The beginning of the end the remix.

Kitsu froze in fear. One moment she’d been going back and forth in her room trying to wrap her head around the quantum mechanic’s assignment she needed to have done no later than Monday, and then suddenly she was in a damp cave illuminated by bioluminescence. She’d simply turned around and there she was.

“Lord Tirek,” called the voice of Queen Chrysalis somewhere in the cave.

“A changeling?” He replied.

Kitsue knew Chrysalis's voice, her gaze quickly finding her in the dim light. Not far away stood the grizzled form of the old centaur. Her fear morphs into anger at the realization of what just happened.

“Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings. Or at least I will be. When I am restored to my rightful place. Why have you summoned me?” Her tone is haughty and demanding.

“He did not bring you here?” Kitsu stated with an edge to her tone.

“You?!” Lord Tirek accused. “Why have you freed me from Tartarus?”

“It wasn’t I,” Kitsu offered as the three closed in on each other. Nearby on a pedestal sat a ball, a crystal ball that looked suspiciously like a Palantir to Kitsu, its one demonic eye watching them. “You can rot for eternity for all I care.” Nearby smoke coalesced into the form of King Sombra, laughing at his newfound freedom.

“Hello Daddy,” Kitzu offered in a greeting that was devoid of any warmth.

“King Sombra, why have you brought us here… Daddy?” Chrysalis asked and then looked back at Kitsu. An eyebrow raised, and she smiled.

“What?” Sombra said softly his gaze quickly going to Kitzu.

“He didn’t,” called a large blue goat with a red harness on which were affixed four small brass bells as he walked into the cavern. Whether or not he’d heard Kitsu he made no indication of it. He continued into the room walking past the others until he was behind the eye, and placed his front hooves up on the stone on which the eye rested. “It was I, Grogar.”

“Thee Grogar?” Chrysalis challenged. “I thought you were a legend?”

“I thought he’d be taller,” Kitsu muttered.

“As cocky as ever, Miss Nova Moon Nightfoal,” Tirek said in a cautionary tone and then louder to the goat, “I thought you were a legend as well?”

“I have heard of you,” Sombra stated in a decisive confident manner. Almost as though he’d rehearsed it. In truth, Sombra would have known the goat personally.

“I assure you, I am very real. And you have all been brought here as part of my plan to rid Equestria of Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Once and for all.”

“Shouldn't there be a ‘Princess’ in there somewhere?” Kitsu asked. “Gro-cart, was it?”

“Grogar!” growled the goat. “I’ve been away far too long if my name doesn’t immediately strike fear into the heart of one so tiny. Kitsu found herself being backed onto her heels by the goat's bravado. She wasn’t exactly foal-sized, but she was small in comparison to the company she presently held. Nearby she could see Tirek raise an eyebrow. Perhaps wondering why the brash little fox pony hadn’t torn into the goat.

“Perhaps a demonstration is in need?” Grogar stated more than asked. He took one of his bells and produced a glowing orb of energy which he passed over to Tirek who devoured it greedily. It took but a moment for the magic to do its thing, to reverse the march of the years on Tirek making him young again.

“Yes, I remember,” Tirek began. “Long ago Equestria was little more than a loose collection of farms administered by a child of all creatures.”

“Her name wasn’t Celestia, was it?” Kitsu asked.

“You butt out.
“It was Grogar who united the land and made a mighty empire of it.”

“I too have heard of the first emperor of Equestria,” Sombra announced pompously. “Father of monsters.”

“Indeed, I gave life to the foulest of creatures and allowed them to run wild. My rein was a glorious epoch of darkness in Equestria.”

“Until Gusty the Great rose against you and banished you,” Kitsu cut in.

“The fool believed taking my bell would defeat me, but it only weakened me temporarily.”

“I can’t help but think your ideas of temporary coincide with the temporary nature of a glacier,” Kitsu quipped sarcastically.

“Silence!” Shouted the old goat. He turned and began to pace. “I spent a millennium gathering power. Biding my time, waiting for the perfect opportunity to seize control of Equestria.” He returned to the eye. “And I’ve been watching all of you. I’ve seen all of your humiliating defeats at the hooves of six puny ponies.”

“Shouldn't there be a pathetic in there?” Kitsu teased.

“Pathetic indeed. Do you know why they’ve always bested you?”

“Because they cheat,” Chrysalis interjected.

“Because they are annoyingly lucky,” Tirek added.

“Because of magic rainbow lasers?” Kitsu asked.

“It’s because they work together,” Grogar stated. “Where one is weak another is strong. When unified they become a formidable force. But we, we shall use their strategy to defeat them.”

“What are you suggesting?” Chrysalis demanded.

“I am suggesting nothing. I demand that you join me and together Equestria will be ours.”

