different set now, as some buying and selling had occurred during her “vacation”.) She was very good at song lyrics.

~ ~ ~

Sonata was frozen and unfrozen many, many times after that. Always when a siren was the monster that the Pillars were hunting. It seemed that they failed to believe her when she said that she hated the other sirens, and the other sirens hated her. Just as they hated each other. And Sonata used her lyric abilities to tease out all of the memories bunched into her frozen moments. Ponies tended to say a lot of things around her when she was a statue that they didn’t want others to hear. Especially the wizard. And she didn’t like what she had heard.

Interlude 2E

Sonata told Stygian the worst thing she had overheard: that the wizard had been handing out copies of the siren book to various important ponies. Copies that had “Star Swirl the Bearded” as the author instead of “Stygian”. When he doubted her, she imitated the wizard’s voice. And then she told him where he kept the pile of books with the altered author credit.

Later that night, Stygian confronted the wizard. Did it next to the cage so that Sonata could overhear. It was the angriest that Sonata had ever heard Stygian. But the wizard didn’t get mad. Instead, he argued that the information on Sirens was too important to have Stygian’s name on it. That the work of an ex-slave would never be read by a noblepony. It was not a prejudice that he shared, the slimy wizard assured Stygian, but it was one that had to be acknowledged. Maybe if Stygian did something, anything to make his name stand out, then it would be worthwhile to allow Stygian to obtain his immortality.

~ ~ ~

The next day Stygian stole the magical items wielded by the Pillars. When they caught him doing this, he claimed it was so he could find a way to obtain some sort of magical ability of his own, something that would allow him to be useful.

Star Swirl laughed in his face. “You’re a slave, Stygian!” he exclaimed. “You don’t actually think that anypony will remember you after you die? That you deserve anything so lofty?”

“You freed me!” Stygian cried out incredulously.

“Because I knew you would be more useful to me under the delusion of being a free pony. But the liberation was meaningless. I mean, do any of you consider Stygian your friend?”

There was an ominous silence from the other Pillars.

“Well, I thought he was nice,” the pink earth pony said finally.

“Do you even know which village he comes from? What subjects he studies beside the Siren?” Star Swirl challenged her.

She was unable to answer.

“None of us are your friends, Stygian,” Star Swirl said coldly.

“I’m his friend,” Sonata said, having pulled aside the tarp.

She was turned to stone for speaking out of turn.

And that is the end of this particular story.

The next time that Sonata was flesh and blood, it was hundreds of years later. From her scrambled memories she was able to pull Stygian running off into the night, but she never saw what happened next. And she did not know the ultimate fate of the wizard, his cold friends, or of Stygian, Sonata’s first friend.

She suspected that they blew each other to smithereens. After all, that’s what she would have done in Stygian’s place and with Stygian’s genius for destroying his enemies.

Author's Note

Here are the notes for all parts of Interlude 2.

Chapter 14

Appleoosa. A mesa overlooking the town.

July 27 of the Year 1 PRE. A week after “Feeling Pinkie Keen” and during the events of “Over a Barrel”. Tuesday.

Applejack led the expedition in search of Spike, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Her thoughts were on how the situation with the native buffalo threatened the very existence of this Apple Clan-settled town.

Appleoosa was supposed to be the backup, she thought to herself, in case our efforts in Ponyville fell apart. A town we control from the beginning, and far enough away from Canterlot that it might escape notice. If this goes south, what will we do?

There was a second reason for this trip, one that had so far failed: trying to trap the Basilisk. A very large trunk of “bits” had been loaded on the train at Ponyville with considerable fanfare, but the infamous train robber had refused to bite, somehow knowing that the cargo was fake.

Applejack was followed onto the mesa top by Braeburn, who had seamlessly transitioned from being Ponyville’s spokespony to being Appleoosa’s. Braeburn was followed by Fluttershy and Rarity. And trailing far in the back was a panting Twilight Sparkle.

I don’t think I’ve ever been this hot in my life! she thought to herself. Why didn’t I think to drink some water before we left? Or bring some, for that matter? She looked back ruefully at her empty saddlebags. All this for Spike. Falling asleep in a tree! Why can’t that runt stay out of trouble? Now we have to save Rainbow Dash and Pinkie from the buffalo holding them hostage, all because of him!

“Ow!” she heard Rarity cry out.

Twilight raced up the rest of the trail, to find that the fashion mare was merely complaining about Applejack tightening her saddlebag straps too tight. Rarity’s bag, in contrast with Twilight’s, was quite full. Although it looked like it was mostly packed with beauty accessories.

“Sorry, Rarity,” Applejack said around the strap in her teeth, “but our friends are out there, and we have to be ready for a long hike into buffalo territory if we’re going to save them!” She reared up heroically on her hind hooves for a moment. “Let’s go!” She then set off in a gallop.

Twilight tried to collect her strength. She glanced down at the town. Are we really high up? she asked herself. It feels like the air is thin here. And then she took off to catch up with the others.

Their gallant run to rescue their friends lasted all of five seconds, before they suddenly came upon Rainbow Dash, Spike and Pinkie Pie.

“Hi, guys!” Pinkie exclaimed.

Fluttershy was so relieved to see the others safe that she sprang forward, landing atop the earth pony. “Pinkie!” she exclaimed. “We’re so glad you’re safe.”

Twilight and Applejack also expressed their thanks to Celestia for a happy reunion.

“How did you escape from the buffalo?” Twilight finally asked.

“We didn’t!” Pinkie exclaimed cheerfully.

At a gesture from her, the buffalo calf who had tussled with Rainbow Dash on the train hopped over a boulder and into view, causing Applejack’s group of ponies to gasp in surprise.

"We promised the buffalo a chance to talk,” Rainbow Dash explained.

At that moment the rest of the buffalo tribe stepped into view. There were dozens of them, but they were more than a dozen strides away, far enough for the nervous ponies to feel safe for now. As for this calf…

“Oh yeah?” Applejack asked, eyeing the calf and her offer to “talk” suspiciously. “About what?”

“We brought our new pal Little Strongheart here to explain to the Appleoosans why they should move the apple trees off buffalo land,” said Rainbow Dash. And then she shoved Little Strongheart into Braeburn’s face to make her explanation, leaving the buffalo calf a little nervous.

Braeburn, as the town representative, smiled warmly at the buffalo shoved into his face. “That information would be quite help—” he tried to say.

Applejack meanwhile had become more and more suspicious of what was happening, and suddenly shoved Braeburn into Little Strongheart’s face in order to force a confrontation. “That’s weird,” she said sarcastically. “Because my cousin Braeburn here wants to explain to the buffalo why they should let the apple trees stay.” Braeburn tried to look back, clearly uncomfortable with where Applejack was steering this conversation.

Little Strongheart, visibly intimidated by the pony in her face, pulled her head back and tried to speak. “That would be a useful thing to—”

Rainbow Dash, refusing to let her defuse this situation, stepped towards Braeburn. “The land is theirs!” she declared. “You planted the trees not knowing that. Honest mistake. Now, you just got to move them, that’s all.”

Braeburn maneuvered himself out of the forced confrontation with Little Strongheart and rubbed the back of his neck with a hoof. “Well…” he said, trying to find words to explain. “Heh…”

Applejack shoved the ineffectual Braeburn out of the way to confront Rainbow Dash directly. “They busted their rumps here!” she exclaimed. “And now they’re supposed to bust their rumps again, just because some buffalo won’t stampede someplace else?”

“Plant the trees somewhere else!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“Where?!” answered Applejack, gesturing down at the small valley that contained Appleoosa and the neighboring orchard. “It’s the only flatland around these parts!”

“The buffalo had it first!” Rainbow Dash demanded.

“The settler ponies need it to live!” shouted Applejack.

“Come on, Applejack!” Rainbow Dash cried.

“You’re being unreasonable!”

“I put my hoof down!”

By this time both of them were shouting over each other, not even bothering to hear what the other pony said.

Twilight swayed uncertainly upon her hooves. The argument she was witnessing was strangely making her giddy. “Look!” she said, pushing herself between her two friends. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a group of settler ponies coming over the ridge, drawn by the shouting. The buffalo too had begun to draw close. “Both the settlers and the buffalo have good reasons to use this land. There must be something we can do.”

She looked around. There were clearly two sides now, with only Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and herself trying to remain neutral. (And Spike, but to Tartarus with Spike!) Affairs were reaching a breaking point.

Desperate, Twilight decided to resort to song. After all, it had worked so well for Pinkie Pie against those possessed trees in the Everfree.

“We may be divided,” Twilight began, getting the attention of everyone. “But of all of you, I beg. To remember how fat buffalo are, balanced on those twiggy legs!”

“Hey!” exclaimed the chief of the buffalo, stepping forward.

Twilight, somehow not noticing that the words coming out of her mouth did not match the ones in her head, assumed that she had just heard a complement on the originality of her verse, and so continued. “No matter what the issue, you’ll lose this land to thieves. Those ponies will secretly infect you, with hoof-and-mouth disease!”

“Hey!” exclaimed the pony sheriff, stepping forward.

“Arguing is the way. Hey show them how we play! Blood boils over today. So what do you say?”

Both ponies and buffalo were now glaring at each other.

“You gotta stare!” Twilight belted, getting to the chorus of her song.“You gotta prepare! It’s the right thing to do! You gotta stare! You gotta prepare! And the last survivor will find the way through!”

She stopped her song to look triumphantly around her.

“She’s just as stupid as the rest of you ponies!” declared the Chief to the buffalo behind him.

“Twilight Sparkle’s right!” the Sheriff shouted to the ponies behind him at the same moment.

The Chief stomped forward to stand beside an oblivious Twilight. The Sheriff stomped—not as successfully—to get into the Chief’s face.

“The time for action is upon us!” the Chief said over his cheering tribe. “Our stampede will start at high noon tomorrow. And if that orchard is still there, we’ll flatten it into lifeless dust…along with every pony in the town!”

The ponies gasped in horror, which turned to rage.

Little Strongheart tried to appeal to her father. “But, Chief!”

She was pushed back by his hoof.

“And we Appleoosans…” The Sheriff began, waiting until he got an encouraging cheer from his fellow settlers. “We Appleoosans say you’d better bring your best, because we will be ready and waiting with the best defenses and offenses Pony ingenuity has to offer. You try to besiege us, and the dust of the prairie will be wet…by your blood and tears!”

“But Sheriff…” Braeburn began.

He was silenced by an angry glare.

The two sides shouted their rage at one another.

Twilight had a hard time hearing any voices over the heartbeat that thundered in her ears after her warped song.

And then there was a mighty shout, and she was struck by two near-overwhelming streams of magic, each one nearly as strong as the one she absorbed during her School of Magic entrance exam.

Suddenly Twilight’s fatigue was gone. She felt better than she ever had in her entire life—with the exception of that time the Princess had personally admitted her into the School of Magic after that entrance exam. She looked around at her friends, seemingly blind to the two crowds parting in opposite directions to prepare for their upcoming battle. “So, how did I do?”

As far as Applejack was concerned, her honest concern over the plight of her clan in Appleoosa had fed organically into the inevitable shouting match between the buffalo and the ponies. Clearly race war was the only solution, and wouldn’t the buffalo be surprised when they had declared war not on puny little ponies, but unstoppable changelings!

These thoughts were rudely interrupted when her level of rage was completely overmatched by the two waves she felt pass over her, to be completely absorbed by Twilight Sparkle.

And that’s when all of her danger sensors went off.

“What just happened?” she exclaimed as she looked around her. Rainbow’s ears and wings were pointed outward, and her pelt was fluffed out in a dominance posture. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were both darting their angry heads around from one sound to another, unable to decide which target was worthy of attack. Rarity had taken a knitting needle out of her saddlebags and was trying to sneak up on Little Strongheart—apparently to plant the dull tip between the impenetrable shoulder blades of a buffalo. Twilight looked like she was drunk, and the look on her face was unfit for mixed company.

Spike was hiding behind a rock. Whatever Twilight had done to them with that song, it didn’t affect him. Frankly, Applejack considered joining him—after all, this mess was being caused by the unicorn who had lifted a baby star bear with her magic alone and a few weeks later had completely lost her mind over Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie—not a pony you’d want to cross single-hoofedly.

Luckily for Applejack, she wouldn’t have to face the elephant in the room just yet. She saw Rainbow Dash begin walking off to join the buffalo, and imagined her a day from now in war-paint, flying down from the sky to maim Applejack for the crime on being on the wrong side in a silly little…

“Rainbow Dash!” she cried in desperation. “What are you doing?” She looked over at Twilight. “And what did you do?”

Rainbow turned to face her, rage distorting her features. She looked ready to start a knock-down, drag-out brawl with Applejack right then and there. “Do you want to make something of it, mud pony?!” she shouted.

Applejack gasped at the slur—Rainbow had never shown any signs of being a supremacist. She took a few deep breaths to collect herself. And then, calmly but still loudly enough to be heard by all of her friends, she asked, “Is that any way for an Element of Harmony to act?”

That broke the spell. Fluttershy gasped, looking around her as if the angry yellow pegasus from a moment ago was somepony other than herself. Pinkie dropped into a heap, trying to let her extra-puffy mane and tail absorb her as she stared forward in shock and shame. Rarity dropped her needle in horror and slunk back to a spot behind the other two—a spot where Applejack’s accusing eyes could not see her.

Rainbow Dash lowered herself back to the ground, breathing heavily as she opened and closed her mouth several times, trying to think of what to say. “I…I don’t know what I was thinking just then, Applejack. Honest I don’t!” She sank fully down to the ground, clasping her forehooves together piteously. “I…I would never call you something like…that.” She looked off into the distance. “I just became so angry. It came from outside. It came from…her.” And she pointed at Twilight Sparkle. The others looked at her with varying degrees of shock.

None of them appeared to be angry with her. Yet. But Spike nevertheless left the safety of his rock to walk up to Twilight and pick up a hoof in his claws. “Twilight…?” he asked gingerly.

The words “Elements of Harmony” washed over Twilight, finally setting her mind straight. She saw clearly everything that happened, everything she had done to make it happen, and the way she had fed upon the resulting anger. It was true! It was true, it was true!

Twilight looked up at the shocked faces of her friends. She opened her mouth to explain herself, but then she caught herself and held her mouth closed with her forehooves. A moment later, her horn glowed and a set of glowing letters appeared above her head, an illusion Twilight had picked up from Trixie’s act a month earlier.

I’M SORRY! The words read. MY WORDS TURNED YOU AGAINST EACH OTHER AND I DON’T KNOW HOW TO STOP IT! I HAVE TO—

Without completing her thought, Twilight yanked her hoof out of Spike’s grasp. After looking sadly down at him for a moment, she turned and ran—not towards Appleoosa or towards the buffalo camp, but at right angles to both destinations, into the open desert.

“I’ll get her back!” Rainbow cried out, popping into the air.

“No!” ordered Applejack. “Follow her, but don’t try to talk to her until she’s calmed down.”

Rainbow stopped to hear her words, then nodded her agreement with their wisdom. “I’m still sorry,” she told Applejack. “Even if some crazy spell did that to me, I should have been able to resist, like I did against Nightmare Moon.” She then took off to follow the galloping unicorn at a discrete distance without waiting to hear a response.

“Well, you don’t exactly put up defenses against your best friends,” Applejack said out loud.

Spike stood there; his claws clenched into fists. Plenty of past examples had taught him that there was no possible way he could keep up with his stepmother when she got into a gallop. He took a moment to collect himself and then turned to regard the others with a cold eye. “So, Twilight is a Siren. Or a part-Siren.”

“Or possessed by a Siren,” Fluttershy suggested.

“Or something,” Spike concluded. “That explains a lot. When this is over, we need to fix her. Permanently. I don’t want her to be like that anymore.” He looked over at the nearby town. “I’m going to write to Princess Celestia as soon as we get back into town,” he said.

“Wait until we get Twilight back,” Applejack said, stepping forward and putting a hoof on his shoulder.

“She’s just going to try to convince me not to,” Spike said dully. “She never really wants to change.”

“Well, I won’t let her convince you,” Applejack said.

“Ditto,” Pinkie added in an unusually serious tone.

~ ~ ~

Rainbow Dash followed Twilight for more than an hour, before she zeroed in on an abandoned cabin on the edge of the mesa. It had views of both the distant pony town as well as the distant buffalo camp. With a frightened look back at Rainbow, Twilight entered the cabin. A spell then locked the door and both of the windows.

Rainbow sighed. Rising up to be far above the cabin, she looked around to be absolutely sure of her bearings, and then flew rapidly back to her waiting friends. She told them where Twilight was located.

“Take me over there,” said Spike. “I’ll keep her company. From outside if necessary. I’ll be warm enough.” He looked up at the sky with uncertainty. “It’s not going to rain tonight, is it?” he asked.

“No,” said Rainbow.

“But will you be safe?” Fluttershy asked.

Spike puffed himself up. “You have no need to worry about that! Dragons are extremely resistant to unicorn magic. Twilight can’t even levitate me if I don’t want her to.”

He reached out his hooves towards Rainbow, who reluctantly picked him up.

“The rest of you should try to fix this,” he said, gesturing in the two directions of the settlers and the buffalo. “Just in case I can’t get through to her in time.”

Rarity, impressed by Spike’s initiative and bravery in the face of unknown crazy unicorn/siren/whatever magic, stepped forward. “Good luck, Spike,” she said warmly.

Spike nearly melted on the spot. “Will do…Rarity.” He didn’t even notice being picked up and carried away after that.

Applejack stood there for a moment, thinking furiously. If this was love magic, then she could probably do something about it. But hate…

Hate was not the opposite of love, Applejack knew. If it was, she could handle it. But hate—enough of that could kill a changeling. Both hate and love were extreme emotions pointed in opposite directions. The most awful things that a pony ever did were motivated by a mix of both hate and love. So even though these conditions were desperate enough that Applejack was willing to reveal her true identity, she knew that nothing she could do as a Changeling would actually help under the circumstances. With a heavy heart, she turned to follow Fluttershy and Rarity down the trail that led to Appleoosa. Pinkie instead walked back to the buffalo camp, but without a trace of hope. Just as with the final confrontation with Nightmare Moon, she felt that her talents with lifting hearts with jokes and banter would not be successful in making things better.

That night and the following morning, all of Twilight’s friends tried to diffuse the coming explosion. But all in vain.

After trying and failing at the direct approach of knocking on the door and begging her to let him in, Spike racked his brain to find a better solution for hours, until his stomach interrupted his thoughts. Then he ate the turquoise gems that Little Strongheart had given to him and went to sleep.

The whole time he heard nothing from inside the cabin. Given Twilight’s past use of the Silence spell, it was probable that she was crying.

Chapter 15

In his dream that night, Spike was skipping through a meadow with Rarity, gathering rubies into a wicker basket. Rarity looked upon Spike with love, because in the dream Spike was a pony. Well…he knew that he was a pony in the dream, but he didn’t exactly know what he looked like as a pony. He was sort of an amorphous pony-shaped blob, but somehow that blob was labeled “Spike the Pony”, and so that was what Rarity saw him as. Oh, and apparently, he was a pony who ate rubies.

At some point Spike’s worries from the waking world began to affect the dream. Now the pair of them were not looking for gems for Spike to eat, but rather a gem to fill the hole in Twilight Sparkle’s head and so wake her up from her thousand-year sleep.

Suddenly there was a rippling of reality, and a cobalt-blue filly stepped into the meadow. Her mane was a lighter blue, and she had a cutie mark of the moon and stars. “Good even, Young Spike!” the filly exclaimed in an archaic accent. “I crave thy pardon for mine interruption of thy dream. Fare thee well?”

Spike shook his head as he came to full awareness, and the world around him flickered for a while. “Who are you?” he asked. “And why do you talk so funny?”

The filly twisted her lips as she tried to puzzle out what the dragon was saying. “I do not speak funny, Sir Dragon. Rather it is thee! Is this the modern manner of speaking? Yours is most confusing. And I am Luna, Princess of the Night.”

“Luna!” Spike exclaimed.

“The same,” Luna confirmed. “An it pleases thee, wouldst thou know what manner of malady doth plague thy mistress, Twilight?”

Spike worked his way through Luna’s utterance. He had the advantage of spending a lot of time with old manuscripts as part of his job. “Twilight is not my ‘mistress’,” he did find himself forced to say. “Ew.”

Luna rolled her eyes. “Twilight Sparkle. My savior. The one who doth care for thee.”

“Yes.” Suddenly he remembered. “Twilight! You saw what she’s going through?”

“Nay,” said Luna sadly. “She didst deny me entry unto her dream, but I did sense her torment from the Castle Canterlot.”

“Wait, you visit dreams?”

Luna sighed at being forced to repeat herself. “Ay, I did visit her dream this even, and even now am visiting thine.”

“But…how?”

Luna laughed bitterly. “Oh, didst thou not know? The cognomen 'Nightmare Moon' was not given me by flight of fancy but based upon the Creator's truth.” She gestured at her cutie mark.

“Oh,” Spike said in realization. “It’s one of your powers.”

“Yea, verily.”

Spike looked over at the frozen cow-eyed form of his crush. Literally cow eyed. With a shudder, Spike stuck his arms into Rarity’s form and shook them to make her turn back into dream stuff. “That’s really creepy, you know,” he commented. “I’m not sure if privacy actually existed in your time, but it’s kinda big in ours.” He turned back to see Luna shrug—she probably failed to understand any of that.

Spike thought for a moment. He eventually figured out that Luna somehow sensed Twilight’s distress and was here to help. But Twilight wasn’t letting her do that, so it was up to him. “Twilight’s in trouble, all right. I think she’s…”

And here he stopped to really think. He initially wanted to come out and say that Twilight was a Siren, and her powers had finally fully manifested. But that would be to dismiss her utterly in Spike’s mind, to say that she could never be his mother. Because no Siren could love her children. But Twilight did love him. Sometimes. And so, Spike said that Twilight was “…part siren. She lost control of that part of herself, and made some ponies and buffalo want to go to war with each other!”

Luna found parts of Spike’s speech confusing, particularly the part about Twilight both being in control of herself but also not. “What can I do for thee?” she asked.

“Tell me about Sirens. You knew one. She was your best friend. Tell me how they think. So I can convince Twilight to undo what she did.”

“I…I cannot,” she said. “Dost thou seek a means to stop her from feeding upon the hate of the innocent? For that is impossible.”

“I dost…I mean, I want her to undo her feeding,” Spike replied. “I want her to…put her food back.”

“But…but that is more than impossible!” Luna protested. “Thou wouldst be better to appeal to the pony side of her. At least a pony can be reasonable.”

“I’ll try that first, but I’m not sure that will be enough,” said Spike.

“What more can I say?” Luna said in frustration. “Thou dost see before thee a filly, a swaddling babe! I have the mind of a newly-cutied—although I have had this mark since my rebirth, verily it doth feel brand new! The fully-grown Luna would have the strong mind that thou dost require, but thou shall not see it for a fortnight or more! No further help can I offer thee, Young Spike. And for that, my heart is overfull with regrets.” She began to fade away.

“Wait!” exclaimed Spike, causing Princess Luna to return to a solid form. “Doesn’t a Siren have even a speck of pity?”

“Nay, Spike,” Luna said sadly. “For a pony, a Siren doth feel only contempt. And a sense of lofty superiority to their pony victims. From that rule, only Sonata was the exception.”

“Hmm…superiority,” Spike said, stroking his chin. “I might be able to use that. Tell me more…”

The next morning Spike suddenly sat up. It took him a moment to realize that he was sitting in front of an abandoned hut outside Appleoosa, with a tragic battle only hours from starting. And after that he remembered his dream, and desperately hoped that he had in fact spoken with the real Luna, and not just a vain figment of his imagination.

And with that he started carrying out the plan he had devised based on Luna’s words in the dream, utilizing the only weapon at his disposal: his sarcasm.

“So have you tried applying reason to the problem?” He asked her through the wall of the cabin. “You’re generally pretty good with that.

“Seriously. Your talent is analyzing magic. Analyze what you did and devise a counter-spell.”

The window opened, and Twilight poked her head out. She opened her mouth, thought better of it, and summoned some text instead: MY SPECIAL TALENT DOESN’T INCLUDE ‘DEVISING COUNTER SPELLS’, DUMMY. I HAVE TO ACTUALLY SEE SOMEPONY CAST A COUNTER SPELL TO LEARN IT.

Spike saw that Twilight’s eyes were cold and uncaring, like she got during one of her “spells”. He decided to keep trying anyway.

“Well, figure out how to turn it off,” Spike pleaded. “You gave a great speech to Nightmare Moon that didn’t make her mad, so you know you’re capable of it. Go ahead and use me as a guinea pig.” He looked around him at the desolate landscape and sighed on thinking of what to say next. “It’s not like I can hurt you or anything if you set me off. I’m just a pathetic little dragon. The worst I’ll do is set the cabin on fire, and I know you know how to deal with that.”

She looked blankly down at him.

Nothing. There was no way that he would be able to get through to her.

Spike sighed again. “Close your eyes.”

Twilight furrowed her brow and opened her mouth to ask a question.

“Close your eyes,” Spike repeated, keeping his voice calm.

Twilight did as she was told.

Spike put on a Bittish accent. (It wasn’t very good, but then again, neither was the accent of the pony he was imitating.) “Now imagine me as Pipsqueak, that cute colt that you wanted to make into your personal student.”

Twilight’s cold expression faded.

“…And I’m standing next to Princess Celestia, who saw everything.”

Twilight suddenly teleported next to Spike. She wrapped her hooves around him and started shaking in fear. “W…what do I do?” she whispered.

“You’ve got a near-photographic memory, Twilight,” Spike said simply. “Go back to what I suggested two minutes ago.”

Twilight picked Spike up with her hooves and rested him on the windowsill, which in her sitting position was above her. “I can’t, Spike. When I’m like this, when I’m…normal…I can’t access that awful power I used. And the other me is…”

“A Siren,” Spike said coldly.

Twilight nodded sadly.

“Then be a better Siren,” Spike said. “Sonata was a better Siren. It took her a few hundred years to reform, but I think you can do it faster than her.”

Twilight shrunk in on herself. “I’m scared,” she admitted. “Now that I know that I have different parts to me…I slip into Siren Mode so easily.”

Spike stood up on the windowsill and smiled down at the unicorn. “That was the old Twilight. The one who only wanted to be a big-shot monster hunter. The new Twilight knows how good it is to have friends. You’d never want your friends to fight each other…”

“Never!” Twilight exclaimed, rising to her hooves so she could look Spike straight in the eye. “Twisting Applejack and especially Rainbow Dash like that was the worst thing imaginable.”

“You also saw them after—you saw how they felt about what you did to them.”

“I take it back—that part was definitely the worst. And they weren’t even mad at me, like they should have been. They just looked…violated…and shocked that I was the one who did that to them.”

Spike scratched his head. “I’m actually going to have to teach you empathy, aren’t I?” he asked himself under his breath. “Now imagine all of the other ponies and buffalo, the ones you didn’t even know existed before today. They’re going to feel the same way after their fight today.”

“I know, Spike!” Twilight cried out, closing her eyes in agony. “I know they will feel the same way. And if they remember that I did this to them, they’re going to hate me. And maybe I’ll deserve whatever they do to me, for being unable to stop myself.” Her head slumped in defeat.

“So, stop it.”

“I can’t! Siren Me has to do it, and she doesn’t care.”

Spike inwardly sighed. He had hoped it wouldn’t come to this.

Spike reached out his claw and lifted Twilight’s head, giving her a sweet smile when she looked at him.

Twilight responded with a scowl.

Siren mode unlocked.

“You’re pathetic!” Spike snarled.

“What?” Twilight asked in confusion.

“You over did it!” Spike exclaimed. “Turning all of the ponies and all of the buffalo against each other.” Spike was drawing on a dark part of himself at this moment that he usually suppressed—the side of him that held anything without a bit value attached as worthless. “They’re going to wipe each other out to the last pony and last buffalo. There’ll be nothing left to feed on, and your friends will all abandon you. You will starve.”

“No!” Twilight cried out, clutching at her belly.

“Look!” Spike cried out, pointing at the distant ridge. A line of buffalo was running down towards the battlements of the town, where ponies were prepared to defend themselves by any means necessary.

Twilight Sparkle, both sides of her mind united in the need to undo her magic of hate, sent out a countervailing wave of magic against both parties in the conflict. And then one part of her stared at the other part to learn the new spell she had just seen herself cast.

At this distance, the magic couldn’t affect everybody. About half of the buffalo tripped over their hooves, many of them taking out ponies that were still infected with rage. The cured ponies simply stood there, blinking in confusion. As these tended to be the ponies at the front lines of defense, that meant that most of the buffalo made it into the town unharmed.

The remainder of the settler ponies then put down their conventional ranged weapons and turned to their weapons of last resort: the apple pies.

It turned out that apple pies were the solution to the conflict. The buffalo liked the taste so much that they were now open to compromise. And the ponies, led by Sheriff Silverstar, were finally willing to hear them out.

Ponyville. The Golden Oaks Library.

Later that evening.

Twilight’s eventual Friendship Report was unprecedented in its brutality and self-accusing tone and was frankly unintelligible. As a result, Princess Celestia teleported straight to her and Spike in order to teleport them both to Canterlot for a full debriefing.

Canterlot Castle.

“…And that’s everything,” Twilight said in private audience with Princess Celestia after the Princess had dragged the whole story—and what she had put Spike through all these years—out of her. “Do you hate me?” she squeaked out afterwards.

Celestia sighed inwardly. It wasn’t the first time that Twilight had asked her that particular question, although this was the first time that she had actually had to think for even a microsecond upon the answer. “I don’t hate you.

“I’m not perfect, Twilight. The story of my sister’s fall is permanent proof of that fact. Neither are my ponies perfect, nor do I want them to be.

“I love my ponies because they try to be the best ponies they can be, and they are sorry when they fail to do so. Both of those things are true for you. You learned that spell…”

“Yes!” Twilight exclaimed. “I know what to cast the next time that…part of me…tries to feed on hatred again.”

"Now Spike,” Celestia said, turning to him. “You know that Twilight is not the only mother-figure in your life. For the first few months after you were hatched, I was the one who raised you. I could take up that duty again. Together, we can try to work out your dragon heritage, and do our best to try and help you to achieve it.”

Spike looked thoughtfully between Celestia and Twilight. “If you don’t mind,” he said at last, “I’d like to stay in Ponyville. Not to dump on Canterlot, but Ponyville is a lot nicer to dragons. And I have more ponies I’d like to visit…if Twilight ever…”

Twilight turned to face him, a little frown upon her face. “I’ll keep trying, like I’ve always said I would. But you know how bad I am at it, spell or no spell.”

“Do you still want to stay with Twilight after hearing that, Spike?” Celestia asked.

Spike nodded somberly. “I want to think that we’ve reached a turning point in our relationship,” he said.

Celestia sighed, audibly this time, which caused Twilight to sink her head between her shoulder blades in shame. “Very well. Do not hesitate to contact me if things go badly for you. And be sure to lean on friends, both yours and Twilight’s, for help.”

“Will do,” said Spike.

“Would you like to stay the night?”

“No, I think we should head back home,” Twilight said, turning towards the doors. “Give my regards…and thanks…to Princess Luna. Tell her that I haven’t stopped trying to free her friend.”

“I’ll be sure to let her know.”

“And stop using Middle Ponish with her,” Spike added as he turned to follow Twilight out the door. “She needs to learn to speak like the rest of us if she ever wants to fit in.”

Author's Note

Notes for Chapters 13, 14, & 15.

Chapter 16

Ponyville, Sweet Apple Acres.

August 1. Two days before the episode “Applebuck Season”. Sunday.

Lemon Peel and her son Pipsqueak were standing in front of the barn at Sweet Apple Acres. She was wearing a light gray roll-neck undershirt under a tailored darker gray wool jacket with slight shoulder pads, fastened by four cloth buttons. She was wearing four black cup shoes. He wasn’t wearing anything, as was usual for young ponies…or changelings.

“Mrs. Peel, Pipsqueak, allow me to introduce you to Checker and his daughter Twist. They’re friends of the family.” Applejack stepped aside to allow the two pairs to get to know one another.

Lemon Peel looked cautiously at the fat earth pony and his skinny daughter. The father had a pale-yellow coat, similar in color to her own, but with a fuzzy neon blue mane and tail. He was wearing a turtleneck sweater checkered in yellow and brown. He had an old-fashioned radio microphone for a cutie mark. The daughter was yellowish gray in color with a bright red fuzzy mane and tail. She had no cutie mark and wore a pair of purple-rimmed glasses. The father stood confident, while the daughter partially concealed herself behind her father’s legs.

Peel and Twist’s eyes went wide at the same time.

Twist pointed at Mrs. Peel and her son and quietly but urgently tapped another hoof against Checker’s side.

“How are they doing that?” Peel asked Applejack.

“Well as I’ve mentioned before,” Applejack began, “there are some ponies in Equestria with unusual abilities. Very unusual abilities.”

Pipsqueak had been doing his own quiet examination of the two ponies and in a too-loud voice he whispered, “Are they going to hurt us, Mum?”

Realizing that they were feeling just as uncomfortable as she was doing a lot to calm Twist down.

“It’s nice to meet some more changelings,” Checker said with a friendly grin.

“Did…did you already know, or…?” Pipsqueak asked.

“Oh, I could see it,” Checker said, tapping a hoof next to his eye.

Peel shuddered—a pony like him could be a changeling’s worst enemy.

“Do you think that he and the Basilisk…?”

“Could be related? Maybe,” Applejack said. “For obvious reasons, the Apples have been good to Checker’s family for generations now.”

“Now, now,” Checker said with a smile. “You’ve gone far beyond the kind of bribery I might expect under the circumstances. Did you know that the Apples saved my daughter’s life?” He looked back at Twist, who smiled with uncertainty back at him. “She was born with a defective heart. When one of Applejack’s cousins fell during a monster attack, Applejack convinced the filly’s family to donate their heart to Twist. The heart was a perfect match.” The stallion paused as a sudden revelation came to him. “It…it was perfect because that dying changeling made that heart perfect for her in her dying moments. Perhaps even prolonged her pain doing so. For that gift alone you will have my undying loyalty. And it is but one of dozens of acts of generosity and kindness that I can name.”

“So, this is how you pay for your alliances,” Peel observed archly. “By overpaying for everything.”

“By genuinely caring about all of our relationships,” corrected Applejack. She then rolled her eyes a bit. “And overpaying for them.

“Now you hold still while I get Apple Bloom.”

A few minutes later, Applejack walked out of the farmhouse, with a blindfolded Apple Bloom standing on her back.

From her mobile perch, Apple Bloom carefully turned her head, first this way and then the other. Despite the cover to her eyes, she could “see” the emotions of the ponies and creatures around her quite easily. There were Big Mac and Granny, probably looking out at her from the side window of the farmhouse, wishing her luck. Below her was Applejack, keeping her emotions in check so to act as the impartial judge of her upcoming test. Over there was Winona, running up to sniff at the two of them for a moment before resuming her game of chasing—and being chased—by one of Fluttershy’s rabbits. And finally, over there were Mrs. Peel and Pipsqueak, maybe here to take notes. Mrs. Peel took a lot of notes around her, Apple Bloom observed.

Applejack stopped at what Apple Bloom thought was near the pig pen in front of the barn. At Applejack’s unspoken instruction, her sister hopped down to the ground. Applejack carefully lined her up to face a particular direction. “Now Apple Bloom,” Applejack said calmly. “This will be your final test to determine if you’re ready to join regular pony society. Are you ready?”

“I am!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, nodding her head vigorously. The blindfold nearly slipped off during this maneuver, so she raised a hoof to put it back in place.

“Now have you been fasting like I’ve told you?” Applejack asked.

“Yup!” Apple Bloom exclaimed. “I haven’t…I haven’t fed for a week!”

She was going to say, “had any love” instead of “fed” but stopped at the last second. With the blindfold on, she couldn’t be 100% sure that she was only surrounded by changelings at that moment, despite what her emotion senses told her. After all, this was a test of how well she could maintain her composure when surrounded by those that didn’t know the Apple Clan Secret.

“Very good.” Applejack moved in front of her and took off her blindfold. “Your test is simple: I want you to go over to Mr. Checker over there and say ‘hi.’” She then stepped aside and calmed her emotions even more than they were before.

Apple Bloom was confused—she knew everypony currently on the farm, so who was “Mr. Checker”? And that’s when she saw the two ponies. Two ponies that had absolutely no emotions to read. It was like they were made out of cardboard instead of flesh and magic.

The first and most-important part of her training kicked in then: not to give away her reactions. Instead of the shock she was feeling inside, Apple Bloom shuffled a hoof and looked down, like she was merely shy to meet a stranger.

Meanwhile she was trying to figure this out: were those two actually ponies with no emotions, or were they illusions? Bloom supposed that as far as this test went—as far as real life went—it didn’t really matter. Bloom had an advantage at this moment: she knew that something was wrong, but “Mr. Checker” potentially didn’t know that she knew. Using the next part of her training, she lifted her head to read the stallion’s emotions the hard way, by observing his expression and how that was supported or contradicted by his body language. Apple Bloom knew that a small percentage of ponies spent their lives lying, and therefore were impossible to correctly read. But the method she used should work on 90% of ponies. This pony did not mean her harm.

So, she put on a quiet smile, flicked her tail a bit, and began to advance towards the two anomalies.

Checker lowered himself down to the ground to be closer to Apple Bloom’s level and extended his two hooves. “Oh, aren’t you adorable!” he exclaimed. “Come over here and give me a hug!”

Apple Bloom’s step faltered, but only for an instant. For at that moment the absence of emotion was replaced by a veritable torrent of love, all directed at her.

Apple Bloom now knew why she had been asked to starve herself before the test. It wasn’t to hone her emotional senses. No, it was to make her more vulnerable to undergoing a “starvation attack”, when a hungry changeling would involuntarily revert to their true form when exposed to a strong source of love. Mr. Checker was doing this to her on purpose. Mr. Checker was the test.

I…am not a monster, Apple Bloom recited to herself as she continued to slowly cross the immense space between Applejack and Mr. Checker. I belong to the hive, and the hive belongs to me, bound forever by our shared love. I will never betray the hive, and they will never betray me. My hive will always love me, even if they cannot feed me now. When I have no love, I will feed myself on that hope.

As she walked, Apple Bloom cast her eyes about her. She saw Winona continuing to play with that rabbit. She saw her brother and grandmother watching through the window and understood why they held back their love in that moment just like Applejack did. And she looked curiously over at the shy filly standing behind the terrifying Mr. Checker.

Apple Bloom remembered the other part of her oath, the part she had added herself. I am a member of the Herd. I will love Equestria and its ponies whenever I am able. I will work to make the goals of the Hive the same as the goals of the Princesses and their ponies. And these two were among those ponies.

Apple Bloom reached Mr. Checker. “Hi,” she said politely, stopping out of the stallion’s reach. “It’s nice to meet you. Is that your daughter?”

Checker blinked for a moment, then lowered his arms and stood up. “Yes, this is Twist.” The love he was radiating was now gone, leaving him once more transparent to Bloom’s emotional senses.

“Hi, Twist,” Apple Bloom said. “My name’s Apple Bloom. Are you going to school this fall?”

“Yess,” Twist said with a lisp. She spent a moment stealing herself, and then closed her eyes for a moment.

At that moment, Apple Bloom could feel Twist’s emotions, her true emotions. She was scared and she was worried, and the two emotions appeared to have different causes. She looked right into Apple Bloom’s eyes, showing that she knew exactly how vulnerable she had made herself just then.

“You did it!” Applejack exclaimed, running over and lifting Apple Bloom up. “You passed the test!” She held Apple Bloom up in her arms and fed her as much love as she could handle.

“I did?” Apple Bloom asked, a grin growing across her face. She almost didn’t notice her emotional need being diminished, so happy was she.

“You sure did. But I’m going to have to deduct a few points for failing to keep track of your surroundings.” She pointed over at Mrs. Peel and her son.

Apple Bloom and the others looked where she was pointing and were surprised to see Mrs. Peel comforting her clearly traumatized son. “What happened?” she asked.

“He transfformed when Daddy releassed hiss luff,” Twist said. “Mrss. Peel helped him change back.”

Apple Bloom blinked. “And you weren’t scared?”

“Only a little,” Twist said. “I’ve been trying to get one of you to do that all day, even since I found out you were changelingss.”

Now Apple Bloom was struck by a bout of genuine shyness. “Would you like to see what I look like?” she asked.

Twist bobbed her head up and down almost as hard as Apple Bloom had done earlier.

Apple Bloom looked over to her older sister for permission.

“Go ahead,” Applejack said indulgently. “It’s the least we can do for them after asking them to waste a day acting as our test equipment.”

“Alright, here goes…” Apple Bloom said, before a wave of green magic revealed her true form to an excited Twist. The same bright yellow, red and orange colors, but on epicuticle and chitin rather than hair and fur.

“Wow!” Twist exclaimed.

Apple Bloom took a moment to examine herself with her segmented red eyes, so rare was it for her to be exposing her true self outdoors. Warily, she scanned the sky for pegasi, before remembering that she could emotion sense any pony within shouting distance. Maybe a spy pegasus in the stratosphere could see the flash of magic, but there was no way that such a pony would ever be able to see enough to tell for sure what she was. But just to be safe, she walked under the nearest tree. “So what do you want to know?” she asked with the metallic twang that all changelings could pull off, but hardly ever used after emerging from their cocoons.

Author's Note

See Chapter 17 for the notes for this chapter.

Chapter 17

A few hours later.

The Apples had just finished setting up lunch on a table outside the barn when Twilight Sparkle arrived with Spike on her back. “Thank you for inviting me out here,” Twilight said. “Although you were sort of vague in your invitation as to why.”

Applejack pulled out a chair with a booster seat for Spike to sit on, and then moved to the next cushion over to pull it out for Twilight. “Well first of all, I invited you over for lunch. You’ve been working for me in taking down monsters for quite some time now, and I thought it neighborly to break bread and share apples with you.”

Already sitting at the table, Lemon Peel raised an eyebrow. If the phrase worked the same way as “share lemons” did among her own clan, Applejack was practically inviting the personal student of Princess Celestia to informally join the Apple Clan.

Twilight looked at Applejack with joyful tears in her eyes. “After what I almost did to your family in Appleloosa?” She sat down on the offered seat with care, as if she expected it to bite her for what she had done.

“That is in the past,” said Applejack. “I appreciate you confiding in me. Even the parts you didn’t think I would believe.”

“Well, alright,” said Twilight. “And thank you! I really appreciate it.”

“And I heard that Spike here wanted to know more about us.”

Spike, who had already started digging in, looked up in surprise. “That’s right. Oh hey! Are you Apple Bloom?”

“That’s me!” Apple Bloom—who of course was back in her pony disguise—exclaimed from the other side of the table. “You must be Spike. I’ve never met a dragon before.” She held out a hoof for bumping.

Spike surprised her by grabbing the hoof and shaking it up and down. “Nice to meet you.” He looked over at the orchard. “Must get rather busy around here, taking care of all these trees.”

“Oh, I’m only just starting. My brother and sister, Big Mac and Applejack, do most of the work. And Granny does most of the supervising. I just do what’s left.”

“Twilight, have you met Checker here?” Applejack asked.

Checker extended a hoof, and Twilight politely bumped it. “I’ve seen him around. You run the taxi service, yes? Chubby Checker’s Taxis?”

“That’s right,” the rather rotund Chubby Checker said. “And just call me Checker. And this is—”

“—Hi!” Twist exclaimed, popping into view and extending a hoof. She had seen that neat hoofshake, and wanted one herself. “My name’ss Twissth. Are you a real dragon, or ish that ssome sort of cursth?”

Spike was going to shake Twist’s hoof like he had Apple Bloom’s, but he stopped on hearing her treat being a dragon as being exactly as awful as being under a curse. “I’m a dragon,” he said curtly. “Not a curse.”

“Oh,” Twist said, slowly lowering her hoof. “But you’re a niceth dragon!”

“Yes…?”

“That’ss weird.”

“Peppermint Kalamazoo Twist!” Checker exclaimed. “You will apologize this instant!”

“What?” Twist asked defensively.

“It’s not weird to be nice,” Checker explained.

Twist furrowed her brow.

“I want to be nice,” Spike explained. He looked back and forth between Twilight and Applejack before continuing. “I want to be like a pony.”

“Oh,” said Twist. And then she looked at the disguised changelings around her. “Oooooh!” she exclaimed. “That’s great, Shpike!”

“I’m glad you think so,” Spike said, offering his claw.

Twist was so excited that she hooked her hock around it and did the shaking herself, earning a laugh from the others.

After the meal was finished, Applejack led the group out to the same little dirt patch where Apple Bloom had had her test. Checker and Twist assumed similar positions as before.

“Twilight, these are all ponies I trust with my life,” she said.

Twilight stopped, the smile from the lighthearted tone of the earlier meal fading from her face.

“They keep my secrets, and they can keep yours.”

“Um, Applejack…do we really need to go over…that…again? Here?”

“They’re going to help you, Twilight,” Applejack said gently, trying to use her hooves to position Twilight so she would be facing Checker. When the unicorn failed to move she added, “Trust me.”

Twilight sighed, but allowed herself to be positioned as Applejack wanted.

“As you’ve learned, some ponies are…different from the rest.”

On hearing this, an alarmed Lemon Peel started to quickly advance on the pair.

“Relax, Mrs. Peel,” Applejack assured Lemon. Looking at Twilight, she said, “We don’t need to talk about all of it. Just the fact that you have a bad reaction to anger.”

Twilight looked over at Peel and nodded her head in relief. “Yes. I’ve got an anger…issue.”

“Well, I’m a little different too,” Applejack said, with Peel watching warily. “I can sense emotions. It was how I was able to break free of a certain spell back in Appleoosa.”

“Oh!” Spike exclaimed from Twilight’s side. “I was wondering about that.”

“OK, I can accept that,” Twilight said.

“And Checker over there, he can project emotions. Even those he doesn’t really feel. Do you see where I’m going with this?”

Peel, seeing that this was all that Twilight was being told about Applejack’s abilities, sighed with relief and returned to her spot beside Pipsqueak. A spot pointedly out of Checker’s line of fire. She held her son close.

Twilight nodded. “I…think so. I just need to…not feed on it.”

“No, you absolutely should do that.”

A confused Twilight looked around to be sure that only Spike and Applejack were in earshot. “Are you crazy?” she whispered. “Siren Me is hunger motivated!”

Applejack leaned in close. “And that’s why I fed you first,” she whispered smugly. “Look, how do you tame a wild dog? You feed it, you get it to trust you, and then you show it who’s boss.”

“And it will all be in your head, which is practically your playground,” Spike helpfully added.

Twilight sighed, then looked over at a waiting Checker. “Let’s get this over with,” she said.

Spike and Applejack backed away, the former a few steps to the side, while Applejack joined the other Apples next to the two Lemons.

“Go gentle on her,” Applejack told Checker. “She hasn’t got any shields yet.”

Across the field, Checker took in a deep breath, then let it out. “Please don’t take this personal, Miss Sparkle!” he told her.

“I won’t!” she replied.

“Well in that case…I hate you.”

Twilight felt herself lose control as the siren came to the fore, eagerly feeding on the stream of hate being directed at her. From the back of her head, Twilight idly wondered if enough hate would cause her to spawn a little copy of her like real Sirens did, and then profoundly wished for that scenario to never ever come to pass.

Hey, Twilight thought awkwardly at her other self. Is this it? Is this feeding all that you care about?

Twilight felt a bored but alien presence staring deeply into her soul. “Eh,” was all that echoed back to her.

And does it have to be hate? Twilight asked next. Can it be anything else?

A dim memory appeared in the mind’s eye of Twilight: she and her friends floating before Nightmare Moon, the power of Friendship surging through them.

You liked that? Twilight incredulously.

She was answered by her head nodding outside of her control.

But that was a positive emotion.

Twilight’s body shrugged. ‘Dunno,’ an echo of her voice came back to her, a dull voice mostly devoid of emotion—the voice of Siren Twilight. ‘Came from/through you. Maybe that make it good.’

Alright, alright, Pony Twilight thought. That emotion was so much that it spilled over. How about this? And Twilight shared her emotion of gratitude to Applejack and Checker for helping her at this moment.

‘Good! I like that!’

Alright! Pony Twilight thought, happy that she had made a breakthrough. I will share my emotions with you, and you won’t have to come out to feed anymore.

There was a pause. ‘Can I come out if I wanna see?’ There was a lot of concentrated thought behind that one. Being able to see was important for Siren Twilight.

Alright, thought Pony Twilight. I can let you out. But not if you hurt my friends. And not around Spike.

‘…Spike isn’t bad,’ Siren Twilight thought back after a moment. ‘Showed some steel in his spine back there. He tricked me good!’

“Oh, you know that Spike tricked you.” She hadn’t meant to say that out loud.

Spike had been carefully watching Twilight go through her mental episode for the past minute or so. By now he was adept at spotting which personality was in charge from one moment to the next.

The latest revelation made him a little nervous.

‘That’s right,’ Siren Twilight thought. ‘Sirens good at deception. Spike would make a good siren.’

I’ll be sure to let him know, Twilight thought dryly.

‘And that! I like that part of you. The snark. Very siren.’

This revelation stunned Pony Twilight into silence.

‘We agree now. I’ll go now, so you can stop looking so silly in front of everypony.’

And with a quiet snicker, Pony Twilight was left in control of her body again.

The first thing she did was groan. “Alright, you can stop,” she instructed Checker. “And thank you. That helped a lot.”

“Did it?” Applejack asked, once she reached whisper range.

“Well, it’s a start. Sirens are known for stabbing their allies in the back, so I’m not exactly hopeful that everything will be hunky dory from this point forward.”

“So, is that it?” Spike asked.

“No,” said Applejack as she headed for the orchard. “Come with me.”

Applejack said nothing as she led Twilight and Spike away from the others. They stopped before a bunch of trees that were laden with ripe apples. Sitting on a log waiting patiently was Apple Bloom. She hopped off of the log and stood at attention. “Hallo, Sis!” she cried out in an exaggerated country accent. She then carried out a salute involving waving a hoof in a circle a couple of times before striking her forehead with it.

Twilight looked back and forth between the enthusiastic filly and the slightly frustrated mare.

“Where did you come up with that?” Applejack asked.

“I dunno. I figured I needed to do something,” the filly replied.

“Right, we’ll cover that later. You don’t mind if Twilight and Spike watch our lesson?”

Apple Bloom sighed. “Alright, I guess.” Turning to the two guests she said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you again, Spike. Ma’am.” Apple Bloom said that last word to Twilight with a curtsy. The precisely correct greeting for the countess of a property without tenants.

Twilight looked rapidly back and forth between the two Apples. Then she rolled her eyes in defeat. “You know what? Fine. A-very-pleasant-day-back-to-you.” She said the last part like it was a well-worn formula…or the proper response to Apple Bloom’s greeting. “You’ll notice I left off the customary muttering of ‘you filthy peasant’ at the end.” She sat down on the ground facing Apple Bloom.

“Much appreciated,” Applejack said with a grin.

Spike looked around to see if he was supposed to speak next or not. “Hi again,” he finally said to Apple Bloom.

Apple Bloom grinned.

“Now Apple Bloom, could you show us how you buck an apple tree?” Applejack sat down next to Twilight.

Apple Bloom ground one hoof into the ground. “But Applejack, you know I’m still no good at that!”

“It’s alright, Apple Bloom. We won’t hold that against you. Will we, Twilight?”

“Oh no, I won’t,” said Twilight. “I’m probably much worse than you.”

“Well…alright. Here goes!” And she kicked.

The tree swayed a little.

Apple Bloom immediately grew resentful. “See? That was awful.”

Applejack rose to her hooves. “It wasn’t too bad. You had enough force; you just didn’t apply it to the right place.” She walked over to the tree. “Now where is the center of weight distribution for this here tree?”

Apple Bloom backed up, looked the tree up and down, and then returned to her place and showed a line on the tree with her hoof. “Right about there, I think.”

“Yes, that’s right,” said Applejack. “And the center of swaying is another line.” She put a hoof against the tree and pushed with enough steady force to slightly bend the tree, and watched as she released the hoof and watched how the tree swayed back into position. “About here.”

“Oh!” Apple Bloom exclaimed. “I see! But that line’s too high for me to reach.”

“Right, so you have to use one of the influencer lines. You start with halfway up, right here. And then…”

~ ~ ~

Twilight watched as Applejack walked Apple Bloom through all of the steps in deciding precisely where to buck an apple tree. She noticed the patience that Applejack showed, even when Apple Bloom failed to grasp the concept the first time…or even the third time.

Twilight sighed. Even with her new arrangement with her siren self, would her relationship with Spike actually change? And what if something else happened between them? Even in her fillyhood, in the years when she acted like a normal pony, thought like a normal pony, the exception had always been how she had thought about Spike.

It had been a full month since she had moved to Ponyville. And it was time she finally did something about her problem.

~ ~ ~

Applejack had Apple Bloom buck that tree a couple of more times, then moved on to a couple more trees. “You look tired,” she said finally.

“I am. A little,” Apple Bloom admitted.

“Well, I think you’ve done fine for today, and it’s time for you to head back and have a piece of Pinkie Pie’s cake.”

“Wow, really?!” Apple Bloom exclaimed. “Hot dog!” She started to run off towards the farmhouse, then stopped and walked back. “Who’s Pinkie Pie?”

“She’s the one who will be giving you a ‘welcome to Ponyville’ party tomorrow,” Applejack said with a grin. “Try to act surprised. She brought over a ‘preview cake’, just in case you didn’t like the flavor she picked out. There’s a slice for you too, Spike.”

Spike looked pleadingly over at Twilight.

Siren Twilight rolled her eyes.

Spike smiled craftily. “I’ll eat your slice while I’m at it,” he said in his best imitation of a greedy dragon.

“Go on, get out of here,” Siren Twilight said with a good-natured smile as the dragon ran off to catch up with Apple Bloom.

Pony Twilight groaned and put her head in her hooves.

Applejack watched all of this, especially the interplay of emotions. “Well, go on,” she said finally.

Twilight tried to look at Applejack, but all she could see was the horrified stone face of Sonata Dusk. “I don’t love my parents,” she said finally in a rough voice.

“Go on,” Applejack prompted.

“I mean, I appreciate what they did in bringing me into the world, and in everything they sacrificed so that I and my brother could succeed in life,” Twilight said. “Intellectually, I think they are the most-wonderful ponies to have ever lived. But in here,”—and by here she tapped her heart—“there is nothing.

“I love Princess Celestia. For her I feel everything I should feel for my biological mother, and frankly way too much more than that, but I cannot feel the correct emotion towards my actual parents.

“Spike is my son. That is how I care for him. I have the same hopes and dreams for him that any parent would have for their biological son. But there is no emotion—it’s all, only, in my head. And any time he does anything wrong, he stops being even that, and becomes just a monstrous dragon in my eyes. It’s only when he treats me like scum that I have any respect for him.”

“Are you sure that isn’t just the Siren part of yourself, Twilight?”

“I…I dunno. She’s too much of me. Especially in the last few years. At least 65%.” She gestured a hoof at her head. “I’m broken, Applejack. I’m broken and I don’t know if what we did with Checker is going to fix it. Spike doesn’t deserve a ‘maybe’ fix after everything I’ve done to him.”

Applejack wordlessly rubbed a hoof between Twilight’s shoulders.

“You’re…so much better at this than I am,” Twilight admitted, tears in her eyes. “And I think…no, I need help. I…I’d like to split the raising of Spike. With you.”

Applejack stayed silent for a moment longer. Then…“And what does he think?”

Twilight sighed and shook her head. “Oh, he’s never forgotten your offer. I can tell he feels awful when he brings it up, but at the end of the day he’s right. I can’t be 100% of the mother that he needs. Are…are you interested?”

Applejack nodded. “I am.”

“And…and you don’t mind that he’s not family? I know how important that is to you. I think the family thing is going to be a bigger barrier than his species.”

“You’re right about that,” said Applejack. “But you see, the Apples have always been flexible when it comes to ‘family’. We have quite a lot of honorary Apples in our ranks. Maybe not as many as when we first came to Equestria, but still quite a lot. And we trust them with…with everything, really. If just one of them wanted to take us down, then that would be it…we’d be finished. Have to move down to Klugetown in shame and everything.”

Twilight opened her mouth to ask what kind of secret would be devastating enough to have that effect if exposed, and then wisely shut her mouth instead of saying the question. “So, you’ll do it?” she asked instead.

“I’ll do it,” she said, spitting on her hoof and extending. “Are we good, bond sister?”

Twilight hesitated for just a moment, before spitting on her own hoof and grasping Applejack’s with it. “We are, bond sister.” She sighed in relief as she lowered her hoof to the ground afterwards. “That’s a relief.” She then brought up that hoof, now spattered with mud. “Ew.”

