Tales From The Omniverse

Chapters

Tale 6: What If: The Ultimate Life-Form's Ascension
Tale 1, Part 1: Soccer With Two Kirbys
Tale 1, Part 2: Hello Darkness, Goodbye Darkness
Tale 2: Future
Tale 3: Conversion Bureau
Tale 4: Versus Wrath
Tale 5, Part 1: Good Will And The Parahunters
Tale 5, Part 2: Conspiracy
Tale 5, Part 3: Zegor the Destructor
Tale 7: Halloween Special: Part 1: Apples and Curses
Tale 7, Part 2: Aftermath of the Blanks
Tale 8: Good To Be Alive
Tale 9: Sweetie Bot's Summer Sun Celebration Miracle
Tale 10: To Love and Be Loved
Tale 11: Call of Cthulhu

Tale 6: What If: The Ultimate Life-Form's Ascension

The battle against Chaos Elfilis continued as the heroes, joined by Void, fought with everything they had to defeat the Ultimate Life-form and stop them from trying to make Popstar collide with Earth. They managed to weaken them enough that their Soul came out, a large orb with smaller blood red orbs orbiting it.

Void, chasing the Soul like everyone else, sent fire at it. He hesitated using his Soul Form, his full power fearing the collateral damage that he would cause, but Elfilis was so powerful that he may have to do it. But he trusted that he and the others would manage to defeat them without him resorting to it.

Suddenly, Elfilis teleported right before Void and lost definition, becoming liquid. Eyes widening in horror, Void wasn’t able to stop himself before he flew right into it. He struggled to escape, but the liquid closed on him and spread all over his body. The others attacked to try to get him out, but failed.

Void disappeared inside Elfilis. The others could only look in horror.

“They absorbed Void…” Sweetie Void said, not believing what happened.

The red orbs merged with the Soul, enveloping it so it turned into a red liquid orb that dripped. Out of the liquid then came many purple eyes of various sizes with black, blue, and pink iris that had white pupils. These eyes moved all over it, sometimes sinking into their body and coming out elsewhere.

Meanwhile, in the vortex above them, they could see Popstar approaching again. Void’s clones that had been pushing the planets to keep them away from each other had disappeared.

However, the vortex became unstable. It was losing shape and shrinking, losing power. Popstar wasn’t approaching as rapidly as previously. That was one silver lining among all the bad stuff happening.

It seemed that absorbing Void was too much for Elfilis. They had difficulty fully processing this superior entity. It was like Void was still fighting inside them.

Sweetie Void wanted to save Void, but she didn’t know what to do. How to free someone absorbed by Elfilis? Leongar was saved, but it was only because Elfilis had wanted to use his body to return. The other animals they absorbed were still trapped inside them.

So there was only one thing the heroes could do.

“They are unstable! We must use the occasion to attack them!” Sweetie Void instructed.

Elfilis was currently immobile, not doing anything, so the heroes were able to unleash their best attacks to deal as much damage as possible in a minimum of time.

After several seconds of that, however, Elfilis suddenly sent a powerful shockwave that hit all the heroes and sent them crashing far while destroying the whole city, leaving behind a giant crater. The eyes then fired lasers that began to sweep around randomly. Some of the eyeballs entirely floated out of the body, moving around a bit before returning in it. The lasers were so powerful that they entirely traversed the planet, cutting it to pieces. Same with Popstar above.

And that was only the beginning as Elfilis became the center of a real storm of random attacks, unleashing winds going at hundreds of miles per hour, fire as hot as the sun, ice as cold as the absolute zero, while also sending the classic cutter blades, spikes, or explosive balls of energy (VERY powerful explosive balls of energy). Elfilis wasn’t trying to hit anything with them. They were just sent randomly, making them totally unpredictable, without forgetting that they were, like the vortex, unstable, so they tended to move in even more random directions, dissipate prematurely, or explode even when they weren’t supposed to. Thanks to that, the damages were limited to a dozen miles around them, without counting the lasers.

“The enemy has totally lost their mind!” Gilgamesh said upon seeing all that, in awe before such power.

Since he had been riding Sweetie Void, he crashed just beside her after they were expelled by the shockwave. They were now many miles away, but they could see the storm of attacks very well.

Sweetie Void glared at the storm, then flew up, readied her ten cannons, and fired an Ultimate Doom Laser, making sure that it won’t end up hitting anything. The laser engulfed Elfilis and caused a huge amount of damage, but Elfilis survived, still attacking.

Phantom also attacked, sending cubes at Elfilis from where she crashed. A few cubes managed to pass through the attacks and to hit Elfilis, sending them to another reality where a star, a real star, was dropped on them. Still, it wasn’t enough.

Galacta Knight sent sharp waves with his spear. Most were destroyed by Elfilis’ attacks, but one still managed to reach Elfilis and to slice them, but they immediately reformed.

Suddenly, Elfilis stopped attacking and glowed. Then, they shot up, going toward space under the vortex in the blink of an eye.

Drat… Space in this universe may not be like space like in the Dream Universe. She will have to ensure that Gilgamesh, who probably couldn’t survive in space, will be able to go there.

She let Gilgamesh climb on her, then chased Elfilis along with everyone else.

When they joined Elfilis, they saw that their body stabilized and took on a new appearance. They were still red, but now, they looked like a fusion between a Dark Matter and a bud, their spherical body being composed of six closed ‘petals’, each with a purple eye. From the three bottom eyes started white streaks, like tear trails.

It was bad, but there was one silver lining: Elfilis absorbed Positive Void, Void at his weakest. If it had been Neutral Void…

But still, there was no doubt that, now, Elfilis was…

The Ascended
Void Elfilis

Suddenly, like a flower, Void Elfilis’ body opened, revealing inside it a black void surrounding a single giant eye. Actually, it looked like the void itself was the eye, and the ‘eye’ in the center was just the iris.

The next instant, the vortex stabilized, grew back to its normal size, and regained its power. But to the heroes’ horror, more vortexes opened, each bringing a new planet, some of which they recognized. The three Equus. New Halcandra. The Mushroom World. Mobius. Daiban. And others that must be the Pokémon World or Hyrule’s world.

Void Elfilis was about to make the main planets of the Alliance crash into each others. The vortexes were all around Earth.

Gilgamesh summarized it for everyone, even if he didn’t know what these planets were: “Crap.”

They had to destroy Elfilis NOW!

As Elfilis closed, Sweetie Void began to sing, powering up everyone, having to use power so her voice could reach the others despite them being in space.

“We must stand strong,
We don’t have long
To defeat this wrong,
So listen to my song.”

They began to fly all over the planet, Elfilis leading them into a chase as they began to attack by firing lasers from their eyes.

Fearing touching one of the planets, Sweetie didn’t dare firing her Ultimate Doom Laser, so she used smaller attacks, starting by sending energy swords by dozens. On her back, Gilgamesh used magic, like always, not able to do anything else. Beside her, Kirby used the Ultra Morpho Sword to send sharp waves. Galacta Knight opened rifts to fire his space beams. Phantom, after using cubes to bring Void Elfilis into another reality, sent small stars.

And then there was Apple Death who, instead of attacking, flew toward the planet.

Whatever idea her friend had, Sweetie Void continued singing.

“While it looks bleak,
We are not weak.”

Void Elfilis turned black, then their body collapsed into a powerful black hole that the heroes resisted by flying away.

“Must not fail,
Must prevail,
Not turn tail.”

Below them, the planet, which had been cut to pieces, began to reform. Three holes then opened in the crust, two forming eyes and one forming a mouth.

Apple Death, thanks to Sweetie Void’s boost, took possession of the whole planet.

Meanwhile, the black hole disappeared, and Elfilis teleported around a bit before they opened large vortexes out of which came hundreds of giant meteors. The heroes either avoided them or destroyed them.

But suddenly, Elfilis opened their body and began sucking up everything into their void.

“We must trust.
Our worlds will not turn to dust.”

The planet fired homing beams from the eyes, causing huge damage to Elfilis who stopped sucking up before they closed.

“We have lots of friends
we must defend
so it’s not their end.”

Elfilis’ body opened again, expelling everything they sucked up, but much deadlier as they were much faster. They also expelled a strong force that pushed against the heroes, slowing them down.

All around them, debris from the planets were raining.

“Together we stand tall
Fighting to not fall
For the good of all.”

Sweetie Void created her own black hole that sucked up the meteors. Then, she expelled all of it as an even more giant meteor that destroyed everything in its path until hitting Elfilis’ iris in the center of their void, which hurt them a lot judging by the screech they let out.

“This red demon ascending
Will not stop us from having our happy ending.”

Void Elfilis closed and sent dozens of cutter blades while materializing two Ultra Swords. With them, they began to slice space, copying Galacta Knight by sending their own space beams, even more powerful.

“Can’t stop. Push on, on.”

Void Elfilis materialized four Master Crowns in a circle and charged a beam. The heroes couldn’t avoid it, the Mushroom World was behind them. No choice, Sweetie readied her Ultimate Doom Laser to counter it. The two beams clashed and created a huge explosion that sent everyone far away. They quickly recovered however and resumed chasing Elfilis.

“Fight, fight, so we can see the dawn.”

The planets were getting closer. They had to hurry up.

Suddenly, to Sweetie’s shock, Void Elfilis began to sing.

I am the light
That will scorch the
worlds and turn to ash
My father’s legacy

Sweetie’s jaw dropped as she saw Void Elfilis powering themself.

“Hey! Thief!” she yelled. However, she quickly got over it and resumed singing to not lose the buff.

“While it looks bleak,
We are not weak.”

You are insects
You stand no chance

The planet opened its mouth and spat hundreds of beams that homed in on Elfilis. Meanwhile, Galacta Knight decided to try to seal them and sent many Heart Spears that they easily pushed back with a shockwave. Sweetie Void made everyone teleport so they didn’t get hit by it.

“Must not fail,
Must prevail,
Not turn tail.”

You will fail,
Be destroyed,
Bow to God.

Void Elfilis created three copies of themself who all enveloped themselves in blue fire before they charged at the heroes, all the while sending fireballs randomly from all over their bodies. Phantom materialized a giant baseball bat made of the strongest heat-resistant metal and used it to send one of the copies away. The bat still melted after touching the copy. Gilgamesh didn’t even bother using his ice magic.

“We must trust.
Our worlds will not turn to dust.”

It will end.
All of life will disappear.

The four Elfilis stopped charging and gathered back, forming a line, before they fired homing beams from their eyes. Dodging all of them was impossible, and the heroes all got hit at least once. Sweetie Void tried to use her mirrors, but the beams were too powerful and destroyed them without problem.

The four Elfilis then merged back into one and materialized four Master Crowns, to Sweetie’s horror.

With Elfilis boosting themself, their beam will be too powerful even for her Ultimate Doom Laser.

Also, the planets were very close to the vortexes. They will traverse them anytime now. More and more pieces of them were raining everywhere.

“We have lots of friends
we must defend
so it’s not their end.”

War is all they know
So war I bring
Until nothing’s left.

Sweetie Void still readied her beam, and the two fired. However, as expected, Elfilis’ beam overpowered Sweetie Void’s.

Then came Elfilin who placed himself before Sweetie Void, taking her energy and unleashing it as the beam, taking it over while giving his own energy, turning the beam more powerful. The beams were now equal in power, but then, Elfilis opened, and their beam gained even more power. Elfilin looked at the others and wordlessly told them to hurry up!

They understood. They all approached and placed a hand near Elfilin, giving him energy, allowing his beam to get more powerful. Seeing what was happening, Apple Death left the planet and came to give her own energy. The two beams were now equal again.

“Together we stand tall
Fighting to not fall
For the good of all.”

Your friendship is useless.
It only brings pain.
You are best alone.

Sweetie Void glared at Elfilis. Then, Celestia came, bringing with her everyone who participated in this adventure. They immediately understood what was going on and began to give their energy to Elfilin who roared as his beam gained the upper hand.

Sweetie Void grinned.

“We are not perfect at all
But we believe in All for One and One for All!”

Elfilis couldn’t sing anymore as fear filled them.

Elfilin’s beam overpowered Elfilis’ beam and continued into their opened body until reaching the iris where it exploded.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Elfilis’ screech deafened everyone.

Their body then began to disintegrate into light particles. Before long, a last particle of light floated toward Elfilin who absorbed it.

Finally, the vortexes closed, just in time.

Sweetie Void breathed in relief. It was over. The Alliance was saved.

But at what price… They lost a God. A dear friend. A father. And the planets certainly received huge damage from the force of the vortexes and any straight projectiles, even if the heroes had been careful.

Things will be hard in the near future.

Author's Note

Inspired from Desolo Zantas' video: Link.
I found the idea wonderful and I wanted to use it right away.

Tale 1, Part 1: Soccer With Two Kirbys

Beside Cappy Town’s big tree, Kirby caught the ball and passed it to Fololo who passed it to Iro who passed it to Tuff, and so on. The children were passing the ball to each other in a circle, often sending it too much to the left, right, or above, forcing them to run to catch it. Not far from them, Tiff was reading a book on a bench.

On one such occasion where the ball was sent too far above, making Kirby run to catch it, the ball was instead caught by Dedede, causing Kirby to crash into his belly and bounce off to fall on his butt.

“Oh! Thanks for the ball! Now, I think that I will keep it.”

“Hey!” Tuff shouted. “Give back the ball!”

“Nah. Finders keepers. Now it’s my ball and I’ll be the one playing with it. But if you want it back so badly, then how about you try to take it back by playing soccer? Me and my team of Waddle Dees against you and whoever you manage to recruit? Of course, I will totally win it and keep it while Kirby will cry in the mud. Eheheheheh!” Dedede walked away with the ball. “See you tomorrow at 10 am with whatever team of losers you will get!”

He left behind quite a bunch of unhappy kids (and whatever were Fololo and Falala).

“What do we do now?” Spikehead wondered.

“We prepare for the match,” Tiff said. “We will have to find people who will agree to play for us. I will ask around town.”

“I’m not sure if anyone will want to play against King Dedede,” Honey said.

“Maybe if we find Knuckle Joe…” Fololo proposed.

“He would still be only one player,” Honey countered.

“Will you play, Tiff? You aren’t really the sportive type,” Tuff said to his sister.

“I don’t know. If we don’t find enough players…”

She was stopped from saying more as, suddenly, she saw a tear in the fabric of space open. Out of it came a white, winged, horned equine a bit smaller than Tuff, but bigger than Kirby. The children could only watch in wonder.

“So, let’s see, where am I?” the equine said as she looked around before she spotted the children.

Silence followed, especially when the equine spotted Kirby.

Sweetie Void knew this could happen sooner or later, but meeting an alternate version of Kirby still took her by surprise and, for a moment, she wasn’t sure what to do. Thankfully, the first one who did something was the yellow skinned girl with the ponytail. Wait, three of these children (they were children, right? The girl and the boy beside her certainly were, but she had doubts for the others) were Cappies without their mushroom cap, and they had features that differentiated them, and one of them was even wearing clothes! And was that Lololo and Lalala flying beside them? Why were they so small? And last she remembered, Lololo and Lalala couldn’t fly.

“Hello? Who are you?” the girl asked.

“Uh. Hi. I’m Sweetie Void,” the filly answered. “Before you ask, I’m a visitor from another dimension. I explore universes.”

“From another dimension?” all the kids repeated more or less excitedly.

“That’s right! So, who are you?”

The kids presented themselves. The girl with the ponytail was Tiff. The boy with orange skin and yellow and green hair hiding his eyes was her brother, Tuff. The Cappies were Honey (the only girl), Iro, and Spikehead. Lololo and Lalala were actually Fololo and Falala. And finally, there was Kirby.

“Welcome to Cappy Town, in Dream Land,” Tiff said.

“Let me guess.” Sweetie pointed at a big castle visible on top of a cliff. “This is Dedede’s castle?”

Tiff was surprised. “Uh, yes. But how do you know?”

“I lived in an alternate version of Dream Land for a bit. The castle doesn’t look the same, but, castle in Dream Land, immediately, I thought “Dedede”. I’m also friends with an alternate Kirby.”

“That’s incredible!” Tiff exclaimed. “Do you know an alternate version of me?”

“No. I never met alternate you. Not sure you even exist in that Dream Land. I never encountered your species.”

“Oh.”

Sweetie spotted an adult Cappy passing by.

“And there are some differences, like Cappies. The adults aren’t that big in the other universe. They are actually about your size,” she said as she pointed at the three Cappies that were revealed to be really children. “And they wear mushroom caps and don’t have any features to differentiate them. And Kirby there is a bit smaller than this one, about half my size.”

“Wow, that’s small!” Tuff said.

“Now I’m curious to know what other differences there are between the two universes. You said that the other universe has a Dedede too but that he lives in a different castle?”

“Yes. Give me a second so I can have a better look at the castle. I can’t see it well from here with the trees and houses in the way.”

At that, Sweetie Void flew up, and a few seconds later, returned.

“Yeah, the other Dedede castle definitely has no dome roof or towers and cone roofs. And I don’t see the windows looking like glaring eyes.”

“A castle with windows that look like glaring eyes,” Spikehead said with a shudder. “Your Dedede sounds even meaner than ours.”

Sweetie Void raised an eyebrow. “It’s just a style. He loves evil-looking castles. But in reality, Dedede is a softy. Why?” She glared. “Is your Dedede a problem?”

“He stole our ball just a few minutes before you arrived!” Tuff exclaimed. “And then, he defied us to take it back by winning a soccer match against him!”

“He probably wants to ridicule Kirby again,” Falala said. “He always tries to find new ways to humiliate him, and it looks like his current attempt is by winning a soccer match over him.”

“His plots, at first, consisted of defeating Kirby, but eventually, they changed into plots to humiliate him, especially since he doesn’t have any more monsters to send anymore,” Tiff said. “Also, he has an ego the size of the moon, he doesn’t care if he makes others suffer as long as he boosts it. He is also super selfish, violent, lazy…”

“He is a big bully!” Tuff exclaimed.

Sweetie Void groaned, rubbing her face. “Great. Your Dedede is still in his stage “steal everyone’s food to boost his own ego”. Yes, that is what my Dedede did at first before he mellowed down.”

“Our Dedede never went that far!” Honey said.

“But I wouldn’t be surprised if he decides to do that one day,” Iro said.

“I don’t think he will dare. Now that he doesn’t have his monsters anymore, Kirby would beat him to a pulp,” Tuff said.

“Poyo!” the puffball exclaimed, agreeing.

“Then why not just beat him up to get back your ball?” Sweetie Void questioned.

“Using violence for just a ball, it would go a bit far, don’t you think? Especially if we can get it back in a non-violent way,” Tiff said.

“True. You said he had monsters?”

“Yes. He bought monsters from that company, Nightmare Enterprise, or N.M.E., and used them in his plots to harm Kirby or assert his control over Cappy Town, among others.”

“Nightmare Enterprise? Wait, Nightmare… Anything to do with an evil wizard?”

“eNeMeE, yes,” Tiff said. “You had him too?”

“eNeMeE? We are talking about the same wizard, right? Blue cloak with stars and pauldrons? Helmet with long yellow horns? Shades?”

“Yes, that’s eNeMeE,” Tiff confirmed.

“Well, in the other universe, he was called Nightmare. Kirby killed him.”

“Same for us.”

“So Dedede worked for him?”

“I wouldn’t say “worked”. He just bought the monsters. He was his client.”

“Whoa. Nightmare, CEO of a monster-selling company, and Dedede, his client. That’s… certainly different. And why is Dedede still king if he caused so much trouble?”

Tiff shrugged. “The Cappies are easily forgiving, and surprisingly, he can reveal a good side sometimes.”

“Good. He still remains Dedede in the end. He is not really evil, just a jerk with a good heart. Well then, how about I help you win this soccer match?”

“You will help us?” Tuff asked.

“Of course! Well, I never played soccer, but I should be good.”

“Even then, we will still need to find more players, and we aren’t sure if the Cappies will agree to play,” Tiff said.

“That’s no problem. I have some friends that I’m sure will agree to play. When is the match?”

“Tomorrow at 10am,” Fololo answered.

“Who among you will play?”

“Me!” Tuff shouted, raising his hand. “And Kirby too!”

“And me, if I have no choice,” Tiff said.

“So, with me, that leaves at least seven players. No problem,” Sweetie Void said. “Well, we have time, so how about you give me a tour of Cappy Town, and we can talk more about the differences between the two Dream Lands?”

“Alright,” Tiff agreed. “And I will present you to everyone.”

And so, Tiff, followed by the others, led Sweetie Void through the town, presenting her to the inhabitants like Chef Kawasaki, Chief Bookem, Mayor Len Blustergas, Gus, Biblio, and so on. At the end, the children separated, Kirby returned to his house, and Tiff and Tuff led Sweetie to the castle where they lived, taking the occasion to present her to their parents, Sir Ebrum and Lady Like.

Tiff sighed. “If you want to spend the night here, I will have to present you to Dedede.”

“Ah, don’t worry, I can deal with Dedede.”

They found Dedede eating, a giant purple snail at his side. If Sweetie remembered correctly what she was told during the tour, his name was Escargoon.

Dedede saw Tiff and immediately looked annoyed. “Oh, it’s you. What do you want? Oh, let me guess, you are giving up the match tomorrow because you found nobody to play with you!”

Sweetie Void was taken off guard by his Southern accent.

“You wish, Dedede! I’m here to present Sweetie Void to you. She will help us in tomorrow’s match, and she wishes to remain in the castle tonight.”

Dedede raised an eyebrow. Escargoon was the one who responded before he could. “And why would Dedede let someone who will play against him remain in his castle?”

Sweetie Void grinned at him. “Well, he is letting Tiff remain despite the fact that she is against him.”

Escargoon frowned. “Ah, good point.”

Dedede snorted. “Well you know what? I will be a good sport. I will let her remain in the castle. Because it won’t change anything for tomorrow, I will still beat Kirby in the match.”

“That’s so nice of you, King Dedede,” Sweetie Void said.

“By the way, who are you? Where do you come from?” Dedede asked.

“Like Tiff said, I’m Sweetie Void, visitor from another dimension.”

“WHAT?!” both Dedede and Escargoon yelled. Dedede almost toppled his chair.

“I come from a place called Equestria. I’m an alicorn pony. And yes, I’m just a filly, but I love exploring other dimensions. I developed a taste for adventure, you see.”

“I see…” Dedede said slowly, gawking at Sweetie Void.

“So I hope that you don’t mind that I help Kirby. It will be fun to play soccer. I will also bring friends.”

“Uh, well, that’s no problem. Like I said, that won’t change the outcome.”

Sweetie smirked at that. “Well then, as long as we have fun, that’s alright, but I will still do my best.”

“Yeah yeah. By the way, Escargoon here will be the referee,” Dedede informed.

“What?!” Tiff exclaimed. “He is not a neutral party! He will be on your side! He-he will allow you to cheat!”

Dedede put a hand on his chest, looking hurt. “Moi? Cheating? I would never!”

“I will be an exemplary referee,” Escargoon said. “Cheating won’t be allowed under my eyes. I promise.”

Dedede pointed at Escargoon. “See?”

Tiff gave an “I’m watching you” stare before stomping out of the room, grumbling that she didn’t believe it, that something was up. Sweetie Void followed her.

Once they were left alone, Dedede and Escargoon looked at each other, then cackled.

The night passed and morning came. Early, Sweetie left the universe to go search her friends for the match. Dedede made his Waddle Dees build a soccer field not far of Cappy Town, stands included, and ordered everyone in town to come watch it so they could witness his greatness. His team of Waddle Dees was already here, ready to start the match.

A few minutes before the match would start, Sweetie Void arrived with her friends, which revealed to be Kirby, Dedede, Bandana Dee, Knuckle Joe, Rick, Marx, Adeleine, Daroach, and Void. Broom Sunglasses, Cape Knight, Meta Knight, Galacta Knight, the animals, Gooey, Ribbon, Yin and Yarn, Elline, Claycia, Dark Meta Knight, and the lieutenants of the Squeak Squad were also present but won’t play.

Local Dedede made big eyes upon seeing his counterpart and Kirby.

“What the-?!”

“Everyone,” Sweetie began. “I present to you my friends from an alternate version of Dream Land.” She then presented everyone.

Local Dedede pointed at his counterpart, who was a lot smaller than him. “You are playing with Kirby?”

Dedede smirked. “That’s right. We work very well together.”

Local Dedede gawked at him.

Meanwhile, the two Kirbys looked at each other, then both waved and said, “Hiii!”

Local Meta Knight was also here and, upon seeing his counterpart, Dark Meta Knight, and Galacta Knight, immediately asked them in duels which they agreed.

Sweetie Void did a double take at local Meta Knight’s Spanish accent.

“Are you Star Warriors too?” he asked Dark Meta Knight and Galacta Knight.

“Whatever they are, we aren’t,” Galacta Knight answered. “Or I guess we are?” he suddenly wondered. “If our group had a name, I suppose that this is what we would be called.”

All eyes then turned on Void once the locals finally remarked him. A bigger Kirby?

Void waved at them. “Hello. I’m Kirby’s father. Nice to meet all of you. I will be in the reserve.”

Jaws dropped, and local Kirby shouted, “Poyo?!”

Sweetie grinned. “Also, he is a God.”

Jaws dropped even lower.

“In the other universe, Kirby has a father who is a God?!” Tiff exclaimed.

Void glared at Sweetie who smiled innocently, then he said, “Treat me as if you never heard that. I’m here to have fun with my son.”

Escargoon was sweating, but he showed a watch around his arm. “It’s 10am. We should get in position to start the match.”

Everyone agreed and moved into position. Without surprise, local Dedede placed himself in the center of the field, ready to receive the ball from a Waddle Dee so he will lead the offensive. Meanwhile, three more Waddle Dees went midfield, two forward, and three in defense, plus the goalie obviously.

In the opposite team, after a bit of talk, Sweetie Void, Dream Universe Kirby, Tuff, and Daroach went midfield. Local Kirby, Knuckle Joe, Rick, and Marx went defense. Bandana Dee and Adeleine went forward. And Dedede went goalie, to local Dedede’s surprise.

“You are playing second fiddle to them?!”

“My size will be more useful here!”

Local Dedede didn’t look happy at all. “A Dedede should lead the charge!”

“At least, I’m playing smart.”

…

“Wait a minute! Are you implying…?!”

Dedede guffawed.

Meanwhile, the ones who weren’t playing went on the stands. Local Meta Knight went to sit beside his counterpart.

“What can you tell me about your friends?”

Meta Knight chuckled. “They never played soccer, so I expect a very chaotic match. But they are all very strong and have good teamwork so I’m not worried about their chances of victory. Dedede won’t let the ball pass. Marx will traumatize any poor Waddle Dee getting in his way. Daroach will be too fast to follow. And then there are Sweetie Void and Kirby who are in a league of their own. Prepare for a good show, and pity your Dedede.”

The whistle sounded, and Dedede received the ball. He immediately ran toward the goal only to have the ball stolen by Sweetie Void who passed it to Daroach who eventually attempted to dribble past a Waddle Dee a bit awkwardly, not used yet to kick a ball. Thankfully for him, the Waddle Dee was just as awkward and attempted to kick the ball only to end on his butt, allowing him to continue.

Only to be body tackled from the side by another Waddle Dee.

But no whistle sounded.

“Hey! That’s foul!” Tuff yelled only to see that Escargoon had his back turned and he was whistling. “Cheater!”

“Cheating? What cheating? As long as the referee doesn’t see anything, there is no cheating,” local Dedede said smugly.

From the reserve bench, Tiff fumed. “Grrrrr! I knew something like that would happen! No cheating under his eyes, of course! If he doesn’t look…!”

At her side, Void said, “Don’t worry. I’m sure that our team will counter that.”

Meanwhile, a Waddle Dee got the ball, then passed to another Waddle Dee who then passed to local Dedede who ran and barreled through local Kirby (not getting a whistle, obviously) before he kicked the ball at the goal.

Dedede stopped it without problem. He then threw it at Marx who began to walk on it to make it roll. He moved left and right to avoid Waddle Dees until he was stopped by a wall of three Waddle Dees. Then, he got down from the ball and passed it to Kirby who kicked, from the middle of the field. The ball was sent toward the goal like a cannonball and went right through the net, leaving a hole and a poor goalie who looked at it in horror. The ball was thankfully stopped by a shield from Sweetie Void before it could hit someone on the stands.

Escargoon was reluctant to whistle, but he did so anyway, after staring in shock at Kirby for several seconds. “1-0 for Kirby’s team!”

“As expected,” Meta Knight said.

“That’s not surprising. If our Kirby can send a giant frying pan flying around the sun, your Kirby can turn the ball into a cannonball,” local Meta Knight said with a chuckle.

Meta Knight looked at his counterpart. “Your Kirby did what?!”

The match resumed with local Dedede possessing the ball. Sweetie Void was about to take the ball again only for Dedede to ‘trip’ and fall right toward her.

“Eep!”

Thankfully, she teleported away. However, the ball went away and was caught by local Kirby who passed it to Tuff who passed it to Bandana Dee. He ran a bit, dribbling a Waddle Dee, before he kicked the ball. The goalie jumped to intercept it, but he was just too small to reach it and the ball landed in the net.

Escargoon whistled. “2-0!”

Local Dedede was seething.

Once the match resumed, he ran with the ball, took out his hammer, and hit Sweetie Void before she could steal the ball, of course not getting a whistle. Local Dedede continued running and hit the ball with his hammer before Marx, sending the ball to the goal only to be stopped again by his counterpart.

Dedede smirked. “So we use our weapons now?” He took out his hammer and hit the ball which traversed the whole field and entered the opposite goal.

Escargoon whistled. However, he said, “Weapons are forbidden! Penalty for King Dedede’s team!”

Dedede glared at Escargoon. “Now he does his job.”

Of course, local Dedede was the one doing the penalty, but the ball was stopped yet again by his counterpart.

Dedede threw the ball right away at Rick who ran and dribbled a Waddle Dee before he kicked the ball to the right. The ball was intercepted by Marx who passed it to Sweetie Void who kicked the ball, getting a goal.

“3-0!”

The match resumed, local Dedede was running with the ball. This time, he tried to avoid Sweetie Void only to be stolen by local Kirby who passed the ball to Knuckle Joe who passed the ball to Daroach who passed the ball to Adeleine only for her to be tackled by a Waddle Dee. Another Waddle Dee caught the ball and began to run with it.

Sweetie Void suddenly blindfolded Escargoon. “Hey! What is it?”

The Waddle Dee and the ball were inhaled by Kirby. He spat them and kicked the ball right away toward the goal.

Sweetie Void removed the blindfold, allowing Escargoon to see the goal.

Before he could say the score, local Dedede said, “Foul! Kirby inhaled the ball and the player!”

“You have no proof!” Sweetie Void shouted back. “Right, everyone?”

Everyone in her team agreed that Kirby didn’t inhale the ball and the player. Despite that, Escargoon whistled and shouted, “Foul!”

Sweetie Void groaned. “I tried.”

A Waddle Dee kicked the ball toward Dedede only to be intercepted by Tuff who ran a bit before he passed the ball to Bandana Dee who scored a goal.

“4-0!”

Local Dedede was bouncing in rage.

He ran with the ball, passed it to a Waddle Dee, only for the Waddle Dee to eventually be scared by Marx making a face, causing him to drop on his back with an arm on his heart, pale. Marx took the ball and passed it to Rick who headbutted the ball to Tuff only for him to be tackled by a Waddle Dee. Sweetie Void teleported to the ball and kicked it high. Kirby teleported to it and kicked it toward the goal, scoring.

All the locals stared at Kirby, Escargoon eventually whistling and shouting, “5-0”

“He can teleport… without an Ability?!” local Dedede exclaimed.

“That’s awesome!” Tuff shouted.

“Actually, it was the ESP Ability. Kirby can shift between all the Abilities he got to this point at will. Void trained him,” Sweetie Void informed.

The thought of a Kirby being able to change Ability at will horrified local Dedede. Meanwhile, local Kirby looked at his counterpart in awe.

“Did I hear that right? Your Kirby can change Ability at will?” local Meta Knight asked in shock.

“Yes,” all the visitors around him answered (except the animals).

After that, local Meta Knight was deep in thought. Could his Kirby learn to do that too?

The match resumed with Dedede running with the ball in his hands, making sure that Sweetie Void and Kirby couldn’t take it, only to trip on… nothing? Making him drop the ball.

Behind him, Sweetie Void whistled innocently.

“What have you done?” he yelled at her.

“Nothing. No way I could reach you from where I was behind you.”

While Dedede was busy yelling at Sweetie Void, local Kirby got the ball and dribbled all the way to the middle of the field before he kicked, sending the ball toward the goal and scoring, like his counterpart.

“6-0!”

The match resumed only for local Dedede to hit the ball with the hammer right away, sending it toward the goal. However, the ball was intercepted by Sweetie Void with a headbutt, sending the ball toward Daroach who passed to Adeleine who finished painting something. The next instant, she was surrounded by a wall, stopping a Waddle Dee from tackling her, and she left an opening to allow her to kick the ball and score a goal.

“7-0!”

“Wait! We are allowing that?” local Dedede exclaimed.

“Nothing in the rules is against putting a wall to stop someone from tackling you,” Adeleine said.

The match resumed, Dedede ran with the ball under one arm and used his hammer to keep the others away before he placed the ball before he eventually hit the ball with the hammer toward the goal only for it to be stopped by Dedede. He was ready to kick the ball to the other side of the field when he saw something in the sky.

“What is… Wait… Is that…?”

Questioningly, the others looked up at the sky and saw… a cloud of darkness approaching.

Sweetie Void gasped, then groaned. “Dark Matter. Come on, we were having so much fun.”

Tale 1, Part 2: Hello Darkness, Goodbye Darkness

The giant cloud of darkness was already spreading all over the world, hiding the sun, and countless Dark Matters could be seen coming out of it and descending toward the surface.

Most of the locals began to panic, some trying to escape. Local Dedede and Escargoon seemed to hesitate between running away and using local Kirby as a cover.

Seeing that, Sweetie Void made a boom sound from her horn, gaining everyone’s attention.

“Remain close, everyone! Me and Kirby and Void and Galacta Knight can protect you from these things!” she shouted, amplifying her voice so everyone could hear.

“What are they?” Tiff asked after running toward her from the reserve bench.

“Dark Matter. Abominations of darkness that possess beings to spread misery and suffering to plunge worlds into darkness. They are only vulnerable to positivity, especially love.”

The local Meta Knight landed beside her. “Which means that we can’t do anything against them. I heard about this scourge of the universe but I had hoped that they would never come to this world. You can fight them?”

To answer him, Sweetie began to fire beams of positive Heart Matter at the approaching Dark Matters, blowing them up. At the same time, her Kirby took his Stella Knight form and flew alongside Galacta Knight and Void with rainbow swords and spear to attack the Dark Matters and protect everyone. The local Kirby looked at his counterpart in awe. He then thought about what Sweetie said and looked at Tiff.

She understood. “Kabu! Warp Star!” she yelled.

A few seconds later, a Warp Star arrived and approached Kirby who inhaled it, to Sweetie’s surprise. To her shock, it gave him the Star Rod.

“Eeh?!”

Kirby began to swing the Star Rod, sending countless star projectiles that were revealed to be effective against the Dark Matters. Sweetie Void was impressed by how many stars he could send with a single swing. This Star Rod was more powerful than the one from the Dream Universe.

Despite that, too many Dark Matters were coming, but Sweetie Void smirked.

Then, she emanated a pink light full of love that spread very far all over the world, destroying every single Dark Matters, including the cloud of darkness.

There was a screech of pain coming from a giant white ball that remained from the cloud.

Zero.

Sweetie looked at her Kirby, Galacta Knight, and Void, grinning. “So, who does the honor?”

Local Kirby raised an arm and shouted, “Poyo!”

Sweetie giggled. “Of course. It’s your world. You get to save it. But to fly up there, you will need something. Climb on my back.” She then changed to an appropriate size to accommodate the bigger local Kirby.

Local Kirby nodded and climbed on her.

There was a flash of light, and Sweetie’s mane and tail were suddenly full of glowing stars.

She laughed. “Of course the Star Rod is counted as an Ability!”

“Poyo?”

“Yeah, it happens when Kirby climbs on my back with an Ability. It was very nice back when I didn’t have lots of powers. Now, let’s go. Time to go kill my second Zero.”

So she flew toward Zero, Kirby readying the Star Rod.

It didn’t take long to reach him. He stared at them with his blood red eye full of hate and pain.

“I wish I could do something to end your pain, like what happened to Gooey,” Sweetie Void said sadly.

“My pain can never end,” Zero replied, to Sweetie’s surprise. “Pain is all that there is. Everyone will feel it and know it as the only truth.”

Kirby pointed the Star Rod at Zero, sending countless stars circling him, making him screech in pain. They weren’t enough, however, to kill him, to Kirby’s shock. The stars remained at least.

In return, Zero sent blood and created Dark Matters to attack Kirby and Sweetie Void, forcing the filly to fly around to avoid them while firing stars to destroy the Dark Matters.

Kirby sent more and more stars with the Star Rod, accumulating them around Zero who screeched more and more in pain.

Zero tried to ram them but Sweetie teleported to avoid him, reappearing behind him. Again, Kirby fired stars from the Star Rod. By now, Zero’s body was almost entirely surrounded by them.

Finally, Zero’s body began to glow with the accumulated power of all the stars. The eye quickly expelled itself out as the body began to evaporate. Sweetie teleported again to avoid the eye as it tried to ram her. The eye was fast and immediately changed trajectory to go after her, forcing her to teleport more while Kirby continued to fire stars with the Star Rod. However, the eye was too fast and was able to avoid most of the stars, to Kirby’s shock. Some still caught him and surrounded him.

In the end, it was a matter of time before enough stars surrounded the eye and caused it to evaporate too, Zero giving one last screech.

“You are lucky, Kirby, my Zero’s death was much messier,” Sweetie Void said.

“Poyo.”

“And I don’t think that this one will return as Zero Two. His body disintegrated. No way for him to reform.”

“Poyo?”

“Yeah, I had to deal with him two times before he died definitively, and the second time was just as messy as the first time. I planted a crystal into his eye.”

Kirby shuddered.

“I know, not a nice memory. Still one of the messiest deaths I experienced.”

Sweetie Void flew back toward the soccer field, hearing, then seeing almost everyone there applauding at her and Kirby.

Once they landed, everyone surrounded them and congratulated them.

“That was awesome!”

“You were incredible!”

“Good job!”

“That’s my girl!” Dedede shouted.

“We can’t thank you enough for saving us,” one of the Cappies, the Mayor, said to Sweetie eventually.

“It was nothing. It was actually my joy to have such an easy fight against Zero. It was therapeutic. He caused a lot of suffering to everyone, me included, in the other universe,” Sweetie Void replied.

“How bad would it have been if you hadn’t been here?” local Dedede asked hesitantly with a gulp.

“Everyone here would have been possessed except Kirby who would have been forced to fight all of you. Then, he would have had to find a way to fly to Zero while holding the Star Rod. Finally, he would have had to fight Zero while also dealing with the Dark Matters that he created.”

“In other words, this would have been very bad, but Kirby would have certainly still won in the end,” local Meta Knight said. “The battle would have been more difficult than the one against eNeMeE, but Kirby has proven more than once that he can win despite all odds.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Sweetie agreed. “So, what about the soccer match?”

Local Dedede grumbled something, then tossed the ball at Tuff.

Escargoon sighed. “You were losing very badly anyway.”

“Shut up!”

At that, Dedede stomped away, followed by Escargoon and the Waddle Dees.

To celebrate Dark Matter’s destruction, another soccer match was started instead. What had been in Sweetie’s team was divided into two teams joined by some of the locals. Local Meta Knight even decided to join in the team opposing local Kirby, probably to test him. Sweetie and her Kirby also went to opposing teams. Void went for goalie in Kirby’s team. The children all joined. Tiff was the referee. It was a lot of fun! And no cheating!

And since the soccer field was here to stay, the locals could have more matches in the future!

Before long, the match was over. In the end, Sweetie Void and the others remained for the rest of the day, spending it visiting Cappy Town and having a good time with the locals.

Marx made several pranks with the children.

The local policecappy kept an eye on Daroach.

Local Meta Knight had his duel with his counterpart and Galacta Knight.

Local Kirby had a brief nap with his counterpart and Rick.

When the sun set, Sweetie Void promised to bring a portal to allow local Kirby and the others to visit, and in return, she will visit them regularly.

“And don’t hesitate to call if more threats show themselves on Popstar. I know for a fact that Nightmare and Dark Matter were only the start if this is like in the other universe,” Sweetie Void said.

“Nothing that Kirby shouldn’t be able to deal with, I bet,” Tuff said proudly.

“Yeah, especially if he can get the Star Rod whenever he wants just by inhaling his Warp Star. That’s a big advantage he has compared to my Kirby before he trained with Void. But it means that Tiff will have to remain at his side.”

“And I don’t intend to leave him,” Tiff said. “So I guess this is goodbye for now.”

“Yes, goodbye.”

Sweetie Void and Tiff shook hoof and hand. Then goodbyes were said with the others before Sweetie opened a rift.

Tale 2: Future

It was a peaceful day in Ponyville. One among many others in the years of peace since Princess Twilight’s coronation. Nothing unusual in sight.

Not even a rift opening caught anyone’s attention. With Discord, it wasn’t a rare occurrence.

Who, or rather what, came out of the rift, however, definitively gained everyone's attention.

A familiar white filly with purple and pink mane and tail.

An alicorn white filly with purple and pink mane and tail.

Silence fell as everyone in the immediate area, ponies, dragons, yaks, griffons, and so on, looked at her in awe.

The filly looked around, quickly seeing that she was the center of attention.

“Oh. I guess it eventually had to happen,” Sweetie Void said. “Uh…” She waved with a sheepish smile. “Hi, everyone.”

…

“Well well well what do we have here?” a familiar voice said.

“Oh! Hello Discord! As expected, you felt my arrival right away!”

At this moment, Discord appeared in front of her. “An alicorn Sweetie Belle, still a filly. Now that’s one bundle of chaos, or my name isn’t Discord. What brings you to our little corner of the multiverse? Bringing news of impending doom?”

Sweetie Void giggled. “Not at all. I’m just visiting. I explore worlds.”

“Are you saying that you come from another world?” a stallion shouted. Wait a minute, he looked like Snip if he was an adult. His Cutie Mark…

Oh…

“That’s right!” Discord said before he patted Sweetie’s head. “This little one is a Sweetie Belle from another world.”

The crowd got excited at this, and many began to approach, asking questions. The poor filly was mobbed from all sides, to Discord’s amusement. She glared at him before she flew up to get out of the crowd.

“Alright, alright everyone. I will answer all your questions. Just, let me do this…” She created ten clones that she sent among the crowd, making them gasp. “Now, have fun!” And she flew away. The clones left behind grumbled, having to do the dirty work.

Up in the sky, Sweetie rested on a cloud when Discord joined her. She immediately took out a water gun and sprayed him, making him splutter. “Revenge!”

Discord snapped his fingers and turned the water into chocolate milk before he opened his mouth and let it enter it, drinking it. When the liquid stopped coming, he wiped himself with a napkin and said, “Thank you.”

Sweetie huffed and threw away the water gun before giggling.

“So, I’m in the future. Don’t think I haven’t noticed my classmates now adults among the crowd.”

“Well, judging that you are still a filly, yes, I’m guessing that you come from the past. Or at least an alternate past. Our Sweetie Belle never turned into an alicorn. Unless you were born one? With alternate universes, everything is possible. Also, not the same Cutie Mark. What is it? A black blotch? What are you the alicorn of? Gothics?”

“I turned into an alicorn of void. I have a much easier control of the Original Energy of the Omniverse to use all other kinds of energies, giving me pretty much unlimited possibilities with my powers.”

Discord whistled. “You are one OP filly, uh? Wait a minute, I think that I heard about you. An alternate me talked about an OP Sweetie Belle searching OP partners to save universes in the Chaosnet. Was that you?”

“Yep, that was me.”

“Oh, how small the Omniverse is.”

“You are just the lucky Discord. It could have been any other Discord.”

“True, true. So, you said you are just visiting? What do you intend to visit in our glorious universe?”

“Well, I’m clearly in a future that could have happened if I hadn’t been sent to the Dream Universe. I want to see it. What has become of me and the others here. How Equestria turned out. I saw lots of creatures other than ponies down there.”

