"Don't move," Twilight roared, lighting her horn. "Or you'll regret it."

"Do you even know who's in the miasma behind me?" Alexei asked calmly, defiantly showing his torn side. "You want them to run to the noise? Sure you can handle the aftermath? Have you thought about your friends?"

Ignoring the warning, the man slowly wandered along the edge of the miasma. He wanted to stand so that there was a building hidden in the miasmas behind him. Besides the unicorn wunderkind, there was still an extremely fast pegasus here, but even she wouldn't be able to instantly turn one hundred and eighty degrees.

His words about noise were more of a half-truth - the miasmas provided a high level of soundproofing and absorbed energy fluctuations, but it was unlikely that anyone would risk finding out what the noise level was. Everything else, of course, was utter nonsense. There was nothing dangerous in the section behind him - just a peaceful orgy.

As it turned out, only fear was evenly distributed everywhere, fueling the other desires. Hunger and lust only intersected on the outskirts, and all the sections where he saw ponies were dedicated to one thing or another. He also noticed that where hunger reigned and ponies devoured each other, there were many old and disabled among them.

All of this pointed to an artificially created environment. Someone or something was raising these ponies like cattle for slaughter. All of this still needed to be confirmed though - he'd been walking for less than an hour and had only managed to see a few sections.

Though he did manage to run into a mutated Evil Spirit, a more powerful version of ghosts. When he spotted a building with a book on the sign, Alexei looked inside, but who knew he was already expected there? The spirit was young and somewhat weakened, but even so, it nearly gutted Alexei. All the books he'd found crumbled to ashes with a single touch, so he left with nothing. At least his nightmare was satisfied - Evil Spirits were a delicacy.

Twilight clenched her teeth and braced herself for further trouble, but didn't attack mindlessly. The rest of the ponies, meanwhile, had gathered in a battle formation with Applejack in the lead. Dash, pulling out a spear from her spatial artifact, hovered at the side and watched the man's every move carefully. However, she was smart enough not to make any hasty decisions.

Alexei mentally grinned, seeing that Twilight was acting within his expectations - the initiative in the conversation was now in his hands.

"There's no need to be so tense," the halting man smiled disarmingly. "I have no intention of attacking you. What do you think I am? Some kind of bloodthirsty monster? You were the ones who hurt me earlier, but I hold no grudge against you."

He really didn't hold a grudge and he didn't care about their motives at all.

People had a habit of believing in their self-righteousness. That is, to constantly believe that everything they did was right. They were encased in a bubble of their own reasons, experiences, and morals about what was right and wrong, forgetting that even their own mind, which they thought was their own, was merely an accumulation of environmental factors they had absorbed from birth until now. Every person, whether king or peasant, had fallen victim to it.

Twilight had some chance of getting out of that bubble - she was still quite young. The worst part was dealing with old people. They were so clinging to their familiar world that they were ready to ignore reality, because if they admit that they were wrong, it turns out that they had been living their whole life in the wrong way.

What's the right way to live your life? They were all just crazy.

Twilight glanced at Applejack, and to her surprise, she nodded uncertainly-all of what Alexei had said was true. She would have rather believed that the man had somehow managed to trick Applejack's ability, but that was highly unlikely.

Alexei, though contemplating at this point how he could kill them all, really wasn't going to attack. It was just... stuff happens in life, so it couldn't hurt to be prepared.

He could sense that Twilight was somewhere around rank two or three, the pink pony had no core, and everyone else was rank one. Alexei didn't have a core either, so technically his power didn't even reach rank one. However, blood magic was very powerful, and he was perfectly capable of breaking through the weakened Twilight's defenses at a price.

Even though all the mares were weakened, they had artifacts that compensated for it somewhat. Alexei wasn't too worried about the artifacts though - they couldn't be overly powerful and were the same rank as the ponies wielding them. Giving a weak creature some powerful high-ranked artifact was like giving an infant a two-handed sword: they simply couldn't handle the artifact and would hurt themselves and others. Sure, Celestia had clearly spared no expense and given them the best stuff, but it still had to be within their rank.

Fighting one Twilight or a couple other mares was already quite a challenge, and there were six of them here. If he fought fair, he didn't stand a chance against them. It was a good thing he wasn't going to engage in such foolishness. He felt fine inside the miasma, so he could have a guerrilla war or lure some creatures here.

As for the number of them... It wasn't such a big problem, because Alexei knew the main weakness of such teams was themselves. Each of them fulfilled a certain role and they relied too much on each other. Once he destroyed their formation or killed someone, they would start interfering with each other. Not to mention, if he took a hostage, the battle would be over immediately.

"Don't try to twist the facts," Twilight said in a cold tone. "You got what you deserved that day."

"And do you know the facts or are you just repeating what Celestia told you?" replied Alexei with a sad smile. "I wonder what horror stories she told you about the master of these lands?"

"He's not the master here!" blurted out an infuriated Twilight. "Sombra is a usurper, a tyrant, and the worst of all ponies. After what you've seen, are you going to argue with it?"

