A Touch of Chaos

Chapters

Poor First Impressions
Poor Second Impressions
Discussing the New Arrival
Unwelcome Guests
Diplomacy's Failure
A Day for Recovery
Dream a Dream of History
Farewell to Arms
A Mare's Home is her Castle.
Chaos Spreads
Celestia's Theory
At Last, Confrontation
Facing the Darkness
Start of a Second Story
Meet The Changelings
Friend...?
The First Few Pebbles Fall
Aside: A Peaceful Day for Prey
The Invasion Begins
Invasion and Infiltration
The Weak are Food
I Will Not Be Stopped
Aside: Old Thoughts and Old Friends
Catching Up
Intertwining Threads
Cutie Marked
Traintop Tussle
If Not Friends, Then Not Enemies
A Little Taste of Heaven
Past Predators
Last Group: Setting Out
A Change of Pace...
Tying It Together
Ghost Town
Rescue the Night
Break Free of the Darkness (1/2)
Break Free of the Darkness (2/2)
State of the Board
Shared History
Night of Nightmares
Words with a Zebra
Words with a Changeling
Words With a Changeling Queen
Words with a Shackled Prince
Words Conclusion: Words with a Piece
Prologue
The Result of Violence

Poor First Impressions

Dear Diary Journal

I don’t understand what’s happened to me. I don’t know where I am or how I got here. My memories of the time before I woke this morning are…hazy. Indistinct. I am writing my thoughts down now in the hope that it will help me hold on to them. I’m scared, journal. Scared I might lose something, might lose myself.

I can hear monsters in the forest outside my cave. But that’s not the worst part, though it is scary enough. What really scares me is that I can identify and picture the creatures making the noises, despite never having seen them before. I hear a cacophony of roars in the distance and instantly identify it as a hydra. How can I know this? Hydras are mythological, they do not – CAN not exist.

I would think it’s simply my imagination at work, but I am writing this article with a piece of charcoal by the light of a burning strip of bark soaked in the juice of a mysterious fruit. As soon as I saw this orange fruit this morning, I knew just by looking at it that I shouldn’t eat it, and that it would burn extremely well. Explosively well, in fact. Rather than just trust this impossible knowledge, I decided to test it. Breaking apart the fruit with a rock (I didn’t believe the juice was acidic, but I would rather test things like that on things that are not me), I spread the juice over an open area, free of vegetation and covered in rocks. If my mysterious knowledge was correct, I didn’t want to find myself suddenly needing to outrun a forest fire.

Hiding behind a fair-sized rock, I pulled my book of matches out of the backpack I woke up with this morning (no idea how I ended up with either), lit it, and lobbed it over the boulder in the direction of the puddle of juice. I instinctively cowered behind my safeguard as if I expected the fruit to go off like a grenade. Good thing I did, because that’s exactly what happened. Once the world stopped shaking and my ears stopped ringing, I cautiously poked my head out from behind my protective rock shield. What I saw simply stunned me. The area had been scorched black, and several smaller rocks had been thrown a fair distance.

My first thought was that I was VERY glad I had decided not to eat the fruit. My second was that it would make a good torch if I soaked the bark of a certain type of nearby tree in it. I won’t repeat my third thought, but suffice to say it was a series of swears and an unfavourable comparison of my second thought to the idea of using a stick of dynamite as a candle and then being surprised when the inevitable occurs. I won’t bore you with any more of the details, journal, but one experiment later and I had determined it was my third thought that was incorrect. This place doesn’t run on any sort of logic I understand.

I just reread what I’ve written, and I realize that most of what I’ve said has been a completely useless tangent about the Firexplosive Fruit. I must be more stressed out than I thought. I should start from the beginning and work from there. Maybe everything will start making sense.

My name is John Doe. Yeah, I know. My parents must have had a sick sense of humour. I’m not really sure, I can’t really remember them. I think I remember them being at my most recent birthday (27th, if you’re curious), but names, voices, faces; I’ve got nothing. Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. “Wakes up in a mysterious location with no idea how he got there and is suffering from amnesia, how clichéd,” right? Don’t judge me, you’re not here.

Who am I writing at?

I’m worried, journal. I’m afraid. The only memories I can clearly remember are today’s. When I woke this morning, I was perched in a tree. I barely had any time to respond before the branch beneath me cracked and I was lying on my back at the bottom of a tree. Before I could catch my breath and realize what had just happened, a backpack tumbled out of the tree and landed heavily on my face. I swear I heard the universe laughing at me, journal. Blinking the stars out of my eyes, I took a moment to look inside my new backpack. And even if it’s not new, it’s still mine now. Maybe I should have tried to look at my surroundings before exploring my backpack, but I didn’t realise I was anywhere dangerous at the time. I was just lucky nothing found me. I know that now.

The first item I pulled was a simple woodcutter’s axe. It must have been what landed on my head when the backpack fell out of the tree. Thankful it was the flat side and not the blade that struck me, I put it aside. It would have been the perfect way to start the day; with an axe embedded in my skull. Or maybe that would be ending my day? I'm going on a tangent again. Moving on, the next items I pulled out were a trio of full water bottles and a cast-iron cooking pot, complete with lid. Taking a sip of the water, I found it to be clear, crisp, and refreshing. Additionally, there was a fresh book of matches inside the cooking pot. If I had packed this bag, I must have known that I would be in this bizarre forest for a while. So long as I find a source of fresh water, I be able to purify the worst of it by boiling it in my new pot. Feeling much more confident now, I stuck my hand one last time into the near-empty backpack. Inside I found you, dear journal. You were the last item in my backpack. Sitting there at the very bottom, waiting for me. I wonder what I'll think when I come back to read this article in the future? But I suppose that doesn't matter right now. I returned everything to the backpack, except for the axe, which I carried with me, and I took stock of my surroundings for the first time.

I was in a forest, but it was unlike any forest I would have willingly gone. It was like every tree, every bush, every blade of grass had been carefully placed to ensure the maximum amount of creepy. I have no idea how grass can be creepy, but it managed. I don’t clearly remember what the area I woke up in looked like – most of the day kinda blurs together. Four events from today really stand out: waking up; my encounter with the Firexplosive Fruit; finding the cave I’m currently hiding in; and meeting with a horrifying monster in the forest.

Did I forget to mention that one?

I had been travelling through the forest at the time, using my axe to cut a path through any vegetation in my way. I had already found the cave, and was simply exploring to see if I could find anything that would help me survive. I had yet to encounter any animals, and I may have become complacent. My path bisected an animal trail, and then I saw…it. I didn’t see it clearly; all I got was more of an impression. It was standing a ways away near a turn in the path, staring at me. Whatever it was, it was a hideous shade of bright, bright pink and seemed to be standing in mid-air, as if the laws of physics didn’t apply to it. I blinked at the apparition, surprised to see such garish colour in this land of mostly green and grey. That’s when I was treated to an unpleasant surprise, and yes, more unpleasant than meeting the creature in the first place. In the time it took for me to blink, the creature had somehow moved from where I first saw it - a good thirty feet away - to directly in front of me. All I could see was its horrifyingly large baby blue eyes. Those eyes felt like they were boring into my soul, laying all of my worst secrets bare. The monster’s mouth opened, and a string of noises emerged. It was a constant stream of sound, as if the very gates of hell had opened up and one could hear the wailing of the Damned. The worst demons of Tartarus couldn't be this bad. Whatever the creature was, it filled me with fear for my life – for my very soul.

I reacted instinctively, journal. Bellowing a manly war cry, I squeezed my eyes shut and swung my axe at the creature standing in front of me. I didn’t hit it solidly, but I felt a little resistance as I swung and the monster stopped producing sound. I carefully opened my eyes and saw that the creature had leapt back out of range, but that I had managed to nick one of the creature’s front legs. The creature didn't do anything after that, instead it simply stood on the path and stared at me with those horrifically large eyes.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I fled, journal. I didn’t know what had happened or what the creature was, nor did I want to find out. I turned and ran for my life. The monster didn’t pursue.

I have no idea what that thing was, journal. I just hope I never see it again.

Poor Second Impressions

Twilight Sparkle, librarian of Ponyville and personal protégé of Princess Celestia, was not having a good day. In fact, one could go so far as to say she was having a very stressful day. Since, as anyone who knows the purple unicorn could tell you, saying "Twilight does not handle stress well" is like saying "Rarity likes jewels" or "Fluttershy is meek," it was always hazardous to anypony’s health to be near a stressed Twilight Sparkle. Or hazardous to anydragon’s health, in the case of her beleaguered number one assistant.

"Twilight, do you really think all this is necessary?" The baby purple dragon stood in the middle of the library, one clawed fist clenched around a lone piece of paper. Long years of practice ensured that his claws would not puncture the fragile scroll, their sharp points easily slicing through the thin material. He still had nightmares about those training sessions. Twilight got scary when her books were at risk.

The unicorn mare in question was currently standing next to one of the bookshelves, her horn glowing as she rapidly perused the books lining the walls. Several dozen books floated around her, wrapped in the same purple glow as her horn. One would occasionally float down in front of her eyes for a few seconds before it was dismissed and sent back up to float with its fellows. "Of course it’s necessary,Spike," she shot back without looking away from what she was doing. "Did you even read the letter from Princess Celestia?" Twilight rapidly skimmed through the books on the shelves, picking up some and discarding others based on an elimination process that probably made sense only to her.

Spike glanced down at the letter he was holding, taking a moment to think how to respond. Talking to Twilight when she got like this could be... dangerous at the best of times. "Of course I read the letter, Twilight. The Princess wrote that she detected some sort of magical activity from Discord’s statue. I mean, what could she expect you to do about it?" He waved the paper at her. "The Princess says right here that the Princess is going to hold onto the Elements of Harmony in the hopes that their proximity to Discord will keep the seal from getting any weaker. I just don’t see why this means you have to read" – Spike blinked in disbelief as one of the books floated in front of his eyes – "A Study of the Annual Tax Reports of Ponyville? Who writes books like this?"

“You don’t understand at all, Spike.” Twilight shook her head as she pulled another book off the shelf. She finished glancing through the bookshelf before dashing past Spike to a bookshelf on the other side of the room, not hearing Spike’s cry of alarm as he dove out of the way of the cascade of books following in her wake. “Princess Celestia asked me to keep my eyes open for anything out of the ordinary. This is a personal mission from the Princess! If I don’t take it seriously, she’ll think I don’t care! She might think that I don’t want to be her student anymore!!" The more she talked, the louder she got until she was almost shouting in Spike's face. "She- mfffmfffmfffmrglemnfff."

Spike was unphased, used to this brand of nonsense from his adopted sister/housemate. His expression was flat and deadpan as he placed his claws over her mouth, muffling whatever she was saying. "I thought we've already been over this. The Princess wouldn't do that. Besides that, look outside.” Spike released Twilight's mouth before walking over to the window and pulling aside the curtain to reveal the beautiful day outside. The weather forecast had called for clear blue skies, and that’s exactly what the pegasi had delivered. "There’s no cotton candy clouds raining chocolate milk, the animals are acting normally, and nopony seems to be acting grey. Even if Discord did try something, what’s the worst he could do with the Princess watching him?"

“That’s just it, Spike. We don’t know the worst Discord could do. That’s why I need to research what’s normal for Ponyville, so I’ll be able to tell if anything abnormal is happening.” As if the world had been waiting for Twilight to start talking about normalcy in Ponyville, the front door chose this moment to fly open and release a small pink tornado into the room. Spike jerked around in surprise, his claws catching on the curtains and tearing holes in them while Twilight recoiled in shock, releasing her magic and causing the books she had been holding to rain down onto the library floor.

"Hi Twilight!" The pair looked at the intruder and saw that, rather than a freak weather occurrence caused by Discord, it was instead the excitable pink party pony known to the world as Pinkie Pie. "What’cha doing? Ooh, are you reshelving the library again? You know you shouldn’t just leave books piled on the floor like this, right? I should know, once when I was still young and learning about cooking, I thought it didn’t matter how the ingredients were stored and I just left them all over the floor. The pastries and sweets I made with those ingredients were aweeeeeeeeeeful. They weren’t as bad as the baked bads AJ helped me make that one time when she was tired, but they were pretty close. Not that I’m saying we should throw your books in the oven and eat them, but I’m pretty sure they don’t keep as well on the floor."

Shaking her head fondly at the antics of her hyperactive friend, Twilight turned away from her and began collecting the fallen books. It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy Pinkie’s company – far from it – but she knew that anything that could be classified as "normal" in Ponyville would be found far, far away from the maniac earth pony. Preferable in a different time zone. Glancing around the room, she spotted Spike acting strangely out of the corner of her eye. "Spike, why are you standing like that?"

"No reason." Spike was standing as tall as he could in front of the torn curtains, trying to block them from the unicorn’s view. Thinking quickly, he desperately grasped as the first thing he could think of to turn the conversation away from himself. "So, uh, why did you come here, Pinkie?"

"Oh, that’s right." Pinkie bounced over to Twilight as Spike's question reminded her why she had shown up in the first place. "I wanted to ask you something. See, I was going to Zecora’s house in the Everfree Forest because I wanted to borrow some of her masks for a party. She told me to come over today and she would pick out some for me to borrow. I was going to hang them on the walls and put flashing lights and have spooky sounds coming from behind them. The masks would have been like hnnngh and the party goers would have been like 'gaaaasp' and everypony was going to have so much fun! While I was heading there, I met a strange animal on the road and I wanted to know if you knew anything about it. It was like a minotaur, like Iron Will who you never met, only it was smaller and it had a strange head and are you okay Twilight? You just got that look in your eyes that hadn’t really been listening to what I was saying but something I said interested you and you want me to explain more."

Twilight wiped a hoof across her face. "Sorry Pinkie, I was just thinking about a letter Princess Celestia sent me. And am I really so easy to read?"

Pinkie playfully booped her on the nose. "Of course, you silly filly."

"That explains why I always lose at poker night," Twilight grumbled, rubbing at the offended orifice. Shaking her head, she turned to look back at Pinkie "Anyways, do you think you could tell me a little more about the creature you saw?"

"Okie Dokie Lokie." Pinkie stood on her back legs and started making large sweeping gestures with her front legs. "It was shortly before noon, and I was making my way to Zecora’s house when I saw it. Like I said, it was shaped like a small minotaur," she began to draw the shape of the creature in the air as she described it, “with two legs that it stood upright on, two arms with hands on the ends of them, and a head that I don’t really know what to compare it to. When I saw it, I ran up to it and asked it if it wanted to be my friend. I was singing to it about how I had never seen a creature like it before and how we were going to be new best friends, but I think I scared it because it screamed like a little filly and swung the axe it was holding at me." Pinkie showed Twilight the bandage wrapped around one of her front legs. "I was so surprised that I didn’t even know what to do when the creature ran away. Even Cranky didn’t respond that badly when I first met him. Oh, I’m okay," she added hastily, seeing Twilight’s shocked expression. "It only nicked me and I already saw Nurse Redheart about it. I was going to ask Fluttershy track it down, but she’s off playing with her animal friends somewhere and I couldn’t find her. See, I was thinking she would be able to use her kindnessness to calm it down, but she wasn’t home, and I was thinking like 'hmmmmmm' and then I was like 'ohhhhh' and then I came here because I thought you might have a fancy spell that would allow me to talk to it so I could ask it if it wanted to be my friend. So what do you say, huh, huh, huh? Will you come with me to the Everfree Forest? Pleeeeeeeeeeeease?"

Twilight took a moment to recover from the onslaught of words, not sure what surprised her more. It was either the fact that Pinkie had happen to stumble on an unusual creature (it attacked her?) right after Twilight received a letter from Princess Celestia telling her to watch for anything unusual, or the fact that Pinkie didn’t seem to stop for a single intake of breath throughout the whole retelling. Choosing to classify both under 'Pinkie being Pinkie' for the sake of her continuing sanity, Twilight agreed to go with Pinkie. "Alright. I actually want to meet this animal myself. Princess Celestia sent me a note asking me to keep an eye out for anything unusual. A new creature in the Everfree Forest – especially this close to Ponyville – certainly qualifies. Spike, I’m going to head out for a bit. Sorry, but can you handle cleanup?"

"Yeah, sure, no problem, go ahead." Spike watched the two mares leave, making sure to stay between them and the torn curtains until they were out of sight. "Now then," Spike said as he turned towards the books lying around the library. Picking up the closest one, he read the cover aloud. "'A Study of the Annual Tax Reports of Ponyville.' I…have absolutely no idea what to do with this book."

Twilight and Pinkie walked through the Everfree Forest, heading down the path to Zecora’s. What was normally a spooky walk for Twilight to walk alone whenever she wanted to share some tea with Zecora was made much more cheerful by the pink pony bouncing alongside her. Pinkie didn’t even need to say anything; her mere presence was enough to brighten the gloomy forest path. The journey was uneventful until Pinkie abruptly stopped in front of a hole that looked as if it had been torn through the undergrowth by something twice either pony’s size.

“You see, Twilight? The whatzit came out through here and ran back down the path as well. I bet we’ll find its home at the end. Oh, I can’t wait until I'm able to talk to it. We’re going to sing and dance and laugh and play together, and then I'm going to throw it a party in town so everypony can meet it and we’ll all sing and dance and laugh and play together." She took a few steps forwards before stopping, realizing that she had suddenly lost her companion. "Are you coming?"

The purple mare had stopped at the side of the path and was examining the cut vegetation. "Give me a moment, Pinkie. I just want to get an idea of what we’re dealing with." Careful not to touch the affected areas, she muttered to herself as she tried to get a grasp of the creature’s capabilities. "These plants were definitely cut by a bladed object instead of with claws or teeth. Whatever it is probable doesn’t have many natural defenses and uses tools it either makes or steals to protect itself. If it holds these tools in its hands, it probably can’t use magic. Finally, we can assume it is unable to fly because it went through all this vegetation when it would have been much easier to fly over it if it could." She nodded, satisfied with her conclusions. "Alright Pinkie, I’m ready to go.”

Pinkie began bounding happily down the path cut through the vegetation while Twilight followed behind, occasionally stopping to get a clear look at something that caught her eye. Eventually, the pair heard a dull repetitive “thunk” sound coming from the direction they were heading. Pinkie immediately perked up and began heading in the direction the sound was coming from, but Twilight grabbed a mouthful of tail and pulled her back.

Once she was sure that Pinkie wasn’t going to run off, Twilight spat out the fuzzy tail. Why and how did Pinkie's tail taste like cotton candy? "Hold on, Pinkie. We don’t want to scare it again. Let’s sneak in close and observe it for a while before we try talking to it."

Pinkie nodded her head energetically before responding in a whisper that was somehow louder than her regular voice. “Okie Dokie Lokie.” Laying her body flat against the ground and sticking her tail straight up in the air, Pinkie began sneaking in what was quite possibly the least stealthy manner possible without actually making any noise.

Twilight rolled her eyes at Pinkie’s antics and followed after her. As they got closer to the sound, it seemed to be getting more and more irregular, as if whatever was making it was beginning to act erratically. Eventually, the pair spotted the creature they were looking for standing in the middle of a clearing. Hiding in some bushes where the creature wouldn’t be able to see them, they watched as the creature would raise the axe over its head before swinging it down on a piece of wood in front of it. It took Twilight only a moment to realize the creature was chopping firewood. Convinced of the animals’ intelligence, since it wouldn’t need firewood unless it was capable of controlling fire, Twilight took the opportunity to observe it. Making mental notes about the creature, she took a moment to make a mental note to remember to write out her mental notes next chance she got. Couldn't be too careful, after all.

As for the creature itself, it was a lot like Pinkie had described. Its basic shape was similar to a minotaur’s, though there were several key differences. The first, and most noticeable at a glance, was that it lacked the bulging muscles prevalent in so many minotaurs. It also lacked fur on most of its body, instead choosing to wear clothing for warmth and protection. From what Twilight could see, it lacked scales, claws, wings, horns, fangs, a stinger, or any other natural defences and probably depended on tools to survive. Twilight indulged herself in a satisfied smirk at seeing one of her theories was right. It looked to be mammalian and its hard edges made her think of a stallion more than a mare, so it probably was a male of its species. Other then the fact that it – he – was about as tall as Princess Celestia, he didn't look all that threatening.

All that was easy, but the head was unlike anything Twilight had ever seen before. Whenever it turned to pick up another piece of wood, it would unintentionally show its face to Twilight. The face was rounded, which meant it probably had a spherical skull. On that face, the creature possessed two small eyes above a nose that stood out from the rest of the skull. Below the nose, there was a mouth with red lips that sharply contrasted against the off-beige skin surrounding it. Underneath a short yellow mane, Twilight could see two external ears on the side of his head. Unlike a pony’s, or any other animal with external ears, the ears appeared to be stationary and non-expressive. Twilight couldn’t claim to be an expert in reading the expression of… whatever it was, but it looked focused on cutting the wood, although its eyes would occasionally dart into the surrounding region like it expected some horrible monster to leap at it from the undergrowth.

Deciding she wouldn’t learn any more by just watching it, Twilight poked Pinkie in the side to get her attention and walked directly into the clearing, trying to look as unthreatening as possible. The creature had his back to the both of them, and he didn’t notice the pair until Twilight deliberately stomped on a twig, snapping it loudly enough to be clearly heard throughout the clearing. The creature’s entire demeanor changed in an instant. Turning towards the pair, the expression on his instantly changed to a mixture of shock, hatred, and fear the moment he spotted them. He held the axe defensively in front of him and his eyes began to rapidly dance around the clearing, as if he was looking for an escape route.

"Easy now, we don’t want to hurt you." Twilight tried to keep her voice as calm as possible as she imagined what her friend Fluttershy would do when confronted with a scared animal. If anypony would know what to do with a potentially dangerous animal, it was Fluttershy. Twilight took a tentative step towards the creature, cautiously concentrating magic in her horn. The translator spell she wanted was a simple one, automatically transplanting knowledge of any language the creature spoke into her mind. The spell was a temporary one, and could only work on intelligent beings that were normally capable of speech, but Twilight didn’t think that would be a problem. Reaching out to him with her magic, she gasped in shock as a sudden chill ran down her spine that broke her concentration and her spell.

It was unmistakeable. It felt as if a lion had a taken a single claw and had slowly ran it down her spine from her nape all the way to the tip of her tail. There was only one creature she knew of that could do this, and she could clearly feel the force of his magic in the air. Her mouth opened involuntary, and it felt like her lungs froze up in fear. Despite this, a single word escaped her, identifying the source of the fear she felt paralyzing her body.

“Discord…”

At her lightly exhaled word, the animal standing in the center of the clearing suddenly broke to the side, trying to escape into to the undergrowth. Not understanding what had just happened, but not willing to let the creature escape when she had so many unanswered questions, Twilight focused her magic and tried to grab the creature but the feeling ran up her spine again and the creature slipped through. Trying to grab the creature with her magic was like trying to hold onto water with her bare hooves.

“Pinkie! Stop him!” Twilight shouted.

The pink pony suddenly burst from the spot the creature was heading towards, having somehow got there from her position beside Twilight without the unicorn even realising she had disappeared. The creature took several steps back at Pinkie's sudden appearance as he reached into a pocket of his clothing. He tucked the axe underneath an arm and pulled out an orange fruit together with and a very small stick. He fiddled with the objects for a moment, his back turned to Twilight so she couldn't see what he was doing. She did see when he pulled his hand back and threw the fruit directly at Pinkie's face, the stick embedded in the orange fruit and a tiny flame burning on the end of the stick. The creature ran in the opposite direction, sprinting away fast as he could. Pinkie, who had been talking non-stop about new friends since she had jumped out of the bush, stared curiously at the fruit as it flew towards her.

The fruit was abruptly wrapped in a purple glow before being encapsulated in a purple sphere. Twilight, with her horn glowing the same colour as the glow surrounding the fruit, hurriedly gestured upwards with her head. The fruit flew up, following the silent directions of the powerful unicorn. Just as it cleared the treetops, some juice from the fruit dripped down the matchstick and into the merrily dancing flame. The fruit exploded with a sound like an angry dragon had just descended into the clearing. Twilight’s force field was able to contain the flames, but the concussive blast thundered through the clearing and threw both ponies to the ground. Squeezing their eyes shut and covering their ears, the girls could do nothing but wait out the blast.

After an instant that felt like an eternity, silence reigned. The girls unsteadily got to their hooves amidst the falling sticks and leaves to see that the creature had vanished. He had disappeared during the explosion, and was probably long gone by now. Twilight turned to Pinkie and saw that the pink mare was sitting on the ground with a dejected expression, repeatedly muttering something to herself. As Twilight approached Pinkie, the saddened mare looked her in the eyes and repeated what she had been muttering loudly enough for Twilight to hear.

“No new friend?”

Twilight wrapped her forelegs around her friend’s withers and pulled the pink pony into an equine hug. She knew how much Pinkie loved meeting and making new friends.

“I’m sorry, Pinkie. C’mon, let’s head home. We’ll talk about this with the others tomorrow."

The pair returned to Ponyville in silence, each thinking about the events of the day. Twilight walked Pinkie to Sugarcube Corner, worried about the well being of her friend before heading home herself. Entering the library, she was greeted by the inviting smell of a well-cooked supper.

Spike’s voice emanated from the kitchen. “Is that you, Twilight?” he asked, strolling out of the kitchen with a frilly pink apron strapped to his tiny chest. “Perfect timing, supper’s almost ready.” Looking up, he spotted how bedraggled Twilight was, with her body covered in dirt and sticks and leaves sticking out of her mane. "Wow, you look worn out. What happened out there?"

Dragging herself to the dinner table, Twilight leaned against it and rested her head against the smooth wood. "I’ll be fine, Spike. I’ll tell you what happened later. For now, I’m just happy to be home."

Indeed she was. Spike had done a wonderful job of cleaning up, as always. All the books were put away, with a small pile off to the side representing the books she had picked up during her last trip at Canterlot. She hadn’t told Spike about them, had she? Whoops. Other than that, the room was the same as always, looking the same as she remembered it and…wait.

"Spike, when did we get new drapes?"

Dear Journal,

This is my second article today, and it’s getting late, but I feel the need to write what happened. I was chopping wood not too far away from here when I was attacked by the Pink Abomination again. I was able to get a clear look at it this time, and I clearly saw the face of fear. It took the form of a small pink pony, standing at about my waist height. If I didn’t know better, I might even have called it cute. I was barely able to escape from the two of them by lobbing a Firexplosive Fruit and running away as fast as I could. I don’t think I killed them, and I feel like killing them would just make them angry.

I didn’t clarify, but there were two of them this time. In addition to the Pink Abomination, there was a purple unicorn with it. Unicorns should not exist, but my mysterious feelings and knowledge told me that the creature would kill me and crunch on my bones if it had the chance. When I first saw this…Purple People Eater, its horn glowed and I felt a horrible sensation running through my body. It was as if my entire body had been immersed in a bucket of ice cold water.

I’m scared, journal. I’m in a place I don’t understand, fighting creatures that shouldn’t exist. Just seeing these creatures fills me with feelings of indescribable hate and fear, and I’m afraid they aren’t finished with me.

But their existence is impossible! The Pink Abomination moved faster than I could see and the Purple People Eater almost seemed to be using magic. There’s no such thing as magic! I wonder if they even existed, or if I just imagined them.

Journal, I fear I may be going insane. Or maybe I already am. I just... don't know.

It’s late and I’m tired. Maybe everything will make sense in the morning. Goodnight, journal.

Goodnight.

Discussing the New Arrival

It was another beautiful morning in Ponyville. Or, more accurately, it was if you were a morning pony. If you weren’t a morning pony, you would probably want to stay in bed unless an external force prompted you to get up. In Twilight’s case, that external force took the form of the sweet smell of coffee coming from downstairs. Dragging her unwilling carcass out of the bed's comfortable and nurturing embrace, the bleary-eyed unicorn slowly made her way down the stairs, the few functioning parts of her brain tracking the sweet scent and leading her towards its source. Sizzling sounds from the kitchen told her that Spike had woken up before her and was now preparing a breakfast of pancakes and hay bacon. As she made her way to the table, her number one assistant exited the kitchen, a plate of food held firmly in each hand.

"Morning, Twilight. I was just about to go wake you." Spike placed one of the plates in front of her while placing the other at his own spot. "Do you want some coffee?"

Twilight’s response cannot be written down in any language, instead coming out as a low groan that probably would have had John throw his hands into the air and run away screaming about demons wanting to eat his soul if he heard it. Long years of experience allowed Spike to translate the unintelligible moan into a vaguely affirmative answer and he quickly returned to the kitchen. A few minutes passed before he returned, clutching a steaming cup of coffee which he passed to Twilight before claiming his own spot at the table. Sticking a fork into one of the pancakes, he shovelled the whole thing into his mouth. After a few thoughtful chews, he turned to his quiet companion and asked the question that had been worrying him since Twilight had arrived at the table.

"Bad dreams, Twilight? Er, sorry." Spike bashfully reached across the table and wiped the half-chewed pancake off of the mare’s face.

Twilight just gave him a flat look before fishing a piece of pancake out of her coffee and taking another sip. “I was thinking about Discord, Spike. Last time, he nearly destroyed my friendship with my friends. Who knows what he’s planning to do this time? Maybe we should send a letter to the Princess before we do anything. I expect she’ll want to know.” She picked up her fork and knife with her magic and began making inroads on her own breakfast.

This time, Spike remembered to swallow his mouthful of food before speaking. "I already wrote up a letter saying what you told me last night," he pointed at scroll that lay in the corner, "but you should probably talk to the others first. They might have some ideas.” Spike finished off his breakfast and began collecting his dishes. "On the bright side, you don’t need to worry about Discord hypnotizing everypony this time, because they know better than to listen to anything he says."

Twilight perked up at Spike’s words before polishing off her own meal and letting him take the empty plate away. "You’re right, Spike. We’ve beaten him once and we’ll beat him again." Twilight trotted out the front door, only stopping long enough to wave good-bye to Spike. "I’ll be back later. Have a good day."

“Good luck.” Spike waved her goodbye before turning to the owl perched on one of the bookshelves. “Looks like it’s just you and me today, Owlowiscious.”

“Who?” the owl hooted down at him.

“You and me.”

“Who?”

“You- we’re not doing this.”

Twilight trotted to the confectionery centre of town, Sugarcube Corner. The closer she got, the more her pace slowed as she consider how Pinkie had been acting the previous night. Fortunately, she needn't have worried.

“Good moooooooorning, Twilight!” Twilight looked up to see Pinkie waving at her from the upstairs window. Now she was standing on the upstairs windowsill. Now she was pushing off of the upstairs windowsill. Now she was flying through the air from the upstairs window directly at the uncomprehending unicorn.

"Gah!"

Struck by a poofy pink pony ballistic missile powered by sugar and candy, Twilight found herself lying on her side in the middle of the street, her crazed conqueror standing above her. The passing ponies glanced at the pair only once before continuing on, used to Pinkie's crazy antics.

"So are you ready for today, Twi?" The pink mare seemed to have recovered from the depression she had been feeling the previous day. Twilight took a moment to consider what to do. On the one hoof, it was good to see Pinkie acting as cheery and joyful as ever. On the other, personal space was nice. Choosing the second option, Twilight pushed Pinkie off and got to her hooves.

"You’re feeling better, Pinkie?" Twilight was fairly certain Pinkie was feeling better, but she wanted to hear the other mare say it.

Pinkie bounced energetically before responding. "Of course I am. Oh, I was disappointed that we weren't able to use magic to communicate with new friend, but then I remembered that Option A was still an option. And Option A is option Fluttershy and there is no better option when dealing with a scared animal than option Fluttershy. You said you wanted to talk to the others, and I know Fluttershy and Rarity are going to the spa this morning. I’ll go let them know while you find Dashie and AJ and we’ll all meet up at the spa, okay? Okay, bye!!" And she was gone.

Twilight, with one lifted hoof which she had been about to shove into Pinkie’s mouth, stared in the direction the pink rocket had vanished. "Pinkie…he’s connected to Discord..." But Pinkie was out of sight already, and couldn’t hear her.

Shorty afterwards, Twilight arrived at the farm where Applejack lived, Sweet Apple Acres. She agreed with Pinkie that it would probably be easier to bring Applejack and Rainbow Dash to the spa then to arrange another meeting place elsewhere. Spotting a large red stallion pulling a wagon full of apples, she waved to him and made her way over.

“Good morning, Big Mac. Has Apple Bloom already gone to school?”

“Eeyup.” Big Macintosh, Applejack’s big brother, wasn't one for wasted words. Twilight was convinced he was smarter then he let on, but she was willing to let it go for now.

"Is Applejack around?"

"Eeyup." Big Mac pointed a hoof in the direction of the apple orchard he had been walking away from. "She and Rainbow Dash are applebucking together."

“Thanks,” Twilight began walking towards the orchard for a moment before turning back, realizing what Big Mac had just said. “Wait, Rainbow Dash is applebucking? How did that happen?”

Lifting one hoof to signify a shrug, Big Mac walked away, easily pulling the giant cart behind him. Realizing there was only one place she was going to get any answers, Twilight continued walking to the apple orchard. Hearing a pair a voices coming from a patch of trees, she headed in their direction.

"Are ya doin’ alright, Sugarcube?" There was a hint of worry in the country-accented voice, and Twilight wondered what Applejack was up to with their mutual pegasus friend.

"Don’t – ungh – worry about me. I can keep going at this pace all day." That tomboyish voice with a hint of a squeaky crack in it could only belong to Rainbow Dash, the best flier in Ponyville and (if she was to be believed) the rest of Equestria, though she sounded more tired than usual.

"Ah am enjoying this, but Ah don’t want ya to get hurt because of me."

"If you’re enjoying it now, why don’t we pick up the pace? Oh, hey Twilight."

"Good morning girls," Twilight greeted them both, "What’s going on?"

Rainbow Dash was standing next to one of the apple trees, obviously tired and equally obviously trying to hide it. Her rainbow-streaked mane was damp with sweat, and had plastered itself to the sportspony's cyan coat. Applejack stood a few trees away, a carriage most filled with full apple baskets next to the farm pony. It was similar to the one Big Mac had been pulling away, except that it was still mostly empty. Applejack turned to answer Twilight while Dash surreptitiously leaned against the tree she was standing beside. Speaking with her customary southern drawl, the orange earth pony explained the situation.

"Good morning, Twi. Me and Rainbow had a little argument a few days back, and the long’n’short of it is that Dash said she would be able to keep up with me for a full day of applebuckin’, and Ah said she couldn't. So we made a bet of it. If she can keep up, Ah would save her a full barrel of Sweet Apple Cider next cider season. If she couldn't, she has ta dye her coat and mane in mah colours and go around lookin’ like me fer a week. We've been at it since dawn, and the gal’s clearly beat, but you know what she’s like." They both glanced at the rainbow-maned cyan mare, who had her eyes closed and was panting openly, blissfully unaware of the attention she was receiving. Applejack lifted a hoof to rub at the Stetson hat resting atop her head for a moment before turning back to Twilight. "She’s about as stubborn as Ah am, and Ah’m afraid she’s gonna do herself an injury. She’s overworkin’ muscles she ain't used to usin', and Ah’m tryin’ to convince her there’s no shame in givin’ up. You got any ideas?"

Twilight tapped her chin thoughtfully with her hoof before answering. "I think so. That’s actually why I came here. We've got a mission from Princess Celestia, and everypony’s meeting up at the spa."

Applejack nodded once to Twilight’s words. "Yeah, that works. Didja catch that, Dash? Hey!" She shouted at the dozing pegasus, who was startled awake at Applejack’s yell. "Good work, but we’re gonna have to call off the bet fer now. Important mission from the Princess, we’re meetin' the others at the spa. Go run yerself under the hose while Ah go tell Big Macintosh and Granny Smith."

One hose down later, the group set off for the center of Ponyville. Rainbow Dash was feeling much better, and flew above the other two, badgering Twilight for answers.

"So what’s so important that you had to pull me away from my bet with AJ?" Dash protested, her wings slicing through the air as she flew above the heads of the two landbound ponies. "I was totally going to win and score that full barrel of cider."

Applejack nickered softly in amusement, shooting a sidelong glance at the pegasus above her. "Who are ya trying to fool, Dash? You was plum tuckered, and the day had just begun. Ah was lookin’ forward to seein' a flying me around town."

Twilight shot Applejack a questioning look."AJ, you were worrying about Dash when I arrived, but now you’re saying you found it funny. What changed?"

Applejack smiled smugly and tipped her brown Stetson hat down on her head. "Jest because Ah didn’t want the gal to overwork herself don’t mean Ah didn’t enjoy watchin' her look like a foal. Suppose Ah’ll have ta wait until later to watch her humiliate herself."

"I am right here, you know." The annoyed pegasus mare interjected.

Applejack continued undeterred. If anything, her voice was only more smug than before. "Oh, Ah know. Ah also know there’s nothin’ y'all can do about it. Unless yer goin’ to forfeit?" the orange country mare challenged. "We could dye ya up right now." She knew Dash wouldn't back down from such blatant provocation, and the sporty pegasus didn't disappoint.

"Well, aren’t you feeling cocky today? I’ll take you on, anytime, anyplace. Next time, I’ll show you what Equestria’s most awesome pegasus can do."

"Just so long as you two avoid another fiasco like that Iron Pony competition,” Twilight cut them off before the situation could escalate any further. "Anyways, we’re here." The trio had made it all the way to the spa while Applejack and Rainbow Dash bickered. The pegasus landed, and the three mares entered the building.

"Good morning, Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash." The pony behind the counter, Lotus Blossom, greeted them in order as they entered. "I don’t normally see you three here. Your friends are waiting for you down the hall." Thanking her, they made their way in the direction she pointed and soon heard the sound of their excitable friend coming from one of the rooms ahead.

"…so after he threw it, Twilight magickisizeded it into the air and the thing was like booooooooom, and then he vanished into the forest." It sounded like Pinkie was explaining the meeting in the forest.

A quiet, gentle voice followed the energetic one, like a warm summer breeze following a thunderstorm. “Oh my, that sounds so scary. Are you sure you’re alright?” That voice could only belong to Fluttershy, the shy yellow pegasus pony sounding meek even at a distance.

A third voice followed the quiet voice, this one sounding much more cultivated and refined. "Really, Pinkie, he sounds like an absolute ruffian. I simply can’t understand why you would want to be friends with somepony that sounds even more uncouth then Applejack."

"And what, ‘xactly, is wrong with my couthness?” the earth pony in question drawled as she entered the room, Twilight and Rainbow Dash entering behind her.

"Why, nothing’s wrong with it, darling." The white fashionista unicorn was lying on her back on one of the couches around the room, her personal bath robe covering her body, the stylistic R on the flank signifying who its owner was, and a cucumber slice covering each of her eyes. "But you at least have a certain country charm. This beast sounds absolutely… beastly."

"So happy to have yer approval," Applejack stated sarcastically before giving her head a small shake. "So, did Pinkie tell ya’ll anything?"

Rainbow Dash flew up and perched on the side of the large tub that dominated the center of the room, which Pinkie was merrily floating in. "Yeah, spill. Twilight’s been mum the whole trip."

Pinkie continued to blissfully float in the tub, so Fluttershy answered instead. "Only that she and Twilight met an unusual creature in the Everfree Forest. From what she said, it doesn’t sound like any creature I've heard of living in the area, and I don’t think it's native to the region. The poor thing must be so scared, alone in that spooky forest." The pink-maned mare had a towel wrapped around her head and was comfortably reclining against some cushions.

"Really, Fluttershy. That kind heart of yours is going to get you in trouble some day." Rarity turned to the ponies not being treated. “I’m guessing the beast has something to do with why you wanted to meet up today, Twilight. Why don’t you girls join us and get comfortable while we talk?"

Applejack pondered the offer for a moment before nodding her head in agreement. “Alright. Ah am curious as to what the Princess wants, but a good rubdown and massage never hurt nopony.” She carefully hung her beloved hat on the wall before making her way to one of the empty couches near Rarity, Twilight following closely behind her.

"That does sound good, but there’s no point in getting a hooficure or something fancy like that," Twilight took a moment to get comfortable on the couch she had chosen, "since we’ll be going into the Everfree Forest."

Rarity made a sound of disgust at hearing they would be entering the forest. "Really dear, had I known we would be going to that dreadful place, I would have set the spa visit afterwards."

Fluttershy, who had perked up at hearing that all her friends would be with her when she went to see the creature, visibly wilted at Rarity’s words. "Oh, sorry, Rarity. I was happy to hear that we would all be together, but, um, you don’t have to come if you don’t want-"

Rarity waved her off before she could finish. "There’s nothing to apologize for, darling. If it’s something Princess Celestia wants, I’m certainly not going to abandon you girls to do it alone. I’ll just have to come back later. Speaking of which," she added, looking at the only member of their group who hadn't claimed a spot in the spa, "aren’t you going to join us, Rainbow Dash? It’s absolutely divine.”

Dash flared her wings and shook her head from where she was perched on the side of the large tub. "Nah. I’m not into any of that frou-frou stuff. I’m good like this." Despite her complaints, the pegasus suddenly learned that she had a lot less choice in the matter then she thought she did as a pair of what appeared to be bright pink tentacles shot out of the water and wrapped themselves around her torso before pulling her backwards into the water. She only had enough time for a single startled exclamation of surprise, which was abruptly cut off when her head went under the water. Sputtering as she broke the surface, she turned and saw that Pinkie had wrapped her legs around Dash and was now grinning cheerfully at her. Dash could do nothing but sigh, acknowledging her defeat. "Or maybe I’ll just have a short soak."

The group shared a short laugh at their friend before Twilight cleared her throat, getting everypony’s attention. "Alright, so here’s the situation..."

Dear Journal,

I reread what I wrote last night, and I choose to believe that I am sane. Maybe I was a researcher before I lost my memory, and that would explain why I know so much about the flora and fauna, including what’s edible, what will attract various animals, and what’s dangerous. Maybe I am mixing up distant memories with more recent ones, and I once though things like hydras were impossible, but I eventually learned better.

I don’t know, journal. What I do know is that despite my irrational hatred and fear of those tiny horses, I know almost nothing about them. Or maybe I hate and fear them because I know almost nothing about them. If that’s the case, I might stop fearing them if I understood them. I have to capture one of them, journal. I need to understand them.

Today, I will be setting up traps in the forest. These traps are intended to capture, not kill. The creatures may be injured in the process, but that is within the acceptable margin for error. In order to test these traps, I will spend the day attempting to capture one of the creatures that live in the area. I believe it is called a Manticore.

It should be easy to lure in, because apparently when I combine the juice of three different plants together, it creates something that is almost like catnip to the manticore. Containing it will be the hard part.

Wish me luck, journal.

"...and after the fruit exploded, he had vanished."

Twilight finished her explanation of what had happened in the forest the previous day to her five friends. With the exception of Pinkie, all of them had developed expressions of extreme shock and dismay when Twilight had mentioned Discord. Pinkie had only a mild expression of shock and dismay, her dislike for the Spirit of Chaos warring with her love of chocolate rain and cotton candy clouds. The group was silent for a moment before Rainbow Dash raised one hoof out of the water and splashed it down, trying to make an authoritative “thump” but only managing to splash herself in the face.

"Well I say should go out there right now and beat that thing to a pulp," she said firmly, trying to look fierce despite the water dripping off her face. "If he’s connected to dopey Discord, there’s no way he could be anything but bad!" She looked like she intended to fly off right now and make good on her threat, and probably would have if her wings weren't being pinned down by her pink friend, who hadn't let go once during the story. "Pinkie, could you let me go?"

Pinkie shook her head rapidly, causing her mane to whip out of the water and spray everypony present. Ignoring Rarity's shriek of dismay, she held on even tighter. “No way, Dashie. If I do, you’ll go out and hurt him. Just because Discord is involved doesn't mean we can’t be friends.”

Dash stared at her friend’s pleading expression. "Friends?" she asked disbelievingly. "Do you even remember what Discord did to us last time? If he’s involved, we should strike with everything we’ve got from the start. Since Princess Celestia is holding the Elements of Harmony, that leaves violence."

"Ah reckon it ain’t that simple," Applejack interjected, the dependable workpony trying to deter the impulsive sportspony’s brashness. "This critter may simply have been touched by that varmint Discord like we was. Ain’t that right, Twilight?"

"That’s right," the intelligent unicorn agreed. "I don’t know whether it was the creature that stopped my magic using Discord’s power, if it was a passive spell placed on the creature that simply stops magic cast on him, or if Discord directly intervened to stop my spell. Normally, it would be easy for me to tell, but Discord certainly loves making easy things difficult."

Dash rested against the side of the tub, no longer trying to escape, but not willing to let this go. "So he might not be our enemy, but he might also be part of some scheme of Discord’s. I say we should charge in there, hooves flying, and figure it all out afterwards. Back me up, Fluttershy."

The shy mare “eeped” at suddenly being thrust into the center of attention, and took a moment before responding. "Oh...um…I think, no matter what we do, we can’t really decide what we’ll do without meeting him again. I hope I said that right."

Rarity spoke over Rainbow Dash’s grunt of dismay. "You said that just fine, dear. And it just so happens that I agree with you. Even if it means entering that dreadful forest, we’ll just have to do it. After we’re finished here."

It was indicative of how comfortable they all were that none of them, not even Rainbow Dash, disagreed.

Unwelcome Guests

“Here we are, girls. Is everypony ready?” The six mares had finished their visit at the spa, and were lined up in front of the Everfree Forest. Twilight stood in front of the other five, giving them a little pep talk before they entered.

Applejack shuddered at Twilight’s words, the bulging bags on the farmpony’s back shivering with her. “Land sake's. Ah swear, no matter how many times we enter this place, it never gits any better.” Her bags were full of apples and various apple-themed foods, having been chosen along with Pinkie Pie to bring the food for this excursion. In addition to the foods, the end of a length of rope was also poking out of the bags.

Pinkie zipped over, her own saddlebags filled with enough sweets and pastries to keep everypony on a sugar high for the entire trip. “No worries, AJ. So long as we’re all together, there’s nothing to be afraid of. Well," she added as an afterthought, "except for manticores, timber wolves, Ursa Major and Minor, avalanches, falling trees, poison joke, plants with effects we don’t know about, cockatrice, hydras-“

Rarity cut her off before she could say any more. “I think that’s quite enough helping, dear. You’re scaring Fluttershy.” Indeed, the cowardly pegasus was curled into a small ball on the ground, and had been curling up tighter and tighter every time Pinkie rattled off something scary.

Rainbow Dash sighed and flew over to comfort her friend. “Don’t worry, Fluttershy. Even if something does attack us, you’ve got the fastest pegasus in Cloudsdale on your side.” She arrogantly gestured at herself. “Even this creature of Discord’s won’t get past me. I’ll beat him into a pulp before he even knows what’s going on.”

Fluttershy lifted on hoof and looked up at the bragging pegasus. “Oh, I hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“I hope so, too,” Twilight said, backing up Fluttershy. “If we’re lucky, Fluttershy’ll be able to persuade him to come with us without any difficulties, even if you have to use The Stare, but we have to be prepared for the possibility that you can’t. Since Discord’s involved, we can’t afford to ignore any possibilities.”

Rarity cut her off before Twilight could begin another speech. “We know, darling. We also know that we simply can’t allow something connected to Discord to roam free. I don’t like it, but we’re prepared to use force if we must.”

“And you call that look being ‘prepared to use force?’” Rainbow Dash snarked from over by Fluttershy.

Rarity tossed her well-groomed mane back, brushing it into place. “But of course. One simply must looks one’s best no matter the circumstance. And in case you’ve forgotten, we’re trying to keep this civilized.” Turning, she led the way into the forest, daintily stepping around a patch of mud.

Applejack followed after, unconcernedly stepping directly in the same puddle of mud. Looking over her shoulder at Twilight directly behind her, she asked the question that had been bugging her. “So, we got any plans for rustlin' up this here varmint, sugarcube?”

“Pinkie found him down this path. Then she and I found him again in a clearing not too far away from the first spot. We’ll head to the clearing and look around there. I expect the creature has made its home in that area.” Rainbow Dash and Pinkie followed after her, bringing up the rear. The pink mare was talking excitedly about making a new friend while Dash was obviously only half-listening.

Rarity’s voice filtered in from the front. “This is going to be hard enough to find without you alerting everything about us being here, Pinkie.” Pinkie giggled good-naturedly before running her hoof across her mouth to represent zipping up. The group proceeded to the clearing without incident, only Fluttershy’s quiet questions to Twilight about the nature of the creature breaking the silence of the forest. Rarity would occasionally fire back questions of her own from where she led the group, since Twilight hoped her practiced designer's eye would notice anything out of place.

“So this is where we saw it last,” Twilight said as they reached the clearing. The clearing was a little different than she remembered. The wood the creature had been cutting down had vanished - he must have returned and dragged it away. Twilight’s eyes skimmed across the forest line. She didn’t think the creature was nearby, but it didn’t hurt to check anyway.

Turning back to the group, she saw Rarity and Fluttershy had set up a picnic blanket for them to eat on while Applejack and Pinkie were setting up the food they had been carrying. “Where did Dash go?” Twilight asked as she walked over to them. Pinkie pointed up at the canopy. Following Pinkie’s hoof, Twilight could just make out a rainbow streak above the foliage before it vanished behind the trees.

“She got bored and decided to scout the area,” Rarity said. Her horn lit up and several plates of food floated over to her. “Here you go, Fluttershy,” she said, passing out some of the food to the other pony.

Twilight sighed theatrically as Fluttershy thanked Rarity. “Honestly, Dash,” she muttered to herself as the rest of the group began settling themselves in. “Why can’t you just be a little more patient?”

“Ta be fair, it’s not like she needs to fear this feller none,” Applejack said from where she leaned against a tree near the outskirts of the clearing. “Don’t sound like he kin fly, so she could be able to escape without any problem.”

“Do you think she’d even try to escape?” Twilight asked flatly. Applejack didn’t answer. Twilight sighed again before grabbing an apple cruller for herself and sitting down next to Pinkie. The pink mare had already eaten three full cakes and was making good headway on a fourth. How does she- Twilight wondered before squashing that train of thought. Any attempt to understand how Pinkie did what Pinkie did just ended with headaches.

Twilight took a couple of bites of her cruller before Rarity suddenly spoke up. “Twilight, could you tell me something?” the white unicorn asked, idly staring at a piece of cake on a floating fork in front of her. She sighed quietly before letting the fork float to the ground and focusing her attention on Twilight. “Why did the Princess ask for us to go? I understand if the royal guard is unable to leave Canterlot, but surely there’s some other guards nearby.”

“Whaddya mean, Rarity?” Applejack asked from where she was leaning against the tree. “Obviously it’s because we’re the bearers of the Elements o' Harmony n’ all that. No offense to yer brother, Twi, but what use would the guards be against somethin’ like Discord? Personally, I don’t like the idea of some trace of Discord’s hangin’ around town, so I’ll be just as happy to see it gone.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Rarity said. “Though I agree with you about getting rid of this creature. The idea of what would happen if Sweetie Belle met it...” The thought of her little sister meeting with the creature of the forest had Rarity swooning for a second before she shook it off and focused on Twilight. “No, what I mean is why send us? Technically speaking, we’re just civilians. Doesn’t she have ponies trained to go into dangerous places like here,” she gestured around them at the Everfree Forest, “ and deal with whatever trouble arises?”

“There’s another problem,” Fluttershy pointed out. Everypony blinked in surprise at her except for Pinkie, who hummed happily as she devoured her sixth cake. Fluttershy speaking against Celestia? Fluttershy buried her head under her hooves as her friends regarded her in wonder. She spoke up anyway, her voice quivering as if it just occurred to her that she was questioning the Princess’ decision. “Why send us without the Elements? If this is some scheme of Discord’s, what does she think we can do with the Elements of Harmony?” Rarity gently placed her hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder, giving the meek mare a reassuring shake.

Twilight remained silent, her face scrunched in thought. She hadn’t considered any of these questions and had just focused on achieving her mentor’s request. Why did the Princess ask this of them instead of sending any other guards? Sure, they had fought Discord before and knew what to look for to see if he was directly involved, but it wasn’t like Discord was known for his subtlety. Just look for the cotton candy clouds. The houses floating upside down could also be considered a clue.

“Do you think it might be another test?” Pinkie asked. The group looked at her and she quickly clarified what she meant. “Whenever there seems to be a threat to Equestria, we always seem to be in the middle of it. Like that time with that black smokie guy or Queen Meanie or that buggy pony or the time we went to Candy Mountain to save the mystical Gumdrop Princess.” The others just stared at her incredulously.

“Ah... don’t think Ah remember that last one,” Applejack said after a few seconds. “Do ya think this’s another time when Equestria’ll be threatened?”

Pinkie just shrugged at Applejack’s question. “How would I know? I’m just a baker.”

The group remained silent after their conversation, each of them thinking about their own reasons for being there and wondering why Celestia would have sent them. Except for Pinkie. Nopony was really sure what Pinkie was thinking. Twilight had long since given up counting the number of cakes the mare had eaten and was absent-mindedly wondering how Pinkie had managed to pack all of them in her saddlebags when Dash returned.

“So, did you see anything?” Twilight asked from where she was lying on the picnic blanket. Rarity was lounging a few feet away, using a snoozing Fluttershy as a cushion. Applejack was lying against a tree, her hat pulled down over her eyes while Pinkie juggled half a dozen cupcakes, occasionally catching one in her mouth and eating it before pulling another one out of somewhere and continuing to juggle.

Dash landed beside the food and answered while looking over everything and deciding what to eat. “Yeah, no biggie. There was a cave at the end of the path, and an awesome waterfall not too far away. We’ll be able to hear it pretty soon.” Having made her decision, she grabbed an apple fritter and started chowing down. Her mouth full of fritter, she continued to talk. “With shelter and fresh water, we’ll probably find the creature there.” Twilight pulled out a quill and a scroll, running down her checklist of things to accomplish before meeting the creature again.

“We should probably be moving that way soon, Ah reckon.” Applejack pushed her hat up with one hoof and looked at Pinkie. “Sugarcube, could ya toss me a cupcake?”

“Okie Dokie Lokie.” Without seeming to changing the pattern her hooves were following, a cupcake was suddenly flying through the air towards AJ. Applejack simply opened her mouth wide, allowing the cupcake to land perfectly inside.

Twilight finished going over her checklist, finding nothing outstanding, and put it away.“I agree, AJ. Alright girls, break’s over.”

Rainbow Dash, having finished off her fritter, stuck her head back into the bags before pulling out another fritter and walking away with it held between her teeth. Rarity gently shook Fluttershy awake and they folded up the blanket before following after Dash. Pinkie shoveled all her cupcakes into her mouth and she and Applejack collected their saddlebags before walking after the others. Knowing Dash was not good at peace talks, Twilight trotted to the front of the herd beside her. With Dash leading the way, the group made it to the cave without any difficulty.

“Oh boy, so this is where new friend lives?” Pinkie bounced excitedly into the cave, not hearing or just ignoring Twilight’s dismayed cry of “Pinkie!”

Applejack sidled beside Twilight, who looked like she wanted to rush into the cave herself. “Don’t you worry about Pinkie none,” the farmpony comforted. “Ah reckon that mare can take care of herself just fine.” Twilight was about to say she was more concerned about Pinkie scaring the creature again then she was for Pinkie’s safety when Pinkie’s voice echoed out of the cave.

“Aw, nopony’s home. Ooh, cool. Echo! Echo!” Hearing that it was safe, Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy entered the cave.

Fluttershy turned to Dash before going in. “Are you coming along?” she asked.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Nah, I don’t really like caves. Besides, somepony’s got to keep watch in case the creature returns.” Fluttershy was surprised by the brash pegasus’ thoughtfulness but chose not to comment on it, instead turning and following the others.

Inside, she found the others were already poking around the cave. A fire was burning in a firepit at the center of the cave, a small cooking pot filled with a mysterious bubbling liquid resting on a thin flat rock above it. The strangest thing about the setup was the way that the smoke from the fire was curling around the pot before being drawn into it, almost as if the concoction was pulling the smoke into itself. Twilight was staring at the pot, muttering about how she had never seen anything like this before. “The smoke is drawn… no, that’s not right. The natural properties of smoke mean that it is raised by warm air, so this could only happen if it suddenly cooled. But how could there be a pocket of cool air just above a fire?" She pulled out a small vial and scooped out a tiny amount of the bubbling liquid. "What is this stuff?”

At the back of the cave, Rarity was examined a collapsed pile of rocks. Because of her experience jewel hunting, Rarity knew that the rock pile was actually blocking off access to a much larger area of the cave, even if she couldn’t tell the actual size of the area. She was about to ask for somepony to help her move them when Pinkie suddenly spoke up.

The pink pony’s tail had started twitching, and there was only one thing that could mean. “Twitchy tail, twitchy tail. That means something’s going to fall.” Pinkie possessed a mysterious ability she called the Pinkie Sense. With it, she was able to predict the close future, though she couldn’t control it and nopony understood it. As the others turned to look at her, Rainbow Dash shouted at something outside the cave. Something flew into the cave and landed in the middle of the room, bursting and covering everypony except Pinkie, who dove out of the way, in a mysterious foul-smelling green liquid.

Rarity, who got a face full, was absolutely disgusted and not afraid to tell everypony about it. “Oh, yuck. What is this abominable ichor? I’m absolutely covered in it. It’s in my mane. It’s in my mane! Getitoutgetitoutgetitout!” Running her hooves through her precious mane, she started pulling out globs of the goop, trying to get rid of as much of it as possible.

In comparison, Applejack had simply wiped the stuff out of her eyes, ignoring the rest, and was already making her way for the cave entrance. “Ah dunno, Rarity, but we had better see what Rainbow was shoutin’ about.” Outside, they found Dash had her wings flared out and was staring at the surrounding vegetation. “What happened, sugarcube?” Applejack asked.

“I’m not sure. Something just flew into the cave after you girls entered,” Dash replied. “I think somepony threw it and- whoa, that’s nasty.” She had just caught sight of the unpleasant ooze that was covering her friends. “What is that stuff?”

“I don’t know,” Twilight admitted. “If I had time to analyze it, I might figure it out, but-“

“It’s a relaxant for felines,” Fluttershy interrupted. Except for Rarity, who was staring at the woods with a look of horror on her face, the group turned to the local animal expert. Fluttershy withered a little under their gazes before taking a deep breath and returning their looks. “The smell usually causes them to feel more playful, and I use it sometime to help them lose their stress."

“Girls…” Rarity said slowly, not looking away from the forest.

“Ah don’t get it,” Applejack pointed out. “Why would anypony feel the need to go and cover us in some fancy kitty relaxant?”

“Girls.”

“That’s only when it’s diluted,” Fluttershy answered. “When it’s this concentrated, the feeling of playfulness changes. It becomes the malicious playfulness of the cat playing with a mouse, toying with their prey before killing it. I never let any of my friends smell that, and always make it somewher-“

“Girls!”

“What do you want, Rar…i…ty? Oh.” Twilight was looking in the direction Rarity had been staring at, her mouth hanging open. She swallowed loudly once before continuing. “Fluttershy, do you think you would be able to calm a feline that smelled a highly concentrated dose of this stuff?”

“Not as long as the kitty continued to smell it, no. Sorry.”

Twilight licked her dry lips, the others staring at her in confusion. “Do you think that a manticore would be affected in a similar way?”

“I’ve never tried it, but I would think so. So, yes.”

“Ah, I see. Then we should probably be running.”

The mares turned to look in the direction Twilight and Rarity were staring at to see that a manticore at slipped out of the forest and was making its way towards them. Its belly low to the ground and its eyes locked unblinking on them, everything about it screamed 'predator hunting prey.' The girls froze up, staring at the hunter coming towards them. The horrific beast’s scorpion tail lashed the air threateningly, its wings were spread wide in order to make it seem even larger and more intimidating, and its fanged mouth was slightly opened in a malicious smile.

Applejack took an unwilling step back. “So…uh…any ideas, Twi?” she asked quietly, not wanting to provoke the frightening creature in front of them.

“Sorry, Applejack, but I-“

“Look!” Rainbow Dash interrupted, pointing with a hoof. “Its wings are injured.” Indeed, the manticore’s wings were tattered, torn, and still bleeding, almost like a tree had fallen on it recently. The cogs in Twilight’s brain, which had frozen in fear, started up again at this new piece of information.

“If it can’t fly, then we should be safe if we can get to somewhere it can’t go. But where? There are no cliffs nearby-“ Twilight gasped in realization. “The river!” Stepping forward, she began concentrating magic into her horn. “When I give the signal, run for the river. If we can get across it, we should be safe.”

Dash's mouth gaped open in dismay. “Twilight, that’s crazy! I know I didn’t mention it before, but we’re on the upstream side of the waterfall! If anything goes wrong, we’ll be swept off!”

“We don’t have time to argue!” The manticore was nearly within pouncing distance, and its muscles were bunching up in preparation to leap. Twilight took a deep breath to calm her nerves before screaming and unleashing her spell.”GO!” The area was covered in a blinding white light, robbing the sight of the manticore. Snarling in rage, it leapt at the spot the ponies had been standing but, unable to see, it missed them. Still able to smell them, covered as they were in the green goo, it took off in pursuit.

Running as fast as they could for the river, the mares began screaming in fear when they heard the sound of the manticore crashing though the forest behind them. Glancing behind her, Rainbow Dash saw the creature was closing in on them and would quickly catch them at the rate it was going. Gritting her teeth, the cyan pegasus turned and flew directly at the creature chasing them.

Pinkie gasped in horror, seeing what her headstrong friend was doing. “Dashie, what are you doing?”

“I’m not covered in that stuff, and I can fly,” Dash yelled back. “I’ll buy you guys some time. Don’t worry, I’ll catch up.” She flew directly under the manticore’s nose, causing it to reel back in surprise. Pinkie thought for only a moment before turning back to help Dash. Further ahead, Twilight had stopped running and was staring behind her in dismay and fear, watching her friends apparently sacrificing themselves. Dash hurriedly waved for her to go on ahead, shouting all the while. “Get going, Twilight! Pinkie and I are clean, and I can fly her out of here, but you’re still covered! Don’t just stand there, get moving!” Below her, the manticore snarled at Pinkie, who had just smacked it between the eyes with a tree branch. Turning away from them, Twilight took off.

At the river, she found Fluttershy had already flown across and was dancing on her hooves anxiously, worried for her friends’ safety. Applejack had pulled the rope out of her bag and tied it into a lasso, and was spinning it above her head. Launching it across the river, she snagged it on a sturdy-looking tree stump. Yanking on it a couple times to make sure it was secure, she gripped it in her mouth and gestured for Rarity to cross. Rarity leapt on the rope and began running across, balancing on the rope like a tightrope walker. When she was about halfway across, an explosion of noise followed by a wave of air knocked her off the rope. Barely able to clasp one leg around the rope before the force of the river washed her away, she could do nothing but scream for help, struggling against the merciless pull of the current. Fluttershy took flight and flew towards her friend as fast as she could.

Looking upstream, in the direction the blast had come from, Twilight’s eyes widened in shock at what she saw. A giant tree had somehow been torn from its resting place on the water’s edge, and was heading towards Rarity and Fluttershy. Applejack was watching the tree in horror, her hold on the rope meaning she unable to do anything to help the mares in the river, Twilight dashed beside Applejack and concentrated her magic as quickly as she could on the massive tree. Wrapping it in a purple glow, she stopped it only meters away from where Fluttershy was now helping Rarity grab onto the rope. She could feel sweat forming on her brow from the effort required to hold the tree against the force of the river, but her friends were in danger, and she would. Not. Let. Go.

A roar from behind her and the sound of breaking branches heralded the arrival of the manticore. Rainbow Dash was riding on its back, trying to avoid the sting of its fearsome tail while Pinkie Pie tried to distract it by screaming nonsense and throwing the last of remaining sweets and pastries at it. The manticore spotted the two mares still standing on the riverbank, and began making its way towards them, only slightly slowed down by the efforts of the distractionary duo. Twilight and Applejack exchanged looks – the unicorn straining under the effort of holding the tree back and the earth pony with the rope clenched firmly between her teeth. Twilight gestured with her chin towards the river, and Applejack nodded unwillingly before leaping into the rushing water. Gripping the rope as tightly as she could and hating herself for abandoning her friends, she and Rarity were swept away. Since the rope was anchored to the opposite bank, it swung around and brought them directly to the far shore. Pulling themselves out of the water, they and Fluttershy turned and could do nothing but watch as the manticore approached Twilight.

Seeing that her friends had safely made in to the other side, Twilight released her spell and sagged in exhaustion as the raging river swept the tree away. Turning her head, she saw that the manticore had almost reached her and she could already feel the warmth of its breath. Dash had managed to get off its back and was holding it by the tail, digging her hooves in the ground and trying to prevent it from reaching Twilight. Pinkie had run out of sweets and was holding onto Dash. Their faces were locked in expressions of strenuous effort and their hooves dug furrows in the ground as the monster continued forward, uninterested in them. Twilight had enough energy for one last spell, and she began preparing it as the monster reached her. As it raised its paw, preparing to bring it down upon her, she unleashed her final spell… and teleported.

Teleporting across the river, she had only a moment to recover before she was buried under the hugs of a laughing Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack. On the other side of the river, the manticore stared uncomprehendingly at the spot Twilight had been a moment before. Pinkie ran past it, and leapt as far as she could above the river, a huge smile on her face and her legs spread out as wide as she could make them. She looked as if she intended to fly across the river, but that was not her intention. Rainbow Dash flew up behind Pinkie and wrapped her hooves around the other mare’s torso, flying them across the river to join in the pile of laughing, crying mares. The manticore paced at the edge of the river a few times before giving up and returning to the forest.

Dear Princess Celestia;

Today I learned that no matter how fearsome the challenges you face in life are, if you work together with your friends, you can overcome almost anything. The bonds of friendship make anything possible, and there is nothing more valuable than a friend that stands beside you. I am so very lucky and grateful to have so many wonderful friends in my life, and I would not give them up for anything.

But that is not the only thing I wanted to tell you. Yesterday, my friends and I discovered a creature in the Everfree forest that seemed to be touched by Discord’s magic. It was unaffected by any spell I cast and managed to escape. Today, after a failed attempt to find it, I developed a spell that would allow me to detect any sources of Discord’s magic. This would give me a generally idea of its location, and would let me track it indirectly. To my dismay, I found three sources: one was in the Everfree, which is the creature I told you about; one was in Canterlot, which I believe is Discord himself; and the last was far southeast of Canterlot. I don’t know what it is, but I fear the effects of anything connected to Discord running free.

Your Faithful Student;

Twilight Sparkle

Dear Journal,

I met those creatures again today. They, along with four similar creatures, entered my cave. They know where I live! I will have to relocate tonight. I was lucky that they didn’t find me because I was out collecting firewood when they arrived. I chased them away by unleashing the manticore I had captured, but they managed to escape.

As they were escaping by crossing the nearby river, I was curious, and tested them by blowing up a large tree upstream of them and letting it fall in the river. They escaped it, and I was very impressed, journal. Not only that, but I learned a lot about each creature’s physical capabilities. I think I will be able to set up some effective traps for each of them.

I wonder if these creatures are edible? Nah, better not find out. If their bright colouration means anything, their flesh is probably extremely toxic. I'll have to be cautious until I understand their capabilities.

One of the creatures, one with a horn coming out of its head, apparently was able to stop the tree without touching it. I can understand the ones possessing wings being able to fly, but I do not understand this… this ‘magic’. I still do not know its full limits, so I will have to be careful in the future.

I must go, journal. I must begin setting traps and I need to move to a new cave.

Diplomacy's Failure

"Good mornin', Twilight." The young earth pony foal smiled up at Twilight, her yellow coat matched by the bags on her back.

Applejack walked alongside the small filly, and nodded her head to the approaching unicorn in greeting. "Mornin', Twi. Didja figure out what you was workin' on last night?"

"Good morning Apple Bloom, Applejack." Twilight had woken up early this morning wanting to find her friends and head out to the Everfree as soon as possible. She had happened across Applejack first, who was traveling with her cute-as-a-button younger sister. "I finished without any troubles; we should be able to track the creature now. What about you, Applejack? Are you taking Apple Bloom to school?" It was unusual to see the farmpony in town without a cartload of apples to sell.

Apple Bloom jumped in front of Twilight's face as Applejack was about to respond, the young filly's red bow on her head momentarily blocking Twilight's view. "Ah tried tellin' her that Ah kin take care of myself, but she wouldn't listen," the energetic filly complained, pouting adorably.

Applejack rolled her eyes fondly at her sister's antics before speaking in a firm tone. "You should listen to yer big sister, Apple Bloom. Ah'm jest worried about you, what with that creature in the forest n' all. Besides," she pointed down the road at a pair of white unicorns approaching them, "it looks like I weren't the only pony with that idea."

"Good morning, darlings. Fancy meeting you here." Rarity greeted the group with a fond smile as she walked up to them, her younger sister Sweetie Belle walking at her side.

The smaller unicorn shot the already-present an amused grin. "Hey Apple Bloom. You got escorted too, huh? Sure its not just because you'd get lost on the way to school?" Apple Bloom tackled the teasing unicorn in greeting and the two fillies scuffled playfully in the dirt for a few moments before Rarity wrapped them both up in her magic and separated them.

"That's enough of that unladylike behaviour, you two," she said, frowning at both of them. "Sweetie Belle, what have I told you about engaging in such unladylike activities?"

"That it's unladylike," Sweetie Belle answered, giving an extremely charming – and completely unrepentant – smile. It would have been obvious even to a complete stranger that Sweetie Belle had no intention of following her big sister’s orders.

Rarity gave a long-suffering sigh before turning to the other mares. “Are we going to head out again today, Twilight?” Rarity was being deliberately vague with her wording, not wanting to give the fillies a clear idea of what she was talking about. They could get into enough trouble on their own even at the best of times, and she didn’t want them to get any ideas to sneak out into the Everfree – again – to get their cutie marks.

Twilight caught on to what she was doing and answered just as vaguely. “Yes, Rarity. I finished the spell I was working on last night, so we’ll be ready to begin as soon as we’ve found the others.”

“Hey, girls. Ready to head into the Everfree Forest again?” Rainbow Dash said, suddenly flying in above the group’s heads. The others facehooved at Dash spilling the beans, and the pegasus tilted her head at them. “What?”

Apple Bloom bounced excitedly at Dash’s words. “Ah knew it. Y’all are headin’ to th’ Everfree Forest. Does it have anythin’ to do with that creature you was talkin’ about? Can we come along? We might git our cutie marks in monster huntin’.”

Wanting to put an end to that thought as quickly as possible – the fillies could cause enough of a disaster with whatever plans they had to get their cutie marks even when it didn’t sound horrifically dangerous – Applejack quickly spoke against it. “Absolutely not. We’re only goin’ inta th’ forest because of direct orders from the Princess and Ah forbid you from goin’ in there unless ya receive the same.” AJ didn’t like needing to bring Princess Celestia’s name into an argument with her sister, but she knew that not even Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle would go against something the Princess said.

As the fillies “Awwww’d” in disappointment, Applejack looked up at the latest arrival. “So what’re y’all doin’ here, Dash? Ah thought you’d still be asleep this early in the mornin’.”

The pegasus rubbed the back of her head uncomfortably with a hoof before answering without looking Applejack in the eyes. “Oh…I just had trouble sleeping, you know? Thinking about how we’re going to take down this creature. Yeah. And I was looking for you guys so we could head off right away.”

“That was awesome, Rainbow Dash!” An orange pegasus filly riding a scooter zipped in from the direction Dash had arrived in a few moments before. “Hey everypony, what’re you all doing here?” The orange filly screeched to a halt beside Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, covering both of them in dust. “Oops, sorry.” The orange filly was Scootaloo, the president of the Rainbow Dash fanclub. Her wings weren’t yet developed enough for her to fly for long periods, and she tended to use her scooter to get around. As the other two fillies were coughing up dust, Scootaloo turned to lavish more praise on her hero, not noticing Dash trying to shush her. “You were incredible! I never would have been able to keep up with you if you hadn’t been holding back. I was surprised when you offered to race me to school, but that was really fun.”

Dash was by this point blushing furiously and trying to look anywhere but at the amused grins of her three friends. “Well… Yeah, I mean, I am the most awesome pegasus in Equestria. Have to spend some time with my adoring fans, right? Ahahaha,” she laughed awkwardly before coughing. “Anyways, shouldn’t you three be heading off to school?”

Scootaloo saluted playfully before turning to her friends. “Come on, you two. Ms. Cherilee’s going to throw the book at me if I’m late again this week.” Fanning her wings, she propelled her scooter away at high speeds. The other two fillies shouted at her to wait before pursuing.

Rainbow Dash sighed in relief before turning to look at her broadly-grinning friends. “What?" she said defensively. "I happened to find her while she was on her way to school and thought a little early morning competition would be good for her.”

The others snickered for a moment before Twilight responded for all of them. “Of course, Rainbow Dash. We believe you. We believe that you just happened across Scootaloo and that you didn’t get up early to find her because you were worried. You’re far too cool to do something like that.” She didn’t believe it. The fact that Applejack was now laughing openly didn’t help matters, nor did the cheeky grin that had started spreading across her Rarity’s face.

Dash crossed her forehooves and glared at the three mares. “Let’s just go find the others.”

Less than an hour later, they had found Pinkie and Fluttershy and were once again standing at the outskirts of the Everfree Forest. Fluttershy still looked like she didn’t really want to be there, while Pinkie looked like she had to restrain herself from charging into the forest. Twilight began to lay out the new plan, pacing back and forth in front of the mares.

“Alright, we weren’t able to find the creature yesterday, but we will today. Last night, I developed a spell that will allow me to find and track Discord’s magic. Following his energy patterns should lead us right to the creature.” She didn’t mention the other energy source she’d sensed last night, since there was nothing they could do about it. Whatever it was, they would just have to deal with it when it came up. The other mares nodded at her words, and Rainbow Dash beat her front hooves together.

“Finally! I’ve been itching for a chance to get a little payback on that freak ever since yesterday. Maybe I’ll give him a taste of the ol’ ‘Dash One-Two’” She punched the air in front of her for a moment.

“No, Dashie. No no no no no,” Pinkie said, bouncing n front of Dash. “We’re talking, remember? What kind of friendship could we make if we started by attacking him?” Dash took a moment to wrap her head around the idea that Pinkie still wanted to befriend the creature after yesterday.

Rarity spoke up before Dash had finished processing. “Pinkie, I just can’t believe you still want to befriend that beast. Darling, he unleashed a manticore on us yesterday. I really don’t think that it wants to be friends with us.”

Pinkie withered slightly at Rarity’s reminder of the manticore, and her voice was shaking when she responded. “Well, yeah, but nopony got hurt, right? And he might just have been scared of us, for whatever reason. Maybe Discord’s in his head, telling him that we’re fearsome and evil and that we’ll hurt him if with catch him. That would scare anypony.” The others stared at their friend’s overactive imagination.

“Pinkie, a scared animal would instinctively lash against anypony that it felt was threatening it,” Twilight said, wanting to put an end to this matter before they entered the forest, “but this creature has shown several signs of intelligence. Not only that, but it deliberately tried to hurt us yesterday, when it could simply have hidden and waited for us to leave. We’re going to try peaceful one more time, but we will capture it if it won’t listen to Fluttershy.” Twilight was stressed, and not handling it well. The idea of trying to find a creature that had already tried to kill them was not a pleasant one, and she no longer believed this could be ended peacefully. If she had, maybe she would have realized how completely wrong her assumption was. Casting the tracking spell, she led the way into the oppressive shadows cast by the trees.

The others followed behind, Pinkie still trying to convince Dash to try being friends with the creature, but Dash was not listening anymore. “No Pinkie, I agree with Twilight. We’ll try letting Fluttershy talk to it one more time, but that’s it. The creature has no more second chances. What would it take for you to finally give up? For the creature to hurt one of us in front of you? Would that do it?”

Pinkie didn’t respond. The group entered the forest in an awkward silence. Fluttershy tried to comfort the saddened pink mare, but the others were too busy thinking about the inevitable confrontation that they believed they lay ahead. They had been walking for several minutes when Twilight stopped abruptly. Her eyes closed, and her only thoughts were on the tracking spell. She didn’t even notice when Applejack, who had been looking at the forest around them, walked right into her hindquarters.

“What’s up, sugarcube?” Applejack asked, rubbing at her snout with a hoof.

“He’s close. Everypony, be on guard.” They continued forward at a slower pace, and had barely made a dozen steps before they spotted him. He was sitting on a fallen tree trunk, his axe resting on his lap and his hands clenched around the handle. His small eyes stared at them, firm and unblinking. He had clearly been waiting for them, and was watching them to see what they would do. The mares stopped and stared back at him, not wanting to provoke or frighten him. After a moment, Fluttershy stepped forward.

“Then, if it’s alright with everypony, I’ll try talking with him.” Her voice shook a little, revealing her slight fear of the creature. Behind her, Twilight was looking around at the surrounding forest, her concern worsening and worsening. The creature had clearly been preparing the site, and she seriously doubted his intentions were good.

There’s no way the trees fell like that naturally, she thought. The trees had been methodically cut down so that they formed a circle around them and the creature. It wasn’t obvious, but it was clearly intentional. Her eyes widened as she realized what that had to mean. It’s a trap!

Twilight opened her mouth to warn everypony, but the creature acted before she could say anything. Abruptly standing up, he threw the axe at the mares in an over arm throw. The mares screamed and dove out of the way as it tumbled end-over-end past them. Twilight followed it with her gaze, and her eyes widened as she saw what the creature had intended. Quickly getting to her hooves, she continued running away from the axe, shouting for the others to do the same. “Don’t stop! Keep running!”

The axe thunked loudly when it reached its destination, slicing through several vines before embedding itself in a tree behind them. The tree had been leaning against the vines, and the remaining vines were no longer enough to support its weight. With a horrible crack, the tree began to break at a spot a few feet above the ground, a spot that had been weakened beforehand by several carefully aimed strikes of the axe that was now implanted in it. The group scattered as it fell towards them, barely able to get out of the way in time thanks to Twilight’s warning. Twilight took a moment to check that her friends were safe.

“Twilight! Look out!”

At Applejack’s shouted warning, Twilight turned her head to see that the creature had charged her while she was distracted by the falling tree. Its right hand was covered in a strange goop, and he smacked it into her face before she could react. Knocked back several paces but unhurt, she managed to land on her hooves before trying to wipe the stuff off her eyes.

“What is this? I-I can’t see!” Her eyes had gone milky white and she was struck blind. Twilight’s ears twitched as she tried to understand what was happening around her. Applejack suddenly shouted, a shout which ended in a thump and a groan.

“AJ! Are you alright?” Twilight shouted, an edge of panic starting to creep into her voice as she was no longer able to tell what was going on in the fight around her.

“Ah’ll be fine, Twi,” Applejack replied, sounding more angry than hurt. “The bucker just knocked me into a hole. Gimme a moment to get outta here.”

“AJ, that was awesome,” Rainbow Dash’s voice teased. “Here, let me show you how it’s done.” She launched herself at the creature, trying to tackle him, but he managed to dodge out of the way and thrust his hands into one of the many bushes surrounding the area. Grabbing something hidden within, he pulled it out and held it between him and Dash. It was a scythe, similar to the kind some farmers used to collect their harvest. It was sloppily made, barely more than a blade attached to a stick. It was also completely made out of wood, the ‘blade’ nothing more than a strip of bark. Dash raised an eyebrow at seeing the ‘weapon’, her smirk only broadening.

On the other side of the clearing, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rarity were trying to calm Twilight down. Twilight had started hyperventilating, and was incessantly wiping at her sightless eyes.

Pinkie glanced over to where Dash had started to mock the creature for his weapon. “Can’t you do something to stop them, Rarity?” she pleaded fretfully.

“I’m sorry dear, but it’s just like Twilight said. Magic just seems to slide off the creature. I can’t even touch that ugly thing he’s holding. Twilight might be able to figure it out, but…” Rarity trailed off.

“It’s okay, just keep breathing.” Fluttershy soothed. Twilight’s breaths were becoming more even and she was no longer gasping. Fluttershy firmly held her hooves, preventing her from wiping her eyes. “Everything will be alright, just focus on the sound of my voice.”

Rarity shook her head. “If she can’t see, Twilight won’t be able to cast any spells.”

“We’ll be able to help her though, right?” Pinkie asked. “Between Zecora, the hospital, and Twilight’s library, there’s no way we won’t find a cure, right?” Tears were starting to form in the pink mare’s eyes.

Rarity hesitated for a moment before answering. “I’m not certain, but you’re probably right. Zecora would be our best bet. She might not have much of a sense of style, but – ah!” Rarity quickly cast a protective shield around the four mares, similar to what she had seen Twilight cast before.

While Rarity and Pinkie had been talking, the battle had been continuing between Dash and the creature.

“So what are you gonna do with that thing, bludgeon me into submission?” Dash snarked. “Or maybe you’re just going to smack me with the stick when it breaks, because that is a totally uncool weapon.” Dash knew the creature couldn’t understand her, and she didn’t really care. The creature had managed to dump Applejack in a hole, and Dash was already planning the ways she could mercilessly tease the orange pony about this for weeks.

The creature pulled something out of a pocket and fiddled with it for a second. Dash watched curiously before a tiny light came out from behind the creature’s hands. As he placed whatever it was back in his pocket, she saw that he was now holding a tiny stick that was on fire on one end. He smiled wickedly at her and touched the burning end of the stick to the bark blade of the scythe. Dash jumped back in surprise as the blade was suddenly covered in dancing flames. The creature must have covered it in some sort of flammable substance beforehand.

Quickly getting over her surprise, Dash smiled. “And here I thought you weren’t going to make this interesting.” Tucking her wings tight against her body, she lowered herself into the battle stance she had practiced at the dojo so many times before. Her back legs slightly spread out and her head lowered, she beat one forehoof against the ground, issuing her challenge.

The creature frowned – the flickering light of the fire throwing his face into sharp relief. Possibly he had been hoping to scare away the cyan pony. Dash snickered to herself at the thought. He should know better than to think he could scare away The Dash. He swung his weapon at her once, wildly, and her grin widened even more. Yeah, he doesn’t have a clue how to handle that.

Her grin vanished instantly when the burning scythe brushed against some loose branches, which instantly caught on fire. The fire spread rapidly, following the fallen logs that Twilight had noticed before. Whatever flammable material was on that scythe must have been slathered on the logs as well. In seconds, the entire area was surrounded in thick, roaring flames. Dash sighed in relief when she saw that her friends had managed to get a shield up in time to protect themselves. Blue tint – must be Rarity’s.

Dash growled when she looked back at the creature. “You’ll pay for threatening them.” The two combatants stared at each other for a few seconds, neither paying heed to the mighty inferno surrounding them. Dash charged first, while the creature swung his scythe around in a wide arc in response, aiming directly at her.

Meanwhile, Rarity was struggling under the effort required to sustain the shield against such an oppressive heat. Her knees were already shaking, and sweat had begun to pour unheeded down her body. This wasn’t a spell she was familiar with, and she knew that she wouldn’t be able to hold it for long. Twilight had managed to calm down, and was asking Fluttershy about the situation. “What’s going on? What’s happening?”

“Never mind that, Twilight,” Rarity panted out. “Could you be a dear and give me some magic? I’m afraid I just don’t have enough.” Even in the direst situation, a pony simply must remain ladylike. With some assistance from Fluttershy, the sightless unicorn was led over to Rarity, carefully pressing her purple horn against Rarity’s white one and letting her magic flow into the other mare. Rarity smiled in relief as it felt like a weight was being lifted off of her shoulders. Twilight might not be able to cast any spells so long as she couldn’t see, but with her much stronger magical energy supporting Rarity, Rarity no longer feared that she would be unable to sustain the shield.

Outside the shield, in the midst of the full rage of the flames, Rainbow Dash continued to fight against the creature. Leaping away from her foe, she tried to get some distance between them. There was no fear in her heart – she knew she was both faster and stronger then the creature – but the creature had range, and a solid hit from that weapon would be devastating. Already, her fur was singed at several spots along her body, showing where she had barely managed to dodge. Nothing for it. She would not dodge the next attack. Planting her rear hooves firmly on the ground, she lifted herself up on them, standing upright in a bastardized stance of the one the creature was standing in. Her forehooves in the air in front of her, she made a gesture with one of them, telling the creature a simple message in the language without words: “Bring it.”

The creature responded as she hoped, rushing her and bringing his scythe across in a horizontal slice aimed at her skull. Dash calmly and smoothly stepped forward, bringing herself within the weapon’s arc. Raising a single hoof in the path of the wooden snath, she stopped the swing of the scythe. The creature stared in shock at the sight before him. The flaming scythe head, only inches behind Dash’s head, was already causing her mane to smoulder and smoke. She didn’t care. This fight was already her victory.

Bracing her rear hooves, she swung her free forehoof at the exposed snath of the scythe. She punched right through it with a resounding crack, severing the weapon. Casually flicking her hooves, she lazily tossed the head of the broken scythe aside, where it vanished into the roaring blaze around them. Arrogantly dropping back down to all fours, she gave a smug look at the creature before her.

“Give up yet?” she taunted. The creature was completely outmatched in a fight, and both of them knew it. While Dash had a smug look in her eyes, the creature had the look of a cornered animal. Despite the fact that he was more than twice the size of the tiny pegasus, he feared her. Dash had never faced anything that feared her more than death itself, and she didn’t know how an animal fighting with its back against the wall would act. She was caught off guard when the creature threw the useless stick at her face, and instinctively raised a hoof to block it. The creature threw something at the ground between her hooves in the moment she broke eye contact with him. A cloud of smoke was released, and she accidently inhaled a lungful in surprise before leaping away.

Her legs buckled beneath her as she landed. Her eyesight began to wobble and blur, and she could barely focus on her surroundings. The creature was standing well away from her, watching as she tried and failed to stand up.

“Wha…What didjya do t’me?” she slurred out. Whatever foul concoction the creature had used had robbed her of her motor control. Her thoughts were sluggish, she was starting to see double, and she couldn’t even stand up. The creature nodded to himself, confirming the effects of whatever she had inhaled. She barely saw when he started running towards her, and tried to gather her legs underneath her to dive out of the way. All she managed to accomplish was a feeble twitch before the creature’s foot came up and he kicked her squarely in the side of her head.

Rainbow Dash struggled against unconsciousness as she was flung back, and she barely felt the impact as she crashed against one of the many burning logs surrounding the area. She could feel the flames tickling her feathers and weakly tried to pull herself away from them. Over the roar of the greedy flames, she could hear a voice screaming her name.

“DASHIE!”

Pinkie Pie was suddenly there, dragging her away from the flames. Turning the pegasus on her front, Pinkie hurriedly beat out the tiny fires that had started to burn on Dash’s wings. The flames around them seemed to roar in disappointment and anger at having been denied its prey. Dash looked up at Pinkie, the gratitude in her eyes changing into horror at what she saw.

“Behind…you…” she weakly moaned out. Pinkie turned and saw that the creature now stood above them. Its face twisted in a snarl of rage, it gazed at them with undisguised hatred in its eyes. Pinkie faced the creature and stood her ground. She refused to leave Dashie at the mercy of-

“THAT’S ENOUGH!”

Fluttershy flew in front of the creature’s face, the normally meek pegasus’ face showing only anger and determination. The creature took a step back, recoiling under the gaze of Fluttershy’s Stare.

“Just WHAT do you think you’re doing? Now you listen to me, Mister. I’ve stood by and watched you hurt my friends for long enough! What gives you the right? What lets you-glgh” The creature had recovered from his initial surprise of Fluttershy’s appearance, and his face had continued to bunch up in rage as she talked. Unable to understand the pegasus, he felt nothing at her words. His right hand had shot up as she threatened him and had wrapped itself around her throat, his thumb pressing against her windpipe.

She struggled in his grip, the authoritative look of the Stare fading into a look of panic as she tried to get oxygen into her lungs. The creature’s left hand had balled into a fist behind him, preparing to punch the pony held in his grasp. As the fist sped towards her, something suddenly grabbed it, stopping it midswing. Looking at it, he saw that the pink mare had latched onto his hand, preventing it from moving. Her mane was no longer poofy, instead falling down from her head like a waterfall of hair, and she matched his look of hatred with one of her own, despite the tears openly pouring down her cheeks.

“I don’t want to be your friend anymore!” she screamed in his face, her voice catching on the last word.

“Keep holdin’ him, Pinkie!” a southern-accented voice shouted out.

The creature shrieked in pain as Appejack’s rear hooves impacted the arm holding Fluttershy. A loud snap could be head over the sound of the flames, and Fluttershy fell to the ground, gasping for air. The creature flung off Pinkie, and clutched his broken arm, which had received an extra bend between elbow and wrist.

“Sorry Ah’m late,” Applejack apologized. She and Pinkie glared at the whimpering creature. “Now, as fer this varmint…” The creature reached into a pocket with his good hand, pulling out several of the objects he had used on Dash before. Throwing them at the ground by his own feet, he turned and sprinted towards the nearest wall of flames. Both AJ and Pinkie, who had jumped back to avoid the smoke, could only watch as the creature dove through the fire and flames, vanishing beyond them. Pinkie tried to follow him, but AJ stopped her.

“Let ‘im go, Pinkie. We need ta help the others.” Fluttershy had recovered and was dragging Dash away from the burning log, while Rarity was slowly leading the blinded Twilight towards them as well. Ducking her head under Dash’s prone body, Applejack slid the still woozy pegasus onto her back. With Dash’s hooves dragging against the ground, Applejack led the others towards the unicorn pair. She sighed in relief at seeing them mostly unharmed. The creature may have gotten away, but her friends were still safe. At the moment, that was all that mattered.

Dear Princess Celestia

I am sorry to report that we were unable to communicate with the creature that I told you about in my previous letter. It attacked us when we found it, and I am afraid we responded with force in kind. I was struck blind in the battle, though Zecora assures me it is only temporary. She gave me a potion to rub on my eyes every couple of hours to ease the return of my sight, and said that I should make a full recovery within the next twenty four hours. I am dictating this letter to Spike, and he is writing it down because he is the greatest assistant anypony could ever ask for.

Spike, are you adding things to my letter?

Rarity’s been taking care of me. She’s not here right now, and is checking how everypony is dealing with what happened today. She’s so dreamy and kind and sweet and generous and I’m lucky to have a friend like her. Spike, I can hear the quill scratching against the parchment. Please don’t add your own thoughts in my letter to the Princess.

As for my other friends, Rainbow Dash is getting a checkup at the hospital. I was told she took a pretty bad blow to the head during the fight. She said she was fine but Pinkie Pie, of all mares, insisted. Fluttershy backed Pinkie up, and Dash conceded.

Oh, Rarity just returned. I’ll let her tell you how everypony’s doing.

Hello Princess, it’s Rarity. I understand Twilight wants me to tell you how the others are doing. Putting it simply, I’m afraid they’re not doing very well at all. Pinkie’s locked herself inside her room at Sugarcube Corner and refused to speak to me. I fear the poor dear feels responsible for Dash getting injured. As for Dash, she’s spending the night in the hospital, much to her displeasure. She said she’s taken worse injuries during training accidents, but Fluttershy simply refused to back down. Dash stopped complaining when I told her I’d bring her a Daring Do book from the library.

Fluttershy told me she’s going to stay with Dash until visiting hours are over, and then she’ll head back to her cottage. She is being even quieter than usual, and I had trouble getting that much out of her. I don’t know if Twilight told you, but Fluttershy was nearly injured in our fight with the creature, and probably needs some quiet time with her animal friends.

Applejack is going to take care of Sweetie Belle for me tonight, so I’m going to be spending the night with Twilight. Of course I’m going to help you dear. I can’t just leave Spikey-wikey to take of you by himself. If I hadn’t decided to stay with you tonight, Applejack would have instead. That mare’s got her heart in the right place, but she just doesn’t have the gentle touch that an injured pony needs.

Spike here, maybe I shouldn’t have written all that down.

It’s Twilight again, Princess. Rarity’s left to deliver that Daring Do book to Dash before visiting hours end. We’re planning to rest tomorrow to give me some time to recover. I’m going to come up with a plan to capture the creature before we meet him again, so please don’t worry about us.

Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle

P.S.: Please tell my brother I’ll be alright. I know he can worry.

To My Faithful Student Twilight,

It fills my heart with joy to hear that you and your friends are alright. I'm very sorry to hear that you and your friends have suffered because of my request to you. I would prefer to send some of my guardsponies to track whatever machinations of Discord’s are in the forest. Indeed, I would mobilize the entire army if I could, but I fear I cannot.

After their defeat a few weeks ago at the hooves of your brother, Shining Armor, and Princess Cadence, the changeling army has begun to regroup. Their hive had remained silent, but they have suddenly begun preparing for something. I believe they are intending to launch a second strike on Canterlot, but I will not be caught off-guard this time. However, it concerns is that their hive is southeast of Canterlot, the same direction you told me that you detected some of Discord’s magic. I believe whatever creature you face in the forest is nothing more than a distraction, intended to blind us to Discord’s true intentions.

It pains me to ask so much of you, my beloved student, but I must ask you and your friends to hunt down and capture the creature in the Everfree Forest without any support from Canterlot. Even if I cannot be there, know that you will always have my support.

Please keep yourselves safe,
Princess Celestia.

P.S.: Your brother and Cadence say hello and asked me to pass on their best wishes.

Dear Journal,

I don’t understand what happened. I had intended to meet those tiny monsters – no, those tiny horses. I witnessed when they fled the manticore a strong sense of intelligence and comradeship. They put themselves in danger to protect the others. Would simple monsters act like this? I had planned the whole thing. I would await them, and try to communicate with them. If they attacked me, I had several traps set up, and would light the clearing on fire if I needed to before making my escape. So why? Why did I feel such hatred and anger when I saw them? Why did I attack them even though they didn’t threaten me?

Or did I? I don’t understand what is going on. I can clearly remember the orange horse breaking my arm when I was holding the yellow one. I can still feel the pain shooting up my arm. But…my arm is not broken. Not even as if it had healed, but as if it had never broken.

Did I imagine the entire thing? Did it even happen? But it must have happened. My clothes are scorched and blackened by the fire in some places. The fire that I started. But it couldn’t have happened. My arm would be broken if it had.

I can’t understand. Am I going insane? Or am I insane already? It feels like there's something in my head, like my thoughts aren't my own. Did the fight even happen, or did I imagine the entire thing? If anyone can hear me, I beg of you. Someone, anyone; help me.

Please help me.

A Day for Recovery

Rainbow Dash slowly walked her way through the streets of Ponyville. She had just been released from the hospital, and was on her way to the library. A corner of the Daring Do book she had been reading last night was sticking out of the saddlebags slung over her back. The Cutie Mark Crusaders snuck along the street behind her, trying not to be noticed but unaware that she had spotted them several blocks back. Dash climbed the library steps, knocking hard on the door a few times before pushing it open and entering anyway.

Rarity, who had been on her way to get the door, gave her an exasperated look. “Really Dash, as nice as it is that you occasionally use doors like a normal pony, there are still some manners you need to learn.”

Dash unstrapped the saddlebags from around her chest, tossing them and the book on the table before answering. “This is a library, right? What difference does it make?” This was an old argument between the two mares, and neither paid it much attention. Twilight entered the room, Spike walking alongside her with one claw on her shoulder.

Dash turned to greet them, giving the pair a friendly smile. “Morning Twilight, Spike. You feeling better, Twi?”

“Good morning, Rainbow Dash. It’s good to see you. And yes,” Twilight waved a hoof in front of her still milky eyes, “I can see you, though everything is still really blurry.”

Dash snickered and gestured at Spike. “Hence the seeing eye dragon.”

Twilight smiled and nuzzled Spike fondly. “I really am grateful to both of them. I don’t know how I would have through the night by myself."

Spike pushed her away, trying to look like he didn't enjoy the display of affection. "Obviously you couldn’t take care of yourself without my help, but that’s no reason for any mushy stuff.” Despite his best efforts, the mares were able to see his tiny little smile.

Rarity winked at Dash before walking beside Spike and nuzzling him from the opposite side. “Oh, don’t be like that, Spike. She just knows how fortunate she is that you’re around to take care of her. I’m sure you would do the same for me if I were blinded for any reason.”

“Of course, Rarity. I would do anything for you.” Spike proclaimed immediately. Twilight and Dash laughed at the completely different reaction of the love-struck dragon. He glared at them both until Rarity stepped away from him, his gaze softening as it rested on her.

“Incidentally,” Rarity asked Dash,” you wouldn’t have happened to have seen Sweetie Belle today, have you? I wanted to talk to her about something.” In response, Dash inclined her head in the direction of the window, where Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle could be seen before they ducked out of sight.

“Sweetie Belle, could you come in here, please?” Rarity called out, having spotted the tiny trio. Whispering could be heard from outside until the door opened and the three fillies entered the room, their gazes locked firmly on the floor in front of them.

“Hey Rarity. So…uh, what’s up?” Sweetie Belle uneasily scratched at the floor while she talked, staring at her hoof as if it was the most interesting thing in the world to her. Her two quiet friends were doing pretty much the same beside her.

“It occurred to me that we haven’t spent much time together recently," the fashionista said after a moment’s thought, deciding that this was more important than finding out whatever trouble the fillies had caused. “I’m free this afternoon, once Twilight’s feeling better, and I thought we could spend some time making accessories for you and your friends.” The three fillies looked up at her in surprise. They had clearly been expecting a lecture, and instead they were getting…presents?

“Wait, so you haven’t spoken to Applejack yet?" Sweetie Belle blurted out. Rarity’s eyes narrowed at the young trio, who slowly started to back away from her.

“Nothin’ happened,” Apple Bloom interjected a little too quickly. “Nothin’ happened at…” she withered under the strength of Rarity’s glare.

“What were you three even doing out here?” Twilight asked, her still slightly blind eyes looking at a point slightly to the left of the cowering fillies. Scootaloo quickly answered, pouncing on the opportunity to get out from under Rarity’s gaze.

“That was my idea. I heard this morning that Rainbow Dash had spent the night in the hospital and thought that if we followed her, maybe we could see something she needed help with – you know, in case she hadn’t healed yet – and help her. Maybe we could even get our cutie marks!" Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom looked noticeably less excited than Scootaloo at the prospect of a helping Rainbow Dash cutie mark, but they had probably gone along with it because it was easier than arguing.

“Aw, that’s so sweet. Aren’t you lucky, Rainbow Dash? Somepony who wants to run your errands and take care of you. I’m so jealous. All I’ve got is Spike.” The tiny dragon rolled his eyes at his housemate’s jab, knowing she was only teasing.

Dash snorted at Twilight’s sarcasm before turning to Scootaloo, a thoughtful look in her eyes. "Actually, there is something you can help me out with, Squirt.” Scootaloo was suddenly standing directly in front of Dash with a big smile on her face, ready to do anything her hero asked her to. Dash stood straight and tall at the youngster’s attention, unconsciously slipping into drill sergeant mode. “Last night, Fluttershy was quieter than usual, and seemed a little depressed about something. I want you and your friends to go to her place and see how she is doing. Try to cheer her up if necessary. Can you do this for me?”

Scootaloo, who had been standing at attention through Dash’s speech, saluted and turned to her friends. “Come on girls, we’ve got a mission. Let’s try to get our cutie marks this time.” The three foals inhaled deeply. Knowing what was coming, the others in the room quickly covered their ears.

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS FLUTTERSHY CHEERERS!! YAY!!” Screaming their catchphrase at the top of their lungs, the three fillies sped out the library door together.

“Sweetie Belle,” Rarity yelled after them, slightly deafened despite having had her ears covered, “don’t forget, Carousel Boutique after lunch.” Sweetie Belle poked her head back inside and nodded in acknowledgement at her sister before sprinting after her friends, who had left without her. She could be heard shouting for them to wait up as they vanished down the dusty street.

“You’re not going to go see Fluttershy yourself?” Spike asked Rainbow, putting his claw supportively back on Twilight’s shoulder.

Dash shook her head, lifting up a hoof to brush her mane back. “Nah. I am worried about her, but I’m more worried about Pinkie. From what Rarity told me last night, I think I’m the only one who can get through to her.” Beating her wings, Dash took off and flew towards the library door.

“And I’m sure the fact that Pinkie will probably give you sweets didn’t affect you decision at all,” Twilight said in a flat tone.

Dash shot a grin at the sarcastic librarian. “Well, the cupcakes she makes are almost as awesome as I am."

A few minutes later, Dash carefully landed on the doorstep outside Sugarcube Corner. The bell jingled merrily above her as she pushed the door open and entered the bakery. “Good morning, Mrs. Cake. Is Pinkie in?” This was aimed at the chubby mare standing behind the counter, proprietor of Sugarcube Corner and Pinkie’s landlord.

“Hello, Rainbow Dash. She is,” Mrs. Cake looked uneasily up at the ceiling, “but she hasn’t come out of her room since yesterday. I know she’s still in there since I can hear her from time to time, but she doesn’t answer when I knock.”

Dash grimaced at the unwelcome news. Looks like it was worse than Rarity thought. “Mind if I give it a try?” Dash asked

“Go ahead. But please,” she added as Dash started making her was to the stairs, “be careful. I heard her mention your name a few times, and she would usually start crying immediately after.”

Dash’s upraised hoof stopped in midair above the first step before she slowly brought it down. “She was talking to herself?” That was bad. “Did it sound like she was still her? I mean, did she sound like she was changing her voice?” The last time something like this happened, Dash had nearly found herself replaced by a bucket of turnips. She hadn’t told anypony what had happened that day, but she couldn’t deny – not even to herself – that Pinkie’s mood change had scared her. Mrs. Cake assured her that no, Pinkie still sounded like Pinkie, even if she was less…bubbly.

Dash slowly ascended the stairs, making her way to the door of Pinkie’s room. Other than the noise filtering in from outside, the building was completely silent. Mr. Cake must have taken the twins out to the park. The silence was almost oppressive, and the feeling of dread in Dash’s gut worsened with every step she took. Reaching the door, she gently knocked on it, trying to push her own feelings aside.

Silence was the only response. Dash tried the door handle – locked, of course. She knocked on the door again, a bit harder this time. “Pinkie, it’s Rainbow Dash. Will you let me in?”

After a few seconds, Pinkie’s voice tonelessly drifted through the door. “Go away Dashie. I don’t want you to see me like this.”

Well, that was a response at least. Dash stomped a hoof on the floor, her feeling of unease replaced with annoyance. Screw gentle, she was getting in there. “Pinkie, I’ll give you ten seconds to unlock this door and let me in, or I'm opening the door and coming in anyway.” While she might not be able to put as much force into a single blow as Applejack could, a simple wooden door still wouldn’t a significant obstacle to the fit pegasus. Counting in her head, Dash got all the way up to seven before she heard the click of the door being unlocked. Turning the handle, Dash entered Pinkie’s room.

Pinkie’s room was much the same as ever. The walls, floors, bed, and ceiling were covered in various party motifs, while stuffed animals sat on chairs spread throughout the room. In the midst of this cheerful carnage, the room’s owner stood out like a deflated balloon. Her mane was still flat and lacked any of its regular luster, tear streaks could clearly be seen on her cheeks, and her eyes were still red and puffy. She must have been crying to herself all last night. Dash smiled awkwardly. She hadn’t planned anything beyond ‘get into Pinkie’s room,’ and she really wasn’t good at this sort of thing.

“Hey Pinkie, how are you doing?” Oh yeah, Dash grumbled at herself, what a great question. She’s going to answer “I’m doing just fine Dashie”, and then we’ll head downstairs for snacks, and everything will be sunshine and rainbows.

“What do you want, Dashie?”

Dash mentally sighed at Pinkie’s tone. This wasn’t going to be easy. “I’m worried about you, Pinks.” Dash moved in closer to Pinkie, hoping her use of the nickname would make the other mare lower her defences. No such luck.

Pinkie turned away from Dash, walking over to the window and throwing it open. “Worried about me? Ha, that’s a laugh. Why don’t you say what you’re really here for: that you blame me for you getting hurt and that you don’t want to be my friend anymore.” Her voice caught on the last few words, and she was barely able to choke them out.

“Pinkie, I don’t blame you-“

“Of course you blame me!” Pinkie shrieked, completely running over Dash’s assurances. “How could you not? It was my fault! If I hadn’t kept insisting that we should try to befriend the creature, if I had instead listened to you, then…” Pinkie trailed off, looking away from Dash. Panting, she pointed at the open window beside her. “So if you’ll just hurry up and say it, you can leave.”

“Fine, I’ll leave.” It was obvious that this conversation wasn’t going anywhere. “But…” Dash began stalking towards Pinkie, who didn’t notice the pegasus getting closer. “I’m not leaving alone!” Leaping on the pink mare, she grabbed Pinkie and flew out the open window, ignoring Pinkie’s screech of complaint. Flapping her wings as hard as she could, she flew her unwilling passenger straight up into the air, leaving a rainbow-coloured contrail behind them. It wasn’t enough for a sonic rainboom, but that wasn’t her goal.

“Rainbow Dash, let me go!” Pinkie shrieked, struggling in Dash’s hold.

Dash looked at the mare struggling in her grip, then down at the rapidly shrinking Ponyville far below them. “Very poor choice of words.” And she let go.

Pinkie continued to ascend as momentum worked on her until gravity realized it had a job to do. Pinkie screamed as she began to plummet towards the ground, Rainbow Dash calmly flying just out of reach alongside her. “Why are you doing this, Dashie?” Pinkie cried, the force of the wind stinging her eyes and whipping the resulting tears away. “Are you mad at me? Do you want me to apologize? I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I’m sorry you got hurt because of me, and I’m sorry that I didn’t listen to you!” Pinkie was weeping openly, the tears now caused by her own anguish, rather than the wind.

Dash watched silently, her quivering lip betraying how hard it was for her to remain impassive in the face of her friend’s distress.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Pinkie continued to plead. “Please, Dashie. Please. Will you forgive me? Will-will you be my friend again?”

Dash’s wings flared open and she swooped towards her friend, grabbing her in mid-air. Pinkie wrapped her legs around Dash, pulling herself close, weeping into Dash’s rainbow-patterned mane. Tears began to trickle unashamedly down Dash’s cheeks as she flew them towards a nearby cloud.

Landing on it, Dash’s innate pegasus magic allowed her to stand on the fluffy cloud while Pinkie’s hooves sunk right through it. The earth pony wouldn’t be able to escape hearing what Dash wanted to say. The mares continued to hold each other until Dash felt she was able to tell Pinkie her thoughts.

“There’s nothing to forgive, Pinkie. It’s not your fault I got hurt. I was overconfident, and I didn’t expect the creature to have any hidden tricks. Please don’t blame yourself.” Pinkie’s sobs had tapered off while Dash talked, and she was silent for a minute before responding.

“Do you-“ her voice caught in her throat, and she took a moment to swallow her tears. “Do you mean that, Dashie?” Even through the sorrowful emotions clogging her throat, Dash could clearly hear another emotion in her voice: hope.

“Of course I do.”

Pinkie pushed herself as far back as she could, somehow looking Dash directly in the eyes despite being unable to stand on the cloud. “But…” Pinkie’s eyes were full of confusion. She had genuinely expected Dash to hate her. “But you were sent to the hospital because of me. You hate going to the hospital.” Dash gestured around them.

“Sure I do, Pinkie. But look around you. This is what’s most important to me. If going to the hospital is what it takes to keep it, then that’s fine.” Watching Pinkie, it was like someone had flipped a switch inside of her. Her expression instantly became the same bubbly cheerfulness she usually had, while her mane seemed to magically inflate, returning to her signature frizzle in a heartbeat.

“Dashie!” Pinkie exclaimed, puling herself towards the pegasus for a massive hug before leaping as high as she could into the air to proclaim her joy for the entire world to hear. “Woo-hoo!” Reaching the zenith of her bound, she landed back on the cloud…and fell right through it.

“Pinkie!” Dash shouted as her friend vanished, speeding through the hole in the clouds in pursuit. Catching up to her, they quickly grabbed at each other. The pair sighed in relief in tandem before they started giggling together.

“Sheesh, Pinkie. You really scared me.”

“And you scared me before.” Pinkie stuck her tongue out at Dash. “Sorry for scaring you, but I was just so happy knowing you didn’t hate me.”

“Hate you? Really Pinkie Pie, you are so random.”

The two shared a small laugh before they were interrupted by a deafeningly loud roar. They looked at each other in surprise before bursting out in spontaneous, simultaneous laughter.

"Aww,” Pinkie said, poking at her stomach. “My tummy rumbled. I haven’t given it anything since yesterday, and it must be really grumpy by now.” Dash’s wingbeats slowed, and the two started their descent towards the ground, making their way for Sugarcube Corner. It was almost lunchtime, and Dash was ready to mooch some sweets.

Fluttershy had a problem. It was a problem that the animal caretaker tended to struggle with daily. She had tried several methods of solving the problem in the past, but it always seemed to return the next day.

“Come on Angel, eat your breakfast.”

Her picky pet bunny was refusing to eat the salad she had placed in front of him. Every day, he seemed to come up with more and more exorbitant demands for what she should make for him. She still thought of him as a sweet dear, but the look he gave her as he kicked the bowl, flipping it over, would have made it hard for anypony else to think of him as anything other than the Tartarus-spawn he was.

“Oh no, Angel. Please, you shouldn’t do that. Look, it’s very tasty.” Picking up one of the scattered lettuce leaves with her teeth, she nibbled on it a bit before tossing it back into the bowl. Gathering the rest of the salad in the bowl, she placed it in front of the glaring bunny. Glaring eyes met pleading eyes until the front door was abruptly thrown open.

“Hi Fluttershy!” The Cutie Mark Crusaders shouted as the trio barreled in through the open door. They stopped when they saw Fluttershy, who was trying unsuccessfully to hide behind Angel. The bunny smacked her in the nose, forcing her to open her eyes and look at the three bundles of energy that had shattered the quiet of her morning.

“Oh, hello girls. Sorry, you just startled me. Girls?” As Fluttershy stepped out from behind Angel, she saw that the fillies had huddled together and were whispering to each other. She could hear snippets of what they were saying, but not enough to make out what they were talking about.

“…was right…”

“…depressed…”

“…help her…how?”

“…town…Rarity…”

“…all right…”

Fluttershy had been nudging the bowl of salad towards Angel while the three whispered among themselves. Angel would then push it away, and she would smile and push it back. This continued until the fillies broke off from their conversation and turned as one towards her.

“Could ya come inta town with us, Fluttershy?” Apple Bloom asked, making her eyes as innocently pleading as she was capable of.

Fluttershy gave the adorable crusader a curious look. “Well, I don't mind, but why? If you don’t mind my asking.” It wasn't like they had ever invited her out before.

“Rainbow Dash said you was feelin’ depressed and sent us over to cheer you up.” Apple Bloom blurted out.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo both facehoofed. “Way to be subtle, Apple Bloom.” Scootaloo groaned out.

“Yeah, we were going to try to be in-con-spic-uous, remember?” Sweetie Belle added.

Scootaloo glanced at the white unicorn past the hoof on her face. “What are you, a dictionary?”

“Girls,” Fluttershy interrupted before the three could devolve into one of their usual arguments. “I appreciate the thought, but I need to finish taking care of my animals.”

“How many animals do ya have left?” Apple Bloom asked as the three turned their attention back towards Fluttershy.

Fluttershy had a lot of animals to take care of, but it was already pretty late in the morning. She should just be finishing up about now. “Just Angel, but…” She gestured at the bad-tempered bunny beside her, who was pointedly ignoring the salad bowl.

“Looks to me like he’s not hungry,” Scootaloo said with a smile. The three fillies were suddenly crowding around Fluttershy, who squeaked as she was lifted onto their backs and carried out the front door. Angel looked down at the salad, which had been knocked over and trodden on, and was now the only thing he’d have to eat until Fluttershy returned.

Outside, Fluttershy “eeped” as she was tossed bodily into the metal wagon the Crusaders usually traveled around in. Dazed from the impact, she automatically caught the helmet that was passed her way. Blinking the stars from her eyes, she saw her ponynappers were strapping on their own helmets.

“Now girls, I really don’t think this is necessary.” The three fillies all gave her the most pleading, puppy dog look they could manage. Fluttershy knew they would let her go if she insisted, but in the face of those faces, she couldn’t think of a reason to insist.

The Crusaders cheered as Fluttershy slowly placed the helmet on her head. Scootaloo made her way to her signature scooter tied to the front of the wagon while Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom hopped in with Fluttershy. Beating her wings, Scootaloo sped off, pulling the wagon behind her as she made her way along the road to Ponyville.

“So, what are you girls planning?”Fluttershy asked. Not that she would bail out after having come this far, but she just hoped they didn’t do anything dangerous.

Sweetie Belle answered, raising her voice to be heard over the wind. “We’re going to take you to Rarity. We figured that if anypony could help you feel better, it would be big sis.” Well, that was a pleasant surprise. It was always nice to see Rarity. Scootaloo slowed down as they approached Ponyville, skillfully weaving through everypony in the streets.

Eventually, Scootaloo slowed to a halt in front of the library. The fillies took off their helmets and jumped out while Fluttershy blinked up at the tree building.

“Weren’t we going to see Rarity?” she asked, unsteadily climbing out of the wagon.

Sweetie Belle grabbed the wagon to steady it as it started to roll out from under Fluttershy. “Rarity’s going to take care of Twilight until lunch, and then she’s going to spend the afternoon with me.”

“Alright, and what are you two going to do?” Fluttershy kindly asked the non-unicorns.

“I’m going to practice with my scooter,” Scootaloo excitedly exclaimed. “I’ve got a new trick I want to show Rainbow Dash, but it’s not ready yet.”

“Ah’m goin’ to head back to the farm,” Apple Bloom unhappily said, staring at the ground at her hooves. “Ah need to apologize to Applejack.”

“More importantly, did we get our cutie marks?” The fillies all looked at their flanks at Scootaloo’s question. Seeing the same sight they always did, they sighed in disappointment.

Fluttershy was quick to try and reassure them. “Don’t worry girls. So long as you keep trying, I’m sure you’ll get your cutie marks someday. You just need to find your special tal-“

“Ah agree,” Apple Bloom’s agreement ran right over the important part of what Fluttershy was saying. “’We won’t quit until we find out who we are,’ right? Who are we?”

The other animatedly cheered. “We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” Having made their proclamation, they split up and scattered off to their respective destinations.

Fluttershy stared at the spot they had been, slightly shell-shocked, before shaking herself and knocking on the library’s front door. After a few moments, the door was enveloped in a blue glow and gently swung open.

“Hello Fluttershy, I wasn’t expecting you,” Rarity greeted her with a smile.

Wiping her dirty hooves off on the welcome mat, Fluttershy entered the library. Inside, she saw that Spike was holding up a book in front of Twilight’s face, and Twilight was glaring at the book as her eyes slowly slid across the page.

Spike greeted Fluttershy without moving the book. “Hey Fluttershy. Sorry Twilight’s not going to greet you, but you know how she gets when she’s focused on something. I doubt she knows any of us are even here."

Rarity huffed impatiently and imposed herself between Twilight and the book. “That’s no excuse for poor manners. Twilight Sparkle, you have a guest. Take a break and greet her.”

Twilight blinked as her line of sight was intruded on by a wall of white. Looking unsteadily around the room, her face lit up when she spotted Fluttershy. “Oh, hello Fluttershy. I was just doing some eye exercises. Sorry for not greeting you right away, but what can I do for you?”

“Um…actually, I think I’m here to see Rarity.”

Twilight frowned at Fluttershy’s choice of words. “You ‘think?’ You’re not sure?” she asked. “Wait, weren’t the Crusaders going to visit you? Don’t tell me they brought you here.”

Fluttershy’s silence was answer enough.

“Honestly, what am I going to do with that filly?” Rarity wondered aloud, thinking about her sister. “First, she and her friends cause some sort of disaster at Applejack’s, and now they bring Fluttershy here against her will."

“It wasn’t entirely against my will,” Fluttershy quietly protested. But there was no stopping Rarity.

“She constantly messes up my workplace, it’s almost impossible to get any work done with her underhoof, and she doesn’t get along well with Opalescence.” The last was referring to Rarity’s pet cat, a crabby Persian who didn’t get along well with anypony except Fluttershy. “And now I’m going to be spending the afternoon making accessories for her and her friends. Maybe I’m too easy on her. Do you think I’m too easy on her, Twilight?”

“I think you have a big heart, and that you love each other very much,” Twilight answered without hesitation. “Since you’re going to spend the rest of the afternoon with her, why don’t you and Fluttershy stay for lunch?”

“Oh, that sounds nice, but I don’t want to be any trouble.” Fluttershy was worried about imposing on the still slightly blind Twilight.

Spike spoke up, quickly putting her concern to rest. “It’s no trouble at all, Fluttershy. If you two can help Twilight get to the table, I’ll get started on making something right away. Can I get you anything for starters, Rarity?”

“No thank you, Spike. I will wait with the others.” Rarity said.

Twilight rolled her eyes as Rarity answered, both at Spike’s over-protectiveness and at being excluded from the offer of early food. Within moments, the three mares were seated around the table while the noises of movement filtered in from the kitchen. “Fluttershy, Rarity told me last night that you seemed depressed about something,” Twilight said. “Are you alright?”

“That’s right, it completely slipped my mind,” Rarity said. “Do you want to talk about it, Fluttershy?”

“Oh, there’s no problem.” Fluttershy tried to assure them.

Rarity gave Fluttershy a flat look at the poor lie. “Darling, don’t try to hide things from me. I know you too well. If you don’t want to tell us, that’s fine, but please don’t act like nothing’s wrong.”

Fluttershy hung her head in defeat, acknowledging the truth of Rarity’s words. “Alright,” she mumbled out. Her friends had to lean in closer just to hear her. “I was thinking last night, thinking about what happened in the forest yesterday. When I tried to communicate with the creature, there was nothing I could do. I failed to calm it down, and I needed to be rescued by Pinkie and Applejack. I was completely useless, and-“

“Stop,” Rarity interrupted. “Stop right there. Darling, you are not useless. If you hadn’t been there, I don’t think any of us could have calmed Twilight down. If she hadn’t helped me hold up the shield, I would not have been able to keep it up to protect her and myself from the fire. Nopony thinks you’re useless, Fluttershy, and you shouldn’t either.”

“She’s right, Fluttershy,” Twilight agreed. “You saved me when I needed help, and we all know you would do the same for any of us.”

“Do you really mean that?” Fluttershy asked shyly at their praise, tipping her head so that her mane covered her face.

“Of course we mean it, dear.” Rarity lifted her forehooves into the air. “Here, I’ll even make a Pinkie Promise.”

“You don’t need to go that far...”

“Cross my heart and hope to fly,” Rarity recited, going through the accompanying gestures." Across from her, Twilight was making the same motions. “Stick a cupcake in my eye. Are you alright, Twilight?” Twilight had jabbed herself in the eye with her hoof. Moaning while rubbing it, she waved for Rarity to continue. Rarity turned back to Fluttershy

“Anyways, we promise you that none of us think that you are useless. And as you know, breaking a Pinkie Promise is the quickest way to lose your friends-“ She cut herself off, as if she expected to be suddenly interrupted. The seconds ticked past silently until Twilight spoke.

“Huh. I guess she’s not-“

“FOOOREEEEVEEEEEEEEER!!”

The front door burst open, slamming against the wall with enough force to rattle the windows in their frames and causing a few books to jump off their spots on the shelves. Amidst the sound of falling books, Twilight’s sigh could still be clearly heard.

“-nevermind. What kept you, Pinkie?”

Pinkie stood silhouetted in the doorway, a maniac look in her eyes and smears of cupcakes covering her lower face. At Twilight’s question, her expression shifted to her regular happy-go-lucky one and she answered as cheerfully as ever. “You caught me in the middle of lunch, silly. Don’t you know what time it is?”

“What happened?” Spike rushed into the room, stopping as he spotted the source of the noise. “Oh, hey Pinkie. Hang on; let me get you something to clean your face.” Slipping back into the kitchen, he quickly came out with a clean rag held in one claw.

The rag was immediately wrapped in a blue glow, and Rarity levitated it over to Pinkie and started to wipe her face clean. “I can’t believe you just ran through Ponyville looking like that. You couldn’t have done anything to stop her, Rainbow Dash?”

“Don’t blame me, she left before I knew what was going on,” Dash defended herself as she flew in through the open door behind Pinkie. “So? Spill. Who made the Pinkie Promise?”

“They made it to me,” Fluttershy answered from her spot at the table. “I was feeling a little useless after yesterday, and that told me nopony thought of me like that.”

“Darn straight nopony thinks of you like that.” Dash flew over so she was hovering above the table. “If anypony did think that, I’d beat them into the ground. Don’t give me that look, Twilight. You and I both know that was before I really knew her.” The purple unicorn turned away from Dash, a small smile on her face as she remembered the time Fluttershy had stared down a full grown dragon.

“So are you two going to stay for lunch?” Spike asked from by the kitchen. “Should I make two more servings?”

“No need, Spike,” Pinkie answered, the cloth that had been cleaning her face nowhere in sight. “We’ve got a big plate of goodies to work through back at Sugarcube Corner. Come on, Dashie.” Pinkie sped out the door, the rainbow-maned pegasus flying along behind her. Rarity and Twilight stared at the spot Pinkie had just vacated until Twilight asked the question on both their minds.

“Rarity?”

“Yes, Twilight?”

“Did Pinkie just inhale that rag?”

“Yes. Yes she did.”

“Huh.”

Even after all this time, Pinkie was still capable of surprising them. Deciding to move away from this topic in order to preserve their sanity, they turned back to Fluttershy in order to continue their previous conversation.

“They agree, dear. You are not useless,” Rarity said, picking up where she had left off.

“And I don’t think we even need to ask Applejack,” Twilight pointed out. Her voice shifted as she tried to imitate the farmpony’s accent. “Land sakes, Sugarcube. You ain’t no kind of useless, and shouldn’ta be thinkin’ about yerself like that.”

Fluttershy laughed at Twilight’s impression. “That was terrible, but thanks.”

Twilight shrugged ruefully. “Alright, so it’s a good thing impersonating ponies isn’t my special talent. I guess I could never make it up on stage.” Spike entered the room, holding a platter with three plates of hay fries and Twilight picked up a fork as he placed the platter on the table in front of them. “But enough talk. Let’s eat.”

Apple Bloom made her way through the streets, a spring in her step and a smile on her face. She was a little worried about what Applejack was going to say, but it had been such a nice day so far. What could possibly go-

“Oh, look, it’s the blank flank.”

-wrong. Well, it had been a nice day. Apple Bloom turned to look at two filly earth ponies where they stood on the side of the road. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, a pair of bullies from her class who seemed to enjoy nothing more than making Apple Bloom look bad. Apple Bloom released a mental sigh at the sight of them.

“Can I help you?” she asked them in a slightly cool tone. She was slightly nervous about having to deal with these two by herself, but the young farmpony flat-out refused to turn rail and run. Diamond Tiara’s nose rose into the air, and she looked down it at Apple Bloom.

“Help us? Tcha, like we could use any help from a blank flank. Maybe you don’t know this, since you don’t have one, but a pony’s cutie mark represents their special talent.” The pair had begun walking around Apple Bloom, circling like sharks. “I guess that means you don’t have a special talent.”

“It just means Ah haven’t found it yet. But Ah will.” Apple Bloom’s voice quivered, as if she was uncertain about what she was saying and trying to convince herself. “What do ya’ll want?”

“We don’t want anything,” Silver Spoon answered. “We just say one of our classmates walking alone and thought we’d have a nice chat. How about you? Like, have you gotten a cutie mark yet?” The pair made exaggerated glances towards Apple Bloom's unadorned flank.

“I guess not.” Diamond Tiara closed in for the kill, a nasty smile spread wide across her face. “I suppose you’ll always be a blank flank.”

“Ith that Apple Bloom?” All three of the fillies looked at the source of the new voice. Another one of their classmates joined them, her distinctive red mane, glasses, and bulbous nose drawing eyes away from the small white and brown spotted colt walking at her side.