“Well, I guess that I could tell you, but where would be the fun? Time for some exploration!”

“I’m all for it! Just point me in the right direction!”

Discord pointed down at a large building not far from Twilight’s castle. “The School of Friendship, built to teach the Magic of Friendship. You will find yourself there.”

“Great! And since it isn’t far from the castle, I will be able to say hello to Twilight afterward!” Sweetie grinned. But then, her grin slowly disappeared to be replaced by uncertainty. “And… Rarity? Where is she? Still working at Carousel Boutique?”

“Last I heard, she is in Manehattan for one of her fashion shows. She goes all over Equestria and beyond for fashion, she rarely remains at the same place for long.”

“Oh, ok. Well then, time to mess with myself. Coming with me?”

“Of course! I don’t want to miss the reactions!”

Sweetie Void turned herself invisible and flew down from the cloud toward the School of Friendship, Discord following her also invisible, but making sure that they could see each other.

They entered the school, and Discord guided Sweetie inside it to a classroom. Sweetie passed through the door, allowing her to enter the classroom without anybody noticing anything. Here, she found her counterpart, adult and an unicorn, with a different Cutie Mark, teaching.

I’m a teacher? she asked Discord by telepathy.

Yes, she is. Surprised?

I never expected to become a teacher. But I guess that my friends and I know some stuff about friendship. Now, what should I do…?

Planning something?

Sweetie Void saw an empty desk in the back, and she got an idea.

Yes. Observe.

She approached the desk, then climbed the chair, and waited for herself to turn her back to write something on the board before she turned herself visible, but as a unicorn instead of an alicorn. She even gave herself the same Cutie Mark than the one her counterpart possessed. She looked exactly like a filly version of her counterpart.

Sweetie Belle turned back to face the classroom and continued to talk for a while, not noticing Sweetie Void at first. The griffon sitting beside her was the first to remark her, and she did a double take before she looked back and forth between the filly and the teacher.

Discord already had to hold back a laugh. Sweetie Void looked at the gawking griffon and also had to hold back.

The griffon raised her claw. “Uh… Teach. You may want to look…”

Sweetie Belle saw her and asked, “What is i-” before she finally noticed her counterpart who waved at her with a grin.

She looked stupefied, and everyone in the classroom followed her gaze and also saw the filly that looked exactly like their teacher.

“What the-?”

“Am I hallucinating?”

“You are seeing her too?”

Sweetie Belle finally closed her mouth and got a deadpan look. “Oh ah ah. Very funny Discord.”

Discord appeared beside her, still holding a laugh. “Hey, for once, I have nothing to do with it.”

Sweetie Void waved at Sweetie Belle again. “Hello, me! How are you?”

Sweetie Belle took a big breath. “Ok, if this is not Discord, then you are a changeling, and I ask you to stop that immediately. Why even a filly?”

At that, everyone nodded in understanding, some laughing.

“Oh, of course, a changeling.”

“Very funny.”

“You got us for a moment.”

Sweetie Void raised an eyebrow, grinning wider. “Not a changeling.” She changed a hoof into a hand and snapped her fingers, and the next instant, all the desks began to dance.

Sweetie Belle glared at Discord. “This is you, Discord!”

A laugh escaped him. “I told you, it’s not me! If it was really me, you know I would say it.”

“Then who are you!” Sweetie Belle yelled at Sweetie Void.

Sweetie Void smirked. “I’m you.”

“Stop that!” Sweetie Belle waved at the dancing desks. “I don’t have this power!”

Sweetie Void still smirked. “Then how about you ask me a question that only you would know the answer to?”

“Very well. What was the name of my very first plushie?”

“Uh. Are you sure you want me to reveal that to everyone here?”

“The answer won’t be revealed to them because there is no way you know this answer. Only my family and I know it, and it was never said to anypony else.”

“Miss Cuddle,” Sweetie Void answered.

Sweetie Belle gawked at her. “How?!”

Many in the room awwed, others laughed, making Sweetie Belle blush.

“Told you, I’m you,” Sweetie Void said.

“But… But… But… This can’t be… How…”

She fainted.

Discord exploded into laughter, literally.

Some of the students went to see if their teacher was alright while many others stared at Sweetie Void.

One of them eventually said, “Maybe we should bring Headmare Starlight Glimmer.”

A changeling immediately ran out of the room.

Not long later, Starlight Glimmer and Sunburst (who had a bigger beard than the Sunburst Sweetie Void knew) entered the room with the changeling. They looked at the fainted Sweetie Belle, then at a grinning and waving Sweetie Void still sitting at her desk (which was still dancing).

“Alright. What is going on?!” Starlight shouted.

Sweetie Void finally turned herself back into her alicorn self and descended from her chair to approach Starlight and Sunburst.

“Sweetie Void. Visitor from another dimension. Nice to meet you.”

Everyone stared at her in awe. Then, Sweetie Belle woke up.

“Ugh… What happ-”

She saw her alicorn counterpart and fainted again. Discord’s laughter started anew.

Sweetie Void was now in the headmare’s office with said headmare, Starlight Glimmer, the vice headmare, Sunburst, Discord, Sweetie Belle now awakened, and also Apple Bloom and Scootaloo who Sweetie Belle fetched from their classrooms. Starlight just finished talking to a mirror.

A few moments later, Twilight Sparkle teleported in the room. In the future, she looked more like Celestia, taller than a normal pony, with a wavy mane and tail. It was difficult for Sweetie Void to put this Twilight and the Twilights she knew as the same pony.

Rarity was with her, her curly mane and tail now sporting gray stripes. Sweetie Void felt a pang in her chest when seeing Rarity with gray stripes. She couldn’t stop looking at her.

Twilight immediately saw Sweetie Void and smiled at her. “You are the visitor from another world Starlight told me about. It is nice to meet you, Sweetie Belle.”

“Nice to meet you!”

“Oh, look at you! An alicorn!” Rarity said as she approached Sweetie Void, looking ready to give her a hug. “I can’t believe that any version of my little sister is an alicorn!”

“Yes, it’s incredible!” Sunburst said. “I knew that alternate worlds exist, but I never expected to see somepony from such a world! I never even saw the human counterparts that Twilight talks so much about!”

“How did you become an alicorn, Sweetie Belle?” Rarity asked.

“Actually, call me Sweetie Void. This is to differentiate me from other Sweetie Belles. And my ascension to alicornhood is… a long story. To make it short, it happened during a fight against a powerful rival, after many dangerous adventures.”

“Why would you have adventures and fight someone?” Rarity asked.

“You can thank Twilight. She accidentally sent me to another world where a lot happened.”

Rarity sighed and stared at a sheepish Twilight. “Why am I not surprised?”

“What are you the alicorn of?” Scootaloo asked. “It’s hard to say with your Cutie Mark.”

“Void,” Sweetie Void answered.

“Void?” everyone except Discord replied.

“Yep! Void! As in the void between the universes. From which everything starts and toward which everything ends. Creation and Destruction.”

“Fascinating! Being the alicorn of such a primordial concept, you must be one of the most powerful beings in existence!” Sunburst said excitedly.

“She pretty much has unlimited power,” Discord said. “She can wrestle with Gods.”

Sweetie Void waved her hoof dismissively. “Yeah yeah. I defeated Gods, I’m also queen and the leader of a multiversal organization, whatever. I’m not here to talk about myself. I’m here to discover more about this world. So, Twilight, ruling Equestria alongside Celestia and Luna?”

Sweetie Void’s words helped everyone recovering from what they learned, and Twilight cleared her throat. “Actually, Celestia and Luna are retired. I rule Equestria with the help of my friends, the Council of Friendship, and Spike, my advisor.”

“... Wow. Celestia and Luna? Retiring? Now that’s one thing that feels weird to hear.”

“Ya get used to it,” Apple Bloom said.

“Any threat since you started ruling?” Sweetie Void asked.

“No, we thankfully have a period of peace since Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow were defeated all these years ago,” Sweetie Belle said. “After all these villains coming one after another, that’s a relief.”

“Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow? Mmh… Maybe I should keep an eye on them. I don’t think that I have to worry about Cozy, but I wouldn’t put it past Chrysalis and Tirek to try something again. Maybe I should visit them in Tartarus.”

“You should actually keep an eye on your Discord if he gets in mind to help prepare your Twilight for her rule,” Rarity said, glaring at Discord.

Sweetie Void looked at a sweating draconequus. “Sounds like a nice story. Mind telling it?”

“Well, you see… Ahem. I disguised myself as Grogar and…”

Discord said everything about what he did with Chrysalis, Tirek, Cozy Glow, and also Sombra while disguised as Grogar. At the end, Sweetie Void was facehoofing.

“I don’t think that I have to worry about my Discord pulling such a stunt. He knows better, and I personally destroyed Grogar’s bell, so no worry there. Phantom’s Discord doesn’t have any villain left to use. Her Tirek is dead and her Chrysalis is in peace with her Equestria. Her Cozy isn’t a problem anymore. This would leave Sombra but he wouldn’t be enough. This leaves Apple Death’s Discord. I will have a talk with him. The chances he does that are low, but I wouldn’t put it past him to try something.”

Silence followed. Sweetie Void destroyed Grogar’s bell? She knew three Discords? A Chrysalis at peace with Equestria?

“Who are Phantom and Apple Death?” Scootaloo asked.

“Powerful alternate versions of you and Apple Bloom respectively. Not alicorns, but just as powerful,” Sweetie Void answered.

Apple Bloom hesitated. “Uh… Why Apple Death?”

“She is the Spirit of Death in her world, like Discord is the Spirit of Chaos. No, she is not a draconequus. She is still a filly.”

“What circumstances would lead me to become the Spirit of Death?” Apple Bloom asked in shock.

“Circumstances you won’t encounter in this world, don’t worry,” Sweetie Void answered before she looked at Discord. “No Thanatos in this world, right?”

“Who is Thanatos?” Discord asked.

“Thought so. To answer you, Discord, he is your little brother in Apple Death’s world. Be glad he doesn’t exist here. Half of the ghost population there is directly or indirectly because of him, if you see what I mean.”

Everyone paled at this.

“Thank you for confirming that I prefer being unique,” Discord said.

“So…” Sweetie Void looked at everyone in turn, looking longer at Rarity before passing to the next. “What about Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie?”

“How about we give you a tour of Ponyville?” Twilight proposed.

Sweetie Void agreed, and all of them except Starlight and Sunburst left the school. They first went to Sweet Apple Acre. Sweetie Void was surprised to find out that Applejack and Rainbow Dash now lived together, but she was happy for them too, and also for Big Mac and Sugar Belle and their son. She was saddened about Granny Smith, but it was expected.

Next, they went to Sugarcube Corner where they found Pinkie Pie, now married to Cheese Sandwich and having a son. Again, Sweetie Void was happy for them, and she happily ate everything that Pinkie gave her. She had to admit, Pinkie Pie turned into a real backer goddess. Pound and Pumpkin Cake were now the ones running the bakery.

Finally, they found Fluttershy in the market, in line before a flower stand. However, just as they saw her…

A white-maned purple unicorn in a cloak suddenly arrived and passed everyone to go right at the head of the line.

“So sorry, but you need to wait your turn like everypony else,” Fluttershy said.

“Unicorns have better things to do than wait in line,” the unicorn replied before she pushed Fluttershy on the ground, making everypony gasp.

Sweetie Void recognized this mare right away and glared at her. “Leave her to me.”

She teleported between the mare and Fluttershy, taking the both of them by surprise.

“Hello, Opaline. Fancy seeing you here.” She tore off the cloak with her magic, revealing wings, making everyone gasp again. “Outside of Skyros. I thought that simple unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies were too lowly for you to mingle with them.

Opaline growled. “Who are you? How do you know me? I never saw you before!”

“You don’t know me, but I know you. What happened? You would never be caught alive outside of Skyros.”

“This is none of your con-”

“Wait, let me guess. You tried to take over the throne to rise above the other alicorns, like Celestia and Luna?”

“Ugh…?!” Opaline took a step back.

“I told you, I know you. I know how Celestia and Luna treated you. I know how angry you are at them. You want to be like them, superior to others. And here, you acted on it, failed, and got banished. And now that you have nothing left, you want to make Celestia and Luna pay by destroying the kingdom they ruled over by putting the ponies against each other. This is what you wanted to do, right? This is why you disguised yourself as a unicorn and started to brag about the unicorns’ superiority. You probably intended to do the same with pegasi and earth ponies.”

Opaline could only stare at Sweetie Void, amazed, shaking.

“But… But-but how?! How in Cosmo’s name could you…”

Sweetie shrugged. “You see, Discord showed me this thing called TV tropes… And it’s been way more useful than I ever expected! Like now!”

“... Huh?”

“Also, for the third time, I know you. I already encountered other versions of you. Now is the time where I either manage to convince you to stop and go have a talk with Celestia and Luna, or we fight and I end up defeating you in ten seconds flat. So, do we do it the nice way, or the hard way?”

Opaline growled for a moment, then fired a large fireball at Sweetie Void who punched it into the sky, to everyone’s surprise.

“Strike one.”

Next, Opaline sent a large stream of fire, causing creatures around to scatter and yell in fear. Sweetie Void didn’t move however and let the stream engulf her. When the stream stopped, Sweetie revealed herself to be burned, but still alive, and her burns healed right away, to Opaline’s horror.

“Strike two.”

“Who are you?!”

“Sweetie Void.”

Opaline screamed in rage and gathered fire into a ball of fire that grew and grew until it was easily the size of the School of Friendship, like a miniature sun. She then sent the ball toward Sweetie Void who simply raised a hoof…

And absorbed it.

“Wh… Wh… Wh…” Opaline couldn’t even say a word.

“Strike three, you’re out.”

The next instant, Sweetie Void was above Opaline and punched her down on the ground so hard that a small crater formed. Opaline was out right away.

Everyone around starred in silent awe at the scene. A filly one shot a fully grown alicorn like it was nothing.

“I did say she could wrestle with Gods,” Discord said. “A Fire Alicorn? That’s nothing.”

Twilight advanced. “That was… a very impressive display, Sweetie Void. Thank you for taking care of her. You said you met other versions of her? Who is she?”

“Opaline Arcana. Alicorn of Fire from the city of Skyros, the city of alicorns. She was a childhood friend of Celestia and Luna. However, when Celestia and Luna got their sun and moon Cutie Marks, they became venerated by the other alicorns. Being children at the time, it went to their head and they thought themselves superior, resulting in them ending their friendship with Opaline and treating her like an inferior being. She pretty much got an inferiority complex because of that, and you can guess how this went from there.”

Twilight looked at Opaline, then sighed. “It was very difficult for me to understand that Celestia wasn’t the perfect pony I thought she was. This is a reminder that she is just that: a pony, who makes errors like any other ponies.”

Sweetie Void nodded. “We should bring Opaline to Celestia and Luna so they can talk to her and hopefully convince her to see reason. Where do they live now that they retired?”

“Silver Shoals. I can bring us there right away.”

“I guess that we will leave you to it?” Rarity said. “This seems to be a personal affair.”

Twilight nodded. “We will let Celestia and Luna have their talk alone. Hopefully, they will have good news.”

So Twilight teleported herself and Opaline to Silver Shoals, right before the house where Celestia and Luna now lived.

Twilight knocked on the door, and Luna was the one who opened it. Before she even had time to say anything, she saw Opaline and her words remained stuck.

“O-Opaline? What…?”

“She was banished from Skyros and she attempted to bring discord to Equestria. I’m hoping that you and Celestia can talk to her.”

Luna understood, and guilt immediately filled her. “Yes. Enter. Bring her on the couch.”

“Thank you.”

So Twilight entered, levitating Opaline behind her, before Luna closed the door. Twilight dropped Opaline on the couch, then said, “I will leave you to your personal talk.”

“Thank you Twilight.”

“Where is Celestia?”

“In the market. She shouldn’t be long. Don’t worry. If Opaline wakes up and gets violent, we will be able to restrain her. We may have to teleport to a desert area however if things get really bad.”

“I hope that it will go well, and that you will get your friend back. Goodbye.”

Twilight teleported away.

Sweetie Void spent the rest of the day in Ponyville with the CMC and the Council of Friendship, sharing stories, encountering ponies and creatures like Luster Dawn and her friends, having a party thanks to Pinkie Pie, playing with the fillies and colts, including Pinkie’s son and Big Mac’s son, and doing some pranks with Discord.

When the sun set, it was time for her to say goodbye.

“We will see you again, right? It was fun to have another me,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Of course you will see me again! I want to eventually explore more of this future Equestria.”

Sweetie Void looked at Rarity. Smiling, the elder unicorn decided to hug her.

“You are welcome back here anytime. You have a home here.”

Sweetie Void’s eyes were wet. “Thank you.”

After more goodbyes, Sweetie Void opened a rift, waved at everyone, and jumped through.

Tale 3: Conversion Bureau

Sweetie Void landed beside a road not far from a city. She saw a car pass, and she immediately understood that she was on Earth, in “modern” time.

It wasn’t her first Earth, but it didn’t mean that she wasn’t interested in exploring it. You never knew if it was some interesting variant, like Solid Snake’s Earth, or Joker’s Earth.

The only problem was that she had no idea where to start.

Another car passed. Someone in it threw a can at her. The can thankfully missed, but Sweetie still let out an indignant “Hey!” while glaring at the car.

Throwing a can at me immediately upon seeing me, what the heck?

In the end, she decided that it didn’t matter. She turned herself human (making sure to turn her hair brown), then teleported to the city, in the sky above it. Looking down, she saw an empty alley and teleported to it.

Her first objective: finding a newspaper. It was the best way to find out if something was going on in this world. If she can't find anything, then she will just explore around, going from city to city. If she can't find anything after a few days, then she will leave.

A newspaper flew right into her face. With an annoyed groan, she tore it off from her face to look at it. “Thanks, Writer. So, let’s see… Uhu… Uhu… Wait, what? Over 1 000 000 more humans ponified? What?! The Conversion Bureaux… Ponification… Sent to live in the ever expanding realm of Equestria? What the buck is going on?”

There was also an article about how some group, the Human Liberation Front, destroyed a Conversion Bureau in some city of America with a bomb. There was a quote from Twilight Sparkle saying how saddened she was that this happened. That some humans just couldn’t accept ponies. There were also quotes from random people saying that it was good riddance, that the invaders deserved it, and all.

Sweetie Void turned herself into an adult and exited the alley before she called an old lady not far.

“Excuse me, is there a Conversion Bureau in this city?”

“Oh, yes, there is one,” the old lady answered. “Continue this way and you should find it. Equestrian chariots are just beside it, ready to transport the ponified to Equestria. Why? Do you intend to ponify yourself?” The old lady seemed to judge her with her look with these words.

“Uh, no, I just wanted to look. I’m not decided yet.”

The old lady nodded. “I understand that it is to save yourself, but frankly, I would prefer to die a human rather than become one of them. But I guess it’s your choice. Good luck.”

And the old lady left, leaving Sweetie alone.

Like the old lady said, Sweetie easily found the Conversion Bureau, a simple building among others outside of which were parked chariots with ponies climbing on them and pegasi ready to lift them into the sky. Humans entered the building, ponies exited it. Humans glared at them, others looked at them hesitantly.

She approached one of the ponified to talk, but as soon as the stallion saw her, he glared at her. “Back off, human! We have nothing to do with your savage species anymore!”

It took her off guard. She didn’t expect such hostility. Especially from an ancient human toward his ancient species.

“It’s no use talking to them,” a man behind Sweetie said. “When they are ponified, it’s not just body, but also mind. They stop thinking like humans. Everything that makes them human is gone.”

“I see…” But why such hostility?

She left, and returned as an unicorn mare, climbing on one of the chariots. The same stallion than earlier, who was just beside her, talked to her.

“I’m glad that I’m not one of these beasts anymore.”

Sweetie Void decided to go with it. “Me too.”

“I’m an ancient soldier, you see. I saw war. So much death. So much suffering. No more. Ponies, at least, don’t know what it is to be at war. I will finally be able to live in peace.”

Tell that to the changelings. They pretty much declared war to Equestria when they invaded the wedding.

“Humanity is getting what it deserves. I’m glad that they are disappearing. Earth will be better without them. Ponies will take better care of it.”

Other ponies who heard him agreed, even the pegasi pulling the chariots, causing humans to glare at them even more.

“I know, right? Such barbares. Polluting everything,” Sweetie Void said.

Before long, the chariots took off as others arrived to take their place. A long journey followed. After several hours, they arrived at some kind of limit. On one side: Earth. On the other: more colorful, more homely, Equestria. The limit was expanding, and Sweetie could see a road on the Earth side disappearing little by little as it was engulfed by it. She also saw a house get the same fate.

So it destroys what is human made? It is expanding… This guy said that humanity will eventually disappear… Do humans die if they touch it? This is why they ponify? To avoid such fate? What even is Equestria doing here, on Earth? And why is it expanding?

Before long, she saw villages and towns being built, obviously to house the new ponies.

It took a few more hours, after flying over an ocean, to reach lands that she recognized. Before long, she saw Canterlot, at the foot of which was a camp toward which the chariot was going. Soon, they landed, and members of the Royal Guard were present, helping the ponies disembarking. More chariots were taking off elsewhere in the camp, transporting the ponies elsewhere.

Sweetie Void found herself in a line, behind the stallion. Little by little, they approached a Royal Guard who was noting stuff while saying, “Pegasus. Cutie Mark: a tornado. What will your new name be?”

The pegasus stallion he was facing said, “Nimble Twister.”

The Royal Guard nodded and noted it. “You can go. Next.”

The pegasus advanced, and the next pony, an earth pony mare, advanced in turn to face the guard. “Earth Pony. Cutie Mark: red, yellow, and blue flowers. What will your name be?”

“Uh… I haven’t decided.”

“Mmh… What do you think of Lily Sunshine?”

“I love it!”

The guard noted it down. “You can go. Next.”

It continued until it was Sweetie’s turn. The stallion before her named himself Crimson Spirit.

“Unicorn. Cutie Mark… A black blotch?”

“Black paint,” Sweetie Void helped. “Let’s go with Black Dream for my name.”

The Royal Guard eyed her, but he nodded and noted it down.

After that, Sweetie Void was left to do what she wanted, so she used the occasion to talk with more ponified which pretty much all had the same speech: they were glad that they were now ponies, they didn’t regret giving up their humanity, they wanted to leave the sufferings caused by humanity behind, all that stuff. Some said that they wondered why they hesitated to become human. A couple even said that they were glad that the group Ponification for Earth's Rebirth forced the ponification on them, that their life will be better thanks to it.

These last ones were definitely a red flag for Sweetie. Humans forced to become ponies should be angry, not happy. Being a pony wasn’t such an improvement from being human! Well, beside the ability to fly for pegasi and to use magic for unicorns.

She decided that she had enough. She moved behind a tent and teleported away, to outside of Ponyville. No tree castle here, so she was fairly early in the timeline. Maybe she was even before Twilight became an alicorn.

She turned herself back into her alicorn filly self and flew, finding the Golden Oak Library. Oh, the nostalgia. She landed before the door and opened it. It was a library after all.

She found Spike putting books back in their place, on a ladder.

“Hello Spike!”

“Uh? Sweetie Belle? Wait a minute.” He placed a last book, then descended the ladder. “Alright. What do you want, Sweetie… Belle?” As he turned around and saw Sweetie Void, he stopped himself in surprise.

“What? Do I have something?” Sweetie Void asked, rubbing her head with her wing.

“Wh… You… You are…”

“An alicorn? Yeah, I know. Great, right? Anyway, where is Twilight? I need to talk with her.”

“Uh… At one of the Conversion Bureaux. One was destroyed by a bomb, and she is helping to rebuild it.”

“Oh, ok.”

“But… Who are you? I mean, you can’t be Sweetie Belle! You are an alicorn! And older! And you have a Cutie Mark!”

“Call me Sweetie Void. I come from an alternate Equestria.

“An alternate… Really?!”

“Uhuh. Well, if Twilight isn’t here, I guess that I will directly go talk to Celestia.”

“I can send a message to Twilight. I’m sure she will immediately come if I tell her about you. Well, she will still take several hours to come, but she will be here as soon as possible.”

Sweetie Void nodded. “Yes, go on.”

Spike immediately took a parchment and wrote in it. After a few minutes, he breathed fire at it, sending the letter to Twilight.

Right away, Spike turned to Sweetie Void who had been waiting. “So, what is it like in your Equestria? How did you become an alicorn?”

“Oh, my Equestria is pretty much like here, except that it never left Equus. Really, how did it happen?”

“Princess Celestia saw this world and how the humans were dying because they were warring with each other constantly and their pollution caused lots of problems, so she decided to help them. So she transported Equestria to this world. Right away, the equestrian realm limit started to expand, and it was discovered that magic is mortal to humans, so the humans only have a few years left before the equestrian realm covers the whole world and they all die. Thankfully, Twilight, with the help of scientists both ponies and humans, created a serum to ponify the humans and save them.”

By brainwashing them, Sweetie Void thought. That’s the gist: get brainwashed or die. I don’t like this choice. Celestia could have kept her help to herself. I really hope that the equestrian realm expanding wasn’t planned.

“What about Equus? I mean, if Celestia and Luna are here, who is moving the sun and the moon?”

Silence followed. Then, Spike gasped. “Oh no! What have we done?!”

“Calm down, Spike. Equus isn’t dead under the eternal fire of the sun and the eternal cold of the moon. There are other alicorns. Queen Cosmo must have taken over, if she exists in your timeline. I hope that Celestia told her or whoever else is the queen about her plan, or the poor mare must have gotten quite the surprise.”

“Queen Cosmo? Other alicorns? Really?”

“Uhuh. They live in Skyros.”

“Wow.”

For the following hours, they talked more, Sweetie telling more about her Equestria without revealing about her organization. When noon arrived, Spike cooked them a meal. Eventually, Twilight arrived yelling, “Is she still here?!”

Sweetie Void waved at her. “Yes, I’m still here. Hello Twilight, I’m Sweetie Void.”

Twilight, who was still an unicorn, stared at her. “So it’s true. A real visitor from an alternate Equestria! I can’t believe it!”

“Hey Twilight!” Spike said. “Guess what! In her Equestria, you are an alicorn too!”

“What, really?!”

“Woah, slow down, Spike. She is already overwhelmed by my presence,” Sweetie Void said. “Yes, Twilight, in my Equestria, you are an alicorn. And you have your own castle. No, I will not tell you how it happened. I’m not even sure if it will happen here with Equestria being here instead of there and Celestia focusing on humanity.”

“Me? An alicorn? Uh… Wow… Am I a good princess?”

“Yes, you do very well despite what you think. In an Equestria I visited, you even take over after Celestia and Luna retire. If this isn’t proof that you are good…”

Twilight was now shaking. Before she could say anything, Sweetie Void continued. “So, let’s change the subject before you explode. I want to talk to Celestia. Can you present me to her? And can you gather your friends? I’m sure that they will want to be there to hear what I want to say.”

“V-very well. Spike, take a letter.”

So Twilight made Spike write a letter to Celestia to warn her about Sweetie Void. Once done, she left, followed by Sweetie Void who told goodbye to Spike. One by one, they gathered the Element Bearers who were very surprised to see Sweetie Void, especially Rarity.

“My sister is an alicorn?!”

“I’m sure there are alternate universes out there where you all are alicorns. Everything is possible in the Omniverse,” Sweetie Void said.

Once they were all gathered, Sweetie Void teleported to Canterlot, before the castle. They entered it, and before long, they reached the Throne Room where Celestia and Luna awaited them, warned in advance by a guard. Celestia was her usual serene self, but Luna looked shocked to see Sweetie Void.

The Element Bearers all bowed to them.

“Rise, my little ponies. Welcome, visitor,” Celestia said.

“Hello Celestia, Luna. As you can see, I’m an alternate version of Sweetie Belle. To make it simpler to differentiate me from the local Sweetie Belle, call me Sweetie Void.”

“I see. Well, Sweetie Void, what did you want to talk with me about?” Celestia asked.

“Well, as you can guess, I’m from an Equestria that never moved from Equus. I was quite surprised when I arrived on this world to discover Equestria here. Apparently, it’s to help the humans?”

Sweetie Void began to read Celestia’s mind.

“Yes. With the help of a mirror, I observed them and their world and saw all the suffering they were causing to themselves and their world. I couldn’t remain there and do nothing, so I transported Equestria here so us ponies could offer our help to them.”

“And I guess that the equestrian realm limit expanding was a surprise, uh?”

“And discovering that magic is harmful to humans...”

Sweetie Void internally smirked. “Well then, why not send Equestria back to Equus?”

“Leaving would mean leaving the humans in their path to destruction. I still want to help them.”

“By ponifying them, yes, I saw. But do you know that ponification brainwashes them?”

Celestia remained calm, but many of the mares around frowned.

“I wouldn’t call that brainwashing,” Celestia said. “They are just getting the pony mindset. It comes with being a pony.”

Sweetie Void nodded. “Yes, they become ponies, and suddenly, they hate everything about humans, even the ones forced to ponify.”

“They just see what is wrong with their former species.”

“Ponies aren’t better.”

Gasps around.

“Sombra. He was a pony, and yet he did horrible things. And at the time of the three tribes, the ponies constantly warred with each other. I also have a friend who encountered and fought ponies who committed atrocities. Black Beard? Leyla Rahfa? Ring any bells? Ponies are capable of the same atrocities as the humans. We aren’t that different from them. I saw humans turned into ponies who remained themselves, and vice versa.”

“Sweetie Belle! Don’t say such things!” Rarity shouted.

Sweetie Void looked at her sadly, then back at Celestia who remained stoic. She grinned. “The serum isn’t just made to turn the humans into ponies, it’s made to turn them into perfect mindless harmonious puppets. Humans aren’t harmed by magic. I know humans who can use magic and who came to Equestria and yet didn’t die. There is something in the limit between the Equestria realm and Earth realm that destroys everything human. Some magical barrier created by somepony very powerful, maybe? Yes, Celestia. You totally made it so the humans would have no other choices but to become your puppets or die. You didn’t come here to help them, you came here to exterminate them! And Twilight is your accomplice! What do you have to say, Celestia?! Don’t try to lie to me, I read your mind!”

By now, almost everypony in the room was glaring at Sweetie Void.

After a long moment of silence, Celestia’s mask fell.

“What else could I have done? These beasts were destroying themselves and their world. I’m just making sure that they can reach harmony.”

“By depriving them of their free will! Also, you could have simply, I don’t know, offered your hoof in friendship? You know? Magic of Friendship! That’s your whole schtick!”

“They wouldn’t have accepted it.”

“Don’t put all the humans in the same basket! Many would have accepted it! Humanity is capable of horrible things, but also of great things! Yes, that wouldn’t have stopped all the bad things, but it would have been a good start! You imagine how much magic would have helped? I don’t even need to! That is exactly what happened with other versions of Earth that joined my Equestria! Magic and technology are made to work together! And yes, I’m friends with humans. Lots of humans.”

“How can you be friends with them?!” Rainbow Dash yelled.

“Because, contrary to some ponies, I’m not a stuck up bitch who thinks myself superior!”

“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity yelled.

“So, here is what we will do. We will give the ponified back their free will. We will turn the ones who want to back into humans. Then, you will either choose to return to Equus or remain here and help the humans for real. Am I understood?”

“And what will you do if I refuse?” Celestia asked.

Sweetie Void smirked. “Then I will force you.” At that, she cracked her neck. “I will get to punch my first Celestia.”

“That’s enough!” Luna shouted. “I don’t allow you to threaten my sister!”

Sweetie Void’s eyes turned black, and the shadows in the room began to move. “I don’t need your permission, number two.”

The Element Bearers winced.

Now, Celestia was the one getting angry. “Don’t dare say that to her!”

“Well then, what are you waiting for? Attack me. Don’t hold back because I am a filly. This would be your last error.”

Luna was the one firing a beam first. Sweetie Void inhaled, and the beam entered her mouth, disappearing, to everyone’s surprise.

Rainbow Dash was the first one to recover, and she went to punch Sweetie Void.

“Rainbow! No!” Applejack shouted, too late.

In a flash, Sweetie Void disappeared, avoiding Rainbow Dash’s hoof, and she reappeared before her, punching her on the head. The pegasus lost teeth and was sent crashing into the wall hard.

“Always so hot headed, Rainbow Crash.”

Guards began to come, but Sweetie Void easily knocked them out with a beam in the head.

A lasso was suddenly wrapped around the filly. Sweetie Void grinned at Applejack before she grabbed it and began to move it around, lifting the mare effortlessly.

“Yeeeeeee…” She violently slammed Applejack on the ground. “haw!”

Pinkie Pie took out her party cannon, but before she could fire, it was plugged by a cork.

“No fireworks inside.”

Twilight was next, firing beams after beams. Sweetie didn’t even try to dodge them, she tanked them without flinching, yawning.

“What is this peashooter? Here’s a real beam!”

Sweetie Void fired a giant beam that totally engulfed Twilight and sent her crashing into the wall next to Rainbow Dash.

“ENOUGH!!!” Luna yelled with the Royal Canterlot Voice before she materialized magic swords and sent them at Sweetie Void.

She stopped them with her bare hooves.

“You know I already defeated you in my universe? And that was back when I was an unicorn.”

Luna gulped. Then, the shadows got out of the ground and wrapped themselves around her before they brought her into a large shadow, not even able to scream.

Celestia’s mane and tail turned into fire.

“I will stop you!!!”

She fired a giant beam, even larger than the one Sweetie fired at Twilight, and easily as hot as the surface of the sun.

Sweetie Void fired a single, small, very concentrated black beam that pierced right through Celestia’s beam, destroying it, and hit the mare on the horn, breaking it, making her yell in intense pain.

“Discord!” Fluttershy suddenly yelled. “Help!”

The draconequus himself appeared in the room.

“Yes, dear?”

He then looked around and saw the situation. When he saw Sweetie Void, he gulped.

“Will you try to stop me, Spirit of Chaos?”

Discord gulped again. “Well… For friendship, right?”

“You know I’m the one who is right, right?”

Discord sighed. He then raised his fingers, ready to snap. But then, Sweetie Void touched him, and suddenly, she sucked the magic right out of him, leaving him powerless.

Sweetie Void looked at a crying Rarity. “Will you try something too?”

Rarity stepped back, scared beyond anything. That saddened Sweetie Void, but she quickly got her resolve back.

“The Elements!” Celestia yelled. “Go search for the Elements!”

Beside her, the shadows spat a very beaten up Luna.

“No need,” Sweetie Void said before she teleported the Elements of Harmony into the room, right before the six Bearers. “Go on, fire your rainbow beam at me.”

The mares didn’t lose time and put on the Elements. They activated their power and fired the rainbow toward Sweetie Void who didn’t move. The rainbow circled her…

And then disappeared, to everyone’s shock and horror.

“As expected. I’m either too powerful even for them to work, or the Elements know that I’m right, or the Bearers became unworthy. I’m guessing the three at once.”

“No…” Twilight couldn’t stand anymore. “No…!”

“You are bringing a species to extinction. What did you expect? There is nothing harmonious in what you are doing. You have lost your way, ex-Element Bearers.”

As if to confirm what Sweetie Void said, the Elements floated from the Bearers and turned into stone orbs, like when the mares found them the first time, with the Element of Magic disappearing totally.

“No!” Twilight yelled.

“You reap what you sow. So, still refusing?”

The ex-Element Bearers and the princesses, defeated, could only surrender.

In the end, they had to do what Sweetie Void ordered. Celestia having lost her horn, Sweetie was the one removing the anti-human barrier. Celestia, under the filly’s watchful eyes, explained everything and surrendered to the humans. Twilight modified the serum so the humans weren’t brainwashed by it anymore and created a new one to turn the ponified back. The ponified had their free will returned and many asked to be turned back. In the end, the ponies asked to return to Equus. They didn’t want anything to do with the humans, and the humans were too wary of the ponies anyway after Celestia confessed.

Sweetie still planned to send help to the humans so they didn’t end up self-destructing.

Before she left, Sweetie Void gave his magic back to Discord and captured Tirek and Chrysalis.

“I will return to Earth eventually. If I discover that you somehow returned there and restarted your plan…”

Sweetie didn’t need to say more before she jumped into her rift.

Tale 4: Versus Wrath

Author's Note

First non-canon Tale.

Tale 4: Versus Wrath

Asura was walking on some path, with no real destination in mind, when a rift opened before him and out of it came Sweetie Void. The filly immediately spotted him.

“Wow! I feel a lot of power in you!”

“Who are you?” Asura asked.

“I’m Sweetie Void, nice to meet you! What is your name?”

“Asura.”

“Say, uh… I haven’t gotten a proper challenge in a while, and I can feel that you will give me one. So, do you want to fight?”

“... I can see in your eyes that you aren’t innocent despite your appearance. Very well.”

“Thanks!”

So the two took position, a few meters from each other and facing their opponent.

Then, after a few seconds, Asura was the one opening the fight, charging toward Sweetie. Because of her small size, he could only try to kick her. Sweetie Void avoided it by flying up before she punched Asura in the face, giving a small combo that eventually sent him on his back.

Asura quickly got up and attempted to punch Sweetie right away only for her to teleport. Asura didn’t let himself get caught off guard and moved away immediately, avoiding a beam from behind. In return, he punched the air and sent a projectile of Mantra energy that hit Sweetie, opening her for Asura to charge toward her and punch her. One punch was enough to send her flying.

She quickly recovered however and flew back toward Asura to punch him only for him to jump and to kick her. Asura then fired more energy projectiles after landing that Sweetie tried to avoid before she teleported. She appeared right above Asura and headbutted him. Asura countered the headbutt with his own headbutt, making the two clash. The demigod eventually grabbed the filly and threw her at the ground before he violently stomped on her.

Sweetie turned her fur into spikes, forcing Asura to remove his foot, before the alicorn fired a beam at his head to make him step back. She then flew up to face him and breathed fire, burning and blinding Asura. Despite it, Asura attempted to punch her only for him to miss before she grabbed him arm and slammed him on the ground. Asura quickly rolled aside to avoid metallic Sweetie crashing on him.

Asura got up and tried to stomp on her, and Sweetie teleported just before Asura to punch him in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. Asura quickly jumped backward and returned with several punches of his own. Sweetie avoided the first one, but got hit by the following ones ending with an uppercut that sent her high in the sky. Asura then fired Mantra projectiles at her.

Sweetie Void tanked them and called her whip before she teleported back to Asura and began to attack him with it, forcing him to use his arms to shield himself from it. Asura eventually caught the whip only for it to divide into its ten cannons mode which began to fly around. Sweetie had to punch Asura hard to force him to release the piece he still held.

The cannons then began to fire at Asura from all around him. Various projectiles were fired, from basic beams to ice shards, passing by lightning bolts and fireballs. Asura jumped away to escape the onslaught of projectiles, but the cannons followed him while Sweetie Void gathered darkness into a large ball that she threw at him.

Asura growled, then, suddenly, four arms grew, giving him six arms. With them, he caught the darkness ball and sent it toward the sky before he fired Mantra projectiles (six at once) at the cannons, making them stop firing for a moment as they were pushed back. Asura then charged toward Sweetie and readied a punch that the filly answered with her own punch, resulting in a terrible clash that created a shockwave.

More clashes followed, Asura attempting to punch Sweetie again and again only for the filly to constantly counter him, and he was even forced to use an arm to shield himself from beams she was firing from her horn. The cannons then returned and began to fire at him from behind. He decided to not care and continued to try to punch Sweetie Void.

Eventually, Asura managed to pass Sweetie’s defense and to punch her, sending her flying through a tree. Suddenly, Sweetie Void teleported while keeping her momentum and appeared right beside Asura, punching him hard on the cheek and sending him flying just as far. Sweetie then levitated the tree she crashed through and hurled it toward the demigod. Asura was able to land on his feet, sliding for a while. He then saw the tree coming and quickly jumped aside. Sweetie appeared behind him, and Asura immediately turned around to punch her only for her to teleport again.

Sweetie Void repeatedly teleported around Asura while the cannons arrived and resumed firing at him. Asura stopped them like before, and Sweetie used the opening to fire a giant beam that engulfed Asura and sent him flying again. Asura still quickly managed to put his feet back on ground while being pushed by the beam and was eventually able to fight it before he made it explode by compressing it with his six arms. Beside him was a boulder that he picked up just as Sweetie teleported beside him, and he slammed the boulder on her, crushing her under it. A few moments later, the boulder exploded.

Sweetie Void floated up, her ten cannons turning into double beam sword mode around her. Her own hooves turned into blades. Finally, she resumed her assault on Asura, slashing with her weapons. Asura tried to avoid them, but there were too many, and he found himself slashed repeatedly. He managed to punch a few of the cannons, and even Sweetie herself, but he still received a lot of damage.

Finally, he jumped away and spread his arms. Suddenly, countless arms appeared behind him. All the arms then merged into his two primary arms, the four others included, leaving only these two which glowed. Then, in a flash, the arms were suddenly hulkier.

Sweetie’s swords went to attack him again, but to Sweetie’s surprise, the arms released bursts of Mantra that propelled Asura, allowing to maneuver around the swords to avoid them while approaching Sweetie Void at a speed that took her off guard. She was punched, and the next instant, she was a speck in the horizon. She ended up crashing into a mountain many kilometers away.

When she flew out of the crater that she created, she grinned.

Already, she could see Asura flying toward her, another punch ready. She readied her own punch. The following clash blew apart the mountain she crashed into, the other mountains around, and a huge chunk of the planet.

To Asura’s surprise, Sweetie was the one overpowering him and sending him flying. She teleported her swords to her, put some of them back into cannon mode, and went after Asura, firing lasers at him from her cannons and from the air. Asura maneuvered to avoid them, sending Mantra projectiles at the cannons and the approaching swords, before he was blasted by Sweetie who teleported after him to intercept him and blast him again. She repeated it a couple of times before she teleported a last time above Asura and smashed him, sending him crashing through the planet.

Sweetie was already at the other side, ready to attack him again, but Asura actually came out of the planet charging right at her and he grabbed her before he threw her. He then propelled himself after her, catching up to her, and used her momentum to give her a violent punch that sent her crashing into the moon, part of which blew apart.

Asura went after her and joined her inside the moon, and the following clash totally blew it up.

The two flew among what remained, moving around, clashing again, sending country-sized boulders at the other. Sweetie didn’t even bother with her cannons anymore.

Eventually, Asura decided to go above, and his chest opened, revealing a reactor that released a huge quantity of Mantra. The next instant, his four other arms rturned, just as hulky as the primary ones.

A storm of punches fell on Sweetie Void who materialized chield fists to counter it. In a matter of seconds, hundreds of punches were exchanged, each blows sending shockwaves that brock apart what remained of the moon even more to the point that part of it was reduced to dust.

Sweetie Void suddenly cloned herself, creating a single clone that attacked Asura from behind, opening him to a barrage of punches from Sweetie Void with a final one that sent Asura crashing back through the planet again, blowing apart another chunk of it.

At the other side, Sweetie was ready with a mountain which she threw at Asura as soon as he got out, the demigod easily breaking it apart with his punches. Sweetie Void then teleported behind Asura, grabbed him around the waist, and piledrived him into the ground at the sped of sound.

Before she could get away or follow it with something else, Asura grabbed her by the head, keeping her in place as he got up, and gave her at least one thousand punches with his five other arms before he released her and sent her flying with a last punch. When she was just a speck in the horizon, Asura went after her.

The two ended up flying all around the planet, clashing again and again. At a moment, Sweetie created a storm to attack Asura with winds going at hundreds of miles per hour and supertornadoes. Asura answered with a halo that sent multicolored projectiles of Mantra. At another, she lifted a whole ocean to throw it at him in the form of a titanic dragon. In return, Asura threw her into an awakened volcano. Eventually, Sweetie Void was the one sent crashing through the planet. When she got out of it, she sent tons and tons of magma at the approaching Asura.

Finally, she called her ten cannons and charged her Ultimate Doom Laser, successfully hitting Asura with it. The demigod was sent far into space by it.

But he was still conscious, and with a scream of rage, his chest opened, and the reactor unleashed an astronomical quantity of Mantra.

Suddenly, Asura was even bigger than the planet itself with gray skin, still with his six hulking arms. A gray halo was also present behind him.

