What we Believed to be Gone

Chapters

Part 4
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 5
Part 6

Part 4

Donker was running. As fast as she could, with fear in her heart. Contact with Control wouldn't be back for another three hours. By then, it would probably be too late.

She was following the purple thread, in the obscurity of the crater, dodging the dimly glowing crystals on her way. The filament had become silent. It couldn't talk without more of them present. So, she was almost on her own. But she needed answers. She wasn't allowed to screw things up. She would die.

"One pulse for yes, two for no, okay!?" she hastily asked to the filament, catching her breath. "Am I allowed to do damage to your body!?"

The magical piece briefly pulsated.

"Great!" Donker said to herself, a bit relieved. "If I break it too much, will those things come out?"

Another pulse. Donker winced. That wasn't a good plan then.

They arrived at the location of the black swarm. It had already dissipated quite a lot, and the blue unicorn saw the black worms surrounding the body of Twilight Sparkle. Tens, no, hundreds of them were trying to make their way into it. Just a few were circling around them, in an almost protective manner.

"Like bees protecting a queen..." Donker muttered, hiding behind a crystal to stay out of sight. "They need people to reproduce. Do they give birth to more of them if they take control of the magic?"

Another pulse.

"Shit... Are they enough to fully take over?"

Donker looked at the filament. It didn't reply. The unicorn took it as a "I don't know". So they could already be enough of them for that. And then, they would spread.

"If that's the case, there's no time to waste. Princess, give me your magic please."

The filament didn't hesitate and immediately coiled itself around her horn. Donker felt a sudden rush of energy in it, as she whispered to herself:

"Yep... That's definitely soul magic..."

She didn't wait any longer. With one swing of her horn, she cast a circular silver blade straight at the unsuspecting worms. The infested Twilight turned her head, only to see the magic pass right by her, straight up cutting three of the ink snakes in half. Yet, they kept on wiggling around, turning to Donker, as did all the others.

"Guess I need to damage every piece of them at once..." the unicorn thought. "And that thing can only help me so much. Probably one or two other attacks with soul magic like this before it runs out."

The monstrosity stepped towards her, while the cut worms pieced themselves back together.

"Do you think defeating us here and now will be enough?" it said, while the worms around gathered like a swarm pointing at the unicorn.

"Oh no, you won't be buying time with a speech!" Donker shouted, focusing her own magic on the ground.

The silvery surface cracked and a big chunk of it was lifted, before being thrown at the body of the princess.

The thing didn't even look at it with its uncaring eyes. Instead, tens of black tendrils erupted from her horn, ears and mouth, piercing the projectile and breaking it apart before it even got close to harming the thing. But the alicorn's eyes were still pointed straight at the unicorn, as it made another step forward.

"You are the one trying to buy time," it said, in a low whisper, echoing through all the crystals around, as if the worms trapped inside were also talking. "For your friend, for your kind. Your princess did it too."

"Well, might as well do it properly then!" Donker replied.

The debris from her previous attack were all surrounded by her magic. The unicorn sharpened them the best she could as quickly as possible and threw them all at the alicorn's legs.

It worked, to some extent. The compressed rocks were pretty solid and sank into it and through the ground, pinning her hooves in place. But that thing didn't react much. That body was only a vessel, after all. Although, black snakes leaked from the wounds.

"Sooner or later, you will die," the thing said, with an unbothered and monotone voice. "We won't. Whether it'll be us tearing your soul apart, or time doing it, either end is the same for you. Be with us, and you'll see the end of time. Let us feed, and you will cause it."

The worms floating in the air moved closer and Donker threw a magic shield right at them to push them back.

"You have a very weird way of trying to convince people!" the unicorn shouted.

She instantly froze when she heard something. A sound coming from that thing, guttural, brief and yet it reached her inner fears immediately. That was a laugh. A mocking laugh. Just one. She felt like ice had just formed around her heart, like death was whispering into her ear, saying it wouldn't save her from what that thing could do to her. The monstrosity lifted her legs one by one, removing by sheer force the sharpened rocks immobilizing it, as it slowly said:

"We do enjoy talking. We do contemplate the fear and pride of the livings, asking ourselves how they will react when they feel us inside of them. When they realize it was inevitable. When they understand that dying will be a deliverance they'll seek. All of their pretenses, their witty words, their begging, it all crumbles to fear and despair. And suffering."

The filament suddenly snapped away from Donker's horn. The mare thought it was running away, but quickly thought better of that when she saw it. The worm on her left, that had sneaked up to her. The purple strand was fighting it, coiling and twisting around, attempting to choke it. But it was losing the fight. Donker saw the faint purple pulse emanate from it. It took her a second to realize what was happening, but when she did, she immediately teleported herself and the filament away.

Yet, the worm stayed around it. It didn't care for her magic. It continued on strangling the princess' soul fragment, suddenly opening its tip like a mouth with four lips, biting on the magical strand's head.

"Get off of her!" Donker shouted, grabbing the thing by magic and pulling on it.

But it wasn't letting go. It held onto her head, reinforcing its grip. It was going to behead her! And Donker's magic couldn't do anything against it. It was barely getting moved. She couldn't grab it's lips, no force seemed to be applied.

The filament's pulse weakened. Its tail wiggled around, helplessly, trying to whip its opponent, but it couldn't reach it.

Suddenly, a blade went through the worm. Blue and translucent. The creature froze, before coiling on itself, releasing the filament. It yelled, twisting in all directions, like a snake burning, mouth wide open. Its cry was the most horrendous thing Donker had heard, a mix of a baby and some kind of deep sea monster. But it was dying. Or whatever the end was for that thing. It faded around the blade, before bursting and vanishing in thin air.

"You're okay?" Donker asked the filament, levitating her sword next to herself.

The fragment of soul seemed confused, pointed in her direction, not moving. The unicorn cut her radio and muttered:

"I know a bit of soul magic. Don't tell anyone."

From the moment the princess had told them only harmony and soul could hurt the worms, Donker had known she would be forced to use it. This one was fine, it only costed her the memory of her first love and first kiss. Nothing too important. Probably. She couldn't really tell anymore.

"I can probably kill two or three more of them but that's it," she thought out loud, looking at her blade.

She looked around at the crystals, thinking a bit, before saying to the filament:

"I'm going to free some of your parts. I know it drains your magic, but I need your help to fight them off and buy Schim more time."

The filament slowly nodded. Donker turned to a small crystal containing just one worm and touched it. They could outnumber it. But she'd rather keep her sword for the next big fight.

You don't offer a fair fight to some otherworldly monstrosity trying to erase life. Neither Schim nor Twilight had any shame in attacking the worms right after freeing them, surrounding them with ten filaments, all choking them.

While they were slowly recovering more and more parts of the princess' soul, Schim looked at the green crystal she had been brought to. This one was in the shape of a lightning bolt. Inside, another pony with black eyes and mouths. A unicorn. Head low, as if sick.

The filaments went back to the pegasus' side once they dealt with the worm.

"I'll sync you up with them," Twilight said.

"The elements, right...?" Schim asked.

She had seen them in the princess' memories. They all seemed important, to her, to her country, to her story. But she had never heard of them. Harmony itself was an old magic concept.

"Yes," the fragments replied, gathering around the crystal. "Their magic was preserved in this state, despite the worms taking over. They were already dead, I didn't have any other choices!"

She yelled the last sentence, like trying to defend herself. Even though Schim hadn't accused her of anything. But the soul fragments didn't even notice it. Was that some sort of echo from the now gone original Twilight?

The gray pegasus stepped closer, while the filaments grabbed onto one another, in a circle around the green crystal. They began to spin, entering into some sort of resonance with the structure.

"Schim, would you abandon your friends, your family, your kind, if it meant saving your life?"

"I would not!" she replied with confidence. "I couldn't live with it! What good is a life without those you care about!?"

"Are you sure?"

Twilight's voice got distant. The crystal emitted a light, an image, that presented itself to Schim. It was a green pasture, with a town in the distance. Quite like her grandfather's place. As the pegasus looked into the image, it became ever so more tangible. Real. She could smell the air, feel the wind, hear the quietness of the plains. A voice called, from within:

"This is the place where we ran away from them. If you step inside, you'll be safe. Forever."

"What... are you... saying...?" Schim said, unable to look away.

"They attacked us," the voice said in a hypnotizing tone. "The worms destroyed our home. Our families. Everything we had. But we found a place where they won't get us. There is still time for you. Jump and join us."

"But... My friends..."

"It is too late for them... The princess couldn't defeat the worms. What good are two lone mares, against their hunger?"

"I-I..."

Schim looked at the landscape. It seemed so peaceful. Sunny. Happy. Cozy. It was there. Within reach. One step and she would be far away from danger forever.

Her radio suddenly cut. Schim slowly went back to the present and asked:

"Donker?"

No response. The pegasus looked away from the image, hitting her radio.

"Donker!?"

She turned to the center of the crater, seeking any sign of her friend, even though it was so far away. She glanced back at the landscape, hesitantly, only to look away again.

"I can't abandon her and everyone..."

"Good luck..." the voice said, before the image vanished, in an instant.

Schim was ready to throw herself towards the center, but the filaments stopped her by blocking her path.

"She's fine," Twilight said with her uncaring tone.

"How do you know that!?"

The fragments didn't answer. Schim clenched her teeth, angrily saying:

"You don't... You're just saying it because you need me to do what you can't do."

"You passed the Loyalty test. You are now linked with the element, but you still need the five others. You don't have a choice, if you want to save your friend and your home."

"Is that what you told yourself when you brought your friends to this planet, knowing they would die because of the lack of air...?"

The filaments became silent. She had seen her memory, only glimpses of it. But it was enough for her to piece the rest together. The fragments drifted a bit in the air, looking lost in their thoughts, only to answer with a less detached, more regretful tone:

"They were already dead. There was no other option. The worms were here. The world wasn't prepared. I gave up everything to save it. Including them."

