A Mercenary's Ending

Gregory stood on the balcony of the room he had been given by the Empress while looking out at the city of Crystalia below. He was wearing his mask not only to hide his identity again but to use its advanced eyesight to look over the city with more clarity than his natural eyesight would be. He watched the crystal ponies as they went about their daily lives, although he did see a few ponies that seemed to be talking about the arrival of the large eagles who had set up a temporary roost on the outskirts of the city where they could rest. It had been almost half a day since they had arrived in the Crystal Empire’s capital, and Gregory had been given access to a bath and some good food. He hadn’t been terribly mistreated by Majesty aside from being held against his will, but it felt good to eat and bathe in a free environment, especially in an environment where he could actually see the sun ad sky.

They don’t know they’re close to danger, Gregory thought as he heard the door to his room open. Turning, he saw Chrysalis, Thorax, Dengal, Sunset, and Tobias all standing there. All three of them looked much better after food and bathing as well, especially the latter two who had been scouring the icy north looking for him without any access to a bath or shower. That had been the first thing Gregory teased Tobias about when they were settled. It felt good to tease him after their time apart.

“Take that ridiculous thing off,” Tobias said with a knowing grin.

Gregory smirked, then reached up and pulled the mask off, revealing his face. Immediately, Tobias walked towards him and flung his arms around his human friend. Gregory returned the hug, unable to stop smiling. “At least you got the stink off,” he said, unable to keep from teasing his friend.

This earned him a playful shove and a grin from the abyssinian as the two broke the hug. However, he was enveloped in another hug, this one from Dengal, who held him close. Gregory felt her melt into the embrace as he returned the favor. “We’re out,” he said with a smile, “and we’ll be going home soon.”

“That’s actually what we came here to talk about,” Tobias said.

Gregory looked up at his friend and saw that his smile was now fading. Dengal wasn’t letting go, so Gregory held her close as he asked, “What do you mean?”

“He means that the Badlands aren’t the same as they were before,” Chrysalis explained.

“Right…and is that a problem?” Gregory asked, a bit confused.

“It’s been…you would call it terraformed?” Tobias asked to clarify.

“Yeah, that seems about right,” he said as he walked over to his bed and sat down. Dengal sat close to him, only half letting go as she leaned against him while he ran his hand through her raven black hair absent-mindedly. “At least now we won’t be tracking sand into the house.”

“Gregory, you don’t understand,” Tobias said. “Majesty did that with her magic. All of it. The terraforming, punishing the creatures there that she saw as evil, all that stuff. Her reach is continent-wide.”

Gregory felt realization pass over him and he nodded. “You’re saying we should just leave this continent and find somewhere else to live?” he asked. “Like when you mentioned moving to Panthera?”

“Exactly!” Tobias exclaimed with a vigorous nod. “She might be able to see us there, but we wouldn’t be in any danger, at least not that I can see.”

“He means that Majesty wouldn’t have any sort of care for the abyssinians,” Dengal said softly into Gregory’s ear.

“She’d just ignore Panthera and the kingdom there?” Gregory asked.

“Precisely,” Tobias said.

Gregory thought on this. In a way, it made sense. He had grown tired of living not just in a desert, but in a place where he had to hide his face behind the mask currently in his lap. He looked down at the mask, lifting it up and staring at it with a contemplative look. He liked the mask for what it could offer him in terms of what he did for his mercenary work. He’d still use it, but not having to need to wear it all the time when in public would be nice. He lowered it and looked at Tobias. “You think that the abyssinians would welcome me? I’m not exactly one of them.”

“Pff, the abyssinians are a lot more welcoming than us ponies,” Sunset said with a snort. “I visited a few of their libraries a few years ago and the abyssinians there were welcoming enough. Some were a bit gruff, but they didn’t strike me with lightning, buck me in the chest, or chase me out of town to live in a cave.”

Chrysalis shook her head. “It doesn’t surprise me that ponies would do such a thing. My mother tried to negotiate with ponies for a place to live but was rejected and cast out rather harshly.”

“That’s why you attacked Cadance’s and Shining Armor’s wedding?” Gregory asked.

Chrysalis’ eyes widened. “How did you know that?”

“Secret for now,” Gregory quickly said. Chrysalis didn’t seem to like that, but she wisely kept her mouth shut on the matter. “Did you have something you needed to talk to me about?” Gregory asked.

Chrysalis pursed her lips and suddenly looked nervous, something that Gregory didn’t expect from the changeling queen. She didn’t speak for a few moments, then she let out a quick, “I want to bring the changelings there.”