Diamond Tiara “tch’d” and turned to leave, not wanting an audience. “Come on, Silver Spoon. Let’s go have fun somewhere else. This place is becoming too crowded for my tastes.” The duo walked away in a manner they probably wanted other ponies to call dignified, but Apple Bloom just thought they looked like they had a bur stuck between their legs.

“Were they teathing you again, Apple Bloom?” The new arrival asked, a strong lisp twisting her voice.

“A little. Thanks, Twist.” Twist was a young earth pony, and she had once been Apple Bloom’s best friend. The two had drifted a little ever since Apple Bloom had met Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, but they still hung out from time to time. “And who’s this?” Apple Bloom gestured at the small colt beside Twist.

The colt smiled at her, and she noticed he had one of Twist’s delicious homemade peppermint sticks sticking out of his mouth. “The name’s Pipsqueak. It’s nice to meet you, Apple Bloom. Twist was just telling me stories about you. Did you really meet a basilisk in the Everfree Forest?”

“Aw, c’mon Twist. That was embarrassing. Did ya have ta tell him that story?” Apple Bloom complained, but Twist just smiled at her. “How’dja two even meet?”

“I just met Twist today,” Pipsqueak answered, pulling the stick out of his mouth, “and she was kind enough to give me some peppermint and spend time with me until my parents finish up.”

“Ithn’t he cute?” A red blush spread across Pipsqueak’s face at Twist’s compliment. “I found him thitting all deprethed by himthelf, tho I went to talk to him. Peppermint alwayth maketh ponieth thmile, tho I gave him thome. What about you, Apple Bloom? What’chu you up to?”

“Ah’m headin’ back ta the farm. Ah need ta apologize ta Applejack soon, before I lose my nerve.”

Twist laughed kindly at Apple Bloom’s words. “You are tho lucky to have thuch a greath thither. Alright, I’ll thee you around.”

“See you around, Twist,” Apple Bloom said with a smile. “Goodbye, Pipsqueak.”

“Bye Apple Bloom. C’mon, Twist” Pipsqueak was already running off, “let’s get some more peppermint before I have to leave.” The rookie candy maker followed the younger pony at a more sedate pace. Left by herself, Apple Bloom once again made her way to the farm.

After walking for several minutes, Apple Bloom’s shuffling steps led her through the gate to Sweet Apple Acres. Just as she had feared, the filly had lost her nerve once the farm came into sight. All she wanted now was to avoid meeting Applejack. Her head moving non-stop as she tried to look in every direction at once, she slowly crept her way to the front door of the house. Focusing as hard as she could on staying silent and unnoticed despite the sun still being high in the sky, she carefully reached up a single hoof towards the doorknob. The door swung open and smacked her in the face just as she was about to touch it.

“Sorry about that," a concerned voice said from a point somewhere above her. "You alright?

Clutching her face in her hooves, Apple Bloom looked up into the concerned face of her older sister. A bucket of broken apples was balanced on Applejack’s back, which was carefully put down as she moved to her little sister’s side. Apple Bloom shrank away, still expecting to be punished. The fillies’ mouth opened, and an apology quietly slipped through her lips.

“Ah’m sorry.” Applejack didn’t say anything. Instead, she moved close and wrapped one of her forehooves around the smaller pony, pulling Apple Bloom against her chest and hugging her tight.

“Ah know you are, and Ah know you didn’t mean it. Ah am annoyed that you and your friends ran away instead of helping ta clean, but Ah forgive you.” Apple Bloom hugged AJ back, and the sisters held each other silently for a few minutes before both took a step back. Apple Bloom helped balance the bucket back on the older pony’s back, and the two made their way to the barn on comfortable silence.

“Outta curiosity, what were you gals hopin’ ta accomplish?” Applejack asked. Apple Bloom shot back an embarrassed smile in response.

“Promise not to laugh?” At Applejack’s nod, Apple Bloom started telling her story. “When Scootaloo showed up in the mornin’, she said she had an awesome idea to get our cutie marks. We was goin' to be Cutie Mark Crusaders Pony Cannonballs.”

“Where on Equestria did that filly even get that cannon?” Applejack asked, amusement staining her voice.

“Scootaloo borrowed it from Pinkies’.”

“What, she jest gave it ta ya? Jest like that?” Applejack frowned at the apparent irresponsibility of her friend.

“Not…exactly.” Apple Bloom hedged. “Apparently, Pinkie had locked herself in her room and had refused to come out, so Scootaloo kinda snuck it out.”

Applejack’s frown turned towards the little filly beside her. “I hope y’all returned it.”

Apple Bloom hastily nodded her head, wanting to reassure her sister that they had. “As soon as we was in town. After that, Sweetie Belle told us that Rainbow Dash was in the hospital and we went to visit her.”

Applejack nuzzled her younger sister affectionately. “Well, that sure was sweet of y’all. I think I get the jist of the story now. You loaded somepony into the cannon and launched them out. But somethin’ happened when ya fired, and the pony was shot into our apple storage.” Applejack took the bucket off her back and dumped its contents into a nearby ditch. At the bottom of the ditch, Apple Bloom saw an enormous number of destroyed and ruined apples.

“Ah’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. Everypony make mistakes. I won’t deny that things are goin’ ta be hard for us for a while, but we’ll get past it. We always have.” She tenderly rubbed the top of her little sister’s mane, gently bumping against the ribbon perched on the little one’s head.

“Now, little sis. You are going to help me clean up.”

Apple Bloom emptied the last bucket of apples into the almost-full ditch. It had been a long day, but it was finally coming to a close. She looked up at the sky, where the sun was beginning to touch the horizon, getting ready to slip out of sight for the night. Gazing at it, she felt a wave of melancholy wash over her. Words said to her from earlier in the day rebounded in her head as she gazed down at the remnants of the mess she had caused.

“I suppose you’ll always be a blank flank.”

“Apple Bloom!”

Apple Bloom turned towards the voice calling her name, breaking away from her thoughts. Sweetie Belle was running towards her, the cape of the Cutie Mark Crusaders tied around her neck. No…not tied.

“Sweetie Belle, what’s that?” Apple Bloom asked, pointing at the sparkling object at Sweetie Belle’s throat.

“Rarity helped me make it this afternoon. She said that, since we’re trying to get our cutie marks, we should have symbols of those we care about who already have theirs.” Sweetie Belle wore a colourful necklace, made out of a trio of blue diamond-shaped gemstones attached to each other by nearly invisible wires and patterned in an unmistakable manner.

“Is that Rarity’s cutie mark?” Apple Bloom asked, giving the sparkling object a curious poke.

Sweetie Belle nodded while smiling broadly. “Yeah, isn’t it cool? Here, I can’t stay long, but I wanted to give you yours right away.” Sweetie Belle passed Apple Bloom a similar device. Unlike Sweetie Belle’s, the gems were red, rounded, and had a hint of green at the top.

“Applejack’s?” Apple Bloom said, holding the stylized pendant of her sister’s cutie mark up into the light. “This is pretty cool, Sweetie Belle.”

The unicorn bounced in excitement at the honest compliment. “I know! Isn't it just great? The whole thing was Rarity’s idea, and I was a little worried how it would look, but there really was no need to worry. Rarity made the out of gems because she refused anything else, calling it ‘tacky’ and ‘an utter abomination of fashion.’” She rolled her eyes at her sister’s dramatics. “Anyway, Scootaloo’s is a copy of Rainbow Dash’s, and I just know she's going to love it. Make sure to wear it." She glanced up at where the sun was hanging in the sky. "I better go; Rarity wants me back before sundown.”

Sweetie Belle ran off, leaving Apple Bloom alone and holding the gift, which she now recognized as a cape clasp. Looking back at the sun, Diamond Tiara’s words once again echoed in her head.

“I suppose you’ll always be a blank flank.”

“No.” Clenching the clasp against her head, she stared proudly at the sun. Thinking about her sister, Apple Bloom made her proclamation to the heavens.

“One day, no matter what happens, no matter what it takes, Ah swear Ah will get my cutie mark! Watch over me, Princess Celestia. Your little pony will not disappoint you.”

Apple Bloom sat and quietly watched the sun until it silently slipped out of sight beyond the horizon.

Dear Journal

I don’t know what to think anymore. This morning, I tracked the creatures to where they had been coming from, and what I saw. There was a town. A civilization, buildings. The ramifications of this terrifies me. These creatures are not only intelligent, they are capable of living peaceful lives.

What have I done?

I spent the day observing the creatures, and. As I watched, I saw these horses spending time together, interacting in ways that friends would. When I started, I was almost overcome by irrational hatred, but it faded throughout the day. I no longer hate the creatures, but why did I in the first place? Most of the creatures were unfamiliar, but I recognized the some of the ones I met in the forest. The ones I fought. The ones I hurt.

What have I done?

No, I must not think about it now. Focus. I need understanding.

A little before midday, I saw the blue winged one carrying the pink one in the sky. I could not see them very well at that distance; only able to spot them because of their bright colours, but what I saw left me no doubt that they are friends. And I hurt

No, not now.

I must not let myself be consumed by regrets.

I actually find myself hoping they are not badly hurt. Why? Why do I want them safe after trying to hurt them twice? I don’t understand. What’s wrong with me?

Are my feelings now the ones I should act on? Or are the ones I had?

Was I right to fear for my life? Or have I committed a horrible mistake?

Why do I even fear them? Why did I hate them? There was nothing I saw today that made me think of them as monsters, like I did when I first saw them.

But... they kept coming for me. They'll keep coming for me. I need to understand them as much as I can. I need to destroy them. It's the only way to stop them.

No, that's not right. Must remember. My thoughts are becoming... fuzzy. Are these even my thoughts any more?

The final blow to my hate was when I was watching the orange one who may have broken my arm. I watched it (maybe she?) interacting with another similar creature. This creature was smaller, and probably the orange’s daughter or sister.

I have no doubt what I saw there. Love. Only a few minutes of watching showed me a great deal of love for each other.

If these creature are intelligent, capable of building a sustainable society, and able to love each other so strongly, what does this mean for what’s happened!

I need to calm myself. I need to think about what happened without letting my emotions blur my thoughts.

I acted on emotion alone when I first met the pink one. When the purple one arrived, I fled despite them not offering me any harm. When the six arrived at my cave (I’ve moved to a hidden one not far away), my first reaction was to unleash a manticore on them. Shortly after that, I sent a tree down the river while they were crossing it, just to see how they would react. And yesterday I attacked them and set the entire area on fire.

No matter how many times I read that paragraph, I cannot defend what I did.

Have I been wrong the whole time? Do I have nothing to fear from these monsters?

No, these creatures are not monsters.

Am I the monster?

...

I need to think, journal.

I doubt I’ll be getting any sleep tonight.

Dream a Dream of History

Twilight tossed and turned in her bed, groaning in her sleep. She was shivering, but her fur and sheets were soaked with sweat. Her right hindleg spasmed violently, throwing her bedsheets right off her body. A whimper escaped from her throat as she fell from her bed, landing heavily against the hardwood floor.

The impact wasn’t enough to wake her, but it did wake her assistant from where he was sleeping in his basket as the foot of her bed. “Geeze, Twilight, what’s that about?” he complained sleepily, rubbing at his eyes. “Twilight?” Spike asked, realizing that she was lying on the floor. “Hey, you okay? Twilight?” He rushed to her side and shook her, trying to wake her from whatever nightmare held her in its cruel grip. “Twilight? Twilight!”

Huff… huff… huff… Inside her dreams, Twilight panted as she ran through the Everfree Forest, fleeing from something large and ominous chasing behind her. She dodged around and under the trees that stood in her way, their branches raking at her skin as they grasped at her fur. One branch caught in her mane, tugging her back and stopping her run. She screamed as she pulled away from it as hard as she could, her mane tearing at her scalp before she quickly broke free.

Behind her, she could hear the sounds of falling trees and breaking branches as whatever pursued her got closer. She caught an image of it through the branches, and had to quickly cover her mouth to suppress a scream. It was the creature of Discord’s from the Everfree, only now it was as large as a tree. No, wait… As she watched, the creature shifted and reshaped itself, becoming… Oh no,['/i] Twilight thought fearfully.

“Oh, Twiiiiliiiight~” Discord sang out, his larger-than-life claws pushing a tree out of his way. “Wheeeere aaaare youuuu~?” The tree crashed heavily against the ground, the impact sending tremors through the dream-landscape. Twilight whimpered as she backed away from the incoming colossus, hiding herself under a nearby shrub. The giant Discord poked his head over the tree tops, the playful expression on his face becoming somewhat annoyed. “Where are you, my little pony? Why don’t you come out? All your friends are having a fun time without you.” He snapped his fingers and Twilight saw her five friends appear on his outstretched hand. All of them were greyed-out, their bright colours muted, and they were yelling at each other. Twilight couldn’t tell who was saying what, but she could hear enough.

“What do mean, ‘what do you mean’, you stupid-“

“If I wanted your worthless opinion, I would think there’s something wrong with me-“

“Yer dumber than a sack of rotten apples-“

“At least I know how to talk-“

“I’m sick of seeing your ugly faces-“

“Well,” the giant Discord said with a shrug, “maybe ‘fun’ is the wrong choice of words.” Casually tossing the five ponies over his shoulder, he continued searching the forest for Twilight. Twilight watched as her friends fell out of sight, none of them apparently aware of their situation as they fell to their doom. A tiny scream escaped from her lips before she could silence it.

Dream Discord’s ears twitched as his head swivelled to look in her direction. His eyes searched the ground for her for a few seconds before a large malicious smile spread on his lips. “Ahhh,” he said, apparently savouring the moment for all it was worth, “there you are.” Stretching out his giant arm, his massive claws easily tore away her meager cover, fully exposing her to his wrath.

Twilight stared up at him in horror, unable to run or even to scream. Her mind screamed for her legs to run, but they had locked up from fear and were preventing her from fleeing. Discord smirked cruelly before reaching down towards her, his grasping claws coming ever closer… and closer… and closer…

A flash of crystalline blue suddenly flickered through his demented yellow eyes, and his claws crawled to halt less than a full pony length away from Twilight. He frowned in the distance, apparently seeing something Twilight was unable to. “Already?” he grumbled. “I’m not ready to face her yet…” He turned back to look at Twilight, a condescending smirk on his face. “Well, looks like you get to live a little longer, little pony. But next time we meet, nopony will be able to save you.”

A flash of bright white light filled the area, its dazzling white temporarily blinding Twilight. When she could see again, the monolithic form had vanished. “What… what was that?” she gasped out, not understanding what had just happened. “Why did he leave?” A powerful wind abruptly whipped up, blowing Twilight’s mane into her face. “Now what?”

The mighty wind blew through the forest, picking up rocks, sticks, and dirt as it went. The wind curled in on itself, twisting itself into a little tornado four times as tall as Twilight. A large pair of blue wings suddenly sprouted out of the center of the tornado, their feathers unruffled by the wind blowing through them. The wings gave a single, powerful beat, instantly dispelling the tornado. “Art thou- Are you well, Twilight Sparkle?” the being that had been in the center of the whirlwind asked. “We sensed another in your dreams and thought it would be best to intervene ourselves.”

“Princess… Luna?“ Twilight asked hesitantly, taking a tentative step towards her. “Is that really you?” Seeing that dark blue alicorn’s nod, Twilight leapt at her, pressing her head into Luna’s chest. “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you,” she cried, large tears running down her cheeks. “I was… I was just so scared!”

Luna looked down at Twilight in surprise, at a complete loss of what to do. “Um… It was no trouble at all, citizen,” she said, awkwardly trying to comfort Twilight. Her flowing star-speckled mane wrapped around the unicorn that was almost half her size, trying to bring her some manner of comfort. “It is our duty of Princess of the Night to bring peace to those in need. There is no need to fear now that we are here. Er… Please stop crying on me.”

Outside the dream, Spike noticed that Twilight had stopped trashing and a peaceful expression had appeared on her face. Whatever nightmare that had held her was now gone. “Geeze,” he complained, “don’t make me worry like that.” Bending down, he levered Twilight back onto her bed. She was too heavy for him to lift all at once, so he had to put her head and upper body on the bed first before squatting down and heaving up the rest.

“You make me work too hard,” he complained to the insentient form of his housemate. Seeing her peaceful expression made a smile appear on her face, and he bent down to kiss her horn as he before walking over to the closet on the side of the room and pulling out a fresh change of sheets. Laying the sweat-stained sheets out so they would dry out properly overnight, Spike pulled the fresh covers over her body. “Good night, you big overachiever,” he said with a yawn as he headed back to his basket.

Inside the dream, Twilight sniffled as she stepped away from her teacher’s younger sister, wiping at her eyes. “I’m sorry, Princess Luna,” she apologized. “I was just so scared.”

Luna nodded her head, her eyes showing understanding. “It is no concern, Twilight Sparkle.” Leaning in close to Twilight, she whispered into the unicorn’s ear. “I admit, he scares me too. And sister is worried as well. She’s barely gotten any sleep since you first told her that Discord was stirring.”

Twilight’s ears flattened against her skull at hearing that. Somewhere in her head, she had always thought of her teacher as firm, unflappable, and always in control. Even seeing her defeated by the queen of the changelings hadn’t been able to shake that belief. To hear it from her own sister’s mouth… “How?” Twilight asked. “Why is she so scared of Discord?” Something occurred to her that she had never even thought to ask before. “Actually, who is Discord? I’ve faced him before, but now that I think about it, I don’t actually know a thing about him.”

A sigh escaped from Luna’s mouth. “That… is not an easy question to answer,” she admitted. With a wave of her wings, she dispelled the surrounding dream landscape, leaving the two standing in an empty white void. “But I suppose you deserve to know. If he breaks free again, you and your friends are the only one who will be able to stop him.”

Luna’s horn started to glow, and the empty white void fade away, replaced with a completely different scene. Twilight watched in awe as the Princess easily warped, recreated, and controlled her dreams. The image coalesced, transforming into a place Twilight had never seen before.

It was a small village, smaller even than Ponyville. Snow covered the town, though none was falling at that precise moment. Earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns were there in equal amounts. Strangely, the three species of ponies stood segregated from each other; the earth ponies standing with the earth ponies and the unicorns standing with the unicorns. The three groups stood separate from each other, occasionally shooting suspicious glances at the other groups.

“Princess Luna?” Twilight asked, looking up at the Princess beside her. “What is this?”

“This is a memory of mine, Twilight Sparkle,” the dark alicorn replied. She nodded her head at a large building, up at a spot on the wall far above them. “Before I can answer your question, I must show you this. Do not fear them. They can neither see nor hear us.”

Twilight’s gaze followed the direction Princess Luna had indicated, and she gasped at what she saw. Three flags hung proudly from the rooftops, each of equal size. The one on the left showed a frontal image of a light blue pegasus with large outstretched wings and a dark blue background speckled with stars. The one on the right was emblazoned with a side view of a white unicorn head with a short-cropped purple mane and blue eyes on a dark purple background evenly spaced with diamonds. The middle one showed several images of its own, including a farm, some flowers, a sun, and blue sky. Thanks to her studies of history, Twilight recognized the flags instantly.

“The flags of the founders!” she proclaimed. “Then, is this…?” she asked, looking at Princess Luna, unable to even frame her question in her excitement.

Looking at Twilight with an amused look in her eyes, Luna nodded her head once. “It is as you believe.” She gestured at the gathering. “This is the founding of Equestria as a nation. When the earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns all put aside their differences in order to come together and create a strong nation.”

“Ohmigosh!” Twilight squealed excitedly. She had read up on this event so many times, but to be able to see it with her own eyes was a privilege she had never thought she would get. The historian in her was going nuts, and she desperately wished she had some parchment to write down everything she saw. “Is this really when Equestria was formed? Oh, I wish I could be inside there right now.”

Luna smiled in amusement at Twilight for an instant before the smile faded. “Unfortunately, I will be unable to show you any of what is going on in there at this moment. I can only show you mine own memories. Look.” She pointed at a spot far at the back of the crowd. Twilight looked at the spot Luna gestured at, her eyes instantly landing on a pair of recognizable figures.

Celestia and Luna stood side-by-side on the outskirts of the gathering. They both looked far younger then their present-day selves and were both smaller than Twilight remembered – Celestia was only slightly taller than Twilight herself and Luna was even smaller. They already had their distinctive cutie marks proudly emblazoned on their flanks, and their manes and tails waved gently in the breeze as they watched the congregation with smiles on their faces.

“My sister and I played no part in the founding of Equestria,” Luna told Twilight. “They had intended to raise us as nobles and figureheads due to us being the last of the alicorns, but we chose to remain on the fringes and would only join the nation once it had already been established.”

Twilight looked up at Luna in shock. She had never heard this story before. None of the books she had every read had told how the Royal Pony Sisters came to be the co-rulers of Equestria and Princess Celestia had always danced around the issue whenever she had brought it up. “But why?” Twilight asked. “Why did you decide to not get involved with the nation at first? Surely you could have-”

“We wanted to see it,” Luna said, gently cutting Twilight off. “For as long as anypony could remember, the alicorns had ruled the world in a Golden Age of peace and prosperity. After every one of them except for my sister and I vanished, we wanted to see the form of the nation created by those who would follow after us.”

“Vanished?” Twilight asked, tilting her head curiously. She knew that an alicorn would occasionally be born to an ordinary pony family – heck, her sister-in-law was one – but was the first time she had heard of an entire species of alicorns. “What happened to them?”

Luna sighed, closing her eyes as her head sagged down. “I confess, I do not know,” she said. “It happened when I was naught but a foal. All I remember is one day being in a mighty castle filled with my winged and horned brethren. The next day, it was only my sister and I. I can no longer even remember what my own mother looked like” Her eyes opened and she forced herself straight and tall, though Twilight could still see the sorrow in her face. “But this is not what I wished to talk to you about. What dost thou know about the Windigoes?”

Twilight was caught off guard by the sudden shift in topic, and it took her a few seconds to process the question. “Um… They were malevolent winter spirits that fed off of fighting and hatred? The conflict between the pegasi, the earth ponies, and the unicorns gave them enough power to nearly turn the land into a wintery wasteland.” She looked at the scenery around them, the snow that covered the buildings suddenly given a new meaning. “Oh…” she said uncomfortably, backing away from the nearest pile of snow.

“Correct,” Luna said, inclining her head. “It was only thanks to the assistants of their leaders discovering the power of friendship that they were able to save themselves. But what thou may not know is that my sister and I had already known how to defeat the Windigoes and had intended to save the ponies ourselves. When they managed to save themselves, we wanted to see how well they would do governing themselves. We were impressed, and desired to see what the new up-and-coming race could accomplish without our guidance.” She smiled fondly, apparently remembering old times. “We were not disappointed.”

“How did you intend to defeat the Windigoes?” Twilight asked curiously.

Luna chuckled good-naturedly, her laughter reverberating throughout the dream. “So many questions! I fear I may never actually answer your original query.” Twilight mumbled an apology, but Luna only waved it off. “Nay, it is of no concern. It is good to be curious. My sister and I had intended to use the Elements of Harmony against them.”

“Huh?” Twilight asked. “But… I mean… nevermind,” she said, trailing off into silence. When Luna waved for her to continue, she cleared her throat. “I don’t want to bother you with too many questions.”

Luna rolled her eyes. “Ask,” she said forcefully.

“Alright," Twilight look up at Luna again. "Princess Celestia once told me that the two of you discovered the Elements of Harmony when you fought against Discord. How did you discover them then if you had intended to use them against the Windigoes?”

“An excellent question,” Luna acknowledged. “I’m certain my sister never told you this, but we were the ones who created the Elements in the first place.” She laughed openly at Twilight’s amazed expression. “I’m not surprised you didn't know that! Sister would probably wish to forget that event. And, in the irony that the wold seems to love so much, all our work was made completely unnecessary before we even finished. Maybe it was for the best. Something went wrong during their creation, and the Elements were unusable to us. Since it seemed they were not needed, we left them as lost. Until…”

The dream around Twilight wavered and wobbled before it shifted to show another scene. At first, the scene appeared normal, with ponies walking to and fro through a small town. Twilight recognized the large building from the previous dream in the center of the town. “Where is this?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Luna said darkly. “Watch.”

As Twilight watched, the buildings started to quiver and shake. She thought they were going to transition to another dream, but then she realized that the other ponies were running around in a panic. It seemed like some of them were screaming, but she couldn’t hear a thing. Fissures and cracks started to form on the ground, ponies and buildings alike falling into them. Twilight could see the horrified expressions of the falling ponies, and her legs moved before she could think, dashing forward to save them. Luna’s magic wrapped around her tail, pulling her up short.

“Calm thyself!” Luna scolded, despite looking like she wished she could save the falling ponies as well. “There’s nothing you can do for them now. This all happened long before you were born, so still thy emotions and observe.”

Twilight unwilling settled down, placing herself beside Princess Luna so the Princess could stop her again if need be. Her teeth ground against each other as the ground continued to break, more and more ponies falling out of sight. After far too long, the shaking finally subsided and the cracks stopped spreading. Only a few ponies that had been standing on the edge of town had been lucky enough avoid falling into the gaping holes. These few survivors struggled to their hooves, staring in dismay at the ruins that had once been their home.

A bright glowing sphere slowly rose out of the wreckage, bathing everything in a stark white light. The sphere began to stretch and morph, slowly growing in size. It stretched out, becoming serpentine in shape before a misshapen pair of legs and arms sprouted from it. A gasp of horror escaped from Twilight’s lips as a head grew on the light, the light becoming an unmistakable silhouette.

Beside Twilight, Luna scoffed quietly at the image. “He always did know how to make an entrance,” she admitted. Something in her voice sounded almost admiring, and Twilight was distracted from the image long enough to stare at Luna in disbelief.

Turning back to watch the scene playing out before her, Twilight saw that the light had faded completely, revealing the imposing figure of Discord. Discord appeared to be saying something to the remaining ponies, who were only staring up at him in shock. The more he talked, the more annoyed he appeared to get at the lack of reaction before he sighed and snapped his fingers.

For an instant, it seemed like nothing had happened. But then, giving the lie to that faint hope, Twilight saw a hint of movement coming from the vast hole behind Discord. Ponies started to crawl out droves, their expressions locked in expressions of anger and rage. The ponies who hadn’t fallen suddenly brightened at seeing the approaching ponies – no doubt they were happy to see their loved ones still alive. That happiness lasted until they were buried under the mob of angry ponies, who grabbed and beat them. The last thing Twilight saw before the scene faded was Discord flying above the whole thing, laughing his ass off.

Once again in the empty white void, Luna quickly got Twilight’s attention. “He was much less subtle in those days,” the Night Princess said. “It wasn’t until later that he developed his fondness for chaos and disharmony, eventually calling himself the spirit of same. At first, simple suffering was all he sought. I believe he eventually got bored of that and instead sought new ways to spread confusion and uncertainty.”

“How did you beat him?” Twilight asked. “We were only able to stop him because he believed he had already beaten us.”

Luna sighed, her face dropping wearily. “He didn’t fight against us,” she admitted unwillingly. “When we showed up, he said that the Elements would be ineffective against him and challenged us to give him our best. He taunted us, and even welcomed our assault. Sister tried to talk him out of it, but he refused to listen and forced us.” She sighed. “And we turned him stone. Afterwards, we led the reconstruction of Equestria, and were eventually proclaimed its rulers.”

Twilight gave Luna an odd look. Luna’s voice took on a strange tone whenever she talked about Discord. “You sound like you pity him,” Twilight said, realizing what that tone reminded her of.

“More like I sympathize with him.” The void faded again, as a new scene filled it in. They stood in a giant throne room, but not the one in Canterlot. Two giant thrones sat at the head of the room, though only one was filled. Celestia sat in one of the thrones, shifting through a series of papers.

Twilight, knowing what had to be coming, turned to Luna. “You don’t have to show me this,” she said desperately. There was only one moment of time this could be, and it was far too personal for the Princess beside her.

“Nay, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said, her expression going firm. “It is my desire that you see this. I have never told anypony of this day, and believe it is time. I wish to tell you of it, the last great threat to Equestria before your time. After all, thy were the one-” The door abruptly exploded inwards, shards and splinters flying into the room. Stillness seemed to fill the room as a cold dark mist began flowing inside, desiring to smother and wipe out the light within. “-Who freed me from it,” Luna finished, her voice completely devoid of emotion. “From my other half.”

Nightmare Moon confidently strolled in through the open door, a smug expression on her face. Twilight shivered and ducked behind Princess Luna, unwilling to look at the Princess’ dark alter-ego who had twice tried to conquer Equestria. On the dark alicorn’s brow sat a large shimmering crown, twisted with darkness and looking like a perverted version of the crown that Celestia herself wore.

The dream Celestia stood up, tossing her papers aside. Her expression was stern as she started to speak, though Twilight was still unable to make out any words. Then, to Twilight’s surprise, a small whisper reached her ears, though the voice was not the Princess of the Sun’s. Looking up at Luna, Twilight saw that the dark alicorn’s mouth was moving as she appeared to be repeating the words that had been spoken over a thousand years before. Her eyes were closed, and it looked like she was repeating the scene entirely from memory. How many times over the centuries of her her banishment had Luna relived this very scene?

“What is the meaning of this, Luna?” Celestia said.

Nightmare Moon threw back her head and laughed, her wings flaring out as her entire body shook. Twilight was grateful that Luna didn’t repeat the laugh. Just the memory of it was enough to send shivers down her spine. “Luna? That is my name no longer. From this day, now and forever, I am Nightmare Moon! All shall live in and love my night, for all of eternity!”

Celestia looked completely befuddled. “Is this some sort of joke, sister? What are you talking about?”

Nightmare Moon snarled, baring her pointed fangs. “Thou aret no sister of mine, Sun Princess! A true sister would not push us to the side for her own glory!” Abruptly, her expression quickly calmed down, a quirk of a smile appearing on her lips. “But I do not hold it against thee. Your time has passed. From now on, it shall be me who the ponies love and admire!”

Understanding flashed across Celestia’s face, replaced with indescribable sorrow. “Luna, I had… I had no idea you felt this way. There’s still time. We can still talk about this. Please, don’t do this.” Even in Luna’s quiet whisper, Twilight could still hear the pain and desperation that Celestia must have felt all those long years ago.

“The time for talk has passed, ‘Sister’,” Nightmare Moon sneered sarcastically. “Already, my army marches on this castle. Do not think that I am the only one feeling oppressed under your rule. Many ponies march under my banner, as do the timberwolves and the hydras. Equestria will be mine!”

“Luna…” Celestia said quietly, bowing her head. Twilight saw a single tear running down her cheek, falling freely to the ground below before shattering on the cold stone floor like the bonds between the sisters had been shattered. Celestia’s eyes shot open, her pupils lost within a powerful white glow coming from within the Sun Princess. “The failing is mine. My dear, beloved baby sister… I do not know what evil has possessed you,” she proclaimed, “but I promise you, I will free you from it!”

“Promises, promises,” Nightmare Moon taunted, the sneer on her face unchanged. “You couldn’t keep that promise the last time you made it. What will you do if you cannot keep this promise as well?”

Celestia’s horn glowed brightly, charging up a magic bolt of great power. “Then I will do whatever I must to protect Equestria!” she cried, firing a blast of pure white energy at Nightmare Moon.

The dark alicorn laughed. “Equestria?” she mocked, firing her own bolt of pure black energy. “This isn’t about Equestria! It never was! This is about you! You only care about your own power!”

The two bolts collided in midair, pure light colliding with pure darkness. The sheer power of the clashing spells tore through the dream world, instantly dispelling the throne room and leaving Twilight and Luna once again in the empty white void. Twilight remained silent, believing that there was nothing she could say that could comfort the Princess.

Luna’s spoke, her voice almost completely devoid of emotion but there was a distinct quiver that gave away the depth of sorrow and regret she had to be suppressing. “Our battle raged on for hours. At first, it appeared as if Nightmare Moon would take the day. Sister was either the weaker or unwilling to use the full extent of her power. But then, Celestia used the power of the Elements of Harmony to banish… me… to the moon.” Luna choked at that, and took a moment before she could speak again. “In addition to her own Elements of Magic, Loyalty, and Laughter, she also used the power of the Elements of Honesty, Kindness, and Generosity. I would not learn this until my return a thousand years later, but the backlash from using all of the Elements on her own ravaged the magical field of Equestria, creating a magically dead land that would, in time, come to be known as the Everfree Forest.”

Twilight reared up on her hindlegs, pressing her forehooves against Luna’s side. “Why are you telling me all this?” she asked gently. Her mind whirled with all she had witnessed tonight. There was a side of Equestria’s history she had never even imagined! Under normal conditions, she would be squealing in excitement and begging to know more. But Luna’s demeanor said that there was a reason for telling her all this, a reason beyond simple knowledge.

“So you can understand what is at stake, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said, spreading her wings out wide as she stepped away from Twilight. “Neither myself nor my sister are able to wield the Elements any longer after what happened that day. You and your friends are the only ones that can. Should you falter, there is nopony who is capable of carrying your burden.” Luna flew away as the white void started to fade, replaced with a pure darkness that held Twilight and began to lull her into a dreamless sleep. Luna’s voice was the last thing she heard before her consciousness faded. “Sleep well, Twilight Sparkle. I, my sister, and all of Equestria are depending on you.”

Farewell to Arms

John’s eyelids fluttered rapidly as he gradually became aware of his surroundings. The pile of leaves and branches he was using as a mattress crackled slightly underneath him as he rolled onto his side. The ever-present roar of the waterfall outside the cave was a little irritating, but it was worth putting up with since the spray muted his scent and it would be hard for any predators to hear him. Even if the mist did constantly fill the cave, requiring a constant fire going to keep him from freezing to death in his sleep.

The fire was starting to die down, and John briefly toyed with the idea of simply tossing some of the branches he was lying on onto the smouldering fire and going back to sleep. Deciding against it since he didn’t really want to remain in this unpleasant cave any more than he had to, John hauled himself upright and began his early morning stretches. Keeping his body busy, he tried to ignore the thoughts that had been chasing each other through his brain for most of the night.

Pushing the thoughts aside – he had been considering them for most of the night and still didn’t have an answer – he finished up his stretches. Wondering how he should spend his day; whether he should find food, make weapons, or watch the creatures again, he happened to glance down at the pile of twigs and sticks. Sticks he had been forced to tear off of the trees with his bare hands.

Fetching his axe it was.

About an hour later, he stood in the burnt-out clearing where he had fought the six ponies. It was hard to see through the trees, but the sun was already high in the sky. He must have slept in later than he thought. His tattered clothing clung limply on his body, seeming to match his mood. Depression filled him as he looked at the carnage and destruction, remember what had happened here and wondering if he had really been in the right.

Trying not to give words to his thoughts, since that would force him to acknowledge them, he stepped over to the large blackened tree in the middle of the clearing. His shoeless feet crunched through the scarred landscape, throwing up small amounts of ash with every step he took.

Pressing his hands against the trunk of the tree, he braced himself and gave it an experimental shove. It wobbled a little before falling back into its original position. Whistling softly to himself, he picked up a nearby unburned branch and shoved one end underneath the fallen tree. Using the branch as a lever, he pulled down on the free end and flipped the tree over. A strange feeling ran up his spine, like someone was watching him, but he ignored it.

He quickly stepped away from the tree as a large plum of ash was thrown into the air. Covering his face, he waited until the ash settled before gingerly pacing forwards. As the air cleared, his eyes skimmed across the bark of the tree before resting upon what he was looking for. There, embedded about halfway up the tree, his axe awaited him. It was undamaged by the fire, which must not have been able to reach underneath the smothering tree.

Gripping the handle in both hands and bracing a foot against the tree, he yanked on the axe as hard as he could. It was lodged pretty firmly, and it took several yanks before he was able to free it from the grip of the tree. Resting it on his shoulder, glad that he would now be able to cut down branches for the fire instead of needing to tear them off, he started making his way back to his home cave.

~~“Now, Rainbow Dash!”~~

Not understanding the meaning of the words but hearing them all the same, he turned towards the spot they had come from just in time to catch a blue hoof to the face. His entire body twisted around with the force of the sudden blow and he was abruptly lying on the ground, one hand clutching his broken nose. Blood ran freely through his fingers, staining the ash beneath him a bright red.

Looking up, he saw the blue winged pony he had fought before walking confidently towards him. Her wings were flared open and one of her front hooves was speckled red with his blood. She lowered her head so that it was level with his, their faces only a few inches apart.

~~“I’ve been looking forward to a little payback,”~~ the fearsome creature snarled at him.

~~“Ya’ll do remember he probably can’t understand a word we’re sayin’, right?”~~ another voice drawled from behind him.

Risking a look, he saw that the orange pony had snuck up behind him while he was distracted. The pink and white ponies flanked him on each side while the yellow pony was holding her position above him. The purple one was standing well back, her eyes closed and her horn glowing.

~~“Of course I remember, AJ. I just wanted to say it anyways. Hey!”~~ A kick to his head forced him to look directly at her. ~~“So are you going to surrender, or are we going to have to do this the hard way? And by that, I mean the fun way.”~~

~~“Be careful, Dashie. Oh, and try not to hurt him too much,”~~ The pink one said from off to John’s right.

~~“Really, this would be so much easier if I or Twilight could just grab him with our magic,”~~ the white one standing on John’s left said, looking down at him disdainfully.

~~"I don’t know if you understand me, but we would be ever so grateful if you could please surrender and come with us. If that’s okay with you.”~~ The quiet voice came from above him, and John looked up to see that the yellow winged one was perched in a tree above him.

Icy cold fear crept up John’s spine as he realized just how bad his situation was. He was completely boxed in, with the creatures cutting off any possible means of escape. He hadn’t expected to run into any trouble, and had only brought a pair of explosives. He had to escape. If he made it to the undergrowth, he might be able to lose them.

Wildly swinging his axe at the pony standing in front of him, he hurriedly clambered to his feet. She flapped her wings as she jumped back, easily propelling herself out of range and throwing up a large cloud of ash, covering the entire area in a blinding cloud of white.

~~“Looks like he’s chosen to do this the hard way.”~~

Unable to see anything, John sprinted in the direction he had seen the white pony standing. Unlike the others, she hadn’t performed any particularly impressive physical feats yet. Charging out of the cloud of ash, he aimed directly at her, intending to simply bowl her over and make a break for it. She simply arched an eyebrow at seeing him coming for her.

~~“Attacking a lady, are we? So uncouth.”~~ Leaping into the air, she gracefully pirouetted so that she was facing away from him. Her mane and tail fluttered wildly, the movement drawing his eyes and temporarily distracting him. Lashing out with her rear hooves, she struck against his chest with a thunderous impact.

Knocked back several steps, his arms flailing as he fought to keep from falling over, something suddenly struck and wrapped around his left arm. A quick look revealed to him that the orange pony had lassoed his arm with her rope and had the other end clenched securely in her teeth. A firm yank from her torn away at his delicate balance, bringing him down to his hands and knees.

~~“That’s yer idea of somethin’ a lady would do, is it?”~~

~~“Oh shush, Applejack. Do you have any idea how difficult it was to find a spot to hit that wouldn’t get blood on my hooves?”~~

The creatures were making noises again. John tried to stand up, but fell back on his rear in surprise when the pink one suddenly popped up in front of him, somehow appearing from the blind spot behind his arm.

~~“Hi there! Are you ready to surrender yet, or do we have to hurt you some more? I mean, we’ll try to fix you up later, but it would really make thing a lot easier on all of us if you would just give up.”~~

Not understanding what she was saying, John tightened his grip on the axe handle as he pushed her away. Raising it above his head, he prepared to swing it down on the rope wrapped around his arm.

~~“Oh no, ya don’t.”~~

The rope wrenched hard on his arm, pulling him into the air. A scream of agony escaped his lips as he felt his shoulder detach from its socket, ending in a grunt of pain as he struck a tree.

~~“Don’t you think that was a bit much, AJ?”~~

~~“Probably, Dash, but he’s a lot more fragile’n Ah would have expected.”~~

Moaning weakly, John cut the rope with the axe before pushing himself into a sitting position, leaning against the tree for support. Trying not to jostle his dislocated shoulder, he stared in despair at the five ponies closing in on him.

~~“Oh, the poor dear looks so scared.”~~

~~“Be careful, Fluttershy. Scared he might be, but he’s still a dangerous brute.”~~

~~“What are you worrying about, Rarity? We’ve already got him on the ropes. I was hoping for a little more payback, but I’m willing to let it go with this.”~~

John’s breath rattled in his lungs while every beat of his heart caused a line of pain to shoot through his shoulder. Bracing himself against the tree, he cautiously stood up. The axe held defensively between him and the ponies with his good hand, he wavered unsteadily on his feet.

Looking past the ponies, his breath caught in his throat as the icy claws of fear gripped his neck at what he saw. Risking a look over his shoulder, his heart plummeted to his stomach at what he saw. Large trees had been torn down and carefully piled on top of one another, creating a wall that completely surrounded the clearing.

~~“Give it up.”~~

The purple pony stepped towards John. Her horn was no longer glowing, but he had no doubt that she was responsible for the barricade. Not after what he had seen at the river.

~~“You can’t escape us and we will not allow you to leave this clearing. Throw down your weapons and I promise you will not come to harm.”~~

~~“Ah hate ta interrupt, but it don’t look like he intends ta surrender.”~~

Tucking his axe underneath his right arm, John reached into his pocket and pulled out an explosive fruit and a match. His shoulder screamed at him with every movement he made, but escape was the only thing that mattered! Fumbling a little, he managed to light the match and stick it into the fruit.

Tossing his makeshift grenade at the barricade behind him, he hunched down to protect his body from the coming explosion. Nearly blacking out from the pain caused by the abrupt movement, he barely managed to remain conscious. Instead of the explosion he expected, unbroken silence filled the clearing.

Looking behind him, he saw the one thing he had never considered but really should have. The fruit and match were wrapped in a purple glow and the match had been removed from the fruit. As he watched, the tiny flame sputtered pathetically and died. He felt his hope die with it. His sight started to fade as he saw the creatures walking towards him, throwing up ash with every step they took. The world became consumed by white and he prepared to surrender to his fate.

…not…finished…

The world snapped back into focus as the alien voice echoed within John’s skull. It was strong and powerful, overpowering everything inside his head. But at the same time, he could barely hear it.

…you…magic…escape…

He couldn’t understand the words that the voice was saying but he somehow understood the meaning behind them regardless. It was insane! It was reckless, foolish, desperate, impossible!

It was also his only hope.

Clenching the axe handle between his teeth – he hadn’t come this far just to leave it behind – he pulled out another match and his last fruit. Lighting it, he turned and held the fruit and match against the wall, bracing himself for the pain.

~~“What’s he-?”~~ One of the voices asked

~~“Get down!”~~ another shouted desperately.

A horrible explosion ripped everything apart. John let out an agonized shriek as his flesh was roasted and charred. The sickly sweet smell of cooked meat overwhelmed his senses and he nearly collapsed on the spot. His arm was burnt black and even the slightest movement caused his skin to crack and flake open.

Most of his mind shut down in a futile attempt to protect him from the pain. Only one thought made it through his mind: escape. Before the smoke cleared, he fled into the hole made by the explosion. Both his arms hung limply at his sides, every step causing the skin on his right arm to futher fracture and crack. Blood and cooked fat ran freely, dripping off what remained of his fingers and staining the ground below.

Back in the clearing, Twilight tried to understand what had happened.

“I didn’t consider that! He can’t be affected by magic, nor can anything he’s touching. Argh, I already knew that. How could I have not taken it into consideration?” Twilight focused and cast the locator spell. Sensing John escaping, she grunted in denial. There was no way she was letting it end here, not after what Luna had confided in her last night. “You’re not getting away.” Her horn glowed even brighter and she teleported in pursuit.

John stumbled suddenly as Twilight appeared directly in front of him. Tripping over her, he twisted his body so that he would land on his back instead of his arms. His teeth dug into the axe handle as his jaw clenched, trying not to scream from the pain that assaulted every nerve of his body. Twilight stood stock still, staring in horror at the ruination of his body her plan had caused.

His eyes looked deeply into hers, causing her breath to catch at what she saw there. Not hate, not anymore. Instead, his eyes were full of pain, fear, and a plea for mercy. She took a fearful step back, unable to comprehend all the suffering she was responsible for. John took advantage of her moment of weakness to scramble to his feet and vanish into the woods.

“Twilight!”

Twilight slowly turned her head to stare at her approaching friends. Seeing her unresponsive response, they slowed down and gave her five identical concerned looks.

“Are y’all alright, Twi?” Applejack asked. Twilight licked her dry lips and her voice croaked like a bullfrog when she responded, prompting her to start again.

“How-how did you girls catch up so fast?” Rarity silently pointed at the trail of blood and fat. Twilight stared at it uncomprehendingly for a moment before she connected it with the injuries she had seen on the creature. Her face turning green, she rushed over to a nearby bush and vomited noisily into it.

Twilight sobbed uncontrollably as her stomach purged itself, regretting what had happened; what she had made happen. After several retches, her heaves were only able to produce a small amount of bile, and she became aware of a light pressure on her flank. Her friends were hugging her, and had been since she started; not knowing why she was hurting so much but wanting to help her regardless.

Heedless of the vomit covering her mouth, Twilight turned and gave herself to their embrace. Tears running freely down her face as she looked into their kind, concerned eyes. Her sobs eventually steadied as she cried herself to sleep.

“Poor Twilight,” Pinkie said quietly, not wanting to wake the slumbering unicorn. “I wonder what happened.”

“Ah dunno, Pinkie,” Applejack answered, gently lifting Twilight onto her back, “but it looks like we won’t be catchin’ that critter today. You alright, Rarity?” The fashionista was staring in disgust at the vomit staining everypony’s coat.

“Just fine, darling, but I am definitely making an emergency visit to the spa when we get back to town.”

Dear journal;

I attacked by creatures today. Pain. So much pain. Why does it not hurt. Healed. How? Skin is fine. Arms are fine. Nose is fine. Blood remains. So much blood.

Hear voice in my head. Stronger after healed. Don’t understand it. Musn’t understand it. If understand it, something terrible happen.

Creature attacked me. Doesn’t matter; right or wrong. Not able to live in peace with creatures. Must remove them. Kill them. Plan prepared, ready.

They die. Die die die die diediediEdIEDIE!!

KILL THEM!!!!!

A Mare's Home is her Castle.

“…elp!”

Applejack wearily swum awake. Bleary-eyed, she glanced out the window. ‘s funny, she thought grumpily. If it’s so late, why’s it so dang bright? A flickering red glow filtered inside from the open window, casting the room in a hellish light. Trying to rub the sleep out of her mind, she wondered if it was the light that had awoken her.

“…help!”

“No,” Applejack mouthed a futile denial, horror writ wide across her face as a vague memory of what had awoken her slipped into her conscious thoughts. Any thought of sleep forgotten, the terrified mare exploded off of her bed and thundered down the hallway. Not even stopping to grab her hat, panic running through her mind, she sped as fast as she could through the darkened building. She realized what had woken her and, more importantly, what the voice had said.

“Applejack! Help!”

“Apple Bloom!” Applejack shouted, her pounding hooves and thunderous gallop echoing through the quiet house as she charged at the front door. Not willing to slow down enough to open the door properly, she lowered her shoulder and barrelled directly into it. The door blew completely off its hinges, revealing to Applejack a sight that the farmpony knew she would never forget, not even if she lived to be as old as Princess Celestia.

The barn was awash in a roaring inferno. The roar of the flames and the force of the heat was oppressive, even as far away as where Applejack stood. Standing in front of it, watching her, stood the creature from the forest, once again fully healed. One of his hands clutched a burning brand, which he tossed to the ground in front of him once he was certain she had seen it. But it was what he held in his other hand that concerned her the most. Wrapped up in her Cutie Mark Crusaders cape, Apple Bloom struggled weakly in the creature’s grip. The corner of the cape had been shoved into her mouth, and Applejack was unable to make out her muffled cries over the sound of the fire. Apple Bloom’s scared eyes pleaded for rescue.

“What the hay do ya think yer doin’ ta my sister?” Applejack roared, charging directly at the creature. The creature turned and vanished into the burning barn behind him, carrying the flailing Apple Bloom under his arm. Applejack chased after him without a second’s hesitation, leaping into the roaring firestorm. Inside the barn, the billowing smoke stung her eyes and throat, forcing her to squint and immediately parching her lungs. Every gasp for air started to hurt, but she pressed on.

“Apple Bloom!” Applejack croaked out, the smoke filling her lungs and choking her. Intellectually, she knew that she needed to get out of the barn as quickly as possible, but she was far too worried for her little sister to spare any concern for her own safety. Her thoughts a panicked mess, she staggered through the blazing barn, trying to find any trace of the little filly.

With every step, her body grew heavier. With every gasping breath, she seemed to take in less and less air. Her vision narrowed and blurred, her dry eyes unable to produce any tears. Unable to see anything through the billowing smoke, she no longer had any idea of where she was. Ignoring her own plight she continued to hunt for her sister, in case the creature had abandoned her in the barn. Her legs buckled beneath her body, bringing her crashing painfully to the ground. Succumbing to asphyxiation, she barely managed to mutter out one last sentence.

“Ah’ll save ya…”

But the roar of the flames was the only response.

Air! Sweet clean air!

Applejack regained consciousness, feeling fresh air being pushed into her lungs. Off to the side, she saw the still-burning barn was now completely consumed in flames with smoke pouring out of every window. If she had still been in there… she shuddered at the thought. Looking up, she gazed directly into the eyes of her rescuer. She was lying on her back, Big Macintosh standing directly above her. His lips were locked against her own, forcing air into her lungs. Pressing a hoof against his chest, she gently pushed him back.

“Ah’m alright now, What-“ Her eyes widened as she remembered why she had been in the barn in the first place. “Apple Bloom!” She hastily tried to clamber to her feet, wanting to rush into the flames once more. Big Mac’s heavy hoof pressed firmly against her before she could, pinning her against the ground. She struggled against him, striking his body as hard as she could with her hooves.

“Calm down,” he said severely, if not unkindly. “Throwing yourself away ain’t gonna to help anything. Whatever that was ran out the back with her right after you entered the barn. When I didn’t see you leave, I got worried and went in after you. I can’t believe you just forgot everything about fire safety, even about staying close to the ground when there’s lots of smoke.”

Applejack stopped fighting at the news that Apple Bloom was not in the barn, sagging limply against the ground. Big Mac stepped away from her, but she continued to lie there. “Ah couldn’t save her,” she said, hugging herself tightly. “Ah saw her, but there was nothin’ I could do. She was taken. Right in front of me. Ah failed her.”

Big Mac sighed before looking up at the burning barn. Looking away from it, he bent down and picked up a sprig of hay from the ground. Gripping it in his teeth, he pointed at her with it. “She’s not lost yet. All we need to think about now is savin’ her.”

Twilight rolled over in her sleep, mumbling indistinctly to herself. Her dreams were filled with images of blood, pain, and screams. She walked through the ruined streets of Ponyville, the destroyed houses standing in silent judgement of her. The few ponies she saw refused to look at her, ducking down side streets or ignoring her altogether.

Her steps brought her in front of the destroyed library she had once called home. The great tree was withered and broken, burn marks clearly visible around the entire building. The clouds boiled and seethed in the skies above her, eventually coalescing into the form of her mentor. Princess Celestia glared down at Twilight from the heavens, her normally kind voice filled with a mixture of barely-suppressed rage and disappointment when she spoke.

“You are responsible for this, Twilight Sparkle. For the weight of your crimes, life imprisonment or death are the only possible punishments. How do you plead?” Twilight glanced up dispassionately at the noble figure above her. A heavy weight filled the pit of her stomach, and she forced her gaze away. She no longer felt worthy to even look upon the Princess she had once idolized so much. All she had ever wanted was to help the Princess in any way she could. How had everything gone so wrong? Now she barely had any desire to live, not after all the pain she had caused.

Celestia closed her eyes sorrowfully. Despite everything, she still loved her former student. Banishing these last regrets from her mind, her horn began to glow as she stared down at the unresisting unicorn. “Very well. Then as the sole remaining ruler of Equestria, I declare your punishment-“

“Twilight!”

The shout broke through the grip of the dream, startling Twilight awake. She blinked in confusion as the glaring visage of Princess Celestia gave way to an anxious-looking rainbow-maned pegasus perched in her windowsill.

“Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. “What are you doing here this late?”

“No time to explain,” Dash waved Twilight’s questions aside with a wave of her hoof. “Apple Bloom’s been foalnapped. I’m going to wake the others. Meet us downstairs.” Flaring her wings, she took off into the night sky. Twilight stared at where Dash had been for a few seconds before leaping off her bed, all thoughts of the dream temporarily forgotten.

“SPIKE!”

Soon, Twilight and Spike were running down the stairs. In the main room, they found a sleepy-looking Sweetie Belle helping Rarity remove several mane curlers from her mane and tail. The pair must not have even waited to remove them at their house, instead rushing over here immediately to help.

Despite this, Rarity still greeted Twilight with a weak smile. “Hello, you two. Sorry we let ourselves in, but I thought you might like some time to get ready.”

“It’s no problem at all, Rarity,” Twlight assured her while Spike unsuccessfully tried to hide a yawn. “Do you know what’s going on?”

Rarity shook her head at Twilight’s question. “Sorry, dear. All Rainbow Dash told me is that Apple Bloom was foalnapped by that creature.” Sweetie Belle shivered uncontrollably beside Rarity, looking like she was about to start crying. Rarity swept a leg around the frightened unicorn and pulled the little filly close against her chest. “I brought Sweetie Belle since I couldn’t bear the idea of leaving her alone. Could she stay here with Spike for the night?”

“Of course. Spike, could you please set her up in my bed? It doesn’t look like I’ll be getting any more use out of it tonight.”

“Alright.” Spike gingerly walked over to the sisters, gently resting his claw against Sweetie Belle’s shoulder.

Sweetie Belle flinched away from the contact, moving closer against Rarity. “I wanna go too,” she muttered indistinctly, the words muffled by Rarity’s fur. “Let me help.”

Rarity sighed and rested her chin on top of Sweetie Belle’s head, ignoring the tiny horn poking painfully into her throat. “I’m sorry Sweetie Belle, but no.” Sweetie Belle didn’t react, have been expecting the answer but dreading it all the same. Spike waited patiently a few feet away while Twilight watched quietly by the stairs.

“I know you want to help your friend,” Rarity continued, “but the best way you can help her is to wait here. If you came, I would be too scared for your safety to properly help find her. I know it hurts, but all I can ask is that you have faith in me and wait for our return.”

Sweetie Belle remained silent and unmoving for several moments before slowly nodding her head. Rarity kindly pushed her over to Spike, who led her towards the stairs. Stopping in front of Twilight, she turned and looked squarely at the purple unicorn. “Please. Please save her,” she begged, her voice heavy with emotion and her eyes brimming with unshed tears.

Twilight closed her eyes and bowed her head, acknowledging the filly’s plea. “I will. I promise.” At Twilight’s words, Sweetie Belle continued up the stairs. Every step scraped against the floor, every step she took a struggle to not turn and run out into the forest. Her head hung low, nearly touching the floor as she followed after the concerned baby dragon.

After the pair vanished into Twilight’s room, silence descended on the library. Both mares were distracted by their thoughts, each wondering if they would be able to show Sweetie Bell’s bravery and wait if it were one of their friends in danger. Neither wishing to broach the subject, the seconds ticked past in silence until the front door was abruptly thrown open.

Applejack stormed inside, Fluttershy’s tail clenched firmly in her teeth. The yellow pegasus must not have been going fast enough for Applejack’s tastes, so the farmpony had decided to carry Fluttershy to the library. Spitting out the mass of pink hair, she looked at the others already in the room. “Rainbow Dash and Pinkie ain’t here yet?” she asked.

“Here we are,” Pinkie Pie sing-songed as she bounced in through the open door, Dash flying in close on her heels. Fluttershy demurely stepped out of the way to let them in while Applejack simple nodded in greeting to Dash, silently thanking the speedster for waking everypony up so quickly.

“Now that we’re all here,” Twilight said, “AJ, could you tell us what’s going on?”

“The creature in the forest took Apple Bloom and burned down the farm,” Applejack bluntly stated. The others gasped in collective shock at Applejack’s words, noticing the soot that stained her orange coat. Applejack bowed her head down to them, looking directly at the ground. “Please, will you-“

“You don’t even have to ask,” Pinkie interrupted. “We would never leave you to do something so dangerous on your own. And drop the formal talk, it just sounds silly coming from you.” The joke lightened the tension in the room, and Applejack smiled in relief at the surrounding ponies.

“Thanks, y’all. Big Mac and Granny are tryin’ to contain the fire back at the farm, so I didn’t have anywhere else to turn.”

Dash flew over to Applejack and flicked at her hat in exasperation. “Come on, AJ,” Dash chided, “we would never leave you hanging. You know that.” Applejack gave Dash a thankful look.

“Sorry fer doubtin’ you, but Ah’m so worried Ah guess Ah’m not really thinkin’ straight. Big Mac lectured me not to do anything rash before Ah left.” She banged her front hooves together angrily. “Ah swear, if he’s harmed so much as a single hair on her head, Ah’m gonna… well, Ah’ll think of somethin’.” Applejack looked over at the smartest member of the group. “So what’s the plan, Twi?”

“Oh…um…” A vision of a burnt and destroyed arm flashed in front of Twilight’s eyes for a second before she shook it away. “I can lead us to the creature, but we don’t know if he still has Apple Bloom with him.”

Rarity cleared her throat with a dainty cough, turning all eyes towards her. “That might not be a problem. Applejack, was Apple Bloom wearing her Crusader Cape when she was taken?”

Applejack blinked in surprise at the strange question. “Well,” she hastily cast her mind back to the last moment she saw her sister, “yes. The creature had tied her up in it. Is that important?”

Rarity nodded her head at Applejack’s answer, a small self-satisfied smile blooming across her face. “It is. After we fought the creature a few days ago, I began to fear for Sweetie Belle’s safety. At first I passed it off as simple paranoia, but it continued to eat at me all night while I helped treat Twilight. After she went to sleep, Spike helped me find the books she had used to develop her locator spell and I made some modifications to it.”

“Hang on,” Twilight interrupted, a look of amazement spread across her face. “That was an incredibly advanced spell, and it’s hard even for me to cast it. The only reason I’m able to use it to find the creature at all is because Discord’s energy stands out so much.”

Rarity tossed her coiffed mane, posing for her friends. It wasn’t often somepony managed to one-up the highly talented unicorn, and Rarity intended to enjoy this moment. “Have you forgotten, dear? You may be gifted with great magical power, but there is nothing I can’t do with gemstones.” Twilight had the grace to look ashamed at Rarity’s unspoken rebuke. She didn’t mean to, but being Princess Celestia’s personal student had given Twilight something of a superiority complex. She had mostly gotten over it since moving to Ponyville and meeting her friends, but it still reared its ugly head from time to time.

“Fascinatin’ as this is,” Applejack growled out, “Ah don’t see how any of this helps with findin’ my sister.”

“Alright, I’ll skip to the end,” Rarity agreed, returning to her normal posture. “I enchanted some gems and used them to make those cape clasps that I gifted Sweetie Belle and her friends with two days ago. No matter where they go, I’ll be able to find them.”

“Oh, that’s so cool,” Pinkie said as she bounced in excitement. “I wish I was a unicorn able to cast such useful spells. Then I would know where everypony in town was at any time and wouldn’t need to spend any time looking for them if I wanted to throw a party. But would I still be me if I was a uni-hey!”

Rainbow Dash gently but firmly pushed Pinkie to the side. “Question for another time, Pinkie. So what’s the plan, Twilight?” Dash was looking forward to another rematch with the creature. He wouldn’t escape her this time.

Twilight closed her eyes sorrowfully, remembering what her last plan had caused. How can I plan when I’m no longer confident in my own ability to know what’s right? Why do they put so much faith in me? Don’t they realize they might get hurt next? A memory of a dream slowly drifted through her mind, a dream of the glaring visage of her mentor.

“You are responsible for this, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight’s friends were watching her in concern. She was just standing there silently, not looking at any of them. Fluttershy edged to Twilight’s side and gently poked the unicorn. “Um… are you okay?”

Twilight’s eyes shot open and she stared at the concerned pegasus. “No!” she screamed in Fluttershy’s face. “No, I am not okay! How can you believe in me so much? How can-“ Twilight’s tirade was cut off as a wall of pink hair filled her vision, covering her entire face.

“Shh.” Fluttershy’s quiet voice soothed from a spot next to Twilight’s ears. The kind pegasus had wrapped the stressed unicorn in her forelegs and was gently cradling her. “We believe in you because we trust you. Maybe you need to trust yourself a little, too.”

Twilight sagged limply against Fluttershy, resting her head on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “How can I trust myself when I don’t even know what to believe in?” she murmered quietly, her voice slightly muffled by Fluttershy’s mane. Fluttershy gently stroked the back of Twilight’s head before answering.

“Believe in us. Believe that we believe in you.” Fluttershy’s words cut through the fog of Twilight’s mind, bringing clarity to her thoughts. She recognized the dream-Celestia’s words as just that; nothing more than a dream. The tearful words of a young filly ran through Twilight's head.

“Please. Please save her.”

Twilight had a promise to keep, after all.

“Sorry Fluttershy. And… thanks.” Taking a deep breath,Twilight returned Fluttershy’s hug before both ponies released each other. “Let’s go, girls. We’ve wasted enough time. I’ll explain the plan on the way.”

Rarity trotted through the Everfree Forest, her horn glowing as she focused on casting the locator spell. Applejack and Fluttershy followed behind her, neither falling behind though Fluttershy looked like she was beginning to tire. “We’re close,” Rarity yelled back at the pair. Applejack only nodded, a grim look in her eyes while Fluttershy didn’t respond at all, only focused on keeping up. As they approached Apple Bloom, Rarity’s mind cast back to how Twilight had explained the plan.

“We’re going to split into two groups,” Twilight had said. “We don’t know what the creature is planning, but since it made sure Applejack knew it had taken Apple Bloom, we need to assume it’s planning something. We’re going to try and stop him from pulling off whatever it is. One group will keep him distracted while the other group focuses on finding and saving Apple Bloom.”

“Remember,” she had stressed, “our only goal is to save Apple Bloom. Once she’s safe, we will break off contact with the creature and return to Ponyville. Are there any questions?” Once everypony had assured her that there were no questions, she had proceeded to divide up the groups. Now Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy were searching for Apple Bloom while Twilight, Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash were hunting the creature.

“It’s coming from there,” Rarity said back in the present, pointing at the entrance to a small cave. Both Rarity and Fluttershy slowed down at the sight of the cave, remembering the last time they had seen this cave. A time which had ended with them nearly being killed by a manticore. It was the very same cave that the creature had been living in before. Applejack ran past them both, heading straight for the cave entrance. Rarity and Fluttershy shared a glance before following her.

At the back of the cave, they found that the rock pile Rarity had noticed before had been moved aside, revealing a large hole in the wall. The hole opened into a tunnel, which twisted and turned before vanishing into the darkness. Indistinct noises echoed out from the tunnel, just clear enough to make them out as the crying of a helpless filly. Applejack gritted her teeth, the pounding of her hoofbeats seeming to increase in strength as she charged recklessly into the tunnel. Fluttershy started to flag, panting for breath. Rarity noticed Fluttershy starting to fall behind and slowed down to help her.

Fluttershy gave Rarity a grateful look as the unicorn’s magic steadied her. The pair redoubled their efforts, catching up with Applejack. The pounding of the three mare’s hooves echoed through the tunnel, nearly overpowering the sound of the crying filly. Applejack’s hat rustled in the wind, almost flying off on several occasions but somehow managing to remain on her head the entire time.

“Apple Bloom!” Applejack yelled, her shout echoing and reverberating through the passageway. The crying abruptly stopped, and Apple Bloom’s weak voice could be heard in return.

“Apple…jack?”

“Ah’m comin’, sis!” A flimsy looking wooden door stood at the end of the passageway. Applejack snorted in disgust and charged it.

Apple Bloom’s panicked yell could be heard emitting from behind the door. “No! Stop! It’s a tr-”

Applejack blew through the door, unknowingly setting off a tripwire that had been deviously hidden behind the portal. Several dozen tiny fires bloomed in the darkness of the tunnel, each flickering flame illuminating the explosive fruit placed right next to it.

Explosions rocked through the tunnel, cracking the rock and dropping several tons of stone from the ceiling. Fluttershy “eeped” as the crumbling ceiling fell towards her, curling up into a tight ball and covering her head with her hooves. Abruptly, something hit her from behind, throwing her out of the collapsing tunnel. Landing behind Applejack with a painful thud, Fluttershy felt a wave of stale air and dust wash over her, displaced by the collapsing tunnel.

Several stalactites broke off from the ceiling of the large cavern they were now in, smashing against the ground and sending sharp chips flying in every direction. Fluttershy flinched away as one shattered not too far away from her, the stone shards barely missing her. As she did, she happened to glance back in the direction they had come from. Her eyes widened in horror at what she saw.

“Rarity!” she shrieked. Her closest friend was pinned under a large boulder, only her head and a single hoof left exposed. Fluttershy ran to where Rarity lay, heedless of any aftershocks or more falling rubble. Rarity looked up as Fluttershy approached, smiling weakly but honestly when she saw the pegasus was unharmed.

“Oh…good…” Rarity had managed to hastily cast a small shield around herself before the boulders crushed her, but even the act of breathing hurt. Nothing was broken, thankfully, but she wasn’t going anywhere any time soon. “You’re… safe. I was… worried.” Fluttershy’s breath caught in her throat as she realized what must have happened. She clenched Rarity’s exposed hoof and pressed the top of her head against Rarity’s own.

“Why?” she sobbed out. Tears flowed freely from her eyes, the sparkling drops falling from her cheeks and landing on Rarity. “Why did you save me? You could have gotten out if you had left me, so why? Why would you help me when I’m so useless? Why?” She quietly sobbed out the last words, her voice barely reaching the injured unicorn.

Rarity raised her free hoof and gently stroked the side of Fluttershy’s muzzle. “Because you are my friend, darling. I don’t need a reason other than that. Any noble pony would have done the same.” Unable to hold her hoof up any longer, the weak unicorn let it drop. Fluttershy caught it before it hit the ground. Rarity continued to gasp for breath, the little speech having taken a lot out of her. “Sorry, but… I’m going to rest for a bit.” Rarity’s eyes slowly closed and her breathing started to level out. Fluttershy stayed with her, gently stroking the unicorn’s mane as Rarity drifted off to sleep. Only focused on comforting the unicorn as much as possible, she was unaware of the danger unfolding behind her.

In the cavern, Applejack had her own problems. Apple Bloom was held within a flimsy wooden cage in the center of the large cavern. She seemed to be shouting something while gesturing at a giant hole in the carvern wall, but Applejack’s ears were ringing and she couldn’t make out what was being said. If she had, she would have been able to hear noises coming from the hole, noises of a large creature moving around. An unusual smell seemed to waft from the opening, filling the entire room with its stench.

Out of the corner of her eye, Applejack saw a large serpentine head poke into the cavern from the giant hole. The head blinked sleepily, probably having been awoken by the sound of the explosions. Three similar heads followed the first, looking around the dimly-lit cavern. As one, the four heads focused on the shivering filly caged in front of them. One of the heads licked its lips, and the hydra stepped into the cave. The room shook with every step the monster took, sending more stalactites plummeting to the ground.

“Oh no, y’all don’t!” Applejack whinnied her challenge to the creature. Armed with nothing more than her love for her sister, Applejack charged the mighty beast. One of the heads turned at her proclamation, roaring as it caught sight of her. The other three heads stayed focused on Apple Bloom, and the monster slowly descended upon its hapless prey.

Rainbow Dash flew high in the skies above the Everfree Forest. The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon, casting long shadows over the entire forest. Dash tried to focus on the ground below her, but her thoughts were elsewhere.

They had better be alright, she thought to herself. A loud explosion had come from the direction the other three had vanished a few minutes ago. Dash had wanted to see what happened, but Twilight convinced her that they needed to find the creature. She said he was around here somewhere. Hmm? An unusual whistling noise filled the air for a moment before Dash was struck from the side. “Hey!”

Suddenly wrapped in a net made of vines and weighted down with rocks, Dash flailed her wings wildly as she fell from the sky. Able to slow her descent enough to prevent the impact from being too painful, Dash still let out a “Oof” as she struck the ground.

“Dash! Are you alright?” Twilight yelled as she ran up to the grounded pegasus, Pinkie running alongside her.

“I’ve been better, Twilight.” Dash said sarcastically. Her legs and wings pinned by the net, Dash could only turn her head and look at the two mares cantering through the trees towards her. Seeing a shape detach itself from the surrounding forest and charge them from the side, Dash yelled out a warning.

“Twilight! Your left!” Twilight turned to look in the direction Dash had indicated. Because her head had changed position, the descending axe caught her on the horn instead of a softer, more vulnerable spot. Twilight’s eyes crossed and she passed out from the sudden impact against her skull. The creature bent down next to her, shoving his hand into her open mouth.

“GET AWAY FROM HER!”

John looked up at the noise, seeing the pink mare had gotten a cannon from somewhere and was pointing it at him. He dove to the side as she pressed the fuse, sending confetti, tablecloths, and balloons flying through the spot where he had been standing. Rolling to his feet, he gripped his axe tightly in his hands as the pink mare pulled a pair of cupcakes out of her poofy mane. The blue winged one struggled in his net. He turned his attention away from her – she was not a threat. The pink mare pulled a hoof back, preparing to throw her confectionary weapon at him. Before either of them could attack, a loud roar booming through the area drew their attention.

Not far away, the land buckled and heaved before exploding upwards. Four serpentine heads burst up out of the earth, throwing rocks and dirt in every direction. The limp form of an orange pony with a yellow mane was clutched firmly in the jaws of one of the heads, her forehooves and head dangling uselessly while the rest of her body was hidden from sight inside the creature’s mouth. An errant gust blowing through the area ripped the cowboy hat off the pony’s head, sending it fluttering towards the ground below.

Chaos Spreads

Rainbow Dash slowly became aware of the world around her, a sour taste filling her mouth. Grass gently tickled her cheek, and a weight on her chest pinned her against the ground. Her guts heaved as watery barf was forced out of her stomach, forming a puddle on the ground in front of her.

“She’s starting to wake up. Don’t let her move until I’m finished.”

“Okie dokie.”

Moaning slightly, Dash saw a pink blur sitting on her chest. A yellow blur sat next to the pink blur, slowly moving back and forth. Dash tried to shake her head, but the pink blur reached out and grabbed her skull. The pink blur slowly focused into Pinkie Pie sitting on Dash’s chest. The normally happy mare had an unusually serious expression on her face and bandages were wrapped around her flank. Dash opened her mouth to ask what had happened, but Pinkie’s hoof blocked her mouth before she could say anything.

“Don’t try to talk, Dashie,” Pinkie said quietly. Dash gave her an odd look. Pinkie never did anything quietly. The earth pony removed her hoof from Dash’s mouth as the pegasus fell back, careful not to jostle anything, and began to explain the situation. “After you chased after the creature, Twilight began to panic. She had tried to teleport after you but couldn’t for some reason. She’s not really sure why. After Fluttershy,” Pinkie gestured at the yellow mare, “bandaged me up, we chased after you. We found you washed up against the river bank. You weren’t breathing, so we dragged you out of the river and pushed on your tummy a bunch of times. I thought you must have swallowed half the river, considering how much water you threw up.”

Dash tried to focus on what Pinkie was saying, but her thoughts were constantly slipping away from her. Instead, she just tried to understand where she was. She was lying on her back, Pinkie lying on top of her. Her head was tilted to the side, a watery puddle of vomit directly in front of her. Fluttershy was at her side putting Dash’s wing in a splint, a first-aid kit on the ground beside her. Dash tried to flinch away but Fluttershy held firm, not allowing the wing to escape her grip.

“Don’t move,” Fluttershy scolded. Her hooves moved with certainty as she put the finishing touches on the splint. Stepping back, she looked over her work before nodding to herself. “Alright Pinkie, you can let her up now.” The earth pony unsteadily climbed off of the pegasus, nearly falling as she put weight on her hind legs. Dash continued to lie on the ground until she felt confident enough to stand up.

“You seem to be taking everything surprising well, Pinkie,” she wheezed out from her prone position.

Fluttershy shook her head, quietly packing the remaining bandages away. “Not really. She’s gone into shock. It’s a bit different than what I’m used to seeing, but I’m sure of it. I think you’ve gone into shock as well.” Fluttershy finished packing the first-aid kit and slipped it into Pinkie’s mane.

Dash hesitated before asking the question that had been worrying her the most. “How… are the others?”

“Your wing’s… wait.” Fluttershy blinked at Dash. She had honestly been expecting a question about the racer’s wing. “Um… others. Right. You and AJ are the worst injured. She’s got a broken leg, a few broken and cracked ribs, some internal bleeding, and is suffering from a concussion. As for you, if you’re not careful with that wing, I don’t know if you’ll ever be able to fly again.” Dash gestured for her to keep going. “Pinkie’s going to be fine, though she’s going to have some trouble walking for a while. Rarity’s unconscious, but she was able to protect herself with a shield so she hasn’t taken any serious damage. Twilight’s horn was cracked, but she’s fine other than that.”

Dash began to climb to her hooves. Fluttershy and Pinkie reached out to support her. “Where are they?” the blue pegasus asked, leaning heavily on Fluttershy while Pinkie limped along beside them.

“We left them behind at the clearing. Twilight’s got a protective shield covering them, so they should be fine until we get back.” The trio staggered on a little farther after Fluttershy’s response before Dash’s sluggish mind realized what was wrong with what she said.

“How can she make a shield but she can’t teleport? Did she just forget how to-” Dash hissed in pain as Pinkie stumbled and accidently brushed against her broken wing. Pinkie hurriedly fell back, landing heavily on her injured rump.

Fluttershy could only watch as her friends sorted themselves out, unable to help for fear of dropping Dash. “She doesn’t know why either,” Fluttershy said, trying to get Dash to focus on her. “Once we get you to the others, we’re going to Zecora’s. Twilight’s hoping Zecora will have some answers.”

“The cause of this I am not sure, so I do not know what could be the cure.”

Twilight sat in the middle of Zecora’s hut while Zecora peered closely at the crack in the unicorn’s horn. Fluttershy had heated up some water and was carefully cleaning Applejack’s wounds with Apple Bloom’s assistance. Rarity had been placed in Zecora’s bed while Pinkie and Dash watched over her, discussing what had gone wrong during the battle. Dash would occasionally trail off to look back at her injured wing, a sad look on her face as she considered the possible ruination of everything she was. Whenever she did this, Pinkie would constantly try to get her attention and distract the pegasus. Twilight reached up to pat her horn as the zebra finished her examination.

“So you’re sure it’s not the crack, right?” Her hoof gently ran along the small crack in her horn, caused when the creature had struck her with his axe. She was fortunate that she wasn’t as badly injured as Pinkie had been. She still couldn't understand what had happened when the creature's axe had nearly taken out Pinkie's throat. Zecora answered before Twilight’s thoughts could start wandering, the zebra’s rhymes giving Twilight something to focus on.

“The crack is not the cause, but it does give me pause. Smear some of this on the crack and it will be fine as long as you do not suffer another attack.” Zecora passed Twilight a vial of some strange purple liquid, which Twilight unquestioningly dipped a hoof in and began spreading it on her horn.

“Then if it wasn’t the physical injury, why would I suddenly be unable to use my magic?” Twilight asked, careful to completely cover her horn's crack in the purple substance.

Zecora walked to a nearby cauldron filled with a liquid that was starting to come to a boil. Slowly stirring the contents, she took a moment to decide how to answer. “Rather than causing all your magic to abort, you said you simply couldn’t teleport. Did anything happen in the battle to make you unsteady?” Zecora lifted a ladle out of the cauldron and took a small sip. “Ah, the stew is ready.”

“No, nothing. I was out for most of the fight.” Twilight’s horn glowed and she filled four bowls full of stew before stopping to look up at her horn. “Do you think that he did something to me?” The bowls floated over to everypony who was still conscious.

Zecora “hmm’d” as she rubbed her chin. “With so little knowledge, I would feel unsafe acting as an advisor. For this it would be better to seek a head that is wiser. Since I have no knowledge of what could cause this malady, it would probably be best for you to ask Her Majesty.” Twilight flinched at the idea of asking Princess Celestia for help. Zecora raised an eyebrow at Twilight’s reaction. “You seem afraid to seek assistance from your teacher. Is that because you were unable to capture the creature?”

“Well…” Twilight said awkwardly, “kinda. But I also had a strange dream last night.” She quickly explained the dream she had had the previous night. “I had thought it was just a nightmare brought on by my own worries, but now I’m not so sure. In the dream, Princess Celestia had told me that I was responsible for all the pain I saw. Now,” she looked at where her friends lay, “I find that I really am responsible for the pain I see.”

“When I look, I don’t see any pain caused by you. Instead, I see a group of friends seemingly stuck together by glue.” Zecora pointed at where Apple Bloom was spoon-feeding Fluttershy while the pegasus continued to clean Applejack’s injuries. Then she pointed where Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were taking turns to carefully spoon stew into Rarity’s mouth. “You may feel that your plan was a failure, but it could easily be seen as being these ponies’ saviour. Had they rushed to save little Apple Bloom, that cave could easily have been their tomb.”

“I…” Twilight sighed. “I know you’re right, but I can’t help feeling that I failed them. It just seems like they wouldn’t have gotten hurt.” Twilight looked up as Zecora passed a steaming cup of tea into her hooves.

“If you feel that way, then make it up to them another day. All you can do for them is to head into town and send in other ponies to bring them around.” The pair sat in silence as Twilight sipped from her tea, considering Zecora’s words. They watched as Fluttershy finished cleaning Applejack’s wounds and began putting some fresh bandages on the injured mare. On the other side of the room, Pinkie seemed to be entertaining Dash with stories about a hero saving ponies from slaver diamond dogs. Dash teased Pinkie by pointing out that the protagonist was pretty much Pinkie Pie herself. The two quickly began arguing about the pros and cons of a ‘self-insert’ in stories in comparison to someone the reader can put themselves in the protagonist’s shoes like Daring Do. Eventually, there was a quiet ‘clack’ as Twilight put down her empty cup.

“I have one final word of advice,” Zecora said as Twilight walked to the door, “which you should hear before you leave in a trice. So long as you and your friends stand together, there is no challenge that will prove your better.” Twilight gave Zecora a small but honest smile – the first real smile she’d had in days – before running out the door, speeding along the path to Ponyville.

Stepping into a backroom of her house, out of sight of the others, Zecora waved her hoof up at a corked beaker high up on the wall. The beaker lifted itself off of its shelf and flew down to her, its bubbling contents sloshing ominously. Popping the cork off, she lifted the nozzle to her lips, downing the entirety of its contents in a single gulp. Placing the flask aside, her attention shifted to a nearby mask hanging before her.

She glared at the mask, as if she believed that it could see her expression. “This wasn’t what you promised,” she growled at the mask in a language none of the ponies in her house would have been able to understand.

Twilight’s run to Ponyville went unnoticed by all, except for the silent sentinel floating high in the sky. The sun stood slightly past its zenith, the mighty orb casting its dazzling rays all across Equestria. The sunlight covered the entire land, filtering into the throne room in Canterlot, where the Princess of the Day was resisting the urge to count the seconds until she could toss out the latest petitioner. To the casual observer, it looked like she was giving the stallion her full attention while her mind was actually elsewhere. It was a useful trick she had picked up over the centuries of her rule. The Royal Guards knew her well enough to recognize when she was doing it, but they sympathized with her far too much to tell anypony. The petitioner seemed to be wrapping up, and Princess Celestia hurriedly focused on what he was saying.

“…and that’s why we should open trade relationships with the Diamond Dogs,” Prince Blueblood said. “They might be dirty uncultured savages, but they are the best there is at finding and excavating gemstones. My ponies estimate that we could see a significant improvement in the quality of the stones as well as a possible reduction of price.” What he didn’t mention was that, while there would be a decrease in the price of the gemstones, most of the money would start going into his own coffers. Celestia knew he had been quietly buying out several jewel stores recently, likely as part of this ridiculous scheme.

“You proposal has been rejected,” she said simply. “You know why the Diamond Dogs can afford to export their gems so cheaply. So long as they continue to use ponies as slave labour in their mines, I will refuse to consider opening any trade with them. Send in the next petitioner.” This last was aimed at her chamberlain, who nodded at her before slipping out the large ornate door. Blueblood sputtered for a few moments before bowing to the inevitable and following after the chamberlain. Holding his head high, he threw the doors open before disappearing beyond them. The Princess took advantage of this rare moment of peace to take the crown off her head and set it to the side. It seemed to get heavier with every passing every day, and the next petitioner wouldn’t mind if she wasn’t wearing it.

The chamberlain re-entered the throne room, the next petitioner behind him. Despite being Blueblood’s cousin, there was almost no similarity between her and the selfish unicorn that had just left. The chamberlain cleared his throat before announcing her. “Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, co-ruler of the Crystal Empire.”

“Hello Auntie,” Cadance said. Her pink wings were held tightly against her sides and her long horn poked up through her mane. One of the few mortal alicorns, she and her husband now ruled the Crystal Empire together. Theoretically, she was equal in rank to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna as a ruler of her own nation. In reality, she tended to defer to Celestia whenever there was a matter concerning both their people. But that wasn’t the reason she was here today.

“Hello Princess Candenza, it is good to see you again.” Cadance waved her hoof at the title Celestia gave her, letting her know that there was still no need for it. The white alicorn smiled fondly at the pink one’s perfect willingness to forgo the formalities. It was a welcome change from most of the nobles, who seemed determined to compete to see who could be the most stuck-up. “Cadance, then. Thank you for coming.”

“Don’t be like that, Auntie. I didn’t have anything planned for today anyway, and we haven’t had lunch together in such a long time. Will Luna be joining us?” Cadance asked, referring to the other half of Equestria’s co-rulers. Celestia stepped down from her throne and the guards took this as the signal that court was finished for the morning. Opening the doors for the Princesses, they bowed as both alicorns passed.

“I’m not sure,” Celestia admitted. “Luna vanished this morning after lowering the moon. I don’t know when she’ll be back. How about your husband? Will Shining Armor be taking a break and join us?” By marrying a princess, Captain of the Royal Guard Shining Armor had become Prince Shining Armor. His retirement had left a gaping hole in the Royal Guard, and the entire reason he and Cadance were in Canterlot was so that he could train up his replacement at Celestia's request. Cadance sighed gustily at the mention of her stubborn husband.

“You know him. He refuses to stop for even a moment’s rest. Hay, he even refuses to admit that he doesn’t actually need to be here at all. You have trainers who would be just as good as he is at training a new Captain as he is, but noooo. It has to be him. It’s his responsibility and all that.” Cadance’s exasperation only brought an amused smile to Celestia’s lips. The pair walked in silence for a moment before pausing by an open window. Outside, they could see Shining Armor yelling at several guardsponies. Seemed like he still hadn’t found anypony able to meet his exacting standards.

“He really is like his sister, isn’t he?” As Princess Celestia’s student, Twilight could often become focused on one topic to the exclusion of everything else. “Are you sure the Crystal Empire will be fine without you two for another few weeks?” Since Shining Armor and Cadance were both here, it meant that there was no ruler at the empire. Cadance wasn’t worried, however and easily waved aside Celestia's question with a flap of one of her wings.

“Oh, it’s fine. The crystal ponies are still getting used to the idea that they have missed over a thousand years. I wouldn’t be able to do anything for them until they are ready for me. I’m able to keep in communication with them by letters, so I’ll know when we should return. Of course,” she gestured down at the sight below them, “I may have to leave him behind if he’s not willing to go.” Celestia’s response was precluded by a greeting from behind them.

“Sister, it is good to see you.” Celestia and Cadance turned to see Princess Luna approaching them. Two of her night guards followed closely behind her, their bat-like wings and stern visage making them look like something out of a nightmare. Her waving mane glimmered and shone like the night sky, serving as a counterpoint to Celestia’s own multicoloured mane. “We hope this day finds you well.” Celestia arched an eyebrow at Luna’s choice of words. She almost never used the Royal We anymore, not after she realized that it had gone out of style in the thousand years since Celestia had been forced to banish her to the moon.

“Are you alright, Luna?” Celestia asked. The Princess of the Night seemed to look panicked for a moment before suddenly blushing instead. Below them, Shining Armor’s shouting seemed to be gaining in volume. Cadance glanced out the window before turning and running down the hallway. Celestia saw that Shining had procured a spear from somewhere and seemed to be fighting against over a dozen guardsponies by himself. He also seemed to be winning. The other guards made a ring around them, watching as their former Captain mopped the floor with his potential successors.

“Forgive us-me, sister.” Luna sighed at her slip-up. “It’s just- Well- I was invited to a village this morning. It really does feel like the ponies are beginning to forgive me after…” She trailed off into silence. Celestia didn’t know what to say. Neither Princess had recovered from the events when Luna had tried to overthrow Celestia a thousand years ago. Before the silence could become too awkward, a green lick of flame flew in through the open window before coalescing into a rolled piece of parchment in front of Celestia.

“Excuse me for a moment,” Celestia said as she grabbed the parchment with her magic. Unrolling it, she silently thanked Twilight for sending a letter at such an opportune time. Luna waved for her to go ahead. Celestia’s eyes skimmed down the letter, becoming wider and wider as she read what Twilight had written. Once she finished, it vanished with a slight pop.

“What happened?” Luna asked, seeing the panicked expression on Celestia’s face. Instead of answering, Celestia turned and ran down the hallway. Luna hesitated for a few seconds before following, her guards chasing after them. Ponies leapt out of the way as the group ran down the hallway. “Sister!” Luna shouted. “What has happened?”

“Twilight Sparkle’s in trouble! I fear that I asked too much of her!” Celestia yelled back over her shoulder, her hooves screeching against the floor as she rounded a corner.

“Twilight Sparkle? But she was the one who um, yes defeated us. What could be too much for her?” Luna’s hoof slammed into the opposite wall as she rounded the corner behind Celestia, slightly cracking the wall before she continued running. Her guards followed behind her, falling slightly behind.

“You mean you haven’t sensed it?” Celestia asked incredulously. “Discord’s prison has been weakening this past week. He’s unleashed some sort of creature on Ponyville and another one southeast of here. I need to gather some guards and take them to Ponyville.”

“You don’t say…” Luna mused. “But,” she shouted after Celestia, “but wouldn’t the guards just slow you down if they’re facing against something like Discord? If Twilight needs help, you should go to her as soon as you can.”

Celestia slowed down, her horn glowing as she turned back to Luna. “You’re right,” she said. “I’ll leave things here with you for now. Be careful. In addition to Discord, I’m also worried about what the changelings are doing. Shining Armor told me he hadn’t heard back from the ponies that had been sent to watch them. They were supposed to report back this morning. Be careful. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” She vanished in a bright flash of light.

Luna stared at the spot Celestia had stood before turning to her two guards. “We have work to do before she returns. Come.” Luna strode off down the hall, the two guards bowing at her words. Unnoticed by the alicorn, both guardsponies’ eyes flashed green for a split second before they looked up and followed behind her.

Celestia's Theory

Twilight rushed back and forth, hurriedly using her magic to try and tidy up the library. Her eyes darted around in a panic as she looked over the foyer. Spike followed behind her at a more languid pace, casually tucking any loose books away.

"Oh, hurry up Spike," Twilight exclaimed, dancing on her hooves. "Princess Celestia’s going to be here any minute. We can’t greet her with the place looking like this." Twilight waved a hoof, gesturing around her at the nearly-spotless library. Spike calmly picked a stack of books off of the table and carried them over to the bookshelf.

“Don’t worry Twilight,” he said as he began sliding the books into their proper places. “The place looks fine, and it’s not like the Princess would just drop everything to come he-” A sudden flash of light in the center of the room interrupted him, forming itself into the shape of Princess Celestia. Spike stared at her, his mouth moving silently for a few moments. “Huh,” he managed to force out eventually.

“Hold still for a second, Twilight,” Celestia said as she leaned down, touching her horn to Twilight’s. A light golden glow enveloped the spiralling white horn, wrapping itself around the purple mare. The glow gently covered Twilight’s body for a moment before cracks ran through it, fracturing the glow and causing it to dissipate. Celestia sighed as she stepped back, an irritated look on her face. “I was afraid of this,” she muttered quietly.

“Princess?” Twilight licked her lips, which suddenly felt dry and parched. “What is it? What’s wrong with me? Am I-” her voice broke for an instant, and she was forced to swallow before she continued. When she spoke, her voice was barely over a whisper “Am I going to lose my magic?”

Celestia looked at Twilight in surprise for an instant before she smiled reassuringly. “Do not worry, my dearest student. There is no danger of you losing your magic from this affliction, and it shall pass in time. And no,” she lifted a hoof to interrupt Twilight as the unicorn started to ask the inevitable question, “I do not know how long it will take. I’m sure you already figured out the cause, but I sense Discord’s presence on you.” There was a quiet thump as Twilight’s hindquarters hit the floor. Celestia nodded her head, understanding her student’s dismay. “Yes, the seal is weakening. I fear that we haven’t much time before he is able to break free one more.”

“Oh, not again,” Spike moaned. “Please tell me we’ve got a way to stop him this time that doesn’t involve me belching up a parade of letters.” He wrapped his claws around his gut. “My stomach couldn’t take having to go through that again.”

Celestia only smiled at him, but Twilight was the one that responded. “We’ve got bigger problems than that, Spike. Don’t you see? If Discord can affect me this far from Canterlot even while he remains sealed, he must have a physical link to the outside world. A kind of vector.” Her hoof began moving, scratching out some lines on the hardwood floor. The lines quickly became distinguishable as a sketch of Discord’s head and a stick-figure drawing of the creature in the woods, a thick line connecting the two. “If the link was made only in the past week when the Princess felt some activity from his statue, it’s probably still very fragile. If, however, we can’t figure out a way to sever the link before Discord breaks free, he will be able to strengthen the bond, giving him a permanent hoofhold in Equestria even if we manage to seal him again.” Finishing up her little drawing on the floor, Twilight glanced up at her teacher. “Did I get it right?”

“Almost,” Celestia answered, reaching out with a hoof to increase the thickness of the line between Discord and the stick-figure. “There’s also the possibility that the bond goes both ways. If there is, as we fear, another one of these creatures with a link to Discord, he will be able to gain power from them.” She scratched another stick-figure into the floor as she spoke, another thick line connecting it to the Discord head. Spike sighed as he finally realized that he would have to buff out the scratches once they were finished, but both females ignored him. “At the worst-case scenario, he might even be able to resist a direct attack from the Elements of Harmony.”

“Wha- But- Tha-“ Twilight tried to articulate a coherent response, but her tongue seemed to keep getting in the way of the jumble of thoughts that wanted to pour out of her. Eventually she gave up and only asked a simple question. “How?”

“You mean how could he resist the Elements when they have proven so effective against him in the past?” At Twilight’s nod, Celestia began scratching tiny Discord heads just above the stick figures. “By splitting up his power and storing it away inside these creatures. He would have a direct connection to the world no matter what we do to him. Even if we manage to hit him with the force of the Elements, I expect the duration of the seal would last only minutes before he broke free again.”

“But,” Spike asked from by the wall, since Twilight seemed to be having trouble remembering how to talk, “but if he splits up his power, wouldn’t that make him weaker? Would we be able to beat him if he did that? Is that why he hasn’t done this before? It sounds like it would have been perfect for him.”

Celestia closed her eyes, her expression radiating sorrow and shame. “You are correct; splitting his power like that would make him much weaker. If he splits it up equally, he might even drop down to a third of his full strength. But even at a third his regular strength, I am afraid that Discord is still too strong for both my sister and I to defeat.” A strangled choke came from Twilight as her tongue seemed to be trying to crawl down her throat. These were the mightiest ponies anywhere in Equestria, capable of raising and lowering the sun and the moon and Discord was stronger than both of them combined even at a third his strength? This was even worse than Luna’s warnings. Celestia continued, ignoring Twilight’s shocked dismay.

“As for why he’s never done this before, he likely never believed he had to. When Luna and I sealed him for the first time, he had no idea what to expect. We had made sure he didn’t find out what we were doing until we stood in front of him, the six elements in tow. He believed they were powerless baubles that were completely useless before his power. He even mocked us before we attacked him, posing for us even as the Elements unleashed their strength. He completely underestimated us, even though he should have known of the strength of the Elements far more than we did. By the time he realized what was happening, it was too late for him to stop us.”

“As for last time,” Celestia scratched out six small ponies, two of each race, “he simply underestimated you and your friends. He believed that he would be able to prevent the Elements from working for you. When your friendship,” she drew thin lines connecting each pony to every other pony, “proved stronger than his brainwashing, he failed to realize it before it was too late. Once again, his own pride proved to be his undoing. I doubt we will be so lucky this time.”

“He sees me as a threat…” Twilight muttered indistinctly.

Celestia nodded at Twilight’s words, but her hoof continued moving, scratching an image of another pony on the floor. “I am afraid so. Unless we can reseal him as soon as he breaks free, he will probably work to prevent the Elements from working on him again. We will have to find and contain both these creatures and sever their connections to him before he breaks free once again.” She scratched sharp lines across the connections between Discord and the creatures.

Twilight stared blankly at the drawing. “I’m sorry…” she mumbled. Celestia stopped drawing and only looked at Twilight, her kind eyes inviting the unicorn to continue. “This is all my fault. If I had managed to capture the creature when you asked me to, we wouldn’t be here now.”

Spike spoke up before Celestia could. The Princess remained silent, allowing Twilight’s housemate to say his piece. “It’s not your fault, Twilight,” he said, walking up next to her. “You’ve done everything you could. The Princess is here now; she’ll be able to fix everything. What I want to know is,” he asked up at Celestia, “how are we going to break the connection between Discord and these creatures once we capture them? Do you have a plan or are we going to try to figure it out once we have them?” In response, Celestia pointed at the seventh pony she had drawn.

“That is not a concern. We already have experience breaking these connections of Discord’s. Shortly after his defeat, my guards managed to capture Subject B-11; codenamed ‘Screwball.’ A pony that Discord had made while he was running free, she had a weak connection to him even after he had been sealed. He likely developed this entire scheme once he realized that he could still touch the world through a third party.” Twilight’s eyes went as wide and round as dinner plates as she realized the underlying meaning of Celestia’s words.

“Whoa, whoa, hang on,” Spike said, waving his claws back and forth in the air. “This is all a bit much for me to take in. You said he ‘made’ her. You mean he created life? And she wasn’t affected by the Elements of Harmony? Do you- do you think he made this creature in the forest too?”

“I don’t know,” Celestia admitted. “That does seem like the most probably explanation, and yet something about it doesn’t seem right. The violent tendencies that this creature has shown are just too much unlike anything Discord has done before. He may have taken the creature from another world, or even reached across time to bring it here. Regardless, our course of action remains clear. We must capture the creature before the day is over.” Her horn flaring, she covered the floor with her magic, wiping out the scratches and leaving the floor as pristine as it was before they had started.

Twilight started back as the pictures vanished – restoration was an extremely powerful spell – before turning to look at her mentor. “Before we go, can we make a stop at the hospital? I want to see how my friends are doing.” At Celestia’s nod, Twilight turned to address Spike. “We’ll be heading out for a bit. Do you want to come with us to the hospital or wait here?”

Spike only thought for a moment before answering. “I’ll come with you guys. Maybe I can do something to help Rarity and the others.”

A few minutes later, the trio made their way through the streets of Ponyville on the way to the hospital. The ponies on the road moved out of the way for their Princess to pass, bowing their heads to her as they did so. Eventually, Spike asked Celestia a question from where he rode on Twilight’s back. “Is it alright for you to be here, Princess? To just leave Canterlot by itself for a few hours?”

Celestia glanced down at him, her long flowing mane covering her eye. “Do not worry, young Spike. I have not left Canterlot to fend for itself. Luna is taking care of the castle while I am here and Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor are in residence as well. They should be capable of dealing with any situation that arises in my absence. Regardless, I feel the experience will be good for Luna. She keeps looking for opportunities to prove to our ponies that she is no longer Nightmare Moon of legends, but they do not give her the chance.”

“But she seemed like she was doing so much better when she was here at Nightmare Night,” Twilight said, referring to the holiday that portrayed Princess Luna’s alter ego as a fearsome monster. “Do you mean that ponies are still afraid of her even after all this time? I thought she was doing better nowadays.”

“The ponies of Ponyville are willing to give her a chance,” Celestia agreed, “but Ponyville is different from most other towns. It was only today that another town was willing to offer her a chance. Strange things seem to happen here, and everypony has slowly become used to the odd going-ons and occurrences. Helping a banished Princess find redemption is just another one of those occurrences.”

“’Redemption?’” Spike asked. “Do you mean in her subject’s eyes, or…” He trailed off, but Celestia picked up what he had been asking.

“Her own,” she said simply. “She has not forgiven herself for when she tried to overthrow me and forced me to banish her to the moon.” Something in her voice caught Twilight’s attention, and the young mare looked up to see a complicated expression on her mentor’s face. They walked in silence until Twilight stopped moving. Celestia continued walking, not realizing Twilight had stopped until the unicorn spoke up.

“…She’s not the only one who hasn’t forgiven herself, is she?”

Celestia’s hoof stopped moving at Twilight’s words before slowly lowering to the ground. Twilight and Spike watched her in concern, her flowing mane the only part of her that was moving. Eventually, Celestia’s head tipped back and a tiny laugh escaped her lips.

“Heh. You see through me so easily, my dearest student.” Celestia stared directly into the sun as she spoke, not noticing Twilight lightly blushing at the compliment. “You are correct. I… failed her. All those years ago.” Celestia spoke softly, and Twilight had to move in closer just to hear her words. “I was so focused on being the best ruler for Equestria I could that I never noticed as more and more ponies only focused on me and ignored her and her night.”

“Princess…” Twilight said softly, but Celestia continued as if she didn’t hear her.

“I saw as she became more and more resentful of the attention I was getting, but I did nothing to help her. I only deluded myself into thinking everything would be alright. I was so focused on being a kind and just ruler to my little ponies that I did nothing to stop the destruction of the one who needed me most. By the time I finally tried to stop her, she would no longer listen to what I had to say. I was forced to banish her. My little sister, who I should have been protecting. I… have never forgiven myself for what I did.”

“Oh, Princess,” Twilight said, quietly tearing up at hearing how that moment that Luna had showed her from a thousand years ago still affected her teacher. She squeaked in surprise as Celestia’s head came down and leaned against her own.

“Thank you,” Celestia whispered, a tear silently running down her cheek. “Thank you for returning my sister to me. Thank you for giving me the chance to set things right. For a thousand years, I always thought that I should have been the one banished to the moon. That the burden had been mine to bear. Luna told me how she lost herself to the Nightmare. She said that it came to her one night, gently speaking honeyed words into her ears, but that the pleasant words quickly became poisonous, feeding on her self-doubt and turning her against me. If I had been paying her even the slightest amount of attention, I could have saved her. I should have saved her…”

Twilight stared at Celestia for a moment before leaning against the white alicorns, gently comforting the older mare. Spike looked away awkwardly, trying not to intrude on the tender moment.

The pair stood silently for several minutes before the ground rocked with an earth-trembling explosion. Celestia and Twilight sprung apart, their horns glowing as they tried to locate the source of the blast. Twilight happened to glance up at Celestia’s face, and took a moment to marvel at the changes a few seconds had wrought. No longer was she a sorrowful mare lamenting the loss of her sister. Without question, it was the co-ruler of Equestria, the single strongest pony in the entire land that stood next to Twilight. Twilight’s train of thought was broken when Spike tugged her mane, pointing past her head in the direction they had been traveling.

“Look up ahead,” he said. Twilight followed his claw to where he was pointing and saw a large number of balloons slowly floating into the sky. She cast he mind back on her mental map of Ponyville, trying to figure out where the balloons were coming from.

“That’s from the hospital…” She laughed as she realized what it must mean. Pinkie Pie! “The others must be awake. Hang on, Spike.” Spike grabbed her mane with both claws for support as she shot forward. The glow faded from Celestia’s horn and she followed after Twilight at a more regal pace.

“SWEET TARNATION!!”

Applejack’s shout of surprise echoed through the tiny hospital room, drowning out even the sound of the hundreds of party balloons that had suddenly been unleashed in her face the moment she woke up. Her instinctive flinch was checked when she felt a tug on her legs. Applejack saw that her legs had been set in casts and immobilized in the moment before her vision was suddenly filled with yellow.

“Applejack!” The farmpony’s vision slowly focused until she was able to see Apple Bloom sitting next to her, the younger filly’s forehooves carefully wrapped around Applejack’s torso. A weak smile spread on Applejack’s face. Her little sister was safe, and that made it all worth it.

“Hey sis,” Applejack’s hoarse and raspy voice grated against her own ears when she spoke, “you look terrible.” The small pony’s fur was covered with dirt and mud, with twigs and leaves tangled in her uncombed mane.

Tears poured freely from the filly’s eyes as she stared up at her big sister, joining the streaks that already stained her face. “Don’t-don’t even joke,” Apple Bloom hiccupped. “You… you really… really… bawwww.” She buried her face in Applejack’s fur as she wept, all the pent-up emotion she had been carrying ever since she saw Applejack injured for her sake being released in a wave of relief at finally seeing her wake up. Her shoulders shook as she silently sobbed into her sister’s chest.

Applejack stared down at her, tears brimming in her own eyes as she watched her sister’s weeping. Applejack licked her lips before her mouth cracked open, her husky whisper barely heard over Apple Bloom’s cries.

“Ah’m sorry…”

She hadn’t even considered what it must have been like for Apple Bloom to watch her fight the hydra. To watch her sister beaten to within an inch of her life, knowing that it was for her sake. The only feeling she thought to compare it to what she would be if it was Big Macintosh who was beaten trying to save her. She would be devastated at watching him stagger, blood dripping off him as it had been off her. And she had forced her sister to witness that.

“Ah’m so sorry, little sis…”

The pair remained like that for a few minutes, Apple Bloom sobbing while Applejack watched, her restraints preventing her from moving to physically comfort her little sister. Apple Bloom’s heaving sobs gradually slowed and deepened until the filly’s breathing evened out.

“Apple Bloom?” Applejack asked tentatively. The filly didn’t respond.

Pinkie Pie’s smiling head suddenly appeared next to Apple Bloom. Her hoof reached over and she gave Apple Bloom a gentle shake. “Aww, she’s asleep,” Pinkie whispered when the filly still didn’t respond. “She’s been at your side ever since you passed out, you know. I’ll just…” She bent down to pick little Apple Bloom up, but Applejack stopped her.

“Hold on, sugarcube. Could ya… jest leave her there? Jest for now?”

Pinkie smiled brightly in understanding before stepping gingerly back, leaving Apple Bloom resting on Applejack. A squeak of pain escaped her lips as she accidently put weight on her rear leg, causing Applejack to look over at her. After a moment’s hesitation, Pinkie’s smile widened and she surreptitiously moved her body so that the other earth pony wouldn’t be able to see the bandages covering her flank.

Applejack’s gaze wandered past Pinkie, seeing the room she was in for the first time. She lay in simple hospital room, set with four beds lined in a row with curtains that could be pulled up to separate the beds hanging loosely from the ceiling. Her own bed was placed near the wall furthest from the door. The bed next to her was empty, but the covers were crumpled and thrown back, like the occupant had recently leapt off of it. A few loose pieces of confetti on the pillow left no doubt as to whom that occupant had been.

Beyond the empty bed, Rarity and Dash lay in their own beds, caught up in their own conversation. Dash lay propped up against a large pile of pillows, her wing splinted and supported by some wires hanging from the ceiling. They both gave Applejack a cheerful wave when they saw her looking before returning to their conversation. Through the open door, AJ could hear voices drifting in. It sounded like one of the doctors was chewing out a nurse for allowing a patient to smuggle in a large supply of party equipment.

Applejack looked at Pinkie, whose smile slipped slightly at the expression on Applejack’s face. “Tell it to me straight, Pinkie. What happened?”

Pinkie sighed slightly. She had hoped to hide the situation from Applejack for as long as she could, maybe ease the mare into it, but she couldn’t avoid such an honest request. Reaching into her mane, she pulled out hoofpuppets of each of her friends – where did she even get those? – and began to explain what had happened after Applejack passed out.

On the other side of the room, Rarity was scolding Dash for her reckless actions during the fight. Dash wasn’t interested in listening, and was trying unsuccessfully to blow the fashionista off. Dash’s voice was slightly slurred whenever she spoke because of all the drugs that had been pumped into her.

“Uggh. Do we have to go over this?” Dash slurred out.

Rarity wasn’t willing to give up any ground. “Yes. Yes we do. You senselessly put yourself at risk when you chased that creature.”

Dash lay back against her pillow pile, a flicker of irritation quickly marring her face. “Don’t you think I know that?”

“It’s… I just want to be certain you never do something so dangerous again.”

“What does it matter to you?" the pegasus huffed, crossing her forelegs. "You were already unconscious.”

“It matters to me because I don’t like seeing my friends hurt, though sometimes it gives me a headache to admit that we are friends.” Rarity added that last part quietly, holding a hoof up against her forehead.

“What about Fluttershy?” Dash fired at her.

Rarity frowed slightly, not sure what the pegasus was aiming at. “What about Fluttershy?”

“You talk about me getting hurt, but what about what you did? Do you think she enjoyed seeing you get hurt like that for her? You know she’s going to blame herself. She told me what happened before she left. You really scared her.”

Rarity gave Dash a sidelong look. “I think she’s stronger than you give her credit for, Dash.”

“…Probably,” Dash admitted quietly.

They fell silent, and Pinkie’s words began to wash over them from the other side of the room. As they listened, she began to explain to Applejack how Twilight had carried her to Zecora’s before leaving to send a message to Celestia and Zecora helped carry her the rest of the way.

A voice from the doorway suddenly caught their attention. “Hi Rarity.”

A hissed voice followed after the first “Spike, no.”

Rarity and Dash looked at the doorway, where they saw Spike had just entered. Twilight poked her head in after him, an awkward expression on her face as she looked at her friends. Twilight’s mouth slowly opened, but Rarity cut her off before she could say anything. “Oh no, darling, don’t even bother.”

Twilight’s head came up as she looked at the other unicorn. “Rarity-“ But Rarity ran roughshod over what Twilight was trying to say.

“You’re blaming yourself again. Well, don’t. Your plan was fine, and nopony blames you for how the altercation occurred.”

“But-“

“Futhermore,” Rarity continued, decisively crushing Twilight’s protestations, “what could you even have done differently if you knew then what we know now? And don’t tell me ‘I could have changed something,’ tell me what you could actually have changed.”

Twilight didn’t respond.

After a few seconds of waiting, Rarity finished her point, her voice much gentler and understanding than before. “You see?”

Twilight shook her head, her mane flopping limply against her side. “I’m sorry Rarity, but I don’t. It just feels like it’s my-ulmph.” Twilight cut off as a pillow was flung squarely into her face. Catching on her horn, the cushion hung dispassionately in front of her face for a moment before she reached up to scrape it off. With nothing blocking her view, she was able to get a good look at Rainbow Dash glaring at her.

“Can it, Twi.” Dash growled out, the hoof she had used to throw the pillow falling limply to her side. The angry expression on Rainbow Dash’s face made Twilight wish for a moment that she had left the pillow alone. Despite the slight slur in her voice, every syllable of Dash’s was short and clipped. “What is wrong with you? You’ve been in a one-pony pity party all week. I don’t know what’s been eating you, but you need to get over it!”

The entire room was silent after Dash’s last shouted words until Rarity turned to Spike, standing at her bedside. “So, um, Spike, what happened with the Princess? Did you get a response?”

Spike jumped slightly as he was thrust into the center of attention. “Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. She actually arrived… herself…” His words trailed off as he and Twilight realized for the first time that they had sprinted off and left Celestia behind. Both their faces paled for an instant before Twilight turned and sped out of the room fast enough to leave an afterimage. Her shouted apology could be heard as she collided with one of the hospital’s employees in the hallway.

“She came herself? That’s just stupendiferiffic!” Pinkie Pie bounced cheerfully up to the group, her hindquarters not quite reaching the same height as her front. No matter how she tried to hide it, her injury was affecting her. Not that it was going to stop her. Behind her, they could see that Applejack was gently nuzzling the still sleeping Apple Bloom.

“So? So so so so so? Is she going to come here?” Pinkie gasped. “Oh no! I used up all my party supplies to celebrate AJ waking up! I don’t have any more with me! What am I going to do?”

“Pinkie, I don’t think the Princess needs a party thrown for her just because she walks through a hospital door to come see us.” Rarity’s attempt to act as the voice of reason fell flat when Pinkie rounded on her.

“Of course she needs a party thrown for her! Don’t you see? You know how Twilight feels about us getting hurt, that it was her fault. The Princess is going to feel a hundred hundred hundred hundred hundred hundred times worse! She needs a party thrown for her, but I don’t have any supplies! Oh, what am I going to do?” She began fidgeting on the spot. “I knew I should have stashed some emergency party supplies around the hospital.”

“The Princess is here to deal with that creature, right?” Dash asked from her bed. “Couldn’t you just throw a Congrats-on-Stopping-the-Thing Party or something when she returns?”

“That’s a mouthful of a name you got there,” Spike muttered from where he was massaging Rarity’s hooves.

Pinkie stared for a moment before zipping over to her bedside, a gigantic grin plastered on her face. “That’s it! That’s a great idea, Dashie!” Pinkie accidently jostled Dash’s wing in her excitement. Dash’s sudden inhalation caused Pinkie’s exuberance to vanish as quickly as it had appeared.

“Dashie, I…” Pinkie trailed off as Dash reached for another pillow from the pile behind her. Her gaze slid away from the injured pegasus and focused on the pillow lying on the floor in front of her. A tiny sad small bloomed on her face as she considered what had happened, what Dash had done. “No… No I’m not sorry, Dashie.” She walked over until she was standing next to the bed. Dash watched her, a slightly quizzical expression on her face.

“Thank you.” Pinkie slowly raised her hoof until it hovered above Dash’s broken wing, almost but not quite touching it. “Thank you, Dashie.”

Dash smiled back at her. “It was no problem, Pinkie.” Her face was bright and cheerful, hiding her tumultuous thoughts behind a mask of kindness. I did it for her, she thought. I attacked the creature because he had hurt her, and I was injured because of that. But even if I had known I would be injured, I would have done it anyway, right? She stared out the open window, watching the clouds gently drift past. I don’t regret it, right?

A steady clopping sound from the hallway interrupted her thoughts. All eyes turned to the doorway as the loud hoofbeats got closer and closer. The hoofbeats hesitated just outside their room, as if the owner was unwilling to enter, before Twilight walked in through the open door. Princess Celestia followed in behind her.

The Princess simply looked at them, sorrow and regret clearly filling her eyes. It didn’t take Fluttershy’s empathy to realize that the Princess felt responsible for the group being hospitalized. “I-“ Anything she had been about to say was cut off as Pinkie threw a hoofful of confetti into her face. Celestia gaped down at Pinkie, the sorrow of a moment ago replaced by surprise. The rest of the room was completely silent as all the other watched in shock as the confetti gently drift down off of Celestia’s muzzle.

Pinkie smiled innocently. “There’s no need for any of that frumpy-frowny depressiony sillerystuff. We already finished that before you arrived. So smile for us, Your Highness. We can have our regrets when everything is finished.”

Celestia stared down at Pinkie for several seconds before a slight curve developed on the edges of her mouth. “You are correct, Pinkie Pie.” Celestia smiled as she turned to face the rest of the room, her radiant glory seeming to fill the room in her presence. “My little ponies,” she said, her voice controlled and modulated enough to avoid waking Apple Bloom. “I must apologize and thank you. You heroes have done a great service for me and for Equestria. Now, rest. It is my turn to protect you.”

The room was silent until Applejack spoke up. “Yer goin’ yerself?”

“Yes, Applejack. My guards have remained behind to protect Canterlot in my absence. I fear that Discord has other machinations in store for us.”

“What do you mean?” Rarity asked.

“I’m not going to talk about it yet,” Celestia said, “but I will explain everything I know once we have captured this creature. Now,” she looked around the room, “where is young Fluttershy? Shouldn’t she be here?”

“Oh, she’s-“ Pinkie cut off as a white and an orange coloured blurs weaved through Celestia’s legs and sped into the room. The orange blur resolved in Scootaloo, who leaped onto Dash’s bed. The white blur became Sweetie Belle, stopping beside Rarity’s bedside and crashing into Spike. “I finally found you guys!” she cried, hugging Rarity tightly.

Celestia and Twilight turned away from the blubbering fillies to see Fluttershy standing in the doorway. Celestia sadly watched the rambunctious fillies before quietly leaving the room, summoning Twilight with a nod of her head. The muffled sounds of the fillies weeping and the adults trying to calm them down could still be heard through the open door.

“Tell me,” Celestia gently asked Fluttershy, “how are they?”

Fluttershy flinched away. “Oh, um… Are you sure you want me to say it? Wouldn’t you rather ask a doctor?” She looked hopefully up at Celestia, but her hope collapsed as the Princess’ expression remained unchanged.

“You deal with injuries and wounds all the time with your animals. I have not forgotten when you tried to help Philomena. I trust your opinion as much as I would any professional’s. So please,” she motioned for Fluttershy to go on while Twilight remained silent and watched the pair.

“I… alright.” Fluttershy sighed. “I won’t lie to you, it doesn’t look good.” Fluttershy’s voice picked up as she continued talking. She was talking about something she knew about, and that always improved her confidence. Her tone was a little detached when she spoke, like she was trying to distance herself from her subject as much as possible.

“Rarity’s the least injured. She was able to protect herself, and should be fine before tomorrow. Twilight took a bad impact to her horn, and there’s a slight crack on it.” She gestured to the purple unicorn. “It shouldn’t affect her magic, but it does mean that her horn is weakened. Another bad impact might break it. She also seems to have somehow become immune to magic. Nopony knows why. Pinkie took a cut to her flank. She’ll limp for a while, but she’ll be fine.”

“It’s the other two I’m worried about.” Fluttershy’s voice broke for a moment before she continued. “Applejack has broken and cracked bones all throughout her body. None of her internal organs were damaged beyond repair, but she did suffer a cerebral contusion. Thankfully I was able to treat the worst of it right away, and her own nature as an earth pony means she should make a full recovery within the next half year. Dash is even worse. The bones in her one wing were completely shattered. The humurus, the ulna, the radius… all shattered. Without intensive medical care and surgery, I doubt she’ll ever be able to fly again.”

“Does she…” Twilight trailed off while Celestia remained silent.

“I think she knows,” Fluttershy responded. “If she tries to fly before she recovers, her wing would be permanently crippled. We would probably have to amputate it to save her life. I don’t… I don’t…” Fluttershy broke down, tears running down her muzzle as she hiccupped. “I don’t know what to do!”

“Calm yourself, my little pony.” Celestia’s words broke through Fluttershy’s tears. The pegasus looked up at the kind monarch standing before her. “It speaks well of you and your kind heart that you care for others so much. My student has truly made some wonderful friends. Do not fear for them. When I return, I will arrange to have Applejack and Rainbow Dash transported to Canterlot. The medical care there is the best in the country.”

Before Fluttershy could recover enough to respond, Celestia walked past her and down the hallway. Steel entered her voice as she talked, the very air trembling in fear of her anger. “Now come, Twilight. Introduce me to this creature that frightens and hurts my little ponies so.” Twilight followed behind Celestia, leaving Fluttershy alone in the hallway. The yellow pegasus remained alone, silently listening to the voices from inside the hospital room.

At Last, Confrontation

“You’re not going to disappear on me, are you?” Sweetie Belle asked. Inside the hospital room, Sweetie Belle and Rarity were tightly hugging each other. Pinkie had dragged Spike off to the far end of the room, where they talked with Applejack and Apple Bloom, who had woken up when the other Crusaders burst into the room.

Rarity ran her hoof through Sweetie Belle’s mane. “Of course not,” she whispered. “I love you too much to leave you alone.” The sisters remained silent other than that, simply holding the other as if they would never let go.

On the other bed, Scootaloo perched on the bedside, staring openly at Rainbow Dash’s broken wing. “Why did you do it, Dash?” she eventually asked.

“Wouldn’t you have done the same?” Dash shot back. Scootaloo looked away. Dash sighed, leaning against the large pile of pillows.

“I don’t really regret what happened,” she said, staring out the open window. “Flying is important to me, but my friends are far more important. If I have to get hurt for them, that’s fine.”

“But,” Scootaloo spoke up, her voice breaking as she tried to fight the sorrow she felt looking at the broken body of her hero. “But you’re Rainbow Dash, known across Equestria for her Sonic Rainboom and for being the most awesome pegasus in Equestria. If you can’t fly-“

“I’m still the most awesome pegasus in Equestria, squirt.” Dash interrupted. “And don’t you forget it.” Empty words and an empty boast. It was uncertain which of them needed those words more. They both knew it, just as they knew there was nothing else they could do about it. Both of them remained silent until Dash started to sing under her breath.

And I gave up my heaven to help her.
But my heart is in turmoil right now.
I lie here and tell myself I did the right thing,
Yet my heart continues to ache somehow

Did my choice have some meaning?
Or did I throw it all away in my strife?
I will believe that I made the right choice,
That I traded my wing for a life.

And I just couldn’t bear to see her
Lying helpless there, unable to stand
If I saw her there being threatened,
If I had the choice, I’d make it again.

Twilight and Celestia stepped out into the Ponyville streets, the doors closing quietly behind them. The sun was low in the sky, casting long shadows throughout the town. The streets were clear and empty, as most ponies had already gone home in preparation for the oncoming night. Twilight’s horn glowed as she prepared to cast the seeking spell, but the spell fizzled and died as she saw the expression on Celestia’s face.

“Is something wrong, Princess?” she asked.

“Just thinking about what I saw. Your friends truly have great relationships with their sisters. I…” Celestia’s voice faded as her gaze skipped around the empty street.

“I understand.” Twilight’s horn burst back to life as she re-cast the spell. The energy source was coming from… that way. “He’s moved.” The pair took off, seeking their final confrontation with the unknown creature.

I will fight against the tears that are coming.
Even if they see through my lies.
I’ve lost my wing with my ambition.
But I will live so long as I am alive.

Fingers digging into rock. Rock digging into fingers. John gripped the sheer side of the cliff, pulling himself up as fast as he could. Stopping at an outcropping, he took a moment to catch his breath. Turning his palm upwards, he stared at it. The rocks had torn his flesh apart, causing blood to flow freely. Even as he watched, the wounds healed and vanished. The blood remained, staining his skin and the ground below.

Not imagining, he thought frantically. Heal. Healing. Everything had changed when he woke up. It couldn’t have been long since he’d passed out, but all his wounds had recovered. He had fled the cave as soon as he woke up, leaving everything behind. He had made his attempt to fight against the creatures, and failed. Now he did the only thing he could think of.

He ran.

And I just couldn’t bear to see her
Lying helpless there, unable to stand
If I saw her there being threatened,
If I had the choice, I’d make it again.

He didn’t know what awaited him in the future, but hopefully it wouldn’t be as bad as what he had seen here. But no matter how much he ran, he couldn’t outrun the voices. They had changed shortly after he awoke. No longer was it quiet, barely heard whispering in the back of his head. It was clear, crisp, and just wouldn’t shut up.

Really, not that it hasn’t been interesting watching you work, but I certainly have problems with your methods. I know you can’t hear me, but I think I’m going to tell you anyway. You’ve certainly been causing the ponies plenty of pain, but it’s just all been physical. There’s no fun in that! No style.

Trying to push the voice to the back of his mind, John continued to climb up the cliff side. When he fled the forest, this canyon suddenly appeared in his path. Left without any choices, he had slid to the bottom before climbing up the other side. John tried to distract his thoughts with memories of when he had fled the forest, but the voice just continued to ramble.

You’ve been spreading chaos wonderfully, but really, you’ve gone a bit far. Even I think that, and that means something. It means a tuna salmon casserole hay sandwich, but that’s something. Hmm… Actually, that could be kinda good. I wonder how Celestia would like it if her crown was replaced with a casserole sandwich?

The unheard voice often went on annoying tangents, like it didn’t have anything to say but continued to talk to hear the sound of its own… voice.

It would have been so much better if you had just gone to the ponies in the first place. You were supposed to infiltrate the town, maybe even the castle, but you just had to go and overreact, didn’t you? This wasn’t what I had intended for you to do when I dropped you there.

John froze, the rock crumbling slightly under his grip. You… dropped me here? he asked the voice. It was the first time he had acknowledged the voice since he woke up. A presence he hadn’t noticed in the back of his head seemed to stop moving, coiled in on itself like a serpent. The voice responded after a few seconds, seeming to scream into a non-existent ear

AND HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO HEAR ME?

Twilight and Celestia stopped, looking down at the canyon before them. It stood out like a cut into the ground, seeming to split the very stone. Celestia glanced down at the unicorn beside her.

“You are sure?” she queried.

“Yes, Your Highness,” Twilight answered without hesitation. “The creature is definitely in Ghastly Gorge.”

If you had been able to hear me from the start, I would have been able to avoid this entire mess. The voice continued to rant into John’s thoughts. He had given up on learning anything useful from it and just focused his entire being on the climb.

I’d gotten some good chaos energy from this disaster you’ve created, but I had to burn nearly all of it away in order to save Pinkie Pie. FROM YOU! Do you have any idea how much trouble you’ve caused me? Why would you even want the ponies dead? They’re no fun like that. If you could have heard me then, I wouldn’t have had to waste so much energy protecting them. Actually, why can you hear me? I didn’t have enough energy to reach you before, so-

The voice and the presence seemed to vanish from the back of John’s mind. At that moment, he reached his arm up and grabbed the lip of the cliff. Hauling himself up, he finally managed to make it to the top. Freedom was only a little ways away.

“Princess! There!” Twilight pointed as they ran along the bottom of the canyon.

“I see him.” There, silhouetted against the sky at the top of Ghastly Gorge, the creature stood tall. His back was to them at first, but he turned at the sound of their voices.

No, not again. The creatures had caught up. Was there really no escaping them? The purple one and a new white one. There they were. Hopelessness and despair ran through his body as he collapsed to his knees. He had no tricks, no defences. Was this how it ended? After everything that had happened, was it all going to end here?

As John gripped the ground, paralyzing despair wracking his body, he felt the presence in his head return. Something was wrong. The presence was… flustered? No, wait, this wasn’t the other presence at all! It was a completely different one! But, somehow, it still felt familiar. He could feel passionate anger coming from the presence, wrapped in pure malevolence. Somehow, it reminded him of something… He inhaled sharply as he realized why it felt so familiar. It was the same emotions that had suddenly appeared when he had first witnessed the brightly-coloured creatures. This presence had been with him from the beginning!

Ooh~? A cool female voice spoke into his ear, its succulent tones promising both the finest rewards and the worst tortures imaginable. You finally realized I was here? Cocky arrogance filled the voice, giving the impression that it was deigning to speak to him. John’s left arm twitched once before it started to rise against his will. He tried to grab it with his right arm, but that arm refused to obey his commands as well. His body was a puppet no longer under his control, and he could do nothing but watch. The female voice spoke up again, practically dripping with cruel condescension. I suppose that means I don’t have to be subtle any longer.

And I just couldn’t bear to see her
Lying helpless there, unable to stand
If I saw her there being threatened,
If I had the choice, I’d make it again.

Celestia and Twilight screeched to a halt at the bottom of the ravine, staring up at the creature above them. It stood on the edge of the cliff, staring down at the both of them. Something seemed different about it. Whereas before it had stood stooped, as if bowed by the weight of life, it now stood proud and tall, spitting at the wrath of the ponies below it and challenging them to do their worst. The sun outlined it, casting both of the ponies in its elongated shadow.

“What’s it planning…?” Twilight wondered aloud. The creature seemed different than before, like all the evil she had sensed in it before had suddenly bubbled to the surface. No emotion showed in its eyes, not pain, not fear, not even anger. It showed none of the emotions it had shown when she had met it several times before. Somehow, she found that even more disquieting than anything else.