Immediately, he went to punch Sweetie Void who was still on the surface of the planet. A fist the size of a continent approached her faster than expected for someone Asura’s size, and she found herself fighting to push it back to not be crushed. The ground was breaking under her, lava was coming out under her hooves.

“NghhhhhhhhhaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Her eyes, mane, and tail left place to pure darkness, and she was able to push the fist back. She then flew toward Asura’s head, covering the distance in the blink of an eye, and punched him, knocking him back.

In return, Asura headbutted her, sending the filly through the planet again and far, far, far into space. Asura then transformed his halo to use it as a jet booster, allowing him to fly and to go after her at unfathomable speed, reaching her in just a few seconds. As soon as he saw her, he began to fire Mantra projectiles able to destroy planets and stars.

Sweetie teleported repeatedly to avoid them, then began to sing.

“What were your piercing eyes looking at?
What was echoing in your trembling heart?”

She then cloned herself, creating hundreds of clones that scattered and surrounded Asura like a swarm of microbe-sized flies. One of Asura’s projectiles hit one of them, and the clone was blown up.

Sweetie Void and the clones began to attack Asura from all sides, and Asura countered by spinning with his arms, swating many of them, sending them light years away into space. Asura targeted them with his projectiles, blowing them up.

The real Sweetie Void fired UDL after UDL, powerful enough to blow up a star, and yet, they barely made Asura flinch, not that he didn’t receive damage from them, far from it. Asura actually decided to not mind the clones and to attack the real Sweetie Void to stop her, attempting to punch her, but she teleported to avoid it.

Asura blew up a few more clones before he found Sweetie Void again and punched her next UDL just as she fired it, destroying it. He then punched her and her cannons in one go, destroying them while sending Sweetie far away, toward a planet. Asura sent a Mantra projectile at it, blowing it up. Sweetie Void teleported behind him however and joined her clones in attacking him.

Asura was constantly knocked around by them, but it didn’t stop him from blowing up more of them after sending them away. The clones’ number dropped rapidly. However, he was taking a lot of damage.

They approached another planet, and Sweetie Void decided to use the occasion to teleport to it and use her magic to throw it toward Asura. He easily blew it up like the previous one however.

Asura was starting to breathe hard. He still continued to blow up clones and managed to punch the real Sweetie Void, sending her away to fire Mantra projectiles at her. The real Sweetie Void suddenly grew in size until she was as big as Asura, allowing her to tank the projectiles. She then flew back toward Asura to punch him, only to clash with his own fist, again. The two then exchanged punches again, for several minutes, until they ended up punching each other at the same time, sending each other flying.

They then fired projectiles at each other, the projectiles destroying each others. For many more minutes, it continued. All the while, Sweetie’s remaining clones continued to attack him.

Sweetie Void eventually shrunk back to her normal size and teleported. Asura searched around, but then, he felt an explosion inside his mouth, followed by more explosions inside him. He ended up spitting orange blood.

Eventually, Sweetie Void teleported out and fired a giant beam at Asura’s head.

It was finally too much for Asura who lost consciousness. The Mantra escaped him, and he returned to his normal size, losing his arms and only leaving his two primary arms not hulky anymore.

Sweetie Void stopped singing and returned to normal, grinning. She immediately healed Asura and teleported the both of them back on Gaia.

“One of the best fights of my life,” she said. “Thank you, Asura. I will remember it. Mmh... I think that I should rebuild the moon.”

Tale 5, Part 1: Good Will And The Parahunters

High in the night sky, after one millennium, a group of ten stars aligned.

That was what a cloaked stallion awaited. Seeing the stars, he chuckled.

“Finally.” He turned around to look at more cloaked ponies behind him. “After all this time, we can finally make them pay. Let’s bring Him to our world.”

All the ponies nodded, smirking.

Around them, the wind howled, announcing the arrival of a terrible event.

A yellow earth pony filly with a red mane and tail and a pink bow on her hair was rummaging through a garbage can, searching for precious food and… Jackpot!

“Hey! Pizza! Nice!”

She took the pizza slice and added it on a garbage can lid that she used as a tray to transport what she found. So far, she had good luck. She got a half eaten apple, a full daisy sandwich, and now, a pizza slice. She didn’t even have to go look at the garbage of a restaurant which was risky. The chefs never liked seeing her taking their food for free, even if that food was wasted in the garbage. In Manehattan, it was the law of the jungle.

Once she was done, she went deeper into the alley to eat in peace, far from the judging stares of the many pedestrians in the street.

It was hard to live in the streets, but hey, Good Will had to do with what she had. It was better than the orphanage she escaped from.

She quickly ate what she gathered. Taking her time was a bad idea. Another street pony could come and take her food.

Just as she finished eating, she suddenly heard screams coming from the street. Curious, she left the lid behind and moved to the entrance of the alley to see what was going on, remaining careful.

Here, she saw ponies running away from blue ghosts attacking them! There were easily two dozen of them in total!

She quickly hid behind one of the garbage cans she rummaged earlier. The alley she was in was a dead end, the only way to leave was by the entrance, where she was, so she would expose herself to the ghosts. She had no choice but to remain hidden.

“What is going on? Where do they come from?” she wondered as she watched the ghosts.

As the minutes passed and the ghosts spread all over the street to cause chaos even when nopony was left, Good Will remained stuck behind the garbage can. She was absolutely terrified. She knew it was only a matter of time before at least one of the ghosts came to the alley.

What she feared happened. One of the ghosts threw the garbage can behind which she hid. She was found.

Upon seeing her, the ghost grinned and raised a hoof, ready to punch her.

But suddenly, a siren approached rapidly, gaining the ghost’s attention, and also the attention of all the other ghosts. Then, a weird vehicle that seemed to be some kind of carriage not pulled by ponies entered the street and screeched into a halt in the middle of it, among the ghosts, the wheels leaving black traces behind them. Painted on the side of the vehicle was a white ghost surrounded by a red circle with a red bar crossing it.

The two front doors then opened, and out of the vehicles came two stallions. A green earth pony with a blue mane and tail, and an orange pegasus with a red mane and tail, each wearing some gray uniform with the same symbol as on the vehicle.

At the back of the vehicle, which was bigger than the front, two more doors opened, revealing two more stallions. A gray unicorn with a darker gray mane and tail and glasses, and a brown earth pony with a black mane and tail, the two also wearing the uniform.

The two took two red machines with a pipe and passed them to the other two who quickly joined them, then took two more machines. The four stallions then put them on their back before they grabbed the pipes, holes pointed toward the ghosts.

“When was the last time we saw so many ghosts?” the green stallion asked.

“Never,” the unicorn answered. “This is the biggest paranormal activity registered in Equestria since forever.”

“And I thought that haunted mansion had a lot of ghosts…” the brown stallion said.

“And again, in that mansion, the ghosts came two at a time at most. Here, this is six versus one. I don’t like our odds,” the pegasus said.

“Oh don’t worry, Dark Vision. With these babies on our back, we should be good despite that. Just avoid being surrounded,” the green one replied.

“Guys, there is a civilian on the site,” the brown one said upon spotting Good Will.

The green one groaned. “Fighting while protecting a civilian will suck.”

The ghost about to attack Good Will lost interest in the stallions and prepared to attack the filly again. She screamed.

The pegasus, Dark Vision, immediately flew toward her and pointed the hole of his machine’s pipe toward the ghost before he pressed a button. The next instant, a vortex came out of the pipe and began to suck up the ghost.

Meanwhile, the three others began to do the same with the approaching ghosts.

After a few seconds of struggling, the ghost that had been about to attack Good Will disappeared inside the pipe.

“Ah! I guess I’m a hero!” Dark Vision said.

“Watch out behind you, mister!” Good Will yelled.

The pegasus immediately turned around only to be punched in the face by another ghost, almost causing him to crash on Good Will.

Dark Vision groaned, his eyes spinning. “So much for a hero…”

Good Will looked at the recovering pegasus, then at the approaching ghost who readied another punch. Acting quickly, she grabbed the machine’s pipe, pointed the hole toward the ghost, and pressed the same button that Dark Vision pressed earlier, sucking up the ghost.

The ghost was struggling and was actually beginning to start dragging Dark Vision and Good Will behind him, but the filly didn’t stop and kept her hold on the pipe. Dark Vision then fully recovered, saw what was going on, and took hold of the pipe too just before the ghost finally disappeared inside it.

“Hey. Not bad, little one. I guess you are my hero.”

Good Will grinned at him. “Thanks!”

Dark Vision then saw another ghost approaching and quickly got up. “Remain close to me!”

“Ah’ll watch yer back!”

One by one, the ghosts were captured, and before long, the street was entirely cleaned of paranormal activity. The green stallion was the one who captured the last ghost.

“So, who won?” he asked.

“What?” the unicorn asked.

“Who is the one who captured the most ghost? I counted seven.”

“I don’t know, I haven’t counted,” the unicorn replied.

“Me too,” the brown earth pony said.

The green one shrugged. “Then, I guess I win by default.”

“Hey guys! Come here! I think you will want to see that!” Dark Vision called them, Good Will at his side, the two looking down on the ground.

The three stallions approached and quickly saw why Dark Visions called them.

On the street was a glowing symbol, the skull of a ram.

“What is it?” the brown stallion asked.

The unicorn carefully touched the symbol, then studied it with his horn. “Mmh… It’s magic. Right in the ground. It’s not painted. It’s as if the symbol just magically appeared here.”

“What do you think it means?” Dark Vision asked.

“That’s a very good question, and I don’t think that this symbol appearing in this street which was just targeted by a large number of ghosts is just a coincidence,” the unicorn said.

The stallions thought in silence. Then, Dark Vision looked at Good Will.

“Oh, right, we should probably search your parents, little one.”

“Uh…” Good Will moved away from the stallions. “Ah’m an orphan.”

“Oh…”

“And no, Ah don’t want ta go ta the orphanage, so… Ah guess Ah’ll go. Thanks fer saving me.”

“What? Are you saying that you live in the streets? Wait!” Dark Vision shouted as the filly began to run away. Thinking quickly, he yelled, “Then come with us!”

That stopped Good Will right away.

“What?!” the three other stallions shouted.

“We can’t let her in the streets,” Dark Vision said.

The green stallion sighed. “You and your big heart, Darky. We aren’t a charity house.”

“Let’s just send her to an orphanage,” the unicorn said, making Good Will step back.

“Look guys. Going to an orphanage terrifies her. Something must have happened in her previous one. How about… we take her as our new recruit? She helped me capture a ghost, you know? That’s a sign.”

“How did you end up having a filly helping you capture a ghost?” the brown stallion asked.

Dark Vision blushed. “One took me by surprise from behind.”

“So that’s why you have one heck of a shiner,” the green stallion said. “Darky, I expected better from you. I guess you still need training,” he joked.

“None of us trained,” Dark Vision deadpanned.

The unicorn sighed in exasperation and shook his head before he looked at Good Will, smiling gently at her. “What is your name?”

“Ah’m Good Will.”

“Well, Good Will, what do you think of joining us?”

Good Will thought a bit, then shrugged. “Ah guess that fighting ghosts would beat remaining in the streets. Not that it was that bad.”

The unicorn chuckled. “Then I’m Gray Matter.” He pointed at the green earth pony. “This is Soul Speaker.” He pointed at the brown one. “Summer Road. And finally, you already know Dark Vision. And we are-”

“The Parahunters!” Soul Speaker shouted while taking a pose. Gray rolled his eyes at being interrupted like that.

Good Will giggled. “Nice ta meet ya.”

A large shutter door opened, allowing the vehicle, the Spectromobile, to enter what had once been a fire station. Once it stopped, the Parahunters, including their new recruit, got out and unloaded their ghost-trapping machines, the Spectrovacuums.

“So, will the ghosts remain trapped in these… uh… vacuums?” Good Will asked.

“No, we have a vault for them,” Gray Matter answered. “In the basement. Since you will be working with us, we will show you.”

As they advanced, they passed beside a desk with a yellow unicorn mare with red glasses and a red mane and tail. Good Will saw that she had a desk Cutie Mark.

“So, how did it go?” she asked.

“Ah, my dear Sunny Feather. It went very well! Except Dark Vision who got a shiner,” Soul Speaker said.

“You won’t let it go, uh?” Dark Vision stated.

Soul Speaker grinned at him. “Never.”

“Give him a break, Soul. He was by himself protecting somepony. It wasn’t easy,” Summer Road said. “Speaking of, we have a new recruit.”

“Really?” Sunny Feather said before she finally spotted Good Will. “Ooh! What a cutie! Hello, I’m Sunny Feather! The Parahunters’ secretary! Welcome!

“Nice ta meet ya, miss. Ah’m Good Will.”

Sunny Feather looked back at the Parahunters. “Isn’t she a bit young to hunt ghosts?”

“She helped capture a ghost. She doesn’t have her Cutie Mark yet, but it may be her future talent,” Summer Road said.

“And her parents have agreed?”

“Uh…”

“Ah don’t have parents. Ah’m an orphan,” Good Will said.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, dear.”

“It turns out that she is a street rat, so she doesn’t have any guardian to ask permission from. So will give her a job, and a home. That’s our good action of the day,” Soul Speaker said.

“In addition to capturing ghosts and protecting innocents from them,” Gray Matter said.

“Yeah, in addition to that.”

The mare smiled at the filly. “Then I’m sure you will love it here. And Misty will be happy to have a playmate.”

“Misty?” Good Will asked.

Suddenly, a yellow blur arrived and rapidly flew around Good Will with gurgling sounds. The blur eventually stopped before Good Will, revealing itself to be the ghost of a newborn unicorn filly with yellow fur and a blown mane.

“That’s Misty,” Summer Road said fondly.

The ghost rubbed her cheek against Good Will’s, making her giggle. “Hello you.”

Misty gurgled back a baby talk, as if to say “Hello” too.

“As you can see, Misty is the ghost of a stillborn filly,” Gray Matter said. “We found her spreading havoc in a hospital. We couldn’t bring ourselves to trap her, she was just playing, she didn’t know better, so we took her in and we try to teach her how to be a better ghost.”

“It’s not easy…” Summer Road said.

“She is pretty much our mascot,” Soul Speaker said. “Our diabete-inducing mascot.”

“And it looks like she already loves you,” Dark Vision said.

“Luv ya,” Misty repeated.

“Aww, Ah love ya too,” Good Will said, trying to pat Misty only for her hoof to pass through.

“Ok, can we move on before I start to need insulin?” Soul Speaker said.

Gray Matter cleared his throat. “Yes. We still have to put the ghosts we captured in the vault.”

The Parahunters moved to the basement, into what seemed to be a workshop full of inventions. Among them, against the wall, was a large red metallic box with a small socle in a cavity.

“This is the vault in which we keep all the ghosts we capture,” Gray Matter presented. He then went on to give a scientific explanation of how it worked, which Good Will didn’t understand, until he was stopped by Soul Speaker clearing his throat.

“Yes, thank you Gray Matter, but I fear that Good Will is too young to understand you, despite all her… good will.”

Everypony groaned, especially Good Will.

“Come on, it was a good one.”

Dark Vision hit him on the back of the head. “No. You should be ashamed.”

“Anyway. Let’s put the ghosts in the vault,” Gray Matter said before he took out a blue crystal from his Spectrovacuum and put it on the socle. He then pressed a button, and a door closed over the cavity before the vault began to emit a purring sound. Because of it, Good Will couldn’t see what was going on with the crystal, but after a few seconds, the purring sound stopped, the door opened, and Gray Matter took the crystal.

One by one, the other Parahunters did the same thing.

“Here we go,” Summer Road said once he recovered his crystal. “So, I guess that it’s time to give Good Will a tour of the place.”

“Since Dark Vision is the one who invited her, he should be the one giving her the tour,” Soul Speaker said.

Dark Vision shrugged. “Fine. I agree.”

And so, Dark Vision led Good Will around in the ancient fire station, presenting the day room, the fitness room, the dorm, and so on. Good Will even got to test sliding down the pole to go from the second floor to the first floor.

“So, what do you think?” Dark Vision asked.

“Ah think that it’ll be nice here.”

Dark Vision grinned and ruffled her mane. After that, the filly was left to do what she wanted.

She decided to return to the basement, to the workshop. She was curious about all these inventions there.

Nopony was in the workshop when she arrived. The Parahunters were resting a bit after their mission. So the filly was left to do what she wanted. Misty, however, followed her in.

“Curious too?”

Misty began to look around. After looking at her a bit, Good Will began to follow her example.

“What do ya think all these inventions are?”

Of course, the foal couldn’t answer, but Good Will still liked to talk to her to fill the silence.

Good Will saw what looked like a horseshoe to entirely cover the hoof and even part of the leg. It was too big for her.

“What is it?”

She had to jump on the table to reach it, careful to not walk on a small cardboard box and various other objects present, including a nail beside an empty bottle. She then took it and studied it, pressing a button on the side. Suddenly, the bottom of the shoe began to glow. She pressed the button again, and it stopped glowing. She placed the shoe back at its place, wondering what it was for.

She heard Misty gurgling and looked back, seeing the foal press some buttons on what looked like a cannon.

“Uuh… Ah don’t think ya should touch it, Misty.”

Misty looked at her, but then resumed pressing buttons, giggling. Suddenly, the cannon began to move by itself, pointing toward Good Will. Just as she started to panic, the cannon fired some kind of purple beam, and the next instant, Good Will was gone.

Misty looked at where Good Will had been and approached curiously, looking around to see where her new friend went. She then saw something on the table and looked closer, finally finding Good Will who was now the size of a bug.

Good Will looked around, not knowing what happened. For a moment, she thought that she had been teleported to another place, but then, she saw a familiar cardboard box, now much bigger than her. Looking more, she recognized the horseshoe further away, now huge.

“It shrunk me?!”

She then saw Misty’s face looking closely at her. The foal was now a giant compared to her.

Misty cooed, and Good Will had to cover her ears, the sound amplified to her.

“Misty!” Good Will yelled. “Turn me back to normal! Go press the buttons on that cannon again! Or bring somepony to do it!”

Misty cooed again, then giggled, not flying away.

Good Will groaned. “Ah guess Ah’ll just wait.”

Having nothing better to do, she began to explore the table. She looked at the bits around, passed beside the empty bottle with the nail, then approached the cardboard box.

Suddenly, as she passed before the box, a spider jumped out of it, trying to bite her. Used to danger appearing without warning, the filly reacted immediately and rolled away, avoiding the bite, before she bucked the head of the spider, making it screech in pain. The spider then tried to impale her with its legs, but Good Will ran under it, then away from it toward the nail beside the bottle. The spider followed her to attack her again with its legs, but the filly grabbed the nail and used it to deflect the legs like a sword. When she got an opening, she approached the head and impaled it with the nail. With a loud screech, the spider fell, squirmed for a few seconds, and stopped moving, dead.

Good Will stepped back, breathing out, before she sat down. Misty, not far, giggled again and applauded.

“Yeah, it must have been a good show fer ya, uh?”

At this moment, Gray Matter, now without his uniform, entered the room, hearing Misty giggle.

“Misty, I told you to not enter my workshop.”

Misty turned toward him and gurgled something.

“What are you doing there anyway? Be careful with the horseshoe. It can shock you.”

Gray Matter approached, then finally spotted Good Will behind her on the table. The filly was jumping and waving to gain his attention.

“What?! Good Will? What-?” He looked between her and the cannon. “Did you use the shrinking cannon on yourself?”

Good Will said something in return, but Gray Matter couldn’t hear her. He sighed and began to press some buttons on the cannons.

“Let me just reverse it. Misty, out of the way.”

Even if she didn’t understand him, Misty moved out of the way anyway, approaching him to look at him as he pressed the buttons.

Eventually, the cannon fired a beam right at Good Will, making her grow to her normal size. She sighed in relief.

“Oh, thank Celestia.”

“You should be careful. You could have been stuck in that size if I hadn’t found you.”

“It’s not mah fault! Ah was just looking at the horseshoe when Misty turned the cannon on and shrunk me!”

Gray Matter glared at Misty who giggled. He then sighed. “Misty…”

Good Will jumped down. Finally, she got a good look at Gray Matter’s flank, seeing that his Cutie Mark was a group of three neurons.

“Life isn’t boring with her around, uh?”

“You have no idea. Anyway, it’s good that I found you. I wanted to talk to you about your schooling.”

Good Will groaned.

Tale 5, Part 2: Conspiracy

“As expected, the Parahunters are putting their muzzles in our business. We should deal with them.”

“How?”

“I have an idea. But first, let’s do the second ritual.”

“So, what do you guys think caused such a huge number of ghosts to appear in the middle of a random street?” Dark Vision asked.

“Somepony is responsible. I’m sure of it. That’s what the symbol says,” Summer Road said.

“But how did they manage it?” Soul Speaker said.

“I propose that we return to the street and investigate,” Gray Matter proposed.

The four Parahunters agreed.

Good Will, who was also present, only watched. She still was new and knew nothing about the paranormal, so she felt that it was useless for her to say anything. Let the pro do their work and just follow along.

It also allowed her to see the Parahunters other than Gray Matter for the first time without their uniforms. Thanks to that, she was able to see their Cutie Marks.

Soul Speaker’s was a brain with wiggly lines coming from it.

Dark Vision’s was a ghost, simply.

Summer Road’s was a suitcase filled with paper to the point that some was spilling.

Summer Road’s job before he joined the team sucked, uh?

But then, Sunny Feather entered the room and said, “We have a customer. One Miss Bookworm whose library was suddenly overrun by ghosts. The poor dear looks like she saw a ghost, or several.” She giggled at her joke.

“See, Soul? This is a good joke,” Dark Vision said.

Soul Speaker rolled his eyes. “Let’s just go to Miss Bookworm’s library.”

“Shouldn’t some of us remain behind to investigate the street?” Summer Road asked.

“No. I feel that we will need all of us in this case,” Gray Matter said.

“You think that this will be like in the street?” Good Will asked.

“Yes. Ghosts suddenly appear in some library. I don’t like that.”

Miss Bookworm, a lavender unicorn with a brown dress and glasses, guided the team to her library which was revealed to be a large one. While they drove, she repeated to them what she said to Sunny Feather, how ghosts suddenly appeared and began to mess the library, attacking and scaring the ponies. When she was asked how many ghost there were, she simply answered, “Many!”

For Gray Matter, it was a good enough answer to know that it was indeed like in the street. Maybe even worse.

For Good Will, this was her first mission. She now had her own Spectrovacuum. However, the Parahunters didn’t have a uniform in her size.

She mentally prepared herself. It will apparently be a hard one. Gray Matter actually hesitated bringing her, but Soul Speaker and Dark Vision convinced him that, if the number of ghosts was really like in the street, then it was best to bring everypony.

When they saw how large the library was, they understood that it was a good decision.

“We will have to disperse to cover everything and not miss a single ghost,” Gray Matter said. “Dark Vision and Good Will, first floor. Me and Summer Road, second floor. Soul Speaker, since you are the best of us, you will go alone to the third floor.”

“Aye aye, captain,” Soul Speaker said.

“Of course, if anypony needs help, scream,” Gray Matter said.

“No need to say it,” Summer Road said.

“It’s common sense,” Dark Vision said.

Good Will looked worried. “Will Ah be alright alone?”

“Don’t worry. Dark Vision won’t be far. Like I said, if things go wrong, scream and he will come,” Gray Matter said.

“Okay.”

Once everything was said, they left the vehicle and entered the library, leaving Miss Bookworm outside. Immediately, they followed Gray Matter’s instruction and dispersed, Good Will remaining close to the entrance.

The ghosts didn’t wait long to manifest. Books suddenly flew out of the shelves and went after Good Will who went under a table, using it as a cover. Six ghosts then came out of the shelves and one of them flipped the table. Good Will immediately activated the Spectrovacuum on this ghost and moved it around to hit the other ghosts and get them away. Suddenly, a seventh ghost, an old mare, came and shouted, “Silence in the library!” before she threw a book at Good Will who ducked to avoid it.

Good Will then used the flipped table as a cover while she continued to capture the other ghosts one by one, always targeting the closest one and using it to push the others back, all the while resisting being dragged around.

“When the last blue ghost disappeared inside the Spectrovacuum, the old mare shouted, “I said silence!” with books levitating around her. As she threw them at Good Will one by one, the filly blew air at them, sending them back at the ghost. After three hits on the head, the old mare was stunned and the levitated books dropped, giving the occasion for Good Will to approach and capture her.

Recovering her breath, she said, “Well… That’s not so bad.”

More confident, she began to explore the first floor of the library, capturing a few more ghosts, but never as many as the first wave. Eventually, ghosts stopped coming. Even the sounds of Dark Vision fighting disappeared.

“No more ghosts on mah side!” she yelled.

“Me too! What about you up there?” Dark Vision yelled.

“Nothing to signal anymore!” Gray Matter shouted back.

“Not a ghost since five minutes ago!” Summer Road said.

“Seems like our mission is complete, guys!” Soul Speaker shouted as he walked down the stairs from the third floor.

Good Will turned around a shelf and suddenly stopped, seeing something on the floor.

“Guys! Come here!”

She immediately heard hoofsteps approaching and coming down the stairs. Dark Vision was the first one arriving and immediately saw what she saw.

“Oh…”

One by one, the others arrived and saw too what Goodwill saw.

On the floor was the same magical symbol than back in the street, the skull of a ram.

“As I thought,” Gray Matter said. “The two invasions are linked.”

“How many ghosts did you guys catch?” Soul Speaker asked. “I caught seven.”

“Eight,” Dark Vision answered.

“Eight too,” Summer Road said.

“Ten,” Gray Matter said.

“Thirteen,” Good Will was the last one to answer.

The Parahunters stared at her, Soul Speaker whistling.

“Not bad pipsqueak.”

“That’s more ghosts than back in the street, right?” Summer Road asked.

“Definitely,” Gray Matter answered.

“So… Whatever is happening… It’s getting worse,” Dark Vision said.

“Well, we are in a library. Let’s use the occasion to do some research,” Gray Matter said. “Let’s also warn Miss Bookworm that the library is now safe. She can help us search for what we need.”

Before long, Miss Bookworm was standing before the symbol, looking at it in surprise.

“I know this symbol,” she said. “Follow me.”

The mare guided them through the library to a shelf from which she levitated a book.

On the cover of the book was the exact same symbol.

“Yes, the Logarat civilization,” she said before she gave the book to Gray Matter.

For the following hour, the Parahunters studied it, discovering a lot about this mysterious Logarat civilization.

It was a civilization of ponies who lived here, in Manehattan, before the arrival of the three tribes. When the tribes came, the Logarat immediately attacked them without even trying for diplomatie, forcing the tribes to destroy them. The Logarat worshiped an unknown god. The ponies couldn’t find more about it because Commander Hurricane destroyed the temples and other worshiping places. Apparently, when they discovered what the god was, the Founders decided to make it forgotten, not wanting anypony to worship it.

The Logarat had three temples worshiping this god, and this book had a map that showed their emplacements.

Summer Road pointed at it and exclaimed, “Hey! This is where the library is!”

Gray Matter nodded. “Miss Bookworm, can we have a map of Manehattan, please?”

“Of course, mister.”

Once the mare brought the map, the Parahunters were able to confirm that one of the temples had been where the library now was.

“And that’s the street where ya found me,” Good Will said, pointing at the street which had been a temple in the past.

“And the third temple… Right where the city hall is,” Dark Vision said.

“Coincidence? I think not,” Soul Speaker said. “Now we must really investigate these places. Maybe the underground?”

Everypony nodded.

“We will have to separate into two groups to explore the underground of the street and the library,” Gray Matter said.

“I know a couple of friends who should be able to help you,” Miss Bookworm said. “They studied a lot about the Logarat civilization.”

“It would be very helpful, madam,” Soul Speaker said. “We can’t thank you enough for that. Maybe sharing a drink would help?”

“No thanks. I avoid alcohol.”

The poor stallion didn’t know what to say in return, making Good Will giggle.

Good Will explored the underground of the street with Soul Speaker, Dark Vision, and one of Miss Bookworm’s friends. A dark green unicorn mare with a white mane and an ancient temple as a Cutie Mark, known as Rich Past. They found the place right under the symbol, the same symbol glowing in the floor here.

“So, we randomly search around?” Good Will asked.

Soul Speaker shrugged. “That’s the best we can do, but let’s avoid going too far from here.”

So they searched. Going from tunnel to tunnel, looking closely. It was eventually Good Will who found something.

It was thanks to her small size. She saw on the wall, just at her eye level, the same ram skull symbol engraved.

“Hey! Ah think Ah found something!” she said before she put her hoof on the symbole. To her surprise, the symbol sunk into the wall, and the next instant, the part of the wall at its left sunk into the ground, revealing stairs going down.

“Woah, a secret passage,” Dark Vision said.

“Impressive! I’m sure it wasn’t here when Manehattan was built,” Rich Past said.

“Good job, pipsqueak,” Soul Speaker said, making Good Will beam.

They descended the stairs which descended into a spiral. After a minute, they arrived at the bottom and their jaws dropped upon seeing what was now before them.

A pyramid.

“The… The temple was rebuilt,” Rich Past said, having difficulty believing what she was seeing. “And judging by the plants creeping over it, it was rebuilt a long time ago.”

“Welp, let’s enter it,” Soul Speaker said.

So the group entered the temple, taking right away a staircase that led to the top floor where they entered a large room with the skull symbol glowing in the center. Around it were black candles, all used, and there were also various symbols, like a ritual. More symbols were on the walls.

“That’s Logarat writing. Give me some time to translate it,” Rich Past said.

As the minutes passed and she read the symbols, her expression turned to horror.

“T-that’s bad.”

“What do they say?” Good Will asked.

“It’s better if I wait for everyone to be together. They may find more info. Time to leave.”

“You don’t need to tell me twice. This place gives me the creep,” Soul Speaker said when, suddenly, his hoof sunk into the ground, followed by a click. He immediately understood. “Oh… Shoot…”

The floor opened under him, Dark Vision, and Good Will. Dark Vision flew and was able to catch Soul Speaker, but not Good Will.

“Good Will!” he yelled before the floor closed.

Good Will dropped into a hallway, before a slope. Right away, a trapdoor opened above the slope, and out of it came a giant spherical boulder. Good Will immediately began to run, only for arrows to come out of the walls. She dodged them with difficulty, but then, hole appeared in the floor which she also had to avoid. Finally, spikes came out of the ground, forcing her to stop and wait for them to retract. Eventually, she reached a big gap, and she had to use the Spectrovacuum to suck a liana to her before using it to reach the other side as the boulder fell.

She landed and took her breath before she reached the exit which was just beside the staircase leading to the top of the temple. The exit closed behind her, and here she found the others.

“Good Will! Are you alright?” Dark Vision immediately asked, looking over her to see if she was hurt.

“Ah’m alright. Avoided a big boulder, arrows, holes, spikes, and Ah didn’t get hit.”

Dark Vision breathed in relief.

“Sorry kid,” Soul Speaker said.

“Don’t worry, it’s not yer fault,” the filly reassured. “Let’s get out of here.”

They gathered with the other group in the headquarters where they found out that the other group found the same thing, an underground temple with what looked like a ritual, right under the basement of the library.

There, Rich Past and her friend, a red pegasus stallion with a yellow and red mane and a cloud of dust for a Cutie Mark named Dust Digger, revealed what the symbols they read meant.

The Logarat’s god was named Zegor the Destructor, and whoever rebuilt these temples were intending to bring him to Equestria. For that, they needed to do three rituals in a certain order, one in each temple, once a certain group of stars reached the right position. Already, two rituals were done.

“The third temple is right under the city hall. We must tell the mayor,” Gray Matter said.

“Yes!”

The Parahunters left the headquarters and went to the city hall. There, they found the mayor of Manehattan, a blue unicorn mare with a gray mane and a golden key for a Cutie Mark. She was known as Mayor Gray Mane.

“What do you want?” she asked once they were led into her office.

“Madam, we have very bad news. We have uncovered a conspiracy that has the goal to bring into our world an ancient and terrible god. We need to enter the basement of the city hall to find a temple under it and stop a ritual that is or will be taking place there.”

“The future of Equestria depends on it,” Gray Matter said.

The mayor stared at them. “I see… Then, I guess that I have to act.”

Suddenly, several ponies entered the office. Among them, the Parahunters recognized many figures of Manehattan, including the leader of the guards of the city, the CEO of a millionaire company, or even one of the most famous stylists.

The Parahunters looked around as they were surrounded.

“Oh… Let me guess, you are the guys doing the ritual,” Soul Speaker deadpanned.

Mayor Gray Mane laughed. “You are right. So, as you can guess, I can’t let you continue what you are doing. Guys, arrest them for assault on the mayor.”

The ponies immediately restrained the Parahunters who struggled to escape.

“You won’t get away with it!” Dark Vision shouted.

“I would like to see you find a way to stop us before we finish the ritual tonight. Goodbye.”

The Parahunters were then knocked out.

Tale 5, Part 3: Zegor the Destructor

Madam Ruler, we are bringing to you a lost filly,” a guard said once they entered Madam Ruler’s office in Madam Ruler’s Orphanage.

Two guards were present, and between them was Good Will, looking very scared.

“No… Everything but here… Please…” she pleaded to the guards.

Madam Ruler rose from her chair, looking very happy. “Oh! Good Will! They finally found you! I was very worried after I found out you weren’t here anymore!”

Madam Ruler was a pink earth pony with a red mane and a ruler for a Cutie Mark. She was overweight, and she had a belt with the orphanage’s keys.

Good Will glared at her, not saying a word.

“You can leave her to me, boys. I will take care of her.”

“Very well, madam,” the same guard who talked earlier said before they both left the office.

The more they heard the guards walk away, the more Madam Ruler’s smile turned sinister, making Good Will gulp loudly.

Good Will was thrown into a very small room, barely one meter by one meter with a bowl of water being the only object present in a corner.

“As a welcome back gift, you will spend one week here with no food for having dared to escape. After that, I will present you back with my ruler. It really missed you.”

Good Will got up and glared at the mare, making her glare back.

“You dare look at me this way?” She took out a ruler from her mane. “Seems like I will present this ruler to you earlier than planned. Seems like you need to relearn to respect me.”

She advanced into the room.

Good Will continued to glare at her, then smirked. “No. Fatty.”

Madam Ruler gasped. Suddenly, Good Will grabbed the bowl of water and threw it at her. As the mare was splashed with water and hit on the head by the bowl, Good Will immediately ran beside her and snatched the keys before she placed herself behind Madam Ruler and bucked at her butt, making her fall on the floor in the room. Good Will then closed the door and used the right key to lock it.

“After living in the streets and fighting ghosts, ya’re nothing, fatty!”

“Let me out! I order you to let me out! Once I’m out, I swear that I will make you regret it!” Madam Ruler shouted as she hit the door to try to open it.

Good Will decided to not wait to see if she could eventually open it, and she ran into the hallways of the orphanage. Knowing it by heart, she knew where the exit was, and she had no problem escaping the orphanage for the second time.

Good Will didn’t hesitate. She had to break the Parahunters out of prison. She thankfully heard that they will be kept in the guard station until they could get a trial before they will be sent to a prison outside of Manehattan. She will have to wait tonight where, hopefully, there will be less guards. Thankfully, it was getting late already.

Meanwhile, she returned to the Parahunter HQ.

“Welcome back, Good Will. Where are the others?” Sunny Feather asked upon seeing her.

“In jail. Ah must break them out and stop the mayor.”

“Say what?!”

But Good Will didn’t say more as she passed her desk and went to the basement. On the way, she was joined by Misty who flew around her, wanting to play.

“Sorry Misty, no time ta play. Yer daddys are in danger and Ah must save them.”

Misty didn’t understand much, but she understood one word. “Dada?”

“Yes. Dada. Danger. Bad guys. Save them.”

“Dada.” Misty saw how serious and grave Good Will was, so she got a worried expression as she followed the filly who entered the workshop. She went to the horseshoe and grabbed it. It was still too big for her, but she could simply hold it before she decided to give it to Misty.

“Keep it.”

Misty took it, not sure what to do with it.

“See the button? Press it. Like ya did earlier with the cannon.”

Good Will showed the button, and immediately, Misty pressed it, activating the horseshoe. But then, she pressed the button a second time, deactivating it, only to press again, reactivating it. She repeatedly pressed the button, activating and deactivating the horseshoe while she laughed.

Good Will sighed.

Finally, it was night, close to midnight. Good Will, followed by Misty holding the horseshoe, returned to the guard station. The streets still had ponies that got scared by the ghost’s presence, but the filly didn’t mind them.

When they reached the station, Good Will went to a window far enough from the entrance, where she was sure it wouldn’t be guarded.

“Can ya open the window?” she whispered to Misty who, of course, didn’t understand. Seeing that, Good Will tapped the window.

Misty passed the window, dropping the horseshoe which Good Will quickly caught. Then, the window was opened from the inside, allowing her to enter.

They were now in a room that was thankfully empty. Good Will gave the horseshoe back to Misty.

Good Will silently opened the door and peered into the hallway, seeing no guard. So she entered the hallway, followed again by Misty, and carefully walked, regularly looking behind her.

She heard them before she saw them, around a corner, three guards were approaching, discussing. Good Will immediately hid behind a planted pot while Misty turned invisible. The horseshoe wasn’t invisible however, so Good Will quickly grabbed it to hide it with her.

The three guards passed beside her, thankfully not spotting her. Good Will quickly, but silently, walked away.

Suddenly, she heard a guard yell, “Ghosts have appeared around the city hall and are attacking the citizens! We must go!”

Countless hoofteps coming from all over the buildings then sounded, and Good Will and Misty quickly hid inside an empty room.

As she waited for the guards to leave, Good Will cursed.

The mayor did the third ritual, certainly at midnight.

Zegor was coming.

Once the hoofsteps disappeared, she left the room and ran until she found the stairs to the basement where she guessed the jails were. She descended them, finding out that she was right. However, to her surprise, there was still a guard guarding them, and he immediately spotted her.

“What are you doing here, little one?”

“Good Will?” Dark Vision asked from one of the cells.

The four Parahunters went to the bars and looked, seeing that it was her, indeed. They couldn’t believe that she was here.

The guard approached her.

“You aren’t allowed here.”

“Sorry, mister, but Ah must save mah friends, and Equestria.”

Suddenly, the guard was hit on the head by the horseshoe activated, shocking him and knocking him out right away. Misty then turned visible, babbling happily.

“Good job Misty!”

The ghost giggled, applauding.

Good Will quickly took the keys from the guard and opened the doors of the cells, freeing the Parahunters who congratulated the fillies, Dark Vision patting Good Will on the head.

“I didn’t expect my invention to be used on a guard,” Gray Matter said. “A living guard.”

“Circumstances asked for it,” Soul Speaker said.

“We must hurry up guys,” Good Will said. “The mayor and her cronies did the third ritual.”

At that, everypony looked grave.

“What do we do then? Zegor is coming,” Summer Road asked.

“We do what we do best, my friend,” Soul Speaker said. “Kicking ghost butts.”

“But first, we must recover the Spectrovacuums,” Gray Matter said.

“Hopefully, they are still in the Spectromobile, and hopefully again, they left it before the city hall,” Dark Vision said.

Thankfully, the station wasn’t far from the city hall, so it only took a few minutes to go there where they found hundreds of ghosts roaming the streets and attacking the ponies. The guards were trying to help, but they weren’t very effective. To make matters worse, buildings were burning.

The Parahunters found the Spectromobile and ran for it, avoiding the ghosts. Inside the vehicle, they found the Spectrovacuums and equipped them right away.

“Back in action!” Soul Speaker exclaimed.

“Again, we will have to disperse to deal with all of them, but try to not go too far from each others,” Gray Matter said.

The Parahunters all nodded, and they ran in different directions, beginning to capture ghosts.

Thankfully, Gray Matter had planned for such a situation and gave the Spectrovacuums the possibility to augment power while giving them the risk of overheating. Thanks to that, they were able to deal with the huge number of ghosts.

New ghosts were among them, beside the now usual blue ones. Large rectangular red ones, tall yellow ones that liked to throw stuff, and sneaky purple ones.

Good Will activated the overheat mode and was able to capture dozens of ghosts before she was forced to return to normal mode before the Spectrovacuum could explode on her back.

The red ghosts revealed that they couldn’t be captured from the front, so Good Will slammed a purple one on the closest red one to immobilize it and be able to go behind it to capture it. She then used the red ghost’s large body like a hammer on the other ghosts, weakening a lot of them that she then just had to collect.

A last red ghost remained, but she decided to deal with the yellow ones first to stop them from throwing objects at her, which was very annoying and painful. It wasn’t long before all of them were captured, using debris and large objects as cover. When she was capturing the last one, she slammed it on the last red ghost to immobilize it, allowing her to capture it and use it like the previous red one as a hammer on the other ghosts. Before long, they were all captured.

Good Will thus cleared her portion of the streets, but many other ghosts were everywhere else.

Suddenly, wind picked up ash and gathered it into a large cloud beside the city hall that grew, and grew, and grew, until it was as big as a building. The cloud then changed shape, becoming… a ram. Then, fire began to come out of its mouth and its eyes

The ram roared.

The Parahunters gathered.

“I think this is Zegor,” Soul Speaker said.

“How will we deal with him?” Summer Road asked.

“He’s so huge!” Good Will shouted.

“We won’t let you bother the Great Zegor!” a familiar mare voice said.

The next instant, Mayor Gray Mane, now a ghost, appeared along with her cronies, now ghosts too.

“You will have to pass by us before! But I dare you to try! The Great Zegor gave us great powers to thank us for bringing him to our world!”

“It still won’t stop us from trying,” Soul Speaker said. “You may be powerful ghosts, but you are still ghosts, and ghosts are our specialty.”

“After over one thousand years of waiting, our ancestors will finally have their revenge! Die!”

Gray Mane then sent purple lightning bolts that the Parahunters avoided by scattering.

A terrible battle began, but Good Will remained out of it. Instead, she looked at Zegor who was beginning to destroy the city.

By the time the Parahunters deal with the mayor and the others, there won’t be a city left to save.

But Good Will had an idea.

She immediately ran away, eventually followed by Misty who looked at her curiously.

“Ah know what ta do ta stop Zegor! Ah must return ta the HQ!”

Meanwhile, the Parahunters continued their battle against Gray Mane who was now raining lightning from the sky while the others fired levitated debris or fired all kinds of projectiles. The Parahunters had difficulty avoiding all that, but Dark Vision eventually managed to approach one of the cronies and to trap him. It didn’t stop him from attacking however as he still caused spikes to sprout out of the ground, trying to skewer the pegasus as he was dragged around.

Dark Vision suddenly found himself levitated and thrown away by Gray Mane, making him release the ghost. Meanwhile, Soul Speaker managed to trap another one after getting past the chunks of road levitating around her. This time, he was joined by Summer Road, allowing them to capture the ghost.

Gray Mane prepared a ball of energy only for Gray Matter to throw with his Spectrovacuum a large debris at her. The debris went through her, but it still disturbed her, making her miss her aim, the ball instead destroying a wall. Gray Mane growled at him and unleashed lightning at him, making him yell in pain. Dark Vision quickly stopped her by trapping a ghost and slamming him on her.

Good Will entered the HQ and yelled, “Sunny! Ah’ll need yer help!”

“What is going on? I heard a roar!”

“Zegor is out there destroying the city! We must stop him! Help me bring the shrinking cannon out!”

“The shrinking cannon?”

“No time ta explain!”

Before long, the cannon was outside.

“Use it ta make me grow!”

“What?”

“Press this button, then this button, then this button.”

“Uh… Ok.”

Finally, Good Will placed herself before the cannon, far enough. Sunny Feather pressed the buttons as told, and the cannon fired at the filly who suddenly grew until she was about Zegor’s size.

Sunny looked in awe.

“Thank ya Sunny. Now, Ah must go. Ah have a god ta capture.”

Finally, Good Will walked away, the city shaking with each of her steps, not minding the panicking ponies at her hooves, but still careful to not walk on them.

Before long, she found Zegor.

Immediately upon spotting her, Zegor opened his mouth and gathered a huge quantity of energy into a ball. He fired, and Good Will ducked to avoid it before she ran toward him and punched him, sending some of the ash forming him in the air while the god was sent into a building that crumbled on him.