"So Sombra after all," Alexei nodded mentally, mulling over the new information. "How old is he then? How interesting..."

Twilight's words about a usurper and tyrant passed his ears. This sort of thing happened all the time on Earth. There was a country that was very fond of sponsoring coups, and then when their protégé got out of control, they would label him a terrible tyrant and drop a bomb on his head. The best way to understand the reason for the coup was to look at the list of natural resources.

"I don't know about Sombra..." Alexei mused thoughtfully, as if remembering something. "But that black tree really bothers me."

"Have you seen it?" a concerned Twilight immediately perked up. "Where?"

They only knew roughly what direction it was in, so she wouldn't mind getting the information from someone who had seen everything with their own eyes.

"A glimpse of something like that," Alexei replied with a smirk, getting another dose of information. "But why would I tell it to someone who considers me her enemy?"

Alexei had indeed seen the tree in question. And more than once. All the ponies he'd met had the same mark of fate: the black tree. He already had some suspicions, but now Twilight had confirmed them - the whole thing was clearly some kind of sacrificial ritual. The Elements of Harmony and the fate marks wrapped in some sort of vine suggested definite thoughts about the nature of the black tree, but Sombra's motives were still a mystery.

Twilight bit her lip, analyzing the situation, and cast the man a thoughtful look. Perhaps they could cooperate? He didn't seem to be afraid of corruption, and Twilight still wasn't sure if the sealed Elements of Harmony could protect them if they walked right up to the tree. There was no way to find out without trying it, and if they failed, the consequences would be irreversible. She didn't want to risk the safety of others and was going to go to the tree alone, but now she had an alternative option.

Was cooperation possible or was she just wishful thinking?

Before, she would never have even considered working together with a murderer, but now she was far more pragmatic. If it would keep them out of danger - she was willing to work with this man. Alexei killed to achieve his desire, and her desire not to kill had gotten a lot of ponies killed during the changeling invasion. Yes, their reasons were different, and there were many nuances, but the bottom line was the same - ponies died because of their desires. Were they really that different?

As she pondered whether or not to take that option seriously, her gaze unconsciously stopped on the bulge hidden behind his loincloth - the toga had not survived the encounter with the Evil Spirit. Thankfully, it was much warmer inside the Crystal Empire than outside, so the loincloth suited the man just fine.

"Don't get any ideas," Alexei laughed, noticing her look. "It's just the local weather doing that to me."

Twilight, snapped out of her musings, raised her gaze and looked earnestly into the man's eyes, searching for answers to her questions.

Once the Elements of Harmony were sealed, even if only slightly, they began to feel the emotions instilled by the miasmas. The man in front of her had no defense at all, and was apparently not immune to the influence. Yet, here he was, standing relaxedly in front of her and making jokes.

"Either he has such self-control, or there's something very wrong with him," Twilight concluded, averting her gaze. "In his case, both at once."

Twilight believed in the princesses' power and knew that they had many trump cards, so even with all that power, Sombra wouldn't be able to kill them so easily. Defeat them? Quite possibly, but killing or capturing them was another matter entirely. Any creature of that level had plenty of tricks to escape or survive. One's own safety was basic and the first thing any mage thought about.

However, they still had to hurry and help the princesses.

Taking a deep breath, Twilight made a decision - she would cooperate with Alexei. There were just a few things left to check out and convince him to help them.

"Finished brainstorming?" Alexei asked, seeing that Twilight had finally come to something.

"Say something that is definitely a lie," Twilight asked, not trying to hide her intentions.

"I want to kill you," Alexei stated completely calmly. "I'm still angry for what you did to me. I will attack as soon as you let your guard down. I want to take your artifacts. Your fur is green."

"Everything he said is a lie," Applejack reported with a perplexed blink, somewhat surprised at his choice of phrasing.

"Okay, now all that's left is to convince him to help us," Twilight mentally chuckled, satisfied with the check. "Perhaps convincing Sombra to surrender will be easier than this..."

If she understood the man's personality correctly, the best option would be to say everything straight out. If she started pussyfooting around or playing psychological games - he'd figure it out right away, and she'd only cause him irritation.

"Alexei, I suggest... cooperating," Twilight said, exhaling. "We're all in a dangerous situation. I know that you..."

"I agree," Alexei interrupted her with a nod. "Let's cooperate."

"...What?" Twilight stammered. "Why did he accept so quickly?"

Glancing up at the man's face, she saw the slightly raised corners of his lips and a teasing look - he was definitely enjoying her embarrassment.

Shifting her gaze, Twilight saw an equally dumbfounded look on the earth pony's face, and then Applejack nodded - the man was telling the truth.

Alexei watched Twilight and smiled inwardly - strengths could sometimes become weaknesses.

Yes, Twilight could be quite smart, but the smarter she was, the more she thought and the more she thought, the more she found Alexei unpredictable and difficult to understand.