“Come on,” Applejack said with a laugh. “Let’s get you cleaned up. And introduced to your new relations.”

Granny Smith had only the one question for Applejack when it was safe to ask it: “Why?”

“Because it’s the right thing to do,” Applejack said firmly. “I know that there’s a risk of exposure. But you haven’t seen those two like I have. They need this.

“Maybe it will make a difference when the truth comes out, sooner or later, but frankly I don’t care. There are times when what I want is more important than what the clan wants. And this is one of those times.”

“Alright,” Granny said with a nod. “I respect that. But we need to get ready for when she figures out the truth.”

“I’d be more worried about what happens when Spike learns the truth,” said Big Mac.

Author's Note

Here are the notes for this chapter.

Chapter 18

Central Ponyville.

August 10. The following Tuesday. “Call of the Cutie”.

“Monster!”

Yup, yet another Tuesday.

~ ~ ~

Lyra found Bon-Bon in the Situation Room, intently watching the unfolding battle between the Bearers and a trio of ouroboros, giant snakes that made themselves into wheels by biting their own tails, and then rolling through one building after another.

“Hi, Bonny,” said Lyra.

Bon-Bon said nothing.

Lyra sat down next to Bon-Bon and watched her eye motions for a while. “Are we still mad at Twilight?” she whispered in her ear.

Bon-Bon said nothing. Her eyes looked bloodshot, and a bit disturbing.

Lyra sighed. “I’ll get us some snacks,” she said as she got up.

Bon-Bon said nothing.

It was the one-year anniversary of Agent Sweetie Drops’ expulsion from S.M.I.L.E. Before that, she was the best monster hunter in Equestria, even if that fact was only known to seven other ponies including Princess Celestia. And now she was stuck as a spectator. Because if she ever tried to help in a hunt, tried to use the true purpose of her cutie mark, she’d give herself away. And the Princess would be forced to banish her, and then throw her in a dungeon in the place where she had been banished to. Or something even worse.

So Bon-Bon sat there, denying her special purpose. She laughed nervously to herself for no reason.

And her cutie mark faded, just a little.

The fillies and colts filed into the Bunker, on their way to the classroom.

For Apple Bloom, this was her first day of public instruction, and she was excited.

“Oh you’ll luff it,” her friend Twist assured her as they walked out of the magic extractor. “You’ll make so many friendss!”

This brought Apple Bloom short. “But what if I don’t?” she asked. “You’re the first friend I’ve ever made, Twist! What if I can’t make any more friends?”

“Oh, making friends ish easy!” Twist exclaimed. “I befriended a zebra a couple of monthss ago, and that wass nothing!”

A panicked Apple Bloom pulled Twist completely out of the hallways for an emergency conversation. “A ‘zebra’?!” she demanded in a whisper. “What’s a zebra? Do I need to know what that is to pass for a pony?”

“Pa-shaw!” Twist exclaimed, using the type of exclamation that really only existed in books. “Zebras are just like ponies, but with shtripes. Everypony elsh was sushpish…suss…pisssh…” She gave up on a word that had too many sibilants for her taste. “They didn’t like her. But I went to her hut in the Everfree and found out the truth! And now I get to help Zecora get her ingredientss.”

“Zecora?” asked Apple Bloom. “I remember Applejack telling me about her—somehow managed to leave out the ‘zebra’ part… That was the time when she got shrunk! I wish I could have seen her before she took the cure…but I was still stuck on the farm then.”

“Well, well, well!”

Apple Bloom and Twist turned around, to see that the light was blocked by two earth pony fillies: one pink and one gray. The pink one walked around Twist to approach Apple Bloom. “You poor dear!” she exclaimed in mock pity. “Here, let me help you out.” She pulled out a washcloth and proceeded to clean up Apple Bloom’s face. “There. I removed all the spit that Twis-s-s-st here put all over your face! You need to be more careful, Twist.” And the new pony then herded Apple Bloom away from Twist and towards the classroom.

“Yeah!” exclaimed the gray filly. “Say it, don’t spray it!”

“Good one!” the pink filly exclaimed. “My name is Diamond Tiara, and this is Silver Spoon.”

“Charmed to make your acquaintance,” Silver Spoon said in a too-sweet voice.

“Oh,” Apple Bloom said, looking behind her at a disappointed Twist. “My name is Apple Bloom. Are we late for class?”

“No, but the better kind of ponies shows up early,” Diamond assured her.

“Oh!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, putting down her hooves to stop the trio in place. “In that case, let me go back and get my friend.”

Silver Spoon looked incredulously back at Twist, who looked to be on the verge of tears. “She’s your friend?”

“We can be much better friends than…that,” Diamond Tiara said flatly. “Stick with us, and you’ll go places.”

“I am going places,” Apple Bloom said simply, ducking down to escape from the two pony’s clutches, and walking over to join Twist. “With all of my friends. Coming with?”

Diamond Tiara turned up her nose and sniffed imperiously. “I think not,” she declared. “Come, Silver Spoon. The better kind of ponies are going to class now.”

Twist looked sadly over at the pair as they left. “You sh…should go over there and apologishe,” she said in a wavering voice. “Getting on Diamond Tiara’ss side is the only way to get popular in thiss school.”

“Then I guess I won’t be popular,” Apple Bloom said lightly. “I’m not going to abandon you for such a dumb reason as that.”

For a moment—just a moment—Apple Bloom considered using her Changeling powers, to make Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon love her. That would solve all of her problems in a single stroke, she thought. But then she reconsidered. It was her dream to be accepted as a pony. And ponies didn’t use mind control on each other. I mean, everypony knew that!

A few minutes later, Apple Bloom was finally seated in her first classroom seat, after being introduced for the first time to her class. Everyone in that class was attentive to her except for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, who acted as if she didn’t exist.

“Yay Apple Bloom!” yelled Twist. “You’re the bessht!”

The rest of the fillies and colts burst into laughter. Snails expressed the general opinion by his comment that “‘Bessht’ isn’t a real word!”

“Children! Children!” Cheerilee called out, trying to get control over the classroom. “Let’s quiet down, please. We have a very important lesson to get to.”

Once she had finally gotten the students’ attention, she continued. “Thank you. Today we are going to be talking about cutie marks.”

“Boooring!” Diamond Tiara muttered under her breath.

~ ~ ~

By the end of that lesson, Apple Bloom had learned that a cutie mark was the most important thing in the history of the universe. A pony who didn’t have a cutie mark wasn’t a pony at all. And everypony in the universe had a cutie mark already. Except for Apple Bloom and Twist. Well, at least those two could stand together against an uncaring universe and—

“Isn’t my cutie mark sswell?” Twist asked Apple Bloom, showing off the symbol of her utter betrayal in front of Bon-Bon’s candy emporium. “I’ve alwayss loved making my own favorite sshweets, but it took me ssome time to discover that it wass my ssuper-spescial talent. Pretty sshweet, huh?”

“Twist, you spit too much,” Apple Bloom said flatly.

“Wwhat?”

“It’s like they say, ‘say it, don’t spray it.’ I mean, come on!” She looked away, feeling utterly and completely alone.

Twist’s eyes filled with tears. “W…what are you ssaying? Doesss…doess this mean that you’re not going to the cute-sceñera together, doess it? You’re sstill gonna come to the party, aren’t you?”

Apple Bloom tried to walk away.

“Of course Apple Bloom is going,” Diamond Tiara said, butting into the conversation.

Silver Spoon laughed from her position beside Diamond Tiara. “It’s not like being the only pony there without a cutie mark would be, like, the most embarrassing thing ever!”

The two laughed wickedly as they walked away.

Twist turned to try and say something, anything, to Apple Bloom, only to see the filly running away, tears running down her own face.

~ ~ ~

“This ssong ish so ssuper!”

Twist was dancing in the middle of Diamond Tiara’s ruined cute-ceñera party. Because, if you had a smile on your face, that meant you were happy, right? And if you’re around other ponies that were smiling, that means that they’re your friends, right?

And Twist had her cutie mark, the mark she had always wished for. It meant that she could become a great candy maker someday, like Bon-Bon, the pony she was already apprenticing for. And someday she’d grow out of the lisp, and everypony would love her. Right? Right?!

~ ~ ~

And just a few strides away, Apple Bloom was making new friends, with two ponies who wouldn’t betray her by getting a cutie mark before her. A trio of Cutie Mark Crusaders. And together, they’d show the world.

…And fill the hole in Apple Bloom’s heart.

Author's Note

The notes for this chapter will be included with Chapter 19.

Chapter 19

The Apple Family Farmhouse.

August 13. That Friday. “The Ticket Master”.

Applejack slapped her golden ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala down on the kitchen. “How about them apples!” she proclaimed.

Lemon Peel picked up the ticket and looked at it. “I don’t get it,” she said.

“The Grand Galloping Gala is the biggest, fanciest party of the year,” said Applejack. “And I’m going to be selling our family’s apples there. To the richest ponies in Equestria!”

Nopony said anything.

"Look,” Applejack finally explained. “The Apples need a lot of bits to do everything we need to do. And we can’t take the easy way out and use our Changeling powers to make ponies give us their bits. We have to earn that money, all while paying off our mortgage.”

“What’s a mortgage?” asked Lemon Peel.

Five minutes later…

“That is the most evil thing I have ever heard of in my entire life,” said Lemon Peel.

“Exactly,” said Applejack. “And now I’ve found a way to make us a lot of extra money! What do you think?”

Nopony said anything. All of them—except for an innocently happy Apple Bloom—had a feeling that something was wrong with Applejack’s plan. However, none of them had any experience with fancy parties. And none of them knew how catering worked. So eventually they had to admit that yes, Applejack was a financial genius, and the Apple Family mortgage was as good as gone.

And also, Lemon Peel needed to get a ticket to that gala.

Downtown Canterlot.

The next day, Saturday. Late afternoon.

“It’s like I told you before,” Upper Crust explained to a defeated Lemon Peel. “You can’t just ask for a ticket to the Gala. You either have to be rich—like me—or do something to catch Princess Celestia’s attention, like saving her sister from plunging the land into eternal darkness.”

“Yeah,” remarked Lipstick Vanity. “And not just rich, but super rich. Like even Blueberry and I didn’t get tickets. Right, Blues?”

The quartet were eating a late lunch at an outdoor café. Upper Crust, Lipstick Vanity and Blueberry Frosting were wearing the same clothes as they usually did. Mrs. Peel was wearing a white sleeveless blouse and pleated hock-length skirt with white shoes. A rather simple outfit by her standards.

Blueberry Frosting was staring across the street instead of paying attention to the conversation. Over there was The House of Enchanted Comics and they were celebrating “Free Comic Book Day” with an outdoor display. Dozens of happy fillies and foals were running around, amped up by the sugar sticks being handed out by the unicorn mare proprietor—the same mare who had complimented Lyra’s performance a couple weeks earlier. Large posters were in the windows of the comic store, showing various superheroes in action poses.

Blueberry sighed with nostalgia for her own fillyhood, when life made sense and her happiness was more than pelt deep. Her eyes wandered up to the sky, as they so often did. And in the blue sky she eventually spotted a kestrel flying lazily around in circles, held aloft by the thermals from the buildings below her. With a sudden cry it plunged down onto the roof of the comic book building, and out of Blueberry’s sight. She sighed in disappointment.

“Blueberry!”

“What?”

“I was trying to get your attention for the past minute!” Lipstick exclaimed.

“Oh, sorry. I was lost in thought. Did you ask me something?”

Lipstick sighed. “Never mind.” She turned back to Peel. “It’s good to see you again. After the news of that two-story tall snake you took down, I figured you had gone native. And Ponyville Native is the worst sort of Native.”

“We could always visit you, Mrs. Peel,” Blueberry said.

Lipstick wrinkled her nose. “Do we have to?”

“No, it’s only fair,” said Upper Crust. “Name a good day, and we’ll come down the mountain to see you.”

Lipstick gave Blueberry a suspicious look. “Ah, you want another excuse to take the train!”

Blueberry shrugged, and her roommate laughed.

“Better make it a Friday,” Peel said. “The monsters never attack on Fridays.”

“So have you heard about Cadance?” asked Upper Crust, changing the subject.

“Princess Cadance?” Peel asked, emphasizing the missing title.

Upper Crust rolled her eyes. “Yes, Princess Cadance. She’s finally stepped away from the fillysitting business and has embraced her role in high society! She’s organizing this huge party for next week. I can try to get you tickets for that, if you’d like.”

“Oh, have you gotten tickets?” asked Lipstick. “I’ve heard that that party is even more exclusive than the Gala. Only the most-useful ponies in Canterlot are invited! You know, ponies who do things!”

Upper Crust and Lipstick shuddered in horror. Peel rolled her eyes.

“And half of the Royal Guard have been asked to show up, ‘for protection’. I think they’re there for eye candy.”

“Well…no, I don’t have a ticket,” Upper Crust admitted. “Yet. But I will, and I’ll bring my friends with me, if possible. After all, I’m plenty useful—why would ordinary ponies visit Canterlot and patronize the local businesses if not to gawk at the better ponies like us?”

Blueberry had meanwhile tuned out the conversation. The kestrel was back in the sky, a squirming mouse visible in its claws.

She ought to be disgusted by the sight. Any other pony would be. But it seemed right to her that the bird should hunt. Just as right as the bird flying. Flying… oh, how she wished she could fly like that bird. Not like a pegasus with stunted wings and magic holding them up. Big, majestic wings—flying like it was supposed to be…

At that moment, the mouse fell out of the bird’s talons and tumbled through the sky to land on the cobblestone street between the café and the comic book store, the bird diving down after it. Most ponies looked away in horror as the kestrel finished off its meal. Parents tried to shield the eyes of their innocent children.

There were two exceptions, two ponies who looked: Blueberry Frosting, and the owner of the comic book shop. Blueberry looked over in shock at the comic book proprietress. And she looked back with a knowing smirk.

Author's Note

The notes for this and the previous chapter can be found here.

Chapter 20

Outside the Apple Family Farmhouse.

August 14. The next day, Saturday. “Stare Master”.

Apple Bloom came running down the road, and right into Applejack’s arms. “Applejack! Applejack!” she exclaimed.

“Slow down there, Missy!” Applejack said with a grin. “How was your sleepover at Fluttershy’s? Were you disappointed that it couldn’t be at Rarity’s instead?”

“Are you kidding?!” Apple Bloom exclaimed. She got out of Applejack’s arms and started gesticulating wildly as she told her tale at a breakneck pace.

~ ~ ~

“Woah, woah, woah, hold on there!” Applejack exclaimed at last. “You went into the Everfree? Unsupervised?”

Apple Bloom hung her head. “Yeah. That was dumb. But I had to protect Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo in case they got in trouble!”

“Uh huh,” said Applejack. She strongly suspected that Apple Bloom would not have been able to protect her fellow Crusaders if the trio had actually run into serious trouble.

“But I got to see Fluttershy’s Stare! I didn’t believe that it would be so amazing when you told me that story about the dragon, but it totally was!”

“Uh-huh,” Applejack said with a smile.

Apple Bloom was still in big trouble for the Everfree stunt. But at least for now Applejack was willing to let her have her little moment of glee.

“How can she do that?” Apple Bloom asked. “She’s not a changeling, is she? I thought we were the only ones who could charm like that.”

“What Fluttershy does is not like a changeling’s charm ability,” Applejack explained, sitting Apple Bloom down so she could focus on this important lesson. “For one thing, the Stare doesn’t work on ponies, while charm only works on ponies. And for another, a changeling needs to really know a pony before they can charm them, and only a matriarch is powerful enough to cast a long-term charm. Fluttershy seems like she can Stare at any creature who threatens somepony she cares about.”

“Yeah!” Apple Bloom exclaimed. “I saw that! Fluttershy could only turn her Stare on when we were the ones in trouble, not her. But…if she’s not a changeling, how does she do it?”

“It’s tied to her cutie mark, Apple Bloom. Lots of ponies get one amazing thing they can do when they get their cutie mark. You’ll get one when you get your mark, I’m sure of it.”

“I hope so,” said Apple Bloom. She thought for a moment. “So…the charm thing…we Apples don’t do that, right? Because that sounds really…bad.”

“No, we Apples don’t do that. Unless we really, really have to. And we make sure to make up for it when we do.”

“Have you ever charmed anypony, Applejack?”

“No.”

Apple Bloom released the breath she had been holding as she had waited for that answer. “Good!”

“Now let’s go inside and discuss your punishment for going into the Everfree without permission.”

“Aww…” Apple Bloom groaned as she followed her big sister inside. “Twist gets to go into the Everfree anytime she wants!”

Applejack looked back at her. “I believe that Twist is accompanied by Zecora every time she goes into the Everfree,” she said with a smirk. “And that reminds me—how come you don’t ever go hang out with Twist anymore? I thought the two of you were friends?”

Apple Bloom looked away, hiding her scowl. “She’s…busy now. We don’t see each other that much.”

“Oh,” said Applejack. “That’s a shame.”

She saw that there was more going on in Apple Bloom’s emotions but decided for now not to say anything.

Chapter 21

Sweet Apple Acres.

August 17. The following Tuesday. “Spike At Your Service”…sort of.

Applejack was surveying the orchard when she saw Spike walking her way, less than an hour after she sent him home to Twilight Sparkle. His eyes were on the ground instead of at her.

“What happened?” she asked. “I thought you were going back to Twilight’s to recover.”

“Well, I’m here now,” Spike said, wiping away some angry tears. “I’d like to help around the farm.”

Applejack looked Spike over—he had a couple haphazardly-applied bandages taped over his knees. “Well, I don’t know,” she said. “Wouldn’t you rather rest?”

Spike looked up at her with a burning glare, and Applejack had to take a step back from the intensity of the anger he was feeling at that moment. Anger that was not directed at her. He then closed his eyes and tried to control his breathing. “I…I just…” He opened his eyes again, looking pleadingly at her. “I need to be busy right now,” he told her. “I spent way too much time thinking on the way here.”

Applejack said nothing for a moment.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Spike said firmly. “Not…not right now,” he said, his voice softening.

“Alright,” Applejack said, walking towards the farmhouse. As they reached the farm area she pointed. “Apple Bloom’s over yonder giving little Piggington a bath. I was going to lend her a hoof, but maybe you could lend a claw instead.”

Spike nodded, grinning in grim satisfaction. “On the double!” he said, running over to join her.

Applejack turned around to walk back into the orchard.

“Applejack said I could help you!” Spike called out to Apple Bloom. He looked over at “little” Piggington, who loomed taller and taller as he approached. The pig, sitting, was easily twice as tall as either Apple Bloom on four hooves or Spike on two feet. She was sitting in a mud puddle and had mud encrusted all over her. The only thing that was entirely mud-free was the little blue bow that was tied around a tuft of hair springing from the top of her head.

Apple Bloom looked over at Spike and put down the scrub brush that she was holding in her teeth. “Great!” she exclaimed. “I could use all the help I can get!”

The pig looked the diminutive Spike up and down and snorted a laugh so powerful that it dumped Apple Bloom into the nearby bucket of soapy water. She emerged with a long soap foam beard.

This was going to be a tough job…exactly what Spike was looking for. His grumpy smile turned genuine. “Hello, Piggington!” he said brightly as he helped Apple Bloom to clean up. “Wait until Applejack sees how you shine!”

~ ~ ~

A half hour later.

Piggington looked her spotless self over and squealed in happiness. Even the mud puddle under her had been cleaned up.

“See, I told you that you would be happier clean than dirty!” Apple Bloom crowed around the dirty towel she held in her teeth.

Spike, seeing Applejack approaching, used the scrub brush in his claw to gesture at Piggington. “Ta-da!” he exclaimed.

The pig oinked by way of a greeting.

Applejack walked around Piggington, inspecting her closely. Apple Bloom and Spike stood close together, looking nervously between each other. Each of them worried that they may have missed a spot.

“Good job, you two,” Applejack finally said, earning a sigh of relief from the pair of pig-polishers.

“Applejack, is it okay if I get going?” Apple Bloom asked, stepping forward. “I don’t want to be late for my Crusaders meeting. We’re getting fitted for water skis!”

Spike looked nervously between the two Apple sisters. “I could help with that!” he blurted out. He wiggled his claws. “Rarity says that claws are really useful for handling a tape measure.”

Apple Bloom looked him up and down for a moment, a frown growing on her face. “I don’t know…” she said. “Scootaloo said she had a system, and I think it might hurt her feelings to mess with that.”

It wasn’t the real reason, and everybody knew it.

“Oh,” Spike said, his face falling. “That’s…that’s OK. I can do chores for Applejack. Right, Applejack?”

Apple Bloom saw the disappointment radiating from Spike, and instantly regretted her excuse. But in the end, she decided to stick with it.

“That’s right,” Applejack said plainly, saving the situation. To Apple Bloom she said, "Water ski fitting, eh? You definitely don’t want to be late for that.”

Apple Bloom knew at that moment that there would be a talk about this later that night. But for now… “Water skiing cutie mark, here I come!” she cried out, galloping for Ponyville with all her might. Applejack and Spike watched her go.

“Did I do something to make her mad?” Spike asked Applejack.

Applejack shook her head sadly. “Spike, I don’t rightly know your age in cabellus [biological pony] terms, since you’re a dragon and dragons age differently from cabelli. But cabelli as old as Apple Bloom and you are…the colts and fillies don’t get along well. That’s why she lied and ran away just now, because you’re not a filly. Not because you’re not a pony, and not because of anything specific to you.”

Spike sighed. “I hoped to maybe become a Cutie Mark Crusader someday,” he said.

Applejack patted his shoulder. “I’ll do whatever I can to help you get a mark someday, Spike. Same as I did with Ferdinand.”

“Thanks, Applejack. How’s he doing, by the way?”

“I got him enrolled at the Canterlot branch of the Dales School of Economics,” Applejack said proudly. “He starts classes next month.”

“Thank you so much for that,” Spike said. “But…that’s for the future.” And saying that made him think of his future, and how hopeless it appeared to be. “But for today, what other kind of chores do you have for me? I’m still eager to work.”

Applejack sensed Spike’s desperation and sighed. “Let’s sort some apples.”

~ ~ ~

Apple sorting was the most mind-numbing job on the farm. One pony—usually Granny Smith, but in this case Applejack—would descend into the narrow apple cellar and start going through the apples, one at a time, looking for blemishes. The other pony—usually the one being punished for something—would have to carry those apples one at a time up into one of two barrels located up on the surface, based on the first pony’s judgement. When a barrel was filled, another would be moved into its place. When all of the apples had been processed, the bad apples would go into the feed pile for the animals, while the many barrels of good apples would be carefully carried back down into the cellar to be emptied.

Having two hands as opposed to one mouth, Spike was twice as efficient as most “second ponies”. But the process still took almost four hours. Despite obvious signs of exhaustion, Spike kept working until the last good barrel was emptied before he collapsed to the ground. He began snoring within seconds.

With a maternal grin, Applejack picked Spike up, placed him on her back, and carried him up to sleep on Apple Bloom’s bed.

Only when this was done did she march her way over to the Golden Oaks library.

~ ~ ~

The sign stapled to the front door read “CLOSED FOR PRINCESS BUSINESS”. Applejack, finding that the door wasn’t locked, opened it and walked in.

She found Twilight Sparkle on the second floor, intently reading a book as big as her and taking copious notes. There were tall piles of books on both sides of her.

“Twilight,” Applejack said firmly.

“Mm-hmm?” Twilight said, her eyes still on the books.

“Did you see Spike earlier?” Applejack asked.

“Mm-hmm,” said Twilight.

“Did he tell you about the timber wolves? How he would have died if I hadn’t saved him?”

“Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm,” Twilight said in response to the two questions. Her eyes never moved from the books.

Applejack frowned. “I buried him in the back yard among the petunias,” she said sarcastically.

“Sounds good,” Twilight said absently.

Applejack weighed her options. She could deal with Twilight, but that was a problem she had tried to fix multiple times, and always she found herself up against the same roadblocks, whether the excuse was “Siren Twilight” or “I can’t disappoint Princess Celestia, Applejack! It’s PRINCESS CELESTIA!”

So she decided to leave Twilight be for now and work the problem from the other end.

~ ~ ~

Spike slept until dinner time, being awakened by the delicious smells from the kitchen. He sat on the edge of his bed in the gathering gloom and thought.

He knew he was going to be asked about why he was here, as opposed to being back at the Golden Oaks recovering from his experience in the Everfree.

They’re my other family, he told himself, and they should know what’s going on. But I won’t be mad at Twilight. Because she can’t help what she is.

~ ~ ~

“Hello, Spike!” Granny Smith welcomed him as he entered the kitchen. “We set a place for you for dinner.”

“Thanks, Granny,” Spike said in a subdued tone, climbing up on the guest chair. He was the last to sit.

Granny led the group in thanking Harmony for their food and set to eat.

The Apples spent the meal trying to avoid looking at Spike, as they could all see the melancholy radiating off of him.

~ ~ ~

After dinner, Big Mac and Apple Bloom went upstairs to their rooms. Granny Smith settled into her rocking chair and was soon in a state somewhere between wakefulness and slumber. That left Applejack and Spike. Applejack settled into one seating cushion, and Spike sat in another.

Spike saw that an agricultural goods catalog sat on the low table between them, but Applejack made no move to read it, or do anything else. “So, what do you usually do after dinner?” he asked.

“Oh, I don’t really feel like doing anything,” said Applejack. “Leisure time for us Apples is pretty rare, and sometimes I just like to sit and relax.”

“Oh,” said Spike. “I, uh…I usually read.” He picked up the catalog.

“Feel free to spend the night, Spike,” Applejack said, causing Spike to lower his reading material. “There’s a guest room in the barn that I set up. I had a feeling you might want to use it. You can stay for as long as you’d like…just so long as you do your fair share of work.”

“That sounds good,” Spike said, with butterflies in his stomach. It felt like something permanent, like he might transition from living with Twilight and visiting the Apples to the reverse. When Applejack said nothing more, he picked up the catalog once again. He tried to look through the seed listings, but his eyes couldn’t focus.

Finally, he put down the catalog and steeled himself. “Applejack, I need your help.”

Applejack, despite knowing this moment was building since Spike’s arrival, retained a neutral voice. “With what?” she asked.

Spike sighed deeply. “With Twilight,” he said at last. “I feel like I’m slipping away from her with every friendship report she sends. I thought at first that the whole ‘siren’ thing would be it, but it’s not.”

“Were things ever better?” Applejack asked.

“They were!” Spike said, standing up. “After I was first hatched, I was raised by Princess Celestia until I was old enough to think and act for myself. Then I was given over to Twilight, who was still just a filly. We were really close then. She needed me to help her study, and she had to work hard to keep me out of trouble. Half of the time, I had no idea what I was doing. And the other half of the time Twilight had to interact with other ponies, so she had no idea what she was doing. And that’s what kept us together.

“Eventually, though, she got too good at what she was doing. She knew how to keep other ponies at hooves’ reach, and everything else she got from a book. I wasn’t in a book, so…I stopped being important to her. After that she kept me around because she was supposed to, not because she actually cared. Twilight…well, she has trouble caring about anything that isn’t in a book.”

“So why don’t you write her a book?”

Applejack and Spike turned their heads, to see Apple Bloom peeking between the balusters of the staircase. “I’m serious,” she said, descending the rest of the way to stand before them. “If Twilight Sparkle cares more about books than someone who isn’t one of her best friends, why don’t you write her a book explaining yourself, and have her read that?”

“Huh,” said Spike. “You know, that might actually work!”

“Great!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, jumping up in the air and clicking her rear hooves together in mid-air.

“One problem, though,” Spike added in realization. “I don’t know how to write a book.”

“Writing a book is like giving a speech,” Applejack said. “Only you write it down instead of saying it out loud. And I’ve got a lot of experience giving speeches.” She looked over her shoulder at a closed door. “Wait right here,” she told them. She walked through the door, then closed it behind her.

Spike looked curiously at Apple Bloom. “What’s in there? I don’t think I’ve ever seen into that room.”

“That’s the, uh…meeting room,” Apple Bloom said. “Where the Apple Clan gets together a lot to make their plans. She’s just…uh, cleaning it up!”

Apple Bloom thought of all of the chalkboards and dry erase boards in that room. All of the changeling-specific bullet points that had been inscribed upon those boards, the latest ones during their brainstorming sessions with Mrs. Peel. Some of those bullet points were older than she was. They weren’t going to clean up easy. She walked over to the cushion next to Spike’s and sat down. “This might take a while,” she said.

With a shrug, Spike sat down.

~ ~ ~

In the end it did take five minutes of solid cleaning before Applejack emerged from the meeting room. And instead of inviting Spike inside she pulled out a white board and closed the door behind her.

“SPIKE’S BOOK TO TWILIGHT” she wrote at the top of the board and underlined it. Resting the dry erase marker atop a hoof she looked over at Spike. “Now then, how do you want to do this? Do you maybe want to tell the story of your life, or just explain who you are?”

“Well…” Spike began. “There was a book that Princess Celestia had Dusty Pages make special for us, called The Book of Dragons. It had everything that ponies knew about dragons written in it, with extra-large margins for us to write in based on me trying out stuff in the book. We used that book up in less than a year—ponies don’t really know a lot about dragons, once you remove all the slander and hearsay.

“I want to write The Book of Dragons Volume 2. And just like that book was made up of stories mixed with explanations, that’s what I want to do for Twilight. I just…I’m not sure how to organize it. I can’t just start with my hatching, because I don’t remember that—the Princess and Twilight told the story to me. And some things are more important than others—I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what to do to get ponies to trust me, but that’s a long story with a lot of dead ends. I don’t want to write something that’s depressing. I want to stick to the important parts, to tell Twilight the things that she never knew or that she didn’t know how important they were to me.”

Applejack entered a lot of notes on the whiteboard, about the mix of story and explanation, or how it doesn’t have to include everything that happened, and that the book should focus on what Twilight didn’t know to be important. “Those stories and explanations, they were all written by ponies, right?” she asked.

“That’s right.”

“Then how about this: It’s a hundred years from now, and some pony decides to write a book about you, just like other ponies have written about other dragons they have met. And you’re going to write the part of the book that ends today.” She smirked and added, “because I don’t know how to predict the future.”

“Um, okay,” Spike said hesitantly.

“Oh!” Apple Bloom exclaimed. “I get it! Don’t write the book as you, because you’ve got too much in your head to know what to keep and what to leave out! Imagine this pony instead and write down what he would think needed to be kept. The stuff that other pony writers got wrong about dragons.”

“The stuff that’s unique to you, and no other dragon,” said Applejack.

“Oh, I see,” said Spike.

Applejack positioned herself next to the board and held out the marker. “Climb on up! Try to make a list of the really important stuff. We’ll figure out an order later.”

Spike hesitated for a moment, then climbed up to stand atop Applejack’s strong back. With marker in claw, he took in a breath before beginning his list.

They got a good organization in place that night, but nothing actually written.

The next day, Spike and Applejack went over to the library. It was still closed.

Inside, they saw that Twilight had gotten through five books.

“You didn’t sleep, did you?” Spike asked Twilight’s back.

“Nuh-huh,” Twilight said, still reading.

Spike shook his head and went downstairs to make a sandwich. “Princess Luna didn’t provide a deadline,” he said as he worked. “But Twilight always assumes that these projects are ASAP. She’ll probably finish her notes late tonight, then crash into her bed and sleep for twelve hours or so. We might be able to get through to her after that if we time it right, but after that she’ll start on the actual assignment and then we’ll lose her for another day.”

“This was Princess Luna’s assignment?” Applejack asked as she followed Spike back up the stairs to the second floor.

“Mm-hmm,” Twilight said, answering the question for Spike.

“Yeah, this is Princess Luna’s first assignment, and I at least think it’s a little mean.” He pointed at the unrolled scroll at the end of the table, past the pile of read books:

“Imagine that some catastrophe has made the other princesses unavailable for at least a decade. You were forced to cast Star Swirl’s spell and become a princess, and with your new powers you have succeeded in saving Equestria. Now that peace is restored and you have sole control of the land, what do you do in the first year to cement your power and prevent any uprisings? You may reference any or none of the classic works of political philosophy included with this assignment. Your resulting essay must be at least 50,000 words in length, and you must cite your sources.”

“If she ends up in the hospital, I’m sending Luna the bill,” Spike joked.

“Spike, the state pays for all essential health care,” Applejack said.

“It didn’t in her time,” Spike replied. “I’m banking on her not knowing that it changed.”

~ ~ ~

On their way out of the front door, Applejack stopped and looked back for a moment. “You know,” she said to Spike, “my place is nowhere as good as this place for writing.”

Spike stopped and looked around. “So, you want me to stay here?” He looked a little desperate.

“No. I think you should make my place better. You’ve got an in with Princess Celestia. Why don’t you ask her for help?”

Spike nodded. “Good idea.” He walked over to a pile of blank scrolls. He produced a feather pen and ink bottle from who knows where, wrote a quick note, then rolled the scroll up and blew his fire breath upon it, causing it to turn into green smoke that flew out a window and up the mountain towards Canterlot.

Less than an hour later a couple of royal chariots descended on the Apple farmhouse. In a few moments the chariots were back in the sky, having released their passengers: the unicorn stenographers Logo Gram and Gramma Logue and the pegasus typist Clickety Clack, with their equipment and paper.

Before too long Spike’s book began to take shape.

Author's Note

Here are the notes for this chapter.

Chapter 22

Around the same time that Spike began writing his book in earnest, a fiery portal opened up in the doorway of Twilight’s bedroom, out of which stepped Princesses Celestia and Luna.

Luna took a good look at the portal. “Nice spell,” she said to her sister. “Did you develop it yourself?”

“I did, thank you,” said Celestia. “I use anchor stones for endpoints. Both for accuracy, and as a gesture of trust.” She pointed down to the medium-sized stone that was being used to prop the door of Twilight’s room open. Inscribed upon the top of the rock was Celestia’s cutie mark, still glowing faintly as it interacted with the portal.

The sisters looked around them and immediately spotted Twilight at her desk. She appeared to be busy proofreading her completed 70,000-word essay.

“Twilight Sparkle,” the older alicorn sister said in a normal conversational tone.

“PRINCESS CELESTIA?!” Twilight screamed, turning around to face the source of the voice. “And Princess Luna?” The unicorn immediately dropped prone to the ground. “I’m sorry I accidentally wrote your name without the proper honorific in front! It won’t happen again!”

Princess Celestia gave Twilight a worried look. “I assure you, that is not why we are here,” she said. “Spike warned me about you going overboard on your assignment, and I decided that we needed to investigate. Isn’t that right, Luna?”

Luna said nothing. She had completely ignored Celestia’s words while taking in the clearly insane look on Twilight’s face and the fact that she looked like she was being solely held up by a set of invisible marionette strings.

The two sisters approached the desk. The books were now all piled on her right side, and the nearly 300 pieces of paper covered with her hoofwriting was split into two piles; one pile was face up and the other was face down. Above the face up pile, a red pencil was still suspended in the air by Twilight’s magic. With a sigh, Celestia said, “I told you that you should have put a date limit on the assignment,” to Luna.

“Did she actually do the whole thing, in less than two days?” Luna asked incredulously. “I had no idea that she was that much of a—”

Celestia glared at her.

“—Enthusiastic student,” Luna concluded.

“You were going to say ‘suck-up’,” said Celestia.

“No!” Luna protested. “That was only what I was thinking. I wasn’t going to say it.”

Celestia gently lifted Twilight to her hooves. “I wish to apologize for my sister,” she said gently. “That assignment was unfair to spring on you all at once.” She looked pointedly over at Luna.

“Yes, I should have sent over the books one at a time, and only gave you the essay prompt after you had had time to digest all of them,” Luna said with a roll of the eyes. She then began paging through the essay. “And…is this an hour-by-hour schedule of your actions…for the entire year?” She groaned. “Life doesn’t work that way, Twilight. This goes completely against the spirit of the assignment. I’m afraid I’ll have to give you a failing grade on this one.”

Twilight fainted.

“Luna!”

“What?! I was being honest! That was one of my Elements!”

With a rueful shake of her head, Celestia levitated Twilight’s limp body onto the bed, tucking it under the covers. She produced a blank greeting card and placed it on the nightstand. “Fill this out and leave it here where she will see it the first thing upon waking up,” she said. With a last regretful look back at the sleeping Twilight, she walked through the portal and back into the room where she had originally created it—Luna’s bedroom.

Luna picked up the card and looked at the printed front cover. “Really?” she asked incredulously. After Celestia refused to reply, Luna watched through the portal until she had seen Celestia leave her bedroom before turning back to the unconscious form of Twilight Sparkle. “Siren Twilight!” she called out. “Are you awake in there?”

Twilight’s eyes popped open, and Siren Twilight’s characteristic scowl appeared upon her features. “Yeah, I’m here.” She tried to look at Luna. “Hey prop me up. I can’t move anything other than my face.”

Luna levitated Twilight so she was leaning back against the headboard of the bed, and then positioned herself at the bed’s foot.

"That’s better.”

“Why weren’t you able to stop your pony self?” Luna asked. “She really hurt Spike you know.”

Siren Twilight sighed. “Yeah, I know.”

“So you didn’t let her do it as some sick idea of a joke?” Luna accused.

“Hey, I like Spike!” Siren Twilight replied. “No, the fact of the matter is, Pony Twilight’s willpower is way too much for me when she gets like this. I will make sure she makes it up to Spike when she wakes up.”

“Speaking of which, should I summon up some anger for you to feed on, so you can heal yourself up and get the pony awake? I’ve got plenty of reason to be mad at her.”

“No,” Siren Twilight said with a sigh. “She needs time to get her thoughts in order, so I think a natural rest is best.”

“Alright,” Luna said, using her magic to put Twilight back in bed. She picked up the card and walked over to the desk, so she could start on her apology.

A thought came to her a few moments later. “Hey, are you still there, Siren?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re sounding a lot more…eloquent than usual.”

“You were thinking ‘less stupid’, weren’t you?”

“…Yes.”

“Heh. Yeah, when the pony side of me is out of the picture, I can use more of our shared brain.”

This intrigued Luna. She walked over to the side of the bed and crouched down so she was in Twilight’s sightline. “What else can you do like this?”

“If we’re going to have a conversation, you’ll have to prop me back up again.”

“Oh, right. How’s that?”

“It’ll do. Now as to your question…” Siren Twilight thought. “I’ve got access to all of the spells that Pony Twilight knows, all…wow. She knows a lot of spells. And the intel boost. But that’s about it. I’ve already got all of her memories, just like she’s got all of mine. And I don’t get any of her genius or her cutie mark talent, so you can forget about me learning a spell by seeing it cast or combining two or three completely different spells to get a new one.”

Luna nodded her head. “Interesting. Spike said in his letter that she was only halfway through the books a couple hours ago. How did she finish so quickly?”

“Oh, she finished all of the books yesterday. She was collating her notes when he and Applejack came by this morning. And the writing spell she used—she dumped a good part of her brain directly onto the entire stack of paper, writing every page at the same time!

Siren Twilight pursed her lips. “Pony Me has nightmares about ponies finding out about Siren Me, being scared of me because I’m a monster. But I gotta say, she’s scarier than I am. By far.”

Luna smiled grimly. “Well, I’m trusting you to hold her back if she ever decides to cast Star Swirl’s spell before she’s emotionally mature enough to handle it.”

“No, you don’t get it,” said Siren Twilight with a frown. “In terms of capability, of raw potential, Pony Me is already at alicorn level. At least as far as the magic goes. I’m worried about what might happen if some of your worse memories unlock themselves at the wrong time. Some of these spells in here are really nasty, so I assume she got them from Old You.”

Luna slumped, feeling absolutely helpless. “What can I do?”

“Visit her dreams more.”

Luna stood up. “Oh right, I can do that with her. I keep forgetting.”

“Plus you can see both of us.”

“Ah, I knew there would be a selfish reason in there eventually,” Luna said with a smirk. She turned to go back to her apology card, but stopped herself.

“That reminds me,” she said to Siren Twilight. “In your dreams you are both unicorns. Why aren’t you a siren?”

“Look, we might have a siren in our ancestry, but most of our ancestors are…what was Applejack’s word…cabelli. I’m using unicorn magic to manipulate emotions and when I ‘eat’ those emotions, I’m actually converting them into unicorn magic, not life force. I can’t turn myself into a siren. And to be honest, I don’t want to.

“Sirens were miserable, with your friend Sonata as the lone exception. You could say that anger and misery were their native states, that they enjoyed those emotions, but I don’t buy it. As a part of the unicorn Twilight Sparkle, I get to be happy doing normal things. This ‘friendship’ thing that Pony Me is obsessing over? That’s the best thing ever. It’s just…it’s a shame that anytime I talk to our friends, they think that I’m ‘snarky Twilight’ and not my own pony. I…think they’d accept me, but Pony Me is too scared.”

“I’ll try to work on that in our next dream. Besides, Celestia has been dropping all sorts of hints that Pinkie Pie has her own secret to share, so it’s not like you’ll be alone.”

“Yeah, Pinkie is definitely not a normal pony.”

Luna laughed. “Do you think she could take down Pony You if she ever went off the deep end?” she asked jokingly.

“Absolutely,” Siren Twilight answered with a straight face. “Pony Me is counting on it.”

“Huh,” said Luna. “Now I’ve really got to get Celestia to open up about her.”

“Have you tried visiting Pinkie’s dreams?” asked Siren Twilight.

Luna shuddered. “Once,” she said. “Her mind contains horrors beyond the imagining of the entirely of Ponykind. And she handles those horrors in her dreams with complete aplomb.”

“Well. That’s a nice note to go to sleep on.”

“You’ll be fine,” Luna assured Siren Twilight as she once more tucked her into bed. “Now let me get my ‘homework assignment’ over with, and I’ll leave you to your rest.”

Twilight, Pony Twilight, awoke nearly two days later. It was shortly before sunrise. She sat up in her namesake lighting condition, thinking over many things from both her own memories and from the voice of her siren other self: how she had failed Spike, as well as her abysmal grade on her assignment. Propped on her bed stand were two objects: a card with a sad pony face and the words “I’m sorry” written on the front, and a small hoof-bound book. She picked both of them up with her magic and made her way out of the room, passing by the basket containing the sleeping Spike.

Quietly, she made her way downstairs and sat down in the western reading nook, igniting a portable lantern to supplement the light of the setting sun coming in from the nook’s large window.

She read the card first. It was nearly worthless as an apology, putting the blame upon her for misinterpreting the assignment. Twilight put it aside with a shake of her head.

The book, The Book of Dragons Volume 2, was a complete surprise. Spike completely opened himself up to her, revealing his thoughts and fears on multiple topics. But it was the final paragraph that had the greatest effect on her.

“I’ve had the chance to be your son for most of my life. I wouldn’t give it up for anything. But it’s time for both of us to move on to something new. I’m not your son anymore. I’m your brother. Maybe not your Big Brother Best Friend Forever, but I think I can settle for second place.”

Twilight gasped as something happened deep inside her. She could feel love for Spike, not an imagined love constructed out of her wishes for a good relationship with the drake, but an actual familial love for her brother, Spike.

“My brother…” she whispered.

She then stomped her way up the stairs, making as much noise as possible as she approached Spike’s basket.

Spike leapt to his feet. “What is it?!” he asked. “Are we being invaded?”

Twilight grabbed up Spike and hugged him tight.

“Oh,” said Spike. “You read my book.”

And then he smiled and hugged her back.

“My assignment!” she exclaimed in sudden realization, dropping him back in his basket.

Spike sighed as she ran over to the desk. “I suppose it was too much to hope for you becoming completely normal.”

“I’m still paying attention to you,” Twilight said, pushing the failed assignment to one side and assembling another pile of blank paper just as tall. “Luna was right that I was using an unrealistic degree of detail in my plans. She wanted a discussion of the principles that I would use to rule. And the number one rule should be to demonstrate that I both care for the populace and will be an effective protector. The Big Sister role, written large.”

“Oh, so I inspired you,” Spike said, climbing up to be on the table.

As he watched, the pile floated into the air a couple hooves-widths above the table. The pages separated slightly, with the glow of Twilight’s raspberry-colored magic penetrating into every available space.

“You and all of my friends,” Twilight said, her eyes glowing.

And then without warning the magic disappeared and the stack of blank pages fell back to the tabletop, startling Spike.

“Oh,” she said a little sadly. “That’s it. That’s the fix to Star Swirl’s ascension spell. I can see the spellform in my head, and it’s absolutely going to work. I can cast it anytime I want now.”

“Oh,” Spike echoed. Trying to make his voice sound uninterested he asked, “So, when do you plan to cast it?”

Twilight looked over at Spike and grabbed him up in her arms. “Not until you’re ready, Spike. I don’t intend to spread my attention any further than it already has for a good long time.”

The siblings hugged for nearly a minute, until Spike lifted his head, and pointed a claw at Luna’s assignment. “Or unless something like that happens.”

“Yeah,” said Twilight sadly. “Not even an alicorn can dictate the future,” she told him. “But I’m going to try and do my best with the time I have now. As a pudgy little unicorn. I’ll have plenty of time to grow into a graceful alicorn.”

“Later?” asked Spike.

“Later,” said Twilight.

Chapter 23

Carousel Boutique.

Saturday, August 21, a few days later. “Suited for Success”.

The last-minute fashion show for famed Canterlot designer Hoity Toity was about to start. With the dresses they intended to wear to the Grand Galloping Gala. Dresses which were locked inside the building.

While Rarity was recovering from her latest panic attack and the other ponies and dragon were looking for the lost key, Twilight Sparkle was walking around the building, looking for an unlocked window to climb in through. There were other ways to get in—starting with one of Rainbow Dash’s characteristic entrances—but Twilight was trying to be subtle.

She didn’t find an open window, but she did find the window that looked in on Rarity’s showroom, where the ponykins with their costumes were on display. As the sun was on the other side of the building, the room was in shadow, but Twilight could easily see that somepony was in the room, pacing back and forth between her and the dresses. From the silhouette, it was obviously Pinkie Pie. Only…something was off about her.

That Pinkie was able to get into a locked building was at this point not even a mild surprise to Twilight. But she was talking to herself, which didn’t seem like her. And the back part of her mane was sticking straight up, like it was being held up by an invisible string.

Twilight rapped loudly on the window. The rogue bit of mane shot back down, and Pinkie glanced back with a look of terror, which immediately disappeared on not seeing a look of terror on Twilight’s face. With a couple of hops she was at the window, which she opened. “Hi, Twilight!” she exclaimed. “I just wanted to get one more look at the dresses before I tried mine on. Somebody said there was something wrong with them.”

“Well, there’s always going to be doubters, Pinkie,” said Twilight. “Could you let us in? The door’s locked.”

“Oh, that’s right—I locked it! Sorry.” She then left to open the door.

~ ~ ~

It turned out that the unnamed “somebody” was right: there was something massively wrong with the dresses, every single one of them. And Rarity’s panic attack grew into a full-fledged episode.

After the resulting intervention, after Rarity saved the dresses from their out-of-control inspirations, and after Rarity’s reputation was fixed and Twilight converted the entire experience into a friendship lesson, she made her way over to Sweet Apple Acres.

“As I promised you after your help with Spike’s book a couple of days ago, I’ve taken a look at your finances, Applejack.”

“Okay,” a nervous Applejack said from the porch. “And what did you find?”

Twilight consulted her notes. “You are definitely the victim of predatory lending practices. That interest rate is frankly illegal. I can get you set up with a reputable bank. Or…”

“Or?”

“Or you can let me buy it out. I’m sitting on a pretty substantial holding, which I’ve been able to access for three years now.”

“Really?” Applejack asked incredulously. She pointed up at Mount Canter. “Doesn’t your family just own the mountainside?”

“Yes. And the trains pay a brushed bit for right of transit. I’m confident that the Apple Clan’s finances are on an upward trend. And I’d like to get in on it now, while the entry fees are still low.”

She pulled a portfolio out of her saddle bags and presented it to Applejack. “I have several possible scenarios outlined here. I have ‘full partner’ in there just to show the full range of possibilities I’m willing to work with, not because I think for a moment that you would go in for such a loss of control.” She opened the portfolio to a particular pair of pages, with a pie chart and a trend graph. “This one is probably more to your liking: instead of just paying off the mortgage I take it over, at the market rate for those with perfect credit scores. That means that I’ll have exactly the same power over your farm as the bank did.”

Applejack plucked the portfolio out of Twilight’s magic field. “That’s…a very interesting set of proposals, Twilight.” She looked back at the farm. “Granny is still the one in charge, so…”

“Oh of course!” Twilight exclaimed. “Just schedule a time, and I’ll gladly come over to give a complete presentation to her, and any other members of the Clan you deem fit to invite.”

“Yeah…” Applejack said absently, stunned at the sudden relief from her endless financial woes. “I’ll get back to you on that, OK?”

Twilight nodded enthusiastically. “All right.”

That night Applejack explained Twilight’s offers to the whole family.

They all quickly agreed to Twilight’s preferred proposal to take over the loan.

Even Applejack agreed that it stood a better chance than what she had planned at the Gala. So that just became a source of additional guaranteed funds.

Author's Note

The notes for this chapter will be included with Chapter 27.

Chapter 24

Sweet Apple Acres.

Sunday, August 22, the next day. “Swarm of the Century”.

Ponyville was abuzz. Princess Celestia was coming to visit!

Everypony in town had a role to play to get everything perfect for the coming visit. Twilight Sparkle was nominally in charge of keeping everypony organized, but she was mostly ignored. Ponyville was a hotbed of rugged individualism, and if it didn’t involve dealing with a deadly monster, most ponies just did whatever they thought was best, and sorted out the consequences afterwards.

Bon-Bon was busy watering the wildflowers that were along the road Princess Celestia would use to ride into town. She did this instead of the Flower Sisters because they were busy prettying up the town itself.

A little way off Lyra was trying to coax a single limp sunflower to perk itself up, first with her voice, and then with her music. Bon-Bon rolled her eyes at her friend’s antics.

“That looks perfect!” Twilight praised Bon-Bon on her way back into town. “Keep up the good work.”

A few minutes later, Fluttershy came down the same path, and stopped to talk to the birds singing in the tree next to Bon-Bon’s flowers.

In response to the birds’ twittered question, Fluttershy lifted a wing slightly to reveal a large round insect. “I found this new creature,” she said, “and I want to introduce it to everypony.”

Bon-Bon’s eyes nearly bulged out of her skull. As an experienced monster hunter, she knew exactly what that creature was. “Fluttershy!” she screamed in a strangled whisper.

Fluttershy jerked her head in fear. “What?” she asked.

“Do you know what that is?” Bon-Bon asked.

“No,” said Fluttershy. “I’m taking it to our resident monster hunter to identify it.”

Bon-Bon opened her mouth to warn her, to insist that Fluttershy return that tiny monster to the Everfree before it doomed everypony.

But she had to stop herself, because she had no plausible way to identify the parasprite without giving herself away. It was not in any of the books that Twilight had shown her, because she had made the first recorded parasprite sighting twelve years ago, in the ruins of Rockville. She just had to trust that Princess Celestia had declassified her report, and that the studious Twilight Sparkle had read that report.

“Those creatures are amazing!” Twilight Sparkle exclaimed ten minutes later. “What are they?”

And thus, Ponyville was doomed.

By noon of the next day, Ponyville was infested.

Twilight and her friends had tried to get rid of the rapidly multiplying pests several times, but all to no avail. And now the pests were destroying Applejack’s entire apple crop, both in storage and on the trees.

“Twilight, you’ve got to help!” Applejack pleaded. “There’s got to be a spell that you can use to stop these pests!

“Well, I’ve got a spell,” Twilight said with uncertainty. “It should turn off the parasprites’ hunger completely. But I’m not 100% sure it will work without side effects.”

(“Look, tambourines!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, running onto the scene. “If you could all just…” Everypony ignored her. She screamed in frustration, shaking the instruments, before stalking off.)

Applejack looked around her desperately. “Twilight, this is your investment that’s being destroyed here! If you don’t do something right now, the farm’s going under. And…I don’t think I can remain your friend if you do that to me.”

Twilight’s mouth dropped open, along with those of the other ponies on the scene. (“Low blow, Applejack,” Rainbow Dash remarked, summarizing their views on the matter.)

“A…alright,” Twilight said, “I’ll try.”

“No, you’ll do,” Applejack insisted, pushing her with her head towards the devouring horde.

Twilight cast her spell on the parasprites.

Everypony held their breath.

A parasprite approached an overturned bucket with a lone apple in it. It sniffed the apple and turned up its tiny nose in a snub.

It then ate the entire bucket, spitting out the apple. And then divided in half.

The swarm descended on the barn, eating it to the ground in less than ten seconds flat.

“Wow,” Rainbow Dash observed. “That’s pretty fast.”

Applejack’s jaw hit the ground.

The parasprite swarm finished off Sweet Apple Acres, and then moved on to eat Ponyville, and probably the rest of Equestria after that.

“Wow, these are cute!” Lyra exclaimed on spotting the advance wave.

“No, they’re not,” Bon-Bon snapped. “We need to…”

“Need to what?” asked Lyra.

“I…I can’t tell you!” Bon-Bon exclaimed, running into her shop and locking the door. She’d hide here until all the food in town was eaten and Princess Celestia had to save the town. Without her help.

Her cutie mark faded even more.

Oh, and then the shop was eaten by the parasprites, which was something that Agent Sweetie Drops had not anticipated.

Back at the farm, Twilight bawled. “I’m sorry!” she cried. “I ruined everything!”

“No,” Applejack said simply, patting her on the withers. “That was on me. I pushed you too hard. I’ll take complete blame when the Princesses show up. Which should be any minute now.”

~ ~ ~

And yet, when it seemed that the day was totally lost, it was Pinkie Pie and her musical skills that saved the day…and got the parasprites devoured by their natural enemies in the Everfree, never to plague Equestria with their horrible curse ever again.

Applejack followed through on her vow, taking full responsibility for all of the consequences before the Clan. This included the taking out of a second mortgage to rebuild the farm. Twilight couldn’t afford to cover that loan, and the disastrous handling of the parasprite problem did nothing to help her with the reputable banks, so it was back to the 48% loan with the sharks.

And so on that day Applejack learned a regrettable lesson about herself: when it really came down to it, blood really was thicker than water.

She vowed to do better next time. If there ever was a “next time”.

Author's Note

The notes for this chapter will be included with Chapter 27.

Chapter 25

Monday, August 23. The next day. “The Show Stoppers”.

The school talent show was scheduled for that night, and Rarity’s sister Sweetie Belle was one of the performers, along with her two other friends. The trio had already established a reputation for trouble.

Rarity had been specifically instructed not to have anything to do with the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ act in any way, shape or form. It was five whole years since Sweetie Belle’s fifth birthday party, and yet…Rarity understood completely. It didn’t help making her feel a little depressed, however.

Rarity’s late-afternoon musings were interrupted by a knock on the door. Opening it revealed Derpy Hooves, the local mailmare, still wearing her work clothes. “Good morning!” she exclaimed. “I was wondering if you were done with my Dinky’s costume. The dress-up show was last week!” She closed one eye and thought. “Next week. Whew! I thought I messed that up.”

“Derpy, it’s good to see you!” Rarity exclaimed, opening the door to let her in.

Derpy walked into the doorframe, bounced back and then walked into the room as if nothing had happened.

Rarity said nothing as she carefully closed the door. “It’s right over here,” she said, turning and stretching out a hoof to point out the filly-sized ponykin. Posted on the wall above the ponykin was a flier advertising “Junior Fan Day” at the upcoming Mystery Writers of Equestria Convention in Manehattan. The illustration showed a colt and a filly dressed up as their favorite fictional detectives: Sherclop Pones and Miss Maple.

Derpy instead stopped at a full-sized ponykin with Applejack’s “first draft” Gala dress. “Oh no!” she exclaimed. “You made it too big!”

“Why didn’t I burn that?” Rarity asked herself under her breath. “Oh right, the smell of burning rubber galoshes. Dinky’s costume is over here, Derpy!” she exclaimed, gently guiding the gray pegasus to the correct spot. “So, what do you think?” she asked, with a polite but attentive smile.

Derpy rubbed her chin with a hoof as she looked at the costume: a burgundy trench coat with pink belt and ascot, and a dark gray mare’s fedora with its own pink band. “Hmm…” she said, as her eyes slowly circled around, changing which derped eye was focusing on the hat every four seconds or so.

Rarity nearly fell over at this, but by supreme effort of will managed to remain professional, because the eye that wasn’t looking at the costume was usually looking at her. The smile did become somewhat stiff after a while, though. It’s unfortunate that her iris color is so striking against the white of her eyes and the gray fur, Rarity thought to herself. Otherwise, it might be possible to have a conversation with her and not be constantly thinking of the derp.

“Who is…” Derpy began as her eyes startled settling down. “No wait, I remember! Shovel Dark! That’s who that is!”

“Shadow Spade,” Rarity gently corrected.

“Same thing,” Derpy playfully countered.

Rarity thought for a moment. “That it is, I suppose,” she finally admitted.