Schim glanced at the pony trapped in the crystal. Again, she could see the darkness in him, that unnatural pose. Infested by the worms. Maybe Twilight was right. Maybe he was already dead anyway. She muttered:

"Fine..."

"Touch the crystal."

"What!?"

"It won't free him," Twilight reassured.

Schim knew she couldn't trust her words. But she could trust the fact that she was trying her damn hardest to destroy the worms. So, the young mare turned back to the lightning bolt shaped crystal and put her hoof on it. At first, she thought that the princess had lied again. The crystal began to glow, but this time the magic in it focused itself on the contours.

Then, a shock wave burst out from it, passing through Schim without affecting her. But it did resonate with all the crystals around. They all vibrated, before shattering to pieces at once, in a fifty meters radius. Tens of worms were freed, but the filaments were all ready to take them on, joined by their new peers now free.

Quick work was done, as most fights were two against one. Some worms attempted to run, but were quickly caught and dealt with. There was definitely something satisfying in seeing them all get shredded, at least for Schim. Even if the rage she could feel coming out of the filaments was a bit unnerving.

"Onto the next elements," the princess said, while she cleaned the remaining worms.

Out near the center, the monster in the alicorn's body suddenly turned to the east, hearing the noises of its kind getting attacked.

"That princess needs to give up."

A tendril suddenly sprouted out of her ear, catching an incoming blue spear that was headed for her flank. She slowly turned her eyes to where it came from, adding:

"You're going to run away again after this one?"

Donker was standing a couple of meters away, four filaments coiled around her horn, ready to fight.

"Don't think I'll tell you my plan!" the unicorn responded.

Making it talk was good. She was only there to buy time. Those things were trying to provoke her, she knew it.

The tendril snapped the magical spear in two, making it vanish. The worms all around the body extended themselves in the air, forming an aura around it. The air went dark. Donker saw the view getting obstructed by a shadow, a void. Soon enough, the alicorn was standing in front of a semi-circle of emptiness, and she hammered:

"If you're ready to fight, let's see you sink into despair."

"What the hell is that...?" Donker thought to herself, looking at the black void. "I can hear something coming out of it..."

She prepared her shields. Both of them. She didn't want to get caught off guard by the first one suddenly breaking, so she had two of them, one right behind the other, hidden in its aura.

"Hear the sounds of your people," the creature whispered.

Something suddenly came out of the void. A brown and dark purple sludge, pouring onto the ground, going around the alicorn and heading straight for Donker. The unicorn raised her shields all around her and braved the oncoming wave. It came crashing against her first shield, like waves on a dyke on a stormy day. But she also heard some blunt sounds. There was something in that sludge. Something that was hitting the shield.

Hooves. Heads. Legs from other kinds of animals, some she had never seen before. Claws screeching at the magical barrier, foreheads slamming against it. Donker took a step back, disgusted by this. Those things weren't fully formed, more like random parts poking out of the sludge. Some had flesh, others only bone. The heads were missing some features, but the few that had eyes looked straight at her with madness. And, even through her shields, through the suit and the lack of atmosphere, she smelled it. That disgusting smell of rot. But the worst part she only noticed after a few seconds of withstanding this assault. They were talking.

Crying would have been more precise. Yelling, in fear, in despair, in pain. Tormented souls, trapped in an endless cycle of being consumed, left to rot, unable to die. Some sounded like animals, others weren't even sentient beings. And among them, the blue unicorn could understand some. Shouting for help, begging for all of this to end. Male voices, female voices, child voices. All of them.

Donker felt sick, her heart wavered, as the wave only grew stronger, overflowing above her shield and passing on top of her. The filaments on her horn tightened their grip to bring her back to reality.

It worked. Donker focused and suddenly extended her first shield, violently pushing all around her to disperse the wave. The front of her shield suddenly hit a wall. Or that's what she first thought. But, as the sludge was still spilling out of the void and around her protection, the alicorn had laid a hoof on it.

They both stared at each other in the eyes. Donker was afraid. The creature was mildly satisfied. It pressed on the shield, and cracks immediately began to appear. The unicorn tried to reduce her protection, to move it away, but it stayed glued under the alicorn's hoof, as she pressed more and more.

"You'll join them," the creature whispered again.

The barrier broke and the brownish-purple wave came charging back at the unicorn. But this time, tens of tendrils attacked with it, sprouting out from the alicorn's horn.

Donker hesitated for one second, before teleporting away. Her second shield wouldn't last against that. But she didn't reappear where she had planned. To her own surprise, she had only made half the distance she had intended. And something was firmly gripped onto her right hind leg. Had that thing just... caught her through a teleportation!?

The black tendril suddenly raised her into the air. Donker didn't wait for it to smack her down. Despite her surprise, she immediately used her sword to cut through the tendril and teleported again.

This time, she landed where she had wanted. On a nearby crystal, way above ground. She had seen right. That thing could only catch her if the path of teleportation was going near one of its tentacles.

The crystal shattered a second after, and Donker teleported again, down on the ground this time.

"Thank you," the creature said.

All of its tendrils swoop down on the barely freed filament, surrounding it and tearing it to pieces in an instant. Donker realized with horror what she had done, but the alicorn still put it into words:

"One less piece of that pesky princess. And another one of us back."

"Will I have to pass a test for every one of them?"

Schim looked at the filaments, waiting for an answer. She was running towards the next element. Twilight responded:

"You connected with one of them. It'll probably be enough, but some might still oppose a resistance. I can't guarantee you."

"You're talking about them like they are sentient..."

A doubt came to Schim's mind. Was that vision from before real? Like, actually?

"They are," the princess answered. "The elements are on another plane of being, but are still beings of their own. Made of harmony magic. Like I am a being of soul magic. Their will is very different from ours. We're here."

Schim looked in front of her and stopped. That green crystal was shaped like a giant apple. But what made her stop was inside. A colt. A young one. Adolescent. Overwhelmed by the worms as well.

"How... How old was he?" the pegasus asked.

"Seventeen..."

Once again, the filaments circled the structure, while Schim stepped closer. Will there be another trial for this one? What lie would it present to her?

"Hello?"

Schim almost jumped when she heard the voice. Coming from the crystal, it sounded young, filled with terror.

"I-Is anyone there?" the voice hesitantly continued.

"Yes!" Schim quickly responded. "I am here!"

"Oh thank Twilight! A-Are we safe?"

The pegasus looked at the earth colt inside, frozen in some kind of galloping stance. That was him, talking. But that body was overtaken by the worms beyond repair. No lights in his eyes, a leg torn in an unnatural way. If he was still in there, there wasn't much left of him.

"We aren't," Schim replied, suddenly feeling sorry for him. "The worms are still around."

"O-Oh."

Schim heard him shiver.

"T-Those things..." he continued. "Is it true? C-Can we defeat them?"

"I... I think so, but I'm not sure."

"Who are you?"

"I'm Schim. Who are you?"

"I'm... I..."

The colt seemed lost for a moment. A silence followed.

"W-Where am I?" he suddenly asked, distressed. "I-I can't really see anything. I can't move."

That tone was heartbreaking. Schim looked at the filaments, but they didn't intervene. She looked back at the young stallion trapped inside.

"You..." she hesitated. "You're inside a crystal."

"Inside a...? But that... That means..."

"Your body has been taken by them. Princess Twilight used you in her spell."

"O-Oh dear... They...? Me...? How long?"

"Eons..." Schim said in a short breath.

This was painful for her. He was so young. But already gone. He could only think, didn't even recall who he was. And she was the bringer of that horrible news.

"What..." he stuttered, lost. "Why am I here then?"

"We need your help. Your element."

"My... But we already used it?"

"My friends and I made a mistake and freed some of them," Schim explained. "But we have a plan."

"I... What do you want from me?"

"I need you to link me to your element."

The voice felt silent for a moment. Schim waited with a weight on her heart.

"I... Yeah, I think I can do that," he finally said, still troubled.

"Thank you!"

"But, Schim..."

She froze. There was something so eerie in hearing someone from ages ago, someone already dead, calling her name like that. The voice resonated with her.

"Y-Yes?" she answered.

"Will I... be able to be free once this is done?"

She heard it. The hope in his voice. The dreams of a young colt. His desire for his life to not be over already. But it was.

Schim swallowed, refraining a tear.

"No... You're too far gone already... I can see it in your eyes..."

"I see..."

He wasn't disappointed, simply... thoughtful?

"Thank you, Schim," he finally said. "And good luck."

"Goodbye..."

The voice didn't reply. The filaments stopped their dance and gathered near the pegasus. She was shaking, sniffing loudly.

"You passed the test of Honesty," Twilight said, without a care in the world.

Schim dried her eyes through her suit.

"I hope this is the last one..." she muttered.

"If my guess is correct, there should be just one more test. We will do this one last."

Schim didn't reply. She simply laid her hoof on the crystal, looking at the stallion in it. The purple prisons around shattered again and while the filaments took care of the freed worms, she could only stare with compassion at the colt, frozen, forever trapped here.

"Why didn't you tell me the name of the element beforehand?" she slowly asked once the princess went back to her.

"Because the trials wouldn't be genuine otherwise. Your ignorance ensures your heart is speaking. Honesty and Loyalty can't be achieved if you know you're looking for them. Same goes for the rest of the elements."

"I see..."

They went to the next element. Generosity, which Schim and Donker had passed by earlier on. Nothing happened there, Schim only had to touch it to link herself. But the filaments were now enough to draw the outline of a mare, rather than a random circle-like shape.

Things worked the same for Laughter and Kindness. Schim was relieved to not have any trial there. It would have taken too much time, and she's certain she couldn't have laughed in this situation, no matter what.

And then, they came to the last one. A star-shaped green crystal. Just like the crater itself, actually. Schim ran towards it, but then came to a full stop once the pony inside was in view.

Or rather, the filly.

Part 1

"Explorer twelve, you're closing in on the target."