Smart people were suspicious and the more oddities he showed, the more mysteries he had around him, the more suspicious it made Twilight. She would make more and more theories and assumptions and would not act rashly until she was certain.

She was clearly expecting some sort of trick in their cooperation, but it wasn't really there - Alexei was genuinely going to help them.

If Sombra needed help, he would help him too. That was the kind man he was.

The catch was that he wanted to prolong this conflict as much as possible, so naturally he would help the losing side, which right now was Team Harmony.

"Are you crazy?" hissed Rarity, casting a stunned look at Twilight. "You want us to work with him?"

"I'm against it too," Dash retorted, not even trying to lower her voice. "I don't understand why we're still talking to him instead of chaining him up."

Pinkie Pie and Applejack remained neutral, but Fluttershy made a move.

"That's right," Rarity nodded, agreeing with the pegasus' words. "As soon as he... Fluttershy?!"

While everyone was busy contemplating Twilight's bold idea, Fluttershy stepped forward and came dangerously close to the man.

Rarity's horn blared and Dash tensed up, about to rush forward, but both were stopped by Twilight.

"Stay out of this," Twilight commanded, ignoring her friends' stares. "She knows what she's doing."

At least Twilight hoped so.

She didn't understand what Fluttershy was going to do, but she had faith in her sanity. The pegasus had a good defense artifact that reacted to danger on its own, so she should be fine. If anything happened, Twilight would intervene personally.

"Put the weapon away, please," Fluttershy asked, stopping a few meters away from Alexei.

Looking thoughtfully around the pegasus, the man's gaze slid over the faces of the other ponies, but they seemed to be even more puzzled than he was. The range of emotions, from confusion to obvious anxiety, that they displayed would have been hard to fake with their acting skills.

Giving the pegasus a warm smile, Alexei slowly tucked the spearhead and bone into his bag and moved it behind his back. If his nightmare could feed off the shock as well, he'd have a ton of energy right now.

"Is she going to tame him?" whispered Dash, keeping her eyes on the scene unfolding before her. "Is that possible?"

If Twilight hadn't been so focused, she would have rolled her eyes - was he some kind of bear?

Putting his weapon away, the man looked at the pegasus expectantly - would she really dare to approach?

"I'll come over," Fluttershy warned him, and, receiving a consenting nod, slowly began to approach.

"She's acting with me like I'm a wild animal," Alexei laughed mentally, watching her every move carefully. "A vet indeed."

He didn't feel threatened by this pegasus and she didn't even have a weapon. Besides, unlike everyone else here, he followed the path of developing mental energy, which was the embodiment of thoughts and emotions. His reaction and thinking speed was somewhat faster than those ponies. If she decided to do something stupid - he would snap her neck before she finished her attack.

As he got closer, Fluttershy had to raise her head - her head barely reaching the man's chest - to look him in the eye. Apparently satisfied that he wasn't going to attack her, Fluttershy shifted her gaze to the wounds on his body.

Alexei glanced at the other ponies, who knew when they'd lose their nerve and start firing lasers in all directions?

"Can you lift your right... limb?" Fluttershy asked with a slight stutter in terminology.

Alexei did as he was asked and raised his right arm, showing off his torn side. He had excellent regeneration, so the blood had stopped long ago and the wound was slowly healing, but you could still see the ribs through the four deep cuts.

Fluttershy's face twitched, but not with disgust - her eyes were filled with.... compassion?

"May I...?" Fluttershy asked cautiously, lifting a hoof.

Gaining permission, her hoof gently flashed with magical energy, removing dirt and dust, and she carefully touched Alexei's side. Feeling the ribs, watching the man's reaction, she made sure there were no fractures.

"I'll use a healing spell," Fluttershy warned him, taking a step back. "This is going to hurt."

"Not only kind, but honest, eh?" the man hummed, gesturing for her to continue.

With a few flaps of her wings, Fluttershy slowly swept her wing through the air, as if stroking something invisible, and a stream of light green wind flew towards the man. Alexei, who had been watching the pegasus the whole time, didn't try to dodge and let the spell hit him.

The man cringed slightly as the scar tissue burst and new flesh began to grow rapidly inside the wound. Not that it hurt that much, it was just all very itchy and scratchy.

Half a minute later, the entire wound had already healed and the last traces were disappearing. He even felt an itch in his left hand as the fingers lost in the battle began to recover a little faster. Either Fluttershy didn't want to fully heal him, or she was conserving her strength, or perhaps her spells just lacked power. Well, it didn't matter - his passive regeneration alone was enough to make them grow back in a few days. He still had some healing potions left, but he was saving them for emergencies.

"Thank you," Alexei nodded to the pegasus, groping his side.

He wasn't grateful to her - he hadn't asked for help, and it was her own desire. Still, he respected her a little.

Fluttershy said nothing and, after making sure everything was all right, turned around and walked silently away.

"Why did you do that?" he asked the pegasus, making her stop.

"Because I want to," Fluttershy replied after a moment and continued walking.