The filly ponykin was already gray, so it was easily to imagine Dinky wearing the costume. “Yup, that will work! How much do I owe you?”

“Oh, you already paid at the fitting,” Rarity said, as she floated each piece of the costume off and into a bag held aloft with Rarity’s magic. The coat was perfectly folded in mid-air before it reached its final destination.

“Wow!” Derpy quietly exclaimed. “You’re so elegant with your magic.”

“Why thank you,” Rarity said with a warm smile. “I believe there is a style to everything, and that includes a unicorn’s magic.”

“Yeah,” Derpy said with a smile. “My flying was like that.” She lifted up her wings one at a time to look at them, but frowned at what her mixed-up eyes weren’t showing her. “Probably still does, if I could see the way I used to.” The smile faded. She looked at Rarity with both eyes focused. Or at least she tried, but the left eye eventually drifted off to do its own thing. She sighed. “Dinky wants me to go to the convention with her instead of Carrot. Is there any chance you can throw together something for me? One of Shadow’s informants, or something like that. So…not fancy.”

Now it was Rarity’s turn to hum and rub her chin. “Sorry, but I just don’t see you as a Piter Lore type,” she quipped. “How about Shadow’s loyal secretary, Effigy Peregrine?”

There was a spot adjacent to her workspace where the bored children/siblings/filly friends of her clients could occupy themselves. Along with a few soft toys guaranteed not to break anything was a low bookcase containing some of Rarity’s favorite books from her own fillyhood. One of these was the inspiration book for Dinky’s costume: the illustrated version of Shadow Spade and the Murgese Falcon. Rarity floated the book over to the table the costume bag was resting on and opened it to a page showing Shadow trading quips with Effigy.

Derpy walked over and looked down at the book. She tilted her head, first one way and then the other, to try in vain to get at least one eye to focus on the illustration. Finally, she had to take to the air for a few moments to see it. Rarity had to covertly use her magic as Derpy came back down to prevent her from knocking anything over. “That’s a griffon! I couldn’t play her. Unless I wore a mask…” This caused her to perk up. “Oh, can I wear a mask? Nopony will ask about my eyes if they can’t see them.”

Rarity fully understood where Derpy was coming from, but she also knew that trying to restrict Derpy’s vision in any way was just a recipe for disaster. “No, I don’t think we need to do anything with your face. I envision a simple lady’s suit, in black. Which I think would look very good on you. And we can style your mane in curls. It’s already the same color as Effigy’s.” From her costume box, Rarity floated over an oversized black suit jacket with prominent shoulder pads and draped it over Derpy’s form. She buttoned the jacket up, but only so far, leaving her throat and the top of her chest still visible.

“Yes, but…my eyes…” Derpy gave off the slightest hint of a whine.

Rarity looked at Derpy in contemplation for a moment, until both her cutie mark and eyes lit up briefly, giving her a vision. Inspired, Rarity rummaged through a deep drawer full of accessories and came up with exactly what she was looking for: a white clip-on tie, the same height as a bow tie but three times as wide. “I think this will work quite nicely,” she declared. She attached the tie to a white ribbon and quickly tied it around Derpy’s neck. She gestured towards a mirror.

Derpy’s eyes both focused on the striking tie. As she looked, Rarity’s magic gathered Derpy’s golden mane into a tight halo around her face. To Derpy, something amazing happened to her reflection even as her right eye drifted to the side: the halo somehow canceled out the hypnotic effect of her misaligned eyes, leaving the tie as the most-visible part of Derpy’s appearance.

Derpy smiled, and then gasped. “I…I’m beautiful!” she exclaimed.

Rarity smiled with satisfaction. “There it is,” she said, as much to herself as to her client. “Your inner beauty.”

“You found a way to keep ponies from looking at my eyes all the time!” Derpy declared, overjoyed. “I would love to go to the convention wearing this. You should change my mailmare suit to do the same thing. You…you don’t think this will steal attention from Dinky at the show, will you?”

“Oh no, of course not!” Rarity exclaimed. “Junior Fan Day is focused exclusively on the younger ponies, with the exception of the mare and stallion fashion show. And besides, Effie is Spade’s right-hoofed mare! She would never steal the spotlight from her boss.” She gestured over to the Shadow Spade costume, adding, “Seriously. Monotones simply cannot compete with that shade of burgundy.”

“Still, being able to walk in public without everypony seeing only the eyes…” Derpy mused.

“It would be the Perfect Moment,” Rarity said gently, referencing one of her catchphrases: Rarity’s Boutique: Clothes for the Perfect Moment. It tended to work better with the ponies that didn’t respond well to “chic, unique and magnifique.” And there was something about the very words “perfect moment” that resonated deep within Rarity's psyche.

“Yes…” Derpy replied with a blissful smile. “You should come along! And I can pay—we already bought a ticket for Carrot, but she has to deal with the Spots this weekend, and the tickets can’t go back, and…” She reeled. “That was a lot of words! Anyway, you’ll be able to see my Perfect Moment!”

Rarity reeled herself, but for an entirely different reason. “Oh no, I’m afraid I can’t,” she said quickly, making rapid alterations in the jacket so it would fit Derpy and making the tie into a more durable accessory at the same time. “I have a simply enormous order for Hoity Toity that I have to finish by Monday morning, and then I’ll be wrecked for the rest of the day.” She put on a little smile in response to Derpy’s look of disappointment. “There, there,” she said, hoofing over the bag that now contained two costumes instead of one. “You can both tell me all about it Monday afternoon after work. Go ahead and knock, even if you see a sign telling everypony else not to. I would be delighted to hear how it goes.”

“Well, alright,” Derpy said, picking up the bag and peering inside. “I definitely owe you now. How much?”

“Nothing,” Rarity said with a wave of her hoof. “I never charge for my visions.”

“That eye glow thing?” Derpy asked. “I didn’t want to say anything in case you were cursed or something.”

“Oh, that’s funny,” Rarity said lightly, opening the door of the boutique and ushering Derpy outside. “Good luck, to the both of you!”

“Thanks!” Derpy exclaimed, walking out with the bag’s handle held up by a forehoof. She tripped on her hooves, did a complete tumble, and ended up standing in the same pose as she started.

Rarity floated the dropped bag over so Derpy could grab it with her teeth. She stood there watching as Derpy launched into the sky, flying lazily around in a chaotic pattern until she went around a building corner and out of sight.

She sighed, thinking over what Derpy had said about her other special talent, the one that didn’t involve mining. She reached up a hoof to rub gently at the patch of forehead above her horn. “Or something indeed,” she mused sadly to herself.

Then she turned around, walked back into the boutique, and trashed the stal fatale costume she was going to wear to the Mystery Writer’s fashion show and ripped up her ticket.

She wasn’t going to dare go to the convention now that she had set up a Perfect Moment. To be there, to witness it, even by accident, which would cause the darker side of her vision power to kick in… Rarity shuddered as she remembered the look on her sister’s face the last time that had happened. With a rueful look back at her cutie mark, she closed up shop for the night.

Author's Note

The notes for this chapter will be included with Chapter 27.

Chapter 26

Ponyville Marketplace.

August 27. Three days after “Green Isn’t Your Color”. The day of “Sonic Rainboom”. Friday.

Today Mrs. Peel was wearing a lilac crepe half-dress with wide shoulder straps, straight hem and cleavage, with a matching jacket with a navy trim. She had accepted her Canterlot friends’ offer to come to Ponyville for a visit. She was confident that this would be safe for them, because it was a Friday.

"Monster!”

It was Friday. Monsters weren’t supposed to attack Ponyville on Fridays!

That was why the entire Ponyville Rescue Team was out of town, cheering Rainbow Dash on for some sort of flying competition.

Ponyville was under attack, with nopony trained to take the monster down. Nopony but Mrs. Peel.

Quickly, Peel led Upper Crust and Lipstick Vanity into the Bunker.

“Where’s Blueberry?” Lipstick asked, with an uncharacteristic tone of concern.

“I’ll go back to look for her,” Peel said. “Now both of you stay here where it’s safe.” She darted out of the vault just as the mayor and Big Mac were pulling the door shut.

“What are you doing?” the mayor exclaimed. “You’ll never be able to take on that monster yourself!”

“I have to try!” Peel exclaimed.

Bon-Bon, seeing a commotion at the door of the bunker, made to follow Mrs. Peel.

“Now where do you think you’re going?” asked Big Mac.

“You’ve got an amateur facing off against a monster. I’d like to help!” pleaded Bon-Bon.

“Nope,” said Big Mac. “Mrs. Peel already proved herself against that snake a moon ago.”

“He’s right,” said a thoroughly miserable looking Amethyst Star. “You’ve done nothing but run from monsters at every opportunity, just like the rest of us normal ponies. I’m not going to let you become a burden.”

“But…but that was part of the ac…” Bon-Bon slumped over in defeat. “Yeah,” she said finally. “You’re right. I’m just a normal pony.” And she slowly walked back into the depths of the Bunker.

Her cutie mark was now almost impossible to see.

Lemon Peel soon spotted the giant eagle in the sky, tearing the roofs off of building after building, looking for ponies to destroy.

“Giant eagle, giant eagle,” she said to herself as she looked desperately around her. “Something to entangle the claws? That could work.” She remembered Rarity’s spool of super thread from the tarantula attack, and ran for Carousel Boutique, dodging from building to building to stay out of sight.

Blueberry Frosting swore it wasn’t her fault if that one craft exhibit distracted her when everypony else was running for shelter. Now she was trapped back at the train station, hoping she wouldn’t be spotted.

“Aw, poor Blueberry Frosting…” an unfamiliar voice said from the shadows.

“Who’s there?” Blueberry exclaimed, whirling around.

Out of the shadows emerged Upper Crust, with a caring smile like Blueberry had never seen on her before. “Look,” Upper said with the wrong voice, pointing at the partially obscured figure of the eagle. “Does it look familiar to you? Something out of your dreams, perhaps?”

Blueberry broke out in a sudden sweat. “No!” she exclaimed, looking away. And a few seconds later sneaking a peek at her.

“A very familiar beak, I’d say,” remarked Upper Crust. “A very…true beak.”

“I…you don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Oh I think I do. The beak…the wings…”

A look of animal desperation came over Blueberry Frosting. She watched as Upper Crust walked casually into the open railway car.

“Come with me, Blueberry,” Upper Crust told her. “Come with me to a place where your truth can finally be set free. Where you can finally fly… Not like a pegasus, but like an eagle…”

“I…I can?” Blueberry asked, walking slowly towards Upper Crust. “I can finally fly?”

“Come with me, and you can be who you truly are.”

Blueberry entered the railway car, where the rest of the Basilisk’s gang were already waiting.

Mrs. Peel laid her careful trap of super thread and then walked into sight of the monster. The giant eagle blundered into it, tangling itself up completely.

At that moment the train pulled out of the station, heading southwest. Peel thought this odd but dismissed it for the moment.

And so, she lost her chance to save Blueberry Frosting from joining the Mutes.

The next day, when she had informed Applejack of the events she had missed, she made a confession: “After I found out that Blueberry was gone, I went back to that net, where that monster eagle was still trapped. And for a long moment, I wanted to kill it, for having a part in the disappearance of my friend. Have…have you ever felt that?”

Applejack nodded. “After my parents died. I was sent off to Manehattan against my will so I wouldn’t do anything I would regret. Getting my cutie mark, both the process that led to me getting it, as well as what happened immediately afterwards…well it really set me straight. I never wanted to kill another monster after that…with one exception.”

And she told of her experience with Nightmare Moon.

“So you faltered once,” observed Lemon. “But you held strong so many times before and since. I find your restraint admirable.”

Applejack nodded grimly. “At the end of the day, all Apples, all Lemons, are monsters,” she told Lemon. “We all have that urge to kill and destroy, an urge that Queen Chrysalis did everything in her power to grow, until changeling minds only knew that urge and the ever-present hunger for love. But through Reformation we found a way to break away from Chrysalis and to suppress that urge into a whisper, so we can finally live our dream of being ponies.

“I will never forget that I am a monster. And somewhere out there might be the next monster that needs my help to become a pony.”

When Amethyst Star heard what had happened, she cursed herself, as she so often did.

Because today there had been another foal delivered at Ponyville Hospital.

A perfectly normal foal. Once she was done with it.

Author's Note

The notes for this chapter are included with Chapter 27.

Chapter 27

The basement of the Golden Oaks Library.

Later that evening.

Twilight and her friends returned from Cloudsdale. (It was the dark of night—they wouldn’t learn about the monster attack, about Blueberry Frosting, until the next morning.) For the most part, they were happy: They had seen a wonderful city and had gotten to walk among the clouds. And Rainbow Dash had saved the day—and Rarity—with her legendary move, silencing her critics and earning her a dinner with her idols.

The only hiccup had been Spike: the cloud walking spell hadn’t worked on him, so he had to spend the day tethered to Twilight like a toddler, always fearful that he would fall off of her back. But now he thought he had a way to fix that problem.

“Twilight?” Spike called out from the top of the stairs leading to the basement.

“Come on down, Spike,” Twilight called back.

Spike descended, to see Twilight on a stepladder. She was wearing her lab coat; a pair of smoky goggles were perched over her horn. She was busy adjusting a small device that was attached to Sonata’s statue. It was a cube a couple of hooves across, with golden edges and clear crystal faces. Small colored lights danced within the cube in a set pattern.

Twilight nudged the cube over just a bit, then took her hooves off of it and looked over at Spike. Seeing that he was holding the book she had bought him in Cloudsdale she asked, “Did you find something?” Spike noticed that the cube was sticking to Sonata’s chest, right over her hooves and the Suppressor.

“You bet!” he declared, walking over to a workbench and spreading open the book.

Twilight climbed down the ladder to join him.

“The pegasi really do remember a lot more about dragons than the other tribes,” Spike said. “This says that dragons enchant their breath—”

“—Which we already knew,” Twilight interrupted.

“—Which we already knew,” Spike said in a slightly annoyed tone, “but they store their magic in gems. And gem-based magic is the easiest way to affect dragons.”

Twilight led Spike over to the statue, saying, “Starswirl studied dragon magic. He was also believed to have written a now-lost book all about gem-based magic, which before now I thought was completely unrelated. Now take a look at this.” She levitated Spike up so he could stand on a platform that had been set up for that purpose. She then reared up and tapped the corners of the crystal cube in a specific way.

The lights inside the cube expanded to completely fill it, then projected outward between them, forming a larger-than-life holographic projection of Sonata’s stone hooves. Twilight began moving her hooves over the sides of the cube, manipulating the projected image.

“Is that earth pony magic?” Spike asked. “Unicorn artifacts usually require unicorn magic to manipulate.”

“Well, the original Examination Cube was one of the eight enchanted items created by Mage Meadowbrook in the Classical Era. It’s usually used to view a sick pony’s organs. Scholars have long claimed without a shred of evidence that Meadowbrook was a unicorn. The current consensus is that we don’t know what her tribe was.”

Spike frowned on hearing the primary use of the Cube. “Oh, I remember that now. It was used on me when I was little. A lot. This unicorn married couple wanted to write a whole book on dragon anatomy based on me. Celestia discredited them after she caught them gassing me for dissection.”

Twilight nearly knocked Spike off of his platform with the speed of her whiplash. “What?! How come I never heard about this?”

“You were in the hospital after you sprained your ankle,” Spike said. “I didn’t even understand what had happened until years later.”

“You, uh…don’t mind me using it?” Twilight asked, looking sheepishly over at him.

“‘Magic is a tool,’” Spike said, quoting one of Twilight’s more frequent sayings back at her. “And Cubes have saved tens of thousands of lives.”

“Which is why I’m trying to use Ponyville Hospital’s Cube quickly, before somepony needs it,” Twilight said. She made some more adjustments to the device, which caused the hooves and body of Sonata to fade away, leaving only the pendant.

Removing her hooves, Twilight faced the image. “The anatomist Von Pretzel developed an entire class of spells for manipulating Examination Cube images. I’ve had to do a bit of work adapting that for images of stone instead of flesh, as well as to correct to the forms that stone was in before the enchantment.” A complex web of laser light projected from Twilight’s horn onto the image, shifting it from stone into a bronze oval surrounding a light purple stone.

“Amethyst!” Spike exclaimed. “That’s in the book!”

Twilight levitated the book over so that Spike could hold it open for her, a rather frequent job of his. After flipping back and forth between a couple of pages, she said, “this is sort of reading between the lines, but it looks like amethyst is good for storing unicorn spells.” She continued casting spells on the image, causing all sorts of arcane symbols to appear in the air, symbols which she then copied into her ubiquitous notebook. “Hold on,” she said when she was finished. She lifted both Spike and the book up with her magic, depositing them on the ground near the workbench. Spike put down the book as Twilight shut off and removed the Cube, carrying it down the stepladder to place on the workbench.

She read the entry in the book a few times. “So, would you like a necklace of your own?” she then asked with a knowing smile. “Not a Suppressor, but a way to cast a long-term spell on you. Any single spell you want I can put it in there, and it will actually affect you.”

“Would I?” Spike replied with a grin. “You’ll be able to switch out the spells, right?”

“Yes, given enough time,” Twilight said. She pulled out a sheet of parchment, her quill and ink so she could begin working on the enchantment equations. “A few hours to cast each one, I’d say. Cloud walking one week, super strength for another… That was one thing I really missed out on during my school days—trying out spells on other unicorns, and them trying theirs out on me. I was too powerful to team up with anypony.”

“Do you expect me to be responsible with my newfound power?”

“Oh hay no! We will Science this business to the Badlands and back, Brother!”

She then levitated Spike up so they could do a proper “high hoof”, laughing the whole time.

Author's Note

Notes for this and several earlier chapters.

Chapter 28

Ponyville’s Stirrup Street.

August 30. Three days after “Sonic Rainboom”, two days after “A Bird in the Hoof” and one day after “Family Appreciation Day”. Monday.

Dear Lyra,

Could you come by my place after you finish your busking this morning? I have something important to ask you.

Your Friend,

Bon-Bon

P.S. I’m opening the shop late today, so just let yourself in. I’ll be waiting for you in the living room.

After giving the letter to Derpy and setting up the “Closed” sign, Bon-Bon headed up the back stair of her shop to her living area. The first room off of the top of the stairs was the living room.

Twenty minutes later, Bon-Bon finished adjusting the last of the invisible wires that outlined the four walls, floor and ceiling of her living room. She stepped into the neighboring bathroom and checked a cabinet under a sink, where the various wires were attached to two large unicorn batteries in series. Gauges on top of the batteries indicated that they were at full capacity.

“My coat is red,” she stated out loud, then nodded at her ability to state the lie.

She then stepped into the living room.

“Cows la-a-a-a-A-A-AY!” she tried to say, as an incredible pressure built inside her head. “—DON’T lay eggs,” she finally was forced to say.

The Truth Field was in successful operation. She checked the batteries once again—they were now at 95% each.

Her trap laid, Former Agent Sweetie Drops went to the sideboard to make some tea.

After all, you couldn’t perform a decent interrogation without a cup of tea!

"Starsinger they wait for your songs,
Out on that wide milky highway, you see.
Starsinger they’ll all sing along,
Come out to the starlanes with me.”

Lyra trotted down the street, singing and strumming a happy tune on her lyre that none of the other ponies recognized. (She usually skipped over the part where she identified herself as the “gypsy companion” to the main character in the song.) She stopped on seeing the time on the town’s clock tower. “Oops, I’m late,” she said to herself. “I hope Bon-Bon won’t be too mad.”

She walked up to the door of the closed sweet shop, double-checked Bon-Bon’s letter, and knocked just to be sure. When there was no answer, she got out her key and let herself in.

“Bon-Bon, I’m here!” she called out after she was inside.

There was no answer.

She went up the stairs, looking curiously around her at cameo portraits of members of Bon-Bon’s family. They looked suspiciously like the generic cameos that you got when you bought the picture frames.

“Bon-Bon?” she cried out again.

Still no answer.

Looking through the open doorway, she saw Bon-Bon in the living room. She was engrossed with a large book that was sitting on the main piece of furniture in the room, a large coffee table. A small couch was on each side of the table; Bon-Bon was sitting in one of them, with a pair of saddlebags right next to her. A tea set was sitting on a cozy on the side of the table opposite the earth pony, and a drained teacup was within reach.

“Hi, Bon-Bon,” Lyra said as she walked into the room. As was usual with Bon-Bon, she never seemed to recognize her own name being spoken. Lyra put a hoof to one ear as she tried to figure out the weird sensation she had experienced on crossing the threshold.

With a resigned shrug, she dropped the matter and walked over to the kettle to pour herself a cup of tea. Lyra used her levitation to add some sugar and cream and took a sip. A quick application of her magic brought the mixture to the perfect temperature, and she sipped once more, smiling at the taste. She remained standing, wondering how long it would take Bon-Bon to notice her. Lyra turned her head and saw that the book her friend was poring over was one of the volumes of Star Swirl’s Encyclopedia.

Bon-Bon was indeed studying the reference volume. She was looking over the entry for Timber Wolves, absorbing every detail of their fighting strategies.

She closed her eyes, and imagined herself in the Everfree, confronted by three of the creatures. Using the knowledge from the text she jumped and rebounded from one tree to another, effortlessly evading her attackers’ every move. And then she turned to the offensive. She cornered the smallest of the creatures and with a mighty blow destroyed it. She turned to the others, bloodlust in her eyes…

“Bonny!” Lyra said firmly, tapping Bon-Bon on the shoulder.

Bon-Bon jumped, but quickly recovered from the interruption of her dark fantasy. “Oh…Lyra. We need to talk.” With a frown, she turned to the saddlebags resting on the couch beside her and began digging through their contents.

“Oh?” asked Lyra. She took up a very un-ponylike posture on the couch facing Bon-Bon’s. She rested her head in her forehooves as she leaned her elbows on the table and leaned forward.

Bon-Bon leaned back in apprehension—it was an extremely-unponylike pose. “Is this you?” she asked.

Placed onto the table between them was yesterday’s issue of the Cloudsdale Herald’s sports section. The front-page picture showed the Wonderbolts holding Rainbow Dash aloft at the Cloudsdale Auditorium. A sea of faces could be clearly seen behind them, including Twilight Sparkle, Applejack and an uncharacteristically enthusiastic Fluttershy. Bon-Bon’s hoof was pointing at another unicorn’s face, one that was hard to recognize with the graininess of the image.

Lyra looked down at the image for a moment. “Yup. That’s me.”

While she was answering, Bon-Bon had reached into her bags to remove a photograph. It was a color enlargement of the newspaper photograph, much clearer than the newspaper copy, and clearly showing Lyra’s face. “It will make things a lot easier if you don’t—” Bon-Bon began, before realizing that Lyra hadn’t tried to lie. “Um…”

Lyra picked up the photo. “Wow, Bon-Bon! You must have gone through an awful lot of work to get this! Do you know somepony at the Herald?”

“Yes, he’s an old friend of…hey wait a minute! I’m asking the questions here!”

Lyra positively beamed at the last thing Bon-Bon said. “Check!” she exclaimed.

“What? No, forget that. I demand an explanation!”

"Check,” Lyra muttered under her breath. Bon-Bon failed to notice.

“How were you able to attend the Best Young Flyer’s Competition? Those bleachers are made of cloudstuff—no earth pony or unicorn can sit on them without falling through.”

“Oh?” Lyra asked in ignorance. She examined both photographs. “Well, how are Twilight and Applejack sitting then? I’d mention Pinkie Pie as well, but…well…”

“Yes, I’m willing to leave Pinkie Pie out of this. Twilight and Applejack—and Rarity, who was cropped out of this photo—were able to sit because Twilight had cast the Cloud Walking spell upon them.”

“Ah,” said Lyra. “There you go.”

“Are you saying that Twilight cast the Cloud Walking spell on you?” Bon-Bon asked warily. “Because I asked Twilight afterwards, and she said—”

“No, I mean that I cast the spell,” Lyra said with a grin at coming up with such a good answer. “On myself.”

“I happen to know that Cloud Walking is an extremely difficult spell. Certainly not a spell that an ordinary unicorn can cast. What are you hiding from me?”

Lyra leaned back a bit in response to Bon-Bon’s severe stare. “Well…um…I’m a graduate of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.”

“Why did you never tell me before?”

“Well…um…” Lyra said, casting about for an answer. “Graduates of that school have a certain…reputation…of being unicorn supremacists. And since I never use any of those spells here in Ponyville, I figured that I didn’t need to complicate our relationship with that particular revelation.”

“I can’t believe it,” Bon-Bon said, shaking her head. “How could you keep a secret this big from me? We’ve spoken in this room before!”

Lyra turned her head partially, mostly to hide the rising eyebrow.

“You were in the school during the time when Twilight Sparkle was a student,” Bon-Bon continued, “and therefore you must have known her.”

“…Yeah…” Lyra reluctantly admitted. “But you’ve made up with her, right? I mean, you must have joined her club in order to get a hold of that volume there.”

“That means nothing! You lied to me about Twilight Sparkle!” Bon-Bon countered weakly. “I just…I don’t think we can remain friends with secrets like this between us. I don’t want to see you again.”

Lyra got up, her mouth agape. “Just like that? One little secret on my side, while you…is ‘Bon-Bon’ even your real name?”

Bon-Bon jumped to her hooves. “What is that supposed to mean?” she asked.

Lyra waved her hooves playfully. “Hey, I was only joking on the fact that you never seem to notice when somepony calls your name. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Bon-Bon snarled. “Get out of my sight!” she hissed.

Lyra backed away slowly. “I’ll get back to you when you’ve calmed down.”

“Get out of my life!” Bon-Bon screamed.

With a bewildered shake of her head, Lyra retreated.

Bon-Bon went straight for the bathroom batteries.

“95%?” she said incredulously. “How can they still be at 95%? Even if she was the most-powerful unicorn in existence, she still should have drained the batteries! How can she lie and not even be detected?” She returned to the window, to see a disheartened Lyra making her way down the street, her head bowed.

“Is she even really a pony?” she asked herself.

Author's Note

Notes for this chapter can be found with Chapter 35.

Chapter 29

Twilight’s Lab.

September 1. Wednesday. The day after “Lesson Zero”.

Twilight waited in her bed with her eyes closed until she heard Spike snoring, then got up quietly and went down to the basement lab, there to continue her work on freeing the siren Sonata from her stony prison. She checked a number of instruments that were attached to the statue, with wires leading to a pen recorder to graph out the results over time.

Twilight looked over the absolutely straight lines with a frown.

“No luck?” asked a voice from the darkness.

“Luna,” Twilight declared with absolute certainty. After all, she heard that voice in her dreams more often than her own most nights. “I mean…Princess Luna?”

Luna stepped into the light. She was nearly an adult now. “I think after what we have been through together, we are far beyond the need for titles.”

“Yes, I suppose so,” said Twilight. “You’re doing really well with modernizing your speech.”

“Thank you. I have practiced diligently. At the insistence of both Spike and you.”

“Well, I thought it was an easy way to remove one possible barrier to being accepted by most ponies,” Twilight explained. She ushered the alicorn over to take a look at her readings. “You didn’t tell me in your last letter that you’d be visiting. I would have started a brew.”

One of the things that Twilight worked on with Luna was ways that the two princesses differed—ways that wouldn’t unnerve other ponies. While it was well-known how much Celestia loved both making and drinking the tea of the lost kirin, Luna was fond of an equally intricate process, to brew the perfect cup of Saddle Arabian coffee.

“And you didn’t say you’d made any progress, any reason for working on this problem at one o’clock in the morning. I know you are a bit nocturnal for a normal pony, but this is a bit much.”

Twilight looked plaintively up at the Princess. “Have you been reading the letters I’ve been sending?”

“You’ve addressed them to both of us,” Luna replied.

“Yes.” Twilight nerved herself. “And…have you heard about what I did today with the ‘want it, need it’ spell?”

“Yes,” Luna said, with a hint of steel in her voice. “Do I have to tell you as well why what you did to those ponies was wrong?” She looked off in the direction of Canterlot Castle. “I know that we didn’t respect the privacy rights of the lower classes in the old days, but what you did still went beyond the pale.”

“I know,” Twilight said wearily. “I knew the whole time I did it, but I did it anyway. Because I dreaded losing the respect of your sister even more.” Twilight took her own turn at looking at something that was not directly visible to her: the location where Spike was sleeping above her. “I thought I might have gotten rid of my personality flaws when I made up with Siren Me.” She rolled her eyes at an unheard remark. “You know what I mean,” she muttered to her other self. “But here’s a whole new personality flaw to deal with! When will I have a shot of being as perfect as you?”

Luna raised an amused eyebrow. “You do remember who you are addressing, yes?”

Twilight lowered her head in embarrassment.

Luna raised it again with a hoof. “And Celestia is not flawless, either—as you seem to keep forgetting.” She sighed, a smile still upon her lips. “I admire you, Twilight.”

“You do?”

“Yes. Because you keep on trying. In the few centuries of my life that I can remember, I recall dozens of ponies more flawed than you, none of whom even tried to dig themselves out of their personal holes. While you’ve dug out of your first two holes before the age of thirty.”

Twilight shrugged, unsure how to respond.

Luna then turned to the statue that was next to them. “I am also here for her. I think…I think I need to visit Sonata more often, given your lack of progress.” She gave Twilight a look to convey that she did not fault Twilight for failing to succeed after less than a year of work.

“Visit Sonata? What kind of result do you think that will have?”

“Twilight, do you know what it’s like to be frozen in stone?”

“Yes,” said Twilight with a shudder. “I ran into a cockatrice in the Everfree. For me, a couple of hours went by in seconds. I experienced all two hours of time, compressed into that little space.” She closed her eyes as she thought back. “And…it stuck. All of those memories stuck, forming this big, tangled mess in my head.”

Luna nodded. “That’s the same thing I experienced being frozen as a spare thought inside Nightmare Moon. The old me insisted that I retain that experience.”

Twilight shrugged. “If you say so. I don’t remember everything and frankly, I’m thankful for that. The old you—” She stopped herself in time.

“—Did some truly awful things, which the two of you decided to withhold from my ‘delicate sensibilities’,” Luna said coldly.

“Well, do you blame us? I wouldn’t wish those memories on Nightmare Moon herself.”

“I talked to Sonata once about what it was like to be petrified. And what she said lines up with my phantom existence within Nightmare Moon’s consciousness, and what you described: time speeding by, years going by like seconds.” She looked off into the distance. “The buildup of complete memories stacked up insanely, going far, far too fast to comprehend. And somehow, everything sticks. And then sometimes, in your dreams, something random…something horrifying…just pops into your mind. She used songs to keep everything straight.”

Twilight nodded grimly. “Sounds like getting a lifetime of some other pony’s memories shoved into your head in less than a day.”

Luna nodded. “Sombra told her that he had found and revived many another wicked pony who had been petrified for their crimes. Most of them were utterly insane—the way they were forced to experience time was more than their poor brains could handle. Luckily your mind was organized enough to survive a comparable experience.”

“Yes, lucky me,” Twilight said acidly. She looked over at Sonata. “So, you’re saying that at some level she is seeing and hearing what we are saying right now?”

Luna nodded. “I think if I keep telling her this:” She turned to Sonata, put herself squarely into her field of vision. “I forgive you, Sonata. You are not wholly responsible for what happened to me. At worst, you pushed along something that would have happened anyway without you. I forgive you, and I miss you. I want you back as my friend. I want to show you this remarkable world that Celestia made over a thousand years for me. A world that loves the dark as we do. A world that I hope can accept me for who I am, and maybe even you for who you are. Never forget that I am immortal, dear Sonata. And I will wait for you until the end of time.”

She looked back over to Twilight. “And I will keep telling her that until it sticks. Even after you die. Or perhaps…you won’t.”

Twilight groaned. “She told you, didn’t she? Princess Celestia told you.” She looked away in shame. “With what’s been happening to me lately, I bet she regrets telling me about that spell.”

“No,” Luna said firmly. “And if she did, I would stand up for you. If you are imagining ponies more deserving of this gift than you are then they are exactly that: imaginary beings. Being an alicorn is a baptism by fire, having the lives of thousands of ponies balanced on the ends of your hooves, and knowing that your every mistake will have catastrophic consequences.” Her expression softened. “Celestia and I are letting you make your catastrophes now, when you have far less responsibility and you’re operating in what my sister tells me is ‘Equestria’s only disaster-proof town’.

“As for how I know about that little spell, Celestia caught me trying to find my own way to make you immortal, and told me that, like everything else, she already had the matter in hoof.” With that, Luna placed her own larger hoof over Twilight’s small one. “Just like with Sonata, I am willing to wait,” she said. “You are the only pony in all of Creation who truly understands me.”

“Because I made you, Luna. Don’t you find that bizarre?”

Luna shrugged. “I myself am strange and unusual,” she said. “Besides, you don’t remember most of it, so that means I get to surprise you from time to time.”

Twilight looked distinctly uncomfortable, which amused Luna to no end.

“So that’s two items off of the checklist. Number three is to answer your questions about Sonata. You do have questions, don’t you? Questions that only a friend of hers could answer.”

“Oh, OK!” Twilight exclaimed, sitting down. “My first question—”

“Come over here, Twilight,” Luna chided. “Sonata can’t see you from over there.”

“Oh…right.” She moved her cushion over so that she was beside Luna.

“Perfect!” Luna exclaimed. She looked over at Sonata with a smile, which faded as she realized what the pair of them might look like to the siren. “Oh, don’t you worry, Sonata. There’s no chance that Twilight will get in the way of our friendship. My feelings for her are completely different.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Twilight said.

Luna smiled archly at Twilight, in a way that made her blush without knowing why.

She turned her head and raised a hoof to her mouth as she loudly cleared her throat. “Now then! My first question was regarding something I remembered…from you…about siren relations with their parents and children. Do you happen to know the circumstances of that particular conversation?”

“So, you don’t remember it?” Luna asked.

“I find that the things I want to remember are the things that I never remember.”

“Alright,” said Luna. “It went something like this…

“Did you ever know your parents?” Sonata had asked. The two of them were in Luna’s lab, working on a cure for a magical blight that was afflicting the crops in the Western Province.

Luna spit out the soup she had been drinking. “Sonata!” she exclaimed. “My parents died shortly after I was born.”

“So…too soon?”

“Your parents, but…” Twilight began to say. “…Did you even know when your father died?”

Luna leaned forward with a grin.

“Wait…” Twilight said as she reviewed the words that had popped unbidden out of her mouth. “You and Celestia were only…half-sisters? Is that right?”

“Yes,” said Luna. “My father was an umbrum.”

“A spirit that haunts the nightmares of ponies and other sapient creatures,” said Twilight, gesturing towards a bookshelf containing the set of Luna’s monster observations. “No wonder the entry you wrote on them was so robust. Wait, so you’re half monster?”

“Correct,” Luna said with a nod. For a moment her eyes changed to those of Nightmare Moon before reverting. “I think that’s why I was able to get through to Sonata so easily.”

“So, um…” Twilight said cautiously. “Did that have anything to do with why you became Nightmare Moon? No offense.”

“No, I understand,” said Luna calmly. “It’s a natural question under the circumstances. No, I don’t believe that I had any animosity towards ponies before I started using dark magic. The circumstances of my birth may explain the mark I got, and my nocturnal nature. But that alone doesn’t explain my descent. I refuse to give any credit to an outside source for that.” She looked down at her hooves. “I fully own up to what I did, since for most of the process I was fully in control. And I will spend multiple lifetimes to atone for my actions, if not to the descendants of my victims, then to ensure that nopony ever suffer as I did.” She looked over at Sonata. “I hope you were paying attention to that part. I very much expect you to do something similar when you get out.”

“Great,” Twilight said sarcastically. “You just gave her a great reason to never unfreeze herself.”

Luna shoved her playfully with her shoulder. “Quiet, you. Anyway, as I was saying…

“But you have fond memories of them, right?” Sonata asked, referring to Luna’s parents.

“Sure, I suppose so. Most ponies love their parents, at least a little.”

“Yeah,” said Sonata, growing distant. “I get that. And the thing is, that’s kinda weird for a siren. Positive emotions are not our thing, and positive emotions towards parents, considering how we’re born…well, that never happens. But…I love my mother. Even though our relationship was…complicated.” She looked over at Luna and flashed her a fanged smile. “It’s weird for sirens, but normal for ponies. So I guess that makes me an honorary pony, right?”

“What was she like?” Twilight interrupted. “And it was exclusively she, since all Sirens were female.”

“You’re stepping on my line,” Luna said with a mocking frown.

“Oh! Well go ahead then.”

“What was she like?” Luna asked.

“Unlike most sirens, I know who my mother was. She didn’t want me to know. In fact, she told the two of us that we were her sisters and lost our memories as a result of a pony’s spell, but I figured it out. Aria wouldn’t believe me, but Adagio was obviously our mother. She was much smarter than us, and had this elaborate plan that needed all three of us in order to work, so…it’s obvious, right?”

“Where do you think she is now? She and your sister?”

“Oh probably lording it over some defenseless realm where they don’t even know how to use magic. Knowing my mom, she’s got the whole world over there enslaved, and happy to be her slaves.” She had a look of simple happiness on her face.

And once again, I was reminded how much siren morality differed from pony morality, even when the siren was as nice as you could possibly get.

“Did you have any other questions?”

Twilight looked up at the statue of Sonata. Tried to imagine herself as a siren. “Do you think she had any children?”

Luna looked up at Sonata’s face. Tried to tune out the expression of horror and imagine her as she was in the conversation she was remembering. “Her? I can’t even imagine it. She was a child, Twilight. A nice child that gets along well with adults like you or me, but a child, nonetheless. I cannot envision her as a parent.”

Twilight sighed. “Yeah. Neither can I.”

Author's Note

Notes for this chapter can be found with Chapter 35.

Chapter 30

“If there isn’t anything else, then I should return to Night Court,” Luna said, turning to the stairs. “There is still an infinitesimal chance that I might have a pony waiting to see me tonight.”

“Wait!” exclaimed Twilight, starting after her. “I wanted to know about Discord.”

Luna froze in place, her fur standing on end. She turned and stared imperiously down at Twilight. “No,” she said at last. “With any luck you will never need to know about that demon. He stole from me the last bit of hope I had left in the world. I will not allow Him to do the same with you.”

Twilight stopped herself, dropping the hoof she had raised towards the Princess of the Night. “What…what did he do?”

“It was less what He did and more what He is.” Luna said. “Discord is the antithesis of everything Pony. If, by some horrible chance you ever encounter Him, you must promise me that you will never allow Him to have His way. He can never be allowed to succeed, at anything.”

“But what does he want?” Twilight pleaded.

“The utter destruction of everything that ponies stand for. Monsters are His creation.” That last bit was tossed off, and Luna instantly regretted saying it.

“What? How is that even possible?” Twilight asked. “Monsters are the natural byproduct of light magic.” Her brain began to go into overdrive. “And Ponies originated light magic. In a pre-Pony, pre-cutie mark world, no species as vulnerable as Ponies could possibly survive if light magic were as inefficient as it is now. So this Discord must have changed the nature of light magic. But…that would mean that Discord is a god! Is that why you’ve been using capitalized pronouns? But what about our Creator? What about Harmony? Wouldn’t She have stopped Discord?”

“I’ve…got to go,” Luna said, trying to use her wings to flap her way up the steps and out to freedom. She was grasped by the telekinetic grip of the distracted Twilight Sparkle and slowly pulled down to the ground to face her.

“And that’s another thing,” Twilight continued, her eyes unfocused. “Harmony doesn’t really have any place in Pony history—She only shows up in the Oral Tradition, where there’s no way to prove Her existence. The rest of Creation consists of Science instead of Magic, of species originating from evolution and then only learning magic from Ponies, with only a few key exceptions. It’s like the rest of Equus answers to a different set of laws, a different Creator entirely…”

Twilight stopped breathing for a few seconds as her stupendous intellect re-arranged a lifetime of data, the answers to every “why?” question she had ever asked. “…And that true Creator is Discord.”

Luna bowed her head in defeat as Twilight continued.

“Discord is this world’s god,” said Twilight. “And His primary law is Natural Selection. Nothing allowed to last, especially happiness. Individuals forced by the brutality of nature to constantly turn on each other. Discord’s Nature. Love only existing as lust. The males physically dominating the females, and the females using guile to betray the males! And friendship…friendship is impossible!

“What…what must Discord have thought of Ponies when He first discovered them? An abomination! Beings that actually achieve what they want, that are actually happy? He must hate us!”

She stopped panting, the emotional parts of her mind catching up with her rational conclusions. Including the one partitioned part…

“He made us hate you! Twisted us into His cowardly tools! How dare He! I hate Him! And…” A realization then, one that nearly blew Siren Twilight’s mind. “And this hatred sickens me!”

Luna stepped forward, recognizing who it was who was speaking. She silently put a hoof on Twilight’s withers and rubbed gently.

Slowly, her breathing slowed down. She looked up at her and smiled. “Wow. You really are tall. What’s up?”

Luna laughed.

Siren Twilight mirrored that laugh. “Yeah,” she said, then looked deep in Luna’s eyes, reading her long-term intentions. “Sure. You want us? Go for—ACK!”

Pony Twilight’s face turned bright scarlet as she turned away. “I’ve…I’ve got a lot to think about. About Discord and…the other thing.”

“I’ll let myself out,” Luna said with a smug smile on her face.

Chapter 31

Ponyville. Golden Oaks Library.

September 4. Saturday. Two days after “A Dog and Pony Show”. The day of “Sisterhooves Social”.

"I sent off another Friendship Lesson!” Spike exclaimed as he entered the library. A quiet—yet perfectly coiffed—Rarity and Sweetie Belle followed behind him.

“That’s great!” Twilight said from the kitchen. “Go ahead and get yourself a seat. I’m making popcorn!”

Rarity sniffed the air. “That doesn’t smell like popcorn…”

Sweetie sniffed the air. “No, it smells more like my popcorn.”

“Rarity?” Twilight asked, walking out of the kitchen. A waft of black smoke followed above her head.

Spike walked around her and pushed her completely out of the kitchen. “I’ll make the popcorn,” he said. “Rarity and her sister Sweetie wanted to ask you about something.” He opened a cabinet to remove a fire extinguisher.

“Oh,” a disappointed Twilight said, removing an apron and hanging it up. “I was only trying to help.”

Spike poked his head out of the wall of white smoke created by extinguishing the blazing fire on top of the stove. “And I appreciate it. Really. Now let me do this while you do your friendship thing.”

Twilight put on a wavering smile. “Thank you, Little Brother.”

Spike smiled confidently. “No problem, Big Sister.”

There was a loud “fwoosh!” behind him as the fire re-lit.

“Oh no you don’t!” Spike cried, diving back into the smoke.

Twilight cast one spell to open the kitchen window and vent out the smoke—unknowingly making the fire even bigger—and another to keep all the smoke from contaminating the library. After all, smoke damage is very bad for books. “So, was the friendship lesson regarding you two?” she asked as she led the two white unicorns into the main reading room.

“Oh, we had some sibling issues,” Rarity said, suddenly self-conscious about airing her mistakes for yet another pony’s ears. “Now did I hear correctly?” she then asked, trying to change the subject. “Are you and Spike sister and brother now?”

“Yes,” said Twilight, floating over a couple of cups of tea for her two guests. “It’s done wonders for our relationship, although your example points to ways we might have to work on that relationship. Rarity, did I get your cup right? I can always add more lemon.”

“No, this is fine.” Rarity said after a polite sip.

“Could I have some more sugar?” Sweetie asked.

“Of course,” Twilight said, floating over the sugar bowl.

Sweetie tried to take it with her own magic, but faltered. Rarity calmly caught the falling bowl and floated it the rest of the way over to her sister without showing any sign of disapproval or disgust with Sweetie’s lack of expertise.

Twilight sighed, not sure that she would be as nonchalant with Spike in a similar scenario, even with them now as siblings. “So was that why Spike invited you two over to visit?”

“Well, no,” Rarity said, still hesitant. “I’d be happy to tell you what happened at the Social today if you’d like, but this is different.”

“Different how?”

“It’s sort of complicated.”

Sweetie frowned, seeing how Rarity was trying to drag this out. “We want to know if you can use your magic to fix my memories,” she said.

“Your memories?” Twilight asked in confusion.

“Rarity stole some of them,” Sweetie said. She deliberately waited a few seconds to see the looks of shock play out across both of the mares’ faces before adding, “Accidentally.”

“You didn’t do that!” Spike exclaimed, walking into the room with a big bowl of popcorn.

“No, Spike. I did,” Rarity said, her head bowed. “It’s the fatal flaw of my cutie mark.”

Spike put the bowl down on the table that was located between the sitting ponies, then climbed up on his own cushion. “What do you mean?”

Rarity stopped and took a moment to look around her. Sweetie knew exactly what she was talking about, because she had lived it. Twilight had at least half of the story. But Spike…

“Applejack at our sleepover two months ago asked me why I even design clothes. Now don’t work yourself up about it, Spike, she actually had a good point: Most of the ponies with clothes are nobleponies, who use their clothes to lord it over the common ponies. And…much as I hate to admit it, most of the fashionistas in Equestria work for those nobleponies, working to make the clothes as dominating as possible.

“I’m not like that. I…try not to be like that. That’s what I explained to Applejack, after she apologized for asking the question. What I do in my job is bring out inner beauty. My cutie mark gives me visions: the ability to look at a down-on-her-luck pony and see what she needs to wear, in order to become the pony she deserves to be. My mark allows me to create the Perfect Moment. I live for the Perfect Moment.”

Rarity paused. “That’s where I stopped at the sleepover. That’s the line I give to anypony who asks me what I do: ‘I live for the perfect moment’.” Her voice got very quiet. “But I never see those moments anymore. I find a way to cancel every invitation I get—and I get a lot of invitations. Because when I witness a perfect moment…I steal it.” She sighed deeply before nerving herself to look into the wavering eyes of her number one fan. “My cutie mark reaches into their minds, and steals that perfect little memory from their minds, so that it’s mine and mine alone. I remember it forever, while they…” She gestured towards Sweetie.

“Rarity organized my whole fifth birthday party after the old plans fell through,” she said. “The dresses for me and all my friends, the cake, the games, even the prizes!” She pulled a photo album out of her saddlebags and opened it. “And this is the only way I have of knowing that it actually happened! I went to sleep after the best birthday ever, and woke up the next morning thinking that it hadn’t happened yet.”

“I didn’t believe it at first,” Rarity said. “I had just gotten my cutie mark, and it had worked so well for me. And Sweetie and I had a rivalry going, competing for our parents’ attention. So even something as nice as that party was also me trying to impress Sweetie’s friends and their families. So I thought she was lying. And those new memories were my imagining what it must have been like for Sweetie. And”—she winced in anticipation—“I did it to her a couple more times before I finally realized what I was doing.” She pulled Sweetie into a reluctant hug. “And I haven’t been able to reverse it. So, is there anything you can do, Twilight?”

Twilight pulled the two sisters into a hug. (Spike wanted to hug Rarity, but thought it would come off as too needy in the moment, so he just wrung his claws.) After that, she started pulling out her spell books. “There’s not much, I’m afraid,” she said first to set expectations. “I mean, I might be able to show you the memories that were taken, but I don’t think I can put them back—that would only work for extremely-recent memories.”

“Well…seeing them is better than not seeing them,” Sweetie said.

And so Twilight got to work. The spell she ended up using was not quite the same spell as the one she used on Princess Luna, but it was in the same family. She was able to project each memory on a screen which Spike had thoughtfully set up based on her mumbling during the research phase. So they all got to see a hoof-full of significant moments from Sweetie’s life. Since all of them were happy ones, the filly didn’t mind. She was just happy to see these events from her own eyes.

For that’s what they were, memories of Sweetie’s that were embedded in Rarity’s mind. Each of them sparkled in the mindscape like black opals before Twilight dived into them. In Twilight’s amateur opinion, they were clearly unnatural and, as Rarity had stated, they looked to be permanent, just as clear and detailed as the moment when they were first experienced.

Twilight saw a distinctly satisfied expression on Rarity’s face as each memory was replayed. It made sense, Twilight supposed—her cutie mark was about creating these “Perfect Moments” in other ponies, so Rarity should get a special feeling anytime she succeeded in generating one, much like Twilight felt whenever she made a breakthrough in her spell studies. Still…

“This is a rather nasty power to attach to a cutie mark,” Twilight observed.

“I don’t suppose it’s possible to get rid of it, while keeping the ability to see how to use fashion to self-actualize?” Rarity asked, with a tone that suggested that she knew the answer.

“No,” Twilight said. “Cutie mark magic is not to be messed with under most circumstances. The only thing I might possibly accomplish is removing your cutie mark entirely, so you could try to regain it under different circumstances. And that would require the magic of twenty unicorns.”

Or one Twilight Sparkle, a snarky voice in the back of Twilight’s mind added. She merely turned her head slightly so she could roll her eyes in response to that mental remark.

“No, I definitely wouldn’t want to risk that.”

Sweetie nodded sympathetically. “She might only have the gem-finding power the second time around, and have to live in the dirt all the time.”

“The dirt I might force myself to get used to. The dungarees, on the other hoof…”

Both sisters shuddered at the thought of Rarity forced to wear one of those.

The other pair of siblings shared a look: I hope we don’t ever get that weird, it said.

Once Sweetie had been shown her lost memories and it had been determined that a more-permanent solution was not available, the adults had started talking boring grown-up stuff like “friendship lessons” and dresses. The former was kinda silly to Sweetie, since she was such good friends with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, and that had happened without any lessons. And dresses…dresses were nice, but Rarity had a habit of ruining everything good about them.

Sweetie soon became bored. Spike was hanging off of Rarity’s every word, so he was no good. The library itself had been exhausted as a source for cutie marks. (And besides, Sweetie wanted to earn hers beside her friends. It just didn’t seem right to get hers all by herself.) She wasn’t going to read a book because she could do that back in her room. That left only one thing interesting—and potentially breakable—for her to interact with. And that was the pedestal with the force field around it.

There was a stepladder leading up to a little seat for Spike when he was assisting Twilight. Sweetie Belle climbed up there, and looked down at the book. She tried to turn the pages, but was blocked by the field. She tried to use her telekinesis, and was unable to summon enough mana to do anything. So she was stuck with the current spread of pages, the ones documenting Sirens.

Sweetie was rather concerned to discover the existence of a race of monsters that could work on ponies’ emotions. She was relieved when she read the attached note written by Spike that noted that Sirens were extinct. But then she read the last sentence of the entry: “Monsters capable of manipulating other emotions are believed to exist, but nothing is known of them.”

She would end up having nightmares for a week afterwards on this sentence alone.

Eventually the conversation between Twilight and Rarity came to its conclusion, and the two sisters returned home, while Twilight and Spike retired to bed.

Late that night Twilight awoke to the sound of somepony tapping at the inside of her head.

‘I wanna go to the basement,’ her own voice thought at her.

With a sigh, Twilight got up and did as she had told herself to do. “Now what?” she said.

‘You cast Analysis spell on her?’

“Sure. It was the very first thing. But as I expected it didn’t work, because Star Swirl put an Analysis-blocking spell on the Suppressor. Otherwise it would be easy to liberate her from its effect.”

‘You cast on necklace. I want to cast on Sonata. Make a siren-to-siren link.”

Twilight thought for a moment. “Analysis has been used to create mental links with constructs. Perhaps being in stone puts her in that category. Or maybe the Siren thing might do it. Go ahead.” And she surrendered her body to her other half.

Siren Twilight climbed the stepladder, charged her horn, and then touched it to Sonata’s forehead. There was a brief flash. And then Siren Twilight descended the stepladder in confusion and hoofed control back to Pony Twilight.

“So?”

‘She gave us a spell. Nothing else. No thoughts.’

Pony Twilight searched her own methodically-organized mind, and found the new spell. “It…lets you control ponies you’ve already put under the Hate spell,” she said.

‘No,’ Siren Twilight corrected. ‘We already control with Hate. Spell changes control. Changes Hate. Makes it less nasty.”

Twilight climbed up the stairs as she heard her other half’s thoughts. “Then I’ll study it,” she said, turning off the light and closing the door. “Tomorrow. Now we go to bed.”

She heard nothing but the faint impression of snoring inside her mind.

Chapter 32

September 29. A lot of episodes have happened since the last chapter: “The Cutie Mark Chronicles”, “Owl’s Well That Ends Well”, “The Cutie Pox”, “Baby Cakes”, “Ponyville Confidential”, “The Last Roundup”… It’s four days after “The Mysterious Mare Do Well”. It’s the last day of “One Bad Apple”. And it’s Tuesday.

Despite some bad things happening this had been a great week for Sweetie Belle.

Bad Thing #1 was Rarity being buried under a mountain of orders. But that meant that she wasn’t constantly trying to butt into Sweetie’s life. (Sweetie liked how Rarity had changed as a result of the Sisterhooves Social, but that change had come with a tendency to get a little too sisterly at times.)

Bad Thing #2 was Scootaloo being out of town so she could be with her parents, who only came home every few years or so. Of course, it was incredibly selfish of Sweetie to label this event as “bad”, but the fact was, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were supposed to be inseparable, yet here they were…separated. For two whole weeks! However, having Apple Bloom to herself meant that Sweetie Belle saw a completely different side to her, one willing to help with crossword puzzles, have a book club discussion of Grace of Green Gables, or try on dresses, all activities that never would have happened with Scootaloo around.

Bad Thing #3 was Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon finally leaving them alone. Wait, that wasn’t bad at all. At first, the two snobs had been too busy dealing with their part in the Gabby Gums debacle from two weeks earlier to dare to be seen around the CMC. But then starting this week, they had just sort of disappeared from view. Oh, they would show up for class, but they always seemed distracted, looking out the window and counting the minutes until the end of class like Snips or Snails. And once the school door was opened at the end of the day they would race out, and that would be the end of them until the next day. It was a good thing…but kind of nerve-wracking. Sweetie Belle had a feeling in her gut that the last horseshoe was about to drop…what she would end up calling “Bad Thing #4”.

~ ~ ~

The unraveling of Sweetie’s good mood had actually begun on Thursday afternoon, when Sweetie had visited Apple Bloom at Sweet Apple Acres for a study session. Sweetie had expected to spend the day with Apple Bloom in the CMC Clubhouse, but Bloom had said that her cousin, Babs Seed from Manehattan, was visiting and Bloom had let her move into the clubhouse. Sweetie had wanted to meet Babs, but Bloom had instead taken her up to her room in the farmhouse. She had seen Babs walking through the kitchen when they were preparing snacks. She had tried to introduce herself, but Babs only glared at her and walked past. She dismissed the encounter and thought nothing more of it.

~ ~ ~

On Monday night, Sweetie was preparing to leave Carousel Boutique to return to the Belle House. As she was gathering her things, there was a knock on the door. A curious Sweetie peeked out the window a few seconds later and saw Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon and Babs Seed talking to Rarity. Considering how busy Rarity was, she expected that the conversation to be brief, but instead Rarity had invited the three fillies into the Boutique. Sweetie had walked past on her way out, and again Babs glared at her.

The next morning had turned out to be unexpectedly chilly, and so Sweetie had run over to the Boutique to pick up a scarf. She found Rarity working furiously at her sewing machine. Beside her were about a dozen dresses for fillies. The drawings on the walls made it clear that she had completely ignored her orders to spend all night working for Diamond, Silver and Babs.

~ ~ ~

The major event, though, was Tuesday after school. The results of Friday’s test were announced, and both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had gotten A’s.

After school the pair had walked over to Sugarcube Corner to celebrate. Apple Bloom had taken one look at Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon drinking milkshakes with Babs at the Corner’s only table when she had immediately turned around and left. “I…I forgot I’ve got some really big chores to do at home. Sorry, Sweetie,” she had said, practically running out of sight.

Sweetie had shrugged. Sure, it would have been nice to share a treat with Bloom, but Pinkie Pie’s promise of a milkshake for her next ‘A’ still held up, so Sweetie walked right in. She tried her best to stay out of sight of the two bullies, but it turned out she need not bother, because their attention was riveted on the character of Babs, causing them to laugh at every one of the visitor’s stories. As there was no longer any place to sit, Sweetie got her vanilla shake to go.

There was an open grassy yard behind Sugarcube Corner, so Sweetie drank her milkshake there, in the shade of a tree. She pulled out her copy of Grace of the Island, opened it to where she had left off, and continued reading.

“Babss? Bab Sseed?”

Sweetie looked up, to see Twist crossing the yard towards Babs, Diamond and Silver, who were walking down the street bordering the yard, with Babs in the lead. None of them appeared to have noticed Sweetie.

Babs stopped, a frown on her face.

“I’m Twist, and I’d love to get to know another Apple,” Twist said, extending a hoof. “Could we talk?”

Babs said something that Sweetie couldn’t hear, and then Twist fell over, causing Sweetie to jump to her hooves.

Babs, Diamond and Silver laughed cruelly in unison and then trotted off as if nothing was the matter.