“Ours, Oh, I don’t do ours,” Sombra stated in his haughty tone. “I only do mine.” Sombra vanished in smoke to reappear right in Grogar’s face. “I will take the Chrystal empire back on my own. And I will destroy any pony who gets in my way.”

“Such confidence,” Grogar stated as he put some distance between the two. “Go on then. Try to take back your kingdom. I shall send you there myself. If you prevail, you may keep it. But when you fail you will submit to me.”

“And if I refuse your deal?”

“Then I will return you to the shadows from which you came.”

“Fine, but this is a waste of time as I will crush those who defy me. I will defeat all who get in my way.” And with another orb of magic from one of Grogar’s bells he was gone.

Grogar angrily advised the others to learn to work together and stormed out the way he’d come in.

“I’m surprised you didn’t try fighting him,” Tirek said after Grogar was gone.

Kitsu put her hoof to her mouth and then with a shift of her head gestured towards the eye. “Maybe I’m just a little more mature now.”

“So now what?” Chrysalis asked.

“We wait,” Kitsu offered as she began to explore their new home. “And yes, I wanted to put my hoof in his smug nose.”

“Grogar or Sombra?” Chrysalis pressed. “Is King Sombra really your father?”

“So I’m to understand. Mom was supposed to marry him.”

“I do seem to recall hearing something about it,” Tirek offered. “They would have made a powerful pair. Where are you going?”

“Oh, I just thought I’d explore our new digs. I figure we are going to be calling this place home for the foreseeable future. Oh, I like this room, dibs.”

“Now hold on one minute!” Chrysalis protested as the three entered the chamber.

“Chrysalis, let's keep in mind that you could have gone home any time you wanted.” And then she lowered her voice. “Have a care what you say in the vicinity of that eye and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he can use it to hear everything in these chambers.”

She continued looking about the place as the other two followed, each picking out an area they liked until they’d wandered to the entrance. The three looked on in dismay.

“Where are we?” Chrysalis asked.

“Hayseed swamps is my best guess,” Kitsu offered.

“You going to make a run for it?”

“I don’t think she is. I’d say she’s in it for the long haul,” Tirek stated. “After all, she could have teleported away.”

“We need to be in range of something we recognize,” Chrysalis informed them. “That’s just the way teleportation normally works, and we are so far out in the boonies that there is nothing I recognize that’s in range.”

“Grogar used some sort of unconditional summoning spell to bring each of us here,” Kitsu explained. “If we try to run, what’s to stop him from just bringing us right back?”

“It would depend on how many times he’s capable of doing that,” Tirek offered. “One plus is that he’s apparently not all-knowing.”

“And what makes you say that?” Chrysalis asked.

“Miss Nightfoal here isn’t a villain. More of an antihero. Nearly beat me once.”

“Aye, and then Discord butted in so he could play his games.”

“You think he was playing with me?” Tirek asked.

“Of course, he was playing with you. You can’t control his magic any more than you could control mine. And now, we have this Grogar to tend to whether we want to or not.” Suddenly Kitsu had snatched one of the little pearls at the top of Chrysalis’s crown, followed by a stick she’d been carrying, and dashed out onto one of two stone arches that passed over the soggy remains of a massive fortress.

“Give that back! Give them back!” Chrysalis dashed after her but skidded to a halt when Kitsu stopped and held the two items over either side of the causeway with her magic and began chanting something.

“Please don’t.” Chrysalis’s heart stopped when Kitso slammed the two together in a shower of sparks. Kitsu turned to face the others and set a newly formed pony down. ZA teenage version of Twilight sparkle with wings. “You… you…” Her jaw hung slack at the sight of a young Princess Twilight sparkle. Only, not Twilight. Her colors were decidedly darker, the purple nearly a dark gray and she had wings that were so dark they were ebony black. Her mane and tail were equally dark, and she had a vermilion stripe and a white stripe in her mane and tail.

To Tirek’s utter astonishment, the dark pony sprinted to Chrysalis and embraced her.

“From this point forward, we will be antiheroes,” Kitsu announced. “We will not be the heroes Equestria wants. We will be the Heroes Equestria needs.” Tirek raised an eyebrow at Kitsu’s declaration.

“How did you know? How could you know?” Chrysalis said softly as she dropped down, followed by returning the hug. “My little Sparkle.”

“I could see it on the tip of your mind, and for someone who so hates Twilight Sparkle, you have a funny way of showing it.”

“She cost me my hive.”

“No, you cost you your hive. You could have accepted friendship. You could have stayed as you are and simply refused to leave. But no, you chose to run away. Since then you have been dedicating your life towards getting back at Twilight Sparkle.”

“And why shouldn't I?”

“Because it’s not healthy. But enough of that, Grogar doesn’t know about Midnight Sparkle. We dare not leave even for a supply run. I dare not show my face. If I am caught I could end up back in Tartarus. If we do not stop Grogar, we will all end up in stone.”