Gregory’s surprised seemed to be dwarfed only by Tobias’ own shock. He was the one who spoke first. “Sunset is right that we are a bit more welcoming in our own way to outsiders, but there is a limit.”

“I had days in that painting to think about things,” Chrysalis explained, “and I also had time to remember what my mother wanted. Metamorpha, the former queen of our hive and my mother, was always more diplomatically inclined than I was, than I am,” she corrected. “The old hive we had in the Badlands was destroyed by Majesty, but the changelings are still alive. I can hear them now. They want a place to call their own.” She turned to Tobias. “There has to be land where we can set up a hive.”

“I’m not the king,” Tobias argued, “so I can’t just say you can do anything on Panthera.”

“I am not going back into that painting again,” Chrysalis said with a tremor of fear in her voice. “The feeling of fear never left me. It was agony!”

“Maybe you’ll know how your former victims feel now,” Sunset snarked.

“Enough,” Gregory said to Sunset before turning back to Chrysalis. “You realize we can’t promise you anything. You’ll probably have to make your case before someone pretty high up in their government.”

“My changelings are more important to me than my life,” Chrysalis said, “and I would do anything for them.”

“Tell that to the ones who were injured or killed in your invasion of Canterlot,” Sunset snarked.

Chrysalis looked angry at this, but simply blow out a breath. “Fine, you have a point. I acted poorly then and was only seeking revenge against the ponies who rejected us so long ago. Like I said, I had time to think when I was stuck in that painting. I know why Majesty put me in there, and I want to be as far away from her as I can and to also show that I’m not a threat.”

“Why would that matter?” Gregory asked.

“I’ve been in contact with my drones, and one of them was near a place known as Dodge City,” Chrysalis said. “He told me that a few of the ponies who were transformed into monsters have become humans after they…I guess the term would be repented? Understood their actions? Something like that. My changeling told me the new humans are all feeling a sense of regret at something they did in the past.”

“Does that mean this Majesty believes in redemption?” Thorax, who had been quiet the entire time, asked.

“Her M.O. seems to indicate she believes what she’s doing is for the betterment of ponies,” Gregory said. “She didn’t punish the ponies in Maretime Bay who either didn’t have a hand in Jason’s suicide or who were too young.”

There was a knock at the door. Instinctively, Gregory pulled his mask towards his face, but Dengal grabbed his wrist. He looked down at the beautiful goblin woman, who shook her head. “Not this time,” she whispered. “You’re safe here, I’m sure of that.”

Gregory hesitated, looking back at his mask, then slowly lowered it. “What is it?” he called out.

“Empress Cadance requests the presence of you and your companions, sir,” a voice said from behind the door. “The Equestrian convoy is here.”

Spike walked down the halls of his new home towards the meeting room. In his arms he carried a number of ancient scrolls that he and a number of crystal pony historians had dug up related to Majesty and/or ancient pony history. As he walked, he felt the all too familiar rising of anxiety coming to him, the same type he felt whenever he thought about Twilight and her former friends. If his mom was right and he hadn’t been here when they’d visited within the past week, then this would be the true first time that he had seen them. Still, the memory of having seen them lay fresh in his mind.

Then again, he reasoned, the last time they had been here, he hadn’t been this nervous. Was that because of whatever magic had affected him, he wondered. Whatever memories had been planted in him certainly felt like his. Whoever had replaced him had acted remarkably like him, albeit with some kind of regal air about them, something Spike never really had.

Spike felt a gentle wing pressing against his leg as he walked. Looking down, he saw his sister Flurry looking up at him with concern in her moderate teal eyes. He paused in the hallway and smiled at her. “I’ll be alright,” he said. When Flurry had somehow learned about Spike’s apparent abduction and temporary replacement, she had hardly left his side. He would sometimes find her curled in his lap while he and the crystal pony researchers were in the archives, sleeping or reading some of his old comics, something he had gotten her interested in when she was old enough to read.

“Are you sure?” Flurry asked. “You don’t need to go there, do you? You can just drop off those papers and then we can go play.”

Spike smiled warmly. She may have been young, but she showed signs of being one of the nicer ponies. She still didn’t have a cutie mark, of course, but she didn’t care as much as the CMC.

Just the thought of those three fillies brought up the image of Sweetie Belle in his mind. He wondered what she was up to nowadays. He thought about asking Rarity about it, but decided against it.

Spike returned to the present as he looked down at his sister. “I’m the prince, Flur,” he said, “so I need to be there to explain what we’ve found. It’s my duty.”

