The new boy seemed completely ordinary, but I didn’t like him. What’s more, thanks to him, my flying plans were torpedoed. He said he didn’t know how he ended up at the Harmony Tree. Honestly, I still don’t understand exactly what he is. Fluttershy said some weird vines kidnapped Princess Celestia and Princess Luna and concentrated some energy that resulted in him. Since they returned from the forest, the Elements have disappeared without a trace. Cycle, or as we call him for some reason, Water Flame, has been living with Twilight in the library, where his room is now located in place of the lab in the basement. Last night’s adventure simply drained me...

The sun was setting, and we were about to undertake the dumbest task in the world. Walking beside me were Fluttershy, Rarity, and Sweetie Belle. Rarity had the idea to bring tapestries from the castle under which the tree was, where the Elements had been returned. I didn’t understand why we were needed, but for once, I’d let the adults handle it. As I looked around, I couldn’t help but admire the forest’s many beauties. Then, suddenly, an idea popped into my head.

I sneaked up quietly to Sweetie Belle. “Psst! Sweetie Belle! How about instead of this nonsense, I show you something?” She thought for a moment but eventually nodded. While Rarity explained why this was important, we slipped away quickly. My destination was Zecora’s hut. I thought I could brew a few potions, but then...

Everyone in Ponyville recognized that sound. It was Scoutalu’s plane. I had modified the kestrel so it could land in the forest, or rather, I increased the engine’s power to reduce the wingspan. It wasn’t a perfect success, but it served its purpose. Scoutalu soon landed next to us, as there was a small clearing free of trees near Zecora’s hut.

“Bender! There you are!” She jumped out of the plane and suddenly attacked me like I’d just returned from a war.

“Alright, Scoutalu, calm down. What happened?” Then, I got the third response of my life. Apple Bloom climbed out of the plane too, but much more discreetly.

“Nothing special, I just thought we could go do something cool—and dangerous.” I nearly fell apart. She had found a book recently that said there was no place scarier than the castle of the two sisters. Then I remembered what Apple Bloom had told Cycle, that the castle was indeed dangerous and scary.

“Alright, Scoutalu, we’ll go there, but if we want to have fun, I suggest we don’t use the plane.” Scoutalu sulked for a moment, but eventually agreed.

I have no idea what suddenly changed, but the idea of wandering alone in the castle felt exciting. Bender led a small bolt of lightning into a strange device that glowed from it, saying it was one of the few things he’d brought from the other world, but I never really understood how it worked.

The sun had nearly set completely, but the castle was already on the horizon. On the rickety wooden bridge leading there, I saw Rainbow Dash and Applejack crossing.

“Perfect, this will be even more fun,” Bender said. I didn’t understand what he meant, but I assumed he just didn’t want to go in alone. “Follow me!” I didn’t like that we weren’t heading for the bridge, but I was curious about what he had in mind.

Bender led us down some steps into the chasm and then up again through a cave. In the pitch blackness, I couldn’t see even my nose; Scoutalu was tiptoeing behind me, biting my tail, but Bender walked forward as if it were the most natural thing in the world to be in such darkness.

“I discovered this path when I first saw the Doctor, but I wasn’t sure where it led. If I’m right, though, we’ll have a lot of fun at the castle.”

“Bender! Wait! I can’t see anything.” I would have slapped my forehead if I hadn’t remembered that I could only see so well because of my one eye, though even here, my vision was poor. Yet he was moving forward like he could see.

“Yes, yes, I’m sorry. I’ve been this way so many times I don’t need to see.” As if I’d ever been here before, but at least they wouldn’t be jealous of me. I hoped.

The tunnel was narrow and increasingly wet, but still passable. As we continued, I started to see a faint light. “We’re almost there, girls!” I could see they were glad to hear it, as the dark, cold tunnel was making us all feel a bit claustrophobic. My hypothesis was correct; we were indeed in the castle.

Hundreds of bookshelves surrounded us, with hundreds of thousands of books. I suspected there might still be a lot left in this place, but I hadn’t expected this. One book, for instance, was titled Demi-Unicorn Magic...

“Bender!” My thoughts were interrupted by Scoutalu, who still hadn’t managed to climb out, her wings visibly stuck. “Help me out.”

“Oh, sorry, Scoutalu!” I grabbed her and pulled. She didn’t budge. I tried again, this time with the help of my wings, but she wouldn’t move. “Why don’t you ever say anything... when you’re stuck somewhere?” I gave a hard yank, and when her wings finally came free, we both flew backward. The next moment, my head hit a bookshelf, causing a cascade of books...

When I woke up under the books, I felt strange. As I crawled out, I noticed my hooves didn’t click, and I couldn’t feel my wings. I climbed onto the top of the book pile and looked at my hoof... no, it wasn’t a hoof. My leg was covered in red fur, resembling a dog’s leg.