"Target in view, Control. Reducing speed."

The gray pegasus grabbed a lever right next to her, lowering it. The big chunk of metal she was in slowed down.

It was the standard model of the scout spaceship class. The Gathered State of Creature, or GSC for short, had only begun to produce them a few years ago, when the spatial exploration had taken off following new discoveries. The ship was small, elongated, made for no more than four crew members. Currently, they were just two inside it. One pegasus and one unicorn. Only the pegasus was standing in the cockpit.

In the ocean of emptiness that was space, they were approaching an island of matter. A planet. or rather, what was left of it. As they got closer, they flew past a few asteroids. A sparse belt had formed around the celestial body, drifting through space.

The sun was barely visible behind them. They were at the utmost limit of their solar system. And here it was. In front of them. The legendary catastrophic planet. What was it doing here? Legends and tales had tried to explain it, all coming from a time when it was much closer to home. It had slowly drifted from its original orbit, over the millennia, against all known physic explanations.

They were still far away. And yet, they could see it. The sphere, two or three thousands kilometers in radius. Its surface was mostly brown, as if covered by some poor quality soil, dry and untouched.

Mostly. Because, on its right hemisphere, something broke the monotony of the surface. Something that dug through the crust and beyond. A crater. Not round, as they could see its edges, two sharp triangular shapes, while it was slowly rotating away from their view.

"Control," the pegasus said. "Visual contact with the target confirmed. For now, the Shattered Sea hasn't been fully observed, but we can confirm its existence. The hypothesis of a magical aberration orbiting the planet and distorting our observations from Weil appears to be disproven."

"Copy that, Explorer twelve. Please, get a clear view of the Shattered Sea."

"Recording started," said another mare on the radio.

"Don't zoom in right away, Donker," the pegasus asked.

"Think it's the first time I'm using a camera?" she replied with a laugh.

"Just saying. A wide shot to start will be better for control."

With one wing, she grabbed the yoke and turned the ship to the right, pushing on the thrusters.

"Entering orbit."

Using the gravitational pull from the planet to gain speed, they circled around it. As they did, through the windows, the crater unveiled itself. Cutting so deep in the crust that it wasn't brown but a silvery color. And the shape was the same as seen in their telescopes, back at home. A six-pointed star, with sharp edges.

"You see that, Schim?" asked Donker on the radio.

"It's real..." the pegasus muttered in disbelief. "And the edges are too clean to be natural. Something or someone made that."

"It's about four thousand kilometers from north to south. And three thousand wide."

"The scanners are detecting magical remnants in the crater," Schim said, looking at her readings before frowning. "There seems to be something in the middle concentrating them."

"I'm trying to zoom in..." Donker added with a focused tone. "Looks quite big. I'd say ten or twelve kilometers in radius."

"Control, authorization to take a closer look?"

"Checking with operation's command," the other voice answered. "Hold on, Explorer."

There was a brief silence, during which Donker and Schim contemplated the position they were in.

"First creatures to be here," said the unicorn with a little snarky tone. "Congratulations to us. That'll make the yaks and the griffons shush a bit."

"This discovery is for all of us," Schim nuanced. "It'll be a bigger deal for ponies, sure, but every creature should celebrate it."

"As if they cared. This will just confirm the legends, and all of them only mention ponies."

"But which ones are true...?"

Schim couldn't stop looking at the crater. That symbol had such an importance in their culture. To find it here, among the stars, so far from home. What did it mean? Did it predate the apparition of this shape in pony folklore? Was it contemporary? Was it the cause? Or a consequence?

"Explorer, this is Control. You have clearance to get closer and land on the planet to instigate the anomaly."

"Copy that," Schim said. "Donker, get in there, I'll need your help for the landing."

"Roger that," the unicorn replied. "I'm locking the camera tracking on the formation."

Another push on the thrusters and the ship was now heading straight towards the center of the crater. No atmosphere to speak of, friction wouldn't be a problem. And the gravity was weaker than on their home planet, Weil.

With the help of her blue unicorn friend, Schim managed to approach the planet. As they got closer, the anomaly appeared clearer than on the camera in front of their eyes.

"Control, we have..." the pegasus hesitated. "A field of crystals. Purple ones."

Ten kilometers outside of the center, it was only sparse formations, here and there. Big hexagonal semi-transparent crystals, probably around ten or twenty meters high, randomly spread, on their own.

But inside the circle, there were real formations. It was like a forest, and the closer to the center, the more dense its trees became. At one point, it was just one big structure.

"Not just purple ones," Donker corrected. "There are a few black and green ones as well."

"Why purple...?" Schim muttered.

That color was always associated with that shape in their folklore. The link was now undeniable. But what was it?

The crystals were so densely disposed near the center that the two mares had to land much further away, where they were more sparsely dispersed. Once suit up, the landing platform deployed and the two ponies set foot on the catastrophic planet. Sparkle, as it was still called to this day. As they walked forward, both of them were thinking about common sentences from their world.

"Another step forward, another leap into our future," Donker said to herself.

"Do not go unprepared among the stars, for they are home to the worms, the souls of the brave and death," Schim remembered in a shiver. This crater was a star, in its own way. And no one on Weil knew what the other things were referencing.

The faint light of the sun, unblocked by the lack of an atmosphere, was just enough to make the crystals around them glitter. Although, the star was getting low.

"Night should fall in about an hour," the voice in the radio reminded them. "Communication will be impossible afterwards, for about four hours. Try to be quick."

"Roger."

A hoof on the ground. Then a step. The ground was solid, compressed by whatever had made that crater. As hard as rock or iron.

They walked up to one of the crystals, towering ten meters above them. It was semi-transparent and a deep purple. Donker took some kind of scalpel with her magic and carved out a piece of it. Or at least, tried. The thing was as solid as it gets, even though her tool was made to take samples. She forced a bit, only to give up, talking to her radio, the voice muffled by the suit:

"The crystals aren't natural. Just like the one in the old city of the heart."

"Permission to use your magic on it," Control responded. "Be careful if you touch them."

"There's something inside," Schim muttered, squinting.

"What?" Donker asked, trying to look. "I can't see anything."

She shined some light on the crystal with her magic, but barely saw anything. Schim, with her pegasus eyes, clearly distinguished the fine black line trapped in there. It was like a line of ink, snaking in it, trapped and frozen.

"You're sure there's something?" the unicorn insisted.

"Yeah... It's black. It's not moving. Kinda like... Like this crystal was a prison for it."

"Maybe it got caught during the formation. Is it like an animal or something?"

"Not it's... It doesn't even look real. Like it's not physically there."

Donker raised an eyebrow at her crewmate.

"You're not making sense."

"I know. But it's not my fault."

Something felt off. But she couldn't tell what. Even less so describe it.

"Alright, magical analysis it is!" Donker said.

As quickly as she ended her sentence, she enveloped the crystal with her blue aura. Which she came to regret almost immediately. A pulsation emanated from the crystal, as it glowed briefly, only for Donker's magic to disappear in an instant.

"That thing drained my man-"

The crystal turned bright, blinding them both for a brief moment, and despite the lack of an atmosphere, they both heard the distinct sound of glass shattering. When they opened their eyes a second later, the crystal had disappeared. Small pieces glittering and disintegrating were falling around them. And now, they could see it. The long black ink-like snake, floating in the air. A meter long, maybe two, it was hard to tell, as it undulated in the void, so thin that it sometimes vanished from their view.

It stayed like this for a brief moment, as if stunned by this sudden freedom. Then it became alive, like possessed, slithering away, running from something.

And that something suddenly caught it. Out of nowhere, another snake-like creature, purple this time, swooped down on it, coiling itself around it. The two ponies watched them struggle and fight, unsure of what they were witnessing.

"Control, something is happening..." Schim said with an uncertain voice. "The crystal broke and there are two... creatures fighting."

"The purple one is a magical filament," Donker added, frowning. "This is forbidden magic. I don't know about the black one though."

The purple snake made out of mana finally put an end to its foe, strangling it so tight until it simply exploded and shattered, scattering in space before vanishing, as if it had never existed.

Now alone, the filament drifted slightly, turning, looking around to make sure its target had been eliminated. Schim walked forward.

"Hello?" she tried.

Clearly, that thing was somewhat sentient. It had just destroyed something, but Schim didn't like that black inky creature to begin with. It felt wrong. And Donker could protect her anyway.

The purple worm turned to her. It didn't have a face, but it looked surprised, judging by the manner with which it bent.

"What... What's going on here?" the pegasus asked.

Schim jumped back when the worm rushed down to her, only to hit a magical wall that Donker had quickly raised.

"Back off!" the unicorn said, throwing her shield at the worm to repel it.

The purple filament moved back, before flying away without giving them a second look.

"Control! That thing tried to attack Schim! I'm engaging pursuit!"

Donker threw herself after the magical oddity. The pegasus took a bit more time to comprehend what had happened, but rushed after her.

"Wait!"

"I'm not waiting! Whatever was trapped in that crystal, it killed it! I won't wait for it to do the same to us!"

"But it's running away! It doesn't want to attack us!"

"It's just going to gather some strength or something!"

But the gravity was low, the suits were cumbersome, and the filament wasn't even made out of real matter. So, after a few turns, they lost track of it.

"Dammit!" Donker cursed, catching her breath.

"What's even a filament?" Schim asked, joining her.

"Some type of soul magic. It uses the very life essence of someone to make half-sentient puppets. It does not really think on its own, it's not really alive. It only exists through the mana that makes it and the will that brought it here."

"So... Someone used their soul to make it...?"

"Theirs or someone else's," Donker answered through gritted teeth. "That's what most people do. But it's still someone's soul. It can feel, even though it doesn't understand what's happening."

"That type of magic has been forbidden for millennia," the voice on the radio said. "Checking with operation's command right now, but I'll advise you to try and locate that thing and stop it."

"Something doesn't fit," Schim hesitantly pointed out. "I didn't see the filament in the crystal before it broke, but I saw that other thing in it."