Celestia, apparently picking up on much the same emotions, threw one of her wings protectively over her student. “Stay close to me, Twilight,” she said, not looking away from the creature above them. “We don’t know what it’s planning.”

“Right, Princess,” Twilight agreed, stepping slightly behind Celestia. If the creature suddenly attacked, she didn’t want her teacher to have to worry about protecting her. Both pony’s horns started to glow, as they prepared for anything the creature might throw at them.

To their mutual surprise, the creature began to shake. A mad grin spread on its face an instant before it threw its head back and started to laugh. Its hand pressed against its face as it howled with laughter, its crazed laughter seeming to echo hauntingly throughout the entire canyon. Instead of fading away, the laughter only seemed to gain in strength the more it echoed, until it sounded like the canyon itself was laughing mockingly at them.

Twilight shivered, stepping closer to her teacher’s comforting presence until she was pressed right up against Celestia’s flank. Unless she was imagining things, the shadows all around them had started to writhe, like they were dancing excitedly to the horrible laughter. “Princess…” she said warningly.

Celestia paid her no attention, her eyes only for the being standing on the cliff above them. “Who are you?” she shouted up at it. “Why have you caused my student and my subjects so much pain and misery?”

The creature’s laughter abruptly cut off, and a silence almost as terrifying as the laughter itself suddenly filled the canyon. Its upraised arm fell limply at its side as it looked down at Celestia far below it. It opened its mouth and, much to Twilight’s astonishment, it started to talk. “’Why’, you ask? Isn’t it obvious? My goal, from the very beginning, was to draw you out here, Celestia.”

And I just couldn’t bear to see her
Lying helpless there, unable to stand
If I saw her there being threatened,
If I had the choice, I’d make it again.

Celestia raised an eyebrow, apparently unimpressed. “Somehow, I figured as much. So what’s Discord planning?”

The creature chuckled, reaching into its pockets and pulling out one of those horrible fruits that Twilight had learned to avoid. “Discord? I can’t say I know. Not like it matters.” It grinned, lighting the match on the fruit before tossing it down towards Celestia. “Whatever plan he had, I’m certain it’s now in ruins. He couldn’t predict me.”

Celestia quickly erected a barrier between herself and the fruit, the golden barrier easily deflecting the incoming blast. The explosion threw up a great cloud of dust, covering the entire area in darkness. Blind to what was going on outside the glowing protective bubble, Twilight and Celestia stood back to back, prepared for whatever was to come.

For an instant, nothing happened. The first warning Celestia had of the creature’s attack was when she felt something strike the top of her protective shield, slipping through it as if it wasn’t even there. Looking up to see what it was, she was caught off guard as the creature landed in front of her, having used the cover of the dust cloud to leap off the cliff. She heard its legs give a sickening snap when it landed, but if it noticed at all, it certainly didn’t show it.

Recovering instantly from its landing, the creature reached out and grabbed at her still-glowing horn. As the dexterous digits wrapped around her horn, she could feel as the flow of magic was abruptly and completely shut off. The glowing golden shield faded with her magic, the darkness strengthening its hold within the canyon. The creature’s other arm wrapped around her neck, suddenly pulling at her and throwing her to the ground.

“Princess!” Twilight cried, rushing the creature standing over her beloved mentor. The brave – if reckless – charge came to a crushing end as the creature’s boot came up, slamming into her face and knocking her to the ground.

If I had the choice, I’d make it again.

“Twilight!” Celestia shouted, trying to escape the creature’s hold. In response, the creature pressed its knee against her neck, pinning her against the canyon floor. No matter how she struggled, she was unable to escape the awkward position so long as her magic was sealed.

“Now then,” the creature said, reaching down for a large stone beside Celestia. “I think this is a good look for you, Celestia,” it sneered, its mouth twisting cruelly. “Lying in the dirt at my hooves. Or feet, I suppose.” Lifting the large stone above its head, it tightly gripped her horn in its magic-suppressing hand. “Either way, your time has passed!” Without hesitation, it brought the stone down as hard as it could down on its own hand.

Celestia let out a whimper as she felt the stone struck with her horn, the force of the blow causing her horn to fracture before it snapped off at the base. “What have you done?” she gasped, horrified at the sight of her own horn lying in the dust before her.

“I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you,” the creature said as it lifted her head, forcing her to stare deep into its crystalline blue eyes. Its slit pupils mercilessly stared into her own, their pitch black darkness seeming to gleefully devour every little piece of her suffering and agony. “In fact,” it said with a cruel smile, “you won’t be worrying about anything else, ever again.”

If I had the choice, I’d make it again.

Twilight groaned as she struggled to her hooves, needing to blink a few times until she stopped seeing double. “Princess Celestia…?” she asked unsteadily, looking over at where her teacher lay. As she glanced over, she saw the creature fall to the ground beside Celestia, apparently unconscious. Twilight’s focus, however, was consumed with worry for her teacher. “Princess Celestia!” Twilight shouted, spiriting towards the downed monarch.

A great spasm wracked through Celestia’s body, and her spine arched as she through her head back. Her voice barely above a groan, she shouted out a warning. “Twi-Twilight!” she groaned. “Stay back!”

Twilight skidded to a halt, torn between obeying orders and helping her teacher. As it turned out, it didn’t matter. Celestia suddenly slumped forward, collapsing on the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Not looking at Twilight, Celestia slowly stood up. She moved awkwardly, as if she wasn’t familiar with her own body.

“Princess… Celestia…?” Twilight asked uncertainly, taking a hesitant step forward. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Why Twilight,” Celestia said, whipping around to look Twilight dead in the eyes. Twilight gasped and recoiled away at what she saw, stumbling several steps back until her flank bumped against the cliffside. It looked like Celestia, but it was… different. Where once a proud tower of shimmering white ivory had sat perched upon her brow, instead sat a spiralling tower of the darkest ebony. But it was her eyes that told the whole story. Crystalline blue with cat-like pupils, they were a pair of eyes that Twilight knew she would never forget. She had thought she had managed to destroy the owner of those eyes, but even that didn’t stop her from seeing them in her nightmares from time to time. Celestia’s lips pulled back in a smile, revealing a pair of fangs that had never been there before.

“I’ve never felt better,” Nightmare Moon crooned.

If I had the choice, I’d make it again.

Author's Note

Some people pointed out to me that trying to kill the Mane Six didn't sound like Discord's style.

yyyyep.

Song is rewritten lyrics to the tune of Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls

Facing the Darkness

Celestia’s wings went wide, her back stretching out until it popped. “Oh, yeeessss,” Nightmare Moon happily groaned, fluttering Celestia’s wings slightly before tucking them back against her side. “That feels goooood… As I thought, this really is the best body shape for me.” When she spoke, there was a strange duality, like her voice had been overlaid over Celestia’s.

“No,” Twilight gasped, staring flabbergasted at the demon possessing her beloved teacher. “How are you here?” she shouted. “We destroyed you!” Nightmare Moon had been destroyed when Twilight and her friends used the Elements of Harmony on Princess Luna. Right?

Nightmare Moon twisted her neck around, testing the limits of her new body. “Oh, I admit it was close, little pony. When you discovered the spark necessary to connect the Elements, I truly thought that was the end of me. But instead of killing me, all you did was strip me away from my host.” Craning her neck all the way around, she glared at her tail, which was gently flowing in an ethereal breeze. “Why did Celestia ever think this sunshine and rainbows pattern looked good?” she grumbled. “I feel ridiculous.”

Twilight stomped her hoof, trying her best to show a strong front against her enemy despite the soul-crushing fear she felt in her heart. Here she was, alone, facing what Luna had admitted was the greatest threat to Equestria since Discord himself. If they fought, Twilight’s chance of victory was pretty much nil, but she allowed none of these thoughts to show on her face. “Then why are you here?”

Snorting at her tail, Nightmare Moon shifted her attention over to her wings. Carefully examining their pure white feathers, she carelessly answered Twilight’s question. “I had been trapped in that forest ever since you defeated me. Since I lacked enough power to leave that castle, I could do nothing but wait and watch as the days and nights passed. Then, imagine my surprise when Discord suddenly dropped that pathetic creature into my lap.” She waved her hoof in the direction of the bipedal creature, which was still lying where it had collapsed in the dirt.

Twilight’s breath caught in her throat and she felt her heart seize up. “You- you’re working with Discord!” she accused. Facing one of her old foes was bad enough, but two of them allying together? Nowhere in Equestria would be safe.

Nightmare Moon only scoffed at Twilight’s wild accusations. “Please,” she said, carefully preening a crooked feather back into place, “don’t lump me with that decrepit old relic. That fool thinks he knows everything, but he had no idea I was even there.” She chuckled, a deep dark amused chuckle that seemed to make all the shadows in the canyon reverberate in amusement. “I can promise you that I am here with only friendly intentions. All I want is to talk with you.”

“Talk?” Twilight asked in disbelief. “You’re possessing Celestia, and you say you want to talk with me? Get out of her body right now!”

“You’re being a child, Twilight Sparkle,” Nightmare Moon scolded. She gently tapped her hoof against Celestia’s chest. “If I leave this body, I won’t be able to talk to you anymore. I was only able to ride on that creature of Discord’s, I couldn’t affect his actions at all.” She bowed her head to Twilight, appearing genuinely contrite. “I am sorry I couldn’t do more to help you and your friends.”

“I’m sure it must have been very hard for you,” Twilight noted sarcastically.

Nightmare Moon held out a hoof, forestalling Twilight from saying anything else. “Just let me speak my part,” she requested. “If we are still unable to come to an understanding after I have finished explaining everything, I promise I will leave Celestia’s body and that we will never meet again.”

Twilight hesitated before answering. What she wanted most of all was to chase Nightmare Moon away without waiting at all. Unfortunately, without either her friends or the Elements of Harmony, she didn’t think she had the power to free Celestia from Nightmare Moon’s hold. “…You promise?” she asked after several second’s thought. I’ll just have to play along for now.

“I promise.”

“Then start by explaining why I should trust you,” Twilight ordered, punctuating her demand with a snort. “You tried to take over Equestria last time we met. What makes this time different?”

Nightmare Moon nodded, Celestia’s flowing mane blowing over her eyes and obscuring them from sight. “An excellent question. There are two main reasons why I want to help you. The first is that, while you may think me a monster, I am still Princess Luna’s other half. While I may have once wanted to control Equestria, it is still my home. I don’t want to see it under Discord’s chaotic rule any more then you do.”

Twilight had to swallow at that. Despite what she had hoped, what Nightmare Moon was saying made sense. Even Luna had called Nightmare Moon her other half. “And the second reason?” she asked, silently hoping it was something she would be able to easily shoot down.

“The second reason…” Nightmare Moon lifted her hoof, pointing it directly at Twilight. “It’s because of you.”

That caught Twilight off guard. “Me?” she repeated dumbly. “What do you mean?”

Nightmare Moon sighed reminiscently, staring up at the sky. “That moment… When you used the Elements of Harmony on me, tearing me away from Luna, I had never seen anything so fearsome in my entire life.” A small smile materialized on her face. “You were the most beautiful sight I had ever seen.”

An unwilling blush appeared on Twilight’s face. “B-Beautiful?” she protested, suddenly feeling very flustered. “I’m not beautiful.”

Stepping forward, Nightmare Moon reached out and brushed Twilight’s cheek with her hoof, tucking the purple unicorn’s mane behind her ear. “You are beautiful,” she gently assured.

Twilight slapped her hoof aside, glaring up at the tall alicorn. “False compliments will get you nowhere. Just get to the point, Nightmare Moon.”

“There’s no need for such hostility.” Walking to the side, she started circling around Twilight, her hungry eyes devouring every little aspect of the small unicorn. “And please, just call me Nightmare. My separation from Luna tore away my connection with the moon, but my power over dreams is as strong as ever.”

Twilight followed Nightmare Moon with her eyes, never allowing her to leave her sight. “I don’t think so. Just get to the point. What do you want from me?”

Nightmare Moon stopped in front of Twilight, bending down so she could look Twilight directly in the eyes. “I wish to join with you. Twilight Sparkle, I desire you to be my host.”

Raising an eyebrow, Twilight gave Nightmare Moon a skeptical look. “So you can control me like you did Princess Luna? I refuse.”

“Now, now, don’t be so hasty.” Nightmare Moon chuckled, as if she had expected Twilight’s reaction. “Do you think you can defeat Discord again? You were able to beat him once before, but he’ll be ready for you this time. You’ll need the power I can offer. I was able to foil his scheme this time, but it’s only a matter of time until he breaks free. And even if you can handle him, what about the changelings? What can you do about them?”

Twilight had opened her mouth to ask Nightmare Moon what she knew about Discord, but was distracted by her final comment. “The changelings? What do they have to do with anything?”

“Before she left Canterlot, Celestia had set up some spells to alert her if a large number of changelings suddenly entered the city.” Nightmare Moon lifted her hoof, holding it above her heart. “Since I’m in Celestia’s body, I can tell for certain. Canterlot is under attack right now.”

Twilight glared suspiciously at Nightmare Moon. “Prove it,” she challenged. “Princess Luna should be in Canterlot right now, as well as Cadance and my brother. They wouldn’t allow the changelings to enter the city so easily.”

“You wouldn’t believe anything I said, so just look.” Nightmare Moon pointed down the canyon in the direction that Canterlot lay. “See with your own eyes.”

Slowly, unwilling to tear her eyes away from her adversary, Twilight turned to stare in the direction of Canterlot. She couldn’t see the city over the lip of the canyon, but she could still clearly see a terrible storm building directly above the city. The storm was too far away for her to sense anything from it, but just by seeing it she could tell that there was a great deal of loose magic running rampart within it. Is Canterlot really under attack? she thought.

“So?” Nightmare Moon whispered from directly beside Twilight’s ear. “What’s your answer? Will you accept my power, or will you fight against those that threaten our home all by yourself?” To punctuate her question, she playfully blew into Twilight’s ear.

Twilight flinched away from the puff of air, turning to shout at the creature possessing Celestia. Instead, she was brought up short by the sight of Nightmare Moon standing still, holding out her hoof as if she waited for Twilight to accept it. Twilight felt torn by her emotions, unsure of what she should do. On the one hoof, she wanted to turn Nightmare Moon down cold. She didn’t believe anything the evil apparition said, and knew she would never be able to trust her. On the other hoof, Nightmare Moon had made several good points. Twilight really didn’t think she had enough power to save Equestria as she was now.

While she was thinking, she happened to glance upwards at Nightmare Moon’s eyes, the crystalline blue orbs resting firmly within Celestia’s familiar face. At that moment, something became clear to Twilight at the same time as she remembered some of Celestia’s words, spoken only hours ago. “Luna told me how she lost herself to the Nightmare. She said that it came to her one night, gently speaking honeyed words into her ears, but that the pleasant words quickly became poisonous, feeding on her self-doubt and turning her against me.”

Acting more on instinct than anything else, Twilight threw herself to the side. As she did, an absolutely massive boulder fell from the sky, landing on the place where she had been standing only moments before. Had she reacted even a few seconds later, she would have been mashed into paste.

Rather than being annoyed at her failed attempt to kill Twilight, Nightmare Moon only looked impressed. “Well, well, well,” she said coolly, cocking an eyebrow at her escaped prey. “What gave me away?”

Rolling to her hooves, Twilight widened her legs and lowered herself into a defensive stance, pointing her horn directly at Nightmare Moon. “Too many things didn’t add up,” she explained. “You said you couldn’t control Discord’s creature, but you also said you foiled his scheme. You wouldn’t want to possess me when you’re already controlling Celestia. And the fact the creature started talking right before you jumped to Celestia? I don’t buy it. Finally, you said you still had power over dreams. That was you inside my dream, wasn’t it? You were just pretending to be Discord. You fled because you didn’t want to fight Luna!”

Nightmare Moon threw her head back and laughed. Her laugh was loud and strong and went on for far too long. “Ahahahahahahahahahahaha! I underestimated you, little apprentice of my sister's. You are correct. From the beginning, I’ve been pushing that foolish creature to kill you and your pathetic friends. I had to be subtle, though, so Discord wouldn’t realize what I was doing. Listening to his furious protests as he tried to keep you foals alive made it worth it. He’s been a thorn in our side for far too long.”

“Then what are you planning?” Twilight almost shouted. “To throw the world in eternal night? Because I’ve stopped you once, and I’ll stop you again.”

“Eternal night?” Nightmare Moon laughed lightly, sounding actually amused by the idea. “That had always been Luna’s idea, not mine. Ah, Luna…” she sighed fondly. “Such a pathetic creature. All she ever wanted was for her night to be acknowledged, never realising that eternal night would mean the death of each and every living creature in Equestria and beyond. No, I’m afraid that my desire is far simpler.” She turned to look at Twilight, her eyes glowing ominously. “What I want right now is for you to die.”

A bolt of lightning shot out from her horn, covering the distance to Twilight in an instant. Twilight only barely managed to get a barrier up in time, the lightning striking harmlessly against it. She braced herself, preparing for her enemy’s follow up attack. But instead of attacking, Nightmare Moon only smiled.

“You’ve learned a thing or two since we last met,” the being inside Celestia complimented. Her smile took on a sinister edge, exposing her fangs. “That’s good. I’ve been imaging how I would kill you ever since my defeat. Ending it this early would just be disappointing.”

A wavering magic field shimmered into existence around Nightmare Moon’s horn. Whereas literally every other magic-user that Twilight had ever seen had their horns glow when they prepared a spell, the magic field around the ebony horn instead seemed to consume the light, devouring it to feed itself more power. Small black orbs started to detach themselves from the magical field, floating away until they covered the entire field. Twilight watched the balls of darkness suspiciously, ready to launch a counterspell if they did anything.

The orbs started to grow, covering the field in an all-consuming darkness. Twilight quickly launched her counterspell at the nearest orb, but it disappeared into the blackness to apparently no effect. She didn’t even have time to scream before the magical darkness was upon her, engulfing her in its greedy maw.

Unable to see anything in the inky darkness, Twilight quickly tried to get her bearings. Hurriedly focusing as much of her magic to horn as she could, she cast the strongest light spell she could come up with. She thought she saw a flickering light for a split second before it was swallowed up by the darkness, taking her hope with it. No! I can’t give up! she thought. There has to be something I can do!

“Something wrong?” Nightmare Moon taunted, stepping out of the darkness in front of Twilight. She grinned confidently at her foe, obviously believing that she had already won. “It’s just a simple darkness spell. Surely that isn’t enough to slow the mighty bearer of the Element of Magic, the one who my sister chose to beat me?”

“You are not Princess Luna!” Twilight shouted defiantly, firing a bolt of pure magical energy directly into Nightmare Moon’s face. Surprise flickered across the alicorn’s face for a split second before Twilight’s spell hit her head on, the force of the magical blast throwing Nightmare Moon away. With her concentration broken, the cruel alicorn was no longer able to focus on her spell and the darkness faded away.

Nightmare Moon landed heavily on the ground, rolling onto her side. She stared at Twilight in uncomprehending disbelief. “It can’t be!” she protested. “How did you see me?” As she struggled to stand up, she caught sight of her own foreleg and her shock and incomprehension faded away, replaced with unamused understanding. “Oh. Right. I’m in the Princess of the Day now. Of course I can’t hide in darkness anymore.”

Twilight smirked confidently. “What’s wrong?” she mocked. “Is your stolen body not working as well as you had hoped?”

“Laugh all you want, little gnat, but remember,” Nightmare Moon shot back, “the spirit may be mine, but the body is still Celestia’s.” A horrific contemptuous grin spread on her face. “So give me your worst. I can’t even feel it.”

The blood drained out of Twilight’s face as a mind-numbing terror crept into her heart. She hadn’t even considered that! If she tried to fight back, any landed blow wouldn’t be against her enemy, but against her dear mentor, who had all but raised her. What was she supposed to do?

Nightmare Moon laughed at the expression on Twilight’s face, a cruel mocking laugh that ridiculed everything Twilight was. “That’s right, you can’t do it.” Her black horn began to glow, and a cold wind started to whip through the narrow gorge, creating a high-pitched whistling that seemed to reverberate within Twilight’s own skeleton. “You lack the strength of will necessary to do whatever it takes for victory. That is why you failed to kill me.” The whistling wind began to focus on Nightmare Moon, wrapping around her pointed horn. “Let me show you what the will to kill your enemy looks like.”

The wind spinning around Nightmare Moon’s horn suddenly fired at Twilight, screaming as it tore through the air. Spinning around a center focal point, it looked like a miniature tornado launched as a spear. Twilight threw herself to the side, feeling the wind slice across her cheek before it passed through her tail and struck the canyon wall behind her. Looking behind her, she felt a lump form in her throat that she needed to swallow as she saw the damage the whirlwind had caused. The wind had pierced into the stone itself, and Twilight had a vivid image of what that attack would have done had she not avoided it. The blood running freely down her cheek was enough to paint a picture on its own.

“Haaa,” Nightmare Moon sighed, apparently disappointed at something. “As I thought, wind really is the hardest of all the elements to control. That was supposed to curve at the last second so that you would dodge right into it. I was so looking forward to your expression as it drilled a hole into your skull. Let’s see, what shall I try next…?” she mused, thoughtfully tapping her left foreleg against her right.

Twilight grimaced, anger suddenly welling up within her. Her teeth scraped against each other, creating a sharp screeching noise. Here she was, barely managing to stay alive, and Nightmare Moon was acting like she didn’t even consider her a threat. It was insulting. “Hey!” Twilight yelled, rearing back on her hind legs and waving her forehooves in the air threateningly. “What’s wrong? Fight me!” Her actions seemed crazy, but she had an idea. It was risky, but if things continued at this pace, it would only a matter of time until Twilight failed to avoid an attack. She had to act before then.

“Fight?” Nightmare Moon asked, looking genuinely surprised. “You seem to be misunderstanding something. This isn’t a fight-” With a flash of light, she teleported from where she was standing, suddenly appearing in front of Twilight. Before the unicorn could react, a pure white horn hoof swung up, striking her hard in the side of the head and knocking her away. “-It’s an execution,” the possessed alicorn finished dispassionately.

Twilight moaned as she hit the ground, the coppery taste of blood filling her mouth. Even though that was the reaction she had been looking for, Twilight was still taken aback by Nightmare Moon’s sheer savagery. Never before had she faced a foe who so desired her death. Discord had broken her friendship apart and laughed in her face about it, but she had never felt truly afraid of him. The changeling Queen had captured her and her friends, but even then she had never felt like her life was truly in danger. The closest she had ever felt like somepony wanted her dead was King Sombra, but even he had never stooped to this level of brutality. Thinking back on it, that should have clued her that something was wrong. Physically harming her and her friends just didn’t sound like something Discord would do.

Barely able to move anymore, she rolled over onto her back, unintentionally releasing a tiny whimper of pain. It felt like every cell of her body was aflame! Despite the unbelievable pain running through her body, a small smile spread on her lips as she saw that her foe had reacted exactly as she had hoped.

She began to focus magic into her spell, preparing her final spell. Since it would all be for naught if her enemy realised what she was doing, so she had to work both quickly and subtly. Reaching out with invisible tendrils of magic, she began to weave them into the rocky cliff directly above Nightmare Moon’s head. All it would take was a single tug and hundreds of tons of solid stone would fall, crushing the evil creature beneath an unstoppable avalanche.

As she finished her preparations, she gripped the edge of the spell and prepared to finish it. One pull was all it would take. One yank. One tug, and she would rid Equestria of a great evil forever. One pull. One pull. One…

“Twilight Sparkle, you have a very special gift. I don’t think I’ve ever come across a unicorn with your raw abilities.”

I can’t do it! Twilight despaired. It was just like Nightmare Moon had said. She couldn’t bring herself to hurt Celestia! Even if it wasn’t Celestia in control, she still couldn’t do it.

“Not going to do it?” Nightmare Moon asked, abruptly standing above Twilight. Her hoof pressed against Twilight’s throat, pinning the unicorn to the ground. Twilight weakly tried to escape while Nightmare Moon looked scornfully down at her. “I had hoped you would provide a little more interest, but I suppose that’s all you are capable of.” Her horn began to glow fiercely, a pure white brilliant light that dazzled the eyes with blinding magnificence. “Like I told you last time, nopony’s going to save you.”

Nightmare Moon grinned, her horn glowing with a ferocity equal to the sun itself. “Goodbye.” A stream of pure white fire launched from her horn, the air appearing to ripple and warp from the sheer heat of the flames. In a panic, Twilight threw up a hasty glowing purple barrier, desperately trying to stop the assault. The flames struck the shimmering shield and almost immediate tore through it, Twilight’s hastily constructed defence proving to be no match for the unbridled power at Nightmare’s Moon’s command.

Twilight screamed as the flames washed over her skin, washing her in a veritable baptism of fire. An image of the bipedal creature’s cooked arm appeared before her eyes and her mind went blank as she thought of her entire body becoming like that. But instead of searing pain that would cause her flesh to bubble and burst, she felt like she had been embraced in a gentle embrace. Flames continued to pour down on her, and she could see the surrounding rocks turning black from the heat, but she felt like she stood in a warm summer’s breeze.

The flames suddenly cut off, Nightmare Moon staring down at Twilight in stunned disbelief. “How are you still alive?” she asked, completely mystified. “Your bones should be ash by now!”

Taking advantage of Nightmare Moon’s distraction, Twilight quickly squirmed out from under the despot’s hoof. She managed to sprint several steps away before her leg gave out from under and she collapsed to the ground, accidently cutting her chin open on a sharp rock. The week of constant fighting had taken its toll on her and she was drained physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Another lightning bolt lashed out from Nightmare Moon’s horn, striking Twilight squarely in the back. The lightning bolt shattered the moment it touched Twilight, barely giving even singing the wounded unicorn’s fur. She felt a tiny jolt of pain in her back, but it was no worse than one of Pinkie’s joy buzzers.

“What is happening?” Nightmare Moon rubbed at her horn in uncomprehending disbelief. “Why isn’t my magic working? I should be fully in control of Celestia’s body by now.” A twinge of panic had entered her voice, but it quickly vanished as a snarl spread on her lips, baring her pointed fangs. “I swear, if this is something pathetic like ‘the power of the magic of friendship’, I’m burning this entire country to the ground.”

Twilight coughed a mouthful of blood onto the floor of the canyon, trying desperately to crawl away. She wasn’t sure why Nightmare Moon’s magic had suddenly stopped working, but she didn’t want to stick around in case it started working away. There was the sound of something flying through the air above her head, and Nightmare Moon suddenly touched down in front of her.

“I’ve had enough of this,” Nightmare Moon said, rearing back on her hind legs. Her hooves reflected the sunlight for an instant before they came crashing down, intent on crushing Twilight’s head like a melon and snuffing out her young life. Unable to do anything to stop it, Twilight could only close her eyes and wait for the end.

It didn’t come.

As the seconds ticked passed, Twilight slowly realised that she wasn’t dead yet. Cracking her eyes open, the first thing she saw was Nightmare Moon’s face, twisted into an expression of pure rage.

“You… you…” Nightmare Moon snarled, her eyes bulging with anger. Her wings fluttered impotently, their feathers whistling through the air. “You pathetic remnant!”

The creature from the forest had leapt between the two combatants, catching Nightmare Moon in her descent and stopping her in her tracks. His wounds had healed once again, and his muscles bulged as he fought to hold the giant alicorn back even as his spine bent from her weight. Nightmare Moon’s legs were draped over his shoulders and she was unable to bring her fearsome hooves to bear against him.

“~I don’t know what’s going on,~” he said, speaking in a language neither of the mares were able to understand. “~But I do know one thing. Everything that’s gone wrong for me since I came here is because of you! Even if I die, I won’t let you do what you want!~”

“You think you can stop my vengeance?” Nightmare Moon cried out, ferociously beating her wings. Lifting herself back, she was able to get enough distance to bring her hooves into play. Before John could react, her hoof came crashing down with all the force that an enraged near-god could bring to bear. John hit the ground hard and did not move again, bleeding heavily from a gaping hole in his skull.

“You… how dare you?” Nightmare Moon snarled at the unconscious creature, clutching at her chest. Something stuck out her torso, and Twilight squinted at it for a second before realizing that it was Celestia’s own horn! The creature must have picked it up in order to use it as a spear. Strangely, no blood showed from the wound. The horn started to glow with a bright light, its shining magnificence threatening to overwhelm Nightmare Moon’s own darkness. Nightmare Moon’s rage gave way to panic as she desperately tried to remove the glowing horn. “What’s happening?” she cried as she vanished from sight.

Twilight covered her eyes, unable to stare into the blinding light any longer. Something gently brushed against her forelegs and she slowly opened her eyes to see what it was, squinting into the brilliant light. A large pair eyes of stared into her own and Twilight reflexively flinched away before she recognized the kindness that filled the greyish purple eyes. “…Princess Celestia?” she asked.

Celestia nodded, closing her eyes apologetically. “Forgive me, Twilight. I could do nothing but watch as Nightmare Moon hurt you. If I had the time, I would return you to Ponyville to heal your wounds, but I am afraid I cannot stay long.”

“No,” Twilight pleaded, reaching out and brushing Celestia’s muzzle. “Don’t leave me. Please.”

“I’m sorry.” Celestia lifted her hoof, holding it above the horn embedded in her chest. The horn blazed with an inner light while the one on her forehead remained still and inanimate. “I will not be able to contain Nightmare Moon for long. I can already feel her clawing away at my conscious and it’s only a matter of time before she overwhelms me. Before that happens, I must seal myself deep within my old castle within the Everfree. She will not be able to escape there.”

“But-” Twilight protested before Celestia gently but firmly pressed a hoof to her lips.

“There’s no time. When Nightmare Moon said that Canterlot was under attack, in that at least, she was telling the truth. You and your friends must hurry to help Luna, Cadance, and your brother repel them. I feel like this too has Discord’s touch on it.” Reaching back with her teeth, she plucked out one of her feathers before passing it to Twilight. “Take this. The barrier protecting the Elements of Harmony is keyed to my magical signature. Without it, you wouldn’t be able to reach to Elements.”

“But what about you?” Twilight protested, nevertheless accepting the feather.

Celestia smiled sadly, her smile tinged with just a hint of pride. “Don’t worry about me. I’ve always felt that Nightmare Moon was my burden to bear.” A flash of crystal blue shot across her eyes and she stood up straight, stepping away from Twilight. “I have to go. Nightmare Moon has almost broken through my last barriers. If I don’t leave now, I won’t have time to set up the seal.”

“Princess…” Twilight said sadly. She could feel tears developing in her eyes, but quickly blinked them away. She would see her teacher off, not with tears, but with a smile. Her lips quivering and her tears threatening to burst, she nonetheless smiled bravely at Celestia. “Please, be safe.”

The horn in Celestia’s chest blazed brilliantly, consuming the Princess in pure white light. Before her expression was lost to sight, she gave Twilight one final, almost maternal smile. “I am so proud of you,” she said, sounding like a mother talking to her child. “I know Equestria is in good hooves.” The light faded, Celestia disappearing with it.

Twilight nearly broke down and started crying right then and there, but she swallowed her emotions down and forced herself to her hooves. There would be a time for tears later. Tucking Celestia’s feather in her mane, where it would be safe, she turned to make her way back to Ponyville. Catching sight of the creature from the forest out of the corner of her eye, she instead stumbled over to where he lay.

Standing over him, she took a moment to consider the gaping hole in his skull. It looked bad, but it was already starting to heal. He would probably be fully recovered in only a few hours. She momentarily toyed with the idea of leaving him where he lay, but instead slipped her head under his body and slid him onto her back. She still had no clue about his intentions or motives, but at the very least, he had saved her life.

That had to be worth something.

The creature’s arms and legs scraping long grooves in the dirt, Twilight slowly began the long walk back to Ponyville.

END PART 1

Start of a Second Story

Discord released a mental sigh of relief as he watched Twilight drag John back to Ponyville. The unexpected feeling of worry had persisted until events had managed to get back on track. Nightmare Moon’s interference had almost ruined everything. If Twilight Sparkle died now, everything he had accomplished would be so many ashes in the wind. It was humbling to realize that all of his plans hinged on a single point, but the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony were critical to his plans. All he needed to do was figure out how to make them do what Celestia had refused thousands of years ago.

Discord’s prison gave a little shudder and he looked up at the light brown void that trapped him. The prison was weakening because of all the chaos going on outside, but it still wasn’t enough to allow him to escape. Unless the source of the chaos became stronger or closer to his prison, it still wasn’t enough to shatter the bonds that held him. He clicked his tongue in irritation. If Nightmare Moon hadn’t gotten involved, Discord would already be free.

Turning his attention back to the glowing portal that showed him the outside world, Discord tried to calm his raging emotions. There would be time for that later. For now, he still had to figure out a new plan. Giving the portal a good smack, the scene within changed to complete and impenetrable darkness. The malevolent draconequus made himself comfortable as a new image formed, showing him a scene from six days ago at a place far removed from Ponyville and the events that had occurred there.

Drip drip drip.

Darkness. That was the first thought that occurred to him as he woke. The room was completely enveloped in smothering pitch black darkness. He could barely even tell the difference between his eyes being open or closed.

Drip drip drip.

His fingers dug into the bizarre mattress he rested on as he slowly tried to understand his situation. Touch and hearing were the only senses he could use now, and he intended to make the most of them. Whatever he was lying on was hard, smooth, and slightly cold. His fingers tended to stick to the strange material, like there was a thin coating of some sort of adhesive on it. It was unlike anything he had every felt before, and he couldn’t even imagine what it could be.

Drip drip drip.

Other than the thing he was lying on, the only thing his senses picked up was that constant dripping sound. No, wait. That wasn’t true. Beneath that noise, he could barely make out the presence of another sound, though it was too faint for him to tell what it was. More importantly, that repetitive drip was making him realize just how parched his throat was, and how desperately he needed something to slack his thirst.

Carefully swinging his feet over to the edge of what he was laying on, he carefully stretched them down until his bare toes touched the smooth stone floor only a few feet beneath him. One thing was for sure about his situation: wherever he was, it wasn’t natural.

“Hello?” he croaked out. Simply trying to speak felt like he was rubbing sandpaper across the inside of his throat. Coughing slightly at the sudden pain, he tried again. “Is anyone there? Where am I?” Every word felt like it was tearing a piece of him as it left, but the constant dripping sound was all the response he heard.

Needing to find the source of that drip, he forced himself to his feet. His arms held in front of him like a sleepwalker and his feet slowly sliding along the smooth floor, he cautiously inched away from where he had woken up. Part of his brain marveled at how smooth the floor was. He couldn’t feel the slightest crack where any tiles would be connected: it was all in one single piece.

His thoughts were interrupted as his grasping fingers finally reached something solid. A wall, probably made of the same stone material as the floor was. As he ran his hand across it, he noticed a major difference between the floor and the wall. Unlike the floor, the wall wasn’t smooth. Lines and markings had been deliberately etched into the wall, probably making a pattern. Though of course he couldn’t tell what the pattern was so long as he couldn’t see it.

One hand tracing along the wall, he held the other one out and continued to carefully search for the source of the dripping noise. After several more minutes of searching in the dark, he stopped when his forward toe touched some sort of liquid. Hastily pulling his foot away from it, he kneeled next to it and cautiously dipped a finger into the unknown liquid. Not able to see what it was and almost thirsty enough to not care, he stuck his wetted finger in his mouth and tasted the liquid.

Water. Glorious, glorious water. A little murky, but he could remember camping trips when he had drunken worse. Cupping his palms, he dunked them into the water and brought it up to his mouth, pouring the sweet revitalizing liquid down his throat. Some splashed his front but he didn’t care and just dipped his hands into the sweet water again.

After several repetitions of this, his thirst was mostly slacked and he sat down, his back pressing against the stone wall. That pressing need taken care of, he took the opportunity to try and figure out his current situation.

“Alright, what do I know?” he asked the empty air. After a moment’s thought, he decided to make the act a little more fun. Clearing his throat, he started dictating to no one in particular. “Captain’s Log: Day… let’s go with One. Location: probably some sort of cave.” With the stone walls and floors, he couldn’t think of any other explanation. “Last known location: certainly not here.”

The last thing he remembered was wishing his girlfriend a good night before heading off to sleep in his college dorm. He had a midterm exam in a few days, but he was pretty sure his teachers would accept ‘lost in a cave’ a fair enough reason to retake the exam if he missed it. Wouldn’t be the first time he could remember getting himself lost on a hiking expedition. A thought occurred to him and he hastily grabbed for his pants' pockets, sighing in disappointment when he found they were empty. Oh well. Probably wouldn’t be able to get cell reception this deep underground anyway.

“Current materials: none.” Other than his t-shirt, jeans, and underwear, he didn’t have anything else on him. That was a little strange. Last time he could remember waking up with no memory of how he’d gotten there, he hadn’t even had his clothes left with him. Granted, that time he’d woken up in a dumpster instead of some strange cave, but the situation was still unlike anything he’d experienced before.

“Likeliest reason for being here: unknown” He couldn’t come up with anything. He lived in the middle of a fairly large city. The nearest caves were several hours’ drive away – he’d been there – but they were completely different from this place. Those caves were naturally formed, but this place was anything but. It felt like the floors and walls had been meticulously smoothed out before someone had carved something into the walls.

“Current status: boned. Ending data log.” Well, that had been fun. Dropping the act, he used the wall as a support to help lever himself to his feet. Well, whatever. This place was fascinating, but leaving was more important at the moment. Whatever the reason he was in this cave, he doubted the people who had brought him here were friendly.

Walking past the tiny puddle, which he found was seeping through a tiny crack in the wall and draining out a small hole in the ground, he continued along the wall. His fingers tracing the patterns along the smooth rock, he was beginning to get a sense of what these murals portrayed. It was some sort of animal, though he couldn’t make it out without actually seeing it. Eventually, before he could figure out what the images could possibly be, his reaching fingers finally met air as the wall disappeared. He had finally reached the doorway.

To his surprise, there was nothing blocking the doorway. Did the people who put him in here not want to imprison him? Or had they just not gotten around to it yet? Regardless of the reason, it was fine with him. Trying not to make any noise, he slipped out of the room he was in and into the dark hallway beyond.

Still unable to see anything, he carefully stretched his free hand as far as he could away from the wall his other hand was still touching. When his fingers touched nothing, he cautiously moved away from the wall, making sure to move in a straight line so he could find his way back. He needn’t have worried, as his other hand reached another wall almost instantly. He guessed the corridor he was in was about six feet across. Since one direction was as good as another, he picked one and set off as silently as he could.

Now that he was away from the noise of the dripping water, he could clearly make out the noise he had heard before. It was a bizarre rustling coming from the direction he was heading, like hundreds of insects constantly climbing over one another. This was getting freakier and freakier. Maybe the other direction was a better choice after all.

As he turned to head the other way, he heard another noise over the rustling. It was an abrupt clop noise, similar to the sound of someone suddenly banging two coconut halves together. Worryingly, it had come from the direction he had just come from. And it sounded close.

“Hello?” he quietly whispered. “Is-is someone there?” Silence was the only response he got. Total and absolute silence, as the rustling had stopped as well. Okay, this is beyond freaky, he thought, panic beginning to set in. A tiny light flared off in the distance down the tunnel, tinting the hallway with a haze of green and allowing him to see the hallway for the first time since he had awoken.

Looking back down the hallway behind him, he saw a slight hint of movement low to the ground. Focusing on that spot, he tried as hard as he could to see what had moved. As a result, he clearly saw when a pair of glowing eyes suddenly turned towards him. The blank blue soulless eyes were slightly below his waist height, but that did nothing to detract from the absolute terror he felt. A tiny mouth opened beneath the eyes, the light glinting off a pair of fangs within, and the monster hissed at him.

A tiny whimper escaped from between his lips and he felt a slight warmth trickling down his legs as the monster took a step towards him. Fear paralyzing his shaking legs, he fell back against the wall as it approached closer… and closer… and closer.

When it was within arm’s reach of him, it stopped. It stared up at him, and he saw himself reflected in those horrible, blank eyes. He looked so tiny in those eyes. Despite looming nearly twice as tall as the monster, he felt absolutely insignificant before it. It pinned him to the wall with nothing more than its gaze, neither of them moving.

Suddenly, the monster blinked and took a step back, and he felt himself released from the paralysis. Turning away from the monster, he ran away from it as fast as his legs could carry him towards the green light. He didn’t know what was ahead, but it couldn’t be worse than what was behind him.

Rushing along the corridor, he suddenly burst into a large cavern. Too late, he realized that charging blindly in was a terrible idea as several monsters identical to the one he had left behind turned towards his abrupt appearance. The light was stronger here, and he was finally able to get a good look at them.

Standing on four legs, their heads reached about his waist height. Their blank blue soulless eyes reflected everything caught in them, and something about those eyes scared him more than anything else. A pair of green insect wings sprouted from their back, and a large horn grew from their foreheads. Their wings, legs, and horns all had a moth-eaten look to them, tattered and riddled with holes. Something about the monsters itched at his memory, but he shoved it aside.

Behind him, he saw that the one he had fled from in the corridor had caught up and was blocking the entrance he had just come from. Stumbling away from it, he had no time to react as all the monsters in the room suddenly took to the air and landed in a circle around him. He felt his legs lock up, but since he didn’t think he could have remained standing if they hadn’t, he didn’t really notice.

The monsters remained unmoving, staring at him with those horrible eyes. His mind was as frozen as his body, and he could do nothing but stare back at them until a feminine voice spoke up from the direction of the light. The voice seemed to reverberate against itself, and shivers ran up and down his spine as he heard it.

“I see our guest has awoken. Excellent.”

Turning towards the voice, he saw for the first time the source of the light. Another one of the monsters stood before him, its horn giving off a bright green light. It stood twice as tall as any of the others, standing slightly taller than he was. Green slit pupils watched him from behind long green hair hanging limply from her skull. A flash of memory came to him, and he realized why these creatures seemed familiar to him.

No, it was impossible. They couldn’t be changelings. That was a race of villains from a TV show he enjoyed watching every week with his little sister. But there in front of him, her cruel eyes locked upon him, stood their merciless leader.

“Queen… Chrysalis…”

Her steps faltered for a moment before a slight smile twisted her face, showing the slightest hint of fangs within her mouth.

“Ho?” she asked, throwing him an appraising look. “You know who I am? Very interesting.” She nodded her head at the changelings surrounding him, and they bowed down to her before stepping back. They continued watching him, and he knew they would be able to catch him in an instant if he tried to flee. Chrysalis’ horn flared brightly as she stepped towards him, brightly illuminating and momentarily blinding him. Stepping back, he covered his eyes with a hand as he tried to blink the spots away.

“You are an interesting creature,” she said, her reverberating voice seeming to pierce his very core. “Why don’t you explain how you came to be within my domain, as well as who you are?” Despite her placid tone, something about her told him it wasn’t a request. He lowered his hand and carefully stepped back, wanting to get some distance between her and him.

“My name’s Alex,” he said. His eyes darted around the room, trying to find something that didn’t scare him to rest on. But everywhere he looked, he saw more changelings staring down at him. There were far more than he could count, and the sheer number of soulless eyes staring down would have made him wet himself if he hadn't already. “Alex Krings. I’m a human.”

“I’ve never heard of anything like a human before, Alex Krings,” Chrysalis interrupted, taking another step forwards. Alex took another step back in response. “And my changelings have been nearly everywhere in this world at one time or another. We’ve witnessed and caused the rise and fall of countries. We’ve infiltrated the minotaurs, the timberwolves, and the gryphons. We have memories from before Celestia took the throne, back when simple unicorns were the ones to raise and lower the sun and moon. And yet I have no knowledge of humans. My question is simple: how did something I’ve never even heard of before suddenly appear at my hidden castle?” Her voice turned deadly serious at the end, causing Alex to back up another step. He stopped when he ran into the cave wall, helpless as she closed in on him.

“I-I don’t know,” he stuttered, his voice squeaking as she narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m not sure how I got here! Please believe me!” he pleaded. He wasn’t sure if this was a dream or something else, but it would probably be better to act like it was real for now. And a good part of that was not making the giant demonic bug horse monster angry at him.

Chrysalis stared at him for a few seconds more before abruptly turning away, releasing him from her pinning gaze. He collapsed to the floor, leaning up against the wall. “Looking at you, it’s easy to believe you don’t know anything.” Her insult slipped past him, since he was too scared to do anything but pant for breath. “You were unconscious when a patrol found you and brought you here. I was curious about you since we couldn’t feed off of you, so I decided to wait until you woke up.”

“Wha-what do you mean ‘couldn’t feed off me?’” Alex stuttered out past his fear.

She grinned cruelly at him, and he felt goosebumps rise up on his skin at the sight of that fanged visage. “Exactly what I said. There’s never been any living creature we couldn’t feed off of, so I kept you here. It’s fortunate for you that we couldn’t feed from you, since you probably would never have woken up again.” She smirked at his shudder, clearly enjoying tormenting him.

“I wondered if we would be able to feed off your love when you woke up,” she continued, “but the changeling I set to watch you reported that he was unable to get any energy from you.” Alex realized Chrysalis must be referring to the changeling he had met in the corridor. It had been trying to feed off of him? The more he learned about where he was…

“I just want to go home.” His head fell into his open hands as he spoke, his sweaty palms pressing against his eyes as he finally began to understand just how bad his situation was. Here he was, at the mercy of the cruel destructive queen of a race of monsters who fed off the love living creatures felt for other animals. If this wasn’t a dream, he probably wasn’t even on the same world that he remembered growing up on. Would he ever get back home again? Or was he going to be stuck here for the rest of his life?

As Alex quietly started to sink into his despair, Chrysalis’ voice drifted over him.

“You’re free to leave at any time.”

Alex’s head shot up and he looked straight at her. Is this the light at the end of the tunnel? he thought, feeling a sudden surge of hope. Maybe the situation wasn’t as bleak as it had first appeared. If he got out of here, he might be able to find Twilight or one of the Princesses. Magic was commonplace in the show, right? Maybe they could help him if he explained his situation. There was just one problem.

“You’re letting me go? Just like that?” From what he remembered seeing in the couple episodes she appeared in, Chrysalis was cruel, selfish, and power-hungry. Would she really let him go so easily? Or was she just playing with his emotions again?

Chrysalis’ fangs glinted in the pale light. Her expression said that she understood Alex’s trepidation. “I was curious why we couldn’t feed off you. If we can’t feed off of you now even though you’re awake, then you’re of no use to me. I am interested how you knew my name despite having never met me before.” She paused, savouring the moment as Alex squirmed in the fear that she might decide to trap him here. “But it doesn’t really matter. None of it will matter shortly.” Her grin widened as Alex heaved a sigh of relief.

“Why can’t you feed off me?” Alex asked as he pulled himself onto his unsteady legs. Instead of answering, Chrysalis began walking away. Alex hesitated slightly before slowly following after her. The changelings lining the walls all turned their heads to watch him as he passed. It was all very disquieting. When he managed to catch up to the Queen, she answered his earlier question.

“I can only think of two reasons why we wouldn’t be able to feed off your love. The first reason is that you simply cannot feel love. This would certainly keep us from feeding off you. But since all living creatures feel love, I don’t think this is the case. The second possibility is that something is protecting you; something far more powerful than I am.” She sounded a little annoyed at the idea of creatures stronger than her.

“Isn’t there a third possibility?” Alex asked, his voice quivering. “Could you just not be able to feed of off my species?”

“Impossible,” came Chrysalis’ blunt reply. “Love is an energy shared between all creatures. Dragons to hydras to bears to ponies, it makes no difference. And we can feed off any one of them freely. Or…” her head swivelled around to look at him, “is there something else? Something you think you need to tell me?”

“…No.” The possibility of traveling to other worlds was not something Alex wanted to let the megalomaniacal warlord with desires of conquest know about.

Chrysalis only smiled smugly at him before turning away. “Fine, then. Keep your secrets, Human.”

The pair walked in silence for a while after that. Chrysalis walked calmly and with confidence, but all the twisting tunnels were beginning to make Alex thoroughly lost. Giving up on understanding the layout of the place, his focus shifted to the murals that etched the walls they passed. Similar to the corridor he had felt his way through before, all the walls were covered in carvings and designs. Starkly portrayed in the flickering green light cast by Chrysalis’ horn, there was something both beautiful and surreal about them.

“What are these?” The idea of having another conversation with Chrysalis terrified him, but he was just too curious not to ask.

The Queen’s head turned to see what he asking about at and her walk slowed and then stopped when she saw him staring at the carvings all around them. “This… is the history of the changelings.” Alex looked at her in surprise. He hadn’t actually expected her to answer at all, or maybe just tease him with the information. Not only that, but her voice sounded a little different. It still reverberated as before, but now there was an undeniable undercurrent of sadness tainting it. “It has been passed down through the ages in this place, the most ancient of changeling catacombs. Never lost, but forgotten. Waiting. Always waiting. I wonder, did it wait too long?”

“And what does it say?”

Chrysalis huffed at him before continuing her route down the hallway. “It says that if you don’t keep up, I’ll leave you behind.”

Okay, touchy subject. Alex followed behind without saying anything, not wanting to press the issue. Since he would only become more and more curious if he looked at the walls, he turned his attention on the only other thing of note in the corridor. Namely, the Queen herself.

This close, he was able to get a much better look at her. First off, her black exterior wasn’t skin, like he had thought, but instead some form of a chitinous exoskeleton, similar to the kind seen on small invertebrates. Her plates shifted and overlapped as she walked, especially the clear green ones on her stomach and back. They were obviously well-cared for, practically shining and looking like they were been constantly cleaned. The Queen must go to a great deal of effort to keep them free of dirt. Or, more likely, she just has her underlings do it. As he moved to get a closer look, Chrysalis’ teasing voice interrupted him.

“You can look, but don’t touch.”

Alex scrambled back away from her. Does she have eyes on the back of her head? At least she sounded like she was in a better mood than before, but he still couldn’t wait to get out of this place. As he thought that, the Queen’s horn suddenly snuffed out. Before he could start to panic, Alex realized that he was still able to see. The pure light of the sun reached into the darkness from the end of the tunnel, giving a small amount of illumination to the cave. Letting out a cheerful exclamation he dashed past Chrysalis, the changeling following at a more sedate pace.

Closing his eyes as he exited the cave, he took a deep inhalation of the fresh air, feeling it filling his lungs. The warm sun beat down on his skin, warming him with its gentle caress. His eyes slightly opened, giving them a moment to get used to the bright light after being down in the gloomy depths with the sickly green glow as his only light source. His heart felt as light as a feather and he felt like he could just fly off into the sky. As the bright white glare faded and he was able to see his surroundings for the first time, he felt his heart plummet down into his stomach.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Chrysalis asked as she exited the cave behind him “A dead land for the changeling race. Certainly fitting. Welcome to the Badlands.” The land around them was barren and dusty in every direction, with a great wall of mountains rising from the earth off in the distance. The very air seemed to warp from the great heat, and there wasn’t a single source of water in sight.

“Beyond the Macintosh Hills there,” Chrysalis didn’t bother pointing at the line of mountains in the distance, “you can find the lush land of Equestria. If you make it there, the residents will probably welcome you openly. Of course, I doubt you would survive the trip. Or you can return to my domain, where I will see you are… well taken care of.” After a sinister snicker, Chrysalis turned and vanished into the darkness of the cave.

Alex stared off at the mountains in the distance. Hills was a major misnomer, the mountains were tall enough to have snow capping them. But even if he could get through them, the Badlands were a natural barrier on their own. Like Chrysalis had said, he probably wouldn’t be able to reach the mountains without any supplies.

Is there really no other choice? He couldn’t leave, which meant he would have to go back into the haunting depths behind him. He would have to beg Chrysalis for help. Please, please let this just be a nightmare. Close my eyes, and relax. Now. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up.

Even without opening his eyes, he knew it hadn’t worked. He could still feel the sunbaked rock beneath him and the warmth of the sun’s rays against his bare arms and head. Either this was really happening, or it was the most lucid dream he’d ever had. Sighing deeply, he opened his eyes and stared up at the sun one last time. If this was going to be his reality, he’d just have to make the most of it for now.

But, Alex swore to himself, his nails digging into his palms as his hands clenched into fists, I will make it home someday. So long as I never give up, I will find a way. I… have to. With a final look at the wasteland around him, he turned and disappeared into the black void of the cavern mouth.

The darkness seemed to swallow the light, and within moments of entering the cave he was no longer able to even see his hand in front of his face. “Hello?” His quailing voice echoed feebly before being swallowed by the smothering darkness. After a few seconds of silence, a glowing pair of green eyes flared into existence less than a foot in front of his face. Alex shouted in surprise and fell back, landing heavily on his ass.

Chrysalis’ horn glowed, illuminating the rest of her body. Alex didn’t miss the smug expression on her face as she looked down on him where he sat on the cold, hard ground. She must have been keeping her eyes shut so they wouldn’t reflect any light, waiting for the right opportunity to scare him.

“Hmmhmmhmm,” she chuckled, “the human returns to my lair willingly. I think you will do wonders to keep me… entertained.” Alex whimpered at her words. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea after all.

Meet The Changelings

Alex gently swum awake, his eyes trying and failing to take in the sight of the pitch black room around him. Once again, he had slept in the very same room that Chrysalis had prepared for him. Left with nothing to do but await her return, he allowed his mind to drift to the events of the previous day.

Chrysalis had escorted him back down into the deep bowels of the cavern, her horn glowing as she led him through the twisting and turning tunnels. Since bringing up the carvings again would only make her angry, he had remained quiet as he took in the surrounding architecture. Other than the carvings, he could also see many other wondrous examples of lovingly crafted architecture, such as the giant pillars he had seen in the cavern.

It was strange. The architecture was completely incongruous with what he had seen of the changelings so far, who barely seemed more than mindless monsters. The only one who wasn’t mindless was the Queen, but… Well, ‘sickly’ was a word he would be more likely to use to describe her than ‘beautiful.’ He thought it was more likely that the changelings had either found this place abandoned and claimed it as their own or had chased out the previous residents.

Lost in his thoughts, he barely noticed when Chrysalis stopped walking, and had nearly blundered into her. “This will be your room,” she had said, standing besides an opening in the wall. “You’ve already slept here, so I’m sure it will suit your needs.”

Looking past her, he saw for the first time the room he had awoken in earlier that day. Alone in the center of the room rested a large round pod. It must have been what he was sleeping on earlier. The room was filled with the carvings, and he saw the water he had been drinking earlier seeped through a spot directly between the horns of two of the equine creatures. No way was that an accident. The more he saw of the place, the more he doubted Chrysalis’ claims that the changelings had built it. But why would she lie? Before his thoughts could make any headway down this path, he realized the carvings were getting harder to see.

A glance behind him revealed that Chrysalis was walking away, taking the only source of light with her. “Wait,” he called. She stopped and turned to look at him, her multifaceted green eyes reflecting the light in disturbing ways as she silently stared at him. “Um…” he hedged, suddenly much less willing to have a conversation. “What’s going to happen to me?”

Chrysalis blinked slowly before answering, letting the moment drag on before she gave him that horrible smirk of hers. “Missing me already? Oh, don’t worry about what’s going to happen to you. I certainly haven’t. Maybe I’ll have an idea in the morning. Sleep tight. Don’t let the… bedbugs bites.”

Left with nothing to do once she disappeared, Alex had felt his way over to the pod before sleeping on it for the night. Now, he stared up at the darkened ceiling. Hope she gets back soon, he thought. Chrysalis still terrified him, but a gnawing ache in his stomach was beginning to demand attention. The thought of food nearly overwhelmed his fear, and he toyed with the idea of heading out to look for her.

Besides, it wasn’t like she was going to eat his soul or devour his heart or something if he annoyed her, right?

Right?

…Maybe I’ll wait quietly.

Humming tunelessly as he lay on the pod, his hands blindly rotating circles in the air above him, Alex once again considered going out to look for the Queen. His cowardice fought a losing battle against his boredom, as the time slowly ticked past. It felt like hours had passed since he had woke up. Or maybe it had only been a few minutes. It was impossible to mark the passage of time down here.

Without any warning, a bright green light suddenly flared at the entrance to the room. Alex instinctively flinched away from the sudden flash, the abrupt movement causing him to overbalance. Sliding off the pod, his legs flailed uselessly in the air before his head impacted the ground with a heavy thud. His legs lying limply on the pod, he released a small sigh. Dying a slow death out in the wasteland was beginning to look more and more appealing.

“Good morning, human!” Chrysalis’ cheerful voice reverberated throughout the tiny room. “I hope you slept well.”

“Would it matter to you if I hadn’t?” Alex moaned as he pulled himself to his feet.

“Probably not," she admitted with that same smug smirk as always. "Unfortunately, I won’t be able to play with you today. I’ve got official business that I need to take care of, so I brought you someling to show you around instead.” Alex noticed for the first time a smaller changeling that stood at the Queen’s side. This changeling looked almost identical to all the other changelings he had seen before except for its eyes and its fangs. Unlike the flat pale blue all the others shared, this changeling’s eyes were green and multifaceted just like Chrysalis’ own. As for the fangs, they were small enough to rest within the changeling’s mouth when it kept its mouth closed, and Alex was unable to get a good look at them.

The smaller changeling’s wings buzzed rapidly and the creature flew over until it hovered in place directly in front of Alex. Its wings fluttered rapidly, moving fast enough that he could barely see them, while the changeling’s expressionless gaze locked directly onto Alex’s face.

“H-hello,” Alex stuttered out as he cautiously waved a hand at the being in before him. The moment stretched out for several awkward seconds before the changeling bared its fangs and hissed at him. Letting out an exclamation of surprise, Alex stumbled away from it, tripping over the pod and once again ending up with his head on the ground and his legs ignominiously waving in the air. He heard a deep chuckle coming from the air above him, laughing at his predicament.

“I see what you meant, my Queen. He is certainly an amusing one.” The changeling’s voice was surprising deep and masculine despite coming from such a small frame. It didn’t reverberate as strongly as Chrysalis’, but there was definitely an unearthly feeling to it. “But are you sure this is wise?"

“It doesn’t matter if it’s wise or not,” Chrysalis answered as Alex clambered to his feet again. “At this point, it’s only a matter of time.”

“I’m assuming the preparations are well underway?”

“At this point, it should be finished in a week – two at the most.”

“I… see.”

“Am I missing something here?” Alex asked, hauling himself to his feet.

“No.” Chrysalis’ answer was flat and blunt, making it clear the conversation was over. It reminded him a lot of how she had reacted when he had asked about the carvings before. “This is Last Breath. He’ll be escorting you around while I’m busy. Now if there is nothing more, I will see you later.” So saying, she turned and disappeared down the corridor, the green flickering light bobbing slightly with her stride. Alex looked up to see that the smaller changeling’s horn was now glowing, though the amount of light cast was a lot weaker than that cast by the Queen’s horn.

“So… now what?” Alex asked uneasily. Really, Chrysalis was going to set someone to watch over him whose name was a synonym for death? The Badlands were definitely starting to feel like the better option.

Last Breath sniffed at the air before wrinkling his nose. “First thing is getting you a bath. I don’t know if it’s a human thing or what, but you stink.”

Alex brought his arm up to his nose and sniffed it. “I don’t really notice anything.”

“Maybe you humans are used to the smell of excrement, but you’re having a bath if I have to throw you.”

“And then you pissed yourself? Oh, that’s just too funny.” Last Breath was watching as Alex washed his clothes in an underground river. The water was freezing cold, and Last Breath had said it was icemelt from the far-off Macintosh Hills. Alex was only wearing his underwear, the water coming up to his knees as he rinsed his clothes out. His pants were slowly drying on the shoreline and he hunched over, running his shirt through the slow-moving water.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.” Having just finished explaining what had happened when he met his first changeling, Alex shook out his shirt, spraying droplets of water everywhere while Last Breath watched amused from the shoreline. “You things are freaky, and I think you’re perfectly aware of it.”

“It’s not like we chose to be this way, you know.” The changeling actually sounded a little offended.

“Maybe not, but it sure seems like Chrysalis certainly enjoys teasing me about it.”

“Oh, she’s not the only one.” With those ominous-sounding words, the changeling’s horn flared even brighter and Alex felt a slight pressure wrap itself around his body and lift him out of the water. His body rotated in midair until he was suspended upside down about a foot above the rushing water, looking into Last Breath’s smug face.

“Any last words before I drop you?” The changeling asked, his eyes twinkling playfully.

“Please don’t drop me?” Alex pleaded hopelessly.

Last Breath smirked, half-revealing one of his sharp fangs. “Well, since you asked so nicely, no.”

The pressure holding Alex aloft disappeared and he only enough time for a single dismayed exclamation as he was dropped head first into the ice-cold water. Sputtering as he came to the surface, his skin covered in goosebumps and his teeth chattering, he glared at the changeling.

“Was that necessary?”

“Probably not,” Last Breath answered calmly as he levitated Alex’s shirt out of the river, which the human had dropped when he was submerged. “But it was pretty funny. You got to have a bath, and I got to throw you. Everybody wins.”

“I don’t think I like your definition of ‘everybody,’” Alex complained as he waded towards the shore.

“Well I won, and that’s good enough for me.” The shirt carelessly draped over a rock, Last Breath climbed to his feet. “Now budge over.”

“What are you-? Wait, nono stop, stop, WHOA!”

“CANNONBALL!”

Not long afterwards, the pair trudged through the changeling catacombs on their way to the surface, both of them dripping freely onto the stone floor. Alex's shirt and pants were tucked under his arms, and he grumbled to himself all the while. After Last Breath had tackled him into the water again, the duo had started to waterfight, which had ended when the changeling had picked up the entire river and dropped it on Alex’s head.

“Magic is friggin’ cheating,” Alex complained aloud.

Last Breath flashed a fang up at him, the changeling’s mouth slightly curved into a smile as he glanced sidelong at the taller human. “Oh, wah wah wah. Does the poor human feel outmatched?”

“Of all the changelings Chrysalis could have stuck me with, I end up with one that mistakenly thinks he has a sense of humour.”

“You can change escorts at any time.” Last Breath’s voice, unusually serious, caused Alex to stop and look down at him.

“I…” Alex hedged, but Last Breath cut him off with a sharp gesture at one of the blank-eyed changelings that walked the corridor.

“Go ahead, do it.” Last Breath’s forceful demand sent Alex staggering towards one of the surrounding changelings before his mind had time to process what he was doing. Last Breath watched expressionlessly as the human uneasily approached a random changeling. Expecting some sort of trick, Alex stopped one of the changelings.

“E-excuse me? Sir? Madam?” Alex asked the changeling, silently wondering how he was supposed to tell the difference. The changeling he spoke to silently turned its head towards him, its blank eyes dispassionately watching him. He quailed momentarily under that look, having forgotten how much those eyes freaked him out.

The changeling only remained silent a few seconds more before turning its head away from him and continuing on the path it had been walking on before he had interrupted it. Alex watched it leave before looking back at Last Breath.

“Was it something I said?”

Last Breath just sighed slightly before answering. “No, that’s not it. They won’t respond beyond basic reactions. They’ll follow simple orders, but they won’t take initiative and they can’t follow orders more complex than ‘go here’ or ‘feed’.”

“Then what makes you and Queen Chrysalis so different?” Alex asked as he followed behind the changeling, his bare wet feet slapping heavily against the stone floor. The silence spread for several increasingly awkward minutes before Last Breath finally responded.

“Did you ask Her Majesty about the carvings that lined the walls?”

Alex looked down at the changeling, surprised by this sudden apparent change of topic. “Well… Yeah. Why?”

“And what did she say?”

Alex exhaled a breath of air through his nose, slightly annoyed at the way the changelings reacted whenever his naturally inquisitive mind tried to learn something about them. “She reacted much the same way you are; by dodging my question.”

Much to Alex’s surprise, Last Breath actually chuckled at his response. “Well said. Alright, I’ll tell you someday what makes me different from all the others you’ve seen, but not today. It’s… not a pleasant topic.”

“I understand,” Alex said, not understanding in the slightest. They continued down the twisting corridors for several more minutes before something occurred to Alex. “Can I ask another question?”

“Didn’t you ask one just now?” The changeling laughed at Alex’s unamused glare and waved a hoof. “I’m just kidding. Go ahead, go ahead.”

“Right. Anyway, what’s the difference between male and female changelings? No offence, but other than your eyes and the Queen herself, every changeling I’ve seen looks completely identical.”

“I wouldn’t have pegged you for a racist,” the changeling’s teasing voice drifted back to Alex, which Alex responded to by smacking Last Breath in the back of his head with the wet shirt.

“I’m serious. The only thing I can think of is that your race experiences sexual dimorphism where the females are twice as big as the males. But that would mean that the Queen is the only female I’ve seen in the hive. So is there just something I’m missing, or does your kind just look the same because you’re a race of shapeshifters?”

Last Breath looked askance up at Alex. “…How did you know that we’re shapeshifters? I’m pretty sure the Queen never told you that.”

crapcrapcrapcrap. Caught on the spot, Alex quickly tried to piece together an answer that wouldn’t reveal any of his knowledge from the show. “I… um… I guessed. Yeah. From the name. ‘Changelings’ seems like the sort of name a race of shapeshifters would have, right? Ahahaha…”

The changeling just stared at Alex through eyes half-lidded with doubt as the human laughed awkwardly. “…Uh huh. Well, whatever. You wanted to know the difference between male and female changelings? Simply put, there isn’t one. Other then the ruler, all changelings are exactly the same. A changeling is determined to be male or female depending on what they identify as.”

“I… wait, no.” Alex tried to cut in as his mind fumbled to understand the ramifications of Last Breath’s words. “That doesn’t make any sense! You can’t just have a race without sexes! Reproduction in any species more complex than a single-celled organism requires genetic material contributed from two donors. The idea of magic is easier to buy than this!”

“Magic, huh?” Last Breath laughed once again. That easy mocking laugh was really starting to grate on Alex’s nerves. “You’ve hit the prey on the head.”

“Huh?”

“Changeling saying. Means you got it pretty much right. To start, you need to understand that changelings are unlike almost any creature in existence. We are creatures of magic, which is why we’re able to eat pure energy in a form like love instead of needing to rely on physical matter. Oh, that reminds me, you’re able to eat plants, right? Not a carnivore?”

“Omnivore, actually. Why?”

“We’ll be able to get you some mosses or mushrooms or something to eat once we’ve dried. Anyway, where was I?”

“Creatures of magic,” Alex prodded.

“Right, right,” Last Breath nodded. “As you somehow know, changelings specialize in transformation magic. In order to feed, we might need to transform into a male or female role. It’s just easier for us if there’s no… awkward changes, you might say.”

Alex stroked his chin, pondering the new information. “Alright, I guess that makes sense. But what about reproduction? You can’t intend to tell me that changelings just pop into existence fully formed because magic, can you?”

“Now that would be a sight. Ah, turn here, we’re almost out.” The pair slipped down another corridor, which looked much the same as many of the innumerable corridors they had already passed. Alex knew that Last Breath could be leading him on a merry roundabout romp through the depths of the catacombs and it would look pretty much the same.

Before Alex’s thoughts could get any farther down that path, Last Breath suddenly picked up his pace and Alex saw the tell-tale shine of natural light up ahead. Seeing the changeling trotting up ahead, a wicked smile crossed Alex’s features as he lowered his hands down to the ground in a racer’s stance.

“Ready, and…” At the imagined sound of a gunshot, Alex sprinted towards Last Breath, charging towards the confused changeling. Grinning down at the smaller creature as he passed him, Alex offered his challenge. “Race you.”

Dashing towards the light, Alex heard a loud buzzing as Last Breath’s wings beat fast enough to lift the changeling off the ground, signifying his acceptance of the race. Alex redoubled his efforts as he heard the buzzing closing in on him while his own feet continuously slapped loudly against the floor.

Glancing behind him, Alex noted where Last Breath was flying before tossing his shirt backwards. A wide grin split his face as he heard the changeling curse, followed by a loud crash letting him know his projectile had hit his target and brought the changeling to the ground. Unchallenged, he easily sprinted the last few steps to the exit, raising his arms in the air as he came out into the warm midday sun.

“And we have a winner!” he joyously proclaimed to no one in particular. Laying his pants on the ground, he stared out at the sight of the desiccated Badlands surrounding him. Now that he thought about it, it was strange that such a beautiful land filled with magic like Equestria would have a wasteland like the Badlands in it.

After several moments of silence, he turned back to the cave entrance, now slightly worried. “Hey, Last Breath. You alright in there?” The silence was shattered by a loud buzzing which echoed out of the cave, followed immediately by a black streak launching out of the cave entrance and slamming itself into Alex’s midriff.

Alex let out a winded “oof” as he crashed heavily to the rocks, his assailant straddling his torso and pinning his arms to the ground. Unsteadily opening his eyes, Alex stared up into the angry visage of a snarling changeling. Flashing an unrepentant grin, Alex spoke up.

“Oh, what’s wrong? Does the poor changeling feel outmatched?”

Last Breath blinked in surprise as the words he had spoken earlier were flung back into his teeth. After a few seconds, a small grin spread across his own face before it widened. The pair lay there several seconds longer, grinning into each other’s faces like idiots.

Maybe, Alex thought, slightly winded. Maybe this isn’t going to be as bad as I had feared.

Alex lay out his wet pants and shirt on a clean-looking rock to dry out in the midday rays. Glancing over at his companion, he smiled when he say that the changeling had stretched out on a flat rock and was basking in the sunlight. Finishing up laying his clothes out, Alex walked over to where the changeling lay. Last Breath looked like he was enjoying himself. Pity he had to put an end to that.

“You never finished answering my question.”

Last Breath cracked open one eye and stared at the human balefully, the changeling’s green eye squinting against the bright sunlight. “You’re not going to just let me just enjoy the sun, are you?”

“Questions first, than whatever you want.”

The reclining changeling released a heavily exaggerated put-upon sigh. “Fine, fine. What do you want to know about?”

“We were talking about how changelings reproduce. If it’s not through sexual reproduction or spontaneous generation, I can’t really think of any other method.”

Last Breath rolled over to get a better look at Alex as the human sat down, the changeling’s expression slightly bemused. “You really can’t let these things go, huh?”

Alex just shrugged. “What can I say? I like to know things.”

“Fair enough.” Last Breath rolled back onto his back, shifting slightly until his wings were laid out evenly on the rock beneath him. “Alright, what’s a good place to start?” He hmmm’d deep in his throat to himself for a few seconds before clicking his tongue. “Ah, that’ll work. You know we changelings feed off love, right?”

“Yeah, I kinda picked that up.” The duh Alex wanted to say went unmentioned.

“Right, right. Anyway, that’s literally all we feed on. And we need more than usual just before we hatch. The ruler, King or Queen, needs to give a great deal of love to the changeling egg. In order for the unborn changeling to get this love, the donor is shoved into one of the collection pods.”

“Um…” Alex cut in, pretty sure he wasn’t going to like the answer but knowing he had to ask anyway. “Donor?”

“Love donor,” Last Breath replied blithely. “Usually a creature we manage to find wandering alone. Though for whatever reason we can only use sentient species like ponies, gryphons, and zebras.”

Yeah, saw that coming. Alex grimaced, trying not to think too hard about the ethical ramifications of what they were talking about. “So you take the… donor… and trap them in one of the pods. Is that anything like that pod I’ve been sleeping on?”

“You have been sleeping on a collection pod, actually. Once a donor is trapped inside, it is virtually impossible for them to escape without outside help. Even Princess Celestia herself needed to be released after the invasion failed.”

“What invasion’s this?” Alex asked, trying not to reveal that he already knew about it.

“It’d probably be better for you to ask the Queen,” Last Breath easily waved the question aside. “I was just a soldier chasing the fleeing ponies. Ah, watching them run was so much fun.” The changeling sighed wistfully, reminiscing over the events of a few weeks prior.

“Right…” Wanting to shift the conversation back to relatively safer waters, Alex tried bringing up one of the strange things that he noticed about the pods. “So is that why all changelings look kinda like ponies?”

Last Breath glanced over at Alex, the slightest hint of confusion on the changeling’s face. Alex’s head was tilted back to better feel the sun’s warmth against his bare skin and he missed his companion’s expression. “Huh? Oh! Oh right. Sure. Yeah, the species of the donor affects what the base changeling will look like. Since the current generation was all taken from ponies, all of us have basic pony characteristics.”

“That makes sense. So what about the young changelings? I don’t think I’ve seen-?” He was cut off as Last Breath sprung to his hooves, the changeling’s wings starting to buzz in the dry air.

“No more questions,” he said, urgency spread across his face. “I’ve just received a message from Queen Chrysalis. She wants to see you right away.”

“Now?” Alex asked, remaining seated on the ground. “But we haven’t dried off yet.” Any complacency Alex might have developed regarding the fearsomeness of the changelings was blown away by the force of the black creature’s single shouted demand.

“NOW!”

“I hope I didn’t interrupt anything.”

“Even if you had, Your Majesty, being in the presence of your magnificence more than makes up for it.”

Alex remained silent as the changelings talked until Last Breath struck him in the knee. “Huh? Oh, no, no of course not. Being in your presence is always a,” he swallowed loudly once before finishing somewhat lamely, “…pleasure.”

In truth, Alex was far more distracted by looking around the room they stood in. The cavern Chrysalis had called them to was absolutely massive, the light cast by Chrysalis’ horn fading and dying into the darkness. Far, far above him, he was unable to make out even the faintest hints of where he knew the ceiling had to be, only seeing a roof of inky blackness.

The walls were even stranger. Riddled with hexagonal holes in the wall, it reminded him of nothing more than a giant honeycomb, with each hole large enough to hold a fair-sized human. Most of the holes were covered up with some strange green material, and some closer to where he stood looked… fresh? Before he could get a closer look, Last Breath’s voice interrupted him.

“How are you holding up, my Queen?”

“Not well at all, my little changeling,” Chrysalis admitted. She looked tired and weary, and a part of Alex feared she might just collapse on the spot. “It’s a hard, thankless job, but I know it needs to be done.”

Last Breath slowly walked over next to her and gave his wings a single, quick beat, brushing them up against Chrysalis’ hole-filled forelegs. “We’re all very thankful that you do it, my Queen.”

Chrysalis smiled gratefully at his reassurance before turning back to the human before her. “And what of you? How are you finding your time here?”

“It’s very interesting, Your Majesty. I-” Alex said before Chrysalis cut him off.

“Please,” the Queen interrupted with a frown, “don’t bother lying to me. I can hear your heartbeat, hear the way it speeds up when you lie. I command you to speak freely. There’s no room for lies, not in this place.”

Alex glanced around the giant cavern. What’s so special about this place? “Alright. When I first met you, I was terrified. I saw monstrous creatures that made me fear for my life. Now?” He sighed. “After only a single day, I’m seeing something different. Something I didn’t expect.”

He waved his hand vaguely in Last Breath’s direction. “I see a friend. Instead of fear, now I have something a little more complicated. And,” his gaze turned to her, hardening into a glare, “I think you did that intentionally.” His hands balled into fists at his sides. “I’m not stupid. I know you deliberately set him to befriend me. There’s too many things I don’t understand, too many questions that I want answered. But right now, there’s only one question that matters.” He stabbed at the air with his finger, nearly poking her in the chest. “What do you want from me?”

Chrysalis remained silent, staring at the extended finger with an expression saying she would bite it off if it came too close. Alex refused to back down, extending his finger until it brushed up against her carapace. In the end, Last Breath broke the frozen moment by rubbing his wing against Chrysalis’ leg.

“He’s right, my Queen. It wouldn’t hurt any to let him know.”

Chrysalis’ wings buzzed angrily for a second before she conceded the point. “Very well. But not now. There is one thing more he needs to know.”

Alex stepped forward, angrily grabbing for her neck. “Now wait just a moment here!” Her horn flashed brightly and he felt himself struck as if by a heavy weight. Knocked backwards, he flew for several feet before crashing heavily on the floor.

“DO NOT FORGET WHO YOU ARE DEALING WITH, WORM!” Her enraged voice echoed repeatedly within the cavern, seeming to feed on itself to become louder and louder. Alex crawled away from the furious monarch as green flames licked her sides and mane. But the flames covering her body were nothing compared to the heat of the fires within her eyes.

Last Breath sprinted past her and hurriedly helped Alex to his feet. “Run.” The pair fled for the exit, the unmoving queen watching their fleeing forms.

After they had left, Chrysalis released the flames and collapsed to the floor. Slightly panting for breath, she stared out at the honeycomb walls surrounding her. The anger of a moment ago had vanished, and all that remained was the crushing despair in her heart. Her gaze turned to the back of the room, invisible even to her eyes in the deep darkness.

“It’s the only thing I can do. And yet… is it worth it?”

If she was waiting for a response, she didn’t receive one.

Friend...?

Alex and Last Breath ran as fast as they could through the twisting halls of the changeling hive, not stopping until they reached the relative safety of Alex’s room. Both gasped for air, desperately struggling to catch their breaths.

“I can’t… believe… you did that,” Last Breath wheezed out, referring to the way Alex had recklessly stood up to Chrysalis down below. “What happened to the coward I saw this morning?”

Alex just shook his head, leaning his shoulder against the wall. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “Something just rose up in me, I guess. I don’t know how to describe it, but it was like I was riding a wave of emotion. There was just something about that room, you know? Something that I could feel deep within me.”

The changeling gave him a funny look, having finally managed to steady his breathing. “That makes sense,” he mused.

Alex picked up on the changeling’s muttered response and gave him a suspicious glare. “What makes sense?”

“You didn’t notice? Well, you’ll figure it out.”

“Oh, come ON!” Alex threw his hands up in the air, finally fed up with the entire situation. “I’ve had just about enough of this. Every time I ask a question, you either dodge it or deflect it. When am I going to get some real answers?”

“I don’t know,” Last Breath admitted, awkwardly rubbing a hoof into the stone floor. “I only know what Her Majesty tells me.” In truth, Last Breath felt conflicted. He knew exactly what Chrysalis wanted Alex to know, but was under orders to not tell him until the appropriate time. But Alex had called him a friend, down there in that room.

While Alex’s heart may have been affected by the residual magic that still lingered in that special room from the original makers, it couldn’t force anyone to say something they disagreed with. Friend. To a changeling, a friend was something rarer than gold, more valuable than love, without price, without compare.

He needed some time to think about this.

“Anyways, I bet the Queen is pretty mad at you. You should try and get some sleep, and I’ll see you in the morning.”

“What?” Alex was confused. It couldn’t be that late, could it? “Wait, no, it’s still early afterno-” The rest of his sentence was left unsaid as Last Breath turned towards him, the changeling’s horn flashing brightly.

“Sleep.”

“GOOD MORRRRRNING!”

“GAH!”

Alex felt a hoof shove hard into his side, pushing him off the pod and onto the hard ground below. Grumbling slightly as he peered over his now empty bed into the cheerful face of Last Breath, the changeling’s face sharply outlined by the light cast from his glowing horn.

“This is going to be a thing with you, I can tell.” Alex complained.

Last Breath grinned unrepentantly, the changeling’s fangs flashing brightly in the green light. “Wake up on the wrong side of the pod, did we?” he asked, his teasing voice reverberating slightly in the small room.

“And whose fault is that?” Alex grumbled as he climbed to his feet, but the changeling’s grin only broadened.

“Aw, don’t be like that. Here, maybe this’ll make you feel better.” From behind the changeling floated a flattened rock covered in sliced and roasted mushrooms. Alex’s irritation faded away at the sight of the plate of food, as he realized he hadn’t eaten anything since his arrival two days ago. “I made you breakfast.”

Grabbing the rock and resting it on his legs as he sat on the pod, Alex grabbed a handful of the mushrooms and shovelled them into his mouth. The taste exploded in his mouth, and he nearly choked on it before forcing himself to swallow. “My god…” he whispered, “this is delicious!” Grabbing a smaller handful, he turned to his companion, who was watching him eat with interest. “You made this? It’s amazing! How are you such a good cook? I thought changelings didn’t eat anything but love?”

“It’s not that special,” Last Breath said demurely as Alex devoured the mushrooms. “Most changelings are good cooks. We don’t cook for ourselves, but for others. ‘The fastest way to their heart is through their stomach,’ my old teacher used to tell me, and… Are you finished already?”

Grinning bashfully, Alex held out the empty plate. “Seconds?” he asked hopefully.

Several minutes and three more plates of food later, Alex was finally satisfied. Dropping the flat rock on the floor, he patted his full belly. “That was great,” he sincerely complimented. “I never had anything like this back where I came from. If all changelings can cook like this, you guys should open up a restaurant chain or something because sheesh, that stuff is good.”

Last Breath smiled in amusement, pushing the rock to the side of the room. “Who would eat at a restaurant run by a changeling? Everypony would think we put some sort of poison in the food or something.” His wings buzzed at his sides before he stilled them, his large multifaceted eyes sizing the human up. “You know, this is the first time you’ve mentioned the place where you come from. What was it like?”

Alex hesitated, not sure of how much he could safely reveal. If the changelings ever invaded his world, he didn’t want them to know what sort of defences the humans had. Instead, he decided to talk about his family. The conversation drifted, as it always did whenever he talked about his family, to his baby sister. She was only eight years younger than he was, but she would always be his baby sister to him.

While he was talking, Alex noticed Last Breath giving him an odd look. Odd for a changeling, even. “Something wrong?” he asked, cutting his own story off.

Last Breath rubbed at his ear, playing at the hole in it. He looked uncomfortable, like he was trying to hide a great secret. “It’s… nothing. Don’t worry about it. You wouldn’t like it anyway.”

Alex gently slapped the changeling on the back of the head. “Well, now I have to know.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and smiling encouragingly. “Don’t worry, I won’t get mad.”

Rubbing at the back of his head, Last Breath looked up at Alex. “Well…” he hesitated before sighing in defeat. “Alright. It’s just that listening to you talk is a little strange, that’s all.”

“Strange?” Alex repeated, tilting his head curiously. “How so?”

“How can I say this…?” Last Breath muttered, rubbing awkwardly at his ear again. “I’m just used to sensing emotions from creatures when I talk to them. Regardless of what they are, I can still sense what they’re feeling. But with you, I don’t feel you at all. Even though I hear the love for your family in your voice, I can’t feel it at all. It’s like you’re not even there.” He gave his head a little shake. “It’s freaky.”

“Mmm,” Alex grunted, not really sure how to respond. Hearing that a creature that looked like a pony crossed with a bug found him weird was a strange feeling. “Well, um…” he cast around, trying to change the conversation. There wasn’t much on the empty room, but his eyes landed on the murals that were carved onto every space of the surrounding walls. “Hey, that’s right,” he said, standing up and walking over to the carvings. “I never did get a good look at these.” Under the light coming from Last Breath’s horn, he was finally able to see the carvings that he had been unable to see when he had first woken up. A single image was shown, even though it took up the entire room.

The mural was divided into two halves, with a large blank space between the two. Despite this, they were undoubtedly connected. On the right side, there was a large group of horse-like creatures with both wings and horns. Some of them were walking while others were flying, but they were all headed in the same direction. Their heads down and expressions of sorrow on their faces, one and all they were headed for the far right of the mural.

The only exception was the one at the back of the herd. Larger than any of the others, it was also posed differently. One hoof was raised for a step towards the right of the mural, but her head was turned around so she was looking towards the left side. The expression on its face was filled with sorrow, as if it was taking one final look at what lay on the left half before following after the others. There was a small crack in her eye, and it was through this crack that the water that Alex had drunk from flowed through. Despite the constantly running water, there were no signs of erosion on any part of the carving. How many years had the figure been crying?

“What is this?” Alex asked, walking over to look at the left side of the carving. Unlike the right side with its several dozen figures, this side only had two. Both of them had wings and horns, and they were curled up next to each other. Their eyes were closed and the seemed to be leaning against each other. Something about the way they were carved made them look like they were younger than the ones walking away. A carving of an egg lay beneath the two, oddly patterned with spots and stripes.

“I don’t know,” Last Breath admitted, walking up beside Alex. “The Queen is the only one who knows, and she won’t explain. It was like this when we first got here a few weeks ago.”

Alex blinked, glancing down at his shorter companion “Huh? I thought this place was an ancient changeling hive or something. At least, that’s what Chrysalis said.”

Shrugging uncomfortably, Last Breath brushed against Alex’s leg with his wing. “That’s what she says, but I had never heard of this place before we arrived. Heck, if we hadn’t been launched here after the wedding, we probably would never have found this cave. There was no mention of it in the records back in the old hive, and we’ve always kept records of every hive in existence as well as their eventual fate. Trust me, my old teacher made me read through ever one of those records until I could recite them perfectly with my eyes closed. Unfortunately, we had to leave all our records behind when we escaped from the gryphons, or I could show you.”

The two silently looked at the carving for several minutes in silence, as if they could make it reveal its secrets through intense staring.

A few hours later, the pair were once again outside in the morning sunlight. The carving had remained stubbornly silent, and they had eventually given up on it. Alex passed the time by shadowboxing, stripped bare to the waist, while Last Breath lay sprawled out on a nearby rock with his wings spread wide and his hooves curled up on his chest. Eventually tiring of the exercise, Alex picked up his shirt and used it to wipe the sweat off his brow as he walked over to his lounging companion. “You look like you’re having fun.”

“There’s not much sun underground,” Last Breath said without opening his eyes. “I want to enjoy these moments of peace while I still can.”

Alex hesitated, his shirt frozen in the moment of dabbing against his temple. “What do you mean ‘while you still can?’ Breath, what are you hiding from me?”

Last Breath flinched slightly, knowing he had revealed too much. “I’m sorry Alex, but I can’t tell you yet. Please, just trust me for now.”

Folding his legs beneath him, Alex sat heavily next to the changeling. “Fine, but my patience is wearing thin. You better tell me soon.”

“Don’t worry. As soon as the Queen allows it, I intend to tell you everything I can.”

Alex glanced down at Last Breath, catching on to what the changeling hadn’t quite said. That, for whatever reason, Chrysalis didn’t want him to know this secret. And that there was another secret that she refused to tell him until he learned this one. Urgh. What a headache the whole situation was. Alex massaged at his temples. “Alright, so is there anything else about the changelings you can tell me?”

“Well, there is one thing that might interest you. You know how tough our carapaces are? Actually, it’s easier to just show you.” Rolling to his hooves, he held out a single hole-riddled foreleg in front of Alex. “Here. Pull this.”

“Alright…” Not sure what the changeling was getting at, but willing to play along, Alex grabbed the leg firmly and gave it a sharp tug.

“Harder.”

Bracing himself against the ground, Alex yanked on the leg as hard as he could while still sitting down.

“Harder!”

Climbing to his feet, Alex jerked on the leg again, putting a little more force into the pull.

“HARDER!”

Putting his full body weight into it, Alex wrenched at the leg as hard as he could. A horrible ripping sound filled the air, and Alex suddenly found himself crashing to the ground as all resistance vanished. Slightly dazed from the impact, he looked at the leg still held in his grip before his sluggish mind realized what had happened. Horrified, he looked over at Last Breath, where the changeling was writhing on the ground.

“Arrgh!” the changeling screamed, clutching at the stump where his leg had been. “Too hard! You pulled too hard!”

“Last Breath!” Alex shouted, throwing the torn-off leg aside and rushing to the changeling’s side. “I’m sorry! I’m so, so sorry! I didn’t- Is there anything I can do?”

“Well…” Without warning, he flashed his fangs up at Alex in an undeniable smile, his green eyes twinkling merrily. “Could you give me a hand?”

“What.”

Last Breath laughed openly at the expression on Alex’s face. “Haha. I’m kidding. Alright, I’ll go get it.” Leaving the somewhat shocked human behind, Last Breath flew down to where his leg had landed. Grabbing it in his mouth, his fangs helping to hold it, he flew back up to where Alex waited.

Alex’s mouth worked at the air as he saw the changeling buzzing up to him, unable to say anything until he finally managed to squeeze a single word out. “What?”

Spitting the leg out onto the ground to free his mouth, Last Breath brandished his leg stump at the human, a small amount of green ichor starting to drip from the wound. “You remember when I told you changelings were creatures of magic? Well, I meant it literally. You see?” Last Breath wiped away at the leaking ooze, revealing nothing but more ooze underneath. “No skeleton.”

“Guh.” Alex replied unintelligently, still trying to wrap his mind around what had just happened.

Taking his response as acceptance, Last Breath picked up his leg and tried to slot it back into place. “You probably figured that much out already, since it would be impossible for our bodies to have a skeletal structure like most animals with these holes getting in the way. If it wasn’t for our innate magic holding us together, we’d probably just collapse into heaps on the ground, even with our exoskeletons and-”

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?” Alex had finally mastered his tongue, and was ready to take out all his rage and confusion on the changeling in front of him. Last Breath fumbled from the force of the human’s exclamation, dropping his leg in the dirt.

“What?” Last Breath stared at Alex in shock. He genuinely hadn’t expected such a strong reaction from the human. Slight annoyance at being made the butt of a joke, sure, but this was completely unexpected. “It was just a joke. You know? Haha?”

“It wasn’t funny.” Alex turned away from Last Breath, showing his back to the changeling. “You scared me. You really did.”

“I…” Last Breath didn’t know what to say. Any changeling would have seen through it instantly, and nobody he had ever met would have cared the slightest about his changeling form. He could only say what he thought. “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”

Alex glared back at the changeling, an earnestly contrite expression on Last Breath’s face. Looks like he means it. “I’ll forgive you if you promise never to scare me like that again.”

“I…” Last Breath hesitated, trying to figure out how to word his statement, since he didn’t want to lie anymore than he had to. “I promise to never scare you like that for a joke again.”

Alex flashed his teeth in a smile, letting Last Breath know his apology was accepted before turning his body around so he was facing the changeling. “Alright, then go ahead.”

“Huh?” Last Breath was caught flat-hooved by the sudden apparent change of topic, but Alex just waved for him to continue.

“The lesson, the lesson. What you got me to tear your leg off in the first place for.” Alex reached down picked up the discarded leg on the ground, passing it off to its rightful owner.

“Oh! Right. Um…” Last Breath cast his mind back as he accepted his leg back, trying to remember what he had said last. “When we transform, our magic automatically makes us into a perfect replication of the creature we’re copying. Our carapace turns into flesh, and bones and internal organs form on their own.”

“Hang on,” Alex interrupted. “You don’t have any internal organs either? But then how do you breathe if you don’t have lungs? And couldn’t you eat normal food when you’re transformed?”

Last Breath fumbled with his leg as he tried to answer. “We don’t actually need to breathe when we’re in our normal forms. Our scientists and philosophers think that it’s just an ingrained memory back from when the changelings were first created. And our bodies just reject any sort of normal food, no matter what form we’re in.” He smiled to himself as his leg slipped into place. “There we go, I- no, no that’s not right.”

“Huh.” Alex stroked at his chin, noticing he was starting to develop a bit of a beard, until another question occurred to him. “So changelings can only copy other creatures? You can’t… I dunno… just free-form it?”

“Oh for- Now it’s upside down. Hmm? Oh, more experienced changelings are able to mix traits of creatures that they have copied before.” He smiled wistfully. “I remember one of my old friends used to love parading around as an orange minotaur with a dragon’s tail and teeny-tiny pegasus wings. When I once asked him why he did that, he told me; ‘because everyling always does a double-take whenever they see me.’”

Alex laughed with Last Breath, the sheer ridiculousness of the image coming up sharp and vivid in his mind’s eye. “Sounds like a real character. Where is he now?”

Last Breath sobered up immediately, the changeling’s fond smile being replaced by a tiny sad frown. “He… died. About a week ago.” Alex didn’t know how to respond to the changeling’s wistful tone, and the pair sat in awkward silence until Last Breath finally managed to slip his leg into place.

“Ah, that’s it.” Lowering his face down to the crack in his leg, Last Breath opened his mouth as wide as he could. Alex watched in revolted fascination as green slime leaked from the changeling’s mouth, covering the broken leg within seconds.

Bringing his teeth together with an audible ‘clack,’ Last Breath bit off the trail of slime and swallowed down the ooze that had been left in his mouth. Wiping the leftover slime from his chin with his uninjured forehoof, Last Breath patted down the gunk on his leg and wiped away the excess.

“Um… ew.” Alex said, wrinkling his nose.

Glancing up, Last Breath smirked at the disgusted expression on Alex’s face. “Knowledge isn’t pretty, is it?” he asked teasingly. Carefully cradling his incapacitated leg, Last Breath lay back down on the rock shelf, stretching out in the warm sunlight. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I want to enjoy the sun.”

A few hours later, the sun had started to dip behind the mountains, and Last Breath finally climbed back to his hooves. His leg had already healed, but he gave it a slight shake to test it before he was willing to put any weight on it. Satisfied that it was secure, he walked over to where Alex was dozing and jabbed the human just under his ribcage with the pointed horn that adorned his forehead.

“HEY!”

“Come on, bright-eyes, you can’t sleep out here.” Turning, Last Breath heading for the entrance to the changeling hive, knowing Alex would follow him. “It gets ridiculously cold at night. Let’s go inside.” Both of them yawning, they stumbled their way into the caverns. Last’s Breath’s horn flared, once again lighting up the dark catacombs.

The pair made their way towards Alex’s room in silence until Alex spoke up. “Hey Breath?”

“Yeah?”

“Have you ever thought about what you’re going to do later? Like, in the future?” Alex asked, his hand pressing lightly against the changeling’s back.

Last Breath glanced up at the taller human, noting the unusual display of friendliness. Assuming humans must be similar to ponies in their need for physical contact, he gently beat his wings, brushing them against Alex’s leg like he had done for the Queen the day before. “…I haven’t,” he admitted. “I’ve… never really put any thought into what I’m going to do in the future. I guess it never really seemed important. Why?”

Turning down another passageway, the duo saw the entrance to Alex’s room ahead of them. “Because,” Alex said as they went inside, “one day, I hope to return home. But I don’t know how to get there. I was wondering, if it’d be alright with you, I mean, if you could maybe come with me. To find a way to get me home.”

Watching the human lie down on the collection pod, Last Breath stared at him in disbelief. “I… do you really mean that? You would want me to come along” At Alex’s nod, Last Breath gave him a single sad smile. “In that case, nothing would make me happier.”

“Then I’ll be looking forward to it.” After saying that, Alex’s breath slowed and evened out, until he was deeply asleep. Last Breath’s horn flickered out, and the changeling quietly walked to the doorway.

Turning back once he reached the exit, Last Breath looked back into the room, his changeling eyes able to see the sleeping human even in the complete darkness. Rubbing his tongue against one of his fangs, he smiled slightly, looking forward to how the words he was about to say would taste on his tongue.

“Sleep well, my friend.”

The First Few Pebbles Fall

Last Breath quietly made his way through the hallways of the changeling hive, a plate of roasted mushrooms floating along behind him. His hoofsteps echoed through the nearly empty corridors, and his mind wandered back to when the catacombs had been filled with changelings. Had it only been a couple of weeks? His memories were already becoming… hazy. Indistinct. He could feel them slipping away from him, just like they had before, and knew there was nothing he could do to stop it.

His steps leading him to the room of the newest arrival to the hive, he took a moment to stop and consider the past few days. Everything had changed when Alex had arrived, and yet… nothing had changed at all, had it? Fate would not be denied. The Queen had been right.

Alex stirred slightly as Last Breath gave him a gentle nudge; the changeling’s hoof slightly sinking into his side. Last Breath poked a little harder and Alex gradually awoke, the human reaching around blindly in the smothering darkness.

“Breath? That you? I can’t see a thing. What’s going on?”

“Here.” The plate of food floated into Alex’s outstretched fingers, which he grabbed onto before sitting up. “There’s… something I need to ask you,” Last Breath hesitated before blindly charging forward. “Did you mean it? When you called me your friend a couple days ago, did you mean it?”

Having just tossed a mushroom into his mouth, Alex had to take a moment to swallow it before he answered. “What are you getting at, Breath? Of course I meant it. You’re my only friend out here, and I’m glad I met you.”

Last Breath smiled at his friend’s reassurance, also glad to have met the strange human. “Thank you. I’m glad to hear you say that.” The changeling moved slightly, bumping up against Alex’s legs. “When you’re finished, there’s something I need to tell you.”

“What is it?” Alex asked, his voice slightly muffled because of a mouthful of food. “You can’t just tell me now?”

“No,” Last Breath replied, his voice slightly weak. “I want to be outside when I tell you. Last night, I got permission from Queen Chrysalis to answer your question.”

“Which question was that?” Alex asked, picking a mushroom off the plate.

“What makes me different from all the other changelings you’ve seen throughout the hive.”

Alex’s hand came down to rest on Last Breath’s back as he put the half-eaten plate of food aside. He knew that a part of Last Breath didn’t want to tell him this secret, but the changeling wanted to tell him anyway. Waiting would just make the inevitable explanation worse. There was no point in putting it off.

“Then let’s go.”

Shortly afterwards, the pair sat side-by-side on the cold rock outside in the morning sunlight. Last Breath had been unwilling to light the cave with his horn and had led Alex through the corridors by touch, the human’s hand resting on his back the entire way. When they reached the exit, the changeling had sat down and gestured for Alex to sit next to him.

The sun was just starting to peek over the far-off Macintosh Hills when they arrived, bringing light and the illusion of life to the Badlands. The duo remained silent, watching as the sun slowly climbed up into the sky. When the sun had gone high enough that it no longer appeared to touch the mountaintops, Last Breath finally spoke up.

“I’ve always loved the sun, you know.” Taking Alex’s silence as an invitation to explain, Last Breath continued. “You probably think that’s strange for a creature that lives underground, don’t you?”

Alex quietly weighed his options before responding. “A few days ago, I might have. But now…” Tilting his head back, Alex stared up at the warm, life-giving orb high above them. “Now I’ve started to think of you as an exception to your race. Is that why Chrysalis set you to watch over me? Because you’re different?”

To Alex’s surprise, Last Breath just laughed humourlessly, almost sounding like he was choking on something. The choking laughter continued until Alex began to worry about his friend’s safety before it abruptly cut off.

“Different? Oh, that’s rich.” Last Breath’s voice was full of bitterness when he spoke, like he was cursing the very idea. “You’re wrong. Ah, how wrong you are. In fact, a lot of changelings enjoy lying out in the sun.” His head tilted backwards, his eyes staring up into the mighty sun. “It’s a pity. I’m sorry I could never show you what my species is really like.”

“Last Breath?” Alex asked, resting one hand on an upraised knee as he turned to look at his oddly acting friend. “What are you talking about?”

“You want to know what makes me different from all the other changelings? You’re asking the wrong question. A better question would be ‘what are changelings?’ Let me explain.” Inhaling deeply, Last Breath prepared to reveal the secret he had been hiding.

“You remember when I told you that changelings are creatures of magic? What do you think that means? Does it mean that we can live without food or water? Does it mean that it’s almost impossible for us to be killed? Does it mean that it’s impossible for us to live in a normal society, always forced to be on the outside looking in? Only able to live a lie if we want to have something other than the hive?”

The changeling laughed mirthlessly, his shoulders shaking slightly while Alex watched him in concern. “It would be simple if that was the case, wouldn’t it, Alex? We’re powered by magic, by the energy of love. A cruel joke, don’t you think? Only able to live on love, but who could love something like us?”

“I tried once, you know,” Last Breath admitted, staring down at the ground. “I left the hive. Several years ago, I told the Queen that I wanted to see more of the world, that I wanted to try living with some ponies and earn the love I needed instead of always stealing it.”

“What did she say?” Alex asked, leaning in as he listened to the story.

Last Breath almost glanced over at Alex before turning to look up at the sky instead. “I know what you’re thinking. You think that she would refuse me. Well, you’re wrong. You may only see a power-hungry despot, but to us, she is our mother. Our Queen. She tried to talk me out of it, but when that didn’t work, she gave me enough energy to survive on my own for three months and told me of a good small town that was mostly secluded from the rest of Equestria.”

“I was… happy, then.”Last Breath’s voice turned wistful as he recounted the time he had spent with the ponies. “I can’t even remember the name of the town, but I do remember the friends I made. They thought I was a pegasus by the name of Sky High.” He laughed bitterly. “They never knew what, who, I really was, and I could never tell them.”

“It broke my heart, having to hide from them. Slowly, I started to drift away, started to seclude myself more and more. One day… I slipped up.” Last Breath lay down on the ground, resting his head on his forelegs as he continued to recount his tale.

“Because I had stopped spending time with them, I stopped receiving love from them. I didn’t even realize it, but I gradually starved myself. When a changeling becomes love-starved, our higher thought functions shut down. We act only on instinct, lashing out in order to obtain love through force.”

“How can you get love through force?” Alex asked quietly.

In response, Last Breath bared his teeth. “These fangs aren’t just for show. Piercing the flesh of our victim, we suck out their blood. It’s the only time we can ingest anything material. Normally, anything we eat is simply stored within our body until we purge it. But taking blood is not a simple process. It’s a very traumatic experience. For both the changeling and the victim.”

Catching something in Last Breath’s voice, Alex knew he had to ask the lead-in question. “Who was it?”

Last Breath remained silent for several minutes before he finally responded. “A unicorn. Her name was Dazzle Day. She was my closest friend, and… I think she may have wanted to become something more. I met her as Sky High and lured her into my house, and there…” Alex put his hand on Last Breath’s shoulder as the changeling trailed off, silently supporting Last Breath.

“I transformed in front of her and attacked her.” Last Breath’s voice was empty and emotionless as he described what had happened. “When I came to, she was unconscious and bleeding heavily. I fled. I’ve never once looked back.”

“The Queen had known that would happen. I found out afterwards that I wasn’t the first changeling to try and leave the hive. It always ended poorly. Without exception, the changeling would starve and go mad. Some were caught. Some took their own lives. Without Queen Chrysalis, starvation always leads to madness.”

“Chrysalis?” Alex asked, confused. “What does she have to it?”

“Everything. Without her calming presence, we become ravaging monsters. She’s able to telepathically sooth us, control us. Prevent us from lashing out blindly at everything around us. It’s the second last role of our leader, has been that way for as long as the changelings have existed. But… even with her, starvation only leads to one thing.”

Alex swallowed, realizing what his odd friend was getting at. “Death.”

Last Breath nodded. “Yes. After we succumb to the starvation, we only have a little while left to live. It can be as short as a few days, or as long as a few months. It all depends on the individual.”

Alex’s finger’s tightened their grip on Last Breath’s shoulder. “Breath, you’re starting to scare me.” Increasing the strength of his grip, Alex pulled Last Breath’s shoulder, turning the changeling around to face him. “What are you-?” Alex gasped in shock when he made eye contact with the changeling, his hand falling loose and free.

Where the changeling’s eyes had once been clear and green, their reptilian slits taking in all that they saw, now they were becoming lost in a murky sea of crystalline blue. The pupils were faded, barely visible behind the same blue mirror that Alex had seen in the eyes of every other changeling except Chrysalis. Last Breath’s head fell back on his forehooves and he slowly looked up on the sky.

“I… don’t have much longer. I wish I could have helped you find a way home, but it looks like this is it for me.”

Alex scooted next to Last Breath and pulled the changeling into a tight hug. Last Breath returned the hug, his head resting on Alex’s shoulder.

“Could you stay with me?” Last Breath begged, his hooves wrapping around Alex’s torso. “I’m scared.”

Alex strode through the changeling catacombs, a tiny crackling green flame in his hand giving him just enough light to see where he was going. He had sat with Last Breath for hours, until the changeling’s green eyes had completely disappeared behind the deep crystal blue and the changeling no longer responded to anything Alex did.

Last Breath had said that the flame which Alex now held was supposed to lead him to Queen Chrysalis. Unfortunately, the energy required to make it had been enough to push Last Breath over the edge, and he had succumbed shortly afterwards. Alex had left the unresponsive changeling staring up at the noonday sun, and now followed the gentle tug of the flickering flame as it led him ever deeper into the catacombs. It had seemed like there was still a little left of his friend in that nearly-empty shell.

Eventually, his steps slowed as he heard the sound of music coming from ahead of him. As he followed the trail of the song, the green fire he held in his hands sputtered and died.

Your life has been just perfect,
I’ve been with you, watching over you since you were small.
You’ve always been at my side, someling with who I always could confide.
Your life has really did have meaning after all.

As the song trailed off, the unseen singer closing the lamination, he finally reached the source of the melody. It was the same large room he had met Chrysalis in only a couple days earlier. Chrysalis herself stood alone in the empty room, standing over an unmoving changeling with her horn aglow, singing down to it. As he watched, she lifted the changeling onto her back and carefully carried it to one of the many open cells that lined the walls.

Gently slipping it down to the ground, she stepped out of the cell. She remained quiet and unmoving for several minutes until Alex nearly made his presence known, but then she bowed her head and stepped towards the changeling. Green ooze dripped from her mouth as she began to create a wall at the entrance of the cell, sealing the changeling inside, and Alex finally realized the purpose of the room.

It was a morgue.

Each of those countless sealed cells contained a deceased changeling, both recent and ancient. Chrysalis finished sealing the cell and stood back, looking over her handiwork. Her voice drifted over to the entrance of the room where Alex stood.

“I know you’re there,” she said. “Come here.”

Knowing she was talking to him, Alex slipped away from the doorway and stood by her side. They stood together, staring at the gateway sealing in the latest addition to the tomb.

“Who was he?” Alex asked, lifting his hand and almost touching the wall before he thought better of it and lowered his hand again.

Chrysalis dropped her head until her forehead pressed against the slowly-solidifying gooey wall, her horn sinking into it. “She was Bright Carapace, my personal maid. She was like a sister to me, and had been my closest friend since before I became Queen.” Turning, Chrysalis walked past several cells, listing off names as she went.

“Cold Steel. He had been opposed to the invasion of Canterlot, but served as a commander despite his misgivings. Black Ribbon. He had always had a kind heart, and would always befriend lonely children whenever he was sent out on love collection missions. Mis Givings. She had a harrowing birth, accidently killing her donor, and always refused to leave the hive unless someling was with her.”

Stopping her recount, Chrysalis turned to Alex. “If you’re down here alone, it means that Last Breath has succumbed.” At Alex’s nod, the Queen sighed. “I was afraid of that. That’s what his name meant, you know. He was the last breath of the changelings.”

Seeing the expression on Alex’s face, Chrysalis smiled slightly. “Ah, you don’t understand, do you? Then let me tell you a story. A few months ago, my people fled the Gryphon Empire. The gryphons had nearly discovered us, and we knew we had to leave before they found us. The closest land was this one, Equestria. Our ancient tales told us to never enter this land, but we came anyway. I didn’t know why the tales warned us away at the time, but I do now.”

“Most of my minions succumbed to the starvation while we traveled, losing themselves behind those empty blue eyes. I knew that we had to take drastic measures, or there would soon be many deaths. I proposed an invasion of the capitol, and after some argument, we marched on Canterlot.”

“We lost, but I was able to get plenty of love from Prince Shining Armor before our defeat. I’ve been giving it to my changelings, trying to help them live as long as possible. But now…” The Queen’s head drooped, her mane falling in front of her eyes. “I’ve used it all up. They have slowly been dying ever since the invasion failed, and they will die even faster now. I will bury all my children as they die, then I too will perish. Only, no one will be left alive to bury me.”

“Hokay, this is getting depressing,” Alex interrupted, cutting Chrysalis off. “Then what about me? Where do I fit into all this?”

Chrysalis laughed, a slight girlish giggle. “You? When you showed up, I nearly gave thanks to any gods that might have been listening. Here you were, a creature simply falling into in my clutches that I could drain for love to save some of my minions. But like a cruel joke, we couldn’t drain you.”

“But then why did you take care of me?” Alex asked, pinching the bridge of his nose. This is getting to be a bit too much for me. “You gave Last Breath enough energy to live for a few days. Why?”

“I don’t really know,” Chrysalis admitted. “I think I wanted for someone to remember us, to remember that we existed. The only ones who know of us are the ponies, and they have watchers to keep us in the Badlands. If we try to leave, they will come with an army to exterminate us. It’s better if we just end quietly. We were never supposed to even exist, after all.”

“Explain.” Alex rubbed at his temples, trying to make the rising headache go away.

“Then I shall tell you another story,” Chrysalis began, her horn flaring as she brightly lit up the room, revealing all the graves around them. “It’s a story I was unaware of before we were flung here, before I found the story etched into the very walls of this hive. Here, the hive of the very first changelings.”

“Let me tell you how the changelings came to be.”

“Eventually, the swarm left to look for other lands,” Chrysalis said, finally concluding her tale. “I don’t know when or why, but one of my predecessors chose to leave this cursed land and seek another country. We’ve been moving from nation to nation ever since, not allowing any to know of our existence until we reached Equestria. And here… we will die. Fitting, don’t you think?”

“And?” Alex asked, rubbing at his eyes. The headache was getting worse, and it was making him progressively grumpier. “What does it matter?”

“I… What?” Chrysalis was completely blindsided by the question. “Were you not listening? The changelings came from-”

“I heard every word.” Alex swung his arm across, cutting her off. “But you know what? It doesn’t matter. You’re just running away!” Lunging forward, he wrapped his hands around her throat. Chrysalis braced her back legs and pushed against him, matching him muscle for muscle.

“Your vassals trusted you!” he shouted into her face. “He trusted you! And you’re just abandoning them so you can feel better!”

“What do you know?” she roared back, jerking her head back and swinging him on her long neck. “You think it was an easy choice? To let them all die? There’s nothing I can do to save them, and it doesn’t matter anyway! We’re going to die here, it’s just our fate!”

“FATE?” He gripped her neck tighter and closed in on her, his nose almost brushing against hers as he continued to scream in her face. “There’s no fate involved! All I see is a pathetic woman who isn’t willing to do what she needs to do! What her people expect her to do! There’s just no reason that’s good enough to abandon those who depend on you! You have responsibilities, responsibilities to your people and responsibilities to yourself!”

They stood still for several minutes, matching each other glare for glare. Eventually, the Queen stepped back, allowing Alex’s limp fingers to slip from around her neck. “Fine, then,” she said coolly, her tightly controlled voice hiding the emotion she had just shown, “and what do you recommend, human?”

Alex remained silent for many long moments while the Queen stared at him before an idea occurred to him. It was a horrible idea, and he knew that if he could, he would give up anything to stop it. But it was the only thing he could think of to save Last Breath.

It was also the only idea he had.

“I… may be able to help.”

Aside: A Peaceful Day for Prey

The sun was quietly setting on the earth pony-centric Dodge City, the residents beginning to pack up and prepare for the night ahead. A full day had passed since the unremarked events occurred in the changeling hive, events which would soon affect the lives of every citizen in the city and would further snowball to shape the fate of the entire nation. But for now, no one was aware of the darkness that was poised to descend on them, going throughout their day in peaceful ignorance.

One pony, by the name of Snap Apple, slowly trundled through the rapidly emptying streets. The nearly empty wagon he hauled coupled with a mostly full bag of bits spoke a silent testament to how well business had been that day. Only a single bushel of apples remained, and he smiled in satisfaction as he thought about how his wife was going to take the news. She had been worried about him going to town by himself, what with all the rumours that had been flying around recently.

“Hey Snap!” Snap turned towards the voice calling his name, and his grin broadened when he saw who it was. A teal earth pony walked up, his alabaster mane and tail fluttering in the wind. The newcomer punched Snap hard in the shoulder by way of greeting, his hoof smacking hard against the other pony’s forest green coat.

“By yourself, huh?” the arrival asked while Snap rubbed at the offended shoulder. “Abby couldn’t make it?”

“Nah, she stayed at home. She’s got to be careful, ya know?”

The teal pony smiled broadly. “Hard to think of it. You, that little farm hick who was always the quietest in our class, a father.” He shook his head sorrowfully. “What is the world coming to?”

“What about you, Corville?” Snap asked, the wheels of the wagon groaning slightly as he pulled the wagon to the side of the road to allow the traffic to pass. “You thought about settling down yet?”

Corville stood up on his rear hooves, flexing his muscles and generally just showing off. “No way. I’m way too much stallion for any mare to handle.”

“Still haven’t found Ms. Right, huh?” Snap asked, rolling his eyes at his friend’s posturing.

Corville dropped down to his hooves, smiling bashfully. “Well, there was that one traveling mare a few weeks back…”

“Didn’t she turn you down flat?” Snap laughed, remembering the story he had heard about in the tavern a couple nights ago. “I think the words Leafy had used to describe it were: “and when he offered to bed her, her blue coat blushed so furiously, Ah thought she was gonna burst into flames” and then she tried to force-feed you that fancy hat she was wearing.”

“Yeah,” Corville sighed wistfully. “She has spunk. When I returned her hat, she told me she was heading to Los Pegasus next, and to come see her some time. But I heard from one of the pegasi that he saw her heading north, so I think she’s playing hard-to-get.”

Snap rolled his eyes at his friend’s obliviousness. Well, so long as he didn’t do anything stupid, there shouldn’t be a problem.

“What about you?” Corville asked, suddenly changing the topic. “I heard a pair of unicorns tried to take your farm a couple days ago.”

Snap waved the question off. “No biggie, ya know? Just a couple of boys with a fancy machine. We chased them off pretty quick once we realized what they wanted. Saw them vanishing off west to Appleoosa.” At Corville’s grimace, Snap gave him a strange look. “What?”

“You haven’t heard, have you?” Corville crept in closer, his voice dropping to a whisper. “There’s been bad rumours comin’ from Appleoosa. Ponies and buffalo have been vanishing, leaving nary a trace behind.”

“You don’t think it’s them changelings, do ya?” Snap asked, his voice lowering as well.

Corville shook his head. “I don’t think so. Our boys have been keepin’ an eye on those buggers, but they’ve been staying in the Badlands, neat and tidy.”

“So what do you think it is?”

“Word on the streets…” Corville paused while Snap leaned in even closer, “that ghoooosts are stealing naughty ponies away.”

Snap just gave Corville a flat look. “Uh huh. And what do you think?”

Corville shrugged. “I dunno. Some say that monsters are prowling the plains, snagging anything they see. Things with multiple heads and more legs then any good creatures should have. Others say the animals are actin’ up, like they know something big’s gonna happen. The wolves were spotted on the move, heading towards Canterlot. Still others say that Nightmare Moon, er, Princess Luna-” That was as far as he got before he got a hoof shoved into his mouth, one very angry earth pony glaring at him.

“Don’t let me hear you speak of the Princess like that again, ya hear?” Snap asked threateningly as he removed his hoof.

Corville spat a few times as he tried to get the taste out of his mouth. “Oh, ick, man. What did you step in?” Glancing down, he noticed something that he hadn’t spotted before. Snap had a black legband wrapped securely around one leg, a small crescent moon wrapped around a brightly shining sun proudly emblazoned on it. “Ah…” he said thoughtfully, “I didn’t know you joined the army.”

Snap lifted his leg, giving Corville a better look at the little legband. After the changeling invasion a few weeks ago, the country had pushed for a standing army to protect the nation’s borders. Princess Celestia had opposed the nobles, saying a full army would be too expensive to maintain for long and that removing the ponypower away from the cities would have a negative effect on the overall economy. It had been Princess Luna who had eventually proposed an alternative.

Volunteers to the army had been given these small bands, which were magically attuned to only be affected by alicorn magic. If either of the sisters wished to call the army, they could summon and teleport anypony wearing one of these legbands to their location. From what Snap had heard, the army was currently sitting at just under 15,000 recruits, though most of them knew almost nothing about actual combat.

“So, what’s it like?”

Snap shrugged at Corville’s query. “Not bad. Show up once or twice a week for training, toss a few apples at some dummies.” At Corville’s smirk, he clarified his point. “Training dummies, so don’t get any smart ideas.”

“Me?” the teal pony asked, radiating innocence. “Why do you think I would get any smart ideas?”

“Because I know you.”

“Harsh but fair,” Corville conceded. Looking up at the sun, he saw that the solar disk had almost reached the horizon. “Alright, I better let you go. Can’t be out after sunset in these dangerous days.”

Looking up at the sun, Snap had to agree. The wheels of the wagon squeaked and groaned as he began pulling the empty wagon toward the farmhouse he called home. “Alright. See you around.”

“Tell Abby I said hi!” Corville shouted as he trotted away. “And let me know when the foal’s born!”

The Invasion Begins

A pair of ponies slowly made their way through the outskirts of the Macintosh Hills, the large moon high above them covering the world in a silvery, muted light. The muffled clanking of their homemade armour scared away most animals in the area, and all they could hear was the wind whistling through the trees. Well, that and the sound of their own loud conversation.

“What, are you kidding?” The speaker, a beige coloured earth pony, glanced sidelong at his companion. “I think you’ve been sniffing the paint chips again, Ronny.”

Ronny Bow glared at the unicorn, her lime green wings fluttering in the cool midnight breeze. “Once. That happened once, Clives. And you never let me forget it.”

Clives Dale nickered softly, pushing a branch out of his path with his shoulder. “Yeah, but what a once it was. The mayor actually ordered you to stay away from his office for a whole year. He still complains to me about finding-”

Ronny hastily cut him off, a slight blush blooming on her cheeks. “Yes, well. I think that’s quite enough of that. But back to what I was saying, I really don’t see the need for us to be out here. The changelings were beaten, they ain’t coming back.”

“Ah, my dear, foolish, foolish, foolish, foolish, foolish-”

“Get to the point,” Ronny said flatly.

“-foolish, foolish, foolish, foolish little cousin. If you thought that, why did you volunteer to patrol the mountains? Oh, no need to answer. I already know it. You’re drawn to my eccentric charm.”

“Ohhhh, don’t even go there.” Ronny ducked as Clives released the branch, the leaves whipping through the air where her head had been a moment ago. “I just thought it would be good exercise. If I had known I’d be stuck dealing with you and your stupid face, I never would have volunteered for this. And I’m not your cousin. The very idea of being related to you… Ugh. It sends shivers down my spine.”

“So let the changelings come! We will crush them beneath our mighty hooves! They will learn that their days are numbered, and that that number is zero!”

“Uh huh.” Whenever Clives got into one of these moods of his, Bonny had learned to just tune him out. They continued down the mountain path, Bonny occasionally catching snippets of phrases like: “-and the ground will run red with their blood! Their blood’s red, right? What do you mean ‘you don’t know?’ Then the ground will run whatever colour their blood is!” or “We will annihilate them! We will crush them into the dirt and bury them in the dust where they belong!”

Eventually tiring of the non-stop natter, Ronney stepped off the path and slipped behind a large boulder. “Hang on a sec, I need to make a pit stop.”

“We will make jelly with their innards and spread it on toast with the sweet butter of justice. Hey, hang on, we shouldn’t split up.” Trying to walk around the boulder, he was forced to retreat under a hail of thrown rocks.

“There is a LADY trying to take a PISS back here! Bugger off!”

“I don’t see any lady,” he grumbled, rubbing at his cheek where a particularly sharp rock had cut him. “Just a crazy mare.” A quiet thud sounded from behind the boulder, like something heavy falling to the ground. “You alright back there?” A slight groan responded after a few seconds’ pause before he heard her voice coming from behind the boulder.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just slipped on a rock.”

“Do you need me to come back there and hold your hoof? OW!” A small rock flew over the boulder and smacked heavily against the modified cooking pot he wore as a helmet.

After a few minutes, Ronney stepped out from behind the boulder, fixing up her armour. “Well?” she asked. “Are you going to keep staring, or are we going to get moving? The sooner I can get home and back to bed, the better. This place is starting to give me the creeps.”

Clives leered at her as they continued to follow the mountain trail. “Well, I agree that bed sounds like a fine idea-“

“Shh,” she gestured for silence with her hoof, staring into the undergrowth. “Did you see that?” Her voice barely broke a whisper, and he had to strain to hear her.

“No,” he hissed back. “What did you see?”

“I don’t know. Come on, we should take a look.” Staying side by side, the pair cautiously entered the leafy brushwood of the forbidding forest. What had seemed like a routine forest check was starting to take a far more disturbing turn. Clives’ imagination began painting changelings in every shadow. Even the slightest movement was a monster preparing to rush out and tear him to shreds.

His fear gave him an emotional high, and it was almost a relief to him when they managed to find a changeling. It brazenly stood out in the open, watching them with those cold, dead eyes he had heard so much about. The moonlight reflected off the monster’s black carapace, giving it a decidedly eerie look. His legs shook slightly at the sight of one of the monsters he had trained so much to fight, but he told himself it was with excitement.

“Ronny,” he said, taking a step forward so he stood between her and it. “Hurry, go tell the commander. He needs to know the changelings are here.” The orders were absolute. If changelings were spotted, they had to let someone know, no matter what.

“And you!” he proclaimed at the unmoving changeling. “You thought you would find an easy meal? Well too bad for you, because you found me instead. And I am the meal of your defeat, smothered in delicious mustard. The mustard of your doom.”

“Actually, I have a better idea.”

Clives felt a tinge of heat warm his back as a bright green light flashed from behind him. Looking around in horror, he saw another changeling standing directly behind him. Bonny’s armour fit loosely on the terrifying monster, and it gave him a smug, fang-filled grin.

He barely had time to scream before they were upon him.

In the Court of the Night, Princess Luna idly played with a piece of string, slouching in the over-large throne. Another quiet night, same as always. It was nice of her sister to arrange for this Night Court, giving Luna an opportunity to reconnect with her subjects after that Nightmare Moon fiasco a few years back. But it didn’t help if nopony ever came to the Night Court, preferring to instead petition Princess Celestia herself during the daytime hours.

Celestia had said that the only way she would be able to get the forgiveness of the citizens of Equestria was to keep trying. Luna understood the wisdom in those words, but it was still hard to remain patient. It was these same feelings of being a poor second to her sister that had allowed Nightmare Moon to control her actions all those years ago. She would occasionally pass the time by slipping into the world of dreams to speak with ponies in their own dreams. She had had a good talk with her sister’s student last night, but now she was bored again.

Luna sighed as she made the string vanish, glancing over at the pair of her guards by the doorway. She was about to proclaim an early end to the Night Court – it wasn’t like anyone would notice if the Night Court stopped entirely – when a loud knock on the door heralded the arrival of the chamberlain.

“Your Majesty,” he said, opening the large double doors just a crack and slipping inside before closing them behind him. “We have- I mean-” Clearing his throat, he pulled himself together. “A petitioner to see the Princess of the Night. Shall I let him in?”

“Yes! I mean…” Slightly flustered, since this was the first time anypony had come to see her since the Court of the Night had begun, she hurriedly ran her hooves through her starry mane. “How do I look?”

“Regal as always.”

Luna allowed herself a small smile as she sat up straight in her throne. “Very good. Then please announce the petitioner.” The chamberlain bowed before slipping back out the doorway.

After a slight pause, he re-entered the throne room, a bedraggled orange pegasus following behind him. The pegasus’ sky blue mane was windswept and unkempt, and he had a wild look to his eyes as he took in the sight of the Princess staring down at him. His cutie mark was a piece of paper with a lightning bolt running through it, and his flanks heaved as he openly panted for breath.

The Chamberlain uneasily cleared his throat. “Will the petitioner-” The pegasus shoved past the Chamberlain, falling to his knees before Princess Luna.

“Please, Your Highness,” he pleaded to the floor, his words stumbling over themselves as they rushed out of his mouth. “Help them! You’ve got to help!”

“Calm yourself, my little pony,” Luna said, trying to think of how Celestia would act in a situation like this. “Help who? Start from the beginning.”

“Beginning. Right.” Taking a deep breath, the pegasus openly tried to calm himself before continuing. From the way his voice shook when he spoke, he didn’t succeed very well. “My name’s Free Flier. I’m a weather pony for Dodge City. I was enjoying a quiet night when I saw it.”

Free Flier hesitated, so Luna spoke up to encourage him. “Do not worry, citizen. You’re safe here. Please tell us, what did you see?”

“I saw,” he shuddered, but bravely continued anyways, “the town was overrun. I had been sleeping out on a cloud, which was probably why they didn’t see me. But I woke up when I heard the screams. When I looked, I saw that the city was ablaze with green flames. We had been warned about the possibility, but nopony really expected it to happen. The changelings invaded us before we even knew they were moving.”

Luna grimaced. She had heard about when the changelings had invaded Canterlot, though she herself had been asleep when it happened. Free Flier continued his story, not noticing the expression on her face.