"What an interesting pony," Alexei mentally hummed, seeing her off with a glance. "Just a breath of fresh air."

Apparently, Fluttershy had a peculiar concept of good and evil. She was willing to help anyone, regardless of whether they were evil or good. Alexei wondered if she would help Sombra, or was she angry because he had ruined the local ecology? She clearly realized that Alexei wouldn't stop and would continue to bloodshed, but she healed him anyway.

There were no such concepts as good and evil in nature, so Alexei guessed where she got that from. Being a veterinarian and local woodsman, she had obviously treated predators that had managed to devour her previous patients. Her ability to talk to animals added even more drama to the story. What was it like to treat a wolf that had eaten some beaver you'd discussed life with the day before?

Perhaps she preferred to take a neutral stance of non-intervention and followed her desire to eradicate suffering wherever she could. Who knows.

He also suspected that she also did it to end arguments and set the stage for cooperation. At the very least, that was part of her motive.

"Can we get to the point already?" Alexei asked as he watched Elements greet Fluttershy like a hero returning from a battle with a dragon. "Saving the princesses and all that. Remember?"

Twilight glanced at Rainbow Dash, and the latter nodded, taking a deep breath. Her childhood friend had gone this far in trusting the man, and Dash couldn't refuse to work with him anymore. It looked like Fluttershy's little gambit had succeeded. Rarity, left outnumbered, quickly gave up as well.

Twilight cautiously approached the man, leaving some safe distance between them. Alexei just smiled and sat down on the sidewalk comfortably - it was time to negotiate.

Twilight didn't beat around the bush and laid it all out directly. There was no point in hiding anything from Alexei - he'd already seen everything, and if he wanted to hurt them, all he had to do was draw Sombra's attention to that section. Given his unrestrained nature, she was sure he was capable of such madness as well. Besides, his knowledge of alchemy was far superior, and she wanted to hear his opinion.

"That could work quite well," Alexei nodded, mulling over Twilight's idea. "You don't happen to have any acid, do you?"

"No, but I know a couple spells with that effect," Twilight replied, looking at him perplexed. "Why do you need acid?"

"You can mix it with the ashes of that tree," Alexei replied, running through the available ingredients and methods in his head. "If you first weaken the vines with poison, which, to your luck, I have, should work quite effectively."

"It's not just the Elements of Harmony. Our marks are sealed as well," Twilight reminded him with a blink. "And they're kind of on us."

"So?" Alexei shrugged, pointing at Fluttershy. "You have a healer, don't you?"

The marks themselves were simply an outward reflection of their talent. Some connection was still there, but it could be neglected. Even if the marks were damaged in the process, they would not lose their talents. Once healed, everything should have been fine. If he were in their place, he would first try to cut those vines wrapping around their marks. Though he doubted it would be that easy.

"If you can get a twig or two, take it, but we'll stop with the sap option for now," Twilight gently declined the offer, not wanting to shower her friends with acid and poison. "Do you remember the way? I'll give you a special compass. I'll also..."

"Wait, slow down," Alexei laughed, stopping a disengaged Twilight. "Let's talk about my compensation first."

"What compensation?" Twilight blinked perplexed. "You're in the same position as us. Do you think Sombra would spare an intruder like you? He could come here any minute!"

"And I can leave at any time," Alexei replied with a condescending smile. "And you? Will your weakened Elements of Harmony protect you from the traps on the border of the Crystal Empire?"

Twilight turned around and looked at Applejack, who was listening intently to the conversation, and again received an affirmative nod. Thinking for a moment, Twilight remembered that the Elements of Harmony had begun to shimmer as they entered the miasma. Turns out there were some traps in there.

None of them, including the man, knew that they were just natural "barriers" so that some frisky crystal ponies wouldn't wander too far, but would gather in the center. Well, they could also be considered traps as well.

"You think if you run away, you'll be able to stay out?" Twilight wasn't about to give up. "If we lose, you lose too. Sombra is up to something extremely massive, and he needs to be stopped."

"Sounds serious," Alexei replied mockingly, glaring at Twilight. "I hope you do something about it and save everyone."

Twilight's eye twitched slightly and she felt a headache coming on.

"Two artifacts of your choice," Twilight said after some thought, sighing heavily. "That is the limit of my generosity. And I'll tell my mentor about your contribution. Perhaps she'll..."

"Say, do I look like an idiot?" Alexei asked coldly, listening to her 'generous offer' with a bored look.

These artifacts are from Celestia's treasury, of course. They must have protective mechanisms attached to them, obeying only the will of their owner. This is standard practice for any artifacts, otherwise they could be used against you in battle. Judging by the fact that Twilight was offering them as payment, there was the possibility of temporarily handing control over to someone else. That makes sense too - anything could happen in battle, and one of them might have to use someone else's artifact.

Given the miasmas blocking the energy waves, he could safely use their artifacts for a while. But later they would either rebel against him or bring Celestia to him. Even more importantly: he had no chance of detecting or getting rid of the defenses left behind by the alicorn. So what was the point of all this trinkets?