“Bender! Bender, where are you!?” As I turned around, I slipped and tumbled down the books. Then I saw a fox reading a book, a surprising sight since I thought only dragons and ponies could learn to read. Looking down at myself, my lovely orange fur had disappeared, replaced by red fur, my wings were gone, my belly was snow-white, and I had a long, bushy tail. “Bender!” I shouted frantically.

“Stop yelling, or you’ll attract a timberwolf or two.” I had no idea what kind of creature that was, nor did I want to find out.

“Bender? What happened to you... to us?” I asked, sensing that he knew, as he was oddly calm.

“Actually, it’s just a book spell that activates upon touch. Here it is!” I rushed over, tripping as I went, and looked into the book, but the text was completely incomprehensible. Transforma Managi. It said the spell would turn whoever it touched into what they were thinking of, casting a permanent curse, though it could be reversed... someday, presumably. As he explained, I shivered. He, however, was not as worried, which annoyed me.

“How can you be so calm when we’re stuck as foxes for who knows how long!?” At that, he transformed before my eyes, first into some kind of metal vehicle, with two small tubes beside a slit, surrounded by a little armored cabin, then metal body parts with some weird circular mechanism underneath that resembled elevator cables and their components. Then he took his familiar pony form, then back to a fox, saying, “See? We can indirectly return to our usual form—at least I can.”

I felt somewhat relieved, but my eyes widened quickly.

“Where are Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle?” Bender looked at me, froze for a moment, and then spoke.

“Good questions, but I have no idea. When I woke up, they were already gone.” He flipped through one of the books, but the next moment, he dropped it. “Scou... Scou... Scoutalu, co... come... he-here!” His stuttering sent chills down my spine. Slowly, I approached; somehow, it felt natural in this body. I looked into the book.

She shall come, whose coat is dark as the night, whose mane burns like a blazing fire; she will end a thousand years of tyranny but bring even darker times. The book’s page declared. Their fur stood on end because they knew who the description fit.

The night was terrible; Bender and Scoutalu were deeply buried under the books, and despite our best efforts searching high and low, we couldn’t find them. All we heard were eerie noises and the distant sounds of someone screaming.

Apple Bloom found the place truly frightening, but she used her bow to tie us together so we wouldn’t get lost or stray from each other. “What do you think our sisters are doing here?” she asked quietly, shuddering even more as she passed an old suit of armor with a sword. "Granny always says this place is haunted." I pondered that for a moment but stumbled over a broken wooden plank, shifting my focus to getting us out of there as soon as possible.

“Bender’s going to hear about this. Coming here at night was a terrible idea,” I grumbled, just as suddenly, one door after another appeared, with twists and turns. I turned left and saw an open hall in the castle, where perhaps the funniest scene I had ever seen unfolded. Four adult ponies were trying to scare each other, like we do on Nightmare Night. The way they touched each other was hilarious, followed by their reactions. They didn’t even notice us sneaking away.

Then they froze, standing in Twilight’s characteristic aura. At that moment, I saw two creatures that looked very much like timberwolves. I panicked and started running, pulling Apple Bloom along with me. Scootaloo hadn’t let go of the machine she was working on, and somehow, it started up, taking us along for the ride.

We flew over the dark forest as Bender showed me some basic aerial maneuvers, so even though it wasn’t perfect, I managed to steer Scootaloo’s machine. It was smart of Scootaloo to drag it in front of the castle. That’s how we escaped from the timberwolves and set off, flying over the palace. As we passed by, I noticed Rarity and the others laughing, presumably at what had happened, but I didn’t care much. The most important thing was to get home before they found out what we had done.

The engine of the machine hummed softly as Apple Bloom turned to me. “Sweetie Belle, we have to find them, you know that, right?” I thought for a moment, then looked up. “Yes, I know, Apple Bloom. Tomorrow, we’ll come back and look for them.” I hoped I was right because I wasn’t sure if the pile of books hadn’t crushed them.

The sun was starting to rise, the first birds chirped like the most beautiful orchestras. On the ground, a couple of timberwolves and other animals were beginning or ending their day, and as we flew over them, it was a beautiful sight, with little swallows darting beneath us and occasionally a hawk mingling among them.

I was starting to get hungry, which wasn’t a problem as a pony, but in fox form, it was excruciating—mildly put, it was torturous. Scootaloo didn’t understand this magic and couldn’t really transform; once she almost succeeded, but then she lost her concentration. We came out behind the castle because two foxes could really confuse Rarity and the others. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle entered the viewing hall just then. I moved toward them, but they ran away. I’m a fox; what was I expecting? But before I could transform, I heard a sound and saw them fly over us, heading straight… My ears, as a fox, couldn’t droop, but my fur stood on end. They were headed straight for the dense forest, to a place where, if I believed the others, no pony had ever set hoof. Those two might not be clumsy, but they were as naive as Bambi or Vuk. If they crashed, maybe they’d realize how wrong their direction was, but it would be too late.