“All the cloud houses had already been brought down to the ground. I think they wanted to prevent news of the invasion from getting out, and captured the pegasi first. I fled, seeking help. Please, Your Majesty,” he pleaded again. “Please save them.”

“I will,” Luna promised. Turning to the guards as she stepped off her throne, she began to give out orders. “Please see our guest to one of the guest rooms and send word to the rest of the guards and my sister. We will leave within the next three hours.”

“No!” Free Flier protested before hastily backpedaling at the look the Princess of the Night gave him. “I mean… I want to go with you. And can we leave right away? I’m worried about the foals.”

Less than an hour later, Luna and Free Flier were riding on a chariot pulled by the two guards that had been in the courtroom. The moon was approaching the horizon, and Luna knew she would have to stop to lower it before they reached Dodge. The last time she had left it in the sky so she could enjoy the sight, Celestia had given her an earful about ‘cleaning up her clutter’. Luna had blown Celestia off at first, but she had woken up the next evening to find Discord’s statue slipped into her bed.

Celestia had made her point clear.

Luna glanced down at Free Flier, who didn’t seem to notice her appraisal. His head stuck out over the edge of the chariot, watching the ground pass by far below them. She had wanted to leave him behind for his own safety, but he had continually insisted until she accepted his presence. Besides which, she couldn’t rightfully keep him away from his own home.

Her eyes flickering over to where the moon awaited her, Luna considered the events of the past hour. She had left orders with the Chamberlain for a battalion of guards to be outfitted and to follow after her as soon as they were ready. Luna herself was going to try and save the captured foals before the guards arrived, but she hoped they caught up shortly afterwards. She wasn’t sure if she could take the entire army by herself, but the idea of leaving the foals in the clutches of those monsters for a second longer than necessary grated on her heart.

“Are you alright, Your Majesty?” Luna’s ears twitched as the question caught her off guard, and she looked down to see the orange pegasus staring curiously up at her. Luna tried to smile reassuringly, burying her own worry deep within her.

“Yes, I’m fine. I’m just worried about the foals.”

Free Flier sighed and leaned against the side of the chariot, his feathers fluttering in the pre-dawn air. “I know what you mean, Luna. I’m worried about my friends too, of course, but the innocent foals don’t deserve to go through this.”

Luna nodded, silently agreeing. The younger generation had always been precious to her. It was well-known throughout the country that Luna had a soft spot for children of all species. The way Free Flier kept mentioning them made her a little suspicious that he was manipulating her, but it just so happened that she agreed with him. The foals didn’t need to go through this, and she intended to rescue them as soon as possible.

They continued in silence for a while, the bat-like wings of Luna’s guards creating a sharp whistling noise as they sliced through the air. Eventually, Luna called up to them.

“Steady out, please. I need to focus.” The guards nodded slightly, their wings straightening out as they glided through the air. Free Flier looked at her curiously, and Luna answered the question in his gaze. “I need to concentrate on lowering the moon. So I’m going to have to ask you to remain silent until I’m finished.”

Free Flier bent his neck slightly and stood back as Luna’s horn flared brightly. The Lunar Princess felt the same sense of euphoria she always felt as her magic wrapped around the place that had been her home – or her prison – for a thousand years. Despite having touched the moon with her magic more times than she could count, the feeling of her magic brushing against it always filled her with mixed feelings of insignificance before its might and elation for being able to control it. Even as she wrapped the moon in her magical embrace, she extended her senses further, out to the countless number of stars that twinkled in the night sky like innumerable diamonds. As the moon began to dip out of the sight, the stars began to vanish one by one, winking out until their return the following night.

As the moon disappeared beneath the horizon, clearing the way for the sun, Luna felt a sudden impact strike her in the back of her neck. Brought to her knees by the force of the unexpected blow, she turned her head to see Free Flier staring at her, a cruel smile creasing the edges of his mouth.

“Just as I thought,” he said maliciously as the guards shouted at him, which he confidently ignored. “You and Celestia both drop your guards when you work with the sun or moon. That’s why you normally make such a large production out of it.”

Luna tried to blast the evil creature with a beam of magic from her horn, but the feeling of tiredness she always felt after working with the moon combined with the sense of vertigo from the surprise attack caused her spell to fizzle and fade before she could fire it off. At the same time, a spiralling black horn grew on Free Flier’s forehead. Green energy blazed from it, striking Luna hard in the side and slamming her against the side of the chariot.

Luna tasted the iron tang of blood on her tongue as she glared up at the creature that had masqueraded as a pegasus. Struggling to get her legs underneath her, her pride refused to allow her to bend neck to the monster before her. “Do you think,” she spat, “that my sister will let you get away with this? She had let you escape in her mercy to lick your wounds last time, changeling, but this time there will be no quarter given.”

Free Flier glanced at the front of the chariot,which the two guards were clambering over in order to rush him. A bright green wave washed from his horn, knocking them back and sending them both tumbling end over end into the sky. Left without any support holding it in the air, the chariot started to freefall towards the ground far below, the wind ripping through Free Flier’s and Luna’s manes. Green flames licked up Free Flier’s body, slowly transforming the orange coat into a hardened black exoskeleton. Within seconds, Free Flier was no more. In his place stood a large changeling with green eyes and long green hair, her long legs allowing her to stand taller than even Luna herself.

“I will worry about Celestia later,” Queen Chrysalis said, turning her attention back to the injured alicorn lying on the floor of the chariot. “As for you…” Chrysalis’s horn flared brightly and a green beam of energy shot from her horn, striking the Lunar Princess hard in the face and throwing her from the chariot. The last thing Luna heard before the cold dark embrace of unconsciousness claimed her was the sound of the rushing wind roaring in her ears.

Chrysalis watched emotionlessly as the two guardponies swooped down after the plummeting Princess, their wings beating rapidly as they tried to reach her before she hit the ground. She wrapped the chariot in a flickering green aura, halting its descent and leveling it out. Her wings buzzed as she stepped off the hovering chariot, the first rays of the dawning sun beginning to paint the clouds all around her in a beautiful multi-hued spectrum. The caretaker of the sun was as yet unaware of the fate that had befallen her younger sister. That would come later.

As for the caretaker of the moon… Chrysalis looked down to see that Luna’s guards had almost caught up to her and would reach her before she hit the ground, though they were close enough to the trees that covered the landscape. Chrysalis sent out a mental command to her minions in the area, giving them the command they had been waiting for. As ruler of the changelings, she had the unique ability to speak with them telepathically, something no other changeling could do.

The silent forest seemed to erupt as dozens upon dozens of changeling burst from their hiding places in the trees, mobbing and overwhelming the surprised guards within seconds. Chrysalis watched as her minions caught and ensnared Princess Luna, carrying her and the now-unconscious guards up to where Chrysalis waited. The Changeling Queen turned and flew off, her minions and the empty chariot following her as she flew towards Dodge City.

Alex sat forlornly on the side of a fountain in Dodge City, his hands wringing a brown hat he had found abandoned in the street and questioning the decision he had made for what felt for the twentieth time since he had made it. Other than the changeling who had once been Last Breath standing at his side, there were no other living creatures in sight. The place was like a ghost town.

Everything was his own fault, and he knew it. In order to save one race, he had inflicted pain and suffering on another. How had this happened to him? He was just some random college student! What gave him the right to decide the fate of a world that wasn’t his own? Staring at the hat clenched in his hands, he idly wondered what the previous owner had been like.

What had been their hopes? Their dreams? These thoughts ringing in his skull, he dropped the hat onto his head. So I don’t forget. He could only hope the price was worth it, and he would do everything he could to keep that price as low as possible.

A low buzzing heralded the return of Queen Chrysalis, and Alex looked up as she landed before him, several changelings following behind her. The changelings split off, some of them depositing Princess Luna at his feet while the several others carried two bat-winged ponies into one of the nearby buildings. Alex rushed to Luna’s side, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw that she was just unconscious.

“So it worked?” he asked, looking up at Chrysalis. If something had gone wrong, he was going to have a lot more weight resting on his conscious. Her fanged smile did little to reassure him.

“Perfectly.” Her multi-faceted eyes stared into him, weighing him. “I’m surprised at how well it worked, actually. And I think you know that. Had I tried to attack her head-on, she would have defeated me easily. For someone who claims not to be from around here, you certainly know a lot about the Princesses and the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony.”

Alex remained silent, uncomfortably pressing a hand against Luna’s side. He forced himself to look down at her, not allowing himself to look away from the pain he had caused. He knew, better than anyone, that things were going to get worse before they got better. This is for Last Breath, he reminded himself. Telling Chrysalis what he remembered about the main characters from a show he watched with his sister might seem like such a little thing, but it gave her something essential for her to launch an full-scale invasion. Information.

“Fine, keep your secrets.” Chrysalis huffed, slightly perturbed. Though she didn’t allow herself to show it, she was concerned about the amount of knowledge the human she had teamed up with possessed. His motivations were clear, but she was certain there was something more about him. Despite his bleeding heart, that he couldn’t watch as an entire race died in front of him, there were still several things he continued to hide from her. Hiding even, she felt, from himself. He had been as easy to manipulate as she had thought, but several things about the entire situation still made her uncomfortable.

Unconsciously running a hand through Luna’s mane, surprised at how… ethereal it felt, Alex looked up at the changeling Queen. “And you’ll keep your end of the bargain?”

Chrysalis waved a hole-riddled forehoof, easily waving Alex’s question aside. “Of course. A deal’s a deal. It benefits me to avoid killing any of the ponies anyway. All the residents of this city are safely tucked away in collection pods, little changeling eggs attached to each pod. Within the next few weeks, the first baby changelings in years will be born!”

Alex’s stomach heaved as he thought about the fate of the ponies, trapped within their own homes with no means of escape. Pressing his hands against his knees, Alex hauled himself to his feet. “You certainly seem to be enjoying yourself,” he pointed out, brushing a bit of dust off of his pants.

She grinned her familiar fanged grin at him. “Oh, I certainly am. My changelings have a chance for survival, and Celestia has no idea of what's about to befall her. Now, as for you…” Chrysalis sent out a mental command, and three dozen changelings landed in a circle around her and Alex.

“I’ve already given them their orders,” she said. “They will obey you as if your words were my own.” They would also keep her informed of his actions, but she felt no need to tell him that. Two of the changelings flew forward and grabbed Alex by his arms, while several more picked up the unconscious Princess Luna.

“Wait,” Alex commanded. The changelings holding his arms released him, and he turned away from the Queen. Leaning down next to the changeling that had been sitting next the fountain with him, he wrapped his arms around it and hugged it as tightly as he could. The changeling was unresponsive, leaving Alex feeling like he hugging a statue. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do more for you,” he whispered into its ear.

Releasing the changeling, Alex walked back over to where the pair of changelings waited. Spreading his arms out wide, he allowed the pair to get a secure hold on them. Their wings buzzing fiercely, they lifted him off the ground while several others carried the comatose Princess Luna.

Queen Chrysalis watched as the group flew off in the direction of the old hive. It was funny. Despite appearing only six days ago, the creature – no, the human – really had changed so much. For the first time in what felt like months, she felt like she really did have hope. Somewhere in her twisted heart, an unfamiliar light feeling started to burn. It burnt brightly, a slight light burning in the darkness. Gratitude for the human, and what he had offered her. Maybe it was that gratitude that prevented her from telling him the truth, since it would have only caused him more pain. Even if Last Breath managed to survive, there was almost no chance that he would remember the human he had become such close friends with in such a short time. Such was another aspect of the changeling's curse.

No, Chrysalis forcefully reminded herself. She wasn't feeling something as pathetic as sympathy or - even worse - empathy for this human that had been dropped in her lap. He was a means to an end, nothing more. She hadn't told him of the final aspect about Last Breath because he might have stopped helping her. It most certainly was not because she didn't want to hurt him. She had abandoned those feelings long ago.

It had taken a full day for him to describe everything he could think of, and several hours more for them to develop a plan that they thought could work, but she really did think that it was going to work. Especially since she had replaced Luna’s chamberlain with one of her changelings before she entered the throne room, meaning nopony in Canterlot knew where the Night Princess had gone.

A slight green flicker beside her head heralded the arrival of a piece of parchment and a quill, both wrapped in a green glow. Unrolling the scroll, Chrysalis’ eyes skimmed it before she found what she was looking for. A satisfied smile showing her fangs, she ran the quill across a single line before carelessly crumpling it and dropping both items on the ground.

Now, she thought as she turned back to her minions, bright green flames licking up her sides, I’m going to enjoy this. As she walked, two changelings stepped forward and were covered in green flames, transforming themselves into bat-winged pegasi and strapping themselves to the front of the chariot that Luna had been riding in. Chrysalis climbed onto the back of the chariot, her dark mane flowing in a non-existent wind and her feathered wings stretching to their fullest extent before snapping tightly against her sides.

“Now,” Princess Luna commanded, ordering the fully outfitted royal guards before her, “to Canterlot.”

The dropped piece of parchment fluttered in the wind as the disguised Queen was carried to the center of Equestria. It continued to beat in the breeze as hundreds of changelings lifted off from the ground as one, following behind their ruler. The fluttering parchment eventually landed face up, revealing the words emblazoned on it to the world.

Princess Celestia
Princess Luna
Princess Cadance
Shining Armor
Twilight Sparkle
Rainbow Dash
Pinkie Pie
Applejack
Fluttershy
Rarity

Invasion and Infiltration

Princess Luna groaned quietly as she regained consciousness, her body feeling restricted and restrained as she shifted slightly. Her eyelids fluttering as they slowly opened, her sluggish mind struggled to remember the last thing that had happened.

Chrysalis…

Her memories came rushing back. The false pony, the changelings, the attack on her chariot… Luna’s hoof shot forward instinctively, or at least, that was her intention. Instead, her hoof sluggishly crawled forward, stopping when it hit something solid with a dull thump. Caught by surprise, it took her a moment to understand her situation.

She was suspended upside-down from the ceiling in a strange green cocoon, her head pointed toward the ground below. Some sort of highly viscous liquid filled the cocoon, filling her mouth, nose, and she could even feel the heavy liquid within her lungs. Despite, or maybe because of, this liquid, she did not feel the need to breath. Her horn sputtered and sparked as she tried to cast a spell before fizzling out entirely, stopped by the effect of either the strange liquid or the pod itself. She glared at the entrapping cocoon as she tried to figure out a way to escape, which was going to be hard if she couldn't cast any spells.

“Don’t bother,” a voice told her, startling her out of her reverie. The voice was slightly muffled, coming as it was from outside the cocoon, but she could hear it clearly regardless. Looking to the source of the voice, she did a double-take as she saw the creature that had spoken. The cocoon gave off a slightly pulsating green light, and it was enough to for her to make out the outline of what stood before her. Two arms, two legs, bipedal… A creature she had never seen before. She, the mare of the night, who monitored the dreams of every animal under the moon, had never seen this creature before.

“It’s no use glaring at me, Your Highness.” Had she been glaring? She hadn’t realized. Her mind raced as the creature continued to talk, saying something about the cocoon being impossible to escape, how even Celestia hadn’t been able to escape it, blah blah blah. Honestly, she wasn’t really paying attention. The presence of a new creature – one that had allied itself with the changelings – answered a lot of questions in her mind while raising several others in return.

She only knew of one individual in all of existence who was capable of creating new creatures from nothing. If Discord was involved, things were suddenly a lot worse than a mere invasion into Equestria. She needed to get back to Canterlot. Now.

Alex’s explanation petered and died out as he realized that his captive audience, while still captive, wasn’t being much of an audience. He really wasn’t comfortable acting like this, kidnapping and imprisoning an innocent mare, but he hoped that she would understand when he explained the situation to her.

Heh, he thought, as he realized what his mind had just said. Innocent mare. Only a few days in this world, and he was beginning to think like the locals. Was it something in the water? Or was there some ambient magical effect in the air that was affecting his mind? That would help explain why he hadn’t been freaking out over the entire situation.

His shoulders slumped as he realized he had yet another worry to add to just how horrible the situation was for him. Not only was he trapped in another world, but his mind was being suitably altered. How much longer until he could no longer be sure that his thoughts were his own? How could he be sure now that his thoughts were his own?

It was all starting to seem so pointless.

Luna stared at the strange creature as he seemed to collapse in on himself. This was certainly not how she would have expected her prison guard to act. Especially not after the last time she had been imprisoned…

No. She would not let her thoughts go there. That was no longer her life, that… monster was no longer who she was. She had to put Nightmare Moon behind her, if she ever expected her subjects to do the same. She was the co-ruler of Equestria, and she had to do what was best for her country.

Opening her eyes, Luna gazed at her captor. “What are thine intentions, foul villain?” Hearing the words escape her mouth, she blushed slightly as she realized what she had just said. Curse this infernal modern tongue! She was getting better at it, but she still had a tendency to revert to the ancient way of speaking whenever she became stressed or anxious.

Alex looked up at her, not seeming to notice her slip-up. He gaped for a second before seeming to realize what she had said and pulling himself together. He smiled self-deprecatingly as he walked over to where she was encased, absently reaching out and pressing the palm of his hand against the cocoon.

“Villain, huh?” he mused. “I guess I am. I want to do the right thing, but I don’t know what that is. Either I abandon an entire race to die, or I bring pain and suffering to innocents who have done nothing to deserve it. Do you know what that’s like?” he asked, looking directly at her. “To know that, no matter what choice you make, it will be the wrong one?”

Princess Luna’s gaze slid away from him, unwilling to meet his eyes. “Yes,” Alex said quietly, “I suppose you do.” Turning away from her, he walked over to one of the surrounding walls and sat on the stone floor. Leaning against the wall, he made himself comfortable before he began his explanation.

“You asked my intent earlier. Basically, I want to help the changelings. And before you ask,” he added, holding up a hand, “no, I have no connections to them. I arrived here only a week ago, and I had never met a changeling before that. I’m sure you don’t care about the details, so I’ll give you the short version. The changelings are dying. They don’t have enough energy to survive for much longer.”

Seeing that he had Luna’s full attention, Alex began gesturing with his hands as he began explaining in more detail. “Chrysalis told me that, since the failed invasion in Canterlot, over a hundred changelings have starved to death. That’s nearly a quarter of the entire hive.”

Luna blanched as she quickly worked out the numbers that her captor had told her. If a hundred changelings made up ‘nearly’ a quarter of the hive, that meant there were still three hundred changelings ready to swarm Canterlot. Even at full force, the day and night Royal Guards combined had only about a hundred guardsponies at any time. There hadn’t been any major conflicts in Equestria since Luna herself had tried to overthrow Celestia, and Celestia had let the army languish until it eventually was only a shadow of its former glory.

Not that Luna could really blame Celestia for the decisions she had made, since Luna had to admit there really wasn’t a need for a standing army anymore. The dragons mostly kept to themselves, only passing through Equestria during their migrations. The zebras were secretive, and largely kept to themselves, though there were the odd exceptions. Most ponies didn’t even know they existed!

The gryphons were even less of a concern. Because of the ancient treaties Luna had managed to arrange nearly four hundred years before she became Nightmare Moon, both countries would do everything in their power to help the other country if they needed it. Luna had always been proud of that little accomplishment. Even after all these years, the unassailable honour of the gryphon tribes meant that they still respected the old treaties, even if they usually didn’t come out of their aeries.

Come to think of it, Luna noticed a lot of similarities between what had happened back then and what the creature was telling her now. At that time, a widespread famine had been gripping the gryphons, causing them to go out and hunt anything they could find for food. Even ponies. Luna (with some help from her sister) had managed to arrange for large quantities of meat to be shipped to the Gryphon Mountains, narrowly averting a war in the process.

“If you wanted to help the changelings, you could have asked for assistance,” Luna pointed out. She barely even cared that she suspended upside-down in a pulsating green cocoon anymore. This sort of thing was her passion. “Were Queen Chrysalis willing to bend knee to me and my sister, we would not have allowed her people to die out.”

A gust of air escaped Alex’s nose as he laughed lightly. “You know, I suggested the very same thing. But Queen Chrysalis told me that there just isn’t enough time. She said that the last changeling – namely, herself – would starve within a week or two. If we tried to request the love they needed, they would all be dead before anything could be done to help them. Besides, she said there was a reason that she couldn’t bow down to you.”

Seeing the look Luna was giving him, Alex waved it off. “I’ll get back to that. Anyway, Chrysalis knew that any action that she took against Equestria would end with you and your sister hunting her down. Those guards that had been posted all around the Badlands made that clear. So without a clear plan, she had been forced to watch as her followers died out.”

He sighed gustily. “That’s why we came up with this plan. The first step was to capture you.” He gestured at the cocoon she was trapped in. “Mission accomplished. Fantastic. The second step is to capture Canterlot itself. To do that, Chrysalis is going to take your form and send Celestia off on a wild goose chase somewhere. Since Chrysalis doesn’t have any more of the energy she took from Shining Armor a few weeks ago, a direct fight with Celestia would be completely out of her league.”

“Once Celestia’s gone somewhere, the changeling army will move in. By the time Celestia returns, Chrysalis should be in control of the city. At that point, she will give Celestia a simple ultimatum; ‘give me and my people the love we need, and I will return your city and your sister to you unharmed.’”

Luna growled as she finally realized her role in all this – a hostage. “And you think my sister will succumb to this… this terrorism?”

Alex sighed, resting his head back against the smooth stone wall behind him. “Honestly? I don’t know. I can only hope it all works out.”

The both remained silent for several minutes, each lost in their own thoughts. Alex was thinking about all the ways things could go wrong, while Luna tried to think of a way to escape before she became a burden to her sister.

“You said there was a reason the Queen couldn’t bow down to me and Celestia,” Luna eventually pointed out. “What were you talking about?”

“Oh, that?” Alex uneasily scratched at an eyebrow. “Well, keep in mind I only know what she told me…”

Chrysalis felt the wind blowing through her – or rather, Luna’s – mane as her changeling guards flew her down to the Canterlot Royal Palace. The place was as magnificent as she remembered. The spiraling towers grandly reaching up towards the sky, the polished marble walls beautifully reflecting the sunlight, the wondrously clear crystalline windows… Beautiful.

And it had almost been hers.

Only three weeks ago, the throne had nearly been hers, as it should have been hers. Now she was willing to do whatever she had to just to save her subjects. The carriage hit the well-maintained grassy lawn of the Canterlot Gardens with a barely-noticeable thump and smoothly rolled to a stop.

Pathetic, she thought, as her indigo hooves daintily landed in the short grass, the noontime sun beating down on her darkened coat. The ponies here are so weak and soft that they frivolously waste time and resources in keeping some place most ponies will never see, while it’s all my subjects can do to survive a single day.

No, she most definitely was not jealous.

The place did look nice, she had to admit. Except for that one ugly statue tucked away in the corner. Why did Celestia feel the need to leave such a hideous piece of art out in the open? Did she enjoy the sight of such a misshapen creature screaming in agony? If that was the case, Chrysalis felt her respect for Celestia rise.

Removing that piece of artwork from her thoughts, the changeling Queen set off towards the castle proper, her two subjects following in her footsteps. The rest of the swarm was hiding out of sight, waiting for the Queen’s command to strike. It had taken most of the morning to get them in place, and the castle inhabitants were already starting to move around as they prepared for lunch.

Entering the castle, Chrysalis made her way through the well-lit corridors. She was struck by how completely different this place was to the dark and dreary ancient changeling hive she now called home. Looking around at the decorations lining the dazzling white hallways, she realized that she really did prefer this place to her own. Spotting a servant pushing a trolley filled with food, Chrysalis made her way over to the white pony.

“Excuse me, citizen,” she said, trying to replicate what she remembered of Luna’s voice, “could you tell me where I might find my sister, Celestia?”

The servant bowed to her, one hoof holding on to the trolley. “I don’t usually see you during the day, Princess Luna. Princess Celestia should be finishing the morning court right about now.”

Nodding her head at him, Chrysalis brushed past the servant, not noticing the odd look he gave her. Deciding it was none of his business how the Lunar Princess acted, the servant shrugged his shoulders and continued pushing his burden down the hallway.

Now then, Chrysalis thought as she made her way towards the throne room, remembering the layout of the castle from her first time here. I think the throne room was just down here… Oh! Turning a corner, Chrysalis was caught off guard as she spotted Celestia and Cadance together in the hallway. The pair was standing right next to a window overlooking the castle grounds, and something outside was holding their attention.

Chrysalis considered sneaking off and coming back later, since she wasn’t ready to face Cadance just yet. Ironically, the Princess of Love was going to be the biggest threat to the plan, as well as its most important part. Wavering for a moment, Chrysalis realized she had no choice. She only had half a day before Luna was supposed to raise the moon. If she wasn’t firmly in control of Canterlot by then, everypony would realize there was something wrong and the entire plan would fall apart.

“Sister, it is good to see you.” Celestia and Cadance turned at the sound of Chrysalis’ voice, smiling as they saw what appeared to be the Princess Luna approaching them. Celestia’s eyes flickered behind Chrysalis, spotting the two guards following behind her. “We hope this day finds you well.”

Celestia cocked an eyebrow at Chrysalis’ words. “Are you alright, Luna?”

Chrysalis felt the creeping tendrils of panic slipping up her spine. Had she already slipped up? Was the entire plan going to fall apart already? If she was caught now, nothing would save her or her people. Fortunately for Chrysalis, a loud ruckus from outside the window caught Celesia’s and Cadance’s attention, giving the Queen a moment to recover. Chrysalis couldn’t see what it was, but whatever it was caused Cadance to turn and run down the hallway with nary a farewell to the Lunar Princesses.

As Celestia’s attention turned back to Chrysalis, the disguised changeling smiled openly at her, trying to give off an impression of ‘nothing wrong here’. “Forgive us-me, sister.” Chrysalis sighed at her slip up. Her mind rushed as she tried to think of an excuse. After what Alex had told her of Luna and Celestia’s relationship yesterday, what would make her drop the subject? Aha!

Chrysalis smiled internally as she realized what would work. Celestia and Luna had had a bad relationship in the past, and were trying to overcome it. Why not… twist the knife a little? Acting like she was unwilling to explain, Chrysalis began to spin her story. “It’s just- Well- I was invited to a village this morning. It really does feel like the ponies are beginning to forgive me after…” She trailed off into silence, testing Celestia’s reaction.

As Chrysalis had hoped, Celestia remained silent, awkwardly averting her gaze. Ahh, Chrysalis thought smugly. Leverage. Before she could have any more fun with Equestria’s elder monarch, a green tendril of flame flew in through the open window before coalescing into a rolled piece of parchment in front of Celestia.

“Excuse me for a moment,” Celestia said as she grabbed the parchment with her magic. Chrysalis waved for her to go ahead as Celestia’s magical aura unrolled it. Celestia’s eyes skimmed down the letter, becoming wider and wider as she read what was written on it. Once she finished, it vanished with a slight pop.

“What happened?” Chrysalis asked, seeing the panicked expression on Celestia’s face. Instead of answering, Celestia turned and ran down the hallway. Chrysalis hesitated for a few seconds before following, her minions chasing after them. Ponies leapt out of the way as the group ran down the hallway. “Sister!” Chrysalis shouted. “What has happened?”

“Twilight Sparkle’s in trouble! I fear that I asked too much of her!” Celestia yelled back over her shoulder, her hooves screeching against the floor as she rounded a corner.

“Twilight Sparkle? But she was the one who um, yes,” Chrysalis hedged as she tried to remember what she had been told about Luna’s return, “defeated us. What could be too much for her?” Chrysalis’ disguised hoof slammed into the opposite wall as she rounded the corner after Celestia, slightly cracking the wall as she did so.

“You mean you haven’t sensed it?” Celestia’s incredulous voice asked from up ahead as they sped through the hallways. “Discord’s prison has been weakening this past week. He’s unleashed some sort of creature on Ponyville and another one southeast of here. I need to gather some guards and take them to Ponyville.”

“You don’t say…” Chrysalis mused. The Badlands were southeast of here. So, some creature named Discord is how Alex arrived at my hive. Interesting. “But,” she shouted after Celestia, “but wouldn’t the guards just slow you down if they’re facing against something like Discord? If Twilight needs help, you should go to her as soon as you can.” Celestia slowed down, her horn glowing as she turned back to Chrysalis.

“You’re right,” she said. “I’ll leave things here with you for now. Be careful. In addition to Discord, I’m also worried about what the changelings are doing. Shining Armor told me he hadn’t heard back from the ponies that had been sent to watch them. They were supposed to report back this morning. Be careful. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Her horn flashed brightly for a moment and she vanished.

Chrysalis stared at the spot Celestia had been standing, not quite sure what had just happened. She had wanted to figure a way to get Celestia out of Canterlot, and one literally fell into her clutches as soon as she arrived? It was too perfect! Turning to her two guards, Chrysalis flashed them a confident grin.

“We have work to do before she returns. Come.” Striding down the hallway, Chrysalis dropped her Luna disguise, the two guards bowing at her words. Green flames flickered across all three of them as they donned new disguises. Their new forms in place, Chrysalis sought out a servant while her minions went down a different hallway.

Spotting the same servant from before pushing another trolley, Chrysalis walked up to him. “Could you please inform Shining Armor that I wish to see him in my room? Alone.”

The servant bowed down to her, both his hooves pressed flat against the floor. “At once, Princess Celestia.”

Luna's eyes flared brightly, all the strength of her glare focusing on the creature before her. "Lies," she snarled out, her voice quivering with suppressed rage. "All lies. There is no possible way that could be true."

"Maybe," Alex admitted, pulling his hat down low over his face so he wouldn't have to look up at the enraged alicorn. "I only know what she told me."

"And you trust her?" Luna asked incredulously. "Deceit is her lifeblood, deception her passion. She lives on falsehoods and fabrications, and you would trust a being such as her? No changeling can be trusted, and their Queen is the worst of the lot."

"No changeling, huh?" Alex muttered quietly, his thoughts going back to a certain changeling. "I wonder... Is that the truth?" Pushing the brim of his hat up with a single finger, he locked gazes with the angered Princess. "You didn't see her. Surely you can understand that? What it means to be torn like she is?"

Luna scoffed. "So? Am I supposed to feel sorry for her? Should I forgive her everything because she's lived a rough life? Do not patronize me, foal. I have walked roads far darker then the one your Queen walks, and I know what lies at the end of it. She will destroy both herself and those who follow her in her selfish quest for power. Unless she becomes aware of that fact, she will only continue to fall. She will be forever seeking an ending that will never come, for she will never be satisfied with the power she manages to gain."

"She's not my Queen," Alex grumbled. A frown flashed across his face and his head shot towards the small room's only opening. His head leaned slightly to the side as he focused on the entrance, his frown only continuing to deepen. "Do you hear that?" he asked her. She answered in the negative, giving him an odd look, and he shook his head before turning his attention to the stone floor in front of him. "Maybe I imagined it."

Luna cocked a brow at him, wondering about this creature's strange actions. "Tell me, being, what would change if you were right? What would be different if Chrysalis really is as torn as you believe? Do you believe that would clear away her sins? Do you believe that would clear away your sins?"

A choked, bitter laugh escaped Alex's throat before he could stop it. "My sins?" he asked rhetorically. "No. For what I've done, for giving the changelings the opening they needed to invade a land of peace-loving creatures, I have no doubt that Hell awaits me. Or whatever this place's version of that is," he added after a moment's thought. "Tartarus, I think it's called."

There was silence for several long moments before Luna finally broke it. "Then why?" she asked quietly. "Why do you do something that you know is wrong?"

He shrugged. "Because I can't think of anything else."

Author's Note

I do believe this is worthy of a link, so this is the other side of the conversation we saw in Chapter 12.

The Weak are Food

“Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge! Spin! Ha! Thrust!”

Prince Shining Armor of the Crystal Empire easily danced through the spears of the Captain candidates as they tried to take him down. The lower ranked guards stood in a circle around him and the seven candidates, cheering them on and making bets about who would win. After Shining Armor had retired from his role as Captain of the Solar Guard to marry the mare of his dreams a few weeks ago, he needed to find somepony to replace him.

However, none of the candidates came anywhere near what he wanted for his replacement. Three unicorns, three pegasus, and one earth pony surrounded him, each looking for a chink in his armour they could exploit; an opening on his defenses they could attack through. They all flawlessly followed the forms that he had drilled into them over long years of practice, smoothly flowing from one stance to the next with the ease of long practice. Unfortunately, that very reason was why he was able to so easily predict their actions. None of them had any sort of creativity to their styles. He ducked under the outthrust spear of one the pegasi and smacked the guard on the helmet hard enough to make the poor sap’s eyes cross.

Sidestepping as the pegasus collapsed to the ground, Shining Armor watched with disapproval as one of the unicorns tripped over the prone pegasus. Calmly twirling his spear above his head with his magic, Shining Armor easily blocked two more thrust spears from the pegasi above, tangling the wielders together while his rear hooves shot out, clanging loudly against the armour of the earth pony that had been sneaking up behind him and dropping the unfortunate sap like a ton of bricks.

The two remaining unicorn fighters surrounded Shining Armor, looking for weaknesses in his guard as his spear floated alongside his head. Shining Armor remaining still, watching them both with disapproval shining bright and clear in his eyes. The Captain of the Solar Guard was one of the highest positions in the entire Royal Guard, equal to the Captain of the Lunar Guard. Only the Commissioner of the Royal Guards was ranked higher, and that post was appointed directly by the Princesses themselves. The idea of giving the title to one of these buffoons, when all seven of them weren't even able to organize themselves to take him down, felt like a rank insult.

The unicorn on his left attacked first, seeming to spot an opening in Shining’s defences and charging in. Unfortunately, he had only seen what the former Captain had wanted him to see and a single outthrust hoof knocked the charging unicorn out cold. Shining dropped to his knees as another spear whipped through the air, passing through the spot vacated by his head a moment ago. Taking advantage of his position low to the ground, Shining slipped in close to his attacker before bringing his head up, pressing the tip of his horn gently but firmly against the other guardspony’s exposed throat. The unicorn dropped his spear in surrender and Shining Armor backed up, allowing the defeated guard to slink into the surrounding crowd.

Turning to the last candidate, Shining Armor leapt to the side as a blast of blue magical energy shot out from the other unicorn’s horn, charring the ground where he had been standing. The surrounding audience booed and hissed at the offender, since using magic attacks in a physical sparring match was seen in poor taste. The guard ignored them and fired off another blast, trying to overwhelm Shining Armor before the former Captain could recover his footing.

With a thought and a slight glow of his horn, Shining Armor smoothly raised a magical shield between himself and the attacking guard, and the beam shattered when it struck the shield. Shields and barriers were Shining Armor’s speciality, and he was arguably the best in the entire country. But barriers weren’t used for just defence… With a bright flash of his horn, he created a strong barrier all around his opponent, trapping the guard in a shimmering purple spear.

The guard gave the entrapping sphere a cursory poke with his spear before lower the spear in surrender, accepting defeat just as the previous guard had. Banishing the orb with a thought, Shining Armor looked around at the audience who had been watching the fight. He could see the tell-tale glint of golden bits changing hooves as bets were paid out and the winners collected his winnings. A not inconsequential part of him was annoyed at how few bits were actually changing hooves – most of the audience must have been betting on him. Even the rest of the guard thought his potential successors were nothing in comparison to him.

“SHINING ARMOR!!”

The white unicorn turned to the voice calling his name to see Princess Cadance making her way towards him, fury clearly written across her face. His wife’s pink wings quivered with rage as she stormed across the courtyard, Equestria’s best and bravest tripping over themselves as they scrambled out of her path. As Equestria’s only mortal alicorn, the authority and the respect she commanded was only slightly below that commanded by the Celestial Sisters themselves.

Even though he was the focus of all the rage she was emanating, Shining Armor could not help but think about was how beautiful she was. He had been so lucky to have met her while she had been babysitting his little sister. It had taken him weeks to work up the courage to ask her out, and he had been astounded when she accepted. These thoughts dancing through his head, he barely noticed when she stopped directly in front of him.

“Dear?” she said sweetly, positively brimming with sarcasm. “Didn’t we already have this talk?”

“Aw, come on, dear,” he said, wrapping a hoof around her neck and pulling her in close. “I told you, I have to do this.”

Cadance sighed as she leaned into her husband’s strong embrace, sighing slightly as her own gentle nature suppressed her anger. “I know, but I’m just worried about you getting hurt.” She glanced up as Shining Armor snorted rudely before trying to pass it off as a normal laugh.

“Hurt?” His helmet was wrapped in a pink glow as he easily levitated it off his head. “Against these guys? If I thought they could hurt me, I wouldn’t be so worried.” Placing the helmet gently on Cadance’s head, he smiled in amusement as she staggered slightly under its weight.

“Then what are you trying to prove?” she asked. Her own blue magical glow wrapped around the helmet, forcing it off her head before placing it on the ground at her hooves.

“It’s just…” he hesitated before a slight prod got him to continue. “These guys just don’t know how to fight. Some of them make up for it; Trillie’s the best organizer I know of, Salt’s great at hunting criminals, and Chocolate’s wonderful when dealing with the public. But… a Captain needs to be more. Somepony the rank and file can look up to. These guys are great guards,” he looked over at the surrounding group, the ponies who had been watching him fighting starting to disperse as they went off to enjoy the rest of their lunch break, “but being a Captain is different from being a guard.”

Cadance took a step back, staring her husband straight in the eyes. “You’re worried,” she said simply. At his nod, she stepped in close to him, nuzzling his cheek with her own. “Is it because of Twilight’s letters?”

He smiled ruefully as he nuzzled her back. Was he really so transparent? “Twi’s letters are part of it,” he admitted. “But I think something’s going to happen. It’s just a feeling in my gut, but I’ve learned to trust my gut. Something big is going to happen soon.”

“But no matter what happens, we’ll face it together.” Cadance brought her head up, gently kissing him on the lips. Smiling, he returned the kiss, and the two stood together in a loving embrace until a gentle cough caught their attention. Turning, they saw one of the castle servants standing nearby.

“Prince Shining Armor?” At Shining Armor’s nod, the servant smiled. “Sorry to interrupt you, sir, but Princess Celestia has requested your presence in her room.”

Shining Armor raised an eyebrow at the servant’s statement. That’s odd. Whenever Princess Celestia wanted to talk to him, she would either call him to the throne room or come out to see him herself. “Now?”

“Yes, sir.”

Cadance picked up on Shining Armor’s feelings. “Maybe she has something she wants to show you?” she suggested. “But she didn’t mention anything out of the ordinary when I saw her… Maybe Luna brought something?”

“I don’t know,” he said, leaning in for another kiss. “Sorry, we’ll have to continue this later.”

“I’ll look forward to it,” she promised, the gleam in her eyes making him looking forward to it as well. Picking up his helmet, he carried it with his magic as he left the courtyard. Unnoticed behind his back, two ponies dressed up as members of the Solar Guard approached his wife while he was leaving. The pair said something to her, and she left the courtyard with them shortly after.

Chrysalis sat in the room of the Solar Princess, her disguise in place as she awaited the arrival of her next victim. She grinned to herself, twisting Celestia’s visage into a horrifying expression that looked unnatural on the benevolent ruler’s face. Catching a glance of her face on a nearby mirror, Chrysalis hurriedly schooled her expression into the warm mask that Celestia always wore.

Her eyes wandering around the room as she awaited Shining Armor’s arrival, she marveled at just how… fitting the whole place seemed. The entire room gave off a feeling of welcoming calm, from the decorations on the wall to the curtains lazily flapping by the open balcony door. Celestia’s decoration sense had a penchant for warm colours, white and yellow dominating the entire room. The walls were painted with the colours of a sunrise, the yellows and oranges smoothly blending into one another to create a complete picture of gentle warmth.

Looking around the room, Chrysalis saw a smaller door set in the back wall. Since she had a little time to kill before Shining Armor arrived, and just because she was curious, she walked over to it and threw it open. The very first thing that struck her as she entered the tiny room was the stark contrast between it and the room she had just left.

This room was sparsely decorated, empty except for a single large bed and nightstand. There was only one window, but it was covered in a heavy curtain, smothering any light from outside. The entire room – from the walls to the floors, ceilings, and even the bed – was painted black. The only breaks in the inky darkness were tiny little specks of white randomly scattered throughout the room like so many shining stars. It was like walking into the night sky.

Completing the illusion was a large moon, painted directly above the center bed. The craters in the moon were carefully placed, giving the impression of a horned pony’s head. The Mare In The Moon stared down on the bed, her silvery glow softly illuminating the room. Princess Celestia must have commissioned this entire room as a tribute to her sister, so that she would never forget her during Luna’s thousand-year banishment.

Hmph, Chrysalis scoffed. Foolish sentiments. Chrysalis’ roving eyes were caught by a single object on the nightstand. As the only item on the nightstand, it stood out like a sore hoof. Her curiosity piqued, Chrysalis got closer to take a better look. Picking it up in her magic, she cautiously floated it in front of her, slightly surprised by what she saw.

A picture frame. The ruler of Equestria – possible the single strongest magical creature in existence – slept with a picture frame next to her bed. Even without testing the frame, Chrysalis could feel the magical power radiating from it. Whatever was in it, it had absorbed a great deal of love energy over the years. The idea of ripping it open and extracting the power held within this frame made Chrysalis’ mouth water, and she absently wiped the drool away with a hoof before flipping the frame over to see what was held within it.

A foal’s scribble awaited her gaze. Drawn in crayon, it showed three ponies of differing heights close together. All three of them clearly had wings and horns drawn on, and the shape made Chrysalis think that they were all mares. The tallest one, a white pony with a red mane and tail, stood in the center of the picture. Her cutie mark was a feather quill and a piece of parchment. In her hooves she held a much smaller pony with a light blue with an azure mane and tail. Beside the tall mare stood another white pony, this one with a pink mane and tail. Neither of the smaller alicorns had cutie marks.

Three words were written on the page, arrows connecting a word to a pony. The smallest one, held in the hooves of the largest one was labelled “Luna”. The next largest, the one with the pink mane, was simply labelled “Me”. And the last one…

“Mother,” Chrysalis read aloud, her voice a nearly-silent whisper. Chrysalis stood silent for several minutes, staring at the little picture, remembering a time long past. A happier time, spent with the mare that she thought of as her own mother. The mare hadn’t even been a changeling, but she had loved Chrysalis despite knowing the truth about her. Alas, that happy memory could now be nothing more than a memory

Sighing deeply, Chrysalis returned the frame to its place on the nightstand. Preparing to leave the room, she hesitated one final moment to look back at the crudely-drawn picture. She had been powerless then, and had lost everything because of it. Even though it had happened a few decades ago, she still remembered it as clearly as if it had happened yesterday.

“That creature is a monster! We need to kill it now, before it kills us in our sleep!”

Never again.

A knock on the entrance to Celestia’s room caught her attention, and Chrysalis stepped out of the bedroom, closing the door firmly behind her. Looking over at the mirror, she checked to ensure her disguise was perfect before calling out to whoever desired her attention. “Enter.”

The large doors swung open silently, allowing Shining Armor into the room. “You called for me, Princess Celestia?” he asked formally, bowing down to her.

She inclined her head to him in return. “Yes. Thank you for coming at such short notice.” She gestured to the open balcony doors before leading Shining Armor outside. The pair stood in silence, staring out at the magnificent city below them. Chrysalis took in the sight, gazing out at the beautiful architecture all around them while Shining Armor waited in silence.

“You’re probably wondering why I requested your presence,” Chrysalis said eventually, breaking the silence.

“The thought had crossed my mind,” the white unicorn admitted, a slight hint of sarcasm creeping into his voice. Chrysalis only laughed, unintentionally overlaying Celestia’s normal chuckle with a faint buzz and Shining Armor gave her a strange look.

“Before we get to that,” Chrysalis laughed, waving her hoof out over the view before them, “I want you to tell me what you see.” Shining Armor glanced up at her, wondering what the princess was getting at, but she only gestured into the open air once again.

“I see Canterlot,” Shining Armor said, walking up beside the disguised Queen. “I see the houses of the rich nobles, followed by the houses of the less rich. I see ponies walking the streets, going through their daily business. The streets are full, packed with civilians wandering the city.”

“How about there?” Chrysalis asked, pointing with a hoof.

Shining Armour’s gaze followed the white hoof, which was pointed directly at the side of the mountain that Canterlot was built on. Squinting his eyes, not sure what Celestia was getting at, he stared until a flicker of movement caught his attention. A tiny black dot flew out from behind the mountain, immediately followed by several dozen others. Focusing as hard as he could on the dots, Shining Armor gasped when he realized what they were.

“Changelings!” he exclaimed, taking an unwilling step away from the onrushing changeling army. “Don’t worry, Your Majesty,” he said to who he thought was Celestia. “I won’t let them near us.” Shining Armor quickly began focusing as much magic as he could into his horn, preparing to cover the entire city in a protective force field. He could feel the slow build of magical force as it slowly built to an overwhelming crescendo.

“No, I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

A bright flash of green light blazed before him, and his eyes widened in shock as Princess Celestia disappeared, replaced instead with the fearsome Queen who had completely overwhelmed his mind once before. “You!” he gasped, leaping back and getting into a low defensive crouch. His horn continued to blaze a brilliant purple as the shield spell continued to grow.

“Hmmhmmhmm,” Chrysalis laughed, brushing her limply hanging mane out of her face with a hoof. “Me.” Her wings buzzing slightly, she flew over to Shining Armor until she stood directly before him. “It’s good to see you again.”

“Too bad I can’t say the same,” Shining Armour snarled, taking a steady step back.

Chrysalis threw her head back, laughing openly at her prey’s declaration. Her hoof came up, cupping Shining Armor’s chin and forcing him to look directly into her eyes. “Do I really mean so little to you? And after everything I did for you,” she teased, her fangs glinting in the purple light cast by Shining Armor’s horn.

“You mean nothing to me,” the Prince proclaimed, angrily slapping her hoof away. Just a few more seconds… The spell was almost ready. He just needed a little more time.

“Aw, don’t be like that,” she cooed, bending her head down and getting right in his face. “Your love was so… delicious. How could you act like it was nothing to you?”

“What do you want?” he demanded, taking another step back. Almost ready… Need to keep her talking.

“Want?” Chrysalis asked playfully, her wings buzzing as she flew above his head. “What I want is to occupy Canterlot. And you… are going to help me.”

Shining Armor released a laugh at that, completely caught off guard by her brazen declaration. Sobering up after a few seconds, he glared up at the Queen. “You can’t be serious. What possible reason could you see me doing something like that?”

“Out of your lingering feelings for me?” Chrysalis asked hopefully. At Shining Armor’s continued glare, she let out an overdramatic sigh. “Then I guess…” the large doors to Celestia’s room were thrown open, slamming heavily against the walls. Shining Armor glanced over at the sudden noise, recoiling in horror at what he saw, the light cast by his horn flickering and dying. “I’ll just have to be satisfied with a consolation prize,” the changeling Queen finished.

Three changelings entered the room, dragging along a struggling pony behind them. The pony was wrapped in green goo, her legs and wings pinned and unable to move. A firm rope was wrapped around her waist, tying her to one of her captors. If Shining Armor raised his shield to throw the changelings out of Canterlot, the mare would be thrown out with them.

“Dear!” Shining Armor yelled, trying to rush over to Cadance’s side. His wife was bound and gagged, green ooze covering her mouth but leaving her nose exposed. She looked up at him, fear shimmering in her large purple eyes. Shining Armor’s run was brought up short when the Queen flew in front of him, landing on the ground with a slight thud.

“Ah ah ah,” she said, her horn glowing threateningly. “Don’t want to do anything foolish, do you?” As Shining Armor stopped, she let the glow fade. “Now, here’s how you are doing this. My changelings are going to come in and occupy the city. Since I made a deal to avoid hurting any ponies, that’s where you come in. You’re going to quell any potential uprisings and prevent anypony from fighting back. If you don’t…” Her hoof wavered over Cadance’s head threateningly.

“Wait! I’ll… I’ll do it. Just please,” he begged, “don’t hurt her.”

“Excellent!” she exclaimed, happily banging her hooves together. “Oh, and before I forget…” Green flames flickered up her body, transforming her once again. “In case you get any funny ideas about fighting back, don’t bother. Your wife isn’t the only Princess we’ve captured.”

“You… you monster!” he yelled, taking a step back from the Queen, who now stood before him in the form of Princess Luna. She only laughed girlishly, raising one hoof before her mouth.

“Oh, you sweet-talker, you,” she teased. “Now,” gesturing to the open doorway, she motioned for him to go ahead, “you have work to do.”

Shining Armor cautiously walked past her, not tearing her eyes aware from the Queen as he approached the door. As her got closer to his wife, two of the changelings blocked his path, preventing him from getting any nearer. Her pleading eyes bore into him, and he gave her a weak smile before exiting the room, trying to put on a brave façade for her. Once he was out of sight, his head drooped and he had to fight the urge to let out a scream of rage.

Chrysalis walked over to the bound pink Princess, bending down to whisper into Cadance’s ears. . “Don’t go anywhere,” she hissed out, firing one last taunt at her captive foe before she followed after the defeated Prince

I Will Not Be Stopped

Her body thrashing wildly, Princess Cadance futilely struggled against the bonds that restrained her. Her captors watched dispassionately as she twitched on the ground, her movements restrained by the green goo that smothered her entire body. If they were even aware of her being there, they certainly didn’t show it. She had tried to engage them in conversation a few times, but had found no luck there.

The changelings seemed to ignore her for the most part, standing at her side like statues. One could be forgiven for thinking they weren’t even alive. The only reaction they ever gave was smacking her horn whenever she tried to cast a spell, breaking both her concentration and her magic. As the hours passed and the sun slowly crawled towards the horizon, Cadance felt the creeping fingers of despair claim her. Screams could occasionally be heard from outside, and Cadance knew rescue would not be coming.

Cadance groaned as she shifted her body, trying to get comfortable. The muscles in her wings were becoming cramped and she just wanted to get loose enough to give them a good stretch. As she tried to roll onto her other side, loud hoofsteps echoed in the hallway outside. The doors to Celestia’s room were thrown open with a mighty crash as the changeling Queen proudly strode through them. The Queen was humming to herself, looking happier than Cadance had ever seen her before.

Chrysalis smiled down at her captive Princess, the dying rays of the setting sun casting sharp shadows on her face and turning the smile into something wicked. “Princess Cadance,” she buzzed arrogantly, “I hope you can forgive me.”

The captive Princess looked up in confusion as the goo covering her mouth melted away, freeing it for the first time since she had been captured. “What-” Her hoarse voice rasped against her own ears, and she took a moment to lick her lips, grimacing at the taste that still lingered on them. “What are you apologizing for?”

If anything, Chrysalis’ grin widened. “Why, for not greeting you properly. I come all this way to take everything you think is important away from you, and I don’t even say hello.” Her chitinous plating shifted as her head came down, her merciless eyes staring deep into Cadance’s own. “I hope you can forgive me, my dear.”

“You’re a monster,” Cadance spat.

Chrysalis’s expression remained unchanged. “Oh come now, is that the best you can come up with? I’ve been hearing much worse insults today. Oh, that reminds me,” she buzzed, the tone of her voice remaining light and casual, as if she was only discussing the weather with a friend, “do you know any good places for executions around here? I was thinking of making an example of somepony, but there’s no point if nopony sees it. So? What do you think?

A stunned stare was Cadance’s only response, and she stared up in open-mouthed horror at the creature before her who could so easily talk about murdering somepony. Her mouth worked noiselessly as the Queen only watched in amused silence. Unknown to Cadance, Chrysalis was entertaining herself with the roiling turmoil of Cadance’s emotions.

Moving the changelings into the city had been as successful as she had hoped. Most of the citizens had locked themselves indoors as soon as they saw the changeling army walking up the street, and Shining Armor had stopped any guards from starting a fight. There had been one worrying moment with a group of pegasi wearing some blue uniforms, but Chrysalis had put a stop to that pretty quickly. The group – they had said they were called the Wonderbolds or something – had refused to listen to Shining Armor and had tried to jump Chrysalis.

“Out of the way, Shining!” The leader, an orange pegasus with a fiery orange mane, tried to break through the pink barrier Shining Armor had raised. “Why are you protecting the leader of those monsters? If we can take her down, we can end it right now!”

Inside the sphere, Chrysalis arched an eyebrow as she looked up at the five ponies striking the protective barrier. Despite wanting to give the orange pegasus a verbal lashing for calling her minions “monsters”, she chose instead to remain silent. She was curious to see how Shining Armor would deal with this.

“I can’t let you do that, Spitfire!” he yelled out, barely straining despite having to maintain a barrier against eleven strong pegasi. “She’s captured Cadance! And maybe Princess Luna as well!”

“So?” Spitfire yelled back. “The country will survive without the Princesses. We have a duty, Shining Armor, a duty to protect the country! Princess Celestia would never forgive us if we let Equestria fall or if we allowed citizens to be hurt in her absence! If you can’t do it, then stand aside, and allow the Wonderbolts to take care of it!”

“I…”

Oh, that wasn’t good. Shining Armor was starting to have second thoughts. Chrysalis could sense as his emotions shifted, torn as he was between his duty as a husband as his duty as a former Captain. She enjoyed feeling his torment as he was torn between conflicting loyalties, but only when she was the one tormenting him.

Her horn blazed a bright emerald green, a beam of light shooting out and catching the orange pegasus in the face. The beam passed through the barrier easily, since it wasn’t supposed to take shocks from the inside. The pegasus was sent flying into a nearby house, her blue uniform black and smoldering.

“CAPTAIN!” Ten voices shouted, and the ten other uniformed pegasi descended upon their leader, gently supporting her as she struggled to stand on her four wavering legs. Chrysalis watch as several changelings dropped on the group, quickly subduing them and pinning the eleven ponies to the ground.

“Things are going to change, Captain.” Chrysalis stated as she calmly strode out of the protective shield as Shining Armor dropped the barrier. “I think you need some time to learn that.” She nodded to the changelings restraining the pegasi. “Take them away. I’m sure the castle has dungeons somewhere. If you can’t find any, then take them down to the police station and lock them in a cell or something.”

“You’ll never get away with this,” one of the pegasi snarled as he was hefted into the air.

Chrysalis rolled her eyes at the blue pegasus. “Yes, yes. Of course I’m not. Really, is that the only thing you heroes can say? I’m getting tired of hearing those words. If it was possible for you to stop me, you would have stopped me already.” As the Wonderbolts were dragged away by the changelings, Chrysalis turned back to Shining Armor, her bright and sunny demeanor making it seem as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

“Now then, where were we?”

The changeling Queen smiled in reminiscence as she thought about the scene that had unfolded. More importantly, she needed to finish what she had come here to do.

“Let’s see…” she mused, idly tapping the floor with a hoof as she stood up straight. “Who would make a good example? What do you think?” This question was aimed at one of the changelings surrounding Cadance, but it didn’t respond. Chrysalis frowned at it for a moment before turning back to Cadance. “Well, he was no help. What about you, Princess? What do you think?”

Cadance didn’t say anything, silently glaring up at Chrysalis.

The Queen grinned down at her before turning and striding out the patio doors. The cool evening breeze blew all around her, throwing her limp mane behind her in the dying sunlight. That’s strange, she thought idly. Shouldn’t the sun be lower than that by now? Putting it out of her mind, she turned back to her captive.

With the sun at her back, her large shadow was projected into the room, landing on and covering the pink princess. Chrysalis smirked at seeing the mare who had once defeated her brought low. “It’s funny, really. Because of you, I nearly had to watch as all of my subjects died before my eyes. Now, you’re going to be their saviour.”

With a slight moan, Cadance shifted so she could get a better look at her captor. “Because of me… What are you saying? Shining Armor and I threw you out of Canterlot. We did nothing to you other than that.”

“And why do you think we invaded in the first place?” Chrysalis’ wings buzzed as she slowly became more and more agitated. “We had nothing. We were starving to death, and had to take drastic measures to survive.” Her eyes glazed over as she talked, focusing on a point past Cadance. Her voice took on a wistful tone as she recounted those painful days. “Ever since then, I’ve been burying my children one by one, unable to do anything to help them. Do you know how painful it is for a mother to bury her children?”

Her eyes shifted back to Cadance, and her grin returned wider than before at seeing the tears brimming in the alicorn’s eyes. “But that’s all in the past now. I will always hate you, but that isn’t important now, is it?”

“Why would you hate me?”

Chrysalis sighed, her mane fluttering wildly in the strengthening breeze, dark clouds beginning to cover the evening sky. Looks like a storm is about to hit Canterlot. “You mean other than you causing the death of my children? I know what you are. A mortal alicorn. A genetic throwback to the Golden Ages, a time when the only ponies in the world were alicorns.”

“Oh, don’t look so surprised, Princess,” Chrysalis said to Cadance’s shocked expression. “I know everything. I know the alicorns vanished one day, and the three pony tribes bearing their gifts rose in their place. I know Celestia and Luna were only foals when it happened. And I know there have been many mortal alicorns born since then – yes, alicorns just like you.”

“How-how do you know that?” Cadnce gasped. “Only members of the royal family are supposed to know that!” Not even Twilight Sparkle, Celestia’s own student, should know about that!

A cheerful laugh escaped Chrysalis’ throat, continuing until she stomped one of her hooves against the ground. “I didn’t know the details, I just guessed. It’s so nice of you to confirm it for me.” At Cadance’s grimace, Chrysalis laughed again. “You’ve never been tricked like that before, have you?” The smile slid off her face as she slowly began walking towards her captive, her horn glowing as she shut the patio doors behind her, large raindrops beating against the clear glass.

“Of course you haven’t,” Chrysalis continued, a frown forming on her face. Her reflection in the rain-spattered glass frowned back at her. “You’ve always been the beloved little princess. Never having to work for anything, never having to do anything. You would just sit there and look pretty, and everything you ever wanted would be brought to you.” As Cadance’s gaze slid to the floor, Chrysalis stamped a hoof directly in front of her face. “It should have been mine.”

“What are you saying?” Cadance wheezed, slightly panting for breath. The ropes and ooze were starting to feeling really constricting, like they were crushing her to the floor.

Chrysalis’ frown vanished, replaced with a horrifyingly predatory smirk as she slowly brought her head down so her mouth was right next to Cadance’s ear. “What I am saying,” she whispered, “is that-” Lighting flashed outside, brightly illuminating the entire room in blinding white light, the roaring thunder stealing away the changeling Queen’s words.

Cadance’s eyes widened in horror as Chrysalis stepped back, the grin on the changeling’s face broadening and darkening. “No,” Cadance murmured. “That… can’t be true. That’s… that’s a lie.”

“It’s no lie,” Chrysalis said simply. “My predecessors left records in the form of carvings on the walls of the first changeling hive.” She looked down at the still-muttering Cadance, slightly pitying the captive princess. She knew what Cadance was going through. She hadn’t believed it at first either.

Chrysalis waited for several minutes while Cadance processed what Chrysalis had told her before loudly clearing her throat. “But I think that’s enough talking about the past, wouldn’t you agree? Now we’re going to talk about you instead, and what you’re going to do to save your husband.”

Cadance came to life at that, squirming in her bonds. “Don’t you dare hurt him!” she yelled. Her horn sputtered for a moment before one of the changeling guards struck her, causing the spell to fizzle and die.

Circling around Cadance like a shark, Chrysalis continued teasing the Princess. “Oh, but what fun it would be! Just think about it. The public execution of the Crystal Prince, former captain of the Royal Guard, and the pony who had stopped my invasion force before. Thousands would come to witness it! We could make it a national holiday.”

The Crystal Princess remained silent, glaring up at Chrysalis with hatred burning brightly in her eyes. Her teeth were bared, and every word she spoke had to force itself out past her clenched jaw. “Don’t. You. Dare. Touch. Him.”

“Feisty, aren’t we?” Chrysalis asked, idly looking at the bottom of her hoof. “So then, Princess, what are you going to give me instead?”

“But I don’t have anythi-”

“I’m not asking much,” Chrysalis interrupted. “Just a token, really, a trifle. You’ll never even miss it. What I want from you is… your love.”

Cadance blinked, slowly running her tongue across her upper lip. “My love?”

“You got it, sweetie. I know that you’re the alicorn of love.” She pointed at the crystal heart proudly emblazoned upon Cadance’s flank. “You’re going to give me some of that love, and I will not publicly execute your husband. Actually, I’m in a good mood, so I will not execute anypony at all. So? Have we got a deal?”

Cadance remained silent, staring down at the floor at Chrysalis’ hooves for several minutes. A defeated expression on her face, she didn’t say anything as her horn began glowing. One of the changelings went to strike her, but Chrysalis waved him away, a greedy expression on her face.

From the weak light of Cadance’s horn, a tiny stylized heart slowly drifted away from her. It gently drifted upwards, stopping directly in front of the face of the changeling Queen. Chrysalis watched it, mesmerised. She could feel the power encaged in this tiny heart, and a mad grin spread across her face.

With all the speed of a serpent, she snapped at the floating heart. Her sharp fangs pierced through the heart’s core, causing cracks to through the impaled heart. Lighting flashed at that moment, and the room was lost in the brightest of pure while light for a split second before everything exploded.

The windows all burst as a bolt of purest electricity tore through them, striking the changeling Queen like the wrath of a vengeful god. The lights ruptured, throwing the entire room into near darkness. Only the slightest amount of light from the sun trickled in through the roiling clouds, which had now covered the entire sky. The only sound in the room was the pounding rain and roaring wind, tearing through the broken windows. Then, after several seconds of relative silence had passed, another sound could be heard.

Laughter.

“Haha ahaha haaahahaha haHAhaHAAHAHAAAAHAAA!!! AMAZING!” Chrysalis stood mostly unharmed in the center of the room, the floor smouldering at her feet. “This POWER! It’s even stronger than I had imagined! It’s even stronger than Shining Armor’s love! This is far more power then I had ever dreamed of!”

Cadance lay silently weeping at Chrysalis’ hooves. Whatever happened now, it would be her fault. She knew it. Through the haze of tears, she saw the Queen blazing with a corona of power, illuminating the entire room. Three bolts of energy blazed out, hitting the three changing guards directly on their horns. All three of them fell to their knees, and as Cadance watched, she was able to see as one of the changeling’s eyes shifted.

The clear reflective blue faded and was lost, instead revealing clear green pupils much like the Queen’s own. After a few seconds, all three changelings unsteadily got to their hooves. The three looked around at the darkened room, mild expressions of surprise and interest spread on their faces. What just happened? Cadance wondered.

As for the changelings, they eventually stopped looking around and bowed to their Queen. “Your Majesty,” one said, a slight buzz barely perceptible in his voice, “what is your command?”

“Rise, Innocent Sin, Fallen Roses, and Last Breath. I-” Chrysalis’ ears flattened, and her head whipped around as she stared out the broken patio doors. “-have something I need to take care of,” she finished. Her wings buzzed as she slowly lifted off the ground. “See that our guest is taken care of. Treat her well” The changelings saluted her as she flew into the raging storm outside.

The three changelings looked at each other before looking down at Cadance. One of them shrugged – she honestly couldn’t tell which – and bent down beside her. “Princess Cadance, right?” It asked in a feminine voice. Its tone was straightforward, but not unkind. “My name’s Fallen Roses. I hope we can get along.”

Queen Chrysalis’ wings buzzed furiously as she flew through the empty streets of Canterlot. The pounding rain beat at her thick carapace, while the occasional bolt of lightning flashed in the skies above. Her wings faltered and she dropped to the cobbled streets, her hooves beating against the ground as she raced to her destination.

She had received a mental communication from one of her drones calling for her, and the sound of fighting could clearly be heard over the deafening thunder. Roaring green flames burned ahead of her, despite the best efforts of the skies above to extinguish them.

As Chrysalis reached the location of the battle, she gradually slowed to a stop. A large crowd of ponies filled the wide open space, most of them without any protection from the rains. Off to the side, a light green unicorn with a lyre emblazoned on her flank and a slightly mad look in her eyes created a haunting melody from a lyre floating before her. Madness burned in the mare's eyes, burning in counterpoint to the green blaze burning within her eyes. Either her mind had been broken by the sight of the changelings, or the invasion had affected her head in some other way.

Uninterested, Chrysalis turned away from the madpony, focusing instead on the scene before her. In front of the train station, a single white unicorn fought alone against several changelings. As she watched, he struck another changeling with the shaft of the spear he levitated alongside him. The changeling dropped, joining the others already twitching on the ground as the unicorn deflected a magical blast from another changeling.

Flying over the heads of the assembled ponies, Chrysalis landed on the roof of the train overlooking the battleground, her hooves slightly denting the metal plating. The changelings stepped back, dragging the injured bodies of their companions away and flying up to the rooftops of the nearby buildings. The white unicorn turned to look up at her, his spear gripped firmly in his magical embrace. Chrysalis casually stepped off the train, landing before the white unicorn.

“Did I misjudge you?” she asked him. “Shining Armor?”

Shining Armor gritted his teeth, the point of his spear drooping towards the ground. “This isn’t a revolt,” he murmured, just loudly enough for her to hear him. “It’s just me.”

“Then why are you doing this?”she asked. At his silence, she closed her eyes. Though he couldn’t have known it, she was reviewing the memories of the changelings that had been tailing him. She watched through their eyes as he walked through the streets, trying to pacify all the ponies that resisted against the changelings. One by one, he defused potential incidents and broke up any conflicts before they could start. After speaking to one mare and having her return to her house, he suddenly turned and attacked the nearest changeling.

Chrysalis frowned as the mental image faded. Well, that told me nothing, she grumbled. “Playing the hero, are we?” she asked him. “Well, if your wife isn’t enough to keep you in check, how about your sister? I believe her name was Twilight Sparkle?”

Shining Armor fumbled his spear, quickly catching it again before it hit the ground. “How do you- No.” He shook his head. “You’re not going to hurt her. Either of them.” He pointed his spear directly at Chrysalis, levitating it only inches away from her face. “This is between you and me.”

She blinked, her eyes crossing slightly as she tried to focus on the spear in front of her before firmly pushing it away with a hoof. “Taking your responsibilities personally? Fine with me. Your wife already bartered for your life. I’m not going to kill you…” Her horn blazed, blasting him back with a mighty wave of green energy. Bystanders covered their faces as the roaring wind whipped past them, thrown back by the strength of the Queen’s spell. “…though you might wish I would,” she finished.

Shining Armor landed heavily in a puddle, his hooves splashing in the water that covered the area as he dashed to the side. Focusing his power, he launched his spear directly at her face. She knocked the oncoming spear aside with a blast of magic, sending it sailing away until it embedded itself in the street directly in front of some of the watchers. The wall of ponies stumbled away from the embedded spear while the music coming from the green unicorn’s lyre sped up as the battle intensified.

Firing off bolts of energy, Shining Armor tried to circle around behind the Queen. One, two, three, four, five bolts of purest magical energy tore over the cobblestones, causing the air to ripple as the blasts tore through it. Chrysalis calmly raised a shimmering green shield and the pinkish energy blasts struck uselessly against it before Chrysalis fired her own blast in return.

Hastily raising a defensive barrier, Shining Armor gasped in shock as the green energy beam struck his shield, demolishing it like it wasn’t even there. Lightning tore the sky apart as the Prince was knocked back, his impromptu flight ending when he struck a nearby building hard enough to leave cracks in the wall.

Wiping at a trickle of blood slowly seeping from a cut above his right eye, Shining Armor leapt back to the street below. His legs buckled beneath him as he landed, but years of training and service kept him on his feet.

Chrysalis calmly walked up to him, a slight smile playing on her face. “You’re not finished already?” she asked. “I’m not satisfied yet.”

“Oh, I’m not done yet.” Bringing his hoof up, he splashed a hooful of the dirty water that covered the streets directly into her face. The Queen grunted as she staggered back, a foreleg coming up to wipe at her eyes. Shining took advantage of her moment of weakness, rushing underneath her upraised leg and thrusting his horn directly into her chest.

His horn sparked as it screeched across her hard carapace, leaving a wide scratch that was unfortunately not deep enough to hurt her. Chrysalis’ raised leg came down, striking the side of Shining Armor’s face hard enough to throw him to the ground.

Reeling after the mighty backhoof, Shining Armor looked up to see Chrysalis charging up another spell, an unusually serious look on her face. Staggering to his feet, Shining Armor stepped back to get enough space to work up a spell of his own.

The unicorn prince and the changeling queen faced each other down in silence, the glow of their horns washing the street in green and pink light. The pounding rain and rumbling thunder was undercut by the melody of the green unicorn’s lyre, as the song she was playing built up to its final crescendo.

Chrysalis fired off her spell first, a mighty bolt of green energy that blazed a hole through the rain, cracking the cobbled street beneath it. Shining Armor responded with a double layered barrier, angled towards the sky. He knew he wouldn’t be strong enough to stop Chrysalis’ spell, so he could only deflect it.

The ground shook and heaved under the stress of the two magnificent spells clashing, several of the watching ponies losing their footing and falling into the wet street. Windows of buildings for blocks around quivered before shattering, screams filling the air as ponies fled the falling glass.

Shining Armor gritted his teeth, the heavy stress of the spell forcing him down to his knees. His horn shining a brilliant pink, he cried out in pain as Chrysalis’ spell slid along his barrier before finally shooting past it. Successfully redirected, the green beam shot towards the sky, tearing off the second story of a building that had been unlucky enough to be in the way. Silence reigned as all present watched the rapidly dwindling spell fly into the sky and vanish into the clouds above.

A green shockwave tore the sky asunder, emanating from where Chrysalis’ blast had vanished. A rapidly expanding circle blew the clouds away, disintegrating the ferocious storm in seconds. The last cloud disappeared, revealing the evening sky behind it. The sun hung in the sky, unmoved from where it rested upon the horizon.

Moans filled the streets of Canterlot as ponies slowly forced themselves to their feet, water dripping off of their fur and running in streams through the cobblestones. Sunlight reflected off the water that covered the streets, filling the world with light.

Shining Armor lay on his side, panting for breath. His horn glowed weakly and his dropped spear flew to his side. Forcing himself to his hooves, his legs shook as they tried to collapse beneath him, and he leaned against his spear for support. His eyesight blurring and the world seeming to tilt beneath him, he was able to make out a black blur standing before him.

Chrysalis’ reverberating voice shook through his body, her sibilant hiss coming from directly in front of him. “I’m impressed you’re still standing,” the Queen’s voice said. “But it’s over. Give up.”

“No,” Shining Armor muttered, his voice barely audible. “I’m… not finished… not yet. I… will protect…” Images of his little sister and wife flashed before his eyes, and he lost his grip on the world before him. The last thing he knew was the feeling of his chin hitting the cobbled street, splashing in the quickly draining puddles.

“Back, foul monster!” The little filly’s voice came from behind a large pile of books, carefully built into the shape of a wall. After a few seconds, a tiny purple unicorn popped out, throwing a pillow at a small white unicorn colt.

Shining Armor took the pillow to the face before shaking it off. “Wraaaaar!” he roared. “The monster’s going to get you!” Throwing his legs out and making himself as big as possible, he stomped towards the fort of books. The little filly shrieked in laughter before disappearing within the fort again, coming out with another pair of pillows.

The two combatants stared at each other for several seconds before Shining Armor was struck in the side of his head by another thrown pillow. Looking over in the direction the pillow had been thrown from, he saw a radiant pink alicorn smiling innocently at him. At her side sat a tiny purple dragon with a light green underbelly wearing a diaper. The dragon was sucking on its tail like it was the most important thing in the world, ignoring the rambunctious ponies around him.

“Get him now, Twilight,” the alicorn mare said, the innocent smile on her face not changing one whit. Taking advantage of his distraction, Shining Armor’s little sister abandoned her fort and leapt on her big brother, whapping him upside the head with one of her pillows and knocking him to the ground. Landing astride him, she took the opportunity to pummel him with the pillows as many times as she could before he managed to get a hoof in under her ribs and tickled her into submission.

Cadance watched the laughing siblings, a wide smile playing on her face. The baby dragon stopped what he was doing to look at what the noise was before shrugging and going back to sucking his tail.

Eventually, the two finished their roughhousing, both flopping on the ground on their backs side-by-side. Twilight snuggled up to Shining Armor’s side as he wrapped a hoof around her.

“I love you, BBBFF,” she said, cuddling against his white coat and burying her muzzle in his blue mane.

“I love me too,” he teased, earning him a jab to the kidneys.

Blinking the rain out of his eyes, Shining Armor fought his way back to consciousness. Most of the world was lost in a white haze, and what little he could see was horribly blurred. His heart pounded in his ears, nearly robbing him of his hearing. He could just barely hear the sound of that changeling he had been fighting saying something above him. What had been her name? He couldn’t remember. The only thing he knew was that he couldn’t stop fighting.

His rough breath wheezing through his throat and his body suffering under extreme magical exhaustion, he struggled to his hooves once again. The Queen had her back turned to him, and she didn’t notice as he picked up his spear and slowly approached her. All the surrounding ponies watched in silence as he staggered his way to the speech-making Queen, none of them wanting to say anything to alert her to his presence. With a pained wheeze, Shining Armor hefted the haft of his spear in his magical grip, stabbing the spear at her neck as hard as he could.

Chrysalis turned when she saw something flickering out of the corner of her eye, spotting the spear thrusting at her just in time. Grabbing the spear in her own magical aura, she stopped Shining Armor’s final thrust only a few inches away from her exposed throat. “I know something about defeat,” she said somberly to the haggard unicorn. “It’s time you accepted yours.”

The glow of Shining Armor’s horn sputtered and died as he lost his grip on his spear. Wavering where he stood, he unsteadily raised one hoof above his head. As the crowd watched, he swung his hoof down, aiming for the butt of the spear held in Chrysalis’ grip. Realizing too late what he intended, her scream of denial was countered by his anger-filled yell.

His hoof struck.

Hit.

Pierced.

The spear, propelled by the force of Shining Armor’s punch, broke through the strength of Chrysalis’ magical grip. As the Prince dropped into unconsciousness, collapsing on the street, the spear finished its intended course, stabbing the changeling Queen directly in the throat. With a horrifying noise, the head of the spear pierced through her carapace, erupting out of the back of her neck in an explosion of green and black.

The crowd was silent, the music of the lyre finally coming to a close. Nopony was sure what to do as they stared at the sight before them. The Prince lay on his side, roughly gasping for breath despite being unconscious. The Queen stood proud and tall, a shocked expression on her face as she stared down at the spear going right through her neck.

The surrounding changelings remained unresponsive, their blank blue eyes not revealing any of their thoughts. The Canterlot ponies began muttering among themselves, wondering what they were supposed to do now. Before the spectators could figure out what to do, a single voice tore through the noise, leaving behind an utter silence in its wake.

“That was impressive,” Chrysalis said, looking down at the unconscious Prince.

Chrysalis tapped at the spear in her neck for a moment, wondering what would be the best way to remove it. Her horn glowing brightly, she began forcing the spear the rest of the way. After several excruciating seconds, where she could hear the sounds of several of the surrounding ponies losing their supper, she finally managed to force the spear all of the way out. The spear, covered in changeling goo, dropped to the wet streets at her hooves.

Poking at the hole in the center of her neck, she let a slight frown crease her face as she checked the damage. It would take her a while to recover, but the wound would one day fade. However, she would be unable to transform until the scar had completely disappeared. As it was, the only reason she was still alive was because changelings lacked any sort of internal organs. If she tried to change into another form, the wound would remain and would probably kill her on the spot.

She turned to the assembled ponies, most of them looking at her with horrified fear in their eyes. Here, now, at her moment of triumph, she thought back in amusement at how everything had all started, and how everything had come back full circle.

In particular, her mind went back to that moment that she had first explained herself to anyone, and how it had been to that strange creature who had appeared outside her hive. “Let me tell you how the changelings came to be,” she had said.

“We weren’t always like this. Once, we were something else. I don’t know what happened, but the words of the first changeling Queen make the picture clear. We were not always a race of insect like creatures. We used to go by another name, before we were transformed. Or changed, I suppose. Cursed.”

Her mouth cracked open, and she began to speak. Her horn glowed brightly, casting a spell that would allow every pony in the entire city to hear her words.

“Once… we were called ‘Alicorns’.”

“By the ancient rights bestowed upon me,” Chrysalis proclaimed, her voice echoing throughout the entire city. “I, Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings, do proclaim myself, here and now, the sole ruler of Canterlot and the surrounding country of Equestria!”

END PART 2

Aside: Old Thoughts and Old Friends

Silence.

Complete and utter silence.

Princess Luna made her way through the barren land of her domain. The ethereal appearance of the dream realm wavered and shimmered before her eyes as she hopelessly searched for the presence of any of her subjects. She stoically searched through monstrous forests, bright and cheery beaches, abandoned cities, and even the inky blackness between stars.

Nothing.

Luna sighed as she pushed her flowing mane out of her eyes. She could feel the presence of a few dreams here and there, but she lacked the power to actually reach out and touch them. All she needed was a single dreamer she could talk to – just one. She needed to tell somepony where she was and what had happened to her.

Under normal conditions, the Lunar Princess would often search through the dreams of her subjects and enter them, either to watch them play out or to banish them from the mind of the dreamer. It was both one of her duties and her favourite pastime. Whenever she got the chance, she would try to find young fillies and colts plagued by night terrors before helping the young foals to confront their fears. It was a large part of the reason why she loved the young ones so much, after all. They made her feel needed.

Her hooves continuing to lead her down her silent and lonely path, she gravely considered the events of the past twelve hours. Her body now lay within the deepest darkest bowels of the changeling hive, confined within a cocoon that suppressed her magical power. That damnable cocoon was still restricting her powers, preventing her from reaching out to any of the myriad dreamers of Equestria.

Her thoughts whirled chaotically around inside her head. There was something that creature had told her, something that had just stuck with her. He had claimed that the changelings were what was left of the alicorns; that all the alicorns except for Celestia and Luna had somehow been transformed into those freakish bug-like mockeries.

The idea was absurd.

Luna knew that, of course she knew that, but there was just something about it that wouldn’t leave her alone. She had been there that day; she knew what she had witnessed. Her memories were a little foggy since she had been so young at the time, but that was one thing she would never forget. The sight of her mother fighting against two changelings, her glorious red mane flowing in the breeze as she fought to protect her two daughters, was as clear now as it had ever been. That had been the last time either she or Celestia had seen their mother.

But something else was wrong. Luna’s thoughts returned to the present, and she considered the current situation. The hour was late, and most ponies should be tucked away safe in their beds, quickly succumbing to a quiet night’s slumber. Yet very few ponies were actually asleep. Something must have happened to keep them awake, and Luna shuddered at the possibilities.

She had been captured, but she knew that most ponies wouldn’t realize right away if she was unable to raise the moon or the stars. Some would notice, but not enough to cause a full-scale panic on the first day. The changelings had invaded again, but Luna doubted they had enough soldiers to spread across the entire of Equestria at all, let alone in a single day. The creature that held her had claimed that there were only three hundred or so changelings. The ponies of the present day may never have seen a war in their lifetimes, but even they would rise to overthrow such an outnumbered army.

No matter how much she thought, she kept coming back to the same answer. Only two events that she could think of could spread panic so suddenly and so abruptly. The first was worrisome enough: something may have happened to her elder sister. If Celestia was incapacitated and unable to lower the sun, that would certainly cause panic across all of Equestria. Luna hoped her sister was alright, but the second possibility was even worse.

Equestria could be under attack again. While Luna had fought against many threats to her country – even being a threat herself on one occasion – she only knew of one creature with the sheer power to terrorize the entire country within such a short time. Only one. That irritating, duplicitous, obnoxious, self-centered, conceited, flamboyant, slimy snake in the grass.

“Oh, come now, Lulu,” a voice called out from behind the princess. “I hardly think such rude thoughts about you. Couldn’t you include ‘witty’ or ‘funny’ anywhere in there?”

The Princess whipped around to see the very draconequus she had been thinking about. “Discord,” she snarled, her horn sputtering weakly before dying out. “I thought I made it clear last time that you are not welcome here.” For a moment, she wondered how he could be here since he was supposed to still be imprisoned within a statue, petrified by the powers of the Elements of Harmony. She quickly threw that thought away, knowing that Discord considered the laws of reality a quaint idea. To him, reality was something that happened to others.

The spirit of chaos stood before her, a cheerful smile on his face and his eagle claw arm moving back and forth before him. Other than the malicious twinkle in his eyes, he looked as if he was simply waving to a friend he hadn’t seen in a long time. After a second, his varying limbs shifted and flexed as he stretched, groaning in relief as joints snapped and popped.

“Oh. Ohhhhh. That feels good.” He grunted as a particularly loud snap could be heard from the center of his spine before looking around at the dream realm. “It may not be the same as Equestria, but being able to move again is certainly welcome.”

“Discord…” Luna warned threateningly. She had never liked seeing his ugly face in her realm even when they were young. The last time he had been here, she had trapped him in a particularly unpleasant nightmare and left him to rot for a few hours before finally letting him escape back to the physical world. While he might be far stronger than her in the outside world, this was her realm, and normally nothing could match her here.

Normally.

With her powers restricted as they were, there was very little she could actually do against him. And they both knew it. She dropped the offensive stance, knowing that he wouldn’t be interested in picking a fight. “What do you want, Discord? I doubt you came all this way for a social visit.”

“Pah, really, Luna,” he snapped his fingers. There was a sudden bright flash of light and when it faded, Discord had disappeared. Luna’s knees bent slightly as a sudden weight pressed down on her back, and looked back to see the spirit of chaos lounging between her wings. “There’s no need for such harsh words. You were always the interesting one, after all.”

With a quick shake, Luna tossed the annoying spirit away. “Yet I recall it being thou who tried to impress our sister once.” She frowned at herself as she realized what she had just said. Whenever she was stressed, Luna tended to slip back into the old style of speech.

Discord’s unpaired bat-like and pegasus wings beat as he steadied himself before dropping to the absent ground of the dream realm. Waving aside the comment, he pulled a pair of yellow-rimmed sunglasses out of seemingly nowhere before slipping them on. Pulling a martini glass out of the same place, he held the glass upside down and took a sip. “That was a long time ago. She’s changed. She’s too uptight now.”

“Having to keep all those ponies in line by herself for a millennium will tend to do that to a pony,” Luna pointed out flatly.

The Draconequus shrugged, leaning back against a palm tree that Luna could have sworn wasn’t there a moment before. “Yes, I suppose that’s true. After all, she was forced to banish a certain pony to the moon for a thousand years. That couldn’t have been good for her.”

She had seen the shot coming and yet it still hurt, the wound as fresh as ever. “Thou thinks it was any easier for her to turn one of her oldest friends to stone?” she fired back. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence on both their parts, she turned her head away and muttered quietly into her mane. “It certainly wasn’t easy for me.”

Several more seconds passed before Luna moved next to Discord and sat beside him. Her shoulder pressed against his side as she leaned into him, feeling the comforting warmth coming from his body. “What happened to you?” she asked quietly.

“Couldn’t imagine. Being a creature of chaos and change might have something to do with it.”

“We’ve all changed,” Luna pointed out. He offered her a mug of her own, which she gratefully accepted. Taking a cautious sip of the liquid within, she reveled in the burning sensation as it passed down her throat. Even after all these years, Discord still remembered her favourite drink. Moonshine, of course.

The two immortals sat in silence for a while, each remembering the ancient times long behind them. For this one quiet moment, they were not the bitter enemies that time had made them, but old childhood friends. Back when she was just a filly Celestia had discovered the equally young spirit of chaos and had invited him into their little family. For years, it had only been the three of them, traveling the world together. Until the day everything changed…

“How long has it been since we’ve sat like this?” Luna eventually asked. Discord only shrugged, casually flipping his cup in his hand. Taking another sip of moonshine, Luna glanced over at Discord. “I’ve missed this, you know. Just quietly sitting together. After you vanished that day, we thought we would never see you again.”

“That day, huh?” Discord chuckled. The weight of the uncounted centuries he had lived through slipped into his voice, the reminiscence of ages past temporarily overwhelming the playful whimsy that normally suffused his tone. “We were so young and foolish back then. Thought we knew best, that what we were doing would change the world.”

“And then we nearly destroyed it,” Luna said, concluding his train of thought. “If the mortal ponies hadn’t stopped it, we might not be here today.”

Discord rolled his eyes at that, his voice slipping back into its normal teasing tones. “’Here today’, she says. Me providing décor for your castle’s gardens and being used as a pigeon roost – that reminds me, when I get free again, all pigeons will be wanted criminals – and you trapped by those buggy ponies. Maybe I’m just the only one not feeling the love for those mortals right now.”

Luna giggled at that, admitting that she might not have had used the best choice of words. “All right, but you know what I mean.” She lifted her glass up to him. “To old memories?”

“To old memories,” he answered, his glass meeting hers with a light tink. She immediately filled her mouth with alcohol, but he only stared into his glass before speaking. “I think we need to convince Celestia to try and destroy Equestria.” A sputtering cough told him he had timed that perfectly, and he mentally fist-pumped as the Lunar Princess choked on her drink.

After several seconds of prolonged coughing, Luna finally managed to catch her breath. Wheezing slightly, she glared over at the Spirit of Chaos. “You’re going to have to explain that one.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Her face said it wasn’t, so he sighed and started explaining. “Both of us tried it, and it’s done wonders for us.” Oblivious to the look of shame that momentarily appeared on her face, he continued talking. “Maybe if she let herself go a little, tried the whole evil dictator thing for a while, she would stop being such a depressing stick in the mud.”

Luna rolled her eyes at Discord’s twisted logic, deciding it was time to get things back on track as she regretfully put the empty cup aside. “You never answered my questions,” she noted, “and I doubt this is a social visit. Not after last time.”

Discord blew a raspberry at her in response, causing Luna to chuckle weakly. “I still think that was mean of you,” Discord grumbled under his breath.

Another flash of light and Discord was standing upside-down before her. Pulling a stopwatch out from behind his ear, he flipped it open and took a look at what lay within. Closing it with a satisfied smile, he tossed it over his shoulder where it promptly exploded. “Oh good, looks like I’ve still got some time left.” At the look she gave him, he explained. “I may still be trapped in that statue, but I’m still able to harness a little bit of power from the chaos going on out there.”

“What have you done, Discord?” Luna fumed, the momentary reminiscence of the past forgotten. “I know you’re responsible for that creature.” She referred to that bizarre bipedal animal that had spoken to her when she had awoken at the changeling hive.

“Me?” he responded, striking a pose of someone wrongfully accused. “Why, I’m as innocent as I was the day I was born.” A bright yellow halo appeared above him at his words, but since he was upside down, it hovered about an inch or two above one of his feet. Seeing that Luna wasn’t buying it, he shrugged and bent at the waist, grabbing the halo. Munching it like a doughnut, he flipped right side up again.

“Alright, you caught me,” he admitted. “And now, here I am. Burdened with the weight of my crimes, I turn myself over to accept my fate.” Covering his face with one arm, he held the other out to her. “Crushed under my ever-present guilt, like the spirit of your sister was crushed just hours ago, I am giving myself over to- bwahahaha! Oh, I almost got through that with a straight face.” He wiped a tear out of his eyes as he laughed.

Luna stomped a hoof at him. Something he had said had caught her attention. “What has happened to my sister?” she snarled. “What have you done?”

“Why, nothing at all,” he claimed. Luna felt a tapping on her shoulder, and turned to see Discord standing behind her. “After all,” he continued, his face only inches from hers, “you’re the reason she’s in such trouble in the first place.”

“Thy words are as empty as thy head, Discord.” She waved a hoof at the scenery around them, the appearance of the dream realm shifting and undulating before them. “I’ve been trapped by the changelings since this morning. I only just managed to reconnect myself with this world.”

“Really?” He brushed at his beard for a moment. “How odd. Well, maybe you should see it for yourself.” Another snap of his fingers and a full-length mirror suddenly stood before Luna. She saw her reflection for only a moment before it vanished and was replaced with a bizarre scene, which she could barely make out past all the static.

Shown to her in the mirror was the mighty city of clouds, Cloudsdale. While it was normally home to only pegasi, because no other ponies could stand on the clouds without magic, she saw a very different sight. Cloudsdale was packed to the brim, filled with all sorts of ponies. Other than the regular pegasi, she saw unicorns and earth ponies and… were those changelings? Before she could get a clearer look at the image, Discord rapped his knuckles against the side of the mirror, causing the scene to vanish.

“Dang thing’s on the fritz again,” he grumbled. “I think that woman conned me. Ah!” Another image appeared on the mirror. “There we go.”

This time the image shown was much clearer, showing her a great canyon. She didn’t recognize it offhoof, but the scene that played quickly blew any useless thoughts out of her mind. She saw as Celestia and Twilight Sparkle raced into the canyon, pursuing a bipedal creature much like the one she saw in the changeling hive. She clearly saw as some sort of evil poured from the creature, possessing her sister and forcing her to attack her own student.

Once the image came to its crushing conclusion with Celestia vanishing in a flash of light, Luna cocked her eyebrow at Discord. If what he had shown her was true, then the situation was as bad as she had feared. But she knew him far too well to trust anything he said. She brushed at an invisible speck of dust on her indigo coat, trying to appear unaffected by what she had seen. “An interesting spectacle,” she said coolly, her voice as icy and calm as the night itself. “And what does it have to do with Us?”

Discord huffed, obviously displeased by Luna’s lack of a reaction. “Party pooper. No cake for you.” Snapping his fingers, he banished the mirror back to wherever it had come from. “Fine, fine, let’s get down to business.” Another snap and he was wearing an obviously cheap suit that was too small for him – the suit tore at the seams a little every time he moved – and a pair of ridiculously oversized glasses that distorted his entire face.

Straightening a sheaf of papers that appeared in his hands and straightening his glasses, he read off the papers in a very flat nasally tone that still managed to grate against Luna’s ears. “The way things are going, it looks like that Queen Chrysalis is going to win. Celestia’s dropped out of the game, though her piece is still in play, my own piece has betrayed me, and-”

“Game?” Luna interrupted, lightning flashing in her eyes and mane. “This is naught but a game to you?”

“Of course. Just a little something to pass the time until… Well,” he chuckled darkly, “let’s say it’s all an amusement for now. But let’s keep that just between you and me.” He winked at her.

“I will see you crushed beneath my hooves, Discord!” Luna voice echoed throughout the vast emptiness of the dream realm, like the rumble of thunder heard across a mighty ocean. “I should have convinced Celestia to destroy you when we had the chance! Be assured, I will not make that mistake again!”

Discord rolled his eyes before consulting the paperwork again. “Such melodrama. But back to what I was saying. This brings us to you. The game’s coming to a close, and you haven’t had a chance to play. Now I thought to myself ‘Discord, your handsomeness, that just doesn’t seem fair! Old Luna deserves a chance to play too.’ And I am nothing if not willing to share my toys.”

Another flash of white and Luna stumbled back, her ears flattening against her skull. The glasses, cheap suit, and paper had all vanished. Instead, Discord held a glowing orb. It shined brightly, as brightly as the stars, and looked to be made out of light itself. Luna knew what it was. How could she not? It was what she had been looking for.

It was a dream.

If she touched it, she would be able to talk to the dreamer. She would be able to tell them what had happened to her, and find out what had happened to her sister. Her hoof moved, involuntarily reaching out for it before she could control herself.

Discord smirked at her, the light cast by the dream gleaming off his single oversized tooth. “Pretty, isn’t it? I’ve pumped some of my own chaos magic into it. You’ll be able to reach into it, even as weak as you are. Oh, but that’s not the best part. This poor little dreamer will be able to sense your location! He’s just the thing you need for someone to find you tucked away deep within the hive of those changelings.”

Taking an unsteady step towards the glowing dream, Luna cautiously reached out to it. Stopping before her hoof brushed against it, she stepped away from it and the smiling apparition holding it out to her. “It’s never this simple with you, Discord. You’re as likely to do something out of the goodness of your heart as my sister’s current student is likely to take the road of her predecessor.”

He laughed, casually tossing the dream from hand to hand. “I remember watching that. Celestia really messed up there. Well, you don’t have to play. It would be much less fun, but I can respect your choice. And I’m sure there’s no need to worry. I’m sure that Chrysalis just loves foals.” Disappearing with that final parting shot, the dream fell to the ground, rolling to a stop directly before her hooves.

Alone again, Luna stared down at the brightly glowing sphere, considering Discord’s words. She knew he was probably lying – no, he was definitely lying – but what he had said at the end rung true. If there was a way to end the threat to Canterlot, she would have to take it, no matter the risk. But she would have to be careful. Discord implied that this entire thing was a distraction, something to keep everyone out of his way. She would need to stay aware, and keep watch for any possible hints to his true intentions.

If she was going to be able to help anyone, she wouldn’t be able to just sit back and watch. She needed to get free. Bending down, she briefly brushed her muzzle against the dream, inhaling as she got a feeling of what type of pony Discord had chosen for her champion. Her eyes widened as she realized what kind of pony she was dealing with and she staggered back, landing heavily on her flank.

“No,” she breathed, her wild-eyed stare boring into the dream. The light started pulsating in time with her heartbeat, slowly moving towards her as she tried to scoot away from it. “Not him.” She looked up at the wavering sky of the astral plane, her eyes pleading at for something to arrive and help her. “Why would you do this, Discord?” she whispered to the ethereal wind.

To her surprise, a dark chuckle echoed on the ethereal wind, seeing to wrap her in its malevolence as the serpent’s voice whispered into her ear. “Because I know it hurts you.”

Luna shuddered as the last flickering remnants of Discord faded, the vile snake returning to his stone prison. Having used up the power he had obtained from the chaos and conflicts that had occurred around Ponyville and Canterlot, he was no longer able to reach outside of the binds that sealed him.

The dream sat in front of Luna, staring up at her like an apple of temptation. Luna stared down at the dream, one hoof slowly stretching towards it. Discord knew exactly how to make her squirm. If she asked this pony for his help and he got hurt, Luna knew she would never forgive herself. She also knew she had no other choice.

Solidifying her will and her heart, Luna dove headlong into the young colt’s dream. For her sake, and the sake of Equestria as a whole, she would ask a young foal to willingly throw himself into the manticore’s den. And she would forever hate herself for it.

Catching Up

Twilight groaned in relief as she finally reached Ponyville. She must have been walking for hours, though she had no idea how long it had actually been. The sun remained exactly where it had been when she started, low in the sky and casting long shadows over the entire land. Without Princess Celestia to lower it out of the sky, it would forever remain in place, casting the world in an eternal twilight.

Oh, Princess… Twilight thought sadly. Before she could follow this line of thought any further, the creature on her back shifted and groaned. She froze up, looking back to see if it was about to awaken. Thankfully, it soon settled down and she released a small sigh of relief. All of its wounds had already healed and she had no idea if it would be friend or foe when it woke up again. If it tried to attack her again, she would just have to run.

A part of her wanted to just dump the creature and run anyway, but after spending all that time trying to capture it, she just refused to let it escape so easily. She had wrapped vines around the creature’s wrists and ankles tightly enough to cut out the flow of blood, but she still jumped and shivered whenever it moved.

Her plodding hoof struck the dirt road, throwing up a small cloud of dust, and her thoughts began to wander down another path. Celestia’s final words had stuck with her. If the changelings had invaded again, at this time, there was no way it was a coincidence. A slight snarl escaped her throat as she thought about the one behind everything. It just felt like everypony was marching to the beat of Discord’s drum.

Another step, and another thought occurred to her. Nightmare Moon’s words rung true. She had claimed that Twilight lacked both strength and willpower. Try as she might, Twilight couldn’t disagree. When her friends were with her, she knew there was nothing she needed to fear. But what if they weren’t there for her? What would happen if they were separated again? Back in Ghastly Gorge, Twilight had been alone and she had been unable to do anything to stop Nightmare Moon at all. The creature had saved her and that meant, much as she was loath to admit it, that she now owed Discord her life.

She needed more power. She needed enough power to protect everypony important to her, so she would never have to lose anypony again. The feather Celestia had left her pressed heavily against the back of her head as she thought about the way her teacher had sealed herself away to protect Equestria. If I had been stronger, she thought, she wouldn’t have needed to do that. Maybe I could have stopped her, maybe I could have beaten this creature without needing to call for her in the first place.

There were just so many ‘maybe’s.

Regardless, she would think about that later. She made a mental note to look up ways to improve her strength after all this was sorted out, but for now she needed to focus. “Alright, what do I know?” she asked aloud. “Princess Celestia trusted me, so I’m not going to let her down! Where should I start?”

After blanking out for a few moments, Twilight shrugged ruefully and laughed. “Guess I’ll start by asking the others what they think.”

Several minutes later, Twilight walked through the streets of Ponyville, slowly making her way to the hospital. Ponies were running through the streets in a panic, no one taking charge or trying to calm the riots. Since ponies running around like crazy was a common occurrence in Ponyville, Twilight just ignored it. Living on the edge of the Everfree forest had made the inhabitants somewhat skittish.

Fortunately for Twilight, all the ponies running around in a wild panic meant nobody tried to stop her to ask any questions. They ignored the creature slung over her back, which was good, since she wasn’t sure what she could have told them. Eventually, her path led her to the hospital, which stood tall and dispassionate, heedless of the chaos surrounding it. Trotting up to the doorway, she nudged the door open and entered inside.

The door slid shut behind her and Twilight looked around the hospital lobby, struck by how normal it was. She could barely hear the noises coming from outside, and the lights flickered and buzzed comfortingly above her. The bored-looking pegasus sitting behind the receptionist’s desk glanced at her over the top of the magazine she was reading. “Hello, Miss Twilight,” she said, her nasally voice accentuating how disinterested she sounded. “Your friends are in wing 3, second floor, room 204. Same place as before. You know the way.”

“Thank you,” Twilight said, walking past the receptionist. Hesitating before she went down the hallway, she looked back at the mare. “Pardon me for asking, but aren’t you worried? About the sun remaining in the sky, I mean.”

The receptionist snorted rudely, not even bothering to look up. “Yeah, I’m worried my replacement’s not going to show up. That lazy mare’s always looking for an excuse to ditch work. If she thinks she can skip the night shift just because the sun’s not going down, I’m going to staple her ears to my wall.” The receptionist waved a stapler in Twilight’s general direction, and the unicorn decided it was best to carry on her way.

Making her through the clean and sterile hallways of the hospital, Twilight marvelled at how most of the staff seemed to be going through their work as if there was nothing out of the ordinary. One of the worst disasters in generations was going on outside, and these ponies simply refused to panic and abandon their charges. Seeing it shamed her, and Twilight knew she needed to learn from their example. Approaching the room where her friends rested, she heard them before she saw them.

“…so then Fancypants asked if I could design an entire row of dresses for Fleur. The idea was daunting, but I, naturally, agreed. After that we- Oh, hello, Twilight. I didn’t see you there.” Rarity waved to Twilight, the white unicorn lying back in her bed. Pinkie Pie sat perched on her bed, apparently listening with interest to every word the fashionista was saying along with Fluttershy. Spike, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were playing some sort of card game on a table by the corner. Applejack was deep in conversation with Big Macintosh, telling the stallion not to overwork himself while she recovered. As for Rainbow Dash…

“Twilight!” the pegasus exclaimed, reaching out to the purple unicorn with a pleading expression. From the expression on her face, she would have tried to hide behind Twilight if she could, but the cast on her wing prevented her from getting off the bed “Thank Celestia you showed up! You gotta save me! Rarity won’t stop talking about her clothes!”

The offended unicorn huffed indignantly. “I listened to you when you were nattering on about the Wonderbolts, Rainbow Dash. The least you could do is listen to my stories.”

“Yeah, but the Wonderbolts are interesting,” Dash said, as if that explained everything in the world. “But that’s not important now. How’d it go, Twi? When can we expect some… hah?” She noticed the creature lying slumped across Twilight’s back. “What’s that thing doing here?”

Twilight dumped the creature on the floor, looking around the room. All eyes were on her and she licked her lips as she tried to get her thoughts in order. “First, we can’t expect any help from the palace. You all remember the changelings?” She paused for a moment, while her friends nodded. “They invaded the palace again. Princess Celestia didn’t know what exactly happened, but it’s possible they now control the entire city.”

“What? No way,” Dash protested. “Spitfire would never allow something like that.”

Twilight shook her head. “Sorry Dash, but the Wonderbolts were probably all captured as well.”

“So then what’s the plan?” Applejack asked as the sporty pegasus fell back, her mouth agape in horror. “Sounds like we got bigger problems then just some creature of Discord’s loose in the forest.” She gestured at the creature sprawled out on the floor. It really didn’t look very threatening when it was unconscious like that. “’Xactly what happened out there, anyway?”

“Well, you see…” Twilight told them everything. She spilled it all, from the moment the first set hoof into the canyon to Celestia disappearing with Nightmare Moon. Silence fell on the room as she finished her tale, none of the group sure how to react to what they were hearing.

“Princess Celestia… goodness…” Rarity gasped, falling back on her bed.

Spike was the first to move, walking over to the creature and giving it a slight poke. “So this is the thing I’ve been hearing so much about. He doesn’t look like much.” The creature groaned at the contact and Spike quickly dove behind Twilight.

“Oh my,” Fluttershy said, cautiously walking up to the creature. “Is he alright?” She rolled him onto his back, leaning in close to his exposed face. “This is so amazing. Now that I see him up close, I’m sure I’ve never seen anything like this before.” Her eyes shimmered with excitement as she started to poke and prod at his skin while the others watched her in bemusement. Peeling back his lips, she carefully examined his teeth. “Molars for crushing, incisors for tearing, must be a omnivore. His species might normally be scavengers like Mr. Bear. I wonder what he’s been eating in the Everfree. Oh,” she leaned in closer, almost pressing her eyeball against his lips, “that’s interesting…”

Twilight stepped up beside Fluttershy, curious despite herself. “What is it?” she asked.

Fluttershy leaned back, exposing the creature’s gums. “Take a look at this.”

Twilight stared into the creature’s mouth for several seconds before she realized she had no idea what the animal lover was trying to show her. “What am I looking at?” she asked flatly.

“Don’t you see?” Fluttershy asked, gently tapping her fetlock against the white enamel. “His teeth have been carefully cared for. I’m sure now that his species are either smart enough to know the importance of basic hygiene, or at the very least he was somepony’s pet.”

“I’m sure he’s perfectly intelligentual,” Pinkie said, bouncing up beside the pair. The bandages on her flank shifted and slid every time she moved, but she moved as if they weren’t even there. “He helped Twilight, right? I’m sure that means he wants to be our friend now!”

Applejack snorted angrily at Pinkie’s words. “Ah don’t know what that varmint was thinkin’, and ta be honest, Ah don’t much care. What’s important is that that there scoundrel tried to take my baby sister away from me. Sorry Twi, but even if he did save you like you said, there’s no way Ah’m ever gonna forgive him. How about you, Dash?”

Dash’s ears twitched the unexpected address. “Huh? Well, I dunno. I mean, he did try to kill Pinkie and hurt nearly all of us, and my wing’s messed up pretty bad because of him. But it sounds like he was being controlled by that mean ol’ witch. And he did leap into harm’s way to protect Twilight. That counts for a lot, and I can respect that. I guess…” she flicked at her bedcovers thoughtfully, a low hum forming in her throat. With a sharp nod, she forcefully brought her hoof down on her bed. “Yeah. I say we should give him a chance.”

Scootaloo leapt up on Dash’s bed, looking at the pegasus in surprise. “Wha- Dash! How can you be so accepting?” Confusion was clear in the tiny pony’s eyes as she stared at her idol. “He hurt you! Hurt your friends! How can you possibly want to forgive him?”

Dash smiled, grabbing Scootaloo and pulling the orange pegasus against her. “C’mere, squirt. Sure, I’m not happy with that thing, and I’m certainly not saying we trust it, but I think it deserves a chance for saving Twilight.” She held up a single hoof and her gaze turned steely. “One. Chance. If he still can’t be trusted, believe me, I’m going to extract revenge for everything he’s done from his hide. If he keeps healing, then I’ll just keep beating him until he stops. What about you, Twi? You were there.”

“I…” Twilight said before trailing off with a shake of her head. “I don’t know. I know he saved me, but… After everything he’s done to us, I don’t think I have it in me to forgive him.”

An awkward silence filled the room for several short seconds before Rarity loudly cleared her throat. “In any case, what are we going to do now? We’ve finally captured this… thing, but it sounds as if Canterlot is more important.”

“I don’t know,” Twilight admitted. “I was hoping one of you might have an idea.” There was a great silence as everypony considered their next move, and Twilight felt her heart sink as no new ideas were suggested.

“Maybe y’all should think on it some tomorrow.” All heads turned to the speaker, eyes widening in surprise as they realized who had spoken. Big Macintosh shifted the sprig of wheat clenched between his teeth, his expression clearly stating he had no intention of saying any more.

“Big Mac’s got a point,” Applejack pointed out, her casts and bandages shifting as she tried to look at the others past her oversized brother. “We’ve all gone and had a rough day. Can’t think on an empty brain, just like ya can’t work on an empty stomach. Let’s have a night of sleep, then think about it some more in the mornin’. Well, you know what I mean,” she nodded at the unmoving sun outside.

“We’re going to have a sleepover?” Pinkie bounced in excitement. “Oh, I haven’t had a sleepover in such a long time! We can tell stories, and eat sweets, and play games, and-“

“I don’t think she really knows what’s going on,” Spike’s dry voice floated out of the corner he sat in. Twilight shot him a glare, which he just shrugged at.

“Can I stay here tonight, too?” The query came from Apple Bloom, the young filly looking like she was about to cry.

“Sis…” Applejack’s voice trailed off as she thought about the events earlier that day, when Apple Bloom had been foalnapped out of her own room. After several seconds of awkward silence, she looked over at Twilight. “Sorry Twi, but I doubt they’d be willin’ to let Apple Bloom stay the night here. Could ya let her crash at your place? It’s in town, and I would feel a lot better knowin’ she’s nearby.”

“Sure, Applejack, it’s no problem.” They’d need to clean out the guest room, but it shouldn’t take long. And one filly couldn’t be too much trouble, right?

“Actually, dear, could you take care of Sweetie Belle as well?” Rarity asked. “I need to stay here with Pinkie for the night so that the doctors can observe us, but my parents are out of town. I would feel a lot better knowing somepony was watching my dear sister.”

“We would love to.” Spike spoke up before Twilight could say anything. Twilight, on the other hand, had to hide her frown. One filly would be easy, but two was a little harder. It was too late to turn them back, though. Just so long as they weren’t too noisy.

“Could I-”

“Fine.” And Scootaloo made three. Twilight wouldn’t be getting any sleep this night.

As the three fillies and Spike filed past Twilight, making their way out the door, Rainbow Dash spoke up. “I don’t understand why we can’t just blast those changelings with the Elements of Harmony. Those bugs won’t know what hit ‘em.”

“The Elements of Harmony,” Twilight flatly noted.

“Yeah.”

“The ones stored in Canterlot.”

“Yeah.”

“Which the changelings have overrun.” Twilight cocked an eyebrow, waiting for the pegasus to put the pieces together.

“Oh.”

There we go. Twilight shook her head, her mane nearly hitting Spike. “We’d have to get past the changelings. Which we can’t do without the Elements.”

“Yeah, yeah, I gotcha.” Dash sighed as she leaned back against her pillow, her eyes staring despondently up at the ceiling. “The Wonderbolts, huh,” she murmured to herself.

“Ah’m gonna head back to the farm. Take care of my sis.” Big Mac nodded at Twilight as he left the hospital room, and she stepped aside and allowed him to pass. His hoofsteps echoed loudly, eventually disappearing down the hallway.

“By the way,” Twilight asked the other mares after Big Mac had vanished. “What should I do with this?” She gave the creature a little kick, which it flinched away from.

“Just leave him here,” Rarity said calmly. “I’ll feel a lot better knowing somepony’s watching him to make sure that beast doesn’t go anywhere near Sweetie Belle and the others. If that has to be me, I’ll just have to accept it.”

Applejack nodded her head. “Ah agree. There ain’t no way in Tartarus that varmint’s getting anywhere near my sister again. Besides,” she gestured with a flick of her tail, her limbs still restrained by the casts and splints, “it looks like Fluttershy’s already taken that part.”

Fluttershy looked up from where she had continually been poking and prodding the comatose creature. She had already started to peel its clothes away to see what was underneath, and blushed when she realised the others were staring at her. “Male… definitely male…” she muttered almost inaudibly.

“Riiight…” Dash said with an upraised eyebrow. “Well, whatever.” She shrugged and turned her head to look at Twilight. “Don’t worry about it. So long as I’m here, he won’t lay a… a finger? Is that what they’re called? So long as I’m here, he won’t touch any of the other girls with those greasy sausages of his.”

“I’m counting on you, then,” Twilight said, ignoring the increasing blush on Fluttershy’s face. The poor pegasus had turned so red that she looked like she was glowing. Chivvying the three fillies and one young dragon out, Twilight quietly closed the door behind her. As she walked down the hallway, she heard her friends’ voices filtering through the thin wooden door.

“So who knows a good story? Oh, I know a good one! A long long long long long time ago, there was an eeeeeeevil witch, and-”

“Good night, Pinkie,” three voices interrupted, firmly cutting her off.

Intertwining Threads

Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo slowly walked side-by-side through the empty streets of Ponyville, their hoofsteps seeming to echo in the quiet evening air. The unmoving sun casting long shadows over the shuttered buildings gave the town an unusually somber feeling. The streets were empty, the residents of the town having all locked themselves away inside their houses, apparently hoping the world would go back to normal and the sun would rise as usual in the morning. Their futile hope that what was happening was only a bad dream could almost be felt in the air.

“Ah ain’t never seen the town so quiet before,” Apple Bloom said at last, finally breaking the heavy silence. Her Crusader cloak flapped behind her as she walked, the special clasp Rarity had made for her appearing to glow slightly in the sunlight.

“It’s kinda creepy,” Sweetie Belle agreed, surreptitiously moving closer to Apple Bloom, the little filly seeking comfort in the proximity of her friends.

“Pbbbt,” Scootaloo blew her tongue at the other two. “Not really. The town’s always quiet at this time of night. Can’t really tell what time it is without the moon, but I’m pretty sure it’s nearly midnight.”

Sweetie Belle looked at Scootaloo over Apple Bloom’s lowered head. “How come you know what the town’s like at midnight?” she asked Scootaloo.

Scootaloo smiled easily, a hint of teeth showing out the side of her mouth. “Sometimes I have trouble getting to sleep, so I ride my scooter or go for a walk.”

“Wouldn’t your parents stop you?” A slight frown creased Apple Bloom’s face as she thought about the trouble she’d get into with Applejack if she tried to sneak out for a night.

“Well, I don’t tell them I’m heading out.” Scootaloo cut off any more questions by pointing at a pony shaped figure crossing the street ahead of them. “Hang on, isn’t that Zecora?”

Apple Bloom turned to look in the direction Scootaloo indicated, her eyes narrowing as she focused on the figure. “Ah think you’re right. HEY! MISS ZECORA!!” The three fillies waved to the zebra as she turned, and even at this distance they could see her wave her hoof in return. The trio rushed to where Zecora waited, turning a simple run into a madly giggling scramble.

“Young Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom,” Zecora said, smiling down at the three fillies when they stood before her. “It is good to see you again so soon.”

“Nice to see ya too, Miss Zecora,” Apple Bloom said. “Thank ya ever so much for helpin’ Applejack. Ah really appreciate it.”

“It was my pleasure, little one. I will freely help all who walk under the sun.” The fillies noticed for the first time that she was wearing a pair of saddlebags, both of which looked full to bursting. Her favourite bamboo rod was also slung over her back, resting directly between her shoulder blades.

“Whatcha got there?” Sweetie Belle asked, the little unicorn innocently trying to poke at one of the bags with a hoof.

Zecora quickly stepped out of range, not wanting the curious filly to break any of the beakers within the bags. “Mixtures, potions, and many a tome. I feared to spend the night within my home.”

“How come?” Twilight's voice asked before the mare herself joined the group. Spike walked beside her, his claws scratching tiny imprints in the dirt road.

Zecora shook her head, the bags on her back shifting slightly as she moved. Slight tinkling could be heard coming from inside the bags as various glass beakers lightly collided with one another. “I can hear the Everfree Forest trembling with fear. It dreads what is coming near.”

Twilight bit her lip, thinking about what Zecora meant. At her side, she could see Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders watching her silently. If anyone was going to ask, she would have to do it. “So then-” Her voice shook, and she had to pause a moment to compose herself before starting again. “What could the forest be afraid of?”

“I know not what it could be, but the idea makes me balk. But this is neither the time nor place for this talk.” Zecora slowly turned her head, her neckrings reflecting the evening light. “For now I must find a place to rest, so I may face the future at my best.”

“You mean you know what’s going to happen?” Spike asked, the little dragon’s voice quavering slightly.

With a slow shake of her head, Zecora released a slight sigh. “I fear that is beyond my sight. I don’t know what will come, only what might.”

“Enough, Zecora. Tell me, what do you think is going to happen?” Twilight asked. She was starting to get tired of Zecora beating around the bush, and just wanted a straight answer.

Zecora frowned slightly and Twilight wondered for a second if she had pushed too hard, but the zebra’s words put the worry out of her mind. “If it is truly your desire to know, I will tell you. But it is not something to accept at face value. Meet me at the room where your friends rest, and I will explain what I can to my ability’s best.”

Twilight blinked as the cryptic words sunk into her. Zecora was probably the wisest mare Twilight knew. After Princess Celestia, of course, she mentally added. If there was something that made the mystical zebra nervous, Twilight wasn’t so sure she wanted to know after all. But she couldn’t just back down. “Alright, I’ll see you there. But where are you going to sleep? I’d offer my place, but,” she gestured at the three fillies, “I don’t have enough room. Sorry.”

“Do not worry, my friend Twilight.” Zecora smiled as she shifted the bags on her back, trying to make them rest more comfortably. “I can easily find a place for the night. Since the ponies of this town think of me well, it should be simple for me to find a hotel.”

Sweetie Belle suddenly spoke up, surprising both adults. “You could stay at Rarity’s. Nopony’s home right now and I know Rarity would be happy to let you stay. Fluttershy’s taking care of Opal, so you don’t need to worry about her. Although you might not want to touch… well, anything.” Sweetie Belle winced at the recollection of what had happened the last time she had tried playing with her sister’s working materials. It was hardly Sweetie Belle’s fault that fabric was so flammable, right? That ponyquin would probably have fallen into the oven on its own anyway.

Twilight spoke after a few moments’ thought. “That doesn’t sound too bad, actually. She’s right, Rarity would definitely let you stay at her house. Does that sound alright with you?”

“Your friend’s generosity certainly shows,” Zecora said with a smile, “but I certainly do not wish to impose.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Sweetie Belle said. “You can find a key to the front door- Oh!” Glancing around, she pulled Zecora’s head down to her and started whispering something into the zebra’s ear.

Apple Bloom saw Twilight’s questioning look and answered the question that was clear on the unicorn’s face. “She’s not really supposed to tell anypony about where Rarity hides the spare key. Me and Scootaloo know, but we can’t tell nopony.”

“I-I didn’t even know she had a spare key,” Spike said, looking like he was about to burst into tears. Twilight rolled her eyes at the reaction of her lovelorn assistant and turned back to see Zecora nod her head before standing up straight.

“Thank you for your generosity,” Zecora said gratefully down to the little unicorn. “The location of the key is safe with me.” Her earrings swayed as she turned her head, the expression on her face becoming serious as she looked at Twilight. “After your friends came to my place, I performed a divination about the one you did face. I saw from where the creature came from and I fear the worst is yet to come.” With the wind blowing through her mane, she tuned and disappeared in the direction of Carousel Boutique.

“Just says what she likes and then leaves. That’s Zecora, alright.” Twilight exhaled, letting out a slight puff of air out her nostrils as she turned to look at the four with her. The three fillies looked up at her expectantly while Spike looked despondently in the direction Zecora had gone, looking like he wanted to follow after her. Twilight gave him a hard shove, nearly knocking him to the ground. “You can find out where the key is later. Right now, let’s just get home.”

Spike rubbed his claws together awkwardly before following after Twilight and the fillies. “Yeah, sure. Right.”

Roughly shoving the door to the library open, Twilight tiredly staggered inside. She could feel the exhaustion of the day all the way down to her bones, and her hooves scraped along the wooden floor as she dragged herself towards the stairs. Her mind was starting to feel a little fuzzy and she knew that if she didn’t get to bad soon, she would be sleeping on the floor. “Spike, I’m going to head to bed now. Take care of those three. ‘Night.”

Spike nodded as she stumbled up the stairway, wondering if Twilight needed some help. Thankfully, she made it to the top without incident, and he could hear her hoofsteps as she managed to get to her bed. Sighing in relief, he turned to the three fillies, wondering what to do with them. “We’ve got a guest room, but there’s really not enough room for three. What else…” He scratched the back of his head as he pondered where the trio could sleep for the night.

He didn’t really want to separate them, since Apple Bloom would probably need the comfort of her friends to get through the night. He wasn’t very good at reading ponies, but even he could tell that Apple Bloom was just barely holding herself together, though she was doing a good job of hiding it. “Would the basement be alright? We’d need to clean up a little, but it should be big enough.”

Scootaloo grinned broadly, rearing back on her hind legs and striking a pose. “A little hoofwork’s no problem. I’ll move all that junk by myself if I have to.”

With a sweep of one of her legs, Apple Bloom knocked Scootaloo’s legs out from under her, knocking the tiny pegasus on her back. “Yeah, yeah,” she teased as Scootaloo glared at her. “I think watching you move all that stuff by yourself does sound- Oof.” The rest of her sentence was cut off as Scootaloo tackled her, and the two fillies were quickly wrapped up in their playful little brawl.

Groaning as he saw them crash into a bookshelf, the books falling all around them like leaves, Spike smacked his face with a claw. “Yeah, should have seen this coming. Sweetie Belle, could you…” His request faded out as he realized that the little unicorn was no longer standing beside him. A hasty look around of the room showed that she had leapt into the battle at some point, which was now raging stronger than ever. When did she even join them?

“Who?”

Glancing up to see Owlowiscious sitting on one of the ceiling beams, Spike winced as he heard the fillies take down another bookshelf. “I’m going to clean up the basement,” he told the owl. “Make sure they don’t break anything-” crash “-anything else,” he finished lamely. Hope whatever that was wasn’t important. Speeding for the basement doors at a breakneck pace, Spike tried to ignore the continuing sounds of wreckage from behind him.

“Who?” the owl said to nobody in particular.

Where… am I?

I see… This is a dream.

Who’s there? Wait. I know you…

Princess Luna? Is that you?

It is you! I’m so happy to see you! It’s been so long. Almost three months now.

What? How do I know how long it’s been? Um… I dunno! I guess I just do!

There’s so much I want to tell you! I met a new pony, and…

What’s wrong? Why are you so sad? Princess Luna, are you crying?

Please don’t cry.

Please…

Several hours later, Twilight’s bedcovers fell off of her as she sat up. Letting out a magnificent yawn, she stretched out her hooves as high as she could. Her spine popped and cracked pleasantly, and she groaned in relief. The groan became a sigh as she glanced out the window and saw that the sunlight was coming from the wrong direction. “Well, girl,” she said aloud. “Somepony’s gotta do something about it, and it might as well be you.”

Climbing out of bed and straightening the bedsheets, she turned and laughed as she saw herself in the mirror. “Wow. Beauty sleep is obviously wasted on me.” Picking up the nearby brush with her magic, she ran it through her mane several times until she no longer looked like something that would frighten small foals. Putting the brush aside, she leaned in and examined her horn in the mirror.

This was the first time she had really stopped look closely at it since the injury, and she gasped in shock at what she saw. From a single large gash near the base where the axe had struck her, the entirety of her horn was covered in cracks that spread all the way up to the tip. Between the larger cracks, dozens of smaller fissures spiderwebbed throughout the rest of the horn. Twilight stared in horror at the sight, her mouth hanging open until she couldn’t take it anymore and forced her eyes closed.

Much as she wanted to run away from the mirror, she steeled herself and slowly opened her eyes once again, resolving to burn the sight into her retinas. Reaching up, her hoof flinched away from her horn right before she touched it. She knew it was silly, but a small part of her felt like her horn would disintegrate if she so much as touched it. It was in such poor condition that she was surprised it hadn’t crumbled apart already. Could my own personal magic be holding it together? she wondered. Whatever the reason, she was just grateful it didn’t hurt beyond a dull throb, a slight pain that was no worse than a minor headache.

Levitating over the bottle that Zecora had given her, she dipped her hoof into it and applied a little more of the goo to her horn. So long as nothing else went wrong, her horn should recover without any issues. Twilight knew she was lucky, and that it could have gone a lot worse for her. Like AJ and Dash…

Shaking her head, Twilight shoved those thoughts aside. No. She was done moping. Now she needed to be strong, and she needed to figure out a way to help her friends. To help all of Equestria. It was a daunting task, but so long as her friends were with her, Twilight felt she could take on anything in the world.

“That’s right,” she said to the mirror, trying to pump herself up. “Even you, Discord. Anything you can throw at us, we will overcome it together. So bring on Nightmare Moon, bring on the changelings. I’m not afraid of you.” Come to think of it, she still had no idea about the relationship between the changelings and Discord. Was it possible that he was only using them for his own twisted amusement as well? Maybe it would be possible to temporarily ally with the changelings, at least until the threat of Discord had passed?

As she thought that, loose memories slipped into her mind. She heard the words of the changeling Queen, spoken during the first invasion of Canterlot. ‘He may not be my husband, but he is under my total control.’ ‘First we take Canterlot, and then, all of Equestria!’ ‘You can run, but you can’t hide!’

Twilight groaned. So much for that idea. Whatever the changelings intended, it certainly wouldn’t be good.

Capping the bottle and putting it aside, she giggled to herself when she turned and saw Spike curled up in his little basket. His blanket had fallen off at some point during the night and she could clearly see him hugging his own tail, sucking at the tip like it was a giant purple pacifier. It was adorable. Half wanting to take a picture of him so she could embarrass him with it later and half wanting to draw a mustache on his face, she instead decided to leave him alone and let him sleep, covering him with his blanket and tucking him in with a fond shake of her head.

The floor creaking slightly under her hooves, she slipped out the doorway and shut it behind her with a quiet click. A faint smile adorning her face, she silently walked down the stairs. The smile slid off her face as she saw the disaster the library had become, her expression flipping to an irritated frown. Almost all of the books had been knocked off their shelves, and a valuable statue by Alexander Colter lay in pieces in one of the corners. It was only a replica – ponies crashed into the library far too often for anything irreplaceable to be kept here – but it had still been difficult for her to obtain it.

Well, at least none of the books had been damaged. It was too early in the morning to stress about the mess, so Twilight decided to just ignore it. Walking past the mess without stopping to clean felt like a physical pain stabbing into her heart, but Twilight persevered and managed to make it to the kitchen. There, that wasn’t so hard, was it? Wiping a bead of sweat off her forehead, she quickly threw together a simple breakfast of lettuce, flowers, apple slices, and some good strong coffee.

Leaving enough of the salad for the still-asleep fillies for when they woke up – as well as three glasses of orange juice – Twilight also left a bowl of gems for her number one assistant. Her work finished, she stepped out into the library one more and tried to persuade herself to leave without cleaning the place. She had to get to the hospital. She had… to… get… I’ll just clean up the books a little. Just pile them up. That’s all. Actually, those stone shards are a little dangerous. I better clean them up as well.

Half an hour later, Twilight caught herself starting to sort the books and putting them back in their regular places on the shelves. Blushing slightly and privately glad nopony had seen her momentary loss of control, she hastily scribbled a note for the four still sleeping and left the building before she could clean up any more.

Once outside, Twilight had to blink at what she saw. The streets were crowded with ponies, more than she had thought lived in Ponyville. They moved listlessly among themselves, not appearing to notice her at all. Their eyes were almost all sunken and blank, like they had been unable to fall asleep all night, and they tiredly staggered through the streets. Occasionally, one would look up at where the sun hung in the sky before sighing and returning their gaze to the dirt road. Twilight knew what they were feeling. She had felt that way once before and she would never forget it. Have they given up?

“Morning, Twilight. Ya sleep well?”