“But why not send one of those old ponies instead?” Flurry asked. “Do you really need to do it?”

Spike paused, then lowered down to look at Flurry eye to eye. “You like playing chess, right?” he asked.

Flurry looked confused, but nodded. “Yeah.” She smiled a bit. “I like beating daddy.”

Spike snorted. Flurry was actually a chess prodigy and Shining never held back against her lately. She would always win. “There’s something I’ve learned when it comes to being a prince. If the king doesn’t lead, who will follow? If I just let others step forward for me, that makes me a bad leader.”

Flurry’s eyes widened a bit at that, and she seemed to take those words to heart as Spike stood back up. Spreading her large wings, she flew up beside him. “I’m coming with you,” she said resolutely.

Spike almost wanted to argue, but he knew she had caught him in his own words. Chess prodigy indeed, he thought. “That’s fine with me,” he said as he resumed his walk.

The two entered the meeting room a few minutes later to find their parents already sitting down at the head of the table. Near them sat the guests who had appeared from the north. Spike had never seen a human being up close before, but looking at the being dressed all in black named Gregory Graystone, he wondered just what in the world Twilight and the others had feared about him. He didn’t know why Jason Wright had been rejected simply because of his species. Then he remembered Zecora, and part of it made sense.

The two changelings at the table were more of a cause for worry for him, but he noted that there were two guards standing near the insect-like equines. He also saw an abyssinian sitting on one side of their human guest, but on the other side sat a green-skinned female who had features that resembled humans. Instantly he knew that the female was a goblin, but unlike any goblin description he had read about before.

His mom was the first to speak as Spike walked in. “Hello, son,” she greeted him, then turned to Flurry. “Daughter, dear,” she added with an equally warm smile.

“Are you planning on staying, Flurry?” his dad asked.

“I wanna stay,” Flurry affirmed. She looked around the room. “Where are they?” She said that last sentence with a hint of anger and frustration in her tone.

Their mom put a wing around Flurry. “Easy there, sweetie,” she said, “they’re here. They’re being shown the way here.”

Spike took a seat in the chair next to his father, who was looking at the young dragon with a warm smile. “Quite a haul you got there,” he teased.

Spike rolled his eyes. It was, in fact, not a big haul. He only had two ancient books and three scrolls, which he was currently organizing. “It’s all we could find on Majesty and her associates,” Spike said, “and that includes an ancient dragon companion of hers.”

“A dragon?” The goblin female sat up, and to Spike’s surprise, she had a voice he hadn’t expected from a goblin. Feminine. Beautiful. “Was this dragon described as having pink and grayish scales, dark green talons and spines, and purple eyes?”

Spike’s eyes shot open wide. “Um…yes, but how did you know?” he asked.

The goblin was about to reply when his mom spoke up. “We can talk about that later,” she said. “I can hear the others coming.”

A few seconds later, the doors opened and Spike laid his eyes on the ponies he once thought of as friends and, in the case of a purple alicorn, family. What he didn’t expect to see were Twilight’s and his dad’s parents along with the others, which included Twilight, her former friends, and both Equestrian princesses. The mood in the room shifted to a tense one. The six former Elements of Harmony all looked around, then locked eyes on the human in the room. Twilight’s eyes bulged out of their sockets the most, it seemed. Spike glanced at the human to see what it was she may have been staring at since only the human’s head was visible. It was possibly some slight scarring on the face, he realized.

Gregory, however, seemed to find the stares a bit uncomfortable. He turned to stare at them. “See something you dislike?” he asked with a glare.

That made the ponies all look away, various looks of shame on their faces. His mom, however, spoke up. “Mr. Graystone, I know you may know the history of…your predecessor,” she said, “but please do not antagonize my fellow guests while in my halls. When we’re finished here, I have already promised to have you escorted back to your home.”

“Apologies,” the human said as he turned away from the ponies.

Celestia spoke next after a few brief moments of tense and awkward silence. “Empress Cadance, it is nice to see you again,” the ancient alicorn said.

“Greetings to you as well, Princess Celestia.” His mom greeted Celestia with a cool and professional manner.

Spike could see the hurt that briefly washed over the alabaster princess of the sun before continuing. “Thank you for meeting with us on such short notice.”

“It would appear that Equestria has awakened a sleeping giant,” his mom replied, “and this ancient alicorn may very well be a threat to my empire. I had little choice in the matter. Please sit, and I will bring in some refreshments before we begin.”