Twilight's ears drooped slightly as her scheme was revealed. She had been willing to offer him the artifacts as a reward from the start, and all this grumbling about compensation was just a distraction. She hoped to provoke his greed and was willing to give up even all of the items, because they would still come back to them later. Otherwise, she would never give him such potentially dangerous items. Too bad, it didn't work.

"What do you want?" Twilight finally asked, ignoring the last question.

"I don't know what you have," Alexei shrugged and pointed to the amulet around her neck. "Let me see it."

"Out of the question," Twilight retorted, not wanting him to go through her things. "Just tell me what you need. Money? Ingredients? Knowledge? Do you realize this situation is getting more dangerous by the second? Do you really think you're going to get away with this?"

"I fully share your concern," Alexei nodded and wiggled his fingers expectantly. "I don't understand why you're stalling. What would Celestia say if she found out her apprentice was bargaining while innocent lives were at risk?"

Twilight looked stunned at Alexei and opened her mouth several times, wanting to say something, but each time she couldn't find the right words - today had truly opened new horizons of brazenness and shamelessness for her.

Twilight glared at Alexei, but he just sat there relaxed, as if he were on vacation. Once the situation calmed down a bit, he immediately continued working on his nightmare. He really wasn't in a hurry to go anywhere and could sit with them all day long.

Finally, with a heartbreaking sigh, Twilight took the amulet off her neck and telekinesis handed it to Alexei.

"By the way, I want compensation for moral damage," Alexei added, channeling mental energy inside the artifact and examining its contents.

Some of the potion ingredients in his bag had already been made unusable by the corruption. All because his bag only had an expanded space. These artifacts used by the Elements were a complete isolated space, and the things inside were not affected by any corruption. He wanted an artifact like this for himself, but he didn't have the money or the ability to steal something so valuable.

"What moral damage?!" growled Twilight, fighting the urge to snatch the artifact from his hands.

"I thought we were battle partners now, and you tried to trick me," Alexei replied nonchalantly, quickly looking through the books inside. "I'm sad, and my mood is ruined. You should compensate me for that."

"I have to compensate him for his bad mood?" Twilight thought stunned, feeling rage building up.

Alexei's eyes glittered as he pulled out a decrepit black book with a cracked cover covered in stains from the amulet.

A dark magic book!

Twilight's face went pale when she saw the book - which was exactly why she didn't want to give him the amulet. It didn't have any attack spells in it, but it was still dark magic. She couldn't even take the amulet from one of her friends - the man would immediately suspect she was hiding something valuable, and it would end the same way. She could only hope that he wouldn't notice the book, but that hope died as well.

"This, this and this," said a smiling Alexei, pulling out two more books. "And half of your potions, excluding the ones that restore magical energy."

Everything else was either supplies or artifacts, and he wasn't interested. He couldn't take all the potions from her - she still had to fight Sombra, after all, and they just wouldn't fit in his bag.

"Okay," Twilight sighed tiredly. "You'll get them when you bring the tree sap and we break the seals."

"Nope, I'll get them now," Alexei replied, tucking the books into his bag. "This is my moral compensation. And I'll take your amulet with me. Also, I need some weapons and..."

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Twilight burst out, her horn blazing with energy. "You want to steal from us and just run away?"

"How do I know you won't do something to the potions or tamper with the contents of the books?" replied Alexei calmly, not reacting in any way to her outburst. "You've tried to trick me before."

Twilight didn't seem impressed with that explanation, and she was about to launch into another tirade, but Alexei wouldn't let her.

"If I were to rush into the miasmas now, would you be able to stop me?" Alexei asked in an even voice, making Twilight tense up. "I could have done it when you gave me the amulet, but I didn't. It's a fair trade, and I also don't want Sombra to win, so it makes no sense for me to harm you. As for the artifacts... we both know I can't do it. I'm the one taking the risk by trusting you."

With a glance at Applejack, Twilight received confirmation that he was telling the truth and calmed down slightly as she pondered his words.

After a couple minutes of thinking, she sighed and raised her eyes to Alexei.

After meeting him, she sighed a little too often.

With a wet slap, the halved pony collapsed to the ground. Blood spurted from the severed body, splashing scarlet drops onto the stone sidewalk. The insides fell out, creating a gruesome picture in a red-pink-gray palette. In total darkness, Alexei's night vision allowed him to see this scene down to the smallest detail.

"This spear is fucking awesome," Alexei muttered, stroking the patterned shaft.

He had just chopped a pony in two!

It was hard to call it a spear or even a glaive, though - more like a broad, double-edged sword with a long hilt. Even for a human, this weapon was a bit large. Why it had been chosen by Dash, from whom he'd requisitioned it, was a mystery. The spear, oddly enough, was related to the wind element, so perhaps the pegasus could wield it more easily than he could. After each strike, this weapon released a razor-sharp wind blade that left a mark even on the stone sidewalk. Those who had the wind attribute could also manipulate these blades freely. Alexei was fine with it as it was.