Zegor got up, the ash returning in his body, and he punched Good Will in return, and despite the filly parrying, she was sent sliding several meters back down the street. Zegor then used the ash forming his body to create small ghost-like ash golems that went after Good Will, but she easily sucked them up with the Spectrovacuum. However, she couldn't suck up the ash directly from Zegor's body.

Understanding what she had to do, she ran back to Zegor and punched him, but Zegor dodged and punched her in return. She lowered her head to avoid him and punched Zegor in the gut before turning around and bucking his head, expelling a lot of ash from his body. She immediately sucked it up with the Spectrovacuum. Zegor sent several energy balls in return, and Good Will ran down a different street to avoid them, hiding behind the buildings. Zegor followed her as a torrent of ash, only to be bucked again when it entered the same street as Good Will. As the ram of ash reformed, she then grabbed his head by the horns, lifted him, and violently slammed him on the street, making the city shake and expelling a lot of ash from Zegor's body that she immediately sucked up. Zegor, however, fired an energy ball at her, and she was hit in the chest, sending her flying far down the street.

She quickly got up, and by reflex, she used the handle of her Spectrovacuum as a bat, successfully sending a second energy ball back at Zegor. The god clearly hadn't expected it, and the ball hit his head, destroying a part of it. Good Will quickly approached it to suck up the expelled ash before it could return to his body, which was now full of holes as it was losing its consistency, more fire coming out of the holes.

As she finished sucking up the ash, she was punched in the face. She retaliated by grabbing the leg that punched her before pulling, forcing the ram closer to her. She then punched him in the gut one, two, three times before she was slapped by a tentacle of ash forming from Zegor's body. She then gave an uppercut that sent the ram back a few steps, took off her Spectrovacuum, and slammed it on his head. She quickly put the Spectrovacuum back before sucking up the ash, only for more tentacles of ash to form and to wrap around her legs. She was then lifted and violently slammed against a building. Despite that, she grabbed one of the tentacles and spun, slamming the god into another building. This sectioned the tentacle from the main body, causing Zegor to lose a lot of ash that Good Will sucked up. As Zegor recovered, she then tackled him, and after rolling together a little, she grabbed his tail and used the momentum of the roll to violently slam him on the street. His body of ash exploded into a cloud, and she sucked everything with her Spectrovacuum.

But Zegor wasn't defeated yet. It turned out that the ash was only a shell hiding his real form: a ghostly mass of fire with a face without any real shape.

The being of fire sent flames to burn Good Will, but she sucked them up, and she also began to suck him up, his immaterial form making him vulnerable to the Spectrovacuum. Zegor then charged a lot of energy for a huge attack in hope of avoiding being captured, and he fired a powerful beam of destruction, only for Good Will to slam him, causing his beam to go haywire without even hitting her. However, it caused a lot of destruction to the buildings around them before it stopped. Good Will then continued to slam Zegor again and again until he was captured.

Good Will breathed heavily, not believing that she won. She sat down, flinching because of her injuries. But then, she grinned.

She really captured a god!

Meanwhile, Mayor Gray Mane saw Good Will capture Zegor and yelled in despair.

“Noooo!!! How could Zegor lose to a filly?! That’s impossible!!!”

“That’s our pipsqueak!” Soul Speaker exclaimed.

“Not so pipsqueak right now,” Summer Road said.

“But the city is in really bad shape,” Gray Matter said.

“Look! The ghosts are leaving!” Dark Vision shouted.

As he said, the remaining ghosts, beside Gray Mane and what remained of her minions, flew away and dispersed into the sky.

“Aw man… More work for us in the future,” Summer Road said.

“Why do you sound so down? That’s great! To us the money!” Soul Speaker said.

“But first, we must finish with her,” Gray Matter said, pointing at Gray Mane.

Only Gray Mane and two of her cronies remained, all of them weakened. The Parahunters, however, were breathing hard.

“You will not get away with this!”

“Oh, but we will,” Soul Speaker said before he activated his Spectrovacuum, trapping the three ghosts. The three others joined him.

Between the four of them, the two minions were quickly captured, but Gray Maner struggled hard, sending everything she had to escape. Soul Speaker was hit by lightning, but he resisted and continued to suck up.

After a long minute, Gray Mane was finally captured, entering Dark Vision’s Spectrovacuum.

Immediately, the four of them sat down, absolutely spent.

“It’s over,” Dark Vision said.

“Hehe. We stopped a millennium old conspiracy to destroy Equestria. Go, team,” Soul Speaker said.

“I can’t believe we did it,” Summer Road said. “If I had known this would happen, I would have asked for a raise.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m sure we will receive a nice sum for saving Equestria,” Soul Speaker said.

Suddenly, the earth shook, heralding the arrival of giant Good Will who looked down at them in worry.

“Are ya alright?” she asked.

“We should be the ones asking you that. We aren’t the ones who fought a god,” Gray Matter said.

“Tired. Hurt. Need to sleep right now. But Ah’m ok.”

“Same for us, pipsqueak,” Soul Speaker said. “Same for us.”

Misty suddenly arrived and flew among them, babbling happily. When she flew around Good Will, she cooed upon seeing something on her flank.

“What is it, Misty?” Good Will asked before she looked at her flank, and she gasped.

She now had her Cutie Mark.

It was the exact same symbol as the Parahunters, a white ghost surrounded by a red circle with a red bar crossing it.

“Ah got mah Cutie Mark! Oh mah gosh! And it’s in ghost hunting!”

She began to bounce in joy, making the earth shake. The stallions stumbled and Gray Matter even fell over because of that.

“Woah, calm down Good Will!” Dark Vision said.

Good Will stopped, sheepish. “Oops, sorry.”

“Eh. As we thought, it really is your talent,” Summer Road said. “We are happy for you.”

“Thanks!”

“Now, we should shrink you,” Gray Matter said.

“And celebrate our victory and you getting your Cutie Mark!” Soul Speaker exclaimed.

Everypony agreed.

And so, the Parahunters returned to their HQ and celebrated before they got a well-earned rest.

They needed it, because the situation in Manehattan was very chaotic for the following days. They had to explain everything that happened, the mayor and others had to be replaced, buildings had to be rebuilt, and countless ghosts who escaped had to be captured all over Equestria and beyond.

Needless to say, the Parahunters became very busy, and Good Will was very happy. She loved this job!

Tale 7: Halloween Special: Part 1: Apples and Curses

It was late evening in Ponyville, Equestria. Near the Everfree Forest, the CMC, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, were walking along a path, on their way home from their latest crusade to find their Cutie Marks.

“At least, this time, we didn’t get covered in tree sap despite all the trees present,” Apple Bloom said.

“Only good part of today,” Scootaloo said, a bit grumpy.

“Hey, at least, we had fun!” Sweetie Belle said. “Even if we are now banned from the park…”

“Ah guess that park ranger isn’t for us,” Apple Bloom said. “Wait, what is it?”

What gained Apple Bloom’s attention was what appeared to be a tear in the air, which then opened to become a hole, surprising the fillies. Then, out of the hole came…

An alicorn Sweetie Belle.

The hole closed behind her.

The three’s jaws dropped.

“Sweetie… Is that you?” Scootaloo asked.

“But… But… What?!” Sweetie Belle shouted, not understanding what was going on, like the other two.

The other Sweetie Belle, who looked older by a few years, looked around and quickly spotted them, then grinned.

“Oh! I’m in another Equestria!” She waved at them. “Hello you three! What is your last crusade to date?”

The three were speechless for a moment, until Apple Bloom eventually answered, “Uh… Park rangers.”

The other Sweetie Belle put a hoof under her chin in thought. “Park rangers… Park rangers… Oh, right! After Rarity and the others went to the Grand Galloping Gala for the first time! And before Dis… Wait, spoiler. Wow, that’s very early. You girls pretty much just started crusading.”

Sweetie Belle hesitantly advanced. “Uh… A-are you… me?”

“Uh? Oh! Yes, I’m you, from an alternate future. No, you won’t become an alicorn. It was special circumstances that won’t repeat in any other timeline. Unless your timeline is special and you somehow find a way to become an alicorn without going through what I went through. You never known. But no, it means that you won’t get the same Cutie Mark as me.”

Sweetie Belle gasped and looked at her counterpart’s flank in excitement, only to get a questioning look upon seeing that her Cutie Mark was a black blotch.

“What is it? Paint?”

“Void. So, yeah, no way you will get it. Like I said, special circumstances. And yes, I know what Cutie Mark you will get, unless this is a special timeline and you will get a different Cutie Mark than usual. Again, you never know, the future isn’t written. So no, I won’t tell you. Same for you two, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.”

The three looked down in sadness at that. “Aww…”

“But it doesn’t mean I can’t help,” the other Sweetie Belle said with a grin.

The three grinned, but then, Sweetie Belle looked at the late sun, and her grin disappeared.

“Can we talk while we walk? It’s getting very late. Rarity will be angry if I take too long.”

Apple Bloom looked disappointed. “The crossroad where Ah’ll have ta leave ya isn’t far.”

The other Sweetie Belle looked at Apple Bloom, then smiled. “Then, how about I bring my Apple Bloom? And my Scootaloo too? This way, you will each have a counterpart to talk to while you go home.”

“Yesyesyesyes!” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo shouted excitedly.

“Alright!” the other Sweetie Belle said before she opened a rift. “I will see you at the crossroad then! I’ll be quick!” She then jumped into the hole which closed behind her.

The CMC remained silent for a moment, looking at where the alicorn disappeared.

“I can’t believe we met another me, and she is an alicorn!” Sweetie Belle xclaimed.

“Yeah. I mean, things have gotten crazy in Ponyville lately. But this is a bit much,” Scootaloo said.

“Ah wonder what mah other me will be,” Apple Bloom said as she began to walk.

The other two began to walk too.

“I can’t wait to see other me,“ Scootaloo said. “I wonder if she will be awesome.”

After a few minutes, they reached the crossroad. One road led to Ponyville, the other continued along the Everfree Forest toward Sweet Apple Acres.

They didn’t have to wait long. After only one minute, a hole opened in the air, and out of it came alicorn Sweetie Belle, followed by an Apple Bloom and a Scootaloo.

Followed by another set of CMC.

Followed by yet another set.

Then the hole closed.

The three’s jaws dropped again. They expected only one set of CMC, not three.

And several of them weren't looking normal at all. Particularly a Sweetie Belle and an Apple Bloom.

The Sweetie Belle looked half fish. She had four legs, but also a tail fish, fins, and scales covering parts of her body. Her Cutie Mark was a music note.

It was tame compared to the Apple Bloom. The Apple filly was scary in comparison. She was half timberwolf. She had mostly a pony body, except made of wood, with claws, and fangs, and glowing green eyes, and she smelled very bad. The only thing that said that she was Apple Bloom was her bow. Her Cutie Mark was an apple made of wood.

Another Apple Bloom was made of wood, but her wood looked more like skin. Where the first Apple Bloom had a mane and tail made of twigs, this one’s were composed of leaves. From far enough, you could mistake the wood for brown fur and the leaves for a green mane and tail. Again, the only thing that said that she was Apple Bloom was her bow, and her eyes too. Her Cutie Mark was a black apple.

Then there were two Scootaloos that were robots. Like, really, robots. One looked normal with a Cutie Mark of a wheel on fire. The other, however, was bipedal, looking more like a minotaur, and she was about as tall as the fillies would be if they stood up on their hind legs. Also, she had an antenna beside her right ear, had no wings, and her Cutie Mark was a shadowy pegasus flying very rapidly judging by the trail behind it.

The third Scootaloo was also bipedal with black clothes covering her hands and black shoes covering… whatever was at the end of her legs. Feet? She had no wings too, her left eye was yellow while the right one was blue, and her Cutie Mark was some kind of gem.

The third Apple Bloom looked normal, just older, around fourteen the fillies would guess. Her Cutie Mark was quite unique. It was a red shield defending some white ghostly figure, and from the bottom of the shield was some machine in the process of capturing an angry black ghostly figure. Also, a pony skull made of purple energy was on the shield.

The last Sweetie Belle looked normal too, her Cutie Mark was also a music note, but something felt off about her.

Scootaloo immediately approached her two robotic counterparts. “Oh my gosh! You two look awesome!”

The two exchanged looks, then the bipedal one giggled and said, “Don’t think it means you will become a robot too.”

“Aww…”

“Trust us, you don’t want to know how we became robots,” the other one said.

Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle approached her half fish counterpart. “Uh… Are you a merpony?”

“Half siren,” the other Sweetie Belle corrected.

“A siren?”

“Think of it as a special merpony who can fly and use magic by singing.”

Sweetie Belle had stars in her eyes. “Oooooh! I want to be a siren too!”

Siren Sweetie Belle laughed sheepishly. “I don’t think it will happen.”

“Wait. Two of you have music note Cutie Marks. Does it mean that my Cutie Mark will be a music note too?”

“Maybe, maybe not,” alicorn Sweetie Belle said.

Meanwhile, Apple Bloom approached her counterparts, keeping an eye on the timberwolf one.

The timberwolf sighed. “Don’t worry. ah won’t hurt ya.”

“Sorry. Force of habit. Ya know…”

“Ah know. And Ah’m sure it doesn’t help that Ah stink like the dead. Can’t help it despite all the showers Ah take.”

“Just think of her as a good girl,” the other Apple Bloom made of wood said with a chuckle.

Timberwolf Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. While it couldn’t be seen because of her glowing eyes, it was easy to guess that she did it.

The last Apple Bloom giggled. “Black Apple, give the poor girl some respite, we just arrived.”

“Black Apple?” Apple Bloom questioned.

“Oh yeah. We give each other nicknames to differentiate us. It’s much less confusing when we call each other.”

“Alright everypony!” alicorn Sweetie Belle called. “I think that we should go. We wouldn’t want the adults to worry.” She laughed. “Also, I can’t wait to see Rarity’s reaction when she will see four Sweetie Belles.”

All the fillies laughed at that.

“Then Ah’m leaving y’all. Goodbye girls,” Apple Bloom said.

After saying their goodbyes, the Apple Blooms separated from the others and took the path leading to Sweet Apple Acres.

Not long after, the Apple Bloom who looked normal said, “So, Ah’m Apple Death, and they’re Black Apple and Timber Bloom.”

“Apple Death?” Apple Bloom questioned with worry.

“Eh… Long story. Ah’ll tell ya later once we reach Sweet Apple Acres. Meanwhile, how about ya tell us about yer last crusade?”

Apple Bloom happily did so.

After a few minutes of walking, they reached another crossroad where they stopped as they saw none other than Twilight approaching with a saddlebag.

“Wow. Seeing her as a unicorn is weird after all this time,” Apple Death said, and Black Apple and Timber Bloom nodded. Apple Bloom looked at them in wonder.

Twilight spotted them, then did a double take.

“What the…?!”

The four Apple Blooms waved at her and said, “Hey Twilight!”

“Look who Ah met on the way!” Apple Bloom said.

Twilight was silent for a moment. “Apple Bloom,” she then began slowly. “Why is there an… older filly looking like you? And a… timberwolfpony? And a… dryad? What is going on?!”

“Dryad?” Apple Bloom questioned before she looked at Black Apple. “Is this what ya’re?”

“Close enough,” Black Apple answered. “Anyway, we’re alternate versions of Apple Bloom. We come from other universes.”

“We came with alternate versions of Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle to visit your version of the CMC,” Timber Bloom said.

Twilight stared at them. “”Alternate versions?” “Other universes?””

The three Apple Bloom not from this universe said, “Uh oh.”

Apple Death then approached Twilight and did calming gestures. “Deep breath, Twilight. Ah know this is a big deal, but can yer geek out wait tomorrow? It’s getting late. Deep breath. Hold. Exhale. Here we go. Deep breath. Hold. Exhale.”

She was joined by the other Apple Blooms. “Deep breath. Hold. Exhale.”

Twilight followed the instructions and calmed down.

“Thank you. So… You three are here to visit Apple Bloom. Why?”

“Well, we thought that it would be nice ta visit a Ponyville rather early in the timeline,” Black Apple said. “For nostalgia.”

“And see if we can help our past counterpart here in any way with her Cutie Mark,” Timber Bloom said. “Like by giving advice.”

“That’s very kind of you,” Twilight said.

“What about ya Twilight? Ya’re visiting Zecora?” Apple Death asked, recognizing the path.

“Ah yes, I promised Zecora to bring her some books on local herbs. I better hurry, I’d rather get home before dark.”

This got Apple Bloom excited. “Oh oh! Can Ah come too?”

“Ah guess that we have time ta visit Zecora,” Apple Death agreed. “It’s always nice ta see her.”

Twilight shook her head. “I would rather avoid bringing you with me. The Everfree Forest is not a place for fillies. Especially so close to the dark.”

“Eh. Don’t worry. As long as Ah’m around, no critter’ll come ta bother us,” Timber Bloom said. “At least one good thing mah odor is good for,” she grumbled.

“Yeah, we have a very good guard dog,” Black Apple said before she laughed when Timber Bloom glared at her. “Also, we can defend ourselves. And we know to remain on the path.”

Apple Death nodded. “The Everfree’s pretty much mah backyard. Apple Bloom won’t have ta worry with me at her side.”

Apple Bloom gave Twilight the puppy dog eyes. “Come on, Twilight. Ah’ll be extra careful. Oh please please please!”

Twilight looked at the four fillies, doubtful.

Seeing that, Black Apple walked out of the path and placed a hoof above the grass. Out of her hoof then came a seed that fell in the grass. She placed her hoof where the seed disappeared, and suddenly, a tree grew in just a few seconds, to Twilight and Apple Bloom’s amazement.

Then, Apple Death approached the tree and touched it. Again, to Twilight and Apple Bloom’s amazement, and also horror, the tree instantly died.

Apple Death looked at Twilight. “Animals know ta avoid me.”

“Woah… Mah counterparts are scary,” Apple Bloom said.

“What… kind of magic do you have?” Twilight asked hesitantly.

“It’s not magic. Long story. Ah doubt ya’d believe me. Now let’s go. If we remain here, it’ll be too late.”

Twilight sighed. “Very well. But promise me to remain close.”

“Yay! Thank ya Twilight!” Apple Bloom said.

And with that, the group walked toward the Everfree Forest, following a path that the Apple fillies knew very well.

“Ya know, we regularly visit Zecora,” Black Apple started. “She teaches us potions.”

“Really?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Yes. And all the times we took this path, nothing ever happened to any of us,” Timber Bloom said.

Apple Death nodded. “This is one potential path for ya. If ya decide ta focus on it, potionmaking could be yer Cutie Mark. We’re very good at it. Black Apple is a mistress in the domain.”

“Ah grow mah own ingredients. No need ta explore the Everfree anymore,” Black Apple said. “Speaking of, farming can also be yer special talent. After all, it’s in yer blood.”

“As Twilight would say, it’s easy to overlook the obvious,” Timber Bloom said. “That’s what ya must focus on, what ya’re already good at. Any talent ya already possess can be yer special talent.”

Apple Death snorted. “Or ya can be like me and go through a traumatic adventure ta discover yer special talent. Ya test everything ya can think of, and something unexpected suddenly comes and before ya know it, ya’ve yer mark. We’re special in this way. Our Cutie Mark is not written. As ya saw, our Cutie Mark is very different from an Apple Bloom to another.”

“So yeah, we could tell ya the Cutie Mark ya should get, but it’s very possible that ya get something different for one reason or another. It’s not like AJ and her friends who get the same Cutie Mark from one universe ta another,” Black Apple said. “Ya could very well get a truly unique Cutie Mark.”

“Same for yer friends,” Apple Death said. “Ya three really are a special trio.”

Apple Bloom looked at her three counterparts. “So… Ya’re saying… Ah shouldn’t try to force the mark ta appear, but ta let it come when the time comes?”

“Pretty much. But a good start, like we said, is ta focus on yer strengths,” Timber Bloom said. “Ah got mine thanks ta carpentry. Yes, we’re also good at building stuff. Ah don’t know if ya noticed. No, obviously not. Yeah, Ah know we already tested carpentry at Fluttershy's, but... Yeah, Ah can't think of a reason why we failed so badly back then. Ah guess it wasn't a good day.”

Apple Bloom now looked thoughtful, then she nodded. “Thank ya. It really helps a lot.”

“Everything for a fellow Apple,” Apple Death said, giving the youngest filly a noogy, making her squeal.

All the while, Twilight listened and smiled, happy to see the older fillies giving such nice advice to the youngest one. Also, that thing about the CMC being so special that they often get different Cutie Marks in different universes was very interesting! It seemed like Harmony really had a special place for these fillies. It was also worrying when the oldest gave the possibility that they may have to go on a traumatic adventure. Whatever Harmony had in store for them, Twilight hoped to be there for them.

Or with some luck, they were in a timeline where nothing special will happen.

It wasn’t long after that that they reached Zecora’s home. The three visitors decided to remain behind, not wanting to give Zecora a scare. Also, Timber Bloom’s muzzle didn’t like the smells that the zebra placed to keep away the critters of the forest.

“Hey Zecora!” Twilight began when Zecora came out of her home to welcome her. “I brought the books you wanted.”

“Kind ponies. I thank you for delivering what told.”

“Glad to help!”

“But you do not want to remain for the events that will unfold,” the zebra suddenly warned. “Hurry back to Ponyville you two must. For the darkness this night you cannot trust.”

With that, Zecora returned in her home, and Twilight and Apple Bloom looked at each other in worry.

“Well, what the hay did that mean?” the filly wondered.

“I do not know what this is about, but we better go. Come on Apple Bloom.”

The two returned to the three other fillies who also looked worried, and the group began their journey to leave the forest, hurrying up a bit.

The three didn’t remember Zecora giving this warning that day.

But then, after a minute, they discovered the path blocked by a fallen tree.

“What the…? How in Equestria did this tree fall?” Twilight wondered.

“Maybe it was… ghosts?” Apple Bloom supposed.

“Oh silly. There is no such thing as ghosts,” the mare reassured, not seeing Black Apple and Timber Bloom stare at Apple Death holding a laugh. “Never mind. I’ll move it.”

At that, Twilight levitated the tree and threw it out of the way only to discover more trees blocking the path.

“Oh come ooon! Stay right there Apple Bloom, this may take a while.”

And the mare began the task of moving all the trees one by one.

Behind her, the fillies occupied themselves by looking around and starting small talks.

Suddenly, Apple Bloom spotted something unexpected: a gray furred, blonde maned filly crossed the path behind them, disappearing among the trees.

Not moving her eyes from where the filly disappeared, she shouted, “Hey, Twilight!”

“Not now Apple Bloom,” the unicorn replied as she remained focused on her task.

Apple Bloom hesitated. She promised Twilight to remain close, but she couldn’t let this filly wander the forest alone. It was almost dark.

“What’s going on, Apple Bloom?” Apple Death asked when she saw the younger filly’s worry.

“Ah saw a filly. Alone. She went ta the left. Into the trees.”

The fillies exchanged looks.

“What in Equestria is a filly doing alone in the Everfree Forest when it’s almost dark?” Timber Bloom wondered.

“And it wasn’t a filly Ah recognized from Ponyville. She had a gray coat and a long light blonde mane. Longer than Dinky’s, so he couldn’t be her,” Apple Bloom said.

Again, the fillies exchanged looks.

“What do we do? We promised ta remain with Twilight,” Apple Death asked.

“But we can’t leave that filly alone in the forest,” Black Apple said.

Apple Death bit her lips. “Everypony for searching the filly, raise a hoof.”

The four raised their hooves.

Apple Death sighed. “Sorry Twilight.” She looked at Apple Bloom. “Show us where ya saw the filly.”

Apple Bloom nodded, and she walked toward where she saw the filly disappear, the others following her. Walking among the trees, they found a new path among them that they hadn’t known existed. It was very dark here, so they made sure to remain together as they followed it.

“You out there?” Apple Bloom called to the filly, receiving no answer.

So they continued to follow the path for a while, looking around, Apple Bloom in worry, the others in warryness.

Then, they found a light among the trees. They followed it.

And to their surprise, they entered a small town that seemed to be in the middle of a party.

“Wha-How is there a town in the Everfree? How come we never found it?” Apple Death asked.

Not far at their left, a gray stallion with a black mane and, to their surprise, a blank flanc, said jovially, “Ah ah! Why hi there little fillies, and welcome to Sunny… Town…”

At that moment, the stallion saw something that he didn’t like, because he became very disappointed.

“Oh… You three have the mark.”

The fillies looked worried.

“Uh… The mark? What mark?” Black Apple asked.

“The mark…” the stallion growled as he closed his eyes. “The mark of the curse.”

Suddenly, before the fillies’ eyes, the stallion began to transform. His fur turned black as charcoal. His mane and tail became damp-like. He lost weight until he was pretty much skin and bones. Worse, some bones, especially his ribs, poked out of his skin. He then opened his eyes, revealing that they were now glowing red.

Behind him, the town suddenly lost its light, and the houses visibly rotted, partially collapsing. In an instant, the nice little town became a ruin right out of a horror story.

“The curse…” the stallion then said as he began to slowly advance toward the fillies. “We must destroy the curse. You have to go, like her.”

Timber Bloom began to growl at him.

Black Apple quickly pointed a leg toward the stallion, and out of it came a vine that pierced him in the chest. The stallion dropped on the ground.

However, after a few seconds, they saw him move again, putting a hoof to start to slowly rise.

“Let’s get out of here!” Timber Bloom exclaimed.

The fillies were ready to run, wanting to return to Twilight to better prepare to face this sudden new threat, but then…

“Wait!”

They stopped as Apple Bloom shouted.

“What about the filly? She’s still around there, somewhere!”

The fillies looked at each other hesitantly. She wasn’t wrong. Unless the filly had been just a lure to draw them to this town.

“Besides, this is an adventure, right? Ya said earlier that Ah’d get a Cutie Mark in an adventure, and look what we have here! Let’s find out more about this town!”

At that, Apple Bloom ran around the rising stallion who was clearly a zombie and into the village despite the protests of the others.

They groaned as they began to run after her.

“Were we that bad?” Timber Bloom wondered.

“According to Applejack, yes,” Black Apple said.

Apple Death saw a couple more zombies-it was hard to say if they were mares or stallions-approaching Apple Bloom. Rapidly, she turned into a ghost, levitated the closest zombie, and threw it very hard toward the second, causing the two of them to crash violently into a house that crumbled on them.

Apple Bloom, seeing that, stopped running to look in awe, then turned to look at Apple Death, seeing her skeletal ghost form. She got very terrified.

“Wh-what…”

Before the filly’s eyes, Apple death returned back to normal, except that whatever illusion had been making her look normal was gone because Apple Bloom could now see her bones through her now pale skin, her mane and tail were also paler, and her eyes were glowing purple behind the iris.

“There’s a reason why Ah’m called Apple Death, and it’s not just because Ah can kill whatever Ah touch. But don’t worry, Ah’m still a friend. Ya’ve nothing ta fear from me. Now let’s go out of this town before more of these zombies come.”

Apple Bloom shook her head, then looked around before she pointed at a building larger than the others.

“Wait! Maybe there’s something in this building? Maybe it’s the town hall?”

“What could we find in there?” Black Apple questioned.

“Ah don’t know, but if we want to find what’s going on, and find the filly too, it’s a good start ta search buildings that look suspicious, right?”

“All the buildings here look suspicious,” Apple Death said before she sighed. “Alright. But remain close ta us.”

So they entered the building and discovered that it wasn’t the town hall. Instead, it was a storehouse.

“If there’s anything in there, good luck finding it,” Timber Bloom said.

“Who is here?” they suddenly heard from the other side of a row of crates. The voice of a mare. “Whoever you are, you shouldn’t be here! Run before they get you!”

Apple Death immediately turned into a ghost again and flew above the crates to see who was speaking. There, at the other side of the row, was another zombie. However, this one was different. Instead of a black coat like the other zombies encountered until now, she had a red coat.

The zombie was very surprised to see her.

“What in Equus…?!”

More observation of the area showed to Apple death that the zombie was trapped. Large metallic crates were blocking the only path through the rows of smaller crates. There was also a crank for some reason.

She looked back at the mare who didn’t seem hostile contrary to the others.

“Who are ya? What’s going on here?”

“I should be the one asking that! What are you?”

“A very special ghost. Let’s go with that. No time ta explain more. Now, answer mah questions!”

“I… I’m Mitta. And… Since that terrible day where they killed her, the town has been trapped. Always the same party. Always the same events. Trapped forever… as those ghouls. They see it as a benediction. They can’t get the mark anymore as they are now. But I know what it is. A curse. A punishment for what we did. Doomed to walk these lands as monsters, unable to die, unable to touch another pony without spreading it. If only I had done more to protect her…”

Of course it had to be a curse. What were the chances?

“How do we destroy this curse?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think it can be destroyed.”

“Do ya have any hint at least? A gut feeling? A clue?”

“Maybe… Maybe… Where it all started.”

“And do ya have any idea where a filly could hide here?”

“A filly?”

“Yes. We saw a filly coming here. We went after her ta get her out of the forest. She must now be hiding somewhere.”

“There is nowhere to hide in this forsaken town. They are everywhere. If the filly has the mark, they will kill her. If she doesn’t have it, they will force her to join them.”

“What do ya call the mark?”

“The mark on your flank.”

“Oh! The Cutie Mark!”

“Cutie Mark?”

“Ya don’t know what’s a Cutie Mark?”

Mitta shook her head. “It started with a mark appearing on the flank. The ponies getting them were then forced to do what the marks represented. Then more and more marks appeared all over the body, the ponies couldn’t stop themselves from juggling and doing other tricks. More and more different tricks the more marks appeared on their bodies. Until, eventually, they dropped dead from fatigue. Many ponies died because of it. Gray Hoof saw it as a curse. Anypony getting a mark had to go, so the curse wouldn’t fall on Sunny Town again.”

Apple Death winced, “What ya’re describing, it’s the Cutie Pox. A disease that causes Cutie Marks ta appear all over the body and forces the ponies to do what they depict. Ah know, Ah got it long ago. But Cutie Marks aren’t a bad thing normally. They appear on yer flank when ya discover yer special talent. That’s all they are, a depiction of what ya’re good at. No curse.”

Mitta looked at Apple Death. Her expression was total despair. If she wasn’t a zombie, or ghoul, she would be crying. “You mean… She died for nothing?”

“Uh… Apple Death!” Timber Bloom shouted. “Ah can see zombies approaching! Hurry up!”

Apple death obviously wanted to ask more, but she sighed before she levitated the row of crates, opening a path for Mitta.

“Help us. Ah’m sure we can find a way ta destroy this curse. And hopefully, we’ll find that filly.”

Mitta nodded. Then she grabbed the crank before she walked under the crates which Apple Death dropped after. Mitta then saw the other fillies, and she couldn’t help looking at Timber Bloom in wonder.

She didn’t pose any question however, shaking her head before saying, “Remember, you can’t touch the ghouls. If they touch you, you become one of them.”

“Ah doubt Ah’ll become a ghoul if Ah’m touched,” Apple Death said.

“Me too,” Black Apple said.

“Me three,” Timber Bloom said. “Ah don’t think the curse’ll work on a timberwolf hybrid like me.”

The three then looked at Apple Bloom before they quickly surrounded her.

“No ghoul’ll pass us!” the three exclaimed determinedly.

Mitta stared at the four fillies, then shook her head again before saying, “Follow me.”

They then exited the building to find themselves surrounded by six ghouls, all black with red glowing eyes. Timber Bloom growled, daring them to approach.

“You freed Mitta,” one of the ghouls said.

“She is confused,” another said.

“She is for the curse.”

“We must keep her locked for her safety.”

Timber Bloom snorted. “Her safety my flank.”

One of the ghouls then approached, and Timber Bloom jumped on her, beginning to tear her apart with her fangs.

Meanwhile, Black Apple grew vines from her body and wrapped them around three ghouls’ legs to tear them off.

Apple Death grew impaled two ghouls with bones sprouting out of the ground under them.

Mitta took care of the last ghoul with a punch followed by pulling on the head to tear it off.

Apple Bloom looked in awe at her three counterparts. It was easy to see that they were used to fighting. Those ghouls were nothing for them.

Now, she wanted to be like them.

Mitta dropped the beheaded head and shouted, “Time to go!” before she walked away, further into Sunny Town. The fillies quickly followed her as the ghouls were already beginning to heal and get up.

“By the way, what does the filly you search look like? In case we see her,” the ghoul eventually asked.

Apple Bloom answered. “Gray coat and a long light blonde mane. Ah couldn’t see if she had a Cutie Mark.”

Mitta stopped in shock. “T-there is no way…” She shook her head to calm down. “No, you must speak of a different filly that looks like her. There is no way you saw her.”

“You know her?” Black Apple asked.

“I knew a filly with a gray coat and a blond mane, but…” She sighed. “You will see.”

They continued through the town, dealing with a couple more ghouls. Eventually, they reached the back of the town where they followed a path in the forest.

For a very brief moment, Apple Bloom saw gray disappearing behind a tree further down the path. “Ah saw the filly! Ah think! Hey! Wait up!” she shouted before she ran.

“Hey! We told ya ta remain close!” Timber Bloom shouted before the three visitors ran after her, followed by Mitta.

Eventually, they reached a lone house in the middle of the forest, in the dark. Apple Bloom went to open the door only to find out that it was locked.

“Uh? Locked? Where did she go then?”

The others quickly caught up.

“Apple Bloom! Don’t run off like that! Ya know it’s dangerous here!” Apple Death shouted.

Apple Bloom looked down in sadness. “Sorry. But Ah swear Ah saw the filly. Ah saw gray for a moment.”

Black Apple groaned. “Ah hope she hasn’t gone into the forest. It’ll be like searching for a needle in a haystack.”

Mitta stared at Apple Bloom, expressionless, before she went toward the well beside the house. She placed the crank, then turned it to lift the bucket, getting a key. Finally, she put the key in the lock of the door and turned, opening it.

“Come.”

The group entered the gloomy building which was revealed to be entirely empty except for a table at the left and a fireplace at the opposite side of the entrance.

Mitta walked toward the fireplace. “This is why there is no way the filly you saw is the filly I knew, and the origin of the curse.”

The four approached, then could only look in horror as they saw the skeleton of a foal in the fireplace. Apple Bloom was particularly horrified, visibly paling, and she couldn’t stop herself from taking a step back.

It was the first corpse she ever saw.

Mitta looked at the skeleton with a forlorn expression.

“Ruby… She was a little ball of sunshine. Always so full of energy. Always happy to help others. She was my best friend.”

She looked away from the corpse, toward the fillies who could see the pain in her eyes.

“That day, Gray Hoof had planned yet another party. I don’t even remember why. Gray Hoof made parties for any reason he could think of. Roneo wanted to use the occasion to give a gift to Starlet, a ruby, but he lost it. Ruby found it and gave it back to him. The next instant, a mark… a Cutie Mark appeared on her flanks. A magnifying glass.”

Several seconds of silence followed.

“Gray Hoof ordered her death right away, thinking that the mark was the curse returning to Sunny Town. They threw her in this fireplace to be burned alive. I couldn’t stop them. Then, that very night, we transformed into these… things, and Sunny Town got stuck in a loop. Gray Hoof saw it as a sign of eternal prosperity, a gift for having destroyed the curse preventively, and since then, he wants to give this benediction to other ponies to save them from getting the curse.

And yes, Ruby had a gray coat and a long light blonde mane.”

Apple Bloom was now visibly shaking. “C-Celestia… Ah swear… Ah saw a filly with a gray coat and a blonde man. Ah’m not crazy.”

Apple Death, Black Apple, and Timber Bloom exchanged looks, then all nodded at the same time while saying, “Ghost.”

Apple Bloom and Mitta looked at them for a moment. Then, the ghoul opened her mouth, ready to say something, only to look at Apple Death and remember that the impossible may be possible.

“You… You think she’s still here?”

“Very probably,” Apple Death said with a nod. “Upon dying, Ruby must have gotten a lot of resentment and must have cursed the town as a result, and she must now be wandering the surroundings as an angry ghost. Ha wouldn’t be surprised if the Everfree Forest helped her get the power to create this curse. Cursing a whole town isn’t nothing. And the only way to destroy it… would be ta put her to rest. Or capture her, but Ah don’t think anypony wants that.”

“So… We find Ruby, we talk ta her, and that’s it?” Timber Bloom asked.

“Ah think so. We still have ta find her however. It won’t be easy. Especially if she has the bad habit of disappearing. And all the while, we’ll have ta deal with the ghouls. While protecting Apple Bloom.” She looked at the youngest filly. “Ah think we should find Twilight and leave ya at Sweet Apple Acres. It’s too dangerous for ya to remain here.”

“But maybe Ah can help!”

Apple Death shook her head. “How?”

Apple Bloom opened her mouth, only to close it when she couldn’t think of anything. She finally sighed and said, “Alright…”

“Then let’s leave this town,” Apple Death said, and the others nodded. She looked at Mitta. “Of course, ya can come with us. With yer help, it’ll be easy explaining everything ta Twilight. With her help, we’ll be able ta destroy the curse, and Sunny Town.”

Mitta looked at the fillies, thinking for a moment, then nodded. “Very well.”

Before leaving the house, Apple Death looked at the skeleton in the fireplace, and after some thinking, turned into a ghost and levitated it.

“Getting her a burial should be a good start in calming her down.”

Finally, they left the house, returning to the town proper where they were welcomed by a dozen ghouls.

“There was no other way. She was going to spoil the party,” one of them, who they recognized as the stallion from the entrance, said.

“Your stupid party didn’t deserve the death of an innocent filly!” Mitta shouted.

“The curse had befallen her this very night. She had the mark! She had to go!” another ghoul, a mare, said.

“There was no curse,” Apple Death said.

Apple Bloom, full of rage, advanced and yelled, “Yeah! Her mark was harmless! It should have been the best day of her life, and ya ruined it! Ya killed her for nothing! Murderers!”

The ghouls now looked at her, one of them, a stallion, saying, “She doesn’t have a mark. We can save her.”

Apple Bloom gulped and stepped back, the others quickly placing themselves between her and the undeads.

“Ya won’t touch her,” Timber Bloom growled.

Black Apple raised a hoof and a black apple grew from it. Once it was fully grown, she grabbed it and threw it at the ghouls. The apple exploded upon impact with the group, spreading a cloud of spores that blinded everypony in it like a smokescreen.

“Come on,” Black Apple said before the group circled the cloud and ran away.

As they ran, more ghouls came out of the ground to try to stop them, but the fillies either avoided them or dealt with them. Eventually, they reached the entrance of the town and left, entering the forest.

Behind them, the ghoul who was Gray Hoof watched them escape for a moment before he buried himself into the ground.

On the path they took to reach Sunny Town, ghouls continued to come out of the ground, so they continued their strategy of avoiding them when possible, attacking them only when they had no other choice to avoid slowing down too much.

After several minutes, they reached the beginning of the path. However, to their surprise, they found small hoofprints leading further into the forest. They were too small to be the ones of a grown pony. They could only be the ones of a foal.

Apple Bloom gasped and said, “Ah think we found Ruby!” before she ran ahead, leaving behind the others, again.

“Wait! Consarnit, stop running ahead of us!” Apple Death shouted before the group followed her.

Apple Bloom followed the hoofprints into the forest.

At the end was a gray coated, blonde maned filly.

With a magnifying glass Cutie Mark.

With glowing yellow eyes. If it wasn’t for them, you would think she was a normal filly.

“I am sorry. I didn’t mean to bring you into this. I was just curious,” the filly said.

“Don’t be sad. Ah don’t blame ya,” Apple Bloom replied while the others caught up.

When Mitta saw the filly, she gasped and put a hoof before her mouth in shock. “Ruby… You are really here…”

Before more could be said, the ghouls appeared behind them, and more came out of the ground all around. Apple Death, Black Apple, and Timber Bloom immediately surrounded Apple Bloom and Ruby, ready to defend the youngest member of the group.

Ruby smiled sadly at the mare. “Mitta… I am sorry you were caught in it.”

“No, I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to protect you! I totally deserve this curse!”

Ruby shook her head. “Don’t say that. You did what you could.” She then looked at Apple Bloom. “As for you, don’t worry, your friends will get you out of here alive. The purple mare will soon come.”

“Wait. How about, instead, ya put an end to this curse?” Apple Bloom hesitantly asked as she looked around at the approaching ghouls.

Timber Bloom growled.

Black Apple glared at the ghouls, then said, “Timber Bloom, attack!”

Timber Bloom stopped growling and glared at Black Apple.

Apple Death facehooved. “Not the time, Black Apple.”

Finally, the three began to attack the ghouls. Apple Death sent purple electricity, making them yell in pain. Black Apple planted her front hooves in the ground, causing vines to sprout under the ghouls to ensnare them. And Timber Bloom jumped from ghoul to ghoul, using her superior strength to tear their heads off very easily.

Meanwhile, Ruby stared at Apple Bloom, then tilted her head.

“Why would I do that?”

“Erh… Because? It’s the right thing ta do?” Apple Bloom replied, again hesitantly.

A ghoul managed to get past Timber Bloom. Mitta hesitantly looked between it and Ruby before she decided to trust Apple Bloom and went to help against the ghouls.

Ruby shook her head. “These ponies are monsters. They deserve to be monsters forever.”

“What about the innocents who risk ta become ghouls?”

“Nopony ever finds Sunny Town. You and your friends only found it because of me. Once you escape, the town will disappear and won’t reappear for at least a century. By then, nopony will know about its existence anymore, and so, it will not be found anymore.”

“Apple Bloom!” a familiar voice was suddenly heard.

Then, from the darkness between the trees appeared Twilight, light coming out of her horn. The light caused the ghouls to step back.

However, one said, “The filly with the bow is trying to put an end to our paradise. We must stop her. Don’t mind the light.”

Ruby looked around at the ghouls not escaping. “Uh… This wasn’t planned…”

Meanwhile, Twilight saw the battle going on and got paralyzed by fear. Whether it was after seeing the ghouls, Apple Death’s ghost form, or Timber Bloom shredding them savagely, they weren’t sure.

But then, Twilight saw Apple Bloom in the middle of all this, then what the ghoul said registered, and she immediately understood that she had to get over her fear to protect her charge. So she blasted the ghouls left and right, creating an opening.

“Girls! Let’s go!” she shouted.

By now, it was easy to guess that every ghouls in Sunny Town were present. Dozens of them surrounded the fillies. No more were coming out of the ground.

Ruby looked back toward Apple Bloom. “Listen to her. Go. Leave this place.”

“But… But… And the curse…”

“This is their punishment for eternity. I will not end it. Now go. Hurry up.”

Apple Bloom gritted her teeth, then stomped a hoof on the ground stubbornly. “No! Ah won’t leave things as they are! Ah’ll end this curse!”

“Apple Bloom!” Twilight shouted as she blasted a ghoul.

Apple Bloom didn’t listen. “Ya say that Sunny Town will never be found again after today, but ya don’t know! It already happened once, it’d happen again someday! In one hundred years! In two hundred! In one thousand! There’s always a risk that things’ll go wrong! So plea-”

Suddenly, she felt something touch her back right hoof.

Immediately, she felt cold spreading in her leg.

Before her, Ruby looked at her leg, and her eyes widened in shock and horror.

Apple Bloom’s heart skipped a beat as she understood but didn’t want to believe. Slowly, she looked down at her leg…

And saw a ghoul, half out of the ground, touching her leg.

The ghoul was grinning.

Her leg was turning black and emaciated.

It was spreading.

Around, everypony was staring in shock and horror, the battle pausing for a moment.

“You will be one of us now,” said who she recognized was Gray Hoof. “You will see, you won’t regret it. You will be free of the curse, and we will party together forever!”

Apple Bloom couldn’t say a word. She looked between Gray Hoof and the black, the cold, reaching her right flank.

Then she looked at Gray Hoof again, and she saw red.

“GO TA TARTARUS, GRAY HOOF!” she roared before she bucked him in the head, sending the head flying into the forest.

The cold was spreading to her other back leg.

Apple Bloom looked at where the head disappeared, taking big breaths, before she heard Ruby talk. She looked back toward the filly ghost who was now panicking.

“NonononoNONONONONONO! NO! NO! NO! I DIDN’T WANT THIS! WHY DIDN’T YOU LISTEN TO ME?! YOU SHOULD HAVE GONE TO SAFETY WHEN I TOLD YOU!”

Apple Bloom chuckled. “Apple Family stubbornness…”

The cold was reaching her chest.

Then, Apple Bloom wrapped her legs around Ruby, surprising the ghost.