The ponies all sat down and began to organize themselves, Spike noting that Twilight didn’t sit anywhere near Celestia. He noted that the memory he had of the six seemed accurate, so he focused on two other ponies he once considered family. Night Light and Twilight Velvet looked much older than when he’d last seen them. Velvet’s eyes were red, either from crying or from not enough sleep he couldn’t tell. She was thinner, too, and there were a few more wrinkles on her than he remembered.

Night Light had some new gray in his mane and tail, and there were a few more wrinkles on his face. He wasn’t old by any means, but whatever had happened to him over the past two years had obviously taken its toll on him.

Celestia and Luna remained physically unchanged, but Spike had been taking classes on pony body language from his mom and some of the teachers in the palace. They hid it remarkably well, but Spike had a better knack for reading emotions than most ponies now. Both alicorns were tired. Maybe not so much physically as mentally. It showed in their eyes. Things on their homefront must have been harder than normal.

When everyone was seated and ready to begin, Spike watched his mom-no, Empress Cadance-straighten and look over the miscellaneous gathered creatures around the table. “Thank you all for coming,” she said in a tone that reminded Spike a bit of Celestia, but with more authority behind the tone. This was the tone of an empress. “I won’t be long, but we all face a crisis. An unknown threat from the ancient past has arisen and we here may have the information needed to neutralize said threat.” She scanned the table again. “I see that you have the most here, Princess Celestia. I have also heard a little bit from the mercenary group and…the changelings.” She said that part with some disgust, but seemed to shake it off. “We here possibly have the least amount to share. We will begin sharing first.”

“Understood and accepted,” Celestia said with a nod.

Cadance nodded, then turned to Spike. Her regal persona briefly faltered and she nodded at him, a small smile on her face. “Prince Spike, please begin.”

Spike nodded and opened the books and scrolls. “As you know,” he began, “the crystal ponies formed the Crystal Empire over two thousand years ago. Their land stretched farther than it is today, going as far as the Winterwall. They were united long before Equestria was formed. According to what I found here in these documents, sometime after the founding of the Empire, the crystal ponies accepted some refugees of each race from some sort of terrible war. We couldn’t find out the details of this war, only what an aging pegasus told those they met.”

Spike picked up the first bit of information, an ancient scroll that contained writing from an even older tablet. “I quote: ‘Thus is came to pass in the thirty fifth year of Emperor Jade’s rule that unto us came three tribes of ponykin foreign to us from across the waters, and among them one of their great and aging warriors named was Firefly, a pegasus of great renown and skill. She described an ancient and fierce war that her kind were embroiled in, them and their allies, races also unknown to us. They were named the humans, the elves, the gnomes, the grundles, and the bushwoolies. This alliance stood tall against an enemy more deadly than any known to Erda. Demons from Tartarus had spewed forth from a dark and cursed gate. These five races stood not only beside the ponies in defense of their homes and their citizens, but protected them in the waning days of the war, even unto their own demise, saving the ponies. Unfortunately, the ancient land of the ponies was long destroyed, but a remnant of three pony tribes survived and were cast out from their homeland. In the retreat, the pony’s unicorn queen was taken by the demons, as was this aging warrior and several other ponies. The demons, unable to capture more of the fleeing ponies, were ruthless to those that they captured as they swarmed over the former lands of the alliance. This led to the demon leaders tormenting the ponies captured in many vile ways until only the queen and Firefly were left. One night, their queen forced the bars of their prison open and bade Firefly to escape and head west after the remnant. Firefly did so, but sometime later she saw a number of falling stars strike the demon's land along with a brilliant red flash on the eastern horizon. Firefly searched in vain for her queen, but the unicorn was never seen again. Firefly also saw that the lands that had once been verdant and beautiful were now scorched and dead, with the demons she saw having been wiped out. She fled after a long search, eventually finding her own tribes and living there for a time before leaving after she saw what they were becoming.’”

When Spike was finished, a silence overwhelmed the crowd. Even the human Gregory had a stunned and shocked look on his face. To his further confusion, though, Celestia had a look of both shock and understanding. “She…she lost control like I did…” Celestia muttered.

That caught the attention of Cadance, who locked eyes with the older alicorn. “How so?” she asked, “and don’t say it’s not relevant because it may well be.”

So, Celestia revealed to the group what had happened to the Badlands before Luna was banished to the moon. She described how she had lost control and allowed her anger to destroy a large rogue group of diamond dogs who had invaded the once beautiful land that would become the Badlands. She described what she had done to those diamond dogs, then went silent to allow everyone to digest this bit of news. If the unicorn queen, presumably Majesty before her ascension, was capable of what the scroll’s contents said, then in her alicorn state, she was even more of a threat. Presumably, Spike mused, she could take action directly, but instead she was taking some other sort of action.