Sweetie raced over to the prone Twist. To her shock, she watched as the earth pony kept punching herself in the face with the hoof she had previously extended in greeting. “Twist, Twist what are you doing? Twist, please stop!” she cried.

Twist made no acknowledgement that she had heard anything that Sweetie had said and continued to hurt herself.

“Help!” Sweetie cried out. “Somepony help!” She wrapped her hooves around Twist’s punching hoof and tried in vain to wrestle it away from her face.

Sweetie’s cries soon attracted other ponies, who succeeded in immobilizing Twist. Zecora—who had been in the area looking at books—produced a leaf that she had crushed under Twist’s snout, causing her to fall unconscious. Truffle had appeared with the wagon he always pulled around. Twist was placed aboard, and Truffle had pulled it towards Ponyville Hospital, accompanied by Zecora.

Mr. and Mrs. Cake had appeared and asked for an explanation. Sweetie had tried to provide it, but nopony present had believed her.

~ ~ ~

Apple Bloom caught Sweetie Belle sneaking around the CMC Clubhouse.

“Sweetie?”

Sweetie screamed. When Babs stuck her head out of the window, Sweetie turned and ran.

Apple Bloom gave chase. Before long she was able to tackle Sweetie to the ground.

“Don’t let her get me! Don’t let her get me!” Sweetie cried.

“It’s OK, it’s OK!” Bloom assured her. “Nopony’s going to get you.”

Sweetie calmed down and had then started crying.

Bloom wrapped a hoof around her withers. “What’s wrong, Sweetie?” she asked.

“You…you won’t believe me!” Sweetie cried.

“Well…maybe I will, and maybe I won’t,” Bloom said. “I will listen to you, no matter what.”

Sweetie slowly calmed down, sniffling a few times. And then she told Bloom what had happened with Twist.

Apple Bloom had not laughed at her or tried to correct her story. “Sweetie, Sweetie. I know what happened.”

“You do?” Sweetie asked.

“Yes,” Bloom said. She paused for a few seconds, looking uncertain. “Twist…has a condition,” she said at last. “And Babs must have accidentally set it off.”

Sweetie looked at Apple Bloom for a long while. She found the story rather unlikely, but it’s not like the theory she had come up with was any more plausible. “Okay,” she said at last. “Twist is at the hospital,” she said. “I think it’s too late to visit her, but I’m going before school tomorrow. Are you going to be there?”

Bloom looked back at the clubhouse before turning back to Sweetie. “Yes,” she finally said. “I’m gonna fix this,” she said. “Could…could you go home?” she then asked with an apologetic tone. “I’ve got stuff to do.”

“More chores?” asked Sweetie.

Bloom blinked a couple of times. “Oh yeah! More chores. Sorry. I promise that I’ll make everything better.”

Sweetie wasn’t quite sure what Bloom was referring to. “Um…alright. See you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow.”

Apple Bloom climbed up the steps that led to the entrance of the former Cutie Mark Crusaders Clubhouse. With every step she winced—a metal clip was firmly attached to the middle of the back of her neck, and it sent shooting pains down her spine with every step. On reaching the door she knocked.

The door was answered by a bored Silver Spoon. “What?” she asked.

Apple Bloom looked over Silver’s shoulder. “Babs, I’m done with what you’re doing. You need to drop this char—”

"—Silence!” Babs ordered. There was a strange tone in her voice, and her eyes seemed to swirl.

Bloom smirked at her. “No,” she said defiantly. "You need to stop using charm on—”

Babs’ jaw dropped. “—Shut up!” she ordered. When that failed to work, she just put a hoof over Apple Bloom’s mouth. “How are you doing that?” she whispered. “No, never mind that. What are you doing?” She looked back at Diamond and Silver before looking back at Bloom. “They’ll remember everything!”

Bloom batted the hoof aside. Looking over at the dazed expressions of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, she said, “You two should know that Babs is not like other ponies. She—”

Babs lunged at her. Bloom, expecting this move, easily dodged and jumped right off the platform outside the treetop entrance, hopping lightly from one branch to another to quickly reach the ground. She still winced with every step.

Babs, attempting to replicate the feat, ended up crashing to the ground.

Apple Bloom ran for the barn, her teeth clenched in pain.

Diamond and Silver walked out of the clubhouse and appeared to be about to copy Bab’s disastrous descent.

“Wait there!” Babs ordered.

The two other fillies froze in place.

Babs then turned and gave chase to her cousin, fully prepared to administer the beating of a lifetime.

Babs followed Apple Bloom into the barn, only to lose sight of her. “Where are you, Bloom!” she shouted. Hearing some motion, she turned towards a stack of hay bales.

Applejack stepped into view atop the highest bale. In her changeling form, which meant that this was serious.

“Oh, Cousin Applejack!” Babs said, trying desperately to make both her voice and her emotions project goodwill. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

“You can stop what you’ve been doing to the ponies in this town,” Applejack said sternly.

Babs spotted Apple Bloom hiding behind her sister. “Bloom!” she hissed. “Did you snitch on me?”

“No, she just made sure that I was close enough to the Clubhouse to sense what you’ve been doing to those two fillies,” Applejack said.

“Mighty impressive,” Granny Smith added, stepping up to be beside her granddaughters. She was also in her native form. “Charming ponies that quickly. Normal changelings can’t do anything like that. Must be your cutie mark.” She pointed at Babs’s mark, a pair of abstract swirls that could be interpreted as a symbol for hypnosis.

“I…I was just taking care of Apple Bloom’s bullies. They were making her life miserable. You ought to be thanking me.”

“No, I don’t think so,” said Granny. “You’ve nearly exposed us. Do you have any idea what kind of damage that could do to every changeling in the Apple Clan?”

“But…it’s a good thing,” Babs insisted, growing increasingly desperate. “I got my mark stopping that train robber on the way to Ponyville.” (No, not the Basilisk. A copycat.) “I’ve got this power for a reason!”

“Probably,” Granny replied. “But this isn’t it. You need to release them…and anypony else still under your control.”

“Starting with Twist,” said Apple Bloom.

From the looks Applejack and Granny gave Bloom, it was clear she hadn’t told them about Twist. She had truly kept the Pinkie Promise that Babs had arm-twisted her into making not to snitch before they figured things out on their own.

“I…I…” Babs babbled.

“Look, I get it,” said Applejack. “That ‘friend’ of yours that was getting bullied at school back home—that was you. You’re taking care of the bully problem here, as a warm-up for what you’ll do back in Manehattan.”

“And now you want me to stop!” Babs cried, suddenly motivated. “You haven’t seen what they’ve done to me. To my pony friends. Well I can’t let them do it anymore. And I’m starting here, with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. You’ve got to let me finish. You’ve got to let me break them! I’m so close to finding out their secret fears. I just have to put them on permanent loop, and then—”

“No, Babs,” Applejack said with authority. “This ends now.”

“You can’t make me!” Babs cried. “I’m more powerful than all of you together!”

“You…weren’t able to control me!” Apple Bloom cried, wincing a bit at the continued pressure of the clamp on her spine.

“That’s because of whatever that thing is on your neck!” Babs retorted. “Where did that come from anyway?”

Granny glared down in anger. “That device came out of tragedy. Because some Everfree monsters developed their own version of a changeling’s Charm. Thanks to that ‘thing’, there will be no more Apples lost to mind control.” She visibly calmed herself before continuing. “So us giving you a chance right now should be seen as being mighty generous. More generous than might be expected under the circumstances.

“Stand down, Babs.”

Babs spread her hooves. “N…no.”

Instead of engaging her physically, as Babs expected, Applejack and Granny responded by opening their mouths wide.

Apple Bloom pulled out a little scroll and began to read it. “Babington Samantha Seed, you are hereby banished from the Apple Clan. No member of the Clan is permitted to assist you in your life in any way, including your parents and your siblings.”

Babs cried out, and fell to the floor, shifting into her native form. This was not from the effect of the words being spoken, but because she suddenly felt the love being pulled out of her by the two adults.

“Any and all changelings are obligated to drain the majority of love out of you whenever they encounter you, leaving only barely enough love to live by.

“No changeling will attempt to hinder your movements, and you are free to try to live somewhere away from the Apple Clan. If you happen to run into any trouble as a result, know that—”

“Uncle!” Babs cried out, tears running down her face. She was experiencing the feeling of complete abandonment, of discovering that everything you loved was dead, and you alone survived to feel that pain forever. “I surrender! Anything you want! Please!”

Applejack and Granny shut their mouths.

Babs lay there panting. “I had no idea,” she whimpered. “Bullying was nothing compared to this. I’ll show you the counter-spell. It’s a lot less painful than the clip-thing.”

Applejack hopped down from the bales and approached Babs, with Granny watching warily. They touched horns, and the spell was transferred. Applejack returned to the bales and gave the spell to Granny and Apple Bloom.

Granny reached over and pulled the clip off of Apple Bloom, who then collapsed and lost her disguise. She panted in exhaustion.

Applejack fired the spell behind the hay bales, and Winona cautiously crawled out. She looked at Babs and growled.

“She was lying there in complete silence for three days,” Apple Bloom explained. “She could have starved to death if Big Mac hadn’t found her.”

“Well she wouldn’t shut up,” Babs muttered under her breath.

“Speaking of which: It’s alright, Big Mac,” Applejack announced. “The spell checks out.”

Big Mac stepped into view right next to Babs, causing the filly to startle. “Were you there the whole time?” she asked.

“A-yup,” Big Mac answered.

“And he was ready to stop you by any means necessary if you succeeded in taking us over,” said Applejack. She helped Bloom and Granny down to ground level.

Babs looked Big Mac up and down with trepidation. She wasn’t sure she would have survived “any means necessary”.

“Alright,” Granny said, looking down at her. “I rescind your banishment.” She fed her some love as she lifted her to her hooves.

Babs quietly looked around her.

“Come on,” Applejack instructed her, walking out of the barn as she resumed her pony disguise. “Let’s start with your primary targets.”

That night, Applejack called in a favor to visit the highly drugged Twist in Ponyville General, and Apple Bloom administered the cure.

The next morning Twilight Sparkle visited the hospital and leant her magic to Doctor Horse for use in a healing spell that left Twist as good as new.

Physically, at least.

As soon as visiting hours started, Twist was seen by Apple Bloom and Applejack.

Applejack explained what Babs had done, using vague non-changeling language in case anypony was overhearing the conversation. She insisted that Babs was not evil but in a bad place, and that she would do what she could to set Babs on a path out of her troubles.

“I’m sorry,” Apple Bloom had then said, looking anywhere but into Twist’s face. “I was willing to look the other way so long as it was just those two bullies, but I should have known that Babs wouldn’t stop there.”

Twist sniffled. “Apple Bloom, I’ve been their number one ffictim for years,” she said somberly. “I…I really hate the idea of hurting anypony, but them…I undersstand. You ssaved my life.”

“Well, but—” Apple Bloom protested, feeling worse and worse.

“It sstill countss,” Twist insisted. “I’ll find ssome way to make it up to you.”

“I figured you wouldn’t want anything to do with…Apples. Now that you’ve seen us doing something far worse than I ever could have imagined.”

Twist sat up a little higher in the bed. “Yeah,” she said quietly. “That wass worse.” She spent a few moments in silence being sure of her feelings before continuing. “I still want to be your friend. Even after what happened. Even knowing you decided to wait.” She looked hopefully over at Apple Bloom.

“I…I have to go,” Bloom stammered, before bursting out of the room.

Visible on a bench outside the room was Sweetie Belle with some edible flowers. Apple Bloom said something to her, and then dragged her away before the door swung closed.

Twist sighed.

Applejack laid down on the bed. (Twist didn’t take up that much room.) “I think I understand what’s going on,” she told the patient.

“You’re part of her…” Applejack began, before looking around to see who might overhear her. “…Her Apple life,” she finally said. “Right now with the CMC she’s exploring everything else, how to be a pony away from the Apples.

“You’re not the only one she’s avoiding—we hardly ever see her around the orchard when she isn’t eating or doing chores. The meetings at the Clubhouse don’t count, as that’s quite a ways away from the rest of us. She’s not doing this because of anything you did. You know that don’t you?”

“I know,” Twist said quietly. She supposed that what Applejack said had some merit. But the real reason Apple Bloom avoided her, she knew, was how Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had poisoned Apple Bloom’s mind. The same as they had done with all of Twist’s other former friends.

Like Twist had said, she understood why Bloom might stand aside while Babs was doing who knows what to the two bullies’ minds.

But at the end of the day, she wouldn’t want Diamond and Silver to be permanently harmed. And she was prepared to forgive Babs for her actions.

And a little part of her was mad at herself, by doing the nice thing all the time. The part that considered Twist to be a coward for not fighting back, for not taking over the school herself.

There are plenty of ponies who entertain such dark and violent thoughts. Equestria is as nice a place as it is because the majority of ponies refuse to allow such dark voices to dictate their actions.

Babs Seed returned to Manehattan that day, after all of her victims had been freed. Applejack accompanied her. That was the condition for not telling anypony in Manehattan about Babs’ actions, or their consequences. Applejack ensured that Babs’ family learned about her bullying.

Parents contacted parents. There was a fair amount of shouting and hoof-pointing, but as one side of the argument had secret emotion-sensing powers making it nearly impossible to lie to them, there were soon some suspensions administered.

Applejack returned home a week later, hopeful that Babs’ situation had been turned around. She promised to stay in touch with Babs and her family, to ensure that the fixes stuck.

Scootaloo returned to Ponyville the day that Babs Seed left, a full week earlier than anticipated. An entirely new type of creature had been spotted in the Smoky Mountains.

Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood studied creatures, not monsters. As such, they spent their time in areas as far away from ponies and pony magic as possible, as monsters tended to displace creatures over time, leaving much of Equestria with the same small variety of creatures everywhere.

“W…when are you coming back?” a desperate Scootaloo had asked them at the train station.

Not having heard her in their haste, they never answered her.

In Scootaloo’s eyes, that was practically the same as “Never”.

Author's Note

Notes for this chapter can be found with Chapter 35.

Chapter 33

Sweet Apple Acres.

October 9. Saturday. Early afternoon. [October is rather starved for episodes.]

Cider Season was in two weeks and the back end of the orchard—where the juicing and the selling would take place—needed cleaning.

The shallow valley was full of twigs and underbrush that needed to be cleared, and this was a free weekend for Applejack.

All of her friends were there to help her and her family.

That family included Spike.

There were some stumps that needed to be ripped out. Big Mac could have done the job with a bit of work, but Spike really wanted to try out that “super strength” spell that Twilight had promised to put on his necklace one day.

“So, what do you think?” Spike asked Rarity, after yanking the third one out one-handed, nearly throwing out his spine.

“Nice spell work, Twilight,” said Rarity with an arch smile.

“Aw thanks,” Twilight replied. “It took an extra hour in casting time, but I really think the shortcut I came up with pulls the mana requirements down to levels that any unicorn can easily manage.”

Spike sulked.

Rarity removed her sunhat for a moment to wipe a microgram or so of swear from her brow. “Oh, this is hard work!” she said, waving a trowel around with her magic. “I must have cleared…” She looked into the pouch around her neck where she had been placing the weeds she had been digging up. “…Five whole weeds?”

With a roll of her eyes, Applejack walked over and looked into that pouch. “Okay, those are actually all weeds. This time. Why don’t you move on to working the dead leaves into the soil?”

“With my hooves? There are worms in that dirt! Eww!”

“That’s just Wendell and his brothers,” said Fluttershy. “Well…more like Wendell and the former parts of him that now are worms themselves.”

“…Eww! Sorry, Fluttershy.” She then screamed as she felt something wet drop down onto her back. “Worms from the sky! Worms from the sky!” she cried, running around in circles while she tried to use her sunhat to wipe the offending item off of her back.

It turned out to be a wet leaf.

Rainbow Dash burst out laughing at the successful outcome of her prank.

Applejack sighed. “Alright,” she said. “I think we’ve done enough for now. Follow me for lunch!”

“All right!” Rainbow cried, doing a barrel roll in the space above her friends.

Rarity looked around her at her friends. “I was thinking,” she told them. “We have our dresses for the Grand Galloping Gala, the accessories. Even the hats and the shoes. But we haven’t worked out the makeup. The last piece needed for the complete ensemble.”

“You do know that you don’t have to use the Prench accent for that word, right Rarity?” asked Pinkie Pie. “Because it’s the same word in both languages.”

“It’s for the effect, Darling. I propose a sleepover, at my shop. All six of us, next Saturday.”

“Can’t make it,” Applejack said over her shoulder.

“All five of us,” Rarity corrected.

“What about me?” Spike asked.

“Your suit is all done, Spike,” Rarity said. “And it’s going to be a no colts party. Sorry.”

“Oh,” said Spike.

Twilight was conflicted. She thought another sleepover would do a lot for her bonding with “the Girls”, but she was making an active effort to not leave Spike out of her activities.

Spike, seeing these emotions play across Twilight’s face, put a claw on her leg. “It’s OK, Twilight,” he said. “I can help out the Apples with their preparations, and then spend the night.”

“Are you sure?” asked Twilight.

Rainbow Dash, who had been thoughtfully watching this conversation play out, interrupted at this point. “Hey, Rarity? How about I make you a deal?”

Rarity stopped walking and turned around to face the hovering Rainbow Dash. “I’m listening.”

“I’ll come by the shop first thing Saturday morning. You’ll get hours of one-on-one time with me. I’ll even let you ‘fancy’ me up, just so long as I don’t have to wear any of that to the Gala.”

Rarity squealed and clapped her hooves. She had been dying to realize the “true potential” in Rainbow’s color palette for years.

“And in return,” Rainbow continued, “I don’t have to go to the slumber party. Instead, I’ll entertain Spike at my pad for the night. What do you think?”

“Oh wow, could I go?” Spike asked her two caretakers with sparkles in his eyes.

“OK,” Applejack said casually.

“That’s a wonderful idea!” exclaimed Twilight at nearly the same moment. “Spike has gotten on well with Applejack and I, but he really hasn’t spent much time around the rest of you! Of course, I didn’t want to make any of you feel obligated…”

“Well, I’m fine with it,” Rainbow said. “I think Spike’s a cool dude.”

“Really?” Spike squeaked, sounding a bit like Scootaloo. “I mean, sure. Whatever,” he added in a deepened voice.

Rainbow laughed. “Even when he’s being a dork.”

Spike rolled his eyes as “the Girls” laughed good-naturedly.

The mailbox under Rainbow Dash’s house.

Sundown on the following Saturday, October 16.

Spike knocked sharply on the wooden post of the mailbox. “RD? I’m here!”

“‘RD’?” Rainbow asked as she drifted down to land beside him.

“I wanted a cool name for you,” said Spike. “Pinkie Pie calls you ‘Dashie’, Applejack calls you ‘Sugarcube’—although that’s not saying much—and Twilight and Fluttershy call you ‘Rainbow’. Only Rarity insists on using your full name most of the time.”

“Well…‘RD’ is the name I was known by on the racing circuit. So sure, RD is fine. Now hop on so I can fly you up to my place…unless Twilight added a flying spell to that necklace on top of cloud walking.” Seeing a large carpet bag next to the dragon, she hooked it in one hoof.

"No, it only holds one spell at a time,” Spike said. Rather than clamber up her leg, Spike climbed up the mailbox pole, getting onto the box and then stepping onto Rainbow’s back. He sank down into her fluff. “Hey, you’re softer than Twilight,” he observed.

Rainbow bristled at having the word “soft” associated with her in any way, then slicked down her fur. “That’s a pegasus thing,” she said in an overly casual tone. “Keeps us warm in cold weather.”

“OK, that’s cool.”

“Darn right it’s cool! Now let me show you something else that’s cool!”

~ ~ ~

“WOW!” Spike exclaimed, taking in the elegant and the (frankly over-the-top) rainbow falls. The overflow passed through a cloud to become a mist that bathed a small grove of trees. “Did you design all this yourself?”

“The rainbows? Yeah,” RD said with a laugh as he let Spike off on the “front yard” of her house.

Spike stomped around a bit to get used to walking on the spongy clouds.

“The main part is prefab,” she continued. “I picked it out of a catalog.”

Spike walked over to the edge of the cloud and looked down, then looked around him. Several other clouds in sight sported the same fluted columns as RD’s house. He compared them with the cloud house before her. “Did you pay a lot for it? This looks fancier than those other ones.”

“Hmm?” Rainbow asked in a disinterested tone. “I guess. My parents got it for me as a going-away present. They’d spoil me rotten if I let them. Come on, let me show you the inside.”

Spike followed Rainbow into the ground floor foyer, which didn’t have much to see besides a statue of a Wonderbolt on a pedestal. “The delivery pegasi usually have their chariots parked on this floor,” Rainbow explained. She pointed to the object atop the pedestal on the opposite side of the door. “That’s the Best Young Flyer medal—I’ll take it over to my parents’ the next time I visit them. They hold all of my trophies and things.” She started flying up the staircase to the first floor.

“Don’t you like keeping your trophies around?” Spike asked as he followed her.

“Some of them,” Rainbow said with a shrug. “But I’m more about the future than the past.”

At the top of the stairs was the living room, with a large bay window looking out at the other pegasus homes, several couches, chairs and cushions made of solidified cloudstuff, and some glass-topped tables. A doorway in the back led to the kitchen.

Rainbow set the carpetbag down on the floor. “Everything inside here is treated so it doesn’t need magic to stay up,” she explained. “Now stay here while I make us some dinner.”

“I can cook, you know,” Spike said as Rainbow walked into the kitchen.

“I know,” said Rainbow, putting on a chef’s hat and removing ingredients from an icebox. “But I’m the host and you’re the guest, so stay there and entertain yourself.”

“Yeah, that makes perfect sense,” Spike joked. He hopped up onto a couch, pulled up the bag beside him, and fished out a comic book to read.

Rainbow came out a while later with some plates and glasses balanced on her outstretched wings. “A little help here?” she asked.

“Oh!” Spike exclaimed, hopping down from the couch to help Rainbow lay out the dinner: a couple of vegetable skewers. “Wow, pony shish kabobs,” Spike said, somewhat snarkily. “What, do you have a hibachi back there or something?”

“As a matter of fact I do,” Rainbow said with a matching smirk.

Spike lost his smirk first. “Oh. That’s cool. You really have this sleepover thing down.”

“Yeah. Back in Cloudsdale I used to have Fluttershy over a lot when we were fillies, and vice versa. And then there was…”

She stopped with a frown. Breaking up with Gilda was four moons ago, she told herself. If she’s not going to apologize or even show up in all that time, I shouldn’t be wasting my time on her. “…never mind.”

"Are you alright?” Spike asked, holding out a claw.

“Yeah sure, no problem!” Rainbow said with a sudden grin. She picked up her skewer with the feathers of her wings, which succeeded in distracting Spike. “They taste better hot, you know.”

“Oh!” Spike exclaimed, before beginning to eat.

~ ~ ~

“Spike, I wanted to apologize about something,” Rainbow said after cleaning up their dinner. “You told me what was going on with Twilight the day after you moved to Ponyville and…” She allowed the sentence to peter out.

“And you didn’t believe me,” Spike said glumly.

“No!” Rainbow exclaimed. “Well, not exactly. I just didn’t know what to do with what you said. I didn’t know if it was true or not, but I didn’t want it to be, because I really liked being friends with Twilight. So…I tried not to make a decision on what to do. Which looked exactly the same as me not believing you. So, I’m sorry.”

“Apology accepted,” Spike said. “What was going on wasn’t exactly normal.”

“I would have done something if you were a pony,” Rainbow said self-accusingly.

Spike shrugged. “I still forgive you. I, uh…hope that wasn’t the only reason you invited me over.”

“No,” said Rainbow. “I mean, I swear right here and now that I won’t ignore your problems again, and I’ll go right out and slug both Applejack and Twilight if I thought they were doing you wrong.”

“Thanks. I appreciate that,” Spike said with a grateful smile. “Although if that actually happened and you were wrong, Applejack would first re-arrange your anatomy, and then Twilight would zap you to the moon.”

“Eh, I’d just move into Nightmare Moon’s old place,” Rainbow joked. “She probably has a wicked prog rock collection.”

They both laughed.

Rainbow peered over into Spike’s bag. “I saw you reading something while I was cooking. Are you an egghead too?”

Spike pulled out the comic. “What, this? Comic books aren’t egghead material. Haven’t you ever read one?”

“I only read the bare minimum for my job, and that’s it.”

“Really?” asked Spike. He shook the cover in Rainbow’s face. “You’re really missing out.”

“Wait, what is this?” Rainbow asked, snatching the issue from Spike’s claws. The letters “SOARB” were written in a semi-circle around the figure of an brown earth pony stallion wearing a bronze helmet flying through a golden sky with the help of a rocket pack. “Wow, who’s he?” she asked.

“Cord Seacliff,” Spike explained. “Some spies accidentally left this experimental government rocket pack in his desk at school, and now he uses it to fight crime as the SOARB—Sound of a Rocket’s Blast.”

“That sounds pretty neat,” Rainbow said, clearly tempted to crack open the volume. “But I don’t read for fun.”

“That’s alright,” Spike said, grabbing the comic and putting it down on the table they had been eating on. “I’ll read it out loud. I’ve got voices for all of the characters—I must have read the first five issues a hundred times each.”

~ ~ ~

Issue #1 was the origin story.

“Hey, that’s a colt version of Wind Rider!” Rainbow interrupted at one point, pointing at the page. “He was a famous Wonderbolt.”

“Yeah. Like I said, the story is set a generation ago, and the artist sneaks in all of these famous cameos, to see who spots them.”

“Can she do that?” Rainbow asked. “Like, did Wind Rider give his permission?”

“No, the character is called Swift Rider instead of Wind Rider, and his wingtips are a different color, so they can get away with it. Wind Rider did say that he liked being in such a great story when he found out.”

“Ah, that’s neat.”

~ ~ ~

Issue #2 was SORB’s first big rescue.

“Oh no!” Rainbow exclaimed. “Now they’re both going to crash!”

Spike silently turned the page, and Rainbow quickly scanned it.

“Wow, they just made it!”

The issue ended soon after that.

“Yeah, that’s when I knew I had to buy the whole series,” said Spike. He looked over at a clock mounted on the wall. “But I think I should go to sleep. We’ll read the next issue tomorrow morning.”

“Yeah…tomorrow morning.”

~ ~ ~

Rainbow Dash read the other three issues in the SOARB limited series that night by the light of a flashlight. She thought she was being sneaky.

The next morning over breakfast Spike gave Rainbow Dash the names of a number of other great comics for her to check out.

“Well…alright,” Rainbow said, thinking she was being reluctant when in reality she was excited at discovering something new. “I guess I’m into comic books now. But I definitely draw the line at books without illustrations!”

Spike passed over the SOARB comics. “Here. You can keep these.”

“What, really?”

“Yeah, really,” said Spike, turning serious. “I got those two years ago, when I was dreaming about flying.”

Rainbow thought for a moment. “Because most dragons have wings?”

“Because all dragons have wings, Rainbow. Except for me. I figured that might be why my egg was abandoned—because my dragon parents knew that I wouldn’t ever have wings.”

“Oh,” said a sad Rainbow, who pulled Spike into a wing hug.

“But then I got that pegasus book on dragons,” Spike said. “Turns out all dragons are born without wings. They are considered adults the day they get them.” He smiled up at Rainbow. “If I get my wings before I get my cutie mark, then that means that I’m a dragon through and through, and I’ll probably never get a cutie mark. I decided the wings can wait.”

Rainbow hugged Spike even harder on hearing this.

Author's Note

Notes for this chapter can be found with Chapter 35.

Chapter 34

The House of Enchanted Comics, Canterlot.

The afternoon of December 19. October had ended with “The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000”, followed by “Luna Eclipsed”. November had “Fall Weather Friends”. December so far has had no episodes, but “Hearth’s Warming Eve” will be in six days. Sunday.

Rainbow Dash was feeling rather proud of herself: She had finished all of her Hearth’s Warming shopping for the year, and the actual holiday was a full week away! Usually, she’d wait until the night before, and get frustrated that everything she wanted to buy was out of stock.

And now that her friends and family were taken care of, it was time to take care of herself. She just had to slip into this cloak to keep anypony she knew from seeing her walk into this den of egghead iniquity.

(“Iniquity”, is that the word? shethought to herself. That word from the Planet Wars comic page with all the cool aliens.)

She had the list Spike had given her of cool comics to read, with most of the titles crossed out and a few new ones written in by herself. She started cautiously walking up and down the aisles of comics inside the shop. About a third of her attention was devoted to finding the trade paperback of Maretropolis: The New Frontier, and the other two thirds was making sure that nopony saw her.

Her attention was suddenly attracted to a stand with a glass case at the end of a row, resembling the elaborate getup that Twilight used to protect her Miscellanea book. Inside the stand was a single fat comic book dated from thirty years ago. The cover showed a scene, set in a large sewer, of a group of misshapen ponies cowering in cloaks, being threatened by a robot pony the size of some of the monsters Rainbow confronted on a regular basis. The robot was holding up one glowing hoof, ready to blast the group to oblivion. Standing before the would-be victims was a brave zebra with a particularly tall mohawk, one eye blue, the other yellow. Her fur crackled with electricity and above her was the speech bubble: “Would you act so cruelly? Then you must go through me!” The title of the issue was Uncanny M-Factor # 13—ENCHANTED ISSUE.

“A fellow connoisseur of the classics, I see.”

Rainbow whipped her head around to see who was addressing her, and found her face buried inside the oversized hood of her cloak.

“Ah! Allow me…”

Rainbow’s hood was lowered, and she found herself looking into the blue eyes of a purple-pink unicorn mare. “Better?” she asked.

“Ah, yeah,” Rainbow said. She raised a hoof. “Rainbow Dash.”

“Starlight Glimmer,” the mare said, before completing the hoof bump. She glanced around and remarked, “Not very original with the attire, are we?”

Rainbow looked. She noticed for the first time that the store had two kinds of ponies in it: happy foals and fillies, and guilty mares and stallions. The latter group were all wearing cloaks like she was. She gave off an awkward laugh.

“Own up to your nerdom, be proud of it!” Starlight proclaimed, a bit too loud for Rainbow’s taste. She pointed out the pin with the logo of the shop that was on a lanyard she was wearing. “This is my store, after all.”

“It is?”

“It is.”

“Huh.” Rainbow pointed at the rare issue. “Maybe you can help me then. I don’t think I’ve seen this title before.”

“Not surprising,” Starlight replied. “It’s an import from the Eastern Griffish Protectorate, by a couple of pony expatriates: Clear Mount and Tall Smithy.”

“‘M-Factor’,” Rainbow said, pointing at the title.

“The ‘M’ stands for ‘mutant’,” Starlight explained. She pointed to the misshapen ponies. “It’s set in a future where too much magic has resulted in the occasional birth of strange-looking ponies with even stranger powers. They are hated by normal society, even as they act to protect that society from the forces of evil.”

Rainbow shivered. She had had nightmares in her foalhood, nightmares of being picked out for her unusual mane or some undefinable quality that nevertheless terrified her, chased by her friends and family for being too different to be considered a pony anymore.

Next to her Starlight smiled as if she could see what Rainbow was thinking. “This particular issue was very important to me. I got my cutie mark while experiencing it.”

“‘Experiencing’ it?” Rainbow asked.

Starlight explained the concept of enchanted issues, and how they allowed the reader to experience the storyline of the comic. “I got to play Lightning here,” she said, pointing at the zebra. “Defending the morelacks from the Guardians and becoming their leader after a trial by combat. I came out of that experience a completely new mare. You might even say that in some ways I’m still living out that experience of mutant liberation.” Noticing the odd look that Rainbow Dash was giving her due to her own manic expression, she shook her head to clear it.

“As you might be able to figure out from that description,” she continued, “M-Factor was considered ‘too grim’ for young readers by the comic sellers of Equestria at the time, and so the imports from the EGP stopped. Hence the price of this particular issue.”

Rainbow looked at the sticker on the corner: B200. She whistled. “Too steep for me.”

“It’s the fair market price,” said Starlight, leading Rainbow down an aisle. “Although if I still didn’t own my fillyhood issue I might be tempted to claim that one for myself. Perhaps you’d like to start with this.” She showed Rainbow another comic: Power Ponies #53: The Power Ponies vs. M-Factor! It was only 8 bits. It showed the familiar superhero team on the left and a group of strange-looking characters that included the Lightning character from before on the right. Imprisoned in a clear bubble between them was a pony with eagle wings.

Rainbow picked up the issue and looked through it. It looked like a good buy—she already enjoyed the Power Ponies, and this issue went out of its way to introduce M-Factor and what they were doing here, by way of a rogue time portal to their dystopian future. (“Dystopian!” she thought. Another comic book word! I really gotta watch out or I’ll become a major egghead without realizing it.) “Thanks, Starlight! I think I’ll get…” She looked around, to find that Starlight Glimmer had disappeared without her noticing.

She shrugged and got back to looking for the other comics on her list. This time she didn’t bother trying to be unnoticed.

Author's Note

Notes for this chapter can be found with Chapter 35.

Chapter 35

Golden Oaks Library, Ponyville.

The evening of February 1, of the Year 2 PRE. December had “Hearth’s Warming Eve”. January had nothing. This is now the evening after “Winter Wrap-Up”. And it’s Tuesday.

After a long day of work, Twilight Sparkle finally returned to the Golden Oaks Library, with a shivering Spike upon her back. She carried the dragon upstairs, started a fire in the fireplace, and got him a robe and fuzzy slippers. Spike insisted on staying up to write the Friendship Report.

“Dear Princess Celesta,

“Winter Wrap Up was one of the most special things I’ve ever been a part of here in Ponyville. It helped me to learn we all have hidden talents, and if we’re patient and diligent, we’re sure to find them, and as always, with good friendship and teamwork, ponies can accomplish anything.”

As she dictated, Twilight removed the All-Team Organizer vest that she had been wearing for the past few hours and hung it up in her wardrobe with pride. “How’s that, Spike?” she asked, turning to find that Spike had fallen asleep halfway through. With a laugh she put him to bed and finished the letter, using her magic to teleport it to Celestia’s bedroom—she may no longer be obsessed with weekly deadlines, but it still felt good to get a report in on time.

Quietly, Twilight walked downstairs, to check on the mail that had been delivered to the library while she was out wrapping up winter. On the top of the pile was a magic-written note.

“Came to visit Sonata,” the note read. “Forgot all about the holiday, so had to return to Canterlot post haste. (Is that bit of Romaine still used nowadays—‘post haste’?) Sorry I couldn’t see you. Luna.”

Twilight sighed. She would have liked some more time with Luna. She had been having dreams lately that included memories from Luna, memories of being incredibly alone in her newly-cutied years, when a pony needs friends more than ever. Luna wasn’t even visiting Twilight’s dreams anymore, having taken up the soothing of the nightmares of colts and fillies in Canterlot.

Twilight prepared to return to bed when she saw what was under the note: the latest issue of the Equestrian Journal of Archaeology. The main article, written by A.K. Yearling, summarized the recent excavation at Hayseed Swamp.

~ ~ ~

“Wow!” Twilight exclaimed, her snout buried in the magazine. “This says that the remains found in the basement of the Old Tree have been positively identified as Mage Meadowbrook and her mother, and that Meadowbrook was definitely a pegasus! This could spark a complete re-evaluation of her life and work! What do you think, Spike?” She looked up, to note the lack of Spike. “Oh,” she said in a quieter voice. “Right.”

After staring intently at the fold-out floor plans of what must have been Meadowbrook’s legendary laboratory, Twilight caught herself yawning and reluctantly put the journal down, with a promise to finish it the next morning.

Twilight went back upstairs to get ready to go to bed. While walking past the bathroom mirror, she caught the hint of a prideful smirk in the corner of her own eye, which reminded her of some unfinished business. She turned, and calmly looked into her reflection. “Alright, Siren Me,” she said quietly. “I challenge you to explain what that stunt earlier today was all about.”

‘I helped you!’ Siren Twilight mentally answered Pony Twilight. ‘You wanted ponies to listen, I made them listen.’

“You made them listen?” Pony Twilight said threateningly. “You forced them?”

‘…Not force,’ Siren Twilight protested. “Um…con…vince. Yes. Convince. Not force.’

“But you did use your Siren powers.”

‘…A little. Those ponies don’t like being told what to do.’

Pony Twilight sighed. “It’s true. They really needed my help, and I still had to fight to get them to listen to reason. But I want to be sure of one thing—you’re not controlling their minds? I know that Sirens can do that. I mean, you already did it once.”

‘I know, I know!’ Siren Twilight thought with a groan. ‘I want help you. The right way. You think good things, but ponies don’t listen. I make them more able to listen. But I don’t make them decide to do.’

“I don’t know,” Pony Twilight said, as she thoughtfully stroked her chin with a hoof. “Something like that could be very easy to abuse. I…I approve of it this time, but don’t do it again unless I tell you.”

‘Or an emergency?’

Pony Twilight thought for a few moments. “Alright,” she said at last. “But you’ll have to have a very compelling argument after the crisis is over.”

‘OK.’

Author's Note

Notes for Chapters 28, 29, 32, 33, 34, & 35 can be found here.

Chapter 36

Ponyville. Sugarcube Corner.

March 5 of the Year 2. Saturday. After “Read It and Weep”, “Sweet and Elite”, “Dragon Quest”, “A Friend In Deed”, “Hearts and Hooves Day”… Seven days after “May the Best Pet Win!”.

“Party of One”.

It was Pinkie Pie’s birthday. And her friends wanted to throw her a surprise party.

But she seemed to be acting…odd. Each of her friends could attest to her odd responses to their own odd behavior. Because they were trying to set up a party that was supposed to be secret from the party pony who seemed to know every secret in Ponyville.

The party in Applejack’s barn was finally ready. And Rainbow Dash was given the job of getting Pinkie to that barn on a false pretense so everypony could leap out of their hiding places and yell “Surprise!” at her. And then learn if she had known it all along or not.

It didn’t take long for Rainbow Dash to find Pinkie Pie, having spotted a shadow stalking back and forth across the window of Pinkie’s loft bedroom. Something about that shadow gave off an intense feeling of wrongness, but Rainbow Dash shook that off easily. After all, Rainbow had always had all sorts of feelings pop into her head growing up, and about half of them turned out to be “hooey” (as Applejack would say).

She entered the shop, to see Mr. and Mrs. Cake looking nervously over at the side staircase that led up to Pinkie’s room.

“Hey, Cakes!” Rainbow exclaimed. Then she stopped to laugh at herself…haycakes. “Is Pinkie up there?”

“Yeah, but…” Mr. Cake began before tapering off.

“She’s, uh…it’s not, um…” Mrs. Cake tried to say.

“Safe,” Mr. Cake supplied.

Mrs. Cake nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, safe. It’s not safe to see her when she’s in one of her moods.”

“She has moods?” Rainbow asked, trying and failing to even imagine what that might look like. “Well, maybe I can help.”

The married couple looked at each other.

“Well…” Mrs. Cake began.

“You two do appear to be close friends,” Mr. Cake said. “I guess you might be able to get through to her this time. But be careful.”

“Yes. Be careful.”

“Okay!” Rainbow said brightly as she climbed the stairs to the third floor of the shop.

When she got to the second floor, she could hear the pacing. Plus, muttering and the occasional crash of broken ceramics.

Rainbow paused. She knew that Pinkie had certain abilities absent from most ponies. (And sometimes, even some alicorns.) But she had never worried, because Pinkie Pie was always happy, and always wanted to make everypony else happy.

But what if, sometimes, she wasn’t happy? What if…what if for once she wanted to use her incredible cosmic powers to hurt somepony? Somepony who had allowed a certain prank to go out of control last week?

Rainbow Dash swallowed audibly. She looked over her shoulder, considering whether she should just fly back to the barn and tell the others that she couldn’t find Pinkie.

I mean, I’m not exactly the Element of Honesty, she thought to herself. Then she had another thought: I’m the Element of Loyalty. And loyalty means going in there and taking my lumps, because that will make Pinkie more like herself.

But that didn’t mean she had to barge right into the room, either. Slowly, silently, she crept up the steps, and finally stopped right below the open passage to the next floor, to try and hear what was going on inside.

What she heard was a nonsensical argument between several individuals about which pony was or was not a “traitor”. Most of the voices were obviously Pinkie playing pretend. But one of them…either Pinkie had some sort of electrified tin can to alter her voice…or…well Rainbow Dash didn’t even want to think about that “or”, so instead she boldly… Knocked on the wall of the staircase so the owner of that disturbing voice had plenty of time to hide in the closet or something. “Hey there, Pinkie Pie!” she said loudly. “Sorry I was in such a rush earlier. Had…some place to be and couldn’t slow down and say, you know…‘Hello’ and all that. Y…you know how it goes.”

She carefully poked her head up and looked around. In the room was a Pinkie Pie that was…wrong. Her coat and mane were subtly off in color, like she was sitting in an otherwise-invisible shadow. Her mane…was straight. That was so intensely wrong that it nearly made Rainbow shake. But worse was the awful, hateful expression on Pinkie’s face. “I know how it goes, all right!” this…“Pinkie” exclaimed. Rainbow had no choice—she couldn’t possibly label the pony before her as Pinkie Pie without using scare quotes around the name. “Pinkie” turned and stalked away from her.

“Yeah…” Rainbow said as she fully entered the room. There was a table laid out as for a filly’s tea party, with the usual empty cups and plates that presumably held imaginary food—the same table that all of them had used in Pinkie’s party from the day before. And the day before that, and the day before that… There were guests to this party, but instead of the dolls you might expect, there were instead rocks, a lump of lint, and…a bag of flour? “So…” Rainbow said, having a lot of trouble forming her words given all of the alarm bells ringing inside her head, “Why don’t you come with me over to Sweet Apple Acres?”

“Pinkie Pie” turned on her and threw up her snout in contempt. “No thanks. I’m spending time with my real friends!” And with this she gestured at the various objects on the chairs. “Isn’t that right, Madame le Flour?”

Her eyes crossed as she changed characters.

“Oui! Zat iz correct, madame,” said “Madame le Flour”, aka the flour bag, complete with equipomorphic gestures and a thrown voice both provided by Pinkie Pie.

Only Pinkie Pie was on the other side of the room, standing next to Rainbow Dash. So only the voice made any sense.

Rainbow began to get a headache. “Uh…Pinkie Pie?” she asked with a rising degree of panic.

“Another slice of cake, Sir Lintsalot?”

The lint ball, “Sir Lintsalot”, spoke in a low voice. “I’d love one.”

Again, it hopped up and down all by itself, while Pinkie Pie moved a hoof as if to move it but was way too far away to pull this off.

Rainbow looked in vain for some kind of horn on Pinkie, now that her mane was flat enough to reveal even a tiny one.

“Alrighty,” Rainbow said slowly. “What say we get on out of Creepytown and head over to Applejack’s—”

A turnip shoved itself into her face. “She’s not going anywhere,” it said, in a filly’s imitation of a stallion. “We’re her friends now.”

Rainbow gently pushed the floating vegetable out of her personal space. “This is all a huge misunderstanding, that we can clear up real simple.”

“No!” “Pinkie Pie” insisted. “I’m having a wonderful time right here.”

Rainbow sighed and tamped down the panic with a mental effort. “Right, so…” She pointed at each of the puppets: “Madame le Flour. Sir Lintsalot, …”

“Mr. Turnip,” the flying turnip said.

“And Rocky!” the rock said, with a stereotypical gangster’s accent.

“Of course,” Rainbow muttered. “See, a true friend always tries to learn the names of her friend’s friends. No matter what she thinks of them. Whatever you think of the others, I’m doing the right thing here. I’m sorry for the…probably very long list of things I did wrong to you…”

The pause was supposed to be Rainbow thinking of the next thing to say.

“Pinkie” took it entirely differently. “Pinkamena,” she said curtly.

Rainbow recognized the birth name of Pinkie Pie and paired it to her story from six moons ago about how she got her cutie mark (I’m sorry, created Equestria), and what she looked like when that happened. “Pinkamena,” she then repeated without a pause, “so what more do I need to do to make amends?”

“Nothing!” Rocky declared.

Rainbow sighed.

“Alright, that’s enough,” a new voice declared—the voice that Rainbow Dash really didn’t want to learn the source of. Rising up from behind Pinkie’s head was a disgusting, pulsing pink tentacled blob. With a single bleary eye. And a primitive mouth. And a tiny little naked brain on top. And not even a pony brain—Rainbow remembered what those looked like. No this was some kind of alien brain from a bad science fiction movie. Only this was no special effect. “I’ve allowed this tantrum to go on long enough.”

Pinkamena looked up at the floating, glowing—yes, it was now glowing as well as pulsing—brain slug in contempt. “They abandoned me!” she accused, shoving a hoof into Rainbow’s snout.

Rainbow calmly took one step backwards, and just stopped herself from falling down the stairs. By this point her emotional brain had completely shut down, and she was just waiting for the giant hole to open beneath her so that she could fall into the fiery pit, as she so often did in her nightmares.

“They got tired of your parties, which had become exhausting.”

“What…really?” Pinkie Pie asked.

And for a moment, just a moment, it was Pinkie Pie who was standing there under the glowing tentacle-blob and not Pinkamena. But at Rainbow’s next blink she reverted.

“Is this true?” Pinkamena demanded of Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow had been hoping that the duo…or maybe trio…would maybe have forgotten about her existence. “Um…yeah, you were going too far,” she admitted. And then quickly added, “But only a little!”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Still demanding.

“Well, we know how much you…how much Pinkie Pie…loves throwing parties. And we didn’t want to hurt your feelings,” she stated with complete honesty.

“Huh,” said Pinkamena, mulling this over.

“And when you pushed too far, your friends decided they needed a time out,” the metallic voice stated. Rainbow noted that the creature didn’t have a mouth to speak with. But didn’t use telepathy either. It was more like that thing that Twilight did in the timespace when she ordered the Elements around. She wondered if the thing had learned how to do that from watching Twilight.

“Well, not exactly,” said Rainbow, “but close enough. So, would you like to patch things up?”

“Are you going to hurt me again?” Pinkamena said. Only this time she was the little filly from Pinkie’s story.

Rainbow sighed and lowered herself to the filly’s level. “I can’t promise you that I won’t, I’m afraid. Life is just like that. But we’ll always be really sorry afterwards.”

Pinkie Pie sighed. “I guess that’s the best I can hope for.”

Rainbow Dash got back to her hooves, to discover that the tentacle-blob could no longer be seen. Because Pinkie’s mane completely covered the spot where it once was. Meaning that that…thing had always been there.

Speaking of which… “And you’ve got your, uh, friend to give you good advice. Right…?”

Again, her pause was misinterpreted, because the muffled metallic voice responded with the name “Rozetri.”

“Rozetri,” Rainbow repeated. “You know, that’s actually a rather nice name!”

“Thank you. It’s the only memory of myself I still retain. Now, I’m sorry to do this, and it’s terribly hypocritical, but I will have to strip your memory of this conversation out of your brain before you can take Pinkie Pie with you to Applejack’s abode.”

“Oh thank you!” Rainbow exclaimed. “I’d really rather not try to keep a secret like this.” She closed her eyes, and tried to open her mind.

Some sort of warm beam swept back and forth over her head.

“Oh hey, Rainbow Dash,” Pinkie Pie said somewhat shyly as Rainbow opened her eyes. “What are you doing here?”

“I want to say I’m sorry, and that I’m here to take you to Sweet Apple Acres, where everything will be explained. And-also-that-you-sometimes-go-a-tiny-bit-overboard-with-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-parties.”

“Oh. Okay. Well lead away!” Pinkie proclaimed.

Rainbow turned and walked down the stairs in a cold sweat.

Because Rainbow Dash remembered everything.

Author's Note

The notes for this chapter can be found with Chapter 39.

Chapter 37

Rainbow Dash got through the party only by saying and doing as little as possible. But inside her head, her mind was racing.

I suppose Rozetri is where Pinkie Pie gets her powers from, she thought. Twilight would be happy to hear that…if the sight of her didn’t melt her brain.

Why am I taking this so well? One of my best friends has a monster for a roommate! Why do I take everything that’s not directly about me so well? Other ponies can’t shut off their ‘emotional brains’ at will.

For that matter, what’s wrong with me? Why was Rozetri unable to erase my memories? How was I able to resist Nightmare Moon’s mind magic, and how come I know what monsters are thinking just by looking at them?

These were the thoughts that swirled through Rainbow Dash’s brain for the rest of that night. Somehow, she managed to get back to her cloud home without leaving anypony the wiser. And they continued to swirl around her brain as she lay in her bed, eyes open and staring at the ceiling.

Her last thoughts before dropping into slumber were of the nightmares she had had as a filly. Nightmares that provided an explanation for all of the strange things she had been able to do.

~ ~ ~

A few hours later, Rainbow Dash woke up. It was still the middle of the night. She was floating near the ceiling. But she wasn’t flapping her wings.

Rainbow experienced a terrific sinking feeling in her equivalent to a pony stomach. She looked down…to see her unconscious pony body. With a feeling of inevitability, she drifted along the cloud ceiling until she reached her bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror.

What she saw was a pale olive translucent brain—a pony brain this time—with ten long olive-green tentacles dangling below, a large yellow beak, and her own cerise pony eyes. What she saw was herself—her true self.

Rainbow Dash said nothing, for she had left her emotions behind in her physical body. She coldly noted her see-through state and speculated that like sirens she appeared to be half-spirit and half-material. She made a note to go to the library the next morning to find out the pony name for her species. She then floated back into the bedroom and lowered herself back into the pony body that she controlled like a puppet.

She slept soundly the rest of the night, and it was only with the morning that the screaming began.

Fluttershy walked up to the open library door the following morning. A sign stated that the librarian was away for the afternoon on personal business. Fluttershy knew what that business was: Twilight and Spike spending the day in Canterlot.

Fluttershy walked into the library, and began to look around. In the reference section in the back she found Rainbow Dash. There was a tall pile of books beside her and she was slowly making her way through one of them.

“Ugh!” she groaned. “I know I said I love books now after discovering Daring Do, but I hate reference books!” Then she looked up. “Fluttershy!” she exclaimed, flying in front of the books. “It’s not what it looks like!”

Fluttershy raised one confused eyebrow.

“Well, no I mean…wait! You can help me!” She raced over and grabbed Fluttershy’s shoulders with her front hooves, pushing her over to the books. “There’s a bedtime story I told you once—one of the ones I learned during the Racing League’s Campout. It was the one with the extinct monster that was accidentally raised from the dead—the floating brain with—”

“—Ten dangling tentacles and a big orange beak.”

“Yellow actually. Wait, you remember?”

“I still have nightmares about it,” Fluttershy said dully.

“Oh,” Rainbow said, sinking to the floor and pulling her head in. “I’m sorry. I…something made me think of that story, and I’m trying to look it up. Do you remember what it was called?”

“It’s a grepp,” Fluttershy said.

“Ah, great!” Rainbow Dash said, giving Fluttershy a brief hug. She turned back to look at the books. “I wonder if it’s in any of these books. I wanna know about the real thing, not the made-up one in the story.”

“I can tell you that,” Fluttershy said quietly.

“You can?” Rainbow said, turning back around.

“Yes. I looked them up to try and get rid of the nightmares. It didn’t help.”

Rainbow winced. “Sorry. Again.”

“It’s OK,” Fluttershy said softly. “What do you want to know?”

“Well, tell me about them. What do they do?”

Fluttershy frowned. “They float around at night until one of them is right over the head of a sleeping pony, then the tentacles grab the poor pony’s head and suck all the memories out, leaving the pony with permanent amnesia. The grepp then eats those memories.”

“That’s awful.”

“Yes,” Fluttershy said with a nod. “They also use those memories to lure other ponies to their doom.”

“Because grepps can perfectly imitate any pony’s voice,” said Rainbow, supplying one of her own previously unexplained talents.

“That’s right,” said Fluttershy. “Grepps are very hard to stop, because they are not entirely material, and because they are much smarter than the average pony.”

Great, Rainbow thought with a roll of her eyes. I’m not even a good grepp. “How do they fly?”

“Oh, they are really slow,” said Fluttershy. “That’s the one way the monster book said you can get away from them. If you see one, run, and they will never catch up.”

That actually made Rainbow smile. So my speed is me. I wasn’t born with it. I got this way because I trained my tail off. The smile dropped off of her face. But now that I know for sure… “Fluttershy, I have to leave.” She flew out of the library, with Fluttershy following.

“Oh, are you going to see your family?” Fluttershy asked.

Rainbow looked mournfully behind her. “No, I’m leaving forever.” She turned forward and started flying faster, hoping to outrun the other pegasus. “I found out something horrible about myself, and now I have to go, before the Apples find out.”

“Before the…what is that supposed to mean?”

Rainbow looked back and was surprised to see that Fluttershy was keeping up. “I’m awful, Fluttershy. And I don’t deserve to be around regular ponies.” She had reached the door of her cloud house, and reached out a hoof to open it for the last time.

A surprisingly strong hoof reached out to stop her. “What is that supposed to mean?” Fluttershy demanded. Yes, demanded.

Rainbow was so shocked by this action that she said the first thing to pop into her mouth. “I’m a monster, Fluttershy.”

“OK,” said Fluttershy.

“‘OK’? ‘OK’?! Did you hear what I said? I’m a grepp, Fluttershy! A grepp that’s inside a pony body!”

“OK,” Fluttershy said, sitting down on the cloud. “When did this happen?”

“When I was born, I guess?” Rainbow said, growing more agitated.

“Do your parents know?”

“No! No, I don’t think they could keep a secret like this.”

Fluttershy nodded in understanding. “So, one of them was like you, and didn’t know it. The same thing for one of their parents, and their parents, and so on back to some clever grepp who first figured out how to do it before their kind went extinct.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” an emotionless Rainbow said, before she turned her emotional brain back on. “Now wait a second! How can you be so calm? Why don’t you hate me?!”

In a flash, Fluttershy had grabbed Rainbow’s head and pulled it against her chest and started slowly caressing it. “There, there,” she said soothingly. “It’s alright. You’re not a monster. Not really. You haven’t eaten anypony’s memories, have you?”

“Never!” Rainbow declared, her voice muffled by chest fluff.

“There, see? You’re a pony at heart, regardless of what you might really look like. Your friendship with us is real, and so is your cutie mark.”

“Wait,” Rainbow Dash said, pulling her head out of Fluttershy’s grip. “I need to check.” She looked around her to see if any pegasi were watching them, then walked into her house.

Fluttershy followed her, into the house and up the stairs to her bathroom.

Rainbow looked back. “Are you sure you want to see this?” she asked.

Fluttershy paused for a moment, then firmly nodded her head.

Rainbow Dash floated up out of her pony body.

Fluttershy started shaking, her eyes firmly on Rainbow’s grepp form.

Rainbow’s second pair of eyes put on a troubled expression, then quickly turned to get a look at its side in the mirror.

Sure enough, the lightning-and-cloud cutie mark was emblazoned on the rear sides of the floating brain.

Rainbow returned to her body and turned fearfully to face Fluttershy.

Fluttershy closed her eyes and took in several deep breaths. Slowly, she calmed down.

“W…well?” Rainbow asked. She herself started trembling in fear of what was about to happen.

Fluttershy opened her eyes and looked directly into Rainbow’s own. “You’re just as nightmare-inducing as the other grepps,” she said. “But…I’m not afraid of you. Because you’re my best friend.” She put on a warm smile.

“Still?”

“Especially,” Fluttershy said, her smile growing. “I now know you better than ever, so I know more than ever how wonderful a pony you are.”

Rainbow shook her head incredulously. “How can you say that?” she repeated, looking down at the floor.

Fluttershy reached out a hoof to raise Rainbow’s head. “Because I’m a monster too,” she said. She stopped and blinked a couple of times. “Wow. I thought it would be a lot harder to admit it than that,” she said to herself.

Rainbow frowned. “Wait, you’re a ‘monster’…do you mean that thing about not understanding other ponies?”

“No,” Fluttershy said somewhat firmly. “I’m a monster…like you. Do you remember after the Rainboom, how I hid in my Ponyville house and wouldn’t let anypony see me?”

“Yeah,” said Rainbow slowly. “I thought it was because you were traumatized by everything that happened to you.”

“I was traumatized,” Fluttershy said. “Because your rainboom made my true form come out. I’m a gainsayer.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged in ignorance.

“It’s kind of like a decaying corpse of a pony, but with back-tentacles gripping the aether for wings, claws instead of hooves, and these really creepy eyes,” said Fluttershy, looking down at the cloud floor. “I wrote a letter to Mother, and she came out with a birthing unicorn. The reason why Dad disappeared before I was born—”

“—Is it because he was one of those things?”

Fluttershy opened her mouth, then chose to nod instead. She waited a bit before continuing. “Did you ever wonder what birthing unicorns do? Well, it turns out that most ponies are not born looking nearly identical to every other pony. Birthing unicorns have one spell in common that they cast on a foal when the parents don’t like what she looks like: the hereditary illusion spell. It’s…well, I guess Twilight would know better than me, but it’s kind of an illusion, and kind of a transformation. And the foal ends up a perfect little pony…just like everypony else.”