“And what of Cozy Glow?” Chrysalis inquired. “Isn’t she the one who got you thrown into Tartarus in the first place?”

“One evildoer at a time. We end Grogar. In the meantime, Midnight here can do supply runs for us. That bastard has dumped us here with nothing to sustain ourselves.”

“Speak for yourself, pony.”

“Fine, he’s left Tirek and me with nothing, and don’t tell me you never eat solid food. That and we’ll not be food for you if we starve.”

“Alright fine, I wouldn't mind some roasted beetles right now anyway. The big juicy ones.” She thought for a moment. “Midnight?”

“Well, we can’t call her Twilight now can we?”

“No, I suppose not.”

“Did you seriously just make a pony from a stick and a pearl?” Tirek asked. “What’s stopping me from taking the magic from that puppet?”

“I used my magic. You know what happens when you take my magic. So unless you want to experience beating yourself into a pulp again, lay off.”

“Puppet?” Midnight asked. “Am I not a real pony? Are my memories of my mom not real?”

“Memories?” Chrysalis asked softly.

“I’m sure your memories are very much real. Why I’d say they are the realest part of you. And someday if you are good and brave, you’ll be a real pony.”

“Um… OK.”

“Good, now…” Kitsu conjured up a pair of saddlebags and draped them over Midnight’s shoulders. “The bags are charmed to be bigger on the inside so there will be plenty of space.” She then produced some Equestrian bits and gave them to her. She stopped to look around. Yes, see those peaks, that should be the Haymaker Peaks. On the other side are the Badlands. You don’t want to go that way but memorize the positioning of the peaks. Head east, and use a flight spell to speed yourself up.”

“A flight spell. That’s a really good idea. Curious, I seem to know all sorts of spells.”

“You probably picked up a good deal of my knowledge when I brought you back into existence. But enough of that, I’m thinking that the coast won’t be too far. When you see the coast turn left to go north. And make sure to locate anything you can use as a trail marker to find your way back. North you will find Horseshoe Bay. Baltimare is on the north side of the bay but any small community with a store will due. And if any pony asks you questions just tell them your moms sent you on a shopping trip. Might not do to tell them anything about Tirek over there. Or that Chrysalis is a Changeling. In fact, our names can be Chrysanthemum and-”

“Chrysanthemum?!” Chrysalis protested.

“It’s a flower name. How about Chrissie, for short.”

“Fine. And what will your name be?”

“How about Tsuki Nym Sparkle? Yes, I think that will work.”

“Tsuki Nym?” Midnight asked with an odd expression.

“I’m from Neighpon. And if Tirek should be mentioned by accident or necessity he can be Uncle Tea.”

“Uncle Tea?” Tirek asked sounding like he wasn’t too sure about it.

“Well, the only other name that came to mind was Tiberius. I’m not too sure how ponies would react to that name.”

“Fine. Not that there’s anything wrong with Tiberius.”

“Now that that’s settled...”

“Um… what if some pony sees me coming out of the swamp?”

Kitsu thought for a moment, conjured up a straw hat, and plopped it onto her head. “That should take care of that issue and hide the horn and if anyone wants to know what we are doing out here you can say we are archaeologists and Chrissie and I are your moms.”

“Ah, so I’m to be tagging along for a dig. Got it. Shouldn't be too hard to sell.”

“Just one word of caution, don’t let the goat see you, and don’t be seen nor heard by the big eye that’s inside. And if you should run into Discord, go the other way. Don’t let him see you no matter what. The last thing we need is him complicating things.”

“Perhaps he could help?” Tirek asked.

“You mean like how he helped you? He gave you Equestria, and then gave you to Twilight.”

“Ah… point taken.”

“Now, Midnight, time’s a wasting. We are counting on you.”

“Stay safe, and swift journey,” Chrysalis offered and gave Midnight another hug. Midnight returned the hug, hugged Kitsu, trotted over to Tirek, hugged him, and then sprung into the air. Her first few moments were fraught with potential disaster as the golem named Midnight Sparkle figured out how to fly straight.

“Well, that’s that,” Kitsu offered once the little pony was out of sight. “Let’s see if I can conjure up some decent furnishings.”

“I think I’ll gather up some trees and vines to make some furnishings for myself,” Tirek announced, and headed over the causeway. He jumped a gap and then continued.

“Miss Nightfoal…” Chrysalis began tentatively.

“I think I can manage something for you.”

Later that day Kitsu had managed to conjure up enough furnishings for the two while Tirek was busily building himself a decent man cave.

“I must confess, my lings did everything for me,” Chrysalis admitted as Kitsu was teaching her how to make a grass mat. They’d a fire going in the center of the big cavern, and the place was feeling very cozy as the world outside darkened.

“Sometimes a little independence is a good thing,” Kitsu replied as the sound of goat hooves could be heard entering the cavern.