“What…what else have you found, Spike?” Even Cadance seemed to be having trouble keeping her composure after hearing this.

“That was the biggest piece of news we found so far,” Spike said as he opened the books and the other scroll. “There are several independent accounts from ponies of this same era that describe a bright orange glow in the east that lasted for a few days. There is a brief mention of a dark cloud which produced red rain. There were also a few accounts of a harsh few years where summers were milder than normal and many crops failed. Some summers never even came.”

“A miniature ice age…” Twilight said. When everyone turned to her, the purple alicorn cleared her throat. “There have been incidents in Erda’s past where a geological incident like the eruption of a volcano sends up enough debris into the atmosphere to cause the sun’s light to be reflected back into space. The less sunlight the surface receives, the colder it gets. The most recent miniature ice age was…actually around a couple thousand years ago according to modern research into Equestria’s geological past, long before ponies found and colonized it.”

“Only instead of the eruption of a volcano, this nuclear winter was caused by something akin to a meteorite impact,” Gregory spoke softly. “An artificially induced one, no less.”

Nobody spoke for a good couple of minutes as they digested this. Spike wasn’t as smart as Twilight, but he had heard her rambling on once or twice about ancient volcanoes that could erupt and cause weather changes. He had truthfully tuned her out during those rants, but he had retained bits and pieces. Finally, the abyssinian spoke. “Prince Spike, you said you found something about a dragon companion?”

Spike nodded and turned the pages in one of the older books. “Where did I see…aha! Here it is. This entry here describes something else that some of the pony refugees relayed to the crystal ponies. Apparently, one of the refugees who fled alongside the ponies was a young dragon who had yet to molt. He was described as having dark green spines, bright pink scales, and purple eyes. He had been close to their old queen and her family, but was forced to flee despite wanting to fight. The ponies once treated him well, but according to these records, they began to mistreat him. It got so bad that he eventually left to go to the ancient Dragon Lands with a couple of ponies escorting him.”

“Spyke,” the goblin Dengal said.

Thinking she was talking to him, he turned to her. “Yes?”

“No, this dragon sounds like Spyke,” Dengal said. “He’s an ancient dragon who lives down in those caves with Majesty and the others. Your names might be similar, but he spells his name with a Y instead of an I.”

“What others are you talking about?” Celestia asked.

“Before we get to that,” Cadance said, “let’s let my son finish his reports.”

“Thank you, mom, but that’s all the others and I have found so far,” Spike said.

“Thank you,” Cadance said with a motherly smile before it faded and she turned to the others. “Who wishes to go next?”

To Spike’s surprise, Twilight Velvet spoke up. She stood, then lifted a small stone from her bag, setting it down on the table. “We’ve just found an ancient recording from a pony princess who very well may have started the unicorn line of royalty,” she said. “There’s an old tablet in Canterlot’s Restricted Archives with a magically imprinted message buried within the crystal matrices.” Upon the blank looks she received from a few of the creatures around the table, she swallowed. “Maybe it’s better if we show you.”

She raised her horn, which lit up. The small stone also lit up, and a transparent image of a unicorn appeared. “If you are seeing this, then I have failed in my mission to keep the past from repeating itself.”

The entire room watched the message. Spike was stunned at the history that was being unveiled before their eyes. The unicorn on the screen looked old, perhaps not as old as Granny Smith since this unicorn still had some of her youthful beauty left, but the eyes were of ones devoid of hope, eyes that showed exhaustion.

When the message ended, Queen Twilight’s image was replaced with a rotating floating image of a tall obelisk made of black stone. It had a message on it which read I, Queen Twilight, hereby list the names of all ponies who fought to defend not only their fellow pony, but their fellow equal creatures. The list of names was immense and was written in a language nobody there could read. Twilight Velvet spoke up after a while, gesturing to the rotating floating image. “The remnants of this rock were found in the archives. According to the notes taken, this obelisk was put in a low valley which is now part of the eastern ocean.”

“Why is this relevant?” the orange pony named Sunset Shimmer asked with a slightly bored look on her face.

“Because…I believe that my ancestor may have been this Queen Twilight,” Twilight Velvet said. Silence reigned at this revelation.

Twilight Sparkle looked at her mother, who was leaning tiredly against the still silent Night Light. “Shining and I…are descended from a queen?” she asked.

“Queen of the unicorn race during our race’s darkest era,” Velvet said softly. “It’s possible that Princess Platinum is in Queen Twilight’s line.”