In addition to weapons, he had two bracelets on his arms that increased his strength and two on his ankles that increased his speed. He also had a protective amulet that could create a shield around his body, and a thin silver string covered with clear dew beads that adorned his head and protected him from mind control. This "string" was the most precious thing at his disposal. Alexei was almost speechless when he recognized it as the web of a legendary, now extinct, species of spider. He knew of them because Saada wanted to use this web in her chimerization experiments to minimize the chance of insanity. Celestia was really fiddling with the money.

He'd even considered destroying the artifact and taking this web for himself, but a quick check showed that he could only dream of doing so - this thing was incredibly strong.

Picking up half of the corpse by the leg, Alexei gave it a good swing and tossed it into the crowd of drooling ponies, who immediately rushed to the meat, scuffling with each other. The other half of the pony flew in the same direction, but farther away. The bloody mess enraged them even more, and they, forgetting everything, rushed at the fresh prey, roaring and fighting as if possessed. Alexei watched this with a slight chuckle, enjoying the chaos he had created.

These ponies, though somewhat stronger after the mutations from the corruption, were not much different physically from the same earth ponies. They had forgotten how to use magic and were quite easy opponents. When they saw how several of their kin were dealt with, they calmed down a bit and didn't try to approach Alexei anymore. This continued from section to section.

The most dangerous opponents here were the Evil Spirits, but even they, after receiving equipment from the kind ponies, didn't cause any problems.

On his way to the tree, he broke into a couple houses and literally tore several spirits to shreds. He didn't even need to cover his weapon with mental energy - this artifact cut through spirits just fine without it. His nightmare was very satisfied and was so full that it began to crack from overload. Alexei had to take some of the overload on himself.

The nightmare's condition was improving by the minute, his lost fingers had already grown back, and the tonic potions had brought Alexei to peak physical shape. In addition, whether because of the nightmare's improvement or because of the resistance he had built up, the effects of the corruption had weakened somewhat. His emotions were still unstable, but at least his boner was gone, and he no longer drooled at the sight of raw flesh.

All in all, he was in a great mood.

Even the disappointment of a dark magic book couldn't ruin it. Dark magic turned out to be crap. Whereas blood magic used magical energy and blood, flesh, or life energy as an additional component, dark magic required extreme emotion. His seven blood spells only used the caster's flesh, but this was a special case.

Not only could he not use these dark spells due to lack of magical energy, but they also required extreme emotion. Alexei considered his cold-bloodedness one of his most important qualities. Was it worth it for him to mess up his psyche by taking emotional swings to become a dark mage? Definitely not. Thanks to the nightmare, he could easily provide fear, but there was no point in that either. Each type of spell required a different emotion, and the effects of fear-based dark spells would, in most cases, have something to do with that very fear.

If he merged with the nightmare and gained the fear attribute, he could do all of this without any spells. So why would he need this dark magic then? This book was only useful as general information and as a source of inspiration. It had a lot of dark magic spells aimed at protecting the mind and soul. It was all mildly interesting, but, at the moment, completely useless.

Taking the last stripe of dried meat from his bag, Alexei moved toward the miasma wall. The meat was too tough, and for a moment he thought how much more enjoyable the meal would have been if he had boiled it in a cauldron. There were plenty of mushrooms around, which the crystal ponies fed on in addition to each other. It would be nice to boil the mushroom soup into a meat broth. Of course, he was wary of the local mushrooms and would never eat them, but could he at least dream?

In these few hours inside, he had already eaten the rest of his supplies and was still very hungry. If it weren't for the weakened effects of the corruption, he would have already started considering crystal ponies from a culinary point of view. Elements had some provisions in the form of some sort of tortillas, apparently army-style, but upon tasting them, Alexei nearly threw up. Inside was either hay or some other grassy nonsense, and he definitely couldn't digest it.

Stretching out his arms, he advanced inside the miasma by feel - night vision was completely useless here.

After about ten minutes of uncertain walking, he finally emerged into a new section.

He felt no lust or hunger here, which was definitely a very bad sign. He was already very close to the tree, and this was the central area, not the outskirts. Why was there nothing here?

Alexei looked around suspiciously, but there was nothing strange - the same sidewalk, the same ornate buildings, which were becoming more and more numerous in the center, compared to the modest houses on the outskirts. All this silence and stillness was even more suspicious.

Checking the compass Twilight had given him, he realized he was somewhere southwest of the tree. And judging by the trembling arrow, he was very close to his goal - the tree should have been in the next section by now. The compass itself pointed not to the sides of the world, but to a location marked by the user in space. These ponies had a lot of very useful things.

This compass wasn't really needed anymore, though - he knew the location of the tree before he even came here. Recently, he had noticed something interesting: from each crystal pony came a thin and almost imperceptible thread of mental energy going in a certain direction. He tried to investigate it by sending a wisp of nightmare, but it instantly evaporated. It resembled high-voltage wires, and Alexei was definitely not going to interact with it directly.