Twilight only groaned in response to Applejack’s inquiry as she dropped herself down onto one of the hospital chairs. It had been a rough trip to the hospital, and she had been jostled, bumped, shoved, and otherwise roughed around by all the despondent ponies that filled the streets. It wasn’t like the ponies meant to hurt her, it was more like they didn’t even realise she was there.

“Goooood news, everypony,” Rarity’s melodic voice sung out from the doorway as she cantered into the room. Pinkie followed at her heels, the pink mare bouncing excitedly. “You’ll be happy to hear that both Pinkie and I are being released from the hospital.”

“That is good news,” Applejack said, a somewhat forced smile on her face. She was definitely happy to hear that her friends were well on the road to recovery, and she certainly wasn’t jealous that they were able to leave while she would have to remain hospitalized for a while longer. Her happiness was just a little tinged with guilt because most of it came from the fact that she wouldn’t be stuck spending another night in the same room as Pinkie Pie. She was just too polite to say so.

“Yeperoony,” said Pinkie. “The doctors say I have to keep these bandages on for a little while longer and that I should change them from time to time. But that’s just silly, isn’t it? You can’t change bandages. What am I supposed to change them into? I suggested a hat, but the doctor just looked at me funny and said I should have a talk with one of his colleagues. He had such a funny name, I think it was Psykia Trist or something like that. Ooh, I should totally throw a Released-From-the-Hospital Party! And then we can all sleep together and it’ll like a big slumber pa-”

Twilight shoved her hoof into Pinkie’s mouth, cutting off the party pony’s ramble. “By the way,” she asked the others. “What happened to our…” she hesitated, fishing for the right word, “…guest?”

“You mean that strange animal, right?” Dash gestured at the doorway with her uninjured wing. “He’s in one of the other rooms. They’ve got him tied down on one of those hospital wheely bed thingies-“

“Gurney,” Twilight supplied, knowing what Dash was talking about.

“Gesundheit. Anyway, they’ve got him tied down on one of those things so even when he wakes up, he ain’t going nowhere.”

“He still hasn’t woken up?” Twilight asked. “Maybe Nightmare Moon hurt him worse than I thought,” she mused to herself, tapping her hoof against her chin.

“Umm… Twilight?” Applejack said from where she was looking out the window. “Not to pressure you or nothing, but d’ya think you could plan fast?”

“Now Applejack, why would you even ask that of her?” Rarity asked with an upraised eyebrow. When Applejack’s only response was to point out the window, Rarity walked over to see what the cowpony was referring to. “Oh…” she said quietly when she saw it, her voice almost a whisper. “Oh, that’s not good.”

The three others, not counting Rainbow Dash, crowded around the window. Each of them muttered in dismay at what they saw down there on the streets below. Dash, still confined to her bed, was unable to see out the window. “What?” she asked impatiently. “What is it? What do you see?”

Twilight turned to looked at Dash, the purple unicorn’s face paling until it was almost white. “We’ve got a problem,” she whispered.

On the streets below, a large crowd had formed, surrounding the train station. A train had just come in from Canterlot, bearing two very unwelcome passengers with it. The pair stood side by side, openly watching their hostile surroundings with a disinterested air, as if there was nothing the ponies could do to hurt them.

Mayor Mare forced her way through the crowd, eventually managing to break through them and stand before the interlopers. Hiding the fear that she felt tearing at her heart at the sight of the arrivals, the amber earth pony bravely cleared her throat. “What do you want?” she asked them. Her voice quivered slightly, but she was mostly able to keep it under control.

The two figures turned to look at her, their black eyelids slowly coming down over their compound eyes as they blinked at her. The nearer one stepped towards her, the entire crowd collectively backing up a step as his hole-riddled hoof struck the dirt road. His wings buzzed slightly, and the side of his mouth curled back in what could technically be called a smile, a pair of sharp fangs glinting in the evening sunlight. Its twisted horn blazed a sickly green as it cast a spell to make its voice heard throughout the entirety of Ponyville.

“We know the bearers of the Elements of Harmony live here,” the changeling boomed, its deep reverberating voice somehow still managing to buzz slightly. “You will surrender the six mares, or face the consequences. So commands the new ruler of Equestria, Queen Chrysalis. If you know what is good for you, you will submit.”

“And…” Mayor Mare’s legs were shaking, but she refused to back down. “And if we refuse?”

The second changeling grinned broadly, his eyes twinkling merrily as if the idea of the ponies fighting back amused him. “Then I suppose,” he hissed in a voice meant for the mayor’s ears only, “we’ll just have to burn this town to the ground.”

Cutie Marked

Murmuring slightly, Scootaloo buried her face deeper into her pillow. The world struggled into focus around her, but she was determined to ignore it for a little while longer. After a fun evening with her two best friends in the whole world, they had all fallen asleep together on the large mattress Spike had set up for them. She was a little hungry, but this pillow was just too lovely to abandon. It was so warm and soft and fuzzy and… breathing?

Her eyelids cracking open unwillingly, the only thing Scootaloo’s bleary eyes saw was an expanse of white. It took her a few seconds to realize that her nose was buried in Sweetie Belle’s tummy fur. Realizing where she was, a mischievous look appeared in the pegasus’ eyes as she stuck her face deep into the little unicorn’s belly.

PBBBBBBBBBBBBBTTTTT!!!!

Sweetie Belle woke with a shriek as Scootaloo blew a large raspberry directly onto her stomach. The orange pegasus collapsed with helpless laughter as the white unicorn thrashed, her limbs tangling hopelessly in the bedsheets and blankets. Eventually, realizing she was no longer being assaulted, Sweetie Belle stopped flailing.

“Um,” her voice squeaked slightly as she tried and failed to extract herself from the trap of pillows, blankets, and bedsheets. “Little help, please?” Scootaloo just laughed even harder, her hooves pounding against the ground as she fought against the tears that tried to pour out her eyes.

Apple Bloom walked past Scootaloo, having been awoke by her friends’ antics, and helped to untangle the sorry-looking filly. Sweetie Belle pounced on the still-laughing pegasus the second she was free, the two getting into a tussle that quickly resolved itself into a giggling pile of filly.

Once the scuffle ended with Sweetie Belle pinning Scootaloo to the group, Apple Bloom clapped her hooves together to get their attention. “I was wondering, what do ya two think we should do?”

“What do you mean?” Sweetie Belle asked, hopping off Scootaloo and letting the pegasus climb to her hooves.

“Well, I kinda want ta help my sister and them,” Apple Bloom admitted. “They got hurt rescuin’ me from that creature, and I want to do something for them.”

“Aww,” Sweetie Belle cooed, pouncing on the yellow earth pony and wrapping her up in a giant overenthusiastic hug. “You’re such a good sister.”

“Yick.” Scootaloo stuck her tongue out at the sappiness of the scene playing out before her, but the other two just ignored her. “Anything in particular you want to do, or are we just going to make it up as we go like always?” she asked Apple Bloom.

Apple Bloom tapped her hoof against the ground thoughtfully as Sweetie Belle let her go. “Something nice,” she started to explain before Scootaloo cut her off.

“That’s helpful,” the orange pony noted sarcastically, rolling her eyes. This got her a well-deserved pillow to the face, but she just smiled unrepentantly.

“Well, we’ll just think of something,” Sweetie Belle said, standing between the other two and preventing another scuffle from occurring. Her stomach let out a dainty little rumble and she blushed slightly as the other two giggled.

Apple Bloom made her way to the basement steps, her hooves clopping faintly against the wood as she climbed them. “Alright, let’s get somethin’ to eat before Sweetie starts eatin’ the walls or somethin’.” Laughing at Sweetie Belle’s squeak of protest, Apple Bloom pushed open the basement door. A certain dragon turned at the sound of the door squeaking open, and she greeted him with a smile. “Mornin’ Spike. Thanks again for lettin’ us stay the night.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Spike demurred, sliding the book he was holding into its place on the shelf. Picking up another book from the pile next to him, he shoved the ladder that was leaning against the bookshelves over a couple feet before climbing it and slotting the book into place. Most of the books had already migrated onto the bookshelf, with only a few small piles were left over. “How did you girls sleep?”

“It was great!” Sweetie Belle said excitedly, bouncing past Apple Bloom. “I haven’t had that much fun since the last time we’ve all had a sleepover. Oh, do you need any help cleaning?” she asked him, wilting slightly as she looked around the room and realising what a mess the trio had made the night before.

Spike just laughed kindly, slipping another book into place as he deflected the well-intentioned disaster areas. “No thanks. I’m almost done cleaning up here and I’m going to head into town a little later. There’s got to be a least one shop that’s still open. Oh yeah, and Twilight left some salad in the kitchen for you to- WHOA!” The three fillies rushed to the kitchen, bumping the ladder Spike was standing on. Only an instinctual grab for the bookshelves saved him from a plummet to the library floor. A creak from above made him look up, and he saw that a particularly large encyclopedia had been dislodged from its place on the top shelf and was now plummeting towards his head. “Aww…”

In the kitchen, the three rambunctious fillies quickly polished off the bowl of salad within seconds before sighing contentedly, hooves clutching their full stomachs. Picking a stray leaf off her cheek, Apple Bloom shoved it into her mouth before looking at the other two. “So, y’all got any ideas?” The others just shook their heads, causing Apple Bloom to sigh in disappointment before relapsing into silence.

“Spike might have an idea,” Scootaloo said after a few seconds passed in thoughtful silence. “He’s always spending time with Twilight.”

“That’s a good idea.” Apple Bloom climbed off her chair, leading the other two back to the library’s main room. “Hey Spike, d’ya know… Why are you lyin’ on the floor?”

Spike gingerly sat up, rubbing his head and glaring at a large book lying on the floor next to him. Thinking that explaining would be too much effort, Spike decided to just go with an easy lie. “It’s a dragon thing,” he said as he lifted the heavy book above his head. Tottering slightly, he slowly and cautiously made his way up the ladder. “So what did you want to ask me?”

“Oh yeah,” Apple Bloom said, standing well clear of the ladder. “I wanted to do something nice fer my sisters and her friends. We was wonderin’ if you might have any suggestions.”

Finally managing to reach the top of the ladder, Spike dropped the encyclopedia into place with a heavy thud. Gripping the sides of the ladder, he slid back down to the floor. “Something nice for Twilight and the others, huh? All I can think about is that she’s been pretty stressed this past week, ever since that creature first appeared in the Everfree.” He shook his head, sighing as he picked up another book. “Sorry, but unless you can solve some of the problems she’s been dealing with, I don’t have any ideas.”

“Darn,” Apple Bloom muttered under her breath. “Ah guess we’ll look around town for something then. But are ya sure y’all don’t need any help?”

“Don’t worry about me,” Spike answered, silently hoping the fillies would just leave the library as soon as possible. The company was nice, and Twilight had asked him to take care of them, but keeping them around was just asking for trouble. “Why don’t you go look around town? I’m sure there are lots of ponies that could use some help. Maybe you’ll even get your cutie marks in helping other ponies.”

“You really think so?” Sweetie Belle squealed excitedly, her hooves seeming to float off the ground as she bounced in excitement. “But where should we star- Hey! Wait for me!” She sped out the front door, chasing after the other two who had left without waiting for her. Left alone inside the suddenly silent library, Spike sighed in relief as he slid another book into place. That had been dirty, but it worked.

Outside, Scootaloo was clipping on her customary purple helmet, one of her rears hooves already resting on her signature scooter. “What kept you?” she asked Sweetie Belle as the white unicorn exited the library. Behind her, Apple Bloom was already hooking their little red wagon to the back of the scooter, her own helmet already firmly on her head.

Stomping over, Sweetie Belle grabbed her own helmet and jammed it firmly on her head. “You guys just left me behind,” she pouted, hopping into the back of the scooter.

“It’s your fault for being slow,” Scootaloo teased, her forehooves firmly grasping the scooter’s handlebars. Quickly checking it to ensure it was still in good shape – it had been left in the bushes overnight, after all – she grinned in satisfaction at finding that it was none the worse for wear. Glancing over her shoulder as Apple Bloom climbed into the scooter, her little wings started to hum as she prepared for take-off. “Ready?”

“Ready,” both passengers answered, clutching the sides of the wagon.

The humming increased in volume as the pegasus filly hunched over the handlebars, her gaze focusing directly ahead of her. Without any warning, Scootaloo shot forward, dragging the wagon along behind her. Her wings beating so fast that they appeared blurred to anypony who saw her, she weaved her way through the crowded streets of Ponyville. “So where do you want to start?” she shouted back over the sound of the wind.

“Dunno,” Apple Bloom answered, her eyes skimming over the ponies they passed, looking for somepony that they could help. All the ponies they passed looked like they needed help, but Apple Bloom had no idea what she could do for them. As her gaze skipped from pony to pony, they lingered on a cluster surrounding the train station. “Hey, what’s goin’ on over there?”

Mayor Mare stamped her hoof, glaring into the compound eyes of the two intelligent changelings standing before her. As she glared at the pair, small differences became apparent that she hadn’t noticed before which allowed her to distinguish between them. The one closer to her who had threatened to burn down the town was leaner than his counterpart, had fangs that were short and stubby, and there was a crack through the chitin that covered one of his legs, like it had been torn off and reattached once before. The other one, who had broadcast his Queen’s unreasonable demands, had eyes that were a deeper shade of green, looked almost as buff as Big Macintosh, and wore a perpetually blank expression in contrast to the contrast grin that plagued his companion’s features.

“Your emotions say that you’re not going to back down,” the larger one said simply, pushing his companion aside. His deep voice was flat and toneless, like he really didn’t care about the outcome of this conversation. “That would be unwise of you.”

“You come here and demand that we hand over our friends and fellow villagers just to save ourselves,” the Mayor snarled, stepping forward and getting right in the changelings’ faces. “I don’t know how you changelings do things, but we ponies won’t abandon our own so easily.” Cheers of support came from the surrounding crowd, and more than a few chants of “Hear, hear” could be heard.

The smaller changeling winced almost imperceptibly, as if what she had said had physically hurt him, but he quickly covered it with a broad smile. “Oh come now, Miss Mare,” he said disarmingly. “It’s not like we’re going to eat them. We just want to hold on to them, you know. To protect them. Keep them from doing anything foolhardy.”

The Mayor glared at him, disgust and repulsion spread clear across her features. “I refuse. You can return to Canterlot and tell your Queen that Ponyville will not bow to her. We do not accept her rule, and,” she turned to the ponies surrounding them, raising her voice so that everyone could hear her, “we will await the return of our true rulers, Princesses Celestia and Luna.” She turned back to the changelings, her voice lowering so that is was for their ears only. “And we won’t be the only ones. You can tell that pretender on the throne that nopony will accept her, and we will throw her off if we must.”

The larger changeling blinked once, a hint of surprise appearing on his features before vanishing as quickly as it appeared. “You would throw away your lives so easily?”

“There are some things worth dying for,” the Mayor answered easily. A twisted smile slid onto her features, which completely failed to touch her eyes. “Now unless you two want to find out whether your Queen is one of those things, I suggest you boys shove off.” The glares being aimed at the changelings gave the truth to her words, and the two nearly collapsed under the sheer force of all the hate being aimed at them. The ability to feel other’s emotions wasn’t always a good thing. Fear they could handle, but this? Not a chance.

“…Fine.” The larger changeling said eventually, accepting the inevitable. His companion turned towards him, his mouth opening as he started to argue against leaving the town so easily. His expression remaining completely unchanged, he punched the other changeling squarely in the face, knocking him to the ground. “The mission failed,” he said tonelessly, not seeming to pay attention as all the ponies around him recoiled in sudden fear. “You had said it would work, and it didn’t. We need to report this to the Queen.”

“What, you can’t think for yourself?” the other changeling grumbled as he struggled to his hooves, rubbing at the crack that had appeared on the chitin covering his face. Seeing the shocked expression on the Mayor’s face, he smiled gamely at her. “We’ll be out of your mane shortly, ma’am,” he said cheerfully as he walked past her towards the train. “Pity. I had hoped we could be good neighbors. Well then, until we meet again.”

The other changeling remained silent, his expressionless eyes staring up at a nearby building. Though nopony present could tell what he was doing, no one really wanted to interrupt him and direct his attention towards them. After what felt like a full minute, he turned and silently disappeared into the train car. The ponies present all let out a small sigh of relief as the door quietly closed behind him.

“Did ya see that?”

“How could I have missed it? He just punched that other guy! That was awesome!”

Unnoticed by any of the other ponies, three little fillies hid in the bushes near the train station, discussing what they had just witnessed. In front of the train itself, Mayor Mare was saying something about how they needed to be strong in these trying times. Or something like that. The fillies weren’t really paying attention, but whatever she was saying seemed to have an effect on the adults as most of them perked up as she continued to talk.

Sweetie Belle shuddered, the leaves shivering along her. “That was scary is what it was. I don’t like that big one. He’s scary.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” Apple Bloom agreed tugging at her crusader cape as she did so. She was the only one of the trio wearing their cape, and it was getting annoyingly tangled up in the bush branches. “Ah hope we never see him agai-”

She was cut off by Scootaloo suddenly shouted and the other two looked at her as she clamped her hooves over her mouth, smiling sheepishly. “Sorry,” Scootaloo said more quietly before removing her hooves, a broad smile spread across her face. “I just got a great idea! We should sneak on that train!”

“What.” Her friends said simultaneously, looking at her in disbelief.

“It’s perfect,” Scootaloo said eagerly. “We’ll be able to help Rainbow Dash and her friends and everything, and we might even get our cutie marks!”

“Yer gonna have to explain that one to me,” Apple Bloom said, She was normally all over any idea to earn their cutie marks, but this sounded dangerous. Even more dangerous than usual.

Scootaloo looked at her friends as if she couldn’t believe they didn’t know what she was talking about before frowning slightly as she realized she would indeed have to give a full explanation. “Think about it,” she whispered. “Twilight said when we were at the hospital that the changelings have taken over Canterlot. These ones must have come from there, and that means they’ll be returning back there.”

“And you want to go there because…” Sweetie Belle led, still unsure what the pegasus what getting at.

Scootaloo’s grin broadened and she leaned in as if she was imparting a great secret. “If we can sneak into Canterlot and get the Elements of Harmony, Rainbow Dash will be able to lead the others to chase the changelings out! We’ll be heroes!”

The other two eyes widened as they realized what Scootaloo was talking about. Indeed, if they pulled this off, they would be heroes known throughout Equestria. Applejack and Rarity might worry, but surely they would understand, right? They could stop worrying, and they would be able to fix everything. After all, nothing was impossible for Sweetie Belle’s and Apple Bloom’s big sisters.

And a hero cutie would look really cool…

After a few minutes passed in silence, the trio simultaneously broke out into giant smiles as they looked at each other. Together, they leapt out of the bush and banged their hooves together, screaming their catchphrase to the nearly-empty train station.

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADER HEROES! YAY!!!”

Spike blinked in disbelief as he saw three very distinct fillies sneak onto the train, rubbing at his eyes in the vain hope he was only imagining things. No such luck. After he had finished cleaning the library up, he had thought to pick up some foodstuffs for his friends that were getting out of the hospital, as well as a few gems for himself. The cloth bags hanging limply from his claws gave a silent testament to the amount he had hoped to purchase.

While he was out, he had noticed the scene playing out in front of the train station. He remembered the changelings well, having been at the wedding himself. But these changelings were different than the ones he remembered. Other than the Queen, they had all seemed like empty emotionless drones – dangerous only in large numbers. But for whatever reason, these ones were intelligent. He had to know why.

After the Mayor had finished her speech to the surrounding ponies about how they all needed to work together in these tough times, the crowd had quickly scattered. It was like they didn’t want to stay around the changelings any more than they needed to as much as a desire to help all the despairing ponies around town. They might panic at the drop of a hat, but there was no denying that the residents of Ponyville were strong when they needed to be.

But that wasn’t Spike’s concern at the moment. He had stayed behind in the empty train station, hoping that he would see something to answer the questions tearing through his mind. Twilight would want to know what was so different about these changelings. What he had seen instead horrified him to the core.

“What can I do?” He groaned to himself, clutching his skull, thinking about the three fillies. “Ohh, this is all my fault.” Sure, he had given them the idea to try and find their cutie marks, but sneaking on to a train with changelings on it? What in Equestria were they thinking?

“I need…” his mind raced furiously as he tried to think about what he could do. “I need… I need to tell Twilight!” he exclaimed at last. She would be able to get the fillies off the train before it left, and if she couldn’t, well, he tried. Nobody could say he hadn’t done his best. His mind made up, he turned away from the train station towards the road that would lead him to the hospital.

As he took his first step, a loud whistle from behind him stopped him in his tracks. Looking back at the train, he saw it slowly come to life, the wheels of the locomotive squealing as pressure was applied on them. Spike turned away from the train, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to block out the piercing whistle.

No, it didn’t concern him. He had to tell Twilight what happened. That would make it her problem. As he tried to convince himself, Twilight’s voice from the previous night rose unbidden in his mind. Take care of those three, her voice said.

“That doesn’t count,” he argued weakly against the voice as he heard the train start to inch out of the station behind him. “She didn’t know they’d get into this much trouble.” This was too dangerous for him. Twilight and her friends could take care of it. They could save the fillies from whatever trouble they got themselves into.

Rarity would be so sad if her sister got hurt…

Groaning in defeat, Spike threw the empty cloth bags in the dirt. Quickly turning, he saw that the train was picking up speed and had almost left the station. “Oh no, you don’t.” His little legs pumping wildly, he ran as fast as he could for the departing train. In his haste, he failed to pay attention to the road before him. Accidentally stepping on a small pile of pebbles, one of his feet shot out from under him, dropping him heavily on his stomach.

Dazed by the impact, Spike unsteadily climbed to his feet. His scales were covered in tiny scratches from all the rocks, but he didn’t have time to pay attention to it. The steam whistle screamed again, and Spike focused on the piercing sound as his world narrowed to only the departing train before him. His heart felt like it was pounding in his throat as he ran, and he slowly closed the distance between him and the train before it could pick up any real speed. The rest of the world vanished in a haze of white, he stretching out his claw, reaching for the departing train.

Barely managing to grasp the edge of the little platform on the back of the final car before it sped up faster than he could run, he heaved his torso onto the smooth metal. His legs and tail hung out into the open air, scraping at the speeding ground beneath him, before he managed to haul his hindquarters onto the platform with him. Lying on his back and gasping for air, he stared forlornly at the rapidly shrinking sight of Ponyville behind him.

“I just know I’m going to regret this,” he groaned.

Unknown to Spike, his departure hadn’t gone fully unnoticed. One mare had remained at the edges of the train station, shock pinning her to the ground. Those were changelings. Those were undeniably changelings. When they were untransformed, their appearance was unmistakable. If they were here, it meant that she couldn’t be too far away. The one the mare had been searching for.

Finally, after all these years, the mare’s quest was approaching its end.

Several minutes passed in silence as the mare stared in silence at the spot the train had just vacated, not fully believing what she had just seen. She had thought she would never find a lead. All the years of long searching had taken their toll on her, and she had eventually given up, deciding to make a new life here in this town. And just like this, a lead had fallen right at her doorstep.

Her stalled mind eventually realised what she had witnessed, and the frozen gears in her brain kicked into full gear. She had been in such shock that she hadn’t even realized what was happening in front of her. Now, because of her failings, four young innocents were heading into danger. She shook her head, disgusted in herself, her large hoop earrings swinging freely through the air by her head.

Making up her mind, she turned and began trotting away from the train station, her muzzle pointed directly at her destination. The wind blew through her mohawk, causing it to rustle slightly while the evening sunlight threw her fur in stark relief, making it appear at a casual glance that a series of stripes were walking down the road.

Most of the ponies who saw her gave her a casual greeting, which she responded to in kind. It was a little strange for them to see Zecora heading towards the hospital, but a lot of weird things were happening today.

Traintop Tussle

The three fillies sat huddled together, the constant chunk-chunk as the train sped along the tracks to its destination at Canterlot the only sound breaking the silence. Each of the three was doing their own thing as they waited for the time to pass. Scootaloo stared out the window, nearly bouncing in excitement as she awaited the appearance of the great city where she hoped to receive her cutie mark. One hoof rested on the scooter which she had brought onto the train with her, and she used it to lift herself to better see the passing scenery. At her side, little Apple Bloom was much less enthusiastic.

Apple Bloom shifted uncomfortably. The jewels on the clasp at her throat glittered in the evening light, and she started to feel like it was choking her. She was tempted to remove the red-and-gold hoofmade Crusader cloak, but decided to continue wearing it. If she lost it, she would probably never find it again. She had kept it despite having been foalnapped out of her own bedroom; she wasn’t about to lose it now.

A quiet whimper beside her drew her gaze over to Sweetie Belle. The little unicorn had curled up into a ball, and was mumbling to herself as she shuddered with her hooves on her head. “Ya okay, Sweetie Belle?” Apple Bloom asked quietly. She didn’t want to be heard by the two changelings, who were only a few train cars away. Sweetie Belle peeked out at Apple Bloom through a gap between her forelegs, weakly nodding her head before curling up again. Seeing she wasn’t going to anything more from her scared friend, Apple Bloom instead decided to take a look around at the train car they had smuggled themselves onto.

The Friendship Express was the pride and joy of Equestria, being the fastest method of travel throughout the country, and even travelling to other countries. Actually, with the exception of walking or flying, it was practically the only method of travel throughout the country. A miracle of a combination of magic and technology, it somehow used heated water to move. Apple Bloom’s teacher, Miss Cheerilee, had explained the phenomenon in class a few months ago, though Apple Bloom couldn’t really remember the details. Something about the magic heating and evaporating the water, and then the steam doing… something to make the train move. Yeah, that sounds about right.

As for the train car itself, it was wonderfully inviting. The lovingly made feather-down cushions were tastefully offset by the billowing thick curtains, ready to invite passengers to close the blinds and sleep during the long overnight trips. The carefully painted brown wooden walls were periodically interrupted by the smoothly-cut windows, giving passengers a magnificent view of the passing scenery.

Not that Apple Bloom paid any attention to any of this, instead hopping up on one of the many seats that filled the car. She focused her gaze on the swinging light fixtures on the ceiling, wondering why she had agreed to go along with this. AJ’s gonna be so mad. Trying to get her mind away from the imminent lecture she would be facing from her older sister, she instead thought about the group was going to do when they reach Canterlot.

…

Wow, are we really this bad at plannin’ things?

The Crusaders had never been good at planning out the activities that were supposed to give them their cutie marks, instead preferring to dive right into the action. Maybe if they took the time to think things through, they would come home covered in tree sap less often. Stuck on a moving train with nothing to do, Apple Bloom was starting to wonder if this was such a good idea.

“Whatcha thinking about?”

Apple Bloom’s head shot up to see Scootaloo staring at her, curiosity clearly visible in the orange filly’s eyes. Scootaloo hopped onto the sofa, giving Apple Bloom a playful little nudge. “You ain’t thinking about bailing out already?” the pegasus asked teasingly.

“Just a little bit,” Apple Bloom admitted. At Scootaloo’s look of surprise, she felt the need to clarify. “Are you sure this is a good idea? How are we supposed to pull off what everypony in Canterlot couldn’t?”

Scootaloo casually brushed off Apple Bloom’s worries, leaning her head against the seat back. “Ah, don’t be such a baby. We’re not going to fight them. We’re just going to sneak in there, like one of those ponies Pinkie told us about. What did she call them again?”

“You mean those ninjas?”

“Yeah, that’s right.” Scootaloo smiled, having gotten the answer she was looking for. “We just need to be sneaky, like we’re trying to slip in after curfew. What could possibly go wrong?”

A choking noise from Sweetie Belle caused the two of them to look at her, and they saw she was staring back at Scootaloo disbelievingly. Her mouth moved, but anything she said was overwhelmed by an abrupt crash from the car directly next to them. The ruckus continued, even seeming to gain in volume, and they could hear voices filtering in through the door connecting the next car over. The door buckled and exploded inwards, filling the car with debris and billowing white smoke.

Her body moving instinctively, Apple Bloom dove underneath the seat she was sitting on. She collided with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, who had both reacted in the same way she had. The three fell together in a pile underneath the seat, hidden from sight. The smoke prevented them from seeing what had happened, but they could hear something moving in the car with them.

Sweetie Belle’s breathing was fast and erratic. Apple Bloom could feel her sides heave as the white unicorn deeply inhaled. Before she could scream and give away their position, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both pounced on her, covering her mouth with their hooves. They relaxed slightly before voices filtering in through the wreckage drew their attention. The smoke was starting to clear, but they could only see the area closest to the ground because of the seat above them.

“You ponies are just full of surprises, huh?” The voice belonged to a changeling just entering the car. His black, chitinous, hole-riddled legs softly thudded against the wooden floor of the car ever time he took a step. A slight buzz tinted his words, giving them and otherworldly feeling. “Can’t say I thought any of you would try to stop us so soon.”

“Seems like there’s a lot you didn’t think about, Last Breath.” The second voice came from another changeling, who entered the car behind the first. This one’s voice was deep and even, seemingly locked in a steady state of disapproval. What little they could see of this one’s legs was heavyset, and he was a lot thicker than the other one. “This entire plan of yours has been a failure from beginning to end. I don’t know why the Queen even bothered wasting any energy on a collection drone like you.”

“Aw, don’t be like that, Innocenty,” the first changeling, apparently named Last Breath, said. Somehow he was able to sound both wheedling and mocking at the same time. “Not everyling can be a Major, you know. We would want guys like you to starve without guys like me around. Oh, my mistake. I meant ‘wouldn’t’.”

A flash of light filled the room, followed by a meaty thwack as the smaller changeling was thrown against the train wall. “I should kill you right now,” the larger changeling hissed, his deep buzzing voice barely carrying to where the Crusaders huddled together. A green glow filled the room as he pinned the smaller changeling against the wall with his magic. “I don’t know why the Queen favours a traitor like you, but if you know what’s good for you, don’t push me.”

“Too bad you’re a good boy who follows orders, huh?” Something moved on the floor close to where the crusaders lay hidden, and Last Breath’s antagonistic voice shifted slightly. “Oh look, your prey’s starting to escape. Why don’t you show me how you handle this? Show me what you can do, Innocent Sin.” His voice was cut off as he was suddenly thrown into another wall, hitting the wall with the crackling sound of splintering wood.

“You don’t have the right to use my full name,” the larger changeling, Innocent Sin, snarled. Turning away from the smaller changeling, he walked down the aisle in the direction the Crusaders hid. The fillies recoiled away from the oncoming hooves, squeezing themselves against the back wall as far away from him as they could. The oncoming hooves reached the seat where they hid… and continued on down the aisle.

Following his steps with their eyes, the trio saw when he stopped in front of something white lying on the carriage floor. Whatever it was must have been what flew through the train door. The white object shifted slightly, and Apple Bloom’s eyes widened as she saw several patches of brown scattered along its surface. Something about it tickled at the back of her memory, before it stuck its head up and she could see its face as it glared up at the changeling standing above it.

“That’s Pipsqueak!” she hissed, too surprised to remain silent. “What’s he doing here?”

“Who?” Scootaloo whispered back, glancing from Apple Bloom to Pipsqueak and back again.

“Twist introduced him to a few days ago! He moved into town not too long ago, she said he hadn’t made many friends yet.” Indeed, that had been the first time she remembered meeting the tiny pinto earth pony. A few years younger than Apple Bloom and her friends, he still wasn’t quite old enough to go to school yet.

Scootaloo’s throat shifted as she visibly swallowed, and she licked her lips as she stared back out at the colt on the floor. “If he doesn’t get out of there soon, he’s not going to need to worry about making friends.”

“Where did you take her?” Pipsqueak demanded of the changeling, uneasily climbing to his hooves. The girls could tell he was badly hurt from the way he moved, but the ferocity in his eyes was as hard as steel. The little pinto earth pony’s movement was unsteady and cautious, and he fell back to the ground before he could stand upright. Dozens of little wooden splinters stuck out of his coat, tiny drops of blood oozing from several of the wounds. He must have gotten all that when he had been thrown through the doorway.

“He’s not going to get out of there, is he?” Apple Bloom asked. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle silently shook their heads as they watched the scene unfolding before them. A part of them wanted to go out and help him, but fear of discovery kept them pinned to the ground.

“Why?” the one called Innocent Sin boomed out, his deep voice drawing the fillies’ attention again. “Why do you ponies keep fighting us? It would be so much easier if you would just submit, but both you and that Mayor refuse to surrender.”

“Bullies like you would never understand,” Pipsqueak said, finally managing to stand upright. The fillies couldn’t see his face anymore, but he sounded as determined as ever.

“The world’s not so black and white, kid,” Last Breath said from where he lay against the train wall. “Who knows, maybe we’ll be able to see eye-to-eye someday.”

“You overstep your bounds again, Last Breath,” Innocent Sin said balefully. The fillies shivered as the temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees at the chill in his voice. “Open your mouth once more, and I will kill you.”

“Promises, promises,” Last Breath muttered. Despite the way he seemed to enjoy pushing Innocent Sin’s buttons, he clammed up anyway, showing he took the threat seriously.

Turning away from the irritating changeling, Innocent Sin turned his attention back to the colt before him. “So that’s your answer?” A bright flash of green filled the train car, and suddenly Mayor Mare was standing where the changeling had been a second before. “Are you sure I can’t persuade you otherwise?” Despite the voice being the Mayor’s, the tone of voice was as flat and emotionless as ever. It really was a terrible disguise.

“I’m young, not stupid,” Pipsqueak said bluntly as Last Breath snorted. “I know that’s still you.”

“Hmph.” Another flash of green and the Mayor vanished, the changeling returning to his original appearance. There was a sudden hacking noise from Innocent Sin. While he appeared to be choking on something, after a few seconds, he spat out a large glob of green goo, pinning Pipsqueak’s hooves to the floor. Behind him, Last Breath seemed to be choking on his own ill-contained laughter. “Is there something you find amusing?”

“I thought I wasn’t supposed to talk?” After a moment’s silence in which neither changeling said anything, Last Breath answered the question that had been posed of him. “You can’t just fool them just by looking like them. You have to act like the ponies, too. Also, transforming in front of them makes the whole thing useless.”

“You would know, wouldn’t you?” Innocent Sin spat, baring his long, dagger-like fangs. Whatever they were talking about, it sounded like a long-standing grudge. Several minutes passed in silence, during which the fillies and colt remained silent while the two changelings glared at each other. The sheer force of the enmity between the two felt like a physical object, smothering and choking every other living creature in the room. For several long minutes, the only sounds that could be heard was the sound of the wheels running along their tracks and the noises made by the locomotive at the head of the train.

After the tense moment seemed to drag on forever, during which Pipsqueak and the three hiding fillies feared that the two changelings would attack each other, Innocent Sin broke the stalemate. “I wonder,” he said, turning back towards Pipsqueak, “how is it that you knew we had her?” His voice was firm and brimming with anger, but for whatever reason, it seemed he was going to pretend like the near-explosive situation had never happened.

“I’m not telling you nothing,” Pipsqueak said stubbornly.

“Brave little warrior, aren’t you?” Innocent Sin asked scornfully. “Or should I say pretend warrior? You may not be a gryphon, but…” A sickly green glow filled the car, emanating from where he was standing. “Let’s see what a herd animal knows about loyalty.”

Apple Bloom flinched as a loud shriek suddenly filled her ears. She had been too focused on the events before her that she hadn’t noticed as a strange sense of weightlessness overtook her body. Looking down, she saw that her entire body had been wrapped in the same green glow that filled the carriage. A silent scream fought to escape the sudden paralysis she felt in her throat as she struggled against the inexorable pull of the changeling’s magic. She could feel her friends grabbing her hind legs, both of them fighting to keep Apple Bloom from being dragged away from the presumed safety offered by their hiding place. The green glow spread onto their hooves as well, and all three were dragged out into the light.

“Here’s a tip,” the glow coming from Innocent Sin’s horn vanished, dropping all three fillies. They hit the ground with a dull thud beside Pipsqueak. “Don’t bother hiding from creatures that can sense emotions. It won’t work.”

“Apple Bloom?” Pipsqueak asked incredulously. “What are you doing here?”

“Ah could ask you the same.” Groaning, Apple Bloom managed to get her hooves underneath her and force her body upright. Beside her, she could hear her friends doing the same. “We was hopin’ to sneak into Canterlot,” she admitted to Pipsqueak. Finally getting her bearings, her gaze unwilling traced the body of the changeling standing before her, traveling from his hooves all the way to his eyes. The sight of those cold slit pupils staring directly at her was nearly enough to make her wet herself.

“Canterlot?” Innocent Sin asked her. “Why would you want to go there?” Her eyes were brimming with unshed tears and her teeth were chattering loudly enough to be audible, but Apple Bloom bit her lip and refused to answer. Seeing that she wasn’t going to comply, Innocent Sin’s horn blazed with that familiar sickly green. The glow shot out from his horn, reaching out and wrapping itself around her throat.

Sliding underneath her cloak and clasp, the glow solidified itself into a collar around her neck. Kicking and flailing, the ring lifted her into the air until she floated at eye level with the large changeling. Innocent Sin’s gaze was firm and unyielding, and he appeared unmoved by her struggles. “What. Did. You. Plan?”

“Let her go! She can’t breathe!” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle rocketed forward, launching themselves at the changeling little fleshy cannonballs. But if they were cannonballs, then Innocent Sin was an unyielding fortress. His carapace was a natural armor and he barely even flinched against the pair of impacts striking his chest.

Dropping Apple Bloom to the ground, where she lay sucking in the sweet, sweet air, he turned his attention instead to his attackers. Namely, the little pegasus rubbing her head. His horn glowing again, he flipped her onto her back. Pinning her to the ground with a hoof on her chest, he frowned down at her. “I’m losing patience. Tell me what I want to know, or we’ll find out how much pain you ponies can withstand.” His fangs and eyes seemed to shine in the evening light, giving him a horrifyingly alien appearance.

Scootaloo swallowed loudly as she looked up at the monstrous sight above her. His hoof was firm and heavy, and no matter how much she struggled, it refused to budge. It wasn’t enough to hurt, but the strength she felt from the controlled pressure left her with no doubt that he could crush her if he wanted to. Filled with fear and feeling like she was going to die, Scootaloo did the only thing she could think of.

She started to cry.

“Get away from them!” Innocent Sin leapt back from the weeping filly as a bolt of green fire passed through the spot he had vacated a moment before. The air rippled and warped from the heat of the flames, which continued uninterrupted on its path until it hit the train wall. The greedy flames quickly spread, seeking and consuming ever more fuel and within seconds, the roof of the train was lost in the roaring blaze.

The three fillies and one colt turned to look at the newcomer. Standing in the doorway, their tiny purple potbellied rescuer stood cast in the light from the flames above. “Spike!” three overjoyed voices shouted at the sight of the baby dragon.

“Spike, huh?” Last Breath mused, slowly closing the distance between him and the latest arrival. “Wonder what Twilight’s pet dragon is doing here- WHOA!” He jumped back as another gout of fire was spat at the ground in front of him, which quickly spread and separated the changeling from the youngsters.

“Are you okay?” Spike panted, rushing up to the foals. Two shots of fire had really taken a lot out of him, and he didn’t think he could pull off another one. Bending down, he sliced through the bonds pinning Pipsqueak’s hooves to the floor with a quick swipe of his claws. “What were you all thinking, sneaking onto this train? I’m just glad I followed you.”

“Can we have this conversation later?” Sweetie Belle asked, pointing at the crackling flames separating them from the two watching changelings with a wave of her chin.

“Yeah, I guess,” Spike admitted. “And who are you?” he asked of the colt he had just finished freeing.

“Th’ name’s Pipsqueak,” the pinto pony said proudly. “I’m going to rescue Princess Luna. I had a dream, and-“

“Yeah, that’s great,” Scootaloo interrupted, quickly cutting him off. “Can we go? NOW?”

“How?” Apple Bloom asked, gesturing at the dancing flames which had completely surrounded them, cutting off the exit behind them as well. She had wiped away the tear streaks running down her face, but her eyes were still a little red.

“Umm…” Scootaloo’s gaze skidded along the roaring flames until they landed on something half-hidden underneath the seat they had been concealed by before. Diving for it, she pulled it out where the others could see it. “My scooter,” she told the others. “Wouldn’t want to forget it.”

“And how is that going to help us now?” Apple Bloom asked, her voice positively dripping with sarcasm.

“Like this.” Gripping her scooter firmly in her hooves, Scootaloo spun in place and swung the scooter as hard as she could at the window pane above her head. With a mighty crash, the glass appeared to explode, throwing tiny twinkling shards in every direction. Mindful of the debris, Scootaloo hopped into the empty window pane. “We’re blowing this joint.”

“Are you nuts?” Apple Bloom yelled at her. “Ah can’t fly!”

“I can’t either, but,” the rest of what Scootaloo intended to say was lost as the train suddenly shook and seemed to nearly jump from the tracks, and her hooves slipped off the ledge. A quiet “Whoops” was all she had time for before she fell out of sight.

“No time! Go! Go!” Shoving the foals towards the open window, Spike turned to look at what the changelings were doing. Much to his surprise, they had barely moved, only taking a few steps back away from the heat of the flames. The larger one was frowning at him, like he wanted to chase after the group and stop them from escaping. But the smaller one actually lifted a hoof when he saw Spike staring, as if he was tipping a non-existent hat, his mouth twisted into a jaunty smile.

“Spike! Let’s go!” Spike turned to see that only Apple Bloom was left, the other two having already leapt from the train. The filly was waving at him, telling him to hurry up. Running over to her, he heaved himself onto the windowsill beside her.

The cool air whipped at his face, and the ground passing beneath him at an incredible velocity made him wonder if maybe the burning train wasn’t the safer place to be. Before he could turn back, he felt something strike him in the small of his back, throwing both him and Apple Bloom out of the burning train. His body seeming to move of its own accord, he grabbed Apple Bloom and wrapped his body protectively around hers. I knew I was going to regret this, was all he had time to think before his head struck a large rock on the ground, and then all his thoughts were darkness.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t wake him?”

“Nah, he’s fine. Keep pulling.”

Several hours had already passed since their escape from the burning train, though the evening sun remained locked in the same position as ever. After they had managed to leap from the train car, the group had managed to hook up again without any major difficulties. The only injury the group had sustained during their flight from the changelings was Spike being knocked unconscious when he hit the ground. In addition, Apple Bloom’s cape and clasp had been torn off and left behind at some point during the chaos. She wasn’t sure when it happened, but thought it was when she had leapt from the train. Thankfully, her favourite red ribbon was still firmly attached to her head.

After meeting up, the four foals had argued about what they should do. Sweetie Belle had suggested heading back to Ponyville, but both Scootaloo and Pipsqueak had disagreed with that idea. Scootaloo didn’t want to return to Ponyville with empty hooves, but the idea of heading into Canterlot clearly frightened her. When the possibility of meeting that large changeling again had been brought up, she had shuddered and quickly changed the subject.

The argument had finally ended when Pipsqueak asked them if they wanted to travel with him. He told them he had been sent a dream from Princess Luna, and that he was going to rescue her. Apple Bloom promptly pointed out how much that sounded like the stories she remembered her parents reading her when she was just a baby. The stories about a brave group of heroes rescuing captive princesses from all sorts of horrible monsters. When Apple Bloom made the connection, the other two leapt at the idea to go with Pipsqueak. Hero cutie marks weren’t out of their reach yet.

The fact that they would never have to meet that large changeling again was a plus.

All this led to the current situation, with the four foals tied to the front of a makeshift litter that Apple Bloom had quickly lashed together. It was really nothing more than sticks and vines. Spike slumbered blissfully on top of the litter where the group had tossed him, not seeming to realize that his head stuck out over the edge and dragged against the ground as the litter moved forwards. Scootaloo’s scooter lay next to him, and the filly in question would look back every so often to reassure herself it was still there. Now and then, the litter would catch on a protruding rock or tree root, and the group would need to stop to tug it free.

“So where are we going anyway?” Apple Bloom asked Pipsqueak eventually, being the first to realize that they really didn’t have a clear destination in mind.

“Not really sure,” Pipsqueak replied, shifting the vine that tied him to the litter. “Princess Luna just put the knowledge in my head of where she is and that she had been captured by the changelings. I had hoped to find out a little more, but they found me too soon.”

“She ‘put the knowledge in your head’?” Sweetie Belle asked doubtfully. “She can do that?”

Pipsqueak just shrugged, not really sure himself. “She did, so I guess she can. All I know is that she’s south of us, but I don’t know how far away.”

“Well, I hope Spike wakes up soon,” Scootaloo said, groaning as the litter caught on yet another rock. “Because this is getting old real fast.” As the group stopped to free the litter once more, none of them noticed a pair of glowing yellow eyes watching them from under the cover of a nearby bush. By the time the foals finally freed their burden, the eyes had vanished, the leaves barely even stirring at their wake.

Author's Note

Pipsqueak was first (and last) seen in Chapter 7.

If Not Friends, Then Not Enemies

Shift. Move. Can’t move. Arms tied. Think. Can’t think. Head feels… fuzzy.

Where am I?

John came awake all at once, his eyes shooting open wide. He tried to stand up, but thick straps pinning down his arm, legs, and even his neck held him down. Panic washed over him for a moment, and he thrashed in his bonds before he forced himself to calm down. Panic wouldn’t help anything.

His breathing slowly evening out, he tried to understand what had happened to him. The room he was lying in was fairly large across, even if the roof did seem a little low. A solitary moth fluttered around a florescent light on the ceiling, its wings flapping wildly as it flittered around the source of warmth and light. There was a single open window on the side of the room, but a single glance was all it took for John to realize that it was too small for him to squeeze through. A gentle breeze blew across his skin, and it was then that John realized that his clothes had been removed while he slept, a single towel draped across his groin was the only thing protecting his modesty.

Flexing his arms, John tested the strength of the straps holding him down. He put as much force as he was able to into his arm, even tensing his entire body, but his bonds stubbornly refused to give. His head softly thudded against the board as he relaxed, cushioned by his dirty yellow hair. A lock of hair fell into his eyes, and he quickly blew it away.

What happened to me? he wondered. All he could remember was pain, a deep, soul-searing pain that tore all the way through his body. I must have been captured. Those horse-like creatures must have finally caught him. There was nowhere to run anymore. He vaguely remembered the purple unicorn, and a flash of pure red hatred flashed through his mind as he thought about the last time he had seen her.

Wait, no. That wasn’t right. John shook his head. His memories were still fuzzy and unclear, but they were slowly starting to come together. She had been standing behind him. The hatred wasn’t aimed at her, it was aimed at… aimed at…

Who?

Try as he might, he couldn’t remember who he hated or why he hated them. All he could remember was a pair of eyes; a pair of cyan eyes, their slit pupils staring condescendingly at him. But no matter how he tried, he couldn’t remember why he should be angry.

His anger started to fade, the red-hot flames dying out with nothing to sustain them. Right before the rage disappeared entirely, he heard a faint noise like a finger snap in the back of his head. As if that snap tore away the block on his memories, he suddenly remembered everything. His mind felt clearer then ever before, like cobwebs that had been deliberately placed in his brain were blown away in an instant.

The meaning of those eyes came back to him and he remembered exactly what that creature had done. She had manipulated him, forcing to attack and nearly kill those small creatures. What had they ever done to him? Nothing. They’ve been acting in self defence, he realized. Against… me. His hands tightened into a fist as he realized exactly what that meant. Everything that had gone wrong for him had happened because of that creature with the slit eyes. A scream of rage tore from his throat as his goal became clear.

No matter what, he was going to kill the owner of those eyes.

A few rooms away, six mares were locked in a conversation, oblivious to the creature waking only a few short meters away from them. They were loud, and there was no way their voices would fail to reach the one who had once, and could still be, their enemy. “…and the way you just fell away from the window,” Rainbow Dash said from where she lay on her hospital bed, her squeaky voice shaking with suppressed laughter. “That was hilarious.”

“Humph,” Rarity replied, an annoyed look in her eyes as she turned her head away from the bed-ridden pegasus. “If you had seen it, you wouldn’t think it was so funny.” Her offended tone was almost enough to draw attention away from the embarrassed blush that lightly stained her cheeks. Unfortunately for her, Dash picked up on what she was trying to hide right away.

“Bwaahaha!” Dash laughed, easily blowing away Rarity’s flimsy rebuttal. “So what if I had seen it? It was a changeling. For Celestia’s sake, we beat ‘em by the dozens before, and even their Queen wasn’t all that impressive.”

“It didn’t feel like we were looking at one of the changelings from the wedding,” Twilight said, her eyes darting back and forth as she skimmed the book she had levitated in front of her. She just knew she would find the answers she needed in here. She just had to. When that large changeling had looked up here, it had felt like… like…

“It felt like a predator,” Fluttershy whispered, unknowingly finishing Twilight’s thought. Trust the animal lover to know these things.

“Well, shoot,” Applejack said as Twilight disappointedly put the book aside. “Now that ya mention it, Ah reckon that sounds about right, ‘Shy. Ah think Ah felt about the same the first time Ah saw one of them timberwolves hangin’ around the farm. Ah was just a filly and just hid in the farm, hopin’ against hope it wouldn’t find me.” She chuckled nostalgically at the mental image of her, no more than Apple Bloom’s age, hiding in the barn rafters and praying the giant wooden carnivore wouldn’t look up.

“But,” Rarity said, breaking Applejack out of her reminisce, “you didn’t seem to have any trouble facing down that hydra. Even though it did this,” she gestured at the various bandages and splints that covered the farmpony’s body, “to you.”

The fond look on Applejack’s face vanished, replaced with a self-disappointed scowl. “Ah’m older now, and the critter was threatenin’ my family. No way would I turn tail and run.”

“You go, girl,” Dash said with a grin, punching the air in front of her.

Rarity looked like she wanted to say something, but stopped as she considered Applejack’s words. After a few second’s thought, she inclined her head in acknowledgement. “I suppose that’s fair. I probably would have done the same for Sweetie Belle.”

Twilight nodded her head as she turned to look at the others in turn. “I think we can agree that the situation’s changed,” she told the others. “If the changelings came all this way, they’re probably after us.”

“Not to question ya, Twi, but do ya really think so, sugarcube?” Applejack asked. “Why would them changelings want to come after us, right after they’ve gone and taken Canterlot?”

“Ain’t it obvious, AJ?” Dash said, her rough voice nearly cracking with excitement. “We’re the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Those freaky things know we’re a threat.” She banged her front hooves together, a violent smile spreading on her features. “And I look forward to proving them right! I’ll show those buggy things a thing or two even with both wings tied behind my back.”

“Ah know Ah'm normally supposed ta keep Dash from rushin’ in and doing somethin’ dumb,” Applejack interjected, looking at the others, “but this time, Ah agree with her. The sooner we kick them out, the sooner we can get things back to normal.”

“That’s sounds like so much fun!” Pinkie burst out, bouncing around the room and leaving all sorts of colorful party streamers and confetti in her wake. “And once we beat them, we can throw a Yay-We-Saved-Canterlot-Party!”

Rarity cleared her throat awkwardly, cautiously edging away from the colorful detritus the party animal was spreading around the room. If any of that stuff ended up in her mane, it would be a nightmare to clean out. “Well, dear,” Rarity said, unobtrusively distancing herself from Pinkie as the eccentric earth pony made another pass around the room. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves now.”

As Pinkie bounced past the doorway, a new voice entered the conversation. “The best of friends to the end. These are those who Equestria would depend. If this is who the world would choose, then truly we are in good hooves.” As one, the six mares turned to look at the doorway as Zecora entered the room, the zebra’s jewelry jangling slightly as her hooves beat a short pattern against the floor.

“Oh, Zecora,” Twilight greeted the arrival, disentangling herself from the hug. Her horn glowing, she zipped over a pair of chairs, one for her and one for the tired looking zebra. “Is this… about what we talked about last night?”

Zecora shook her head, gingerly dropping herself down on the offered chair. Her eyes looking both sad and serious, she gazed at the six mares as they quieted down and listened to her. “Listen my friends, and listen well, to this story that I must tell.”

The six mares listened in silence as Zecora explained to them what she had witnessed down at the train station. From when the mayor had stood up to the two changelings, to when Spike and Apple Bloom and her friends had disappeared onto the train, while Zecora had done nothing to stop them.

“Oh, Spike…” Twilight mumbled, staring out the window. She could almost feel as the warm, comfortable life she had built up was coming crashing down around her.

“So, you said that you did nothin’ to stop them, Zecora. Mind explainin’ yourself?” Applejack asked the zebra. When Zecora only looked down at the floor shamefully instead of answering, Applejack sighed as she leaned into the hospital pillow. “Ah suppose you had your reasons. If you don’t want to share, Ah won’t pry.”

“Well, we were just talking about leaving,” Rarity said as she stretched, her back giving a satisfying pop. “Now we’ve got our destination. Canterlot. And then I am sitting Sweetie Belle down and giving her such a lecture.”

“Do we even know they’re in Canterlot?” Fluttershy asked. The meek pegasus was unsure about simply charging into what was now changeling headquarters. “I mean, it would be so frightening to show up and the girls aren’t even there.”

Before any of the ponies could respond, a horrible, blood-curdling scream tore through the air. Every one of the mares recoiled, flinching away from the noise or dropping defensively onto the ground. Twilight’s ears flicked as a faint part of her mind recognized the primordial scream. How could she not? She had heard it so often over the past week.

“He’s awake,” she muttered to herself before bolting out the door, seeking the source of the scream. Silence filled the room, and the other five ponies turned to each other, picking up where their conversation had left off. As a result, none of them noticed Zecora silently slipping out through the doorway.

Twilight’s heart pounded in her ears as she slowly walked down the hospital hallway. A door was slightly ajar ahead of her, and she was certain that what she was looking for lay beyond it. Unfortunately, she had no idea what she was going to do after that.

After a long pain-filled week, she and her friends had finally managed to capture the creature in the forest. But what was she supposed to do with it now? There were no prisons in Ponyville, Canterlot was overrun, and Princess Celestia was… missing. That left it up to her to think of some way to prevent it from becoming a threat.

A cool voice whispered into her ear, a memory of something she had heard before. “You lack the strength of will necessary to do whatever it takes for victory,” the voice hissed, its crooning tones whispering sweet temptation into her mind. Twilight shuddered and squashed the voice, trying to ignore just how much she was tempted by the idea.

No matter what, she could never take another’s life.

The door silently opened as her nose brushed against it, swinging wide on well-oiled hinges. The sterile environs of the hospital room did nothing to distract her from what lay on the gurney in the center. The creature lay there, struggling weakly against the bonds tying him down. His pale skin was exposed to the air, still covered in the grime and the dirt from the Everfree.

He hadn’t noticed her appearance yet, and she took the opportunity to try and clear her thoughts. Just seeing him filled her with anger for what he had done, sorrow for what she had lost, and fear for what he might do. Strangely, there was another emotion swirling around in her heart, and it took her a moment to recognize it for what it was.

Pity.

She felt pity for the creature, this creature that had caused her and her friends so much pain, so much suffering. He had foalnapped Apple Bloom, and was responsible for Applejack’s injuries as well as the wounds to her horn and Rainbow Dash’s wing, yet she couldn’t bring herself to hate him. She wanted to. Celestia help her, she wanted to. She wanted to blame him for everything that had happened and everything that was happening, but she just couldn’t do it. Her heart wouldn’t allow her.

If anything, she hated herself for being unable to stop him.

I just want everything to go back to normal, she thought sadly. Had it only been a week? A mere seven days had passed since she’d first received that fateful letter from Princess Celestia. So much had changed since then. Not only that, but she didn’t feel like anywhere was safe anymore. In a way, she could understand why Applejack had been so angry at the creature. Even though it hadn’t been her home that had been invaded, she felt… violated. Like by slipping into Ponyville and stealing away one of her friend’s sisters, he had shattered the false sense of security and peace she had built over her home.

Twilight shook her head, trying to dispel her thoughts. Maybe this, more than anything else, had been Discord’s intention all along. She felt like things could never go back to the way they had before, all because of her own powerlessness. She groaned as she rubbed her face, wishing that she had been stronger.

The creature stiffened, and Twilight realized that it must have heard her groan. Nothing for it now. “Um, hello there,” she said uncertainly, staying out of its line of sight. “I… um… I mean… are you…” She clicked her tongue in frustration, cursing her inability to find the words she was looking for. This wasn’t like her.

The creature said something in response, and Twilight sighed in disappointment. She had held a faint hope that he would be able to communicate with her now that Nightmare Moon was gone, but it looked like that was not to be.

“I’m sorry,” she said, trotting over to where he could see her and sitting herself down on the cool linoleum floor. His face showed only the slightest amount of emotion when he saw her. There was a crinkling of the skin around the eyes, a slight bearing of the teeth, and the formation of creases along the sides of the mouth. She might not be able to read his expression clearly, but no matter the species, it seemed a smile was universal.

She gave him a tiny smile in return, only the slightest quiver along the corner revealing just how much she wanted to break down and scream. She didn’t know if she wanted to scream at him, scream at the hospital, or just scream at the world, but she just wanted to scream.

A low deep voice intruded in her thoughts, and she blinked as she looked up at the creature. It had just asked her something in its deep baritone, but of course the words escaped her. She could see concern shimmering clearly in its eyes, and assumed it had just asked about her.

“I… I’m alright,” she said, awkwardly rubbing at her elbow. “You saved me, so… Thank you.” She tried to make her gratitude clear in her voice, and it seemed like the creature understood. “But,” she added sadly, looking down at the floor, “my friends…” She couldn’t say it. Even if he couldn’t understand her, she still couldn’t say it.

The creature apparently understood anyway, because it let out a small sigh before staring up at the ceiling. It spoke in a quiet, sad voice, its tone tinged with sorrow and bitter regret.

“I can’t forgive you,” Twilight interrupted, cutting him off. “What you did, even if it was Nightmare Moon controlling you, I just can’t forgive you.” She scuffed her hoof against the floor, flinching slightly from the screech produced. “I know I should, even Rainbow Dash said she would be willing to forgive you, but I just can’t do it. I’m sorry.”

Uncomfortable silence filled the room as the two ceased talking, neither of them sure what they could say to the other even if the other could understand them. Twilight looked up, her mouth open as she was about to say something before she slowly closed her mouth and looked down again. Other than the sounds filtering in through the open window, the low buzz of the light on the ceiling was the only noise in the room for several minutes.

Twilight sighed, before carefully walking over to where the creature lay. He turned his head towards her, watching her slow approach with curious eyes. She was careful not to make any threatening gestures, and he remained still as her gaze slid along his body, taking in his nearly naked form for the first time. His skin was smooth and free of any imperfections, though since he could quickly heal any wound, she wasn’t really surprised. Indeed, if she hadn’t learned to fear him so much over the past week, she would have thought he was nothing special. She would have thought of him as a scientific curiosity, but certainly not a threat.

His chest rose and fell steadily with his breathing, and she cautiously lifted a hoof above his bare torso. He tensed at her movement, and she stopped and looked him in the eye. They locked gazes for several seconds before the creature released a slow shuddering breath and closed its eyes, letting its body relax.

Taking this submissive gesture as permission, Twilight warily lowered her foreleg until her fetlock rested against his skin, gently pressing against the thin layer of hair that covered his chest. Closing her eyes, she stopped thinking and just let herself feel. She could feel warmth radiating from him, and a rhythmic beating that she knew had to be his heartbeat. She could easily imagine her heart beating the same pattern as his. Two hearts, together in harmony. She realized then that he really wasn’t that different from her.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she muttered to herself as she lowered her head to the straps that kept him tied down. Gripping the end in her teeth, and with a quick jerk of her head, she released his left arm. Quickly stepping back and out of the creature’s reach as it stared at her in surprise, she walked over to a pile of cloth on the side of the room.

“Here’s your clothes,” she said, tossing the pile over to him. He must have figured out what she was doing, because he had already undone the straps around his other arm and neck and quickly undid the ones around his legs. Swinging his freed legs off the gurney and hopping down onto the floor, he picked up his clothes and quickly donned them, turning away from her as he did.

Now fully clothed, the creature turned to look at her. He couldn’t say anything to her, but she could still see a question shining brightly in his eyes. A single question, a simple question: Why?

“I couldn’t just leave you,” Twilight explained. “I need to go rescue the foals, and I don’t know when I’ll be back. I couldn’t just let you rot here for Celestia knows how long.” The explanation sounded weak even to herself, but she really couldn’t come up with a better explanation. It had just seemed like the right thing to do. She hoped she wouldn’t regret it.

The creature stared at her for several seconds before abruptly moving towards her, his long legs quickly closing the distance between them. His hand moved towards her head and she flinched away from him, cowering on the floor. Her back struck the hospital wall, and she closed her eyes as she realized she had unintentionally trapped herself.

But instead of the sharp pain followed by oblivion she had been expecting, there was only a light pressure on the top of her head. She cautiously cracked one eye open to see the creature standing above her, one arm outstretched as he tousled her mane. Before she could understand what was happening, the moment ended and the creature removed his hand, disappearing through the open doorway.

She could hear his bare feet slapping against the hardwood floor as he ran down the hallway, the sound becoming more and more distant before she could no longer hear it. Minutes passed as she sat in silence, alone with her thoughts.

The first hit she had of another presence in the room was when a hoof gently pressed against her shoulder. Twilight looked over to see Zecora standing beside her, the zebra looking at Twilight with concern.

“Did I just make a huge mistake?” Twilight asked quietly. “I had to do something, but was it the right thing?” She didn’t really expect Zecora to have an answer, but it was something she felt she needed to say.

Zecora slowly shook her head. “I know not,” she admitted. “But you did well to show mercy to one you fought.”

“But was it the right thing to do?” Twilight asked again. “After everything he did, everything we did to finally capture him, I just let him go.”

Zecora reassuringly rubbed Twilight’s shoulder. “I cannot give you the answer you seek, and I know that you think the future looks bleak. But you shall always have the support of your friends, and even the very wise cannot see all ends. My heart tells me that the creature has some part to play yet, for good or ill, before this is over.” She gave Twilight’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze before letting her hoof fall. As she walked towards the doorway, she looked over her shoulder and gave Twilight one final word of advice. “Just remember your goals, and how you intend to give this whole sad story closure.”

Disappearing with a flick of her tail, Zecora left the room, once again leaving Twilight alone with her thoughts. The young unicorn still wondered if she had made the right choice, but she also thought about what she would do from now on. Her thoughts slowly settled, and a determined expression appeared on her face.

Remember her goals? She would. If she needed something to fight for to keep her moving forward, then that was exactly what she was going to do. No matter what, she was going to fix everything. She would return everything back to the way it had been.

Author's Note

John was last awake in Chapter 15.

A Little Taste of Heaven

“Mmm, home sweet home. Can’t you just smell that evening freshness?”

Last Breath casually hopped down from the charred remnants of the Friendship Express, the changeling’s hooves striking softly against the cobblestones of the Canterlot train station. Grinning broadly, he glanced back at the burnt-out train. Really, it astounded him that it had managed to carry him and Innocent Sin all the way to Canterlot as damaged as it was. Whoever had designed it had been good. Pity it had been all pink and frilly. Were they trying to appeal to young fillies or something? he thought, slightly amused. A sun motif would have been way better.

Not that it would have really mattered. A look at the roof of the train showed him a tiny emerald flame still merrily flickering away as it continued to consume whatever fuel it could. The flame had resisted all of the two changelings’ attempts to fight it, instead growing hotter and brighter in cheerful defiance of their best attempts. Dragonflame was scary stuff, even when it came from a baby. Last Breath shuddered at the idea of meeting that dragon when it was fully grown.

“Smells like pony,” a grumbling voice echoed of from the dark recesses of the train. “I still can’t believe you convinced me to let them go.” Innocent Sin climbed out of the train behind Last Breath, his slightly larger frame nudging the smaller changeling aside. “We could have held those foals hostage, or used them to lure the Bearers into a trap, or-”

“We wouldn’t have been able to hold them,” Last Breath interrupted with a roll of his eyes. “As soon as that dragon showed up, there was nothing we could have done.” He gestured at the side of the train, charred black from the flames that had been roaring across it not long ago. “You know that.”

Innocent Sin grunted, conceding the point as they began walking towards the castle. Dragons were one of the few species higher on the food chain than changelings, and even a baby could be dangerous if provoked. With scales like steel, flames hotter than any natural fire, and a body shape that changelings couldn’t hope to replicate, they were virtually the changeling’s natural enemy.

The city had changed greatly since the changeling occupation had begun. The streets, which once had been filled with ponies of all walks of life from all over Equestria, were now nearly barren and empty. The few ponies that still walked the cobbled paths stumbled around drunkenly, either smelling heavily of alcohol and salt, or stared blankly into space, apparently unaware of the world around them as they retreated into the recesses of their minds.

Most of the citizens had locked themselves away within their own homes, only letting their closest friends and families inside. Others had chosen to open their doors to the ponies from outside Canterlot, who were left without a place to stay since Queen Chrysalis had decided that no one was allowed to leave the city.

In the back of their minds, there was one thing that every pony feared. No matter whether they allowed strangers into their homes of tried to keep the world at bay, anypony could be a changeling in disguise. From the youngest foal to the eldest mare, anypony could be a spy for the new regime. No one was safe, not even somepony they had known for years could be trusted anymore.

Heightening the tensions, changelings were openly posted on every street corner, their cold unblinking eyes staring down on the streets from the roofs of nearby buildings. They stood untransformed in the broad daylight, letting themselves be seen and serving as a continuous reminder of the changes the city had experienced.

Canterlot was a city gripped by paranoia and fear.

Smiling half-heartedly to himself, Last Breath’s tongue rubbed absently against his short fangs, feeling the sharp edges as his looked up at one of the houses at the outskirts of the plaza. The entire second story of the building had been demolished, vaporised by a redirected attack of Queen Chrysalis’ from when she had fought that Prince. Such power the Queen had obtained. It was truly… Magnificent.

Distracted as he was, he failed to notice when a shadow detached itself from a nearby dark alleyway, charging at him. Hearing a battle cry of “For the Princess!” he leapt to the side, barely managing to dodge the tip of a swiping sword that nearly took his head off. His wings buzzing as he flew out of range of the creature that had just tried to kill him, he smirked sarcastically as he got a good look at it.

A white unicorn stallion, decked in the golden colours of Celestia’s royal guard, or the Solar Guard, glared up at the changeling past the sword clutched in his teeth. The stallion had clearly seen better days, his coat and armour scratched and covered in dirt and grime. Impressive, considering the occupation had begun only a day or so ago. Even from where Last Breath buzzed above the stallion’s head, he could easily smell the alcohol that seemed to roll off the stallion in waves.

“Git down here,” the stallion slurred, spraying spittle everywhere. Despite the difficulty the stallion was having talking, his voice still had a hint of an accent to it. His eyes were having a hard time focusing on the changeling, and one pupil was slightly larger than the other. “I’ll… I’ll kill you. You monsters! Yer a blight on Celestia’s own land! I’ll-” Exactly what he was going to do was left unsaid as tripped over a cobblestone and landed squarely on his face, luckily avoiding impaling himself.

Last Breath remained motionless in the air, watching the stallion with a slightly bemused expression on his face. He wasn’t sure if he should finish the mysterious pony off, go and get him some help, or just laugh at him. Instead, he only watched as the stallion uneasily got back to his hooves. The stallion cast his eyes around on the ground, looking for his sword. Finding it, he bent down and picked it up in his teeth, possibly forgetting that he could grab it with magic. “Mmph mumble mmph mmph mmph!” he said past the sword hilt in his mouth.

“Pardon? You’ll have to repeat that.” Deciding to have fun with the poor ex-soldier, Last Breath cupped one of his forehooves to his ear. “I don’t speak mumblese.”

The stallion spat out the sword, gripping it between his hooves. “I said I’m going to tear dem shtupid wings of yer back, then I’m ripping dem off yer back and shoving dem down yer filt’y throat.”

“Not my wings!” Last Breath gasped mockingly, clutching his chest in fake horror. “They’re my best feature. How will I attract mares without them?” After a moment’s thought, he shrugged as if it didn’t really matter. “Well, at least I’ll have better luck than you.”

“Git down here!”

“You’ve certainly got a one-track mind. But if it’s a fight you want, I’ll give you one.” His wings ceasing their buzzing, Last Breath dropped to the ground. A smirk spread across his face as he locked eyes with the sword-wielding stallion, pawing at the dirt.

The pair were nearly perfectly still as they stared each other down, neither so much as blinking. The stallion’s ear twitched wildly as he gritted the hilt of his sword in his mouth. His eyes blazing blood red in the evening sunlight, the stallion stepped forwards… and vanished in a cloud of dust.

Last Breath remained still as the dust settled, revealing what had happened. The stallion lay prone on the street, buried under a pile of blank-eyed changelings. A small trail of drool oozed from the stallion’s partially opened mouth, cutting a trail of slime through the grime on his chin. One changeling stepped free of the pile and stepped in front of Last Breath.

“SSzzaw you were in trouble, sszzir,” it buzzed, bowing low before him. Last Breath blinked in amazement, his annoyance at the interruption to the fight completely forgotten. If a simple drone like this was already starting to recover speech, then the changelings were incorporating the ambient love far faster than even the Queen had hoped for.

Changelings, once they ran out of love energy, became what were collectively known as “Lost Ones”. Their pupils would vanish behind a soulless sea of crystalline blue, any defining features would disappear, and they would even lose their ability to think. They were lost to the swarm, mere monsters of instinct and emotion. Only the presence of their King or Queen would prevent them from lashing out indiscriminately at the living creatures around them for love and life energy. If they were not near the ruler, they would vanish into the curse.

To be lost to the swarm was to have one hoof in the grave.

Last Breath dispelled his dark thoughts. With Canterlot firmly under changeling control, it was only a matter of time before every changeling was restored from all the ambient love in the air. Nearly every changeling had been lost to the swarm during the escape from the Gryphon territories, including Last Breath. While the gryphons might not formally have a country, they had still nearly found out about the existence of the changelings living among them. The changelings had been forced to flee to Equestria, and every changeling except the Queen had become lost to the swarm because of a lack of areas to obtain more love.

It was only by the narrowest of margins that any of them had managed to survive at all.

Many of them hadn’t.

“Pleasszze take care, sszzir,” the drone changeling said, cutting into Last Breath’s thoughts. Turning, the nameless changeling assisted the others with carrying the unknown stallion away. He would be incarcerated in the dungeons underneath Canterlot Castle, like all the others who had opposed the Queen. Wonder how many of the cells are full already?

After watching the group vanish around a corner, Last Breath turned his gaze up into the sky. His eyes closed as he inhaled the crisp evening air, he felt the weak warmth of the faded sunlight against his exoskeleton. This was what he wanted, right? This was what was best for the changelings, and that was all that mattered. Of course it was! He was a changeling! He consumed emotions, he wasn’t ruled by them!

So why couldn’t he convince himself of that?

Innocent Sin strode confidently through the glorious hallways of Canterlot Castle. A large pair of sunglasses “requisitioned” from a shop in the city rested upon his muzzle, protecting his eyes from the sun’s harsh rays. How that flighty changeling Last Breath could enjoy such harsh light confused Innocent Sin to no end. The sound of his hooves striking the smooth stone floors echoed mournfully through the empty hallway. It was a satisfying reminder of the brief moment of solitude. Just for now he could enjoy the peace and quiet emptiness without the presence of that insubordinate creature.

A growl seemed to emanate from the walls as Innocent Sin thought about his former travelling companion, and it took him a moment to realise it was coming from his own throat. The way Last Breath acted was just an insult to everything that was right. Every living being had its own proper place in the world. That was just the way things were. Neat. Clean. Organized.

The brooding changeling’s steps gradually led him to his destination; the throne room. He would need to report his failure in Ponyville. Reaching the large ornate doors leading into the throne room, he was greeted by a welcome sight. Instead of the pair of garish white-and-yellow stallions that had been so prevalent under former Princess Celestia, a single intelligent-eyed changeling sat before the grand archway. The changeling was leaning against the wall beside the doorway, bouncing a rubber ball against the opposite wall with a bored expression on her face. The changeling looked up as Innocent Sin approached it, cheerfully abandoning the little toy as she greeted the latest distraction.

“Hey Innocence,” it said in a sultry feminine voice. There was only a faint hint of a buzz in her voice, so faint that one would have to focus to hear it. Her body was polished and shiny, brilliantly reflecting the weak sunlight off of her smooth carapace. Her wings and belly were a pale lime green, and her wings were a little smaller than those belonging to the average changeling. Finally, her curving horn bent right at the end, twisted so that the tip pointed directly at the floor in front of her.

“Hello Fallen Roses,” he greeted her in return with a smile. He had long since given up trying to correct her on the pronunciation of his name. At least she wasn’t calling him “Inno” anymore. The smile widened as she wrapped her forelegs around his neck, her simpering face only inches away from his own.

“Aw, Innocence,” she cooed, large compound eyes gazing into his as she fluttered her eyelids flirtatiously. “Don’t be so cold. When we’re alone, you call me Rose, mkay?” Fallen Roses began to the nurturer class of changelings; a rank outside of the hierarchy of the other ranks. They answered only to the Queen herself, and were in charge in raising the young changeling grubs. Her unusual rank made her one of the few beings that Innocent Sin felt free to look upon as an equal.

“Alright then, Rose,” he said, putting special emphasis on her name as he fondly patted her head. He might not be able to give her any love, but that didn’t mean he didn’t care for her anyway. Changelings were thankfully unable to feed off of one another, which prevented them from attacking each other even when they were lost to the hive. Only the Queen was able to give her own love energy to other changelings.

“Ooh, you know what I like,” she teased, reaching up to nibble his ear. “Maybe we can even have a little… fun.” She breathed the last word as she nibbled his ear with her fangs, careful not to puncture the tender skin.

Innocent Sin chuckled at the nurturer’s antics as he unwrapped her hooves from around his neck and let her drop gracefully to the floor. She might tease and provoke, but he knew she would be offended if he tried to take her up on her offer. “Sorry Rose, not today.” Pointing with his nose, he gestured at the large double doors leading to the throne room. “Is Her Majesty in? I have something I need to report to her.”

Rolling her eyes, she walked directly in front of the giant door. Gesturing for him to be quiet, she cautiously cracked opened one of the doors. A wall of sound seemed to explode out of the crack, throwing the male changeling back against the wall.

“Wha-what was that?” he asked frantically after she had shut the door and silence filled the hallway once more. The doors must have been enchanted to prevent any sound from passing through them. He rubbed his hooves against the side of his head as he tried to still the ringing in his skull.

Fallen Roses giggled, obviously amused by his distress. “Pony nobles. Her Majesty’s holding court, like Celestia used to. If the nobles aren’t at least pretending to follow orders, holding Canterlot is going to become a lot harder.”

“I don’t see why we can’t just force them into line,” Innocent Sin grumbled.

“Oh, you soldier types,” Fallen Roses teased, “always thinking with your muscles. The country depends on the nobles, and would probably grind to a halt without them.” She snickered, raising one hoof to cover her mouth. “Bet you that’s the only reason Celestia kept them around.”

“What do pony problems matter to us?” he asked her, his wings starting to buzz with his aggravation. “They are powerless. They don’t matter.”

“Aww,” she cooed at him, poking his cheek affectionately. “Your naiveté is just so adorable. Makes me want to gobble you up. Oh!” she exclaimed in excitement, spotting something black coming down the hallway towards them. “Hold that thought. I spy with my little eye, something yummy.”

“Innocent Sin!” the newcomer, instantly recognizable as Last Breath, shouted. “You curséd roach! You ditched me!”

“I figured you could handle one crazy stallion,” Innocent Sin said flatly to the wall without turning around. “If you hadn’t, well, I’m sure it would have been a very nice funeral.”

“Breathy!” Fallen Roses squealed, pouncing on the new arrival and knocking him to the ground. Pinning him on his back, she straddled him and licked at the side of his face in greeting. “It’s good to see you again.”

“Hey Rose,” Last Breath smiled up at her, unaffected by the sudden invasion of his personal space. “Innocent turned you down again, huh?”

The female-identified changeling pouted down at him, fluttering her eyelids playfully. “Don’t be like that, sweetie. I’m over him. He’s far too grumpy for me. You’re the only one for me.”

“I’m right here, you know,” a dry voice interjected from behind the both of them, but was promptly ignored.

“I’m sorry, my dear,” Last Breath said, deciding to play along. Reaching up with a hoof, he gently caressed the side of her face. “But the boundaries of rank must ever keep us apart, for someone such as you could do far better than a mere collector. Also,” he added, dropping the dramatic tone but keeping his voice playful, “since you raised me, I’m afraid that you’re just too old for my tastes.”

With a malevolent grin revealing her sharp fangs, she crouched down until her mouth was next to his neck, pressing her chest against her own. “Well, if that’s your only issue…” With those ominous words, she vanished in a blaze of bright green, the light forcing Last Breath to cover his eyes.

When he could see again, he opened his eyes to see a large pair of emerald eyes staring into his own. Instead of the amorous female changeling, a tiny magenta filly rested on his chest. Her miniscule pegasus wings were pressed firmly against her sides, doing nothing to hide her youthful flanks. Her sapphire mane was swept forwards, partially covering half of her face. “…that can be easily… remedied,” she said, practically purring out the last word.

“Hoookay,” Last Breath said, trying unsuccessfully to ignore the hacking laughter coming from Innocent Sin. “That’s enough of that. Up. Up!” Rolling to his stomach, he dislodged the filly, knocking her to the ground. She only smiled at him before reverting back to her original form. “What are you doing here, anyway?” he asked her. “Shouldn’t you be guarding the Princess?”

Fallen Roses rolled her eyes as she pointed at the large double doorway before them. “She’s in there. Honestly, I don’t know what Her Majesty was thinking. First it’s all ‘Guard Princess Cadence for me, don’t let her escape’ and then she won’t let the little Princess out of her sight. I’m boooooooored out here.”

“Life for the Princess isn’t as glamorous as she’s used to?” Last Breath cut himself off, cocking his head and his ears twitching as muffled shouting leaked through the large doorway to the throne room. “What’s that sound?”

Before any of the changelings could react, the large doorways were thrown open, a well dressed pony flying through them and hitting the far wall with a meaty thud. As the trio of changelings watched, the pony staggered to his hooves and stumbled away down the hallway, giving the doorway one final terrified look before disappearing around a corner. A slight tremor in the ground was all the warning the changelings had before the doors burst open again, disgorging a literal stampede of well-dressed ponies into the hallway.

Instinctively taking to the air, the three were able to avoid being trampled under the hooves of the fleeing ponies. Giving the hint to what they were fleeing from, Queen Chrysalis’ voice pursued them from the throne room. “Out! All of you! Out of my sight!”

As the last pony vanished around the corner, the three changelings slowly descended to the smooth marble floor. The large doorway stood open, the fancy ornate door swinging unchecked. “Well,” Fallen Roses said with a nervous laugh, licking her lips, “I believe Her Majesty is ready to see us now.”

Carefully stepping around the detritus that had been left behind in the stamped of well-dressed ponies, the three changelings entered the throne room of Canterlot, the location of the country’s very seat of power. The throne room itself was magnificently designed, and possibly the largest room in the building. The ornate decorated ceiling was almost three stories above them, covered in a mural of the three tribes of ponies standing side by side. A trio of giant stained glass windows stretched from floor to ceiling let in a beautiful spectrum of hues ranging from purple to red, casting the room with all the colours of the rainbow. The windows were a masterwork of architecture and on a normal day, the light would dance along the smooth polished marble bringing light and life to the residents within. Tapestries adorned the wall opposite the window, showing ponies of all types living and frolicking together in peace, harmony, and friendship. A pair of giant alicorn statues stood behind the throne, craning their necks so they appeared to be looking down at the throne itself. It was a room carefully crafted to bring the warmth of the outside world into the peaceful throne room.

As one, the attention of the changelings was drawn to the centerpoint of the room; the throne itself. With a thin red carpet leading directly from the doorway to the foot of the throne, the seat demanded attention. Elevated a few steps above the rest of the room, the throne was where the ruler of Equestria would sit and listen to her citizen’s requests and petitions. Carved out of the same white marble that composed the rest of the room, an image of a dawning sun emblazoned on the peak of the seat back, it had stood for centuries as a symbol of Princess Celestia and of stability for Equestria.

Queen Chrysalis lay slouched out across the throne, her rear hooves and head dangling across the throne’s armrests. A tiny amount of green slime oozed from the gaping hole in her throat, where Shining Armor had managed to shove a spear all the way through her neck. She stared blankly up at the ceiling, one of her forehooves idly stroking at a chain bolted to the front of the throne. The chain was clearly a recent addition, cracks spreading through the marble out from where it had been hastily implanted. Princess Cadance sat lashed at the end of the chain by a heavy iron ring around her neck. Her eyes refused to yield, and she glared defiance at the three changelings as they walked up to the throne.

“Quite a mess those fancy-pants ponies left behind,” Last Breath said flippantly, stepping over an abandoned gem-encrusted necklace. “You must have really scared them.” Despite his frivolous tone, he bowed as low as the other two did when they reached the steps leading up to the throne.

“My Queen,” Innocent Sin said, nearly prostrating himself before his monarch. “Forgive me. I have failed you. The town of Ponyville had refused to hand over the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, and we were unable to take them into custody. I can only offer my apologies, and beg for your forgiveness.” He bowed so low that his horn scraped against the floor, its twisted tip scratching an imperceptible groove in the smooth stone.

“Ha!” Cadance proclaimed, a grim smile playing at the corners of her mouth. Her mane may be messy and unkempt, dark bags may ring her eyes, and her coat may be dirty and faded, but a fierce light lit her eyes from within. And so long as she would not give up hope, that light would not be extinguished. “I told you! Twilight and her friends are going to stop you!”

Chrysalis yanked at the chain, the unexpected force pulling Cadance to the floor. Sitting up straight in her throne, Chrysalis frowned down at the captive Princess. “If they think they can stop me, just let them try. I’ve come too far to be defeated now. Before I’m finished, all of Equestria will be under my total control!” Stepping off the throne, she stood over Cadance. “And you are going to watch it all. Helpless to do anything about it.” She giggled girlishly, the feminine sound at odds with the malicious tone in her words. “Just like before. Only this time, I’m not going to underestimate you.” Her hoof slammed against Cadance’s shoulder, pinning the Princess to the ground. “Maybe I should send you back to those caverns again. Wouldn’t you like that?”

Cadance glared defiance up at the Queen. Ignoring the pain in her shoulder, her expression was unfazed at the reminder of her previous imprisonment. The last time the two had met, the Queen had imprisoned Cadance in the Crystal Catacombs deep beneath Canterlot. The only reason Cadance had been able to break out was because Chrysalis had also tried to imprison Twilight Sparkle in the same place, and the two had managed to escape together. “You won’t win! We’ve beaten you before and we’ll do it a-aagh.” She shouted in pain as the hoof on her shoulder pressed down even harder, and the three watching changelings winced at the sound of grinding bone.

“Yes, yes,” Chrysalis replied as she increased the pressure, the bored tone in her voice matched by the expression on her face. “Goodness will prevail, love and harmony will conquer all, cheaters never prosper, and always brush your teeth. Honestly, it’s like you ponies can only parrot the same ridiculous lines over and over again. Well, let me give you something to think about, Princess.” Instead of saying anything, her head shock forward, lashing at Cadance with all the speed of a serpent striking at its prey. Chrysalis’ mouth latched onto Cadance’s horn before the Princess could react, the changeling’s fangs digging deep into the base of the alicorn’s horn.

Cadance screamed in horrified agony as she felt her essence, her very being, drawn out through her horn and into the insatiable creature standing above her. Her wordless shriek echoed in the mighty chamber, her howl of soul-rending despair reaching higher and higher in pitch as her fear and anguish reached an overwhelming crescendo. “Aaa-aaaaaauuuuaaaaaaaaaaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!” Succumbing to the unbearable pain, her screams eventual died out as her eyes crossed and she collapsed into unconsciousness’ blissful embrace.

Chrysalis, heedless of her victim’s insentient state, continued to slowly drain the life and love out of Cadance, draining the Princess dry. Sucking like a leech, she drew out and absorbed almost every piece of Princess Cadance. Eventually satiated, she released her hold around Cadance’s horn and took a step back, her tongue rubbing at one of her fangs. “Thanks for the meal,” she said mockingly to the prone Princess.

“Whoa.” Fallen Roses mouthed soundlessly, her compound eyes staring at the pair on the dais. The sheer amount of power she had just felt her Queen drain – it was unlike anything she had ever felt before. That much raw, unbridled energy would be enough to revive the hive a hundred times over. Hearing Chrysalis suddenly speak her name, she stiffened, standing up straight to await Chrysalis’ regard.

“Take her,” Chrysalis prodded the unconscious Princess with a forehoof, “to her own room. Do everything you can to see that she recovers.”

“Of course, Your Majesty.” Fallen Roses’ horn lit up, levitating the pink alicorn and gently depositing her on the changeling’s back. Through her exoskeleton she felt Cadance’s sides heaving weakly as the Princess struggled to breathe, and a rapid pulsating signifying her heart fluttering wildly. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that Cadance’s eyes were closed and she a pained expression spread across her face, all while the raspy sound of her breath was reminiscent of rubbing two pieces of sandpaper together. Getting her to recover is going to be a little tricky. Maybe I should… nah, I’ll wait a bit first. That could be fun, though.

As Fallen Roses left the throne room with her unconscious passenger, several dozen blank-eyed changelings flew in through the main doorway. Their blank blue eyes stared at the Queen as they flew before her, buzzing around loosely in no sense of order or discipline. Chrysalis turned to look at Innocent Sin and Last Breath, throwing her head back and tossing her mane out of her eyes. “Here are your new orders. Innocent Sin, you are in command. You and your troops,” she gestured at the small swarm of changelings, “are to find the Bearers of the Elements and negate them as a threat. Bring them here if you can.”

“I live to obey,” Innocent Sin murmured, bowing low. Turning, he strode proudly out of the throne room, the platoon of changelings following in his wake.

“With all due respect, Your Majesty,” Last Breath said, having remained behind when all the others had left. “Wouldn’t it be easier to remove the Elements themselves? We have them here in the castle, and we could easy separate them and send them all across Equestria.”

Chrysalis frowned slightly, her diaphanous wings buzzing as she flew in front of one of the massive stained glass windows. Gazing up at the masterwork of design, she stared up at the carefully crafted imagery. One on the end showed Princess Celestia, proudly raising the sun into the sky. The one on the far end portrayed Princess Luna, serenely lowering the moon behind the horizon. But it was the one in the middle that had Chrysalis’ attention. Both Princesses stood together, surrounded by the six Elements of Harmony, the adoring subjects prostrating themselves before the rulers.

“That certainly would be easier,” Chrysalis agreed, gazing up at the larger-than-life representations of her enemies. “It’s regretful, but Celestia sealed the Elements behind a doorway that I am unable to open. Even with all my power, the lock is far too intricate for me.” She laughed faintly, the faintest hint of self-depreciation present in her chuckle. “I guess living hundreds of years isn’t just for show.”

Catching something in her tone, Last Breath gave her an odd look. “…You admire her, don’t you?”

“Yes.” Chrysalis sighed, gazing up at the stained glass depiction of Celestia. “I do. All my life, I’ve wanted to be like her. I’ve wanted everything she had. And now I have it.” Landing on the ground, she kicked one of her forehooves across the marble floor. “And it still isn’t enough! What am I missing?”

“Maybe you just want the same thing everything else wants,” Last Breath suggested after an uncomfortable pause. “Love.”

Chrysalis grunted. “I have the love of my changelings. I don’t need anything else.” Turning away from the mighty windows, she turned her gaze upon Last Breath. “You think I’m going about this all wrong, don’t you?”

“Honestly?” Last Breath stood up straight, abandoning his deferential bow. His eyes staring directly into his Queen’s, he stated his honest opinion. “Yes. I do.”

The two changelings locked gazes, neither backing downing in the slightest. The seconds slowly ticked by, until the corners of Chrysalis’ mouth suddenly twitched upwards in a quirk of a twisted smile that quickly faded. “Ha! Somehow, I just knew you’d say that.” Dropping her head, her mane fell forward, completely covering her face. “And I completely agree.”

Last Breath walked up to her, brushing at her sides with his wings in an attempt to comfort her. “It’s not too late. We can still fix this.”

“How?” Chrysalis said bitterly, her face shrouded in darkness. “We’ve already gone too far.” She shrugged her shoulders, knocking his wing away. A determined expression appeared on her face as she raised her head, her mane falling back behind her head. “Last Breath, your orders remain the same.”

Last Breath bowed, not even trying to hide his disappointment at his monarch’s decision. “As you command. What about the Bearers?”

“I’ll leave that to you,” Chrysalis stated calmly, walking over to the throne and settling herself comfortably down upon it. She giggled, darkly amused. “One of you two will likely be my successor someday. Now’s your chance to prove it.”

“And up we go.” With a heave, Fallen Roses tossed the limp body of Princess Cadance up on to the Princess’ own bed. Being somewhere familiar would help her recovery process, and get her up to full form again soon. And then the Queen will drain her again. Her horn surrounded by a faint green glow, Fallen Roses tucked Cadance under the covers, fluffing them so the Princess would be as comfortable as possible while she rested.

Since the Princess would probably be unconscious for the next half day or so, Fallen Roses was left with some free time on her hooves. She’d need to get something to feed the Princess when she awoke, but other than that, her day was now wide open. A shout from outside the window drew her attention, and Fallen Roses walked past the four poster bed to peek her head out the window.

“In line, maggots!” On the ground three stories down, Innocent Sin was hollering at a swarm of over fifty changelings. As Fallen Roses watched, the blue-eyed changelings slowly got into formation. Innocent Sin frowned at the before sharply nodding his head once. “Good. Remember this formation. I expect each and every one of you worthless scum to be in the same position as we fly, so don’t forget it!”

“Keeping them in line, Innocency?” Fallen Roses shouted down, hanging her forehooves out of the window.

Innocent Sin craned his neck back, looking up at the one who had just shouted at him. “I’ve been ordered to negate the Elements or Harmony as a threat. We’re going to capture them so they can’t use the Elements.”

“Really?” Fallen Roses cocked an eyebrow, leaning against the side of the window frame. “The Queen certainly seems to be obsessed about those mares.” She spotted a figure crossing the courtyard towards the gathering of changelings. “It looks like you have a visitor.”

Looking in the direction she indicated, Innocent Sin saw Last Breath heading towards him. “Oh no,” he grumbled, the expression behind his sunglasses somewhat annoyed. “What do you want?”

Rubbing at the back of his head, Last Breath released a sigh. “Nothing, really. But the Queen said as punishment, I had to work under you for this mission. Think I said something to annoy her.” Snapping to attention, Last Breath saluted his new superior officer. “Ready to serve… I guess.”

“Is the punishment yours or mine?”

Last Breath flashed a cheeky grin, revealing his short fangs as he stepped into line behind some of the changeling soldiers. “She didn’t say.”

After an annoyed frown at the smaller changeling, Innocent Sin turned to address the soldiers gathered before him. Punching a hoof into the air above his head, he let out a battle cry as he took to the sky, his soldiers following him in tight formation. “For the swarm!”

“For the swarm!” the changelings behind him buzzed as one.

Watching as they flew out of sight Fallen Roses gave a fond wave in their direction. “Good luck, boys. Now…” Dropping off the windowsill, she turned her attention to Princess Cadance. “What am I going to do with you?”

Past Predators

Scootaloo groaned as she collapsed to the ground, the vine tied around her midriff digging painfully into her sides. Tossing Spike on a makeshift cart so they wouldn't have to carry him had seemed like such a good idea at the time, but now she was willing to swear the stupid thing was a Tartarus-spawned demon bent on taking revenge for some imagined slight. Hauling a comatose baby dragon over the uneven terrain for hours had soured her mood, and she was just about ready to bite somepony’s head off. Her mood was soured further when she realized that she had just landed in a large clump of mushrooms that had been hidden beneath the long grass, which protested being squashed by throwing a blinding cloud of spores into the air.

“Wow,” Apple Bloom said, quick-stepping away from the spreading cloud. The cloud quickly faded, leaving behind one grumpy-looking pegasus foal. “You alright, Scootaloo? Yer lookin’ kinda… yellow.”

Scootaloo’s muzzle twitched, immediately followed by an explosive sneeze which propelled a large quantity of spores out her nose. “Yellow,” she grunted, looking down at her legs. Like Apple Bloom had said, the spores had completely covered her, leaving her orange coat and purple mane streaked with a bright, sickly yellow. In the distance, a mournful hawk’s cry pierced the quiet forest air. Scootaloo frowned down at herself one last time before giving Apple Bloom a meaningful look. “Well, at least I’m not the only one.”

Apple Bloom glanced down at her yellow coat, a puzzled look on her face. She wasn’t covered in spores… Oh. “Har har,” she said, her expression as flat as her tone. “Yer a riot n’ a half.”

“Too tired to riot,” Scootaloo mumbled, rolling on her back. More spores flew into the air as more mushrooms were thoughtlessly crushed by her body, but she didn’t care anymore.

“Feels like we’ve been walking forever.” Sweetie Belle complained. Standing on Apple Bloom’s other side, the little unicorn checked the ground by her hooves for mushrooms. Finding none, she flopped down in the cool dirt. “Does anypony know how long we’ve been walking?”

“I think it’s been about three hours,” Pipsqueak said, also collapsing in the dirt. Like the other non-farmponies, his sides were lathered in sweat and heaved as he gulped air down. Honestly, he had no idea how he knew what time it was, but something inside him said it was about that long. He could feel the same thing tugging at him, constantly pulling him in a single direction. He knew Princess Luna awaited him in that direction, even if he had no idea how far away she was.

“Ugh! It’s only been that long? Alright, that does it.” Climbing to her hooves, Scootaloo struggled over to the makeshift cart that they had been dragging behind them. Her hoofsteps struck a low and hollow tone as she climbed up on it, walking over to the baby dragon slumbering upon it. “Wake...” Rearing back on her hind hooves, she held her forehooves above her head for an instant before slamming them down on the tip of Spike’s spaded tail. “UP!”

“Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom scolded a moment too late, seeing what the pegasus had just done. “We was going to wait until he woke up!”

“He’s awake now,” Scootaloo said with a smug look on her face as Spike sat bolt upright, holding his claws protectively in front of his face.

“AUGH!” he yelled. “I’m sorry, Twilight! I didn’t mean to send those books under your bed to the Princess! I was just… wait.” His green reptilian eyes blinked owlishly as he saw a forest of green foliage instead of the interior of the library that he had been expecting. Gazing around with a befuddled expression on his face, his cat-like slit pupils took in the unremarkable surrounding foliage. “Where am I?”

“We’re in the forest!” Sweetie Belle said cheerfully – if completely unhelpfully. Reaching over, she used her teeth to help Apple Bloom untie the vine around her barrel. If Spike was awake, they didn’t need to drag him around anymore.

“Uh, yeah, great,” Spike grunted as he took a closer look at the trees surrounding them. Well, he thought warily, at least it’s not the Everfree. The trees didn’t look like they had recently climbed out of his worst nightmare, so he was sure he wasn’t in that scary forest. “So what forest is this?”

“Dunno.” Scootaloo mumbled next to him, her flat herbivorous teeth trying unsuccessfully to tear through the vine around her torso. She overbalanced when she twisted a little too far, stumbling before she collapsed onto the logs.

Spike didn’t notice her trials, being too busy rubbing at his temples with his palms. It’s going to be one of these conversations. He had been awake for less than a minute and he could already feel a headache coming on. “And why are in the mystery forest?” he asked them instead. “Last thing I remember is trying to escape from the changelings on the train. I’m guessing we managed that.”

Giving up on her vine, Scootaloo turned to look at him as she stood up. “Oh, yeah, that was so cool what you did!” she exclaimed excitedly. “What with the fire and the flames and the fwoosh! Since when have you been able to do that?” Spotting the pointed little claws on his hands, she turned to expose the vine to him. “And could you give me a little help?”

Grumbling, Spike reached up and easily sliced through the vine, his sharp claws easily shearing through the fibrous plant. “I’ve been practicing,” he said with a shrug. “One day, I’m going to be a big strong dragon. I need to be ready.” Flexing his arms, he showed off his unimpressive biceps.

“Oh yeah,” Sweetie Belle spoke up. She and Apple Bloom had both managed to untie themselves, and they were moving over to help Pipsqueak. “I think you look taller, too.”

“Really?” Spike bounded to his feet in excitement before measuring himself against Scootaloo. His expression fell as he realized that he was still the same height as before. “That was mean,” he grumbled as the fillies giggled at him.

“Sorry, Spike,” Sweetie Belle said with a teasing smile.

Spike waved off Sweetie Belle’s apology. “Whatever. Back to what we were talking about, why are we in this forest?”

“We’re gonna be heroes!” Apple Bloom squealed in excitement as she hopped on the wheelless cart alongside Spike and Scootaloo.

“Yeah, this isn’t going to work.” Knowing he wasn’t in the mood to try and pick through the Crusader’s no-doubt convoluted explanation, he instead turned to look at Pipsqueak. “You’re a guy. Please make sense of this for me.”

“Okay!” Pipsqueak said as he hopped onto the logs with the others, his youthful exuberance getting the better of him. “It started when I got a dream from Princess Luna. She was caught by those changelings, and needs my help. I snuck onto the train, but the changelings found me pretty quickly. After we escaped, I asked the Crusaders for help.”

“And we said yes,” Sweetie Belle said as she climbed beside Spike. A quavering smile appeared on her face as Spike turned a disbelieving expression towards her.

“Yeah, then nopony’ll be able say anything bad about us.” Scootaloo grinned fiercely, a burning fire alighting in her eyes. “Apple Bloom, little help?” she nodded at the scooter lying next to Spike.

Spike continued rubbing at his temples as Apple Bloom helped lash the scooter onto Scootaloo’s back. That explanation hadn’t helped at all. Yeah, we're done here. “Right,” he said aloud, “we’re going back home.” As the fillies made synchronized sounds of disappointment, he glared back at them. “Don’t give me that. Do you girls have any idea how much trouble you’re in?”

“But… but…” the three Crusaders gave Spike the most adorable doe-eyed look they could manage. The looks were the result of long hours of practice, completed with watering eyes and quavering lips. Even a charging manticore would have hesitated.

Spike, however, was made of sterner stuff when he was in a bad mood, and quickly cut them off. “No way. We’re all in enough trouble as it is, and I am going to get you lot home before I get in any more.” Ignoring the pleading looks being thrown at him, he instead turned his attention to the forest around them. Staring out at the rustling leaves and waving branches, Spike felt his heart fall into the pit of his stomach as something occurred to him. “Which way’s Ponyville?”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. Honestly, he was going to try to give them orders when he didn’t even know where they were? “Ponyville’s that way,” she said, pointing her hoof in the direction she thought Ponyville lay. Did my voice just echo?

“Uh-oh.”

Looking over at Pipsqueak, Scootaloo saw what he had seen. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle stared back at her, each of their hooves pointed in a completely different direction from her own and each other’s. The standoff continued until Scootaloo pointed again, this time with more force.

“It’s this way!” she said.

“Nu-uh. It’s definitely this way!” Sweetie Belle protested.

“You’re both wrong!" Apple Bloom proclaimed. "It’s this way!"

Spike groaned and faceclawed as the argument quickly devolved into yelling. How did I not see this coming? Deciding to ignore the bickering trio, he considered the matter at hand. If he had a better view of the area, he should be able to see Canterlot, way up in the mountains. That would give him someplace to work with. As he prepared to climb a nearby tree, he saw Pipsqueak’s ear twitch and the young colt glanced uneasily at the forest around them. “What’s up?” Spike asked the tiny earth pony colt.

“It’s nothing,” Pipsqueak replied. After a slight hesitation, he spoke up again. “Well, actually, do you hear that?”

“I can’t hear anything over them,” Spike grumbled, gesturing at the shouting fillies.

“That’s just it,” Pipsqueak said, looking around them again. “Doesn’t it seem a bit too quiet?”

Spike frowned as he considered what Pipsqueak said. Now that he thought about it, it did seem really quiet. He had only been in a forest a couple times in his life, but one of the things he remembered clearly was the constant animal noises. Now, only the rustling of the leaves reached his ears. “Maybe the girls scared everything away?” he asked hopefully. Turning back to the tree, his nose twitched sharply as the smell of freshly cut bark suddenly flooded the tiny clearing. The smell was strong and overpowering, and Spike sneezed as the unexpected scent assaulted his nostrils.

As for the Crusaders, their argument had suddenly come to a screeching halt as soon as the smell wafted past them. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looked at Apple Bloom in concern while the young farmpony stared around the area in a panic, her wide eyes rapidly scanning the surrounding trees. “Oh no,” she mumbled. “Oh no no no no nononono.”

“Hey Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo said giving the yellow filly a concerned nudge. “You doing alright?”

Apple Bloom whipped her head around to stare at Scootaloo. For a split second, it was like she didn’t see Scootaloo at all. That moment passed quickly, and she grabbed Scootaloo by her shoulders. “We have to go,” she said, her gaze skipping around at the surrounding area. “Right now.” Her breath was quick and shallow, and Scootaloo felt Apple Bloom’s pulse fluttering wildly.

“Whoa, hold on,” Scootaloo tried to pacify her, grabbing one of Apple Bloom’s forelegs. “What’s wrong?” Scootaloo nearly recoiled as Apple Bloom turned back to look at her. The sheer amount of panic she could see in Apple Bloom’s eyes… It was amazing that the little earth pony hadn’t already bolted.

“Timberwolves!” Apple Bloom screamed.

As if summoned by Apple Bloom’s cry, a nearby tree tumbled to the ground at that moment with a resounding crash, sending a rippling tremor shuddering through the forest floor. The youngsters turned their wide eyes to the fallen tree, afraid of the sight that they knew awaited their youthful eyes. As they feared, a mighty timberwolf stood above the fallen tree, its twinkling yellow eyes staring down at them. Normally standing at three times a pony’s height, the vegetative predators were one of the deadliest creatures in the Everfree. Composed of wood and bark, they were only afraid of fire and the sound of metal banging against metal. Virtually indestructible, they were even capable of pulling themselves back together if they were somehow torn apart.

The timberwolf that stared down at them was far, far larger than any the ponies had seen or even heard of before. Its inscrutable yellow eyes gazed down at them from a height that was almost four times taller than any timberwolf from the Everfree. Its open, slavering mouth was large enough to swallow even the largest of ponies in a single bite. The monster inhaled and exhaled slowly, its warm breath wafting sap and the scent of cut bark over the youthful group.

“What’re you waiting for, Spike?” Sweetie Belle asked timidly, trying to hide herself behind the tiny dragon. “Burn it!”

“I can’t,” Spike whispered harshly back, slowly backing away from the giant timberwolf. “I used up all my flame! It’ll take me at least a full day before I can do that again!”

The timberwolf threw back its head and howled; a long mournful cry that cut through the still air. As the howl slowly tapered off, it was repeated from directly behind the young group. As they wheeled around to look at this new threat, Pipsqueak accidently tripped over his own young, gangly legs. Tumbling into Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, he knocked them into Sweetie Belle and Spike. Thrown to the ground in a painful pile of twisted limbs and hooves, they could only watch as a single drop of drool slowly fell from the massive beast’s maw. Screams tore from five young throats as the beast moved, its giant jaws closing heavily around them.

“So, where d’ya think it’s taking us?”

Sweetie Belle hung limply in the timberwolf’s mouth, her hindquarters dangling uselessly out in the open air. Her voice was slightly scratchy from screaming herself hoarse, and her mane was plastered against her face by the timberwolf’s drool-like sap. Teeth-like thorns dug into her stomach and back; not deep enough to be painful, but deep enough to let her know that struggling would be a bad idea.

“Dunno,” Apple Bloom replied, her voice just as rough as Sweetie Belle’s. All five of the youngsters lay crammed together in the timberwolf’s mouth, with the sole exception of Sweetie Belle’s rear and tail, which swung back and forth in the open air with every loping stride the timberwolf took.

A full hour had already passed since the timberwolf had grabbed them, and fear was already giving way to boredom. They had screamed themselves hoarse at first, but when it became clear the wolf wasn’t going to eat them, they had settled in and tried to get comfortable. A small snore from the corner where Spike lay with his back to them caused the ponies to look at him in disbelief.

After a moment of silence, Pipsqueak turned his head to look at the three fillies. Stuck on his back with his hooves up against the roof of the timberwolf’s mouth, he was forced to crane his neck just so he could see them. “Is he always like this?” he asked, gesturing at the slumbering dragon.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Scootaloo sighed and rolled her eyes. One of her wings had snagged in the thorns that lined the sides of the creature’s mouth, and she struggled to wiggle it free. Through the small opening that offered fresh air and light, she could see a flash of brown as another timberwolf appeared in her field of vision. “Hang on guys, I think something’s happening.”

Barks, growls, and whines could be heard from outside, though the ponies were unable to make any sense of it. From the sounds, there were far more timberwolves than just the one carrying them. The timberwolf Scootaloo could see suddenly turned and bounded away, quickly vanishing into the vegetation.

“What’s going on out there?” Sweetie Belle asked as her hindlegs kicked weakly. She shifted slightly, trying as she tried to climb further inside the timberwolf’s mouth. She was starting to feel somewhat exposed with her rear hanging out around all these predators.

“Got me,” Scootaloo said with a shrug, finally managing to get her wing free. “It looked like they were talking to each other.”

“What? Timberwolves don’t talk!” Apple Bloom protested from where she was pressed up against Pipsqueak’s side. Her farm bordered the Everfree Forest, and she saw timberwolves around the farm from time to time.

“Hey, that’s just what I saw,” Scootaloo shot back, glaring at Apple Bloom. “Don’t blame me.”

“Both of you should just calm down,” Pipsqueak interrupted, trying to make his voice as soothing as possible despite the terseness in his tone. “We shouldn’t be at each other’s throats now.”

Apple Bloom sighed, nodding her head in a weak agreement. “Yeah, I guess yer right. Sorry Scoots, I guess I’m just a little bit tense.”

“Don’t worry about it. Hold on, I can see something again.” From what little Scootaloo could see through the thorns, it looked like they had just entered a large clearing. Before any of the foals could react, the mouth suddenly heaved as the jaws opened wide, throwing them out into the clearing in a wet, slobbery pile.

“Owowow…” Scootaloo complained, rubbing her head as she sat up. “So where did big ugly drop us…” The question died in her throat as she got a look at the surrounding area, her jaw slowly dropping until her mouth hung agape.

The group had been dropped in the middle of a clearing, lined with large trees that covered and hid the surrounding landscape in enveloping shadows. Dozens upon dozens of timberwolves sat staring at the foals from within the clearing itself, and glittering yellow spots in the shadows gave hint to the presence of even more of the fearsome predators. They varied in size; from massive beasts that were slightly larger than the one that had carried them, to tiny cubs as small as the foals themselves.

One timberwolf in particular truly stood out. Despite lying down on its haunches, it dominated the clearing with its sheer size. It was absolutely enormous, and Scootaloo was ready to swear that it would be at least as tall as Ponyville City Hall when it stood up. Its wooden exterior was riddled with old scars and wounds, but its yellow eyes were as clear and piercing as a hawk’s.

Yet, despite the fact that she was standing before a creature almost half the size of a full-grown dragon, Scootaloo felt no fear. Maybe she had just gone into shock, but her mind felt strangely calm. It was like she had been dipped into a pond of cool, serene water, soothing her and washing all her worries away. Above her head, the timberwolf that had brought them barked a few times, and the giant timberwolf slowly brought its head close to the young ponies and still-snoozing baby dragon, as if it didn’t want to scare them. The giant timberwolf sniffed at them as the second timberwolf backed away, leaving the group alone in the center of the clearing, watched from all sides by a multitude of twinkling eyes.

The giant timberwolf coughed once, a harsh wheeze, before recoiling away from the foals. Its mouth cracked open, and it began to speak in a voice like falling lumber. “I can smell it. I can smell her. The scent of the Lost. Is strong on you. The taint.” Its sentences were short and choppy, as if it had no real experience with the language.

“Impossible,” Apple Bloom muttered, falling back on her haunches. “Timberwolves can’t speak.”

“Who are you?” Scootaloo asked, wonder filling her voice. “I’ve never seen a timberwolf as big as you are. This is so cool!”

The timberwolf sat back, rising to a sitting position. As it did, for an instant Scootaloo saw something glittering just underneath its chin, though she lost sight of it before she could make out what it was. “The Hooved Ones have changed. In the past thousand years,” the timberwolf said, sounding amused. “My predecessor always said. That the Hooved were afraid of us. Without exception.”

“Predeserssor?” Scootaloo asked, tilting her head in confusion at the word she didn’t know. Behind her back, Sweetie Belle and the others were giving her strange looks.

The timberwolf smirked, its cold yellow eyes glittering in the evening light. “I am Fenrir. The alpha of this pack. I am the successor to Fenrir. Who inherited this pack from Fenrir.”

“Oh, nice to meet ya,” Scootaloo greeted with a friendly smile. “My name’s Scootaloo. These here are Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Spike, and Pipsqueak.” She gestured at each of her friends in turn before turning back to the massive timberwolf. “How come you’re all called Fenrir? Couldn’t you think of any other names?”

“What is with this conversation?” Pipsqueak quietly whispered to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle beside him. The fillies only shrugged, equally confused at the sheer casualness of the conversation between the tiny filly and the building-sized carnivore.

The giant carnivore in question barked out a hollow, wooden laugh. “Youth! Such a curious pup.”

“Hey!” Scootaloo said indignantly. “I ain’t no pup! I’m a filly!”

Fenrir laughed indulgently, his chuckle like the rumbling of the earth. “My mistake. To answer. Your question. Fenrir is the name passed down. By the pack leaders. So our Goddess decreed.”

“Goddess?” Scootaloo asked, cocking her head to the side. “What’s a Goddess?”

Fenrir’s eyes hardened, and he tore at the ground with claws the size of small trees. “The Traitor. The Consumer. The Lost. She who took everything we were. And warped it for her own gain.” Lifting his enormous head, he exposed the hollow of his throat to them, allowing Scootaloo to get a good look at the sparkling object she had noticed before.

It was a shimmering diadem, similar to the one Scootaloo had seen Princess Celestia wear on the few occasions she had seen the shepherd of the sun. Unlike the golden glow that had rested upon Celestia’s noble brow, this one shimmered with the darkest blackness imaginable. An enveloping, consuming darkness writhed across it, one that would smother everything that existed, all while giving nothing back. At its core sat a pure white crescent moon, its light somehow providing a perfect counterpart for the surrounding darkness without either being overwhelmed in the slightest.

Scootaloo felt herself taking a step back, overwhelmed by the pressure given off by the deceptively tiny trinket. Her legs shuddered uncontrollably, and looking at the crown filled her with a bone-chilling fear unlike anything she had ever felt before. Just looking at the thing made her mouth dry out and her throat seize. Her stomach heaved, and she felt the sour taste of bile upon her tongue. Whatever that thing was, it was pure evil.

Images crowded into her mind, appearing and disappearing so quickly she couldn’t make them out. They grabbed at her psyche, tickling it like hundreds of tiny ghostly fingers whispering across her brain. Within a second, she saw her parents die, her friends leave her, her idol Rainbow Dash brought low, and Ponyville disappear in a heaving sea of flames. She was cast out from the town, her wings were torn off, her tongue was cut off, and her eyes were gouged out. Rainbow Dash said she never wanted to see her again, her parents abandoned her, she never got a cutie mark, and died forgotten in a lonely cave.

The line between reality and nightmare blurred together, quickly fading out entirely. Faintly, at the edge of her hearing, she could hear what sounded like a high-pitched scream as her consciousness fell into a never-ending whirlpool of insanity. Empty eyes stared at her from faces that didn’t exist, swirling around her until they…

Fenrir dropped his head, cutting off her line of sight with the glittering trinket. Broken from its spell, she found herself lying on her side, clutching her head in her hooves. Her throat was torn and raw, and she realized that the blood-curdling scream that she had been hearing was coming from her own mouth. Cutting her shriek off with a hacking cough, she weakly turned her head to look up at the giant timberwolf. “Mister,” she said, her voice raw and harsh, “what was that thing?”

With a sad sigh, Fenrir averted his gaze away from her. “The last thing we have. From the war, it was. Passed down generation after generation. I did not think. It still had so much power.” Lifting a paw, he reached up for his throat where the crown lay hidden. “Perhaps that is just. Proof that she is. Active once again. Our Lady, who we swore to serve for eternity.” His voice lowered to a growl and his lips curled back, exposing his thorny teeth. “Our Lady, who betrayed and abandoned us! We, who were her soldiers when. She fought her own sister!”

Scootaloo hacked out another violent cough, her body shuddering in agony. “…Who?” she whispered out feebly.

Fenrir’s hackles rose as he started to snarl. From all around her, Scootaloo could hear the sounds of the other timberwolves surrounding the clearing adding their voices to his, until the forest seemed to reverberate from the very force of it. “Her scent fills my nose. I can smell her. The same disgusting scent. From this trinket. It fills the very air around you!” Gesturing with his paw, Fenrir pointed at a spot directly behind Scootaloo.

Turning her head to look, Scootaloo was surprised at what she saw. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom had both reacted the same way as she had, and were both lying on the ground. Apple Bloom in particular looked like she was foaming from her mouth. But above them both, his youthful eyes glaring daggers up at the massive beast before them, Pipsqueak still stood tall. Despite the massive paw being pointed directly at him, he refused to waver.

“I can smell her!” Fenrir proclaimed, throwing up his head and howling towards the sky. The surrounding timberwolves joined in the howl, their cry reaching to the very heavens. “Our former Mistress! Queen of the Night! The Weaver of Dreams! The Fallen Goddess, The Mare in the Moon, Nightmare Moon! You know where she is! Tell us! Now!”

“And… and if I tell you where she is?” Pipsqueak stuttered, backing away from the frothing beast. Scootaloo could tell that he wanted to cover his ears to protect them from the surrounding cacophony, but he chose to stand as strong as he could. “What’ll you do?”

Fenrir looked down at Pipsqueak, his howl cutting off. All the surrounding timberwolves cut off their howls at the same time, immediately throwing the area into an absolute, haunting silence. “We will see. With our own eyes. And if she has. Fallen once again.” Lifting one paw, he quickly slashed it across it own throat. “Then. We will do our duty. We will end her.”

Author's Note

Timberwolves ref: chapter eight by Nightmare Moon and offhand mention by Chrysalis in chapter sixteen. It was also mentioned in chapter twenty that the wolves were on the move.

The crown that Fenrir carries was also mentioned in chapter twelve

Last Group: Setting Out

Twilight let out a slight groan as she reached under her belly, using her teeth to pull tight the saddle strap wrapped around her. The others were making their own preparations to leave Ponyville. Rainbow Dash was getting the weather team to lash down her cloud house. Fluttershy was setting things up with the Mayor so somepony would keep an eye on her animals. Applejack was telling her family what had happened to Apple Bloom. Rarity was closing down her shop. Pinkie was saying goodbye to the Cakes – she had needed to be persuaded that throwing a Leaving Ponyville party would take too long. And Zecora was… well, Zecora was waiting for Twilight downstairs.

As Twilight gave her body a shake to make sure the saddlebags weren’t going to slide around her barrel, her thoughts began to drift. When did everything get so out of control? How could she have stopped this sad chain of events? She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was somehow to blame for everything that had happened. She knew her friends would probably tell her she was overthinking things, that there was nothing she could have done.

But…

But even still, the thoughts remained.

Digging through her drawers for anything she might have forgotten, she threw everything she didn’t need haphazardly onto the floor. She picked up her closet up with her magic, upending it and giving it a few shakes. Clothes and apparels fell onto the floor in a messy pile, but nothing of importance stood out. Sighing, she picked up the clothing in her magic and was about to put it back in its original position when a lone piece of paper fell out of the cupboard before fluttering to a stop in front of Twilight’s hooves.

A small sad smile spread on Twilight’s face as she picked up the paper, the cupboard and clothing forgotten. “I had forgotten about you,” she muttered quietly.

The piece of paper was a photograph, one taken shortly after Twilight had been accepted as Princess Celestia’s student. In the very center sat Twilight herself, a huge smile splitting the little filly’s face in two. She held a little baby Spike in her lap, but the baby dragon seemed more interested in Twilight’s tail than he was in the camera. Twilight’s parents flanked her, their happy expressions only slightly tainted by the awe they felt for Princess Celestia. The Princess herself stood over the entire group, a warm, motherly smile on her face as she smiled at the camera. Shining Armor and Princess Cadance stood slightly off to the side together, almost but not quite touching each other. The photograph had caught them in the middle of a conversation, and Twilight had to laugh at the silly expression on her big brother’s face. Those had been some of the happiest days of her life, but they didn’t even come close to the everyday happiness she had felt since moving to Ponyville.

A droplet of water appeared on the photograph. Twilight blinked in surprise, unintentionally showering the picture with more drops. I shouldn’t be crying, she thought, wiping the tears off the photo. There’s too much to do for tears.

With a wave of her horn, Twilight carelessly made to tuck the photo into her saddlebags. As the flowing magic field brushed against the fabric, a sharp pain stabbed through her horn and her magical field winked out. A gasp of pain escaped Twilight’s lips before she could stop it, her hoof shooting up to feel her cracked horn.

What was that? she thought, hurriedly but cautiously stroking her horn to feel for any extra damage. I thought the injury had no effect on my spellwork! Was I wrong? Am I going to lose my magic after all!? No no no no nonononono, this is terrible! She frantically rubbed at her horn with both hooves, completely oblivious to the fact that she was lying on the floor.

As her hoof touched the tip of her horn, a few sputtering sparks escaped her horn. Before she could so much as breathe a sigh of relief the room was filled with a purple flash and everything went white.

Hmmhmmhmmhmmhmm…

I’ve been looking forward to this…

Things aren’t going quite as I had hoped, but a little improvisation now and then is always good…

And it looks like things are about to get even more fun soon…

Luna’s pieces are almost in position, Chrysalis’ abandoned piece is on the move, Nightmare Moon’s has turned against her, and Celestia’s are about to set out…

Things are moving along nicely…

They’re getting impatient, you know…

You’re running out of time…

Poor, poor, little Twilight. So lost and alone. You say you want to stop me, but you don’t even know what I’m planning…

You don’t even realize how much I need you…

…

Hello…?

Helloooooooooooo…?

Can you hear me…?

Anypony home…?

…

Well, shoot…

“Now, I really don’t think we should try moving her, AJ. We might just hurt her more.”

“She ain’t hurt, she’s just unconscious. She’ll feel better if we toss her in bed.”

“Really. We have no idea why she passed out. She might be injured and moving her would just make things worse.”

“Quiet down, cease your bickering. Twilight is rousing, her eyes are flickering.”

The tiniest of groans escaped Twilight’s throat as she rejoined the land of the conscious. What happened? she thought woozily. A slight throbbing at the back of her eyeballs was the telltale sign of a growing headache and she was already starting to regret waking up. Her eyelids flickered several times before slowly crawling open, letting her see what was right in front of her.

At first she thought there was something wrong with her eyes, because all she was able to see was blue. An unbroken expanse of blue covered her entire field of vision. Before Twilight could wonder what she was seeing, a wall of pink quickly dropped over the deep blue before rising again. Twilight sighed, having figured out that little mystery, and her hoof rose between her and the blue expanse, gently pushing it away. “Pinkie, what have I said about personal space?”

The blue-eyed mare smiled happily, unconcerned about the hoof on her snout. “Good news,” she proclaimed to the room at large. “She’s okay!”

“Uh, yeah, I can see that, thanks.” Rainbow Dash nudged Pinkie out of the way, looking down at Twilight in concern. “Hey, you are okay, right?”

Twilight groaned as she rubbed her forehead, careful not to bump her horn. “Yeah, I’m alright. How long was I out… for… What the-?”

“Little less than an hour,” Dash said with a shrug before noticing Twilight’s expression. A mischievous grin appeared on Dash’s face. “Oh, this?” she shrugged her shoulders a little harder, jostling the cargo lying on her back. “Everypony decided that since I’m the strongest, I get to carry the heavy stuff. Hey!”

“Ah ain’t ‘stuff’,” Applejack said with some annoyance as Dash rubbed the back of her head where the farmpony had smacked her. The pegasus grinned unrepentantly and Applejack let out an irritated huff. “And what’s this nonsense about you being the strongest? Ah can hoofwrestle you into the ground any day of the week.”

“I’m sorry, who won the Iron Pony competition?” Dash asked playfully. Her grin only widened as Applejack sputtered. “That’s what I thought.”

Twilight gave the pair a deadpan stare before shifting it to the others. “Alright, is anypony going to explain to me why Applejack is riding on Rainbow Dash’s back?”

`Pinkie excitedly bounced in front of Twilight. “Me! Me! I know! I know! See, AJ walked out to Sweet Apple Acres, but she took so looong and she moves so slooooow that we thought’d just be faster to let Dashie carry her. AJ protested at first, but she gave in at the end.”

“I see…” Twilight said slowly before turning her head back to Applejack. “AJ, are you sure you don’t want to stay behind?” Sympathy filled her voice as she stared at in her friend in concern. “I know Apple Bloom…”

Applejack pressed a hoof against Twilight’s mouth. “Ah’m gonna cut you off right there, Twi. My sister’s in danger, and that’s all the reason I need. Don’t even bother tryin’ to stop me.” The side of her mouth quirked upwards, easing the harshness of her words. “Besides, you said Princess Celestia asked us to get the Elements out of Canterlot. They ain’t gonna be no use at all if we’re not all together.”

Twilight slowly closed her mouth, wanting to protest Applejack coming along, but unable to deny her point. “Alright,” Twilight said with a sigh. Her gaze transferred to Rainbow Dash instead. “How about you, Dash? You’re not pushing yourself, right?”

Dash rolled her eyes good-naturedly at the unicorn’s over-protectiveness. “I’m fine, mom.” Turning her body, she exposed her side to Twilight’s view. “See? AJ’s not even touching my wing.”

“Yeah, okay, sorry.” Twilight rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. “I’m just worried. I can’t help feeling like something really bad is about to happen.” She shivered as a gentle touch brushed along her side.

“It’s okay,” Fluttershy said, running her hoof across Twilight’s shoulders. Her voice was firm, lacking the meekness it usually held. “We’ll get them back.”

Twilight gave Fluttershy a grateful smile. “Thanks.” Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Twilight straightened out her back and held her head high. “Alright girls, Princess Celestia has entrusted us with a dangerous mission. I don’t think I exaggerate when I say the safety of Equestria is at stake. Our first goal is to ensure the safety of Spike, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo. After that, we’re going to break into Canterlot Castle and retrieve the Elements of Harmony. Fortunately,” craning her neck around, she stuck her nose into her saddlebags. After a moment of rummaging around, she found what she was looking for and emerged with a pure white feather held between her teeth. “Fortunately, Princess Celestia had the foresight to lock away the Elements so they couldn’t be accessed without her magical signature. That means this feather is our key.” Tucking the feather back into her saddlebag –using her mouth, not her magic – she turned to look at the other unicorn in the room. “Rarity, you’re certain that Spike and the fillies are in Canterlot?”

“Positive,” Rarity replied without a hint of hesitation. “I cast the locator spell again a few minutes ago. I’m sure that, at the very least, Apple Bloom’s clasp is still in Canterlot.”

Twilight grunted in acknowledgement, the gears in her mind whirring as fast as they could. “Alright. Walking there’ll take us a little over a day, so there’s a good chance that they’ll be discovered and captured before we get there.” Before the others could do more then let out gasps of horror, Twilight raised her hoof to cut them off. “That said, I don’t think we need to be too worried. They’ve got the entire city to hide in.”

“Well, what’re we waiting for?” Applejack said, grabbing Rainbow Dash’s ears. “Hi-Yo pony! Away!”

“OW! Watch it!” Dash complained, flicking her ears out of AJ’s grip. “Those things are sensitive.” Despite her complaints, she was the first one out the door, followed by Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy, leaving Twilight and Zecora alone in the room.