“That message did say that Queen Twilight had three children,” Celestia agreed. “We only have records of one royal line from that time, but the archives are still being scoured for more information. That line currently is culminated with Prince Blueblood.”

Spike felt a shudder running through him. Twilight could be distantly related to that creep?! “How does this help us?” he heard himself asking.

“Majesty might not know about the bloodline,” Celestia said, “and since she clearly has more control over her immense magic than me and my sister, an all-out attack against her would be foolish.”

“You’re only figuring this out now?” Sunset asked. “Sheesh, Sunbutt, you created the damned Badlands! You’d think you’d be practicing to better control and expand your magic.”

“Enough, Sunset,” Gregory said, giving her a small glare, causing the flame-colored unicorn to clamp her jaw shut and lean back in her chair. The human then turned to Celestia. “She does have a point, though. Why have you not been honing your skills?”

Celestia actually looked ashamed. “I-I haven’t really had the time-”

“Pigshit,” the goblin female said angrily. “Gregory asked you a question, and you’re dodging it!”

Out of the corner of his eyes, Spike saw his mother perk up and look at the goblin. Looking back at her, the young dragon saw that she had a surprised look on her face, but it wasn’t a reaction to what was said by the goblin. Spike knew that look. She was the Princess of Love. He turned back to Dengal. Did that goblin have feelings for Gregory?

Celestia’s ears drooped. Luna looked like she wanted to reply in her own anger, but Celestia silenced her. “Sorry. That’s a bad habit of mine. I should have done more, but I’ve never been the fighting type. I’ve always relied on my plans to protect my little ponies.”

“And only them, it seems,” Sunset said under her breath.

Spike noticed a change in Celestia’s face. There was a fire there that he hadn’t ever seen before. He knew fire. He was a dragon, after all. In that moment, a wave of fear washed over him. The room’s temperature rose a few degrees. “That will very soon change,” she said in a more regal tone than Spike ever remembered hearing from her. The only comparison he could think of was Luna’s speech patterns in her earlier days back in Equestria. “I am not going to let things go on as they are. Our kingdom is on the verge of falling apart. That is something Majesty will take advantage of, not to mention the windigos.”

The mention of those ancient spirits of malice sent a chill through the room despite the rising temperatures. Everyone looked around at each other. All except for Gregory, who was looking at the table, hands folded in front of him, a look of ambivalence on his face. Eventually, Cadance spoke. “You think the windigos will return?”

“If events continue as they are now, there is no doubt that they will return,” Luna replied with certainty.

“Unless Majesty deals with them,” Gregory said.

“Do you think that she is capable of that?” Twilight Sparkle asked.

Gregory turned to her. “I’ve watched her turn an entire town of ponies into humans. I saw her turn the ponies of Dodge City into stratadons which then become humans once they begin regretting what she punished them for. Thorax saved Chrysalis here from her own punishment, which was when Majesty put Chrysalis inside of a painting, fully aware in real time, only able to move at a fraction of a snails pace while being chased by a massive monster that was coming to kill her. She turned Tirac into a snake without a second thought when she was only a unicorn queen in Ponyland. She trapped those eagles easily and the most important thing of all is she’s able to move things from my world with her magic. So yes, I have no doubt that she could beat anyone here in a fight, and even deal with the windigos in some way. She probably either already has or has plans to deal with them.”

“Wait, why would she want to deal with them?” Spike asked, confused. “I mean, they almost destroyed the ponies and-oh…is that why?” he asked as realization dawned on him.

“I think that’s only part of it,” Gregory said. He turned to Celestia. “Tell me, do ponies keep together because they really believe in peace and harmony, or is it out of a deep fear that the windigos will return if they don’t keep up the farce?”

Celestia stiffened at that. “It is no farce,” she said, her mane moving faster in response.

“In the beginning, perhaps it wasn’t,” Gregory conceded, but think about what Queen Twilight said about how ponies in Ponyland were friendly with other nations and other races. Then, after the war, they were bitter and angry.”

“Wouldn’t you be if you lost your home?” Luna asked, looking a bit miffed.

“I haven’t really had a home in the truest sense for two years,” Gregory replied, “but you’re right. Anyone would be upset at losing their home. Still, they blamed everyone when they should have blamed only the demons. Was it the fault of this alliance that Spike here read about that they had to leave? What’s more important, the land? Or the citizens?”

Everyone paused to think about that. Spike noted that there were a lot of pauses that day, and it was confusing and a bit worrying. Finally, someone spoke, and it was the last creature Spike expected. “The citizens,” Flurry Heart said softly.