Fluttershy turned her head to look out the tiny window of the bathroom. “Mom paid this birthing unicorn extra, to make me look like a pony instead of a gainsayer. And your rainboom caused it to start failing.

“I had a lot of time in that house to look at myself in the mirror, Rainbow.” She turned to look her friend in the eye. “I saw my new cutie mark on that awful corpse flank. And I saw how my animal friends stayed with me. And I had Mom to tell me what I’m telling you—that you’re exactly the same pony you’ve been this whole time, just in a body that you don’t want. …The grepp body, not the pony one.

“Dad wanted to be a pony. More than anything in the world. And his fondest dream for me was to be the pony that he could not. So…that’s what I did.

“I can’t turn that spell off, Rainbow. If I could, I’d show you what I look like, what I really look like. So, you’d know that you’re not alone. Anyway, that’s—”

Fluttershy wasn’t able to finish her sentence, because she was enveloped in a fierce hug by Rainbow Dash. “Thank you,” Rainbow said quietly around more of Fluttershy’s fluff. “Thank you, thank you. I didn’t want to go away.” She lifted her head to look at Fluttershy. “But now I’m scared of the Apples.”

“Don’t be,” said Fluttershy. “I never told them the truth, but there’s no way that they don’t know. You know how I am with secrets.”

“You kept this one pretty well from me.”

Fluttershy smirked. “Face it, Rainbow: this isn’t the sort of thing you’d be able to figure out on your own.”

“No, I suppose not,” Rainbow said simply. She sighed as she sat down, pulling Fluttershy down beside her. “So that’s two more secrets I have to keep from the others.”

“Oh, do you have more?” Fluttershy asked, before catching herself. “Oh, wait. No, don’t tell me. You wouldn’t be a good friend if you told everypony their secrets.”

Rainbow nodded sadly. “That’s right.”

Author's Note

The notes for this chapter can be found with Chapter 39.

Chapter 38

That night there was a knocking on Rainbow’s bedroom door. The knock sounded like a wooden door knock, despite the door being made of cloudstuff.

Rainbow sat up in her bed and turned on her firefly light. “Come in…however many there are of you.”

The door opened, to reveal Pinkamena. “I got your note,” she said dully.

“You didn’t have to come over tonight,” Rainbow said. “I said the next time you felt like being serious.”

The brain slug Rozetri showed herself. “I felt that you resisting my power made this a priority.”

Rainbow sighed. “Yeah, well I just found out why last night,” she explained. “I think I’m your cousin or something.” And she rose up out of the pony Rainbow’s head as that form slumped into unconsciousness, revealing her true form—what she had decided to call “Rainbow Grepp”.

“Wow!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “You look weird!”

Rainbow the grepp laughed, a pure, happy pony laugh. And then laughed some more in delight at learning that she could laugh like this. “Pinkie…” she began to say in a clipped parrot-like voice—the native voice of a grepp. But then she used her imitation ability to assume her own pony voice. “Don’t ever change, Pinkie!”

“OK!” chirped Pinkie. She then looked back and forth between the grepp and the serious Rozetri. “In fact, I think the two of us will stay out for this. No offense, Pinkamena, but you’re kinda a downer. … She said she was OK with staying out of this.”

“Are you from this world?” Rozetri asked with her distinctive voice.

“Yes,” answered Rainbow Grepp.

“What of your ancestors?”

“Also Equestrian, as far as I know.”

“Then we are not related, because I am not of this world,” said Rozetri.

Rainbow’s beak twisted into a smile. “What kind of world are you from?”

“I don’t know…” the blob answered, its unfocused eye growing even more unfocused. “I remember almost nothing about myself.”

“Well, my powers are memory-based,” Rainbow said, approaching the other brain creature with a couple of tentacles upraised. “Maybe I can get them back for you…”

“No!” Rozetri cried out in fear, pushing out a force-field that sent Rainbow Grepp slamming into a cloud wall and partially through it. If that wall had been made of terrestrial materials, the frail grepp would probably be dead.

“I…I’m sorry!” Rozetri cried out, sending a wave of healing magic over Rainbow Grepp.

Rainbow for her part was more concerned with being exposed, so she raced back into her pony body and then used her pegasus powers to repair the wall. “Watch it!” she cried.

Rozetri looked mournfully at the ground.

“Aw, it’s OK,” Rainbow said, approaching the blob and patting it lightly on a part that didn’t look like it might collapse from the pressure of a single hoof. She then looked down at herself. “Hey, do you mind if I stay like this? I really think of myself as a pony.”

“Hey, that’s alright. You do you!” exclaimed Pinkie. She looked over at her companion. “Rozetri here is pretty scared of what she really is.”

“More like terrified,” Pinkamena added in a brief cameo.

“Well can you blame me?” Rozetri asked sadly.

Pinkie Pie took in Rainbow Dash’s curious expression. “How about we exchange origin stories?” She climbed up on the bed, sitting down and patting a spot before her for Rainbow to sit as well. “Rosy, you float over there.” After waiting to see that her two requests had been fulfilled, she began:

When I told the Cutie Mark Crusaders my cutie mark story, and later you, I wasn’t exactly telling the full story. The big picture was the same, but…

Pinkamena didn’t fit in. At all. And everything just made her sad. But then your rainbow boom turned everything around for her. She was truly happy, for the first time in her life. But at the same time, she wasn’t allowed to be happy. And with all that magic what came out of it was me, Pinkie Pie. I was a voice in Pinkamena’s head, but with the way things were going for us, she preferred if I was in charge most of the time, so I guess we became Pinkie Pie with some Pinkamena instead of the reverse. And Pinkie…and I…had to leave the farm.

I…To keep things from getting weird, we use “I” most of the time…I was heading down No Pony’s Road when this bright light came out of the sky and smashed into me! And I kinda died…

Rozetri took over next:

I was in a big round spaceship when I crashed into Equestria. Machines were sparking and melting, and a voice told me that the ship would self-destruct in ‘five hundred rels’, whatever that was.

I wasn’t just in a spaceship. I was in a machine inside that spaceship, a machine made for me to operate with my tentacles and my thoughts. It was a machine of destruction, a machine for enslavement. And most of the controls for my spaceship had the same function. I was an emissary for war, sent to conquer this world by a race so arrogant they thought I alone would be sufficient, and so hateful and paranoid that they considered even this perfect world a threat to them.

In the time I had before the ship destroyed itself, I could save my machine of destruction, or I could try to save the dying pony before me, and so almost certainly doom all of us to being consumed in the coming explosion. Confused, unable to remember anything, I reached out to the pink pony, and saw its life flash before my eyes. It was another power of my species, to absorb the mind of another, to take it over it in my mission of slavery and conquest.

But what I saw changed the course of my newborn life. For even with the pains of Pinkamena’s conflict with her family, I still saw a wonderful world, and a wonderful race. A race that deserved to exist, to thrive.

And only after this revelation, did I see the other thing, the thing that would have doomed Equestria if I had learned it first. I learned of the existence of magic, and that I innately had complete command of it. I had only just arrived, and I was already more powerful than the majority of unicorns. In a little time, I indeed could have conquered Equestria all by myself.

But because of my contact with Pinkie Pie and yes, even Pinkamena, I decided that I would use my power to subvert whatever purpose I had in my past life, to help these two to achieve their dreams of making everypony they met happier. I healed them, I contained the spaceship explosion and made sure that it was utterly annihilated, and in turn they accepted me as their new sister. Together we set out for Ponyville, there to start a new life with the Cakes and eventually all of you.

"So, you don’t remember anything of your life before the crash landing?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Nothing but an endless number of pop culture references from however many worlds I conquered before coming here,” said Rozetri.

“Those are fun!” Pinkie Pie added. After a moment, she clarified: “The references, not the conquering.”

Rainbow nodded. “Alright, I won’t fix your memories. Assuming I even knew how to do it. I’m not a very good grepp.” She then told what little she knew about herself and her origins.

~ ~ ~

Rozetri hummed, which with her voice was quite…memorable.

“With enough magic, you might get more of your abilities back,” she offered. “You might regain the ancient grepps’ legendary intelligence.”

“No thank you, Miss,” said Rainbow. “I’ve done quite well for myself as a musclehead, and I don’t intend to totally become an egghead anytime soon.”

Rozetri sighed—another odd sound—but accepted Rainbow’s decision.

“So does anypony else know about you?” Rainbow asked. “Your family, or the Cakes?”

“Neither,” said Rozetri. “Princess Celestia knows, and perhaps the other princesses as well.”

“Princess Celestia is such a wonderful ruler,” Pinkie explained. “I knew if I told her the secret that she wouldn’t tell. And, being in charge of everything, she deserved to know!”

“Oh,” Rainbow said sadly. “I suppose that means I need to tell the Princesses as well.”

“No, you don’t,” Pinkie said simply. “Rozetri could take over Equestria if she wanted to.”

“You couldn’t,” said Rozetri. “I scanned you, and you don’t have the power to do anything as a grepp.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said with a smile. “And that’s fine with me.”

Author's Note

The notes for this chapter can be found with Chapter 39.

Chapter 39

A room in Canterlot Castle.

On that same day, Twilight Sparkle and Spike the Dragon visited their former foalsitter, Princess Cadance.

She seemed in a very uncharacteristic mood when her hoofservant showed them into her bedroom, flipping between various volumes of Who’s Hooves in Canterlot and preparing the guest list for an enormous party. “Ugh!” she groaned. “Who showed you in? I’m very busy.”

“Candance it’s me, Twilight Sparkle,” the unicorn said politely. “Your ‘favorite filly’? I can do the Ladybug Dance if you really don’t remember me.”

A few days earlier.

“Do you like it?” Queen Chrysalis said to the cocooned Princess Cadance in a copy of her own form. “I’ll be able to have ever so much fun with it!”

“You’ll never be able to get away with this!” Cadance cried out. “Princess Celestia will be able to see right through your disguise!”

“Really? Because I just came back from tea with Her Royal Highness, and she told me that I had ‘just about perfected holding yourself like a princess!’.” The quote had been delivered with a perfect copy of Celestia’s voice.

“Well, Twilight Sparkle will certainly stop you! She’s one of the smartest and most-powerful unicorns in all of Equestria!”

“Twilight Sparkle?” Chrysalis asked herself. “Wow. You’re right. I don’t know a thing about her.” She then began to advance menacingly toward her captive, saying, “Now show me all your memories of her so we can fix that little shortcoming…”

“Twilight Sparkle!” the false princess exclaimed, suddenly giving the unicorn all of her attention. “Of course, I remember all about you! What brings you to see me?”

“Princess Celestia gave me a top-secret spell to turn me into an alicorn,” Twilight said, settling onto a cushion.

“She’s not sure if she wants to use it, so she’s gathering data,” Spike added. “As she does.”

“Of, of course,” the disguised Chrysalis replied. Inside she was reeling. She had never even considered the possibility that alicorns could be made. If she cast the spell on herself, would it make her unstoppable? It might not work—Chrysalis was in some ways the alicorn of changelings, after all. In that case, could she dare to cast it on one of her underlings, so she wouldn’t be so alone anymore?

A moment later, she shook off the sentimental thought in annoyance. Perhaps if the spell were studied, it might be reversed? Imagine, reducing the high and mighty Princess Celestia to the level of a common pony!

“Cadance?”

Chrysalis looked over at Twilight, and felt the fear radiating off her, a response to her own bloodthirsty expression. Quickly, the changeling queen composed herself. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “Sorry about that. Memories.”

“Yes,” said Twilight, slowly recovering herself. “That’s why I’m here. Memories. I’d like to know how you became an alicorn.”

“Oh,” said Chrysalis sadly. She had no idea how Cadance had become an alicorn. But…

The pony the others thought was Princess Cadance got up. “You know what? My story is very personal to me, and I’d probably get it all muddied with my emotions if I tried to tell it to you. You want the facts? Then we should speak with Uncle Blueblood.”

Twilight thought for a moment. “Prince Blueblood?”

“Yes,” Cadance said, rising to her hooves. “The prince has been entrusted by Auntie Celestia with the study of how alicorns operate.”

In fact, he was at the very top of the list of ponies to be replaced by changelings at the party that Cadance/Chrysalis was currently planning.

The moment Chrysalis walked into the audience chamber of Prince Blueblood she picked up on all of his emotions. And she immediately decided that he was not to be trusted. After all, if he found out about this top-secret spell, who was to say that he wouldn’t use it first?

“Twilight, could you please let me do the talking?” she asked the purple unicorn in a whisper.

“Um, alright,” Twilight said. And immediately felt a sense of relief. Despite her time with her friends, she still didn’t feel very comfortable around strangers, and Prince Blueblood had quite a reputation.

“Your Highness,” Chrysalis said with the proper bow. “The Bearer of Magic, Lady Twilight Sparkle, is here to see you. She wishes to hear your analysis of how I became an alicorn, in order to advance her magical studies. I felt you could do a far better job on the matter than I ever could.”

The unicorn stallion ate the praise like candy. “Well, I appreciate any chance to serve the ponies that act as Equestria’s defenders. Follow me, Lady Sparkle, and I will tell you what I know.”

Prince Blueblood led the group into the Archives, and over to a room dedicated to alicorn studies. From a bookcase he removed a book filled with his own hornwriting, and after reading it for a bit, began to summarize: “Princess Cadance was born as a pegasus. She grew up in a small earth pony village outside Vanhoover. One day she noticed that the villagers had become listless...drained of their love.”

Twilight, Spike and Chrysalis all listened intently.

In a neighboring suite of the Archives, a door was jimmied open, allowing a pony in a gray catsuit to sneak in. The suit was specially enchanted to make its user hard to see. Feeling herself safe now that she was in the rarely used room, the pony removed the part of the suit covering her head, revealing her as Ex-Agent Sweetie Drops.

It’s alright, the pony with the rictus grin kept telling herself. I’m saving Equestria from a thieving LIAR!

She worked her way through the various ledgers stored in the room, until she found the one dedicated to Ponyville.

I knew it! she thought triumphantly as she found the piece of information she was looking for. Lyra is a threat to all Ponykind! And when I expose her, the Princesses will have to reinstate me!

Laughing hysterically under her breath as she put her costume back on, Sweetie Drops made her way back out of the Archives.

Author's Note

Here are the notes for Chapters 36-39.

Chapter 41

Pierce Boil awoke from unconsciousness, bound by shackles around all four hooves, forcing him into a spread-eagle position against a cold stone wall. He appeared to be in some underground room, as near as he could tell. A blurry shape was suspended in front of his eyes. It withdrew, his eyes focusing on the form of a glass vial with some kind of light within it. As he watched, a glass stopper was applied, and the light faded out, but an indefinable feeling of something substantial was still left inside.

The vial was suspended inside the prongs of a gnarled wooden staff. Wielding the staff was a grayish-purple unicorn with a swirling mane and tail. She was standing in front of a ceiling-to-floor mirror. “There, all done!” she said lightly. She put a necklace around the neck of the vial and put it on a table, while setting the staff aside. “Now when this is all over, you’ll have a point for your memories to go back to.”

“What…what is going on here?” Boil demanded. “Who are you?”

“I am Starlight Glimmer, alias the Basilisk,” she told him. “Not that that information will do you any good.”

“And what do you want with me?”

“I’m doing what I was paid to do with you, Pierce Boil.”

“Paid? By who?”

“By whom, Mr. Boil. Proper grammar is always appreciated. I was paid by your employees. Over eight hundred of them. You are a very unpopular pony-resource director. They pooled the sum of 2,000 bits, and now I will perform the service of making you disappear. Forever.” She put on a particularly wicked smile for that last part.

“You’re going to kill me?”

“Oh, heavens no Mr. Boil. I’m going to add you to my organization, and you are going to do it willingly.”

“Willingly? Balderdash! I’ve heard of your ‘Mutes’, Miss Glimmer, and I want nothing to do with them.”

“That’s because you don’t understand, Mr. Boil. You’re suffering from the lies of your upbringing, like all other ponies. Tonight, I will be showing you the truth. Your own personal truth, about your own real identity. Once you know the truth, you’ll join my group of your own free will.”

“I highly doubt it! Unless you just brainwashed me with that fancy stick of yours.”

Starlight picked up the object in question with her aura. “This? This is the Staff of Memory, Mage Meadowbrook’s forbidden ninth enchanted item, long thought to have been destroyed. It records memories, as I have just done. And it erases memories, as I might find myself being forced to do. But it does not change memories, or the core self behind those memories.”

She walked up to a platform, so that she could look eye to eye with the imprisoned stallion, and she brought the Staff of Memory with her. “Now this could go one of two ways. I will show my personal truth to you, Mr. Boil. You will either accept your new reality and join our organization retaining all of your memories, bringing all of your valuable knowledge to serve the Mutes. Or your mind will break because it cannot handle the truth, and I will have to blank you,”—she brandished the Staff—“start you from scratch. All of my ponies who learn the truth without the weight of their Equestrian upbringings accept that truth and join me willingly. I’m hoping you will be the second pony—after myself—to fall into the first category.

“Prepare yourself.”

“You’re not going to be able to get away with this!” Boil called out. “Somepony in this village must be able to hear me. Help! Help! I’m being held captive by a madpony! You have to stop her before…before…”

Starlight Glimmer dropped her illusions. All of her illusions. Showed Pierce Boil what she truly looked like, and why she was known as “the Basilisk”.

Pierce Boil began to scream and would not stop, unable to look away from the imperfect being before him. After a few moments Starlight powered the Staff of Memory, and Pierce Boil fell silent.

“Hello, Pierce,” Starlight Glimmer said, in the tone one would use with a foal.

“Hello, Lady,” Pierce said in a simple voice. “Is that my name? Pierce?”

“Yes, and I am Starlight. What do you think of that name: Pierce? You can have a different one if you don’t like that one.”

“No, Pierce is fine.” He began to look around him in wonder.

Starlight smiled. Pierce had absolutely no problem with her current appearance.

The door to the basement opened, and Gertrude poked her head in. Her ears were stuffed with cotton. “Is it over?” she asked loudly, before remembering and removing the cotton.

“Yes. A pity,” Starlight said as she put her regular disguise in place. “We didn’t even get to the second phase, when I show him what he really looks like.” She gestured towards the mirror on the wall.

Gertrude flew over and unlocked Pierce’s shackles. He watched her with a wide-eyed wonder. “Wow, can you really fly?” he asked.

“Sure can!” she replied. “It’s great!”

“Can I do that?” he asked.

“No,” she said sadly. “But I heard you can do a neat trick with a candle flame.”

“Really?”

“Yes,” Starlight said. She levitated the vial around his neck. “Now stay here for a moment while I check on something. Don’t open that vial, or something really bad will happen. Do you promise me you won’t do it?”

Pierce looked down and batted the vial lightly with a hoof. “Okay,” he said. “Do you have anything for me to play with while you’re gone?”

“Why don’t you play with the mirror?” Starlight suggested. “You can try to make the funniest face.”

“Okay!” Pierce exclaimed. He clambered down from the platform he was held on and made his way over to the other platform with the mirror. “I’ll show you the funniest face ever when you get back!”

Starlight walked over to the door.

“Hey wait a minute, Starlight!”

“Yes, Pierce?”

“How did you do that thing with your face?”

“It’s my special talent.”

“Oh. I liked you better before. It was more…you.”

“Why thank you, Pierce!” Starlight exclaimed, her face lighting up with joy. “When I come back, I can do the same thing for you.”

Pierce stared in shock at his reflection. “You mean I don’t really look like this?”

“No.”

“Ooh! I wonder what I really look like.”

“Something for you to look forward to when I get back,” Starlight said before following Gertrude out the door.

~ ~ ~

“Well, Miss Garden went snooping,” Gertrude reported. “I got her, though.” She slumped. “Why do ponies have to be so resistant to seeing their truth? Why do they make you blank all of their memories?”

“It’s just the corrupt nature of Equestrian society, Gertrude,” Starlight said sadly.

“You had to blank everyone. Even…even me, right?”

“Well, what do you think, Gertrude?”

“Well, I don’t remember anything before joining you, Starlight,” Gertrude said. She pulled out her personal vial of memories and eyed it curiously.

“That was by your own request, Gertrude,” said Starlight. “And not like the ponies, with screaming. You sought me out specifically. Told me that you had done something truly awful, that you had become someone you hated. You refused to tell me the details. And you said that you wanted to start over, right down to picking a new name for yourself. You didn’t expect that you’d want to work for me after I blanked you, because you had no secrets for me to reveal to you. But you did it anyway. Because underneath it all you are a decent griffon.”

She walked over to the windows, watching her other Mutants walking the streets, each with their own ‘monstrosities’. The second tier of her Mutes, the ones who had moved beyond serving her in her robberies and were willing to live their truths on a permanent basis.

Starlight gestured through the window at them. “Every pony I’ve met has turned out to be a decent pony once I reset them. That’s why I’m certain we can build a perfect society together. A world without lies. A world where nopony will ever have to lie to another pony, ever again.”

Author's Note

The notes for this chapter can be found with Chapter 42.

Chapter 42

A next day, Saturday, Ragamuffin, having failed to get a coded telegram from his wife as they had arranged, came down to Hollow Shades himself, having obtained emergency sick leave.

But not as himself. Or at least, not as his customary pony disguise. Instead, he was a stockier tan earth pony with a short black mane and tail. His cutie mark was a rearing lion and red dragon, their forepaws entangled. He was wearing a white shirt, burgundy tie with a diamond stickpin, navy waistcoat with metal buttons, check jacket (gray with tan and green in the check) and a black bowler hat. He was carrying a closed umbrella across his back with a curved cane handle and in this way completed the look of a Trottingham gentlestallion of a half-century ago.

Upon leaving the station he strolled casually down the street, waving at the occasional ponies who peered fearfully at him behind curtains from the shadows of their homes. Seeing a sign for the “Hollow Magic Testing Grounds Memorial”, he went inside. Nopony was running the museum, so he took his time to look over the exhibits, stopping at a labeled portrait of the chief researchers from a hundred years ago.

A few minutes later Gertrude ran over from the pub. “Hi!” she exclaimed. “I’m Gertrude Ganache, bartender of the pub over there. I take care of the museum when need be. Do you have any questions?”

“No, no questions, Gertrude. Just wanted to know more about the town I’m about to move into.”

“Move in…to?” Gertrude asked incredulously. “Two in a row?” she muttered to herself.

“Yes. Just for a few months. I’m a real estate developer, you see, and I’d like to scout out the area.” He hoofed over his card, which read “REARING STEED. JUNIOR PARTNER, JAFC, INC.”

Gertrude’s eyes boggled at the name on the card. “Seriously?” she asked.

“Seriously,” Mr. Steed replied. “I’d be happy to speak to whoever’s in charge around here.”

“Well, it’s Saturday, so she’s running her shop over in…that is to say, we’re a town, Mr. Steed. Nopony’s really in charge here.”

“Not even the mayor?”

“Largely ceremonial.”

“Well, can I speak to you?”

Gertrude was taken aback. “To me?” She looked around her, then put a claw to her chest. “Gertrude Ganache?”

“Yes you, Gertrude Ganache. You look trustworthy,” Rearing said. And for the most part, he believed it. Even when she lied, it was clear that her heart was in the right place. “Let’s go over to your pub and talk about land.”

“About land…” Gertrude repeated, wondering desperately about what to do, and if she could do it without hurting her visitor.

~ ~ ~

Gertrude led Rearing Steed into the pub, flew up onto the counter, and opened a high cabinet to start removing some topographical maps of the region. As the room was not very well illuminated, she lit a candle to work with. “It’s mostly swamp around here, I’m afraid,” she told the stallion. “Not sure where you could really build anything. What sort of use are you looking for?”

“Oh, residential,” Rearing tossed off. “Someplace to house hundreds of ponies.” He noticed a gray pair of saddlebags thrown in a corner of the pub. He walked around the bar to a section where the wall descended from the ceiling to only a dozen hooves above the countertop.

“…Hundreds?” asked Gertrude with trepidation.

“Maybe even thousands.”

“Th…oh, dear. She won’t like that at all.”

“Who won’t?”

“Beg pardon?”

Rearing sighed and decided to cut to the chase. “I heard that my friend…” He took a moment to remember the alias. “…Miss Garden was staying here. Do you happen to know where? She knows a thing or two about cartography and could be a great help looking over those maps.”

“Miss Garden,” Gertrude said flatly. She walked across the tabletop to where Steed was, placing the tall candle on the tabletop beside her talons.

“Yes. Do you know where she is?”

“She left.”

“I thought she arrived yesterday.”

“Well, she had a really bad reaction, and left. Packed her bags and departed on the train right before yours. You just missed her. She developed an allergic reaction to the marshy air.”

Mr. Steed looked back at the discarded saddlebags. The clasps were perfect reproductions of Lemon Peel’s cutie mark. He walked over to stand below Gertrude. “Where is she really, Gertrude Ganache?” he asked in a serious tone. “That is your name, right? Gertrude Ganache? The same as the lead griffon researcher from a hundred years ago?” Using the handle of the umbrella, he grabbed hold of the griffon around the neck and pulled her head through the narrow gap in the bar, flattening her body down and trapping her wings against her sides so she couldn’t fight back.

“Wh…what?”

“Are you perhaps named after her?” He used a hoof to dig out her vial. “Say, a month or two ago when you got this pretty toy? Where is she, Gertrude?” He allowed a bit of his former voice to return as he asked, “Where is my wife?”

Gertrude tried in vain to escape Rearing Steed’s hold, but she had no skill in fighting. Her eyes darted over to the lit candle—was she being pulled towards it? Did Mr. Steed intend to light her head feathers on fire?! “The smithy!” she exclaimed. “Please don’t hurt me, she’s being kept at the smithy!”

Mr. Steed released her. “There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

Gertrude collapsed off of the bar like a sack of potatoes and began sobbing.

“I’m sorry,” Rearing said as he walked around the bar. “That was going a bit far, wasn’t it?”

“I’m a coward!” Gertrude wailed. “I gave it away without even trying to resist! What kind of follower am I?”

“Well, it takes all types,” Steed said, kneeling down to comfort the griffon. “Not every…griffon needs to be brave.”

“Every real griffon does,” Gertrude replied. “I gave up my memories and what did that get me? I’m not even as good as a pony! This thing did nothing for me!” She ripped her vial off of her neck and held it aloft, staring into it. “I don’t know what she was running away from, but this isn’t the answer.” And with that she threw the vial to the ground, shattering it.

Rearing quickly backed away, uncertain what the magic contained within might do to bystanders. The magical smoke it generated seemed to be sucked into Gertrude’s head through her nostrils, like a sneeze seen in reverse. She shook her head a couple times, then gave a weary look around her. Her shoulders slumped. “What am I doing back?” she asked, in a tone of despair.

“Hello? Gertrude?”

“Who? The name’s Gilda, dweeb.” She stopped herself with a sigh. She looked up at him as he rose to his hooves to leave, desperation in her eyes. “No, wait. I don’t want to be like that.”

“Are you going to be alright?” Rearing asked.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Well, I have to go and rescue my wife. I think you…the other you…imprisoned her in the village smithy.”

“Okay,” Gilda said quietly. “Could…could you come back after?”

Steed paused for a moment, mentally separating this griffon from the one he had interacted with just a minute earlier. “Yeah. We’ll be back.” He pointed out the door. “Do you happen to know if there’s anypony guarding… No, you wouldn’t remember anymore.”

Gilda shook her head. “There are guards, I know that much.”

The door of the smithy opened, and Rearing Steed walked in, past a table covered with tools. He had left the umbrella behind, but he still had his horribly-out-of-fashion bowler on, which he made sure to adjust to a cocky angle.

There were no lights on inside, but there was still illumination from the glowing forge, being used to heat up a horseshoe held in a gripper. [A gripper is a long hollow stick with a rubber mouth attachment on one end, used to open and close a pair of metal pincers at the other end. It is an essential tool for earth ponies.] Rearing walked over to the forge and looked around. In doing so, he accidentally touched his cheek to the hood over the forge and stepped back suddenly to keep it from getting singed.

He walked around the forge, spotting a locked closet of the right size to hold a pony in a corner. He walked over and examined the lock.

Hearing a chain rattle, he turned around. Approaching him was the large blacksmith pony, gripper in his teeth, with the glowing horseshoe on the end. He was grinning wickedly around the gripper. His face and body were asymmetrical, with the right side larger than the left. There were reptilian scales poking through the uneven fur of his left side, and the teeth of the left side were pointed, like the teeth of a crocodile. The smith said nothing as he approached, horseshoe first.

Rearing slowly moved around the side of the closet, until he was next to a saddle hanging on the wall.

The blacksmith kept approaching, with that same creepy grin, until he extended his neck and pressed the white-hot horseshoe into the saddle, setting it on fire. He slowly pulled the horseshoe back…and then suddenly lunged forward.

Rearing stumbled out of the way, pursued by the blacksmith, but the larger pony’s bulk made it impossible for Rearing to get out of the corner he was in. He fell down to the ground, next to a bucket of water. The blacksmith lunged with the horseshoe…and Rearing picked up the bucket, causing the shoe to press into it. The water boiled, and the shoe cooled. The surprised smith opened his mouth, causing grabber and shoe to fall out of his control.

Rearing then tossed the bucket of hot water into the blacksmith’s face.

The blacksmith fell back against the tool table, making a reptilian hiss. He turned his head and picked up a large hammer.

Rearing ran out of the corner, but the smith blocked the way out of the shop. Not that he was going to leave without Lemon. The smith raised the hammer high to swing it into Rearing’s head, but he was so big that it bumped against a rafter. This gave Rearing enough time to pick up a wooden box to intercept the hammer when it finally came down. The box was crushed to splinters. Rearing tipped his head, causing his bowler hat to fall to the ground.

The smith raised up his hammer and swung it down again.

Rearing picked up his hat with all four hooves and caught the blow with the hat. The smith was stunned as the hat only somewhat dented. Rearing then grabbed the hat by its edge and brought its crown down on the smith’s head, knocking him out.

Rearing smiled, pushing the dent out of the hat with a couple of punches and then lightly tapping its edge against the edge of the forge, revealing it to be made of solid steel. The inside of the bowler was engraved with the words “JOKE HAT. PRODUCT OF KNIGHT INDUSTRIES OF TROTTINGHAM.” He put it back on and back in its cocky position.

“Will the winner please come to the unsaddling enclosure?” A voice from the next room said.

“Lemon!” Rearing exclaimed.

“Mrs. Peel when I’m working, please.”

Walking past the ponyless closet, he entered the saddling and shoeing room, which since it was meant for customers was in much better shape than the forge room. The windows were all blacked out. A large wooden ponykin was in the center of the room. A saddle was atop the ponykin, and strapped on top of the saddle in a demeaning position was Mrs. Peel, wearing a black stretch cotton catsuit with vinyl facings front and back. On her hooves were four white boots with black central stripes. Those hooves were trapped in place by very tight stirrups.

Steed took a moment to take her in. “I don’t get to see you in the ‘dangerous mission outfit’ that often.”

Peel groaned. “Did you really have to come rescue me looking like my mentor?”

“Well, he’s a lot better at this spy stuff than I am. You have to admit that.” With a flash, he was back to being Ragamuffin. The suit now sagged around him.

Peel laughed. “Well regardless, you sounded like you did very well back there a moment ago.”

“And you look…” He gave her a lascivious look.

“Don’t you finish that sentence!” Peel warned.

“I believe the saddle is supposed to go over the back,” Ragamuffin snarked. “Not under the belly.”

“Har, har.”

“And this is not the regulation number of stirrups.”

“Noted,” Peel said dryly.

“Must be very uncomfortable.”

Peel sighed. “It is.”

“Never mind,” Ragamuffin said, beginning to loosen the belts with his teeth. “We’ll soon have you…unsaddled.”

Peel groaned. “Your puns are worse than Steed’s,” she complained.

“And the fashions?”

“As hopelessly out of date as ever.”

Ragamuffin worked Peel’s hooves free from the stirrups. “Better?”

Peel worked her hooves over each other, restoring the circulation. “Much.”

“So, I have to know,” Ragamuffin said, watching his wife remove the rest of her bonds. “Who put such a tight rein on you? Was it Gertrude?”

“No,” said Peel. “She hadn’t the guts. Ran away after the blacksmith started getting rough.”

“Oh,” Ragamuffin said, looking back through the open door to the forge room. “Then I knocked out the right pony.” He started walking towards it. “Come on,” he said over his shoulder. “We have to have a talk with the former Gertrude.” With a flash he resumed his disguise of Rearing Steed.

“‘Former’?” Peel said with a raised brow.

When they entered the pub, they followed the sounds of rummaging through an open door into the basement.

Peel looked up at the shackles on the walls. “A veritable torture chamber,” she remarked.

Gilda was examining the mortared stones in one of the walls. “Heya,” she said over her shoulder.

“Mrs. Peel, this is Gilda,” Steed said. “She used to be Gertrude before…” He held aloft the glass stopper of her vial.

“Ah,” said Peel. She gave Steed a glare for forgetting her alias, causing him to wince.

“Sorry for whatever my alter ego did to you before,” Gilda said over her shoulder. “I want to make things right. You see, I just used the Basilisk to get out of my own troubles, and didn’t even think about the trouble she was causing with her nutty cause.”

“I don’t mean to interrupt,” said Steed. “But where is the rest of the village?”

“‘Gertrude’ would know better than me, but I figure there’s only a half-dozen ponies at most in this village,” Gilda replied. “Their cottages are all connected underground, and they run back and forth between them so they can watch everything through their windows. I talked Miss Mason into giving me a tour before my ‘indoctrination’. Wanted some insurance in case things went south. Anyway, outside of the boss mare herself, there’s probably only one really tough customer among the Hollow Shades ponies, this monster of a stallion named Staid. Typical cowardly ponies, am I right?” She looked around to see the poor reception of her joke. “Oops. Sorry.” She resumed her search.

“I ran into this Staid,” Mr. Steed said.

“And you came out on top? You’re tougher than you look.”

“So, what are you looking for?” Peel asked.

“…This!” Gilda exclaimed. She used her claw to pry loose a rock and removed a rolled-up slip of paper from behind it. “The Basilisk has a routine for her recruits. Thinks she’s very clever. She puts their memories in a vial, then she interviews them, and then she wipes their memory so they can start over as loyal minions. Well since I did such a good job of delaying things while she processed another pony, I knew the routine. So, I told myself if I found anything important during that interview step, to trick her into leaving the room long enough for me to plant this little baby!” She unrolled the slip and read it. “Huh,” she said, “never heard of her. I was hoping she would turn out to be Princess Cadance or something equally mind-blowing.” She handed the slip over to Peel.

Peel looked at the name. “Starlight Glimmer,” she read aloud. “Sorry, I don’t know her either.”

“I do,” Steed said with a grin. “One of my friends in the Guard goes there on Saturdays when her Canterlot shop is open. According to that clock, it’s still operating hours. And what a convenient coincidence, I happen to have a set of magic matches keyed to that very city!” From his saddlebags he produced a sheet of Canterlot Royal Guards stationary and a book of specially treated matches. He wrote a note, including both the name and the right code phrases, and then set the sheet on fire. The smoke drifted out the door, and straight to Canterlot.

The House of Enchanted Comics, Canterlot.

One by one, the unarmored guards walked into the shop, until they had blocked off all exits and entrances except the one into the back room.

“Guards!” Shining Armor ordered, “burn the comics!”

Starlight Glimmer should have run out the back door. She certainly would have escaped if she did. But instead, instincts took over. She ran into the shop, screaming “No!” at the top of her lungs. Then she looked around, saw the guards waiting and pointedly not burning anything, and popped out of existence.

But that was long enough for Shining Armor to summon a forcefield around her, leaving her nowhere to escape to. “Starlight Glimmer, also known as the Basilisk, you are under arrest, for multiple charges of armed robbery and six charges of blanking a pony’s memory against their will, ending with Pierce Boil.”

Starlight returned back to visibility. “Oh, that’s nice,” she commented. “You’re only counting the six I was hired to do. I can tell you who hired me…” She said the last sentence in a sing-song voice, as if she expected something in return.

“You’re still under arrest.”

“Drat.” Starlight looked around her, seeing no possible escape. Then, with an impish look in her eye, she beckoned Shining Armor towards her. “Hey,” she said in a low voice. “Wanna see something really scary?”

Author's Note

Here are the notes for Chapters 40, 41 & 42.

Interlude 3

The front steps of the Crystal Empire Library.

November 16, 513 CE, the last year of the Classical Era. Saturday morning.

The crystal ponies strolling down the boulevard scattered on seeing the flaming meteor headed straight for them.

But instead of crashing into the earth, the meteor stopped in midair and floated slowly down to earth, the light fading to reveal the crouched form of Discord.

“Pitiful ponies!” Discord cried. “You thought you could defeat Me by blasting Me into the depths of outer space. But lo, I have returned, and you are now doomed!”

He was answered by silence.

“Did you hear me: Doomed! DOOMED!”

A crystal pony dared to close the shutters of her front window. He had her cottage obliterated for her pains, leaving her alone standing on the now-empty plot of land. She ran.

“Ha!” Discord exclaimed. “That’s more like it!” He sat down on the steps. “Now what can I do to them next?” He looked around Him and noticed the plinth in front of the library for the first time. “Hold on. What is this?”

He got up and turned around, taking in the statue of a rearing Siren. He blinked once in shock. “What did they do to you?” He whispered. Then He got mad. “Who did this?!” He demanded of the hiding ponies. “Which of you did this to one of My monsters?!”

Again, He got no response. He disintegrated a dozen other houses and businesses at random, sending more ponies scrambling.

Then He took in the statue and figured out how its enchantment worked. “Alright, so maybe none of you knew that a living creature was trapped in here,” he projected. “But how come not a single rambunctious foal ever managed to touch her right here?”

And with that He tapped the stone form of the medallion.

A wave of water washed down the steps, and Sonata flopped down hard upon the plinth that had been built to keep her statue too high for any rambunctious foal to climb up and liberate her.

“Ow!” she exclaimed.

“Tell me who did this to you,” Discord demanded.

Sonata held up a hoof. “Hold on,” she said. “I have to get my memories straightened out.” She started tapping the hoof around in the air a few moments, and then started scatting a song. It was this world’s answer to the Charleston, invented about fourteen hundred years too early. “It was that wizard!” she exclaimed at last. “Starswirl the Bearded!”

“A wizard?” Discord asked, gently lifting Sonata up until her telekinesis kicked in to keep her upright. “I hate them worse than any other ponies! A bunch of them kicked me off of My own planet! Now normally, I’d completely abandon you to pursue My own agenda, but I’m not giving up a chance to get involved in some sweet anti-wizard vengeance!” He used His magic to rip yet another house off of its foundation, then plucked up the pair of ponies cowering inside. “You two!” He ordered. “Tell Me where the wizard known as Starswirl the Bearded is hiding!”

“I never heard of him. Or her,” declared one of the two captive ponies.

“I don’t even know who you are,” the other captive said.

“What? What?! How could you not know of your Lord and Master, Discord?”

The two ponies exchanged a look. “Is that perhaps an alias for somepony?” one of them asked.

“Maybe he’s Princess Amore’s father,” the other pony remarked.

Discord tossed the pair of crystal ponies away in disgust. He was somewhat disappointed when He didn’t hear them shatter on impact, instead groaning in pain. He saw that Sonata was floating into the building.

“This is a library, a collection of pony knowledge,” Sonata explained. “I’ve been in stone for a very long time. Maybe long enough for his current address to end up in a book.”

~ ~ ~

“Answer her questions, and I might let you retain your current number of limbs,” Discord said a few minutes later, threatening the Chief Librarian.

“N…nopony knows what happened to Starswirl,” the poor librarian answered. “He disappeared without a trace nearly five hundred years ago.”

“Five hundred years!” Sonata exclaimed. “How long can ponies live? Can they live five hundred years?”

“Princess Amore did. And still does,” the Librarian said. “Other than her, the longest recorded pony lifespan was eighty-seven years, achieved by…”

Sonata and Discord tuned her out at that point.

As for the librarian herself? She didn’t mind. The constant requests for facts were doing a lot to calm her down from the fright she had received at seeing the two creatures barge into her library.

“Yea, but what about Stygian?” Sonata asked. “He’s a unicorn.”

“Stygian?” the Librarian asked. “I’ll go check the card catalog.” She looked up at Discord. “You’ll have to stop dangling me above the open flame.”

Discord, who had been roasting some unidentifiable animal part over the flame, looked over at his disembodied dragon claw, which had been holding the Librarian aloft by her tail over the same flame this whole time. “Hm? Oh, alright.”

The Librarian, seeing how important this “Stygian” individual was for the lesser of the two monsters, dug back and forth through the card catalog, finding a half-dozen mis-filed cards along the way that had to be put back into their original positions. “No, sorry, no record of any Stygian. If…he?...was an associate of Starswirl, maybe they disappeared at the same time?”

“You’re showing an awful lot of concern for a pony, siren,” Discord remarked darkly.

“Wait, you’re a Siren?” the Librarian asked eagerly.

“Yeah,” Sonata said. “We kinda eat ponies like you for breakfast.”

“That’s the spirit!” cheered Discord.

“Er…you’re supposed to be extinct.”

Sonata sighed. Considering how many sirens the Pillars hunted down during her captivity, it didn’t surprise her that much that she was the only one left so many years later.

Discord on the other hoof was furious. “What?!” he bellowed. “They were one of my most-successful monsters! I had only just finished creating them when I was booted from the planet! HOW DARE YOU!”

The Librarian, who knew she was at the end of a rather long life, looked with boredom up at the face of the creature who was probably about to eat her alive.

Discord, seeing this, instead blew a super-powered breath into the card catalog, scattering the little cards everywhere.

“Nooooo!” the Librarian wailed in despair.

Discord indulged himself in his most-epic evil laugh. Despite the fact that all He had destroyed was the rest of this pony’s afternoon.

Just then there was a pounding at the locked door of the library.

“Miss Cyclopedia!” came the amplified voice of a unicorn mare.

“Nooo!” Miss Cyclopedia wailed once again, because Discord was slowly tearing the card for How to Get Rich Quick—the first self-help scroll in the history of Equus—into itty-bitty pieces.

The door was then busted open by a blast of magical power. “Discord!” declared the alicorn-height unicorn mare behind the blast. She was light peach in color, with a long raspberry mane and tail and a set of royal regalia with a heart motif. “I’ve read the stories about You, and I’m prepared to end Your reign of terror once and—”

And then Discord turned her into a rutabaga, the same color as her former mane.

“Not today, Princess Root!” He declared. He looked around him expecting somecreature to laugh.

None of them did.

He pouted. “Alright, that storyline’s over. I’ve got a countryside to ravage. Do you want to be My sidekick?” He asked Sonata.

Sonata looked around her, at a world she didn’t recognize, where the only pony, the only non-Adagio creature she had ever cared about, was either hundreds of years dead, or probably suffering some wizard-imposed fate worse than death, as she sometimes feared Aria and Adagio were doing.

Were they even alive?

Now she was even more depressed.

“No,” she answered Discord. “I hate this. I hate all of this!”

“Fine,” Discord said with a roll of His eyes. He tapped her medallion and turned her back into stone. Then He teleported the statue into an inaccessible corner of the attic. “If I hear she’s been damaged before I remember to unfreeze her, I’ll be very cross,” He warned Miss Cyclopedia.

Then he turned her into a cabbage. Just for fun.

That day Discord invented “discording”. Over the next week He inflicted a world without rules upon the ponies of every village he passed. One day He encountered two specimens of an entirely new type of pony: the alicorn sisters Celestia and Luna.

He toyed with them for a few (subjective) years, and eventually abandoned them to their certain death.

They came back with something they called “the Elements of Harmony”.

Discord doubted that their toys could possibly affect Him, so He allowed them one free shot.

He ended up in their statue garden.

Author's Note

The notes for this interlude can be found here.

Chapter 43

A basement.

March 20. “The Best Night Ever.” Sunday afternoon.

It had all happened so fast: the three large spinning bow ties converging around her with their hypnotic patterns, the walls of magical force springing between them, trapping her, and then the magic rushing inward, inducing instant unconsciousness.

Lyra awoke on a bed constructed of hay, covered with a coarse blanket. “uh,” she said, and then stopped at the different—but very familiar—sound of her voice. She lifted an arm into her sight, an arm of steel, with wires visible inside the joints. “no. no no no no no no.”

She meant to wail, to cry out to the heavens at her fate, but that was impossible in this form. Her voice…it wasn’t robotic, in the usual sense. The sounds she made were pleasant, even musical, but the artificiality was shown by its rigid invariance:

All syllables had the same length, a constant tempo of 150 to the minute. One silent syllable separated each word, and two of them separated each sentence.

The syllables modulated up and down a half octave in pitch, with one cycle every two seconds.

And no syllable was louder or softer than another.

In short, she had no way of expressing her emotions in any of the vocal means familiar to ponies.

“huh.”

With that feeble excuse for a sigh, she got up. Despite having roughly the same proportions in this body as she did when she looked like a pony, she now stood bipedally, with four worm-like fingers surrounding each forehoof. Her neck was short, her face completely round, her muzzle pushed in but not completely flat, with oval-shaped ears coming out of the sides of her head instead of being on top. She had no mane, no tail, no fur of any kind—only featureless burnished chrome. Her eyes were sunk into her head, looking out through closable square holes, and were colored the same steel color as her flesh in both the “white” and the pupil. She had no nose, and her mouth was a rectangular slot, currently closed by an interior panel. She did not need to breathe.

She was in a cage, which took up most of the basement—the bars were set into a concrete slab resting on the dirt floor of the room, and the cage was topped with more bars, with enough room to make it impossible to reach the wooden ceiling from the other side. The being walked over to the bars closest to the stairs leading to the ground level and examined them carefully without touching them. The bars were studded with a hard substance the color of rust. An elbow was carefully touched to the red brown substance and was quickly pulled away as the resulting chemical reaction started eating away at the being’s skin. The process stopped a few seconds after the body part had been pulled away, leaving a darkened scar.

The door opened, and a confident Bon-Bon strode down the stairs. “I caught you,” she bragged. “I caught you! All by myself, with not even the Princesses the wiser!” She sat down on a cushion, carefully positioned so that her captive could not reach her through the bars. From her saddlebags she removed a long necklace attached to a tray with a concave curve opposite the attachment point. She put on the necklace and rested the rounded end of the tray against her chest, then removed various writing and drawing implements to put in the tray—a portable writing set. She then triumphantly produced a cup of tea and took a loud slurping sip. “Have you nothing to say? Alien, Extra-equestrial?”

The captive looked around her. “this is the part of the interrogation where the power dynamic is established,” she said. “i am willing to concede that you have all of the power and that i have none.” She stood perfectly still when she talked. In fact, she didn’t even open and close her mouth-slot to speak individual words. The panel behind the slot would snap up and out of view at the beginning of an utterance, and snap back down when she was finished.

Bon-Bon furrowed her brow as she tried to determine the emotions behind the mechanical utterance. “Is that sarcasm?” she asked.

“no. it is a statement of fact. the auo field makes it impossible for me to speak anything other than the simple truth.”

“Yes, the truth,” Bon-Bon said with a tight-lipped smile. “Finally, you are at my mercy, and—”

“check.”

“—And I will finally get the truth…wait, what was that?”

“oh that is a little game i play during my interrogations. this is my three hundred and thirty sixth interrogation and i need to do something to retain my sanity. i have therefore compiled a list of hackneyed phrases uttered by my interrogators and i keep track of how many of them they use in each interrogation. you are at my mercy is one of those phrases.”

Bon-Bon ground her teeth. “Are you accusing me of being a cliched comic book villain? I used to deal with them on a weekly basis!”

“really. that is quite interesting. quite different than your current occupation. how did you get into it.”

“Well, I’ve always been good at seeing into the minds of other ponies, which led to—hey, I’m the one asking the questions here!”

“check. in fact two checks because you used that exact line last time so you should know better.”

Bon-Bon groaned in frustration. “Stop that! I’m the good pony here—”

“check.”

“And if you want this interrogation to finish as quickly as possible, it makes sense for me to ask the questions and you to answer them.”

“check. no wait no check. you actually provided a rational reason. please ask your questions.” There was really no point describing what she did when she spoke, as she refused to move in any way other than opening and closing her mouth flap, and no emotions were expressed in her words.

“That’s better,” said Bon-Bon. From next to her cushion, she picked up a file folder stamped with the royal seal of Equestria. “Now the records I have obtained—”

“obtained.”

Bon-Bon interpreted the repetition as a questioning of her right to be consulting that file. “Yes, obtained,” she said sharply. “These records say that there are two self-reported aliens residing in Ponyville. So, are you Crouton, or Rozetri?”

This finally produced a reaction from the captive—her eyes closed. “rozetri,” she said.

Bon-Bon wrote a note on a notepad, using a feather pen and ink bottle held in her little necklace shelf. “You are Rozetri.”

The being opened her eyes. “no i am crouton. the earlier statement was actually a question.”

Bon-Bon corrected her note. The name of “Crouton” appeared to be some kind of joke when applied to the being before her, a being made up entirely of carefully drafted curves, with not a single right angle in sight. “So, you know this Rozetri,” she said.

“i do not know her. i knew her. she is dead.” Crouton began to sway slightly from one foot to another.

Bon-Bon didn’t know what to make of this. “So…did you kill her?” she asked.

Crouton suddenly lunged forward, causing Bon-Bon to flinch as she expected the artificial being to try to grab her. But instead, Crouton gripped one of the bars, causing the metal skin of her hand to blister and darken. Her eyes remained on Bon-Bon the entire time.

“Stop! Stop that!” Bon-Bon cried out as she stood on the cushion. “Please stop hurting yourself! I’m sorry…I just couldn’t read your emotions. …I’m sorry.”

Crouton pulled her hand away from the bar. Her head tilted slightly as she examined the damage. She lowered her hand and stared at the shaking Bon-Bon. “i am clearing your score,” she told her.

Bon-Bon dropped down onto the cushion, panting heavily as she slowly calmed down.

“i am sorry that i caused you distress,” she said. “i will try not to do that again.” When Bon-Bon said nothing for another minute, Crouton ventured to speak again. “since you are not asking questions i will ask some. you are not obligated as i am to answer. you have fallen out of the habit of interrogating.”

“That is not a question,” Bon-Bon said with a small smile.

“no i suppose it is not. your cutie mark is not for candy making.” She pointed using her injured hand at the wall behind Bon-Bon, where the instrument of her capture was mounted. It was a trio of bowtie-shaped weapons, each the size of a grown pony’s head. The central disk of each object was painted with a hypnotic swirling pattern…that just happened to be identical to a candy swirl disk.

Crouton’s statement was true: It was the creation of the capture spinners, uniquely powered by her earth pony magic, that earned Sweetie Drops her cutie mark. As she looked back at it, Crouton spoke once again: “you are a monster hunter but you are not allowed to be a monster hunter. you are not even allowed to admit to being a monster hunter. therefore you are a secret agent. I did not know that ponies knew what secret agents were.”

Sweetie Drops didn’t even bother refuting the accusation. “I’m retired,” she said coldly.

“not by your choice,” said Crouton.

“No,” said Sweetie Drops.

“then your employer is a fool. to deny a pony the purpose behind their cutie mark will inevitably lead to madness.” (As had been shown by each of the Bearers over the past few months.)

“My employer was Princess Celestia,” Sweetie Drops said with bitterness.

“then she was a fool. unless she did not know what your cutie mark was for.”

Sweetie Drops was silent for a moment. “She…she didn’t know. Everypony in the Agency thought that I designed my weapons after my candy cutie mark, instead of going into candy-making as a cover for my distinctive weapons.”

“ah. then she is not the fool.”

Sweetie sighed deeply and sank her head into her hooves. “You’re right, Lyra.”

“crouton.”

“Lyra,” Sweetie repeated firmly. “You’re the same pony you’re been since I met you. Other than the fact that you didn’t tell me you were an alien. And you had a very good reason for that. I was suffering from Cutie Mark Insanity Syndrome. Capturing you cured me.”

“okay. if you are using my alias then i will still call you bon-bon.”

Sweetie shook her head. “Bon-Bon” sounded so incredibly fake the way that Lyra was forced to say it. “Sweetie Drops,” she said. “My real name is Sweetie Drops.”

“it is a good name.”

“Thanks,” Sweetie said with a smile. “I always thought ‘Bon-Bon’ was pretty dumb.” She fished out the key to the carefully constructed cage. “You really can’t use your magic in there?”

“no i cannot.”

“And after you walk out of this cage?” Sweetie asked warily.

“i will be able to do anything. my capacity exceeds the resting level of princess celestia.”

Sweetie lowered the hoof holding up the key in shock. “You could have conquered Equestria.”

“yes. but i did not want to.”

“Then why are you here?”

“i am here on vacation. i wanted to get away from the constant interrogations.”

Sweetie wasn’t sure whether to laugh or not.

“that was a joke.”

She let herself laugh as she unlocked and opened the door.

Lyra looked at her, as if expecting some sort of trap.

Sweetie backed up a few steps.

Lyra stepped out of the cage. There was a flash of light, and she was back to her pony self. “Oh, thank Celestia!” she cried. She brought up her horrifically-scarred hoof—Sweetie had only a moment to look at it before a beam of magic from her horn instantly cured it. She then turned her head to look at the door to the surface.

“If I bring down another cushion, could you stay down here and talk?” Sweetie asked. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know about the real me, but I’d really like to know about you. The places you’ve been, the things you’ve seen…”

“They’re mostly bad,” Lyra said wearily. “This is by far the nicest planet I’ve ever visited in my century-plus of traveling. Almost as good as…home.”

Sweetie reached out a hoof to cradle Lyra’s cheek. “If you don’t want to talk about it…”

“I’ve been dying to find someone else who would listen to my story,” Lyra said, leaning into the hoof. “Go ahead and bring down my favorite cushion.”

“I know which one that is,” Sweetie said with a smile, darting up the stairs.

Author's Note

The notes for this chapter can be found with Chapter 53.

Chapter 44

Sweetie Drops was a very good cook—it tied into her training as a candy-maker and was also very useful in both the spy and monster-hunting professions. So, although she only brought down a couple bowls of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, they were really good bowls of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.

“Thanks,” said Lyra. “That really hits the spot. I forgive you.”

Sweetie froze for a moment in shock. “What? Is my soup really that good?”

Lyra looked down at the bowl and laughed. “No. I forgave you as soon as I saw you break down, but I realized just now that I never said it aloud to you.”

Sweetie sniffled, her eyes suddenly misty. “You…I don’t know that I would have forgiven you that easily, if our roles were reversed.”

Lyra put an awkward hoof behind her head. “Yeah, well I forgive all my interrogators afterwards.” She suddenly got serious as she looked up at the ceiling. “I have to. If I don’t, my resentment just builds, and builds…” She turned her attention back to Sweetie Drops. “I was surrounded by a lot of angry beings. I saw what that anger did to them, and I didn’t want it to happen to me.”

“Oh,” said Sweetie, downcast in equal parts by hearing how bad her friend’s life was, as well as learning that the forgiveness was not because of… “So I’m nothing special, then.”

Lyra raised Sweetie’s head with a hoof so they could look into each other’s eyes. “You’re special, Sweetie,” she said softly. Then she saw how incredibly flustered this revelation made her friend, and she quickly resumed speaking. “So! Shall I begin?”

“Oh!” Sweetie Drops recovered her composure then settled into her cushion with a notepad and pen. “Yes,” she said eagerly.

“I was born on Longensis—beautiful place, with a purple sky against jungle-green earth. I looked”—She held up a mint-green hoof—“something like this, but much boxier. I had a name, which I can’t even pronounce in either of the forms you’ve seen me in, so I’ve come to think of myself by the name the bullies called me, Crouton. I wasn’t popular, I wasn’t pretty. I was pretty nerdy, actually.”

“Nerdy, really?” Sweetie asked in mock-shock. “I never would have guessed.”

“Ha. Ha. Anyway, my very large family loved me, and that was all I cared about. And then the Androids arrived.

“That was what they called themselves: Androids. A very generic name. The universe called them ‘Tins’. Our world…” Lyra frowned. “I’d better explain the N-verse situation first.”

Lyra held up her empty round soup bowl, turning it sideways. She would use her horn to create motes of light to illustrate her explanation. “This universe we’re currently in is very small: there’s Equus, the Sun and the Moon, and that’s it until you get to the Sidereal Sphere.” (The rim of the bowl.) “Princess Luna—and Princess Celestia during the millennium when she was covering for her—can choose to keep the stars on the Sphere fixed or can move them. That’s what ponies call stars and planets: Sidereal lights that either stay still or wander. While in my universe…no, I’m getting ahead of myself again.”