“So… uh…” Twilight said, awkwardly scratching at her elbow. She stared at the floor, not willing to meet Zecora’s stare. “I…”

“You aren’t going to tell them?” Zecora asked, interrupting Twilight’s fumbled explanation. “They are your friends, they will not condemn.”

“Tell them?” Twilight asked, looking at Zecora in disbelief. “Oh, yeah, that’ll go over wonderfully." She crossed her eyes and slightly stuck out her tongue while her voice deepened to a mocking parody of her own voice. "‘Hey guys, you know that creature that was so hard for us to capture? The one that injured nearly all of us and foalnapped Apple Bloom? Well, I let him go. Sorry’ Argh!” She slammed a hoof against the ground, her voice returning to normal. “What was I thinking?”

“You were thinking how to end all of this,” Zecora replied, unphased by Twilight’s sarcasm. “And I still think your assumptions were not amiss.”

“Yeah, that does me a world of good,” Twilight grumbled under her breath, kicking at the floor. “I’m still the one that has to-”

“I am coming with you,” Zecora interrupted, cutting Twilight off. Her expression unchanging, she lifted a hoof to silence Twilight’s protests. “Do not try to deter me, I have thought this through.”

“I… What?” Twilight needed a moment for her brain to start up again, her train of thought thoroughly derailed by Zecora’s out-of-nowhere proclamation. “But-Why?”

“Many reasons, as myriad as the seasons,” Zecora replied simply. “First, and worst, I cannot return to my home.” She shook her head, her mohawk bobbing back and forth. “Not when out there Nightmare Moon does roam. Reason the second is that I am beckoned.” Seeing Twilight’s confused expression, Zecora stopped to explain. “It has to do with the changelings. I am connected to them by fate’s strings.”

“Fate’s… strings?” Twilight repeated blankly, tilting her head in confusion. “What do you mean?”

Zecora hesitated, and an uncomfortable expression appeared on her face. “I’ll explain it later, when the need is greater,” she said eventually, waving away Twilight’s questions.“ Reason three and four…” She jabbed a hoof in Twilight’s direction. “Are connected to you, and is something I cannot ignore.”

“Me?” Twilight squeaked in surprise, jumping back from Zecora’s outstretched hoof. “What do you mean?”

Zecora stared deep into Twilight’s eyes. The force of the wise zebra’s look bored into Twilight’s core, but the unicorn was completely unable to tear her gaze away. After a few uncomfortable seconds passed, Zecora broke the silence. “I wish to prevent the occurrence of something tragic.” There was a heaviness to her words, and Twilight felt like she was hearing her own death sentence. “You probably haven’t even realized the change in your magic.”

“What?” Twilight squeaked again, unable to stop herself. I sure am asking a lot of questions today, a cynical part of her mind thought. “What-“ She stopped herself, trying to get her thoughts back on track. “What do you mean my magic’s changed? Magic doesn’t just change!”

Zecora nodded “Indeed, we go into lands uncharted. Fortunately, it appears the change has just started.” Digging into her own bulging saddlebags, the zebra pulled out a large book with a hard red cover. Leafing through it, she glanced up at Twilight. “Now, I just need to make sure you are aware; What are the three types of magic and how do they compare?”

Twilight blinked, confused by the apparent shift in topic. I’m not going to just dumbly ask her a question this time, the tiny voice in her head said. “That’s easy!” she proclaimed. “The three types of magic are earth pony, pegasus and unicorn! Earth pony magic enhances their strength and helps them create things, pegasi use their magic to fly and control the weather, and unicorns are fully able to exert their will on the world around them.” I’m prepared for this, she thought somewhat smugly.

“Wrong,” Zecora said bluntly, completely deflating Twilight’s confident mood. “Only to ponies does that branch belong. But the magic of ponies is only one section, you need to look at it with a different inflection.” Finding the page she was looking for, she slipped a bookmark into it and passed it to Twilight. “Read this as soon as you can. It may give you insight into your enemy’s master plan.”

Twilight almost dropped the book in surprise. “You think this help me figure out what Discord’s-“

Rainbow Dash stuck her head into the library, an annoyed look on her face. “HEY SLOWPOKES! KEEP IT MOVING!!”

Twilight offered Zecora a sheepish grin. “Guess we’ve taken too long. We’ll finish this later.”

An Excerpt from “The Magic of Magic.”
-Translated by Twilight Sparkle with assistance from Zecora, with notes and foreword by Twilight Sparkle.

Magic is something we see every day, but so rarely do we stop and think about its underlying mechanics. How does magic work? What is it? Why are we able to use it? When did we start using it? Who first discovered it?

Through my years of study, I’ve come across many possible theories and explanations for these and other questions. But every book I’ve ever read on the topic has always had one thing in common: It was written from a pony’s perspective.

To ponies, magic is a powerful force we are able to innately access. All ponies are able to access it, so we never think about it beyond that. Even in my most informative – what my assistant calls extreme – tests have never really delved deeply in what makes magic. But what about species that aren’t able to innately access magic? How do they view it?

Magic is a mighty force that fills the world around us. From previous chapters, you already know that it cannot be destroyed or created, only directed. The act of spellcasting channels magical forces to do our bidding, and to force our will on the world around us. Even when using magic to create magical artifacts, magic is drawn from the surrounding environment and carefully controlled by the caster. If an artifact is strong enough, the magical signature of the caster will be imprinted on the artifact. This is why magical artifacts of great strength can only be destroyed by the ones who created them.

Magic is defined, therefore, by where it is drawn from. This affects the magic’s “strength”, its “force”, and its “capabilities”. There are three main classifications of magic. These are the magic of the “self”, the magic of “others”, and the magic of the “world.”

The first, and most common type of magic, is the magic of the “self”. This is innate magic, and draws strength from the user. The ponies of Equestria use this type of magic, be they unicorn, pegasi, or earth pony. As far as strength, it is possible the weakest of the magics, as it the user can usually only put in as much power as they themselves possess.

However, “self” magic is also the easiest to control. Since it is innate, it cannot be taught if the user lacks the required magic of their own. Its capabilities are also the widest, and vary from user to user. In ponies, the brand of magic that the user is best at will appear on their flank, in what they call a “cutie mark”. Zebras who travel to Equestria or often deal with ponies with occasionally tattoo similar markings to cutie marks on their flanks, so as to make the locals more comfortable.

One noteworthy comment about “self” magic is how it overlaps with “other” magic. As established, there is only a limited amount of magic in the world, which must always be used. This means that when the magic is not in use, it will try to be used. As a practical example, it is theorized that this is the reason for the immortality of Princess Celestia and the Banished Princess Luna, otherwise known as Nightmare Moon. Many thousands of years ago, there were a great number of alicorns all over the land. They were widespread, and ruled the entire world with care and love. But, for reasons unknown, all but two of them vanished. Celestia and Luna were the only alicorns left in the world, and all the magic that had been used by the alicorns of the past was forced into their bodies. This explains their great power, immortality, and why any alicorns born since then have always been mortal and lacked the strength of the Princesses.

(Twilight’s notes: I have never heard this theory before, but it does make sense. I do wonder how the author knew about all this, however. Even in the great libraries of Canterlot, there is almost nothing recorded about the time of the alicorns. It is interesting to note that the author refers to Princess Luna as both Luna and Nightmare Moon. This book was likely written before Princess Luna returned from the moon. Again, even the great libraries of Canterlot said almost nothing about the connection between Nightmare Moon and Princess Celestia. I suppose Princess Celestia didn’t want to see anything that reminded her of her missing family and had all books that mentioned the topic removed.)

The second type of magic is the magic of “others”. Little is known about this type of magic, and it is mostly theoretical in nature. It works by drawing magic from the living organisms surrounding the caster, and is then channeled according to the user’s wishes. The magical energy can either be used right away or stored within the body of the caster.

No confirmed users of this type of magic have ever been witnessed, but some assumptions can be made. First, the magic drawn out can either be taken by force or given freely. Second, once the magic is drawn out, it takes the form of the caster’s magical signature rather than the signature of the one drained. And third, the strength of the caster is dependent on the amount of strength drawn from others. This means this type of magic has no practical upper limits.

(Twilight’s notes: I believe this type of magic is what the changelings use. Zecora agrees.)

The third and most powerful brand of magic is what we zebras use, “world” magic. “World” magic does exactly what it sounds like, drawing magic from the world around us. We pull out the strength of the earth, the force of the river, the power of the fire, and the might of the wind. World magic is the mightiest form of magic, and the strongest users are able to reshape the world itself.

(Twilight’s notes: ~~Wow, whoever wrote this certainly had a swelled opinion of themselves.~~ Zecora’s reading over my shoulder and she just told me to stay impartial. Sorry.)

But for all its benefits, world magic also has several severe limitations. It is not an innate magic, and needs to be learned. In order for a creature to use world magic, they must first drink the Great Spirit’s potion. Zebra Shamans are the only ones allowed to drink this potion.

(Twilight’s notes: I guess this Great Spirit was the first zebra to discover this type of magic. Whoever it was must have somehow discovered a mix of fauna that allowed them to channel this magic. Spirits are not scientifically possible, after all. Zecora says it’s not an exact translation, but its close enough.)

(Twilight’s notes cont.: I just asked Zecora, and she says she doesn’t know how it’s made. She was trained as a shaman, and did drink the potion, but her teacher died before he could finish her training. Now she’s gone all quiet.)

World magic is also the hardest magic to control. Only ones who have already proven great self-control are given the opportunity to learn this magic, as it is very easy to unintentionally hurt others with it. However, like the magic of “others”, world magic is drawn from outside the user. In particular, it is drawn from the strength of movement and change. An unscrupulous individual would be capable of throwing the world around them into continuous motion, and then use that motion to fuel their own power. Similar to the magic of “others”, this gives the wielder of this magic no guaranteed upper limits.

Twilight blinked, rereading what she had just written. The paper and book bobbed in front of her as she walked on the dirt path out of Ponyville. Her friends walked in front of her; occasionally looking back to make sure she was still following them. Zecora walked at her side, helping her with the translation.

Her mouth worked as she carefully re-read that last paragraph, wanting to confirm what had caught her attention. “…continuous motion,” she whispered quietly. Something about that phrase stood out to her, but she couldn’t figure out what it was. “Continuous motion, continuous motion…” She tapped her chin thoughtfully, trying to think why that phrase stood out so motion to her. “Continuous motion, continuous motion… Constantly in motion.”

“That sounds like fun!” Pinkie piped up from up front, poking her head over the top of Twilight’s parchment. “Could you imagine if everything was moving all the time? It’d be like a party that never stops.”

Twilight chuckled, shaking Pinkie off the floating parchment. “Actually, that just sounds pretty chaotic to me.” Her hoof froze, suspended in mid-air as the connection clicked together. Chaos was exactly what Discord was after. And so far, he was certainly getting it. “Oh, that’s not good.”

Author's Note

Rarity's modified gem-finding spell involves the special cape clasps she gave to the Crusaders. First seen in Chapter Seven, explained in Chapter Ten, and used to find Apple Bloom when she was foalnapped by John in the same chapter.

Celestia's feather was given to Twilight in Chapter Fifteen.

Chrysalis first touched on the idea of mortal alicorns and immortal alicorns in Chapter Twenty Four.

A Change of Pace...

Rarity’s hooves plodded slowly in the clean dirt path out of Ponyville. Of course, she was carefully to avoid any muddy spots that looked like they might stick to her hooves. That would just be dreadful! If she really wouldn’t be able to find a real spa or something until they chased the changelings out of Canterlot, then all the more reason to chase those icky bugs at the first opportunity. She supposed she would just have to do with cleaning herself in any rivers they stumbled upon until then.

Oh, the hardships she went through for the sake of her friends!

Like the others, she wasn’t too concerned about the changelings. Sure, those monsters could be a bit scary if they caught you by surprise, and those faces were a little bit spooky. Also, their fangs were slightly disconcerting, and those holes in their hooves were rather disturbing. There was also the simple fact that they were bugs the size of a pony, and that was just all kinds of icky. Rarity shuddered at the thought. She couldn’t stand bugs. Flies were irritating, moths made her nauseous, and spiders gave her the willies. Nasty things.

Fortunately, it wasn’t like chasing the changelings out was going to be hard. While she didn’t have a flyswatter big enough for the changelings, they weren’t exactly a threat. Other then the Queen, the rank-and-file changelings were rather crummy fighters. Rarity didn’t consider herself very strong – her time digging for and hauling gems had given her more muscle then the average unicorn, but she still had nothing compared to a earth pony or pegasus – but even she had managed to defeat over a dozen changelings by herself when they had first invaded. They were only really fearsome when they had surprise on their side.

The Queen herself was the only worry. But even then, it was a small worry. Nothing compared to, say, Discord, Nightmare Moon, or that beast from the Everfree. That Queen with those delightfully long legs and neck, those beautiful lashes, that long flowing mane. She was still a pretty freaky bug, but, in her own way, there had still been an undeniable beauty about her.

Oh, I wish I could design some dresses for her, Rarity thought. She knew the thought was ridiculous, and she would still do everything in her power to bring down the Queen when the time came, but the thought was an amusing one. A little something to mind her mind busy while she walked, otherwise she would only be fretting about Sweetie Belle. Colouring would be a little tricky. She’s mostly covered in a black carapace, her eyes are a bright green, and her mane’s a deep blue. I should try to work all three of those colours in there somehow… But what about the style? I remember she had a rather rough natural charm. I doubt she would look good in flowing material or frills. Hmm…

Rarity pondered the problem. Designing a dress for a whole different species was the kind of challenge she relished. Maybe she could ask Princess Celestia to let her design something for the Queen changeling once all this blew over? That could be fun. Even if the Queen would never be let out of prison, that didn’t mean she couldn’t at least try to be fashionable.

Behind Rarity, Rainbow Dash was walking alongside Pinkie. Applejack rode on Dash’s back, a bored expression locked on her face as she listened to the conversation going on beneath her. She’d much rather be at the back talking with Fluttershy right now, but she was completely unable to escape this nonsense.

“Are you crazy, Pinkie?” Rainbow Dash said, her voice squeaking at the end of her sentence. “I mean, no offence, but are you even thinking straight? Spitfire could totally beat up Nightmare Moon.”

Pinkie shook her head wildly, her mane flailing around in the air as she bounced beside Dash. “No way, Dashie,” she protested with a smile. “Queen Meanie’s got way too much magical mojo to be beaten by any one pegasus. Besides, she can turn into smoke and even shapeshift and all that other freaky stuff she does.”

“Well, yeah, but so what?” Dash protested. “Even if she’s as strong as Princess Celestia , that won’t do her any good if she can’t hit her opponent. Spitfire’s just too fast for her. And turning into smoke wouldn’t help her. Spitfire’s a pegasus. We deal with clouds and stuff all the time. Smoke’s not that different.”

Pinkie tapped her hoof against her chin thoughtfully. “Okay… Okay, yeah, I can see that. But Spitfire’s speed wouldn’t be very useful against Nightmare’s mental attacks. Don’t forget she can look into a pony’s mind and tempt them with their greatest desires.”

“Pinkie, you and I were able to break through Nightmare Moon’s mental attacks,” Dash said flatly. “Spitfire’s the captain of the Wonderbolts. What’s she gonna be tempted by?”

Sweet Celestia, make it stop, Applejack thought hopelessly with a groan.

“Hmm,” Pinkie said, her expression scrunching as she thought. “Well yeah, but there’s one point you can deny. Nightmare Moon is the bad part of Luna, so she’s immortal,” Pinkie proclaimed victoriously. “It doesn’t matter who wins. Eventually, Spitfire’s going to drop dead of old age, but Nightmare Moon will still be going strong.”

“Yeah, but- Still- You know-“ Dash fumbled for a few seconds before conceding defeat with a smile. “Alright, yeah. You win.”

Oh, thank you Celestia!

“Yaay!” Pinkie said, doing a happy bounce before looking at Dash with a quizzical expression. “Now who?”

“How about… let’s see… How about Discord?” Dash asked, tilting her head.

“Yeah, yeah,” Pinkie nodded excitedly. “He could go against… the Princesses! He’s pretty strong, so all three of them at once!”

“Celestia, Luna, and Cadance? Add Twilight in there and you’ve got a deal,” Dash said, quirking her lips into a grin. “She is Celestia’s student, after all.” The pair started up their conversation about who would win the hypothetical fight, neither noticing the little whimper from Applejack.

Behind the rather silly conversation, a much more serious one was taking place between Twilight and Zecora. “So you think Discord’s a practitioner of this… world magic?” Twilight hissed quietly. “I’ve never heard of world magic before. Princess Celestia always called what Discord did chaos magic. So he’s more powerful when there’s chaos going on… That means we could beat him permanently if everything was harmonious, right?”

Zecora nodded, the bulging saddlebags on her back shifting slightly. She took a second to fix them before she replied. “That is indeed what I believe, even if he uses his magic to control and deceive. This magic is renowned for its power. If unicorn magic is a trickle, then the magic of the world is a mighty shower.” She waved a hoof vaguely towards a nearby tree. To Twilight’s eyes, that was all she did. There was no glow of spellcasting, no muttered incantation, no potions. But either way, after Zecora waved at it, the tree just… vanished.

“Whoa,” Twilight mouthed silently. She had known the zebra had some amount of magic, but this was amazing. She stepped off the path and walked up to where the tree had stood, waving her hoof in the space where it had been. It’s not invisible, it’s actually gone. She turned to look at Zecora, her face alive with curiosity. “What did you do with it?” she asked, her voice actually quivering with her desire for knowledge.

Zecora smiled enigmatically. “I simply displaced the tree from time. It will return at the sound of the chime.” She tapped her hoof against one of the large earrings she wore, creating a quiet bell-like chime.

Twilight blinked as the evening sunlight was suddenly cut off. Looking up, she realized she was standing under a large expanse of leafy branches that hadn’t been there a second before. With a squeal of excitement, she hopped beside Zecora. “That’s so amazing! I’ve never even read about anything like this before! The zebra tribes are really secretive. Are you really so strong?”

Chuckling, Zecora shook her head. “Stronger than the average unicorn, but that’s hardly set in stone; your magical potential far exceeds my own.”

“Oh,” Twilight whined, her ears flattening against her skull. “I wish I could take you back home right now. I’ve got so many questions I want to ask you!” She sighed in disappointment. “But I guess we’ll have to put those off for now. So you think I can use this magic too? How?”

“I couldn’t even begin to assume,” Zecora admitted. Her tail lashed anxiously behind her as she confessed her own ignorance. “Every zebra I’ve ever known has had to drink a special potion for their power to bloom. It is this potion that unshackles the mind. I assume you have not had anything of the kind?”

Twilight cast her mind back, thinking hard about the events of the past week. But no matter how much she thought she couldn’t think of a single thing that might explain it. “No… nothing. It’s been a strange week, but I think I would have noticed something like that. I’ll tell you if I think of anything.” Her eyes shimmered with curiosity. “So you draw power from the shifts of the world around you? Is that why you live in the Everfree Forest? Because it’s less controlled there?”

“That is the reason in part.” The smile on Zecora’s face faded, replaced with a wistful expression as she stared up at the sky. “But it was also where I chose to go for a fresh start.”

Something in Zecora’s tone caught Twilight’s attention, making her stop and look at the zebra in surprise. “Come to think about it, I’ve never asked you why you’re living in Equestria. I’ve almost never heard of a zebra choosing to live outside of Zebrabwe. Hay, a lot of ponies don’t even know what zebras are.” Her head fell slightly as she sighed. “And so we got that nonsense where everypony believed that you were an evil enchantress.”

Zecora covered her mouth with a hoof, barely hiding her amused chuckle. “You speak as if you were uninvolved, but I recall you and your friends barging into my home before that mess was resolved.”

Twilight felt her face heat up as she remembered that whole fiasco. “I am still so very, very sorry about that,” she muttered almost inaudibly.

Zecora smiled, her eyes twinkling merrily. “Do not fear, I only tease. Now I think your curiosity I believe I should appease.” Her hoof moved slowly across her body, she tapped the earrings, neckrings, and legbands in order. “These tell all who know that I was once a mganga long ago.”

Twilight frowned in puzzlement, and her ear twitched as she tried to puzzle through what Zecora had just said. “What’s a managa?” she asked, stumbling over the strange word.

“’Doctor’ is probably the word in your language that most applies,” Zecora said after a moment’s thought. “Though it can also mean ‘One Who is Wise’.”

“Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me,” Twilight replied with an easy laugh. “You’re probably the wisest pony I know.” Her faint smile vanished as she realized that Zecora hadn’t quite answered her question. “But you said that only highly-ranked individuals were taught magic, right? What would somepony so important be doing here?” She suddenly caught Zecora looking at her out of the corner of her eye, and flushed as she realized she may have pushed too far. “I-I mean, you don’t have tell me if you don’t want to! It’s not-”

“I was banished by my tribe,” Zecora said bluntly. “The details of which I would prefer not to describe. However, myself and the elders could not see eye-to-eye, and they demanded something I would not abide by. I left my home with nothing more than a pack, and they made it clear I would not be welcomed back.”

Twilight gasped in horror, her hooves covering her mouth. “That’s terrible!” she exclaimed, shocked. “I had no idea! I’m so, so sorry for asking!” She couldn’t imagine what that must have been like. Her family had always been there for her, even when she was at her worst. She didn’t know what she would do if they had decided to stop supporting her at any point in her life.

Zecora shrugged, as if it didn’t matter to her. “You did not know. And it all happened so long ago. The elders were trapped in their own mental cage, but I expect by now they have all died of old age.”

“Couldn’t you head back, then?” Twilight asked uneasily, unsure about how far she could push for information. She was so curious to learn more, but she didn’t want to risk her friendship with the zebra. “Surely you have family that misses you? Or what about your friends?”

“The one I considered a father passed on shortly before I left. As for friends…” Zecora shrugged her shoulders again. “The training tends to leave one bereft.”

“So you don’t have anyone?”

Zecora hesitated for several seconds before speaking, and her words were slow and drawn out when she finally did speak. “There is… one. My daughter, whose smile was brighter than the sun. She could always make me smile with her playful antics, even if some of her adventures could drive me frantic.”

“Aww,” Twilight cooed. “I didn’t know you had a daughter. She sounds so adorable.” After a contemplative moment where she imagined the playful rambunctiousness of a zebra filly, she turned to look at her traveling companion. “Where is she now?”

Zecora’s expression darkened as she looked away from Twilight, staring at the side of the dirt road. “I do not wish to talk about it.” Her tone was crisp and firm, not even allowing the possibility of any further questions. That, combined with the lack of rhymes, effectively meant the death of the conversation.

“Oh, um,” Twilight coughed awkwardly, “sorry.” She wanted to ask a little more but a piping voice in her ear suggested she should change the subject instead. “Riiiiiiight. Anywho, about this magic…”

Zecora shot Twilight a grateful look, obviously glad to get the conversation back on track. “Now, world magic must be drawn out before it can be applied. It’s drawn both from the world around,” she tapped her hoof against her chest, “and from inside.”

Twilight flicked her ear, tilting her head as she tried to puzzle out the zebra’s meaning. “Inside… That sounds pretty close to what unicorns do, actually. Is there a connection?”

Zecora nodded, a small congratulatory smile spread across her features. “Very good; all magic is connected. It is only simple differences in how it is directed.”

“What’s it like?” Twilight asked, her voice barely above a whisper. “When I cast a spell, I usually feel the most strain here,” she gently tapped her horn, careful not to accidently jar it and increase the damage. “But it looks like your magic doesn’t have a focus.”

Biting her lower lip thoughtfully, Zecora scuffed at the ground as she pondered how to answer the question. “It feels like… it’s a feeling that persists” she said after a few seconds. “Like you are one with the universe and everything that exists.”

The pair were so caught up in their conversation that neither of them noticed Fluttershy trot past them, the pegasus heading towards the front where Rarity was. The magic shop-talk was going right over her head, and she just needed somepony to talk to. I never knew Zecora had been through so much, she thought morosely. It must have been very hard for her. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she failed to notice the pleading look Applejack shot her while Pinkie and Rainbow Dash were busy discussing possible romantic leads for the next Daring Do book.

“Hello Fluttershy,” Rarity greeted the pegasus with a friendly smile. “Perfect timing. I wanted your opinion. Listen, do you think a cross stitch or a chain stitch would be better for embroidering?”

Fluttershy shyly ducked behind her mane. “I’m not sure, but I suppose it would depend on the dress itself. What are you planning?”

“I’m glad you asked, dear. You see- Hold on.” Something up the road caught her attention. Pointing her hoof at it, she turned her head to look at the group behind her. “Twilight, darling, I think you’re going to want to see this.”

“What is it, Rarity?” Twilight asked, breaking away from her conversation with Zecora.

“Looks like somepony’s in a spot of trouble.” Just as Rarity said, there was a stallion standing in the middle of the road, scratching his head as he stared at a cart with a broken wheel. The stallion was smaller than average, and looked like he was barely out of colthood. His dark green mane and tail were short and mussy, and his coat was a moderate blue. He was a pegasus, as evidenced by the pair of wings on his sides. A cutie mark of a raincloud was emblazoned on his flank and his eyes, when he turned to look at the approaching group, were a rusty brownish-red.

“Why, hello there,” he greeted the mares, a smile on his face revealing a mouth full of broken teeth. “So nice to meet fellow travelers on the road.” His gaze shifted up at the unmoving sun, peeking over the horizon. “Something tells me that’s going to be a rare pleasure nowadays.”

Twilight walked up to the head of the group to greet the strange stallion. “Isn’t it a strange time to be traveling? Especially with a-” she stopped, blinking in surprise when she saw the contents of the cart. After a few moments, she licked her lips and tried again. “Rather, an empty cart.”

The pegasus chuckled awkwardly, his wings rustling slightly at his side. “Yeah, it probably seems a little weird. I borrowed this cart from one of my friends in Canterlot to move some stuff around. I was going to return it today, but, well,” he gestured at the broken cart, letting the sight speak for him. His ears perked up and his extended a hoof to her. “Ah, how rude of me. The name’s Sky High. It’s a pleasure to meet you at last, Twilight Sparkle.”

Looking at the cart, Twilight wasn’t surprised that it had broken. Actually, she was more surprised it had managed to work at all. It was obviously poorly designed; looking like it had been made by somepony who didn’t know how to make carts. Strangely, it also looked surprisingly new. Putting the mysteries aside, Twilight looked uncertainly at the extended hoof for several before slowly reaching out to grasp it. “…Same. How do you know who I am?”

“Of course I know who you are,” Sky High said, giving Twilight’s hoof a firm shake. “You’re the Element of Magic as well as Princess Celestia’s only current student. It would be stranger for me not to know who you were. I’ve been wanting to meet you for quite a while now.”

Blushing faintly, Twilight glanced down at the ground. “I’ve never had a fan before,” she muttered faintly. Her eyes wandered over to the cart again. That’s weird, she thought, noticing something she hadn’t spotted when she had been further away. There’s no tracks leading up to the cart. She moved to look at the cart more closely, but was pulled up short by the hold the stallion had on her hoof. “Could you let me go, please?”

“No.” A hard yank on Twilight’s foreleg had her stumbling forward into the stallion’s chest. Before she could react, a foreleg reached out and wrapped around her neck as he spun her around so she was facing away from him. Leaning forward, he whispered into her ear. “And by the way? I never said I was a fan.”

“Hey! Let her go!” Pinkie shouted while Dash snorted and pawed at the dirt.

“I don’t think so.” A flash of green passed through the stallion’s eyes as he returned the mare’s glares. Raising his voice, the stallion shouted a single word. “Now!”

Black shapes dropped out of the surrounding trees, launching themselves at the mares. The ponies scattered as the objects struck the ground where they had stood only seconds before. Silence lasted for less than a second before a loud buzz filled the area and several changeling heads popped up from the holes they had landed in. Applejack’s firm voice suddenly rose up over the sudden clamour. “Ambush!”

More and more changelings continued to swarm out of the vegetation, trying to quickly overwhelm the gathered ponies. A sharp wind whipped down the dusty road, throwing up a great cloud of dust that concealed the battle from sight.

Twilight quickly focused magic into her horn, preparing to launch a quick spell that would blast the stallion – no, the changeling – off of her. Before her could do anything more than glow, the changeling struck her horn with his hoof. A sharp pain shot through her horn, spreading down her spine and through her entire body, breaking both her concentration and her spell.

“I don’t think so, little princess,” Sky High said coldly, his voice dripping with vitriol. “Sit quietly and watch.”

Twilight snarled as she glared the stallion. Her horn sputtered weakly, and a tiny voice in the back of her head warned her that that blow must have cracked her horn even further, but she found she didn’t care. “What do you want?”

“Want?” The disguised changeling leaned until his snout was almost pressing against Twilight’s, giving her a glare that didn’t lose to hers in ferocity. “We all want different things. And at the moment, all I want is for you to watch as your friends fall. Let’s see how much pain that causes you.”

A gap opened in the dust and Twilight was able to see how her friends were faring. Pretty well, in fact. Applejack and Rainbow Dash in particular were cutting a wide swath through the changelings. They had tied a lasso around Applejack’s tail, and she sent it lashing out at the horde with practiced flicks of her tail. Even with her body immobilized, she was still fully capable of roping changelings and swinging them into their companions. Any of the insects that managed to get past the quick rope were met with Dash’s heavy hooves, and the steadily building pile of unconscious bodies that Dash was standing on paid a silent testament to how well their methods were working.

A little ways away, Zecora was making her own way through the chitinous multitude. From the outside, she didn’t appear to be doing anything more than slowly walking up to the changelings and gently touching them, but the changelings would freeze up and stop moving the instant she laid a hoof on them. Not far away from her, several changelings were fleeing from Rarity, scrambling over one another in an effort to put distance between them and the unicorn. The fashionable mare had a wild look in her eyes and her mane was slightly singed. She had picked up a changeling by its hindlegs and was swinging it erratically at the fleeing pack, screaming about how much work it took to get her mane to look just right.

Twilight smirked up at Sky High’s unsmiling face as he frowned at the one-sided battle. “Doesn’t seem like you’re doing a good job of it,” she snarked. After all the time fighting that creature from the Everfree, some changelings really didn’t seem like much of a threat. Something caught her attention in the dust and she let her legs collapse out from underneath her. Caught off guard by the sudden extra weight, Sky High staggered forward just in time to take a rubber chicken to the face, blowing him away from Twilight. For her part, the purple unicorn calmly flicked at her shoulder, like she was brushing off an invisible speck of dust. “Thanks, Pinkie.”

“No problem,” the pink mare giggled before leaping backwards into the dust cloud, her legs outstretched like she expected someone unseen to catch her.

Twilight turned to look at where the disguised stallion lay in the dirt on his back. He wasn’t making any motion to get back up, and was simply staring up at the sun. Red-hot anger boiled up in her as she glared down at his pathetic form. She didn’t have time for this. “I’m sick and tired of everypony thinking we can just be pushed around. Nightmare Moon, Discord, and now you changelings. All at once, the world seems to be throwing everything it has at us. Well, I’ve got a message for your Queen. We are the Elements of Harmony, and there is nothing in the world that will stop us. We’ve beaten you – all of you – before, and no matter how many times you come at us, we will defeat you again and again. We will set everything right, and you can either get out of the way or end up trampled beneath us.”

Her mane and tail whipped out behind her as she turned away from him, sprinting into the cloud of dust. Raising her voice, she shouted as loud as she could over the sounds of conflict. Her mind felt oddly clear, free of any confusion or misapprehension “We’re leaving, girls! Make a break for the trees!”

“Right!”

Several minutes later, the false pegasus by the name of Sky High was still lying on his back in the middle of the road. Glassy-eyed changelings shuffled around him as he lay in the sun’s rays, each of them carrying either branches or dead timber. A shadow fell over his prone form, and he cracked an eye open to see a large changeling wearing sunglasses standing over him.

“You finished making yourself look pathetic?” Innocent Sin asked, a frown on his face as he glared down at the pegasus.

Sky High flashed a broken-tooth smile before a wave of green washed over him, leaving Last Breath lying in his place. The smaller changeling rolled over before standing upright. “They were underestimating us,” he said with a shrug. “I didn’t like it was necessary to correct them just yet. Good work with the dust cloud, by the way. You timed it perfectly.” Noticing the glare the other changeling was still giving him, Last Breath leaned in and wrapped one of his forehooves around Innocent Sin’s thick neck. “Aw, don’t tell me you’re still mad! If we had tried to capture all of them, they would have gotten away.”

“Fine,” Innocent Sin grumbled with barely-suppressed anger as he shrugged off the smaller changeling. Fixing his sunglasses, he turned his attention to a shaded hollow just off the side of the road. The hollow had been perfect for his needs, large enough to hold several ponies, but invisible from the road if you didn’t know it was there. “Just remember the plan.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Last Breath said blithely as he walked alongside his commanding officer. “I would hope I would, it was my plan. So when are we starting?”

Several minutes’ run away, a group of pones came to a stop, their breath rattling as they gulped down large lungfuls of air.

“Everypony made it okay?” Twilight gasped after several seconds. “Dash?”

“Here,” Dash said, her sides heaving. “AJ’s here, too. And let me tell you, she’s heavy!”

“Rarity?” Twilight asked, ignoring as Applejack smacked Dash on the back of her head.

“Don’t worry, I’m here.”

“Zecora?”

“Do not fear, I am here.”

“Pinkie?”

“Prrrrrrrrrrrresent!” Pinkie exclaimed, rolling out her r’s.

“Fluttershy?”

Silence.

“Fluttershy!”

Innocent Sin came to a halt at the top of the hollow, staring down into its dark embrace. There, held down by several changelings, sat something that most definitely was not a changelings. A pair of crystalline baby blue eyes stared up at him in terror, silently pleading for him to let her go. Green goo covered her mouth and prevented her from crying out. A hole had been punched in the goo over her nose, allowing her to breathe.

A loud crash from behind him drew his attention away from the yellow pegasus, and he turned to see a large pile of dead and dried wood set up in the center of the road. There had been no storms in this area for weeks, and the wood was brittle and dry. Perfect tinder. It would burn well.

“Immediately,” Innocent Sin said coldly, answering Last Breath’s earlier question. “Remember your part.”

“Sounds good,” Last Breath said, watching the larger changeling walk away. His gaze hardened as he turned to look at the tree line. “You think you’ll trample us, Twilight Sparkle?” The wind stole away his hissed words, carrying them away. Maybe the wind would travel all the way to the one he was speaking to. His words might vanish, but the meaning would remain. “I think you’ll find that we won’t just lie down and die for you. We’re going to live, and you are not going to stop us.”

Movement beside him drew his attention, and he saw the yellow pegasus forcibly being removed from the hollow. She struggled against them, but there was nothing she could do against so many changelings. “Hold,” he told them, walking in front of the scared pegasus. Minutes passed as he waited in silence until, finally, Fluttershy happened to glance up and look him in the eyes.

Last Breath mouth twisted into a grin, baring his shortened fangs. “I do apologize for the rough treatment, Mistress Fluttershy, Element of Kindness. Oh, don’t be scared,” he assured her with a blatantly false smile. “It’s not like I blame you for the near-extinction of the changelings.”

A green bolt of light shot from his horn, striking her in the middle of her forehead. Intense drowsiness washed over her and her eyelids started to droop. She tried to hold them open, but they were… just… so… heavy… Her eyes slowly slid shut, and the voice of the changeling was the last thing she heard before her mind fled into slumber.

“Sleep well. And don’t worry, everything’s going to be over shortly.”

Several minutes later, Innocent Sin stood before his gathered troops. A torch burnt beside him, the flickering green flames reflecting off of his dark sunglasses. They stood before him, nearly forty changelings strong, ready to fight at his command. Some of them were already starting to regain their sense of selves, their deep green pupils almost visible beyond the crystalline blue mirrors. The changelings were being reborn. It was time to send that message to the world.

Innocent Sin cleared his throat, and all the changelings turned their eyes towards him. His clear voice reached all of their ears, and most of them were able to understand him. “My brothers!” he proclaimed. “My sisters! We stand on the cusp of history! For almost as long as we have existed, we changelings have lived in darkness! We have lived on the run! Always fearful that we would be discovered! Always afraid that we would be exterminated! Hunted down like vermin! Whenever a species would come close to discovering us, we would immediately flee the country! Just recently, we fled from the gryphons! And before that, the zebras!”

He swung his hoof in front of him, instantly cutting off the quiet chatter that had risen up. “But no more! Thanks to our Queen, we now stand at the top of a country! We are the ones in control! No more will we need to fear for our lives with every waking moment! No more will we have to hide what we are! We are changelings! And it’s time for the world to know it!”

His voice increased in strength the more he talked, drawn from a fierce fire burning within him. “But there are those who would oppose us! They would see us pushed back into the caves, see us pushed back into darkness! They would see us destroyed, and not so much as bat an eye!” He felt a fierce surge of emotion from the trees off to the side of the road, and barely managed to suppress a smirk. Other than the Queen, changelings couldn’t feel other changeling’s emotions. Looks like those ponies had made it back even faster than he had expected. Time to give them a real show.

Scooping up the burning brand beside him and holding it aloft in front of his face, he stared down at his assembled troops. The seconds ticked silently past before he turned away from the gathering, silently drawing all attention to the great pile of wood behind him. And there, placed at the very pinnacle of the mass, one unconscious yellow pegasus quietly lay. “Now,” he muttered quietly to himself, “let’s see what lies down this path.”

His hoof slowly moved forward almost reverently, bringing the burning fire up to the pyre. Seconds before the flickering flame could spread to the awaiting mountain of tinder, he was cut short by a great cry from behind him.

“STOP!”

Rarity stood exposed in the center of the road, her head lowered and her horn glowing threateningly as she pointed it at the large changeling. He slowly turned around to look at her, the flames of the torch he held reflecting off of the sunglasses he wore. The entire mass of changelings had turned to look at her cry, but she didn’t care. If she had to tear through all of them by herself to rescue Fluttershy, her closest friend, then that was exactly what she was going to do. Thankfully, she wouldn’t have to. Pinkie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Zecora stood behind her, silently backing her up. Twilight had snuck away, and was trying to flank the changelings while Rarity kept them distracted.

“Well, isn’t this interesting?” the sunglasses-wearing changeling mused aloud. He casually wove the torch in the air in front of him, causing the flames to dance with the movement. “I admit, I didn’t think you would actually return.”

“Of course we did,” she said, her ears flattening against her skull. “If you thought we would just leave, then I guess you don’t understand ponies as much as you think you do. Now. Let. Fluttershy. Go.”

“So demanding, are we?” The changeling pointed the flaming brand at her. “And no, I won’t. There are only four things in this world that could possibly be a threat to my Queen. Princess Cadance has already been captured, as has Princess Luna. Princess Celestia has vanished, but even if she were to return now, not even her power would be enough. The last… is you six.”

“You forgot Nightmare Moon and Discord,” Rarity murmured under her breath. “I doubt your vaunted Queen would like them so much.”

The changeling continued speaking, unaware of what she said. “The Elements of Harmony. Six mares, wielding the greatest power in existence. What do you think?” He gestured at the captive mare behind him. “Six pillars holding up such great might. But what would happen if one of those pillars were to be… broken?”

Rarity snarled. “If you dare harm a hair on her head…” she warned threateningly.

He chuckled darkly. “Am I being threatened by the dressmaker? That’s amusing.”

“I guess you don’t know just how cutthroat the fashion industry can be,” Rarity growled out.

“Really?” With a casual flick of his hoof, the changeling tossed the burning torch over his shoulder. It sluggishly crawled through the air, tumbling end over end before disappearing into the pile of wood. For an instant, it seemed as if nothing had happened. With a horrifying roar just like a monster out of a nightmare, flames quickly spread throughout the entire pile, surrounding the comatose pegasus upon it. “Then show me. Show me how your soft life compares against the struggle for survival we have had to live with every day.”

The changeling’s wings buzzed rapidly and he flew into the air. A purple light tore through the spot he had just vacated, the ground shuddering from the sheer force of the magical blast. Swiveling around in the air, the changeling turned to look at where the light had come from. “Attacking from behind isn't a bad idea," he said, his tone almost a taunt. "Pity your emotions betray you.”

Twilight climbed out of the trees that the changeling was staring at. “Hurry, girls!” she yelled, firing another blast of magic at the changeling. He easily evaded it before returning fire, which she blocked with a shimmering purple shield. “Get to Fluttershy!”

Dash rushed forward first, pausing only long enough to speak to Rarity. “We’ll cover you, Rares. No matter what happens, don’t stop running.”

Rarity nodded running alongside Dash. Pinkie and Zecora took up positions beside Rarity, flanking her sides. “Alright.” She cocked a questioning eyebrow at the brash pegasus. “You think you can handle it?”

“Forty of them against the four of us?” Dash gestured at the changelings with her chin, her hooves thudding heavily along the dirt path as she led the charge. “I don’t know. Doesn’t seem fair.”

“Yeah,” Applejack growled contemptuously from Dash’s back an instant before contact. “They don’t stand a chance.”

Author's Note

Anywho, Last Breath's alter ego Sky High was first talked about back in Chapter 19.

Tying It Together

Deep breaths of air passed through Twilight’s lungs as she stared at the view in front of her, her trembling emotions threatening to get the better of her. Fluttershy, one of her closest friends, was tied up and unconscious on top of a large burning pile of wood. Every ounce of her being wanted to rush to Fluttershy’s side, to immediately rescue her from the inferno, but there was one thing holding her back.

A large changeling stood between Twilight and Fluttershy, his stance making it clear he had no intention of letting her pass. He was nearly half as large as any of the other changelings, and Twilight knew he would be a hard fight.

“So, you’re the Element of Magic?” he asked. She couldn’t see his eyes behind the sunglasses he wore, but he appeared to be sizing her up. Whatever he was looking at, he seemed to find lacking. “Somehow, I expected more than just another unicorn.”

“Why don’t you move out of my way, or I’ll show you just how much I am not ‘just another unicorn’,” she threatened, her voice barely above a growl. In truth, she was struggling to calm her fraying nerves. Acting rashly would only make things worse. Magic was a finicky beast, and trying to cast spells while under emotional stress was one of the most dangerous things a unicorn could ever do. Add her broken horn to the mix and there was a very real possibility of a misfired spell blowing her horn right off her skull.

“Of course you’re not just another unicorn,” the large changeling said, his voice never changing an octave. “Let me guess, you’re going to beat me into submission with the power of friendship and your pretty magical rainbow. And then you’ll write some nonsense to your pretty pony princess about how friends give you irreplaceable memories.” He gestured to the pile burning pile of wood behind him with a jerk of his head. “Well, here’s to warm memories.”

A loud screeeetch reached Twilight’s ears, a horrible scraping sound that put all her fur on end. It took her a split second to realize it was coming from her own jaw, enamel scraping against enamel as her jaw locked. Her entire body tensed as she dropped into a battle stance. He’s going down, she thought. Nopony made fun of her friends like that! Her hooves scraped long furrows in the dirt as magic spread through her body and into the ground beneath her. Her awareness spread through the earth, reaching and spreading out with fine tendrils that sunk ever deeper into the surrounding soil. She could feel her power spreading out throughout the earth and, in return, she could feel the power of the earth spreading through her body, suffusing her very body with strength.

She could hear the sounds of conflict as her friends fought through the swarm of changelings, but willed herself to block it out. Her focus narrowed and shrunk, slowly cutting out all unnecessary distractions until the only ones in her world were herself and the larger changeling.

Channeling her magic from her horn and using her hooves as a focal point, she pushed her magic down into the dirt. The ground willingly responded, taking the form of a great wave of soil that launched itself at her adversary. His wings buzzing rapidly, the changeling avoided her attack by quickly taking to the air.

Gotcha, she thought with a smirk.

Firmly planting her hooves into the dirt and bracing her will, Twilight forced a large boulder almost twice her size to pop out in front of her. With a sharp jerk of her head, she shoved her magic into the boulder as hard as she could, catapulting the massive rock at the airborne changeling.

A wavering green flame covered Innocent’s Sin’s horn, quickly spreading to cover his entire body. The boulder struck the blaze and shattered, crumbling into dust. Twilight launched a tendril of magic at the pyre while he was distracted, intent on getting Fluttershy out of there as quickly as possible. Innocent Sin quickly put a stop to that with a wave of his horn, severing through Twilight’s purple magic with his own green-tinted hue.

A hiss of air escaped from between Twilight’s teeth as she felt the magical backlash shear through her body, her concentration wavering for a second before she recovered. A green flash was all the warning she had before she felt something strike her chin and knock her back, the very air hardening into a weapon around her. As she leapt away, she focused her magic into her foe’s spell, reading it and understanding it.

“An air control spell,” she muttered under her breath. Her foe was solidifying the very air and striking her with it. “Easy.” With a sharp inhale, she grappled with her opponent’s spell for a second before grabbing control of it, turning it against its wielder. The changeling had only an instant to look surprised before he dropped out of the sky. His wings buzzed furiously in a futile effort to keep himself aloft, but there was no air to support him. He would suffocate in mere seconds.

Twilight sighed in relief as the changeling’s unmoving body struck the ground. A tiny voice in the back of her skull warned her that she should feel bad about killing a living creature so easily, but it was squashed by her worry for Fluttershy. Besides, it wasn’t like it had been a pony, right? At least, that’s what she tried telling herself.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight yelled, running towards the unconscious pegasus. It was becoming difficult to see through the ever-increasing wall of smoke, but a flash of pink mane told her where her friend was. A small smile of relief appeared on her face as she stepped onto the wood pile… then all she knew was pain.

Twilight groaned. Dirt and grass fell out of her mane as she lifted her head. There was a long furrow in the ground leading up to her body. Was that… me? she thought, her thoughts a confused mess. Trying to stand up on unsteady legs, an unwilling shout of pain escaped her mouth as a sharp ache shot through her face, dropping her back down on the ground.

What happened? She lifted a hoof to her face, brushing against the coat of fur that covered her muzzle. The fur crinkled and crumbled, burnt black by a blast of flame. Movement in front of her drew her attention, and she looked up to see the large changeling standing above her. A slight glow was wrapped around his twisted horn as he stared down at her.

“It’ll take a lot more than that to kill a changeling,” he said emotionlessly. The green glow surrounding his horn suddenly blazed to a burning brightness, launching a blast of pure magic at her. With no time to throw up a defensive, Twilight screamed as she threw her hooves over her head in a futile attempt to protect herself from the pain.

Rainbow Dash grunted as her hooves lashed out behind her, striking another changeling in the head and felling it instantly. Applejack’s weight shifted on her back and the sporty pegasus saw another changeling get lashed by the farmpony’s rope before being slammed against the ground. Lifting her hoof to her shoulder, she smiled as Applejack bumped her own hoof against it.

“Not bad,” Dash said with a smile, looking out at the changelings surrounding them. The ponies had gotten separated shortly after the fight had begun, and more than half of the changelings had gone after the athletic pair. Over two dozen changelings stood in a circle around the duo, and any that ventured too close quickly found themselves the victim of either heavy hooves or a well-controlled rope.

“Not bad yersel- DOWN!” Applejack, pressing her hoof against the back of Dash’s skull, forcing the cyan pegasus to the ground as a bolt of green energy tore through the spot both had just been standing. Applejack’s tail lashed out again, and another changeling was summarily brought down.

Dash spat out a mouthful of dirt and grass as she stood up. “Oh, blech. You couldn’t have warned me in some other way? Like, any other way?” she grumbled, scraping at her tongue with a hoof. “Ptooie.”

Applejack shrugged, not tearing her gaze away from the changelings around them. “That way seemed fastest.” The changelings had backed off slightly, giving the mares some breathing room. Applejack twitched her tail threateningly, causing the changelings to back up another few steps.

“So?” Dash asked, spitting out a large wad of saliva and grime. “How are the others doing?”

“Pinkie’s just over there,” Applejack gestured towards the pink mare with her chin. “Looks like she’s doin’ fine.”

Indeed, the perky pony was doing more than fine. She had yet to attack once, but the area she was in was filled with dazed and stumbling changelings. Even as Dash watched, Pinkie somehow popped out from behind one of the changeling’s heads. All of the other changelings in the area whirled towards her, firing blasts of magic from their horns. She giggled before disappearing again, letting the changeling she had appeared behind take the blasts instead. The poor changeling staggered before dropping heavily to the ground as Pinkie appeared behind another changeling, snickering quietly to herself as the confused changelings tried to find her.

“Can’t they just sense her emotions?” Dash asked, cocking an eyebrow at the sight. “That’s a thing they do, right?” On her back, Applejack shrugged. The farmpony’s tail lashed out again, the rope wrapping around the neck of another changeling that had ventured too close.

Rarity mumbled around the tail in her mouth, quickly stepping to the left to avoid bumping into one of the many changelings scattered about the area. The changeling didn’t see her, but Rarity didn’t desire to test if Zecora’s little trick could fool their sense of touch as well. The zebra had ordered Rarity to bite onto her tail before pulling out a glass vial filled with a strange orange liquid. Whatever Zecora had drunk, it worked. The changelings were ignoring them completely; it was like the pair weren’t even reflected in their blank blue eyes.

Zecora led the way around another changeling, Rarity quick-stepping to keep up with her. It’s working! the unicorn mare thought excitedly. Don’t worry about a thing, Fluttershy. I’m coming for you. She felt the hairs of Zecora’s tail grind between her teeth. If those brutish changelings so much as harm a hair on your head, I swear I’ll tear down their home brick by brick for you.

Rarity heard a scream coming from ahead of her, and looked up just in time to see her fellow unicorn disappear in a blast of green fire. “Twilight!” she shrieked, her mouth falling wide open. A cacophony of hostile hisses rose up around her, and Rarity realized she had accidently released Zecora’s tail. She smiled sheepishly at the flat look Zecora was giving her.

“Oopsie.”

What? I-I’m okay? Twilight stared down at her hooves in disbelief. The grass was charred all around her, either burnt away or scorched black by the heat of the changeling’s attack. But as for her – her fur, her mane – remained completely untouched by the flames that had washed over her. Her hooves slid over her body, confirming what she already knew; she was completely unharmed.

How? There had been a hint of… something she had felt when the flames had first washed over her. It had been a strange tingly feeling, running up and down her spine. I know I’ve felt that before, she thought, chewing at the inside of her cheek, but where…?

An odd itch unexpectedly spread across Twilight’s body, the palpable sensation creating a unnatural tingle. Before she could do anything more than then make note of it, the feeling sharply flared. She had to swallow down a scream at the pain as it felt like her body was being torn apart. The dancing flames spread across her eyes, completely blotting out her sight of the world. Darkness grasped at the edge of her vision, threatening to drop her in an empty abyss. Her mind felt like a rubber band tensed too tight; frayed and ready to snap.

What’s happening to me? she wondered frantically. One hoof shot up to her throat, pressing against her neck as she gasped for air. I-I can’t breathe! Every gasped breath was a struggle, and she felt like the fire dancing across her body was burning the insides of her lungs. The darkness slowly spread, blotting out everything until only a single pinprick of light remained.

The last thing Twilight felt before completely succumbing to the darkness was the feeling of her own hooves scraping against her throat.

“Hello…? Is there anypony there?”

An empty void stretched around Twilight, spreading in all directions for as far as she could see. Oddly, she was able to see her own body perfectly, like she was glowing with a slight inner light, but everything else was lost in absolute darkness. She felt like she was standing on something, but she was completely unable to see whatever it might be.

“Can anypony hear me? Hello?”

Twilight’s voice was lost in the void, devoured by the uncaring abyss.

“Is there somepony there? Please, can you hear me?”

She continued to call, but there was no response no matter what she tried. Lost and alone, she curled up in a ball and pulled her tail up over her head.

“Please… I’m scared…”

A masculine laugh cut through the darkness. “Scared? What’s there to be scared of?” Amusement and smugness suffused the voice, overlapping with malice and suppressed anger so thick she could feel it on her skin. “Oh, I know! Maybe you’re frightened because you’re feeling the effects of the seal on you. It’s really quite a terrible seal. I mean, it would take a rather depraved pony to do something like this to somepony. Wait, my mistake. That’s exactly what you did.”

Twilight poked one eye out from under her tail, inhaling sharply at the sight awaiting her. “What are you doing here?!” she coughed, choking on tail hair.

Discord, spirit of chaos and disharmony, bent low at the waist as he gave her a sweeping bow. His mismatched pegasus and bat wings fluttered at his sides, keeping him aloft. “Me?” he asked rhetorically, his unequal pupils staring unblinkingly into her eyes. She broke her gaze away him, knowing about his ability to twist minds through eye contact. He chuckled deeply and patted her head, rubbing his claw-like talons into her mane. “Now, is that the best question Celly’s student can come up with? Surely there’s a far better question you should be asking?”

Twilight slapped his hand aside, glaring up at him briefly before locking her gaze somewhere around his midsection. Discord wasn’t going to give her any straight answers, so she’d just have to figure it out on her own. “You can’t have escaped. You’d make sure your escape was something flashy. We’d know already. Which means… this is all inside my head?”

“Bravo!” Discord enthusiastically applauded her. “Give the girl a cookie! Maybe if I give you enough time, you’ll be able to figure out the rest, too.”

Twilight ignored his outburst, instead trying to puzzle out the problem. “But that doesn’t explain you. Are you a figment of my imagination?”

Discord huffed, crossing his arms. “A figment. That’s nice.” Flexing his arms, Discord struck an excessively fabulous pose in front of her. “Surely you couldn’t imagine something as magnificent as this. Even somepony as bright as you couldn’t conjure a figure of such spectacular grandeur. ”

“Well, you’re certainly as annoying as I remember,” Twilight grumbled under her breath. “If it’s really you, then our minds must be connected somehow. Which means…” A voice echoed inside her head, something she had heard only hours ago…

“You probably haven’t even realized the change in your magic.”

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?”

“That’s it!” Discord shouted with a laugh as he pointed at the expression on her face. “That dawning moment of realization! Priceless!”

“What. Did. You. Do?!” Twilight snarled, punctuating every word with a step forward until she reared up and placed her hooves on his chest. She glared threateningly up at his muzzle, which was still plastered with that infuriatingly smug smile.

“Me?” he asked, giving her the largest pair of puppy dog eyes he could. “Why, nothing. Nothing at all.” She continued to glare at him, and his smile broadened. “Well, now that you mention it,” he added casually, as if it was barely worth mentioning, “I suppose there was that one thing. But that’s nothing much, right? Just a complete rewrite of your magical abilities. I’m sure everypony does it.”

“NOPONY DOES THAT!” Twilight shrieked into his face, tears threatening the edges of her eyes. Her magic was her life. It meant everything to her. To have it so cruelly torn away from her…

“No? Well, then,” Discord smirked down at her, openly enjoying her anguish, “I suppose I shouldn’t mention the rest of it. That would just make you feel worse.” He stroked at his long thin beard, staring meaningfully off into the empty distance. “Ah, I’m such a nice guy.”

“What did you…” Twilight cut herself off, grimacing as a stab of pain flashed through her head.

She saw herself, lying on the ground of the Everfree forest. She was unconscious, oblivious to what was going on around her. The bipedal creature stood over her, his axe at his side as he looked down at her He was clenching the handle in his hand so tightly that his knuckled were turning white. Watching the scene, Twilight realized this must have been the moment right after he had struck her horn, knocking her out cold.

As she watched, something shifted in his eyes. He bent down beside her and quickly cut the palm of his hand open with a quick motion of his axe. The vision started to fade as he shoved his hand into her mouth, letting a few crimson drops fall onto her exposed tongue.

The vision faded from Twilight’s sight, leaving behind the unwelcome sight of Discord’s smug face. “And that’s how the bond between us was made. I figured you’d like to know.”

With a quick shake of her head, Twilight shook off the last traces of the vision. “What, is that it?” she asked sarcastically. “Don’t tell me you brought that creature to the forest just to forge a bond with me. You could have just sent a letter in the mail.”

Discord chuckled. “Don’t think too highly of yourself, Twilight Sparkle,” he chided playfully. “There are a few other reasons I needed him. You’re just the main one.”

“I’m flattered. Well, congratulations. You have me.” She rolled her eyes. “Now what? Is this the part where you start twisting words against me to make me doubt everything I’ve ever done?”

“Hmm… Nah.”Reaching behind his back, Discord pulled out a large flat mirror that was three times as wide as he was and there was no way it could have been hiding behind him. Twilight decided not to question it. Setting the mirror up, he shot her an amused look. “But we can do that later if you really want.”

“Pass.”

Discord gave her an annoyed huff. “You know, you got snarky all of a sudden.”

“I’ve got to do something to keep myself entertained.” She shrugged. “It’s not like you’re funny, after all.”

Discord glared at her with all the malevolence an immortal was capable of. “I think Celestia’s been giving you a terrible education,” he grumbled. Turning away from her, he quickly finished setting up the mirror before cheerfully clapping his hands together. “And there we go,” he said brightly, his anger forgotten.

Twilight cocked an eyebrow at him “And what’s this?”

Sitting on the empty space next to Twilight, Discord let his taloned arm limply fall on her back. “It’s a little something that lets me see what’s going on outside,” he explained cheerfully. “After all, how else would I know the state of our little game-”

“Game?” Twilight cut him off, suddenly feeling a flash of real anger. “This is all just a game to you?”

“Of course it is. I mean,” he laughed darkly, “if it wasn’t a game, what would that change?” Before she could respond, he quickly answered his own question. “If this wasn’t a game, then I had been completely defeated by Celestia and her little ponies when they weren’t playing fair. In that case, I would then have to do everything I possibly could to ensure the rest of their wretched lives were absolute misery for them.” Discord’s voice dropped to a growl and his talons started to dig painfully into Twilight’s shoulder. “One by one, every one of them would lose everything valuable to them, never understanding what was going on and never realizing why nopony would help them crawl out of the wretched holes their lives had become.” His talons squeezed even harder, and Twilight started trying to squirm away from him. He didn’t notice. “Abandoned by their closest families and friends, their lives devoid of any sense of happiness or hope.” His talons punctured Twilight’s skin, a slight trickle of blood oozing from the wound. “Only when they die cold and lonely deaths, completely alone from the world and quickly forgotten by the passing of time, would I consider my revenge to be complete.”

Twilight wanted to scream. The wound from Discord’s talons was bleeding profusely now, dying her lavender coat a deep crimson hue. When Discord’s head whirled around to look her in the eyes, she was not ashamed to admit that she nearly wet herself.

“But since it is a game,” Discord said cheerfully to her, “we don’t need to worry about any of that.” The turnabout from anger to cheerful playfulness was so complete that Twilight was almost able to fool herself into believing that she had imagined it. But the blood staining her coat and the twinkle of madness deep within Discord’s eyes told all too clear a story.

“Anyway, where was… Ah.” Discord pulled up his talons and stared at the blood on it in some surprise. “Goodness, how did this happen?” With a snap of his fingers, the blood vanished. With another snap, he made the wound on Twilight’s shoulder instantly disappear. “Right, that’s that dealt with. Let’s take a look at what’s going on outside.”

He waved at the mirror and the colours on it started to shift and warp, before quickly forming themselves into a visible image.

Twilight’s empty body shuddered. Emotionless eyes stared forward as her body moved, her motion stiff and unnatural. The roaring flames around her started to pull away, clearing a large space around her.

Her gaze focused and she was able to see the changeling standing before her, looking upon her with undisguised fear and shock. His mouth moved soundlessly as he stared at her – or, more accurately, at a point just behind her shoulder blades.

Twilight craned her neck around to see what he was looking at. Two large wings sat on her back, shimmering in the green flames surrounding her. At least, that’s what she thought. The emerald green flames had wrapped around her body, taking the shape of a pair of large wings. The flames continued their dancing even in their present shape, occasionally allowing her to see through them.

The flames on her left had taken the feathery shape of a large alicorn’s wing. The green fire danced merrily, giving off a warm, friendly feeling. The right wing had taken on a dark, leathery appearance similar to a dragon’s wing. Unlike the alicorn wing, the flames that made up the dragon wing crackled with a dark malevolence, giving off an oppressive heat.

Twilight didn’t even wonder about the existence of the wings. She felt cool and detached; an observer inside her own body. She didn’t realize it, but there was a flame burning within her eyes, a flame almost the exact same hue as the changeling’s fires.

“This… No!” Innocent Sin gasped out, taking an unwilling step away from her. His front legs quivered and threatened to give out on him. “That’s impossible! You can’t be…!”

He was interrupted by a blast of purple and green magic striking him in the chest. Twilight wasn’t interested in whatever he intended to say. His chitin cracked and crumbled under the force of the attack as he was blown back into the burning pile of tinder. The crackling pyre erupted like a volcano when the changeling struck it, knocking burning pieces of wood and one unconscious pegasus into the air.

“Mmm… Hmmm…?”

“Oh, thank goodness, she’s waking up! Fluttershy, can you hear me?”

Rarity crouched over Fluttershy, her hooves wrapped tight around the animal caretaker as a slight groan escaped Fluttershy’s throat. She was so glad that she had been standing where Fluttershy had been launched when the wood pile exploded, and had managed to catch her friend with her magic. The changelings had quickly retreated after that, and Zecora, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack were keeping watch to make sure they didn’t return.

“Fluttershy!” Rarity shouted, shaking the pegasus hard enough to rattle her teeth. “Say something!”

“Huh… Wha…?” Fluttershy blinked woozily at the unicorn standing above her. “Rar…ity…? Is that you?”

“Yes, darling,” Rarity said gently, her eyes brimming with tears. “It’s me. I thought we’d lost you,” she added, her voice a harsh whisper.

Fluttershy blinked uncertainly, her expression showing her confusion. Her eyes were still unfocused, and Rarity figured she must have hit her head at some point. “Lost me?” Fluttershy repeated. “What happened?”

“Well…” Rarity hesitated before deciding Fluttershy would not react well to hearing how close she had been to roasting. “Don’t worry about it. You’re safe now, and that’s all that matters.”

“I guess…” Fluttershy interrupted herself with a gasp, catching sight of the other unicorn of the group. “Is that… Twilight?” she managed to squeak out.

Twilight stood by herself in the middle of the road. Her mane and tail were smoothly flapping in the wind, her mane occasionally falling in front of her eyes before being blown away again. The fiery wings remained, crackling at her sides as she stared up at the sky, gazing at the unmoving sun that cast the world in perpetual twilight. She was completely still other than these small pieces of motion and could have been mistaken for a particularly colourful statue.

But it was her eyes that truly kept her friends at bay. They were devoid of any life, and she seemed to be looking at something that wasn’t even there. The sunlight that was reflected in her blank eyes gave them an empty feeling, staring off into eternity and seeing a sight beyond the pale.

“Hey, looks like Fluttershy’s finally awake,” a scratchy voice said nearby. Rainbow Dash walked over to Rarity and Fluttershy, her one good wing repeatedly curling and unfurling.

Rarity cocked an eyebrow at the new arrival. “Where’s Applejack?” she asked, noting the absence of the farm pony.

Dash nodded her head in the direction she had just come from. “She and Pinkie are setting up camp. There’re no changelings nearby, so we’re staying put until Fluttershy’s better. Also, Zecora’s going to do something to snap Twilight out of whatever she’s doing right now, so we need to wait for that as well. Said she had to account for the ‘mystical energies’.”

“I’m okay…” Fluttershy protested weakly. “…can keep going.”

“Shush, darling,” Rarity cooed. “You’ve been through a lot lately. Just leave it to me to take care of you. I’ll have you better in no time.”

“Well… okay…”

“Hey, I think Zecora’s going to do something,” Rainbow Dash interrupted, pointing down the road where the zebra had just climbed out of the tree line. Zecora had dropped off her pack of potions at some point and carried only her walking stick with her. She slowly circled the unmoving purple unicorn, stopping to wave her hoof in front of Twilight’s eyes.

When Twilight remained unresponsive, Zecora pulled her walking stick of her back and gently tapped it against the side of Twilight’s head. Twilight still did not respond and Zecora pulled her stick back before whipping it into the side of Twilight’s head as hard as she could. There was a loud crack and Twilight collapsed like a sack of potatoes as the flaming wings on her back flickered once before disappearing.

The ponies watching stared in disbelief as Zecora calmly loaded Twilight on her back and walked in the direction of the camp Dash had pointed out earlier. They stared in open mouthed silence until a single voice cut through the quiet.

“What ‘mystical energies’?” Dash grumbled under her breath. “I could have done that.”

The image in the mirror faded, leaving a blank reflective surface behind. In particular, it reflected Twilight’s shocked face, her gaping mouth hang open. “What was that?” she squeaked out.

“That?” Discord asked from beside her, finishing off a bowl of popcorn he had procured at some point before tossing it aside. “That was what I’ve done to your body. I can see you’re in a state of shock, so I’ll try to use small words.” He leaned over her, taking full advantage of his larger frame. “If. You. Lose. Control. It. Will. Destroy. You.” He grinned a self-confident smirk at her. “Thought I’d add a little spice to liven up the game. Things were getting a little stale.”

“Control?” Twilight gaped at him, waving her hoof vaguely in the direction of the mirror. “How am I supposed to control that?”

“You can’t.” Discord cheerfully said as if he relished the idea. “At least, not on your own. How fortunate for you that I’m going to teach you what you need to know to avoid being consumed by your own power. It wouldn’t be interesting if you tripped at this hurdle. What you do with this power will be, of course, completely your decision. There is absolutely no possibility that the magical power take control of you, force you to overthrow Celestia, and put your own little tyrannical regime in place.”

“I-“

Discord snapped his fingers again and a large ornate desk appeared between him and her. “Oh, make no mistake," he said as he sat down behind it, perching a pair of comically overlarge spectacles on his muzzle. "I’m not asking if I can teach you. I’m telling you. Now, for your first lesson...”

Author's Note

The whole blood-bond thing is from way back in Chapter 10, though it got pretty much zero focus.

Discord's magic mirror was first seen in Chapter 25.

Ghost Town

The howling wind whipped through the empty dirt roads, lifting dirt and debris and creating tiny whirlwinds in its wake. The creaking of unlocked shutters swinging freely in the breeze echoed throughout the small town, interspaced with loud bangs as the shutters swung shut before swinging free once more. Empty houses lined the street, their cracked and broken windows staring dispassionately down on the world below.

Spike glanced around uneasily as he entered the town, his shuffling feet carving long grooves in the dirt road. Sweetie Belle pressed up against his back, occasionally jumping or letting out a whimper whenever a nearby shutter slammed shut. Spike’s body tingled with nervous energy, throbbing in time with his pounding heartbeat. His breath rasped harsh and rough against his dry throat, his forked tongue hanging limply out of his mouth as he panted for breath.

Another loud bang shot through the street, and Sweetie Belle whimpered as she tried to bury herself under Spike’s scales.

“Hey,” Spike said, gently slapping her cheek. “You okay?”

“Uh huh,” Sweetie Belle said, still staring down the street. Despite what she said, she made no move to release him. “This place is creepy.”

“Yeah,” Spike agreed quietly, looking around at the seemingly abandoned buildings around him. “It’s so quiet. There’s no life anywhere.” The entire town was desolate, completely devoid of any living creatures. Even the animals had fled. A gust of wind caressed his scales, lifting dust and detritus and depositing it a little ways away. A newspaper flew right into his face, blinding him for a few seconds before he peeled it off.

Dodge City Herald, the paper proudly proclaimed. The news didn’t interest Spike, but the date in the upper left corner caught his eye. The paper had been published only a few days ago, on the exact same day that the sun had frozen in the sky.

“Look,” Sweetie Belle said, pointing over Spike’s shoulder. Spike looked up to see Scootaloo riding her scooter towards them, Apple Bloom running alongside her.

“It’s no good,” Scootaloo said as she pulled to a stop in front of Spike, throwing up a cloud of dust as she screeched to a stop. “All the houses are empty. What about over here?” she asked as Apple Bloom walked right past the both of them and started trying to comfort Sweetie Belle.

“Pretty much the same,” Spike said, shaking his head. “We couldn’t find a single pony.”

“Everything was broken…” Sweetie Belle whispered, tucking her head against Spike’s own. As Spike reached up to tousle her mane and try to help her calm down, his mind flashed back to what had happened just north of town.

“This is as far. As I go,” Fenrir had said, slowing to a complete stop. Lowing himself down on his haunches, he allowed the children to slide off his wooden back and onto the ground below. After the Cutie Mark Crusaders had explained to him how Luna had been purified from the darkness by the Elements of Harmony and they were on a quest to save her, he had insisted on joining them to speed their travels while the rest of his pack traveled north. He had been very interested to hear stories about the mares that wielded the Elements of Harmony, and had pressed the fillies for details about Nightmare Moon's defeat during the hours of travel.

The rest of the pack had continued north, heading towards an unknown destination. Fenrir had been unwilling to explain where they were going when Scootaloo had asked, and the filly had eventually dropped it. Riding the giant timberwolf, the group had been able to make in mere hours what would have taken them days of traveling.

“Aww,” Scootaloo complained as the others began climbing down. “You’re not hanging out with us anymore?”

Fenrir reached back to where she sat on his back, gripping her in her teeth-like thorns before gently depositing her on the ground. “There is. A town. Just over this hill.” He gestured with his head at a large hill before them. “Take this. Chance. To find. Food and water. Before we continue.”

“I agree with the barn-sized monstrosity.” Spike suggested. Secretly, he still wanted to try a find a way home, but he realized that would be impossible with Fenrir watching them. He didn’t trust the timberwolf at all, but there was nothing he could do about it.

“Fooooooood,” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo groaned out together, already starting to climb the hill.

“How’ll you find us again?” Pipsqueak asked, looking up at Fenrir.

Fenrir inclined his head towards the hill again. “I’ll meet you. On the other side. Of town.” After saying that, he turned and vanished into the trees far faster than anything that size had any right to.

Spike shook his head, shaking the image off. They had hoped to find civilization, but a ghost town had been all that awaited them. “What about Pipsqueak?” he asked, noting the absence of the only other male of the group. “Wasn’t he with you guys?”

Scootaloo jerked her head in the direction she had just come from. “He found a water fountain. And there was something… odd. He wanted you to take a look at it.” At the mention of the fountain, Scootaloo’s wings gave a slight little twitch. Spike normally wasn’t good at reading ponies, but even he could tell Scootaloo was struggling to keep up a brave front. Whatever she had seen had scared her. Badly.

“Odd?” Spike asked, deciding not to mention it if Scootaloo wasn’t going to. “How’s it odd?”

“You better see for yourself,” Scootaloo reiterated. She glanced over at the other two before turning her attention back to Spike. “We’ll catch up.” She pointed down the street. “The fountain’s a few blocks away. Just go straight, you can’t miss it.”

With a shrug, Spike headed in the direction she had pointed out. The lonely walls were his only company as he jogged down the empty streets, his short legs moving rapidly under him. Just as Scootaloo had said, he was easily able to find the fountain. Pipsqueak stood next to it, staring at something hidden behind the stone structure.

“Hey,” Spike said, jogging up beside Pipsqueak. “What’s… whoa… What is that?” The last few words were barely above a whisper. Words failed him as Spike saw exactly what the colt had been staring at. The ground had been scarred. Deep cuts had been gouged into the earth. Four cuts side by side, like a monster had run its claws across the landscape. Burns streaked across the afflicted area, as if whatever had done it had been on fire at the time.

But what was really frightening about the cuts, what truly made Spike what to run back home and never look back, was the sheer size of them. The furrows were deep. Even if Spike was four times as tall, he wouldn’t be able see over the edge. No dragon Spike had heard of – not even the mightiest wyrms in history – would have been able to create gullies this deep.

“D’ya know what it could’ve been?” Pipsqueak asked, rubbing his hoof along the scorched earth. The black charcoal stuck to him, and he quickly rubbed it off on some clean dirt.

“No,” Spike muttered. “And I don’t want to.” His gaze started to zip along the surrounding buildings, like he expected whatever had done this to suddenly crash through the houses. “We should leave. Now.”

“Yeah,” Pipsqueak heaved himself to his hooves. “Luna’s waiting for u-”

Spike wasn’t sure what tipped him off. A flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye; a whisper of sound teasing his ears; or just a feeling prickling at the back of his neck. Before he could even think about what he was doing, he had grabbed Pipsqueak and dove behind the fountain, throwing them both to the ground.

“What’re you-?” That was as far as Pipsqueak got before Spike grabbed his mouth, cutting him off. Pipsqueak cocked a questioning eyebrow at the baby dragon as he pulled away. “What’s wrong?” he whispered, crouching low beside Spike.

“I’m not sure,” Spike admitted, cautiously poking his head above the fountain. “But-” His earflaps twitched and he quickly ducked behind the fountain again.

They both heard it this time. A meaty thud as flesh struck wood. The sound was close. They had time to share a scared look before there was a splintery crack followed by the sound of something heavy hitting the ground. Spike’s heart felt like it was going to pound right out of his chest as he cautiously poked his head over the fountain.

A nearby door that had been secured moments ago lay in pieces and something strode over it, crunching the shattered wood underfoot. Its features were hidden at first by the dust thrown up from the broken door, but it quickly became visible to the young pair. Pipsqueak wasn’t sure what he was seeing.

Spike, to his dismay, knew exactly what he was looking at.

A bipedal creature with long legs and arms with pale skin walked into the open. Most of its body was covered by clothing, and its exposed skin was pink and hairless. It had a short-cropped mane atop its head, and an even shorter layer of hair adorned its face.

He had only seen it once before, and even then it had been unconscious, but there was still no doubt in his mind. It was unmistakable. It was the exact kind of creature as the one that had come from the Everfree.

Pebbles crunched under the creature’s feet as it looked out at the houses across from it. Its hands played at something at its side, though Spike couldn’t tell what it was. “Here too,” it said to itself in a voice like gargling rocks as it spotted the burnt scars on the street. “What happened here?”

Spike felt his legs give out under him. These things could talk!? The ground crunched under him and the creature’s head shot up. “Who’s there?” it demanded, in a sharp tone. When there was no response, it took a step towards the youngster’s hiding place. “I know you’re there. Either come out, or I’m coming after you.”

Spike wanted to run. I never wanted any of this! he thought desperately. Twilight was the hero, not him. He was just her number one assistant. At the end of the day, all he wanted was to curl up warm and safe in his basket. To go to sleep knowing the next day would be the same as the day that had just passed.

…pulse…

He wasn’t a hero. He had always thought he had wanted to be one, but he knew now that was the simple delusions of a foolish child. Unable to do anything in the world, he could only image. He saw himself for what he really was: just a weak, powerless lizard.

…pulse…

He wanted strength. He needed strength. Without strength, he couldn’t do anything. Deep inside him, something began to uncoil. A horrifying monster deep within him took its first breath as it awoke, its hungry gaze devouring everything it could see. Everything Spike could see.

Yes… That was right… Spike’s fangs and claws began to lengthen, his scales becoming just a little bit thicker. This thing would dare to threaten him? This thing, and others like it, would be so foolish as to try and take away the things important to him? His muzzle started to narrow and extend, his lips pulling back to expose his lengthening fangs. He would show them, oh yes he would. This creature with its soft flesh would learn its mistake. Let it try to take away Spike’s important ponies when it was nothing more than jam between Spike’s toes.

A punch to Spike’s shoulder knocked him out of his reverie. Pipsqueak gave Spike a wide smile from his crouched position next to the baby dragon. “Don’t worry about it,” he whispered with a wink. “Leave it all to me.”

No… The monster inside Spike hissed, struggling to be unleashed. We demand vengeance… We demand bloodshed… Let all fear me… They will quail in fear from me, hiding from me or they will feel my wrath.

Spike blinked. Where did that thought come from? He didn’t want ponies fearing him. They were his friends, after all.

They are weak, the inner voice hissed. That wasn’t right, Spike realized with a shock. It wasn’t just some voice. It was his own inner dragon. They need us to protect them. We are ferocity. We are strength.

You are getting on my nerves, Spike shot back, quickly suppressing the predatory urges. The monster struggled and spat, but was unable to do anything but return to its slumber. Its burning urges, so reminiscent of his draconic greed, receded back to a point deep inside him.

As his body began to shrink back down to normal size, Spike gave Pipsqueak a nod. The colt returned it with a confident grin before striding straight past Spike and out into the open.

“So you’re doing better?” Scootaloo asked, cocking an eyebrow at Sweetie Belle beside her. The three fillies walked side-by-side, heading in the direction of Spike and Pipsqueak.

Sweetie Belle blushed as she ducked her head. “Yeah…” she muttered almost inaudibly. “Sorry to worry you.”

“No worries,” Apple Bloom said cheerfully. Her cheer faded a little as she looked at the houses around them. “This place is a mite unnervin’.”

“Psh,” Scootaloo scoffed. “There’s nothing frightening about this town. You two are just wimps.”

“Oh?” Apple Bloom asked with an amused quick of her lips. “Yer not scared? Then why aren’t you looking at the houses? Maybe you should keep an eye out for a henhouse? Then you can sleep with the other chickens.”

If looks could hurt, Apple Bloom would have been writhing on the ground from the force of the baleful glare Scootaloo was shooting her. “Ha ha,” the unamused pegasus said flatly. “You’re hilarious.”

“Ain’t I just?” Apple Bloom asked with a smug grin.

Sweetie Belle’s ears twitched and she lifted her hooves up to cover her friend’s mouths. “Shhh,” she said, leaning forward past the other two. “Do you hear that?” With Scootaloo and Apple Bloom silent, they could hear something coming from ahead of them. The trio quickly moved to the edge of a nearby building and slunk forward until they could see the source of the voices. Pipsqueak and some creature were talking to each other while Spike was hiding out of the creature’s sight.

“What’s that thing?” Scootaloo asked, frowning at the tall creature. “It’s ugly.”

“Dunno,” Sweetie Belle whispered back. “It sure looks familiar, though. What do you think, Apple Bloom? Apple Bloom?” she added, noticing her friend’s silence.

Apple Bloom’s ears pressed flat against her skull as she stared at the creature with a mixture of fear and hatred. “That’s that thing that foalnapped me,” she whispered through gritted teeth.

Sweetie Belle frowned slightly as her head tilted slightly. A pensive frown blossomed on her lips. “Can’t be. We saw it in the hospital, remember? This must be a different one.”

Scootaloo hushed the other two into silence “Quiet,” she hissed. “They’re saying something.”

“…I don’t care about any of that,” Pipsqueak was saying, glaring up at the strange creature. The fillies must have arrived in the middle of the conversation. “You made Princess Luna sad. That means you’re a bad person. I’m not going to listen to you.”

The creature made a sound of frustration as it brought a hand across its face. “Why won’t you listen? You can see the proof for yourself,” he motioned towards a large gouge torn in the street. “There’s something else going on here, something that’s more then what we can see. Something big.” He lifted his hand over the left side of his chest. “I just feel like something else is going on, but I have no idea what it could be.”

“’A feeling’,” Pipsqueak noted sarcastically. “You know, when I get feelings like that, my mommy says it was probably because of something I ate.”

A bitter chuckle escaped the creature as he let his hand fall to his side. “Harsh.”

“Not harsh enough,” Pipsqueak accused, stepping forward. The creature took a step back, his expression mildly amused that he was being threatened by something that barely came up to his waist. “I already said I’m not listening to you, so why don’t you just leave already?”

“I…” The creature’s shoulders slumped as he sighed, giving his head a slight shake. “There really is nothing I can say to convince you, is there?” Pipsqueak’s expression remained unchanged, and the creature grimaced as he turned away. “Fine. Then I’m sorry for wasting your time.” The creature strode off, vanishing in the direction of Canterlot.

Pipsqueak waited until he was sure the creature wasn’t going to return before releasing a breath he hadn’t even been aware he was holding. His legs gave out from under him as he slumped down, his stomach pressing against the cool ground.

“That was awesome!” Scootaloo suddenly yelled in his ear. Pipsqueak recoiled away from her as he brought his hooves up to cover his ears. If she noticed his discomfort, she sure didn’t show it. “The way you stood up to that thing was just so cool!”

“Yeah, but what were you thinking?” Apple Bloom fumed as she walked up to the pair. “What would you’ve done if it tried to hurt you?”

Pipsqueak blushed slightly at the praise. “Well, I had to do something, right? I wanna be a guard someday, so I couldn’t just run away. And also, I couldn’t just leave Spike.”

“Aww,” Sweetie Belle cooed over him. “You’re just so precocious, aren’t you?”

“Pre-co-what?” Scootaloo sounded out, giving Sweetie Belle a sidelong look. “You’re making that word up, ain’t ya?”

Sweetie Belle frowned at her. “Am not.”

“Are too,” Scootaloo shot back.

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

Apple Bloom slammed her hooves together, cutting into the argument. “As stimulating as listening to ya two is, Ah think that’s more than enough of that. Pipsqueak, did that there critter say anything of interest?”

“Well,” Pipsqueak rubbed at his ear thoughtfully, “he said that all the ponies living in this town had been captured by the changelings. Sounds like those ponies are being kept in some sort of pods in a cave not too far from here. Dunno where that could be, though.”

Apple Bloom nodded, her gaze skipping to the empty windows all around them. “That explains where everypony went, at least.”

“We should rescue them!” Sweetie Belle said. “I’m sure they’re all alone an’ frightened. Nopony deserves that.”

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom nodded in agreement. Apple Bloom especially, she knew what it was like to be attacked in her own home. “Alright,” Apple Bloom said, “so what are we-?”

“Sorry to interrupt, but I disagree,” Spike said from his position next to the fountain. As the others turned to give him disbelieving stares, he shrugged. “We can’t afford to get sidetracked. We’re the only ones who can save Princess Luna.”

“I thought you just wanted to head back to Ponyville?” Pipsqueak asked with a tilt of his head.

Spike huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “Hey, even I can see that this is important. Besides,” he added somewhat shamefully, averting his gaze, “I didn’t really believe that Princess Luna had been captured.”

Pipsqueak blinked at that. “You thought I was lying?”

“No, no,” Spike awkwardly hastened to clarify, “that’s not it. It’s just… well… we’re following you because you have a feeling that Princess Luna is in this direction. But that’s it, right? There was no reason to believe that it was Princess Luna who talked to you.”

“Of course it was Princess Luna,” Pipsqueak said, glaring at Spike. He stepped forward until they were almost muzzle-to-muzzle. “She told me so herself!”

Apple Bloom quickly imposed herself between the two males, shoving both of them back. “You two need to both calm down!” As they mumbled out apologies, she focused her attention on Spike. “So how come you believe him now?”

With a sharp gesture, Spike pointed in the direction the creature had vanished. “That thing. We know the one in the Everfree was there because of Discord, so this one probably was as well. If that pain in the flank’s plotting something here, it’s probably related to Princess Luna’s disappearance.”

A mutual shudder went around the group at the mention of the Spirit of Chaos. Scootaloo was the first to recover. “Well… fine, but why do you think we should abandon the ponies here? That just ain’t right.”

“I don’t like it either,” Spike admitted, uncomfortably scratching the spines at the back of his neck, “but Princess Luna’s more important. If the changelings really did kidnap everypony in town, then it would take too long to find them.” He pointed at the sun hanging low in the sky, which remained in the exact same place it had been for days now. “But the Princesses are the only ones who can fix that. They’ll be able to save this town much better than we can.”

Silence filled the air as the group thought about what Spike said. In the end, Scootaloo was the one to break the silence. “You just gotta be the voice of reason, don’tcha?” She let out an annoyed huff, her tiny wings flaring at her sides. “Fine, but I’m still mad.”

“I am too,” Spike said. A somber mood fell over the group, as they all considered the truth in Spike’s words. To know that so many ponies were suffering, and that there was nothing they could do about it… It was the worst feeling any of the youngsters had ever felt.

From a distance, it just looked like another hill. There was nothing too out of the ordinary about it, except maybe the fact that it was completely covered in branches. Until they got close, that is, and it poked its head up with a whuff of greeting.

“Welcome back. Little Cubs,” Fenrir said as he sat upright, scratching at his ears with a hindleg the size of a tree trunk. “Are you ready. To leave?”

“Hey Fenrir,” Scootaloo asked quietly, looking up at the great timberwolf. “Why do they want to hurt us so bad?”

Fenrir’s leg stopped its movement for a moment before starting up again. “You mean. The changelings? I don’t know,” he admitted. His leg dropped to the ground. “Timberwolves hunt. For food alone. Though those of us. Who still remember. Our loyalty to Princess Luna. Don’t hunt ponies.”

Spike screeched to a halt. “Hang on,” he said accusingly. “How’d you know about the changelings? Don’t tell me you knew about them!”

Fenrir chuckled, his deep throaty laugh booming loudly. “I can smell them,” he answered simply. Crouching down, he allowed the youngsters to climb up on his back. “Are you prepared? We will reach. Equestria’s borders soon. The Moon Princess. Awaits.”

Scootaloo frowned before grabbing one of the sticks that stuck out of Fenrir’s body like so much coarse hair. “Yeah,” she said firmly as the others followed her lead. "Yeah, we're ready. Let's do this.”

Author's Note

Dodge City was overrun by the changelings in Chapter 21 and we last saw Alex in the following chapter

Rescue the Night

"We're here."

Pipsqueak snorted, the simple words jarring him awake. Around him, the others were reacting in much the same way, the constant back-and-forth motion of Fenrir's jog having lulled them off to sleep. Poking his head up, Pipsqueak looked around at the area they had stopped in. "You sure about that?" he asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. It wasn't an unreasonable question. The entire area was desolate; an absolute wasteland. No plants, no water, and nothing but barren rocks as far as the eye could see. The place was so hot that the air appeared warping and Pipsqueak felt sweat cover his body. His stomach let out a little rumble when he realized there was nothing to eat, either. They had been so distressed when they realized Dodge City had been abandoned that they had completely forgotten to grab something to eat. Surely nothing could live all the way out here, right?

Responding to Pipsqueak’s query, Fenrir pointed his nose towards a small cave opening that the pinto colt hadn't noticed."I can smell. Their scent." He stuck his nose up in the air and sniffed at the wind. "The scent is strong. And... familiar." He hesitated slightly before apparently deciding whatever it was wasn't important. "What do. Your senses tell you?"

Pipsqueak considered. Deep within his body, he could feel the pull tugging towards Princess Luna. Only the pull wasn't calling him forward anymore, instead tugging him in a very different direction. "She's beneath us."

"So what's the plan?" Sweetie Belle piped up, pointing at the cave. "That's their cave, right? Their... um... nest, I guess? There's probably a lot of changelings guarding the Princess."

"Plan?" Scootaloo scoffed from her position between Fenrir's ears as she patted the giant timberwolf's head. "What do we need a plan for? We've got a monster that’s nearly half as big as a full-grown dragon with us. I'm sure we can figure something out."

"Uh, Scootaloo?" Apple Bloom asked, tilting her head slightly. "I don't think Mr. Fenrir is goin' to fit in those caves."

"Mister?" Fenrir muttered under his breath while Scootaloo cursed above him, apparently having failed to notice the gaping flaw in her master plan until it was pointed out to her.

Pipsqueak listened with interest until Scootaloo had finished. "Wow, I didn't even know half those words," he said, impressed. "Where'd you learn them?"

"Watching Rainbow Dash practice," Scootaloo answered proudly. The others made noises of understanding. Rainbow Dash could get very... colourful whenever she messed up practicing one of her stunts.

Spike, who had remained silent as he considered the cave, quietly sighed. Yep, he thought despondently, Twilight's gonna kill me. Maybe if he managed to save all Equestria, she'd be willing to let him off with just grounding him? It was worth a shot. Loudly clearing his throat, he drew everypony's attention towards him. "I have a plan," he said aloud.

"I don't like this plan."

Apple Bloom, Pipsqueak, Scootaloo, Spike, and Sweetie Belle were huddled behind a large boulder a fair distance from the entrance to the cave. Scootaloo let out a tired sigh as she tested the wheels of her scooter, making sure they were still spinning right. "We know," she grunted out. "You've told us."

"I just want to make it clear," Sweetie Belle muttered. "Do we really have to go down there?"

"Hey, it's not like we've got any better ideas." Satisfied with her scooter's condition, Scootaloo tossed it down on the ground and hopped up on it. "You're not scared, right?"

"No!" Sweetie Belle protested immediately, before stopping to consider her answer. "Well... maybe just little," she admitted. A weight pressed against her shoulder and she looked up to see Scootaloo's understanding eyes staring into her own.

"It's okay," the young pegasus comforted. "I'm scared, too." Sweetie Belle was so shocked by Scootaloo admitting to being scared by anything that she was unable to respond until Scootaloo grinned at her, cracking the tension.

Sweetie Belle smirked in response. "Wow, never thought I'd ever hear you being scared by something," she teased. "I should mark the calendars."

Scootaloo chuckled before glancing over to where the other three were gathered. "If you ever tell anypony I said that, I'll deny it," she warned seriously.

"My lips are sealed," Sweetie Belle agreed with a smile as she ran her hoof across her lips.

A short distance away, the other three were lost in their own conversation. "So where'd you come up with this idea?" Apple Bloom asked Spike curiously. "It's pretty clever."

Spike scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Well..." he hedged. "Honestly, I read it in a comic book. It was pretty recent, so I remember it fairly clearly."

"Ohh, was it the Power Pony series?" Pipsqueak asked in excitement. "I wasn't able to get the most recent edition. The bookstore was sold out by the time I got there," he added sadly.

" Actually, yeah." Spike said. "That's exactly what it was. I ordered it in the mail a few weeks ago."

Pipsqueak's eyes lit up as he leaned in towards Spike while Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. "What happened? Were they able to escape from-?" A loud howl pierced through the air and Pipsqueak cut himself off with a sheepish grin. "This really isn't the time for that, huh?" he said with an embarrassed laugh.

"Come by the library sometime," Spike said, joining the others by the edge of the boulder. "I'll let you borrow mine."

"Really?" the colt asked as he slipped in beside Spike. At the dragon's nod, Pipsqueak's grin spread so wide that his cheeks started to hurt. "Awesome."

"Shh!" All three fillies hushed him, and Pipsqueak went silent with an embarrassed blush plastered on his face, though his grin was as broad as ever.

All five of them turned their attention towards the entrance of the changeling cavern as several changelings poured out of it. The citinous pony-shaped creatures sped in the direction Fenrir's howl had come from, chasing after the intruder in their lands. Their black forms quickly disappeared behind a ridge. There was several seconds of before a loud growl echoed through the empty land, followed by several changeling screams as they realized the exact nature of the creature they had so hastily rushed out to confront. When, after a few minutes had passed and no more changelings had appeared, Pipsqueak and the others stepped out into the open.

"Well," Spike said uncertainly as he stared at the cavern's entrance. "I guess we should... go down there?" His forked tongue nervously lashed across his lips. The plan had been his, but the idea of having to go down into that dark cave was still a scary one. Most of the changelings should have been lured out, but some had doubtlessly remained behind. Behind him, the others made uneasy sounds of agreement but made no motion to actually head towards the cave entrance... with one exception.

"Let's go, girls!" Apple Bloom shouted out excitedly, rearing back on her hind legs. "Cutie Mark Crusaders, yeehaa!" Sprinting forward the instant her hooves came back down, she quickly closed the distance to the cavern's entrance. The others shared a look before taking off after her.

Their forward motion came to a halt the instant they reached the threshold. Pipsqueak squinted, trying to make out anything in the inky blackness. "I can't see a thing," he complained, sitting back on his haunches with a sigh. "It's too dark."

"Yeah," Scootaloo agreed before looking over at the group's unicorn. "Hey Sweetie Belle, think you could make some light for us?"

Sweetie Belle shook her head, tapping her horn with a hoof. "Sorry. Rarity's been teaching me some basic spells, but I can't hold on that long. Four, maybe five minutes' the best I can do. Sorry."

"Mmm," Scootaloo's ears flicked and twitched as she considered the darkness. "Well then, maybe we could-"

"I'm borrowing this," Spike interrupted. With a swipe of his claws, he sliced through the vines tied around Scootaloo that she had been using to carry her scooter all this way. The foals watched with interest as he wound the vine around the end of a large stick.

"Hang on," Apple Bloom said as Spike finished securing the vine. "Where'd you get the stick?" She gestured at the desolate Badlands around them. "There's no trees around here."

"I took it off Fenrir," Spike answered, holding the makeshift tool aloft above his head. His chest expanding slightly as he took a deep breath before he spitting a small gout of flame at the balled up vine. The green fire caught quickly, dancing cheerfully as Spike led the way underground. The darkness retreated before Spike's improvised torch, allowing the group to see where they were going.

"This is so. Awesome," Scootaloo said, following behind Spike. She stared up at the cavern walls in amazement. Strange carvings had been etched into the stone, spreading all the way from the floor to the roof. They were thrown into stark relief from the light cast by Spike's torch, but they were still visible.

"Wow," Apple Bloom agreed from beside Scootaloo. She was also staring up at the carvings, her mouth hanging open. "Ah sure wasn't expecting to find something like this here."

"They're freaky," Sweetie Belle complained. Unlike the other two, she wasn't looking around excitement. Her head was hanging low and her ears were pressed against her scalp. "Why do none of them have faces?"

It was like Sweetie Belle had said. Carvings of pony-like figures lined the walls. They had been posed in a variety of positions, though most of them appeared combat-ready. Some had horns, others had wings, and others still possessed neither. There was no real pattern, and it looked like the artisan had just chosen poses and traits at random. The one feature all the figures shared was a completely blank space where their faces were supposed to be.

"Maybe the artist just forgot to put the faces in?" Scootaloo suggested. She leaned over her handlebars and scratched at one of the carvings. When she pulled her hoof away, she was surprised that she hadn't left a single mark. "Huh, that's odd."

Before she could experiment any more, Spike's voice filtered from up ahead. "There's a fork in the road. Which way should we go?" Ahead of them, the tunnel split into three separate paths, but there were no directions on the walls telling them which way to go.

"That way," Pipsqueak said without hesitation, pointing at the leftmost tunnel. Seeing Spike's curious expression, the pinto colt gave a little shrug. "It just feels right," he explained.

Spike contemplated Pipsqueak's words before shrugging himself. "Sure, why not." Holding the burning torch aloft, Spike headed in the direction Pipsqueak had indicated. They ran into few more intersections and tunnel crossings, but Pipsqueak was always able to point them in the right direction. Without his feelings and the tug inside of him telling them which way to go, the group would have quickly gotten themselves hopelessly lost.

Following after the boys, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were looking around in curiosity, cheerfully pointing out all the new and wondrous sights they could see. Even Sweetie Belle had forgotten her trepidation in the excitement and had joined in the fun.

"What's that?" Scootaloo questioned, pointing at one of the carvings on the ceiling.

Sweetie Belle followed the direction Scootaloo was aiming at. "Weird," she said, tilting her head curiously. "Looks like one of the Princesses, doesn't it? Wonder why she's moulting?"

"Moultin'?" Apple Bloom asked, flicking her tail slightly as she looked over at the resident dictionary.

"It means she's losing her feathers," Sweetie Belle explained. "Pegasi do it all the time." As Scootaloo nodded in agreement, Sweetie Belle pointed at another carving. "What's that?"

"Huh," Apple Bloom muttered, seeing what Sweetie Belle pointed at. "Now that one's odd. It looks like some sorta cloud is surroundin' another alicorn." A thought occurred to her, and she took another quick look around the tunnel they were in. "Come to think of it, there sure are a lot of carving of alicorns around here. Wonder why there weren't none at the entrance." Just like the others, something caught her attention and she quickly pointed it out. "What's that?"

Seeing what Apple Bloom had pointed at, the others were easily able to understand why it had caught her eye. Two spots of blue light stood side-by-side in the tunnel ahead of them, just out of reach of the light cast by Spike's torch. As the fillies watched, twin lines of silver appeared beneath the glowing specks, followed by a threatening hiss as the spots moved into the light, revealed to be the blank blue eyes of a changeling.

"That..." Spike said hesitantly, taking a short step back. "That's a problem."

More pair of light appeared behind the first changeling, called by its hiss. Several more changelings stepped into the light, snarling threateningly at the young group.

Scootaloo looked askance at Spike, who had backed up beside her. "So... uh... any more schemes in that head of yours?"

Spike gave her a tiny shake of his head, not tearing his gaze away from the approaching changelings. "No, but I'm open to ideas. Should we run?"

"We have to get past them," Pipsqueak pointed out quietly.

Giving her wings a little buzz, Scootaloo rode her scooter in front of Spike. Words played out in her mind, reminding her of a scene she had been part of only a few days ago.

"Why did you do it?" she had asked. Scootaloo had been with Rainbow Dash at Dash's hospital bed, the adult pegasus forced to remain in the doctor's care after scrapping with the beast from the Everfree Forest. Namely, she had thrown herself at it when she had seen it threatening her friends, and had very nearly lost her wing in exchange.

Dash's response had been as simple as it was straight forward. "Wouldn't you have done the same?"

An unwilling chuckle escaped from Scootaloo as she crouched down low over her scooter's handlebars. "Yeah," she muttered quietly to nopony in particular. "I guess I would." These creatures stood in front of her, threatening her friends and holding the cool Princess captive. No way was she going to let them scare her any more. She wasn't scared.

She wasn't.

Scootaloo nearly jumped out of her skin as she felt something press against her shoulder. Swinging her head around, she saw Apple Bloom standing beside her. The little farm filly wore a small sardonic smirk on her lips, and her ribbon had been tied in close to her head where it wouldn't fall off. "You think you're the only one who gets to look cool?" she asked with an amused quirk of her lips.

Scootaloo looked away from her, staring at the slowly approaching changelings. "Back off, Apple Bloom," she said quietly. "This is something I've got to do on my own."

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes at that. "Well, you ain't, so you might as well drop the idea. I've already had to see my sister get hurt and I wasn't able to do anything to help her. I ain't doin' that again." Apple Bloom shuddered at the image of her beloved big sister standing broken and bruised in front of a mighty hydra , but quickly shoved the sight away in favour of happier thoughts. "Ah'm an Apple," Apple Bloom proclaimed, "and that means I don't abandon my family... or my friends."

Looking at Apple Bloom, Scootaloo saw nothing but certainty in her friend's eyes. "There's nothing I can say to change your mind, is there?" she said with a sigh.

"Nope," Apple Bloom replied cheerfully, holding her hoof out.

Scootaloo stared at Apple Bloom's hoof for a few seconds as a small smile slowly spread across her face. Lifting her own hoof up, she bumped it against Apple Bloom's. To both of their surprise, a third hoof joined in the hoofbump. Sweetie Belle stood with them, her expression firm and her horn aglow.

Scootaloo cocked an eyebrow at her unicorn friend. "You too?"

"Cutie Mark Crusaders," Sweetie Belle said in response. "We're in this together." The three fillies shared a smile before forming themselves in a line before the approaching changelings.

"You girls are absolutely bonkers." Pipsqueak muttered under his breath behind them.

"You get used to it," Spike told him calmly. Ignoring Pipsqueak saying he wasn't really sure if he wanted to get used to this, Spike patted the young colt on the back. "Just get ready to run."

"Ready?" Scootaloo asked, eagerly leaning forward over her handlebars. Her wings began to buzz at her sides, the tiny appendages moving so fast they blurred. Apple Bloom held on tight to the back of the scooter, preventing Scootaloo from moving forward. "Release!"

At Scootaloo's shout, Apple Bloom released her hold. With her wings already beating at full speed, Scootaloo launched towards the changelings at a speed that would have impressed even Rainbow Dash. The changelings went flying as the pegasus projectile struck them, blowing them aside like so many nicely lined bowling pins. Spike and Pipsqueak rushed into the gap, charging forward before the changelings could recover. One that had managed to avoid Scootaloo's initial rush leapt into their path, but it was tackled by both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. The way cleared for them, the colt and the dragon broke free from the changelings and sprinted away as quickly as they could.

The changelings hissed angrily and tried to pursue the escapees, but were brought up short by the trio of fillies standing in their way. "Going somewhere?" Scootaloo asked with a quirk of her eyebrow. Sweetie Belle's glowing horn shone brightly in the corridor, letting the fillies see even as Spike and his torch disappeared. Her eyes were squeezed shut and all her attention was focused on keeping her horn alight as she stood behind her friends.

At Scootaloo's side, Apple Bloom gave a tiny self-mocking chuckle as the changelings turned their attention to the trio. "This wasn't the best idea we ever had, was it?"

"Nope," Scootaloo agreed as the swarm of changelings fell upon them in a force as inevitable and unstoppable as the tide.

The sound of thudding hooves echoed throughout the long tunnel as the young trio ran as fast as they were able to. Spike's torch lit their way while Pipsqueak led the charge. They both tried their best to ignore the sounds of combat coming from behind them, trying not to feel like they were abandoning their friends. "Left!" Pipsqueak yelled abruptly before ducking into a nearby alcove. Spike turned the corner, plowing into the colt's backside as the young pony suddenly pulled up short.

Pipsqueak was flung to the ground from the impact, but his eyes remained fixed on what awaited them in the center of the room. Princess Luna was suspended upside down inside a changeling pod, her eyes held closed while her shimmering mane wrapped about her body, the twinkling stars lighting up the pod from within and casting the entire room in a faint shade of green.

"Princess Luna!" Pipsqueak shouted, lunging towards the pod. His hooves struck the pod with a heavy meaty sound, but the Lunar Princess failed to respond.

Spike glanced back at the opening behind them. The sounds of fighting had stopped and he could hear the sound of something approaching. A lot of somethings, actually. A lot more than three. "Uh... you're going to want to hurry up with that."

Pipsqueak made a noise of frustration as he punched the pod again. "She's right here! There's got to be something we can do!" He removed his hoof and saw that the Princess' eyes had shot open and she was staring directly at him. "Princess!" Pipsqueak yelled happily. Luna's mouth moved silently, but whatever she was saying was unable to escape her entrapping pod. "Don't worry," Pipsqueak tried to reassure her. "We'll get you out of here." Spike suddenly bumped against Pipsqueak's flank and the colt turned his head, his mouth going dry when he saw what Spike was looking at.

Nearly a dozen changelings had swarmed into the room, taking up positions completely surrounding the young pair. One of the changelings stepped forwards, its horn glowing with a faint green glow. It waved its head and Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom came floating out of the tunnel behind them. All three of them had been trapped in a green goo, though it didn't appear to be necessary for Scootaloo. The young pegasus' eyes were closed as she hung limply in the changeling's magic with a slowly swelling lump on the side of her head.

The three fillies were thrown at the ground in front of the two boys. Sweetie Belle coughed as she hit the stone floor, looking up at Pipsqueak and Spike with sorrow in her eyes. "S...sorry," she apologized as another cough wracked her body. "G... guess we weren't any help after all."

Behind Spike and Pipsqueak, Luna was striking at the pod from the inside as hard as she could. She couldn't bear the idea of watching her would-be rescuers getting swarmed, all while she was unable to do anything to help the young children. The pod shook and quivered, but her cramped position prevented her from putting sufficient force into her blows.

Spike's tail lashed nervously behind him as he took another step backward, almost bumping into Luna's pod. He swung his torch wildly in a futile attempt to keep the changelings away. "Stay back, you monsters!" he shouted, his voice almost cracking on the last word.

Pipsqueak, however, didn't even look at the changelings surrounding them. Instead, his attention was fixed on Spike's tail. In particular, he stared at the tiny, and most importantly, sharp spike that adorned the tip of the dragon's spaded tail. Grabbing the end of Spike's tail in his teeth, he pulled as hard he could. Before Spike could do anything more than exclaim in surprise, Pipsqueak thrust the spike into Luna's pod, stabbing through the gelatinous membrane and piercing into the very heart of the imprisoning chrysalis.

Spike's tail remained in place for less than a second before it was shoved aside by an indigo hoof from within. Luna's hoof burst out into the open air and a hush filled the room as the alicorn struggled to free herself. The quiet moment was forever lost when Luna's eyes started to glow and the entire room was swallowed in indigo light.
_______________

"Hey! Are you okay? Wake up!"

Scootaloo groaned as something shook her. Her entire body hurt and she just wanted to go back to sleep. "Go 'way," she muttered unsteady, waving a hoof vaguely in the direction of the disturbance. Unfortunately, that just seemed to encourage whatever pony wanted to tear her aware from the sleep's welcoming darkness.

"She's awake!"

The source of the happy voice moved away from Scootaloo and the pegasus' eyes slowly opened. Everything was blurry at first and she had to blink a few times to bring everything into focus. Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Pipsqueak, and Spike were all standing in a semicircle around her. "What happened?" Her mouth felt like it was full of sawdust.

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom hauled Scootaloo to her hooves. "We did it," Apple Bloom said. "Princess Luna's free."

"Really?" Scootaloo perked up excitedly as she considered what was really important. "That means we're heroes, right? Did we get our cutie marks?" A series of looks led to a series of disappointed sighs when they saw their flanks were as blank as ever. "Aww..."

"Whatever," Spike covered his mouth to hide a yawn, not really interested in the filly's ongoing search for their cutie marks. "Anyway, I'm going home. It's way past my bedtime, and I think the moon's going to come up soon." With a wave at the foals, he wandered away. Pipsqueak chased after him, asking if he could borrow some comic book.

Scootaloo looked around her for the first time, realizing where they were. "Wait... When did we get back to Ponyville?"

"The Princess teleported us here." Sweetie Belle yawned, smacking her lips. "I think Spike's got the right idea. Good night, girls. See you tomorrow."

Author's Note

Dash and Scootaloo's little talk was back in Chapter 14.
Applejack's and the hydra was fought in Chapter 11

Break Free of the Darkness (1/2)

Fenrir stood in the middle of a large ring of unconscious changelings. He could have killed any or even all of them if he had wished it, but he had no interest in taking their lives. Besides that, he had no desire to find out what would happen if their tainted blood touched his body, already tainted from long years of exposure to the dark regalia hidden under his neck. The two taints were so very distinct and yet, at their core, they were exactly the same.

A sharp flash from beside the massive timberwolf cut into his thoughts and he glanced over to see that the Lunar Princess had just teleported herself next to him. "Princess Luna. I never thought. I would actually meet you. In my lifetime." He turned to face her fully, his giant form casting a long shadow over her. "Now. Is this an honour? Or should I just. Tear out your throat?" His hackles rose and a long, drawn-out growl escaped his throat. "You know. Of what I speak."

Luna stared at the ground, unable to meet the accusation in his glowing yellow eyes."I... There's nothing I can say that would make this right. Nothing could possibly fix what I did to your ancestors. I took them, took their loyalty to me, and twisted it. Twisted their very souls to feed my lust for power. And they died for it." She kept her voice cold and emotionless as she tried her best to distance herself from the atrocities she had committed over a millennium ago.

Fenrir snorted through his nose. "Hmph. So I suppose. You're going to want. This back." His paw reached for the regalia of Nightmare Moon strapped under his neck, but stopped at Luna's shout.

"NO!" Luna recoiled away from him, taking half a step back before she realized what she had done. "Don't let me see it! I... I can't."

After a moment's hesitation, Fenrir's paw dropped to the ground and a smile somehow appeared on his barky muzzle. "I had. Hoped that would be. Your response."

Luna's nostrils flared angrily as she realized exactly what he had just done. "You... you were testing me!"

Fenrir nodded as he crouched down next to her. His giant head, so much larger than her entire body, came close enough that she could have just reached out a hoof and touched it. "I had to know," he said with an apologetic tone in his voice. His breath wafted over her, and she could smell the scent of wood chippings and tree sap.

"Thou had to know what?" she asked disdainfully, covering her nose with a fetlock.

He was silent for a few seconds, and when he spoke, his tone was completely serious. "What side. You would take. My pack smelt snow."

Luna's face remained an expressionless mask. "Is that such an oddity? We were under the impression that snow comes once a year. Were we mistaken?"

A loud whuff of laughter escaped Fenrir's throat. "You really are. As the tales tell you." His head moved slowly from side to side. "No. But when the snow. Carries the same scent. As this." He gestured under his neck, where Luna knew her old regalia was. She could hear it singing to her, calling out for her. Anypony unable to gaze upon its magnificence would be driven insane with the greatness forced into their minds. With it, she could... She would do nothing!

Luna grimaced, realizing she had lost herself in the regalia's song. She had thought that part of her life was behind her. Obviously, she was wrong.

Fenrir had noticed her distraction, and had stopped talking when her eyes glazed over. When he saw she was back with him, he continued where he had left off. "I do not know. What is happening in. The world. But you need. To know this." His voice went grim, and Luna swore the temperature of the Badlands dropped several degrees. "The world needs. Another miracle. Hearth's Warming. I believe it was called. If it does not happen..." His voice faded ominously. "Then. May the Moon watch over us all."

Luna’s great wings slowly beat at her sides as she flew through the air, the scenery of the Everfree Forest rapidly passing beneath her. The foals had told of what had happened to Equestria since she had been captured by the changelings before she sent them safely home. Her feathers whistled as they cut through the air, the speed of her flight tearing through the wind itself. She wasn’t worried about attracting attention from anything that lived in the forest; there wasn’t a single living creature that would dare try to slow her down. Not if enjoyed its status as a living creature, anyway.

Her destination called out to her, and something within her called out to it in return. She could feel the darkness stirring within her, like a thin film of black oil coating her internal organs. It quivered in eager anticipation for what was about to come, practically resonating with the great mass of darkness ahead of Luna.

Luna frowned as she held her hoof up to her chest, a sigh escaping from her lips. Every living creature in the world thought that Luna had been completely purified of her darkness by the Elements of Harmony. They believed that she had been completely freed from Nightmare Moon; that no trace of the evil darkness remained in Luna’s soul.

Only Celestia and Luna herself knew the truth.

A weak growl came from Luna’s midriff, and the Princess of the Night let out an embarrassed chuckle as she rubbed her stomach. She hadn’t eaten since before her capture, and the missed meals were starting to catch up to her.

I suppose a little stop would not be amiss. Fighting on an empty stomach was the quickest way to lose any conflict. Luna cast about on the ground, quickly finding a break in the trees where she could land. The rate of her wingbeats slowed as she descended until her hooves met the cool loam.

With a quick glance around, Luna discarded the idea of eating any of the nearby plants. She needed something that would give her more energy than simple grazing would provide. Her face became an expressionless mask, cool and emotionless as stone. The hunger inside her demanded to be fed, and she knew she had no choice.

Rearing back on her hind hooves, Luna slammed her forehooves on the ground as hard as she could. The land shuddered under the force of the blow, and several branches shed their leaves, the leaves falling to the earth in a slow descent. One bush near Luna shuddered far more fiercely than the others, and a small brown squirrel bolted out into the open.

The furry creature barely got a full body length from the bush before a heavy indigo hoof came down on its back, pinning it to the ground. It squeaked and squirmed, thrashing about in a futile attempt to escape its captor.

Luna felt her heart go out to the animal even as her magic wrapped around it. “Forgive me,” she whispered before shaking her head. “No, you should not forgive me. We... I am sorry.” The squirrel’s struggles slowed and its squeaks weakened. Luna watched in sorrow as the innocent creature closed its eyes one final time as it peacefully slipped into a slumber from which it would never wake.

The Elements of Harmony may have stripped Nightmare Moon away from Luna, but one could not fall as deeply into the darkness as she had without suffering some permanent changes.

Luna bent down towards the comatose squirrel, opening her mouth wide. Two large fangs slid out of their hiding place in her maw, their pointed tips glinting in the evening sunlight.

After a quick stop at a nearby stream to wash any blood out of her coat, Luna took to the air once more. With a meal filling her stomach, her wingbeats were stronger than before, and it wasn’t long before her destination came into view.

The once-mighty parapets of her former castle rose into sight, the crumbling walls speaking a silent testament to the many years that had passed since Luna had last laid eyes on it. Once, it had been the mightiest building in all the lands. The Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, it had been called. Ponies would travel from far and wide simply to set eyes on it. Now it was nothing more than a ruin, forgotten by the annals of time.

Luna cautiously flew to the castle’s main door, careful to land on an area that looked like it could still support her weight. The stonework had been worn away by a millennia exposed to the uncontrolled climate of the Everfree, and it looked like the entire castle could collapse at a moment’s notice. Vines running up and down the crumbling structures gave the impression that they were all that was holding the building upright.

The mighty doorway exploded open from within as Luna approached, launching pieces of wood in every direction. One particular piece, larger than her wing, nearly took her head off as it sailed past. A dark mist wafted out from the open portal, ominously flowing towards her. The few grasses that had struggled to cling to life by peeking between the ancient stones withered and died as they were smothered and overwhelmed by the mist. As the cold fog curled and twisted around Luna's fetlocks, a cool voice called out from the darkness within the castle.

"Ah, the ever-humble Princess of the Night brings herself to my abode," the calm voice mocked. "To what might I owe this pleasure?"

"Nightmare Moon," Luna growled out, striding inside the castle. The mist split before her, clearing her a path into the oppressive blackness. "Show thyself! Thou art a blight on Equestria, on our subjects! We have come to end your threat once and for all!"

A cheerful tone entered the disembodied voice, though it never lost its mocking edge. "You recognize me. I'm flattered."

"How could I possibly forget you?" Luna asked, glaring into the gloom as she tried to find her enemy. Even her eyes, more comfortable in darkness than in light, were unable to penetrate the fog. "Especially here, in this place."

"Ah, yes. Our old home, wasn't it?" A loud hoofclop rung out from deeper inside. Luna's sharp eyes caught a flicker of light in the darkness before her adversary confidently strode into view.

The taint of the cruel spirit had contaminated Celestia's entire body. Her white coat had muted to a light gray and a strip of darkness danced through her flowing mane, entwining with and overwhelming the other colours. Her luminescent sun cutie mark had been dimmed, offering neither light nor warmth. But most noticeable of all was the absence of her horn. The spiralling white pillar came to an abrupt halt after only a few inches, replaced with a black horn of darkest ebony. The missing segment of Celestia's horn had been stabbed into the alicorn's chest, embedded in the flesh like an impaled spear. The skin around it had puckered and scarred in odd shapes, like Nightmare Moon had fought with it but had been unable to remove it despite her best efforts.

Just as Luna had feared, her older sister's body had been completely taken over, leaving behind no trace of the kindness she had known so well in the taller alicorn's slit azure eyes. Nightmare Moon broadly grinned, revealing a pair of pure white fangs residing in Celestia's mouth. "It's ironic," she said with a glance at the crumbling walls around them. "Here we are once again. History really does tend to repeat itself. I wonder... will it end the same way as well?"

"This time will be different!" Luna proclaimed, flaring her wings out wide. Lightning flashed outside, piercing through the darkness for an instant. "You will not have me, and you will not have her!"

"Brave words, little night princess," Nightmare Moon taunted. She leaned towards Luna, her tongue licking gently at the sharp fangs protruding from her mouth. "But words will get you nowhere. What makes you think this time will end any differently than last time? Once again, the older sister will defeat the younger." Her eyes flashed dangerously. "Only this time, I will be the only one who wins."

Surprisingly, Luna threw her head back and laughed. "Your lies are shallow and petty. I am ashamed to think I once fell for them." She looked meaningfully at the horn embedded in Nightmare Moon's chest. "You act like my sister has already fallen to you, but that is nothing but a weak falsehood. She fights still. She keeps you sealed within this building. You divided us one thousand years ago, but our minds are clear now. You do not fight just me; you face her as well."

A snarl appeared on Nightmare Moon's face for a second before it disappeared, but it was enough to confirm Luna's suspicions. A cool confident smile replaced the anger. "That's so sweet of you, little princess. So sweet that I think my teeth melted just hearing you say it."

A fierce glow surrounded Luna's horn. "Do not worry. Soon, you will not have to hear anything I say ever again."

Nightmare Moon's own horn started to glow, emitting a dark light that shone from within. "Oh, you're most certainly right about that. Soon, you won't be able to even speak."

The two alicorns stared each other down for several tense seconds, neither willing to back down or show the slightest hint of weakness. An unseen signal passed between the two and they both launched themselves forward at the same time. Two glowing horns collided with enough force to send cracks tearing through the fragile stonework of the long-abandoned castle, ripples of magic spreading even beyond that.

In the mental landscape that the two of them were trapped in, Discord rapped his knuckles painfully against Twilight's skull. "Focus, Twilight Sparkle. You're just not getting into the spirit of things. You can't force this magic. Just guide it and you'll soon be shaping the world."

Rubbing the painful spot on her scalp, Twilight glared up at him. Since she was unable to break the bond Discord had apparently forged with her (she'd tried), she'd had to accept him teaching her whatever he wanted. Maybe she would even learn something important.

But with Discord as her teacher, that was seeming more unlikely by the second.

"I really don't think you're cut out to be a teacher," Twilight grumbled. Several hours had passed since they had started, and she didn't feel like she was getting any closer. Hay, she was pretty sure he was deliberately wasting her time. So far, he'd just said nonsense about "steering the magic" or "letting it roam free". Ridiculous! Everypony knew that magic had to be carefully controlled and guided. Even foals knew that.

"Really?" Discord casually popped his large tooth out of his mouth before inspecting it for a few seconds. Letting out a disinterested grunt, he stuck it on the tip of Twilight's horn. "Tell me, where do think you could possibly get a better teacher than me for World magic?"

Twilight smirked. "Zecora could teach me. She's a shaman, and I'm sure she knows all about it. Or I could, you know, not learn it at all because you obviously want me to."

"You? Intentionally refusing to learn something?" Discord met her argument with a loud bark of laughter. "I think we both know better than that, don't we?"

Twilight's smirk twisted into a grimace. It pained her to admit it, but he was right. Even knowing that he wanted her to learn about this strange brand of magic wouldn't be enough to stop her from wanting to know all about it.

"As for your friend... Zecora, was it?" Discord continued, wrapping his eagle claw arm across her shoulders. "That name sounds like a zebra's. Well, let me tell you a little secret." He grabbed her ear and pulled it close, dropping his voice to a loud stage whisper. "I was the one who taught the zebras that magic in the first place."

Cheerfully ignoring Twilight's jaw-drop, Discord merrily continued. "Your problem is that you're thinking of it in terms of your natural unicorn magic. You're trying to force the magic through all at once. But World magic, ah... World magic is subtle."

"Nothing about you is subtle," Twilight noted sarcastically.

Discord ignored her. "Have you ever played with dominoes, Twilight Sparkle? Ever lined them up for the simple joy of knocking them down, watching as they fall one by one? World magic is a lot like that. You're trying to knock down all the dominoes at the same time, when all it takes is one simple change. One small change, like changing a single domino from standing to falling." He chuckled. "From one small change spreads more changes, from those change spreads further changes, all until you reach the goal you desire."

"Wh-?" Twilight's intended question died in her throat as a ripple passed through the empty void, everything swelling in a wave of motion before dissipating once more. "What was that?"

For his part, Discord looked excited. Hopping off of Twilight's back, he wheeled out the magic mirror once more. "It's starting," he said gleefully, prancing like a eager foal. The mirror crackled and sputtered, static flashing across it, prompting Discord to give it a solid smack. "Come on, come on, don't do this... Aha!" The image abruptly cleared, showing a crystal clear image of two fighting alicorns.

"Princess Celestia! Princess Luna!" Twilight shouted, unconsciously leaning forward towards the image. Wait a minute, she thought. Princess Celestia looks odd... "Is that-?"

"Nightmare Moon?" Discord finished Twilight's question as he dropped down next to her. "Yes. Luna's fighting against the demons of her past for her sister's very soul. Should she fall, both Princesses are going to be swallowed up by the darkness, never to return. Neither of them realize it, but if their battle reaches this far, then it must be tearing through the realm of dreamers as well. Even as we speak, every sleeping creature in Equestria is experience terrible nightmares; facing their worst fears and deepest shames. No matter how this battle ends, the results are going to ripple all across Equestria. Popcorn?" He shrugged when she didn't respond and pulled the striped bucket back, grabbing a clawful of the salty treat and tossing it into his mouth. "Oh well. More for me."

Luna dove behind one of the few remaining stone columns, taking cover from another one of Nightmare's magical blasts. Blood dripped from several small wounds covering her body, covering her coat with thin red streaks. On their own, the cuts were inconsequential and could be safely ignored. All together... they were still inconsequential.

"What's the matter, little princess?" Nightmare's voice taunted as another magical blast slammed into Luna's cover. "I thought you were going to defeat me?" Luna stuck her muzzle out but hastily fell back as a bolt of pure light nearly took it off. This fight was not going as she had hoped. Nightmare was able to fully control Celestia's prodigious magical strength, using it freely in conjunction with her own dark powers.

The pillar shuddered as another magical bolt hit it and Luna knew it wouldn't survive another hit. Quickly raising a protective barrier around herself, she sprinted out into the open. Her shield wavered as it was struck by another shot of light, but it managed to stand firm. Luna disappeared with a sudden pop, reappearing an instant later behind Nightmare Moon. Bringing her hooves to bear, Luna swung them as hard as she could at her enemy's skull, and had to suppress a scream of frustration as Nightmare dissipated into a black mist which her hooves harmlessly passed through.

"You've gotten weak," Nightmare called out, her sultry voice seeming to come from nowhere and everywhere all at once. "Or maybe you were just always weak? Maybe it was only because of me that you were able to put up a fight against your sister in the first place. You never had the will to stand up for yourself until I was there to give you that little... push you needed."

"What are you fighting for, Princess Luna?" The word Princess was said with a great deal of disdain, as if Nightmare was intentionally emphasising the word. "You, who had so nearly made yourself a Queen. You, who was never appreciated by Celestia's ponies? Are you seriously fighting for those ponies now? What have they ever done for you?"

"It doesn't matter what they've done for us," Luna said, still looking for where Nightmare was hiding herself. "They are our ponies just as much as they are Celestia's ponies. Our duty is to protect them against creatures that hide in the darkness. To protect them from their nightmares."

"Or their Nightmares, is it?" Nightmare Moon finished for her. A beam of pitch black darkness tore through the mist, and Luna had to quickly throw herself out of the way to dodge it. She fired a beam of her own magic in the direction the attack had come from, but her blast failed to hit anything. This confounded mist was messing with her senses, preventing her from simply sensing out Nightmare Moon. She was going to get rid of it.

Luna's eyes glowed brightly and her wings flared out wide as waves of power poured off of her. The mist couldn't stand against Luna's will and dissipated like morning fog when struck by the harsh rays of morning sun. With her camouflaging haze destroyed and nowhere to hide, Nightmare Moon easily came into view.

Right in front of Luna.

Charging towards Luna.

Her horn heading straight for Luna's neck.

Pure instinct was the only thing that saved Luna's life. Nightmare Moon's horn pierced right through Luna's reflexively raised leg in an explosion of bright red blood, splattering both of them in gore before slowing to a halt well clear of Luna's exposed throat.

Nightmare smirked as she pushed in, her pitch black horn moving slowly forward inch by incredibly painful inch. "I know you well," the possessed solar princess mocked. "You always drop your guard whenever you use your more powerful magics." Luna tried to get away - running, flying, teleporting, anything! - but her body refused to obey her commands. Nightmare was pumping her magic directly into Luna's bloodstream, completely paralyzing the smaller alicorn's body.

The horn slid forward with agonizing slowness, blood running down it in streams to pour down Nightmare's face. Red rivulets fell to the ground below, disappearing forever into the many cracks that spiderwebbed throughout the stonework. The sharp point of the horn of pure darkness came to a rest against the centre of Princess Luna's neck, a tiny drop of blood welling from where the horn touched.

"Goodbye, Luna," Nightmare Moon said with finality.

"Princess Luna!" Twilight yelled as she watched Luna struggle to prevent the black horn from impaling her throat. Twilight's nose was almost pressed against the glassy surface of the magic mirror and her hooves held the sides.

An almost-empty bucket of popcorn hit the back of her head. "Hey, down in front!" Discord called out. "I can't see!"

Twilight wheeled towards him. "YOU!" she shrieked. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

"Oh, you flatter me." Discord licked at his talons, giving her large puppy dog eyes. "I'm sorry to disappoint, but I'm actually mostly unrelated to what's going on. This," he waved his claw vaguely in the direction of the mirror, "was not part of my original plan."

"'Not part of your plan'?" Twilight repeated. "And you think that makes it okay?" She lowered her horn and prepared to charge. Even if it wouldn't do any good, stabbing him would still make her feel better.

Discord waved his claw disdainfully at her actions. "Oh, please. Do you really think any plan of mine would be so...?" He hesitated as he searched for the word he was looking for.