She was shaking.

“Ah know that what they did ta ya is horrible. Ya didn’t deserve ta die. Not like that. Those murderers deserve Tartarus. But… Ya shouldn’t remain trapped here because of them. Ya should be free. In peace. Up there. And this curse must end. I-it’s d-dangerous.”

Ruby wrapped her legs around Apple Bloom, crying. “I’m sorry! You are right! I should have listened! I should have never placed this curse! But I was so angry! And now, you are… I’m so sorry!”

“W-well then. M-make s-s-sure Ah’m the l-last v-victim. A-a-alright?”

Ruby felt a hoof on her back, and she looked around to see Mitta smiling at her.

“Come on, Ruby. Let’s end this. Let’s be at peace together.”

Ruby stared at Mitta, then nodded. “Yes.” Then, she looked back at Apple Bloom and squeezed one last time. “I’m sorry. I will make it right.” Finally, she removed her legs from around Apple Bloom and stepped backward. “Once I’m gone, the ghouls will be vulnerable. Attack their brains, and they will die, for good. And… Thank you, for opening my eyes.”

She closed her eyes.

A breeze came for a second.

She wasn’t here anymore.

See you again one day, my friend.

Everything was silent

Timber Bloom then looked at the ghoul nearest to her and jumped at it, planting her claws into its head. As she removed them, the ghoul dropped.

Lifeless.

“Like the ghost said! They’re now vulnerable! Let’s end this!” she yelled.

The ghouls all had the same reaction. “Oh buck!”

What followed was a carnage.

After watching the fillies for a bit, looking in sadness at Apple Bloom, Twilight glared at the ghouls and decided to join the carnage. They will pay for Apple Bloom! These monsters won’t harm another innocent!

While this happened, Mitta looked at Apple Bloom. “Thank you for freeing Ruby.”

The filly’s glowing red eyes stared at nothing before her. “................What will ya do… now…?”

“I… I want to join Ruby. I want to rest in peace too. So, I will let myself be killed.”

“Wish granted,” a familiar voice said behind the mare before she was suddenly pushed into the ground. Gray Hoof revealed himself behind her, and he walked to her head before he violently stomped on it, crushing it.

“Mitta!” Apple Bloom shouted.

Gray Hoof glared at the filly. “Look at what you have done! We gave you our benediction, and this is how you thank us?! We would have accepted you in Sunny Town! Free of the mark! You would have been part of our family! We would have partied together for all of eternity! But now, the party is ruined! You ruined it! You ruined everything! This is the end because you couldn’t accept us! Despite our gift! You little…”

Apple Bloom listened to the rant, gritting her teeth more and more, before she finally snapped.

“ShutupshutupshutupSHUTUP!!!”

Grabbing one of her ribs, she jumped toward Gray Hoof and planted her rib in his eye, silencing him. The stallion dropped on the ground, and the filly repeatedly stabbed him with her rib.

“DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIED-”

Her leg was suddenly held back. She immediately turned to glare at whoever stopped her, seeing Apple Death.

“Stop it, Apple Bloom. It’s over. He's dead. They’re all dead.”

Apple Bloom looked around, seeing that she was right. All the ghouls were dead.

Then, she looked at her hooves.

Her red hooves.

“No… There’s still a ghoul…”

She then curled up, and Apple Death hugged her right away.

“Wait.” She looked at her hooves again. “Why am Ah red? Shouldn’t Ah be black?”

“Well, it’d seem that when Ruby hugged ya for the last time, she… changed ya a bit. The red is probably ta tell that ya’re friendly, like Mitta.”

“Oh…”

“Ah wouldn’t be surprised too if she made it so ya don’t turn other ponies into ghouls when ya touch them. Or maybe it’ll be a result of the curse ending.”

“Ah… hope…”

Apple Bloom then curled up again.

“It doesn’t change that Ah’m now a monster… Forever… Ah’ll never get a Cutie Mark… Ah’ll never grow up… Ah… Ah… Ah’ll be a-a-aloooone!”

She began to cry, without tears.

Black Apple and Timber Bloom looked guiltily at their undead counterpart before they joined Apple Death in giving her a group hug.

Twilight also approached them, looking guilty too. When she got close enough, the light emitting from her horn caused Apple Bloom to return to normal.

“It’s my fault. I should have refused to let you come with me.”

Apple Death shook her head. “Ya had no way to guess that something so bad was here. None of us had. We took the path ta Zecora dozens of times before, and nothing ever happened. Also, it’s our fault. We told ya that Apple Bloom had nothing ta fear with us at her side. We should have insisted ta go once we discovered the ghouls.”

It was Apple Bloom’s turn to shake her head. “No. It’s mah fault. Ya’ll tried many times ta put me ta safety, but Ah refused ta listen. Ah wanted ta defeat the ghouls. Ah wanted ta see if Ah’d get a Cutie Mark at the end of this adventure, like Apple Death told me it could happen. But now…”

Silence followed, the only sound being Apple Bloom’s crying.

“If…” Black Apple hesitantly began. “If it can reassure ya, ya won’t be alone. Ah’ll… live a pretty long time, too. And Apple Death’ll live forever. There are also Sweetie Void, Shadow Speedster, Phantom, Sweetie Ghoul, and Scootabot. And maybe Timber Bloom and Siren Belle. Sirens are very long-lived apparently, if not totally ageless, and Timberwolves don't get old. Not sure if their mutations include that.”

“Wait… Sweetie Ghoul?”

“Oh yeah. The Sweetie Belle who looked normal. She’s actually an undead. Well, more exactly, a ghost possessing her own body, but close enough. And Scootabot is a ghost possessing a robotic body. So, yeah, ya aren’t the only undead. Well, ya’re the only true undead, but like Ah said, close enough.”

“Also, ya may be different now, but don’t worry about Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Yer friendship with them is stronger than that. And AJ, Big Mac, and Granny Smith’d rather die than abandon ya,” Apple Death said.

Timber Bloom nodded. “Ah was accepted despite being part timberwolf. The worse ya’ll have ta worry about are the Flower Sisters fainting when seeing ya.”

Apple Death giggled. “Yeah. And a ghoul living in Ponyville will be nothing compared ta what’s awaiting this town. It should help that ya’ll look normal when not in the dark.”

Twilight became thoughtful. “Speaking of it. Thanks to that, you don’t even need to tell everypony that you are a ghoul if you don’t want them to know. If you look normal when in daylight, then it will be as if nothing happened. Of course, you will still have to tell your family, at least.”

“It’ll only help for a bit,” Apple Death reminded. “She won’t grow up anymore, so ponies will eventually see that something’s wrong. But it’ll at least give her time.” She looked at Apple Bloom. “Something ta think about in the following months. Talk with yer family and yer friends ta prepare together for when ya’ll have ta do the big reveal.”

Apple Bloom looked at everypony in turn. “So… Ah guess… It’s not so bad?”

Apple Death shook her head. “Oh, trust us, it’s very bad what ya went through, and it sucks a lot that ya’re now an undead. It’s a big change for ya. But yeah, at least, ya won’t have ta go through this alone. Ya’ll have yer family, yer friends, and even us. Yes, we’ll definitely come back regularly to keep tabs on ya.”

Apple Bloom smiled hesitantly. “Thank ya.” She hugged all of them. “Thank y'all.”

Twilight looked for a bit, then slowly put a hoof on Apple Bloom. Seeing that her leg wasn’t turning black, she joined the hug, showing her support.

Author's Note

Have a scary Halloween!

If you want to see the aftermath with everypony's reaction to what happened, tell me. I'm not sure if it would be ok to write it, or if it would be superfluous.

Tale 7, Part 2: Aftermath of the Blanks

Twilight and the Apple Blooms reached the exit of the Everfree Forest in the darkness of the night. Apple Bloom made sure to remain close to Twilight so her light could keep her normal.

They then took the path to Sweet Apple Acres, arriving after many long minutes of silence.

Apple Bloom really wasn’t looking forward to what will happen next.

As they arrived before the house, Apple Death and the others remained a bit behind to let Twilight speak first.

Twilight knocked on the door, and Applejack opened it.

“Twi? Oh! There ya are, Apple Bloom! Dinner's been over since a while! Ah was starting ta get worried! Where were ya?”

Instead of answering, Apple Bloom remained silent, looking down, before she suddenly hugged Applejack.

Seeing Apple Bloom’s distress, Applejack hugged her back and looked back at Twilight.

“What happened?”

Twilight sighed.

“A long story… But first, let me present to you some guests.” At that, the unicorn signed at the three other fillies behind her. “Applejack, I present to you Apple Blooms from three other universes.”

“What?”

Apple Death advanced to get beside Twilight. “Howdy. How about we enter so we can explain everything to Big Mac and Granny Smith too?”

“Did Ah hear that right? Other Apple Blooms?” an old voice said before an old mare, Granny Smith, appeared behind Applejack. “Mmh. ya look different from our Apple Bloom, but if ya’re really Apple Blooms, then enter. Ah can warm up the dinner again. Ya can enter too, Twilight, of course. Thank ya for bringing Apple Bloom.”

“Thank ya, Granny,” the three fillies said.

“Thank you,” Twilight said.

As everypony entered, Timber Bloom stopped before the old mare and said, “Uh… Ah’m sorry, but Ah only eat meat.”

All the adults present and also Apple Bloom stared at her, making her look down and play with her bow.

“It’s mah timberwolf side…” she explained. “Ah can’t help it.”

Granny Smith got angry. “Consarnit! We never thought of what we’d do if we had a carnivorous guest! Where will we find meat?”

“Fluttershy has some,” they heard Big Mac say from elsewhere in the house.

“Wait, really? Fluttershy?” Applejack asked.

“How do you think she feeds her carnivorous animals, like Harry?” Big Mac replied.

“Uh. Good point. Ah guess Ah’m going ta her home then. Hopefully, she isn’t asleep.”

At that, Applejack left the house.

Next to approach was Black Apple. “As for me, Ah don’t need ta eat. Ah just need sunlight and good soil. With water, of course.”

Granny Smith nodded. “Ah, of course. Ya’re a tree, so ya feed like a tree. Very well.” She then looked at the third filly, Apple Death. “What about ya?”

Apple Death shrugged. “Ah eat normally.”

The old mare then looked questioningly at Twilight who answered, “I haven’t eaten yet, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course Ah don’t mind. Ya’d know by now that an Apple won’t leave somepony hungry!” Granny Smith exclaimed before she looked back at Timber Bloom. “As for ya, while ya wait for AJ ta return with meat, go take a shower. Ya stink worse than a dead rat left ta rot in a corner for months.”

Behind, Winona came only to smell Timber Bloom’s odor. She immediately left, whining.

Timber Bloom sighed. “It’s my natural scent. Again, timberwolf. But alright. But Ah can already tell ya it’s no use. Trust me, Ah tried.”

And so, the timberfilly went to take a shower while Granny Smith went to the kitchen to heat food and the others went to the living room where they found Big Mac sitting reading a book beside a candle.

“Oh, you have almost finished it,” Twilight said.

“Eeyup.”

Then I will prepare the second tome. Ah don’t think anypony else will want to take it by the time you come.”

“Thank ya,” Big Mac said before he looked at Apple Bloom who still looked down. “Are ya alright, Apple Bloom? Something wrong?”

Apple Bloom sighed. “Not really and yes… Ah’ll tell ya everything once AJ comes back.”

Big Mac nodded and resumed reading his book. Meanwhile, everypony went to sit somewhere to wait for Applejack to return and for Granny Smith to finish with the food.

“Dinner’s ready!” the old mare eventually shouted.

As everypony except Big Mac went to the dining room, Timber Bloom finished her shower and arrived.

As she said, the shower didn't help at all.

As Apple Bloom sat on a chair beside Twilight, not sure if the candles would be enough to keep her normal, Granny Smith gave her a portion of mashed potatoes with a piece of apple pie. The filly looked down at the food silently.

She wasn’t feeling hungry at all.

Still, as Granny Smith asked Twilight why she was keeping the light on her horn, Apple Bloom grabbed a fork, took some potatoes, and said, “Thank ya for the food, Granny,” before she put it into her mouth.

She immediately choked, dropping the fork, and the potatoes she ate ended up everywhere before her on the table and on her plate.

The food tasted like… she didn’t know. Very bad. Probably what it would taste like after months left without being touched.

“Uh.” Granny Smith tasted the potatoes. “Ah don’t see what’s the problem.”

Apple Bloom coughed before she said, “It’s not yer potatoes the problem.” Then, she looked at the food in sadness, understanding that she will never be able to eat again. “It’s me…”

All the others around the table looked at her with pity, understanding what was going on.

“Ah… Ah think that Ah’ll pass the food tonight. Ah’m not hungry anyway…”

“Are ya sick?” Granny Smith asked in worry before she put a hoof on the filly’s forehead.

“If only…”

At this moment, Applejack arrived.

“Ah’m back! Ah have the meat!” She entered the kitchen, seeing the mood. “What’s going on?”

“There’s a problem with Apple Bloom. She can’t keep her food down,” Granny Smith answered. “And she doesn’t seem sick.”

Applejack quickly placed the meat on Timber Bloom’s plate, still raw, and went beside Apple Bloom, placing a hoof on her mane and looking at her in worry. At the same time, Big Mac entered the room to see what was going on, also looking at the filly in worry. He heard everything from the living room.

“What’s going on Apple Bloom?” Applejack asked.

Apple Bloom looked at her, then at everypony else around the table.

“Ah guess it’s time ta tell them,” she said hesitantly.

Twilight nodded. “Yes, now that everypony is gathered.” She looked at the Apples still up. “You should sit. It’s a long story.”

Applejack, Big Mac, and Granny Smith nodded and sat down around the table. There was just one chair left that Applejack and Big Mac left for Granny Smith. Twilight offered to sit on the floor, but the Apples refused.

Once everypony was ready, Apple Death began.

“It starts with the three of us,” she said. “Ah’m Apple Death, and this is Timber Bloom and Black Apple. We use nicknames ta differentiate each other. Our friend, Sweetie Void, found this universe and decided that it’d be a good occasion for all of us ta guide our past selves here and help them in their quest ta get their Cutie Marks. Like, by giving advice. As fellow CMC who got their Marks.”

“That’s very kind of y’all,” Granny Smith said. “Celestia knows that filly really wants ta get her Cutie Mark.”

Apple Bloom winced, causing the rest of her family to look at her questioningly.

“So, the Sweetie Belles and Scootaloos went ta their homes, leaving us Apple Blooms alone on the path ta Sweet Apple Acres. That’s when we encountered Twilight,” Black Apple continued.

“I was on my way to Zecora to give her some books,” Twilight said. “Of course, as soon as I told Apple Bloom that, she insisted to come. Of course, I couldn’t say no.”

Applejack glared at Twilight. “That late?”

The unicorn laughed sheepishly.

“We didn’t help,” Timber Bloom said as she was eating her raw meat. “We said that we could protect Apple Bloom if anything happened.”

“Not that we expected anything ta happen. Nothing ever happens in the path ta Zecora,” Apple Death said. “Beside the Poison Joke.”

“And of course, as long as we remained on the path and near Twilight, everything’d be okay,“ Black Apple said.

“And everything was going well,” Apple Bloom said. “We reached Zecora without problem. It was calm, and the others gave me some great advice about how ta get mah Cutie Mark. But then, she warned that something’d happen tonight, and she told us ta leave as quickly as possible, so we hurried up on the way back.

“Only to find trees blocking the path,” Twilight almost growled, glaring at nothing. “I don’t know how these trees fell, but clearly, something worked against us to ensure that we wouldn’t leave the forest.”

“And then Ah saw a filly,” Apple Bloom said.

“A filly?” Applejack and Granny Smith questioned.

“Yeah, behind us, leaving the path. Ah immediately called Twilight, but she was too focused on removing the trees.”

Twilight looked away guiltily.

“So………… We went after the filly.”

A long moment of silence followed.

“Ya…” Applejack slowly began. “Ya left Twilight… and the path… by yerselves?”

The fillies exchanged glances. “Well, we didn’t want to leave a filly alone in the Everfree,” Black Apple said. “So close ta night.”

“And we know how ta fight. We participated in a war,” Timber Bloom said, earning some shocked stares from the locals. “A story for another time. But yeah, we could totally protect Apple Bloom.”

“And so, following the filly, we found this secret path in the forest,” Apple Death continued. “And then, we found a town.”

“A town?!” the three adult Apples exclaimed.

“A town in the Everfree?!” Applajack asked.

“Eeyup,” the four fillies answered.

But then, they recounted what they discovered this town was, and the adults were appropriately horrified.

They told everything. Meeting Gray Hoof, then Mitta, the skeleton of the filly in the fireplace, the curse, the fact that the filly they saw, Ruby, was a ghost, and how they escaped the town, then how Apple Bloom found the hoofprints and followed them to find Ruby.

“The ghouls quickly caught up ta us, so Ah started trying ta convince Ruby ta stop, but she wouldn’t listen,” Apple Bloom said.

“Having no other choice, we fought the ghouls while Apple Bloom talked ta Ruby,” Apple Death said. “We really did everything we could ta protect her.”

“Then I found them while they were fighting, and I was able to open a path for them to escape,” Twilight said.

“But Ah didn’t want ta leave. Ah wanted the curse ta stop, and Ruby ta rest in peace, and ta get a Cutie Mark. But then…” Apple Bloom fell silent at this moment, looking down and shaking. “Gr-Gray Hoof… He… He came out of the ground just behind me… and touched mah hoof…”

Applejack, Big Mac, and Granny Smith gasped, Applejack saying, “No…”

“.....”

Apple Bloom looked at Twilight and nodded. Understanding, the mare turned her light off, plunging the room in near darkness beside some candles.

Immediately, before her family’s eyes, Apple Bloom transformed, horrifying them so much that, no doubt, if they had been up, they would have dropped on their butts.

Apple Bloom didn’t dare looking toward them.

“I-ironically, this is what convinced Ruby ta stop the curse and rest in peace. Once she was gone, the others were able ta kill the ghouls. Gray Hoof killed Mitta and Ah… Ah killed him… It was over… But now, Ah’m…” She curled into a ball on her chair, eyes closed, tears not coming. “Ah’m a monster.”

Applejack, despite her horror, immediately got up and went to hug Apple Bloom.

“Ya aren’t a monster!”

Apple Bloom looked up at her in hope. “Ya… Ya aren’t scared of me?”

“Of course not! Ya’re mah little sister! Ah could never be scared of ya, no matter what ya’re!”

Apple Bloom snuggled up against Applejack. “Ah’m so sorry! Ah shouldn’t have entered that town! Ah shouldn’t have followed these hoofprints! Ah should have listened ta the others!”

Applejack rubbed the filly’s mane. “Shhh. Shhh. Yes, ya’re right. And Twilight shouldn’t have taken ya ta the Everfree. And ya shouldn’t have left her and the path. And the others should have forced ya out of there instead of following ya or following that mare.”

Granny Smith nodded. “Everypony made errors tonight, but it’s clear that the real responsible is this Gray Hoof fella.”

Applejack growled. “Gray Hoof…”

Because of him, her little sister… Her sweet, kind, brave little sister… Death was too nice for that monster. If she could have gotten her hooves on him… And now her sister… And she could do nothing to help her.

Tears of frustration appeared in her eyes, and then…

“Raaahhhh!!!” She punched the table, breaking it. “Damn it!”

Big Mac got up and hugged Applejack.

“Why us? Why her?” she asked.

“Because the world can be cruel AJ…” Big Mac said. “Ya know it well…”

“After Ma and Pa… Didn’t we already have enough?”

“...”

Meanwhile, Granny Smith looked down, silently crying.

Twilight was crying too before she got up and approached her friend, placing a hoof on her shoulder.

“Listen, Applejack… Sometimes, things just go wrong, again and again. But remember, we are here for you. Me, our friends, and even Princess Celestia. We… We will do everything to help Apple Bloom. And... I’m really sorry.”

Applejack looked at Twilight, sniffling, totally miserable. “Th-thank ya, Twi…”

She was then hugged from all sides by the three other fillies.

“We’re here too,” Apple Death said. “And behind us, we have many ponies ready ta help too. And other beings.”

Applejack looked down at the alternate versions of her little sister, then silently rubbed their manes (or equivalent) as a thank you.

With that, Twilight thought that she should leave to let the Apples comfort each other, and the Apples agreed. It was getting late anyway, and now, everypony was tired.

It was decided that the fillies will sleep together in Apple Bloom’s room.

Black Apple, however, couldn’t sleep inside the house. She got out and planted herself in the ground before closing her eyes. If it wasn’t for her pony form, she would really look like a small tree.

Timber Bloom curled up like a dog at the foot of Apple Bloom’s bed.

Apple Death was the only one sleeping alongside her younger undead self.

“Tomorrow, at the first light of the sun, we’ll gather with the other CMC ta have a talk all together before school, alright?”

Apple Bloom nodded.

With that, Apple Death blew the candle, plunging the room into total darkness.

Apple Bloom closed her eyes, trying to fall asleep. After a few minutes, she turned, then turned again, then opened her eyes.

She couldn’t sleep.

She wasn’t tired at all.

Sighing, she sat up, not sure what to do.

“Can’t sleep?” a voice whispered, and the ghoul looked at Apple Death who revealed to be awake too.

“No…” she whispered back.

“As Ah feared.” Apple Death sat up too. “What do ya want ta do then?”

“Ah… Ah don’t know… Ya can go ta sleep. Ah don’t want ta bother ya. Ya need ta sleep.”

Apple Death grinned, then turned into her ghost form. “Remember that? Now, Ah don’t need ta sleep either.”

Apple Bloom stared in shock, then chuckled. “Right.”

Apple Death began to tap her chin. “So… How ta pass the night? Oh, Ah know! How about Ah tell ya how Ah got mah Mark?”

This got Apple Bloom excited, and she nodded. “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

Apple Death giggled, then she began her tale. “Alright. Well then, it starts about one thousand years ago, with a jealous stallion named Pyrite…”

About one hour later.

“And when Ah looked at mah flank, Ah had mah Cutie Mark. Or, at least, the first version.”

“First version?”

“Yeah. That purple skull? Ah got it much later, when Ah became Spirit of Death.”

“What about Pyrite? Did ya capture him after he escaped?”

“Yeah… But not before he found a terrible ally. But Ah’m not sure if Ah should tell ya. That’s spoiler territory.”

“Well… Ya can tell me, and Ah won’t tell anypony else?”

Apple Death looked at Apple Bloom, then shrugged. “Eh. alright. So, ya see, there’s this being, Discord, the Spirit of Chaos. He is so powerful that he can do pretty much everything he wants just by snapping his fingers. Sometimes, he doesn’t even need to snap them ta do stuff. He can turn clouds into cotton candy clouds, make them rain chocolate milk, turn the roads into butter, make houses float, and so many other things. Even the princesses can’t do anything against him without the help of the Elements of Harmony.”

“Woah… Something so powerful exists?”

“There’s even more powerful out there. Sweetie Void can totally defeat him without problem. And then there are all kinds of Gods and eldritch abominations and other creatures ya can’t fathom the power. Well, in mah universe, this Discord has a little brother named Thanatos, the Spirit of Death. This is who Pyrite found ta get his revenge on me.”

Apple Bloom had wide eyes. “How did ya manage ta defeat him?”

Apple Death grinned. “With lots of help.” Then, she lost her grin. “And not before he and his minions killed ponies Ah love.”

Apple Bloom gasped, then looked thoughtful. “Wait… Sweetie Ghoul? Scootabot?”

Apple Death nodded. “And mah Applejack too. And mah Fluttershy. And even Smart Spirit.”

Apple Bloom looked at her counterpart sadly. “Ah’m sorry…”

“Hey, it’s alright, Ah got lucky. Everypony who died’s still with me, as ghosts.” She then looked down. “Not everypony got that lucky…”

Silence followed.

“So… What happened?”

At that, Apple Death restarted her tale, starting from when Eternal Rest told her about the Evershade Valley to when she defeated Thanatos, avoiding to tell about Twilight becoming an alicorn.

“Weakened, Thanatos was at mah mercy. So Ah took the Absorber and absorbed all his energy, making it mine. And so Ah became the new Spirit of Death. Victorious, we returned home where Ah discovered mah new appearance and Cutie Mark.”

“With your skeleton through your skin and your glowing purple eyes?”

“Uhuh. Then Thanatos and all the bad ghosts were turned into portraits which Ah keep in mah museum in Evershade Valley.”

Apple Bloom was looking at Apple Death like Scootaloo looked at Rainbow Dash. “Can… Can Ah become as great one day?”

“No idea. The chances are very low. But ya never know, ya may find a way ta gain a lot of power and become a super undead. Ya have a lot of time before ya, so everything is possible.”

Apple Bloom became thoughtful. Then, she put her hooves on her head and pulled, tearing her head off rather easily. She did remember that the ghouls were pretty fragile. “Ah can do that. Will this help?”

“Uh…” Apple Death hesitated. “Maybe?”

Apple Bloom put her head back in place. “What about the others? How did they get their Cutie Marks?”

“Black Apple got hers when she began ta grow her black apples, before she even became a dryad. Timber Bloom…”

“Ah got mine when Ah simply did some carpentry,” the filly made of wood suddenly said as she got up. “Ah know, not as interesting as the others, but not everypony gets a Cutie Mark by doing special stuff.”

“How long were you awake?”

“Since ya began yer tale. Hard ta sleep with ya two talking.

“Sorry.”

Timber Bloom waved them off. “That’s alright, Ah can always take a nap later. So, anyway, mah Sweetie Belle, Siren Belle, got her Cutie Mark by singing.”

“Which is also the case with Sweetie Ghoul before she got killed. And Scootabot got hers by doing stunts.”

“Shadow Speedster got hers by winning a racing competition in a futuristic world, not by flying, but by driving a vehicle going at the speed of sound."

“Phantom is special… Ah think that Ah’ll let her tell ya her story if she wants.”

“And Sweetie Void got hers by ascending while fighting her greatest rival.”

“Who’s also her coltfriend,” Apple Death whispered before she and Timber Bloom snickered.

“So… It’s fifty-fifty whether we get a Cutie Mark by doing something incredible or not?”

“Pretty much.”

Apple Bloom sighed. “Not that it’ll matter for me now that Ah’m an eternal blank flank ghoul…”

Apple Death and Timber Bloom looked at each other before the ghost said, “Ya may never get a Cutie Mark, but it doesn’t mean that ya can’t continue searching for yer talent, or talents.”

Timber Bloom nodded. “We already gave ya some leads in the forest.”

“And someday, ya may find something ya’re unexpectedly good at, like Ah found out with ghost hunting.”

Apple Bloom smiled at them gratefully. “Thank ya.” She then looked out the window, seeing that it was still night. “What do we do now? It’s still night.”

The others thought for a bit.

“Well…”

“Oh! Ah know! Ya said that Ah’m normally good at carpentry, so Ah could try that! Ah can look around at the farm ta see if something needs repair!”

Apple Death pointed a hoof at her. “There ya go, girl!”

Timber Bloom yawned. “Yeah, ya go do that. Meanwhile, Ah’ll try ta get some shut eye before morning comes.” She then curled up again and closed her eyes, falling asleep.

The other two left the house right away, Apple Bloom trying to remain silent to not wake up her family.

Once outside, however, they could find nothing that needed repair. Apple Bloom developed a very good night vision, so she was seeing very well, but everything she saw was in good enough condition.

“Darn it…”

“Don’t worry. there’ll be many occasion ta find out if ya’re good at carpentry. Instead, how about we discover more about yer new undead self?”

“How so?”

“Well, ya already showed that ya can detach parts of yer body, so why not see if ya can do other stuff?”

“Like what?”

“Mmh… Oh! How about that? The ghouls could burrow. Ah’m sure that ya can do that too.”

“Oh right! Uh… How do Ah do that?”

“Good question. And only ya can answer, Ah suppose.”

At that, Apple Bloom looked down at the ground, thinking. Seeing if it would work, she began to push her hooves into it, which didn’t work.

“Maybe ya need to put some magic into it? Like when we take care of plants?”

“Good point. One moment… Oh!”

Apple Bloom’s hooves began to disappear into the ground, as if it was water displacing to let her sink. More and more of her body disappeared into the ground until she was entirely covered. Since she did not need to breathe, she didn’t risk suffocating. And while she could see nothing, she could feel the slightest vibrations. Thanks to that, she could identify every single bug present in and on the ground in a very large radius. She could even “see” the plants. And… was that magic? Her family’s magic? When she tried to move, she discovered that it was like swimming, the ground parting before her to allow her to advance.

Then she moved up and came out of the ground a little further away from where she started.

“Woah… That was… special.”

She then repeated returning underground and coming out elsewhere to get used to that new power, trying to identify where she would come out before her head could even poke out.

When she was underground, it felt… It felt like she was one with the planet. Not ALL the planet, of course, but still part of it. It was quite the unique feeling.

And she loved it.

She came out and looked at Apple Death.

“Ah’m going ta the Everfree Forest. Ah’ll be back once the sun’s up.”

Before Apple Death could say anything in return, she returned underground and moved in the direction she knew the forest was. She expertly avoided the roots of the apple trees, and made sure to avoid the burrowing bugs and worms. She could feel them from far enough that she could plot her path to avoid them.

Eventually, she could feel herself leaving the orchard, passing the fence, and entering the outskirts of the forest.

It was as if nature awakened. The magic. The trees. The animals. She could even feel the animals on the trees. A million different sensations that formed a 3D map of the forest all around her.

The ponies saw the Everfree as a cursed place.

She could see the forest for what it really was: nature at its purest.

It was beautiful. Deadly, but beautiful.

Maybe it wasn’t so bad, being a ghoul.

She still regularly came out to have a look around, finding many beautiful places in the forest. Hidden gems that no ponies will certainly ever see.

Thanks to that, she saw the sun rise, and she immediately returned home as fast as she could.

As soon as the sun rose and the rooster chanted, Apple Death, who was waiting beside the entrance, outside of the Apple house, took out her phone from her mane.

Apple Death:
Girls, wake up. Emergency meeting at the clubhouse. Bring the local CMC.

Sweetie Ghoul:
What happened?

Shadow Speedster:
You know it means that we will have to drag me out of the bed screaming and kicking, right?

Apple Death:
Not sorry. 😛

Apple Death:
But something bad happened last night. This timeline isn’t as vanilla as we thought. Apple Bloom needs our help.

Sweetie Ghoul:
Oh no!

Scootabot:
Is she okay?

Sweetie Void:
I’m awake. What happened to her, is she alright?

Apple Death:
We had a close encounter with immortal ghouls and… Well, you will see. Come to the clubhouse ASAP.

Sweetie Void:
Ok. Waking up Siren Belle and Sweetie Belle.

Phantom:
And I’m kicking Scootaloo out of bed.

Apple Death:
See you quickly. Don’t forget to bring some meat for Timber Bloom.

At that, Apple Death put her phone back in her mane and went to wake up Timber Bloom, passing through the wall to Apple Bloom’s room. At the same time, Black Apple was waking up.

As they exited Apple Bloom’s room, they found the rest of the family who was also waking up, Granny Smith preparing breakfast.

“Where’s Apple Bloom?” Applejack asked.

“She couldn’t sleep, so we spent the night together talking,” Apple Death answered. “Then we got out and tested stuff about her new undead nature. She now knows how ta burrow. For some reason, she decided ta return ta the Everfree. Ah couldn’t stop her.”

“She’s in the Everfree?!”

“Relax. As an undead, she doesn’t have much ta fear in the forest. Not many predators that like rotten flesh. She should be back soon.”

She didn’t tell that she hoped she hadn’t gotten beak to muzzle with a cockatrice. They would never find her statue.

As if on cue, the door opened, and Black Apple, followed by a now normal-looking and positively grinning Apple Bloom, entered the house.

“Look who Ah found digging herself out of the ground,” Black Apple said.

Apple Bloom bounced toward her sister.

“AJ! Ya won’t believe it! There was so much! And it was so beautiful! And…”

“Woah there, sugarcube! Slow down! First of, why did ya go ta the Everfree Forest? After last time, Ah hoped ya wouldn’t go there ever again.”

“Ah thought so too, but then, when Ah was underground, Ah could feel the trees and the animals and even the magic in the ground and Ah wanted ta see what it was like in the forest! And it was… It… Ah can’t think of a word ta describe what it was like! The trees! The animals! The magic! Oh, the magic! Ah wish ya could feel what Ah felt!”

Applejack stared at Apple Bloom, then at Big Mac, then at the other Apple Blooms. “Uh… Ah’m happy ya could find something nice about… what ya’re.”

“Yeah! Ah’m so returning there from time ta time!”

Applejack smiled, then hugged her sister.

“Breakfast ready!” Granny Smith shouted.

Apple Bloom sighed. “Still can’t eat.”

“Uh…”

“How about ya go play outside with Black Apple and Timber Bloom?” Apple Death proposed.

At that, Black Apple grinned and touched Apple Bloom. “Tag, ya’re it!” She and Timber Bloom then ran out the door.

“Hey!” Apple Bloom shouted before she ran after them, laughing.

Apple Death smiled as she looked at where they disappeared. “Maybe that emergency meeting wasn’t that emergency finally.”

“Emergency meeting?” Applejack asked.

“Ah called the other CMC ta gather in the clubhouse so we could help Apple Bloom. Actually, they must already be waiting for us, so Ah should hurry up eating.”

“Don’t go too fast, or ya’ll get a tummy ache.”

“Don’t worry, Ah’m used ta it. Ah often had ta hurry eating ta go ghost hunting.”

“Ya go ghost hunting?!”

The Apple fillies finally arrived in the clubhouse where, as Apple Death thought, the others were already present waiting, with Scootaloo being very grumpy.

“Hello girls,” Apple Death said.

“Took your time,” Scootaloo grumbled.

“Sorry. Had ta take breakfast.”

“Let’s go straight to the point,” Phantom said. “You encountered ghouls last night?”

“What?!” both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle shouted.

The Apple fillies nodded and recounted the events of last night.

When they were finished, Sweetie Void immediately made it dark inside the clubhouse so she could see Apple Bloom’s ghoul form.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, as planned, were horrified while the others sighed and looked sadly at Apple Bloom, or just frowned in Phantom’s case.

Immediately, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo rushed to give their friend a hug.

“That’s so horrible!” Sweetie Belle shouted, crying.

“You’ll never get a Cutie Mark!”

Phantom hit Scootaloo on the back of the head. “Priority.”

“Hey!”

“Anyway,” Phantom said before she got on her knees to be more at Apple Bloom’s level. She then gave her a gentle look and asked, “How do you feel?”

Apple Bloom looked down and shrugged.

“Ah’m going ta outlive mah family… and mah friends… and everypony Ah know… Ah can’t eat and sleep anymore… Ah always feel cold… Ah look monstrous… And Ah’ll never get a Cutie Mark… So… Not that great. But last night, Ah learned a power that allowed me ta discover the most beautiful thing Ah ever saw, so there’s at least an upside.”

Silence followed.

“Well then,” Sweetie Void eventually began. “Here’s my advice! Enjoy your limited time with your loved ones as much as possible. Make sure to engrave all the memories you make with them so they become your biggest treasure. Moments to think back with fondness, to laugh, to smile, and to remember that they will always be with you.”

The local CMC stared at Sweetie Void. Then Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked back at Apple Bloom and resumed hugging her. Apple Bloom smiled and hugged them back.

“Secondly,” Phantom continued while she began rubbing Apple Bloom’s mane. “Eternity may be scary, but remember that as long as you are not alone, you won’t see the years pass. Already, in your universe, there are Celestia and Luna, and a couple other beings you have met and haven’t met yet. To them, you can add us. While we aren’t sure if all of us are immortal, we will be at your side until we can’t be anymore for one reason or another. And if Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle also somehow become immortal, then good for you. I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens.”

“I don’t intend to kick the bucket anytime soon, so count on me,” Shadow Speedster said. “I don’t even know if I can be killed as I am now.”

“And we are already dead, so death certainly won’t separate us,” Sweetie Ghoul said for herself and Scootabot.

Apple Bloom giggled.

“Thirdly,” Apple Death continued. “Don’t stop making new friends, even if ya know ya’ll lose them. This is what allowed Celestia ta continue despite spending one thousand years without her sister. New friends are new experiences and more fond memories ta make.”

“We have lots of friends to present to you,” Siren Belle said. “And not just alternate versions of ponies you know.”

“And if this timeline continues as planned despite what happened, ya’ll make lots of new friends even in yer world,” Black Apple said.

“Including some that are actually your enemies,” Sweetie Void said. “So, what do you say?”

“Ah… Ah say… How about we spend some time, all together?”

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle grinned and shouted, “Let’s go crusading!”

Everyone grinned, and even Phantom sighed with fondness while she asked, “Alright, but what?”

“Well… What do ya propose, Apple Bloom?” Timber Bloom asked.

Apple Bloom thought for a bit, then got an idea. She signed for everypony to approach, then whispered something to them.

They all grinned, formed a circle, then slapped their hooves/hands together.

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, MONSTER TAMER, YAY!!!”

It wasn’t long before Ponyville was invaded by monsters from the Everfree.

Who went to hide into the buildings.

No, the town hall wasn’t big enough to hide a hydra.

And the timberwolves and manticores learned that ponies could make good teddy bears to snuggle while cowering in fear inside their houses.

“Uhhh…” Sweetie Void said. “I think that we may have released Discord in advance.”

Tale 8: Good To Be Alive

A white hoof knocked on a yellow door.

Discord opened it and looked down.

“Oh! Sweetie Void! My favorite filly! Kind of you to vis…it…”

Discord stopped himself when he really looked at the filly, seeing her eyes… He immediately understood what those eyes were: the eyes of someone who saw things they shouldn’t have seen. Who went through something traumatizing.

Considering everything that filly went through already, it must have been something VERY bad.

For the first time in a while, Discord became serious.

“How bad?”

“Equestria. Anthropomorphic. Conquered by caribous,” Sweetie Void said with an emptiness that hurt Discord.

He winced.

“Oof… One of those worlds…” he said. “Enter.”

Discord moved inside his house, the filly following him. With a snap of a finger, he made a bar appear, and he jumped behind it, beginning to mix drinks with names that would scare even Cthulu while clothed like a barman.

“You should let yourself get drunk this time, for your own good.”

Sweetie Void sighed. “You are right. I need it.”

At that, she turned herself into an adult and went to sit on a chair facing the bar.

“It had to happen sooner or later,” Discord eventually said. “There are many worlds out there that are very… bad. The Fall of Equestria one is just one of many. The Conversion Bureau was another case, even if not as extreme. Then there are the ones like Cupcake or Rainbow Factory that I’m hoping you will not find, but at the same time that I want you to find to buck some well deserved teeth. And then there is Friendship is Optimal, which I hope you will NEVER find. Or if you find it, you leave ASAP. No, really, if you hear about a My Little Pony MMO controlled by an ai Celestia, either destroy the planet or leave.”

“Thanks for the warning.”

Discord finally gave the drink to Sweetie Void.

The drink was glowing in all the colors of the spectrum, and even some colors that didn’t exist.

“Thank you.”

Discord lied down on the bar, staring at Sweetie Void.

“So, want to talk about it?”

Sweetie Void looked at the drink, then drank all of it in one go before coughing at how strong it was.

Once the coughing stopped, she said, “Those caribou… What they were doing to the mares… and the fillies… and even to some stallions and colts…” She shivered. “It was…” She growled. “And the way they were treating the ponies in general… Like objects… No, worse than objects…”

Feeling her rage rising, she took a big breath while Discord filled her glass again, which she emptied right away.

A long moment of silence followed, Sweetie staring at nothing.

Then…

“I exterminated them…”

Discord remained silent, just looking at the alicorn.

“I diminished their adult male population to less than one percent, and even most of the male teenagers. The females… They were as badly treated as the ponies, but they didn’t mind. Their treatment was a part of their culture for so long that it was just… normal. They accepted their condition and lived with it. Still, they didn’t cause any harm, so I didn’t touch them. However, they were so dependent on the males that when most of the males were killed, they had no idea what to do. They just remained in their homes, waiting… Very few dared to do something now that most of the males were gone. And no matter how much I tried to help them, that didn’t change. I couldn’t break the centuries of teachings and habits that chained them and stopped them from grabbing their freedom and starting a new life. In the end, I gave up. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that many of them will die in the following weeks.”

Discord filled the glass again, and Sweetie drank it immediately. She was starting to sway.

“I enjoyed killing them, Discord. I hated them. They disgusted me. I wanted to wipe them out from the surface of Equus. I enjoyed when they looked at me in terror, when they ran away from me, when despair filled them, when they suffered. And now? I feel no guilt. I pretty much genocided them, and the only thing I’m thinking is “good riddance.””

She looked at Discord.

“What does that make me?”

Discord remained silent, staring at Sweetie Void, then crossed his arms.

“A pony who, despite all her powers, remains a pony. It’s not like you are a force of virtue or something like that who can only do good no matter the situation. In the end, you remain a pony. A being with flaws, impulsive-even more since you are still a filly into your teenage years-and who already went through a lot despite your young age. You saw the caribou, you saw the horrible things they were doing to the ponies, you got rightfully angry on the ponies’ behalf, and you decided to make the caribou pay. That is totally normal. Anypony else would have done the same. As for your lack of guilt, again, that’s normal. It’s hard to feel guilt for beings who did so many horrible things and loved it. If you will excuse me, I can say that they are like pieces of shit. Do you feel guilt for shit? No. At least, I can say that you felt guilt for the females that you tried to help, and that’s good enough. And best of all, you gave them a chance to change what remains of their civilization for the better.”

“How so?”

“The males you left are the nicer ones, right? The ones who didn’t follow the others, who didn’t treat the females like objects and the ponies like slaves.”

Sweetie Void nodded.

“Then there are the females. Yes, many will certainly die, but some will still manage to break their chains, get over their condition and rise to their new freedom. These remaining caribou will then work together to restart their civilization from zero, and hopefully, in the future, become friends with the ponies. And it will be thanks to you.”

Tears appeared in Sweetie’s eyes.

“So, to put it simply, this makes you a good pony. You did good for the ponies, and you did good for the caribou. That’s what matters. Never think of the contrary.”

Now crying, Sweetie Void jumped toward Discord and hugged him, shrinking back into a filly.

“Thank you, Discord. I needed that.”

“Now, I think that you need some sleep. Don’t worry, I will make sure that you don’t wake up with a hangover.”

With a snap of his fingers, a bed with wings appeared, and he gently tucked the yawning filly in it.

Poking a finger on her forehead, he then said, “Have a good dream.”

“Thank you, Discord,” Sweetie Void said before she closed her eyes, falling asleep.

The bed then began to fly around the house, rocking the filly.

Discord decided to visit Fluttershy, leaving her alone with her dream.

Sweetie Void found herself in a white void. As she looked around, the ground suddenly appeared under her hooves. Little by little, the world formed around her, and before long, she recognized that she was before the Carousel Boutique.

Above her, the sun was alive and was smiling at her. The sky was pink, and the clouds were in every color of the rainbow.

Then, the front door opened, and out came her sister, Rarity.

As the filly gasped, the mare smiled gently and said, “Welcome, Sweetie Belle.”

In the blink of an eye, Sweetie Void was before Rarity, wrapping her hooves around her. The unicorn hugged her back.

“Ready to have fun?”

Sweetie Void looked up at Rarity and smiled, grinning and crying at the same time.

“Yes!”

“Then let’s start with cooking!”

“Yay!”

So they entered the building and went to cook a chocolate cake. But then, as Sweetie Void was mixing, a ball of chocolate was thrown at her face. Surprised, she looked at Rarity who was smiling innocently. Grinning, the filly grabbed a bag of flour and poured it on Rarity, making the mare scream.

A more-white-than-normal Rarity glared at her sister, then smirked. “This is on.”

What followed was a food fight with a lot of laughter and joy, followed by a hug.

At this moment, Rarity said, “You should go play with your friends, it’s snowing.”

Surprised, Sweetie Void looked through the window and saw that it really was snowing now!

Before long, Sweetie Void was with her CMC friends, all looking like normal fillies, but also Kirby, Dedede, Meta Knight, Bandana Dee, Mario, Luigi, Past and Present Sonic, and many others. They were at the top of a huge hill, all beside sleds.