Lyra put down the bowl. “Imagine this universe, everything you’ve ever seen or known about, as a tiny little bubble.” Seeing just such a bubble floating on the edge of Sweetie’s unfinished bowl of soup, she used her magic to levitate it between them. “And just touching the edge of this universe is the edge of another universe…” She now created a translucent bubble of light a little bigger than the soup bubble and touching it. “But much, much, much bigger.” She quickly expanded the light bubble with her magic, until it started passing through the walls, continuing to expand it bigger and bigger until the part visible in the room looked like a flat wall, meaning that it was now at least a thousand times bigger. “This is the universe I come from, the N-verse.” She winced a bit in anticipation for the next part. “The ‘N’ is for ‘normal’, because we were the ones who did the naming. This universe is the E-verse, for ‘external’. There might be multiple E-verses, for all we know.

“Now different universes have different physical laws. There are a few different forms of magic in the N-verse, but none like any of the Equestrian magics. They are all very rare and very hard to use. One way that our universes differ is that we don’t have a Sidereal Sphere. Instead, all of the stars are actually suns that are very far away. And planets are worlds like Equus. In the N-verse, planets orbit stars.”

“How weird,” commented Sweetie.

“Yeah,” acknowledged Lyra. “The N-verse has billions of stars, and billions and billions of planets. Only—”

"Hold on,” Sweetie Drops said, waving a hoof, her head reeling. “That was quite a mental image to throw at me. It’s one thing to see the visual, but the actual scale…”

Lyra waited.

“Al…alright,” Sweetie said a minute later. “Go on.”

Lyra nodded, a small smile on her face. “Only a small fraction of those planets have life on them, but that’s still a whole lot of worlds. There are thousands of intelligent races of creatures that I know of. I’m sure there are countless others I’ve never heard of.

“Now the Longensians—we held ourselves superior to the other races. We had no major material wants, and we thought we knew everything that needed to be known. And our planet was far away from the major interstellar trade routes. So nobody noticed us until it was too late.”

Sweetie sat up a little straighter. “What happened?” she asked.

“The Tins happened,” Lyra replied. “They came to our world, claiming to have the solution to all forms of unhappiness. Let me be more accurate: they didn’t ‘claim’ to have the cure, as in they said it but were actually lying. They actually did have a cure; it was just so much worse than the sadness they were curing.

“Their cure was to ‘upgrade’ us Longensians into Tins: to pluck our brains out of our bodies and put them in their artificial bodies. They were being so very useful this whole time, ‘upgrading’ the economy and eliminating poverty, so nobody noticed about the other upgrades until there was nobody left capable of stopping them. One by one my relatives disappeared, until finally I was snatched up in the middle of the night and ‘upgraded’ myself.”

“And that was the form I put you back into,” Sweetie said sadly. “I’m really sorry.”

“Well, it’s the only form I’ve known for 187 out of the 203 years I’ve been alive, so I wasn’t that traumatized,” Lyra tried to say nonchalantly. “Anyway, the Upgrade. It removes all ability to feel emotions. Every member of my race that was upgraded went insane as a result, and their personalities were then wiped out and replaced with the universal Tin personality, and the Tin Universal Purpose.”

“Let me guess,” Sweetie said. “The ‘Tin Universal Purpose’ is to conquer the world…err, N-verse.”

“Pretty much,” said Lyra. “Tins believe that emotions are the main obstacle to maximum efficiency. Maximum efficiency is the purpose of Life, and therefore all life must be upgraded to achieve God’s plan.”

“That obviously didn’t happen to you,” said Sweetie.

“No,” said Lyra. “For reasons I’ve never been able to understand, I, out of all of the millions of lifeforms that have been Upgraded since the creation of the Tins, retained my emotions, my mind, and my soul.”

Lyra sighed deeply. “I spent the first year after Upgrading trying to find a way to go back to my normal body, to create some sort of clone of that body after I discovered it had been destroyed, or to get my mind into any other body I could find that didn’t involve doing something horrible to a living thing. Because the Tins were universally hated throughout the N-verse. And anyone I met would try to destroy me before I ever got the chance to explain that I wasn’t like the others.

“I spent the next fifty years after that trying to save any of my family or any Longensians at all. I tried to make them like I was: stuck in a Tin body, but with their own mind. I failed. And then I spent the remaining 136 years trying to do everything in my power to stop the relentless Tin expansion.”

Lyra slumped down. “It had been a long hard struggle, with five failures for every brief success. The Tins have captured and interrogated me so many times, trying to figure out why I am different, so they can finally ‘upgrade’ me properly. I sometimes think that they are wasting their time, that I have been so little of a nuisance to them that I’m unworthy of their attention. The rest of the interrogations came from the Tins’ enemies, with me trying in vain trying to convince them that I was actually on their side and didn’t have anything they could use against the Tins.”

Sweetie pulled Lyra into a hug.

“It hasn’t been all bad,” Lyra continued. “I’ve met many wonderful creatures and had the rare opportunities to help enemies of the Tins that were far more successful than I’ve been.”

“Was one of them Rozetri?” Sweetie asked.

Lyra reluctantly pushed herself away from Sweetie Drops. “Rozetri,” she repeated. “That was my worst failure of all.

“There is only one race hated more than the Tins, and they are the Slugs. The Slugs are some of the smartest creatures to have ever lived, but they have one horrible flaw: they hate all creatures other than themselves and have made it their mission to exterminate all non-Slug life in the N-verse. And on scores of worlds, they have succeeded. They go around the universe in these metal machines that are near-completely invulnerable.

“There was a small group of Slugs who didn’t think like the rest, who embraced diversity and enjoyed learning about the other races, the result of a Slug experiment that went horribly wrong—from the Slug perspective. These new Slugs were naturally pacifists but were forced to arm themselves to survive being wiped out by their xenophobic cousins. Rozetri was one of these Good Slugs.

“One day I stumbled upon a Bad Slug patrol and underwent an ‘interrogation’.”

Sweetie noted the use of the air quotes. “Do you mean ‘tortured’?” she asked fearfully.

“Most of my interrogations were actually torture sessions,” Lyra told her sadly. “They left me on death’s door. Afterwards, I thought I had lost them and flew my spaceship over to the secret world of the Good Slugs so Rozetri could heal me. But I had in fact led the Bad Slug armada straight to them!

“Their allies—and my allies—did everything we could to defend Kyro, but as usually happens the Bad Slugs could not be stopped, and in the end that world was sterilized. Several of the Good Slugs were able to escape, but I saw Rozetri’s ship explode—without being hit by anything.

“I investigated the spot afterwards, and I discovered the junction between our universes. And I dared to go through it, to try and save my friend.”

Lyra shook her head ruefully. “I had no idea how foolish that decision was. Princess Celestia informed me that junctions spontaneously appear and then disappear every decade or so, and at least one ship crosses over into the E-verse each time. The change in physical laws during the transition almost always destroys the ships. You may know these events as shooting stars.”

“Wait, you mean every time we’ve been ooh-ing and aww-ing over shooting stars, some alien was dying?” a horrified Sweetie asked, finishing the last of her soup and sandwiches.

“I’m afraid so,” Lyra replied. She used her magic to gather up the bowls and plates they had both been using. “But just this once there was something about the junction that allowed both of us to pass through unharmed before it closed behind me.

“Well, we might have passed unharmed, but that isn’t what happened afterwards. I found the remains of Rozetri’s ship, including the mechanical body she needed in order to live. She died in that fire.”

Sweetie got up, a determined look on her face. “Did you find her body?”

A confused Lyra got up as well. “Well, no, but considering what her body was made of, it would be unlikely that I would have found anything from that hot of a fire.”

“And where was this crash?”

“On No Pony’s Road, outside Rockville.”

“Lyra, Rozetri is a registered alien in Ponyville. And how would she even be registered if she died the moment she got to Equestria?”

“You’re right!” Lyra exclaimed. “Rozetri’s alive and living in Ponyville! I wonder how I can find her. Do you have any ideas, Sweetie?”

“Did…did you feel that?” Sweetie asked in sudden confusion.

“Feel what?”

“Like when we walk through the magic collector at the Bunker. What could—”

At that moment an immensely powerful shell of rapidly expanding magic exploded through the basement, passing through everything without appearing to do anything…until Sweetie Drops, her eyes red with rage, sprang upon Lyra and tried her very best to destroy her.

Author's Note

The notes for this chapter can be found with Chapter 53.

Chapter 45

A village west of the Everfree.

Eighteen years ago.

The young pegasus mare ran frantically through the earth pony village. She stopped at the entrance of the market co-op. “Uncle Flax!” she exclaimed. “Something’s happened to all the other ponies.”

“‘Uncle?’” the normally serene stallion thundered at her. “Where do you get off calling me ‘uncle’? You’re nothing to me!”

“But Uncle…?” she blubbered.

“What are you even doing here?” he demanded, pulling one of her wings outward with a hoof in contempt. “A pegasus will never learn my traditions. You’ve been wasting my time; you’ve been wasting all of our time! Go back out into the forest and die, like the worthless insect you are!”

The young pegasus burst out into fresh tears, and ran off across the street, to the local bakery. “Aunt Croissant!” she exclaimed. “Something’s happened to all of the other ponies.”

“‘Aunt’?” the normally smiling mare shrieked at her. “You don’t deserve to be related to me!”

“But Aunt…?” she—

“Stop, stop, stop!” a voice declared, causing the dream to freeze.

All except for the protagonist of the dream, who looked around her in confusion.

The owner of the interrupting voice, an adult version of the pink pegasus, rubbed the top of her muzzle with a hoof with exasperation. “I get that everypony had lost the ability to love, and that was really bad,” she said. “I really do. But can we move on from that?”

I should stop at this point to explain. Like Princess Luna, Queen Chrysalis had the ability to dreamwalk…but only through the dreams of ponies trapped in her cocoons. That was how she learned how to impersonate her victims, and she had the ability to implant that information into the minds of her nymphs, so they might be able to do the same, with any luck. (The same spell partially protected those changelings from other effects, one of which you will learn about shortly.) Right now, Chrysalis wanted to know two things from the dreams of Princess Cadance:

First, more information about Twilight Sparkle and her circle of heroes. She absolutely didn’t want to mess up her Princess Cadance impersonation in front of the few ponies capable of taking her on in a fight.

And second, she wanted to know all about how Cadance became an alicorn, now that she knew that she wasn’t born that way. The stuff earlier about the magic- and love-drained ponies was interesting, like how it was the same but different from what her changelings did when they “finished off” one of their victims. But the ascension bit was crucial.

“Why don’t we skip ahead to the cottage of the enchantress…Prismia, was it?” the older Cadance asked her counterpart with a sickly-sweet smile.

The young Cadance nodded. “That was her name. Prismia.”

“Perfect!” the older Cadance exclaimed. “Show me the interior of her cottage, and how you, a mere pegasus, figured out how to use her unicorn magic against her, and became an alicorn.”

“Oh, it wasn’t unicorn magic,” the younger Cadance explained. “After I cured her, Prismia told me that the gem had actually—”

“QUEEN CHRYSALIS!”

The dream fractured, and Queen Chrysalis suddenly awoke.

The caverns beneath Canterlot.

An hour before the start of the last chapter.

Chrysalis saw Cadance begin to violently struggle from within her greenish-yellow cocoon. Chrysalis touched the surface of the object she was named after, and her hoof began to glow as she sent mental commands into the slumbering princess’ mind.

“Your Majesty…” the voice said insistently.

“If you would prefer to retain your head upon your body,” Chrysalis said absently without looking back at the source of the voice. “You will wait five Celestia-damned seconds for me to stabilize our most-important asset.”

“Ye—” the other changeling began to say.

“Not. One. Word!” she hissed.

There was no reply.

Chrysalis smiled to herself. Obedience. Pure unquestioning obedience. That truly was what made life worth living.

Finally, she finished putting Cadance back into a dreamless sleep.

She turned and faced her lieutenant, Commander Pharynx. “Yes?” she asked in a dangerous tone.

Pharynx looked over her shoulder at Cadance’s cocoon. Slowly his head tilted until it was in the same orientation as the captive’s.

Chrysalis looked impatiently between the changeling and the pony. “Well, what is it? Why did you interrupt me?”

Pharynx’s head turned upright again, as he realized that he had completely forgotten why he was here. “Um…uh…” he began. If he could sweat, he would, because he was fairly certain he was about to be eviscerated.

“Oh for crying out loud…” Chrysalis said under the breath. With a rapid tug, she used her telekinesis to pull the commander across the room until he was right in front of the cocoon. “Feed,” she instructed him.

Without hesitation, Commander Pharynx opened his mouth and began to pull love out of the unresisting captive.

Queen Chrysalis watched the transaction proceed with a cold calculating stare and as soon as she judged that the nymph had enough magic to function, she cut it off. “Now what is it?”

“Oh!” Pharynx exclaimed. “I remember now!” He marveled at how well he was able to see everything.

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. She loved keeping her nymphs from ever pupating, she really did. Because it guaranteed her an endless supply of unquestioning obedience. But the decision did have one consequence that really annoyed her: she was the only one with a fully functioning brain in the entire hive. Now if she could only figure out a way to have intelligent minions that never, ever questioned her, she would be set for life.

“Well spit it out!”

“Right!” he exclaimed. “Thorax has found something in the Royal Gardens that you really need to see.”

Chrysalis groaned. “What was he even doing there? I said that the Grand Galloping Gala was completely off-limits to all changelings! It contains far too many unconverted targets, and the other Bearers besides Twilight, none of whom I have been able to study in enough detail to handle safely.”

“His disguise was assigned to look after the pony nymphs at the party,” answered Pharynx.

“And as usual he wasn’t smart enough to talk his way out of a suicidal assignment. Can’t you bail him out like you always do? Oh, and don’t call them ‘nymphs’ in front of other ponies. They call them ‘colts’ if male or ‘colt-lettes’ if female.”

Pharynx knew that the last part she said was wrong. He wanted to remain living, so he decided not to correct her. “Yes, but he found something. He found It.”

“What do you mean he found…” Chrysalis’ eyes went wide. “Is he sure?” she whispered.

Pharynx was stunned—it was the first time he had ever seen fear on the face of his dread mistress. “He knew, Majesty. Can’t you feel…It?”

Chrysalis closed her eyes and hummed softly. She turned her head around slowly, until her eyes popped back open, and she found herself looking towards a spot on the surface that was almost certainly the Gardens.

“By Celestia’s favorite hair tie,” she swore under her breath. She then put a hoof to her head and focused, sending a mental command out to all changelings in Canterlot: ‘Return immediately to the Catacombs and await further instructions. Your life, and far more importantly my plans, depend on it.’

Chrysalis put on her Princess Cadance disguise. After looking thoughtfully at the cocoon for a moment she summoned up a fancy dress around herself as well. She picked up the purse that Cadance had been captured with and inspected herself with the mirror she found inside. She looked up to see that Pharynx had disguised himself as one of their newer captives: Captain of the Guard Shining Armor. “What are you doing?” she asked flatly.

“I’m coming with you. To give up my life if need be so you can do what you need to do. And to give you advice.”

With a glower she filled up all of his personal space, glaring down at him. “You forget your place, worm! You wish to give me advice? You? You are a child, while I have ruled for a thousand years. I have led your ancestors through every trial that Celestia and her ponies have inflicted upon us. I single-hoofedly oversaw the extinction of the Sirens—the greatest threat to our entire existence! You may be my right-hoof changeling, but you are not worthy of protecting me, and you never will be!”

Pharynx dropped his disguise and fell flat on the floor. “Please do not smite me, Oh Exalted One!” he cried. “It is true that I am not worthy!”

Chrysalis sighed at the pathetic display and yanked her Commander up to his hooves. “Listen closely, because I’ll only tell you once,” she addressed him. “There is an extremely small chance that I will not come back alive. If that happens you will automatically become King, and wow, I sure wouldn’t want to be you when that happens!

“Far more likely is that we’ll have the entire city by the morning, and the whole of Equestria by Tuesday. Now the love you just wasted in that transformation will soon leave you back to being a starving idiot, so try to remember this: Stay. Here. Stay here. Here. Don’t move from this spot. Can you do that for me?”

Pharynx frowned at her. She was talking about her own death, and now treating him like he was a moron. “Yes,” he said patiently.

“Good!” Chrysalis exclaimed. She patted him on the head. “Good nymph.” She walked out the door and was somewhat surprised when he didn’t follow her. “Good nymph!” she repeated in her most-patronizing tone. “Staaaay.” And then she walked away, swinging her purse back and forth like a colt-lette would.

‘Colt-lette’? Was that right? Pharynx asked himself as his thoughts grew fuzzy once again. What am I supposed to do now?

Faintly he heard Cadance’s voice call out to the forty or fifty changelings in the main cavern that Pharynx had passed on the way here: “Changelings! I will be taking all of your magic—do not dare resist me!”

He looked at the captive in confusion. Which one was the real Cadance? he thought in simple befuddlement.

Princess Cadance strode into the ballroom like she owned the place.

“Princess!” some nameless jackal exclaimed. “Quelle surprise! Shouldn’t you be at the soup kitchens right now?”

“Don’t mix your languages,” Cadance replied sweetly. “It makes you sound like a pretentious ass.” She looked over at one of the servants, an ass. “Aren’t I right?”

The Prench ass, not used to being noticed, looked around in confusion. “Um…oui?”

Cadance gave the poor servant a look that would have melted iron. And then she remembered herself, and began speed-walking right through the ballroom, her dress sticking to her like it was a part of her body. (This is why changelings shouldn’t include clothes in their transformations.) “I’m sorry, mares and gentlecolts,” she said to anybody who would hear her. “I have a top-secret mission in the garden, and I’m afraid I can’t tell you with who! Please don’t follow me—I wouldn’t want Princess Luna to have to melt your brain!” She then put on a pretty unconvincing look of shock. “Oops! I mean, something bad might happen, from the secret pony I’m meeting!”

The ponies—most of them nobility—had no idea what to do with this very uncharacteristic utterance from the Princess of Love. So they just collectively shrugged their shoulders and waited for tomorrow—the paparazzi always ferreted out the truth in cases like these.

Chrysalis, still in disguise, made her way unerringly through the garden until she arrived at an unmistakable statue.

Still March 20th. “The Return of Harmony”.

After using her emotion detection sense to ensure that nopony was around to stop her, she dropped her disguise and immediately sent all of her stored magic into the statue. More and more and more, until…

With a mighty cry of pent-up frustration, the Almighty Discord was finally released from His stony prison.

“I was tricked!” was the first thing that Discord said. He looked around him, muttering, “When I get a hold of those two conniving Princesses…” His eyes then settled on the prostrate form of His liberator. “Ah, Chrysalis! My most-loyal creation! Unlike certain individuals…”

“I live to serve you, O Master!” Chrysalis proclaimed from her prone position, using the exact same simpering tone that she demanded that her subjects use with her.

“And you have freed Me!” Discord proclaimed, stepping down from His pedestal and raising Chrysalis back up to her hooves. (It was alright…He still towered over her.) “You hate all ponies, yes? I ask because of a certain Siren that failed me in that regard…”

“I hate all ponies!” Chrysalis quickly proclaimed. All ponies but the late Meadowbrook, she thought to herself. And I have long since avenged her death, she added in her thoughts, so that I would owe nothing to the mare.

“Excellent! You and your kind will be richly rewarded. But first…to business! I was frozen by a pair of unique artifacts…the Elements of Harmony. Do the Princesses still bear them? Do they still live? Please tell me they died horribly…”

“Alas, the Princesses still live and rule Equestria, My Master,” Chrysalis told Him. “Luna…and that insufferable idiot Celestia. The Elements have been split—they are now six in number. But the Bearers are all together, there in that palace.”

Discord looked in the direction indicated. Then He looked around Him. “Ugh!” He exclaimed. “What is this mess?”

“This is a ‘garden’,” Chrysalis said with some disdain. “The ponies’ version of your Nature.”

“This is an abomination!” Discord exclaimed. “A mockery of My Nature. How typical of the ponies, to ruin every natural thing they touch.” He looked over at the lit-up palace. “When I am done their entire civilization will be uprooted, from highest pediment to lowest sub-basement!”

“…‘Pediment’?” Chrysalis said with slight distaste.

“Yes, I know,” Discord said quietly. “Being the embodiment of all life means that I am infected with all things pony, including their uncontrollably swelling vocabulary! Oh, how I wish for the day when this pony plague is pitifully purged, so I might once again be a pure Being with an empty vocabulary! On that day, the monsters will finally cease to exist, and Reason will die forevermore, replaced by pure Savagery!”

Chrysalis shook in fear, unnoticed by the Creator of Monsters. She prided herself on her reason and found the prospect of becoming indistinguishable from the common animals as a particularly horrible fate. But the might of Discord was unstoppable, so what else could she do but follow Him over the cliff of her own existence? A tiny, insignificant part of her hoped that Discord would fail in His plan, as all of His previous plans had failed.

And right now, He was telling her of that very plan: “I will begin that promised destruction…tonight!” In Chrysalis’ eyes the mismatched god seemed to swell and grow in terror with every word: “I may not be able to destroy this stain of Ponykind with a single thought, but for two days I will inflict a shock of horror, of shame, so devastating that the tale spread by the witnesses alone will do most of My work for Me!”

“H…how will you do it, O Lord?” Chrysalis asked, having fallen back into a full bow once again.

“A night of Hate, followed by a day of Lust,” Discord replied, the most-wicked imaginable grin upon his features. “Night is best for violence, while the day is best for passion, don’t you think dear Chrysalis?”

Chrysalis thought for a moment, of how hollow a victory it would be for her, if she took over a city that had already been torn to pieces by an orgy of violence. “Couldn’t You maybe reverse the two? And maybe put a month or two between Steps B and A?”

“You forget your place, worm!” Discord said as He towered over her.

Chrysalis fell over like a startled goat, complete with a bleat.

“Get up!” He commanded, and her body obeyed before she had time to process it with her mind. “Run along and be quick about it. And no, I won’t give you enough magic to put your disguise back on—that’s what you get for back-talking Me. In about thirty seconds the height of Pony Civilization will be at each other’s throats, and it would be a pity if My liberator was inadvertently torn to shreds in the melee…”

“Eep!” And a second later she had sprinted out of sight.

With a disgusted sigh, Discord crouched down, laying all four of His hooves and claws upon the earth. And then He began to Pull all of the magic He could reach into Himself, enough to cast the first of His two dread spells of irresistible mind control.

A black creature, with features of both a pony and an insect, raced through the ballroom.

“Monster!” a guard cried out, starting a panic.

It turned out to be a very short-lived panic.

Author's Note

The notes for this chapter can be found with Chapter 53.

Chapter 46

Just outside the Palace.

An hour before Discord’s awakening.

“Into the Gala”

“Meet new friends”

“Into the Gala”

“Sell some apples”

“Into the Gala”

“Find my Prince”

“Prove I’m great”

“As a Wonderbolt is”

“To meet!” “To sell!” “To find!” “To prove!” “To woop!” “To talk!”

“Into the Gala
Into the Gala
And we’ll have the best night ever!
At the Gala!”

“Yeah!” Spike exclaimed as the heart-song concluded. “This is gonna be the best night ever. You know why? ‘Cause we’re all gonna spend time at the Gala to…” He looked around, to find himself alone. “…gether. Or not.”

“Well, what are we supposed to do?” asked an abandoned Apple Bloom.

Each of the invited guests at the Gala were allowed to bring a “Plus One”. Rarity and Applejack had brought their younger sisters. They in turn had convinced Rainbow Dash to bring the president of her fan club, Scootaloo, also known as the third member of the infamous Cutie Mark Crusaders. To the disgust of these three, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had talked Twilight and Fluttershy into bringing them. And Pinkie Pie had brought Twist.

Twist had brought a large quantity of potions in her saddlebags and from the moment they had arrived had been placing and uncorking the little bottles near congregations of ponies.

Spike hadn’t brought anybody and was rather disappointed that nopony asked him to be his guest.

“Oh, some more fillies!”

A slate-blue pegasus stallion with a slate-black mane and tail came into view. His cutie mark appeared to be a pair of portable chalkboards, but it wavered just a bit if you stared at it for too long. Luckily for him, nopony had actually done that yet. “I’m Tabula Rasa, the designated foalsitter.”

Apple Bloom gave him a long intense look, one that Tabula felt went right through him. Twist by contrast got excited when she saw him, like she recognized him. She ran up and put an uncorked potion bottle near him, then ran back. Thorax nervously turned away from both of them to look at the other fillies.

Diamond and Silver meanwhile groaned in unison. “Are you actually telling me that we’ve managed to get into the Grand Galloping Gala, and we don’t even get to go into the Gala?” The former asked.

Tabula shrugged helplessly. “Sorry, I don’t make the rules. However, you do get free reign in the Royal Gardens, and those are quite nice.”

“It’s OK, Mr. Rasa,” Sweetie Belle said. “I’m sure we’ll find something to do.”

Twist turned from looking at him to looking around her uncomfortably, trying now—like Tabula—to stay out of Apple Bloom’s sight.

“And don’t forget that there are plenty of other fillies and colts for you to play with,” Tabula added. “Many of them belonging to quite important families.”

“But I wanted to go to the Gala,” Diamond Tiara pouted.

“Now hold on,” Silver Spoon said, thinking. “Mr. Rasa here said there were important ponies being foal-sat. We might be able to make some contacts.”

“Hmm…,” said Diamond. “I think I see where you’re going. Lead the way, Mr. Rasa.”

“Excuse me,” Spike said, tapping the stallion’s leg to get his attention.

“Why hello there, little…” Tabula began to say, before he got a good look at the little guy getting his attention. “Hey you’re not a pony!”

“No, I’m not,” Spike said. “I’m a dragon.”

“A dragon!” Tabula exclaimed. “Are…are you supposed to be foal-sat as well?”

“No,” Spike lied. “I can take care of myself.”

Tabula stood there, carefully weighing his options: He could force Spike to stay with the others, but that would mean he would be responsible when the creature he knew nothing about did something he couldn’t handle. Or he could go the “Spike? Never heard of him,” route. And Tabula considered himself a much better liar than Spike. “OK, if you say so,” he finally replied.

“That’s great! I was just going to ask, though…were you named after the Daring Do character Tabula Rasa?”

“You read Daring Do?” Tabula asked excitedly. “I love that series. And…so did my mother. Which is why that’s my name.” He looked quite a bit nervous about this last part. Because as a matter of fact he wasn’t a better liar than Spike.

“You do know that the fictional Tabula was a mare, right?”

The stallion Tabula laughed nervously. “Yeah, funny story…”

“Look, are we going to this playground or not?” Diamond Tiara butted in, saving Tabula’s hide.

“Oh! Yup, we’re…on a schedule!” Tabula declared. “Come along, fillies!”

Spike watched as the group were led around the side of the palace and out of sight.

Then he sighed. Once again, he was alone. He looked silently at Canterlot Palace for a few minutes, and then he made up his mind and began to walk away, towards the city of Canterlot.

“Psst!” hissed a snake in the grass nearly.

Or maybe it was Rarity, hiding in the bushes.

“Rarity!” he exclaimed, running over and peering into the bush to get a better look at her.

“Shh!”

“What are you doing there?” he asked.

“Please be quiet,” Rarity pleaded, in a reasonable approximation of Fluttershy’s usual volume level. “I’ve made a horrible mistake!”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m at the biggest social event of the year!” Rarity declared, forgetting to keep her voice low. “This place will be filled to overflowing with…Perfect Moments.”

Spike looked at the half-hidden unicorn for a moment as if she had lost her mind. Then he remembered the dark secret she had confided to the others. He looked around him carefully in thought. “Stick with me,” he finally said, hesitantly.

Rarity stood up and looked down at him, certain that this was yet another ploy by the dragon to make a move on her. “And how will that protect me from Perfect Moments?” she asked.

“This is Canterlot,” he explained, a note of sadness in his voice. “Nopony other than Twilight or Princess Celestia ever treated me like a pony here. So, there’s no way that anypony is going to have a good time while I’m around.”

“Oh,” said Rarity, somewhat shocked. Then she thought a bit. “Oooh, Spikey-wikey, that’s horrible!” She picked him up and cuddled him. And then stopped herself before she triggered a “Perfect Moment” for Spike. Putting him down she said, “Why don’t you give me that tour that Twilight promised?” She looked through a window into the audience chamber, where Twilight was trying to squeeze her way through an impossibly large crowd of ponies to reach Princess Celestia. “I suspect that she won’t be able to get to it tonight.”

“Alright,” Spike said, leading Rarity to the edge of a still pool of water. “But first, you might want to freshen up.”

Rarity took one look at herself, and nearly fainted. Her mane was a mess, and the bushes had done irreparable damage to her dress. She fixed her mane quickly with her magic and started on the dress, until… “No,” she said decisively. “I’ll use this as extra insurance against Perfect Moments.”

Spike lifted a torn corner of the dress and looked sadly up at her. “Hey, do you have any warning signs for us to look out for? A demonic glint in your eyes…?”

“As a matter of fact, I do have the most indescribable feeling a couple seconds before I steal a memory. I call it ‘opening my third eye’.”

“Alright,” Spike said calmly, as he tried to deal with that bizarre description. “I’ll be sure to let you know if I happen to see you with one too many ocular organs.”

“Princess Celestia? Where’s your sister?” Twilight asked, somewhere between the twenty-fifth and thirtieth pony to kiss the Princess’ hoof.

“Oh, she’s patrolling the dreams of Canterlot’s fillies and colts,” Celestia replied. “She used the excuse of Cadance’s non-appearance to pull one herself.”

“Did I hear you correctly?” The Countess of Bellweather before them said. “Are you actually letting Nightmare Moon have her way with the dreams of my precious daughter?”

“She’s reformed!” Twilight pleaded. “I…the Elements of Harmony completely removed the evil that was inside her.”

The countess looked up from Twilight to Celestia, with the clear expression of “Fillies—how incredibly naïve!” “In my experience, once a pony falls victim to Evil, they can never more be trusted. You should banish her back to the—”

And then the countess saw the expression on the Princess’ face, and stepped aside just in time, as the potted plant behind her burst into flames.

That silenced the whole party…for about two seconds.

“You reach your right hoof in; you reach your right hoof out!” sang Pinkie Pie.

And that got everypony to pay attention to her instead.

“Are…are you alright, Princess?” Twilight asked.

Celestia put a hoof to her temple, wincing in pain. “It’s alright,” she said slowly. “Just a sudden headache.”

“Do you need to step outside?”

Celestia put on a false smile, calming down the ponies that had been quietly watching the whole interaction. “No, I’ll be fine,” she lied.

“You wanted to meet Prince Blueblood?” Spike asked incredulously.

“Why, do you know him?” Rarity asked gayly as she allowed herself to be led around the periphery of the greens, fairly far from any other pony. “Wait, you seem to know everypony in Canterlot,” she said in realization. “Do you know Prince Blueblood? Could you introduce me?” She then shook her head rapidly. “No! No, I don’t want to meet him. What if he has a Perfect Moment? What if I have a Perfect Moment? Would I steal my own memories?” This caused her rapid patter of speech to halt. “How would that even work?”

Spike looked up at her incredulously. He loved Rarity, he truly loved her. But sometimes she could be so weird. “No, I think this will work great. Just…don’t get mad at me, OK? I’m just trying to rip the old bandage off of the fur.”

Rarity looked down at him curiously. “I’m going to trust you in this, Spike. Don’t let me down.”

“That’s not going to be me!” Spike said lightly as he sped back towards the palace, his claw locked around Rarity’s pastern as she tried desperately to keep up.

In a few moments, they had reached Prince Blueblood, who was standing serenely looking out over (Twilight’s) mountainside. He looked exactly as Rarity had pictured him. She tried in vain to fix up her hopeless dress before she was noticed, but it was too late.

“Well, hello,” the prince said pleasantly, then stopped as he took in what he saw. He stopped when he spotted Spike. “Ah, Spike. This must be your guest. I am Prince Blueblood.”

Unable to help herself, Rarity blushed. “I am…Rarity,” she introduced herself. Right next to them was a bush with one perfect flower on it. The next part of her fantasy. She looked down at Spike for advice. Having seen where her eyes had rested, he silently encouraged her to continue. “Oh my,” she finally said, “what a lovely rose.” She closed her eyes as she waited to have that rose placed in her mane.

“You mean…this rose?” she heard the prince say. “Thank you. It goes with my eyes.”

Rarity opened her own eyes, to see that the prince had placed the perfect rose…on his own lapel. She looked incredulously down at Spike, who smirked and nodded back at her. She looked back and forth between the two males. She had an idea, but she had to test it.

Looking around, she saw a spot on the sidewalk ahead with an ugly mud puddle. So, she walked right up to it….and the prince had her put her own cloak over the puddle so he could walk delicately across.

“I…see,” she said after this distasteful display. “You’re a cad.”

The prince prepared himself for the slap…but it never came. “I beg your pardon?”

“You’re a cad!” Rarity exclaimed gleefully. “Oh Spike, this is perfect! In that nothing Perfect could possibly happen around him!”

“I beg your pardon?” Blueblood lamely repeated.

“We are going to have a blast!” Rarity exclaimed, not caring anymore what she said. She trotted off across the green, with Spike at her hooves.

“A what?” Blueblood asked. He followed lamely after the other two.

I should clarify that this is Prince Blueblood, and not a changeling replacement. The party where he should have been snatched? He had ditched it to crash the bachelor party of the son of a fellow noble. There he had made a complete ass of himself, as he often did. It was the only way he knew to keep the marriage-hungry mares away from him.

And then he runs into a mare that he couldn’t understand.

“You…don’t want me to marry you?” he asked, trailing behind the mad mare and Twilight’s pet.

“Oh, heavens no! You’re awful!” The mare stopped suddenly and spun to face him. “Not in most things, I should clarify. Just as marriage material. You’re probably wonderful at whatever your day job is. Now would you like to have fun with us?”

Blueblood was now quite certain that this mare was insane. And he had never hung around a mad mare. It might be fun. So, he continued to follow.

“What…what am I even looking at?” Blueblood asked incredulously a few minutes later, having reached Applejack’s cart.

Applejack, quite despondent after failing to sell anything, looked up at the noblestallion. She read his emotions in a moment and knew that she had exactly zero chance of selling anything to him. “I’m selling apples to guests,” she said. “Or at least, I’m trying.”

Blueblood looked over at Rarity. “Fellow inmate?” he joked.

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Applejack said darkly.

“You do know how catering works, yes? The Crown paid for all of the food being provided in there. As far as the guests are concerned, it’s all free. Why in Auntie’s name would anybody pay for your fares?”

Applejack thunk’ed her head down on the platform of her stand. “Why didn’t anypony tell me?”

“Oh,” Rarity said sadly. “I’ve always had other ponies handle the catering at my events, Applejack. And I’ve always been too nervous at them to even try to buy food that apparently was free.”

“But you paid the caterer,” Blueblood said.

“I always pay for good service,” Rarity insisted.

“And you thought that catering service cost that much?” the prince asked incredulously. “And someponies say that I am out of touch!”

“Well!” Rarity exclaimed. She didn’t have anything intelligent to say after that.

Applejack looked at all of the food she had Big Mac deliver to the palace earlier today. Deliveries that probably had the servants laughing behind their backs at him as he left. Only, being a changeling, Big Mac knew what they were feeling. And it wasn’t like he could have taken all of those desserts back without them spoiling. If she couldn’t sell them, she’d have to toss them. Unless…

Applejack kicked over the sign listing the prices for her goods. “Attention everypony!” she said loudly enough for everyone on the green to hear her. “For now until the end of the Gala, all of my apple treats are absolutely free!”

Rarity ran up to her. “Applejack, what are you doing?”

“Well, it’s like the fancy pony here said: you can’t sell food when there’s catering! But I can still advertise Sweet Apple Acres! The name’s all over the tins and the boxes. I’m going to make something out of this opportunity!”

And indeed, there was a hesitant line of ponies looking over Applejack’s wares. But no one was willing to step forward yet. So, she served a couple of fritters on a plate and walked over to Rarity, Spike and the fop. (Well, that was how she labeled him.) “Here. You at least know how good my stuff is.”

“We sure do!” Spike exclaimed, taking a hot fritter and practically shoving it into his mouth.

“Thank you, Applejack,” said Rarity, delicately taking a bite out of her fritter. “Your culinary creations, as always, are superior to those of any caterer.”

“Well, that’s really sweet to say, Sugarcube.”

Rarity looked around her, warily searching for upcoming “Perfect Moments” to stay away from. What she saw for the most part were nobles playing power politics with each other and deriving great pleasure from snubbing the “special guests”, aka common ponies like herself who had done something worthy of a ticket in the past year. Those special guests were easy for Rarity to spot, because none of them wore their fancy clothes with any degree of confidence.

Rarity suddenly felt quite despondent. She wondered if anypony here was having a Perfect Moment, including her other friends.

“Ex…excuse me,” she heard the uncharacteristically hesitant voice of Prince Blueblood at her shoulder. “Is that pastry really that good?”

Rarity looked over at him. “It really is,” she told him. “And I’m not just saying that because Applejack is my friend. She wouldn’t stand for me to praise her for something she wasn’t good at.”

Applejack nodded. “Mm, that’s true.” To Blueblood she asked, “Would you like to try a fritter?”

“Um…yes.”

“Hot diggety!” she exclaimed, preparing her first “sale” to somepony other than her guaranteed customers. “Here you go. Dig in and tell me what you think.”

Blueblood took one infinitesimal taste of the fritter, and instantly spit it out in disgust. “Ugh!” he exclaimed. “Are these those kinds of fritters? And are those dumplings? And caramel apples? My royal lips have touched common carnival fare! I am going to the buffet immediately, to cleanse my palette! Are you coming, Rarity?”

Rarity looked sadly over at Applejack. She had hoped that her “date”s act might spur the nobility to follow his example, but now—

“Excuse me, but did that stallion just say ‘carnival food’?” Soarin’ the Wonderbolt exclaimed. “I love carnival food!” He pushed through the crowd to feast his eyes on Applejack’s menu.

Applejack smirked—the jerk had a purpose after all. “What’cha hankering for, partner? Caramel apple? Apple pie? Apple fritter? Apple fries?”

“I’ll take that big apple pie. No, don’t cut me a slice, I want the whole thing, so I can share it with the other Wonderbolts!”

“Well thank you kindly, sir,” she said as passed over the pie. “And remember the name of Sweet Apple Acres of Ponyville anytime you want even fresher and better pies than that.”

“This is the most amazing pie I have ever tasted!” Soarin’ exclaimed after the first bite. “Wait till the gals taste this!” he declared as he walked away.

Spike clambered up on the platform of Applejack’s stand. “Come one, come all! To sample Applejack’s Free Carnival Food! Real food, for real ponies!”

The special guests, who had been having to deal with noble snubs for nearly an hour now, and who had found nothing digestible at the buffet, crowded forward. And a few minutes after they had cleared out Applejack’s inventory, they started spontaneously singing.

A newly full earth pony mare, her dress having been lost some time ago, clambered up atop a dense hedge. “Gals, I was thinking this whole Gala thing was a big mistake just a few minutes ago. But now, with this wonderful food in my belly, with your wonderful song in my ears, I have to say that this is quite possibly the most-perfect moment of my entire life!”

Spike looked with panic over at Rarity.

Rarity’s eyes opened wide as she felt her third eye opening.

And then she turned and shoved Prince Blueblood into a nearby stream.

Blueblood screamed like a little filly. He tried to climb out, but managed to slip and fall back in. Several times.

The moment, needless to say, was thoroughly ruined.

And Rarity was having the time of her life.

And then she looked up at her horn. “What was that?” she asked.

Other unicorns did the same. Pegasi looked at their wings, and earth ponies looked at their hooves. All of them felt that some portion of their magic had been drained away.

And then there was the wave of unstoppable magic, and everything changed for the worse in an instant.

Author's Note

The notes for this chapter can be found with Chapter 53.

Chapter 47

At 9:06 P.M. a black shape with holes in it raced through the ballroom, out the front doors, and out of sight.

“Monster!” cried one of the guards.

At 9:07 P.M. on the dot, the population of Canterlot and neighboring Ponyville went collectively insane.

Inside the palace the ponies screamed in a hundred different ways as they each lost the battle against Discord’s command. And after that, they did their level best to bash each other’s heads in.

Luckily for them, they were all spectacularly bad at it.

Outside of Chrysalis and her changelings, the number of individuals who were able to resist was pitifully small: 5 ½.

The ½ was Siren Twilight Sparkle.

The hate that the Siren part of Twilight Sparkle had absorbed in the past half-second had made her the dominant personality for now. However, she was now drowning in the metaphorical chocolate fountain. It was not just that there was more hate in the air than she could possibly handle. No, it was the fact that all she was absorbing was the hate being given off by the rabid pony in her head. That magic she was absorbing was actually her own magic. If this kept up, Siren Twilight would be forced into unconsciousness, and the pony would take control.

So, Siren Twilight’s first order of business was to implement the Midnight Protocol. The origin of the Protocol was as follows: Pony Twilight had devised a spell to imprison Siren Twilight after she had learned of her existence. But then the two of them reached an accord, so the spell was off the table. But then “Lesson Zero” happened, and Pony Twilight pondered what might happen if she did finish that spell, if she did become an alicorn, and if sometime after that she was pushed into going Nightmare. (Nightmare Twilight Sparkle needed a name for the protocol, so the two Twilights eventually agreed on Midnight Sparkle. The runner-up name of “Twilight Dullness” was reserved for the scenario where all of the joy was sucked out of her.) Who could possibly take out Midnight Sparkle, the Bearer of Magic, especially if a lucky shot managed to take out Pinkie? The answer, supplied by her other self, was in fact herself: Siren Twilight. And so Pony Twilight had altered her spell, so it could be used by either one of them to temporarily lock the other’s mind in a mental prison. This being Twilight Sparkle, the resulting Protocol was written out on one really fat scroll listing all of the rules—when it was fair to use it and the penalties for abusing it—which was at least three times longer than it needed to be.

Siren Twilight was now in control. And after a millisecond to absorb hate from ponies other than herself, she immediately cast the spell that Sonata had taught her. The Hate that everypony was suffering from was far too dangerous; with Sonata’s spell she was able to alter the command just enough so that everypony pulled their punches. Ponies would still be going to the hospital in droves after this, but none of them would be going to the morgue. It was the best she could do, given the overwhelming power behind the original spell.

Siren Twilight’s spell had spread out to cover the whole of Canterlot, an easy task with how much hate-spawned magic she had absorbed. And even a few seconds later, she had recharged to the point of being practically the equal of the abnormally calm alicorn who had been standing right next to her this whole time. Speaking of Princess Celestia…

“What’s happening?” Siren Twilight asked her. She practically had to scream to be heard over the screams of every other pony in the palace. Then she got a good look at the Princess.

The Princess didn’t look so good. She was clearly losing the battle that everypony else had lost in a millisecond. “Get the Elements,” she grunted, summoning a bronze copy of her horn which dropped to the ground between them. “Discord…but don’t…” And that’s when Celestia felt herself losing control. She teleported away, likely saving everypony in Equestria by doing so—there was no way that Siren Twilight’s spell would affect her.

Siren Twilight thought about what she had just heard. To deal with the masses of ponies that were trying to pony-pile her, Twilight projected a field of hate absorption. The field made the ponies around her passive enough to only fight back against ponies who attacked them first. Again, it was the best she could do against the power of Discord’s Hate spell.

Siren Twilight had access to all of her pony half’s spells. So, she looked for magic, and found two sources: Discord and the Elements. Discord was walking through the ballroom, admiring His handiwork. (And making sure that the Bearers were in no position to stop Him.) So, she fell flat onto the staircase she was standing on and allowed the passive ponies around her to jump her, hiding her from sight.

"Wait a second,” the god declared, standing less than a ponywidth from her. “Somebody’s messed with My spell! Who…” He looked around Him, and settled on the spot right above Twilight, the spot where her partial counter-spell had originated. And then He detected the strongest magical signature from that very spot. “Celestia! You did this, didn’t you?” He pondered for a moment about whether to re-cast His spell, but then He used his magical senses to look at Ponyville, and saw that the spell had been altered there as well, but by somebody else.

Celestia was gone. But perhaps He could catch the other do-gooder. “I’m coming back for you, Celestia,” He snarled under His breath, before teleporting out of Canterlot.

Siren Twilight waited a few moments afterwards to be safe, then grabbed the bronze horn and teleported herself to the location of the Elements. She had to hope that the extreme chaos being generated by His spell made it impossible for Discord to sense what she was doing. She had no idea what the horn was for, until she found the vault door with a magical lock in that very shape.

The room containing the vault was itself locked from the outside—which was a pity, as it had an amazing stained glass panorama of Twilight and her friends defeating Nightmare Moon and saving Luna. Ponies occasionally pounded on the outer door, but none of them made a concerted effort to get inside, because their only order had been to hurt each other, and they had no idea there was a pony to maim on the other side of the flimsy wooden barrier. Having unlocked the vault, Siren Twilight put on the Element of Magic, and willed it to activate.

Nothing happened.

The Siren was afraid of this. Her pony-half’s research had shown that the Elements had to be used together to do anything, as a safety precaution. Only Princess Celestia had been able to wield all of the Elements at once, and that had resulted in her permanently losing the ability to use them ever again. Twilight was just trying to fix her pony half’s insanity. She very much needed to keep using her Element after that.

There was another possibility…Starswirl’s ascension spell. She could cast it. But…what if it put Siren Twilight permanently in charge? She didn’t want that—she’d be fine ending up as an advising voice in the back of Alicorn Twilight’s head, but the opposite scenario horrified her. So that option would be held as a last resort only.

~ ~ ~

After determining that Discord was in Ponyville—for some reason—Siren Twilight teleported herself back into the palace, with the goal of rounding up the other Bearers. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do after that, but she thought she might as well carry out the one step she was sure of.

She had hoped that maybe another of the Bearers might have proved resistant to Discord’s spell like she had, but she had no luck:

Rainbow Dash was trying to take down the Wonderbolts all by herself, and was spectacularly clumsy in doing so, like a part of her was fighting the compulsion. Twilight tried to talk to her but was unable to get her to understand anything she was saying.

Fluttershy was wrestling with Prince Blueblood’s waterlogged tail and had succeeded in completely immobilizing it. Anytime the Prince would attempt to attack anypony, she would sit on that tail, and make him fall over. She also was immune to Siren Twilight’s arguments.

Rarity was attacking the rest of Prince Blueblood, and he was trying to attack anypony but her.

Applejack was…Twilight wasn’t sure what Applejack was doing. It looked like she was trying to suck the breath out of everypony. Despite the fact that nopony dared to fight her, she looked like she had lost ten fights in a row.

And Pinkie Pie was…standing in a closet. Completely immobile. With her eyes closed. And her mane straight. Like every other pony, she refused to respond to anything Twilight had to say. (In reality, Pinkie Pie and Pinkamena were engaged in the most-epic pie-throwing contest of all time…located in the arena inside Pinkie’s head.)

She scanned the crowd of brawling ponies, just in case there was anypony doing anything to stand out.

And that’s when she saw the pink blob floating over the heads of the other ponies. Near as she could tell, it was scanning the ponies the same way she was.

“Hey!” she cried, pointing at the creature. “Come over here!”

The creature had the nerve to point at itself with a tentacle and look to its right and left.

“Yes, you!” she cried. “I want to talk to you. Just talk.”

Slowly and hesitantly the floating tentacle monster floated over until it was inside Twilight’s field of not-so-much-hate. “Yes?” she asked with a metallic voice.

“You’re not up to no good, are you?” Twilight asked.

“No,” the creature replied. “I was trying to figure out who was responsible.” The creature looked her up and down. “Did you accidentally do this?”

“What?! No! Although, given her reputation, I could kinda see why you would think that.”

The creature noticed the use of the third person but chose not to comment on it. “I’m Rozetri,” she said. “I’ve been living in hiding in Ponyville for some time now.”

“And I’m half of Twilight Sparkle. I don’t feel like explaining that right now.” She did nothing to follow up on Rozetri’s statement about her origin. Unlike Pony Twilight Sparkle, Siren Twilight Sparkle was not infected by hyper-curiosity.

As for Siren Twilight’s statement about being half a pony, Rozetri appeared to know exactly what the Siren was talking about. “That makes sense. Do you know what happened?”

“Discord. He must have escaped from His prison,” Twilight explained. “I have the Elements, but I need to free the Bearers before we can use them.”

“Where is Princess Celestia?”

“She teleported away before she could be affected. Probably to someplace safe.”

“What about the other Princesses?”

Twilight nodded—this was a good avenue to pursue. “No idea. Hey, do you know if your resistance to Discord’s spell requires you to be conscious?”

“I resist Discord’s spell because I am not from this world.”

“Oh,” said Siren Twilight. Inwardly she sighed—since her pony half would have all of her memories when all of this was over, that last admission guaranteed that Pony Twilight would be hunting this poor creature down for an intense question-and-answer session once she was again in control of this body. “Can Princess Luna visit you in your dreams?”

“…I think so. I haven’t wanted her to so far, but yes, she could.”

“Then I’d like to put you to sleep. If Luna is in control of herself, you’ll be able to contact her and get some advice.”

“And if she’s not in control of herself?” the blob asked.

“Then you’ll experience one second of the most-horrific nightmare imaginable, before I wake you up.”

“Wonderful,” Rozetri said in a deadpan. “But I fail to see a better option. You may try your spell on me, and we will see if it works successfully.”

Twilight cast her sleep spell. Rozetri sank down to the ground, its one eye closed. And after a minute of peaceful sleep, she awoke.

“Both Princesses Celestia and Luna are in a room that blocks most forms of magic. They can only be freed by somepony outside the room—obviously after this crisis is past. Also, these are for you.” The creature closed its eye, summoning a sphere of magic, which then popped into a pile of scrolls which dropped to the ground. (Considering the limitations of dream magic, what Rozetri had done was memorize the appearance and contents of the scrolls, and then recreated them from scratch in the waking world. Mass photographic memorization was one of her species’ talents.)

Twilight picked up the first scroll and recognized it: it was one of Pony Twilight’s Friendship Reports. She gave Rozetri a confused look, then picked it up and read a line: “Real friends don’t care what your cover is.” She floated up another scroll: “Friendship is a wondrous and powerful thing.” And another. “And like the path cut through the orchard, there will always be a way through.” She began to actively think of the experiences tied to each lesson. “The best thing to do is stay true to yourself.” “Everypony had a special…magical connection…with her FRIENDS!”

“That’s it!” she exclaimed. She dropped her head and took a few deep breaths as the personality in charge switched. “It’s memories! I was able to break the spell with memories of my friendships! Thank you, Princesses!” She gathered up the scrolls and walked over to Rainbow Dash. Staring at Rainbow, she cast the spell that she had used with Rarity and Sweetie Belle, but with herself and her memories of her friendship with Rainbow Dash as the source. When the spell entered Rainbow’s head, it caused her to rocket back into the far wall.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight exclaimed, using her magic to part the squabbling crowd as she ran over to the prone pegasus. “Are you alright?”

Rainbow raised her head and shook it. “Whoa…” she said. “What did you do to me?”

“I cured you,” Twilight explained. “With a little help from Rozetri here.”

Rozetri floated over.

“Oh, so you know her now?” Rainbow asked.

“You already knew about her?” Twilight asked. “Why didn’t you ever introduce us?”

“Well for one thing, to avoid the grueling Q&A session,” Rainbow quipped.

Pony Twilight looked over at Rozetri to refute the accusation and had to physically control herself from using her magic to strap the alien down in the nearest chair to answer her questions. “Hrgh. Point taken.”

“So now what?” Rainbow asked.

“I need to cast this spell on everypony else,” Twilight said. She then looked over the ballroom. There were hundreds of ponies here—how many of them had relationships with her strong enough for her spell to work?

Rainbow Dash looked over the same crowd, tight-lipped. For when that memory spell touched her, she had absorbed it. Absorbed it and mastered it. The one thing keeping her from being a full-fledged grepp, the ability to manipulate memories, was now a permanent part of her. Twilight would have had to put something personal in the spell she cast on each pony to save them from Discord’s control. But Rainbow knew she could liberate every pony in this room in an instant. And in so doing out herself as a monster hiding in a pony’s body.

“Casting the spell on everypony would be a bad idea,” said Rozetri, inadvertently saving Rainbow’s secret. “The Princesses told me that Discord would be able to tell if you did something like that. You must only free the Bearers, and then immediately attack Discord with the Elements. Even then, you’ll need some kind of distraction, or you’ll have no chance of defeating him.”

At that moment the air was split by a piercing scream. It was not the scream of a pony. For one thing, it was about a hundred times louder than any sound a single pony could make.

And then the ground shook with a powerful thump.

The three lucid beings raced for the nearest window to the source of the noise. They saw a gigantic creature stomping its way through the streets of Canterlot.

“Is that…Spike?” Rainbow ventured.

Author's Note

The notes for this chapter can be found with Chapter 53.

Chapter 48

Still March 20th. “Secret of My Excess”.

Twilight Sparkle, Rozetri and Rainbow Dash ran out onto the greens that surrounded the palace. (Well, Twilight ran. Rozetri and Rainbow flew.) The form of Spike towered above them, screaming his hatred of the universe.

“It’s a pony spell,” Pony Twilight said in sudden realization. She turned to the others. “Discord’s spell only affects ponies!” She pointed up at the rampaging form of her brother. “He’s done it!” she exclaimed. “Even without a cutie mark, Spike’s now more pony than dragon! I’m so proud!”

“Um Twilight, that’s nice and all,” Rainbow remarked, “but Spike is going to destroy Canterlot.”

“Right, I have to cast the memory spell on him,” Twilight began. “Oh, but that won’t be easy. Dragons are extremely magic resistant.” She paused for a moment as her inner Siren reminded her that she could pull a near limitless quantity of magic out of the hatred of the ponies around her. “And even with my expanded reserves, the problem will be how fast I can push the spell into his head.”

“I can help,” offered Rozetri. “I can do a great deal with Equestrian magic.”

“Alright,” said Twilight.

“And I can fly you right up to his head,” offered Rainbow. “That ought to count for something.”

Twilight smiled. “It does.” She began to look around. “Now the best source of memories for Spike would be Rarity. Have either of you seen her around? I last saw her around here somewhere…”

Rainbow flew up and over so that she was closer to the rampaging dragon, then flew back and landed. “Found her,” she said, pointing up at the white form trying to bite her way out from the grip of Spike’s right claw. “Rozetri, get on my back and hold on. Twilight, I’ll pick you up.”

“Do you think you can carry us both?”

“Only one way to find out.” She looked back at Rozetri, who had crawled atop her back and had wrapped a couple of tentacles around her barrel to hold on. “Wow,” she said, “thanks for not sliming all over me.”

“I do have some restraint,” Rozetri quipped in her semi-artificial voice.

Rainbow lifted into the air, then hooked her forearms around Twilight’s and lifted her into the air. She flew over to the fist holding Rarity, holding Twilight steady while she cast her spell.

Rarity stopped struggling. “What did you do to me?” she asked absently. Then she looked around and started screaming.

“Rarity!” Rainbow exclaimed. “Get a hold of yourself!”

“You’re one to talk!” Rarity replied. “You’ve got a giant slug on your back!”

The “slug” visibly pouted.

“Wait,” said Rarity as she recalibrated.

“She’s trying to help us save the world from Discord,” Twilight explained.

Rarity vividly remembered the school trip when she was a filly, when she had first laid eyes on the statue of Discord. His form upset her on a visceral level. The creature on Rainbow’s back was at least symmetrical. “Alright,” she said cautiously. She then looked up. “Spike’s undergone a growth spurt,” she observed. “And getting bigger made him stupid and angry. I used to think that was a general rule among stallions, before I got to know Big Mac.” She looked back at them. “Now, with the banter out of the way, what is the plan?”

“I need to use the memory spell on Spike, with you as the source,” Twilight said.

Rainbow looked down at Twilight. Then over at Rarity. And finally, up at Spike. “Stay right there,” she said.

"Where else would I go?” Rarity quipped.

Rainbow flew up to the top of Spike’s head and dropped off Twilight and Rozetri, who held on to a head spike for dear life.

"Hold on.”

“We’re trying!”

Then she flew back down. “Hold still,” she instructed Rarity. “I’m going to summon a bolt of lightning to—”

“I’m going to have to stop you right there,” Rarity said calmly. “I’ve seen how accurate your lightning strikes are.”

Rainbow shrugged.

“Just catch me.” And with that, Rarity kicked at a specific nerve junction inside Spike’s claw, causing him to drop her.

Rainbow caught her and started flying her back up to join the others. “Where did you get that trick from?” she asked.

“Rainbow Dash, you saw how I handled the manticore back in the Everfree. A lady must be able to defend herself at all times. Preferably with the power of her intellect. But with her hooves if absolutely necessary.”

“Okay,” said Rainbow with an admiring smile. She saw that there was no safe spot to place Rarity, so she continued to hold her. “Twilight, are you ready?”