As he began to look around, he noticed to his surprise that everything around him was covered in these threads. As long as you don't try to interact with them, they pass freely through physical objects without harming them.

The only thing he could realize was that the energy that flowed through these threads was very similar to a... faith. What was Sombra even working on here? What did he need this tree and all this faith for? Was he going to destroy the Tree of Harmony, or was he going to become a god himself? Alexei had too many questions and too little time.

The problem was that there probably weren't many entrances to the royal plaza where the tree appeared to be located.

Should he go through that section or would it be better to return to the miasma? If he returned to the miasmas, would he be able to find another entrance to the plaza by feel? It was far from certain that the other entrance would be located in a similarly miasma-deprived section.

Suddenly his musings were interrupted by a wild sense of danger that made all his muscles cramp.

He didn't dare to move or even breathe, but turned his gaze to the right and froze like a statue, staring unblinkingly at the building. The seconds dragged on slowly, but nothing happened. Alexei's instincts were screaming so loudly that his anxiety was second only to the day he had seen Celestia and Chrysalis fight.

A few seconds later, a formless red haze appeared from the roof of the building. After hovering for a moment, it darted sharply to the east.

Only then did the man allow himself such a pleasure as breathing.

"Fuck," Alexei blurted out, slumping against the wall and breathing heavily. "What the fuck was that?"

He'd managed to kill a few Evil Spirits before, but he'd always been extremely careful. He only broke into houses where, according to his senses, there were weak opponents he could handle.

Those houses where he sensed nothing, he tried to avoid and bypassed. He had already learned that lesson from the bookstore.

This Evil Spirit that flew out of the building was on a whole different level. Three or four of these spirits would give even Celestia serious trouble. How many more of them were there?

"Fuck it," Alexei thought, trying to normalize his breathing faster. "I'll go through the miasmas. Fuck this section."

Regaining his breath, he turned back towards the miasmas, running through his head on how best to get around this section. He might even have to go through some building inside the miasms, and the thought made him uneasy.

No sooner had he entered the miasmas than he felt dizzy and barely managed to stay on his feet. Only after a moment did he realize that it wasn't dizziness, but an earthquake. The air around him grew heavier and space began to fluctuate.

Feeling the source, he looked up and saw something incredible: the miasmas were being blown away by an invisible force, revealing the daytime sky. The Sun and the Moon hung in the sky at the same time, attracted to each other. Soon a silvery disk shone in the sky, surrounded by the bright blinding fringe of the sun. This was clearly not the eclipse he'd seen on Earth.

The air grew heavier and heavier, and the thought of fleeing into the miasmas to escape this chaos flashed through his mind as suddenly there was a rumbling sound and the sky was once again covered in miasmas.

There was absolute dead silence, as if nothing had happened.

Alexei's stunned mind flashed through a multitude of thoughts, from his next actions to the familiar energy he had just felt. It was clearly the energies of Celestia and Luna. According to Twilight, their marks, and therefore their control over the heavenly bodies, had been blocked. Apparently they had already managed to break those seals somehow.

No sooner had he gathered his thoughts than a new event occurred: dozens of red silhouettes started flying out of the buildings around him, heading east.

Gulping, Alexei slowly exhaled — too many shocks had fallen on his head in the past few minutes.

Closing his eyes, he began to make full use of the nightmare's abilities, quickly bringing his mind back to order. All the peace and quiet that had surrounded him along the way was an illusion - right now he was in the middle of a storm.

All these Evil Spirits and the ease with which Sombra had interrupted what the sisters were trying to do to the heavenly bodies was somewhat alarming.

After pondering the situation, Alexei decided to move forward towards the tree. The Evil Spirits were gone, and the path was now clear. He had another artifact from Twilight that allowed him to send items at a distance. He would get the tree's sap and send it to Twilight, then go to the outskirts and continue to watch the battle. If any dangerous creatures are near the tree, he will simply flee the Crystal Empire.

A nightmare erupted from Alexei's body, covering his entire body. Suppressing his energy as much as he could and trying to look as harmless a spirit as possible, the man tore towards the miasma on the other side.

In less than five minutes of running, he had run about three kilometers. If he were on Earth, he could already claim a world record. His physique had improved from his years in Everfree, but most of the credit was due to the ritual, the potions and the regeneration that constantly rebuilt his body.

Stopping in front of the miasma, Alexei took a breath and pulled some stimulants from his bag, taken from Twilight. Pulling out the corks, he volleyed two at once and entered the miasmas.

Alexei walked through the miasmas and the first thing he heard was the cracking of bones under his feet. The whole meadow was littered with cleanly whitened bones. In the center of the clearing stood a giant black tree, the mere sight of which made him dizzy and sent a chill down his spine. He felt something viscous and sticky, like roots, begin to entwine his mind.