One by one, they slid down the hill. Once at the bottom, while some climbed back up to repeat, like the Scootaloos, the Sonics, Cuphead, or Shulk, others, like the Mario Brothers, Pit, Dedede, or Simon Belmont remained down there to make snowmen, snowponies, and all kinds of other snow creatures.

Then, Roy and Palutena both threw a snowball, and the biggest snowball fight ever began.

After many hours of fun together, night fell, and everyone grew wings. They all flew toward the stars, soon surrounded by them and multicolored planets, without forgetting the Moon.

It was beautiful.

Sweetie Void looked at all her friends one by one, happy to be among them.

Then, on one of the planets, she saw Rarity, and she left the group to go look at the stars with her in peace. Together, they named funny constellations, made funny wishes when they saw shooting stars, and spent hours hugging each other.

Then, Celestia arrived with a surfboard, and she took Sweetie Void with her to a nearby beach where all her friends were gathered and having fun. With them, she surfed, she made sandcastles, and she played volleyball. At a moment, the ball hit one of Bowser’s spikes, causing it to explode. Dedede then got the idea of using Kirby as a replacement ball.

Rarity then arrived, and the two went to swim. Underwater, they looked at all the multicolored fishes, admiring the beautiful underwater landscapes. Soon, they were joined by their friends.

Together, they swam until they came out of the water before an amusement park. Sweetie Void immediately went for the roller coaster, Rarity and many of their friends following her.

Intense fun followed as they did the attractions, ate delicious food at the stands, and won great prizes at the games.

Suddenly, Bowser kidnapped Peach, and Sweetie went to rescue her alongside the Mario Brothers. They jumped above pits, stomped goombas, and, again, had fun.

Once the princess was saved, they had a great party hosted by the Pinkie Pies, ponies and humans. Sweetie Void spent it at first sitting beside Rarity, eating food, before she eventually went to play with her friends.

Olimar then arrived with an army of Pikmin and started a choreography. It wasn’t long before everyone joined them.

Once it was over, they had the great idea of doing a Mario Kart race. A huge race with everyone at once. Needless to say, it was chaotic. Shells were thrown everywhere, karts flew left and right, and Isabelle was the one who won in the end somehow.

They then searched for Pokémon to battle each other. Sweetie Void decided to not use the Pokémon she already had, or else, it wouldn’t be fair to the others.

When Sweetie Void found Rarity again, the unicorn resting on the grass, she joined her, snuggling up to her. One by one, their friends joined them, looking up at the clouds. A moment of calm very simple, but how much appreciated.

Then, as they were all still on the grass, night fell again, and suddenly, fireworks began, illuminating the sky with explosions of every color and every form. Some explosions formed someone, like Sweetie Void herself, or Rarity, or Kirby, or Fox, or Bayonetta, or an Inkling in their squid form, or a Pokémon, and so on. Others formed words and objects, like a heart, the word ‘love’, a banana, a spaceship, the word ‘friends’, the word ‘forever’, and so on.

Feeling tired, Sweetie Void closed her eyes, then reopened them, only to find herself in her bed in her room in the Carousel Boutique. Beside the bed was Rarity.

The unicorn kissed the filly on the forehead.

“Did you have fun?”

“Yes. Lots,” Sweetie Void said with a big, happy sigh. “I needed that.” She then looked at her sister. “I love you, Rarity.”

Smiling, Rarity hugged Sweetie Void. “I know. I love you too.” She released her. “I will always love you, no matter what. Never forget that.”

Sweetie Void nodded.

“Now, it’s time for you to go. Your friends are waiting for you. Have fun with them, for real.”

Tears in her eyes, Sweetie Void nodded again. Not stopping looking at Rarity, she slowly closed her eyes.

She opened her eyes, and she was back in Discord’s house, the draconequus drinking a book.

“Welcome back to the real world,” he said.

“How long have I slept?” Sweetie Void asked.

“One day. You really needed that. How are you?”

“Better,” she answered with a small smile before she teleported to Discord and hugged him. “Thank you. I love you, Dissy.”

Discord found himself without word and, blushing, looked away from the filly while, unbeknown to himself, he wrapped an arm around her.

“Hum. Ahem. Yes. So… Uh… I advise you to stop your adventuring for a bit and to spend some time with your friends.”

Sweetie Void took a big breath. “Yes. You are right.” She moved away from the draconequus. “Thank you again, Discord. For everything. For being such a good friend.”

“Hey. You are my little bundle of chaos. It’s normal.”

Sweetie Void giggled.

“Goodbye, Discord. Until next time.”

With that, she teleported out of Discord’s chaotic dimension.

Tale 9: Sweetie Bot's Summer Sun Celebration Miracle

Before the building known as the Carousel Boutique stood a filly.

A filly not like the others.

She looked like a white unicorn with a pink and purple mane and tail and green eyes.

But once you got close enough, you could see that the different parts of her body were artificial. Many ponies didn’t even know what were the materials composing her skin, mane, and tail, but they were clearly not normal skin and hair. And it was easy to see how the skin was divided into sections to allow fluid movements, not unlike the different pieces of an armor. Thanks to that, she could move like a normal pony, and even have expressions. She could really pass for a normal pony.

This little wonder of technology was known as Sweetie Bot.

Right now, she had her back open, revealing panels that absorbed the sunlight to turn it into energy.

Everyday, she was standing there, doing that, even if she didn’t really need to do it. Her battery could last almost a whole week, she could allow herself to not do it for a few days.

But she still did it because, truthfully, she didn’t have anything better to do, so she should as well keep her battery full, and look and wave at the ponies who passed before her.

At first, she had been quite the curiosity, and the ponies looked at her in wonder and amazement. But eventually, the novelty of seeing the robotic filly disappeared, and now, the ponies didn’t pay attention to her anymore, except some who waved back at her politely, even if sometimes awkwardly.

Many weren’t sure what to think of the little bot.

Then, she closed her back and walked away. Before long, she was before the school just in time for the bell to ring. A few seconds later, and the fillies and colts were exiting the building, some walking, some running, scattering all over Ponyville ready to spend the rest of the day in activities or to work on their homeworks.

One of the fillies ran toward Sweetie Bot, an orange pegasus with a purple mane and tail and purple eyes.

“Hey, Sweetie Bot!” she called as she approached.

“Hey, Scootaloo!” Sweetie Bot replied. “How was today?”

Scootaloo groaned. “Horrible. We were doing math, then Miss Cheerilee called me to answer a problem, and I couldn’t answer. Then she gave us lots of homeworks.”

“Well, I can help you with the homeworks. Then you will be able to go look at Rainbow Dash doing her stunts.”

Scootaloo sighed in relief. “Thank you, Sweetie Bot, you are a real friend.”

Sweetie Bot grinned at that. She loved when ponies said that she was a great friend.

Which was only Scootaloo.

Yes, the colts found her awesome the first time they saw her, but none of them asked her if they could become friends. Scootaloo was the only one who called her a friend.

Which was why Sweetie Bot always made sure to be present before the school when it ended.

Eventually, they were on a bench, Sweetie Bot working on Scootaloo’s homework while they talked. Despite looking like a unicorn, she couldn’t use magic, so she had to write like an earth pony.

Sweetie Bot read lots of books and had a perfect memory thanks to her database, so she already knew almost everything Miss Cheerilee was teaching. Of course, thanks to her computer brain, things like mathematics were no problem. So she had no problem doing Scootaloo’s homework.

Rapidly enough, she finished them.

“Done!”

“Wow! Thanks!” Scootaloo put her homework back in her saddlebag without looking at what she wrote. “Now, I should hurry up. Rainbow Dash has probably started. There wasn’t much work for her today. Too bad she probably won’t be able to do her stunts tomorrow. Rain is planned for tomorrow night, before the Summer Sun Celebration.”

Sweetie Bot nodded. “It will take her and her team all day to gather the clouds. But I guess that it means that we will be able to play.”

“You are right. Well, see you tomorrow.”

At that, Scootaloo jumped down from the bench and ran away.

Sweetie Bot waved after her. “See ya!”

She waved for a few more seconds before she stopped and looked around, seeing that she was now alone. Sighing, she jumped down from the bench and walked toward her home, the Carousel Boutique.

She entered the home that also served as a shop, then found the owner, Rarity, working on a dress.

“I’m home,” she said.

“Yes, Sweetie Bot,” Rarity replied absentmindedly. “Please, don’t bother me. Go to your room.”

Sweetie Bot’s ears lowered. “Ok, Rarity…”

Then, she climbed the stairs to her room.

She opened the door and entered the room.

An empty room. Like, totally empty. No bed, no closet, no desk, no toys, no books… Nothing.

Sweetie Bot looked around a bit, then went to a corner and lied down.

She didn’t have a book with her this time. The librarian retired a few days ago, and they couldn’t find a new one, so the library was closed.

As a result, she had nothing to do. So she closed her eyes and entered sleep mode.

The next day, Sweetie Bot was standing in front of the Carousel Boutique again, using her solar panels.

Then, suddenly, an earth pony filly she never saw approached her.

The filly had gray fur, a blond mane and tail, yellow eyes, and had a magnifying glass for a Cutie Mark.

“Hello! Are you a robot?” the filly asked when she was close enough.

Sweetie Bot, not expecting somepony to come talk to her, shyly said, “Uh… Yes. Yes I am.”

“That’s so cool! I didn’t know robots existed in Equestria for real!” the filly said excitedly.

“Uh… Who are you?” Sweetie Bot asked.

“Oh! Sorry! I’m Ruby! Nice to meet you!”

“Nice to meet you, Ruby. Uh… Are you new in Ponyville?”

“Yes. I just arrived. I’m exploring the town, and when I saw you, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! What is your name?”

“Oh. It’s Sweetie Bot.”

“Well, Sweetie Bot, where do you come from? I mean, who built you? It must have been a really smart pony! I didn’t think we would be able to build robots before at least one hundred years. Maybe two hundred.”

“I don’t know. I barely met him before he died…”

“Uh?”

“Well…”

I woke up for the first time a bit over six months ago, and the first thing I saw was this very old unicorn stallion sitting on an old plush chair. Pale yellow fur, grayed mane, and wearing glasses. He had a Cutie Mark made of green 0s and 1s forming the shape of a heart.

Back then, I was like a newborn foal. I knew nothing of the world. So I didn’t understand what he was saying. But thanks to my current knowledge and to my perfect memory, I can tell you that he said, “Welcome to the world, little one. I wish I had gotten to meet you earlier. Now, I’m sorry that I won’t be able to spend more time with you. At least, I was able to finish you in time.”

He was speaking very slowly, very weakly. He really was using his last strength to say these words.

He then tenderly caressed my cheek before he lied against his chair, closing his eyes.

“Goodbye. Have a good life,” he then said before he lost consciousness, never to wake up.

And so I was left on this table, wondering what was going on. Not understanding what happened, I jumped on the stallion and tried to get him to wake up. When I failed, I began to explore the place, finding many machines that I couldn’t tell you what they were used for. Eventually, I found the exit, and I left the building only to find myself in a forest. Not knowing where to go and pushed by curiosity, I wandered around for hours, observing the fauna and the flora, and also the sky, the clouds, the ground, everything.

Then, I found a trail and followed it. A few minutes later, I met these two ponies.

Cookie Crumbles and Hondo Flanks.

You obviously don’t know them, they are a couple who love to go on vacation around Equestria, and hazard had it that they were hiking in this forest.

They were of course very amazed by me. They asked me lots of questions that I couldn’t answer because I didn’t understand them back then, like where I came from, who I was, if I was really a robot, if I would attack them, why I looked like a filly, and so on.

When they saw that I wasn’t answering, that I was just looking at them curiously, Hondo Flanks asked, “Can you talk? Do you understand us?”

In return, like a foal, I began to randomly repeat their words.

Carefully, Cookie Crumbles approached me, and she touched me. I copied her and touched her before giggling. Still randomly saying words, I touched her again and again, thinking of it like a game, which amused her.

Hondo Flanks then approached too, and the two talked for a while about what they would do about me. They wondered if they should leave me in this forest, or bring me to the nearest town, or to a laboratory, or even to Princess Celestia herself.

Then, Cookie Crumbles looked at me again, then at a tree. She pointed at the tree, then looked at me, and said, “Tree.”

Understanding, I pointed at the tree and repeated, “Tree!”

Cookie Crumbles nodded, then pointed at a blade of grass. “Grass.”

“Grass!”

Now smiling, she pointed at a mushroom. “Mushroom.”

“Mushroom!”

She then pointed at herself. “Cookie Crumbles.”

“Cookie Crumbles.”

Next, she pointed at her husband. “Hondo Flanks.”

“Hondo Flanks.”

Then, she pointed at me, but didn’t say anything.

I just waited for her to say anything.

She pointed back at herself. “Cookie Crumbles.” She pointed at her husband. “Hondo Flanks.” And she pointed back at me, not saying anything.

Finally, I understood that she wanted me to say what I was. So I pointed at myself and opened my mouth, only to come up blank. I didn’t know what I was. This made me sad.

Seeing me getting sad, Cookie Crumbles began to think. Then, after a few minutes, she pointed at me and said, “Sweetie Bot.”

Understanding what she did, I became very happy, pointed at myself, and repeated, “Sweetie Bot! Sweetie Bot!”

Then, happy for me, Cookie Crumbles hugged me.

As you can guess, this was my first hug, so I didn’t know what she was doing, nor what to do in return. Still, after a bit, I returned the hug, because it felt good.

She then looked at Hondo Flanks and asked, “Can we keep her?”

He laughed and answered, “Yes, we can.”

And so I remained with them. We took a train, and we arrived at Ponyville a few hours later. They then spent the next few days teaching me the basics. I learned quickly, so they taught me how to read, and then they gave me a dictionary.

Then I began to read more books, so they presented me to the library. After that, they wanted to go on a vacation again, so they presented me to their daughter, Rarity, who owns the boutique behind me, so she could keep an eye on me while they are away.

“And here I am. Every now and then, Cookie Crumbles and Hondo Flanks return to Ponyville, so I spend time at their house until they leave. The rest of the time, I live here, in the Carousel Boutique.”

After a moment of silence, understanding that the story was over, Ruby said, “Wow. That’s sad. I mean, it’s sad that you didn’t get to know your creator. I’m sure he was a great stallion. I would have loved to meet him. But I’m happy that you found nice ponies to take care of you. And what are you doing, standing here?”

“I’m recharging my battery with solar energy,” Sweetie Bot answered before she turned aside and showed the solar panels. “See?”

“Ooooh! Uh. You know, I almost expected you to eat food to use it as a source of energy.”

Sweetie Bot sighed, or mimed sighing since she didn’t breathe. “If only. Maybe if my creator had had more time.”

Ruby nodded. “How full is your battery?”

“Uh. It’s actually full. I just remain here getting energy because I have nothing better to do.”

“What about Rarity?”

“She is… busy. She doesn’t like to be bothered while she works.”

“Mhm… Then, how about you give me a tour of Ponyville?”

Sweetie Bot was surprised by that. “Really?”

“Uhuh. As I said, I was giving myself my own tour, but I wouldn’t mind a friend giving it to me.”

Sweetie Bot stared at Ruby in shock. “I’m your friend?”

“Of course! You are very nice, so now, you’re my friend! You don’t mind, right?”

“Uh… No, I… I like it. Sorry, I don’t have a lot of friends…”

“Well, now, you have one more friend!” Ruby exclaimed before she hugged Sweetie Bot.

The robot was shocked at first, but quickly recovered and hugged Ruby back, smiling.

“Thank you.”

Sweetie Bot had a difficult time letting go, but Ruby didn’t seem to mind, so they remained like that a bit, until Ruby said, “So, and this tour?”

Sweetie Bot released her new friend. “Oh! Of course!” She closed her solar panels. “Well, let’s go. First, here you have the Carousel Boutique, where Rarity makes dresses. If your parents ever need to go to a fancy party, they should go here.”

And so, the tour began. For the following hours, Sweetie Bot and Ruby walked around Ponyville, the robot presenting buildings one after another. The library, the spa, Quills and Sofas, Sugarcube Corner (where Pinkie Pie surprisingly didn’t start to prepare a party upon meeting Ruby), the town hall, and so on.

They finished at the school.

“And finally, here we have the school. And no, I don’t go there. It was judged that I didn’t need a teacher to learn. Thanks to my photographic memory, I only need to hear or read something once, so I already know almost everything Miss Cheerilee teaches. And if she teaches something that I don’t know yet, then I go to the library.” Her ears then lowered. “Also, I’m not really a filly, so…”

Ruby stared at Sweetie Bot, then rubbed her chin in thought. “Well, your creator made you a filly, so for me, you are a filly. But I guess that it would be unfair to the other foals to have you among them. They would be envious of you, and things wouldn’t go well.” She then grinned. “That is if you entered this school as a student. But with the immense knowledge you have gathered and your capacity to learn very rapidly, you could ask Miss Cheerilee if you could become her assistant. You could help the foals learn, and you could give advice to them if they have difficulties somewhere.”

Again, Sweetie Bot stared at Ruby in shock. “You… You really think I could…?”

“I don’t “think”. I’m sure! And I’m sure that the foals would love you! Or, since you love going to the library, you could ask the librarian to let you work there. When the foals come there to search for books for their homeworks, you could help them. Or you could do fifty-fifty, part time teacher during school hours, part time librarian once school is over. That’s up to you.”

It… It seemed so obvious, now that Ruby was saying it. “I… I would love to. But would Miss Cheerilee and whoever will become the next librarian accept me?”

“Why would they not?”

Sweetie Bot became silent, not knowing what to answer for a moment. “Because… I’m different?”

Ruby gave her an “Are you kidding?” look. “You being different is exactly why these jobs are perfect for you. Heck, many ponies would kill to have somepony like you with them. The scientific community would pretty much beg you to join them. You would make an archivist’s job much easier. Historians would love you. No, really, Cheerilee and TwiAhem! the future librarian will have no reason to refuse you.” She then muttered aside something that Sweetie Bot was able to hear. “Especially the librarian.”

Sweetie Bot stared at Ruby in confusion, but before she could ask anything, the school’s bell rang.

“Oh!” Ruby exclaimed. “It’s already the end of school? We sure spent a lot of time on that tour!”

Sweetie Bot nodded. “I planned everything so we would end up here just before the end of school so I can reunite with my friend Scootaloo, like I do everyday.”

And right on cue, Scootaloo arrived, shouting, “Hey, Sweetie Bot! Uh? Who is this?”

Ruby waved at Scootaloo. “Hello! You are Scootaloo, right? I’m Ruby! Sweetie Bot gave me a tour of Ponyville. I’m new here, you see.”

“Oh! I didn’t know we had a new filly in town! Nice to meet you, Ruby!”

“So, Scootaloo, I’m guessing that you have homework,” Sweetie Bot said.

“Like always. Well, let’s not lose time. Once it’s done, we will be able to have fun,” Scootaloo said.

“Do you mind if I tag along?” Ruby asked.

“Not at all. More ponies means more fun,” Scootaloo answered.

So they went to a bench, and Scootaloo gave her homework to Sweetie Bot, to Ruby’s confusion. Then, to the earth pony’s shock, she began to do the homework. She quickly calmed down however before they could see her face. However, you could see a small twitch.

“Uh… So, how did you two become friends?” she eventually asked.

Scootaloo was the one who answered. “When I heard that there was a robot in town, I knew that I had to see her, pretty much like everypony else. When Pinkie Pie made a party for her, I was present. I asked her if she could become my friend, and the rest is history. Who wouldn’t want an awesome robot for a friend? Well, for some reason, pretty much everypony else. I can’t understand why I was the only one who asked to be her friend. She is really cool to be around. And we have lots of fun. And she could help them with their homework too.”

Ruby eyed Scootaloo. “I see.”

“Done!” Sweetie Bot exclaimed. “There wasn’t much today, thankfully.” She gave the homework back to Scootaloo.

“Great! Thanks! Now let’s go!”

What followed were a few hours of fun, going here and there in Ponyville, hanging out, until it was time for Scootaloo to return home.

“Goodbye, Sweetie Bot!”

“Goodbye, Scoot!”

“Goodbye!”

And so, Sweetie Bot and Ruby were alone. Ruby then stared at Sweetie Bot.

“So, you do her homework?”

Sweetie Bot looked at her questioningly. “Uh… Yes? I’m helping her.”

“...Why?”

“Uh? Isn’t this what friends do?”

Ruby groaned and facehooved. “You aren’t helping her at all.”

“What?”

“Why do you think the teacher gives homework? It’s to help the students learn. Some are to see if they understood the lesson. Others are to help the lesson, or to prepare the lesson. They teach to work independently, to plan, to organize, and a lot of other stuff. They help fillies and colts to grow into responsible adults. So, tell me, how are you helping Scootaloo by doing her homework for her?”

Sweetie Bot looked horrified. “But… But if I don’t help her with her homework, she won’t want to be my friend anymore!”

“You can help her without doing her homework for her. And it correlates with that potential job of teacher assistant I told you earlier. You don’t teach others by doing their work for them, you help them understand so they can work by themselves. You give them a helping hoof here and there, you explain when they don’t understand, you show where they are wrong, but you don’t write the answer to a problem they are supposed to solve by themselves. Do you understand?”

Sweetie Bot thought for a bit. “I… I think, yes, I understand.”

Ruby nodded. “Good. So, tomorrow, when she asks you to do her homework, remember that. Don’t do the homework for her. Work together with her so she can do them herself. It may take a bit more time, but you will see, it will be worth it, and she will be just as thankful. No, she will be even more thankful.”

“O… Ok. Thank you, Ruby.”

“So… I guess it is time for us to do like Scootaloo and return to our homes before our families get worried.” She saw Sweetie Bot lower her ears. “What?”

“I… I don’t have a family…”

Ruby looked at her in confusion. “Don’t Cookie Crumbles, Hondo Flanks, and Rarity count? Especially Rarity with how much time you have spent in her house?”

Sweetie Bot looked down. “.........Rarity never takes time for me. I… I don’t know if Cookie Crumbles and Hondo Flanks consider me as… as their daughter, but Rarity certainly doesn’t consider me as a sister. For her, I’m more a nuisance that her parents dropped on her without warning, barely tolerating me. But… But I don’t mind. I know that she didn’t ask to look after me, so I try to avoid bothering her.”

Ruby bit her lip and began to mutter. “I guess that, since she grew as an only child, she never learned to care for a little sibling, so she learned instead to put all her time for herself.” Then, aloud, she said, “Maybe you could do a drawing for her?”

“A drawing?”

“Yes. Ponies love when their children or little siblings do drawings for them.”

“Hum… I don’t have pencils. And paper.”

“Then I can bring some tomorrow, after your time with Scootaloo. Let’s meet before the Carousel Boutique, and we will draw in your room.”

“Oh………….. Ok…” Sweetie Bot clearly looked hesitant. “See you tomorrow, then.”

“See you tomorrow.”

With that, Ruby waved goodbye and walked away, and Sweetie Bot walked to her home. Once inside the Carousel Boutique, she went to her room and entered sleep mode.

The next day was the Summer Sun Celebration, so Rarity will be busy all day decorating the town hall for when Celestia will come to raise the sun.

The children still had school, but only in the morning. It was tomorrow that they won’t have school, because they will have spent all night up waiting to see Celestia raise the sun.

Sweetie Bot knew that, so she went to the school at noon to wait for Scootaloo. Once the pegasus was out of school, they went to Sugarcube Corner so she could have lunch.

“You know, Ruby wasn’t at school today. I expected to see her by now,” Scootaloo said.

“Maybe her parents decided to wait until after the Summer Sun Celebration?”

“I guess.”

Scootaloo finished her lunch, then they went on a bench so Sweetie Bot could do her friend’s homework. Of course, because tomorrow was a holiday, Cheerilee decided that it was a good occasion to give more than usual.

Sweetie Bot remembered Ruby’s advice, and she looked down at the first homework. Mathematics. Multiplications of decimals by 10, 100, and 1000.

Oh! Those are easy!

3.14x10

Her mind immediately answered “31.4”.

But she didn’t write the answer. Instead, she said, “Oh! There is an easy trick for these ones! You move the dot to as many spaces to the right as there are zeros. See? 3.14 multiplied by 10. There is one zero, so…?”

“Uh… 31.4?”

“Exactly! Good job, Scootaloo!” Sweetie Bot congratulated as she wrote the answer. “Now, 1.62 multiplied by 100. Now, there are two zeros. This means…?”

“162!”

“That’s right! Now, 2.8x1000! Note: if the dot goes too far to the right, then you add zeros to fill the empty spaces!”

“So… 2800?”

“Yes!”

“Wow! It really is easy!”

And so, Sweetie Bot worked to help Scootaloo answer all the multiplications, and in just a matter of a few minutes, the mathematics were finished, and it was Scootaloo who answered all of them!

They continued like that for all the remaining homeworks. Sweetie helped, Scootaloo answered, they even had a bit of fun, and they didn’t see time pass.

“Already finished? What time is it?” Scootaloo asked.

“It has been exactly one hour and thirteen minutes since we started.”

“Wow… It’s… a bit longer than if you had done them yourself, but much faster than if I had done them by myself. And… I actually loved doing them with you. You really made it much easier for me. But, why did you help me like that?”

Sweetie Bot hesitated a bit, but eventually decided to tell the truth. “Ruby told me how doing your homework for you wasn’t helping you at all. How they help you become an adult, and teach you a lot of stuff. So she advised me to help you this way instead. It works better apparently.”

Scootaloo looked down at her completed homework, frowning a bit. “I… think that I see what she means. Now, I better understand what Miss Cheerilee tried to teach me today. I mean, yes, I guess that if I had better listened, I would have understood right away that multiplying by 10 and so on simply moved the dot to the right, but…” She sighed. “I didn’t really bother. I had difficulty understanding, I failed tests, and I told myself “How will this help me anyway?” so I stopped trying. You doing my homework was just a way for me to keep pretending. To… To tell you the trust, that’s why I came to you the first time. I wanted to use your robotness.”

“Oh…”

“Hey! Don’t worry. That was at first. But now, I really consider you a friend. You are fun to be with. You aren’t like these robots in stories that are like “NEGATIF. DOES NOT COMPUTE. YES MASTER.” You are… You are a real pony.”

Now, Sweetie Bot wished she could cry. “Oh, Scoot…” She hugged her. “Thank you.”

Scootaloo patted her back. “So, all this to say that… Maybe… I should start to try again… If you continue helping me like that?”

“Yes, Scootaloo, I will! If there is anything you need help to understand, I will be here! We will work together!” She released Scootaloo from the hug. “Actually, Ruby told me that I could maybe become an assistant to Miss Cheerilee. To help you and the other foals, like I helped you today. What do you think of that?”

“I think it would be really great! I would love to see you in school with me!”

“Then… Tomorrow, I will talk to her after the Summer Sun Celebration.”

Scootaloo gently tapped her on the shoulder. “I’m rooting for you. Now, enough sentimentality. Let’s have some fun before tonight.”

“Yes!”

Later that day, Sweetie Bot walked to the Carousel Boutique and found Ruby waiting for her with a box on her back.

“Oh! I hope that you weren’t waiting for me for too long!” Sweetie Bot said.

“Nah. Don’t worry.”

Sweetie Bot then hugged her. “Thank you. Thanks to you, I’m now really friends with Scootaloo.”

“So things went okay with her?”

“Yes. I did like you told me, and everything went okay.”

“I’m glad. So, how about we enter? I think that I saw Rarity enter earlier with a purple mare with a funny mane. It looked like Rainbow Dash crashed on her.”

“A purple mare?”

“Lavender, to be exact.”

“Uh. I don’t remember ever seeing a lavender mare in Ponyville. Probably somepony who came for the Summer Sun Celebration. In that case, Rarity is probably dressing her. Let’s go to my room so we don’t bother them.”

“Yes. Also, the mare had a baby dragon.”

“Really?!”

Sweetie Bot opened the door and hesitantly said, “Here is… my room…”

She winced.

Ruby stared wide eyed at Sweetie’s room.

Then, she glared. “She really gave you the bare minimum, uh?”

“Uh… Yeah… But like I said, it’s not like it’s bothering me. I don’t need a bed to sleep, I don’t wear clothes, so I don’t need a closet, I don’t need… well, anything.”

“Why does she even have an empty room?”

“She wanted to make it a guest bedroom, but then, I arrived, and plans changed.”

“Yeah. A plan to no plan,” Ruby deadpanned. “Her friendship lessons can’t come soon enough…” she muttered. “I guess that, at least, she gave you a room. Anyway, let’s draw.”

Before long, they were both on the floor, and Ruby opened her box to reveal a box of pencils on top of a small pile of paper.

Before Ruby could even start, she looked in amazement as Sweetie Bot grabbed a pencil and began to work with a precision that only a master artist could hope to achieve after dozens of years. Again, her robotic brain showed her worth. Each movement was calculated so the robotic filly was drawing a masterpiece.

With pencils.

And very rapidly too. She wasn’t taking her time. She drew one line after another without pause. It was like she was possessed.

When she was finished with a pencil, she grabbed the next one and resumed her work.

In just a few minutes, Sweetie Bot had drawn a full portrait of Rarity wearing the most resplendent dress made of diamonds.

It looked like a painting right out of the golden age of paint, made by the greatest painter ever.

With pencils.

Sweetie Bot admired her work. “Do you think she will love it?”

Ruby closed her jaw. “If she doesn’t love it, then her tastes need serious help.”

They exited the room and descended the stairs, Sweetie Bot holding the drawing, and they found Rarity at the entrance of the Carousel Boutique. It seemed like the lavender mare and the baby dragon were gone. Before Rarity was Pinkie Pie giving to her an invitation. The next instant, the pink mare was gone.

“Hum…” Sweetie Bot hesitantly began. “Rarity. I…”

“Not now, Sweetie Bot. I must finish decorating the town hall,” Rarity interrupted her before she passed the door.

“Oh… You aren’t finished. Sorry…” Sweetie Bot had time to say before Rarity closed the door.

Sighing, Sweetie Bot dropped the drawing and climbed the stairs, leaving behind a glaring Ruby.

“You two are going to love each other. I swear.”

Later that evening, as the sun was setting, many inhabitants of Ponyville were having a party at the library, welcoming one Twilight Sparkle.

Without the guest of honor, who went to her room alone, leaving the others to party without her.

Among the partygoers was Rarity who was having a drink when, suddenly, a gray filly with a blond mane approached her, holding a drawing.

“Excuse me, miss, I think that you should see that,” the filly said before she showed the drawing.

Rarity looked down, then saw the drawing, and she gasped, taking it with her magic. “Oh my! What a magnificent drawing! Who drew this? Oh, whoever they are, I must see them! They captured me perfectly! And that dress!”

“Sweetie Bot is the one who drew it,” the filly said.

Rarity stared in shock at her. “R-really?”

“Uhuh. It is what she wanted to show you earlier.”

“Oh…”

“She put all her heart into this drawing. She really wanted to make you proud.”

Rarity stared at the drawing silently.

“It really saddened her when you refused to listen to her, again. She abandoned the drawing and went to her room. She hasn’t left it since.”

“...Why?”

“She really wants your approval. You may think of her as just a machine, but she is much more than that. She is a filly who wants a family.”

“But…”

“I know it is a big change,” the filly interrupted her. “And you didn’t ask for this, you are too used to your way of life by yourself, but this little robot needs somepony, and in your parents’ absence, she only has you. You pride yourself in your generosity, so give to her at least that. Just some of your time, to acknowledge her. And some love. It shouldn’t be too hard, right? Please, do the right thing.”

Rarity looked back at the drawing, then back toward the filly.

There was no filly anymore.

She looked around, but saw the filly nowhere, and for a moment, she wondered if she had been part of her imagination. But then, she looked at the drawing and knew she had been real. How else would she have gotten this drawing?

She told Pinkie Pie that she was feeling a bit tired, so she decided to leave the party to rest a bit before the celebration. Then she left the library and returned to the Carousel Boutique.

Once inside, she climbed the stairs and, after some hesitation, opened the door to that room.

She looked around at the empty room. So empty…

Then she spotted Sweetie Bot in a corner, in sleep mode. Before her were many drawings.

Rarity approached to give a closer look.

A few drawings were of Rarity, like the first one, in various poses, with various dresses. They were all just as beautiful.

Then, other drawings were of Rarity doing some activity with Sweetie Bot. Rarity pushing her on the swing. The two taking a walk. The two working on a dress together. Rarity recounting a story to a sleeping Sweetie Bot.

Then, there was the last drawing. Sweetie Bot, in the middle of a group hug with Rarity and her parents.

She looked so happy in it.

Rarity looked between the drawing and Sweetie Bot, then she sighed and put a hoof on the robot’s wither, slightly shaking her.

“Sweetie Bot?” she almost whispered.

Sweetie Bot opened her eyes, then she saw Rarity, and her jaw opened in what would have been a gasp.

Rarity lowered herself on her knees, showing the drawings. “They are beautiful.”

“Really?” Sweetie Bot hesitantly asked.

Rarity nodded. “All of them.” She then showed the first drawing. “Including this one. A mysterious filly gave it to me at the library. Do you know anything about her?”

“Yeah. She appeared yesterday, we became friends, and she has been helping me since then.”

Rarity frowned and began thinking. Then, she looked around at the room, then at the drawings, then at Sweetie Bot, and her ears lowered.

“I haven’t been… a good host, am I right?”

Sweetie Bot looked down at the floor.

“I didn’t mind. I’m just a robot who dropped into your life without warning, after all…”

“..........” Rarity sighed. “You are clearly more than just a robot. I can see that you are hurt. A normal robot would never feel hurt. I guess… that I had seen that a long time ago, but I refused to accept that. I was too used to being alone. I didn’t want things to change. I wanted to continue to do my work, to bring out the diamond inside each ponies… Without admitting that there was a beautiful diamond inside you that waited for my help to shine, because then, my life would change. I kept telling myself, “She is just a robot. I don’t care about robots,” and continued my life as if you didn’t exist. I was just not ready to take care of somepony.”

Rarity looked at Sweetie Bot and saw that she clearly wanted to cry.

Awkwardly, she continued. “But… But I guess that I can try? To learn? To accept change? I’m so sorry.”

She was suddenly hugged by Sweetie Bot, taking her by surprise. Awkwardly, she wrapped her legs around the little bot, then began to rub her back.

Then, she said, “So, hum… How about we go together? To the Summer Sun Celebration?”

“Yes, please!” Sweetie Bot agreed right away, still hugging the mare. “I would love to!”

Maybe it isn’t so bad, Rarity thought as she continued to hug the filly.

Sweetie Bot and Rarity spent the night talking to each other, Rarity wanting to learn more about the robot. Like, how were her days (she was shocked to learn that Sweetie Bot spent a lot of time just standing in front of her boutique doing nothing). What she liked. What she didn’t like. Where she came from. What she wanted to do (she honestly loved the idea of Sweetie Bot becoming Cheerilee’s assistant. It would be a very good use of her talent, and it would be better than just remaining standing in front of the boutique). And so on.

They didn’t have much else to do. Rarity didn’t have a board game, or toys, or story books for children. In the end, they decided to try to work together on a dress.

Sweetie Bot revealed to be a lot of help. While she had to learn at first, once she got things going, she was the perfect assistant, and Rarity even let her use the sewing machine. As expected of a robot, she was very meticulous, even more than Rarity herself. She could sew to the micrometer.

Now, Rarity just had to teach her which colors were good with which colors.

Before they knew it, it was time to go to the town hall.

However, things didn’t go as planned once the celebration began. Celestia didn’t appear, and in her place appeared none other than Nightmare Moon. Sweetie Bot quickly hid under a table, between Scootaloo and who she recognized was Apple Bloom, from Sweet Apple Acres, the apple farm outside of Ponyville.

She may be a robot, but an alicorn of darkness was still scary!

As she listened to her speech, she suddenly heard, “I wish that I could do something about her.”

The three fillies jumped in surprise and dropped on each other. Poor Apple Bloom found herself crushed under Sweetie Bot’s weight. A robot was heavy! Thankfully, the yellow earth pony filly was very strong.

Sweetie Bot quickly got up, then the three looked to their left, seeing Ruby present under the table with them. They could swear she wasn’t here before!

To their surprise, Ruby wasn’t scared by Nightmare Moon, but was instead glaring at her, grinding her teeth.

“Ruby?” Sweetie Bot called.

Ruby stopped glaring at Nightmare Moon, then grinned at Sweetie Bot.

“So, how did it go with Rarity? I saw you enter the town hall at her side.”

Sweetie Bot smiled, then awkwardly hugged Ruby from above Scootaloo.

“I can’t thank you enough. Everything went well, thanks to you.”

“Glad to hear.”

Scootaloo suddenly got up, separating the two.

“Uh, girls? I don’t think this is the moment. Scary alicorn over there.”

Ruby waved dismissively. “Oh, don’t worry about Miss Grumpypants. She will eventually be taken care of.”

“How do you know that?”

“It’s like in story books. Villains always get their well deserved spanking.”

“Uh… We aren’t in a story. This is real life,” Apple Bloom said.

Ruby snorted.

“The night… will last… FOREVER!” Nightmare Moon announced before her mane turned into a whirlwind releasing lightning bolts as she cackled.

“What a drama queen,” Ruby deadpanned.

After pushing back some guards, Nightmare Moon then flew out of the town hall, chased by Rainbow Dash. Twilight Sparkle, the lavender unicorn mare who came to the boutique, then ran out with the baby dragon on her back. Rarity eventually followed her, along with Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy.

“Well, the show is over,” Ruby said. “You girls should probably return to your homes. Don’t worry. In just a few hours, the sun will be back.”

Sweetie Bot, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom looked at each other, confused, then looked back at Ruby, only to see that she was gone.

“What? Where did she go?” Scootaloo almost shouted.

Sweetie Bot looked outside from under the table. “I don’t see her anywhere.”

“Sweetie Bot, your new friend starts to scare me.”

“We still should do what she said. Ah should go find Big Mac and return home,” Apple Bloom said.

“Same with my aunts,” Scootaloo said.

Sweetie Bot looked down. She had nopony to worry about her. Rarity left, apparently to go look at what was going on, and Cookie Crumbles and Hondo Flanks weren’t in Ponyville.

“Well, goodbye, girls,” she eventually said before she walked out from under the table, toward the exit of the town hall.

Arriving at the Carousel Boutique, she entered, then remained sitting in front of the door, waiting for Rarity.

Hours passed.

Then, suddenly, the sun rose. Not long after, she heard a party begin outside.

She wanted to go and investigate, but she preferred to remain here and wait, not wanting to miss Rarity.

Later, the door finally opened, and the white unicorn entered, yawning.

She found herself tackle-hugged.

“Rarity! I was so worried!”

Rarity looked down in surprise at the little robot.

“Oh! Sweetie Bot! Did you wait for me all this time?”

Sweetie Bot nodded. “I didn’t know where you went, so I remained here waiting for you! When you weren’t coming back, I became really worried!”

Rarity looked down at the filly, then got tears in her eyes before she wrapped her in her hooves.

“Oh… Sweetie Bot… I’m sorry I made you worried.”

The two hugged for a moment, until Sweetie Bot released the mare.

“So, what happened?”

Rarity yawned again, hiding her mouth behind her hoof.

“I’m sorry, Sweetie Bot. After everything that happened, I need my beauty sleep. I will tell you once I wake up.”

“Basically, she and a few other ponies entered the Everfree Forest, found the Elements of Harmony, blasted Nightmare Moon with them, and turned her back into Princess Luna,” they suddenly heard from the boutique’s entrance, behind Rarity.

With a scream, the mare turned around, Sweetie Bot moving beside her. There, at the door, they saw Ruby.

“See? I told you everything would be alright!”

“Ruby!” Sweetie Bot exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to have one last talk with you before I moved on my way. Can I enter?”

Rarity came out of her shock thanks to the question.

“Oh! Of course! You are Sweetie Bot’s friend, right? So you can.”

“Thank you.”

The three moved deeper into the boutique, Rarity closing the door.

“What did you mean?” Sweetie Bot asked. “You are already moving away? You barely arrived!”

“I know, but I think that my job here is done, so it is time for me to leave,” Ruby answered.

“Your job?” Sweetie Bot asked.

Rarity frowned at Ruby. “You aren’t a normal filly, are you?”

Ruby answered with a giggle.

“Who are you?” Rarity asked.

“I’m the Spirit of the Present Summer Sun Celebration!” Ruby exclaimed.

Sweetie Bot mimed a gasp. “Really?! Wait… Wouldn’t there be a Past and Future Spirit?”

Ruby waved dismissively. “Past and future are overrated with me.”

Rarity sighed and rubbed her eyes. “Sweetie Bot. She is obviously joking. There is no such thing as Spirits.”

Sweetie Bot looked as if her world was destroyed.

Ruby giggled. “Oh, you are adorable. But Rarity is right, I’m not a Spirit. Well, she is also wrong. A Spirit does exist out there. Quite the chaotic fellow. Difficult to support at first, but once he learns about friendship, he becomes more tolerable, but it won’t be before he learns a very important lesson that he becomes fun to be with. He gives the most epic prank wars.”

Rarity looked as if she wasn’t sure if Ruby was foaling again or not.

“Who are you really?” she asked.

Ruby smiled, then disappeared in a cloud.

“I am the Omniversal Traveller, Mistress of the Void, Queen of Floralia. Some call me the Fatal Cutie, others, Evil’s Nightmare, or the Sweet One. I am…”

The cloud disappeared, revealing…

An alicorn Sweetie Bot, made of flesh and blood.

“Sweetie Void!” she exclaimed.

Sweetie Bot and Rarity’s jaws dropped.

“Before you start asking questions, yes, I’m Sweetie Bot. To be more exact, I’m a counterpart from another dimension. My real name is Sweetie Belle, but we call me Sweetie Void to differentiate me from other Sweetie Belles. And sorry for hiding my real identity, but when I found out that I arrived in this universe just a few days before Nightmare Moon’s arrival, it was better to hide myself. I didn’t want to derail such an important event, and you can guess how ponies would have reacted if they had seen an unknown alicorn filly walking around. Also, your situation was already delicate enough without adding an alicorn alternate self. Thankfully, I was able to convince Pinkie to not give me a party.”

“How are you a living pony?” Sweetie Bot asked.

Sweetie Void sighed. “It’s not because you are a robot that you aren’t living, but I see what you mean. Well, actually, most Sweetie Belles out there are flesh and blood. You are the first Sweetie that I meet who is made of metal. I’m sure that there are more Sweetie Bots out there, but we clearly outnumber you.”

“Who… Who is your family?” Rarity asked, wanting to clear a doubt.

Sweetie Void smiled at the mare. “My parents are Hondo Flanks and Cookie Crumbles. I have a big sister named Rarity. And no, I’m not adopted.”

Rarity put a hoof on her mouth to stop a gasp, then she looked at Sweetie Bot.

Sweetie Void smiled sadly. “Funny how fate works.”

“Did you help me just because I’m you?” Sweetie Bot asked.

“When I arrived in this universe, I didn’t even know about you. I mean, I knew that a Sweetie Belle was around, but I didn’t know your particularity. When I saw you standing in front of the boutique, I was very surprised. I immediately wanted to know more about you, not just because you are me, but because it’s not everyday I see a robot in a normal Equestria. So I got to know you, found out how unique you are, and discovered how much your life honestly sucked. Not wanting to leave my new friend in such a bad situation, I decided to help. I admit, it pained me to see you being used by somepony who was supposed to be one of your best friends, and having practically no relationship with Rarity. But most important of all, I saw a sweet filly who needed help, and it was only normal that I answered the call, me or not me.”

Once she finished, Sweetie Void smiled knowingly and raised her front legs.

“Come here, you.”

Immediately, Sweetie Bot hugged her, and Sweetie Void wrapped her with her legs.

“Thank you, for everything,” the robot said.

“It was only natural, my friend,” Sweetie Void said before she looked at Rarity. “It’s a good start, but you both still have a long way to go, a lot to learn about becoming a family. There will be ups and downs, lots of mistakes, but I’m sure that everything will be alright in the end.”

She looked back at Sweetie Bot as she released her. “Little warning. Twilight Sparkle, the new librarian, is an absolute neeeerd. As soon as she sees you, she will want to study you. Agree or not, but I’m sure that once you two start to work together, you will do a lot of good things for Equestria, and Equus. Maybe she will even be able to do what your creator couldn’t do, and give you a digestive system, or the possibility to use magic. She is that smart.”