"Purple in purple," Donker explained. "That's why you didn't see it. Sorry, Control, but we lost it, and that place is a maze."

Schim thought about it. No. That thing was glittering. She would have spotted it. So, where was that filament coming from?

She looked around. There were other crystals still, more than before. They had progressed towards the center, but were still far away. She walked up to another crystal and, this time, it was easier to spot.

"There's another black thing in this one."

She moved to another nearby.

"In this one too. There's two, even."

All of them. All the purple crystals had at least one of those ink snakes in them. Donker walked up to one of the few black crystals, and Schim joined her.

"There doesn't seem to be anything purple in that one," the unicorn noted, before realizing. "Oh my god..."

Schim's feathers bristled. That crystal wasn't black. It was purple, like the others. But it appeared black because its insides were filled with those ink snakes.

"There's... thousands..." she muttered.

They were clearly different from the filament. They weren't made of magic, but not matter either. It was something else, almost liquid, shining like a well polished rock, but still so dark.

"I... I don't think we should be analyzing anything else," Schim suggested, her guts feeling suddenly oppressed. "If this crystal breaks, all those things will be free."

"I... agree with you on that one," Donker admitted. "I don't like those filaments, but those things... I felt pity for the first one, but they... they terrify me."

"Operation's command asks you to pursue your investigation. Try to learn more, but be careful."

The two ponies looked at each other. They had completely lost track of the filament now, but they had the same idea. Donker grabbed her radio.

"We're going to see what's at the center of all this."

"Copy that."

"Can you teleport us?" Schim asked, nervously looking at the sun slowly going down near the horizon.

"I'd rather not. Those crystals could react to my magic. I could miss the landing and end up frozen in one of those, or worse."

"Then we'll have to hurry."

They both began to run. Towards the epicenter of the crystal fields. Schim regretted that she couldn't fly without an atmosphere. She could have searched for the filament from up high.

Part 2

That race lasted for half an hour, at least. They felt exhausted, unable to properly breath in their suit. They had oxygen for days, but still, it could only be renewed so fast. They didn't fear the cold of the night, as they were protected, but they had other things to fear.

Way long before they stopped, they could already see it. The great crystal at the center. As big as a small city and as high as the highest mountain on their home planet. An unending succession of peaks, star-like structures, flowers taller than a house, and a huge hexagonal chunk.

The forest became so dense that at the end of their run, they had to frequently stop so as to not come into contact with one of the strange purple prisons. They had yet to see one of those green ones they had gotten a glimpse of on their way down. But that thing in the middle seemed so much more important.

They arrived at its base. A stupendously large wall, as smooth as could be, without any trace of imperfection.

"Holy heavens," Donker said, impressed. "I don't know who made this, but I don't want to deal with that kind of magician."

"That thing must have been there for centuries... Do filaments have a life expectancy?"

"Not that I know of. Mana creatures don't really die, unless their body is destroyed."

"So, the person who created them probably died a long time ago."

As she was saying that, Schim looked in the crystal. In this one too, there were those black things. But not that many, considering the size of their prison, compared to the others.

"But why was all this made?" Donker wondered, looking up to the invisible top. "If it was made by one person, is it the same that made the crater? That would be absurd."

She looked down, only to notice that Schim wasn't really paying attention. She was looking inside the crystal, squinting.

"Hey, are you listening?"

"There's someone in there..." Schim muttered, not even sure of what she was seeing herself.

"What?"

Donker put her hoof above her eyes, trying to look inside. But, alas, she couldn't see anything.

"It's at the center... It looks like a pony...?" Schim guessed.

"How are you even seeing that? It's like half a kilometer away."

"Pegasus eyes..."

Donker got closer. Still nothing. Schim could make out a silhouette, standing in the middle, on its two hind legs. It had wings as well?

"How the hell would a pony arrive here? There's not even air to breathe."

"I don't know... Careful!"

As she was trying to get closer, Donker's horn came into contact with the crystal wall. The reaction was immediate. The unicorn felt like everything in her was being drained. The magical construction began to glow. Cracks appeared.

Schim rushed to her mate and managed to push her out of the contact. But it was too late. Fissures were spreading on the whole surface and on the inside.

"Get down!" Schim yelled, throwing herself on Donker to bring her on the ground.

A moment later, in the deafening strident sound of a thousand mirrors breaking at the same time, the whole structure was smashed to pieces. The debris were so large some of them had time to touch the floor before they disintegrated completely.

"Explorer, what happened!?" Control asked.

Both ponies looked up, Schim protecting herself with one wing, even though no debris were falling on her. She answered the radio:

"We made contact with the structure by inadvertence. It collapsed as a result."

"My magic..." Donker moaned, rubbing her horn and getting up. "Thank god it didn't use the one from the suit, I would be dead..."

"The pony!" Schim shouted.

"What?"

But her pegasus mate didn't answer. She was already galloping towards the center. Donker grumbled and went after her.

Schim could see them. The black strings, from all over their ancient prison, rushing towards the center. Followed by those filaments which had, again, spawned from nowhere. And the collapsed body of that pony, in the middle.

Gosh, how slow she was without her wings... That distance spent running felt like forever. And during that forever, she saw it. Something that couldn't be good. The black snakes, all of them, dived onto the pony laying on the floor. They went straight in them, passing through the skin as if it wasn't there, sneaking under. Like...

"Worms..."

A shiver went down her spine as she came to that unsettling realization.

"Schim! Wait!" Donker yelled on the radio.

The purple filaments weren't far behind. They were trying to reach the pony in the middle. The purple pony. Schim was close enough to see it was a mare, with a horn and with wings.

"It's an alicorn..." she muttered.

"What!? Aren't they supposed to be extinct!?"

"It's an alicorn!" she panicked. "Control, the imprisoned pony is an alicorn!"

But it moved. The mare moved. First, a wing twitched. Then, her head slowly raised, getting out of her lethargy. And as soon as she opened her eyes, the filaments all attacked her. Diving down, wrapping, coiling around her body, like hundreds of ropes trying to constrain her movement.

The mare yelled and grunted, despite the lack of air, struggling in them.

"We gotta stop those things!" Donker shouted.

Schim stopped a few meters away from the mare fighting off the filaments with weak and unreliable movements. She grunted, she tried to bite them. One of her wings was bent backward and broke in an unpleasant sound. Her horn took on a dark light and she repelled a few of the filaments, but they would immediately come back to attack her.

Donker ran passed Schim and jumped on the alicorn, instantly deploying a shield that pushed away all the filaments. They all immediately tried to pierce through the shield, knocking on it with their bodies.

It took a little time for the mare to understand what was going on. She looked around, her eyes falling on Donker, right next to her.

Schim saw her getting up on her hooves. Slowly. Unbothered by the fact she was in the middle of space, without any protective gear on. Something felt off, in the way she looked at the unicorn, for just a second. She blinked then turned to the shield, her face between neutral and curious. She didn't look like someone that had just been attacked. The purple filaments stopped all at the same time.

"You magical abominations won't hurt her!" Donker warned, stomping her hoof, even though deep down she was glad they had stopped because her shield was about to give in.

The alicorn closed her eyes. Her horn suddenly unleashed a dozen of black strings, spreading and sprawling like tentacles. They stayed attached to the horn, but pierced the shield from inside, extending right to the filaments. Two got caught, while the others began to run away. The tentacles swarmed the two captives and tore them apart mercilessly.

Donker took a step back, scared by the weird magic that alicorn had just used, and the brutal way she was dealing with those things. Schim and her heard them. The filaments. A distorted cry, as if heard through a wall of water and a wall of earth. The yells were vibrating, shaking, desperate, as their reality was getting shattered along with them. Then, as they were ripped in one too many pieces, they simply evaporated.

The tentacles went back in the alicorn's horn, one putting the broken wing back in place right before vanishing. All the other filaments had gone and she still stared at them in the distance, visibly holding a grudge as her face was starting to show some emotions. She turned to the two terrified ponies right by her side.

"We need to destroy them," she said. "They are dangerous."

Both Schim and Donker weren't even surprised that they could hear her. The way she talked was way more worrying. She sounded like three people at once, all with different tones.

"W-Who are you?" Donker stuttered. "Why are you here!? Why are they here!?"

The alicorn looked away for a moment, at the ground, searching for an answer, as if she needed to recover that memory.

"I am Twilight Sparkle," she finally said. "Princess of Equestria."

Part 3

"So the legends were true!" Schim realized. "The Sparkle! Someone really went here to defeat some evil!"

"But... Equestria's been gone for millennia," Donker whispered in disbelief. "Actually, it..."

"It disappeared with its last princess," the voice in the radio confirmed. "The last alicorn. This is unforeseen and way bigger than what we planned. I'm contacting our superiors."

The princess looked at Schim, then at Donker, moving quite slowly.

"Who was that third voice?"

"It's our contact, back on Weil."

Ah she said that, Schim suddenly remembered and turned her head. The sun was setting. They were about to lose contact.

"Control, we need directives!" she urgently said. "What do we do!?"

She didn't wanted to stay with that thing, alone, for four hours. It was starring at her, with an empty curiosity. No answer came. Twilight tilted her head slightly.

"Do I scare you?"

"Not gonna lie, yes," Donker nodded.

"My apologies then," the princess said. "I have been trapped here for so much time, and robbed of most of my essence."

"The weird voice probably doesn't help."

Twilight frowned slightly, as if she hadn't noticed it before. She raised a hoof to her throat and began to adjust her voice.

"Ah... Aaaah... Is this better?"

She sounded normal, aside from the way too detached tone. Donker and Schim nodded, but without much conviction, still very much scared of her.

"What happened here?" Schim asked again.

"Long story. May we talk about it while we search for those things? We must not let them gather too much strength."

"Lead the way," Donker invited.

Twilight stepped forward. A bit uneasy with her hooves at first, but she quickly got the hang of it.