"Chaotic?" Twilight suggested drolly.

"Idiotic," Discord said in a flat voice. "There's no style, no panache. Really, what's the point in a dead world?" He shook his head before turning to look at her, a silly yet oddly intimidating smile plastered on his face. "And that's where you come in."

Discord swooped over to her, wrapping her up in his serpentine body. Before she could even think to struggle, his mouth stopped next to her ear and he started to chant. His voice reverberated in her skull, making his words stick in her mind.

"The power is yours to save the sun and the moon.
But in exchange, I demand a single boon.
In the future, I will make you a request.
And you will follow it to your ability's best.
You will own me one lone favour.
That is my price to be your Princess's saviour."

Twilight swallowed. Part of her - a large part - wanted to tell Discord to take his offer and shove it where the sun didn't shine. But all it took was a single glance at Luna struggling in the magic mirror to tell her she didn't have that choice. She was well and truly trapped. "Fine," she whispered.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Discord asked, cupping his paw over his ear and leaning in so his ear was next to her mouth. "You're going to have to repeat that."

"I said..." Twilight blushed angrily, refusing to look at him. "I said fine." Fluttershy would have been impressed with her lack of volume.

"Diiiidn't quite catch that," Discord prompted, getting even closer to her.

"I SAID FINE!" Twilight bellowed, turning her head so she was screaming directly in his ear. Livid tears poured from her eyes, and she was so caught up in her rage and self-loathing that she didn't notice Discord falling away from her, clutching his assaulted ear. "IS THAT WHAT YOU WANTED TO HEAR!?"

"Actually," Discord panted from where he was lying on the non-existent ground, "yeah." He lifted his eagle-taloned arm and snapped it directly in her face. Twilight recoiled as a bright flash of light completely stole her sight away, fading to reveal...

Discord sitting in front of her with a tub of dirt tucked under his arm.

Twilight blinked before slapping herself in the face with her hoof. That had been anti-climactic. "Aren't you going to do something?" she mumbled at him past the hoof covering her face.

"Nope!" Discord replied brightly as he dug into the dirt, picking out up a large clump and shoving the whole thing into his mouth. "There's nothing for me to do," he said, spraying her with pebbles. He paused, frowning slightly at his own choice of words while he swallowed his mouthful. Pulling a tissue out from his own thin beard, he dabbed it at his lips. "Actually, that's not right. I've already done it. Did it before you even left Ponyville, actually. Even if you had refused my offer, I still would have helped Luna. She's just too entertaining to lose." He appeared to take a great deal of pleasure from the horrified look she was giving him. Reaching over, he plucked his tooth off her horn and stuck it back in his mouth. "Look forward to that favour you owe me."

Twilight wanted to scream.

Unable to move, unable to cast any spells, unable to escape, Luna knew she could only accept her fate. She closed her eyes on the evil sight of the darkness enshrouding the older alicorn, sending her mind back to think on the happier times shared with Celestia. Back before Equestria had been founded, when it had only been the two - later three - of them.

I'm sorry, sister. Luna thought as a tear dripped down her cheek. I have failed you.

One second passed, then another. Luna felt a sharp, painful tug on her leg and nearly collapsed as Nightmare's horn smoothly slid out of her wound. Her eyelids shot open to see that Nightmare was no longer looking in her direction; instead, the evil mare's attention had turned to the open entrance.

"I didn't expect to see you here," Nightmare said, a sinister smile on her face. "My darling pawn makes his long-awaited appearance, is it?"

Luna looked at whatever had caught Nightmare's attention and her eyebrow rose at the sight. A denizen from the forest had dared to enter the location of the alicorns' combat. The evening sun, so representative of the boundary between the day and the night, stood in the sky directly at its back, preventing her from seeing any more than its silhouette.

That was more than enough. It looked extremely similar to the creature that had been working with the changelings but there were enough different enough to make it clear that this was a separate individual. Luna drew herself up to her full height and glared at the newcomer, though the effect was spoiled somewhat when she accidently put some weight on her injured leg and it almost gave out under her.

She had heard of this creature from the foals. This was the creature of Discord's that was to blame for Nightmare Moon possessing Celestia.

A quiet growl escaped Luna's throat. She was going to destroy this creature.

Author's Note

Nightmare Moon possessed Celestia back in Chapter 15.

We last saw John back in Chapter 30.

Thanks to NightmareKnight for pre-reading this and the past few chapters.

Break Free of the Darkness (2/2)

Echoing thunder boomed throughout the long-abandoned castle. Harsh winds howled through the empty window frames, the glass that had once protected the interior from the harsh elements having succumbed to those same elements long ago. Mighty trees bent and swayed under the force of the gale outside, and the sound of falling timber could be heard as one succumbed to the building storm.

If someone were to look at the sky above the Everfree Forest, they would see dark clouds boiling above a certain spot deep within the forest. The winds screamed with the force of a hurricane, picking up boulders the size of carts and flinging them as casually as a child would throw a toy. Fortunately for the many creatures living in the forest, the worst of the fearsome storm was concentrated around a single point. Nothing moved within the forest; every living creature had already fled to their homes, hoping against hope that the storm would pass them by.

Within the dilapidated castle in the eye of the storm, a melodic laugh rung out above the screaming wind. "How amusing," Nightmare Moon crooned as she slunk over to the creature standing in the open doorway. Her pure white feathers fluttered in the wind, but she paid it no more heed than she did the blood staining her horn and face. "I truly did not expect to see you again. Such a loyal subject you make."

The creature didn't react to Nightmare Moon's approach, his face remaining an expressionless mask as she started to circle around him in a manner akin to a shark circling its prey. "Did you come all this way just for me?" Nightmare cooed playfully. "How sweet of you." Closing in behind him, she rested her chin on his shoulder. He remained unmoving, watching her out of the corner of his eye.

In the middle of the room, Luna stood by herself, glaring at both of the others present. She kept her injured foreleg tucked up close to her body, even as blood continued to pour from it with every beat of her heart. Despite her injury, her stubbornness refused to allow her to show any weakness. "What is that thing?" she asked the monster possessing her elder sister, her voice cold enough to freeze water.

"There's no need to be rude, little princess," Nightmare said, turning her attention back towards the injured alicorn. "His name is John. You should at least know the name of the one about to kill you. Now, my little minion," Nightmare took a step back, "go get her."

John didn't move.

Nightmare cocked an eyebrow, quickly circling in front of the biped. "What are you doing?" she asked, a faint tinge of anger staining her voice. "Don't pretend you can't understand me. I left spells in your skull that make it so you know what I'm saying and force you to do as I say. Now you will OBEY!" Nightmare's turquoise eyes flashed brightly as she glared directly into John's eyes. That got a reaction, even if it wasn't one she had expected.

Ever since he had left the town filled with those strange pony-like figures, John had been hunting the forest in search for the one who had controlled him. Lacking any ideas on where to look other than a feeling drawing him into the forest, he had begun to despair of ever finding her. When the storm had begun to form over the castle, the feeling became stronger than ever. Following the feeling had led him to two large horse-like creatures, both of them speaking in a language he couldn't understand. After hasty reactions had gotten him in so much trouble before, he decided to wait and see how things would play out. That was, until the taller of the two had looked directly into his face and he had seen her turquoise, cat-slit eyes.

Eyes exactly like the ones that he remembered possessing him.

Nightmare whinnied in surprise as a fist suddenly slammed into her jaw, the force of the blow sending her reeling back several steps. She stared wide-eyed at the creature that had just struck her, sputtering in disbelief. "Wha- How could have possibly broken free!?" Her eyes narrowed and spat out a tooth that had been loosened by the blow. "No... you didn't, did you? Somepony freed you." She clicked her tongue angrily. "Discord. That sneaky little snake is always interfering in our-"

The white horse-like creature was saying something again. John wasn't interested. Swiftly stepping forward, he quickly closed the distance to her and punched her in the center of her throat as hard as he could.

"Guh," Nightmare grunted out, recoiling slightly before forcing herself to her full height. Her wings extended to their maximum impressive length and her eyes lit up from a fierce glow from within. Any mere mortal with the slightest ounce of self-preservation would cower from her full fearsome glory. "Insolent human!" she bellowed, the entire castle trembling from the force of her voice. "You dare to strike-!"

John punched her in the face.

Nightmare blinked in shock before turning her head back towards the insignificant little creature before her. "You dare to strike-!"

Another punch to the face.

Nightmare grit her teeth, her entire body shaking with rage. "You dare to strike-!"

She was interrupted by another punch to her face, but this time she had had quite enough. With a swift thrust of her head, she nearly impaled him upon her horn. "Quit it!" He barely managed to dodge by diving to the side. Nightmare followed him with her eyes, momentarily please about chasing him away until her attention was drawn to an increasingly bright light off to her side. The tips of her wings drooped. "Oh no." A blast of magic from Luna's horn hit her full force, blowing her through the nearest wall and out of the castle entirely.

With Nightmare Moon temporarily removed from the equation, Luna felt free to focus her attention to the biped. She wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but it didn't really matter. Even if this John was no longer being controlled by the Nightmare, he was still far too dangerous to allow escape. Something Nightmare had said tried to grab her attention but she ignored it.

Luna planted her three good legs and, with a quick charge of her horn, fired a blast of pure lunar energy at John. The spell sped through the air at the speed of light, impacting his chest before he could even blink. There was a loud crack and the spell broke apart, shattering like glass; the shards falling to the ground before dissipating into nothingness.

"Immunity to magic..." Luna mumbled. He really was as she had heard. "Discord, what have you done? This should be beyond even you." The biped remained still while she thought, watching for what she was going to do next. She didn't intend to disappoint. With a casual application of her magic, she picked up a nearby pillar in her magic and threw it at him. Most unicorns would struggle to even lift something half that size, but to her, it was barely an afterthought. Watching him scramble out of the way of the multi-tonne column of rock in a panic was fairly satisfying, she had to admit. Being immune to magic obviously didn't mean being immune to things affected by magic. The pillar smashed into the floor with the sound of breaking rock, hardly slowing down as it smashed through architecture that had held against the ferocity of the Everfree Forest for centuries before disappearing into the forgotten basements beneath the castle.

John stared in horror at the gaping hole in the floor. That had very nearly been him... A loud cough called his attention back to the dark horse-figure in the center of the room, namely to the half-dozen pillars equal in size to the one he had just dodged floating around the dark horse-creature. His face went white.

Very satisfying, Luna amended.

Pain made up the entirety of Nightmare's world. How dare they do this to her? She would destroy them, destroy them both.

She would show them.

End them.

John's breath rasped harshly in his throat as he panted for air. Exhaustion had already driven him to his hands and knees, and sweat made small pools beneath him. A thick cloud of dust filled the room, smothering everything in muted thickness. Somehow, he had managed to scurry out of the way of the pillars the crazy horse-thing had been throwing at him without being squashed like a bug, though his surroundings hadn't been so lucky. Large holes littered the entirety of the castle, and the stone floor sagged weirdly beneath him.

Luna heaved a deep sigh. After everything that she had heard about this creature, all the pain he had caused both directly and indirectly to the little ponies of Ponyville and her own sister, she had hoped for more of a fight. Sorrow and disappointment shone in her eyes as she stared down at him before her horn lit up with a magical glow. "Nothing would make us happier right now than to rend thee limb from limb, slowly making you suffer for your crimes." A sword popped into existence beside her, and most of her subjects would have been surprised to learn that Luna possessed such a sword. The sword lacked any sort of ornate jewelry or gold finery; it was nothing more than a simple sharp piece of metal. It was an ugly thing, and some of the nobles would have swooned in horror had they ever seen the Princess wearing it.

In short, it was a weapon with one purpose: killing the enemies of its wielder.

Luna contemplated the sword for a moment, studying her face in its reflection. "This sword is even older than we are," she said to no one in particular, since the only other creature present couldn't understand her words. "It was forged during a time of constant warfare, long before my birth, when the world faced the greatest trial in its existence. So much lost from those ancient times." She rested the blade against his exposed neck, and a tiny drop of blood welled out from the point of contact, running down the blade all the way to the handle. John's sweat-matted hair covered his eyes as he stared up at her, still continuing to pant for air. "It also lacks any sort of enchantments, so your strange magic-cancelling ability is useless against it," Luna concluded, lifting the sword above her head. Her face was cold and emotionless; a judge staring down on a condemned criminal, a jury passing the verdict, and an executioner carrying it out. "I find you guilty for crimes against Equestria. At the very least, I will ensure you do not suffer." And she swung for his neck, intending to decapitate him with a single strike.

She had thought he was beaten. Had thought he had already been defeated. She was wrong.

Moving far, far faster than she had possible imagined, John's hand caught the descending sword by the handle. He twisted his body to go along with the direction of her swing rather than trying to stop it outright, tearing it out of her magical grasp and embedding it in the floor, the absurdly sharp blade slicing into the stonework as easily as it would cut a fruit. His other hand came up, balled in a fist, and slammed into the Princess of the Night.

Luna grunted in pain as she felt two of her ribs crack under the blow, staggering back unwillingly. Foal! she cursed herself. Thou knew he could cancel magic! Every creature in Equestria unconsciously generated a magical field around their body, which would protect their bodies from most wounds and sped the healing process as well. Thou knew what he had done to the Bearers of Magic and Loyalty! Unlike Rarity, who had been trapped under a rockfall but had managed to recover completely in a few days, Twilight and Dash were recovering much more slowly from their injuries, which he had inflicted directly onto them. Luna had heard that Applejack had yet to recover as well, but in the mare's defence, she had apparently faced a hydra down by herself.

The Princess didn't have long to regret giving John a chance to strike. Even as she tore her thoughts away from the path they had wandered, he stepped right up to her and hit her with a fierce right hook to the side of her head. A whinny of pain escaped her mouth as she collapsed, felled like one of the great trees outside.

The coolness of the stone floor against her side made up the entirety of her world. Through unsteady eyes, she watched John turn and walk away from her. Any thought that he had finished with her was instantly dissipated when he smoothly drew her sword out of where it had embedded in the stone floor. Luna blacked out momentarily, before being harshly brought back to the world of the living by a heavy weight pressing on her jaw.

He stood over her, his boot pressing against her face and pinning her to the ground. Her sword was held in his firm grip, looking like it belonged there. Holding her down like that with the sword held at his side, he looked exactly like Luna had only seconds ago. The irony was not lost on the lunar Princess.

"Do it." Luna forced out past the foot on her mouth. Her torso rose and fell with short, painful breaths. "What are thou waiting for?" She would not beg, not even for her life. She refused to beg. Even though she was feeling light-headed and delusional from the pain, her pride refused to bend. "What's wrong, thou murderous monster? Do it. DO IT!"

His fingers tightened for a moment before they loosened their grip. The sword fell to the ground in front of her with a clatter, and his foot was withdrawn from her face. Luna stared at him in surprise as he crouched down next to her, extending a hand towards her. The hand was open, palm up, and cautiously moved forward to a point roughly halfway between him and her before coming to a halt.

Luna looked from the extended hand to John's face and back again. She couldn't read the emotions on his face, but she had an inkling of his intentions. Is he... asking for peace? Moving slowly, not willing to trust the creature before her, she extended her own hoof towards the offered appendage. The blue coat was still streaked with red from the still-open hole in her leg, but she didn't care. He remained unmoving, watching her with those tiny eyes of his, until her hoof lightly touched his palm. His fingers gently curled around her hoof, holding her without entrapping her. She looked up at his face again, and saw his expression had changed to one she was able to read.

He was smiling at her.

Luna stared in shock as she locked eyes with him. He stood up, giving a gentle tug at her leg, and she allowed herself to be pulled up with him. His fingers released her injured leg, and she tucked it up beneath her belly, still refusing to break her gaze away from him. "I..." Luna hesitated. Something about the situation just seemed wrong. Nevertheless, she still felt the need to apologize. "I am... sorr-" She cut herself off as all the hairs on John's body stood up straight, there was a loud bang, and everything went white.

Unable to hear anything past the ringing in her ears, Luna blinked repeatedly to try and clear the dancing spots out of her eyes. The air was filled with the harsh scent of ozone, and Luna realized with some trepidation that the biped had disappeared. A groan of pain told her no, the biped had not disappeared. He lay on the floor, the area around him charred black as soot.

A noise from behind her caught Luna's attention, and she wheeled around to see an unwelcome sight. Nightmare Moon, still wearing Celestia's body, stood in the hole Luna had thrown her out earlier. A flash of lightning illuminated her for an instant before the entire area once again fell into darkness.

A tingle across her coat as all her hairs stood on end was all the warning Luna had. With a hasty beat of her wings, she leapt to the side as a loud crack filled the air and a bolt of lightning struck the spot she had just been standing. Her wings continued to beat as lightning bolt after lightning bolt continued to barely miss her. “What’s wrong, Princess?” Nightmare shrieked with laughter, a hauntingly mad tone entering the once-regal chuckle. "Run! Run!" she laughed, wildly throwing another lightning bolt. "Or you'll be well done!"

Luna wasn't able to dodge fast enough and the lightning bolt tore straight through her wing, leaving behind a small smouldering hole in its wake. She barely had time for a shocked exclamation before hitting the ground with enough force to aggravate all her accumulated injuries. Her wings and legs flailed wildly as she rolled across the stonework, and it took her a moment to regain her bearings. Barely conscious, she threw up a protective barrier over her body and felt another of Nightmare's magical blasts slam against it.

"What's wrong, little Princess?" Nightmare asked with a mad giggle. Her flowing mane whipped erratically across her face, covering and uncovering the insane expression plastered across her face. "Aww, have you tired yourself out? Such a shame. At long last, it's time for me to put you to rest." A bright glow began to pour from her horn as she started to charge up for one final attack.

The air seemed to be screaming in tortuous pain from the force coalescing around Nightmare's pitch-black horn. The magical glow increased in strength, growing larger and larger before suddenly shrinking to almost nothing. Nightmare shot Luna a mad half-grin. "I can't tell you how long I've been wanting to do this!" A blast of pure black magic fired from Nightmare's horn, screaming through the air as it tore towards the prone Princess. Luna's horn flickered weakly before launching off a blast of magic of its own in one final, futile gesture.

Nightmare's dark magic, cold as death itself, collided in mid-air with Luna's magic. The two opposing forces struggled for less than a second before Luna's spell started to break down. A shadow passed in front of Luna's eyes just before she succumbed to her adversary’s magic, throwing itself in the path of the evil alicorn’s spell and stopping it in its tracks.

John's entire body shook as he struggled to hold back Nightmare's spell. He held one arm extended before him, as if he was going to catch and hold the fearsome magic with his open palm. Dark light leaked through his spread fingers, soaring out to strike against the ceiling and walls. Daring to look away from the destructive magic for an instant, he glanced behind himself to ensure the dark horse-creature was still moving. When he had seen that she was in danger, he hadn't even had time to think. His body had just acted.

Luna locked eyes with John when he looked back at her. Her surprise must have shown on her face, because he offered her a playful little smile before turning his attention back towards Nightmare. He took a slow step forward, than another, slowly moving toward the possessed Princess.

A quiet sound from the ground next to Luna drew her attention away from John's progress. A tiny crack spread through the ground at worrying speeds, repeatedly branching off and branching again. Similar cracks spread throughout the ceiling and walls, and Luna looked up in time to see a large portion of stonework above John's head detach from the roof and plummet towards the unaware human.

Luna dashed forward and grabbed the back of John's shirt in her teeth, pulling him back just in time to avoid the giant chunk of stone. But though they had managed to avoid the chunk of masonry, the danger had not passed. Damaged by the protracted battle, the floor was unable to withstand the final act of abuse. The ground gave out beneath Luna and John, dropping them into the darkness below. A loud rumble could be heard coming from several other areas, letting any who was paying attention know what was happening. The entire castle was coming down!

Falling into darkness, collapsing stone all around them, and only each other for company, John and Luna looked into each other's eyes. They couldn't communicate, they couldn't even speak the same language, but despite that, they were still able to reach an understanding.

Nightmare Moon smiled. Before her, she watched as the once-great Castle of the Pony Sisters crumbled into ruin, taking her enemies with it. Now then, she thought smugly, turning away from the crumbling castle. I think it's time for me to pay a little visit to Canterlot. There's a certain statue there that should have been ground into dust long ago.

She stopped as something flew out from the spreading dust cloud. She narrowed her eyes as it approached her. It was obscured by the dust at first, but Nightmare was able to make out what it was when it got closer. Impossible!

Luna flew through the air, the mighty wings of the Princess spread as wide as they would go and beating slow, powerful beats that cleaved through the air itself. John rode on her back, one hand braced against the base of her neck for balance. His other hand held Luna's sword, and the sunlight reflecting off the polished metal shone directly into Nightmare's eyes. Nightmare snarled and spun towards them, preparing for one final confrontation.

At least, that was her intention.

Instead, her body refused to move. Every muscle had locked up and refused to obey her mental commands. A thin golden glow covered her entire body, spreading out from the pure white horn lodged in her chest. "No," Nightmare whispered, trying to get away from her approaching enemies. The golden glow increased in strength, completely shutting her body down.

"No," Nightmare said again, firing a blast of dark magic from her horn. Luna spun to the side and let the blast go past, dodging it with almost contemptuous ease. The pair had almost reached her, and Nightmare Moon started to panic.

"No!" she shouted, raising a defensive barrier in front of Luna. John reached past Luna's head and tore through the shield like it wasn't even there. The pair didn’t even slow down. He readied his sword above his head, his Princessly mount speeding towards their foe.

Nightmare tried to run, but the golden glow around her body had her completely trapped. A scream of rage escaped her throat as the sword was brought down. "CELESTIAAAAAA!!!!!"

The sword sliced straight through the horn atop her head, severing the pitch black point and sending it tumbling into the air.

Author's Note

There. Bloody human chapter. Now stop asking.

Nah, just kidding. I love you guys. Seriously, over 500 likes? Awesome. Never thought I'd get this far.

State of the Board

"Wahahaha!" Discord laughed as the screen of the magical mirror went black. "That was wonderful! I haven't seen anything that exciting since before Luna first became Nightmare Moon! Good on you, Luna!"

Beside him, Twilight released a sigh of relief. She had been really nervous when that creature had shown up, but it looked like everything had turned out okay in the end. She gave Discord a sidelong glance, noting that the draconequus looked even happier than she was. "I don't get it," she told him. "You put so much work into making sure that the Princesses couldn't interfere, but now you look like you're happy that they're free again. What are you really planning?"

Discord's laughter petered off, though the odd chuckle continued to escape him. "Oh, Twilight Sparkle. You're making a big mistake. You think I'm responsible for everything? You think it's that simple?" He snapped his eagle claw and the mirror vanished, replaced instead by a large empty chessboard. "I'm afraid that you are sadly mistaken."

"Then what are you planning?" she demanded, pressing for answers. "You've done so much, caused so much pain for me and my friends. Heck, you've caused so much pain for the entire world! You wouldn't have done this without a reason!"

"Sure I would have," Discord said simply. He looked down and smirked at her. "Nah, I'm just messing with you. I just wanted to see your face." She sputtered at him and he snapped his fingers again. "And like I said, I've done very little. If you want to know who to blame, why don't I show you?"

Twilight looked to the side to see that the magic mirror had appeared again. She watched it, waiting for the image to shift once more and show her another scene. When the mirror failed to react, she shot him an unamused glare. "I only see myself."

"And there you go," Discord said brightly, clapping his hands together. "You are the one most responsible for this current state of affairs, Twilight Sparkle! An honor you share with Celestia. Like teacher, like pupil." He grinned at the look he gave her. "I see I need to explain. This will take a while, so let's get comfortable."

"Have you never thought it strange, Twilight?" Discord said, sitting down on a large fluffy chair that had appeared behind him. He pulled a pipe out from between the cushions before sticking it in his mouth. Inhaling deeply, he blew out a thick stream of bubbles. "Tell me, what was the last important event before your birth? Something that could have shifted the flow of history itself?"

Twilight hesitated. She couldn't think of anything that really stood out. All the books she had ever read had told her how life under Princess Celestia had always been peaceful; almost idyllic, really.

Discord waited for a few seconds before answering the question he posed. "It was when Luna turned into Nightmare Moon, almost a thousand years ago. Quite a while back, wouldn't you agree?"

"Well, that just means Princess Celestia's been a wonderful ruler to us," Twilight defended. "We've had a thousand years of peace and prosperity under her."

"Really?" Discord raised an amused eyebrow at her. "Peace and prosperity, is it? Then what about these past few years? Nightmare Moon returns from the moon and nearly plunges the world into eternal darkness. My magnificent self breaks free of my prison and throws the world into chaos and confusion. The changelings, who not even I was sure existed, suddenly appear and try to overthrow Celestia. The Crystal Empire returns after being sealed away, bringing along its self-proclaimed ruler, King Sombra. Any one of these events would have been remarkable after so many years of peace, but all four of them together? Care to make any guesses?"

"I... um..." Twilight had to stop to swallow a lump that had suddenly appeared in her throat. "It's just... bad luck?" she said, sounding a lot less confident than she hoped.

Discord chuckled, taking another deep inhalation on his pipe. "Really? I suppose bad luck is the same reason for everything that's happening right now?"

Twilight angrily stomped a hoof at him. "No, that's because of you! You're responsible for everything!"

Taking a thoughtful puff on his pipe, Discord blew the resultant bubbles directly into her face. "Well, I can't deny that," he admitted. "But that's not important. It would have happened anyways. I merely... sped up the process a little bit. You can't begrudge me that much, can you?" He shrugged. "But we're getting off topic. First, why don't we go over exactly what the situation is outside?" He snapped his fingers again, and the chessboard off to the side disappeared in a flash of white. When Twilight could see again, she saw that the scenery around it had changed greatly.

Larger-than-life stylized figures of very familiar faces sat around the board. Celestia and Luna sat side-by-side on one side of the board, staring down at the board with matching expressions of sorrow and grief. The Queen of the Changelings sat opposite them, her expression unreadable beneath her limp mane. On the side farthest from Twilight sat an image of Discord himself, amusement on his face as he scratched at his beard. The fourth and final seat, the one closest to Twilight, was empty.

"Go on," Discord gestured with his bubble pipe, waving for her to sit in the empty seat. "No one's using that seat right now."

Giving him an untrusting glare, Twilight hesitantly slid onto the empty chair. Once she was comfortably seated, pieces slowly appeared on the board in front of her. Like the figures sitting around the board, the pieces themselves were stylized images of ponies. So many pieces. So many she recognized.

The piece that stood out the most to her was herself, standing directly in the center of the board. Her friends were standing in a circle around her: Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash all standing side-by-side. Zecora stood by herself slightly off to the side. Another noticeable group stood together a little ways away from Twilight and her friends. Spike, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and a pinto colt Twilight didn't know all stood in a circle together, standing with their backs pressed together and looking outwards as if they were watching for some sort of danger.

A trio of changelings stood by themselves, their eyes like the Queen's instead of the blank blue slate Twilight was familiar with. Shining Armor and Princess Cadance stood on the board beside them, gazing sidelong at the changelings. Even Nightmare Moon stood on the board, her wings outstretched as she looked down on all the other, much smaller pieces. The only piece bigger than her was a giant timberwolf, which looked down on her with anger in his eyes.

There were other pieces as well, but Twilight could only make out their outlines. It was like the pieces weren't actually on the board yet, and the spots she saw were mere holes waiting to be filled.

A unicorn wearing a cape and pointed hat.

A gryphon.

A pair of tall, lanky unicorns standing together.

An earth pony with a straight mane and tail.

A unicorn with a curved horn.

A pegasus with a missing wing.

There were other gaping holes, but the edges of their outlines were in constant motion and prevented Twilight from making out any clear details about them.

At last, Twilight looked at the final two pieces. Unconsciously, she had been avoiding looking at them, distracting herself with the sights of the many other pieces. Two bipeds; one she recognized from the Everfree and one she didn't know.

Twilight groaned in frustration, slamming her head against the board. "Them again. It always keeps coming back to them. What are these?" she asked, her voice muffled by the board. "I've never even heard of creatures like this before."

"Hmm?" Discord placed his hand on her shoulder and peered down at the board, ignoring the way she jumped at his unexpected proximity. His expression brightened as he saw what she was looking at. "Oh, you mean the humans?" He smirked down at her, flashing his one long fang.

"Humans?" Twilight repeated, uncovering one eye and looking up at him. "Is that your name for these things?"

"Well, to tell you that story, we're going to have to go back a little ways-" Discord stopped abruptly. An expression of abject horror spread across his face and he leapt to his feet, carelessly throwing his pipe away. "NO!" he screamed, his voice filled with undisguised panic as he stared at a point just past Twilight.

Where there had been five figures sitting around the board only moments ago, now there were only four.

Luna cantered to a halt, bleeding off her remaining momentum until she finally came to a complete stop. The weight on her back shifted as her passenger swiftly disembarked, the sword falling out of his hands and landing in the mud with a wet splash. He stumbled when his feet hit the ground and she quickly held out a wing to steady him. He gave her a grateful look before wandering away, making it only a few steps before his legs gave out on him and he sat down on the ground.

She looked at him to make sure he wasn't going to run away or attack her again before turning to look at the sight behind her. Her ancient home, the castle in which she had so many memories, lay in ruins before her. The once-spectacular parapets, which had once guarded the castle and the surrounding lands, were little more than a pile of rubble. The great walls, which had held the castle in a protecting embrace, was only crumbled masonry. Of the castle which Luna had lived in for so many years of her life, there was now naught but memories.

Luna didn't even spare her former home a glance.

Instead, her attention was drawn to the figure lying on the ground. Celestia lay where she had fallen, the black horn that had adorned her head resting in the grass not far away. Luna quickly walked over to the horn - as quickly as she could with an injured leg, anyway - and with a firm stomp of her hoof, crushed the black horn into powder.

Dark laughter blossomed behind her, ending with a hacking cough. Nightmare's body shook with pained amusement. Dark smoke poured from Celestia, and the Princess of the Sun's body began to lighten as the smog left her. "Do you think this is over?" Nightmare rasped out. Her cyan eyes flickered and dimmed, but their piercing gaze remained locked on Luna. "You can never be rid of me, Luna. As long as you live, I will be there. I will be in the darkness, always watching you."

Luna stood over Nightmare's prone form, frowning down at the defeated alicorn. "No," she declared firmly. "You will not. The darkness is my domain, and you are not welcome. Now..." Luna's hoof pressed against Nightmare's skull, pushing the possessed alicorn's face into the mud. "Leave my sister at once!"

The spark in Nightmare's eyes wavered and died, the cyan blue transforming back into Celestia's natural magenta hue before they rolled back and Celestia's face went slack. Luna stepped back as the dark smog pouring out of Celestia began to coalesce and two cat-slit eyes peered out of the cloud. A shape began to form from the mist, and within moments, an image of Nightmare Moon stood before Luna once again. "You merely claimed the darkness," Nightmare's voice echoed hollowly. "But I... I am the darkness."

A beam of light from Luna's horn passed harmlessly through her incorporeal form, and Nightmare scoffed before turning away. Luna turned and bucked at Nightmare Moon, but the attack was as ineffective as the last. "So reclaim your precious little throne. Try as hard as you like to make Celestia's ponies love you. You are all just puppets dancing on strings. This is far from over," Nightmare threatened. The smoke began to float away and both she and Luna knew Luna could do nothing to stop it, not as injured as she was.

Which was why both were surprised when something grabbed Nightmare Moon's flowing tail and pulled her up short. Nightmare turned to look at whatever had halted her escape and was met with a heavy fist to the face. Instead of passing through her body like both of Luna's attacks, the fist landed home with a meaty thud, knocking Nightmare back down to the ground.

John cracked his knuckles. That felt good. At long last, he had managed to find the one that had been controlling him. There was no way she was going to escape so easily. He wasn't sure why he could hurt her, and he didn't really care. She groaned slightly as he straddled her neck, pinning her to the ground with his knees. He held his fist high above his head, and Nightmare looked up at him with pleading eyes.

"W-wait!" she begged. "Sto-"

thud

A little ways away, Luna flinched at each heavy blow. She held conflicting feelings about watching her alter ego getting pummelled. Deep inside, she felt like Nightmare Moon was still a part of her. In a way, it felt like that was her there, getting beaten by those heavy fists.

To be fair, Nightmare Moon probably deserved it.

Turning her attention away from the ongoing vengeance being wrought upon Nightmare Moon, Luna crouched down next to her sister's unmoving form. Celestia was completely still; even her normally flowing mane and tail sat limply in the mud. "It's over, sister. You can wake up now." Luna said haughtily, almost commandingly. She was too tired for anything else, and just wanted to put this whole situation behind them.

Celestia remained unresponsive, lying still in the mud as the rain continued to fall.

"Sister?" Luna asked, a hint of worry entering her voice before she banished it as quickly as it came. A small awkward laugh escaped her. "Enough of your pranks, sister. You're free of Nightmare's hold. Everything is going to be fine now."

Still, Celestia didn't move.

Leaning her head down, Luna nuzzled the side of Celestia's neck. "This isn't funny anymore," she said more quietly than before. She started to stroke her sister's head, and Celestia swayed with the movement before falling limply back in the mud with a wet squelch. Luna held her ear against Celestia's mouth, desperately listening for the sound of breathing.

She couldn't hear anything.

Starting to worry, Luna lay against Celestia's chest. Focusing both her senses and her magic, she searched for some sort of noise or signal. The sound of breathing, a faint heartbeat, brain activity, a magical signature, anything!

Nothing.

"No," Luna whispered out. She fell back on her haunches, heedless of the cold mud she was sitting in. "What are you doing?" she asked harshly, staring at her sister's unmoving body. "You're my sister! You're the strongest mare I've ever known! You've always been there for me, even when I didn't want you there, you were always there for me." She tilted her head back and stared up at the sky, gazing up at the clouds high above her.

"...You said you'd always be there for me," Luna whispered quietly, heedless of the rain pooling in her eyes before breaking free of their dam and pouring down her cheeks in silent rivulets.

Leaning down, Luna brought her rain-streaked face next to Celestia's own. "Come on. Please say something. Didn't you always used to tell me that our ponies would need us one day? That we would have to be ready to defend them, no matter what the cost? That day has come, sister. Our ponies need us now. Please don't leave me to protect them on my own."

She swallowed. Her wing stretched out, covering Celestia's side as Luna slipped herself in between her sister's unresponsive hooves.

"Please don't leave me on my own," Luna begged, burying her nose in Celestia's unmoving mane.

Twilight only had time to see that the image of Celestia had disappeared before a hand grabbed her shoulder, throwing her aside with enough force to smash into the board. Pieces went flying everywhere, spinning end over end before disappearing into the neverending void. Brushing her mane out of her eyes, she saw what had sent her flying.

Discord stood in front of the spot the image of Celestia had sat, his arms outstretched and his hands clenched hard around something that Twilight couldn't see. He appeared to be struggling greatly, his entire body quivering as he fought to hold on to whatever he was wrestling with.

"What are you doing?" Twilight asked. Or would have asked, if Discord hadn't cut her off as soon as she got to "Wha-"

"DON'T TALK TO ME!" Discord screamed. All the arrogance and self-assuredness he had shown before was gone, leaving only a flustered and alarmed draconequus behind. She recoiled from the sheer force of his voice, and her ears flattened against her skull with a whimper. Discord paid her no more attention after that, and Twilight got the distinct feeling that he had completely forgotten about her existence.

Sweat started to roll down Discord's sides as he continued to struggle. Twilight slowly became aware of a strange noise in the air, and it took her a few seconds to realize that Discord was muttering something under his breath. It took a few more seconds for her to realize what he was saying.

"-on't you die on me, don't you die on me, don't you die on me, don't you die on me, don't you die on me, don't you die on me, don't you die on me, don't you die on me, don't you die on me, don't you die on me, don't you die on me, don't you die on me, don't you die on me, don't you die on me..."

Over and over again, like some sort of mantra, he continued to repeat it without any sign of stopping. After minutes that felt like hours, Discord's hands suddenly seized up. The sound of something breaking filled the air and Twilight was blinded by a pure white light.

Her vision come back slowly. The first thing she saw was Discord sitting in a chair in front of her, limply slouched out across the chair's back. His breaths were short and shallow, his sides heaving with every inhalation, sweat soaked his entire body, and he looked tired enough to collapse where he was. Despite that, he wore a broad, self-satisfied grin splayed across his face.

"Wha...what was that?" Twilight asked hesitantly. After he had just yelled at her, she didn't want to provoke him if she could avoid it, but she still wanted to know.

Discord's grin only widened, but he waved her question off as if it was of no concern. "Absolutely nothing," he blatantly lied, his smile never changing. “Just making sure a toy didn’t break.” Steepling his fingers together, he rested his chin on them and gazed at her. "Now then, I believe you had some questions about the humans..."

Celestia coughed.

Luna froze, not even daring to hope. Celestia's body convulsed as she took a deep, rattling breath, her lungs filling with life-giving oxygen. Her mane and tail started to weakly flow, like there was a gently breeze passing through them. "Lu... na...?" she asked hoarsely, looking down at the younger alicorn holding her.

"Sister!" Luna cried happily, hugging her sister as tightly as she could. "I thought... I thought..."

"Can't... breathe..." Celestia gasped out, squirming weakly in Luna's hold.

Luna leapt up, blushing fiercely. "Sorry, sister," she apologized, scraping at the mud coating her. "I was just-"

"Luna." Celestia said firmly. Luna glanced at her nervously, peering out from beneath lowered lashes. A kind, gentle smile was spread across the older diarch's face. "It's okay," the solar princess said. "I'm sorry I scared you."

"Wasn't scared," Luna mumbled inaudibly, rubbing at the streaks the rain had left on her face.

"Of course not," Celestia said with a serene smile. Her horn, still embedded deep within her, lit up with a golden light and smoothly slid out of her chest. It fell into the mud with a splash, not a drop of blood on it as the wound it left behind closed up without leaving a mark. "I'll need to do something about that later," Celestia muttered, scratching at the unmarked spot in her coat. "Speaking about doing something, Luna, aren't you going to introduce me to your new friend?"

"Please don't tease me, sister," Luna said, looking over at the other two present. John still straddled Nightmare Moon, though his punches had slowed. His own blood dripped from his knuckles every time he pulled his fists back, but the blows continued to fall with brutal regularity. Nightmare Moon had given up begging for mercy, holding her hooves about her head in a futile attempt to protect herself. Luna was quite content to watch for just a little longer...

"Luna," Celestia said with a hint of steel hiding behind the silk of her voice. "Don't you think you should do something?"

"Not really, no." Luna gave a petulant groan at the look Celestia shot her. "Fine," she said. Said, not whined. She didn't whine. Princesses don't whine.

Slowly walking forward - slow enough that John was able to get several more punches in in the meantime - Luna reached out and grabbed his fist when he raised it back for another blow. "That's enough," she told him, not unkindly.

He looked at her in surprise before shifting his gaze down to the dark form beneath him. He blinked once, staring at Nightmare as if he had never seen her before. Shaking off Luna's hoof, he brought his fist down as hard as he could for one final blow before standing up and staggering away, panting for breath all the while. He made it as far as the base of a nearby tree before he could go no further and collapsed against it.

Luna gave him a grateful look when he cleared the area, her gaze hardening as it shifted to the figure on the ground. "Do you have any words to say for yourself?" she asked, her voice as hard and cold as steel. "Could you possibly have any words to say in your defense?"

Nightmare laughed, a low hacking laugh that sounded like she was squeezing it through walls of pain. "Does it matter?" she asked sardonically. "You've already made up your mind."

"Very well. If you have nothing to say, then I shall pass your sentence. You are clearly far too dangerous to allow free, as you have already proven on multiple occasions."

"You certainly love to hear yourself talk," Nightmare mocked. "Let's cut to the chase. So what're you going to do? Kill me?"

Luna shook her head. "I would if I could. Regretfully, that pleasure is beyond me, since I lack the power needed to kill an immortal like yourself right now. No, I am going to do something far simpler. Until we can figure out a more permanent solution, I am going to seal you deep within my own soul."

Nightmare visibly flinched, but tried to cover it up with a sneer. "Seal me within yourself? You made me. Gave me power. Gave me life. You think you can contain me?"

"Yes."

The edges of Nightmare Moon's smoky form started to waver and tremble. Thick dark tendrils poured into Luna's body, and the indistinct figure of Nightmare Moon shrunk, becoming smaller and smaller as more and more of her slid into her new prison. "This isn't over, Luna!" Nightmare Moon cried. "I'm not done with you! I'll get out of this, and when I do..." Whatever else Nightmare Moon intended to say became lost as the last of the darkness was drawn inside the Lunar Princess, disappearing without a trace.

Luna stumbled as Nightmare Moon vanished inside of her. She would have fallen, but Celestia was suddenly at her side and caught the collapsing dark alicorn. "It's alright," she said soothingly, holding her younger sister against her chest. "I'm here for you."

"I'm fine," Luna complained, but let herself lean into her sister's embrace anyway. Pressing her hoof against her chest, she consider it for a moment. "I can feel her struggling against her bonds," she admitted quietly. "She's fighting to escape."

"She won't escape," Celestia assured her, stretching out her wings to give her sister a comforting hug. "Not so long as I'm here for you."

Luna looked up at Celestia uncertainly. "...You promise?" she asked tentatively, remembering what had happened not long ago, when she thought her sister had performed her last sunset. "You'll stay here with me?"

"I promise," Celestia said sincerely, unwrapping her wings from around Luna. Still holding on to her sister, she turned her head to look at the third figure in front of what remained of the Castle of the Pony Sisters. "What are we going to do with him?"

Luna followed her gaze to see John staring at the both of them. He hadn't moved from the spot he had collapsed earlier, and watched them with an unblinking gaze. The sight of him staring at them like that reminded Luna of something she had forgotten. "Celestia," she said seriously. "He's a human."

Celestia's entire body stiffened at Luna's proclamation. Her tongue flicked out, wetting suddenly-dry lips. "A... human..." she repeated, staring at John in disbelief. "You... you're sure." It wasn't a question.

Luna inclined her head. "Yes. Nightmare Moon said it herself. I believe she was telling the truth."

"A human..." Celestia muttered. "Discord... Is this your plan?" Releasing Luna, Celestia slowly staggered towards John. He watched her approach with caution, not making any moves of his own but preparing to either flee or lash out if she made any sort of threatening actions. He needn't have worried.

When Celestia had gotten close to him, she abruptly fell to her knees. Luna dashed forward, fearing she had suddenly succumbed to her many wounds. When she got closer, she realized just how mistaken she had been.

She recognized the position Celestia was in. How could she not? It was the exact same one her own subjects gave her and her sister every day.

Celestia hadn't collapsed.

Celestia was bowing.

"~I thought,~" Celestia said in a language that had died out many years before she had been born. She licked her lips and started again. "~I had heard that all the humans had died out years ago.~"

John stared at her, his mouth hanging open. A final few raindrops fell and the clouds finally started to clear from the skies above, allowing the reaching sunbeams to reach the forest floor. Long seconds passed soundlessly before John finally moved.

"~You... you can talk?~" he said.

Shared History

"Have you never noticed, Little Sparkle? The world moves in cycles, history repeating itself over and over again." Discord leaned back against an oversized beanbag that had appeared behind him. He fumbled for his bubble pipe before realizing that he had cast it aside earlier. "A race will rise, become dominant, and fall. Then another race will rise to take their place and the cycle repeats. Again and again, since time immemorial." His eyes lacked any trace of their usual silliness or playfulness. All that remained was a cruel sadness, deeper and darker than anything Twilight could comprehend. Discord's flat voice spoke without emotion, and it was possibly the most unnerving thing Twilight had ever heard. "Right now, the ponies are the dominant species," Discord continued, either not noticing or not paying attention to Twilight's discomfort. "Before them, it was the alicorns, of which only Celestia and Luna remain. And even before them... it was the humans."

"Humans?" Twilight asked curiously.

"Ah yes, the humans," Twilight saw a flicker of a fond smile appear on Discord's face, though his voice remained as emotionless as ever. "What an absolutely marvellous race. Capable of both the worst atrocities and the greatest kindnesses, they completely conquered the world and shaped it to their whims. They were completely incapable of magic, but that only drove them to accomplish greater and greater things. Just imagine it. Able to fly hundreds of individuals through the air at speeds not even the Element of Loyalty can achieve, capable of building enormous structures that make even Canterlot Castle itself look like a hovel, and a solid enough grasp of their own biology that they could perform heart transplants and the patient could survive. And all without a single bit of magic."

Twilight's breath caught in her chest. What Discord was saying sounded wondrous! Her inner scholar was going nuts. So was her outer scholar, she mentally added, as she realized she was literally dancing on her hooves. If there was even the slightest kernel of truth to what Discord was saying, she really wanted to know more about them. "So what happened?" Twilight asked, leaning in. "They're not around anymore, right? So what happened to them?"

"There was a war with the alicorns."

Twilight sat back heavily, her head drooping with disappointment. She had finally gotten closer to learning a little more about that complicated creature from the Everfree. And for her search to end with such a simple answer... A frown spread on her face as she realized something. Nothing about what had happened since that cre - that human, she corrected herself - first appeared had been simple. She narrowed her eyes at Discord. "You're not telling me something."

Discord grinned, a hint of his usually mischievous spirit blossoming in his eyes. "Plenty. But in this case, I'm not telling you who the war was against. The humans and alicorns did go to war together, that much is true. But they fought as allies, not as enemies."

"Allies?" Twilight repeated. Memories flashed through her mind; memories of fire, of blood, of pain. She reached up and touched her horn, carefully brushing against the cracks that spread throughout it like the reaching strings of a spider web. "We were allied with something like that?"

Discord's smirk widened even further. "Oh?" he asked mockingly. "Is the vaunted Element of Magic herself refusing to make friends with someone? Is the power of your so-called Harmony really that weak?"

Twilight couldn't respond to that.

After a pause to let her answer, Discord shrugged. "Looks like my victory will be even easier than I thought. As I was saying, the humans and the alicorns fought side-by-side, allied against a great evil power-"

"Was it you?" Twilight asked bluntly.

Discord gave her an offended huff. "Really, are you just going to blame me for everything until you find something I'm actually responsible for? You need to go out and make some real hobbies. I hadn't even been created by then, I'll have you know."

"If you want me to stop accusing you, maybe you should stop doing terrible things," Twilight suggested.

"Nah. Where was I?" Discord popped his eyeballs out of his skull and rolled them between his fingers, trying to remember what he had been saying before being so rudely interrupted while Twilight watched with a mixture of disgust and dismay. "Oh right, alicorn war or whatever. Anyways, there was a war against some sort of evil. Alicorns survived, humans didn't. Eventually the alicorns vanished as well. A whole bunch of things happened after that — eventually the Elements of Harmony were created in the hopes that it would prevent another war of that scale." Discord uncomfortably scratched the back of his head with a sheepish expression on his face. "And then, well... a whole bunch of stuff happened after that. Celestia took the throne, and here we are now... and, uh... the end."

Twilight's expressionless face spoke volumes. "Little more detail than that would be nice."

"I don't know much more than that," Discord admitted with a shrug. "I don't know where either the alicorns or the evil force came from in the first place. I don't know how they defeated the power in the end. And I don't know why the humans and alicorns decided to ally with each other. Honestly, all my knowledge comes from stories Celestia told me back in our youth."

"You knew the Princess when you were young? Twilight asked. "Wait... you were young?" Somehow, she'd managed to build up this image of Discord of an immortal, omnipresent force in her head; ever-present and everlasting.

"Tia's older than I am, thank you very much," Discord gave her an annoyed glare, though there was no heat in it and it vanished as quickly as it came. "Keep in mind, all the stories were ones that she had heard from her own mother, so I'm not too sure how truthful they are."

"Mother?" Twilight repeated. "The Princess never told me about her mother..."

"I'm not surprised," Discord said. "Tia's good at hiding it, but she's never gotten over what happened to her mother." Twilight's ears flicked at his tone. If it hadn't been Discord, she would have sworn there was genuine concern in his voice. Since it was Discord, she passed it off as either her imagination or him trying to manipulate her in some way.

"Prove it," Twilight challenged, knowing there was no way he could. "You're saying that Princess Celestia still carries burdens from thousands of years ago? Then prove it."

"Easy," Discord replied without a trace of hesitation. An amused chuckle escaped him at Twilight's expression, but the amusement quickly faded away. "And you've given me the ammo I need. 'Princess' Celestia. 'Princess.' What an interesting title. Why not Queen?"

Twilight remained silent, knowing he was going to answer the question anyway.

Discord frowned slightly at Twilight's unwillingness to play along, but like the amusement from before, it vanished as quickly as it came. "Celestia's mother was the Queen of the Alicorns. I don't think Tia's even aware of it, but she's constantly comparing herself to her mother. Until she feels that she's her equal, she's not going to be taking her title. Thousands of years have passed, and Celestia's still living in her mother's shadow. It's just so tragic, isn't it?" Deep laughter boomed from him, throwing away his apparent melancholy in an instant. "It's just... too FUNNY!"

Twilight recoiled from Discord's apparent complete shift in personality. If she had had any doubts about his insanity, they were now safely dismissed.

"Time and time and time again, repeating without end and without any sort of plan." Discord's hand covered his face and he threw his head back, his entire body shaking with the horrible laughter. "Some evil forces rise, threatens the world, and is defeated. Lessons are learned, life goes on, and in the end, nothing changes! It doesn't matter. None of it! Another evil will inevitably threaten the world, before being defeated in turn. So orderly, so regular." Discord sneered."So... disgusting." His attention switched back to Twilight and the expression on his face switched over from monstrously evil to bright and cheery. "So that's why I'm going to break that rule, among others."

"How?"

"Well," Discord wrapped his arm around her, pulling her up close to him and whispering into her ear like her was imparting some sort of great wisdom. "Things aren't turning out exactly as I had hoped, but a little improvisation is good now and then. A plan that goes exactly as planned sounds pretty boring, don't you think? Besides, what’s happening is far better than I could possibly have hoped for."

"A plan is, by its very definition, supposed to go as planned," Twilight argued. "Otherwise, there's no point in making a plan in the first place- Don't do that!" Discord was making 'blah blah blah' motions with his hand.

"Whatever. Not interested." He clapped his hands together. "Tell you what, since you've been such a good sport and I never would have made it this far without you, I'll do you a little favour." He raised three fingers. "I'll answer any three questions you have. And if you act fast, for a one-time bonus, I'll answer them simply and honestly. No fancy word games."

"So I can ask any three questions I li-?" The words were out of Twilight's mouth before she could think about them , but she quickly stopped herself by shoving her own hooves into her mouth.

Discord grinned, a playful twinkle in his eyes. "So close," he taunted. "You still have three questions. I'm sure you've got some."

She had plenty. "Why are you making everything so complicated?" she snarled. "The humans, the changelings, Nightmare Moon, the Princesses, my friends and their sisters, Spike, and I'm sure there's plenty more I don't know about. You keep talking how this is just a 'game' to you and we're all 'pieces' belonging to the 'players'. If the humans are your pieces, and the Elements of Harmony are the stakes, then where do the changelings come in? Not even you could keep track of something with this many moving pieces!"

"Oh, I've completely lost control," Discord admitted without a hint of shame. "Originally, the plan was quite simple. Not my best work, I'll admit, but I think it would have got the job done." He ticked off a finger. "The humans aren't my pieces. The one I gifted to Chrysalis and her changelings worked perfectly, but Celestia's was captured by Nightmare Moon. Things fell apart on that front pretty quickly. If any of you had died, everything would have been ruined. As things stand, only one piece on the board is actually mine. No, I'm not telling who it is. As for the changelings, I pushed them to invade Canterlot as payment for services rendered. Same concept with your friend's sisters and that dragon that follows you everywhere." Another finger ticked down. Discord stared at it for a moment before quickly raising it again. "Actually, I'm in a good mood, so we'll count those as one question."

Twilight gaped at him. She had trouble wrapping her head around the simple and casual way he talked about causing the changelings' invasion like that. Hundreds of lives, so casually played with. So casually ruined. "You... you sent Spike and the others to Canterlot. You're the reason they're there." She wasn't angry. She was well past anger. Her voice was dangerously calm, and even Discord realized that pushing her any farther would be dangerous even for him.

Naturally, Discord treated pushing her buttons the exact same way he would have treated finding a giant red button labelled DO NOT PUSH. By pushing it as hard as he could. "Hmm? Oh, you didn't know that? Thought you'd already blamed that on me." Wow, he thought, she's actually shaking with rage. Wonder if I can make her burst into flames.

To Discord's disappointment, Twilight didn't rise to the bait. She took a deep breath before releasing it with a sound not unlike a steam whistle. "You're a psychopath."

"True. But that doesn't mean I'm not good company."

"Shut up." Twilight had had more than enough, and wasn't going to put up with any more of his nonsense. "How can you use magic here? The Elements should have sealed your powers away." She was so enraged with Discord that she failed to notice the waves of power spreading across her body. Various shades of purple, green, red, and pure black rippled through her coat and mane, leaving only her eyes untouched by the changing colours.

Discord quickly hid his smile. It wouldn't be good if Twilight noticed what was happening. "You and your friends' seal is nowhere near as strong as your pretty Princesses' was. Even if we ignore that little burst of power I got a little while back, I've already been sealed away for well over a thousand years. I know my way around this place, and I know how to slip through its defences. In fact, I would say nopony knows as much about the Elements of Harmony as I do."

"You?" Twilight scoffed. "Then why have you already been beaten by them twice?" Her eyes narrowed dangerously as he lifted his final extended finger in front of her face. "That wasn't my question. You said that you don't know any of the details about the humans. Why can't you look that up in your mirror?"

"Can't," Discord snapped his fingers, and the mirror in question appeared once again. "The thing's bonded to me. It'll show any point in time that I chose, but it can only show periods of time that I was alive for. It was a gift from the one who created me."

"Created you?"

"And I'm afraid you've used up all your questions." Discord appeared at her side and gave her a hard shove, sending her staggering towards the mirror. He grabbed the back of her head and squashed her muzzle painfully against the glass. "Since you were so interested in the mirror, I think I'll show you the very first memory recorded on it."

The reflective glass pressed up against Twilight's face started to ripple and warp. She screamed as she was torn out of her body and drawn into the mirror, and everything was consumed by darkness.

Twilight couldn't breathe.

She didn't feel the need to breathe.

She couldn't move.

That was fine. She didn't want to move.

She floated in some sort of strange liquid, warm and comfortable. The liquid was all she needed; all she had ever known. The liquid nurtured her, cared for her. She was held in a tiny room, small enough that the walls and ceiling pressed against her. Light, tainted red from passing through the liquid gave evidence of a world beyond the one she knew. She wasn't curious about it. "Outside" was a theory at best, and one that didn't interest her.

She was... at peace.

Time passed without meaning. The light came and went, unremarked. Days, months, years... time was a concept she barely understood. Her warm little world gave her everything she needed. Nothing changed, and nothing was ever going to.

Nothing, that was, until the day that everything changed.

Twilight felt something from "outside." It called to her, pulled at her; calling for her to leave, to escape her tiny world. She moved for the first time, the liquid offering little resistance. She had to escape, had to find out what was calling out to her. She struck out at the shell surrounding her, tiny claws digging into the boundaries of her cage. For the first time that she could remember, she felt like she wasn't home. She felt like she was in a prison, and she wanted out.

Voices trickled in from outside. Others?

"Luna!" one of the voices said. The voice was young. Feminine. It squeaked with excitement. "I did it! I got my cutie mark!"

"Really?" Another young feminine voice called. "Was that that burst of magic? That's so cool! What'd you get it for?"

"'Was that the cause of that burst of magic,' Luna." The voice's chiding tone vanished in a playful giggle. "Watch this." The source of the light moved back and forth a few times and Twilight heard the second voice give an excited squeal.

"Ohmygoodness, you can control the sun? That's amazing!"

Whatever they were talking about, they sure sounded like they were having fun. Fun. Fuuuuun.

What an intriguing word.

Twilight wanted to meet them.

She struck out at the walls around her again, and this time there was a satisfying crack as the walls buckled beneath her blow. Twilight didn't realize it, but the noises she was making had not gone unnoticed.

"Did you hear that?" the second voice asked. The excitement that had suffused the voice had vanished, replaced instead with trepidation and fear.

"I did," the first voice responded. Just like the other voice, this voice's excitement had also vanished .In its place was determination and caution. "Stay close to me." Several more seconds passed where the voices were silent, and Twilight feared they had disappeared.

"Tia, what's that?" One of the voices suddenly spoke up. Twilight perked up in excitement. They sounded so close!

"I'm not sure," the other voice admitted. The barrier cracked under another of Twilight's blows, and she heard a gasp from outside. "It's moving!"

There. Twilight's claws burst through the shell trapping her. For the first time she could remember, she could see the sky. It was so blue! A strange feeling brushed against her skin and she wondered what it was. Ah. That was air.

The capsule she was in split in half without any warning, dropping her onto the cold dirt. Dirt. How strange. And then there was the trees, and the plants, and the clouds, and the sun. Everything was just so interesting!

She wanted to see everything! Unfortunately, her body refused to listen to her. Because of her traitorous body, she ended up falling face-first onto the discarded eggshell, the smooth calcium shattering under the impact. What a bizarre egg it was, all patterned with spots and stripes.

"Ugly thing, isn't it?"

"Hush, Luna. There's no need to be rude."

Twilight turned her head to see a pair of strange creatures staring at her. They had four legs, two wings, and one horn. Twilight wondered if that meant they had three eyes. The larger of the two possessed a white coat and a pure pink mane and tail, while the smaller one wore a mixture of blue and indigo. Twilight tried to greet them, but all that came out of her mouth was an adorable little squeak.

The larger of the pair approached Twilight, carefully holding out a hoof for Twilight to grab. "Hey there, little guy," she said softly, keeping herself low to the ground so as to not appear intimidating. "What are you?"

The second creature peered out from behind a bush. "Be careful, Tia," she warned. "That thing looks weird."

Ignoring the smaller one's protests, Celestia picked Twilight up. "Oh, you're worrying too much. He's completely safe. Aren't you, little guy?" She rubbed Twilight's head, giggling at Twilight's happy little chirp."Awww, he likes me," she cooed before looking over at the little one still hiding behind her bush. "Come say hello, Luna."

Luna carefully crawled out from behind her bush, creeping towards Twilight with an outstretched hoof reaching out to poke at Twilight's side. Twilight felt a mischievous urge swell within her and pounced on the extended hoof, gnawing on it with toothless gums.

The scream alone was worth it.

"AIEEE! IT'S EATING ME! GET IT OFF GET IT OFF GET IT OFF! SISTER, YOU LIED TO ME!"

Celestia giggled, pulling Twilight away from Luna's panicked flailing. "Aww, he was just playing. Weren't you, little guy?" She poked at Twilight's stomach, a smile spreading across her face before it faded and a thoughtful frown took its place. "You're going to need a name. I can't just keep calling you 'little guy' forever, can I?"

"How about 'Nuisance?'" Luna grumbled, rubbing at her offended limb.

"No." Celestia vetoed the suggestion without even pretending to consider it. She bit her at lower lip as her gaze wandered over Twilight's body before her eyes lit up. "I've got it!" she exclaimed, a happy smile blossoming on her face with all the radiance of the sun. "What do you think about..."

"~...Discord,~" Celestia said. Her expression was deceptively neutral, only the barest hint of a frown tickling at the corners of her mouth and a subtle darkening of her eyes revealing her emotions to anyone who knew how to read them. "~That's the name of the one that brought you here.~"

Celestia, Luna, and John sat in front of the broken remains of the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. A small campfire burned in front of them, a pot of water brought to a near-boil above it. Dirty rags floated in the simmering water before being lifted out in a wave of indigo magic. Luna cleaned at the blood and dirt covering herself and her sister, carefully removing as much grime as possible out of their open wounds.

"~I... I see,~" John heaved a heavy sigh, resting his head in his hands. Celestia had just been explaining to him everything she knew about humanity, and what had happened to them. To hear that everyone, everything he might have known, was long gone. Torn away from him forever, along with his memories. A sprout of emotion had taken root deep inside his heart, threatening to burst out and consume him. Anger? Sadness? Even he wasn't sure what it was. "~I'm sorry,~" he said, pushing himself to his feet. "~But I need some time alone.~"

Luna watched him go before turning her gaze to her sister. "Are you sure about this, sister? Can we trust him?"

"I'm not sure," Celestia admitted, also watching John walk away. "But I know he has to make his own choice. We can't force a decision on him."

Luna hesitated as she squeezed the rag, forcing out the excess water. A slight frown flickered at the edges of her lips as she turned to look at her sister. “What was that language you were speaking? I do not think I have ever heard anything like it before.”

“Mother taught it to me.” Celestia lifted her wing so that Luna could reach some of the mud underneath it. “I never thought I would ever need to use it, but Mother didn’t want them to be forgotten. She said once that nopony would be alive right now if it hadn’t been for what the humans did.”

Carefully wiping the worst of the mud away, Luna turned back to the pot. “Do you know what she meant? I have not seen much of this human, but what I have seen and heard does not paint him in the best light.” Except for what he did with Nightmare Moon, she mentally added. As if the thought had been a signal, Nightmare Moon suddenly started struggling from her prison inside Luna, desperate to escape her bindings. A firm thought from Luna quickly had the spirit squashed back into her theoretical jail cell.

“You can’t blame him,” Celestia said, not noticing Luna’s actions. “I’m not sure what Mother meant, but it seems like this human has been through much since he arrived.” Seeing that Luna was about to ask for clarification, Celestia spoke first. “First, he was somehow brought here by Discord. Discord then erased all of his memories.”

“You’re sure he doesn’t just have amnesia?” Luna asked, wringing out the rag again. “Though that does not sound like something Discord would do…”

“That’s just it,” Celestia sighed. “Here’s where things get complicated. I scanned him with magic while we talked, and he’s an absolute wreck. As best as I understand it, this is what happened. After erasing his memories, Discord gave him brand new ones in replacement. This would have made the human more likely to do what he had wanted.”

Luna nodded in understanding. “That sounds more like Discord. He always did love taking the most complicated path possible. But I do not understand what you meant. It sounds very simple to me.”

Celestia snickered. “Oh, it gets better. This is where Nightmare Moon appears. She erased the memories Discord had made, but she was much less controlled. It was like,” Celestia licked her lips as she tried to think of an appropriate metaphor. “It was like trying to clear a spiderweb by throwing boulders at it. The spiderweb is gone, but so is most of the surrounding area.” Seeing that Luna understood, Celestia continued onwards. “When she left him in order to possess me, she also left several layers of spellwork in his mind so that she would be able to control him if they ever met again.”

“But she didn’t,” Luna pointed out, thinking how Nightmare had tried exactly that.

“But she didn’t,” Celestia agreed. “Discord interfered again, and removed the mind control spells. I think he also pointed him in our direction.”

“Goodness,” Luna mumbled. She felt like her eyes were trying to cross themselves from the sheer over-complicated nature of what had happened. “How did you scan him?” she asked instead, trying to steer the conversation away from muddy waters. “Whatever I touched him with magic, it simply... broke, I suppose would be the best word for it.”

“I think that ability of his is connected to his own emotions,” Celestia said, thoughtfully scratching her cheek with a hoof. She stopped and stared at her hoof with a grimace as she realized she had just rubbed a streak of mud across her face. “It’s mostly defensive in nature, and activates automatically. Since he trusts you and me now, even if only a little, we can now cast magic on him or use it freely around him. If he stops trusting us, our magic will be negated again.”

“Huh,” Luna said, a considering look in her eyes. “But what about Nightmare Moon and Discord? They meant him ill, yet nothing happened to stop them.”

A tiny smile flickered across Celestia’s lips. “I think that’s because he didn’t know about either of them. His ability only stops magic that he knows about. He didn’t even realize I was scanning him.” The smile flipped, turning itself into a pensive frown. “What I can’t understand is the nature of his ability to cancel magic. It’s not magical in nature, which means that it couldn’t have been Nightmare Moon or Discord who gave it to him.”

Having finally cleaned the rag to acceptable standards, Luna began to carefully clean the mud and dirt out of Celestia’s open cuts so that they wouldn’t get infected while she healed. She stared into her sister’s large eyes, as vast and deep as the depths of the universe. “What are you scheming?”

Celestia’s chuckle turned into a grimace of pain as Luna accidentally opened one of her many wounds. “You’re really going to have to be more specific,” she gently teased to the Lunar Princess’ apologetic face.

Rolling her eyes, Luna gently dabbed at Celestia’s forehead with the damp cloth more carefully than before. “This entire thing feels wrong. I realized as soon as the young foals told me what was going on. You’re scheming something, aren’t you? I don’t believe you were caught off guard as you keep pretending.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Celestia replied. Despite her words, the amused twinkle in her eyes was inviting Luna to explain.

Luna grunted as she wiped the dirt away from her older sister’s wounds. “You knew Twilight Sparkle would be unlikely to win against anything of Discord’s, yet you kept the Elements of Harmony in Canterlot. Then, despite being aware the changelings were up to something, you just happened to be absent when they invaded Canterlot. Canterlot was taken almost without a fight, as if the entire royal guard had been stationed somewhere else. You deliberately gave Canterlot over to the changelings, didn’t you?” she accused. “In fact, you did it at a time when your niece and her husband were visiting. I just can’t understand why.”

Celestia’s smile widened imperceptibly, feeling overflowing pride in her sister for managing to put together such a complete picture with so little information. Luna had always been good with puzzles. She quickly schooled her expression, making sure not to reveal her real emotions. “You flatter me,” she said, never losing her serene smile. “Even I couldn’t have predicted everything that happened.”

“Fine,” Luna huffed. “Keep your secrets.” Dipping the cloth back in the bucket of water, she rinsed it a little before pulling it back out. Minutes passed in silence as Luna quickly cared for the wounds she had inflicted, always cautious not to further the damage. Her tongue flicked across her suddenly dry lips as a new thought occurred to her. “It’s fine,” Luna said quietly. “I’m not angry at you.”

“You should be,” Celestia admitted as she craned her neck back and stared up at the beautiful blue sky far above them. “…Do you think less of me for it?” she asked sadly, her voice barely above a whisper. “I used my own family as pawns. I willingly abandoned my subjects in their time of need. I allowed my student to bear a burden far greater than she should have. I let you get captured and did nothing to save you.” A hint of a tear trickled out of the corner of her eyes. “…I couldn’t save you. Just like last time, I couldn’t save y-“

She was cut off as Luna grabbed her neck and pulled her in for a tight hug. “I’m here now,” she whispered, gently rubbing at the back of Celestia’s head. “I’m here for you.”

"Thank you," Celestia said quietly. She closed her eyes and leant into Luna's embrace. Minutes passed in silence before Celestia spoke again. "Sister?" Celestia asked slowly, hesitantly. "Can I confess something?"

With a flicker of her eyes, Luna granted permission.

"I'm scared," Celestia admitted heavily. She fell silent again, and Luna felt the need to prompt her.

"Scared that you won't be able to protect yo- our little ponies?" Luna asked, catching herself in time. "Or that your student will not be able to bear the task you have set her?"

Celestia shook her head. "No, that's not it." She sighed, her eyes falling to the pure white horn on the ground next to her. "I still feel that I did the right thing. But that's just it. It was far too easy."

"Easy." Luna repeated in a deadpan tone, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She gave a meaningful look over at the ruins that were all that remained of their former home. "Really."

A tiny chuckle escaped Celestia, ending with a sharp pained gasp as injured bones ground against each other. "Don't make me laugh," she begged playfully. "It hurts." Her mood turned somber and she turned her head up to look at a cloud that was just covering the sun. "Once I realized Discord was planning something, I leapt at the opportunity to match wits with him. Everypony around me just became pieces to manipulate in our match. Ponies who trust me with their lives faded into easily replaceable pieces. Even I became nothing more than a simple piece. It was just... so easy." Celestia's head sagged. "I fear I am no better than he is."

Luna took a moment to parse through what Celestia had said to find the hidden meaning underneath. It wasn't hard. "You still care for him, don't you? You feel like you could have saved him."

"Yes," Celestia admitted, a single tear dripping off of her muzzle to mix in the fresh mud beneath her. "I do."

"Sister..." Luna sighed. She lay in the mud next to Celestia, extending a wing to cover her sister. "Discord made his choice. I thought you accepted that."

"I thought I did, too." Celestia's mane gently curled around the stump of her horn. "I hate this," she disclosed quietly. "I'm the most powerful being alive, other than Discord himself. I've lived for millennia, and have raised the sun every day for almost all of those years. An entire nation moves at my merest whim, and the leader of every country on the planet would obey me if I gave them an order. And despite all this power, I can't do anything to protect those most important to me. Not Discord, not you, not Twilight, and not..." Her voice drifted off into silence.

"...Mother?" Luna asked, filling in the blanks. Seeing Celestia's slow nod, Luna sighed and looked up at the sky. "I wish I could have known her."

"You would have liked her." Luna had been barely older than a filly when their mother, as well as the entire alicorn race except for the two sisters, had vanished without a trace. The last memory Celestia had of their mother was watching the alicorn mare fighting desperately against two twisted alicorn-like creatures, trying to draw them away from her young daughters. It wasn't until many, many years later that Celestia was finally able to put a name to those creatures. Changelings.

"Luna," Celestia said suddenly. "There's something I need to tell you."

Luna looked over at Celestia with surprise at Celestia's abruptness. "Well, go ahead, sister," she encouraged. "You don't need my permission."

"You were right." Celestia spoke slowly, quietly. It was like she needed to force out every word. "I allowed the changelings to take over Canterlot. I knew that they were coming, and I let it happen. I even made certain that Cadance and her husband were there at the time, so that they would be captured by the invading changelings."

Luna eyes widened in surprise. What Celestia was confessing to... This was worse than treason! "Why?" she whispered out. "What could have possible possessed you to do something like that?"

"To keep them safe," Celestia said quietly, almost too quietly for Luna to hear. "And also..." An image of her mother being attacked by a pair of changelings passed in front of her eyes, but she banished it almost as quickly as it came. "We cannot afford to fight with the changelings, especially not now."

Celestia stared directly into Luna's eyes, her gaze as firm and unwavering as her heart. "I want to establish peace with the Changeling Queen."

Twilight gasped.

Her awareness returned to her with the weight of a rampaging manticore, and it took her a moment to realize where she was. She lay in front of the magic mirror, her limbs splayed out in every direction on the nonexistent floor. "Oh… My head… What happened?".

"Oh good, you're awake. Finally." Discord sat a little ways away, an open book held in front of him. The book possessed a very fashionable red cover, complete with a white trimming, and Discord closed it with a snap before making it disappear. He was frowning, almost glaring at her."Time for your final lesson in world magic."

Twilight blinked, pushing her mane out of her eyes. She was having a hard time keeping up with Discord's rapid mood swings. "Um... Now?"

"We're out of time, and we won't be meeting up for a while after this, so yes, now. Harmony or Chaos. Which do you think is the world's natural state?"

"Harmony," Twilight answered immediately. She didn't even need to think about it. Discord's frown spread, letting her know she had picked wrong.

"Figure it out before we meet again," he told her, picking her up. "That's your homework."

She glared at him. "If I have anything to say about it, you won't have the chance." Since he was holding her in his arms, she was able to easily stab his chest with her hoof. "I know your weakness. You draw power from the chaos going on around you. The chaos you create. If we can hit you with the Elements again immediately after you escape, before you can start spreading chaos again, we'll be able to seal you away again. Maybe this time for good."

"That's only if you can do that, Twilight Sparkle," Discord challenged her. "But you're right. That'll work. If you can seal me immediately after I break free, you'll be able to put a seal on me stronger than the one the Princesses sealed me with." A small, unamused smirk revealed his teeth to her. "But you'll only get one chance."

"That's plenty."

Discord shifted her in his grip, bringing her face up next to his. "But so what? Go ahead. Seal me away again. It won't stop me. I'm immortal. Your life, all the lives of your friends and your descendants, will pass in the blink of an eye to me. So be my guest. Friendship me. All I have to do..." He slowly closed his eyes. "...is blink. It may take a few decades or a few centuries, but I will be free again. And you won't be around to stop me."

"Somepony will always be there to stop you. No matter the age, ponies will never give up."

"Oh, I doubt that." Discord snapped his fingers and a hole opened in the air in front of him. He lifted Twilight above his head, purple light emanating from the portal illuminating them both. His hand gripped her throat; not enough to hurt but enough to make her aware of its presence. “You can’t even stop the changelings. What makes you think you could possibly do anything to me? Not that it won’t be funny watching you try.”

Twilight wrapped her hooves around his wrist, pulling her face up close to his. “Because I have my friends with me. Once we’ve finished with the changelings, we’ve coming for you.”

“I’m looking forward to it.” Discord mocked. He pressed up against the rip in time and space, his arm the only thing preventing her from falling through. "And let me give you one last piece of advice before you return to your body. If you meet the second human, run. You wouldn't like what'll happen if you try to fight him."

He released his grip on her, but she didn’t fall through. She clutched on to his wrist, glaring at him. The pull of the portal caused her mane and tail to thrash wildly, but she stubbornly refused to let go. Surprise flitted across his face before he gave her a taunting smile. “Something you wish to say?”

“You better believe it,” Twilight growled at him. “Why are you doing this? Everything that’s happened so far - it all keeps coming back to you. Whether it’s those humans or the changelings, it’s all because of you. I’ll bet you’re responsible for the fight we just watched, too. And then, to top it all off, you bring me here to teach me some sort of magic. What are you planning, Discord?”

Discord chuckled, a chuckle that slowly transformed into a deep booming laugh. “Who can say?” he all but shouted, his voice brimming with amusement. “Maybe I just want to see Celestia’s precious little world collapse around her ears. Maybe I want to shatter that facade of security she’s spent so many years raising around herself. Maybe I want to watch as Harmony breaks, pushed to the brink by only the slightest touch of chaos.”

“Or maybe,” he added, whispering into her ear. “Maybe it’s all because of you. You, who defeated me last time. Maybe I just want to watch you suffer, to watch you twist in the wind until you lose everything, and know that you were unable to prevent it when you had the chance. So show me, little puppet. Will you be able to cut the strings that control you?” Twilight felt a pressure on her throat, cutting off the flow of oxygen to her lungs. “Or will you wrap them around your own neck?”

He shook her off his arm, and she fell into the endless void.

The portal closed behind Twilight, leaving Discord alone in the neverending void. Alone in the neverending loneliness.

...

Neverending boredom, I mean. Right.

He looked over at the scattered remnants of the board that had held his playing pieces. The board was tipped on its side, the pieces that it had carried either scattered about or lost forever in the space between worlds. Two very special pieces stood out to him, and he considered them as he picked up the images of the two humans.

He hadn’t lied to Twilight. He truly did know nothing about what had happened to the humans. It had never seemed important before.

But now he was curious.

He dropped the pieces and reached out, his claws tearing through the fabric of time and space. He had used up all of his remaining power saving Celestia earlier, but he was still able to reach across realms without any trouble. Returning Twilight to her body had been simple. All he had needed to do was shove her spirit into the absolute void. She would find her way back to her body on her own.

Probably.

Discord grunted in pain as a backlash of power twisted his talons backwards, nearly snapping them off. Alright, so this took slightly more power than he thought, continuing on despite the pain. While his seal prevented him from reaching into the physical world, that wasn’t where he was heading.

Instead, he was going deeper. Deeper and deeper into his seal, following the tiniest trail of magical energy that had reached all the way to him. It was easy to follow it to its source. He was squeezed, crushed, squashed, flattened, and compressed, but he continued on.

Eventually he broke through the final barrier, and fell into the metaphysical. Into the realm that didn't exist.

“We need to talk,” he said.

Author's Note

Hoo, boy. This one's gonna take a while.

Twilight's bad experiences with John start in Chapter 3 and just keep getting worse from there.
The first mention of the time the alicorns ruled the world was back in Chapter 12. Luna explained a little about the creation of the Elements of Harmony in that same chapter.
Luna has the exact same memory as Celestia, that the alicorns were atacked by the changelings, as seen in Chapter 29.
However, it's worth pointing out that Chrysalis believes that the alicorns turned into changelings. Chapter 28.
Speaking of Chryssy, she found a foal's scrawl of Celestia, Luna, and their mother in Celestia's room in Chapter 27.
Chapter 29 is when Discord set a chain of events in motion that ended with the foals heading for the changeling hive (though Twilight and friends still have no idea that's where the foals ended up).
Discord blew away NMM's control spells in John during Chapter 34.
I'm not sure if this one's necessary after the events of a couple chapters ago, but NMM revealed herself and hopped bodies to Celestia in Chapter 18.
Celestia refused to give Twilight the Elements in Chapter 7.
It was mentioned in passing that Celestia had invited Cadance and Shining Armour to Canterlot in Chapter 16.
Twilight explored and understood Discord's magic in Chapter 37, though she didn't explain what she had figured out.

And DONE. Sheesh, I think I'll be referring back to this chapter a lot just so I don't have to hunt down all those references again.

Night of Nightmares

"Even as we speak, every sleeping creature in Equestria is experience terrible nightmares; facing their worst fears and deepest shames..."

Thump. Thump.

Her hooves solidly struck the side of the tree with a pair of pleasant thumps. No bell could ever be as sweet to her as the sound of hard work. The oversized Stetson hat that she wore - that was far too big for her - fell down over her face, forcing her to stop and push it out of her eyes. A loud crash came from behind the tree, and she peered around it to see her brother in a pile of debris that used to be a cart. She laughed as he extracted himself. "You alrigh' there, Big Mac?" she asked, her voice squeaking with the high pitch that could only belong to a filly.

"Yup," he said, stopping short as his tail caught under a piece of wood. He gave it a firm tug but it stubbornly refused to move. He frowned at the offending plank of wood. "Just fine."

She went to help him free himself. "You nervous?" she asked, grabbing his tail in her teeth and tugging it loose of the cart.

He nodded slowly. "Yeah. Ah know Granny said Ah shouldn't be, but..." he trailed off, staring at the hat on her head.

She saw where he was looking at and the smile slid off her face. She gripped her hat, holding it tightly as if to ensure to herself that it was there. "After what happened to Dad..." She shook it off and her smile returned, though it was weaker than it had been before. "It's supposed to happen any moment, right?"

He turned his head to look in the direction of the farmhouse. "Yeah. Granny said she'd let us know when it starts."

She giggled happily, bouncing off the ground in her enthusiasm. "Ah'm so excited! A new sibling! Ah can't wait to meet her!"

A deep chuckle boomed from him as he watched her antics. "That's probably why Granny chased us outta' there," he teased her playfully, laughing as she blew a raspberry at him. Their sibling banter ended when the front door swung open with enough force to slam into the opposite wall. An elderly green mare dashed out of the building, a worried expression on her face.

Big Mac frowned nervously. "Somethin's wrong..."

The green mare stopped upon seeing the two of them. "GET HELP!" she screamed, her voice hoarse with panic, tears pouring down her face. "GIT TA TOWN!"

"Granny?" Applejack asked as Big Mac ran off, not even waiting to hear the answer. "What's wrong?"

"Applejack?" Granny Smith wrapped her granddaughter in a tight hug and pulled her inside the building. "It's... it's your mother," she choked out past the tears.

"Granny?" Applejack asked nervously, looking up the old mare. "Is something wrong with Apple Bloom?"

Granny Smith choked out a smile. "No dear, your sister's perfectly fine."

"Granny?" Applejack repeated, reaching up to wrap her hooves around her grandmother's neck. "What's th' matter?"

"...Granny?"

Beautiful large eyes reflected back at her from the mirror before her. A brush ran itself through the carefully cared-for coiffure of the mare in the mirror, surrounded by the same gentle glow wrapped around her horn. "...so then I told him 'If you're going to be that way, then I'll simply take my business elsewhere.' Such an offensive stallion. Don't you think, dear?"

"Oh yes," the butter-yellow pegasus sitting at the table behind her agreed half-heartedly. "He sounds quite... rude."

The brush stopped its rhythmic movements as its wielder glanced behind her to look at the other mare present. "Fluttershy, are you listening to me?"

"Of... of course I am!" Fluttershy protested, but her flushed cheeks and flustered demeanor told a different story.

"Really?" The brush restarted its movement. "Then who was I just talking about?" Seeing that the pegasus was unable to answer, the mare in the mirror gave a small, ladylike sigh. "Are you still scared from the wedding?"

Fluttershy remained unresponsive for several seconds, but she eventually nodded her head. "It's just... those changelings..." She was shaking so hard she was unable to finish her sentence.

The brush was dropped, forgotten, and Rarity swooped in to wrap her hooves comfortingly around Fluttershy's quivering form. There was silence for several seconds as a pure white hoof was calmingly run through a pink mane. Fluttershy was the one to break the stillness.

"Sorry," she mumbled out, her mane covering her face and hiding her expression from view.

"It's quite alright," Rarity replied, releasing her friend. "Those freaky bug things creep me out, too."

"I would never have guessed."

Rarity couldn't tell if she had just been made fun of or not, so she bravely soldiered on. "And with that shapeshifting ability, they could look like anypony. They could replace any of our friends, and we would never know." Seeing that Fluttershy was shaking again, Rarity quickly tried to steer the conversation to safer waters. "But I'll protect you."

Just as she hoped, Fluttershy's trembling stopped. "...Really?" the timid pegasus shyly asked.

"Of course, darling," Rarity promised. "Why, if those brutes did anything to you, I'd hunt them down to the ends of Equestria if I had to in order to make them pay."

Fluttershy smiled, letting herself lean into Rarity's chest. "Thank you, Rarity," she said quietly. "You really do love me, don't you?"

Rarity paused at Fluttershy's odd choice of words, but shrugged them off. "Of course I do. You're my closest friend, after all."

"I know." Fluttershy sat back up straight, her eyes staring directly into Rarity's own. Her suddenly GREEN eyes. "And your love is just... delicious."

Rarity didn't even have time to scream before the pseudo-Fluttershy's fangs pierced her neck.

She bounced through Ponyville's streets, her poofy mane and tail bobbing with every step. She hummed a tuneless - but cheerful - song as she looked up and down the empty streets."Who should I make smile today?" she asked aloud before giggling to herself. "Wait, that's such a silly question. I'll just make everypony smile. Then I don't have to worry about it."

"You always worry about it," a cold voice devoid of any sort of emotion rang out. There was no sense of malice or pleasure in the voice. It was only stating a simple fact.

She stopped in mid-bounce, looking for the source of the voice. "Well, that's a silly thing to say. Of course I always worry about it. I'm always thinking about what I can do to bring a smile to pony's faces."

"I know," the voice stated. "You're always thinking about the ponies that you can make smile. That's why you never think about the ponies that you can't make smile."

A wide smile blossomed across her face. "Well, it sounds like some grumpy pony needs a smile." She looked around the empty street, searching for the source of the voice. "Why don't you come out, so that I can make you smile, too?"

The voice heaved a dull sigh. "You're not listening. And I'm not interested. I spend enough of my life surrounded by other ponies' smiles. Surrounded by their happy faces. It's a very empty feeling. But you know exactly what I'm talking about, don't you?"

Her smile flickered for an instant before it was back, bigger than before. "Oh, don't be such a silly goose. I love being surrounded by the smiles of ponies. It makes me feel-"

"Happy?" the voice interrupted, carelessly cutting her off. "Is that what you think? Or just what you tell yourself? You make them smile because you feel like you should. Because you feel it gives your life meaning. All while wearing a fake smile of your own because you don't want their smiles to fade. Such an empty existence."

Her smile broadened, to the point that it was hurting her cheeks. Even a foal would have been able to tell that it was fake. "You're certainly a rude one," she sing-songed, peeking under an empty apple cart in her search for the voice. "I think you're just in need of a smile. That'll make you feel all better."

"Do you? I don't." The voice sighed again. "I spend my life surrounded by smiles, desperately trying to make them smile. In their smiles, I search for the meaning of life. Laughter. Friends. Fun. Such simple words to describe us. Fitting."

Her smile started to crack at the personal assault, but it refused to crumble. "Well, if you're thinking that way, it just means you're not happy enough. You know what would make you feel better?"

"A party?" the voice asked dully, brimming with disinterest.

"I was going to say coming out where I can see you." The smile finally crumbled, and Pinkie frowned at the buildings surrounding her. "So why don't you stop hiding in the darkness like a Meanie McPantserpony and stop hiding from me?"

"But I'm not hiding at all." The air in front of Pinkie shimmered and rippled, and another earth pony come into view. She was an exact copy of Pinkie, from her vibrant pink coat to her baby blue eyes all the way to her balloon cutie mark. The only difference between her and the real Pinkie was that her mane and tail hung limply and lifelessly. "How could I possibly hide from you?"

"After all," Pinkamena said, "I am you."

Pinkie gave her copy a curious stare. "No you're not," she said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I'm standing right here. That means you can't be me, because I can't be in two places at the same time. And since I can't be in two places at the same time, that means you're not me. Only I'm me. Unless... Are you a clone?"

Pinkamena rolled her eyes at her double's antics. "No, Pinkie. I'm the part of you that you don't want to accept. The part that you try to forget about by surrounding yourself with others’ fun and excitement, all while you ignore your own insecurities. And before you ask," she added, raising a hoof, "we're in a dream right now, so that's why I can talk to you."

"Huh." Pinkie walked over to one of the many buildings that lined the street. A perfect replica of Sugarcube Corner, the bakery Pinkie lived and worked at. "So I'm dreaming right now, right?" Seeing Pinkamena's nod, Pinkie swiftly swooped in and took a large bite of the house. "I'f alvays vondered vat dat thastes like," she said through a mouthful of wood splinters.

Pinkamena's eyelid twitched. "I wonder if this is your nightmare or mine."

Her wings beat at her sides as she soared through the air, a show of prismatic light left behind in her wake. "Aww, yeah," she said, watching the ground pass by below her at amazing speeds. "Nothing new for Equestria's most awesome pegasus." She saw her friends watching from below, and smirked as she decided to show off for them.

Quickly climbing as high as she could, she snapped her wings to her sides. The momentum she had built up continued to increase for several seconds before it ran out and she began to fall to the earth like a stone. Pointing her muzzle towards the ground, she smiled and closed her eyes.

This is what it's all about, she thought, knowing all eyes were on her. When enough time had passed that she knew she would have to control her descent or risk crashing, she snapped her wings open.

She continued to fall.

Her eyes shot open and she looked at her back to see a completely smooth coat, utterly devoid of any wings. Her legs flailed in a hopeless attempt to stop her fall before she smashed into the ground with enough force to plow a wide furrow in the dirt.

There was silence, then she heard a voice calling out for her. "Dash, you okay?"

Dash groaned, holding her head. She had a pounding headache, but that was about it. "Yeah," she said though the pain. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Oh good," Twilight said, stepping into view. "I would hate to think anything important had happened."

"Twilight?" Dash asked, blinking confusedly at the purple unicorn. "Are you okay?"

Another voice rang out. "Oh, don't mind her," Rarity said, as she and the other four all came into sight. "She's just not good at talking to ponies that aren't her friend."

"But of course I'm her friend!" Dash protested, bouncing to her hooves despite the ringing pain in her skull. "I'm Rainbow Dash, the most awesome pegasus in Equestria."

"Then where are your wings?" Applejack asked.

Dash grimaced as she looked at her barren back again. "I'm not really sure, but we can get through this, right AJ? AJ?" Applejack had disappeared. She hadn't walked away or anything, it was like she had simply vanished from existence.

"If you don't have wings, then you're not a pegasus," Pinkie said, before she, too, vanished.

Dash stared at the spot Pinkie had just occupied before swallowing nervously and turning to look at the others. "Well, so what? I mean, Twi can look in her books and find some eggheaded solution to this, right? No biggie."

"If you're not a pegasus, then you can't fly," Rarity intoned, before vanishing like the others.

Dash laughed nervously, desperately looking at the only two remaining. "Come on, guys, you're scaring me. Of course I can fly. I'm the most awesome... pegasus..." She hesitated at realizing there was some truth to what they were saying. If she didn't have her wings, if she couldn't fly anymore, then what did she have?

"If you can't fly, then you can't be Rainbow Dash," Twilight said before popping like a burst balloon.

Dash looked at Fluttershy in desperation. Fluttershy, her oldest and longest friend. They had known each other for so long that they were practically sisters. "Fluttershy!" she begged, grabbing on to the yellow pegasus' hooves. "You won't leave me, right? You still got my back?"

Fluttershy daintily pulled her hooves out of Dash's grip before speaking in the same detached monotone as the others. "If you can't fly, and you're not Rainbow Dash, then what use are you?" And she vanished.

"Guys?" Dash looked around the plain, desperately trying to find hide or hair of her friends. An empty field greeted her in all directions, utterly devoid of any forms of life.

"No!" Dash gasped, utterly distraught. "This can't be real! This has to be a dream! Wake up! Wake up!"

"...Please... Just let this be a dream..."

She sighed.

The oppressive rock walls of the tunnel seemed to press down on her from all sides. The sound of dripping water echoed through the cavern with steady regularity, beating a drumbeat she knew all too well.

"This dream again..." she muttered quietly, looking down the pitch black passageway. As expected, two individuals came into sight the moment she looked, both of them walking side-by-side. The larger was a stallion, his large hoop earrings swaying with every step. The smaller mare beside him had a lantern balanced on her back, which softly illuminated the tunnel with its pale yellow light.

"Where are you, my dear?" the mare said, peering down the tunnel. "Come out now, do not fear."

The larger stallion glanced down at his rhyming companion. "I'll never understand how you can talk like that, Zecora," he said, playful teasing in his voice. "Doesn't the rhyming get difficult?"

The young zebra mare smirked at her older companion. "I've told you, teacher, my daughter likes it. Besides, it's excellent training for guile and wit." From her light-hearted tone, it was clear that it was an old topic between the two. "You should try it, you might find it fun. At least then I wouldn't be the only one."

The stallion chuckled deeply, his eyes twinkling with merriment. "That's not for me. I'm old, and far too set in my ways to try something new like that. I mean," he lifted a hoof up to his mane, running it through the proud Mohawk he wore. "Just look at all the white hairs I've got."

Zecora gave the old stallion a blank look. "You're a zebra," she said flatly. "You've always had... um... er... phooie." She heaved a sigh, realizing she couldn't think of a proper rhyme to finish with before glaring up at the smug grin he was wearing. "Not a word," she told him dangerously.

"Wasn't thinking of it," he smirked. In their banter, the duo walked right past where the third one stood, simply continuing onwards without even a flicker of an eyelid acknowledging her presence. She knew that would happen, just like it had happened all the other times. She was only a witness.

Following behind them, she tuned out what they were saying. It wasn't like they were going to say anything she didn't already know. The young mganga-in-training and her master were searching for Zecora's young daughter, who had last been seen running into these very caves. Being able to bear children was an important capability for female zebras, and all zebra mares were expected to have at least one foal before they were accepted as a proper member of society.

Zecora hadn't even known the name of her daughter's father. He had been a simple stud, performing the services she had needed of him before he left and she had never seen him again. That was fine with her. He had given her a daughter, whom she loved with all her heart. Between the young child and the old stallion, Zecora had enjoyed a quiet life in preparation for when she would take over her teacher's role.

But that all changed on this unforgettable day, when her simple life ended forever.

The dreamscape shifted and warped around her, switching to a different location. When the changing colors coalesced, she was left standing in the middle of a large open cavern. A hole in the roof allowed sunlight to illuminate the room, letting her see the area perfectly if she really wanted to. Despite this, there was only one object in the entire cave that was of any interest to her.

It overwhelmed the area, demanding her full attention with its mere presence. The sunlight filtered through it, casting the room in an eerie green glow. Despite having long since accepted it, she stared at the object in quiet sadness until a loud piercing scream shattered the silence.

The zebra mare she had just seen rushed past her, grabbing the object in panicked hooves. "No! NO!" she screamed, tears pouring down her cheeks. The witness ignored her, for her eyes were locked onto the object in the center of the room.

A tiny young zebra foal floated in the bright green changeling pod. Her expression was peaceful, a small smile curling the corners of her lips. Despite her peaceful appearance, she wasn't moving.

Watching the dream, Zecora knew her daughter would never move again.

Author's Note

Discord did say in Chapter 38 that nightmares would be spreading throughout the country.

Zecora's backstory was first touched in Chapter 33.

Words with a Zebra

Twilight woke with a hacking cough that caused spittle to spray in a wide arc over the grass in front of her. Pained convulsions wracked her body for several seconds before eventually fading away, leaving her panting for breath as her body settled down. A gentle breeze swept down from the trees and she could feel sweat rolling through her fur and falling free to the thirsty ground.

As she tried to stand up, Twilight heard a familiar voice ring out from behind her. "It is good to see you awake at last," the voice said calmly. "When you fell, we were most aghast."

Twilight turned her head to look at the speaker standing behind her. Spots danced in front of her vision and it took her a moment to make out the details of the other mare. "Zecora, I-" Twilight gasped when she saw the zebra's face. "What happened to you?"

Dark black circles surrounded Zecora's sunken eyes. Flesh and skin hung limply from her jowls, giving the zebra a very unsteady look. Zecora hid a yawn behind a raised hoof. "There is no need to be distressed," she assured Twilight. "I simply failed to get a good night's rest. You do not need to be concerned; it is simply a good thing to see that you have returned."

"I... yeah." Twilight thought about her talk with Discord. She thought about the fight she had been forced to witness between Celestia and Luna. She thought about what Discord had told her about the humans. And... she thought about the deal she had made with Discord.

Now that she thought about it, something about Discord had seemed a little off at the end. Her hoof rose to her neck as she considered the final few seconds, when Discord had openly threatened her life. That had just been far too much unlike him. Everything he had done up to now - actively acting to save her life when she was attacked by Nightmare Moon and again by that large changeling, and apparently saving Pinkie when Nightmare Moon controlled that human - contradicted his claim.

Now that she thought about it, something had seemed different about the mental mindscape between when they had started and when they finished. There had been a strange power there, something other than just him and her. If she hadn't been so disorientated from that vision he had shown her, she would have noticed sooner. Whatever it was, he had deliberately tried to hide it from her. Now she really wished she had found out what that had been.

Zecora's voice interrupted her thoughts. "You are brooding again. What think you? Need you more time to think things through?"

"'Think things through?'" Twilight bitterly repeated, turning her back on Zecora. "Think what through? Should I think about how much of a mess everything is becoming? Or maybe how powerless I feel in front of it all? I feel like everything's just slipping away from me, and there's nothing I can do to stop it." Zecora's hoof rested against her shoulder and she glanced back into the zebra's concerned eyes.

"It isn't healthy to focus so heavily on what you've lost," Zecora said. "You should be thinking of what you still have, so you can continue no matter the cost."

A choked laugh burst from Twilight's throat, quickly dying in a strangled cough. "What I still have? But that's just too easy. I still have my friends, don't I? That's what you're trying to say, isn't it? I'll never lose them. But..." Her throat suddenly constricted and she had to force out the last few words. "I've lost almost everything else."

Zecora's hoof came up, almost but not quite brushing against Twilight's cracked horn. "Everything is not yet lost and gone. So long as you remember that, you can still go on."

Twilight slapped Zecora's hoof away, whipping her head around to glare into Zecora's eyes. A great anger rose up inside her, and she just wanted to scream, to break something, to break everything. Her muzzle pressed against Zecora's and she pushed against the zebra mare with raw strength. "Haven't lost everything?!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, her voice bordering on hysterical. "Haven't lost everything!? How can you even say that!? I've lost so much already! My big brother's been captured, my teacher sacrificed herself to save me, my horn's cracked, Discord's in my head, and the place of my birth has been overrun! Even Spike's gone missing! How can you possibly say I haven't lost everything!? You know nothing about what I've lost!"

Zecora remained expressionless in the face of Twilight's screaming tirade. "Are you quite done?" she asked coolly, taking a single step back. "You complain about what you've lost, but you've yet to lose even a single loved one."

Twilight blinked in surprise, shocked out of her anger by the coldness she heard in the normally friendly zebra's voice. "Zecora?" she asked uncertainly, her ears flattening against her head. Her voice was hoarse from her bout of screaming and rasped harshly in her ears. "I'm sorr-"

But Zecora wasn't finished. "You've lost nothing you are unable to reclaim," she scolded. "Until you hold your daughter's lifeless body in your hooves, you have no right to speak to me about pain."

Twilight recoiled, both from the deserved scolding and the anguish she saw in Zecora's eyes. "Zecora, I-"

"Leaving your home and all your friends behind in a futile search for the one thing that means most in your heart, having to enter a completely different culture for a completely new start. You know nothing about how loss can forever scar your soul. So cease your selfish whining, you pathetic little foal!"

A pitiful whine escaped Twilight's mouth, her chin pressed against the dirt as she just wanted to curl into a ball and hide from the world. The noise appeared to bring Zecora back to her senses, and a deep shuddering breath sped along Zecora's body. "I'm sorry," she said, her voice brought under control, "that was most unlike me. It's a burden from which I thought myself free."

"Zecora..." Twilight whimpered from where she lay on the ground. "I... I'm sorry."

Zecora shook her head. "There is nothing to forgive, except on your part. As for what I said, please do not take it to heart. I should not have snapped at you to such extremes." She looked sadly up at the sky. "Just unpleasant memories brought about by unpleasant dreams."

"I..." Twilight hesitated, not sure what she was supposed to say. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Zecora's earrings swayed as she shook her head. "No."

"Oh," Twilight said quietly, curling in on herself a little more and feeling distinctly like Fluttershy.

Zecora turned away from Twilight and walked a few steps away. "We should go," she said, seeing that Twilight wasn't following her.

"Huh?" Twilight asked, poking her head up.

Zecora rolled her eyes. "Your friends will wish to know you're awake. We've stopped to rest, all for your sake."

Twilight sprung to her hooves, quickly following after the other mare. "My friends! Right! Um..." She gave Zecora an awkward look, a little nervous to try to start a conversation after the last attempt. "How... how long have I been out?"

"It has been eight hours since your collapse," Zecora said, not looking at Twilight. "I separated you from them so that when you awoke, you would not relapse."

"Oh... thank you." The pitiful attempt at conversation died away, leaving behind an uncomfortable silence in its wake. The awkward moment continued until loud voices could be heard from up ahead, and Twilight picked up her pace as much to get away from Zecora as to see her friends again.

The group sat in a circle around a crackling campfire, chatting animatedly. Applejack was glaring daggers at Rarity while the latter wiped her down with soap, Dash watched the entire event with undisguised amusement, Fluttershy remained quiet off by herself, and Pinkie bounced erratically around the others. A pot filled with stew bubbled over the fireplace, and Twilight felt her mouth water from the appetising smell.

Pinkie was the first to notice Twilight's arrival. "Twilight!" she exclaimed, catching the others' attention. "You're awake!"

"Hey girls," Twilight said with a sheepish grin, walking over to sit down beside Rarity. "Sorry for making you all worry about me. I'll explain later, but what'd I miss?"

Rarity answered before the others could. "Well, Twilight, after you did whatever it was that scared the changelings away, we managed to get Fluttershy back. We decided it would be best to stop and let the both of you recover, so we've been here ever since. That's about it, really. And just where do you think you're going, Applejack?" she added, wrapping her magic around the farm pony who had tried to take advantage of Rarity's distraction to escape.

"Aw, c'mon, Rares," Applejack complained, shying away as Rarity floated over another bar of soap. "Y'all really don't have t' do this."

"Nonsense," Rarity scoffed, plucking Applejack's hat off her head and scrubbing behind her ears. "If we're going to be travelling together, the least you can do is try not to smell like yesterday." She scrunched her nose as dirt quickly overwhelmed the soap she was using. "Or last week for that matter. How did you even get this filthy? I know for a fact you haven't done any work since you left the hospital."

"Yeah, AJ," Dash snarked. "It's just soap. You know what soap is, right? Nothing scary."

Applejack turned her glare from Rarity to the more deserving Rainbow Dash. "Oh, yeah, sure. Ah see how it is. 'Let's all laugh at the ignorant farm pony.' Funny. It's not the soap Ah have a problem with, it's the scented soap Ah have a problem with. Ah'm gonna smell like fancy fer a week."

"Do you not like lavender?" Rarity asked, pulling the offending soap away from Applejack. "If that's the problem, I have rose, lilac, pumpkin, mint, raspberry, and carrot cake back in my bag."

Ignoring Rainbow Dash's howls of laughter, Applejack turned her suddenly flat expression back to Rarity. "Why do ya even-? Nevermind. Lavender's fine," she said, submitting herself to Rarity's tender cares. "As fer how Ah got so dirty," she added, shooting another glare at Dash, "somepony dumped me in the dirt."

"Hey, I said I was sorry," Dash defended herself. "That rope was tight. How was I supposed to know it was the one preventing you from falling off?"

"The fact that it was tight shoulda given' you a clue," Applejack grumbled as Rarity started scrubbing at her neck.

Dash watched the soap move back and forth for a few seconds before a small boyish laugh escaped her nose. "Yeah, sorry, but I just can't take you seriously like this."

"I'm glad you're finding this so amusing, Dash," Rarity said as she scrubbed at Applejack's back. "Because once I'm finished here, it's your turn."

"Uhh..." Dash hedged, desperately casting about for a change in the conversation. "Err... Hey Z!" she shouted at Zecora, "Is the food almost ready? I'm getting hungry!"

"Z?" Zecora repeated, cocking an eyebrow. "Are you referring to me? You can hold your horses, for the stew's almost finished. A little more time and spice will keep the taste from being diminished." She walked over to where her saddlebag lay and pulled out a bottle filled with strange green flakes. Carefully popping the top off, she poured a healthy dollop into the pot and stirred it into the floating chunks of sliced vegetables.

"Awesome," Dash said before shifting her attention to the other pegasus of the group. "Hey, Flutters, you've been quiet all day. You doing okay?" She blinked once before covering her face with a hoof. "Oh, great," she mumbled out. "Now I'm rhyming too."

"Oh, yes, sorry," Fluttershy said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I'm still just a little tired. You don't need to worry about me."

"Sure we do!" Pinkie proudly proclaimed, popping out of nowhere at Fluttershy's side. "We're just thinking about you. Who knows what those nasty changelings would have done if we hadn't rescued you in time."

Rarity snorted, by now working on Applejack's tail. "Hmph. I, for one, think those... things made it quite clear what they intended. It was absolutely unforgivable what they tried to do to you, darling. If they ever do anything to hurt anypony I care about like that ever again, I swear I won't rest until I've exterminated every single one of them like the bugs they are!"

Everypony else stopped and stared at Rarity, blinking in surprise. Rainbow Dash leaned down close to Applejack's ear. "Rarity's surprisingly hardcore, isn't she?" she whispered. Applejack mutely nodded.

"Riiiight," Twilight said, awkwardly shifting slightly away from Rarity. "Aaaanyway. There was something I wanted to talk to you girls about. It's about what happened to me after I was knocked out, and what I saw there..." And she told them. She told them everything that happened to her, and everything that she saw. From watching her body being controlled like a puppet, to the fight she witnessed between Celestia and Luna, to the final vision Discord showed her before sending her on her way.

By the time she finished her retelling, Zecora's stew had already finished cooking and bowls of stew were being passed out among the group. Rarity accepted her own bowl, fishing out a spoonful of vegetables and blowing on it to cool it. "Goodness," she said after a pause. "That's certainly a lot to swallow, isn't it?"

"A gryphon?" Dash mumbled under her breath quietly enough for nopony to hear her. "G...? No, it couldn't be..."

"So, we're all just playing pieces to him, are we?" Applejack asked angrily, pulling her returned hat down low over her eyes. "Now that game just sounds all kinds of wrong."

"Even the changelings?" Fluttershy asked, her voice quivering as much as the rest of her body. "He's controlling them as well?"

"Hey, but at least Princess Celestia was able to get free from Blacky, right?" Pinkie asked, trying to look at the good side of things. "That's good, right?"

Applejack snorted. "Yeah, with the help of that human thing, or whatever it was called. Ah thought we left that thing tied up in the hospital. Twi, you wouldn't happen to know anythin' about how he got free, do ya?" There was the slightest hint of teeth in her words when she spoke; she knew exactly how he had escaped.

Twilight bowed her head, not able to meet Applejack's eyes. "Applejack," she said hesitantly, "I'm sorry. I know you were - are - mad at him, but I just couldn't-"

Applejack waved her apology away. "Nah, Ah ain't mad at you, sugarcube. You did what ya thought was right, and it sounds like it all worked out in the end. Ah still hate him, though, and don't think that's gonna change."

"You're being stubborn, Applejack." Rarity brandished a spoonful of stew in Applejack's direction. "If he really was being controlled by Nightmare Moon, we can't blame him for what he did any more than we blame Princess Luna."

"He took and tried ta hurt my sister. Ah think Ah have the right t' be stubborn," Applejack huffed, crossing her forelegs. After a moment, her expression softened and her legs uncrossed. "But yer right. Fine, Ah'll try not t' hold a grudge, but Ah make no promises."

"That's fair enough," Rarity said with a satisfied nod, popping the spoon into her mouth. Swallowing down the stew, she pointed the empty spoon at Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, are you not going to eat that?" she asked, pointing at the still full bowl of stew sitting next to the pink-maned pegasus.

Glancing down at the bowl, Fluttershy gave a meek little shake of her head. "I'm just not hungry," she said apologetically. "Sorry."

"Suit yourself, but you really should try it. This dish is just divine." Seeing Fluttershy make no move for her food, Rarity shrugged and turned her spoon towards Twilight. "By the way, I must wonder what Discord wanted by telling you all this. Even if it's not true, it sounds like a most fascinating story, doesn't it? A race before the ponies, wiped out without a trace. It sounds like the sort of tale one would find in the Canterlot plays and stagehouses, alongside the tale of Equestria's founding, the story of Nightmare Moon and Princess Luna, and the legend of the Crystal Empire and the cruel King Sombra who ruled them."

Twilight raised an eyebrow at that. "There's plays about Nightmare Moon? Really? I spent almost all my life in Canterlot and I never heard anything of the sort."

"Well, they're still fairly new," Rarity pointed out. "Don't forget, Nightmare Moon was thought to only be a legend for young foals until a few years ago. But getting back on track, we should consider the possibility that nothing Discord said or showed Twilight was even true."

"You don't think he was lying?" Pinkie asked.

"I just think you shouldn't take what somepony says at face value unless you trust them," Rarity said. "So let me pose a question to you all: Do you trust Discord?"

"No," everypony present - even Zecora - said simultaneously.

"Alright, you've made your point," Dash said, absently stirring her bowl of stew. "But what about that fight Twilight saw between the princesses? You think that was just made up, too?"

Rarity shrugged. "I don't know. I honestly wouldn't put such a thing past him."

Pinkie pulled her muzzle out of her bowl, licking the leftovers off of her face. "I think he showed her the truth. If that was a lie, and he made an agreement with Twilight to change what happened, but the thing that Twilight needed to make a deal for never happened, then wouldn't Twilight then not need to follow her part of the deal?"

"I... What?" Dash stared blankly at Pinkie, her spoon sticking out of the side of her mouth. "You lost me."

Applejack upended her bowl of stew into her mouth, smacking her lips at the taste."Ah think what Pinkie means is that, no matter what Discord might ask, Twilight wouldn't need to do what he wants if Discord never held up his end of th' bargain. That varmint might play fast an' loose with the rules, but he seems to expect other ponies to follow them to the letter." She held out the empty bowl towards Zecora. "Seconds?"

"Rules," Dash scoffed, angrily plucking one of the sliced vegetables out of her stew and throwing it aside as Zecora poured Applejack another bowl. Ignoring the glare Zecora was giving her at the flagrant waste of food, Dash continued. "What a dumb game. I say we stop playing by his rules. Just figure out what exactly he's playing at, and then we break his entire board!"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Twilight said, putting her empty bowl down. "Whatever he's playing, it sounds like he needs us alive for it. If we stop playing his game, he might stop trying to keep us alive."

"Ugh," Dash groaned, stretching out on the ground. Her one good wing fluttered limply before folding up at her side. "I hate this. I hate how casually we've started talking about our own lives and deaths." She started to scratch aimless patterns in the dirt. "I miss our peaceful lives, back in Ponyville before all this started."

"Oh?" Rarity cocked a teasing eyebrow at the stunt flier. "Aren't you the one who would always go on about how you were going to join the Wonderbolts? And aren't they partly a military group under Princess Celestia? I would think this sort of thing would be right up your alley."

Dash shot a confident smirk up at the white unicorn, but the grin was only a shadow of its regular strength. "Ha! Don't worry about me! I live for this stuff! It's just..." Her smile died away and she looked down at the grooves her hoof had scraped. "I never wanted any of you guys along for this sort of thing. I think... if anything ever happened to any of you guys, I think it would kill me inside."

Silence descended after Dash's confession. Each pony considered the truth of her words, and how much they applied to themselves.

Inevitably, Pinkie was the one to break the silence. "Then why don't we make a promise?" She shifted her gaze around the circle, locking gazes with each face in turn before moving on to the next. "A promise that, no matter what happens in the future, we will all survive. We'll overcome any challenge that might get in our way, and we will return home... together." She reached her hoof into the center of the circle, holding it above the dying flames.

"I... Yeah. Yeah, I'm in." Dash reached her own hoof in, placing it on top of Pinkie's. "So, what, are we going to make it a Pinkie Promise?"

Pinkie considered as Rarity and Applejack also reached in and placed their hooves in the circle. "No," she said slowly. "No. This is more important than a Pinkie Promise. A Pinkie Promise is a promise that, if you break it, is the fastest way to lose your friends. But this is a promise that we will not lose our friends. That we are not going to leave them behind."

"So what should we call it?" Fluttershy asked, tentatively adding her own hoof to the group.

"How about... a Friendship Promise?" Twilight suggested, finally adding her own hoof on top of her friends'. "A promise that, no matter what we do or where we go, we will always remain friends."

"You could not make that sound more cheesy if you tried, Twilight," Rarity said with a teasing wink.

Twilight's face flushed as all her friends laughed gently at her expense. "We-well I don't see you coming up with any better ideas," she huffed, looking away and trying to hide her blushing cheeks.

"Don't mind Rarity, she's just havin' a little fun," Applejack reassured, elbowing Rarity in the ribs.

Rarity winced away from Applejack before giving Twilight a reassuring look. "Don't worry darling, a Friendship Promise sounds lovely." A gentle look passed throughout the group as they considered their friends among them. Friends that would forever remain friends, so long as the promise remained in place. As if by an unspoken signal, as one, every one of them shifted their attention to the last mare present, the last mare who had yet to join in.

"What?" Zecora asked, noticing all the hopeful eyes pointed in her direction. Her ears flattened down as she realized what they wanted. "Oh no," she said as she backed away, waving a hoof in front of her. "I think this is something from which I should remain cut."

"Aw, c'mon Z." Dash gestured impatiently for Zecora to join them. "You're as much of this now as any of us."

"That is beside the point," Zecora protested, backing further away. "I simply do not believe that this is something to which I should be appoint...ed."

"Yer rhymin's falterin'," Applejack pointed out. She gave Zecora a meaningful look. "Is the idea of bein' friends with us really that unpleasant to ya?"

"No! No, no, no, no, no! Goodness, no, that is not so!" Zecora flustered as she hurriedly waved a hoof back and forth in front of her face. "It's just that..." Her voice went weak before fading entirely, and she stared silently down at the ground, unwilling to make eye contact with any of the mares before her.

"Zecora..." Twilight hesitated as something occurred to her. Things the zebra had said over the past several days started to line up, and a clear picture started to form. A picture of loneliness and solitude, of a pony feared simply for being different. "Zecora, when was the last time you had a friend? Or... anypony, actually?"

Zecora remained silent, but her body gave the answer away. Her entire body trembled, and she clutched at her leg in a futile attempt to hide her shudders. A red line leaked from her mouth, and the mares present all realized that the zebra was biting the inside of her cheek hard enough to draw blood.

"I can't say that I know what you've been through, but I do feel like I know what it's like," Twilight said quietly. She stared down into the firepit, the reflection of the barely flickering flames dancing away in her purple eyes. "To think you don't need anypony else in your life. That you can build walls around yourself and shut the world away." She lifted her head, looking at all her friends surrounding her. "But I know now that there's a better way. To open your heart to others and let them in your lives. Having friends has enriched my life, filling it with light to the point that I don't know how I could ever have lived without them." She turned her attention back to Zecora, a pleading look in her eyes. "Please, Zecora, let us share some of that light with you as well."

Zecora remained unmoving, her sorrowful eyes remaining locked unseeingly at an nondescript rock in front of her. "I..." Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears and she ran a moistening tongue across suddenly dry lips. "How can you possibly ask that of me?" she asked, her voice never rising above a raspy whisper. "You have no idea how much my life has been filled with debris."

Rainbow Dash spoke up, her raspy voice cutting in before Twilight could speak again. "And we don't care," she said bluntly. As the others turned surprised looks at her, Dash finished her thoughts. "No matter what it is, we'll face it together. That's what being a friend is all about."

Applejack shook her head at Dash's impromptu speech."As blunt as ever, ain't ya?" she asked rhetorically before also turning to Zecora. "That said, she's right. Whatever challenges y'all may face, we'll be right at your side with you."

"Yeah!" Pinkie said excitably, her grin threatening to lead right off of her face. "And don't worry about burdening us with whatever burdens you might have. We're already dealing with a lot of stuff; a little more won't hurt."

"Please, Zecora," Twilight pleaded. " I consider you my friend, and I know everypony else does as well. It would mean a lot to me if you joined us. So, please."

"Why?" Zecora muttered far too quietly for any of them to hear her. "Why must you make this so hard?" Without saying another word, she stepped forward and placed her hoof on top of the others'. She moved quickly, like she feared if she hesitated for too long she would lose her nerve completely.

Twilight looked hopefully at the striped hoof atop her own before turning her gaze to its owner. "Thank you, Zecora." She licked her lips in a slightly nervous manner. "Do you want to tell us what exactly happened to you?"

Zecora shook her head once, her sad expression never changing. "Not yet, not in this light," she said almost apologetically. "But I promise, I will tell you when the time is right."

Pinkie placed a reassuring hoof on Zecora's shoulder, and the shaman looked up into those deep blue eyes. "That's okay. Whenever you're ready to tell us, we'll be ready to listen." A small smile appeared on Zecora's face at the words; it was a sad smile, but it was a smile nonetheless.

"Too true!" Applejack proclaimed loudly, her boisterous voice enough to make Fluttershy - who was standing beside her - flinch away and cover her ears. "We're all friends here now! And there ain't nothin' now that's gonna change that!"

Seven pairs of eyes turned to look at the point of contact between them. The last of the fading smoke curled around their hooves, tenderly caressing their symbol of friendship before disappearing in a silent whisper of wind. A promise to be there for one another, a promise to always support and care for each other. No matter what sort of challenges would rise to oppose them, one thing would never change between them. A vow that no matter what they may do or where they might go in the future, their bonds of friendship would forever remain strong.

Should I tell her, and open her eyes? Zecora wondered, listening to Twilight laughing and joking with the others. Or would it be kinder to let her continue to believe the lies?

A sad sigh escaped Zecora's mouth as she cleaned out her cauldron of the last dregs of the evening's stew. Events had progressed far further then she had ever anticipated, bringing memories she had thought long buried bubbling up to the surface. Thoughts of her daughter washed over her, the traces of the memories hurting as much as salt being rubbed into an open wound. Even after all these years, the scars hurt as much as they had when they had just been opened.

Happy laughter floated over to her, and Zecora listened as Twilight Sparkle laughed and joked with her closest friends. Twilight now knew that Zecora once had a daughter, but she probably thought that she had died only a few years ago. An unwilling smile appeared on Zecora's face as she wondered what Twilight's reaction would be if the unicorn learned that, had she lived, Zecora's daughter would actually be a few years older than Twilight herself. Most ponies were surprised to learn just how old Zecora was, but the shaman kept up the appearance of youth through the healthy application of potions, magic, and good old-fashioned exercise.

Nothing says 'I want to be young and healthy forever' like tearing through the undergrowth with a song in your heart, a basket of herbs on your back, and a pack of feral timberwolves nipping at your heels.

Zecora snickered in amusement at the idea of some of the ponies she had met over the years trying to outrun even a single baby timberwolf, let alone a full pack. Not that she had anything against the ponies of Equestria, but they were just so amazingly soft and weak at times. Nothing like home. Deep in her heart, Zecora actually feared becoming sluggish and indolent like them. Just giving in and letting the sweet tempting natural magic of the land wash over her and carry all her worries and stresses away.

It was a worry she dealt with every day, but Zecora was determined to one day find the one who took her daughter's life. That day was fast approaching now, and an ugly smile spread across the shaman's face as she considered what was about to happen...

She quickly released the pleasant thought, schooling her expressing into the same wise and mysterious mask she always wore. There was still so much that could go wrong, even as the meeting she had been living for for years finally approached. With the magic of Equestria on a flux, it was impossible for anyone to predict what would happen over the next few days. The balance of magic that had stabilized the country for generations had been broken; Twilight probably still didn't realize that she had accidentally destroyed that balance.

A loud bark of laughter brought Zecora's attention back to the group of young mares. They were all so young, so innocent. Such a strong bond that tied them together, and now they wanted to draw her into that bond with open hearts and welcoming hooves...

Can't say I feel right lying to those youngsters like this, Zecora thought, watching them all through half-lidded eyes. In particular, her gaze rested on the butter-yellow pegasus sitting off by herself. After several seconds - right before Fluttershy was about to notice Zecora's considering gaze - the zebra returned her attention to the pot in front of her.

Only to realize that the pot was already spotless, and likely had been for the past few minutes. How did I miss...? She trailed off, figuring she must have just been too consumed by her thoughts to realize she had already finished. Picking up a small vial from the ground next to her, she popped the lid and sprinkled a tiny amount of the golden powder within onto the pot. Without any sort of flash or any other sign that magic was being used, the pot began to shrink until it was no larger than a thimble and Zecora tucked it and the powder away inside her saddlebag.

Seeing none of the others were paying her any attention, Zecora pulled out a pair of items from her bags and slipped out into the surrounding woods. Two options lay before her; to let events run their course as they were, or to tell Twilight Sparkle of everything she knew. Either way, things could go very wrong.

It only took a few minutes for her to find a tree stump suitable for her needs. Placing the first of the items she brought with her - a flat piece of wood - on top of the stump and sitting in front of it, Zecora took a deep breath to calm her nerves. Of these doubts I must be free. Ancestors, Spirit, please guide me.

She upended a small pouch over the wood, letting the contents fall free. Tiny bones, like those belonging to a bird or squirrel, bounced wildly in every direction while Zecora's eyes watched on. Eventually, the last bouncing bone came to a rest and Zecora slowly nodded her head in acceptance.

So, that is how it is to be. A mistake or not, I suppose we shall see.

"I think that one looks like a bunny rabbit," Pinkie said, lying on her back and pointing up at the sky. She and the others sat in a circle, their tummies happily digesting their meals as they watched the clouds drifting by.

Applejack cocked her head as she looked at the cloud in question. "Ah don't... No, wait, Ah see it, but the ears are too short. Ah'd say it's more like a dog, you know, like Winona."

"More like a cat than a dog," Rarity said, lazily waving her hoof upwards. "Look, the muzzle's too flat. What do you think, Dash?"

"I think I want to kick it," Dash replied flatly. Her uninjured wing gave a little twitch, expressing her repressed need to burst into the sky. She hadn't been confined to the ground for this long since she had been a filly. At least at the hospital, she had had something to read.

Rarity flinched at Dash's depressed tone. "Sorry," she murmured. An awkward silence lay over the entire group, nopony willing to break it in case they accidentally drew the flightless pegasus’ ire.

Except one. "Aw, quit yer bellyachin'," Applejack said without rolling off her back. "'Least ya kin still move." The bandages covering almost every inch of her body said everything for her, and said it in a way not even the sullen pegasus could refute.

"Heh," Dash laughed, an unwilling smile spreading across her face. "Look at us. Two of the strongest ponies in Ponyville. Now we're just a couple of cripples, aren't we?"

"Ah prefer to think of them as war wounds." Applejack craned her neck back, looking at where Dash lay and holding a hoof out towards her. "You regret it?"

"Sometimes. But other times? Not in the slightest," Dash grinned, clopping her own hoof against Applejack's. "Thanks, AJ. I needed that."

"Always here to make sure yer keepin' yer head on straight." The group fell into a comfortable silence, letting it cover them like a thick blanket as they took comfort and solace in the other's presences. Eyes slowly slid shut and the group one by one slid off into sleep's embrace, the last few nights having denied them restful sleep. That was how Zecora found them, the zebra silently slinking up to Twilight's side and waking the unicorn with a mild poke.

"Mnnngh?" Twilight moaned, her eyes blinking wearily. "Whozat?" She peered up at Zecora for several seconds before recognition came. "Zecora? What's up?"

The sides of Zecora's mouth twitched before a small smile formed as she looked down at the sleepy unicorn."There are two things with you about which I wished to speak. One is a simple thank you but the other is very bleak."

Twilight sat up as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Her mumbles were hazy and unfocused as she tried to recall where she was. "Spike, get me some coffe- oh… right." Sadness flashed through her expression for a moment before she schooled it and shifted her attention to Zecora. "So what can I do for you?" She covered her mouth with a hoof, hiding a yawn.

"I wished to thank you for counting me among your friends," Zecora said, helping to pull Twilight to her hooves. "I can only hope that one day I will be able to make amends."

"You are one of our friends," Twilight said with another yawn. "We wouldn't have come this far without you."

If only you knew. "Your words are very kind," she said aloud, turning away from Twilight so the unicorn couldn't see her expression. "Even if they do put me in a bit of a bind." Sensing Twilight's coming question, Zecora spoke first. "You and your friends protect Equestria from those who would bring all to zero. But I am different. Just a selfish mare here for my own reasons. I'm no hero."

"We all have our own reasons for being here, Zecora," Twilight assured. After a moment's hesitation, she rested her hoof on Zecora's shoulder reassuringly. "You're no different than any of us. For friends, family, or our homes; it makes no difference in the end."

Zecora gave Twilight a sidelong look. "Then what drives you?" she asked seriously. "What's your reason for seeing this through? Even though you may face the entirety of the world’s might. Until when do you plan to fight?"

Caught off guard by the sudden question, Twilight took a moment to frame her answer. "I... I just want this to end," she said quietly, her voice barely breaking a whisper. "All I want is for everything to return to normal. Back to the way it was before all this started." Zecora turned to look at Twilight directly after that, and the unicorn had to do a double-take at the emotion she saw in the zebra's eyes. Surely that couldn't have been disappointment, could it?

"I see," Zecora said calmly, her expression returning to normal so quickly that Twilight could almost believe she had imagined it. "Then I will leave it be." Reaching into her tail, Zecora pulled out a small bottle of powder and passed it to Twilight. "This bit; do you recognize it?"

"Well, yeah," Twilight said as she accepted it, holding the clear glass bottle in front of her face and peering at the powder inside. "You put this on our supper, right? What is it, anyway? Flavouring?"

"A special type of cultivated mould," Zecora said, watching Twilight's expression carefully. "Poison is what you hold."

Twilight froze and the bottle of poison slid out of her grip, tumbling down into the cushioning dirt. Her throat felt suddenly dry and she stared at Zecora in disbelief. "P-poison?!" she exclaimed hoarsely. "Are you trying to kill us?"

"Do not be alarmed," Zecora reassured, scooping up the bottle and checking it for cracks. "You will not be harmed. On almost all species, including ponies and zebras, it has no effect. I simply felt there was something that needed to be checked."

Twilight forced herself to calm down at that, reminding herself that Zecora surely didn't mean her or her friends any harm. "So then, why did you feel the need to poison us?" She tried to keep the accusation out of her voice, but wasn't sure she succeeded.

Zecora held the bottle in front of one of her eyes, looking right through it at Twilight. "This mould has an interesting effect on a certain race. Food spiced with it becomes completely unpalatable to those who would hide their face."

Twilight was going to ask Zecora what she meant, when a memory came back to her. A single line, given a completely different meaning with this one little piece of information.

"Fluttershy, are you not going to eat that?"