Sweetie Bot got excited at that.

“And don’t forget to talk to Miss Cheerilee. What am I saying? Of course you won’t forget. You would forget something only if you erased your memory yourself, or somepony did it to you.”

Sweetie Bot nodded. “Uhuh. Uh… I know that you said that it was time for you to go, but would you like to remain a bit longer? I really want to talk more to you while Rarity will be asleep.”

“Mmh… Oh, alright. Nothing forces me to leave now. But don’t expect me to reveal the future to you. With you being a robot, I’m not even sure how some things will go.”

“Yay!”

Rarity yawned. “Yes you do that. It’s time for me to go. It was nice to know you, Sweetie Void.”

And so, Rarity left for her room, leaving the fillies to talk and play.

As soon as Rarity woke up, Sweetie Void decided that it was time for her to go, advising her robotic counterpart to help Rarity prepare breakfast. She also reassured her that she will eventually return, much to Sweetie Bot’s joy.

Sweetie Void waved goodbye while Sweetie Bot and Rarity left for the kitchen.

Then, tears appeared in her eyes, and she sobbed. Controlling herself, she opened a rift and walked through it.

Tale 10: To Love and Be Loved

Author's Note

Alternate title: A Tale of Love

Tale 10: To Love and Be Loved

Cocoon was living the good life. Away from her tyrannical mother. With two wonderful friends who loved her and with whom she had lots of fun, and a pony who was pretty much like a sister to her that she admired a lot. If it wasn’t for a certain pair of bullies and the chaos occasionally appearing in Ponyville (when it wasn’t the literal incarnation of chaos himself who appeared to turn everything into something not unlike in the wildest dreams), she would say it was perfect.

Even if nopony knew her true identity, so she had to remain hidden behind the pegasus filly known as Scootaloo.

And she had no home, so she had to settle with a cave not far inside the Everfree Forest, which could get quite cold during winter.

But it was alright, because, at least, she was loved, and so, she was fed.

Heck, just a couple of days ago, she participated in the biggest love feast in the world! The marriage of the Princess of Love herself, Mi Amore Cadenza, alias Cadance! She got to be one of her flower fillies!

But then, it turned out that Cadance had been replaced by Cocoon’s own mother, Chrysalis, and she was surprised that Discord didn’t escape again with the chaos that followed. At least, it didn’t look like Chrysalis recognized her, with her disguise, and she was defeated before she could find out.

She thought that it was over when the love shield that was pushing away the changelings reached her, but thankfully, the shield seemingly saw that she wasn’t one of the bad ones because it passed her without hurting her. Probably because the love inside her hadn’t been stolen. Or she really loved her friends. She wasn’t sure. Magic science wasn’t her stuff.

And since then, the ponies were on high alert, becoming extremely paranoiac. Anypony could be a changeling, ready to prey on the unsuspecting innocent for their love. It wasn’t rare to see Twilight cast a spell that would destroy a changeling’s disguise. Thankfully, Twilight never suspected the foals, probably thinking that changelings could only turn into adult ponies.

Ponies only knew about changelings what they saw in the wedding. Not even Celestia knew much about them despite having fought them once in the past. And it worked well for Cocoon. She was still worried that she would be revealed one day, but she tried not to show it.

Before, Cocoon had been thinking of revealing herself, hesitating because she had been worried about what her friends would think of her real appearance, or that she deceived them all this time. But now, after the wedding, no way will she reveal her true self. Contrary to her mother, she wasn’t stupid.

Seriously, she wouldn’t be surprised if her mother summoned Grogar one of these days. This would be the pinnacle of stupidity, so totally something Chrysalis would do. But what do you expect from someone who was born inside a tree?

Cocoon, as Scootaloo, was in the clubhouse with her fellow CMC, already planning their next Crusade to get their Cutie Marks. Cocoon, being a changeling, didn’t need to crusade. She could get any Cutie Mark she wanted thanks to her shapeshifting. However, she had a lot of fun crusading with her friends, even if it often ended in tree sap, and she was honestly curious to discover if she had a talent besides deception.

She would feel much better discovering that she wasn’t limited to what her cursed species as a whole was good at.

Or most of the race. Again, her dear mother proved with the wedding that she really had no talent. Her acting as Cadance had been so awful that Twilight got suspicious, leading to her defeat. She just couldn’t bring herself to act nice for even one minute. That she somehow still managed to fool Celestia made Cocoon facehoof so hard after the wedding that she had a headache for most of the next day.

The Element Bearers, she could understand, they didn’t know Cadance. Cocoon herself fell for it because she didn’t know the mare (and she didn’t get many occasions to interact with her before the ceremony). But Celestia. Cadance’s own AUNT! Adopted, but still!

Were rulers all absolute idiots?

“So… Cutie Mark Crusaders Flower Fillies was a bust…” Apple Bloom, Cocoon’s earth pony friend, said. "Even if the second ceremony went as planned, we still didn't get our Cutie Marks."

“Maybe because of everything that happened? Like, we didn't succeed in one go?” Sweetie Belle, Cocoon’s other friend, a unicorn, asked. “So we could try again one day if there is another wedding.”

“And hopefully, this one won’t get interrupted,” Cocoon, or rather Scootaloo, said. “But with everything that is going on in Ponyville, I wouldn’t bet on it.”

The other fillies had to agree.

“Besides, it could be a while before there is another wedding. Are there any other new couples in Ponyville?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“There is Cranky Doodle and Matilda, but they barely started getting together, so we may not have a wedding before at least one year, or even two,” Scootaloo said.

Sweetie Belle facehooved. “I totally forgot about them!”

“Oh, Ah think that their wedding may be sooner than ya think. They already love each other a lot. It’s only a matter of time before Cranky proposes ta Matilda,” Apple Bloom said.

Cocoon had to admit that Apple Bloom was right. She felt Cranky and Matilda’s love for each other just by passing by. They really were smitten. So instead of waiting for months like usual new couples, going through many dates to get to know each other better, Cranky could really propose anytime.

“Well then, let’s keep an eye on them,” Sweetie Belle said. “And as soon as Cranky proposes, we ask them if we can be their flower fillies.”

“Alright, that’s good, but what do we do now?” Scootaloo asked.

“Uh, well, let’s see what we had planned before the wedding,” Apple Bloom said before she searched for a paper. “Ah, here it is. So… Bungee Jumping?”

Scootaloo got excited. “Aw yeah! Now I remember! It was my turn to give an idea before we were brought to Canterlot!”

Cocoon didn’t have to fake it, she loved thrills. Actually, she wasn’t faking anything about her personality. Why would she need to hide her personality? Scootaloo never existed before her arrival in Ponyville, so her personality could be anything she wanted, and she wanted it to be her personality. The best disguise was the one where you lied as little as possible about yourself.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle glanced at each other, then the unicorn said, “Could we not, please? After the wedding, I would rather we do something calm.”

“Come on, this is exactly what we need to get our minds away from what happened. This will be fun.”

“Where will we even find an elastic rope?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Why not a normal rope?” Scootaloo asked.

“Ah don’t know. For some reason, elastic ropes are used to jump,” Apple Bloom said.

“Well, I’m sure that we can do it without an elastic rope, so you can just ask your sister to give you a normal rope, and we find a nice spot to jump,” Scootaloo said.

“I don’t know. I’m sure that there is a good reason why they use elastic ropes instead of normal ropes,” Sweetie Belle said. “How about we ask Twilight? She must know why.”

Scootaloo sighed, then was about to agree, only to stop when a tear appeared in the air near a corner of the clubhouse, opening into a hole.

Out of the hole came an alicorn Sweetie Belle.

The hole closed.

The three CMC looked in shock and wonder at the alicorn who was now among them.

The alicorn looked around and saw all of them, saying a simple “Oh.”

“Girls. Am I dreaming?” Scootaloo asked.

“I should be the one asking that,” Sweetie Belle said before she began to panic. “W-what the hay is going on?! Who are you?! Why are you me?! Are you a changeling?!”

Alicorn Sweetie Belle did calming gestures. “You have nothing to fear from me, Sweetie Belle. I’m just an alternate version of you. I explore worlds and… Uh… Fate… Yes, let’s call it Fate. Fate brought me to your world. So, no, I’m not a changeling.”

Scootaloo then saw Sweetie Void eying her for a moment before she focused back on Sweetie Belle.

“Call me Sweetie Void.”

Scootaloo began sweating. Why did she look at her specifically for a moment? Especially after saying the word “changeling”? Does she know? How? Did her Scootaloo/Cocoon reveal her true nature in her world (if she was really coming from an alternate world)?

“So…” Sweetie Void continued. “When am I exactly? What was the last major event?”

The fillies hesitated answering for a moment.

Eventually, Apple Bloom said, “Hum… Princess Cadance’s wedding two days ago.”

“Oh! With a changeling invasion?”

The three nodded.

Sweetie Void began to think. “So, let’s see… That was two days ago… So today… Were you discussing bungee jumping?”

“Woah! It’s exactly that!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “We were about to go ask Twilight why they use elastic ropes.”

“Oh, the answer is easy. Without an elastic rope, there would be no rebound, which is a big part of the fun in bungee jumping.”

“Uh. That's a good point,” Scootaloo said.

“Also, with a normal rope, your fall would suddenly be stopped instead of slowly as the elastic stretches. As a result, the kinetic energy accumulated would make your bones snap, pretty much as if you jumped without a rope and crashed on the floor. Since the rope is attached to the leg, it’s not that bad, but a broken leg still sucks. Rubber absorbs this kinetic energy as it stretches, so there is less force experienced by the jumper when reaching the end of the fall.”

The three fillies looked at her in horror.

Apple Bloom then stared at Scootaloo and said, “We are using an elastic rope.”

Scootaloo agreed with a nod.

“Thankfully for you, I just so happen to have such a rope with me,” Sweetie Void said before she put her hoof in her mane, pulling out a rope, to the fillies’ surprise. She pulled again and again, taking out meters and meters of rope, more than what should have been inside her mane. Eventually, the rope ended. “There. This should be enough. Now, how about we go to the canyon?”

“Are you Pinkie Pie’s daughter in your universe?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Sweetie Void giggled. “Not at all. So, should we go jump?”

“Wait! Wait! Wait!” Apple Bloom stopped her. “There’s more urgent to know! Like, how are ya an alicorn? And… Ya’ve yer Cutie Mark! How did ya get it?”

Sweetie Belle gasped. “Hey! That’s true! I hadn’t seen it! Tell me how you got it! Does this mean that I will become an alicorn too?”

“Possibly, but unlikely,” Sweetie Void answered. “There is a possibility that you could find yourself in an event leading to you becoming an alicorn, but the chances of that happening are very low. Same for Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. Also, the event that turned me into an alicorn is the same that got me my Cutie Mark, so I doubt that you will get the same Cutie Mark as me. Sorry.”

“Awww…”

Uh? Did she imply that Scootaloo/Cocoon was a normal pony in other universes? That was what she meant when she said that Scootaloo could become an alicorn, right? She wasn’t sure what to think if this was really the case…

If she had been a normal pony… It would have meant that she would have had a normal, loving family. A home. A mother who wouldn’t have been Chrysalis. She wouldn’t have had to constantly hide herself from everypony. She wouldn’t be constantly hungry for love, literally.

She was starting to feel jealous of these other Scootaloos…

Meanwhile, Sweetie Void continued talking. “Don’t worry, I’m sure that you will find your Cutie Mark eventually. All Sweetie Belles do. It’s not always the same Cutie Mark, because they don’t always get it the same way, but they do get it eventually. Same for Apple Blooms and Scootaloos. Well, most, I must admit. A few universes ago, I met an Apple Bloom who was turned into a ghoul. The poor dear will never get a Cutie Mark.”

Again, the fillies looked at her in horror, especially Apple Bloom.

“Don’t worry, she still found her purpose in her long unlife. It’s just that it will never be represented as a picture on her flanks. So, yeah… If you go into the Everfree Forest, be careful if you find a town named Sunny Town. If it hasn’t appeared by now, I doubt it will appear in the future, but you never know.”

Apple Bloom bit her lip. “A-actually… Ah found this town… And Ah was able ta escape the ghouls… Scariest night of mah life.”

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked at her in horror as she began shaking, then quickly hugged her.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Ya wouldn’t have believed me…”

“Come on, Bloom, you’re the little sis of the Element of Honesty, and our best friend, of course we would have believed you… eventually,” Scootaloo said.

Meanwhile, Sweetie Void looked at the window, in the direction of the Everfree Forest, and she was glaring.

“So it exists in this universe too. We should tell Twilight. I don’t know when this town will reappear, but it’s best to prepare.”

Apple Bloom looked at her, very sad. “So there’re other me out there who never escaped?”

Sweetie Void slowly nodded. “I fear so. The Apple Bloom I know who got turned was able to lift the curse with the help of my friends, so she is with her family, the only ghoul left, undead but happy, but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that there are other Apple Blooms who found the town and remained trapped in it. Sadly, I learned long ago that it is impossible to save everyone, as much as I want to. I still try my best in every universe I end up in.”

Silence followed as the fillies sadly thought of those poor Apple Blooms who didn’t get as lucky as theirs. It made Apple Bloom shake even more as she thought of how she could have ended up like them, and her friends, including Sweetie Void, quickly comforted her.

“So, we go to Twilight?” Sweetie Void asked once Apple Bloom calmed down.

“Yes!” the three answered.

So they went to Twilight who was, as expected, quite surprised, then very excited, to see Sweetie Void, but once the alicorn began to tell her what happened to Apple Bloom, and convinced her that, yes, ghouls existed, the lavender mare quickly became serious.

Apple Bloom recounted her experience, constantly hugged by Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, and Twilight had to be convinced, again, this time that ghosts exist. Once she was done, Sweetie Void told what she knew of the curse (“Yes, curses exist!”), and how to stop it, once Sunny Town reappeared.

“I will talk to Zecora,” Twilight eventually said. “She seemed to know that something wrong had been about to happen. She could tell me in advance if the town reappears.”

“But what if the town reappears, like, next century? Zecora won’t be there anymore,” Scootaloo pointed out.

“Good point. I’m sure that something can be found to alert of the town’s reappearance in the future. I will have to talk with Princess Celestia. I’m sure that she will make it a priority. It’s really worrying that such a town can appear pretty much at Ponyville’s doorstep. It must be dealt with sooner or later, as soon as it reappears. Thank you for telling me about this, girls. and Apple Bloom, I’m sorry that I couldn’t protect you.”

“No, Ah’m sorry. Ah should’ve never left yer side,” Apple Bloom said.

Twilight sighed. “You saw a filly who seemed lost, and you went to help her before it got dark. I can’t blame you for that.” She scoffed. “I can’t even blame you for not trying to tell me, because you did try to tell me, but I was too focused on my task to listen. Anyway, Spike, take a letter.”

“On it!”

“Well, I guess it’s our cue to go,” Sweetie Void said. “Let’s go, girls. Goodbye Twilight, goodbye Spike.”

Everyone said their goodbyes, and the fillies left the library, leaving Twilight to tell everything to Celestia.

“So, still up for bungee jumping?” Sweetie Void asked.

“Well, Ah wouldn’t mind something ta distract me,” Apple Bloom said. “Alright.”

Sweetie Belle also agreed, and of course, Scootaloo was totally in. So they went to the canyon where Sweetie Void created a platform from which the fillies could jump without risking hitting the walls. Taking turns, they each jumped.

It was scary, but it was so fun! By the end, they were all laughing.

“Ah needed that,” Apple Bloom said.

“We all needed that after the wedding,” Sweetie Belle said.

“See? What did I say!” Scootaloo exclaimed.

“No bungee jumping Cutie Mark however,” Sweetie Belle said as she saw the still blank flanks of her friends, and herself.

“Oh well.” Scootaloo shrugged. “At least, we had fun. And no tree sap. That’s good enough for me.”

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom laughed again and both said, “For me too!”

…

“We jump again?”

“Yay!”

So they jumped, and jumped, and jumped, until Sweetie Void reminded them that it was getting late, so they should return home.

Once they were outside Ponyville, Apple Bloom bid goodbye to them before she took the path to Sweet Apple Acres. Scootaloo then accompanied Sweetie Belle to the Carousel Boutique.

This left Scootaloo alone with Sweetie Void. The two walked side by side for a bit.

Then…

“So, you are a changeling, uh?”

Cocoon almost jumped out of her fake skin. As she had feared. She quickly put a hoof on Sweetie Void’s mouth and said, “Ssshhhh! Not here!” She looked left and right, seeing that nopony thankfully heard the alicorn. There weren’t many ponies left in the streets at this time. Sighing in relief, she then said, “Follow me,” before she walked in the direction of the Everfree Forest.

Sweetie Void silently followed her.

All this time, Sweetie Void knew about her true nature, and yet, she didn’t reveal it to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, and she didn’t attack her. Maybe she could trust her.

Soon, they left Ponyville, then entered the forest. A few minutes later, they arrived at a cave.

Then, Cocoon asked, “How did you know?”

“I can feel energies, including magic. Changeling magic is different from pony magic. The instant I saw you, I knew,” Sweetie Void answered.

“Why didn’t you do anything?”

“I didn’t want to spread panic, so I waited until we would be alone. Until then, I observed you.”

Cocoon stared at Sweetie Void nervously, shifting on her hooves. “So…?”

“Well… Your situation is difficult to judge. I have many changeling friends, but changelings generally don’t get friendly until Chrysalis is dealt with. And right after Cadance’s wedding? Friendly changelings are pretty much nonexistent as far as I know. Maybe Thorax. So, my first thought was “Who are you and what did you do to Scootaloo?” But then, the more I observed you, the more I began to doubt.

To put it simply, either you are the best darn actor in the universe, or you are genuinely friends with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. You seemed to really care and fear for Apple Bloom when you learned of her run in with the ghouls, and you seemed to really have fun while bungee jumping with them. Also, you perfectly act as Scootaloo would act, and that, not even the best changelings are able to do it. Unless you spent months constantly stalking Scootaloo to learn every little detail of her personality and her habits, it really looks like you are Scootaloo.

And the idea of a Scootaloo being a changeling isn’t farfetched. It wasn’t long ago that I met a Sweetie Belle who was born a robot.”

“What? Really?”

“Yep! So, at this point, I’m 99% certain that you really are Scootaloo. The 1% remaining is because I still need that absolute proof. So, give me a list of every single Crusades you did with your fellow CMC since the founding of the club.”

“Oh geez. That’s a lot. Ok, so… Our first crusading, right after the founding, was Cow-Milking, followed by Painter, Flower Seller, Cake Baker…” She winced at that one.

Sweetie Void groaned. “I know, I know, I sucked at cooking. No need to remind me.”

“”Sucked”? Past?”

“Yeah, I learned. Surprised?”

Cocoon gawked at the alicorn. “How many kitchens did you blow up?”

Sweetie Void exasperatedly threw up her hooves. “None! I was under the watchful eyes of professionals! VERY close eyes!”

Cocoon snickered. “Breathing-on-your-neck close, I’m guessing.”

Sweetie Void crossed her hooves and grumbled. “Anyway, you pass. Only the real Scootaloo could know about these Crusades so far back, before we even got the clubhouse.” She raised an eyebrow. “Unless you replaced Scootaloo before even that?”

“Oh come on! Scootaloo doesn’t exist in this universe! You see this cave? This is my home! If I had replaced a real filly, then why am I living in a cave instead of inside a warm house, taking the love of the unsuspecting parents?”

Sweetie Void nodded. “Good point. So, who are you, then?”

Cocoon hesitated a bit, then green fire enveloped her.

Now, before Sweetie Void, instead of a pegasus filly with a purple mane, was a changeling that, to her surprise, looked rather different from the usual changelings. She had the usual black exoskeleton with a black horn, and the wings, and the green carapace under them. But she also had a dark cerulean mane and tail, and green, slitted, normal eyes instead of the usual blue insect eyes.

In other words, she looked like a miniature Chrysalis, but there were also differences compared to her. She didn’t have any holes anywhere. Not in her legs, not in her wings, and not in her mane and tail. And her horn wasn’t gnarled. Instead, it looked like a full on blade!

Also, the mane was styled so it looked like the one of her pony-self, shorter and wilder, instead of being long and straight.

So it was Scootaloo if she was a filly changeling queen. A healthy changeling queen.

“My name is Cocoon,” she said before she looked away, hesitating. “I’m… Chrysalis’ daughter.”

Sweetie Void was amazed. “W-wow! You look good!”

Cocoon blushed. “You really think so?”

“Uhuh. I guess that you made good use of all that love that Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Rainbow Dash gave you.”

Cocoon laughed sheepishly. “Yeah, I guess.”

“But what do you mean by being Chrysalis’ daughter? Aren’t all the changelings her children?”

“That’s true. But as you can see, I’m a special case. Chrysalis considers other changelings as just her minions, her subjects. Me, however, she considers me really as her daughter. As her little princess. But trust me, this is not a good thing. Have you ever interacted with her in other universes?”

“A bit, yes.”

“Then you know how she isn’t the kind to give love to anybody. When she called me her daughter, it wasn’t with love, but with calculation and opportunity. She only saw me as her future powerful general, who will lead her armies and help her conquer the world. And as a result, she gave me the… ‘best’ education you can think a mother could give to her daughter. She wouldn’t accept anything less than perfection. Absolute perfection.” She shivered. “Any error was severely punished.”

She suddenly found herself hugged by Sweetie Void. “You must have been so miserable."

Cocoon sighed and returned the hug. “You have no idea. And this is why, when she sent me to infiltrate the ponies for a whole week to test my infiltrating lessons, I used the occasion to slip away under the muzzles of her spies.” She chuckled as Sweetie Void released her from the hug. “I turned her lessons against her and used disguises after disguises to escape. For days I journeyed across Equestria until I thought that I had lost the spies following me. Then I settled here, in Ponyville, where I created my identity as Scootaloo. And in case you wonder, at first, I really looked like a miniature Chrysalis, but I hated looking like her, so I changed my mane-style into a similar style as my disguise’s.

Anyway, I had to give Pinkie a sob story about being an orphan wanting to settle in town because it would be nicer than in the big city, but I didn’t want other ponies to know that, so I made her Pinkie Promise to not tell anypony. As a result, she only gave me a small welcoming party with the two of us being the only ponies present. After that, she would secretly give me some money and bigger portions of food, and lots of hugs. I… really feel guilty taking advantage of her like that…

Then I had to disguise myself as an adult to register myself for school. Ponies would ask questions if they saw me wander around during school hours. Of course, since then, I have to be careful to not do anything bad to the point that the teacher would have to call my legal guardian. I can’t be both Scootaloo and my guardian at the same time, after all. Same with injuries. If I am ever sent to the hospital, they would find out that I don’t have a guardian, so I have to watch out.”

“And yet, you do stunts that would risk you getting a broken leg on a regular basis.”

Cocoon groaned. “I can’t help myself! I love thrills!”

Sweetie Void giggled. “I know. You may be a different species and you may have a different name, but in the end, you still are the Scootaloo I know.”

“Doing stunts… It makes me feel so free, so alive. After having lived most of my life under Chrysalis, it is the best thing ever. After becoming Rainbow Dash’s honorary sister, and after becoming Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom’s friend, of course.”

“Of course.”

“So, that’s pretty much it,” Cocoon finished before she hesitantly stared at Sweetie Void. “Hum… How… How are my parents? I mean, pony me’s parents.”

“Sorry, I don’t know them very well. I saw them very rarely,” Sweetie Void answered.

“Oh… Sorry, it’s just that…”

“You wonder “what if?” Uh?”

“Yeah…”

“Mmh… Then how about you talk to pony you?”

“What?”

“Wait a bit,” Sweetie Void said before she opened a rift and jumped through it, the rift closing behind her.

So Cocoon waited. Then, a few minutes later, a new rift opened, and out of it came Sweetie Void…

And Scootaloo.

Cocoon and Scootaloo stared at each other in amazement while Sweetie Void placed herself between the two.

“Scootaloo, I present to you Cocoon, who is you if you had been a changeling. Cocoon, I present to you Scootaloo, who is you if you had been a pony. She comes from that universe I told you about, where Apple Bloom has been turned into a ghoul. Have a nice talk.”

Then she walked away, leaving the two alone.

Scootaloo was the one who began. “Wow! You look cool!”

“Uh. Thanks. You are cool too.”

“Thanks! So, you are a changeling? What is a changeling?”

“Basically, we are shapeshifters who feed on love.”

Scootaloo laughed. “What? You mean that you eat if you are hugged?”

Cocoon laughed. “Pretty much.”

“Does this mean that you don’t need to eat vegetables?”

“I can eat normal food, but it’s not obligatory. So, no, I don’t need to eat vegetables.”

“Lucky you! My aunts always force me to eat vegetables! Ugh…”

“Your aunts?”

“Uhuh. Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty. They are the ones who take care of me.”

“Not your parents?”

“Uh… Well… They are world-traveling adventurers. They are rarely at home.”

“Oh… But at least, they love you, right?”

“Of course! But I wish that I could see them more often.”

“How are they?”

At that, Scootaloo recounted everything she knew about her parents, their personalities, the amazing things they did, and what they loved. The more Scootaloo talked, the more Cocoon became sad.

When Scootaloo finished, Cocoon sighed. “I wish that I had parents too…”

“Don’t changelings have parents?”

“We all have the same mother, and she isn’t very nice… I had to run away from her.”

“That bad?”

Cocoon nodded.

“But if you all have the same mother, it means that all the changelings are your brothers and sisters, right? I always wanted a sibling. Rainbow Dash is very close to one.”

“My brothers and sisters follow my mother, so we aren’t really in talking terms.”

“Oh. Well, I hope that you will reconcile with them. You have such a huge family. It’s sad that you are alone.”

“Maybe… One day…”

“But, wait! Does it mean that you can fly? And do magic?”

“Uh. Yes and yes.”

“Oh my gosh! I wish that I could fly too!”

“You can’t fly?”

Scootaloo grumbled. “Look.” Then, she jumped and began to flap her wings. She didn’t fly however. Instead, she was falling very slowly. Once she landed, she sighed. “I dream of flying alongside Rainbow Dash one day.”

“Well, don’t feel discouraged. I’m sure that you will be able to fly one day, once you grow up a bit.”

“That’s what Auntie Lofty said. That I’m a late bloomer. Still wish that Diamond Tiara would stop calling me a chicken.”

“It seems like she is a pain in the flank no matter the universe.”

“But you said you can shapeshift, right? Then you could get her into trouble! Like, you shift into her, then you do something bad, and everypony will think that she is the one who did it!”

Cocoon smirked. “That’s exactly what I do each time that she goes too far. I caused her to be grounded more times than I counted.”

“Heck yeah!”

The two hoofbumped.

“But I have to be careful so the ponies don’t suspect that I am a changeling,” Cocoon said.

“Why? What is the problem with you being a changeling?”

“Well… You remember Zecora? How ponies reacted to her?”

Scootaloo winced. “Not Ponyville’s best moment.”

“It doesn’t help that I have been living among the ponies for a while, passing myself for a pegasus, lying to everypony.”

“Well, I guess that the ponies would be a bit angry at first.”

“And it is possible that ponies may think that I have foalnapped the real Scootaloo to take her place and get their love.”

“True…”

“Then, my family showed up and did something very bad, so, now, the ponies fear the changelings. When I told you that my mother wasn’t very nice, I wasn’t kidding.”

Scootaloo winced again. “She tried to conquer Equestria?”

“Yep. She wanted to steal all the love of Equestria to feed the changelings.”

“...Yeah, I can see how this would be a problem if you revealed yourself. But I’m sure that Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom would still accept you if you explained everything to them! And Rainbow Dash too!”

“Maybe. Or maybe Rainbow would beat me up while Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle run away screaming. I don’t really want to take my chances right now. Maybe in a few months.”

“Well, I mean, if you go “Hey! Guess what? I’m a changeling! Surprise!” Then yes, things wouldn’t go well. But if you take time to explain while looking scared and even do a Pinkie Promise, then I think that you may have a chance.”

“I… I will think about it.”

“But trying to conquer Equestria is stupid. I mean, if the changelings need love, then shouldn’t they just… love each other?”

Cocoon stared at her counterpart in awe. “That’s… so obvious!” She sighed. “But no way will they listen as long as they follow my mother. She is too evil to love.”

“Well, that sucks…”

A moment of awkward silence followed.

“Uh… By the way,” Scootaloo eventually began. “Do changelings get Cutie Marks?”

“Not really. We can use our shapeshifting to put a mark on our flanks, but we don’t gain one like ponies do.”

“So it’s up to you to decide what mark you want?”

“Pretty much. But I’m still searching for my talent to decide which mark I want.”

“Oh. You know pretty well what your talent is supposed to be, dear daughter,” they suddenly heard, and Cocoon got a chill, recognizing the voice.

Thanks to her night vision, she was the first one to see her approach. Out of the darkness of the forest came Queen Chrysalis herself, looking very smug.

The two fillies began shaking.

“Is… Is this your mom?” Scootaloo asked.

Cocoon didn’t answer. Instead, she said, “N-no way. How did you find me? I thought that you didn’t recognize me!”

Chrysalis smirked. “That’s right. There was no way I could have recognized you with your disguise. However…” She approached her head to her daughter and whispered, “You didn’t disguise your voice.”

Cocoon wanted to facehoof, but she was too busy shaking and staring at her mother in horror.

“Of course,” the queen continued. “Taking you as soon as I recognized you would have ruined my plan. There were always so many ponies around whenever we talked. So I waited.” She glared. “Then my plan was ruined and I was sent flying.” Her expression returned to her previous one. “Thankfully, you and your… friends… were really talkative, constantly telling me about Ponyville and your little crusades, so it wasn’t hard to find you. A spy disguised as a bird saw you enter the forest, so I just followed her direction.”

“W-why did you talk to your mother? I thought you didn’t want anything to do with her,” Scootaloo asked her counterpart.

“She was disguised. I didn’t recognize her,” Cocoon answered.

“So, finally,” Chrysalis continued. “After one year of searching, I found you. And I see that you are doing well among the ponies. My my, look at you. It reminds me of the good times. But now…” She hissed, her long tongue coming out. “You will return to the hive RIGHT NOW!”

Cocoon hissed back. “No way! I refuse!”

“You are destined for great things, Cocoon. Together, we will rule this world, and have all the love we want. Nothing will stand against us. But you still have a lot to learn. Most of all: friends. Are. Useless! You especially don’t befriend food! So suck up the love of this filly and let’s go!

Cocoon placed herself between Chrysalis and Scootaloo. “No!”

Chrysalis glared at her. “Do it.”

“I will not follow you and what you say! I will stay with my friends!”

“Do it! You are my daughter and you must obey me! Stop with your friendship nonsense!”

“Friendship kicked your ass a few days ago!”

Chrysalis snarled. “They aren’t really your friends! I bet they don’t know the real you!”

Cocoon hesitated. “Well… At least, I love them!”

“Changelings don’t love! They take love!”

“That’s what you think, but maybe the changelings need a new ruler!”

Chrysalis hissed. “You dare-”

“Oh Chrissyyyy! Long time no see!” a sickly sweet voice interrupted Chrysalis before she felt something drop on her back and wrap its legs around her neck. “Is the big bad Changeling Queen still being a meanie? I’m disappointed, Chrissy.”

“Who are you?! Get off my back! Wait, that voice. You are the white unicorn filly!”

“Not the same white filly.”

“Get off my back!” Chrysalis repeated before she tried to grab the filly with her magic, only to fail. “Why can’t I grab you in my telekinesis?”

The filly burped. “Thanks for the meal.”

Chrysalis paled. “Did… Did you eat my magic?”

“Yep! Delicious!”

Chrysalis began to try to get her off by moving erratically. “Get off! I order you to get off of me!”

“Aw, Chrissy, we are best friends. Stop being silly.”

“Stop calling me that! I don’t know you!”

“But I know you very well. I love playing with you.”

“What are you talking about?! You make no sense!”

“What is the fun in making sense?”

“Sto-”

The filly put a hoof on her mouth, stopping her. “Shhh. Come on Chrissy, I will show you.” She then felt the filly whisper to her ear. “We will have so much fun together.”

Chrysalis got a chill, suddenly feeling as if an alpha predator was on her back. Immediately, she transformed into an ursa minor, then dropped on her back in the hope of crushing the filly. However, she teleported just before, and the filly appeared before her.

Sweetie Void was giving Chrysalis a slasher grin.

Roaring, Chrysalis slapped her.

Sweetie Void stopped the paw with just one hoof, not moving one millimeter.

Chrysalis became even paler. Then she saw that the filly was an alicorn, and she audibly gulped.

Then her eyes became empty, turning into two black holes. Her teeth turned into very sharp fangs. She tilted her head.

“Let’s play hide and seek. You hide, I seek. And if I find you…” Her grin became even wider. “You. Lose~. You have ten seconds.”

Immediately, Chrysalis turned around and transformed into a peregrine falcon before she flew away.

Sweetie Void returned to normal, giggling. “Oh, she is always fun to mess with.”

Meanwhile, Cocoon and Scootaloo stared at the alicorn, not without some fright.

“What… was that?” Cocoon eventually asked.

“Just me having fun, nothing to worry about,” Sweetie Void answered. “You changelings aren’t the only ones who have shapeshifting abilities. I just don’t need fire to envelope me to change parts of my body.”

“You stopped the strike of an ursa minor as if it was nothing!” Scootaloo exclaimed.

Sweetie Void shrugged. “I’m pretty strong.”

“And you really absorbed her magic?” Cocoon asked.

“Yeah. Energies, including magic, are to me what love is to you.”

“Wait. You mean you could eat love too?”

“Uhuh. And other emotions. But I don’t touch that stuff. Anyway, I think that it’s time for Scootaloo to return to her universe. I hope that you had a good chat together.”

“Aw… Already?” Scootaloo asked.

“It was already quite late in your universe when I took you. Your aunts will be worried.”

Scootaloo sighed. “Alright. But before I go…” She turned to Cocoon and hugged her. “I’m really sorry that you have such a mother. And it’s really sad that the changelings are ruled by her. Maybe if they had a nicer ruler, they could become friends with us ponies. Then you wouldn’t be forced to remain disguised. But I really think that you should reveal yourself to your friends, at least. It’s not because you are a love-sucking bug-pony that they will stop loving you, like we didn’t stop loving Apple Bloom when she turned into an undead. Because we will always be CMC forever.”

Cocoon smiled, tears in her eyes, then leaned into the hug. “Thank you, Scootaloo.”

Not long after, they broke the hug, and they said goodbye to each other before Sweetie Void opened a rift and Scootaloo jumped through, the rift closing behind her.

“So, what do you think now that you talked to pony you? Is life as a pony still so appealing?”

Cocoon thought for a bit. “Well, there are some good things, and some less good things. Like, her inability to fly. I love flying, so it must really suck for her. And just imagining constantly being called a chicken by Diamond Tiara…” She couldn’t stop herself from hissing at that. “And while she doesn’t need to eat love, being forced to eat vegetables is not so good. Also, yes, she has loving parents, but they are always absent, so it’s as if she doesn’t have them. Still better than having a mother like mine. But… I guess that all the changelings being my siblings would be nice if they weren’t currently following Chrysalis. Also, she doesn’t have to hide herself from her friends. If Chrysalis hadn’t attacked, then maybe I could have revealed myself.”

“You know,” Sweetie Void then began. “Tomorrow, I could be present at your side to help you reveal your true identity. I could vouch for you. It would be a good start.”

“You… really think…?”

“Uhuh. I promise. But I guess that it would be better for you if Chrysalis was taken down. Then all of your problems would disappear. Changelings would stop being mean and they would start to love you, ponies would eventually stop fearing them, and you would be able to live with your friends without a disguise. Maybe a pony could even adopt you, and you would have a loving mom and/or dad! And you would have a real home!”

Just thinking about that made Cocoon almost cry.

Sweetie Void hugged her. “You have nothing to envy from the ponies. It isn’t because you are a changeling that your life sucks, but because the wrong individual is at their head. Eventually, everything will get better. You will see.”

Not long after, Cocoon went to sleep, dreaming of a better life. Sweetie Void disappeared.

The next day, Cocoon, disguised as Scootaloo, went to school on her scooter. However, on the way, she met the Element Bearers, all six of them.

“There she is!” Rainbow Dash shouted before she went to fly toward the filly only to be stopped by Applejack holding her tail in her jaw.

This made Cocoon stop, looking at Rainbow Dash in worry.

“Uh… What’s going on?”

When she looked at the other mares, she saw that Rarity was crying. Applejack looked very angry. Fluttershy looked scared. Even Pinkie Pie looked worried.

Twilight just looked hesitant as she said, “Scootaloo? Something happened to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle last night. Can you come to the library, please?”

Cocoon immediately panicked, getting worried. “What happened? Are they alright? Are they at the hospital?”

“No, not at the hospital. They… Well, come, and we will show you.”

Rainbow Dash finally calmed down and stopped trying to fly toward Cocoon. She was about to say something, but then, Twilight’s magic appeared on her mouth, keeping it shut, making the pegasus glare at the unicorn who whispered something at her. Rainbow Dash crossed her legs.

The group silently ran toward the library. Cocoon wanted to roll as fast as she could to find out what happened to her friends, but she remained beside the mares.

Before long ,they were at the library. Once inside…

Twilight cast the anti-changeling disguise spell on Cocoon, transforming her back into her true self.

Cocoon could only look in horror as the mares, who had been joined by Spike, gasped.

“So it was true,” Twilight said.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SCOOTALOO, YOU MONSTER?!” Rainbow Dash yelled.

Cocoon looked around. She was surrounded. There was no escape possible.

“Bu-bu-but… How…? What…?” she tried to say.

“Spike?” Twilight asked.

Slowly, the dragon approached and showed two letters to Cocoon. They were identical.

We took the filly. If you want to see her, then have our princess come to the hive. She passes herself for the filly known as Scootaloo. She will know where the hive is.

The changelings

She couldn’t believe what she was reading.

It was two of her worst nightmares in one go. The reveal of her true identity in such a brutal way, and the foalnapping of her two best friends. She could only look in horror.

“Ya’re Chrysalis’ daughter?” Applejack suddenly asked, making her jump.

Shaking, she gulped. “Y-yes…”

“How long have you been in Ponyville?” Twilight asked.

“Since the day ‘Scootaloo’ arrived, about one year ago.”

“Impossible!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “You would have been sent flying by the love shield at the wedding!”

“W-well, I’m not sure how it worked, but the shield passed through me without hurting me,” she replied before she looked around. “I have always been Scootaloo. Pinkie Pie can tell, Scootaloo doesn’t have any family with her. You can tell them, Pinkie.”

“That’s true,” the pink mare said. “When I first saw Scootaloo, she told me that she was an orphan, and she didn’t want anypony to know. So I made a small party just for her. We played lots of games together.”

“But she must have somepony! How did she register for school, then?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I turned myself into an adult and registered myself with false information. I’m sure that if you looked at the forms and investigated, you would find out that it’s full of wrong stuff. For example, the address I put in is the one of that old empty house at the outskirts of Ponyville. It has been half devoured by the parasprites, and nopony bothered to repair it. I wouldn’t be surprised if a new house is scheduled to be built in its place in the next few months.”

“Oh yeah. That old shack that belonged ta Old Grump. That old hermit who died eight years ago,” Applejack said.

“Oh, I think I remember him. He yelled to everypony, especially the foals getting on his lawn,” Rarity said. “The first time he yelled at Pinkie has become legendary.”

Pinkie Pie shivered.

“So, Scootaloo never existed?” Twilight asked.

“More like she has always existed as a part of me,” Cocoon said, not daring to look at Rainbow Dash. “So, I guess that I’m going to the hive to rescue Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.”

“What are your real feelings about them?” Applejack asked.

Cocoon stared at her as seriously as she could. “I love them. They really are my best friends. I would destroy the world for them.”

“Woah there. Let’s not go that far, Sugarcube.”

“Please, guide us to the hive,” Rarity pleaded.

“Uh… I don’t advise that you come with me. Chrysalis has a throne that soaks all magics that are not changeling magic. You would be powerless,” Cocoon said.

“But then, you would go to the hive by yourself! What would you do there, alone?” Twilight asked.

“You will join Chrysalis, right?” Rainbow Dash said.

“I hate Chrysalis!” Cocoon shouted, crying. Rainbow Dash’s accusations were hurting her so much. “She made my life a nightmare! I would rather die than join her! No. I will go to the hive, get Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle out of there, and… I don’t know. Hopefully, I will manage to escape.”

The mares exchanged looks, silently agreeing to the same thing.

“We will still come with you,” Twilight said. “Even if we won’t have our magic, we could still help one way or another.”

“Magic or not, Ah can still give a good buck,” Applejack said.

“And I have my party cannon!” Pinkie Pie shouted before she took out of her mane her party cannon.

Cocoon looked at all of them, still not sure if they should come, but feeling grateful.

“O-ok.”

“S-so…” she then barely heard, coming from Fluttershy. “You really aren’t a bad changeling?”

Cocoon gently smiled at her. “Changelings may have given a bad first impression, but remove Chrysalis, and I’m sure that they won’t be as scary anymore.” She then looked down sadly. “I’m sorry that I have been lying to everypony all this time. Especially you, Pinkie. Sorry that I took advantage of you.”

“Aw, don’t worry silly. You weren’t really an orphan, but you were still all alone, so it changes nothing. Oh! Oh! You never told us what your real name is!”

“Oh, sorry, it’s Cocoon.”

“Cocoon! Then once we rescue Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, I will give you a real Welcome To Ponyville party with everypony, and everypony will know the real you! And you won’t have to lie anymore! And everypony will love you so you won’t ever be hungry anymore!”

Cocoon laughed, rubbing her wet eyes. “Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle’s love has already been more than enough.” And Rainbow’s, but she didn’t say it. “So, when do we go to the hive?”

“We can go right now,” Twilight said. “The sooner we rescue the fillies, the better. Spike, remain behind, and be ready to send a letter to Princess Celestia if we don’t come back in… How long will it take us to reach the hive?”

“At least a couple of days. A few hours on the train, the rest on hooves,” Cocoon answered.

“So, five days. Six at most.”

And so, the group left Ponyville, Cocoon taking the lead.

Somewhere on the way to the Changeling Kingdom, about a day after they were off the train.

Cocoon was at the head when she saw Rainbow Dash flying beside her. The mare then landed and walked alongside her, remaining silent. Cocoon didn’t dare to say anything.

After a few more minutes, Rainbow Dash finally asked, “How much of Scootaloo was real?”

“Pr… Pretty much all of her,” Cocoon answered. “I lied about myself as little as I could.”

“So it was your personality?”

“Yes.”

“Your feelings?”

“Yes.”

“Your tastes?”

“Yes.”

“What about… what was between the two of us?”

“I genuinely admire you, Rainbow Dash. I really love watching you fly and do all these awesome stunts. And I treasure these moments when you hug me and we do stuff together and you call me your little sister. I…” Cocoon looked down in sadness. “I’m sorry. I should have told you earlier. I should have trusted you. And my friends. But… I was so scared… I didn’t want to risk losing… everything.”

Rainbow Dash sighed. “I guess that we didn’t help our case with stuff like how we reacted to Zecora.”

Cocoon nodded. “If ponies reacted so badly to a zebra, who looks so much like a pony, how would they react to something so… alien?”

“Well, I think that we learned our lesson after Zecora, buuuut… Yeah, I understand.”

“I actually was supposed to reveal myself to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle today with the help of a friend that I made yesterday, then I would have revealed myself to you, but Chrysalis obviously said otherwise,” Cocoon grumbled.

“Eeehhhh… Truthfully, I’m not sure how I would have reacted even if you had told me yourself that you are a changeling. It wasn’t long ago that the changelings threatened everything I care about. I probably would have gotten in my head the worst case scenario and… Well, you can imagine the rest. I’m not really known for thinking before acting.”

“But then, you had to find out because of Chrysalis, which is even worse, I imagine. Your first action upon seeing me was to charge at me, and even when I proved that I really was Scootaloo, you still thought that I was an enemy.”

“I had just found out that everything I knew about my little sister had certainly been a lie. That I may have been used as a food source all this time by you. I… was hurt. I didn’t know what to think anymore. I debated with myself all this journey to know if yes or no I should trust you again. It took me all this time to convince myself to at least try to talk to you to try to settle it. I could see that you didn’t seem to be a bad filly, but I still had my doubts.”

“So… What do you think?”