“Rarity, I need you to think of your best experiences with Spike,” Twilight instructed.

“Spike, the Shining Knight? I can do that.”

“Rozetri?”

“I’m ready.”

“Then here I go.” She leaned her head down and started siphoning a large quantity of mana into Spike’s head. Rozetri siphoned her magic through Twilight, where it became a part of the spell.

Spike started shaking it to try and resist them.

“It’s not working!” Twilight exclaimed.

It seemed certain that Twilight and Rozetri at the very least would be sent flying at any moment.

Steeling herself, Rainbow rushed forward.

“Look out!” Rozetri exclaimed, pointing away from the spot Rainbow was heading towards.

Twilight turned her head.

Rainbow shot an ethereal tentacle out of her head, which roughly slapped Spike’s head before withdrawing out of sight.

Spike immediately began shrinking down to normal.

Rainbow looked fearfully down at Rarity.

Rarity looked up at her in terror.

Rainbow wibbled her lip. Which in the language of Rainbow Dash was the equivalent of Rarity having a complete nervous breakdown.

Rarity stopped, and recalibrated. “Look Twilight, your spell worked!” she exclaimed.

Twilight finally looked back from the direction that Rozetri pointed. “Oh! It must have been a delayed reaction! Spike! Spike! Are you alright?”

The once-again diminutive Spike slumped. “I remember everything,” he moaned.

“Spike, Spike, I’m sorry,” Twilight said, pulling him into a hug.

(Inwardly, Siren Twilight was a full participant in that hug.)

“I resisted for as long as I could,” Spike told her. “Where were you? You could have helped me fight it.”

“No, she couldn’t,” Siren Twilight remarked. “This was end-of-the-world stuff, Spike. Still is.”

“We’re wasting valuable time as it is,” Pony Twilight admitted.

“But that doesn’t matter, because you matter,” Siren Twilight concluded.

Spike came in for another hug after that. “So, you’re the heroes, and I’m the sidekick. Got it. What can I do to help?”

“Follow me,” Twilight replied, turning to return to the palace.

“Hold on,” Rarity said, holding a hoof in the air. She looked around: Rozetri was nowhere to be seen. And before she had left, the strange creature had tried and failed to do something to her memories. She looked over, first at Rainbow, and then pointedly at the back of Twilight’s head. When Rainbow got the message, she lifted Spike with her magic and deliberately placed him on Twilight’s back facing the wrong way.

While Rarity did this, Rainbow brought out one of her grepp tentacles a second time and applied it to Twilight’s head.

“Hey, where did Rozetri go?” she asked, suddenly remembering his existence.

“Was that the monster that was helping you out?” asked Spike as he repositioned himself. “I want to shake her tentacle.”

“I’ll try to arrange that,” Twilight promised.

Rarity smiled at Rainbow Dash in gratitude. Rainbow Dash smiled sheepishly back at her.

Author's Note

The notes for this chapter can be found with Chapter 53.

Chapter 49

Ponyville, the basement of the Golden Oaks Library.

9:08—NONE OF THAT!

Sorry, Discord.

Some indefinable moment in space and time.

Discord tried tapping on Sonata’s petrified medallion.

It didn’t work.

“Oh no,” Discord told her. “You don’t get out of a reunion that easily.” He tapped insistently on the medallion with a claw, and the statue turned to flesh.

Sonata fell comfortably down into a sitting posture on the box her statue had been placed on. “Hello, Discord,” she said with a disappointed smirk. “Long time, no see.” She looked over at the hopper window allowing light into the basement. “What’s that sound?”

“That’s the sound of this town’s ponies—and the next town over—being tortured by Me. But not as much as they would be if you hadn’t meddled! How did you even cast that spell from inside a statue?”

Sonata smiled mysteriously.

“I’m going to let that slide, for now,” Discord told her irritably. “But only because I’m running out of time. I want to know what you know about the current Element Bearers.”

“Celestia and Luna?” asked Sonata.

“No, not them. There’s six Bearers now. And…you don’t know a thing, despite being semi-conscious for months. Alright, tell Me about Celestia and Luna’s weaknesses. They’re still ruling the ponies, so I might be able to use them as leverage to stop the Bearers.

“They think they can get away from Me that easily!” he started monologuing. “But I know exactly where they’re hiding! I thought I might be able to lure them out by torturing their subjects, but apparently, they’ve gotten cold-hearted.”

“Or they know exactly what You’d do to them if they showed themselves,” remarked Sonata.

“Ah! You do know them,” Discord said with a sinister smile.

“I’ll never talk!” Sonata declared.

“I don’t need you to,” Discord replied. He reached a semi-incorporeal hoof into Sonata’s head, and pulled out a bunch of fortune cookies, which he proceeded to eat, fortunes and all. “Luna had a breakdown? I can definitely use that.”

“Don’t you touch her! She only just came back!” Sonata protested.

“I have all that I need from you,” Discord said, floating up so He could physically dominate her. “And your attitude still disgusts Me.” He tapped the gem of her necklace, causing the color to fade. “So first of all, I turned your jewelry off for a year, so you won’t be able to get out of My punishment for you.” He thought for a bit. “What to do, what to do… I think you need to get away. Somewhere where you don’t get in the way…or push your friend back into the Nightmare’s hooves before I can…”

Sonata gave Him one last look of despair, before she vanished in the wake of a long-distance teleport spell.

“Good luck finding her, Luna,” Discord muttered to himself, before snapping himself into the town square.

“The Bearers live here,” he observed. “Maybe I can accomplish something by discording their friends and relatives.”

In a previous life, Sweetie Drops was one of the most intimidating ponies alive. She had wrestled dragons ten times her size to the ground, all by herself. She could overpower any group of ponies trying to stop her from carrying out one of her missions, up to about a dozen ponies. And she had once made Celestia cry “uncle” in a one-on-one, no holds barred match witnessed by the whole of S.M.I.L.E.

Even while being driven insane by Discord, she still had access to those devastating fighting moves. And still she couldn’t lay a hoof on Lyra.

“You’re good, I’ll certainly give you that,” a slightly winded Lyra said as she finished hog-tying Sweetie Drops. “But you’re nothing compared to good old-fashioned Venusian Aikido.”

She stepped back, and looked at the struggling earth pony, with her blood-red eyes. She was also foaming at the mouth.

“Wow,” she remarked. “That spell really did a number on you.” She sat down, just out of reach of the tied-up pony, which only served to make her even more furious. “I’m sorry, Sweetie, but I don’t know a spell to fix this—it’s just too strong for me to break it. I think…” She rubbed her chin with a hoof. “Let’s see what this does.” She casually plucked one of her own ears off like it was an interchangeable part—because in reality it was—and magicked it onto Sweetie’s necklace. The green ear began to glow with magic, which was steadily absorbed by Sweetie. Lyra watched for an effect.

The eyes still remained bloodshot, but with time she calmed down. She looked up at Lyra, and started panting happily, her tongue sticking out.

“Aww…” Lyra said. “You remind me of my Labrador Corkie!”

Sweetie stopped panting, to look right into Lyra’s eyes.

Lyra leaned forward. The expression on Sweetie’s face was that of a dumb animal. But burning at the center of those eyes was the true Sweetie, and she was not amused by the comparison Lyra had just made.

“Sorry, sorry,” Lyra said. “I honestly can’t do any better than that. At least now you won’t have to watch your body attack every pony in sight.” She cautiously reached out a hoof, created a hand out of magic at the end of it, and started petting her.

Sweetie simultaneously loved and loathed this.

Lyra got up, and listened to the continued screams, shouts, and grunts of Ponyville ponies tearing each other apart. “I’m going to get to the bottom of this,” she said. She opened the basement’s hopper window, which was located above a workbench. “Whine if you need anything,” she said, before going through the basement door.

~ ~ ~

“The Bearers live here. Maybe I can accomplish something by discording their friends and relatives.”

“Hey! Did you do this?”

(Hearing the voice of her Mistress, the dog-ified Sweetie Drops clambered up on the basement work bench and stuck her head out of the hopper window so she could watch.

Sweetie Drops, the fully intelligent pony stuck in the back of this Sweetie Drops’ head, watched in horror. She knew who Discord was, and what He was capable of.)

Discord whirled around. “Who dares…?” He asked. He found Himself face to face with a little green unicorn. “You’re not a pony…” He walked right up to the interloper and used His reality-altering powers to rip a pony cosplay suit off of Lyra, revealing her Tin form underneath.

“oh no you don’t,” Lyra said, the suit flying out of Discord’s claw and back around her body, making her a pony again.

“That’s Equestrian unicorn magic!” Discord observed. “That’s reserved for the rotten ponies who stole it from Me, not the likes of you!” He reached out a claw towards her, which expanded in violation of the laws of perspective to grab her, and then she shrunk as the claw was pulled back, leaving her a hoof-sized captive.

“Princess Celestia is fine with me using it,” Lyra said as she was being shrunk. “That’s good enough for me. And does this mark the start of the interrogation?”

“Yes,” Discord said sinisterly. “What are you anyway?”

“I’m a tourist,” Lyra replied with a smirk. “I’m here to boost the local economy, and be the individual everypony blames for their missing jobs. Is the interrogation over now?”

“Hey, I’m the one asking the questions!”

Lyra gave Discord a look of profound disappointment. “Check,” she said. “And now I know where the ponies get that one from.”

Discord angrily shook Lyra a few times until her head audibly rattled. (Discord supplied the sound effect.) “What. Are. You?” He demanded.

“Alien,” Lyra said curtly. “Extra-dimensional alien. And who are you?”

“I am Discord—this world’s god!”

Lyra nodded politely. “Oh. I hope you don’t expect me to be impressed.”

“I’m a god!” Discord exclaimed. “How could you possibly fail to be impressed?”

Lyra managed to shrug despite being held tightly by the talons of Discord’s claw. “You’re not the first god to ‘interrogate’ me,” she admitted. “What kind of tricks can you do?”

Discord noticed the lack of capitalization in the pronoun she used to address Him. “You want a trick? How about this?”

He then began growing at a rapid pace. The hoof and claw He was standing on passed through the various buildings they would have otherwise demolished. He stopped when His neck had passed through the stratosphere. “How’s that?”

Lyra experimentally took a breath and was somewhat surprised that the air pressure hadn’t changed. (The entire E-Verse containing Equus was in fact filled with breathable air.) “I’ve seen better,” she said. She pointed at a particular object hanging above them. “Can you reach the Moon? I’d be impressed if you could reach the Moon.”

Discord tried. He really tried. But at the end of the day, He was the god of Equus, not of the E-Verse as a whole, so He couldn’t reach high enough. With a pout He returned to His normal size. “I’m getting tired of you,” He growled.

Now Lyra, when Discord had been shrinking down, had spotted Twilight Sparkle, Spike, and the rest of the Bearers hiding behind a building, all wearing their Elements. (Applejack was lying prone on the ground, but despite that fact her Element was lit up and ready to go.) Only something was wrong—Pinkie was shaking her necklace and rapping it lightly on the side of the building. So apparently, they needed more time.

“A god who is tired of Crouton is tired of life!” she proclaimed, repeating a line she had used the last time a god had “interrogated” her.

“Who?”

“Me. Keep up now.”

“Ugh. I am getting tired of all this defiance! You will bow down before Me!”

“Ah, the biggest ‘check’ of all!” Lyra proclaimed with a broad smile. “Discord, you hereby win my Cliched Loser of the Year Award! Redeemable at your local Chuck E. Cheese.”

“Enough!” Discord screamed in her face, enlarging her to her normal size, with an enlarged fist around her mid-section. “Bow down! Acknowledge My godhood!”

“Nope. Don’t wanna!” Lyra said, sticking her tongue out.

With an enraged scream, Discord grabbed Lyra’s head with one claw, and her legs with the other hoof, and started pulling. As a result of His powers, she started stretching like taffy. Taffy with fully functioning pain receptors.

Lyra only grunted. “Is that the best you’ve got?”

Discord snarled. He began twisting her, inflicting even more pain.

“Is…that…the…best…you’ve…got?” Lyra said between gritted teeth.

"I can’t look!” Fluttershy whispered.

None of the Bearers were able to look away from the torture they were witnessing.

“Pinkie!” hissed Twilight. “What’s the hold-up?”

“I don’t know!” Pinkie replied, tears in her eyes. “Maybe because nothing seems very funny right now.”

Rainbow looked quietly at Pinkie, taking an internal inventory: Pinkie is the laugh. And Pinkamena is the darkness that makes the laughter hit so much harder. And Rozetri…she was there with us in the Castle of the Two Sisters as well. Is she the unknowable universe, the thing we have to laugh at to remain sane? “I can fix this,” she said in a low voice, picking up Pinkie. “We have to get something.”

And with that she shot off towards Canterlot.

She ended up finding Rozetri sitting in the same closet that she had earlier found Pinkie in after her breakdown.

Next Discord started whipping the elongated Lyra around His head, using centrifugal force to try and tear her in half.

“She sails…through the air…with the gr…greatest of ease! …That daring young mare…in the flying trapeze!” Lyra managed to sing.

With a scream of rage, Discord began pounding her head back and forth on every hard object he could see in the square.

He held aloft her broken form. “Any…last…words?” He hissed, steam escaping from His ears.

Lyra opened one bleary eye. “…” she tried to say.

“What was that?”

“Made you look.” And then she lapsed into blessed unconsciousness.

And that’s when He was blasted by the Elements of Harmony and turned back into stone.

Discord’s spell ended instantly. The dozens of Ponyville ponies who had been spending the entire confrontation attacking one another released each other from their various death- and chokeholds and looked around them in utter bafflement.

Twilight immediately teleported out of sight.

A few seconds later Sweetie Drops raced out of her shop, grabbing up the remains of Lyra and sobbing uncontrollably. She managed to get there faster than the Bearers, who had been heading in that direction as soon as they were sure that Discord was no longer a threat.

With a flash, Twilight, Celestia and Luna appeared among them. “Thank you,” Celestia said with tears in her eyes, “for doing what we could not. It was awful knowing that we were forced to abandon our ponies to Discord’s depravity, but we knew you could handle it.”

An angry Siren Twilight used her magic to turn both Princesses around and pointed silently with one hoof at the mess in the middle of the square.

Both of them were horrified by a level of violence they had never encountered before in their lives.

“What…?” Luna began.

“It’s your ‘distraction’,” Siren Twilight spat out, as her pony half watched on in a mixture of horror (“How can you yell at Princess Celestia like that?!”), agreement (“Well, alright, Princess Celestia screwed up”), and horror at said agreement (“Princess Celestia screwed up?!”).

Upon recognizing the mess as once being a pony, both of them began sending healing magic into it. Twilight leant her magic to them, to be soon followed by every other unicorn in earshot.

For several minutes, nothing seemed to be happening. “Is this even supposed to work?” Amethyst Star dared to ask. “Even an alicorn’s healing power has its limits on a pony.”

Sweetie Drops was reminded that this wasn’t really a pony cradled in her arms. Also, that she had said not-a-pony’s ear hanging around her neck. Quietly, she removed the necklace, separated out the ear, and, keeping it hidden behind her hoof, re-attached it in approximately the right location.

There was a bright flash of green light…

And a fully intact Lyra appeared, standing on all four hooves. “I need a vacation from my vacation…” she muttered, then fell over.

Sweetie quickly checked her—she was merely exhausted instead of dying. “She’s going to be OK!” she announced.

The collected ponies cheered. And then most of them decided to go home, in hopes that they might soon wake from this awful nightmare.

“First, the Gala,” Applejack said grimly. As had happened after the last time they used the Elements, Applejack and her friends had been restored to full health.

“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity exclaimed as she remembered.

As Princess Luna prepared to teleport them over, Applejack feared what state she might find her sister in.

Author's Note

The notes for this chapter can be found with Chapter 53.

Chapter 50

The Canterlot Royal Gardens.

Rewinding time once again…

“Come along, fillies!” Tabula Rasa declared, leading the group of fillies into the Royal Gardens.

The Gardens were a magical-looking place, dimly lit by fairy lights. Low hedges created a sense of order, but simultaneously there were bushes and trees planted seemingly randomly. The sounds of all kinds of wondrous animals could be heard, but always behind some cover or another: close enough to entice, but far enough away so not to threaten.

As such the colts and fillies found themselves separated into groups of various sizes, from lone explorers to large stationary groups. The foliage seemed to absorb any overly loud utterances, leaving a pleasant buzz of conversation.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon walked through this landscape, looking for the most-influential group of Canterlot fillies to integrate with. Diamond walked slowly, her eyes darting from one natural spot to another, unable to look any pony in the eye, a hoof before her mouth in perpetual uncertainty. Silver kept her eyes constantly on the prize of which ponies were the best ponies to befriend.

This was the complete opposite of their personalities at the start of the term. And Silver was very unhappy with this change.

Silver Spoon was a member of the ancient and respected Silver Clan, a clan noted for their loyal service to whoever was the current center of power in Equestria. Silvers had occasionally served Princess Celestia herself, but mostly they served Celestia’s “instruments”, the ponies who had to carry out the dirty work in her name. Silver Spoon, like the other Silvers, had big dreams of what she wanted to do in her life, in how she wanted to transform Equestria in the time allotted to her. But like most Silvers she lacked the larger-than-life personality to accomplish this herself. She needed an instrument of her own.

Diamond Tiara was supposed to be that instrument, the perfect combination of a naturally strong leader who had no idea what to do with her power. The CMC were not an obstacle to that rise; rather they were the stepping stone. For if an Apple cowered before Diamond Tiara without consequence, surely that meant that Diamond was meant to supplant the Apples as the pre-eminent power in Ponyville.

In the eyes of the fillies and colts of Ponyville, the fact of Diamond’s power in the present day was undeniable. But the present was not the past, and Diamond did a good job of hiding the current truth from them. She did not hide her weakness from her best friend. After all, Silver had gone through the same horror that she did.

A horror by the name of Babs Seed.

For a week the tables had been turned. For a week Diamond and Silver were the willing lackeys of a pony who should have been their victim. They had done every humiliating thing that Babs told them to do. Did each thing and begged for more. If it wasn’t for the fact that Babs did not (yet) wish these humiliations to be public, the carefully built reputations of both Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon would have been destroyed forever.

And then the week ended. Babs Seed returned to Manehattan, and Diamond and Silver were once again in control of their own opinions.

It was Diamond who demanded that neither of them ever speak of what had happened to anypony else. Because regardless of what would be revealed in the aftermath, one thing would be clear to everypony: they had been victims. And that was a state that Diamond would never admit to.

But this decision had consequences. Since she had no idea how Babs had accomplished her takeover, there was no way for Diamond to be able to tell when it might not happen again. Or indeed, no way to tell that it wasn’t happening right now. After all, Diamond had no sense while she worshiped at the hooves of Babs that there was anything wrong with her. It seemed the most natural thing in the world for her to feel that Babs was the universe’s most-perfect being. Until it had stopped being true.

Silver on the other hoof had shaken the whole thing off with ease. Unlike Diamond, she had no desire to have complete control of her own life. Equestria was full of strange forces. It was natural to expect that you won’t always be in control of yourself. What Silver believed in was the thing she did have control over: her reaction. And she chose not to react, not to allow Babs Seed to have any power over her in the present whatsoever.

And so, if Diamond was paralyzed and had spent the last six months unable to do anything other than keep up the appearance of power without any of the practice, then it was up to Silver to take up the slack. The first Grand Galloping Gala after both of them had gained their cutie marks was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And they were not going to screw this up.

Silver Spoon spotted her quarry: the most-powerful filly at the Gala, and therefore most-certainly the most-powerful filly in Canterlot. Silver walked with supreme confidence through the ring of fawning admirers to stop right in front of the Countess-in-Waiting of Bellweather, Golden Peytral. She curtseyed, then turned slightly to display the appliqued cutie mark on her dress. The style of the dress and the exact form of the curtsey communicated her status as newly-cutied, a status that demanded acknowledgement from one it was delivered to.

And she did this with Diamond Tiara a step ahead of her, performing the exact maneuver in blind synchrony. Knowing Diamond’s mental state, Silver knew that it was done automatically. But it had the desired effect.

Peytral was a unicorn, a taller filly than most, with a build that resembled a miniature Princess Celestia. She had a golden coat with a luxurious pure white mane, both visible through a pink taffeta dress. Her cutie mark was the grand blue bell of the Bellweather dynasty. Peytral looked Diamond over with a weary glance. Another filly ran in to tell her who these two ponies were. “Diamond Tiara,” she said. “It is good to meet my counterpart from Ponyville.”

Silver Spoon did not expect acknowledgement, and she did not receive it.

Diamond lowered her head slightly. “It is an honor to meet my Illustrious Lady from Canterlot,” she said, fully at attention. Her doubts, at least for now, were in abeyance.

Golden Peytral looked around her at her obsequious court and sighed. “Come walk with me, Diamond,” she said. She turned and marched further into the Gardens without a word, and without a glance back to see if her instruction had been obeyed.

Diamond meanwhile had looked back at Silver, who had shooed her to follow Golden with a shaken hoof and a desperate smile.

Diamond followed Golden around the hedge, and out of sight of the other fillies and colts.

Fluttershy flew overhead at that moment, quietly calling out for the animals to reveal themselves. They failed to do so.

Golden stopped beneath an apple tree and turned to face Diamond. “I hear that the ponies of Ponyville are more blunt than in the rest of Equestria. Is that true?” she asked.

Diamond stopped, and at Golden’s direction sat down. “Only when we need to, Your Excellency.”

“Which, with the monster attacks, is constantly,” Golden noted. “We are grateful for that, by the way. Saves us a great deal of trouble.”

Diamond wasn’t sure if the “we” in question was royal or not. “Well…you’re welcome,” she finally settled on saying.

“I wish to be blunt with you, Diamond Tiara. The day has been a tiring one for me, and I have much wisdom to communicate in the little time I’m willing to grant you.

“My sources inform me that you rule the fillies of Ponyville. Is that true?”

Diamond remembered Silver Spoon’s advice for how to handle this meeting: be deferential, but whenever possible, be bold. “It is, My Lady.”

“And you are here for advice, perhaps leave open space for a future alliance?”

“Yes, on both counts.”

“You don’t have an entourage,” Golden observed bluntly.

“Not at the Gala,” Diamond responded.

“You are not the only fillies from Ponyville present at the Gala,” Golden countered. “Where are they?”

“Well, they are bluntly beneath my notice,” Diamond replied, feeling just a little bit lost at the question.

“So you haven’t broken them yet.”

This produced a brief moment of shock from Diamond Tiara. “…No, My Lady.”

“Well, get on that,” Golden said, her voice as cold as ice. “My power over my entourage is absolute. That should be your goal.” She walked over to be beside Diamond’s ear before continuing in a soft but compelling voice. “These are my two lessons for you tonight: Power is a thing unto itself, divorced from any cause. And the only power worth possessing is absolute power.”

Golden sat down beside Diamond, shocking her further. She put her hoof around the earth pony’s withers. “You haven’t grown up in the vicious arena of Canterlot, so I’m not surprised that you haven’t learned these lessons already, but you need to do so quickly. Because if you don’t, I’ll order one of my lieutenants to move her family down to Ponyville to add it to my domains.”

She continued on in a pleasant conversational tone, as if her last sentence hadn’t been a dire threat. “Power is—rather simply—fear. You could see it in every pony around me, couldn’t you? They are all terrified of what I could do to them. Because they know: I could do anything to them, and no pony short of a Princess would dare contradict me. And they know that I could do something awful to any of them at any time. Because I have. Multiple times. Do I actually possess this power? Well, I have those ponies too terrified to ever challenge me. So therefore I do possess that power. That’s all you need to cement your control over Ponyville. It’s easy! You just have to…throw away your conscience.” She gestured with a hoof, as if waving goodbye to her own conscience.

Diamond had recognized that the pony beside her was clearly a sociopath. But she was held in a death grip by that same pony, so she kept the increasingly fake smile on her lips and nodded along with Golden’s points of instruction. She even “waved away her own conscience” when Golden instructed her to.

“There, much better! Ponyville is yours already. Now the next thing you need to learn is self-defense. Because on top of everypony fearing you, everypony will now want to kill you.”

Diamond Tiara began to quietly shake.

“That’s what I dream about nowadays. Not the guilt over what I’ve done to my fellow ponies—I ditched that along with my conscience. No, I dream about how they will kill me. Or what might happen if they ever lose their pony frailties.”

“You sound like a monster to me,” Diamond said, then immediately covered her mouth in horror.

Golden Peytral nodded solemnly instead of zapping Diamond into her component molecules. “I hold King Sombra up as my role model,” she said. “There was a pony who became a monster without wasting the opportunity in self-pity, unlike a certain Princess I could name. Sombra enslaved his ponies—I wish I could do that. And he found a way to convert their desire to kill him into raw magical energy, which he used to conquer more ponies that he could then enslave. Imagine a world where he ruled!”

A very uncomfortable silence settled in as Golden had a Perfect Moment while imagining that perfect world of a Sombra eternal dictatorship. (A very good thing that Rarity was nowhere around to have that memory permanently implanted in her brain.)

Diamond Tiara managed to disengage herself from Golden Peytral’s grip.

That was when the magic drain hit. Golden instantly concluded that it was an attack directed against her: while crying “You can’t topple me that easily!” she ran back towards her entourage.

Diamond followed more slowly.

Author's Note

The notes for this chapter can be found with Chapter 53.

Chapter 51

“Come along, fillies!” Tabula Rasa declared, leading the group of fillies into the Royal Gardens.

Tabula Rasa was a disguised changeling. Apple Bloom knew this for a fact.

Worse, the desperate hunger of his emotions revealed him as a changeling nymph, one of the outlaw Chrysalis’ poor victims, brainwashed into carrying out her every sick and twisted whim.

Applejack had taught her everything she had known about the Reformed Changelings’ greatest threat.

Tabula Rasa was therefore extremely dangerous, and if Apple Bloom could have possibly passed her information on to any trustworthy changeling, she would have done it in an instant, before wiping her hooves of the matter.

But there were no trustworthy changelings around; the mental communication that Chrysalis used on her nymphs only worked because of the underdeveloped nature of their brains, so Apple Bloom was unable to use telepathy to call for help. Instead, she was stuck helplessly watching and praying that they weren’t all going to end up cocooned by the end of the night.

“Hey Apple Bloom! Could I ask you something?” Scootaloo asked from a hollow in a nearby bush.

Apple Bloom took in a nervous breath and walked over to her friend. “What is it?” she asked in a falsely calm voice, being reminded of who she had to protect from the dangerous nymph.

Tabula Rasa was a disguised changeling. Twist knew this for a fact.

It was the very reason why she was so special to the Apple Clan, after all: the ability to just know who was a changeling or not.

She couldn’t read a changeling’s emotions. No more than she could read a pony’s emotions. And she certainly couldn’t read their thoughts.

All she could do was control the emotions she projected. So, she thought friendly thoughts and started looking around for Apple Bloom or any other Apples to introduce her.

“Hi, are you Twist?” Sweetie Belle asked, suddenly getting in her face. “I noticed that you’ve been off on your own.” She hooked a hoof around Twist’s arm. “I think some introductions are in order.”

“Um…OK,” Twist said reluctantly as she allowed herself to be led, being reminded of the fact that there were plenty of non-changelings around, and so she had to be cautious in what she said and did. To protect those changelings from being exposed. “Where are we going?” She then put a potion bottle inside Sweetie’s saddlebags.

“What is that for?” Sweetie asked, opening the bag to take a peek at the orange potion.

“Homework for Zecora,” said Twist. “Don’t let it sspill, please.”

The changeling Thorax, in his disguise of Tabula Rasa, didn’t really have anything to do. Each group that he had brought into the Gardens had immediately found something useful to do. They had congregated into groups that seemed to be happy. Or had gone off individually to explore.

Thorax knew these gardens. Had wandered here for hours at a time disguised as the groundskeeper, to try and work out what to do with his life. It was in fact the only way he could work out what to do with his life. Changelings only possessed normal intelligence while in disguise. It was an unfortunate weakness of changelings, with only the Queen being immune.

Thorax recognized that by Queen Chrysalis’ standards he was quite broken, in that he actually cared about his food, the ponies of Equestria. His standard disguise of Tabula Rasa was a filly sitter, and Thorax frankly thought he was better at this job than the original Tabula. After all, Thorax had only been able to catch him because Tabula had been passed-out drunk in an alley in the early morning hours of his first day working in Canterlot. Thorax suspected that he was a better filly sitter than he was a changeling infiltrator. It was a miracle that he hadn’t been caught before now.

There was one of his pony charges that he cared about more than any other: the earth pony servant filly Polished Pewter. Pewter was the personal servant of Golden Peytral, and therefore the worst-suffering of all the fillies in Canterlot. At least that was Thorax’s opinion based on his limited contact with ponykind.

And so, when the Ponyville ponies split up and Golden Peytral had walked away from Polished Pewter and the other followers of the countess-in-waiting, Thorax had decided to let the other groups be, to hover around Golden Peytral’s group, and see what he could do to cheer his favorite pony up.

“What is it?” Apple Bloom asked as she entered the grove.

“Where are we going?” Twist asked as she was led into the same grove.

Apple Bloom looked with shock and fear at Twist. She had forgotten what Twist knew about changelings, and what she could do. If she knew what Tabula Rasa was, she might give everything away.

Twist looked at Apple Bloom and was shocked to see that fear on her face. She followed her eyes to the distant form of Tabula Rasa, and she tried to figure out why Apple Bloom would be so worried about another changeling.

(“Apple Bloom, we’re noticed that you’ve been avoiding Twist,” Scootaloo said.

“Yeah, and I’m pretty sure you two walked to school together on your first day. What happened?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Neither Apple Bloom nor Twist noticed anything the two of them had said.)

The idea struck Twist like a thunderbolt: What if Tabula Rasa was like Babs Seed? Worse, what if Mr. Rasa was…evil? And as a natural reaction to this thought she hid all of her emotions away.

“No!” Apple Bloom cried out in a strangled voice, seeing the exact emotional reaction she was afraid of. “I’m pretty sure he hasn’t noticed what you are yet. But if you do that…”

“Do what?” Scootaloo asked.

Apple Bloom was reminded yet again that she was in the presence of ponies that she had been ordered not to reveal her secret to. “It’s…um…”

“Tabula,” said Twist. “He’sh a bad…” She looked at Apple Bloom, then looked away in fear of what she had almost revealed.

Sweetie frowned at Twist’s guilty glance, then looked over at the pony, who was busy comforting a filly. “Really?” she asked. “How do you know?”

“We can just—” Apple Bloom caught herself. She hung her head as she said, “I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?” Scootaloo demanded of Apple Bloom, lifting her head up to force their eyes to meet. “You promised Sweetie and I that we would be the best friends ever. That nothing would ever be a secret between us.”

Apple Bloom felt like she was being flayed alive. “Except for this,” she said, feeling their friendship fraying. “I’m not allowed to tell anypony about this.”

“Not allowed by who?” asked Sweetie. She looked over at Twist. “You’re in on it,” she concluded.

“I…what? No, I’m not,” Twist blustered.

She failed to convince anyone.

“Why can she know but not us?” Scootaloo asked, tears in her eyes. As a filly with trust issues, who feared sometimes that her parents had finally abandoned her for good, this was a supremely important matter to her. The dying of friendship that Apple Bloom felt came mostly from her.

Apple Bloom, having no answer that would satisfy Scootaloo, instead turned to Twist. “Quiet happiness,” she instructed her. “You can project enough of it to cover all of our other emotions.”

“OK,” said Twist, closing her eyes. She was a little disappointed that her father had never told her of this “covering” ability; one more way that she could be useful to the Apples. But she was grateful that Bloom had trusted her, and she put a hint of that gratitude into the emotion she projected, so Bloom could see it.

“What are you two talking about?” Scootaloo demanded. “Is this some kind of secret code?”

Twist opened her eyes. “What if we have to do ssomething?” she asked. “What if he already ssuspectss you?”

“Why aren’t you answering me?” Scootaloo asked, getting angry.

Apple Bloom took in a nervous breath. This was all getting out of control. She had an answer for Twist’s question, but it was a very dangerous answer, one that potentially gave Twist and her father incredible power over changelings. And then she saw that Silver Spoon had joined the conversation who knows how long ago, and that a suspicious Tabula Rasa was walking right towards them. He was raising some kind of shield spell, despite his appearance of being a pegasus.

With a sigh, Apple Bloom released her control over the situation. “Hate,” she told Twist. “You can really hurt us…hurt him, with hate.”

Sweetie looked back and forth between Bloom and Tabula. She was beginning to realize that the two had something in common.

Sweetie had been developing certain suspicions after reading that entry on Sirens. Especially after the Babs Seed incident: The way Apple Bloom had been conflicted the whole week on whether to do something or not regarding the strange things Babs was doing with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. The strange thoughts she herself had when around Babs, and how they only seemed strange after Babs left. And how everything had gotten better the moment Apple Bloom had confronted her cousin about things neither of them were willing to come out and say.

Sweetie was preparing herself to say something about these suspicions.

Apple Bloom was paralyzed with terror over the permanent damage she might have done to the Clan.

Scootaloo was done with Apple Bloom forever.

Twist was hyperventilating over the loaded weapon that had just been metaphorically placed in her shaking hooves.

Silver Spoon had an awful lot on her mind: A strong suspicion that there was something seriously wrong with Golden Peytral, based on conversations with her terrified minions. Sympathy for Tabula Rasa on seeing his actions towards Golden’s chief victim. Fear for what might have happened to Diamond Tiara at Golden Peytral’s hooves, and a growing determination that she should enlist Tabula to intervene. Which was just now interrupted by confusion over the conversation between those CMC losers and that Twist “sssuper-loser” that brought Tabula’s goodness into question and, for reasons that her conscious mind could not yet understand, brought back hints of the stark terror she had briefly experienced in the aftermath of the Babs Seed experience.

Thorax felt like he was going to be sick. He was going to have to cocoon all five of these fillies and drag them down to the hive, never to be seen again. Given the madness he felt behind him from Golden’s return to her coterie, he felt confident that he could do this without being caught.

Although…the madness wasn’t just coming from behind him. It was also coming from the five fillies, and, and…every pony he could read in the whole of Canterlot.

What was going on?

And then he dropped to his knees as the sickness came upon him. Because what was going on was that he was drowning in Changeling Poison. Otherwise known as “hate”.

Author's Note

The notes for this chapter can be found with Chapter 53.

Chapter 52

Apple Bloom was dying. The air was saturated with hate. Scootaloo was trying to kill her. She was trying to kill Scootaloo. And she was no longer in control of her body.

Apple Bloom was terrified. She had been trained by her family to be a changeling warrior, to fight the enemies of her clan to submission—or worse—if necessary. She couldn’t stop herself from using that training now. Scootaloo…Scootaloo was very physical. Scootaloo could match her for a few minutes. But eventually Scootaloo would fall. At least it wasn’t Sweetie Belle. Or Diamond Tiara…she didn’t know what she would do to Diamond Tiara.

And then…something changed. The wave of a spell swept over the Garden, and suddenly the body she could not control forgot its training. That body was still trying to hurt Scootaloo, but that’s the worst that it could do.

Scootaloo was trying to put Apple Bloom in the hospital. And she didn’t want this at all.

She was mad at Apple Bloom. She no longer wanted to be friends with her. But she would have been fine with walking away and never talking with her again.

But her body was no longer under her control. And so there were tears running down Scootaloo’s face despite her expression of rage.

Diamond Tiara was having a nervous breakdown. Because Golden Peytral was right about power. Behind her she heard Golden trying to fight against all twelve of her followers. None of them wanted to hurt anybody else other than her. And of the fillies from Ponyville? All of them were attacking her, with only one exception: Scootaloo was attacking Apple Bloom. That also fit with Golden’s revelation: Apple Bloom was the only other one of them that had any degree of power, so it was fitting that she would be the only other filly of their group defending herself.

Sure, her body was out of her control, and she was fighting back against all of her attackers, but that meant almost nothing to Diamond. After Babs Seed, she expected to lose control like that at any time. What made this different was that a part of her was watching what was going on, a part that knew in real time that this was all wrong.

Thorax pushed his sickness down on witnessing what the fillies and colts in his charge were doing to each other.

He waded over to the largest fight, that of Golden Peytral vs. her followers, and tried in vain to separate them. The hate they were radiating was somewhat painful to him, but no hate was being directed at him, so he wasn’t suffering too much.

‘Thorax!’ a voice in his mind demanded. ‘What are you doing on the surface! Return to the underground base at once!’

“They…they’re killing each other!” he cried out loud—with the hate all around him, he couldn’t summon up enough concentration to send his reply by telepathy alone.

It didn’t matter—Queen Chrysalis heard him all the same. ‘Exactly,’ she thought at him. ‘They are too distracted to notice anything you do. Get down here before you get hurt.”

“But what about them?!” he exclaimed. “I can’t witness such suffering and do nothing!”

‘I find that closing your eyes helps,’ Chrysalis quipped. ‘Besides I don’t know if you noticed, but it’s our life’s purpose to be inflicting misery on ponies.’

“No, I reject my life’s purpose!” Thorax declared with sudden determination. “I don’t want to be a monster anymore!”

‘What are you going to do? You better not be going against my will, Thorax. Having every pony in the city turn their hate on you would be a drop in the bucket compared to what I will do to you for disobeying me!”

Thorax did not answer. Instead, he leapt between Polished Pewter and the battered and prone Golden Peytral. Inside Polished, Thorax could feel both the hate that had been imposed upon her as well as the terror at what she was being forced to do.

And then Thorax transformed into a second copy of Golden. One that was somehow even more annoying than the original. She picked up Golden with her magic and tossed her up into a tree. The entourage turned on her. But Thorax as Golden could cheat. She sprouted a pair of pegasus wings and led the angry unicorns off on a merry chase. By staying mostly out of sight, she was spared the devastating effect of all the hate being generated.

Eventually she succeeded in getting the entourage trapped in the animal containment pens, and then flew back to deal with the other groups.

All the while Chrysalis’ ranting continued inside her head.

Now hovering in the air in his native form, Thorax looked down upon Apple Bloom, and once again had trouble deciding what to do with her. He could detect that she was a changeling, but she was a changeling unlike any he had ever read before. There was an independence there, a strength of will, that Thorax thought could only come from a Queen. Was this filly the queen of her own hive? An adult a century or two old, disguised as this earth pony filly? Thorax by his transformations had revealed himself to multiple ponies, so he knew that he didn’t have long to live in Chrysalis’ hive. Apple Bloom had actually been scared of him. Thorax made up his mind.

He landed among the Ponyville fillies as Tabula Rasa. “Sanctuary!” he cried.

They continued to attack each other.

Thorax transformed into Diamond Tiara. Four ponies jumped her, including the actual Diamond Tiara. All of their hate entered her, and she cried out in agony.

‘What are you doing?!’ demanded Chrysalis in his mind. ‘I’m taking you over.’

“No, My Queen!” cried Thorax as Diamond, before her senses were taken from her.

“What have you done?!” Thorax then declared with the voice of Queen Chrysalis. “You’ve exposed yourself! Kill these fillies!”

“N…no!” Thorax cried. The force of the mental struggle between Thorax and the Queen caused the disguise to drop, revealing the true form of Thorax.

“I’m not giving you a choice!” Chrysalis’ voice announced, before turning Thorax’s head towards Scootaloo and began draining the love—and life—out of her.

“Stop this! Stop making me kill her!”

His answer was a sadistic laugh.

The trapped mind of Apple Bloom had been paying close attention to everything the changeling nymph had been doing. And when she saw him taken over by “the queen” and used to drain Scootaloo, she decided to act.

‘Hey, rage-brain!’ she yelled at whatever part of herself was running her body. ‘I know where that black creature’s vulnerable spot is!”

Just as Scootaloo collapsed, Apple Bloom leapt over her, landing on Thorax’s back. With a feral glint in her eyes, she reached down and chomped her teeth down on a membrane located at the back of his jagged horn. With a wrenching pull, she ripped it off.

Thorax cried out in pain. And then he froze, as a blessed silence settled upon him, the ending of a pain much more hated than any physical discomfort. “I’m free!” he cried. “Her voice is finally gone!”

Behind him, Apple Bloom rose to her hooves, her eyes still red with hate, and she looked around her to decide on her next victim. But that just meant that every other pony still standing locked their hate upon her. Apple Bloom, finally overcome, collapsed and transformed into her changeling form.

Thorax looked down upon her in awe. This was no queen, but her form was so beautiful, so…right. Colorful, devoid of holes. Devoid, as Thorax had always sensed, of hunger. Apple Bloom was the most valuable treasure that Thorax had encountered in his life. He threw her over his back and flew up into the same large tree that Golden Peytral was trapped in.

He knew that only one of the fillies, Scootaloo, was a pegasus, and he bet that her current drained state made it impossible for her to fly. (He didn’t know about the other reason.)

And there he was forced to wait. With his propagating membrane torn he could no longer transform. And Thorax was a physical weakling, especially in his changeling form. Much as he would wish it, he no longer had the ability to keep the fillies and colts in his charge from hurting each other. His only priority now was in getting Apple Bloom here back to her hive, And hoping that he might learn the secret to her form.

Thorax froze for a second time that night. The thoughts that had just gone through his head in the last few seconds were the most-complex thoughts he had ever had as a changeling. Had the Queen’s mental link been suppressing the intelligence of the entire hive save for her?

Thorax vowed that he would liberate Chrysalis’ hive from her tyranny if it was the last thing he ever did.

He was betting that it probably would be the last thing he ever attempted. How could he possibly succeed at something as impossible as that?

~ ~ ~

A few minutes later, Thorax saw all of the ponies collapse. They slowly got to their hooves a few seconds later.

“Ugh…” Apple Bloom groaned beside him.

“Take my love,” Thorax whispered to her.

Bloom, drained as she was, accepted the invitation before she was fully conscious. She automatically resumed her pony disguise when she had absorbed enough. This act shocked her fully awake, and she stopped feeding. She looked up at Thorax with a nervous expression. “I wasn’t dreaming,” she said.

“Apple Bloom, how much do you remember?” Thorax asked her.

Bloom thought for a moment, then her eyes went wide. “Everything,” she said.

“Oh,” Thorax said, dropping his head down. “That won’t be good.”

Apple Bloom looked down at her friends, who were looking up at her and Thorax in shock.

“What are you?” asked Silver Spoon.

“I’m a—” Thorax began.

“I mean you,” Silver said, pointing at Apple Bloom. “Although I suppose the same answer applies to both of you.”

Author's Note

The notes for this chapter...don't exist, because I had nothing to note.

How'd that happen?

Epilogue

The citizens of Ponyville had stayed in the market square long enough to hear Princess Celestia’s explanation (Discord did this to you, but the Elements turned him into a statue, so it’s OK now) before wordlessly turning in to sleep. The Princess used her magic to repair a few houses that were on the verge of collapsing due to the fighting, before returning to Canterlot to find out what happened there.

The Royal Guard set down with their chariot outside the Apple homestead. Ragamuffin pushed ahead and knocked on the farmhouse door until Big Mac answered, with Granny Smith and his wife watching.

“There was a fight with Chrysalis and her changelings,” he told them, loud enough to be heard by the nervous guards behind him. “Everything’s in the open now. We would like to take you into our custody until everything is settled.”

“Alright,” Granny said with resignation. She waited until they were outside before assuming her native form, followed by Big Mac.

Ragamuffin and Mrs. Peel shared a look. Ragamuffin turned around and shed his armor and weapons. “The wife and I will save you a little trouble and surrender ourselves,” he said sadly, before they dropped their disguises.

There was a collective hiss of breath from the guards.

The next day a town crier dropped the bombshell about the Apples. Everypony stayed inside…

With a few exceptions.

Lyra, sitting in an improvised wheelchair, was being pushed around the town by Sweetie Drops. She was stopping before each home and trying to peer in through the windows.

“I wish you’d take some time to recover,” Sweetie said.

“She’s in this town somewhere,” Lyra replied. “Rozetri has been living next to me this whole time, and I never knew. Is she trying to avoid me? I…I wouldn’t blame her if she was.”

“She probably couldn’t see through your disguise,” Sweetie said. “If she witnessed the fight, she knows the truth. Wait for her to step forward on her own.”

“Or…I could ask Twilight! Everypony trusts her with their secrets.”

“Actually,” Sweetie said, “everypony trusted their secrets with Applejack. She was the only one in this town who knew that I was an ex-agent. And now…”

“I trust her,” said Lyra. “I couldn’t read her emotions, like she apparently could read everyponies’, but I saw no sign of betrayal in her.” She frowned as she added, “And I’m an expert in being betrayed by double agents.”

“I get the feeling that I wouldn’t like how spies operate in the N-Verse,” said Sweetie Drops.

“Absolutely not,” said Lyra.

Rarity knocked quietly on the library door.

“Come in,” said a voice from within.

Rarity crept inside, nervously looking around her and avoiding windows.

She found Rainbow Dash in the reference section, one of Star Swirl’s monster encyclopedias open before her.

“Twilight and Spike are upstairs,” Rainbow said softly. “They won’t disturb us.”

Rarity sighed, mentally kissing her equinity away. “Alright. Read it to me.”

Rainbow began to read the entry: “Agreppa. Offshoot of the Grepp. According to Marcus the Agreppa, the first ‘a’ stands for ‘advanced’ and the second…stands for ‘extra advanced’. Agreppa are not known for the smallness of their egos.”

Rarity rolled her eyes.

“Like the better-known grepp, agreppa have memory-related mental abilities and the magical power to disguise themselves as different ponies with an illusion—wait, I can do that? Ahem. In contrast, agreppa do not digest memories, but rather steal, save and treasure them, judging their worth relative to other agreppa based on the number and quality of these ‘Perfect Moments’, as they call them.”

Rarity slumped.

“Agreppa will sometimes spend years in the same pony disguise, acting to make significant improvements in their intended victim’s life, but this is always for the singular purpose of creating a Perfect Moment.

“Outside of this pursuit, agreppa prefer the company of ponies to their own kind. They tend to be articulate, highly educated, and very-well dressed, with some blinding exceptions.”

Rarity pictured both her mother and her father in their typical attire and was frankly unable to decide which one of them might have been her monster progenitor.

“The author only has Marcus’ word that his kind is related to the grepp, although that makes sense. In fact, no agreppa has ever been seen outside of their pony forms,” Rainbow concluded.

“Alright, that’s me,” Rarity said as Rainbow replaced the volume. “Now what?”

“Well, I couldn’t do anything with memories before Twilight shot me with that spell last night. Did anything happen to you?”

Rarity blinked. “I’m…I’m not sure. Perhaps now I’ll be able to put my stolen memories back. Did the book say anything about that?”

“No,” said Rainbow, thinking about Rozetri. “But I really hope it is true. For both of us.” At the look of shock on Rarity’s face she quickly added, “I never stole any memories, Rarity. I never knew about…” She gestured at herself. “…This, before three weeks ago.”

“Ah,” said Rarity. “That’s why you’ve been so melancholy.”

Rainbow nodded. “But I know someone with memory problems…and a serious case of self-denial. When she finally comes to her senses, I want to help her.”

“Rozetri?” Rarity guessed. “We don’t know that many ‘someones’ who aren’t also ‘someponies’. It wouldn’t be Spike. Your griffon friend from school would have been my second guess.”

Rainbow sighed, mentally wondering where Gilda might be at that moment. She both did and didn’t want to see her again.

Outside Ponyville, a lone griffon sat at the top of a tree, after taking the slowest possible path to get here. She had just gone through a very confusing night where everypony around her had gone absolutely insane. But things seemed better now—the ponies had pulled off the impossible. Again. Like they always did.

Gilda wondered if “forgiveness” counted as one of those impossibles. And wrestled once again with her worthiness of receiving it.

Twilight lay quietly on her bed, waiting for her two guests to leave.

Suddenly Spike coughed up a scroll from his spot in his basket and carried it over to her.

Twilight scanned it over quickly. “Princess Luna doesn’t know where Sonata is,” she said.

“Wait, Sonata’s gone?” asked Spike.

“I told you before we went to bed last night—I checked the basement, and her statue was gone, with a puddle on the floor. There were also residues of teleportation magic, but I was unable to trace the destination, other than to say it is far, far away.”

Spike shrugged. “I was too worn out after my rampage.” His lip wibbled. “Do you think the ponies of Canterlot will ever forgive me?”

“As your sister, I will spend every bit necessary to repair every building you demolished,” Twilight promised him.

“And I’m going to help rebuild!”

“I…I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Twilight said. “Nopony’s in a good mood right now. Half the population of both Ponyville and Canterlot are in the hospital right now. Everypony wants somepony to be mad at. A statue of Discord is not going to cut it, nor is a missing horde of changelings.”

“So, I get some of the blame, and the Apples get the rest,” said Spike. “It’s not fair!”

(The imprisoned Starlight Glimmer also stood to collect a considerable portion of unearned blame at her upcoming trial, but neither of the two siblings were yet aware of her situation.)

“No, it isn’t, but there’s nothing we can do about it yet.”

“No, I guess not,” Spike said. He got back into his basket and lay down, looking up at the ceiling. “I wonder what Sonata’s doing right now…”

The bright flash of teleportation faded, and Sonata Dusk rubbed her eyes with her hooves to try and regain her eyesight. The sounds of eager chattering, youths playing, even singing…all of it cut off shortly after her appearance.

Sonata lowered her hooves and slowly levitated in a circle. She was in a public park of some kind, surrounded by tall trees. Many of the trees had domed houses nestled within their branches. The park itself was on a terrace, with multiple broad steps leading to other levels, going down to the sea in one direction and up to the peak of an enormous mountain in the other.

And all around her were creatures she had never seen before, with beaked faces resembling griffons in some respects, but in most others looking like pegasi. All of them looked at her in shock. What stood out the most to Sonata was the fact that the majority of the creatures she saw were children. Poor innocent children—no match for her inescapable ability to corrupt and destroy with every utterance.

“Stay away from me!” she cried, wrapping her head with her arms and flying blindly down the mountain.

The creatures parted to let her pass, unsure if she was a threat or not.

~ ~ ~

When she reached a cliff overlooking the water, she dived right in.

The sea floor was quite deep here. She found the entrance of an undersea cave and swam in. The passage split and divided, and Sonata used her instincts to find the passage least likely to be visited by any aquatic life.

Finding a surface to the water she emerged into a dry cave, with no outlets. She found a corner where she hoped she wouldn’t be found, and tried in vain to activate the Suppressor, again and again and again.

And when that failed, she collapsed into tears. It was the first time that she could finally express her emotions after she lost Luna.

She didn’t notice the head of young Princess Skystar emerge from the water. The hippogriff climbed out of the water and walked over to the siren, resting one hoof over the poor creature’s shoulders.

END PART ONE

Author's Note

Here are the notes for this epilogue.

Credits and Acknowledgements

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 1

She came from an age of Monsters, but she is the most fearsome of them all.
Her power comes not from claw or fang, but from the power of her voice.
With that voice she has sewn chaos and toppled empires.
She has met wizards, kings and conquerors, and has bested all of them.
She can never die.
She is…The Siren.

The Friendship Express, Southwest Line, between Canterlot and Ponyville.

July 13 of the Year One of the Post-Reconciliation Era (PRE). Twenty-two days after the events from the episode “Friendship Is Magic”, two days after “Bridle Gossip”, and a week before the events of “Feeling Pinkie Keen”. Tuesday.

In her dreams, the unicorn named Blueberry Frosting imagined that she was something else…dreamed that she was a being with huge, majestic wings that could soar over the countryside. A being completely above the cares and worries of being a pony.

In recent years these dreams were what kept the idle rich pony going. She would book tickets on the Ponyville Express, over and over again. Not to see Ponyville—there was nothing worthwhile in that village for her. No, it was so she could descend the Canterhorn, could peer out of the window in a state between wakefulness and sleep. So could fantasize soaring for real. Being her true self…for real.

The train was making its way down the Canterhorn from Canterlot. As it rounded the bend, Lemon Peel turned her head to take in the view.

“Hmm!” she exclaimed in her Bittish accent. “That is quite a view! You don’t see a sight like that back home.”

“Mm,” Lipstick Vanity said absently, her head buried in the fashion magazine. “I’ve been told it’s quite remarkable.”

“It would help if you looked at it, Dear,” Upper Crust said, tapping her withers with a hoof.

Lipstick raised her head, a bored expression on her face. That shifted into muted wonder as she took in the full panoply of Equestria in Summer, as seen from far above. “Ooo!” she exclaimed thoughtfully, before turning her attention to her hooves. “I wonder what color boots would best complement that?”

Lemon Peel was a pale-yellow earth pony with a voluminous brighter yellow mane and tail. The mane was medium length and curled up around her shoulders. She had sky blue eyes, faint orange eyeshadow and an abstract cutie mark in various yellow tones of concentric circles, each with a squared-off corner pointing at her head. She would tell other ponies that it was supposed to be a lemon in cross section (complete with peel), but only modern artists tended to agree with her. She was wearing a blue pullover with a red stripe down the front and sheer white hose over her rear legs. She was taking up a seat of the train, facing out the window.

Lipstick Vanity sat on the seat behind her in a similar pose, with a low green glass divider between them. She was a bluish-gray unicorn with striking mulberry eyes, slightly-less striking dark purple eyeshadow and a definitely-more-subdued straight purplish-gray mane. Her cutie mark was a white flower bud. She was wearing a dark red vest.

Upper Crust was in the aisle, leaning over both of their shoulders. She was a grayish-yellow unicorn with dark blue eyes and cyan eyeshadow, her wavy mane and tail having alternating colors of grayish indigo and light gray. She was wearing a white polo shirt with a pink sweater tied around her neck like a cape that mostly covered her cutie mark of three green dollar signs. (Dollars were the currency of the minotaurs, trade with which being the source of her family fortune.) She was also wearing matching pink earrings and a spring green bead necklace. She had been sitting on the seat across the aisle from the other two.

Seeing the others talking, Blueberry Frosting roused herself to see if she could get in on the conversation. She was a cornflower blue unicorn mare with disturbingly bright cerise eyes, no eyeshadow, and a fluffy mane in two shades of purple. She had a cupcake topped with her namesake for a cutie mark and a purple jacket with wide lapels and a daisy in the buttonhole. She noticed that Lemon was gathering her bags. “Wait, are you leaving us, Mrs. Peel?”

“I’m afraid so,” Peel said, her eyes on her bags. “As I said at the start of the trip, I have some relatives in Ponyville who will let my son and I stay with them. The prices in Canterlot are simply too steep for me.”

“You’re staying in Ponyville?!” Blueberry exclaimed. “That place is a dump!”

Lipstick and Upper Crust both nodded their heads in agreement.

“Oh it can’t be that bad,” Peel said lightly. “After all, didn’t a group of Ponyville ponies save Princess Luna from the Curse of Nightmare Moon less than a moon ago?”

“Not really,” Lipstick said contemptuously.

“But Princess Celestia told the newspapers—” Peel began.

“Celestia told the papers what she had to, Mrs. Peel,” Upper Crust explained.

Peel gasped at the casual way the other mare had just addressed the Princess.

“Everypony knows that it was really her personal student—and Canterlot resident—Twilight Sparkle that did all the work. Those Ponyvillians just carried her equipment.”

“And probably dropped them a bunch,” Blueberry joked. “Ponyville ponies are so stupid!”

Peel frowned. “Do you have an eyewitness report? Mare Trotting Monthly would love an exclusive story.”

“Well…no,” Upper Crust admitted. “But there’s no way that a bunch of backwater mud ponies could possibly pull something like that off using their elementary school educations! Err…no offense on that ‘mud pony’ remark, Mrs. Peel.”

Peel glanced up at her non-existent horn. “None taken,” she said without emotion.

“Hay!” Blueberry exclaimed. (And yes, she absolutely didn’t say “Hey”.) “You should stay with Lipstick and I! That way you can go shopping with us in Los Pegasus today, and we can swap out your Trottingham fashions for real Equestrian fashions! We’ve got a room open back in Canterlot, don’t we, Lips?”

Lipstick raised an eyebrow, silently waiting for her roommate to realize the problem with that proposal.

Peel shook her head. “You’d have to make room for not only myself, but my young son when he arrives. As well as, well…conjugal time with my husband when work allows.”

“Oh,” Blueberry said simply. “How young is your son?”

“Six.”

“Oh. We don’t get along well with children.”

“At all,” Lipstick added coldly.

Upper Crust rolled her eyes at Blueberry’s stupidity.

Blueberry’s eyes suddenly lit up. “But what about—”

She wasn’t able to complete that sentence, because the train chose that moment to suddenly grind to a halt, throwing Lipstick over the barrier and into Peel, Peel to the ground, and Blueberry and Upper Crust to roll all the way down the aisle and into the connecting door.

“What happened?” Peel asked from under the other mare. After extricating herself, she tried to see what the problem was from the window, but only saw the same view of the valley below. The opposite window only showed the side of the mountain.