Growling, Alexei stabbed a rib into his leg and used the spell to attack the foreign intrusion with pain. As if that wasn't enough, he snatched a knife from the artifact, stabbed it into his palm, and twisted. Sprinkling powder on the wound, he felt his flesh begin to sizzle, sending new waves of pain, forcing the roots attacking his mind to retreat.

Gritting his teeth, he waded towards the tree, withstanding the pressure on his mind.

He didn't stop checking his surroundings for a second. The meadow itself was completely empty, but he could see some fierce mutant pony or worse jumping out of the tree.

But nothing was happening and no one was jumping out of nowhere.

Blood began to drip from Alexei's nose as he struggled against the tree, and the artifact wrapped around his forehead began to buzz alarmingly.

Twenty meters. Ten meters. Five meters.

Suddenly, all the pressure vanished as he got within arm's length of the tree.

Squinting, Alexei used all his senses to the max, expecting a catch, but nothing happened. The huge tree trunk was making a soft crackling sound, and a light breeze was wafting around - the atmosphere was quite idyllic, except for the graveyard of bones around it.

"It stopped attacking me because it couldn't subdue me?" Alexei thought incomprehensibly. "Is this some kind of defense reaction or something?"

Apparently, the tree was unable to move or attack in any way other than a mental attack, and since the man had already come close, there was no point in further provoking an opponent it was unable to deal with. Did this tree possess some semblance of intelligence, or was it simply acting on instinct?

The tree may not have been going to attack him anymore, but Alexei was going to attack the tree.

"I'll just take some sap and leave," Alexei said, reaching for the amulet. "I'll heal all the damage."

He had no idea if the tree had a mind, but he certainly wasn't losing anything by uttering a few words.

Pulling out a new artifact from the amulet, Alexei easily pierced the bark of the tree, driving it deep inside. This artifact, made of an elephant tusk-like material, was shaped like a bayonet and could easily pierce through anything. He had taken it from Rarity for just this occasion.

Alexei tensed, expecting a possible attack from the tree, but nothing happened. From the tip of the artifact, a murky liquid began to drip rapidly - quite ordinary tree sap. He took out a bowl and put it under the drops, while he went for a small test tube.

The bowl filled quickly, but Alexei didn't have time to wonder where the tree had gotten so much sap.

Carefully pouring the sap into the test tube, he corked it tightly, washed it with water, and stuck it into the bloody worm that came out of his stomach. Alexei couldn't miss this opportunity. Hearing about the tree and its sap, he, being an alchemist, was of course interested, and was going to take some for himself. Previously, he had easily been able to hide a vial of Chrysalis' blood inside him, and there was enough room for one more. He didn't dare to hide it somewhere along the way or leave it in his bag for fear of corruption, so Chrysalis' blood was still inside him. Given his resistance to corruption and partially non-magical nature, his insides were a very safe place.

The bowl was almost full, so Alexei pulled the bayonet from the wood and poured the healing potion generously over the wound. The bark began to heal quickly, hiding the damage.

"As promised," Alexei said to the tree just in case. "I'll be gone in a couple minutes."

There wasn't a single fallen branch around, and the thought of climbing this gigantic tree made him very uneasy. It wasn't the height - Alexei felt that if he touched the tree directly, something terrible might happen. He might instantly lose control of himself. The tree seemed to be patiently waiting for just that moment. So Twilight would have to settle for just the sap.

After pouring the sap into four empty vials, he tucked two into his bag and began taking off all the artifacts except the one on his head. They may have made some sort of agreement with the tree, but it was clearly not worth the risk.

Stowing all the artifacts in the amulet, he sent two vials of sap there as well - Twilight's share. His entire portion of the loot was already in his bag, so it was ready to go.

On his palm appeared a black square artifact the size of a Rubik's cube, made of a material unknown to him. Slipping the amulet into it, he activated the artifact, and it silently disappeared from his palm, blurring into the air.

Alexei didn't even know that spatial artifacts could be teleported through another spatial artifact. He somehow thought that it was impossible or would cause some kind of collapse. Perhaps it was a feature of this cube - he didn't have time to find out the details from Twilight.

Twilight had gotten the promised tree sap, and he had returned all but one of the artifacts. Now he would quickly tear away from this meadow and toss that cobweb in some section - he wasn't going to risk leaving it on him.

"Nice doing business with you," Alexei smiled at the tree, slinging his bag onto his shoulder.

Just as he was about to leave, he felt someone's presence, along with the crunch of bones behind him. His instincts reacting to danger howled and immediately fell silent, as if burned out.

He'd considered many possible scenarios while he'd been walking here, and now he seemed to be facing the worst one. The nightmare, with the instructions already embedded in it, immediately destroyed all of Alexei's memories of his encounter with the Elements and the tree sap, replacing them with others. The instruction self-destructed along with the memories.

Gulping, Alexei slowly turned around.

Author's Note

Annoyed Twilight:

Applejack:

"Oh? You're approaching me?"
"I can't heal the shit out of you without getting closer."