“I think… that I don’t want to lose Scootaloo. So if you really are her, then I want to give you a chance. So…” Before she could say more, she was hugged by Cocoon. Seeing the genuine gesture, Rainbow returned it.

Then Pinkie appeared behind them, shouted “Yay! Group hug!” and before they knew it, they were in the middle of a pile of ponies.

Once they broke the hug, Rainbow Dash began to ask everything about Cocoon. They talked for hours and hours, Cocoon using the occasion to reveal that, no, changelings couldn’t just transform into adult ponies, warning them to be careful of even the rocks.

Second day of the journey, they traversed a forest, then finally reached the border of the Changeling Kingdom, the desolate land spreading before them with the huge hive visible in the distance.

“Be ready girls,” Cocoon warned. “Just a few more steps, and your magic will be gone. It means no flying anymore, Rainbow.”

“Aww that sucks.”

“Chrysalis certainly knows we are coming, so be prepared for anything.”

“Mah legs are ready,” Applejack said.

After that, they barely advanced that they felt their magic being sucked away. Trying not to think about it, they continued toward the hive.

After about another hour of walking, they arrived at the entrance. The main entrance. Holes all over its walls were constantly opening and closing.

Guards wearing helmets were present. However, to their surprise, when they saw the group, they didn’t do anything.

“The queen is waiting for you, Princess,” one of them said as the group approached. “She is at the Throne Room.”

“Uh… Thank you, Arista,” Cocoon said with suspicion.

At that, the group entered the hive, and Cocoon guided the ponies through opening holes, climbing until reaching the Throne Room.

A room absolutely filled with changelings, with Chrysalis sitting on the black throne. Beside the throne was a cocoon holding Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. They were still awake, just trapped in it.

When they both saw Cocoon, Sweetie Belle said, “Scootaloo?”

“So she really is a changeling,” Apple Bloom said.

“Silence!” Chrysalis shouted at them before she looked at Cocoon with clear fake love. “Ah, my dear daughter. So you finally came back. And I see that you brought some gifts to be forgiven for leaving so abruptly.”

“They aren’t gifts!” Cocoon yelled. “They are here to help me!”

Chrysalis laughed. “Help you? Powerless, magicless ponies? What could they hope to do?”

“We can still fight, even without magic!” Twilight shouted.

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow, then waved at the changelings in the room. “Against all of them?” Then she pointed at herself. “Without forgetting that I still have a lot of the excess love I took from Shining Armor. The same power that allowed me to surpass Celestia herself. So, tell me, do you still think that you can fight and win?”

Many of the changelings laughed, others hissed.

The ponies weren’t feeling as confident as before.

“If we manage to destroy the throne, we may have a chance,” Twilight said to her friends, low enough that Chrysalis couldn’t hear.

“How?” Rarity asked.

“Uh…”

Suddenly, Cocoon shouted, “You forget that I’m here, and I’m filled with love too! Even more than you! I will fight all of you by myself if I have to!”

Chrysalis snarled. “Stop your foolish rebellion! You are still just a filly! Your power is but a speck compared to mine! Go to your room! I will deal with you after I’m done with-” She ducked, barely dodging a beam fired from Cocoon’s horn, damaging part of the throne. “YOU DARE?!!”

“Listen well, Chrysalis, your reign ends TODAY! I will dethrone you! I will save my friends! And the changelings will be freed from your toxic influence! LOOK AT ME, EVERYLING! THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE LOVE AND ARE LOVED!”

And she fired another, bigger beam.

Chrysalis roared and fired back her own beam.

The two beams clashed, and were revealed to be nearly of equal power. However, Chrysalis’ beam was slightly more powerful, so it began to push Cocoon’s beam.

Beside her throne, Sweetie Void appeared and opened the cocoon, freeing Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. She then said, “Go hug her. She needs your love,” before she disappeared.

The fillies looked at each other, then nodded before they ran toward Cocoon, hugging her.

Cocoon’s beam immediately gained power, becoming equal to Chrysalis’ beam.

“What the…?! No way!” Chrysalis yelled in rage.

“Girls! I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier!” Cocoon said to her friends.

“Now is not the time for a talk!” Apple Bloom replied.

“Come on, Scoot! Take all our love!” Sweetie Belle said.

“If I forcefully take more from you, I will hurt you!” Cocoon shouted.

“No need for that!” they suddenly heard before they were wrapped by Rainbow Dash. “Here’s my love!”

“And mine!” Pinkie Pie shouted before she wrapped them too. “I have a lot of love!”

Fluttershy followed. “Me too.”

Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity came just after, completing the group.

Now, Cocoon’s beam surpassed Chrysalis’, gaining ground.

Chrysalis couldn’t believe it. “No! No! NO!”

“See?!” Cocoon shouted. “I share love with them, and they share love with me in return! Your stolen love can’t hope to surpass that!”

“RAAAHHHHH!!! SURPASS THAT!!!” Chrysalis yelled before she poured ALL her remaining energy into her beam.

Now, it pushed Cocoon’s beam again, rapidly.

“Uuuugh…” Cocoon tried to put more power into her beam, but failed. “PLEASE! MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS! SHARE YOUR LOVE WITH ME! LET’S BE FREE! AND I PROMISE YOU, WE WILL NEVER STARVE EVER AGAIN!”

The changelings looked at each other, not sure what to do. Then, one changeling, named Thorax, took the first step, and shared love with Cocoon. Immediately, some kind of cocoon of magic surrounded him, almost immediately disappearing in a flash of light. What the cocoon left behind was a transformed changeling, now green instead of black, no holes remaining, with a beautiful tail that looked like a long insect wing.

Seeing what happened to Thorax, other changelings repeated what he did, sharing love with Cocoon. Then more changelings followed them, and more, and more, until the totality of the changelings in the room shared love.

Cocoon’s beam tripled in size, totally overpowering Chrysalis’ beam.

The queen could only yell as the beam reached her.

What followed was an explosion that blew up the top of the central spire of the hive.

When the smoke cleared, the throne was totally destroyed.

Chrysalis was on what remained of it, unconscious.

And all the changelings present were now in various shades of green and blue. Except Cocoon.

The filly looked at the changelings, then at herself, then grinned.

“Well, you shared your love with me. Now, it’s time for me to share my love with all of you!”

And she did so, a huge quantity of love coming out of her and spreading everywhere. Like with all the other changelings, a cocoon of magic appeared and enveloped. However, it was much bigger than the drones’, and when it disappeared, the flash was blinding, like a miniature sun.

Once everyone could see, they saw Cocoon.

She was now orange, with a purple mane and tail, and purple eyes. She also had a pink carapace with matching wings.

When she saw her color, she laughed. “I guess that I spent too much time as my disguise.”

She was suddenly tackled by Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, the three hugging each other on the floor.

“That was so awesome, Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle shouted.

“Ya were incredible!” Apple Bloom followed.

Cocoon laughed. “I know, right?! By the way, my real name is Cocoon. Sorry for lying to you all this time.”

“That’s already in the past. Ya did all that ta save us. We can’t be angry at ya after that.”

“Come here, squirt!” Rainbow Dash suddenly came and gave Cocoon a noogie, making her squeal. “Look at you, a filly, and already defeating your first villain! Your own evil mother!”

“Speaking of her, what do we do about her?” Cocoon asked, looking toward her unconscious mother.

“That’s a good question,” Twilight said. “She lost her army, but she still remains dangerous. I guess that we will have to send her to Tartarus, if she doesn’t change her way.”

Now, Cocoon became sad. “I wish she would. She remains my mom. I hate her, but deep down, a part of me still wants her love.”

Around her, the changelings had similar thoughts. Chrysalis was the mother of all of them. Now that they learned to love, they couldn’t stop themselves from loving her, and wanting her love in return.

“Maybe I should have brought Spike, finally. He could have sent a letter to Princess Celestia, and we could have talked about what to do,” Twilight said.

“Maybe if we give Chrysalis a group hug?” Pinkie Pie proposed.

“I doubt it will work,” Cocoon said.

“I may be able to help with that,” they suddenly heard.

And among them was none other than Sweetie Void, where nopony had been a few seconds earlier. Anyone nearby jumped in surprise.

“What the…?” Applejack exclaimed.

“Am I dreaming? An alicorn Sweetie Belle?” Rarity asked.

“Uh. Whoever is the ling who transformed, that’s not needed,” Rainbow Dash said.

“She is not a changeling,” Cocoon said. “Her name is Sweetie Void. She is an alternate version of Sweetie Belle. She is the friend I told you I made yesterday.”

“Say what?!” everyone except the CMC and Twilight shouted, Pinkie Pie more exaggerated than the others, Fluttershy barely above a whisper.

Cocoon looked at Sweetie Void. “You mean that you can turn mom good?”

“Oh, no. Sorry, but Chrysalis is one stubborn mule. Of all the Chrysalis I met, only one stopped being evil, and it was because she had been left with no other choice. And even then, it took her time to start loving someone. The Chrysalis of my universe? I had to defeat Grogar himself to make her give up, and even then, she preferred to be sent to Tartarus rather than trying friendship. In the main timeline, she chooses revenge rather than joining her children in love and friendship, digging herself in her hatred. I haven’t yet determined what to say or do to convince her to be nice.”

All the changelings became sad at that.

“However,” Sweetie Void continued. “I can heal her and wake her up, to see if she will at least listen to her daughter. Who knows, maternal instincts are powerful. They could be enough. Or she could start a crusade against her own daughter. I have no idea.”

“Well… We can at least try,” Cocoon said.

“Yep. But before that, let me congratulate you. I knew that you could win, which is why I didn’t intervene. You faced your mother, saved your friends, brought your brothers and sisters to the friendship side, and I think that you found your purpose in your life. You will make a good leader once the time comes.”

Cocoon smiled while having some doubts. She didn’t know if she would make a good leader, but she will try her darn best. It will always be better than her mother.

“Well, time to wake up the sleeping ugly,” Sweetie Void said before she moved toward Chrysalis.

…

Twilight suddenly exclaimed. “Wait! She did say that she defeated Gr-”

Sweetie Void was suddenly before her face, a hoof on her muzzle. “Shhh. No need to focus on such a silly achievement. Let the mother and daughter have a talk.”

And then, she was back to walking toward Chrysalis, where she stopped.

Twilight was left speechless.

“Ooh! The Pink is strong in her!” Pinkie Pie said.

“Thanks. I train hard under Master Pinkie,” Sweetie Void replied before she reached Chrysalis. Rapidly, she healed her, then gave her some energy, before she began to tap her cheek. “Wakey wakey! Nap time is over! Don’t force me to give you mouth to mouth!”

Chrysalis suddenly sat up, waking up right away.

“Wha-Whe-Who?”

Once she calmed down, she looked down at Sweetie Void.

The alicorn waved. “Hi! Remember me? I guess you lost the hide and seek game.”

In one second, Chrysalis turned from black to white, and she jumped away. “Gah! Get away from me, demon!” She then tried to fly away, but Sweetie Void caught her tail in her telekinetic grip.

“No need to be so dramatic. I’m just messing with you. There’s someone who wants to talk to you.”

Chrysalis stopped flying. “Uh? Who…?” Then, she saw Cocoon who had approached and was now looking at her with longing eyes. Behind her, all the changelings had gathered. She hissed. “YOU!”

Cocoon didn’t even flinch. Instead, she raised her forelegs toward Chrysalis and asked, “Hug?” still with that same look.

That stopped Chrysalis right there, and she looked at her daughter in shock. “You… You took everything from me! And… And you ask me… to give you a hug?”

“I just showed that changelings can be something else than monsters. Now, we won’t starve anymore, we won’t be alone anymore, and we won’t need to fight anymore. Now, we want our mommy with us. Please.”

“We would love to still have you as our queen,” one of the changelings said.

Chrysalis stared at Cocoon, and you could see the battle happening in her mind with how her expression was constantly shifting. Then, after a few long minutes, she looked away.

Understanding, Cocoon lowered her legs, looking down.

“All my life,” Chrysalis then began. “I lived for conquest, getting as much love as possible to gain power and reach the top, leading the changelings to the summit. War and deception are all that I have known. But it’s clear that my era is over. Now, an era of peace and friendship is coming. I’m not made for that era. The changelings will need a new queen to lead them through it. You proved yourself, so become that new queen, make the changelings greater than I ever could, and forget about me.”

And at that, the ex-queen flew away.

Chrysalis flew toward the forest, stopping at its border to give one last look at her hive. Then, she turned around to walk into the forest, only to stop when she saw a certain alicorn filly before her.

She glared at her.

“What do you want? Leave me alone.”

“......They just wanted a mother’s love, you know?” the filly eventually said. “Queen or not, it wouldn’t have mattered as long as you would be there with them.”

“I can’t give them what they want. I only ever saw love as two things: food and power. The ones who loved were preys. So us predators couldn’t love. That was as simple as that.”

…

“And yet…” the filly began. “I saw genuine conflict for a moment when Cocoon wanted you to hug her. You actually grew to care for her… This is why you wanted her back to the hive.”

“I only gave birth to her to have a more powerful pawn than usual. My own queen under my command. With her, nothing would have stood in my way, not even Celestia.”

“That was what you thought at first, but… When you saw her for the first time after one year, was it what you were still thinking?”

“...”

“You wanted to see her becoming a great queen, like you. And now, there she is, surpassing you. You must be really proud.”

“.......I would have only caused problems to her if I had remained at her side. It’s for the best that I disappear from her life and let her guide the changelings by herself.”

The filly giggled. “I admit, even when you give a chance to love, you are still like one of these old grumpy ponies always criticizing the youth and telling them how the old ways were the best. But despite that, you could still develop real friendships, and the changelings really wouldn’t have minded. With time, you would have found your place in this new hive, and in this world.”

“...”

“Think about it. I’m sure that you will eventually make the right choice. Goodbye, Chrissy.”

And then, the filly was gone.

Chrysalis stared at where the filly had been for a bit, then she looked back toward the hive, before she finally began to walk into the forest, grumbling, “Don’t call me that, demon.”

Cocoon stared for a while toward where her mother disappeared.

Rainbow Dash eventually broke the silence. “So, what now?”

“Cocoon is now the queen, so it’s up to her to decide,” Sweetie Void said. “However, I can already say that there is a problem.”

“What is it?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“On one hoof, Cocoon has to remain here to start leading the changelings into a better future. Convincing the changelings who weren’t present in the throne room to share love. Repairing the hive. Creating treaties. Working on establishing diplomatic relationships with the other kingdoms. All that stuff you do when you rule a kingdom.”

Cocoon winced. That was more or less what she expected when she decided to overthrow Chrysalis, but it still promised a lot of work and she had no idea what to do. Chrysalis never taught her how to rule a kingdom, only how to lead an army, and only partially before Cocoon escaped. Also…

“On the other hoof, knowing Cocoon, she certainly wants to return to Ponyville to be with her friends. These three are inseparable.”

Cocoon looked down in sadness. That was true. If she remained here to rule the Changeling Kingdom, then she wouldn't be able to return to Ponyville to continue crusading and having fun with her friends. And she also couldn’t be with Rainbow Dash anymore.

“But!” Sweetie Void shouted. “There is a solution! Cocoon is still a child, so she has the ability to name a regent to rule the changelings in her place. And I know exactly who she could name.”

Suddenly, the alicorn’s leg stretched toward one of the changelings, wrapping him and bringing him to her side.

The changeling was obviously taken by surprise. “W-what?”

Cocoon recognized him. “Thorax?”

Sweetie Void nodded. “Thorax. In other universes, when the changelings reform, he is the one who becomes their new leader. He can perfectly take on the role of regent.”

“What? N-no! I can’t…!” Thorax began in panic.

“Yes you can. Like I just said, in other universes, you are the one who becomes the new ruler of the changelings. King Thorax is known to be very gentle, always wanting the best for his people. He manages to unify the changelings, even the ones who wanted to keep Chrysalis’ ways. He becomes one of the closest allies of Equestria, a figurehead of Friendship and Harmony. Under him, the changelings thrive. You are that Thorax. Trust in yourself.”

Cocoon approached them, gently smiling at her brother. “Thorax has always been the gentlest changeling to talk to. I could tell that he didn’t like mother’s ways, like me. I can totally believe what you say, Sweetie Void.”

Sweetie Void nodded. “Talk together, and I’m sure that you will both be convinced. Meanwhile…” She extended her hoof, and two disk-like devices appeared on it. “Teleporters. Place one of these disks somewhere in the hive, place the other in Ponyville, then all you have to do is walk toward the teleporter while thinking of your destination to be teleported. No need for a unicorn, and distance is not a problem. This way, you will be able to go back and forth between the hive and Ponyville to do queen stuff and then play with your friends.”

The alicorn suddenly found herself hugged by Cocoon, followed by Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, the three of them thanking her. Meanwhile, Twilight stared at the disks in awe, now wanting to study them.

After that, Cocoon talked to Thorax, convincing him to become her regent. She then gathered all the changelings (admittedly, most of the still black ones had been just outside the Throne Room, hesitating to see what happened when they saw their now colored brethren and words spread that Chrysalis was gone) to give them a speech about what happened and what she intended to do now that she was queen, naming Thorax her regent, saying that the ponies were now their friends, and so on. Many of the still black changelings were convinced to give love a try, transforming. Others, however, rebelled and chose to keep their way.

Cocoon decided to remain a day to be with her changelings and plan with Thorax, so the ponies departed without her. Cocoon gave Rainbow Dash the second disk, trusting her to find a nice spot for it. After some goodbyes, Sweetie Void then teleported the ponies to Ponyville, leaving Cocoon alone with her changelings.

Well, almost alone. Sweetie Void was still here.

“So, still envious of pony you?” she asked.

Cocoon giggled. “Not really, no.”

Sweetie Void nodded, then put a hoof on Cocoon. “I’m sure that you will be the best queen ever. And remember that you are not alone. Also, little info: drones can now procreate themselves, so prepare to have lots of nieces and nephews.”

Cocoon’s eyes widened. “Really? So I won’t have to…?”

Sweetie Void giggled. “Nope. No need to make thousands of children by yourself.”

Cocoon breathed in relief.

Sweetie Void then gave Cocoon a gentle look. “And I’m sure that you will see your mother again sooner or later. Give her time to understand that she has a place in your hive.”

Cocoon nodded.

“Well, time for me to go,” Sweetie Void then said. “Expect me to visit you one day, maybe with my own friends.”

“Thank you for everything you did, Sweetie Void.”

“It was only normal to help a friend.”

At that, the two hugged for a moment before Sweetie Void broke the hug and walked away. She opened a rift, said, “See you soon!” and then jumped through, the rift closing.

Months later.

Cocoon blew the twelve candles on the cake.

It was actually the second time she did that today. The first time, it was during a national party in the hive, with all the changelings participating, giving good wishes and gifts to their young queen.

Now, it was a much smaller-but still rather big-party in Sugarcube Corner, with her close friends in attendance, without forgetting half the town being present.

A lot happened in Equestria since Cocoon became the queen. The Crystal Empire returned. Twilight became an alicorn. The Plunder Vines rampaged not long after. Then Tirek’s rampage and Twilight getting a castle, then getting a pupil. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle even got their Cutie Marks!

The Changeling Kingdom had been less chaotic. Under Cocoon and Thorax, the changelings turned the desolate lands around the hive into a piece of heaven. The hive itself now looked like it was made of crystals. The changelings learned all kinds of professions, developing an economy, discovering the arts, competitions, and so on. And they were never hungry anymore.

As Equestria’s allies, they helped fight Tirek. Cocoon personally fought alongside Twilight when the alicorn had been given the magic of Celestia, Luna, and Cadance. Against Tirek powered by the magic of most of Equestria, they almost won, until Tirek pulled a dirty trick that forced Twilight and Cocoon to give up their magic. Everything still ended well, and the bond between the ponies and the changelings became deeper after that. The two kingdoms were now trusted allies, ready to help each other.

Cocoon visited the alicorns regularly. At first, it was because she wanted to learn more about ruling a kingdom, but then, both Celestia and Luna answered, “We just wing it most of the time, doing what we think is right. There is nothing to learn. Just keep your economy in the green and your people happy, and everything will be alright.” After that, Cocoon visited them just because she became good friends with them, and they still gave some nice advice.

Now, at her birthday party, Cocoon couldn’t think of how she could become happier.

Then, Rainbow Dash, looking very meek, gave an envelope to her as a gift. “I worked with Thorax and the princesses on this one.”

Curious, Cocoon opened the envelope and took the paper inside, reading it. She gasped, then looked at Rainbow Dash, tears appearing in her eyes. “You… You really…?”

“If… If you want…”

The mare was suddenly hugged by the young crying Changeling Queen. “Yes! Yes! I want! T-thank you so much, m-m-MOM! Mom! I love you!”

Eyes wet, Rainbow Dash hugged back her new daughter. “I love you, squirt.”

Everypony around applauded.

Including a white unicorn mare with a green mane at the back of the crowd. If asked, Cocoon would say that she never saw her before.

If anypony paid attention to her, they would see that her Cutie Mark was a chrysalis.

Tale 11: Call of Cthulhu

Author's Note

Some swearing ahead. From a chapter that has "Cthulhu" in the title, I think that that's expected.

Tale 11: Call of Cthulhu

Dear Sweetie Belle, AKA Sweetie Void

You are invited to the Eldritch Party, in Azathoth’s Belly. If you accept, then press the eye of the pyramid that has been sent along with this invitation. It is advised that you don’t bring mortals with you.

Cthulhu

Sweetie Void stared at the letter, then at the small pyramid on her hoof. Then, she shrugged and pressed the eye.

The pyramid suddenly broke into pieces that floated to form a circle in the air, with a diameter of one meter, the eye at the center. The eye then glowed red and grew until filling the whole circle. The red glow disappeared, leaving a black hole with countless eyes within.

Sweetie Void looked at the portal for a moment, then shrugged again and jumped in, the hole closing behind her, the pyramid’s pieces breaking apart.

Sweetie Void fell for a while into a dimension of horrors, passing by countless grotesque monsters of various shapes and sizes, generally with too many limbs and/or eyes and/or mouths and/or other stuff. And lots of very sharp fangs.

Then, she dropped through another hole which looked to be inside a giant mouth, and she landed on flesh, beside some bone-like protrusion and an eye staring right at her. Looking around, she saw that the whole place, even the sky, seemed to be made of flesh with eyes, mouths, tentacles, bones, and other stuff everywhere, all of various sizes.

At the same time, she saw a being before her who towered over her by hundreds of meters despite being seated. She looked up, and up, and up, until she could see his octopus-like head.

“So… Cthulhu, I presume?” she asked.

The being chuckled. “Yes. I am Cthulhu, the host of this party. Welcome to Azathoth’s Belly, Sweetie Void. Yog-Sothoth, welcome her with your best drink. If she is like you said, she can handle it.”

“I know,” a voice answered him, at Sweetie’s left. When she looked, she saw a heavily-cloaked figure standing where nothing had been present before. Nothing could be seen from its humanoid-shaped body except its sharp-nailed hands, one of which was holding a glass with a liquid that was glowing black with little eyeballs floating in it. “Greetings, Sweetie Void, I’m Yog-Sothoth, but in this form, you can call me Umr At-Tawil, or Umr for short, or Yog, whichever you prefer. Here.” He extended his arm, showing the glass to Sweetie Void.

The filly grabbed it in her magic, eying the liquid inside with some suspicion. “Thanks. What is it?”

“It has a long name that would take one hour, thirty-seven minutes, twelve seconds to pronounce. To make it short, you can call it Blood of Azathoth. You can drink it. An entity of the void like you has nothing to fear from it.”

Sweetie Void stared at the drink a few more seconds, then shrugged and drank all of it in one go.

Immediately, she could feel herself melting from the inside, which wasn’t a problem as her body immediately reformed. Her mind also went blank for a moment before it recovered with a terrible migraine that lasted a couple of seconds. She shook her head, coughed an eyeball and some blood, then gave the glass back to Yog.

“Woah. Holy cow. Yeah, I know Gods that wouldn’t survive that. That drink is a universe-destroying weapon. My compliments. Oof…”

Yog took the glass which disappeared into nothingness.

“Thank you.”

Cthulhu then talked. “Yog-Sothoth has been observing you for a while now. When he told me that you managed to kill Crakkthulx, I was already impressed. Then, you go and kill Galeem and Dharkon themselves. I really wanted to meet you after that.”

Sweetie Void blushed. “I didn’t do all that alone.”

“But you did most of the work, and considering that you are still far from being matured, that’s already a very good achievement. Some of us even saw you fight Void while you were still a mortal. Words about you have been spreading ever since, and you gained a lot of respect and fear.”

Sweetie Void remembered the feeling of being watched while in the void. Uh, she may actually get to meet some of these beings today.

“Between that and your nature as an entity of the void itself, I decided to invite you. You have a place in this party. Everyone will finally sate their curiosity about you.

I have no doubt that many of the beings you will meet today are the kind you would normally want to beat up, but I have to ask you to avoid violence. We are here to unwind, not to fight. We may be Gods or demons or god-like entities or monsters, but eternity is still a very long time and we need to get away from daily life every now and then. If you want to fight them, then find their universe and have at it with them there.” He chuckled. “But I have no doubt that many will be on their best behavior around you.”

Sweetie Void giggled. “I will be on my best behavior too!”

Cthulhu nodded and got up. “Then let’s go. The others have already started.”

A mass of flesh, tentacles, and other stuff then came out of the ground, and Cthulhu opened part of it like a door, passing through it. Sweetie Void flew after him. At the other side, they found themselves at what was probably a different place of the same dimension, and the filly found herself surrounded by all manners of creatures, some of which looked normal while others looked very nightmarish. Some were closer to her size while others were hundreds of meters or even kilometers tall, dwarfing even Cthulhu. Very loud music that couldn’t be described was blasted.

Sweetie was immediately the center of attention.

Cthulhu pointed up at a giant mass of glowing orbs, eyes, and tentacles. “That’s Yog-Sothoth’s real body.” He pointed at a giant mass of mouths and tentacles from which many nightmarish creatures were constantly spawning and, sometimes, merging back. “And that’s his mate, Shub-Niggurath. They are my grandparents.” Then he began to show the creatures one after another. “Bill Cipher, Lich, Orgolth, The Monk, Khahrahk, Mazu-Palx, the Chaos Gods Khorne, Nurgle, Tzeentch, and Slaanesh, Gozer, Atlach-Nacha, Glklthrz, Kthanid, Hastur, Bopo, Chjmoplu, Slender Man…”

This continued for a while, and it was hard for Sweetie to remember all these names, not just because there were many, but also because many of them were very difficult to pronounce, or outright impossible to pronounce if you were a normal person.

Once he was done, Cthulhu pointed at tables full of food and drinks. Some of the tables were Sweetie’s size while others were more the size of Cthulhu. The food… couldn’t be described.

“Food is over there.” He pointed elsewhere, beside a stage where a group was playing the music with instruments that Sweetie Void now wanted to try. “The dance floor is over there.” Again, he pointed elsewhere, at a giant area with many games of all kinds, board games, console games, computer games, and classic party games. “The games are over there.” He then pointed to a last area with chairs. “And the rest area is over there. Have fun.”

Sweetie Void didn’t have to think long of what she wanted to do first. “Twister!”

She ran to the game area, seeing the game named “Eldritch Twister”.

The arrow pointed at “third bottom tentacle, brown” and Sweetie Void grew a tentacle from her belly, making it move toward a brown spot.

She giggled. “Easy peasy. How is it going, uh… Dretza?”

Above her, a giant creature made of limbs and tentacles shook, barely keeping her balance. “Shapeshifters are bullshit!”

The arrow moved, then pointed at “Seventh right foot, red.”

Dretza saw that, then slowly moved her seventh right leg from its place on a yellow spot toward the nearest red spot. However, she had to move around another leg, one of Sweetie’s legs, two arms, one of Sweetie’s arms, three tentacles, and two of Sweetie’s tentacles to reach it. The leg got itself tangled between an arm and a tentacle, and Dretza fell, almost on Sweetie Void who teleported just in time.

Dretza punched the play mat in frustration. “Damn it!”

Everybody around cheered. Sweetie Void, back to normal, jumped in joy. “Yay! I won!”

“Ahahah!” she suddenly heard, and she looked around, seeing a triangle with an eye, two arms, two legs, a top hat, and a bowtie, Bill Cipher. “This one was beginner level! Let’s see how you do against a real professional!” He then grew several limbs and tentacles all over his body.

Everyone around oohed.

“You’re on!” Sweetie Void replied.

Soon enough, the two were a tangled mess over the play mat, legs, arms, and tentacles going in all directions, looping around each other.

Then, with a chuckle, Bill Cipher extended his eye and used it to tickle Sweetie Void on the belly, making her laugh.

“Hey! Stop that! Not fair! Cheater!”

Some of the spectators booed, others cheered, encouraging it.

Sweetie Void moved her head toward the eye, then licked it.

“Ew! Eww! Ewww! Gross!” Bill shouted, retracting his eye and growing a hand to clean it.

“Aww, come on. Grown men would love to have little ponies licking them like cats.”

“They are weirdos! And you just got yourself a terrible enemy!”

Sweetie Void scoffed. “Oh, I am so scared!”

“You should be! Haven’t you seen the Death Battle where I trashed your draconequus friend?”

“Not bad. How long did it take you to defeat him?”

“A bit less than three minutes.”

“Oh! Very good! It took me three seconds to defeat him.”

“WHAT?!” Bill Cypher was so shocked that he lost focus and removed a hand from its place on a purple spot when he wasn’t supposed to. “Crap!” His limbs and tentacles disappeared, his body returning to normal as he glared at Sweetie Void under the cheers of the spectators. “How did you defeat him so fast?!”

Sweetie Void smiled smugly at him as she returned to normal. “I took away his magic.” She stuck out her tongue. “Simple as that. That’s one major weakness that almost everybody in my universe has.”

“Ah! I don’t have such a glaring weakness! Actually, I don’t have any weaknesses at all!”

Sweetie Void grinned. “That’s what everybody says before I come and pummel them to the next century.” Her eyes became empty. “I’m everybody’s weakness.”

Bill Cypher glared at her. “We will see that once I come to invade your world.”

Sweetie Void butted head against him. “I will prepare the welcoming party. We are good at that. I can’t wait to have fun with you.”

“Sweet! I like having fun! I live for fun!”

“Then you won’t be disappointed. It will be to die for.”

The two then just glared at each other for a few seconds before they shook hand and hoof. Sweetie Void then walked away, materializing her phone and beginning some research on it. “Let’s see… How does Bill Cypher die…?”

Sweetie Void eyed the food, then shrugged. “Eh. If I was able to drink that stuff Yog gave me, I can eat that.” She began to taste everything on the table. “Mmh… Not bad, not bad at all. Uh, this tastes like carrots. Oh! This cake is good! Maybe I should get the recipe. Yum, I don’t know what is in this soup, but it’s delicious.”

A booming voice coming from a neighboring table laughed. “Girl has an appetite!”

Sweetie Void looked at the giant armored figure and grinned. “I pretty much have a black hole for a stomach. Khorne, right?”

“You got that right! So, I wanted to ask you. I heard a lot of great stuff about you. You won every war you were part of. So, how about you come to my universe? There is one huge war over there, galaxy-wide, multiple factions, powers are constantly shifting. It’s like one huge party that lasts for millenia. You would be right at home. My followers would love to fight you, and your skull would be a great decoration for my throne.”

Sweetie Void thought for a bit. “Mmh… Maybe I will visit.”

“Don’t make me wait too much. Hey, try that stuff. You will love it.” Khorne gave Sweetie a giant purple… something.

The filly grabbed it in her magic. “Thanks.” She tasted it. “Mmm! You are right, it’s very good!”

Sweetie Void played Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. The other players were Cthulhu, Kthanid, Slender Man, a giant worm-like monster full of tentacles named Grou, a clown with a name impossible to write but the others affectionately named Pennywise, Lich, Tzeentch, Glklthrz, Vel’Koz, Marie Korbel, and even Void. They were playing online, but because there were only the twelve of them playing Mario Kart in this dimension, then it wasn’t a problem. They each had a different Switch and a different screen.

“Void? You are here too?” Sweetie Void asked.

“Yes. Sorry for being late, Kirby wanted me to read to him a story before bed.”

“Well, glad to have you here. Just so you know, I won’t go easy on you just because we are friends.”

“I don’t expect less.”

“I will not let you win this game, Cthulhu!” Kthanid shouted.

Cthulhu sighed. “For the thousandth time, get a fucking life, Kthanid.”

“GROOOAAAAAAAAARRRRR!!!!” Grou agreed.

“Too bad I can’t eat the souls of other guests, yours looks delicious,” Pennywise said to Marie.

“I would like to see you try to eat me,” Marie replied.

“I will bring your doom and win this game,” Lich said.

Sweetie Void selected Rosalina and chose the Blue Falcon, the Triforce Tires, and the Flower Glider.

The three tracks proposed were Donut Plain 3, Waluigi Stadium, and Animal Crossing. Sweetie chose random. She didn’t care which track they will play in, they were all fun.

She wasn’t the only one choosing random, and a random ended up being selected, the random selecting Choco Mountain.

Tzeentch snorted. “Easy map. Almost no shortcut. Boring.”

“Say that when you get crushed by a boulder dropping right on you,” Void said.

“The chances of that happening are low.”

At the starting line, Sweetie Void was eighth. She could see that Cthulhu took Bowser, Kthanid took Mario, Slender Man took Kamek, Grou took Peach, Pennywise took Bowser Jr., Lich took Dry Bowser, Tzeentch took Ludwig, Glklthrz took Link, Vel’Koz took the Inkling Girl, Marie took Dry Bones, and Void took Luigi.

“Good luck everyone,” Sweetie Void said as the countdown began.

“Thank you. Good luck to you too,” Marie replied.

The race began, and Sweetie got a perfect start, getting a boost. Sadly for her, most of the others also managed to get a boost, so it didn’t help her much, only climbing to fifth place by the time of the first turn. She couldn’t get any coins. Thankfully, she was able to get an item box just as it reappeared.

Vel’Koz was the one at the lead, followed by Void, Slender Man, and Pennywise. Vel only got a banana peel, but it allowed him to protect himself from a green shell thrown by Slender Man.

“Fool! You really thought you would get me with this toy?” Vel asked.

Slender Man remained silent. He wasn’t known for words.

But then, Void, who got a mushroom, took the lead.

“Void damn it!” Vel cursed.

Then, he was hit by a red shell thrown by Pennywise who cackled. “Got you!”

“You will pay for that!”

Sweetie Void, who got a Bob-omb, passed him, getting fourth place. She tried to get a good shot on both Pennywise and Slender Man who were before her as they approached the cave area of the track. She threw the bomb which landed right before Pennywise who could only scream “Shit!” before crashing into it, triggering its explosion which caught Slender Man. This allowed the filly to pass second.

“Yay!”

Meanwhile, Marie, who was last, got a star, allowing her to gain ground while sending Lich and Kthanid flying.

“Hey! I was about to get a good shot on Cthulhu!” the latter complained.

“You were in my way.”

Sweetie Void looked at Marie as she passed through a double item box, getting a banana peel and a mushroom. In the glider section that followed, she threw the banana peel at Void, only to miss him.

“Hey, Marie, right? Cthulhu told me this is your first time here too. You look like you are just as old as me. Judging by your appearance, are you some kind of Lord of the Dead?”

“Yes I am. Why?”

“I have a friend who is a Lord of the Dead too. If you want, I can send you to her once this party is over. As long as you aren’t the kind who kills innocents, you two should hit it off.”

“Uh… I don’t kill innocents anymore?” Marie hesitantly said.

“Good enough, I guess. So, you want to see her?”

“I guess. It would be nice to see someone else who manipulates the dead but isn’t evil.”

Sweetie Void was now side by side with Void, regularly getting first only to be passed by him. They were able to avoid the boulders. When they next passed the item boxes, Sweetie got a coin while Void got a green shell that the filly avoided.

Cthulhu, who managed to climb to third place, fired a red shell which hit Sweetie Void.

“Nothing personal, kid.”

“Oh come on!”

Sweetie Void was now sixth place, behind Glklthrz who was protected by three banana peels.

Tzeentch, who was tenth, got a spiny shell. Doing some calculations, he waited for the right moment to use it. Once he saw Void in the right position, he threw it.

Void, very closely followed by Cthulhu and Grou, began gliding, only to be warned that the spiny shell was coming. He panicked.

“Nonononononono!”

The shell struck him, the explosion catching Cthulhu and Grou. The three fell into the pit as a result.

Void simply groaned. Cthulhu punched the ground hard. Grou roared.

Marie got the lead as a result. At the next item box, she got a banana peel.

“Don’t drop it,” Sweetie Void advised. “Keep it behind you. It can protect you from a shell.”

“Thank you.”

Sweetie Void, who managed to climb to third place, suddenly found herself bowled over by Lich using a Bullet Bill in the section with the boulders, just before he returned to normal.

“Move,” he commanded.

“Darn!”

And not helping at all, Glklthrz got a Blooper, getting ink on everybody’s screens, partially blinding them.

“This trick won’t work!” Vel shouted, only to slip on a banana peel he couldn’t see because of the ink. “Gnarkrkraah!!!”

“Hey-hey! We-we sai-said no-not the-the mo-moms!” Glklthrz whined.

“Vel’Koz, calm down,” Cthulhu warned before he was hit by a red shell.

“Got you!” Kthanid exclaimed.

“Azathoth damn it, Kthanid! Get yourself another target for once in your fucking life!”

“Never!”

As Lich, who was now first, started the third lap, Tzeentch was slowly gaining ground and was behind Sweetie Void, respectively fifth and fourth place. The filly tried to remain before him, but then, when she hit the first item box of the third lap, she only got a red shell that she hesitated to use, especially when she saw that he got three green shells.

Tzeentch fired a first shell at the left wall. The shell bounced and hit Sweetie Void from the left.

“Ok, good shot,” she congratulated.

Next was Slender Man who was also hit by a green shell. Then Marie who was also hit. Thanks to that, Tzeentch reached second place, behind Lich.

After the glider section, a spiny shell hit Lich, allowing Tzeentch to reach the lead.

“Curse!” Lich shouted.

“GROUAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Now, he just had to get a banana and he should be good. The chance of another spiny shell appearing in the same lap was low.

Suddenly, a boulder dropped right on him.

His eye twitched.

Void burst into laughter.

Now, Pennywise was in the lead, Kthanid behind him. Penny got a coin at the next item box, to his frustration, while Kthanid got a mushroom, allowing him to get the lead.

Behind, in ninth place, Sweetie Void got a golden mushroom.

“Jackpot!”

Thanks to it, she rapidly gained ground, passing the others one by one. She had to avoid Slender Man’s fire flower, which wasn’t easy, but she managed to reach fourth place, just behind Marie. She couldn’t pass her in time before passing the finish line.

Behind, Tzeentch was hit by a piranha plant from Void, then rammed by Grou using a star.

He screeched.

Kthanid ended up first, followed by Pennywise, then by Marie, then by Sweetie. Behind the filly were Glklthrz, Slender Man, Void, Cthulhu, Lich, Grou, Vel, and Tzeentch.

“Fourth place, not bad,” Sweetie Void said. “Good game, everyone. Bad luck, Tzeentch.”

“So much for your plotting,” Vel mocked.

“Don’t be so smug! You are just after me!”

“At least, I’m not last.”

Tzeentch glared at Vel’Koz, then dropped his controller and walked away.

Vel scoffed. “Sore loser.”

…

“Well, I’m ready for another race. Who wants to continue?” Sweetie Void asked.

“I will show to all of you how great I am!” Gozer suddenly said as she approached.

“Aren’t you the one who lost to a bunch of children and old men?” Vel asked.

“Shut up!”

Sweetie Void was dancing to the eldritch music played by the band. It was very… chaotic, to say the least. Her still mostly mortal mind could barely understand what it was hearing, but it was still fun. More than once, she was almost stepped on by one of the giants, but she was able to dodge around their feet or whatever other appendage they used to stand and dance.

Every once in a while, she danced with Marie, with whom she became good friends.

Then the band stopped, and entities were invited to come to play on the stage. One by one, Gods and demons climbed on the stage to sing or play an instrument, or both, showing different styles from different universes.

Sweetie Void decided that it was her turn, so she flew on the stage and turned herself giant before she duplicated herself and materialized several instruments.

Taking the mike, she said, “The song I’m about to play was the light in our darkest moment, when everything seemed lost. Now, it is the hymn of my organization, reminding us of what we lost and everything we fought for. This is… our Lifelight.”

She then took a big breath before her doubles began to play.

Then, she closed her eyes and she sang.

“Colors weave into a spire of flame
Distant sparks call to a past still unnamed
Bear this torch against the cold of the night
Search your soul and reawaken the undying liiiiiiiiiiiight!”

She sang, with all her soul, a double joining her for the chorus. As she sang, she reminisced about everything that happened to her since that fateful day she crashed into Dedede’s cake. All the friends she made. All the friends she lost. The terrible battles she went through.

Her smile.

Her light.

As she and her double sang together the last part of the song, she was crying.

Then the song ended, and as her doubles played the last notes, she opened her eyes, staring into the sky.

When the last notes were played, she took another big breath and said, “The Omniverse is terrible. Suffering is everywhere, and we have to constantly struggle for everything. But… It’s beautiful, and I’m happy to be part of it, alongside all of you, good and bad.”

Silence followed.

Then, Void applauded, then Marie, then Cthulhu, and before long, many of the partygoers were applauding.

Sweetie Void smiled. “Thank you.”

Sweetie Void was sitting in the rest area, looking at the party going on around her.

“I don’t envy you,” Cthulhu, who was sitting not far, then said to her. “While you won the fight for your friends, you still have the fight for your life to do, and no matter the outcome, it isn’t very good for you. Either you end up devoured, or you become a Devourer yourself and suffer eternal maddening hunger. Both are fates worse than death. I don’t know how you manage to still smile despite that.”

Sweetie Void shrugged. “I’m trying to remain positive. The song I sang isn’t just my organisation’s hymn. It’s my hymn. I try to follow its message and to always see the light, no matter how bleak it may be.”

“What light is there?”

“That if I win and become a Devourer, then I will be able to continue to be with the people I love despite the hunger. I’m sure it won’t be easy, but I will fight for it, like always. And even if I lose and become part of DD, then I will at least have all the nice memories I’m making for myself as I explore universes to keep me company. Thank you by the way. I’m making a lot of nice memories thanks to your party.”

“..........You are strong.”

“Thanks.”

“Yog.”

The next instant, a glass of Blood of Azathoth appeared on the table beside Sweetie Void. The filly immediately took it and downed it in one go.

“You will always be welcome at this party, even if you become a Devourer.”

“Glad to hear, but I won’t be able to play games anymore. I would win all the time with my omnipotence and omniscience. It wouldn’t be fair to the others. Too bad, I love games.”

Cthulhu chuckled. “At least, you will have Yog to talk to. I can’t even begin to imagine what kind of conversations you two will have if the time comes.”

“Not eldritch enough to comprehend THAT, uh?”

“You got that right.”

Sweetie Void giggled. After a moment of silence, she then said, “Say, I know that you said that violence is banned here, but… can I punch you?”

That caught Cthulhu totally off guard. "What?"

“I mean, there is this trope about punching you, which is actually about when mortals manage to beat a God or some cosmic entity. And me, I wanna say “Yeah, right, I literally punched Cthulhu, deal with it.” So… Please?”

Cthulhu stared at Sweetie Void for several seconds, then burst into laughter. “If you want to punch me, then come to my universe and we will settle this!”

“You’re on!”

Eventually, the party began to end, Yog sending entities back to their universes when they asked for it if they couldn’t return by themselves. It was hard to say how long the party lasted. There was no indicator of time in this place. Sweetie Void was with Void and Marie, ready to go and to bring her new friend to meet the others.

“And remember, expect my visit sometime soon, once I convince someone to make a deal,” Bill Cypher said.

“I’ll be waiting for it, Bill,” Sweetie Void said.

“And I’m waiting for your visit, remember!” Khorne said.

“Of course!”

“It was great to have you with us, Sweetie Void. Expect an invitation for the next party,” Cthulhu said.

“I can’t wait to get it. Maybe I will be able to bring some of my friends by then. Well then, goodbye everyone!”

With some last goodbyes, Sweetie Void opened a rift, and the three jumped through it.