She and the other ponies composed themselves and waited for some kind of announcement. Eventually, there was one, although it wasn’t addressed at them: “Could all engineers please assist with removing an obstruction at the front of the train?”

A few seconds later three burly earth pony stallions came through the door behind them, walked down the aisle at a brisk pace, and disappeared through the forward door. Any ponies in the aisles quickly jumped into their assigned seats before they could be trampled.

“Hmph!” Upper Crust exclaimed. “How rude!”

“What do you suppose is blocking the train?” Peel asked. Without waiting for an answer, she walked down the aisle and tried to open the door.

“Oh, you can forget about that,” Upper Crust said with a smirk as she approached. “The doors on this train are not only locked but magic-resistant, so only authorized ponies can use them.”

Peel looked calmly over her shoulder. “I don’t see a sign to that effect,” she noted.

She made a motion of looking for said non-existent sign, only to do a double-take on discovering a “MARE WANTED” sign posted right next to the door—she needed to be sure it wasn’t for her. “That doesn’t count,” she said lightly, hoping nopony noticed her reaction to the sign that was there. “Therefore, if I do manage to open this door, I can’t get in trouble.” More trouble, she added to herself.

Upper Crust stopped next to Lemon Peel and looked over her shoulder. “Oh, you’ll never—”

Click! Push! Shove!

“—Oh. You did.”

Peel stepped through the door and down a step to the ground between the train car and the side of the mountain. She was soon joined by most of the other ponies in the car. Together they crept forward until they could spy on the engineers and conductor, who were scratching their heads as they looked at the boulder that had crashed into the tracks.

Actually, the boulder wasn’t the problem—that was rolled down the side of the mountain without a fuss. What was a problem was the damage the impact had made on the tracks, severing and twisting them far too much to be driven over. This was no longer a problem that had an earth pony solution, unless that earth pony happened to be carrying smelting equipment on his or her strong back. And worse, the sound of another train could be heard approaching behind them. This problem looked to be something that might affect dozens or even hundreds of ponies if not addressed immediately.

As the bystanders watched, the conductor and ticket agent consulted together. After a few seconds, the ticket agent produced a large golden whistle, one the other ponies had never seen before. Blowing on it created no sound but did produce a cloud of orange magic that raced up the mountain, seemingly right for the palace, backlit by the rising sun.

One of the pegasi pointed a hoof at the palace. “It’s the Princess!” he exclaimed. There was a gasp from the other eagle-eyed pegasi, but it wasn’t long before everypony could clearly see that Princess Celestia herself was flying straight for them. The crowd shuffled nervously and backed up a bit. Lemon Peel took the opportunity to back herself all the way to the rear of the crowd. Her three Canterlot friends, confused, followed her.

Before those friends had a chance to question her, Princess Celestia dropped down for a heavy—and impressive—landing. “What appears to be the trouble, gentlestallions?” she asked.

The ticket master quickly bowed, pulling his cap down with a hoof as he did so. “Sorry to bother you, Your Royal Highness, but the track here is in need of repair.”

“I see,” the Princess said with a gentle smile. “If you all would give me a little space…”

“Oh, of course, Your Highness!” one of the engineers exclaimed. The other stallions then quickly withdrew until they were at the front of the crowd of passengers.

~ ~ ~

As a new arrival to Equestria, Lemon Peel found that she had to overcome a number of false beliefs about how the country worked, one of which was the reason why she was at the back of this crowd. The one about no crime existing in Equestria, because Princess Celestia could at any moment read the mind of any pony in Equestria she wanted, scanning them for evil thoughts. That wanted poster she had seen had disproven that story—not that she would have even stepped hoof in Equestria if she had truly believed in it, but better to be safe than sorry, as they always say. In any case, the fact that the poster had mentioned that the criminal in question had committed one of her train robberies from Canterlot Station itself…

Peel began moving forward through the crowd, hoping to have the opportunity to see the remarkable Solar Princess of Equestria up close and personal. Unfortunately for her, the view was completely blocked by the group of burly engineers. All she could see was a glow the color of the sun coming from Celestia’s presumed location, which grew and grew, before suddenly exploding outward.

Peel gasped, staggering to the ground, one hoof to her heart. For one panicked moment she looked herself over, then sighed with relief.

~ ~ ~

The Princess looked over her work with a critical eye, making sure that the repaired tracks were strong enough to stand up to the weight of multiple trains. “Well if that is all…?”

“It is, Your Highness,” said the conductor, averting his eyes. The crew of the train had returned to their previous places after the repair spell’s glow had faded.

The passengers were all bowing.

Celestia pursed her lips slightly at the unwanted adoration. “I’d best return to my duties then.” She looked over at the observing crowd. “I hope you all have a pleasant trip!” she exclaimed. She then immediately launched herself into the sky and flew back to the palace.

At that moment Upper Crust had finished pushing her way through the crowd. “Princess Celestia!” she quickly exclaimed into the sky. “On behalf of my fellow Canterlot passengers, may I…” She sighed, seeing that the Princess clearly hadn’t heard her. “Horseapples,” she muttered under her breath—yet another attempt at brown-nosing averted. She stalked back into the crowd, which parted to make way. “What was that about?” she asked Peel as she helped her to her hooves.

“Oh, I’m somewhat sensitive to unicorn magic,” Peel said sheepishly.

“All aboard!” the conductor cried out, signaling the others to re-board the train.

As she climbed back into the train car, Lemon Peel cast one last look at the distant figure of Princess Celestia—the most-powerful pony in all of Equestria. She might not be all seeing or all knowing, but the sheer magnitude of that blast… She found herself feeling equal amounts of awe…and fear.

The amount of magic that had been summoned by the Princess to repair that track had been significantly more than the amount that she had actually used in casting the spell. The excess—the explosion of magic that had floored the only individual present who could see it—drifted in the air for a bit, before congealing into a pony-sized ball of concentrated energy that rolled down the mountain. It rolled invisibly all the way down and then continued rolling through the streets of Ponyville, passing through building after building without any ponies noticing. As it traveled it pulled in little bits of stray magic that had been generated by all of the other ponies in Ponyville: larger amounts from unicorns, but pegasi and earth ponies contributed as well. As it traveled it very slowly increased its speed, pulled by a mysterious force. It entered the Everfree Forest about two hours after Princess Celestia’s initial spell had been cast.

The blob of invisible magical energy slowed after entering the forest, contracting and concentrating as it wandered erratically for another hour. Finally, it settled on one random Everfree denizen: a lowly tarantula. The blob contracted and contracted, glowing a faint red as it entered the body of the spider.

The tarantula convulsed, twitching her legs in pain. Slowly at first, the magic it had absorbed caused her to grow, bigger and bigger. The delicate creature bloated out, screaming once the magic had given her the ability to scream. Her animal mind was re-wired by the magic, and her eight black eyes flashed over to red.

The now transformed gigantic spider turned until the buildings of Ponyville were visible in her sights. With a bellow of rage, she raced out of the forest, with one single-minded goal: Destroy Ponyville and every pony within it.

Author's Note

Notes for Chapter 1.

Expectations-setting time.

Sonata Dusk is an important character. Much of the plot wouldn’t happen without her. Nevertheless, she doesn’t actually do that much in Part 1, so don’t get your hopes up for tons of cute Sonata antics. Twilight Sparkle is the main character, just like with the series.
Yes, you heard me right: this is Part 1. Of…two or three, I haven’t decided yet. This an alternate-universe version of the whole of Friendship Is Magic and even if I only cover a fraction of the episodes, there’s still tons of original content, and that’s way too much to fit into a single story. Even split up, this is more than 100,000 words. I think this part is an enjoyable read all by itself, resolving like 80% of the plot threads and having a really good ending. Part 1 covers all of Season 1, most of Season 2, and a few episodes from Season 3, and Part 2 covers the fallout from the ending of Part 1. Things move slowly in Part 1 to set everything up, but I believe that future parts will go much faster through the seasons, which is why I think I can finish it up with only one or two more parts.

Also, if you’re interested in the episode order I’m using for this story, see this blog entry.

Chapter 4

Further down the road, Applejack was just entering the grounds of Sweet Apple Acres when she was suddenly joined by her third cousin. Applejack gave the newcomer a glance, noting that she was no longer wearing the outfit or makeup she had on when she arrived in Ponyville.

“Cousin,” Lemon Peel said.

“Cousin,” Applejack answered.

They were approaching the farmhouse.

“Ah, how should I address the Matriarch?” Mrs. Peel asked.

“Same as everypony else,” Applejack said as she crossed into the living room of her house. “We don’t hold much stock in titles, Agent.”

Peel rolled her eyes. “Understood.” She turned her head to see Granny Apple sitting in a rocking chair right before her. Big Mac was standing sternly at her side and as Peel watched, Applejack took her place on the opposite side with a matching expression of doom.

“Granny Smith,” Peel said with a deep bow. “It is an honor.”

Granny chuckled. “We don’t hold much stock in empty gestures, neither. You owe no fealty to me, Cousin.”

Peel nervously cleared her throat. “Ahem. That was in small part to make up for a lack of communication for the past—”

“—Thousand moons?” Granny Smith asked pointedly.

Applejack put on a rather satisfied smile at seeing Lemon Peel’s discomfort at this statement.

“Shall I drop my…” She gestured at herself with a hoof.

“Since when has that become a custom of the Lemon Clan?” Granny asked.

“Err…well…I wasn’t sure what sort of customs the Apple Clan might have imposed in the interim.”

“I can name on my four hooves the number of times in the past hundred moons that I’ve needed to look any different from the way you see me right now,” Granny Smith said with some pride. “The Apple Clan works the same as the Lemon Clan. Better, even, since so few know our secret. We live off of the honest love of those we honestly protect.”

Lemon responded to this last statement with a raised eyebrow. “Really.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Applejack asked in a low voice.

“Aren’t the Apples responsible for the very monster attacks you’re protecting ponies from?” Lemon asked lightly.

Big Mac had to hold Applejack back from lunging at Lemon in response to that question.

“Is that the way Lemons run things back in the Isles?” Applejack accused.

“We can’t control the monsters. Nopony can,” Big Mac stated calmly.

“We have more reason to stop those monsters than anypony,” Applejack said.

“Oh, and why’s that?”

“They killed our parents.”

That shut up the smug Lemon. “I’m…I’m sorry. That was very presumptuous of me.”

Granny sighed deeply. “You’re forgiven. Now please get on with the reason why you’re here.”

“Erm…yes,” Lemon finally said. “So, if you’re willing to overlook both of those grievous faux pas, we of the Lemon Clan would like an update on your current state of infiltration with the ponies of Ponyville. How have you managed to keep your secret from so many ponies for so long, here in the very heart of Equestria?”

Applejack shrugged. “There are some who know. And those few can be trusted without question. As for the rest, why should anypony suspect us? We are the perfect Equestrians. We provide a vital service for Ponyville and other towns, and the apples from our orchards are loved by ponies rich and poor. Having so many orchards then explains why we Apples live scattered across Equestria—we’re taking the long view.”

“That’s right,” affirmed Granny Smith.

“I appreciate that,” Peel said. “Speaking for the Lemon Clan, we appreciate that. And now we need to know the rest. How, with so much exposure, are you keeping your…our secret? The Lemons desperately need to know.”

Granny, Applejack and the silent Big Mac shared a confused look. “What changed in the Griffish Isles?” Applejack finally asked.

“You don’t know?” Peel asked in disbelief. “Has Princess Celestia really kept the activities of Night Lancer and the OEDC a secret from even you?” She pronounced the acronym as “ode sea”.

“I thought the Outer Equestria Development Corporation was your problem, not ours,” Big Mac said.

Peel looked with surprise at Big Mac, as if unaware that he was capable of speech. “Not anymore. After decades of successfully stone walling them, they were finally driven out after a government investigation into Lancer’s exploitation of the Griffish Isles. They left for good a few months ago.”

Granny nodded thoughtfully. "I remember hearing stories as a filly of all of the awful things that the Lancers did to everypony on the Isles because they thought they could get away with it. What happened to Night Lancer?”

“He didn’t go to jail, if that is what you were hoping,” Peel said bitterly. “But his company was nearly driven to ruin. I hear they are off on the opposite end of Equestria, chasing after an orichalcum mine in the middle of nowhere that probably doesn’t exist.” She put on an evil grin to add, “I like to imagine that slimy toad Lancer being forced to wield a pick like the common ponies he despised, out in the hot desert sun.”

“So, it appears that congratulations are in order,” Granny said. “But that doesn’t explain what you need us for.”

“When OEDC were forced out, the Equestrian government took over their debts,” Peel said, “and Princess Celestia assumed direct control of the settlement of those debts.”

Applejack and Granny groaned in unison. “I think I know where this story is heading,” Applejack said.

“After settling the debts, the Princess determined that the best way to continue improving the standard of living in the Isles was if they were annexed to Equestria.”

“Yup,” Big Mac said with a sad shake of his head.

“She eventually manipulated affairs to the point that we had to agree to be annexed. Any other action would have been too suspicious.

“That was a week ago. Now we need to get our affairs in order as soon as possible, before the influx of ponies exposes our existence to the world. You’ve pulled it off for decades. Now the fate of us all depends on keeping our true identity a secret from the ponies.”

Granny nodded grimly, a flash of green fire washing briefly over her eyes. “Nopony must ever learn of the existence of Changelings in their midst,” she declared.

A few minutes later, after Lemon Peel had been situated in the guest room on the second floor of the Apple farmhouse, Applejack went down to the ground floor of the barn. Seeing the pet dog Winona resting in a corner she gave her a belly rub. Then she walked over to a corner of the barn not visible from outside, opened a secret door, and stuck her head down into the underground passage. “Have you finished your studies, Bloom?” she asked.

The yellow head of a filly with a red mane popped out of the hole. Its pink bow was easily bigger than the head. In her mouth was an open book showing a pony bucking an apple tree. She put the book down and looked up. “Sure, thing, Sis!” she exclaimed with a lighter version of Applejack’s accent. “What do you think of the bow?” She clambered up out into the barn and into the late-afternoon sunlight which was providing illumination through the open barn door.

Applejack backed up a few steps. “I think it looks fine, Bloom. Mighty fine. Now show me Winona.”

In the time it took to blink, Apple Bloom had been replaced by a copy of Winona, with barely a flash of green light.

Applejack shifted into another dog, a greyhound. She walked carefully around Apple Bloom’s Winona impersonation, taking sniffs in a few locations. Bloom’s eyes watched the proceedings with rapt attention as she remained perfectly still.

There was another flash, and Applejack was a pony again, with Apple Bloom following suit. “Very good!” Applejack exclaimed, which caused her sister to hop excitedly from one hoof to another. “High marks on that assignment.”

“That was fun!” Bloom exclaimed. “Although…not so fun for Winona when I was studying her.”

The dog whined a bit when the sisters looked at her and laughed.

Applejack looked back at Apple Bloom. “You forgot the bow, though,” she observed.

“No, I didn’t,” Bloom replied, turning to pick up the bow lying on the ground. “You said that it’s safer not to include clothing items in the transformations.”

Applejack nodded, smiling with pride. “That’s right—I did tell you about that. Musta slipped my mind. You’ll be passing yourself off among ponies any day now.”

“Any day” couldn’t come fast enough as far as Apple Bloom was concerned.

Seeing how much Bloom was working herself up, Applejack said, “Mrs. Peel has moved in.”

“Yeah, I felt her coming in,” Bloom said. She was referring to the sense possessed by all changelings that allow them to detect the locations of other beings based on the emotions they were radiating. Changeling emotions were distinctly different from pony emotions. “She felt…different from us Apples. Are all Lemons like that?”

“Lemons are not all the same,” Applejack replied, “but Mrs. Peel’s family will feel like her.”

“When is her son coming?”

“In a couple of weeks,” Applejack said. “Pipsqueak only just underwent his maturation transformation.”

“So, he has to learn how to be a pony just like I am?” Bloom asked.

“That’s right,” said Applejack.

“I can’t wait to talk to other ponies!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.

“Patience,” Applejack cautioned. “You’re nearly ready. Patience. Now let’s go outside and try putting your bucking theory to practice.”

Chapter 13

The Ponyville Village Green.

July 25 of the Year 1 PRE. Sunday afternoon.

The Green was the piece of land that covered the main part of the Bunker. It was located just north of the Records Building that acted as its entrance.

Lyra spent most of her afternoons in this area, earning her keep through her musical performances on her lyre. Sundays were her best days, and so it paid to be more varied in her repertoire. And so, her usual playlist of folk pieces was interrupted by something classical: Arabianesque, by the griffon composer G. Busy.

Applejack didn’t have time for fancy music. She was running the apple stand at the southeast end of the Main Plaza alongside Granny Smith. She went back to check the barrels of apples that Big Mac had brought out that morning before returning to the farm and found that they were nearly all gone.

“I’ll have to go back and get some more apples, Granny,” she said. “Go ahead and shut down while I’m gone.”

“And why do I need to do that?” Granny replied. “I’m not going to collapse from working solo for a few minutes.”

“Well, alright. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” And with that Applejack was off, pulling the cart full of empty barrels down the southern road to Sweet Apple Acres.

A few minutes later, Granny noticed a shadow pass over her counter. Standing before her was Lyra, inspecting her wares with a critical air. “These are some mighty fine apples you have here, Ma’am.”

Granny looked up and gave her visitor a piercing look. Lyra’s voice sounded off. “They’re the best apples you’ll find in all of Equestria,” she replied. “Ma’am.”

Lyra picked up an apple in her light turquoise aura, an aura that only Granny as a changeling could see. She took a bite, dropping a couple of bits on the table to pay for it. “Indeed. The equal of all of the other Apple family fruit I have sampled. Your network covers a good deal of Equestria.”

Granny leaned forward. “Jealous?” she asked.

“Not really.” Lyra smirked. “The members of your clan, are they happy? Living with their lie?”

Granny blanched for a split second before recovering. “And what sort of lies do you suppose that Apples suffer from, Madame Basilisk?” She slid over another apple. “That one’s on the house. I’ve wanted to speak to you for quite a while now, matriarch to matriarch.”

Lyra, or rather the Basilisk, frowned. “How did you find me out so quickly?”

Granny tapped an ear with her hoof. The sound of the Arabianesque was still audible.

“Oh. Well, if you’re not immediately going to summon the gendarmes…”

Granny settled into a relaxed position.

“In that case, I would say the lie of your form.” She leaned in for the kill. “My special talent not only allows me to disguise myself perfectly, but also to see through any kind of illusion, including yours, changeling.”

Granny did nothing more than blink. It appeared that she had stopped breathing.

“Now I’m not the sort of pony who degrades herself with blackmail or extortion. I leave that for the other ponies”—she swept her hoof around her, taking in all of the ponies around them—“the ones who embrace their lies. I prefer to get my way with my honest arguments. So here is mine:

“What are you doing living here? They will never accept you as you truly are, while I and my kind will love you for you, each and every one of you. Leave Equestria, and become the backbone of my new nation.”

Granny stared intently into the mind and heart of the Basilisk, into her emotional core. And she did see complete honesty—this pony had no intention of turning the Apples in. Which didn’t mean that she wasn’t still extremely dangerous to her and her plans. She needed to trick the Basilisk into staying long enough for her granddaughter to get back. She made a show of slowly looking around her before she next spoke. “So, what else can you see?”

“I see it all!” the Lyra lookalike said, stepping back. “All of the lies, all of the illusions! I’ve visited that famous Bunker of yours. That ceiling to take in unicorn magic—every horn comfortably touches that ceiling, because every adult unicorn in Equestria is exactly the same height! That’s not normal! 90% of pegasi have exactly the same flight parameters! That’s not normal either. Every earth pony—”

“Did you really look around you, little lady? Then or now?” Granny asked with a crafty smile. “Because Ponyville is not like the other towns and cities you might have seen in Equestria. Quite apart from the Apple Clan and our particular secret, we attract the eccentrics, the ones who question too much of the status quo. Our unicorns may be the same height, but they sure don’t think the same as each other. We have pegasi with earth pony powers, and earth ponies with powers that shouldn’t belong to any pony. If you’re looking for Paradise, Honey, you might want to consider that you’re actually standing in it.”

“Granny Smith!” the voice of Applejack carried across the plaza. “Look out! That pony’s a fake!”

“Interesting words,” the pony disguised as Lyra said with a wink. “I’ll get back to you later.” And then just as a group of ponies converged on her, she suddenly disappeared.

The pony posse stopped, turning and looking around them to try and see where the mystery pony had teleported to.

“No!” exclaimed Applejack, running through them. “She didn’t leave—she’s invisible, and she’s right…” She stopped and looked around her. The pony she had sensed with her emotion sight had blended so thoroughly into the crowd that it was impossible for Applejack to find her. There no longer was an invisible pony, but that just meant that her quarry had assumed another disguise.

“Nice piece.”

Lyra had finished her performance and was now collecting bits from her audience. She took the hoofful of bits from the newest visitor, a unicorn with a coat color composed of a mixture of pink, purple and gray. She had a mane that was straight in front, parting around the horn like Twilight’s, and swirling around her neck in back, colored purple with an aquamarine highlight. Her tail swirled in a similar fashion; a pattern repeated in her cutie mark…usually. Every few seconds the mark would shift and fade for an instant, before re-solidifying.

“Thank you. I believe you missed most of it.”

“Oh, I heard it in the Plaza. What’s it called?”

“I forget the proper title. I like to call it The Star Hustler. It’s really meant to be played on the Moog.”

The pony nodded like she had any idea what Lyra was talking about. She looked up at the big clock mounted on the side of Town Hall. “Well, I have a train to catch. Nice listening to you.”

“Well come again soon!”

“You know what? I just might.”

Author's Note

See Chapter 15 for the notes for Chapters 13, 14 & 15.

Chapter 40

Lemon Peel’s room at Sweet Apple Acres.

Still March 6, but rewound to late morning. Still Sunday.

It was the last day that Lemon Peel’s husband, the royal guard Ragamuffin, had on leave before he had to return to duty in Canterlot. He was spending it in bed cuddling with his wife. Ragamuffin was a light orange earth pony stallion of slight stature, with a messy blonde mane and tail and green eyes. He had a cutie mark of a black star with a fancy black underline, the same as was used on the Griffon Isles Conspicuous Bravery medal.

“You haven’t said much about what you’re working on in the Guard, Rags,” Lemon Peel said.

“That’s because a lot of it is hush-hush, Lemon,” said Ragamuffin.

Peel smiled craftily. “I bet I could find out if I wanted,” she said.

Ragamuffin looked at her with an appraising eye and nodded. “You probably could. You might even be able to do it without being caught.”

“Are you insulting my abilities as a spy?” she asked.

“I just think they might have gotten a bit rusty from disuse,” he replied. “You haven’t exactly been up to anything covert since you got here.”

“How do you know?”

“I’m just a little bit sneakier than you give me credit for,” Ragamuffin said, holding two hooves close to each other to demonstrate “how much”.

Lemon Peel huffed. She got out of bed. Even in this intimate setting, she insisted on wearing something fashionable: a see-through white silk nightie with a ruffled deep neckline and cuffs to match, over a white lace bodystocking with three-quarter length sleeves. She walked straight to the corner of the room, where a brass tuba was being used as a makeshift planter, containing as it did a half-dozen giant yellow zinnias. She sat down, effortlessly lifted the large instrument into her lap, and began playing Moozart’s Rondo for Horn, transposed.

“I think you’re supposed to remove the flowers before you do that,” Ragamuffin commented as he got out of bed. He himself was wearing a pale silk pajama top, and from a wall hook he removed and then donned a dark half-dressing gown to go over it.

“Nonsense,” Lemon said, taking a short break. “They act as an excellent mute.” A realization came over her and she snapped her hoof. (No, the author has no idea how a pony would do that.) “The Mutes!” She put the tuba down and looked at her husband. “What has the Guard been doing to stop the Basilisk and her Mutes?”

“Is this because of Blueberry Frosting?”

“Yes,” Mrs. Peel said, hanging her head. “Her poor roommate is heartbroken. Neither of us suspected for a moment that she would join them. I still don’t understand why. She seemed too happy to join some crazy cult.”

“And you’re looking for an excuse to exercise your special talents?”

“…Yes. You would figure dealing with the occasional monster attack would be enough to scratch that itch.”

“No, I know you,” Ragamuffin said with a smile. “As a matter of fact, the Mutes have just become one of our hush-hush cases. They’ve recently escalated into taking recruits that we very much think did not join the gang by choice. These are highly prominent business ponies that are disappearing, and always immediately after a rail trip that was supposed to be an overnight visit.”

“Where to?”

“An obscure little hamlet named Hollow Shades. Used to be on hard times, made frequent requests for aid…until last year, when the requests just stopped. That’s the same time the business ponies started making their one-way trips.”

“Sounds pretty cut-and-dried to me,” commented Mrs. Peel. “Why haven’t the Guard cleaned it up?”

“We’ve tried,” Ragamuffin replied, sitting down on the ground before her. “Only the ponies sent to do so disappear themselves. We would prefer to handle this quietly, so we’re not quite ready to overwhelm the town with a whole division. That leaves the problem of being able to go in there alone and crack the problem. A pity we don’t have any changelings with enough seniority to be assigned to the case. I’m too new.”

“Well if I know ponies, I doubt the entire town is up to no good, so yes, a good…no, a great changeling should be able to accomplish a great deal.”

“A great changeling like yourself?” Ragamuffin asked with a tilt of the head.

“Well…if I had the proper setup.”

The following Friday, the 11th, Lemon Peel set out for her secret mission, having made arrangements with the Apples to take care of her son in the meantime. Deliberately boarding the train late, she sought out one particular train car and knocked on its door. “Excuse me?” she asked.

The door opened, revealing a surly gray unicorn stallion with a messy orange mane and a black half-overcoat. “What is it?” he growled.

“I’m terribly sorry,” she said, “but the other cars appear to be completely full. Could you possibly spare a seat for me?”

The stallion looked up and down the aisle, to indeed see that all of the other cars he could see had “OCCUPIED” signs on their doors. “I suppose so,” he grumbled. “Come inside.”

Mrs. Peel did so. She was wearing a button-up white turtleneck shirt (pearl buttons) with a gray vest and miniskirt, white stockings with a diamond pattern, and black patent leather pumps. A pair of white hoof gloves were tucked into a white belt and she had a white and black target-pattern beret on her head. She removed her matching gray saddlebags and placed them in the overhead rack—she gave the stallion plenty of opportunity to offer to help her, but he pointedly looked away. “The name is Mind Garden,” she said as she sat down. “Miss Mind Garden. I’m headed out to Hollow Shades to become their new schoolmistress.”

This finally got the stallion’s attention. “What a coincidence,” he said in his low rumble of a voice. “Headed there myself for an exclusive golf tournament.” He pointed up to the set of clubs located above his seat. “You might have heard of me…Pierce Boil.”

Peel pretended to be surprised. “Not the Pierce Boil from the news?”

“The same,” he said with a grimace. “Former vice-president in pony relations for the Outer Equestria Development Corporation. Had to serve six months in prison while my boss’ lawyers got him off scot-free! Not that I didn’t do my share of nastiness, mind you. But I was just following orders.”

“Oh well that’s too bad,” Peel said, faking sympathy. In reality she knew full well that Night Lancer’s orders to keep his employees in the Isles in line were mere generalities; it was Boil who always came up with the gruesome details, safe from retaliation in his office in Canterlot. “I hope you’re doing alright financially.”

“Oh, you needn’t worry your pretty head about that, Missy! There was a bit of a bidding war between the various development companies after my release. Those businesses might claim to be ‘working for the betterment of Ponykind’, but kindness doesn’t improve the market share!” He laughed for a full minute, quite impressed by his own joke. “I’m working for Price/Cook now, and doing what any PR head is supposed to do: become the most-hated pony in existence.”

“Thankless job,” Mrs. Peel commented.

“…But somepony’s got to do it,” Boil said, completing what he thought was his companion’s thought.

Talk after that settled into vague generalities.

It was quite late at night when the train finally stopped for a few minutes at Hollow Shades. Peel and Boil were the only ponies to depart on the desolate station platform, whipped around by a fierce wind.

“Well, I’m going by the bar for a drink before turning in. Come along and I’ll pay for the first round.”

Mrs. Peel didn’t need to be able to read a pony’s emotions to tell how Pierce Boil wanted this night to end. Nevertheless, she decided to accompany him, in case the gang made their move tonight.

Along the way they passed the blacksmith’s shop, which was still in operation. The burly earth pony smith, nearly as big as Big Mac and completely filling the small shop, was bent over an anvil, pounding a glowing horseshoe into shape. Something about his silhouette didn’t seem…right, but as Pierce Boil was still walking, Peel decided to continue walking with him.

The sign outside the pub identified it as “The Inebriated Imp”. Inside were a couple of mares sitting quietly and nursing their glasses.

After waiting for a few seconds for somepony to recognize his greatness upon entering, Pierce Boil slammed his hoof on a bell a few times. “What does a pony have to do to get some service around here!” he bellowed.

From behind a curtain emerged a female griffon: tawny body, brown wings and tail tip, yellow foreclaws and beak, white head and breast, and grayish-purple flame-shaped masks and feather highlights over her yellow eyes, with an apron tied around her front. She had on a smile most uncharacteristic of any griffon that Mrs. Peel had ever met and even stranger, the emotion behind that smile was genuine. There also appeared to be an object concealed under the top of the apron, held in place by a thick string around her neck. “Good evening, good evening!” she exclaimed. “Sorry to have kept you waiting. Hollow Shades always welcomes new visitors and so does the Inebriated Imp! What can I get for you two? A jar or two of a salty splash, eh?” She laughed good-naturedly. “The name’s Gertrude. Gertrude Ganache.”

“Pierce Boil—no jokes about the name, please. Get us two large spicy tomatoes, Gertie,” said Boil. “Heavy on the salt.”

“Hm, red is a good color, but make mine a raspberry mocktail, Miss Ganache. I’m Miss Mind Garden, by the way.”

The bartender looked between the amused Peel and the frustrated Boil and laughed. “You got it!” she exclaimed. She turned around to begin preparing the two drinks.

Boil, seeing that he was getting nowhere with Mrs. Peel, walked over to the table with the two mares. “So, where do you go for fun around here?” he asked.

The mares looked up at him with bored expressions. “Well…” one of them drawled. “You could go over to the blast site and look over the edge.”

“And then maybe you could fall in!” the other added, causing both of the mares to laugh.

Boil frowned, but then looked over at a large painting on the wall, depicting the “blast site” in question. “Wait, I think I remember hearing about this… Oh yes. The Hollow Magic Testing Grounds. Some of our most-powerful spells were developed here a century or two ago by a multi-species team, one of the first such meetups in the history of magic.”

“Oh, are you a fan of the history of magic?” Peel asked, genuinely interested in the stallion liking a subject not laced with sadism.

“No, just things that explode,” replied Boil. “That’s why I know about this place: The whole project had to be abandoned in 903 PE after a misfire blew the whole laboratory to smithereens! The fireball could be seen all the way in Manehattan.”

“Yes, yes,” Gertrude said good-naturedly, “One of our little town’s many claims to fame. Here are your drinks, by the way.”

Boil and Peel sat opposite each other at a table and drank their drinks for a bit.

“Ah, that’s the stuff!” exclaimed Boil. “So, Gertie, am I the last to arrive?”

“The last?” asked Gertrude.

“For the Invitational! The Exclusive Golf Invitational!”

“Oh!” Gertrude exclaimed. “Oh yes, definitely the last. It will start at dawn tomorrow, Mr. Boil.” With Mrs. Peel’s changeling senses, she knew that these were the first two lies the bartender had spoken thus far. “We have a bed prepared for you upstairs.”

Boil looked over at his unfinished drink, and then over at the clock. “Oh dawn, is it?” he asked. “I suppose I better turn in. Feel free to finish that for me, Dearie!” He then got up and headed out of the pub.

Gertrude walked up to the table, polishing a glass with a wing. “I knew about Mr. Boil’s arrival,” she said with a slightly menacing tone. “We all did!” She looked around her at the two other guests, who hesitantly nodded. “The Invitational is a big event!

“I wasn’t informed about you, though. Are you here to…golf…as well?” In Mrs. Peel’s eyes, the word “golf” assumed the form of a euphemism for…something else.

“No,” Peel said. “I will be needing a room for a night or two, but after that I’ll need to find more-permanent lodging.”

“Oh?” The bartender seemed genuinely surprised. It appeared that Hollow Shades didn’t get new long-term residents very often.

“Yes. I’m to teach at the school here.”

The two mares looked at each other, and then one of them got up. “Excuse me,” she said. “What did you say your name was?” She was a pink earth pony with a pale pink mane done up in a ponytail, made up of very fine strands of hair, and a tail to match. She was wearing a white turtleneck sweater that was concealing an object, just like the bartender.

“Miss Mind Garden,” said Lemon Peel. “I was sent by the Equestria Education Association.”

“I am Miss Stone Mason, superintendent of the school. It’s a little odd…we didn’t ask for another teacher. May I see your paperwork?”

“Of course,” Mrs. Peel said, reaching into her saddlebags and producing the forged papers she had been provided with.

Miss Mason looked the papers over. “Ah, they reduced the maximum student-teacher ratio,” she said regretfully. “Very well,” she said as she returned the papers. “We hadn’t been warned…that is informed that you were coming, or we would have had a place prepared for you.”

“Oh, that’s alright,” Peel said. “I came over early. I wanted to get a look around the place, get my curriculum personalized for the ponies I am to teach. So, I can hit the ground running.”

“What admirable initiative,” Miss Mason said duly.

“Oh, stop your grumping,” the other mare in the room said, approaching the pair. “See it as yet another opportunity. I am Ms. Harshwhinny, education inspector. I just arrived today—thought I’d treat myself to the golf tournament before beginning work on Monday.”

Now this looked like an inspector: a pony who frowned for a living—the deep lines in her face proved that. The current smile on her face seemed almost wrong by contrast, as was her voice, which wasn’t a “harsh whinny” at all. She was an orange earth pony with a blond mane and tail and blue eyes. She was wearing a purple jacket and pink polo neck over a white undershirt, and she had amber-rimmed pink earrings. The shirt was tight enough to reveal that no object was concealed there.

She was also very hard to read, a pony who had lied so often in her life that she could make herself feel whatever she needed to feel in a particular moment to sell the current falsehood.

“Well, it’s good to meet you, Ms. Harshwhinny,” Peel said. “I’ll be open to any suggestions you might make for my improvement.”

“Good!” exclaimed Ms. Harshwhinny. “Because I’m sure there will be some.”

“So, I can stay?”

“Oh course. Now that you are here, you must certainly stay.”

Gertrude stepped between them, armed with a rather large key. “With that settled, are you ready to see your room?”

“Certainly.”

~ ~ ~

Gertrude, the bartender/bellhop, led Mrs. Peel up a narrow staircase to the bar’s second floor: an equally narrow hallway with doors on the right side every three strides. Gertrude carried a candlestick in one claw, illuminating the way. She motioned to a series of sconces along the wall. “Normally the way would be lit for you, but as you came in the last train of the day…”

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Peel said. “Just so long as I can see my way to my bed.”

“That’s the spirit!” Gertrude exclaimed. She walked past the first room, which by the light underneath must be occupied by Pierce Boil and went past a couple of other rooms. “In need of repair,” she lied.

Peel supposed the real reason was to make it less likely that she could hear anything unusual that might occur in Boil’s room.

Three doors down a door was opened. “Now, we weren’t prepared for your coming,” Gertrude warned. “But I promise it will be cleaned first thing tomorrow morning.” She unlocked the door and lit a candle that was inside.

“Very well,” said Mrs. Peel. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight. And don’t let the bedbugs bite! …That was a joke. I’ll…I’ll be going now.” The abashed Gertrude made her way downstairs. The emotion was, once again, not only genuine but something completely foreign to griffons in Lemon Peel’s experience.

Gertrude returned to the first floor. “So,” she asked Ms. Harshwhinny, “who shall receive the blessed conversion first?”

Harshwhinny looked down at the ground, deep in concentration. “Mr. Boil,” she said at last. “Not only does he desperately need it, I suspect I will need to be sending some sort of proof of Miss Garden’s arrival to the EEA to divert suspicion.

“It’s a funny thing,” she added. “She’s one of the Apple Clan members, but I don’t remember ever seeing her before.”

“Is it unusual that an Apple would be a teacher?” asked Miss Mason. “Or that she never took the train during one of your trips?”

Harshwhinny shook her head. “No, neither of those are unusual. Ah, it’s probably me being paranoid as usual. Gertrude, you’ll know what to do if she decides to snoop after hours.”

"Yes, Ma’am,” Gertrude said sadly, picking up a bamboo tube from under the counter.

After waiting a few moments to be sure that there was no more activity to be heard upstairs, Ms. Harshwhinny went over to the door to the cellar and performed a distinctive knock. “Alright Staid,” she said to the door. “Time for another ‘badger hunt’.”

The sound of a padlock being removed from the other side of the door could be heard.

Gertrude was certainly right when she had said that Lemon Peel’s room hadn’t been cleaned lately. The cabinets were coated thickly with dust as well as the artificial plant, the tap took several seconds to deliver any water, and a fly strip hanging from the ceiling had several dozen complaining flies sitting on it.

(Author’s Note: Ponies of course don’t set lethal traps for any creature, even insects. Therefore, their fly strips are coated with a compound guaranteed to trap flies without hurting them, while providing enough liquid nutrition to last for months.)

Mrs. Peel went over to the window overlooking the backyard and was able to open it only with some difficulty. It admitted air, but did not allow escape, as it was boarded up from the outside. In the darkness she heard some commotion, and felt a sense of blind panic from below…

Pierce Boil was just settling down for bed when he heard a panel sliding in the wall of his room. He used his magic to light the candle, and gasped at the half-pony, half-monster thing that was creeping towards him. He made the flame of the candle flare even as he covered his eyes, then rushed past his blinded captor before breaking through the door and down the stairs. None of the ponies there made any move to stop him as he went out the front door, the thing in close pursuit.

Ms. Harshwhinny casually followed.

A few seconds later Lemon Peel rushed down as well, dressed in her “dangerous mission outfit”, which should have made her nearly impossible to see in dim light. It was a shame that the lights downstairs were all on.

As she approached the front door, Miss Mason moved to block her way. She removed the glass vial that was hanging around her neck, deliberately placed it just outside the door, then turned to face her with a nasty smile, closing the door with a hoof.

“Alright, you’ve got me,” Lemon said with a disarming smile. She turned around in preparation for being led back to her room, then when Miss Mason approached suddenly kicked out, sending her opponent back against the door. She then turned and attacked, striking her back with a karate chop.

Mason groaned but did not yield. Instead, she twisted around and put a forearm around Peel’s neck, whipping her around.

Peel went with the pull, twisting them both around until Mason slammed into the door again, and bounced off. They both slid to the ground some distance away.

Peel got up first and stepped towards the door.

She was stopped by Mason, who had her front hooves around Peel’s back boots. Peel attempted to kick, but Mason held on. So, she pulled her hooves out of the boots, and bucked Mason all the way across the room and into a wall.

Mason collapsed, her shoulder dislocated.

Peel opened the front door…and then reached up to touch the dart that Gertrude had just blown into her neck from her bamboo tube. A second later she fell unconscious.

"Oh dear,” said Gertrude. “I hope I did the right thing.” She went over to inspect Miss Mason. “The Boss will have to take her to the hospital for sure,” she told herself. She collected the vial and put it back in place.

She then looked at the form of the unconscious meddler. Gertrude felt a surge of regret, but then she sighed. “All for the greater good,” she told herself.

Author's Note

The notes for this chapter can be found with Chapter 42.

Chapter 53

When the Elements act against a wrongdoer, that person has a while to react.

Nightmare Moon spent those precious seconds panicking. That is the usual reaction.

This was the second time for Discord, so He was prepared.

Queen Chrysalis was panicking.

When she had briefly taken over Thorax’s body, she had been able to sense the presence of a changeling. A “reformed” changeling. What were they doing outside of their Discord-forsaken frozen island?

Chrysalis could never let one of her nymphs encounter one of those mad changelings. Just looking at one of them might be enough for them to figure out what they were missing, might trigger a transformation. And then another. And another. Chrysalis’ absolute control would be broken.

And she would do anything to maintain that control.

She stepped out into the main chamber of the underground lair, where all of her changelings—except Thorax—were waiting for her orders. She prepared herself to give the loathsome order, to evacuate from Canterlot and return to the Badlands as fast as possible. Much as she wanted to kill Thorax, she saw no way to do it without making things worse.

She opened her mouth—and at that moment was struck, gifted, by an insane amount of love magic. One last gift from Discord. Along with a command: Avenge Me.

Chrysalis smiled, opened her mouth, and laughed insanely. She would do it, she would still flee from Canterlot, but not before dealing lessons to all of her enemies along the way.

‘Changelings of the Hive!’ she broadcast, even as she began casting a spell. ‘I have discovered the presence of a deadly danger in Canterlot, one that only I can approach without falling instantly. I am taking away your hearing, temporarily, so that you might have some small protection. You will all assume your disguises and follow me to the Royal Gardens. There we will put on a show that will give the ponies nightmares for generations!’

Her changeling army cheered…horribly out of tune.

Losing your hearing will do that.

Still March 20th. “A Canterlot Wedding”.

While the other Ponyville fillies were confronting Thorax and Apple Bloom, Diamond Tiara spotted Twist sneaking away, and decided to follow her.

When she saw that Twist was just corking and collecting the bottles she had left behind earlier, she had had enough. “What are you doing?” she demanded. “There’s something more important going on here!”

Twist stopped. She refused to turn around in order to keep from losing her nerve. After a few seconds of huffing she said, “Collecting my poshionss. And no, thiss is more important. I gotta help my friend.”

Diamond reached forward and pulled Twist around to face her. Twist shrunk in fear. “Your friend? Apple Bloom?! She’s a monster!”

“She’ss my friend!” Twist insisted, tears running down her face. “And nothing you, or anypony elsse ssayss, is going to change that! Even though you’ve turned her againsst me. Like everypony elsse!” Diamond stepped back at the sheer rage displayed on Twist’s face. “I am sstill her friend! And I’m taking these away, before…” She stopped herself, putting her hooves over her mouth before she said too much.

At that moment a bright light shone down on the Gardens, and the angry voice of Princess Cadance rang out: “Pitiful ponies of Canterlot! Hear my words!”

The two fillies looked up, to see the Princess flying down to land back in the clearing where their friends were.

Twist’s eyes went wide, and she started frantically searching out bottles.

Diamond noticed the expression, one that should have nothing to do with the arrival of the Princess of Love. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

“That’ss not Cadansse,” Twist explained. “Help me find thesse bottless, or ssomething even worsse will happen to uss.”

Seeing the absolute terror in Twist’s expression, Diamond wordlessly complied.

Luna, Spike and the Bearers landed in the Royal Garden, where three fillies were surrounding the tree containing a nymph changeling and an exhausted…

“Apple Bloom!” Applejack exclaimed running forward.

The nymph immediately handed the earth pony filly over, before raising his forehooves into the air. “Sanctuary,” he pleaded.

Before anypony had a chance to explain anything, a Royal Canterlot Voice filled the air, the voice of Princess Cadance: “Pitiful ponies of Canterlot! Hear my words!”

Most of the ponies in the garden turned to the air in gratitude. Twilight saw a fearful Applejack moving to protect her sister. She turned her head to look curiously at Cadance, only to see a wave of green magic wash over her, revealing the form of another creature like the one in the tree. But this one looked much more formidable.

“Who are you? What are you?” asked Twilight, stepping forward. She saw a ring of ponies take position around them, all facing outward. She recognized Pony Joe, her brother, even Moondancer. Other ponies faced these ponies, because the ponies forming the circle had all run away from their homes at the same moment earlier that night.

“Shining dear, what’s going on?” asked Twilight Velvet, with her husband by her side.

The monster looked down upon Twilight Sparkle with a sneer. “Why Twilight Sparkle, don’t you recognize me? After all, I’ve been impersonating your beloved foalsitter for months now!”

“What have you done with Cadance?!”

At Chrysalis’ mental command, all of the ponies in the circle dropped their disguises, revealing them to be creatures like herself. The watching ponies screamed in terror, none more so than Shining’s parents.

“We are changelings, and I am their queen, Chrysalis! We have taken these ponies, infiltrated your lives, and fed upon your love!” Chrysalis gloried in the despair she felt, then proceeded to turn the proverbial knife. “Even now the real ponies rot in their prisons, nearly drained of their life and love. By the time you find them, they will all be corpses!”

“I think not,” Luna said with the Royal Canterlot Voice as she rose into the air. She had been watching this scene carefully and chose this moment to intervene. “You will surrender your prisoners, and I may allow you to leave this confrontation with your life.”

Chrysalis responded to this threat by laughing uproariously. “You? The pathetic shell left behind by the great Nightmare Moon? You could have tasted true glory, if you had remained true to my master, Discord. The One who wreaked havoc upon your little party this evening. I give you the barest taste of my contempt.” And with that she sent a massive beam of magic against Luna.

The Princess brought up her own force beam, but it was swiftly annihilated, and Luna was blasted into the side of the castle.

The crowd of watching ponies gasped in unison.

Twilight and her friends got into position, and she used a voice amplification spell so that everypony would know that they had nothing to fear. “Queen Chrysalis, your master Discord was defeated by us, with the Elements of Harmony, and we…”

“One-two-three-blast her!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, taking control of the Elements and…

Nothing happened.

Chrysalis laughed once again. “Oh Twilight, Dumpling! You should know that the Elements need to be recharged for at least five days after each use! I read all of Prince Blueblood’s notes on the subject.”

(“Hey!” a haughty voice exclaimed from the back of the crowd. “Those notes were for good guy use only!”)

“Now that I have demonstrated how powerless you are to stop me, I have a little lesson to teach,” said Chrysalis. After disabling her changelings’ sight on top of their hearing, she pulled Applejack and Apple Bloom out of the central group with her magic and held them aloft. “These two ponies, who some of you might think of as friends, as good, trustworthy ponies, are nothing of the sort!” She effortlessly ripped away their disguises as the two of them reached out in vain, as if they could use the strength of their earth pony forms to remain as they were. “These two are changelings, too! Hiding among you like the cowards they are! And how many more of them are among you, sucking out your love like I have?”

Applejack tried to speak, but Chrysalis put a bubble around them.

A bubble which Twilight then popped effortlessly, the result of years of practicing against her brother’s shield spells. She then put an amplification spell around them.

As a matter of fact, Twilight wasn’t sure what to think. But she wasn’t about to have her best friend condemned without the chance to present her side of the story.

“Yes it’s true,” Applejack told the crowd. “We’re changelings. But we’re not like her! The pony you know is the form I’ve spent most of my life in. And I, like every other member of the Apples, have earned our love from you, love we have…sipped, like…” She looked down at the Bearers and Spike, to see that all of them were looking at her with approval and acceptance. Fluttershy in particular. “…Like butterflies sipping nectar! While the members of Chrysalis’ foul hive feed like locusts.” She saw the doubt in the eyes of the other ponies. “Those of you who have had your loved ones replaced, you feel the weakness her changelings have inflicted upon you. You can’t feel love anymore, nothing matters anymore! Do you ever remember feeling like that around an Apple?”

“We’re ponies in our hearts!” pleaded Apple Bloom. “My sister’s cutie mark is real, a gift from Harmony like all of yours! And I would do anything to get my own mark, to prove that I can be a pony, just like you!”

Prince Blueblood stepped forward with a roll of his eyes and cast his own amplification spell. “Alright, fine, we’ll deal with the Apple problem later. For right now, I propose you all follow my lead.” And then he punched one of the standing changelings in the face. Being blind and deaf, it fell right over.

With a roll of her eyes, Chrysalis dropped the two Apples out of the sky, where they were caught by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. She restored the sight and hearing of her changelings. ‘Wipe them out,’ she ordered. ‘All of them.’

While a wild melee broke out between changelings and Canterlot ponies, Chrysalis landed in front of the two Apple sisters, with Thorax also in her sights. “One more piece of unfinished business,” she said with an evil smile, powering up her horn.

Twilight was preparing to intervene when she was stopped by a small hoof tapping her leg. “Force field around the good changelingss,” Twist told her as she walked past. “We’ve got thiss.”

Five Bearers and Spike looked around them, to see that there was a ring of potion bottles around all of them, with Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle positioned between them and posed for running, with a hoof poised above a bottle.

Twilight scanned one of the bottles. “An emotion-storing potion?” she asked.

“Zecora helped me make a gift for Apple Bloom, to collect every type of love from the Gala,” Twist said over her shoulder. She stopped walking when she was right in front of Apple Bloom. “They’ve been open all night.”

“Please cast that spell, Miss Sparkle,” Scootaloo pleaded.

Twilight raised the shield around the three changelings.

Chrysalis, whose attention had been focused purely on building up the magic to completely destroy the three changelings in a single blast, paused and turned her head to look at Twilight. “Please,” she said contemptuously, “I can blast through that in less than a second.” She looked back, to see this other…strange filly standing before her. “And what are you going to do, grub?”

“I’m going to sstop you,” Twist said calmly.

“Your mouth’s broken,” Chrysalis observed. “I don’t allow my defectives to molt. Let me just fix the little mistake of your survival, like so…”

She blasted her magic, which was immediately obliterated as her concentration was shot to Tartarus. Chrysalis cried out in agony, as she was blasted by a beam of pure hate. She collapsed into a heap.

“Now!” cried Diamond. She and the other fillies stomped the potion bottles under their hooves, then proceeded to run around the ring, breaking every bottle as they went.

A vast wave of hate spread outward. The ring of changelings cried out in pain, dropping the various illusions they had been using to escape beatings or terrify the attacking ponies. They broke formation and ran away.

“Stay and protect me, you traitors!” Chrysalis cried. She rose to her hooves, to see an infuriated Luna hovering over her.

Chrysalis was punched violently in the jaw. She tried to fight back, but the sea of hate around her made it impossible to concentrate. And then she saw Princess Celestia and the part of the Royal Guard she hadn’t gotten around to infiltrating coming down for a landing. Simultaneously she saw all of the captured ponies breaking upon the wave of fleeing changelings, pummeling them into submission. They were led, not by Cadance, but by Moondancer, who projected enough hate to nearly be a rival for Twist.

With one last burst of magic, Chrysalis pulled all of her changelings (except Thorax) towards her, and then collapsed the ground beneath them. When the dust cleared, ponies peered into the hole, revealing the catacombs underneath.

(Moondancer later led a group of ponies into the catacombs, but they never caught up with the fleeing changelings.)

“Shining! Cadance!”

Twilight followed the voice of her mother to find the two missing ponies who meant the most to her. They had a tearful reunion.

Applejack and Apple Bloom had been at the center of the explosion but had been held aloft by the force field. Applejack knocked on the field, trying in vain to get Twilight’s attention to do…something—pull them to safety and drop the field, ideally.

Apple Bloom began to resume her disguise but was stopped by her sister. “I’m afraid we’re going to have to stay like this, until we get everything straightened out.”

“If we get everything straightened out,” Bloom said sadly. She looked over to the nearest solid ground, to see Twist smiling and waving at her. She sighed. “Twist, I’m so sorry,” she said.

“I forgiffe you,” Twist said. She poked a defeated Diamond Tiara in the ribs.

“Ow! I…I’m sorry I turned you against Twist. And…I’m sorry I was mean to all of you.”

“What?” asked Silver Spoon. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I’m done with the bullying,” Diamond said to Silver. Turning back to Bloom she said, “You saved us, didn’t you? When your cousin turned us into your puppets, you saved us.”

“What?” asked Silver.

Bloom nodded. “I couldn’t let her do that to you. We’re supposed to be ponies, not monsters!”

Diamond nodded. “Yeah,” she said. “And you…and Twist, proved yourselves the better ponies. Good luck on whatever cutie mark you end up getting.” She turned and walked away, a dissatisfied Silver Spoon trailing behind her.

Scootaloo took the vacated spot. “I forgive you too,” she said. “I totally understand why you did what you did.”

“Me too!” exclaimed Sweetie Belle. “Well, I wasn’t really mad at you, just confused, but I just want you to know that I—”

“—That we—” added Scootaloo.

“—Both want you to still be our friend.”

Bloom smiled, tears of gratitude running down her cheeks.

“Hey, do changelings get supercharged cutie marks?” asked Scootaloo. “And if we’re around you when you get yours, do we get supercharged cutie marks too??”

Bloom laughed.

~ ~ ~

Applejack turned to the other inhabitant of the bubble. “Hey, what’s your name?” she asked.

“Thorax.”

Applejack examined the torn membrane. “Did Apple Bloom do this to you?” she asked.

Thorax grinned. “She set me free,” he said. And then he collapsed from the loss of blood.

Applejack sighed. “Twilight! We need a medic over here!” she cried. Then she put a hoof protectively over Thorax. “Consider this the beginning of your second life, Thorax. A new and much better life.”

Twilight came over and floated the bubble back to safe ground before popping it.

Celestia stepped forward to heal Thorax.

“Not the membrane, please,” said Applejack, pointing it out. “It’s how the Queen can control him. You can restore it later.”

With a nod, Celestia proceeded to heal Thorax without restoring his membrane.

Twilight looked back at her brother and her parents, before whom she had just confessed herself. “Girls,” she said to her fellow Bearers as she stepped into their midst. “I have a confession to make: There’s a little monster living inside my head. And like Applejack, she’s friendly.”

“The siren?” asked a bored Rainbow Dash.

“Every time you were sarcastic?” asked Fluttershy. She at least had the courtesy to say it seriously.

“We had a pretty good idea the whole time,” said Rarity.

“I didn’t!” Pinkie Pie said brightly.

“I did,” said Applejack. “I did what I could for both of them.” She then looked nervously around her. “You, um…you really don’t have a problem with me?”

“The Elements chose you for a reason, Applejack Apple,” Princess Celestia said as she stepped into their circle.

Applejack rubbed one hoof against another nervously. “Yeah, but the Element of Honesty? Me?”

“Perhaps they were trying to tell you something,” Pinkie Pie suggested and then her smile shrank. “I…I’m not the laughing-est pony in Equestria 24/7, you know. Sometimes I need to remind myself what I’m the Element for.”

“I believe that applies to all of us,” said Rarity.

“If I may interrupt,” Prince Blueblood said, barging into the group. He had failed to hear Twilight’s confession. The Prince turned to address the group’s leader. “Twilight Sparkle, I am aware of your ability to learn any spell by seeing it cast, and you saw that changeling queen drop her illusion. I demand that you cast that spell immediately upon everypony. Destroy every illusion in Canterlot, so we might be sure of who is a changeling, and who is not!”

Twilight looked into the faces of her friends, and saw terror in those of Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie. Rarity was merely worried, and her attention was focused on Rainbow Dash. She turned to face Blueblood. “That was changeling magic,” she said calmly. “I can’t just instantly convert that into a unicorn spell.”

“Alright,” Blueblood said, disappointed. He pointed at the three changelings. “Study those three until you can perfect it. I’ll give you a month. And then I’ll take over.”

“Is that a threat?” Twilight said. She gestured at first the Apples, and then the healed Thorax. “These ponies are my friends, and this changeling is under royal protection.”

“We’ll see about that,” Blueblood said imperiously. “They will probably be declared enemies of the state before the next sunset.”

“Not if I can help it,” Princess Celestia said, grabbing Blueblood by the ear.

“Ow, ow, ow! Not in public, Auntie!”

Luna levitated him into the air. “We are going to have a talk, Nephew,” she said as she floated him with her into the palace.

Twilight turned silently to the other Bearers.

“I’ve got a confession, too,” said Rainbow Dash.

“And me,” said Fluttershy.

“And…” Pinkie Pie stopped to glare up into her mane. “Yes, I’m sure! And me.”

Twilight looked at Rarity.

“There’s nothing you don’t already know about me, Twilight,” Rarity protested. “Just the…memory…manipulation.” She looked over at Rainbow, who nodded grimly at her. “Oh…drat. Yes, I suppose I have a confession as well. Hopefully not as…gross…as some.” She gingerly reached up a hoof to tap the top of her head, afraid that it might sink inside and land on a tentacle.

Twilight looked between all of them. “I think we’ve had enough emotional turmoil for one night, right Ladies?”

They nodded meekly back at her.

“We’ll take a few days to recover from…The Worst Night Ever, and then we’ll have a set of ‘coming out parties’, hosted by Pinkie Pie.”

“I’m on it!”

“One secret per night. Is that alright?”

The others agreed that this would be fine.

As they made their way over to the garden, Twilight looked down at Spike. “You’ve been quiet,” she said.

“I didn’t want to steal your thunder,” Spike said. “I’m still in sidekick mode, remember?”

“You’ve got a secret too, Spike.”

“My ‘alt form’?” he asked with a shudder. “Yeah, alright. But that’s not something I want anything to do with, until after I get my mark.”

“Alright,” Twilight said with a smile.

Author's Note

You can find the notes for all of Chapters 43-53 here.