“Correct, your Highness,” Gregory replied with a polite nod in the young filly’s direction. “Now, another question you should ask is why those past ponies, who had good relations with their neighbors, began to resent them even after they were protected? PTSD can only explain so much. It doesn’t explain being a jerk.” He looked around and seemed to notice the expectant looks on the faces around the table. “I’m being serious. I’m not trying to lead you all to some inevitable conclusion. I’m in the dark about this too.”

Everyone thought about it for a bit before Rainbow Dash spoke up. “Do we need to focus on this right now? I mean, the six of us went to Dream Castle to get something for you.” She pointed to Gregory.

That caught the human off guard. “Get something for me? What?”

“Before you answer that,” Celestia addressed Twilight before looking around the room, “Gregory here has a good point.” She looked at Gregory. “That is your name, correct? Your friend said so earlier.”

“My name is Gregory, yes,” the human said. “That’s not my full name, but it’ll do for now.”

“Right,” Celestia said. “Stil, you make a good point. I understand that trauma can change a pony, or anycreature, but generational hatred is excessive. And before you say anything, Sunset, that is putting it lightly.” Sunset shut her mouth, apparently about to say just that.

“Could it be possible that this demon sickness that Queen Twilight mentioned affected them like she said?” Luna asked.

“That is possible,” the abyssinian named Tobias said, “and could explain the first generation, but your three tribes lived separated and hating each other for hundreds of years after that. Not to mention all three of you excluding the chiropterans. So what happened? Why did the ponies change so drastically?”

Celestia seemed to lock onto something. She narrowed her eyes at Gregory. “Do you know something more?”

“That’s why we’re here, isn’t it?” he asked. “To exchange information? But yes, I do know more. So now it’s our turn.” He cleared his throat. “Queen Twilight mentioned that Majesty married the human king Chethan. It was initially political, a means to consolidate an alliance.”

Spike listened as Gregory recounted what he had learned from reading Chethan’s own journals, given to him by Majesty herself. Once he had described this Tartarus War in more detail thanks to the journal entries he had read. He would have brought them with him, but he both had no time and didn’t want to make Majesty even more angry at him, since she and Chethan had fallen in love, a fact that made the former Elements look down in further shame and which made Cadance smile in approval.

Everyone in the room listened as Gregory recounted more details about this war, including the fact that Chethan had made the ultimate sacrifice by detonating something called the Elysium Flames that destroyed the human capital city and a large number of the demons. Spike saw his father’s face tense up at that. Spike could guess what he was thinking. This human prince made the ultimate sacrifice for his wife and her citizens. He was probably thinking he would do the same if it meant his mom and Flurry and Spike were safe. Spike looked at his dad and nodded. He would do the same for his family now.

What shocked everyone there was the fact that in the cave system where Majesty lived there was a town full of many different creatures, including an offshoot race of abysinnians called the lithess. The way Gregory described this town called Sanctuary made it seem as if they were fanatics of some kind. Fanatics for Majesty. It was like they were a cult of Majesty, and he said so.

“Cult is a bit of a strong word to describe them, as is fanatic,” Gregory said, “I have the feeling Majesty really cares for all of them. Although…hmm…cult might be more accurate than anything else. And Sanctuary is kind of pretentious.”

“Or a warning,” Sunset muttered.

“How so?” Celestia asked.

Sunset sighed. “A sanctuary is a safe place, so that means…?” She let the question hang in the air.

“Nowhere else is safe,” Cadance said, a tremor in her voice. She turned to Gregory. “Gregory, did you see crystal ponies in Sanctuary?”

“No, none,” Gregory said, “and I was shown to pretty much everyone there. It’s a mixed species town, and everyone there seems to genuinely like each other and cooperate to live peacefully. Then again, like you mentioned, Prince Spike, it could very well be a cult. Still, I felt completely safe there, and I’ve been among cults before. They are different. The ones there were mostly the disenfranchised, outcasts, rejects of societies around the world. They may simply want a place where they can belong, and Majesty provides that for them in spades. But I’m getting off track.”

Spike watched as Gregory recounted his time with Majesty. He described how he had been taken, but not mistreated aside from not being allowed to leave. He had the impression that Majesty was, in her warped way, trying to protect him from the outside world. A.K.A. a gilded cage. When Spike heard about how he had appeared in Gregory’s former room, he felt his blood run cold. Flurry was instantly in his lap, nuzzling him to help him calm down. Gregory paused and watched Spike with some concern. When the dragon had recovered, he continued his story.