"Those things are ancient," she explained. "A terrible foe I had to fight. They come in groups of many."

"How are they called...?" Schim asked, to confirm her belief.

Twilight glanced at her, judging her a bit, before answering:

"The worms. They exist beyond life, yet prey on it to reproduce. They infiltrate the bodies of their victims, take control and spread."

Donker frowned, but didn't interrupt her.

"They began to attack Equestria," the alicorn continued. "I managed to lure them on this planet to fight me. They were about to take over my body, but I managed to stop them all with a spell."

"Is that what those black things are for?" Schim asked.

"They are parts of my soul. They were the base for my trapping spell. That's why I need to gather them, I'm too weak for now."

"Why trap them...?" Donker asked. "The worms, I mean."

"I needed to make sure none of them would run away," Twilight said. "Even just one escaping would have wasted everything. Thankfully, now that we're so far away from living creatures, it's not a pressing issue."

"Explorer, do you receive?" asked the voice in the radio.

"Yes, Control," Schim said. "What is it?"

"We confirmed that Twilight Sparkle is linked to the story of this planet. We need you to bring her back, safe and sound. There is a lot to learn."

Donker looked at the horizon. The last ray of the sun was disappearing. They still had a bit of time, because Weil was further on the orbit, but it was a matter of seconds, at best.

"How did she look?" Schim asked, looking at the princess, who returned a gaze full of suspicions.

"Tall, purple alicorn. And she had a cutie mark that resembled-"

Contact was lost. The radio felt silent, as the three mares were plunged into darkness.

"Do I understand that you do not trust me to be who I say I am?"

"Better safe than sorry, princess," Schim answered, containing the unsettling feeling in her.

She did not like to be there, almost alone, with her and those things. An alicorn. The worms. It was too much for a first expedition.

"Welp, here goes our contact," Donker sighed.

Their eyes became used to the obscurity. And if the stars weren't enough to light the way, the dim purple glow emanating from the crystals was sufficient for them to not trip and fall.

"I understand that many things happened during my absence," Twilight said, coming to the foot of one of the crystals. "I'm looking forward to hearing more about you and to tell you more about me and my time. But first, I need your help."

"What can we do?" Donker asked.

"Can you touch that crystal?"

The two astronomares frowned. That was an oddly suspicious request from an oddly suspicious pony.

"Why do you need us to do that?" Schim wondered.

"These prisons require mana to be broken. I'm too weak, my body and soul could collapse from it."

Donker and Schim looked at each other, uncertain. The pegasus decided on trying just once, not because she trusted her, but because she wanted to be sure of something. She couldn't tell her friend about it, not in front of Twilight, so she simply nodded to her.

"You're the unicorn, do it."

"I guess I do have more mana than you..." Donker slowly said, touching the crystal.

Once again, the structure began to glow, before shattering. But this time, Schim was ready. She looked away at the right time to not be blinded, and focus her eyes back on the collapsing prison. Three black snakes were there, as she had seen just before. But the purple filament was nowhere to be seen. Instead, the pieces of the crystal were slowly falling, disintegrating around the ink creatures.

But then, in an instant, she saw it. The debris briefly glowed, before gathering and forming, in a magical and purple haze, compacting themselves into a single entity. Into a filament. Those things were the prison. And the black snake the prisoners. Not the other way around.

"I knew it..." she muttered.

She suddenly turned to Donker, ready to yell at her friend. But she was suddenly pushed and thrown forward by two long and black tendrils.

"Hey!" the unicorn shouted, suddenly blasting a shield at Twilight.

But the magic spell hit her as if she was a wall. The magical protection couldn't make the alicorn move. Twilight slowly turned her eyes to Donker, unnaturally. They had lost the faint piece of equinity they once had.

"Let us feed," the alicorn slowly said, not hiding her unnatural and uncountable voices anymore.

The two tendrils sprouting from her horn laid on the shield, trying to reach the unicorn behind it.

"Aaah!" Schim yelled.

The fear in Donker's heart only grew bigger as she saw the three black snakes charging at her friend, the pegasus uselessly putting her wings in protection.

She dragged her by magic by the tail and brought her behind the shield, rumbling.

"I freaking knew it! Those purple things aren't worms, they're filaments! An alicorn should know that! I don't know what the hell you are, but if that crystal was truly your magic you should have been able to break it without touching it!"

The three black worms crashed on the shield, before going back to the alicorn, sinking in her, by the eyes, without causing any reaction in her. She was staring at Donker with... hunger.

"That body is ours but her magic isn't," she said. "We need you to open the others. Break us free, and we'll free you in return."

"You can't do anything without us! You'll be trapped here with what's left of you!"

The alicorn suddenly stood up on her hind legs, spreading her wings way more than she should have been able to. Donker heard the sound of bones cracking as the body in front of her was being remodeled. From the broken joints, black tentacles emerges, and from the depth of the planet, a voice echoed the words of the being in front of her:

"You are the trapped ones. Trapped in your world, trapped in your flesh, trapped in your souls. Let us free you."

She ended the last sentence by slamming her front hooves on the shield. Donker held tight, but she saw something that should be possible. The shield was cracking. A physical attack was making her magic yield, as if they were on the same level!

The entity in the alicorn body weighed down on the shield. Slowly but surely. Donker thought as fast as she could, while Schim was getting up. Then, suddenly, a purple string whipped the alicorn on the cheek, carving her coat and flesh. Blood didn't come out, worms did. But most of all, the thing fell on its side, caught by the attack.

The filament quickly wrapped itself around its neck, trying to strangle it. Its prey had forgotten about it, it wasn't going to waste that opportunity.

"Run!" Schim yelled, fleeing the scene herself.

Donker followed, nervously glancing back. She saw the worms from the wound reach for the filament, surrounding it with uncountable black ink snakes, pulling on it, tearing it apart. The yells came back. That feminine distorted voice, that pain, that ripping sound. It was the agonizing cry of a soul being shredded by the thing it had sworn to imprison forever. Was it even conscious? Or just a box of will, unaware of its own fate, just feeling the torment without even having a mind to understand it? Either way, Donker felt nauseous. And the infested alicorn slowly stood up, looking their way.

They ran. Ran in between the jungle of crystals, hitting some of them on their way out, creating even more chaos as the structures released more worms and more filaments, immediately engaging in battles above and behind the two mares.

"What do we do!?" Donker panicked. "If an alicorn couldn't defeat it, I don't see how we can prevent it from escaping from here!"

"We need to find where those things went! The ones we freed earlier on!"

Donker looked back, hesitating a bit.

"I... I think we lost her. Or it. I don't know."

They didn't stop running either way. That thing, they didn't know its reach. The same reason why they wouldn't go back to their ship and flee. Those things would spread. They could survive space.

"I don't think that's Twilight Sparkle," Schim said. "I think... something happened when she was fighting the worms. Oh dear, she tried to warn us. Do not go among the stars."

"So that's why some legends say she was the villain?"

"I don't know... We need to find what's left of her. Maybe we can trap them again."

"If she's only filaments..."

Schim didn't want to lose hope. She couldn't. Not with that thing roaming free.

"She was an alicorn, maybe hers are better than the ones you know about. Each of these crystals is a part of her. I don't think a unicorn could have done that."

Donker looked around, worried.

"And each of them contains at least one of those things... She was outnumbered even after splitting her soul."

The blue unicorn suddenly stopped. Schim heard her, followed her gaze and stopped as well.

"What is that...?" the unicorn said in a short whisper.

A green crystal, not really big compared to the others, but its shape was out of the ordinary. Whereas the others were just hexagonal towers, this one was shaped like a four-sided diamond, standing on its tip.

But what sent a shiver down the two mares' spine was inside of it. A pony. An earth pony. And something was definitely off with him. He was frozen with his legs dangling, his head tilted way too much on the side. Like a poorly held puppet. But his face was worse. Donker couldn't really see it through the crystal, she just thought he had black eyelids and that it was too dark to see inside his opened mouth.

But Schim saw it for what it was: A void. His eyes were opened, there were simply no eyeballs in them. And no bones to speak of. Same for his mouth, no teeth, no tongue, nothing behind that black emptiness. Despite her pegasus vision, she could not see any flesh behind them. It went on forever. A void that, as she stared it in, seemed to let out a noise. A disgusting sound of meat being torn apart, of bones being eaten, of living beings being consumed. A thousand cries of agony, hopelessness, begging for mercy. She heard a child yelling for his mother, a husband crying for his wife, a king mourning his subjects, an acorn fearing for its forest, an ocean pleading for its creatures, a planet silent for its life. And on top of all this noise, growing stronger and stronger, unstopping, uncaring, unrelenting. The sound of worms feasting.

"Ok, we're definitely not freeing this one," Donker suddenly said, making Schim jump. "Wow, are you okay?"

"I... I'm not," she answered, feeling her legs weak, as she finally managed to look away from his eyes. "We need to find the filaments."

As she said those words, a few meters away, a purple stream of magic quietly flew by, stopping in front of the crystal, as if it was looking at it.

"Hello?" Schim tried again.

The filament turned to them, before running away. Schim went after it, Donker right behind her.

"Wait!" the pegasus pleaded. "We know what you are fighting! We want to help you! How can we defeat the worms!?"

The piece of soul slowed down, like it was unsure. Schim slowed as well, to not frighten it, adopting a lower posture in sign of harmlessness.

"You're the real Twilight Sparkle, right...?"

The name made it pulse, echoing through it. The filament stopped, turning to Schim. She continued:

"How can we help...? That thing is free, and it's going to escape."

The filament came closer, undulating like a wave. Donker prepared her horn, but Schim raised a wing to tell her to not do anything. She trusted the filament. It was Twilight Sparkle. And even if it wasn't, it was trying to stop those things, so it was worthy of trust.

"If only it could speak," the unicorn said.

The filament suddenly dashed towards Schim. Like a lightning bolt, it passed right through her forehead and came out on the other end, leaving her unharmed. At least not physically. She fell down on her knees and Donker rushed to her, grunting.