“Scoutalu! Look!” I shouted. She glanced up, and I could see the blood run cold in her veins. The machine vanished from sight, completely off course. Scoutalu was still just staring; it was strange, considering she was an adult fox, yet I was like her cub, and I didn’t decide that—it was the magic's doing. I racked my brain for what we could do. In one of the books, I had read that even the wisest animals struggled in the depths of the Everfree Forest; Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom had practically no chance.

"Bender, what should we do?" I asked, surprised that I even had to.

"Wouldn't it be better if we both went?" Bender raised an eyebrow.

If I weren’t a fox cub, I would have facehoofed, but instead, I scratched myself.

“No, it wouldn’t be. Food and survival skills aren’t learned overnight. The princesses need to know about the prophecy; if it’s all true, we’re in great danger.” After thinking for a moment, Bender accepted my point and nodded before running off to the others who were already heading toward Ponyville.

“Well, Bender, you can thank life that you read Vuk and Chi. Being a cub isn’t the best thing that could happen to me, but maybe… just maybe, I can manage something.” I found the direction where the machine had gone, took one last look back, and then started running as fast as I could in that direction.

Meanwhile, in Ponyville:

I think I'm getting used to it here. I hardly see that strange mare duo in my dreams anymore. It's getting dark, but that doesn’t bother me; thanks to my magic, I can see in the dark.

A wild magical wave swept through me, though it seemed like just a shockwave. Bender wasn’t home today; he had gone to the castle with Fluttershy, where Twilight found me. Twilight was also there, and it was like they had forgotten about me, so I had to have dinner at a restaurant using my allowance.

I ordered a portion of that fried onion Bender had shown everyone, and waited, though my thoughts felt strange, as if I weren’t alone, as if someone or something else was with me. Then I heard some whispering and forgot about the feeling.

The food went down well, and I ordered a nice strawberry soup and some cake, stuffing my face like there was no tomorrow. Then a pony sat behind me; I couldn’t see its kind or gender… I was still eating when I heard it muttering.

“It’s time...” I pondered those words, and then blacked out.

“Wow, that was weird,” I said to myself, trying to recall what had happened, but my mind drew a blank as if something had erased it. It was dark; I could hardly see where I was, so I channeled magic into my eyes, allowing me to see. It was an abandoned, dark shack full of various bottles. I had no idea how long I had been out or how far I was. Yet I felt something inside me, something strange. I saw a fox outside behind one of the walls, and for some reason, I felt compelled to shoot at it with my horn, and why not…

The fox yelped but kept moving in the direction it was headed. Then I realized what I had done and could have kicked myself. I climbed out of the small hut and recognized it as Zecora’s—the zebra whom Twilight had already introduced to me. She was very kind but a bit of an odd character. I didn’t get far from the door because I noticed a security cuff around my hoof, which only allowed me to go so far. I lay back down, figuring that tomorrow, Zecora would surely release me.

From a third-person perspective:

In a dark, abandoned hall, many hooded ponies were gathering. One stepped forward and raised a candle in the middle of the room.

“Brothers and sisters, that vile sect which once planted the seeds of evil in our mother has taken action again. We must thwart their dark plans once more.”

The pony set down the candle, and another took it up.

“I suggest you succeed this time. Last time, our mother was imprisoned for 1,000 years, trapped in darkness on the moon. Our failure would now mean the downfall of Equestria itself.” The candle was placed back down.

The council lasted for many hours, with numerous plans proposed and almost as many discarded into oblivion. The candle was half-burned, and they had gotten nowhere when finally, a young pony stepped forward and picked up the candle.

“Brothers and sisters, though I am your child, listen to me,” the young pony spoke, and everyone watched intently. “When we, brothers and sisters, were chosen, we received the sacred task. However, we have no successors, and our numbers dwindle. If we are to win, we need new members, those who are brave, resourceful, and above all, clear-sighted.”

The young pony drew a circle in wax, in which there was a small pony with red fur and a sparkling horn.

“Brothers and sisters, this one will be the new member who will help lead ponies on the true and rightful path from which so many have strayed.”

The others then spoke in unison.

“For the night, for every star, and for our mother!”

The central light in the room went out, and with that, the story ended.

Author's Note

Hello everyone, yes, this is where the story ends for now, but the big jurney is just beginning. Will Bender find the others? Will he be able to stop Cycle? What is this organization? All will be revealed in Revolution (which I am starting to work on now).
The chapter may seem contradictory in some places, but let me clarify it here. At the beginning, there's just a quick outline of the situation, and yes, at that time, I was already looking for Apple Bloom and the others. Since it came up, no, I didn't forget about it halfway through or anything like that; it simply didn't come to the attention of the main characters. For those who want to understand what this organization is, at least in part, listen to this (I know it doesn't exactly outline this, but I think it makes it more interesting):