When he finished with his impromptu escape with the help of the massive eagles, everyone took yet more time to process what had just been said. Spike noted that there were several holes filled in the unfolding story about Majesty. He took out a quill pen and paper and began writing some brief notes down so he didn’t forget.

1. Majesty was once a unicorn and ruled over ponies in a place called Ponyland.
   
2. Majesty married a human king named Chethan.
   
3. A war broke out that involves demons from Tartarus invading.
   
4. Human-led alliance fights to keep them back, but ultimately fail, leaving ponies to be forced to leave Dream Castle and Ponyland.
   
5. During the war, demons unleash a plague that turns anyone it infects into zombies.
   
6. Majesty and some other ponies are captured and she is forced to watch them tortured and killed. In anger, she kills every demon in an unknown radius.
   
7. Other ponies manage to escape, but they are divided.
   
8. A Queen Twilight possibly starts the royal unicorn line and is related to the Sparkle family.

Spike put down his pen and leaned back. There had been so much that he had learned in the past half hour or so that he was having a hard time keeping track. He had probably missed something, and he promised himself to listen more. Especially with whatever Twilight and her former friends were about to say.

Cadance, with the apparent same thought, turned to Twilight. “What do you have to share with us?” she asked her former charge.

Twilight took a deep breath. “It started when we came back from here the first time when we met with…whoever was impersonating Spike…” She gave the young dragon prince a sorrowful look, but Spike didn’t react. She sighed and continued on. “We met with Discord…”

Several minutes later, the explanation was complete, including some descriptions of the inside of Dream Castle. It was heartbreaking to hear that Majesty had indeed lost her daughter. To Spike’s surprise, Gregory seemed to be the most intrigued, most likely because apparently Discord had requested that they retrieve some items specifically for him. He spoke slowly. “What did Discord want me to have, and why?”

“He was cut off before he could say anything much about it,” Twilight said. “He seemed insistent that you get them, though.”

“Twilight, you’re being awfully vague about these objects,” Celestia said. “What are they.”

“Here, I’ll show you.” With that, the purple alicorn reached into a satchel she had carried in, then pulled out two objects wrapped in cloth. One was small, but the other was longer and might have been a small stick. She floated them over to Gregory who took them and set them down. There was absolute silence as he unwrapped the first and smaller cloth to reveal a locket in the shape of a ruby red heart hanging from a gold chain. The look of shock on Gregory’s face was plainly visible to everyone despite nobody knowing much about human body language.

“It can’t be…” he muttered as he reached down for the latch as if to open it. At the last second, he paused, then put it down on the table on top of the cloth.

“What is that object?” Celestia asked.

“It’s called the Rainbow of Light,” Gregory explained, “and it was used by the human Megan Williams to help defend Ponyland a number of times in the past. Think of it as like the Elements of Harmony, but a bit more versatile.” He slowly pried his eyes away from the locket, turning to the elongated object. He began to open it up, and when he saw what it was, he looked at it incredulously. Turning to Twilight, he asked, “Discord sent you to get this for me?”

“No way…” Tobias said in shock as he, too, apparently recognized it. “It can’t be…”

“Do you know what it is?” Dengal asked, grasping onto Gregory’s arm with a look of concern on her face.

Gregory picked up the object with both hands, looking at it. He examined it. To Spike, it looked like a somewhat long piece of metal with different objects attached to it. It glinted in the afternoon sunlight that was streaming in through the window as he looked at the object in his hands. Spike watched as he ran his fingers over it until they stopped at something. There was a metallic click and the pole split into two. He stood up, then stood back from the table. Tobias stood immediately, but Gregory held up his hand. “No,” the human said, “stay back.”

“Gregory, you’re scaring me,” Dengal said, and her tone did sound scared.

“Hold on, I just need to see if this have a switch and-aha!” Gregory seemed to have found what he was looking for and pressed down on something.

What happened next stunned Spike and the others. Two beams of light, one blue, and one green, shot out from each of the pieces of metal with an unusual humming noise. Their light permeated the room as Gregory slowly moved them around. In response to movement, the hums changed pitch. He then brought the two beams of light together. There was a bright flash and another strange noise. When he seemed satisfied, he pressed something. The beams retreated with another unusual sound. Slowly, he returned to his seat and placed the now two pieces of metal on the table.

Immediately, Tobias grabbed one and looked at it. “Seriously…how is that possible?” he asked. “Someone tell me how in the fuck Discord got a fucking double bladed lightsaber?!”