"You bastard! What have y-"

Schim raised her wing again, eyes wide opened, panting, looking at the ground.

"I-I'm okay! S-She told me!"

She had learned so much in so little time. It was more than just the filament telling a story. She had lived through it, with the emotions of the princess. Her memory. But it was still confusing.

"I know what happened... And I think I know how to defeat them!"

"Well, explain then!" Donker pressed.

"We need to find the others first. Just know: That thing," she pointed at the pony imprisoned in the crystal. "It's very important. The worms must not destroy it!"

"Okay, not like we can do much about that. Where are the others?"

"Follow me!"

Schim suddenly ran, with the filament right above her head. Donker followed, waiting for answers, that her friend started to give on their way:

"Just like that fake Twilight told us. Those things, they came from space right when this planet was going by Weil. Twilight was one of the rulers of the world at that time, when the old kingdoms still existed. They attacked and tried to eat everything, but she managed to lure them on this planet. That pony in the crystal, he was one of the victims and one of her friends. She had five others with her. They were losing the battle, they were going to get overwhelmed and the world would fall with them."

Schim looked up at the filament, realizing something. Her mind was still processing the information, despite having all of it.

"The worms were too many, she couldn't destroy them all at once. So, instead, she decided to trap them. She made the crater, imbued the whole place with her magic with one gigantic spell."

"Ooh," Donker realized. "So that's why we can hear sounds here."

"I guess," Schim responded, unaware of that. "But they were still too strong for her, she needed to have the worms in one place, to weaken a good portion of them. And she found a solution."

"Whatever it was, it didn't work I suppose?"

"No," Schim said with a more emotional tone. "It did work. As she had planned. She had seen the worms attack and take the bodies of her friends. And she deduced something. Her unicorn friends had resisted for much longer than the others. Magic hinders the worms, they need more time or numbers to conquer a body that is more receptive to it. And she was an alicorn. So, she supposed that taking over her body would require a lot of their strength."

A silence fell between the two mares, only ruptured by the sounds of their hooves hitting the silvery ground under the dim purple light.

"She gave her body away...?" Donker realized in shock.

"It worked. She prepared her spell while they were swarming inside. With so many trapped in her and her friends, it was just a question of imprisoning the bodies and the rest of the worms. And before she lost her mind, she split her souls, releasing the spell, and sending every filament to freeze them in those crystals."

"So..."

Donker looked around, piecing things together.

"Each one of them... is a part of her?"

"Each and every one," Schim confirmed. "It's her. The filaments we saw being ripped apart were as well. And if we don't stop that monster, it's going to destroy her."

"But how? How are we going to stop it?"

"We're going to use her friends in the crystals. They-"

Schim stopped her sentence and her running, followed by Donker. They had arrived at a little clearing and, right in the middle of it, three other filaments were floating in the air, gathered in a circle, as if they were discussing something.

"Wait, that's it?" Donker asked with concern. "Only four of them to stop that monster?"

"We'll need to free more of them," Schim informed, walking up to the purple strands of magic, as they turned to face them. "I know your plan. But we need to act quickly. We're going to help you, but that monster is on the loose. It will escape this place if we don't stop it, it's already trying to gain the use of the magic in your body."

"Is... that why the other worms went inside her body as well?" Donker understood, remembering the monstrosity telling them it couldn't access its magic. "To strengthen their grip on it?"

After all those years, after her soul being torn apart in so many little pieces, the princess was still fighting on, inside of her own body as well? Just so those things wouldn't get to use her alicorn magic?

The fourth filament joined the others and they all seemingly looked at Schim, before drifting to a crystal nearby. The pegasus in her suit walked to the magical prison, looking inside. Just another worm. She turned her eyes to the four soul fragments. Just to be sure, she asked:

"You want us to free it?"

If the tip was the head, then all four nodded. Schim looked at her own hooves. After all, during their escape, she had broken a few of those crystals as well. They didn't require unicorn's magic specifically to be opened.

She took a deep breath and laid her hoof on it. She felt the magical draining occurred, but now that she had been mixed with the princess' thoughts for a brief moment, she understood what it was: A confirmation. A verification that someone was here to take in charge a problem that the princess had put on hold. She had purposefully sent the planet on a course out of the system, yet she still made a last minute protection. It would only open to forms of life bearing magic, and never to another worm.

As the crystal broke, all four filaments threw themselves on the barely free ink snake, overwhelming it and choking it until it exploded like last time. Then, they gathered again, welcoming the fifth member that had just reassembled itself. They all looked Schim's way, and something settled in the young pegasus. An understanding. The beginning of an acceptance of what all of this implied. For them. For the world.

"There are thousands of those," Donker pointed out. "How are we even going to free them all? Will that even be enough? I doubt that thing will get caught a second time."

"The princess can't imprison it again on her own anyway. But there is a solution to gather as many of them as we can. Hold on."

Schim went to another crystal, following the filaments. She did not need for them to make another gesture this time. She touched it, freeing the worm inside, and it was once again taken care of quickly. Once they were six, the filaments gathered and linked to one another, under the curious gaze of the two ponies.

The purple magical threads emitted a pulse. But it was disjointed, some did it before the others, and some were a slightly different color. They did it again, then again, each time getting closer to some sort of harmony. Like a musician tuning their instrument.

And then, harmony was reached. The two mares almost jumped when they heard a sudden "Ah" coming from them. It did it a second time, calibrating itself, then a few random syllables.

"Is this working?" the filaments asked.

The voice was distant, absent minded, but still there. Deformed, echoey, yet unmistakably coming from a mare. Frighteningly close to that thing from earlier, pretending to be Twilight Sparkle. Because they were all trying to mimic the princess' voice. One to deceive, and the filaments by force of habit. Because it was the voice of their common soul.

"We hear you," Schim answered.

"I need you, Schim and Donker from Weil," the filaments followed immediately. "I have tasks for each of you. Schim, you already know yours."

"Yes, princess," the pegasus nodded.

"What about me?" Donker asked, a bit afraid for herself.

"I need you to gain us some time," the voice said, uncaringly, for they could only think about their ultimate mission. "They will seek to free their peers. They probably already have done so. You'll need to prevent them from breaking the prism containing large numbers of them. The more they are inside, the easier it is for them to break it."

"The black ones?" Donker guessed, remembering the tall formation teeming with worms. "Yeah, I can see why... But how can I stop them?"

"Your magic," the princess's voice answered. "As long as they are trapped in my body, you can fend them off."

"I'm not sure about that," Donker said with uncertainty. "No offense, but when those things hit my shield earlier, it almost broke on the spot. Same with them in your body. One more snap and I was toast."

"If shields truly worked, she would have used that," Schim pointed out. "We don't have a choice. I've seen what those things can do. They'll find a way to get out, to roam space, to get back to Weil. And we don't have anything that can threaten them there."

"Not even a magic missile...?" the unicorn tried.

"I don't know how much your technology has advanced," the filaments cut. "But only two kinds of magic truly work on them: Harmony and soul magic. Do you know either?"

"Harmony is an old form..." Donker muttered. "It's not taught anymore, and we need more than two ponies for that. Soul magic is straight-up forbidden."

"We can do harmony," the princess corrected. "We are enough, with you and my old friends."

"I still don't see myself fighting them," Donker winced.

"I will accompany you. But you must protect my fragments. We need as much as myself as possible."

"Got it."

Donker wasn't really feeling confident. She knew those filaments weren't powerful, at least not on their own. And they wouldn't care about her. They were made with the will of destroying the worms, everything else was secondary to those barely sentient beings. But she had no other choices. Schim was right. Those black things would find a way out and get to Weil, with who knows how much strength.

A sound of distant shattered glass reached them. The two mares turned their heads, only to see, far away, a cloud of black smoke rising up. No, it wasn't smoke. Those were worms. One of those black crystals had been broken and they were now swarming around its remains.

"Crap!" Donker cursed.

"Follow me!" the filaments shouted, one of them splitting from the group and blazing past the blue unicorn.

"Don't die!" Donker said to her friend, before rushing behind the soul fragment.

"Don't get turned into one of those!" Schim replied.

They could still communicate with their radio, it had enough reach for a few kilometers. But, from now on, they would be almost on their own.

The gray pegasus turned to the five other filaments.

"I'm ready. Lead me to them."

Part 5

One strike. Donker had one strike left with her blade. Her shield had broken, as well as so many others. And that monster was still going strong. No amount of laser, no rocks thrown at it, no magical push, no blinding light, nothing was working on it. It simply kept on marching, tendrils out of its horn, legs and ears, deflecting every attack, responding to every move with one of its own.

Donker teleported again, panting, dodging another slam from a black tendril. She was exhausted. Keeping that thing away was so much worse than any magical training she had ever received, and she was trained in dealing with space difficulties!

"You look tired," the monster calmly said, looking at her from a few meters away.

"Shut up...!" she fulminated through her clenched teeth.

"You've put up a good fight. But your little help is fading as well."

As it said that, Donker saw one of the filaments around her horn slowly fall off, like an autumn leaf, barely glowing anymore. The mare's heart skipped a beat. The three others weren't fairing better. Their pulse was weak. The magic they were giving her felt weak.

"I-I..."

Another charge from a black tendril. This time, Donker was too exhausted to teleport or to dodge. So, instead, she swung her sword. The tendril was cut straight away, vanishing before it even touched the ground. But so did the sword.

The worms around the monster suddenly formed a large cone, with its widest part pointed at the unicorn. A torrent of gray matters burst out of it. Donker knew that one, they had used it before. That glitchy, vibrating thing was meant to paralyze her, to push her spirit out of her body. And it was coming in fast. A phasing beam.

She had nowhere to run. No magic to defend herself. Nothing but...

A name.