"No." The word escaped Twilight's mouth unwillingly. "No, it can't be. That can't be true. I just can't believe that."

Zecora looked at Twilight's slacked-jawed expression apologetically. "I'm sorry, but the facts are clear. You cannot simply deny it out of fear. No matter how much it may sting." She stepped right into Twilight's face, making sure her next words would not be ignored or unheard. "That is not your friend Fluttershy; that is a changeling."

A sudden movement. A hint of fear. A whisper of wind.

Whatever caused it, the lone pegasus suddenly jolted awake, sitting bolt upright before she realized what she doing. Her mind felt slow and fuzzy, and she looked around the room she was in with incomprehension. Whether it was the lush, comfortable sheets, the rich tapestries hanging from the walls, the wide open window allowing in a cool breeze, the undisguised changeling sitting in the corner and watching her with intelligent eyes, or the patterned wallpaper covering the walls. She saw all of it without really seeing any of it.

Wait, one of those was different than the others...

Fluttershy let out a squeak of fear as she stared at the changeling in horror. The changeling smiled brightly, the tip of her twisted horn pointing down at the ground. "A pleasure to meet you, Miss Fluttershy. The Queen will want to see you now that you're awake."

The smile slid off Fallen Roses' face as Fluttershy dove under the covers. "This is going to take a while, I can tell." She gave the pony-shaped lump a hopeful poke, but sighed when it slid away from her. "Perfect."

Author's Note

Fluttershy's foalnapping happened in Chapter 34. If you read closely, you can find several hints in that area to suggest what happened, such as the number of changelings not lining up with how many there were when they left the castle or Last Breath simply disappearing from the scene.

Words with a Changeling

"So... um... what is this all about?"

Twilight remained silent as she considered Fluttershy, or rather, the changeling pretending to be Fluttershy. Her hooves tapped together, the quiet tap seeming to echo like a gunshot as the silence stretched painfully on. The very idea that the shy pegasus shaking like a leaf in front of her had been replaced with a changeling was hard for her to consider; and yet, considering it was exactly what she was forced to do.

"Um... Twilight?"

She didn't want to mistrust one of her closest friends. That was why she had called Fluttershy out here to where it was just the two of them. If Zecora was right, and Twilight didn't think she was wrong, then she didn't want the rest of the group to know that one of their number had been stolen away without any of them realizing it. Everypony was feeling fragile enough as it was.

"Twilight?"

She felt like ice cold water was running through her veins instead of blood. An inexplicable calmness had descended over her, and she tapped her hooves together one last time before peering over them at the yellow pegasus. "Fluttershy," she said, her voice level and without emotion. "Do you know why I asked you out here?"

"Um, no, sorry." Fluttershy meekly bowed her head forward, allowing her mane to fall over her face. "Should I?"

Feeling the urge to click her tongue in annoyance as Fluttershy's expression was hidden behind a pink curtain that prevented her from reading it, Twilight decided to instead try a different tactic. She smiled as broadly as she could. She could feel her cheeks twitching and was certain the smile looked painfully fake, but there was nothing she could do about that. "I was just wondering how you were doing. It must have been scary, being attacked by those changelings like that." Come on, come on, fall for it...

"Oh, it wasn't that bad," Fluttershy weakly protested, weakly scuffing her hooves in the soft dirt. "They were just following their instincts after all."

Twilight hurriedly suppressed her feelings of satisfaction - if Fluttershy was a changeling, she'd be able to sense Twilight's emotions - and instead stared at Fluttershy in disbelief. "Fluttershy, they tried to burn you alive. How can you possibly defend them after that?"

"I... well..." Fluttershy seemed to shrink in on herself a little more, shying away from the look Twilight was giving her. "I just think that we should try to understand them a little more. Maybe it was just a warning to us to not interfere with them? I mean, why else would they go through all the effort to kidnap me only to run away at the end?"

Why indeed? Twilight loudly cleared her throat. "Hey Fluttershy? Mind if I ask you a question?" Seeing Fluttershy nod in permission, Twilight decided it was time to cut straight to the chase. Avoiding the topic clearly wasn't going to work. "Fluttershy, are you a changeling?"

Fluttershy cocked her head. "Huh?"

"Just answer the question." Twilight adopted her stoniest expression, giving Fluttershy the firmest near-glare she could. She didn't realize it, but her face was an almost perfect replica of her mentor's expression when she was dealing with some of the more foolish nobles in Canterlot's court. Years of watching Princess Celestia had imprinted themselves on the young unicorn and the recent trials she had been going through were starting to change and define her.

A squeak of fear escaped Fluttershy's mouth, and Twilight swore she could have heard the faintest hint of a buzz in it. It was almost completely imperceptible, and she would have missed it had she not been carefully listening for it. "Wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-"

"Fluttershy." Twilight's glare intensified, cutting off Fluttershy's desperate stutters. "Answer me."

"N-No!" Fluttershy slowly backed away, trying to get space between herself and Twilight. "Of course not! I- Do you want me to tell you how I got my cutie mark? Would that make you believe me?"

Twilight matched every step Fluttershy took with one of her own, never allowing the terrified mare to slip away. "Oh, I don't doubt you could. But so what? We've already seen the changelings know more than they should. Go ahead, tell me how you fell from Cloudsdale onto a swarm of butterflies when Dash performed the Sonic Rainboom. Or maybe you'd like to talk about how you fell in love with the ground instead. Go ahead. Impress me."

"Twi-Twilight," Fluttershy gasped out, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "What are you saying? Y-You're scaring me." Her rump bumped into a tree, completely stopping her retreat short. She looked back to see what she had run into, and when she looked forward, Twilight had completely closed the distance between them.

"Oh, is that so? Am I scaring you?" Twilight asked. Her hoof came up and pressed against Fluttershy's chin, forcing the terrified mare to look into her eyes. Twilight's eyes were harder than steel, and her gaze was colder than ice. "Got you. My friends would never be scared of me. Now. Tell me who you are."

Fluttershy gaped at Twilight. Her mouth moved without noise for several seconds, soundlessly opening and closing like a dazed fish. Green fire suddenly covered her entire body and a changeling suddenly burst out of the inferno, flying for the canopy in a frantic attempt to escape the terrifying unicorn.

Twilight's horn lit up for the first time since she had awoken, and the entire forest suddenly seemed to come to life. Vines and branches wriggled before launching themselves at the fleeing changeling and the pony-like parasite was almost instantly overwhelmed by the flora. His legs, wings, and horn all restrained , he could do nothing but watch the terrifying unicorn approach, looking for all the world like a demon from Tartarus with her eyes glowing and her mane shimmering in an ethereal breeze.

"I tried to be reasonable," Twilight said as the branches tightened and started to choke her victim, "but that time has passed. You will tell me what you've done with my friend."

"Get up."

Poke.

"Please get up."

Pokepokepokepoke.

"Pretty please?"

Jab.

"Alright, that's enough of this nonsense."

Green light filled one of the bedrooms of Canterlot Castle as Fallen Roses started channeling magic, the feminine changeling's twisted horn wrapped in the same coloured glow as the bed before her. With a simple application of levitation, she picked up the bed and flipped it. There was a loud thud as something heavy fell to the ground, taking the covers with it. Everything was still for several seconds before a single terrified blue eye poked out from under the blanket pile.

"Don't give me that look," Fallen Roses chided as she leaned the bed against a nearby wall. "You were the one who was refusing to act like a grown mare." The pile shuddered and the eyeball vanished once more. Fallen Roses facehooved. "This is one of the mares the Queen is worried about? I've seen newly hatched changelings with more of a spine." A breathy laugh escaped her nose. "And we don't even have an endoskeleton."

There was a slight movement from the heap before a yellow nose poked out. "R...really? But then, how can you walk around like that? Wouldn't your body collapse under its own weight?" The voice quivered with fear, but there was a faint trace of curiosity just beneath the terror.

This curiosity did not go unnoticed by Fallen Roses, and she cocked her head at the prone pony. "That's right, you're an animal specialist, aren't you? You're probably filled with questions about how we work." The pile nodded up and down as the covers were pulled a little farther back. Fallen Roses leaned down, giving the most disarming smile she could, which was only slightly ruined by the sharp pair of fangs she possessed. "Well, feel free to ask any question you like. Don't worry. We don't mean you any harm."

The covers slid even farther back, and Fluttershy's entire head came into view. "Then why did you foalnap me?" she asked quietly.

Fallen Roses took a step back, giving her pony prisoner a little more space. "That's simple. The Elements of Harmony need all six of you to work. So long as you're a captive, we don't need to worry about that."

Fluttershy flinched away at the mention of the word 'captive'. "What are you going to do to me?" He voice quivered with unshed emotion and she sounded like she was about to burst into tears. "Why are you doing this?"

"I've been assigned as your watchdog, so to speak," Fallen Roses answered cheerfully. "Basically, so long as I'm with you, there's no particular limitations on where you can go. If I'm busy, I'll just find you a different guard. As for your second question..." she hesitated before shrugging her shoulders. "Well, that's something you'd be better off asking the queen."

The covers now completely off her body, Fluttershy gave the changeling before her an odd look. "Why are you so... um..."

"Beautiful? Stunning? Gorgeous? A picture-perfect paragon of the pinnacle of prettiness and perfection?"

"I was going to say friendly." Despite herself, amusement entered Fluttershy's voice. With every suggestion the changeling had made, she had struck a different pose, looking for all the world like she was posing for a photoshoot. "You're... not what I had expected."

"What? You're not disappointed, are you?" An amused quirk of the lips creased Fallen Roses' mouth. "Sorry if you were hoping for a big scary monster. I'm just me." She suddenly smacked herself in the forehead with one of her hole-filled hooves, the sound of chitin against chitin making Fluttershy jump. "Where are my manners? I haven't even introduced myself. My name is Fallen Roses. I'm the head of the Changeling Nurturers. Essentially, I'm a glorified babysitter. I also serve as one of Her Majesty Queen Chrysalis' top advisors, and I'm apparently her go-to for guarding important prisoners." She extended the same hoof she had smacked herself with towards Fluttershy. "A pleasure to meet you."

Fluttershy stared down at the offered hoof like it was a lobster claw being brandished in her direction. Slowly, very slowly, she reached out to touch it. "Hi," she muttered without making eye contact.

"Right. Well, if that's all, then-" She tried to pull her hoof back, but was pulled up short by the pegasus’ surprisingly strong grip.

Fluttershy lifted Fallen Roses' leg, staring at the holed appendage with undisguised curiosity and wonder. "Amazing," she muttered, awe suffusing her voice. "This carapace is just so amazing. I had thought it was like a beetle's, but it's just so very different. It's not as hard as I expected, and it's surprisingly warm too. These holes, too..." She happened to glance up at the bemused changeling, and her face went pure red before she dived back underneath the covers with an "Eep."

Fallen Roses stared in incomprehension at the space Fluttershy had just occupied for several seconds before bursting out into laughter. "Oh my goodness, you're just too adorable. Tell you what, I'll answer any question you have and then we'll go see Chrysalis, alright?"

"Chrysalis?" Fluttershy asked, her face still flushed red. "Who's that?"

"Didn't I say already?" Fallen Roses asked with a slight frown. "That's the name of our Queen. I've already let her know you're awake. She's expecting you."

"Your friend is fine!" Last Breath proclaimed, his voice hoarse with fear. He struggled weakly in the entrapping branches before going limp. "She's been taken to Canterlot!"

"And?" Twilight asked darkly. Much of her anger had subsided at hearing Fluttershy was fine, but there was still the matter of the changeling before her. "Why should I believe you?"

"Because..." Last Breath drew in a shuddering breath. There's no way she's going to believe this. "Because we don't want to hurt you."

The sarcastic laugh told him he had read her correctly "Don't want to hurt us? That's rich. What do you call what you're doing, then? Taking over Canterlot, overthrowing the Royal Sisters, foalnapping and replacing friends and loved ones." Her mane crackled with her rage as a hint of madness entered her voice. "How could that possibly not hurt us?"

"We don't have a choice," Last Breath gasped out. "You think we like it? Always forced to watch other species' happiness while knowing it's something we can never be part of it? A species with a face of nightmares that has to feed off love to survive? It's no wonder Queen Chrysalis believes something evil created us."

"Don't try to play the victim," Twilight spat. "You feed off us for your own selfish gain, nothing more than a pitiful parasite! You entire race causes pain and suffering anywhere you go! You don't belong in Equestria, and you never will! You don't belong anywhere, and you never will! You're just a blight, an insect! And you deserve to be exterminated like one! Nopony will ever accept you, especially after what you've done!"

Green flames washed across Last Breath's entire body, the branches constricting him turning into ash at the withering heat before he dropped to the ground. He was still completely terrified, but something in him had awoken at what she had said. It wasn't a feeling, nor even a memory; it was more like a hint of a memory, and the more he tried to reach for it, the more it faded away. There was something lost that could never be regained. He felt like he should know it, but there was nothing there. Even still, he could still feel it. He could still feel a strong pair of arms pressing against his chitin, holding him as he closed his eyes one final time.

Sleep well, my friend.

"You take that back," he warned her. He still wanted nothing more than to flee like a coward, but whatever was burning inside refused to let him do so. Even though he felt like a great weight was pressing against him from all sides because of the sheer magical energy rolling off the unicorn in front of him, even though the air felt thick and heavy and every move he made felt like he was swimming through molasses, he refused to back down. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

Twilight scoffed. Her eyes were still shining and her mane continued to shimmer, but at least her horn had stopped glowing. "I just speak the truth. We're going to take back Canterlot and we will defeat you again. Only this time, we're not going to show you any mercy. We'll exterminate every single one of you!"

"Exterminate?" Last Breath's wings buzzed loudly for a second before he tackled Twilight. The pair of them rolled for a few seconds before ending with him pinning her to the ground. They matched each other glare for glare, neither backing down in the slightest. A single drop of green saliva fell from Last Breath's short, stubby fangs onto the ground beside Twilight's head, where it started to bubble and hiss. "I despise you," Last Breath growled out, his buzzing voice low and threatening. "You, above all others. If I could kill you right now, I would. Damn the consequences, I would give it all up for a chance at your throat."

"Try it," Twilight warned. Her eyes flared brightly, illuminating the changeling above her in pure white light. "I don't know why you hate me, and I really don't care. If you try to hurt me or my friends, you are my enemy."

"That's all you ever think about!" Last Breath snarled. His wings started to vibrate with his rage and a high-pitched whine filled the air, forcing him to shout to be heard over it. "Black and white! Right and wrong! With you or against you! You ponies really can't think about anyone other than yourselves! That kind of thinking is exactly what's nearly destroyed us! You choose to ignore the suffering of others, just so long as you and yours can live in peace! You're no different than Celestia!"

"Be quiet!" The white glow in Twilight's eyes vanished, releasing her own natural violet colour, which glared up at him brimming with fury and rage. "Don't you dare talk badly of Celestia, you-!"

"And why not?!" he screamed down at her. "What has she ever done for us? She only cares about her little ponies! The rest of the world can burn as far as she cares!"

"That's not true!" Twilight's muzzle was only inches away from his. "She loves everypony in the world!"

"Every pony! She abandoned us to die! You all did! You have no idea what it's like! Watching your friends starve to death and knowing there's nothing you can do for them! Having them stare at you, begging for help, and knowing all you can do is be there for them! Knowing it's only a matter of time until the same thing happens to you! Watching-" He choked up at that, and whatever else he was going to say died before he could say it. For several long, meaningful seconds, he stared blankly at a point beyond Twilight's shoulder, locked in his own sorrowful memories. The seconds stretched into minutes before he finally spoke in a defeated, heavy voice. "And I... blame you for it. Congratulations, Miss Sparkle. You have completely killed me and everyone I have ever known, everyone I have ever loved. I hope they throw a parade in your honor, oh great conquering Hero of Equestria. Hail to the great savior. May you find the pain you have delivered in such ignorant bliss one day return to you, just as you deserve."

Twilight watched in quiet surprise, her anger forgotten, as he stepped off her and took several steps away before heavily sitting down. "Do what you want," he said with his back to her, his voice bitter and heavy with emotion. "I don't care anymore."

She stood on unsteady legs, watching him for any hint of a changeling trick. Emotions whirled through her mind in an uncontrolled whirlpool, leaving her feeling dazed and confused.

He took Fluttershy away from me... Away from all of us!

He looks so hurt... What would Fluttershy do if she were here?

He's a changeling... He can only cause pain and suffering anywhere he goes.

Can't we talk it out? Surely there has to be a solution?

He's no different from his Queen! Destroy him!

He's caused so much pain already. If you let him go, he'll only cause more.

How much more are you willing to let them take away from you?

But it sounds like he's lost so much...

So what? He's taken so much as well.

He will only continue to take unless I do something!

He's nothing more than a parasite!

But he's just trying to live...

So long as the changelings continue to feed off us, we can never live in peace!

I have to destroy him! All of them! That's the only way to end all this!

Twilight took a single step, followed by another and another. Her legs felt heavy, like they had been replaced with logs, and dragged against the ground with every step. Every movement was stiff and unnaturally, as if her body was a poorly-fitting costume. Sparks flew out from her cracked horn before the glow went out. Every step she took brought her closer and closer to him, to his unresisting, turned back.

I'll do it. I'll kill him.

Faint memories started to play out in her mind. The memories played out in a whirlwind of overlapping images and sounds, each playing out for only a few seconds before vanishing, leaving behind a confusing tangle of disjointed feelings.

You know nothing about how loss can forever scar your soul.

I am proud of you. I know Equestria is in good hooves.

I simply can’t understand why you would want to be friends...

You did well to show mercy to one you fought.

He helped Twilight, right? I'm sure that means he wants to be our friend now!

You think you can stop my vengeance?

Is the vaunted Element of Magic herself refusing to make friends with someone? Is the power of your so-called Harmony really that weak?

She was close enough to touch him now, and her hooves stretched towards him in that awkward, uncomfortable manner she had adopted. As she reached for him, one final memory played out before her. There were no words in this memory, only a feeling. She felt the fingers of that strange creature from the Everfree running through her mane after she had released him. That thing that she and her friends had fought so hard against, which she had then released. If she had tried a little harder to befriend him from the beginning, maybe she could have avoided all this conflict in the first place?

The changeling didn't react in the slightest as Twilight's hooves wrapped themselves around his neck.

Last Breath stiffened when Twilight's forelegs reached all the way around his neck, connecting just beneath his throat. Her stomach squashed his diaphanous wings against his back and her chin rested gently against his shoulder. Of all the possible outcomes he had been expecting, a hug was not one of them.

"I'm sorry," Twilight said into his ear. Her voice was quiet but clear, lacking any sense of doubt or uncertainty. The anger and rage from before had completely vanished, scattered like so much dust in the wind. "It's been hard for you, too, hasn't it? I've only been seeing my own troubles, my own problems. But... that's not all there is to it. You have hurt us. And, intentionally or not, we have hurt you."

He turned his head to look at her. His large multifaceted eyes stared at her, and she could see herself reflected many times over in those alien orbs. Despite the vast differences between them, there was still something in them that spoke to her. Deep, deep within him, she could feel that he really was no different than her. "What- what are you saying?" he asked, confusion suffusing his voice.

"I'm sorry," Twilight repeated, letting her body rest completely against his smooth carapace. "I'm sorry for what I did, even if I didn't know what happened to you. I'm sorry for not knowing what happened. I'm sorry for pushing you so far, so that you felt this was the only choice you had. I'm sorry for everything. And... one more thing." She leaned her head against his, brushing his cheek with her own. "I forgive you."

Last Breath remained silent as he stared down at his hooves. He could feel her emotions, and he wasn't sure what they meant. She didn't trust him, and maybe she never would. But despite that, despite everything, she was still willing to try. "I..." He gave a choked, bitter laugh. "Do you really think it's that easy? That you can just say 'sorry' and everything'll be fixed?"

She shook her head, his head moving along with hers because of its proximity. "No, I know it won't be easy. Too much has happened already." A sad sigh escaped her. "But I feel like worse is going to happen soon if I don't do something to stop. I don't want to miss this opportunity and be left wondering what could have happened if I didn't at least try to end the fighting."

"You mean that Discord character you were talking about." It wasn't a question and Twilight didn't even bother nodding. "Is he really as diabolical as you made him sound? It's just a little hard to believe."

"Yeah, that's Discord." A frown creased Twilight's otherwise placid expression. "I still don't know what he's trying to accomplish, but whatever it is, I intend to leave him disappointed. Princess Celestia thinks he's trying to make himself immune to the Elements of Harmony, but Zecora gave me some books that make me think he's trying to make himself more powerful through all this conflict, and he said that he just wants to watch as Equestria falls apart."

"What do you think?"

Twilight thought long and hard about it, balancing everything that she knew with her own intuition. Finally, she slowly shook her head. "I don't think it's any of those. No matter which possibility I consider, there's just too many loose ends. Nightmare Moon, the humans, you guys, my friend's sisters, and all those pieces he showed me. Whatever he's trying to do, there has to be an easier way."

Last Breath glanced behind him at the unicorn resting on his back. Her face was scrunched up, and he could tell she was feeling pensive and thoughtful. She seemed to have completely forgotten that she was lying on the back of something that saw her as a food source. Or at the very least, she no longer saw him as a threat. Could she mean it? he wondered, watching her without her being aware of it. Does she really believe that we can coexist?

His sight shimmered, and for a moment, he didn't see her any more. Instead of the purple unicorn, a pegasus lay on his back, a wide smile splitting her face. The vision faded, and Twilight Sparkle slid back into sight. He blinked several times, banishing the last traces of the apparition before giving Twilight a considering look. If she really meant what she said... If it was even slightly possible... "Yeah. I'll try it."

"Huh?" Twilight blinked dumbly, knocked out of her consideration. "What?"

He rolled his eyes. "If you really want to try and get the changelings and the ponies to put aside their differences, I'll go along with you. Might be entertaining if nothing else."

Twilight's expression went through a series of emotions from confusion, uncertainty, dawning realization, and, eventually, elation. "You mean it?" she squealed happily, hugging him even tighter. "That's just great! I just need to talk to your Queen, and-"

He coughed loudly, grabbing her attention. "That might be harder than you think. Queen Chrysalis really hates you for what you did during the invasion."

"Well, yeah, but..." Twilight's ears lay flat against her head. "I still want to try."

Last Breath sighed. "If you still want to try it, I won't stop you, but there's something you should know first." Seeing he had her full attention, he gestured in the direction of the distant Canterlot. "She hates you for what you did, but that's not the only reason she hates you. She hates everyone. Ponies, zebras, gryphons, minotaurs; it makes no difference to her."

"How can she have so much hate?" Twilight asked in a hushed whisper. "How could you possibly follow somepony like that?"

"Why do you obey Princess Celestia?" Last Breath asked rhetorically. "We follow her because we're loyal to her. She may hate everyone else, but she loves us, just as we love her in return. Why she hates everything though… that's a bit of a story. I don't know all the details, but it begins about twenty years ago, before Chrysalis became queen..."

"We've got some time, so I might as well tell you about the Queen. Queen Chrysalis inherited her title from our previous ruler, Queen Free Form." Fluttershy and Fallen Roses walked side-by-side through Canterlot Castle in the direction of the throne room. Fluttershy had considered fleeing, but when her guard pointed out that she wouldn't be able to get away from something capable of reading her emotions, the pegasus had been forced to give up and go along quietly. The fact that the changeling had known that Fluttershy was considering escape simply from feeling the animal caretaker's emotions made it clear that she meant what she said. Fluttershy's cage might be gilded, but it was a cage nonetheless.

"Does that mean Chrysalis was a princess?" Fluttershy asked in response to her guard's words. If escape was impossible, than she would take the chance to learn everything she could about the changelings. She knew that Twilight and her friends would realize what had happened and would come to rescue her. She chose to believe in them, and when they came to save her, she would be able to give them all the information they could use.

If Fallen Roses knew what Fluttershy was thinking, her friendly, feminine voice didn't show it. "Nope. Unlike you ponies or the gryphons, changelings don't have anything like a royal family. The first queen devised a system where the ruler chooses two changelings from the hive that they believe could serve the hive well. The two changelings always have very different ideas and views, and compete against each other even as they both learn about leadership. Whichever candidate impresses the King or Queen most will then become the next ruler when they pass on."

"And... what happens to the one who doesn't win?" Fluttershy asked in a quailing voice. Her mind was imagining all sorts of scenarios where the loser was fed to the newly crowned ruler in order to increase their strength.

Fallen Roses' mocking laughter made it clear that she knew exactly what Fluttershy was thinking. "Oh, nothing like that. We're not animals, after all. The changeling that doesn't become the leader then serves as an advisor. That's why it's always important for them to have opposing viewpoints. In fact, the two who are competing now were the ones who planned out your foalnapping. I'm looking forward to seeing how that affects their contest in the future."

Fluttershy wasn't sure how to respond to that last piece of information, so she decided to move on from it. "You certainly know a lot about it."

"Oh, it's common knowledge," Fallen Roses said easily. "Also, I was the one who competed against Chrysalis, but we're getting off track." Before Fluttershy could ask anything more about that casually-dropped piece of information, Fallen Roses quickly steered the conversation away. "Chrysalis was always different. As the only changeling who grew up outside of the hive, Queen Free Form decided that she would be best for dealing with the rest of the world."

"But-"

"I'm getting to that," Fallen Roses interrupted with a put-upon huff. "Patience. You want to know about us, I'm telling you about us. Now, first off, you should know that all changelings are born by encapsulating a member of another species in a special pod and which then has an egg inserted into it. The donor is kept asleep and unaware of what is going on around them, and the changeling grows by draining love from them. Eventually, after several weeks, we become large and strong enough to break free of the egg." Fallen Roses was cut off by a tiny squeak from her audience, and she rolled her eyes before giving the pegasus a look that spoke of rapidly-dwindling patience. "What?"

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but what happens to the donor, er, I mean the captives?" There was slightly more confidence in Fluttershy's voice as the conversation shifted to something she felt more comfortable talking about. "Is this just simple parasitism, or are you more like parasitoids?"

"Parasitoids?" Fallen Roses repeated, only half listening to the question. "Can't say I know what those are."

There was a pause as Fluttershy took in a deep breath before speaking in a fast, rambling, and excited manner that would have better suited a certain pink friend of hers. "Oh, that's simple. Parasitoids are fascinating creatures that are like parasites in a lot of ways. However, unlike most parasites, parasitoids will often sterilize or kill their host. In fact, what you said reminds me of a species of wasp that I've read about. Apparently the wasps lay their eggs in the bodies of caterpillars and when the eggs hatch, the babies eat their way out. I've never met any wasps like that, but someday I'd really like to."

The slightly freaked out changeling gave the obviously insane pegasus a wary look before taking a large step away. "Uh huh... Right, that, I, um... Let's get back on track." And I will be very careful about asking you to clarify things in the future. "To answer your question, the donors are usually watched carefully and cared for by several nurturers, who are responsible for our young. Once the hatching has finished, the donor will usually have their memories wiped and be returned home."

"Oh."

Desperately trying not to notice how disappointed the nature lover sounded, Fallen Roses gave a loud cough. "Well, we try to keep our presence secret, so that, yeah... Hang on." She stopped as they walked past a pair of changeling guards standing at attention in the corridor in front of a large pair of doors. "Good afternoon, or whatever time it is. Has there been any trouble?"

One of the guards stepped forward and gave her a sharp salute. His eyes were mostly blue, but a hint of green was starting to appear deep down. "No trouble to report." When he spoke, his voice was almost impossible to make out, barely discernible beneath a heavy buzz. Fluttershy was starting to think of that buzz as a sort of changeling accent, and listened quietly to what was being said.

"Good." Fallen Roses sharply nodded her head before looking over at Fluttershy. "Do you know what's beyond these doors?" she asked. Before Fluttershy could respond, Fallen Roses answered her own rhetorical question. "Nevermind, it's not important if you do or not. The Canterlot dungeons lie beyond here. If you're not careful about what you say to the queen, you might be spending a long time here."

"Why would you show me this?" Fluttershy squeaked, giving the large doors a fearful look.

Fallen Roses shrugged. "Just giving you fair warning. Personally, I'd rather you didn't end up here, and-" She stopped talking as a loud crash echoed down the hallway, the floors and hallways shuddering all around them as if the entire castle had just been struck by an earthquake.

Fluttershy immediately dropped to the ground, throwing her hooves over her head. "Wh-wh-wh-what was that?"

"I'm not sure." Fallen Roses perked her ears up and listened as the last remaining vibrations ceased. After a few seconds, she picked up a faint sound. The noise started small, but built and strengthened even as she listened. Her tongue gave an annoyed click. "Oh, for goodness' sake! They're at it again! Come on, we better stop them before they hurt themselves."

Fluttershy peeked out from under shivering hooves to watch as her guard sprinted away, leaving her behind. "Um... hello?" she asked uncertainly. There was no response and she stood up after a few seconds. "Should I do something?" She was about to just turn and leave, when she happened to spot the two changeling guards watching her with their blank blue eyes. She recoiled in fright before sprinting after Fallen Roses.

Author's Note

Last Breath's uncertain memories come from Chapter 19. Because of the details regarding what happens when a changeling loses themselves, he cannot clearly remember the last few days of his life. So, no, he doesn't remember Alex at all.

And now for a list of the lines Twilight heard in her head.

You know nothing about how loss can forever scar your soul. Zecora, Chapter 43.

I am so proud of you. I know Equestria is in good hooves. Celestia, Chapter 15.

I simply can’t understand why you would want to be friends... Rarity, Chapter 4

You did well to show mercy to one you fought. Zecora again, Chapter 30.

He helped Twilight, right? I'm sure that means he wants to be our friend now! Pinkie, Chapter 26.

You think you can stop my vengeance? Nightmare Moon, Chapter 15

Is the vaunted Element of Magic herself refusing to make friends with someone? Is the power of your so-called Harmony really that weak? Discord, Chapter 41.

Woo, broke the 200,000 words barrier. And I'm still nowhere near as far as I thought I'd be. I may have pacing issues.

Words With a Changeling Queen

Canterlot. Normally the third-most active city in all of Equestria, after only Las Pegasus itself and the coastal city of Vanhoover, it was usually a true bastion of light and joy. During the day, ponies went about their day and would work hard under the warm and welcoming gaze of the Princess of the Sun. Once the night came about, many ponies chose to party or to spend time with their friends under the calm and sheltering shade of the Princess of the Moon. But ever since the changelings conquered the city, that had changed. Instead of the activity that had once suffused the city, filling it with life and love, a deep stillness lay over the inhabitants like a smothering shroud, filling hearts and minds alike with fear and anguish. The stillness spread to every corner of the glittering city, even to the magnificent throne room itself; or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the origin of the stillness was within the throne room itself, spreading out to engulf the city like a foul mood.

Queen Chrysalis, dark ruler of the changelings, hummed happily to herself as she languished on Celestia's throne. The large hole in her throat from her battle against Shining Armor still gaped open, an ugly green goop imperceptibly oozing from the open wound. The throne room was almost completely empty, containing a grand total of only six living creatures; the Queen herself, two changeling guards standing at the doors, a single pony noble shivering off to the side, and Chrysalis's meal ticket. The meal glared at Chrysalis, uncaring of the heavy chains wrapped around her neck that reached all the way to the base of the mighty throne.

"Oh, don't give me that look," Chrysalis said, not tearing her gaze away from the thing she held in her hooves. "It's unbefitting of royalty such as you. You should try to have a little more pride, even if there isn't much of you worth being proud about."

"How long?" Princess Cadance, or 'Meal', as Chrysalis was starting to think of her, snarled. "How long do you have to keep this up until you are satisfied? How much more do you plan for everypony to suffer?"

Chrysalis pretended to think as she gave the white ball of fluff she held a querying poke. "Oh, not much longer. I think my changelings are just about satiated." The ball of fluff, or the sixth living thing in the room, let out a sleepy meow as it curled up on Chrysalis's hoof. "I don't enjoy doing this to you, you know."

"HA!" Cadance's unamused laugh boomed through the throne room, and the kitten on Chrysalis's hoof dived underneath the changeling queen to escape the loud noise. "That's a laugh! You just revel in our pain and suffering, don't you? Don't even try to deny it!"

"Oh look at that, you scared him," Chrysalis chided, looking down at the kitten hiding underneath her. "It's okay, sweetie," she cooed, deliberately ignoring the infuriated Princess. "Mommy's here. She'll protect you from the big, scary, pathetic alicorn."

There was a rush of wind as Cadance's wings flared out to their full length. "Don't... You... Mock... Me." Her voice shook with suppressed rage and every word had to be forced out past gritted teeth.

"Do you want to hurt me?" Chrysalis's voice buzzed with a duality both light and malicious. She turned her attention away from the kitten beneath her to give the Princess of Love a smugly condescending look. "Go ahead. Do it. Do whatever you like; I won't even resist. But," her voice went cold, "keep in mind that anything you do to me, I will pay upon your precious husband tenfold. So, still think you can do it?"

Cadance's wings quivered as she struggled with the urge to just rush the Queen. She wanted to do it. She so wanted to do it. It would be rash, foolish, short-sighted, imprudent, and hurt her more in the long run, but she really, really wanted to punch that smug face over and over again until the changeling was left crying and begging for mercy. But the thought of anything happening to Shining Armour...

Chrysalis sneered as Cadance fell to her knees, the alicorn's wings falling limply to the floor. "Weak." She shifted her attention back to the kitten. "Just like all of your pony kin. Princess of Love. Ha. Love. So weak and pathetic. Where's your precious husband now? Where's your precious hope now? You're nothing more than food for your betters. Just like him. He understands, don't you?" She shifted her body so she was lying on her stomach, her forehooves crossing underneath her chin.

"Y-y-y-y-y-yes, Mistress," the pony standing by the wall stuttered out. His well-cared for blonde mane and tail shuddered with every movement he made, and it looked like the poor stallion was about to wet himself. He had his back was turned to them both with his nose pressed firmly against the wall. "W-w-w-w-whatever you say."

"Very good, pet," Chrysalis purred out seductively. The pure white stallion flushed with a mixture of arousal and disgust.

Cadance shook her head at the pathetic sight. "You're a disgrace, Blueblood," she scolded, though there was no heat in her voice.

"Oh, don't be too hard on the poor dear," Chrysalis teased down at the chained mare. "He came at me a little while ago, shouting and crying about how things 'used to be better', and how I'm 'just a pathetic bug, and I should my place.' Then he started to whine some drivel about how I should cater to his every whim."

There was a light smack as Cadance facehooved. "Seriously?"

"Oh, yes," Chrysalis chuckled, slowly running the tip of one hoof up and down the side of the throne. "Certainly a brave one, to challenge me like that. Or maybe he was just foolish."

"I'm surprised you didn't just drain him and be done with it."

"Oh?" The dark temptress climbed off the throne, moving towards her captive. She moved slowly, confidently, secure in her power and in the knowledge that nothing could challenge her. The past few weeks had been hard, and for a while there she hadn't been sure if she was going to survive, but so much had changed. She found it a little funny, honestly. Only a week ago, she had only been interested in making sure that someone would remember her and her race once they had all died out. But now, now she held everything she ever wanted, and nothing would take that away from her.

Her cool strides quickly brought her to Cadance's side, and she circled the chained Princess in a manner similar to a shark circling its prey. "Are you actually suggesting that I drain another pony of their love? I wouldn't have thought you would wish that fate on another of your race. Or..." She swooped in, her legs wrapping around Cadance and holding her tight. Her tongue extended out of her mouth, the thick fleshy organ tracing a trail all the way from Cadance's neck, up her jawline, and all the way up to her ear, which Chrysalis stopped to nibble at. "Have you come to enjoy these little sessions of ours?" she whispered huskily before blowing into the mare's ear with all the gentleness of a lover.

Cadance shivered at the tingle on her face, familiar enough with the feeling by now to know the changeling was feeding off of her. "Get off of me," she growled out, wiggling against the Queen's hold in impotent fury.

Chrysalis only held her tighter. "You know repressing your emotions like this isn't good for you. Perhaps we should get your husband up here, hmm?" She gave Cadance another lick, leaving another trail of slime stretching across the alicorn's face. "Maybe he'd like to watch? Watch as I play with you and humiliate you like the toy you are? Or perhaps you would be the one watching, watching as he takes me and know that, no matter what you two might do together, I'd be showing your precious husband a level of pleasure that you could only dream of showing him. No need to worry, I'd use him well."

Cadance could feel her self-control slipping. She really wanted to put the hurt on the bug holding her. Chrysalis must have realized she had pushed her captive as far as she could go for now, because the Queen finally released her after one last nibble and returned to the throne. "To answer your question," Chrysalis said as she lay back down, the tiny white kitten hopping up on her back. "I was certainly tempted to drain him. Never in my life have I met a stallion so filled up with so much love."

Cadance wiped the drool off her face, never breaking her glare away from the Queen. "So why didn't you?"

Chrysalis gave an amused, dark chuckle. "Oh, I could have. Quite easily, too. But if I wanted to get all his love, then I would have needed to transform into a certain stallion." She smiled at seeing Cadance's flat expression, the Princess seeing exactly where this was going. "And in that case, it would have been easier to just point him in the direction of a mirror and be done with it. So I decided a different punishment would be more in order; that if he was going to act like a foal, than I would treat him as one."

Cadance raised an eyebrow in Blueblood's direction - having finally wiped the slobber off her face - before turning her attention back to Chrysalis. "So you made him stand in the corner."

"So I made him stand in the corner," Chrysalis agreed. "But I think I've made my point clear. You can leave now," she told the fearful Prince. "But if you ever bother me again- He can really move when he's terrified." This last was aimed at the Princess, the Prince having cleared out of the room fast enough to leave an afterimage behind him.

Cadance shook her head before returning her glare to Chrysalis. "You're evil."

"That was a little out of nowhere," Chrysalis pointed out. Reaching onto her back, she scooped up the tiny kitten and started to pet it, which purred as it leaned into her hoof. "Not that I really care about your opinion, but what brought this sudden realization about?"

"You love to watch as others suffer," Cadance said. "But you have no idea what it's like. You have no idea how much you're hurting everypony!"

Chrysalis's hoof froze imperceptibly before continuing its movement along the tiny kitten's spine. "Suffering?" she asked rhetorically. "You're the one who knows nothing about suffering. You, who's lived such a privileged life. Everything always delivered to you, and you never had to do anything for it. Simply because you had the good fortune to be born with both wings and a horn, you immediately became destined for the good life."

"It's not like that!" Cadance vehemently protested. "It's nothing like that! We work hard to make life better for everypony! We suffer just as much as anypony else!"

"Oh my." Chrysalis stared at Cadance in surprise for several long seconds. "I actually think you believe that."

"Of course I do! It's the truth!" Cadance angrily stomped her hoof, her rage at being mocked beginning to bleed through.

"Hmm." The kitten demanded scratches, and Chrysalis was silent as she gave it what it wanted. "I think I see you in a new light, Princess. I had always thought you were weak and foolish, nothing more than another pitiful pony living a soft life. I never imagined you were a blind hypocrite as well."

Cadance gasped in shock at the blunt insult. "Wh-?"

"You think you understand your subjects' suffering?" Chrysalis asked, not taking her attention away from the loudly purring kitten. "Tell me, have you ever spent a night sleeping in the dirt with nothing more than your own body heat to keep you warm? Have you never felt hunger's cruel bite, with not a bit of food in your stomach and no idea where your next meal is coming from? Have you been chased by an entire village when you were barely old enough to walk, simply because of what you looked like!? " The kitten squealed in pain from Chrysalis's hoof pushing down on it, and the angry Queen quickly forced herself to calm down. "So don't talk to me about suffering. You have no idea what real suffering is." She gave the chained Princess a speculative look. "But maybe I should show you. Maybe I should drain you of all your love, and suck you dry until your heart is as cold and black as mine."

"And become as bad a leader as you?" Cadance scoffed. "Become somepony who would lead all their followers to their destruction, and can't even see what she's doing? I would rather not."

"You don't know," Chrysalis whispered in realization. "You're completely oblivious. That’s funny. You think you're such a great leader, Princess, but you don't think of yourself as one of them. I walked the same path of death as all my kin, but you... You abandoned your oh-so precious followers. Where are you in their hour of need? Why are you here when they need you most?"

"What do you mean?" Cadance demanded. Beads of perspiration started to slide down her exterior, giving her coat a glossy shine. If her ponies were in trouble... "What have you done to them? What have you done to the Crystal Empire?"

"Absolutely nothing," Chrysalis said honestly. "But you know, I can taste it." She tilted her head back and let her mouth gape slightly open before her tongue started to flick at the air like a snake's. "Even from here, I can taste it. So very many negative emotions; all emanating from a single place in the distant north. Isn't that where your Empire is?" She turned her head slightly. "And there's something similar off to the south, as well. Hmm, hadn't noticed that before. I wonder what it could be?"

Cadance stared at Chrysalis in shocked dismay. "What?" she repeated dumbly. "My people? My Empire? What's happened to them?"

Chrysalis shrugged. "I'm not certain. But it doesn't matter to you, does it?" She tugged on the end of the chain anchored at the base of her throne, yanking the Princess off her hooves. "After all," she hissed, "you're not going anywhere, Princess."

"My people, my ponies," Cadance muttered numbly. "They need me- NO!" She shook her head as she felt a realization sweep through her before turning a glare on the Queen that, if looks could kill, would have immediately lit up the changeling in a massive conflagration mighty enough to rival the fury of the sun. " You're just lying! This is another one of your tricks to hurt me, isn't it? You're evil, just like all your kind! You're twisted abominations; a perversion of nature!"

Chrysalis burst into laughter, one hoof pounding on the side of the throne as her joyful laughter echoed throughout the massive chamber. "Well said, Princess! There's one of those little speeches that heroes like yourself so love to give, isn't? Then I do believe I'm required to give a speech in return! You're so quick to divide the world into 'good' and 'evil'! If one would call feeding off of others in order to cling to life "evil", than what would one call giving up on life itself?! If the world would call that just, then I will fight that world with all my strength! To renounce life and choose death when the slightest possibility of hope remains is to blaspheme life itself! You call my people a perversion of nature, but there can be no greater perversion than that!"

"Your perversion of love is the greatest perversion there is!" Cadance shot back, not falling back in the slightest. "You take all that is good in the world and twist it until it's nothing more than a corrupted mockery of what it was! That's why you'll never understand the true power of love! That's why you'll never be anything more than a failure of a ruler, Queen Chrysalis!"

Chrysalis snarled. All the gentle mocking had vanished, peeled away in an instant to reveal the bubbling cauldron of emotions that bubbled just below the surface. "You go too far. I am a far better ruler to my changelings than you could ever be to your ponies. Ruling them is both my duty and my pleasure."

"Duty?" Cadance scoffed. "You don't understand the meaning of the word! I've seen what you're like! You'd throw away every one of their lives, all for your own selfishness!"

The kitten yowled in fright, scurrying away from the changeling Queen as fast as its little legs would carry it as Chrysalis pounced off the throne, the Queen landing in front of Cadance with a heavy thud. She started to prowl around Cadance, hunched low to the ground like a predator watching its prey. Her leg lashed out, kicking the chains tied around Cadance's throat. The chains chinked and jangled, creating a warped melody that filled the entire room, a melody that Chrysalis's dark voice quickly joined.

"Princess, at last,
I will make you feel my reign.
Your precious love
Has been replaced with chaaaainnns..."

Cadance sat strong and tall as Chrysalis circled her, only her eyes moving to follow her captor. As Chrysalis hit her last note, Cadance began singing over top of her.

"You might think that you're the victor, Chrysalis.
You may have me chained up like a slave, but then
Listen to me! You're the one who is going to lose.

You don't understand a single thing about love.
You blind yourself and you're unable to see it.
In mercy's name, your people you cannot feed!
They're all going to die, because of you.
They're all going to die,"

Chrysalis snarled at the last word, thrusting her face directly into Cadance's and loudly shouting at the Princess.

"You must think me mad!
You think you know about my fears?
I lead them to glory and gain.
That reason is why I rule."

Cadance started to move along with Chrysalis, circling the chaangeling ruler at the same time the changeling circled her, neither ruler backing down in the slightest. Both their horns sputtered and sparked as they ground against each other, illuminating the two in a mixture of pink and green light as they both started to sing at the same time, each of them trying to drown out the other.

"Believe of me what you will,"
"Your viewpoint can never change."

"There is a duty rulers are sworn to do."
"My viewpoint can never change."

"You are causing empty strife."
"No,"

"Your rule of Canterlot hangs by a thread."
"You think you're the only one?"

"You know nothing of this world."
"My duty's to my kin - you think you're right?"

"You're going to see all your changelings dead,"
"Your kind treats oddities to be shunned."

"But not before you tear the entire world down."
"Now the wheel has turned around,
All your power is nothing now."

"You talk of duty but you're not aware,"
"Dare you talk to me of pain,"

"For all your work, you're grasping air."
"And the price there is to pay."

"The power you seek is for your own set."
"My very birth was seen as a sin."

"You're placed over your sons."
"But I live because I chose my way!"

"I am warning you as a mare."
"You know nothing of me as a mare."

"How do you think you're going to fare?"
"Your precious peace has made you frail."

"If you have the will to hear,"
"I was seen as scum by those like you."

"You must do what must be done!"
"I lived off of gutter food! "

"ENOUGH!"

The large entranceway doors swung open with a resounding crash and a small changeling with clear, intelligent eyes leapt in between the Queen and the Princess. "My Queen, calm yourself!" the newcomer cried as she forced Chrysalis back. "You're acting like a foal!"

A maelstrom of uncontained emotion whirled inside Chrysalis as she looked down at the smaller changeling. She blinked, her eyelids falling down like shutters over the windows of her soul and the majority of the maelstrom was pushed back deep within her. "I... Thank you, Fallen Roses. What are you doing here?"

"The Element of Kindness has awoken," Fallen Roses reported. She gestured at the open doorway just as Fluttershy poked her head in. "You wanted to see her straight away."

Chrysalis's angry frown completely revered itself as she saw the shaking pegasus. To her mind, the mare exemplified everything that was wrong with the ponies' way of life. Chrysalis intended to take out each and every little bit of frustration she had in tormenting the frail caretaker. She strode right past Cadance without giving the Princess a second look and moved towards Fluttershy in a manner akin to a spider moving towards a butterfly trapped in its web.

Fluttershy tried to turn and run, seeing the Queen coming for her with a large predatory smirk, but it was too late for her. Something heavy struck her from behind, throwing her bodily into the throne room and snuffing her faint hopes of escape.

Chrysalis bared her fangs at the pony lying at her hooves in something that could very generously be called a smile. "One of the Elements of Harmony here, at my mercy. So much trouble, for such a pitiful thing. I very nearly couldn't save my children, all because of you and your friend, Twilight Sparkle." Her neck bent down and her cold voice whispered into Fluttershy's ears. "I wonder; when they arrive, will they be able to recognize you after what I'm going to do to you."

"Don't you hurt her!" Cadance yelled, her chains strained to their limits as she fought to try and get to Chrysalis. She grunted and strained as a faint flicked enwrapped her horn for a few second before vanishing completely. No matter how she tried, the glow wouldn't return. It was no good; she had been drained far too much.

Chrysalis gave her a disparaging look. "Just stay there and stay quiet. You can watch what I'm about to do to your husband's sister's friend, knowing there's nothing you can do about it." Calmly, confidently, she swung her head back towards Fluttershy and received something she could never have expected.

Over her years as a caretaker of animals, Fluttershy had dealt with many fearsome beasts, including the formidable Manticore, the ravenous Vampiric Jackalope, the mystical Ursa, savage Timberwolves, and the terrifying Jackalope. Her time spent with these beasts had given her an almost sixth sense regarding the most fearsome animals known to ponykind, and an unmatched ability to read them and understand their feelings. To her, Chrysalis's emotions, brought to the fore by the Princess of Love, might have well been an open book. She didn't understand what Chrysalis was feeling; all she knew was that the monster in front of her was hurt in some way and she had no idea what to do. Chrysalis was enough like a pony that she was almost outside of Fluttershy's field of expertise.

Fluttershy wanted to help Chrysalis. At that moment, to her, nothing else mattered. She didn't see what everypony else saw. She didn't see a terrible monster that intended to cause pain and suffering to her and all her friends. In her eyes, she only saw something that needed help. She wanted to help her, but she had no idea what to do. She wanted to do make the dark Queen smile, and in her desire to so, she reached for the experiences of a close friend of hers, one who knew better than anypony else how to bring a smile to a face.

She thought to herself, what would Pinkie do?

Boop.

Chrysalis stared at Fluttershy in shocked disbelief. Her hoof slowly moved up to rub at her nose, which had just felt the presence of the pegasus' own petite hoof. "Did... did you just boop me?"

"Um... yes, sorry." Her moment passed, all of Fluttershy's fear and crushing self-doubt rushed to the fore. "I just wanted to help you..."

"Uh oh," Fallen Roses muttered inaudibly. While no one was paying attention, the changeling slunk over to Cadance's chains and started to work on the solid iron.

"Help? Me?" Chrysalis repeated. "You wanted to help me? You wanted to HELP ME!?" She roared like an erupting volcano, with enough force to shake the mighty chandelier hanging suspended from the ceiling high above them. "I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP! I DON'T NEED ANYONE'S HELP!! I'VE DONE THIS ON MY OWN! ME! I TOOK OVER CANTERLOT WITH NOTHING BUT MY OWN WILL, AND I WILL DO THE SAME TO ANYONE WHO TRIES TO CHALLENGE ME! DO YOU HEAR ME?"

Poor Fluttershy was curled up into too tight of a ball to answer. That's right, a surprisingly sarcastic part of her mind considering the circumstances thought. Pinkie would cause an international incident.

There was a snapping of metal as Cadance's chains broke free. "Well, you saw the Element of Kindness, sonowIguessit'stimeforustogo." Fallen Roses dashed past Chrysalis, barely stopping to scoop up Fluttershy before sprinting for the doors, Cadance following after her. "Gogogogogogogogogo." The trio sprinted out the open doors before the heavy iron portals swung shut with a final thud.

Chrysalis panted for air in the empty throne room; even her guards had sprinted out rather than remain and face her rage. "Deep breaths, deep breaths." She forced herself to calm down. "Can't lose control. Gotta keep it together. Must remain calm. They're all watching; everyone's watching. To lose yourself to your emotions is to lose yourself. That's what she- Hmm?" She was distracted from her musings by a tiny meow from behind the ornate throne at the back of the room. A tiny pink nose poked out from behind the oversized chair, and Chrysalis took a moment to consider the diminutive feline.

It was a tiny thing, and one of her changelings had found it wandering the streets and had brought it to her. Chrysalis had originally taken it in on a moment of inspiration; should the Element of Kindness prove to be intractable, Chrysalis had fully intended to kill the little ball of fuzz in front of her. If there was one trait these ponies shared, it was that they couldn't bear to see something innocent hurt in front of them. That was such a usable trait.

Well, that idea was now a wash. Chrysalis lay on the steps to the throne so that she was looking at the kitten as the kitten was looking at her. The kitten stared at her with its large, curious, and above all, trusting eyes. It was still scared, but it wasn't running from her anymore. Chrysalis reached out her hoof towards the kitten, which only watched as the black object that outmassed its body many times over approached. When the hoof got close enough, a small rough tongue lashed out, licking at the tip of Chrysalis's hoof. Chrysalis laughed at the ticklish sensations, a light girlish giggle, and, unconcerned if there was anybody watching, gently poked the kitten's nose.

"Boop."

Author's Note

The song's to the tune of Confrontation from Les Miserables.

Words with a Shackled Prince

For as long as we can remember, changelings have always been nomadic. We infiltrate a country for a generation or two, then leave without leaving a trace. Apparently, this is a tradition passed down from the First Queen, and has prevented the world from learning about our existence until recently. If a changeling is nearly discovered, then the entire hive will leave the nation immediately and set down somewhere else. For hundreds of years, this manner of lifestyle worked perfectly. We were legends at best and no one truly believed we existed. And then, one night, it all went wrong.

The hive was nearly discovered, and just like always, we all fled. But there was a mistake somewhere down the line. No one's really sure exactly what happened, but we know the end result; one of the unhatched changelings was left behind along with her host, a young zebra foal. Left alone and uncared for, the unfortunate host quickly withered away and the infant changeling, who had unknowingly committed murder, would have joined her victim in death if it hadn't been for a pair of zebras. The zebras had been searching for the foal but, unfortunately, they were too late. When they found the pod, they attempted to free the host trapped within and accidently ended up releasing the young changeling instead.

As I'm sure you've guessed by now, the young changeling was, of course, Chrysalis.

Chrysalis escaped, barely able to walk and running on nothing but instinct. Her innate ability to read her pursuers' emotions allowed her to avoid them and eventually escape into the wild. That was how her life started; lost, alone, and without anyone there for her. Can you even imagine it?

After that, she started to travel. Not like she had a choice though, right? Hahaha... ha. I'm sorry, that was in poor taste. Without a home, a family, or anything else to call her own, every day was simply a struggle to survive. She traveled across the world, constantly seeking a place to live; somewhere to call home.

During her travels, she saw many cultures, visited many countries, but there was one that truly stood out to her far more than any of the others; the peaceful land of Equestria. In the land of ponies, Chrysalis saw a land of light ruled by the immortal sun Princess; overflowing with love and happiness. In this country, she saw the very life that had been denied to her.

And she wanted it for herself.

Young and powerless as she was, she was unable to do anything and, stymied, she eventually continued on her travels. For several years more, she continued to travel until, at long last, she finally found the hive. Her nature as a changeling happened to be discovered by an operative in the field and he finally brought her to the hive. After over a decade of searching, the lost child had finally managed to find her way home.

But her tale doesn't end there. Chrysalis's determination, drive, and sheer strength of character quickly drew the attention of the Queen. Because of these traits, and because Chrysalis knew more of the outside world than any changeling alive, she quickly became one of the two candidates for the throne. She spoke openly of stepping into the light; of abandoning the darkness that had hid the changelings for so long and of claiming a place in the world for ourselves. We would no longer scuttle about in the shadows like mere cockroaches; we would walk openly before the world, standing tall and strong with our pride clear for all to see.

And if the world refused to accept us, then we would simply carve out a nation's 'heart' and take it for our own.

"And that is Chrysalis's story, or at least what she told us. I admit it's the abridged version, but I believe you get the point."

Loud hooffalls echoed throughout the marble hallway. Princess Cadance and Fluttershy walked beside each other, flanked by a pair of blue-eyed changeling guards. Fallen Roses walked in front of them, not meeting their eyes as she finished telling her story.

"In the end, I, too, started to believe in what she was saying. When I, as the only other candidate, started to support her, there was nothing stopping her from becoming Queen." A deep sigh escaped from Fallen Roses, as the feminine changeling turned to the two ponies. "So if you're going to blame anyone for what's happened to your country, you should blame me." Anything more she wanted to say was interrupted by a loud crack of keratin hitting chitin as a pink hoof struck her hard in the cheek.

"Princess!" Fluttershy cried in surprise.

Cadance panted heavily for breath, her upraised hoof remaining pressed just underneath Fallen Roses's eye. "You understand what you're saying, right?" She removed her slightly tender hoof from the changeling's face. "You realize what this means?"

"Yes..." Fallen Roses lifted her hoof up to cheek and felt where the Princess had struck her. The holed hoof traced a new crack that had formed in her chitin, her carapace having cracked underneath the force of Cadance's blow. "I'm aware. And I know I have no right to ask anything of you, but please, won't you hear my request?"

"You cannot be serious," Cadance growled out. Only the fact that she had been raised better than that prevented her from spitting. "You're claiming responsibility for all this, and you want me to listen to you? Why don't you just get out?! All of your kind should just wither and die!"

"Cadance!" The sudden sharp voice caused Cadance to start in surprise, her limp chains jingling freely, and she turned disbelieving eyes on the pegasus beside her. "Can't you hear how much pain she's in?" Fluttershy scolded. "Just listen to her, and believe what she says."

"You've got to be kidding. You are kidding, right?" Cadance shook her head in disbelief. Her limp mane, left unwashed ever since she had been captured, flopped dully in front of her face. "It's Fluttershy, right? Fluttershy, she's a changeling. Their kind lives on lies and deceit. We can't trust anything they say. And even if we can, so what? So what if life has been hard on them? You think that just because they’ve been through a few rough times, that gives them the right to hurt others as they please?"

"And why can’t we trust them?" Fluttershy huffed. "What's wrong with believing somepony once in a while? I'm sure if we just tried to understand them a little bit, we'd see that they're not monsters. All we have to do is show a little kindness."

Several seconds passed in an awkward silence before Cadance turned away from Fluttershy. "No. I'm done. If we show them even the slightest amount of kindness, they'll take advantage of us for all we're worth. Fluttershy, I hate to say it, but I think you may be too kind to deal with them."

"And what's wrong with that?" Fluttershy quickly circled around Cadance so that she was once again standing in front of the Princess. "At least I'm staying true to my Element. What about you? What happened to that love you're supposed to be so big on?" She blinked and the fire just faded from her eyes, as she seemed to abruptly realize that she was scolding a Princess. "Oh, that is, I mean..." she stammered out before dropping to the ground. "OhpleaseI'msorryIdidn'tmeanit. Pleasedon'thatemeorthrowmeinthedungeon."

Cadance bequeathed a kind smile on the shuddering pegasus before bending down to offer her a quick embrace. "Oh Fluttershy, I could never hate one of Twilight's friends." She released the smaller pony and turned to look at the still-bowing changeling; her expression turning from gentle and soft to hard and firm in the blink of an eye. "As for you..." she growled out before seeming to calm herself. "But she's right. If there's one thing I know, it's love. So if you want me to hear you out, then love is what I need."

Fallen Roses gave the Princess an uncertain look. "So...?" she started, not certain what the alicorn was getting at.

Cadance rolled her eyes. "I'm saying take me to my husband. If you want me to listen to anything you have to say, then I wish to speak with him. I won't listen to you otherwise."

Time passes slowly without anything to track it. Left alone in the darkness without even the slightest hint of light, Shining Armor, Prince of the Crystal Empire, was left without anything to do but think. Suspended from the ceiling by thick, heavy chains wrapped around his forelegs, even the simply opportunity to move about was denied him. At least the shackles didn't chafe. That was about the only good thing he had to say about his situation. As the former captain of the Guard, he had always thought the prisoners should be treated with a modicum of respect and dignity, and always made certain that every cell was clean and in good working order.

He never thought that one day, he would be the one using the cells.

Other than the occasional changeling bringing him food and water, nothing ever broke the monotony of each passing hour. Nothing, that is, with one single exception. Shining Armor raised an eyebrow at the large changeling standing a silent vigil just outside his cell. The changeling hadn't said anything when he appeared, and hadn't said anything since. He just stood there, quietly, his intelligent eyes constantly roving across Shining's body as if he was hoping to find the answer to a great mystery there.

"Something I can help you with?" Shining asked, after at least an hour had passed and the changeling still hadn't moved. The changeling didn't respond and Shining shrugged as best he could with his limbs restrained. "Outstanding. Not the talkative type, are you? I'm the same, you know. A guard's got to know when to be quiet. When we're on duty, we have to be seen, but not heard. Heck, even when we're seen, we're not supposed to be much more than furniture. Unless there's a call to action, and then we're supposed to scramble to fix whatever might be broken. And even with that, I still have no idea what I'm going to do for a replacement. Not one of them's got the right stuff necessary to be captain." And he continued to babble on, either cheerfully oblivious to how much he was giving the lie to what he said about not being a talkative pony or doing deliberately to provoke a reaction.

"Quiet."

Shining abruptly changed tacks at the voice, which sounded like the distant rumble of an avalanche overlain with that distinct buzz that all changelings seemed to share. "My my, so you do talk after all. Colour me surprised. Well, I mean my colour's white, and then there’s some blue, and..."

There was a sigh like thunder and the changeling pressed a hoof against the side of his head while squeezing his eyes shut. "Do you ever shut up? It's almost as bad as listening to that foolish Last Breath."

"Nothing else to do," Shining admitted with another restrained shrug. "I mean, I'd like get out of here and beat the lot of you black and blue, then drag you in front of the Princesses and let her determine your fate." He looked the changeling over. "Or maybe just blue. You've got the black part down already."

Another sigh was followed by a groan as the changeling moved his hoof from his temple to between his eyes. "I came down here to answer one simple question and all I get is a headache. Tell me, Shining Armor, what is your sister?"

"Twily?" The strength of the chains was abruptly put to the test as Shining lunged at the changeling. "If you've done anything to hurt a hair on her body, I'll-"

"I'm not interested," the changeling interrupted bluntly. "There's nothing you can do, no matter what I did."

The chains creaked and groaned as Shining's thick muscles bulged and strain, his veins standing out in stark relief even through his coat. "What did you do to my sister, you bastard?"

The changeling scoffed as he turned away. "I'm not getting an answer here," he said dismissively before starting to walk away, his long stride quickly threatening to carrying him out of Shining's sight.

"Where do you think you're going?" Shining tried to cast a spell to stop the changeling but was stopped by a sharp pain in his horn, caused by the anti-magic ring on his horn that all unicorn prisoners were forced to wear. "What in the name of Tarterus have you done to her, you freak?!" The changeling froze at the insult, his hooves scraping against the ground as he turned around, every movement sharp and controlled before he once again stood before the cell. Shining smirked, "Not so stoic after all, are you, you freakish monster?"

"You want to know what I did to your sister?" the changeling sneered. His hoof slammed against the cell door with enough force to rattle the iron bars. "You want to know what happened? I fought her. And I nearly killed her."

Cracks started to form in the stone wall that anchored Shining's chains. "You... you..." He sputtered, unable to even form a simple sentence, hate and brotherly rage completely filling him.

Undeterred, the changeling continued. "The Queen wants to keep the Bearers alive for whatever reason, but I disagree. I think every single one of them should be killed, so we can be certain they will not be a threat. And if your sister's magic hadn't suddenly shifted, I would have taken the opportunity and killed her then and there."

"I'm going to destroy you," Shining swore. His voice was low, serious. it wasn't a threat; it was a promise.

"Chained up as you are? I sincerely doubt it." The changeling gave Shining a cruel smirk, one that promised pain in his future. "But thank you for helping me answer my question. I was wondering if I should tell my Queen exactly what happened, and that Twilight Sparkle is too much of a threat to be allowed to live. And you know what? I think I will." His smirk widened as he turned away. "And your sister will die for it. So let that thought keep you warm as you rot away in your cell."

"Wait!" Shining screamed as the changeling left. "Wait, you freakish bastard!" But this time, the changeling refused to stop, and he was quickly out of sight. Shining went limp the second the changeling disappeared, and would have collapsed on the cell floor if the chains hadn't been holding him up. "No... Twily..." he muttered softly. "I promised I'd protect you... Please... forgive your older brother for being too weak..."

He was more grateful than words can describe that nobody was present to see him cry.

"Shining!" A heavy mass landed on his chest, and he felt a warm weight wrap around his body and hold him tight. His vision cleared enough to see something pink pressing against him, and it took him a moment to figure out what it was.

"Cadance...?"

"Hush, baby," his wife said gently before she released him and flew up to his forelegs. "Just let me take care of these chains, alright?" There was a loud chink as the shackles sprung open and he was dropped unceremoniously to the ground. Before he could so much as figure out which way was up, let alone attempt standing, he was buried by a wave of pink.

Still confused, his legs moved on their own and wrapped around his wife, hugging her tight against him. He wasn't sure what had happened, why she had suddenly appeared, or how she had managed to get past his guards. Heck, he wasn't even sure if it was really her and not just some changeling pretending to be her. But for the moment, at least, he was willing to believe it really was her. Even if it was only a lie, it was a lie he needed.

"Oh, Shining," Cadance sobbed. She clutched him tight, crying into his shoulder while her entire body shook. "I'm so happy to see that you're alright."

"Cadance, I..." Shining's hoof slowly rose to the back of Cadance's head. He stroked it through her mane, taking a moment to simply enjoy the feeling of her presence. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault. If I'd just been a little bit stronger, then-" He stopped as a dainty hoof pressed against his lips, cutting his apologies off.

"No, sweetie." Cadance looked him full in the face, her watering eyes a perfect match for his own. "You couldn't have done anything to stop this. It's not your fault, so don't be blaming yourself for it. We're together now; we can still fix it."

A small smile played on Shining's lips. "You were always the smart one." The smile vanished as his gaze slid down to the collar she had on her neck. "But what are you doing here? I thought that that oversized changeling was keeping you close to her?"

"Well, that's..." Her eyes awkwardly slid away from him, and he noticed for the first time the pair of individuals that had entered his cage behind her. The first was a pegasus that he recognized as being one of his sister's friends; he was pretty sure her name was Fluttershy. She was shivering slightly and was biting her lower lip. Shining didn't think she was going to say anything any time soon. The second was even more of a surprise; an untransformed changeling stared at him. Even as he watched, the changeling's tongue licked at the air before retracting back into its mouth. "What?" he asked her.

"Your love is most delicious," it said with a lilting, feminine voice. "It's very... pure. Yes, that's the word. You must care for each other very much."

"Uh huh... Cadance, who is this?"

Cadance rubbed the tears out her eyes before turning her head back to look at the changeling standing behind her. "Oh, this is Fallen Roses. She's the one who brought me here to you. Don't worry, Shining, we're going to get you out of this."

"Easy there, Princess," Fallen Roses interrupted with an upraised hoof. "Don't misrepresent me; I'm not on your side and I can't allow the Prince to leave his cell. Once we're done here, you and Fluttershy are going to return to your rooms nice and quietly."

Cadance let out a gasp of dismay. "What? But-?"

"You wanted to see your husband, and I let you. That was the deal." Fallen Roses gave the married couple an apologetic look. "For what it's worth, I am sorry."

"No. No!" Cadance grabbed Shining Armor tighter, holding him against her like an oversized teddy bear. "I won't accept it! Not after I haven't seen him this long, you're not splitting us apart so soon! I won't allow it!"

Fallen Roses sighed. "Look, I have my orders, and I have to follow them. I was never told I couldn't bring you down here, but the Queen will probably still scold me if she finds out. That said, if you try to escape, I will have to stop you. So don't bother trying to remove those anti-magic rings on your horns; I can have guards down here long before you manage to take them off."

"But-!" Cadance looked up at Shining Armor desperately. "But-!"

Shining sighed, and he gave his wife a brave smile as he rubbed reassuringly at the back of her neck. "It's alright, don't worry about me. I'll be fine, and we will me again. I promise you that." Cadance leaned against his chest, and he held her tightly as he looked up at the changeling. "By the way, what was that deal you spoke of earlier? In exchange for bringing them down here, I mean."

"Mmm." The changeling tilted her neck back and stared at the ceiling for several seconds as she appeared to get her thoughts in order. "This is a bit awkward for me to ask, but I need your help."

An upraised eyebrow was Shining's immediate reaction, followed by a disbelieving laugh. "Our help? What possible help could you hope for from three of your Queen's prisoners?"

Fallen Roses flinched. It was slight, almost unnoticeable, but Shining Armor's trained eyes caught on it instantly. "I..." The changeling took in a deep breath, obviously fortifying herself for whatever wild demand she was about to make. "I want you to save the Queen!"

Three sceptical sets of eyes stared back at her. "The Queen," Shining Armor repeated eventually, not sure if he had heard her correctly.

"That's right." Fallen Roses nodded.

"Your Queen."

"Yes." Nod.

"The one who's holding us captive."

Uncertain nod.

Shining Armor sighed as he leaned back against the wall of his cell. The hoof that wasn't holding his wife found its way to his face. "Alright, if we agree to this nonsense - and I'm not saying we are - but if we agree to this, what would we be protecting the Queen from?"

Fallen Roses gave him a determined look. Her gaze was firm and true, lacking any hint of lies or misdirection. What she said, she clearly meant it with all her heart. "Herself."

There was silence in the room as the three ponies present tried to process the bizarre request. The silence was broken by a sharp, almost bitter laugh. "What's this?" Cadance choked out past unkind laughter. "Even her own subjects knows what a terrible ruler she is!"

"No!" Fallen Roses protested with a slow shake of her head. "That's not it at all. If that were all it was, maybe this would be easier." She gave a sad sigh, filled with sorrow and uncertainty.

"I'm sorry for interrupting, but why are you asking us to do this?" Fluttershy said in a voice that would have passed unheard if there hadn't been a lull in the conversation following Fallen Roses' sigh. "Aren't you betraying your Queen?"

The changeling gave Fluttershy a tiny, yet kind, smile "It might be difficult for ponies to understand, but this is part of our loyalty. We're not mindless drones, we're not slaves, and we're not extensions of the Queen. We are individuals, with our own minds and our own will. If we think that the Queen is making a mistake, it's our duty to stop her."

Cadance frowned as she leaned back against Shining's chest. She wrapped his forelegs around her barrel before letting her own forelegs rest against them. "Sorry, but I can't understand that. The ruler has a duty to lead their subjects. If the subjects are constantly watching their leader for mistakes, how can they possibly respect the individual wearing the crown?"

"And if the subjects think that the one wearing the crown is making a mistake, should they just ignore it?" Fallen Roses shot back. Her body went stiff and straight, and her voice increased in volume with every word she said. "If you thought that Princess Celestia was doing something she shouldn't, would you just let it slide without saying anything? Would you really just cover your head and hope for the best? Is that your answer? Would you cower hopelessly, even as everything was destroyed around you?"

"Princess Celestia would never do that!" Cadance shouted angrily.

"Really?" Fallen Roses said with a mocking lilt to her voice. "This the same Princess Celestia that failed to notice as her sister became Nightmare Moon? You'll have to forgive me if I don't believe the tales of her perfection."

"Why, you-"

"Now, now," Shining interceded, quickly trying to diffuse the growing situation between the two females. "Let's all just calm down; we're getting off track."

"I-I'm sorry," Fluttershy muttered. "It's because of my question..."

"No, it was a good question." With a flick of her limp diaphanous tail, Fallen Roses leaned against the cell bars. She stared past where Shining Armor and Princess Cadance sat, her unfocused gaze locked on the unremarkable stone wall behind them. "In any case, the reason I'm asking for your help is because of my loyalty to Queen Chrysalis. Never forget that."

Shining nodded at her. "Noted. But then, if you're not on our side, why should we help you? What's in it for us if you are not going to help us?"

"I never said I wasn't going to help you," Fallen Roses said with a quiet, almost dreamlike quality to her voice. "I may not be able to release you, but there is something I can do..."

"No."

"Oh, come on, Shining," Cadance said. "I know where you're coming from, but I don't think we're going to get any better options than this."

Shining Armor crossed his forelegs and frowned at all three of the females present. "I said no and I meant no. No way."

Cadance groaned at her husband's stubbornness. "You're being overprotective. She's a grown mare now; she can handle it."

"And you're being too easygoing. How can you even ask me to do this? To just leave everything in Twily's hooves and just hope for the best? You were her foalsitter, Cadance; I thought you'd understand."

Cadance's eyes slid closed and she leaned her head into the hollow space under Shining Armor's throat. "It's because I was her foalsitter that I can see what a strong mare that filly I used to take care of has become. She'll take on any challenge that faces her and overcome it with a smile." She gestured at the yellow pegasus in the corner. "Fluttershy believes in her; why can't you?"

"Because I'm her big brother!" Shining Armor cried, almost shouting in frustration. "I'm supposed to be there for her! I'm supposed to protect her! If I can't even do that, why did I even bother spending so much time training for the royal guard!?"

"To protect everypony, not just her," Cadance answered. "You swore an oath to protect the nation, and you've always given everything you've had to uphold that oath. It was that drive of yours that made me fall for you in the first place. Twilight might not be a guard, but she is undeniably your sister; she has the same drive that you do, and holds much of the same values. We can trust her. She's not just the best pony to handle this; she's the only pony able to handle this."

"I..." A deep sigh flew from between Shining's lips and he rested his chin on the top of Cadance's head. "I hope you're right."

Fallen Roses perked up, her eyes shining hopefully. "So does that mean you accept?"

Shining looked down and Cadance tilted her head up to stare into his eyes. Her eyes, so filled with love for him, reassured him and filled him with hope. There was still a dark pit of bubbling emotions brewing inside him, and he desperately wanted to find somewhere to throw up, but the sight of those eyes were enough to quash his feelings of self-loathing and failure, even if only a little bit. "Yeah," he said. "We accept. We'll play the model prisoners for your Queen, and in exchange..."

"You had better hold your end of the deal," Cadance said, finishing Shining's sentence. "When Twilight arrives at Canterlot, you will make sure she makes it to the castle."

"Then we are in agreement," Fallen Roses said, bowing to the couple. "Thank you."

The time passed quickly after that. Far too quickly for the young married couple. Eventually, Fallen Roses took Fluttershy and Cadance back to their rooms, leaving Shining alone in his dank, dark cell. The deal that had been proposed was accepted. The ponies would make no moves to escape and do nothing that might cause stress to the changeling Queen. Whether intentional or not, that feeling somehow managed to spread throughout the entire city, filling the inhabitants with mixed feelings of hope and anticipation.

Regardless of if they were aware of it or not, everypony was waiting for the appearance of the Element of Magic. The entire city held its breath, and through some sort of magic, an unspoken thought reached the mind of every stallion, mare, and foal.

Regardless of the outcome, Twilight Sparkle's arrival was going to change everything.

Words Conclusion: Words with a Piece

Twilight ran a hoof through her mane, flattening a few stray strands and trying to bring it back into a semblance of order. Shortly after her conversation with the changeling, she had had him retake Fluttershy's form and they rejoined her friends. She felt bad lying to everypony like this - in her heart, she knew she was betraying them - but she just couldn't bring herself to tell them. How can you tell somepony that their friend has been stolen away, replaced, and that there's nothing that can be done to help them? No, it was far better to let them keep thinking nothing was wrong. They'd be happier this way.

At least, that's what she kept telling herself.

Her body plodded along the dirt path, the monotonous action freeing up her mind to wander and her eyes to watch over her friends ahead of her. They were all chatting happily, apparently without a care in the world, but Twilight's discerning eyes were able to see the growing weariness and traces of exhaustion on all of them. Applejack was doing much better now, having managed to recover enough to walk with support instead of needing to be carried about like a sack of potatoes. She chatted amicably with Pinkie, the two earth ponies swapping stories of their families while Rainbow Dash occasionally joined in with a sarcastic comment or quip. Dash was acting tough, but her front was starting to break down. Pinkie was just a little too loud; her laughs just a little too forced. Behind the trio, Rarity fussed over the changeling with Fluttershy's appearance. Apparently, almost losing Fluttershy had awoken some protective instincts in Rarity, to the point that Twilight was actually worried about what would happen if she ever discovered the deception.

A sad sigh blew through Twilight's nose as she looked down at the dirt. No. There was no way she could tell them the truth. Worse, she couldn't trust the changeling. She liked him, much to her surprise - she hadn't thought she would ever think of one of those bug-ponies with anything other than hatred - but she knew she couldn't trust him. He had told her so himself. If his Queen ordered him to do something, he would do it. He might not like his orders, but he couldn't refuse them. He just loved Chrysalis too much.

"You appear to be deep in thought," a rhythmic voice rang out beside her. "Tell me, what has you most distraught?"

Twilight shifted her gaze to Zecora before looking ahead again, her eyes blankly locked on nothing. "I'm confused," she admitted. "Ever since I've moved to Ponyville, I've met and fought several powerful foes. Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra, and even Trixie when she was controlled by the Alicorn Amulet. Every one of them was incredibly powerful, and each of them wanted to bring ruin to everything I know and love. " She inhaled sharply. "But at the end of the day, every one of them followed the same simple pattern. I meet them, my friends and I fight and defeat them, and then we all go home. Simple."

Zecora looked from Twilight to where the creature with Fluttershy's appearance was walking ahead of them. "And yet a nagging voice does continue to ring. You can't stop thinking about the changeling."

Twilight lowered her head. "Yeah," she admitted quietly. "A race that needs to feed on us to live, on the verge of extinction because of my own actions? How am I supposed to deal with that? I was happier when I could just think of the changelings as mindless monsters. We were good, and they were evil. Simple black and white. Grey?" She shook her head and sighed heavily. "I don't know what to do with grey."

"Seeking an answer that is right has kept many a pony awake at night." A sly smirk spread on her lip and she gestured at the stripes covering her body. "But if black and white is what you seek, then look no farther than a zebra's mystique."

Despite herself, Twilight snorted at the corny joke. "That's terrible," she laughed. "It's not funny, I shouldn't be laughing. Why can't I stop laughing?"

"Stress and tension can destroy even the greats," Zecora said calmly as Twilight continued to giggle. "You should take care lest your thoughts drag you down like weights."

"Yeah, you're right," Twilight said as she finally managed to get her giggling under control. She straightened her back and shrugged her shoulders, feeling like she was shrugging off a heavy burden at the same time. "I can't make a decision like this. I need to know more about the Queen herself before I can decide what I'll do. Hopefully, she'll be willing to talk."

"You mean the Queen named Chrysalis?" Zecora asked with an upraised eyebrow. "From what I heard, it sounds like she is known for her strength and viciousness."

A strange disdainful noise escaped from Twilight before she could stop it. "Yeah, you're probably right. Even when we met, she didn't seem like the reasonable type. Wait..." She hesitated and glanced at Zecora as something occurred to her. "What have you heard about her?"

Zecora's response was a casual shrug. "Simply what you and the changeling talked about. I remained close and listened in case you were to cry out."

"You were spying on us?" Twilight asked in surprise, slightly recoiling away from Zecora.

"Not spying, just prepared to do what I must." Zecora's earrings swung back and forth as she shook her head. "I would not leave you with one I did not completely trust."

"I..." Twilight hesitated. "I want to trust him. I do, it's just..." She went quiet before tailing off completely.

"It's just that choices can be hard when you have to live with every consequence. You can never know what you'll do with any degree of confidence. Decisions with lives on the line are hardest of all. You might do anything to help them, no matter how big or small."

Twilight was silent for several long second. She licked her dry lips, looked to make sure none of the others were close enough to hear, and turned her head so she was looking Zecora square in the eye. When she spoke, her voice was quiet and without accusation. "Is that why you're helping Discord?"

Zecora's eyes widened imperceptibly before closing completely. A tiny laugh escaped her. "What makes you say that?" she asked, her eyes remaining tightly shut.

Twilight swallowed. She had hoped that her logic was wrong, but Zecora wasn't even trying to deny it. Not only that, but she had come to realize that whenever Zecora's rhyming slipped, that was a clear sign the zebra was feeling stressed. "Discord told me that he had one piece in play. Only one. The simple fact is you continuously know far more than you should. You knew that Fluttershy had been replaced by a changeling. You knew about the magic that Discord had forced into my body. Hay, the entire reason we met that human in the first place was because you just happened to invite Pinkie to come over to your place and she met him on the trail! That's far too many coincidences to be coincidence!"

"I see." Zecora's eyes opened and she stared into Twilight's own. Her voice was calm, cool, collected, and not defensive in the slightest. If anything, it was actually supportive, encouraging Twilight to continue. "An interesting conclusion. But surely that's not enough. You wouldn't accuse me with something so flimsy. You must have more."

Twilight looked down, unable to meet Zecora's strong gaze. "There is more. You're here." She looked at Zecora, and her voice gained in confidence as she spoke. "For whatever reason, Discord wants to keep us alive. I don't know why, and intend to find out, but that's the reality of it. He wouldn't leave us alone and unprotected without somepony watching over us. None of my friends would have helped him, so that only leaves you." She started to stutter as the words she just said reached her own ears. "I mean, that's not... it's not like... I'm not saying you're not my friend, I just... that is..." She stopped and shyly looked at Zecora. "You are still my friend... right?"

Zecora gave Twilight a reassuring smile. "If you'll still have me after hearing what I have to say, than I would be honoured to be your friend."

"Thank you, Zecora." To her surprise, she wasn't angry or upset. When the idea had first occurred to her, she had thought confronting Zecora would be worse. Maybe it was because, despite everything, she still trusted the zebra. Maybe that was all it took. "You told me a while ago that you'd tell me more when the time was right. What can you tell me now?"

"Everything I know. Would you rather hear about Discord's plan or how he brought me into it first?"

Twilight watched a leaf detach from a nearby branch and slowly flutter down to the ground. "Tell me what Discord's plan was. I feel like your reasons will make more sense after that."

"Very well." Zecora stared up at the bright blue sky high above them. "I first heard from him several weeks ago. I was performing a routine ritual when his presence touched my magic. Once he made contact, we spoke for a while."

Twilight looked at Zecora in surprise. "You trusted him?"

Zecora snorted, a surprising noise from the normally composed mare. "By the Spirits, no. I knew who he was, and I took every precaution I could to keep him out. I used every trick I knew, but he knew how to counter each and every one."

"Discord did say that he had taught the zebras magic," Twilight mused.

Zecora nodded. "He told me as much. That was why he was even able to contact me in the first place, since I use the same type of magic as he does. Once he broke through all my defenses, he started talking. He told me that he was planning something with you, and that my purpose throughout all of it would be to keep you and your friends safe."

"You accepted."

"Of course I did." Zecora conceded. "It was either that, or leave you without protection of any sort. Even without what he used to bribe me, that was no way I could reasonably refuse."

"What did he bribe you wi-?" Twilight cut herself off with a shake of her head. "Actually, never mind. We'll come back to that. Please, keep telling me about Discord."

"As you wish. Discord wasn't forthcoming with details, but I eventually managed to ferret out that he had made a deal with a dark being of great and malevolent power. Considering the events that followed, I believe he was either talking about Nightmare Moon or some other dark spirit that holds a relationship to Princess Luna's darker half."

A shiver made its way up Twilight's spine at the mention of that name. "So they really are working together. That's... terrifying."

"Were," Zecora clarified. Twilight gave her a sidelong look as Zecora continued her explanation. "From what I understand, this deal gave Discord enough strength to reach past his seal and thousands of years into the past, in order to bring one individual into the present. However, it seems Discord betrayed his ally somehow. "

"But why? Why would he want to bring a human here?" Twilight chewed on the inside of her cheek for several moments. "I just can't understand that." She blinked. "Hang on, one? I thought there were two?"

"I... don't know. I can only make assumptions," Zecora said hesitatingly. "He implied that he did not have enough power to bring two individuals here. As for his reasons, I believe it has to do with the Elements of Harmony. You know how they were created?"

" Princess Luna told me about it. She said that Princess Celestia and herself created them in order to defeat the Windigoes, but it was unneeded since the Windigoes were beaten before the Elements could be used. Come to think on it, she acted like it was an unpleasant memory, but she never explained why."

"I cannot even presume to guess what would make an immortal uncomfortable," Zecora admitted. "However, that is not important to our discussion. What is important is that the creation of the Elements affected the world's natural magical balance. They are literally the embodiments of Harmony. Simply living in a time at or since their creation would have deeply affected every being alive."

"I think I understand. You think the humans are important because they're from before the Elements were created. That's why they're important for whatever he wants. But why would he need to do this? Surely there must have been an easier way."

Zecora hesitated and her steps faltered. A pained expression appeared on her face and she looked away from Twilight. "The Elements are the most powerful magical artifacts in existence. Even dormant, they held the world in a careful, harmonious balance for a thousand years, ever since Celestia used them for the last time to banish her sister to the moon. What would happen if someone were disturb that balance?"

Twilight gasped. "That would completely destabilize the harmonious magic that holds everything together! So you're saying Discord intends to demolish this careful balance?"

Zecora slowly shook her head before looking at Twilight with her large, sad eyes. "No. The balance has already been destroyed. Discord is simply taking advantage of the opportunity presented to him."

"Who?" Twilight gasped. "Who would do something like-?"

"It was you," Zecora said plainly. "You and your friends. When you first claimed the Elements from their resting place in that ancient castle, you forever destroyed the careful balance that had held the darkness of the world in check. Did you never think it odd? For a thousand years, Equestria had been an untainted paradise, filled with happiness and joy. Then, within the space of a few years, Nightmare Moon returned, Discord broke free, Queen Chrysalis attacked Canterlot, King Sombra reappeared along with the Crystal Empire, and an evil artifact controlled a small-time performer and nearly destroyed a small town. As you said, that's far too many coincidences to be coincidence."

"No," Twilight whispered. Her knees started to shake and she had to force herself to stay upright. "No, that's not right. Nightmare Moon returned before we used the Elements!"

"Hey Twilight!" Twilight looked up to see all her friends looking back at her with worried expressions. "You alright?" Rainbow shouted.

Twilight tried to give them the most reassuring smile she could. "Yeah, sorry. I'm fine. Just talking with Zecora about magical theory." They seemed to accept the lie and returned to their former conversations, while Twilight turned back to Zecora. "That can't be right," she whispered.

Zecora's mohawk appeared to list as the zebra's head dipped. "Nightmare Moon was the trigger. You needed to retrieve the Elements in order to defeat her, but it was that action that unsealed the darkness long held at bay. Ironic, is it not?"

"There's no way that could be right," Twilight hissed, starting to get angry. "There's no way Princess Celestia would have let the Elements remain connected to us if that would threaten Equestria!"

"And if she didn't know?" Zecora asked with a querying eyebrow. "Ever since she banished Nightmare Moon to the moon, Celestia hasn't paid as much attention to the Elements as she should have; probably because they reminded her too much of her sister. An understandable mistake, but a critical one."

A quiet growl reached Twilight's ears and it took her a few seconds to realize it was coming from her own throat. "And how do you know all this?" she accused.

Zecora shrugged, Twilight's anger sliding off her like water off a duck's back. "Discord told me most of it, the rest are simply my own assumptions. Remember, you asked for my thoughts on the matter."

Twilight took a deep breath and slowly released it. "Fine," she said after calming down. "So you think that Discord intends to take advantage of the weakening of Equestria's magical defences by using something from outside their reach. That's a bit much to swallow, but I'll accept it for now. But why would he do it? What's his goal?"

"I believe it has to do with you."

Twilight nearly fell face-first on the dirt path as her hoof caught on a rut in the dirt path and tripped her. "Me?" she sputtered out. "You mean all this, everything with the humans, and the changelings, and the Princesses disappearing, and everything else... You think it's all for my sake? Why?"

A twisted, apologetic smile spread on Zecora's lips. "You are Princess Celestia's prized student. Using the magic of friendship, you have defeated both Princess Celestia's corrupted sister as well as Discord himself. With your sister-in-law's assistance, you assisted in banishing the changelings and destroying the dark King Somba. Finally, with my help, you managed to free an innocent - if boastful - unicorn from an artifact of great evil and cruelty. Do not discount your own importance."

Twilight blushed at all the praise heaped on her head. "It wasn't just me," she demurred. "If my friends hadn't been there for me, I never would have managed any of that."

"And despite that, you did manage it. With the help of your friends, certainly, but do you think they could have accomplished any of that without you there? I, for one, do not."

Twilight groaned. "Fine, so all this is because of me. Great. Perfect. Just wonderful. That still doesn't explain what Discord wants."

Zecora shifted slightly, the glass vials and beakers in her saddlebags clinking as they shifted with her. "I believe he wishes to teach you something."

"That's it?" Twilight stared at Zecora in disbelief. "All this, everything that's happened, is just so he could teach me something? What in Equestria could possibly justify what he's done?"

"I don't know," Zecora admitted apologetically. "But I think it's important to him, not because of what he intends to teach you, but why. You are Princess Celestia's student. Her pride and joy, her crowning achievement. Discord wishes to take you, and twist you in his image. Not by using magic, or by controlling you, but by having you willingly take the steps that will lead you away from your teacher. He wants you to choose to leave Celestia behind and remake yourself in his image. Only in this way will he once and for all prove himself as Celestia's better."

"...I sincerely hope his reason isn't something as pathetic as that," Twilight said without emotion after a few seconds.

Zecora shrugged. "Who can understand the minds of immortals? To a soul that lives forever, holding on to what little you can is likely the difference between sanity and insanity."

"The Princesses aren't like that!" Twilight protested. Zecora just stared at her until she coughed awkwardly and backed down. "Well, Celestia isn't like that," she muttered belligerently. Nightmare Moon wasn't exactly the sort of thing one just brushed aside.

"Maybe," Zecora admitted easily. "But that's all I've got. Besides, I lived several years with a growing changeling in my house. I have obtained some experience at guessing intentions."

"Wait, you did what?"

"Discord's plan was simple."

Twilight gave Zecora an angry glare "No, go back a bit. What was that bit about a changeling in your house?"

"Once he brought the human into the Everfree, he had to make sure you and your friends were the first to find it," Zecora bulled on, pointedly ignoring the increasingly frustrated unicorn's question. "Just as you guessed, that was part of my role. I was to invite one of you to my abode at a time that would ensure you would encounter the human. "

"And you chose Pinkie," Twilight repeated tonelessly. "The same Pinkie that introduces herself to most ponies by firing a party cannon in their faces. That Pinkie?"

Zecora nodded, easily deflecting Twilight's blatant sarcasm."The same Pinkie who holds the Element of Laughter, and is the one most willing to make new friends. From what I heard, it sounded like it would have gone exactly as I had hoped had Nightmare not interfered."

"So what was the plan?"

"It's actually simpler than you might expect," Zecora admitted. "After you met the human, you were supposed to send a letter detailing exactly what he was. Once Princess Celestia realized that you had a human, she would wish to see him with her own eyes and would invite you to bring him to the castle."

"...And?" Twilight pressed.

Zecora shrugged. "I don't know any further than that. On that front, I think Discord only wanted Princess Celestia to meet the human. He seemed to believe events would move naturally after that point."

"But that can't be it!" Twilight protested. "What about whatever he intended to teach me? What about everything else." Her eyes flicked towards the fake Fluttershy. "What about the changelings? Where do they come in?"

"I can't answer for the rest, but as for the changelings..." Zecora sighed, and she seemed to age a dozen years within the space of a second. "That was what Discord bribed me with. In order to ensure my assistance, he ensured the changelings would invade Equestria."

"WHAT?!" Twilight shrieked loudly enough that all her friends turned to look at her. She waved them away as she sputtered at Zecora. "You di- What...? But... That's..." Before finally settling on: "How could you?"

"How could I not?" Zecora asked tiredly. She inclined her head towards the false pony ahead of them. "You've had a chance to speak with one of them. You've seen him as an individual, not as a monster. "

"But still!" Twilight protested. "What could have possessed you-?"

"They would have all died," Zecora said, cutting Twilight off. "Because of the nature of their existence, they were less than a week away from complete starvation. Would you have done otherwise? Could you have abandoned an entire race to total extermination?"

"I..." Twilight had no words.

Zecora seemed to understand the young unicorn's mental turmoil. "Maybe you would have," she said quietly. "A week ago, you thought of them only as mindless monsters. But I... I have long since known what they were." Since Twilight didn't respond, Zecora continued. "The story all starts with my daughter. She was a rambunctious little zebra filly, and loved to explore the world around her." Zecora snickered. "And she always love exploring high places the instant her poor mother's back was turned."

"She sounds adorable." Twilight giggled.

Zecora sighed in agreement. "She was. Unfortunately, her explorative tendencies wound up getting her in trouble. She stumbled on a changeling hive and they grabbed her and stuck her in one of those pods of theirs. When she didn't return, my teacher and I went looking for her." Her smile faded, and her expression turned haunted. "We found her alright... drained to a complete husk. She was already dead."

Twilight gasped. "Oh Zecora, I'm so sorry..."

The zebra gave Twilight a grateful smile. "Thank you, Twilight, but it was years ago. In any case, there was something else in that pod: an infant changeling. It was what had drained my daughter dry, and had ended up killing her."

Twilight's eyes widened in shock. "Oh, Celestia... What did you do?"

A small, reminiscent smile appeared on Zecora's face. "I adopted the changeling, and took it as my own. It was only doing what it's nature demanded; it wasn't its fault that that resulted in my daughter's death. Besides, my daughter died so that the changeling could live. In a way, it was as if my daughter lived on in it. Killing the changeling would have made my daughter's death meaningless."

For several seconds, Twilight could only stare down at the dirt road below her. Her imagination was working overtime, envisioning what she would have done in the zebra's place. "...You're strong, Zecora," she admitted eventually.

Zecora inclined her head in acceptance of the praise. "I took the changeling into my home, and gave it all the love it needed to grow and thrive. My teacher accepted it, and we raised her - and yes, it was a her - together, away from the rest of the village. We weren't certain how the rest of the tribe would respond, so we hid her away from them. In time, I stopped thinking of her as my daughter living in a different body. To me, she became my daughter, just as much as her sister before her had."

Twilight smiled slightly nervously. "That's... a little twisted." she admitted. "Kinda like she killed her sister. What was her name?"

"Yes, I suppose it was a little 'twisted,'" Zecora admitted. Then, she laughed. "As for her name, you already know it. I thought long and hard about what I should call her. At the time, I had thought of her as simply my daughter in another form. That she was going through a change. A metamorphosis. I wanted a name that signified that."

Twilight tilted her head quizzically, not certain what Zecora was getting at. Then her eyes shot open as the obvious answer presented itself. She could feel pieces starting to fall into place as a connection occurred that she had never even suspected. "Chrysalis..."

"Exactly," Zecora said with a nod of her head. "My daughter, who I entered Equestria in search of, is the tyrannical Changeling Queen that has invaded Equestria twice. What am I supposed to say when I meet her again? That I'm proud of her for becoming such a strong leader of her people? That I'm ashamed of her for inflicting pain on another nation? Or just that I love her, and always will no matter what she does?" She looked up at the sky, her expression unreadable. "Yes. I think that last one sounds nice."

"I don't know..." Twilight muttered, not sure what to say. What could possibly be said to the mother of one of your greatest enemies? Unable to think of what to do with this new information, she decided to try and get a fuller picture of what happened. "So what happened next?"

Zecora's grim smile fell away. "My teacher died. He was sick, and by the time we figured out what it was, it was too late to save him. Not long after that, Chrysalis was discovered by the villagers and they blamed for his death, calling her a 'monster' and a 'beast'."

"But she didn't do it, right?" Twilight asked uncertainly. She wasn't sure what to think. Just hours ago, she had had this mental image of the Changeling Queen as a hideous, horrifying monster with no redeeming qualities who had to be defeated for the betterment of all living things. Now, though, that image was starting to fall apart at the seams, and she wasn't sure what was going to take its place.

"Of course not!" Zecora protested angrily. "He was sick! She wouldn't have had either the skill or the ability to kill him, even if she wanted to! You have no idea how distraught she was when he died! But they wouldn't listen! Those fools wouldn't listen, and in the end..." Zecora sighed, and all her steadily growing rage seemed to deflate. "Chrysalis disappeared."

"What? Just like that?"

"Just like that," Zecora said. "I don't know why she ran away. Maybe she thought I couldn't protect her. Maybe she was scared." She shook her head. "I couldn't live in the village that had forced my daughter to run away, so I left as well. For twenty years, I've been looking for even the slightest hint of where she might have gone, and had almost given up hope."

"And then the wedding happened..." Twilight said.

"Yes," Zecora said. "And it was the first hint I had gotten that my daughter was still alive. But even then, I still didn't have an answer. My daughter and her followers were defeated by Princess Cadance and yourself, and banished to places unknown."

Twilight blushed. "Sorry," she squeaked out.

Zecora glanced sidelong at Twilight, her eyes sparkling. "You were simply defending your friends and loved ones. I don't blame you for what happened." She shook her head sadly. "If anything, I blame myself for not being there for her at the time, and my further inability to find her. A few months later, Discord contacted me, and you know everything I do about what happened after that."

"I think I do," Twilight mused. A clearer picture was starting to form. For the first time, she was starting to feel like she was developing a clearer understand of what was happening in Equestria.

She just had no idea what she was supposed to do about it.

Unfortunately, fate wasn't going to be so kind as to give her time to think. "Uh, hey Twilight," Rainbow Dash's voice called from up ahead. "Maybe it's just me, but is Canterlot supposed to be glowing green?"

"Huh?" Twilight repeated dumbly. She looked in the direction of Equestria's capitol, and just like Dash had said, there was a strange green glow coming from the city. In fact, the glow seemed to be getting brighter... and closer.

Twilight's eyes widened. "GET DOWN!" she screamed as she hastily threw the strongest barrier she could over herself and her friends just as a green magical blast slammed into it. The barrier exploded under the force of the unexpected attack, throwing up a great cloud of dust over the area.

"What..." Twilight coughed, the sudden dust storm making it hard to breath. "What happened?"

Zecora cocked an eyebrow as she stared up at the castle atop the mountain. "It seems like my daughter has gotten tired of waiting for us."

"Huh?" Twilight followed the zebra's gaze and her breath caught in her throat at the sight of another magical blast coming towards them. "Wh-wh-wh-what are we going to do?" She wasn't sure she could block another attack like that, and a quick look around was all it took for her to see that her friends had all been knocked to the ground and would not be able to get up in time to avoid the magical blast.

"Hmm," Zecora turned to look at Twilight. "To avoid the occurrence of something tragic, this seems like the ideal time to teach you a little more about World Magic."

"NOW?" Twilight shrieked in disbelief as the zebra had apparently become oblivious to the big ball of magic bearing down on them with all the force and unstoppability of a meteor. A tiny part of her noticed that Zecora had apparently relaxed enough to start rhyming again now that she had gotten what she needed to off her chest, but far more of her had devolved into simple gibbering panic.

"Now is the ideal time, and there will not be a moment more prime," Zecora said as the magic got closer and closer. "World Magic's most useful ability is that it is not only one-way; and that being able to read the contours and shape of the world around you is simple child's play." She lifted her hoof a bare inch off the ground.

"Take, for example, the interconnecting tunnels beneath us as a sample."

The zebra tapped her hoof against the dirt. Cracks started to spread from the point of impact and the ground swiftly dropped away from underneath the five ponies, one zebra, and one disguised changeling, the earth rising up to swallow them as they fell into the darkness.

On the high walls of Canterlot, Chrysalis clicked her tongue angrily as she felt the six individuals she had been targeting fall out of reach. The glow of magic ceased around her horn and she turned away from the cliffside angrily.

Innocent Sin gave her a sharp salute when she turned to face him. "My Queen. Did you get them?"

"No," Chrysalis snarled. She gave him a discerning look. "You are certain of what you saw?"

"Without a doubt," the smaller changeling said. "The feeling and strength of Twilight Sparkle's magic changed completely when we fought. She was..." he trailed off.

"Well?" Chrysallis snapped. "She was what?"

"Her magic felt even stronger than yours is now," he admitted quietly.

"...I see," Chrysalis said after a moment. "Then she is a threat."

"Yes, my Queen. Your orders?"

Chrysalis tilted her head back, looking over the entirety of Canterlot. From the magnificent castle, to the normally so-full streets that twisted and wound through the mountain city. "Twilight Sparkle is a threat," Chrysalis said emotionlessly. "Capture the others if you can, but Twilight Sparkle is to be terminated on sight."

"Yes, my Queen," Innocent Sin snapped off another salute before leaving to ensure her orders were obeyed.

Left alone, Chrysalis continued to stare at the towering city. Her city. She snarled angrily and crack started to spread through the cobblestones under her hooves. "I've fought too hard to lose now. No one's taking this away from me. No matter what it takes."

With a swish of her mane, the Changeling Queen turned away from the cliffsides of Canterlot and returned to her castle.

Author's Note

Normally, this would be the part where I'd throw links linking back to previous scenes of import. However, since pretty much every single chapter involving either Zecora or Chrysalis has been building to this (particularly the ones where Zecora is mentioned to have invited Pinkie to her place which led to her meeting John, the one where Twilight and friends were hurt and Zecora slipped off to talk to someone unknown, or the one shortly after Chrysalis took Canterlot and she thought about her non-changeling mother), I might as well just say 'go read the whole story again'.

Besides, I'm fairly sure no one actually follows those links.

Prologue

Wafer-thin pages rustled wildly in the stiff morning breeze before a purple hoof was slammed down upon them, stopping the noise and pinning open a random page. The hoof belonged to a unicorn, her magenta eyes staring down at the incomprehensible writing covering the page. Her eyes bored into the page as if by the act of staring at it hard enough she could force the words to give up the secrets they held. But the book refused to give up its hidden knowledge despite the mare's best efforts, just like the last dozens of times she had tried to comprehend the illegible squiggles.

Twilight Sparkle let out a grunt of frustrated exasperation as she slammed the book shut. The answers had to be in here. They just had to! She had to know the truth!

Her horn glowed momentarily as she focused on the book before a twinge of pain shot through her eyeballs. The glow around her horn vanished as she quickly shut off the magic flow. “Right,” she muttered to herself, rubbing her aching horn.

“Still hurts?”

Twilight’s hoof dropped at the sound of the voice coming from behind her. She had slipped up; she hadn’t wanted the owner of the voice to know that her horn was still bugging her. It wasn’t that she disliked the pony behind her, it was just that... okay, yeah. She disliked her.

“It’s fine,” Twilight replied curtly without turning around, hoping the pony behind her would take the hint and leave. She didn’t like exposing her back to the other mare, but she didn’t trust herself not to attack the mare behind her if she had to look at her. Everything about the other mare annoyed her. It saddened Twilight to think that it hadn’t always been this way between them. The other mare spoke up, cutting into Twilight’s pondering.

“I keep telling you to let me help.”

“And I keep telling you, no.” Twilight looked up, still refusing to turn and look at the other pony. Her gaze wandered until it locked onto a blur of colour on one of the walls of the crystalline buildings surrounding them. Even just seeing the reflection of the pony behind her was enough to irritate her. She felt her teeth grit, enamel scraping against enamel as her jaw locked. With a herculean effort, she managed to unclench her jaw and finish what she had been saying. “This is something I have to do on my own.”

The other mare was silent for a moment before she spoke up, her voice dripping with scorn. “You can’t really think you can trust him, can you? Surely even you couldn’t be that foalish.”

“I don’t recall asking for your opinion,” Twilight spat. She glared at the reflection on the wall. Even if she couldn’t actually see the details of the pony behind her in the reflection, she could imagine them so well in her mind’s eye. No doubt the other’s expression was twisted in anger tinged by the knowledge that there was nothing she could do to Twilight. The reflection moved slightly as the other pony’s mouth opened to express her rebuttal, but Twilight spoke up quickly to cut her off.

“But since it seems to matter oh-so much to you; no, I don’t trust him. He’s the reason we’re in this entire situation in the first place.” Her voice positively dripped with sarcasm. She didn’t like admitting any weakness to the mare behind her, but there was no reason to lie. “But it’s a fact that we don’t have any other leads.”

“Hmph, I suppose not.” Twilight watched as the reflection moved slightly, the other pony lifting one hoof to rub at her neck. “I just wish that we could actually be doing something useful. We should be focusing on getting back to Equestria, not wasting time trying to understand useless books.”

“You’re welcome to leave at any time.” Twilight laughed cruelly, now actively trying to provoke the other mare. “Actually, that sounds like a wonderful idea. You should leave. Right now, in fact.” She heard the other mare stomp a hoof and smiled, knowing that her sally had struck home.

“You know perfectly well why I cannot leave you, Twilight Sparkle.” The mare was silent for a few wonderful seconds, but all good things must come to an end. When she spoke again, her voice was filled with smug malice. “It’s for the exact same reason that none of your friends are here with you now.”

Twilight froze. A low growl started from deep in her throat as she began to turn towards the other mare. A cruel dark glow surrounded her horn, the normally purple light tainted with blackness darker than the darkest night and crueler than anything most ponies were even capable of imagining. At the last moment before she saw the other mare, when she would be unable to prevent herself from doing something unforgivable, she tore her head away and banished the darkness.

“That’s off limits, Trixie.” Her voice was cold and dangerous when she spoke, making it clear just how close she had come to losing control. She heard hoofsteps from behind her as the showpony turned to leave. The hoofsteps stopped as Trixie prepared to make her last statement, her squeaky voice seeming to rub itself against Twilight’s brain in all the wrong ways.

“Very well. If you’re so certain that you have to do this alone, then work fast, Twilight Sparkle. I do not know how much longer I will be able to resist trying to kill you.”

Twilight remained unmoving as the sound of the hoofsteps on the cobbles slowly faded, exhaling in relief when silence returned. Other than Trixie, everypony in the city would go well out of their way to avoid running into Twilight. She cracked her neck, her thoughts on the last thing the mare had said. Twilight knew it wasn’t Trixie’s fault she felt like this, just like she knew it wasn’t Trixie's fault that Twilight felt the same way about her.

“I’m sorry, Trixie...”

So long as they were both cursed like this, Twilight couldn’t afford to allow Trixie near her. There was always the easy option that Trixie had suggested at the start, but... she shuddered at the thought. No. That was the one thing she couldn’t do.

Her gaze dropped down to the closed book on the ground in front of her as the cold wind whipped away her words. Reaching forward with one hoof, she cracked open the book. She knew it was probably a dead end, but she still had to know what it said. She had to translate it. Maybe it would answer her questions, tell her what she needed to know.

How had everything gone so wrong?

What could she have done differently?

How could she have saved Equestria?

History is something that has ebbs and flows, moving in predictable patterns much like the tides of the mighty oceans covering the world. Just as all things have an ending, so, too, must they have a beginning. But when do things begin? What precise moment can be pointed to and said "This is when everything began"? Was it thousands of years ago, when the first bricks that would make the foundation were first cemented into place? Or was it only a few weeks prior, when the rules were irrevocably changed?

Discord, self-proclaimed embodiment of chaos and just general all-around jerk, pondered the sight in front of him. Drifting aimlessly in a near empty void, he floated alone in the barren nothingness. Only a few personal belongings were present with him, either made by him to break up the neverending tedium that his life had become or gifted to him in eons long passed. Every day was exactly the same as the innumerably many before it, day in and day out, locked in his prison, his jail cell, his eternal punishment. His body turned to stone and his mind sealed away within itself by the power of the Elements of Harmony, he was prevented from interacting with the world in any meaningful way.

At least, that was how it had been. But nothing lasts forever, and that impermanence was going to be Discord's big chance. His eagle claw stroked his goatlike beard thoughtfully as he considered the game board before him. His other hand - the lion's paw - vibrated with power and he held it above the board for an long moment before pulling it back to his side.

The board itself was complicated in its own right. Dozens upon dozens of pieces sat on the board, each with its own set of rules governing it behaviour and movement. No one piece was like the others, and forcibly moving a single piece would be like throwing a large stone into a calm pond, creating ripples that would last long after the stone had sunk out of sight. The board served as a representation of the world outside Discord's prison, and served him as he planned out what he would do next.

Hundreds of thousands of scenarios played themselves out before Discord's eyes. Uncountable events whizzed through his mind as he contemplated possible futures, each future considered and discarded in turn. He saw the nation of Equestria vanish in fire, the land dying out without any caretakers capable of nurturing it. He witnessed the entire nation brought low, their leaders defeated and held captive by a race of shape-shifting emotion eaters. He observed as a terrible blizzard swept across the country, freezing ponies, the emotion eaters, and the other races alike. He watched as everything was consumed by pure darkness, a blackness so pure and vile that absolutely nothing was able to escape it.

That's not to say all the scenes were of death and destruction. He saw the ponies enter a glorious age of peace and prosperity, led by their immortal and wise leaders. He saw trials overcome, lessons learned, and friendships strengthened. Joy and happiness reigned supreme, the ponies leading blissful lives that, while they never suffered, had the ponies being born, living, and dying in almost exactly the same manner as the hundreds of other ponies around them. Celestia had finally accomplished the world of love and friendship she had always wanted to create.

Blech. To Discord's mind, the scenarios that ended with a dead world were preferable to that one.

A sigh escaped Discord's lips as the last of the images disappeared. None of these scenes were what he was looking for. He needed something more, something... just a little more potent. A wicked smile blossomed across his lips as an idea occurred to him, and his eyes lit up with a fierce fire from within. If he was going to lose so long as he played by the rules, then the solution was obvious. Those rules had to go.

The smile faded as he considered the board again. While the chance was there, the risks were also much greater. If his opponent figured out what he was doing before the endgame, then a fate worse than death was all that awaited the draconequus. His current fate would seem positively benign by comparison. Heck, if his opponent even realized the full extent of what Discord was planning, he would lose instantly. His long forked tongue wrapped itself around the single large tooth in his mouth as he considered the pros and cons of this choice of action. Things could go so very, very wrong so very easily.

But the chance was there...

Slowly, ponderously, Discord reached underneath the board and pulled out two brand new pieces. The pieces were far different from any of the pieces already on the board, and just looking at them one could tell that they didn't quite belong. He considered both pieces for several long... minutes? Days? Time had no more meaning for him, especially not here of all places. At long last, he made his decision.

With a careful touch of his lion's paw, he began to make adjustments to both pieces. Changes, both large and small, were individually made to each piece until he was finally satisfied with the outcome. He contemplated both pieces for one final time before gently placing them down on the board. One piece sent to the shining light, the other to the twisted mirror. The pieces already present on the board began to shift in response to the addition of the two new pieces and Discord rested his chin on his hands, contemplating the ramifications of what he had done. Even with this, he was still taking a massive gamble.

He turned his attention away from the board to one of the other few objects present with him: a large mirror. The mirror's polished surface reflected his image back at him for an instant before it shimmered and shifted, instead showing him a scene of a dark and gloomy forest. Sending the slightest amount of his awareness into the mirror, he acted to shift the odds in his favour just the slightest bit more.

Discord allowed himself to lean back against his chair. It was done. All he could do now was watch and make a few changes as things played out. He turned his attention back to the board; in particular, to the figures sitting around it. Including the one he sat in himself, five chairs were now placed in a circle around the board. He waved his hand at the lone seat opposite him - the seat his opponent would be claiming in the future. "Your move," he told the empty seat with a wave of his hand.

If he was expecting a response from the empty seat, the continuing silence would leave him disappointed.

Discord, immortal spirit of chaos and disharmony and strong candidate for the position of 'Most Powerful Being in Existence', limply slouched in his chair. "I'm sooooooo booooooooooooooooooooooored," he whined to the uncaring void, his voice hitting the tone of a petulant child's.

The Result of Violence

~~~Minutes Earlier~~~

Applejack whinnied her challenge at the mighty hydra, her hooves pounding against the floor as she charged it. The hydra’s head lunged at her, its mouth open wide enough to swallow her in a single bite. Ducking under the gaping jaw, Applejack bucked the air above her, hearing a satisfying crack as hooves met bone. The head reeled back, stars spinning around its skull, allowing Applejack to slip past it and leap in between the hydra’s main body and Apple Bloom’s cage. The hydra stopped, the three undazed heads looking down at her in confusion. Food wasn’t supposed to act like this.

“Applejack!” Apple Bloom yelled, weakly throwing her body against the bars of the cage. Trussed up as she was, she couldn’t put any force behind the blow and the bars held firm. “Be careful!” Worried more for her sister than herself, Apple Bloom could only watch as her older sister faced against the monstrous hydra.

“Don’t worry about me none,” Applejack responded without tearing her gaze away from the four swaying heads of the beast. Stamping her hoof, she roared at the monster. “Come on, then! Ah’ll whup ya so hard, all four of yer heads’ll be seein’ stars fer a month. Ah am Applejack, Ponyville's most dependable pony, and you! Shall not! HARM MY FAMILY!” The hydra looked unimpressed by the proclamation, only mildly curious that such tiny food would stand against it.

The two combatants stared at each other – one with the look a creature who would brave Tartarus itself to protect what was behind it, the other with the look of a predator sizing up its prey. The fragile peace of the stare down shattered when the four heads of the hydra lunged at her with an ear-splitting roar that shook the very air of the cave. Applejack cut to the side, wanting to lure the monster away from Apple Bloom. Two of the heads crashed into each other while she managed to jump out of the way of a third one, but the fourth managed to nick her leg while she was in the air.

Flung across the room from the force of the blow, Applejack bounced against the floor before crashing heavily into the cave wall. Sliding into a painful heap on the floor, she saw the hydra turn towards her, the head that had managed to hit her laughing at the others. Knowing that Apple Bloom was no longer the thing’s target was enough to bring a grim smile to Applejack’s face as she tried to climb to her hooves. A stab of pain through her rear legs stole that smile away as quickly as it appeared. Left leg strain, she thought, testing the injured limb. Not good. Musta pulled a muscle when Ah hit the wall.

The pain was sharp, but not crippling. It wouldn’t interfere with her movement so long as she was careful. Before she could think of a way to be careful while fighting a hydra, the time for thinking had passed. Able to move almost as fast as a mature pony at full gallop, the hydra was already upon her, one of its heads lunging at her. Shoving off the wall, Applejack leapt as high as she could, landing on the back of the hydra’s head as it collided face-first with the stone wall.

Running up the neck of the hydra, Applejack felt a twinge of pain shoot through her body every time she put any weight on her injured leg. Two of the heads watched her in confusion while the third swung itself at her, using its head like a club. Applejack bunched her legs underneath her, preparing to leap out of the way. Her leg spasmed and froze up in pain, causing her to collapse helplessly in the path of the descending head.

“APPLEJACK!” Apple Bloom screamed as her sister was knocked away and slammed into the cave wall hard enough to crack it. Fluttershy looked up at Apple Bloom’s scream, her eyes widening as Applejack collapsed into a heap with blood oozing from several cuts. Apple Bloom banged her head against the cage bars over and over again, tears rolling freely down her face.

This is all my fault, she thought. Ah’m sorry, Applejack. Ah am so, so sorry. Fluttershy left Rarity, running over to where Applejack lay. The hydra scoffed at them before turning to the weeping filly, seeking easier prey. Fluttershy shook the barely-conscious Applejack, who moaned weakly at the stimulus. “Please,” Apple Bloom quietly begged, “please stand up. Please, sister. Please be alright.” The hydra stared down at her, its merciless eyes seeing only a future meal. Bringing a head down, it tore away the wooden cage, exposing the shivering filly within.

“We’re… not finished yet, you and me.”

The hydra’s heads swirled around to look at the source of the voice coming from behind it. Apple Bloom shouted happily at seeing Applejack standing upright, a happiness that swiftly faded as she saw how injured the orange pony was. Blood flowed freely from her many cuts, pooling on the ground beneath her. Her eyes were gummed and bloodshot, unable to focus and one pupil was larger than the other. She may have gotten a concussion when she hit the wall. Her front right leg was held off the ground, a clear break causing it to hang limply in the air.

“Oh, you really shouldn’t,” Fluttershy fussed, trying to get the heavily injured mare to sit down. Applejack raised a hoof to push her away, but overbalanced and crashed heavily to the ground on her broken leg. Uncomplainingly, she struggled back to her hooves before taking a single stumbling step towards the hydra.

“Don’t try ta stop me, Fluttershy,” she slurred out, nearly passing out as her injured leg banged against the floor. The hydra sighed gustily and turned towards her, intending to end this annoying pony once and for all. Applejack took another stumbling step forward, mumbling all the while. “Everypony has something important to them, something more important than life itself. Mine is right there.” The hydra took a thunderous step towards her, shaking the ground and nearly causing the injured mare to collapse again. Fluttershy and Apple Bloom watched the scene play out in front of them, their throats paralyzed by fear by what they were witnessing.

“Ah am an Apple,” Applejack muttered, her indistinct voice somehow clearly reaching the ears of the other ponies in the room. “There ain’t nothin’ more important to an Apple than family’n’friends. As Ah stand here, Ah see my family needing me. Ah would challenge Celestia herself to save those close t’ me. Don’t worry, sis… Yer… sister’s… comin’…” Applejack’s eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she collapsed on the spot, like a puppet with its strings cut. The sound of her body crashing against the floor broke Apple Bloom and Fluttershy free of their paralysis.

“APPLEJACK!” They both screamed as the hydra stood over the unconscious mare. Free of the cage, Apple Bloom began crawling towards her sister, slowly inching along the ground. Nononononono. Her thoughts only for her injured sister, she gasped in horror as the hydra slowly brought one of its heads down towards Applejack. The head recoiled in surprise as a yellow blur sped in between it and the collapsed pony.

Fluttershy hovered between the hydra and Applejack, her unrelenting gaze focused squarely on the four headed beast in front of her. “How dare you?” she scolded, her voice quivering with barely suppressed rage. “HOW DARE YOU? You think you can just attack others just because you’re bigger than them? You think it’s okay to inflict pain on them simply for your own entertainment? You think it's fine for you to put me and my friends through such torment? Well, I have news for you, mister,” she nearly spat out the last word, “it’s not. And I have a good mind to make you pay for what you’ve done.”

Three of the heads withered under Fluttershy’s relentless scolding, but the fourth launched itself at her, its mouth opened wide enough to completely engulf her. Fluttershy turned the full force of her gaze upon the head, and it got to within a few inches of her before shrinking back from her in fear. The four heads hung limply, submitting themselves to her. Fluttershy glared at them for a few moments longer before speaking. “Now, you are going to help me get Rarity free. Do exactly what I say, and maybe I might consider forgiving you.”

~~~Present Time~~~

Applejack’s hat fluttered limply to the ground below, the wind having torn it off of her head. Apple Bloom reached up and caught it as it slowly fell towards her, gently flipping it onto her own head. Gingerly stepping out of the hole the hydra had just burst out of, she glanced up at her older sister held within the hydra’s maw. Fluttershy followed out after Apple Bloom, Rarity’s limp body carefully slung over the pegasus’ back. Looking up at the hydra, she made a sharp gesture at the ground in front of her. The hydra whined at her and she pointed at the ground again.

“You made it!” Apple Bloom and Fluttershy looked over at Pinkie Pie, who was excitedly waving at them. A pair of dropped cupcakes lay at her hooves, forgotten in her excitement to see her friends. The hydra carefully placed Applejack on the ground in front of Fluttershy, and the pegasus glared up at him.

“Good work,” she said, her steely gaze locked on the giant eye in front of her. “Now get out of my sight, and don’t let me catch you doing this again.” The hydra whimpered before turning and running away as fast as its feet could carry it. Apple Bloom whistled at seeing the normally meek Fluttershy scare away such a massive beast.

“Ugh… my head…” Twilight moaned as she struggled awake, a throbbing headache shooting through her skull with every beat of her heart. Shaking her head, her eyes flickered around the area, trying to understand what was going on. She gasped at what she saw, something no one else saw. “Pinkie!” she screamed as loudly as she could. “Look out!”

John had taken advantage of the distraction of the hydra to rush Pinkie, his axe catching the light of the rising sun as it swung directly at her exposed throat. Time seemed to slow as the pink mare tried to scramble away from the merciless tool of murder. Her hooves slid on the grass, dropping her helplessly to her knees. Everypony could only watch in horror as the blade swept in, its cruel edge aiming to steal the young mare’s life away.

Now, I think that’s enough of that.

A white flash filled the area, focusing and concentrating on the axe in John’s hands. When it faded, the axe had been reversed so that John was holding onto the head while the handle collided harmlessly with Pinkie Pie’s throat. Without a moment of hesitation, John’s hands slid down the axe handle before he swung it again, the different angle forcing to aim for a different target. Pinkie screamed in pain as the sharp blade dug into her flank, slicing straight through her cutie mark. Rainbow Dash roared in rage and denial, struggling even harder in the net as she saw her best friend fall to the ground, writhing in pain.

John tore the axe out of Pinkie’s flank, splattering blood on the ground below him. Turning, he fled into the woods, the bloody axe clenched firmly in his grasp. Twilight and Fluttershy rushed over to Pinkie, while Dash struggled against the net that imprisoned her

“Get me out of this thing!” she screamed. “He’s getting away!” Apple Bloom was suddenly standing above her, the young pony’s eyes hardened and dull. Bending down, she bit through the vines restricting Rainbow Dash.

“Make him pay,” Apple Bloom simply said as she stepped back, her gaze flickering to the unconscious Applejack. Dash struggled out of the net, tearing through the last few vines that constrained her.

“I intend to.” Flapping her wings, the pegasus took off in pursuit. Twilight saw Dash fly away, and called after her.

“No, Dash! It’s over!” the purple mare yelled out.

“Don’t try to stop me, Twilight,” Dash growled out. “He’s going to pay for what he’s done to us.” Dash vanished into the woods, a rainbow-coloured contrail marking her path. Twilight focused on her horn, intending to teleport after Dash. She felt the familiar feeling of her magic wrapping around her before it suddenly flickered and died. The purple glow around her horn seemed to fracture before shattering into tiny pieces and dissipating into the surrounding air.

Twilight gasped, bringing up one hoof to touch a hairline crack running through her unresponsive horn. “I can’t… cast magic?”

John broke through the trees, smashing through the branches that seemed to grasp at him, tearing holes through his clothes and scratching up his body. He ignored the tiny wounds, only thinking about escape. River. Have to make it to river. Raising the bloody axe above his head, he tore through a particularly tough clump of twigs. Safety. River. His thoughts a tattered mess, he scrambled towards the roaring river. Before confronting the ponies, he had already planned an escape route if things went belly-up.

Can’t hear voice anymore. Quiet. The voice in his head had been getting louder and louder over the course of the night, but it was now silent. The silence may have been related to when his axe seemed to twist in his hands, nearly turning against him. He glanced down at his trustworthy axe, wondering if it was going to betray him once again.

BOOOOM!!!

A devastatingly loud noise reverberated through the forest from behind him, rattling the surrounding twigs and leaves. John turned towards the source of the noise just as a rainbow-coloured blur smashed into his side. A strange rainbow shockwave washed over him as the force of the impact launched him through several trees. The axe flew from his hand, tumbling end over end before vanishing in the roaring rapids as John crashed on the river’s bank. Several ribs broken and his body heavily injured from his impromptu flight through the foliage, John slipped into the river and allowed the force of the current to wash him downstream.

Rainbow Dash shook herself off as she jumped out of the bush she had crashed into. Flying into the creature with the full force of a Sonic Rainboom had hurt her – badly. Her front was pretty much one big bruise and she was having trouble closing her wings. Her own pain was forgotten as she saw the creature make it to the river, making its escape away from her. This creature was not going to escape, not after all the pain he had caused her friends. Running up to the river bank, she launched herself at the creature, managing to land directly on him.

John gasped as he was forced underwater, water froth filling his mouth and nose. Pushing himself to the surface, he saw the blue creature only a few feet away from him. Her hoof smashed into his face, snapping his head back. His tongue played at a tooth she had managed to knock loose as he grabbed both her forelegs. Pulling her towards him, he pounded his forehead directly in between her eyes.

Dash blinked stars out of her eyes as the creature’s skull impacted her own. Her front legs pinned by the creature’s grip, she whipped one of her wings around, hammering it into the creature’s face. The world seemed to tilt, filling Dash with an unusual feeling of vertigo. Taking stock of her surroundings, Dash realized the roaring water was pushing her and the creature off the waterfall she had seen only a few days ago.

John felt the loose tooth come free as the wing smacked into his face. As the struggling pair fell off the waterfall, he turned his head and spat the tooth into the creature’s oversized eye. She recoiled in surprise and pain, allowing him to take advantage of her moment of distraction to grab her extended wing as the pair tumbled through the air. Pulling it out as far as he could, he manoeuvred his body so that he was on top of her. Aiming her wing at a large rock that stuck up out of the water below, he felt a satisfying crunch as the fragile wingbones completely shattered under his weight.

Dash opened her mouth to scream at the incredible pain that tore through her body. It felt like her wing had been torn clean off! She accidently inhaled the water in her panicked frenzy, her lungs instantly filling with the pounding liquid. The creature’s hands wrapped around her throat, and he held her under the water beneath the roaring waterfall as her struggles slowly weakened. Darkness started to eat away at the sides of her thoughts and her vision.

All your fault! he mentally screamed at her. You attacked me! All your fault! In that clearing, you attacked me without warning! All your fault! You and others like you! All your fault! Couldn’t leave me in peace! All your fault! I just wanted to be left alone! All your fault!

Rainbow Dash’s weakly flailing hooves managed to land a solid hit on his cracked ribs. His fingers spasmed at the pain, and the rushing water tore her out of his weakened grip. Dash succumbed to the blissful embrace of unconsciousness as her body was swept downstream, away from the creature she had wanted to stop.

John turned away from the helpless mare, forcing his badly injured body through the waterfall. Hidden behind the cascade of water, he found the tiny cave he now called “home.” Collapsing on the pile of twigs in the corner, he passed out before his head hit the ground.