The gray laser crushed itself onto a blue shield that had suddenly appeared in front of the unicorn. And, in response to the attack, the shield glowed brighter, repulsing the beam away, up to where it had come from, forcing the worms to stop and the monster to take a step back.

The alicorn brushed it back with one swoop of her wing, making the shield go back to its owner. A half-sphere protecting the unicorn, standing strong on her hooves.

The monster smiled.

"What piece of yourself did you sacrifice this time?"

The unicorn didn't answer, but she clenched her teeth even more. That bastard knew. It knew that soul magic was costing her so much. But she wasn't going to tell him.

Her name. Her family. All the memories she had of them. This is the price she had paid for it. For that shield that was going to last for who knew how long. She only knew how to sacrifice things she held dear to use in soul magic.

"Shame it's all in vain," the monster said.

The unicorn suddenly felt something piercing through her right hind leg. She looked and saw, horrified, a black worm coming out of the ground and wiggling its way into her leg.

She panicked, tried to grab it by magic, but she was too weak. She couldn't get a grasp on it, and the filaments didn't even react. So she watched, helplessly, the thing passing through her suit and skin as if they weren't there, disappearing in her leg.

She could feel it. Making its way up her body, through her bones and organs. She felt sick, as it passed in her stomach. But it was aiming for her head. It went up right next to her throat and stopped, like it couldn't go further.

She was shaking. It was inside her. Inside! She couldn't get it out!

She tried to gain back her composure. Otherwise, the shield was going to fade. She immediately extended it below her, sacrificing the memory of her graduation in the process. It was only one. She was a unicorn. She could resist one, right? That's what Twilight had said. This was fine. Fine. Schim was going to be back soon. She would fix that.

How old was she? Eight? Nine? A little unicorn with a small pair of glasses, stuck in the crystal, mouth and eyes wide open in a scared but mute scream. Schim couldn't believe it. And she was struck by a terrible realization: she could see her eyes. See her teeth and tongue. She was...

"She's not corrupted by the worms..."

The pegasus immediately turned to the filaments by her sides, which were forming the shape of an alicorn but only its outline, while others were circling the crystal again.

"I thought they were all dead!" Schim shouted with indignation, stomping her hoof.

"She is," the filaments replied.

"She clearly isn't!" Schim yelled, pointing at the filly. "Her body isn't overrun by the worms!"

"I didn't say it was. She died upon being teleported here and used in the spell. She only had two worms inside of her at that point."

Schim stared at the alicorn-shaped filaments next to her in disbelief.

"YOU did that!?"

"I did."

This wasn't the natural coldness of the strands speaking. The voice was trying to sound firm, but even Schim could feel the doubt behind it.

"You killed a filly!?"

"There wasn't much time..." the filaments replied, although a bit shaky in their pulses. "She would have been dead anyway. The worms were swarming everywhere. They would have gotten to her."

"But YOU killed her!" Schim exploded.

"She didn't have a choice!" a young voice suddenly shouted, making the filament freeze immediately.

Schim turned. Something had appeared in front of the crystal. A small cyan translucent filly, floating in the air, looking at them. She had the same upper body as the one in the crystal, but from her belly downward, it was just two long black snakes, slowly waving.

"She lied to me," the filly continued, looking at Schim. "She told me we could save our friends. That I needed to bear her element. That everything would be fine."

She was calm. Resentful yet somehow compassionate. But Schim didn't understand that.

"She killed you..." she said, shaking her head.

"But she did not want it."

"How is that enough to forgive her...?"

The filly's eyes turned to the filaments. The alicorn they formed was shaking, wings low, emitting irregular and chaotic pulses.

"Because she hates herself for it," the filly finally said. "I held a grudge against her for all those years. But she died too. If she could have only sacrificed herself, she would have done so. She saved all those people, but she couldn't save me. She saved my mom, my brother, my cousins, and I'm sure they all cursed her all their life because she brought me here. They're gone now. I'm gone. And she only remains in those fragments that only seek for her sacrifice to not be in vain."

The little ghostly mare opened her arms and a thin wave made out of a cold blue magic came out of her, in a circle that passed through all of the filaments and Schim. While it didn't affect the pegasus, the soul fragments all pulsed at the same time. The circle of filament broke, as the alicorn silhouette crumbled to her knees. She was sobbing, in an echoing, distant, out of sync manner.

"What did you do...?" Schim whispered, frightened.

"I made them regain their consciousness, at least for a little time," the filly said. "Twilight's spell was incomplete when she made them, because two elements had ceased to resonate with her. She wanted her true self to stay in them. But instead, she created filaments that can feel and think. But they do not imagine, they do not dream, they do not see anything beyond their primary objective. Unlike the real Twilight did."

"Lily..."

Both Schim and the filly looked at the alicorn shape that had just spoken these words with a broken voice. Its head was buried in its hooves, sobbing.

"So you... fixed her spell?" Schim tried to guess, feeling a pinch in her heart.

"I didn't complete it, if that's what you're asking," the filly answered calmly, looking at the remnants of the mare she once called her mentor with a kind pity. "Twilight Sparkle is gone. Her fragments are trapped with feelings of guilt that will prevent them from working properly when time is needed. So I'm letting them experience all those regrets at once, with a substitute for her conscience, so they may help you afterward."

Schim turned to the filly, with a despaired question in her eyes. To which Lily answered sadly:

"I can't bring her back. She used her whole soul and memory to create them. So, what was lost of her in the spell has been gone for thousands of years now."

"I'm sorry..." the silhouette cried in her hooves, as if Schim and Lily weren't there.

"But that's not the matter," the filly continued, Schim hesitantly looking away from the filaments. "Now, it's about you. You've already made it further than she did. You've linked yourself with all the elements, except mine."

"How may I do that?" Schim asked, still worryingly glancing at the sobbing alicorn.

"Your test has already begun. The trial of Magic is to actually find and use the other elements. If you fail, the trial ends with your life."

"Magic?" Schim repeated, unsure. "But, I'm a pegasus."

"It doesn't matter. Magic is something that you create yourself. With your intents, your actions. Unicorns just have a more visual way of doing it and feel more connected to it, but any creature can represent this element."

The filly looked at her in the eyes, like she was judging her. Schim was hesitant. She wasn't born in a civilization that knew what the elements represented, but she had felt it through the memories of the princess. They were important. And she had to use them. Harmony magic was the only thing capable of stopping the worms.

"Don't be too afraid of it," the filly suddenly said in a reassuring tone. "I thought I couldn't be an element. That it was too big of a task. And yet, here I am. The element deemed me worthy enough to allow me to communicate with you here, in this instant."

"But I don't know how to use magic," Schim argued, fearing her own inabilities. "Even less so to defeat the worms."

"I can't bring a solution. You have to find it yourself. Twilight came up with her own. Sacrificing her soul and her friends to destroy the worms. Will you come up with a different way? A better one? It's up to you."

"I... I can't promise anything."

"You'll figure it out when the time comes."

Lily wanted to sound reassuring, but instead it was even more worrying for Schim. When that filament had shared its memory with her, she had understood she had a role to play. But not that she would have to do it all herself.

"What if it doesn't work...?" she asked, afraid.

"You'll know when it happens," the filly shrugged, before suddenly taking on a thoughtful face. "I just realized something."

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe..." Lily hesitantly said out loud. "Maybe this was all Twilight's plan. Like, a backup plan. That would explain why she calibrated those crystals and the elements to preserve a part of us. Maybe she understood things might not work out, that someone else would need to correct her mistakes. Did she feel that Loyalty and Honesty had stopped resonating with her?"

The filly looked at the sobbing alicorn, wondering out loud:

"Is this why you send the planet away after sealing me in there...?"

The alicorn didn't respond. Because it wasn't Twilight. The filly shook her head. This wasn't the time for it. She turned to Schim, who was still looking uncertain.

"Maybe she planned for your arrival," Lily told. "If that's any reassurance for you. Now, take her. Time is running low."

"Take her?" Schim asked, not understanding what she meant by that.

"Twilight. Or rather, the filaments. This is your magic. Touch her."

The pegasus looked at the alicorn. In the meantime, the filly raised one hoof and another slight wave of magic echoed through the place, freezing all the filaments for a brief moment, before they all gathered around the alicorn silhouette, completing it. It stopped sobbing and progressively straightened up. Schim slowly approached her hoof, then touched one of the filaments forming the body.

Even through her suit, it was warm and had barely any consistency at all. Like smoke. But it stayed on her, the filament gripping softly onto her hoof. She felt the warmth going inside and the other soul fragments began to crawl up her leg, going around it, like an armor. They climbed up to her torso and began to spread, attaching themselves to her, passing through the suit, starting some kind of strange fusion.

Because that's what Schim felt. That power they held, it was becoming hers. The will of the alicorn was gathering inside her. Her wings became coated with a bigger version of themselves and she felt a horn poking through her forehead. Not one made out of flesh and bones. One of magic. Long and purple. They were now drawing her contours, not Twilight's.

"Go to the center of the crater, where she stood," Lily advised. "This is where the magic of the elements will be the strongest, at the center of us all. We will be with you, from our little place beyond."

Schim felt so different now. She had that power flowing in her. She couldn't believe how much it was. Alicorn magic. Soul magic. How on Weil had this not been enough to defeat the worms? And it was calm. The filaments weren't tormented by the sorrow of their creator anymore. She looked at the ghost filly.

"Thank you..." the pegasus said.

"May you find your way home safe," Lily nodded.

Schim spread her wings, looking towards the center of the crater. There was no air here, but she didn't have mere pegasus wings anymore. She flapped them, in a gust of magical sparkles, and took off faster than she ever had.

Finding the monster wasn't a complicated task. As soon as she was up in the air, a huge cloud of worms appeared in the crater. Another black crystal had been broken. Which meant... Schim headed straight for it, dashing through the start sky.

There it was. The monster, slowly swallowing all the worms liberated. But something else caught Schim's attention. Her heart sank. She was standing right there, by the alicorn's side. Her unicorn friend. Eyes black.

Schim immediately plunged towards her. Both the infested ponies looked up at her when she was only a few meters away. The monster appeared slightly surprised.

"What is-"

It couldn't finish its sentence. Schim swooped past it, grabbed Donker and teleported away in an instant, too far for the tendrils to even catch.

They both hit the metal floor of their ship. Donker immediately began to struggle. Schim pinned her down with her magic, but she was shaking. Refraining tears.

She looked at her friend. Her body was untouched, but she was screaming loud distorted grunts, struggling around, eyes empty and mouth black.

"Stay there..." Schim whispered, placing a magical rune on and around her friend. "I'll be back soon..."

She only received another scream of rage as an answer. She took one last look at her friend, then teleported away, right in front of the alicorn.

"We thought you would run away," it said.

Schim leaned forward, teeth clenched, staring at the creature with an indescribable anger, wings out.

"But it is too late," the princess said.

One last worm went into it. And something changed. Something turned wrong in the very essence of the alicorn's body. Bones cracked. Iris turned dark. Hairs changed into ink snakes. And a deep, loud roar of power emanated from the mouth.

"The alicorn magic..." the thing said with utmost delectation. "Finally, it is ours to-"

It was cut short. Schim had swung in and violently sent her hind leg right into its face. The infested alicorn took a bit of time to understand what was happening, and it only became clear once its back slammed against a crystal.

When it aligned its eyes again, it saw Schim rising in the air. She opened her hooves and her horn discharged a wave in the crater.

"Come to me!" she called.

But not to the worms.

All around them, all the crystals began to shake. Then, at once, the all collapsed, freeing all the worms inside and all of the filaments left in the while Shattered Sea. The only structures that remained were the six green crystals of the elements.

"You left more of us out," the thing said, almost mockingly, before frowning upon seeing Schim's face. She looked certain of what she was doing.

She wasn't. At least, not in the long run. But somewhere, in her, seeing Donker in that state had awakened something. Something that was guiding her. A power. A magic.

All the filaments freed went straight to her, while their ex-captives wandered around, not lost but wary. Something was up.

"What are you planning on?" the alicorn asked.

Schim's horn turned brighter and the magic floating in the crater suddenly became much more visible. All the worms were brutally pulled towards the ground, even the ones that were trying to fly off. The alicorn had to bend the knee.

"You tried to run away?" the pegasus asked with a menacing but also defiant tone.

She had felt the worms trying to leave the planet. As soon as they had sensed she was up to something, they had decided on an escape. Twilight had been right to imprison them all at once to be sure she wouldn't miss any.

But the creature reacted to her provocation. The alicorn's horn began to glow a dark purple, a circular magical rune appeared right in front of it. Schim barely had time to dodge before shards of pure magic were thrown at her. But when she looked back, the alicorn was gone.

She heard a flash above her. She turned, only to see the creature throwing a blazing laser of dark magic right at her. Schim blocked it with a shield, but got carried with the power of the shock, down to the ground where the cascade of magic didn't stop. But she stood, protection raised, clenching her teeth.

She caught a glimpse of a worm trying to approach her from another angle. She immediately teleported away, only to get stopped midway by a black tendril that she cut in an instant with a powerful beam. Harmony magic did work after all. But that wouldn't be enough.

She heard a roar. The creature was plunging right at her. Worms burst out from everywhere on it, eclipsing its true form and instead creating a new alicorn, bigger, scarier, with its mouth wide open and ready to swallow Schim.

The pegasus closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. She spread her wings and flew off quickly, staying low, near the ground, dodging around. Some worms threw themselves towards her, others tried to cut off her escape, but she managed to pass by them with some clever wing movements. Magic was new to her, but flying definitely wasn't. And she had a target.

"Your powers will be a pleasure to take as well," suddenly said a voice right behind her.

She didn't turn around. She immediately jumped a few meters further with a spell, only to then stop and face her enemies.

They were everywhere. Thousands of them, swarming, wiggling like huge disgusting insects, waiting for their feast. Schim was scared, but paradoxically confident. She had the power of the princess, the power of the elements, the will to save her friend, to save the world. It was here, now, or never.

The alicorn creature was still rushing towards her, a wild beast made of a wormy sludge, with the deformed shape of Twilight Sparkle. Schim looked at it, in its yellow glowing eyes.

"Falling in the same trap again, aren't we?" she seriously said.

The creature stopped, realizing in a fraction of a second where it was standing. But it was too late. Schim's whole being began to glow. Brighter than any star, than any rainbow. The six crystals left all activated at the same time. The silvery ground emitted a dimmed light, as the will of its maker, passed on through the shape of her cutie mark, pervaded the whole area. All the worms bathed in it, and they couldn't escape. And the creature was standing right in the center.

Schim's eyes turned white. She stared at the creature, charging her own spell. She understood it. What the princess had felt in that moment. Begging fate to not fail her. To not be in vain. To just keep everyone else safe.

But, this time, it'll work. Schim knew it. Through her bones. Through her will. Through her soul.

The whole planet was engulfed in a white sphere. Inside of which, six ponies looked at the pegasus in the middle, with smiles on their faces. But the pegasus could only look on the side, at the spaceship, at the mare in it.

"Take care..."

The flash got more intense. Then vanished, along with the planet, the pegasus and the worms.

Part 6

The unicorn without a name woke up a few minutes after. When she looked around, she realized.

"I'm in the ship...?"

She stood up and went to one of the windows. The planet was gone. She was simply drifting through space, although the landing gear was still deployed.

And she was alone.

She immediately took her radio, turned it back on.

"Schim? Schim!"

"What the...?" the radio answered.

But that wasn't Schim. That voice was...

"Explorer twelve?" Control asked, surprised. "I thought the communication would only come back in an hour or so."

"I don't care about that! Schim, answer me!"

But no one else answered. The radio stayed silent, until Control asked:

"What happened...?"

The mare didn't reply. She looked around, in the ship, everywhere. Her friend was nowhere to be found. She had just vanished.

"We are receiving strange data from your sensors," Control added with uncertainty. "It looks like the planet is gone...?"

"Schim's gone! Holy-"

She was cut by an indicator bell going off. The alarm for a life form in the airlock. The unicorn didn't hesitate one moment and rushed to the doors, looking through the windows. She almost fainted when she thought she was seeing a worm. But it wasn't. It was gray. A filament.

She opened the airlock, fearing what it might be. The doors moved and she was faced with it. It was looking at her. Silence fell.

"Schim...?"

The filament nodded, before it slowly made its way towards her.

"I told you I would be back," it said in a pulse, sounding like she was almost smiling.

"You-" the unicorn began, furious.

"I did what I had to do," Schim cut.

"You used soul magic!?"

"And Harmony. To save us all. I thought I could just vanish but then, I realized that it's one of the mistakes Twilight Sparkle made. She left her friends alone. Even the elements. She saved them, but she did not save herself. So, here I am. Here, and there."

"There? What do you mean there!? And what happened to the rest of you!? How did you even use soul magic!?"

The unicorn heard a giggle from the filament, before it replied:

"It's a long story. But I'm in a place where the worms won't harm anyone anymore. Don't worry."

"You're with them!?"

The filament felt silent for a moment.

"Schim...?"

"Yes," she replied, clearly smiling mischievously in her tone. "I'm with them, in a way. But they can't harm me."

"Well, where are you then? I'll look for you!"

"You can't really..."

"Bet."

"Explorer twelve?" Control suddenly cut, as it was only hearing the unicorn's side of the conversation through her radio. "What is happening?"

"... Long story."

Schim looked up in the sky. That planet really seemed almost as big as the moon from here. The crater was so recognizable.

She was sitting in a grassy field, under a nice wind and a blue sky. She heard birds chip in the distance, with songs she had never heard before. She took a deep breath.

"That was a nice idea."

She looked at the filly right next to her. Lily was smiling, looking at her with pride.

"How did you get it?" she asked.

"Well," Schim began. "It's all thanks to you three. Loyalty, Honesty and Magic. You all looked like you were safe, in some way. And you told me Twilight had calibrated the elements to preserve you. The trial of Loyalty showed me this place. So, I figured it might exist. Inside the elements themselves. With you all."

"But bringing the worms with you?" Lily asked.

"There is so much good in this world. The elements are a manifestation of that, I understood it thanks to Twilight's memory. So, my guess is, that world wouldn't get corrupted by them. Looks like I was right."

Lily looked around, still smiling. She saw colts playing, mares discussing, and other creatures that looked nothing like the ones on Weil.

"You even saved all of those they had eaten away..." the small unicorn congratulated.

"Yes, but..."

Schim looked around, still waiting for a silhouette to show up. Lily lost her smile and cut her, sorry:

"She's not here."

Schim's ears flopped down.

"I had hoped that... That some part of her would be here."

Lily looked around again, then suddenly had an idea.

"Hey," she said, attracting the pegasus' attention. She nodded upwards. "Maybe she's up there. That thing, it's her cutie mark after all."

"You think so?" Schim asked, suddenly feeling a bit of hope.

"I don't know, I just wonder why she printed her whole butt-mark on a planet. Unless it was to make sure people would remember her."

The "butt-mark" thing caught Schim a bit off guard, but it's true that this eight years old filly had been eight years old for eons. She looked up at the planet, wondering. On her side, Lily suddenly noticed someone with surprise.

"I'm going to take a look..." Schim murmured.

"Have fun," Lily wished, before running back towards a stallion. "Dad!"

Schim smiled, but didn't look away from the planet. She stood up, spread her wings, and took off. She wanted to meet that mare now, more than ever. She had a thousand questions for her.

She flew up, looking at the crater. She could see the shape of a long worm, laying in a circle calmly. And the purple crystal in its center.

Author's Note

Let it be known that I rushed the last 4k words in a night and I haven't done that in... a long time. It's also the first time that I'm leaving so much up to interpretation on purpose, despite my desire to always explain everything.
Thanks for reading.